That favourite subject with many Romish artists, the 'Coronation of the Queen of Heaven' by the hands of her Son, carries with it the deadly error that she is now enthroned as a Divine Redemptress, wielding the sceptre of salvation. It is as crowned Queen of Heaven that in her own right she makes such promises as those promulgated in the Rosary from which we quote :

'Promises of the Most Holy Mary to the Devotees of the Holy Rosary.

To all those who shall recite my Psalter I promise my most special protection.

'The Rosary will prove a powerful weapon against hell, destroying vice, dissipating sin, overcoming all heresy.

'He who commends himself to me by the Rosary shall not perish.

'I, on the day of their death, set free the souls of my devotees from Purgatory.

'The true children of my Rosary shall have great glory in heaven.

'Whatsoever you shall ask of me by my Rosary I will obtain for you in heaven by my mediation.'

When we have fully appreciated all that is implied in these tremendous promises,' we need not waste time over the long list of indulgences granted to such as recite the Rosary, or even one of its three divisions, by Pope after Pope. We will only instance Benedict XIII., who granted one hundred days of indulgence for every Pater and every Ave recited; and Pius IX., who generously promised plenary indulgence as the reward for reciting only a third part of the Rosary three times a week, or for reciting it on the Rosary anniversary, the first Sunday in October.

Is it not plain, from all these Papal promises in Encyclical and Brief, that Rome to-day presents Mary, and not Christ, as the giver of eternal life and salvation, attributing to her the Divine power of changing the repentant sinner into ‘a

man after God's own heart,' and to her the gift of the worldrenovating Spirit of God?

Let us quote again from the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII., the ipsissima verba of the late Pontiff :

'We will and command that the whole of the month of October of the current year be dedicated and consecrated to the Heavenly Queen of the Rosary. We decree and command that in this same year the solemnity of the Virgin of the Rosary be celebrated with especial devotion and splendour throughout all the world.'

The Pope represents himself as holding 'the weighty keys' of that heavenly treasury' of the Church in which are amassed the merits of the Redeemer, the Virgin, the Saints, and all 'supererogatory' good works; and as dispensing these 'treasures' to all who devoutly practise the Rosary in indulgences-some of seven years, some of twice that length, some plenary, according to the acts of piety performed by the votaries of the Rosary.

'

This lavish munificence during the consecrated month of October was intended, as was the whole Encyclical, to fan the flames of devotion to Mary the world over, and induce the people to trust in her as their Saviour. We have quoted Pope Leo's express declaration that by her intercession we may obtain that her Divine Son be appeased and moved to compassion for our woes.' Is there not in this passage a hideous misrepresentation, approaching to blasphemy, of the Divine all-compassionate Redeemer? But such is the inevitable consequence of the interposition of Mary as Mediatrix with her Son on behalf of the sinful world for which He willingly offered Himself, making that full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice for all its sins which the idolaters of Mary incomprehensibly ignore.

And yet it was Leo XIII. who issued that other Encyclical, containing a solemn magnificent proclamation of Jesus Christ as the only Saviour, 'the Way, the Truth, the Life.' Many may remember how deeply that Encyclical impressed the Christian world, with its dedication of the whole year to Christ, its poetic celebration of the nineteen Christian cen

turies just closing by the erection of nineteen statues of the Redeemer on nineteen of the loftiest mountain-peaks of Italy. It was hailed as a happy omen of a new era of purer Christian faith, of which Pope Leo was the herald. This hope was confirmed by the institution of the Society of St. Jerome for the diffusion of the Gospels, and by the publication of that touching hymn in which Leo seemed to unveil the inmost feelings of his soul on the approach of death. We give what seems an approximately correct version of this hymn, as translated in some English papers:

These touching lines are in full harmony with the teaching of the Encyclical in which Leo proclaimed Christ to be the Way, the Truth, the Life.' They are diametrically opposed to the teaching of that other Encyclical, in which, following in the steps of Pius IX., his successor set forth Mary as the sinner's hope, by whose intervention the Redeemer might be ' appeased.' Yes, that merciful Redeemer whom, in his pathetic verse, Leo finds very near to him, pitying and pardoning and cleansing the penitent even while he prays.

It would seem as if Leo, the humble individual Christian, were quite another being from Leo the Pope, who had received as an inalienable heritage the acts and deeds of his infallible predecessor, Pius IX.-that Pope who, when holding his famous Vatican Council of 1870, and confidently expecting to translate into fact the Coronation Charge which declared him 'Father of princes and kings and Governor of the World,' put forth a Brief appointing the Rosary as a spiritual weapon sure to gain the victory for the Holy See. In this Brief we are told that 'St. Dominic, armed with the Rosary, as with an invincible sword, crushed the infamous heresy of the Albigenses. Equipped with the same armour, and with the authority of the Vatican Council, the faithful will be able to overthrow and extirpate the manifold monsters of error that prowl around.'

There needs no further proof of the intimate connection between the Popes, the Rosary of St. Dominic, and the whole idolatrous system of Madonna-worship.

X

THE ROSARY AND THE EXTIRPATION

OF HERETICS

'All who know what is going on in Europe of late know that the time for smiling at Rosaries is past. A charm or a chupattie ceases to be a trifle when it becomes the symbol connecting devotion with deeds of blood.'-Rev. W. ARTHUR, M.A., in 'The Popes, the Kings, and the People.'

ΟΝ

NE characteristic of St. Dominic's Rosary must not
be passed over it is the battle-flag of the crusade
against heretics.

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Leo XIII., in the Encyclical already cited, reminds us how Leo X. declared that the Rosary was instituted 'to do battle against all heretics and the prevailing heresies,' adding : ' The need of Divine help certainly is not less now than when the glorious St. Dominic introduced the practice of the Rosary. He, illuminated by heavenly light, knew there was no better way nor more efficacious remedy to bring men nearer to Christ than to interpose, as Mediator with God, the Virgin, who has power to extinguish all heresies. Therefore, he composed the formula of the Holy Rosary.'

Let us go once more within the walls of the Sanctuary of Pompei, and ere we enter lift our eyes to the statue of the Madonna that surmounts its sumptuous façade, and note the glittering letters of the inscription, 'PAX.' Mary is here proclaimed 'Queen of Peace.'

But what confronts us within her temple? The picture enthroned above the high altar, where Mary is shown entrusting the corona of the Rosary to the terrible Inquisitor, Dominico Gusman. And if we turn to the dedicatory tablet,

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