FOOTNOTES:[496]To give a translation from a Catholic source we use one issued at the office of theWeekly Register.
FOOTNOTES:
[496]To give a translation from a Catholic source we use one issued at the office of theWeekly Register.
[496]To give a translation from a Catholic source we use one issued at the office of theWeekly Register.
APPENDIX B
RELATION OF THE CHURCH TO THE BAPTIZED, AND ESPECIALLY TO HERETICS
The following passages from the standard work of Phillips indicate the tenets of Rome on this subject, in the more moderate aspect of their recent phases. They are all found in thesecondvolume of theKirchenrecht, and we give the page with each separate citation—
P. 435. "By virtue of the supreme powers given to her, the Church has indeed a dominion over those who are without [not baptized]; but over these she does not give sentence in the same sense as over those who through the door of baptism have entered into the Church, and who through this sacrament have received the indelible token of membership in the kingdom of Christ. These latter have in baptism sworn the oath of allegiance; they have swornFidelitasandHomagium, the oath of personal believing fidelity [fidelitas] and that of the vassal (Lehnseid), of true and active service with the talents which have been granted to them in fee (Zu Lehen)."
P. 436. "No one is exempt from this obedience—all are confided to the Church to be guided and brought up for heaven; for all, therefore, without exception, is the Church an authority instituted by God. The possibility of attaining to his highest end, that of glorifying God, which man through disobedience had lost, Christ has given back to him again; but this end can be attained only in the way of obedience. Disobedience against the divine Word, therejecting or doubting even of a single one of the divine truths announced by the Church, puts the individual human being again in the way of perdition, on which our first parents entered to their own ruin and that of their posterity, when they, instead of believing the simply and clearly announced Word, chose another exposition of the same, which was more agreeable to them."
P. 438. "Hence in particular must they grievously offend God who either directly put away from them the faith of the Church, or else accept it only in so far as it appears to them correct according to the selection [out of her tenets] which they have made; or, again, who so break the bond of the unity of the Church as to declare themselves loose from obedience to the lawful authority which in her has been set over them by God. Thus are we led to speak of the three ecclesiastical crimes—apostasy, heresy, and schism."
P. 440. "As to apostasy, which is the total rejection of the Christian faith, and the falling away into Judaism, or heathenism, or Islamism, it is here only to be remarked that in the view of the Church it is as the crime of insulting the majesty of God. The apostate must be compelled to return to the Church by force, and a milder judgment may be pronounced upon him only in the case of one who was compelled to deny his faith by the unbelievers."
P. 441. "In opposition to the entire rejection of the Christian faith, heresy implies the wilful selection of a number from out of the dogmas of the Church which are to be believed by men in all their fulness, and the restricting of faith to such selected doctrines as the man still adheres to; in general to this is added the acceptance of false articles of faith. In this wider sense, all those are called heretics who accept only particular doctrines of the Church; but we must distinguish between such. We must part off error from heresy. Any man may fall into error, with regard to one or another doctrine of the Church, against his own will, out of simplicity, or from want of instruction, or because he has received wrong instruction. Such an error of the understanding is called 'material heresy'; but proper heresy, which is called 'formal heresy,' has its seat in the will. The latter consists in this, that to error is added obstinacy of the will, which is disinclined to depart from it. If any one announces a doctrine and then learns that the Church teaches otherwise, thus discovering that he was in error, he does not fall into heresy if he only ceases to defend the doctrine which he has set forth, and submits himself to the teaching of the Church. On the other hand, one who does know that the Church teaches otherwise, and still affirms that something is an article of belief which is not so, or, contrariwise, that something is not an article of belief which is so, doing this in spite of the fact that the Church has delivered the truth upon the subject, he by so doing haughtily prefers his own judgment to that of the Church; and through this obstinacy, the characteristic mark of heresy, he becomes a heretic in the strict sense of the word.
"It is not necessary to heresy that the person shall, as a heresiarch, found a new sect, or that, by free choice, he shall go over to a sect condemned by the Church; but heresy is already present whenever any one in the bosom of the Catholic Church departs from only one single point of the faith, or understands one single passage of Holy Scripture otherwise than as the Church, with the assistance of the Holy Ghost, expounds them. For so great is the importance of heresy that through want of faith even on one point, the proper foundation of faith itself is destroyed, so that he that makes himself guilty with regard to one dogma, becomes at the same time guilty as to every dogma of the Church. Thus not only is he who rejects one of the articles defined by the Church a heretic, but also he who after such a definition maintains that the point is still doubtful."
P. 445. "The Church prays for the return of her separated members, and she is entitled to proceed to compulsion by virtue of the jurisdiction over heretics as baptized persons which belongs to her; but she uses, by prayer and by the instruction which is permitted to all, the only meansby which she can now enter into communication with them, at least as relations at present stand.
"She may, indeed, tolerate the heathen, because they err through ignorance; she may tolerate the Jews as witnesses for the truth; but she cannot tolerate heresy, because this shakes the foundation of the entire faith. The synagogue makes way for the Church as a dutiful handmaid, bringing her the Holy Scriptures. Heresy, however, lifts itself up as a mistress above the Church, discredits her utterly, sets itself to judge over her, and would condemn her out of Holy Scripture according to its self-chosen exposition, closing her mouth like that of Christ. It commences with the divine Word, but it treats that word like a lyre, from which every one at pleasure, may draw whatever note will suit him.
"The Church pardons error, but she cannot subject herself to the obstinately erring will, but must destroy its dominion and its tyranny. She, as the teacher of the truth, cannot conclude a peace with such a will. She cannot lift it up to the throne beside her, she cannot share her dominion with it. Understood in its proper and true signification, heresy is a frightful crime. Do the heathen blaspheme God out of ignorance? Heresy tears truth to pieces consciously. Did the Jews crucify Christ according to the flesh? Heresy fastens the Church, His mystical body, to the cross. Therefore the Church cannot at all tolerate heresy, because the greatest danger of seduction is attached to it. The Christian can easily shun the heathen and the Jew, but not the Christian who by the baptismal vow is connected with him, but by heresy is separated from him.
"On these grounds is explained the complete intolerance which the Church, in all her laws, and especially in theBulla Cæna, has manifested against heresy. Hence are explained the certainly hard-sounding expressions with which she speaks of heresy. Hence the punishments against heretics, the delivering up of the same to the temporal arm, and the calling upon temporal princes by law and by arms to come to her help in rooting out heresy. When the Church pronouncesexcommunicationupon heretics, it is nothing more than a declaratory sentence of that which had already been announced by the heretics themselves; for, all the more because these are Christians, must she separate them from herself, that they may not be accounted as of her, and that she may not appear as chargeable for their obstinacy.
"Hence it will be understood that the Church employs all means to keep her members from being infected with heretical teaching. She has therefore, with the apostle, forbiddenintercoursewith heretics; yet she makes this apply, according to the Bull of Martin V,Ad evitandos, only to those who are personally, and by name,excommunicatedon account of their obstinacy. To a like end the Church forbids to the faithful the reading of heretical writings, which still retain that character even when the author perhaps erred only out of ignorance, and has given his books to the fire. So according to the diversities of times and circumstances does she require from her members the assurance of fidelity in makingthe confession of faith, causing those who return into her bosom to abjure heresy, and prohibiting all to preach who have not thereto an express mission, and forbidding the laity to dispute as to the faith, except in cases in which especial exceptions are justified."
P. 451. "Schism, in its proper meaning, consists in this, that the baptized person, while not doubting as to the faith, and while not intending to separate himself from it, declares himself free from the authority which God has set over him in the Church. In a looser sense of the word, schism may refer to one's own bishop, as well as to the Pope; properly, however, it requires separation from the centre of Church unity, from the Pope, to constitute a schism, although revolt against the proper bishop, recognized by the head of the Church, comprehends in itself separation from the entire Church. And how will the schismatic, separated from ecclesiastical unity, preserve himself in purity of doctrine? Does heresy lead to schism? So infallibly does schism lead to heresy, inasmuch as only through false doctrine can it be justified. Therefore does the Church regard schism as a crime just as great as heresy, and in general has dealt with it in the same manner."
APPENDIX C
THE CONSTITUTIONS "DEI FILIUS" AND "PASTOR ÆTERNUS"
(From the "Catholic Directory" for 1871, pp. 55 ff.)
DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CATHOLIC FAITH
Pius Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, with the approval of the Sacred Council, for perpetual remembrance.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Redeemer of mankind, before returning to His Heavenly Father, promised that He would be with the Church Militant on earth all days, even to the consummation of the world. Therefore He has never ceased to be present with His beloved Spouse, to assist her when teaching, to bless her when at work, and to aid her when in danger. And this His salutary providence, which has been constantly displayed by other innumerable benefits, has been most manifestly proved by the abundant good results which Christendom has derived from Œcumenical Councils, and particularly from that of Trent, although it was held in evil times. For, as a consequence, the sacred doctrines of the faith have been defined more closely and set forth more fully; errors have been condemned and restrained; ecclesiastical discipline has been restored and more firmly secured; the love of learning and of piety has been promoted among the clergy; colleges have been established to educate youth for the sacred warfare; and the morals of the Christian world have been renewed by the more accurate training of the faithful, and by the more frequent use of the sacraments. Moreover, there has resulted a closer communion of the members with the visible head, and an increase of vigour in the whole mystical body of Christ; the multiplication of religious congregations and of other institutions of Christian piety, and such ardour in extending the kingdom of Christ throughout the world, as constantly endures, even to the sacrifice of life itself.
But while we recall with due thankfulness these and other signal benefits which the divine mercy has bestowed on the Church, especially by the last Œcumenical Council, we cannot restrain our bitter sorrow for the grave evils which are due principally to the fact, that the authority of that sacred Synod has been contemned, or its wise decrees neglected, by many.
No one is ignorant that the heresies proscribed by the Fathers ofTrent, by which the divine teaching (magisterium) of the Church was rejected, and all matters regarding religion were surrendered to the judgment of each individual, gradually became dissolved into many sects, which disagreed and contended with one another, until at length not a few lost all faith in Christ. Even the Holy Scriptures, which had previously been declared sole source and judge of Christian doctrine, began to be held no longer as divine, but to be ranked among the fictions of mythology.
Then there arose, and too widely overspread the world, that doctrine of rationalism, or naturalism, which opposes itself in every way to the Christian religion as a supernatural institution, and works with the utmost zeal in order that, after Christ, our sole Lord and Saviour, has been excluded from the minds of men, and from the life and moral acts of nations, the reign of what they call pure reason or nature may be established. And after forsaking and rejecting the Christian religion, and denying the true God and His Christ, the minds of many have sunk into the abyss of Pantheism, Materialism, and Atheism, until, denying rational nature itself and every sound rule of right, they labour to destroy the deepest foundations of human society.
Unhappily, it has yet farther come to pass that, while this impiety prevailed on every side, many even of the children of the Catholic Church have strayed from the path of true piety; and by the gradual diminution of the truths they held, the Catholic sense has become weakened in them. For, led away by various and strange doctrines, wrongly confusing nature and grace, human science and divine faith, they are found to deprave the true sense of the doctrines which our Holy Mother Church holds and teaches, and to endanger the integrity and the soundness of the faith.
Considering these things, how can the Church fail to be deeply stirred? For, even as God wills all men to be saved, and to arrive at the knowledge of the truth; even as Christ came to save what had perished, and to gather together the children of God who had been dispersed; so the Church, constituted by God the mother and teacher of nations, knows its own office as debtor to all, and is ever ready and watchful to raise the fallen, to support those who are falling, to embrace those who return, to confirm the good and to carry them on to better things. Hence, it can never forbear from witnessing to and proclaiming the truth of God, which heals all things, knowing the words addressed to it: My Spirit that is in thee, and My words that I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, from henceforth and for ever (Isaias lix. 21).
We, therefore, following the footsteps of our predecessors, have never ceased, as becomes our supreme Apostolic office, from teaching and defending Catholic truth, and condemning doctrines of error. And now, with the Bishops of the whole world assembled round us and judging with us, congregated by our authority and in the Holy Spirit in this Œcumenical Council, we, supported by the word of God written and handed down, as we have received it from the Catholic Church, preserved with sacredness and set forth according to truth—havedetermined to profess and declare the salutary teaching of Christ from this chair of Peter, and in sight of all, proscribing and condemning, by the power given to us of God, all errors contrary thereto.
Chap. I.Of God the Creator of all things.
The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church believes and confesses that there is one true and living God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, Almighty, Eternal, Immense, Incomprehensible, Infinite in intelligence, in will, and in all perfection, who, as being one, sole, absolutely simple, and immutable spiritual substance, is to be declared as really and essentially distinct from the world, of supreme beatitude in and from Himself, and ineffably exalted above all things beside Himself which exist or are conceivable.
This one only true God, of His own goodness and almighty power, not for the increase or acquirement of His own happiness, but to manifest His perfection by the blessing which He bestows on creatures, and with absolute freedom of counsel, created out of nothing, from the beginning of time, both the spiritual and the corporeal creature, to wit, the angelical and the mundane; and afterwards the human creature, as partaking, in a sense, of both, consisting of spirit and of body.[497]
God protects and governs by His Providence all things which He hath made, "reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things sweetly" (Wisdom viii. 1). For "all things are bare and open to His eyes" (Heb. iv. 13), even those which are yet to be by the free action of creatures.
Chap. II.Of Revelation.
The same Holy Mother Church holds and teaches that God, the beginning and end of all things, may be certainly known by the natural light of human reason, by means of created things; "for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made" (Romans i. 20): but that it pleased His wisdom and bounty to reveal Himself, and the eternal decrees of His will, to mankind by another and supernatural way, as the Apostle says: "God, having spoken on divers occasions, and many ways, in times past, to the fathers by the prophets; last of all, in these days, hath spoken to us by His Son" (Hebrews i. 1, 2).
It is to be ascribed to this divine revelation, that such truths among things divine as of themselves are not beyond human reason can, even in the present condition of mankind, be known by every one with facility, with firm assurance, and with no admixture of error. This, however, is not the reason why revelation is to be called absolutely necessary; but because God of His infinite goodness has ordained man to a supernatural end, viz. to be a sharer of divine blessings which utterly exceed the intelligence of the human mind: for "eye hath 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. 2).
Further, this supernatural revelation, according to the universal belief of the Church, declared by the Sacred Synod of Trent, is contained in the written books and unwritten traditions which, received by the Apostles from the mouth of Christ Himself, or by the Apostles themselves, from the dictation of the Holy Spirit, transmitted, as it were, from hand to hand, have come down even unto us.[498]And these books of the Old and New Testament are to be received as sacred and canonical, in their integrity, with all their parts, as they are enumerated in the decree of the said Council, and are contained in the ancient Latin edition of the Vulgate. These the Church holds to be sacred and canonical: not because, having been carefully composed by mere human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority; nor merely because they contain revelation, with no admixture of error; but because, having been written by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author, and have been delivered as such to the Church herself.
And as the things which, in order to curb rebellious spirits, the Holy Synod of Trent decreed for the good of souls concerning the interpretation of Divine Scripture, have been wrongly explained by some, We, renewing the said decree, declare this to be its meaning: that, in matters of faith and morals, appertaining to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be held as the true sense of Holy Scripture which our Holy Mother Church hath held and holds, to whom it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Holy Scripture; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret the Sacred Scripture contrary to this sense, or, likewise, contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
Chap. III.On Faith.
Man being wholly dependent upon God, as upon his Creator and Lord, and created reason being absolutely subject to uncreated truth, we are bound to yield to God, by faith in His revelation, the full obedience of our intelligence and will. And the Catholic Church teaches that this faith, which is the beginning of man's salvation, is a supernatural virtue, whereby, inspired and assisted by the grace of God, we believe that the things which He has revealed are true: not because the intrinsic truth of the things is plainly perceived by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God Himself who reveals them, and who can neither be deceived nor deceive. For faith, as the Apostle testifies, is "the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things that appear not" (Hebrews xi. 1).
Nevertheless, in order that the obedience of our faith might be in harmony with reason, God willed that to the interior help of the Holy Spirit there should be joined exterior proofs of His revelation: to wit, divine facts, and especially miracles and prophecies, which, as they manifestly display the omnipotence and infinite knowledge of God, are most certain proofs of His divine revelation, adapted to the intelligenceof all men. Wherefore, both Moses and the Prophets, and most especially Christ our Lord Himself, showed forth many and most evident miracles and prophecies; and of the Apostles we read: "But they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed" (Mark xvi. 20). And again it is written: "We have the more firm prophetical word, whereunto you do well to attend, as to a light shining in a dark place" (2 St. Peter i. 19).
But though the assent of faith is by no means a blind action of the mind, still no man can assent to the Gospel teaching, as is necessary to obtain salvation, without the illumination and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who gives to all men sweetness in assenting to and believing in the truth.[499]Wherefore faith itself, even when it does not work by charity, is in itself a gift of God, and the act of faith is a work appertaining to salvation, by which man yields voluntary obedience to God Himself, by assenting to and co-operating with His grace, which he is able to resist.
Further, all those things are to be believed with divine and Catholic faith which are contained in the Word of God, written or handed down, and which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by her ordinary and universal teaching (magisterium), proposes for belief as having been divinely revealed.
And since without faith it is impossible to please God, and to attain to the fellowship of His children, therefore without faith no one has ever attained justification; nor will any one obtain eternal life, unless he shall have persevered in faith unto the end. And, that we may be able to satisfy the obligation of embracing the true faith and of constantly persevering in it, God has instituted the Church through His only-begotten Son, and has bestowed on it manifest notes of that institution, that it may be recognized by all men as the guardian and teacher of the revealed Word; for to the Catholic Church alone belong all those many and admirable tokens which have been divinely established for the evident credibility of the Christian Faith. Nay, more, the Church by itself, by reason of its marvellous extension, its eminent holiness, and its inexhaustible fruitfulness in every good thing, its Catholic unity and its invincible stability, is a great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an irrefutable witness of its own divine mission.
And thus, like a standard set up unto the nations (Isaias xi. 12), it both invites to itself those who do not yet believe, and assures its children that the faith which they profess rests on the most firm foundation. And its testimony is efficaciously supported by a power from on high. For our most merciful Lord gives His grace to stir up and to aid those who are astray, that they may come to a knowledge of the truth; and to those whom He has brought out of darkness into His own admirable light, He gives His grace to strengthen them to persevere inthat light, deserting none who desert not Him. Therefore there is no parity between the condition of those who have adhered to the Catholic truth by the heavenly gift of faith, and of those who, led by human opinions, follow a false religion; for those who have received the faith under the teaching (magisterio) of the Church can never have any just cause for changing or doubting that faith. Therefore, giving thanks to God the Father who has made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the Saints in light, let us not neglect so great salvation, but with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and finisher of our Faith, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering (Hebrews xii. 2; and x. 23).
Chap. IV.Of Faith and Reason.
The Catholic Church with one consent has also ever held and does hold that there is a twofold order of knowledge, distinct both in principle and in object: in principle, because our knowledge in the one is by natural reason, and in the other by divine faith; in object, because, besides those things to which natural reason can attain, there are proposed to our belief mysteries hidden in God, which, unless divinely revealed, cannot be known. Wherefore the Apostle, who testifies that God is known by the Gentiles through created things, still, when discoursing of the grace and truth which come by Jesus Christ (John i. 17), says: "We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, a wisdom which is hidden, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew; ... but to us God hath revealed them by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. ii. 7-9). And the only-begotten Son Himself gives thanks to the Father, because He has hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them to little ones (Matt. xi. 25).
Reason, indeed, enlightened by faith, when it seeks earnestly, piously, and calmly, attains by a gift from God some, and that a very fruitful, understanding of mysteries; partly from the analogy of those things which it naturally knows, partly from the relations which the mysteries bear to one another and to the last end of man: but reason never becomes capable of apprehending mysteries as it does those truths which constitute its proper object. For the divine mysteries by their own nature so far transcend the created intelligence that, even when delivered by revelation and received by faith, they remain covered with the veil of faith itself, and shrouded in a certain degree of darkness, so long as we are pilgrims in this mortal life, not yet with God; "for we walk by faith and not by sight" (2 Cor. v. 7).
But although faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason; since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, and God cannot deny Himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth. The false appearance of such a contradiction is mainly due, either to the dogmas of faith not having been understood and expounded according to the mind of the Church, or to the inventions ofopinion having been taken for the verdicts of reason. We define, therefore, that every assertion contrary to a truth of enlightened faith is utterly false.[500]Further, the Church, which, together with the Apostolic office of teaching, has received a charge to guard the deposit of faith, derives from God the right and the duty of proscribing false science, lest any should be deceived by philosophy and vain fallacy (Col. ii. 8). Therefore all faithful Christians are not only forbidden to defend, as legitimate conclusions of science, such opinions as are known to be contrary to the doctrines of faith, especially if they have been condemned by the Church, but are altogether bound to account them as errors which put on the fallacious appearance of truth.
And not only can faith and reason never be opposed to one another, but they are of mutual aid one to the other: for right reason demonstrates the foundations of faith, and, enlightened by its light, cultivates the science of things divine; while faith frees and guards reason from errors, and furnishes it with manifold knowledge. So far, therefore, is the Church from opposing the cultivation of human arts and sciences, that it in many ways helps and promotes it. For the Church neither ignores nor despises the benefits to human life which result from the arts and sciences, but confesses that, as they came from God, the Lord of all science, so, if they be rightly used, they lead to God by the help of His grace. Nor does the Church forbid that each of these sciences in its sphere should make use of its own principles and its own method; but, while recognizing this just liberty, it stands watchfully on guard, lest sciences, setting themselves against the divine teaching, or transgressing their own limits, should invade and disturb the domain of faith.
For the doctrine of faith which God hath revealed has not been proposed, like a philosophical invention, to be perfected by human ingenuity; but has been delivered as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ, to be faithfully kept and infallibly declared. Hence also, that meaning of the sacred dogmas is perpetually to be retained which our Holy Mother the Church has once declared; nor is that meaning ever to be departed from, under the pretence or pretext of a deeper comprehension of them. Let, then, the intelligence, science, and wisdom of each and all, of individuals and of the whole Church, in all ages and all times, increase and flourish in abundance and vigour; but simply in its own proper kind, that is to say, in one and the same doctrine, one and the same sense, one and the same judgment (Vincent of Lerins,Common. n. 28).
CANONS.
I.Of God the Creator of all things.
1. If any one shall deny One true God, Creator and Lord of things visible and invisible; let him be anathema.
2. If any one shall not be ashamed to affirm that, except matter, nothing exists; let him be anathema.
3. If any one shall say that the substance and essence of God and of all things is one and the same; let him be anathema.
4. If any one shall say that finite things, both corporeal and spiritual, or at least spiritual, have emanated from the divine substance; or that the divine essence by the manifestation and evolution of itself becomes all things; or, lastly, that God is universal or indefinite being, which by determining itself constitutes the universality of things, distinct according to kinds (genera), species, and individuals; let him be anathema.
5. If any one confess not that the world, and all things which are contained in it, both spiritual and material, have been, in their whole substance, produced by God out of nothing; or shall say that God created, not by His will, free from all necessity, but by a necessity equal to the necessity whereby He loves Himself; or shall deny that the world was made for the glory of God; let him be anathema.
II.Of Revelation.
1. If anyone shall say that the One true God, our Creator and Lord, cannot be certainly known by the natural light of human reason, through created things; let him be anathema.
2. If any one shall say that it is impossible, or inexpedient, that man should be taught by divine revelation concerning God and the worship to be paid to Him; let him be anathema.
3. If any one shall say that man cannot be raised by divine power to a higher than natural knowledge and perfection, but can and ought, by a continuous progress, to arrive at length, of himself, to the possession of all that is true and good; let him be anathema.
4. If any one shall not receive as sacred and canonical the Books of Holy Scripture, entire with all their parts, as the Holy Synod of Trent has enumerated them, or shall deny that they have been divinely inspired; let him be anathema.
III.Of Faith.
1. If any one shall say that human reason is so independent that faith cannot be enjoined upon it by God; let him be anathema.
2. If any one shall say that divine faith is not distinguished from natural knowledge of God and of moral truths, and therefore that it is not requisite for divine faith that revealed truth be believed because of the authority of God who reveals it; let him be anathema.
3. If any one shall say that divine revelation cannot be made credible by outward signs, and therefore that men ought to be moved to faith solely by the internal experience of each, or by private inspiration; let him be anathema.
4. If any one shall say that miracles are impossible, and therefore that all the accounts regarding them, even those contained in Holy Scripture, are to be dismissed as fabulous or mythical; or that miracles cannever be known with certainty, and that the divine origin of Christianity is not rightly proved by them; let him be anathema.
5. If any one shall say that the assent of Christian faith is not a free act, but necessarily produced by the arguments of human reason; or that the grace of God is necessary for that living faith only which worketh by charity; let him be anathema.
6. If any one shall say that the condition of the faithful, and of those who have not yet attained to the only true faith, is on a par, so that Catholics may have just cause for doubting, with suspended assent, the faith which they have already received under the teaching (magisterio) of the Church, until they shall have obtained a scientific demonstration of the credibility and truth of their faith; let him be anathema.
IV.Of Faith and Reason.
1. If any one shall say that in divine revelation there are no mysteries, truly and properly so called, but that all the doctrines of faith can be understood and demonstrated from natural principles by properly cultivated reason; let him be anathema.
2. If any one shall say that human sciences are to be so freely treated, that their assertions, although opposed to revealed doctrine, can be held as true, and cannot be condemned by the Church; let him be anathema.
3. If any one shall assert it to be possible that sometimes, according to the progress of science, a sense is to be given to doctrines propounded by the Church different from that which the Church has understood and understands; let him be anathema.
Therefore We, fulfilling the duty of our supreme pastoral office, entreat by the mercies of Jesus Christ, and, by the authority of the same our God and Saviour, We command, all the faithful of Christ, and especially those who are set over others or are charged with the office of instruction, that they earnestly and diligently apply themselves to ward off and eliminate these errors from Holy Church, and to spread the light of pure faith.
And since it is not sufficient to shun heretical pravity, unless those errors also be diligently avoided which more or less nearly approach it. We admonish all men of the further duty of observing the Constitutions and Decrees by which such erroneous opinions as are not here expressly enumerated have been proscribed and condemned by this Holy See.
Given at Rome in Public Session, solemnly held in the Vatican Basilica in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, on the twenty-fourth day of April, in the twenty-fourth year of our Pontificate.
In conformity with the original,Joseph,Bishop of St. Polten,Secretary of the Vatican Council.
FIRST DOGMATIC CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.
Pius Bishop, Servant of the servants of God, with the approval of the Sacred Council, for perpetual remembrance.
The Eternal Pastor and Bishop of our souls, in order to continue for all time the life-giving work of His Redemption, determined to build up the Holy Church, wherein, as in the House of the living God, all who believe might be united in the bond of one faith and one charity. Wherefore, before He entered into His glory, He prayed unto the Father, not for the Apostles only, but for those also who through their preaching should come to believe in Him, that all might be one, even as He the Son and the Father are one (St. John xvii. 21). As then He sent the Apostles whom He had chosen to Himself from the world, as He Himself had been sent by the Father; so He willed that there should ever be pastors and teachers in His Church to the end of the world. And in order that the Episcopate also might be one and undivided, and that by means of a closely united priesthood the multitude of the faithful might be kept secure in the oneness of faith and communion, He set Blessed Peter over the rest of the Apostles, and fixed in him the abiding principle of this two-fold unity and its visible foundation, in the strength of which the everlasting temple should arise, and the Church in the firmness of that faith should lift her majestic front to heaven.[501]And seeing that the gates of hell with daily increase of hatred are gathering their strength on every side to upheave the foundation laid by God's own hand, and so, if that might be, to overthrow the Church: We, therefore, for the preservation, safe keeping, and increase of the Catholic flock, with the approval of the Sacred Council, do judge it to be necessary to propose to the belief and acceptance of all the faithful, in accordance with the ancient and constant faith of the universal Church, the doctrine touching the institution, perpetuity, and nature of the sacred Apostolic Primacy, in which is found the strength and solidity of the entire Church; and at the same time to proscribe and condemn the contrary errors, so hurtful to the flock of Christ.
Chap. I.Of the Institution of the Apostolic Primacy in Blessed Peter.
We therefore teach and declare that, according to the testimony of the Gospel, the primacy of jurisdiction over the universal Church of God was immediately and directly promised and given to Blessed Peter the Apostle by Christ the Lord. For it was to Simon alone, to whom He had already said, "Thou shalt be called Cephas" (St. John i. 42), that the Lord, after the confession made by him, saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," addressed these solemn words: "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, because flesh and blood have not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give tothee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed in heaven" (St. Matthew xvi. 16-19). And it was upon Simon alone that Jesus after His resurrection bestowed the jurisdiction of Chief Pastor and Ruler over all His fold in the words: "Feed My lambs; feed My sheep" (St. John xxi. 15-17). At open variance with this clear doctrine of Holy Scripture, as it has been ever understood by the Catholic Church, are the perverse opinions of those who, while they distort the form of government established by Christ the Lord in His Church, deny that Peter in his single person, preferably to all the other Apostles, whether taken separately or together, was endowed by Christ with a true and proper primacy of jurisdiction; or of those who assert that the same primacy was not bestowed immediately and directly upon Blessed Peter himself, but upon the Church, and through the Church on Peter as her minister.
If any one, therefore, shall say that Blessed Peter the Apostle was not appointed the Prince of all the Apostles and the visible Head of the whole Church Militant; or that the same directly and immediately received from the same our Lord Jesus Christ a primacy of honour only, and not of true and proper jurisdiction; let him be anathema.
Chap. II.On the Perpetuity of the Primacy of Blessed Peter in the Roman Pontiffs.
That which the Prince of Shepherds and Great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ our Lord, established in the person of the Blessed Apostle Peter, to secure the perpetual welfare and lasting good of the Church, must, by the same institution, necessarily remain unceasingly in the Church; which, being founded upon the Rock, will stand firm to the end of the world. For none can doubt, and it is known to all ages, that the holy and Blessed Peter, the Prince and Chief of the Apostles, the pillar of the faith and foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, and lives, presides, and judges, to this day and always, in his successors the Bishops of the Holy See of Rome, which was founded by him, and consecrated by his blood.[502]Whence, whosoever succeeds to Peter in this See does by the institution of Christ Himself obtain the Primacy of Peter over the whole Church. This disposition made by Incarnate Truth (dispositio veritatis) therefore remains, and Blessed Peter abiding in the rock strength which he received (in acceptâ fortitudine petræâ perseverans), has not abandoned the direction of the Church.[503]Wherefore it has at all times been necessary that every particular Church—that is to say, the faithful throughout the world—should come to the Church of Rome, on account of the greater princedom it has received; so that in this See, whence therights of venerable communion spread to all, they might, as members joined together in their head, grow closely into one body.[504]
If, then, one shall say that it is not by the institution of Christ the Lord, or by divine right, that Blessed Peter has a perpetual line of successors in the primacy over the universal Church; or that the Roman Pontiff is not the successor of Blessed Peter in this primacy; let him be anathema.
Chap. III.On the Power and Nature of the Primacy of the Roman Pontiff.
Wherefore, resting on plain testimonies of the Sacred Writings, and adhering to the plain and express decrees both of our predecessors the Roman Pontiffs, and of the General Councils, We renew the definition of the Œcumenical Council of Florence, by which all the faithful of Christ must believe that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff possesses the primacy over the whole world; and that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and is true Vicar of Christ, and Head of the whole Church, and Father and Teacher of all Christians; and that full power was given to him in Blessed Peter, by Jesus Christ our Lord, to rule, feed, and govern the Universal Church: as is also contained in the Acts of the Œcumenical Councils and in the Sacred Canons.
Hence we teach and declare, that by the appointment of our Lord the Roman Church possesses a sovereignty of ordinary power over all other Churches, and that this power of jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, which is truly episcopal, is immediate; to which all, of whatever rite and dignity, both pastors and faithful, both individually and collectively, are bound, by their duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, to submit, not only in matters which belong to faith and morals, but also in those that appertain to the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world; so that the Church of Christ may be one flock under one supreme Pastor, through the preservation of unity, both of communion and of profession of the same faith, with the Roman Pontiff. This is the teaching of Catholic truth, from which no one can deviate without loss of faith and of salvation.
But so far is this power of the Supreme Pontiff from being any prejudice to that ordinary and immediate power of episcopal jurisdiction, by which Bishops, who have been set by the Holy Ghost to succeed and hold the place of the Apostles,[505]feed and govern each his own flock as true pastors, that this same power is really asserted, strengthened, and protected by the supreme and universal Pastor; in accordance with the words of St. Gregory the Great: "My honour is the honour of the whole Church. My honour is the firm strength of my brethren. Thenam I truly honoured, when the honour due to each and all is not withheld."[506]
Further, from this supreme power possessed by the Roman Pontiff of governing the universal Church, it follows that, in the exercise of this office, he has the right of free communication with the pastors of the whole Church, and with their flocks, that they may be taught and ruled by him in the way of salvation. Wherefore We condemn and reprobate the opinions of those who hold that the communication between the supreme Head and the pastors and their flocks can lawfully be impeded; or who make this communication subject to the will of the secular power, so as to maintain that whatever is done by the Apostolic See, or by its authority, for the government of the Church, cannot have force or value unless it be confirmed by the assent of the secular power. And since, by the divine right of Apostolic primacy, the Roman Pontiff is placed over the universal Church, We further teach and declare that he is the supreme judge of the faithful,[507]and that in all causes the decision of which belongs to the Church recourse may be had to his tribunal;[508]but that none may re-open the judgment of the Apostolic See, than whose authority there is no greater, nor can any lawfully review its judgment.[509]Wherefore they err from the right path of truth who assert that it is lawful to appeal from the judgments of the Roman Pontiffs to an Œcumenical Council, as to an authority higher than that of the Roman Pontiff.
If then any shall say that the Roman Pontiff has the office merely of inspection or direction, and not full and supreme power of jurisdiction over the universal Church, not only in things which belong to faith and morals, but also in those which relate to the discipline and government of the Church spread throughout the world; or assert that he possesses merely the principal part, and not all the fulness of this supreme power; or that this power which he enjoys is not ordinary and immediate, both over each and all the Churches, and over each and all the pastors and the faithful; let him be anathema.
Chap. IV.Concerning the Infallible Teaching of the Roman Pontiff.
Moreover, that the supreme power of teaching (magisterii) is also included in the Apostolic primacy, which the Roman Pontiff, as the successor of Peter, Prince of the Apostles, possesses over the whole Church, this Holy See has always held, the perpetual practice of the Church confirms, and Œcumenical Councils also have declared, especially those in which the East with the West met in the union of faith and charity. For the Fathers of the Fourth Council of Constantinople, following in the footsteps of their predecessors, gave forth this solemnprofession: The first condition of salvation is to keep the rule of the true faith. And because the sentence of our Lord Jesus Christ cannot be passed by, who said, "Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build My Church" (St. Matthew xvi. 18), these things which have been said are proved by events, because in the Apostolic See the Catholic religion has always been kept undefined and her well-known doctrine has been kept holy. Desiring, therefore, not to be in the least degree separated from the faith and doctrine of this See, we hope that we may deserve to be in the one communion, which the Apostolic See preaches, in which is the entire and true solidity of the Christian religion.[510]And with the approval of the Second Council of Lyons, the Greeks professed: That the Holy Roman Church enjoys supreme and full Primacy and princedom over the whole Catholic Church, which it truly and humbly acknowledges that it has received with the plenitude of power from our Lord Himself in the person of Blessed Peter, Prince or Head of the Apostles, whose successor the Roman Pontiff is; and as the Apostolic See is bound before all others to defend the truth of faith, so also, if any questions regarding faith shall arise, they must be defined by its judgment.[511]Finally, the Council of Florence defined:[512]That the Roman Pontiff is the true Vicar of Christ, and the Head of the whole Church, and the Father and Teacher of all Christians; and that to him in Blessed Peter was delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ the full power of feeding, ruling, and governing the whole Church (John xxi. 15-17).
To satisfy this pastoral duty, our predecessors ever made unwearied efforts that the salutary doctrine of Christ might be propagated among all the nations of the earth, and with equal care watched that it might be preserved genuine and pure where it had been received. Therefore the Bishops of the whole world, now singly, now assembled in synod, following the long-established custom of Churches[513]and the form of the ancient rule,[514]sent word to this Apostolic See of those dangers especially which sprang up in matters of faith, that there the losses of faith might be most effectually repaired where the faith cannot fail.[515]And the Roman Pontiffs, according to the exigencies of times and circumstances, sometimes assembling Œcumenical Councils, or asking for the mind of the Church scattered throughout the world, sometimes by particular Synods, sometimes using other helps which Divine Providence supplied, defined as to be held those things which with the help of God they had recognized as conformable with the Sacred Scriptures and ApostolicTraditions. For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter, that by His revelation they might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith delivered through the Apostles. And indeed all the venerable Fathers have embraced and the holy orthodox Doctors have venerated and followed their Apostolic doctrine; knowing most fully that this See of Saint Peter remains ever free from all blemish of error according to the divine promise of the Lord our Saviour made to the Prince of His disciples: "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, confirm thy brethren" (St. Luke xxii. 32).[516]
This gift, then, of truth and never-failing faith, was conferred by Heaven upon Peter and his successors in this Chair, that they might perform their high office for the salvation of all; that the whole flock of Christ, kept away by them from the poisonous food of error, might be nourished with the pasture of heavenly doctrine; that, the occasion of schism being removed, the whole Church might be kept one, and, resting on its foundation, might stand firm against the gates of hell.
But since in this very age, in which the salutary efficacy of the Apostolic office is most of all required, not a few are found who take away from its authority, we judge it altogether necessary solemnly to assert the prerogative which the only-begotten Son of God vouchsafed to join with the supreme pastoral office.
Therefore, faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic Religion, and the salvation of Christian people, with the approval of the Sacred Council, We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed: That the Roman Pontiff, when he speaksex cathedrâ, that is, when in discharge of the office of Pastor and Teacher of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, is, by the divine assistance promised to Him in Blessed Peter, possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrine regarding faith or morals; and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, irreformable.[517]
But if any one, which may God avert! presume to contradict this our Definition; let him be anathema.
Given at Rome in Public Session, solemnly held in the Vatican Basilica in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, on the eighteenth day of July, in the twenty-fifth year of our Pontificate.
In conformity with the original,Joseph,Bishop of St. Polten,Secretary to the Vatican Council.