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Show j BISHOP f!TZ0ER ! ALB'S "NOW- PLACET" Hubert Larkin Pays His Respects How Fame Is Acquired Abelard and Eloise Bishop Fitzgerald Praying at the Church "Domine Quo Vadis," Made Famous Fa-mous by Marion Crawford An Appar-! Appar-! ition The Bishop at the Vatican Council Coun-cil His Humility Commensurate With His Poverty His "Non Placet" Unjust Censure Definition of Infallibility Opposed Op-posed as Inopportune The Meeting at Bishop Dupanloup's Apartment of 67 In-opportunists In-opportunists Archbishops and Bishops Bish-ops All Agreed to Vote "Non Placer-All Placer-All Absent When Vote Was Taken Except Bishop Fitzgerald and One Other, Who Voted "Non Placet," the Only Dissenting Votes in 687. (Special Cor. Intermountain Catholic.) I returned this. morning from Limoges, and after af-ter opening my letters and papers, the obituary of my very dear and old-time friend, Bishop Fitzgerald Fitzger-ald of Little Rock, gave my affections a painful wrench. I remember him well, and I also remember with affection, tho charming hours we passed together to-gether visiting the hallowed shrines and sacred places of the Eternal Citv. the venerable ruins and historic buildings of ancient, Rome. "When first I saw the bishop be was on bis .knees, with three or four rough looking fellows, before St. Peter's altar in an obscure little church outside the wall of Rome. A man is, at times, tempted to loose his respect for the honors of fame and glory, when he reflects how much they depend on the accident of association, glamour of romance, or the description of some man of fervid imagery and command of language. The path to the monument erected, in the cemetery of Pere La Chaise, Paris, to commemorate the illicit il-licit loves of Abelard and Eloise. is worn bare by the footsteps of English and American, pilgrims since Dumas' dramatization of the unlawful passion of the romantic pair. Before the drama was staged the unhappy couple were nobodies. All at once, it was discovered that Abelard was a great man the intellectual peer of St. Bernard and Eloise the embodiment of endearing affection and immortal love. Francois le Bonnivard and his prison became famous when Byron wrote "The Prison of Chillon." Such is fame. One is tempted to agree with Thomas A'Kempis or whoever wrote the ''Imitation of (. hrisf. that, stripped to the flesh, "what a man is in the eye of God. that he is, and nothing more." Well, the humble little church where I saw Bishop Fitzgerald on his knees, was unknown almost to the English-speaking world till ilarion Crawford wrote his "Roma Immortalis." and Jeremiah Curtin translated trans-lated into English Sienkiewiez "Quo Vadis.'' Then, and all at once, this gem of purest ray serene was discovered and now a visit to. Rome is not complete com-plete unless the little church of ''Domine Quo Vadis" Va-dis" is inspected and admired. Tt owes its singular name to an apparition of our Divine Lord to St. Peter. The stalwart and. manly Primate, of the Apostolic senate, after months of hesitation and prayer, yielded to the entreaty of his converts and friends, and consented to leave Rome, where the Xeronian persecution of the Christians threatened his arrest and imprisonment. He was satisfied that his imprisonment and death, at this particular time in the morning life of the infant church, would, humanly speaking, be a calamity. Moreover, More-over, did not his Divine Master himself, in his own hearing, say to him and to the others. "When they shall persecute ye in one city flee ye to another." He was ready for martyrdom, but he must do the will of God, and now, he believed the will of God was for him to abandon Rome and live for the church. So, before break of day one morning, with '"no scrip for the journey, nor money in his purse." the venerable man passes through the Capena gate and proceeds on his way. Three miles away from the city he turns to cast a last look upon the wonderful won-derful metropolis of the world. His thoughts followed fol-lowed his gaze, and be remained for some time lost to his surroundings. Awakening from his ec-tasy. ec-tasy. he again faced his journey when, at once. In'- aged face pales, bis eves are fixed with a stare of Vender and with uplifted hands he goes slowly ro his knees. His Divine Master, with bleeding hands and feet, stands in the dawning morning and on the lonely road, before him. Peter raises bis bowed I head, looks lovingly into the eyes of the Crucified Lord, and, in the tenderest. of accents questions him. "Domine. Quo Vadis" Lord whither goest thou "Peter, I am going to Rome, to take your place and be again crucified." The Master vanished; Penrose Pen-rose up. returned to the city and soon after was crucified, head downward, on the Janiculum Hill. The humble church of "Domine Quo Vadis." where I first saw the manly Edward Fitzgerald, bishop of Little Rock. Ark., protests from profanation the i precise spot where St. Peter met and spoke with our 1 Blessed Lord. I waited at the door till he had tin- i ished his devotions, got into conversation with him. i and introduced myself. He then told me who he I was and where he came from. This was in Decern- s (Continued on Page 5.) I f J 1 I - . ,.i.V. v. . ,,...,. i u ....W..U.,.., l : . -t. V - BISHOP FITZGERALD'S "NON PLACET.'' (Continued from Page 1.) ber 18(59. lie was in Rome in attendance at the Vatican council. I was surprised that so young a man he was only 32 had been honored with the pectoral cross and mitre. I was also surprised to learn from him that he walked out from his lodgings lodg-ings in the Via Komualdo, and was going to walk back. In Rome, everybody who is anybody, takes a carriage, if only for three blocks. Noblesse oblige, as the French say, and one must conform to the established customs of the country. I insisted upon him taking a seat in my carriage, and, on our way to the city, I began an intimacy of association and companionship which ended only when he left Rome. No. S.j, via 'Komualdo, to which number I drove him, was an unpretentious but respectable looking house. At his request I dismissed my carriage car-riage and accompanied him to his room. His solitary soli-tary anartment was bare of all hut absolute necessary neces-sary furniture, a rather large sized crucifix and a few books. In the charm of his conversation, his manhood and the simplicity of his manner I forgot the modesty. I was going to say, the poverty of his abode. He frequently dined with me at my hotel, the Albergo Alemagno, which, some of your readers read-ers may remember, was on a clean little stree t, just . off the Piazza d'Espagna. Bishop Fitzgerald had all the marks, the sincerity, the humility, the strong faith and unobtrusive piety of the apostolic age. If I had any fault to find with him. it was that he did not dress for the important role he played on the ecclesiastical stage. He was a stalwart, manly man, a typical missionary bishop who had served his apprenticeship ap-prenticeship for the episcopate in rough and lonely country missions. I learned after a time that his diocese was then poor, and that to make ends meet. in the expensive city ot lome. he had to iorrn the acquaintance of a rather rigid economy. I even suspected, that he was one of a dozen or so of bishops, bish-ops, in partibus infidelium, whom the Holy Father helped out to enable them to attend the Ecumenical Council. His death completes. I think, the necrology necr-ology of the North American bishops who were present pres-ent nt the Vatican Council. They were great men. many of them eminently so, and while not of commanding com-manding intellectual force, the bishop of Little Rock was, as a conscientious churchman and an upright, honorable man, the peer of the best among them. God rest his soul. "Green be the turf upon thee. I Friend of my early days; j None knew thee but to love thee. I None name thee but to praise." j (And now that they are all gone. I violate no I confidence, nor will I evoke any unpleasant memo- j rfes. among the living, if 1 record the history of j the famous "Non Placet" v'ole for which Bishop Fitzgerald was so unjustly censured at the time. Never was there an assembly of great and eminent men, where the liberty of discussion and debate was more encouraged than that of the Vatican Council. Particularly was this the case when the all im- j portant question of the infallibility of the Pope j was before the august assembly. It is true there j were two American bishops and four or five Ger-! mans who fought the infallibility itself on scriptural j and patriotic authorities, but all the others con- j ceded the logical and scriptural actuality and necessity neces-sity of the dogma, but sixty-eight of them contended contend-ed that the times were not ripe for its proclamation. proclama-tion. Of these were Archbishop Ivenrick of St. Louis, Cardinal Schwartzimburj, Bishop Dupan-loup, Dupan-loup, Archbishop Connolly of Halifax and sixty-four sixty-four others, including Bishop Fitzgerald. Three days before the debate on the infallibility was to close those who were opposed to the opportuneness of the definition met by invitation in Grand Salle of the Palace of Prince Respigliosi, occupied during dur-ing the council by Bishop Dupanloup, his secretary and retinue. At that meeting it was resolved by the sixty-seven archbishops and bishops present that on the day when the vote was to be taken they would all be present and vote "non placet," that is. "it is not pleasing to us." Remember, they were to pronounce pro-nounce on the time, not the infallibility which, with the exceptions already mentioned, they all believed. Well, on the morning of the vote on the supi-eme issue, not one of those who attended the meeting at the Respigliosi Palace was in his accustomed place in the brachio of St. Peters, where the sessions ses-sions of the council were held, except the bishop of Little Rock and, an Italian bishop whose name I do not remember. What happened ( This happened. The morning before the vote was to be taken, an emergency call to the Respigliosi prelates was sent out. They met, in obedience to the summons, early in the day. Suspecting that the anti-Christian press of Europe would twist their opposition to the proclamation pro-clamation of the infallibility into a denial of the infallibility itself, a motion was carried to leave the Eternal City that night. Not until the dogma was proclaimed, and messages flashed all over the world announcing the definition, was it known that sixty-five prelates did not record their votes. And now we come to my large hearted friend. Bishop Fitzgerald. The message sent to him to attend the emergency meeting miscarried. The first intimation intima-tion he had of the change of program was the sixty-five sixty-five empty stalls in the council halls after the ten minutes' grace had expired, the doors closed and i two of the noble guards on sentry. Something un- known to him had occurred. That was patent. His j pledge, the pledge of an honorable man and an j honest churchman, was given; he was not and did ! not ask to be released from what he deemed a conscientious con-scientious duty. As each bishop's name was called he rose in his place and in a loud voice said, "placet." "pla-cet." Four hundred and ninety-one bishops recorded re-corded their votes consecutively in favor of the definition when the name Eduardus Fitzgerald was called out by the secretary of the council. The bishop of Little Rock rose to his feet, said "nou placet," breaking the solidarity of the vote, inviting the curiosity of all and the indignation of a few. Among these few was his old professor in theology at the Vincentian college of the Barnes, Missouri. He was now bishon of Toronto, Canada, and Avhen the ordinary of Little Rock, the youngest prelate at the historic gathering, confronted with his "non placet" the compact "ayes" "f the assembled wisdom wis-dom of the Catholic world, the heart of his spiritual spirit-ual father, Bishop Lynch, was embittered at, what he believed to be the treason of his spiritual son. But the venerable prelate from Toronto as de |