Part I, Faith: The Ninth Article of the Creed: The Catholic Church

CHUECH.

1. The Catholic Church and Its Institution

1. The Catholic Church is a visible institution, founded by Christ, in which men are trained for heaven.

The Church may be compared with a school ; the latter prepares its pupils to become good citizens of the State, the former trains up citizens of heaven. And just as a school has its head master, its staff of teachers, its pupils, along with its regulations for discipline, and appliances of education, so is the Church provided. It has a visible head, the visible ceremony of Baptism by which members are received, and a visible formula of belief. Hence Christ compares the Church with visible objects, with a city placed on a mountain, with a light on a candlestick; it is also called a body (Eph. i. 22), the house of God (1 Tim. iii. 15), a holy city (Apoc. xxi. 10). Wherever Catholic priests and Catholics are to be found, there is the Catholic Church. Two classes of people maintain that the Church is not visible: heretics, who have been cut off from it yet would gladly belong to the Church, and free thinkers, who wish to shirk the obligation of obeying a visible Church. The expression " Catholic Church " does not imply a mere building of stone or wood, though the comparison is frequently made in the Scriptures (Eph. ii. 21), the Church having a living corner-stone, Christ (Ps. cxvii. 22) Who binds the faithful into one divine family, and the foundation-stones of the apostles (Apoc. xxi. 14), the faithful being the stones of the edifice (1 Pet. ii. 5). Nor by " Catholic Church " do we mean " Catholic religion ; " the Church is to the religion as the body to the soul.

The Catholic Church is often called the " kingdom of heaven/' " kingdom of God," " community of the faithful."

John the Baptist and Christ Himself announced that the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matt. iii. 2; iv. 17). The parables on the kingdom of heaven bring out the various features of the Church. The gradation of offices in the Church — (Pope, cardinals, bishops, priests, ordinary Christians), is very suggestive of a kingdom, in which the aim is to lead men to heaven. " The Church is the people of God scattered through the world," says St. Augustine; or in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, the community of the faithful. Our Lord compares it with a fold where He wishes to keep all His sheep.

The Church is very properly called the " Mother of Christians," because she gives to men the true life of the soul, and because she trains her members as a mother brings up her children.

The Church confers in Baptism the gift of sanctifying grace, the true life of the soul, for this grace gives a claim to heaven. As

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the father who goes away on a journey leaves all his power in the hands of the mother, so Christ, in leaving this earth, gave His Church full power (John xx. 21). " We should love God as Our Father," says St. Augustine, " and the Church as our Mother." " If we love our native land so dearly," says Leo XIII., " because we were born and bred there, and are ready even to die for it, how much deeper should be our love for the Church, which has given us the life which has no end."

2. The Church prepares man for heaven by carrying out the threefold office which Christ conferred upon her; the office of teacher, of priest, and of shepherd.

The Church teaches the doctrine of Christ, ministers the means of grace appointed by Christ, and is a guide and shepherd to the faithful. The teaching is carried on by sermons ; the means of grace consist in the holy sacrifice of the Mass, the sacraments, blessings, and the holding of special devotions; the guidance consists in the laying down of certain precepts, e.g., the commandments of the Church, and the prohibition of what is sinful or dangerous, e.g., the reading of bad books.

This triple office was first exercised by Christ, and then passed on to the apostles and their successors.

Christ used to preach, as we see in the sermon on the mount. He dispensed the means of grace, forgiving Magdalen her sins, giving His body and blood to the apostles at the Last Supper, blessing the little children. Christ was the Guide of men. He gave command ments, sent the apostles on missions, instructed them, and reproved the tyranny of the Pharisees, etc. He gave the apostles commission (1), to teach all nations (Matt, xxviii. 19), and also (2), to exercise the power of the priesthood, to offer sacrifice (Luke xxii. 19), and to forgive sins (John xx. 23) ; (3), in addition the apostles received the office of pastor, and with it the power of reproving and correcting (Matt, xviii. 17), and of binding and loosing, i.e., of making and revoking laws. The words of Christ included the successors of the apostles as well as the apostles themselves : " I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world " (Matt, xxviii. 20).

3. The Lord and King of the Church is Christ.

The prophets had foretold (Ps. ii.), that the Messias should be a great king, whose kingdom should last forever and embrace all other kingdoms. The archangel Gabriel told Mary that the Hedeemer should be a king and His kingdom should be eternal (Luke i. 33). Christ calls Himself a king to Pilate, but denies that His kingdom is of this world (John xviii. 36). Christ directs the Church through the Holy Ghost; hence He is called the Head of the Church (Eph. i. 23), of which Christians form the body, each one being a member of the body (1 Cor. xii. 27). He is also called the invisible Head, because He no longer mixes personally with man on earth. On account of His love for the Church, He is called her Bridegroom, and she is called His Bride (Apoc. xxi. 9). Christ compared Himself to a bridegroom on several occasions (Matt. xxii.). Like Jacob, who

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served seven years for Rachel, Christ would serve many years for His Church (Phil. ii. 7), and even gave His life for it (Eph. v. 25).

4. The Catholic Church consists of a teaching and a hearing body. To the former belong the Pope, bishops, and priests; to the latter the faithful.

The word " Pope " comes from the Latin papa, i.e., father ; "bishop" is from the Greek episcopos, i.e., overseer; priest is from the Greek word presbyter, meaning " the elder." In Latin, priest is sacerdos.

2. The Head of the Church

The mainstay of the Church is the Pope. He is the rock on which the Church rests (Matt. xvi. 18) ; and hi: office secures the maintenance of unity. St. John Chrysostom says that the Church would fail if it were not for its Head, who is the centre of its unity, as a ship would be wrecked if deprived of its pilot ; and St. Cyprian adds that the enemies of the Church direct their attacks against its Head, in the hope that deprived of his guidance it may be shipwrecked. Among the Popes are counted no less than forty martyrs.

1. Christ conferred on St. Peter the primacy over the apostles and the faithful by the command : " Feed My lambs, feed My sheep ; " by giving over to him " the keys of the kingdom of heaven," and by special marks of distinction.

After His resurrection Christ appeared to the apostles on the lake of Genesareth, and after the triple question to Peter " Lovest thou Me ? " gave him the solemn precept : " Feed My lambs ; [i.e., the faithful], . . . feed My sheep [i.e., the apostles] " (John xxi. 15). This office had been promised to St. Peter before the resurrection, on the occasion of his confession at Caesarea Philippi : " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth it shall be loosed also in heaven" (Matt. xvi. 18, 19). The special marks of distinction conferred on St. Peter were the follow ing : Christ gave him a new name, Peter ; He chose him to be with Him on the most solemn occasions, as on Mount Thabor and in the Garden of Olives; He appeared to St. Peter after His resurrection before showing Himself to any of the other apostles (Luke xxiv. 34; 1 Cor. xv. 5, etc.).

St. Peter always acted as chief of the apostles and was so acknowledged by them.

He spoke in the name of the other apostles on Pentecost; he received into the Church its first Jewish and Gentile members; he performed the first miracle ; it was he who moved for the choice of a new apostle ; he defended the apostles before the Jewish tribunal ; his opinion prevailed at the council of the apostles. The apostles recognized his pre-eminence, for the Evangelists in giving the list of the

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apostles always place St. Peter first (Matt. x. 2 ; Mark i. 36 ; Acts ii. 14) ; and St. Paul, after his conversion, regarded it as his duty to present himself to St. Peter (Gal. i. 18; ii. 2).

2. St. Peter was Bishop of Rome for some twenty-five years and died Bishop of Rome ; and the dignity and power of St. Peter descended to the succeeding Bishops of Rome.

There is a great amount of evidence for the presence of St. Peter in Rome from the year 44 to 69. St. Peter writes about the year 65 : " The Church that is in Babylon . . . saluteth you ; and so doth my son Mark" (1 Pet. v. 13). Babylon was the name given by the early Christians to Rome, on account of its greatness and immorality. St. Clement of Rome writes about the year 100 : " Peter and Paul were with an enormous number of the Christians martyred in Rome." Tertullian, a priest of Carthage, about the year 200, congratulates the Church of Rome, because St. Peter died there, crucified like his Lord, and St. Paul died like another John the Baptist. In addition the grave of St. Peter was long ago discovered; his body lay in a catacomb under Nero's circus ; the third Pope erected a small chapel over it, to be replaced by a beautiful edifice built by Constantine (324) ; when this fell into disrepair, the present building of St. Peter's was erected, in 1629.

The Bishops of Rome have always exercised supreme power in the Church, and that power has always been acknowledged.

When dissensions arose in the Church of Corinth about the year 100, the matter was referred not to the apostle St. John at Ephesus, but to the Bishop of Rome, St. Clement. About the year 190 the Pope Victor commanded the people of Asia Minor to conform to the Roman usage in the celebration of Easter, and those who demurred were threatened with excommunication, whereupon they yielded. About the year 250 Pope Stephen forbade the Bishops of North Africa to rebaptize those who returned to the bosom of the Church, and excommunicated those who resisted. The Bishops of Rome had the first place in all general councils. When heresy broke out the Bishop of Rome always inquired into it ; and to him other bishops appealed when unjustly oppressed; thus when St. Athanasius was deposed by the emperor, the Pope reinstated him. From the earliest times the titles " high priest " and " bishop of bishops " have been given to the Bishop of Rome. When, at the Council of Chalcedon, the letter of Pope Leo was read to the assembled bishops, they cried outwith one voice : " Peter has spoken by Leo ; let him be anathema who believes otherwise." The Vatican Council declares that it is the will of Christ that till the end of the world there be successors to St. Peter.

3. The Bishop of Rome is called Pope, or Holy Father.

He is also called, on account of his great dignity, the " holy Father,'' " His Holiness," "Vicar of Christ," "Father of Christendom."

On account of the opening words of Christ's speech to St. Peter

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" Blessed art thou," etc. (Matt. xvi. 17) the Pope is addressed as Beatissime Pater. The office is called the See of Peter, the Holy See, or the Apostolic See. The chair of St. Peter is still to be seen in Rome.

The Pope is also called from his see the Pope of Kome, and the Church under him the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Leo XIII. was born at Carpineto, in Italy, on March 2, 1810, ordained priest December 31, 1837, Archbishop of Perugia, 1846, and Pope February 20, 1878. To his energy we owe the abolition of slavery in Brazil, the campaign against it in Africa by the European nations, the repeal of many laws against the Church in Germany, the prevention of war between Germany and Spain, the founding of over one hundred bishoprics, especially among the heathen, etc. By his encyclicals he has denounced the Freemasons, recommended in a special manner the Third Order of St. Francis, and the devotion of the Rosary, displayed his zeal for the working classes, and exerted himself to produce reunion of the various Christian communities with the Catholic Church, etc. He is the two hundred and fifty-ninth Pope.

The Pope has precedence of honor over all other bishops, and also of jurisdiction over the whole Church (Vatican Council, 4,3).

" The Pope," says St. Bernard, " is the high priest, the prince among bishops." The following are some of his prerogatives : He as sumes a new name on his election, as St. Peter received a new name from Our Lord, to signify that he is wholly devoted to his new office. From the tenth century onwards it has been the custom to choose the name from those of previous Popes, St. Peter's alone being excepted out of reverence. He is privileged to wear the tiara, or mitre with the triple crown, expressive of the triple office of teacher, priest, and pastor; he has also a crosier ending in a cross, and a soutane of white silk. His foot is kissed in memory of those words of St. Paul : " How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things" (Rom. x. 15). He has the highest power in the Church as " teacher of all Christians " (Vatican Council) and " chief -shepherd of the shepherds and their nocks." He has the most complete jurisdiction in deciding questions of faith and morals, and in arranging the discipline of the universal Church. This power extends over every single church, and every single bishop and pastor. He may elect and depose bishops, call together councils, make and unmake laws, send out missionaries, con fer privileges and dispensations, and reserve sins to his own tribunal. For the same reason he may personally teach and guide any of the bishops or their flocks. He is the supreme judge of all the faithful; to him remains the final appeal. The Pope may choose seventy cardinals to act as his counsellors ; they may have the right of choosing a new Pope after the see has been vacant for twelve days. Their dress is a scarlet hat and mantle, to remind them of their duty of loyalty to the Pope at the cost even of their blood. They form the

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various committees or congregations, e.g., the Congregation of Rites, of Indulgences, etc.

The Pope is quite independent of every temporal sovereignty and of every spiritual power.

For many years the Popes were temporal sovereigns, and ruled as such the States of the Church. The growth of the latter came about in the following manner : In the first centuries many estates were bestowed on the Popes as a free gift. From the time of Constantine the Great, the emperors lived away from Rome, and thus the Papacy began to exercise a certain authority over the city and central Italy. In 754 A.D., Pepin, the Frankish king, gave over to the Pope the territory he had won by the sword in the neighborhood of Rome, and also some towns on the eastern coast of Italy. This grant was confirmed by Pepin's son, Charlemagne, in 774. The Popes lost and regained these possessions some seventy-seven times. In 1859 all the territory except Rome was torn, from the Pope, and in 1870 Rome itself, so that now all the Pope possesses is the Vatican. This temporal sovereignty was of great advantage to the Church; it secured the Pope's independence in the exercise of his authority, it gave him a status among the powers of the earth, and supplied him with funds for carrying on the business connected with the Church, besides in suring liberty in the choice of a Pope. At present he is helped by the alms of the faithful, called Peter's pence. Though deprived of his possessions the Pope is still recognized as a sovereign, even in Italy; and he has acted as arbitrator between nations. Many will remember his decision in 1885 in the disputed claims of Spain and Germany to the Caroline Islands. He also issues medals, confers orders, has the gold and white standard, adopted in allusion to the words of St. Peter: "Silver and gold I have none" (Acts iii. 6), and has ambassadors (legates and Nuncios) at various courts, etc. The Pope is supreme on earth, not being subject even to a general council (Eugenius IV., Sept. 4, 1439; Vatican Council, 4, 3). Any who appeal from the Pope to a general council are liable to excommunication (Pius IX., October 12, 1869).

S. BISHOPS, PRIESTS, THE FAITHFUL. 1. The bishops are the successors of the apostles.

This is the express teaching of the Vatican Council. The bishops differ only from the apostles in having a limited jurisdiction, while the mission of the apostles was to the whole world; moreover the apostles were personally infallible in their teaching, and having an extraordinary mission they had extraordinary gifts, such as infallibility, the gift of tongues, and miracles.

The bishops have the following powers: They guide that portion of the Church assigned to them by the Pope, and assist him in the government of the universal Church.

From apostolic times bishops were appointed to single sees, e.g., Titus to Crete (Tit. i. 5). These divisions of the Church are called

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sees or dioceses; some of them are very large. Paris, for example, contains more than 3,000,000 souls. The duties of a bishop are to educate candidates for the priesthood, to create and confer offices in the Church, to gave faculties to confessors, to see to the religious education of his flock, to revise books written on religious subjects, to settle the days of fasting, etc. In addition he confers the Sacraments of Confirmation and Orders, reserves certain sins to his own jurisdiction, consecrates churches, chalices, the holy oils, etc. Each bishop has also the right of voting in general councils.

The bishops are not merely assistants to the Pope, but they are actually guides of the Church.

They are the shepherds of their respective flocks (Vatican Council, 4, 3) and are appointed by the Holy Ghost to rule the Church of God (Acts xx. 28). They are also called "princes of the Church," and since they have ordinary or immediate jurisdiction they are often called " Ordinaries." They are assisted by a number of canons, who make up the body called the chapter; one of these canons becomes vicar capitular if the see becomes vacant, and governs the diocese till a new bishop be elected. The bishop himself usually appoints the chapter, in rare instances the Pope or the archbishop. Many bishops have an assistant in the form of a coadjutor-bishop or a vicar-general. " The dignity of a bishop," says St. Ambrose, " is higher than that of a king." The privileges of the order are as follows : The right to wear a mitre, the sign of his leadership, and to carry a crosier, which is curved at the end in sign of his limited jurisdiction. He also wears a ring, symbolical of his union with the diocese, and a pectoral cross. The faithful kiss his hand, and he is addressed by the Pope as brother, because as bishop he has the same rank as the Pope.

The bishops are subject to the Pope and owe him obedience.

The Pope gives their jurisdiction to the bishops; and 110 bishop may exercise his office before being recognized and confirmed by the Pope. He is obliged also to go to Rome (ad limina apostolorum) to report on the state of his diocese. An appeal may always be made from a bishop to the Pope. Bishops, such as the Greek or Anglican, who decline submission to the Pope, are neither members of the Church, nor have they jurisdiction, even where they have valid orders.

Archbishops or metropolitans are bishops who have powers over other bishops.

Some have the privilege of wearing the pallium, a white strip of wool on the shoulders symbolical of gentleness and humility. The Primate is a still higher dignitary, and is the bishop of the whole nation. Above him in rank is the Patriarch or Exarch, who in former times was set over the metropolitans. The Bishops of Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome were patriarchs, because these sees were founded by St. Peter. In our days the titles patriarch and Primate signify nothing more than a precedence of dignity; they are not of divine institution. There are also others of the clergy who are termed prelates; some of them £njoy most or all of the powers of

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bishops, and are called vicars apostolic. There are others whose title is merely honorary.

2. The priests are the assistants of the bishops.

They receive their Orders from the bishop, and so are his spiritual sons ; and their business is to carry out the commands of the bishop ; even when called in to assist at councils, they do not vote as judges but only as counsellors, nor have they powers to excommunicate.

The priests have only a portion of the episcopal power, and their office may be exercised only with sanction from the bishop.

This sanction is called the canonical mission (missio canonica}. The dress of the priest is a soutane, or black garment reaching to the feet.

Parish priests are those to whom the bishop has confided permanently the charge of a district.

The district is called a parish. Dean is the title given to parish priests of larger districts. In the assignment of a parish the bishop usually shows some consideration for the wishes of the patron or patrons, i.e., the person or persons who have been and are conspicuous benefactors in the district. The parish priest is the representative of the bishop, and no one may, without his leave, exercise spiritual functions in the parish, such as preaching, baptizing, giving extreme unction, marrying, and burying.

Parish priests who are appointed by the bishop over the priests of a large district are called rural deans.

They make a visitation of the parishes and act as intermediaries with the bishop.

Parish priests of larger districts have assistants, or curates.

3. A Catholic is one who has been baptized and professes himself to be a member of the Catholic Church.

The Church is a community into which admittance is gained by Baptism. Thus the three thousand baptized on the first Pentecost became members of the Church (Acts ii. 41). Moreover a man must make external profession of being a member of the Church, so that any one who breaks away, for instance, by heresy, no longer belongs to the Church in spite of his baptism, though he is not thereby freed from his obligations to the Church. Neither heathens, Jews, heretics, nor schismatics are members of the Church (Council of Florence), though children baptized validly in other communions really belong to it. " For," as St. Augustine says, " Baptism is the privilege of the true Church, and so the benefits which flow from Baptism are necessarily fruits which belong only to the true Church. Children baptized in other communions cease to be members of the Church only when, after reaching the age of reason, they make formal profession of heresy, as, for example, by receiving communion in a non-Catholic church." The Christians were at first known by the name of ISTazareans, from Nazareth, or Galileans, from Galilee; it was first in

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Antioch that the name Christian came to be in use (Acts xi. 26), and the name Christians is appropriate. We are followers of Christ, willing to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. viii. 29). " We receive our name," says St. John Chrysostom, " not from an earthly ruler, nor from an angel, nor from an archangel, nor from a seraphim, but from the King of all the earth."

A true Catholic is not only one who has been baptized and belongs to the Church, but who also makes serious efforts to secure his eternal salvation; who believes the teaching of the Church, keeps the commandments of God, and of the Church, who receives the sacraments, and prays to God in the manner prescribed by Christ.

He is not a true Christian who is ignorant of his faith. Such a one might as well call himself a doctor though knowing nothing of medicine. " ISTor is he a true Christian," says St. Justin, " who does not live as Christ taught him to live." Our Lord said to the Jews : " If you be the children of Abraham do the works of Abraham " (John viii. 39), and He might say to the Christians "If you be Christians do the works of Christ." " If you want to be a Christian," says St. Gregory Nazianzen, " you must live the life of Christ ;" and St. Augustine : " A true Christian is the man who is gentle, good, and merciful to all, and shares his bread with the poor." Christ Himself said that His disciples should be known by their love one for another (John xiii. 35). A Christian who neglects the sacraments is like a soldier who has no weapons ; what a responsibility he incurs ! Louis of Granada says, " A field which is well tended is expected to yield a richer harvest ; so more good works are expected from a Christian than from a heathen, because the Christian has greater graces."

Every Catholic has rights and duties. He has an especial claim to the means of grace supplied by the Church, and he is obliged to obey his ecclesiastical superiors in spiritual matters, and to make provision for their support as well as for that of God's service.

A good Catholic ought also to hear the word of God, receive the necessary sacraments, take part in divine service, and he has a right to Christian burial, etc. The Church forces nobody to enter its pale, but whoever becomes a member of his own free will, and remains so, must be subject to the laws of the Church. Under certain circumstances those who disobey the laws of the Church are excommunicated or shut out from the Church. They lose their claim to the spiritual goods of the Church; they may not join in the divine service, nor receive the sacraments, nor an office in the Church, nor Christian burial. Some offences involve excommunication ipso facto ; for instance, apostasy, duelling, freemasonry (Pius IX., October 12, 1869). In other cases the excommunication must be formally pronounced, and that, too, after warning and trial, as in the case of the Old Catholic bishops Reinkens and Bellinger. St. Ambrose for bade the Emperor Theodosius to enter the Church after the latter had, by his orders, caused the slaughter of some seven thousand

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people in Thessalonica ; and it was only after doing severe penance that he was admitted. We know, too, that St. Paul cut off from the Church a vicious Corinthian (1 Cor. v. 13). The State exercises a similar power in banishing criminals.

4. Foundation and Spread of the Church

Christ compared the Church to a grain of mustard-seed, which is the smallest of seeds, but grows into a tree in which the birds of the air build their nests (Matt. xiii. 31, 32).

1. Christ laid the foundation of the Church when, in the course of His teaching, He gathered a number of disciples, and chose twelve of these to preside over the rest and one to be Head of all.

2. The Church first began its life on Pentecost, when some three thousand people were baptized.

Pentecost is the birthday of the Church. After the miracle at the gate of the Temple some two thousand more were baptized.

3. Soon after the descent of the Holy Ghost the apostles began to preach the Gospel throughout the world, in accordance with the commands of Christ (Mark xvi. 15), and founded Christian com munities in many places.

St. Paul, after his conversion in 34 A.D., labored more abundantly than all the apostles (1 Cor. xv. 10) ; he traversed Asia Minor, the greater part of Southern Europe, and many islands of the Mediterranean. After him St. Peter labored most. After escaping by a miracle from his prison in Jerusalem, he founded his see at Rome where, in company with St. Paul, he suffered martyrdom. St. John, the beloved disciple, lived at Ephesus with our blessed Lady, and governed the Church in Asia Minor. His brother, St. James the Greater, travelled as far as Spain, and was beheaded in Jerusalem in 44 A.D. His body rests at Compostella. St. James the Less governed the Church at Jerusalem, and was cast down from a pinnacle of the Temple in A.D. 63. 'St. Andrew preached to the people living along the lower Danube, and died on a cross in Achaia. St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew made their way to the Euphrates and Tigris, and as far as India. St. Simon evangelized Egypt and North Africa.

The apostles established their communities after the follow ing plan: having converted and baptized a number of men in a place, they chose assistants, to whom they imparted a greater or less portion of their own powers; and before leaving the place they made choice of a successor, and gave him full powers (Acts xiv. 22).

Those who received only a small portion of the apostolic power were called deacons, and priests those who had ampler faculties. The representatives of the apostles were called bishops. Christ gave the apostles power to choose successors when He gave to them the

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self-same power which He had received from the Father (John xx. 21) ; and it was His wish that they should choose successors, for He told the apostles that their mission should continue to the end of the world (Matt, xxviii. 20).

Among all the Christian communities that of Rome took the highest rank, because it was presided over by St. Peter, the chief of the apostles, and because to the Head of that community as successor of St. Peter the primacy of St. Peter was transferred.

St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch (107 A.D.) in a letter to the Christians of Rome, begs them not to set him free and calls the Roman community the " chief community of the holy band of the faithful;" and St. Iremeus, Bishop of Lyons (202 A.D.), says "All the faithful over the whole world must conform to the Roman Church on account of its principality."

All Christian communities which have been formed in the course of time professed the same faith, and acknowledged the same means of grace and the same Head. Hence they formed one large community — the Catholic Church.

4. When the great persecutions broke out, the Church spread more rapidly over the earth.

During the first three centuries there were ten persecutions, the severest being under Nero and Diocletian (284-385 A.D.), the latter monster condemning some 2,000,000 Christians. They were martyred in various ways; they were beheaded like St. Paul, crucified like St. Peter, stoned like St. Stephen, thrown to the lions like St. Ignatius of Antioch, roasted on gridirons like St. Lawrence, drowned like St. ITlorian, flayed like St. Bartholomew, cast over cliffs or from high places like St. James, burned at the scaffold like St. Polycarp, buried alive like St. Chrysanthus, etc. The very means adopted to exterminate the Christian religion helped to propagate it. The speeches of the Christians before their judges often converted the hearers. The joy with which they faced death, their superhuman patience, and their love of their enemies, were powerful influences on the heathen. Added to this were the miracles which often happened during the martyrdoms, as for instance in the case of St. Polycarp and St. John at the Lateran Gate. In the words of St. Rupert, the martyrs are like the seed which is buried hi the earth, and sprouts and brings forth much fruit ; or of St. Leo tho Great, if the storm scatters the seed this benefit results that instead of one, some fifty other trees grow up. " The blood of the martyrs," says Tertullian, " is the seed of Christians." The life of the Christians was then a model, and they abounded in saints. At the risk of their life they prayed to God in the catacombs. Two years of probation were demanded of the catechumens before reception.

When the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great, had permitted his subjects to become Christians and later made the

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Christian religion the State religion (324 A.D.), the Church indeed nourished externally, but fervor and religious discipline soon began to suffer.

Constantino was led to this step by the appearance of the luminous cross in the heavens (312 A.D.), and still more by his holy mother St. Helena. The following were some of his ordinances : Sundays and feast days were to be observed with solemnity; the temples of the heathen were to be handed over to the bishops; the gladiatorial combats and the crucifixion of criminals were forbidden, and many churches were built. By the miraculous draught of fishes related in the fifth chapter of St. Luke and the two boats almost sunk with the weight of fish, was prefigured the future of the Church, which should suffer schism with the increase of its members, while Christians should sink down to earthly things. The heresy of Arius (318 A.D.) began its deadly work in the time of Constantine, and had a great following. At this time also ceased the test of the catechumens, so that it was easier to become a member of the Church. St. Augustine had reason to say : " If the Church is harassed by external foes, there are many in her bosom who by their unruly life make sad the hearts of the faithful."

5. In the Middle Ages nearly all the heathen nations began to enter the Church.

In Austria about 450 A.D., the monk Severinus preached the Gospel for thirty years along the banks of the Danube. St. Gregory the Great, in 600 A.D., sent St. Augustine at the head of a number of missioners to convert England ; eighty years later the country was Christian and had twenty-six sees. Germany owes most to St. Boniface, who preached the Gospel there for about forty years (755 A.D.). The Greek monks Saints Cyril and Methodius worked among the Slavs, mainly of Bohemia and Moravia, with great success. The Hungarians were converted by their holy king Stephen (1038 A.D.) " the apostolic king." Christianity was gradually introduced into Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Russia and Poland after 1000 A.D.

The Church was hard pressed by Islam during the Middle Ages.

Islamism or Mohammedanism was founded by Mohammed, a native of Mecca, who gave himself out to be a prophet of the one true God, promised sensual joy after death, allowed plurality of wives, imposed a pilgrimage to Mecca, taught fatalism, and after propagating his doctrines by fire and sword, was poisoned in 632 A.D., by a Jewess. The Koran is the sacred book of the Mohammedans. They keep the Friday with great solemnity, and pray five times a day turned towards Mecca. Mohammed's successors were the caliphs, who undertook wars of conquest on a large scale, every where rooting out the Christian religion. They overran a great part of Asia, North Africa, Spain and the islands of the Mediterranean. Charles Martel, in a series of victories (732-738 A.D.), arrested their advance into France, and ever since their failure in 1638 before Vienna, their progress in the West was arrested.

The Apostles' Creed. 233

In addition the Church lost many adherents in the Middle Ages by the Greek schism.

The causes of the schism were as follows: The emperors of the East kept trying to make the patriarchs of Constantinople independent of Rume, while these were often for their heresies put under ban by the councils. In time it came about that the ambitious Photius, backed up by the emperor, held a council of the Eastern bishops, and broke away from Rome (867 A.D.). The succeeding emperor re-established the old relations with Rome. Two hundred years later, however, the patriarch Michael Cerularius renewed the contest (1054 A.D.), and the schism effected by him lasts till the present day. They call themselves the Orthodox Greeks, while we call them the Schismatic Greeks, in opposition to the United Greeks or Uniates, who preserved their allegiance to Rome.

6. In later times many nations of the newly discovered coun tries were converted.

The Spaniards and Portuguese led the van of missionary enterprise. One of the most famous of these missionaries is St. Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, who used to call the little children together with a bell, as he made his way through the cities of India, the islands of Molucca, and Japan, to teach them the truths of religion (1552 A.D.) ; he had the gift of tongues, and baptized some two million heathens. After his death great work was done in China by the Jesuits, especially Ricci and Schall. Another great mission ary is St. Peter Claver (1654 A.D.) whose work was mostly among the negroes in South America. Cardinal Lavigerie in our own time has done much in Africa, especially in resisting the slave trade, and founding a congregation for the conversion of the natives. The College of Propaganda was founded at Rome in 1662 for the train ing of young men from all nations for a missionary career. At present some 15,000 priests, 5,000 lay brothers and 50,000 nuns are at work in the foreign missions; the missionaries belong for the most part to the Orders of Jesuits, Franciscans, Capuchins, Benedictines, and Lazarists. The organizations for the support of the missions are the Propagation of the Faith and the Holy Childhood. It is a sacred obligation to help in such work, and the efforts of non- Catholics in this direction may well put us to shame.

In later times the Church has lost many members by the Lutheran and Anglican heresies.

Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk of Erfurt, and later teacher in the high school at Wittenburg, took offence because he thought that he was not sufficiently held in esteem at Rome. When Pope Leo X., anxious to complete the building of St. Peter's, gave indulgences to those who should subscribe to the work, and sent outpreachers to promulgate these indulgences, Luther came forward with his ninety-five propositions on indulgences, and nailed them to the door of the church at Wittenburg. These propositions at first condemned only the abuses of indulgences in the Church, but later went on to combat the teaching of the Church on the subject (1517).

234 Faith.

Refusing to withdraw them at the command of the Pope he was excommunicated (1520), and also outlawed by the emperor for not answering the summons requiring him to appear before the council at Worms. He sought protection from the Elector of Saxony. His heresy soon spread over Germany and led to many religious wars. The name Protestant was assumed by the Lutherans at Spires in 1529, on account of their protest against Catholic doctrine. ' The Peace of Augsburg secured to the Protestants the same rights as Catholics (1555). The Council of Trent set forth the points in dispute between Catholics and Protestants (1545-1563). Luther died in 1546. His chief errors are contained in the following propositions: (1). There is 110 supreme teaching power in the Church. (2). The temporal sovereign has supreme power in matters ecclesiastical. (3). There are no priests. (4). All that is to be believed is in the Scripture. (5). Each one may interpret the Holy Scriptures as he likes. (6). Faith alone saves, good works are superfluous. (7). This last follows from the fact that man lost his free will by original sin. (8). There are no saints, no Christian sacrifice, no sacrament of confession, no purgatory. The Jesuits, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola (1540), won many back again to the fold of the Church. Zwingli and Calvin in Switzerland, and Henry VIII. in England, about the same time helped in Luther's deadly work. The errors of the Anglican Church were drawn up later in the form of Thirty-nine Articles, which are quite Lutheran in tone.

7. At present the Catholic Church numbers about 260,000,000

members.

These are under the direction of about 1200 bishops, counting about 15 patriarchs, 200 archbishops and 20 prelates with dioceses. There are some 350,000 Catholic priests in the whole world. The in habitants of Italy, Spain, France, Austria, Belgium, and Ireland are nearly all Catholics. In Switzerland about half are Catholics; in Germany over a third of the population, and in Russia 11,000,000. In Europe about three-quarters of the entire population are Catholic. In America there are 80,000,000 Catholics, of whom there are 10,000,- 000 in the United States, forming one-seventh of the entire population, while Mexico, south and central America, with the exception of Brazil, are almost entirely Catholic. The adjacent islands are mainly Catholic. In Asia there are only 10,000,000 Catholics, in Africa 3,000,000, in Australia 1,000,000. The Protestants, comprising the various sects of Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, etc., number 150,- 000,000; they inhabit England, North and Central Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, parts of Switzerland and Hungary, and the United States of America. The Oriental Greeks or Schismatic Greeks number about 100,000,000. They occupy for the most part the Balkan peninsula and Russia. Besides these there are some 10,000,000 of various other Christian sects, hence a total of 520,000,000 Christians. Since the inhabitants of the earth amount to about 1,500,000,000 only a little over one- third of the human race is Christian. The Mohammedans number 170,000,000; they inhabit Arabia, Western Asia, the northern half of Africa, and part of Turkey. In addition there are 8,000,000 Jews; they are for the greater part in Russia and Austria. Finally there are still 800,000,000

The Apostles9 Creed. 235

heathens, dwelling for the most part in Southern Africa, India, China and Japan.

5. The Catholic Church 18 Indestructible and Infallible

Indestructibility of the Church.

The Catholic Church is indestructible; i.e., it will remain till the end of the world, for Christ said : " The gates of hell shall not prevail against it " (Matt. xvi. 18) .

Hence there will always be Popes, bishops, and faithful, and God's revealed truths will ever be found in the Catholic Church. The archangel Gabriel had announced to Mary: "Of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke i. 33). "The Church," says St. Ambrose, " is like the moon ; it may wane, but never be destroyed ; it may bedarkened, but it can never disappear." " The bark of the Church," says St. Ansel m, " may be swept by the waves, but it can never sink because Christ is there."

1. Of all the persecutors of the Church none have succeeded against it, and some have come to a fearful end.

Judas' end is the type of those of his imitators. Herod, the murderer of the infants of Bethlehem, died in unspeakable tortures; so, too, Herod the murderer of St. James was devoured by worms. Pilate was banished by the emperor to Vienne, in France, and there he took his own life. During the siege of Jerusalem 1,000,000 Jews died of hunger or sickness, or in battle, the city itself was reduced to ashes and some hundred thousand Jews carried off into captivity. The tyrant Nero was deposed, and in his flight from Rome was stabbed by a slave. Diocletian came to a shameful end. Before his death his family were sent into exile, his statues were destroyed, and his body attacked with a loathsome disease. Julian the Apostate was struck down on the field of battle by a lance; his last words were : " Galilean, Thou hast conquered." The case of Napoleon is instructive. He kept Pius VII. a prisoner for five years, he himself was a prisoner for seven years; in the castle at Fontainebleau he forced the Pope to give up the States of the Church, promising a yearly income of 2,000,000 francs; in the same place he was himself forced to sign his abdication, and received a promise of a yearly income of the same amount. Four days after giving the order to unite the States of the Church with France he lost the battles of Aspern and Erlingen. He answered the excommunication launched against him, saying that the words of an old man would not make the arms drop from the hands of his soldiers. This actually happened in his Russian campaign from the intense cold; and on the same day on which Napoleon died at St. Helena, Pius VII. was celebrating his own feast day at Rome. No wonder the French have a saying: " Whoever eats of the Pope dies." The same fate is shared by the founders of heresies, and the enemies of religion. Arius burst asunder during a triumphal procession; Voltaire died in despair. These

236 Faith.

facts and many more of the same kind illustrate the words of Holy Writ : " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. x. 31).

2. When the Church is in the greatest need, Christ ever comes to its help, either by miracles or by raising up saintly men.

The appearance of the cross in the heavens, for instance, seen by Constantine and his army, brought the Christian persecution to an end. " The Church," says St. Jerome, " is like Peter's bark. When the storm is at its height the Lord wakes from His sleep and commands peace."

3. " It is peculiar to the Church/' says St. Hilary, " to nourish most when persecuted.77

" Persecutions," says St. Augustine, " serve to bring forth saints." To the Church as well as to Eve were the words spoken : " In sorrow sha.lt thou bring forth children" (Gen. iii. 16). The members of the Church increase under persecution. The Church is a field, fruitful only when torn up by the plough, or it is a vine, stronger and richer for being pruned. " As fire is spread by the wind, so is the Church increased by persecution," says St. Rupert. Persecution purifies the Church; even if millions fall away, it is not a loss but a cleansing. The time of persecution is usually a period of miracles, attesting the divine origin of the Church, as in the Babylonish captivity they attested the truth of the religion of the Jews. How often have Christians come unhurt out of boiling liquid, like St. Cecilia, or remained unharmed in the midst of the flames, like St. Polycarp, or been thrown to the beasts and received their homage like St. Venantius ? Facts like these force the enemies of the Church to exclaim : " Mighty indeed is the God of the Christians." The Church comes triumphant out of every persecution. Easter always follows Good Friday. But a few years ago the bishops in Germany were cast into prison, the religious Orders driven out, the administration of the sacraments in part forbidden; at the present day the number of Catholic members in the Reichstag is over a hundred, the Catholic journals have increased to four or five hundred, yearly congresses take place, and all kinds of unions for Catholic objects are formed, while the Catholics themselves are stauncher and more selfsacrificing. " The more battles the Church has to fight, the more her powers are developed; and the more she is oppressed the higher she rises," are the words of Pius VII. Such a privilege belongs to no institution save the Church, and by that she may be recognized as the offspring of God, the Bride of Christ.

The Infallibility of the Church.

God has planted in our hearts a longing for truth which must be satisfied. Our first parents had no difficulties to face in the search for truth. " In the state of innocence," says St. Thomas, " it was impossible for man to mistake false for true." Ever since the Fall, to err is human. God, however, sent an infallible Teacher, His only-

The Apostles' Creed. £37

begotten Son, that man might again find the truth ; hence the words of Christ to Pilate : " For this came I into^ the w.orld that I should give testimony of the truttT7'(John xviii. 37)^ Christ was to be a light to our understandings", darkened as they were by sin (John iii. 19). As Christ was not to remain__always on earth, He appointed another infallible teacher, His Church, and provided it with the necessary gifts, especially with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.

Christ conferred on His apostles and their successors the teacjimg_office? and promised them His divine assistance.

Thus He said at His ascension into heaven : " Going, teach ye all nations . . . and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world " (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20) ; and at the Last Supper : " I will ask the Father and He shall give you another Paraclete that He may abide with you forever, the ^Spirit of truth" (John xiv. 16, 17). To St. Peter He said: "The gates of hell shall not prevaiLagainst the i Church " (Matt. xvi. 18). Since Christ is the Son of God, His words must be true. If the Church, in the carrying out of her teaching office, could lead man into error, Christ would not have kept His word. Hence St. Paul calls the Church " the pillar and groundj3JLJJie--truth " (1 Tim. iii. 15), and the measures cTecided upon by the apostles in the Council of Jerusalem were introduced with the words : " For it hath seemed good to the Holy__Ghost and to us " (Acts xv. 28). It is no recent belief that the Church Ts infallible. Long ago Qrigen writes, " As in the heavens there are two great sources of light, the sun, and the moon which borrows its light from the sun, so there are two sources of our interior light — Christ and the Church. Christ, the Light of the world, shares His light with the Church, and she enlightens all the earth." In the words of St. IrenaBus : " Where the Church is, there is also the Spirit of God."

1. The Catholic Church is infallible in her teaching; i.e., the Holy Spirit assists the Church in such a manner that she cannot err in the preserving and announcing of revealed doctrine.

Just as pur_r_e_ason prevents us from making statements which are contrary to certain fundamental truths, so the Holy Ghost exerts His influence to prevent the Church giving any decision contrary to the truths taught by Christ. 1?he infallibility of the Church is not in any way like that of God with God, for she attributes it not to herself but to God's special providence over her.

2. The Church delivers her infallible decisions through general councils and through the Pope.

In every ^ingdom some court is established for the settlement of doubtful cases ; it is evident that the all-wise God must have instituted some such tribunal in His kingdom; and this tribunal is the general assembly of the bishops, for at His ascent into heaven He gave them the power to teach, and promised them immunity from error (Matt, xxviii. 18-20). Hence the expression of St. Cyprian: " The Church is in the bishops." Now since the bishop^ cannot always^ assemble together on account of their duties towarcTs~" their particular dioceses, some other tribunal must exist with power to

238 Faith.

give infallible decisions. This tribunal is the Pope speaking ex cathedra. The priests have not tins infallibility secured to them, though their services "a^emHispensable to the bishops in the carrying out of the teaching office. Priests when present in the assemblies of bishops are so as counsellors, but without any deciding vote in the questions under consideration. So soon as the Church defines a question of doctrine, every one is bound before God to submit under pain of excommunication.

A general council is the assembly of the bishops of the world presided over by the Pope.

The apostles in the year 51 held the first Council of Jerusalem, and announced their decisions as coming from God. Of the first four general councils St. Gregory the Great asserted that he held them in equal honor with the four gospels. Since the Council at Jerusalem there have been twenty general councils assembled. The first of these was held at NicaBa, in the year 325, to repel the Ariaii heresy. The following are specially worthy of note: the Third Council at Ephesus in 425, where Mary was declared to be the Mother of God; the Seventh General Council, or Second of NicaBa in 787, where the veneration of images was declared lawful; the Twelfth General Council or Fourth Lateran in 1215, which imposed the obligation of the Easter communion; the Nineteenth General Council at Trent (1545-1563), occasioned by Luther's heresies; the Twentieth General Council in the Vatican (1870), where the infallibility of the Pope was defined as an article of faith. The presence of all the bishops is not required for a general council, but the greater number of them must be there; nor is a unanimous vote in any way necessary to secure a definition; a majority of votes approaching more or less to unanimity is quite sufficient. Thus in the Vatican Council five hundred and thirty-three bishops voted for the definition of Papal in fallibility; two voted against, and fifty- two were absent from the meeting. Nor is it necessary that the Pope should preside in person ; he may act through his legates as in the first, third, and fourth general councils. All that is necessary is that the Pope should approve of the decrees of the council. Others besides bishops have a vote, such as the cardinals, generals of religious Orders, and all who have episcopal authority, as in the case of many prelates and abbots; suffragans have also a vote when they are summoned, as happened in 1870. The general council only settles questions after mature consideration, relying generally on the teaching of the Catholic Church in the early ages. Besides general councils there are national councils, or assemblies of the bishops of a nation or kingdom under their primate, and also provincial councils or meetings of the bishops and dignitaries of a district under the archbishop ; and finally diocesan synods, or assemblies of the clergy under their bishop. Such assem blies have no claim to infallibility.

The general consent of the bishops all over the world confirmed by the Pope is also infallible ; this may happen when the Pope asks their opinion on a question of doctrine or morals.

A case of the kind happened in 1854. The Pope sent round to

TJie Apostles9 Creed. 239

the various bishops of the world to ascertain the feeling of Christians at large as regarded the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady. As nearly all the replies approved of the doctrine, it was solemnly denned as of faith. This consensus of the bishops, though living apart at the time, was infallible, because the Holy Spirit is not confined by limitations of place. Nor was this solemn declaration necessary; it was quite sufficient that all the bishops should teach in the same sense in regard of any given subject to make that teaching infallible; were it otherwise the Church would be capable of teaching heresy, or of falling away from the truth. Hence the Vatican Council declared that not only must that be accepted which has been solemnly defined by the Church, but also whatever is proposed by the lawful and general teaching authority (Vatican Council, 3, 3).

The Pope makes an infallible definition when, as teacher and guide of the Church, he proposes to the universal Church a doctrine of faith or morals. These decrees are called doctrinal.

The Vatican Council in 1870 decreed that all doctrinal decisions of the Pope were infallible. This is the logical consequence of the words of Christ to St. Peter : " Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church" (Matt. xvi. 18). If the foundation of the Church were to fail, it would not be a rock but a quicksand. Moreover St. Peter was appointed shepherd of the apostles and the faithful in these words of Our Lord : " Feed My lambs, feed My sheep " (John xxi. 15, 17), and he received power to confirm his brethren in the faith (Luke xxii. 32). If then the Pope were to teach error, Our Lord's promise would have come to naught. Decisions in matters of doctrine were held in the greatest reverence from the earliest times. When the Roman See condemned in 417 the errors of Pelagius St. Augustine cried out: " Rome has spoken; the cause is at an end." And St. Cyprian says : " No heretics can gain admittance to the Church." Even general councils call the Bishop of Rome " the father and teacher of all Christians" (Council of Florence, 1439), and the Roman Church " the Mother and Teacher of the faithful " (Council of Lateran, iv., 1215) ; of course the Church understood here is the teaching, the " hearing " Church having no claim to teach. The Pope must be infallible for this reason, too, that " he has full power to govern the whole Church " (Council of Florence) ; for with this power is necessarily linked authority to teach. The supreme teaching office of the Church involves infallibility in accordance with the divine promise of the assistance of the Holy Ghost. In consequence of this the decisions of the Pope are infallible of themselves, quite independently of the consent of the bishops (Council of Vatican, iv. 4). Were it otherwise the rock (or successor of St. Peter) would derive its strength and solidity from the building raised upon it (the Church). It would, however, be quite wrong to assert that the Pope is infallible in all things; for he is a man and can make mistakes as other men in writing, speaking, etc. He can also commit sin as other men, and unhappily some of the Popes led very scandalous lives. When the Pope gives a decision on a doctrinal matter, it is Christ Who keeps him from error by the agency of the Holy Ghost; moreover the bishops are always consulted before any such decision is given. Addresses to pilgrims, letters to kings and

240 Faith.

princes, the brief of suppression of the Society of Jesus in 1773, are not infallible pronouncements. Doctrinal decisions are usually ac companied by sentence of excommunication against those who refuse to submit to them ; hence such decisions are binding for all Catholics. Although the Pope is infallible in his solemn decisions, general councils are not for that reason superfluous; for they confer a greater external solemnity on the Pope's decrees, and the teaching of the Church can be more thoroughly examined in these assemblies. Hence these general councils may, under certain circumstances, be necessary as well as useful. Even the apostles held a general council at Jerusalem, though each single apostle was infallible in his office as teacher.

3. The Church pronounces infallible judgments in the follow ing cases: On doctrines of faith and morals and their meaning and interpretation, on the Holy Scripture and Tradition and their interpretation.

If, for instance, the Church declares that the punishments of hell are eternal, the declaration is infallible, for it is made on a doctrine of faith; or again if it declare that the observation of Sunday is a command of God, the declaration turns on teaching with regard to morals and is therefore infallible. Christ made a special promise to His apostles that the Holy Ghost should teach them all truth (John xvi. 13) ; in other words that the Holy Ghost would teach them all truth bearing on religion ; and that religion included morality as well as belief may be gathered from the words of Christ just before His ascent into heaven : " Going therefore teach ye all nations . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you" (Matt, xxviii. 19, 20), and with regard to this last order He promised them the assistance of the Holy Ghost, and consequently, infallibility. Since the Church derives her doctrine from two sources, Holy Scripture and Tradition, it must be infallible in its interpretation of both.

Moreover, it is certain that the Church is infallible when it declares that any given opinion on faith or morals is contrary to revealed teaching, as also in the canonization of saints.

It is the common opinion of theologians that the Church is infallible in judging whether a proposition is opposed to revealed teach ing. If, for example, the Church were to condemn the assertion that man is the offspring of a pair of apes as contrary to revelation, it would be acting quite within the limits of its infallibility, and on a subject most intimately connected with revealed doctrine. If the Church can see truth it must also be able to recognize error. From the earliest times the Church has condemned error, whether taught by writing or by word of mouth. At the Council of Nica3a (325), the errors of Arius were condemned by the bishops. Up to the present day the Pope has continually condemned books which have attacked faith or morals ; and this could not have been unless God had conferred such powers. Any mistake in either beatifying or canonizing seems well-nigh impossible even on natural grounds, on account of the strict examination insisted on. By the act of canonization, the veneration

TJie Apostles' Creed. 241

of a saint, and so to a certain extent the acknowledgment of the Church's belief in him, is imposed on the faithful, and he is then officially recognized in the Church's offices, as in the Mass and Breviary ; hence if any one not a saint were declared holy, the whole Church would approve an error. Such a supposition is impossible. Pope Benedict XIV. declares his own experience in these cases of the assistance of the Holy Spirit in removing insuperable difficulties which beset a process, or, on the other hand, in breaking it off entirely. Finally the Church in its decisions whether of beatification or canonization is dealing with things which have the closest connection with doctrine of faith or morals.

6. The Hierarchy of the Church

1. The ministers of the Church fall into three classes of distinct dignity and power: bishops, priests, and deacons (Council of Trent, 23 c. 4. Can. 6).

These were foreshadowed in the high priest, the priests, and the Levites of the Temple, as well as in Our Lord, the apostles, and disciples. To the apostles Our Lord said : " As the Father hath sent Me, so I send you" (John xx. 21); to the disciples merely: "Go, behold I send you" (Luke x. 3). The apostles were sent to all the nations of the earth (Matt, xxviii. 20) ; the disciples only to those places where the Lord was Himself to go (Luke x. 1). The bishops are now the successors of the apostles (Council of Trent, xxiii. 4) ; hence the bishops are of higher rank than priests because they belong to a higher order of the clergy and have higher orders ; besides that they have greater powers, being the only real pastors of the flock, and in virtue of their jurisdiction deciding how far any one else may share in their government of those committed to their charge. " The bishop alone can give orders," says St. Jerome, and according to St. Cyprian he is the only ordinary minister of Confirmation. The Council of Trent assigned to bishops many other privileges beyond those enjoyed by the other ministers of the Church. In addition they have a judicial vote in councils. Priests rank higher than deacons, having higher orders and greater powers ; they can offer the holy sacrifice, and forgive sins, while deacons can only baptize, preach, and give communion.

2. This hierarchy was in force in the time of the apostles.

We see in the Scriptures Timothy appointed with powers to judge priests (1 Tim. v. 19), to ordain them (1 Tim. v. 22), and to appoint them to various cities (Tit. i. 5). St. Ignatius of Antioch (107 A.D.) names the three orders : " Let all obey the bishops as Jesus obeyed the Father; let them obey the priests as the apostles, and honor the deacons as being the messengers of God." Similar expressions occur in Clement of Rome (100 A.D.), and Clement of Alex andria (217 A.D.). There was, however, a certain vagueness in the use of terms in the time of the apostles ; priests were called " elders " or " overseers." The former title owed its origin to the Jewish converts, the latter to the heathen. In every community there were sev-

242 faith.

eral priests (1 Tim. iv. 14), of whom one was the superior or "high priest," known in later times as the bishop. He was often called priest merely because he was in reality a priest; even the apostles Petepand John called themselves priests (1 Pet. v. 1; 2 John i. 1).

3. The episcopal and priestly office was instituted by Christ Himself; the diaconate by the apostles.

The deacons were appointed by the apostles to distribute alms, and were consecrated to this duty by the laying on of hands, accom panied with prayer (Acts vi. 6) ; they also had spiritual functions as preaching (as in the case of St. Stephen) and baptizing (as in the case of St. Philip). In the early ages there were also deaconesses — widows who tended the sick and taught young girls. They were no part of the hierarchy, since it was a fixed principle in the Church that no woman should preach (1 Cor. xiv. 34), because she is subject to man and was first led astray in paradise (1 Tim. ii. 12, etc.).

4. Besides these three classes there are other degrees varying in their powers : for example, Pope, cardinals, archbishops.

The distribution of authority is the basis of this classification: all, without exception, owe obedience to the Pope ; the bishop rules all the clergy of his diocese; the clergy are in authority over those committed to their charge (1 Pet. v. 5; Heb. xiii. 17). The Church has its differences of rank like an army (Council of Trent, xxiii. 24) ; without these grades it would be a society without organization.

7. Notes of the True Church

"When," says St. Cyprian, "the devil saw that the worship of idols was abolished, and the heathen temples emptied, he bethought him of a new poison, and led men into error under cover of the Christian religion, the poison of false doctrine and pride, through which more than two hundred churches have started up in opposition to the true Church founded by Christ." Now God has ordained that men should come to knowledge of the truth; i.e., of the true Church as distinguished from all others by certain marks.

1. The true Church is that one which is most persecuted by the world, and which has received God's seal in the form of miracles.

Christ often spoke to His disciples of these persecutions : " The servant is not greater than his Master. If they have persecuted Me they will also persecute you" (John xv. 20). " They will deliver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues . . . you shall be hated by all men for My name's sake" (Matt. x. 17-22). "Yea, the hour cometh that whosoever killeth you, will think that he doth a service to God" (John xvi. 2). "Because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John xv. 19). Never in the history of the Catholic Church has it been free from persecution. Whatever be the differences between the pects they unite against the Church. The apostles, especially St. Paul, were objects of hate to the Jews (Acts

The Apostles* Creed. 243

xiii. 50; xvii. 8), and St. John (166 A.D.) testifies that their hatred of the Christians had not died out in his day. The present day is not wanting in examples in the sufferings inflicted on religious com munities, in the interference of the secular governments in things spiritual, in the opposition made to processions and meetings and other devout practices. Can any Church be the true Church which does not oppose the spirit of the world ? Then too it. is only in the Catholic Church that we have miracles : those, for instance, of the apostles, all the saints worked both in their lifetime and after death, either at their graves or by the application of their relics. We know that God would work miracles only in confirmation of the truth.

2. The true Church is that one in which the successor of St. Peter is to be found.

The Church rests on a rock and that rock is Peter : " Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church" (Matt, xxviii. 20). " Where Peter is, there is the Church," says St. Ambrose.

3. The true Church is known by the following four marks: she is One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic.

The Catholic Church alone has these marks:

1. The true Church is One. She has at all times and in all places the same doctrine, the same means of grace, and only one Head.

Truth can only be one; hence the teaching of the Church cannot change. Christ wished His Church to be one; for that He prayed at the Last Supper (John xvii. 20) ; " There shall be one fold and one shepherd " (John x. 16) ; He appointed one Head for the whole Church (John xxi. 17). The Catholic Church is One: her Catechisms the world over teach precisely the same doctrine. Every where the holy sacrifice is offered, and the sacraments given in the same way; the same ceremonies and feasts are observed all over the world. All Catholics acknowledge the Pope as Head of the Church. If there were antipopes it is none the less true that some one was the true Pope ; the existence of many pretenders to a throne does not exclude the claim of the true king. Nor can heresy destroy this unity, for the heretic who refuses to submit is no longer a member of the Church. None need accuse the Church of want of progress because it holds fast by its old established doctrines ; there is 110 true progress in giving up the truth and adopting error. The truth cannot change ; hence Bossuet might well say : " Protestantism, thou art changeable, therefore thou canst not be the truth ! "

2. The true Church is Holy, i.e., it has the means and the endeavor to lead all men to holiness.

Christ founded the Church for the very purpose of making men holy. The Catholic Church is holy. All its teaching is lofty and pure; the great principle underlying its commands are self -denial and the love of one's neighbor; all its sacraments, and especially penance and the Holy Eucharist are great aids to the sanctification of mankind, and the complete following out of the evangelical counsels

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can lead a man to the highest point of perfection; moreover the Catholic Church has a host of saints, whose holiness is attested by miracles. The misdeeds of some members, or abuses occurring within the Church are due not to the Church, but to the perversity of men. Even among the apostles there was a traitor, and Christ compared some members of the Church to weeds and worthless fish. Can any Church be holy which adopts Luther's teaching that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, and good works unnecessary ? or Calvin's doctrine that some men are predestined by God to hell fire ? or any Church which, on its own confession, owns that none of its members have been saints and their sanctity confirmed by miracle ?

3. The true Church is universal or Catholic, i.e., she is empowered to receive men into her bosom in all places and all times.

Christ died for all men, and on ascending into heaven gave His apostles the mission to teach all the nations of the earth till the end of time (Matt, xxviii. 20). Hence His Church was meant to be for all nations, -and this is confirmed by the miracle of tongues on the first Pentecost. The Catholic Church is universal; her teaching applies to all people, the polished Greek, the victorious Roman, the rude barbarian as well as to the outcast slave. At present the Catholic Church is spread over the whole world. " Heretics are everywhere," said St. Augustine, " but no particular heresy is everywhere." The Church has about 260,000,000 members, hence it is more widespread than any other religion, and is continually sending missionaries to the heathen. Can, then, any Church which depends entirely on the government, as, for instance, the Russian Church, or the Anglican, which is wholly national in England, be the true Church ? or can one which has no real success among the heathen have a claim to truth ?

4. The true Church is Apostolic; i.e., she comes down from the time of the apostles, her teaching is always what it was in the time of the apostles, and her ministers are legitimate successors of the apostles.

The Church is built on the foundation of the apostles of which Christ is the corner-stone (Eph. ii. 20). " That is the true Church," says St. Jerome, " which was founded by the apostles and endures unto the present day." The Catholic Church is Apostolic; it has lasted nineteen hundred years, Luther himself confessed that it was the oldest. The teaching of the oldest of the Fathers agrees perfectly with our Catechism, and our services are substantially the same as those of the first ages.

The consideration of these notes and marks has, in the course of ages, led many of the noblest of men into the bosom of the Catholic Church.

It is remarkable that men of the greatest learning and virtue have, even in the face of great sacrifices, entered the Catholic Church, while those who have deserted it have generally shown by

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their lives what they really were. We have reason to rejoice in our religion that it oilers us such special consolation in trouble and at the hour of death. Thus Melancthon wrote to his Catholic mother : " The Protestant faith is the best one to live in, but the Catholic is the best to die in," and again : " The new religion makes the best show, the Catholic gives most security."

8. The Catholic Church Alone Gives Salvation

In other words : " Outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation."

1. The Catholic Church alone gives salvation; i.e., the Catholic Church alone possesses those means which lead to salvation, viz., the doctrine of Christ, the means of salvation appointed by Christ, and the teachers and guides of the Church established by Christ.

The Church cannot teach that truth and error lead equally well to salvation; she makes no declaration as to who is saved, but states only what is necessary for salvation. The judgment of particular individuals is left to the God Who searches hearts (Ps. vii. 10). Her doctrine is not a declaration of intolerance to the individual, but of intolerance of error, such an intolerance as God Himself expressed when He forbade false gods to appear before Him (1 Cor. v.). So far is the Church from hating those outside her pale that in her public prayers on Good Friday she begs God's mercy for them. The persecutions of the Middle Ages formed no part of the work of the Church, which desired not the death, but the conversion of the sinner ; it was the civil power which used force to repress heretics, because as a rule they disturbed the public peace and morality. The Church is the way to salvation ; it differs in this respect from the synagogue ; the latter merely pointed out the way of salvation in the distant future, while the Church claims itself to be the true way. The Catholic Church is distinct from the heretical churches which have corrupted Christ's doctrine and have rejected the means of grace, especially Mass and penance. Their way is a roundabout way, or the wrong way. " The further one goes out of the right path," says St. Augustine, " the further he is from the goal of his journey."

2. Hence every man is bound to become a member of the Catholic Church.

Some will say that a man ought not to change his religion; they might just as well argue that a man may keep an inheritance which his father obtained unjustly. Others say : " One faith is as good^as another, and all lead equally well to heaven." This is to profess indifferentism. It is certain that one religion only can be the true one, i.e., the one revealed by God; and reason alone would tell us that the truth is what we should aim at. It is absurd to suppose that God is unconcerned whether man adore Him or sticks and stones, or whether Christ be regarded as His Son or as a blasphemer. Why should Christ, and after Him the apostles, preach the Gospel

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amid so much persecution, if it were of no moment what a man believed ? Why were the apostles so vehement in denouncing those who perverted the teaching of Christ (Gal. i. 8; 2 John i. 10) ? Why should God have converted Saul, and sent an angel to Cornelius ? The apostles gave the reason : " There is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved" (Acts iv. 12). And Christ said : " I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by Me" (John xiv. 6), Hence it is that so many eminent people enter the Church, despite the sacrifices entailed. Queen Christina, the only daughter of Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, the arch-enemy of the Catholics, studied the Catholic teaching and was persuaded of its truth ; and as the laws of the land forbade her to practise her faith, she resigned her crown and spent the rest of her days in Rome. So, too, in the beginning of the century Count Stolberg resigned his post on his conversion. In England during the last few decades very many most distinguished men have entered the Church, especially Cardinals Newman and Manning. Even from Judaism there have been remarkable conversions, as, e.g., those of Ratisbonne and Liebermann.

3. Whoever through his own fault remains outside the Church will not be saved.

A man who, knowing the Catholic Church to be the true one, leaves it, say, to make a good marriage, or to push on his business, or for some such unworthy motive, will not be saved; so, too, of the man who from a cowardly fear of the reproaches or the disesteem of others, does not enter the Church. The same is true of the man who having solid doubts as to whether his Church is the true one, takes no pains to find out the truth. Such as these love the darkness better than the light (John iii. 19). "He cannot have God for a Father, who has not the Church for a Mother," says St. Cyprian. " He who has not Christ for a Head," are the words of St. Augustine, " cannot be saved; and he who does not belong to the body of Christ, i.e., to the Church of Christ, has not Christ for his Head." " He who breaks away from the Church separates himself from Christ" (Council of Lateran, iv.).

If, however, a man, through no fault of his own, remains outside the Church, he may be saved if he lead a God-fearing life; for such a one is to all intents and purposes a member of the Catholic Church.

The majority of men who have been brought up in heresy think that they belong to the true Church ; their error is not due to hatred of God. A man who leads a good life and has the love of God in his heart, really belongs to the Church, and such a one is saved, not by his heresy, but by belonging to the Church. St. Peter said : " In every nation he that feareth God and worketh justice is acceptable to Him " (Acts x. 35). "The Catholic Church," says St. Gregory the Great, " embraces all the just from Abel to the last of the elect at the end of the world." All who lived up to their lights were Christians, though they might have been looked upon as godless, as, e.g., Socrates among the Greeks, Abraham and Elias among the Jews. They do not belong

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to the body of the Church, that is, they are not externally in union Math the Church, but they are of the soul of the Church, i.e., they have the sentiments which the members of the Church should have.

Thus the Catholic Church has members both visible and in visible.

The visible members are those who have been received into the Church by Baptism. The following are not members: The unbaptized (heathens, Jews,- Mohammedans), formal heretics (Protestants), and schismatics (the Greeks), those who are excommunicated. The invisible members are those who without any fault of their own are outside the Church leading God-fearing lives.

The visible members of the Church are called living or dead members, according as they are in the state of sanctifying grace or not.

It is an error to think that those who have fallen into grave sin are no longer members of the Church. The Church is like a field, in which grow both wheat and cockle (Matt. xiii. 24), or like a net which contains fish both good and bad (Matt. xiii. 47). It is not enough to belong to the Church; a man should also live up to his belief, otherwise " is membership will help only to his greater condemnation.

9. The Relations Between Church and State

The State might be denned as an institution having for its end the promotion of the temporal well-being of its members. Church and State have similar ends in view, but the Church looks mainly to the eternal welfare of its members. Both have their power from God, the Church holding hers from Christ, while the State receives its powers, not from an assembly of men, but from God (Leo XIII.). There are various points of difference between Church and State: the Church is one, while States are many; the State includes one or more nations, the Church embraces all the nations of the earth; States grow up and pass away, the Church remains forever. The Church recognizes every form of existing government, for there is nothing in the various forms that contradicts Catholic teaching (Leo XIII.). Hence Leo XIII. has frequently enjoined on the French monarchists to recognize and support the existing republic. Christ Plimself taught that what was Caesar's should be given to Csesar (Matt. xxii. 21).

1. The Church is, in its own department, absolutely independent of the State, for Christ left the teaching and government of His Church to the apostles and their successors, not to any temporal sovereign.

Hence the State has no claim to dictate to Christians what they are to believe and reject, nor to instruct priests what they are to preach, nor how and when they are to give the sacraments, say Mass, etc. Such interference has always been resented by the Church;

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thus Hosius, at the Council of Nicsea, addressed the Roman emperor when the latter was meddling in matters of faith : " Here you have no right to dictate to us ; it is rather your duty to follow our commands." The State, too, is in its own affairs independent of the Church. " The power of the State as well as that of the Church is circumscribed by limits within which it can work uncontrolled " (Leo XIII.). There are many points however where these limits touch; hence a mutual agreement is necessary on both sides. If contrary orders were given in the same matter strife would arise, and the subject would not know where his duty lay (Leo XIII.). Between the two powers there should be some such union as there is between the body and soul in man (Leo XIII.). Agreements between State and Church are of frequent occurrence in his tory: they are called Concordats. These are often conspicuous proofs of the tender love of the Church in pushing her mildness and toleration as far as is consistent with her duty (Leo XIII.).

2. The Church is an essential factor in promoting the welfare of the State, for she teaches obedience to authority, prevents many crimes, incites men to noble endeavor, and unites together various nations.

Plutarch speaks of religion forming a better protection for a city than its walls. The Church teaches that the civil authority has its power from God (Rom. xiii. 1), and that even wicked rulers are to be obeyed (1 Pet. ii. 18). How many sinners have been rescued by the Church and changed into saints and benefactors of mankind ! How many have been restrained from crime by the teaching of the Church, or God's judgments ! How much unjustly acquired property has been restored, and how many enemies reconciled ! More than this, the Church teaches that salvation depends on works of mercy, and makes it a point of duty for her members to assist their suffer ing brethren. How many institutions for orphans, for the sick and blind and deaf-mutes, etc., owe their foundation to the servants of the Church ! Indeed, the needy are the Church's first care. Moreover the Church binds the nations together in the bonds of brotherhood, both by a common profession of faith and by the precept of charity. Hence it is that as far as possible the priests of the Church should keep aloof from all strife between nations.

In consequence of this all good rulers and statesmen have supported the Church to the best of their power.

Such was the policy of Constantine the Great, of Charlemagne, of St. Stephen, King of Hungary, and St. Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia. Rulers who reject the Church saw at the branch which supports them; the people see in them no longer the representatives of God but merely the elected of the people removable at the people's will.

The States which have persecuted the Church have always sooner or later experienced the evil results of so doing.

Our Lord's words are very apt here: "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation" (Luke xi. 17). Re-

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ligion is to the State what the soul is to the body. " The nation and the kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish" (Is. Ix. 12). " The surest sign of ruin in a State," writes Machiavelli, " is when religion is neglected." The fall of the great Koman empire and the horrors of the French revolution may be traced to the same cause. Even Napoleon confessed that no nation could be governed without religion. The absence of religion means the introduction of crime: " There is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing, and lying, and killing, and theft, and adultery have overflowed" (Osee iv. 1, 2). Our prisons are filled with people who for the most part neglect religion.

3. The Church was, from the earliest times, the patron of true education and culture.

It is to the interest of the Church to promote culture. Ignorance and immorality are usually close companions. The* world is a book displaying the wisdom of God; the more we know of this book, the more we shall know of God, and the more will our love for Him be increased. Hence it is the duty of the Church to encourage scientific research (Leo XIII.). It was Christianity which tamed the wild nations of Europe, civilizing them and making them the rulers of ether peoples (Leo XIII.) • "Had the Church been established with the view of ministering to the temporal wants of man, it could not have conferred greater benefits than it has done," is the judgment of St. Augustine on the work of the Church.

It was the Church which first charged itself with the education of the young and founded the first schools.

The schools of the monastery, cathedral and parish in the time of Charlemagne owed their origin to the Church. Most of the uni versities owe their existence to the Pope. Whole Orders of Religious, such as the Benedictines, Jesuits, Christian Brothers and others devote themselves to the education of youth. The success of the Jesuits was acknowledged even by their enemies, and in spite of their suppression in 1773 Frederick of Prussia, and Catherine of Russia, neither of them Catholics, retained them to instruct the youth of their kingdoms.

It was the Church which rescued the great works of antiquity from destruction.

The monks of the Middle Ages transcribed the works of the heathen philosophers and historians, thus preserving them to posterity. The great libraries of the monasteries, as well as the museums and libraries of the Popes, preserved many treasures. We might remark, too, that the Benedictines have produced sixteen thousand authors and the Jesuits, in their comparatively short existence, twelve thousand.

It was the Church which, from early times, raised the noblest buildings.

Such a structure, for instance, as St. Peter's in Rome, which was one hundred and ten years in building, or the Cathedral at Cologne,

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begun in 1249 and finished in 1880. ISTot to mention the glorious structures to be seen all over the Continent, in Germany, France, Spain, Italy. England is filled with magnificent buildings like Westminster, Lincoln, York, Durham, etc. A large proportion of the finest edifices in the United States are Catholic churches.

It was the Church which from the earliest times gave the greatest encouragement to the fine arts.

We owe Plain Chant or Gregorian to St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (397 A.D.) and St. Gregory the Great (604 A.D.), and its developments to many other artists. It was the Popes who encouraged men like Palestrina (1594). Twice in its history the Church resisted the Iconoclast (or image-breaking) movement, at Nicsea in 787, and at Trent in 1563. Artists of world-wide fame, such as Leonardo da Vinci (1519), Eaphael (1520), Michael Angelo (1564), Correggio (1564), Canova (1822), etc., owed much of their success to the support of the Popes. It was the cloister which produced some of the finest artists and their works.

It was the Church which made whole tracts of land fertile and habitable.

The work of the Benedictines and Cistercians in the way of clearing and draining land and developing agriculture was especially conspicuous in the German forests. The same work is carried on in savage countries now by the Trappists and other religious Orders.

It is to priests and monks that we owe some of the greatest discoveries.

The Deacon Flavio Gioja discovered the magnet and compass in 1300 ; Veit, a monk of Arezzo, discovered the scale, the rules of music and harmony ; the Dominican Spina the use of spectacles ; the Franciscan Berthold Schwarz gunpowder (1300) ; the Jesuit Kircher exhibited the first burning glass (1646) ; Copernicus, a canon of Frauenberg discovered his famous system (1507) ; the Jesuit Cavaliere the components of white light (1647) ; the Spanish Benedictine Pon tius invented a method of teaching deaf-mutes (1570) ; the Jesuit Lana a way of teaching the blind to read (1687) ; and the Jesuit Secchi (1878) made many discoveries with regard to- sun-spots. Only lately the Dominican Calandoni invented a type-setter to replace the compositor. The enemies of the Church are always crying her down as opposed to progress, enlightenment and freedom.

10. The Communion of Saints

The members of the Church may be divided into three classes: those who are still on the earth, " having not here a lasting city, but seeking the one that is to come " (Heb. xiii. 14) ; those who have reached their goal in heaven, the saints; and those who are expiating their sins in purgatory. All are " fellow citizens with the saints and domestics of God," working together for the same object of union with God. The members of this great community are called " saints " because all are sanctified by Baptism (1 Cor. vi. 11), and

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are called to a holy life (1 Thess. iv. 3). Those in heaven have already attained to perfect holiness. Yet St. Paul calls the Christians still on earth " saints " (Eph. i. 1).

1. The communion of saints is the union and intercourse of Catholics on earth, of the souls in purgatory, and of the saints in heaven.

The Church on earth is called the Church Militant, because of its ceaseless struggle with its three enemies, the world, the flesh, and the devil. The souls in purgatory form the Church Suffering, because they are still expiating their sins in the cleansing fire. The blessed in heaven are called the Church Triumphant, because they have already secured their victory. These three divisions are one Church by the common bond of Baptism.

2. Catholics on earth, the souls in purgatory, and the blessed in heaven are united with Christ, just as are the members of a body with the head (Rom. xii. 4).

The Holy Spirit works in all the members (1 Cor. xii. 13). " The soul," says St. Augustine, " animates all the organs of the body, and causes the eye to see, the ear to hear, etc;" just so does the Holy Spirit work in the members of Christ's body; and as the Holy Spirit proceeds from Christ, Christ is the head of the Christian body (Col. i. 18). He is the vine carrying strength and nourish ment to the branches (John xv. 5). Each member of the body has its own special functions, so each member of the Church has his own gifts (1 Cor. xii. 6-10, 28). Each member of the body works for the whole body; so every member of the Church works for the common good. All the members of the body share the pain or pleasure felt by one, and the same is true of the mutual sympathy of the communion of saints : " If one member suffer anything, all the members suffer with it ; or, if one member glory, all the members rejoice with it" (1 Cor. xii. 26). Thus the saints in heaven are not indifferent to our condition. Catholics who have fallen into mortal sin are still members of this great body, though dead members; but they cease to be members if they are excommunicated.

3. All the members of the communion of saints have a share in the spiritual goods of the Catholic Church, and can help one an other by their prayers and other good works. The saints alone in heaven have no need of help.

In a similar manner all the people of a country have a share in the institutions supported by the country, such as hospitals, asylums, law courts, etc. So also, in the family circle, all the members have a claim to share in the common goods, such as riches or honors. Thus all the Masses, the means of grace, the prayers of the Church, and all the good works done by individuals, are for the benefit of all its members. In the Our Father we pray for others as well as for ourselves; holy Mass is offered for the dead as well as the living, and the same is true of the Office recited by the priest. Hence it is that one may have more hope of converting the greatest sinner who still belongs to the Church than a Freemason who outwardly

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leads a good life, yet who is cut off from it; and a Catholic may look forward to a quicker release from purgatory than others. St. Francis Xavier constantly cheered himself with the thought that the Church was praying for him, and supporting him with her good works. Moreover, all the members of the Church can give mutual help. There is the same sympathy as in the human body, where a sound member comes to the help of one that is weaker, and the possession of good lungs, a sound heart, or healthy stomach, may help the body to recover from what might otherwise have been a fatal illness. The eye does not act for itself alone; it guides the hands and feet. Sodom would have been saved had ten just men been found within its walls.

1. All Catholics can help each other by prayer and good works.

St. Peter was freed from prison by the prayers of the Christians. " The prayer of St. Stephen," says St. Augustine, " procured the conversion of St. Paul." The tears and prayers of St. Monica converted her son. Even in the Old Testament God promised that He would be merciful to the prayers of the priest (Lev. iv. 20). St. James bids us : " Pray one for another, that you may be saved " ( Jas. v. 16), and St. Paul: " I beseech you . . . help me in your prayers for me to God" (Rom. xv. 30). Christ revealed to Marie Lataste that as Esther saved her people by her intercession with Assuerus, so the prayers of a single soul may save a whole nation from the avenging hand of God. Prayer is a work of mercy, and brings down a blessing on the one who prays and the one who is prayed for. Fasting and almsgiving are also means of help. As a man's debts may be paid off by his neighbor, so the debt of sin may in some measure be paid off by the good works of others ; and thus it was in the early Church that penances were often remitted or shortened at the intercession of the martyrs.

2. We can also help the holy souls in purgatory by prayers and other good works ; they in turn can help us by their prayers, especially when they reach heaven.

The Jews even believed that help could be given to the souls of the departed; for we read (2 Mach. xii.) how Judas Machabeus caused sacrifices to be offered for those who had fallen in battle, and sent money to the Temple for that purpose. The passing-bell and the knell are signals to pray for the dying and the dead. In the Memento after the Consecration at Mass a special petition is made for the departed. " Prayer," says St. Augustine, " is the key by which we open the gates of heaven to the suffering souls." The prayers of the living, especially holy Mass, almsdeeds, and other works of piety are of great efficacy in lessening the sufferings of the holy souls (Council of Lyons, 1274). The souls in pnrcratory can also help us. Many saints held that we can call the holy ?ouls to our help (Bellarmine; St. Alphonsus). St. Catherine of Bologna (1463), used often to call upon the holy souls when the saints seemed to f°il in helping her, and she never asked them in vain.

3. The saints in heaven can help us by their prayers before

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the tlirone of God (Apoc. viii. 4), especially if we call upon them for help.

The saints must know much of what happens on earth, for their happiness consists in the complete satisfaction of all their desires. The devil knows all our weaknesses, as we know from the way in which he tempts us. The prophets of the Old Testament sometimes foretold future events, and knew the most hidden things; is it likely that the saints are less favored than they? They rejoice when a sinner is converted (Luke xv. 7). "What can escape those," says St. Thomas Aquinas, " who see Him Who sees all things ? " And the Church teaches us that when we call upon the saints for their prayers, they join their prayers to ours. Their intercession has great efficacy, for the " continual prayer of a just man even on the earth availeth much" (Jas. v. 16). What power Abraham had when pleading for Sodom ! (Gen. xviii.) " If," says St. Jerome, " the saints had such power when in the flesh, what can they not obtain for us now that they have secured their victory ? " St. John Chrysostom compares their intercession to the pleading of old soldiers who display their wounds. This power has often been demonstrated by miracles.

Our dead relatives and friends, who are in heaven, are always pleading for us at the throne of God, and often save us from danger.

"Charity never dies" (1 Cor. xiii. 8), and the ties which bind us to those we love remain unbroken by death. Even in hell the wretched Dives showed he had some affection still for his relatives on earth (Luke xvi. 27). The prophet Jeremias, and the holy high priest Onias, prayed in limbo for the Jewish nation (2 Mach. xv. 14) ; and Christ promised His apostles that He would pray for them (John xiv. 16; 1 John ii. 1). St. Augustine, after the death of his mother St. Monica, and St. Wenceslaus after the death of his grand mother St. Ludmilla rapidly advanced to greater heights of sanctity. So too the saints help the souls in purgatory. " Our Lady alone rescues daily some souls from purgatory by her prayers." On the anniversary of the Assumption of Our Lady thousands of souls are delivered from their prison (St. Peter Damian; St. Alphonsus). On Saturdays, the day specially dedicated to Our Lady, she rescues many poor souls from purgatory (John XXII., Sabbatine Bull). Nor are the holy angels indifferent to their future companions; one of the Church's prayers speaks of St. Michael leading souls into heaven. Our angel guardian, and the angels whom we have specially honored on earth, will take up our cause in purgatory.