s sacred. After the request had been made the third time, the Holy
Father read in a clear and audible voice the decree of canonization. He
then intoned the _Te Deum_, which was chanted by the immense congregation.
The ceremonies concluded with a solemn High Mass, which was celebrated by
the Pope himself, surrounded by the cardinals and bishops. The people
spent the remainder of the day in pious rejoicing. They were gay and
expansive, but calm and brotherly; thus exhibiting, without being
conscious of it, a spectacle unknown to the inhabitants of other capitals.

(M90) The demonstrations which took place at Rome on the following day
were not less important, and perhaps had greater significance, although
not accompanied by so much pomp and ceremony. There was held in the Palace
of the Vatican a semi-public consistory, at which all the bishops who were
at Rome attended. The venerable Pontiff denounced, in his allocution to
the attentive audience, those errors which are too ancient to have even
the merit of originality, but which are the more dangerous that, at the
present time more than ever, they are loudly preached and widely
disseminated. He alluded in particular to that German criticism, which
views our sacred books as nothing better than a system of mythology, and
to that too well-known romance of a French writer, M. Renan, entitled:
"The Life of Jesus." He condemned materialism, pantheism, naturalism, and
all those more or less degrading systems which deny human liberty,
proclaim a morality independent of the laws of God; which derive from
material force and superior numbers all law and authority: and which in
philosophy make reason their God, the state in politics, and passion in
the daily conduct of life. The Holy Father then thanked the bishops who
were present, regretting the absence of those of Portugal and Italy, the
latter of whom were restrained by the Piedmontese government, and exhorted
them all to continue to combat error, and to turn away the eyes and hands
of the faithful from bad books and bad journals, and to promote, without
ever wearying, the instruction of the clergy and the good education of
youth. He concluded, in a voice which was impeded by his tears, and with
his eyes raised to heaven, by joining with all present in beseeching the
Father of mercies, through the merits of Jesus Christ, His only Son, to
extend a helping hand to Christian and civil society, and to restore peace
to the church.

Car