Note 3 — Chapter V

The caustic comment in Vatican circles was, of course, that it was a case of the "Little Rock" in conflict with the Rock of Peter; but it should be added that the two dissentient prelates, immediately after voting against the decree, left their places and prostrated themselves before the Papal Chair in token of their submission. Similarly every one of the eighty-eight bishops who had voted "Non placet" in the Congregation of July 13—not, of course, against the dogma, but against the opportuneness of its definition—accepted the decree without qualification as soon as it was officially promulgated.