This time of sorrow, mourning and difficulty was succeeded by a period of
unwonted activity. It was deemed expedient to convoke an Œcumenical
Council. This important measure was thought of on occasion of the
centenary celebration of the martyrdom of SS. Peter and Paul. After two
years of serious and mature deliberation and consultation, Pius IX. issued
apostolical letters, convening a council of the whole church at the
Vatican Basilica. The 8th of December, 1869, was appointed as the day for
its first assembling. The objects in view cannot be better described than
in the words of the venerable Pontiff. After a few preliminary paragraphs
in his Bull of Indiction, the Holy Father thus proceeds:
“The Roman Pontiffs, in the discharge of the office divinely confided to
them in the person of Peter of feeding the entire flock of Christ, have
unweariedly taken on themselves the most arduous labors, and used every
possible means in order to have the various nations and races all over the
earth brought to the light of the Gospel, and by truth and holiness to
eternal life. All men know the zeal and unceasing vigilance with which
these same Roman Pontiffs have kept inviolate the deposit of faith,
discipline among the clergy, purity and science in the education given to
the members of the church, the holiness and dignity of Christian marriage:
how they studied day by day to promote the Christian education of the
youth of both sexes, to foster among all classes the love of religion, the
practice of piety and purity of morals as well as everything that might
conduce to the tranquillity, the good order and the prosperity of civil
society. Whenever great troubles arose, or serious calamities threatened
either the church or social order, the Roman Pontiffs judged it opportune
to convoke general councils, in order that with the advice and assistance
of the bishops of the Catholic world, whom the Holy Ghost hath established
to rule the Church of God, they might, in their united wisdom and
forethought, so dispose everything as to define the doctrines of faith, to
secure the destruction of the most prevalent errors, defend, illustrate
and develop Catholic teaching, restore and promote ecclesiastical
discipline and the reformation of morals.
“No one at the present time can be ignorant how terrible is the storm by
which the church is assailed, and what an accumulation of evils afflicts
civil society. The Catholic Church, her most salutary doctrines, her most
revered power, the supreme authority of this Holy See, are all assailed
and trampled on by the bitter enemies of God and man. All that is most
sacred is held up to contempt; ecclesiastical property is made the prey of
the spoiler; the most venerable ministers of the sacraments, men most
eminent for their Catholic character, are harassed by unheard of
annoyances. The religious orders are suppressed, impious books of every
kind and pestilential publications are disseminated, wicked and pernicious
societies are everywhere and under every form multiplied. The education of
youth is, in almost all countries, withdrawn from the clergy, and, what is
far worse, intrusted in many places to teachers of error and evil.
“In consequence of all these facts, to our great grief and that of all
good men, and to the irreparable ruin of souls, impiety, corruption of
morals, unbridled licentiousness, the contagion of depraved opinions, and
of every species of pestilential vice and crime, the violation of all
laws, human and divine, prevail everywhere to such an extent, that not
only religion but human society itself is thrown into the most deplorable
disorder and confusion.
“Wherefore, following in the footsteps of our illustrious predecessors, we
have deemed it opportune to call together a General Council, as we had
long desired to do.
“This Œcumenical Council will have to examine most diligently, and to
determine what it is most seasonable to do, in these calamitous times, for
the greatest glory of God, the integrity of faith, the splendor of Divine
worship, the eternal salvation of men, the discipline of the regular and
secular clergy, and their sound and solid education, the observance of
ecclesiastical laws, the reformation of morals, the Christian education of
youth, the common peace and universal concord. With the Divine assistance,
our labors must also be directed towards remedying the peculiar evils
which afflict church and state; towards bringing back into the right road
those who have strayed away from truth and righteousness; towards
repressing vice and error, in order that our holy religion and her saving
doctrines may acquire renewed vigor all over the earth, that its empire
may be restored and increased, and that thereby piety, modesty, honor,
justice, charity and all Christian virtues may wax strong and nourish for
the glory and happiness of our common humanity.”
It has been alleged and persistently maintained by the enemies of the Holy
See, that Pius IX. sought only to promote his own importance by convening
a General Council. Of this calumny the foregoing words, which so plainly
and distinctly set forth the purposes of the council, afford an abundant
refutation. No man holding a great public office can fulfil faithfully the
duties of that office without exalting his own character in the estimation
of mankind. Ought he then, because such things exalt him, to leave them
undone? This would, indeed, be mistaken humility.
Councils, although not an essential element in the government of the
church, are had recourse to in times of difficulty, in order to settle
doctrinal disputes, promote morality and establish or restore discipline.
With the exception of the Apostolic Council of Jerusalem, no council was
held for the first three hundred years of the church’s existence. The
church, nevertheless, as regarded her spiritual state, was highly
prosperous and extended rapidly. Councils came as exigencies arose, and
when there was no insuperable impediment to their assembling. They were in
their time a source of great and lasting good, whilst their record remains
shedding light on the centuries as they pass. There had already been
eighteen Œcumenical Councils, that of Trent, held three hundred years ago,
having been the last. Causes like to those which occasioned the earlier
councils, although in a different state of the world and human society,
appeared to call for such action on the part of the church as should
powerfully influence the passing age, and cause the light of Divine
revelation to penetrate the dark places of the nineteenth century. It was
resolved, accordingly, to convoke the Œcumenical Council of the age.