PUBLISHED BY JOHN MURPHY & CO. 178 MARKET STREET. 61 NEW BOND STREET. PITTSBURG.....GEORGE QUIGLEY. SE BX1801 14 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by JOHN MURPHY & COMPANY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maryland. ΤΟ His Holiness, POPE PIUS IX. THE FOLLOWING VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF HIS SEE, AND THE ACTS OF HIS PREDECESSORS, IS INSCRIBED, AS A TOKEN OF FILIAL SUBMISSION AND DEVOTED ADMIRATION, BY THE AUTHOR. On the presentation of the last edition of this work to His Holiness Pius IX., the author was honored with a letter, of which the following is a translation: PIUS IX. VENERABLE BROTHER, Health and Apostolic Benediction— From your letter of 27th May of this year, addressed to us, we clearly perceive the great attachment and reverence which you, Venerable Brother, cherish for Us and for this Supreme chair of Peter. We cannot find words to express how highly we applaud your pious undertaking in vindication of the rights of this Holy Apostolic See, and of the primacy of the Roman Pontiffs, in the work published by you in the English language. The new edition of this work published this year, and dedicated to Us, in token of your filial attachment and devotedness, which, however, we are unable to read, being unacquainted with English, will, we trust, prove highly useful for the defence of our rights, and of those of the Apostolic See against the impious attacks of our enemies. On which account You yourself, Venerable Brother, can conceive and imagine how great consolation We derive from your undertaking, and especially from the zeal with which you cheerfully devote yourself to the discharge of your pastoral office. Continue, then, to pray earnestly to Almighty God, that He may calm the dreadful storm which rages around us, and grant at length that the church may everywhere enjoy peace in His worship. In the mean time, receive, as a token of our favor and grateful feeling for your good offices, the Apostolic Benediction, which, as a pledge of heavenly happiness, We affectionately impart with our whole heart to yourself, Venerable Brother, to be communicated by you to all the clergy and faithful people over whom you preside. Given at Rome, at St. Mary Major's, on the 27th July, in the year 1848, in the third year of our Pontificate. To Our Venerable Brother, PIUS P. P. IX. FRANCIS PATRICK, Bishop of Philadelphia. 4 PREFACE. THIS work first appeared in the year 1837, in the form of letters to the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Vermont, John Henry Hopkins, in reply to a work on the Church of Rome, addressed by him to the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. In 1845 it was enlarged, and took the form of a general treatise on the Primacy; and in 1848 it was republished, with an improved arrangement of the matters which it embraced. In 1853 a' German translation, made by Rev. Nicholas Steinbacher, S. J., was issued, with some alterations made by me in the last edition. The present edition contains some further corrections, although of little importance. The submission of Mr. Allies to the authority of the Holy See, of which he has become an able defender, rendered it proper to retrench many observations made in refutation of his positions as an apologist of the Church of England. Mr. Manning also, now recognising the centre of unity, no longer deserves the reproach of inconsistency. The many striking avowals made by Dr. J. W. Nevin, late President of Marshall College, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, are freely quoted in support of the authority of the Catholic Church and of the Holy See, although it may perplex the reader to understand how he should still remain out of our communion. The other alterations in this edition are chiefly verbal. The work now goes before the public in a permanent form, being stereotyped, with the hope that it may serve to dispel those prejudices which withhold so many from union with the See of Peter, of which Augustin has well said that God has established the doctrine of truth in the chair of unity. BALTIMORE, 1855. 5 |