We note with regret that Father George Tyrrell has been
deprived of the Sacraments—that is, in effect, though not in name, excommunicated—on account of the articles published by him in the Times criticising the recent Encyclical. Pro- testants may at first be inclined to think that this will matter very little to a man of Father Tyrrell's liberal views,—a man who can conscientiously feel that he has done nothing worthy of condemnation. We fear, however, that a man of so deeply religious a cast of mind as Father Tyrrell, one who, it is evident from his writings, is passionately attached to the Roman Church, will suffer very greatly from the deprivation imposed upon him. According to the Rome correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, the Holy Office in Rome—i.e., the Inquisition—is now collecting evidence for a secret trial of the Canonical charges against Father Tyrrell. A Reuter telegram further states that the Pope on Wednesday issued sentence of excommunication against the authors of the reply to his Encyclical against Modernism, a sentence also extending to the readers of the reply,—a decision which must be admitted to have a fine flavour of mediaevalism about it.
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