the Southern Slavs, or the Slavs generally, do not like the Latin language
in the divine service. For the Slav conscience it is something incongruous:
the Latin language of Nero and the spirit of Christ. Every language is the
bearer of a certain spirit. Latin is the bearer of a juristic and despotic
spirit. Ranke said: "The Papal Church is a legacy of ancient Rome."[1] If
this be true, the language doubtless was one of the principal reasons for
it. With the language of the Cæsars also crept into the Church the spirit
of the Cæsars. This spirit was brought to a triumph in 1870 at the Council
of the Vatican.

As the Croats and Slovenes protested against the language of the Cæsars, so
they protested also against the triumphant spirit of the Cæsars in the
Church. Bishop Strossmayer opposed the dogma of Papal Infallibility with a
sincerity, obstinacy and eloquence which can be compared only with the
spirit of the "_golden age_" of Christian history. In a letter to an old
Catholic friend, he wrote: "It is nonsense to say that the Popes cannot
live without these miserable rags called temporary possessions."[2] Is this
not true apostolic language? Again he wrote: "What occurs to-day in Rome is
obviously God's punishment and at the same time a providential way to those
reforms which the Church needs in order to fulfil her mission with more
success in the future than she has done till now."[3] And to Dr. Döllinger
he confessed quite openly: "And what about my nation and its future? It
seems to me quite certain that it will one day get rid of Roman
despotism."[4]


[Footnote 1: "History of the Popes," Chap. I.]
[Footnote 2: "Letter to Professor Reinkens," Schulte: _Der
Altcatholicismus.,_]
[Footnote 3: _Ibid._]