The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus Christ #266645

In reprinting the three small Treatises which form the present volume, it may be well to prefix a few words to excuse their insufficiency as compared with the great subject of the Temporal Power, - of which no one is more aware than I am. I am not ashamed of saying, that when this, which has become the leading and critical question of these times, not only for Catholics, but for the nations of Europe, first was forced upon us, I was but little prepared to conceive its vast extent and its vital importance. I had been used to regard it as a sacred institution of Divine Providence, related chiefly to the beautiful confederation of Europe in the ages of Faith, surviving into present times as an object of veneration rather than as a vital power of government.