THE
CATHOLIC
CATECHISjV
CARDINAL
GAS PARR I
i 4/ h §k\ i
St Paul
SX
1 961
G3
1932b
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
Only authorized English translation, by the
DOMINICAN FATHERS, BLACKFRIARS, OXFORD
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
128-132 UNIVERSITY AVENUE, TORONTO
✓ 1932
M one is permitted, without leave of the Author, to print this Catechism or to
translate it. At the same time permission to translate it into the vernacular will
readily be granted if the Bishops of any country agree to accept such vernacular
version of this Catechism.
11 efi b 3
imprimatur :
*FR. A. ZAMPINI, EP. PORPHYREONEN.
VIC. GEN. CIVITATIS VATICANAE.
CENSOR DEPUTATUS :
HILARIUS CARPENTER, O.P., S.T.L., B.LITT.
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN.
CONTENTS
mmm
|J INTRODUCTION .......
INDULGENCES GRANTED TO THE FAITHFUL WHO LEARN
OR TEACH THE CATECHISM ....
THE PRINCIPAL THINGS THAT IT IS NECESSARY OR
NOTABLY USEFUL FOR EVERYONE TO KNOW
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
I
FOR LITTLE CHILDREN
WHO ARE TO BE ADMITTED TO FIRST COM¬
MUNION IN ACCORDANCE WITH TIIE DECREE
QUAM SINGULARI OF POPE PIUS X
II
FOR CHILDREN
WHO HAVE MADE THEIR FIRST COMMUNION
I. THE SIGN OF THE GROSS
II. THE APOSTLES’ GREED
I. THE FIRST ARTICLE : THE FIRST PERSON
OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY J THE WORK
OF CREATION .....
II. THE NEXT SIX ARTICLES I THE SECOND
PERSON OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY ;
THE WORK OF REDEMPTION
III. THE REMAINING FIVE ARTICLES : THE
THIRD PERSON OF THE MOST HOLY
TRINITY ; THE WORK OF OUR SANCTIFICA-
V
19
VI
CONTENTS
III. THE DECALOGUE Pa i e
I. THE FIRST THREE COMMANDMENTS, WHICH
ARE CONCERNED WITH GOD . • 2 4
H. THE REMAINING SEVEN COMMANDMENTS,
WHICH ARE CONCERNED WITH OUR¬
SELVES AND OUR NEIGHBOUR . • 25
IV. THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
I. THE FIRST PRECEPT . . • 28
II. THE SECOND PRECEPT • • • 2 9
III. THE THIRD AND FOURTH PRECEPTS . 3°
IV. THE FIFTH PRECEPT . . • • 3 2
V. GRACE..
VI. PRAYER
j. PRAYER IN GENERAL . • *34
II. THE “OUR FATHER” AND “ HAIL MARY
1 . The “ Our Father ”... 35
p. The “ Hail Mary ” . . • 3^
VII. THE SACRAMENTS
I. THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL . . 39
H. INDIVIDUAL SACRAMENTS • • • 4°
1. Baptism . . • • • 4°
2 . Confirmation . • • • • 4 1
3 . The Holy Eucharist . • • 4 1
a. The real presence of Jesus Christ
in the Holy Eucharist . . 4 1
B. The Sacrifice of the Mass . 43
c. The Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist . . • • 43
4 . Penance . • • • • 45
a. The acts of the penitent . 46
a. Examination of conscience . 46
b. Contrition and firm purpose
of amendment . • • 47
c. Confession. . • • 4^
d. Satisfaction . • • 49
CONTENTS
vu
b. Sacramental absolution . . 50
j. Extreme Unction . . • • 51
6 . Holy Order . . • • • 51
7 . Matrimony . . • • • 52
VIII. THE VIRTUES
I. THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES. . . 53
II. THE MORAL VIRTUES .... 55
IX. ACTUAL OR PERSONAL SINS . . 57
X. THE LAST THINGS .... 59
III
FOR ADULTS
WHO DESIRE TO HAVE A FULLER KNOWLEDGE OF
CATHOLIC DOCTRINE
I. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS . . 63
II. DIVINE REVELATION ... 66
III. THE APOSTLES’ CREED ... 70
I. THE FIRST ARTICLE : THE FIRST PERSON
OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY J THE WORK
OF CREATION
J.
God, One in Three Persons
7i
2 .
The creation of the world; divine
Providence .....
74
3 •
The creation of the Angels
75
4-
The creation of man ; original sin
77
II. THE NEXT SIX ARTICLES I THE SECOND
-PERSON OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY ;
THE WORK OF REDEMPTION
1 . Jesus Christ and His Godhead .
2 . The Incarnation and Birth of the Son of
God ......
3 . The work of man’s Redemption
4 . The Ascension of Jesus Christ into
Heaven ; His coming at the end of the
world for the General Judgment .
CONTENTS
viii
III. THE REMAINING FIVE ARTICLES : THE Page
THIRD PERSON OF THE MOST HOLY
TRINITY ; THE WORK OF OUR SANCTIFICA¬
TION, BEGUN HERE ON EARTH BY GRACE
AND COMPLETED IN HEAVEN BY GLORY
1. The Holy Ghost ; His work among the
faithful and in the Church . . 94
2. The true Church of Christ . • 95
a. The founding of the Church, and
her constitution ... 96
b. The power of the Church . 101
c. The members of the Church . 106
d. The difference between the
Church and the State ; the
respective powers of these two
societies . . • .108
3. The Communion of Saints . . no
jj. The Forgiveness of Sins . . 112
5. The Resurrection of the Dead; Eternal
Life . 113
IV. THE DECALOGUE
I. THE FIRST THREE COMMANDMENTS, WHICH
ARE CONCERNED WITH GOD
1. The First Commandment . . 116
2. The Second Commandment . . 119
3. The Third Commandment . . 120
II. THE REMAINING SEVEN COMMANDMENTS,
WHICH ARE CONCERNED WITH OURSELVES
AND OUR NEIGHBOUR
1. The Fourth Commandment . . 121
2. The Fifth Commandment . . 125
3. The Sixth Commandment . . 126
4. The Seventh Commandment . . 128
5. The Eighth Commandment . . 128
6. The Last Two Commandments . 129
; . ,,
CONTENTS
V. THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
I. THE FIRST PRECEPT
II. THE SECOND PRECEPT
III. THE THIRD AND FOURTH PRECEPTS
IV. THE FIFTH PRECEPT .
VI. THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS
i
m
VII. GRACE.
will. PRAYER
_ I. PRAYER IN GENERAL
II. THE “ OUR FATHER ” AND “ HAIL MARY ”
/. The “ Our Father ”...
2. The “ Hail Mary ”...
IX. THE SACRAMENTS
I. THE SACRAMENTS IN GENERAL
II. INDIVIDUAL SACRAMENTS
/. Baptism .....
2. Confirmation ....
3. The Holy Eucharist
A. The real presence of Jesus Christ
in the Holy Eucharist
b. The Sacrifice of the Mass
c. The Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist ....
4. Penance .....
A. The acts of the penitent
a. Examination of conscience .
b. Contrition and firm purpose
of amendment .
c. Confession....
d. Satisfaction . .
b. Sacramental absolution .
c. The effects of the Sacrament of
Penance ; Indulgences
184
X
CONTENTS
Page
Q/*
j. Extreme Unction . • • * 1
6 . Holy Order .* ®
7. Matrimony •
X. THE VIRTUES
T THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
1. In general . • • * • *97
2. Individually Q
a. Faith. I 9 8
XT . . 201
B - H ° Pe • 202
c. Charity . • • -202
II. THE MORAL VIRTUES • 2 °^
III. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT . • 20 5
TV. THE BEATITUDES J THE FRUITS OF THE ^
HOLY SPIRIT.
XI. ACTUAL OR PERSONAL SINS . • 210
XII. THE LAST THINGS. 1 ’
APPENDICES
I. Scheme of the Constitution on a Shorter
Catechism 228
II. Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the
Sacraments on the age at which children
are to be admitted to First Communion . 22b
HI. On those who are in danger of death . 235
2^6
IV. Indulgences.
V Epitome of the history of Divine Revelauon 238
J . 247
VI. Testimonies •
VII. Some disputed questions . . • • 44
General Index . • • * * ' ^
INTRODUCTION
All who are occupied in spreading Christian doctrine
must echo the wish expressed both by the Council of
Trent, 1 and by that of the Vatican, 2 that a Catechism
should be published for use in the Universal Church with
the view that “ as there is one Lord and one faith, so too
there should be some one general rule and method em¬
ployed- in teaching the faithful the duties of the Christian
religion.” 3 The need of some such uniform Catechism
has become all the greater since people now move from
one place to another so freely. To meet this need, then,
we have endeavoured to the best of our ability to draw up
such a Catechism.
In order to foster knowledge of Christian doctrine
throughout the Church the Roman Pontiffs, in accordance
with the desires expressed by the Fathers at Trent, were at
pains to have a Catechism drawn up, which they called
A Catechism for Parish Priests according to the Decree of the
Council of Trent, or more briefly, The Roman Catechism, or
The Catechism of the Council of Trent; this was done with the
object of providing the clergy with a reliable summary of
Catholic doctrine. But though this Catechism is, of course,
of very great value in catechetical work, 4 yet, as its title
1 Session XXV, On Reformation ; Decree on the Index of books, on the
Catechism, &c.
3 See Appendix I: “ Scheme of the Constitution on the shorter
Catechism, remodelled in accordance with emendation accepted by
the General Congregation (of the Vatican Council).”
3 Catechism of the Council of Trent, Preface, No. 8.
4 In his Constitution In Dominico Agro of June 14, 1761, Pope Clement
XIII says that this Catechism was “ compiled with much labour and
toil, that is was universally approved of and received great praise ” ;
further, that the Roman Pontiffs set forth in it “ doctrine commonly
taught in the Church and wholly removed from error.” Pius XI in
his Epistle Unigenitus Dei Filius of March 19, 1924, says : “ In the
xi
x ii introduction
shows, it is primarily meant for parish priests and catechists
who have to instruct the faithful ; it was not mean precisely
for simple folk, nor, in point of fact > ^fV ^ hr Lat
the material. There was also published by the great
theologian Cardinal St. Robert Bellarmine a Catechism
for children, which has received high commendation from
various Popes. So too the late Pope Pius X gave his
approval to several Catechisms drawn up to meet the needs
of people of different ages, especially in dioceses of the
Roman Province ; several Bishops, too, both m y
and elsewhere, have decided that the people of their
dioceses should be taught out of their own particular
Catechism. In compiling the present Catechism we
have taken account of all the above-mentioned publica¬
tions, and have in fact incorporated into it all that seemed
useful in them. , „ i
Further, there are three classes of people who need
catechetical instruction adapted to their age and capacity .
little children preparing for their First Communion ,
older children who, as in duty bound, are learning their
Catechism ; grown-up folk who desire to have a fuller
acquaintance with Catholic doctrine. Hence this three¬
fold Catechism. 8 The three Catechisms are, for the con¬
venience of teachers, printed together in this volume but
they may, and indeed should, be printed separately fo
the use of the different peopl e concerned-though in
Roman Catechism one hardly knows which to adnfire the
Council of Trent.
5 Older people who are entirely ignorant of Christian doctrine but
HI.
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION Xlll
printing the First Catechism separately the notes should be
omitted, since they are meant for teachers only.
Pope Pius X in his Decree Quam singulari of August 8th,
1910, published by the Sacred Congregation of the Disci¬
pline of the Sacraments,® definitely fixed the time when
children begin to be bound by the law of sacramental
Confession and Communion ; he also made it clear how
far they must be instructed in Christian doctrine before they
can and ought to be admitted to their First Communion. 7 In
harmony, then, with this Decree we present a brief scheme
of catechetical instruction for children. 8 The Bishop of
the diocese at his discretion, and the teacher with the
advice of his bishop or parish priest, can add a few other
points, provided he does not burden their minds or keep
them long from their First Communion, when it is a
question of children. Nor is it necessary that a child
should know the answers to the questions by heart; it is
enough if he understands the meaning of the words.®
The teacher should of course explain when necessary the
doctrine contained in the questions, using simple and easy
words and illustrations which will help a child to grasp
what is said. Before a person is admitted to his First Com¬
munion he should promise his parish priest that he will
continue to study his Catechism ; and, if it is a question of
children, his parents or those responsible should satisfy that
promise. 10
6 See Appendix II.
7 See the Third Catechism (for adults), qq. 262, 264.
8 We have taken this Catechism, save for a few modifications, from
IlD'ecreto “ Quam singulari, ” pubblicato di or dine del Sommo Pontefice Pio PP. X
dalla S. Congregazione dei Sacramenti, il di 8 agosto 1910, edited by the Rev.
Domenico Iorio, Secretary of the above Congregation. In compiling
it the author had before him a Commentary (Sulla etd della prima
Comunione dei fanciulli—Breve commento del Decreto “ Quam singulari’ )
by Cardinal Gennari, who had a great deal to do with the framing of
the Decree and therefore had a clear grasp of its meaning.
* So Cardinal Gennari, l.c.
10 The parish priest can, if we mistake not, after consultation with
his Bishop, defer the admission of a child to his First Communion for
a short time, provided he is convinced of these two points : (a) that
XIV
INTRODUCTION
After his First Communion a child should continue to
receive Holy Communion as often as his confessor judges
fit, 11 and meanwhile he should gradually learn the entire
Catechism according to his capacity; 12 the obligation
of seeing that he does so lies on his parents or those other¬
wise responsible. 13 By “ the entire Catechism we o no
mean a Catechism like the one given further on for grown¬
up or educated people, but a brief one so developed that
a child may know sufficient Christian doctrine to enable
him to lead an ordinary Christian life. In our Second
Catechism, therefore, we have felt it better to follow an
arrangement by which the questions and answers are
given in the same words as in the Third Catechism (for
adults) ; hence a child who later on wants to acquire
a fuller knowledge of Christian doctrine can readily get
it by turning to our Third Catechism. The Bishop of the
diocese can of course substitute for our plan any other he
thinks more suitable ; he can also amplify it or cut it down
as he thinks fit. The teacher, too, in talking to the children
can add explanations of doctrines, stories from the Bible,
or devotional comments ; of these he will find examples
in our Third Catechism. In learning his Catechism a
child will experience a good deal of difficulty ; that is
why, as the Decree of the S. Congregation points out, it
after making his First Communion the child will not attend the Cate¬
chism classes ; (b) that if his First Communion is put off he will attend
Se Catechism classes till he is admitted to his Fnst Communmn
For a brief postponement such as this is a lesser evil th an defective
and imperfect knowledge of his Catechism ; and so long astheChurch
does not clearly state the opposite we must presume that for the child s
sake she prefers the lesser evil.
u The words of the Decree Quam singulars are : “ Once, if not severa
times in the year, parisn priests should take care to arrange for a General
commulnof rife children and should admit to it natc^ttaBm
Communicants but also those who, with the consent of their parents
and their confessor, as we have said above, have already made their
First Communion. In either case a few days of instruction and prepara¬
tion should precede.”
12 Decree Quam singulari, no. ii.
12 See below, Third Catechism, q. 263.
INTRODUCTION
XV
has to be learned by degrees, and according to a child’s
age and capacity. It will be for the Bishop to provide a
proper series of instructions for teaching Catechism to
different classes of children ; it is much to be wished that
these instructions should be the same for all parishes of
the same nationality and language. 14
Finally, our aim in the compilation of the Third Cate¬
chism has been to set down only those doctrines which the
Church herself has defined, or which are generally received
in the theological Schools, or are in accord with general
Catholic practices that the Church has never repudiated.
We haye tried to express these doctrines in as few words as
possible, but always with a view to helping clergy and
teachers alike, while affording grown-up and educated
people an opportunity of getting to know their doctrine
thoroughly. Fuller explanations can of course be left to
the theologians. Moreover it will, unless we are mistaken,
be found that in the apologetic classes given in the ordinary
curriculum of our colleges this Catechism will prove very
useful, as providing a standard in order, method, and state¬
ment, for teaching students how to acquire a deeper know¬
ledge of their religion and also how to defend it.
With regard, too, to this fuller Catechism, we would
draw special attention to the following remarks, which
can, in their degree, be applied also to the Catechism to
be taught after children have made their First Communion.
If it is found that for the refutation of certain local errors
or fuller illustration of Catholic teaching some doctrinal
14 In order to secure the attendance of the children at the Catechism
s there is in some districts a solemn renewal of the promises made
Baptism ; at least once in every two years the children come to the
ool and, after an instruction and an examination, special instructions
way of preparation are given ; then on an appointed day they
live Holy Communion, and in the presence of their parents or others
ponsible, make a solemn renewal of the promises made at their
ptism, while the witnesses ratify the promises so made. In other
ces they have a public distribution of prizes for those children who
e proved most assiduous in attending Catechism and have shown
progress.
XVI
INTRODUCTION
points call for fuller treatment, or that additional material
or other Biblical and historical illustrations than those
already given are required, these can of course be added-
with the Bishop’s leave, though such additions should be
kept distinct from the Catechism as we have drawn it up.
As regards matters of discipline, only the general practice
is given in this Catechism. When in any district or dio¬
cese some change in this respect has been authorised, such
modifications should be printed at the foot of the page
and explained by the teacher. Mere local concessions
can be sufficiently explained orally by the parish priest or
the teacher.
If the Catechism is used in the Churches of the East,
then note :
(a) When some disciplinary question arises, for example
in the Third Catechism (for adults), ch. V ; On the Precepts
of the Church, qq. 242 et seq., the usage in vogue in the
Western Church is to be explained, and then, if the usage
approved in some Eastern Church differs, it will be for
the local Bishops to substitute the requisite questions and
answers pertinent to their particular Church.
( b) In this Catechism too are given some of the prayers
in use in the Western Church ; for these should be sub¬
stituted similar prayers better known in the East.
(c) The same applies to the Creed. In this Catechism
we have given and explained the Apostles’ Creed. But
many of the Eastern Churches make use in their Catechisms
as well as in their liturgy of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan
Creed, which we use (with the addition of the Filioque ) in
the Mass ; but the Eastern Churches should keep their
Creed in the Catechism, provided they make due pro¬
fession of the doctrine of the Procession of the Holy Spirit
from the Father and the Son, and, since there neither is
nor can be any real difference, make use of the explana¬
tions we have given.
( d ) Finally, omitting other points of difference, the
matter and form of some of the Sacraments is not ex¬
INTRODUCTION
XVII
pressed in the Latin Church in the same terms as those
used by some at least of the Eastern Churches. In
the Catechism we have given the matter and form as
received in the Latin Church, but at the foot of the page
have added the matter and form in use in the East. The
Eastern Bishops can reverse the proceeding and put the
matter and form usual with them in the text and ours in a
footnote.
Inasmuch as we do not teach Catechism solely for
intellectual instruction, but primarily with a view to
stirring pp men’s hearts and making them lead moral lives
in harmony with that teaching, a teacher will be failing ir.
his duty if he does not explain the doctrine so far as hit
pupils are capable of appreciating it, or if he does not make
use of favourable opportunities for urging on them the
necessity of leading a good life. At the foot of the page,
then, the teacher will find specimens of such explanations
and exhortations ; these he can develop at will, nor will
he find any difficulty in adding to them himself. He will
also find—in addition to citations from the (Ecumenical
Councils, the Roman Pontiffs, the Fathers of the Church,
the Roman Congregations, and the Code of Canon Law—
passages from the Bible dealing with the doctrine given
in the text. If the teacher thus gets accustomed to use
Holy Scripture, which “ is profitable to teach, to reprove,
to correct, to instruct in justice,” 15 then his flock will day
by day grow in knowledge and veneration for the Word of
God. 16
Lastly we would draw attention to the fact that this
Catechism has been revised by a special body of the
Consultors of the Congregation of the Council, under the
11 "II Tim. iii, 16.
18 These citations from the Councils, the Roman Pontiffs, and Con¬
gregations, are given together in the Appendix. When taken together
with the passages from the Bible given in the footnotes it will be seen
that they afford solid proof that the doctrine enshrined in the Catechism
is in no sense new, but founded on Holy Scripture and the perpetual
teaching office of the Church.
B
xv JjJ introduction
Presidency of .he Cardinal Prefect j that it 1 to 1 been nb-
mitted to several Professors of Theology m Catholic
tt • ■ • ,1 r „-, r i h v many of the Cardinals and other
Umversmes and read by o many f O^ Consultors
anTTheological Professors in the Roman Schools have
generously given assistance in its compilation. 17 Needless
to say tha! If perchance we have written anjhmg^on rary
to or not in precise accord with, the mind of the Apostolic
See, we regard it as already withdrawn and expunged.
Peter, Card. Gasparri.
» The Gregorian ^eD^ic.
OriESd the Urban^^^ Propagatl0n ° f ^
Faith, have been particularly helpful m this respect.
INDULGENCES
granted to those who devote themselves to teaching
OR LEARNING the catechism
I. A Plenary Indulgence to all the Faithful who shall
for approximately half an hour or not less than twenty
minutes devote themselves to learning or teaching the
Catechism at least twice in the month ; this Indulgence
can be gained on any two days in the month that they may
choose, provided always that being truly penitent they have
been to Confession and Holy Communion and have visited
some Church or public Oratory and there prayed for the
intention of the Roman Pontiff.
II. A Partial Indulgence of one hundred days to the same
members of the Faithful so often as for the above men¬
tioned space of time they teach or learn the Catechism—
provided always that they are sorry for their sins.
(See the full Decree of March 12, 1930, given in Appendix iv).
All should, according to their capacity, carefully learn
their Christian Catechism and should also take care
that those under their charge do the same. For there
s no teaching more important than this, since it points
out to us the way of eternal salvation, which is our final
goal. “ For what doth it profit a man if he gain the
whole world but suffer the loss of his own soul ? Or
what exchange shall a man give for his soul ? ” Alt.
xvi, 26.
XIX
the principal things that it is
NECESSARY OR NOTABLY USEFUL FOR
EVERYONE TO KNOW 18
I. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen.
II. THE LORD’S PRAYER.
Our Father who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread ;
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that
trespass against us,
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil. Amen.
in. THE HAIL MARY.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ; blessed
art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy
womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and
at the hour of our death. Amen.
IV. THE APOSTLES’ CREED.
1. - I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Creator of
heaven and earth ;
2 . and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord ;
18 The teacher should see that the older children learn all these by
heart; for those who are to be admitted to First Communion, see the
First Catechism, p. 3, note 21.
xxi
•; THE CATHOLIC CATHECHISM
3 w ho was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the
4 . ruKfSr Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead
and buried ; , third day He rose again
5 . He descended into hell , the tmra a y
from the dead ; . sitteth at the right hand
6 . He ascended into heave ,
to^nclt^corJe ’to judge the living and
the dead.
£££&££££* * Co—n of Saints ;
10. the forgiveness of sms ; _
11 the resurrection of the body ,
12. and life everlasting. Amen.
v. HAIL HOLY QUEEN.
Hail, Hoi, Qu«en, Mo,her of mercy I “^"wshed
sweetness, and ourhope ^ mout „i„g and weeping
ttSZb of mam. Turn their, - “
S s-"£» ** ™- b - Ja “' °
clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
VI. GLORY BE TO THE FATHER.
Glory be to the Father and to the; Somand mfc Hoy
Ghost, as it was m the beginning, >
be, world without end. Amen.
vii PRAYER to one’s guardian angel.
ar wf ^
Divine Majesty.
viii. prayer for the holy souls
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and le, peipetual
ligh^shine upon them. May they res, in peace. Amen.
PRINCIPAL THINGS TO KNOW
dHH
IX. THE PRINCIPAL MYSTERIES OF FAITH.
The mystery of one God in three distinct Persons, the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ;
The mystery of man’s redemption by the Incarnation,
Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
x. THE DECALOGUE OR TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.
I am the Lord thy God ;
1 Thou shalt not have strange gods before me ;
2 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in
/
vain ;
3. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day ;
4. Honour thy father and thy mother ;
5. Thou shalt not kill ;
6. Thou shalt not commit adultery ;
y. Thou shalt not steal ;
8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh¬
bour ;
9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife ;
ip. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s goods.
XI. THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH.
1. To hear Mass and to refrain from servile works on
Sundays and other feasts of Obligation;
2. To fast and abstain from fiesh meat on days appointed
by the Church ;
3. To confess one’s sins at least once a year ;
4. To receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at
least at Easter.
3. To contribute to the support of the Church and her
clergy.
XII. THE SACRAMENTS.
1. Baptism ;
2. Confirmation ;
« This answer should be explained in the manner suggested under
qq. 203, ff.
XXIV
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
3. Holy Eucharist;
4. Penance ;
5. Extreme Unction ; 20
6. Holy Orders ;
7. Holy Matrimony.
XIII. AN ACT OF FAITH.
--'“SSsvSSs
Ghost; and that the , S dead and renders
tion, suffered and died, rose r & ^ in p ara .
to each man according Thesfi and a u other things
dise or P^ nl t S , h n ^ n Ah ur ^h believes and teaches, I believe,
toThou tort revealed them Who ca» s t neither decerve
nor be deceived.
A'Short Act of Faith.
O my God, because Thou art the Truth itself, I believe
in Thee ; increase my faith.
XIV. AN ACT OF HOPE.
„ J TV,™, art almiehty, infinitely merciful
and Smt Thy pro^e, j hope rha,
me, through the mens ofJeus Chn t lde <tve ^
** ^
I am determined to do.
A Short Act of Hope.
_ r 1 h frause Thou art powerful, merciful and
O my God, because Th increase my
faithful to Thy promises, I hope in me ,
hope.
Oils.
m
PRINCIPAL THINGS TO KNOW
XV. AN ACT OF CHARITY.
O my God, I love Thee with my whole heart above all
things, because Thou art infinitely good and infinitely
to be loved ; and for Thy sake I love my neighbour as I
love myself, and I forgive him if he has injured me in any
wsy»
A Short Act of Charity.
O my God, because Thou art so good, I love Thee
increase my love.
XVI. AN ACT OF CONTRITION.
O my God, I am sorry with my whole heart for all my
sins, and I hate them, not only because by sinning I have
deserved the punishments appointed them by Thee,
but especially because I have offended Thee, the Supreme
Good, Who art worthy to be loved above all things. There¬
fore I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace not to sin
again, and carefully to avoid the immediate occasions of sin.
■ A Short Act of Contrition.
O my God, because Thou art so good and hatest sin, I
repent with my whole heart of having offended Thee ;
increase my sorrow. t
XVII. THE MYSTERIES OF THE HOLY ROSARY.
The Joyful Mysteries.
1. Our Lady is greeted by the Angel.
2. Our Lady visits Elizabeth.
3. Christ is born in Bethlehem.
4. The infant Jesus is presented in the Temple.
5". The boy Jesus is found in the Temple among the
doctors.
The Sorrowful Mysteries.
1. Christ sweats with blood as He prays in the garden.
« n t tUa rxillor
Christ is scourged at the pillar.
XXVI
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
q Christ is crowned with thorns.
I ChS, condemned to death, goes to Calvary, carry
5 . Stasis nTed ,o the Croat and dies in the presence of
His Mother.
The Glorious Mysteries.
i. The Resurrection of Christ.
2 The Ascension of Christ. T ,
3. The coming down of the Holy Ghost on Our Lady
and the Disciples.
4. The Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven.
5. The Coronation of Our Lady and the glory o
Angels and the Saints.
The Litany of Loretto.
CATECHISM FOR LITTLE CHILDREN
iE CATECHISM FOR LITTLE CHILDREN WHO
IE TO BE ADMITTED TO FIRST COMMUNION
; ACCORDANCE WITH THE DECREE QUAM
SINGULARI OF POPE PIUS X
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS.
THE “ OUR FATHER.”
/ THE “ HAIL MARY.”
THE APOSTLES’ CREED.
THE SACRAMENTS. 21
(1) Who made you?
God made me.
IglgP
( 2 ) What do you mean by the word “ God ” ?
By the word “ God ” I mean a most pure spirit, infinite
in all perfections, who created all things in heaven and
earth. 22
“ The teacher should take pains to see that the children pronounce
distinctly and devoutly the words of the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary,
and the Sign of the Cross ; also that they make the Sign of the Cross
correctly. Teachers should also briefly explain to the children the
meaning of the words of the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary and should
tell them who they were who first said them. They must explain to
them that the Blessed Virgin Mary, though indeed the mother of
God, is also the Mother of us all, and that she has a very tender motherly
love for us. Children should therefore be taught to love her with a
childlike love, and to say often, especially at their morning and evening
prayers, the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary, and to make the sign
of the Cross. It is not necessary that a child should, previous to his
First Communion, learn by heart the Apostles’ Creed and the Act of
Contrition. But he must study them and understand them. Then
after his First Communion he must continue to study them and learn
them thoroughly, so as to be able to prepare himself properly for
subsequent Confessions and Communions.
s * The teacher should tell the children in simple fashion the story of
the creation of all things out of nothing and explain to them that C»od
is the last End of all created things, including man. He will tell them
^ the catholic catechism
(3) Why did God create you ?
God xreated me to know Him love Him, and keep is
commandments in this world, that so I may be h ppy
with Him in Paradise after I die.
(4) How does God punish those who do not keep His Com¬
mandments ?
God punishes in hell those who do not keep His Com¬
mandments. 24
(5) Where is God ?
God is in heaven, on earth, and everywhere.
(6) Has God any beginning or end ?
God has neither beginning nor end, for He is eternal.
(7) Does God see all things ?
God sees all things, even those which will come to pass
by the free action of creatures, their heart s affections and
secret thoughts.
(8) Is God one ?
God is One by unity of nature in three distinct Persons,
of the fall of the Angels and try at the same time to give them some idea
msmmm®.
£ SSffiStfflS; iX^Paradise God promised to Adam
and Eve that some one would come to redeem them from their sin,
na “w e J know C God both by reason and by revelation ;• we love ^and
The teacher must be careful to explain these points.
« Children should be simply told what is the
and what in hell: in heaven the soul seaGodwH*^and ^
perfect and never-ending happiness with Jesus Ghnsi o > .
Blessed Virgin and the other inhabitants of heaven , m
the damned.
catechism for little children 5
lied the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; these
•m the most Holy Trinity.
) Which of the divine Persons was made man ?
The Second Person, that is the Son of God, was made
• (10) What is the name of the Son of God made man ?
The name of the Son of God made man is Jesus Christ-
(m) How was the Son of God made man?
The Son of God was made man by the power of the Holy
Ghost, faking a body and a soul in the most pure womb
of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 25
(12) Why was the Son of God made man ?
The Son of God was made man that He might free us
from sin and so lead us to Paradise.
(13) How did Jesus Christ free us from sin and so lead us to
Paradise ?
To free us from sin and so lead us to Paradise Jesus
Christ suffered and died on the Cross, then rose and
ascended into heaven, whence He shall come to judge the
living and the dead. 26
(14) What are Sacraments?
Sacraments are means instituted by Christ to give us
grace.
(15) What Sacrament have you already received?
The Sacrament I have already received is Baptism, by
85 The teacher will here tell the children how the Angel Gabriel was
sent to the Blessed Virgin, how Jesus Christ was born in the stable at
Bethlehem, how the Magi came and adored Him, how He spent thirty
years in hidden life at Nazareth and gave children an example of work
and of obedience to their parents.
84 The children should learn something of the mystery of man’s
redemption, of the Passion and Death of Christ on the Cross, of His
Resurrection and His Ascension into heaven, whence He is to come again
at the end of the world to judge all mankind. These things all serve
to show His love for us men, a love that He has never ceased to show and
that calls for a return of love on our part.
6
the catholic catechism
which I - made a Christian and able to receive the other
Sacraments.
(,6) What Sacraments do you now wish to receive^.
I now wish to receive the Sacraments of Confirmation,
Penance, and the Holy Eucharist.
(n) What is the Sacrament of Confirmation?
1 Confirmation is a S—
.» X ~ raiti. in word and
deed. 27
fi8) What is the Sacrament of Penance?
‘ penance is a Sacrament instituted by Jesus C hnst by
which sins committed after Baptism are remitte .
(,<,) What is needed if we are ,o naive the Sacrament af Penan,,
To mein the Sacrament of Penance rightly, we need
i. To examine our conscience.
ii. To be sorry for our sins ;
iii. To have a firm purpose not to sin again ;
iv. To confess our sins ; 2g
v . To do the penance given us by our confessor, j
( 20 ) What sins must we confess in the Sacrament of Penance ?
In the Sacrament of Penance we must confess aU mor a
sins committed after Baptism, and it is useful also to confess
venial sins, also mortal sms which have been already
directly remitted.
( 2 1) What is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
TheTeacherThould be careful !
them C ancl” ttTbe carefuHo 1 make a resolution not to sin again. An Act
of Conation ^11 " found in the note to question 25-
CATECHISM FOR LITTLE CHILDREN J
The Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ. 20
(22) Where is Jesus Christ ?
p Jesus Christ, as God, is everywhere ; as God made man
He is in heaven and in the Holy Eucharist.
(23) What then is Holy Communion ?
Holy Communion is to receive Jesus Christ Himself,
really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist.
/
(24) Why do you wish to go to Holy Communion ?
I wish to go to Holy Communion because Jesus Christ
loves me and therefore desires to come to me ; and I love
Jesus Christ and so I earnestly desire to receive Him.
(25) What do we need if we are to receive the Sacrament of
the Eucharist rightly?
For us to receive the Sacrament of the Eucharist rightly
we need :
t. To be in a state of grace, that is of friendship
with God ;
29 This supreme Mystery of our faith may be thus briefly stated : at
Mass, before the words of Consecration, pronounced by the celebrating
priest, the host is simply bread ; but after the words of Consecration
it is no longer bread but Jesus Christ Himself, together with His Soul
and H13 Godhead, under the appearance of bread ; the same should
be explained of the wine. This Mystery we must accept because
Christ our Lord openly declared it and Holy Mother Church has always
taught it and continues to teach it. Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist
at the Last Supper in order that in the Mass the Sacrifice of the Cross
might be renewed and presented again, also that He might be able to
dwell with us men in the Tabernacle, though still sitting at the right
hand of the Father in heaven, and might be united to us in Holy
Communion. We ought never to forget this pledge of His love which He
has left us ; consequently we ought to make a point of assisting at Mass
at least on the great Feast Days ; we ought too, to try and assist at it
with the same feelings of devotion as we should have experienced had
we stood on Calvary while He was dying on the Cross. In the same
way, we ought to pay devout visits to the Blessed Sacrament preserved
in the Tabernacle, and to go to Holy Communion frequently and
8 the catholic catechism
iL To be fasting from midnight until the mo- i
••• To make a careful preparation before Ho y
communion and . good ,ha„k,g,v,ng after ,
it. 30
(26) What anil yen /»'“■” “ ,h ' P n, ""y' ^‘ SUS C * r “‘
m tin day of ym first Holy Commons, ),I
Oa ,h. day of my firs. ^ ”‘£day,
in *0 ' and Holy
often to «»« *• “Steehism class, to be obedren. ,
c-rfdlT » •«** bad compamona. |
so After he has explained the “^^fp^paration for and ;
Should show the children how to "take acte the Acts to them
thanksgiving after Holy Communi , Cardinal Gennari m
slowly and get them to.repeat x on First Communion
before holy communion. |
present in the Consecrated Hosh in Thy goodness and Thy
8t -SKCyce, all good things needful,
: Because thou art infinitely good I love Thee, Jesus,
with all Jr heart and “^“frepent of all my sins because they
have ^deservwl^Thy "punishments', but^especially because they have
"ot"; Jesus I am Thy creature, full of misery
and sin and unworthytoreceiveThe • desire to recelV e Thee
££ £STJj ^-- d do not delay<
after holy communion. _
I hui^^'n^self before^ Thee, 6 I^anTastonSied ^HTh^ wondeiSI
Virgin and of all who love Thee.
CATECHISM FOR CHILDREN
WHO HAVE MADE THEIR
FIRST COMMUNION
II
CATECHISM FOR CHILDREN WHO HAVE MADE
THEIR FIRST COMMUNION
CHAPTER I
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
{The children should make the sign of the Cross correctly and say the
words distinctly.)
(i) Are you a Christian ?
By the grace of God I am a Christian
( 2 ) What is meant by a “ Christian ”?
A “ Christian ” is one who has received the Sacrament of
Baptism, which is the door of the Church of Christ.
(3) Who is a Christian in the strict and full sense of the
word ?
A Christian in the strict and full sense of the word is a
baptized person who makes profession of the true and entire
faith of Christ—one who is, in other words, a Catholic ;
he is a good Christian if he also keeps the law of Christ.
(4) What is the outward sign of a Christian ?
The outward sign of a Christian is the sign of the Cross.
(5) Why is the sign of the Cross the sign of a Christian ?
The sign of the Cross is the sign of a Christian because
by it we make external profession of the principal mysteries
of the Christian faith.
(6) What are the principal mysteries of the Christian faith ?
The principal mysteries of the Christian faith are :
i. The mystery of one God in three distinct Persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ;
11
12
the catholic catechism
•• The mvstery of man’s redemption by the Incarna-
“• and Death of Jest. Chnst, the bon of
God. . .
(7) Iiow does the sign of the Cross show forth these two mystenes
of the Christian faith ?
■ r flip Cross shows forth these two mysteries
The sign of the Cross^ ^ signify the
0 f WGod“n three distinct Persons; and the cross tee
make cahs°to mind the
by Jesus Christ on the tree of the Cross.
/m is it a good thing to make the sign of the Cross.
( I, b 4 good “> ™ k ' the S T ° flh 1 e Tof ol”
and devoudyf especially at the beg.nmng and end
chief occupations.
CHAPTER II
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
(The children should recite the articles of the Creed distinctly.)
Section I. The first article of the Creed, in which is
SET FORTH THE DOCTRINE OF THE FlRST PERSON OF
the most Holy Trinity and of the work of
CREATION.
(t) I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven
and earth.
(9) What do you mean by the words “ I believe in God ” ?
By the words “ I believe in God ” I mean that I firmly
believe that God exists and that I strive after Him as the
highest and most perfect good and rny last end.
(10) What do you mean by the name “ God ” ?
By the name “ God ” I mean a most pure spirit, infinite
in understanding, will, and all perfection, one by unity of
nature in three distinct Persons, the Father, the Son and
the Holy Ghost, who make up the most Holy Trinity.
■(h) Why are the three Persons one God?
The three Persons are one God because they are con-
substantial ; that is, they have one and the same nature,
and therefore the same perfections or attributes.
(12) What are the principal perfections or attributes of God?
The principal perfections or attributes of God are these :
dod is :
i. Eternal, because He neither has nor can have begin¬
ning or end or succession ;
ii. All-knowing, because He has all things in His sight,
even those things which will come to pass by the free
»3
14
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
action of creatures, their hearts’ affections and secret
in. tnmmnlable, because He is in heaven, on earth, and
in all places that are or can be ;
iv Just , because He renders to every one according to
' his merits either in this life or certainly in the next ;
r. Almighty, because He can do whatever He wishes by
the simple act of His Will;
vi Good, because He created, preserves and disposes all
things by His infinite goodness, power and wisdom ;
because the good things we enjoy come from Him,
and because in His goodness He hears the prayers of
those who ask ; , „
mi. Merciful, because, desiring all men to be saved, He
has redeemed them from the service of the devil, and
pours out on each the means necessary for salvation ;
for “ He does not will the death of a sinner, but
rather that he be converted and live.”
(13) What do you mean by the words “ the Father, Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth ” ?
By the words “ the Father, Almighty, Creator of heaven
and earth” I mean that God made out of nothing both
spiritual and corporeal creatures—that is, the Angels and
this world, and finally man.
(14) Does God take care of all created things?
God takes care of all created things, inasmuch as He
preserves them, upholds them and governs them, so that
there neither is nor can be anything that happens without
God’s will or permission.
(15) What do you call the care that God takes of created things ?
We call the care that God takes of created things
“ Divine Providence.”
(16) Which are the most excellent of God's creatures ?
Angels and men are the most excellent of God’s creatures.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
15
(17) What are Angels?
Angels are pure spirits endowed with intellect and will ;
they were established in a state of justice and holiness, so
that if they co-operated with the grace of God they might
merit glory.
(18) Did all the Angels co-operate with the grace of God?
Not all the Angels co-operated with the grace of God ;
those who did so enjoy in heaven the beatific vision of
God, and are called simply “ Angels ” ; those who did not
co-operate with grace were thrust down to hell : these
are called “ devils ’’ and their chief is Lucifer or Satan.
(19) Does God use the ministry of Angels ?
In many ways God uses the ministry of Angels, especially
in His care of men, for to each of them He gives a Guardian
Angel from the time of his birth.
(20) Does it help our spiritual life to have a special devotion
to Our Guardian Angel?
It is very helpful to our spiritual life to have special
devotion to our Guardian Angel, reverencing him and
calling on him, especially in time of temptation, following
his promptings, thanking him for his help, and never
vexing his presence by sin.
(21) Why did God create man?
God created man to know Him, to love Him, and to
serve Him, so that after death, man might by possession
of God in the Beatific Vision, be happy with Him for ever
in Paradise.
5(22) Who were the first parents of the human race ?
The first parents of the human race were Adam and Eve,
whom God made and placed in an earthly paradise, raising
them to a supernatural state and heaping upon them
marvellous gifts of grace and nature.
(23) How did God raise our first parents to the supernatural
state ?
t g THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
Go ‘‘ i“Smg that these
PUS biSr’.he permanent endowment of hnman
nature.
(24 ) What did God forbid to our first parents in their super-
natural state ? 1
evil.
< 2 lr“ their
^earthly paradise, they became subject to concupiscence,
death, and all the other pains and miseries of 1 •
(261 Did Adam harm his descendants by his fall ?
Adam harmed his descendants by his fall, because by X * f
he".ed - them no.
other punishments, but also a hum t< ? j { „
justice and holiness ; in this consists the original
transmitted to his descendants. .... 5
(27) Has anyone been kept free from the stain of original sin.
The Blessed Virgin Mary alone was, from the first
i nsTaPt of her conception, through ^foreseen
Jesus Christ, by a unique privilege granted her by ,
kept free from the stain of original sin; she is therefore
said to have been “ conceived immaculate.
(28) What does the Church hold about the death of the Blesse
The Church holds that the body of the Blessed^ Virgin
Mary was indeed separated from her soul , but tbat
soul was reunited to her incorrupt body, and thatshewas
by the ministry of Angels, taken up into heave ,
she is enthroned above all the choirs of Angels.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
17
■
Section II. The next Six Articles of the Creed,
IN WHICH IS SET FORTH THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND
Person of the Most Holy Trinity and of the
WORK OF REDEMPTION.
(it) and in Jesus Christ , His only Son, our Lord ;
(iii) who was conceived by the Holy Ghost , born of the
Virgin Mary ;
( iv ) suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and
buried ;
(v) He descended into hell, the third day He rose again from
the dead ;
(yi) He ascended into heaven ; sitteth at the right hand of
God the Father Almighty ;
(vii) from thence He shall come to judge the living and the
dead.
(29) What do we mean by the Second Article of the Creed —
“ and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord ” ?
By the Second Article of the Creed—“ and in Jesus
Christ, His only Son, our Lord ”—we mean that the Son
of God, who as man is called Jesus Christ, is the only
Son of the Father, our Lord, true God of true God.
(30) What do we mean by the Third Article of the Creed —
“ who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the
Virgin Mary ” ?
By the Third Article of the Creed—“ who was conceived
by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ”—we mean
that the Son of God, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
by an act surpassing all the powers of nature, took human
nature—that is, a body and soul—in the most pure womb
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was born of her.
(31) Why was the Son of God made man ?
The Son of God was made man that he might free us
from sin and so restore us to the glory of Paradise.
jg the catholic catechism
(«,) Did <b So, of God to bo God »/« H. bomn mmj
The Son of God did not cease to be God when He became
mam bnbmmainins true God, He began aiso to be tnm
Z H°« Mms Pmm m Z “Tnd
In Tcsus Christ there are two Natures, the Divme and
the HuStbbut only one Person-Urn. is, the Person of
the Son of God. ,
/ 9 What do we mean by the Fourth Article of f
34 “ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and
btiYWsd ^ ^
By the Fourth Article of the Creed-" suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried
mean that in order to redeem man by His precious Blood,
rS suffered under Pontius Pilate, the Procurator
J of judS was nailed to the Cross and died upon it, and was
thence taken down and buried.
( 35 ) What do we mean by the first words of the Fifth Article
of the Creed- 1 He descended into hell ?
By the first words of the Fifth Article of the Creed
« .Z descended into hell we mean that the Soul of
Jesus Christ, separated from Hi. Body but *£££*$
His Godhead, went down to the Limbo of the Patnarcns
where the souls of the just were awaiting the promised and
longed-for redemption.
(36) What do we mean by the other words of the Fi f th f^ e ?
3 0 f the Creed— '■'the third day He rose again from the dead .
By the other words of the Fifth Article of the Creed-
“ the third day he rose again from the dead —we mean
that Tesus Christ, on the third day after His death, reunited
His Soul to His Body by His own power, and so lived agai
immortal and glorious.
ton') What do we mean by the Sixth Article of t e ree
37 “ He ascended into heaven ; sitteth at the right hand 0
God the Father Almighty ” ?
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
By the Sixth Article of the Creed—“ He ascended into
heaven ; sitteth at the right hand of God the Father
Almighty we mean that Jesus Christ, forty days after
His resurrection, by His own power ascended, Body and
Soul, into Heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God
the Father Almighty.
(38) What do we mean by the Seventh Article of the Creed —
“ froyn thence He shall come to judge the living and the
dead"?
By the Seventh Article of the Creed—“ from thence He
shall come to judge the living and the dead ”—we mean
that at the end of the world, Jesus Christ will come from
Heaven with His angels to judge all men, and then will
“ render to every man according to his works.”
Section III. The remaining Five Articles of the
Creed, containing the doctrine of the Third Per¬
son of the most Holy Trinity, and of the work of
our sanctification.
(cm) I believe in the Holy Ghost;
(ix) the Holy Catholic Church ; the Communion of Saints ;
(x) the forgiveness of sins ;
(xi) the resurrection of the body ;
(xii) and life everlasting. Amen.
(39) What do we mean by the Eighth Article of the Creed —
“ I believe in the Holy Ghost ” ?
By the Eighth Article of the Creed—“ I believe in the
Holy Ghost ”—we mean that the Holy Ghost is the Third
Person of the Holy Trinity, who proceeds from the Father
d the Son.
40) When did the Holy Ghost come down visibly upon the
Apostles, and what did He effect in them ?
The Holy Ghost came down visibly upon the Apostles
n the day of Pentecost; He confirmed them in their faith
d filled them with the fulness of all gifts, that they might
i
20 THE catholic catechism
preach Ur. Gospel and spread .he Church throughout the
whole world.
( 4 .) >»- -* dm * "Lf Virtue.
The Holy Ghost graces' of every kind,
HC gfiTthe flithful • and He enlightens and moves them,
r,S "p'mte with grace they may attam to the
possession of life everlasting.
Ua) What work does the Holy Ghost do in the Church
'Ihe Holy
”3) What do we man by ,k first words of ,ho Ninth A,tick
45 ' qf the Creed —“ the Holy Catholic Church !
.a.4r
wSVEvedT^ a„d which He
called His Church.
to men until the end of the world.
(45) How did Jesus Christ will the Church to be governed
Tesus Christ willed the Church to be governed by the
authority of the Apostles under Peter their head, an
their lawful successors.
(46) Who is the lawful successor of St. Pet,, m gomn.nl the
universal Church ? . •
The lawful successor of St. Peter in governing the u -
versal Church is the Bishop of the City of o
the Roman Pontiff or Pope-because m the primacy
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
21
I
jurisdiction he succeeds to St. Peter, who lived and died
Bishop of the City of Rome.
( 47 ) are the lawful successors of the Apostles ?
The lawful successors of the Apostles are, by divine
institution, the Bishops; they are set over particular
churches by the Roman Pontiff, and govern them by their
own proper power under his authority.
(48) Which , of all the various churches which claim the name of
Christian, is the true Church founded by Jesus Christ ?
Among the various churches claiming the name of
Christian, the true Church founded by Jesus Christ is that
which is governed by the authority of the Roman Pontiff
and the Bishops in communion with him.
( 49 ) What power did Christ the Lord bestow on His Church
in order that she might attain the end for which she was
founded ?
That she might attain the end for which she was founded,
Christ the Lord bestowed on His Church the power of
jurisdiction ” and the power of “ order ” ; the power of
jurisdiction includes the power of teaching.
{50) What is the power of teaching ?
The power of teacliing is the right and duty of the
Church to guard, hand on, and maintain the doctrine of
Jesus Christ, and to preach it to every creature, indepen¬
dently of any human authority.
1) Who have the power of teaching in the Church ?
The Roman Pontiff and the Bishops in communion
him have the power of teaching in the Church.
2) Is the Church infallible in her office of teaching ?
The Church is infallible in her office of teaching when,
r in the exercise of her ordinary and universal
nance, or by a solemn pronouncement of the supreme
ority, she proposes, for the acceptance of all, truths
THE APOSTLES CREED
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
22 , tW are either revealed in themselves
of faith or morals that are
or connected with reve ation. , : u j g .
(53) Whose peculiar function is it to pronounce a solemn judg
xo
^teSrRoSnPoS.c.p.cikllywh.na.embled
in -in (Ecumenical Council.
What dm the ofjumdiclim » th. Church ma, ■
'■5'*! „ . . .. Church means that me
The power of j^ction ^ Church , and the
Roman Pontiff m respect ^ the power of
Bishops in respec of d ^ judicial, admims-
governing , that is, tn y . -u v to secure the
trative and punitive P°w er >’ ^fo r w hich she was
Church’s attainment of the objects
founded.
( 55 > “ ‘'“fZV .'he power of performing sacred
The power of order « at ^ altar . by the
functions, especial y power is conferred on the
SaCf TS rarchy^ especially on the Bishops, and its imme-
SS"t y, .he P care and sa.varion of sods.
(56 ) Who arc catsid, the Church fo.odcd by Jto •
Those are outside the Church founded by Jesus CH
i. who are not baptized ; sc h.ismatics, or
ii. who are open apos a , J shunned.”
excommunicated persons that are
( 57 ) 0 “ *“ “‘ iH Vt C mfctnrch‘ , through their own
Those who are ^h ^ ^ Q
SSSSiS.‘of'heir own can be saved if they do no. d.e
“rr: ™««” thm ° ,her - w, f s
58 Article of the Creed-“ the communion of Saints .
II
til
1
■
By those other words of the Ninth Article of the Creed—-
“ t he communion of Saints ”—we mean that between the
members of the Church—in Heaven, in Purgatory, and on
earth—there exists, by reason of their close union with one
another under Christ their Head, a mutual communication
in spiritual riches.
(59) What do we mean by the Tenth Article of the Creed —
“the forgiveness of sins ”?
By the Tenth Article of the Creed—the forgiveness of
s jns ”—we mean that there is in the Church true power
to forgive sins through the merits of Jesus Christ.
(60) What do we mean by the Eleventh Article of the Creed —
“ the resurrection of the body ” ?
By the Eleventh Article of the Creed—“ the resurrection
of the body ” —we mean that it will come to pass at the
end of the world that all the dead will be recalled to life
and rise for the General Judgment, and that each soul will
resume the body to which in this life it was united, and will
never again be separated from it.
(61) Why did God will that the bodies of the dead should rise
God willed that the bodies of the dead should rise again
in order that the whole man might, according to his merits,
obtain an everlasting reward in Heaven or everlasting
punishment in Hell.
(62) What do we mean by the last Article of the Creed —“ life
everlasting ” ?
By the last Article of the Creed—“ life everlasting ”—
e mean that there is prepared for the elect after death a
rfect and never-failing happiness in Paradise, while the
ernal pains of Hell await the reprobate.
CHAPTER III
THE DECALOGUE
(The children should repeat the Commandments distinctly.)
Section I. The First Three Commandments of the
Decalogue, which have to do with God.
(i) Thou shall not have strange gods before Me.
(H) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
( m ) Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
(63) What does God forbid in the First Commandment —“ Thou J
shalt not have strange gods before Me ?
In the First Commandment—“ Thou shalt not have
strange gods before Me ”-God forbids us to offer to others
the worship due to Himself.
(64) What worship do we owe to God ?
To God, and to God alone, we owe supreme worship—
that is, the worship of adoration.
(65) Should we not also offer worship to the Saints and to their
YCllCS ?
We should also offer worship to the Saints, especially
the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to their rehcs-but a different
and lower form of worship, namely that of veneration,
in order to show them honour and win their patronage.
(66) Should due honour and veneration be paid also to sacred
images ?
Due honour and veneration should be paid also to sacred
images, since the honour shown them is offered to the per¬
sons they represent.
(67) What does God forbid in the Second Commandment _
“ thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God 1
24
the decalogue
In the Second Commandment—“ thou shalt not take
the Name of the Lord thy God in vain God forbids
all irreverence towards His Name.
(68) Are we also forbidden to take the names of the Saints in
vain ?
Just as we ought to pay honour to the saints, and
especially to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so for the same
reason we are forbidden to take their names in vain.
(69) What does God command in the Third Commandment —
S “ Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day " ?
In the Third Commandment—•“ Remember that thou
keep holy the Sabbath day God commands that
festival days—that is, days dedicated to Him—should be
kept with divine worship, business and bodily toil being
laid aside, as lawful authority lays down.
HP-.
Ip'
Section II. The remaining Seven Commandments
of the Decalogue, which refer to Ourselves
and our Neighbour.
(iv) Honour thy father and thy mother.
[v) Thou shalt not kill.
(vi) Thou shalt not commit adultery.
(vii) Thou shalt not steal.
(viii) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
« [ix) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife.
(a) Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods.
(70) What does God command in the Fourth Commandment —
“ Honour thy father and thy mother ” ?
In the Fourth Commandment—“ Honour thy father
and thy mother ”—God bids us show due honour to our
parents and those who hold their place ; such honour
involves love, attention, obedience, and service.
(71) Is it merely honour that we owe to our parents ?
We ought not only to honour our parents but to afford
26
THE catholic catechism
th e,„ assistance, espedall, in ft* .emposal os spiritual
» C«mmmdnmt > insis, soLly « ,1" Mi's «/
children towards parents . ^ of
This Commandment ^^^^indi/ectly the duties
children towards then a ’ nother an d to their children,
ofhusbandand wif^d of subjects and superiors,
'and ^workpeople and their employers. . ?
(73) ^ ~ 1C: r^en flow from
education, 1 their means, to provide for
while they have, according
their temporal welfare. „ r > ;
(?4) What does God forbid in the Fifth Commandment Thoui
skalt not kill ’ ThQu shaU nQt kiU »_
In the Fifth Commandme tQ our neighbour or :
God forbids us to came death ^ ourselves any othe r l
to ourselves, or to operate in so doing.
harm to body or soul, or co oper ^ J
<„) TlM %
shall not commit adultery t j
j cc r rhou shalt not comrnitj|
In the Sixth Commandme on e another!
adulter, ”-God torbtds no. olhe r external
*- may iead w "”1
(^"(Wtol *" God forbid in Ik' Smnth Cornnmim'M—" IlM
— 1
THE DECALOGUE 27
(77) What does God forbid in the Eighth Commandment—
V “ Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour ” ?
In the Eighth Commandment—“ Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbour —God forbids lying,
false swearing, and any harm we may do to our neighbour
by our words.
(78) What does God forbid in the Ninth Commandment —
“ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife " ?
In the Ninth Commandment—“ Thou shalt not covet
thy neighbour’s wife God forbids not only such unchaste
desires but also every interior thought contrary to chastity,
just as the Sixth Commandment expressly forbids external
acts.
(79) What does God forbid in the Tenth Commandment —
“ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods " ?
In the Tenth Commandment—“ Thou shalt not covet
thy neighbour’s goods God forbids all unjust and
inordinate desires for another’s property.
UT hat is the sum of all the Commandments of the Decalogue ?
«f all the commandments of the Decalogue is :
love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart
whole soul and with all thy strength, and
as thyself.”
people bound to the observance of the duties proper
- J -'- of life?
'LtAAVO. to the careful observance of the duties
ir state of life—that is, of those duties to which
position or office.
CHAPTER IV
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
(T he Children should repeat these Precepts distinctly.)
(8a) Howmmy Pm,pis of,k Ctorch , CathoB
iife ° f ,he faithfu! ■
general.
t Tm First Precept of the Church. |
Vo, sZsZ +r T of OMiealim, „
U and to refrain from servile works.
(83)
m t^F^^
Days of Obligation to hear Mass anO t we ar ,
works ” the ^ * ° bli S ati0Ib
2»ing ML - — *-
servile works.
( 84 ) “* “ e „ ik •' which are p
Those works are said to . ^ more particular
bod^Tabou; and are concerned mai
^ «"*•*■** ° n °
e.O
l
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
Holy Days of Obligation which particularly concern the
service of God or the ordinary necessities of domestic and
public life ; also such as are demanded by charity, or such
as could not be omitted without grave inconvenience ;
such, too, as approved custom allows.
(86) How, in addition to hearing Mass , ought a Christian
to occupy himself on Sundays and other Holy Days of
Obligation ?
In addition to hearing Mass it is only fitting that a
Christian should on Sundays and other Holy Days of Obli¬
gation devote himself to works of piety and religion so
far as he can, especially by assisting at the ceremonies of
the Church, hearing sermons, and attending Catechism
classes.
Section II. The Second Precept of the Church.
{ii) On days appointed by the Church, to fast and abstain
from flesh meat.
( 87 ) What does the Church lay down in the Second Precept—
“ On days appointed by the Church, to fast and abstain
from flesh meat ” ?
In the Second Precept—“ On days appointed by the
Church to fast and abstain from flesh meat ”—the Church
lays down that on days appointed by her we are either to
fast only, or to abstain from flesh meat only, or both to
t and abstain from flesh meat as well.
88 ) What does the law of fasting command ?
The law of fasting commands that there should be only
ne full meal in the day, but it does not forbid us to take a
all quantity of food in the morning and evening, if we
p to the local custom regarding its quantity and quality.
89) What does the law of abstinence from flesh meat forbid ?
The law of abstinence from flesh meat forbids us to eat
eat or soup made from meat, but it does not forbid the
the catholic catechism
3 ... f j„ or any condiments made from
use of eggs, milk-foods, or any
animal fats.
( 90 ) On «*< dnysdo *» " h, ^ au , hority ,
U ^SwofSSnc« binds on «very Friday i
• u V w nf fasting and abstinence binds on Asti
M ' Wednesday, the
tarfSHeidtady, and of All Saints, and on
Christmas Eve ; dav of Lent
Hi. the law of fasting binds on every d y
except the Sundays.
, ,y Are there certain days when these laws do not bind.
(9 0 „ Sundays and other Ho!>, Days of ;
Holy Saturday after ““*- day ’ .! d or Q f fasting only,
do °»« bS g e“tp a . w“X Day of Obligation falls during
T ent • Vigils are not anticipated.
(o 2 ) ’ Who are bound to keep the laws of fasting and '
^Unless lawfully
mind and have comp etc , d t h e ir twenty-first
«b=ir sixtieth j
year.
tit Twi? Third and Fourth Precepts.
Section III. The ihird a*
at Easier.
(93 ) What does the Church lay down in the Third Precep
93 “ To confess our sins at least once a year -
t u tu -A Precent—“ To confess our sms at least one
a down O'* 1 “
81 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1252, P- 4 *
the precepts of the church
31
come to the age of discretion the faithful must, at least
once a year, confess all mortal sins not directly remitted in
previous confessions.
(94) What does the Church lay down in the Fourth Precept—
“ To receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at least
at Pdas ter ”?
In the Fourth Precept—To receive the Sacrament of
the Holy Eucharist at least at Easter ’’—the Church lays
down that all the faithful who have reached the age of
discretion shall receive the Holy Eucharist at least at Easter
or thereabouts.
( 95 ) Wh y does the Church add t0 the Third and Fourth Precepts
the words “ at least ” ?
The Church adds to these two Precepts the words “ at
least ” to teach us that it is most fitting and in accordance
with her wishes that the faithful—even those conscious of
only venial sin or of mortal sins already directly remitted —
should often go to confession, and that they should fre¬
quently, even every day, devoutly receive Holy Com¬
munion.
(96) Does the obligation of receiving Holy Communion cease
if it has not been fulfilled during Easter time ?
The obligation of receiving Holy Communion, if
not fulfilled during Easter time, does not cease, and
must be obeyed within the same year at the first
opportunity.
(97) h the obligation of yearly confession and Easter Communion
fulfilled by a sacrilegious confession or Communion, or by
a deliberate bad confession ?
The obligation of yearly confession and Easter Com¬
munion is fulfilled neither by a sacrilegious Confession and
Communion nor by a deliberate bad Confession ; in fact,
owing to the presence of a fresh sin, the obligation is only
increased.
THE catholic catechism
3 2
relww ‘ „ « To relieve the necessities ot tne
“iS ZSZk and her clergy adding «. local
regulations and accepted custom.
( 99 ) '**> “ ‘ nj " d ,L it u but lust that the faithful
shield IroridTfor the sacred^rusten• ^° »ork tothe.r
» “rXS^«dece*,y.
CHAPTER V
GRACE
(ioo) What is grace?
Grace is a supernatural gift, freely bestowed by God on
rational creatures, so that they may attain to eternal life.
(i o i) How many kinds of grace are there ?
There are two kinds of grace—habitual (also called
sanctifying grace), and actual.
(102) What is habitual grace ?
Habitual grace is a supernatural quality dwelling in the
soul by which man is made a partaker in the divine nature,
temple of the Holy Ghost, a friend of God, His adopted
son, and heir to the glory of Heaven, and so capable of per¬
forming acts meridng eternal life.
(103) Is habitual grace necessary for obtaining eternal life ?
Habitual grace is absolutely necessary for all, even
infants, if they would obtain eternal life.
(104) How is habitual grace lost ?
Habitual grace is lost by any mortal sin.
(105) What is actual grace ?
Actual grace is a supernatural help from God, by which
He enlightens our minds and moves our wills to do good
and shun evil for the sake of eternal life. Unlike habitual
grace, actual grace is not a quality dwelling in the soul, but
a'divine impulse from without, moving a person to perform
acts beyond his natural powers, such as an act of contrition.
(106) Is actual grace necessary for us?
Actual grace is absolutely necessary for us if we would
do good and shun evil for the sake of eternal life.
33
CHAPTER VI
PRAYER
Section I. Prayer in General.
(io 7 ) What is prayer ? tQ God , to
Prayer is the devout msing^up^^ ^ beg Ris
adore Him, to ihank Him f b things neces-
pardon for our sms, and to ask f\ in
sary or useful for ourselves or for others.
(108 ) Is it necessary for us to pray ^ ^ ^ and
It is necessary for us to P r Y> id we always need,
because God does not as a rule g ye the am
except to those who ask Him for it.
(109) To whom tS ^ ayer J d ^ S ^ d who a i 0 ne can give us
All prayer is addressed ’ intercede f or us with
what we ask ; but that th y Y Heaven , especially
- -» the souls in
~^ -1
heard ? , hpard they should be offered
Tha. our P»f”,^^1. Jerta they depend ;
in the name of Jesus Chris , humility, also
they should be devout, full of faith an
persevering.
(...) * “f fiord’s Prayer or
..^r^olichVusually added .he Angdiu
Salutation or “ Hail Mary.”
PRAYER
35
Section II. The “ Our Father ” and “ Hail Mary.”
Article i. The “ Our Father .”
Our Father who art in Heaven,
i. hallowed be Thy name,
ii. Thy kingdom come,
Hi. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
iv. Give us this day our daily bread,
v. and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that
tresspass against us,
vi. and lead us not into temptation,
vii. but deliver us from evil. Amen.
(112) Why is the “ Our Father ” called the Lord's Prayer?
The “ Our Father ” is called the Lord’s Prayer because
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught it to us.
(113) Whom do we invoke by the words “ Our Father ” ?
By the words “ Our Father ” we invoke God as a most
loving father, to show our love and trust in Him, and to
incline His goodness and mercy towards us.
(114) What do we ask in the first petition—’■''Hallowed be
Thy Name ” ?
In the first petition—“ Hallowed be Thy Name ”—we
ask that the Holy Name of God may become known to all
men and be praised by all in thought, word and deed.
(115) What do we ask in the second petition —“ Thy Kingdom
come ” ?
In the second petition—“ Thy Kingdom come ”—we
ask that God may reign on earth over us and over all men
by His grace, and over all society and every nation by
His law, so that at last we may be made partakers of His
eternal glory in Heaven.
(116) What do we ask in the third petition —“ Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in Heaven ” ?
In the third petition—' Thy will be done, on earth as
the catholic catechism
36
. . . „ „ w . ask that, as all the Blessed in Heaven
Id “n Purgatory always and jn «lovingly
do the will of God, so men may do xt on earthy
(II7 ) What do we ask in the fourth petition- Give us
day out daily bread ?
for .he spiritual life of
1^-rXfhL": a\, needful foe .he
support of the body.
s o. What do we ask in the fifth petition And forgive us
(U8) Z tresses as we forgive them that trespass against
us” ?
I„ die fifth petition “ And forgive> » “
(I I9 ) What do we ask in the sixth petitionAnd lead us no
into temptation ? „
ing Him to deliver us from temptation or at least g
us the help of His grace to overcome them.
(120) What do we ask in the seventh petition— But e iver us
In f
sin, also from other evils, at least tnose ui* &
occasion to sin.
Article 2. The “ Hail Mary.”
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee ;
PRAYER
37
blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now
and at the hour of our death. Amen.
(121) Who spoke the words, “ Hail [Mary], full of grace, the
Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among women ” ?
The Archangel Gabriel spoke the words, “ Hail [Mary],
full of grace, the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among
women,” when he declared to the Blessed Virgin Mary the
mystery of the Incarnation ; hence this prayer is called
the Angelic Salutation.
(122) Who spoke the words, “ Blessed is the fruit of thy womb,”
and what do they mean ?
St. Elizabeth spoke the words, “Blessed is the fruit of
thy womb,” when she welcomed the Blessed Virgin Mary
as her guest; they mean that Christ the Lord, Son of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, is blessed above all things for ever.
( 123) Whose are the words, “ Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,” and
what do we ask by them ?
words, “ Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us
now and at the hour of our death,” were added by
ch ; by them we ask for the protection of the
Virgin Mary in all our needs, but especially at
of our death.
1
||1
II
the Blessed Virgin Mary really the Mother of God ?
essed Virgin Mary is really the Mother of God,
:onceived and bore, according to His human
Christ our Lord, who is true God and true
Mother of God, also our
other of God, is also our
makes us brothers of her
8 Tilt CATHOLIC CATECHISM
Son ; and this Jesus Christ Himself confirmed a, His death
on the C rece ive who honour the Blessed
( I2 6) What reward do they receive w
Virgin Mary with loving devotion .
Thra :rho»Lu,eB,essedJrg»Ma ? ^ i io S
?„ e riw»d e p~Sby her U a special motherly
love.
CHAPTER VII
THE SACRAMENTS
( The children should give the list of the Sacraments of the New Law.)
Section I. The Sacraments in General.
Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme
Unction, Holy Order, Matrimony.
127) What is meant by “ a Sacrament of the New Law ” ?
By “ a Sacrament of the New Law ” is meant an outward
ign instituted by Jesus Christ, to signify grace and confer
l on those who worthily receive the Sacrament.
(128) What grace do the Sacraments confer on us ?
Sacraments confer on us sanctifying grace or an
srease of it, also sacramental grace or the right to special
ice whereby we may attain the effect intended by
icrament.
h are the “ Sacraments of the dead,” and which the
laments of the living ” ?
aments of the dead are Baptism and Penance,
s Sacraments of the living.
1) Why are Baptism and Penance called Sacraments of
the dead, and the rest Sacraments of the living ?
ptism and Penance are called Sacraments of the dead,
;e they were instituted primarily for those who
h sin (actual or original) have no supernatural
in other words no sancdfying grace ; the rest are
B Sacraments of the living because they are received
ly only by those who already have supernatural life.
What sin do they commit who approach the Sacraments
of the living in conscious mortal sin ?
39
THE catholic catechism
• They wh „
conscious mortal sin not on y
a grave sin of sacrilege.
® Ti „ . , c„ rrnrn ents can be received only once .
( 1 3 2 ) !»«<* **.» »'“ be received only once are
The Sacraments that Order, for these stamp
Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Ord
an indelible character on the soul.
Section II. Ind.v.dcm. Sacrament*.
Article i. Baptism.
(. 33 ) W* “ ^“^ta Sacmmen. of cleansing
The Sacrament of B ^ US ™ iuhcpers0 n baptized is made
instituted by Jesus Chris , Y chr ist or the Church,
a member of the mystical body and of a U actual sms
obtains remission of original punishment due |
of receiving die other ;
Sacraments. ?
(.34) What is the duty of a baptKf^ P‘ , lfasio n ofhis {
' Ttdnryofabaptiaedpe^gm-^ ^ the
“manSS« "f Chris, and of the Catholic Church. .
(■ 35 ) * for Jesus Christ i
Baptism is necessary again of water an
( 1 36) Who can confer Baptism ^dsm without
In case of necessity an )'^ n ^ p ttle or dinary water on the
the ceremonies, by poun g the same time ;
bead of the penton to^f^afh.r and of the Son
« I baptize thee in the name
and of the Holy Ghost.
THE SACRAMENTS
41
Article 2. Confirmation.
(137) What is the Sacrament of Confirmation?
The Sacrament of Confirmation is a Sacrament instituted
by Jesus Christ to confer special grace and the gifts of the
Holy Ghost, that by them the person confirmed may be
strengthened, so as to enable him, as a perfect soldier of
Christ, to make profession of his faith by word and deed.
(138) Besides being baptized and in a state of grace , what is
required in those who receive Confirmation ?
Besides being baptized and in a state of grace, those who
receive Confirmation must, if they have the use of reason,
know the chief mysteries of faith and other truths regarding
this Sacrament.
(139) Is Confirmation absolutely necessary for salvation?
Confirmation is not absolutely necessary for salvation,
but it is wrong to neglect it, because it is a means for
attaining salvation more easily and fully.
Article 3. The Holy Eucharist.
r the Holy Eucharist ?
icharist (“ good grace ” or “ thanksgiving ”),
ivine gift of our Redeemer, the Mystery of
rnder the appearances of bread and wine,
dimself is contained, offered and received,
ce as well as the Sacrament of the New Law.
Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
institute the Holy Eucharist ?
Holy Eucharist at the Last
;red, taking bread, He gave
>les, saying : “ Take ye and
taking the chalice. He gave
is my Blood,” adding : “ Do
THE catholic catechism
of consecration ove d s of consecration
When Jesus Christ pronounce a wonderful
over the bread and Q f the bread into
and unique change of rf ^ wine into the
S^f Jesus Christ, although the appearances of
“ D0
Bv the Idded words, “
Jesus Christ made His successors in the priest-
and commanded them tQ consecrate, offer and administer
SBod^Zd under the appearances of bread an
When do priests exercise this power and carry out this
1
<■«> or
When the priest m the ^ SS ^ d ° wine> the Body and
consecradon over the bread t ^ ether with H is Soul and
Blood of our Lord Jesus Ch , g and subst antiaUy
His Godhead, oZZd and wine,
present under the app , the wor ds that
(,46)
The proper matter fo thc J or ds that must necessar*
bread and wine of the grape , h chrlst the Lord pro
a, La^ S„PP=,
THE SACRAMENTS
43
b. The Sacrifice of the Mass.
(147) Is the Mass the true and especial sacrifice of the New
Law ?
The Mass is the true and especial sacrifice of the New
Law ; in it Jesus Christ, by the ministry of the priest,
offers His Body and Blood to God the Father under the
appearances of bread and wine, by a mystical immolation
in an unbloody manner for a renewal and a memorial
of the Sacrifice of the Cross.
(148) Is the Sacrifice of the Mass one and the same Sacrifice as
the Sacrifice of the Cross?
The Sacrifice of the Mass is one and the same sacrifice as
the Sacrifice of the Cross which is renewed, for the Victim
is one and the same, now offering Himself through the
ministry of His priests as He then offered Himself on the
Cross, only the manner of offering being different.
(149) How are the fruits of the Sacrifice of the Cross applied
to us in the Sacrifice of the Mass ?
The fruits of the Sacrifice of the Cross are applied to us
in the Sacrifice of the Mass in that God, appeased by this
immolation, bestows on us the graces that Jesus Christ
merited for us at the price of His Blood.
(150) What is the best way of assisting at Mass?
The best way of assisting at Mass is for the faithful who
are present to join with the priest in offering the Divine
Victim to God, calling to mind the Sacrifice of the Cross,
and uniting themselves to Jesus Christ by sacramental or at
least spiritual Communion.
c. The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
(151) What is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist?
The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is a Sacrament
instituted by Jesus Christ wherein Jesus Christ Himself,
the catholic catechism
_ trulv reallv, and substantially con-
of bread aud wine, ford,.
required? Fucharist worthily, in
In order to receive * e baptism is requisite for the
addition to f b “y S o*e r 1Z Sacrament) and in a state of grace
reception of any reception of all Sacraments of the
**- - k “ p * he
natural fast.
/ TK „\ What does the natural fast mean?
The natural fee. — that from rf
of receiving Holy Communion we take nothi g y
food or drink, or even metta _
( I54 ) What sin do we commit ij we receive n j
If weTeceive Holy Communion not fasting we commit a
^When is Holy Communion allowed without fasting ?
p«v“fsome Sevkenee to the Blessed Sacrament.
(, 5 6) An any invalids dhwvd tv mm Holy Cmmmton
jsSSfis
(i r 7 ) What is necessary for receiving Holy Commum
according to our capacity, condition, and dut .
THE SACRAMENTS
45
(158) In what does preparation for Holy Communion consist?
Preparation for Holy Communion consists in meditating
attentively and devoutly for a while on what we are about
to receive, and in making diligent acts of faith, hope,
charity and contrition.
(159) In what does thanksgiving after Holy Communion consist ?
Thanksgiving after Holy Communion consists in medita¬
ting attentively and devoutly for a while on what we have
received, and in making acts of faith, hope, and charity,
with good resolutions, acts of gratitude, and petitions.
(160) What effects does Holy Communion produce in those who
receive it worthily and devoutly?
In those who receive it worthily and devoutly Holy
Communion produces these effects :
i. it increases sanctifying grace and the fervour of
charity ;
ii. it remits venial sins ;
iii. it does much to secure final perseverance by lessen¬
ing concupiscence, preserving them from mortal
sin, and strengthening them in the practice of
good works.
Article 4. Penance.
(161) What is the Sacrament of Penance ?
The Sacrament of Penance is a Sacrament instituted by
fesus Christ for the faithful, so that as often as they fall
into sin after Baptism they may be reconciled to God.
(162) When did Jesus Christ institute this Sacrament?
Jesus Christ instituted this Sacrament more especially
when, after His Resurrection, He breathed on His assembled
iisciples and said : “ Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose
sins ye shall forgive they are forgiven, and whose sins ye
shall retain they are retained.”
6 THE catholic catechism
( ,6 3) m.is<y «■»/»' 5 T 0 7p e l™ e T»
The lawful minister of the Sacrament of Penance
prkst duly approved for hearing confesses.
, Wh t sins form the “ matter ” 0 / *Au Sacrament.
(164) What sms J g nt is a il mortal sms com-
The “matter of this already directly forgiven
mined after Baptism and^ ^ can usefully con fess
dire “ ly forgiven '
( ,6 5) What mtht of ,he penitent,
JS "■ by a law -
ful minister, which is its form.
a. The Acts of the Penitent.
(166) What is necessary on the part of the penitent for wor y
<l66) Zsftisn Ssaan^U of P,nans.?
For worth, reception of the Snc»men, of Penance
are required on the part of the penitent .
£ Uh a firm purp«e
of amendment ;
c. confession of his sins ;
d. satisfaction.
a. Examination of Conscience.
(. 67 ) W»*' “ °f ““^calling as carefully
as^Te^S.ncethelast^co^ion.
(.68) H- i- *> —5,“ p“',e», LTasks for
anJ th ' bhurch,and
cner.ial duties of his state.
THE SACRAMENTS
47
(169) What should we try to recall in examining our conscience ?
In examining our conscience we should try to recall the
number of our sins and their character, and any circum¬
stances that may alter their character.
b. Contrition and Firm Purpose of Amendment.
(170) What is contrition for sin?
Contrition for sin is heartfelt sorrow for the sins we have
committed, with hatred of them and a firm purpose of
amendment.
(171) What is a firm purpose of amendment ?
A firm purpose of amendment is a resolution not to
commit sin again, and to avoid as far as possible the proxi¬
mate occasions of sin.
(172) What kind of contrition for sin ought we to have?
Contrition for sin ought to be
inward, or from the heart ;
supernatural, or from supernatural motives ;
profound, so that we hate sin above all evils ;
universal, or including all mortal sins committed
since Baptism and not directly remitted by the power of
the keys.
(173) What if the penitent has only venial sins of which to
accuse himself, or mortal sins already directly remitted ?
If the penitent has only venial sins of which to accuse
himself, or mortal sins already directly remitted, then
he should make an act of sorrow for some, or at least one,
of them, and this suffices.
(174) How many kinds of contrition are there ?
Contrition can be either “ perfect and this is usually
called simply “ contrition —or “ imperfect ”—and this
is called by the special name of “ attrition.”
( 175 ) What is perfect contrition ?
Perfect contrition is a sorrow and hatred for sin, springing
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
from charity, inasmuch as sin is an offence agamst God
who is supremely good and worthy to be loved above all
things.
(176) What is the effect of perfect contrition?
Perfect contrition immediately washes away sin, and
reconciles man to God even apart from the Sacrament of
Penance; yet such contrition implies the desire of receiving
the Sacrament of Penance.
(177) What is imperfect contrition ?
Imperfect contrition is that supernatural sorrow and
hatred for sin which is aroused either by reflection on the
baseness of sin or by fear of Hell and its torments.
(178) What kind of contrition is sufficient for the valid reception
of the Sacrament of Penance ? . . i
Imperfect contrition is sufficient for the valid reception
of the Sacrament of Penance, though we should try to have
perfect contrition. |
(170) What kind of sin does a person commit who goes to con -1
fession knowing well that he has no contrition .
A person who goes to confession knowing well that he has |
no contrition, not only does not obtain forgiveness of his |
sins, but also commits a grave sin of sacrilege.
c. Confession.
(180) What is confession of sins ?
Confession is to accuse oneself of one’s sins to a priest
lawfully approved, in order to obtain sacramental absolu-j
tion.
(181) What kind of confession is necessary for the valid reception
of the Sacrament of Penance ?
For the valid reception of the Sacrament of Penance
confession must be vocal or at least the equivalent of vocal,
and “integral” or complete.
THE SACRAMENTS
49
182) When is a confession “ integral” or complete?
A confession is “ integral ” or complete when the penitent
confesses all mortal sins not already directly forgiven, of
which, after careful examination, he is conscious, with their
umber and character, and the circumstances that alter
leir character.
183) What ought a person to do if he cannot remember the
number of his mortal sins?
If a person cannot remember the number of his mortal
, he should state their probable number and add
,bout.”
84) What if a person omits a mortal sin in confession, through
no fault of his own ?
If a person through no fault of his own omits a mortal sin
in confession, the Sacrament is validly received and the
sin forgotten is indirectly forgiven ; but when he remembers
it the penitent is bound to accuse himself of it in his next
confession.
Ilpf'
(185) What sin does a person commit who culpably keeps
back a mortal sin in confession ?
A person who culpably keeps back a mortal sin in
nfession not only gains nothing by his confession, but adds
grave sin of sacrilege.
86) Is anything else required for the lawful reception of the
Sacrament of Penance ?
or the lawful reception of the Sacrament of Penance the
ession should also be humble and devout ; that is, the
itent should briefly, clearly and modestly, without use-
words, humbly confess his sins, without excusing,
ing, or exaggerating them, and accept the ad-
nitions of the confessor.
Satisfaction.
7) What is satisfaction ?
0 the catholic catechism
Satisfaction is the penance tapo*d »„
1
‘^b' of“ ntporal punishment due to sin.
(188I Why does the confessor impose a penance ?
( Z confessor imposes a p-~ £ 1
^s^r^-co^fhrhisf
r;T.ri,^- -*-«*- *■ 4
confessor? . . , 1
some particular time for its fulfilment.
b. Sacramental Absolution.
trool What is sacramental absolution? , s
Srm of“ ords rimiut the sins duly and with true sorr<|
confessed by the penitent. .
<»■>
sea"' n“tT“s he forbidden to reveal sins ^
sinner for'any reason, by wd or sign or in any other tj
" 92) A">
X‘ ways e ptd ; bu, it may be paid by other volunta,
penances! especially by gaining Indulgences.
THE SACRAMENTS 51
(193) What do we mean by an “ Indulgence ” ?
By an “ Indulgence ” we mean the remission by God of
the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already
been forgiven ; such remission the Church grants apart
from the Sacrament of Penance.
Article 5. Extreme Unction.
(194) What is the Sacrament of Extreme Unction?
The Sacrament of Extreme Unction is a Sacrament
instituted by Jesus Christ, whereby spiritual assistance is
bestowed on people who have come to the age of reason,
|U w fr 0 are sick and in grave danger ; this assistance is
most profitable when death is imminent, and even
sometimes affords relief from bodily ailments.
|jjf (i 95 ) -fr tflis Sacrament necessary for salvation ?
This Sacrament is not absolutely necessary for salvation,
but it is wrong to neglect it ; indeed we ought to be most
careful, when a sick person begins to be in danger of death,
to see that he receives this Sacrament as soon as possible,
and while still in possession of liis senses.
Article 6. Holy Order.
|e;(i96) What is the Sacrament of Holy Order or Ordination ?
The Sacrament of Holy Order or Ordination is a
: Sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ for providing the
gf Church with Bishops, priests and other ministers, each
receiving power and grace for the due fulfilment of the
sacred duties belonging to the degree conferred on him.
(*97.) Of what kind is the dignity of the priesthood ?
The dignity of the priesthood is very great, for the priest
is the minister of Christ and “ the dispenser of the mysteries
of God” ; he is a mediator between God and Man, with
K * over the real, as well as over the mystical Body of
t Christ is the “ One Mediator of God and men ” ;
-2 THE catholic catechism
that is He alone is the Mediator of redemption ; but the
nriest aciTg in the person of Christ, applies to men the
fruits ’of that redemption ; and is thus right y ca e
mediator.
Article 7. Matrimony.
Ciqgi What is the Sacrament of Matrimony ?
The Sacrament of Matrimony is marriage between
Christians—that is, all who are baptized—validly entered
™ raised by Jesus Chris. to .be d.gm.y of a
Sacrament whereby grace is bestowed on husband and
tiiTtha. they may rightly fulfil their duties to one another
and to their children.
(199) Can there be a valid marriage between Christians without
its being a SdCTdtncnt ? t * •
There cannot be a valid marriage between Christiana
without its being necessarily a Sacrament, forr Jesus
deigned to raise such marriage to the digru y j
ment.
(200) What are the essential qualities of Matrimony .
The essential qualities of Matrimony are unity a
indissolubility, which in Christian marriage are render
peculiarly stable owing to the Sacrament.
(201) By what law is Christian marriage governed ?
Christian marriage is governed by the tor of Godl«s*
of the Church, saving the authority of the State as reg
purely civil effects.
■
CHAPTER VIII
THE VIRTUES
(202) What is a virtue ?
A virtue is a habit or permanent disposition leading a
person to do good and avoid evil.
(203) How are virtues divided ?
Virtues fall into two classes, theological and moral,
ccording to their subject matter.
-
Section I. The Theological Virtues.
04) What is a theological virtue ?
A theological virtue is one whose immediate object is
man’s supernatural end—namely God, to whom it directly
leads him.
(205) How many theological virtues are there ?
There are three theological virtues—-faith, hope, and
.rity.
206) Are the theological virtues necessary for salvation ?
The theological virtues are absolutely necessary for salva-
' mi, for without them the right direction of mind and will
wards our supernatural goal is impossible.
07) Which is the greatest of the theological virtues ?
The greatest of the theological virtues is charity, which is
the perfection of the law,” and will not cease even in
08) What is faith ?
Faith is a supernatural virtue whereby, through the
piration and help of God’s grace, we believe that what
d has revealed and taught us through the Church is
^ XHE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
true, because of the authority of God who reveals it, for
He can neither deceive nor be deceived.
(200) Must we believe all revealed truths ? _
We must believe all revealed truths at least lmphcidy;
for example, “I believe whatever Holy ^ 0th ^ r Ch ^
believes.” Explicitly we must believe that God exists
and will reward us ; also in the mysteries of the most Holy
Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Redemption.
(210) How do we show our faith ?
We show our faith by professing it in word and deed,
even, if necessary, giving our lives for it.
(211) What is hope?
Hope is a supernatural virtue whereby because of the
merits of Jesus Christ, and relying on thegoodness.ommpo-
tence and faithfulness of God, we look for eternal life and
the graces necessary to obtain it, because God has promised
it to those who do good works.
(212) How do we show our hope ?
We show our hope not only in word but also in deed, whe
by putting wholehearted trust in the divine proraises v
bear the hardships and afflictions, and even the pers
cutions of this life with patience.
(213) What is charity ?
Charity is a supernatural virtue whereby we love G
above all things for His own sake, and ourselves and o
neighbour for the sake of God.
(214) How do we show our love for God ?
We show our love for God by faithfully keeping
commandments, and by doing other goo ^or s w
though not commanded by Him are acceptable
(215) How ought we to love ourselves ? . .
We ought to love ourselves by seeking m all things t
glory of God and our own eternal salvation.
J
I
s;
m
gfl
THE VIRTUES 55
(216) How ought we to love our neighbour ?
We ought to love our neighbour by inward and outward
acts—that is, we ought to pardon his offences, avoid causing
him loss, injury, or scandal, and help him in his needs so
far as we can, especially by the corporal and spiritual
works of mercy.
(217) What are the spiritual works of mercy ?
The spiritual works of mercy are :
j. to counsel the doubtful ;
ii. to instruct the ignorant ;
Hi. to convert the sinner ;
iv. to comfort the sorrowful ;
v. to forgive injuries ;
vi. to bear wrongs patiently ;
vii. to pray for the living and the dead.
(218) What are the corporal works of mercy ?
The corporal works of mercy are :
i. to feed the hungry ;
ii. to give drink to the thirsty ;
iii. to clothe the naked ;
iv. to harbour the harbourless ;
v. to visit the sick ;
vi. to visit the imprisoned ;
vii. to bury the dead.
19) Does charity towards our neighbour also extend to our
enemies ?
Charity towards our neighbour extends also to our
emies, for they too are our neighbours, and Christ
elf has given us a commandment and an example
this subject.
Section II. The Moral Virtues.
20) What is a moral virtue ?
A moral virtue is one whose immediate object is good
tions done in accordance with right reason.
THE catholic catechism
(22I ) Which are the principal moral virtues, and how many are
fortitude and temperance,
dinal ” virtues.
(222) Why are these virtues called “ cardinal .
<M tL vile, are railed " ^“
im’o'f .0 them the other moral
virtues are reducible.
I
m
CHAPTER IX
ACTUAL OR PERSONAL SINS
(223) How many kinds of sin are there ?
There are two kinds of sin, original sin and actual or
personal sin.
; (224) What is actual sin ?
Actual sin is a conscious and deliberate breach of God’s
law.
(225) In how many ways can actual sin be committed?
Actual sin can be committed by thought, word and
deed, whether of commission or omission, against either
God, or ourselves or our neighbour, according as the law
we break is directly concerned with God, or ourselves, or
our neighbour.
(226) How is actual sin divided?
Actual sin is divided into mortal sin and venial sin.
| ; .{227) What is mortal sin?
Mortal sin is a conscious and deliberate breach of God’s
Law by one who is aware of the grave obligation involved.
• (228) Why is this sin called “ mortal ” ?
This sin is called “ mortal ” because it turns away the
- soul from its final end, robs it of its supernatural life or
sanctifying grace, makes it deserving of eternal death in
Hell, and destroys all merits acquired, so that they no
longer avail for salvation, until they revive by the recovery
of grace ; it also prevents us from performing works
meriting eternal life.
■ (229) What is venial sin ?
57
5 g THE catholic catechism
( Q „ Q \ Why is this sin called venial .
23 • • • ~,Ued “venial” because, since it does not
This „„ ,■ final end or cause its super-
mm away the ^ ^ ^ parcloQedi even without
sacramental confession ; it is a weakness of the sou t at
can of its very nature be easily cured.
be paid either in this world or in the next.
o H u « » " id •*> “ “ al “ * “T ° /S "L
person exposes himself to grave danger of sin.
?:
CHAPTER X
THE LAST THINGS
(233) What is meant by “ the Last Things ” ?
By “ the Last Things ” we mean the things that will befall
men at the last—death, judgment, Hell, and Heaven
(though between judgment and Heaven Purgatory may
intervene).
(234) What should be our principal reflections on death ?
Our principal reflections on death should be that it is a
punishment for sin ; that it is the moment on which our
eternity hangs, so that after death there is no further room
for repentance and merit; also that its time and circum¬
stances are uncertain.
(235) What happens to the soul immediately after death ?
Immediately after death the soul stands before the
tribunal of Christ, to face the particular judgment.
(236) About what things will the soul be judged at the particular
judgment ?
At the particular judgment the soul will be judged about
very single thing—its thoughts, words, deeds and omis-
ons. The sentence then passed on the soul will be ratified
t the General Judgment when it will be made publicly
nifest.
237) What will happen to the soul after the particular judg¬
ment ?
After the particular judgment the soul, if, owing to mortal
it is not in the grace of God, will be at once consigned
the punishment of Hell ; if it is in a state of grace and
e from all venial sin and all debt of temporal punish-
:nt, it will at once be taken up into the glory of Heaven ;
6o
the catholic catechism
if it is in a state of grace but with some: venial1 sin or whh
God’s justice. .
(008) What will be the state of the damned m Hell.
Tn Hell the devils-and with them the damned (their
sou”, only Wore the General Judgment, their bod,e. .00
souls only oei of the beatific vision of
SSirtomented with real fir. and other most
grievous pains.
(aw) What will be the state of the soul in Purgatory .
In Purgatory the soul pays any debt of temporal punish-
d S t0 s j n n ot fully paid in this life, by being deprived
“ T ^wific vision of God and suffering other grievous
fully satisfied God's justice and so can be
admitted to Heaven. . .
(240) What will be the state of the souls of the just in Heaven.
In Heaven the souls of the just, separated from th
ift“ b 5oy£ r O&d wit
Mary, and all the inhabitants of Heaven.
m
hi
CATECHISM FOR ADULTS
ARRANGEMENT
OF THE CHAPTERS ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE IN THE CATECHISM
FOR ADULTS.
Chapter I will deal with the Sign of the Cross, the hall-mark of a Chris¬
tian.
Chanter II will deal with Divine Revelation. This chapter may be
termedthe door by which we enter the Catechism, for we are here shown
how we are to learn about God and the things of eternity.
And since for the attainment of salvation, which is “ the one thing
necessary ” and man’s final end, we must first of all - believe, Chapter III
will deaf with the Apostles’ Creed, in which the truths of faith are con.
^Stace, too, good works should follow on faith, i Chapter IV willl treat 01
the Decalogue or Ten Commandments ; Chapter V with the Precepts of th
Church ; Chapter VI with the Evangelical Counsels.
Then, since we need divine grace to carpi out what has been taugh
in the foregoing chapters Chapter VII will treat of Grace.
And since we obtain grace more particularly by prayer ami thi
Sacraments, Chapter VIl! wiU deal with Prayer ; and Chapter IX witl
the Sacraments. . .
Further, since by justification we obtain, in addition to the remissioi
of our sins the infused virtues and the gifts of the Holy Spirit whenc
flow the beatitudes of the Gospel and the fruits; ofthe B ^ Sp^
Chapter X will treat of the Theological Virtues, the Moral Virtues, m
Gift?of the Holy Spirit, the Beatitudes, and the Fruits of the Holy Spirit.
But we can always resist the grace so merctftdly gwm us ^ddd^
ately break God’s law and so commit sin ; Chapter XI will thereto!
deal with Sin. .
Finally, since reflection on the Last Things helps us, as Ho y crij
ture says 7 , to avoid sin. Chapter XII will treat of The Last Things.
Ill
CATECHISM FOR ADULTS WHO DESIRE TO
HAVE A FULLER KNOWLEDGE OF CATHOLIC
DOCTRINE
CHAPTER I
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
(1) Are you a Christian ?
By the grace of God, I am a Christian.
(2) What is meant by a “ Christian ” ?
A “ Christian ” is one who has received the Sacrament
of Baptism, which is the door of the Church of Christ. 32
(3) Who is a Christian in the strict andfull sense of the word ?
A Christian in the strict and full sense of the word is a
baptized person who makes profession of the true and entire
faith of Christ—one who is, in other words, a Catholic ;
he is a good Christian if he also keeps the law of Christ.
(4) What is the outward sign of a Christian ?
The outward sign of a Christian is the sign of the Cross. 38
{5) How do we make the sign of the Cross ?
We make the sign of the Cross by touching the forehead
with the right hand, saying “ In the name of the Father,”
then the breast, adding “ and of the Son,” and then from
58 Council of Florence, Decree for the Armenians (p. 359 below) ;
Council of Trent, sess. vi, can. 28 (p. 434 below) ; Benedict XV,
1 Encyclical Ad bealissimi, Nov. 1, 1914 (p. 247 below) ; Codex Juris
Canonici, can. 87.
“St. Augustine, Tract, in Joann, cxviii, 5 (p. 247 below).
63
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
the left shoulder to the right, while saying “ and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen.” 31
(6) Why is the sign of the Cross the sign of a Christian ?
The sign of the Cross is the sign of a Christian, because
by it we make external profession of the principal mysteries
of the Christian Faith.
(7) What is a mystery ?
A mystery is a truth which of its very nature so exceeds
created reason that it could not be known unless it were
revealed. 35
(8) What are the principal mysteries of the Christian Faith ?
The principal mysteries of the Christian faith are :
y The mystery of one God in three distinct Persons,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
ii The mystery of man’s redemption by the Incarna¬
tion, Passion, and Death of Jesus Christ, the Son of
Cod. 36
(9) How does the sign of the Cross show forth these two mysteries
of the Christian Faith?
The sign of the Cross shows forth these two mysteries
of the Christian Faith, because the words used signify the
unity of God in three distinct Persons ; and the cross w<
make calls to mind the redemption of man accompiishec
by Jesus Christ on the tree of the Cross.
(10) Is it a good thing to make the sign of the Cross ?
8 * If in any place the Sign of the Cross is naade in different fehion ^
approved custom may be observed. Innocent III, De Sacra Alton
Mysterio, II, 45 (p. 248 below)
35 , Cor ii, 6-13 ; Vatican Council, Constitution Dei Fihus, cap.
(o 248 bdow) ; Pius IX, Epist. Trns libenter, to the Archbishop
Munich Dec. si, 1863 (p. 248 below). Unbelievers and opponent
the Catholic religion deceive themselves w ^ e " they f f ^^ey
mysteries of the supernatural order ; for as a matter of fartthey
to admit the presence of many mysteries m the natural order
these mysteries ^baffle the human reason and can only be inadequ
explained. ,
88 These mysteries of the faith are more fully set out under qq. 33
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS
It is a very good thing to make the sign of the Cross
often and devoutly, especially at the beginning and end
of our chief occupations.
(11) Why is it a good thing to make the sign of the Cross often
and devoutly ?
It is a very good thing to make the sign of the Cross
because this sign, rightly made, is an outward sign of our
inward faith, and has therefore power to stir up our faith,
overcome human respect, drive away temptations, avert
occasions of sin, and obtain other graces from God. 37
37 St. Peter Canisius, De Fide el Symbalo, i, 12.
CHAPTER II
DIVINE REVELATION
I
(12) Can we know and prove the existence of God by the light o/|
natural reason ?
Bv the light of natural reason we can certainly know
and prove from created things the existence of the one
true God, the beginning and end of all things our Creator
and Lord-arguing, that is, from created things to the |
Creator, from effect to cause. 38
(13) Can we know God in any other way than by the natural
light of reason ?
Besides the natural light of reason there is another way
of knowing Cod, namely by faith ; because it has pleased
His wisdom and goodness to make known to men bo&
Himself and the everlasting decrees of His Will by super¬
natural revelation. 39
(14) What do you mean by “ supernatural revelation .
By “ supernatural revelation,” I mean both the word,
God, whereby in order to instruct us in die doct ”"f '
eternal salvation He has made manifest to men certai
truths, and also the truths themselves thus revealed.
(1 5 ) What follows from this notion of supernatural revelatio-
From this nodon of supernatural revelation it folio
that it is wholly free from all error, since God, who is
Supreme Truth, can neither deceive nor be deceived.
fSS’cSSt and Sf 1% l Revelatiorte {p- AVb
below) 1 ;’ St.'August fne, Serna cxii, a (p. 25
3» Htb. i, 1 ; Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, cap. 2 (p. 249 below).
*»/. Cor. ii, 10 ; Heb. i, 1.
K
g
Si
r
r
1 ;
t
66
DIVINE REVELATION
67
(16) What truths are contained in divine revelation ?
In divine revelation are contained not only mysteries
beyond created understanding, but also many truths that
human reason could discover.
(17) Why did God deign to reveal to man truths that are not
in themselves beyond human reason ?
God deigned to reveal to man truths that are not in
themselves beyond human reason so that these truths
might, even in the present state of mankind, be easily
known by all with full certainty and without any admixture
|of error. 41
(18) What external arguments for His revelation has God chosen to
give, that the obedience of ourfaith may be in accordance with
That the obedience of our faith may be in accordance
with reason, Cod has chosen to give us, in addition to the
inward assistance of His grace, external arguments for His
revelation, namely certain divine works, especially miracles
and prophecies ; these are most certain signs of divine rev¬
elation and suited to the understanding of everyone, for
thev clearly show the omnipotence and infinite knowledge
of God. 42
19) What is a miracle ?
A miracle is something produced by God outside the
er of the whole of created nature. 43
20) What is prophecy ?
Prophecy is in its strict sense a certain prediction of some
ure event that could in no way be known through natural
uses. 44
“Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, cap. 2 (p. 251 below).
Is. xli, 23 ; Jn. x, 25, 37, 38 ; xv, 24 ; II Pet. i, 19 ; Vatican,
st. Dei Filius, cap. 3 (p. 251 below) ; Origen Contra Celsum, vi, 10
251 below).
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol. I, cx, 4.
Ibid. II—II, clxxi, 3.
68
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(21) Where are the truths revealed by God to be found?
The truths revealed by God are to be found in Holy
Scripture and Tradition. 45
(22) What do you mean by “ Holy Scripture ” ?
Bv “ Holy Scripture ” I mean the books of the Old and
New Testaments, which, being written under the inspira¬
tion of the Holy Ghost, have God for their author, and as
such have been given to the Church by God Himself.
(23) In what does the inspiration of the Holy Ghost consist ?
The inspiration of the Holy Ghost consists in this, that
the Holy Ghost so stimulated and moved men to write,
so stood by them as they wrote, that all those things and
only those things which He commanded they rig y
conceived in their minds, sought faithfully to commit to
wridng, and aptly expressed with infallible truth.
(24) What do you mean by the “ Old and New Testaments ?
By the “ Old Testament ” I mean the books of the
Bible written before the coming of Jesus Christ ; by the
“ New Testament ” the books written after his coming.
(25) What do you mean by “ Tradition ” ?
By “ Tradition ” I mean that body of revealed truths,
received by the Apostles from the lips of Christ Himself
or told them by the Holy Ghost, that has come down to us,
delivered to us as it were by hand, and preserved in the
Catholic Church by unbroken succession.
(26) What is the body of all revealed truth called?
“St. Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Autolycum, iii, 12 (p. 251 below) ;
St. Epiphanius, Haer.> bri, 6 (p. 251 below).
« II Tim. iii, 15—16 ; II Pet. i, 20-21.
« Trent, sess, iv, Decree on the Canon of Holy Stator* (p^52 |
Vatican Const. Dei. Films, cap. 2 (p. 253 M° w ) - Leo XIII > bnCy °‘
jProvidentissimus Deus, Nov. 18, 1893 (p. 254 below).
48 Mt xxviii, IQ-20 ; Jn. xiv, 26 ; xvi, 13 ; xx, 30 ; xxi, *5 >
, . nfhess ii, 15 ; Trent, Sess. iv., Decree on the Canon of Holy Scripture
(p. 252 below) ; Vatican, Const. Dei Fihus, cap. 2 (p. 253 below).
1
DIVINE REVELATION 69
The body of all revealed truth is called the “ deposit of
faith.”
(27) To whom did Jesus Christ choose to entrust the deposit of
faith ?
Jesus Christ chose to entrust the deposit of faith to
the Church, that she, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost,
might guard this revealed doctrine inviolably and faithfully
expound it. 49
(28) What is primarily necessary for us if we would attain
eternal life ?
To attain eternal life it is first of all necessary for us to
believe those truths which God has revealed and which
the Church proposes for our belief. 60
(29) Where are the truths which God has revealed, and which the
Church proposes for our belief, principally to be found?
The truths which God has revealed and the Church
proposes for our belief are to be found principally in the
Apostles’ Creed. 61
Mt. xxviii, 20 ; Jn. xiv, 16 ; xvi, 13 ; Vatican, Const, Dei Filins,
p. 4 (p. 255 below) ; Const. Pastor Aeternus, cap. 4 (p. 255 below) ;
Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., Ill, iii, 1-2 (p. 256 below).
Mk. xvi, 16 ; Jn. iii, 18 ; Heb. xi, 6.
1 The truths of the faith are said to be discoverable mainly in the
ed, because there are several other truths of the faith which are
:nted to us outside the Creed, for example in the Catechism,
virtue of faith will be found explained under qq. 5i5ff.
CHAPTER HI
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
(%o) Wh y is this collection of the truths of faith called the
“ Apostles’ Creed ”? . ,
This collection _ of the summary of the
“ Apostles Creed be Aoostles, and was m
S^™a S rlL“ go. oS Church as the hall-mark of a
Christian. .
(or) What do the Twelve Articles of the Creed contain .
Ghoshtogetherwith the operation that am, for some par..-
cular reason, attributed to each Person.
<„, How is the doctrine of this mysUr, set forth »<*<
V Creed ?
In the Apostles’ Creed the doctrine *
set forth in its three ^nain par G f creation ;
First Person of theDivmeNature and thew .^
,h. next of the Second Pemon and*e wort£ ^ P rf om
and the thud of the ^ here-
sanctification, begun here Dy g
after by glory. 53 . Catechism of the Council
62 st. Peter Canisius, De A</« et Symbolo , 1, 7 >
0/ Trent, I, 1, 4 - , r , savs : “ As our Father*
62 As the Catechism of die C ®“” die / th ; s ques tion have pointed out,
before us who have caxefuUy d ^ cor J dered un der three aspects .
the Mystery of the Holy Tr y V Godhe ad is set before us and t
‘"' 4 '
THE APOSTLES’ GREED
71
Section I. The First Article of the Creed, in which
is set forth the doctrine of the First Person of
the most Holy Trinity and of the work of Crea-
Article 1 . God, One in Three Persons.
(33) What do you mean by the words “ I believe ” ?
By the words “ I believe,” I mean that I firmly assent to
the truths set forth in the Creed, on the authority of God
who has revealed them.
(34) What do you mean by the words “ I believe in God ” ?
By the words “ I believe in God ” I mean that I firmly
believe that God exists, and that I strive after Him as
the highest and most perfect good and my last end. 54
(35) What do you mean by the name “ God ”?
By the name “ God ” I mean a most pure spirit—that is
to say, a spiritual being, absolutely simple and unchange¬
able, infinite in understanding, will, and all perfections, in
Himself and of Himself most blessed.
6) What are the principal perfections or attributes of God?
The principal perfections or attributes of God are these :
God is
i. Eternal , because He neither has nor can have be¬
ginning, or end, or succession ;
ii. All-knowing, because He has all things in His sight,
even those things wliich will come to pass by the
free action of creatures, their hearts’ affections and
secret thoughts ;
iii. Immeasurable, because He is in heaven, on earth
and in all places that are or can be ;
iv. Just, because He renders to every one according to
his merits, either in this life, or certainly in the
next ;
The Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, ii, 1.
72
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
Good, because He created, preserves, and disposes
all things by His infinite goodness, power, and
wisdom ; because the good things we enjoy come
from Him, and because in His goodness He hears
the prayers of those who ask ; ,
w Merciful, because, desiring all men to be saved,
He has redeemed them from the slavery of the devil,
and pours out on each the means necessary fcj
salvation ; for “ He does not will the death of a
sinner, but rather that he be converted and live.
( 37 ) Is God distinct from the world?
God is really and essentially distinct from the world,
and immeasurably above all things that exist or can be
thought of apart from Himself.
(38) Is God one ?
God is one by unity of nature, yet in Three really distnv
Persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, who make up
most Holy Trinity. ;|j
(39) How are Father, Son, and Holy Ghost distinguished f,
each other?
m
B
mf
■
Father Son and Holy Ghost are distinguished from ■
J:Xt opp° !ite h p ?h°s,“ f^
the Father begets the Son, and from both Father and
proceeds the Holy Ghost. 57
«P, vii, .0; xxxvii, 10; JM, LateranlV ,^a{
.sfbelow) f VatU! Const. Del cap i (p. 258 bdo,
fc Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, iv, 5 (P- 258 below).
.. ij.l : ,0—12 * Vatican, Const. Dex Filius,
m Acts xvii, 24-25 ; Heb. 1,10-12, vauc ,
i (p. 258 below). tt n p
" Lateran IV, cap. ii (p- the ’ Greeks V
Spiritus Sancti (p. 260 below) , > below) ; St.Epiph
below) ; St. Augustine, D. Frxndate 7 ^ f rth
Ancoratus, 8 (p- 262 Greek Fithers describe this eternal Proc
the Son.”
I
I
m
AlrUSTjL.ES GREED
(40) Does any one of the Three Persons precede the others in
time ?
No one of the Three Persons precedes the others in time,
but all are equally eternal because they neither have nor
can have beginning or end.
(41) Why are the Three Persons one God?
The Three Persons are one God because they are con-
substantial that is, they have one and the same divine
nature, and therefore the same perfections or attributes
and external works. 58
(42) Does not Holy Scripture ascribe power to the Father,
wisdom to the Son, and goodness to the Holy Ghost ?
Although all the divine attributes are common to each
‘"the Three Persons, yet Holy Scripture ascribes power to
„ie Father because He is the fount whence all things spring,
dom to the Son because He is the Word of the Father,
goodness and Holiness to the Holy Ghost because He is the
Love of the other two Persons. 89
( 43 ) What form of praise to the Holy Trinity do the faithful
generally make use of, especially at the close of their
prayers ?
The form of praise to the Holy Trinity that the faithful
nerally make use of at the end of their prayers is :
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
ost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall
world without end. Amen.”
) What does the word “ Almighty ” mean ?
The Council of the Lateran under Martin I, can. i (p. 263 below) ;
Fulgentius, De Fide, i, 4 (p. 263 below) ; St. Ephraem, Hymnus de
u et Trinitate, ti—12 (p. 264 below) ; St. Gregory Nazianzen,
, xxxiii, 16 (p. 264 below) ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, iv, 3.
external works of God (ad extra) are all those produced by God
ide Himself, whether in the natural or in the supernatural order ;
are so called unorder to distinguish them from those immanent
of God which constitute the inner life of the Godhead.
Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, iv, 3 ; ii, 14.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
1
I
The word “Almighty” means that God can, by the
simple act of His Will, do whatever He wishes.
Articles. The creation of the world ; Divine Providence.
( 45 ) What do you mean by the words “ Creator of heaven and
earth ” ?
Bv the words “ Creator of heaven and earth ’ I mean
that God, by His own free decree, simultaneously m the
beginning of time, made creatures out of nothing bo
spiritual and corporeal—that is, the Angels and this world,
and finally man, who belongs, as it were, to both, being
composed of spirit and body.
(46) Why did God deign to create all these things ?
God in His goodness and almighty power, deigned
create’all these things, not to increase His own happm
thereby, nor to acquire any perfection but to mamt.
His own perfection by the good things He bestowed <
His creation. 61
(47) Does God take care of all created things ?
God takes care of all created things, inasmuch as
preserves them, upholds them-otherwise they would
once return to nothingness—and governs them, so ’
there neither is nor can be anything that happens witho
God’s will or permission. 62
(48) What do you call the care that God takes of created^ thin t
We call the care that God takes of created things “ Div
Providence.” 63
( 49 ) Why then does God not prevent sin ?
0 ° Ps. cxiii, 11 ; Lk.i, 37. , ,
*1 Gen. i, 1; Ps. cxxxiv, 6 ; Heb. i, 10; Lateran IV, cap .1 (p -57 '
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, cap. 1 (p. 258 below) , Catechism 0
Council of Trent, I, ii, 20. ... n„„
os Wisd xi. 26 ; ML vi, 30 ; Lk. xii, 6-7 ; Acts xvn, 25 ; Rom.
30 ; Heb. T, 3 ; Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, cap. 1 ( P . 258 belt
Catechism of the Council of Trent , I, ii, 21, 22. .
88 St.John Chrysostom, Contra Anomceos , xii, 4 (p. 264 below).
1
‘
S/J ■
I
H
THE APOSTLES’ CREED 75
God does not prevent sin because He has conferred
freedom on man, as well as the help of His grace, so that
man himself may be the author of his blessedness or per¬
dition, in proportion, that is, as he corresponds with grace
or resists it ; but from man’s very abuse of freedom, God
marvellously draws good, so that His justice and mercy may
shine forth always and everywhere. 64
(50) Why does God will or permit all those physical evils whereby
we are afflicted in this mortal life ?
God wills or permits all those physical evils whereby we
are afflicted in this mortal life, either as a punishment of
sin, or to bring back sinners to Himself, or to prove the
just and make them worthy of everlasting reward, or be¬
cause He knows of some greater good which will result
from them. 65
(51) Which are the most excellent of God’s creatures ?
Angels and men are the most excellent of God’s creatures.
Article 3. The creation of the Angels.
(52) What are Angels ?
Angels are pure spirits endowed with intellect and will ;
they were established in a state of justice and holiness, so
that if they co-operated with the grace of God they might
merit glory. 66
( 53 ) -did all the Angels co-operate with the grace of God?
Not all the Angels co-operated with the grace of God ;
ose who did so enjoy in heaven the beatific vision of
od ; these are called simply “ Angels ” and form the
ne choirs of Angels ; those who did not co-operate with
“St. Augustine, De Spiritu et Littera, 58 (p. 265 below).
“Got. iii, 16-19 ; Tob. ii, 12 ; Job ii, 6-7 ; Jn. ix, 3 ; St. Ephraem,
maNisibena , III, vm, 10 (p. 265 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas,
m Theol., I, xix, 9 ; xlix, 2.
“ Ait. xviii, to ; Heb. i, 7, 14 ; St. John Damascene, De Fide Ortho-
,a i u > 3 (P- 265 below).
the catholic catechism
tV>rn«t down to hell because of their sin of pride ;
-tU- and .heir chief b Lucifer or
Satan. 67
(ae) Does God use the ministry of Angels ?
In many ways God uses the ministry of Angels, especially
bS of men, for to each of them He g,ve s a Guard.an
Angel from the time of his birth.
(er) what does our Guardian Angel do for us? _
Our Guardian Angel protects us .^offers
temptation ; he suggests to us good thoughts , he otters
our prayers to God ; and he himself prays for us.
( 5 6) Does it help our spiritual life to have special devotion to
our Guardian Angel ?
It is very helpful to our spiritual life to have special
devotion to our Guardian Angel, reverencing himand
calling on him, especially in time of temptation^ foilowi g
his promptings, thanking him for his help, and never
vexing his presence by sin.
( 57 ) What prayer to our Guardian Angel should we often make
use of? ,
We should often pray to our Guardian Angel by saym
“ O Angel of God, my Guardian, enlighten guard
and govern me, who have been committed to thy care
the Divine Majesty.”
(58) What can the devils do against man ?
The devils can by God’s just permission do harm to m
in external things and even to his person, by taki
possessionof his body, and by tempting him to sin ;
p’ieWoS ; ; St^^th^eat
2fTV,’ SC 'jcrome.hV V ^techisfo
Council of Trent, IV, ix, 4 - _
l! F,xod. xxiii, 20-23 ; Tab. 111, 25 ; xu, 12 3.
m
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
they cannot prejudice his eternal salvation without his free
consent. 70
Article 4. The creation of man; Original Sin.
( 59 ) What is man ?
Man is a creature, made up of a rational soul and an
organic body. 71
(60) What is a rational soul ?
A rational soul is a spiritual substance, endowed with
intellect and free will, and immortal ; it is so intimately
united to the body that it is the principle of all life in a
(61) Why did God create man ?
God created man to know Him, to love Him, and to
serve Him, so that after death man might, by possession of
God in the beatific vision, be happy with Him for ever in
Paradise. 73
(62) In what does the beatific vision of God consist ?
The beatific vision of God consists in the vision of the
very essence of God, who manifests Himself directly,
dearly and openly to the soul which, however, is only able
to exercise this vision by the help of the light of glory ;
from this vision and possession man gains true, full and
never-failing happiness—that is, eternal life. 74
(63) Is the beatific vision man's natural right ?
The beatific vision is not man’s natural right, but is
70 Job. i, 12 ; ii, 6 ; Lk. xxii, 3, 31 ; Jn. xiii, 27 ; I Pet. v, 8 ; St.
enaeus, Ado. Haer. V, xxiv, 3-4 (p. 267 below).
71 Gen. ii, 7.
71 Lateran V, Sess. viii (p. 267 below) ; Pius IX, Epist. ad. Episcop.
ratislav. April 30, i860 (p. 268 below) ; St. John Damascene, De
'ide Orthodoxa, ii, 12 (p. 269 below).
75 Deut. vi, 13 ; Jn. xvii, 3 ; I Jn. iii, 2.
74 Benedict XII, Const. Benedictus Dear, June 29, 1336 (p. 269 below) ;
John Damascene, De Fide Orthodoxa, iv, 27 (p. 270 below) ; Cate-
of the Council of Trent, I, xiii, 7 ff.,
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
something supernatural, wholly beyond created nature,
and freely granted by the pure goodness of God to rational
creatures. 75
(64) Who were the first parents of the human race ?
The first parents of the human race were Adam and Eve,
whom God made and placed in an earthly paradise,
raising them to a supernatural state and heaping upon them
marvellous gifts of grace and nature. 76
(65) How did God make man's first parents ?
God made the body of Adam out of the slime of the earth
and the body of Eve from a rib taken from Adam, but the
souls of both He created out of nothing, joining them to their
respective bodies in a wonderful union of substance. 77
(66) What does Holy Scripture mean when it says that God made
man “ to His own image and likeness ”?
Holy Scripture says that God made man “ to His own
image and likeness,” because in making man God endowed
him with intellect and free will, whereby in a very special
76 That perfect happiness at which all men aim by nature can be
attained only in the next life by the possession of God through perfect
intellectual knowledge of Him, followed by love on the part of the will,
or, as St. Augustine expresses it : “ Thou hast made us, O Lord, for
Thee ; and our souls are not at ease till they find rest in thee,” Con¬
fessions, I, i, 1. Now God has, through His infinite goodness, deigned
to raise mankind to that perfect supernatural happiness which is
attained in the possession of God, by seeing as He is Him in whom our
eternal life consists. See I Cor. ii, 9 “ 1 o ; St. Pius V, Const. Ex omnibus ,
Oct. 1, 1567, against the errors of Baius (p. 271 below) ; Clement XI,
Const. Unigenitus, against the errors of Quesnel, Sept. 8, 1713, Proposi
tion 35 (p. 272 below) ; Pius VI, Const. Auctorem Fidei, no. 16, Aug
28, 1794 (p. 272 below).
G m . ii, 7ff. God subordinated to man—who was made to His owt
image and likeness—the animals of the earth which he was to use, like
its herbs and fruits, for his own advantage. We should therefore b
careful not to maltreat animals but to use them well. For if we ar
unreasonably angry with them we are acting contrary to that spin
of meekness which befits a Christian.
77 Gen. ii, 7ft; St. John Chrysostom, Horn., xiii, i, in Genesim (p. if,
below).
THE APOSTLES 7 CREED yg
way man imitates the nature of God, Who at the same time
raised him to a supernatural state. 78
(67) What difference is there, in the purely natural order, between
the creation of our first parents and the origin of their
posterity, who descend from them by generation ?
In the purely natural order the only difference lies in
the forming of the bodies of Adam’s posterity which are
produced by generation ; but the souls of every one of
Adam’s descendants are created immediately by God and
substantially united to the body.
(68) What gifts did God bestow upon our first parents in the
earthly paradise ?
The gifts that God bestowed upon our first parents in
the earthly paradise were these :
i. He made them perfect in soul and body, with a
knowledge fitting their estate ; 79
ii. He destined them for a supernatural end, and there¬
fore bestowed on them justice and holiness, as well
as an integrity of nature which made all their lower
powers subordinate to their reason. He also ren¬
dered them immune from death and the other pains
and miseries of this life. 80
69) With what object did God give to our first parents justice,
holiness and the other gifts ? ,
God’s purpose in giving to our first parents justice, holi-
ss and the other gifts was to make those gifts the perman-
t possession of human nature—a gift divinely bestowed on
Gen. i, 26—27 ; Wisd. ii, 23 ; Ps. viii, 5-8 ; St. Ephraem, in Genesim
(p. 273 below) ; St. Basil, Serrno asceticus, i (p. 273 below) ; St.
li 2 £’ E ’ lar J atio jf Ps - *Jix, 2 (p. 274 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas,
i 1 neol., I, xcm. This image and likeness of God becomes more
d more perfect by the addition of sanctifying grace, whereby man
comes a sharer in the divine nature, a temple of the Holy Spirit, a
lend of God and His adopted son, heir to eternal glory (see under
280).
19 Ecclus. xvii, 1-12.
"Gen. i, 28 ; ii, 17, 25 ; iii, 3, 7, 19 ; Wisd. i, 13 ; ii, 23 ; Ecclus.
> 33 5 Rom. v, 12-19 ; I Cor. xv, 45-49.
8o
the catholic catechism
- “So"'ir!ThS f
race, was by generation
together with their nature.
( 7 „) *U « God forbid to our fast portnts m Urn, s,p,r-
(ni) Did our first parents obey God's command?
to nr) t obev God’s command, and
therefore'they lost justice and holiness ^ZarMy
all the other pains and miseries of life.
and holiness. ,
(„) How did Adam transmit sin to his descendants
Adam transmitted sin to his
transmitted to them a nature depnved of tha ^
holiness which God wished them totaje dn p
the habitual sin of our nature ; in Adam it was
by propagation it was multiplied.
(74) Who, is Ms sin thus tronmitud to
This sin thus transmitted to posterity is called ordinal
sin.” 81
“St. Thomas Aquinas, Rom. v, , 9 .
- Gen. ii, 17 i «“• 3- G . e "- : / f im ’« 6 ; Rom. v, 12-t
84 Job, xiv, 4 ; Ps. 1. 6 ; ; t o’ can 2 (p. 274 below) ; Secoi
18-19 5 Council of Carthage, a. • 2 4 \ ( . low) -Florence, Decree for t
Council of Orange, can. is_ (P- 275 ^ ftc( . a(0 0r iginali (p- 2'
«“texTs
fcS-
S*
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
8l
(75) i/ai anyone been kept free from the stain of original sin ?
The Blessed Virgin Mary alone was from the first
created in a state of perfection not only with regard to his body, so
that he could immediately propagate other men, but also with regard
to his soul, so that he was able to instruct and direct others with all
such knowledge of the natural order as was necessary. This know¬
ledge was bestowed on both our first parents, but particularly on
Adam whose especial duty it was to instruct and direct others ; but it
was not meant to pass to the children whom he might have during
his state of innocence. Yet even these latter would in the course of
time have without difficulty acquired all such knowledge as was
requisite, either by learning it or by discovering things for them¬
selves; see St. Thomas, Summa Theol., I, xciv, 3; ci, 1-2.
Further, since God had destined our first parents for a supernatural
state, revealing to them truths touching that state, which truths Adam
was to transmit to his children, He also bestowed on our first parents
righteousness, holiness and other gifts. By his Fall Adam, and with
him his descendants, lost all those gifts ; yet he did not thereby lose
his natural knowledge, nor his knowledge of revealed truths. But his loss
of righteousness and holiness, and more particularly of the integrity of his
nature, marked the beginning of that conflict between man’s lower powers
and his reason of which St. Paul says : “ the flesh lusteth against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh, for these are contrary one to another,”
Gal. v, 17. Owing, then, to the fault of our first parent a cruel and a
bitter wound was inflicted in our human nature, for our minds became
dulled and our wills prone to evil; see Pius IX, Alloc. Singulari quadam
(p. 278 below), also St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I—II, lxxxv,
3 and 5.
When God, in His infinite mercy, promised that there should come a
Redeemer for the human race, our first parents, as well as many of
their descendants, through their faith in that Redeemer and His merits,
were, by the help of God’s grace, freed during their lifetime from all
whether original or actual, also from the debt of punishment due
their actual sins, not however from the debt of punishment due to
pnal sin, for that sin shut them out from the glory of the next world
so long as the price of their redemption remained unpaid, see St.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., Ill, Iii, 5 ad 2 m.
At the same time many of their posterity lost, either in whole or in
part, their knowledge of the truth regarding faith and morals, or at
least they retained it only in a very corrupt form. From all this it will
be evident how far removed from the truth are the prevalent notions
that man was originally in a purely savage condition, or that he has
evolved from an ape and so arrived at his present more perfect state ;
all such notions will be instinctively repudiated by those imbued with
tholic faith. The state of savagery and ferocity in which so many
n have lived in the past, and in which so many live even to-day,
merely a decay from the primitive state of man and is simply due to
82
the catholic catechism
instant of her conception, through the fo eseen meng of
Jesus Christ, by a unique privilege granted he b> Cod
kept free from the stain of original sin; she ,s therefore
said to have been “ conceived immaculate.
( ? 6) What does the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
Mary mean?
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
means t“m the first moment of her conception the
Blessed Virgin Mary possessed justice and holiness that is
fanctitingLce, even the fullness of grace, with the infused
virtues and gifts of the Holy Ghost, and with integrity of
nature yet she remained subject to death and other pains
and miseries of life that her Son Himself willed to undergo.
( 77 ) What does the Church hold about the death of the Blessed
Virgin Mary ?
The Church holds that the body of the Blessed Virgin
Mary was separated from her soul (for that is the meaning of
death) but* that her soul was reumted to her incorrupt
hodv and that she was, by the ministry of Angels, taken up
into heaven, where she is enthroned above all the choirs
of Angels.
(78) Did God leave mankind in a state of original sin ?
God did not leave mankind in a state of original sin,
but moved by His infinite mercy, He immediately promised
and Tn His o Jn time gave, a Redeemer, who is Jesus> Christ
the Son of God made man ; so that men by their belief n
Him and His merits, being united to ^
and charity, might obtain salvation even before Hiscomi
on earth. 88
8S Gen. iii, >5; Lk - \ 28 l b re 2 n 8 t ’ fw) Y p
IV, Const. Cum praeexcelsa, Feb. 28, 1 47 (P- 279 > Ephraem,
£ —
et Gratia, 42 (p. 280 below).
»• Gen. iii, 15 ; Mt - “» >3 ! 1 T,m • *> I5>
Bl
THE APOSTLES* CREED
83
Section II. The next Six Articles of the Creed,
DEALING WITH THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND PERSON
OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY AND WITH THE WORK OF
Redemption.
Article 1. Jesus Christ and His Godhead.
(79) What do we mean by the Second Article of the Creed —“ and
in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord ” ?
By the Second Article of the Creed—“ and in Jesus
Christ, His only Son, our Lord ”—we mean that the Son of
God, who, as man, is called Jesus Christ, is the only Son
of the Father, our Lord, true God of true God, and in Him
we believe as we do in the Father. 87
(80) Why do we believe in Jesus Christ as we believe in God the
Father ?
We believe in Jesus Christ as we believe in God the
Father because He is true God as the Father is true God,
being one God with the Father. 88
(81) How can it be shown that Jesus is the Messias or Redeemer of
the human race promised by God in the Old Testament?
That Jesus is the Messias or Redeemer of the human
race promised by God in the Old Testament, can be shown
mainly from the prophecies regarding that Redeemer, which
find their complete fulfilment in Jesus ; it can also be shown
by the witness of Jesus Himself. 89
*’ Jn. i, 1, 14,18 ; Ephes. i, 20-23 ; Coloss, i, 13-20 ; I Tim. vi, 15-16.
88 Jn. i, 1 ; x, 30.
** The prophets foretold that the Messias would be born in the town
of Bethlehem, Micah v, 2 ; of a virgin, Is. vii, 14 ; of the stock of David,
Is. xi, 1 ; that He would be a great teacher, Is. lxi, i ; that He would
work miracles, Is. xxxv, 5-6 ; that He would endure the most cruel
sufferings, Is. 1, 6 ; liii, 1-12 ; Ps. lxviii, 22 ; that He would die,
Ps. xxi, iff., would rise again, Ps. xv, 10 ; ascend into heaven, Ps.
cix, 1 ; Acts ii, 24. These, and many similar things which the prophets
had foretold, were perfectly fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and to this we
can add His own testimonies : e.g. Mt. xi, 3-6 ; xvi, 13-19 ; xxvi,
63-64 ; Mk. viii, 27-29 ; xiv, 61-62 ; Lk. vii, 20-23 > “» 18-20 ;
xxiv, 26 ; Jn. iv, 25-26 ; xi, 25 ; xiv, 9-10 ; xvi, 15.
^ the catholic catechism
(82) What are the main arguments that lead us to believe in the
Godhead of Christ?
The main arguments that lead us to believe m the God-
^ 0f ,h?.md.angi„g tea.hmg of .h. Catholic Church o„
ii. the prophecies of the Old Tesunten, wherein the
promised Redeemer is exhibited as God ^
Hi the witness of God the Father when He said This
is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear
iv the ^witness of Christ Himself, confirmed by the
holiness of His life, by His prophecies and miracles,
especially by the miracle of His Resurrection ,
the teaching of the Apostles on the point, confirmed
too by miracles ; 93 .
vi the testimony of so great a number of martyrs ,
1 the amazingly rapid .pread of the Church and her
equally marvellous preservation.
(82) Why was the Son of God made man called “ Jesus, ” ?
1 The Son of God made man was called ‘Jesus or
“ Saviour ” by the will of God, because by His Passion and
Death He saved us from sin and eternal damnation.
(84) Why is Jesus also called “ Christ ” ? „
Jesus is also called “ Christ ” in Greek and Messias^
in Hebrew (in Latin “ unctus ” or anointed ), because ™
kings, priests, and prophets of old were anointed, and Jesus
is King, Priest and Prophet. 95
»o Ps. ii, 7 ; xliv, 7 ; cix, 3 ; Is . ix, 6-7 ; xl, 3-11.
IZ. xt -i, 63-6 5 ; It xxii, 66-71 ; >
31 ’; 3 />. iv, .5 ; V, 20 ; Rom. ix, 5 5 ^ > fj’
.< Mt i 21 ; Phil, ii, 8-11 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, ui.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
85
(85) Why is Jesus Christ called “ our Lord ” ?
Jesus Christ is called “ our Lord ” because as God
He is the Creator and Preserver of all creatures, having
supreme power over them, and as God made man He is
the Redeemer of all mankind ; wherefore He is rightly
hailed and worshipped as “ King of kings and Lord of
lords.” 96
(86) Why is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity called the
“ Word” of the Father?
The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity is called the
“ Word ” of the Father because, just as an idea conceived
in our minds is called the “ word ” or concept of the mind,
so the Son, or the Second Person of the Trinity, proceeds
from the Father as the concept of the Father’s mind by His
act of understanding. 97
Article 2. The Incarnation and Birth of the Son of God.
(87) What do we mean by the Third Article of the Creed —“ who
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ” ?
By the Third Article of the Creed—“ who was conceived
by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary ”—we mean
that the Son of God, by the power of the Holy Ghost, by an
act surpassing all the powers of nature, took human nature
—that is, a body and a soul—in the most pure womb of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and was born of her. 98
81 Mt. xxv, 34; xxviii, 18 ; Jn. xviii, 37; Phi. ii, 6-11; Coloss.
i, 12-20 ; I Tim. vi, 15 ; Apoc. i, 5 ; xix, 16. Pius XI, Encycl.
Quas primas, Dec. 11, 1925 (p. 281 below) ; Catechism of the Council of
Trent, I, iii, 11.
87 Jn. i, iff. ; I Jn. i, 1 ; Apoc. xix, 13 ; St. Thomas, Summa Theol.,
I, xxxiv, i-2.
88 Mt. i, 20-21 ; Lk. i, 31, 35. Jesus Christ, true God and true man,
willed to be born at Bethlehem of Juda, and because there was no
mom for them in the inn, He was laid by the Blessed Virgin in the
manger, so that even from His cradle He might afford us men an
example of humility, and teach us to flee the honours and pleasures of
■* is world.
the catholic catechism
(88) What is this mystery called whereby the Son of God became
This”mystery whereby the Son of God became man is
psillpfl the Incarnation.
Z ,k, S.n of God 0,*, h> b, God H, mo, ?
<’Th,Sonof Sd did no. cease .o be God when he became
«. «*■ H « * u ° “ hetroe
Ttfuom man, Ha,urn and Parson, an lh.ro in J.sus Cbirt?
Son of God. 100 ,
(91) Why did the Son of God condescend to take our human
Th, "ton' of God condescended to take our hunwa |
nature “ for L m« and for our salvadonf so .ha. Be
ruigh, offer .0 God a f «^gJta,
preaching and eaampk^on ^ J>ath r< . decm fen, from
the slavery of sin, restore tan ,0 the grace of God, and so
bring them to the glory of Paradise.
» St. Ephraem, In Hebdomadam sanctum vi, 9(P^bc . j
100 Chalcedon, Definition on the two m ' t / 2 g„ below) ; Lateran
Constantinople III, O/iA *^ 0 '^Symbolum fidei (p. 284 below).
IV, ch. i ( P . 284 l ^d ; ^ :L .«°as aSnal soul and human flesh
As the Athanasian Creed says, as ^ ^ „
make one man, so is the one Chr wille d that by
i®» Jesus Christ, the Redeemer o man should be restored to that
the merits of His Passion w hich he had been first established, but
righteousness and holiness in primitive integrity of his nature,
did not mean thereby to ^^ OT o e u h a e u P ^ U ca n be caUed sin, but the
Hence by Baptism is blotted out afl that^c * ^ tQ m *
tinder of concupiscence remai , ter harm t0 su ch as do
order that we may combatit it can <1 ce of Jesus Chi
consent to it but manfully fight agaimt.V & shall be crown
on the contrary, “be who shall lmve^sttive ^ restore to hu
(Trent, Sess. v . Further, theR<W^ er pains of this life ; to
nature immumty from death^djhe ^ and
Modier wasYiable^o^hem St. Epiphanius, Ancoratus, 93 (p- 285 bd
I
I
mr.-; 1
■ST-
SI*
THE APOSTLES CREED 87
(92) Was the Incarnation of the Son of God necessary if fitting
satisfaction was to be made for sin ?
The Incarnation of the Son of God was necessary if
fitting satisfaction was to be made for sin, because no mere
creature could of itself make fitting or adequate
satisfaction for sin.
( 93 ) Why could not a mere creature make fitting or adequate
satisfaction for sin ?
No mere creature could make fitting or adequate
satisfaction for sin, because mortal sin is in a sense infinitely
grievous owing to the infinite majesty of God which is
offended thereby. 102
(94) Why is the Incarnation attributed to the Holy Ghost ?
The Incarnation is attributed to the Holy Ghost because
although the Son of God alone took flesh, and although this
work of the Incarnation, like all other outward works of
God, belongs to all Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, yet
the Holy Ghost is the mutual love of Father and Son, and
the Incarnation shows forth God’s amazing and boundless
love for us. 103
(95) Is the Blessed Virgin Mary really the Mother of God?
The Blessed Virgin Mary is really the Mother of God,
because she conceived and bore in His human nature
Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man. 104
108 “ A sin committed against God has a certain infinity owing to
the infinity of the Divine Majesty ; for the greater the dignity of the
person against whom we sin, the greater the offence ; hence for condign
satisfaction the act of him who would make satisfaction should have an
infinite efficacy.” St. Thomas, Summa Theol., III, i, 2, ad 2m.
109 / Tim. iii, 16 ; Deo XIII, Encycl. Divinum illud munus, May 9,
1897 (p. 285 below). Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, iv, 3.
104 Lk. i, 31, 35 ; ii, 7 ; Ephesus, the Anathemas of Cyril, can. 1 (p. 286
below) ; Constantinople II, The Three Chapters, can. vi (p. 286 below) ;
lonstantinople III, Definition of the Two Wilts in Christ (p. 287 below) ;
t. Gregory Nazianzen, Ep. ci (p. 288 below) ; St. John Damascene,
ratio prima de Virginis Marine Nativitate (p. 288 below). The Catechism of
Council of Trent thus briefly states the mysteries of the Divine In-
tion of Jesus Christ and of the Divine Maternity of the Blessed
88
THE catholic catechism
, f., w c, J 0se pk the father of Jesus Christ ?
(96) Was S. J P ^ s christ by generation
S’. Joseph was ^ ^ J because, as the true spouse of
X SeSeT Virgin- ^"he^adof
Srlcrr^c'tl, designed .0 receive, protect
and care for Christ. 105
, \ win* our Lady always a virgin .
motherhood. 106
Article 3■ rh, wet cf Man', Rcdcwpticn
<*>
buried ”? Creed —“ suffered under
By the Fourth Article of the Green ^ __
Virgin Mary, “ So soon ^ by^ay'hifP Behold the^andmaid of the
assent to the Angel’s words hy aymg word , then inf unediately,
Lord, be it done un “ .“^^“ the most holy Body of Chnst was by
that is in the very first d of the most pure womb of the
the power of the Holy bpir , rreated out of nothing was joined
Blessed Virgin Mary, a human oul and thc sou l. Whence
to that body, and the Godhead joi ° f ti „ there existed perfect
it came to pass that in Virgin Mary could be truly
God and perfect man, so that ™f and of man , for in that same instant
and rightly called Mother of God and ot m ,
she conceived a man who wa * „ ' the Churc h to those who nee-
i »5 Lk. Hi, 23. ‘ f G< ? d t ° t u 1 ° S pharaoh y said to the Egyptians who we.
favours, just as of old the 1 h f - h Nor can we dou
starving when he sent them hears the prayers of his servan
that St. Joseph always merci ully h can it be possible that t
especially at the hour ot hg waS] nor Jesus Chnst who.
E«c»cl a rZTfrft. Solo™., % »
Is. vii 14; Mt '}’o below) ; St. Ephraem, OrahoadS
Archbishop of Constant,nop e P; ^ Alexandria, De Trim to
Dei Matron (P- a8 9 b | ^pipha ^Adv.Haer., 78, 6 (p. 290 below
i 4 j
1
11
gS:
! :
1
i
I
ijp
?
i
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried ”—we mean
that, in order to redeem man by His precious Blood,
Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, the Procurator
of Judaea, was nailed to the Cross, died upon it, and was
thence taken down and buried.
(99) In what does the Redemption wrought by Jesus Christ
consist ?
The Redemption wrought by Jesus Christ consists in
this : “ by reason of the exceeding charity wherewith He
loved us, and through His most Sacred Passion on the Tree
of the Cross, He merited for us justification, and for us made
satisfaction to God the Father. 107
(100) Did Jesus Christ suffer and die as God or as man ?
Jesus Christ suffered and died as man—for though as
God He could neither suffer nor die, in the human nature
that He, the Second Person of the most Holy Trinity, had
taken He did experience that separation of body and soul
which we call death—but, on account of His divine Per¬
sonality, His very Incarnation and all His sufferings, even
the least of them, were of infinite value. 108
(101) Why, then, did Jesus Christ choose to undergo so bitter
and shameful a Passion and Death ?
Jesus Christ chose to undergo so bitter and shameful
. Passion and Death in order to satisfy the divine justice to
the full, to show more clearly His love for us, to rouse in us
greater hatred of sin, and to give us strength to bear
ials and difficulties.
(102) For whom did Jesus Christ suffer and die ?
10,1 Trent, Sess. vi, cap. 7.
108 St. Athanasius Ep. to Epictetus, 6 (p. 290 below). The Catechism
the Council of Trent aptly says : “ Man dies when his soul is separated
.m his body ; when, then, we say that Jesus died we mean that His
ul was separated from His body, but we do not mean that the God-
d was separated from his body, on the contrary we firmly believe and
fess that on the separation of His soul from His body His Godhead
mained ever joined to His body in the tomb and to His soul in limbo.”
iv, 6.
90
THE catholic catechism
Jes™ Christ suffered and died for ah men without
exception. 109
(xn o\ Are all men therefore saved ?
\ 3/ 1 L t tVifVsf* onlv wh.O IT13.KC use OI
, Not a11 “Tovw'rw our Red” mer L communicating
STThTTeS^His^ion and Death™
(.04) DU Christ whm dying m the Crass afar H.msdf
to God as a real and true sacrifice a Himself
J- <*■* TS SeiTiff^X^h for the
reden^fion of men.Tffering for them to die divine justice,
a satisfaction of infinite value.
(105) What do we mean by the first words of the f
5 of the Creed- 11 He descended into hell •
By the first
SS^X^m » hodv^ut a,wavs united
to His Godhead, went down into Hell.
( I0 6) What is meant by the words “ into hell ”?
( By the words “ into hell ” we do not mean the Hel of
*» id Hu, 4-6 ; II Cor. v, 15 ; I Tim n, J ; Ijj™^ 11
Against the 4% p ropoftion opamemu^U - f^ drous proof of
St. Ambrose, Ep. xh 7 (P; 2 9 ‘ fallowed to fade from our minds,
overwhelming love Hun who, through no compulsion
we ought with our whole hea Iio love of us, suffered so cmel
nor against His will, b £ l ,! t o love,” says St. Augustine, it
a death. “ If it was before w ’ ith ,' ve . for there is no
should not now be irksome tor.sp ^ ^ first to love ; that heart is
not love but refuses to rcpay
Z ^ » <P- - “»">■ Th ~ ° f “ 1V ‘ to
are given under qu. 178 - y .. . 2gl below) ; L«®
111 Heb. ix, 11-28 ; Trent. Ses.. , c P- below) ; St. Ignatius
XIII, Encycl. Tanetsifutura, Nov. «, » gt John Chrysostom,
'hoJS'zX eTTm. (p! 292 below); Catechism of the Counal
0f ^Tpl: i£ % i Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, vi, aff.
:
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
91
the damned, nor Purgatory, but the “ Limbo of the Pa¬
triarchs,” where the souls of the just were awaiting the
promised and longed-for redemption. 113
(107) Why did Christ descend into Limbo?
Christ descended into Limbo to fill the souls of the just
with immeasurable joy by announcing to them His accom¬
plishment of their redemption ; He also made them
partakers of the beatific vision of God, and was afterwards
to lead them with Him into Heaven. 114
(108) What do we mean by the other words of the Fifth Article
of the Creed— ‘ the third day He rose again from the
dead ” ?
By the other words of the Fifth Article of the Greed—
“ the third day He rose again from the dead ”—we mean
that Jesus Christ, on the third day after His death, reunited
His Soul to His Body by His own power, as He had fore¬
told, and so lived again immortal and glorious. 116
(109) Why and for how long did Christ remain on this earth
after His Resurrection ?
Christ remained on this earth after His Resurrection
for forty days, in order to confirm His Apostles’ belief in
His Resurrection, to complete His teaching and the work
of founding His Church. 116
Article 4. The Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven, and His
coming at the end of the world for the General Judgment.
(no) What do we mean by the first words of the Sixth Article
of the Creed —“ He ascended into Heaven ” ?
By the first words of the Sixth Article of the Creed—
“ He ascended into Heaven ”—we mean that Jesus Christ
113 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, iv, n (p. 293 below).
114 Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, vi, 6. The Limbo of the Fathers
came to an end when the Redemption had been wrought.
115 Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, vi, 8.
116 Acts, i, 3.
9 2 THE catholic catechism
forty days after His Resurrection when ^ had completed
and perfected the work of our Redemption, by His own
power ascended, Body and Soul, into Heaven. |
(m) What do those other words of this Article mean-" sittelh
1 at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty . .
Those other words of this Article—“ sitteth at the ng t
hand of God the Father ”—mean the everlasting g ory
our Redeemer in Heaven, where Christ, as God, is equal
to the Father, and, as man, possesses m a way
all other created beings the good things promised by God.
( X i 2 ) What do we mean by the Seventh Article of the Creed-
«« from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead .
By the Seventh Article of the Creed-" from thence He
shall come to judge the living and the dead mean
that at the end of the world Jesus Christ ^ «:ome from
heaven with His Angels to judge all men both those*
living at the Last Day and those already dead, when He
will render to every man according to his works.
(n 3 ) What sentence will be pronounced at the General Judg-
THCtlt ^ Sjj
The sentence pronounced on the just at the Gemrnd
Tudgment will be : “ Come, ye blessed of My father,
possess ye the Kingdom prepared for you from the begi -
117 Lateran IV, cap. i (p. ^4
^sUoneDo^tl *93 -d 2 94 below) ; St. Irenaens, Ado. Haer. j
I, x, i (p. 294 below). . . R ^ ,, . Heb. ,
45 (P- 294 below); St. Thorny,
“ d el0,r
4 ™. 'X’.“£„L S 3UI b CoJt.’ Mim pi, June M, '336
of Trent, I, xii, 8.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
93
ning of the world ” ; and on the wicked : “ Depart from
Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for
the devil and his angels.” 120
(114) Will there be any other judgment besides the General
Judgment at the end of the world ?
Besides the General Judgment at the end of the world
there will be a particular judgment for each one of us
immediately after death. 121
(115) Why did God decree that there should be a General
Judgment in addition to the particular judgment ?
God decreed that there should be a General Judgment in
addition to the particular judgment to show forth His own
glory as well as that of Christ and of the just ; also to put
the wicked to shame, and that man might receive, both in
body and soul, sentence of reward or punishment, in the
presence of all. 122
(116) Why is the power to judge all men attributed to Jesus
Christ ?
Although the power to judge all men belongs to all
’ 20 hdt. xxv, 34-41. St. Bonaventure ; “ O my soul, may the words
Depart from Me ye cursed, into everlasting fire .... Gome ye
blessed, receive the kingdom,’ never fade from your memory. What
more pitiable, more awe-inspiring than that ‘ Depart.’ What more
glorious than that ‘ Come ! ’ Only two words, yet what more horrifying
than the one, more sweet-sounding than the other.” Soliloq. iii 5.
121 Heb . ix, 27. For the particular judgment and the Last Things
see under qq. 580#.
122 Wisd. v, iff .; Mt. pv, 31-46 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent , I,
vm, 4. God is indeed infinitely just, yet He does not in this present
life always render to every man according to his deserts, but after
death in the particular and the General Judgment. Those, then,
are clearly deceived who, when they see that the wicked prosper and the
good suffer, do not hesitate to accuse God of injustice. Nor should
it be supposed that the wicked are really perfectly happy, for their
consciences feel remorse for their sins, also fear of God’s vengeance.
On the other hand the afflicted condition of good people is not without
its consolations, for their consciences are at peace and they have the
refreshing hope of everlasting reward. And when death shall come
there will be no merits without their due reward, no sins without their
due punishment.
THE catholic catechism
Three Persons of the Holy Trinity, yet for a special reason it
is attributed to Jesus Christ both as God and as man be-
causeHe is “ King of kings and Lord of lords,” and among
Se prerogatives rf a king is included the power of judg¬
ment, which implies rendering to each reward or punish¬
ment in accordance with his merits.
Section III. The Remaining Five Articles of the
Creed, containing the doctrine of the Third
Person of the most Holy Trinity, and of the
Work of our Sanctification, begun here on earth
BY GRACE AND COMPLETED IN HEAVEN BY GLORY.
Ankle i. The Holy Ghost and His Work among the faithful
and in the Church .
(i 17) What do we mean by the Eighth Article of the Creed— I
believe in the Holy Ghost ” ? .
By the Eighth Article of the Creed—“ I believe in t e
Holy Ghost we mean that the Holy Ghost is the Third
Person of the most Holy Trinity, who proceeds from the
Father and the Son. 124
(118) Why do we believe in the Holy Ghost as we believe in
the Father and the Son?
We believe in the Holy Ghost as we believe in the Fathe
and the Son because the Holy Ghost is true God as are
Father and the Son, and is One God with the Father and the
Son. 125
(no) Why does Holy Scripture reserve the name “Holy Ghost
for the Third Person of the most Holy Trinity .,
Holy Scripture reserves the name “ Holy Ghost for the
third Person of the most Holy Trinity because He proceed!
128 7„. v , 27, “ And He (the Father) hath given Him (the Son
C y e d. t0 fti° S£ e Dec b T. a , U t9 2 5 e (p" -95 befow) ; Schism of th
Council of Trent, I, viii, 5 “®-
m Mt. xxvii, 19 ! 3 n • xv > » xvl ’ I 3 -I 5 -
125 Mt. xxviii, 19 ; I J n ■ v > 7 -
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
from the Father through the Son by a single movement of
love ; moreover He is the first and Supreme Love, who
directs and moves the soul to that holiness which is to be
found in the love of God. 126
(120) When did the Holy Ghost come down visibly on the
Apostles and what did He effect in them ?
The Holy Ghost came down visibly upon the Apostles
on the day of Pentecost ; He confirmed them in their faith
and filled them with the fulness of all gifts, that they
might preach the Gospel and spread the Church through¬
out the whole world. 127
(121) What work does the Holy Ghost do in the faithful?
The Holy Ghost, by His sanctifying grace, by the virtues
He infuses, by His gifts and actual graces of every kind,
sanctifies the faithful ; and He enlightens and moves them,
so that if they co-operate with grace they may attain to the
possession of life everlasting. 128
(122) How is the Holy Ghost in the Church and what does He
effect in her?
The Holy Ghost is as it were the soul of the Church,
inasmuch as He perpetually gives life to her by His ever¬
present help, unites her to Himself, and by His gifts
guides her infallibly in the way of truth and holiness. 129
Article 2. The true Church of Christ.
123) What do we mean by the first words of the Ninth Article
of the Creed —“ the Holy Catholic Church ” ?
125 Lyons II. De processione Sancti Spiritus (p. 260 below) ; Leo XIII,
cycl. Divinum illud munus, May 9, 1897 (p. 285 below) ; St. Augustine,
Civitate Dei, XI xxiv (p. 296 below) ; St. Thomas, Summa Theol.,
xxxvi, 1.
w Actsil, 1-4,
128 Jn. xiv, 16-17 ; Rom - viii, 26 ; I Cor. iii, 16 ; St. Basil Ep. xxxviii,
(p. 296 below). For grace see under qq. 278ff. For the virtues
d the other gifts of the Holy Spirit see under qq. 5o6fF., 543ff.
m Jn. xiv, 16, 26 ; xvi, 13 ; Leo XIII, Encycl. Divinum illud munus,
y 9, 1897 (p. 296 below) ; St. Thomas, Summa Theol., Ill, viii, 1
®m.
the catholic catechism
j «c tVip Ninth Article of the Creed
By the first words „ mean that there is a
“the Holy CathoUc Churchy which
SSSfoSSwhile’He lived on earth, and which He
called His Church. 130 I
<„.) How do,, the first part of the Mnth Artwle follow upon
the Eighth Article - Article follows upon the
The first part of th T Christ her Founder
Eighth Article because althoug J Holy
source and dispenser of all holiness.
r v r^Viurrh and her Constitution,
a. The Founding of the Churcn,
W hy did Jesus Christ found the Church?
(125) yyny J rhurch to continue His work
Jesus Christ founded the C “ u , he fruits 0 f tl
Red e e a mp h tion ^complished”mi Ae Cross might be appli
to men until the end of the world. 13
( i 2 6 ) How did Jesus Christ .ill the Church to be
( Jesus Christ willed the Church to be governed by
iso The Catechism of the Council belief not ‘in
formula is here“f^but simply ‘ the? Holy Catholic Church’ (t
Holy Catholic Church but simply ^ change, to express the chs
is without the P ro P^"V^r r of all things and the things He ha
tinction between God the lVlaK ,, . wond rous benefits which H.
created, also to shew that:wei refer f Goodne ss.” For th
has bestowed upon HisCh Article of the Creed it should be points
fuller understanding of this . ArtI ^ arts of the Church ; the Churc
out that theologimis distinguish th p three f bl
triumphant militant and ^"^butcl H ead, Jesus Christ or
one Church of Christ , fo ;t one g oa l, namely eternal lit
Spirit whlc e h Xady n e S njoy while others hope to enjoy it. But in
SS r,aS“ifV Church
isi The Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, x, 1.
... o „„ . Vatican Const. Pastor aeternus , at the begin
iss Mt. xxvin, 18-20 , Vatican,
ing (p- 29 6 below).
is
the apostles’ creed 97
authority of the Apostles under Peter their head, and of
their lawful successors. 133
(127) Who is the lawful successor of St. Peter in governing
the universal Church ?
The lawful successor of St. Peter in governing the universal
Church is the Bishop of the City of Rome—that is, the
Roman Pontiff or Pope—because in the primacy of juris¬
diction he succeeds to St. Peter, who lived and died Bishop
of the City of Rome. 134
(128) Who is the true head of the Church?
The true head of the Church is Jesus Christ Himself, who
invisibly abides in and governs the Church, and in Himself
unites her members together. 135
I 88 Ephesus, Actio iii (p. 297 below) ; Vatican, Const. Pastor aeternus,
cap. i (p. 297 below) ; Innocent X, Decree of the Holy Office, Jan. 24,
1647 (P- 298 below) ; St. Ephracm, In Hebdomadam Sanctam, iv, 1
(p 298 below). Before His Passion Jesus Christ promised to St.
Peter the Primacy over His Church ; ‘ Thou art Peter and upon
this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of Hell shall not
prevail against it. And to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth it shall be
bound also in heaven ; and whatsoever thou shall loose upon earth
it shall be loosed also in heaven.’ (Aft. xvi, 18-19.) This He con¬
firmed after His resurrection when He conferred that Primacy on
St. Peter, saying : * Feed my lambs .... feed my sheep ’ (Jn.
xxi, 15—17), that is ‘ rule My entire flock, my whole Church.’ And
since He instituted a Church which in its head was to last for ever
(Mt. xxviii, 19-20), this Primacy of St. Peter had to pass to his legitimate
successors ; Holy Scripture also plainly shews that the mission of the
Apostles was under the headship of Peter, e.g. Mt. xxviii, 19-20 ; Mk.
xvi, 14-15 ; Acts i, 8 ; xv, 6-7 ; xx, 28 ; Tit. i, 5 > I Cor. xii, 28.
18* Ephesus, Actio iii (p. 297 below) ; Vatican, Const. Pastor aeternus,
cap, ii (p. 299 below). On earth there is no greater authority, no
more solidly established teaching office, no fatherly authority more
lofty and extensive than that of the Roman Pontiff who, in the
Name of Jesus Christ and as His Vicar, governs men so as to lead
em to eternal salvation, and without fear of being deceived teaches
em what has been divinely revealed. We ought, then, to strive
show to the Supreme Pontiff obedience, reverence and love, we ought
t merely to obey his commands, but to attend to his wishes and his
unsels and, mindful of his august office, to pray to God for his intentions.
»8 Mt. xxviii, i8ff. ; Jn. i, 33 ; / Cor. iv. 1 ; Ephes. i, 22 ; Coloss, i,
., ‘ And He is the Head of His Body which is the Church ’ ; Catechism
the Council of Trent, I, x, 13.
Q th e catholic catechism
} „ Pontiff called the visible head of the
( 129 ) Why is the 2 near of Christ on earth ?
Church and the Vuar J head of the
The Roman Pontlff “ Christ on earth because, since a
Church and the Vicar of Chn Jesus Christ made
visible society needs a J 0 fhis, to the end of the world,
Peter, and each sue ^ rent G f His own potser.
the visible hea an £ oma „ p ^. ^ ^ church ?
( 130 ) WhatP Z er i lomL Pontiff has over the Church
By divine right the R of jurisdiction, and this
ffirSS'ciningU and morals and in discipUn.
The lawful successors ^ set over parties
institution, the Ihshops , ty ^ gQvem them by th
churches by the p - oma , . au thority. 138
own proper power un ^ ^ by j esus C hrh
( I33 ) What , then , Ghrist is t he visible soct
The Church founded by J ^ ^ 1S _ 1? . Ephes. i, 2:
l8 > .< 3 ° r diiiary” because it is not delegai ^ be exerC ised al
S.*•!” ra JsrS°
and everywhere. Thus 1 ; d m particular cases, g
power, foTthis !»«« - « &. task. ...
some lesser pastor ofsouU » ^ *«*««.
138 4^5 xx, 28 ; St. Ign ttt j i (p. 306 below). _
below) 5 St. ^^X’r Prela^are of ecclesiastical institution.
Archbishops and other Ereiai
m
11
{
I
■9
f:
I
THE APOSTLES’ CREED 99
of people who are baptized, and who, joined together by
professing the same faith and by a mutual fellowship,
strive to attain the same spiritual end under the guiding
authority of the Roman Pontiff and of the Bishops in com¬
munion with him. 139
(1 34 ) What is meant by the “ body of the Church ” ?
By the “ body of the Church ” is meant what is visible
in the Church and makes the Church herself visible—
namely, the faithful themselves in so far as they are one
body, also external forms of government, external authority,
outward profession of faith, the administration of the
Sacraments, ritual worship, etc.
(1 35 ) What is meant by the “ soul of the Church ” ?
By the “ soul of the Church ” is meant the invisible
principle of the spiritual and supernatural life of the
Church—namely, the ever-present assistance of the Holy
Ghost, the principle of authority, inward obedience to rule,
habitual grace, and the infused virtues, etc. 140
1 3 6) Why is the Church of Christ said to be the “ way,” or the
“ necessary means to salvation ” ?
The Church of Christ is said to be the “ way ” or the
“ necessary means to salvation ” because Jesus Christ
instituted the Church so that in her and by her the fruits
of redemption might be applied to men. Hence none of
those who are outside can obtain eternal salvation, in
accordance with the axiom : “ Outside the Church no
salvation.” 141
189 Pius XI, Encycl. Mortalium aninws, Jan. 6, 1928 (p. 306 below).
> 140 Rom. xii, 4-5 ; Ephes. iv, 16.
111 Mk. xvi, 15-16, Lateran IV, Against the Albigenses (p. 307 below) ;
rence, Decree for the Jacobites (p. 307 below) ; Innocent III, Efi. to
Archbishop of Tarragona, Dec. 18, 1208 (p. 307 below) j Boniface
II, Bull, Unam sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302 (p. 3°4 below) ; Pius IX,
oc. Singulari quadam, Dec. 9, 1854 (p. 308 below) ; Leo XIII,
icyd. Satis cognitum, June, 29, 1896 (p. 309 below) ; St. Cyprian, De
‘late Ecclesiae, 6 (p. 310 below) ; St. Jerome, Ep. xv, 2 (p. 310 below) ,
Augustine, Sermo ad Caesanensis Ecclesiae plebem 6 (p. 310 below),
e above axiom is more fully set out under qq. 162H.
I00 the catholic catechism
(107) How is the Church founded by Jesus Christ distinguished
from other churches which clam the name of Christian.
The Church founded by Jesus Christ is distinguished from
other churches which claim the name of Christian by its
unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity which con¬
ferred by Jesus Christ on His Church are to be found onJly
in the Catholic Church, whose head is the Roman Pontiff.
(,o8) Is it possible to distinguish the true Church from other
churches in some shorter and more simple way.
It is possible to distinguish the true Church from other
churches in a shorter and more simple way, namely by the
essential and visible head of that Church m accordance
with the ancient principle of the Fathers, “ where Peter is,
there is the Church.” 143 .
Though there are many such, y . G f Christ was, by the Will
Rom. xu. 5-6 ; I Cor. 1, 10 , x , 3 ’ naI £ dy the salvation of souls,
the holiness of the goal at which . , _ ecu | at , ve and practical,
s£r sje,
mission to all peoples ol the e , Apostles and has
of successive growth ( Ml. xxvm ! T, 2 ° > U ' ^ V ’ 47 ’ „ be l 0 w) ;
Pius XI, Encycl. Rerum Ecclesiae of the Apostles,
to be discovered m ° ther *"^f n ' e E p. Manichaei, 5, P- 3 «-
bdo/; ako r, Or an S>L/o, Sermo ad Catechumenos, 14, P- 3 ‘ 2 below 5
'if'X■■ *■ A-*-. ” "
xl, 30 (p. 312 below).
THE APOSTLES’ CREED 101
(139) How can this be deduced from that principle ?
It can be deduced from that principle because, since
Jesus Christ “ built His Church,” which was to last for all
time, “ on Peter,” it follows that that only is the true
Church of Christ which is ruled and governed by the law¬
ful successor of Peter, namely by the Roman Pontiff.
b. The Power of the Church.
(140) What power did Christ the Lord , bestow on His Church
in order that she might attain the end for which she was
founded ?
That she might attain the end for which she was founded,
Christ the Lord bestowed on His Church the power of
“jurisdiction ” and the power of “ order” ; the power of
jurisdiction includes the power of teaching. 144
P 4 *) What is the power of teaching ?
The power of teaching is the right and duty of the
Church to guard, hand on, and maintain the doctrine of
Jesus Christ, and to preach it to every creature, inde¬
pendently of any human authority. 145
(142) Does the exercise of this power of teaching affect in the
same way those who are baptized and those who are not
baptized ?
The exercise of this power of teaching affects the baptized
and the unbaptized differently ; for in the case of those who
ire baptized the Church not only states her doctrine but
lposes it on them as obligatory, with the result that they
e bound to accept it not only because God' commands it,
ut also in obedience to the authority that the Church
u * For the power of teaching see Mt. xxviii, 19-20'; Mk. xvi, 15-16 ;
Jurisdiction see Mt. xvi, 19 ; xxviii, 18-19 > J n - xxi, 15-17 ; Acts
28 ; for the power of Order see Jn. xx, 22-23 > Mt. xviii, 18 ;
k. xvi, 16 ; Acts viii, 15-17. From all this it follows that the Church
a society in which there are various grades.
116 Mt. xxviii, 18-20; Mk. xvi, 15-16; Codex Juris Canonici,
322, sect. 2.
a
-4
can.
102
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
has over her subjects ; whereas in the case of those who
are not baptized the Church simply sets her teaching
before them in the name of God, with the consequence
that they are bound to study it and embrace it, not
because the Church imposes it on them, but because God
commands it.
(143) Who have the power of teaching in the Church ?
The Roman Pontiff and the Bishops in communion
with him have the power of teaching in the Church, and
are therefore called the “ Church teaching ” ( Ecclesia
docens ), 146
(144) Is the Church infallible in her office of teaching ?
The Church is infallible in her office of teaching owing
the perpetual assistance of the Holy Ghost promised to he,
by Christ, when, either in the exercise of her ordinary and
universal governance or by a solemn pronouncement c
the supreme authority, she proposes, for the acceptance
all, truths of faith or morals that are either revealed
themselves or connected with revelation. 147
(145) Whose peculiar function is it to pronounce a solemn judgrr
of this kind ?
To pronounce a solemn judgment of this kind is
peculiar function of the Roman Pontiff, and of the Bish
together with the Roman Pontiff, especially when assemb
in an (Ecumenical Council.
146 The Pastors of the Church have the right and the duty of prea
the Gospel to every creature, and it is the duty of good children ot
Church to assist them in this holy and salutary task. We ou$
therefore, to help the work of Catholic missions by prayers, alms
active work according to our capacity. By so doing we shall be
forming a spiritual as well as a corporal work of mercy towards
brethren who ‘ sit in darkness and the shadow of death ; we shal
workers, too, for the glory of God and performing a task warmly
commended by the Church and the Roman Pontiffs.
147 Aft. xvi, 18 ; xxviii, 19-20 ; Lk. xxii, 32 ; Jn. xiv, 16-26 ;
13 ; Acts XV, 28 ; Adamantius, Dialogic r, v, 28 (P- 3 la below) ;
Cyprian, Ep. xii, 14 inter Epp. Sti. Corneln (p. 313 below) ; St. r
Chrysologus, Ep. ad Euiychen , ii (p. 3 1 3 below).
11
I:
1
;
.
■
1
111
si
Uta
THE APOSTLES’ CREED I03
(146) What is an (Ecumenical Council?
b' CUme c 1 u al ° r General Council is an assembly of
the Bishops of the entire Catholic Church called together
by the Roman Pontiff; over such an assembly he himself
presides either personally or by his legates, and it belongs
Council H U 8 th0ntaUVely t0 confirm th e Decrees of such a
(147) When does the Roman Pontiff exercise his prerogative of
personal infallibility?
■ Tn-K-?r ma L Po " tiffexercises his prerogative of personal
infallibility when he speaks ex cathedra— that is, when in
the exercise of his office as Shepherd and Teacher of all
t^be hH^h de f‘ eS ad ° ctrine conce rning faith or morals
to be held by the whole Church. 149
(148) What obligation do we incur when the Church proposes for
acceptance by all the faithful, truths concerning faith or
morals as divinely revealed ?
fo-Ih 6 t ar ?L b ° Und t0 bdieVe With divine and Catholic
faith, truths concerning faith or morals that the Church
proposes for acceptance by all the faithful, whether by her
ordinary and universal authority or by some solemn pro¬
nouncement. 150 v
(149) What do we call truths thus defined?
A truth thus defined is called a “ Dogma of the Faith ” •
denial of it is called “ heresy.” ’
(150) What do you mean by “ truths not in themselves revealed
but connected with revelation ” ?
Truths not in themselves revealed but connected with
revelation are principally “ dogmatic facts ” and censures
48 Codex Juris Canonici 9 can. 222.
nu . y at ^ can > Const. Pastor aetemus, cap. iv (p oro heliWi «
2SS^e y iC^lA he x g xd ti nr f M i7 ‘4- andWsuc-
“ I have imacy (Lk. xxn, 32) when He said to Simon Peter
converted, confirm thy'brethren!” ^ ^ ^ ! th ° U ’ being on< *
50 Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, cap. iii (p. 314 below).
the catholic catechism
' . t . ns as are proscribed and prohibited by
of such propositions as are p
the Church. 15 ^ ^ themselves
( , 5 ,) A. m f‘° t °Zcted wMrmtaldn, A* <*<
^ ^ wkh Qur hearts as well
We are also bound t P hemselves reV ealed but
as with our lips truths ropose d in the same way
SSSS3SH®.?*?,
- I
Congregations? ot her doctrinal
We are bound m conscienc issued by the ;
given to it by Christ. ( |
i6i Vatican, Const, Church) nof labeing m themselves
facts ” we mean facts defined y dogma which has to be
revealed, yet as having a S The chie f dogmatic
safeguarded, or applied, y contained or are not con
fact! are: thatm such and of faith . that people canon-
tained propositions of P t he Church are verily Saints and
ized by a definite P r °nomicemj 1 ^ a certain Council was or
are in the enjoyment of eternal such an edit ion 0 r version of
was not a legitimate o , f b i e t0 t he text of Scripture.
Holy Scripture is or is not conlorma below) g
152 Vatican, Const. Dei Ftllus, f.^^- Feb . 15, 1664 (P- 3«4 below) i
Alexander VII, Const. Regimims Apostoliici, re 0, -t below ) ;
Clement XI, Const Vi ™“f.?°Tane fily l ' 907 ,’ ll ' e seventh c0 ™‘ emn ? i
Pius X, Decree UmenMi sane , { July 3 .^ 7 ^ the church has the
aSrof 0n pro P hi 3 bhing ^Zlvs and forbidding the faithful either to re .
them or keep them. „g , 316
b£jrs c ° ndemned 1
position (p. 3 1 ^ below).
; 'a,,;:.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED IO 5
(153) What powers and duties arising from their power of
teaching have Bishops in their own dioceses ?
By reason of their power of teaching Bishops can and
ought, as opportunity offers, to teach and inculcate in
their own dioceses, whether personally or through others,
truths concerning faith or morals received in the Church ;
it is for them to repress dangerous novelties in doctrine,
and, if necessary, bring them to the notice of the supreme
authority in the Church . 154
(154) What does the power of jurisdiction in the Church mean?
The power of jurisdiction in the Church means that
the Roman Pontiff in respect of the whole Church, and the
Bishops in respect of their dioceses, have the power of
governing—that is, they have legislative, judicial, adminis¬
trative and punitive power, whereby to secure the
Church’s attainment of the objects for which she was
founded . 155
(155) What is the power of order ?
The power of order is the power of performing sacred
functions, especially of ministering at the altar ; by the
Sacrament of Holy Order it is conferred on the sacred
Hierarchy, especially on the Bishops. Since this power has
for its main object the sanctification of men’s souls through
divine worship and the administration of the Sacraments, it
comprises what is generally known as “ the care of souls .” 156
.(156) Who are the Bishops' assistants in the care of souls?
The Bishops’ assistants in the care of souls are the
priests, especially the parish priests, who are subject to the
Bishops according to the provisions laid down in Canon
ttaw . 157
184 Codex Juris Canonici can. 336 and 343.
155 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 335.
166 The power of Order is, for its legitimate exercise, subordinated to
the power of jurisdiction.
I £ The laity of either sex can most effectively help the Church in her
ministry as well by their own personal influence which may affect the
the catholic catechism
c The members of the Church.
nf t h e Church founded by Jesus Christ.
( I57 ) ,_ { f ^ Church founded by Jesus
ThoL are outside the Church founded by J«
t. who are not baptized , , tics schismatics,
o^°excommum n cated OS persons that are “to be
(I59) ‘wZtz —-
' # " “ ‘c JL „ho have wholly
•• Apostates ” are baptized pmom_w- --
SfeffiS-otSt-dte —a ctthe hue,-
m- i
P
™w St. Augustine,He Fi& <* ‘ *An unbaptised ^
can. 8, i to Chinch, though k
sT too, a deserter fc® .ffiSd of the privileges
sc ^ “ “■ oto
punished by them.
i
i
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
given up the Christian faith ; “ heretics ” are those who
obstinately deny or call in question a dogma of faith ;
“ schismatics ” are those who refuse submission to the
Roman Pontiff, or decline to hold communion with the
members of the Church, who are his subjects ; “ excom¬
municated persons that are to be shunned ( vitandi) ” are
those who come under this particular censure fulminated
by Canon Law. 159
(160) Do all these remain bound by the Church's Laws ?
All these, since they are subjects of the Church—though
rebellious ones—remain bound by the Church’s laws, unless
she either expressly or tacitly exempts them from their
application.
(161) Are “ tolerated ” excommunicated persons members of the
Church ?
“ Tolerated ” excommunicated persons are members of
the Church, but they are excluded from sharing in those
effects of the communion of the faithful which are set forth
in Canon Law, nor can they regain a share in them until
they cease to be contumacious and are absolved from this
grave penalty.
(162) Can an adult person who dies unbaptized be saved?
An adult person who dies unbaptized can be saved not
nly
i. if he has faith at least as regards those truths which
must of necessity be believed, since they are the
necessary means of salvation, and that charity
which supplies the place of Baptism ; but also
ii. if, through the operation of God’s light and grace,
he is—despite his invincible ignorance of the true
religion—prepared to obey God and has been
careful to keep the natural law. 160
159 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 22578"., can. 1325, sect. 2.
1,0 St. Thomas ( De Veritate, XIV, xi, ad 1 m) says of those who being
ht up in a savage state have, through no fault of their own, never
ed any knowledge of the true Church : “ It belongs to Divine
THE catholic catechism
„ Ault berson who has been validly baptized but,
" 63) ZZ nZA »/ '» »”■ b ‘ lmS! ‘ hm ‘“
s cUmc,ud bod, it val;dly toptized but
An adult P'™" w di belongs to a heretical or
through no fault of h ovide d he has not lost
"rSedT" Baptism, oOf, after losing it by stn
he regato it by due repentance. h of lit
(,64) ***rl" Church
Those who, v '!^''“S n Ltside her, commit grave
l^oXen”"^ P— ^ “ S,a " U,ay Cann0t
S.T’iw are Host boaod » * * - — * Cte ‘-
(l65> « err» M. *«■ <£^ _ doubt
Those who are outside t sincerely to seek the
about their state ^ ^ ^ can Christ’s
truth “ m the Lord, , t 1 h th have recognized
^"SSofChrist-^terhe^ J
D< The Yt^cdTX^sStlsc two Societies.
(. 66 ) “ lit ami MiiuUdiyCMsi £„m, frm * SU> ■
Provide^^" t w^Cons^n'
of his natural reason in pursuing f ° ea i to him by interior mspirati
certainly hold that God would ^al.to^ ^ ^ him S01
what it was necessary for Cornelius.” Innocent
preacher of thefarth-asHe^ent^ ^ (p 31 7 below) ; P
%■ Apostolicam S ed em, toJti B h P of Italy, Aug. 10,
IX, Ep. Quanto confiaamur, to
p. 317 below). . repentance will either
ssSisrS-—- s —
%
kJ
1
THE APOSTLES CREED
m
'?}
fgflj
■ ■ 1
The Church instituted by Christ is distinct from the State;
yet the State neither is nor can be lawfully separated from
the Church, though in peculiar and grave circumstances
such a separation may be tolerated or even preferred . 162
182 From various documents emanating from the Roman Pontiffs—
especially from Leo XIII, Encycl. Immortale Dei , Nov. 1, 1885 (p. 318
below) ; Au milieu , Feb. 16, 1892 (p. 320 below) ; Ep Longingua Oceani,
Jan. 6, 1895 (p. 320 below), the doctrine regarding the mutual relations
of Church and State can be summarily set forth as follows : The
immediate goal and object of the Church is the supernatural sanctifica¬
tion of the souls of men, for that is the necessary condition and the
norm for attaining eternal happiness in heaven. But the immediate
goal and object of the State is the common temporal good of men, even
in the moral order, and this is to be obtained by adhering to the principles
of justice and supplying for the deficiencies of individual people and
families. Hence, although the Church is directly only concerned with
the sanctification of men’s souls, yet at the same time it so truly and
effectively promotes temporal advantages, whether public or private,
that it could hardly do more had it direct charge of them ; see, for
example, the way in which it insists on everybody fulfilling the duties of
their state of life. Conversely, the State, while having direct charge
over temporal concerns, does by that very fact work indirectly for the
sanctification of souls. Since then societies are differentiated by
their immediate goal, and the goal of the Church is distinct from that
of the State, it follows that these two societies are quite distinct, the
Church being a supernatural and spiritual society, the State a natural
and temporal society ; while each is in its own order a perfect society
endowed with full powers, since each possesses in itself the requisite
means for the attainment of its own peculiar goal. At the same time
this distinction between the two societies does not mean that the State
can, as though wholly separate from the Church, behave as though
there were no God and repudiate all responsibility for religion as being
something alien to itself and of no importance. Nor out of the various
forms of religion can it choose anyone it likes. For the State, no less
than individual citizens, is bound to worship God according to that
form of religion which He has Himself commanded, and the truth of
which He has established by proofs that are certain and leave no room
for doubt; that form of religion is the only true Church of Christ.
Juridical separation between Church and State can only be tolerated
under certain peculiarly grave circumstances, when, that is, by such
separation greater evils will be avoided and full liberty of life and action
conceded to the Church. Consequently, since the spiritual and super¬
natural society is more excellent and of higher standing than the
temporal society—for its goal is a higher one—the State must, since it
is meant simply for the common advantage—so work for the temporal
advantage of its citizens as to put no hindrance to the Church in its
k, rather should it afford to the Church every assistance it possibly
■Ik
II0 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
( l67 ) On what principles are the respective powers of each
society to be defined ?
The principles for defining the respective powers of each
SOC T Xiever concerns the salvation of souls and the
!Sp «f God come, under the power of the
ii. Shefmatters concerning eivil and political affair,
;ii But ^n^maners‘affecting both Church and Sute
alike there is naturally, as well as in tire counsels
of God, room for harmony between these two
authorities, so that strife which would prove
disastrous to both is avoidable.
(:68) Can the Church pass judgment on civil and political
Th Church can pass judgment on civil and political
afflS “eu tey "re" connecS with faith or morals and
therefore with the salvation of souls.
(169) Whose function is it to decide whether such a connexion
exists ^ ,
obedience to her teaching authority.
Article 3. The Communion of Saints.
(I70 ) How is the second part of the Ninth Article oftheCreed-
( 7 } « the Communion of Saints connected with the first
The second part of the Ninth Article of the Creed
“ the Communion of Saints ^ "C^ vath the^
part as in some sort explaining it, for it teache
Leo XIII, Encycl. Diuturnumillud June 29, 'fflveh^n
Encycl. Immorlale Dei (p. 318 below) , P.us X, Ency
Feb. 16, 1906 (p. 3 21 . e ° W _ n ,r ... ,862 (o. 322 below) ;
khm
H 1
KJ.v
XIII Encycl. Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1005 VP- 3
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
III
benefit the members of the Church may gain from the holi¬
ness obtained in and through the Church. 165
(171) What do we mean by this second part of the Ninth Article
of the Creed ?
By this second part of the Ninth Article of the Creed we
mean that between the members of the Church—in Heaven,
in Purgatory, and on earth—there exists, by reason of their
close union with one another under Christ their Head, a
mutual communication in spiritual riches. 166
(172) Do all the Church's members fully enjoy this fellowship?
Not all the Church’s members fully enjoy this fellowship,
but those only who are in a state of grace, wherefore this
fellowship is called “ the Communion of Saints.”
(173) Are those in mortal sin excluded from this Communion of
Saints ?
Those in mortal sin are not wholly excluded from this
Communion of Saints, for both by the public prayers of the
Church and the petitions and good works of those in a state
of grace, they can be helped to recover the grace of God.
(174) Is there fellowship with the Blessed in Heaven ?
There is fellowship with the Blessed in Heaven ; for
while we pay them honour and humbly invoke their assist¬
ance, they pray to God on our behalf. 167
(175) Is there also communion with the souls detained in Pur¬
gatory ?
1,5 Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, ix, nos. 23-24.
1,9 Rom. xii, 4-5 ; I Cor. xii, 11 —13 ; Ephes. iv, 4-13 ; Catechism of the
Council of Trent, I, x, 24-25. The spiritual goods of the Church in
general are the infinite merits of Jesus Christ, the superabundant
merits of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints, indulgences, prayers
and good works performed by the members of the Church, the Sacra¬
ments and the Sacrifice of the Mass, also public prayers and external
rites which serve to bind the faithful to Christ and to one another by
a species of sacred tie.
167 Tob. xii, 12 ; Ecclus. xliv, 1 ; Dan. iii, 35 ; II Macc. xv, 14 ;
Apoc. v, 8 ; viii, 3 ; Trent, Sess. xxv, De Invocations et Venerations
Sanctorum (p. 323 below) ; St. Jerome, Contra Vigilantium, 6 (p. 324 below).
I 12
the catholic catechism
There is also communion with the souls detained in
Purgatory, inasmuch as we can help them by our suffrages,
that is by the Sacrifice of the Mass, by gaining Indulgences,
by prayers, almsdceds and other works of piety and pen¬
ance ; and they in their turn help us by their prayers
before God. 169
(176) What prayers do the faithful generally say for the souls
in Purgatory?
The prayers for the souls in Purgatory generally used are :
the Psalm “ Out of the depths . ”, and the briefpeti¬
tion : “ Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let per¬
petual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace.
Amen.” 189
Article 4. The Forgiveness of Sins.
(177) What do we mean by the Tenth Article of the Creed—
“ the forgiveness of sins ” ?
By the Tenth Article of the Creed-“ the forgiveness of
sins 'we mean that there is in the Church true power to
forgive sins through the merits of Jesus Christ.
(178) By what means do we obtain in the Church the forgiveness
of our sins?
In the Church we obtain the remission of mortal sin:
through the Sacraments instituted by Christ for that pur
pose, also by an act of perfect contrition accompanied by
desire of receiving those Sacraments. The forgiveness ■
isa St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, v, 8 (p. 324 below) ; St. Augi
tine, De Civitate Dei, XX, ix, 2 (p. 325 below).
169 - n is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead,
a most holy act of charity to help by our prayers th
For ourselves too, it is “ a wholesome ” thing, for by such an ac '
dves^w^U asThe° ^atitude^fAe hofysouL themselve
bdowf; ASlAH^T^h^o w) 7 s^o D
Ep. Congratulamur (p. 325 below).
*
i
THE APOSTLES CREED
“3
our venial sins we can obtain by other devout acts, but the
debt of temporal punishment remains and has to be paid
either in this life or in the next, that is in Purgatory. 171
Article j. The Resurrection of the Dead; Eternal Life.
(179) What do we mean by the Eleventh Article of the Creed —
“ the resurrection of the body ” ?
By the Eleventh Article of the Creed—“ the resurrection
of the body ”—we mean that it will come to pass, at the end
of the world, that all the dead will be recalled to life and
rise for the General Judgment, and that each soul will
resume the body to which in this life it was united, and will
never again be separated from it. 172
(180) By what power will this resurrection of the body take
place ?
The resurrection of the body will take place by the divine
power of Jesus Christ, for just as He raised His own body
from the dead, so at the end of the world will He raise
up the bodies of those whom He is going to judge. 173
(181) Why did God will that the bodies of the dead should rise
again ?
171 For a just man to obtain the forgiveness of his venial sins any act
springing from the grace of God suffices, provided it contains at least
implicitly a detestation of his faults. Hence the forgiveness of one’s
venial sins can be obtained not only through the Sacraments whereby
grace is conferred, but by any acts which include a detestation of sin, for
example by saying the “Confiteor” or the “Lord’s Prayer,” or by beating
one’s breast, or again by any acts indicating reverence for God or holy
things, such as getting a priest’s blessing, using Holy Water, any Sacra¬
mental anointing, prayer in a church ; see St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa
Theol., Supplement, lxxxvii, 3.
172 Job xix, 25-27; Mt. xiii, 40-43; Jn. v, 28-29; vi, 39-40;
Acts xxiv, 15 ; I Cor. xv, I2ff; Lateran IV, cap. i (p. 325 below) ;
St. Leo IX, Ep. Congratulamur (p. 326 below) ; Innocent III, Profession
of Faith prescribed for the Waldensians (p. 326 below) ; St. Cyril of Alexan¬
dria, in Joann, viii, 51 (p. 326 below) ; St. John Chrysostom, De remrrec-
tione mortuorum, 8( p. 326 below) ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, I,
xii, 6ffi
173 Jn. v, 28-29 ; St. John Chrysostom, De resurrectione mortuorum, 7
(p. 326 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., Ill, lvi, 1.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
Tori willed that the bodies of the dead should rise again
in ol” “ £ whole man might -ceding to h« m ^
obtain an everlasting reward in Heaven or an everlast g
punishment in Hell.
( l8 2) Will the bodies of all the dead rise in the same way ?
The bodies of all the dead will rise immortal, kut only
J bodto of the elect will-in the likeness of the body
of Christ—rise endowed with the qualities o ago
body. 174
(j8o) What are the qualities of a glorified body ?
Four qualities of the glorified body are commonly
enumerated—impassibility, clarity, agility and subtlety.
(184) What do we mean by the last Article of the Creed— life
everlasting ” ?
By the last Article of the Creed-‘‘
: s prepared for the elect after death a
ntver Failing happiness in Pamdise, while
the eternal pains of Hell await the reprobate.
m / Cor. xv, 52 ; Phil, iii, 2 . ; Apoc xx, 12-13 5 St. Cyril ofjerusalem,
Catecheses, xviii, 18-19 (p. 3 2 7 below). ... ,
- / Cor. xv, 4-44 1 ,
“Impassibility will preclude th g ; m r,assibility, for it is a certain
inconvenience, Clarity is a cor a Y fr ^ m the supr eme blessedness
radiance flowing over on to , J. <• t ^ e bliss the soul enjoys,
enjoyed by the soul, 'f 1 , so 7 ie .? ol V t u e body can be moved with the
“S S'Sk^'.WbS. “d cli," ~ fc Them*. Aqcin..,
Summa Theol., Supplement, lxxxu ft. .
- M, xxv, 46 ; St. Peter S
“ For the sake of obtaining t heavy, no pain too bitter,
to seem too hard to a true ^'‘Xing too long or too wearisome. For
no time spent in labour and suiter g S nresent life which is so
if nothing is sweeter or m ° r * other life be
full of calamities, how much e of evU or f ea r of it,
THE APOSTLES CREED
(185) What is meant by the word “ Amen ” at the end of the
Creed ?
The word “ Amen ” at the end of the Creed means that
every one of the Articles contained in the Creed are
true, and that we believe them and make profession of them
unhesitatingly.
(186) Is it sufficient to believe what is proposed for our belief if
we would obtain eternal life ?
It is not sufficient to believe what is proposed for our
belief if we would obtain eternal life ; it is also necessary
to keep the commandments that God and His Church have
given us. 177
177 Mt. v, 16 ; vii, 26-27 ; ix, 15 ; xxv, 35flf; James ii, 1466
CHAPTER IV
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE 178
(187) What does the word “ Decalogue ” mean?
The word “ Decalogue ” means the Ten Words or
Commandments, which God gave to Moses on Mount
Sinai and which Jesus Christ confirmed in the New Law. 179
(188) How are the Ten Commandments of the Decalogue divided ?
The Ten Commandments of the Decalogue are so
divided that the first three are concerned with God, while
the remaining seven refer to ourselves and to our neighbour.
(189) Why did God prefix to the Decalogue the words —“ I
am the Lord thy God ” ?
God prefixed to the Decalogue the words—“ I am the
Lord thy God ” to warn us that He, as God and Lord,
has the right to lay commands upon us which we are bound
to obey. 180
Section I. The First Three Commandments of the
Decalogue, which have to do with God.
Article 1. The First Commandment of the Decalogue.
(190) What does God forbid in the First Commandment—
“ Thou shall not have strange gods before Me ” ?
178 All ought to learn and carefully observe the 1 en Commandments
solemnly promulgated-by God Himself on Mount Sinai, and explained
and confirmed by Christ under the New Law. For these Command¬
ments do not merely serve as guides to individual men in their journey
towards eternity, but are the very foundation of all civil society.
179 Exod. xx, 2-17; Mt. v, 17-18; xix, 17-20. God gave these
Commandments, written on two tables, to Moses. The first three
are termed the Commandments of the First Table, the rest the Command¬
ments of the Second Table. See Catechism of the Council of Trent, III, v, 3ff.
180 Exod. xx, 2-6 ; Lev. xxvi, 1 ; Deut. v, 6ff; Catechism of the Council
of Trent, III, ii, 3 ; Trent, Sess. vi, the Decree on Justification, cap. ii
(p. 327 below).
116
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE 117
In the First Commandment—“ Thou shalt not have
strange gods before Me ”—God forbids us to offer to others
the worship due to Himself. 181
(191) What worship do we owe to God ?
To God, and to God alone, we owe supreme worship—
that is, the worship of adoration.
(192) Why ought we to worship and adore God ?
We ought to worship and adore God because He is our
Creator, because by His Providence He takes care of us,
and because He is our last End.
(193) How ought we to worship and adore God ?
We ought to worship and adore God as the Creator of
all things, as their preserver by His Providence, as their
first beginning and last end, by both interior and exterior
acts of religion, such as our nature itself and still more
Revelation suggest to us ; the chief of these acts is sacrifice,
which should be offered to no created thing.
(194) How do we sin against the First Commandment?
We sin against the First Commandment :
i. by superstition —that is, by idolatry, divination, vain
observances and by spiritism, which last is included
under divination and vain observances ;
ii. by irreligion —that is, by the omission of those acts
of worship which we ought to make, also by sacri¬
lege and simony. 183
181 Exod. xx, 2-6 ; Lev. xxvi, 1 ; Deut. x, 6ff; Catechism of the
Council of Trent, III, ii, 3.
182 By idolatry we mean that form of superstition whereby Divine
worship is offered to some image of the Godhead, or to some creature
or demon. Divination is that form of superstition which seeks to learn
hidden or future things by open or implied invocation of demons. By
vain observances we mean that form of superstition whereby people
make use of unworthy means for producing some effect, and openly
or tacitly invoke the aid of demons. Spiritism (in F.ngland commonly
called spiritualism) is a superstitious practice whereby people hold
Jmmunication with evil spirits, and seek through their aid to learn
hat is hidden from us. Sacrilege is the unbecoming handling of sacred
n8 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(195) Should we not also offer worship to the Saints ?
We should also offer worship to the Saints, especially to
the Blessed Virgin Mary, but only a different and lower
form of worship, namely that of veneration, in order to
show them honour and win their patronage. 183
(196) What do we call the worship we pay to God, to the
Saints and to the Blessed Virgin Mary ?
We call the worship we pay to God latria or adoration ;
that offered to the Saints we call dulia or veneration ;
that offered to the Blessed Virgin Mary hyperdulia or a more
excellent form of veneration. 184
(197) Should we not also venerate the relics of the Martyrs
and of other Saints reigning with Christ ?
We should also venerate the relics of the Martyrs and of
other Saints reigning with Christ, for their bodies were
once the living members of Christ and the temples of the
Holy Spirit, and are one day to be raised up by Him to
enjoy eternal life and glory ; moreover through the medmm
of their relics God bestows many blessings on men.
(198) Should not due honour and veneration be paid also to
sacred images ? _____
v-
m
persons or things, also of any place dedicated to God or Divine worship
Simony is a contract concerning spiritual matters or
with spiritual matters, or about temporal things under the guise of
religion ; it is forbidden alike by the natural law, the Divine law and
the Canon law.
183 Catechism of the Council of Trent, III, ii, 7 ff -
184 The worship known as latria is that due to God alone ; by it a«nan
expresses his sense of service due to God who has fullandchiefdonumon
over all His creation. The worship known is that whereby
we venerate and worship the Saints as created b yG°d and most de^
to Him as His children and friends, as members of the Body of Chnsf
and as intercessors for us with God. But since the fcd ^
Mary, though but a creature, is, as being true Mother ot God
joined, above all other creatures to God in the most .special manner
she is worshipped with a special cult called hyperdulia , see St. Joh
Damascene, De Jmaginibus, Oratio 11, 5 ; ui, 41 (p. 3 2 ° below).
186 jy fas. ii, 14 ; xiii, 21 ; Mt. ix. 20-22 ; xiv,36 ; Acts v, 15
xix 12 ; Nicaea II, De sacris imaginibus , actio vii (p. 328 below) ; lrent
Sess. xxv, De Invocation et Veneratione Sanctorum (p. 323 below).
I
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE 11 9
Due honour and veneration should be paid also to
sacred images, since the honour shown them is offered to
the persons they represent, so that by the reverence we
exhibit we adore Christ Himself and venerate the Saints
whose images they are. 188
(199) Why, then, did God in the Old Testament forbid graven
things or images?
God did not in the Old Testament entirely forbid graven
things or images, but He forbade them to be introduced
for purposes of adoration after the manner of the heathen,
lest, by the worship of graven things as gods, the worship
of the true God should be diminished. 187
Article 2. The Second Commandment of the Decalogue.
(200) What does God forbid in the Second Commandment —
“ Thou shall not take the Name of the Lord Thy God in
vain ” ?
In the Second Commandment—“ Thou shalt not take
the Name of the Lord thy God in vain ”—God forbids all
irreverence towards His Name. 188
(201) Who are guilty of such irreverence?
Those are guilty of such irreverence who pronounce
the Name of God without good reason or due reverence, or
who break vows they have made, or indulge in false, rash
and unjust oaths, more especially if they blaspheme. 189
184 Nicaea II and Trent, as in the previous note ; St. Cyril of Alex¬
andria In Ps. cxiii, 16 (p. 330 below).
187 Exod. xx, 4-5 ; Deut. iv, 15-19 ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa
Theol., Ill, xxv, 3 ad im.
188 Exod. xx, 7 ; Lev. xix, 12 ; Deut. v, 11.
188 Lev. xix, 12 ; xxiv, 11-16 ; IV Kgs. xix, 6fF. A vow is a promise
deliberately made to God of some better thing. An oath is calling on
the Name of God in witness of what one has said or in confirmation of
a promise. An oath is said to be false if the statement is contrary to
known truth ; rash if it is made without the person who makes it being
certain of his facts ; unjust if the assertion coupled with it is wicked,
or if die thing promised under oath is bad. Blasphemy is the uttering of
profane speech about God. Pius XI in his Epistle to the Bishop of
I20 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(202) Are we also forbidden to take the names of the Saints in
vain ?
Tust as we ought to pay honour to the Saints, and
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, so for the same
Xn we are forbidden to take their names m yarn.
A rt i c l e 3 . The Third Commandment of the Decalogue.
(203 ) What does God command in the Third Co,nmandmert-
3 “ Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath Day .
In the Third Commandment—“ Remember that thou
keep holy the Sabbath day ’’-God commands that
.. ? , j_ t i iat j s days dedicated to Him should be
kept ldth divine worship, business and bodily toil being
laid aside. 190
(204) What were the festival days in the Old Testament ?
In the Old Testament there were many festival days
but dte ehiefone was the Sabbath, the very name of whtd
signifies the rest needful for the worship of God, whenc|
it is called “ the day of rest.”
(205) Why is the Sabbath day not observed under the New
Testament ?
TheSabbadtda^^^-^^q
£ESe Resurrection of Jesrn Christ, and dse coming
Verona, Dec. 3> 1924. thus describes the
“ Blasphemy is an insolent contempt for the g it ; nvo i
in contradiction with the very faith P r °. ’- t a( j r j s heartfelt destest
S33 EZ&ss&SS
by evidently harmful results.
im Exod. xx, 8 ; xxxi, 13 ; Deut. v, 12-15
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE 121
down of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; the Church also
adds other festival days. 191
(206) To what, then, are we bound nowadays as regards keep¬
ing festival days holy ?
As regards keeping festival days holy we are to-day
bound to sanctify, in the manner prescribed by the Church,
the Sundays and other Feast Days appointed by her. 192
Section II. The Remaining Seven Commandments of
the Decalogue which refer to ourselves and our
Neighbour.
Article 1. The Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue.
(207) What does God command in the Fourth Commandment —
“Honour thy father and thy mother ” ?
In the Fourth Commandment—“ Honour thy father
and thy mother ”—God bids us show due honour to our
parents and those who hold their place ; such honour
involves love, attention, obedience, and service. 193
(208) Is it merely honour that we owe to our parents ?
We ought not only to honour our parents but to afford
them assistance, especially in their temporal or spiritual
needs.
191 The commandment about keeping the Sabbath holy was not, if
we consider only the day actually stated, a fixed and constant one,
but a variable one, nor was it so much a moral as a ceremonial precept.
1 If, however, we consider the commandment itself, it will be evident that
it has its moral aspect and forms part of the natural law. Moreover
the date at which the keeping of the Sabbath was removed was precisely
that at which the rest of the Hebrew cult and ceremonial was to cease—
namely the day of Christ’s death. See the Catechism of the Council of
Trent, III, iv, 4ff.
199 The Holy Days of Obligation appointed by the Church will be
found explained under qq. 243 ff.
195 Exod. xx, 12 ; Deut. v, 16 ; xxvii, 16 ; Ecclus. vii, 29-30 ; Ephes.
vi, 1—3 ; Coloss, iii 20. See the Catechism of the Council of Trent, III, v, 7 ;
“ To honour is to have reverential thoughts of a person and to put a
high value on all that concerns him ; honour such as this comprises
love, respect, obedience and service.”
122
the catholic catechism
(209) What reward' does God promise to children who show due
To children° wh</show due honour to dieir parents
Go^pSes a blessing and if He judges * good for their
soul’s salvation, length of life.
(210) Does this Commandment insist solely on the duties of
children towards their parents ?
This Commandment lays down not oniy t e unes o
1 mutual right, and duties of sutjec. and .upertor,. and
of workpeople and their employers.
f2 X 0 What are the duties of married people towards one another.
Married people owe one another mutual love, assistance
and^fidelity^wldle wives owe obedience to their husba ^
lhe law of nature “d mmaSuSo'n',
« Sril“t«ir mean, to provide for
their temporal welfare. 197
_ , ... „ T o . Vbhes vi, 1-3 l Catechism of the
ia» Deut. v, 16 ; Ecctus. m, 2-i8 , Epnes. vi, s
Council of Trent, III, v, ! 7 J 9 - n( j con cord between
185 Only the Church of Christ can se belong ^ different dasses
those* who^re
s i , s f S35 [l - * xm in -
Encydical, Rerum novarum of May 15, I ° 9 1, J
Jr Cor xi 3 ; Ephes. v, 22-23 5 Coloss, m, 18-19 i T«t. n, 4~5 |
/ Petiu, 1 ; ’Codex Juris Canonic, can. 1033 and 1 • .
197 Ecctus. vn, « 3 rB 7 'mIo/tZ’, III,’ v, 21.
Juris Canomci, can. 1131 . •( aI life depends very largely
Since formation m ^^‘^^^treTtrictly bound in duty to see t
catechetical instruction, paren Catechism. This especu
their children are properly taug children from th
applies to mothers, who ought to u>g l into JUiei ^ they
earliest years the elements of the Ca ecfe^n. otherS) .
compelled by circumstances to delegate tms u y
w
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE 123
(213) Have any besides the parents the right and duty of seeing
to the fitting education of young people ?
The right and duty of seeing to the fitting education of
youth belongs—apart from the parents—to the State,
which for the good of the community makes up for the
deficiencies of parents ; it belongs too in a more especial
way to the Church, from the very fact that Christ com¬
missioned her to teach all nations and lead them to a super¬
natural holiness and finally to eternal life. 198
(214) What are the duties of subjects towards their lawful
superiors ?
Subjects owe to their lawful superiors, whether ecclesi¬
astical or civil, reverence and obedience comparable to
the filial piety that children should show to their parents. 199
(215) Who are the ecclesiastical superiors to whom we ought
to give not only reverence but obedience ?
The ecclesiastical superiors to whom we ought to give
not only reverence but obedience according to Canon Law
are the Pope, our own Bishop or any other Prelate possess¬
ing ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and our own parish priest
in the exercise of his ministerial duties.
(216) Why do we owe reverence and obedience to legitimate
civil authority ?
We owe reverence and obedience to legitimate civil
authority in whatever person it happens to reside because,
should bear in mind that their position makes it incumbent on them
to choose such schools and teachers as are really suited for the proper
fulfilment of this duty. They must not neglect due supervision of the
education both religious and moral given to their children ; and if
they find it insufficient they must supplement it. Of course if they
find it is unsound they must not hesitate to hand their children over to
better teachers.
ws Pius XI, Encycl. Divini illius Magislri, Dec. 31, 1929 (p. 330
below).
MS Rom. xiii, 1-7 ; I Tim. ii, 1-3 ; Heb. xiii, 17 ; / Pet. ii, 13-18 ;
Leo III, Encycl. Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885 (p. 333 below).
j2^ THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
like civil society itself, it springs from nature and there¬
fore from God the Author of nature. 200
(217) What are the duties of superiors towards their subjects?
Superiors ought, each in his own sphere, to look after
those^subject to them and show them a good example in
all things, as having to render an account for them not only
to men but to God Himself. 201
(218) What are the duties of workers towards their masters?
Workers owe to their masters complete and faithM
fulfilment of any free and equitable agreement into which
they have entered. They must not do damage to their
masters’ property or offer violence to their persons ; in
upholding their own rights they must refrain from violence
they must not resort to sedition, and they must avoid
mixing themselves up with evil-minded men.
(219) What are the duties of masters towards their workpeople ?
Masters owe it to their workpeople to love them as
brethren in Christ, to pay them the wages due to them, to
see that they have time for the practice of their religion,
not for any reason to lead them away from their domestic
duties, or the exercise of thrift, or put upon them work
dangerous to their health or beyond their strength or
unbefitting their age or sex. 203
- Wisd. vi, 4 i Prov. viii, .5 5 Bern. xiii, 1-2 ; “ There isno pow
hat m or damed of God. Ihereior
he thlt resfieth the power resisteth the ordinance of God ; and the'
that resist purchase unto tlu^ves beC)- “st. John Custom
Encyd. ImmortaleDei,aos,b,T,11 (P- 333 oeiow; , j
Horn, xxxiii, 1, in lip. ad Rom. (p. 333 below).
201 Heb. xiii, 17 > d Tim. iv, 12. „
>o> Rbhes. vi. 5-8 ; Coloss, iii, 22-25 ; Tit. ii, 9-10 ! 1 ff- “■
Leo XIII Encycl. Rerum novarum, May 15, 1891 (p- 334 )
Catechism of the Council of Trent, III, vm, 9. . .
mEfihes vi, 9 ; Coloss, iv, ! ; J«. v, 4 ; Codex Juris Cam c
, “T n deciding what is a just wage many questions have to
I 8 2 4 - generally speaking, employers and wealthy peo
T‘ s n hLr in Jnd that to oppress the needy and poor for the st
own profit, to strive for gain out of another person s
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE 1 25
(220) When ought we not to obey our parents or other superiors ?
We ought not to obey our parents or other superiors
when their commands conflict with those of some higher
authority—when, for instance, they command something
contrary to the law of God or of the Church. 204
(221) When are we allowed not to obey them ?
We are allowed not to obey them when they bid us do
something that does not come under their jurisdiction—
for example, when they give us a command about our
choice of a state of life. 205
Article. 2. The Fifth Commandment of the Decalogue.
(222) What does God forbid in the Fifth Commandment —
“ Thou shalt not kill ” ?
In the Fifth Commandment—“ Thou shalt not kill ”—
God forbids us to cause death either to our neighbour or
to ourselves, or to inflict on him or ourselves any other
harm to body or soul, or co-operate in so doing. 206
is permitted by no law, human or Divine. Moreover, to deprive a
person of his just wage by fraud is a grave sin calling for heaven’s
vengeance : ‘ Behold the hire of the labourers .... which by fraud
has been kept by you, crieth, and the cry of them hath entered into the
ears of the Lord of Sabaoth ’ (Jas. v, 4.) Lastly, the rich should be
especially careful not to dissipate the savings of the poor by violence,
craft or usury, and this all the more because the poor have no sufficient
protection against wrong-doers and their own impotence ; the more
scant their property the more sacred it ought to be.” Leo XIII,
Encycl. Rerum novarum (p. 334 below).
804 Mt. x 37 ; Lk. xiv, 26 ; Acts v, 29, ‘ We have to obey God rather
than men ’ ; Leo XII, Encycl. Quod Apostolici muneris, Dec. 28, 1878
(p. 335 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., II-II, civ, 5.
aos “ There can be no doubt whatever that in choosing a state of life
everyone is free to make deliberate choice either of following Christ’s
counsel of virginity or of entering the married state,” Leo XIII, Encycl.
Rerum novarum.
806 Exod. xx, 13; Deut. v, 17; Mt. v, 21-22, 43-47 5 xviii, 6-9.
Hence by this commandment it is forbidden to procure abortion.
But to repel force by force against an unjust aggressor, while careful
to preserve due moderation in a blameless self-defence is permitted
by every law and right.
126
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(223) How can harm be done to the soul ?
Harm can be done to the soul by scandal, that is by
wrong words or deeds giving occasion of spiritual hai m to
our neighbour. 207
(224) To what are we bound if we do harm to our neighbour ?
If we do harm to our neighbour’s person we are bound to
make restitution, so far as we can, for the harm we have
inflicted.
(225) Does God by this Commandment forbid suicide ?
By this Commandment God forbids suicide because,
like murder, it is contrary to jusdee, since it infringes God’s
rights over the life of man ; it is also contrary to the charity
that we owe to ourselves and others, and of its very nature
it deprives us of time for repentance. 200
(226) Does this Commandment also forbid duelling ?
This Commandment also forbids duelling undertaken
on private authority, no matter for what reason ; for duel¬
ling incurs the malice both of murder and suicide. 209
(227) Are the above the only acts forbidden by this Command¬
ment ?
This Commandment forbids not only the above-men¬
tioned acts but private revenge, anger, hatred, envy,
quarrels, and disputes, for these readily lead to the above-
mentioned acts. 210
I
8 §
Article 3. The Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue.
(228) What does God forbid in the Sixth Commandment-
“ Thou shalt not commit adultery ” ?
207 gt. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., II—II, xliii, 1.
aos Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1240, sect, i, no. 3, and can. 2350, sect. 2
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., II—II, lxiv, 5.
209 Alexander VII, the second of the Propositions condemned, Sept. 24, 166
(p. 336 below) ; Leo XIII, Ep, Pastoralis officii, Sept. 22, 1891 (p. 33
below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1240, 1, no. 4, and can. 2351.
210 Mt. v, 21-22 ; I. Jn. iii, 15.
1
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE 1 27
In the Sixth Commandment—" Thou shalt not commit
adultery ”—God forbids not only infidelity to one another
on the part of married people, but also any other external
sin against chastity and anything that may lead to sins of
impurity. 211
(229) What are the principal things that lead to sins
against chastity, and which should therefore be carefully
avoided ?
Apart from the suggestions of the devil and the impulse
of concupiscence, the principal things that lead to sins
against chastity and are therefore to be carefully avoided
are idleness, intemperance in food and drink, bad com¬
pany, bad talk and reading, debasing plays, immodest
dances and dress, dangerous familiarities and occasions. 212
(230) What are the usual consequences of sins of incontinence ?
Besides the harm often resulting to a person’s health, the
usual consequences of sins of incontinence are dullness of
the mind, loss of the fear of God, distaste for divine things
211 Exod. XX, 14 ; Deut. v, 18 ; Mt. v, 27-28 ; Rom. j, 26-27 ; I Cor.
v, 9ff; vi, 9-10, i 3 ff; Ephes. v, 3-7 ; I Thess. iv, 4 ; I Tim. i, 9-10 ;
Heb. xiu, 4. Sms against chastity result from incontinence or luxuria,
which is defined as disorderly desire or use of venereal things ; when
willed directly, expressly intended, and admitted into the mind with
full deliberation, it is always mortal sin. The Sixth Commandment of
the Decalogue forbids external sins of luxuria ; the Ninth forbids in¬
ternal ones.
m Prov. vii, sff; Ecclus. ix 1-13 ; xix, 2 ; xlii, 12 ; I Cor. xv, 33 ;
Ephes. v, 3—45 18 j Coloss, iii, 8 ; Pius XI, Encycl. Divini illius Magistri,
Dec. 31, 1929 (p. 330 below). If you would preserve the fair virtue of
chastity you will need a far greater watchfulness than is called for in
preserving the other virtues, for it is not simply a question of external
assailants plotting to rob you of your treasure, but also of pleasureable
desires and movements from within, which have their origin in our
sinful flesh. Moreover, no matter how much care you take, it will
all be in vain unless you have the support of God’s grace, which, however,
will never be refused when rightly asked for. It is a good practice,
then, to say the prayer which a priest says when preparing for Mass :
| Consume, O Lord, with the fire of Thy Holy Spirit our reins and our
heart that so we may serve Thee with a chaste body and please Thee
with a clean heart.”
128
the catholic catechism
and the practice of virtue, hardness of heart, loss of the
faith, and sometimes final impenitence.
( 2 ,0 What are the chief means for preserving chastity?'
The chief means for preserving chastity are guarding and
mortifying; the senses, the avoidance of dangerous occasions,
SSSISe in food and drink, prayer, a real devouon to
the Blessed Virgin, and especially frequent confession and
communion.
Article 4 ■ The Seventh Commandment oj the Decalogue.
( 23 2) What does God forbid in the Seventh Commandment—
“ Thou shalt not steal ” ?
In the Seventh Commandment—“ Thou shalt not steal ”
-God forbids all unjust taking of another person’s property
or damaging it, also co-operation in so doing.
(221) To what are those bound who break this Commandment'.
Those who break this Commandment are bound m
justice, so far as they can, to restore the other persons
property and make good any damage done.
(234) When does the obligation of restitution and reparation
become grave ? _
The obligation of restitution and reparation becomes
grave when according to common estimation the matter ra
question is serious, or when grave harm has been done
to the owner.
Article 5. The Eighth Commandment of the Decalogue.
( 2 o.) What does God forbid in the Eighth Commandment --|
1 M « Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neigh-j
hour ”? . n ..
21s 7 nh vxxi q—12, Prov. xxiii, 27 ; xxix, 3 ; Ecclus. xix, 3 ; Usee iv,
L. v ’t] R 'fpll w 4 ,^-4^ C si.Thomas AquinL, SummM,
H I? Sii f where he Enumerates among the daughters of luxum
bUndEess of heart, heedlessness
of God love of the present world and horror of the ne .
su Exo d. xx, 15 ; Dent, v, 19 1 1 Cor. vi, 10 ; Apoc. ix, 21.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, OR DECALOGUE I2Q
In the Eighth Commandment—“ Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbour ”—God forbids lying,
false swearing, and any harm we may do to our neighbour
by our words. 215
(236) How do we injure our neighbour by words ?
We injure our neighbour by words especially by calumny,
detraction, insults, and rash judgments, or by betraying
secrets. 216
(237) To what are they bound who have injured their neighbour's
reputation by words ?
Those who have injured their neighbour’s reputation
by words are bound in justice to repair it so far as they
can, and to make compensation for the damage done ; if
the damage done is great the obligation to repair it becomes
grave.
Article 6. The two last Commandments of the Decalogue.
(238) What does God forbid in the Ninth Commandment —
“ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife ” ?
!16 Exod. xx, 16 ; Deut. v, 20 ; Prov. vi, 19 ; xii, 22 ; Wisd. i, 11 ;
Ecclus. vii, 13 ; xx, 26-28 ; Ephes. iv, 25 ; Coloss, iii, 9.
216 A lie strictly so-called is a statement that is knowingly untrue, and
of its very nature calculated to lead a person into error. Calumny
means damage done to another person’s reputation by circulating to
his discredit a story which is untrue. Detraction means damaging our
neighbour’s reputation by circulating without any good reason stories
about him which are true but not otherwise known. Contumely is,
strictly-speaking, dishonour offered to another’s reputation when he is
actually or at least morally present; though in a general sense it
applies also to dishonour thus offered in a person’s absence, whether by
word of mouth or in writing. Rash judgment is a positive judgment that
a person has committed such and such a sin, yet without there being
sufficient grounds to go upon. Betrayal of secrets means unjustly dis¬
covering for oneself, or making known to others, something that is
hidden or should be kept hidden; it also includes making use of know¬
ledge thus obtained. “The whisperer and the double-tongued is
accursed, for he hath troubled many that were at peace,” Ecclus.
XXV iii, 15 ; Prov. viii, 13. St. Thomas says : “ To take away another’s
reputation is a very grave thing, since a man’s reputation seems to be the
most precious of his temporal possessions ; if he loses it he is prevented
from doing many good actions, as we read : ‘ Take heed of a good
name ; for this shall continue with thee more than a thousand treasures
precious and great,’ Ecclus. xli, 15.” ( Summa Theol., II—II, lxxiii, 2.)
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
In the Ninth Commandment—“ Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour’s wife God forbids not only such unchaste
desires but also every interior thought contrary to chastity,
just as the Sixth Commandment expressly forbids external
acts. 217
(239) What does God forbid in the Tenth Commandment —
“ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours goods ” ?
In the Tenth Commandment—“ Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbour’s goods God forbids all unjust and inordinate
desire for another’s property. 218
(240) What is the sum of all the Commandments of the Deca¬
logue ?
The sum of all the Commandments of the Decalogue is :
“ Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart,
and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and thy
neighbour as thyself.” 219
(241) Are all people bound to the observance of the duties proper
to their state of life ?
All are bound to the careful observance of the duties
proper to their state of life—that is, of those duties to which
they are bound in virtue of their position or office.
*» Exod. xx, 17 ; Deut. v, 21.
218 Exod. xx, 17 ; Deut. v, 21 ; I. Tim. vi, 10.
“» Lev. xix, 18 ; Deut. vi, 5 ; Mt. xxu, 37-40 ; Mk. xu, 3 °~ 3 i 5 J
x, 27 ; Rom. xiii, 10 ; Gal. v, 14 ; 3 at. u, 8 ; St. Leo the Gre
Sermo ix, De Jejunio septimi mensis : “ Love of our neighbour is love
God, who declared that the fulness of the law and the Prophets lay
this unity of a twofold love ” ; see St Thomas Aquinas, Summa Thet
I-II, c, 3 ad I ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, 111 , 1,1.
CHAPTER V
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
(242) How many Precepts of the Church are there ?
There are many Precepts of the Church, and a Catholic
is bound to keep them all—for example, not to have in
his possession or to read forbidden books ; not to join
Masonic or similar societies ; to forego all solemnities in a
marriage taking place within the forbidden times ; not
to cremate the bodies of the faithful ; as well as other
things. At the beginning of this Catechism only five Pre¬
cepts of the Church are enumerated, for these more
particularly concern the ordinary spiritual life of the
faithful in general.
Section I. The First Precept of the Church.
(243) What does the Church lay down in the First Precept —
“ On Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation to
hear Mass and refrain from servile works ” ?
In this First Precept—“ On Sundays and other Holy
Days of Obligation to hear Mass and to refrain from servile
works ”—the Church lays down the way in which we are
to sanctify Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation ;
this is done especially by hearing Mass and refraining from
servile works. 220
(244) Does not the very law of nature demand that a man should
devote a certain amount of time to the service of God ?
The very law of nature demands that a man should
devote a certain amount of time to the service of God, so
that, freed from business and bodily toil, he may devoutly
!S0 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1248.
131
jg 2 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
worship and venerate God his Creator, from whom too
he has received innumerable benefits. 221
(245) Which are the Holy Days of Obligation observed in the
Universal Church ?
The Holy Days of Obligation observed in the Universal
Church in addition to the Sundays, are Christmas Day,
the Circumcision, the Epiphany, the Ascension, Corpus
Christi, the Immaculate Conception, the Assumption of our
Blessed Lady, St. Joseph, the Apostles SS. Peter and Paul, J
and All Saints. 222
(246) How, in addition to hearing Mass, ought a Christian to
occupy himself on Sundays and other Holy Days of
Obligation ?
In addition to hearing Mass it is only fitting that a
Christian should on Sundays and other Holy Days of
Obligation devote himself to works of piety and religion so
far as he can, especially by assisting at the ceremonies of
the Church, hearing sermons and instructions.
(247) What works are called “ servile ” ?
Those works are said to be “ servile ” which are per¬
formed by serfs or for wages ; they are more particularly !
such as involve bodily labour and are concerned mainly
with bodily gain.
(248) Are any servile works permitted on Sundays and other
Holy Days of Obligation ?
Those servile works are permitted on Sundays and
other Holy Days of Obligation which particularly concern
the service of God or the ordinary necessities of domestic
and public life ; also such as are demanded by charity,
or such as could not be omitted without grave inconveni¬
ence ; such, too, as approved custom allows.
221 Catechism of the Council of Trent, III, iv, 11.
222 Codex Juris Canonici, can. I247ff. In England the Feasts of the
Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph are not Holy Days of Obligation.
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH 133
(249) Ought we on Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation
to refrain only from servile works ?
On Sundays and other Holy Days of Obligation we ought
to refrain not only from servile works but also from public
undertakings and—unless legitimate custom or some con¬
cession allows it—from commerce, marketing and public
buying and selling.
(250) Do those sin who do not keep the precept regarding Sundays
and other Holy Days of Obligation, or prevent others
from doing so ?
Those who without just cause, do not keep the precept
regarding Sundays or other Holy Days of Obligation, or
prevent others from doing so, sin gravely.
Section II. The Second Precept of the Church.
(251) What does the Church lay down in the Second Precept —
“ On days appointed by the Church, to fast and abstain
from flesh meat ” ?
In the Second Precept—“ On days appointed by the
Church, to fast and abstain from flesh meat”—the Church
lays down that on days appointed by her we are either
to fast, or to abstain from flesh meat, or both to fast
and abstain from flesh meat as well. 223
(252) What does the law of fasting command?
The law of fasting commands that there should be only
one full meal in the day, but it does not forbid us to
take a small quantity of food in the morning and evening,
if we keep to the local custom regarding its quantity and
quality.
(253) What does the law of abstinence from flesh meat forbid ?
The law of abstinence from flesh meat forbids us to eat
meat or soup made from meat, but it does not forbid the use
of eggs, milk-foods or any condiments made from animal
fats.
222 Codex Juris Canonici, can. i25off.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(254) On what days do these laws bind ?
Unless there is a dispensation granted by lawful authority,
i. the law of abstinence binds on every Friday ;
ii. the law of fasting and abstinence binds on Ash
Wednesday, the Fridays and Saturdays of Lent,
the Ember Days, the Vigils of Pentecost, of the
Assumption of our Blessed Lady, and of All Saints
and on Christmas Eve ;
iii. the law of fasting binds on every day of Lent
except the Sundays.
(255) Are there certain days on which these laws do not bind?
On Sundays, and other Holy Days of Obligation, and
on Holy Saturday after mid-day, the laws of abstinence
only, or of fasting and abstinence combined, or of fasting
only, do not bind except when the Holy Day of Obligation
falls during Lent. Vigils are not anticipated. 224
(256) Who are bound to keep the laws of fasting and abstinence ?
Unless lawfully excused or dispensed, all who are of j
sane mind and have completed their seventh year are|g
bound to abstain, while all who have completed their
twenty-first year are bound to fast until they begin their
sixtieth year.
(257) Why does the Church prescribe fasting and abstinence ?
The Church prescribes fasting and abstinence so that
the faithful may do penance for the sins they have com-
mitted, may be shielded from future sins, and may give
themselves more effectively to prayer. 226
Section III. The Third and Fourth Precepts of the
Church.
(258) What does the Church lay down in the Third Precept—
“ to confess our sins at least once a year ” ?
224 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1252, par. 4.
225 Tob. xii, 8 ; Joel ii, 12, 15 ; Aft. vi, 16 ; ix, 15 ; xvii, 20 ;Mk.
ii, 20 ; Lk. ii, 37 ; v, 35 ; Rom. xiii, 13 ; II Cor. vi, 5 ; xi, 27 ; Ephes.
v, 18 ; I Thess. v, 6 ; Tit. ii, 2.
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
J 35
In the Third Precept—“ to confess our sins at least once
a year ”—the Church lays down that as soon as they have
come to the age of discretion the faithful must, at least
once a year, confess all mortal sins not directly remitted
in previous confessions. 226
(259) What does the Church lay down in the Fourth Precept —
“ to receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at least
at Easter ” ?
In the Fourth Precept—“ to receive the Sacrament of
the Holy Eucharist at least at Easter ”—the Church lays
down that all the faithful who have reached the age of
discretion shall receive the Holy Eucharist at least at
Easter or thereabouts. 227
(260) Should the faithful fulfil this Precept each according to
his own rite and in his own parish church ?
Although the faithful are not strictly bound to do so
yet it is advi able that each should fulfil this precept accord¬
ing to his own rite and in his own parish church. Those,
however, who fulfil it according to another rite or in another
parish should take care to inform their parish priest that
they have fulfilled their obligation. 228
(261) Why does the Church add to the Third and Fourth
Precepts the words —“ at least ” ?
The Church adds to these two Precepts the words “ at
least ” to teach us that it is most fitting and in accordance
with her wishes that the faithful—even those conscious
226 Lateran IV, cap. xxi (p. 337 below) : Trent, Sess. xiv, De Poeni-
tentia, cap. v. (p. 338 below). If you desire to keep free from sin and
lead a life such as befits a Christian, then go frequently to Confession
and be careful to prepare yourself well; try, too, always to go to
Confession as though this were your last and you were about to die.
And when you have received absolution thank God who has shown
you such mercy ; if possible say your penance at once.
227 Lateran IV, cap. xxi (p. 337 below) ; Trent, Sess. xiii, De Euchar-
istia can. 9 (p. 338 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 859, par. 1.
228 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 859, par. 3, and 866, par. 2. In the
Latin Church Holy Communion is received under one kind only ;
in many of the Churches of the East under both kinds.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
of only venial sin or of mortal sins already directly remitted
_should often go to confession, and that they should fre¬
quently, even every day, devoutly receive Holy Com¬
munion. 229
(262) What is the age of discretion at which the precepts of
Confession and Communion begin to bind?
The age of discretion at which the precepts of Confession
and Communion begin to bind is the age at which a child
begins to reason, that is about his seventh year more or
less. 230
(263) Does this obligation which children incur also fall upon
others ?
This obligation which children incur falls chiefly on
those who have care of them, that is on their parents,
guardians, teachers, confessors and parish priests. 231
(264) What knowledge of Christian doctrine is requisite so
that a child can and ought to be admitted to his First
Communion ?
For a child’s admission to his First Communion,
i. if he is in danger of death it is enough for him to
know how to distinguish between the Body of
Christ and ordinary bread, and so be able to adore
It with reverence ;
ii. when there is no danger of death a child must also
know, according to his capacity, those mysteries
of the faith which are necessary as means of salva¬
tion ; he must also be able to distinguish the Bread
229 See the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, , Sacra
Tridentina Synodus, Dec. 20, 1905 (p. 338 below) ; also the Decree
Omni singulari of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of the
Wraments no vi, Aug. 8, 1910. Go frequently to Holy Communion
w“ent desires and in purity of soul. There is no more preciom
moment than that in which you hold so closely and intimately un ed
with yourself the Saviour who loves you. Do not grudge spending
some time with Him in thanksgiving. _
230 See the above Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline
of the Sacraments, no. i (p. 339 below).
231 Ibid. no. iv (p. 339 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, cans. 860 and 1340.
THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH
m
of the Holy Eucharist from common bread, so that
he may be able to receive the Holy Eucharist
with a devotion proportionate to his age. 232
(265) To what are children bound after their First Communion ?
After their First Communion children are bound to
learn gradually and according to their capacity the entire
Catechism especially prepared for those who have made
their First Communion. 233
(266) What is the duty on this point of parents and of others who
have care of children ?
On this point it is the grave duty of parents and of others
who have care of children to see that they go to the public
Catechism classes ; if they cannot go, then those responsible
must provide for their religious education in some other
(267) How long does Paschal time, or the time during which
people must receive Holy Communion, last?
The Paschal time appointed for the reception of Holy
Communion lasts from Palm Sunday to Low Sunday unless
some further concession is granted by lawful authority. 235
(268) Does the obligation of receiving Holy Communion cease
if it has not been fulfilled during Paschal time ?
The obligation of receiving Holy Communion, if not
fulfilled during Paschal time, does not cease, and must
be obeyed within the same year at the first opportunity.
(269) Is the obligation of yearly Confession and Easter Com¬
munion fulfilled by a sacrilegious Confession or Com¬
munion, or by a deliberate bad Confession ?
832 See the above Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline
of the Sacraments, nos. ii and iii (p. 339 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici ,
can. 854 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iv, 62-63, and v, 44.
The conditions requisite for fitting and devout reception of Holy Com¬
munion are set out under questions 399 ff.
833 See the above Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline
of the Sacraments, no. ii (p. 339 below).
234 Ibid. no. vi (p. 340 below).
836 Codex Juris Canonici , can. 859, par. 2.
3 the catholic catechism
Th ' S""nS;
munion is fulfil ed , a deliberate bad Confession ; in
,„d Comm* norTy a * the obliga.ion
fact, owing to the presence
is only increased.
Section IV. The Fifth Precept of the Church.
<**>
* *
Church and liei cie gy ,• t jie temporal nccessi-
tions and accepted custom.
(27 x) Why is this enjoined? ^ ^ faithful
1 T Id Wh ° W ° rk f ° r thd f
salvation^ so *a f t they may be able to meet the expenses of
divine worship and support themselves decendy.
m Cod* Juris Canonici, can. 902 ' Decree of the Congregation of the
Office!Sept. 24, .665 (P- 340 ^ ^ ^ 4 ; , Titn.
Holy umce, ocpi. -j I Cor. ix 9-14; 1 lim -
“» Deut. xviii, 178 ; Mt. x, 1 o ; • x ’ ' ’ Thomas Aquinas Summa
v 18 ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1502 .
Theol!, II-II, lxxxvii, 1.
CHAPTER VI
THE EVANGELICAL COUNSELS
(272) In addition to the Commandments of God and the Precepts
K of the Church are there certain Counsels ?
In addition to the Commandments of God and the Pre¬
cepts of the Church there are certain Counsels first given
by Christ in the Gospel, whence their name of “ Evangelical
Counsels.”
(273) What are Evangelical Counsels ?
' Evangelical Counsels are means set before us by Christ
whereby people may more easily and completely attain to
spiritual perfection.
(274) What are the chief Evangelical Counsels ?
The chief Evangelical Counsels are voluntary poverty,
perfect chastity, and entire obedience, undertaken for the
love of Jesus Christ. 238
(275) How does the practice of these Counsels secure the more
easy and complete attainment of spiritual perfection.
The practice of these Counsels makes the attainment
of spiritual perfection more easy and complete because by
dedicating to God our wills by obedience, our bodies by
5 Chastity, external good things by poverty, we are led on to
more perfect charity. 239
(276) Who should practise the Evangelical Counsels ?
Those should practise the Evangelical Counsels who have
freely bound themselves to do so—for example Religious
238 For poverty see Mt. xix, 21 ; Mk. x, 21 ; Lk. xviu, 22 ; for chastity,
Mt. xix. 12 ; 1 Cor. vii, 25, 32, 34 ;. for obedience, Lk. x, 16 , Jn. xm,
20 ; St. Thomas, Summa Theol., II-II, lxxxvi, 9, ad im.
238 Pius XI, Encycl. Qitas primas, Dec. 11, 1925, towards the en
(p. 340 below) ; St.Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I-II, cvm, 4.
139
i .
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
who are bound by vow to the observance of the three
Evangelical Counsels in accordance with the rule of their
own particular Institute. 240
(277) Do we need any special help to believe as we ought the
things taught by our faith, to keep God’s Commandments
and the Church’s Precepts, and to practise the Evangelical
Counsels ?
To believe as we ought the things taught by our faith,
to keep God’s Commandments and the Precepts of the
Church, and to practise the Evangelical Counsels, we need
the grace of God. 241
K
240 Those who, in following a divine vocation, embrace any religious
Institute approved by the Church, while they strive, each according
to his capacity, to attain to Christian perfection in accordance with the
evangelical counsels, also forward the salvation of their neighbours;
and are exceedingly helpful to civil society as a whole by their assiduity;
in prayer, by the example afforded by their virtues, or by their care
for the sick and indigent of all sorts, also by educating youth, or by their
theological learning. It is only fitting, then, that not only individuals!
but families and States as well, should treat such people with reverence:
and give proof of their admiration for them and their gratitude tp
them. See Leo XIII, Epist. to Cardinal Gibbons , Jan. 22, 1899, (p.
helow) ; also Us Epist. to Cardinal Richard, Dec. 23, 1900 (p. 342 bdo
Pius XI, Epist. Unigenitus Dei Filius, March 19, 1924 (P* 343
Codex Juris Canonid, can. 487.
1 Jn. xv, 5 ; I Cor. iii, 6 ; iv, 7 ; II Cor. iii, 5 ; Ephes. ii. 8-10.
I
ife
m
CHAPTER VII
GRACE
(278) What is grace ?
Grace is a supernatural gift freely bestowed by God on
rational creatures so that they may attain to eternal life. 242
(279) How many kinds of grace are there ?
There are two kinds of grace—habitual (also called
sanctifying or justifying grace, or grace that makes us
pleasing to God) and actual.
(280) What is habitual grace ?
Habitual grace is a supernatural quality dwelling in the
soul, by which man is made a partaker in the divine nature,
a temple of the Holy Ghost, a friend of God, His adopted
son, and heir to the glory of Heaven, and so capable of
performing acts meriting eternal life. 243
(281) Is habitual grace necessary for obtaining eternal life ?
Habitual grace is absolutely necessary for all, even
infants, if they would obtain eternal life.
(282) What do we merit by the good deeds we perform when
justified by God’s grace and the merits of Christ ?
242 The “ supernatural ” is that which exceeds nature. It is of two
kinds : i. when it transcends nature by the way in which it happens,
though the fact itself belongs to the natural order, for example when
life is restored to a dead person ; ii. when the fact itself in its essential
character completely transcends the whole natural order, since it
shares in the intimate life of God Himself, as, for example, sanctifying
grace, the infused virtues and their corresponding acts, so, too, life
eternal or the intuitional vision of God and beatific love of Him.
243 Wisd. vii, 14 ; Jn. i, 12-13 ; iii, 5 ; xv, 4, 14 ; Rom. v, 5 ; viii,
14-17 ; I Cor. iv, 7 ; xii, 3 ; Ephes. ii, 8 ff; II Pet. i, 4 ; I jn, iii, 1 ;
Trent, Sess. vi, De Justificatione, can. 11 (p. 343 below). St. Cyril of
Alexandria, in Joann, i, 9 (p. 344 below).
141
142
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
By the good deeds we perform when justified by the
grace of God and the merits of Christ, we merit an increase
in grace, the attainment of eternal life—if, that is, we depart
this life in the grace of God—and an increase in glory. 844
(283) How is habitual grace lost ?
Habitual grace is lost by any mortal sin. 245
(284) How is habitual grace regained ?
Habitual grace is regained by giving up mortal sin and
at the same time making use of the means appointed by
Christ for winning justification.
(285) Can any good works at all be performed when one is in
a state of mortal sin ?
When one is in a state of mortal sin some good works can
be performed which, while they do not merit eternal life,
yet do, with the help of actual grace, dispose a sinner for
justification. 246
(286) What is actual grace ?
Actual grace is a supernatural help from God by which
He enlightens our minds and moves our wills to do good
and shun evil for the sake of eternal life. Unlike habitual
grace, actual grace is not a quality dwelling in the soul,
but a divine impulse from without, moving a person to
perform acts beyond his natural powers, such as an act of
contrition. 847
244 Orange II, can. 18 (p. 344 below) ; Trent, Sess. vi, De Justi-
ficatione, can. 32 (p. 344 below).
245 Rom. vi, 23 ; I Cor. vi, gff; Jas. i, 15 ; I Jn. iii, 8 ; Trent, Sess.
vi, De Justification, can. 27 (p. 345 below) ; St. Basil, Sermo Ascettcus, 1
(p. 273 below). For these means see under qu. 178.
246 Ecclus. xxi, 1 ; Ezech. xviii, 30 ; Dan. iv, 24 ; Rom. ii, 14 ; .Trent,
Sess. vi, De Justification, can. 27 (p. 345 below) ; St. Augustine, Dt
Spiritu et litlera, 48 (p. 346 below).
247 See St. Ephraem, De Epiphania, x, 14 (p. 347 below) ; St. Cyril of
Alexandria, De Adoratione in spiritu et veritate, 1 (p. 347 below). Only
interior grace is divided into habitual and actual, but under the general
term “ grace ” we can, and frequently do, understand any gift freely
bestowed on men by God for the sake of their eternal salvation, for
GRACE
H 3
(287) Is actual grace necessary for us ?
Actual grace is absolutely necessary for us if we would
do good and shun evil for the sake of eternal life. For
since eternal life belongs to the supernatural sphere, we
cannot by our merely natural powers think or desire or
do anything, as we ought, to attain to it. 248
(288) Does God grant to all the graces they need for eternal
life?
God, who wishes all men to be saved, grants to all the
graces they need for obtaining eternal life. But people
who are grown up must, if they would attain to eternal
life, freely co-operate with His help, which by inspiring
good desires anticipates our good deeds, and by actual
help furthers them. 249
(289) Which are the chief means for obtaining God's grace ?
The chief means for obtaining God’s grace are prayer,
whereby we ask for it, and the use of the Sacraments, which
contain it and apply it.
example such external graces as a good upbringing, the Sacraments,
the teaching office of the Church, sermons, reading good books, advice
given to us, or punishments ; sicknesses too, and the various trials and
discomforts of life, even death itself; all these can rightly be termed at
times the actual graces of God so far as they are ordained or directed
by His all-seeing Providence for our salvation. It is most important that
a Christian should strive to see in this light all the events of his life.
248 II Cor. iii, 5 ; Phil, ii, 13 ; Orange II, can. 3ff. (p. 347 below) ;
Trent, Sess. vi, De Justificalione, can. 1-3 (p. 349 below) ; St. Gregory
Nazianazen, Oratio, xxxvii, 13 (p. 349 below) ; St. John Chrysostom,
Horn, xxv, 7, in Genesim (p. 350 below).
242 Ezech. xxxiii, 11 ; Jn. i, 9 ; I Tim. ii, 4 ; iv, 1 o ; II Pet. iii, 9 ;
Trent, Sess. vi, De Juslificatione, cap. 11, (p. 327 below) ; Innocent X,
Contra errores Jansenii, Prop, i, May 31, 1653 (p. 350 below) ; St. Chry-
ostom, Horn, xvi, 4, in Ep. ad Hebr. (p. 350 below).
CHAPTER VIII
PRAYER
Section I. Prayer in General.
(290) What is prayer?
Prayer is the devout raising up of the soul to God, to
adore Him, to thank Him for benefits received, to beg
His pardon for our sins, and to ask Him for other things
necessary or useful for ourselves or for others.
(291) Is it necessary for us to pray ?
It is necessary for us to pray, because God so wills, anc
also because God does not, as a rule, give the aid wt
always need, except to those who ask Him for it. 2j0
(292) How many kinds of prayer are there ?
There are two kinds of prayer : mental prayer, wherein
we speak to God with our minds and our hearts and medi¬
tate upon the truths of eternity ; vocal prayer, which, while
spoken with the lips, is accompanied by the attention of
the mind and the heart’s devotion.
(293) How many kinds of vocal prayer are there ?
Vocal prayer is of two kinds ; private prayer, whether
offered by individual people or by a family together,
either for themselves or for others, but not through the
250 Ecclus. xviii, 22 ; Aft. vii, 7-8 ; Hz. xi, 9“*3 > xviii, 1 ; Rom.
xii, 12 ; Ephes. vi, 18 ; Coloss, iv, 2 ; I Thess. v, 17 ; St. John Chry¬
sostom, Horn, xxx, 5, in Genesim (p. 350 below) ; Catechism of the Council
of Trent, IV, i, 2. As breathing is needful for the life of the body so
prayer for the life of the soul : whoso is in the habit of praying works
for his salvation, whoso has no habit of prayer works for his own
damnation. Pray, then, often, constantly beseech God from your
heart. Learn some practical form of morning and evening prayers,
and in times of temptation humble yourself before God ; grave deeply
in your heart the words : “ He knows how to live well who knows how
to pray well.”
|
I
I
144
PRAYER
145
Church’s ministers ; public prayer, offered by the Church’s
ministers and in the name of the Church ; when it is set
forth by the Church in her liturgical books this latter is
also called liturgical prayer.
(294) What should we chiefly ask for in prayer ?
In prayer we should chiefly ask for the glory of God,
for eternal salvation for ourselves and for others, and the
necessary suitable means for obtaining it. 251
(295) Are we allowed to pray for temporal good things ?
We are allowed to pray for temporal good things if they
are in accordance with God’s will—according, that is, as
they make for the glory of God, or help our own eternal
salvation or that of others, or at least do not hinder it. 252
(296) To whom is prayer addressed ?
All prayer is addressed to God, who alone can give us
what we ask ; but, that they may intercede for us with
God, we pray also to all the Blessed in Heaven, especially
the Blessed Virgin, and even to the souls in Purgatory. 253
(297) How ought we to pray so that our prayers may be heard ?
That our prayers may be heard they should be offered
in the name of Jesus Christ, on whose merits they depend ;
they should be devout, full of faith, hope and humility,
also persevering. 254
(298) How is it that we do not always obtain what we ask for in
our prayers ?
Sometimes we do not obtain what we ask for in our
prayers; this is either because we do not ask right, or
251 Mt. vi, 9-13 ; xxi, 22 ; xxvi, 41.
262 Aft. viii, 2, 6, 25 ; ix, 18 ; xv, 22 ; xvii, 14 ; Aft. i, 40-42 ; vii,
32 ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., II-II, lxxxiii, 6 ; Catechism
of the Council of Trent, IV, iv, i, ff.
268 Tob. xii, 12 ; Job xlii, 8 ; II Macc. xv, 14 ; Apoc. v, 8 ; viii, 3.
261 Tob. xii, 8 ; Ecclus. xxxv, 21 ; Aft. vi, 5-6 ; vii, 7-11 ; xvii, 20;
xxi, 22 ; Mk. xi, 24 ; Jn. xvi, 23-24 ; Jas. i, 5-6 ; iv, 3 ; v, 16-18 ;
St. Augustine, Tract, cii, in Joann, (p. 351 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theol., II-II, lxxxiii, 4.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
146
because we ask for what is not expedient for us ; but we
are not therefore to suppose that God will not in His
good time give us other and even greater graces.
(200) Which is the most perfect of all prayers ?
The most perfect of all prayers is the :
“ Our Father ”, to which is usually added the Angelic
Salutation or “ Hail Mary.
Section II. The “ Our Father ” and “ Hail Mary.”
Article 1. The “ Our Father .”
(ooo) Why is the “ Our Father ” called the Lord’s Prayer?
The “ Our Father ” is called the Lord’s Prayer, because
our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught it to us.
(, 0 i) Why is the Lord’s Prayer the most perfect of all prayers ?
The Lord’s Prayer is the most perfect of all prayers
because it contains all that we ought to ask for, whether
concerning God, in the first three petitions or as regards
ourselves and our neighbour, in the remaining petitions.
(302) Whom do we invoke by the words “ Our Father ?
By the words “ Our Father ” we invoke God as a most
loving Father, to show our love and trust in Him, an
incline his goodness and mercy towards us.
(303) Why do we call God our Father ?
255 Catechism of the Council of Trent, IV, 11, 4.
258 Ml vi o—1 ci • Lk. xi, 2-4. .
SJS S Sfe
to ask but serves as a guideto all our desire, Ep ^ should
Thomas Aciuinas, Summa Theol., li-H lxxxm, y.
say the Lo?d’s Prayer with proper attention and devotion.
PRAYER
147
We call God our Father not only because He created us,
preserves us and governs us, but specially because by His
grace He makes us His adopted children. 258
(304) Why do we say “ Our Father ” and not “ My Father ” ?
We say “ Our Father ” and not “ My Father ” because,
owing to the gift of the divine adoption, all the faithful are
brethren in Christ, and ought therefore to have feelings
of brotherly love for one another, and should therefore
pray not for themselves alone but for others as well. 259
(305) What do we mean by the words “ Who art in Heaven ” ?
The words “ Who art in Heaven ” make us think of
the infinite power and majesty of God, which shines out so
clearly in the heavens which are His work ; they remind
us too that we have to ask Him for the good things of
Heaven and all that they imply. 260
(306) What do we ask in the first petition —“ Hallowed be
Thy Name ” ?
In the first petition—“ Hallowed be thy Name ”—we
ask that the Holy Name of God may become known to
all men and be praised by all in thought, word and deed. 261
(307) What do we ask in the second petition —“ Thy Kingdom
come ” ?
In the second petition—“ Thy Kingdom come ”—we
ask that God may reign on earth over us and all men by
His grace, and over all society and every nation by His
law, so that at last we may be made partakers of His eternal
glory in heaven. 262
(308) How can we co-operate in the advancement of God’s
Kingdom on earth ?
268 Deut. xxxii, 6 ; Jn. xvi, 26-27 ; Rom. viii, 15-17, 29 ; I Cor. i, 9 ;
I Jn. iii, 1-3 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, ii, 9.
258 Catechism of the Council of Trent, IV, ix, 14ft.
2 «° Ibid, IV, ix, 19-20. 261 Ps. cxii, 1-3 ; Phil, ii, 9-11.
262 Rom. xiv, 17 ; / Cor. vi, 9-10 ; xv, 50 ; Gal. v, 19-21 ; Ephes.
v, 5 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent. IV, xi, i ff.
148 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
We can co-operate in the advancement of God’s Kingdom
on earth by keeping Christ’s law and cultivating the super¬
natural life of grace in ourselves, and by helping forward
the task of the Church by our prayers and our work ; for
the Church’s task is to strive to secure that men’s private
lives, as also their domestic and public lives, should con¬
form to God’s Laws, that those too, who have strayed
away may return to the unity of the Church, and that the
light of the Gospel may spread to those that “ sit in darkness
and the shadow of death.”
(309) What do we ask in the third petition —“ Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in Heaven ” ?
In the third pedtion—“ Thy will be done on earth as it
is in Heaven ”—we ask that as all the Blessed in Heaven
and the souls in Purgatory always and in all things lovingly
do the will of God, so men may do it on earth.
(310) What do we ask in the fourth petition —“ Give us this day
our daily bread ” ?
In the fourth petition— 1 Give us this day our daily
bread ”—we ask that God may give us both spiritual bread—
that is, all things necessary for the spiritual life of the soul
—especially the bread of the Holy Eucharist—and also the
body’s bread, that is, all things needful for the support
of the body.
(311) What do we ask in the fifth petition —“ And forgive us
our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us ” ?
In the fifth petition—" And forgive us our trespasses as
we forgive them that trespass against us,”—we ask God to
forgive us the sins we have committed against Him and
remit the punishments we have deserved for them, as we
ourselves forgive men the offences they commit against us. 263
(312) What do we ask in the sixth petition —“ And lead us not
into temptation ” ?
In the sixth petition—" And lead us not into tempta-
263 Mt. vi, 14-15 ; xviii, 35 ; Mk. xi, 25-26 ; Lk. xi, 4.
PRAYER
•49
tion ’’—acknowledging our own weakness, we turn to
God, praying Him to deliver us from temptations, or
at least to grant us the help of His grace to overcome them.
(313) Why does God permit us to be tempted?
God permits us to be tempted that we may realize our
own weakness, that our faith may be tested, and in order
that overcoming temptation by His grace, we may gain
virtue by practice and obtain the reward of eternal life.
Moreover God will never permit us to be tempted beyond
what, with the help of His grace, we are able to bear. 264
(3 ’ 4 ) Which are the most effective remedies against temptations ?
The most effective remedies against temptations are :
avoidance of dangerous occasions, thought on the Last
Things, and frequent approach to the Sacraments. At
the actual time of temptation make the sign of the Cross,
humbly call on your Guardian Angel and specially on the
Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. 265
(315) What do we ask in the seventh petition —“ But deliver
us from evil ” ?
In the seventh petition—" But deliver us from evil ”—
we ask especially that God may deliver us from spiritual
evil, or sin, and therefore from the devil who induces us to
sin, as also from other evils, at least those that can give us
occasion to sin.
(316) What does the word “Amen” at the end of the last
petition mean ?
tt ^ le WOI ’d Amen ” at the end of the last petition means
" So be it,” that is " as we have prayed ” ; we show thereby
our confidence in God’s promises.
Article 2. The “ Hail Mary.”
( 3 1 7 ) Why do we add the “ Hail Mary ” to the Lord's Prayer ?
Ki J ob \ xi J’ 1 3 J. Wisd iii 5 ; I Cor. x, 13 ; Jas. i, 2, 14 ; II Pet. ii,
9, 1 rent, oess. vi, De Justifications, cap. ii (p. 327 below).
m Prov. xviii, io ; Alt. xvii, 20 ; xxvi, 41.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
We add die “ Hail Mary ” to the Lord’s Prayer in order
that through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary we
may the more easily obtain from God the things we ask
for in the Lord’s Prayer.
(318) Who spoke the words, “ Hail [Mary], full of grace,
the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among women ” ?
The Archangel Gabriel spoke the words “ Hail [Mary]
full of grace, the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among
women,” when he declared to the Blessed Virgin Mary the
mystery of the Incarnation ; hence this prayer is called
the Angelic Salutation. 266
(319) What do we do when we say “ Hail Mary ” ?
When we say, the “ Hail Mary ” we congratulate the
Blessed Virgin Mary on the singular privileges and gifts
which God bestowed on her beyond all other creatures,
and we give glory to God on this account.
(320) Who spoke the words, “ Blessed is the fruit of thy womb,”
and what do they mean ?
St. Elizabeth spoke the words “ Blessed is the fruit of
thy womb,” when she welcomed the Blessed Virgin Mary
as her guest. They mean that Christ the Lord, Son of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, is blessed above all things for ever. 267
(321) Whose are the words, “ Holy Mary, Mother of God
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death,
and what do we ask by them ?
The words : “ Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us
sinners now and at the hour of our death were added by
the Church ; by them we ask for the protection of the
Blessed Virgin Mary in all our needs, but especially at the
hour of our death. 268
(322) Is the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, also our
Mother ?
266 Lk. i, 28. 887 Ibid.
268 The Eastern Churches do not use this latter part of the
Mary,” but add a different prayer to the Angel’s words.
PRAYER
a
■
■M |
The Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, is also our
Mother by that adoption which makes us brothers of her
Son ; and this Jesus Christ Himself confirmed at His
death on the Cross, when He gave all men in the person
of St. John to the Blessed Virgin to be her children, saying,
Woman, behold thy son,” and at the same time gave to
all men His mother to be their mother : “ Behold thv
Mother.” 269 7
(323) What reward do they receive who honour the Blessed
Virgin Mary with loving devotion ?
Those who honour the Blessed Virgin Mary with loving
devotion receive their great reward, that they are in their
turn loved and protected by her with a special motherly
love. 270 y
(324) What devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary does the Church
particularly recommend ?
The devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary which the
hurch particularly recommends is the recitation of the
Rosary.
MU
26 o 27 Rom - Y‘"> 2 ? > Leo XIII, Encycl. Adjutricem
popuh, Sept. 5, ,895 (p 352 below) ; Pius X, Encycl. Ad ilium diem,
fn 2 VT 4 A 352 j e °L W) J Benedict XV > to the Confraternity
of Our Lady of a happy death, March 22, 1918 (p. 353 below) ; Pius XI,
Encycl. Rerum Ecclesiae, Feb. 28, 1926 (p. 353 below).
„ "* Sb Bernard thus urges us to devotion to the Blessed Virgin •
In dangers, in troubles, in doubts, think of Mary, call upon Mary'
.... it you follow her guidance you will not go astray ; if you ask
her, you will not give up hope ; if she upholds you, you will not stumble •
it she protects you, you will not be afraid ; if she leads you, you will
not weary ; if she is kindly to you, you will reach your goal.” Horn.
“ Evang ' , Mts . sus est -” Th «e words of the Saint are confirmed by
many examples given m the Lives of the Saints.
M
CHAPTER IX
THE SACRAMENTS
Section I. The Sacraments in General.
(325) What is meant by a Sacrament of the New Law ?
By a Sacrament of the New Law is meant some sign
perceptible by the senses, instituted by Jesus Christ to
signifiy grace and to confer it on those who worthily receive
the Sacrament. 271
(326) What are the necessary constituents of a Sacrament ?
Three elements go to the making of a sacrament :
i. certain things as the matter ;
ii. certain words as the form ;
iii. a minister conferring the Sacrament with the
intention at least of doing what the Church does.
Lack of any one of the above means that there is no
Sacrament. 272
871 Florence, the Decree for the Armenians (p. 354 below) ; Trent*
Sess. vii, can. 1 and 6 (p. 354 Mow) 1 pius x > Decree Lamentatnli
sane , condemned Propositions 39, 4 °> 4 1 3 July 4 > 1 9 (, 7 (P* 355
below) ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, i, 4.
273 Florence and Trent (can. 11) as in the previous note, pp. 354 and
355 below. From the above it follows that the constitutive elements of
the Sacr am e n ts are, like the Sacraments themselves, of divine institution.
Nor is this contradicted by the fact that, with the Church s approval,
diversities of rites in the administration of the Sacraments are to be
found in various Churches, or at different periods in the history of
the same Church. No variation which is purely a question of accidentals
can be in opposition to the divine institution of the Sacraments, for that
is concerned solely with their substantial matter and the indications
of their form. In cases where the variations are more profound it
is quite allowable to suppose that in the case of certain Sacraments
Christ did not, in instituting them, precisely define m what thar
matter and form consisted, but was content to give general indica¬
tions which should suffice to express the meaning of the Sacrament m
question, while leaving it to the Church to choose proportionate
matter and form.
THE SACRAMENTS
153
(327) How many Sacraments of the New Law are there ?
There are seven Sacraments of the New Law : Baptism,
Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction,
Holy Order, and Matrimony.
(328) Why did Christ institute neither more nor less than seven
Sacraments ?
Christ instituted neither more nor less than seven
Sacraments because these seven are necessary for the
Church to do her work, and they suffice for that purpose.
(329) In what sense are these seven Sacraments necessary and
sufficient for the Church to do her work ?
These seven Sacraments are necessary and sufficient for
the Church to do her work in that the first five Sacraments
are intended to promote the spiritual perfection of the
individual, while the two last are intended to promote
the growth and the government of the whole Church. 273
(330) What grace do the Sacraments confer on us ?
The Sacraments confer on us sanctifying grace or an
increase of it, also sacramental grace or the right to special
assistance whereby we may attain the effect intended by
each Sacrament. 274
(331) How do the Sacraments confer grace?
The Sacraments confer grace on those who put no
hindrance to it, and this by the inherent power bestowed
upon them by Christ who instituted them, or, as we say,
“ ex opere operato.” 275
(332) Who put hindrances to the effect of the Sacraments ?
Those put hindrances to the effect of the Sacraments
who receive them without the dispositions necessary for
receiving grace.
272 Florence, Decree for the Armenians (p. 354 below) ; Catechism of
the Council of Trent, II, i, 20.
2,1 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., Ill, lxii, 2.
276 Trent, Sess. vii, can. 7-8 (p. 356 below) ; St. Augustine, Ep.
xcviii, 2, also Tract, lxxx, 3, in Joann, (p. 356 below).
4 THE catholic catechism
(„ 3 ) Can the personal wickedness of the minister hinder the
effect of the Sacraments he confers ?
The oersonal wickedness of the minister who confers
thJsacraments cannot hinder the effect of the Sacraments,
for irTcxercising his sacred ***££*«* “ *“
own person but in the person of Chnst.
Which are the “ Sacraments of the dead and which
the “ Sacraments of the living ” ?
The " Sacraments of the dead ” are Baptism and Penance ;
the rest are “ Sacraments of the living. |
(oq=) Why are Baptism and Penance called “ Sacraments of
335 of the dead ” and the rest “ Sacraments of the living .
Baptism and Penance are called “ Sacraments of the
, Virrause they were instituted primarily for those
the through sin (actual or original) have no supernamraj
life in other words no sanctifying grace The rest are c
‘‘ Sacraments of the living ” because they are received law¬
fully only by those who already have supei natural le.
(oo6) What sin do they commit who approach the Sacraments of j
of the living in conscious mortal sin. ...
Those who approach the Sacraments of the living m
"<* only receive no grace bu, also
commit a grave sin of sacrilege.
(,, 7 ) Can sanctifying grace or reconciliation with God*
337 obtained even before receiving the Sacraments of the dead.
Even before receiving the Sacraments of t le ea
sanctifying grace or reconciliation with God can be obtamed
bv miking an act of perfect contrition ; yet even m this ca«
riSSation /to let ascribed to this co»«.on onfy
so far as it includes a wish to be baptized or to go to Con ,
fession
(338) ' What do you understand by this wish to receive the Sacra -
ments ?
M« Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, 1, 25.
Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. 4 (p- 357 below).
THE SACRAMENTS
155
This wish to receive the Sacraments must be a genuine,
serious and solid determination to receive them.
( 339 ) Which Sacraments can be received only once ?
The Sacraments that can be received only once are
Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Order, for these stamp
an indelible character on the soul.
(340) What do you mean by sacramental character?
By sacramental character we mean an indelible spiritual
sign stamped on the soul ; even in the next life it remains,
to the glory of those who are saved, to the shame of the
lost. 278
(241) What effect has sacramental character ?
Sacramental character has a two-fold effect : it serves
to distinguish one person from another ; and it fits us to
receive or to exercise some sacred rite . 279
(342) What character is imprinted by the three aforesaid Sacra¬
ments ?
i. Baptism imprints a character whereby a person
becomes a member of the mystical body of Christ that is,
of the Church—and is made fit to receive other Sacraments ;
ii. Confirmation imprints a character whereby a
person becomes a soldier of Christ, and so makes public
profession of his faith ;
Hi. Holy Order imprints a character whereby a man
becomes a minister of Christ with the power to make and
administer the Sacraments. 280
( 343 ) Why are Godparents appointed in Baptism and Con¬
firmation ?
278 St. Augustine. Contra epislolam Parmeniani, ii, 28 (p. 357 below) ;
Codex Juris Canonici, can. 732.
279 Florence, Decree for the Armenians (p. 357 below) ; Trent, Sess.
vii, De Sacramentis, can. 9 (p. 358 below) ; Innocent III, Epist . Majores
Ecclesiae Causas (p. 358 below) ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II,
i, 3off.
280 Catechism of the Council of Trent s II, i, 3 1 *
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
Godparents are appointed in Baptism and Confirmation
in order that they may always watch over those baptized
or confirmed and may see to their Christian education,
more especially if their parents are dead or neglect their
duty. 281
(344) Does any relationship arise from Valid Baptism and
Confirmation ?
From valid Baptism a spiritual relationship arises between
the baptized person and the person baptizing him, also
between the person baptized and his Godparent ; from
valid Confirmation there arises a spiritual relationship
between the person confirmed and his Godparent.
( 345 ) Are all the Sacraments equally necessary ?
All the Sacraments are not equally necessary. Baptism
is necessary for all ; Penance for those who after being
bapdzed have fallen into mortal sin ; Holy Order is
necessary for the Church as a whole, but not for individuals;
Matrimony is necessary for the human race, for the
establishment of the Christian family. 283
(346) Which is the most excellent of all the Sacraments ?
The most excellent of all the Sacraments is the Holy
Eucharist, in which is contained not only grace but the
Author of grace, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is really, truly
and substantially contained therein. 284
( 347 ) What do you understand by “ Sacramentals ” ?
By “ Sacramentals ” we mean certain actions or things
after the pattern of the Sacraments which the Church is
wont to make use of for obtaining by her prayers certain
effects, mainly spiritual ones, for example exorcisms and
devout consecrations and blessings of persons or things.
881 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 762!!. The Eastern Church does nol
have Godfathers for Baptism or Confirmation.
882 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 768, 797, 1079.
283 Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, i, 22.
284 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., III, lxv, 3.
285 Codex Juris Canonici, can. U44ff.
THE SACRAMENTS
!57
Section II. Individual Sacraments.
Article I. Baptism.
(348) What is the Sacrament of Baptism ?
The Sacrament of Baptism is a Sacrament of cleansing
instituted by Jesus Christ; by it the person baptized is
made a member of the true church of Jesus Christ,
obtains remission of original sin and of all actual sins
if he has committed any, with all the punishment due to
them, and becomes capable of receiving the other Sacra¬
ments. 286
( 349 ) What is the matter and what the form of Baptism ?
The remote matter of Baptism is natural water ; the
proximate matter is the washing of the body by the water ;
the form consists in the words : “ I baptize thee in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost.” 287
(35°) What, then, is meant when it is said in the New Testa¬
ment that the Apostles baptized in the Name of Christ ?
When it is said in the New Testament that the Apostles
baptized in the Name of Christ, the meaning is that the
Apostles conferred not the Baptism instituted by John the
Baptist but that instituted by Christ, with the form of
words which our Lord and Saviour had ordered. 288
288 Aft. xvi, 16 ; Acts ii, 38 ; Rom. vi, 3-6 ; I Cor. vi, 11 ; Coloss.
ii, 11—13 ; Tit. iii, 5 ; / Pet. iii, Qi ; Pius X, Decree Lamenlahili sane,
July 3, 1907, the 42nd condemned Proposition (p. 359 below) ; St.
Basil, Horn, xiii, 5 (p. 359 below).
287 To secure washing of the body the water must touch the body,
especially the head ; it should flow in sufficient quantity to enable one
to say that a person is really “ washed,” Mt. xxviii, 19 ; Jn. iii, 3 ;
Acts viii, 36 ; Ephes. v, 26 ; Heb. x, 22 ; Vienne, Constitutio de Trinitate
et Fide (p. 359 below) ; Florence, Decree for the Armenians (p. 359 below) ;
Trent, Sess. vii, can. 2 (p. 360 below) ; Innocent III Epist. Non ut
apponeres, March 1, 1206 (p. 360 below) ; the Didache, vii, 1 (p. 361
below). In the Eastern Church the form of words used is : “The
servant of Christ is (or “ let the servant of Christ be ”) baptited in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.”
288 Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, ii, 16.
158 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(35 0 Who is the minister of Baptism ?
The ordinary minister of Baptism is a priest, but its
administration is reserved to the parish priest or to some
priest delegated by him or by the Bishop of the Diocese ;
the extraordinary minister is a deacon with the permission
of the Bishop or the parish priest of the place, but this is
not conceded save for very good reasons.
(352) Who can confer Baptism in case of necessity ?
In case of necessity anyone can confer Baptism without
the ceremonies. If, however, a priest is present a deacon
yields to him, a subdeacon to a deacon, a layman to a cleric,
a woman to a man unless perhaps for modesty’s sake it
should prove more fitting for a woman to baptize than for
a man, or if again it should prove that the woman knows
the form and the method of baptizing better than the
man. 289
( 353 ) How should the washing be done to secure the validity
of the Baptism ?
To secure the validity of the Baptism the washing should
be done either by immersion in the water or by pouring
the water, or again by sprinkling it, according to the rites
approved in that particular part of the Church. 290
( 354 ) When should children be baptized?
Children are to be baptized as soon as possible ; parents
and others who have care of children sin gravely if they
239 Lateran IV, cap. i (p. 361 below) ; Florence, Decree for the Ar
menians (p. 359 below) ; St. Augustine, Contra Epistolam Parmeniani, ii
29 (p. 361 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 738, 741, 742.
290 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 758 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent
II, ii, j7lF. Baptism by aspersion, however, has fallen into disuse on
the ground that it might well be difficult to say whether a person had
received a bodily washing or not. Consequently a person who has been
baptized by aspersion should be re-baptized conditionally. Those
who teach the Catechism should explain how Baptism is to be given
in case of necessity.
a
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THE SACRAMENTS 159
allow the children to die without Baptism, or if they put
off their Baptism without good reason. 291
(355) With what dispositions should grown-up people come to be
baptized ?
Grown-up people should come to be baptized knowing
well what they are doing and after having been properly
instructed. Moreover if they have committed mortal
sins they must at least make an act of attrition for them. 292
(356) What if a grown-up person is baptized in a state of
conscious mortal sin and has not even attrition for it?
A grown-up person who is baptized in a state of conscious
mortal sin for which he has not even attrition is validly
baptized and receives the baptismal character ; but he
commits a grave sin of sacrilege, nor does he obtain sancti¬
fying grace until he has secured the remission of his sins by
contrition or by attrition co-operating with his Baptism. 293
( 357 ) What is the duty of a baptized person ?
The duty of a baptized person is to make profession of
his faith in Christ in the Catholic Church, and to keep the
commandments of Christ and of the Catholic Church. 294
(358) Is Baptism necessary to all for salvation ?
Baptism is necessary to all for salvation, for Jesus Christ
said : “ Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy
Ghost he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” 293
291 Florence, Decree for the Jacobites (p. 362 below) ; Pius X, Decree
Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907, the 43rd condemned Proposition (p. 362
below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 770.
292 Acts ii, 38 ; Roman Ritual, I, iii, 1 ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 752,
1 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, ii, 40 ; St. Thomas Aquinas,
Commentary on the Sentences, IV, vi, 1, art. 5 ad 5m.
293 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., III, Lxix, 10 ; St. Alphonsus,
Theol. Moralis, VI, i, 3, no. 87.
251 Rom. vi, 3-13 ; Gal. iii, 27 ; Coloss, ii, 12 ; Trent, Sess. vii, can.
7 (P- 3 6 3 below).
296 Jn. iii, 5 ; Carthage (a.d. 418), can. 2 (p. 274 below) ; Florence,
Decree for the Armenians (p. 359 below) ; Trent, Sess. vii, can. 5 (p. 363
below) ; St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, iii, 10 (p. 363 below).
i6q THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(359) What of the souls of those who die without Baptism but
in a state of original sin only ?
The souls of those who die without Baptism but m a state
of original sin only, lack the beatific vision of God
not suffer other penalties such as are reserved for personal
(360) Can anything take the place of Baptism ?
Both martyrdom and an act of love of God can take
the place of Baptism ; but in such an act of love of God,
there is necessarily implied perfect contntion for sin and a
desire to be baptized; moreover only Baptism with water
can confer the baptismal character and render a person
capable of receiving the other Sacraments.
(361) What precisely is the martyrdom which can take the place
of Baptism ?
The martyrdom which can take the place of Baptism
consists in death unjustly inflicted, and-by a g r ^n- P
person-accepted for Christ’s sake, in testimony to his faith
and Christian virtue. 298
(362) Why is the name of some Saint given us at Baptism ?
The name of some Saint is given to us at Baptism in
Innocent III, Epist. Majores, to AeArchbishopof Arte (P- 3.^3
below) ; Pius Vl Const Auctvemfid* ^ 1 St.
IX, Epist. to the Bishops of Italy, Aug. 10, 100^ IF^..1 ^ art . J 2
Thomas Aquinas, Commenta^ on the Sendees W ^ ^ where
tysp^n * is not to be confounded with the
“ Limbo of the Patriarchs,” see under qu. 106.
ten’of blood,” and acts of love of God art
called the “ Baptism of desire.”
sss St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., H-H, cxxiv, 1.
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THE SACRAMENTS
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ill
order that we may have a special patron and also may
find in his life an example of virtue. 299
Article 2. Confirmation.
(363) What is the Sacrament of Confirmation ?
The Sacrament of Confirmation is a Sacrament instituted
by Jesus Christ to confer special grace and the gifts of the
Holy Ghost, that by them the person confirmed may be
strengthened so as to enable him, as a perfect soldier of
Christ, to make profession of his faith by word and
deed. 300
(364) What is the matter of Confirmation ?
The remote matter of Confirmation is chrism, or olive-
oil mixed with balsam and blessed by a Bishop. The
minister of this Sacrament imposes his hands on the person
to be confirmed and anoints him with chrism on the fore¬
head in the form of a cross ; this anointing is the proximate
matter of Confirmation. 301
■ ■•Si
mm
(365) What is the form of Confirmation ?
The form of Confirmation consists in the words used
by the minister while applying the matter, namely “ I
sign thee with the sign of the Cross, and I confirm thee with
»» Codex Juris Canonici, can. 761. We must not forget that in Baptism
we made certain promises to God, and that when the priest handed to
us the white garment he said to us : “ Receive this white garment,
and be careful to bring it unspotted before the tribunal or our Lord
Jesus Christ, so that you may have eternal life.”
300 Acts viii, 14-17 ; xix, 5-6 ; Lyons. II, Profession of faith by Michael
Palaeologus (p. 36.4 below) ; Florence, Decree for the Armenians (p. 365
below) ; Trent, Sess. vii, De Confirmation, can. 1-3 (p. 366 below);
Innocent III. Epist. adBasilium Archiep. Trinovit., Feb. 25, 1204 (p. 306
below) ; Pope Pius X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907. 44th con¬
demned Proposition (p. 367 below) ; St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechises,
xxi ( Mysticae iii), 3 (p. 3^7 below) ; St. Cyril of Alexandria, in Joel,
32 (p. 367 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., Ill, lxxii, 7 ,
Catechism of the Council of Trent II, iii, 20.
301 Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iii, 24.
J02 the catholic catechism
the chrism of salvation, in the Name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
(366) Who is the minister of Confirmation ?
The ordinary minister of Confirmation is a Bishop, the
extraordinary minister is a priest legitimately delegated for
the purpose. 303
(367) Besides being baptized and in a state of grace, what is
required in those who receive Confirmation ?
Besides being baptized and in a state of grace those who
receive Confirmadon must, if they have the use of reason,
know the chief mysteries of faith and other truths regarding
this Sacrament.
(368) What if a person is confirmed in a state of conscious
mortal sin ?
If a person is confirmed in a state of conscious mortal
sin he is guilty of the sin of sacrilege, but he is validly
confirmed ; at the same time he will receive the grace of
the Sacrament only when he has obtained the rem ^
his sins, either by attrition combined with sacramental
confession or by contrition combined with a desire to go to
Confession. 304
(369) At what age is Confirmation administered ?
Although in the Latin Church Confirmation is quite
fittingly deferred until children are about seven years of
age, yet it can be conferred earlier if a child is in danger
of death or it is thought to be expedient for just and grave
reasons. 305
™ Codex Juria Canonid, can. 780-78.. In thg Ea^n Church
priests also bless the chrism and administer the|Sac«mHi wit
any imposition of hands and under the form : 1 he seal 01 tne gut
the Holy Spirit.”
303 Codex Juris Canonid, can. 782. .
304 This reply is true also for the Sacraments of Extreme Unchon,
Holy Order and Matrimony ; for the Sacrament of Penance see under
Juris Canonid, can. 788. In the Eastern Churches Confirma¬
tion is generally given with Baptism.
THE SACRAMENTS
163
(370) Is Confirmation absolutely necessary for salvation ?
Confirmation is not absolutely necessary for salvation,
but it is wrong to neglect it, because it is a means for
obtaining salvation more easily and fully. 306
Article 3. The Holy Eucharist.
(370 What is the Holy Eucharist ?
The Holy Eucharist (“ good grace ” or “ thanksgiving ”)
is the most divine gift of our Redeemer, the Mystery of
Faith ; in it, under the appearances of bread and wine,
Jesus Christ Himself is contained, offered and received ;
it is the sacrifice as well as the Sacrament of the New Law. 307
a. The real presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.
(372) When did Jesus Christ institute the Holy Eucharist ?
Jesus Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last
Supper when, before He suffered, taking bread, He gave
thanks, and gave to His disciples, saying ; “ Take ye and
eat, This is My Body ” ; and, taking the chalice, He gave
it to them, saying : “ Drink, This is My Blood ” ; adding :
“ Do this in commemoration of Me.” 308
( 373 ) What took place when Jesus Christ pronounced the words of
consecration over the bread and wine ?
When Jesus Christ pronounced the words of consecration
over the bread and wine there took place a wonderful
and unique change of the whole substance of the bread
306 Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iii, 16-17. Remember that you
are a soldier of Christ and that you have to fight His battles. Do not,
then, give in to timidity but boldly profess your faith by deeds as well
as words ; you should regard it as an honour when you have to put up
with contempt or possibly persecution for it.
307 Lateran II, can. 23 (p. 368 below) ; the Council of Trent , Sess. xiii,
cap. 1. (p. 368 below) ; Leo XIII, Encyclical, Mirae caritatis. May
28, 1902 (p. 369 below) ; the Codex Juris Canonid, can. 801 ; the
Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iv, 3.
308 All. xxvi, 26-28 ; Mk. xiv, 22-24 1 He. xxii, 19-20 ; I Cor. xi-
23-25 ; Trent, Sess. xiii, cap. 1 (p. 368 below).
THE catholic catechism
i 15 a d,irl of the whole substance of the wine into
rtoKje* Ohrisl although the appearance, of
bread and wine remained.
(074) What is this change called? . ,
This change is called “ transubstantiation.
( 373 ) What do you mean by the “ appearances ” (species) of
bread and wine ?
,, « 35 rtf and wine we mean tne
^rZl colour, Ur,., and everything e„e
in bread and wine that affects the senses.
(376) What did Jesus Christ intend by the added words : “ Do |
this in commemoration of Me . |
1 1 j rate • “ Do this in commemoration ot
Mel' tuf "ade HhA^de, pries* of the New
Covenant 15 ind commanded then, and .hdr ««
His Body and Blood under the appearance of
bread and wine. 311
(377) When do priests exercise this power and carry out thts
command?
Priests exercise this power and carry out tte«-
when, acting in the person of Jesus Christ, they one
Sacrifice of the Mass. _ Jj
S, tS d s7U.ht,S,
Damascene, de Fide Orthodoxa, iv, 3 (p. 37 . L on3 a
310 Lateran IV, De Fide Catholica cap.• 1 W 375 ^. ^
Profession of faith by Mlch “ e ‘ . TrenL Scsl xiii, cap. 1 and can. 2
Sess. viii, Prop. Benedict XII, Ex. libello “ Jamdudum,
j»„f a d« T yito Prop. 09 <P- 377 «»»>
r T;X; ’iU s»- ■ -—.
311 Lk. xxn, 1951 Cor. xi, 24 ,
(p. 378 below).
THE SACRAMENTS 165
( 37 8 ) What happens, then, when at Mass the priest pronounces
the words of consecration over the bread and wine ?
When the priest in the Mass pronounces the words of
consecration over the bread and wine, the Body and
Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with His Soul
and His Godhead, become truly, really and substantially
present under the appearances of bread and wine.
(379) A f ter the consecration is there present under the appear¬
ances of bread only the Body, and under the appearances
of wine only the Blood of Christ ?
After the consecration there is present under the appear¬
ances of bread not only Christ’s Body, nor under the
appearances of wine only His Blood, but under the appear¬
ances of either, and in every single portion of them, the
whole and entire Jesus Christ, God and man. 312
(380) Does Christ, when under the sacramental species or
appearances, cease to be in Heaven ?
When existing under the sacramental species Christ
does not cease to be in Heaven, but is at the same time in
Heaven and under the sacramental species.
(381) How long does Jesus Christ remain under the sacramental
species ?
Jesus Christ remains under the sacramental species not
only when He is received but so long as those species re¬
main uncorrupted.
(382) What is the proper matter out of which the Holy Eucharist
is made ?
The proper matter for the Holy Eucharist is wheaten
bread and wine of the grape. 313
313 Jn. vi, 58 ; I Cor. xi, 26-27 i Trent, Sess. xiii, cap. 3 and can. 3
(p. 379 below) Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iv, 36.
813 By the Church’s decree unleavened bread has to be used in the
Western churches, but in several Eastern Churches leavened bread is
used. Also, before the Consecration, a small quantity of water has to be
added to the wine ; see Florence, Decree for the Greeks, and also Jor the
Armenians (pp.380and 381 below); frent,Sess.xxii,Cap. 7 (p- 3°2 below).
the catholic catechism
(383) What form of words must necessarily be used in consecrating
the Holy Eucharist ?
The words that must necessarily be used m consecrating
- p—
when saying Mass. 314
B . The Sacrifice of the Mass.
('084.') What is a sacrifice?
A sacrifice is the offering of something that comes within
the sphere of the senses by producing some change in
an offering made to God alone in testimony of the supre^
honour and reverence which man owes to God as his
Creator, Lord and Last End. r ,
(38.) Is the Mass the true and especial Sacrifice. of the New Law .
The Mass is the true and especial Sacrifice of the cw
Taw in it Tesus Christ, by the ministry of the priest,
offm His Body and Blood to God the Father, under the
appearances o/bread and wine, by a mystical mrmola.ron
in an unbloody manner. 316
(386) Why did Christ institute this wondrous Sacrifice .
Christ instituted this wondrous Sacrifice m order to
“* Florence, Decree for Jut CMst^t the L^tTuppw,
SfcgSS Hi/cwn who were to
end,” (Jn. xiii, l).and showed ", e lo;wwr ^ cap- a)>
the Holy Eucharist, or, as th of His divine love for us men,
expresses it : “ He poured out the: weal&otHis am ^ & devout writer
leaving us a Hetould do no’more ; though infinitely
says: “ though Omnipotent, we ld ; ve . though abounding
ta S rlche e s, k He W had no mom to give/’[ ^r^row'ingfeehngs
^ ™ ever ceases so
t0 rr T h S omas Aquinas, A— H-II b^v, 1-4. _ ^
«« Ps. cix, 4 ; Mat. 1, 2 ; Lk. .’ Trent, Se’ss. xxii, cap. 1
xiii, 10 ; Lateran IV, cap. (p- 3 3 xv ;; - (p. 383 below).
(p. 378 below) ; St. Irenaeus, Adv. Hour., IV, xvu, 5 IP a a
THE SACRAMENTS
9
1
leave to His Church a visible sacrifice such as the nature
of man requires, whereby the bloody Sacrifice which has
been offered once and for all on Calvary should be repre¬
sented, and the memory of it abide to the end of time, and
also that the saving power of that Sacrifice might be applied
for the remission of those sins into which we daily fall. 317
(387) How does the Mass represent the Sacrifice of the Cross ?
The Mass represents the Sacrifice of the Cross in that the
separate Consecration of the bread and wine represents,
by force of the words used, that real separation of His
Body and Blood which Christ Jesus our Lord underwent
in His bloody Death on the Cross. 318
(388) Is the Mass merely a bare representation of the Sacrifice
of the Cross?
The Mass is not merely a bare representation of the
Sacrifice of the Cross, but it is the actual Sacrifice of the
Cross which is renewed ; for the Victim is one and the
same, now offering Himself through the ministry of His
priests, as He then offered Himself on the Cross, only the
manner of offering being different. 319
8 §§|
Lk. x* 1 *, 1 9 1 l Cor. xi, 24-26 ; Trent, Sess. xxii, cap. 1 (p. 378
below) ; St. Gregory the Great, Dial, iv, 58 (p. 384 below).
818 Trent, Sess. xiii, cap. 3 (p. 379 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas,
mma Theol., Ill, lxxiv, 1 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iv, 34.
In other words, by the consecration of the bread the Body of Christ is
esent by force of the very words used, “ Hoc est corpus meum ”, and
the consecration of the wine the Blood is present by force of the
rds : “ Hie est calix sanguinis mei ” ; but the Precious Blood, as well as
e Soul of Christ, are present at the consecration of the bread, as also
hrist’s Body and His Soul in the consecration of the wine, owing to
e natural connexion and concomitance whereby the various parts
Christ our Lord—who “ rising from the dead dieth now no more ”
are intimately knit together. His Godhead, too, is rendered present
the consecration of either element, owing to the marvellous hypo-
tic union subsisting between His Godhead and His Body and Soul,
oreover this mystical separation (by the twofold consecration of the
arate elements) represents that real separation which took place in
Sacrifice of the Cross.
““Trent, Sess. xxii, cap. 2 (p. 384 below) ; Catechism of the Council
Trent, II, iv, 34.
■
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THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(389) How are the fruits of the Sacrifice of the Cross applied
to us in the Sacrifice of the Mass ?
The fruits of the Sacrifice of the Cross are applied to us
in the Sacrifice of the Mass in that God, appeased by this
immolation, bestows on us the graces that Jesus Christ
merited for us at the price of His Blood. 3 0
(390) With what object is the Sacrifice of the Mass offered ?
The sacrifice of the Mass is offered _ , ,
i. to adore God, whence the Mass is called the
“ Sacrifice of Praise ” ; „ , _
ii. to thank God for His great glory and for the benefit
He has bestowed upon us, whence the Mass is
called the “ Eucharistic Sacrifice ” ; _ M
iii. to obtain other benefits, whence the Mass is called
an “ Impetratory Sacrifice” ; ... I
iv. to obtain God’s mercy for the living, for their sins
and the penalties incurred, and for the souls
detained in Purgatory, whence the Mass is called a
“ Propitiatory Sacrifice.” 321
( 39 1 ) To whom is the Sacn fi ce °f the Mass °fl ered ?
The Sacrifice of the Mass is offered to God alone, since
supreme dominion, such as is implied in sacrifice, belongs
to God alone.
(302) Why does the Church also offer the Sacrifice of the Mass ]
in honour of our Blessed Lady and the Saints ?
Although the Church has the custom of offering the
Sacrifice of the Mass in honour of our Lady and the bamtjj
yet she does not offer the Sacrifice to them but to God
alone, as a thanksgiving for the victory won by them and
to implore their patronage with God. 322
320 Council of Trent, Sess. xxii, cap. 2 (p. 384 below) ; Catechism of the
Council of Trent, II, iv, 34. . . . , J&
321 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, xxiu ( Mystical , v), 10 (p. 305
below).
322 Trent, Sess. xxii, can. 5 (p. 385 below).
I
THE SACRAMENTS
1
( 393 ) To whose advantage is the Sacrifice of the Mass applied ?
Every Mass, since it is the sacrifice of the Catholic Church
offered in the public ministrations of the Church, is applied
not for the advantage of the celebrant only, but for the
common advantage of the faithful whether living or dead,
and more particularly for those whom the celebrant com¬
memorates in the Mass. 323
( 394 ) Can the priest apply the Mass to some particular person
or for some particular object ?
The priest can apply the Mass to some particular per¬
son whether living or dead, also for some particular object ;
whence it follows that, other things being equal, that Mass
vails in an especial manner for the particular person or
object specified. 324
( 395 ) What is the best way of assisting at Mass ?
The best way of assisting at Mass is for the faithful who
are present to join with the priest in offering the Divine
Victim to God, calling to mind the Sacrifice of the Cross
and uniting themselves to Jesus Christ by Sacramental
or at least spiritual Communion. 325
c. The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
396) What is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist ?
The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is a Sacrament
tituted by Christ wherein Jesus Christ Himself, the
thor of grace, is truly, really and substantially contained
329 Trent, Sess. xxii, cap. 6 (p. 386 below) ; Catechism of the Council
Trent, II, iv, 79.
224 Pius VI, Const. Auctorem fidei, the 30th condemned Proposition
. 386 below).
325 There is no practice of the Christian religion which is more holy
itself, none which gives greater glory to God, none which more
ils for the salvation of souls than the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
in it is enshrined the whole and entire fruit of that Redemption
h Christ effected on the Cross. We should, then, be present fre-
tly at this glorious Sacrifice, and try to assist at it with the same
tion as we should have felt had we been present on Calvary.
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I 70 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
under the appearances oi bread and wine for the spiritual
refreshment of our souls . 326
( 397 ) Why did Christ institute the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist ?
Christ instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist :
i. that out of His deep love for us He might ever
remain present in our midst and thus induce us to
love and worship Him ;
ii. that He might be united to us in Holy Communion,
might be the heavenly food of our souls, and thus
enable us to safeguard and preserve our spiritual
life, and finally be our Viaticum for our journey to
eternity at the close of our lives . 327
(398) How is the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist distinguished
from the Sacrifice ?
The Sacrament of the Eucharist is distinguished from the
Sacrifice :
1. because the Sacrament is completed by the Conse¬
cration and remains, whereas the whole idea <rf |
sacrifice consists in its being offered up—hence the
Sacred Host, when in the Tabernacle or when
taken to the sick, is to be regarded as a Sacrament
and not as a Sacrifice ;
ii. because the Sacrament is the cause of merit ini
those who receive it and is for the profit of their :
souls, whereas the Sacrifice is not only a source
of merit but also has the power of making
satisfaction . 328
(399) In order to receive the Holy Eucharist worthily, what i§jj
required ?
826 Jn. vi, 54-58 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iv, 7.
327 Jn. vi, 5off.; I Cor. x, 16-17; Trent, Sess. xiii, cap. 2 (p. 387
below) ; St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ai Magnesios, 20 (p. 388 below) ;
St. Irenaeus, Ads. Haer., V, 2, 3 (P- 388 below) ; St.John Chrysostom,
Horn, xlvi, 3, in Joann, (p. 388 below) ; also Horn, xxiv, 2, in I Corf
(p. 388 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., III, lxxix, 4 anttf
6 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, v, 70.
828 Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iv, 171.
THE SACRAMENTS
17!
In order to receive the Holy Eucharist worthily, in addi¬
tion to being baptized (for Baptism is requisite for the
reception of any other Sacrament) and in a state of grace
(which is requisite for the reception of all Sacraments of
the living), we must also, under pain of grave sin, keep the
natural fast . 329
(400) What should a person do who when about to receive Holy
Communion discovers that he is in a state of mortal sin ?
A person who when about to receive Holy Communion
discovers that he is in a state of mortal sin, should, even
though he feels that he is truly contrite, go to Confession
first. But if there is some urgent necessity and there is no
confessor at hand, he should try to make an act of perfect
contrition before approaching Holy Communion . 330
(401) What does the natural fast mean ?
The natural fast means that from midnight until the
time of receiving Holy Communion we take nothing by
way of food or drink, or even medicine . 331
(402) What sin do we commit if we receive Holy Communion
not fasting ?
If we receive Holy Communion not fasting we commit
a grave sin of sacrilege.
(403) When is Holy Communion allowed without fasting ?
Holy Communion is allowed without fasting when there
is danger of death, or when it is necessary in order to prevent
some irreverence to the Blessed Sacrament . 332
SSS £ Cor. xi, 27-29 ; St.John Chrysostom, Horn. Ixxxii, 5, in Matth.
(p. 389 below).
can" 8-6 nt ’ ^ £SS ' X ’”’ Cap ‘ ^ 3^9 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici,
“Codex Juris Canonici, can. 858, par. 2. Catechism of the Council of
lrent,U, iv, 6 ; see, too, Codex Juris Canonici, can. 33. “ For receiving
Holy Communion .... even when the local time differs, each one
is at liberty to follow either the local time, whether it is the true time
or the mean time, or the legal time, whether that of the district or
based on some other computation.”
* Codex Juris Canonici, can. 33.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(404) Are any invalids allowed to receive Holy Communion not
fasting ?
Invalids who have been ill in bed for a month and have no
certain hope of quick recovery are allowed, with the pru¬
dent advice of their confessor, to receive Holy Communion
once or twice a week, even though they have taken medicine
or something to drink beforehand. 333
(405) What is necessary for receiving Holy Communion devoutly ?
For receiving Holy Communion devoutly it is necessary
to make careful preparation and also fit thanksgiving accor¬
ding to our capacity, condition and duties. 334
(406) In what does preparation for Holy Communion consist?
Preparation for Holy Communion consists in meditating
attentively and devoutly for a while on what we are about
to receive and in making diligent acts of faith, hope,
charity and contrition. 335
(407) In what does thanksgiving after Holy Communion consist ?
Thanksgiving after Holy Communion consists in medita¬
ting attentively and devoutly for a while on what we ha'
received and in making acts of faith, hope and charity, wii
good resolutions, acts of gratitude, and petitions.
(408) What ought we particularly to ask for after Holy Cm
1
T:’
I
After Holy Communion we should particularly ask o
Lord for the graces necessary for our own and our neij
hour’s salvation, more especially the grace of final p
severance, for the Church that she may prevail against
enemies, and for the souls of the faithful departed.
(409) What effects does Holy Communion produce in those
receive it worthily and devoutly ?
333 Ibid., par. 2.
33 « See the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council,
juotidiana SS. Eucharistiae sumptions, Dec. 20, 1905 (p. 390 below).
335 St. Basil, Regulae, inlerrogatio 172 (p. 390 below) ; Catechism of
Council of Trent, II, iv, Jjbff.
I
I
THE SACRAMENTS
173
In those who receive it worthily and devoutly, Holy
Communion produces the following effects :
i. it increases sanctifying grace and the fervour of
charity ;
ii. it remits venial sins ;
Hi. it does much to secure final perseverance by lessen¬
ing concupiscence, preserving them from mortal
sin and strengthening them in the practice of good
works. 336
(410) Besides the precept of Easter Communion is there any
obligation to receive it at any other time ?
Besides the precept of Easter Communion there is an
obligation to receive it when in danger of death from what¬
ever cause it may arise. 337
(411) When a person has already received Holy Communion can
he receive it again on the same day ?
When a person has already received Communion he can
receive it again on the same day as Viaticum if he should
prove to be in danger of death ; also when it may be
necessary in order to prevent some irreverence towards
the Blessed Sacrament. 338 %
(412) How should we worship Jesus Christ present in the
Blessed Sacrament ?
We ought to worship Jesus Christ present in the Blessed
Sacrament :
’• by adoring Him with the most profound reverence ;
ii. by repaying Him love for love ;
Jn- vi, 48ff. ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, iv, 5 iff.
337 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 864, par. 1 -2. Those who have corporal
or spiritual care of the sick should be careful not to delay in seeing
that they receive the Viaticum ; they should also be careful to see
that the sick receive Holy Communion while in full possession of their
faculties.
838 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 857-858.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
Hi. by asking Him with supreme confidence for the
graces we need. 339
Article 4. Penance.
(413) What is the Sacrament of Penance ?
The Sacrament of Penance is a Sacrament instituted by
Jesus Christ for the faithful, so that as often as they fall
into sin after Baptism they may be reconciled to God. 340
(414) When did Jesus Christ institute this Sacrament ?
Jesus Christ instituted this Sacrament more especially
when, after His Resurrection, He breathed on His assembled
disciples and said, “ Receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whose
sins ye shall forgive they are forgiven, and whose sins ye
shall retain they are retained.” 341
(415) What special character did Christ attach to this Sacra¬
ment ?
Christ instituted this Sacrament in the form of a judicial
tribunal in which the confessor is the judge and the penitent
is both prosecutor and witness ; the material with which
the tribunal is concerned is sins committed subsequent
to Baptism and now confessed by the penitent.
^416) Who is the lawful minister of the Sacrament of Penance ?
The lawful minister of the Sacrament of Penance is a
priest duly approved for hearing confessions ; all the
faithful have the right to confess their sins to any lawfully
339 As often as you enter a church where the Blessed Sacrament
reserved remind yourself that you are in the presence of Jesus Chris
who is God Himself and Whom the Angels adore. Beware, then, o:
any irreverence. For this is your truest Friend, and He dwells there
day and night out of love for you. Pay frequent visits to Him there
and thank him for the immense love He has shewn you. His hand:
are full of heavenly gifts, and His only desire is to give them to you i
you will but ask Him.
““Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. i, can. 1 (pp. 391, 392 below).
311 Jn. xx, 22-23 > Aft. xvi, 19 ; xviii, 18 ; Trent, Sess. xiv, cap
1 (p. 391 below) ; Pius X, Decree Lammtabili sane, July 3, 1907, the
42nd condemned Proposition (p. 392 below) ; St. John Chrysostom,
De Sacerdotio, iii, 5 (p. 392 below).
THE SACRAMENTS 175
approved confessor they prefer, even though he may
belong to some different rite. 342
(417) What are the parts of this Sacrament ?
The parts of this Sacrament are the acts of the penitent,
constituting its matter, namely contrition, confession and
satisfaction, and the absolution given by a lawful minister,
which is its form. 343
(418) In what sense are examination of conscience and a firm
purpose of amendment included in these three acts of the
penitent ?
Examination of conscience and a firm purpose of amend¬
ment are included in the three acts of the penitent since
an examination of one’s conscience must necessarily precede
the above acts, while contrition without a firm purpose of
amendment is meaningless.
(4*9) What sins are the necessary material of this Sacrament?
The necessary material of this Sacrament is all mortal
sins committed after Baptism, and not already directly
forgiven by the power of the keys.
(420) Why are the above sins called the “ necessary material ”
of this Sacrament ?
The above sins are called the “ necessary material ” of
this Sacrament because there is a strict obligation of con¬
fessing them.
(421) What sins constitute the free and sufficient material for the
Sacrament ?
All sins committed subsequent to Baptism, whether
venial sins or even mortal sins already confessed for which
the penitent has received absolution, are the free and suffi¬
cient material for this Sacrament.
843 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 905.
343 Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. iii, and can. 4 (p. 393 below) ; Roman Ritual ,
De Sacramento Poenitentiae, III, i, 1 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent ,
I, v. 13.
176 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(422) Why are the above sins called the “ free and sufficient
material ” for this Sacrament ?
The above sins are called the “ free and sufficient
material ” for this Sacrament because they can be sub¬
mitted to the tribunal of Penance, and it is expedient that
they should be, though it is not of obligation. 344
a. The Acts of the Penitent.
a. Examination of Conscience.
(423) What should a penitent do before approaching the tribunal
of Penance ?
Before approaching the tribunal of Penance the penitent
should make a careful examination of his conscience.
(424) What is examination of conscience ?
Examination of conscience means recalling as carefully
as possible the sins committed since the last good con¬
fession.
(425) How is this examination of conscience to be made ?
In examining his conscience the penitent first asks for
the help of God and then carefully calls to mind any mortal
sins committed by thought, word, deed or omission against
the commandments of God and the Church, and against
the special duties of his state.
(426) What should we try to recall in examining our conscience f
In examining our conscience we should try to recall th-
number of our sins, and their character and any circur
stances that may alter their character.
(427) What circumstances alter the character of our sins a
should therefore necessarily be confessed ?
Circumstances that alter the character of our sins an
should therefore necessarily be confessed are such as tu
an Mt. xvi, 19 ; xviii, 18 ; Jn. xx, 22-23 ; Trent Sess. xiv, ca
iii and can. 7 (p. 393 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 901-902.
6
1
I
g.
||
V ■
THE SACRAMENTS
177
a venial sin into a mortal sin—when a lie, for example,
does grave harm to our neighbour—or when a mortal sin
is multiplied by circumstances—when, for example, a
theft is committed in a sacred place or when the thing
stolen is sacred. 345
b. Contrition and Firm Purpose of Amendment.
(428) What is contrition for sin?
Contrition for sin is heartfelt sorrow for the sins we have
committed, with hatred of them and firm purpose of
amendment. 346
(429) What is a firm purpose of amendment ?
A firm purpose of amendment is a resolution not to
commit sin again and to avoid as far as possible the proxi¬
mate occasions of it.
( 43 °) What kind of contrition for sin ought we to have ?
Contrition for sin ought to be inward, supernatural,
profound and universal.
(431) What do you mean by inward contrition ?
Inward contrition is that which is not merely on the lips
but flows from the heart.
(432) What is supernatural contrition ?
Supernatural contrition is that which, under the influence
of grace, springs not from natural, but from supernatural
motives, that is from motives realized supernaturally
by our faith.
( 433 ) What is profound contrition ?
815 Catechism of the Council of Trent , II, v, 47.
s« Ps. 1 , 3 fT.; Jer. ii, 19-21 ; Ezech. xviii, 21-23, 27-28; xxxm,
14-16 ; Joel ii, 12-18 ; Jn. v, 14 ; viii, 11 ; Lk. xv, 17-24 ; Trent,
Sess. xiv, cap. 4 (P- 394 below) ; St. Gregory the Great in Evangeha
II, xxxiv, 15 (p. 396 below) ; St. Augustine, Sermo cccli, 12 (p. 396
below).
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
I 7 8
Profound contrition is that whereby we hate sin above
any other evil. 347
(434) What is universal contrition ?
Universal contrition includes all mortal sins committed
since Baptism and not directly remitted by the power of
the Keys.
( 435 ) What if the penitent has only venial sins of which to accuse
himself or mortal sins already directly remitted?
If the penitent has only venial sins of which to accuse
himself, or mortal sins already directly remitted, then he
should make an act of sorrow for some, or at least one of
them, and this suffices.
(436) How many kinds of contrition are there ?
Contrition can be either “ perfect ”—and this is usually
called simply “ contrition ”—or “ imperfect ”—and this
is called by the special name of “ attrition.” 348
( 437 ) What is perfect contrition ?
Perfect contrition is a sorrow and hatred for sin, springing
from charity, inasmuch as sin is an offence against God,
who is supremely good and worthy to be loved above all
things. 349
(438) What is the effect of perfect contrition ?
Perfect contrition immediately washes away sin and
reconciles man to God even apart from the Sacrament of
847 “ Profound contrition ” may thus be briefly described in the
words of St. Thomas : Contrition, or sorrow for the sins we have
committed, ought to be profound ‘ appreciatively,’ in that a penitent
person ought to have such a destestation of his sins that for no con¬
sideration would he commit them and so offend God; but it is in no
way requisite that his sorrow should be ‘ profound ’ in an intensive sense,
that is that its vehemence should surpass all other grief he has ever
experienced. Nor is it wise to try and institute a comparison between
contrition or sorrow for sin, and other sorrows which a person may have
sensibly experienced by reason of temporal evils which may have come
to him. Summa Theol., Ill, iii, 1.
848 Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. 4 (p. 394 below).
848 Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, v, 27.
THE SACRAMENTS 179
Penance ; yet such contrition implies the desire of receiving
the Sacrament of Penance. 350
( 439 ) What is imperfect contrition ?
Imperfect contrition is that supernatural sorrow and
hatred for sin which is aroused either by reflection on the
baseness of sin or by fear of Hell and its torments. 361
(440) What kind of contrition is sufficient for the valid reception
of the Sacrament of Penance ?
Imperfect contrition is sufficient for the valid reception
of the Sacrament of Penance, though we should try to
have perfect contrition.
(441) What kind of sin does a person commit who goes to con¬
fession knowing well that he has no contrition ?
A person who goes to confession knowing well that he
has no contrition not only does not obtain forgiveness of
his sins, but also commits a grave sin of sacrilege.
c. Confession.
(442) What is confession of sins ?
Confession is to accuse oneself of one’s sins to a priest
850 Prov. viii, 17 ; x, 12 ; Jn. xiv, 21, 23 ; I Pet. iv, 8 ; I Jn. iv, 7 ;
Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. 4 (p. 394 below) ; St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo
xciv (p. 397 below). A Christian should acquire the habit of making
the act of perfect contrition to be found at the beginning of this
Catechism, p. 47, and this more especially if he should happen to fall into
mortal sin, for then he should at once try to blot it out by making such
acts of perfect contrition, and going to confession as soon as he can.
In this way the good he may have done will not be rendered void to
eternity, nor will he be afraid of sudden death. Many attain to eternal
life because they have departed this life in a state of perfect contrition,
though meeting death in circumstances which made it impossible for
them to receive the Sacraments.
851 Mt. x, 28 ; Lk. iii, 7-9 ; xv, 17 ; Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. 4 (p. 394
below) ; Leo X, the Sixth Proposition condemned June 15, 1520
(p. 397 below) ; Pius VI, condemned Propositions 23, 25, 36 in the Bull
Auctorem fidei (p. 397 below) ; St. Gregory of Nyssa, Hon 1. i in Cantic.
Canticorum (p. 399 below).
l8o THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
lawfully approved, in order to obtain sacramental absolu¬
tion. 352
(443) Why did Christ will that we should confess our sins if we
desire their forgiveness ?
Christ willed that we should confess our sins if we desire
their forgiveness so that a sinner might humble himself
by making known his sins to a priest as to a judge and
physician, in order to make due satisfaction for them and
learn what remedies to make use of. 353
(444) What kind of confession is necessary for the valid reception
of the Sacrament of Penance ?
For the valid reception of the Sacrament of Penance
confession must be vocal or at least the equivalent of vocal,
and “ integral ” or complete.
(445) When is a confession “ integral ” or complete ?
A confession is “ integral ” or complete when the peni¬
tent confesses all mortal sins not already directly forgiven,
of which, after careful examination, he is conscious, with
their number and character, and the circumstances that
alter their character. 354
(446) What ought a person to do if he cannot remember the
number of his mortal sins ?
362 St. John Chrysostom, De Lazaro, iv, 4 (p. 399 below) ; Horn.
Quod frequenter sit conveniendum, 2 (p. 400 below).
363 Jn. xx, 23 ; Ml. xvi, 19 ; xviii, 18 ; Catechism of the Council of
Trent, II, v, 37.
364 Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. v, and can. 7 (p. 400 below) ; St. Gregory
the Great, In Evangelia , II, xxvi, r-G, (p. 403 below) ; St. Cyprian,
De lapsis, 28 (p. 404 below) ; St. Jerome in Matth. Ill, xvi. 19 (p. 404
below). A general confession wherein one confesses the. sins of one s
whole life is necessary when there is a real ground for thinking that one s
previous confessions have been invalid ; it is advisable if there is really
grave doubt about their validity ; it is permissible if it seems probable
that the penitent will derive profit from it, and this especially at certain
more important moments in life, for example after making a. retreat
or when in danger of death. In other cases it should be forbidden to
a penitent as being without utility and sometimes even harmful, for
example in the case of scrupulous persons.
THE SACRAMENTS
If a person cannot remember the number of his mortal
sins he should state their probable number and add
“ about.”
(447) What if a person omits a mortal sin in confession, through
no fault of his own ?
If a person through no fault of his own omits a mortal
sin in confession, the Sacrament is validly received and the
sin forgotten is indirectly forgiven ; but when he remembers
it the penitent is bound to accuse himself of it in his next
confession. 355
(448) What sin does a person commit who culpably keeps back
a mortal sin in confession ?
A person who culpably keeps back a mortal sin in
confession not only gains nothing by his confession but
adds a grave sin of sacrilege.
(449) What should a person do if he has deliberately kept back
a mortal sin in confession, or if he confesses without due
contrition mortal sins that have not yet been remitted ?
A person who has deliberately kept back a mortal sin
in confession or who confesses without due contrition
mortal sins not yet remitted, should state how many con¬
fessions of this kind he has made, also how many sacrilegious
Communions, and should now tell all the mortal sins,
whether confessed or kept back, in those confessions, also
any other mortal sins he may have committed since.
(450) Is anything else required for the lawful reception of the
Sacrament of Penance ?
For the lawful reception of the Sacrament of Penance
the confession should also be humble and devout ; that is,
the penitent should briefly, clearly, and modestly, without
useless words, humbly confess his sins, without excusing,
355 Alexander VII, the Eleventh of the Propositions condemned on
Sept. 24, 1665 (p. 405 below) ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, 11,
v, 49 -
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
minimizing or exaggerating them, and accept the ad¬
monitions of the confessor. 366
d. Satisfaction.
(451) What is satisfaction?
Satisfaction is the penance imposed on the penitent by
the confessor for the sins made known to him in confession ;
this penance has, by the merits of Jesus Christ which are
applied through the Sacrament, special virtue for the
payment of the debt of temporal punishment due to sin.
(452) Why does the confessor impose a penance ?
The confessor imposes, as prudence suggests and in pro¬
portion to the character of the sins confessed and the
dispositions of the penitent, a salutary and fitting penance—
not only as a help to the penitent in leading a new life and
as a remedy for his weakness, but also as a penalty and a
correction for past sins now forgiven. 357
( 453 ) When should the penitent perform the penance given him
by the confessor ?
The penitent should perform the penance given him by
the confessor as soon as possible, unless the latter appoints
some particular time for its fulfilment.
( 454 ) What should a penitent do if he finds himself absolutely
unable , or at least not able without grave inconvenience ,
to perform the penance imposed ?
A penitent who finds himself absolutely unable, or a
least not able without grave inconvenience, to perforr
the penance given him should state this with becomin
deference to his confessor and ask him to change it.
b. Sacramental Absolution.
( 455 ) What is sacramental absolution ?
Sacramental absolution is the act whereby the confess
*** Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, v, 50-51.
367 Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. viii-ix (p. 405 below).
■
I-
!
n
i
THE SACRAMENTS
183
in the name of Jesus Christ, by pronouncing the proper
form of words, remits the sin duly and with true sorrow con¬
fessed by the penitent.
(456) Can the confessor refuse or defer sacramental absolution ?
The confessor can and ought to refuse absolution only
when he arrives at the prudent decision that it is not
certain that the penitent has the requisite dispositions.
Sometimes, too, he can for good reason defer absolution
for a time, especially if the penitent agrees to this with a
view to preparing himself better. 358
(457) & the con fasor bound by the seal of confession ?
The confessor is bound by an inviolable sacramental
seal ; not only is he forbidden to reveal sins heard
in confession, but he must take great care not to
betray the sinner for any reason by word or sign or in any
other way. Moreover he is forbidden to make any such
use of knowledge derived from the confession as shall
prejudice the penitent, even when there is no danger of
the secret being violated. Nor can Superiors, or confessors
who subsequently become Superiors, make use of know¬
ledge acquired through the confessional in their govern¬
ment of their house. 359
(458) Does the above law bind others besides the confessor ?
All who in any way become aware of anything derived
358 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 886. The Roman Ritual, III, i, 23, says :
. “ Those are incapable of receiving absolution who give no sign of sorrow
for their sins, who refuse to lay aside some hatred or enmity, to restore
when they can someone else’s property, to avoid some proximate
occasion of sin, or who are unwilling to give up their sinful lives and
amend them ; those again who have given public scandal but refuse
to make public reparation and remove the scandal. Finally a confessor
should refuse to absolve sins reserved to a higher authority.”
859 Lateran IV, cap. xxi (p. 407 below) ; Cod. Jur. Can., can. 889, 890.
In order to safeguard the sacred character of this Sacrament very severe
penalties are enacted by Canon Law against confessors who break the
seal of confession. The history of the Church has preserved for us the
names of priests who rather than break the seal have submitted to all
sorts of trial, even to death itself; in this respect St. John Nepomucene
is an example to all, since he died a martyr for this reason, a.d. 1383.
r 84 THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
from a sacramental confession are bound by the same law
as the confessor. 360
c. The Effects of the Sacrament of Penance ; Indulgences.
( 459 ) What e ff ects does tfie Sacramenl °f Penance produce when
a penitent confesses with due dispositions mortal sins
not hitherto remitted ?
When a penitent confesses with due dispositions mortal
sins not hitherto remitted, then by the Sacrament of
Penance :
t. his sin and its eternal punishment, also—at least
partially—the debt of temporal punishment due
to sin, are remitted ;
it. his merits, which were annulled by his mortal sins,
revive—that is, they regain the efficacy which,
before his falling into mortal sin, they had for
winning him eternal life. 361
Hi. a special grace is given for avoiding sin in the
future.
(460) What effects does this Sacrament produce when the peni¬
tent has to confess only venial sins, or mortal sins already
remitted ?
If the penitent confesses with due dispositions only
venial sins, or mortal sins already remitted, the Sacrament
of Penance remits his venial sins, increases his sanctifying
grace, helps him to avoid sin in the future, and pays still
more completely the debts of temporal punishment due to
his sins.
(461) When absolution has been given and the penance performed,
is the whole debt of temporal punishment for sin always
paid ?
When absolution has been given and the penance per
formed the whole debt of temporal punishment for sin
300 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 889, 890, par. 2.
361 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., Ill, lxxx ix, 5.
THE SACRAMENTS 185
not always paid ; but it may be paid by other voluntary
penances, especially by gaining Indulgences. 362
(462) What do we mean by an Indulgence ?
By an Indulgence we mean the remission by God of the
temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already
been forgiven ; such remission the Church grants apart
from the Sacrament of Penance. 363
(463) How does the Church remit by means of Indulgences the
temporal punishment due to sin ?
The Church by means of Indulgences remits the temporal
punishment due to sin by applying to the living, by way
of absolution, and to the dead, by way of suffrage, the
infinite satisfaction paid by Jesus Christ as well as the
superabundant satisfaction wrought by the Blessed Virgin
Mary and the Saints; these constitute the spiritual
treasury of the Church. 364
(464) Who have the power of granting Indulgences ?
The Roman Pontiff can grant Indulgences, since to him
was committed by Christ the administration of the entire
spiritual treasury of the Church ; others, too—for example
the Bishops—have this power conceded to them either by
the Roman Pontiff or by Canon Law. 365
(465) How many kinds of Indulgences are there ?
There are two kinds of Indulgences :
i. plenary, whereby the entire debt of temporal
punishment is remitted ;
362 Trent, Sess. vi, cap. 14 and can. 30 ; Sess. xiv, cap. 8 and can.
t2 (p. 408 below).
363 Mt. xvi. 19 ; xviii, 18 ; II Cor. ii, 6, 10 ; Trent, Sess. xxv, Decree
of Indulgences (p. 409 below) ; Clement VI, Const. Unigenitus Dei
Filins, Jan. 25, 1343 (p. 410 below) ; Leo X, condemned Propositions
17 ff., June 15, 1520 (p. 411 below) ; Pius VI, Bull Auctorem fidei, the
40th condemned Proposition (p. 412 below) ; Pius XI, Bull In-
dictionis Ami Sarwti, 1925 (p. 412 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, can.
911-924.
334 Rom. v, 15-21.
366 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 912.
186 the catholic catechism
ii. partial, whereby a portion only of the debt is
remitted.
(466) In what sense is a Plenary Indulgence said to be granted ?
A Plenary Indulgence is said to be granted in the sense
that if a person cannot gain it in full or plenary fashion,
he can yet gain it partially, according to his dispositions. 366
(467) What are the conditions for gaining an Indulgence ?
The conditions for gaining an Indulgence are :
i. the person must be baptized and not excom¬
municated ; 367
ii. he must have at least the general intention of gain¬
ing Indulgences ;
Hi. he must duly perform the good works demanded ;
to. he must be in a state of grace, at least when he
finishes the works prescribed, and—if it is a question
of gaining a Plenary Indulgence—he must not have
his affections set on any venial sin.
(468) To whom can we apply any Indulgences we may have
gained ?
Unless the contrary is stated we can apply the Indulgences
we gain to the souls detained in Purgatory when such
Indulgences have been granted by the Roman Pontiff;
but no Indulgences can be applied by us to other people
still living. 368
Article 5. Extreme Unction.
(469) What is the Sacrament of Extreme Unction ?
The Sacrament of Extreme Unction is a Sacrament
instituted by Jesus Christ whereby spiritual assistance is
bestowed on people who have come to the age of reason,
who are sick and in grave danger of death ; this assistance
388 Ibid. , can 930.
u
I .
358 Ibid., can. 926.
367 Ibid., can. 925.
THE SACRAMENTS 1 87
is most profitable when death is imminent, and even
sometimes affords relief from bodily ailments. 369
(470) What is the effect of Extreme Unction ?
Extreme Unction
». brings an increase of grace ;
ii. relieves the mind of the sick person from anxiety,
and is especially helpful in meeting the temptations
of one’s last agony ;
Hi. removes the vestiges of sins, remits venial sins,
even mortal sins when the sick person is not con¬
scious of them and has at least attrition for them
and is unable to make his confession ;
iv. sometimes cures sickness—when, that is, God sees
that such a cure is for the good of a person’s soul. 370
(471) Who is the minister of this Sacrament?
The ordinary minister of this Sacrament is the parish
priest of the place where the sick man is living ; but in
case of necessity, or when leave to do so can be reasonably
expected from the parish priest or the Bishop of the Diocese,
any priest can administer the Sacrament. 371
(472) What is the matter of Extreme Unction ?
The remote matter of Extreme Unction is olive-oil
blessed by a Bishop or by a priest who has leave from the
Apostolic See to bless it ; the actual anointing with this
oil is the proximate matter of the Sacrament.
( 473 ) What is the form of Extreme Unction ?
863 Lyons II, Profession of faith made by Michael Palaeologus (p. 413
below) ; Florence, Decree for the Armenians (p. 413 below) ; Trent,
Sess. xiv, De Sacramento Extremae Unctionis (p. 413 below) ; Innocent
III, Profession of faith prescribed for the Waldensians (p. 414 below) ; Pius
X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July, 3, 1907, the 48th condemned Pro¬
position (p. 414 below).
370 Jar. v, 14-15 ; Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. 2, De Extrema Unctione (p.
414 below) ; St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermo cclxv, 3, among the Sermons
attributed to St. Augustine (p. 415 below). By the “ vestiges of sin ”
are meant the weaknesses of the soul and bad habits resulting from sin.
871 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 938, par. 2.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
i
The form of Extreme Unction is the prayer prescribed
in the liturgical books of the particular rite to which the
ministering priest belongs, and which he repeats while
anointing the sick person. 372
(474) On whom is this Sacrament conferred ?
This Sacrament is conferred on any member of the
faithful who, after attaining the use of reason, is in danger
of death through sickness or old age.
(475) H° w °ft en can ^ Sacrament be given ?
This Sacrament can be given only once in the course
of the same period of danger of death ; but if the danger
passes away and then recurs the Sacrament can be re¬
peated. 373
(476) Can this Sacrament be given to a sick person who is not in
possession of his senses ?
This Sacrament can be given to a sick person who is
not in possession of his senses if when he was in possession
of them he asked for it, at least implicitly, or probably
would have asked for it, even though he afterwards loses
the use of his senses or even of his reason. 374
(477) What should a sick person do before receiving Extreme
Unction ?
Before receiving Extreme Unction a sick person should
i. confess his sins if he can—otherwise he should make
an act of contrition ;
it. make acts of faith, hope, charity, and complete sub¬
mission to the will of God.
(478) Is this Sacrament necessary for salvation ?
This Sacrament is not absolutely necessary for salvation,
but it is wrong to neglect it; indeed we ought to be most
careful, when a sick person begins to be in danger of death,
372 Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. 2, De Extrema Unctions (p. 414 below).
3.3 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 940, par. 2.
3.4 Ibid., can. 943.
THE SACRAMENTS 1 89
to see that he receives this Sacrament, as soon as possible,
and while still in possession of his senses. 375
Article 6. Holy Order.
( 479 ) What is the Sacrament of Holy Order or Ordination ?
The Sacrament of Holy Order or Ordination is a
Sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ for providing the
Church with Bishops, priests, and other ministers, each
receiving power and grace for the due fulfilment of the
sacred duties belonging to the degree conferred on him. 376
(480) Are the said degrees all equal ?
These degrees are not all equal, but some are higher
than others ; and thus is formed the sacred hierarchy of
Holy Order. 377
(481) When precisely did Jesus Christ institute this Sacrament ?
Jesus Christ instituted this Sacrament precisely when
He gave to the Apostles and to their successors in the
priesthood the power to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass and
to remit or to retain sins. 378
(482) Of what kind is the dignity of the priesthood ?
The dignity of the priesthood is very great, for the priest
is the minister of Christ and the dispenser of the mysteries
of God ; he is a mediator between God and man, with
power over the real as well as over the mystical Body of
376 Codex Juris Canonici , can. 944 * B is a hateful and a cruel thing
under pretext of affection or prudence not to summon a priest in
good time to administer the Last Sacraments to sick folk. It only means
depriving your brethren of the last consolations of religion ; it may
even mean shutting them out from the Kingdom of Heaven. Those
who do this will have a terrible account to render.
3.6 Acts vi, 6 ; xiii, 3 ; I Tim. iv, 14 ; v, 22 ; II Tim. i, 6 ; Lyons n >
Profession of faith made by Michael Palaeologus (p. 4*5 below) ; Florence,
Decree for the Armenians (p. 416 below) ; Trent, Sess. xxm, can. 3 (p.
416 below) ; Pius X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907, the 50th
condemned Proposition (p. 416 below).
3.7 Mt. xvi, 18-19; xviii, 18 ; Jn. xxi, 17 ; Acts vi, 6 ; I Tim.
iii, 1-13 ; Tit. i, 5-9 ; Trent, xxiii, can. 2, 6, 7 (p. 417 below).
373 Mt. xviii, 18 ; Lk xxii, 19 ; Jn. xx, 23 ; I Cor. xi, 23-25.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
190
Christ. Christ is the “ One Mediator of God and men ” ;
that is, He alone is the Mediator of redemption. But
the priest, acting in the person of Christ, applies to men the
fruits of that redemption and is thus rightly called a
mediator. 379
(483) What is the matter and what the form of the Sacrament
of Holy Order ?
The matter in Ordination is the imposition of hands or
the handing to the candidate of the instruments of the
Order to be received, as laid down in the Pontifical ; the
form consists in the appropriate words pronounced by
the minister while imposing hands on the candidate or
handing him the said instruments.
(484) How should the faithful regard their priests ?
The faithful should show all honour and reverence
towards their priests, and they should ask God to bestow
holy and worthy ministers on His Church. 380
(485) Do parents sin if they compel their sons to become priests,
or if they prevent them doing so ?
Parents sin if they compel their sons to become priests,
for in so doing they are usurping God’s rights, since He has
reserved to Himself the right of choosing His ministers
through the Bishops. They sin, too, if they prevent them
from becoming priests, for in so doing they are resisting
the will of God and refusing to their children the right to
follow a divine vocation ; moreover they are depriving
themselves and their children of many very special
graces. 381
378 I Cor. iv, 1 ; II Cor. v, 20 ; vi. 4 ; I Tim. v, 17"; Heb. xiii, 17 ;
Pius XI, Epist. Officiorum omnium, Aug. 1, 1922 (p. 417 below). Those
alone are to be admitted to the priestly dignity who are called by God,
approved by their superiors, and who undertake the duties of their office
for the glory of God and the salvation of souls ; “ Neither doth any man
take the honour to himself but he that is called by God, as Aaron was,”
Heb. v, 4 ; see Catechism of the Council of Trent, II, vii, 3ff.
380 Mt. ix, 38 ; x, 40 ; Lk. x, 2, 16 ; Jn. xiii, 20.
881 Jn. xv, 16.
THE SACRAMENTS
1
(486) Who is the minister of Holy Order ?
The ordinary minister of Holy Order is the Bishop of
the candidate or a Bishop delegated by him ; the extra¬
ordinary minister is one who by Canon Law or by a special
Indult from the Holy See has received the power to confer
certain Orders. 382
Article 7. Matrimony. 383
(487) What is the Sacrament of Matrimony ?
The Sacrament of Matrimony is marriage between
Christians—that is, all who are baptized—validly entered
upon ; it was raised by Jesus Christ to the dignity of a
Sacrament whereby grace is bestowed on husband and
wife that they may rightly fulfil their duties to one another
and to their children. 384
(488) Can there be a valid marriage between Christians without
its being a Sacrament ?
There cannot be a valid marriage between Christians
without its being necessarily a Sacrament, for Jesus Christ
deigned to raise such marriage to the dignity of a Sacra¬
ment. 385
(489) Who are the ministers of this Sacrament ?
The ministers of this Sacrament are the contracting
parties.
(490) What is the matter and what the form of the Sacrament
of Matrimony ?
882 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 951.
888 The canonical prescriptions given here concerning the nature of
Matrimony, impedient and diriment impediments, the consent required,
the manner of celebrating a marriage, etc., will be found fully set forth
in the Codex Juris Canonici, can. iornff.
384 Ephes. v, 22-23 > Florence, Decree for the Armenians (p. 418 below) ;
Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramentis, can. 1 ; also Sess. xxiv, De Sacramento
Matrimonii, can. I (pp. 354 and 418 below) ; Leo XIII, Encycl.
Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, Feb. 10, 1880 (p. 418 below) ; St. Cyril of
Alexandria in Joann ii, 1 (p. 419 below).
888 Leo XIII, Encycl. Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, Feb. 10, 1880
(p. 418 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1012.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
The matter of the Sacrament of Matrimony is the mutual
giving on the part of both of a right over their bodies,
with a view to the object of matrimony ; the form is their
mutual acceptance of this gift.
(491) What are the essential qualities of Matrimony ?
The essential qualities of Matrimony are unity and
indissolubility, which in Christian marriage are rendered
peculiarly stable owing to the Sacrament. 386
(492) In what does the unity of Matrimony consist ?
The unity of Matrimony consists in the fact that the
husband cannot during the life of his wife have another
wife, nor can the wife during her husband’s life have
another husband. 387
(493) In what does the indissolubility of Matrimony consist ?
The indissolubility of Matrimony means that the bond
of Matrimony can be dissolved only by death. 388
fc
Ml. v, 32 ; xix, 3-9 ; Mk. x, 2-12 ; Lk. xvi, 18 ; Rom. vii, 2,
3 ; 1 Cor. vi, 16 ; vii, 10-11, 39 ; Leo XIII, Encycl. Arcanum Divinae
Sapientiae, Feb. 10, 1880 (p. 420 below) ; St. Augustine, Dc adulUrinis
conjugiis, i, 9 (p. 420 below) ; also De Nuptiis et Concupiscentiis i, 10
(p. 421 below).
887 Ml. xix, 4-6 ; Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramenlis, can. 1 ; and Sess.
xxiv, De Sacramento Matrimonii, can. 2 (p. 421 below) ; Innocent III,
Epist. to the Bishop of Tiberias (p. 422 below).
388 Mt. xix, 6 ; Mk. x, 11-12 ; Lk. xvi, 18 ; Rom. vii, 3 ; I Cor. vii,
io-ii, 39; Trent, Sess. xxiv, De Sacramento Matrimonii, can. 6-7
(p. 423 below) ; Pius IX, Syllabus, Proposition 67 (p. 424 below) ;
I,eo XIII, Arcanum Divinae Sapientiae, Feb. 10, 1880 (p. 424 below).
The indissoluble character of Matrimony may be thus briefly set fort
in view of cases that frequently occur
(a) A marriage between believers.
i. When ratified and consummated is indissoluble ;
ii. When only ratified is by the law itself dissolved by sol
religious Profession, also by a dispensation granted by th
Apostolic See, if at least one party asks for it.
(b) A marriage between unbelievers.
i. if neither party has received Baptism, is of its nature i
dissoluble ;
ii. if only one party has been baptized, is dissolved (a) 1)
jure in favour of the faith through the “ Pauline privilege ”
J
i
p:
■18
THE SACRAMENTS
193
(494) w ^ at ^ aw * s Christian marriage governed ?
Christian marriage is governed by the law of God and
of the Church, saving the authority of the State as regards
purely civil effects.
( 495 ) What are the purely civil effects of Matrimony ?
The purely civil effects of Matrimony are effects that
do not touch the essence of Matrimony—for example, the
amount of the dowry, rights of succession to property by
the surviving partner, or of the children to their parents, etc.
(496) What do we mean by impediments to Matrimony ?
By impediments to Matrimony we mean anything that
makes the celebration of a marriage either unlawful
(termed an “ impedient ” impediment) or invalid (termed
a “ diriment ” impediment).
if, that is to say, the infidel party both refuses to believe and
be baptized and at the same time declines to live peacefully
with the other but insults his Creator, and the believing
party has contracted a fresh marriage ; also ( b) by dispensa¬
tion granted by the Apostolic See for such a dissolution,
if the believing party seeks it.
tit', if both parties are converted to the Faith :
(a) If the marriage was consummated subsequent to
Baptism, then it is indissoluble.
(b) If the marriage was consummated neither before nor
after Baptism, then by actual law the marriage is
dissolved through solemn religious Profession, also by
a dispensation granted by the Apostolic See at the
request of at least one of the parties.
(c) If the marriage was consummated before (but not if
after) Baptism, then it can be dissolved by the Apostolic
See at the request of at least one of the parties.
(c) In the case of a marriage contracted between a believer and an
unbeliever with a dispensation from the impediment arising
from “ disparity of worship,” (in other words between a
baptized and an unbaptized person) then
t. such a marriage is not dissolved by the Pauline privilege ; but
it. if not consummated it can be dissolved by solemn religious
Profession and by a dispensation granted by the Apostolic
See; .
Hi. if consummated it can be dissolved by a Papal dispensation.
It is evident that the exercise of this Papal power demands
just, grave and urgent causes, and the alienee of scandal.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(497) has the power to declare that in the case of baptized
people certain things are impediments to Matrimony ?
Only the supreme ecclesiastical authority has the right
to make laws, whether in general or in particular cases,
establishing certain impediments to Matrimony on the
part of people who are baptized ; it alone has the right !
of declaring when the divine law is an impediment to or
wholly precludes a marriage. 389
(498) What are the impediments that simply impede a marriage—
impedient impediments ? 390
The impediments that simply impede a marriage are :
i. a simple vow either of virginity, or of perpetual
chastity, or not to marry, or of receiving Holy
Orders, or of embracing the religious life ;
ii. difference in the religions of the parties concerned ; 5
in. legal kinship arising from adoption — in those
countries, that is, where the civil law regards this
as an impediment to marriage.
(499) Which are the impediments that render a marriage null —
diriment impediments ? 391
The impediments that render a marriage null are :
*• a ge ;
ii. impotence that is antecedent to the marriage and
perpetual;
iii. a bond arising from an already existing marriage ;
iv. diversity of religion, that is when one of the parties
is not baptized ;
v. Holy Orders ;
vi. solemn profession in a religious Order ;
oii. abduction ;
viii. crime ;
ix. consanguinity ;
x. affinity ;
:
889 Trent, Sess. xxiv, can. 4 (p. 424 below).
890 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1058-1066.
891 Ibid., can. 1067 and 1080.
THE SACRAMENTS
195
xi. public honesty ;
xii. spiritual relationship arising from Baptism ;
xiii. legal relationship due to adoption—in countries,
that is, where the civil law regards this as a
diriment impediment to marriage.
§§>
(500) What is requiredfor a valid marriage ?
For a valid marriage the contracting parties must :
i. be free from all diriment impediment ;
ii. freely consent to the marriage ;
iii. if baptized in the Catholic Church or converts to it,
I marry in the presence of the parish priest or the
Bishop of the diocese, or a priest delegated by either
of the above, and before two witnesses.
(501) What is further required for a lawful marriage ?
In order to contract a lawful marriage the contracting
parties must :
i. be in a state of grace ;
ii. be sufficiently instructed in Christian doctrine ;
iii. be free from any impedient impediment ;
iv. observe any other precepts laid down by the
Church for the due celebration of a marriage.
(502) Does the Church dispense at times from the impediments
arising from diversity of religion—that is, when one of the
parties is not baptized—or from a “ mixed marriage ” ?
Only for very grave reasons does the Church dispense
from the impediments arising from diversity of religion or
from a mixed marriage, and permit a marriage between a
Catholic and one who is not a Catholic.
(503) When the Church grants such a dispensation and permits
a marriage of this sort on what does she insist ?
When the Church grants such a dispensation and per¬
mits such a marriage she demands from the non-Catholic
party a promise not to interfere with the religion of the
Catholic party ; from both parties she demands a promise
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
that all the children of the marriage shall be baptized and
brought up in the Catholic faith.
(504) What tribunal has competence in matrimonial cases?
Matrimonial cases affecting the bond of marriage between
baptized persons belong exclusively to the Ecclesiastical
Courts, though the rights of the civil authorities remain—
so far as purely civil effects are concerned—untouched. 392
(505) Are the faithful bound to make known to the ecclesiastical
authorities impediments of which they are aware ?
The faithful are bound to make known to the ecclesiastical
authorities any impediments of which they are aware,
more especially since the whole idea of publishing the
banns of marriage is to ensure such manifestation. 393
392 Trent, Sess. xxiv, can. 12 (p. 424 below) ; Codex Juris Canonici,
can. 1960 and 1961.
393 When choosing a state of life before all things consider God anc.
the salvation of your soul. If, after mature reflection, you decide
that marriage is more suitable for you, you ought then to set the
matter before your parents, for they have the right, indeed the duty
of advising you in so serious a matter. At the same time they have no righ
to set their faces against any particular marriage for you, nor have th
a right to make you marry someone whom you do not want to marry.
Then pray much about it and devote yourself to good deeds. Mo
particularly should you strive to lead a good life and thus prepare
yourself well for marriage. Go to confession before the marriage, and
when the time for celebrating this great Sacrament of Matrimon
arrives, set God s seal upon it by receiving Holy Communion with yoi
partner ; by this means you will draw down on yourselves the blessin 0
of God in your married life. Make a firm resolution to observe faith
fully the laws which should govern married life, also determine that
you will bring up the children God may give you in a good life and true
religion.
CHAPTER X
THE VIRTUES
(506) What is a virtue ?
A virtue is a habit or permanent disposition leading a
person to do good and avoid evil.
(507) How are virtues divided ?
Virtues fall into two classes, theological and moral,
according to their subject-matter.
Section I. The Theological Virtues.
Article 1. The Theological Virtues in General.
(508) What is a theological virtue ?
A theological virtue is one whose immediate object
is man’s supernatural end—namely God, to whom it
directly leads him. 394
(509) How many theological virtues are there?
There are three theological virtues—faith, hope and
charity.
(510) Can the theological virtues be acquired by our natural
acts ?
The theological virtues cannot be acquired by our
merely natural acts, for of their very nature they are super¬
natural ; consequently God alone infuses them together
with His sanctifying grace. 395
(511) When are theological virtues infused ?
Theological virtues are infused into a person at the
moment when he acquires justification and the remission
381 St. Thomas, Summa Theol., I-II, lxii, 1-2.
885 Jn. vi, 44 ; xv, 5 ; Rom. v, 5 ; 11 Cor. iii, 5 ; Phil, i, 29.
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
of his sins, whether by the Sacrament of Baptism or by an
act of contrition accompanied by a desire to receive that
Sacrament. 396
(512) Are the theological virtues necessary for salvation?
The theological virtues are absolutely necessary for
salvation, for without them the right direction of mind and
will towards our supernatural end is impossible. 397
(5 1 3) Which is the greatest of the theological virtues ?
The greatest of the theological virtues is charity, which is
“ the perfection of the law ” and will not cease even ia
Heaven. 398
(514) When are we bound to make acts of faith, hope ,
charity ?
We are bound to make at least implicit acts of faith, hope,
and charity often during life, especially when after attaining
the use of reason we have sufficient knowledge of Divine
Revelation ; more particularly, too, when such acts are
requisite in order to fulfil some obligation or to overcome
temptation, also when in danger of death. 399
Article 2. Individual Theological Virtues.
a. Faith.
( 5 1 5 ) What is faith ?
Faith is a supernatural virtue whereby, through th.
398 Rom. v, 2 ; viii, 24 ; 1 Cor. xiii, 13 ; / Thess. i, 3 ; Heb. xi, 6 ;
1 Jn. IV, 15-19 ; Trent, Sess. vi, cap. 7 (p. 425 below) ; Clement V.
Const. De Summa Trinitate, at the Council of Vienne (p. 425 below) ;
Polycarp, ad Philipp. 3 (p. 425 below) ; St. John Chrysostom, Horn.
xl, 2 in Act. (p. 426 below) ; Catechism of the Council of Trent II, ii, 50-51
387 Mk. xvi, 16 ; Jn. iv, 15-20 ; Acts viii, 37 ; x, 43 ; Rom. v, 2
vm, 24 ; Heb. xi, 6.
308 A/I. xxii, 35-40; Jn. xiii, 14; xiv, 21, 23,; Rom. xiii, 10; .
tor. XIII, 1-13 ; Coloss, iii, 14 ; Jos. ii, 8 ; Benedict XII, Const
Benedictus Dens, June 29, 1336 (p. 269 below) ; St. Clement of Rome
ad Cor. 1, 49 (p. 426 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., II-II
xxm, 6-7.
399 Alexander VII, the first of the Propositions condemned on Sept
2 4, 1665 (p. 427 below) ; Innocent XI, condemned Propositions 6
7 > 16, 17, March 2, 1679 (p. 427 below).
THE VIRTUES
199
inspiration and help of God’s grace, we believe that what
God has revealed and has taught us through the Church
is true, not because by the natural light of reason we per¬
ceive its intrinsic truth, but on the authority of God who
reveals it, for He can neither deceive nor be deceived. 400
(516) Must we believe all revealed truths?
We must believe all revealed truths, at least implicitly ;
for example, “ I believe whatever God has revealed and
His Church proposes for my belief,” or, more briefly,
“ I believe whatever Holy Mother Church believes.”
Explicitly we must believe that God exists and will reward
us ; also in the mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity, the
Incarnation and the Redemption. 401
(517) Can faith be contrary to reason?
Although faith is above reason it is in no sense contrary
to it, nor can there ever be any real disagreement between
faith and reason. 403
(518) Why can there never be any real disagreement between
faith and reason ?
There can never be any real disagreement between faith
and reason because the self-same God who reveals mysteries
and infuses into us faith, bestowed on us the light of reason ;
400 / Cor. ii, 5, 7-13 ; Heb. xi, 1 ; Rom. x, 14-17 ; Vatican, Const.
Dei Filius, cap. iii (p. 427 below) ; St. Leo the Great, Sermo xxvii, T
(p. 428 below) ; St. John Chrysostom, Horn, lxxxii, 4, in Matthaeum
(p. 374 below).
401 Ml. xxviii, 19 ; Jn. iii, 15, 18, 36 ; xvii, 3 ; xx, 31 ; Heb. xi, 6 ;
Innocent XI, Propositions 22 and 64 condemned by Decree of the Con¬
gregation of the Holy Office, March 2, 1679 (p. 428 below) ; Decree of the
Holy Office, Jan. 25, 1703 (p. 428 below). To believe the above truths
is necessary for salvation “ necessitate medii,” belief in other truths is
necessary “ necessitate praecepti ” ; for a thing is said to be necessary
“ necessitate medii,” when if it is omitted, even blamelessly, the goal
cannot be obtained ; whereas something is said to be necessary
“ necessitate praecepti,” when inculpable omission of it does not preclude
us from obtaining the goal proposed. It follows that whatsoever is
necessary for salvation “ necessitate medii,” is also necessary “ necessitate
praecepti.”
403 Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, cap. iv (p. 429 below).
200
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
God cannot contradict Himself, nor can truth be opposed
to truth. 403
(519) Can faith and reason support one another?
Faith and reason can support one another, since sound
reason can demonstrate the foundations of faith, and,
illumined by that same faith, can develop a knowledge of
divine things ; conversely faith can safeguard reason
and free it from many errors, while providing it with mani¬
fold knowledge. 404
(520) When ought we to make external profession of our faith?
We ought to make external profession of our faith as often
as our silence, hesitation or mode of acting would imply
a denial of our faith, contempt for our religion, insult to
God or scandal to our neighbour. 405
(521) How do we show our faith ?
We show our faith by professing it in word and deed,
even if necessary giving our lives for it. 408
(522) How is faith lost ?
Faith is lost by apostasy or heresy—when, that is, a
baptized person repudiates all or some of the truths of
faith, or deliberately calls them in question.
(523) Who, besides apostates and heretics, sin against the faith ?
Besides apostates and heretics, the following sin against
the faith :
i. unbaptized people who repudiate the faith after
it has been sufficiently clearly put before them—
this is “ positive infidelity ” ;
ii. people who neglect to secure sufficient religious
instruction such as suits their age and condition in
life ;
403 Ibid. ; Pius IX, Encycl. Qui pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846 (p. 429 below).
404 Lateran V, Sess. viii (p. 267 below) ; Vatican, Const. Dei Filius,
cap. 4 (p. 432 below).
405 Rom. x, 10 ; II Tim. ii, 12 ; Codex Juris Canonici, can. 1325.
408 Rom. x, 9-10 ; Gal. v, 6 ; Jas. ii, 18-21.
THE VIRTUES
201
Hi. people who embrace errors condemned by the
Church and which approximate more or less to
heresy ;
iv. people who deliberately expose themselves to the
danger of losing their faith—those, for example, who
without leave and due precautions read books
prohibited by the Church, especially books written
by apostates, heretics or schismatics in defence of
their apostasy, heresy or schism. 407
b. Hope.
(524) What is hope ?
Hope is a supernatural virtue whereby because of the
merits of Jesus Christ, and relying on the goodness, omni¬
potence, and faithfulness of God, we look for eternal life
and the graces necessary to obtain it, because God has
promised it to those who do good works. 408
(525) How do we show our hope ?
We show our hope not only in word but also in deed,
when by putting wholehearted trust in the divine promises,
we bear the hardships and afflictions and even the per¬
secutions of this life with patience. 408
(526) How is hope lost ?
Hope is lost by the sins of despair or presumption, also
by sins that lead to loss of faith. 410
(527) What is despair ?
Despair is deliberate failure to trust that we shall obtain
from God eternal life and the means necessary thereto.
407 Codex Juris Canonici, can. 2318, par. 1.
408 Jn. vi, 40 ; Rom. v, 2 ; viii, 24 ; II Cor. v, 2 ; Coloss, i, 23, 27 ;
Tit. i, 2 ; Heb. iii, 6 ; Benedict XII, Const, Benedictus Deus, June 29,
1336 (p. 269 below) ; St. John Chrysostom, Horn, xiv, 6 in Ep. ad Rom.
(p. 433 below).
409 Rom. viii, 17-18, 23-25 ; I Cor. ix, 25 ; II Cor. i, 7 ; iv, 8-18 ;
vii, 1.
410 Gen. iv, 13 ; Mt. iii, 9 ; xix, 25-26 ; xxvii, 5 ; Acts i, 16-19, 26-
202
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
THE VIRTUES
203
(528) What is presumption ?
Presumption is a rash confidence that we shall obtain
eternal life without grace or without good works.
c. Charity.
(529) What is charity ?
Charity is a supernatural virtue whereby we love God
above all things for His own sake, and ourselves and our
neighbour for the sake of God. 411
(530) How should we set about proving our love of God ?
We should set about proving our love of God by keeping
His commandments. 412
(53 1 ) What further proof can we give of our love of God ?
We can give a further proof of our love of God by doing
other good works which though not commanded by
Him are acceptable to Him—in other words, “ works of
supererogation.”
411 Mt. xxii, 37-39 ; I Jn. iii, 17-18 ; iv, 20-21. The above definition
of charity can be stated more fully thus : Charity is called a “ super¬
natural ” virtue, because by it we love God not simply as He is known
to us by our natural powers but as He is known by an infused gift from
God. “ Whereby we love God ”—the primary object, then, on which
charity falls is God Himself; “ above all things ’’—for while our
wills tend to what is good yet God is the Supreme Good and therefore
desirable above all things ; “ for His own sake ”—that is by reason of
His own intrinsic goodness, so that the formal object or motive of charity
is the infinite goodness of God. And since, further, love of another
for his own sake is the love of benevolence, and God Himself pursues us
with a love of benevolence, and since again mutual benevolence is
friendship, it follows that charity is a species of friendship between
God and men ; {see St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol ., II—II, xxiii,
I). It continues : “ and ourselves and our neighbour —whence it
follows that we ourselves and our neighbour are the secondary objects
of charity ; “ for God’s sake ”—for whosoever loves another with the
love of benevolence loves also those whom that other loves ; whence
it follows that we love ourselves and our neighbours because we love
God and He loves both us and our neighbours ; wherefore we too by
charity desire for ourselves and for our neighbour what God Himself
desires for us and for them, namely grace in this present life and eternal
glory in the next.
413 Jn. xiv, 15, 21, 23 ; I Jn.v, 3 ; St. Gregory the Great, in Evangelia
II, xxx, 1-2 (p. 433 below).
( 53 2 ) How can we lose our love of God ?
We lose our love of God by any mortal sin ; but while
grace is thus lost by mortal sin, it does not always follow
that faith and hope are therefore lost. 413
(533) H° w ou ght we to love ourselves ?
We ought to love ourselves by seeking in all things the
glory of God and our own eternal salvation.
(534) H° w ought we to love our neighbour ?
We ought to love our neighbour by inward and outward
acts—that is, we ought to pardon his offences, avoid
causing him loss, injury or scandal, and help him in his
needs so far as we can, especially by the corporal and
spiritual works of mercy. 414
( 535 ) What are the spiritual works of mercy?
The spiritual works of mercy are :
i. to counsel the doubtful ;
it. to instruct the ignorant ;
iii. to convert the sinner ;
iv. to comfort the sorrowful;
v. to forgive injuries ;
vi. to bear wrongs patiently ;
vii. to pray for the living and the dead. 415
(536) What are the corporal works of mercy ?
The corporal works of mercy are :
i. to feed the hungry ;
ii. to give drink to the thirsty ;
iii. to clothe the naked ;
iv. to harbour the harbourless ;
413 Jar. ii, 10-n ; I Jn. iii, 6, 8-9 ; I Cor. xiii, 1-3 ; Jos. ii, 14,
17, 24 ; I Jn. iii, 15-18 ; Trent, Sess. vi, cap. 15 and can. 27, 28
(p.434 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., II—II, xxiv, 12.
414 Innocent XI, Propositions 10-11 of those condemned by Decree of
the Congregation of the Holy Office, March 2, 1679 (p. 435 below).
415 II Macc. xii, 46 ; Mt. x, 10 ; Ik. x, 26ff; Rom. xii, 12-17 ; Gal.
vi, 1-2 ; Ephes. iv, 1-2, 32 ; vi, 18 ; Coloss, iv, 2 ; I These, v, 14-17 ;
/ Tim. ii, 1-2 ; Jas. v, 19-20.
204
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
v. to visit the sick ;
vi. to visit the imprisoned ;
vii. to bury the dead. 416
(537) Does charity towards our neighbour also extend to our
enemies ?
Charity towards our neighbour also extends to our
enemies, for they too are our neighbours, and Christ Him¬
self has given us a commandment and an example on this
subject. 417
Section II. The Moral Virtues.
(538) What is a moral virtue ?
A moral virtue is one whose immediate object is good
actions done in accordance with right reason.
(539) Can acts of the moral virtues be divided according to the
end towards which they are directed?
Acts of the moral virtues, by reason of the end towards
which they are directed, can be either natural—for example,
if a person fasts lest food prove harmful to his health—or
supernatural —for example, if a person fasts to obtain from
God the pardon of his sins or to “ chastise his body and bring
it into subjection.” 418
(540) Which are the principal moral virtues, and how many are
there ?
The principal moral virtues are four—prudence, justice,
fortitude and temperance ; these are also called “ cardinal ”
virtues. 419
(541) Why are these virtues called “cardinal” ?
416 Tob. iv, 1-12 ; xii, 12 ; Ecclus, vii, 39 ; Is. lyiii, 7 ; Ezech. xviii,
7, 16 ; Ml. xxv, 35-45 ; Heb. xiii, 2, 16 ; Jar. i, 27.
417 Mt. V, 44 ; Lk. vi, 27, 35 ; xxiii, 34 ; Acts vii, 59 ; Rom. xii, 20 ;
Catechism of the Council of Trent, III, vi, i8ff.
418 I Cor. ix, 27 ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I—II, bciii, 4.
418 Wisd. viii, 7 ; St. Augustine, Tract, viii, 1, on I Jn. to the Parthians
(p. 435 below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I-II, Ixi, g.
THE VIRTUES
205
These virtues are called “ cardinal ” because they are
as it were the hinges ( cardines) on which turns the whole
structure of the moral life ; to them the other moral virtues
are reducible. 420
(542) How do the cardinal virtues help us ?
i. Prudence helps us to form a right judgment in all
circumstances as to what we should seek or avoid
for the sake of eternal life ;
ii. justice helps us to render to everyone his due ;
iii. fortitude prevents us from being deterred in our
pursuit of what is good by any difficulty or persecu¬
tion, even death itself;
iv. temperance helps us to curb evil desires and to
use the good things of the senses only in accordance
with right reason.
Section III. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
( 543 ) When a person is justified does he receive anything else
besides the remission of his sins and the infusion of the
theological virtues ?
When a person is justified he receives, in addition to the
remission of his sins and the infusion of the theological
virtues, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
(544) How many gifts of the Holy Spirit are there ?
There are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit : wisdom,
understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and
the fear of the Lord. 421
(545) 71 s what end are these gifts infused?
420 Consequently under justice we can group religion, piety, obser¬
vance, obedience, gratitude, truthfulness, liberality, friendliness . . . ;
under fortitude we place magnanimity, patience, perseverance . . . ; under
temperance come abstinence, propriety, sobriety, chastity, virginity,
continence, meekness, modesty, humility. . . Humility is the most
fundamental virtue of all, since it cuts away that pride which is the
beginning of all sin.
421 Is. xi, 2-3 ; St. Ambrose, De Mysteriis, 42 (p. 436 below) ; also
De Sacramentis, iii, 8 (p. 436 below).
206
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
THE VIRTUES
These gifts are infused into a just man so that he may
more easily and readily receive and correspond with
the movements of the Holy Ghost whereby he is in many
and various ways urged to do good and avoid evil. 422
(546) What help do the gifts of the Holy Spirit afford us ?
i. Wisdom helps us to find delight in the contemplation
of divine things, also by divine principles to judge of things
human as well as divine ;
ii. understanding helps us to grasp, so far as we mortal
men can, the credibility of the mysteries of faith ;
in. counsel puts us on our guard against the deceits of
the devil and the world, and helps us in dubious cases to
see what is more to the glory of God and more conducive
to our own and our neighbour’s salvation ;
iv. fortitude affords us remarkable strength in resisting
temptation and overcoming hindrances to our spiritual
life ;
v. knowledge helps us to distinguish rightly between
what we should and should not believe ; by it, too, we
are guided in those things which concern our spiritual life ;
vi. piety shows us how to offer due worship and service
to God, also to the Saints and to those men who stand in
the place of God in our regard ; finally it shows us how,
for the love of God, to assist those who are in trouble ; 423
vii. fear of the Lord helps us to avoid sin through a
fear of offending the Divine Majesty ; this fear springs from
a reverential and filial love of God. 424
Section IV. The Beatitudes and the Fruits of the
Holy Spirit.
( 547 ) What are the effects of the theological virtues and of the
gifts of the Holy Spirit?
122 Leo XIII, Encycl. Divinum illud munus, May 9, 1897 (p. 436 below) ;
St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I-II, lxviii, 3 ; St. Peter Canisius,
De Donis et Fructibus Spiritus Sancti, iii, b.
423 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol. , 11-11 ci, <1.
124 Ibid., vii, 1.
207
The effects of the theological virtues and of the gifts of
the Holy Spirit are the Beatitudes and the Fruits of the
Holy Spirit.
(548) What are the Beatitudes ?
The Beatitudes are those taught us by Christ Himself
in the Sermon on the Mount, namely :
i. Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven ;
ii. blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land ;
iii. blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted ;
iv. blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for
they shall have their fill ;
v. blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy ;
vi. blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God ;
vii. blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the
children of God ;
viii. blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice's sake,
for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.™
( 549 ) Why does Jesus Christ call those people “ blessed ” who
have the above dispositions ?
Jesus Christ calls those who have such dispositions
“ blessed ” because, owing to these dispositions, they have
already in this present life a certain foretaste of the
blessedness that is to come. 426
(55°) Who are the “ poor in spirit ” who are styled “ blessed ” ?
The “ poor in spirit ” who are styled “ blessed ” are
those who are in spirit detached from external good things,
especially from wealth and dignities ; so much so that,
if circumstances permit, of their own accord they despise
them ; if they do possess them they make a moderate and
good use of them ; if they have them not they make no
anxious search after them ; if they happen to lose them,
they bear the loss in obedience to God’s will.
42S Mt. v, 3-10 ; Lk. vi, 20-22.
428 Leo XIII, Encycl. Divinum illud munus, May 9, 1897 (p. 437
below) ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I-II, Ixix, 1.
208
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(55 0 Who are the “ meek ” ?
The “ meek ” or “ gentle ” are those who are gracious
in their dealings with their neighbour and who bear, with¬
out complaint or desire of revenge, anything they may
have to suffer at his hands.
(552) Who are “ they that mourn ” and are yet termed
“ blessed ”?
“ They that mourn ” and are yet termed “ blessed ”
are they who have no desire for the pleasures of this world,
who in obedience to God’s will gladly bear the troubles of
this present life, who do penance for their sins and grieve
over the evils and scandals of the world and the danger in
which so many are of losing their eternal salvation.
( 553 ) Who are “ they that hunger and thirst after justice ” ?
“ They that hunger and thirst after justice ” are they
who strive to make daily advance in good works and in
charity.
(554) 14 %° are the “ merciful " ?
The “ merciful ” are they who for the love of God share
what they have with their neighbours and try to help them
in their bodily as well as in their spiritual difficulties.
(555) Who are the “ clean of heart ” ?
The “ clean of heart ” are they who not only avoid
mortal sin, especially impurity, but who keep, so far as is
possible, from even venial sin.
(556) Who are the “peacemakers” ?
The “ peacemakers ” are they who not only live in peace
with their neighbours, but try to help them to live peace¬
ably with one another.
(557) Who are “ they that suffer persecution for justice’s sake ” ?
“ They that suffer persecution for justice’s sake ” are
they who patiently bear contempt, calumny and persecu¬
tion, out of love of Christ.
THE VIRTUES
209
(558) How many “ Fruits of the Holy Spirit ” are there, and
in what do they consist ?
The Apostle St. Paul enumerates twelve Fruits of the
Holy Spirit—charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity,
goodness, longanimity, mildness, faith, modesty, conti¬
nence, chastity. 427
* 27 Gal. v, 22—23 5 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I-II, Ixx, 1
and 3.
CHAPTER XI
ACTUAL OR PERSONAL SINS 428
( 559 ) What does a person do who breaks God's Law, despite the
grace which He always bestows for our salvation ?
A person who, despite the grace which God always
bestows for our salvation, wilfully breaks His Law,
commits an actual or personal sin.
(560) What then is actual sin ?
Actual sin is a conscious and deliberate breach of God’s
Law. 429
(561) In how many ways can actual sin be committed?
Actual sin can be committed by thought, word and deed,
whether of commission or omission against either God, or
ourselves, or our neighbour, according as the law we break
is directly concerned with God or ourselves or our neigh
bour.
(562) What results from the repetition of the same actual sin .
From the repetition of the same actual sin there results
a habit that gives us an inclination to do wrong ; such
a habit is called a vice.
(563) How is actual sin divided?
Actual sin is divided into mortal sin and venial sin. 430
'
128 For Original Sin see under qq. 59ff.
429 The above definition of sin is correct not only in the case of a sin
against the Divine Law but also of sin against human law, for it is God
who gives to men the power to make laws ; “all power is of God,”
and He bids us observe laws enacted by legitimate authorities : “ Obey
your prelates.”
480 St. Jerome, Ads. Jovinianum, ii, 30 (p. 437 below) ; St. Caesarius
of Arles, Sermo civ, 2 (among the Sermons attributed to St. Augustine,
p. 437 below).
210
ACTUAL OR PERSONAL SINS
21 I
(564) What is mortal sin ?
Mortal sin is conscious and deliberate breach of God’s
Law by one who is aware of the grave obligation in¬
volved.
(565) Why is this sin called “ mortal ” ?
This sin is called “ mortal ” because it turns away the
soul from its final end, robs it of its supernatural life or
sanctifying grace, makes it deserving of eternal death in
Hell, and destroys all merits acquired, so that they no
longer avail for salvation until they revive by the recovery
of grace ; it also prevents us from performing works
meriting eternal life. 431
(566) What is venial sin ?
Venial sin is a conscious and deliberate breach of God’s
Law by one who is aware of the lesser obligation in¬
volved. 432
181 Ezech. xviii, 24; xxxiii, 13; I Cor. vi, 9-1 o ; xiii, 1-3. Wc
should be ready to suffer the loss of all earthly joys, even to welcome
death itself, rather than be defiled by a single mortal sin ; for a mortal
sin is the one real evil a man can experience, it is an infinite offence
against God, it means the depth of ingratitude, the height of presump¬
tion, and it involves the ruin of a man’s soul. When tempted, think of
the pit of hell into which you are casting yourself if you sin mortally ;
think of Christ crucified and of the way in which you would, by so
doing, tread under foot His Wounds and His Precious Blood ; re¬
member the words : “ Flee from sin as you would from the face of
a serpent,” Ecclus. xxi, 2.
482 A mortal sin may also be defined as the deliberate transgression
of a grave law, that is of a law concerning some grave matter. A
venial sin is the breaking of a lesser law, of one concerned with some
minor matter. Whether, however, the law is grave or not has to be
decided either from God’s revelation in the Scriptures, or from the
teaching of the Fathers of the Church, or from the Church’s explicit
declaration, or from general agreement on the point among the Church’s
Doctors, and herein the faithful will have to be guided by the wise
judgment of their confessors. But when, though the sin committed
is mortal so far as the actual law thus broken is concerned, yet the
person who breaks it is not aware of its gravity, his sin will be venial ;
and conversely, if he thought it grave when it was not really so, his
sin will be mortal ; hence the definitions given above in the text
remain true.
212
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
(567) Why is this sin called “ venial ” ?
This sin is called “ venial ” because, since it does not
turn away the soul from its final end or cause its supernatural
death, it can be more easily pardoned, even without
sacramental confession ; it is a weakness of the soul that
can of its very nature be easily cured. 433
(568) What are the chief effects of venial sin ?
The chief effects of venial sin are that it lessens the
fervour of charity, and makes it easier to sin mortally ;
by it, too, a person incurs a debt of temporal punishment
which has to be paid either in this world or in the next.
(569) Are all mortal sins equal, or all venial sins ?
Sins, whether mortal or venial, are not all equal ; but
just as some venial sins are less grave than others, so too
some mortal sins are graver than others. 434
(570) Which mortal sins are of their very nature most grave ?
Those mortal sins are of their very nature most grave
which are committed directly against God.
(571) What are the sins against the Holy Ghost?
The sins against the Holy Ghost are :
i. despair of salvation ;
ii. presumption of gaining salvation without merit.? ;
Hi. resisting the known truth ;
iv. envy of another’s spiritual good ;
v. obstinacy in sin ;
vi. final impenitence. 435
433 St. Pius V, the 20 th Proposition among those condemned in the case o/Baius
Oct. 1, 1567 (p. 438 below). Hence the mere repetition or multiplic¬
ation of venial sins can never of itself become a mortal sin ; so much
so that even when by repeated venial sins the material part becomes
grave through accumulation (for example as theft may become grave
by repetition) it is the resulting gravity of the matter that makes it
mortal, not the repetition of the venial sins.
134 Jn. xix, 11 ; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I—II, lxxiii, 2.
435 Aft. xii, 31-32 ; Mk. iii, 28-29 ; Lk. xii, 10. For the first an
second of these sins see under qq. 527-8. He commits the thir
kind of sin who repudiates a known truth of faith so as to indulge
i
■
ACTUAL OR PERSONAL SINS 213
(572) Why are these sins said to be sins against the Holy
Ghost ?
These sins are said to be sins against the Holy Ghost
because he who thus sins spurns out of malice the very
things that could keep him from sin ; for he is despising
grace, which is peculiarly attributed to the Holy Spirit
as the source of all good things. 436
(573) Which are the sins against our neighbour that “ cry to
heaven for vengeance ” ?
The sins against our neighbour that “ cry to heaven
for vengeance ” are :
i. wilful murder ;
ii. the sin of Sodom ;
iii. oppression of the poor ;
iv. defrauding labourers of their wages. 437
(574) Why are these sins said to “ cry to heaven for vengeance”?
These sins are said to “ cry to heaven for vengeance ”
because they, more than other sins, arc peculiarly and
patently wicked and call down on those who commit them
the wrath and vengeance of God. 438
(575) Which are the “ capital ” sins ?
The “ capital ” sins are :
i. pride ;
ii. avarice ;
iii. lust ;
more freely in his sin. The fourth sin does not mean mere envy of
one’s brethren’s personal gifts, but disgust at the spread of God’s grace
in the world. The fifth sin involves a determination to persevere in
sin, the sixth a determination not to repent; see St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theol., H-II., xiv, I, 2.
433 St. Peter Canisius, De Peccatis in Spiritum Sanctum, i ; St. Thomas,
as above.
437 Gen. iv, 10 ; xviii, 20 ; Exod. xxii, 23, 27 ; Deut. xxiv, 15 ; Jos.
v, 4.
433 Rom. i, 28-32 ; xii, 1-6 ; I Cor. iii, 16-17; v > 11 ’> vi, 9-10 ;
Gal. v, 19-21 ; I Tim. vi, 9-10; II Tim. iii, 2-5 ; St. Peter Cansius,
De Peccatis in caelum clamantibus.
214
THE CAT HOLIC CATECHISM
iv. anger ;
v. gluttony ;
vi. envy ;
vii. sloth.
(576) Why are these sins called “ capital ” ?
These sins are called “ capital ” because they are as it
were the source and origin of all other sins and vices. 43 *
( 577 ) What are the virtues opposed to the capital sins ?
The virtues opposed to the capital sins are respectively :
i. humility ;
ii. liberality ;
iii. chastity ;
to. meekness ;
v. temperance ;
vi. joy in our neighbour’s welfare ;
vii. diligence.
(578) Ought we to avoid not only sin but also the occasions
of sin ?
We ought to avoid not only sin but also, so far as we
can, proximate occasions of it, namely those in which a
person exposes himself to grave danger of sin ; for “ he
that loveth the danger shall perish in it.” 440
434 St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I—II, lxxxiv, 2-3. Hence
pride (the disorderly desire of one’s own excellence) is the source and
root of presumption, ambition, vainglory and boasting . . . ; avarice
(the disorderly desire of temporal good things) is the source of hard¬
heartedness towards the poor, of theft, fraud, and deceit . . .; anger
(the disorderly desire of revenge) is the source of indignation, contumely,
blasphemy, imprecations, quarrels, murders . . . ; gluttony (the dis¬
orderly desire of food and drink) is the source of dulness of mind,
talkativeness and scurrilous speech . . . ; envy (or sadness because
some other person possesses good things which we regard as detracting
from our own excellence) is the source of hatred, detraction, calumny,
joy in our neighbour’s misfortunes and distress at his prosperity . . . ;
sloth ( acedia , sadness with regard to spiritual good things because of the
bodily labour they involve) is the cause of disgust with spiritual things,
of neglect to perform good works which are of grave obligation, of
gloomy views of our friendship with God ... As regards lust (luxuria)
see q. 228, note 211 (p. 127) and q. 229, note 2i2(p. 127).
410 Eccltts. iii, 27.
ACTUAL OR PERSONAL SINS
215
( 579 ) I s possible that we may have to give an account to God
for the sins of other people ?
It is possible that we may have to give an account to
God for the sins of other people, in proportion, that is,
as we have been the cause of them by command, counsel
or consent, or by not preventing them when we could
and ought to have done so-.
a
CHAPTER XII
THE LAST THINGS
(580) What very effective means for avoiding sin does God
recommend to us in Holy Scripture ?
In Holy Scripture God recommends to us a very effective
means for avoiding sin, when He bids us reflect on the Last
Things : “ In all thy works remember thy last end and
thou shalt never sin.” 441
(581) What is meant by “ the Last Things ” ?
By “ the Last Things ” we mean the things that will
befall men at the last—death, judgment, Hell, Heaven
(though between judgment and Heaven, Purgatory may
intervene).
(582) What should be our principal reflections on death ?
Our principal reflections on death should be that it is
a punishment for sin ; that it is the moment on which our
eternity hangs, so that after death there is no further room
for repentance and merit ; also that its time and circum¬
stances are uncertain. 442
(583) What happens to the soul immediately after death ?
Immediately after death the soul stands before the
tribunal of Christ, to face the particular judgment. 443
(584) About what things will the soul be judged at the particular
judgment ?
441 Ecclus. vii, 40 ; St. Basil, Sermo in Ps. xxxiii (p. 438 below).
442 Gen. ii, 17; iii, 19; Ecclus. xiv, 12-13; xli, 1-3; Mt. xxiv,
42-44; Lk. xii, 39-40 ; Rom. v, 12 ; vi, 23 ; I Thess. v, 22 ; Heb. ix,
27 ; Trent, Sess. , De Peccato Originali, can. 1 (p. 276 below).
443 Ecclus. xi, 28 ; Rom. xiv, 10 ; Heb. ix, 27 ; Benedict XII, Const.
Benedictus Deus, .June 29, 1336 (p. 269 below) ; St. Augustine, De Anima,
ii, 8 (p. 439 below). For the General Judgment see under qq. ii2ff.
216
THE LAST THINGS
217
At the particular judgment the soul will be judged
about every single thing—its thoughts, words, deeds, and
omissions. The sentence then passed on the soul will bt
ratified at the General Judgment, when it will be made
publicly manifest. 444
(585) What will happen to the soul after the particular judg¬
ment ?
After the particular judgment the soul, if, owing to mortal
sin, it is not in the grace of God, will be at once consigned
to the punishment of Hell ; if it is in a state of grace and
free from all venial sin and all debt of temporal punishment,
it will at once be taken up into the glory of Heaven ; if it
is in a state of grace but with some venial sin or with some
debt of temporal punishment still unpaid, it will be detained
in Purgatory until it shall have fully satisfied God’s justice. 445
(586) What will be the state of the damned in Hell ?
In Hell, also called “ the pit ” or “ Gehenna ” in Holy
Scripture, the devils—and with them the damned (their
souls only, before the General Judgment, their bodies
too thereafter)—are tormented with everlasting punish¬
ments. 44 ®
(587) What are the punishments endured by the damned in
Hell ?
The punishments endured by the damned in Hell are :
i. the pain of loss—the perpetual privation of the
beatific vision of God ;
ii. the pain of sense—a real fire torturing yet never
444 Mt. x, 26 ; xii, 36 ; I Cor. iv, 5.
446 II Macc. xii, 46 ; Lk. xvi, 22 ; xxiii, 43 ; II Cor. v, 1-3 ; Florence,
Decree for the Greeks (p. 440 below) ; St. John Damascene, De Fide
orthodoxa, iv, 27 (p. 440 below).
446 Aft. viii, 12 ; xiii, 42 ; xxiv, 51 ; xxv, 30, 31, 46; Lk. xiii,
27-28 ; xvi, 22, 24, 28 ; II Thess. i, 9 ; Apoc. xiv, 9-11 ; Lateran
IV, cap. i (p. 325 below) ; Florence, Decree for the Greeks (p. 440 below) ;
Vigilius, Ada. Origenem, can. 9, (p. 441 below) ; Benedict XII, Const.
Benedictus Deus, June 29, 1336 (p. 269 below) ; Pius IX, Ep. to the
Archbishops and Bishops of Italy, Aug. 10, 1863 (p. 317 below).
2l8
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
consuming ; darkness and gloom, remorse and
anguish of conscience, and the company of the
demons and of the other lost souls. 447
(588) Are the sufferings of the damned the same for all alike ?
The pain of loss is the same for all alike ; not so the other
sufferings, for they will vary according to the number and
gravity of the sins committed. 448
(589) What will be the state of the soul in Purgatory ?
In Purgatory the soul pays any debt of temporal punish¬
ment due to sin not fully paid in this life, until it shall have
fully satisfied God’s justice, and so can be admitted to
Heaven. 449
(590) What punishments are inflicted on the soul in Purgatory ?
In Purgatory the soul is punished by the pain of loss
and also by the pains of sense—in other words by being
deprived for a time of the beatific vision of God and by
other grievous sufferings.
(591) Are the sufferings of the souls in Purgatory the same for
all alike ?
The sufferings of the souls in Purgatory are not the same
for all alike, but differ in length and intensity according
to the venial sins and the debt of temporal punishment
for which each is responsible ; moreover their sufferings
can be rendered shorter and less grievous by means of
the prayers offered for them.
447 Mt. iii, 12 ; xiii, 42 ; xviii, 8 ; xxiv, 51 ; xxv, 30, 41, 46 ; Lk.
xiii, 28 ; xvi, 24, q8 ; Apoc. xxi, 8 ; Catechism of the Council of Trent
I, viii, 9—10.
448 Florence, Decree for the Greeks (p. 44 ° below) 5 St. Gregory, Dial . IV,
43 (p. 440 below) ; St. Augustine, De fide, spe, et caritate, 3 (p. 441 below).
449 II Macc. xii, 43-46 ; Mt. xii, 32 ; I Cor. iii, 12-15 ; Lyons II,
Profession of faith by Michael Palaeologus (p. 442 below) ; Florence,
Decree for the Greeks, (p. 440 below) ; Trent, Sess. xxv, Decree on Pur¬
gatory (p. 442 below) ; Benedict XII, Constitution Benedictus Deus,
June 29, 1336 (p. 269 below) ; Leo X, condemned Propositions of Luther,
nos. 37-40, June 15, 1520 (p. 443 below) ; Pius IV, Professio fidei
Tridentinae (p. 443 below) ; St. Gregory the Great, Dial, iv, 39
(p. 443 below).
THE LAST THINGS
219
(592) Will Purgatory cease with the General Judgment?
Purgatory will cease with the General Judgment and
all the souls then in Purgatory will, in God’s appointed
ways, have fully satisfied His justice and be received into
Paradise. 450
( 593 ) What will be the state of the souls of the just in
Heaven ?
In Heaven the souls of the just, separated from their
bodies before the General Judgment, but united with
them after it, enjoy for ever the beatific Vision of God,
and with it all good things, without the presence or fear
of any evil, in the company of our Lord Jesus Christ, of
the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the inhabitants of
Heaven. 451
(594) Do all the Blessed in Heaven enjoy eternal happiness to
the same degree ?
The Blessed in Heaven do not all enjoy eternal happiness
equally, but some more perfectly than others. 452
( 595 ) What is the reason of this difference?
The reason of this difference is that the Blessed in Heaven
450 Mt. xxv, 31-34, 41, 46 ; Jn. v, 29 ; St. Augustine, De Civitate
Dei, XXI, xiii, 16 (p. 444 below).
451 Wisd. iii, 7-8 ; v, 5 , 16-17 1 ds. xlix, 10 ; Lx, 18-22 ; Mt. xiii,
43 ; xix, 28-29 ; xxv, 34, 46 ; Lk. xvi, 22 ; xxii, 29-30 ; Jn. xvii,
24 ; I Cor. ii, 9 ; xv, 41 ff. ; II Cor. xii, 4 ; I Pet. i, 4 ; v, 4 ; npoc.
vii, 9, 16, 17; xxi, 1-4, 10-14; xxl 'i, 1-5; Lateran IV, De Fide
Catholica contra Albigenses (p. 325 below) ; Vienne, Contra errores Beg-
uardorum et Beguinarum (p. 444 below) ; Benedict XII, Const. Benedictus
Deus, June 29, 1336 (p. 269 below) ; Florence, Decree for the Greeks,
(p. 440 below) ; Catechism of the Council of Trent, I, xiii, 4ff.
452 Florence, Decree for the Greeks (p. 440 below) ; Trent, Sess. vi,
De Justifications, can. 32 (p. 344 below) ; St. Gregory the Great,
Moralia in librum Job, iv, 70 (p. 445 below) ; Aphraates, Demonstrationes,
xxii, 19 (p. 445 beiow) ; St. Ephraem, Hymni et Sermones, 11 (p. 446
below) ; St. Jerome, Adv. Jovinianum, ii, 32, 34 (p. 446 below) ; also
Ada. libros Rufini, i, 23 (p. 446 below) ; St. Augustine, Senna lxxxvii,
4, 6 (p. 447 below) ; also Tract. Ixvii, 2, iti Joann, (p. 447 below).
2 20
THE CATHOLIC CATECHISM
see God by the “ light of glory ” given to each by God—
to the Angels according to their dignity and the grace
they have received, to men according to their merits,
yet so that all, though possessing the light of glory in
differing degrees, are perfectly happy and blessed.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
(From the Acts of the Vatican Council.)
the scheme of the constitution on a
SHORTER CATECHISM AS RECAST IN ACCORD¬
ANCE WITH THE EMENDATIONS ACCEPTED BY
THE GENERAL CONGREGATION.
PIUS, BISHOP, SERVANT OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD,
WITH THE APPROBATION OF THE SACRED COUNCIL,
FOR A PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE.
Of drawing up and using a single Shorter Catechism for the
Universal Church.
Taught by the precepts and example of her Spouse, our
Saviour Jesus Christ, Holy Mother Church has always
devoted special care and attention to the children, to the
end that, after being nourished with the milk of heavenly
doctrine, they should receive in due course fuller training
in the duties of their religion.
Hence the Holy Synod of Trent was not content to bid
the Bishops see that children were carefully taught the
rudiments of their faith and their duties towards God and
their parents , 1 but also felt bound to provide that some
definite form and method of instruction in the rudiments
of their faith should be drawn up for the faithful, so that
all legitimate pastors and teachers could adopt it . 2
The Holy Synod itself was, however, unable to carry this
into effect ; the Apostolic See therefore, in accordance
with the above desire , 3 published The Catechism for Parish
1 Sess. xxiv, cap. 4, De Reformatione.
2 Sess. xxiv, cap. 7, de Reformatione. See Preface to the Catechism of
the Council of Trent.
* Sess. xxv. Decree on the Index of Books, on the Catechism, &fc,
THE SHORTER CATECHISM
Priests, or Catechism of the Council of Trent. But not content
with this, and anxious to meet in the fullest manner possible
the wishes of the Tridentine Fathers, who desired that in
future one identical method of teaching and learning the
Catechism should be used by all, the Apostolic See gave
its approval to the Shorter Catechism for the instruction of
children, drawn up at its request by the Ven. Cardinal
Bellarmine, and this Catechism it warmly recommended to
all Ordinaries, parish priests, and others concerned . 4
At the present time, however, much inconvenience has
arisen from the large number of Shorter Catechisms in use in
different Provinces, even in different Dioceses of the same
Province. We therefore propose, with the approbation of
the Sacred Council—while paying special attention to the
above-mentioned Catechism brought out by the Ven.
Cardinal Bellarmine, as well as other Catechisms already
familiar to the faithful—to have a new Catechism in Latin
drawn up for general use with Our authority, so that the
differing forms of the Shorter Catechism may fall into dis¬
use . 6
It will be for the Patriarchs or Archbishops in the various
Provinces, after taking counsel with their Suffragans and
then with the other Archbishops of countries where the
same language is spoken, to see that this Latin text is
accurately translated into the vernacular.
Bishops will, of course, be perfectly free, while always
* Clement VII, Brief, Pastoralis, July 15, 1598; Benedict XIV
Constit. Etsi Minime, Feb. 7, 1742.
* No mention is made in this Scheme of the Shorter Catechism fo
Children preparing for their First Communion which was drawn up ii
accordance with the Decree of Pope Pius X, Qtiam singulari. Before
the publication of that Decree, children were generally not admitt
to their First Communion before they reached a later age, whi
varied in different places ; to prepare them for this Bellarmine’
Catechism was used, or others of the same kind. But since the appearan
of Pope Pius’s Decree the above-mentioned Catechism can, as stat
in our Preface, be used for teaching children who after their Fi;
Communion continue learning their Christian doctrine ; but th
should not be used for children who, in accordance with that Decrt
are preparing for their First Communion.
§
THE SHORTER CATECHISM
■
ai
fc
retaining unaltered this Shorter Catechism for the elementary
instruction of the faithful, to draw up fuller instructions for
their more complete training, thus providing them with a
defence against any particular errors prevailing in their
districts. If the Bishops prefer to combine the said addi¬
tions with the Catechism, they should be careful to keep
intact and distinct the text of the Catechism as We publish it . 6
Lastly it is of little use for the faithful to commit to mem¬
ory the formulas given in the Catechism, unless they are
taught by word of mouth to understand what these for¬
mulas mean, a fact which makes it all the more important
to have one uniform method in setting before the people
the doctrines of their faith, and the ordinary practices of
piety. For this purpose we very warmly recommend—as
Our Predecessors have so often done—the use of the
Catechism for Parish Priests or Catechism of the Council of Trent.
! Our Third Catechism is most suitable for this purpose, as it is pre¬
pared for grown-up and educated people, and in it the truths of
Christian doctrine are explained with greater fullness. On this same
Third Catechism we have based our Second Catechism for children, and in
it we have kept to the same words, so that when a child wants later
on to get a better knowledge of Christian doctrine he can easily do so
by using this Third Catechism. The Bishop of the Diocese can, of
course, have certain doctrinal questions more fully developed according
to local requirements, as we have said in the Preface.
APPENDIX II
DECREE OF THE SACRED CONGREGATION OF
THE SACRAMENTS ON THE AGE AT WHICH
CHILDREN ARE TO BE ADMITTED TO FIRST
COMMUNION.
The Gospel clearly shows the singular love Christ had
for little children when He was on earth. He delighted
to be with them, was wont to lay His hands on them, to
embrace them and bless them, while He indignantly
rebuked His disciples when they would have driven them
away. “ Suffer,” He said, “ the little children to come
to Me and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven.” 1 He showed, too, the high esteem in which He
held their innocence and purity of soul when He called a
little child to Him and said to His disciples : “ Amen, I
say to you, unless ye become as little children ye shall not
enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall
humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the
kingdom of heaven. And he that shall receive one such
little child in My name, receiveth Me.” 2
Mindful of this, the Catholic Church took pains, even
from the outset, to bring little children to Christ through
the Holy Eucharist, which she administered to them even
when babes at the breast. That this was done at their
Baptism we find stated in nearly all the ancient Rituals
down to the thirteenth century ; while in some places the
custom prevailed even later, and the Greek and Eastern
Churches still practise it. To obviate the danger of the
consecrated bread’s being cast up by children at the breast,
it was the custom in early days to administer the Holy
Eucharist to them under the species of wine only.
1 Mk. x, 13, 14, 16. s Mt. xviii, 3, 4, 5.
226
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION
Nor was this practice confined to the time of their
Baptism, for children were periodically admitted to this
sacred banquet. Thus in some Churches it was the
practice to give the Holy Eucharist to them immediately
after the clergy ; in others the fragments were given to
the children after the grown-up people had received.
Later on this practice died out in the Latin Church, and
children were not admitted to the Holy Table until they
had come to the use of reason and had some realisation of
what this august Sacrament meant. This more modern
practice, already endorsed by some Provincial Synods,
was solemnly ratified by the Fourth Council of the Lateran,
a.d. 1215, when it promulgated its celebrated Canon XXI,
in which sacramental Confession and Holy Communion
were made obligatory on the faithful after they had attained
the age of reason. The words of the Canon are : “ All
the faithful of either sex, shall after reaching years of dis¬
cretion, make private confession to their own priest, of all
their sins, at least once a year, and shall, according to their
capacity, perform the penance imposed on them ; they
shall also reverently receive the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist, at least at Easter, unless on the advice of their
own priest, for some reasonable cause, they defer doing so
for a time.”
The Council of Trent 3 —while in no sense condemning
the old practice of administering the Holy Eucharist to
children before they have reached the use of reason—con¬
firmed the above Decree of the Lateran Council and added
an anathema against those who might think otherwise :
“ If any one shall deny that every individual Christian of
either sex is, when he has reached years of discretion, bound
each year, at least at Easter, to receive Holy Communion
in accordance with the command of Holy Mother Church,
let him be anathema.” 4
Owing, then, to this Lateran Decree, which still holds
3 Sess. xxi, De Communione, cap. 4.
4 Sess. xiii, De Eucharistia, cap. 8, can. 9.
228
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION
good, the faithful are bound, so soon as they reach years
of discretion, to approach at least once a year the Sacra¬
ments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist.
But in deciding what is meant by “ the age of reason or
discretion,” there have crept in in the course of time many
errors and deplorable abuses. For some would maintain
that the age of discretion for receiving the Sacrament of
Penance is not the same as that for reception of the Holy
Eucharist. They feel that for Confession the age of dis¬
cretion is reached when children can distinguish between
right and wrong and so can sin ; but that for receiving the
Holy Eucharist a more mature age is requisite, one at which
they can have a fuller knowledge of the truths of faith and
may better prepare themselves. Consequently, owing to
varying local practices and views, in some places the age
of ten years, in others, twelve, fourteen or even more are
required, and until that age children are not allowed to
receive Holy Communion.
Yet this practice, which keeps people away from Holy
Communion on the alleged ground of greater reverence
for so august a Sacrament, has been the occasion of many
evils. For it has meant that children who in their state
of innocence were debarred from Christ’s embrace, were
afforded no food for their interior life, so that, deprived in
their youth of this powerful safeguard though surrounded
by many temptations, they lost their innocence and fell
into vicious habits before they came to make their First
Communion. And even when careful and painstaking
preparation for Sacramental Confession preceded their
First Communion—though this was not always provided—
no one can help bewailing the children’s loss of their
primitive innocence, a loss which might, had they been
earlier admitted to Holy Communion, have been avoided.
No less reprehensible is the practice prevailing in several
places of not admitting to Confession children who have
not yet made their First Communion, or at least of not
giving them absolution ; with the result that when they
1
I
■
1
1
■
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION 229
fell into grave sin, they were obliged, to their great detri¬
ment, to stay in that state for a long time.
Still worse is the case when, as happens in some places,
children who have not yet made their First Communion
are not allowed, even when at death’s door, to be fortified
by the Holy Viaticum, so that if they die they are buried
with the rites due to infants, and are thus deprived of the
prayers of the Church.
Probably those who unduly insist on extraordinary
preparadons for First Communion are hardly aware of the
dangers just mentioned ; nor, perhaps, do they realise that
such precautions have their roots in Jansenism, which
regarded Holy Communion as a reward rather than as a
remedy for human frailty. Yet the Council of Trent
certainly thought otherwise, when laying down that the
Holy Eucharist was “ an antidote whereby we are delivered
from daily faults and preserved from mortal sin.” 5 The
doctrine of that Council was, only recently, strongly
emphasised by the Sacred Congregation of the Council,
when on December 26, 1905, it declared that access to
Holy Communion was free to all, old and young alike, the
sole condition being that people should be in a state of
grace and be determined to avoid sin.
Nor in view of the fact that of yore the remains of the
Sacred Species were given even to children at the breast,
does there seem to be any real reason why an extraordinary
preparation should now be demanded of children who are
in their first blissful innocence and purity of soul, and who,
in the midst of all the dangers and seductions of the present
time, so emphatically need the Mystic Food of the Holy
Eucharist.
The abuses we have been condemning are due to the
fact that the suggested distinction between the age of dis¬
cretion for Confession and that for Communion is neither
wise nor sound. The Lateran Council laid down the same
age for either Sacrament when it brought them under a
6 Sess. xiii, De Eucharistia , cap. 2.
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION
single precept. Consequently, just as we regard the age of
discretion for going to Confession as the time when one
can distinguish between right and wrong—in other words
when a child has come to some use of reason—so we ought
to say that the age required for Holy Communion is the
age when a child can distinguish between the Bread of the
Holy Eucharist and ordinary bread, in other words the
age at which a child has arrived at the use of reason.
The contemporaries of the Lateran Council, as well as
its subsequent interpreters, put no other construction on
its Decree. The history of the Church affords instances of
several Synodal and Episcopal pronouncements, even from
the thirteenth century, that is, shortly after the Lateran
Council, admitting children to Holy Communion at the
age of seven. We have, too, a testimony of the highest
authority, for St. Thomas Aquinas says : “ When children
begin to have some use of reason, such as enables them to form
sentiments of devotion towards this Sacrament of the
Eucharist, then it can be administered to them.” 4 On
these words Ledesma thus comments : “ I say that by
common agreement the Holy Eucharist is to be given to
all who have the use of reason, and as soon as they have it,
even though such a child have only a confused notion of
what he is doing.” 7 Vasquez comments thus : “ If a
child has once come to the use of reason he is at once so
bound by the divine law that the Church cannot possibly
exempt him from it.” 8 So, too, St. Antoninus : “ When
capable of deceit, that is when he can sin mortally, a child
comes under the obligation of going to Confession, and
consequently to Communion.” 9
The Council of Trent points to the same conclusion.
For when, in Session XXI, ch. iv., it says that “ children
who have not the use of reason are not necessarily bound to
8 Summa Theot., Ill, lxxx, 9, ad 3m.
7 Comment, in Summam D. Thomae, III. lxxx, a. 9, dub. 6.
8 Comment, in Summam D. Thomae, Disp. ccxiv, cap. 4, no. 43.
9 Pars. Ill ; Tit. xiv, cap. ii. 5.
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION
Sacramental Communion,” the Council alleges as its sole
reason the fact that they cannot sin : “ For they cannot at
that age lose the grace of the sonship of God which has
been given them.” This shows that the mind of the Council
was that children came under the obligation of receiving
Holy Communion when they were capable of losing grace
by sin. In full agreement with this are the words of the
Roman Synod held under Pope Benedict XIII, which laid
down that the obligation to receive the Holy Eucharist
begins “ after boys and girls have reached the age of dis¬
cretion, that is an age when they can distinguish between
this Sacramental Food, which is none other than the Body
of Jesus Christ, and the ordinary bread we use, and can
understand how to receive it with fitting piety and devo¬
tion.” 10 And the Catechism of the Council of Trent says : “ At
what age children are to receive the Holy Mysteries none
can better judge than their father and the priest who is
their confessor. For it is their business to try to discover
by questioning the children whether they have any under¬
standing or appreciation of this wonderful Sacrament.” 11
From all this it is clear that the age of discretion for
receiving Holy Communion is reached when a child knows
the difference between the Bread which is the Holy
Eucharist and ordinary material bread, and can therefore
approach the altar devoudy. No perfect knowledge, then,
of the things of faith is called for, elementary knowledge
suffices, some knowledge ; not full use of reason, for incipient
reason, that is to say some use of reason, suffices. The practice,
then, of deferring the admission of children to Holy Com¬
munion to a later period, and insisting on a more mature
age for its reception, must be absolutely repudiated, and
this Apostolic See has more than once condemned it. For
example Pius IX, of holy memory, in letters written by
Cardinal Antonelli on March 2, 1866, to the Bishops of
10 Instruzione por quei che debbono la prima volta amettersi alia S. Com-
munione, Appendix xiii, p. 11.
11 P. II. De Sacramento Eucharistiae, no. 63.
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION
France, condemned in the strongest terms the practice,
which had already invaded certain dioceses, of deferring
children’s First Communion to definitely fixed maturer
years. Again, the Sacred Congregation of the Council, on
March 15, 1851, corrected a declaration of the Provincial
Synod of Rouen, which forbade children to make their First
Communion before their twelfth year. The same thing
was done by the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of
the Sacraments, March 25, 1910, for when a question had
arisen at Strasburg whether children should be admitted
in their twelfth or in their fourteenth year, the said Con¬
gregation answered that “ boys and girls are to be admitted
to the Floly Table when they have reached years of dis¬
cretion or the use of reason.”
After having carefully weighed all the above points, in
a General Congregation held on July 15th, with a view to
the removal of the said abuses, and in order that children
may, even from their tender years, cling to Jesus Christ,
live His life, and therein find a safeguard against all danger
of corruption, this Sacred Congregation of the Discipline
of the Sacraments decided to lay down the following
principles which are to be everywhere observed regarding
the First Communion of children :
(t). The age of discretion, both for First Confession and
for First Communion, is the time when a child begins to
reason, that is approximately the age of seven years. From
that time dates the obligation of fulfilling both precepts,
namely of Confessing and Communicating.
(ii) . Neither for First Confession nor for First Communion
is full and perfect knowledge of Christian doctrine requisite.
But a child ought afterwards gradually to learn the entire
Catechism according to his capacity.
{in). The knowledge of his religion which is required
in a child before he can make his First Communion is such
as will enable him to grasp according to his capacity those
Mysteries of the Faith which are necessary as means to
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION
salvation ( necessitate medii), and to distinguish between the
Bread of the Eucharist and ordinary material bread, so
that he may come to the Holy Eucharist with a devotion
proportionate to his years.
{iv). The obligation falling on children of going to
Confession and Communion particularly affects those who
have charge of them, that is their parents, confessor,
teachers and parish priest. It is for the father—or whoever
takes his place—and for the confessor according to the
Catechism of the Council of Trent , to admit a child to his First
Communion.
(v) . Once in the year, if not oftener, parish priests
should arrange for a General Communion of the children,
and they should admit to it not only the First Communi¬
cants but also those who have, with the consent of their
parents or confessors, as just said, already made their First
Communion ; a few days of preliminary instruction and
preparadon should be given to both classes of children.
( vi ) . Those who have charge of the children should be
careful to see that after their First Communion they come
frequently to the Holy Table, even daily if possible, as
Jesus Christ and Mother Church desire, and that they do
so with a devotion proportionate to their years. They
must bear in mind too, the grave obligadon under which
they are of seeing that the children come to the public
Catechism classes ; if they do not come, then their
religious instruction must be provided for in some other
way.
(vii) . The custom of not admitting to their First Con¬
fession children who have come to the use of reason, or
at least of not giving them absolution, must be completely
iven up. The local Ordinary must see that it absolutely
ceases ; he should, if necessary, even take proceedings
tgainst those who resist.
(viii). Similarly, the abuse of not administering the
r iaticum and Extreme Unction to children who have
DECREE ON FIRST COMMUNION
234
reached the age of reason, and of burying them with the
rite used for infants, is a deplorable one. The local Ordin¬
aries should severely rebuke such as refuse to give up the
practice.
Our most Holy Lord, Pope Pius X, in an audience
granted on the 7th day of this month of August, approved
all the above decisions of tliis Sacred Congregation and
ordered the Decree to be published and promulgated. He
has also bidden all the Ordinaries to make known the said
Decree not only to their parish priests and clergy but also
to the laity, and he wishes it to be read in the vernacular
every year at the same time as the Paschal precept is read.
It will be the duty of the Ordinaries to make a statement
every five years regarding the observance of this Decree,
together with other diocesan matters.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary.
Given at Rome from the Offices of the said Congrega¬
tion, August 7, 1910.
D. Card. Ferrata, Prefect.
Ph. Giustini, Secretary.
§
m
1
>*i
APPENDIX III
ON THOSE WHO ARE IN DANGER OF DEATH
If it happens that some sick person who is baptized,
whether boy or girl or grown-up person, is in danger of
death, and, though ignorant of the Catechism, yet desires
to receive the Church’s Sacraments, the priest should give
him a brief instruction about God, his last End and Re¬
warder, the Mysteries of the Holy Trinity and of man’s
Redemption, the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy
Eucharist, and the Sacrament of Penance. He should also
urge him to beg God, through the intercession of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, loving Mother of us all, to pardon the sins
he has committed. The priest should then hear his con¬
fession so far as is possible, give liim Sacramental absolution,
Holy Communion and, if time permits, Extreme Unction.
If, however, the sick person is not baptized but asks for
Baptism, yet cannot be properly instructed, then in order
to baptize him it is enough to instruct him about God his
last End and Rewarder, and the chief Mysteries of faith,
as above ; and it is sufficient for him to show in some way
or other that he agrees with all this and promises seriously
that he will keep the commandments of the Christian
religion. If, however, he cannot even ask for Baptism,
yet has previously or at the time given any presumable
indications of his intention to receive it, then he should
be baptized conditionally. If he should then recover, and
any doubt arises about the validity of liis Baptism, it should
be repeated conditionally.
If there is no priest at hand and no time to call one, then
let anybody, so far as he is able, instruct the sick person,
to prepare him for death ; let him add any exhortations
he can and then baptize him, as above.
235
APPENDIX IV
DECREE ON INDULGENCES GRANTED TO SUCH
AS DEVOTE THEMSELVES EITHER TO TEACH-
1 NG OR TO LEARNING CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE
POPE PIUS XI.
FOR PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE.
In a Motu proprio issued by Us on June 29, 1923, We set
up in the Sacred Congregation of the Council a special
Commission whose duty should be to provide for and
promote catechetical teaching in the Church. Now this
Catechetical Commission of the said Congregation has
repeatedly asked Us, with a view to furthering still more
the work of teaching and giving religious instruction to
the faithful, to grant certain Indulgences to such as devote
themselves either to teaching or to learning the Catechism.
Our Predecessors indeed, Popes Paul IV and Clement
XIII, conceded such Indulgences as were then fitting,
but we think that these now need to be increased and made
more suitable to the needs of the present time. Conse¬
quently We abrogate all Indulgences granted for this
purpose in the past by the aforesaid Pontiffs, and, after
taking counsel with Our beloved son the Cardinal Peni¬
tentiary of the Holy Roman Church, We, trusting in the
mercy of Almighty God and relying on the authority of the
Blessed Apostles SS. Peter and Paul, grant to each and all
of the faithful who shall for approximately half-an-houi
or not less than twenty minutes devote themselves to learn¬
ing or teaching the Catechism at least twice in the mont
a Plenary Indulgence which they can gain twice a mon
on any day they choose, provided that being truly peniten
they have been to Confession and Communion, and hav<
236
INDULGENCES FOR CATECHISTS 237
visited some church or public Oratory, and there prayed
for Our, that is to say, the Roman Pontiff’s intention.
Moreover We grant to the same members of the faithful
a partial Indulgence of one hundred days as often as for the
above-mentioned space of time they teach or learn the
Catechism—provided always that they are sorry for their
sins. The present concessions to hold good for the future
notwithstanding anything to the contrary.
Given at St. Peter’s, Rome, under the Seal of the
Fisherman.
March 12, 1930, the ninth year of Our Pontificate.
E. Card. Pacelli, Secretary of State.
■
APPENDIX V
AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF DIVINE
REVELATION 1
The Creation of the World and of Man.
i. In the beginning there was nothing but God. And
He, since infinitely perfect and happy of Himself, needed
no person or thing ; but, led only by His own goodness,
He created what things He would, that is He made out
of nothing all things contained in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible.
ii. All created things are part of a wonderful harmony;
the last to be created, namely man, as the completion of
the whole creation, was made to the image and likeness
of God.
in. God called the first man Adam, and to him He gave
Eve as his companion when He had formed her out ot one
of Adam’s ribs ; from these two sprang the whole human
The Fall of Man and the Promise of Redemption.
iv. Man, made the king of the whole earth, was placed
in a most beautiful spot, an earthly paradise, where he enjoyed
good things of every kind. But to help him to recognize
the full authority of his Creator, God commanded him not
to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and 'evil.
v. Yet Eve, who believed the serpent rather than God,
and Adam, who gave in to her, miserably broke -God’s
1 Taken from the Catechism of Pope Pius X.
238
THE FLOOD 239
command ; and through their fault came to pass what
God decreed, namely that not only they two but all men
from then onward were deprived of grace and eternal
happiness, as well as of other gifts meant to remedy the
defects of human nature. Thus they became subject to
the service of the devil, to evil desires, to all sorts of troubles,
even to death itself; and at the same time they forced
us too into the danger of losing eternal happiness.
vi. But though He had driven them out of the paradise
of pleasure and had condemned them to toil and bodily
death, God did not deprive them of all hope of eternal
salvation. On the contrary, He promised that the devil’s
cruel tyranny over them should be destroyed by Himself
through the Messias, that is the Christ, who should come in
the fulness of time. Relying on this hope and confidence
man might live again by obeying the moral law graven
in his heart.
The Corruption of Mankind; the Flood; the Chosen People.
vii. Yet beginning with Cain, who through jealousy
slew his brother Abel, sin multiplied on the earth as the
human race increased, so that all became wholly corrupt.
God therefore sent a flood upon the earth and in it all
perished except a just man called Noe with his family,
for God preserved them by putting them into the Ark,
which was a large kind of a ship He had told Noe to make.
When the Flood was over Noe offered a sacrifice to God
on an altar to thank Him for His great mercy.
viii. But the other nations which had sprung from Sem,
Cham andjapheth, sons of Noe, went so far astray that in
the course of time they all forgot God and worshipped idols.
Out of the few children of Sem who had remained faithful
God chose Abraham the Chaldaean ; He called him out
of his own country and promised him that if he and his
descendants would but be faithful He would be their God,
EGYPT AND THE EXODUS
also that He would not only give them great increase in
numbers and make them owners of the land of Chanaan
or Palestine, but that all nations should be blessed in their
seed. This same promise was renewed to Isaac the son
of Abraham and to Jacob or Israel, son of Isaac.
ix. Thus were the descendants of Abraham and Israel
made the Chosen People , that they might keep safe the true
religion and belief, and hand down to their children the
promise of a Redeemer.
The Exile of the Hebrews in Egypt; God delivers them through
the Hand of Moses.
x. Jacob died in Egypt, whither he and his sons had,
during a heavy famine, gone for help to Joseph his beloved
son. His brethren had through jealousy sold Joseph to the
Egyptians as a slave, but Pharao, Egypt’s king, struck by
Joseph’s gift of prophecy and his prudence and fidelity,
advanced him to the highest dignities in the kingdom.
When, however, the Jews in Egypt grew numerous and
prosperous, a later Pharao, fearing their power, tried to
crush them out of existence by reducing them to slavery,
also by commanding that all their male children should
be drowned in the river Nile as soon as they were born.
xi. But God came to the rescue of His people. For
Moses—the future deliverer of the people—was rescued
from the river by Pharao’s daughter, who had him brought
up in her palace. Later on God through Moses bade
Pharao let His people go. On his refusal God struck his
kingdom with ten plagues, called the plagues of Egypt, the
last of which was the destruction by an Angel in the night
of the first-born children of the Egyptians ; but the Angel
spared the houses of the Hebrews, where he found that
they had sprinkled them with the blood of a lamb. 1
1 From the fact that the destroying Angel “ passed over ” the-houses
of the Hebrews, which were marked by the blood of the lamb, came
the name “ Passover,” cf. Exod. xii, 7, 12-13, 23.
THE LAW AT SINAI 24 1
xii. When Pharao at length gave in to their demands,
Moses and the people immediately departed and crossed
the Red Sea, which was miraculously divided before them.
But when the Egyptians repented of having let them go
and entered the sea in pursuit, the divided waters reunited
and they all perished. Thus took place the passing over
of the Hebrews ; as a reminder of this marvellous deliver¬
ance 2 the Feast of the Passover was celebrated every year
until the coming of Jesus Christ, by whom the human
race was redeemed from the far graver captivity of sin.
The Hebrews in the Wilderness ; the Giving of the Law ; Josue ;
the Promised Land.
xiii. As he led the Hebrews through the wilderness God
gave them on Mount Sinai, with great solemnity and amidst
thunder and lightning, the Decalogue or Ten Command¬
ments, graven on two tablets of stone. To these He added
certain ceremonial and social laws which they were to
observe until the coming of Christ (or the “ Messias ”),
and so deserve the fulfilment of God’s promises.
xiv. This was the Old Testament or Covenant which God
made with His chosen People. This Old or Mosaic Law,
which contained many minute and burdensome precepts,
was to be a safeguard of their belief in and worship of the
one true God whom the heathen did not know, and a
preparation for the New Testament, or New Law of Christ,
which far excelled the Old Testament. On the foundation
of this Old Covenant the nation of the Hebrews was to
be built up by Moses.
xv. But though God by this Covenant had given to the
Hebrews a most exalted position and had wonderfully
supported them in the desert, yet through their own fault
! Ex. xii, 17.
242 THE JUDGES AND THE KINGDOM
they retarded their entrance into the Promised Land.
Moses himself died on its borders ; but Josue, who suc¬
ceeded him, captured Palestine forty years after they had
begun their wanderings, and divided it among the Twelve
Tribes descended from the twelve sons of Jacob.
The Judges ; the Kings ; David and Solomon ; the Temple ;
the Kingdom of Juda.
xvi. After the death of Josue, Judges, or men raised up
by God whenever grave necessities demanded it, ruled the
people. Then came Kings, of whom Saul was the first.
When God rejected him, David of the tribe of Juda
became king. He was a man full of zeal and faithful to
God ; the kingdom was to be hereditary in his family
and of it was to be bom at last the Christ “ of whose King¬
dom there shall be no end.”
xvii. Solomon, David’s son and the wisest of men, built
at Jerusalem a great and splendid Temple for the Lord ;
but in his old age he fell into vice and idolatry. Because
of this sin, and because of the hardness of heart of his son
Roboam, who succeeded him, ten tribes separated off
from the House of David ; out of these Jeroboam, the
author of this schism, made the Kingdom of Israel, which
soon fell into idolatry and was therefore rejected by God
and carried away by the Assyrians.
xviii. Meanwhile the tribes of Juda and Benjamin,
which made up the Kingdom of Juda and which alone
remained to the successors of David, frequently fell into
sin, though the Prophets, especially in the time of their wicked
kings Achaz and Manasses, sternly rebuked them for it.
Consequently Nabuchodonosor, the king of Babylon,' came
and destroyed the Temple at Jerusalem and carried the
people into captivity.
i;
THE CAPTIVITY AND THE RETURN
243
The Babylonian Captivity; the Return of the People to their
Fatherland ; the re-building of the Temple.
xix. In the miseries of their captivity the Hebrews,
stirred up by the Prophets, changed their lives and once
more asserted their belief in God and in the delivery of
Israel which was to be accomplished by the Christ or
Messias.
xx. When, then, after seventy years, Cyrus, the king of
the Persians, who had captured Babylon, gave the people
leave—in accordance with the wonderful predictions of
Isaias the Prophet—to return to their own country, the
city of Jerusalem was, under the leadership of Zorobabel
and Nehemias, rebuilt amid immense enthusiasm. The
Temple, too, was rebuilt, though not so splendidly as
before ; it was later on to be glorified by the presence
there of the expected Lord and Angel of the .New Covenant.
The worship of God was publicly restored, and, under
Esdras the priest, the people again obeyed the Law which
was publicly read out to them with appropriate explana¬
tions.
xxi. Then in the course of time, though the civil liberties,
as well as the power and wealth of the people of Israel,
were much lessened, yet, despite the fact that many fell
away from their early principles, their zeal for the Law of
God and their expectation of the coming of the Saviour of
the human race, of whose coming the Prophets spoke ever
more and more clearly, did not lessen but rather grew
stronger, until Jesus of Nazareth appeared, in whom were
divinely fulfilled all the prophecies. 3
* See the Third Catechism qq. 8ofF.
244
JESUS CHRIST
The Life, Preaching, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of
Jesus Christ.
xxii. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary,
the Spouse of Joseph, of the house of David. As the Angel
Gabriel had declared to her, the Holy Spirit overshadowed
her ; hence, while remaining a virgin, she became the
Mother of the Word of God, who took flesh of her.
xxiii. In accordance with the Law He was circumcised
and called Jesus —that is, “ Saviour.” After the sojourn
in Egypt caused by Herod’s persecution, he lived at
Nazareth, subject to Mary and Joseph, growing day by
day “ in wisdom, age, and grace, before God and men.”
When he was thirty years old He received the Baptism of
Penance at the hands of John the Baptist in the river
Jordan and began throughout Judaea and Galilee to preach
the Gospel, or good tidings, that is the remission of sin, and
eternal life to all who should believe in Him and obey His
commandments ; this divine teaching and mission He
confirmed by many miracles.
xxiv. Many believed in Him, especially His twelve
Apostles, or “ men sent ” ; these He chose for the purpose
of founding His Church, of which He appointed Peter to
be the head, and as it were the foundation. But the chief
priests, the Pharisees, and the teachers of the Law, stirred
up hatred and envy against Him ; for they envied His
power and took in bad part His reproval of their errors and
hypocrisy. Owing to this hatred the Sanhedrin, or
supreme tribunal of the nation, condemned to death the
Redeemer for whom the nations were waiting, and pre¬
ferred the robber Barabbas to Him when Pilate, the Roman
Governor, but a coward, tried to save His life on the plea
that the Passover was approaching.
xxv. Then, after the most cruel torments—for He was
scourged, crowned with thorns, and crucified between two
JESUS CHRIST. THE CHURCH 245
robbers on Calvary, a spot near Jerusalem—He bowed
His head as He hung upon the Cross, and when dying He
not only forgave His enemies but asked pardon for them
from God. In this way He completed the work of our
Redemption by offering to His Eternal Father full satisfac¬
tion for us.
Thus was completed the Old Testament, or the Covenant
God had made with an unmindful and ungrateful people ;
they rejected and cruelly put to death the Redeemer of all
mankind, but He thus consecrated a New and Eternal
Covenant in His Precious Blood.
xxvi. When the body of Jesus was buried His soul
descended into hell to set free the souls of the just there
awaiting Redemption. But on the third day, as He had
repeatedly foretold, He rose from the dead and then ap¬
peared to the holy women, to Peter, to the two disciples
I on their way to Emmaus, and to the other Apostles, who
were still doubting the truth, but on seeing His glorious
wounds became certain of Christ’s Resurrection. Then
when He had instructed them in the Kingdom of God and
had given them power to remit or retain sins, He sent
them out into the whole world to teach and baptize,
promising that He would send them His Holy Spirit and
that He Himself would be with them unto the consum¬
mation of the world. Finally, on the fortieth day after
His Resurrection He was, before their eyes, taken up to
heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father
endowed with all power in heaven and on earth.
The Descent of the Holy Spirit; the Catholic Church.
xxvii. Ten days later, on the Feast of Pentecost, the
doly Spirit promised by Christ descended on the Apostles
and on the infant Church, never again to be separated
rom it. Thus was the Kingdom of God, with the Apostles
SPREAD OF CHRISTIANITY
as its rulers and propagators, established and perfecte
Furnished, too, with supernatural assistance in the sha
of God’s teaching given by word of mouth or in writ
with the Sacraments—of which the chief is the H
Eucharist, under whose veils Christ, unceasingly prese
with us, lies hidden—and with the gifts of the Holy Spir
the Church, now wholly distinct from the Synagogue, beg
its own peculiar task of ministering to the salvation of t
human race. Whence it came to pass that the heathe
in spite of terrible persecutions at the hands of the Rom
Empire, were by degrees recalled from the idolatry a
corruption into which they had fallen, and very many
them when once they had embraced the Catholic Faith
became glorious examples of every virtue.
xxviii. Shortly afterwards Jerusalem with its Temp
was destroyed, and the Jews scattered to all parts of i
earth. The ancient world, eaten up by its vices, has fallen
into decay ; kingdoms and empires have worn out and
perished ; but the Church abides, and through the
civilisation she has introduced helps on ever more and more
the salvation of human society, even though the most power¬
ful nations have, through heresy and schism, quitted their
mother’s breast, and those who hate Christianity still wage
—as they have always done—unceasing war against her.
“ The gates of hell shall not prevail against her ” : that
is the divine promise ; relying on it, Christ’s soldiers know
no fear, but with Holy Mother Church they pray, toil, an ’
bear in patience every trial, looking forward to that La
Day when Christ, the glorious Judge of the living and t
dead, shall come again—He who, though he predict
hatred, persecutions and apostasies, strengthened an
encouraged the spirits of all His disciples by saying': “
the world hates you, know that it hated Me before ; if th
persecute Me they will also persecute you. Have co
fidence : I have overcome the world.” 1
1 For the proofs of the Godhead of Christ see The Third Catec,
q. 82.
m
m
THE CATHOLIC CHRISTIAN FAITH
APPENDIX VI
ESTIMONIES REFERRED TO IN THE CATE-
HISM : FROM THE (ECUMENICAL COUNCILS,
HE ROMAN PONTIFFS, THE FATHERS OF THE
HURCH AND THE ROMAN CONGREGATIONS
QUESTION 2 .
1
For Florence see q. 349 ; for Trent see q. 532.
Benedict XV, Encycl. Ad beatissimi, Nov. 1, 1914 :
The nature and character of the Catholic faith is such
at nothing can be added to it or taken from it ; either
the whole is accepted or the whole repudiated. 1 This,’
says the Athanasian Creed, * is the Catholic faith ; unless
a person faithfully and firmly believes this he cannot be
Saved.’ There is no need then, for qualifying words
wherewith to signify one’s profession of the Catholic faith ;
t is quite sufficient for a person to say : ‘ Christian is my
name, Catholic my surname ’ (St. Pacian, Ep. i, P.L.,
xiii, 1055) ; a man has only to strive to be in reality what
these names signify.” {Acta Apostolicae Sedis, vi, 577.)
question 4.
t. Augustine, Tract, cxviii, 5, in Joann.
What but the Cross of Christ is the sign of Christ
ch everybody knows ? Unless this Sign is set on the
heads of believers, on the water whereby they are
enerated, on the chrism wherewith they are anointed,
the Sacrifice whence they are nourished, none of these
gs are rightly done.” ( P.L ., xxxv, 1950.)
247
248
revelation and reason
QUESTION 5.
Innocent III, De Sacro Altaris Mysterio , ii, 45 •
“ The Sign of the Cross is made with three fingers because
it is impressed upon us in the Name of the Holy Trinity
from the forehead we pass to the breast, from the
right hand to the left. Some make it from the left hand to
the right so as to sign themselves and others in the same way.”
(P.L., ccxvii, 825.)
question 7.
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, ch. iv :
“ In addition to those things to which man’s natur;
reason can attain there are also set before us for our belii
certain mysteries hidden in God which we could not kno
without divine revelation. . . . Divine mysteries of the
very nature so transcend the powers of the human unde
standing that even when revealed and received in fail
they yet remain shrouded in the veil of faith, wrapped, ;
it were, in a certain obscurity so long as, in this mortal lif
‘ we are absent from the Lord.’ ”
Pius IX, Ep. Tuas Libenter, Dec. 21, 1863, to the Arc
bishop of Munich and Freisingen :
“ Hence we dare not question but that those who to
part in these conferences were at the same time qu
prepared—since they recognised and accepted the abo
mentioned truth—to reject and reprobate whole-hearte
that novel and preposterous notion of philosophy whi
while admitting revelation as a historical fact, would
subordinate to the investigations of human reason
ineffable truths set before us by divine revelation, aim
as though those truths were the object of reason, or
though reason could, by its own powers and using its o
principles, attain to the understanding and knowledge
m
J§
ii
S
1
f
F
L,-
m '
I
OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
any of the supernatural truths and mysteries of our most
holy faith ; for these so transcend human reason that the
latter can never be sufficiently equipped to grasp or demon¬
strate them by its own powers or the use of its natural
principles.” (Acta Pii IX, I, iii, 641.)
question 12.
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, cap. 2 :
“ The same Holy Mother Church holds and teaches that
God, the beginning and end of all things, can certainly
be known from created things by the natural light of human
reason, * for the invisible things of Him, from the creation
of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that are made ’ {Rom. i, 20). Yet she also teaches
that it has seemed good to the wisdom and goodness of
God to reveal Himself and the eternal decrees of His will
to the human race by another and a supernatural way, for
the Apostle says : ‘ God who at sundry times and in divers
manners spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets,
last of all in these days hath spoken to us by His Son ’.”
[Heb., i, iff.)
Ibid., Canon I, On Revelation :
“ If anyone shall say that the one true God, our Creator
id Lord, cannot by the things that are made be known for
rtain by the natural light of the human reason, let him
anathema.”
Pope Pius X, Motu proprio Sacrorum Antistitum, Sept. 1,
10, The Oath against Modernism :
“ I firmly embrace and receive every single thing defined,
t forth and declared by the teaching office of the Church,
hich cannot err, especially those doctrinal points which
directly opposed to the errors of the present day. And
t of all : I profess that God, the beginning and end of
things, can by the natural light of reason ‘ by those
i
if
Sill
OUR KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
things that are made ’ {Rom. i, 20), that is by the visib
works of creadon, be certainly known, as a cause is knot
by its effects, and can therefore be demonstrated.” (A
Apostol. Sedis, ii, 669.)
St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., II, ix, 1 :
“ The very fashioning of the world shows forth Hi
who founded it ; its formation hints at Him who made it
the world declares Him who so arranged it. And t’
tradition the Church throughout the world has receiv
from the Apostles.” ( P.G., vii, 734 -)
w
St. Augustine, Sermo cxli, 2 :
“ Why do these impious people ‘ detain the truth ’ (Ro
i, 18) ? Is it because God has spoken to some one of them
Have they received a Law, as the people of Israel did
through Moses ? How comes it, then, that they ‘ detain
the truth ’ even in the midst of their iniquity ? Listen to
what follows and you will see : ‘ Because that which is
known of God was manifest in them. For God hath
manifested it unto them’ {ib. 19). What? God has
made a revelation to people to whom He gave no Law ?
See, then, how He has manifested it : ‘For the invisible
things of Him . . . are clearly seen, being understood b
the things that are made,’ {ib. 20). Ask the world, as
the glory of the heavens, ask the glory and harmony of the
stars . . . ask all these and see if they will not, almost
with voices, reply : ‘ God made us ! ’ True-mindec
philosophers have asked these questions and have recog
nised the Artist in His art.” ( P.L. xxxviii, 776.)
QUESTION 13.
For the Vatican Council see under q. 12 above.
MOTIVES OF CREDIBILITY
251
QUESTION 17.
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, ch. ii :
“ To this same divine revelation we have to attribute
e fact that even those divine truths which are not of
emselves beyond human reason can, in the present
ndition of the human race, be known by all with prompti-
de, certainty, and with no admixture of error.”
3
QUESTION l8.
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, ch. iii :
“ Yet in order that the, assent given by faith might also
be in harmony with our reason it has pleased God to add to
the interior assistance of His Holy Spirit certain external
arguments in favour of His revelation, namely certain divine
• facts, especially miracles and prophecy, which, since they
clearly show forth the omnipotence and infinite wisdom
of God, constitute most certain signs of divine revelation ;
they are moreover adapted to all intelligences.”
Origen, Contra Celsum, vi, 10 :
“ It is a property of the Deity to foretell the future in a
way that is beyond human power and that will, by the
event, show that the Spirit of God was the Author of such
prediction.” {P.G., xi, 1306.)
question 21.
St. Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Autolycum, iii, 12 :
“ The sayings of the Prophets and the Evangelists agree,
r they both spoke by the one Spirit of God.” {P.G.,
1138.)
St. Epiphanius, Adv. Haer., Ixi, 6 :
“ We have need, too, of tradition ; for we cannot derive
THE BIBLE AND REVELATION
all these things from Scripture. For that reason the holy
Apostles have delivered some things to us in writing,
others by traditions.'’ (P.G. xli, 1047.)
I®
nw
L
QUESTION 23.
Trent, Sess. IV, Decrelum de Canonicis Scripturis :
“ The Holy, Oecumenical and General Synod of Trent
. . . having ever before its eyes the removal of error and
the preservation of the Gospel in its purity in the Church—
the Gospel which, promised beforehand by the Prophe
in Holy Scripture, our Lord Jesus Christ first promulgate
by His own mouth and then ordered to be preached by His
Apostles ‘to every creature’ ( Mt . xxviii, igff., ML xvi,
15), as being the source of all salutary truth and moral life ;
realising, too, that this same truth and code of morals is
contained in written books and in unwritten traditioi
which, received by the Apostles from Christ’s own mou
or at the dictation of the Holy Spirit, have come to us,
delivered to us as it were by hand ; this same Holy Syn<
following the example of the orthodox Fathers, reverent!
receives with like devotion and veneration all the Books c
the Old and the New Testament alike, since the one Go
is the Author of both ; it also receives with a like devotio
and reverence traditions concerning both faith and morals,
as given us by Christ by word of mouth or dictated by th
Holy Spirit and preserved in the Catholic Church by a
unbroken succession. The Synod has judged it well to
append to this Decree a list of these Books, lest doubts
should arise as to which are received by it.
I
“ They are the following :
“ In the Old Testament: the five Books of Moses, that is
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy;
Josue, Judges, Ruth, the four Books of Kings, the two of
Paralipomena, the First of Esdras and the Second (known
as Nehemias), Tobias, Judith, Esther, Job, the Davidic
m
* ■
THE CANON OF THE BIBLE 253
Psalter of 150 Psalms, Parables, 1 Ecclesiastes, Canticle of
Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Isaias, Jeremias with
Baruch, Ezechiel, Daniel, the Twelve Minor Prophets, or
Osee, Joel, Amos, Abdias, Jonas, Michaeas, Nahum,
Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus, Zacharias, Malachias ; two
Books of Maccabees, the . First and Second.
« In the New Testament: the Four Gospels, according to
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ; the Acts of the Apostles
written by Luke the Evangelist ; fourteen Epistles of St.
Paul, to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Gala¬
tians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, two to the Thes-
salonians, two to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon, to the
Hebrews ; two of Peter the Apostle, three of John the
Aposde, one of James the Apostle, one of Jude the Apostle,
and the Apocalypse of John the Apostle.
“ If, however, anyone should not receive as Sacred and
Canonical the entire Books with all their parts, as they are
wont to be read in the Catholic Church and are contained
in the old Vulgate Latin edition, and if anyone should
knowingly and of set purpose despise the aforesaid traditions,
let him be anathema.”
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, ch. ii :
“ Moreover this supernatural revelation is, in accordance
with the faith of the Universal Church set forth by the
■ Holy Synod of Trent, contained * in written books and in
unwritten traditions which, received by the Apostles from
Christ’s own mouth or at the Holy Spirit’s dictation to
them, have reached us, delivered as it were by hand. . . .
And these entire Books of the Old and the New Testaments,
with all their parts, as enumerated in the Decree of that
Synod and given in the old Vulgate Latin edition, have
to be received as sacred and canonical. Now the Church
regards these books as sacred and canonical not because
they have been produced by human industry and she has
afterwards given them her authoritative approval, nor
1 Or Proverbs.
INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE
merely because they contain revelation without error ; b
because, being written by the inspiration of the Ho'
Spirit, they have God for their Author and as such ha
been delivered to the Church herself.”
Leo XIII, Encycl. Providentissimus Deus, Nov. 18, 1893
“For all the books which in their integrity the Churc
receives as sacred and canonical, with all their parts, we
written by the dictation of the Holy Spirit; and so far
it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspi
tion, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatib
with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely an
necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the Suprem
Truth, can utter that which is not true.
“ This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Churc
solemnly defined in the Councils of Florence and Trent, an
finally confirmed and more expressly formulated by the
Council of the Vatican, which made the positive statement
that ‘ the Books of the Old and the New Testaments have
God for their Author. 5 Hence we cannot say that because
the Holy Ghost employed men as His instruments, it was
these inspired instruments who perchance have fallen into
error, and not the primary author. For, by His super¬
natural power, He so moved and impelled them to write—
He was so present to them as they wrote—that all the things
which He ordered, and those only, they both rightly under¬
stood, then willed faithfully to write down, and finally
expressed in apt words and with infallible truth. Other¬
wise it could not be said that God was the Author of the
entire Scripture. . . . And so emphatically were all the
Fathers and Doctors agreed that the divine writings, as
left by the sacred writers, are free from all error, that they
laboured earnestly, with no less skill than reverence, to
reconcile with each other those numerous passages whi
seem at variance—indeed in great measure those ve:
passages which have been exploited by the ‘ Highe
Criticism 5 ; for they were unanimous in laying it down f 1
HHGieai
FAITH AND KNOWLEDGE
ose writings in their entirety and all their parts were
qually from the afflatus of Almighty God, and that God,
peaking by the sacred writers, could not set down anything
,ut what was true.” (Acta Leonis XIII , xiii, 357-9O
question 25.
Trent and Vatican, see under q. 23.
question 27.
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, ch. iv :
“ Nor are the teachings of the faith which God has
revealed to be regarded as merely philosophical proposi¬
tions to be worked out by human ingenuity, but rather as
a divine deposit delivered to the Spouse of Christ for her
faithful safe-keeping and infallible exposition. Conse¬
quently we have always to hold fast to that interpretation
of these sacred dogmas which Holy Mother Church has
once and for all laid down ; nor can we ever depart from
that interpretation on the plea of some explanation sup¬
posed to be more profound. By all means let intelligence,
knowledge, wisdom, grow and make strides on the part of
one and all, of individuals and of the entire Church, of
all men and in every age ; but each only in his own order ;
that is in the same doctrine, the same meaning and inter¬
pretation of it.”
Vatican, Const. Pastor aeternus, ch. iv :
“To meet the demands of their pastoral office Our
redecessors have toiled unweariedly to secure that the
aving teaching of Christ should be propagated amongst
.11 the peoples of the earth, and with like zeal have ever
en on the watch to see that where it has once been planted
should be preserved pure and untainted. For this
ason the Bishops of the entire world, now individually,
m
fe¬
ll
i
256 THE CHURCH AND THE DEPOSIT OF FAITH
now gathered in synod, have, in accordance with the Ion
established practice of the Churches and the norm provid
by ancient rules, brought to the notice of this Aposto'
See dangers which they saw emerging touching the fait
so that losses accruing to the faith might there be ma
good * where the faith can suffer no lapse.’ (St. Bernar
Ep. cxc.) And the Roman pontiffs have, according
the times and the state of affairs urged them, at one tir
by convoking Oecumenical Councils or exploring the mi
of the Church spread throughout the world, at other tim
by local Synods, at others again by taking such measur
as Divine Providence suggested, defined that that shot
be held which they, by God’s assistance, recognized as in
harmony with Holy Scripture and Apostolic tradition.
Not that the Holy Spirit was promised to St. Peter’s suc-
sessors in the sense that by His revelation they were to
propound some new doctrine, but that by His assistance
they might safeguard and faithfully expound the revelation
given through the Apostles, in other words the deposit of
faith. This doctrine of the Apostles all the venerab'
Fathers and orthodox Doctors have embraced, venerat
and followed. For they well knew that the See of St. Pet
was to remain free from all error in accordance with t
divine promise made by our Saviour to the Prince of F
Apostles : ‘ I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not,
and thou being once converted confirm thy brethren.’
(. Lk. xxii, 32.)”
m,
1
■
St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., Ill, iii, iff. :
“ Hence it is easy for all who are willing to see the trut
to discover in all the Church the tradition of the Apostl
made manifest throughout the world ; and we
enumerate the Bishops appointed by the Apostles, 1
their successors down to our own time. . . . But since
would be a lengthy affair in a volume like this to gi
the order of succession in all the Churches, by poin
out the tradition received from the Apostles and the fai
i
THE HOLY TRINITY ,
eached by the Church founded and established by the
orious Apostles Peter and Paul at Rome, the oldest, the
atest Church and the one best known to all, the Church
hose tradition has come down to us by the succession of
Bishops, we can put to confusion all those who draw
nclusions otherwise than is fitting.
“ F or to this Church [of Rome] it is necessary, owing to
its dominating principality, that every Church should
come —that is the faithful who are everywhere—for in that
Church is preserved by those who are spread abroad the
tradition derived from the Apostles.” ( P.G ., vii, 849.)
QUESTION 36.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), ch. 1 :
“ We firmly believe and freely acknowledge that there
but one true God, eternal, immense, unchangeable, in¬
comprehensible, omnipotent, ineffable, the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit ; three Persons indeed but one
wholly simple essence, substance or nature ; the Father
from no other, the Son from the Father alone, the Holy
Spirit equally from both ; without beginning, always, and
without end ; the Father begetting, the Son begotten, the
Holy Spirit proceeding; consubstantial, co-equal, co-
omnipotent and co-eternal ; one principle of all things ;
Creator of all things visible and invisible, spiritual and
corporeal; who by His almighty power, simultaneously,
at the beginning of time, fashioned out of nothing the
spiritual and corporeal creation, that is the Angels and this
world ; and afterwards the human race, commingled as
it were of spirit and body. For the devil and the other
demons were created by God good by nature, but through
themselves they became bad, while man sinned at the
suggestion of the devil.
“ This Holy Trinity, undivided according to Its common
nature, distinguished according to Its personal attributes,
gave to the race of men, first of all through Moses and the
250 GOD AND HIS CREATION
holy Prophets and Its other servants, teachings in accord¬
ance with the due disposition of times.” (Mansi, Concilia ,
xxii, 98iff.)
Vatican, Const. Dei Filius, ch. i :
“ The Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Roman Church believes
and confesses that there is one true living God, Creator and
Lord of heaven and earth, omnipotent, eternal, immense,
incomprehensible, infinite in understanding, will and
perfection ; and since He is one, individual, wholly simple
and unchangeable spiritual substance, He is to be pro¬
nounced distinct in nature and being from the world, in
and of Himself most happy, and ineffably exalted above
all things which are or can be conceived of as being other
than Himself.
“ This one and only true God, of His goodness and
almighty power, not to add to or acquire His happiness
but to manifest His perfection through the good things he
communicates to created things, of His own deliberate
counsel, simultaneously, at the beginning of time, fashioned
out of nothing the spiritual and corporeal creation, that is
the Angels and tiffs world, and afterwards the human race,
commingled as it were of spirit and body.
“ And the universe thus fashioned God, by His Provi¬
dence, watches over and governs, * reaching from end to
end mightily and ordering all things sweetly ’ ( Wisd. viii,
1), ‘for all things are open and naked to His eyes ’ ( Heb.
I 3)> even su ch things as were afterwards to happen by
the free action of His creatures.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech., iv, 5 :
“ This Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is limited by no
place, nor is He less than heaven ; indeed the heavens are
the works of His hands, the entire world is contained in
His grasp, He is at the same time in all things and outside
them. ... He foreknows the future and is more powerful
than all things, He knows all things and does all things as
THE HOLY TRINITY
He wills, He is subject to no chain of events, to no kind of
thing, neither to fortune nor to any fateful necessity. In
all things He is perfect, equally possessing every species of
power. He is neither diminished nor increased but ever
the same and in the same way ; for the sinner He has
prepared punishment, for the just their reward.” (P.G.,
xxxiifi 459.)
question 37.
Vatican, see q. 36.
QUESTION 39.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. 2 :
“ We, with the approbation of this holy and universal
Council, believe and confess with Peter [the Lombard] that
there exists One Supreme Being, incomprehensible,
ineffable, who is most truly Father, Son and Holy Ghost,
Three Persons together, and each of them individually.
Hence in God there is only a Trinity, not a Quaternity.
For each of the Three Persons is that—namely the divine
substance, essence or nature—which alone is the principle
of the Universe, beside which there is no other. It is
neither generating, nor generated nor proceeding, but it is
the Father who begets, the Son who is begotten, the Holy
Spirit who proceeds ; the distinctions, then, are in the
Persons, the unity in the nature. Although, then, one is the
Father, one the Son, another the Holy Spirit, each a
different Person, yet are they not each a different thing ;
for that which is the Father, that also wholly is the Son, and
that likewise the Holy Spirit, so that—in accordance with
the Catholic orthodox faith—they are to be believed con-
substantial. For the Father by begetting the Son from
eternity gave Him His nature, as the Son Himself tesd-
fies : ‘ That which my Father hath given me is greater
than all ’ ( Jn. x, 29). Nor can it be said that the Father
gave to the Son part of His substance while retaining part
r Himself; for the substance of the Father is indivisible,
260
THE PROCESSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
being wholly simple. Neither can it be said that the Fathe
transmitted His substance to the Son by begetting Him,
as though He so gave it to the Son as not to retain it for
Himself; for in that case the substance would cease to be.
It is clear, then, that the Son by being born received the
Father’s substance without any diminution of it, and. that
thus Father and Son have one and the same substance ;
so, too, Father and Son are one thing, as also the Holy
Spirit proceeding from both. When, then, the Truth prays
for them that believe in Him, saying : ‘ I pray that they
may be one in Us, as we also are one ’ ( Jn. xvii, 21), this
word ‘ one ’ in the case of the faithful is to be understood
as signifying the union of charity by grace, but in the case
of the Divine Persons as signifying the union of identity in
nature, as the Truth Himself says elsewhere : ‘ Be ye
perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect ’ (Alt. v, 48),
as though more explicitly He would say : ‘ Be ye perfect ’:
with the perfection of grace, ‘ as your heavenly Father is
perfect 5 by the perfection of nature—each, that is, in his
own way.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxii, 983ff.)
Lyons II (a.d. 1274), De Processione Spiritus Sancti:
“ We faithfully and devoutly profess that the Hoi
Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son, n
as from two principles, but from one, not by two breathin
(spirations) but from a single breathing (spiration). Thi
has always been the profession of the Holy Roman Church,
this she has preached and taught, this she, the mother and
teacher of all the faithful, firmly holds, preaches, professes
and teaches ; this is the unchangeable and true mind of the
Fathers and Doctors, Greeks and Latins alike. Since,
however, some, through ignorance of the aforesaid' irre¬
fragable truth, have fallen into various errors, we, in our
desire to put a stop to such errors, do, with the approval
of this sacred council, condemn and reprobate those who
dare to deny that the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally fro
the Father and the Son ; also those who rashly assert tha
THE PROCESSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
261
the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father and Son. as from
two and not from one principle.” (Mansi, Concilia,
xxiv, 81.)
A,m
m
m
Florence (a.d. 1439), Decree for the Greeks :
“ In the name of the Holy Trinity, of the Father, Son
and Holy Ghost ; with the approbation of this holy and
universal Council of Florence, we define that the follow¬
ing truth of the faith is to be believed and received by all
Christians : all are to make profession that the Holy Spirit
is eternally from Father and Son and that He derives His
subsistent being from Father and Son simultaneously, and
proceeds from both eternally as from one principle and by
one breathing (spiration). We declare moreover that when
the Holy Fathers and Doctors say that the Floly Spirit
proceeds from the Father through the Son they mean
thereby to signify that the Son also is the cause, according
to the Greek Fathers, or the principle according to the
Latins, of the subsistence of the Holy Spirit, just as is the
Father. And since all that belongs to the Father apart
from His Fatherhood the Father has given to His Only-
begotten Son by begetting Him, the Son derives from the
Father eternally the very fact that the Holy Spirit proceeds
from the Son Himself Who is eternally begotten of the
Father. We define moreover that the expression ‘ Filioque 5
as an explanation of the preceding words was lawfully and
reasonably added to the Creed for the purpose of stating
a truth and through urgent necessity.” (Mansi, Concilia,
xxxi, 1030.)
St. Augustine, De Trinitate, i, 7 :
“ All the Catholic commentators on the Books of the
Old and New Testaments who have written up to now and
whom I have had an opportunity of reading have aimed at
eaching, in accordance with the Scriptures, that Father,
ion and Holy Spirit imply a Divine unity in inseparable
262
THE THREE PERSONS OF THE TRINITY
equality of one and the same substance and that conse¬
quently there are not three gods, but one God, although
since the Father ‘ begot,’ the Son is therefore not the one
who is Father ; similarly, since it is the Son who is ‘ be¬
gotten,’ the Father is not the one who is Son ; nor is the
Holy Spirit either Father or Son but only the Spirit of
Father and Son, though He is coequal with Father and
Son and belongs to the same Unity of the Trinity.” ( P.L .,
xlii, 824.)
St. Epiphanius, Ancoratus, viii :
“ Each of these appellations is individual, nor does one
signify what the other signifies. For the Father is ‘ Father,’
nor has He anything that can be set over against Him ;
nor is He joined with any other father, so as to make two
gods. The Only-begotten Son, true God of true God, does
not arrogate to Himself the title of ‘ Father,’ nor is He
different from the Father but existing of one Father ; He
is termed ‘ Only-begotten ’ to show that He alone is to be
called ‘ Son ’ ; He is called ‘ God of God ’ to show that
it is one God who is called Father and Son. And the one
and only Holy Spirit does not usurp to Himself the title of
Father, nor that of Son, but is called the Holy Spirit, nor
is He different from the Father. For the Only-begotten
Son Himself speaks of ‘ the Spirit of the Father ’ (Jn. xv,
26), also of Him who ‘ proceeds from the Father ’ (ibid.),
He also says that ‘ He shall receive of mine ’ (ibid., xvi, 14fF.)
lest that Holy Spirit should be reputed different from eithei
Father or Son, whereas He is of one and the same substance
and divinity with them, the Divine Spirit, the Spirit o
truth, the Spirit of God . . . God, then, is in the Father
in the Son, in the Holy Spirit who likewise is Gocf anc
from God. For He is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of thi
Father, the Spirit of the Son, not by any mingling such a
that whereby in ourselves body and soul are joined, bu
He is betwixt Father and Son, proceeding from Father ant
Son, third in Name.” ( P.G., xliii, 29.)
f
i
THREE CONSUBSTANTIAL PERSONS
263
St. John Damascene, De Fide orthodoxa, i, 112 :
“ The Father is source and author both of Son and Holy
Spirit; of the Son alone is he Father, and of the Floly Spirit
Producer. But the Son is Son, the Word, Wisdom, Power,
Image, Splendour, the Father’s figure and from the F’ather.
The Holy Spirit is not the Son of the Father, but the Spirit
of the Father, as the one who proceeds from the Father,
for there is no impulse without the Spirit. At the same
time He is called the Spirit of the Son, not as proceeding
from Him but through Him proceeding from the Father.
The Father alone is Author.” (P.G., xciv, 950.)
I
QUESTION 41.
Lateran I (a.d. 649, under St. Martin I), can. i, against
he Monothelites :
“ If anyone shall not, with the Holy Fathers, really and
truly confess Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity
in Unity and Unity in Trinity, that is one God in three
consubstantial subsistencies of equal glory, the identity in
Godhead of the Three in nature, substance, virtue, power,
kingdom, empire, will, uncreated operation, without begin¬
ning, incomprehensible, unchangeable, creative and pro¬
tective of all—let him be condemned.” (Mansi, Concilia,
x, 1151-)
St. Fulgentius, De Fide, iv:
“ Since in that Trinity which is the one True God
it is naturally true that not only is God one but also that
there is a Trinity, it is therefore true that God Himself
is in Persons threefold and in nature one. By this unity
in nature the whole Father is in the Son and Holy Spirit,
the whole Son in Father and Holy Spirit, the whole
Holy Spirit in Father and Son. No one of these is outside
the other, for none preceded the other in eternity, exceeded
§« magnitude, or surpassed in power.” (P.L., Ixv
673-4v
264 the three persons of the trinity
St. Ephracm the Syrian, Hymnus de defmctis et Trinit.
11-12 :
“ The Father is the begetter, the Son begotten of H
bosom ; the Holy Spirit proceeding from Father
Son ; The Father the Maker who made the world
of nothing ; the Son the Creator who with his begett
made the universe.
“ The Holy Spirit, the Paraclete and the compassionat
by whom is perfected all that was, will be and is ; ti
Father, the Mind, the Son, the Word, the Spirit, the Voic
three Names, one will, one power.” Ed. (Lamy, S
Ephr. Hymni et Sermones, iii, 242ff.)
St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio, xxxiii, 16 :
“ The faithful adore Father, Son and Holy Spi
one Godhead ; God the Father, God the Son, God
Holy Spirit, one nature in three properties, understan
perfect, subsisting of themselves, distinct indeed in num
not distinct in Godhead.” ( P.G. , xxxvi, 235.)
question 46.
Lateran IV and Vatican, see q. 36.
m
QUESTION 47.
I
Vatican, see q. 36.
question 48.
St. John Chrysostom, Contra Anomoeos, xii, 4 :
“ God not only produced created things but also ivat
over and cherishes them, whether you term them ar
or archangels or superior powers, or all those things w
do or do not come under our senses ; all enjoy His
vidential care and, if destroyed by His effective act,
dissipated, vanish and perish.” ( P.G. , xlviii, 810.)
'
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
265
;; St. Augustine, De Spiritu et littera, Iviii :
“ But ‘ God wills all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth’ (I Tim. ii, 4); not, however, so
as to take away their free will, for the good or bad use of
which they are most justly judged. When this happens
it is true that unbelievers act contrary to God’s will when
they do not believe in His Gospel ; but that does not mean
that they conquer God, but that they deprive themselves
of the great and supreme good and involve themselves in
evils as their reward, afterwards to experience in their
unishment His power whose mercies they despised in
,Iis gifts.” ( P.L ., xliv, 238.)
m
:
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yi
1
QUESTION 50.
St. Ephraem the Syrian, Carmina Nisibena, iii, 8 and
o :
“ It is well-known that the good God did not desire
he calamities which have at all times afflicted the human
ace, though He it was who sent them ; but it was our
ins that were the cause of our own afflictions. No one
iught to complain of our Creator ; it is of ourselves we
ught to complain since by sinning we forced Him, against
lis will, to be angry with us and, contrary to His good
ileasure, to afflict us. . . . Even a man inflicts chastise¬
ment so as himself to gain profit out of it. For everybody
hastises his own servants so as to keep possession of them ;
thereas the good God chastises His servants that they may
:arn to possess themselves. Your afflictions should be
ke a book which admonishes you.” (Ed. G. Bickell,
. 80.)
QUESTION 52.
St. John Damascene, De fide orthodoxa, ii, 3 :
' An Angel, then, is an intelligent substance, endowed
to perpetual motion and free will, without a body,
266
THE ANGELS
subservient to God, immortal in nature through th
gift of God ; his precise nature and definition his Creato
alone knows. Only in comparison with us men is h
incorporeal and immaterial, for everything, when con
pared with God—who alone can be compared to nothing-
is crass and material. For the divine nature alone :
truly immaterial and incorporeal.” ( P.G ., xciv, 866ff.)
QUESTION 53.
St. Athanasius, De Virginitate, 5 :
“ Humility of soul is a mighty remedy working
our salvation ; it was not for harlotry, adultery or t
that Satan was cast out of heaven, but pride cast
thence into the abyss of hell, for he said : ‘ I will asc
above the height of the clouds and set my throne 11
to God, and I will be like the Most High.’ (Is. xiv, 13-14
For these words was he cast down and eternal fire beca
his portion and his inheritance.” (P.G., xxviii, 258.)
I
St. Gregory the Great, In Evangelia, II, xxxiv, 7-9 :
“ We have mentioned nine choirs of Angels bee
from Holy Scripture we learn of Angels, Archan
Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Thrc
Cherubim and Seraphim.
“ But we have to realize that the name ‘ Angel ’ sigi
an office rather than a nature. For those holy s{
of our heavenly fatherland are indeed always spirits,
they cannot always be spoken of as ‘ Angels, for they
such only when things are declared by them. . . T 1
whose business it is to declare to us things of less
portance are called 1 Angels,’ those who declare the j
things ‘ Archangels . Hence it was not a si
* Angel ’ who was sent to the Virgin Mary, but Ga 1
the ‘ Archangel ’ ; for it was but fitting that one o:
highest Angels should be entrusted with this sup:
1 St. Athanasius is quoting loosely, from memory.
I
§
mm
I
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THE FALL OF THE ANGELS
essage. And these higher Angels are known by special
ames significative of their office : namely Michael—‘ who
like to God ? ’ ; Gabriel—‘ the strength of God ’ ;
Raphael—‘ the medicine of God.’ ” ( P.L. , lxxvi, i249ff.)
question 54.
St. Jerome, In Matth., xviii :
“ Great is the dignity of the human soul, since each
one of them has from the very outset of his life an Angel
deputed to safeguard him.” ( P.L. , xxvi, 130.)
question 58.
St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., V, xxiv, 3-4 :
“ But all that the devil—the apostate Angel—can do
is to seduce and lead away men’s minds and so make
them transgress God’s commands ; thus little by little
he blinds the hearts of those who would serve God, with
the result that in time they come to forget the true God
and to worship the devil as God. . . . More and more
does he set himself against man through envy of his life
and because he wishes to ensnare him by his own apostate
power.” ( P.G., vii, 1188.)
question 60.
Lateran V (a.d. 1512-1517) ; Sess. VIII, De anima
Humana :
“ Since, then, in these our days, as we acknowledge
ith grief, the sower of tares, the ancient enemy of the
uman race, has, with growing audacity dared to oversow
e Lord’s field with pernicious errors such as the faith-
ul have always rejected, especially with errors concerning
e rational soul : for example that it is mortal, or that
whole human race has but one soul in common ; and
ce some, rashly philosophising, have ventured to main-
n that these views are true at least according to philo-
268
THE HUMAN SOUL
sophy, We, in our anxiety to apply proper remedies fo
such pestilential teachings, do, with the approbation c
this holy council, condemn and reprobate all who main
tain that the rational human soul is mortal, or that mei
have but one soul in common, also those who questioi
whether this may not be so. For the human soul is no
only of itself truly and essentially the form of the humai
body, as is set forth in the canon published in the Counci
held at Vienne under Our predecessor Pope Clement
of blessed memory, but it is also immortal and, accordi
to the multitude of bodies into which it is infused,
capable of multiplication, is and will be multiplied. . .
And since truth cannot be opposed to truth We define tha
every assertion opposed to this truth of illumined faith i
wholly false, and We strictly forbid anyone to teach other
wise ; We also declare that all who cling to such erroneou
assertions are to be avoided and punished as disseminator
of damnable heresies, as detestable and hateful hereti
as men who would destroy the Catholic faith.” (Mar
Concilia, xxxii, 842.)
mm
Pius IX, Ep. Dolore haud mediocri, April 30, i860,
the Bishop of Wratislavia :
“ It should also be remarked that when Baltzer had
his book reduced the entire controversy to the quest
whether there is not in the body a principle of life re
distinct from the rational soul ; he rashly went so far
to term the contrary opinion heretical and he addu
many arguments in support of his view. Now this noti
we are compelled to repudiate when we reflect that
opinion which maintains that there is only one vital p
ciple in a man, namely his rational soul, whence his b
receives both motion and all life and sensation, has alw
been that most widely held in the Church of God, and tl
many of the most learned and approved theologians h
regarded it as so intimately linked up with the Chur
dogma as to afford the only true and lawful interpreta
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THE HUMAN SOUL
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it, and consequently that it is impossible to deny it
without erring in the faith.” ( Acta of Pius IX, from which
the Syllabus was taken, Rome, 1865, p. 178.)
St. John Damascene, De Fide orthodoxa, ii, 12 :
“ Now the soul is a living, simple, incorporeal substance,
of its very nature eluding the vision of the bodily eye,
immortal, sharing in reason and intelligence, using a body
furnished with organs, and affording to this body life,
growth, sensation and the power of reproduction ; it has
not a mind distinct from itself, for the mind is nothing else
than the soul’s more subtle part, for what the eye is to the
body that the mind is to the soul ; it is endowed with
freedom of choice and the capacity to will and to act.”
(P.G., xciv, 923ff.)
QUESTION 62 .
Benedict XII, Constit. Benedictus Deus, June 20, 1336 :
“ By this Constitution, which is to hold good for ever,
We by Apostolic authority define that, in accordance with
the general ordinance of God, the souls of all the Saints
who departed from this world before the Passion of our
Lord Jesus Christ, as also the souls of the holy Apostles,
Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins and of the rest of the faithful
who have departed this life after receiving Christ’s Baptism,
s whom there was found nothing calling for purification
hen they died, nor shall be found in those yet to die, or in
se there was or shall be anything in them demanding puri-
don, when they shall have been thus purified after death;
also the souls of children who have been baptized and
generated by the said Christian Baptism and who die
fore attaining the use of free will—these, straightway
on their death, or after purification in the case of those
ho need it, even before the resurrection of their bodies
d the general Judgment, have been, are, and will be,
ce the Ascension of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
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THE BEATIFIC VISION
gathered into heaven, into the Kingdom of heaven and
heavenly Paradise together with Christ and the compa
of His Holy Angels, and have, ever since the Passion a
death of our Lord Jesus Christ, seen and do see the Di
Essence with an intuitive vision, face to face without
intervention of any created medium as the object of 'th
vision, but the Divine Essence, immediately and nakedly
clearly and evidently, exhibits Itself to them : moreove
that through this vision they wholly enjoy the Divine
sence, and further that owing to this vision and fruition t’
souls of those who have already departed this life are tr
happy and possess eternal life and rest : also that the so
of those who are yet to die shall see the same Divine Essen
and enjoy it before the general Judgment ; also that
said vision and fruition of the Divine Essence render vo
acts of faith and hope in so far as faith and hope are proper
speaking theological virtues : also that after this intuition
and face-to-face vision and fruition shall have begun
these souls, this same vision and fruition will rema
permanent in them without interruption or cessation
the said vision and fruition and will be continued un
the Last Judgment and from thence onwards in
eternity.
“ We also define that according to God’s general or
nance the souls of those who depart this life in actual moi
sin descend straightway after death into hell where th
suffer its torments ; yet none the less in the day of Jud
ment all will appear before the tribunal of Christ there
render an account of their actions ‘ that every one ma
receive the proper things of the body according as he ha
done 5 (II Cor. v, io).” (Bullarium Romanum, Turin ec
iv, 346ff.)
it
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St. John Damascene, De Fide orthodoxa, iv, 27 :
“ Those who have done good things will, in compan
with the Angels, shine like the sun in eternal life with ou
Lord Jesus Christ, to see Him and be seen by Him always
ERRORS ON GRACE
nd derive thence a happiness that can never fail, praising
;im with the Father and the Holy Spirit through infinite
ges.” (P.G., xciv, 1227.)
QUESTION 63.
St. Pius V, Const. Ex omnibus afflictionibus, Oct. 1, 1567,
herein the following errors of Baius are condemned :
1. Neither the merits of an Angel nor those of the
first man before his fall are correctly called ‘ grace.’
“ 2. Just as a bad deed is of its very nature deserving of
eternal death, so is a good deed of its very nature deserving
of eternal life.
“ 3. Both for the good Angels and for the first man—
had he persevered in his state of innocence to the close of
his life—happiness would have been a reward, not a grace.
“ 4. Eternal life was promised to unfallen man and to
the Angels on the ground of good works ; and good works
proceeding from the law of nature suffice of themselves for
the attainment of that reward.
“ 5. In the promise made to the Angels and to the first
man there is enshrined the basis of natural justice, whereby
eternal life is promised for good works without any further
qualification.
“ 6. It is a decree of the natural law that if a man
perseveres in obedience he will pass to that life in which he
will never die.
“ 7. The merits of unfallen man were gifts of his creation,
but in accordance with Biblical language they are not
properly called ‘ grace ’ ; whence it follows that they ought
to be called simply ‘ merits,’ not ‘ grace.’
“ 8. In those who are redeemed by the grace of Christ
no good merit can be discovered which is not gratuitously
conferred as on one undeserving of it.
“ 9. The gifts granted to unfallen man can perhaps
272 ORIGINAL JUSTICE
reasonably be termed ‘ grace ’ ; but since according to
Scriptural usage only those gifts are comprised under the
term ‘ grace ’ which are conferred by Jesus Christ on the
wicked and undeserving, it follows that neither merits nor
rewards bestowed on them can be styled ‘ graced
“ 10. That we should, after living holily and righteously
in this mortal life to the end of our days, attain eternal
life, is not strictly due to the grace of God, but is to be
referred to a natural ordinance due to God’s just decision
from the beginning of creation ; nor does the reward due
to good works depend on Christ’s merits, but solely on the
primal institution of the human race when it was, by the
natural law, ordained that according to God’s just judg¬
ment eternal life is the reward for obedience to His com¬
mands.” (Du Plessis, Collectio Judiciorum, III, ii, noff.)
Clement XI, Const. Unigenitus, against the errors ot
Quesnel, Sept. 8, 1713, the 35th proposition condemned :
“ The grace of Adam was a consequence of creation
and a debt due to unfallen nature.” (Duplessis, Collectio
Judiciorum , III, ii, 462.)
Pius VI, Const. Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794, against th
errors of the Synod of Pistoia, the 16th proposition con
demned :
“ The teaching of that synod touching the state o
original innocence and depicting the state of Adam previou
to his sin as implying not only a nature unfallen but on
endowed with an interior righteousness, urged towar
God by an impulse of love which is charity, adding, to
a primitive holiness which was in some sort restored afte
he had sinned : all this, inasmuch as—taken as a whole
it suggests that that state was the natural consequence
creation and due to the natural exigencies and condition
human nature and therefore not due to a gratuitous
of God, is false teaching, already condemned in the cas
of Baius and Quesnel; it is erroneous, and savours of th
I
ORIGINAL JUSTICE 273
Pelagian heresy.” ( Dullarii Romani continuatio, ed. Prati,
VI, iii, 2710.)
QUESTION 65.
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, xiii, i, in Genesim :
“ Have you noticed how all things were formed by a
word ? But note, too, what is said afterwards, when man
is created : ‘ And God formed man.’ Note the careful
way in which, for our infirmity’s sake, he uses words which
serve to indicate both the mode and the diversity of
creation ; he shows—if we may speak in human fashion—
that man was formed by the hands of God, as indeed
another prophet [Job x, 8] expresses it : ‘ Thy hands have
made me and fashioned me.’ ” (P.G., liii, 106.)
question 66 .
St. Ephraem, In Gen., ii :
“ Now, that Adam was created to the image and likeness
of God we understand from three things. Do not imagine,
however, that Adam’s external appearance is called 1 the
image of God ’ ; rather it is his spirit, endowed with free
choice and equipped with power and authority over the
rest of creation, that is so called ; precisely, then, as all
things are in the hand and gift of God, so too was the world
made subject to Adam. Further, man received a pure and
sinless soul, consequently one capable of receiving divine
virtues and gifts. He received, too, intelligence and reason
whereby he could comprehend, analyse and compare all
things ; by these powers man reaches out everywhere,
and so forms images of everything that he seems in his
single self to contain all things.” (St. Ephraem, Opera
omnia, ed. Romana, i [Syriac and Latin] 128.)
St. Basil, Sermo Asceticus, i :
“ Man was made to the image and likeness of God
Gen. i, 26) ; but sin, through the soul’s impulse towards
ORIGINAL SIN
the vices and concupiscences, defaced that fair image.
But God, who made man, is true life. Since, then, man
had lost the likeness of God he had thereby destroyed the
fellowship of life with God ; and he who is away from God
cannot lead a happy life. Let us return, then, to the grace
accorded us at the outset but from which we have fallen
by sin ; let us once more deck ourselves out to the image
of God.” (P.G., xxxi, 8 7 off.)
St. Augustine, Enarr. in Ps. xlix, 2 :
“ It is clear, then, that since He called men ‘ gods *
they can have been deified only by His grace ; they were
not so because born of His substance. For He jusdfies. who
is of Himself just, not deriving His justice from another;
He makes men gods who is of His own nature God, not
deriving His Godhead from another. And He who justifies
is He who deifies, for it is by justifying us that He makes
us sons of God : ‘ He gave them power to become the sons
of God 5 ( Jn. i, 12). If we have been made the sons of
God, then we have become gods ; but this through the
favour of Flim who adopts us, not of one who begets us by
nature.” (P.L., xxxvi, 565.)
question 74.
Carthage II (a.d. 418), approved by Pope Zosimus, ca:
ii against the Pelagians : ,
“ It was also agreed that whosoever should deny tha
new-born children ought to be baptized, or say that thougl
baptized 4 unto the remission of sin ’ yet they do not derivi
from Adam any original sin calling for expiation in thi
laver of regeneration—with the consequence that in thei;
case the formula of Baptism 1 unto remission of sins ’ is no
true but false—let him be anathema. For in no other wai
can we understand the words of the Apostle : ‘ as by on<
man sin entered into this world, and by sin death, and s<
death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned
II
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ORIGINAL SIN
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(Rom. v, 12), than that in which the universal Catholic
Church has always understood them. For by reason of
this rule of faith even children who have not as yet been
able to commit sin in themselves are truly baptized 4 unto the
remission of sins,’ so that what they derived from their
generation may be cleansed in their regeneration.”
(Mansi, Concilia, iii, 811.)
Orange II (a.d. 529), confirmed by Pope Boniface II
against the Semipelagians :
“ Can. i : If anyone shall say that by the prevarication
of Adam it was not the whole man—that is his body and
his soul—that was changed for the worse, but that while
his soul’s free will remained untouched his body alone
became the victim of corruption, such a man is misled by
the errors of Pelagius and contradicts the Scripture, which
says : 4 The soul that sinneth, the same shall die ’ ( Ezech.
xviii, 20), and again : 4 Know ye not that to whom ye
yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom
ye obey? ’ (Rom. vi, 16), and again : 4 By whom a man
is overcome, of the same also is he the slave.’ (II Pet.
ii, I 9 -) , ,
44 Can. ii: If anyone shall assert that Adam’s prevarica¬
tion harmed only Adam himself and not his offspring, or
at least that only the death of the body, which is the penalty
of sin, and not sin itself, which is the death of the soul,
passed from one man to the entire human race, such a man
does an injustice to God and contradicts the Apostle, who
says : 4 By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin
death, and so death passed upon all men, in whom all
have sinned’ (Rom. v, 12).” (Mansi, Concilia, viii, 712.)
Florence, Decree for the Jacobites, a.d. 1438 :
44 [This Council] firmly believes, professes and teaches
that no one conceived of man and woman was ever freed
from the domination of the devil save by the merits of the
Mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ our Lord ; He
ORIGINAL SIN
was conceived without sin, was born and died, and alone
by His death overcame the enemy of the human race,
blotting out our sins ; He reopened the entrance into the
Kingdom of heaven which the first man, with all who
succeeded him, had lost by his own sin ; and He is one
day to come again, as all the sacred rites, sacrifices, saera-
ments, and ceremonies of the Old Testament signify.”
(Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1738.)
Trent, Sess. V, Decretum de peccato originali:
“ i. If anyone shall refuse to acknowledge that the first
man, Adam, when he transgressed God’s command in
Paradise straightway lost the holiness and righteousness in
which he had been constituted, and through this sin and
prevarication incurred the wrath and indignation of God,
and consequently the death with which God had already
previously threatened him, and with death captivity under
the power of him who henceforth held the empire of death,
namely the Devil, and that the whole Adam, body and soul,
was by that sinful prevarication changed for the worse both
in body and soul, let him be anathema.
“ ii. If anyone shall assert that Adam’s prevarication
harmed himself alone and not liis offspring, and that the
holiness and righteousness received from God which he
thereby lost he lost for himself alone and not for us too, or
that, stained by that sin of disobedience he transmitted to
the entire human race death and bodily pains alone, but
not also sin which is the death of the soul, let him be
anathema, since he is contradicting the Apostle, who says :
‘ By one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death,
and so death passed upon all men, in whom all hav
sinned ’ {Rom. v, 12).
“ iii. If anyone shall say that this sin of Adam’s whii
in its origin is one, and which is transmitted to all b
propagation, not by imitation—which in other words i
personal to every man—can be removed either by th
powers of human nature or by any other remedy save th
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ORIGINAL SIN
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merits of the one Mediator, Jesus Christ our Lord who
reconciled us to God in His Blood, being ‘ made unto us
justice, sanctification and redemption ’ (/ Cor. i, 30) ; or
shall deny that the actual merits of Jesus Christ, conferred
on us by the Sacrament of Baptism rightly administered
according to the form of the Church, are applied both to
adults and to children, let him be anathema, for ‘ there
is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we
must be saved ’ {Acts iv, 12). Hence the words : ‘ Behold
the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin
of the world ’ (Jn. i, 29) ; and again * As many of you as
have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ.’
{Gal. iii, 27).
“ iv. If anyone shall deny that new-born children,
even when born of baptized parents, ought at once to
be baptized, or shall say that they are indeed baptized
unto the remission of sin but that they do not derive
from Adam any vestige of original sin demanding ex¬
piation in the laver of regeneration for the attaining of
eternal life—with the consequence that in their case the
formula of Baptism ‘ unto remission of sins ’ is not true but
false—let him be anathema, for in no other way can we
understand what the Apostle says : ‘ By one man sin
entered into this world and by sin death, and so death
passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned ’ {Rom.
v, 12) save as the Catholic Church, spread throughout
the world, has always understood it. For by reason of this
rule of faith, by Apostolic tradition, even children who
have not as yet been able to commit any sin in themselves
are truly baptized * unto the remission of sins,’ so that
what they contracted by generation may be cleansed
in them by regeneration. ‘ Unless a man be born again
of water and the Holy Ghost he cannot enter into the
Kingdom of God.’ {Jn. iii, 5.)
“ v. If anyone shall deny that the guilt of original
sin is remitted by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
conferred in Baptism, or shall assert that that which has
ORIGINAL SIN AND CONCUPISCENCE
the real and true character of sin, is not taken away in its
entirety, but that it is only scraped off or not imputed, let
him be anathema. For in the regenerated God hates
nothing, for there is no condemnation in those who are
truly ‘ buried together with Christ by Baptism into death ’
(Rom. vi, 4), who ‘ walk according to the flesh ’ (ib. viii, 1),
but who having put off ‘ the old man ’ and put on ‘ the
new man who according to God is created ’ ( Ephes. iv,
22-24), are made innocent, spotless, pure, blameless, and
beloved of God, ‘ heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ ’ (Rom. viii, 17); so that nothing whatever delays
their entrance into heaven. But that the tinder of con¬
cupiscence remains in those who are baptized this Holy
Synod realizes and confesses. But since it is left for our
combat it can do no harm to those who do not consent
to it but manfully strive against it by the grace of Jesus
Christ ; nay rather : ‘ he is not crowned except he strive
lawfully 1 (II Tim. ii, 5). The Apostle sometimes terms
this concupiscence ‘ sin ’ (Rom. vi, 12), but this Holy
Synod declares that the church has never understood it
to be termed sin in the sense that sin truly and rightly so-
called is in those who are regenerated, but only in the
sense that it springs from sin and leads to it. If anyone
thinks the contrary let him be anathema.
“ vi. At the same time this Holy Synod declares th.
it is not its intention to comprise in this decree, whic
deals with original sin, the Blessed and Immaculai
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, but that the Constitutio:
of Pope Sixtus IV of blessed memory are to be observed, t
gether with the penalties therein enacted and he:
renewed.”
Pius IX, Allocution, Singulari quadam, Dec. 9, 1854.
“ Now those who adhere tenaciously to human reas
who even worship it, who regard it as a perfectly s
teacher, and persuade themselves that with its guida
they can be sure of everything, these assuredly for
K 1
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how grave and sore a wound was inflicted on human nature
by the sin of our first parents, namely a darkness obscuring
the mind and a will rendered prone to evil. This explains
how it came to pass that the famous philosophers of old,
although they wrote much that was brilliant, yet mingled
so much grave error with their doctrines. This serves,
too, to explain the conflict we experience within ourselves-
and of which the Apostle wrote : * I see another law in
my members fighting against the law of my mind ’ (Rom.
vii, 23).” (Acta Pii IX, pars I, i, 624.)
St. Cyril of Alexandria, on Rom. v, 18 :
“ Now we were made sinners owing to Adam’s dis¬
obedience, and in this wise : Adam himself had been
created for incorruption and life, and his way of life was
holy in the Paradise of delights ; his mind was ever set
on the contemplation of divine things ; his body, too, was
immune and at peace, disturbed by no evil desire, by no
unreasonable rebellious motions. But afterwards, when
he fell into sin and the door to corruption lay open,
straightway impure delights found their way into his
natural flesh, and at that moment was born in us the fierce
law of our members. Our nature, then, contracted
disease from the disobedience of one man, Adam, whence
any were made sinners. Not that all sinned simultane-
sly with Adam—for they did not yet exist, but because
all are of the same nature with Adam, and that nature
fell under the law of sin.” (P.G., Ixxiv, 790.)
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QUESTION 75.
For Trent, see under q. 74.
Sixtus IV, Const. Cum praecelsa, Feb. 28, 1476 :
“ We deem it indeed only fitting that all the faithful
Christ should give thanks and praise to Almighty God
r the marvellous Conception of the Immaculate Virgin,
28 o
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
should celebrate and take part in the Masses and otb
Offices appointed for that purpose, and also strive to gain
indulgences and the remission of their sins. . . .”
( Extravag. comm. Ill, xii, 1-2.) j
Pius IX, Const. Ineffabilis Dens, Dec. 8, 1854 :
“ In honour of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, to give
glory and due honour to the Virgin Mother of God, for the
exaltation of the Catholic faith and the increase of Christian
religion, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the
blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by Our own, We ;
pronounce and define that the doctrine which states
that the most Blessed Virgin Mary was, in the first instant
of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of
God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Saviour of
the human race, preserved immune from all stain of
original sin, has been revealed by God and is therefore
to be firmly and unswervingly believed by all the faithful.
Wherefore if any should presume—which God avert—
to think otherwise in their hearts than We have defined,
let them know and understand that they stand condemned
by their own judgment, that they have made shipwreck
of the faith, have fallen away from the unity of the Church,
and that in consequence they automatically fall under th
canonical penalties if they venture to make knot
by word or writing or in any other outward way what
they think in their hearts.” (Acta Pii IX, i, 616.)
St. Ephraem, Carmina Nisibena, xxvii, 8 :
“ Of a truth, [O Lord,] Thou and Thy Mother a.
they alone who are in every way wholly fair ; for in The
O Lord, there is no spot, in Thy Mother no stain.” (E<
G. Bickell, pp. 122-3.)
St. Augustine, De Natura et Gratia, xlii :
“ With the exception therefore of the Holy Vir
Mary, with regard to whom, when sin is in question.
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
28 l
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cannot, out of respect for our Lord, permit of any discuss¬
ion—for how can we know of any greater grace that
could have been bestowed on her for complete victory
over sin, when she merited to conceive and bring forth
Him who, we all know, had no sin ? With the sole excep¬
tion, then, of the Blessed Virgin, could we here assemble all
the Saints, both men and women, and ask them whether
when they lived here on earth they were without sin,
what do you imagine they would answer ? Would they
say what he [Pelagius] says, or what John the Apostle says ?
I ask you : no matter how overwhelming the holiness
of those Saints when in the body, would they not, if such
a question had been put to them, have shouted with one
accord : ‘ If we say that we have no sin we deceive our¬
selves and the truth is not in us ? ’ (I Jn. i, 8).” (P.L.,
xliv, 267.)
question 85.
Pius XI, Encycl. Quas primas, Dec. 11, 1925 :
“ Cyril of Alexandria sets out clearly the basis on which
rests this dignity and power of our Lord : ‘ He possessed,
to put it briefly, dominion over all creation ; a dominion
not wrung from it by violence, nor acquired from some
other source, but of His very essence and nature ; that is
to say, His principality rests on that marvellous union
which we term hypostatic. Whence it follows not only
that Christ is to be adored as God by men and Angels,
but also that to His empire as Man men and Angels must
yield obedience and subjection. In other words ; Christ
has power over the whole of creation simply by the fact
of the hypostatic union.’ In truth, what more agreeable
and pleasant subject for our contemplation could we have
than the fact that Christ is our Ruler not solely by an
inborn right, but by a right acquired by His Redemption
of us ? Oh, that heedless men would recall the price at
which our Preserver priced us : ‘Ye were not redeemed
282
THE INCARNATION
with corruptible things as gold and silver . . . but with
the precious Blood of Christ, as of a lamb unspotted and
undefiled ’ (I Pet. i, 18-19). ‘ We are no longer our own
since Christ bought us ‘ with a great price ’ (I Cor. vi, 20) ;
our very bodies are * members of Christ ’ (ib. 15).” (Acta
Apostolic<e Sedis, xvii, 598.)
QUESTION 89.
St. Ephraem, In Hebdom. Sanctam, vi, 9 :
“ In the body He had assumed, Christ the only Word of
God came to birth and growth, received a visible form and
nourishment, became by His generation subject to times
and numbers. In the Godhead and humanity thus hypo-
statically united, in the human nature which He used
divinely and humanly, in His Lordship and subjection, in
word and deed, the Son of God, He who was made man,
is Himself one and indivisible.” (Ed. Lamy, 1 , c, i, 476-8.)
question 90.
Chalcedon, a.d. 451, Against the Monophysites, Definition on
the two natures in Christ:
“ Following, then, in the footsteps of the Holy Fathers,
we all teach in harmony that the Son and our Lord Jesus
Christ are one and the same, one and the same perfect
in Godhead, the same perfect in human nature, true God
and true man, the same (made) of a rational soul and a body,
consubstantial with the Father according to His Godhead,
consubstantial with us according to His human nature,
‘ made in all things like to us, save without sin ’ (Heb. iVj
15) ; according to His Godhead begotten of the Father
before all ages ; the same, in these last days, for us and
for our salvation born according to human nature of the
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God ; one and the same to
be acknowledged as Christ the Son, the Lord, the only-
THE HYPOSTATIC UNION
begotten, in two natures uncommingled, unchangeable,
indivisible, inseparable ; the differences between the two
natures not removed by reason of their union but rather
the characteristics of each preserved united together in one
Person and subsistence, not divided nor shared among two
persons, but one and the same : Son, Only-begotten, God,
Word, Lord, Jesus, Christ, as the Prophets before had said
of Him, as He Himself taught us, and as the Creed of the
Fathers has handed down to us.” (Mansi, Concilia,
vii, H 5 -)
Constantinople III, a.d. 680-81, Against the Monothelites,
Definition on the two wills in Christ:
“ In harmony with the teaching of the Holy Fathers we,
like them, declare that there are in Him two natural wills
and two natural operations, indivisibly, inconvertibly,
inseparably, not commingled ; and two natural wills, not
—of course—contrary to one another as the heredcs say ;
His human will following, not resisting nor fighting against
but rather subject to His Divine and omnipotent will.
For, as the truly wise Athanasius says : the will of His
flesh had indeed to be moved, but in subjection to His
Divine will. For just as His flesh is called and is the flesh
of the Son of God, so too the natural will of His flesh is
called and is the will of God the Word, as He Himself
said : ‘ I came down from heaven not to do My own will
but the will of the Father who sent me ’ ; (Jn. vi, 38), where
He calls His own will that which was the will of His flesh.
For his flesh too was made. And precisely as His holy,
immaculate and animated flesh was not destroyed by being
deified but remained in its own proper state and character,
so neither was His human will destroyed by being deified ;
on the contrary, it is the more preserved, as Gregory, ‘ the
theologian,’ says : ‘ When we speak of the Saviour
“ willing ” we do not mean something in opposition to
God, for the whole is deified.’ ” (Mansi, Concilia, xi,
638.)
2«4 THE INCARNATION
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215) ; ch. i, De Fide Catholica :
“ And finally the Only-begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ,
made incarnate by the whole Trinity acting in unison,
conceived of Mary ever Virgin by the co-operation of the
Holy Spirit, made true man, of rational soul and human
flesh combined, one Person in two natures, shewed the
way to life more manifestly. For though according to His
Godhead immortal and impassible, yet was He Himself
according to His human nature made passible and mortal;
moreover, for the salvation of the human race He suffered
and died on the tree of the Gross, descended into hell, rose
again from the dead and ascended into heaven ... to
come at the end of the world to judge the living and the
dead, and to render to every one according to his works,
both to the reprobate and the elect, all of whom shall, in
their proper bodies which they now bear, rise again to
receive in accordance with their works, as they have done
good or ill, the latter an eternal punishment with the devil,
the former everlasting glory with Christ.” (Mansi, Concilia,
xxii, 982.)
St. Leo IX (a.d. 1049-1054) ; Symbolum Fidei:
“ I also believe in the very Son of God, the Word
God born of the Father in eternity before all time, coi
substantial, co-omnipotent, co-equal with the Father in a
things in Godhead, born in time of the Holy Spirit of Mary
ever Virgin, with a rational soul ; having two nativities,
one eternal of the Father, the other in time, of His mother ;
having two wills and two operations, true God and true
man ; having in its perfection all that is peculiar to either
nature ; admitting no commingling nor division, not by
adoption, not a mere appearance ; the one and only Go
the Son of God in two natures but in singleness of Person
impassible and immortal according to His Godhead, b
in His human nature, for us men and our salvation, sufif<
ing a true suffering of the flesh, and buried ; He r
again from the dead the third day by a true resurrecti
I
THE INCARNATION
QUESTION 94.
of the flesh ; and, as a confirmation of this, ate with His
disciples, not through need of food but of His own will and
power ; on the fortieth day after His resurrection, with the
flesh with which He rose, and with His soul, He ascended
into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of the Father ;
thence on the tenth day He sent the Holy Spirit ; thence,
too, just as He ascended so is He to come to judge the
living and the dead and render to every one according to
their works.” (Mansi, Concilia, xix, 662.)
Leo XIII, Encycl., Divinum illud munus, May 9, 1897 :
“ Most fittingly has the Church been wont to attribute
to the Father those works of the Godhead in which power
predominates, to the Son those in winch wisdom pre¬
dominates, to the Holy Spirit those in which love pre¬
dominates. . . . Primarily, of course, we ought to look
to Christ the Founder of the Church, the Redeemer of our
race. For assuredly of all the exterior works of God the
mystery of the Incarnate Word stands out pre-eminent ;
in it the light of the divine perfections so shines that nothing
surpassing it can even enter our thoughts, than it nothing
could be of greater saving power for human nature. This
question 91.
For Trent, see under q. 74.
St. Epiphanius, Ancoratus, xciii :
“ For not in man does our hope of our salvation lie.
For in truth, of all born of Adam none could bring us
salvation ; that was for God alone, the Word made
man. . . . Hence of our flesh the Lord took flesh, and,
a man like unto us—God and the Word—willed to destroy
suffering by suffering, by death to extinguish death.”
(P.G., xliii, i86ff.)
23b
THE INCARNATION
■
mighty work, although it belongs to the whole Trinity, is:
yet ascribed to the Holy Spirit as peculiarly His. Hence of
the Blessed Virgin the Gospel says : ‘ She was found wi
child of the Holy Ghost,’ and, * that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost ’ ( Mt. i, 18, 20). Fittingly indeed
is this ascribed to Him who is the charity of Father 'and:
Son ; for this ‘ great mystery of godliness ’ (7 Tim. iii, 16)
proceeded from the supreme love of God for men, as St.
John tells us : * God so loved the world as to give His
only begotten Son’ (Jn. iii, 16).” ( Acta Leonis XIII ,
xvii, 130-132.)
QUESTION 95.
Ephesus (a.d. 431), St. Cyril’s Anathemas, can. i :
“ If any one should not confess that Emmanuel is truly
God and that in consequence the Blessed Virgin is the
Mother of God—for she brought forth according to the
flesh the Word of God made flesh—let him be anathema.”
(Mansi, Concilia, ix, 327.)
Constantinople II (a.d. 553) ; the Three Chapters, can. vi:
“ If any one shall say that the holy, glorious and eve:
virgin Mary was only in a certain sense and not most trr**“
the Mother of God, or that she was so in some mer
relative way as though it were simply a man that was bo:
and not the Word of God that became Incarnate and w
born of her, or shall refer, as some do, the birth of the mi
to God the Word only in the sense that the Word was wii
the man when he was born ; or if they calumniate tl
Holy Synod of Ghalcedon, which called the Virgin
Mother of God, by putting on those words the interpretati
foisted on them by the detestable Theodore, calling h
for example, the mother of the man or the ‘ Christotok
that is ‘ the mother of Christ,’ as though Christ were n
God, and thus refuse to acknowledge her to be—as
is—really and truly the very Mother of God since He w'
before the ages was God, the Word bom of the Father, 1
I
i
pf
THE MOTHER OF GOD
these last days take flesh of her and of her was born,
the Holy Synod of Ghalcedon has devoutly acknowledged,
t such a man be anathema.” (Mansi, Concilia, ix,
’ 9 -)
Constantinople III, (a.d. 680-681), Against the Mon-
ithelites, Definition on the two wills in Christ:
“ Further, in adherence to the Synodical Letters written
by the blessed Cyril against the impious Nestorius and
those written to the Bishops of the East, following, too,
in the footsteps of the five Holy and Universal Synods and
pf the holy and approved Fathers, we unanimously define
that our Lord Jesus Christ is to be acknowledged as our
true God, one from the holy and consubstantial Trinity
which is the origin of life, perfect in Godhead, the same,
too, perfect in human nature, truly God and truly man,
the same made of a rational soul and a body; consubstantial
th the Father according to Godhead, consubstantial
th us according to human nature, ‘ in all things like
unto us, save without sin ’ ( Heb. iv, 15) ; according to
Godhead begotten of the Father before the ages, but also
in these last days the same conceived, for us men and for
our salvation, of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
ho was really and truly the Mother of God according to
His human nature, one and the same to be acknowledged
Christ, Only-begotten Son of God, in two natures,
t commingled, not changed into one another, insepar-
ble one from the other yet indivisible ; the differences
tween these two natures in no sense removed by reason
their union but rather the peculiar properties of each
eserved, though concurring to form one Person and one
bsistence ; one and the same Only-begotten Son of
d, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, not divided nor
red between two persons, according as the Prophets
old and our Lord Jesus Christ Himself taught us and
e Greed of the Holy Fathers has handed down to us.”
lansi, Concilia, xi, 635.)
288
THE MOTHER OF GOD
St. Gregory Nazianzen, Ep. ci :
“ If anyone does not believe that Holy Mary is t
Mother of God, such an one is a stranger to the Godhea
If anyone shall say that (Christ) passed through
Virgin as through a channel and was not formed
her both in divine and human fashion—' divine 5 becat
without a husband’s co-operation—‘ human ’ becai
conceived in accordance with human law, such an p
too is an atheist. If anyone shall say that a man
made, and that afterwards God entered into him-
renders himself liable to damnation.” ( P.G. , xxx\
i 7 8ff.)
St. John Damascene, Oratio prima de Virginis M,
Nativitate , 4 :
“ Let Nestorius be filled with shame and lay his ha:
on his lips. This Child is God. How then shall she w
bore Him not be God’s Mother ? But if anyone refi
to acknowledge her as Mother of God such an one is
removed from the Godhead. These are not my wo
though it is I who use them, for I inherited these glori
teachings from Gregory the Theologian.” ( P.G.,
667.)
QUESTION 96.
6 ='
!fc
m
Leo XIII, Encycl., Quamquam pluries, Aug. 15, i88g
“ That Saint Joseph should be named the Patron
the Church and that the Church in her turn sho
trust to receive many advantages from his protection
patronage, is based on the remarkable fact that he
the husband of Mary, and the father—as men thoug
of Jesus Christ. This was the source of all his di
grace, holiness and glory. The dignity, of course, of
Mother of God is such as nothing could surpass ; yet s
between Joseph and the Blessed Virgin there was the
of matrimony, it seems. evident that for that very re
he approached more nearly than anybody else to
HE
p
HP
ST. JOSEPH 289
rwhelming dignity which makes the Mother of God
far superior to all other created things. ... If, then,
gave Joseph to Mary as her husband He assuredly
de him not simply the companion of her life, the witness
her virginity, the guardian of her reputation, but also,
y reason of the bond of matrimony, a sharer in her lofty
ity. Hence he outdistances all others in that by the
unsel of God he was the guardian of the Son of God,
men’s opinion His father.” (Acta Leonis XIII, ix, 177-8.)
question 97.
n St. Leo the Great, Ep. to Flavian, Archbishop of Con¬
stantinople :
“ The same eternal Only-begotten Son of the eternal
ther was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.
That is to say, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit
e womb of His Virgin mother who brought Him forth
out detriment to her virginity, as, too, she had, without
iment to her virginity, conceived Him.” ( P.L., liv,
St. Ephraem, Oratio ad Sanctissimam Dei Matrem :
“ But O Virgin Lady, Immaculate Mother of God, my
ous Lady, my benefactress, higher than the heavens,
more pure than the sun in its rays of shining splendour
. the rod of Aaron that budded, truly hast thou
eared as a stem whose flower is thy true Son, our Christ,
God and my Maker ; thou didst bear according to
flesh God and the Word, didst preserve thy virginity
re His birth, didst remain a virgin after His birth,
we have been reconciled to God by Christ thy Son.”
era omnia, ed. Romana, Graece et La tine, iii, 545.)
fidymus of Alexandria, De Trinitate, iii, 4 :
When we discuss such terms as ‘ First-born ’ and
nly-begotten ’ the Evangelist comes to our aid by
telling us that Mary remained a virgin ‘ until she bro
forth her first-born son’; for neither did that most glo
virgin, who is to be honoured above all others, wed an
and so become the mother of another ; but after brin
forth her Son she always and through all time re
the immaculate virgin,” ( P.G ., xxxix, 831.)
m
St. Epiphanius, Adv. Haer. lxxviii, 6 :
“ Was there ever a person who in speaking of
would, when questioned, refuse to add at once the epi
‘ virgin ’ ? For the proofs of her virtue shine out in
conjunction of those very terms. . . . She is ten
‘ Holy Mary,’ a title that will never be changed, for
ever remained inviolate.” ( P.G. , xlii, 7o6ff.)
St. Jerome, De perpetua virginitate B. Mariae,
Helvidium, 19 :
“ We believe that God was born of a virgin be
we read it ; because we do not read it we do not bo
that Mary wedded again after the birth of her
Nor do we say this because we would condemn mai,
for surely virginity itself is the fruit of marriage.
You say Mary did not remain a virgin : I go much fr
and I say that Joseph too was a virgin for Mary’s
that of a virginal marriage a Virgin Son might be t
(. P.L. , xxiii, 213.)
p
wm.
QUESTION 100.
St. Athanasius, Ep. ad Epictetum, vi :
“ She who carried the human body of the Word
sented to herself the Word which was joined to
body, that we too might be able to become sharers i
Godhead of the Word. How truly wonderful that
one and the same being should be suffering anc
suffering : suffering indeed inasmuch as His own
suffered and He was Himself in that body which suff<
not suffering, since the Word, by nature God, is inca x
THE ATONEMENT 29 1
suffering. Moreover, the Word incorporeal was in a
ly capable of suffering, while that body held within
If the Word that was incapable of suffering and which
owed up the infirmities of that same body.” ( P.G .,
io 59 ff.)
QUESTION 102.
Innocent X, Constit. Cum occasione, May 31, 1653,
condemnation of the Fifth Proposition of Jansenius (which
in):
“ It is Semipelagian to say that Christ died or shed
|js Blood for absolutely all men.” ( Bullarium Romanum,
|, Turin, xv, 721.)
St. Ambrose, Ep., xli, 7 :
“ The devil had reduced the human race to a perpetual
iptivity, a cruel usury laid on a guilty inheritance whose
burdened progenitor had transmitted it to his posterity
succession drained by usury. The Lord Jesus came ;
offered His own death as a ransom for the death of
; He shed His own Blood for the blood of all.” ( P.L .,
1162.)
question 103.
rent, Sess. vi, Decretum de Justificatione, cap. 3 :
“ Although it is true that He died for us all, yet not all
efit by His death, but those only to whom the merits
His Passion are communicated.”
question 104.
rent, Sess. vi, Decretum de Justificatione, ch. vii :
The meritorious (cause of justification) is God’s
y-begotten and most beloved Son, our Lord Jesus
who, when we were enemies, merited, owing to
great love he bore us, justification for us by his most
THE ATONEMENT
holy death on the tree of the Cross, and made satisfactioi
for us to the Father.”
Leo XIII, Encycl., Tametsi futura, Nov. i, 1900 :
“ Indeed when the fulness of the council of God ha<
come, the Only-begotten Son of God, made man, mos
completely and fruitfully made satisfaction for us men
the offended Majesty of His Father by His own BIoo
and claimed for His own the human race redeemed a
such a price ; ‘ You were not redeemed with corruptib
things as gold or silver . . . but with the precious B 1
of Christ, as of a Lamb unspotted and undefiled ’ (7 P
i, 18-19). In this way He again brought under His domi
ion the entire race of men—already subject to His pow«
and empire owing to the fact that He is their Creator an
Preserver—by a true and real Redemption : ‘ You ar
not your own, for you are bought with a great price
(7 Cor. vi, 19-20.)” (Acta Leonis XIII, xx, 298.)
St. Ignatius the Martyr, Ep. ad Smyrnaeos, ii :
“ And all these things He suffered for our sakes
we might attain salvadon ; for He really suffered, j
as He really raised Himself from the dead ; not, as so
unbelievers say, that He merely seemed to suffer, just
they themselves only seem to exist, and, in harmony wi
this empty wisdom of theirs, this will actually be th
fate, for they are but phantasms and devilish.” (P.
v, 710.)
St. John Chrysostom, Hom., xvii, 2, in EpistolamT
Hebraeos:
“ So too ‘ Christ was offered up once and for
By whom was He offered ? By Himself. Here St. Pa
not only calls Him a Priest, but the Victim and
Sacrifice ; and he proceeds to assign the cause of
offering : ‘ He was offered once and for all to exha
the sins of many’ (Heb. ix, 28). Why ‘of many’ a
THE DESCENT INTO HELL
I
ot ‘ of all ’ ? Because not all have believed. He indeed
died for all, to save all—so far as Himself was concerned ;
for His death was the full equivalent of the destruction
under which all lay. Yet He did not exhaust nor take
away the sins of all, because all would not have it so. . . .
He took away from men their sins and offered them to the
Father, not for the Father to exact a penalty for them,
but to remit them.” ( P.G., lxiii, 129.)
a
QUESTION I06.
if
I
‘I
§1
mm
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech., iv, 11 :
j- > “ In a tomb in the rock He was really laid, as a man
(Ml- xxvii, 60), but through fear of Him were the rocks
*$!>lit (ib. 51). He went down into the bowels of the
earth to redeem the just who were there. Would you
like, I ask you, the living to profit by His grace—though
many of them were not holy—and, those who had, from
the days of Adam, been so long shut up should not win
flheir freedom ? Read the Prophet Isaias who lifted up his
voice and foretold so many things of Him—do you want
the King not to go down and liberate His herald ? There
too were David and Samuel and all the Prophets ; John,
too, who through his messengers had said : ‘ Art Thou
He who is to come, or look we for another ? 5 ( Mt. xi, 3)
Would you rather He should not go down and free such
pen as these ? ” (P.G., xxxiii, 470.)
■
QUESTION IIO.
For Lateran IV and St. Leo IX, see qu. 90.
St. Leo the Great, Sermo lxxiii, 4 :
“ Of a truth, great and unspeakable cause was there for
icing, when in the sight of that holy concourse our
n nature ascended beyond the dignity of all the
venly creation, to pass beyond the choirs of Angels,
2 g4 THE ASCENSION
to be raised above the highest Archangels, to find no limit
placed to His ascent till He came to the bosom of the
Eternal Father, to be associated with Him in the glory
of His throne with whom He was coequal in nature as
His Son.” {P.L., liv, 396.)
St. Leo the Great, Sermo Ixxiv, 3-4 :
“ For the Apostles had, in rapt contemplation, fix
their gaze on the Godhead of Him who sat at the Father’s
right hand ; theirs was no merely corporeal vision which
should prevent them from so fixing their minds’ gaze
on That which, though coming down from heaven had not
therefore left the Father, nor though ascending, had 1
the disciples. Then, therefore, dearly beloved, wa
Son of Man, the Son of God, known more perfectly an
in more hallowed fashion when He entered into the glo:
of the Majesty of His Father, and began in ineffab
fashion to be more present by His Godhead, than F
had been remote by His human nature.” (P.L., liv, 398.
CHRIST THE JUDGE
QUESTION 112.
St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., I, xi :
“ The Church sown throughout the world, spread ev
to the bounds of the earth, received both from the Apostl
and from their disciples that faith which believes in d
Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and Ascension in
heaven—in His flesh—of Jesus Christ our Lord. (P'G.
vii, 55 °-)
QUESTION III.
St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio xlv :
“ Believe . . . that He is to return, glorious a
illustrious, to exercise judgment on the living and the
dead, not indeed in His former fleshly form, nor yet without
a body, but with a body more august and more divine
such as He alone knew.” (P.G., xxxvi, 423.)
For Lateran IV and Leo IX see under qu. 90 ; for
1 ^Benedict XII, see under qu. 62.
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, xlii, 3, in I Cor. :
“ Consequently, we beg and beseech you, and embracing
i| your knees implore you, that so long as we are travelling
on life s short path we may learn compunction from what
we have just read, may be converted and made better ;
; Jest like Dives in the parable we should with him lament
and weep, and our tears should then prove of no avail.
|| For even though you should have father or son or anyone
else whose trust is in God, yet none of these will be able
to deliver you if your own deeds betray you. For that is
what that judgment is ; He judges solely by what you
have done ; and it is only by your deeds that you can be
saved. In saying this I have no wish to drive you to
1 despair, but simply to show you that we cannot afford to
neglect the practice of virtue on the ground of some
baseless hope, or through reliance on this man or that.
If we shall be found to have been idle and negligent,
then no saint, no Prophet, not even one of the Apostles,
will be able to save us.” (P.G., Ixi, 367!^)
question 116.
Jjjpus XI., Encycl., Quas primas, Dec. 11, 1925 :
H “Jesus Himself made clear to the Jews the judicial
power wherewith the Father had endowed Him, for when
they grumbled at His violation of the Sabbath rest by
His wonderful cure of the sick man, He said : ‘ For
neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath
iven all judgment to the Son ’ (Jn. v, 22). And herein
comprised—for you cannot disassociate it from His
:ial power—His right to bestow rewards and punish-
ts on people, even when still alive. Moreover we
2g6 the holy spirit and the church
must needs attribute to Christ what i, termed ettecu
power, for all have to obey His commands ; this inclu
too, the punishments threatened against such as^p
contumacious, for none can escape them. (
tolicae Sedis, xvii, 599.)
question 119.
For Lyons II, see under qu. 39 ; for Leo XIII, see un
qu. 94.
St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, xi, 24 •
“ Although the Father is spirit and the Son spirit
Father holy and the Son holy, yet rightly is He te-
« the Holy Spirit,’ as being holy in substance and
substantial with both.” (P.L., xli, 338.)
question 121.
St. Basil, Ep. xxxviii, 4 :
“ From the Holy Spirit flows all bestowal of good t
on creation.” ( P.G ., xxxii, 330.)
question 122.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Divinum illud munus, May 9, 18
“ Here let it suffice to say that since Christ is^ the H-
of the Church, then is the Holy Spirit its Soul : What 1
soul is to the body that the Holy Spirit is to Christ s bo
which is the Church’ (St. Augustine, Sermo clxxx
De tempore).” (Acta Leonis XIII, xvii, 1 35 *)
question 125.
Vatican, Const., Pastor aeternus :
“ The Eternal Shepherd and Bishop of our souls
order to perpetuate the saving work of our Redempt
decreed to found Holy Church, in which as m the h
of the Living God, all the faithful should be held toge
ST. PETER AND THE CHURCH
the bonds of the one faith and of charity. Wherefore,
previous to His glorification, ‘ He prayed to His Father
not for them (the Apostles) only, but for them also who
(through their word shall believe in Me, that they all may
be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee ’ (Jn.
xvii, 20-21). Precisely, therefore, as He ‘sent’ the
postles, whom He had chosen out of the world, ‘ as
; e was sent by the Father ’ (Jn. xx, 21), so in His Church
He willed that there should be shepherds and teachers
‘unto the consummation of the world.’ ”
1
QUESTION 126 .
Ephesus, a.d. 431, Ex Actis Concilii, Actio iii :
“ No one questions, nay rather has it always been well
wn, that the holy and blessed Peter, the Prince and
d of the Apostles, the pillar of the faith and the founda-
of the Catholic Church, received from our Lord Jesus
ist, the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race,
keys of the kingdom, and that the power to bind and
''■“'se sins was given to him ; he, down to this present
e and always, lives and exercises judgment in his
cessors.” (Mansi, Concilia, iv, 1295.)
Vatican, Constit., Pastor aeternus, cap. i : De apostolici
imatus in Beato Petro institutione :
“ Hence we teach and declare, in accordance with
e witness of the Gospels, that the primacy of jurisdiction
er the whole Church of God was immediately and
ectly promised to and conferred upon Peter the Apostle
Christ the Lord. For to Simon alone—to whom He
d already said ‘ thou shalt be called Cephas ’ (Jn. i, 42)—
Christ, after Peter’s confession : * Thou art the Christ,
Son, of the living God,’ address the solemn words ;
essed art thou, Simon, Bar Jona, because flesh and
3d hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is
heaven. And I say to thee, Thou art Peter, and upon
I
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1
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ST. PETER AND THE CHURCH
for thou art to bear up the entire edifice ; thou art to
be the inspector of all those who shall build up My Church
0 n earth ; if they try to build into it spurious material it
will be for you, the foundation, to repress them ; thou
art the source and the fount from which My teaching is
drawn ; thou art the head of My disciples ; through thee
will I give drink to all the nations ; thine is that life-
dEiving sweetness which I will dispense ; thee have I
chosen that by My appointment thou mayest be as it
were the first-born and mayest be made heir to My trea-
jl|ire ; to thee have I given the keys of my Kingdom.
Behold I have made thee ruler over all My treasures.”
(Lamy, S. Ephremi Hymni et Sermones, i, 412.)
QUESTION I27.
For Ephesus, see under qu. 126.
j Vatican, Constit., Pastor aeternus, cap. ii, De perpetuitate
primatus Beati Petri in Romanis Pontificibus :
“And that which the Prince of Pastors, the great
Shepherd of the sheep, Christ our Lord, established in the
Blessed Apostle Peter for the perpetual salvation and the
enduring profit of His Church, that same must—by the
action of the same Founder of the Church-last for ever
in the Church, which, being founded on a rock, will stand
firm to the end of the ages. ‘ For no one questions, nay
HJirather has-it always been well known, that the holy and
blessed Peter, the Prince and head of the Apostles, the
pillar of the faith and the foundation of the Catholic Church,
received from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and
Redeemer of the human race, the keys of the kingdom ’,
and that he, down to this present time and always, in
his successors, the bishops of the holy Roman See founded
by him and consecrated by the blood he there shed, ‘ lives,’
presides ‘ and exercises judgment ’ (The Council of Ephesus
a.d. 431, see above, qu. 126, p. 297). Consequently,
■a
■i
Is
ST. PETER AND THE CHURCH
whosoever succeeds Peter in this See, he in accordance
with the appointment of Christ himself, holds I eteri
primacy over the universal Church. ‘The appoint¬
ment made, then, by the Truth, stands firm, and blessed;
Peter, persevering in the rock-like strength he has. r$|
ceived, does not relinquish the Church’s helm put int
his hands,’ (St. Leo the Great, Sermo iii). It is for■ th
reason that to the Roman Church, ‘ owing to its do
inating principality, it is necessary ’—as has always been
case _‘ that every Church should come—that is the fan
who are everywhere’ (St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., III,^iii^
so that in that See whence there flow out to all ‘ dj|
rights of religious fellowship ’ (the Council of Aquil—
a.d. 381), all, like members welded together thro
their head, grow into one compact body.
“If then, anyone shall say that it is not by Chr|§
institution, nor by any Divine right, that the Blessed Peti
has perpetual successors in his Primacy over the univ
Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is not the succ
of Blessed Peter in the same Primacy, let him be anathema
R
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QUESTION 13 1 .
Lyons II (a.d. 1274), Profession of faith by Mi,
Palaeologus:
“ The Holy Roman Church, too, has full and complt
Primacy and principality over the Universal Catho,
Church ; and he (Michael) truly and humbly acknot
ledges that she received this Primacy from the Lr
Himself in the person of the Blessed Peter, the Prince
head of the Apostles, whose successor in the fulness
power is the Roman Pontiff. And, since the said R
Church is bound beyond all others to defend the tr
of the faith, if and when questions arise touching the :
they ought to be decided by her judgment. To
anyone troubled about matters which come under
ecclesiastical courts can appeal ; and in all causes w
m
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I
ST. PETER AND THE CHURCH 301
call for ecclesiastical investigation recourse can be had to
her; to her, too, all Churches are subject, and their
Prelates render to her reverential obedience. Furthe.r,
her plenitude of power consists in this that she admits
other Churches to a share in her burdens ; many of the
sa id Churches, more especially the Patriarchates, she
honoured with divers privileges, while always safeguarding
her own prerogatives both in General Councils as well
|;as in others.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxiv, 71.)
Florence (a.d. 1438) : Decree for the Greeks :
j|| « \v e also define that the Holy Apostolic See and the"j
" Roman Pontiff hold the Primacy over all the world, and
that the Roman Pontiff himself is the successor of Blessed
plPeter, the Prince of the Apostles, the true Vicar of Christ,
the head of the entire Church, the father and teacher of
" Christians ; also that to him, in the person of the Blessed
ter, was given by our Lord Jesus Christ full power for
ing, ruling and governing the Church, as is also set
wn in the Acts of the Oecumenical Councils and in the
jacred Canons.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1031.)
Vatican, Constit., Pastor aeternus, cap., iii : De vi et
ne Primatus Romani Pontificis :
I “ Wherefore, basing ourselves on the patent testimonies
'‘ Holy Scripture, in adherence to the explicit and clear
nouncements of Our Predecessors the Roman Pontiffs,
of General Councils, We renew the definition of the
uncil of Florence (as given above)....
“ We also teach and declare that the Roman Church has,
y the Lord’s appointment, the Primacy of ordinary
risdiction over all the rest of the Churches, and that
jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff, which is
y Episcopal, is immediate, and that to it the pastors
d the faithful of whatsoever rite or dignity, are, both
ividually and collectively, bound by ties of hierarchical
bordination and true obedience ; and this not only in
g 02 ST. PETER AND THE CHURCH
things that concern faith and morals but also in th
that pertain to the discipline and government of t
Church spread throughout the world ; so that, union wi
the Roman Pontiff in profession of the same faith ai
fellowship being safeguarded, the Church of Christ
be one flock under one supreme Pastor. This is
teaching of Catholic truth, and from it no one can devia
without making shipwreck of his faith and his salvation.
“ So far, however, is it from being the case that t
power of the Supreme Pontiff is derogatory to the ordina
and immediate jurisdictional power of the Bishops, where!
the Bishops, ‘ placed by the Holy Spirit ’ (Acts xx, 2
have succeeded to the Apostles, and each of them,
true pastors, feed and govern their individual fioi
that these rights of theirs are asserted, corroborated a
vindicated by the Supreme and Universal Pastor, or i
the words of St. Gregory the Great, ‘ My honour is th
honour of the Universal Church. My honour is
compact vigour of my brethren. Then only am I tr
honoured when the honour due to every individual amo
them is not withheld.’ ” (Ep ad. Eulogium, P.L., lxxt
933.)
“ Further, from this supreme power of the Roma
Pontiff in governing the Universal Church, there follov
his right—in the exercise of this duty—of free communic;
tion with the pastors and the flocks of the whole Churcl
in order that they may be taught and directed by him i
the way of salvation. Wherefore We condemn and
probate the notion that this communication with past
and flocks can lawfully be hindered, or that it is subordin
to secular authorities and that consequently decre
emanating from the Apostolic See, or published by
authority, for the government of the Church, have
value or force unless ratified by the secular authorities.
“ And since the Roman Pontiff presides over the wh
Church by the Divine right of an Apostolic Primacy, 1
also teach and declare that he is the supreme judge
I
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ST. PETER AND THE CHURCH
the Faithful, and that in all causes which call for
ecclesiastical investigation, recourse can be had to - his
judgment ; nor can the decision of the Apostolic See—
than which there is no greater authority—be reversed by
anyone, nor is it lawful for anyone to call it in question.
Those, then, stray from the right path of truth who main¬
tain that it is lawful to appeal from the decisions of the
Roman Pontiffs to an Oecumenical Council as to an
authority superior to that of the Roman Pontiff.
“ If then, anyone shall say that the Roman Pontiff has
only the duty of inspection or direction, and not full and
supreme jurisdictional authority over the whole Church,
not only in matters concerning faith and morals but also
in things pertaining to the discipline and government of
the Church spread throughout the world, or that he has
indeed a preponderating authority, but not the full
plenitude of supreme power ; or that this power of his is
not ordinary and immediate over all and every Church
and all and every pastor or member of the faithful, let him
be anathema.”
St. Leo IX, Ep., In terra pax hominibus, Sept. 2, 1053,
ad Michaelem Caerularium et Leonem Acridanum, de primatu
Romani Pontificis:
“ Cap. vii. Holy Church was built upon a Rock, that
is Christ, and upon Peter or Cephas, the son of John,
who was before called Simon, because it was never to be
vercome by the gates of hell, that is by heretical specul-
tions which lead weak folk to destruction. For the
ruth Himself, by whom are true whatsoever things are
ue, made this promise : ‘ The gates of hell shall not
revail against it.’ Moreover the same Son of God
eclared that He had won from His Father the fulfilment
f this promise when He said to Peter ‘ Simon, behold
tan. . . .’ ( Lk. xxii, 31). Will anyone be so foolish
to dare imagine that this prayer of Him with whom
to will ’ is ‘ to be able ’ could fail in any point ? Is it
■
I
THE APOSTOLIC SEE
not a fact that by the See of the Prince of the Apostles
namely the Roman Church, both by the said Peter anc
by his successors, all the figments of heretics have beei
reprobated, convicted of error and exploded, also tha
the hearts of his brethren have been confirmed by the fait!
of Peter, a faith which so far has never failed, nor wil
fail to the end ?
“ Cap. xi. By passing judgment on the Supreme See-
on which it is lawful for no man to pass judgment—yoi
have incurred an anathema from all the Fathers of ai
the Venerable Councils.
“ Cap. xxxi. As the hinge, while remaining itse:
immovable, swings the door to and fro, so do Peter an
his successors pass free judgment on every Church, sine
no one ought to try to undermine their position, for th
Supreme See can be judged by none.” ( P-L ., cxlii
748, 751, 765.)
Boniface VIII, Bull : Unam Sanctam, Nov. 18, 1302 :
“ Our faith urges us to believe and to hold fast to th
One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church ; and W<
too, firmly believe and unreservedly confess that outsit
this Church there is no salvation nor remission of sin.
Hence in this one and only Church there is but one b.
and one head ; it is not a monstrosity, two-headed,
Christ and Christ’s Vicar Peter, and Peter’s successor,
the Lord Himself said to Peter himself: ‘ Feed my sheep
(Jn. xxi, 17). ‘My’ sheep He calls them, and that
general, not simply these or those ; which shows t
He has entrusted him with them all. If, then, the Gi
or others say that they were not entrusted to Peter
his successors, they must logically say that they do
belong to Christ’s flock, since the Lord spoke in Jo
Gospel of 1 one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ (Ji
x, 16.)
“ That in this power of his there are two swords, th
spiritual and the temporal, we learn from the Gospt
i
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THE ‘ TWO SWORDS ’
records. . . . Both of these, then, that is the spiritual
and the temporal swords, are in the power of the Church.
One wielded by the Church, the other for the Church,
the one wielded by the priest, the other by kings and
soldiers ; yet by the latter at the beck and by the per¬
mission of the priest. For sword must be subordinate to
sword; the temporal authority subordinate to the
spiritual. . . . That the spiritual power transcends in
dignity and nobility any earthly authority whatsoever,
we must as unreservedly acknowledge as we acknowledge
that the things of the spirit transcend those of time. . . .
For, as the Truth testifies, the spiritual power can both
institute temporal powers and judge them if they do not
prove good. ... If, then, any temporal power go
astray it will be judged by the spiritual power, if some
lesser spiritual power go astray it will be judged by a higher ;
if, however, the supreme spiritual power go astray it can
be judged by no man, but by God alone, as the Apostle
testifies : ‘ The spiritual man judgeth all things ; and
he himself is judged by no man ’ (I Cor., ii, 15). More¬
over this authority, although given to man and exercised
by man, is not human, but divine, given by the Divine
voice to Peter and confirmed to him and his successors
by Him whom he confessed to be ‘ the Rock ’, for to Peter
himself the Lord said : ‘ Whatsoever thou shalt bind
. . ’ [Mt. xvi, 19). Whosoever, then, shall resist this
wer thus ‘ ordained ’ of God, he ‘ resisteth the ordinance f
of God. . . .’ Furthermore, We declare, say, define and (
- -onounce, that it is wholly necessary for the salvation
' every human creature to be subject to the Roman :
ontiff.” ( Extravag. comm., I, viii, 1.)
QUESTION I32.
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Ep. ad Smyrnaeos, viii, 1 :
“ Let us all obey the Bishop, as Jesus Christ obeyed
s Father. . . . Let none do apart from the Bishop
THE APOSTOLIC TRADITION
any of those things which concern the Church. That is
to be regarded as a valid Eucharist which is celebrated
under the Bishop, or some one whom he has appointed.
When the Bishop is present, let the populace be there too,
just as where Jesus Christ is there is the Catholic Church.
It is not lawful either to baptize or celebrate the Agape
without the Bishop, but whatsoever he shall approve that
same is well-pleasing to God, so that all that is done may
be sound and valid.”
St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., Ill, i, i :
“ In every Church then, there is opportunity for all
those who wish to see the truth to learn the Apostolic
tradition made known throughout the world ; we can
enumerate those who were instituted by the Apostles
as Bishops, as also their successors down to our times;
and these never taught or even knew such absurdities
as these people put forward.” (P.G., vii, 848.)
question 133.
Pius XI, Encycl., Mortalium animos, Jan. 6, 1928 :
“ Now Christ the Lord instituted His Church as
perfect Society, a thing of its nature external and t
object of our senses ; for it was to the end of time to
occupied with the task of the reparation of the hum
race under the leadership of one head ( Mt. xvi, i8ff., .
xxii, 32 ; Jn. xxi, 15-17), by the teaching office of
living voice {ML xvi, 15), by the administration of
Sacraments as sources of heaven’s grace (Jn. iii,
vi, 48-59, xx, 22ffi, cf Mt. xviii, 18, &c.) ; hence it \
that Christ compared this society to a kingdom {Mt. xi
to a house {Mt. xvi, 18), to a sheepfold (Jn. x, 16), and
a flock (Jn. xxi, 15-17). Now this Church, thus marve
ously founded, assuredly could not cease with the dea
of its Founder or of the Apostles who led the way in
propagation, for to it the commission was given
E
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OUTSIDE THE CHURCH NO SALVATION
bringing to eternal salvation all men—all without dis¬
tinction of time or place : ‘ Going therefore, teach all
nations ’ {Mt. xxviii, 19). Now no one is in this one
Church, no one perseveres, unless he acknowledges and
obediently accepts the power and authority of Peter and
his legitimate successors.” (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XX,
viiij 15.)
QUESTION 136.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), Against the Albigenses, cap. i,
De Fide Catholica :
“ But there is only one universal Church of the faithful
and outside it none at all can be saved.” (Mansi, Concilia,
xxii, 982.)
Florence, Decree for the Jacobites, and the Bull Cantate
Domino, Feb. 4, 1441 :
“ [The Holy Roman Church] firmly believes, pro¬
fesses and teaches that none of those who are not within
the Catholic Church, not only Pagans, but Jews, heretics
and schismatics, can ever be partakers of eternal life, but
are to go into the eternal fire ‘ prepared for the devil,
and his angels ’ {Mt. xxv, 41), unless before the close of
their fives they shall have entered into that Church ;
Iso that the unity of the Ecclesiastical body is such that
e Church’s Sacraments avail only those abiding in
at Church, and that fasts, almsdeeds, and other works
piety which play their part in the Christian combat
e in her alone productive of eternal rewards ; moreover,
t no one, no matter what alms he may have given,
ot even if he were to shed his blood for Christ’s sake,
n be saved unless he abide in the bosom and unity of
e Catholic Church.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1739.)
Innocent III., Ep., Ejus exemplo (Dec. 18, 1208), to
e Archbishop of Tarragona, Profession of faith prescribed
i or the Waldensians Durandus de Osca and his companions.
308 outside the church no salvation
“ With our hearts we believe and with our lips we
confess but one Church, not that of the heretics, but the
Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic, outside which we
believe that none can be saved.” ( P.L ., ccxv, 1511.)
For Boniface VIII, see under qu. 131.
Pius IX, Allocution, Singulari quadam, Dec. 9, 1854 : |
“ Not without grief have we learned of another no less
fatal error which has crept into some parts of the Catholic
world ; for there has grown up in the minds of not a
few Catholics the nodon that there can be good hope for
the eternal salvation of all those who are by no means'
members of the true Church of Christ. In consequence
of this attitude they frequently discuss the future fate and
condition after death of people who are in no sense adher¬
ents of the Catholic faith, and, basing themselves on the
flimsiest of arguments, they suggest answers which favour
their false notions. Far be it from Us, Venerably
Brethren, to dare to set limits to the Divine mercy, for it
is boundless ; far be it from us to try and peer into the
secret counsels and those ‘judgments of God ’ which are
‘a mighty abyss’ (Ps. xxxv, 7), and which no human
thought can fathom. But, in accordance with the duty
of our Apostolic office, we would stir up your Episcopal
solicitude and vigilance and beg you to strive by all
means in your power to drive out of men s minds the
impious and fatal notion that the way of eternal salvadon
may lie in any form of religion men please. Use all the
knowledge and skill you have to make the flocks entrusted
to your care realize that the dogmas of the Catholic faitll
can never be in opposition to the mercy and justice ol
God.
“ For we have to hold as of faith that no one can b<
saved outside the Apostolic Roman Church, that she is
the one Ark of Salvation, that whoso does not enter hei
will perish in the flood. But at the same time it is to b<
outside the church no salvation 309
held equally certain that those who labour under ignorance
of the true religion will never—provided their ignorance
is invincible—be held guilty in the eyes of God of this
fault. Who would dare claim to be able to assign limits
to such ignorance when he reflects on the diversity he
sees among peoples, localities, characters and a host of
other points. Assuredly when, released from the fetters
of the body, we shall see God as He is, we shall then
clearly see the intimate and exquisite way in which the
mercy and justice of God are combined ; but let us, so
long as here on earth we are weighed down by this mortal
body which dulls the soul, hold firmly to our Catholic
doctrine : ‘ one God, one faith, one baptism ’ ( Ephes.
iv, 5) 5 to try and probe deeper is criminal. . .
(Acta PH IX, I, i, 625.)
Leo XIII, Encycl., Satis cognitum, June 29, 1896 :
“ As a matter of fact, if we reflect on what actually was
done, Jesus Christ did not fashion and form a Church
which was to comprise many generically similar yet
distinct communities, nor did He form communities
which should, when bound together by bonds such as
these, constitute one individual and only Church such as
that in which we declare our belief when we say in the
Creed ‘ I believe in one . . . Church.’ No, when Jesus
Christ spoke of this mystical building He only made men¬
tion of ‘ one ’ Church, and this He calls His own : ‘ I
will build My Church ’ ( Mt . xvi, 18). Any other Church,
then, which we can picture apart from this, cannot,
since not founded by Jesus Christ, be the true Church of
Christ. . . . Consequently the Church is bound to
spread abroad amongst all men and to propagate in all
ages the salvation brought by Jesus Christ and the benefits
which flow from it. For this reason the Church must,
by the will of its Founder, be of necessity one in all lands
and throughout all time. . . . The Church of Christ is,
| then, the only one and the perpetual one ; whosoever
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH NO SALVATION
are outside it depart from the will and the commands
Christ the Lord ; they have left the way of salvation an
gone aside to destruction.” {Acta Leonis XIII, xvi, 163-5,
168.)
I
St. Cyprian, De Unitate Ecclesiae, 6 :
« The bride of Christ cannot be falsified : she is chaste
and incorrupt. She knows but one home ; she with
scrupulous chastity keeps inviolate her one bride-chamber.
She it is who preserves us for God ; she finds places in
the Kingdom for the children she has begotten. Wh<
separates himself from the Church is joined to an adulte
and has cut himself off from the promises made to the
Church ; no one who quits the Church of Christ
attain to the rewards of Christ. He is a stranger, profa
an enemy. He cannot have God for his father who ]
not the Church for his mother. If anyone was able t
escape who was outside the ark of Noe, then whosoever
outside the Church escapes.” {P-L., iv, 5i8ff.)
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St. Jerome, Ep. ad Damasum, xv, 2 :
“ I, following no leader save Christ, am associated ir
fellowship with your Blessedness, that is with the See
Peter. On that rock I know the Church was bui
Whoso eats the Lamb outside that house is profar
If* anyone shall be outside the Ark of Noe he shall pen
when the flood prevails.” {P.L., xxii, 355.)
I
r
St. Augustine, Setmo ad Caesatiensis Ecclesiae plebetn , 6 *
“ No man can find salvation save in the Cath
Church. Outside the Catholic Church he can find evei
thing save salvation. He can have dignities, he can ha
the Sacraments, can sing ‘ Alleluia,’ answer Arne
accept the Gospels, have faith in the Name of the Fati
the Son and the Holy Ghost, and preach it too, but ne
save in the Catholic Church can he find salvatio
(P.L., xliii, 695.)
B
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THE ONE CATHOLIC CHURCH
question 137.
Pius XI, Encycl., Rerum Ecclesiae, Feb. 28, 1926 :
“ Careful students of the history of the Church cannot
fail to notice how, from the very first days of the Re¬
demption wrought by Christ, the Roman Pontiffs have
bestowed especial care and thought on the task of bringing
to the knowledge of 1 the people that sit in darkness and
the shadow of death ’ the light of the Gospel-teaching
and the benefits accruing from Christian civilisation ;
from this task they have allowed no dangers or diffi¬
culties to deter them. For the Church was founded for
no other purpose than, by spreading the kingdom of
Christ throughout the world, to make all men sharers
in that Redemption which leads to salvation. Whosoever,
then, is the divinely constituted Vicar on earth of Jesus,
the Prince of Pastors, fails in his primary duty if he is
content merely to safeguard and watch over the flock
committed to his government ; nay rather has he to
strive with all diligence to gain over to Christ the strangers
that are without.” {Acta Apostolicae Sedis, xviii, 65.)
St. Augustine, Contra Epistolam Fundamentalem Mani-
pkaei, 5 :
“ There are many things which with good reason
keep me in the Catholic Church. The agreement of
1 nations and peoples keeps me there ; its authority,
rst established by miracles, fed by hope, increased by
rity, confirmed by its antiquity—these all keep me
ere; the succession in the priesthood down to the
sent episcopate and starting from the very See of
ter—the Apostle to whom the Lord entrusted the feeding
His sheep after His Resurrection—this keeps me there,
nally the very name ‘ Catholic,’ keeps me there ; for
it without reason has this Church, alone among so many
resies, so made this title her own, that though all
etics would like to be called ‘ Catholics,’ yet were a
|: s
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^12 THE ONE AND ONLY CHURCH
stranger to ask them where was the meeting place of
Catholics, no heretic would dare show him his own chur
or house.” (P.L ., xlii, 1 75 -)
St. Augustine, De Symbolo, sermo ad Catechumenos, 14 :
“ She is the Holy Church, the One Church, the T
Church, the Catholic Church, the Church which stri
against all heresies; she can fight; she can never
outfought. All heresies have departed trom tier li
useless twigs lopped from the vine ; but she hers
abides in her Root, in her Vine, in her Charity. (“
xl, 635.)
QUESTION 1 38.
St. Cyprian, Ep., xl, 5 : _
“ God is One and Christ is One, His Church is O
His See is One, founded by the voice of the Lord
Peter. No other altar can be set up, no other pnesth
instituted apart from that one altar and that one pri
hood. Whoso gathers elsewhere, scatters. (P.E.,
345 -)
St. Ambrose, on Ps. xl, 30 :
“ He is Peter to whom Christ said : ‘ Thou art P
and upon this rock I will build My church ’ (Mt. xvi,
Where, then, Peter is, there there is no death, but
eternal.” {P.L., xiv, 1134O
QUESTION I44.
Adamantius, Dialogus de recta in Deurn Fide, v, 28 :
“ She . . . the Catholic Church, by the truth a
lives righteously, devoutly and in holiness ; those
have turned aside from her and gone astray are tar
the truth ; they proclaim indeed that to them the
is known, but in reality they are far removed froi
(P.G., xi, 1883.)
INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE 313
St. Cyprian, Ep. xii, 14, Inter Sti. Cornelii Epistolas:
“ Heretics have the audacity to take ship and present
ers from profane and schismatical folk to the See of
ter and to the principal Church whence sprang the
ity of the priesthood. They never seem to realise that
e latter are Romans whose faith the Apostle pro-
imed and praised ; to them unfaith can have no access.”
iii, 844ff.)
St. Peter Chrysologus, Ep. ad Eutychen, 2 :
(i Wp um7 Virvr>/-»i*r»ciL 7 ^ - _• _ 11
ii
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i
“We exhort you, honourable brother, to pay in all
gs obedient attention to what is written by the most
sed Pope of the city of Rome ; for the Blessed Peter,
ho lives and presides in his own See, always helps those
ho seek the true faith. We ourselves, for the sake of
ce and of the faith, cannot, without the consent of
Bishop of the city of Rome, hear causes which concern
faith.” (P.L., liv, 74iff.)
1
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sia
QUESTION 147.
Vatican, Constit., Pastor aeternus, cap. iv, De Romani
tijicis infallibili magisterio :
“We therefore, adhering faithfully to the tradition
ived from the beginnings of the Christian faith, for
glory of God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic
on and the salvation of the Christian peoples, do,
the approbation of this holy Council, teach and
e that it is a divinely revealed dogma that the Roman
tiff, when he speaks ex cathedra —that is, when, acting
shepherd and teacher of all Christians, he, by his
erne apostolic authority, defines a doctrine touching
• or morals which is to be held by the whole Church—
ys, by the Divine assistance promised to him in Blessed
r, that infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer
d that His Church should be endowed when'defining
octrine touching faith or morals ; consequendy such
TEACHING AUTHORITY OF THE CHURCH
definitions by the Roman Pontiff are of themselves-noi
by the consent of the Church—irreformable.
“If anyone shall presume—which God avert—tc
contradict diis Our definidon, let him be anathema.
QUESTION 1 48.
Vatican, Constit., Dei Filius i cap. iii •
“ Furthermore, all those things are to be believed wi
divine and Catholic faith which are contained in
word of God, whether in writing or in tradition a
which are set forth by the Church either in her soler
decisions or in the exercise of her ordinary and umver
teaching office, to be believed as being divinely revealec
I
QUESTION I50.
Vatican, Constit., Dei Filius, cap. iv, Defide et ratione :
» Furthermore, the Church, which, together with
Apostolic duty of teaching, received a command to s
guard the deposit of faith, has also divinely bestowed u
it the right and the duty of proscribing science falsely 1
called : ‘ Beware lest any man cheat you by philosopl
and-vain deceit’ (Col. ii, 8). All the Christian faithfv
then are not only forbidden to defend, as though
were legitimate conclusions of science, such opinions
are recognized as opposed to the teachings of the f al
more especially if they have been repudiated by t
Church—but on the contrary are absolutely bound
regard them as errors which have only a specious appe
ance of truth.”
55 !
PM
QUESTION I5I.
For the Vatican, see under qu. 150.
Alexander VII, Constit., Regiminis Apostolici, 1
13, 1664:
CONDEMNATION OF JANSENISM 315
“ I (Name) submit myself to the Apostolic Consti-
ition of Innocent X, May 31, 1653, also to the Con-
itution of Alexander VII, Oct. 16, 1656, the Supreme
ontiffs ; I also sincerely reject and condemn the Five
ropositions drawn from the book of Cornelitis Jansenius,
entitled Augustinus, and this I do in the sense intended by
(the said author, and according as the Apostolic See has
ondemned them in the aforesaid Constitutions ; and so
swear : so help me God and these Holy Gospels.”
Du Plessis, Collectio Judiciorum, III, ii, 315.)
Clement XI, Constit., Vineam Domini Sabaoth, July
, 1705 =
“ In order that all future occasions of error may be
oily precluded, and that all the children of the Catholic
urch may learn to hear the Church herself, not simply
y keeping silence—for the wicked keep silence in the
■k—but also by an interior compliance which is the
e obedience of an orthodox person, We hereby, by
ostolic authority, decree, declare, enact and ordain
this present Constitution of Ours which is to hold in
etuity, that the obedience due to the aforementioned
tolic Constitutions is in no sense met by simply
quious silence, but that the meaning condemned in
said Five Propositions from Jansenius’ book, the
ning plainly attaching, as already said, to those Pro-
itions, is to be condemned and repudiated by all the
lful in Christ as heretical, and this not merely by
d of mouth but with the heart as well; nor can the
ve-mentioned formulas be lawfully subscribed to in
other sense, intention or belief, so that those who may
erstand, hold, preach, teach or assert, in writing or
king, any or all of these Propositions in any other
are to be regarded as transgressors of the said Apostolic
titutions, and fall under all the censures and penalties
hing to them.” (Du Plessis, Collectio Judiciorum
ii, 448.)
316 teaching authority of the church
Pius X, Decree, Lamentabili sane, July 3, I 9°7 '■> th
Seventh condemned Proposition :
“ When the Church proscribes errors she cannot demam
of the faithful any internal assent in their acceptance 0
her decisions.” (Acta Apostolicae Sedis , xl, 47^0
question 152.
Pius IX, Ep., Tuas libenter, Dec. 22, 1863, to the Arci
bishop of Munich and Freisingen :
“ Since it is question of that submission which bind
in conscience all Catholics who are devoted to speculate
science with a view to aiding the Church by their writing
those who have taken part in these Congresses ought t
recognise that it is not enough for wise Catholics to receiy
with reverence the aforesaid dogmas of the Church, bt
that it is also necessary to submit themselves both to thoi
decisions concerning doctrine which emanate from
Pontifical Congregations and to those points of doci
which, by the general and consistent consent of Catho
are regarded as theological truths and conclusions
certain that, though opinions which conflict with
cannot be termed heretical, they yet deserve some for
of theological censure.” (Acta Pii IX, iii, 642-3.) IS
I
Pius X, Decree, Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907 ; the Eig,
condemned Proposition :
“ Those who regard as of no importance condemn
emanating from the Sacred Congregation of the Indt
or other Roman Congregations, are to be held blameless
(Acta S. Sedis, xl, 471.)
St. Augustine, De Fide et Symbolo, 21 :
“ We believe, too, in Holy Church, assuredly the Cath
Church. For heretics and schismatics call their assemt
* churches.’ But heretics, since they hold false idear
God, violate the faith itself) while schismatics, althott
i
■
the church and schism 317
believing what we do, have by their wicked divisions
roken away from fraternal charity. Heretics, then, do
not belong to the Catholic Church—for it loves God ;
nor do schismatics—for the Church loves its neighbour.”
■L., xl, 193.)
QUESTION 162.
Innocent II, a.d. 1130-1143, Ep., Apostolicam Sedem,
the Bishops of Cremona :
“ To your question We reply as follows : We unhesitat-
gly assert that the priest who, as you tell Us, died without
:ing baptized, was, since he persevered in the faith of
Holy Mother Church and in the confession of the Name
: Christ, freed from original sin, and has won the joy
„/ the kingdom of heaven ; this We base on the authority
of SS. Ambrose and Augustine ; read St. Augustine,
De Civitate Dei, VIII, where you will find amongst other
things the statement that * Baptism is administered in¬
visibly when necessity and not contempt for religion
ecludes its being given ’ ; see, too, St. Ambrose, De
bitu Valentiniani, where he makes the same assertion. On
questions thus already settled hold fast to the opinions
of the learned Fathers ; but remember to have frequent
yers and sacrifices offered to God in your Church
or the said priest.” (P.L., clxxix, 624.)
Pius IX, Encycl., Quanto conficiamur (Aug. 10, 1863), to
Bishops of Italy :
“ And here. Beloved Sons and Venerable Brethren, We
list once more draw attention to and reprobate a very
rave error with which some Catholics are unfortunately
nfected ; for some fancy that people who have lived
error, and are strangers to Catholic unity, can attain
temal life. But this is absolutely opposed to Catholic
aching. We and you too, know well that those who
bour under invincible ignorance of our holy religion,
t keep the precepts of the law of nature graven by God
1
B
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH NO SALVATION
in all men’s hearts, who are prepared to obey God, and
who lead an honourable and upright life, are able, by
the powerful workings of God’s light and grace, to attain
eternal life. For God, who sees distinctly, who searches
into and knows the mind, spirit, habits and thoughts of
all men, would never of His supreme goodness and mercy
permit anyone to be punished eternally unless he had
incurred the guilt of voluntary sin. But it is also a perfectly
well-known Catholic doctrine that no one can be saved
outside the Catholic Church, and that those who con 4
tumaciously resist her authority and definitions and who
obstinately remain separated from the unity of that Church
and from Peter’s successor the Roman Pontiff—to whom
the custody of the vine was entrusted by our Saviour—
cannot obtain eternal salvation.” (Acta Pii IX, I, iii, 613.)
QUESTION 163.
For Pius IX, see under qu. 162.
|
KHr
•HP
K
rS
QUESTION 166.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885 :
“ . . . 16. The Only-Begotten Son of God founded
society on earth which is called The Church , tc
entrusted the perpetuation down the ages of the Divi^
and lofty task which He had Himself received from F*
Father ... 18. This Society, though composed, li
any civil society, of men, is by reason of its appoint
goal and the means it employs for its attainment, super¬
natural and spiritual; consequently it is distinguished
from and differs from the civil society. And, what is of
more importance, that society is of its very nature and by
right, perfect, since by the will and favour of its Found®
it'possesses In itself and of itself all the means necessary
for its unimpaired action. And as the goal towards which
the Church tends is the noblest of all, so too its power
CHURCH AND STATE
anscends all others ; nor can it be regarded as inferior I
the civil state or in any sense subordinate to it. . . . *" ""
“ 24. Thus God has divided the charge of the human
ce between two powers, the ecclesiastical and the civil,
tting one over the things of God, the other over human
airs. Each is chief in its own department; each has
own limits which it cannot overstep and which are
recisely defined by the nature of the task committed to
so that a certain sphere is as it were marked out within
which lie the actions proper to each.25. But since
ach of these bears sway over the same subjects, and
it may come to pass that one and the same thing
-while remaining the same thing though under
ferent aspects—fall under the jurisdiction and judg-
ent of either, God in His supreme providence must—
Since both are founded by Him—have correctly and
harmoniously arranged the paths along which either
should walk, ‘ for the powers that are, are ordained of
God’ (Rom. xiii, 1). . . . 26. There must, then, be
some appointed means for harmonizing these two powers,
something not unreasonably likened to the link whereby
soul and body are bound together in man, But what
this link is and how real it is, we can, as we have said,
only discover by considering the nature of each of them
tnd weighing the relative excellences of their respective
als. Such reflection will show us that whereas the
ef and immediate care of one of them is to provide for
needs of this mortal life, the business of the other is to
ecure heavenly and everlasting good things. What-
ver in human affairs, then, is reputed sacred in any
y, whatsoever pertains to the salvation of souls and the
orship of God, whether it be so of its own nature or be
garded as such by reason of some question involved,
that must fall under the authority and judgment of
Church ; but other things, such as civil or political
ffairs, are rightly the subject-matter of the civil authorities,
ince Jesus Christ Himself said : ‘ render to Caesar the
CHURCH AND STATE
things that are Caesar’s, but to God the things that
God’s.’ ... 54. As a matter of fact, if the Church deci
that different kinds of Divine worship ought not to have
same legal standing as the true religion has, she does
therefore condemn ministers of public affairs who ‘
the sake of obtaining some great good, or the wardi
off some great evil,’ tolerate diverse habits and practi
and allow each to find a place in the state.” (Acta Le
XIII, v, 124-5, 127-8.)
Leo XIII, Encycl., Au milieu, Feb. 16, 1892 :
“ This [see previous extract] is the state of affairs
certain countries. It is a ‘ modus vivendi ’ which, des
many incongruities, yet offers various advantages,
especially when the authorities, with a naive disre
for logic, really act from Christian principles. For
ensuing advantages, while they do not justify the fals
principle of schism nor allow us to defend it, yet do mak
tolerable a state of things which, in practice, might h
much worse.” (Acta Leonis XIII, xii, 39.)
Leo XIII, Ep., Longinqua Oceani, Jan. 6, 1895 :
“ In your part of the world the Church enjoys, withoti
any interference by the civil authorities, perfect an:
unhampered liberty of life and action ; it is hindered h
no laws, it is defended against violence by common la)
and justice. But while this is true it would be wrong fc
anyone to conclude that we have to look to America fc
an example of the Church in its ideal state, or that it:
lawful and expedient that religious and civil affairs shots!
be everywhere totally dissociated after the America
fashion.” (Acta Leonis XIII, xv, 7.)
QUESTION 167.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Diuturnum illud, June 29, 1881 : J
“ Assuredly the Church of Christ ought not to be xt
garded with suspicion by secular rulers, nor ought she 1
CHURCH AND STATE
be disliked by the populace. For though she does, it is
true, teach rulers to pursue justice and in no way to depart
from their duties, yet at the same time she fortifies and
supports their authority in many ways. She recognises
and insists that matters concerning civil government come
under their supreme authority and rule, while in matters
that, under different aspects, concern both the religious
and the civil authorities, she is anxious that harmony
should prevail between these two, for only thus can dis¬
sensions which might prove fatal to either be avoided.”
(Acta Leonis XIII, ii, 285.)
See too, the Encycl., Immortale Dei, under qu. 166.
Pius X, Encycl., Vehementer, Feb. 18, 1906 :
“ That the affairs of Church and State should be kept
igidly apart is certainly a false, even a dangerous notion,
first of all because, based on the idea that the State ought
to have nothing to do with religion, it is an insult to God,
ho is as much the Founder and Preserver of human
jciety as He is of individual men ; whence it follows that
God has to be worshipped not only privately but publicly.
Moreover this notion really amounts to a denial that there
anything supernatural. For it regards State action
solely from the point of view of prosperity in this mortal
life. And though this is in fact the immediate aim of
civil society, yet the above-mentioned view ignores the
ultimate goal of all the citizens of the State—namely the
eternal happiness offered to men after this brief span of
life—on the plea that this is no concern of the State.
Whereas, precisely as the whole series of fluctuating events
here on earth is arranged for men’s attainment of that
supreme and absolute good, so is it true that it is the duty
of the State not only not to hinder its attainment but to
further it. Moreover this notion tends to the subversion
of the arrangement of human affairs so wisely planned by
God, inasmuch as that arrangement clearly demands
that there should be harmony between these two societies,
s
CHURCH AND STATE
CHURCH AND STATE
the civil and the religious. For since each of these societ
—though of course each in its own order—exerci
sway over the same people, it must necessarily often happ
that cases arise which fall under the jurisdiction of bo
If, then, the State and the Church do not work in harmt
the seeds of very acute discord are readily sown when s
things happen, and these, in addition to the distress
mind they cause, make it difficult to discover where
truth lies. Finally, the aforesaid notion does great h
to the State itself; for no State can flourish or last 1
while religion—always man’s best guide and teac
when it is question of how to safeguard the exercise
his rights and duties—is neglected.”
question 169.
Pius IX, Ep., Gravissimas inter acerbitates, Dec. 11, i8f
to the Archbishop of Munich and Freisingen :
“ Consequently die Church has, by the power cc
mitted to her by her Divine Author, not only the right 1
also the special duty of not merely tolerating but of pi
cribing all errors when the integrity of the faith and
salvadon of souls demand it. Hence it is the duty
every pliilosopher who wishes to be a son of the Churcl
as indeed it is the duty of philosophy itself—never to
anything contrary to what the Church teaches, also
withdraw opinions about which the Church may h;
admonished him. We pronounce therefore and decl
that opinions teaching the opposite of this are wh<
erroneous and most injurious to the faith, to the Chui
and to her authority.” (Acta Pii IX, I, iii, 554-555.)
m '
Leo XIII, Encycl., Immortale Dei, Nov. x, 1885 :
“ Of course if it is a question of simply political p
blems, for example, of the best kind of govemmi
whether to conduct the affairs of state in this way or tl
it is plain that discussion of such matters can be quite ri
m
lip
d fitting. When, then, men’s filial devotion is known
m other sources, and when it is clear that they are
dy to accept obediently the Decrees of the Apostolic
justice cannot allow that their disagreement with Us
~ n questions on which We have pronounced should be
belled criminal; and a far greater injury is done when
ch men are accused, or at least suspected, of sinning
gainst the faith, though We grieve to say that this has
n done more than once.
: This admonition of Ours has especially to be borne
mind by those who commit their thoughts to writing,
pecially the editors of reviews. In discussing these
rve matters there is no room for contention, for in-
tinal quarrels or factions, but all should, by harmoniously
Working together, strive to preserve Religion and the
tate ; for this is really what all alike have in view. If,
n, there have been dissensions in the past, they should
deliberately buried ; if rash or injurious things have
n said or done, then the guilty parties should atone
it by mutual good feeling and should make amends
showing peculiar devotion to the Apostolic See.
In this way Catholics will secure two very excellent
ults: they will be coming forward as collaborators
1 the Church in the task of propagating and preserving
istian wisdom, and they will be conferring an immense
efit on civil society, whose welfare is especially
ndangered by wicked teachings and cravings.” (Acta
nis XIII, v, 149-50.)
QUESTION 174.
Trent, Sess. xxv, De Invocatione, veneratione et reliquiis
mctorum et sacris imaginibus :
“ The Holy Synod bids all Bishops and others whose
uty it is to teach, diligently to instruct the faithful in
ordance with the practice dating from the earliest
of the Christian faith, and in harmony with the
THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS
consentient teaching of the Holy Fathers and the Decrees
of Councils, concerning the intercession and invocation
of the Saints, the honour due to relics and the legitimate
use of images. They are to teach that the Saints reigning
with Christ offer to God prayers for us men ; that it is
a good and profitable tiling humbly to invoke them and,
in order to obtain benefits from God through His Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord, our only Redeemer and Saviour,
to appeal to them for their prayers, help and assistance.
. . . Also that the bodies of the Holy Martyrs and others
now living with Christ, bodies which were members
Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit and which are o
day to be raised up by Him and glorified in eternal lift
are to be venerated by the faithful, and that through th
many benefits are bestowed by God upon men.”
St. Jerome, Contra Vigilantium, 6 :
“ You say in your book that whilst we are alive we
pray for one another, but that after we are dead no m
prayer for another is heard ; and you base this on
fact that the Martyrs could not by their prayers ob
the avenging of their blood. But if the Apostles
Martyrs could, while still in the flesh, pray for o
people—when they still had reason to be anxious
themselves—how much more can they do so when
have won their victory, their crown and their triumph
(■ PL ., xxiii, 344.)
QUESTION I75.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, v, 8 :
“ Then we remember those who have fallen asl
first the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs,
God may receive our petitions through their pra
and intercessions ; then we pray for the dead, for
holy fathers and bishops and for all in general amon
who have departed this life ; for we believe that this
prove of great assistance to those souls for whom
fe‘
m
I
BAPTISM. THE RESURRECTION
yer is offered whilst the holy and tremendous Victim
here (on the altar).” ( P.G. , xxxiii, 1115.)
St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei , XX, ix, 2 :
“ The souls of the faithful departed are not cut off
>m the Church, which even now is the kingdom of Christ,
ere it so we should not make commemoration of them
God’s altar when receiving the Communion of the
y of Christ.” ( P.L., xli, 674.)
question 177.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. i, De Fide Catholica, against
Albigenses :
!v“ And if after receiving Baptism anyone should fall
into sin, his fault can always be repaired by true penit-
” (Mansi, Concilia, xxii, 982.)
a
For Trent, see under qu. 413 below, p. 391.
St. Leo IX, Ep., Congratulamur vehementer, April 16,
153 ; Symbolum fidei :
“ I believe the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
be the one true Church in which is conferred one
tism and true remission of all sins.” ( P.L. , cxliii,
)
QUESTION I79.
teran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. i, De Fide Catholica, against
Albigenses :
And finally the Only-begotten Son of God Jesus
ist . . . is to come at the end of the world, to judge
living and the dead, to render to every one according
his works, both the reprobate and the elect; they
all rise again in their very own bodies such as they
have, to receive according to their works, in so far,
is, as they have been good or bad, the latter ever-
ng punishment with the devil, the former everlasting
with Christ.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxii, 982.)
,
ff?|
'-4
i
THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
St. Leo IX, Ep., Congratulamur vehementer , April 16, 10;
Symbolum Jidei:
“ I also believe in the true resurrection of this v<
flesh which I now have, and in life everlasting. (E.,
cxliii, 772.)
Innocent III, Ep., Ejus exemplo , Dec. 18, 1208, Profess
of faith prescribed for the Waldensians :
“ We believe with our hearts and confess with our 1
the resurrection of this very flesh we now have, and
other.” {P.L., ccxv, 1512.)
St. Cyril of Alexandria, on Jn., viii, 51 :
“All will rise and return to life, both believers s
unbelievers. Nor is this resurrection for some or
but the same for all, in that all must return to life.” (P,
lxxiii, 918.)
St. John Chrysostom, Sermones panegyrici, De resurrect
mortuorum, 8 :
“ Since, then, the resurrecdon is common to all, to
pious and the impious, to good and bad alike, you are
to imagine that there will be something unjust about
judgment, nor are you to say to yourself: What !
wicked, idolaters, men who have never known Chr
are they to rise again and enjoy the same honour as
The bodies of sinners do rise again immortal
incorruptible, but the honour thus accorded to them
but serve to provide kindling wood and food for t
punishment and retribudon j they rise incorruptible
as to burn for ever.” (P.G., 1 , 430.)
>
Mi*-:
■'
If
m
QUESTION 180.
St. John Chrysostom, De resurrectione mortuorum , 7
“ Nor put this difficulty : how can the body rise ;
and be made free from incorruption? For when
God’s power that works, that ‘ how ’ has no place.
U the resurrection of the body 327
How, pray, did He make those mighty powers, the heavenly
cohorts of Angels and Archangels, and the hosts even
greater than they ? Tell me how He made them. My
only answer must be that His simple will sufficed. Cannot
He, then, who formed those incorporeal hosts, renew
once more man’s corrupt body and advance it to a still
greater dignity ? ” (P.G., 1 , 430!?.)
1
question 182.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, xviii, 18-19 :
Jt “This very body will rise again, not indeed in its
present weakness, yet it will be the same body that rises.
Endowed with incorruptibility, it will be transformed, just
gj| iron when put in the fire becomes fire, or rather as
lithe Lord who raises it up knows how. The body, then, will
rise again ; but it will not remain as it now is, but will be
eternal ; no longer will it need for life’s support the food
we now make use of. For it will be something wonderful,
^Spiritual, and in dignity something beyond what words
I can depict. . . . We shall, then, rise again, and we
shall all have eternal, though not all of us similar bodies.
For if any man is just he will receive a heavenly body so
as to live fittingly with the Angels ; if any is a sinner he
will receive an eternal body capable of enduring the
penalties of his sins, so that, burning for ever in the fire,
he may never be consumed.” ( P.G ., xxxiii, 1039.)
question 189.
Trent, Sess. vi, Decretum de justificatione, cap. xi :
“ No one, howsoever much he may be justified, ought
deem himself free not to keep the commandments ;
>ne ought to give voice to the notion that God’s com-
dments are impossible for a man to keep when justified
rash statement condemned by the Fathers under
hema. For God does not bid impossible things;
g the veneration of saints
h„t in bidding He admonishes us both to do what
but m btddi g what we cannot do . and He h
"“to be able to do them, for ‘ His commandments
us to be at> , J ‘ yoke is sweet and
’I ) ’ 3 o) For they who are the
tu“V
snfs srus?-* - 1 ™
assistance.”
question 196-
St Tohn Damascene, De imaginibus, ii, 5 •
« We should fall into error were we to fashion an 1
of the invisible God ; for what ^ oo^cmporeal
nor circumscribed, nor endowed w* a ^gure
possibly be ^ Cted that A £ n CSwe
Were Gods t0 and were to offer them divine honour as
St£ Nont of these things can we ever pe
{P.G., xciv, 1287.)
St Tohn Damascene, ibid., m, 41 :
“ Let us adore God alone, the Creator and mai
„ To Him let us offer the worship of lot.
M God ?ho is of His very nature adorable. Letus i
loo, .be Holy tt*.
God’s mother according to► the^fles •
le, adore, as the chosen fr.ends d by
afforded us easy access to Him. (r.G., xciv, ^ .
question 197.
Nicaea II (a.d. 787) 5 D * Sac ™ Imagi f
“Keeping to the royal track, following the c
l
■
■i
%-
p
p:
1
m
THE VENERATION OF IMAGES 329
of the Holy Spirit who dwells in her—we define with all
care and diligence that there may be set up, in the same
way as the figure of the precious and life-giving Gross,
venerable and holy images, whether painted or in mosaic,
or in any other material suitable to the churches of God ;
these may be depicted on vessels, vestments, walls or
tablets, on houses or by the wayside ; that is to say,
images of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, also
of our Lady the holy and unspotted Mother of God,
of the glorious Angels, of all the Saints, and of good men.
For so often as such imaginative representations are looked
on, men who contemplate them feel their minds uplifted
by such reminders of those who have preceded them,
they feel a desire to imitate them, they are moved to kiss
them and exhibit towards them due reverence ; not of
course real latria, for that concerns only the faith, and
pertains solely to the Divine nature. Hence the practice
of offering incense and candles before the image of the
recious and life-giving Gross, before the Holy Gospels,
id other sacred relics, in order to do them honour ; and
ch practices are consecrated by ancient custom. For
e honour paid to an image passes on to what it represents,
that he who adores an image adores the thing therein
epicted. . . . We therefore command that if any
ve the audacity to hold or teach contrary opinions,
evise novelties and go so far as to throw out tilings which
ave been destined for the churches, whether it be the
pels, or images of the Cross, or pictures, or the relics
the holy Martyrs ; if, in their crafty wickedness, they
lot the subversion of practices based on the legitimate
ditions of the Catholic Church ; if they convert to
ular uses the sacred vessels or famous monasteries,
n we command that such, if they be bishops or clerics,
deposed, if monks or laymen, be excommunicated.”
nsi, Concilia , xiii, 378.)
For Trent on the foregoing, see under qu. 174.
330
THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION
QUESTION igS.
For Nicaea II, see under qu. 197 ; for Trent, see un<
qu. 174.
St. Cyril of Alexandria on Ps. cxiii, 16 :
“ Although we make images of good men we must :
adore them as gods ; but when we look at them we sho
feel roused to imitate them. And we make images
Christ so that our minds may be stirred up to the love
Him.” (. P.G., lxix, 1268.)
QUESTION 213.
Pius XI, Encycl., Divini illius Magistri, Dec. 31, 1929
“ The task of education is not one for individuals
belongs of necessity to society. Now there are three fo
of society which are necessary and which, while diffc
from one another, are in God’s purpose knit together
in these man is enrolled from birth. Two of them, t
family and the State, are in the natural order ; the
the Church, belongs to the supernatural order. _ 1
family holds the first place, since, founded and instit
by God Himself in order that it may devote itself to
upbringing of its offspring, it consequently, of its j
nature and by its own intrinsic rights, antedates
society. None the less the family is an imperfect s"
in this sense, that it does not possess all the means req
for the perfect attainment of the exalted aim set b
it. The State, on the other hand, since it has at its
position everything requisite for attaining its appoiu
goal, namely the general well-being of our lives here
earth, is a society which is in all respects perfect .
complete. .,
Whence it follows that the State has to provide
family with what it requires ; for it is only as fo
part of the State that the family can duly and
fulfil its task. Lastly, the third society is the Ch
I
E
1
£•
THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION
through it men enter, by Baptism, on the path of Divine
grace ; this is a supernatural society which comprises the
entire human race ; it is perfect in itself since it itself
provides all that is requisite for the attainment of its
j g oa l s namely eternal life ; consequently it is, in its own
order, supreme. .
“ The consequence of this is that education—which
concerns the whole man and whereby men, both in-
I’dividually and as members of human society, whether
in the order of nature or in that of Divine grace—belongs
to these three necessary societies in due proportion to
I’proper end of each in accordance with the present
Divinely constituted order.
“And in the first place education belongs more parti¬
cularly to the Church, by the double title of the super¬
natural rank which God conferred on it alone and which
therefore constitutes a far greater and more effective
title than any arising from the natural order.
“ The primary basis of this title is the supreme teaching
office and function conferred on the Church by her Divine
Founder when He said : ‘ All power is given to Me in
heaven and on earth. Going therefore teach ye all
nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and
I of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to
, observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.
; And behold I am with you all days even to the consum-
" ra tion of the world ’ ( Matth . xxviii, 19-20). To this
teaching office Christ the Lord attached immunity from
error when bidding them teach all men His doctrine.
|| Consequently the Church was established by her Divine
Author as ‘ the column and ground of truth,’ so that she
1 might teach all men divine faith, might keep inviolate
and entire the deposit of faith entrusted to her, and might
guide men and form in them, in their associations and
their actions, sound morals and blameless lives in accord-
8; ance with the standards of revealed teaching. (Pius IX,
k Encycl., Cum non sine , July 14, 1864.)
THE CHURCH AND EDUCATION
“ The second basis on which this right rests is the super¬
natural maternal character of the Church. By it she, as
the most pure Spouse of Christ, bestows on men lig|
in accordance with Divine grace, and nourishes it and;
furthers it in them by her Sacraments and her teachings.
Rightly does St. Augustine say : ‘ He will not have God
for his Father who refuses to have the Church for his
Mother.’ (De Symbolo, ad Catechumenos, xiii.)
“ Now in all those things which concern the Church’s
function of educating, that is ‘in teaching people faith
and morals, God has made His Church a sharer in His
own Divine position as the Divine Teacher, and by the
same beneficent action has made her incapable of being
deceived. Hence the Church is the chiefest and safest
guide for us mortal men, and in her there resides an
unassailable right to liberty in teaching.’ (Leo XIII,;
Encycl., Libertas, of June 20, 1888.) Whence it necessarily
follows that neither as regards her duty of educating, nor
in her exercise of that duty can the Church be subordinate
to any earthly authority, whether in matters which directly
concern her duty in this respect, or in matters which
necessarily concern her if she is to carry it out. Hence,!
as is the case in other departments of learning and in
human concerns which are of their very nature the common*
concern of all—that is of every individual citizen as wellJ
as of the whole State—the Church has, independendyi
of any other authority, the right to make use of such
studies and especially of arriving at decisions about them
according as they seem in her judgment to be helpful o:
not as regards Christian education. And this the Church
can do both because, being a perfect society, she is her
own mistress is choosing and making use of such mea
and helps as will secure the attainment of her goal, a
because all teaching and all institutions—as indeed
human actions—are necessarily dependent on the fin
goal and hence cannot be independent of the precepts
the Law of God of which the Church is the guardian, i
SX|
!SSv
THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES
terpreter, and mistress, immune from all danger of error.’
(Acta Apostolicae Sedis, xxii, 52ff.)
question 214.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885 :
“ Fitting reverence will of course be gladly shown
the citizens to the majesty of the law. For when once
en realize that rulers are endowed with authority from
they will feel that they in justice owe them due
rvice, that they have to obey the commands of their
ers and exhibit in their regard an allegiance and loyalty
mparable to that shown by children to their parents :
< Let every soul be subject to higher powers ’ (Rom. xiii, 1).
For to despise lawful authority—no matter in whom it
may reside—is no more lawful than it would be to resist
the Divine will, and to resist the latter means incurring
voluntary destruction. ‘ He that resisteth the power
resisteth the ordinance of God ’ ( ib . 2). To refuse obedience,
then, and to start sedition by mob violence is treason, not
nly to man but to God.” (Acta Leonis XIII, v, 121-122.)
question 216.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Immortale Dei, Nov. 1, 1885 :
“ Whence it follows that public authority can, of its
ry nature, only be from God. For God alone is the
".upreme and mighty Lord of things ; Him, all things,
whatsoever they may be, must serve, and to Him be subject;
that all who have the right to command, can only owe
at right to God the Supreme Principle of all things :
for there is no power but from God ’ (Rom. xiii, 1).”
A cta Leonis XIII, v, 120.)
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, in Ep. ad Romanos, xiii, 1 :
“ In order to show that this command extends to all
ike, to priests and monks as well as to laity, he says at
;e very outset : ‘ Let every soul be subject to higher
THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES
powers ’ whether, that is, he be an Apostle, an Evangeli
a Prophet, or anybody else ; for such subjection is :
subversive of piety. Nor was he content to say ‘ let 1
obey ’ but ‘ let him be subject to.’ And a fundamen
argument in support of such a declaration, one,
which is in harmony with sound reasoning, is the fact t
these precepts were given by God : ‘ there is no pow
but from God.’ * What ? ’ you will ask, ‘ is every pri
set up by God ? ’ ‘I do not mean that,’ the Apo
answers, ‘ for I am not talking of individual rulers but
the principle itself. That there are such things as pri
cipalities, that some rule while others obey, that all dc
not happen by mere chance, that the populace is not driv
about hither and thither like the waves, that, I say, j
due to the Divine Wisdom.’ Hence he does not say
‘ there is no prince but from God,’ but, speaking of
principle itself, he says : ‘For there is no power 1
from God ’ : but the powers that are are ordained c
God.” (P.G., lx, 615.)
QUESTION 2 l 8 .
Leo XIII, Encycl., Rerum novarum, May 15, 1891 :
“ And first of all, full religious training, of which th
Church is the exponent and guardian, can be of ver
great value in the task of bringing into harmony am
combining the wealthy classes and the lower, namely h
reminding each class of its duty to the other, mor
particularly on questions of justice. Among these dutie
some concern the lower classes and the workers : fo
example that they must faithfully and honestly keep |
work-contracts freely and fairly entered into ; that the
must do no damage to property nor offer violence to thei
masters ; that, while safeguarding their own interests
they must refrain from violence and must not start seditiou
movements ; that they must avoid being mixed up wit)
criminal-minded people who hold out to them unreasonabl
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EMPLOYERS AND LABOUR
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expectations and preposterous promises which, as a rule,
merely result in vain regrets and great pecuniary loss.
Then there are the duties incumbent on those who are
rich and masters : they must not regard their work¬
people as slaves ; they must respect in them that equality
n personality which springs from what we term the
Christian character. Further, that productive arts are—if
we consult nature and Christian philosophy—no disgrace
to a man but to his honour, since they provide him with
fitting means for supporting himself. It is assuredly
human and disgraceful to make an ill use of men for
e sake of things or for the sake of gain, or to act as though
men’s only value lay in what their sinews and muscles
can supply. Similarly, it is a precept that in the case of
the poorer classes, religion and the good of their souls
has to be taken into account ; consequently, that it is
the business of masters to secure for their work-people
sufficient leisure for the practice of their religion ; nor
should they expose a man to the allurements of vice and
the attractions of sin, nor, again, hinder him in any way
from exercising due care for his family and the cultivation
of thrifty habits. Nor, once more, should they impose
on people more work than they are capable of, nor work
disproportionate to their sex or age. Of all the duties
which fall on masters the primary one must be to do
ustice to all.” (Acta Leonis XIII, xi, iio-m.)
question 220.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Quod aposlolici muneris, Dec. 28, 1878 :
“ If however it should happen that rulers exercise
heir power over the people without consideration or
estraint, the teaching of the Catholic Church does not
rmit their subjects to rebel against them on their own
itiative, lest peace and tranquillity should thereby
only the more disturbed and society thence suffer
■ -n greater loss. When, however, things do come to
REBELLION FORBIDDEN. DUELLING
such a pitch, the Church teaches that some seasonabl
remedy has to be sought by meritorious patience am
earnest prayer to God. . . . And if legislators am
rulers have permitted or commanded tilings contrar
to the Divine or to the natural law, then Christian dignit
and duty, as well as the declaration of the Apostles, te
us that ‘ we must obey God rather than men. {Acts \
29).” (Acta Leonis XIII, i, 1 77 -)
m
QUESTION 226 .
Alexander VII, Decree of Sept. 24, 1665, the second of
certain condemned Propositions :
“ A knight can, when challenged to a duel, accept d
challenge, lest he should be reproached by others wii
cowardliness.” (Du Plessis, Collectio judiciorum, III, ii, 321
Leo XIII, Ep., Pastoralis officii. Sept. 12, 1891, to
Bishops of Germany and Austria :
“ Both the Divine laws alike, namely that promulga
by the light of natural reason as well as that promulga
in the Scriptures written by Divine inspiration, stri
prohibit any man from slaying or wounding anoti
apart from cases falling under the public administrat
of justice, unless he be compelled of necessity to do so ;
save his own life. But those who challenge others
private combat or accept such a challenge, do so wi
the deliberate intent of either killing or at least woundii
their adversary, and this without any necessity. Furth
more, both Divine laws forbid any person heedlessly
throw away his life by putting himself in grave and evidi
danger when no argument from duty or charity urges
yet such blind foolhardiness leading to contempt for
is clearly inherent in the very nature of duelling. Hi
no one can have the least doubt that those who enj
in duels fall into the two crimes of attempting the d
of another, and of deliberately courting their own
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ANNUAL CONFESSION AND COMMUNION 337
truction. Lastly, there is hardly anything more baneful
to orderly social life, more destructive of due harmony
; in the State, than the notion that citizens should be free
by force or violence to assert for themselves their individual
rights, and that a man should be allowed personally to
avenge his honour when he fancies it has been sullied.”
(Acta Leonis XIII, xi, 284.)
QUESTION 258.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. xxi, De Confessione facienda
■, . . et saltern in Pascha communicando :
“ Let every member of the faithful of either sex after
he has come to the age of discretion faithfully confess
all his sins at least once a year, alone, to his own priest,
and let him endeavour according to his capacity to per¬
form the penance imposed on him ; let him also receive
the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at least at Easter,
save in the case where, on the advice of his own priest,
he for some reasonable cause refrains for a time from
doing so. If he fails in these points, then during his life¬
time let him be forbidden to enter the church, and at
death let him be deprived of Christian burial. Let,
then, this salutary statute be frequently published in the
churches, lest any should plead the excuse of ignorance of
it: If, however, anyone wishes, for some reasonable cause,
to confess to some other priest he must first ask and obtain
I leave from his own priest, for otherwise, the former could
not either absolve him or bind him. Let the priest, too,
be discreet and prudent, let him like a skilled physician
‘ pour oil and wine ’ into the sinner’s wound, let him
: carefully inquire into the circumstances of the sinner as
well as of his sin so diat he may thence know what advice
and appropriate remedies to give him, making use of
varying methods for saving the sick man.” (Mansi,
ilia, xxii, 1007.)
338 ANNUAL CONFESSION AND COMMUNION
Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. 5, De Poenitentia :
“ The Church, through the Council of the Latera
laid down that ... the precept of going to Confession
least once a year bound all and each when once they
arrived at years of discretion. Hence has resulted
the universal Church, with immense gain to souls,
salutary practice of going to confession during ‘ the
and acceptable time ’ of Lent ; this custom the Hr
Synod especially commends and regards it as one that
righdy to be preserved.”
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QUESTION 259.
For the Lateran IV, see under qu. 258.
Trent, Sess. xiii, De Eucharistia, can. 9 :
“ If anyone shall deny that all and singular of
faithful of either sex are bound, after arriving at ye
of discretion, to communicate once a year, at least
Easter, according to the commandment of the Chui
let him be anathema.”
question 261.
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, S
Tridentina Synodus, Dec. 20, 1905 :
“ Frequent, even daily, Communion, as being in act
with the desires of Christ our Lord and the wishe;
Holy Church, is open to all the faithful of whatever 1
or condition, so that no one who is in a state of g
and wishes to approach the Holy Table with a devout
upright intention can be precluded from so doing.” (
Apostolicae Sedis , ii, 896.)
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Disciplir
the Sacraments, Quam singulari, Aug. 8, 1910 :
“ vi. Those who have the care of children sb
take all possible pains to see that after their first C
I
FIRST CONFESSION AND COMMUNION
IPS
4
munion children approach frequently to the Holy Table,
and, if possible, daily, in accordance with the desires of
Jesus Christ and of Holy Church, also that they do so
with a devotion in harmony with their years.” (Acta
Apostolicae Sedis, ii, 582.)
QUESTION 262.
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of
the Sacraments, Quam singulari, Aug. 8, 1910 :
“ i. The age of discretion both for Confession and
Communion is that at which children begin to reason,
that is about their seventh year, whether earlier or later.
From that time begins their obligation of fulfilling both
precepts, those namely of Confession and Communion.”
(Acta Apostolicae Sedis, ii, 582.)
QUESTION 263.
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of
the Sacraments, Quam singulari, Aug. 8, 1910 :
“ iv. The obligation of the precept of Confession and
Communion which affects children especially concerns
those who have charge of them, that is their parents,
|> confessors, teachers and their parish priest. It is the
duty of their father or whosoever takes his place, and—
according to the Catechism of the Council of Trent —of their
confessor, to admit them to their First Communion.”
(Acta Apostolicae Sedis, ii, 582.)
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QUESTION 264.
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Discipline of
the Sacraments, Quam singulari, Aug. 8, 1910 :
“ ii. For first Confession and first Communion a
11 and complete knowledge of Christian doctrine is not
lecessary. But a child ought to learn the entire Catechism
y degrees according to his mental capacity.”
FIRST CONFESSION AND COMMUNION
“ iii. The knowledge of his religion required in
child so that he may fittingly prepare himself for his
Communion is that whereby he may grasp, according
his capacity, those mysteries of the faith which are necessa
as being the means required for salvation, and may
able to appreciate the difference between ordinary bre
and the Bread of the Holy Eucharist and so approa
to the Holy Eucharist with a devotion compatible wi
his age.” (Ada Apostolicae Sedis, ii, 582.)
QUESTION 265.
For the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the D'
cipline of the Sacraments, see under qu. 263.
question 266.
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Disciplin
the Sacraments, Quam singulari, Aug. 8, 1910 :
“ vi. . . . Moreover those who have the care
children should bear in mind the very grave obliga
under which they lie of seeing that children come to
public Catechism classes ; if children cannot come,
their religious instruction must be provided for in s
other way.” (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, ii, 582.)
Ȥ
QUESTION 269.
Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy O
Sept. 24, 1665, the Fourteenth condemned Proposition :
“ A person who makes a Confession which is deliber
null and void thereby satisfies the precept of the Chur
(Du Plessis, III, ii, 321.)
QUESTION 275.
Pius XI, Encycl., Quam Primas, Dec. 11, 1925 :
“ The civil government ought of course to affor
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS
similar freedom to such Religious Orders and Sodalities
of either sex. For they are most valuable helpers to
the pastors of the Church and labour strenuously in pro¬
moting and strengthening the Kingdom of Christ. Both
by opposing to the threefold ‘ concupiscences of the
world ’ their religious vows as also by their profession of
a more perfect form of life, they secure that that sanctity
which its Divine Founder demanded should be an especial
mark of His Church, always and with ever-increasing
splendour shines and coruscates in the sight of all men.”
(Acta Apostolicae Sedis, xvii, 609.)
1
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QUESTION 276.
He,*
Leo XIII, Ep., Testem benevolentiae, Jan. 22, 1899, to
His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons :
“ From this ^species of contempt for the Gospel virtues
which some perversely regard as ‘ passive,’ it is but a
natural consequence that men should come by degrees
to a contempt for the religious life itself. In fact that
this is a commonplace with certain champions of modem
views can be gathered from the ideas they ventilate about
e vows taken by Religious Orders. For they main tain
at such vows are quite out of keeping with the age in
which we live on the ground that they fetter human liberty ;
-ho that they are more suited to weak characters than to
ong; and again, that they do not really further
■istian perfection nor the good of human society, in
ct are really more of an obstacle and a hindrance to
th of these. How false are such notions will be evident
m the practice and the teaching of the Church, which
always warmly approved of the Religious life . . .
d when such people maintain further that Religious
e is of little or no assistance to the Church, they are
ying things with which no one at all familiar with the
istory of the Church would agree, quite apart from the
Si
THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS
invidious character of their remarks about the Religiou
Orders.” (Acta Leonis XIII, xix, 15-16.)
Leo XIII, Ep., Au milieu des consolations, Dec. 23, 190c
to His Eminence Cardinal Richard:
“ Religious Orders derive their ideals and origin, a
everybody knows, from the sublime Evangelical Counsel
addressed by our Divine Redeemer to all such as throug
out the ages should aim at Christian perfection, to tho
strong generous souls who by prayer and contemplatio:
by the practice of austerity and definite rules, ever strip
to ascend to the heights of the spiritual life. Produce
under the influence of the Church, whose authori'
sanctions their rule and discipline, Religious Orde
constitute the chosen portion of the flock of Christ. The
are, in the words of St. Cyprian, * the honour and th
glory of spiritual grace 5 (De Disciplina et habitu virginm
ii), while at the same time they witness to the fecundi
of the Church. Their vows, made freely and spontaneo
after a period of mature reflection during their novicia
have in every age been regarded and respected as sacr
things, as productive of remarkable virtue. The obj<
of such vows is two-fold : first of all to raise those w
make such vows to a higher degree of perfection ; second'
to fit them by the purification and strengthening of th
souls for an external ministry in which they labour f<
the eternal salvation of their neighbours and for relievi
the many miseries which befall mankind. Thus, worki
under the supreme direction of the Apostolic See for
realization of the ideal perfection traced out for them
our Lord, and living under rules which are in no s
whatever opposed to any form of civil government,
Religious Institutions are powerful co-operators with
Church’s mission, for this latter essentially consists in
task of sanctifying souls and working for the good of
human race. Hence it is that wherever the natural rig
of every citizen to choose that kind of life which he
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THE COUNSELS OF PERFECTION
most in conformity with his inclinations and most con¬
ducive to his moral perfection is respected, there too
Religious Orders have sprung up as the spontaneous
product of Catholic soil, and the Bishops have rightly
regarded them as valuable helpers in the work of the
inistry and of Christian charity.” ( Acta Leonis XIII, xx,
0-41.)
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Pius XI, Ep., Unigenitus Dei Filius, March 19, 1924 :
“ When the Only-begotten Son of God came into this
.rid to redeem the human race He gave to men certain
ecepts touching the spiritual life which were to govern
! who aimed at the goal set before them ; but He also
ight those who, would follow more closely in His foot-
ps that they must embrace and carry out the Evangelical
iunsels. Whosoever, then, pledging his faith to God,
mises to keep these Counsels, is not only freed thereby
m those hindrances which keep back us mortal men
m holiness—for instance from problems arising from
jperty, from the anxieties and cares of the married
and from unchecked liberty in every department of
■—but he has thereby set out on so straight and un-
ipeded path to perfection that he might almost seem
have already cast anchor in the harbour of salvation.”
eta Apostolicae Sedis, xvi, 133.)
; question 280.
Trent, Sess. vi, De Justificatione, can. xi
“ If anyone shall say that a man is
►lely by the imputation to him of the
hrist, or solely by the remission of his
'ace and charity which are poured into
;e Holy Spirit and inhere in them, or
hereby we are justified is only God’s
“ anathema.”
justified either
righteousness of
sins, excluding
men’s hearts by
that the grace
favour, let him
344 JUSTIFICATION
St. Cyril of Alexandria, on Jn. i, 9 :
“ Being made participators in God by the Spirit, we a
stamped with the seal of likeness to Him, and we atta
to the pattern-type of His image to which Holy Scriptu
says we are made. For thus—the aforetime beauty of o
nature at length recovered and refashioned on the mod
of that Divine Nature—we shall overcome the evils accruir
to us from Adam’s prevarication. We ascend, then, to
supernatural dignity through Christ. Yet not as He, J
without an immense difference between ourselves and Hi]
do we become the sons of God, but ‘ to his image,’ that
through grace whereby we represent Him by imitatio)
For He is the true Son of God, existing of the Father, V
His adopted sons through His kindness, by force of gra<
that says : ‘ I have said, Ye are gods and all of ye sons 1
the Most Fligh.’ (Ps. lxxxi, 6.)
“ For our created and servile nature is called to thin
that are supernatural solely by the Father’s will ai
condescension. But the Son—God and Lord does r
derive His title to Godhead from the Father’s condescensi
nor from His will alone, but since He shone forth fi
the very substance of the Father, He by His very nat
lays claim to its proper good as His own.” ( P.G. , bo
1 54 -)
QUESTION 282.
Orange II (a.d. 529), can. xviii :
“ Without any merits antecedent to grace a reward
due to good works if they are performed ; but grac
which is not a debt, precedes in order that they may '
performed.” (Mansi, Concilia, viii, 715.)
Trent, Sess. vi, Decretum de Justifications, can. xxxii :
“ If anyone shall say that the good works of a man w
is justified are in this sense the gift of God, that the mer
of a man so justified are not themselves good works,;
that a man by the good works whereby he is justified, ai
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CONVERSION
hich he performs by the grace of God and the merits of
esus Christ whose living member he is, does not truly
Bierit an increase of grace, eternal life and the attainment
of that eternal life (always provided he departs this life
a state of grace), and also an increase of glory, let him
anathema.”
y QUESTION 283.
Trent, Sess. vi, De Justifications, can. xxvii :
f “ If anyone shall say that the only mortal sin is unbelief)
or that grace once given can be lost by no sin—however
grave or heinous—save that of unbelief, let him be ana¬
thema.”
For St. Basil, see under qu. 66.
question 285.
Trent, Sess. vi, De Justifications :
Men, however, are disposed for the reception of
hteousness when, stirred up and helped by Divine grace,
:y move freely towards God, believing those things
be true which have been Divinely revealed and promised,
d primarily, that a sinner is justified by God by His
ce, by the Redemption which is in Christ Jesus ; and
ther, when, realizing that they are sinners, they
ough fear of the Divine justice which terrified them
their profit, turn and dwell on the mercy of God and
uplifted by hope, trusting that God will be merciful
them for Christ’s sake, and begin to love Him as the
ce of all righteousness, and are in consequence stirred
to a hatred and detestation of sin, that is to a repentance
ch ought to precede Baptism ; and finally when they
n a new life and keep God’s commandments. Of
sitions such as these is it written : * He that would
e to God must believe that He is, and is a rewarder
them that seek Him ’ (Heb. xi, 6), and again * Be of
heart, son, thy sins are forgiven thee ’ ( Mt . ix, 2;
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the virtues of the heathen
ml ii, O, and again : ‘ The fear of God casteth out sin
(Ecclus. i, 27), and again : ‘ Do penance and be baptize,
every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, for 1
remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift oft
Holy Spirit’ ( Acts ii, 38), and again: Going therefc
teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the Name of th
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teachin
them to observe all things whatsoever I have command©
you’ {Matth. xxviii, 19-20), and lastly : ‘Prepare you
hearts unto the Lord.’ (/ Kgs. vii, 3 -)
St. Augustine, De Spiritu et Littera, 48 •
“ p u t if those who ‘ do by nature those things tl
are of the Law ’ {Rom. ii, 14), are yet not to be reckor
in the number of those whom the grace of Christ justifi
but rather amongst those of whom we read or know
hear that, though impious and not rightly worshipp
the true God, they yet do certain things which we can
only not blame by any standard of righteousness, but n
rightly and deservedly praise—yet when we come
examine their reason for doing such things we shall h
find anything deserving the praise and support due
righteousness. None the less, since the image of God
the human soul is not so completely destroyed by
stain of earthly affections that no slightest vestige o
remains, it can justly be said that even in the mi.
their wicked lives such men do and show an apprecia
for some things according to the Law, if that is, th
what is meant by the words : ‘ The Gentiles that have
the Law ’—that is the Law of God—‘ do by nature
things that are of the Law ’ . . . Yet even so this
not remove the gulf that lies between the Old Testa
and the New. ... For precisely as venial sins do
preclude a just man from eternal life—for we cannot
here without such sins—so too, the fact that a wicked 1
does perform some good works—for it would be exceedn
difficult even for the worst of men to perform none—1
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GRACE AND FREE WILL 347
not mean that such works avail for his eternal salvation.”
[P.L., xliv, 22gff.)
QUESTION 286 .
St. Ephraem, De Epiphania, x, 14 :
“The good God toils, painfully as it were-: for while
He does not wish to coerce our liberty, yet neither does
He permit us to be negligent. For were He to use coercion
He would be taking away our power of choice ; were He
to leave us to our negligence He would be depriving our
souls of His help. The Lord, then, knowing that if He
coerces us He robs us, if he withdraws His help He loses
us, but that if He teaches us He gains us, neither coerces
nor withdraws His help as does the evil one, but teaches,
instructs and so gains us, since He is the Good One.”
[Hymni et Sermones, ed. Lamy, I. 102.)
St. Cyril of Alexandria, De Adoratione in spiritu et veri-
i. :
Since man’s nature is not very stable and he has not
ufficicnt strength to escape from his vices, God helps him
n this matter. Whence we realize that He gives us a two-
d grace : for He persuades us by His admonitions and
also finds means to help us, and He renders those means
re potent than the ever-present evil which does violence
to us.” ( P.G. , lxviii, 174.)
question 287.
Orange II (a.d. 529), Against the Semipelagians :
1 “ Can. iii. If anyone says that the grace of God can
3 e conferred simply on men’s asking for it, and that it is
wt grace which makes us ask for it, such a one contradicts
[saias the Prophet, also the Apostle, who says the same :
I was found by them that did not seek Me ; I appeared
jpenly to them that asked not after Me.’ {Rom. x, 20 ;
GRACE AND FREE WILL
“ Can. iv. If anyone argues that in order diat we ma
be purified from sin God awaits our will, and does n<
acknowledge that our very desire to be purified
produced in us by the inpouring of the Holy Spirit ar
by His operation in us, such an one resists the Holy Spii
Himself, who says by the mouth of Solomon : ‘ The w
is prepared by the Lord,’ ( Prov. viii, 36), and by tJ
Apostle : ‘ It is God who worketh in you both to will ai
to accomplish, according to His good will.’ (Phil, ii, 13.)
“ Can. v. If anyone shall say that, just as the increa
so also the beginning of faith and the inclination to belie
—whereby we believe in Him who justified the wicke
and so come to the regeneration of Baptism—is not c
to a gift of grace, that is to the inspiration of the E
Spirit correcting our will and leading it from unbe
from impiety to piety, but is in us by nature, such an
is clearly contradicting the teachings of the Apostles,
the Blessed Paul says : ‘ Being confident of this very thi
that He who hath begun a good work in you will perf
it unto the day of Christ Jesus ’ (Phil, i, 6), and agau
‘ For unto you it is given for Christ not only to believ
Him, but also to suffer for Him 5 (Phil, i, 29), and aga
‘ By grace you are saved, through faith, and that no
yourselves, for it is the gift of God ’ (Ephes. ii, 8). I
those who say that the faith whereby we believe in God
natural, in some sort make all those who are strangers
the Church of Christ believers.
“ Can. vi. If anyone shall say that the mercy of G
is divinely bestowed upon us, when, without the grace
God, we believe, will, desire, strive, labour, watch, iltu<
ask, seek, knock, and shall refuse to acknowledge tl
our believing, willing and doing all these things as we ouj
is by the inpouring and inspiration of the Holy Spirit
us, and shall hold that God adds the assistance of 1
grace to human obedience or humility, and shall not adi
that to be obedient and humble is due to the gift of grs
itself, such an one resists the Apostle, who says : ‘ W 1
7
r i
• ..
GFtAGE AND FREE WILL
hast thou that thou hast not received ? ’ (I Cor. iv, 7), and
gain : ‘ By the grace of God I am what I am ’ (I Cor.
10).” (Mansi, Concilia, viii, 713ff.)
Trent, Sess. vi, De Justifications :
“ Can. i. If anyone shall say that a man can be justified
efore God by good works done either by the natural
ower of human nature or through the teaching of the Law,
nd without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him
anathema.
“ Can. ii. If anyone shall say that divine grace through
esus Christ is given solely in order that a man may more
ily live a just life and merit eternal life, as though a man
n by free will and without grace do so, though only
th difficulty and effort, let him be anathema.
“ Can. iii. If anyone shall say that without the antici-
tory inspiration and help of the Holy Spirit a man
n believe, hope, love or repent in such a way as is neces-
ry for justifying grace to be bestowed upon him, let him
anathema.”
St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oratio, xxxvii, 13 :
“ For since there are some who by reason of certain
ngs they have done rightly are so uplifted in mind that
ey ascribe the whole to themselves, nor attribute any¬
thing to their Creator, the Author of their wisdom and the
Bestower of all good gifts, the words : ‘ It is not of him
that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy ’ (Rom. ix, 16), teach them that even rightly
to will demands the help of God : nay—to speak more
accurately—the will itself and choice of what is right and
in accordance with our duty is a certain divine benefit.
For even that we are saved must needs be both from
ourselves and from God. Hence he says : ‘ It is not of
him that willeth,’ that is, not only of him that willeth,
‘ nor of him that runneth ’ only, ‘ but ’ also ‘ of God that
showeth mercy.’ Since, then, even to will is itself from
35 °
GRACE IS NEVER WANTING
God, most rightly does he attribute the whole to
However much you run, however much you strive,
need Him who bestows the crown.” ( P.G. , xxxvi, 29
St. John Chrysostom, Horn., xxv, 7, in Genesim :
“ For it is impossible for us rightly to do any good 1
unless we are helped by grace from above.” (P.G.,
228.)
QUESTION 288.
For Trent, see under qu. 189.
Innocent X, Constit. Cum occasione, May 31, 165
Contra errores Jansenii; the First condemned Proposition :
“ Some of God’s commands are, in view of the po
men now have, impossible for just men to fulfil, even th
they wish and strive to do so ; and the grace which
make such fulfilment possible for them is lacking.”
Plessis, Collectio Judiciorum, III, ii, 261.)
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, xvi, 4, in Epistolam |
Hebraeos :
“ It is not lawful to say ‘ I cannot,’ for that m
accusing the Creator. For if He made us incapable
yet gives us commands, the fault lies with Him. Wb
comes it, then, you will say, that so many ‘ cannot ’ ?
cause they will not. How, then, is it that they will 1
Through sloth ; for if they would but will they woul
quite capable. . . . For we have God to help and a
us ; let us only choose, only approach it as a task, onj
anxious, only apply our minds to it, and all things folio
( P.G. , Ixiii, I27ff.)
QUESTION 29I.
St. John Chrysostom, Horn., xxx, 5, in Genesim :
“ Petition is a very good thing. For if from spe
with a person endowed with great power one derives
k
1
all profit, what great profit will one not derive from
Iding converse with God ? . . . Is He not able to
ant our petitions even before we ask Him ? Yet he
efers and waits, to find an occasion for justly making us
deserving of His Providence.” ( P.G ., liii, 280.)
i
■M
I
QUESTION 297.
St. Augustine, Tract, cii, 1, in Joann.:
“ We must now examine the Lord’s words : ‘ Amen,
amen, I say to you : If you shall ask anything of the
Father in My Name He will give it you.’ (Jn. xvi, 23.)
Now in the earlier portion of this sermon of the Lord, it
was, because of those who, though asking certain things
the Father in Christ’s Name yet do not obtain them,
said that whatever is asked for and yet is opposed to our
salvation is not really asked for ‘ in the Name of our
Saviour.’ For the words ‘In My Name’ must not be
considered simply according to the sound of the letters
and syllables, but we must understand them according
to what those sounds really and truly mean.
“ Consequently a person who has ideas of Christ which
■ not harmonize with His being the Only Son of God
es not ask ‘ in His Name,’ even when he rightly frames
e letters and syllables that make up the Name ‘ Christ.’
hereas he whose ideas of Christ are correct really does ask
His Name,’ and he gets what he asks, provided always
t he does not ask for something opposed to his salva-
n. He gets it, however, only when he ought to receive
For some things are not refused us, though their
stowal is deferred to a fitting time. We must, then,
derstand the words ‘ He will give it you ’ as meaning
ch benefits as properly belong to those who ask. The
ts of course are always heard for their own sakes ;
t they are not heard when asking for all people, whether
ends or enemies or any others you please ; for He did
I
m
MARY, MOTHER OF US ALL
not say * He will give it ’ but ‘ He will give it you.
( P.L., xxxv, 1896.)
QUESTION 313.
For Trent, see under qu. 189.
question 322.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Adjutricem populi, Sept. 5, 1895 :
“ The mystery of Christ’s wondrous love towards
shines out more especially in the fact that when dying
bequeathed His Mother to John the disciple as his moth
in His thoughtful testament : ‘ Behold thy son.’ But,
the Church has always felt, in John Christ would si
the person of the human race, more especially those
would cling to Him by faith. Thus St. Anselm of Cante
bury : ‘ What more fitting, then, that thou, O Vi
shouldst be the mother of those whose Father and Bro
Christ deigned to be ? ’ (Oratio xlvii.) She, then, und
took her share in this exclusive and toilsome task and d
great of soul amidst the consecrated tokens in the Up
Room.” (Acta Leonis XIII, xv, 302.)
Pius X, Encycl., Ad diem ilium, Feb. 2, 1904 :
“ Was not Mary Christ’s Mother ? Then she is
mother too. For all must needs agree that Jesus,
Word made flesh, is the Saviour of the human race,
as God-man He, like other men, received a material bod
but as the Restorer of our race He received a ce
spiritual body, the mystical body as we term it, nam
the company of those who believe in Christ : ‘ We b
many are one body in Christ.’ (Rom. xii, 5.) But
Blessed Virgin did not conceive the Eternal Son of
only that He might be a man by taking human na
from her, but also that, through the nature derived fn
her, He might become the Deliverer of the h
race. Wherefore the Angels said to the shepherds :
1
P
i
m
MARY, MOTHER OF US ALL 353
day is born to you a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’
(Uc. ii> ii.) Thus in one and the same womb of the most
pure Mary did Christ both take to Himself human flesh
a nd at the same time add a spiritual body, fashioned
and growing together out of those who were to believe in
Him. Hence, bearing in her womb the Saviour, Mary
| can also be said to have borne all those whose life the
Saviour’s life enshrined. All of us, then, as many as are
knit to Christ, and who, as the Apostle says, ‘ are members
of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones ’ (Ephes. v, 30),
have come forth from Mary’s womb, one body, as it were,
knit together with its Head. Hence, in spiritual and mystic
fashion we are called Mary’s children, and she is the
mother of us all. ‘ Mother spiritually, it is true, yet
clearly mother of the members of Christ, which we are.’
(St. Augustine, De sancta Virginilate, 6.) If then, the Blessed
Virgin is Mother both of God and of men, who can ques¬
tion that she strives with all her power that Christ, ‘ the
Head of the body, the Church ’ (Col. i, 18), may pour out
His gifts upon us His members, and especially that we may
know Him and * that we may live by Him’ ? (I Jn.
|iv, 9 -) ” (Acta Pii. X, i, 152.)
Benedict XV, Ep. ad Sodalitatem Nostrae Dominae a Bona
Morte, March 22, 1918 :
“ It is clear, too, that this most sorrowful Virgin, since
appointed by Jesus Christ as the Mother of all men, received
them as a testament of infinite charity left to her, and fulfils
with motherly kindness the task of forwarding their
spiritual life ; nor can she fail more especially to assist
these most dear adopted children in that hour when it is
a question of confirming unto eternity their salvation and
sanctity.” (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, x, 182.)
Pius XI, Encycl., Rerum Ecclesiae, Feb. 28, 1926 :
“ May Mary, the most holy queen of Apostles, kindly
: smile on all and prosper the work undertaken ; for since
THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS
on Calvary all men were entrusted to her motherly
she does not less cherish and love those who are igno
of the fact that they are redeemed by Jesus C
than she does those who happily enjoy the benefits of
Redemption.” ( Acta Apostolicae Sedis, xviii, 83.)
is
QUESTION 325.
Florence, a.d. 1439, Decree for the Armenians :
“ There are seven Sacraments of the New La
Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extre
Unction, Order and Matrimony, and these differ mu
from the Sacraments of the Old Law. For these la
did not cause grace but only prefigured its future besto
through the Passion of Christ ; whereas our Sacrame
both contain grace and confer it upon them that recei
them worthily. The first five of these are intended f
the spiritual perfection of each individual man ; the
last for the government and multiplication of the wh
Church. For by Baptism we are spiritually born a
by Confirmation we grow in grace and are strengthe
in the faith ; thus reborn and strengthened we are
with the divine food of the Holy Eucharist. And
through sin we incur sickness of the soul, then by Penan
are we spiritually healed; spiritually and corpo
also, if it avails for our soul’s good, by Extreme Uncti
by Holy Order the Church is governed and multip
spiritually; by Matrimony it gains corporal increa:
All these Sacraments are perfected by three things : j
things as their material part, by words as their forr
part, and by the person of the minister conferring
Sacrament with the intention of doing what the Chur
does : if any one of these be wanting the Sacrament
not completed.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1054.)
Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramentis in genere, can. i, vi:
“ If anyone shall say that the Sacraments of the N
i
£
ERRORS ON THE SACRAMENTS
L,aw were not instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord, or that
■^ey are fewer or more than seven in number, namely :
Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, Extreme
[Jnction, Holy Order and Matrimony, or that any one of
these seven is not truly and properly a Sacrament, let him
Be anathema.
“ If anyone shall say that the Sacraments of the New
_,aw do not contain the grace which they signify, or that
they do not confer grace on those who offer no hindrance,
is though they were merely external signs of a grace or
righteousness received through faith, certain marks of a
man’s profession of Christianity whereby people may be
able to distinguish between believers and unbelievers,
et him be anathema.”
Pius X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July 4, 1907, condemned
Propositions xxxix-xli :
“ xxxix. The opinions held by the Fathers of Trent,
nd unquestionably reflected in their dogmatic canons,
are very different from those rightly held now by those
who have made a historical study of Christianity.
“ xl. Sacraments came into being owing to the fact
at the Apostles and their successors, moved by cir-
stances and events, interpreted some idea and
tention of Christ’s.
“ xli. The only object of Sacraments is to stir up
in men’s minds a sense of the ever-beneficent presence
of the Creator.” ( Acta S. Sedis, xl, 472.)
question 326.
For Florence, see under qu. 325.
Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramentis in genere, can. xi :
“ If anyone shall say that it is not requisite that ministers
when making or conferring Sacraments should at least
intend to do what the Church does, let him be anathema.”
THE SACRAMENTS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
QUESTION 329.
For Florence, see under qu. 325.
question 331.
Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramentis in genete, can. vii-viii :
“ Can. vii. If anyone shall say that grace is not c
ferred by these Sacraments always and to all, so far
God is concerned, even when people receive them rightl
or is only sometimes conferred, or to some only, let
be anathema.
“ Can. viii. If anyone shall say that by the Sacramen
of the New Law grace is not conferred ex opere opera
but that faith in God’s promises is alone sufficient fi
obtaining grace, let him be anathema.”
St. Augustine, Ep., xcviii, 2 :
“ That a man should be able to be regenerated throu '
the action of another’s will when he is offered for
secration is due to the action of the One Spirit by w
the person thus offered is regenerated. For it is
written : ‘ Unless a man be born again by the will of
parents or the faith of those who offer him or of
ministers,’ but ‘ Unless a man be born again of wa
and the Holy Spirit ’ ( Jn . iii, 5). Hence water, exhibi
externally the Sacrament of grace, and the Holy S
working internally the benefit of grace . . . regene
in the one Christ a man born of the one Adam. ” (P
XXXlil, 360.)
St. Augustine, Tract, lxxx, 3, in Joann. :
“ ‘ Now you are clean by reason of the word whi
have spoken to you ’ (Jn. xv, 3). Why does He not
‘Ye are clean by reason of the Baptism wherewith
are cleansed,’ but ‘ by reason of the word which I
spoken to you,’ unless because even in water it is the
that cleanses ? Take away the word and what is
m
m
!
if
mf
if
m
I
1
THE SACRAMENTS IN SCHISM
■
iut water ? The word comes to the element and the
Sacrament is made, it too as it were some visible word.”
(P.L., xxxv, 1840.)
question 337.
Trent, Sess. xiv, De Sacramento Poenitentiae, cap. iv :
“ The same Holy Synod also teaches that though such
contrition may sometimes happen to be perfect charity,
and a person may be reconciled to God before actually
receiving the Sacrament, yet nevertheless such recon¬
ciliation is not to be attributed to contrition without the
desire of the Sacrament, for such desire is included in
such contrition.”
question 339.
St. Augustine, Contra Epislolam Parmeniani, ii, 28 :
Both of these (Baptism and Order) are Sacraments
id both are conferred on men with a certain consecration,
ne when he is baptized, the other when ordained ;
consequently in the Catholic Church neither can be re¬
peated. For if at any time even bishops coming over from
that schism (the Donatist) have been received for the
sake of peace when they have set right their schismatic
error, if it seemed necessary for them to continue to
exercise the offices they had been wont to exercise, they
were not re-ordained, but just as their Baptism, so too
their Orders remained unimpaired in them ; for while
there was a defect in them owing to their state of separation,
yet in their Sacraments there was none, for Sacraments
wherever they are remain Sacraments.” ( P.L. , xliii, 70.)
question 341.
Florence, Decree for the Armenians : a.d. 1439 :
“ Among these Sacraments there are three, Baptism,
' Confirmation and Order, which imprint on the soul an
indelible character or a certain spiritual distinctive stamp.
SACRAMENTAL CHARACTER
Hence these Sacraments are not repeated in one and t]
same person. The other four imprint no character at
so admit of repetition.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1054.)
Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramentis in genere, can. ix :
“ If anyone shall say that in three Sacraments, nam
Baptism, Confirmation and Order, no character is i
printed on the soul, that is a spiritual and indelible stain
so that they cannot be repeated, let him be anathema.”
Innocent III, Ep., Majores Ecclesiae Causas, a.d. 120
to the Archbishop of Arles :
“ Between one unwilling person and another, betwe
one acting under compulsion and another, some mal
the reasonable distinction that a person who is driven t
threats of punishment and receives Baptism lest he shoul
suffer through refusal, does—like a man who receivi
Baptism in pretence only—receive the impressed charac
of a Christian, and that though he did not absolutely
it, yet he did so conditionally, and can therefore be con
pelled to observe the laws of the Christian faith. . .
Whereas a person who never consented at all but absolute’
refused receives neither the essence of the Sacrament n
the character : for it is a greater thing expressly to refi
than not to give full consent. ... As for those w
were baptized in their sleep or when mad : if before
became mad or fell asleep they had persisted in refusi
then—since their determination to refuse must be presu
to have continued—such people, even though subject
baptism, do not receive the Sacramental character..
the contrary is the case with those who had up till
time been catechumens and had intended receivi
Baptism, for it is the practice of the Church to bap
such people on their death-beds. Baptism in such
imprints the Sacramental character, since there
no impediment arising from the person’s will being op^
to it.” ( Decretales Gregorii IX, III, xlii, 3.)
#
BAPTISM
359
QUESTION 348.
Pius X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907 : the
forty-second condemned Proposition :
“ It was the Christian community that made Baptism
necessary by adopting it as a necessary rite, and attaching
to it the obligation of the profession of the Christian faith.”
{Acta S. Sedis, xl, p. 472.)
St. Basil the Great, Horn, xiii, 5 :
“ Baptism is the captives’ ransom, the condonation of
eir debts, the death of sin, the regeneration of the soul,
e shining garment, the seal that nothing can break, the
thway to heaven, the foundation of the Kingdom, the
t of adoption.” (P.G., xxxi, 434.)
question 349.
Vienne (a.d. 1311-12), Constilutio de Trinitate et Fide,
ainst the errors of Peter Oliva :
“ All the faithful must confess one only Baptism which
•egenerates in Christ all the baptized, just as there is
one God and one faith ’ ( Ephes . iv, 5). We believe that
this Sacrament, celebrated in water and in the Name of
ather, Son and Holy Spirit, is necessary for children
ad grown-up people alike, as the perfect remedy for
lvation.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxv, 411.)
Florence, Decree for the Armenians, a.d. 1439 :
“ Holy Baptism holds the first place among the Sacra-
ents, for it is the door into the spiritual life, since by it
are made members of Christ and of His body the Church,
d, since by the first man death came upon all, unless
are born again of water and the Holy Spirit we cannot,
the Truth says, ‘ enter into the kingdom of heaven ’
iii, 5). The material part of this Sacrament is true
ral water, it matters not whether it is hot or cold.
BAPTISM
The formal part is : ‘I baptize thee in the Name oftl
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ At tl
same time we do not deny that true baptism may 1
conferred by the words : ‘ This servant of Christ is baptiz<
in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Ho
Spirit ’ or ‘ Such an one is baptized by my hands in tl
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spiri
For since the principal Cause whence Baptism derives ;
efficacy is the Holy Trinity, and the instrumental cat
the minister who performs the exterior rite, then, if tl
action performed by the minister is accompanied by tl
invocation of the Holy Trinity, the Sacrament is pc
fected. The minister of this Sacrament is a priest, for
belongs to his office. But in case of necessity not only
priest or a deacon but lay people, men and women, ev
pagans and heretics, can baptize provided they obser
the form laid down by the Church and intend to do wh
the Church does. The effect of this Sacrament is t
remission of all sin, both original and actual, also of ;
penalties due to the guilt of such sin. Consequently
penance or satisfaction for their sins is to be imposed
people at their baptism ; and if they die before cm
mitting any sin they straightway pass to the kingdom
heaven and the vision ol God.” (Mansi, Concilia,
i° 59 -)
■ -HI
Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramentis in genere, can. ii :
“ If anyone shall say that true and natural water
not necessary for this Sacrament of Baptism, and tl
turn the words of our Lord Jesus Christ : * Unless
man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit ’ (J
iii, 5), into a species of metaphor, let him be anathema.’'
1
§
1
Innocent III, Ep. Non ut apponeres, March 1, is
ad Thoriam Archiepiscopum Nidrosiensem :
“ You ask whether those children are to be regar
as Christians whom when at the point of death s<
The Didache, vii, 1 :
“ As concerns Baptism, baptize thus : after you shall
have already said all these things, baptize in the Name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in
living water.” (Patres Apostolici, ed. Funk. 1, xviiff.)
QUESTION 352.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. i, De Fide Catholica, against
he Albigenses:
“ But the Sacrament of Baptism (which is consecrated
' water accompanied by the invocation of God and of the
ndivided Trinity, namely Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
ails for the salvation both of children and grown-up
pie no matter by whom it is correctly conferred accord-
g to the form of the Church.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxii,
2 -)
For Florence, see under qu. 349.
St. Augustine, Contra Epistolam Parmeniani, ii, 29 :
“ Although even supposing a layman were compelled
a dying person’s need to baptize him, and had, since he
self had received it, learned how to administer it, I
estion whether anyone would say it ought to be repeated.
THE MATTER, FORM AND RITE OF BAPTISM 361
simple-minded folk have, in the absence of a priest, and
having no water at hand, anointed with saliva on the
head and breast and between the shoulders. We reply
that since in Baptism two things are always and necessarily
required, namely the words and the element, just as the
Truth said of the words : ‘ Go ye into the whole world . . .’
: ( Mk . xvi, 15, Matth. xxviii, 19), so He said the same of
the element : ‘ Unless a man . . .’ ( Jn . iii, 5) ; you
therefore ought not to doubt but that such children have
received no true Baptism, since in their case not merely one
of the aforesaid requisites has been omitted, but both.”
(.Decretales Gregorii IX, III, xlii, 5.)
THE BAPTISM OF CHILDREN
For if this were done without necessity then it would me
that he had usurped some one else’s function ; if it w<
done through necessity, then it was no fault at all, or
most a venial one. And if without any necessity he
usurped some one else’s function and the Sacrament
conferred by somebody or other on somebody or o
still what was ‘ given ’ cannot be said not to have
‘ given,’ though one could rightly say that it was
rightly given.” ( P.L. , xliii, 71.)
F
i afgT M
QUESTION 354.
Florence, Decree for the Jacobites, a.d. 1442 :
“ This Synod absolutely commands everybody \
glories in the name of Christian to cease from the prac
of circumcision at any time, whether before or a
Baptism ; for whether a man place any reliance 01
or not he cannot observe that rite without the loss of
eternal salvation. As regards children this I Toly Sy
admonishes people that owing to the danger of de.
as may often happen, then, since children can be hel
by no other remedy than Baptism whereby they
delivered from the power of the devil, and made
adopted children of God, their Baptism is not to be defe
for forty or eighty days as is done by some, but ought t
conferred as soon as can conveniently be done ;
when there is imminent danger of death they sh
be baptized at once without any delay and, in the abs
of a priest, even by lay people, by men or by womei
the form of the Church, as is more fully set forth in
Decree for the Armenians.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1 'jf
Pius X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907, the _
third condemned Proposition :
“ The practice of conferring Baptism on childrc
due to a disciplinary evolution and was one of the c:
leading to the division of the Sacrament into two, na
Baptism and Penance.” ( Acta S. Sedis, xl, 47 2 -)
if
m
BP
§§
H
lit
BAPTISM NECESSARY '
363
QUESTION 357.
Trent, Sess. vii, De Sacramentis in genere, can. vii :
“ If anyone shall say that the baptized become by their
Baptism debtors only to the faith but not to the observance
of the entire Law of Christ, let him be anathema.”
QUESTION 358.
For Carthage, see under qu. 74 : for Florence, see under
qu. 349 -
Trent, Sess. vii, De Baptismo, can. v :
« If any shall say that Baptism is free, that is that it
s not necessary for salvation, let him be anathema.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catech. iii, 10 :
“ If a person refuses Baptism he does not gain salvation,
excepting only the holy Martyrs who gain the kingdom
r without water.” {P.G., xxxiii, 439.)
QUESTION 359.
Innocent III, Ep. Majores Ecclesiae causas, a.d. 1201,
to Humbert, Archbishop of Arles :
“ The penalty of original sin is the loss of the vision
of God ; the penalty of actual sin is the torment of ever¬
lasting hell.” ( Decretales Gregorii IX, III, xlii, 3.)
Pius VI, Constit., Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794, the
twenty-sixth condemned Proposition, against the errors of the
Synod of Pistoia :
“The teaching which regards as an exploded fable
devised by the Pelagians that portion of the lower regions
generally known to the faithful as the Limbo of children,
in which the souls of those who have departed this life
with only original sin are punished by the pain of loss
but not by the pain of fire—as though by removing the
BAPTISM NOT TO BE REPEATED
pain of fire they have therefore secured a place and st
free from sin and punishment, and intermediate betw
the kingdom of God and eternal damnation, such as
Pelagians dreamed of—is false, rash and defamatory
the teaching of the schools of Catholic thought.” (
tinuation of the Roman Bullarium, p. 271 iff.)
For Pius IX, see under qu. 162.
question 360.
For Innocent II, see under qu. 162.
St. Fulgentius, De Fide, xli :
“ From the time when our Saviour said : ‘ Unles'
man be born again of water and the Floly Ghost he can
enter into the kingdom of God ’ ( Jn . iii, 5), no one
those who have shed their blood, without Baptism
in the Catholic Church, can without Baptism enter
kingdom of heaven, or obtain eternal life. For whosoe
whether in the Catholic Church or in any heretical
schismatical body, receives the Sacrament of Baptism
the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the I
Spirit, receives indeed the entire Sacrament, but
will not have that salvation which is the virtue of
Sacrament, if he receives the Sacrament itself outside
Catholic Church. He ought therefore to return to
Church, not there to receive Baptism afresh—for no
ought to repeat that Sacrament in the case of a pe
once baptized—but so that in the Catholic society
may receive eternal life, for the attainment of whic
man is fit who, while having the Sacrament of Bap
remains a stranger to the Catholic Church.” (j
lxv, 692.)
QUESTION 363.
Lyons II (a.d. 1274), The Profession of faith by
Palaeologos : |g
“ The same Holy Roman Church also holds and t
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THE SACRAMENTS ; CONFIRMATION 365
seven ecclesiastical Sacraments : one is Baptism, of which
we have spoken above ; another is Confirmation, which
Bishops confer by imposing hands on and anointing
with chrism those regenerated; another is Penance,
another the Holy Eucharist, another the Sacrament of
Order, another Matrimony, another Extreme Unction,
which, according to the teaching of St. James, is applied
to the sick. The same Roman Church uses for the Holy
Eucharist unleavened bread, holding and teaching that
in this Sacrament the bread is truly trans-substantiated
I into the Body, and the wine into the Blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ. As regards Matrimony, she holds that neither
can one man have many wives at the same time, nor one
woman many husbands. But when the marriage is
dissolved by the death of one partner, she declares that
second or third successive marriages are lawful, provided
no other canonical impediment arises from some other
source.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxiv, 71.)
Florence, Decree for the Armenians, a.d. 1439 :
f “ The second Sacrament is Confirmation ; its matter
is chrism made from oil and signifying- the shining beauty
of the conscience, and from balsam signifying the odour
of a good reputation ; these are blessed by the Bishop.
The form is : ‘ I sign thee with the Sign of the Cross, and
Id confirm thee with the Chrism of salvation, in the Name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.’
The ordinary minister is a Bishop. And though a simple
spriest can administer other anointings, this one the Bishop
alone ought to confer ; for only of the Apostles—whose
place Bishops hold—is it said that they conferred the
' Holy Spirit by the imposition of hands, as is clear from
what we read in The Acts of the Apostles : ‘ Now when
the Apostles who were at Jerusalem had heard that Samaria
had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter
land John, who when they were come, prayed for them
that they might receive the Holy Ghost, for He was not as
, J
CONFIRMATION
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yet come upon any of them ; but they were only bap
in the Name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their h
upon them, and they received the Holy Ghost.’ {Acts
14-17.) In place of that imposition of hands Confir
tion is given in the Church. We read, however,
sometimes, by dispensation of die Holy See, and for r
able and very urgent causes, a priest has administered
Sacrament of Confirmation with Chrism prepared by
Bishop. Now the effect of this Sacrament is—since in
the Holy Spirit is given for strength, as it was given to
Apostles on the Day of Pentecost—to enable a Christ
boldly to confess Christ’s Name. The person to be cc
firmed is therefore anointed on the forehead, the seat
modesty, lest he should blush to confess Christ’s Nan
and more especially His Cross, which according to t
Apostle is ‘ to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block and
the Gentiles foolishness ’ (/ Cor. i, 23) ; for this re
is he signed with the Sign of the Cross.” (Mansi, Con
xxxi, io55ff.)
Trent, Sess. vii. De Sacramento Confirmationis :
“ Can. i. If anyone shall say that Confirmatio
those already baptized is an idle ceremony and not a
and real Sacrament, or that originally it was only a sp
of Catechism wherein those on the threshold of adoles
made profession of their faith in the presence of the Chu
let him be anathema.
“ Can. ii. If anyone shall say that they do an i
to the Holy Spirit who attribute any efficacy to the
Chrism of Confirmation, let him be anathema.
“ Can. iii. If anyone shall say that the ordinary
of Confirmation is not only a Bishop but any simple
let him be anathema.”
Innocent III, Ep. Cum venisset, Feb. 25, 1204, ad B
Archiepiscopum Trinovitanum :
“ By the anointing with Chrism on the foreh
CONFIRMATION
| 'yH
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:ant the imposition of hands, also called Confirmation,
ce by it the Holy Spirit is conferred for growth and
ngth. Hence while a simple priest can apply other
ointings, only a High Priest, that is a Bishop, ought to
nfer this one, since it is only of the Apostles—whose
icars the Bishops are—that we read that they conferred
e Holy Spirit by imposition of hands.” {Acts viii, I4ff.)
.L., ccxv, 285.)
s
Pius X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907, the forty-
condemned Proposition :
“ There is nothing to show that the rite of Confirmation
is used by the Apostles ; moreover the formal distinction
tween the two Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation
ds no support in the history of primitive Christianity.”
eta S. Sedis, xl, 473.)
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St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, xxi {Mysticae, iii), 3 :
“ Take care not to regard this ointment as something
pty and meaningless. For just as the Eucharistic
ad is, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, no longer
inary bread but the Body of Christ, so too is this oint-
nt no longer, after the invocation, a bare—or as some
uld prefer to say—an ordinary ointment, it is the
sure-chamber of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, made
cacious by the presence of His Godhead. And this is
bolically signified by the anointing of your forehead
other senses. While the body is thus visibly anointed
the ointment the soul is sanctified by the Holy and
giving Spirit.” {P.G., xxxiii, logoff.)
t. Cyril of .Alexandria, Horn., xxxii, in Joel :
The living water of Baptism is bestowed on us like
: the Living Bread as it were in wheat, and the
as it were in wine. There is, too, the use of oil to
g to perfection those already justified by holy Baptism
Christ.” ( P.G. , Ixxi, 374.)
3 68
THE HOLY EUCHARIST
QUESTION 371.
Lateran II (a.d. 1139), can. xxiii :
“ Those who, under a specious pretext of relig
repudiate the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of
Lord, the Baptism of children, the Priesthood and
ecclesiastical Orders, as well as legitimate matrirr
contracts, We condemn and expel from the Church
God as heretical, and We bid the civil authorities restr
them. Moreover those who defend such men fall under
same condemnation.” (Mansi, Concilia , xxi, 532.)
Trent, Sess. xiii, Decretum de SS. Eucharistia, cap. i :
“ To begin with, this Holy Synod teaches and O]
and plainly professes that in the bountiful Sacramem
the Holy Eucharist our Lord Jesus Christ, true God
true man, is, after the consecration of the bread and \
truly, really and substantially contained under the appt
ance of those sensible things. Nor is there any co:
diction involved in the fact that our Saviour, while al
seated at the right hand of the Father according to
natural mode of existence, should none the less be s;
mentally present with us in His own substance in
other places by that mode of existence which, tho
can hardly be expressed in words, is yet possible
God, and which we can realize in thought illumin
faith, and are bound to believe most firmly. For
fathers before us, all who have been in the true Ch
of Christ and who have treated of this most Holy
ment, have with the greatest clearness declared tl
Redeemer instituted this wondrous Sacrament at the
Supper, when, after blessing the bread and
declared in the plainest and most express terms th
gave to them His own Body and Blood. It would,
be a most unworthy and criminal thing to distort
words, given by the Holy Evangelists and repeated
wards by St. Paul, since on the face of them they be
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THE HOLY EUCHARIST
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ict and most evident interpretation in accordance with
hich they have been understood by the Fathers ; yet
>ntentious and ill-disposed people do so, and—contrary
1 the universal teaching of the Church—regard them as
ere images and figures of speech, with the result that
truth of the Flesh and Blood of Christ is denied. But
e Church, ‘ the pillar and ground of truth# hates and
tests as Satanical these fabrications of wicked people,
r acknowledging with grateful and thankful spirit
superexcellent gift of Christ.”
1
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Leo XIII, Encycl., Mirae caritatis, May 28, 1902 :
“ And now We are moved, nay impelled, by that same
jostolic charity which keeps watch over the needs of the
urch, to add somewhat more by way of completion to
at We have hitherto said. For We would, in the most
ecial way, commend to Christian people the most
ly Eucharist as being the most Divine gift emanating
m the depths of the Heart of the Redeemer ‘ with desire
iring ’ this wonderful union with men, which was
ecially designed to spread everywhere the life-giving
its of His redemptive work. . . .
Truly nothing is more calculated to restore fervent
d vigorous faith in our souls than the Mystery of the
charist, rightly called the ‘ mystery of faith. 3 For in
alone, by the wealth and variety of the miracles it
hrines, are contained all things that are supernatural :
e hath made a remembrance of His wondrous works,
ng a merciful and gracious Lord; He hath given food
them that feared Him 3 (Ps. cx, 4-5). For whatever
ematural thing God has done He has done it with
rence to the Incarnation of His Word ; for by that
of mercy He would, as the Apostle says, restore to
vation the human race : ‘ He hath purposed ... to
tablish all things in Christ, that are in heaven and
earth, in Him 3 ( Ephes. i, 9-10) ; and the Eucharist—
the Fathers bear testimony—must be regarded as a
THE HOLY EUCHARIST
certain continuation and amplification of the Incarnati
Hence through the substance of the Incarnate Word C
is knit to individual men and the supreme Sacrifice
Calvary wondrously renewed, as Malachi has foretol
‘ In every place there is sacrifice and there is offered
My Name a clean oblation’ (Mai. i, n).” (Acta Let
XIII, xxii, 116, 122.)
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QUESTION 372.
For Trent, see under qu. 371.
question 373.
Trent, Sess. xiii, Decreium de sanctissima Eucharistia
“ But since Christ our Redeemer said that that was
His Body which He was offering up under the appear
of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Ch
of God—and this Holy Synod declares it anew—th
the consecration of the bread and wine the entire subs
of bread is converted into the substance of the B
Christ our Lord, and the entire substance of wine into
substance of His Blood, which conversion is by the Ca*
Church fittingly and rightly termed ‘ trans-subst;
tion.’ ”
St. Justin, Apologia 1, 66 :
“ And this food is amongst us called ‘ Eucha
of it none can partake save those who believe that w
teach is true, and who for the remission of sins a:
regeneration have been cleansed in the laver (of Ba
and who so live as Christ taught. Nor do we recei\
as ordinary bread or ordinary drink but, just as
Christ our Saviour, made flesh by the word of G
both flesh and blood for our salvation’s sake, so, t
are taught that that food in which thanksgivin.
THE HOLY EUCHARIST
fered through prayers enshrining His very words, and by
hich our flesh and blood are nourished through change,
is the Flesh and Blood of the Incarnate Jesus. For the
Apostles, in those commentaries of theirs which are known
a s ‘ Gospels,’ have handed it down to us that Jesus so
commanded : namely that He took bread and, after giving
lanks, said : ‘ Do this in memory of Me ; this is My
ody,’ and taking the chalice in like manner, He gave
thanks and said : ‘ This is My Blood,’ and He delivered
&t to them alone.” (P.G., vi, 427IT.)
St. Ephraem, In Hebdomadam sanctam, iv, 4, 6 :
I “ Our Lord Jesus Christ first took into His hands
simple bread, blessed it, sealed it, sanctified it in the Name
of the Father and of the Holy Spirit ; He broke it and
distributed it piece by piece to His disciples in His merciful
bounty ; He called that bread His living Body and He
filled it with Himself and the Spirit ; and stretching out
His hand He gave them the bread which with His right
hand He had sanctified : ‘ Take, eat, all of this which My
word hath sanctified. What I have now given you do
not regard as bread ; take, eat this Bread, nor break up
its particles ; what I have called My Body that it truly
is. One shred of its fragments can sanctify a million men
and suffices to give life to all who eat it. Take, eat in
faith, hesitating in nothing, for it is My Body, and those
who eat it in faith eat in it fire and the Spirit. But if any
eat it doubtingly, to him it becomes mere bread ; to him
however, who eats in faith this bread sanctified in My
Name, if he be pure he is kept pure, if in sin it is pardoned
him. If any despise it or condemn it or treat it with
contempt, let him be well assured that he is treating with
ontempt the Son who called it and really made it His
dy.’
‘When the disciples had eaten this new and holy
read, and had understood by faith that they had eaten
Body of Christ, then He went on to explain and teach
372 THE HOLY EUCHARIST
them the whole Sacrament. He took and mixed the c
of wine ; He then blessed it, sealed it, sanctified
declaring that it was His Blood which was to be pou
out . . . Christ bade them drink and He explained
them that the chalice of which they were drinking was '
Blood : ‘ This is My true Blood which is shed for you a
take it, drink of it all of ye, for it is the New Testam
in My Blood. As ye have seen Me do, so do ye in memi
of Me. When ye are gathered together in My N;
in the church in any place do ye in memory of Me w'
have done ; eat My Body and drink My Blood, the
Testament and the Old.’ ” {Ed. Lamy, I, 416, 422.)
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St. Athanasius, Fragment of a Sermon to the Baptized •
“ You see the deacons carrying bread and a chalice
wine and placing them on the table. Until the prayers ai
invocations are finished it is nothing but bread and a ch - ’*
(of wine). But as soon as those great and wonu,
prayers are finished then the bread becomes the Body
the chalice the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“ Come now to the perfecting of these Mysteries. Tt
bread and wine have, previous to the prayers and sup ”
tions, naught save their own nature ; but when once
great and holy prayers and supplications have been
nounced, the Word descends on the bread and on the cha
and is made His Body.” {P.G., xxvi, 1326.)
Bp;
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St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses, xxii ( Mysticae ,
2-3, 6, 9, xxiii ( Mysticae , v), 7 :
“ This account of the Institution would, if give)
St. Paul alone (/ Cor. xi, 23), suffice to afford you ce
faith in these Divine Mysteries, whereby those who
worthy are made one with Christ’s Body and Blood.
St. Paul now exclaims : ‘ In that night in which He
betrayed. . . .’ Since then Christ declared and
nounced of this bread : 1 This is My Body,’ who
dare to question it after that ? And when He went
■
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THE HOLY EUCHARIST 373
iy : ‘ This is My Blood,’ who would dare call it in question
and say that it is not His Blood ?
| “ Of old, at Cana of Galilee, He had changed water
; into wine, which is akin to blood ; shall we then think it
unworthy of our belief that He changed wine into Blood ?
If, when invited to material nuptials, He worked this
stupendous miracle, shall we not even more readily believe
that He gave to the children of the bride-chamber His
own Body and Blood to enjoy ?
“ Let us therefore with fullest conviction receive it as
the Body and Blood of Christ. For under the figure of
bread is His Body given you, under the figure of wine His
ood, so that when ye receive the Body and Blood of
Christ ye are made one with Christ’s Body, one with His
Blood. Then are we called Christ-bearers, for His Body
and Blood are distributed among our members : then,
according to St. Peter, are we made partakers of the
Divine nature.’ {II Pet. i, 4.)
“ Do not, then, look on it as mere bread and wine,
for it is the Body and Blood of Christ according to the
Lord’s own declaration ; your senses may suggest to you
the former, but your faith renders you firm and secure.
Judge not by the taste but by faith, put away hesitation
and be certain that ye have been honoured with the gift
’ the Body and Blood of Christ.
“ Taught thus ; imbued with this most sure faith that
hat seems bread is not bread—though to the sense of
te it may be so—but is the Body of Christ; that what
ems wine is not wine—though to the taste it may seem so—
t is the Blood of Christ; believing that of this did
avid of old sing in the Psalms : ‘ and bread may strengthen
n’s heart and make the face cheerful with oil ’ (Ps.
15), in this faith strengthen thy heart, receive that
read as a spiritual thing, and make glad the face of thy
Finally, when we have sanctified ourselves by these
itual praises, we pray our merciful God to send forth
THE HOLY EUCHARIST
F
ifc
His Spirit on what we have set before Him and so m
this bread indeed the Body of Christ and this wine th
Blood of Christ. For assuredly whatsoever the Hoi
Spirit shall touch that will be sanctified and changed,
(. P.G ., xxxiii, i098ff., 1114.)
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, lxxxii, 4, in Maithaeum
“ Let us everywhere obey God, nor let us contradi
Him even when what He says seems contrary to reason and
intelligence ; rather let His works prevail over our reason
and intelligence. For that is what we do in the Sacramen
where we look not merely at what comes under our sen
but hold fast to His words ; His words cannot deceive
though our senses are easily deceived ; His word can nev
fail, our senses are often misled. Now since He Himse
has said : ‘ This is My Body ’, let us obey, believe, and looi
upon it with the eyes of the spirit. For it was no merely
sensible thing that Christ gave us, but even the things thai
come under the senses have all a spiritual significance
Thus even in Baptism by something that comes under the
senses is the gift of water granted us ; but what is done
is spiritual, namely generation and renovation. Had yog
been incorporeal He would have given you those giffi
in naked and incorporeal fashion ; but because the soul jj
joined to the body He gives you spiritual gifts through the
medium of the things of sense. How many say nowadays
‘ I would like to see His form, His figure, His clothing.
His footwear.’ But, lo, you do see Him, touch Him, eai
Him.” (P.G., lviii, 743.)
St. John Damascene, De Fide Orthodoxa, iv, 13 :
“ The Body derived from the Blessed Virgin is
united to the Godhead ; not in the sense that the
taken up into heaven descends thence again, but that
bread and the wine are transformed into the Body
Blood of God. If you ask how this can be, it is eno
for you to understand that this is done by the power
THE HOLY EUCHARIST
375
Holy Spirit, precisely as the Lord took to Himself of the
Holy Mother of God flesh which should subsist in Himself,
nor is there anything for us further to explore or discover
save that the word of God is true, efficacious, and able to
do all things ; but the way in which it is done is beyond
I our investigation. This, however, it is not amiss to say :
just as bread by being eaten, wine and water by being
; drunk, are naturally changed into the body and the blood
of him who eats and drinks them, so that they do not make
the body now to be some other body than it was before, so,
too, the bread, the wine and the water which were prepared
S by being offered, are, by the invocation and the coming of
the Holy Spirit, in a fasliion transcending the powers and
efficacy of nature, converted into the Body and the Blood
1 of Christ, so that they are no longer two things, but one
and the same. Nor are the bread and wine figures of
the Body and Blood of Christ—far be such a thought
: from us ! No, they are the very Body of the Lord endowed
with the Godhead, for the Lord Himself said : ‘ this is ’—
; not ‘ a figure of My Body ’—but ‘ My Body,’—not ‘ a figure of
My Blood ’—but ‘ My Blood ’ . . . And if some have spoken
: of the bread and wine as the antitypes of the Body and Blood
v of the Lord, as did the divine Basil, they did not mean after
: the consecration, but they used this expression of the
1 oblation previous to its consecration. Furthermore the
term ‘ antitype ’ is used of tilings that are future, not indeed
in the sense that they are not truly the Body and Blood of
1 Christ, but that whereas now we are by it made sharers
in the Godhead of Christ, then we shall be understanding
Him by actual vision.” (P.G., xciv, ii43flf.)
If'
QUESTION 374.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. i, De Fide Catholica, against
the Albigenses :
“There is one universal Church of the faithful outside
f ; which absolutely no one is saved, in which Jesus Christ
c
376 ERRORS ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST
Himself is both Priest and Victim, whose Body and B 1
are truly contained in the Sacrament of the altar undi
the appearances of bread and wine, the bread and th
wine being by the Divine power trans-substantiated inf
His Body and Blood, so that for the perfecting of th
mystery of unity we may receive of Him what He too
from us.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxii, 982.)
Lyons II (a.d. 1274), The Profession of Faith of Michae
Palaeologus :
“ The same Roman Church makes the Sacrament o
the Eucharist out of unleavened bread, and holds ant
teaches that in this Sacrament the bread is truly trans-
substantiated into the Body and the wine into the B 1
of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxiv, 71.7
Constance (a.d. 1414-1418), Sess. viii, Propositions
some of the errors of John Wyclif:
“ i. The material substance of bread, and sin “
the material substance of wine, remain in the Sacr.
of the altar.
“ ii. The accidents of bread do not remain wi
a subject in the said Sacrament.
“ iii. Christ is not in the said Sacrament iden
and really in His own corporal presence.” ('
Concilia, xxvii, 1207.) jj
For Trent, see under qu. 371.
Trent, Sess. xiii, Decretum de SS. Eucharistia, can.
“ If anyone shall say that in the Most Holy Sacr
of the Eucharist there remains the substance of
and wine together with the Body and Blood of our
Jesus Christ, and shall deny that marvellous and
conversion of the entire substance of the bread in
Body and of the entire substance of wine into His
while the species of bread and wine alone rem
ii
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6 -
TRANS-SUBSTANTIATION 377
: conversion which the Catholic Church most fittingly terms
Trans-substantiation, let him be anathema.”
Benedict XII, Ex libello, Jamdudum, a.d. 1341 :
H “ Also that the Armenians do not say that after the
words of consecration have been pronounced there is made
4 a trans-substantiation of the bread and wine into that
true Body and Blood of Christ which was born of the
Virgin Mary, suffered and rose again ; but hold that this
1 Sacrament is but a model or likeness or figure of the true
I' Body and Blood of the Lord . . . and consequently do
not speak of the Sacrament of the altar as the Body and
1 Blood of Christ, but as the ‘ Victim ’ or ‘ Sacrifice ’ or
|. ‘Communion.’” (Mansi, Concilia, xxv, 1189.)
Pius VI, Constitution, Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794.
1 The twenty-ninth condemned Proposition, against the errors of
| the Synod of Pistoia :
; “ The teaching of this Synod—wherein it undertakes
to set forth the teachings of the faith touching the rite of
consecration, and sets on one side scholastic questions
; concerning the way in which Christ is in the Eucharist—
questions which the said Synod exhorts priests to avoid
4 when exercising their functions as teachers—is set forth in
I the two following propositions only : i. That after the
consecration Christ is truly, really and substantially
I present under the species ; ii. That then the entire sub¬
stance of bread and wine ceases to be, while the species
( alone remain ; and it wholly omits any mention of the
trans-substantiation or conversion of the entire substance
r of the bread into the Body and of the entire substance of
1 the wine into the Blood, which conversion the Council of
1 Trent defined as an article of faith and which is contained
H in the profession of faith. By such an ill-advised and
suspicious omission attention is withdrawn both from an
; article touching the faith and from an expression con-
secrated by the Church for the preservation of the said
THE VISIBLE SACRIFICE
article of faith against the attacks of heretics ; moreo
it tends to make people oblivious of the doctrine it!
as though it were question of some merely schola
dispute. (We therefore condemn it) as dangerous,
detracting from sound exposition of the Catholic tr
touching the dogma of Trans-substantiation, and as <
couraging heresy.” (Bullarii Romani Continuatio, ed. Pr,
VII, iii, 2712.)
QUESTION 376.
Trent, Sess. xxii, De Sacrificio Missae, cap. i :
“ Since, according to the testimony of St. Paul, thi
were not, under the old Dispensation, brought to ]
fection owing to the insufficiency of the Levitical pri
hood, it was necessary that, in accordance with the
position of God, the Father of mercies, another Pr
should arise according to the order of Melchisedec,
Lord Jesus Christ, who should be able to complete
bring to perfection all, as many as were to be sancti
He, then, our Lord and God, although He was to o
Hims elf once and for all to God the Father on the a
of the Cross by His Death, there to work out our etern
Redemption, yet since His Priesthood was not to ’
extinguished by His Death, He, at the Last Supper,
the night in which He was betrayed, in order to leav
His beloved Spouse, the Church, a visible Sacrifice s
as the exigencies of our human nature demanded, wher
that Sacrifice of Blood once and for all to be wrou,
upon the Cross should be represented and its mem
abide to the end of the world, and its saving power appl
for the remission of those sins into which we all fall ■
by day, declaring Himself to be the Priest appoin
for ever according to the order of Melchisedec, offe
Flis Body and Blood to God the Father under the app
ances of bread and wine, and gave it, under the s
appearances, to His Apostles whom He then appoin
I
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THE MASS
379
priests of the New Testament; to them, too, as to His
successors in the Priesthood, He, by the words : ‘ Do this
in memory of Me ’ gave the command to offer it, as the
Catholic Church has always understood and taught.
For, after celebrating the Old Passover, which in memory
of their coming out of Egypt the multitude of the children
of Israel used to offer, He instituted a new Passover, namely
Himself, to be offered by the Church, through her priests,
under visible signs, in memory of His passing over from
this world to the Father, when, that is, by the shedding
of His Blood, He redeemed us, snatched us from the powers
of darkness, and transferred us into His Kingdom.
“ This is indeed that clean oblation which can never
be polluted by any unworthiness or wickedness of those
that offer it, which, as the Lord foretold by Malachias,
was to be offered, pure in every place, to His Name, which
was to be great among the Gentiles. To it, too, the
Apostle St. Paul makes no obscure allusion when he says,
writing to the Corinthians, that those who are defiled by
sharing in the table of demons cannot be sharers in the
table of the Lord (cf. I Cor. x, 21), where, by ‘ table’
; he in both places means ‘ altar.’ Finally, this is that
oblation which was prefigured by various kinds of sacrifices
both under the law of nature and that of Moses, inasmuch
as, being their consummation and perfection, it embraces
all the good things signified by them.”
Trent, Sess. xxii, can. ii :
“ If anyone shall say that by the words : ‘ Do this in
memory of Me ’ Christ did not make His apostles priests
or did not ordain them so that they and other priests might
offer His Body and Blood, let him be anathema.”
question 379
Trent, Sess. xiii, Decretum de SS. Euckaristia, cap. iii :
“ The Holy Eucharist has this in common with the
g30 THE MASS
other Sacraments, that it is a symbol of a sacred thing,
visible form of an invisible grace. But it excels them a
is unique in this that whereas the other Sacraments exerc
their power of sanctifying only when some one maki
use of them, in die Eucharist the Author of salvation
Himself there independently of its use. For the ApostI
had not yet received the Eucharist from the Loi d s han
when He Himself affirmed that it was His own Be
which He was offering them ; and it has always been
belief of the Church that immediately after the Co:
secration the true Body of our Lord as well as His tn
Blood, under the appearances of bread and wine, E
soul also and His Godhead, are there ; the Body und
the appearance of bread, the Blood under the appearan
of wine by force of the very words used, but the Body t<
under the appearance of wine, and the Blood under ti
appearance of bread, and the soul as well under eitht
by force of that natural connection and concomita
whereby the parts of Christ our Lord, who has now r
from the dead to die no more, are knit together ; t
Godhead also, by reason of His wonderful hyposl
union with His soul and body. Whence it is most true
as much is contained under either species as under bod
for the whole and entire Christ is under the appearance
bread and under every particle of those species, the san
too, under the species of wine and of its every drop.
“ Can. iii. If anyone shall deny that in the \ eneral
Sacrament of the Eucharist the entire Christ is contain
under either species and under every particle of eitr
when separated, let him be anathema.
question 382.
Florence, Decree for the Greeks, a.d. 1439 :
“ Also, that whether in unleavened or leavened wh
bread Christ is truly made ; and that priests should
the very Body of Christ in either, that is each accordi
ft:
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THE MASS 381
the practice of his own Church, whether Western or
Eastern.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1031.)
Florence, Decree for the Armenians, a.d. 1439 :
“ The third Sacrament is that of the Eucharist, the
material of which is wheaten bread and wine from the
vine : to the latter a small quantity of water should be
added previous to consecration. The water is added
because, according to the testimonies of the Fathers and
Doctors of the Church already alleged in this discussion,
our Lord is believed to have instituted this Sacrament in
wine mingled with water. Also because this practice
harmonizes with the representation of the Lord’s Passion.
For Pope Alexander, the fifth in succession to St. Peter,
says : ‘In the oblations of the Sacraments offered to the
Lord in the Solemnity of the Mass, only bread, and wine
mixed with water, are offered for the Sacrifice. For in
the Lord’s chalice we ought not to offer wine alone or
water alone, but the two mixed together, for we read that
both, that is Blood and water, flowed from Christ’s side.’
'Hiis (the mixed chalice), fittingly signifies the effect of
mis Sacrament, namely the union of the Christian people
with Christ. For the water signifies the people : ‘ The
waters which thou seest . . . are many peoples ’ ( Apoc.
xvii, 15). Similarly, Pope Julius, successor to Pope
Silvester, says : ‘ The chalice of the Lord ought, according
to the Canons, to be offered of wine and water mingled,
for in the water we see signified the people, in the wine
the Blood of Christ is shown forth. When, then, the wine
nd the water are mingled in the chalice, His people are
nit to Christ and the faithful are united and joined to Him
in whom they believe.’ Since, then, the Holy Roman
Church, taught by the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul,
as also the other Churches of the Latins and the Greeks in
hich have shone forth luminaries of all holiness and doc¬
trine, have always from the Church’s very birth adhered to
nd do still adhere to this practice, it seems most unfitting
s®
THE MIXED CHALICE
that any country should fail to conform to this univ
and most reasonable practice. We therefore decree
the Armenians too should conform to the universal C
tian world and that their priests should add, as has
said, a little water in offering the chalice.” (
Concilia, xxxi, 1056.)
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Sr
Trent, Sess. xxii, De Sacrificio Missae, cap. vii :
“ Finally this Holy Synod points out that the Chi
bids her priests mix water with the wine in offering
chalice, both because Christ is believed to have done
also because from His side there flowed water and Blc
which mystery is recalled in diis mingling (of water v
the wine) ; also because, since in the Apocalypse of
John, the people are termed ‘ water,’ the union of
faithful with Christ their Head is represented.”
:
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QUESTION 383.
Florence, Decree for the Armenians, a.d. 1439 :
“ The form of this Sacrament is the Saviour’s w
wherewith Fie made it ; for the priest makes this Sa
ment when speaking in the person of Christ. For by
power of those words the substance of bread is conve
into the Body of Christ and the substance of wine into
Blood ; yet so that the entire Christ is contained under
appearance of bread and the entire Christ under
appearance of wine. The entire Christ is contain
every particle of the consecrated host or of the consec
wine when these are separated. The effect which
Sacrament produces in the souls of those that receiv
worthily is the union of men with Christ. And sine
grace man is incorporated in Christ and united to
members, it follows that in those who receive this Sa
ment worthily grace is increased ; and whatsoever ■
is produced by material food and drink in our bodily
sustaining, increasing, repairing, affording pleasure,
THE MASS
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w.
if
m
o, this Sacrament produces in our spiritual life ; in it,
Pope Urban remarks, we recall with gratitude the
emory of our Saviour, we are kept from evil, we are
engthened in good and we make increase in virtue and
ace.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxi.)
question 385.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. i, De Fide Catholica against
Albigenses :
“ There is one universal Church of the faithful, in it
esus Christ is Himself Priest and Sacrifice ; His Body and
ood are truly contained in the Sacrament of the altar
der the appearances of bread and wine, the bread and
e wine being trans-substantiated into His Body and
ood by the power of God.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxii, 982.)
For Trent, see under qu. 376.
St. Irenaeus, Ado. Haer., IV, xvii, 5 :
“ Moreover, counselling His disciples to offer first-fruits
God from His creatures—not as though He needed
em but that they might not be either fruitless or ungrate-
-He took one of the tilings He had created, bread,
d gave thanks, saying : 1 This is My Body.’ ( Matth.
xxvi, 26.) Likewise the chalice which is of the same
eation as we ourselves are, and He declared it to be
is Blood, and taught that it was the oblation of the New
lestament. The Church, receiving this oblation from the
osdes, offers it to God throughout the world, to God
o provides us with food it offers the first-fruits of His
n gifts in the New Testament. This Malachias, one of the
r elve Prophets, thus, spoke of in anticipation : “I have
pleasure in you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will not
eive a gift of your hand. For from the rising of the
even to the going down My Name is great among the
ntiles, and in every place there is sacrifice, and there
offered to My Name a clean oblation ; for My Name is
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lifts
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THE MASS
great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of hosts.’ (
i, i o-11.) Wherein he most clearly showed that the fo
people would cease to make oblations to God, but that
every place oblation will be made to Him, and a pure
for His Name is glorified among the Gentiles.” (P
vii, 1023.)
QUESTION 386.
For Trent, see under qu. 376.
St. Gregory the Great, Dialogus, iv, 58 :
“This victim in unique fashion saves the soul :
eternal destruction, for it repairs by the Mystery o’
Only-begotten that death which is in store for us ; fo.
Only-begotten, though ‘ rising again from the dead
dieth now no more, death shall no more have do
over Him’ (Rom. vi, 9), and though in Himself li
immortally and incorruptibly, is yet again offered fo;
in this mystery of the sacred oblation. For there is
Body received, His Flesh divided for the salvation
people, His Blood shed, not now by the hands of unbeli
but on the lips of believers. Let us, then, weigh
the immensity of this Sacrifice for us : it is always for
absolving imitating the Passion of the Only-begotten S
(P.L., lxxvii, 425.)
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QUESTION 387.
For Trent, see under qu. 379.
question 388.
Trent, Sess. xxii, De Sacrificio Missae, cap. ii :
“ And since in this Divine Sacrifice enacted in the
the very same Christ is contained and is offered
unbloody manner who offered Himself once and
in His Blood, on the altar of the Gross, this Holy
teaches that this Sacrifice is truly propitiatory, an
i-
THE MASS
i
y it we, if we draw nigh to God with a true heart and right
ith, with fear and reverence, contrite and penitent,
btain mercy and grace in seasonable aid. By the offering
of this Sacrifice God is appeased and bestows grace and the
ift of repentance, forgiving us our heinous crimes and sins.
For it is one and the same Victim who now offers Himself
through the ministry of His priests as then offered Himself
upon the Cross ; it is the mode of the oblation alone that
iiffers. Of that Sacrifice in His Blood the fruits are most
fully received in this unbloody Sacrifice, so true is it that
this latter in no sense derogates from the former. Where¬
fore it is offered not alone for the sins of the faithful who
are yet living, for their penalties, satisfactions and other
needs, but rightly, and in accord with Apostolic tradition,
for the dead also who are in Christ and who are not yet
wholly purified.”
question 389.
For Trent, see under qu. 388.
question 390.
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses xxiii (Mysticae v), 10 :
“ Now supposing that a king had sent into exile certain
people by whom he had been offended, and supposing
that later on some who were interested in them were to
make a crown and offer it to the king for the sake of
those whom he had thus punished, would not that king
graciously grant a remission of the punishment ? In the
same fashion, then, we too offer prayers to God for our
dead even though they are sinners ; we weave no crown
but we offer Christ slain for our sins, striving to win merit
land propitiate the merciful God for them as well as for
ourselves.” (P.G., xxxiii, 1118.)
question 392.
Trent, Sess. xxii, De Sacrificio Missae , can. v :
“ If anyone shall say that to celebrate Mass in honour
THE MASS
of the Saints and to obtain their intercession with G
as the Church intends, is an imposture, let him
anathema.”
question 393.
Trent, Sess. xxii, De Sacrificio Missae, cap. vi :
“ This Holy Synod could wish that at every Mass
faithful who are present should not only communi
spiritually, but should actually receive the Holy Euch
so as to obtain the fullest fruit from this most Holy Sacri
Not that, when this cannot be done, this Synod there
means to condemn as ‘ private ’ and unlawful Masses
which the priest alone communicates sacramenta”
for this Synod approves and commends such Masses,
faithful, then, ought to look upon such Masses as ‘ pub
partly because at such Masses they can communi
spiritually ; partly, too, because they are celebrated
the public minister of the Church not for himself al
but for all the faithful who belong to the Body of Chri
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QUESTION 394.
Pius VI, Constit., Auetorem Jidei, Aug. 28, 1794,
thirtieth Proposition condemned, amongst the errors of the Sj
of Pistoia :
“ The teaching of that Synod wherein, while proft
* to believe that the offering of the Sacrifice (of the
extends to all, yet at the same time there is place in
liturgy for special commemorations of certain p
whether living or dead, prayer being offered to 1
particularly for them,’ with the subjoined statement, ‘
of course that we believe it to be in the priest’s pow
apply the fruits of the Sacrifice to whom he will, for
notion we condemn as most derogatory to God’s rig
who alone distributes the fruits of the Sacrifice to w’
He wills and in the measure that pleases Him,’ a state
which enables the said Synod to label as ‘ false the
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THE MASS
\
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irnmonly held among the people that those who give
ms to a priest, and ask him to say a Mass, derive special
•uit from that Mass ’—this teaching, since by it the said
ynod means that, apart from the special prayers and
ommemorations, this particular offering or application
if the Sacrifice which the priest makes does not—other
kings being equal—avail more for those to whom it is
pplied than for any others ; as though, that is, no special
niit was derived from the special application to definite
;rsons or classes of people which the Church recom¬
ends us and bids us make, more particularly by the
stors for their flocks, as was expressly laid down by the
mncil of Trent as due to a divine command (Sess.
ixiii, cap. i, De Reformatione ; Pope Benedict XIV, Consdt.,
7am semper oblatas, ii) ; this doctrine, then, we condemn
is false, rash, dangerous, an injury to the Church, and
eading to the error elsewhere condemned in the case
if Wyclif.” (Bullarii Romani Continuatio, ed. Prati, 2712ff.)
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QUESTION 397.
Trent, Sess. xiii, cap. ii :
“ Therefore our Saviour, when about to depart from
lis world to the Father, instituted this Sacrament in
hich He would, as it were, pour out the riches of His
ve for men : ‘ He hath made a remembrance of His
onderful works ’ ( Ps. cx, 4) ; in its reception He has
dden us cherish ‘ His memory ’ and ‘ show forth His
ath ’ until He shall come to judge this world (I Cor.
, 26). He wished this Sacrament to be received as the
iritual food of souls, whereby the living might be fed
d strengthened by the life of Him who said ‘ He that
teth Me, the same also shall live by Me ’ ( Jn. vi. 58) ;
an antidote, too, whereby we might be freed from
y faults and preserved from mortal sin. He also
ted it to be a pledge of our future glory and ever¬
ting happiness ; also a symbol of that one Body of
HOLY COMMUNION
which He is the Head, and to which He wished us
members to be bound by the closely-knit bonds of fai
hope and charity : ‘ that ye all speak the same thi
and that there be no schisms among you.’ ” (/ Cor. i, i
St. Ignatius the Martyr, Ep. ad Magnesios, 20 :
“ . . . . You have all of you met, called by nar
together, in one body, through grace, in one faith and
one Jesus Christ—who according to the flesh, of the st<
of David, is son of man, and also Son of God—that
may obey the Bishop and the clergy with united min
together, breaking the one Bread which is the medi
of immortality, the antidote to death, that so we may
for ever in Jesus Christ.” ( P.G. , v, 662.)
St. Irenaeus, Ado. Haer. V, ii, 3 :
“ And just as the vine-stem planted in the earth bi ‘
forth its fruit in due time, and the grain of wheat, fa
into the ground and there decaying, rises again ma
through the Spirit of God that containeth all things,
receiving the Word of God, becomes the Eucha
so, too, our bodies, fed on it, laid in the earth, reso
there into their elements, will rise in their due time
Word of God bestowing on them a resurrection in
glory of God the Father.” ( P.G. , vii, 1127.)
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, xlvi, 3, in Joann :
“ Therefore, so that not solely by charity but in
fact, we may be commingled with that Flesh—a
which is brought about by the Food which He Hi
did give to show us how ardent was His love for t
therefore commingled Himself with us and formed
into one body r so that we might be as it were a body j
to its Head.” ( P.G. , lix, 260.)
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, xxiv, 2, in J Cor. :
“ ‘ We being many are one bread, one body.’ W
I mean, he says, by ‘ partaking ’ ? (/ Cor. x, 17.) '
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HOLY COMMUNION
at very body. For what is that bread ? The Body of
hrist. And what happens when people ‘ partake ’ ? They
become the Body of Christ ; not many bodies, but one.
for just as a loaf, though made up of many grains is yet
so united that those grains never appear, and, though they
are there, their individual character does not show because
they are so closely joined together ; so, too, are we joined
to one another and to Christ. For one is not fed with
one body, another with another, but all with one and the
same.” ( P.G ., lxi, 200.)
QUESTION 399.
St. John Chrysostom, Horn, lxxxii, 5, in Matthaeum :
“ Reflect how indignant you have felt against the
betrayer, against those who crucified Christ; take care,
then, lest you yourself be guilty of the Body and Blood of
Christ. They slew that Sacred Body; you, after so
many benefits, receive it with a sin-stained soul. He
thought it not enough to become a man, to be scourged,
to be slain, but He commingles Himself with us ; not
by faith alone but in very deed He made us His own
Body. How pure, then, ought not he to be who enjoys
this Sacrifice ? ” ( P.G ., lviii, 743.)
question 400.
Trent, Sess. xiii, Decretum de SS. Eucharistia, cap. vii :
“ If it is unfitting that people should come to any
cred functions save with a sense of awe, then assuredly
e more the holiness and divinity of this heavenly Sacra-
ent is appreciated by a Christian, the more diligent
ould he be lest he should come to receive it without
eat reverence and holiness ; more especially when we
ead those awe-inspiring words of the Apostle : ‘ He that
teth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh
i
HOLY COMMUNION
judgment to himself, not discerning the Body of
Lord ’ (I Cor. xi, 29). He, then, who would rec
Communion should bear in mind the precept of the sair
Apostle : ‘ Let a man prove himself.’ Now the practic
of the Church teaches us that the ‘ proving ’ necessai
is that a man conscious to himself of mortal sin, no math
how contrite he may be, should not approach to Hoi
Communion without previous sacramental confessioi
The Holy Synod has decreed that this should always t
observed by all, even by priests who have to celebrati
provided they have a sufficiency of confessors at hand
if, however, a priest has, in a case of urgent necessity, !
celebrate, then let him go to confession as soon as possible
QUESTION 405.
The Sacred Congregadon of the Council, Decree
Tridentina Synodus , of Dec. 20, 1905, On daily receptk
the Holy Eucharist:
“ Care should be taken that due preparation sh
precede Holy Communion and a fitting thanks
follow it, according to each person’s capacity, s
life and duties.” (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, ii, 896.)
question 406.
St. Basil, Regulae brevius tractatae :
“ Question Ixxii: With what awe, feelings and de'
ought we to receive the Body and Blood of Christ ?
“ Answer : The Apostle teaches us to fear when he
‘ He that eateth and drinketh unworthily eatetjt
drinketh judgment to himself ’ (I Cor. xi, 29) ; as f<
feelings we ought to have, we can gather them froi
Lord’s words : ‘ This is My Body which is given for
Do this for a commemoration of Me.’ ” ( Lk. xxii,
(P.G., xxxi, 1195.)
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
391
QUESTION 413.
Trent, Sess. xiv, De Sacramento Poenitentiae, cap. i :
“ If in all the regenerated there existed such gratitude
to God that they constantly preserved that justice which
by His kindliness and grace they had received in Baptism,
! there would be no need for the institution of any other
Sacrament than Baptism for the remission of sins. But
since God, ‘rich in mercy’ ( Ephes. ii, 4), ‘ knoweth our
frame ’ (Ps. cii, 14), He hath furnished a life-giving remedy
for such as have, after Bapdsm, delivered themselves to
the slavery of sin and the power of the demon, namely the
Sacrament of Penance whereby the benefits of the death
of Christ may be applied to those who have fallen again
after being baptized. Repentance was of course at all
times necessary for people guilty of mortal sin if they would
gain grace and justification-—even for those who sought to
be cleansed by the Sacrament of Baptism—so that they
might put aside their perversity, amend their lives, detest
their great offences against God, hate sin, and experience
real grief of soul. Hence the Prophet says : ‘ Be converted
d do penance for all your iniquities, and iniquity shall
.„t be your ruin.’ (Ezech. xviii, 30.) The Lord, too, said :
‘Unless ye shall do penance ye shall all likewise perish.’
• xiii, 3.) And the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter,
en recommending repentance to sinners about to receive
ptism, said : ‘ Do penance and be baptized, every one
you.’ (Acts ii, 38.) On the other hand, previous to the
ming of Christ Penance was not a Sacrament, nor after
is coming is it a Sacrament for those as yet unbaptized,
e Lord instituted this Sacrament more particularly
en, after His Resurrection from the dead, He breathed
His disciples and said : ‘ Receive ye the Holy Ghost;
ose sins ye shall forgive they are forgiven ; and whose
ye shall retain they are retained.’ (Jn. xx, 22-23.)
this striking act and these very express words the Fathers
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
have always and unanimously understood that the pow<
of remitting and retaining sins for the reconciliation of tl
faithful, who have fallen away after Baptism, was con
municated to the Apostles and their legitimate successor
With good reason, then, did the Catholic Church repudia
and condemn as heretics the Novatians who of old obsi
nately denied this power of remitting sin. Wherefo
the present Holy Synod, receiving and approving!
above interpretation of the Lord’s words, condemns ,
lying interpretations by men who falsely explain th
words by making them refer, not to the institution of j
Sacrament, but to the power of preaching the word of GL
and the Gospel of Christ.”
“ Can. i. If any one shall say that in the Catholic Ch
Penance is not truly and really a Sacrament instituted I
Christ for the reconciliation of the faithful with God so ofte
as they fall into sin after Baptism, let him be anathema.”
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QUESTION 414.
For Trent, see under qu. 413.
Pius X, Decree Lamentabili sane, July 3, 1907, th*
seventh condemned Proposition :
“ The words of the Lord : ‘ Receive ye the Holy Gi
whose sins ye shall forgive they are forgiven, and whoa
ye shall retain they are retained ’ (Jn. xx, 22-23), ha’
reference to the Sacrament of Penance, whatever
Fathers of Trent may have thought fit to assert.”
A. Sedis, xiv, p. 473.)
St. John Chrysostom, De Sacerdotio, iii, 5 :
“ For men living on earth and dwelling in it
received a commission for dispensing things that <
heaven, and have had entrusted to them a power
God gave neither to Angels nor to Archangels. I
these latter it was never said : ‘ Whatsoever you
bind upon earth it shall be bound also in heaven
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THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
whatsoever you shall loose upon earth it shall be loosed
also in heaven.’ Those, indeed, who rule on earth have a
power of binding, but it affects only our bodies ; but the
bond here spoken of affects our very souls and transcends
the heavens ; whatsoever the priests do here below, that
God confirms on high, and the Lord Himself ratifies His
servants’ sentence. What else did He confer on them but
a heavenly power ? For He said : * Whose sins ye shall
forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye shall
retain they are retained.’ What greater power than
: this could there be ? ‘ The Father hath given all judg¬
ment to the Son,’ and all that I see conferred by the Son
1 on these men.” (P.G., xlviii, 643.)
QUESTION 417.
Trent, Sess. xiv, De Sacramento Poenitentiae, cap. iii :
“ Further, this FIolv Synod teaches that the form of
the Sacrament of Penance—wherein particularly its
efficacy lies—is in those words of the minister : ‘ I absolve
thee, etc.’ To this, according to the custom of Holy
Church, certain prayers are laudably attached, though
they neither affect the essence of that form nor are they
necessary for the administration of the Sacrament. But
the acts of the penitent himself, namely Contrition,
Confession and Satisfaction are, as it were, the material
part of this Sacrament. And these, inasmuch as by God’s
institution they are, on the part of the penitent, requisite
for the integrity of the Sacrament and for the full and per¬
fect remission of sin, are therefore called parts of the
Sacrament of Penance. Of course the thing, the effect,
of this Sacrament, considering, that is, its power and
efficacy, is reconciliation with God ; and this, in the case
of holy people who devoutly receive this Sacrament, is
wont to be accompanied by peace and tranquillity of
conscience as well as immense spiritual consolation.
This Holy Synod, while dealing thus with the parts of this
THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
Sacrament and its effects, condemns at the same time
opinions of those who maintain that faith and a te
stricken conscience are parts of Penance.
“ Gan. iv. If any one shall deny that for the en
and perfect remission of sin there are required on the
of the penitent three acts, namely Contrition, Confe
and Satisfaction, which are termed the three parts
Penance ; or if any one shall say that there are only
parts of Penance, a conscience terror-stricken by the s
of sin, and faith drawn from the Gospel, or absolu
only in the sense that a person believes that his sins ha
been forgiven him by Christ, let him be anathema.”
question 422.
For Trent, Sess. xiv, cap. iii, see under qu. 417.
“ Can. vii. If any one shall say that for the re
of sin in the Sacrament of Penance it is not necess
divine law to confess all and every mortal sin which
can call to mind after due and careful thought, even hid
ones and such as are contrary to the two last precep
the Decalogue, also the circumstances which alter
species of the sin, but that confession of that kind is
only for the instruction and consolation of the peni
and was originally only used for the purpose of impo
canonical penances ; or if any shall say that those who .
to confess all their sins mean thereby to leave nothing
the divine mercy to forgive ; or finally, that we ought
to confess venial sins, let him be anathema.”
question 428.
Trent, Sess. xiv, De Sacramento Poenitentiae, cap. iv :
“ Contrition, which holds the first place among
aforesaid acts of the penitent, is grief of spirit for
detestation of sins we have committed, with a firm p
of not sinning in the future. Such movements of
CONTRITION
395
tion were at all times necessary for obtaining pardon for
sin, and in the case of persons who have fallen into sin after
Baptism they prepare the way for the remission of sins
if accompanied by trust in the mercy of God, and a deter¬
mination to fulfil whatsoever is requisite for the due recep¬
tion of the Sacrament. Consequently this Holy Synod
declares that this contrition is not simply cessation from
sin and a proposal to lead a new life, nor actually beginning
a new life, but that it includes a hatred of one’s past life,
in accordance with the words : ‘ Cast away from you all
your transgressions by which you have transgressed, and
make to yourselves a new heart and a new spirit ’ ( Ezech.
xviii, 31.) No one can reflect on such exclamations of the
holy men of old as : ‘To Thee only have I sinned, and
have done evil before Thee ’ ( Ps. 1 , 6) ; ‘I have laboured
in my groanings, every night I will wash my bed, I will
water my couch with tears ’ (Ps. vi, 7) ; ‘I will recount
to Thee all my years in the bitterness of my soul ’ (Isa.
xxxviii, 15), and many similar passages, without realizing
that such expressions flowed from a vehement detestation
of their former life and a great hatred of their sins.
“ This Holy Synod further teaches that although this
contrition of which we are speaking may at times approach
to perfect charity, and that a person may be reconciled
to God before actually receiving this Sacrament, yet none
the less such reconciliation is not to be attributed to Con¬
trition apart from desire to receive the Sacrament, for
such desire is included in the Contrition. At the same
time the Synod declares that that imperfect Contrition
which is called Attrition—since it generally arises either
from consideration of the vileness of sin or from the fear
of hell and punishment—not only does not make a person
a hypocrite and a still greater sinner, if it excludes the will
to sin and is accompanied by a hope for pardon, but is a
gift of God and an impulse from the Holy Spirit—not
| indeed as yet indwelling in him, but only moving him ;
and that by the help of the same Holy Spirit a penitent
CONTRITION
prepares himself for the reception of justification, i
while it is true that this Attrition cannot of itself, wi
out the Sacrament of Penance, bring a sinner to justifi
tion, yet none the less it does dispose him for the obtaini
of God’s grace in the Sacrament of Penance. It was
such fear that the Ninivites were, to their profit, ov
whelmed when they heard the preaching of Jonas,
penance, and so won mercy from the Lord. (Jonas
Those, then, calumniate Catholic writers who say that t
latter maintain that the Sacrament of Penance corde
grace independently of good dispositions on the part \
those who receive it. This the Church of God has rievi
taught nor thought. Those also teach falsely who s
that Contrition is something extorted and compulso:
and not free and voluntary.”
St. Gregory the Great, In Evangelia, II, Horn., xxxiv, i =
“ We cannot rightly do penance unless we underst
the meaning of repentance. Now to repent means
lament over the evil we have done and not to do the
we lament. For a person who deplores some of his s'
and yet commits others, is only pretending to do pena
or he does not understand.” ( P.L ., lxxvi, 1256.)
St. Augustine, Sermo, cccli, 12 :
“ It is not enough to change our ways for the I
and quit the evil we have done, unless we make
faction to God for the evil we have done by the sorr
repentance, the groans of humility, the sacrifice
contrite heart and accompanying alms.” {P.L.,
I549-)
QUESTION 436.
For Trent, see under qu. 428.
i
si
fig
if
i§
si
if
QUESTION 438.
For Trent, see under qu. 428.
CONTRITION
397
St. Peter Chrysologus, Sermo , xciv :
“ See, O man, that you do not despair. For you have
the means of making satisfaction to your kindly Creditor.
Would you be absolved ? Then love. ‘ Charity covereth
a multitude of sins ’ (I Pet. iv, 8). What could be worse
than the crime of denying Christ ? Yet by charity alone
Peter was able to wash out this very crime, as the Lord
bore testimony when He said : * Peter, lovest thou Me ? ’
[Jn. xxi, 15). Charity holds the first place among all
the commandments of God.” ( P.L ., lii, 466.)
question 439.
For Trent, see under qu. 428.
Leo X, Bull, Exurge Domine, June 15, 1520, the sixth
condemned Proposition , against the errors of Luther :
“ Contrition begotten of examining, comparing and
detesting one’s sins, whereby a person recalls his years
in the bitterness of his soul, and weighs the gravity, number
and hideousness of his sins, the loss of eternal happiness
and the eternal damnation he has earned—such contrition
makes a person a hypocrite, nay a greater sinner.”
(Bullarium Romanum, cd. Turin, v, 750.)
Pius VI, Const., Auctoremfidei, Aug. 28, 1794, the twenty-
third, twenty-fifth and thirty-sixth of the condemned Propositions,
against the errors of the Synod of Pistoia :
“ xxiii. The teaching of that Synod on a twofold love :
viz. that of a dominating cupidity and that of a dominat¬
ing charity, wherein it declares that a person without
grace is under the power of sin, and that in that state,
wing to the general influx of a dominating cupidity, all
is actions are stained and corrupted—this teaching,
inasmuch as it insinuates that cupidity so dominates a
lerson who is under servitude to or in the state ol sin,
nd deprived of that grace whereby he is freed from the
rvitude of sin and made a son of God, that—owing to its
ATTRITION
I
te,
I
general influx—all his actions are in themselves stainei
and corrupted, or that all works done by liirn previous t<
justification, on whatever ground they were performed
are sins—as though in all his actions a sinner were thi
slave of a dominating cupidity—this teaching is fal
dangerous, and leads to the error condemned by t
Council of Trent as heretical, and condemned again
the case of Baius, art. xl.
“ xxv. The doctrine which—broadly speaking—declai
that fear of punishment can only not be called evil wh
it at least induces us to restrain our hands, as though acti
fear of that hell—which our faith teaches us will be
punishment inflicted on sin—was not in itself good a
profitable as being a supernatural gift of God and
movement inspired by Him and preparing the way fc
a love of justice—is false, rash, dangerous, derogato
to God’s gifts, elsewhere condemned, contrary to t
teaching of the Council of Trent and the general opini
of the Fathers that, in harmony with the usual preparati
for justification, fear must first enter in, and through
must come charity ; fear being the medicine, chari
health. . . .
“ xxxvi. The teaching of that Synod wherein,
premising that ‘ when unequivocal signs are shown
a dominating love of God in a man’s heart, he can rigb
be adjudged worthy to be admitted to partake of
Blood of Jesus Christ, as is done in the Sacraments,’
goes on to speak of ‘ supposed conversions, due to attritio
as not generally efficacious nor lasting,’ and conclud
that ‘ a shepherd of souls ought to insist on the presen
of unequivocal signs of a dominating charity before
admits his penitents to the Sacraments ’ ; adds that t
pastor can deduce the presence of these signs from t
fact of a lasting cessation from sin and fervour in goo
works ; wherein, moreover, the same synod regards t
said ‘ fervour of charity ’ as a disposition which ‘ ou
to precede absolution ’ : such teaching, then, underst
Hi
f
is
i
;
Hi
4 #
&
ftv
ATTRITION
as meaning that not only that imperfect contrition which
is commonly known as attrition, but also contrition joined
with charity, whereby a person begins to love God as the
fount of all justice, nor only contrition informed by charity
but ‘ the fervour of a dominating charity,’ a contrition,
too, that has been tested during a considerable period by
a man’s fervour in good works, is generally and absolutely
required before a person can be admitted to the Sacra¬
ments, more especially penitents admitted to the benefit
of absolution—this teaching is false, rash, calculated to
disturb the peace of men’s souls, contrary to the safe and
approved practice of the Church, minimizes and is de¬
rogatory to the efficacy of the Sacraments.” (Bullarii
Romani Continuatio, ed. Prati., 2711 and 2714.)
St. Gregory of Nyssa, Horn., 1 , in Canticum canticorum :
“ For he who ‘ will have all men to be saved and to
come to the knowledge of the truth ’ (7 Tim. ii, 4), shows
us the most perfect and blessed way of salvation. I
mean that which is by charity. For to some of us salvation
comes through fear, when, that is, we look at the threat¬
ened punishments of hell and therefore keep ourselves
from evil. For there are some who, for the sake of the
reward laid up for those who live devoutly, lead right and
irtuous lives, not laying hold of that good thing by
charity but by expectation of the reward.” (P.G.,
vliv, 766.)
QUESTION 442.
St. John Chrysostom, Dc Lazaro, iv, 4 :
“ If up to now we have been negligent, then let us
y confession, by tears and by accusing ourselves of our
wn faults, slay any iniquity we have performed. For
thing is more destructive of sin than to accuse ourselves
our sins and condemn them. Have you condemned
ur sin ? Then you have cast away your burden. Who
it who says this ? God our Judge : 4 Do you first tell
400 CONFESSION
your sins that you may be justified ’ (Isa. xliii, 26 [accor
ing to the Septuagint]). Why then, I ask, are you asham
and blush to tell your sins ? Are you telling them to
man, to one who will overwhelm you with shame ? A
you confessing them to your fellow-servant w'ho will
and publish them ? No, you are showing your wounds
Him who is the Lord, who has a care for you, who
human, who is a physician. . . . Unless you expn
the magnitude of your debt you will not experience t]
immensity of His grace. I do not, He says, ask you
stand in the middle of the theatre and summon a numb
of witnesses ; tell your sins to Me in private that I m;
heal your wounds and free you from your sorrow.” (P.(
xlviii, 1012.)
St. John Chrysostom, Horn., Quod frequenter sit conveniendt
ii :
“ Do not, then, because you have sinned be ashamed
come ; nay that is the very reason for coming. For 1
one says ; ‘ As I have a wound I will not go to the doctt
nor will I take remedies ’ ; no, precisely for that ve
reason do we consult the doctor and have need of remedii
We too know how to pardon since we ourselves are liab
to other sins.” ( P.G. , lxiii, 463.)
question 445.
Trent, Sess. xiv, De Sacramento Poenitentiae, cap. v.
“ From the institution of this Sacrament as alrea
explained the universal Church has always unde
that the Lord also instituted entire confession of sin
that such was by divine law necessary for all thos
after being baptized have fallen into sin. For our
Jesus Christ, when about to ascend from earth to h
(Jn. xx, Matth. xxviii), left His priests as His vi
presidents and judges before whom should be b
all mortal sins into which Christ’s faithful might ft
CONFESSION 4OI
that they might, by the power of the keys, pronounce
sentence of remission or retention of sins. For it is plain
that priests cannot exercise such judgment unless they
know the case ; neither can they in equity impose penalties
for sins if these are only set before them in general
fashion and not specifically and individually. Whence it
follows that all mortal sins of which penitents are con¬
scious after due examination must be told in confession,
even if they are most secret sins and only contrary to the
last two precepts of the Decalogue ; for these sometimes
inflict more grievous wounds on the soul and prove even
more dangerous than those which are openly admitted.
And though venial sins, which do not deprive us of the
grace of God and into wliich we more frequently fall, may
rightly, profitably and without any presumption—as the
practice of devout people shows—be told in confession—
yet we commit no fault if we do not mention them ; they
can be met by many other remedies.
“ But since all mortal sins, of whatever kind they be—
even those of thought—render men children of wrath and
enemies of God, pardon for them must be sought from
God by open and humble-minded confession. When
the faithful of Christ strive thus to confess all the sins which
occur to their minds they unquestionably exhibit them to
the Divine mercy for pardon. W'hile those who do the
contrary, and knowingly keep back some sins, offer nothing
to the Divine mercy for forgiveness through His priest.
Were a sick man ashamed to exhibit his wounds to the
doctor the latter could not cure what he did not know.
It follows, too, that those circumstances which alter the
species of sin have to be stated in confession ; for if these
not stated then neidier is the penitent making an entire
nfession, nor are his sins really known to the judges, nor
n these latter really decide on the gravity of the sin, nor,
ain, can drey impose a proportionate penalty for diem,
ence it is unreasonable to maintain that these circum-
ances have been devised by men with nothing else to
402
do ; similarly
cumstance na
sinned againsi
confession of 1
to call it ‘ th<
clear that the
further than
exploration o
should confess
CONFESSION
403
that the Council understood to be necessary and instituted
I by divine law—but that the precept of confession had to
; be fulfilled at least once a year by all and singular on
| arriving at the age of discretion ; whence it has come
to pass that throughout the entire Church is observed,
: with immense fruit to souls, the salutary practice of going
to confession at the most ‘ acceptable season ’ of Lent, a
: practice which this Holy Synod approves and welcomes
as a devout one which deserves to be retained.
5 ; “ Can. vii. If any one shall say that for the remission
1 : of sin in the Sacrament of Penance it is not necessary by
divine law to confess every individual mortal sin that we
i can call to mind after due and careful ■ thought, even
i secret ones and those contrary to the last two Precepts
of the Decalogue, as also circumstances which alter the
;■ species of the sin ; and shall maintain that such con-
■v fession is only useful for the instruction and consolation
of the penitent, and that originally it was only observed
H with a view to imposing canonical satisfactions ; or that
| people who try to confess all their sins wish to leave nothing
| to be forgiven by the Divine mercy, or finally that it is not
| right to confess venial sins, let him be anathema.”
St. Gregory the Great, In Evangelia, II, Horn, xxvi, 4-6 :
“ The disciples received the chief headship in the task
i of supreme judgment, that namely of retaining or re-
1 mitting people’s sins, as being vice-gerents of God. It
1 was fitting that they who had consented to be so humiliated
ifor God’s sake should be thus exalted by Him. Lo,
they who themselves dread God’s stern judgment become
judges of souls, they who fear lest they should be condemned
condemn or free others ! Their place the Bishops assuredly
?■ now hold in the Church. They receive the power of
binding or loosing who occupy the supreme place in the
| government. A great honour, but great the burden
| attaching to that honour! . . . The cases presented
have to be weighed, and the power of binding and loosing
CONFESSION
has then to be exercised. They have to see what
preceded, then what punishment followed on the £
so that the pastor’s sentence may absolve those w
almighty God has visited with the grace of compunctii
(P.L., lxxvi, nggff.)
St. Cyprian, De lapsis, 28-2g :
“ Finally, how much greater in faith, how much b<
through their fear are they who, though they have
committed the crime of sacrificing (to idols) nor of h~
a ‘ libellus,’ yet who because they have merely thou
doing so, by sorrowful and simple confession cleanse
consciences on this point before God’s priests, show
the load on their mind, ask for salutary remedies for t
small and even trifling wounds ; they realize that
written : ‘ God is not mocked.’ (Gal. vi, 7.) Indeed
cannot be mocked, nor circumvented, nor deluded
man’s astute deceit. . . . Let each of you, then, 1
you, brethren, confess his fault while the sinner is yt
this world, while confession is still possible, while
satisfaction and remission granted by the priests is
acceptable to God.” (P.L., iv, 503.)
St. Jerome, In Matth., Ill, ad xvi, 19 :
“ We read in Leviticus (xiii, 2ff.), that the lepers are b
to show themselves to the priests, and then if they
the leprosy they are declared by the priests to be un
Not that the priests make them lepers or unclean bu
they may know who arc lepers and who not, and
able to discern who is clean and who unclean. Pr
then as the priest there makes a man clean or uncle
now does priest or bishop bind or loose, not, that is
the innocent or loose the guilty, but when, in accor
with his office, he has heard the circumstances of th
he knows who is to be bound and who to be lo
(. P.L ., xxvi, 122.)
m
i
SATISFACTION
405
QUESTION 447.
Alexander VII, Sept. 24, 1665, the eleventh condemned
Proposition :
“ We are not bound in a subsequent confession to
mention sins omitted in a previous confession or forgotten
owing to imminent danger of death, or for some other
reason.” (Du Plessis, Collectio Judiciorum, III, ii, 321.)
question 452.
Trent, Sess. xiv, De Sacramento Poenitentiac, cap. viii-ix :
“ Finally, as regards Satisfaction : just in proportion
as this ‘ part ’ of Penance has always been most warmly
commended by our Fathers to the flock of Christ, so
is it now in our time more particularly attacked than
any other ‘ part ’ of this Sacrament, and that, under the
pretext of piety by men who have the outward appearance
of piety but who refuse to recognize its real power. On
this point, then, this Holy Synod declares that it is wholly
false and contrary to the word of God to say that faults
are never remitted by God without Flis at the same time
remitting the entire penalty due to them. For patent and
notable examples can be discovered in Holy Scripture—•
quite apart from Divine tradition—which most clearly
show how erroneous is this view. As a matter of fact the
very notion of the Divine Justice seems to demand that
those who, previous to Baptism, have sinned through ignor¬
ance, should be admitted to God’s grace in a very different
fashion from those who have once already been delivered
from the servitude of sin and the devil, and who, after
having received the gift of the Holy Spirit, have not been
afraid knowingly to ‘ violate the temple of God ’ (/ Cor. iii,
17), and ‘ grieve the Holy Spirit ’ ( Ephes . iv, 30). It is but
'n accord with the Divine mercy that our sins should not
remitted without any satisfaction being made for them,
est, taking occasion from this, we should fancy sins are
SATISFACTION
not so very grave, and lest, as it were regardless of God’
rights, and ‘ offering affront to the Holy Spirit ’ (Heb. x, 29),
we should fall into still graver sins and so ‘ treasure up to
ourselves wrath against the day of wrath’ (Rom. ii, 5),
Without any question these penal satisfactions greatly
avail to keep us from sin, and they serve as a kind of bridle :
for they make penitent people more watchful for the future ;
they heal us from the remains of sin, and by inducing acti
of the contrary virtues they remove vicious habits due t
a bad life. No more secure way has ever been devise
in the Church of God for warding off the punishments
threatened by the Lord than that men should, with true
sorrow of heart, make abundant use of penitential works
“ Add to this that when we suffer for our sins by makinj
satisfaction for them we are made conformable to Jesti
Christ who made satisfaction for our sins and ‘ from whom :
is all ‘ our sufficiency ’ (II Cor. iii, 5) ; thence, too, we derive
a most solid pledge, because * if we suffer with Him, ther
we shall be glorified with Him.’ (Rom. viii, 17.) At the
same time this satisfaction which we offer for our sins ii
not ours in the sense that it is not through Jesus Christ
for we, who of ourselves can do nothing as by ourselves
can, with the co-operation of Him * who strengtheneth us
do all things.’ (Phil, iv, 13.) Hence a man has not where
with to glory, but all our glorying is in Christ, in whom w(
live, in whom we merit, in whom we make satisfaction
bringing forth fruits worthy of penance, fruits which derive
their force from Him, by Him are offered to the Father, anc
through Him are accepted by the Father. The Lord’i
priests, then, ought, so far as their prudence suggests-, t<
impose salutary satisfactions proportionate to the sins ant
to the capacity of their penitents, lest perchance they mai
be conniving at sin and may, through dealing too indul
gently with their penitents by imposing very trifling pen
ances for very grave faults, become participators in t
sins of others. Priests should be careful that the sat
factions they impose should not only serve as a protectioi
THE SEAL OF CONFESSION
407
to the new life the penitent is going to lead and a remedy
for his weaknesses, but also as a punishment and a castiga¬
tion for past sins. For the keys are committed to the priest
not solely for loosing but also for binding, as the Fathers
of old believe and teach. Nor did they thereby mean that
the Sacrament of Penance was to be a tribunal of wrath
and penalties, nor again—though this is a thing no Catholic
ever dreamed of—did they mean that by these satisfactions
of ours the merits and satisfactions of our Lord Jesus Christ
were obscured or in any sort diminished. In their anxiety
to counteract ideas of this kind some modern theorists
urge that the best kind of penance is a new life, with the
result that they do away altogether with the value and use
of satisfaction.
“ This Holy Synod also teaches that so immense is the
| Divine munificence that not alone by the penalties we
inflict on ourselves as reparation for our sins, nor only by
those imposed on us by the priest in proportion to our
, faults, but also—and this is the greatest proof of His love—
by the temporal sufferings wherewith God afflicts us and
which we patiently bear, we can make satisfaction to God
| the Father through Jesus Christ.”
QUESTION 457.
Lateran IV (a.d. 1215), cap. xxi, De Confessione facienda
et non revelanda a sacerdote, et saltern in Pascha communicando :
“ Let the priest be most careful lest by word or sign or
; in any way whatsoever he betray the sinner. If, however,
he feels the need of more prudent counsel, then let him
seek it cautiously and without any reference to the person
in question. For a priest who should presume to reveal a
: sin brought to his knowledge in the judicial tribunal is,
; we decree, not only to be deposed from his priestly office
but to be relegated to some monastery of strict life, there
j to do penance for the rest of his life.” (Mansi, Concilia,
xxii, 1007.)
408
TEMPORAL PUNISHMENTS
QUESTION 461.
Trent, Sess. vi, Decretum de Justification, ch. xiv :
“ But those who by sin have fallen away from the
justifying grace they have received can be justified anew
when, by the stirrings of God’s grace, they have taken steps
to recover through the Sacrament of Penance the grace of
Christ which they have deservedly lost. This manner of
justification provides reparation for those who have fallen
away, and the Fathers have fittingly termed it ‘ the second ;
list,’ that is of grace lost through shipwreck. For, for the
sake of those who fall into sin after Baptism, Christ Jesus ;
instituted the Sacrament of Penance when He said:
‘ Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins ye shall forgive
they are forgiven them, and whose sins ye shall retain they
are retained.’ ( Jn. xx, 22-23-) We must, then, teach that
the repentance of a Christian after falling into sin is veryj
different from his repentance at Baptism ; for in the former
is contained not only cessation from sin and detestation';;:
of it, not only a contrite and humble heart, but Sacra*
mental confession of sin, at least in intention, and to b$|
made in due season, also priestly absolution and satisfaction
for sin by fastings, almsdeeds, prayers and other devout
practices of the spiritual life. These are not meant to
secure escape from eternal punishment, for that together
with the sin—is remitted by the Sacrament or the desne of
it. But they are meant to secure escape from temporal
punishment, which, as Holy Scripture teaches, is not always
wholly remitted—as it is in Baptism—in the case of those,;;
who, unmindful of the grace of God which they have re¬
ceived, 1 have grieved the Spirit of God ’ ( hphes. iv, 3 °)f
and have not been ashamed ‘ to violate the temple of God.
(/ Cor. iii, 17.) Of this Penance it is written : ‘ Be mind*
ful whence thou art fallen, and do penance, and do the
first works ’ ( Apoc. ii, 5) ; and again : ‘ For the sorrow that
is according to God worketh penance, steadfast into
salvation 5 (II Cor. vii, 10) ; and again : Do penance
TEMPORAL PUNISHMENTS
409
I; , . . and bring forth fruit worthy of penance.’ ” ( Matth.
jii, 2 and 8.)
f “ Can. xxx. If any one shall say that after the reception
; of justifying grace the sins of any penitent sinner are so
remitted, and the guilt of eternal punishment so blotted
out, that there remains no debt of temporal punishment to
be paid in this world nor in Purgatory in the next, before
entrance into the kingdom of heaven can be open to him,
If let him be anathema.”
Trent, Sess. xiv, The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Penance
|. (see under qu. 452) :
“ Can. xii. If any one shall say that together with the
| sin the whole punishment due is always remitted by God,
; and that the penitents’ satisfaction is nothing else than that
| faith whereby they believe that Christ has made satisfac-
Ition for them, let him be anathema.”
question 462.
Trent, Sess. xxv, Decretum de Indulgentiis:
“ Since the power of conferring Indulgences has been
granted by Christ to His Church, and the Church has from
; the very earliest times made use of tliis power divinely
; bestowed upon her, this Holy Synod teaches and orders
, that the use of Indulgences, which are most salutary for
; Christians, and approved by the authority of Sacred
Councils, is to be retained in the Church. It also condemns
under anathema those who say that they are useless or
| who deny that the Church has the power to confer them.
: At the same time the Synod desires that moderation in
granting Indulgences should, according to ancient and
approved custom in the Church, be used, lest through
undue facility in granting them ecclesiastical discipline
should become enervated. With the aim, then, of amend¬
ing and correcting abuses which have crept in on this point
and which have led to the glorious term * Indulgence ’
INDULGENCES
m
being blasphemed by heretics, this present decree la
down as a general principle that all unbecoming questing
for obtaining Indulgences be wholly abolished, for thos
have proved a peculiar source of abuses among Christian
“ As for other abuses arising from superstition, ignorant
irreverence or any other source, these, owing to manifo
corruptions in various places and provinces where thes
abuses have occurred, cannot conveniently be groupe
under a special prohibition. This Synod therefore bic
all Bishops diligently make a list of all such abuses in their
respective churches and place it before their next Pro
vincial Synod, so that when the decisions of the othe
Bishops are known they may straightway be sent to th
Supreme Roman Pontiff, by whose authority and prudenc
it shall be decided what is expedient for the Unive
Church, in order that the benefit of holy Indulgen
may be devoutly, scrupulously and without corruption
administered to all the faithful.”
Clement VI, Constit., Unigenitus Dei Filius, Jan. 25
1343 :
■if
pggg^g;:
»
Wi
ins
“ The only begotten Son of God . . . made unto
wisdom and justice and sanctification and redemptio
(I Cor. i, 30), neither by the blood of goats or of calves bu
by His own Blood, entered once into the holies, having
tained eternal redemption. ( Heb. ix, 12.) You were
redeemed with corruptible things as gold or silver ...
with the Precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb unspo
and undefiled. (I Pet. i, 18-19.) This Blood, then,
know that He shed when slain in His innocence on the a!
of the Cross—not merely a tiny drop of it, though by rea
of His union with the Word that would have sufficed
the Redemption of the entire human race—but as a
flowing stream, so that from the sole of the foot, to the
of the head no soundness (Isa. i, 6) should be found
Him. What an immense treasure, then, He thei
stored up for His Church here warring on earth, lest
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THE TREASURY OF THE CHURCH 4II
merciful shedding of His Blood should be rendered idle,
unprofitable or superfluous. Our merciful Father desired
to lay up treasure for His children, so that thence there
might be 1 an infinite treasure to men, which they that use
become the friends of God.’ (Wisd. vii, 14.)
“ This treasure He entrusted to the Blessed Peter, the
key-bearer of heaven, and to his successors, His Vicars
on earth, to be by them administered for the profit of the
faithful, and, for good and reasonable causes, to be merci¬
fully applied to such as are truly penitent and have con¬
fessed their sins, now for the total, now for the partial
remission of the debt of temporal punishment due for sin,
whether that of all men or that of individuals.
“ To this accumulated treasure the merits of the Holy
Mother of God as well as of all the elect, from the first
just man down to the last, add their meed. Nor need we
fear the exhaustion or diminution of this treasury ; firstly
because Christ’s merits are, as has been said, infinite,
secondly because the greater the number of those who are
thereby brought to righteousness the more does this
treasure increase.” ( Extravag. communes, V, ix, 2.)
Leo X, Bull, Exurge Domirie, June 15, 1520, against the
errors of Luther, condemned Propositions xvii-xxii:
“ xvii. The treasury of the Church, whence the Pope
grants Indulgences, is not the merits of Christ and His
Saints.
“ xviii. Indulgences are pious frauds on the faithful ;
an abatement of good works ; they are to be numbered
among those things which are lawful, but not among those
that are expedient.
“ xix. Indulgences do not, for those who actually win
them, avail for the remission of the penalties due by Divine
justice to actual sins.
“ xx. Those who believe that Indulgences are salutary
ERRORS ON INDULGENCES
EXTREME UNCTION
413
412
and useful and productive of the fruits of the Spirit, are
seduced.
“ xxi. Indulgences are only necessary for public criminals,
and are, properly speaking, granted only to obdurate
and ungovernable people.
“ xxii. There are six classes of people for whom Indul¬
gences are neither necessary nor useful : the dead or the
dying, the sick, those legitimately hindered, those who have
not committed crimes, those who have committed crimes—
though not public ones, those who do the better things.”
(Bullarium Romanum, ed. Turin, 751.)
Pius VI, Constit., Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794, the fortieth
condemned Proposition, against the errors of the synod of Pistoia jj
“ The Proposition which asserts that an Indulgence is
in its strict sense nothing more than a remission of a portion
of the penance imposed on a sinner by the canons—as
though an Indulgence did not, in addition to the remission
of such canonical penance, also avail for the remission of
the temporal punishment due, according to the Divine
justice, to actual sins—is false, rash, derogatory to Christ's
merits, and already condemned in the nineteenth Proposi¬
tion against the errors of Luther.” ( Bullarium Romanum,
ed. Turin, 2715.)
Pius XI, Bull, Infinita Dei misericordia, May 29, 1924,
the Indiction of the Universal Jubilee for the Holy Tear, 1925 :
“ For whosoever repent and fulfil the salutary com¬
mands of the Apostolic See in the course of this great
Jubilee year both wholly recover and receive those merits
and gifts which they had lost by sin ; they are also delivered
from the cruel dominion of Satan and can thus regain the
freedom wherewith Christ has made us free ; finally, they
are, by the accumulated merits of Christ Jesus, of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, fully delivered
from all those penalties which they ought to pay for their
sins and vices.” (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, xvi, 210.)
QUESTION 469.
Lyons II (a.d. 1274), The Profession of faith by Michael
Palaeologus :
I “ The Holy Roman Church also holds and teaches that
; there are seven Sacraments of the Church . . . another
|: is Extreme Unction which, according to the teaching of
St. James, is applied to the sick.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxiv,
I 7°-)
Florence, Decree for the Armenians, a.d. 1439 :
I “ The fifth Sacrament is Extreme Unction ; its material
| part is olive oil blessed by a Bishop. This Sacrament
should not be given except to a sick person whose death
is expected. He is to be anointed in the following places :
31 on the eyes because of seeing ; on the ears because of
hearing ; on the nostrils because of smelling ; on the lips
because of tasting and speaking ; on the hands because of
touching ; on the feet because of walking ; on the reins
because of the pleasure therein residing. The form of
this Sacrament is as follows : ‘ By this holy anointing and
His most kindly mercy may the Lord pardon you what-
11 soever by sight, etc. . . .’ and similarly for the other
members. The minister of this Sacrament is a priest.
Its effect is the healing of the mind, and, in so far as it is
expedient, of the body as well. Of this Sacrament St.
James the Apostle says : ‘ Is any man sick among you ?
Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them
’] 1 pray over him anointing him with oil in the Name of the
Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man,
and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he be in sins they
shall be forgiven him ’ ( Jas . v, 14-15).” (Mansi, Concilia,
) | xxxi, 1058.)
I ic
Trent, Sess. xiv, The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Extreme
I I Unction, ch. i :
“ This anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ
EXTREME UNCTION
EXTREME UNCTION
414
our Lord as truly and properly a Sacrament of the New’
Testament; it is referred to by St. Mark and commended
to the faithful and promulgated by James the Apostle
and brother of the Lord : ‘ Is any man sick among you ?
Let him bring in the priests of the Church, and let them
pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the
Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man ;
and the Lord shall raise him up ; and if he be in sins
they shall be forgiven him.’ (Jos. v, 14-15.) Basing her¬
self on these words, the Church teaches, as she has learned
from Apostolic tradition received (as it were) by hand,
the matter, the form, the proper minister and the effect
of this salutary Sacrament. For the Church has under¬
stood that the material part is oil blessed by a Bishop,
for oil most fittingly represents the grace of the Holy Spirit
wherewith the soul of the sick person is invisibly anointed,
also that the form consists in the words : ‘ By this anointing,
And, etc.’ ”
Innocent III, Ep., Ejus exemplo, Dec. 18, 1208, the
Profession of faith drawn up for the Waldensians :
“ We venerate the anointing of the sick with consecrated
oil.” (P.L., ccxv, 1512.)
Pius X, Decree, Lamentabili sane , July 3, 1907, the forty-
eighth condemned Proposition :
“James did not in his Epistle (v, 14-15), intend to pro¬
mulgate any Sacrament of Christ, but only to recommend
a pious practice ; and if he did recognize in this practice
some means of grace, he did not take it in the rigorous
sense in which the theologians who have formulated the
idea and the number of the Sacraments have taken it.”
(Acta S. Sedis, xl, 473.)
QUESTION 470.
Trent, Sess. xiv, The Doctrine of the Sacrament of Extreme
Unction, ch. ii :
415
“ Further, the thing and the effect of this Sacrament
is set forth in the words : ‘ And the prayer of faith shall
save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up ; and
if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him.’ For this
(1 ‘ thing ’ is the grace of the Holy Spirit, whose unction
® blots out any sins if any yet remain to be expiated, as also
the remains of sin ; it also relieves and confirms the soul
of the sick man by arousing in him a great confidence in
, the Divine mercy, so that the sick person is consoled and
£ thus bears more readily the inconveniences and discom-
I r forts of his sickness ; he also resists more easily the assaults
i of the devil ‘ lying in wait for his heel,’ and sometimes,
II when it is expedient for the salvation of his soul, he recovers
11 his bodily health.”
St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermon, cclxv, 3 :
“ So often as any sickness comes upon a person let him
receive the Body and Blood of Christ : then let him
; anoint his body so that that may be fulfilled in him which
is written : * Is any man sick among you ? ’ (fas. v, 14-15.)
See to it, brethren, for he who in his sickness has recourse
to the Church will merit obtaining recovery of his health
l and pardon lor his sins.” (P.L., xxxix, 2238 inter Opera
I Sti. Augustini.)
QUESTION 479.
I Lyons II (a.d. 1274), the Profession of faith of Michael
| Palaeologus :
I : “ The same Holy Roman Church also holds and teaches
I I that there are Seven Sacraments of the Church . . .
another is the Sacrament of Order.” (Mansi, Concilia r
xxiv, 70.)
QUESTION 473.
For Trent, see under qu. 470.
^15 HOLY ORDERS
Florence, Decree for the Armenians, a.d. 1439 :
“ The sixtli Sacrament is that of Order ; its materi;
part is that by the handing of which the Order is conferred
thus the Priesthood is conferred by handing the chalic
containing wine and the paten with bread, the Diaconai
by the bestowal of the Book of the Gospels ; the Subdiacc
nate by handing the empty chalice with an empty pate
laid on it : and in like fashion for the other Orders h
indicating the things pertaining to their offices. The fori
for the Priesthood is : ‘ Receive power to offer Sacrifice i
the Church for the living and the dead, in the Name <
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghosl
Similarly for the forms of the other Orders, as fully giv
in the Roman Pontifical. The ordinary minister of tl
Sacrament is a Bishop. Its effect is the increase of
so that the recipient may be a fit minister.” (
Concilia, xxxi, 1038.)
Trent, Sess. xxiii, De Sacramento Ordinis, can. iii :
“ If any one shall say that Order or Sacred Ordi
is not really and truly a Sacrament instituted by
the Lord, or that it is a human figment devised by
unlearned in ecclesiastical affairs, or that it is me
rite for the election of ministers of the word of God
the Sacraments, let him be anathema.”
Pius X, Decree, Lamenlabili sane, July 3, 1907, the „
ninth and fiftieth condemned Propositions :
“ xlix. As the Christian Supper took on by degree-
character of a liturgical action, those who presided a£
Supper acquired a priestly character.
“ 1 . The Elders whose function it was to watch ove
gatherings of the Christians were appointed by the Ap<
as Priests or Bishops, so as to provide for the regula
necessary in the growing communities, but not pro
speaking for the perpetuation of the Apostolic mission
authority.” ( Acta S. Sedis, xl, 473.)
Istfl
Jsjjjj
iflgjj
HOLY ORDERS •
417
QUESTION 480.
Trent, Sess. xxiii, De Sacramento Ordinis :
“ Can. ii. If any one shall say that in the Catholic
Church there are not, in addition to the Priesthood,
other Orders both Major and Minor, whereby, as it were
by steps, a man ascends to the Priesthood, let him be
anathema.
“ Can. vi. If any one shall say that in the Catholic
Church there is no divinely instituted Hierarchy composed
of Bishops, Priests and Ministers, let him be anathema.
“ Can. vii. If any one shall say that Bishops are not
superior to Priests, or that they have not got the power to
confirm and ordain, or that their power to do so they
only have in common with a priest, or that Orders con¬
ferred by them without the consent or invitation of the
populace, or of the secular authorities, are invalid, or that
those who have neither been rightly ordained by ecclesias¬
tical and canonical authority, nor commissioned by them,
but came in from elsewhere, are lawful ministers of the
word and of the Sacraments, let him be anathema.”
question 482.
Pius XI, Ep., Ojficiorum omnium, Aug. 1, 1922 :
“ Of all the sacred duties comprised in the fulness of
the Apostolic office, none assuredly is of greater importance
than care in securing that the Church should have a
sufficient supply of good ministers for the fulfilment of her
divine task. For this matter is one which affects the
dignity, the efficiency and the general life of the Church ;
it also affects in the most intimate manner possible the
salvation of the human race ; for the immense benefits
wrought in the world by Jesus Christ our Redeemer can
only be communicated to men by ‘ ministers of Christ
and dispensers of the Mysteries of God.’ ” [Acta Apostolicae
Sedis, xiv, 449.)
418
HOLY MATRIMONY
HOLY MATRIMONY
QUESTION 487.
Florence, Decree for the Armenians, a.d. 1439 :
“ The seventh Sacrament is that of Matrimony, which,
as the Apostle says, is a sign of the union between Christ
and His Church : ‘ This is a great Sacrament, but I speak
in Christ and in the Church.’ (Ephes. v, 32.) The efficient
cause of Matrimony is, generally speaking, mutual consent
expressed by words in the present tense. Three good
things are pointed out in Matrimony : the first is the
bringing up of children, and their education for the worship
of God ; the second is the fidelity which each of the parties
has to observe with regard to the other ; the third is the
indissolubility of Matrimony arising from the fact that it
signifies the indissoluble union between Christ and His
Church. And though separation owing to fornication
committed by one of the parties is allowable, yet it is not
lawful to contract another marriage, since the bond of
marriage, when lawfully entered into, is perpetual.”
(Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1058.)
For Trent, see under qu. 325.
Trent, Sess. xxiv, De Sacramento Matrimonii, can. i :
“ If anyone shall say that Matrimony is not really and
truly one of the Seven Sacraments of the Gospel law and
instituted by Christ, but merely a human figment in the
Church, or that it does not confer grace, let him be ana¬
thema.”
Leo XIII, Encycl., Arcanum divinae Sapientiae, Feb. 10,
1880 :
“ ‘ What our Fathers, the Councils and the Tradition
of the Universal Church have always taught ’ (the Council
of Trent, Proemium to Sess. xiv), must be referred to our
teachers the Apostles ; namely that Christ the Lord
raised Matrimony to the dignity of a Sacrament and at the
same time brought it about that married people—hedged
4 i 9
about and defended by the grace of heaven which their
merits have won for them—should be able to sanctify
themselves in the married state, and in it—marvellously
modelled as it is on the mystical espousals between Christ
: and His Church—has perfected that love which is in
accordance with nature, and more effectively knit together
by the bond of charity, the natural companionship of one
man with one woman.” ( Acta Leonis XIII, ii, 16.)
I St. Cyril of Alexandria, In Joan, ii, 1 :
“ When the marriage was to be celebrated, chastely and
honestly, the Mother of the Saviour was present, and He
too, being invited with His disciples, came, not so much to
I feast as to work a miracle, and, further still, to sanctify
the principle of human generation which is an affair of
the flesh.” ( P.G., lxxiii, 223.)
I
QUESTION 488.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Arcanum divinae Sapientiae, Feb. 10,
I 1880 :
“ Nor ought we to be disturbed by the distinction so
| strongly urged by the Royalists between the marriage
contract and the Sacrament, clearly with the object of
reserving to the Church all that concerns the Sacrament
while handing over the contract to the power and discre¬
tion of the State. But such a distinction, or rather such
a violent disruption, cannot be upheld, for it is an estab¬
lished fact that in Christian marriage the contract cannot
be dissociated from the Sacrament, and that consequendy
II it is impossible to have a real and legitimate contract
without its being by that very fact a Sacrament. For
Christ our Lord raised matrimony to the dignity of a
Sacrament, and marriage is the actual contract provided
I I it be rightly performed. ... It is evident, then, that
every valid marriage between Christians is in itself and
of itself a Sacrament ; nor is there anything further re-
II moved from the truth than the notion that die Sacrament
MARRIAGE INDISSOLUBLE
MARRIAGE INDISSOLUBLE
420
merely adds a certain decoration, or is some feature added
from without and distinguishable and separable from the
contract at men’s whim.” ( Acta Leonis XIII , ii, 25-26.)
QUESTION 49I.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Arcanum divinae Sapientiae, Feb. 10,
1880 :
“ The union of husband and wife has from the very
beginning had stamped and impressed on it two peculiarly
striking characteristics in order that it might more ade¬
quately correspond with the wise counsels of God ; these
are unity and perpetuity. . . . This we see declared and
patently confirmed in the Gospel by the Divine authorityfl!
of Jesus Christ who testified to the Jews and to the Apostles
that Matrimony, even from the time of its institution,
ought to be only between two, a man and a woman, that
of those two was made one flesh, and that the marriage
bond was by God’s will so intimately and closely knit
that it can be neither dissolved nor broken by any man :
‘ A man . . . shall cleave to his wife and they two shall ll
be in one flesh. Therefore now they are not two but one
flesh ’ ( Mt . xix, 5-6).” (Acta Leonis XIII, ii, 12-13.)
St. Augustine, De Adulterinis conjugiis, i, 9 :
“ If, then, we were to say : Whosoever marries a woman
put away by her husband for any other cause than fornic- ' .
ation commits adultery, we should certainly be saying
what was true ; yet it does not therefore follow that we ;
can pronounce him innocent who marries a woman who
has been put away because of her fornication ; we have
not the remotest doubt but that they are both of them
adulterers. And in the same way we pronounce him an
adulterer, who for some other cause than fornication, puts
away his wife and marries another ; yet we do not on that
ground pronounce innocent of adultery a man who puts
away his wife because of her fornication, and then marries
421
another. We regard both of them as adulterers, although
the sin of one is graver than that of -the other.” (P.L.,
xl, 456.)
St. Augustine, De Nuptiis et Concupiscentiis, i, 10 :
“ Now since not only fecundity, whose fruit is off¬
spring, nor chastity, whose safeguard is fidelity, but
also a certain nuptial Sacrament is set before the married
members of the faithful, for the Apostle says : ‘ Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church ’ ( Ephes.
v, 25), it follows that the ‘ thing ’ of this Sacrament con¬
sists in husband and wife remaining inseparable for the
rest of their lives once they have been joined in wedlock,
and in the unlawfulness of separation between partners
except it be because of fornication (Mt. v, 32). But if
a man has done so (taken another wife during the lifetime
of his former partner) then by the Gospel law he is guilty of
adultery, as also is the wife if she marries another (Mt.
xix, 8-9), though not so by the law of this world whereby,
owing to divorce, marriage can be added to marriage
and no legal crime incurred ; in fact, as the Lord Himself
testifies, even holy Moses conceded this to the people of
Israel owing the hardness of their hearts. Between married
people, then, there remains, so long as they live, a
certain conjugal bond which neither separation nor subse¬
quent union with another can remove. But this bond
then remains, not as a bond of fidelity, but as the penalty
of a crime ; just as the soul of an apostate who withdraws
from Christ’s espousals, even though his faith has gone,
does not lose the Sacrament of faith which he received
in ‘ the laver of regeneration.’ ” (P-L., xliv, 420.)
question 492.
Trent, Sess. xxiv, De Sacramento Matrimonii, can. ii :
“ If any one shall say that a Christian can lawfully
POLYGAMY UNLAWFUL
have more than one wife at the same time, and that t
is not forbidden by Divine law, let him be anathema.”
Innocent III, Ep., Gaudemus in Domino, a.d. 1201, to the
Bishop of Tiberias :
“ Now since pagans share their conjugal affection
among several women at the same time it is a reasonabi
question whether on their conversion they are to retai
them all, or, failing that, which one of them. The forme
notion seems discordant with, nay opposed to, the Christia
faith, since in the beginning, out of one rib was made one
woman ; and Holy Scripture tells us that ‘ for this cause
shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave
to his wife, and they two shall be in one flesh ’ (Gen. ii, afi
Mt. xix, 5, Ephes. v, 31) ; it does not say * three ’-m
‘ several ’ but 1 two ’ ; not ‘ he shall cleave to his wives ’
but ‘ to his wife.’ Nor was it ever lawful for a man to
have several wives at the same time unless this was con*
ceded him by divine revelation ; the practice is some*
times even regarded as right, so that just as Jacob was
excused from a lie, the Israelite from theft, Samson from
murder, so too are the Patriarchs and other holy men who
are said to have had several wives at once, excused from
adultery. In fact that this opinion is true is proved eves
by the testimony of the Truth Himself, who in the Gospel
testifies that : ‘ Whosoever shall put away his wife, except
it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth
adultery’ (Mt. xix, 9, Mk. x, 11). If, then, a man is
not permitted to marry another when he has put away
his wife, still less is he allowed to do so when he has not
put her away. Whence it is evident that plurality in
marriage on the part of either sex is to be reprobated,
since the same judgment applies to either. Whosoever,
then, has, according to his rite, repudiated his lawful
wife, can never—since the Truth Himself has in the G
condemned such repudiation—not even when he has b
converted to the faith, lawfully have another wife d
m
I
Wmr
p
m
'
THE PAULINE PRIVILEGE 423
the lifetime of the former unless after his conversion she
refuses to cohabit with him, or, if she does agree to do so,
yet will not refrain from offering insult to the Creator,
or tries to lead him into mortal sin. For in that case he
has to refuse to render to her the debt (of marriage)
when she asks for it, even though such privation should be
proved unjust; for according to the Apostle * a brother
or sister is not under servitude in such cases ’ (I Cor. vii,
15). If, however, on his conversion, she follows his
example and is herself converted before he has, owing to
the aforesaid reasons, married a lawful wife, he must
be compelled to take her. And although according to
Gospel truth ‘ he that shall marry her that is put away
committeth adultery ’ (Mt. xix, 9), yet the husband
who has put her away cannot urge fornication against
her on the ground that she has married another husband
after this putting away unless she has been guilty of some
other fornication.” (P.L., ccxvi, I269ff.)
question 493.
Trent, Sess. xxiv, De Sacramento Matrimonii :
“ Can. vi. If any one shall say that a marriage which
has been ratified but not consummated cannot be annulled
by the Solemn Religious Profession of one of the partners,
let him be anathema.
“ Can. vii. If any one shall say that the Church errs
when she has taught, and now teaches, that according to
the doctrine of the Gospels and of the Apostles the bond
■of Matrimony cannot be dissolved owing to the adultery
of one of the partners, and that neither party, not even
the innocent party who has not by committing adultery
given any ground (for separation), is free to contract
another marriage during the lifetime of the other partner,
and that he who after putting away his adulterous wife
marries another, commits adultery, or the wife who
424 MARRIAGE INDISSOLUBLE
after putting away an adulterous husband marries ano
let him be anathema.”
Pius IX, The Syllabus, condemned Proposition lxvii :
“ The marriage bond is not indissoluble by the law j
nature, and in various cases divorce strictly so-called i
be sanctioned by the civil authorities.” ( Acta Pii IX, I,
70S-)
Leo XIII, Encycl., Arcanum divinae Sapientiae, Feb. ir
1880 :
“ Christ restored marriage to its state of primiti
excellence when He condemned the morals of the Hebr
who had many wives and who misused the permission
put away their wives ; for He sternly forbade anyone
dare dissolve what God had bound by a perpetual bon
of union. When He had solved the difficulties allege
from the decisions given by Moses, He, in the Person
the Supreme Lawgiver, laid down this law for marri
people : ‘ And I say to you, that whosoever shall p
away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall mar
another, committeth adultery, and he that shall marry
her that is put away, committeth adultery ’ ( Mt . xix,
9).” (Acta Leonis XIII, ii, 15.)
' f|j|
QUESTION 497.
Trent, Sess. xxiv, De Sacramento Matrimonii, can. iv
“ If anyone shall say that the Church cannot ins
impediments which make a marriage null, or that
has erred in so doing, let him be anathema.”
question 504.
Trent, Sess. xxiv, De Sacramento Matrimonii, can. xii.
“ If anyone shall say that ecclesiastical judges
nothing to do with matrimonial cases, let him beanathe
THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
425
QUESTION 51 1 .
Trent, Sess. vi, Decretum de Justification, ch. vii :
“ Hence in justification itself a person, together with
the remission of his sins, receives simultaneously infused
into him through Jesus Christ—into whom he is engrafted
—all the following : faith, hope and charity. For faith,
unless there be added to it hope and charity, does not
perfectly unite a person with Christ, nor does it make
him a living member of His Body ; whence it is most
truly said that faith without works is dead and unpro¬
fitable.”
Clement V, Constit., De Summa Trinitate et fide Catholica,
at the Council of Vienne, a.d. 13 ii, against the errors of
Peter John Oliva :
“ As regards the effect of Baptism on children, since
certain learned theologians are found to have held con¬
flicting opinions, some of them saying that by the power
of Baptism children’s sins are remitted but no grace con¬
ferred, while others on the contrary maintain that the
sins of children are remitted in Baptism and also the
virtues and informative grace infused—so far, that is, as
the habit is concerned, not however the use of it then :
We, considering the universal efficacy of Christ’s death
which by Baptism is applied to all the baptized alike,
have, with the approbation of this Holy Council, decided
that the latter opinion is to be preferred, that namely
which holds that in Baptism there is conferred on children
as well as on adults informative grace and the virtues, as
being the more probable and more in harmony and
agreement with the sayings of the Saints and the theological
teaching of modern Doctors.” (Clement, i, 1.)
St. Polycarp, Ep. ad Philippenses, iii :
“ St. Paul, when absent from you, wrote to you letters
which, if you study them closely, will enable you to be
THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
built up in that faith which has been given to you ' which
is the mother of us all ’ (Gal. iv, 29), in hope which follows,
and in that love of God, of Christ, and of our neighbour,
which leads the way. If any one is in these things, then
he has fulfilled the law of justice ; for he who has charity
is far removed from all sin.” ( P.G ., v, 1007.)
St. John Chrysostom, Horn., xl, 2, in Actus Apostolorum :
“ By Baptism we have the starting-point of good
works ; we have received the forgiveness of our sins,
sanctification, a participation in the Holy Spirit, adoption,
eternal life. What more do you want ? Signs ? But
they have ceased. You have faith, hope and charity
which abide. Seek these, for they are better than signs.
Nothing equals charity : ‘ the greatest of these is charity
(P.G., lx, 285.)
M
mi i
IB!!
■
QUESTION 513.
For Benedict XII, see under qu. 62.
St. Clement of Rome, Ep. ad Corinthios, i, 49 :
“ Who can fittingly set forth that bond which is
love of God ? Who can sing the grandeur of His good
in fitting fashion ? The height to which charity can
us can never be told, for charity glues us to God, * c
covereth a multitude of sins ’ (I Pet. iv, 8) : ch
beareth all things, patiently endureth all things
charity there is nothing sordid, nothing proud ; 1
allows of no schism, stirs up no sedition, makes all th
harmonious. In charity are all the elect of God
fee ted ; without it nothing is acceptable to God.
charity did Christ take us to Himself; by reason of
charity which He had for us Jesus Christ our Lord
His Blood for us by the will of God, His flesh for
flesh, His soul for our souls.” (P.G., i, 3ioff.)
mm
THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
427
QUESTION 514.
Alexander VII, The first condemned Proposition, Sept.
24, 1665 :
“At no moment of his life is a man bound by force
of any divine precept concerning those virtues to elicit
acts of faith, hope or charity.” (Du Plessis, Collectio
Judiciorum, III, ii, 321.)
Innocent XI, The sixth, seventh, sixteenth and seventeenth
condemned Propositions, March 2, 1679 :
“ Prop. vi. It is probable that not even once in five
years is a man rigorously bound to make an act of the love
of God.
“ Prop. vii. Such a precept only binds when we are
bound to be justified and have no other means whereby
we can be justified.
“ Prop. xvi. Faith is not reckoned as of itself falling
under any special precept.
“ Prop. xvii. It is enough to make an act of faith
once in one’s life.” (Du Plessis, Collectio Judiciorum, III,
ii, 348.)
QUESTION 515.
Vatican, Constit., Dei Filius, cap. iii, Of the Faith :
“ Since man wholly depends on God as his Creator
and Lord, and since created reason is wholly subordinated
to Uncreated Truth, we are bound to render by faith full
allegiance of our intellect and will to God in His revelation.
Now this faith, which is the starting-point of man’s salva¬
tion, the Catholic Church declares to be a supernatural
power whereby, through the inspiration and assistance
of God’s grace, we believe those things to be true which
He has revealed, not because their intrinsic truth is evident
by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority
of God who reveals them and who can neither deceive
FAITH
nor be deceived. For ‘ faith ’ is, as the Apostle testifies,
‘ the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of
things that appear not ’ ( Heb. xi, i).”
St. Leo the Great, Sermo xxvii, i :
“ When ... we draw nigh to understand the mystery
of Christ’s birth, namely that He was born of a Virgin
mother, we have to put aside all the obscurity attaching
to human reasonings, nor should the fumes arising from
worldly wisdom be allowed to obscure eyes illumined by
faith. For it is on Divine authority that we believe,
the teaching we follow is divine.” (P.L., liv, 216.)
For St. John Chrysostom, see under qu. 373.
QUESTION 516.
Innocent XI, the twenty-second and the sixty-fourth Pro¬
positions among those condemned , March 4, 1679 :
“ Prop. xxii. Only faith in the One God seems to
necessary as a means ( necessitate medii) ; not explicit
faith in God the Rewarder.
“ Prop. lxiv. A person is capable of receiving absolu
tion even though ignorant of the mysteries of the faith ;
even if through culpable ignorance he does not know th
mystery of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Incarnation
of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Du Plessis, III, ii.)
A Decree of the Congregation of the Holy Office, Jan.
1703 :
“ ii. The question is put : whether before admh
an adult to Baptism the minister is bound to explai
him all the mysteries of our faith, more especially w.
he is on the point of death, when his mind may be
turbed. Would it not suffice if the sick person were
promise that if he recovered he would take care to
instruction and put in practice what had been told hi
“ Reply. The promise is not sufficient ; the missio
FAITH AND REASON
429
is bound to explain to an adult, even though sick—provided
he is not wholly incapable of understanding those
mysteries of the faith which are necessary as means
(necessitate medii), more particularly the mysteries of
the Trinity and of the Incarnation.” (Codicis Juris
Canonici, Fontes, iv, 41, 42.)
question 517.
Vatican, Constit., Dei Filius, ch. iv, Of Faith and Reason :
“ Although faith is above reason yet there can never
be any real disagreement between faith and reason. For
it is the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith
into us, and who bestows on man the light of reason.
Neither can God contradict Himself, nor Truth truth.
That there should seem to be some such contradiction is
generally due to the fact that the dogmas of the faith are
not explained in the sense in which the Church under¬
stands them, or that mere conjectural opinions are taken
for the pronouncements of reason. We define that every
assertion contrary, to a truth of illumined faith is wholly
false.”
question 518.
For the Vatican, see under qu. 517.
Pius IX, Encycl.,'Qui.pluribus, Nov. 9, 1846 :
“You, Venerable Brethren, are aware that these
implacable foes to the Christian name, miserably carried
away by the blind fury of a senseless hatred of religion,
have gone so far in their rash opinions that, opening their
mouths in blasphemies against God ’ (Apoc. xiii, 6), they
are not ashamed to teach openly, publicly, and with an
unheard-of audacity, that the holy mysteries of our religion
are but lies and the fictions of men, and that the doctrines
of the Catholic Church are opposed to the well-being and
profit of human society ; nor are they afraid to abjure even
FAITH AND REASON
FAITH AND REASON
430
God and Christ. And that they may the more easily delude
people, more especially incautious and unlearned folk
and seduce them by their errors, they pretend that the road
to prosperity is known to themselves alone, and even
venture to arrogate to themselves the title of philosophers
as though philosophy—which is wholly concerned with
investigating the nature of truth—ought to repudiate those
things which the Supreme and most. merciful Author of
all nature has, out of His singular kindness and mercy,
deigned to reveal to men so that they may win true happi¬
ness and salvation.
“ Hence, by a distorted and most fallacious way of
arguing they never cease from lauding the power and
excellence of human reason, extolling it in opposition to
our most solidly established faith in Christ, which faith
they boldly declare will be wrecked by human reason.
Nothing more crazy, more profane, more in contradiction
with reason itself, could well be devised. For though
faith is above reason, no real disagreement or conflict
between them can ever occur, since both derive their origin
from one and the same source of immutable and eternal
truth, the Great and Supreme Good. Indeed they
mutually support one another ; in such fashion too, that
sound reason can demonstrate, safeguard and defend the
truth of faith ; while faith can free reason from all errors,
marvellously illumining, confirming and perfecting it
by the knowledge it affords us of divine things.
“ By a no less fallacious reasoning, Venerable Brethren,
do these foes of Divine Revelation, extolling human
progress in every way possible, endeavour boldly and sacri¬
legiously to set it in opposition to the Catholic religion ;
as though religion itself were not God’s work but man’s,
or some philosophical discovery which needed to be per¬
fected by human endeavours. The words wherewith
Tertullian deservedly assailed the philosophers of his own
day most aptly fit these unhappy ravers : ‘ They have
devised a Christianity which is Stoic, Platonist and dia-
43i
lectical ’ (De Praescriptionibus, viii). And assuredly, since
our most holy religion is not the outcome of human reason
but was most mercifully revealed to men by God, anyone
easily can see that religion derives its whole strength from
the authority of God who has spoken to us ; it cannot be
deduced from reason nor brought to perfection by it.
“ Yet lest it should be deceived in a matter of such
moment, human reason ought to make diligent enquiry
I about the fact of Divine Revelation, so as to learn for
certain that God has so spoken, and may therefore be able
to render Him, as the Apostle so wisely expresses it, ‘ reason¬
able service ’ (Rom. xii, 1). For who does not know, who
can be ignorant that full credence must be given to God
when He speaks, and that nothing can be more in accord¬
ance with reason than to acquiesce in and firmly adhere to
those things which it is clear have been revealed by God
who can neither deceive nor be deceived ?
f | “ How many, how wonderful and luminous are the
arguments at our disposal whereby human reason ought to
be overwhelmingly convinced that the religion of Christ
is divine, and that 1 the entire foundation of our doctrines
is based upon what has come down from the Lord of
I heaven’ (St. Chrysostom, Horn., i, on Isaias). Hence,
nothing can be mpre certain, established and secure, more
based on solid principles, than our faith. For this faith
is the teacher of life, the guide to salvation ; it drives out
all vices and is the fruitful parent and nurse of all virtues ;
it is confirmed by the birth of its Divine Author and Con-
summator, Jesus Christ ; by His life, death and resurrec¬
tion ; by His wisdom, miracles and prophecies. Every-
* where it shines with the light of a teaching that is from on
high ; it is enriched with the treasures of the riches of
heaven, rendered peculiarly glorious and conspicuous by
so many predictions of the Prophets, the splendour of so
many miracles, the constancy of such a host of martyrs and
the glory of so many Saints. It sets before men Christ’s
laws, and day by day it gains greater force even from the
FAITH AND REASON
cruellest persecutions. It has invaded the whole worl
both land and sea, from the rising to the setting of the
though carrying but the standard of the Cross. It has
destroyed lying idols, has rolled back the dark clouds of
error, triumphed over enemies of every sort. It has brought
the light of the knowledge of God even to the most bar¬
barous peoples, tribes and nations, though differing in
characters, manners, laws and institutions ; it has made
them subject to the most sweet yoke of Christ Himsel
‘ declaring peace to all, bringing good tidings ’ (Isa. lii, 7),
All these things are everywhere so clear, lit up as they are
by the splendour of God’s wisdom and power, that any
thinking mind can readily understand that the Christian
faith is the work of God.
“ Hence human reason, clearly and openly recognizing,
from arguments as luminous as they are solid, that God,
the Author of the said faith, exists, can progress no further,
but, putting aside and leaving behind it all difficulty and
hesitation, must offer to God the complete allegiance of
faith, since it knows for certain that whatsoever that faith
sets before it to believe or do has been taught by God.”
(Acta Pii IX, I, i, 6-9.)
question 519.
For Lateran V (a.d. 1512-1517), see under qu. 60.
Vatican, Constit., Dei Filius, ch. iv: Of Faith
Reason :
“ Not only can faith and reason never be in con
but they mutually support one another, since sound re
can demonstrate the foundations of the faith, and,
minated by its light, can cultivate a knowledge of Di’
things ; while faith can free reason from errors, safe
it and furnish it with varied knowledge. Conseque
so far is it from being the case that the Church is an obs
to the cultivation of the arts and sciences, that on the
trary she helps and furthers them in many ways. She
HOPE AND CHARITY 433
not ignore or belittle the advantages thence accruing to
men’s lives ; rather does she acknowledge that the arts
and sciences, since they have their origin in the God of all
knowledge, do, if righdy handled, lead men by God’s
grace to God. Nor does she in the least prohibit these
sciences from making use, each in their own ambit, of
their own principles and their own peculiar methods.
But while according to them this just liberty, the Church is
particularly careful lest those who cultivate these arts and
. sciences should, by assailing Divine doctrine, fall into
error, or, going outside their proper sphere, should invade
the domain of faith and so cause confusion.”
question 524.
For Benedict XII, see under qu. 62.
St. John Chrysostom, Horn., xiv, 6, in Epistolam ad
Romanos :
“ What, then, saved you ? Only hope in God and the
fact that you have faith in Him with regard to the things
He has promised .you and given you ; you have nothing
else to offer Him. If, then, this faith has saved you, then
hold fast to it now. For since it has brought you so many
good things, it will certainly not deceive you about the
future. For that same faith which made you, dead, lost,
captive and an enemy, into a friend, a son, free, just, and
fellow-heir, and which has bestowed upon you such
things as no one could have expected—how can you
imagine that after such generosity and kindliness He
will refuse to admit you hereafter? . . . What, then, is
hope? Confidence regarding the future.” (P.G., lx, 532.)
question 530.
St. Gregory the Great, In Evangelia, II, xxx, 1-2 :
“ But consider : if any one of you were asked whether
he loved God, he would with absolute confidence and
CHARITY
security answer : I do love Him. But at the very ou
of what has been read to you you heard what the Tr
says : ‘ If any man love Me he will keep my word ’ (J n
xiv, 23). The proof, then, of love consists in exhibiting
good works. Hence in his Epistle the same John says
‘ He who saith “ I love God ” and keepeth not His com-
mandments, is a liar 5 (I Jn. ii, 4). For we truly love G
if at His command we restrain ourselves from our pleasur
But a man who continues to give himself up to his illi
desires clearly does not love God, for in his own will he s_
himself in opposition to Him.
“ . . . When, then, a person truly loves God and keeps
His commandments, into his heart the Lord both comes
and there abides, for the love of His Godhead so penetrates
him that in the hour of temptation he does not withdraw
from that love. Now he truly loves whose mind is not
overcome by consenting to illicit pleasures. For the more a
person is separated from that supernal love the more does
he find pleasure in what is inferior. Hence Christ goes
on to say : ‘ He that loveth Me not keepeth not My words.’
{Jn. xiv, 24).” {P.L., Ixxvi, i22off.)
QUESTION 532.
Trent, Sess. vi, Decretum de Justificatione, ch. 15 :
“ As opposed to certain people of ingenious minds
by deceptive and flattering words lead innocent peo
astray, we have to assert that not only by unbelief, wher
faith itself is lost, but also by any other kind of mortal
which does not involve the loss of faith, men do lose
justifying grace they have received. This we assert
defence of the teaching of the law of God, which exclu
from the kingdom of God not only unbelievers but a
believers who are fornicators, adulterers, effeminate, Ii
with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, rail
extortioners (cf. I Cor. vi, 9-10), and all others who co
mortal sins from which they could, by the help of Di
GOOD WORKS
435
grace, refrain, and by reason of which they are cut off
from the grace of Christ.
“ Can. xxvii. If any one shall say that the only mortal
sin is that of unbelief, or that grace once received can be
forfeited by no other sin—however heinous and grave—
save that of unbelief, let him be anathema.
“ Can. xxviii. If any one shall say that when grace is
forfeited through sin, faith is also lost, or that the faith
which remains is not true faith—though it is true that it is
not a lively faith—or that a person who has faith without
charity is not a Christian, let him be anathema.”
question 534.
Innocent XI, Propositions x-xi condemned by the Sacred
Congregation of the Inquisition, March 4, 1679 :
“ Prop. x. We are not bound to love our neighbour by
any formal interior act.
“ Prop. xi. We can satisfy the command of loving our
neighbour by purely interior acts.” (Du Plessis III, ii,
348-)
QUESTION 540.
St. Augustine, Tract, viii, 1, in Epist. Sti. Joannis, ad
Parthos :
“ Works of mercy, feelings of charity, scrupulous holi¬
ness, inviolate chastity, modest sobriety, to these we must
always cling. ... All the above-named are interior
virtues. Who can enumerate them all ? They are like
the hosts of the Emperor who dwells within, in your spirit.
For just as an emperor does what he wills with his hosts, so
does Our Lord Jesus Christ, when He begins to dwell in
our inner man—that is in our spirit—by faith ( Ephes. iii,
17), use the aforesaid virtues as His servants.” {P.L.,
xxxv, 2035flf.)
436
THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
QUESTION 544.
St. Ambrose, De Mysteriis , xlii :
“ You have received the spiritual seal, the spirit ofwisdo
and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitud
the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of holy fear ■
hold fast, then, to what you have received. God the Fath
has sealed you, Christ the Lord has confirmed you a
has given the pledge of His Spirit in your hearts.” (P. 1 ,.
xvi, 419.)
St. Ambrose, De Sacramentis, iii, 8 :
“ On Baptism there follows the spiritual sealing . .
for after (cleansing in) the Font a certain completion
remains to be added, when, that is, at the priest’s invoca¬
tion, the Holy Spirit is poured out (on you) : the spirit
of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and
fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety, the spirit of
holy fear, the seven powers of the Spirit.” (P.L., xvi, 453.)
question 545.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Divinum illud mums, May 9, i8g
“ Further still, a just man, that is a man leading the
of Divine grace and acting by virtue or faculties in harm
with it, assuredly needs those sevenfold gifts which
fittingly termed the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. For by
bestowal of these the mind is furnished and strengthe
so as to obey more readily and promptly His voice and
impulses. Such is the efficacy of these Gifts that they
lead a person to the heights of sanctity ; indeed so excell
are they that even in the kingdom of heaven they rem
though in more perfect fashion.” (Acta Leonis X.
xvii, 141.)
SINS : GRAVE AND LIGHT
437
QUESTION 549.
Leo XIII, Encycl., Divinum illud munus , May 9, 1897 :
“ ... By the help of these gifts the soul is stirred
up and led on to desire and to obtain the Beatitudes
promised in the Gospel. These, like the flowers which
blossom in the spring, are as it were couriers declaring in
advance the Blessedness that is to abide for ever.” (Acta
Leonis XIII, xvii, 14.)
, , question 563.
St. Jerome, Adv. Jovinianum, ii, 30 :
“ There are light sins, there are grave ones. It is one
thing to owe ten thousand talents, another to owe a farthing.
. . . You' see that if by prayer we can win pardon for
light ones, and if for graver ones it is difficult to win pardon,
then there must be a difference between light sins and grave
ones.” (P.L., xxiii, 327.)
St. Caesarius of Arles, Sermo civ, 2 :
“ Now though the Apostle has mentioned several
capital sins, yet lest we should make you despair we will
tell you briefly which they are : sacrilege, murder, adultery,
false witness, theft, robbery, pride, envy, avarice, and—
if it be cherished for a long space—anger ; also drunken¬
ness, if it be constant ; these have to be reckoned among
the capital sins. For if any person recognizes that some
of these sins have got dominion over him, then unless he
really amends his life and, if he has time, does protracted
penance for them, gives abundant alms and refrains
himself from such sins, then he will not be purified in that
transitory fire of which the Apostle speaks but will be
tormented without alleviation in the fire of eternity.
“ As for the lesser sins, everybody knows them ; yet
since it would take a long time to enumerate them all we
must be content to mention a few of them here. So often
SIN AND TEMPTATION
as a person takes more food or drink than is needful h.
should understand that this comes under the lesser si
Similarly when a man says more than he should, or
silent when he should not be. . . . Now while we are not
to imagine that such sins kill the soul, yet they do—lilt,
pimples and an objectionable itch—disfigure the so
when it is full of them, and they hardly allow the soul
access to the embraces, of its Spouse, not, at any rate
without a great sense of shame. . . .
“ Moreover, if we do not render thanks to God in time
of tribulation, if we do not make amends for our sins by
good works, then shall we abide in the fires of Purgatory
until the aforesaid lesser sins—like wood, hay and stubble—
are consumed. Some one may, perchance, say to this :
‘ I do not mind how long a time I spend there provided
I do get to eternal life.’ But do not any of you, brethren,
speak like that, for the fire of Purgatory is worse than any¬
thing that one can dream of or see or feel in this suffering
world.” ( P.L ., xxxix, 1946, inter Sermones Sti. Augustini.)
question 567.
St. Pius V, Constit., Ex omnibus afflictionibus, Oct. 1, 1567,
the twentieth condemned Proposition against the errors of Baius :
“ No sin is of its nature venial, but every sin deserves
eternal punishment.” (Du Plessis, Coll.jud., Ill, ii, in
question 580.
St. Basil the Great, Sermo in Ps. xxxiii:
“ When temptation to sin assails you I would have
reflect on that awful, insupportable judgment-seat
Christ when the Judge will preside on His high and 1
throne, when the whole of creation will stand bef<
Him and tremble at the sight of His glory. For one
one we shall be brought before Him to give an account
what we have done during our lives. Speedily will
HELL ; THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT 439
terrible and misshapen demons stand beside those who
have committed many crimes during their lives ; they
will show their fiery countenances and will breathe out
fire, thus betraying their cruel mind and purpose ; their
faces will be like the night owing to their own gloom and
their hatred of the human race.
“ Then think of that deep pit, of the indescribable
darkness, of that fire that affords no light, for though it
has the power to burn it lacks light; think of the worms
that discharge their poison, that devour the flesh, that eat
and are never sated nor filled but inflict insupportable
pain by their gnawings. Finally—and this is the worst
punishment of all—think of the disgrace and the ever¬
lasting shame. Dread these things and, overwhelmed by
your dread, keep your soul, as by a bit in your mouth,
from the concupiscence of sin.” ( P.G ., xxix, 370-1.)
question 582.
For Trent, see under qu. 74.
question 583.
For Benedict XII, see under qu. 62.
St. Augustine, De Anima, ii, 8 :
“ Do you mean to say that you were ignorant of what
Vincentius Victor most rightly and most profitably believes,
namely that men’s souls are judged when they quit the
body, and before coming to that Judgment whereat
they will be judged, when their bodies are restored to
them, and will be either tortured or glorified in that
flesh in which they have passed their lives ? Who can
so obstinately shut his ears to the Gospel story as not to
realize, or refuse to believe when he does not realize,
that all this is contained in the story of that poor man
who after death was carried to Abraham’s bosom, and
of the rich man whose torments in hell are there set
forth?” (P.L., xliv, 498.).
G G
44 °
HEAVEN AND HELL
HEAVEN AND HELL
QUESTION 585.
Florence, Decree for the Greeks, a.d. 1439 :
“ Further, if they have departed this life repenting of
their sins and with love of God, but before they have
by fruits worthy of penance, made satisfaction for things
they have done or omitted, then after death their souls
are purified by the punishments of Purgatory; also
that for their relief from such punishments, the suffrages
of the faithful still living avail, namely the Sacrifice of die
Mass, prayers and almsdeeds and other offices of piety
which, according to the Church’s appointment, are wont
to be offered by the faitliful for one another. Also, that
the souls of those who, after receiving Baptism have
never incurred any stain of sin, or have been purified of
such stain while as yet in the body, or—as has just been
stated—after leaving the body, are straightway admitted
into heaven and there enjoy the open vision of God Him¬
self, Three in One, as He is, one person, however, more
perfectly than another according to the diversity of their
merits. But the souls of such as depart, whether in actual
sin or only in original sin, straightway go down to hell,
there to be punished with differing degrees of punishment.”
(Mansi, Concilia, xxxi, 1031.)
St. John Damascene, De Fide Orthodoxa, iv, 27 :
“ We shall, then, rise again, that is with our soul*
rejoined to our bodies which will have shed their corruption;
and we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ ; then
the devil and his angels, as also his man, Anti-christ, as
well as wicked and criminal men, will be cast into eternal
fire ; I call it ‘ fire,’ not because it is a material thing
like our fire ; though what it is, God knows. But they
who have done good things shall, with the Angels, shine
like the sun, in life eternal, with our Lord Jesus Christ,
to see Him and be seen by Him, thence to derive un¬
speakable joy, praising Flim with the Father and the
Holy Spirit throughout endless ages.” ( P.G. , xciv, 1228.)
question 586.
For Lateran IV, see under qu. 179 ; for Florence,
see under qu. 585 ; for Benedict XII, see under qu. 62 ;
for Pius IX, see under qu. 162.
Vigilius, Adversus Origenem, can. ix :
“ If anyone says or thinks that the punishment of the
demons or of sinful men is but for a time, and that its end
will come some day, or that there will be some restoration
or renewal of the demons and wicked men, let him be
anathema.” (Mansi, Concilia, ix, 534.)
question 588.
For Florence, see under qu. 585.
St. Gregory the Great, Dialogue, iv, 43 :
“ Though there is but one fire of hell, it does not torment
all sinners alike ; for there each will experience as much
pain as his sin demands.” (P.L., Ixxvii, 401.)
St. Augustine, De Fide, Spe et Caritate, iii :
“ After the Resurrection, when the General Judgment
is over and completed, these two cities—the City of Christ
and the city of the devil—will come to an end ; both of
them—the city of the good and the city of the wicked
alike—will contain angels as well as men. Those in the
former city will have no will to sin ; those of the latter
no power to do so ; in neither will there be any dying ;
those who belong to the former living truly and happily
in eternal life ; the others lasting on in the misery of
eternal death with no chance of dying, for the members
of either have no end. Yet in that happiness some will
surpass others, just as in that misery some will suffer less
than others.” (P.L., xl, 284.)
PURGATORY
QUESTION 589.
Lyons II (a.d. 1274), the Profession of faith by Michael
Palaeologus :
“ And if they depart this life in charity before having,
by fruits worthy of penance, made, satisfaction for th
sins committed or the good they have omitted, then, a
Brother John has just explained, their souls are purified
after death by expiatory punishments ; for relieving
these sufferings the suffrages of the faithful who are living
avail, namely the Sacrifice of the Mass, prayers, almsdeeds
and other pious offices which, according to the Church’s
appointment, the faithful are in the habit of offering
one another.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxiv, 70.)
For Florence, see under qu. 585,
Trent, Sess. xxv, Decretum de Purgatorio :
“ Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy
Spirit, has, from the Scriptures and the ancient tradition
of the Fathers, always taught in her Councils and has
now repeated in the present Holy Synod, that there is a
Purgatory and that the souls of the faithful there detained
are helped by the suffrages of the faithful, more especially
by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar—this Holy Synod
bids the Bishops take great pains to see that sound doctri
on Purgatory, as handed down to us by the Holy Fath
and the Sacred Councils, is believed, held, taught
set forth by all Christian believers. . . . The Bisb
should also see that the suffrages of the faithful, that
to say, Masses, prayers, alms, and other works of piety s
as the faithful are wont to offer for the departed accor
to the Church’s appointment, should be performed religio
and devoutly, also that such suffrages for the dead as
due owing to testamentary foundations or from any ot
source, should not be performed in perfunctory fashi
PURGATORY 443
but faithfully and accurately carried out by priests,
ecclesiastical ministers, and others whose duty it is.”
For Benedict XII, see under qu. 62.
Leo X, Constit., Exurge Domine, June 15, 1520, against the
errors of Martin Luther, condemned Propositions xxxvii-xl:
“ xxxvii. Purgatory cannot be proved from any
portion of Holy Scripture found in the Canon. X
“ xxxviii. The souls in Purgatory are not secure of
their salvation, at least not all of them ; nor can it be
proved by any arguments or by any Scripture that they
are not in a state in which they can merit or grow in
grace.
“ xxxix. The souls in Purgatory sin without intermission
so long as they crave for rest or shrink from pain.
“ xl. Souls delivered from Purgatory by the suffrages
of the living gain a less degree of beatitude than if they
had made satisfaction, themselves.”
Pius IV, Constit., Injunctum nobis, Nov. 13, 1564; Pro-
fessio Fidei Tridentina :
“ I firmly hold that there is a Purgatory and that the
souls there detained are assisted by the suffrages of the
faithful ; also that the Saints reigning with Christ are to
be venerated and prayed to, and that they offer prayers to
God for us, also that their relics are to be venerated. I
emphatically assert that images of Christ and of the
Virgin Mother of God, as well as those of the other Saints,
should be kept and retained and that due honour and
reverence should be paid them ; also that the power of
granting Indulgences has been left to the Church by Christ,
and that the use of them by the faithful in Christ is
salutary.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxxiii, 22iff.)
St. Gregory the Great, Dialogus, iv, 39 :
“ As each person is as he quits this life, so is he presented
PURGATORY
for judgment. Yet we must believe that for certain
lighter faults there exists, previous to the Judgment, a
purgatorial fire. For the Truth Himself says that if any
man blaspheme the Holy Spirit ‘ it shall be forgiven him
neither in this world, nor in the next ’ ( Mt. xii, 32).
By this pronouncement we are given to understand that
certain sins can be forgiven in this world, and certain
others in the next. For when something is denied in one
case only, the clear implication is that it is not denied
in the other cases. Yet, as I have said, this is only to be
believed in the case of small and trifling sins.” ( P.L .,
Ixxvii, 396.)
'
QUESTION 592.
St. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, XXI, xiii, 16 :
“ Some suffer their temporal punishment in this life
only, some after death, some both now apd then ; yet this
is always previous to the last and most stern Judgment.
Not all, however, are destined for that eternal punishment
which is to follow on that Last Judgment, not those, for
example, who suffer temporal punishment after death. . . .
“ It may well be thought that there are no Purgatorial
punishments save previous to that tremendous Judgment.
But we cannot question but that that eternal fire will be
more terrible for some than for others in proportion to
their differing merits—or rather demerits ; whether that
means that that fire’s power to burn varies according to
the degree of punishment due to each, or that, while its
power to burn is constant, some feel it less than others.”
{P.L., xli, 728, 731.)
QUESTION 593.
For Lateran IV, see under qu. 179 ; for Florence,
under qu. 585 ; for Benedict XII, see under qu. 62.
Vienne (a.d. 1311-1312), Against the errors of the Beg
and the Beguines :
HEAVEN
445
“ v. That every intellectual nature is naturally and of
itself blessed, and that the soul has no need of the ‘ light of
glory ’ uplifting it that it may see God and enjoy Him in
blessedness.” (Mansi, Concilia, xxv, 410.)
question 594.
For Florence, see under qu. 585 ; for Trent, see under qu.
282.
St. Gregory the Great, Moralia, iv, 70 :
“ Just as in this life we perform differing tasks, so doubt¬
less in the life to come there will be degrees in dignity,
so that in proportion as here one has surpassed another in
merit, so there one will surpass another in the reward he
has earned. Hence in the Gospel the Truth says : ‘ In
My Father’s House there are many mansions ’ ( Jn. xiv, 2).
Yet even in those ‘ many mansions ’ there will be in some
way an amicable diversity in rewards ; for such will be
the bond there uniting us all in harmony that the reward
which one sees that he himself has not received he will
rejoice to see realised in the case of another. Thus, though
in the vineyard all did not toil equally (Aft. xx, 10), yet
all alike received the same ‘ penny.’ So, too, with the
Father there are * many mansions,’ yet the unequal toilers
all receive the same ‘ penny ’ ; for while all alike will
enjoy beatitude, yet not all will have led the same sublime
life.” (P.L., Ixxv, 677.)
Aphraates, Demonstrationes, xxii, 19 :
“ Now listen to the Apostle saying : ‘ Every man shall
receive his own reward, according to his own labour ’
(/ Cor. iii, 8). He who has toiled but little will receive in
proportion to his fatigue. He whose course has been a
long one will receive a reward in proportion to that course.
. . . Again, the Apostle says : ‘ Star differeth from star
in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead ’ (/ Cor. xv,
41-42). Surely you realize, then, that even when men
440 HEAVEN AND HELL
‘ enter into life,’ the reward of one will be greater than th
reward of another, the glory of one more eminent tha
that of another, die prize more rich.” ( Patrologia Syriaea,
I, i, 1030.)
St. Ephraem, Hymtii et Sermones, 11 :
“ Those who have done good things shall pass to a
place filled with good things ; but the wicked shall abide
in hell, food for the fire ; the stream of fire will hurry them
away so that each may ‘ go to his own place.’ The demons
will drown one in the mud, never to be drawn out of it;
another they will hurl into the fire, to abide there for ever ;
another will go into ‘ the exterior darkness,’ never even to
see the fire ; yet another will go down into the abyss,
never to climb out again ; but another will pass into the
holy place, there to abide for ever. There some will sit
in the second rank, some in the third, others will be raised
to the fifth, to the tenth, the thirtieth, others again to the
highest places of all. . . . But each will be given by die
Supreme Justice a reward ‘ according to his labour.’ ”
(Ed. Lamy, ii, 424.)
St. Jerome, Adv. Jovinianum, ii, 32-34 :
“ Here we have to toil so as to win rewards propor¬
tionate to our varying degrees of virtue. ... If in heaven
we are all to be equal, then vainly do we humble ourselves
here that we may be the greater there. . . . Why do
virgins persevere, widows toil, the married contain them¬
selves ? Let us all sin then, and after repentance be all
equal to the Apostles ! ” ( P.L. , xxiii, 344ff.)
St. Jerome, Adv. libros Rufitii , i, 23 :
“ Just as one is not termed an ‘ Archangel ’ unless
is chief of the Angels ; so, too, Principalities, Powers
Dominations are only so-called because they have
subordinates of inferior degree. ... In the same
as amongst men there is a hierarchy of dignity owing
HEAVEN AND HELL
447
the diverse character of their work—for Bishops, Priests
and all ranks in the Church have their proper place,
though all are men ; so too amongst the Angels there are
differing merits, though all possess the same Angelic
dignity.” ( P.L. , xxiii, 435.)
St. Augustine, Sermo lxxxvii, 4, 6 :
“ In that reward we shall all be equal, the first last,
the last first ; for that ‘ penny ’ is eternal life, and in eternal
life all will be equal. For while all will shine out by their
different degrees of merit, some more, some less, yet so
far as eternal life is concerned it will be equal in all.”
(P.L., xxxviii, 533.)
St. Augustine, Tract lxvii, 2, in Joann :
“ That ‘ penny ’ is the same for all; the Householder
bids it be given to all who have laboured in His vineyard ;
in it He makes no distinction between those who have
laboured less and those who have laboured more ( Mt.
xx, 9), for by that ‘ penny ’ is signified eternal life where no
one ‘ lives ’ more than another, since in eternity there is no
room for differing degrees in ‘ living.’ But the ‘ many
mansions ’ ( Jn. xiv, 2) signify the differing degrees of
merit in the one eternal life.” ( P.L. , xxxv, 1812.)
448
THE LAST DAY
APPENDIX VII
SOME DISPUTED QUESTIONS TOUCHED ON IN
THE CATECHISM.
i: UNDER QUESTION 112 .
Much discussion exists among theologians about the
state of those who will be living at the Last Day.
Some maintain that those then alive will not die before
the General Judgment but will be judged while still alive.
They argue from the words of the Creed : “ Thence He
shall come to judge the living and the dead,” also from a
well-supported reading of I Cor. xv, 51, where many Greek
manuscripts have : “ We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed.”
Many theologians, however, hold that all then alive
will die, rise again at once and be judged with the rest at
the General Judgment. And certainly Scripture does
say : “ Death passed upon all men, in whom all have
sinned” (Rom. v, 12), and “As in Adam all die, so in
Christ shall all be made alive ” ( I Cor. xv, 22). This
view is regarded by St. Thomas as the safer and the more
probable one ( Summa Theol., I-II, lxxxi, 3 ad im. ; cf.
Billot, De Novissimis, thesis xii, Pere Hugon, De Novissimis,
qu. i, no. 4, Lepicier, De Novissimis, p. igff.)
Consequently if competent authorities regard this latter
opinion as certain it will be easy to reply to Question 112 by
adding to the words “ still living ” some such words as
“ and straightway to die.”
II : UNDER QUESTION 151.
If the Church by any solemn pronouncement, or in the
exercise of its ordinary but universal teaching office,
DIVINE-CATHOLIC FAITH
449
proposes for general acceptance some truth on the ground
that such truth is D ivine ly reve aled, then all agree (a) (see
under Question 148), that in putting forward such a truth
in this way the Church is infalli ble ; (b) that all are bound b
to assent to it with Divine and Catholic 1 faith ; (c) that
those who obstinately refuse to assent to it or who call it
in question are heretical.
But if the Church proposes some truth for general
acceptance, not on the ground that such truth is in itself
Divinely revealed, but by reason of its connexion with
some truth that is Divinely revealed, as, for example,
dogmatic facts or the censures attached to propositions
proscribed or prohibited by the Church (see under Ques¬
tions 150-151), then all likewise agree (a) that the Church
in thus proposing some truth for general acceptance is
infallible ; ( b) that all are bound to assent to such a truth
with an internal assent, so that anybody who obstinately
repudiates it or calls it in question commits a grave sin ;
and ( c ) that such a person, however, is not a heretic strictly
speaking. We accept, then, such a truth by faith, though
not by “ Catholic faith ” ; but then with what kind of
faith do we accept it ?
Many therefore maintain that we assent to such truths
with ecclesiastical faith, since the truths of which we are
speaking are not declared by God but only by the Church
with God’s assistance. 2 Yet others would urge that we
really do believe these truths with Divine faith since we
assent to them owing to the Church’s infallibility ; and
since the infallibility of the Church rests on the word of
God promising His assistance, it seems to follow that in \
the final analysis our faith rests on the word of God ; and \
1 The word “ Catholic ” appears to have been added by the Vatican
Council in order to show that such faith is necessary if a person is to
be considered a member of the Catholic Church ; for a person who
obstinately denies or calls in question any of these truths is a heretic
and consequently no longer belongs to the Catholic Church.
s Cardinal Billot, De Ecclesia, Thesis xviii, and De Virtutibus infusis,
Thesis xiii ; see, too, Palmieri, Schultes, fife.
THE EXCOMMUNICATED
1
what else is that but Divine faith ? 3 Others state the nalure I
of this faith in other terms. 4 -4 Jjjjjjj
In our Catechism we say nothing about this controversy
among theologians. See the answer given to Question 151, ;
III : ON QUESTIONS 158 AND THE FOLLOWING.
It is disputed whether excommunication, which is the I
gravest of all spiritual penalties, implies separation from
the body of the Church so that a person who is excom- j
municated is no longer a member of the Church.
There are three opinions :
The first affirms this both of excommunicated persons
“ who are to be shunned ” (“ vitandi ”) as well as of tolerated j
excommunicates ; the upholders of this opinion refer to
the words : “ If he will not hear the Church let him be ;
to thee as the heathen and the publican ” (Mt. xviii,
17), and they allege in their favour various expressions of
the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, also the form of
excommunication and absolution used in all excommunica¬
tions alike.
The second opinion, while affirming it in the case of
“ vitandi,” denies it in the case of excommunicated persons
who are to be tolerated ; their view is the one generally w j
accepted among recent theologians who explain the pass¬
ages given above as referring only to “ vitandi.”
The third opinion refuses to allow it even in the case of
“ vitandi ” on the ground that in the Codex Juris Canonici,
canons 2257-2267, where the penalties following upon M
excommunication are enumerated, this gravest of. all !
penalties—separation from the body of the Church—is not I
mentioned even in the case of “ vitandi.”
We have followed the second opinion which, as we have
said, is the one most generally held among recent theo-
3 P. Schiffini, S.J., De Virtutibus infusis, Disp. iii, 4 ; P. Marin Sola,
O.P., La evolucion homogema, cap. v.
4 See P. Marin Sola, l.c.
logians ; but if any competent authority feels that the
first or the third opinion has solid probability in its favour
it will be easy for him to correct the answers given to
Questions 15 iff.
IV : ON QUESTIONS 175 AND 296.
It is disputed whether we can pray to the souls detained
in Purgatory to obtain their intercession for us with
God.
The affirmative opinion is not only the one more generally
accepted among theologians, especially more recent
writers, but, what is of graver moment, it would seem to be
in conformity with a general practice of the faithful which
the Church has never opposed. Yet there are theologians
of great reputation, some of whom quote against this view
the words of St. Thomas (Summa Theol., I-II, lxxxiii, u
ad 3 m), where he teaches that “ the souls in Purgatory are
not so much in a state to pray for us as for us to pray for
them.” Not all Thomists, however, agree with this inter¬
pretation of his words, for some think that St. Thomas only
means that the souls in Purgatory have not the power
to practise meritorious prayer—such as we have in this
present life, nor the power of effective intercessory prayer
which belongs to the state of glory. But he does not,
so they maintain, mean to deny to them the capacity for
such prayer as is common to all who have charity, a capacity
for prayer which is a necessary feature of the Communion
of Saints.
We ourselves regard the opinion which maintains that
the Holy Souls can pray for us as certainly the correct one ,
more particularly because, as we have said, it is in harmony
with a practice of the faithful which the Church has never
opposed ; hence the answer we have given to Questions
175 and 296. Still, if any competent authority feels that
this view is unsound or not quite accurate it will be easy
to correct the answers we have given.
452 CHILDREN DYING UNBAPTIZED
V : ON QUESTION 359.
As regards children who die with original sin only, the III
doctrine given in our Catechism is the one generally held '
in the Church to-day, namely that they do not enjoy the
beatific vision of God—in other words they suffer the
penalty of original sin, namely, the pain of loss ; but thatll®!
they do not suffer any penalty for personal sin, namely the
pain of sense. But even then the question arises whether
such children are aware that they have not the beatific
vision of God, and whether in that case they are grieved
by the knowledge of their loss. Opinions differ. For first
of all we have St. Thomas teaching that the souls of such
children are aware that they are deprived of eternal life
and that they know why they are so deprived, yet
he adds that such knowledge does not cause them any
grief ( Commentary on II Sentences , Dist., XXXIII, qu. ii,
art. 2). Later on, however, he changed his opinion and
held that the souls of such children were punished simply
by being deprived of this beatific vision but were un¬
conscious of the fact and therefore suffered no grief from it:
“ The souls of children,” he says, “ are not without that
natural knowledge which belongs to the separated soul
owing to its very nature, but they have not that super¬
natural knowledge which is implanted in us here by faith ;
for they have never here on earth actually exercised faith,
nor have they received the Sacrament of faith (Baptism).
Now while natural knowledge means that the soul is aware
that it is made for created happiness and that such happiness
consists in the attainment of what is perfectly good, yet
that that perfect Good for which man is made should con- ; 1
sist in that glory which the Saints possess, it is beyond
natural knowledge to discover. Hence the Apostle says
that ‘ Eye hath not seen, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man what things God hath prepared for them
that love Him,’ and the same Apostle immediately adds : §p f
‘ But to us God hath revealed them by His Spirit,’ a revela-
GHILDREN DYING UNBAPTIZED 453
tion which belongs to faith. Consequently the souls of
children are not aware that they are deprived of this great
good thing and therefore do not grieve about it, but the
good they possess owing to their nature they possess with¬
out any grief.” ( De Malo, v, 3.)
But some theologians will not admit this. Thus Cardinal
Bellarmine regards it as probable that “ children dying
without Baptism will be grieved at the realization that
they are deprived of beatitude and cut off from the society
of their parents and brethren, shut up in the prison of hell,
and condemned to spend their lives in a perpetual gloom ;
at the same time the grief they experience from this is of
the most trifling kind ” (De amissione gratiae et statu peccati,
vi, 6). Similarly the Theologians of Wurzburg lay down
the thesis that children who die without Baptism are
punished by being deprived of supernatural beatitude,
also by being deprived of natural beatitude, while it is
probable that they are not punished by the pain of sense
though they are saddened by the loss of beatitude ( Theologia
Dogmatica, De Peccatis, no. 134(f). We omit the even harsher
views of certain theologians.
In our Catechism we have given the answer generally
endorsed by theologians, basing ourselves in the main
on the authority of Popes Innocent III, Pius VI and Pius
IX.
VI : ON QUESTION 5 10 .
All agree that the Theological Virtues, Faith, Hope and
Charity, are Divinely infused, as is expressly stated in our
Catechism, qu. 510, and that they cannot be acquired by
any natural means. But the question remains undecided
for the Moral Virtues. To understand the problem
certain points have to be noted :
It is not a question of acts of moral virtue directed to
the attainment of some purely natural end ; for all agree
that natural moral virtue enables us to make such acts
and that for so doing no assistance of Divine grace is
INFUSED MORAL VIRTUES
required. Similarly for acts of moral virtue directec
towards the attainment of a supernatural end, as when a
person chastises his body and brings his body into sub¬
jection by fasting. For all agree that if a person is in a state
of mortal sin such acts can be made by the natural moral
powers under the influence of the Theological Virtues of
Faith and Hope and with the assistance of actual grace ;
also that in order to make such acts there is no necessity
for an infused moral virtue ; though it remains true that
such acts cannot merit for us eternal life, though they do
prepare the way for our being justified. But what if a
person is in a state of sanctifying grace ? For in his case
such acts do merit eternal life. Whence arises the question
whether such acts can be made by the natural moral powers
under the influence of the three Theological Virtues and
with the assistance of actual grace, or whether it is necessary
to have an infused moral virtue.
The Thomists hold that for such acts infused moral
virtues are absolutely necessary and that these are infused
at the same time as sanctifying grace and are, with sancti¬
fying grace, lost by sin. These theologians rely on the
authority of Pope Innocent III and of the Catechism of the
Council of Trent , 5 as well as on theological arguments.
For, so they argue, the faculties of the soul when left to
nature’s forces are, even when acting under the influence
of the Theological Virtues and with the help of Divine
grace, unable to elicit acts proportioned to that supe
8 Pope Innocent III, in cap. 3, Majores, De Baptismo : “ As for
argument alleged by opponents, namely that faith and charity or
other virtues are not infused into children since they cannot conse
to it. Many refuse to concede this absolutely since this very poi
is in dispute among learned theologians, some of them maintaini
that by the power of Baptism sin is forgiven in the case of childr
though grace is not conferred upon them, while others hold that th
sins are forgiven them and the virtues are infused into them, thou;
children have only the habit of the virtue, not its use, until they co
to the age of reason ; see the Catechism of the Council of Trent : ‘ H
(namely at Baptism) is added the glorious company of all the virt
which, together with Divine grace, are infused into the soul ’ (
ii, 51 )-”
INFUSED MORAL VIRTUES
455
natural good which is eternal life. Consequently it be¬
comes necessary for God to infuse into the faculties of the
soul habits capable of producing such acts, and such
habits are the Moral Virtues.
This view held by the Thomists is generally accepted
by theologians. But the Scotists maintain that it is not
necessary to hold that the Moral Virtues are infused by
God. They base themselves on the authority of the Council
of Trent (Sess. vi, cap. 7), where the Council, while laying
down that in justification the Theological Virtues are
infused, says nothing about the Moral Virtues. They
add, too, a theological argument : there can be no question
but that after being justified a righteous person can,
under the influence of the Theological Virtues and
with the help of actual grace, elicit acts of the Moral
Virtues by his purely natural powers. For if, as all
admit, he can do so previous to justification, then equally
or even more so must he be able to do so after justification.
And that after justification such acts can merit eternal
life can be argued from the Council of Trent (Sess. vi,
can. 32),® as also from the general teaching of theologians
on sanctifying grace. For through sanctifying grace a
person is uplifted so that he becomes a living member of
Jesus Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit, a sharer in the
Divine nature, an adoptive son of God. “ But if a son,
then also an heir of God,” says St. Paul {Gal. iv, i) 7 ; in
other words through sanctifying grace such acts are now
the acts of sons of God ; but if the acts of a son then also
are they acts of one who is heir to the glory of heaven ;
and if acts of an heir to the glory of heaven then they are
meritorious of eternal life.
On this point—as indeed on many other points affecting
the infused or acquired virtues which are much discussed
by theologians—all Catechisms are silent.
9 See the words of the Council of Trent given under Qu. 282, p. 142
above, also those of St. Augustine under Qu. 66, p. 79 above.
7 The Apostle says the same, Rom. viii, 16ff.
H H
456
HELL AND PURGATORY
VII : ON QUESTIONS l8o AND THE FOLLOWING.
It will hardly be amiss if we give here briefly some of
the various opinions held about The Last Things and
especially about Hell and Purgatory.
As regards Hell we must believe as of Divine Faith :—
1. That there is a Hell appointed for the demons and
for those who die with even only one mortal sin.
2. That in Hell the damned suffer a twofold punish¬
ment—the pain of loss and the pain of sense, especially
that of fire.
' -|3. That the pains they suffer in Hell are eternal, without
end or mitigation.
4. That these pains, however, are not the same for all
'S\ but differ according to the number and gravity of
the sins whereby they have deserved eternal dam¬
nation.
It is theologically certain, though not ‘ of faith,’ that
the fire of Hell is a real or corporeal, not a metaphorical
fire, see Hugon, O.P., De Novissimis , qu. Ill, i, no. 7 :
“ The Church has nowhere defined the nature of the fire,
but the teaching of theologians who speak of this fire
as real and not a figure of speech has been so accepted by
the Church that to hold the contrary would be intolerably
rash.” The same is held by Cardinal Lepicier, De
Novissimis, qu. IV, art. 2 ; also by Cardinal Billot, De
Novissimis, qu. Ill, thesis 4. There exists also a reply
given by the Sacred Penitentiary to the question “ whether
penitents can be absolved if they only allow of a met¬
aphorical and not a real fire of Hell ” ; the Reply runs f§|j
“ such penitents are to be carefully instructed and if
obstinately holding to their views cannot be absolved,”
April 30, 1890.
But theologians freely discuss how it is possible for real
fire to affect pure spirits such as are the demons and the
PURGATORY
souls of the damned previous to the resurrection of the
body ; of what nature, too, this fire is ; where Hell is
situated, above the earth or beneath it ; whether it is
a place or a state, etc.
As regards Purgatory, it is of faith :—
1. That there exists a Purgatory where are detained
the souls of such as have departed this life without *
mortal sin but who have yet to pay a certain debt of
temporal punishment.
2. That in Purgatory souls are punished by the pain
of loss as well as by the pain of sense ; they are, that /
is, deprived for a time of the beatific vision of
God and they suffer other grave pains.
3. The pains they endure in Purgatory vary in length J
and intensity in proportion to the debt of temporal'
punishment due to them.
4. Their sufferings can be mitigated or shortened by >
the suffrages offered for them.
It is not “of faith” that the souls in Purgatory are /tX ■ V
tortured by a real or corporeal and not merely by a met-
aphorical fire. The Council of Florence was loth to
define this, since the Greeks held that the souls in Purgatory
did not suffer pain of sense from a real or corporeal fire
but rather from the gloom of that realm of woe. . . .
Even to this day in the Eastern Churches the Catechisms
say nothing about the fire of Purgatory, and the same is
true in the Latin Church : see the Catechism of Pope Pius
X as well as several others.
On the other hand the general feeling of the faithful
in the Latin Church, as well as the teaching of theologians, 8
admits of suffering by a real fire ; these theologians base
themselves on the authority of St. Gregory the Great and
8 See Hugon, O.P., De Novissimis, qu. IX, art. 5, no. 3 ; Cardinal
Lepicier, De Novissimis, qu. V, art. 3, no. 1 ; Cardinal Billot, De
Novissimis, thesis 7, also Bellarmine, Suarez, etc.
HELL AND PURGATORY
458
of St. Gregory of Nyssa. 9 Consequently in our own
Catechism (qu. 590) we have said nothing of the fire of
Purgatory ; but if any competent authority feels that the
existence of such fire should be maintained it can easily
be added to the answer given to that Question.
Theologians freely discuss whether, granted that there
is a fire of Purgatory, it is of the same nature as the fire
of Hell though with less excruciating power ; also how it
can affect souls separated from the body ; where precisely
Purgatory is situated ; whether it is a place or a state ;
whether, too, the guilt of venial sin is remitted by the
fire of Purgatory, for the Angelic Doctor teaches that
venial sins are remitted in Purgatory not by the fire, but
an act of love of God expressly detesting the venial sins
committed during life. (Be Malo, VII, ir.)
In accordance with what we laid down in our Preface
we say nothing in this Catechism about these questions still
disputed by theologians. Rather than waste time in
discussing such things let us strive with might and main
to live well as befits Christians and so escape the pains of
Hell, even—so far as human frailty will allow—by penance
and the works of mercy let us strive to escape the pains
of Purgatory or at least to render them shorter and milder.
9 St. Gregory the Great, Dialogue, iv, 3g ; “ Yet we have to believe
that there is, previous to the Judgment, a purgatorial fire for certain
light faults.” St. Gregory of Nyssa, Oratio pro mortuis, says : " The
soul that has departed from the body cannot become a sharer in the
.Godhead unless the fire of Purgatory entering into the soul removes
its stains.” (P.G., xlvi, 530.)
INDEX
Abduction, 194
Abel, 239
Abortion, 125m
Abraham, 239-240
Absolution, conditions for, 428
— definition of, 50, 182
— effect of, 30
— necessary, 68
— part of Penance, 46, 182, 184
— ratified in heaven, 393
— refused or deferred, 182,183m
Abstinence, the law of, xxiii, 29,
30. ' 33 . 134
Acedia, 214m
Achaz, 242
Actio Catholica, io6n.
Acts before and after Holy Com¬
munion, 8
— of Faith, Hope, Charity and
Contrition, xxiv-xxv, 8
- are necessary, 427-8
Actual grace, 33, 141-3
— sin, 57, 210 ; Hell is the
punishment for, 363
Adam and Eve, our first parents,
15, 78, 238
— formation of, 78, 238, 273
— original justice of, 15-16, 78-
80, 238
— sin of, 16, 78-80, 275-279
Adamantius on “ Outside the
Church there is no salva¬
tion,” 312.
Adoption, sonship of, 79, 151
Adultery, xxiii, 25-26, 126
Affinity, 194
Agape, 306
Age of reason and the law ot
Abstinence, 30
Age for first confession, com¬
munion, 136, 227-234,
238-239 ; for marriage, 194
Albigenses, decrees against the,
307 , 325 , 361 , 375 , 383
Alexander I on the Holy Euchar¬
ist and the Mixed Chalice,
381
Alexander VII on the necessity of
acts of Faith, 427
— confession of Forgiven Mortal
Sins, 405
— Duelling, 336
— Jansenism, 315
All Saints, Feast of, is a Holiday
of Obligation, 132
— Vigil, Fast of the, 134
Almighty God, 13, 14, 74
Ambrose, St., on Baptism of
Desire, 317
— confirmation, 436
— gifts of the Holy Spirit, 436
— St. Peter and the Church, 312
— redemption for all, 291
Amen, 115, 310
Americanism, 320
Anathemas of St. Cyril, 286
Angels, creation of, 14, 75, 264
— devotion to, 76
— excellence of, 14
— fall of, 4n., 15, 266
— guardian, 4m, 15, 76, 267
— hierarchy of, 266
— ministry of, 15, 76
— nature of, 15, 75, 266
— prayer to guardian, 76
“ Angelic Salutation,” The, 34,
150
Anger, 214
Animals, man’s dominion over
and duty to, 78m
Annunciation, the, xxv, 37, 88n.
“ Anointed,” 84
“ Anointing of the sick,” 413
459
Anselm, St., on Mary, Mother of
us all, 352
Anthropomorphic expressions, 273
Antonelli, Cardinal, on the age of
first communion, 231
Antoninus, St., on the age for first
communion, 230
Aphraates, on the degrees of
Glory, 445
Apostates, 106, 200
Apostles, Bishops succeed to, 367,
403, 416-417
— and the Church, 90, 97
— ordained Priests, 42, 164,
379
— and Pentecost, 19
— under St. Peter, 97m
— are “ sent,” 243-244, 297
— Creed, xxi, 3-5, 13-23, 69-
”5
Apostles SS. Peter and Paul, the
feast of, a holiday of obliga¬
tion, xxi, 3, 70
— founded the Church of Rome,
251
— taught Holy Eucharist to the
Roman Church, 381
Apostolic See, authority of, 104,
187, 302-304
— free from error, 256
— constitutions of, 315
— doctrine, 256
— Primacy of, 300, 302
— recourse to, 302
— succession in, 299, 302
— tradition, 385, 392, 414
Apostolicity, 100
Appeals to Rome, 300, 303
Aquileia, the Council of, 300
Aquinas, St. Thomas, on the age
for first communion, 230
— charity, 202n.
— contrition, 178m
— detraction, 129m
— Lord’s Prayer, 146m
— man brought up in ignorance,
I07n.
— man made to the image of
God, 7gn.
— pride, 214m
— resurrection body, 114m
Aquinas, St. Thomas, on sin
infinity of, 87n
— unbaptized children, 277-278
Archbishops, g8n.
Armenians, decrees for the, 63,
157 . 354 , 357 , 359 , 361,
365, 375 , 377 , 381, 382,
4 I 3> 416, 418
Articles of the Creed, meaning of,
! 3 > 7 1
Ascension, the, xxvi, 5, 91, 132,
269, 294
— Feast of, is a holiday of obliga¬
tion, 132
Ash Wednesday, 30
Assent of faith, 251, 273, 316
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, The, t6, 82
— Feast of, is a holiday of obliga¬
tion, xxvi, 132
— Vigil of, is a fasting day, 134
Athanasian Creed, the, 247
— on Hypostatic Union, 86n.
Athanasius, St., on the conse¬
cration of the Holy Euch¬
arist, 372
— the fall of the angels, 266
— the Incarnation, 233, 290-291
Atonement, by man impossible, 87
— fact of, 18, 84-85, 88-89, 92,
291
— mystery of, 12, 64
— nature of, 89, 291-293
— promised, 82
— and the Holy Spirit, 290-291
Attributes of God, 4, 13-14, 71-
72, 258-260
Attrition, io8n., 178, 187, 395-
396 , 398-399
Augustine, St., on Adoption, 274
— Baptism, 356
— Baptism of Desire, 317, 356-
357
-by laity, 361
— Catholic Church, 332, 311~
312, 316
— Church and Heretics, 311
— Church, the only true, 312J
— Church, outside the, there is
no salvation, 310
— Contrition, 396
INDEX
461
Augustine, St., on Cross, the, 247
— Dead, prayers for the, 325
— Divorce, 420-421
— Eternal life, 441
— Free Will, 265
— Glory, Degrees of, 447
— God, existence of, 250
— Happiness, 78m
— Heathen, virtues of the, 346
— Heaven and Hell, 441
— Heretics are not Catholics,
316-317
— Holy Orders, 357
— Interior Virtues, 435
— Justification, 274
— Laity and Baptism, 361
— Love of God, gon.
— Lord’s Prayer, 146m
— Mary, the Blessed Virgin, and
original sin, 280-281
—— Mother of us all, 353
— Moral Virtues, 435
— Particular Judgment, 439
— Prayer, 351
— Purgatory, 444
— Repentance, 396
— Sacraments, 357
— Salvation for all, 265
— Schismatical Baptism, 357
— Spirit, the Holy, 296
— Trinity, the Holy, 261-262
Augustinus, the, of Jansenius, 315
Avarice, 213
Babylon, 242
— captivity in, 243
Baius, errors of, 271-272, 398
Baltzer, errors of, 268
Balsam, 161
Baptism, by aspersion, 1580,
— of blood, 160
— character conferred, 155, 358
— of Children, 158, 275, 277,
362, 368
— “ dead,” a sacrament of the,
39 , 154
— deferred, 157
— of desire, 160
— in Eastern Church, 157m
— effects of, 425
— errors on, 359, 362-363
Baptism, through fear, 358
— Godparents, 155-156, 195
— instituted by Christ, 359
— by the laity, 158, 361
— matter andform of, 157, 359-
361
— minister of, 36, 40, 158, 360,
362
— name given in, 160
— necessary, 40, 101-102, 108,
J 39 , * 56 , 159 , 358 - 359 ,
363
— promises in, i6in.
— not to be repeated, 40, 155,
363-364
— rite of, 157m, 158
— a Sacrament, 39, 152
— sins after, 6, 46, 47, 175,
400
— and matrimony, 194
— and original sin, 160, 277-
278
Baptized people “ outside the
Church,” io6n.
Basil, St., on Antitypes, 375
— Baptism, 359
— Communion, 390
— Hell, 438-439
— Last Judgment, 438
Beatific Vision, and the Angels,
15 , 75
— Benedict XII on, 308-309
— Council of Florence on, 447
— degrees in, 445-447
— and original sin, 160, 277-
278
— the promise of, 24
— a supernatural gift, 77, 445,
.451
Beatitudes, the, 16, 206, 242-244,
457
Beguines and Beguards, errors of
the, 444
Belief, on Divine Authority, 428
— alone is not sufficient, 115
— the object of, 428
— unbelief, 434—435
— cf. s.v. Faith
Bellarmine, Cardinal St. Robert,
on the fire of hell, 456
— his Shorter Catechism, xii, 224
Bellarmine on unbaptized chil¬
dren, 453
Benedict XII on Beatific Vision,
269-270
— Trans-substantiation, 377
Benedict XIII on the age for First
Communion, 231
Benedict XIV on the application
of Masses, 387
Benedict XV on Faith, 247
— Our Lady and a Good Death,
353
Benignity, 209
Bernard, St., on devotion to our
Lady, 15m.
— on recourse to the Apostolic
See, 256
Bethlehem, xxv, 244
Bible, cf. s.v. Scripture
Billot, Cardinal, on the Assent of
Faith, 274
— on those living at the Last
Day, 448-449
Bishops succeed the Apostles,
306, 403. 416-417
— and the Holy Eucharist, 388
— functions of, 255-256, 302
— St. Ignatius of Antioch on,
3 ° 5 j 388
— jurisdiction of, 302
— and Orders, 105, 416
— position of, 305, 403
— and Priests, 417
— and Sacraments, 366
— and the Holy Spirit, 302
— teaching authority of, 105
Blasphemy, 119, i2on.
Blessed, the state of, in, 219 , cf.
s.v. Heaven, Beatific Vision,
Paradise
— Sacrament, visits to, 174m,
cf. s.v. Holy Eucharist
Blessing of the Sick, xxiv
Bonaventure, St., on Fear of Hell,
93 * 1 -
Boniface I on Semipelagianism,
875
Boniface VIII on the Primacy of
the Apostolic See, 304-305
— on the relations of Church
and State, 305
Caesarius of Arles, St., on the
distinction in sins, 427-428
— Extreme Unction, 415
Calumny, 129
Calvary and the Mass, 43, 166-
169, 370, 384-385
Cana of Galilee, the miracle at,
„ 373 . 4'9
Canon of the Bible, the, 202-203
Capital or deadly sins, Q12-214
Captivity, Babylonian, 243
Cardinal Virtues, the, 56, 204-205
Catechism, Bellarmine’s, xii, 234
— before First Communion, xii,
xiv
— Classes, xivn., xvn., 122m, 5
' 37 , 340
— of the Council of Trent, xxi,
224-225
— Ignorance of, 235
— Indulgences for, xix, 236
237
— learning, 232
— Shorter Catechism, The, 223-225
Cathedra, Ex, 103, 313
Catholic, “ Catholic Action,
io6n.
— Church, 310, 31 x, 312
— faith, 247, 314
— Universal, 300, 302
Catholicity, a note of the Church,
100
Chalcedon, Council of, in the
Incarnation, 282-283
Chalice, the mixed, 372, 381-382
Cham, 239
Chanaan, 240
Character conferred by Sacra-
ments, 40, 155, 357-358
Charity, acts of, xxv, 8
- their necessity, 198, 427 •
— definition, 54, 202
— errors on, 427, 435
— love of enemies, 204-255
- God and neighbour, 54
55, 202-203, 434-435
- selves, 54, 203
— as a Fruit of the Holy Spirit,
209
— a theological virtue, 53, 196
Chastisement, 265
INDEX 463
Chastity, the virtue of, 127-128,
130
— sins against, 26
— as a Counsel of Perfection,
139
Children, baptism of, 158, 362
— burial of, 229
— Christ and, 226
— duties to parents, 25, 26, 121-
122
— First Communion of, 226-
234
— General Communion of, 233,
xivn.
— Limbo of, 363
— unbaptized, 452, 278
— Viaticum, 229, 233
Choice of a state of life, 125m
Chosen People, the, 239-241
Christian, 161, 247, 365-367
Christ, Ascension, 19, 91-92, 245,
285, 293-294
— birth and early life, 85m, 244
— and children, 226
— “ Christ,” 84, 239
— Conception of, 5, 17, 85
— created, 88n.
— descent into Hell, 18, 90, 245,
293
— died for all men, 291-293
—- freely, 291-292
- as God-man, 8gn.
— false ideas of, 351
— fulfilment of prophecy, 83m
— Godhead of, 83-84
— Head of the Church, 97, 99
— human nature of, 5, 17-18,
83-88
— “Jesus,” 87
— Judge, 19, 59,92-95,216, 284
— King, 84-85, 281-282
— Lawgiver, 424
— life and death of, 5m
— “ Our Lord,” 85
— Mediator, the One, 277, 327
— Messias, 33-34, 83, 239, 243
— Passion of, 18, 89-90, 244-
245, 291-293
— Priest and Victim, 292, 376,
37.8
— reality of His sufferings, 292
Christ, Redeemer, 5, 88ff., 290-
294
— Resurrection, 18, 91, 245
— satisfaction by, 86
— the “ Word ” of God, 85, 87,
285, 290-291
“ Christian,” 11, 63
Christian doctrine, knowledge of,
136
Christianity, spread of, 246
Christians, duties of, 29, 32, 414
Christmas Day, a holiday of
obligation, 132
— the Vigil a fast-day, 30, 134
“ Christotokos,” the term, 286
Chrysostom, St. John, on Angels,
the, 264
— Authority of the State, 333-
334
— Baptism, 426
— Bad Communions, 389
— Confession, 400
— Creation, 373
— Despair, 433
— Faith and Confidence, 433
— Grace and Free Will, 350-351
— Holy Eucharist, 374, 388-389
— Last Judgment, 295
— Penance, 383-384, 399
— Prayer, 350-351
— Providence, 204
— Resxrrrection of the Dead, 326
— Revelation, 431
— Sacrifice of Calvary, 292
— Sloth, 350
Church, the, abides for ever, 246,
306
— arguments in favour of, 311
— arts and sciences, and, 314,
432-433
— Bishops in the Church, posi¬
tion of, 105, 302, cf. s.v.
Bishops
— “ Body ” of, 99
— Catholic, 310
— definition of, 98
— deposit of faith, and the, 69,
255
— education and, 123, 230-
236, 311-312
— faith in, 40, 95-96
Church, the, founded by Christ,
20, 96, 202, 245, 318
— Ghost, and the Holy, 20
— government of, 20, 96-97
— heresies, and, 311-313, 316-
317
— infallibility of, 21, 102-104,
449
— interpreter of sacred scripture,
255
— jurisdiction of, 22, 105
— the “ Kingdom of God, ”245-
246
— marks of, 100
— members of, 106-108
— militant, 96m
— missionary work of, 255, 311
— Mother Church, Holy, 246,
332
— Mystical Body of Christ, the,
■ 55 . 352 - 353 = 359 . 389
— necessary, 99
— one and only, the, 307-311,
375
— Order, the power of, 22, 105
— “ Outside the Church there is
no salvation,” 22, 99, 106-
108, 304, 307-310, 317-
318, 364, 375
— and St. Peter, 20-21, 97-98,
ioo-toi, 297-304, 307,
312-3x3
— and philosophy, 322-323
— powers of, 21, 101
— prayer for, 148
— prayer of, 145
— precepts of, 28-32, 131-138
— propagation of, 246
— Roman, 21, 297-305
— and schism, 312-313, 316-
30 .
— a society, 96, ioin., 206,
318-323, 332
— soul of, 99, 296
— and Holy Spirit, 20
— and State, 108-110, 318-323
— sxxffering, g6n.
— supernatural, 332
— teaching authority of, 21, 31,
102, 307, 314, 331
— treasury of, 185, 411-412
Church, the, triumphant, g6n.
— unity of, ioon., 207, 309-
312, 375
— universal, 207, 311
— work of, 246, 311
Circumcision, unlawful, 362
— of our Lord, the Feast of the,
a holiday of obligation, 132
Circumstances of sins, 180, 403
“ Cities, the Two,” 441
Civil Authorities, the, 108-110,
123, 3 ° 5 = 319 - 323 , 333 -
336
Class-war, Leo XIII on, I22n.
Clean of heart, 208
Clement V on Baptism, 434-435
— on the Soul, 268
Clement VI on Indulgences, 410-
4x1
Clement XI, the errors of Quesnel
on Original Justice, 315
Clement XIII, Indulgences for
Catechists, xi, 236
Clement of Rome, St., on Charity
and Schism, 426
Clergy, support of the, xxiii, 32,
138
Commandments of the Decalogue,
24-27, 116-130
— are not impossible, 350
— their binding force, 327
Communion, Holy, acts before
and after, 8
— bad, 389
— bound to receive, when, 173
— confession before, 390
— daily, 338, 386, 390
— devout reception of, 44-45,
137 = J 7 Q-X 72 , 389-390
— Easter, at, 31, 105-106, 173
— effects of, 45, 172-173, 371,
373, 387-388
— fasting, 8, 44, 171
— frequent, 135m
— First Communion, xii-xiv,
135 - 137 = 226-234
— kinds, in both, 135m, 380
— meaning of, 169-172
— mortal sin, receiving in, 171
— preparation for, 7, 44-45,
172, 390 , 389
INDEX
465
Communion, Holy, receiving
Service in the day, 173
— spiritual, 43, 169
— thanksgiving after, 172, 390
— of Saints, 22-23, 110-112
Concomitance, 167m, 380
Concupiscence, 80, 86n., 127,
278-279
Confession, annual, 30-31, 135,
i 37 -t 38 , 337 - 338 , 402-
403
— auricular, 48, 180, 400, 402-
403
— bad, 31, 48-49, 179, 181-
182, 340
— before Holy Communion, 390
— definition of, 48, 405, 408
— duty of, 406
— errors on, 367, 376-377, 4°5
— frequent, 128, 135m
— free and necessary material,
175-176
— general, i8on.
— integral parts of, 393-394,
405
— integrity of, 48-49, 180-181,
394 = 396 , 400-401, 403,
4°5
— of mortal sins, 6, 49, 175, 394,
401,403=405
— obligation of, 136-138
— public, 402
— requirements for, 49
— satisfaction, 50, 396-397,
405
— seal of, 50, 183-184, 407
— of venial sins, 6, 178
— vocal, 48, 180
Confessors, duties of, 183-184,
337 = 403 = 407
Confidence in God, 433
Confirmation, age for, 162
— St. Ambrose on, 436
— at baptism in Eastern
Churches, 162m
— character in, 357-358
— conditions for, 41
— Cyril of Alexandria, St., on,
367
— Cyril of Jerusalem, St., on,
367
Confirmation, definition, 6, 41,
x6i
— effects of, 366
— errors on, 366-367
— Florence, Council of, on, 365
— God-parents, 156
— in the Latin Church, 162
— Leo XIII on, 436-437
— Lyons II on, 364-365
— matter and form of, 161, 365
— minister of, 162, 366-367
— necessity of, 41, 42, 162
— not repeated, 40, 41, 155,
161, 354 - 357 . 365-367
— a Sacrament, xxiii, 153
- “ of the living,” 154
— in mortal sin, 162
— Trent on, 366
— Pius X on, 367
Congregation of the Council,
Decree of the Sacred, on
Holy Communion, xiii,
338 - 339 , 390
— of discipline, on confession,
339
— Roman, their authority, 104,
316
Consanguinity, 194
Consecration, the, 42,163,165,171
Conscience, examination of, 6,
46-47, 174-177
Constance, Council of, on the
Holy Eucharist, against
Wyclif, 367
Constantinople, the Second Coun¬
cil of, on the title “ Theo¬
tokos,” 286
— the Third Council of, on the
Incarnation, 283, 287
Consubstantial, 73, 257, 263, 282,
284, 287
Continence, as Fruit of the Holy
Spirit, 209
Contrition, acts of, xxv, 8, 46-47,
179 X 1 -
— definition of, 47, 177, 394
— and desire of the Sacrament
of Penance, 357, 395
— errors on, 396-399
— kinds of, 47-48, 177-179
— necessity of, 6, 46, 175, 391
Contrition, perfect and imperfect,
47-48, 177-179
— Trent, Council of, on, 391,
393
Contumely, iign.
Co-operation in the sins of others,
125, 215
Corporal works of mercy, 55,
203-204
Corpus Christi, Feast of, a holiday
of obligation, 132
Counsel, a gift of the Holy Spirit,
105-106
Counsels of Perfection, the, 139-
140, 341-343
Covenant, the New, 243, 245
— the Old, 241
Covetantness, 27
Creation, of Angels, 75
— the argument from, 66, 249-
250
— of man, 75, 77-78, 238, 258,
273 . 3 11
— meaning of, 4, 15, 77, 273
Creator, 14, 74, 228, 258
Creatures, the highest of, 14, 75
Credibility, the motives of, 248-
2 5 t, 256, 431-432
Creed, the Apostles’, xxi, 3-5, 13-
23 . 70-115
— Nicene, xvi, ioon.
Cremation, 131
Crime, as an impediment to
matrimony, 144
Cross, the Sign of the, xxi, 3, 12,
63-65, 149, 247-248, 310,
366
— the Sacrifice of the, 43, 167-
. 169, 245
Cyprian, St., on the One Church,
310
— “ Outside the Church there is
no Salvation,” 310
— St. Peter and the Church,
3 I 2 - 3 J 3
— Repentance, 424
Cyril of Alexandria, St., on
jvg Adoption of sons, 344
— Christ the King, 281-282
— Confirmation, 367
— The Descent into Hell, 327
Cyril of Alexandria, St., on Grace
and Free Will, 247
— Images, 331
— The image of God, man
made to, 344
— Original Justice and Original
Sin, 279
— The Resurrection of the Dead,
326
Cyril of Jerusalem, St., on Bap¬
tism, 383
— Confirmation, 387
— Holy Eucharist, 372-273
— God, 258
— Holy Innocents, 353
— Limbo, 293
— Mass and Prayers for the
Dead, 324, 385
— The Resurrection of the
Dead, 327
Cyrus, 243
Damage to property, 129
Damned, the state of the,
260, 217-218, 281
David, 242
Dead, bodies of the, 114, 118
— Prayers and Masses for the,
i6 9; 172, 385-386,442
— Sacraments of the, 39, 154
Death, instruction for those in
danger of, 136, 173, 235,
405
— a good, 375
— penalty for sin, 86n., 276
— the thought of, 59, 216
Decalogue, the, 4,24-27,116-130,
401
Decree on First Communion,
226-234
Defrauding labourers of their
wages, 213
Deposit of faith, the, 69, 255
Descent into Hell, the, 18,90, 245,
293
Desire of Holy Communion, 7, 8,
36, 148
Desires, evil, 27, 130
Despair, 201, 212, 433, 431-437
Detraction, 129
INDEX 467
Devil, the, never to be released,
267, 291, 441
— his power, 76, 276, 291
— fall of, 257
Diaconate, 416
Didache, the, the Formula for
baptism in, 382
Didymus of Alexandria, on the
Blessed Virgin, 289
Diligence, 214
Diriment impediments, cf. s.v.
Matrimony
Discretion, 135-136, 227
Disobedience, 80
Disparity of worship, 1930.
Disputed questions, 475-486
Disputes, 126
Divination, 117
Divorce, 52, 192, 420-422, 424
Doctrinal decisions of Roman
Congregations, 104, 316
Dogma, 103, 255, 313-314, 429
— unchanging, xviin.
Dogmatic facts, 103, I04n., 315-
316
Dominating cupidity and charity,
397-399
Donatists, 357
Doubt, those in, on claims of the
Church, to8
Dress, 127
Duelling, 126, 326
Dulia, 118
Duties of children. 122
— Christians, 159, 363
— confessors, 50, 174, 183
— ecclesiastical authorities, 123
— married people, 26, 52, 122
— masters, 124
— parents, 122-123, 137, 190
— of one’s state of life, 27, 130
— subjects, 123-125
•— superiors, 123-124
—■ teachers, 123
— workers, 124
Dying, negligence in taking the
Sacraments to, 173m, 189m
Easter duties, xxiii, 30-31, 135,
137-138, 173, 337-338,
402-403
Eastern churches and the “ Ave
Maria,” 1500.
— Baptismal rite, 157m
— Catechism in, xvi-xvii, 381,
457
— confirmation, xxivn.
— and Godfathers, 156m
— Holy Eucharist, 381
— extreme unction, xxivn.
— leavened bread, 165m
Ecclesiastical authorities, duties to,
123
Education, 122, 123, 330-332
Egypt, sojourn in, and plagues,
240-241, 290
Elect, the, 114
Elevation of man to a supernatural
state, 16, 68-69, 78-79,
8in., 14m.
Elizabeth, St., xxv., 37, 150
Ember days, 30
Emmanuel, 286
Emmaus, 245
Employers, duties of, 124, 335
Enemies, love of, 55, 204
Envy, 126, 212, 214
Ephesus, the Council of, on
the Primacy of St. Peter,
297
— the title “ Theotokos,” 286
Ephraim, St., on Creation, 265,
273 ; 3 *i
— Degrees of Glory, 446
— Eucharist, 371
— Grace and Free Will, 347
— Heaven and Hell, 446
— Immaculate Conception, 280
— Incarnation, 282
— Mary, Blessed Virgin, 289
— Primacy, 298-9
— Providence, 265
— Sufferings, 265
— Trinity, 264
Epiphanius, St., on The Incarna¬
tion, 285
— The Blessed Virgin, 290
— Tradition, 251
— Trinity, 262, 301
Epiphany, Holiday of Obligation,
132
Esdras, 243
Eternal life, 69, 99, 115, 141-143,
145, 147, 201, 211, 397,
„ _ 445~447
Eternal rest. . . ., xxu, 112
Eternal punishment, 114, 397,409
Eucharist, Holy, annual reception
of, xxiii, 31, 135, 137-138
— Bishops and, 306, 388
— Christ is entire in all its parts,
165, 380, 382
— companation condemned, 376
— concomitance, 380
— conditions for reception, 370
— consecration, 42, 163
— in the person of Christ, 154,
164, 165
— definition of, 7, 41, 43, 163,
368
— Easter, at, xxiii, 31, 135, 137-
138
— Eastern Church, in the, iii,
381
— effects of, 45, 172-173, 382,
387-389
— errors on, 376-377
— excels all other Sacraments,
156, 246, 380
— faith, not senses, 373, 374
— fasting, 8, 44, 171
— not figurative, 369, 377
— instituted by Christ, 7m, 41,
170, 368,371-372, 383,387
— leavened or unleavened bread,
365, 376 , 380
— Malachias on, 381, 383, 385
— material form, why under,
374
— matter and form of, 42, 165-
166, 380-382
— meaning of “ Eucharist,” 370
— in memory of Christ, i66n.,
167, 369 , 371 - 372 , 379 , 383
— mystery of, the, 372
— New Passover, the, 379
— Peter and Paul, SS., taught it
to the Roman Church, 381
— Real Presence, 41, 170, 173-
174 , 368, 375, 380-384
— rejected by some, 368
— Sacrament and a' sacrifice, is
a, 153, 168-170, 370-390
Eucharist, Holy, “ Species,” the,
164-165,373,376,380, 383
— Trans-substantiation, 42, 164,
365, 368-377
— Trent, the Council of, on,
368-370, 376, 380, 387
— visits to the Blessed Sacra¬
ment, 7n., I74n.
Eutyches, 313
Evangelical Counsels, the, I3gff.,
343 ft-
Evangelists and prophets in har¬
mony, 251
Eve and the serpent, 15, 78
Evils, why allowed, physical, 75
— spiritual . . ., 149
Evolution of man, 8in.
Examination of conscience, 46-47,
> 75-176
Excommunicated, the, 106-107,
45 °
Execution power of Christ, 296
Exile, the, 240
Exodus from Egypt, the, 240
Exorcisms, 156
“ Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus,” 22,
106-108, 304, 307-310,
317-318, 364, 375
Extreme Unction, called Blessing
of the Sick, 2on.
— Caesarius of Arles, St., on, 415
— children and, 233
— definition, 51, 186
— effects of, 187, 415
— errors on, 414
— Florence, Council of, on, 413
— Innocent III on, 414
— Lyons, Second Council of, on,
4>5
— matter and form of, 413-414
— minister of, 187, 413
— necessity of, 51, 188
— Pius X on, 414
— received, by whom, 188
— repetition of, 188
— rite of, 413
— Sacrament, xxiv, 413
— Trent, Council of, on, 413,415
Faith, acts of, xxiv-xxv, 8
- are necessary, 427-428
INDEX
Faith, assent of, 251,273-274, 316
— assaults on, 429-432
— authority, rests on Divine,
427-428, 431, 437
—■ and belief, 71
— Christ is its Author and
Finisher, 451 -452
— and Creed, 6gff.
— definition of, 53, 198,427-428
— deposit of, 69, 255
— Divine-Catholic, 314, 449
— Dogmas of, 103, 107
— errors on, 428, 435
— as Fruit of the Holy Spirit,
209
— function of, 425, 431, 454
— loss of, 120, 200, 434
— and morals, doctrines con¬
cerning, 22, 103, 105, no,
303
— and miracles, 67, 84, 302, 431
— and mortal sin, 435
— motives of, 248-250, 256,
431-432
— mysteries of, 64
— need of, 427-429, 433
— perseverance in, 433
— profession of, external, 59,
163m, 260
— and reason, 199-200, 248IT.,
427-432
— and revelation, 199, 248ff.,
273 - 274 , 429-433
— and the Roman Church, 300,
. 3>3
— sins against, 200
— supernatural virtue of, 53,
427
— unchanging, 254, 260
Faithful, the general practice of
the, 276
Fall of man, 16, 8in., 238, 271-
272, 279
False swearing, 129
—■ witness, 27, 128
Family, the, 330
— prayers, 144
Fasting, the law of, 29-30, 134
— Communion, 8, 44, 171-172
Fear, a gift of the Holy Spirit, 206
— servile, 388-389
469
Figuration, the Holy Eucharist is
_ not, 375
Festival days of the Old Law, 120
— New Law, 121
“ Filioque,” xvi, 261
Final perseverance, 45, 172
— impenitence, 128, 212
Fire of Heii, 60, 266, 270, 281,
307, 441, 444, 446, 456-
458
— Purgatory, 456-458
Firm purpose of amendment, 6,
47 > 77 > 395-399
First Communion, xiii-xiv, 135-
137, 226-234
— Confession, 226-234
— parents, 15, 78-80, 238, 275-
279
Flesh meat, abstinence from,
xxiii, 29-30, 133-134
Flood, the, 239
Florence, Council of, on Baptism,
359 . 362
- of children, 362
— Character conferred by Sac¬
raments, 351
— Circumcision, 362
— Confirmation, 365-366
— Eucharist, matter and form of
the Holy, 380-382
— Extreme Unction, 413
— Matrimony, Holy, 418
— Mixed Chalice, the, 381
— Orders, Holy, 416
— Original Sin, 275-276
— “ Outside the Church no
Salvation,” 307
— Primacy of St. Peter, the, 301
— Procession of the Holy Spirit,
261
— Purgatory, 282, 440
— Sacraments, the Seven, 354-
— Suffrages for the Dead, 385-
386, 442
— Trans-substantiation, 382
Forbidden books, i04n., 131
Forgiveness of sins, 23, 45, 112,
148, 392-397
Form of the Sacraments,
Fornication, 420-422
>52
1
470 INDEX
Fortitude, the Cardinal Virtue of,
56, 204-205
— gift of the Holy Spirit, 206
Freemasonry, 131
Free will, 75, 269, 347
Friday abstinence, xxiii
Fruits of the Mass, 43
— Holy Spirit, 209
Fulgentius, St., on Baptism, 364
— Holy Trinity, 263
Future, Predictions of the, 251
Gabriel, the Angel, 37, 150
Gennari, Cardinal, xiii, 8
General Communion of Children,
233
Ghost, the Holy, and the Annun¬
ciation, 17, 85, 88n.
— and the Bible, 68
— and Bishops, 302
— and the Church, 20, 95, 256,
296
— consubstantial with Father
and Son, 257, 263, 296
— and the faithful, 20, 95
— “ Filioque,” xvi, 261
— Fruits of, 209
— gifts of, 205-206, 436-437
— and the Incarnation, 87
— and infused virtues, 343-344
— meaning of, 19, 94
— and Pentecost, ig, 95
— possessing, 257, 260, 261, 263
— sins against, 212-213
— soul of the Church, 296
— source of all good, 296
— temples of, 79m
Gibbons, Cardinal, 341
Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 6, 95,205-
206, 436-437
Gloria Patri . . ., xxii, 92
Glorified body, endowments of
the, 114
Gluttony, 214
God, attributes of, 4, 13-14, 71-
72, 258-260
— belief in, 13, 71, 258
— Creator, 4, 14, 15, 74-77,
257-258
— existence of, 432;
— Fatherhood of, 14.6
'
God, Goodness of, 258
•— image of, no, 328
— known by reason and revela¬
tion, 16, 66-67, 249-250
— nature of, 3, 71-72, 257-259
— and revelation, 66-67, 251-
257
— our Rewarder, 344-346
— service of, 77
— is a pure Spirit, 266
— will of, 35-36
— works of “ ad extra,” 73m
— worship of, 116-117, 328
Godparents, 155-156
“ Gods,” ye shall be as, 274
Gods, strange, 116-117
Goodness, as a Fruit of the Holy
Spirit, 209
Good works, 140-141, 186, 271,
344. 349. 425, 434
— when in mortal sin, 142
“ Gospels,” the, 371
Grace, actual, 32, 142
— errors on, 271-272, 345, 347-
. 3 , 5< ? -
— definition, 33, 141, 14211.,
271-272
— and free will, 269, 347
— habitual, 32, 141
— never lacking, 350
— loss of, 345
— necessary, 33, 141, 344
— power of, 347
— prevenient, 344, 347-349
— Sacramental, 153-154, 356-
357
— sanctifying, 79m, 280
— state of, 59, 60, in, 186
Gratitude, and act of, 8
Graven things, tig
Greeks, on the, Primacy of. St.
Peter, 72, 304
— Fire of Purgatory, 457
— Decree for, 261, 301, 380,
440
Hail Mary, the, 36-38, 149-151
— Holy Queen, xxii
Happiness, supernatural, 78
Hardness of heart, 128
Harm to others, 126
INDEX
Hatred, 126
Hearing Mass, 8, 28-29, 43, 132,
169
Heathen, virtues of the, 346
Heaven, 4, 59-60, 114, 216, 219
Hell, the Descent into, xxii, 17-18,
90
— endless, 23, 57, 59, 114, 270,
307, 441
— fear of, 4m, 395, 399
— fire of, 60, 266, 270, 281, 307,
441, 444, 446, 456-458
— pains of, 217-218
Heresy, 103, 312
Heretics claim to be “ Catholics,”
3 11
— and the Church, 313, 317
— are outside the Church, 106-
108
— and faith, 200
Hierarchy of Angels, 446-447
— in the Church, 22, 189-190,
301, 417
Holiness, a mark of the Church,
too
Holy Days of Obligation, 28-29,
131-134
— Saturday, 30
Homicide, 46
Hope, act of, xxiv, 8
— acts of, necessary, 427-428
— definition of, 54, 201
— and despair, 201, 212, 237,
433
— loss of, 201, 237
— and presumption, 201
— profession of, 74, 201, 237
Hugon, O. P., on the Last Day,
272
— on the fire of Hell, 456-457
Humility, acts of, 8
— the virtue, 205m, 214, 266
Hyperdulia, 118
Hypostatic Union, 86n., 281-284,
286-287, 318-319, 380-381
Idolatry, 117
Ignatius of Antioch, St., on
Baptism, 306
— Bishops and the Holy Euchar¬
ist, 306
11
471
Ignatius of Antioch, St., on Euch¬
arist, the Holy, 306, 388
— Redemption, the, 292
Ignorance, Invincible, 309
Image of God, man made to the,
78-79, 273-274
Images, veneration of, 119
Immaculate Conception, the, 16,
82, 278-279
— Feast is a Holy Day of Obli¬
gation, but not in England,
132
Immortality of the soul, 268-269
Impediments to matrimony, 194-
196
Impenitence, final, 128, 212
Imperfect contrition, 48
Impetratory sacrifice, 168
Imposition of hands, 366-367
Impotence, 194
Impurity, 127
Incarnation, the, 5, 17-19, 83-87,
281-288, cf. s.v. Christ
Incontinence, 127
Index of prohibited books, 316
Indulgences, abuses of, 410
— application of, 186
— for Catechists, etc., xix, 236-
237
— Clement VI on, 410
— conditions for, 186
— definition of, 51, 185
— errors on, 411 -412
— kinds of, 185
— Leo X on, 41 x
— Pius IV on, 443
— Pius VI on, 412
— Pius XI on, 412
— Trent on, 409
Infallibility of the Church, 21-22,
102, 311-315, 449
— definition of, 102
— of the Pope, 103, 313
— obligation on the faithful,
103-104, 314-316
Infant baptism, 158,275, 277,362,
368
Infidelity in marriage, 127
— (unbelief), 200
— is not the only mortal sin, 435
Infused virtues, 197
INDEX
472
Injury to others, 129, 203
Innocent II on Baptism, 317
Innocent III on the Matter and
Form of Baptism, 360-361
— Consent to Baptism, 358
— the Beatific Vision and Origi¬
nal Sin, 363
— “ Outside the Church there is
no Salvation,” 308
— Confirmation, 366-367
— Extreme Unction, 414
— Infused Moral Virtues, 454
— Polygamy, 422
— The Resurrection of the Body,
326
— The Sign of the Cross, 248
— Unbaptized Children, 360
Innocent X on Grace and Free
Will, 350
— Jansenism, 291
— The Primacy of St. Peter, 298
— Salvation for all, 291
Innocent XI on Acts of Faith,
Hope and Charity, 428
— Charity, 435
— Faith, 428
— Invincible Ignorance 427
Inspiration of the Bible, 68, 253-
254 = 335
Insults, 128-129
Integral confession, 48-49, 180-
181,394, 396 ,400-401,403,
405
Intemperance, 127
Intention in the Sacraments, 325
Invalids and fasting Communion,
44
Invincible ignorance, 309
Invocation of saints, 323-324
Irenaeus, St., on Apostolic Suc¬
cession, 300, 306
— Ascension, the, 294
— Church and Tradition, 294,
306
— Eucharist and the Mass, the
Holy, 383-384, 388
— Fall of the Angels, 267
— God shown by creation, the
existence of, 250
— Roman Church, the, 256-
257 . 300
Irenaeus, St., on Tradition, 256,
294,306
Irreligion, 117
Irreformable decrees, 314
Irreverence, 25, 119
Isaac, 240
“ Israel,” the name, 240
Isaias on the Redemption, 243
Jacob, 240
Jacobites, decree for the, 275, 307,
362
Jansenius, 229, 315
Japheth, 239
Jerome, St., on Confession to
Priests, 404
— Degrees in Glory, 446
— Guardian Angels, 267
— Hierarchy of Angels, 446-447
- Clergy, 447
— Invocation of Saints, 324
— Mary, ever Virgin, 290
— “ Outside the Church no
Salvation,” 310
— Peter, the See of, 310
— Sins, Distinction of, 437
Jerusalem, temple at, 242-243, 246
“Jesus,” the holy name, 84-85,
149, 243-244
John the Baptist, St., 157, 293
John Damascene, St., on Angels,
265-266
— Antichrist, 440
— Beatific Vision, 270
— Eucharist, the Holy, 374-375
— Hell, the Fire of, 440
— Images, veneration of, 328
— Rewards and Punishments,
270
— Soul, the, 269
— “ Theotokos,” the title, 288
— Trans-substantiation, 374-
375
— Trinity, the Holy, 263
Jonas, 396
Jordan River, 244
Joseph, St., Feast of, a Holy Day of
Obligation, though not in
England, 132
— Patron of the Universal
Church, 288-289
p ,
t '
■
■
: ; S
INDEX 473
Joseph, St., Prerogatives of, 88,244
Joy in one’s neighbour’s good, 214
— Fruit of the Holy Spirit, 209
Jubilee, year of (1925), 412
Juda, Kingdom of, 274
Judges, the, 242
Judicial power of Christ, 22, 295
Judgment, the Last, 10, 23, 59, 60,
92, 217, 219, 269-270,
439-441
— the Particular, 59, 93, 217-
218, 439
— rash, 129
Julius I on the Holy Eucharist, 381
Jurisdiction, 101, 185
Just wage, 124m
Keys, the power of the, 401, 407
Killing, 26, 125
Kindliness, s.v. Benignity
Kingdom of God (or of Heaven),
35. t47» ! 59> 207, 245, 270
Kings of Juda, 242
Kingship of Christ, 84-85, 281-
282
Knowledge, God’s, 258-259
— of God, 77, 79, 277
Lady, our, 88, cf. s.v. Mary
Labourers, position of, 124, 213
Laity, work of, io6n.
Lamentabili sane, the Decree, 355,
359, 362,367, 392, 414,416
Last Supper, 378
Lateran Council I, on the Trinity,
263
Lateran II on Baptism, the Holy
Eucharist, Holy Orders and
Matrimony, 368
Lateran IV on Baptism of
Children, 361
— Christ the Judge, 325
- Priest and Victim, 376
— Church, no Salvation, Out¬
side the, 307, 376, 383
— Confession and Communion,
Annual, 227, 337, 402-403
— Creation, 259
— Eucharist, the Holy, 227, 230,
376 , 383
— Faith and Baptism, 361
Lateran IV on Incarnation, the,
284
— Penance, Sacrament of, 325
— Seat of Confession, 407
— Trans-substantiation, 333, 376
— Trinity, the Holy, 257, 259
Lateran V on the Soul as the
Form of the Body, 206
Latin Bible, the, 252-253
— Church and Communion in
both kinds, 135m
. and Confirmation, 162
Latria, 328-329
Law, the giving of the old, 241,
250, 34 6 » 349
Leavened bread, hi, 365
Ledesma on First Communion,
230
Legal relationship, 195
Lent, 30, 134, 338, 403
Leo Acrida, 303
Leo I, St., on the Ascension, 293-
294
— Love of God and our Neigh¬
bour, 1300.
— Mary, the Blessed Virgin, 289
— St. Peter, 300
— Virgin-birth of Christ, 428
Leo IX, St., on the One Church,
325
— The Creed, 284
— Incarnation, 284
— Primacy of St. Peter, 303-304
— Resurrection, 326
Leo X on Contrition, 397
— Indulgences, 411-412
—■ Purgatory, 443
Leo XIII on Americanism, 320
— Choice of a state of life, I25n.
— Church, no Salvation, Out¬
side the, 309
— Church and State, 318-323
— Civil Authorities, 325-326,
333
— Class-war, 122m
— Confirmation, 436
— Duelling, 336
— Education, 332
— Eucharist, the Holy, 369
— Gifts of the Holy Spirit, 436-
437
INDEX
474
Leo XIII on Incarnation, 285
— Inspiration of the Bible, 254
— St. Joseph, logn., 288
— Labour, the Position of, 334
— Liberty of Teaching, 332
— Mary, Mother of us all, 352
— Matrimony, 418-420, 424
— Polygamy, 424
— Redemption, 292
— Religious Life, 341-343
— Soul of the Church, the Holy
Spirit the, 296
Lepicier, Cardinal, on the Fire of
Hell, 456
— The Last Day, 457
Liberality, 214
Life everlasting, 23
Light of glory, 445
Limbo, 18, 8gn., 91, i6on., 363
Living, Sacraments of the, 39, 154
Local time, 17m.
Longanimity, 209
“ Lord,” the, 85, 243
Lord’s Prayer, the, 34-36, 146-
H 9
Loss, pain of, 217-218, 281-283,
3638!., 406-457
Love of God, 27, 77, 90m, 13a
— neighbour, 54-55, 435
Low Sunday, 137
Lower classes, 334
Lust, 213
Luther, 397, 411, 443
Luxuria, I28n.
Lying, 129, 177
Lyons, Second Council of, on
Extreme Unction, 413
— Primacy of St. Peter, 300-301
— Orders, 415
— Procession of the Holy Spirit,
260
— Purgatory, 442
— The Sacraments, 413, 415
— Trans-substantiation, 376
Magi, the, 5m
Major and minor orders, 417
Malachias and the Mass, 381, 383
Manasses, 242
Man, 77, 238-239, 311
“ Mansions, many,” 445
Marin Sola on the Assent of Faith,
45 °
Marks of the Church, 100
Matryrdom and baptism, 160
Martyrs, the, 84, 324, 329
Mary, the Blessed Virgin, the
Annunciation, 37,88n., 266
—Assumption, 16, 30
- St. Bernard on, 15 m.
— devotion to, 3m, 4m, 24-25,
34, 120, 128, 145, 151, 235,
328-329
— Immaculate Conception, 82,
279-280
— images of, 443
— Mass in honour of, 168
— Mother of God, 3m, 5,17,37-
38, 85,87, 88n., 1 i8n., 244,
284, 286-289, 328-329,
375 , 377
- of us all, 3m, 37, 150-151,
352-354
— name of, 120, 149
— office of, 352-353
— privileges of, 150
— subject to death, 86n.
— Theotokos, cf. s.v. Mother of
Cod
— and the Treasury of the
Church, 411-412
— ever Virgin, 88, 286-290
Masons, Free, 131
Mass, the, applications of, 168-
169, 386
— and Calvary, 43, 384-385
— Consecration, 42, 163-164
— for the Dead, 112, 440
— Fruits of (the Mass), 43, 168,
387
— hearing Mass, obligation of,
xxiii, 28-29, 131
— how to hear, 43, 169
— instituted by Christ, 166
— meaning of, 7, 165, 378
— object of, 168
— offered to God, 168
— mystery of, 384
— mortal sin, preserves us from
387
— propitiating Sacrifice, 384
— private Masses, 386
INDEX
475
Mass, public Masses, 386
— Sacrifice of, 42-43, 164, 166-
167, 189, 378-386
— in honour of the Saints, 168,
385
— on Sunday and Holy Days of
Obligation, 7, 28, 132
— value of, i6gn., 383-386
Matrimony and Marriage, Cana,
the marriage at, 373, 419
— Church and State, 424
— civil effects of, 193
— contract in, 368, 419
— definition of, 191, 418
— dispensations for, 195
— duties of the married, 122,
127, 418
— entered on lightly, not to be,
196m
— errors concerning, 418, 423-
424
— impediments to, 193-194,424
— is indissoluble, 192, 418, 420-
424
— laws governing, 52, 193
— matter and form of, 192
— minister of, 191
— mixed marriages, 194-195
— Moses and divorce, 424
— necessary, how far, 156
— object and purpose of, 156
— parents, rights of, 196m
— Pauline privilege, the, 193m,
422-423
— patriarchs and marriage, the,
420
— polygamy, 420
— prohibited times, 131
— ratified marriages, 423
— requirements for Christian
marriage, 52, 191-192
— separation, 418, 421-424
— Sacrament of, the, xxiv, 52,
153 , 354 ~ 355 > 418-419
. — valid and illicit marriages,
' 95 . 419
Mediator, Christ the One, 51-52,
190
Meekness, 214
Members of the Church, 22, 106-
108, in, 317-318
Mental Prayer, 144
Mercy of God, 1 4, 72
— the works of, 203-204
Merit, 184, 271, 344
— of Christ, 142, 291
Messias, 33-34, 83, 239, 243
Messianii prophecies, 830.
Metaphor, 360
Michael Caerularius, 303
Michael Palaeologus, 300, 364,
37 6 . 413 . 4 ' 5 > 442
Mildness, Fruit of the Holy Spirit,
209
Mind, the soul and the, 269
Ministers of the Sacraments, 152,
154 . 355-360
— errors regarding, 417
Miracles, definition of, 67
— place of, 67, 84, 251, 431
Missions, prayers for Catholic,
io2n.
Mixed Chalice, 272, 381-382
Modernism, decree on, 249
Modesty, Fruit of the Holy Spirit,
209
Monophysites, 282
Monothelites, 263, 283, 287
Moral virtues, 53, 55-56, 197, 204,
454-455
Morals, faith and, 22, 103-105,
110, 303
Mortal sin and attrition, 159
— and Communion of Saints,
111
— confession of, 46,49, 175-176,
401, 403
— definition of, 57, 211 -212
— effects of, 21 in.
— and extreme Unction, 187
— forgotten and not confessed,
49 . 171, *81
— infidelity and unbelief is not
the only mortal sin, 435
— is necessary matter for con¬
fession, 6, 49, 175, 394,401,
403, 405
Moses and the Exodus, 240
— and the Giving of the Law,
241-250
Motives of credibility, 248-251,
256, 43'-432
Munich, letters of Pope Pius IX to
the Archbishop of, 248,316,
332
Murder, 213
Mystery, meaning of, 64
— of the Holy Eucharist, 372
-- Incarnation, 86, 286, 384
— revelation of, 199, 248
— of the Holy Trinity, 70m, 235
Mystical body, the, 155, 359, 389
Name, the Holy, 5, 84-85, 317,
366
—— taking in vain, 25, 119, 120
— of a Saint given at baptism,
160
— of the Holy Trinity, in the,
248
Natures in Christ, the two, 18, 86,
281-287
Natural knowledge of God, 8in.,
249-250
— law, the, 107, 122, 131
— powers, 143
Nazareth, 244
Necessitas medii et praecepti, 199m,
233
Nehemias, 243
Neighbour, sins against our, 126,
128-130, 213
— loss of our, 54-55, 130, 202-
203, 434-435
Nepomucene, St. John, 183m
Nestorius, 288
New Testament, the, 68, 252-253
New Year’s Day, a holiday of
Obligation, 132
Nicaea, the Second Council of, on
Images, 328
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed,
the, xvi
Noe, 239
Novatians, the, 392
Nuptial blessing, the, 158
Oaths, 119
— rash, iign.
— unjust, iign.
Obedience, the virtue of, 121-125
— a Counsel of Perfection, 139
Obligation, Holy Days of, 28-29,
I 3 i-t 34
Obligation of Annual Confession
and Communion, 30-31,
'35-'38, 327-328, 402-403
— of restitution, 128
Obstinacy in sin, a sin against the
Holy Spirit, 212
Occasions of sin, 47, 149, 177
Oecumenical Councils, 102--103
-- appeals to, 303
Old Law, giving of the, 116n.
Old Testament, the, 68
— and the New, the gulf be¬
tween, 346
Oliva, Peter, 359, 425
Olive oil, i6r, 187, 367
Only-begotten Son, the, 261-262,
283-284, 289, 292, 325
Opere operato. Ex, 153, 356
Omission, sins of, 176
— of mortal sins in confessing,
49 . O', '8t
Orange, the Sacred Council of, on
Faith, as wholly due to
God, 348
— Grace and free will, 348
— Justification, a free gift, 347
Orders, Holy, character in, 155,
- 357-358
— definition of, 51, torn., 105,
189
— dignity of the Priesthood, 51,
189-190
— effect of, 416
— errors on, 379-380, 416-417
— Florence on, 416
—- Hierarchy in, 446-447
— impediment to matrimony,
'94
— instituted by Christ, i8g, 379
— Lateran Council, the Second,
on contempt of, 368
— Lyons, the Second Council of,
on, 415
— major and minor orders, 417
— matter and form of, igo, 416
— minister of, 191
— object of, 156
—- Pius X on, 416
— rejected by some, 368
— Sacrament of, 51, 101, 105,
153 , 354 - 355 , 365 , 416-417
INDEX
Orders, Holy, Schismatic orders,
357
— Trent on, 46
— vocations to be fostered, 417
— Religious, 194
Ordinary and extraordinary
power, g8n.
Origen on the Devil, 448
— on Prophecy, 292
Original justice, 15-16, 78-81
— sin, 4n., 16,80-82, 86n., 276-
279 . 363
“ Our Father,” the, xxi, 35, 146
“ Outside the Church no Salva¬
tion,” 22, 99, 106-108, 304,
307 - 310 , 3 ' 7 ~ 3 ' 8 , 364,375
Pacian, St., on the title “ Catholic
Christian,” 247
Pain of loss, 217-218, 281-283,
363-364, 456-457
Palaeologus, Michael, 300, 364,
376 , 4 ' 3 , 4 ' 5 , 442 -
Paradise (Eden), 4, 239
Parents, duties of, I22n.
— honour due to, 121
Particular judgment, the, 59, 216
Paschal Time, 137
Pastors, support of, xxiii, 32, 138
Patriarchs and polygamy, 420
— ecclesiastical, g8n.
Paul, St., 297
Pauline Privilege, the, 423
Peace-makers, 244
Pelagians, 274, 363
Penance, the Sacrament of, Chry¬
sostom, St., on, 392-393
— definition of, 6, 45, 174
— effects, 393-394
— errors on, 392, 394
— instituted by Christ, 45, 174,
39'-392
— matter and form of, 46, 174,
393
— minister of, 46, 174
— par's of, 6, 46, 175, 393"394
— Sacrament, a, 6,39, 153,391-
408
—— of the dead, 39, 154
— works, penitential, 406-409
477
Penitentiary on the Fire of Hell,
reply of the Sacred, 456
Pentecost, Vigil of, 30, 134
— Holy Spirit at, 19, 95
Perfection, Counsels of, 139-140,
34'-343
Perseverance, 45, 172
Peter, St., Cephas, 297
-— Church founded on, ioon.
■— confession of, 297
— foundation of the Church, 97,
101, 297-301, 304, 309-310,
312-313
— and the Keys, 297-299, 411
— “ Pillar of faith,” 297
— primacy of jurisdiction, 298,
303
— “ Prince of the Apostles ’
297-298, 300-301, 304
— the “ Rock,” 299-300
— See of, is immune from error,
256
— successors of, ioon.
— “ Supreme Pastor,” 298
— Texts, Petrine, 97m
— Vicar of Christ, 304
Peter Canisius, St., on works of
piety, 114m
Peter Chrysologus, St., on St.
Peter, 313
— Repentance, 397
— the Roman See, 313
Philosophy and the faith, 248,
278, 322
Piety as a gift of the Holy Spirit,
205-206, 436
Pistoia, errors of the Synod of, 272,
363. 377 .386, 397 - 399 . 4 ' 2
Pius IV on Communion of Saints,
443
— Images, 443
— Indulgences, 443
— Purgatory. 443
■—• Relics, 443
Pius V, St., on Original Justice
and the Fall, 271
— Venial Sin, 436
Pius VI on Fallen Nature, our
272
— Holy Eucharist, 377
— Indulgences, 412
INDEX
478
Pius VI on Saints and Hell, 363
— Mass, the value of the, 386
— Pelagianism, 363
— Pistoia, errors of the Synod of,
272. 363, 377 , 3 86 > 397 -
399, 412
— Repentance, 397-399
— Trans-substantiation, 377
— Unbaptized children, 278
Pius IX on Church, Outside of,
no salvation, 308, 317
— Divorce, 424
— Ignorance, Invincible, 317
— Immaculate Conception, 280
— Internal assent, 316
— Reason and Faith, 82m, 278,
322, 429-432
— Philosophy, on the place of,
279, 322
— Revelation, 248
— Roman Congregations, 316
— Soul as Form of the Body, the,
268
— Unbaptized children, 278
Pius X on Baptism, 359
—— of children, 362
— Bishops, 416
— Catechism before First Com-
fession, 228
— Church and State, 321
— Confirmation, 367
— Eucharist, the Holy, 416
— Existence of God, 84m, 249
— Extreme Unction, 414
— Internal Assent, 316
— Jansenism, 229
— Mary, Blessed Virgin,
“ Mother of all,” 352
— Orders, Holy, 416
— Penance, the Sacrament of,
392
— Roman Congregations, 316
— Trent, Council of, on Sacra-
, ments, 355
Pius XI on Blasphemy, i2on.
— Catechism of the Council of
Trent, xin.
— Christ as King, 281, 295
— Christ as Judge, 295
— Church as a Society, 306
- and State, 330-332
Pius XI on Communion, First,
226-234
— Counsels of Perfection, 363
— Education, 330-332
— Family, the, 330, 332
. -— Indulgences, 402
— Mary, Mother of us all, 353
—■ Ministers, provision of, 417
-— Mission work of the Church,
3 ”.
— Religious Life, 340
— Vocations to be fostered,
igon.
Polycarp, St., on Faith, Hope and
Charity, 425
Polygamy, 315, 422
Pontifical congregations, 316
Poor, oppression of the, 213
Pope, the, authority of, 97n.
- is “ immediate,” 301
- is “ ordinary,” 98m
— infallibility of, 103, 113
— prayers for, g7n.
— reverence for, 97m
— successor of St. Peter, 300, cf.
s.v. Peter
Poverty, a Counsel of Perfection,
139
Power, attributed to God the
Father, 73
Prayer, 34-38, 144-151
— Augustine, St., on, 351
— Chrysostom, St., on, 350
— definition of, 34, 144
— efficacy of, 276
— kinds of, 34, 144
— Lord’s, the, 34-36, 146-149
— mental, 144
— necessary, 34, 144
— objects of, 145
— temporal things for, 145 •
— unheard, 34, 145
— vocal, 144
Presumption, 212
Pride, 213
— its results, 214m
Precious Blood, the, 282, 292, 410
Priesthood of Christ, 292,376,378
— dignity of, 189
— form for, 190
— parish priests, 105
INDEX 479
Priesthood of Christ, reverence for,
190
— vocations to be fostered, 417
Production labour, 325
Prohibited books, I04n., 131
Prophecy argument for the Divin¬
ity of Christ, 83-84
— definition of, 67
— by Divine Power only, 251
Providence, 14, 74, 258, 264
Prudence, as a Cardinal Virtue,
56, 204-205
— an impediment to marriage,
'95
Public honesty, 229
Purgatory, 448-449-450
— errors on, 443
— fire of, 456-459
— prayers for souls in, 169,172,
385-386, 442
— state of souls in, and prayer
for us, 451
Quarrels, 126
Quesnel, 272
Rash judgment, 129m
Real presence, the, 41, 170, 173-
I74» 368, 375, 380-384
Reason and faith, 199-200, 248-
250, 427-432
Rebellion forbidden, 333, 335-6
Redemption, fact of, the, 18, 84-
85, 88-89, 92,291-293
— meaning of, 89, 291-293
— mystery of, 12, 64
— promises of, 82
Relics, 118, 329
Religious life, 341-343
— free choice of, 341-342
— orders, 140m, 341
— profession an impediment to
marriage, I93n.
— vocations, 140m
Remorse, 218
Resisting the known truth, 212
Restitution, 126-128
Resurrection of the body, the,
113-114,272,294, 325-327
— qualities of the risen body,
114m, 327
— of Christ, 18, 91, 245
Revelation, 4m, 66-69, 248-252
-— arguments for, 67
— Epitome of the History of,
238-246
— in scripture and tradition, 68
Revenge, 126
Roman Catechism, the, or Catechism
of the Council of Trent, xxi,
224-225
— Congregations, 104, 316
— See, founded by St. Peter, 97,
101, 297-301, 304, 309-310,
312-313
—— recourse to, 300, 303
Rosary, the mysteries of the, xxv
Rouen, Synod of, on First Com¬
munion, 232
Sabbath Holy, keep the, 25, 120
— why changed to Sunday, 120-
121
Sacraments, character given by,
155 . 357 - 35 8
— of the dead, 39, 154
— definition of, 5, 39, 152
— desire of, 155
— efficiency of, 153, 355
— errors on, 355-358
— in general, 39-40, 152-156
— grace of, 39, 153, 354, 356
—— apart from, 154
— hindrances to effects, 153
— instituted by Christ, 112, 153
— intention in administering,
355
— of the living, 39, 154
— matter and form of, 152,354,
357
— ministers of, 152, 154
— in mortal sin, 40, 154
— necessary, 155-156
— in the person of Christ, 154,
164
— not repeated, 40, 155, 358
— rites vary, 152m
-— in schism, 357
— seven in number, 5, 39, 153,
354
— and the Holy Spirit, 356
Sacramentals, 113n,
INDEX
480
Sacrifice, 166-169
Sacrilege, 40, 11711., 154, 171
Saints, Communion of, 22-23,
110-112, 324-325
— invocation of, 323-324
— Mass in honour of, 168, 385
— veneration of, 328-329
Salvation for all, 90, 265, 291
Salve Regina , xxii
Satisfaction, definition of, 49-50,
182
— fulfilment of, 50, 182
— necessary, 6, 46, 175, 405
Saul, 242
Schiffini, S. J., on the Assent of
faith, 450
Schismatics, 130, 236, 364
Schultts, O. P., on the Assent of
faith, 449
Scotists, on infused moral virtues,
455
Scripture, sacred, Canon of, 252-
253
— definition of, 68
— error in, no, 254-255
— error regarding, 254
— inspiration of, 68, 253-254,
335
— Trent on, 252-253
— Vatican on, 253
Secret Societies, 131
Secrets, betrayal of, 129
Sem, 239
Semi-Pelagians, 275, 291, 347
Sermons, hearing of, 132
Servile works, 132
Sick, visiting the, 55, 204
— fasting before Communion,
187-188
Sinning, ti8n.
Sin, actual, 57, 210
— capital, 213-214
— crying to Heaven, 213
— definition of, 210
— errors on, 438
— grave and light sins, 212, 437
— habitual, 57, 210
— infinite in nature, 87m
— mortal and venial, 57, 210
— obstinacy in, 212
— occasions of, 214
Sin, of others, 215
— prevent sin, Why God does
not, 93
— vestiges of, 187
cf. s.v. Confession, Contrition,
Mortal Sin, Sacrament of
Penance, etc.
“ Sittcth at the right hand of
God,” g2n.
Sixtus IV on the Immaculate
Conception, 279
Sloth, 214
Sodom, sin of, 213
Solomon, 242
“ Sons of God,” 274
Soul, the human, created by God,
78-79
— definition of, 77
— dignity of, 267.
— errors on, 267
— form of the body, 268
— not one soul for all men, 267
— is immortal, 268-269
— the one principle of life in the
body, 268
“ Species,’* 195
— in the Holy Eucharist, 164—
'65, 373, 376, 380, 383
Spiritualism, 117m
Spiritual relationships, 195
— works of mercy, I02n., 203
State of life, choice of a, ig6n.
Strasburg, provincial Synod of, on
First Communion, 266-267
Subdiaconate, 416
Suffrages for the dead, xxii, 169,
1 72 , 385-386, 442
Suicide, 126
Support of pastors, xxiii, 32, 138
Superiors, duties .of and to, 123-
124
Supernatural order, definition of,
14m.
— elevation to, 8in.
— revelation, 66
Superstitition, 117
Swearing, false, 119
Teaching office of the Church, 21,
31, 102, 307, 314, 331
INDEX
481
Temperance, a Cardinal Virtue,
56, 204-205
Temple at Jerusalem, the, 242-
243, 246
Temporal Power, the, 302, 304-
_ 305
Temporal punishment, 60, 212,
218, 444
— errors on, 409
— sufferings, 407, 409
Temptation, 149
Ten Commandments, xxiii, 4,
24-27, 116-130
Tertullian on Christianity, 430
Testament, the Old and New, 68,
252-254, 335
Theft, 25-26, 128
Theological virtues, the, xxiv-xxv,
8. 53-55, 196-204
Theophilus of Antioch, St., on
the Evangelists and the
Prophets, 251
“ Theotokos,” the title, c.f. s.v.
Mary
Thomists, on Infused Moral Vir¬
tues, 454-455
— on the Souls in Purgatory, 451
Thought, sins of, 56, 211
“ Three Chapters,” the, 286
Tradition, 68, 252-253, 256, 314,
418
Trans-substantiation, 42,164,365,
368-377
Treasury of the Church, mn.,
410-411
Trent, the Council of, on Annual
Confession and Commun¬
ion, 338
— Atonement, 291
— Attrition, 395
— Baptism, 277, 355, 358, 363
- of children, 277
— Bishops and priests, 417
— Canon of the Bible, 252-253
— Catechism, 223
— Commandments and Grace,
the, 327, 363
— Communion of children, 229,
231
- daily, 229, 386
- preparation for, 389
Trent, the Council of, on Concup¬
iscence, 378
— Confession, 391, 393, 400
— Confirmation, 366
— Contrition, 357, 394-396
— Conversion, 345, 349, 408
— Death as the penalty for sin,
276
— Eucharist, the Holy, 368-370,
376, 380, 387
— Extreme Unction, 413-415
— Good works, 344, 349
— Grace, 343, 344, 349
— Immaculate, Conception, the,
278
— Impediments to Matrimony,
424
— Indulgence^, 409
— Inspiration of the Bible, 252
— Intention in administering
Sacraments, 355
— Invocation of Saints, 323
— Mass, the Holy, 378-379,
384-386
— Matrimony, 418, 423-424
— Merits of Christ, 291
— Mixed Chalice, the, 382
— Moral Virtues, 434-435
— Orders, Holy, 379, 416-417
— Original Sin, 276-278
— Penance, the Sacrament of,
39 i, 393 - 4 . 400-403
— Polygamy, 421
— Purgatory, 442
— Relics, 323
— Religious Profession and Mar¬
riage, 423
— Repentance, 408
— Sacramental grace, 356
— Sacraments, 354
— Salvation for all, 291
— Satisfaction, 405-407
— Theological Virtues, the, 425
— Trans-substantiation, 370, 376
— Unbelief, 345, 434
Trinity, the Holy, 70, 361
Truth, Contempt for the known,
212
Unbaptized children, 277-278.
452-453
INDEX
482
Unbelief, not the only mortal sin,
435
Understanding, a gift of the Holy
Ghost, 205-206, 436
Unity, as a mark of the Church,
cf. s. v. Church
Unjust aggressor, 125m
Unlearned head, 365, 376, 380
Utraquism or Communion in both
kinds, 135m, 380
Vain, taking the name of God in,
25, 119-120
Vain observances, 117m
Vasquez on the Age for First
Communion, 230
Vatican Council, the, on Bishops,
302
— Catechism, the teaching of,
232-234
— Church, foundation of, 296-
297
- unity of, 296
— Faith, 251, 314, 427
- and reason, 255-256, 429,
432
— God, the existence of, 248,258
- our knowledge of, 249
— Infallibility, 301,313
— Inspiration of the Bible, 253
— Philosophy and faith, 255
— Revelation, 249, 251
— Roman See, Pope as “ Ordin¬
ary,” 301
—— Primacy of, 297-300
-- recourse to, 302-303
- supreme jurisdiction of, 303
- temporal power of, 302
— Tradition, 256, 314
Venial sins, 58, 2it, 438
— a multitude do not constitute
a mortal sin, 212m
— confession of, 184
— forgiveness of, 113m
Viaticum for the dying, delay in
securing, 173m, i8gn.
— for children, 229, 233
Vienne, the Council of, on
Baptism, 359, 425
— Beguines and Beguards, errors
of, 444
— on the soul as the form of the
body, 268
Vigilius on Eternity of Hell,
Pope, 441
Virgin-birth, the, 17, 85, 282, 284,
286, 288-290, 428
Virtue, definition of, 53, 197
— infused, 197, 453-455
— moral, 55-56, 204-205, 434
435 . 453-455
— theological, 53-55, 197-804,
425-435
- acts of, are necessary, 198,
427
“ Vitandi,” 106-107, 450
Vows, ngn.
Vulgate Bible, 252-253
Wages, 125m, 213
Waldenses, decree against the, 307,
326, 414
Wicked, prosperity of the, 93m
Wisdom, attributed to God the
Son, 73
•— a gift of the Holy Spirit, 205-
206, 436
Workmen of their wages, defraud¬
ing, 213, 335
— and employers, 124, 334-335
Works necessary, good, 140-142,
186,271, 344, 349, 425.434
World is distinct from God, 72
Wyclif, the errors of, 376
Zorobabel, 243
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