https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/120169 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:14:10 GMT 2026-04-10T05:14:10Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129104 Title: Protestantism and churches in the East ; a tract for the times Abstract: On Sunday, November 7th, 1841, the Rev. Michael ,Solomon Alexander, a convert from Judaism, was consecrated by the Most Rev. Dr. William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, " Bishop of the Protestant Church of England and Ireland in Jerusalem," The consecration was performed in virtue of an Act of the British Parliament in the session lately closed;* and, by a mandate of her Majesty Queen Victoria, the jurisdiction of the new Protestant prelate was defined as embracing the countries of Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and Abyssinia.; The competency of a British Parliament to erect Protestant episcopal sees in any part of her Majesty's dominions, and the sufficiency of a royal warrant to give the occupants the customary style and title of bishops in such dominions, will not here be called in question. The "Church of England and Ireland" is an establishment subject to the regulation of Parliament, and to the governance of the Sovereign as its supreme head under Christ.; It must be admitted, nevertheless, to be somewhat perplexing how such power of erection and nomination should be asserted with respect to a foreign land, wherein Great Britain has not an inch of territory...[Excerpt] Description: Tract 42. [Published under the Superintendence of the Catholic Institute of Great Britain.] https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129104 https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129095 Title: Life and labours of Saint Vincent de Paul Abstract: In beginning what I hope will become a series of Tracts, each containing the life of some Catholic saint, I have fixed on one who lived and died a member of our Church, after he had sanctioned at Trent all those doctrines and practices which Protestants call erroneous and even "idolatrous." Vincent of Paul was born at Poni; a village at the foot of the Pyrennees ; his parents occupied a small farm, on which they brought up four sons and three daughters. Vincent, the third son, early evinced great natural abilities. His feeling for religion and love of solitude was most unusual for a child ; and we are told that his happiest hours at this age were those spent in prayer, in the fields, where he was sent to tend his father's cattle. The unusual talents of Vincent, and the spirit of piety with which his whole nature seemed imbued, induced his father to place him under the care of the Franciscan friars ; and his progress in his studies was so great, that in four years M. le Comte d' Acques engaged him as preceptor to his children, enabling him to continue his studies without being a burden to his parents. At twenty years of age he was qualified to enter the University of Toulouse, where he spent seven years in preparation for the priesthood, to which he believed himself called by God, to whom he had long resolved to consecrate all his energies and talents.; He was ordained deacon in 1598, and priest in 1600. Soon after his ordination he met with that train of misfortunes which he often afterwards called " disguised blessing , sent to teach him to feel for others."... [Excerpt] Description: Tract 40. [Published under the Superintendence of the Catholic Institute of Great Britain.] https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129095 https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129085 Title: Postscript to tract 42 Abstract: As the foregoing Tract was issuing from the press, there appeared a '' Statement of Proceedings relating to the Establishment of a Bishopric of the United Church of England and Ireland in Jerusalem: Published by Authority." I regret that this document was not published earlier. And I gladly avail myself of the opportunity afforded by a second issue of the Tract, to subjoin some additional remarks suggested by the perusal of the "Statement," and of two pamphlets mentioned below, to rectify one or two unintentional mistakes, and to supply an omission which to several of my readers may have appeared singular.; In the absence of sufficient data, I forebore speaking on the part which the Lutheran King of Prussia had taken in the erection of this Anglican episcopate in Palestine. Those data are now furnished by the "Statement of Proceedings," and in the Circulars of the Prussian minister of spiritual affairs addressed to all the royal consistories in his master's dominions.; The immediate objects contemplated by the Anglican authorities at home, and the position which they were instructing their delegate to take abroad, were matters left open to speculation. In the "Statement" certain objects are distinctly avowed, and specific instructions, given to Bishop Alexander, are enumerated. This is satisfactory, in so far as it brings the question into more tangible form, and facilitates the inquiry into the fitness of the course taken, as well as into its probable issue in regard of Anglican Protestantism and Christianity in general... [Excerpt] Sat, 01 Jan 1842 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129085 1842-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129065 Title: On the absolving power of the priesthood Abstract: The Absolving Power: or the Sinner's Gate to Heaven.; Has Christ vested in his Church the power of absolving sinners, if truly penitent? It is what the whole Christian world said and believed for fifteen hundred years ; and it is what the whole Christian world still says and believes, with the sole exception of Protestants.; One of the most irreligious proceedings in modern times, is to overlook certain of the doctrines of our Divine Saviour, as if they were vague and unmeaning words, calculated solely to fill a printer's sheet. This is a principle so totally subversive of all Christianity, that none of us ,would dare to avow it in words. But the enemy of Truth will gladly spare us the horror of avowing it, provided he can make us apt upon it. And this he contrives to do without allowing us to suspect that we are guilty of doing so.; The country is cut up into a hundred different sects, and each sect has its own favourite doctrines ; and every thing that chimes or seems to chime with these, is set down as Gospel Truth, while everything at variance with them, is heard and read as if it were mere empty sound, no matter how vital may be its importance, or how clearly it may be expressed...[Excerpt] Description: Tract 39 [Published under the Superintendence of the Catholic Institute of Great Britain.] https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/129065