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Show POPE LEO XIII. Bible, Battlefield of the Church The Eminent Members of the Newly-Appointed Commission for Biblical Studies. (Special Correspondence New York Freeman's Journal.) Rome, Feb. 4. It is only now that people have begun to be alive to the extraordinary importance of the newly appointed commission for Biblical studies, but the truth is at last clear. The Bible is to be the battlefield of the Catholic church for the next half century cen-tury at least. Even already the reports" that have been reaching the Eternal City for the last few years show that almost all countries have been more or less influenced for evil by the rational- : istic writers of Germany. Not even Ire- J land has escaped, as Father Sheehan has pointed out in "My New Curate." The blighting influence of England was made painfully manifest when Mivart openly renounced his faith. The evil j has spread to an alarming , extent in J France; and the worst symptom of it is not the outrageously anti-Catholic ten- ! dency of the writings of the. Abbe j Loisy, which have just been condemned I in France. A very considerable section of the young clergy have become infat- ' uated with the new theories. Here in Italy there have been many signs of a dangerous latitude in matters scriptural. scrip-tural. All this is not very surprising when it is remembered that the Vatican council coun-cil recognized even thirty years ago that the time had come for defining many things concerning the sacred j books. But the troubled state of Italy and Europe generally brought about the suspension of the council, and Pope Leo, foreseeing no possibility of the speedy resumption of its sittings, has now taken in hand the great work thus interrupted. Cardinal Parocchi. the i first head of the new commission, was no sooner appointed to direct its labors when he was called to his reward, but his place has been at once filled by Cardinal Rampolla, certainly one of the greatest lights of the Catholic church in our times. And now the commission is at last in working order. This week the official Osservatore Romano has published the official list of the consumers consum-ers and a very eloquent list it is. I have succeeded in finding out a num ber of details about these members. It is very important, however, to note first i of all that with hardly a single exception excep-tion the consulters for Biblical studies are all noted for their keenness n making use of all modern discoveries which tend to throw light in any way on the origin, structure, text and inter-1 inter-1 pretation of the Holy Scriptures, while at the same time they are as one in their zeal for the preservation of the integrity of the Written Word and their j veneration for all the declarations of the church on it. j After the cardinals who form part of the commission the two most important members are the French Father Ful-cran Ful-cran Gregory Vigoroux, of the Society , of St. Sulpice, and Father David Flem- ing, the Irish vicar general of the Fran-i Fran-i ciscan order. Father Fleming is justly j regarded as one of the most brilliant j scholars in the Catholic church, and j has devoted great part of his time for I many years to the study of modern writers on the Holy Scriptures. Father Vigouroux is easily the first scriptural j scholar in France. He has been for some time professor of scripture in the seminary of St. Sulpice and of the Catholic institute of Paris. He is the author of a four-volume work on the manuscripts of scripture and of another an-other on "The Bible and Modern Discoveries," Dis-coveries," and he is at present engaged with a number of collaborators on a Biblical dictionary. These two have been chosen by the Holy Father to act as secretaries of the commission for Biblical studies. Next, perhaps, in order of distinction ! come two famous Dominicans Father Lepidi, master of the sacred palaces, for many years professor of theology at the Minerva in Rome, and the author of many learned theological works; and Father Thomas Esser, an Austrian, who is secretary of the Congregation of the Index. Monsignor Ceriani is prefect pre-fect of the Arbrosian library; Fathers Hummalhauer and Cornely are two German Jesuits who are at present engaged en-gaged on a monumental work on the scriptures; Father Pratt is another I German Jesuit, whose name is -wall known in the learned reviews of the Fatherland, and who has contributed to the Civilta Cattolica the latest contribution con-tribution in that great magazine on the subject of the interpretation of the sacred sa-cred books; Father Gismondi is an Italian Jesuit, who has been for the last fourteen years professor of scripture, Arabic, Hebrew, Syriac, etc., in the Gregorian university in Rome, and who has spent a considerable portion of his life in the east studying the languages which throw light on the Bible; Monsignor Mon-signor Lamy, professor of sacred scripture scrip-ture in the University of Louvian, is wrell known as a writer for the reviews; Dr. Otho Bardenheuer is professor of Bible Exegesis in the University of Munich, Mu-nich, editor of the famous Review of Bible Studies and author of a patrology which is now being translated into Italian; Ital-ian; Father Mercat is a writer of the Vatican library and secretary of the commission for the Liturgy; Father Ce-resedo Ce-resedo is an oratorian and an author of a work on hermeneutics; Father Hoon-acker Hoon-acker is professor of scripture at Lou-vain Lou-vain and a prolific writer on scriptural subjects; Mgr. Talamo, canon of St. Peter's, is editor of the Rivista Inter-nazionale Inter-nazionale for Social Studies; Father Grannan, the solitary American representative repre-sentative on the commission, is professor profes-sor of sacred scripture at the University Univer-sity of Washington, and has devoted many years of study in different European Euro-pean universities to the question of the Bible; Dr. Kaulen .is professor of Exegesis Ex-egesis in the University' of Bonn and one of the collaborators of the Kirsch-enlexicon; Kirsch-enlexicon; Dr. Shaefer is professor f Exegesis in the University of Breslau; Father Amelli is prior of the Benedictine Benedic-tine abbey of Monte Cassino and universally uni-versally recognized as a profound student stu-dent of scripture; Father Clarke, England's Eng-land's only representative, has written some books on scriptural subjects; Father Fa-ther Legrange, O. P., is one of the professors pro-fessors of sacred scripture in the College Col-lege of St. Stephen in Jerusalem; Fa-I ther Francassini, professor of scripture in the Seminary of Perugia; Dr. Ho-berg.: Ho-berg.: rector of the Academy of Frei- BIBLE, BATTLEFIELD. OF THE CHURCH (Continued from pao 1.). burg; Canon Fouard. formerly professor profes-sor of scripture in the Seminary of Rouen, has written much on the early history of the church, including two volumes on St. Peter and St. Paul, and he is now engaged on the life of St. John; Dr. Weikert, professor of scripture scrip-ture in the Benedictine college of St. Anselm. Rome, and a famous Rabbinical Rabbini-cal scholar: Father Schell. O. P.. professor pro-fessor at the Ecole des Hauten Etudes in Paris, who has been for some time engaged in the excavations of Susa; Canon Gonfalonieri, professor of scripture scrip-ture in the Seminary of Florence; Mon-signor Mon-signor Legendre, dean of the faculty of Antwerp, where he is professor of scripture, has made a special studv of the geography of the Holy Land and published a map; Mgr. Gutherlet, professor pro-fessor of scripture in the University of Fulda; Dr. Teller, professor of Exegesis in the University of Freiburg: Father Poels, professor of Louvain and author of a series of studies on the sanctuaries of Jerusalem: Father Fillion of the Seminary of St. Sulpije, Paris; Father Mangenot, professor of scripture' in the Seminary of Nancy: Dr. Weiss, professor profes-sor of Exegesis in the Liceum of Brannsberg; Father Torio, professor of scripture in the Seminary of Valencia; Canon Lesetre of Paris; Dr. Duster-wold, Duster-wold, formerly superior of the Albertin college in Cologne; Canon Chauvin. formerly for-merly professor of scripture in the Seminary Sem-inary of Laval; Father Balestri, O. S. A., formerly professor of sacred scripture. scrip-ture. It will be seen that the Holy See has spared no pains in selecting men for the new commission on Biblical studies who will do honor to the Catholic church. Papers of all shades of opinion and belief be-lief in Europe have commented in laudatory terms of the selections made. The members of the commission who reside in Rome have already held two meetings. Even now there is evidence of a keen interest in scriptural studies. The movement for erecting a monument monu-ment in honor of Pope Leo in front of St. John Lateran's has been taken up enthusiastically in many parts of Eu rope, especially in Belgium, France and Spain. Two designs for the mofrnment have been submitted to the Roman committee, and I believe preference has been given to the one which represents repre-sents the figure of the pontiff himself, w-ith bronze medallions containing important im-portant passages from his encyclicals referring to the working classes. Last Monday, "Candlemas," the Vatican Vat-ican was thronged with a long procession proces-sion consisting of all the heads of religious re-ligious houses and educational institutes insti-tutes in Rome, each bearing an enormous enor-mous candle for the Holy Father. His holiness granted a private audience to each of his visitors, and as usual the burden of their remarks afterward was the extraordinary memory of the pope. To the French he had something to ask about the progress of the war against the religious congregations, which seems to be the subject utterr most in his mind these times. The somewhat awkward relations between the holy see and the French government govern-ment arising on this subject have latterly lat-terly been stil! further complicated by a serious question regarding the nomi- I nation of French bishops. Mr. Combes I is not content with the "presentation" of episcopal candidates to the Holy Father Fa-ther a privilege granted to the government gov-ernment by 'the Concordat he wants to have the nomination entirely in his own hands. It is hardly necessary to say that the Holy Father has no intention whatever of tolerating this gross encroachment en-croachment on the rights of the church. The life or death of the divorce bifl recently introduced in the Italian parliament par-liament hangs in the balance these days, and I regret to have to say that at the present moment the probabilities are running strongly in favor of its becoming law. VOX URBIS. |