II
Percy's intuitive faculties were keen by nature and had been vastlyincreased by cultivation. He had never forgotten Father Blackmore'sshrewd remarks of a year ago; and one of his first acts asCardinal-Protector had been to appoint that priest on the list ofEnglish correspondents. Hitherto he had received some dozen letters, andnot one of them had been without its grain of gold. Especially he hadnoticed that one warning ran through them all, namely, that sooner orlater there would be some overt act of provocation on the part ofEnglish Catholics; and it was the memory of this that had inspired hisvehement entreaties to the Pope this morning. As in the Roman andAfrican persecutions of the first three centuries, so now, the greatestdanger to the Catholic community lay not in the unjust measures of theGovernment but in the indiscreet zeal of the faithful themselves. Theworld desired nothing better than a handle to its blade. The scabbardwas already cast away.
When the young man had brought the four closely written sheets, datedfrom Westminster, the previous evening, Percy turned at once to the lastparagraph before the usual Recommendations.
"Mr. Brand's late secretary, Mr. Phillips, whom your Eminence commendedto me, has been to see me two or three times. He is in a curious state.He has no faith; yet, intellectually, he sees no hope anywhere but inthe Catholic Church. He has even begged for admission to the Order ofChrist Crucified, which of course is impossible. But there is no doubthe is sincere; otherwise he would have professed Catholicism. I haveintroduced him to many Catholics in the hope that they may help him. Ishould much wish your Eminence to see him."
Before leaving England, Percy had followed up the acquaintance he hadmade so strangely over Mrs. Brand's reconciliation to God, and, scarcelyknowing why, had commended him to the priest. He had not beenparticularly impressed by Mr. Phillips; he had thought him a timid,undecided creature, yet he had been struck by the extremely unselfishaction by which the man had forfeited his position. There must surely bea good deal behind.
And now the impulse had come to send for him. Perhaps the spiritualatmosphere of Rome would precipitate faith. In any case, theconversation of Mr. Brand's late secretary might be instructive.
He struck the bell again.
"Mr. Brent," he said, "in your next letter to Father Blackmore, tell himthat I wish to see the man whom he proposed to send--Mr. Phillips."
"Yes, Eminence."
"There is no hurry. He can send him at his leisure."
"Yes, Eminence."
"But he must not come till January. That will be time enough, unlessthere is urgent reason."
"Yes, Eminence."
* * * * *
The development of the Order of Christ Crucified had gone forward withalmost miraculous success. The appeal issued by the Holy Fatherthroughout Christendom had been as fire among stubble. It seemed as ifthe Christian world had reached exactly that point of tension at which anew organisation of this nature was needed, and the response hadstartled even the most sanguine. Practically the whole of Rome with itssuburbs--three millions in all--had run to the enrolling stations inSt. Peter's as starving men run to food, and desperate to the stormingof a breach. For day after day the Pope himself had sat enthroned belowthe altar of the Chair, a glorious, radiant figure, growing ever whiteand weary towards evening, imparting his Blessing with a silent sign toeach individual of the vast crowd that swarmed up between the barriers,fresh from fast and Communion, to kneel before his new Superior and kissthe Pontifical ring. The requirements had been as stringent ascircumstances allowed. Each postulant was obliged to go to confession toa specially authorised priest, who examined sharply into motives andsincerity, and only one-third of the applicants had been accepted. This,the authorities pointed out to the scornful, was not an excessiveproportion; for it was to be remembered that most of those who hadpresented themselves had already undergone a sifting fierce as fire. Ofthe three millions in Rome, two millions at least were exiles for theirfaith, preferring to live obscure and despised in the shadow of Godrather than in the desolate glare of their own infidel countries.
On the fifth evening of the enrolment of novices an astonishing incidenthad taken place. The old King of Spain (Queen Victoria's second son),already on the edge of the grave, had just risen and tottered before hisRuler; it seemed for an instant as if he would fall, when the Popehimself, by a sudden movement, had risen, caught him in his arms andkissed him; and then, still standing, had spread his arms abroad anddelivered a _fervorino_ such as never had been heard before in thehistory of the basilica.
"_Benedictus Dominus!_" he cried, with upraised face and shining eyes."Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed Hispeople. I, John, Vicar of Christ, Servant of Servants, and sinner amongsinners, bid you be of good courage in the Name of God. By Him Who hungon the Cross, I promise eternal life to all who persevere in His Order.He Himself has said it. _To him that overcometh I will give a crown oflife._
"Little children; fear not him that killeth the body. There is no morethat he can do. God and His Mother are amongst us...."
So his voice had poured on, telling the enormous awe-stricken crowd ofthe blood that already had been shed on the place where they stood, ofthe body of the Apostle that lay scarcely fifty yards away, urging,encouraging, inspiring. They had vowed themselves to death, if that wereGod's Will; and if not, the intention would be taken for the deed. Theywere under obedience now; their wills were no longer theirs but God's;under chastity--for their bodies were bought with a price; underpoverty, and theirs was the kingdom of heaven.
He had ended by a great silent Benediction of the City and the World:and there were not wanting a half-dozen of the faithful who had seen,they thought, a white shape in the form of a bird that hung in the airwhile he spoke white as a mist, translucent as water....
The consequent scenes in the city and suburbs had been unparalleled, forthousands of families had with one consent dissolved human ties.Husbands had found their way to the huge houses on the Quirinal setapart for them; wives to the Aventine; while the children, as confidentas their parents, had swarmed over to the Sisters of St. Vincent who hadreceived at the Pope's orders the gift of three streets to shelter themin. Everywhere the smoke of burning went up in the squares wherehousehold property, rendered useless by the vows of poverty, wereconsumed by their late owners; and daily long trains moved out from thestation outside the walls carrying jubilant loads of those who weredespatched by the Pope's delegates to be the salt of men, consumed intheir function, and leaven plunged in the vast measures of the infidelworld. And that infidel world welcomed their coming with bitterlaughter.
From the rest of Christendom had poured in news of success. The sameprecautions had been observed as in Rome, for the directions issued wereprecise and searching; and day after day came in the long rolls of thenew Religious drawn up by the diocesan superiors.
Within the last few days, too, other lists had arrived, more gloriousthan all. Not only did reports stream in that already the Order wasbeginning its work and that already broken communications were beingre-established, that devoted missioners were in process of organisingthemselves, and that hope was once more rising in the most desperatehearts; but better than all this was the tidings of victory in anothersphere. In Paris forty of the new-born Order had been burned alive inone day in the Latin quarter, before the Government intervened. FromSpain, Holland, Russia had come in other names. In Dusseldorf eighteenmen and boys, surprised at their singing of Prime in the church of SaintLaurence, had been cast down one by one into the city-sewer, eachchanting as he vanished:
"_Christi Fili Dei vivi miserere nobis,_"
and from the darkness had come up the same broken song till it wassilenced with stones. Meanwhile, the German prisons were thronged withthe first batches of recusants. The world shrugged its shoulders, anddeclared that they had brought it on themselves, while yet it deprecatedmob-violence, and requested the attention of the authorities and thedecisive repression of this new conspiracy of superstition. And withinSt. P
eter's Church the workmen were busy at the long rows of new altars,affixing to the stone diptychs the brass-forged names of those who hadalready fulfilled their vows and gained their crowns.
It was the first word of God's reply to the world's challenge.
* * * * *
As Christmas drew on it was announced that the Sovereign pontiff wouldsing mass on the last day of the year, at the papal altar of SaintPeter's, on behalf of the Order; and preparations began to be made.
It was to be a kind of public inauguration of the new enterprise; and,to the astonishment of all, a special summons was issued to all membersof the Sacred College throughout the world to be present, unless hinderedby sickness. It seemed as if the Pope were determined that the worldshould understand that war was declared; for, although the command wouldnot involve the absence of any Cardinal from his province for more thanfive days, yet many inconveniences must surely result. However, it hadbeen said, and it was to be done.
* * * * *
It was a strange Christmas.
Percy was ordered to attend the Pope at his second mass, and himselfsaid his three at midnight in his own private oratory. For the firsttime in his life he saw that of which he had heard so often, thewonderful old-world Pontifical procession, lit by torches, going throughthe streets from the Lateran to St. Anastasia, where the Pope for thelast few years had restored the ancient custom discontinued for nearly acentury-and-a-half. The little basilica was reserved, of course, inevery corner for the peculiarly privileged; but the streets outsidealong the whole route from the Cathedral to the church--and, indeed, theother two sides of the triangle as well, were one dense mass of silentheads and flaming torches. The Holy Father was attended at the altar bythe usual sovereigns; and Percy from his place watched the heavenlydrama of Christ's Passion enacted through the veil of His nativity atthe hands of His old Angelic Vicar. It was hard to perceive Calvaryhere; it was surely the air of Bethlehem, the celestial light, not thesupernatural darkness, that beamed round the simple altar. It was theChild called Wonderful that lay there beneath the old hands, rather thanthe stricken Man of Sorrows.
_Adeste fideles_ sang the choir from the tribune.--Come, let us adore,rather than weep; let us exult, be content, be ourselves like littlechildren. As He for us became a child, let us become childlike for Him.Let us put on the garments of infancy and the shoes of peace. _For theLord hath reigned; He is clothed with beauty: the Lord is clothed withstrength and hath girded Himself. He hath established the world whichshall not be moved: His throne is prepared from of old. He is fromeverlasting. Rejoice greatly then, O daughter of Zion, shout for joy, Odaughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh, to thee, the Holy One,the Saviour of the world._ It will be time, then, to suffer by and bye,when the Prince of this world cometh upon the Prince of Heaven.
So Percy mused, standing apart in his gorgeousness, striving to makehimself little and simple. Surely nothing was too hard for God! Mightnot this mystic Birth once more do what it had done before--bring intosubjection through the might of its weakness every proud thing thatexalts itself above all that is called God? It had drawn wise Kings onceacross the desert, as well as shepherds from their flocks. It had kingsabout it now, kneeling with the poor and foolish, kings who had laiddown their crowns, who brought the gold of loyal hearts, the myrrh ofdesired martyrdom, and the incense of a pure faith. Could not republics,too, lay aside their splendour, mobs be tamed, selfishness deny itself,and wisdom confess its ignorance?...
Then he remembered Felsenburgh; and his heart sickened within him.
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