racies? We are also here to celebrate
with solemn rites the memory of that auspicious day, eighteen hundred
years ago, when Peter and Paul consecrated by their heroic witnessing and
their precious blood this impregnable stronghold of Catholic unity. What
can be more reasonable than that our joyous commemoration of this
triumphant death of the prince of the apostles should be graced by your
presence? For he belongs to the entire Catholic world. It is also most
important that the enemies of religion should conclude from what they
witness here how mighty is the energy, how unfailing the life, of that
Catholic Church which they so bitterly hate; how little wisdom they
display in matching their strength and their temporary triumphs over her
against that incomparable union of living forces which the creative power
of Christ has bound around this central rock. More than ever is it needful
in our age, that all men should see and understand that the only strong
and lasting tie between men's souls depends on the reign over all of the
same Spirit of God. Besides, what can make a more abiding impression on
Catholic nations; what can draw them more powerfully and bind them more
closely in obedience to this apostolic chair and to us, than to see how
much their pastors cherish the rights and duties of Catholic unity, than
to behold them journeying from the farthest lands, notwithstanding every
inconvenience and impediment, in order to visit Rome and the apostolic
chair, as well as to revere in our humble person the successor of Peter
and the Vicar of Christ? We have been always convinced, from the moment we
beheld you approaching Peter in the person of his successor, or even
entering this city, which is impregnated with his blood, that from thence
to each one of you should go forth a special virtue. Yes, from this tomb,
where Peter's ashes repose amid the veneration of the Christian world, a
hidden power, a salutary energy, emanates which instils into the souls of
the Chief Pastors the desire of great undertakings and of vast designs,
inspiring that fearlessness and magnanimity which enable them to put down
the impudent boldness of their assailants. There cannot be offered to the
eyes of men and angels a more magnificent spectacle than what one beholds
in such a concourse of pilgrims as this. You who come from the ends of the
earth to this home of your Father remind us not only of that pilgrimage
which leads us all to the eternal home, y