respective commissions, in order to be
revised in accordance with the speeches and the written amendments of the
bishops.

Pius IX., meanwhile, was most anxious to aid and promote the labors of the
council. Notwithstanding the great increase of ecclesiastical business
occasioned by the presence in Rome of so many prelates, the affairs of
whose churches, as well as their own more personal matters, required no
small degree of attention, he followed, with unabated interest, every
stage of its proceedings, and caused a minute account to be given to him
every day of what was done in the various committees. These unwonted
cares, and the unusual amount of labor and fatigue which they entailed,
never induced him to omit any of those devotional offices with which he
was accustomed to renew and strengthen his soul. He would not hear of any
hurrying in the discussions on the first _schema_--that on faith, but, on
the contrary, gave due praise to the pains and labor bestowed by the
Fathers on every chapter, word and sentence. It was their object to secure
that complete accuracy and perfection of expression which could not fail
to prove eminently useful in all time to come. As has been already
remarked, the Fathers of the "Congregations" and "Commissions" labored
most assiduously in preparing, for the acceptance of the council, the
_schema_ on faith and doctrine. In the course of the six weeks that it was
under review, seventy-nine discourses were delivered, three hundred and
sixty-four amendments proposed, examined and voted upon, while six reports
were made upon the text of the _schema_, which had been six times amended.
The introduction, the four chapters and the eighteen canons, having
finally passed the council, were approved by the Holy Father, adopted and
promulgated as a Papal "Constitution," which will be known in history as
the Constitution _Dei Filius_. It is a masterpiece of theological science,
and may be compared to priceless gems artistically arranged by skilful
hands in the richest settings.

It would be idle, indeed, to recount all the hard and absurd things that
have been said by the enemies of the council and the Catholic religion.
One of their accusations, if well founded, would be truly crushing. Some
scientists, who claim to be very profound, deem it necessary to abjure the
Catholic faith, because the Vatican Council has placed an impassable gulf
between religion and science, faith and reason. The council antic