Thursday, 20 June 2013
Because of a reference to the GOONS,
...I recalled that I was the first Catholic ever to live in Baptist College. Hope that counts for something on the ecumenical tick list when I get see St. Peter at the Gate...
A Pathetic Arrogance
I have been watching leaders of the Western World, and a few from the East and have come up with a phrase for their strange messianic complexes-a pathetic arrogance.
Now, the word pathetic means, in one definition, arousing pity, and in another, miserably inadequate.
Both of these definitions may be used to describe most of the leaders of Europe and some in the East.
No names are necessary, are they?
My pity is aroused because so many of these neo-communists and socialists of the West are mere puppets.
Someone else is pulling their strings. These men are so locked in the materialistic dialectic that they cannot spot the spiritual dimension of their own lives, their own leadership. That arouses my pity.
For those who have a spiritual view of the universe, the perspective follows a different angle. When the ultimate goal of a person is Eternal Life, the parameters of judgement change drastically. That so many of these men and even some women lack this perspective draws out pity from my heart.
However, the second definition causes me to see the death of the West in their very miserable inadequacies.
The ending of classical education over a hundred years ago, and the violent removing of the soul from secular politics in the Protestant Revolt, making most political movements purely utilitarian, has left us all with a leadership crisis. We in the West are ruled by the second or third or fourth best.
The cream of the crop either were killed in the two Great World Wars, going over the trenches first, or they were marginalized by the secular humanist now atheist cabals of academia.
Pity and mediocrity?
I have no answer except to develop personal holiness, and make your own way through discernment and purification, begging for honesty in your own life.
Do not become one of those whose pity overcomes rational discourse. The victimization syndrome of our leaders is growing-we have allowed them to remain weak, while excluding the strong from public office. And, the weak are in control of all the parties, for the most part.
Without the spiritual, the material takes over. Once the soul has left the body, the body begins to rot.
So, too, with Western Civilization.
Now, the word pathetic means, in one definition, arousing pity, and in another, miserably inadequate.
Both of these definitions may be used to describe most of the leaders of Europe and some in the East.
No names are necessary, are they?
My pity is aroused because so many of these neo-communists and socialists of the West are mere puppets.
Someone else is pulling their strings. These men are so locked in the materialistic dialectic that they cannot spot the spiritual dimension of their own lives, their own leadership. That arouses my pity.
For those who have a spiritual view of the universe, the perspective follows a different angle. When the ultimate goal of a person is Eternal Life, the parameters of judgement change drastically. That so many of these men and even some women lack this perspective draws out pity from my heart.
However, the second definition causes me to see the death of the West in their very miserable inadequacies.
The ending of classical education over a hundred years ago, and the violent removing of the soul from secular politics in the Protestant Revolt, making most political movements purely utilitarian, has left us all with a leadership crisis. We in the West are ruled by the second or third or fourth best.
The cream of the crop either were killed in the two Great World Wars, going over the trenches first, or they were marginalized by the secular humanist now atheist cabals of academia.
Pity and mediocrity?
I have no answer except to develop personal holiness, and make your own way through discernment and purification, begging for honesty in your own life.
Do not become one of those whose pity overcomes rational discourse. The victimization syndrome of our leaders is growing-we have allowed them to remain weak, while excluding the strong from public office. And, the weak are in control of all the parties, for the most part.
Without the spiritual, the material takes over. Once the soul has left the body, the body begins to rot.
So, too, with Western Civilization.
Good review on the far less than perfect upcoming Hobbit movie
I was unhappy with The Return of the King, because the director, Peter Jackson, does not understand the Tolkien view of the monarchy and the entire importance of the restoration of the rule of men. The battle scenes, of course, are Jackson's forte, but battles in Tolkien are NOT the most important theme.
The virtues of the characters have been overlooked at well, for an over modern interpretation and not the Catholic view of frailty, sin and redemption, which Jackson also does not get.
Redemption is a huge theme in Tolkien's books as is the growth in virtue through suffering. Men, women, hobbits change not merely by courageous deeds, but by the awareness of where they stand in the BIG picture, the spirituality of Middle Earth and the Undying Lands. The Afterlife is an important theme in Tolkien, and, as a Catholic who is aware of the ultimate goal of men, the author constantly points to the Afterlife, and the symbolism of the unity and harmony the monarchy brings, as a symbol of that order. Aragorn is one of the Christ figures, but no one would get that from Jackson's interpretation. The reluctant king interpretation is also seen in the odd caricature of Bilbo, no matter how well acted. Jackson is not thinking like Tolkien.
He just does not get it.
Here is a less than positive view of the upcoming Hobbit movie. I shall see it, but without the spiritual dimension, will it be just another adventure flim?
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lookingcloser/2013/06/the-desolation-of-the-hobbit/
The virtues of the characters have been overlooked at well, for an over modern interpretation and not the Catholic view of frailty, sin and redemption, which Jackson also does not get.
Redemption is a huge theme in Tolkien's books as is the growth in virtue through suffering. Men, women, hobbits change not merely by courageous deeds, but by the awareness of where they stand in the BIG picture, the spirituality of Middle Earth and the Undying Lands. The Afterlife is an important theme in Tolkien, and, as a Catholic who is aware of the ultimate goal of men, the author constantly points to the Afterlife, and the symbolism of the unity and harmony the monarchy brings, as a symbol of that order. Aragorn is one of the Christ figures, but no one would get that from Jackson's interpretation. The reluctant king interpretation is also seen in the odd caricature of Bilbo, no matter how well acted. Jackson is not thinking like Tolkien.
He just does not get it.
Here is a less than positive view of the upcoming Hobbit movie. I shall see it, but without the spiritual dimension, will it be just another adventure flim?
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lookingcloser/2013/06/the-desolation-of-the-hobbit/
Sometimes, the West just doesn't get it
How many links does one need?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/the-price-of-loyalty-in-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/g8-summit/vladimir-putin-tells-cameron-at-g8-syrian-rebels-are-the-same-as-those-who-killed-lee-rigby-29354824.html
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/06/pamela-geller-on-trentovision-today-new-york-times-honors-muslim-who-believes-apostates-from-islam-s.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/online-quran-teaching-pakistan
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/magazine/the-price-of-loyalty-in-syria.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
 |
| Obama |
 |
| Cameron |
 |
| Putin |
Walsingham: A Drama in Three Acts
Walsingham: A Drama
in Three Acts copyright 2013
A Play on the History
of Walsingham Pilgrimage Site for the Contemporary Audience
Characters in order of appearance:
Act One: One Scene with Moving Tableaus (not still)
William Shakespeare
Lear
Cordelia
King Louis from Lear
Richeldis and Sir
Geoffry (son) de Faverche or Favarches
Carmelite Anchorites Giles and Nicodemus
Augustinian Friars
Richard II
Act Two: Three Scenes with Moving Tableaus
Scene One
Shoemakers of Walsingham
Bircham, Copping, Wehh, Castleton, Clark ,
Hall, Johnson, Powell, Ringstead, Woodcock
Scene Two
Henry VII
Henry VIII
Katherine of Aragon
Anne Boleyn
Courtiers
Scene Three
Mob of 1537
Thomas Sydney
Pub and Innkeepers, the Bull, the Black Lion, the Crown, the
King’s Head, the White Lion, Exchange Inn,
Act Three: Two Scenes with a few Moving Tableaus
Scene One:
Anne Dacre
Lady Throckmorton (1651)
Dooks, a little white dog
Rev Edward Worseley
Martyrs of Walsingham Laity and Augustinian Friars
Martyrs of Walsingham Laity and Augustinian Friars
2013 members of the town; unidentified, shop-keepers, pub
owners, clergy, a few pilgrims, etc.
Scene Two:
(Staging is modern techniques, such as black stage backdrops
for spot lighting; backdrops include only minimalist architectural designs, the
largest being the ruined priory arch which stands today, the House of Nazareth,
the original shrine, the sea at the Norfolk coast, a Tudoresque hall, and a
modern street in Walsingham with shops. One image for each scene as indicated.
All the actors in the First Act must speak in upper class, king’s English. As
to the sets, there are options depending on money. Of course.
These would be more powerful if actually made of wood, but
if money is an issue, can be photographs on canvas with lights in the
background to show designs; muted colours, not bright, such as greys, blacks,
browns, etc. until the modern scene of today, which would be in natural
colours; same with costumes, which, although all of the time of the characters
(historically correct) would be all in browns, blacks and greys, until the
modern scene, again, with colours. One might ask some of the current
inhabitants of the village if they would be willing to be in that last scene in
normal attire. I am sure some would be happy to take part.)
Act I: Scene One
The Introduction by Shakespeare
(Dark Stage, with spotlight into which walks, stage right,
William Shakespeare in historical dress.. He has a Peter Wimsey type voice)
William Shakespeare: Those of you who have been following
the thing you call television or other sources, know by now that I am a
Catholic. Of course, I hid many hints in my plays and sonnets to this effect.
(Sighs)
Look here, look here.
(He points with his left hand to the new spotlighted area to his left and, of
course, the lines are from the end of the play).
{Second Spotlight appears on Lear, Cordelia, and King Louis
of France
scene)
Fairest Cordelia, thou
are most rich, being poor,
Most choice, forsaken
and most loved, despised!
Thee and they virtues
here I sieze upon;
Be lawful! I take up
what’s cast away.
Gods, gods, ‘tis
strange that from their cold’st neglect
My love should kindle
to inflamed respect.
Thy dowerless daughter,
king, thrown to my chance,
Is queen of us, of
ours, and our fair France.
Not all the dukes of
waterish Burgundy
Can buy this unprized
precious maid of me.
Bid them farewell,
Cordelia, though unkind:
Thou losest here, a
better where to find.
(Spot light fades as King and Cordelia hold hands.)
William Shakespeare: Hmm, the new critics missed the point
here, as I was referring also to the Queen of Heaven, the real Queen of England and
France, Our Lady of Walsingham, now dowerless after the horrors of Henry’s
playfellow’s designs. But, I am racing ahead.
The dowry of Mary is England . The Recusants knew this. I
know this. Cruelly was her dowry snatched from her by thieves and murderers, assassins,
one of my favourite words, which I invented, by the way. Her beautiful image
taken to Chelsea
and chopped up for firewood. Here. (He points again to the left and we see
thugs chopping up a wooden statue of Our Lady of Walsingham in the streets of Chelsea and throwing the
bits into a fire.) So many wept at the stealing of her land, England , by those who only loved
themselves. Well, they have an eternity to think about their deeds.
Our Lady of Ipswich image was also chopped up for firewood,
as was an image from Wales, used to burn a holy friar, named Forrest, the image
brought to London for the purpose of martyring this good man. (spotlight goes
to friar being burnt at the stake with image pieces).
She is her own dowry, Our Dear Lady and Mother. She,
dowerless, desires that all England
come back to her loving reign, as one of our later popes have said. I read Leo
XIII’s words for you. (He holds up a scroll “When England returns to
Walsingham, Our Lady will return to England .” In 1893, the English Catholic Bishops
dedicated the land to Mary, Our Mother, again. She will not return to England unless
the Catholics return to Walsingham. Our bishops, our priests, you and I, the
laity, we must pray for this. We must work for this.
But, perhaps you do not know of Walsingham and Mary’s Dowry.
Let a little story of this great shrine begin. Ah, I do miss directing… This is
fun. Shall I start at the beginning, or in media res? Hmm, let me start with
the gentle Richeldis in the year 1061.
(Spotlight leaves Shakespeare and moves on to the original
shrine of the House of Nazareth and two characters, Richeldis and her son, Sir
Geoffry standing by an outside altar, before the building of the shrine. The
altar stands on a grassy flat plain before many trees. Richeldis is holding a vase of Roses and
speaking with her son. They are dressed in subdued colors, but the costumes of
their day. Richeldis is wearing a small coronet.)
Richeldis: Since the Dearest Queen of Heaven came to me, I
have desired this day, my son. Here, in this place, we have made a little Nazareth , where the Angel
Gabriel told Mother Mary she was to be the God-Bearer. How wonderful that Mary
has created a holy stamp, an image of that sacred place here.
Geoffry: Dear Mother, may I continue your work here and
invite the Augustinians to continue your work with our monies, my heritage?
Richeldis: This is my dream, dear one. Yes, let all England come
here to honour the Mother and praise the Son. This statue will wear my coronet, given to me
by your father on the day of our marriage. As we were crowned husband and wife,
so she is crowned the Heavenly Bride. (Richeldis takes off her crown and puts
in on the head of the wooden statue. If this statue has to be a canvas
backdrop, an option, Richeldis lays it on an altar in front of the image.)
Geoffry: Mother, Our Lady of Glastonbury will be the only image which
takes precedence to this, Our Queen and Prince. I shall see this shrine endowed
for years to come. We shall build a small domicile, 16 yards long, 10 yars wide
and a little wooden chapel inside of 7 yards by 30 feet long, just like Mary’s
little house in Nazareth.
Richeldis: Ask the good Carmelite anchorites to buy more boats,
with some of your inheritance, to ferry the pilgrims from the North, as I see
in my mind, many coming here throughout the ages. England
will be renewed if Mary is honored in this little house, this small shrine of Nazareth .
Geoffry: Ah, mother, look, pilgrims, here, now.
(Enter two Carmelite friars with a small group of mixed poor
and wealthy pilgrims-maybe six or seven.)
Giles: Noble Richeldis, we have heard of your holy house
called the New Work, and bring these
good people from the far north. They come from York and the West Riding to see
your image. We have boated them from my anchor hold in All Saint’s near Bishop’s
Lynn . But, my
shoes are so wet, please forgive me if I take them off on this holy ground.
Nicodemus: I shall remove my sandals as well, as here Mary
has visited our people, the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons, together blessed by
Our Lady. We have come from Long Sutton, by the Wash. Some have come from Norwich , via Attlebridge
and Bechospital, the hostel there. Already, there is talk of a great
accommodation for thirteen poor pilgrims to stay over night in that area.
First Pilgrim: Yes, I stayed at an inn free! And had a full
English breakfast!
Geoffry: We shall begin to do penance for England , by
walking barefoot for a mile outside this shrine. What do you think, Mother?
Richeldis: Yes, and I, too, now removes my shoes in honor of
Our Lady. Welcome, Palmers, welcome, all.
(All the pilgrims bend over and take off their shoes,
kneeling on the floor in front of the image and altar. Richeldis places the
vase of roses on the altar.)
This scene ends with the singing of the Ambrosian Hymn one of the oldest hymns. And they say, first,
the little prayer of St. Aldhelm. Augustinian Friars join the group in song.)
Prayer of St. Aldhelm
O Virgin Mother of our
God, O Star
Of life’s dark sea, we
have thee from afar;
O, by they merits keep
in spotless fame,
This altar sacred to
they glorious name.
Aeterna Christi munera,
Et martyrum victorias,
Laudes ferentes debitas,
Laetis canamus mentibus.
Ecclesiarum principes,
Belli triumphales duces,
Coelestis aulae milites,
Et vera mundi lumina.
Terrore victo saeculi,
Spretisque poenis corporis,
Mortis sacrae compendio,
Vitam beatam possident.
Traduntur igni martyres,
Et bestiarum dentibus,
Armata saevit ungulis
Tortoris insani manus,
Nudata pendent viscera,
Sanguis sacratus funditur,
Sed permanent immobiles
Vitae perennis gratia.
Devota sanctorum fides,
Invicta spes credentium;
Perfecta Christi charitas,
Mundi triumphat principem.
In his Paterna gloria,
In his voluntas Filii,
Exsultat in his Spiritus,
Coelum repletur gaudiis.
Te nunc, Redemptor, quaesumus,
Ut ipsorum consortio
Jungas precantes servulos,
In sempiterna saecula. Amen.
Et martyrum victorias,
Laudes ferentes debitas,
Laetis canamus mentibus.
Ecclesiarum principes,
Belli triumphales duces,
Coelestis aulae milites,
Et vera mundi lumina.
Terrore victo saeculi,
Spretisque poenis corporis,
Mortis sacrae compendio,
Vitam beatam possident.
Traduntur igni martyres,
Et bestiarum dentibus,
Armata saevit ungulis
Tortoris insani manus,
Nudata pendent viscera,
Sanguis sacratus funditur,
Sed permanent immobiles
Vitae perennis gratia.
Devota sanctorum fides,
Invicta spes credentium;
Perfecta Christi charitas,
Mundi triumphat principem.
In his Paterna gloria,
In his voluntas Filii,
Exsultat in his Spiritus,
Coelum repletur gaudiis.
Te nunc, Redemptor, quaesumus,
Ut ipsorum consortio
Jungas precantes servulos,
In sempiterna saecula. Amen.
(Light fades and Shakespeare returns in a spotlight to the
stage right, as in the beginning)
William Shakespeare: Sweet. And, as I am an actor, I shall
read the first mention of England
as Mary’s Dowry as we wrap up this part of the story, which would make a great
play, doncha’think?.
But, first, let me remind you that Glastonbury , as noted by Sir Gregory, was the
primary shrine of Our Lady, and William of Malmsbury, in the 12th
century, noted this great place of water and peace. But, I shall let someone
else tell you of that. Even before Glastonbury , St. Augustine , England
Here is dowry reference, which we all knew and loved until
Henry, who, by the way, destroyed all the records of this shrine and others.
How he came to hate Mary and her Son. (He shakes his head and holds up the
scroll.)
The Solemn
Consecration of England
(King Richard II comes in and snatches the scroll from
Shakespeare).
King Richard II: I beg your pardon, actor, but I can read my
own decree. And, I hate your play about me.
William Shakespeare: Sorry, I was being a bit too
politically correct.
King Richard II. A bit? You ruined my reputation for
centuries, cad.
William Shakespeare: Well, I was being paid by the Tudors
and Boleyns.
King Richard II: I shall speak with you later. These good
people want to move on to the gory stuff. There all used to computer games and
you are so long-winded, Will. But first, the pledge…one of the best things I
ever did was make this consecration. Well, if Mary Our Queen of Heaven can
forgive you, I suppose I can. But the play is awful. Poor Anne, how she
suffered…
William Shakespeare: Stop it, my Liege Lord and read.
Richard II: Alright.
O Blessed Virgin here
Behold this is thy
Dowerie.
Defend it now, preserve
it still
In all prosperities.
William Shakespeare: Is that it?
Richard II: Well, there is a bit more about making the
shrine a national site and stuff. But Henry…destroyed all the documents and
this is a historical guess. It is in the Bodelian, I think.
I was here, you know, in 1315. The pub was great-lovely lamb
and good French wine. Anne especially loved getting new shoes made after the
mile walk. She chose white lamb’s skin with embroidered roses. Of course, some
kings came before me.
William Shakespeare: Really?
Richard II: Yes, Henry III came in 1241 and Edward I came
two times, 1280 and 1296. (He can be thinking on his fingers, as it were.) David
Bruce came three years after me, in 1364, but I do not know if he left
anything. We all left many gold things, like jewelry, swords and scabbards,
even small trinkets, like medals made of gold and silver, and our own rings. Of
course, Henry Creep stole them all for you-know-who.
William Shakespeare: That is all in the next act.
Richard II: You don’t say. I think I shall join these curs,
and watch the rest of the play.
William Shakespeare: Ah, there is a chair just for you, my
Lord. ‘Til Act II, adieu. King sits on a chair at the edge of the
audience.) By the way, do you know that
there is a window in the now Anglican church, which has you in it, as well as
Henry Creep?
Richard II: What? Me in a window with a Tudor! I have to see
this, Will. I am sure the Wilton Diptych is better. Where is this thing?
William Shakespeare: I shall take you there. Do not be too
upset, my Lord. The widow is modern.
Richard II: Let us go, then.
(They leave and the First Act ends).
Act II
(The act begins with many men at shoe working benches with
tools making shoes. The stage is brightly lit at first. There are shoes
everywhere. These actors must use broad Norfolk
accents, as a break from the above and the typical Shakespearean technique of
alternating upper and lower class scenes.)
Copping: How much did you make last year, Bircham?
Bircham: Not bad, but I am not going to tell you. Too many
shoes in the tithe barns, though. And, if I have to be honest, I would have to
pay more taxes, and more tithing. Plus, the misses has another bun in the oven.
Copping: I remember the old days when all the shoe taxes
were the same. Blast it. The next thing you know, they’ll be taxing the slits
in the sides where the silk stockings show through. Can they tax a hole, I
wonder?
Bircham: Hey, Ringstead and Wehh, you’re awfully quiet
today.
Ringstead. I am not in the mood to talk.
Wehh: He knows somethun’
(All stop working and look at Ringstead)
Wehh: He ain’t gonna tell. Are you, Ringstead?
Ringstead: I am not talking.
Bircham: Woodcock, Smith, get over here. What’s with
Ringstead?
Woodcock: It’s the Second Visitation.
(Silence)
Hall: Those goons aren’t commin’ agin, are they?
Wehh: Ringstead has a brother-in-law in Norfolk
who said that they were shoeing horses three days ago and visitin’ monasteries
and priories across the plains, up from London .
Some of the Palmer’s left early from Attlebridge and went back home, rather
than coming here.
Ringstead: Shut up, Wehh. This is my business.
Bircham (getting up in a threatening way and going over to
Ringstead) This is all of our business. If they are going to shut down the
shrine, our businesses will go. Cannot you see that, Ringstead?
Ringstead: I only know what my sister’s kin said.
Bircham: One has to think of one’s family first. A
revolution is not a dinner party.
Castleton: One has to think of God first.
Wehh: You will be the first to go with that fairy attitude.
Castleton: We need to stand up to this. No one has a right
to destroy religion. No one.
Hall: I heard rumors of places, like even…what’s that noise?
Castleton: Horses, horses. (He gets up and looks out stage
left)
Visitators. Right here, in the street, in front of the
Priory.
Copping: I can’t believe this is happening in Walsingham.
Henry was just here in my dad’s day.
Hall: Yeah, dancing with the royal whore.
Bircham: I wonder if they need shoes?
Woodcock: Who took the Oath here? Which one of you have
taken the Oath?
.
(Some hold there heads down)
Castleton: I will never take the Oath. (He leaves).
Wehh: You can be holier than me, but I took it and all my
kin. I do not understand all this anyway. Besides, what has the Church done for
me?
Castleton: Provided you and your family with work for
generations…that’s all. Given you the Holy Bread and shriven you once a year so
you don’t go to hell.
Bircham: I no longer believe in hell, or the Church, but
only in Bircham and my family.
Ringstead: I can and I will.
Wehh, and several others. No, we will fight, we won’t let
them take the friars. One is George Aysborrow, the subprior. I can see his
face. He has been beaten. There ae about sixteen friars in ropes and chains.
(Castleton had gone out and runs back in.): They have gotten
Nicholas Mileham and Tom Guisborough. They’ve got them by the hair.
Ringstead: Those men were in prison all night. Thomas
Cromwell said that it was never merry in England since the litany was
brought into the service. I agree with him. Get rid of this popery.
Wehh: Let’s go help them.
(He is stopped by Ringstead.)
Ringstead: It’s the times, Wehh, think of your Cecily and
your Thomas. Think of us. Painted timber is not God. God is not in that image.
(Castleton leaves quickly. Bircham is at the door)
Bircham: They are taking them out and I betcha I know where
they are going. Now, they got six more friars, but I cannot see their faces.
(Sound of horses neighing and loud voices yelling, Traitors,
devils)
Bircham: One has the image. One has the Lady on his horse.
(They all look out the door and windows)
Wehh: Look, Castleton is fighting one of the king’s men.
They’ve got him down.
Ringstead: Religion makes no difference. It’s all the same.
Men get what they want. You get what you want and I get what you want.
Bircham: Clark , look after
Mary. I am going with Castleton. Look, one visitator is Richard Southwell.
Hypocrites all. Blood, blood on the saffron plants across the road.
Bircham: Taking the Lady is too much. Look after my Mary, as
I look after Jesu’s Mary.
Hall: The friars are singing. Listen:
O blessed Virgin,
praise to thee;
Was lost, is turned by
thee againe
From schisms and
heresies.
(Lights out and the scene changes)
Scene Two: (Dark night in the main street of Walsingham. A
man in aristocratic dress is standing in the middle of the street. He is St.
Philip Howard. There is a large barn owl hooting, The spotlight is on Howard.
He has a scroll. He is standing on stage left.)
Philip Howard: I have my poem here. It is not too long. I
want to read it to you. It is about how “brazen faced heresy” stole my Lovely
Lady of Walsingham.
I call it Lament of
Walsingham. But, before I read it. I want to share a story of a king’s
life, or at least, his love of
Walsingham.
Henry VIII first came here—no wait—let me start with his
father, Henry VII.
After Henry VI came in 1455 and Edward IV in 1469, leaving
wondrous gifts, Henry VII came in thanksgiving in favour of a battle of Lambert
Simnel in 1487. After the Battle of Stoke, he sent a banner and willed a gold
statue of himself to Our Lady. Young Henry came with his fiancée, Katherine.
That was the first visit of the corrupt king.
In 1510, Henry VIII walked barefoot in the last stage and
gave a fantastic necklace to the Holy Queen, which, typical, he took back 28
years later. His saintly wife, his real
wife, Katherine, came with him in that year of 1510 and she came again in 1513
to give thanks for the victory of the battle of Flodden .
Happier days of gratitude and love for Our Lady…
(As he is referring to these incidents, spotlights at stage
right highlighted these royal pilgrims walking and kneeling before the image of
Our Lady. They leave gold jewelry and especially the large, valuable necklace
from Henry VIII.)
(A spotlight moves to a Tudor dancing hall where Henry sees
Anne Boleyn and asks her to dance, interrupting another man who is with her).
But, Henry’s third visit to the area was the beginning of
the end of Catholic England.
Just up the road apiece (Howard gestures), Henry saw Anne
Boleyn for the first time and danced with her. What a dance they made, in the
ruins of the One, Holy Catholic Church, a dance which continues today in the
ruins of Walsingham.
I cannot remember the date, maybe 1523. She was always
engaged to someone or another. However,
that meeting has led to this lonely owl hooting in the ruins of the priory.
(Priory arch comes up in the back of the mostly grey stage.)
I must confess that I ignored my own dear Anne for years,
caught up in the court. But I repented and her love for me never failed.
Here is my poem, which I wrote in prison before my own death
by starvation and illness in 1595. And, by the way, if you caught the name of
one of the visitators, Richard Southwell, his grandson is also one of the great
martyrs, Robert Southwell. Such was the chaos and choices of families in those
days. (An owl hoots) Ah, my poem.
A Lament for
Walsingham
In the wrecks of
Walsingham
Whom should I choose
But the Queen of
Walsingham
To be guide to my
muse?
Then, thou Prince of
Walsingham,
Grant me to frame
Bitter plaints to rue
thy wrong,
Bitter woe for thy
name.
Bitter was it, O, to
see
The sily sheep
Murder’d by the
ravening wolves
While the shepherd did
sleep.
Bitter was it, O, to
view
The sacred vine,
Whilst the gardeners
play’d all close,
Rooted up by swine.
Bitter, bitter, O, to
behold
The grass to grow
Where the walls of
Walsingham
So stately did show.
Such were the worth of
Walsingham
While she did stand;
Such are the wrecks as
now do show
Of that so holy land.
Level, level with the
ground
The towers do lie,
Which with their
golden glittering tops
Pierced out to the
sky.
Where were gate no
gates are now,--
The ways unknown
Where the press of
friars did pass
While her fame far was
blown.
Owls do shriek where
the sweetest hymns
Lately were sung;
Toads and serpents
hold their dens
Where the palmers did
throng.
Weep, weep, O
Walsingham
Whose days are nights—
Blessings turn’s to
blasphemies,
Holy deeds to
despites.
Sin is where our lady
sate;
Heaven turn’d is to
hell;
Satan sits where our
Lord did sway—
Walsingham, O,
Farewell.
(Philip puts down the scroll and just stares sadly at the
audience for a moment. Lights out.)
Scene III (The famous wall painting in the local shop is main
design. Thomas Sydney, the hounds and the hare).
Thomas Sydney: Ah, come on, people. You will have jobs with
me. Look, I can put you back to work in some small shoe shops. I have bought
the saffron fields. I need servants for the new hall I am going to build. Get
over this hatred of the king and you will be thanking your lucky stars.
Mob of 1537 speaking one after the other, as unidentified
groupies: Why should we go along with you. Henry ruined all our business. We
have no customers. No palmers. No royalty…this is a disaster. You got what you
want for 90 shillings. What do we get? Nuthin’ Latimer took the Lady and
chopped her up. How do we know you won’t do the same to us?
Thomas Sydney: Fine, than you can take your wives, your sons
and daughters and move elsewhere. I have friends who have men who want jobs. I
can bring them here in a minute. Are you going to the king’s church? Let me
read this from the Convocation of June, 1536. “..that our Lady, the blessed
Virgin, was no better than another woman, and that she can prevail with our
Saviour no more than another sinful person of her sex.”
Mob of 1537: Well, we are not theologians. We are just
workers. How do we know what Mary is. We
cannot depend on religion to feed us. Sure, we get fined otherwise and only
those rich nobles can afford to be recusants. What choices do we have? Hey,
where is Lady Elizabeth Andrew’s ring and where is the golden cloth vestments
of Lord Scales? Where is the Countess of
Warwick’s image? Who got these things? What happened to all the goods the Franciscans
had from Elizabeth de Burgh, the Countess of Clare, in the Great Guest House.
Where is all the wealth?
Thomas Sydney: Well, some made good choices and were
rewarded with the offerings to idols, and some made bad choices and they are
dead. Their quartered bodies lie in the ditch of the field beyond the walls.
Their heads have been eaten by crows.
Mob of 1537: We don’t like what you did to the Eucharist.
Dumped the Holy Bread on the ground. Stomped on it. Spit on it. Peed on it.
Thomas Sydney: Now, now, that was not me. Those were the
soldiers of Thomas Cromwell, as you well know. They just got carried away a
bit. Haven’t we all sinned?
Mob of 1537: Blasphemy will haunt this place for centuries.
Sacrilege stalks the village. We feel it.
Thomas Sydney: Stop being superstitious fools. I think you
better realize your own here and now. Take my offers or you and your families
will starve. The tiger will eat you whether you are kind to it or not.
(Mob of 1537 individuals talk among themselves.)
Mob of 1537: We are not martyrs like Aysburrow or the
others. Do we really have choices?
Thomas Sydney: Stop pretending there is a heaven or a hell.
We only have the now.
Mob of 1537: We shall
take the jobs. We choose the now. Life is hell enough.
(Black out of scene.)
Act III
(Two young and beautiful women come to the fore, center
stage, in the spotlight but they move to stage right when the second spot comes
up. Their dresses are of a different time, as Anne died in 1630 and this Lady
Throckmorton is from 1651-so change the costumes a little. They are sitting on
a garden bench with the arch of the ruin behind them. Lady Throckmorton has a
little white dog, like a Westie.)
Anne Dacre: Many of us went into hiding and then to France . Many
more cooperated with the Parliament and saved their lands, but not their souls.
Some benefitted by buying land cheaply to the cash-strapped king.
Lady Throckmorton of 1651: My dear Jesuit priest wrote to me about the
Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I
shall share with you, Dear Countess of Arundel, what he wrote to me.
Anne Dacre: And I shall share with you my vow.
Lady Throckmorton: Good, we Catholics must support each
other in these terrible days.
Father Edward Worseley writes: (and a Moving Tableau appears
with the Jesuit, Fr. Worseley reading this note out of a book he is writing
with a quill pen.
I made choice to
compare this work in honour of the most Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, whos
Dowry our own now distracted country was sometimes not undeservedly stiled.
Both in respect of the peculiar devotion our religious predecessors, above
other nations of the Christian world, ore towards her, and her reciprocal
procuring, by her powerful intercession, innumerable select favours for them.
Anne Dacre: And I have made a long vow, dedicating my life
and belief to the Immaculate Conception. Here is part of my written note.
Lady Throckmorton: Yes, dear, let me hear it.
Anne Dacre: It is very long. I keep it at the castle. I
shall read part of it.
…I, Anne, following
the steps and examples of many most learned, virtuous and holy person, in this
sacred place, and on this cheerful and happy day of the festivity of thy
Conception, do confess thee, O Mother of God, to have been preserved from original
sin in the first instant of thy Conception, through the merits of Christ, the
Son of God and thee, foreseen from all eternity. And I take God thy Son and thy
self to witness that I will constantly, by His grace, retain even to the last
moment of my life this judgment of they preservation from original sin. This I
promise, this I vow, this I swear, so help me God and His holy saints, --always
understood with due submission to the determination of Holy
Church and the chief pastor thereof,
His Holiness of Rome
There is much more. I love the Immaculate Conception, Our
Lady of Walsingham. I pray at the end of this piece for purity of mind and
hatred of all sin.
Lady Throckmorton: That is lovely and profound. And, in a
letter of St. Omer’s to the English Poor Clares at Graveling, in 1665, is this
sad, sad note:
That land, once
bearing title of the Dowry of the Virgin Mother, heretofore holy and fruitful
in this land, but now, alas, overrun with heresy and sin.”
But, Anne, where are the saints now? We need holy men and
women again, dear Anne. Dooks, come here. We are the Church Militant in this
evil age. We need more purity of mind, purity of heart and soul.
(Behind them in a spotlight are the Walsingham martyrs, both
lay and friars, as well as Philip Howard.)
Anne Dacre: But, gone before us, are the great martyrs of
Walsingham and those of Tyburn, and those of the Tower, like my dear husband.
They intercede for us daily, I am sure. Tyburn to Walsingham, they stand in a
long chain from there to heaven, asking God to strengthen us in these times.
Lady Throckmorton: But, what will the generations after us
believe? Will they know Our Lady of Walsingham? Will they love her? Will the
one, true, holy and Catholic Church return to Walsingham? I fear for the long
years to come, dear Countess. Those good martyrs, like Christ, were taken
outside the town walls, at Tyburn, in Walsingham, like anathemata. Will the
outcasts be remembered, like Christ on our burnt altars?
Anne Dacre: Let us pray, dear one.
(They bow their heads and all the 2013 people of Walsingham
appear, old and young, going to the arch of the priory and praying all together
the Hail Mary. Lights down after coming up very bright).
Scene Two (Spotlight on one man, who has keys in his right
hand. He has a strong Norfolk
accent. Make sure this is said slowly and deliberating, not rushed.)
.
I, Turnkey Burton of the Bridewell, can tell you that the
history of Walsingham is not over yet. No, it is not. But, who knows where this
story will end or how, I don’t know. Look around you, look at yourselves. Will
there be a Walsingham when you are old and grey? Will there be Catholicism in
this land? Maybe not. There was a long time without Catholics here, I can tell
you, a long time. Now, myself, I was not a Catholic, at least not one that
anyone knew about, anyway. I kept an Agnus
Dei under my pillow, like many good Anglicans. But, I can tell you that
when Mary, Our Mother, was loved and honoured here, things were different.
I cannot put my finger on it. I cannot say what the
difference was, exactly. Maybe the roses bloomed the same and the owls hooted
just as loudly all night, keeping us locals awake, maybe people were kinder,
gentler, more loving, more true…
Something was different. A life, a spirit of motherliness,
of care wafted in the air like the chant of the friars. We were the dowry of
Mary, and maybe, maybe we still are….maybe we still are…The story has not
ended, yet.
(He walks off jingling his keys, out of the spotlight. One
hears the hoot of the barn owl in the distance and the arch of the Priory
remains lit for a few minutes.)
The End.
Quote of the Day
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
The answer to five-point, four-point, three-point, and two-point Calvinism regarding Scripture
Are you following the Baptist Convention on Calvinism?
The Calvinist position is divided between Hyper-Calvinists and Calvinists. From the beginning of time, God chose people to go to heaven or hell. The entire problem with Louisiana College can be found here on First Things.
The problem is that God DID come to save all men of sin. The Hyper-Calvinist states no.
Hyper-Calvinism, previously known as High Calvinism, is a branch of Protestant theology that denies a general design in the death of Jesus Christ, the idea of an indiscriminate free offer of the gospel to all persons and a universal duty to believe the Lord Jesus Christ died for them. It is at times regarded as a variation of Calvinism, but critics emphasize its differences to traditional Calvinistic beliefs.
This is all connected to Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura leads to this.
Here are more good points showing the problems with Calvinism and Hyper-Calvinism:
The Calvinist position is divided between Hyper-Calvinists and Calvinists. From the beginning of time, God chose people to go to heaven or hell. The entire problem with Louisiana College can be found here on First Things.
The problem is that God DID come to save all men of sin. The Hyper-Calvinist states no.
Hyper-Calvinism, previously known as High Calvinism, is a branch of Protestant theology that denies a general design in the death of Jesus Christ, the idea of an indiscriminate free offer of the gospel to all persons and a universal duty to believe the Lord Jesus Christ died for them. It is at times regarded as a variation of Calvinism, but critics emphasize its differences to traditional Calvinistic beliefs.
This is all connected to Sola Scriptura. Sola Scriptura leads to this.
Here are more good points showing the problems with Calvinism and Hyper-Calvinism:
Denial of sufficient grace in the atonement for all persons
Article 28[13] states a rejection of the general redemption view of Richard Baxter and a denial that there is a residue of grace in Christ for non-elect persons if they will only accept it. The Baptist minister Daniel Whitaker reasoned against "Baxterianism" and defined it as the teaching that Christ died intentionally for the elect only, but sufficiently for the rest. He believed that the Baxterian view allowed a possible and probable salvation for non-elect persons from the sufficiency of the death of Christ.[14] John Stevens, also a Baptist minister, affirmed that the atonement is "insufficient" to save those whom Christ never intended to save. He reasoned that Christ has never benefited any person "unintentionally" and that his meritorious worth should not be divided or confounded.[15]
Article 28[13] states a rejection of the general redemption view of Richard Baxter and a denial that there is a residue of grace in Christ for non-elect persons if they will only accept it. The Baptist minister Daniel Whitaker reasoned against "Baxterianism" and defined it as the teaching that Christ died intentionally for the elect only, but sufficiently for the rest. He believed that the Baxterian view allowed a possible and probable salvation for non-elect persons from the sufficiency of the death of Christ.[14] John Stevens, also a Baptist minister, affirmed that the atonement is "insufficient" to save those whom Christ never intended to save. He reasoned that Christ has never benefited any person "unintentionally" and that his meritorious worth should not be divided or confounded.[15]
Denial of indiscriminate offers of the gospel to all persons
Article 24[16] states a confession that invitations of the gospel are only for sensible sinners who are made aware of their need for Christ, article 27[17] states a denial that the non-elect are ever enlightened by the Holy Spirit to receive grace and article 29[18] states a confession that the gospel is to be preached in all the world without indiscriminate offers of the gospel to all. The English Baptist pastor John Gill denied that there are universal offers of grace made to any, but that grace and salvation are published and revealed in the gospel.[19] The English Anglican Church pastor Robert Hawker contended that Jesus only invited the weary and heavy laden. He believed that it is in "direct contradiction to scripture" to invite all. He also reasoned that an attempt to offer Christ is "little short of blasphemy" and those who make invitations to allure the carnal world to faith and repentance know not the scriptures nor the power of God.[20]
Article 24[16] states a confession that invitations of the gospel are only for sensible sinners who are made aware of their need for Christ, article 27[17] states a denial that the non-elect are ever enlightened by the Holy Spirit to receive grace and article 29[18] states a confession that the gospel is to be preached in all the world without indiscriminate offers of the gospel to all. The English Baptist pastor John Gill denied that there are universal offers of grace made to any, but that grace and salvation are published and revealed in the gospel.[19] The English Anglican Church pastor Robert Hawker contended that Jesus only invited the weary and heavy laden. He believed that it is in "direct contradiction to scripture" to invite all. He also reasoned that an attempt to offer Christ is "little short of blasphemy" and those who make invitations to allure the carnal world to faith and repentance know not the scriptures nor the power of God.[20]
Denial of duty-faith
Article 26 states a confession that the natural man should not be given exhortation or duties to "spiritually and savingly" repent and believe.[21] Article 26 has been a subject of controversy concerning what was intended. In his book "What Gospel Standard Baptists Believe", J.H. Gosden clarifies that this article is not meant to minimize the sin of unbelief. He understood this article to be a denial that man is duty bound to believe "each individual is himself" included in the redemption work of Christ and he affirmed that man is "inexcusable in his unbelief" against God's revealed word and works.[22] The Baptist pastor William Styles reasoned that duty-faith blends the covenant of works with the covenant of grace and makes faith a work of the law.[23] W. Kitchen reasoned in a Strict Baptists magazine that duty-faith would imply a universal design in the atonement by calling on all persons to exercise a faith which grants them to believe Jesus gave himself for them.[24] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-Calvinism
Article 26 states a confession that the natural man should not be given exhortation or duties to "spiritually and savingly" repent and believe.[21] Article 26 has been a subject of controversy concerning what was intended. In his book "What Gospel Standard Baptists Believe", J.H. Gosden clarifies that this article is not meant to minimize the sin of unbelief. He understood this article to be a denial that man is duty bound to believe "each individual is himself" included in the redemption work of Christ and he affirmed that man is "inexcusable in his unbelief" against God's revealed word and works.[22] The Baptist pastor William Styles reasoned that duty-faith blends the covenant of works with the covenant of grace and makes faith a work of the law.[23] W. Kitchen reasoned in a Strict Baptists magazine that duty-faith would imply a universal design in the atonement by calling on all persons to exercise a faith which grants them to believe Jesus gave himself for them.[24] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper-Calvinism
Confessional Statements from institutions vary on this point.
If you are still confused, here is a good definition of inerrancy. Biblical inerrancy is the doctrine that the Bible, in its original manuscripts, is accurate and totally free from error of any kind; that "Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact".[1] Some equate inerrancy with infallibility; others do not.[2][3]
A formal statement in favor of biblical inerrancy, the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy", was published in the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society in 1978.[4] The signatories to the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" assert that since there are no extant original manuscripts of the Bible, those which exist cannot be considered inerrant. The signatories also maintain that the existing manuscripts are faithful copies of the original manuscripts.
Now, the Catholics have this position and if you do not know it, learn it. Memorize this document.
PROVIDENTISSIMUS DEUS
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII
ON THE STUDY OF HOLY SCRIPTURE
To Our Venerable Brethren, All Patriarchs, Primates,
Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World, in Grace
and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World, in Grace
and Communion with the Apostolic See.
Venerable Brethren, Health and Apostolic Benediction.
The God of all Providence, Who in the adorable designs of His love at first elevated the human race to the participation of the Divine nature, and afterwards delivered it from universal guilt and ruin, restoring it to its primitive dignity, has in consequence bestowed upon man a splendid gift and safeguard - making known to him, by supernatural means, the hidden mysteries of His Divinity, His wisdom and His mercy. For although in Divine revelation there are contained some things which are not beyond the reach of unassisted reason, and which are made the objects of such revelation in order "that all may come to know them with facility, certainty, and safety from error, yet not on this account can supernatural Revelation be said to be absolutely necessary; it is only necessary because God has ordinated man to a supernatural end."(1) This supernatural revelation, according to the belief of the universal Church, is contained both in unwritten Tradition, and in written Books, which aretherefore called sacred and canonical because, "being written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author and as such have been delivered to the Church."(2) This belief has been perpetually held and professed by the Church in regard to the Books of both Testaments; and there are well-known documents of the gravest kind, coming down to us from the earliest times, which proclaim that God, Who spoke first by the Prophets, then by His own mouth, and lastly by the Apostles, composed also the Canonical Scriptures,(3) and that these are His own oracles and words(4) - a Letter, written by our heavenly Father, and transmitted by the sacred writers to the human race in its pilgrimage so far from its heavenly country.(5) If, then, such and so great is the excellence and the dignity of the Scriptures, that God Himself has composed them, and that they treat of God's marvellous mysteries, counsels and works, it follows that the branch of sacred Theology which is concerned with the defence and elucidation of these divine Books must be excellent and useful in the highest degree.
2. Now We, who by the help of God, and not without fruit, have by frequent Letters and exhortation endeavoured to promote other branches of study which seemed capable of advancing the glory of God and contributing to the salvation of souls, have for a long time cherished the desire to give an impulse to the noble science of Holy Scripture, and to impart to Scripture study a direction suitable to the needs of the present day. The solicitude of the Apostolic office naturally urges, and even compels us, not only to desire that this grand source of Catholic revelation should be made safely and abundantly accessible to the flock of Jesus Christ, but also not to suffer any attempt to defile or corrupt it, either on the part of those who impiously and openly assail the Scriptures, or of those who are led astray into fallacious and imprudent novelties. We are not ignorant, indeed, Venerable Brethren, that there are not a few Catholics, men of talent and learning, who do devote themselves with ardour to the defence of the sacred writings and to making them better known and understood. But whilst giving to these the commendation they deserve, We cannot but earnestly exhort others also, from whose skill and piety and learning we have a right to expect good results, to give themselves to the same most praiseworthy work. It is Our wish and fervent desire to see an increase in the number of the approved and persevering labourers in the cause of Holy Scripture; and more especially that those whom Divine Grace has called to Holy Orders, should, day-by-day, as their state demands, display greater diligence and industry in reading, meditating, and explaining it.
Holy Scripture Most Profitable To Doctrine and Morality
3. Among the reasons for which the Holy Scripture is so worthy of commendation - in addition to its own excellence and to the homage which we owe to God's Word - the chief of all is, the innumerable benefits of which it is the source; according to the infallible testimony of the Holy Ghost Himself, who says: "All Scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work."(6) That such was the purpose of God in giving the Scripture of men is shown by the example of Christ our Lord and of His Apostles. For He Himself Who "obtained authority by miracles, merited belief by authority, and by belief drew to Himself the multitude"(7) was accustomed in the exercise of His Divine Mission, to appeal to the Scriptures. He uses them at times to prove that He is sent by God, and is God Himself. From them He cites instructions for His disciples and confirmation of His doctrine. He vindicates them from the calumnies of objectors; he quotes them against Sadducees and Pharisees, and retorts from them upon Satan himself when he dares to tempt Him. At the close of His life His utterances are from Holy Scripture, and it is the Scripture that He expounds to His disciples after His resurrection, until He ascends to the glory of His Father. Faithful to His precepts, the Apostles, although He Himself granted "signs and wonders to be done by their hands"(8) nevertheless used with the greatest effect the sacred writings, in order to persuade the nations everywhere of the wisdom of Christianity, to conquer the obstinacy of the Jews, and to suppress the outbreak of heresy. This is plainly seen in their discourses, especially in those of St. Peter: these were often little less than a series of citations from the Old Testament supporting in the strongest manner the new dispensation. We find the same thing in the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. John and in the Catholic Epistles; and most remarkably of all in the words of him who "boasts that he learned the law at the feet of Gamaliel, in order that, being armed with spiritual weapons, he might afterwards say with confidence, `The arms of our warfare are not carnal but mighty unto God.' "(9) Let all, therefore, especially the novices of the ecclesiastical army, understand how deeply the sacred Books should be esteemed, and with what eagerness and reverence they should approach this great arsenal of heavenly arms. For those whose duty it is to handle Catholic doctrine before the learned or the unlearned will nowhere find more ample matter or more abundant exhortation, whether on the subject of God, the supreme Good and the all-perfect Being, or of the works which display His Glory and His love. Nowhere is there anything more full or more express on the subject of the Saviour of the world than is to be found in the whole range of the Bible. As St. Jerome says, "To be ignorant of the Scripture is not to know Christ."(10) In its pages His Image stands out, living and breathing; diffusing everywhere around consolation in trouble, encouragement to virtue and attraction to the love of God. And as to the Church, her institutions, her nature, her office, and her gifts, we find in Holy Scripture so many references and so many ready and convincing arguments, that as St. Jerome again most truly says: "A man who is well grounded in the testimonies of the Scripture is the bulwark of the Church."(11)And if we come to morality and discipline, an apostolic man finds in the sacred writings abundant and excellent assistance; most holy precepts, gentle and strong exhortation, splendid examples of every virtue, and finally the promise of eternal reward and the threat of eternal punishment, uttered in terms of solemn import, in God's name and in God's own words.
4. And it is this peculiar and singular power of Holy Scripture, arising from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, which gives authority to the sacred orator, fills him with apostolic liberty of speech, and communicates force and power to his eloquence. For those who infuse into their efforts the spirit and strength of the Word of God, speak "not in word only but in power also, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much fulness."(12) Hence those preachers are foolish and improvident who, in speaking of religion and proclaiming the things of God, use no words but those of human science and human prudence, trusting to their own reasonings rather than to those of God. Their discourses may be brilliant and fine, but they must be feeble and they must be cold, for they are without the fire of the utterance of God(13) and they must fall far short of that mighty power which the speech of God possesses: "for the Word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword; and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit."(14) But, indeed, all those who have a right to speak are agreed that there is in the Holy Scripture an eloquence that is wonderfully varied and rich, and worthy of great themes. This St. Augustine thoroughly understood and has abundantly set forth.(15) This also is confirmed by the best preachers of all ages, who have gratefully acknowledged that they owed their repute chiefly to the assiduous use of the Bible, and to devout meditation on its pages.
5. The Holy Fathers well knew all this by practical experience, and they never cease to extol the sacred Scripture and its fruits. In innumerable passages of their writings we find them applying to it such phrases as "an inexhaustible treasury of heavenly doctrine,"(16) or "an overflowing fountain of salvation,"(17) or putting it before us as fertile pastures and beautiful gardens in which the flock of the Lord is marvellously refreshed and delighted.(18) Let us listen to the words of St. Jerome, in his Epistle to Nepotian: "Often read the divine Scriptures; yea, let holy reading be always in thy hand; study that which thou thyself must preach. . . Let the speech of the priest be ever seasoned with Scriptural reading."(19) St. Gregory the Great, than whom no one has more admirably described the pastoral office, writes in the same sense: "Those," he says, "who are zealous in the work of preaching must never cease the study of the written word of God."(20) St. Augustine, however, warns us that "vainly does the preacher utter the Word of God exteriorly unless he listens to it interiorly;"(21) and St. Gregory instructs sacred orators "first to find in Holy Scripture the knowledge of themselves, and then to carry it to others, lest in reproving others they forget themselves."(22) Admonitions such as these had, indeed, been uttered long before by the Apostolic voice which had learnt its lesson from Christ Himself, Who "began to do and teach." It was not to Timothy alone, but to the whole order of the clergy, that the command was addressed: "Take heed to thyself and to doctrine; be earnest in them. For in doing this thou shah both save thyself and them that hear thee."(23) For the saving and for the perfection of ourselves and of others there is at hand the very best of help in the Holy Scriptures, as the Book of Psalms, among others, so constantly insists; but those only will find it who bring to this divine reading not only docility and attention, but also piety and an innocent life. For the Sacred Scripture is not like other books. Dictated by the Holy Ghost, it contains things of the deepest importance, which in many instances are most difficult and obscure. To understand and explain such things there is always required the "coming"(24) of the same Holy Spirit; that is to say, His light and His grace; and these, as the Royal Psalmist so frequently insists, are to be sought by humble prayer and guarded by holiness of life.
What the Bible Owes to the Catholic Church
6. It is in this that the watchful care of the Church shines forth conspicuously. By admirable laws and regulations, she has always shown herself solicitous that "the celestial treasure of the Sacred Books, so bountifully bestowed upon man by the Holy Spirit, should not lie neglected."(25) She has prescribed that a considerable portion of them shall be read and piously reflected upon by all her ministers in the daily office of the sacred psalmody. She has ordered that in Cathedral Churches, in monasteries, and in other convents in which study can conveniently be pursued, they shall be expounded and interpreted by capable men; and she has strictly commanded that her children shall be fed with the saving words of the Gospel at least on Sundays and solemn feasts.(26) Moreover, it is owing to the wisdom and exertions of the Church that there has always been continued from century to century that cultivation of Holy Scripture which has been so remarkable and has borne such ample fruit.
7. And here, in order to strengthen Our teaching and Our exhortations, it is well to recall how, from the beginning of Christianity, all who have been renowned for holiness of life and sacred learning have given their deep and constant attention to Holy Scripture. If we consider the immediate disciples of the Apostles, St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp - or the apologists, such as St. Justin and St. Irenaeus, we find that in their letters and their books, whether in defence of the Catholic Faith or in its commendation, they draw faith, strength, and unction from the Word of God. When there arose, in various Sees, Catechetical and Theological schools, of which the most celebrated were those of Alexandria and of Antioch, there was little taught in those schools but what was contained in the reading, the interpretation and the defence of the divine written word. From them came forth numbers of Fathers and writers whose laborious studies and admirable writings have justly merited for the three following centuries the appellation of the golden age of biblical exegesis. In the Eastern Church, the greatest name of all is Origen - a man remarkable alike for penetration of genius and for persevering labour; from whose numerous works and his great Hexapla almost all have drawn that came after him. Others who have widened the field of this science may also be named, as especially eminent; thus, Alexandria could boast of St. Clement and St. Cyril; Palestine, of Eusebius and the other St. Cyril; Cappadocia, of St. Basil the Great and the two St. Gregories of Nazianzus and Nyssa; Antioch, of St. John Chrysostom, in whom the science of Scripture was rivalled by the splendour of his eloquence. In the Western Church there were many names as great: Tertullian, St. Cyprian, St. Hilary, St. Ambrose, St. Leo the Great, St. Gregory the Great; most famous of all, St. Augustine and St. Jerome, of whom the former was so marvellously acute in penetrating the sense of God's Word and so fertile in the use that he made of it for the promotion of the Catholic truth, and the latter has received from the Church, by reason of his pre-eminent knowledge of Scripture and his labours in promoting its use, the name of the "great Doctor."(27) From this period down to the eleventh century, although Biblical studies did not flourish with the same vigour and the same fruitfulness as before, yet they did flourish, and principally by the instrumentality of the clergy. It was their care and solicitude that selected the best and most useful things that the ancients had left, arranged them in order, and published them with additions of their own - as did S. Isidore of Seville, Venerable Bede, and Alcuin, among the most prominent; it was they who illustrated the sacred pages with "glosses" or short commentaries, as we see in Walafrid Strabo and St. Anselm of Laon, or expended fresh labour in securing their integrity, as did St. Peter Damian and Blessed Lanfranc. In the twelfth century many took up with great success the allegorical exposition of Scripture. In this kind, St. Bernard is pre-eminent; and his writings, it may be said, are Scripture all through. With the age of the scholastics came fresh and welcome progress in the study of the Bible. That the scholastics were solicitous about the genuineness of the Latin version is evident from theCorrectoria Biblica, or lists of emendations, which they have left. But they expended their labours and industry chiefly on interpretation and explanation. To them we owe the accurate and clear distinction, such as had not been given before, of the various senses of the sacred words; the assignment of the value of each "sense" in theology; the division of books into parts, and the summaries of the various parts; the investigation of the objects of the writers; the demonstration of the connection of sentence with sentence, and clause with clause; all of which is calculated to throw much light on the more obscure passages of the sacred volume. The valuable work of the scholastics in Holy Scripture is seen in their theological treatises and in their Scripture commentaries; and in this respect the greatest name among them all is St. Thomas of Aquin.
8. When our predecessor, Clement V., established chairs of Oriental literature in the Roman College and in the principal Universities of Europe, Catholics began to make more accurate investigation on the original text of the Bible, as well as on the Latin version. The revival amongst us of Greek learning, and, much more, the happy invention of the art of printing, gave a strong impetus to Biblical studies. In a brief space of time, innumerable editions, especially of the Vulgate, poured from the press and were diffused throughout the Catholic world; so honoured and loved was Holy Scripture during that very period against which the enemies of the Church direct their calumnies. Nor must we forget how many learned men there were, chiefly among the religious orders, who did excellent work for the Bible between the Council of Vienne and that of Trent; men who, by the employment of modern means and appliances, and by the tribute of their own genius and learning, not only added to the rich stores of ancient times, but prepared the way for the succeeding century, the century which followed the Council of Trent, when it almost seemed that the great age of the Fathers had returned. For it is well known, and We recall it with pleasure, that Our predecessors from Pius IV. to Clement VIII. caused to be prepared the celebrated editions of the Vulgate and the Septuagint, which, having been published by the command and authority of Sixtus V. and of the same Clement, are now in common use. At this time, moreover, were carefully brought out various other ancient versions of the Bible, and the Polyglots of Antwerp and of Paris, most important for the investigation of the true meaning of the text; nor is there any one Book of either Testament which did not find more than one expositor, nor any grave question which did not profitably exercise the ability of many inquirers, among whom there are not a few - more especially of those who made most use of the Fathers - who have acquired great reputation. From that time downwards the labour and solicitude of Catholics has never been wanting; for, as time went on, eminent scholars have carried on Biblical study with success, and have defended Holy Scripture against rationalism with the same weapons of philology and kindred sciences with which it had been attacked. The calm and fair consideration of what has been said will clearly show that the Church has never failed in taking due measures to bring the Scriptures within reach of her children, and that she has ever held fast and exercised profitably that guardianship conferred upon her by Almighty God for the protection and glory of His Holy Word; so that she has never required, nor does she now require, any stimulation from without.
How to Study Holy Scripture
9. We must now, Venerable Brethren, as our purpose demands, impart to you such counsels as seem best suited for carrying on successfully the study of Biblical science.
10. But first it must be clearly understood whom we have to oppose and contend against, and what are their tactics and their arms. In earlier times the contest was chiefly with those who, relying on private judgment and repudiating the divine traditions and teaching office of the Church, held the Scriptures to be the one source of revelation and the final appeal in matters of Faith. Now, we have to meet the Rationalists, true children and inheritors of the older heretics, who, trusting in their turn to their own way of thinking, have rejected even the scraps and remnants of Christian belief which had been handed down to them. They deny that there is any such thing as revelation or inspiration, or Holy Scripture at all; they see, instead, only the forgeries and the falsehoods of men; they set down the Scripture narratives as stupid fables and lying stories: the prophecies and the oracles of God are to them either predictions made up after the event or forecasts formed by the light of nature; the miracles and the wonders of God's power are not what they are said to be, but the startling effects of natural law, or else mere tricks and myths; and the Apostolic Gospels and writings are not the work of the Apostles at all. These detestable errors, whereby they think they destroy the truth of the divine Books, are obtruded on the world as the peremptory pronouncements of a certain newly-invented "free science;" a science, however, which is so far from final that they are perpetually modifying and supplementing it. And there are some of them who, notwithstanding their impious opinions and utterances about God, and Christ, the Gospels and the rest of Holy Scripture, would faro be considered both theologians and Christians and men of the Gospel, and who attempt to disguise by such honourable names their rashness and their pride. To them we must add not a few professors of other sciences who approve their views and give them assistance, and are urged to attack the Bible by a similar intolerance of revelation. And it is deplorable to see these attacks growing every day more numerous and more severe. It is sometimes men of learning and judgment who are assailed; but these have little difficulty in defending themselves from evil consequences. The efforts and the arts of the enemy are chiefly directed against the more ignorant masses of the people. They diffuse their deadly poison by means of books, pamphlets, and newspapers; they spread it by addresses and by conversation; they are found everywhere; and they are in possession of numerous schools, taken by violence from the Church, in which, by ridicule and scurrilous jesting, they pervert the credulous and unformed minds of the young to the contempt of Holy Scripture. Should not these things, Venerable Brethren, stir up and set on fire the heart of every Pastor, so that to this "knowledge, falsely so called,"(28) may be opposed the ancient and true science which the Church, through the Apostles, has received from Christ, and that Holy Scripture may find the champions that are needed in so momentous a battle?
11. Let our first care, then be to see that in Seminaries and Academical institutions the study of Holy Scripture be placed on such a footing as its own importance and the circumstances of the time demand. With this view, the first thing which requires attention is the wise choice of Professors. Teachers of Sacred Scripture are not to be appointed at hap-hazard out of the crowd; but they must be men whose character and fitness are proved by their love of, and their long familiarity with, the Bible, and by suitable learning and study.
12. It is a matter of equal importance to provide in time for a continuous succession of such teachers; and it will be well, wherever this can be done, to select young men of good promise who have successfully accomplished their theological course, and to set them apart exclusively for Holy Scripture, affording them facilities for full and complete studies. Professors thus chosen and thus prepared may enter with confidence on the task that is appointed for them; and that they may carry out their work well and profitably, let them take heed to the instructions We now proceed to give.
13. At the commencement of a course of Holy Scripture let the Professor strive earnestly to form the judgment of the young beginners so as to train them equally to defend the sacred writings and to penetrate their meaning. This is the object of the treatise which is called "Introduction." Here the student is taught how to prove the integrity and authority of the Bible, how to investigate and ascertain its true sense, and how to meet and refute objections. It is needless to insist upon the importance of making these preliminary studies in an orderly and thorough fashion, with the accompaniment and assistance of Theology; for the whole subsequent course must rest on the foundation thus laid and make use of the light thus acquired. Next, the teacher will turn his earnest attention to that more fruitful division of Scripture science which has to do with Interpretation; wherein is imparted the method of using the word of God for the advantage of religion and piety. We recognize without hesitation that neither the extent of the matter nor the time at disposal allows each single Book of the Bible to be separately gone through. But the teaching should result in a definite and ascertained method of interpretation-and therefore the Professor should equally avoid the mistake of giving a mere taste of every Book, and of dwelling at too great length on a part of one Book. If most schools cannot do what is done in the large institutions-that is, take the students through the whole of one or two Books continuously and with a certain development-yet at least those parts which are selected should be treated with suitable fulness; in such a way that the students may learn from the sample that is thus put before them to love and use the remainder of the sacred Book during the whole of their lives. The Professor, following the tradition of antiquity, will make use of the Vulgate as his text; for the Council of Trent decreed that "in public lectures, disputations, preaching, and exposition,"(29) the Vulgate is the "authentic" version; and this is the existing custom of the Church. At the same time, the other versions which Christian antiquity has approved, should not be neglected, more especially the more ancient MSS. For although the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek is substantially rendered by the Vulgate, nevertheless wherever there may be ambiguity or want of clearness, the "examination of older tongues,"(30) to quote St. Augustine, will be useful and advantageous. But in this matter we need hardly say that the greatest prudence is required, for the "office of a commentator," as St. Jerome says, "is to set forth not what he himself would prefer, but what his author says."(31) The question of "readings" having been, when necessary, carefully discussed, the next thing is to investigate and expound the meaning. And the first counsel to be given is this: That the more our adversaries contend to the contrary, so much the more solicitously should we adhere to the received and approved canons of interpretation. Hence, whilst weighing the meanings of words, the connection of ideas, the parallelism of passages, and the like, we should by all means make use of such illustrations as can be drawn from apposite erudition of an external sort; but this should be done with caution, so as not to bestow on questions of this kind more labour and time than are spent on the Sacred Books themselves, and not to overload the minds of the students with a mass of information that will be rather a hindrance than a help.
Holy Scripture and Theology; Interpretation; the Fathers
14. The Professor may now safely pass on to the use of Scripture in matters of Theology. On this head it must be observed that in addition to the usual reasons which make ancient writings more or less difficult to understand, there are some which are peculiar to the Bible. For the language of the Bible is employed to express, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, many things which are beyond the power and scope of the reason of man - that is to say, divine mysteries and all that is related to them. There is sometimes in such passages a fullness and a hidden depth of meaning which the letter hardly expresses and which the laws of interpretation hardly warrant. Moreover, the literal sense itself frequently admits other senses, adapted to illustrate dogma or to confirm morality. Wherefore it must be recognized that the sacred writings are wrapt in a certain religious obscurity, and that no one can enter into their interior without a guide(32); God so disposing, as the Holy Fathers commonly teach, in order that men may investigate them with greater ardour and earnestness, and that what is attained with difficulty may sink more deeply into the mind and heart; and, most of all, that they may understand that God has delivered the Holy Scriptures to the Church, and that in reading and making use of His Word, they must follow the Church as their guide and their teacher. St. Irenaeus long since laid down, that where the charismata of God were, there the truth was to be learnt, and that Holy Scripture was safely interpreted by those who had the Apostolic succession.(33) His teaching, and that of other Holy Fathers, is taken up by the Council of the Vatican, which, in renewing the decree of Trent declares its "mind" to be this - that "in things of faith and morals, belonging to the building up of Christian doctrine, that is to be considered the true sense of Holy Scripture which has been held and is held by our Holy Mother the Church, whose place it is to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Scriptures; and therefore that it is permitted to no one to interpret Holy Scripture against such sense or also against the unanimous agreement of the Fathers."(34) By this most wise decree the Church by no means prevents or restrains the pursuit of Biblical science, but rather protects it from error, and largely assists its real progress. A wide field is still left open to the private student, in which his hermeneutical skill may display itself with signal effect and to the advantage of the Church. On the one hand, in those passages of Holy Scripture which have not as yet received a certain and definitive interpretation, such labours may, in the benignant providence of God, prepare for and bring to maturity the judgment of the Church; on the other, in passages already defined, the private student may do work equally valuable, either by setting them forth more clearly to the flock and more skilfully to scholars, or by defending them more powerfully from hostile attack. Wherefore the first and dearest object of the Catholic commentator should be to interpret those passages which have received an authentic interpretation either from the sacred writers themselves, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost (as in many places of the New Testament), or from the Church, under the assistance of the same Holy Spirit, whether by her solemn judgment or her ordinary and universalmagisterium(35) - to interpret these passages in that identical sense, and to prove, by all the resources of science, that sound hermeneutical laws admit of no other interpretation. In the other passages, the analogy of faith should be followed, and Catholic doctrine, as authoritatively proposed by the Church, should be held as the supreme law; for, seeing that the same God is the author both of the Sacred Books and of the doctrine committed to the Church, it is clearly impossible that any teaching can by legitimate means be extracted from the former, which shall in any respect be at variance with the latter. Hence it follows that all interpretation is foolish and false which either makes the sacred writers disagree one with another, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Church. The Professor of Holy Scripture, therefore, amongst other recommendations, must be well acquainted with the whole circle of Theology and deeply read in the commentaries of the Holy Fathers and Doctors, and other interpreters of mark.(36) This is inculcated by St. Jerome, and still more frequently by St. Augustine, who thus justly complains: "If there is no branch of teaching, however humble and easy to learn, which does not require a master, what can be a greater sign of rashness and pride than to refuse to study the Books of the divine mysteries by the help of those who have interpreted them?"(37) The other Fathers have said the same, and have confirmed it by their example, for they "endeavoured to acquire the understanding of the Holy Scriptures not by their own lights and ideas, but from the writings and authority of the ancients, who in their turn, as we know, received the rule of interpretation in direct line from the Apostles."(38) The Holy Fathers "to whom, after the Apostles, the Church owes its growth - who have planted, watered, built, governed, and cherished it,"(39) the Holy Fathers, We say, are of supreme authority, whenever they all interpret in one and the same manner any text of the Bible, as pertaining to the doctrine of faith or morals; for their unanimity clearly evinces that such interpretation has come down from the Apostles as a matter of Catholic faith. The opinion of the Fathers is also of very great weight when they treat of these matters in their capacity of doctors, unofficially; not only because they excel in their knowledge of revealed doctrine and in their acquaintance with many things which are useful in understanding the apostolic Books, but because they are men of eminent sanctity and of ardent zeal for the truth, on whom God has bestowed a more ample measure of His light. Wherefore the expositor should make it his duty to follow their footsteps with all reverence, and to use their labours with intelligent appreciation.
15. But he must not on that account consider that it is forbidden, when just cause exists, to push inquiry and exposition beyond what the Fathers have done; provided he carefully observes the rule so wisely laid down by St. Augustine-not to depart from the literal and obvious sense, except only where reason makes it untenable or necessity requires;(40) a rule to which it is the more necessary to adhere strictly in these times, when the thirst for novelty and unrestrained freedom of thought make the danger of error most real and proximate. Neither should those passages be neglected which the Fathers have understood in an allegorical or figurative sense, more especially when such interpretation is justified by the literal, and when it rests on the authority of many. For this method of interpretation has been received by the Church from the Apostles, and has been approved by her own practice, as the holy Liturgy attests; although it is true that the holy Fathers did not thereby pretend directly to demonstrate dogmas of faith, but used it as a means of promoting virtue and piety, such as, by their own experience, they knew to be most valuable. The authority of other Catholic interpreters is not so great; but the study of Scripture has always continued to advance in the Church, and, therefore, these commentaries also have their own honourable place, and are serviceable in many ways for the refutation of assailants and the explanation of difficulties. But it is most unbecoming to pass by, in ignorance or contempt, the excellent work which Catholics have left in abundance, and to have recourse to the works of non-Catholics - and to seek in them, to the detriment of sound doctrine and often to the peril of faith, the explanation of passages on which Catholics long ago have successfully employed their talent and their labour. For although the studies of non-Catholics, used with prudence, may sometimes be of use to the Catholic student, he should, nevertheless, bear well in mind-as the Fathers also teach in numerous passages(41) - that the sense of Holy Scripture can nowhere be found incorrupt outside of the Church, and cannot be expected to be found in writers who, being without the true faith, only gnaw the bark of the Sacred Scripture, and never attain its pith.
16. Most desirable is it, and most essential, that the whole teaching of Theology should be pervaded and animated by the use of the divine Word of God. This is what the Fathers and the greatest theologians of all ages have desired and reduced to practice. It was chiefly out of the Sacred Writings that they endeavoured to proclaim and establish the Articles of Faith and the truths therewith connected, and it was in them, together with divine Tradition, that they found the refutation of heretical error, and the reasonableness, the true meaning, and the mutual relation of the truths of Catholicism. Nor will any one wonder at this who considers that the Sacred Books hold such an eminent position among the sources of revelation that without their assiduous study and use, Theology cannot be placed on its true footing, or treated as its dignity demands. For although it is right and proper that students in academies and schools should be chiefly exercised in acquiring a scientific knowledge of dogma, by means of reasoning from the Articles of Faith to their consequences, according to the rules of approved and sound philosophy - nevertheless the judicious and instructed theologian will by no means pass by that method of doctrinal demonstration which draws its proof from the authority of the Bible; "for (Theology) does not receive her first principles from any other science, but immediately from God by revelation. And, therefore, she does not receive of other sciences as from a superior, but uses them as her inferiors or handmaids."(42) It is this view of doctrinal teaching which is laid down and recommended by the prince of theologians, St. Thomas of Aquin;(43) who, moreover, shows - such being the essential character of Christian Theology - how she can defend her own principles against attack: "If the adversary," he says, "do but grant any portion of the divine revelation, we have an argument against him; thus, against a heretic we can employ Scripture authority, and against those who deny one article, we can use another. But if our opponent reject divine revelation entirely, there is then no way left to prove the Article of Faith by reasoning; we can only solve the difficulties which are raised against them."(44)' Care must be taken, then, that beginners approach the study of the Bible well prepared and furnished; otherwise, just hopes will be frustrated, or, perchance, what is worse, they will unthinkingly risk the danger of error, falling an easy prey to the sophisms and laboured erudition of the Rationalists. The best preparation will be a conscientious application to philosophy and theology under the guidance of St. Thomas of Aquin, and a thorough training therein - as We ourselves have elsewhere pointed out and directed. By this means, both in Biblical studies and in that part of Theology which is called positive, they will pursue the right path and make satisfactory progress.
The Authority of Holy Scripture; Modern Criticism; Physical Science
17. To prove, to expound, to illustrate Catholic Doctrine by the legitimate and skilful interpretation of the Bible, is much; but there is a second part of the subject of equal importance and equal difficulty - the maintenance in the strongest possible way of its full authority. This cannot be done completely or satisfactorily except by means of the living and proper magisterium of the Church. The Church, "by reason of her wonderful propagation, her distinguished sanctity and inexhaustible fecundity in good, her Catholic unity, and her unshaken stability, is herself a great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an unassailable testimony to her own Divine mission."(45) But since the divine and infalliblemagisterium of the Church rests also on the authority of Holy Scripture, the first thing to be done is to vindicate the trustworthiness of the sacred records at least as human documents, from which can be clearly proved, as from primitive and authentic testimony, the Divinity and the mission of Christ our Lord, the institution of a hierarchical Church and the primacy of Peter and his successors. It is most desirable, therefore, that there should be numerous members of the clergy well prepared to enter upon a contest of this nature, and to repulse hostile assaults, chiefly trusting in that armour of God recommended by the Apostle,(46) but also not unaccustomed to modern methods of attack. This is beautifully alluded to by St. John Chrysostom, when describing the duties of priests: "We must use every endeavour that the 'Word of God may dwell in us abundantly'(47) and not merely for one kind of fight must we be prepared-for the contest is many-sided and the enemy is of every sort; and they do not all use the same weapons nor make their onset in the same way. Wherefore it is needful that the man who has to contend against all should be acquainted with the engines and the arts of all-that he should be at once archer and slinger, commandant and officer, general and private soldier, foot-soldier and horseman, skilled in sea-fight and in siege; for unless he knows every trick and turn of war, the devil is well able, if only a single door be left open, to get in his fierce bands and carry off the sheep."(48) The sophisms of the enemy and his manifold arts of attack we have already touched upon. Let us now say a word of advice on the means of defence. The first means is the study of the Oriental languages and of the art of criticism. These two acquirements are in these days held in high estimation, and therefore the clergy, by making themselves more or less fully acquainted with them as time and place may demand, will the better be able to discharge their office with becoming credit; for they must make themselves "all to all,"(49) always "ready to satisfy every one that asketh them a reason for the hope that is in them."(50) Hence it is most proper that Professors of Sacred Scripture and theologians should master those tongues in which the sacred Books were originally written; and it would be well that Church students also should cultivate them, more especially those who aspire to academic degrees. And endeavours should be made to establish in all academic institutions - as has already been laudably done in many - chairs of the other ancient languages, especially the Semitic, and of subjects connected therewith, for the benefit principally of those who are intended to profess sacred literature. These latter, with a similar object in view, should make themselves well and thoroughly acquainted with the art of true criticism. There has arisen, to the great detriment of religion, an inept method, dignified by the name of the "higher criticism," which pretends to judge of the origin, integrity and authority of each Book from internal indications alone. It is clear, on the other hand, that in historical questions, such as the origin and the handing down of writings, the witness of history is of primary importance, and that historical investigation should be made with the utmost care; and that in this matter internal evidence is seldom of great value, except as confirmation. To look upon it in any other light will be to open the door to many evil consequences. It will make the enemies of religion much more bold and confident in attacking and mangling the Sacred Books; and this vaunted "higher criticism" will resolve itself into the reflection of the bias and the prejudice of the critics. It will not throw on the Scripture the light which is sought, or prove of any advantage to doctrine; it will only give rise to disagreement and dissension, those sure notes of error, which the critics in question so plentifully exhibit in their own persons; and seeing that most of them are tainted with false philosophy and rationalism, it must lead to the elimination from the sacred writings of all prophecy and miracle, and of everything else that is outside the natural order.
18. In the second place, we have to contend against those who, making an evil use of physical science, minutely scrutinize the Sacred Book in order to detect the writers in a mistake, and to take occasion to vilify its contents. Attacks of this kind, bearing as they do on matters of sensible experience, are peculiarly dangerous to the masses, and also to the young who are beginning their literary studies; for the young, if they lose their reverence for the Holy Scripture on one or more points, are easily led to give up believing in it altogether. It need not be pointed out how the nature of science, just as it is so admirably adapted to show forth the glory of the Great Creator, provided it be taught as it should be, so if it be perversely imparted to the youthful intelligence, it may prove most fatal in destroying the principles of true philosophy and in the corruption of morality. Hence to the Professor of Sacred Scripture a knowledge of natural science will be of very great assistance in detecting such attacks on the Sacred Books, and in refuting them. There can never, indeed, be any real discrepancy between the theologian and the physicist, as long as each confines himself within his own lines, and both are careful, as St. Augustine warns us, "not to make rash assertions, or to assert what is not known as known."(51) If dissension should arise between them, here is the rule also laid down by St. Augustine, for the theologian: "Whatever they can really demonstrate to be true of physical nature, we must show to be capable of reconciliation with our Scriptures; and whatever they assert in their treatises which is contrary to these Scriptures of ours, that is to Catholic faith, we must either prove it as well as we can to be entirely false, or at all events we must, without the smallest hesitation, believe it to be so."(52) To understand how just is the rule here formulated we must remember, first, that the sacred writers, or to speak more accurately, the Holy Ghost "Who spoke by them, did not intend to teach men these things (that is to say, the essential nature of the things of the visible universe), things in no way profitable unto salvation."(53) Hence they did not seek to penetrate the secrets of nature, but rather described and dealt with things in more or less figurative language, or in terms which were commonly used at the time, and which in many instances are in daily use at this day, even by the most eminent men of science. Ordinary speech primarily and properly describes what comes under the senses; and somewhat in the same way the sacred writers-as the Angelic Doctor also reminds us - `went by what sensibly appeared,"(54) or put down what God, speaking to men, signified, in the way men could understand and were accustomed to.
19. The unshrinking defence of the Holy Scripture, however, does not require that we should equally uphold all the opinions which each of the Fathers or the more recent interpreters have put forth in explaining it; for it may be that, in commenting on passages where physical matters occur, they have sometimes expressed the ideas of their own times, and thus made statements which in these days have been abandoned as incorrect. Hence, in their interpretations, we must carefully note what they lay down as belonging to faith, or as intimately connected with faith-what they are unanimous in. For "in those things which do not come under the obligation of faith, the Saints were at liberty to hold divergent opinions, just as we ourselves are,"(55) according to the saying of St. Thomas. And in another place he says most admirably: "When philosophers are agreed upon a point, and it is not contrary to our faith, it is safer, in my opinion, neither to lay down such a point as a dogma of faith, even though it is perhaps so presented by the philosophers, nor to reject it as against faith, lest we thus give to the wise of this world an occasion of despising our faith."(56) The Catholic interpreter, although he should show that those facts of natural science which investigators affirm to be now quite certain are not contrary to the Scripture rightly explained, must nevertheless always bear in mind, that much which has been held and proved as certain has afterwards been called in question and rejected. And if writers on physics travel outside the boundaries of their own branch, and carry their erroneous teaching into the domain of philosophy, let them be handed over to philosophers for
Inspiration Incompatible with Error
20. The principles here laid down will apply cognate sciences, and especially to History. It is a lamentable fact that there are many who with great labour carry out and publish investigations on the monuments of antiquity, the manners and institutions of nations and other illustrative subjects, and whose chief purpose in all this is too often to find mistakes in the sacred writings and so to shake and weaken their authority. Some of these writers display not only extreme hostility, but the greatest unfairness; in their eyes a profane book or ancient document is accepted without hesitation, whilst the Scripture, if they only find in it a suspicion of error, is set down with the slightest possible discussion as quite untrustworthy. It is true, no doubt, that copyists have made mistakes in the text of the Bible; this question, when it arises, should be carefully considered on its merits, and the fact not too easily admitted, but only in those passages where the proof is clear. It may also happen that the sense of a passage remains ambiguous, and in this case good hermeneutical methods will greatly assist in clearing up the obscurity. But it is absolutely wrong and forbidden, either to narrow inspiration to certain parts only of Holy Scripture, or to admit that the sacred writer has erred. For the system of those who, in order to rid themselves of these difficulties, do not hesitate to concede that divine inspiration regards the things of faith and morals, and nothing beyond, because (as they wrongly think) in a question of the truth or falsehood of a passage, we should consider not so much what God has said as the reason and purpose which He had in mind in saying it-this system cannot be tolerated. For all the books which the Church receives as sacred and canonical, are written wholly and entirely, with all their parts, at the dictation of the Holy Ghost; and so far is it from being possible that any error can co-exist with inspiration, that inspiration not only is essentially incompatible with error, but excludes and rejects it as absolutely and necessarily as it is impossible that God Himself, the supreme Truth, can utter that which is not true. This is the ancient and unchanging faith of the Church, solemnly defined in the Councils of Florence and of Trent, and finally confirmed and more expressly formulated by the Council of the Vatican. These are the words of the last: "The Books of the Old and New Testament, whole and entire, with all their parts, as enumerated in the decree of the same Council (Trent) and in the ancient Latin Vulgate, are to be received as sacred and canonical. And the Church holds them as sacred and canonical, not because, having been composed by human industry, they were afterwards approved by her authority; nor only because they contain revelation without error; but because, having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, they have God for their author."(57) Hence, because the Holy Ghost employed men as His instruments, we cannot therefore say that it was these inspired instruments who, perchance, have fallen into error, and not the primary author. For, by supernatural power, He so moved and impelled them to write-He was so present to them-that the things which He ordered, and those only, they, first, rightly understood, then willed faithfully to write down, and finally expressed in apt words and with infallible truth. Otherwise, it could not be said that He was the Author of the entire Scripture. Such has always been the persuasion of the Fathers. "Therefore," says St. Augustine, "since they wrote the things which He showed and uttered to them, it cannot be pretended that He is not the writer; for His members executed what their Head dictated."(58) And St. Gregory the Great thus pronounces: "Most superfluous it is to inquire who wrote these things-we loyally believe the Holy Ghost to be the Author of the book. He wrote it Who dictated it for writing; He wrote it Who inspired its execution. "(59)
21. It follows that those who maintain that an error is possible in any genuine passage of the sacred writings, either pervert the Catholic notion of inspiration, or make God the author of such error. And so emphatically were all the Fathers and Doctors agreed that the divine writings, as left by the hagiographers, are free from all error, that they laboured earnestly, with no less skill than reverence, to reconcile with each other those numerous passages which seem at variance - the very passages which in great measure have been taken up by the "higher criticism;" for they were unanimous in laying it down, that those writings, in their entirety and in all their parts were equally from the afflatus of Almighty God, and that God, speaking by the sacred writers, could not set down anything but what was true. The words of St. Augustine to St. Jerome may sum up what they taught: "On my part I confess to your charity that it is only to those Books of Scripture which are now called canonical that I have learned to pay such honour and reverence as to believe most firmly that none of their writers has fallen into any error. And if in these Books I meet anything which seems contrary to truth, I shall not hesitate to conclude either that the text is faulty, or that the translator has not expressed the meaning of the passage, or that I myself do not understand."(60)
22. But to undertake fully and perfectly, and with all the weapons of the best science, the defence of the Holy Bible is far more than can be looked for from the exertions of commentators and theologians alone. It is an enterprise in which we have a right to expect the co-operation of all those Catholics who have acquired reputation in any branch of learning whatever. As in the past, so at the present time, the Church is never without the graceful support of her accomplished children; may their services to the Faith grow and increase! For there is nothing which We believe to be more needful than that truth should find defenders more powerful and more numerous than the enemies it has to face; nor is there anything which is better calculated to impress the masses with respect for truth than to see it boldly proclaimed by learned and distinguished men. Moreover, the bitter tongues of objectors will be silenced, or at least they will not dare to insist so shamelessly that faith is the enemy of science, when they see that scientific men of eminence in their profession show towards faith the most marked honour and respect. Seeing, then, that those can do so much for the advantage of religion on whom the goodness of Almighty God has bestowed, together with the grace of the faith, great natural talent, let such men, in this bitter conflict of which the Holy Scripture is the object, select each of them the branch of study most suitable to his circumstances, and endeavour to excel therein, and thus be prepared to repulse with credit and distinction the assaults on the Word of God. And it is Our pleasing duty to give deserved praise to a work which certain Catholics have taken up-that is to say, the formation of societies and the contribution of considerable sums of money, for the purpose of supplying studious and learned men with every kind of help and assistance in carrying out complete studies. Truly an excellent fashion of investing money, and well-suited to the times in which we live! The less hope of public patronage there is for Catholic study, the more ready and the more abundant should be the liberality of private persons-those to whom God has given riches thus willingly making use of their means to safeguard the treasure of His revealed doctrine.
Summary
23. In order that all these endeavours and exertions may really prove advantageous to the cause of the Bible, let scholars keep steadfastly to the principles which We have in this Letter laid down. Let them loyally hold that God, the Creator and Ruler of all things, is also the Author of the Scriptures - and that therefore nothing can be proved either by physical science or archaeology which can really contradict the Scriptures. If, then, apparent contradiction be met with, every effort should be made to remove it. Judicious theologians and commentators should be consulted as to what is the true or most probable meaning of the passage in discussion, and the hostile arguments should be carefully weighed. Even if the difficulty is after all not cleared up and the discrepancy seems to remain, the contest must not be abandoned; truth cannot contradict truth, and we may be sure that some mistake has been made either in the interpretation of the sacred words, or in the polemical discussion itself; and if no such mistake can be detected, we must then suspend judgment for the time being. There have been objections without number perseveringly directed against the Scripture for many a long year, which have been proved to be futile and are now never heard of; and not unfrequently interpretations have been placed on certain passages of Scripture (not belonging to the rule of faith or morals) which have been rectified by more careful investigations. As time goes on, mistaken views die and disappear; but "truth remaineth and groweth stronger for ever and ever."(61) Wherefore, as no one should be so presumptuous as to think that he understands the whole of the Scripture, in which St. Augustine himself confessed that there was more that he did not know, than that he knew,(62) so, if he should come upon anything that seems incapable of solution, he must take to heart the cautious rule of the same holy Doctor: "It is better even to be oppressed by unknown but useful signs, than to interpret them uselessly and thus to throw off the yoke only to be caught in the trap of error. "(63)
24. Such, Venerable Brethren, are the admonitions and the instructions which, by the help of God, We have thought it well, at the present moment, to offer to you on the study of Holy Scripture. It will now be your province to see that what we have said be observed and put in practice with all due reverence and exactness; that so, we may prove our gratitude to God for the communication to man of the Words of his Wisdom, and that all the good results so much to be desired may be realized, especially as they affect the training of the students of the Church, which is our own great solicitude and the Church's hope. Exert yourselves with willing alacrity, and use your authority and your persuasion in order that these studies may be held in just regard and may flourish, in Seminaries and in the educational Institutions which are under your jurisdiction. Let them flourish in completeness and in happy success, under the direction of the Church, in accordance with the salutary teaching and example of the Holy Fathers and the laudable traditions of antiquity; and, as time goes on, let them be widened and extended as the interests and glory of truth may require - the interest of that Catholic Truth which comes from above, the never-failing source of man's salvation. Finally, We admonish with paternal love all students and ministers of the Church always to approach the Sacred Writings with reverence and piety; for it is impossible to attain to the profitable understanding thereof unless the arrogance of "earthly" science be laid aside, and there be excited in the heart the holy desire for that wisdom "which is from above." In this way the intelligence which is once admitted to these sacred studies, and thereby illuminated and strengthened, will acquire a marvellous facility in detecting and avoiding the fallacies of human science, and in gathering and using for eternal salvation all that is valuable and precious; whilst at the same time the heart will grow warm, and will strive with ardent longing to advance in virtue and in divine love. "Blessed are they who examine His testimonies; they shall seek Him with their whole heart. "(64)
25. And now, filled with hope in the divine assistance, and trusting to your pastoral solicitude - as a pledge of heavenly grace and a sign of Out special goodwill - to you all, and to the Clergy and the whole flock entrusted to you, We lovingly impart in Our Lord the Apostolic Benediction.
Given at St. Peter's, at Rome, the 18th day of November, 1893, the eighteenth year of Our Pontificate.
LEO XIII
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)