however holy and illustrious those souls may be. We cannot adhere, for instance, to the assertion of Cardinal Cavallari,[1] who, when returning thanks to you for the honour conferred upon him, declared that he was called to "occupy the throne of Venice, whereon the Apostle St. Mark was the first to sit"; nor, again, to what you yourself affirmed in the Encyclical of October 27, 1904—viz., that "the Hebrew patriarchs were familiar with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, and found consolation in the thought of Mary in the solemn moments of their life."
Holiness, you have in the last place accused us also of preaching "a charity without faith, so tender to the unbeliever as to open up the path that leads to eternal ruin for all." Now, apart from the fact that for us there is no charity with-
- ↑ Successor of Pius X. in the Patriarchal See of Venice, admitted to the Sacred College at the Secret Consistory of April 15, 1907.—Tr.
