Course 3, Chapter 28

Christianity preserved and propagated. — St. Sophronius. — Sixth General Council. — St. Willibrod. — Seventh and eighth Centuries.

1. Who gave the last blow to the empire of the Persians?

Mahomet gave the finishing blow to the empire of the Persians. He was born at Mecca, a small town in Arabia, of obscure parents. Crime cost him nothing, if by it he could attain his wishes. In order to hold a more sure and unlimited sway over the Arabs, a great number of whom were still idolaters, he determined to form a religion for them.

2. What was his religion?

The religion of Mahomet was an absurd mixture of Christianity, Judaism and idolatry- He admits the existence of one God, but denies the free will of man; he prescribes different acts of religion, but sanctions the most shameful sins, and promises his followers sensual pleasures in eternity, as their reward.

3. What were the effects of this religion?

It produced debasement, corruption, slavery and barbarism; whereas Christianity has purified morals, Abolished slavery and civilized nations.

300 CATECHISM OF PERSEVERANCE.

4. Did Mahomet succeed in establishing his religion?

He succeeded by means of the sword. His law was: Believe or die! The Mahometans owe their success to force and the love of pleasures; whereas the apostles established the Christian religion by placing a restraint upon all the passions of man, and by suffering martyrdom themselves.

5. Is the religion of Mahomet one?

Whilst the Christian religion is one and undivided, Mahometanism is divided into a multitude of sects. There are more than sixty of these sects.

6. What was the end of Mahomet?

A Jewish woman, washing to ascertain if Mahomet was really a prophet, as he pretended, poisoned u shoulder of mutton, and gave it to him to eat. The pretended prophet did not discover it until after he had eaten of it, and died miserably.

7. How did the empire of the Persians terminate?

Omar, one of the lieutenants of Mahomet, was appointed by Providence to punish the Persians. He declared war against them, killed their last king and destroyed their empire. The Mahometans, called by God to chastise the guilty nations, reduced to servitude all the provinces of the east which embraced heresy.

Q What other calamity afflicted the church?

A. The heresy of the Monothelites These heretics pretended that there was but one will, although there were two natures in our Lord. They were condemned in the sixth general council, held at Constantinople in 680.

8. How did God console the church?

God consoled the church by the evangelical life of a great number of saints, who repaired the scandals and crimes caused by heresy. Of this number was St. Anastasius, solitary of Mt. Sinai.

9. How did God repair the losses sustained by the church?

God repaired the losses which the church had sustained from heresy and Mahometanism, by the conversion of new nations. These were the Frisons, the Hollanders, and a portion of the Danes. The missionary who carried the gospel to them was St. Willibrol, a Benedictine religious of England. He was sent by Pope Sergius.