The Vicar of Christ, Or, Lectures Upon the Office and Prerogatives of Our Holy Father the Pope

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878. Excerpt: ... More than six years have passed since we closed the foregoing sketch of the life of one of the greatest in the long line of Pontiffs. They have been indeed eventful years, full of trial and suffering for the church and her supreme Head. It was the hope of all devout Catholics that Pius IX., so dear to their hearts, and so identified with the struggles of religion during his wonderful pontificate, might live to see the triumph of right over wrong and of justice over injustice, and be restored to his temporal sovereignty before his earthly confessorship should be ended. But God has willed otherwise in his inscrutable wisdom. The world has lost its respect for truth, and society has apostatized from Christianity. The end is not come, nor has the depth of moral atheism been reached. The stormy sea of human passion will be stilled when the Lord, who is ever in the bark of Peter, shall speak the word which winds and waves obey. Till that time faith and hope and love must do their part, and around the altars of the incarnate God preserve the Gospel, which is the only salvation of nations. These last years of the life of our glorious Pontiff present to our eyes a view of increasing moral grandeur, and amid the infirmities of age and the wearing effects of disappointment, exhibit the strength of Christ in his Vicar. The world has hardly seen a more noble sight since the days when it saw and crucified its Creator and Redeemer. In the constant discharge of the duties of his laborious office Pius IX., up to the latest hour of his life, has continued to provide for the needs of the church with the same vigor which characterized the bright morning of his pontificate. The years which have passed since he became actually a prisoner in the Vatican have been marked by the ...