Page:William John Sparrow-Simpson - Roman Catholic Opposition to Papal Infallibility (1909).djvu/202

 182 the hypothesis of God in his world, so Gratry the mathematician has no need of the hypothesis of the Pope in his conception of the Church. Gratry ought to have submitted these angels who instructed him to the test of holy water. We know these angels of his. One of them is called Janus. That serpent has deceived the dove. Gratry has taken Germanism for science—just as it came from Germany. Inaccurate mathematician! Incurable infancy!

So Veuillot railed and ridiculed. And Veuillot obtained letters of papal approval for his defence of the faith.

Gratry's four letters were read with avidity through France; they were circulated in Rome, and translated into English. Four editions appeared in a single year. They roused the keenest emotions on either side. They were denounced. They were applauded. Meantime the shrewd observer wondered what the end would be, should this controverted opinion become translated into the province of necessary belief. Episcopal condemnations were freely issued. The Archbishop of Mechlin descended to personalities, recommending Gratry to confine his attention to philosophy, and to cease to scandalise Christendom with erroneous ideas and outrages against the Holy See. Another Bishop wrote in terms which show how profoundly men's passions were stirred, that the Bishop of Orleans, secretly acting with an ability worthy of a better cause, had only too successfully roused both cultured and popular circles, disturbed the high regions of diplomacy, and attacked the hopes and convictions of the Catholic world. Döllinger, Maret, and Dupanloup were a triumvirate of agitators, to whom was now added that insulter of the Roman Church, the Abbé Gratry. The Oratory,