To all such the church, the pillar and ground of truth, the organ

of Christ our Lord on earth, will speak. It is not her office to

enter into the detailed discussion of scientific studies, and to

make manifest the errors of fact into which these men have fallen,

or the fallacy of their deductions. This she leaves to scholars

who, in their pursuit of earthly knowledge, do not cast away the

knowledge they have received of divine truth. Such Christian scholars

have replied to the sneers, and gibes, and sarcasms of the last

century, and have shown the utter worthlessness and absurdity of

the arguments then brought forward against Christianity by men who

claimed to speak on the part of science; and there are now others

answering with equal fulness the more modern objections. The church

might, indeed, have left it to time and the progress of learning

and science to vindicate her course and to refute the objections

raised against her teaching. For, as a matter of fact, the grand

difficulties brought forward half a century ago excite but a smile

now, as we see on what an unsubstantial foundation they rested. And

a very few years to come will, we may be sure, suffice to overturn

many a pet theory of to-day, with their vaunted arguments against

revelation. New discoveries will lead to new theories, that may or

may not give rise to a new crop, a new set of difficulties, for

man's mind is limited and cannot reach the truth on all sides,

but they will consign the present difficulties to the tomb of the

Capulets. To that tomb generation after generation of these so-called

scientific objections are passing. The church does not undertake to

teach astronomy, geology, chemistry, or physics. Natural sciences

are to be studied by man, in the use of his own reason and the

exercise of his natural faculties. These things God has left to the

disputations of men. The church does not despise these discussions

and researches. She does not repress them nor oppose them. Quite

the contrary. She has ever protected and fostered science. One of

the most beautiful and instructive chapters in her earthly history

would be that which tells how, from the school of Alexandria, in the

days of persecution, down the entire course of ages, she has ever

sought to promote and foster science. She may with pride point to her

canons and laws enacted for this purpose in every century. She may

recount the long catalogue of schools, colleges, and universities

established by her in every civilized land of Europe, and wherever

she planted her foot; and to the religious houses of her clergy,

throughout the stormy middle ages the chief, almost the only safe

homes of learning. Many of the universities which she founded have

in the course of ages been destroyed by kings and nobles, who

filled their own purses, or repaired their wasted fortunes, by the

seizure of endowments given for the free education of all that might

come to drink of these fountains of learning; even as this very

month the progressive, liberal government of the kingdom of Italy

is discussing the propriety of suppressing one half of the older

universities they found existing in the portion of the Papal States,

and in other parts of Italy, which ten years ago they annexed to the

kingdom of Sardinia. When did the church ever do such an act? Never.

What university was ever suppressed by any act of hers? None. She

encourages science. But at the same time she says, "God has given to

man reason and understanding to seek after and to attain knowledge.

It is a great and noble gift, to be prized and used rightly, and not

turned to an evil purpose. If a father place in the hands of his son,

as a gift, a weapon keen and bright, shall that son, with parricidal

hand turn the blade against his father? Beware not to turn these

gifts of God against God himself. Use them not as pretexts to deny

his existence, or shake off his authority, or to impugn his truth

when he speaks."

In giving this admonition, the church is acting in her full

right. She is in the certain possession of that higher divine

truth which her heavenly Founder has placed in her charge, to be

carefully guarded and preserved until the end of time, and to be

ever faithfully preached. Who ever denies it, she must oppose

him. Whatever teaching would make it out to be false, she must

condemn. The church, holding with certainty this divine deposit of

the revealed truth, must not be compared, either in theory or in

practice, with any private individual or society of individuals,

who hold and profess religious doctrines on the authority of their

own reason and judgment, or of their private interpretation of the

Scriptures. In such a case as this, these doctrines are simply

beliefs, opinions of men avowedly liable to error in this very

matter. They therefore stand on the same level, as to certainty or

uncertainty of being true, with the other human judgments in the

fields of natural science or human knowledge which may rise up in

opposition to them. The two sides are fairly matched, and either may

ultimately prevail.

But, on the contrary, the church claims not merely to hold opinions,

but, under the guiding light of the Holy Ghost, to have certain and

infallible knowledge of the truths of divine revelation. Nothing

that contradicts these established and known truths can she admit

to be any thing else than error. In the contest between them, the

truth must prevail. This is the theory on which the Catholic Church

stands, and in which, in reality, all Christianity is involved. The

experience of eighteen centuries confirms it fully in practice.

Never once in all that period has the church of Christ had to revoke

a single doctrinal decision, on the ground that what was believed

to be true when uttered has since been proved to be false as the

progress of science has thrown fuller light on the subject. In the

early days of her existence, Celsus and the other philosophers of

that classical period raised manifold objections from reason and such

knowledge of nature as they possessed. Their objections accorded well

with the public opinion of the time, and were hailed with applause.

But the time came when they were felt to be of no force, and now

they are entirely forgotten; and the truth they impugned, and were

intended to overthrow, stands stronger than ever. The Gnostics, with

their varied and fanciful systems of conciliating the power and

goodness of God with the presence of evil in the world, and guided,

if we listen to their boasts, by the highest light of man's reason,

brought forward many objections, then deemed specious. They and their

arguments too have passed away, and the Catholic truth stands. So

it has been in every age until the present time. One only instance

in all history has been alleged, seemingly, to the contrary--the

condemnation of Galileo for holding and maintaining the Copernican

theory. But there is no real ground of objection here. The facts of

the case are misunderstood or misstated. The trial of Galileo, which

was in truth more of a personal than a doctrinal issue, was simply

before the congregation, or committee, of the Holy Office in Rome,

and the sentence was by that congregation and not by the church. The

difference between the sentence of such a tribunal and a decision of

the church is world-wide. And, as if to mark that difference the more

distinctly, that sentence, which, according to the usual course, and

at least as a matter of form, should have been countersigned by the

reigning pontiff, that it might be put into execution, _never was

so signed_. Why, in that case, the formality was omitted, whether

it was not deemed necessary, which, considering the usage, would

be very strange, or whether, which we think much more probable, it

was in due course of procedure presented to the pontiff for his

signature, and he abstained from signing it for reasons in his own

mind, cannot now be known. But the original official manuscript copy

of the sentence is extant, and there is no signature of the pontiff

to it. Even had he signed it, that would not have made the document a

doctrinal decision of the church. It would have remained simply the

regular sentence of a special tribunal; but the absence of the pope's

signature, perhaps its studied absence, entirely and unequivocally

removes the objection usually brought forward.[139] Here, as in

every other case, Christ has protected his church, so that she shall

make no false decision as to faith. It is only in virtue of that

protection that she claims the paramount authority to speak. Under

it she had been appointed to speak, and must speak, if she would not

be recreant to her duty. She does not repress science; she saves it.

She does not shackle reason; she preserves it from error and ruin.

How often is the way of science a narrow ridge, with deep gulfs on

either side! Feeble man walks along the narrow crest with trembling

limbs, or crawls on, dubiously and slowly, in the dark. The church

of Christ cheers him on. She does not bear him over the perilous

path; but holds aloft the torch of revealed truth to guide him as

he advances, and warns him to proceed by its light, and not to rush

heedlessly on, lest he fall into the abyss. And yet should we not

expect that the same spirit of insubordinate pride which leads reason

to deny the existence of God, or his Divine Providence, or the fact

of divine revelations, or emboldens feeble, ignorant man to measure,

as it were, his feeble intelligence against the infinite wisdom of

God, should also not refrain from charging the Catholic Church with

being an incubus on the human mind, with narrowing the intellect

and fettering the reason, with restricting our liberty of thought,

narrowing the field of science, and dwarfing the whole intellectual

man?

But time does her justice. She can point to Origen, Clement of

Alexandria, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Thomas of Aquin, St.

Anselm, Duns Scotus, Suarez, Vasquez, and the mighty minds of the

past. She may point to her children, clergymen and laymen, now

standing in the front ranks of every branch of science. What the past

ages gave, what the present gives too, the future will as surely not

fail to give.

We add to the communication of our Roman correspondent the report of

the peroration of an eloquent speech by Signor d'Ondes-Reggio, in the

Italian Parliament, as given by M. Chantrel, in his "Chronique du

Concile," published in the _Revue du Monde Catholique_ for April 10th.

"The Council of the Vatican comes to save the imperilled

civilization of the world, as the preceding councils, from the

one of Nice to that of Trent, have saved it.

"Do you know how the Council of Nice saved the civilization

of the world, when it condemned Arius? It prevented the human

race from returning to idolatry; for, if the founder of

Christianity was not God, but a mere man, the adoration of that

man would have been an idolatry like all those of the pagans.

The human race would have remained in barbarism, deprived of

Christian civilization, of the true civilization, which is the

civilization given to men by God himself.

"The Council of Trent saved the civilization of the world;

because, when the church condemned Luther, Calvin, and their

followers, who denied free-will and confounded good with bad

actions, even giving the preference to the bad ones, she

prevented the human race from returning to the _fate_ of the

pagans and to the domination of evil over good. The church

saved the civilization of the world.

"When a council condemned schisms, it condemned the breaking up

of the human race into factions and protected the unity of the

race; it condemned that paganism which divided the nations from

each other and made them mutual enemies, whereas all men are

brothers, as the children of the same God.

"When a council roused all Europe to follow the cross into

Asia, to rescue the sepulchre of Christ, it saved the

civilization of Europe, and guaranteed the civilization of the

world against Mussulman barbarism.

"When a council condemned the furious iconoclasts, do you know

what it did? It prevented the banishment of the beautiful from

the world--the beautiful, which is the complement of the true

and the good. If this new race of barbarians had not been

repelled by the Second Council of Nice, we should not have had

either the 'David,' or the 'Moses,' or the 'Transfiguration,'

or the 'Assumption.' Italy would not be the queen of the fine

arts in the world.

"When the councils smote and deposed corrupt Cæsars, the

oppressors of their peoples, it was human reason, enlightened

by faith, which conquered error, sustained by brute force;

it was charity which beat down tyranny, and civilization

triumphing over barbarism.

"The Council of the Vatican, composed of the venerable fathers

of the Catholic Church, extended throughout the whole world,

differing in customs, habits, complexion, language, but united

in the same faith, the same hope and charity--the Council of

the Vatican comes to save, by the bishops, a civilization

in peril. Errors the most impious, the most deadly, the

most pernicious to the human race, which have been spread

abroad during the course of ages, and which have sufficed,

taken singly, to turn civil society upside down, are now all

assembled together, and united with each other to batter and

destroy it. Every thing which is the most true, the most

sacred, the most venerated, is attacked; and some persons even

go so far as to say that it is lawful to kill, to rob, and

to calumniate, in order to attain certain ends. The Council

of the Vatican has come, yes, it has come! to condemn these

blasphemies and iniquities, to awaken sleeping consciences, to

confirm consciences which are wavering; it has come to save

civilization in peril.

"O venerable fathers! you who have hastened to Rome from the

extremities of the world, at the summons of the successor of

Peter, and who are at this moment gathered together in the name

of God, at the Vatican, all men of good-will have their eyes

fixed upon you; and from you they await with confidence the

salvation of the world. You, successors of the apostles, will

fulfil the commandment given by Jesus Christ to the apostles

and to you, to teach the nations the infallible truths;

the commandment given, not to kings, emperors, or secular

assemblies, but to the apostles and to you--you will teach the

nations these infallible truths, and the nations will be saved."

FOOTNOTE:

[139] See CATHOLIC WORLD, Nos. 45 and 46.

FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES.

_The Gospel in the Law._ A Critical Examination of the Citations

from the Old Testament in the New. By Charles Taylor. Cambridge and

London: Bell & Daldy. 1869. The relative positions of the Mosaic law

and the new law may be studied from a great many points of view.

That chosen by Mr. Taylor, in the volume before us, adds additional

interest to his very remarkable work.

The selection and study of citations from the Old Testament found

in the New give rise to many questions which, properly elucidated,

throw much light on the connection which exists between Judaism and

Christianity. Mr. Taylor does not so much occupy himself with that

question as with the manner in which the Bible is connected with

the Testament. Not that he undertakes to demonstrate that the germ

of the new law may be found in the Old; for that no one denies, and

the title he has selected shows the object of his work, "the Gospel

in the law." Not every thing in the work is new; but the previously

accumulated erudition of the subject is admirably _résuméd_, and

several chapters are marked by originality--the thirteenth, for

instance, on Jewish and Christian morality.

* * * * *

_Varieties of Irish History._ From Ancient and Modern Sources and

Original Documents. By James J. Gaskin, Dublin. A handsome volume,

illustrated with four chromo-lithographs, and an excellent map of the

environs of Dublin. The work appears to be made up of a series of

lectures delivered at Dalkey, a well-known charming suburb of Dublin,

and of articles published at various times in the Irish newspapers

concerning the history of the principal environs of Dublin--Howth,

Kingston, Dalkey, Bray, and Killing. The beautiful bay of Dublin and

its picturesque shores, of course, come in for their share of notice,

and as the author gives himself the amplest verge, he manages, in

his numberless digressions, to throw into his pages a reflex of the

intellectual history of Dublin during the last century.

* * * * *

One of the most remarkable and eventful missionary fields of

the Catholic Church was, unquestionably, Japan. There are few

more admirable pages in its history than those which recount the

constancy and faith of its first martyrs under one of the most bloody

persecutions the world ever saw. M. Léon Pages has just published a

work giving the history of Catholicity in Japan from 1598 to 1651:

_Histoire de la Religion Chrétienne au Japon, depuis 1598 jusqu'à

1651, comprenant les faits relatifs aux deux cent cinq martyrs

beatifiés le 7 Juillet 1867_, par Léon Pages. This volume, published

separately, will form the third volume of a large work in four octavo

volumes, to be entitled, _L'Empire du Japon, ses origines, son église

chrétienne, ses relations avec l'Europe_.

* * * * *

The so-called _Truce of God_ of the middle ages, under which a

suspension of arms and hostilities was so often obtained, has too

frequently been so imperfectly understood and treated by historians

and writers as to be confounded by them with the _Peace of God_--two

things essentially different in origin and in application. In 1857,

a work on the subject was published at Paris by M. Ernest Semichon,

who by his judicious research threw an entirely new light on this

question. M. Semichon has just presented the literary world with a

new edition of the work of 1857, largely augmented in fresh matter

and in historical documents, in which he clearly establishes the

distinction between these two institutions, and fixes the origin

of the Peace of God at about A.D. 988, and that of the Truce of

God at 1027. He follows their development step by step through the

eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries, examining them from the

judicial and political stand-points, until the period when Louis

le Gros took hold of the movement. After this period, the "Truce of

God" becomes the _Quarantaine le Roi_. In treating his subject, M.

Semichon presents most interesting views of the great institutions

of the middle ages, its associations and customs, and also of the

chevaliers, the arts, and the Crusades. His work is entitled _La Paix

et la Trève de Dieu_.

* * * * *

Until within a few years there were known to be in existence but

three Biblical manuscripts of high antiquity. These were, _First_,

the celebrated Vatican manuscript; _second_, that of London, called

the Alexandrine; _third_, that of Paris, known under the designation

of the Palimpsest of Ephrem the Syrian. The first dates from the

fourth century, the other two from the fifth. None of them are

complete, however. In that of Paris the greater part of the New

Testament is wanting. That of London is deficient in nearly the whole

of the first gospel, two chapters of the fourth, and the greater

part of the second Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. From the

Vatican manuscript, the oldest of all, are missing four epistles,

the last chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews, and the Apocalypse.

M. Constantine Tischendorf, a distinguished Russian scholar, known

in the scientific world for his superior Hellenic and paleographic

acquirements, has the glory of having given to the Christian world,

by his discoveries, numerous sacred manuscripts of the highest

antiquity, and, above all, the famous _Codex Sinaiticus_, which has

over the three MSS. we have enumerated the great advantage of being

complete. It dates from the same epoch with that of the Vatican. M.

Tischendorf has told the story of its discovery, and of the long

and difficult negotiations required for its acquisition, in a work

just published, _Terre Sainte_, an octavo volume of 307 pages. The

volume also contains an interesting account of his oriental travel in

company with the Duke Constantine, and his visit to Smyrna, Patmos,

and Constantinople. A fac-simile edition of the new Codex is in

preparation in Russia, and a German translation of that portion of it

which contains the New Testament will shortly be made.

* * * * *

A noteworthy work is _Le Juif, le Judaisme, et Judaisation des

peuples chrétiens_, par M. le Chevalier Gougeuot des Mousseaux.

Paris, 8vo, 568 pp. The career of Judaism is here historically traced

from the early ages of the church, when it spread through Egypt,

Alexandria, and Rome the Gnostic theories of Simon the Magician,

down to the present day. The author presents successively all the

traditions upon which the belief of the modern Jew is founded. Their

Bible is the Talmud, a tissue of absurdities and immoralities. There

exists a gulf between the ancient law of Moses and the Talmudic

reveries so great, indeed, that the Jew can hardly call his law a

religious law without flying in the face of the history and the faith

of his fathers. Following these researches comes a keen analysis of

the Pharisaical spirit. Concerning the synagogue, the Sanhedrim,

the Talmudic rites, and system of education, the work gives the

fullest details, with copious extracts from writers all favorable to

Judaism, such as Prideaux, Basnage, and Salvador. The result of the

author's revelations is to show that the Jewish belief of to-day is

absolutely different from that of which Moses was the legislator.

Modern Jews are divided into three classes--orthodox, reformers, and

free-thinkers. The reformers are the Protestants of the Mosaic law.

Nowadays, for the majority of Jews, the coming of the Messiah is no

longer understood in its ordinary acceptation. For them the "desired

of nations" is merely an abstraction. The author dwells at some

length on the spreading influence of Judaism in worldly matters, and

sounds a note of alarm that gives his work something of a pessimist

tone.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

DR. NEWMAN'S ESSAY IN AID OF A GRAMMAR OF ASSENT. By John

Henry Newman, D.D., of the Oratory. 1 vol. 12mo. New York: The

Catholic Publication Society, 9 Warren street. 1870.

SECOND NOTICE.

We have not yet given to this book, destined to become so celebrated

and the theme of so much controversy, the careful examination it

deserves, and we will not, therefore, pay the poor compliment to the

illustrious author of pronouncing a superficial judgment upon it.

We have given an analysis of its contents in our last number, which

may aid the reader to understand and master its scope and course of

argument for himself. At present, we will merely take note of one or

two salient points bearing on some questions of lively controversial

interest at the present moment. The great subject of controversy in

regard to the philosophy of the work has already proved to be what

we anticipated at the first glance upon its pages--whether it is, or

is not, in contradiction to the scholastic doctrine of the reality

of universals. We give merely our impression, and not our judgment

upon this point, when we say that it appears to us that Dr. Newman

rather leaves aside the pure metaphysics of the question, than

either contradicts or affirms any scholastic doctrine of this higher

sphere of science. He appears to take the common English axioms of

reasoning as they are assumed in every-day life and made the basis

of those inductions and illations which make up the opinions of

intelligent persons on all sorts of subjects, and the conclusions of

practical, scientific men in regard to the inductive sciences. He

appeals to the common sense of those who are not sophisticated by any

false, sceptical maxims in relation to common things, but who are

simply puzzled by an apparent want of the same certitude in religion

which they hold as unquestioned in lower branches of knowledge. He

undertakes to show that the principles of assent which all men act

on in the affairs of this life lead logically to the same certitude

of the infallibility of the Catholic Church, and the truth of every

thing she proposes to belief, that a man has that Great Britain is

an island. If any one thinks there is a break or a weak spot in his

chain of reasoning, let him pull it apart and throw the fragments

aside, and he will have accomplished a considerable feat in logic.

We think that, on account of this manner of approaching the subject,

this book is likely to prove extremely useful in convincing sincere,

well-intentioned doubters, whose minds have been educated under the

same circumstances and in the same intellectual atmosphere with those

of the author. As for the analysis of certitude itself, and the

metaphysics of the ultimate question how we know, and what is that

which we know first, the author may be criticised; but we think, as

we have said, that he did not have it in view to propose a theory.

We do perceive and know; we do exist, and we know that other things

exist, and we are certain of these things, and no pretended sceptic

really doubts. We may start from this, therefore, as a fixed base

of operation, without waiting for a metaphysical theory. If the

theory which we hold is incorrect, we can change it without hurting

our argument, just as a person who lives in a regular and sensible

manner, and is in good health, can change a physiological doctrine

which he finds to be erroneous without changing his practical rules

of living. Whether Dr. Newman's statement respecting real and

notional assents be correct or not, every candid and honest man

will acknowledge that he does assent with certitude to the truth of

those things which the author calls notions. We suspect, moreover,

that the illustrious author in his affirmation that nothing really

exists except individuals, means that there are no other spiritual

or material _substances_; or, in other words, that every substance

is a simple monad existing in itself and separate from every other.

We do not apprehend that, in denying that time, space, relation,

etc., are real, he intends to affirm that they are mere subjective

affections of our minds without any foundation in objective reality,

but only that they are not either spirits or bodies, and would be

nothing if there were no spirit or body in existence. We suspect that

the nominalism attributed to Dr. Newman is merely in the phrase, and

that his difference from the realism of St. Thomas is only in the

terminology.

The other point we desire to notice is theological. Our Episcopalian

neighbors, and some others also, are accustomed to refer to Dr.

Newman as an instance in proof of their frequent assertion that men

of genius and learning in our communion chafe under the yoke of

Rome, and, if they are converts, feel themselves disappointed in the

expectations with which they entered the church. The recent letter

of Dr. Newman to Dr. Ullathorne is, of course, a lucky windfall for

them, and is interpreted as a proof that they were not mistaken. The

volume we are noticing will, for every candid and sensible reader,

completely scatter to the winds any false and calumnious attempts

to class Dr. Newman with Mr. Ffoulkes, Mr. Renouf, the translator

of _Janus_, and the rest of that clique in England, or to impeach

the integrity of his faith and loyalty as a Catholic priest and

theologian. The letter itself shows that Dr. Newman holds what his

writings show he has always held, as the more probable doctrine, that

the judgments of the pope in matters of faith are infallible. The

utmost extent of his expressions of repugnance to a definition of

this doctrine is, that he considers the weakness of faith, the lack

of knowledge, and the deficiency of the reasoning faculty in a number

of Catholics to be so great, and the bewilderment of mind so extreme

in persons outside the church who are seeking the truth, that they

cannot bear to have the light too suddenly and brightly flashed into

their eyes. The great and holy Oratorian father pities these souls,

and wishes to have them cautiously and gently led into the truth;

and he is afraid that the pope, sitting in the effulgence of the

divine Shekinah in the temple of God, does not appreciate the state

of those who are living in the fainter light or the clouded climates

of a remoter region. The chapter of the volume under notice entitled,

"Belief in Dogmatic Theology," will show beyond a question what we

have asserted of Dr. Newman's theological soundness, and we quote one

passage as a specimen.

The church "makes it imperative on every one, priest and layman,

to profess as revealed truth all the canons of councils, _and

innumerable decisions of popes_, propositions so various, so

notional, that but few can know them, and fewer can understand them."

(P. 142, Eng. ed.)

In the chapter on the "Indefectibility of Certitude" occurs

this passage: "A man is converted to the Catholic Church from

his admiration of its religious system, and his disgust with

Protestantism. That admiration remains; but, after a time, he leaves

his new faith; perhaps returns to his old. The reason, if we may

conjecture, may sometimes be this: he has never believed in the

church's infallibility; in her doctrinal truth he has believed, but

in her infallibility, no. He was asked, before he was received,

whether he held all that the church taught; he replied he did; but

he understood the question to mean, whether he held those particular

doctrines 'which at that time the church in matter of fact formally

taught,' whereas it really meant 'whatever the church then or at

any future time should teach.' Thus, he never had the indispensable

and elementary faith of a Catholic, and was simply no subject for

reception into the fold of the church. This being the case, when the

immaculate conception is defined, he feels that it is something more

than he bargained for when he became a Catholic, and accordingly he

gives up his religious profession. The world will say that he has

lost his certitude of the divinity of the Catholic faith; but he

never had it." (P. 240.)

We do not desire to have a party tolerated in the church whose

principles are precisely those here condemned by Dr. Newman, or

to have the way open for converts to be received who lack the

"indispensable and elementary faith of a Catholic." We look with

dismay upon the audacious and heretical attitude of that fallen angel

F. Hyacinthe, the scandalous position assumed by Huber, Döllinger,

and Gratry, and we anticipate greater impediment to the progress of

the faith from a miserable counterfeit and pseudo-catholicity, which

is nothing else than the base metal coined by Photius, than from

the difficulties hanging about the history of the popes, which are

no greater than those that beset councils, tradition, or the holy

Scripture itself. Whatever definitions are promulgated by the Council

of the Vatican, no one pretending to be a Catholic can hesitate to

receive them because they are "more than he bargained for." Those

who have chafed under the doctrinal authority of the popes have been

crying out for a council for two centuries. Those who are _bona fide_

in any doubt or uncertainty respecting questions not yet defined have

the way open for their doubts to be settled. If there are persons

in the communion of the church who have not the principle of faith

in them by which they are prepared without hesitation to believe

whatever the Council of the Vatican proposes, we desire that they

should leave their external connection with the Catholic Church,

which they have already inwardly abandoned. And we think it most

necessary that the duty of unreserved submission to the infallible

authority of the church, and to the Roman pontiff, as her supreme

teacher and judge as well as ruler, should be most distinctly placed

before those who seek admission into her fold. We are grateful to Dr.

Newman for the clear and unmistakable tones in which he has spoken

on the obligation of believing whatever the church commands us to

believe through the mouth of the sovereign pontiff; and as for the

question what definitions are necessary and opportune for the present

time, we confide absolutely in the divinely assisted judgment of Pius

IX. and the Catholic episcopate.

Since writing the above, we are glad to see that Dr. Newman has

written another letter, in which the following passage occurs: "I

have not had a moment's wavering of trust in the Catholic Church

ever since I was received into her fold. I hold, and ever have held,

that her sovereign pontiff is the centre of unity and the vicar of

Christ. And I ever have had, and have still, an unclouded faith in

her creed in all its articles; a supreme satisfaction in her worship,

discipline, and teaching; and an eager longing, and a hope against

hope, that the many dear friends whom I have left in Protestantism

may be partakers in my happiness." (_Tablet_, April 16th.) We are

glad, we say, to see this, not on our own account, for we have the

honor of a personal acquaintance with the illustrious Oratorian, and

know him too well to have the need of any such assurance of his firm

and ardent Catholic faith and piety; but in order that the mouths of

cavillers may be stopped, and those weak brethren who tremble like

aspen-leaves in every light breeze be reassured.

* * * * *

THE ORIGIN, PERSECUTIONS, AND DOCTRINES OF THE WALDENSES; FROM

DOCUMENTS, MANY NOW FOR THE FIRST TIME COLLECTED AND EDITED. By

Pius Melia, D.D. London: James Toovey, 177 Piccadilly. 1870.

For sale by the Catholic Publication Society, 9 Warren street,

New York.

In the year 1868, a London daily newspaper produced editorially one

of those statements so frequently made concerning the Waldenses, and

which, by dint of repetition, end by passing for recognized facts. It

was as follows:

"For sixteen hundred years, at least, the Waldenses have

guarded the pure and primitive Christianity of the apostles....

No one knows when or how the faith was first delivered to these

mountaineers. Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, in the second century

found them a church.

"These gallant hill-men have kept the tradition of the Gospel

committed to them as pure and inviolate as the snow upon

their own Alps. They have maintained an evangelical form of

Christianity from the very first, rejecting image-worship,

invocation of saints, auricular confession, celibacy, papal

supremacy or infallibility, and the dogma of purgatory; taking

the Scripture as the rule of life, and admitting no sacraments

but baptism and the Lord's Supper.... No bloodier cruelty

disgraces the records of the papacy than the persecutions

endured by the ancestors of the twenty thousand Waldenses now

surviving.... Never did men suffer more for their belief."

As the author mildly presents it, these statements not being in

accordance with his knowledge of the subject, he was moved to

undertake a thorough investigation of the history of the Waldenses.

To this end, in addition to the perusal of a long and formidable list

of works given in the preface, and which is valuable as presenting

the bibliography of the subject, he made thorough investigation

in the great libraries of England, Rome, and Turin, which last

collection was found very rich in MSS. referring to the Waldensian

period. Fresh stimulus and efficient aid were given to his efforts by

the appearance of a very important work by Professor James Henthorn

Todd, Senior Fellow of Trinity Church, Dublin, entitled, _The Book

of the Vaudois; The Waldensian Manuscripts_, which gives a notice

of the long-lost Morland manuscripts lately discovered by Mr. Henry

Bradshaw, M.A., Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and librarian of

that university. These MSS. are undoubtedly "the oldest extant relics

of the Vaudois literature," and the most important documents relating

to their history.

The author forcibly presents _in extenso_, and in separate chapters,

the testimony of Richard, Monk of Cluny, Moneta, De Bellavilla,

Abbot Bernard, Reinerius Sacco, Archbishop Seyssell, Eneas Sylvius

Piccolomini, Casini, and many others, and in the fifteenth section

addresses himself to prove that the dates which Leger and Morland

have assigned to the Waldensian MSS. are counterfeit. Leger assigns

A.D. 1100 as the date of the _Nobla Leyçon_ and the _Catechism_ of

the MSS. Our author shows that these writings are of the fifteenth,

not the twelfth century, and that the date assigned by Leger involves

the contradiction of proving that the Waldenses existed as a sect

before the period of its founder, Peter Waldo.

One long chapter is devoted to the supposed cruel Waldensian massacre

of the year 1655, as related in the often-quoted _Histoire Véritable

des Vaudois_, and to the particular murders described by Leger. These

are confronted with the legal testimony touching the same facts.

The work closes with an exposition of the Waldensian theological

tenets, each one being presented separately with a statement of the

Catholic doctrine on that tenet upon the same page.

The book is a beautiful specimen of typography, and is illustrated

with several photographs of pages of the Morland manuscripts.

* * * * *

THE CHARLESTOWN CONVENT; ITS DESTRUCTION BY A MOB, ETC.

Compiled from authentic sources. Boston: P. Donahoe. 1870.

We remember distinctly the Ursuline Convent at Charlestown, as it

appeared forty years ago, crowning a gentle summit with its grave and

dignified buildings, and attractive grounds laid out and cultivated

with taste; a retreat of piety and a school of religious and solid

education. We have often enough since that time looked upon its

ruins, a perpetual monument of disgrace to Boston and Massachusetts,

a token of shame in close proximity to that other monument, a

monument of imperishable glory, which crowns the site of the battle

of Bunker Hill. This pamphlet describing the atrocious and barbarian

outrage perpetrated on the night of August 11th, 1834, with the

train of preceding and succeeding events connected with it, presents

a page in our history which many persons would do well to ponder

attentively. The outrage was occasioned by the publication of _Six

Months in a Convent_, one of a class of vile publications which, for

a time, were widely circulated and swallowed with credulity, but

afterward universally scouted with that scorn and loathing which

the American people always feels when it discovers that it has

been duped by the wicked and designing. There would be no need of

reviving the memory of these things, if the same style of attack upon

Catholics had not been renewed at intervals, and were not adopted at

the present moment by restless fanatics, who, knowing that they are

incapable of coping with us in fair argument, are fain to resort to

these criminal methods of appealing to prejudice, bigotry, ignorance,

and passion, hoping to stir up the populace to a crusade against the

Catholic religion. The abettors of Rebecca Reed and Maria Monk in the

pulpit and the press have had successors to the present time. The

Massachusetts Legislature has had its "smelling committee;" Missouri

has passed its outrageous laws; other legislatures have attempted to

lay their hands upon the property of the Catholic Church; the most

infamous laws are even now in consideration before the Legislature

of Pennsylvania; we have had the archangel Gabriel, and Judson, and

Gavazzi, and Leahy, and we have now Bishop Coxe, Bellows, Hepworth,

and Muller. The same firm of publishers which formerly was so active

and conspicuous in putting forth the most vulgar and violent attacks

upon the Catholic religion, although in one instance it found it

expedient to hide itself under an _alias_, continues its work under

the guise of a more pretentious literature, embellished by offensive

caricatures of the most venerable and sacred objects of the religious

veneration of Catholics. The spirit of falsification, the intention

to stir up popular passion, the intolerance disguised under the name

of liberalism, the determination to treat the Catholic clergy as

the heads of a faction with ulterior treasonable and revolutionary

designs, and the Catholic religion as a nuisance which ought to be

extirpated by violence, are the same in the modern agitators that

they were in their predecessors, and are in their English compeers,

the Newdegates and Whalleys of the British Parliament. They tend to

similar results with those which similar agitators have heretofore

produced. The same train is laid, the same spark applied, and the

chance of a similar explosion depends on the fact of the existence

or non-existence of a similar magazine of slumbering popular

prejudice and inflammable passion. We say, therefore, that it is well

for considerate persons who desire the peace of the community to

read and reflect upon this pamphlet. It is necessary that some very

important questions should arise, where Catholics and non-Catholics

form important elements in the same political community, with

equal rights. It is impossible that peace and good order should be

preserved, unless these matters can be discussed and arranged calmly

and amicably. Therefore we say that the agitators who appeal to a

violent solution, in case Catholics are not content with a simple

toleration under a Protestant domination, are enemies of the public

peace, and ought to be regarded as such by all good citizens. The

Catholic clergy will never be agitators. If the effort is made by

demagogues to pervert the Catholic or Irish sentiment into an impetus

of illegal, revolutionary movements, like the riot of 1863 and the

Fenian plot against Canada, the whole authority of the church and

all the influence of the clergy will be put forth against it. It is

for the present and future advantage and interest of this country

that the influence of the Catholic clergy over their people should be

as great as possible, and that of clerical agitators and demagogues

reduced to nothing.

* * * * *

LIFE OF ST. CHARLES BORROMEO. Edited by Edward Healy Thompson,

A.M. Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham. 1870.

St. Charles Borromeo was one of the greatest of the true reformers of

the sixteenth century. During the lifetime of his Uncle, Pius IV., he

held many of the highest offices in the Roman court, possessed the

pope's entire confidence, and exerted a powerful influence in favor

of whatever was for the good of the church. To his exertions were

due, in no small degree, the reassembling of the Council of Trent,

and the successful completion of its labors eighteen years after its

opening.

At the death of Pius IV., St. Charles returned to his diocese, and

straightway entered upon the work of its reformation, in accordance

with the decrees of Trent. He succeeded in effecting a complete

reform, and the example which he thus gave had a most salutary effect.

The _Life_ before us is well written; it gives not only the facts,

but likewise in some degree the philosophy of history; and it is free

from that religious mannerism, so to speak, which is not unfrequently

met with in books of this class. The typography and binding are in

keeping with the contents. There are, however, a great many very

serious errors of the press defacing this otherwise well printed

volume.

* * * * *

FIRST BOOK OF BOTANY. By Eliza A. Youmans. New York: D.

Appleton & Co. 1870.

This elementary treatise upon botany is arranged in an entirely new

manner. The book is intended to cultivate the child's natural powers

of observation. In ordinary text-books, the beginner is expected

to master a great number of definitions and distinctions before he

ventures to go into the fields and study for himself. We have always

considered this method irksome, and we know it to be fruitless of

result. We therefore very heartily welcome Miss Youmans's little

work. We hope that she has inaugurated a reform in the teaching

of the natural sciences. We confidently recommend the book to all

Catholic schools where botany, or any of the natural sciences, form a

portion of the course of studies.

* * * * *

THE WISE MEN: WHO THEY WERE, ETC. By Francis W. Upham, LL.D.

New York: Sheldon & Co. 1869.

A book written with sound and solid learning, and originality of

thought; pervaded also by a spirit in harmony with Catholic teaching,

so far as the topics are concerned upon which it treats.

* * * * *

THE MONKS BEFORE CHRIST; Their Spirit and their History. By

John Edgar Johnson. Boston: A. Williams & Co. 1870.

This is one of the most shallow and stupid productions we have met

with in a long time. The author met with some rather poor specimens

of the monastic order in Europe, and breaks out into the exclamation,

"Great heavens! and these are the men who had the exclusive

manipulation of our Scriptures for several hundred years!" (Page

18.) One who is so extremely weak in the reasoning faculty as this

passage indicates has no business to write a book on serious topics,

and is unworthy of refutation. The author informs us that monasticism

is based on the Manichæan doctrine of an evil principle in matter.

This shows an _inconceivable_ ignorance which we cannot think is

_invincible_ or excusable, since the author resided several months at

the University of Munich, and was well acquainted with the learned

Benedictines of that capital, over whom the celebrated Haneberg is

abbot.

* * * * *

THE FLEMMINGS; OR, TRUTH TRIUMPHANT. By Mrs. Anna H. Dorsay.

New York: P. O'Shea. 1870.

The author of this volume has given us a pleasant story, interesting

both to Catholics and Protestants, as tales of conversions to the

true faith cannot fail to be when founded, as this appears to be,

on fact. The pictures of natural scenery are fresh and life-like,

and the moral and religious teaching unexceptionable. It is

carelessly written, which will prevent the book from taking rank as a

first-class story, though it will interest and profit certain minds,

who would not prize it more highly if it were thoroughly cultivated

and refined.

A moment's thought would have prevented mistakes in local customs,

such as introducing a hay-tedder into farming operations forty years

ago, and making our Puritan forefathers _go up_ to their communion,

whereas they had not reverence enough for the _symbols_ to rise or

kneel at their reception, but remained seated in their pews, even as

their descendants do to this day.

The blunders in spelling which mar many pages of the book would

disgrace a third-rate proof-reader, and we are certain the author

never saw the proofs. Both paper and type are of inferior quality.

These faults are the more inexcusable, as the beautiful covering,

with the choice gilded medallion and precious motto, led us to look

for something very nice in the way of print and paper.

* * * * *

WONDERS OF ITALIAN ART. By Louis Viardot. Illustrated. New

York: Charles Scribner & Co. 1870.

An interesting book spoiled by careless expressions and incorrect

assertions. Such expressions as "the worship of images," (page 28,)

instead of "veneration," etc.; the assertion that the "policy of the

popes always was to foster disunion in Italy, in order to profit by

it," (page 35,) and styling Savonarola "the Italian Luther," (page

111,) make it unfit for introduction among Catholics. It is to be

regretted that a book like this, containing as it does so much that

is great and good in the history of Catholic art in Italy, should

be marred by statements which are not historically true, and have

nothing whatever to do with such a work.

* * * * *

HOME INFLUENCE. By Grace Aguilar. New York: D. Appleton & Co.

It is quite refreshing, after the floods of impassioned sensational

novels that have poured from the press on all sides for the last ten

or fifteen years, to know that there is a call for the purity and

high-toned sentiment that flow from the pen of Miss Aguilar.

Twenty years ago, her works afforded interest and instruction, the

present volume to mothers especially, and though her children and

grown people are sometimes stiff and priggish, and are wont to talk

like books, they are always well-bred and refined, never descending

to irreverence or slang, as they too often do in stories of to-day.

It was formerly a criticism on her works, that they favored Judaism

(the creed of their author) at the expense of Christianity; but no

such charge can be brought against _Home Influence_ with any truth.

This volume presents an attractive exterior, and if the works of this

author take again with the novel-reading public, it will be a symptom

of returning health in the community.

* * * * *

MISSALE ROMANUM, ex decreto sacrosancti Concilii Tridentini

restitutum, S. Pii VI. jussu editum, Clementis VIII. et Urbani

VIII. Papæ auctoritate recognitum, et novis missis ex indulto

apostolico hucusque concessis auctum. Mechliniæ: H. Dessain.

This Missal, from the house of the Messrs. Benziger Brothers, is

printed in good, clear type, pleasant to the eye; contains the last

new masses enjoined by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, and is

illustrated with excellent full-page engravings. It is besides, as a

book, both serviceable and cheap.

* * * * *

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY has in press, and will publish, May

twenty-fifth, a work by James Kent Stone, D.D., late President of

Kenyon and Hobart Colleges, entitled, _The Invitation Heeded: Reasons

for a Return to Catholic Unity_. As the title implies, Mr. Stone

will, in this volume, give his reasons for becoming a Catholic.

* * * * *

MESSRS. JOHN MURPHY & CO. announce as in press, _The Paradise of

the Earth; or, the True Means of Finding Happiness in the Religious

State_, according to the Rules of the Masters of Spiritual Life.

Translated from the French of L'Abbé Sanson, by the Rev. F. Ignatius

Sisk, of the Cistercian Community, Mount St. Bernard's Abbey. Also,

_Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus_. From the Italian of Secundo

Franco, S.J.

A DOGMATIC DECREE ON CATHOLIC FAITH.

CONFIRMED AND PROMULGATED IN THE THIRD PUBLIC SESSION OF THE VATICAN

COUNCIL, HELD IN ST. PETER'S, ROME, ON LOW-SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 1870.

CONSTITVTIO DOGMATICA DE FIDE CATHOLICA.

[This translation has been

carefully revised for THE

CATHOLIC WORLD by some of the

bishops attending the council.]

PIVS EPISCOPVS SERVVS SERVORVM PIUS, BISHOP, SERVANT OF THE

DEI SACRO APPROBANTE CONCILIO AD SERVANTS OF GOD, WITH THE

PERPETVAM REI MEMORIAM. APPROBATION OF THE HOLY COUNCIL,

FOR A PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE

HEREOF.

Dei Filius et generis humani Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son

Redemptor Dominus Noster Iesus of God and the Redeemer of

Christus, ad Patrem coelestem mankind, when about to return to

rediturus, cum Ecclesia sua in his heavenly Father, promised

terris militante, omnibus diebus that he would be with his

usque ad consummationem saeculi church, militant on earth, all

futurum se esse promisit. Quare days even to the consummation

dilectae sponsae praesto esse, of the world. Wherefore, he

adsistere docenti, operanti has never at any time failed

benedicere, periclitanti opem to be with his beloved spouse,

ferre nullo unquam tempore to assist her in her teaching,

destitit. Haec vero salutaris to bless her in her labors, to

eius providentia, cum ex aliis aid her in danger. And this his

beneficiis innumeris continenter saving providence, unceasingly

apparuit, tum iis manifestissime displayed in countless other

comperta est fructibus, qui blessings, is most clearly

orbi christiano e Conciliis made manifest by those very

oecumenicis ac nominatim e abundant fruits which have

Tridentino, iniquis licet come to the Christian world

temporibus celebrato, amplissimi from œcumenical councils,

provenerunt. Hinc enim and especially from that of

sanctissima religionis dogmata Trent, although it was held

pressius definita uberiusque in evil days. For thereby the

exposita, errores damnati atque holy doctrines of religion were

cohibiti; hinc ecclesiastica more distinctly defined and

disciplina restituta firmiusque more fully set forth; errors

sancita, promotum in Clero were condemned and restrained;

scientiae et pietatis studium, thereby ecclesiastical

parata adolescentibus ad sacram discipline was restored and

militiam educandis collegia, more firmly established; zeal

christiani denique populi for learning and piety was

mores et accuratiore fidelium promoted among the clergy; and

eruditione et frequentiore colleges were provided for the

sacramentorum usu instaurati. training of young men for the

Hinc praeterea arctior membrorum sacred ministry; and finally the

cum visibili Capite communio, practice of Christian morality

universoque corpori Christi was restored among the people

mystico additus vigor; hinc by more careful instruction

religiosae multiplicatae and a more frequent use of

familiae, aliaque christianae the sacraments. Hence arose,

pietatis instituta; hinc ille likewise, a closer union of the

etiam assiduus et usque ad members with the visible head,

sanguinis effusionem constans and renewed strength to the

ardor in Christi regno late per entire mystical body of Christ;

orbem propagando. hence the increased number of

religious communities, and of

other institutions of Christian

piety; hence, also, that

unceasing zeal, constant even to

martyrdom, to spread the kingdom

of Christ throughout the world.

Verumtamen haec aliaque insignia Nevertheless, while with

emolumenta, quae per ultimam becoming gratitude we call to

maxime oecumenicam Synodum mind these and the many other

divina clementia Ecclesiae remarkable benefits which the

largita est, dum grato, quo par goodness of God has bestowed

est, animo recolimus; acerbum on the church chiefly through

compescere haud possumus the last œcumenical council,

dolorem ob mala gravissima, we cannot suppress our bitter

inde potissimum orta, quod sorrow for the grievous evils

eiusdem sacrosanctae Synodi which have chiefly sprung

apud permultos vel auctoritas from many having despised the

contempta, vel sapientissima authority of the aforesaid

neglecta fuere decreta. sacred council, or having

neglected to observe its most

wise decrees.

Nemo enim ignorat, haereses, For it is known to all that

quas Tridentini Patres the heresies which the fathers

proscripserunt, dum, reiecto of Trent condemned, and which

divino Ecclesiae magisterio, res rejected the divine authority

ad religionem spectantes privati of the church to teach, and

cuiusvis iudicio permitterentur, instead, subjected all things

in sectas paullatim dissolutas belonging to religion to the

esse multiplices, quibus judgment of each individual,

inter se dissentientibus et were, in course of time, broken

concertantibus, omnis tandem up into many sects; and that,

in Christum fides apud non as these differed and disputed

paucos labefactata est. Itaque with each other, it came to

ipsa sacra Biblia, quae antea pass, at length, that all belief

christianae doctrinae unicus in Christ was overthrown in the

fons et iudex asserebantur, iam minds of not a few. And so, the

non pro divinis haberi, imo sacred Scriptures themselves,

mythicis commentis accenseri which they had at first held up

coeperunt. as the only source and judge

of Christian doctrine, were no

longer held as divine, but,

on the contrary, began to be

counted among myths and fables.

Tum nata est et late nimis per Then arose and spread too widely

orbem vagata illa rationalismi through the world that doctrine

seu naturalismi doctrina, quae of rationalism or naturalism,

religioni christianae utpote which, attacking Christianity

supernaturali instituto per at every point as being a

omnia adversans, summo studio supernatural institution, labors

molitur, ut Christo, qui solus with all its might to exclude

Dominus et Salvator noster est, Christ, who is our only Lord

a mentibus humanis, a vita et and Saviour, from the minds of

moribus populorum excluso, merae men and from the life and the

quod vocant rationis vel naturae morals of nations; and so to

regnum stabiliatur. Relicta establish, instead, the reign

autem proiectaque christiana of mere reason, as they call

religione, negato vero Deo it, or of nature. And thus,

et Christo eius, prolapsa having forsaken and cast away

tandem est multorum mens in the Christian religion, having

pantheismi, materialismi, denied the true God and his

atheismi barathrum, ut iam Christ, the minds of many have

ipsam rationalem naturam, at last fallen into the abyss

omnemque iusti rectique normam of pantheism, materialism, and

negantes, ima humanae societatis atheism; so that now repudiating

fundamenta diruere connitantur. the reasoning nature of man, and

every rule of right and wrong,

they are laboring to overthrow

the very foundations of human

society.

Hac porro impietate circumquaque Moreover, as this impious

grassante, infeliciter contigit, doctrine is spreading

ut plures etiam e catholicae everywhere, it has unfortunately

Ecclesiae filiis a via verae come to pass that not a few even

pietatis aberrarent, in of the children of the Catholic

iisque, diminutis paullatim Church have wandered from the

veritatibus, sensus catholicus way of true piety; and as the

attenuaretur. Variis enim ac truth gradually decayed in their

peregrinis doctrinis abducti, minds, the catholic sentiment

naturam et gratiam, scientiam grew fainter in them. For,

humanam et fidem divinam being led away by various and

perperam commiscentes, genuinum strange doctrines, and wrongly

sensum dogmatum, quem tenet ac confounding nature and grace,

docet Sancta Mater Ecclesia, human science and divine faith,

depravare, integritatemque et they have perverted the true

sinceritatem fidei in periculum sense of the doctrines which our

adducere comperiuntur. holy mother the church holds and

teaches, and have endangered

the integrity and the purity of

faith.

Quibus omnibus perspectis, fieri Now, looking at all these

qui potest, ut non commoveantur things, how can the church fail

intima Ecclesiae viscera? to be moved in her innermost

Quemadmodum enim Deus vult heart? For inasmuch as God

omnes homines salvos fieri, wills all men to be saved and

et ad agnitionem veritatis to come to the knowledge of

venire; quemadmodum Christus the truth, inasmuch as Christ

venit, ut salvum faceret, quod came to save that which was

perierat, et filios Dei, qui lost, and to gather together in

erant dispersi, congregaret one the children of God that

in unum: ita Ecclesia, a Deo were dispersed; so the church,

populorum mater et magistra established by God as the mother

constituta, omnibus debitricem and mistress of nations, feels

se novit, ac lapsos erigere, that she is a debtor unto all,

labantes sustinere, revertentes and is ever ready and earnest

amplecti, confirmare bonos et ad to raise up the fallen, to

meliora provehere parata semper strengthen the weak, to take to

et intenta est. Quapropter her bosom those that return,

nullo tempore a Dei veritate, and to confirm the good, and

quae sanat omnia, testanda et carry them on to better things.

praedicanda quiescere potest, Wherefore, at no time can she

sibi dictum esse non ignorans: abstain from bearing witness to

Spiritus meus, qui est in and preaching the all-healing

te, et verba mea, quae posui truth of God; knowing that it

in ore tuo, non recedent de has been said to her, "My spirit

ore tuo amodo et usque in that is in thee, and my words

sempiternum.[140] that I have put in thy mouth,

shall not depart out of thy

mouth, from henceforth and for

ever." (Isa. lix. 21.)

Nos itaque, inhaerentes Wherefore, following in the

Praedecessorum Nostrorum footsteps of our predecessors,

vestigiis, pro supremo Nostro and in fulfilment of our supreme

Apostolico munere veritatem apostolic duty, we have never

catholicam docere ac tueri, omitted to teach and to protect

perversasque doctrinas reprobare the catholic truth, and to

nunquam intermisimus. Nunc reprove perverse teachings.

autem sedentibus Nobiscum et And now, the bishops of the

iudicantibus universi orbis whole world being gathered

Episcopis, in hanc oecumenicam together in this œcumenical

Synodum auctoritate Nostra in council by our authority, and

Spiritu Sancto congregatis, in the Holy Ghost, and sitting

innixi Dei verbo scripto et therein and judging with us,

tradito, prout ab Ecclesia we, guided by the word of God,

catholica sancte custoditum et both written and handed down by

genuine expositum accepimus, ex tradition, as we have received

hac Petri Cathedra in conspectu it, sacredly preserved and

omnium salutarem Christi truly set forth by the Catholic

doctrinam profiteri et declarare Church, have determined to

constituimus, adversis erroribus profess and declare from this

potestate nobis a Deo tradita chair of Peter, and in the sight

proscriptis atque damnatis. of all, the saving doctrine of

Christ; and in the power given

to us from God to proscribe and

condemn the opposing errors.

CAPUT I. CHAPTER I.

DE DEO RERUM OMNIUM CREATORE. OF GOD THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.

Sancta Catholica Apostolica The holy, Catholic, Apostolic,

Romana Ecclesia credit et Roman Church believes and

confitetur, unum esse Deum verum confesses that there is one

et vivum, Creatorem ac Dominum true and living God, Creator

coeli et terrae, omnipotentem, and Lord of heaven and earth,

aeternum, immensum, almighty, eternal, immense,

incomprehensibilem, intellectu incomprehensible, infinite in

ac voluntate omnique perfectione understanding and will and in

infinitum; qui cum sit una all perfection; who, being

singularis, simplex omnino a spiritual substance, one,

et incommutabilis substantia single, absolutely simple and

spiritualis, praedicandus est re unchangeable, must be held to

et essentia a mundo distinctus, be, in reality and in essence,

in se et ex se beatissimus, distinct from the world, in

et super omnia, quae praeter himself and of himself perfectly

ipsum sunt et concipi possunt, happy, and unspeakably exalted

ineffabiliter excelsus. above all things that are or can

be conceived besides himself.

Hic solus verus Deus bonitate This one only true God, of

sua et omnipotenti virtute non his own goodness and almighty

ad augendam suam beatitudinem, power, not to increase his own

nec ad acquirendam, sed ad happiness, nor to acquire for

manifestandam perfectionem himself perfection, but in

suam per bona, quae creaturis order to manifest the same by

impertitur, liberrimo consilio means of the good things which

simul ab initio temporis he imparts to creatures, did,

utramque de nihilo condidit of his own most free counsel,

creaturam, spiritualem et "from the beginning of time make

corporalem, angelicam videlicet alike out of nothing two created

et mundanam, ac deinde humanam natures, a spiritual one and

quasi communem ex spiritu et a corporeal one, the angelic,

corpore constitutam[141]. to wit, and the earthly; and

afterward he made the human

Universa vero, quae condidit, nature, as partaking of both,

Deus providentia sua tuetur being composed of spirit and

atque gubernat, attingens a fine body." (Fourth Lateran Council,

usque ad finem fortiter, et ch. I. _Firmiter_.) Moreover,

disponens omnia suaviter[142]. God, by his providence, protects

Omnia enim nuda et aperta sunt and governs all things which he

oculis eius[143], ea etiam, has made, reaching from end to

quae libera creaturarum actione end mightily, and ordering all

futura sunt. things sweetly. (Wisdom viii.

1.) For all things are naked and

open to his eyes, (Heb. iv. 13,)

even those which are to come

to pass by the free action of

creatures.

CAPUT II. CHAPTER II.

DE REVELATIONE. OF REVELATION.

Eadem Sancta Mater Ecclesia The same holy Mother Church

tenet et docet, Deum, rerum holds and teaches that God, the

omnium principium et finem, beginning and end of all things,

naturali humanae rationis can be known with certainty

lumine e rebus creatis certo through created things, by the

cognosci posse; invisibilia enim natural light of human reason;

ipsius, a creatura mundi, per "for the invisible things of

ea quae facta sunt, intellecta, him, from the creation of the

conspiciuntur[144]: attamen world, are clearly seen, being

placuisse, eius sapientiae understood by the things that

et bonitati, alia, eaque are made," (Romans i. 20;) but

supernaturali via se ipsum ac that nevertheless it has pleased

aeterna voluntatis suae decreta his wisdom and goodness to

humano generi revelare, dicente reveal to mankind, by another

Apostolo: Multifariam, multisque and that a supernatural way,

modis olim Deus loquens patribus himself and the eternal decrees

in Prophetis: novissime, diebus of his will; even as the apostle

istis locutus est nobis in says, "God who at sundry times

Filio[145]. and in divers manners spoke, in

times past, to the fathers by

Huic divinae revelationi the prophets, last of all, in

tribuendum quidem est, ut ea, these days hath spoken to us

quae in rebus divinis humanae by his Son." (Heb. i. 1, 2.)

rationi per se impervia non To this divine revelation is

sunt, in praesenti quoque it to be ascribed that things

generis humani conditione regarding God, which are not of

ab omnibus expedite, firma themselves beyond the grasp of

certitudine et nullo admixto human reason, may, even in the

errore cognosci possint. Non present condition of the human

hac tamen de causa revelatio race, be known by all, readily,

absolute necessaria dicenda with full certainty and without

est, sed quia Deus ex infinita any admixture of error. Yet not

bonitate sua ordinavit hominem on this account is revelation

ad finem supernaturalem, ad absolutely necessary, but

participanda scilicet bona because God, of his infinite

divina, quae humanae mentis goodness, has ordained man for

intelligentiam omnino superant; a supernatural end, for the

siquidem oculus non vidit, participation, that is, of

nec auris audivit, nec in divine goods, which altogether

cor hominis ascendit, quae surpass the understanding of

praeparavit Deus iis, qui the human mind; for "eye hath

diligunt ilium.[146] not seen nor ear heard, neither

hath it entered into the heart

of man, what things God hath

prepared for them that love

him." (1 Cor. ii. 9.)

Haec porro supernaturalis Now, this supernatural

revelatio, secundum universalis revelation, according to the

Ecclesiae fidem, a sancta belief of the universal church,

Tridentina Synodo declaratam, as declared by the holy Council

continetur in libris scriptis et of Trent, is contained in

sine scripto traditionibus, quae the written books and in the

ipsius Christi ore ab Apostolis unwritten traditions which

acceptae, aut ab ipsis Apostolis have come to us as received

Spiritu Sancto dictante quasi orally from Christ himself by

per manus traditae, ad nos usque the apostles, or handed down

pervenerunt.[147] Qui quidem from the apostles taught by

veteris et novi Testamenti the Holy Ghost. (Council of

libri integri cum omnibus suis Trent. Session iv. Decree on

partibus, prout in eiusdem the Canon of Scripture.) And

Concilii decreto recensentur, these books of the Old and New

et in veteri vulgata latina Testament are to be received as

editione habentur, pro sacris sacred and canonical, in their

et canonicis suscipiendi sunt. integrity and with all their

Eos vero Ecclesia pro sacris parts, as they are enumerated in

et canonicis habet, non ideo the decree of the same council,

quod sola humana industria and are had in the old Vulgate

concinnati, sua deinde Latin edition. But the church

auctoritate sint approbati; nec does hold them as sacred and

ideo dumtaxat, quod revelationem canonical, not for the reason

sine errore contineant; sed that they have been compiled

propterea quod Spiritu Sancto by human industry alone, and

inspirante conscripti Deum afterward approved by her

habent auctorem, atque ut tales authority; nor only because

ipsi Ecclesiae traditi sunt. they contain revelation without

error, but because, having been

written under the inspiration

of the Holy Ghost, they have

God for their author, and as

such have been delivered to the

church herself.

Quoniam vero, quae sancta And since those things which the

Tridentina Synodus de Council of Trent has declared

interpretatione divinae by wholesome decrees concerning

Scripturae ad coërcenda the interpretation of divine

petulantia ingenia salubriter Scripture, in order to restrain

decrevit, a quibusdam hominibus restless spirits, are explained

prave exponuntur, Nos, idem by some in a wrong sense; we,

decretum renovantes, hanc renewing the same decree,

illius mentem esse declaramus, declare this to be the mind of

ut in rebus fidei et morum, the synod, that, in matters of

ad aedificationem doctrinae faith and morals which pertain

Christianae pertinentium, is pro to the edification of Christian

vero sensu sacrae Scripturae doctrine, that is to be held as

habendus sit, quem tenuit ac the true sense of the sacred

tenet Sancta Mater Ecclesia, Scripture which holy mother

cuius est iudicare de vero sensu church, to whom it belongs to

et interpretatione Scripturarum judge of the true sense and

sanctarum; atque ideo nemini interpretation of the sacred

licere contra hunc sensum, aut Scriptures, has held and holds;

etiam contra unanimem consensum and therefore that no one may

Patrum ipsam Scripturam sacram interpret the sacred Scripture

interpretari. contrary to this sense, or

contrary to the unanimous

consent of the fathers.

CAPUT III. CHAPTER III.

DE FIDE. OF FAITH.

Quum homo a Deo tanquam Forasmuch as man totally depends

Creatore et Domino suo totus on God as his Creator and Lord,

dependeat, et ratio creata and created reason is wholly

increatae Veritati penitus subject to the uncreated truth,

subiecta sit, plenum revelanti therefore we are bound, when God

Deo intellectus et voluntatis makes a revelation, to render

obsequium fide praestare to him the full obedience of

tenemur. Hanc vero fidem, quae our understanding and will, by

humanae salutis initium est, faith. And this faith, which

Ecclesia catholica profitetur, is the beginning of man's

virtutem esse supernaturalem, salvation, the church declares

qua, Dei aspirante et adiuvante to be a supernatural virtue,

gratia, ab eo revelata vera whereby, under the inspiration

esse credimus, non propter and aid of God's grace, we

intrinsecam rerum veritatem believe to be true the things

naturali rationis lumine revealed by him, not for their

perspectam, sed propter intrinsic truth seen by the

auctoritatem ipsius Dei natural light of reason, but for

revelantis, qui nec falli nec the authority of God revealing

fallere potest. Est enim fides, them, who can neither deceive

testante Apostolo, sperandarum nor be deceived. For faith, as

substantia rerum, argumentum non the apostle witnesseth, is the

apparentium.[148] substance of things to be hoped

for, the evidence of things that

appear not. (Heb. xi. 1.)

Ut nihilominus fidei nostrae To the end, nevertheless, that

obsequium rationi consentaneum the obedience of our faith

esset, voluit Deus cum internis might be agreeable to reason,

Spiritus Sancti auxiliis God willed to join unto the

externa iungi revelationis interior grace of the Holy

suae argumenta, facta scilicet Spirit external proofs of his

divina, atque imprimis revelation, to wit, divine

miracula et prophetias, works, and chiefly miracles

quae cum Dei omnipotentiam and prophecies, which, as

et infinitam scientiam they manifestly show forth

luculenter commonstrent, the omnipotence and the

divinae revelationis signa infinite knowledge of God, are

sunt certissima et omnium proofs most certain of divine

intelligentiae accommodata. revelation, and suited to the

Quare turn Moyses et Prophetae, understanding of all. Wherefore

tum ipse maxime Christus Dominus both Moses and the prophets,

multa et manifestissima miracula and above all, Christ our Lord

et prophetias ediderunt; et de himself, wrought many and most

Apostolis legimus: Illi autem evident miracles, and uttered

profecti praedicaverunt ubique, prophecies; and of the apostles

Domino co-operante, et sermonem we read, "But they going forth

confirmante, sequentibus preached everywhere: the Lord

signis.[149] Et rursum scriptum working withal, and confirming

est: Habemus firmiorem the word with signs that

propheticum sermonem, cui bene followed." (Mark xvi. 20.) And

facitis attendentes quasi again it is written, "We have

lucernae lucenti in caliginoso the more firm prophetical word;

loco.[150] whereunto you do well to attend,

as to a light that shineth in a

dark place." (2 Pet. i. 19.)

Licet autem fidei assensus Yet although the assent of

nequaquam sit motus animi faith is not by any means a

caecus: nemo tamen evangelicae blind movement of the mind;

praedicationi consentire nevertheless no one can believe

potest, sicut oportet ad the preaching of the Gospel

salutem consequendam, absque in such wise as behoveth to

illuminatione et inspiratione salvation without the light and

Spiritus Sancti, qui dat omnibus inspiration of the Holy Ghost,

suavitatem in consentiendo et who giveth unto all sweetness

credendo veritati.[151] Quare in yielding to the truth and

fides ipsa in se, etiamsi per believing it. (2 Council of

charitatem non operetur, donum Orange, Can. 7.) Wherefore

Dei est, et actus eius est faith in itself, even though

opus ad salutem pertinens, quo it be not working by charity,

homo liberam praestat ipsi Deo is a gift of God; and an act

obedientiam, gratiae eius, cui of faith is a work tending to

resistere posset, consentiendo salvation, whereby man renders

et coöperando. free obedience to God himself,

consenting to and coöperating

with his grace, which he hath

power to resist.

Porro fide divina et catholica Now, all those things are to be

ea omnia credenda sunt, quae in believed of divine and catholic

verbo Dei scripto vel tradito faith which are contained in the

continentur, et ab Ecclesia sive word of God, whether written

solemni iudicio sive ordinario or handed down by tradition;

et universali magisterio tamquam and which the church, either by

divinitus revelata credenda solemn decree or by her ordinary

proponuntur. and universal teaching, proposes

for belief as revealed by God.

Quoniam vero sine fide And whereas without faith it is

impossibile est placere Deo, impossible to please God, and

et ad filiorum eius consortium to come to the fellowship of

pervenire; ideo nemini his children, therefore hath no

unquam sine illa contigit one at any time been justified

iustificatio, nec ullus, nisi without faith; nor shall any

in ea perseveraverit usque one, unless he persevere therein

in finem, vitam aeternam unto the end, attain everlasting

assequetur. Ut autem officio life. And in order that we might

veram fidem amplectendi, in be able to fulfil our duty of

eaque constanter perseverandi embracing the true faith, and of

satisfacere possemus, Deus steadfastly persevering therein,

per Filium suum unigenitum God, through his only-begotten

Ecclesiam instituit, suaeque Son, did establish the church

institutionis manifestis notis and place upon her manifest

instruxit, ut ea tamquam custos marks of his institution,

et magistra verbi revelati ab that all men might be able to

omnibus posset agnosci. Ad recognize her as the guardian

solam enim catholicam Ecclesiam and teacher of his revealed

ea pertinent omnia, quae ad word. For only to the Catholic

evidentem fidei christianae Church do all those signs

credibilitatem tam multa et tam belong, which have been divinely

mira divinitus sunt disposita. disposed, so many in number

Quin etiam Ecclesia per se and so wonderful in character,

ipsa, ob suam nempe admirabilem for the purpose of making

propagationem, eximiam evident the credibility of the

sanctitatem et inexhaustam in Christian faith; nay more, the

omnibus bonis foecunditatem, ob very church herself, in view

catholicam unitatem, invictamque of her wonderful propagation,

stabilitatem, magnum quoddam her eminent holiness, and her

et perpetuum est motivum exhaustless fruitfulness in

credibilitatis et divinae all that is good, her catholic

suae legationis testimonium unity, her unshaken stability,

irrefragabile. offers a great and evident claim

to belief, and an undeniable

proof of her divine commission.

Quo fit, ut ipsa veluti signum Whence it is that she, as

levatum in nationes,[152] et a standard set up unto the

ad se invitet, qui nondum nations, (Is. xi. 12,) at the

crediderunt, et filios suos same time calls to herself those

certiores faciat, firmissimo who have not yet believed, and

niti fundamento fidem, quam shows to her children that the

profitentur. Cui quidem faith which they hold rests on

testimonio efficax subsidium a most solid foundation. And to

accedit ex superna virtute. this, her testimony, effectual

Etenim benignissimus Dominus aid is supplied by power from

et errantes gratia sua excitat above. For the Lord, infinitely

atque adiuvat, ut ad agnitionem merciful, on the one hand stirs

veritatis venire possint; up by his grace and helps those

et eos, quos de tenebris who are in error, that they may

transtulit in admirabile lumen be able to come to the knowledge

suum, in hoc eodem lumine of the truth; and, on the

ut perseverent, gratia sua other hand, those whom he hath

confirmat, non deserens, nisi transferred from darkness into

deseratur. Quocirca minime par his marvellous light he confirms

est conditio eorum, qui per by his grace, that they may

coeleste fidei donum catholicae persevere in that same light,

veritati adhaeserunt, atque never abandoning them unless

eorum, qui ducti opinionibus he be first by them abandoned.

humanis, falsam religionem Wherefore, totally unlike is the

sectantur; illi enim, qui condition of those who, by the

fidem sub Ecclesiae magisterio heavenly gift of faith, have

susceperunt, nullam unquam embraced the catholic truth,

habere possunt iustam causam and of those who, led by human

mutandi, aut in dubium fidem opinions, are following a false

eamdem revocandi. Quae cum religion; for they who have

ita sint, gratias agentes Deo received the faith under the

Patri, qui dignos nos fecit teaching of the church can never

in partem sortis sanctorum in have a just reason to change

lumine, tantam ne negligamus that faith or call it into

salutem, sed aspicientes in doubt. Wherefore, giving thanks

auctorem fidei et consummatorem to God the Father, who hath made

Iesum, teneamus spei nostrae us worthy to be partakers of

confessionem indeclinabilem. the lot of the saints in light,

let us not neglect so great

salvation, but looking on Jesus,

the author and finisher of our

faith, let us hold fast the

confession of our hope without

wavering.

CAPUT IV. CHAPTER IV.

DE FIDE ET RATIONE. OF FAITH AND REASON.

Hoc quoque perpetuus Ecclesiae Moreover, the Catholic Church

catholicae consensus tenuit has ever held, as she now holds,

et tenet, duplicem esse that there exists a two-fold

ordinem cognitionis, non order of knowledge, each of

solum principio, sed obiecto which is distinct from the other

etiam distinctum: principio both as to its principle and

quidem, quia in altero naturali as to its object. As to its

ratione, in altero fide divina principle, because in the one

cognoscimus; obiecto autem, we know by natural reason, in

quia praeter ea, ad quae the other by divine faith; as

naturalis ratio pertingere to the object, because, besides

potest, credenda nobis those things to which natural

proponuntur mysteria in Deo reason can attain, there are

abscondita, quae, nisi revelata proposed to our belief mysteries

divinitus, innotescere non hidden in God which, unless

possunt. Quocirca Apostolus, by him revealed, cannot come

qui a gentibus Deum per ea, to our knowledge. Wherefore

quae facta sunt, cognitum the same apostle, who beareth

esse testatur, disserens witness that God was known to

tamen de gratia et veritate, the Gentiles by the things that

quae per Iesum Christum facta are made, yet when speaking of

est,[153] pronuntiat: Loquimur the grace and truth that came

Dei sapientiam in mysterio, by Jesus Christ, (John i. 17.)

quae abscondita est, quam says, "We speak the wisdom of

praedestinavit Deus ante saecula God in a mystery, a wisdom which

in gloriam nostram, quam is hidden; which God ordained

nemo principum huius saeculi before the world unto our glory;

cognovit: nobis autem revelavit which none of the princes of

Deus per Spiritum suum: this world knew; but which God

Spiritus enim omnia scrutatur, hath revealed to us by his

etiam profunda Dei.[154] Et Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth

ipse Unigenitus confitetur all things, yea the deep things

Patri, quia abscondit haec a of God." (1 Cor. ii. 7, 8, 10.)

sapientibus et prudentibus, et And the only-begotten Son thanks

revelavit ea parvulis.[155] the Father that he has hid

these things from the wise and

prudent, and has revealed them

to little ones. (Matt. xi. 25.)

Ac ratio quidem, fide Reason, indeed, enlightened

illustrata, cum sedulo, pie by faith and seeking with

et sobrie quaerit, aliquam, diligence and godly sobriety,

Deo dante, mysteriorum may, by God's gift, come to

intelligentiam eamque some understanding, limited in

fructuosissimam assequitur, degree, but most wholesome in

tum ex eorum, quae naturaliter its effects, of mysteries, both

cognoscit, analogia, tum e from the analogy of things which

mysteriorum ipsorum nexu are naturally known, and from

inter se et cum fine hominis the connection of the mysteries

ultimo; nunquam tamen idonea themselves with one another and

redditur ad ea perspicienda with man's last end. But never

instar veritatum, qua proprium can reason be rendered capable

ipsius obiectum constituunt. of thoroughly understanding

Divina enim mysteria suapte mysteries, as it does those

natura intellectum creatum sic truths which form its proper

excedunt, ut etiam revelatione object. For God's mysteries,

tradita et fide suscepta, ipsius of their very nature, so far

tamen fidei velamine contecta et surpass the reach of created

quadam quasi caligine obvoluta intellect, that even when taught

maneant, quamdiu in hac mortali by revelation, and received by

vita peregrinamur a Domino: per faith, they remain covered by

fidem enim ambulamus, et non per faith itself as by a veil, and

speciem.[156] shrouded as it were in darkness

as long as in this mortal life

"we are absent from the Lord;

for we walk by faith, and not by

sight." (2 Cor. v. 6, 7.)

Verum etsi fides sit supra But although faith be above

rationem, nulla tamen unquam reason, there never can be

inter fidem et rationem vera a real disagreement between

dissensio esse potest: cum idem them, since the same God who

Deus, qui mysteria revelat et reveals mysteries and infuses

fidem infundit, animo humano faith has given to man's soul

rationis lumen indiderit; the light of reason; and God

Deus autem negare seipsum cannot deny himself nor can one

non possit, nec verum vero truth ever contradict another.

unquam contradicere. Inanis Wherefore the empty shadow

autem huius contradictionis of such contradiction arises

species inde potissimum oritur, chiefly from this, that either

quod vel fidei dogmata ad the doctrines of faith are not

mentem Ecclesiae intellecta understood and set forth as

et exposita non fuerint, the church really holds them,

vel opinionum commenta pro or that the vain devices and

rationis effatis habeantur. opinions of men are mistaken

Omnem igitur assertionem for the dictates of reason. We

veritati illuminatae fidei therefore definitively pronounce

contrariam omnino falsam esse false every assertion which is

definimus.[157] Porro Ecclesia, contrary to the enlightened

quae una cum apostolico munere truth of faith. (V. Lateran

docendi, mandatum accepit, Counc. Bull _Apostolici

fidei depositum costodiendi, Regiminis_.) Moreover the

ius etiam et officium divinitus church, which, together with her

habet falsi nominis scientiam apostolic office of teaching,

proscribendi, ne quis decipiatur is charged also with the

per philosophiam, et inanem guardianship of the deposit

fallaciam.[158] Quapropter omnes of faith, holds likewise from

christiani fideles huiusmodi God the right and the duty to

opiniones, quae fidei doctrinae condemn "knowledge falsely so

contrariae esse cognoscuntur, called," (1 Tim. vi. 20,) "lest

maxime si ab Ecclesia reprobatae any man be cheated by philosophy

fuerint, non solum prohibentur and vain deceit." (Col. ii. 8.)

tanquam legitimas scientiae Hence all the Christian faithful

conclusiones defendere, sed pro are not only forbidden to defend

erroribus potius, qui fallacem as legitimate conclusions of

veritatis speciem prae se science those opinions which

ferant, habere tenentur omnino. are known to be contrary to the

doctrine of faith, especially

when condemned by the church,

but are rather absolutely bound

to hold them for errors wearing

a deceitful appearance of truth.

Neque solum fides et ratio Not only is it impossible

inter se dissidere nunquam for faith and reason ever to

possunt, sed opem quoque sibi contradict each other, but they

mutuam ferunt, cum recta ratio rather afford each other mutual

fidei fundamenta demonstret, assistance. For right reason

eiusque lumine illustrata establishes the foundations of

rerum divinarum scientiam faith and by the aid of its

excolat; fides vero rationem ab light cultivates the science

erroribus liberet ac tueatur, of divine things; and faith,

eamque multiplici cognitione on the other hand, frees and

instruat. Quapropter tantum preserves reason from errors,

abest, ut Ecclesia humanarum and enriches it with knowledge

artium et disciplinarum culturae of many kinds. So far, then,

obsistat, ut hanc multis modis is the church from opposing

iuvet atque promoveat. Non the culture of human arts and

enim commoda ab iis ad hominum sciences, that she rather

vitam dimanantia aut ignorat aids and promotes it in many

aut despicit; fatetur imo, eas, ways. For she is not ignorant

quemadmodum a Deo, scientiarum of, nor does she despise the

Domino, profectae sunt, ita advantages which flow from

si rite pertractentur, ad them to the life of men; on

Deum, iuvante eius gratia, the contrary, she acknowledges

perducere. Nec sane ipsa vetat, that, as they sprang from God

ne huiusmodi disciplinae in suo the Lord of knowledge, so, if

quaeque ambitu propriis utantur they be rightly pursued, they

principiis et propria methodo; will, through the aid of his

sed iustam hanc libertatem grace, lead to God. Nor does she

agnoscens, id sedulo cavet, ne forbid any of those sciences the

divinae doctrinae repugnando use of its own principles and

errores in se suscipiant, aut its own method within its own

fines proprios transgressae, ea, proper sphere; but recognizing

quae sunt fidei, occupent et this reasonable freedom, she

perturbent. only takes care that they may

not by contradicting God's

teaching, fall into errors, or,

overstepping their due limits,

invade and throw into confusion

the domain of faith.

Neque enim fidei doctrina, For the doctrine of faith

quam Deus revelavit, velut revealed by God has not

philosophicum inventum been proposed, like some

proposita est humanis ingeniis philosophical discovery, to be

perficienda, sed tanquam divinum made perfect by human ingenuity;

depositum Christi Sponsae but it has been delivered to the

tradita, fideliter custodienda spouse of Christ as a divine

et infallibiliter declaranda. deposit to be faithfully guarded

Hinc sacrorum quoque dogmatum is and unerringly set forth. Hence

sensus perpetuo est retinendus, all tenets of holy faith are to

quem semel declaravit Sancta be explained always according

Mater Ecclesia, nec unquam ab eo to the sense and meaning of the

sensu, altioris intelligentiae church, nor is it ever lawful to

specie et nomine, recedendum. depart therefrom, under pretence

Crescat igitur et multum or color of more enlightened

vehementerque proficiat, tam explanation. Therefore as

singulorum, quam omnium, tam generations and centuries roll

unius hominis, quam totius on, let the understanding,

Ecclesiae, aetatum ac saeculorum knowledge, and wisdom of each

gradibus, intelligentia, and every one, of individuals

scientia, sapientia: sed in and of the whole church, grow

suo dumtaxat genere, in eodem apace and increase exceedingly,

scilicet dogmate, eodem sensu, yet only in its kind; that is

eademque sententia.[159] to say, retaining pure and

inviolate the sense and meaning

and belief of the same doctrine.

(Vincent of Lerins. Common. No.

28.)

CANONES. CANONS.

I. I.

DE DEO RERVM OMNIVM CREATORE. OF GOD THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS.

1. Si quis unum verum Deum 1. If any one shall deny the one

visibilium et invisibilium true God, Creator and Lord of

Creatorem et Dominum negaverit; things visible and invisible;

anathema sit. let him be anathema.

2. Si quis praeter materiam 2. If any one shall unblushingly

nihil esse affirmare non affirm, that besides matter

erubuerit; anathema sit. nothing else exists; let him be

anathema.

3. Si quis dixerit, unam 3. If any one shall say that the

eandemque esse Dei et rerum substance or essence of God, and

omnium substantiam vel of all things, is one and the

essentiam; anathema sit. same; let him be anathema.

4. Si quis dixerit, res finitas, 4. If any one shall say that

tum corporeas tum spirituales, finite things, both corporeal

aut saltem spirituales, e divina and spiritual, or at least

substantia emanasse; spiritual things, are emanations

of the divine substance;

aut divinam essentiam sui Or that the divine essence by

manifestatione vel evolutione manifestation or development of

fieri omnia; itself becomes all things;

aut denique Deum esse ens Or, finally, that God is

universale seu indefinitum, quod universal or indefinite Being,

sese determinando constituat which, in determining itself,

rerum universitatem in genera, constitutes all things, divided

species et individua distinctam; into genera, species, and

anathema sit. individuals; let him be anathema.

5. Si quis non confiteatur, 5. If any one do not acknowledge

mundum, resque omnes, quae in eo that the world, and all

continentur, et spirituales et things which it contains,

materiales, secundum totam suam both spiritual and material,

substantiam a Deo ex nihilo esse were produced, in all their

productas; substance, by God, out of

nothing;

aut Deum dixerit non voluntate Or shall say that God created

ab omni necessitate libera, sed them, not of his own will, free

tam necessario creasse, quam from all necessity, but through

necessario amat seipsum; a necessity such as that whereby

he loves himself;

aut mundum ad Dei gloriam Or shall deny that the world was

conditum esse negaverit; created for the glory of God;

anathema sit. let him be anathema.

II. II.

DE REVELATIONE. OF REVELATION.

1. Si quis dixerit, Deum unum 1. If any one shall say that

et verum, Creatorem et Dominum certain knowledge of the one

nostrum, per ea, quae facta true God, our Creator and Lord,

sunt, naturali rationis humanae cannot be attained by the

lumine certo cognosci non posse; natural light of human reason

anathema sit. through the things that are

made; let him be anathema.

2. Si quis dixerit, fieri non 2. If any one shall say that it

posse, aut non expedire, ut is impossible, or inexpedient,

per revelationem divinam homo for man to be instructed by

de Deo, cultuque ei exhibendo means of divine revelation, in

edoceatur; anathema sit. those things that concern God

and the worship to be rendered

to him; let him be anathema.

3. Si quis dixerit, hominem ad 3. If any one shall say that man

cognitionem et perfectionem, cannot, by the power of God,

quae naturalem superet, be raised to a knowledge and

divinitus evehi non posse, perfection which is above that

sed ex seipso ad omnis tandem of nature; but that he can and

veri et boni possessionem iugi ought of his own efforts, by

profectu pertingere posse et means of constant progress, to

debere; anathema sit. arrive at last to the possession

of all truth and goodness; let

him be anathema.

4. Si quis sacrae Scripturae 4. If any one shall refuse to

libros integros cum omnibus suis receive for sacred and canonical

partibus, prout illos sancta the books of holy Scripture in

Tridentina Synodus recensuit, their integrity, with all their

pro sacris et canonicis non parts, according as they were

susceperit, aut eos divinitus enumerated by the holy Council

inspiratos esse negaverit; of Trent;

anathema sit.

Or shall deny that they are

inspired by God; let him be

anathema.

III. III.

DE FIDE. OF FAITH.

1. Si quis dixerit, rationem 1. If any one shall say that

humanam ita independentem esse, human reason is in such wise

ut fides ei a Deo imperari non independent, that faith cannot

possit; anathema sit. be demanded of it by God; let

him be anathema.

2. Si quis dixerit, fidem 2. If any one shall say that

divinam a naturali de Deo et divine faith does not differ

rebus moralibus scientia non from a natural knowledge of

distingui, ac propterea ad fidem God, and of moral truths; and

divinam non requiri, ut revelata therefore that for divine faith,

veritas propter auctoritatem Dei it is not necessary to believe

revelantis credatur; anathema revealed truth, on the authority

sit. of God who reveals it; let him

be anathema.

3. Si quis dixerit, revelationem 3. If any one shall say that

divinam externis signis divine revelation cannot be

credibilem fieri non posse, rendered credible by external

ideoque sola interna cuiusque evidences; and therefore

experientia aut inspiratione that men should be moved to

privata homines ad fidem moveri faith only by each one's

debere; anathema sit. interior experience or private

inspiration; let him be anathema.

4. Si quis dixerit, miracula 4. If any one shall say that no

nulla fieri posse, proindeque miracles can be wrought; and

omnes de iis narrationes, etiam therefore that all accounts of

in sacra Scriptura contentas, such, even those contained in

inter fabulas vel mythos the sacred Scripture, are to be

ablegandas esse; aut miracula set aside as fables or myths; or

certo cognosci nunquam posse, that miracles can never be known

nec iis divinam religionis with certainty, and that the

christianae originem rite divine origin of Christianity

probari; anathema sit. cannot be truly proved by them;

let him be anathema.

5. Si quis dixerit, assensum 5. If any one shall say that

fidei christianae non esse the assent of Christian faith

liberum, sed argumentis humanae is not free, but is produced

rationis necessario produci; aut necessarily by arguments of

ad solam fidem vivam, quae per human reason; or that the grace

charitatem operatur, gratiam Dei of God is necessary only for

necessariam esse; anathema sit. living faith which worketh by

charity; let him be anathema.

6. Si quis dixerit, parem esse 6. If any one shall say that

conditionem fidelium atque the condition of the faithful,

eorum, qui ad fidem unice and of those who have not yet

veram nondum pervenerunt, ita come to the only true faith,

ut catholici iustam causam is equal, in such wise that

habere possint, fidem, quam Catholics can have just reason

sub Ecclesiae magisterio iam for withholding their assent,

susceperunt, assensu suspenso and calling into doubt the faith

in dubium vocandi, donec which they have received from

demonstrationem scientificam the teaching of the church,

credibilitatis et veritatis until they shall have completed

fidei suae absolverint; anathema a scientific demonstration of

sit. the credibility and truth of

their faith; let him be anathema.

IV. IV.

DE FIDE ET RATIONE. OF FAITH AND REASON.

1. Si quis dixerit, in 1. If any one shall say that

revelatione divina nulla vera divine revelation includes no

et proprie dicta mysteria mysteries, truly and properly

contineri, sed universa fidei so called; but that all the

dogmata posse per rationem dogmas of faith may, with the

rite excultam e naturalibus aid of natural principles, be

principiis intelligi et understood and demonstrated by

demonstrari; anathema sit. reason duly cultivated; let him

be anathema.

2. Si quis dixerit, disciplinas 2. If any one shall say that

humanas ea cum libertate human sciences ought to be

tractandas esse, ut earum pursued in such a spirit

assertiones, etsi doctrinae of freedom that one may be

revelatae adversentur, tanquam allowed to hold, as true, their

verae retineri, neque ab assertions, even when opposed

Ecclesia proscribi possint; to revealed doctrine; and that

anathema sit. such assertions may not be

condemned by the church; let him

be anathema.

3. Si quis dixerit, fieri posse, 3. If any one shall say that it

ut dogmatibus ab Ecclesia may at any time come to pass, in

propositis, aliquando secundum the progress of science, that

progressum scientiae sensus the doctrines set forth by the

tribuendus sit alius ab eo, church must be taken in another

quem intellexit et intelligit sense than that in which the

Ecclesia; anathema sit. church has ever received and

yet receives them; let him be

anathema.

Itaque supremi pastoralis Nostri Wherefore, fulfilling our

officii debitum exequentes, supreme pastoral duty, we

omnes Christi fideles, maxime beseech, through the bowels of

vero eos, qui praesunt vel mercy of Jesus Christ, all the

docendi munere funguntur, Christian faithful, and those

per viscera Iesu Christi especially who are set over

obtestamur, nec non eiusdem Dei others, or have the office of

et Salvatoris nostri auctoritate teachers, and furthermore we

iubemus, ut ad hos errores a command them, by authority of

Sancta Ecclesia arcendos et the same our God and Saviour,

eliminandos, atque purissimae to use all zeal and industry to

fidei lucem pandendam studium et drive out and keep away from

operam conferant. holy church those errors, and to

spread abroad the pure light of

faith.

Quoniam vero satis non est, And whereas it is not enough to

haereticam pravitatem devitare, avoid heretical pravity, unless

nisi ii quoque errores at the same time we carefully

diligenter fugiantur, qui ad shun those errors which more

illam plus minusve accedunt; or less approach to it; we

omnes officii monemus, servandi admonish all, that it is their

etiam Constitutiones et duty to observe likewise the

Decreta, quibus pravae eiusmodi constitutions and decrees of

opiniones, quae isthic diserte this holy see, by which wrong

non enumerantur, ab hac Sancta opinions of the same kind, not

Sede proscriptae et prohibitae expressly herein mentioned, are

sunt. condemned and forbidden.

FOOTNOTES:

[140] Is lix. 21.

[141] Conc. Later. IV. c. 1. _Firmiter_.

[142] Sap. viii. 1.

[143] Cf. Hebr. iv. 13.

[144] Rom. i. 20.

[145] Hebr. i. 1, 2.

[146] 1 Cor. ii. 9.

[147] Conc. Trid. Sess. IV. Decr. de Can. Script.

[148] Hebr. xi. 1.

[149] Marc. xvi. 20.

[150] 2 Petr. i. 19.

[151] Syn. Araus. II. can. 7.

[152] Is. xi. 12.

[153] Ioan. i. 17.

[154] 1 Cor. ii. 7, 8, 10.

[155] Matth. xi. 25.

[156] 2 Cor. v. 6, 7.

[157] Conc. Lat. V. Bulla _Apostolici regiminis_.

[158] Coloss. ii. 8.

[159] Vinc. Lir. Common, n. 28.

THE CATHOLIC WORLD.

VOL. XI., No. 64.--JULY, 1870.

THE CATHOLIC OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

The Catholic, like the church, is one and the same in all ages

and all times. As she came forth from the hands of her Architect

finished, complete, and perfect in every particular of solid

structure and exquisite adornment, in like manner the individual

member, if he be faithful to her tradition, practice, and direction,

is, with the allowance of human infirmity, perfect and complete in

one age as well as another, without regard to local circumstances

of civil government, education, exterior refinement, occupation,

complexion, or race.

Religion in its interior nature and intention has reference to the

life to come. The life to come is the complement of the present;

as the religion of the Catholic Church is perfect, the future life

which grows from the seeds planted in time must necessarily be

absolute perfection and unending satisfaction. The temporal fruit

must likewise become true material well-being, if its growth and

perfection be not interrupted by adventitious causes.

The assertion of the absolute perfection of the Catholic religion,

with reference to time as well as eternity, is made with precisely

the same significance with which we assert the perfection of God.

It is made simply and boldly, without hesitation, qualification,

or reserve, and it will be the basis of our argument, and the

starting-place for the views and opinions we propose to put forth. It

is intended for Catholic eyes. The defence of the proposition is no

part of our concern.

When they who deny or dispute it shall have vanquished a single one

of the great champions of our faith from Athanasius to Archbishop

Kenrick, from Cyril of Alexandria to Archbishop Spaulding of

Baltimore, picked up the glove which Dr. Brownson has flung down upon

the field of controversy, replied to Wiseman, refuted Manning, and

silenced Newman, it will be time enough for us to begin to consider

the measures necessary for making good the position we have chosen.

Placing ourselves distinctly upon the proposition, we invite

attention to certain relations which the Catholic of to-day holds

toward his race, his country, his age, and the particular order and

condition denominated progress, and the spirit of the nineteenth

century.

It becomes necessary under these aspects to consider him as a

dutiful subject of the head of the church, and a loyal citizen of an

independent state; as a freeman, and one bound by supreme authority;

as recognizing and obeying reason, and, in the free exercise of that

royal faculty of the soul, surrendering certain prerogatives of

private judgment to infallibility; as subject and at the same time

sovereign, both obeying and commanding; submissive to the laws and

acknowledging the supremacy of a higher law, which he is prepared

to vindicate with property, liberty, and life, if the two come in

conflict upon any vital point in which he or the church is concerned,

in the nineteenth century, precisely as he did in the first, the

second, or the third century.

The most obvious, interesting, and important view of the Catholic

in his relations to the century is that of voter. Suffrage, or

the privilege of voting for our rulers, and indirectly making the

laws by which we are to be governed, is not a natural right. It is

an acquired privilege, and only becomes a right when conveyed and

acknowledged by competent authority. Once obtained, it cannot be

abrogated, and can only be lost by revolution, the fruit of gross

political misconduct, or by voluntary neglect and disuse.

The right of suffrage bestows special prerogatives upon its

possessors. It superadds legislative and magisterial functions to the

obligations of private obedience; it communicates grace and dignity

to the manly character, imposes definite and heavy responsibilities

upon each individual, requires the humblest citizen to participate

in the dignity of the highest offices, and holds the most exalted

personages to a distinct accountability to the people. It permits

every Catholic to share actively in the plans, policy, and beneficent

enterprises of the church, and enables him in some sense to take

part in the divine government of the universe, physical and moral.

It is a specific and precious gift bestowed on Catholics in this age

and country, and we are compelled to stand in the full blaze of the

light of the nineteenth century, which is rolling out its illuminated

scroll before our dazzled eyes and almost bewildered understandings,

charged with the manifold blessings or curses which must flow from

the use or abuse of this momentous, one might almost say holy and

hierarchical function.

An offer and promise are as distinctly made to the Catholics of this

age as they were to the chosen people when released from the Egyptian

bondage. A land of promise, a land flowing with milk and honey, is

spread out before them, and offered for their acceptance.

The means placed at their disposal for securing this rich possession

are not the sword, or wars of extermination waged against the enemies

of their religion, but instead, the mild and peaceful influence

of the ballot, directed by instructed Catholic conscience and

enlightened Catholic intelligence.

A careful consideration of this subject is particularly important at

the present epoch and century.

The nineteenth century is interesting to us because it is _ours_;

because it is the expression and exponent of much that has been

dark and obscure in the past, because it is the most fruitful and

bountiful in material resources and advantages of any of which we

possess authentic knowledge, because it shines glorious amidst the

centuries by its own intrinsic light, and by the light derived from

modern discoveries, investigations, and interpretations thrown back

upon the past, and by it reflected in turn upon the present. It is

especially important to us as Catholics, inasmuch as it seems to be

a critical era in the religious history of the human race, and to

have been selected by Providence as a new point of departure in many

important particulars of his dealings with mankind.

The radical questions of the relations between the supernatural

and the natural, faith and reason, Rome and the world, justice and

injustice; between the material and transitory, and the immaterial

and permanent; between that which is unchangeable in principle and

those things which are progressive in action; between church and

state, God and man, are sharply defined, boldly stated, pushed to

their ultimate, logical, and practical extremes, and presented with

all the arguments, inducements, promises, and threatenings of the

most learned and eloquent advocates of the opposing causes to each

individual Catholic for his election.

The issue is as distinctly placed before his mind as it was in

the case of our first parents in Eden, of Europe in the religious

revolution of the sixteenth century, of England in the days of Henry

VIII. and his anti-Catholic successors.

It is a question of instant and pressing importance, which demands

an immediate and definite answer. It must be met and answered by

the Catholic of to-day, since to him are committed the obligation

and business of perpetuating and regenerating society, purifying

legislation, enforcing the administration of the laws, and setting

an example of private and public virtue, justice, moderation, and

forbearance. He has been furnished with an omnipotent weapon with

which to accomplish this great work, and he is provided with an

unerring guide to direct him in the administration of these important

trusts. We do not hesitate to affirm that in performing our duties

as citizens, electors, and public officers, we should always and

under all circumstances act simply as Catholics; that we should be

governed and directed by the immutable principles of our religion,

and should take dogmatic faith and the conclusions drawn from it, as

expressed and defined in Catholic philosophy, theology, and morality,

as the only rule of our private, public, and political conduct. Those

things which are condemned by Catholic justice, we should condemn;

those things which are affirmed, we should affirm.

There can be no circumstance, condition, or relation in which the

Catholic is left without his guide, and there is absolutely no excuse

if he fail in the performance of this duty, upon which rests the

future prosperity of civilized society.

While insisting on the dignity and obligations of suffrage, it

may perhaps be necessary to observe that the church prescribes no

specific form of government. Government itself is required under some

form, for the reason that we are created and fulfil our allotted

destiny under the operation of an organic law which we have the

power, and under certain circumstances the disposition, to violate.

We have no power to annul or abrogate the organic law, and its

violation in virtue of its own nature, and our responsibility entails

specific penalties in time, and, as it is eternal in its origin and

action, eternity. The superiority of the human race, and the merit

and honor of obedience, reside in the power of choice, and the

ability which we possess to decide our temporal and eternal destiny,

and renew and perfect, or reject and obliterate our relations with

the Creator. A happy, prosperous, and peaceful temporal condition

is not guaranteed, nor is it essential to true well-being but

these most desirable concomitants of earthly existence necessarily

accompany and flow from the enforcement of the requirements of the

organic law upon our own conduct and that of others less disposed to

obey them.

All human government rests upon this basis, whether of patriarch,

prophet, priest, king, chieftain, pope, bishop, emperor, or people in

organized assembly.

The principle underlying every form of government is that of command

and obedience, because the government of the universe is one of

law. Both command and obedience are of the same nature and alike

honorable, because there can be but one source of law, and that is

God; and he in his humanity obeyed the laws of his own creation in

his divinity, and personally fulfilled the obligations of his own

imposition. Who is he who despises obedience, when the Son of Man

became obedient to the death of the cross?

All legislation in harmony with the organic law is theocratic and

divine; all in violation or opposition, precisely in the measure

and degree of departure, unjust, cruel, tyrannical, false, vain,

unstable, and weak, and not entitled to respect or obedience.

Since justice and our honor and dignity require that we should obey

God, and not man, we are compelled by every reasonable motive to

ascertain his will. He does not communicate personally and orally

with creatures.

Unless we have the means of ascertaining with certainty what his

wishes are on a given subject, whether of the private practice

of virtue or the administration of a public duty, we are left to

the direction of opinions, interests, and passions more or less

superficially instructed and enlightened, and tend inevitably toward

barbarism, despotism, and social and political disorganization. The

Catholic Church is the medium and channel through which the will of

God is expressed. The chain of communication, composed of the triple

strand of revelation, inspiration, and faith, stretches underneath

the billows of eternity to the shore of time, from the throne of God

to the chair of Peter. The finger of the pope, like the needle in the

compass, invariably points to the pole of eternal truth, and the mind

of the sovereign pontiff is as certain to reflect the mind and will

of God as the mirror at one end of a submarine cable to indicate the

electric signal made at the other.

The will of God is expressed as plainly through the church as it was

through Moses and the tables of the law. It is distinct, definite,

intelligible, and precise, and we are bound to execute the will thus

expressed, and act in the light of the intelligence thus supplied.