S John Henry Newman, and the Psalms (2)

 So who d'you think wrote this:

"In the early ages of the Church, the Psalms were so familiar to the laity, that it was found impossible to adopt the better version, made by St Jerome from the Hebrew, for all had the older version by heart. In these days the Psalms are littler used in the private devotions of lay Catholics; and forms of prayer which have no authoritative sanction, and which are often little recommendable either for sentiment or expression, are often used instead of those which have been dictated by the Holy Ghost. The reason of this notable change in the practice of the faithful must be that they do not understand the Psalms.".

No; not Father Faber; how indignantly he would have repudiated these disdainful comments on the sort of Italianate devotions he favoured at Brompton! 

Nor, indeed, Dr Newman.

But the writer was a very close friend of Newman's: David Moriarty, Bishop of Kerry.

Most people are aware that S John Henry had a lot to do with the foundation of a new University in Dublin; perhaps not so many are aware of his wider Irish connections ... particularly in the 'wild' and 'Celtic' South West. But it is remarkable how many of the Ascendancy, Anglo-Irish gentry Newman influenced. For example: the learned, antiquarian convert Lord Dunraven, who was to build the fine Catholic church at Sneem in the County Kerry. 

And one of Newman's closest episcopal friends was Bishop Moriarty.

Moriarty was a remarkable man. He had a lot to do with the erection of a 'Pugin-Salisbury' Cathedral at Killarney, with its 'Close' including episcopal residence and seminary. Perhaps most significantly, he was ... apparently ... one of only two Bishops who never quite got round to subscribing formally the Definition of Infallibilty of Vatican I. He was fairly extreme in his opposition to 'Fenian', Irish Nationalist, violence. He seems, accordingly, to have been the British Government's favourite Irish Catholic bishop. I have found myself wondering if that may be why he was ... as far as I know ... never subjected to bullying by the ultrahyperpapalists who surrounded Pio Nono.

Remarkable, isn't it, that the Vatican I Decree on papal Primacy and Infallibility, which seemed a step too far for 'inopportunist' Vatican I bishops such as Moriarty, now seems to many of us a precious and valued protection against our current papal regime and its excesses!

It all goes to show how extreme our current disorders have become!!

And that we should trust Providence and decline to panic.

To be continued.