Candid Admissions by a Roman Catholic Historian
By William W. Prescott
THE Protestant who writes concerning the low state of morals and religion in the Roman Catholic Church just previous to the Reformation of the sixteenth century, is at once discredited by all members of that communion, on the ground that he is a prejudiced witness, quite incapable of presenting the actual facts. No such charge, however, can be made against a Roman Catholic writer of good standing whose work bears the necessary imprimatur. We therefore present herewith some extracts from “Manual of Church History,” by Dr. F. X. Funk, Roman Catholic professor of theology in the University of Tübingen, a work which was published in London, 1910, having the imprimatur of Archbishop Bourne’s vicar-general, dated May 16, 1910. Writing of church reform before the Reformation, Dr. Funk uses the following plain language with reference to the spiritual condition of the church at that time:— To tell the truth, the parish clergy were not in a temper to think of their own moral elevation, being in sad straits owing to the oppression practised by the monasteries and cathedral chapters, which, after having appropriated most of the parishes, refused to give their secular vicars more than the merest pittance. So wide-spread was concubinage that a French council complained (Paris, or Sens, c. 23, 1429) of the general impression being prevalent that fornication was merely venial. At Constance and Basel the abrogation of clerical celibacy was proposed by no less a person than the Emperor Sigismund. Even small towns in this age owned their public brothels. Faced by all these evils, the heads of the church made proof of astounding forbearance, preferring to leave things alone, so long as their own rights, and claims, and revenues were left untouched. The period was deeply conscious of its own irregularities. Throughout it we have to listen to complaints, and demands for reform. Though this is, of course, a pleasing feature, yet the fact that, in spite of countless desires and efforts, two centuries did not suffice to purge the church, is a sad witness to the deeply rooted character of the evils.—Vol. II, page 77. In the same volume Dr. Funk states some facts concerning the Jesuits, that powerful organization which has contributed so much to the upbuilding of the Papacy and the undoing of the work of the Reformation during the last three hundred years. In his chapter on the suppression of the Jesuits, the following paragraph is found:— As we have already had occasion to see, the Society of Jesus had done great service in the cause of the church. In the course of time, however, when nearly all the schools of the Catholic world had come under its control, and when its members were everywhere in demand as confessors and confidential advisers to the princes, it attained a position not devoid of danger. The society soon acquired a strong spirit of independence, which it did not hesitate to display even toward the Holy See. In effect, the determination with which the Jesuits adhered to their rites and usages in Malabar and China, in spite of their condemnation by Rome, can only with difficulty be reconciled with their vow of obedience, even though all allowances be made for their being convinced of the necessity of their methods. Their conduct was repeatedly made a subject of complaint by Benedict XIV. In his bull Immensa Pastorum (Dec. 20, 1741), he was compelled to recall to the Jesuits and to other orders the precepts of Christian charity, and to forbid them to hinder the progress of the gospel among the Indians by trading in slaves, and other inhuman practises. In this matter he was indeed obeyed, but in other directions the proceedings of the society remained open to criticism.—Page 173. The author of this history, unlike some other Roman Catholic historians, gives due consideration to facts even though they do not always tend to the glorification of the Papacy. He admits that the great Reformation “was not without wholesome results.” Unlike other Roman Catholic writers who regard it as their first duty to exalt the church, and who apparently think it so much the worse for the facts when they do not accord with their theory, Dr. Funk does not attempt to overthrow or to belittle the great reform of that period by abusing Luther and his associates, but candidly gives credit to it for a great improvement in the affairs of the Roman Catholic Church. To use his own words:— For the West the greater misfortune was the schism of the sixteenth century, yet, however regrettable, it was not without wholesome results. It has often been questioned whether, had it not occurred, a reform of the church [of Rome] would have been possible. To return a simple negative to this question would indeed be to despair of the church’s vitality and providence. On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the reforms were far too long delayed, and that they were introduced only when the church had been shaken to her foundations, and when a large fraction of the world had already abandoned her in disgust. History also shows us that the wholesale apostasy not only preceded, but actually caused the reforms within the church; hence there can be no doubt that the church’s improvement is closely bound up with the Protestant Reformation.—Page 271. So much of the so-called history prepared by Roman Catholic writers is warped by the spirit of dogmatism and bigotry as to render it of little value. It is, therefore, quite refreshing to read7after an author who exhibits the spirit of the historian rather than that of the servile defender of the Papacy. These extracts from Dr. Funk’s history are of value in establishing the reliability of those Protestant historians who arrive at the same conclusions as the result of impartial investigation. W. W. P.