Thirty-Five years ago, the Holy See, in a letter to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda, declared it would tolerate the presence of Catholic students at non-Catholic Universities in England. (April 2nd, 1895).

A few weeks later, the Holy See addressed a letter to Cardinal Vaughan (April 17th). That letter set out the conditions under which Catholic men might be allowed to attend the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

The point which is pertinent here is that the letter is concerned with safeguards of the faith and morals of such Catholics as attend those Universities; that the safeguards are (1) regular courses of lectures in Philosophy, History and Religion should be given by Catholic professors to the Catholic students; (2) that the Catholic students who attend non-Catholic Universities are bound to attend the lectures which are specially given for their benefit, and that both parents and the Bishops should see that this is carried out.

The course of the Reformation in England—’ that catastrophe in the history of Christian civilization —the Reformation so-called ‘—is plain sailing, the proceedings in the alteration of religion are clear. It is otherwise with Ireland. Confusion and obscurity attend the narrative of events and historians of the period have for the most part earned an advocate’s reward and left truth to take care of itself. The work of Father Ronan is therefore the more valuable, and this second volume, which covers the critical years from Elizabeth’s accession till the death of James Fitzmaurice, is of high importance.

The story itself is dreary enough. It was ‘an age of insincerity, inconsistency, bluffing and temporising on all sides.’ Pride and avarice are exhibited, and at their worst; treachery and murder most foul are recurring incidents in the history of the relations of the English government to the people of Ireland. The feuds of the great Norman-Irish chieftains, of the houses of Butler and Geraldine in especial, the overweening pride of Shane O’Neill—whose patriotism is not to be denied, though Father Wolf, S.J., the papal commissary, wrote him down ‘a cruel, impious heretical tyrant’ —the nominal submission of chiefs and nobles to the sovereignty of Elizabeth, the acceptance by seven of the Irish bishops of the Elizabethan supremacy and the further acceptance by five of the seven of the Protestant order of service—all these conspicuous things make melancholy reading. But despite the failure of the Irish chiefs to stand together in the presence of a common enemy and despite the utter misery and savagery of the people, the Elizabethan ‘reform’ had no success in Ireland.

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The omission of this passage from the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke is of such significance that it has already occasioned a bulky literature. Those of us who are privileged to experience the peace of being in the Church of the Rock are intellectually unprejudiced towards the discussion, because whatever way the discussion turns, it always turns into a confirmation of the Petrine position. If on the one hand it be argued that Mark and Luke did not know of this text but that it found its way almost at once into the text of the first gospel, we are faced with the fact of such a widespread acceptance of St. Peter’s supremacy that a spurious text could be given citizenship in the gospel written, not by a mere disciple like Mark or Luke, but by an apostle, Matthew.

If, on the contrary, the text was known, as indeed the present writer thinks it was known, though omitted, by Mark and Luke, inclusion in the gospel of one who was an apostle and an eye-witness of the incident is first-hand authority which no later omissions can destroy.

The fourth command of Alexander VI was contained in the Brief Reformationi et augmento, dated November 7th, 1496, but unlike the previous commands it was not imposed upon Savonarola only, it was given to the Priors and communities of sixteen Dominican houses, one of which was San Marco in Florence. No superior or religious was mentioned by name in the Brief. By this Brief a new Congregation or group of Dominican houses was established, to be known as the Tuscan-Roman Congregation of the Order of Preachers, and a Vicar General of this Congregation was to be appointed by Cardinal Caraffa after consultation with the Master General of the Order. He was to hold office for two years, and at the end of this time an election was to be held as prescribed by the Constitution of the Order. On November 17th, 1496, Father Jacopo da Sicilia was appointed Vicar-General of the newly established Tuscan-Roman Congregation and Savonarola acknowledged him as his Superior. We draw attention to this statement, for we shall see that some writers deny it.

The Brief of November pleased no one. The Tuscan houses did not wish to be separated from the Congregation of Lombardy, and the opposition to such separation was so strong that several superiors were deposed from office and threatened with imprisonment.