Catholic Quotations

On the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2011-12-08T18:44:00.001-05:00

The InfallibleTeaching of the Catholic Church

“Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offeredour private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God theFather through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mindby the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of theentire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by theinspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undividedTrinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for theexaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholicreligion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed ApostlesPeter and Paul, and by our own: Wedeclare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the mostBlessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singulargrace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of JesusChrist, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of originalsin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly andconstantly by all the faithful. Hence, if anyone shall dare -- which Godforbid! -- to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know andunderstand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has sufferedshipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; andthat, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by lawif he should are to express in words or writing or by any other outward meansthe errors he think in his heart.”

-Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854

Further Teachingfrom the Fathers and Doctors of the Church

“The report concerning the child was noised abroad inBethlehem. Some said, ‘The Virgin Mary has given birth before she was marriedtwo months.’ And many said, ‘She has not given birth; the midwife has not goneup to her, and we heard no cries of pain’"

-Ascension of Isaiah, 11 – 70 AD

“So the Virgin became a mother with great mercies. And shelabored and bore the Son, but without pain, because it did not occur withoutpurpose. And she did not seek a midwife, because he caused her to give life.She bore as a strong man, with will . . . "

-Odes of Solomon,19 – 80 AD

“[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course whichwas taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpentmight be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin andundefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death.But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced toher the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and thepower of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy Onebeing born of her is the Son of God. And she replied ‘Be it done unto meaccording to your word’ [Luke 1:38]"

-Saint Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 100 –155 AD

“Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to beobedient, saying, ‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according toyour word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient, and, when yet a virgin, she did notobey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for ahusband—for in paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, havingbeen created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation ofchildren, and it was necessary that they first come to maturity beforebeginning to multiply—having become disobedient, was made the cause of deathfor herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man butnevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvationfor herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’sdisobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had boundin unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith"

-Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:22:24, 189 AD

“The Lord then was manifestly coming to his own things, andwas sustaining them by means of that creation that is supported by himself. Hewas making a recapitulation of that disobedience that had occurred in connectionwith a tree, through the obedience that was upon a tree [i.e., the cross].Furthermore, the original deception was to be done away with—the deception bywhich that virgin Eve (who was already espoused to a man) was unhappily misled.That this was to be overturned was happily announced through means of the truthby the angel to the Virgin Mary (who was also [espoused] to a man). . . . So ifEve disobeyed God, yet Mary was persuaded to be obedient to God. In this way,the Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. And thus, as thehuman race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so it is rescued bya virgin. Virginal disobedience has been balanced in the opposite scale byvirginal obedience. For in the same way, the sin of the first created manreceived amendment by the correction of the First-Begotten"

-Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5:19:1, 189 AD

“And again, lest I depart from my argumentation on the nameof Adam: Why is Christ called Adam by the apostle [Paul], if as man he was notof that earthly origin? But even reason defends this conclusion, that Godrecovered his image and likeness by a procedure similar to that in which he hadbeen robbed of it by the devil. It was while Eve was still a virgin that theword of the devil crept in to erect an edifice of death. Likewise through avirgin the Word of God was introduced to set up a structure of life. Thus whathad been laid waste in ruin by this sex was by the same sex reestablished insalvation. Eve had believed the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel. That which theone destroyed by believing, the other, by believing, set straight"

-Tertullian, The Flesh of Christ, 17:4, 210 AD

“If therefore it might come to pass by the power of yourgrace, it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcomedeath, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother andtake her with you, rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: ‘Be itdone according to your will’"

-Pseudo-Melito, The Passing of the Virgin, 16:2–17, 300 AD

“You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than anyothers, for there is no blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who ofmy children can compare in beauty to these?"

-Saint Ephraim the Syrian – Doctor of the Church, NisibeneHymns, 27:8, 361 AD

“Mary’s life should be for you a pictorial image ofvirginity. Her life is like a mirror reflecting the face of chastity and theform of virtue. Therein you may find a model for your own life . . . showingwhat to improve, what to imitate, what to hold fast to"

-Saint Ambrose of Milan – Doctor of the Church, The Virgins,2:2:6, 377 AD

“The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is thegreatness of the teacher. What is greater [to teach by example] than the Motherof God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chastethan she who bore a body without contact with another body? For why should Ispeak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind,who stained the sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble inheart, grave in speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading,resting her hope not on uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intenton work, modest in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as the judge of herthoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before herelders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, tolove virtue. When did she pain her parents even by a look? When did shedisagree with her neighbors? When did she despise the lowly? When did she avoidthe needy?"

-Saint Ambrose of Milan – Doctor of the Church, The Virgins,2:2:7, 377 AD

“Come, then, and search out your sheep, not through yourservants or hired men, but do it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh,which is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a virgin notonly undefiled, but a virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stainof sin"

-Saint Ambrose of Milan – Doctor of the Church, Commentaryon Psalm, 118:22–30, 387 AD

"Receive me not from Sarah,but from Mary; that it may be an uncorrupted Virgin, a Virgin free by gracefrom every stain of sin"

-Saint Ambrose of Milan– Doctor of the Church, In Ps. cxviii. s. 22

“Our Lord . . . was not averse to males, for he took theform of a male, nor to females, for of a female he was born. Besides, there isa great mystery here: that just as death comes to us through a woman, life isborn to us through a woman; that the devil, defeated, would be tormented byeach nature, feminine and masculine, as he had taken delight in the defectionof both"

-Saint Augustine – Doctor of the Church, Christian Combat, 22:24,396 AD

“That one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spiritonly but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is ourSavior himself—of whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children ofthe bridegroom—but plainly she is the mother of us who are his members, becauseby love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of thathead, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the Mother of thatvery head"

-Saint Augustine – Doctor of the Church, Holy Virginity, 6:6,401 AD

“Having excepted the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, onaccount of the honor of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question whentreating of sins—for how do we know what abundance of grace for the totalovercoming of sin was conferred upon her, who merited to conceive and bear himin whom there was no sin?—so, I say, with the exception of the Virgin, if wecould have gathered together all those holy men and women, when they wereliving here, and had asked them whether they were without sin, what do wesuppose would have been their answer?"

-Saint Augustine – Doctor of the Church, Nature and Grace,36:42, 415 AD

“Mary was not infected by thevenomous breath of the serpent."

-Origen, InDiv. hom. 1

“Mary was immaculate, and remotefrom all stain of sin."

-Saint Ephraim the Syrian –Doctor of the Church, Orat. Ad Deip.

“’Hail, full of grace.’ By thesewords the angel shows that she was altogether excluded from the wrath of thefirst sentence, and restored to the full grace of blessing."

-Saint Augustine – Doctor of theChurch, Sermon 123

"Nor did justice endure thatthat vessel of election should be open to common injuries; for being farexalted above others, she partook of their nature, not of their sin"

-Saint Cyprian, Commentary onPsalm 77, De Chr. Op. De Nat.).

"He who formed the firstVirgin without deformity, also made the second one without spot or sin."

-Saint Amphilochius, In S. Deip. et Sim.

"The Virgin is thereforecalled immaculate, for in nothing was she corrupt."

-Saint Sophronius, In Conc. Oecum. 6, act. 11

“It is evident that she was freefrom original sin."

-Saint Ildephonsus, Cont. Disp. De Virginit. M.)

St. John Damascene says, that"the serpent never had any access to this paradise."

-Saint John Damascene –Doctor ofthe Church, In Assumpt.

"That Mary is thatuncorrupted earth which God blessed, and was therefore free from all contagionof sin."

-Saint Bruno, InPs. ci

“That our Sovereign Lady was fullof preventing grace for her sanctification; that is, preservative grace againstthe corruption of original sin.

-Saint Bonaventure – Doctor of theChurch, DeB. V. s. 2

"It is not to be believedthat he, the Son of God, would be born of a Virgin, and take her flesh, wereshe in the slightest degree stained with original sin."

-Saint Bernardine of Sienna, Quadr. s. 49, p. 1

"Mary was prevented inblessings from her very conception."

-Saint Laurence Justinian, In Annunt

"Thou hast found a singulargrace, O most sweet Virgin, that of preservation from original sin."

-Blessed Raymond Jordano, Cont. de V. M. c. 6

“Great indeed wasthe injury entailed on Adam and all his posterity by his accursed sin; for atthe same time that he thereby, for his own great misfortune, lost grace, healso forfeited all the other precious gifts with which he had originally beenenriched, and drew down upon himself and all his descendants the hatred of Godand an accumulation of evils. But from this general misfortune God was pleasedto exempt that Blessed Virgin whom he had destined to be the Mother of theSecond Adam—Jesus Christ—who was to repair the evil done by the first.”

-Saint AlphonsusLigouri, Discourse on the Immaculate Conception

“Still more wasit becoming that God should preserve her from original sin, for he destined herto crush the head of that infernal serpent, which, by seducing our firstparents, entailed death upon all men: and this our Lord foretold: I will putenemities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: sheshall crush thy head (Gen. 3:15). But if Mary was to be that valiant womanbrought into the world to conquer Lucifer, certainly it was not becoming thathe should first conquer her, and make her his slave; but it was reasonable thatshe should be preserved from all stain, and even momentary subjection to heropponent. The proud spirit endeavored to infect the most pure soul of thisVirgin with his venom, as he had already infected the whole human race. Butpraised and ever blessed be God, who, in his infinite goodness, pre-endowed herfor this purpose with such great grace, that, remaining always free from anyguilt of sin, she was ever able to beat down and confound his pride, as St.Augustine, or whoever may be the author of the commentary on Genesis, says:"Since the devil is the head of original sin, this head it was that Marycrushed: for sin never had any entry into the soul of this Blessed Virgin,which was consequently free from all stain."

-Saint AlphonsusLigouri, Discourse on the Immaculate Conception

On the Dogma of the Perpetual Virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

2011-11-12T10:14:00.001-05:00

The Infallible Teaching of the Church

"If anyone does not properly and truly confess in accord with the holy Fathers, that the holy Mother of God and ever virgin andimmaculate Mary in the earliest of the ages conceived of the Holy Spirit without seed, namely, God theWord Himself specifically and truly, who was born of God the Father before all ages, and that she incorruptibly bore [Him], hre virginity remaining indestructible even after His birth, let him be condemned."

-Pope Saint Martin I, The Lateran Council, Canon 3, 649AD (DS 256)

From SacredScripture

“Therefore the Lord himselfshall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, andshall call his name Immanuel.”

-Isaias 7:14

“Before she travailed, shebrought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.”

-Isaias 66:7

“Then he brought me back theway of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east; and itwas shut. Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not beopened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel,hath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.”

-Ezechiel44:1-3 (see quote from Saint Ambrose below)

"A garden enclosed is mysister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

-Songof Songs 4:12

“And she brought forth herfirstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger;because there was no room for them in the inn.”

-Luke 2:7

More from Saint Peter

"Within her virginalwomb Christ our Lord already bore the exalted title of Head of the Church; in amarvelous birth (mirando partu edidit) she brought Him forth as the source ofall supernatural life, and presented Him newly born, as Prophet, King andPriest to those who, from among Jews and Gentiles, were the first to come toadore Him.."

- Pope Pius XII, MysticiCorporis, 1943 AD

"O just, O most blessedJoseph, since thou art sprung from a royal line, thou hast been chosen fromamong all mankind to be spouse of the pure Queen who, in a way which defiesdescription, will give birth to Jesus the king."

-Pope Pius XII, Ad CaeliReginam, citing a Byzantine prayer, 1954 AD

"Along with many others,the Seraphic Doctor held the same views. He considered it as entirely certainthat, as God had preserved the most holy Virgin Mary from the violation of hervirginal purity and integrity in conceiving and in childbirth, he would neverhave permitted her body to have been resolved into dust and ashes."

-Pope Pius XII,Munificentissimus Deus, citing Saint Bonaventure's: De Nativitate B. MariaeVirginis, Sermo V., November 1 1950 AD

"Therefore, the life ofJoseph's pure spouse, who remained a virgin 'during childbirth and afterchildbirth' -- as the Catholic Church has always believed and professed and aswas fitting for her who was raised to the incomparable dignity of divinemotherhood -- was a life of such perfect union with the Son that she shared inHis joys, sorrows and triumphs"

-Pope Paul VI, Signum Magnum,1967 AD

"The Christmas season isa prolonged commemoration of the divine, virginal and salvific motherhood ofher whose 'inviolate virginity brought the Saviour into the world.'”

-Pope Paul VI, MarialisCultus, 1974

"Mary was therefore avirgin before the birth of Jesus and she remained a virgin in giving birth andafter the birth. This is the truth presented by the New Testament texts, andwhich was expressed both by the Fifth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in553, which speaks of Mary as 'ever virgin', and also by the Lateran Council in649, which teaches that 'the mother of God...Mary...conceived [her Son] throughthe power of the Holy Spirit without human intervention, and in giving birth tohim, her virginity remained incorrupted, and even after the birth her virginityremained intact."

-Pope John Paul II, GeneralAudience of Jan 28 1987

"It is a well-known factthat some of the Church Fathers set us a significant parallel between thebegetting of Christ ex intacta virgine [from the inviolate Virgin] and hisresurrection ex intacto sepulcro [from the sealed tomb]. In the parallelismrelative to the begetting of Christ, some of the Fathers put the emphasis on thevirginal conception, others on the virgin birth, others on the subsequentperpetual virginity of the Mother, but they all testify to the conviction thatbetween the two saving events – the generation–birth of Christ and hisresurrection from the dead – there exists an intrinsic connection whichcorresponds to a precise plan of God: a connection which the Church led by theSpirit, has discovered, not created. . . [I]t is necessary for the theologian,in presenting the Church's doctrine on Mary's virginity to maintain theindispensable balance between stating the fact and elucidating its meaning.Both are integral parts of the mystery: the meaning, or symbolic value of theevent is based on the reality of the fact, and the latter, in turn, reveals allits richness only if its symbolic meanings are unfolded."

-Pope John Paul II, during atalk in Capua Italy, June 10 1992

"With the shepherds letus enter the stable of Bethlehem beneath the loving gaze of Mary, the silentwitness of his miraculous birth."

-Pope Benedict XVI, Urbi etOrbi message of Christmas 2005

From the Fathers and Doctors of the Church

"Mary's virginity washidden from the prince of this world; so was her childbearing, and so was thedeath of the Lord. All these three trumpet-tongued secrets were brought to passin the deep silence of God."

-Saint Ignatius of Antioch,Bishop and Father of the Church, Epistle to the Ephesians, 19; 107 AD

"Who loves you is amazedand who would understand is silent and confused, because he cannot probe theMother who gave birth in her virginity. Ifit is too great to be clarified with words the disputants ought not on thataccount cross swords with your Son.”
-Saint Ephraim the Syrian, Father and Doctor of the Church, Songs of Praise 1,2

"Believe in the Son ofGod, the Word before all the ages, who was...in these last days, for your sake,made Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary in an indescribable and stainlessway,-for there is no stain where God is and whence salvation comes..."

-Saint Gregory Nazianzen;Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; Oration on Holy Baptism, 40:45; 381AD

"According to thecondition of the body (Jesus) was in the womb, He nursed at His mother'sbreast, He lay in the manger, but superior to that condition, the Virginconceived and the Virgin bore, so that you might believe that He was God whorestored nature, though He was man who, in accord with nature, was born of ahuman being."

-Saint Ambrose of Milan;Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; Mystery of the Lord's Incarnation,6:54; 382 AD

"Though coming in theform of man, yet not in every thing is He subject to the laws of man's nature;for while His being born of a woman tells of human nature; virginity becomingcapable of childbirth betokens something above man. Of Him then His mother'sburden was light, the birth immaculate, the delivery without pain, the nativitywithout defilement, neither beginning from wanton desire, nor brought to passwith sorrow. For as she who by her guilt engrafted death into our nature, wascondemned to bring forth in trouble, it was meet that she who brought life intothe world should accomplish her delivery with joy."

St Gregory of Nyssa, Homilyon the Nativity 388 AD

"This is the virgin whoconceived in her womb and as a virgin bore a son."

-Pope Siricius, 390 AD

"Who is this gate(Ezekiel 44:1-4), if not Mary? Is it not closed because she is a virgin? Maryis the gate through which Christ entered this world, when He was brought forthin the virginal birth and the manner of His birth did not break the seals ofvirginity.... There is a gate of the womb, although it is not always closed;indeed only one was able to remain closed, that through which the One born ofthe Virgin came forth without the loss of genital intactness"

-Saint Ambrose of Milan;Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; The Consecration of a Virgin and thePerpetual Virginity of Mary, 8:52; c. 391 AD

"It is not right that Hewho came to heal corruption should by His advent violate integrity"

-St. Augustine, Sermon 189:2

"She brought Him forthwithout the loss of virginity even as she conceived Him without its loss.… inthe Lord Jesus Christ born from the womb of the Virgin, because His birth wasmiraculous, nature was not for that reason different from ours. For He who istrue God, is likewise true man, and there is no falsehood in this unity, aslong as there are alternately the lowliness of man and the exaltedness of theDivinity. For, just as God is not changed by His compassion, so man is notdestroyed by His dignity. For each nature does what is proper to it with themutual participation of the other; the Word clearly effecting what belongs tothe Word, and the flesh performing what belongs to the flesh."

-Pope Saint Leo the Great,Father and Doctor of the Church, Tome to Flavian

"Jesus Christ, true Godand the same true man proceeded, that is, was born, while his mother'svirginity remained intact: for the Virgin remained such in bearing him just asshe had in conceiving him"

-Pope Pelagius I, Letter toKing Childebert I

"O mystery! I seemiracles, and I proclaim the Godhead: I perceive sufferings, and I do not denythe humanity. For Emmanuel opened the doors of nature as man, but as God didnot break through the bars of virginity"

-Saint Proclus ofConstantinople, Bishop and Father of the Church, Oratio 1, no. 10; PG65:692A (d. 447 AD)

“How can death claim as itsprey this truly blessed one, who listened to God's word in humility, and wasfilled with the Spirit, conceiving the Father's gift through the archangel,bearing without concupiscence or the co-operation of man the Person of theDivine Word, who fills all things, bringing Him forth without the pains ofchildbirth, being wholly united to God?... It was fitting that the body of her,who preserved her virginity intact in childbirth, should be kept fromcorruption even after death. She who nursed her Creator as an infant at herbreast, had a right to be in the divine tabernacles.... It was fitting that shewho saw her Son die on the cross, and received in her heart the sword of painwhich she had not felt in childbirth, should gaze upon Him seated next to theFather.”

-Saint John Damascene;Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; Second Homily on the Dormition of theMother of God

“So far as He was born ofwoman, His birth was in accordance with the laws of parturition, while so faras He had no father, His birth was above the nature of generation: and in thatit was at the usual time (for He was born on the completion of the ninth monthwhen the tenth was just beginning), His birth was in accordance with the lawsof parturition, while in that it was painless it was above the laws ofgeneration. For, as pleasure did not precede it, pain did not follow it,according to the prophet who says, Before she travailed, she brought forth,and again, before her pain came she was delivered of a man-child (Isaiah66:7). The Son of God incarnate, therefore, was born of her, not adivinely-inspired man but God incarnate.... But just as He who was conceivedkept her who conceived still virgin, in like manner also He who was bornpreserved her virginity intact, only passing through her and keeping her closed(Ezekiel 44:2).”

-Saint John Damascene;Bishop, Father, and Doctor of the Church; On the Orthodox Faith, IV, 14

From the Angelic Doctor Saint Thomas Aquinas

The following is taken from the Summa Theologiae,Tertia Pars, Q. 28, a. 2

On the contrary, In a sermonof the Council of Ephesus (P. III, Cap. ix) it is said: “After giving birth,nature knows not a virgin: but grace enhances her fruitfulness, and effects hermotherhood, while in no way does it injure her virginity.” Therefore Christ'sMother was a virgin also in giving birth to Him.

I answer that, Without any doubtwhatever we must assert that the Mother of Christ was a virgin even in HisBirth: for the prophet says not only: "Behold a virgin shallconceive," but adds: "and shall bear a son." This indeed wasbefitting for three reasons. First, because this was in keeping with a propertyof Him whose Birth is in question, for He is the Word of God. For the word isnot only conceived in the mind without corruption, but also proceeds from themind without corruption. Wherefore in order to show that body to be the body ofthe very Word of God, it was fitting that it should be born of a virginincorrupt. Whence in the sermon of the Council of Ephesus (quoted above) weread: "Whosoever brings forth mere flesh, ceases to be a virgin. But sinceshe gave birth to the Word made flesh, God safeguarded her virginity so as tomanifest His Word, by which Word He thus manifested Himself: for neither doesour word, when brought forth, corrupt the mind; nor does God, the substantialWord, deigning to be born, destroy virginity."

Secondly, this is fitting asregards the effect of Christ's Incarnation: since He came for this purpose,that He might take away our corruption. Wherefore it is unfitting that in HisBirth He should corrupt His Mother's virginity. Thus Augustine says in a sermonon the Nativity of Our Lord: "It was not right that He who came to healcorruption, should by His advent violate integrity."

Thirdly, it was fitting thatHe Who commanded us to honor our father and mother should not in His Birthlessen the honor due to His Mother.

Reply to Objection 1. Ambrosesays this in expounding the evangelist's quotation from the Law: "Everymale opening the womb shall be called holy to the Lord." This, says Bede,"is said in regard to the wonted manner of birth; not that we are tobelieve that our Lord in coming forth violated the abode of her sacred womb,which His entrance therein had hallowed." Wherefore the opening herespoken of does not imply the unlocking of the enclosure of virginal purity; butthe mere coming forth of the infant from the maternal womb.

Reply to Objection 2. Christwished so to show the reality of His body, as to manifest His Godhead at thesame time. For this reason He mingled wondrous with lowly things. Wherefore, toshow that His body was real, He was born of a woman. But in order to manifestHis Godhead, He was born of a virgin, for "such a Birth befits aGod," as Ambrose says in the Christmas hymn.

Reply to Objection 3. Somehave held that Christ, in His Birth, assumed the gift of "subtlety,"when He came forth from the closed womb of a virgin; and that He assumed thegift of "agility" when with dry feet He walked on the sea. But thisis not consistent with what has been decided above (Article 14). For thesegifts of a glorified body result from an overflow of the soul's glory on to thebody, as we shall explain further on, in treating of glorified bodies (XP, 82):and it has been said above (13, 3, ad 1; 16, 1, ad 2) that before His PassionChrist "allowed His flesh to do and to suffer what was proper to it"(Damascene, De Fide Orth. iii): nor was there such an overflow of glory fromHis soul on to His body.

We must therefore say thatall these things took place miraculously by Divine power. Whence Augustine says(Sup. Joan. Tract. 121): "To the substance of a body in which was theGodhead closed doors were no obstacle. For truly He had power to enter in bydoors not open, in Whose Birth His Mother's virginity remained inviolate."And Dionysius says in an epistle (Ad Caium iv) that "Christ excelled manin doing that which is proper to man: this is shown in His supernaturalconception, of a virgin, and in the unstable waters bearing the weight ofearthly feet."

The following is taken from the Summa Theologiae,Tertia Pars, Q. 35, a. 6

On the contrary, Augustine says (Serm. de Nativ. [Supposititious), addressinghimself to the Virgin-Mother: "In conceiving thou wast all pure, in givingbirth thou wast without pain."

I answer that, The pains of childbirth are caused by the infant opening thepassage from the womb. Now it has been said above (28, 2, Replies toobjections), that Christ came forth from the closed womb of His Mother, and,consequently, without opening the passage. Consequently there was no pain inthat birth, as neither was there any corruption; on the contrary, there wasmuch joy therein for that God-Man "was born into the world,"according to Is. 35:1,2: "Like the lily, it shall bud forth and blossom,and shall rejoice with joy and praise."

Reply to Objection 1. The pains of childbirth in the woman follow from themingling of the sexes. Wherefore (Genesis 3:16) after the words, "insorrow shalt thou bring forth children," the following are added:"and thou shalt be under thy husband's power." But, as Augustine says(Serm. de Assumpt. B. Virg., [Supposititious), from this sentence we mustexclude the Virgin-Mother of God; who, "because she conceived Christwithout the defilement of sin, and without the stain of sexual mingling,therefore did she bring Him forth without pain, without violation of hervirginal integrity, without detriment to the purity of her maidenhood."Christ, indeed, suffered death, but through His own spontaneous desire, in orderto atone for us, not as a necessary result of that sentence, for He was not adebtor unto death.

Reply to Objection 2. As "by His death" Christ "destroyed ourdeath" [Preface of the Mass in Paschal-time, so by His pains He freed usfrom our pains; and so He wished to die a painful death. But the mother's painsin childbirth did not concern Christ, who came to atone for our sins. Andtherefore there was no need for His Mother to suffer in giving birth.

Reply to Objection 3. We are told (Luke 2:7) that the Blessed Virgin herself"wrapped up in swaddling clothes" the Child whom she had broughtforth, "and laid Him in a manger." Consequently the narrative of thisbook, which is apocryphal, is untrue. Wherefore Jerome says (Adv. Helvid. iv):"No midwife was there, no officious women interfered. She was both motherand midwife. 'With swaddling clothes,' says he, 'she wrapped up the child, andlaid Him in a manger.'" These words prove the falseness of the apocryphalravings.

From the Roman Catechism (edited by Saint CharlesBorromeo)

“But as the Conception itselftranscends the order of nature, so also the birth of our Lord presents to ourcontemplation nothing but what is divine. Besides, what is admirable beyond the power of thoughts or words toexpress, He is born of His Mother without any diminution of her maternalvirginity, just as He afterwards went forth from the sepulchre while it wasclosed and sealed, and entered the room in which His disciples were assembled,the doors being shut; or, not to depart from every day examples, just as therays of the sun penetrate without breaking or injuring in the least the solidsubstance of glass, so after a like but more exalted manner did Jesus Christcome forth from His mother's womb without injury to her maternal virginity.This immaculate and perpetual virginity forms, therefore, the just theme of oureulogy. Such was the work of the Holy Ghost, who at the Conception and birth ofthe Son so favoured the Virgin Mother as to impart to her fecundity whilepreserving inviolate her perpetual virginity.”

Early Christian Apocryphal Writings

"And after two months ofdays while Joseph was in his house, and Mary his wife, but both alone. It cameto pass that when they were alone that Mary straight-way looked with her eyesand saw a small babe, and she was astonished. And after she had beenastonished, her womb was found as formerly before she had conceived. And whenher husband Joseph said unto her: "What has astonished thee?" hiseyes were opened and he saw the infant and praised God, because into hisportion God had come. And a voice came to them: "Tell this vision to noone." And the story regarding the infant was noised broad in Bethlehem.Some said: "The Virgin Mary hath borne a child, before she was married twomonths." And many said: "She has not borne a child, nor has a midwifegone up (to her), nor have we heard the cries of (labour) pains.""

-“Ascension of Isaiah”11:7-14; c. 70 AD

"So the Virgin became amother with great mercies. And she labored and bore the Son, but without pain,because it did not occur without purpose. And she did not seek a midwife,because he caused her to give life. She bore as a strong man, with will"

-“Odesof Solomon” 19:6-10; c. 80 AD

From Private Revelation

“I saw the radiance round theBlessed Virgin ever growing greater. Thelight of the lamps which Joseph had lit was no longer visible. Our Lady knelt on her rug in an ample ungirtrobe spread out round her, her face turned toward the east. At midnight she was wrapt in an ecstasy ofprayer. I as her lifted from the earth,so that I saw the ground beneath her. Her hands were crossed on her breast. The radiance about her increased; everything, even things without life,were in a joyful inner motion, the stones of the roof, of the walls, and of thefloor of the cave became as it were alive in the light. Then I no lager saw the roof of the cave; apathway of light opened above Mary, rising with every-increasing glory towardsthe height of heaven. In this pathway oflight there was a wonderful movement of glories interpenetrating each other,and, as they approached, appearing more clearly in the form of choirs ofheavenly spirits. Meanwhile the BlessedVirgin, borne up in ecstasy, was now gazing downwards, adoring her God, whoseMother she had become and who lay on the earth before her in the form of ahelpless new-born child. I saw ourRedeemer as a tiny child, shining with a light that overpowered all thesurrounding radiance, and lying on the carpet at the Blessed Virgin’sknees. It seemed to me as if He were atfirst quite small and then grew before my eyes. But the movement of the intense radiance was such that I cannot say forcertain how I saw it.”

-Blessed Anne CatherineEmmerich, The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary (a transcription of her visions)

Limbo

2011-10-01T13:46:00.000-04:00

The Infallible Teaching of the Catholic Church

“The souls of those who die in mortal sin or with original sin only…immediately descend into Hell, yet to be punished with different punishments.”
-Pope Gregory X, Second Council of Lyons, 1274, ex cathedra

“...the souls of those who depart this life in actual mortal sin, or inoriginal sin alone, go down straightaway to hell to be punished, but withunequal pains.”
-Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Laetentur Caeli, July 6, 1439

"The Roman Church teaches... that the souls of those who depart in mortalsin or with only original sin descend immediately to hell, nevertheless to bepunished with different punishments and in disparate locations..."
-Pope John XXII, Nequaquam Sine Dolore, 1321 AD

Further Authoritative Teaching of the Church

"Baptism is given for the remission of sins; and according to the usage ofthe Church, Baptism is given even to infants. And, indeed, if there werenothing in infants that required the remission of sins and nothing in thempertinent to forgiveness, the grace of Baptism would be superfluous."
-Origen, Homily on Leviticus 8:3 -AD 244

"But in respect to the case of infants, which you say ought not to beBaptized within the second or third day after their birth, and that the law ofancient circumcision should be regarded, so that you think one who is just bornshould not be Baptized and sanctified within the eighth day ....And therefore,dearest brother, this was our opinion in council, that by us no one ought to behindered from Baptism ...we think is to be even more observed in respect ofinfants and newly-born persons."
-Saint Cyprian, Epistle 58, To Fides [54] -- AD 251

"We do Baptize infants, although they are not guilty of any [personal]sins."
-Saint John Chrysostom, Father and Doctor of the Church, Ad Neophytos -- AD 388

"Unless a man be born again through water and the Holy Spirit he cannotenter the Kingdom of God. No one is expected: not the infant; not the oneprevented by necessity."
–Saint Ambrose of Milan, Father and Doctor of the Church (Abraham 2,11:79 -- AD387)

"Be it so, some will say, in the case of those who ask for Baptism; whathave you to say about those who are still children and conscious neither of theloss nor of grace? Are we to Baptize them too? Certainly, if any dangerpresses. For it is better that they should be unconsciously sanctified thanthat they should depart unsealed and uninitiated."
-Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Father and Doctor of the Church, Oration on HolyBaptism, 40:28 -- AD 381

“It will happen, I believe . . . that those last mentioned [infants dyingwithout baptism] will neither be admitted by the just judge to the glory ofHeaven nor condemned to suffer punishment, since, though unsealed [by baptism],they are not wicked. . . . For from the fact that one does not merit punishmentit does not follow that one is worthy of being honored, any more than itfollows that one who is not worthy of a certain honor deserves on that accountto be punished.”
-Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, Father and Doctor of the Church, Oratation, xl, 23

"Likewise, whoever says that those children who depart out of this lifewithout partaking of that Sacrament (Baptism) are alive in Christ, certainlycontradicts the apostolic declaration and condemns the universal Church, inwhich it is the practice to loose no time and run in haste to administerBaptism to infant children, because it is believed as an indubitable truth,that otherwise they cannot be made alive in Christ."
-Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, Epistle 167, AD 415

"If you want to be a Catholic do no believe, do no say, and do not teachthat infants carried off by death before they are baptized can attain theremission of original sin."
-Saint Augustine, Father, Doctor, and Bishop of the Church, On the Soul and itsOrigin Book II

“The idea that infants can be granted the rewards of eternal life without eventhe grace of baptism is utterly foolish.”
-Pope Saint Innocent I, Letter to the Bishops of the Church, 417 AD

"Likewise it has been decided that whoever says that infants fresh fromtheir mother's wombs should not be Baptized ...let him be anathema."
-Council of Carthage, Canon 2, AD 418

"[Those dying with only original sin on their souls will suffer] no otherpain, whether from material fire or from the worm of conscience, except thepain of being deprived forever of the vision of God."
-Pope Innocent III (1160-1216), Corp. Juris, Decret. l. III, tit. xlii, c. iii-- Majores

“By Baptism a man is ordained to the Eucharist, and therefore from the factof children being baptized, they are destined by the Church to the Eucharist;and just as they believe through the Church's faith, so they desire theEucharist through the Church's intention, and, as a result, receive itsreality. But they are not disposed for Baptism by any previous sacrament, andconsequently before receiving Baptism, in no way have they Baptism in desire;but adults alone have: consequently, they cannot have the reality of thesacrament without receiving the sacrament itself.”
-Saint Thomas Aquinas, ST III Q. 73 a. 3

“Regarding children, indeed, because of danger of death, which can often takeplace, since no help can be brought to them by another remedy than through thesacrament of baptism, through which they are snatched from the domination ofthe devil and adopted among the sons of God, [the sacrosanct Roman Church]advises that holy baptism ought not to be deferred for forty or eighty days,... but it should be conferred as soon as it can be done conveniently…”
-Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino, February 4, 1442

“If any one denies, that infants, newly born from their mothers' wombs, eventhough they be sprung from baptized parents, are to be baptized; or says thatthey are baptized indeed for the remission of sins, but that they derive nothingof original sin from Adam, which has need of being expiated by the laver ofregeneration for the obtaining life everlasting,--whence it follows as aconsequence, that in them the form of baptism, for the remission of sins, isunderstood to be not true, but false, --let him be anathema. For that which theapostle has said, By one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, andso death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned, is not to be understoodotherwise than as the Catholic Church spread everywhere hath always understoodit. For, by reason of this rule of faith, from a tradition of the apostles,even infants, who could not as yet commit any sin of themselves, are for thiscause truly baptized for the remission of sins, that in them that may becleansed away by regeneration, which they have contracted by generation. For,unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter intothe kingdom of God.”
-Council of Trent, Session 5, Part 4

"The faithful are earnestly to be exhorted to take care that theirchildren be brought to the church, as soon as it can be done with safety, toreceive solemn Baptism. Since infant children have no other means of salvationexcept Baptism, we may easily understand how grievously those persons sin whopermit them to remain without the grace of the Sacrament longer than necessitymay require, particularly at an age so tender as to be exposed to numberlessdangers of death."
-Catechism of the Council of Trent; Issued by Pope Saint Pius V in 1547 AD

“Noticing that frequently by various Apostolic Constitutions the audacity anddaring of most profligate men, who know no restraint, of sinning with licenseagainst the commandment "do not kill" was repressed; We who areplaced by the Lord in the supreme throne of justice, being counseled by a mostjust reason, are in part renewing old laws and in part extending them in orderto restrain with just punishment the monstrous and atrocious brutality of thosewho have no fear to kill most cruelly fetuses still hiding in the maternalviscera. Who will not detest such an abhorrent and evil act, by which are lostnot only the bodies but also the SOULS?”
-Pope Sixtus V, Apostolic Constitution Effraenatam (against abortionists), 29October 1588

“The common teaching of the scholastic theologians is the within the earththere are four inner chambers: one for the damned, another for those beingpurged of sin, a third for those infants who have died without receivingBaptism, and a fourth which is now empty but once held those just men who diedbefore the passion of Christ.”
-Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621), Doctor of the Church

“The doctrine which rejects as a Pelagian fable that place of the lower regions(which the faithful generally designate by the name of limbo of the children)in which the souls of those departing with the sole guilt of original sin arepunished with the punishment of the condemned, exclusive of the punishment offire… is false, rash, injurious to Catholic schools.”
-Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fidei, August 28, 1794

"Q. #100 - Where do infants go who die without Baptism?
A. - Infants who die without Baptism go to Limbo where they do not enjoy thesight of God, but also do no suffer. This is because having original sin, andit alone, they do not merit heaven, but neither do they merit purgatory orhell."
-Catechism of Pope Saint Pius X, first published in 1910 AD

"If what We have said up to now deals with the protection and the care ofnatural life, it should hold all the more in regard to the supernatural lifewhich the newly born infant receives with Baptism. In the present economy thereis no other way of communicating this life to the child who has not yet the useof reason. But, nevertheless, the state of grace at the moment of death isabsolutely necessary for salvation. Without it, it is not possible to attainsupernatural happiness, the beatific vision of God. An act of love can sufficefor an adult to obtain sanctifying grace and supply for the absence of Baptism;for the unborn child or for the newly born, this way is not open..."
-Pope Pius XII, October 29 1951, Congress of the Italian Catholic Associationof Midwives

" The Church has thus shown by her teaching and practice that she knows noother way apart from Baptism for ensuring children's entry into eternalhappiness. Accordingly, she takes care not to neglect the mission that the Lordhas given her of providing rebirth "of water and the Spirit" for allthose who can be baptized."
-Instruction on Infant Baptism, The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of theFaith, 20 October 1980, with approval of Pope John Paul II

On Mortificaiton of the Eyes

2011-08-16T22:53:00.005-04:00

These quotes are taken from the work: The True Spouse of Jesus Christ, by Saint Alphonsus Ligouri. Those not otherwise indicated are from Saint Alphonsus himself. They are arranged in order that they appear in the work.

Because of the difficult nature of these quotations this preface has been added to help their being read with all faith and trust that a faithful Catholic should have in them.

Saint Alphonsus was the Bishop of Saint Agatha of the Goths, Founder of the Redemptorist Order, and was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church within less than a century after his death (astonishingly fast compared to the other great doctors). He was in fact specifically proclaimed the Doctor of Moral Theology.

“No ecclesiastical writer has ever received more direct, positive and formal approbation than that accorded by the Holy See to the moral writings of this Doctor of the Church. While still alive, four Popes expressed their admiration of his prudent doctrine. (…) In 1831, Pope Gregory XVI enhanced this approbation when he decreed that professors of theology could safely teach any opinion of St. Alphonsus, and that confessors, without weighting reasons, could safely follow him – simply on the fact that St. Alphonsus said so. Each of the thirteen predecessors of Pius XII in the chair of Peter has in some way or another recommended, approved or exalted the ‘Moral Theology’ of the Patron of confessors. In his Apostolic Brief of April 26, 1950, Pope Pius XII alludes to some of them. «By his learned writings, especially his ‘Moral Theology,’ he dissipated the darkness of error with which Jansenists and unbelievers have cloaked the world» (Blessed Pius IX). He was «the most illustrious and benign of moralists» (Leo XIII). «He illumined obscurity, made doubts plain and clear, and in the maze of over-strict and over-lax theological opinions, he hewed a path which directors of souls can tread in safety» (Blessed Pius IX). To this chorus of pontifical voices, Pope Pius XII felt, he said, constrained to add his own, declaring St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori the celestial Patron of both confessors and moral theologians. For, as the Cardinals and bishops of Spain and Austria declared in their petition for his Doctorate, «the Moral Theology of St. Alphonsus has given back to the Sacred Tribunal of Penance the mercy and the kindness of the Sacred Heart.»” -Homoletic and Pastoral Review: New Patron of Confessors, St. Alphonsus de Liguori, Vol. LI, No. 6, March 1951, Fr. Galvin J. J. C.SS.R., 1951, p. 511

Though this book was written for those in religious life the preface of English edition of The True Spouse of Jesus Christ says the following: “The saint himself tells us that his book is suitable not only to nuns, but also to all members of the religious state, in that which refers to the observance of the vows, regular discipline, and the perfection of their state. As for the practice of Christian virtues, the work will be found highly useful even for seculars.”

“Almost all our rebellious passions spring from unguarded looks; for, generally speaking, it is by the sight that all inordinate affections and desires are excited. Hence, holy Job made a covenant with his eyes, that he would not so much as think upon a virgin. (Job 31:1) Why did he say that he would not so much as think upon a virgin? Should he not have said that he made a covenant with his eyes not to look at a virgin? No; he very properly said that he would not think upon a virgin; because thoughts are so connected with looks, that the former cannot be separated from the latter, and therefore, to escape the molestation of evil imaginations, he resolved never to fix his eyes on a woman.”

"The thought follows the look; delight comes after the thought; and consent after delight."

-Saint Augustine – Bishop of Hippo, Father, and Doctor of the Church

“What is not seen is not desired, and to the desire succeeds the consent.”

-Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church

“If Eve had not looked at the forbidden apple, she should not have fallen; but because she saw that it was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and beautiful to behold, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat. (Gen 3:6) The devil first tempts us to look, then to desire, and afterwards to consent.”

“A deliberate glance at a person of a different sex often enkindles an infernal spark, which consumes the soul.”

“Through the eyes the deadly arrows of love enters."

-Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Father and Doctor of the Church, De modo bate viv. s. 23.

“The first dart that wounds and frequently robs chaste souls of life finds admission through the eyes. By them David, the beloved of God, fell. By them was Solomon, once the inspired of the Holy Ghost, drawn into the greatest abominations. Oh! how many are lost by indulging their sight! The eyes must be carefully guarded by all who expect not to be obliged to join in the lamentation of Jeremiah: My eye hath wasted my soul (Lamentations 3:51).”

“The eyes, because they draw us to sin, must be depressed. He that looks at a dangerous object begins to will what he wills not."

-Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church, Mor. J. 21, c. 2.

“Gaze not about, says the Holy Ghost, upon anothers beauty; . . . hereby lust is enkindled as a fire.”

-Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 9:8-9

“To avoid the sight of dangerous objects, the saints were accustomed to keep their eyes almost continually fixed on the earth, and to abstain even from looking at innocent objects. After being a novice for a year, St. Bernard could not tell whether his cell was vaulted.…St. Peter of Alcantara kept his eyes constantly cast down, so that he did not know the brothers with whom he conversed….The saints were particularly cautious not to look at persons of a different sex. St. Hugh, bishop, when compelled to speak with women, never looked at them in the face. St. Clare would never fix her eyes on the face of a man. She was greatly afflicted because, when raising her eyes at the elevation to see the consecrated host, she once involuntarily saw the countenance of the priest. St. Aloysius never looked at his own mother in the face.”

“St. Gregory states (Dialogues: Book 2, Ch.2) that the temptation, to conquer which St. Benedict rolled himself in thorns, arose from one incautious glance at a woman.”

“St. Jerome, (Ep. ad Eustoch) though living in a cave at Bethlehem, in continual prayer and macerations of the flesh, was terribly molested by the remembrance of ladies whom he had long before seen in Rome. Why should not similar molestations be the lot of the religious who wilfully and without reserve fixes her eyes on persons of a different sex?”

"It is not the seeing of objects so much as the fixing of our eyes upon them that proves most pernicious."

-Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop of Geneva and Doctor of the Church

"If, our eyes should by chance fall upon others, let us take care never to fix them upon any one."

-Saint Augustine – Bishop of Hippo, Father, and Doctor of the Church; Reg. ad serv. D. n. 6.

"It is not lawful to behold what it is not lawful to covet."

-Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church

“The evil thought that proceeds from looks, though it should be rejected, never fails to leave a stain upon the soul. Brother Roger, a Franciscan of singular purity, being once asked why he was so reserved in his intercourse with women, replied, that when men avoid the occasions of sin, God preserves them; but when they expose themselves to danger, they are justly abandoned by the Lord, and easily fall into some grievous transgressions.”

"Where Christ is, there modesty is found."

-Pope Saint Gregory the Great, Father and Doctor of the Church, Ep. ad Dioclem.

“I do not mean to say that the eyes should never be raised or never fixed on any object. No; but they ought to be directed only to what inspires devotion, to sacred images, and to the beauty of creation, which elevate the soul to the contemplation of the divinity.”

“St. Francis of Assisi once said to his companion, that he was going out to preach. After walking through the town, with his eyes fixed on the ground, he returned to the convent. His companion asked him when he would preach the sermon. We have, replied the saint, by the modesty of our looks, given an excellent instruction to all who saw us.”

“It is related of St. Aloysius, that when he walked through Rome the students would stand in the streets to observe and admire his great modesty.”

"When Innocent II visited St. Bernard at Clairvaux, such was the exterior modesty of the saint and of his monks, that the Pope and his cardinals were moved to tears of devotion.”

“Surius relates a very extraordinary fact of St. Lucian, a monk and martyr. By his modesty he induced so many pagans to embrace the faith, that the Emperor Maximian fearing that he should be converted to Christianity by the appearance of the saint, would not allow the holy man to be brought within his view, but spoke to him from behind a screen.”

“That our Redeemer was the first who taught, by his example, modesty of the eyes, may, as a learned author remarks, be inferred from the holy evangelists, who say that on some occasion he raised his eyes. And he, lifting up his eyes on his disciples (Luke 6:20) When Jesus therefore had lifted up his eyes. (John 6:5) From these passages we may conclude that the Redeemer ordinarily kept his eyes cast down. Hence the Apostle, praising the modesty of the Saviour, says: I beseech you, by the mildness and modesty of Christ. (2 Cor. 10:1)”

“If, my children, we desire to raise the soul towards heaven, let us direct the eyes towards the earth.”

-Saint Basil the Great - Bishop of Caesarea, Father, and Doctor of the Church, Serm. de Ascesi.

See also this post on Modesty.

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Truth & Humor with Catholics - I

2011-08-07T15:59:00.000-04:00

“In vino Veritas. In Aqua satietas. In ... What is the Latin for Tea? What! Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have let the vulgar stuff alone.”
-Hilaire Belloc, On Nothing and Kindred Subjects

“The vulgar and cowardly man, he hates small towns.”
-Hilaire Belloc, On Nothing and Kindred Subjects

“Wooden houses may or may not last; but farms will last; and farming will always last.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

"The whole world is dividing itself into progressives and conservatives. The job of the progressives is to go on making mistakes. The job of the conservatives is to prevent those mistakes from being corrected."
-G. K. Chesterton, Illustrated London News, 19 April 1924

“It was the very life of the Thomist teaching that Reason can be trusted: it was the very life of Lutheran teaching that Reason is utterly untrustworthy.”
-G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas

“They will talk of the readiness of St. Francis to learn from the flowers or the birds as something that can only point onward to the Pagan Renaissance. Whereas the fact stares them in the face; first, that it points backwards to the New Testament, and second that it points forward, if it points to anything, to the Aristotelian realism of the Summa of St. Thomas Aquinas.”
-G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas

“As compared with a Jew, a Moslem, a Buddhist, a Deist, or most obvious alternatives, a Christian means a man who believes that deity or sanctity has attached to matter or entered the world of the senses.”
-G.K. Chesterton, Saint Thomas Aquinas

“In short, it has long been recognized that America was an asylum. It is only since Prohibition that it has looked a little like a lunatic asylum.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“Equality is still the ideal though no longer the reality of America. I should like to conclude this one by emphasizing the fact that the reality of modern capitalism is menacing that ideal with terrors and even splendours that might well stagger the wavering and impressionable modern spirit.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“Yes. From the earth we come and to the earth we return; when people get away from that they are lost.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“Peasants and priests and all sorts of practical and sensible people are coming back into power, and their stern realism may wither all these beautiful, unsubstantial, useless things. They will not believe in the Seventh Heaven Cigar, even when they see it shining as with stars in the seventh heaven. They will not be affected by advertisements, any more than the priests and peasants of the Middle Ages would have been affected by advertisements. Only a very soft-headed, sentimental, and rather servile generation of men could possibly be affected by advertisements at all.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“Nations necessarily die of the undiluted poison called progress.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“I told them my general view of Labour in the very largest and perhaps the vaguest historical outline; pointing out that the one great truth to be taught to the middle classes was that Capitalism was itself a crisis, and a passing crisis; that it was not so much that it was breaking down as that it had never really stood up. Slaveries could last, and peasantries could last; but wage-earning communities could hardly even live, and were already dying.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“What is the matter with the modern world is not modern headlines or modern films or modern machinery. What is the matter with the modern world is the modern world; and the cure will come from another.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“Tradition does not mean a dead town; it does not mean that the living are dead but that the dead are alive.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“The state of Maryland was the first experiment in religious freedom in human history. Lord Baltimore and his Catholics were a long march ahead of William Penn and his Quakers on what is now called the path of progress. That the first religious toleration ever granted in the world was granted by Roman Catholics is one of those little informing details with which our Victorian histories did not exactly teem. But when I went into my hotel at Baltimore and found two priests waiting to see me, I was moved in a new fashion, for I felt that I touched the end of a living chain. Nor was the impression accidental; it will always remain with me with a mixture of gratitude and grief, for they brought a message of welcome from a great American whose name I had known from childhood and whose career was drawing to its close; for it was but a few days after I left the city that I learned that Cardinal Gibbons was dead.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

“In the case of Andrew Jackson it may be that I felt a special sense of individual isolation; for I believe that there are even fewer among Englishmen than among Americans who realize that the energy of that great man was largely directed towards saving us from the chief evil which destroys the nations to-day. He sought to cut down, as with a sword of simplicity, the new and nameless enormity of finance; and he must have known, as by a lightning flash, that the people were behind him, because all the politicians were against him. The end of that struggle is not yet; but if the bank is stronger than the sword or the sceptre of popular sovereignty, the end will be the end of democracy. It will have to choose between accepting an acknowledged dictator and accepting dictation which it dare not acknowledge. The process will have begun by giving power to people and refusing to give them their titles; and it will have ended by giving the power to people who refuse to give us their names.”
-G.K. Chesterton, What I Saw in America

Light from the Successors of Saint Peter - I

2011-08-06T15:58:00.001-04:00

"This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error," as Augustine was wont to say.[ St. Augustine, epistle 166.] When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly "the bottomless pit"[ Ap 9.3.] is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws -- in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty.

"Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that they contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth. Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?

"The Church has always taken action to destroy the plague of bad books. This was true even in apostolic times for we read that the apostles themselves burned a large number of books.[ Acts 19.] It may be enough to consult the laws of the fifth Council of the Lateran on this matter and the Constitution which Leo X published afterwards lest "that which has been discovered advantageous for the increase of the faith and the spread of useful arts be converted to the contrary use and work harm for the salvation of the faithful."[Acts of the Lateran Council 5, session 10, where the constitution of Leo X is mentioned; the earlier constitution of Alexander VI, Inter multiplices, ought to be read, in which there are many things on this point.] This also was of great concern to the fathers of Trent, who applied a remedy against this great evil by publishing that wholesome decree concerning the Index of books which contain false doctrine.[Council of Trent, sessions 18 and 25.] "We must fight valiantly," Clement XIII says in an encyclical letter about the banning of bad books, "as much as the matter itself demands and must exterminate the deadly poison of so many books; for never will the material for error be withdrawn, unless the criminal sources of depravity perish in flames."[Letter of Pope Clement XIII, Christianae, 25 November 1766.] Thus it is evident that this Holy See has always striven, throughout the ages, to condemn and to remove suspect and harmful books. The teaching of those who reject the censure of books as too heavy and onerous a burden causes immense harm to the Catholic people and to this See. They are even so depraved as to affirm that it is contrary to the principles of law, and they deny the Church the right to decree and to maintain it."

-Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos, 15 August 1832

"We, therefore, while We declare that everything wisely said should be received with willing and glad mind, as well as everything profitably discovered or thought out, exhort all of you, Venerable Brothers, with the greatest earnestness to restore the golden wisdom of St. Thomas, and to spread it as far as you can, for the safety and glory of the Catholic Faith, for the good of society, and for the increase of all the sciences. We say the wisdom of St. Thomas; for it is not by any means in our mind to set before this age, as a standard, those things which may have been inquired into by Scholastic Doctors with too great subtlety; or anything taught by them with too little consideration, not agreeing with the investigations of a later age; or, lastly, anything that is not probable."
-Leo XIII, Aeterni Patris, 4 August 1879

"Whatever, therefore, is opposed to virtue and truth may not rightly be brought temptingly before the eye of man, much less sanctioned by the favor and protection of the law. A well-spent life is the only way to heaven, whither all are bound, and on this account the State is acting against the laws and dictates of nature whenever it permits the license of opinion and of action to lead minds astray from truth and souls away from the practice of virtue."
–Pope Leo XIII, Immortale Dei, 1 November 1885

"If we are to avoid the errors which are the source and fountain-head of all the miseries of our time, the teaching of Aquinas must be adhered to more religiously than ever. For Thomas refutes the theories propounded by Modernists in every sphere, in philosophy, by protecting, as We have reminded you, the force and power of the human mind and by demonstrating the existence of God by the most cogent arguments; in dogmatic theology, by distinguishing the supernatural from the natural order and explaining the reasons for belief and the dogmas themselves; in theology, by showing that the articles of faith are not based upon mere opinion but upon truth and therefore cannot possibly change; in exegesis, by transmitting the true conception of divine inspiration; in the science of morals, in sociology and law, by laying down sound principles of legal and social, commutative and distributive, justice and explaining the relations between justice and charity; in the theory of asceticism, by his precepts concerning the perfection of the Christian life and his confutation of the enemies of the religious orders in his own day. Lastly, against the much vaunted liberty of the human reason and its independence in regard to God he asserts the rights of primary Truth and the authority over us of the Supreme Master. It is therefore clear why Modernists are so amply justified in fearing no Doctor of the Church so much as Thomas Aquinas."
-Pope Pius XI, Studiorum Ducem, 29 June 1923

"More than ever nowadays an extended and careful vigilance is necessary, inasmuch as the dangers of moral and religious shipwreck are greater for inexperienced youth. Especially is this true of impious and immoral books, often diabolically circulated at low prices; of the cinema, which multiplies every kind of exhibition; and now also of the radio, which facilitates every kind of communications. These most powerful means of publicity, which can be of great utility for instruction and education when directed by sound principles, are only too often used as an incentive to evil passions and greed for gain. St. Augustine deplored the passion for the shows of the circus which possessed even some Christians of his time, and he dramatically narrates the infatuation for them, fortunately only temporary, of his disciple and friend Alipius. How often today must parents and educators bewail the corruption of youth brought about by the modern theater and the vile book!" -Pope Pius XI, Divini Illius Magistri, 31 December 1929

“Minds of all, it is true, are affected almost solely by temporal upheavals, disasters, and calamities. But if we examine things critically with Christian eyes, as we should, what are all these compared with the loss of souls? Yet it is not rash by any means to say that the whole scheme of social and economic life is now such as to put in the way of vast numbers of mankind most serious obstacles which prevent them from caring for the one thing necessary; namely, their eternal salvation.”

-Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno, 15 May 1931

Catholic Quotations Book Recommendation #5: "A Dictionary of Quotes from the Saints"

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