In 1580, the French clergy chose the time between the sessions of the parliament of Paris, to have the same bull In cœna Domini published. But it was opposed by the procureur-general; and the Chambre des Vacations, under the presidency of the celebrated and unfortunate Brisson, on the 4th of October, passed a decree, enjoining all governors to inform themselves, if possible, what archbishops, bishops, or grand-vicars, had received either this bull or a copy of it entitled Litteræ processus, and who had sent it to them to be published; to prevent the publication, if it had not yet taken place; to obtain the copies and send them to the chamber; or, if they had been published, to summon the archbishops, the bishops, or their grand-vicars, to appear on a certain day before the chamber, to answer to the suit of the procureur-general; and, in the mean time, to seize their temporal possessions and place them in the hands of the king; to forbid all persons from obstructing the execution of this decree, on pain of punishment as traitors and enemies to the state; with orders that the decree be printed, and that the copies, collated by notaries, have the full force of the original.

In doing this, the parliament did but feebly imitate Philip the Fair. The bull Ausculta Fili, of the 5th December, 1301, was addressed to him by Boniface VIII. who, after exhorting the king to listen with docility, says to him-" God has established us over all kings and all kingdoms, to root up, and destroy, and throw down, to build, and to plant, in his name and by his doctrine. Do not then suffer yourself to be persuaded that you have no superior, and that you are not subject to the head of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Whosoever thinks this, is a madman, and whosoever obstinately maintains it, is an infidel, separated from the flock of the Good Shepherd." The pope then enters into long details respecting the government of France, even reproaching the king for having altered the coin.

Philip the Fair had this bull burned at Paris, and its

deprived of both eyes by his predecessors, were beginning to open one of them, omitted the publication of this famous bull in the year 1770.

execution published by sound of trumpet throughout the city, on Sunday the 11th February, 1302. The pope, in a council which he held at Rome the same year, made a great noise, and broke out into threats against Philip the Fair; but he did no more than threaten. The famous decretal Unam Sanctam is, however, considered as the work of this council; it is, in substance, as follows

"We believe and confess a holy, catholic, and apostolic church, out of which there is no salvation; we also acknowledge its unity, that it is one only body with one only head, and not with two, like a monster. This only head is Jesus Christ, and St. Peter his vicar, and the successor of St. Peter. Therefore the Greeks, or others, who say that they are not subject to that successor, must acknowledge that they are not of the flock of Christ, since he himself has said (John, ch. x. v. 16)" that there is but one fold and one shepherd.”

"We learn that in this church, and under its power, are two swords, the spiritual and the temporal: of these, one is to be used by the church and by the hand of the pontiff; the other, by the church and by the hand of kings and warriors, in pursuance of the orders or with the permission of the pontiff. Now, one of these swords must be subject to the other, temporal to spiritual power; otherwise, they would not be ordinate, and the apostle says they must be so. (Rom. chap. xiii. v. 1.) According to the testimony of truth, spiritual power must institute and judge temporal power; and thus is verified with regard to the church, the prophesy of Jeremiah (chap. i. v. 10.)—“I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms," &c.

On the other hand, Philip the Fair assembled the states-general; and the commons, in the petition which they presented to that monarch, said, in so many words" It is a great abomination for us to hear that this Boniface stoutly interprets like a Boulgare (dropping the and the a) these words of spirituality (Matthew, chap. xvi. v. 19.)-" Whatever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven;"-as if this signified

that if a man be put into a temporal prison, God will imprison him in heaven."

Clement V. successor to Boniface VIII. revoked and annulled the odious decision of the bull Unam Sanctam, which extends the power of the popes to the temporalities of kings, and condemns as heretics all who do not acknowledge this chimerical power. Boniface's pretension, indeed, ought to be condemned as heresy, according to this maxim of theologians-" Not only is it a sin against the rules of the faith, and a heresy, to deny what the faith teaches us, but also to set up as part of the faith that which is no part of it." (Joan. Maj. m. 3, sent. dist. 37. q. 26.)

Öther popes, before Boniface VIII. had arrogated to themselves the right of property over different kingdoms. The bull is well known, in which Gregory VII. says to the king of Spain-" I would have you to know, that the kingdom of Spain, by ancient ecclesiastical ordinances, was given in property to St. Peter and the Holy Roman Church."

Henry II. of England asked permission of pope Adrian IV. to invade Ireland. The pontiff gave him leave, on condition that he imposed on every Irish family a tax of one carolus for the Holy See, and held that kingdom as a fief of the Roman church," For," wrote Adrian," it cannot be doubted that every island upon which Jesus Christ, the sun of justice, has arisen, and which has received the lessons of the Christian faith, belongs of right to St. Peter and to the holy and sacred Roman church."

Bulls of the Crusade and of Composition.

If an African or an Asiatic of sense were told, that in that part of Europe where some men have forbidden others to eat flesh on Saturdays, the pope gives them leave to eat it, by a bull, for the sum of two rials, and that another bull grants permission to keep stolen money,what would this African or Asiatic say? He would at least agree with us, that every country has its customs; and that in this world, by whatever names things

may be called, or however they may be disguised, all is done for money.

There are two bulls under the name of La Cruzada — the Crusade; one of the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, the other of that of Philip V. The first of these sells permission to eat what is called the grossura, viz. tripes, livers, kidneys, gizzards, sweetbreads, lights, plucks, cauls, heads, necks, and feet.

The second bull, granted by pope Urban VIII. gives leave to eat meat throughout Lent, and absolves from every crime except heresy.

Not only are these bulls sold, but people are ordered to buy them; and, as is but right, they cost more in Peru and Mexico than in Spain; they are there sold for a piastre. It is reasonable that the countries which produce gold and silver should pay more than others.

The pretext for these bulls is, making war upon the Moors. There are persons, difficult of conviction, who cannot see what livers and kidneys have to do with a war against the Africans; and they add, that Jesus Christ never ordered war to be made on the Mahometans on pain of excommunication.

The bull giving permission to keep another's goods, is called the bull of Composition. It is farmed; and has long brought considerable sums throughout Spain, the Milanese, Naples, and Sicily. The highest bidders employ the most eloquent of the monks to preach this bull. Sinners who have robbed the king, the state, or private individuals, go to these preachers, confess to them, and show them what a sad thing it would be to make restitution of the whole. They offer the monks five, six, and sometimes seven per cent., in order to keep the rest with a safe conscience; and, as soon as the composition is made, they receive absolution.*

The priest-ridden animals who allowed these bulls to be sold in their respective communities, exhibit an admirable proof of the stupifying, the brutalizing effects of superstition. It is to be doubted if so gross an attack upon the moral sense of mankind was ever tolerated out of Europe and its dependencies, or under the most barbarous of the religious systems in the other three quarters of the globe.-T.

VOL. II.

H

The preaching brother who wrote the Travels through Spain and Italy (Voyage d'Espagne et d'Italie), published at Paris, avec privilège, by Jean-Baptiste de l'Epine, speaking of this bull, thus expresses himself: Is it not very gracious to come off at so little cost, and be at liberty to steal more, when one has occasion for a larger sum?"

Bull Unigenitus.

The bull In cœna Domini was an indignity offered to all catholic sovereigns, and they at length proscribed it in their states; but the bull Unigenitus was a trouble to France alone. The former attacked the rights of the princes and magistrates of Europe, and they maintained those rights; the latter proscribed only some maxims of piety and morals, which gave no concern to any except the parties interested in the transient affair; but these interested parties soon filled all France. It was at first a quarrel between the all-powerful Jesuits and the remains of the crushed Port-Royal.

Quesnel, a preacher of the Oratory, a refugee in Holland, had dedicated a commentary on the New Testament to cardinal De Noailles, then bishop of Chalons-sur-Marne. It met the bishop's approbat on and was well received by all readers of that sort of books.

One Le Tellier, a Jesuit, confessor to Louis XIV. and an enemy to cardinal De Noailles, resolved to mortify him by having the book, which was dedicated to him, and of which he had a very high opinion, condemned at Rome.

This Jesuit, the son of an attorney at Vire in Lower Normandy, had all that fertility of expedient for which his father's profession is remarkable. Not content with embroiling cardinal De Noailles with the pope, he determined to have him disgraced by the king his master. To ensure the success of this design, he had mandaments composed against him by his emissaries, and got them signed by four bishops; he also indited letters to the king, which he made them sign.

* Vol. v. page 210.