n Italy? Or were they
driven by the instinct of self-preservation to accept the constitutional
government as a bulwark against the incoming tide of Anarchism,
Socialism, and the other subversive forces? The Church is the most
conservative element in Christendom; in a new upheaval it will surely
rally to the side of any other element which promises to save society
from chaos. These motives have been cited to explain the recent action
of the Holy See, but there were high-minded Catholics who liked to
think that the controlling reason was religious--that the Pope and his
counsellors had at last been persuaded that the old policy of abstention
wrought irreparable harm to the religious life of millions of the
faithful in Italy.

However this may be, Senator Fogazzaro's book, filled with the Liberal
and Christian spirit, has been eagerly caught up as the mouthpiece of
the Christian Democrats, and indeed of all intelligent Catholics
in Italy, who have always held that religion and patriotism are not
incompatible, and that the Church has most injured itself in prolonging
the antagonism. In this respect, _The Saint_, like _Uncle Tom's Cabin_
and similar books which crystallise an entire series of ideals or sum
up a crisis, leaped immediately into importance, and seems certain to
enjoy, for a long time to come, the prestige that crowns such works.
Putting it on the _Index_ can only add to its power.

VI

But readers who imagine that this aspect measures the significance of
_The Saint_ have read the surface only. The probability of restoring
friendly relations between Church and State is a matter of concern to
everybody in Italy; but of even greater concern are the implications
which issue from Signor Fogazzaro's thought. He is an evolutionist; he
respects the higher criticism; he knows that religions, like states and
secular institutions, have their birth and growth and inevitable decay.
So Catholicism must take its course in the human circuit, and expect
sooner or later to pass away. This would be the natural deduction to
draw from the premise of evolution. Signor Fogazzaro, however, does not
draw it. He conceives that Catholicism contains a final deposit of truth
which can neither be superseded, wasted, nor destroyed.

"My friends," says Benedetto, "you say, 'We have reposed in the shade of
this tree but now its bark cracks and dries; the tree will die; let us
go in search of other shade.' The tree will not die. If you ha