legitimam decernendo, misericorditer dispensandi: ac quæcumque beneficia ecclesiastica, tam sæcularia quàm regularia, et quæ per rectores catholicos possidebantur, de ipsorum tamen rectorum catholicorum consensu, seu absque eorum præjudiciocuicumque alteri beneficio ecclesiastico ob ejus fructûs, tenuitatem, aut hospitali jam erecto vel erigendo, seu universali, vel scholis literariis, uniendi, annectendi, et incorporandi, aut fructus, reditus, et proventus, seu bonorum beneficiorum dividendi, separandi et dismembrandi, ac eorum sic divisorum, separatorum, et dismembratorum partem aliis beneficiis seu hospitalibus, vel studiis aut scholis, seu piis usibus similiter arbitrio tuo perpetuò applicandi et appropriandi. "Ac cum possessoribus bonorum ecclesiasticorum (restitutis priùs, si tibi expedire videretur, immobilibus per eos indebitè detentis) super fructibus malè perceptis, ac bouis mobilibus consumptis, concordandi, et transigendi, ac eos desuper liberandi et quietandi: ac quidquid ex concordiis et transactionibus hujusmodi proveniret, in ecclesiæ cujus essent bona, vel in studiorum universalium, aut scholarum hujusmodi, seu alios pios usus convertendi, omniaque et singula alia, in quæ in præmissis et circa ea quomodolibet necessaria et opportuna esse cognosceres, faciendi, dicendi, gerendi et exercendi : necnon catholicos locorum ordinarios, aut alias personas Deum timentes, fide insignes, et literarum scientia præditas, ac gravitate morum conspicuas, et ætate veneranda, de quarum probitate et circumspectione, ac charitatis zelo plena fiducia conspici posset, ad præmissa omnia, cum simili vel limitata potestate (absolutione et dispensatione clericorum circa connubia, ac unione beneficiorum, seu eorum fructuum et bonorum separatione, et applicatione, ac concordia cum possessoribus bonorum ecclesiasticorum et eorum liberatorum, duntaxat exceptis) substituendi et subdelegandi: ac diversas alias facultates per diversas alias nostras tam sub plumbo quam in forma brevis confectas literas, concessimus, prout in illis plenius continetur. "Verùm cùm tu ad partes Flandriæ, ex quibus brevissima ad regnum transfretatio existit, te contuleris, ac ex certis rationalibus nobis notis causis inibi aliquandiu subsistere habeas, ac à nonnullis nimiùm forsan scrupulosis, hæsitetur, an tu in partibus hujusmodi subsistens, prædictis ac aliis tibi concessis facultatibus uti, ac in eodem regno locorum ordinarios, aut alias personas, ut præmittitur, qualificatas, quæ facultatibus. per te juxta dictarum literarum continentiam pro tempore concessis utantur, alias juxta earumdem literarum prædictarum tenorem substituere, et delegare possis: Nos causam tuæ subsistentiæ in eisdem partibus approbantes, et singularum literarum prædictarum tenores, præsentibus pro sufficienter expressis, ac de verbo ad verbum insertis, habentes, circumspectioni tuæ quòd quandiu in eisdem partibus de licentia nostra moram traxeris, legatione tua prædicta durante, etiam extra ipsum regnum existens, omnibus et singulis prædictis, et quibusvis aliis tibi concessis, et quæ per præsentes tibi conceduntur, facultatibus, etiam erga quoscunque archiepiscopos, episcopos, ac abbates, aliosque ecclesiarum tam sæcularium quàm quorumvis ordinum regularium, necnon monasteriorum et aliorum locorum regularium prælatos, non secùs ac erga alios inferiores clericos, uti possis, necnon erga alias personas in singulis literis prædictis quovis modo nominatas, ad te pro tempore recurrentes vel mittentes, etiam circa ordines quos nunquam aut malè susceperunt, et munus consecrationis quod iis ab aliis episcopis vel archiepiscopis etiam hæreticis et schismaticis, aut aliàs minùs ritè et non servatà formâ ecclesiæ consueta impensum fuit, etiam si ordines et munus hujusmodi etiam circa altaris ministerium temerè executi sint, per te ipsum vel alios, ad id à te pro tempore deputatos, liberè uti, ac in eodem regno tot quot tibi videbuntur locorum ordinarios, vel alias personas, ut præmittitur, qualificatas, quæ facultatibus per te, eis pro tempore concessis (citra tamen eas quæ solùm tibi, ut præfertur, concessæ existunt) etiam te in partibus Flandriæ hujusmodi subsistente, liberè utantur, et eas exerceant et exequantur aliàs, juxta ipsarum literarum continentiam ac tenorem substituere et subdelegare. "Necnon de personis quorumcunque episcoporum vel archiepiscoporum, qui metropolitanam aut alias cathedrales ecclesias de manu laicorum etiam schismaticorum, et præsertim qui de Henrici regis et Eduardi ejus nati receperunt, et eorum regimini et administrationi se ingesserunt, et eorum fructus, reditus et proventus etiam longissimo tempore, tanquam veri archiepiscopi * *"And especially those who having received Churches from the hands of King Henry and Edward, his son, have intruded them selves into the government and administration of the same." aut episcopi temerè et de facto usurpando, etiamsi in hæresim, aut præfertur, inciderint, seu antea hæretici fuerint; postquam per te unitati Sanctæ Matris Ecclessia Restituti exstiterint, tuque eos rehabilitandos esse censueris, si tibi alias digni et idonei videbuntur,* eisdem metropolitanis et aliis cathedralibus ecclesiis denuò, necnon quibusyis aliis cathedralibus etiam metropolitanis ecclesiis per obitum vel privationem illarum præsulum, seu aliàs quovis modo pro tempore vacantibus, de personis idoneis pro quibus ipsa Maria regina juxta consuetudines ipsius regn, tibi supplicaverit authoritate nostra providere, ipsasque personas eisdem ecclesiis in episcopos aut archiepiscopos præficere: Ac cum iis qui ecclesias cathedrales et metropolitanas de manu laïcorum, etiam schismaticorum, ut præfertur, receperunt, quod eisdem seu aliis, ad quas eas aliàs ritè transferri contigerit, cathedralibus etiam metropolitanis ecclesiis, in episcopos vel archiepiscopos præesse, ipsasque ecclesias in spiritualibus et temporalibus regere et gubernare, ac munere consecrationis eis hactenus impenso uti, vel si illud eis nondum impensum exstiterit, ab episcopis vel archiepiscopis catholicis per te nominandis suscipere liberè et licitè possint. Necnon cum quibusvis per te, ut præmittitur, pro tempore absolutis et rehabilitatis, ut eorum erroribus et excessibus præteritis non obstantibus, quibusvis cathedralibus, etiam metropolitanis ecclesiis in episcopos et archiepiscopos præfici et præesse, illasque in eisdem spiritualibus et temporalibus regere et gubernare; ac ad quoscunque etiam sacros et presbyteratus ordines promovere, et in illis aut per eos jam licet minùs ritė susceptis ordinibus etiam in altaris ministerio ministrare, necnon munus consecrationis suscipere, et illo uti libere et licitè valeant, dispensare etiam liberè et licitè possis, plenam et liberam apostolicam authoritatem per præsentes concedimus facultatem et potestatem: non obstantibus constitutionibus et ordinationibus "After by you they shall have been restored to the unity of Holy Mother Church, and you shall have thought good to reinstate them, if in other respects they shall seem to you to be worthy and fit." "Over Cathedral, even over Metropolitan Churches, as Bishops and Archbishops, they may freely and legally preside, and may rule and govern the same church both in things spiritual as well as in things temporal and use the gift of consecration already bestowed upon them. Also with any who by you for the time have been absolved and rehabilitated as aforesaid, that their past errors and excesses notwithstanding, they may freely and lawfully be appointed and preside over any Cathedral, even Metropolitan Churches as Bishops and Archbishops, and rule and govern them in the apostolicis, ac omnibus illis, quæ in singulis literis præteritis voluimus non obstare, cæterisque contrariis quibuscunque. "Datum Romæ apud S. Petrum sub Annulo Piscatoris die 8 Martii 1554, Rontificatus Nostri anno quinto." same spiritual and temporal things; and to any, even sacred and Priestly Orders advance, and in the same, or Orders by them already, though irregularly, received, even in the Ministry of the Altar serve, and the gift of Consecration receive, and the same freely and lawfully use, that you may freely and lawfully dispense, we grant you by these Presents full and free Apostolic authority, permission, and power." No. XVI. DR. LINGARD ON ARCHBISHOP PARKER'S CONSECRATION. THE two following Letters from the Catholic Magazine, written by Dr. Lingard, appropriately supplement that which has already appeared as a Note at p. 180 of this treatise, and which stood as the first of the series : LETTER No. II. GENTLEMEN,-I have read with attention, and occasionally with surprise, the communications of "Upsilon," and "T. H.," and "T. J. B." with respect to the Consecration of Archbishop Parker. What impression they may have made on the minds of your readers, it is not for me to divine: as far as regards myself, they have not shaken my confidence in the accuracy of my original statement. To that statement my opponents object, if I understand them rightly, on different grounds: "Upsilon" and "T. H.," appear to allow that some sort of consecration may have preceded Parker's assumption of the archiepiscopal office. With them, the great error of which I have been guilty, is that I state Barlow to have been a Catholic Bishop, in the reign of Henry VIII., whereas they are positive that he never received episcopal consecration at all. But "T. J. B." goes much further. He contends that I am wrong in almost every particular: that I have suffered myself to be misled by false and spurious documents, and that I have presumed to contradict the best-informed amongst the Catholic contemporary writers. To begin with Barlow. Why, I will ask, are we to believe that, of all the Bishops who lived in the long reign of Henry VIII., Barlow alone held and exercised the episcopal office without episcopal consecration? He was elected, and his election was confirmed in conformity with the statute of the 25th of that reign; why should we suppose that he was not also consecrated in conformity with the same statute? Was |