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exercise jurisdiction until he had received the sacred pallium, which
came from Rome, and was received as the symbol and token of the
authority conferred on him by the supreme Pastor. The pallium itself,
"taken from the body of Blessed Peter," is a band of lamb's wool, and
was worn by each Archbishop as the pledge of unity and of orthodoxy,
as well as the fetter of loving subjection to the Supreme Pastor of
the One Fold, the "apostolic yoke" of Catholic obedience.
In the early Saxon times, long before trains or steamers had been
invented, we find Primate after Primate of All England undertaking the
long and perilous journey over the sea, and then across the Continent
of Europe, and over the precipitous and dangerous passes of the Alps,
down through the sunny and vine-clad slopes of Italy, in order to
receive the pallium in person from the venerable successor of St.
Peter, in the great Basilica in Rome. But, whether they actually went
for it themselves in person, or whether special messengers were sent
with it from Rome to England, they always awaited its reception before
they considered themselves fully empowered to exercise their
metropolitan functions. By way of illustration, it may be interesting
to consider some special case, and we will then leave the reader to
judge whether we are dealing with an England that is _Catholic_ or an
England that is _Protestant_; with an England united to the Holy See
and to the rest of Catholic Europe, or an England independent of the
Holy See, isolated, and established by Law and Parliament, as it is
to-day--an England in possession of the truth, which is universal and
the same everywhere, or an England clinging to error, which is local,
national and circumscribed.
It does not much matter what name we select; any will answer our
purpose. Let us then take Simon Langham, as good and honest an English
name as ever there was. It is the year 1366, some two hundred years
before the Church in England cut itself off from the rest of
Christendom. The metropolitan See of Canterbury is vacant. The
widowed Diocese seeks, at the hands of the Pope, Urban V., a new
Archbishop. After mature inquiry and consideration the Pope selects
Simon Langham. And who is he? Who is this distinguished man, now
called to rule over that portion of the one Catholic Church
represented by England? If we study his history we shall find that he
in no way resembles the typical amiable Anglican Canon of the present
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