Mount Saint Marys College - Eagle Yearbook (Orchard Lake, MI)

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116 as a refuge of all who fled from political and other troubles in the Old World, and that His Holiness, should he see fit to go to the United States, would no doubt meet with a kind welcome and be left to pursue, unquestioned and unmolested, his great work as Head of the Catholic Church. It was during the incumbency of Minister King that the Holy See was approached by the Confederacy, not exactly for recognition as a separate state, but as a sign that the Southern leaders fully appreciated the value of the sympathy of so great a liberal statesman as Pius IX. The American legation at the court of Pius IX lasted through the Civil War, but came to an official end in 1867, when Congress refused to appropriate the money necessary for its upkeep. Had an American Minister been resident in Rome in 1870 when the Italian army took the Eternal City, the question of the Pope's taking refuge in the United States might have been revived and Pius IX might have come to America. In the twentieth century, the most important development in the relations between the United States and the Papacy was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's appointment of an Episcopalian, Myron C. Tay- lor, as his personal representative to Pope Pius XII. This appointment resulted from an exchange of letters between the President and the Pope. As Myron C. Taylor himself relates: The President was con- vinced that a closer association in all parts of the free world between those in government and those in religion who shared common ideals was essential . . . To His Holiness in Rome, with whom personal ex- changes of views were possible only through correspondence and a trusted intermediary, he suggested sending a personal representative. In the letter which President Roosevelt sent to Pius XII on December 23, 1959, he explained that he had named Taylor his personal envoy in order that our parallel endeavors for peace and the alleviation of suffering may be assisted. The many thousands of American Catholic pilgrims who will visit the Holy City and pay their respects to the Pope in this twenty-fifth Holy Year will carry with them the heartfelt sentiments of millions of their compatriots, mindful of the cordial relationship that has existed between the United States and the Papacy during the last 170 years. Daniel Pokornowski PULHIID Hllll THE PUPES Poland, historically speaking, is only half as old as the Papacy. It appeared on the historical stage of Europe when the Papacy had al- ready nearly one thousand years behind it. When the first historic ruler of Poland received baptism and opened the way for the introduction of Christianity among his people in 966, the Papal tiara reposed upon the head of Pope john XIII, the one hundred and thirty-third successor of Saint Peter. In the one thousand years that have -elapsed since that fateful mo- ment, Poland's contacts with the Papacy have been constant and on certain occasions especially noteworthy. There are several such instances which are particularly worth recalling. The first occurred in 966 when the Papacy was still far from exer- cising a dominant influence over the Holy Roman Empire. In 965, Mieszko, the ruler of still pagan Poland, married Dabrowka, a Chris- tian daughter of a Czech prince. A year later, Mieszko received the sacrament of baptism, and afterwards placed his territory in the hands of the Holy See, making it a part of the heritage of Saint Peter and securing for Poland papal protection for all time. The second instance of Polish-Papal relations took place when Poland supported the Papacy in its time of need. This happened dur- ing the investiture controversy between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV. When Gregory VII ascended the papal throne, he initiated important reforms for the emancipation of the church from lay control. Under pain of excommunication, Pope Gregory VII forbade princes to bestow ecclesiastical offices upon members of the clergy. He also for- bade the clergy to receive these investitures from the hands of laymen. When Henry IV ignored the Pope's orders, Gregory VII excommuni- cated him, precipitating-a bitter and long struggle between the Papacy

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The petition was framed by a committee of five priests appointed by the first general Chapter of the American Catholic clergy held at Whitemarsh, Maryland, on November 6, 1783. The committee was composed of Fathers john Lewis, John Carroll, Bernard Diderich, Ignatius Matthews and james Walton, missionary priests residing, as they said, in the Thirteen United States of North America. This petition stated that they were placed under the recent supreme domin- ion of United America and could no longer have recourse for spiritual jurisdiction to the Bishops and Vicar-Apostolics residing in foreign states Clinglandj, not recognize any of them as their ecclesiastical superior without open offense to the American government. There- fore, they petitioned that the power of granting the necessary faculties to priests coming to America might be given to some priest who was a resident in the United States. Specifically, they asked of the Pope that Father john Lewis be formally constituted Superior of the Church in the new Republic, with certain episcopal privileges-administering the Sacrament of Confirmation, blessing chalices, and delegating priests for the missions. Acting upon this petition, Pius VI named Father john Carroll Prefect-Apostolic June 9, 1784. Thus the jurisdiction of the Vicar-Apostolic at London was brought to an end. In 1789 Father Car- roll was named first Bishop of the United States. The non-Catholic population of the United States in the eighteenth century did not share the Catholic attitude toward the Pope. So wide- spread was the antipapal sentiment that Washington in his general orders to the Army, November 15, 1775, forbade the observance of Pope's Day, a mock ceremonial like Guy Fawkes Day. An effigy of the Pope would be borne in procession and burned with riotous proceed- ings. These celebrations took place in New England, and the soldiers stationed there conceived the idea of enjoying a rough holiday by hold- ing a Pope's Day of their own. General Washington's order said: The Commander-in-Chief cannot help expressing his surprise that there should be officers and soldiers in this army so void of common sense as not to see the impropriety of such a step at this juncture, at a time when we are soliciting, and have really obtained, the friendship and alliance of the people of Canada, whom we ought to consider as breth- ren embarked in the same cause, the defense of the liberty of America. At this juncture and under such circumstances, to be insulting their religion, is so monstrous as not to be suffered or excused, indeed, in- stead of offering the most remote insult, it is our duty to address public thanks to these our brethren, as to them we are indebted for every late happy success over the common enemy in Canada. In the nineteenth century, perhaps the most significant incident in American-Papal relations was the recognition of the papacy by the United States. Even before this recognition American consuls were stationed at Rome, Civita Vecchia, Ancona and other cities of the Papal States. The chief purpose of these consular agents was a commercial one, but so little exchange existed between the United States and-the Papal States that the work involved in the office was almost negligible. In his annual message to Congress on December 7, 1847, President Polk announced that the United States Government was considering the opening of diplomatic relations with the court of Rome, and a bill was introduced to defray the necessary expenses of the office. The bill to establish the legation at Rome passed by a vote of 137 to 15 in the House of Representatives and by an equally large majority in the Senate. On April l, 1848, Jacob L. Martin was appointed by President Polk as the first American Minister to the Papal States, then ruled by Pius IX. The diplomatic relations thus begun lasted for twenty years. Martin lived scarcely a year, dying at Rome in 1848. His successor, Lewis Casa, jr., served until 1858 and was singularly fortunate in his attitude toward the unstable Republic which Mazzini had succeeded in creating at Rome in 1848. Archbishop john Hughes' discourses at this time on the flight of the Pope to Gaeta were a warning to the American gov- ernment that the sacrilegious invaders of the Eternal City did not merit recognition. Cass was succeeded in 1858 by john Porter Stockton. After the fall of Naples in 1860, Stockton asked for his recall, and Rufus King was appointed as his successor. There was much question at the time whether it would not be prudent for Pius IX to take refuge in the United States since a revolution had broken out in Rome. When the question was broached to King, the American Minister replied that the United States was the home of civil and religious liberty as well 115

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and the Empire. During this important period when the strongest worldly power opposed the strongest spiritual force, Poland under King Boleslav' the Bold sided with Pope Gregory VII. It was with the help of Poland, too, that Pope Gregory VII was able to place King Ladislav on the throne of Hungary. Once again during the critical days of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, when the Great Western Schism rent the unity of Christendom in Europe as a result of rival claims to the papal throne-when Euro- pean countries espoused and supported the cause of the anti-popes at Avignon or at Pisa, Poland stood loyally by the Pope of Rome. At the Council of Constance which finally healed the schism, the Polish Arch- bishop, Nicholas Traba, helped in the election of Pope Martin V. When the Protestant Revolt broke out in the sixteenth century en- dangering both Papacy and Church, Poland once again strongly mani- fested its loyalty to the Vicar of Christ. When Pope Leo X issued the Bull Exmrge Domine, on june 15, 1520, condemning forty-one prop- ositions in I.uther's writings, King Sigismund I enforced this Bull and by the Edict of Torun prohibited the introduction of Luther's works into Poland. Sigismund also condemned Lutheranism by statute and demanded strict adherence to the Faith. He ordered the Bishops and Inquisitors to enforce his law. In 1554, the king forbade the nobles to send their sons to the University of Wittenberg, the very center of Lutheranism. Poland continued to work hand in hand with the Holy See in the work of Catholic Reform. In 1561, a delegation was sent from Poland to take part in the deliberations of the Council of Trent. Sigismund II was among the first European monarchs to accept and enforce the Tridentine decrees in his realm. Toward the end of the sixteenth century, the Polish clergy assisted the papacy in its efforts to unite the schismatic Ruthenians with the Catholic Church. Under the leadership of great churchmen, Cardinal Hosius and the Jesuits Skarga and Herbest, the ground was prepared for reuniting the schismatics with the Holy See. Pope' Gregory XIII erected a seminary in Wilno and admitted both Ruthenian and Russian students into various Catholic colleges. In 1596, the Union of Brest brought many Ruthenians to recognize the Pope and to accept his au- thority as Vicar of Christ. Almost simultaneously with these efforts Poland used her influence to bring back to the Church many Armenian Christians, who recognized the authority of the Pope in the seventeenth century. ' When Sweden attacked Poland in 1655, the royal crown rested upon the head of john Casimir. During the invasion, King john Casimir made his famous vows in the presence of the papal legate on the first day of April, 1656. He proclaimed the Blessed Mother Queen and Patroness of Poland. Pope Alexander VII regarded the victory of King john Casimir as a triumph of Catholicism over Protestantism, giving the Polish ruler the title Rex orthodoxur. At the call of Pope Innocent XI, King John Sobieski led a Polish army to Vienna and in 1683 defeated the Turks who threatened Euro- pean Christendom. For this great feat, the Pope headed a list of eminent people who thanked the Polish king personally for what he had done in behalf of the Christian nations of Europe. The sixteenth century religious partition of the Church was' dupli- cated politically in eighteenth century Poland by the triple partition of the Polish kingdom. Poland's great effort to stem the partitions failed, but it left another testimonial of loyalty to the Church in the May Con- stitution of 1791, which proclaimed Catholicism as the dominant re- ligion of the realm. This loyalty was not shaken even in the darkest days of the partitions when josephinism and Germanism in Austrian- held Poland, Germanism and Protestantism in Prussian-held areas, and Russification and Schism in Russian-controlled territories sought to destroy contacts between Poland and the Papacy. Perhaps the' most serious threat to Polish loyalty came in 1852, when, upon the tenderitious and misleading protests of Russia following the November insurrection of 1850, Pope Gregory XVI issued an encyclical to the Polish hierarchy which was greeted with much opposition in certain Polish quarters. But even this matter was successfully smoothed our, though it left its influence in the writings of Mickiewicz and Slowacki. Two outstanding champions of loyaltv to the Church atmeared in Prussian-held Poland when Archbishop Martin Dunin and Archbishop 117