DEPUIS LE JOUR
ENCYCLICAL OF POPE LEO XIII ON
THE EDUCATION OF THE CLERGY
September 8, 1899.
To Our Venerable Brothers the
Archbishops, Bishops and Clergy of France.
Venerable Brothers, Dearly
Beloved Sons:
1. Since the day we were raised to the Pontifical
Chair France has been ever the object to us of a special solicitude and
affection. For from her God, in the unfathomable designs of His mercy over the
world, has in the course of ages by preference chosen Apostolic men destined to
preach the true faith to the limits of the globe, and to carry the light of the
Gospel to the nations yet plunged in the darkness of paganism. He predestined
her to be the defender of His Church and the instrument of His great works:
Gesta Dei per Francos.
2. Obviously this high mission
entails duties many and grave. Wishing, like our predecessors, to see France
faithfully fulfil the glorious mandate wherewith she has been entrusted, we
have on several occasions during our long pontificate addressed to her our
advice, our encouragement, our exhortations. This we did in a special way in
our Encyclical Letter of February 8, 1884, Nobilissima Gallorum gens, and in
our letter of February 16, 1892, published in French and beginning with the
words: "Au milieu des sollicitudes." Our words were not without
fruit, and we know from you, Venerable Brothers, that a large portion of the
French people ever holds in honor the faith of their ancestors and faithfully
observes the obligations it imposes. On the other hand, it could not escape us
that the enemies of this holy faith have not been idle and have succeeded in
banishing every religious principle from a large number of families, which, in
consequence, live in lamentable ignorance of revealed truth, and in complete
indifference to all that concerns their spiritual interests and the salvation
of their souls.
3. While therefore with good
reason we congratulate France on being a focus of apostolic work among nations
destitute of the faith, we are also bound to encourage the efforts of those of
her sons who, enrolled in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, are laboring to
evangelize their own people, to preserve them from the invasion of naturalism
and incredulity, with their fatal and inevitable consequences. Called by the
will of God to be the savour of the world, priests must always, and above all
things, remember that they are by the very institution of Jesus Christ,
"the salt of the earth,"[1] and hence St. Paul, writing to Timothy,
justly concluded that "by their charity, their faith and their purity,
they must be an ex ample to the faithful in their words and in their relations
with their neighbors."[2]
4. That such is true of the
French clergy, taken as a whole, has always been a great consolation to us to
learn, Venerable Brothers, from the quadrennial reports you send us concerning
the state of your dioceses, conformably to the Constitution of Sixtus V, and
from the oral communications we receive from you whenever we have the happiness
of conversing with you and receiving your confidences. Yes, dignity of life,
ardor of faith, a spirit of devotedness and sacrifice, a zeal characterized by
enthusiasm and generosity, an inexhaustible charity toward their neighbor,
energy in all noble and fruitful enterprises making for the glory of God, the
salvation of souls and the welfare of their country-these are the precious
qualities traditional among the French clergy, and we are happy to be able here
to render to them a public and fatherly testimony.
Still, precisely on account of
the deep and tender affection we have for them, and at the same time to perform
a duty of our Apostolic ministry and respond to the keen desire we feel to see
them ever acting up to their great mission, we have resolved, Venerable
Brothers, to treat in this letter of certain points to which present
circumstances peremptorily call the conscientious attention of the chief
pastors of the French Church and of the priests who work under their
jurisdiction.
5. And in the first place it
is clear that the more important, complex and difficult an office is the longer
and more careful should be the preparation undergone by those who are called to
fill it. But is there on earth a dignity higher than that of the priesthood or
a ministry imposing a heavier responsibility than that whose object is the
sanctification of all the free acts of man? Is it not of the government of
souls that the Fathers have rightly said that it is "the art of
arts;" that is, the most important and most delicate of all tasks to which
a man may be applied for the benefit of his kind? - "Ars artium regimen
animarum?"[3] Nothing must then be neglected to prepare those whom a
divine vocation calls to this mission in order that they may fulfill it
worthily and fruitfully.
6. To begin with, from among
the young those are to be selected in whom the Most High has sown the seeds of
a vocation. We are aware that, thanks to your wise recommendations, in many
dioceses of France the priests of the different parishes, especially in country
districts, apply themselves with a zeal and self-sacrifice which we cannot
sufficiently praise in guiding themselves the studies of children in whom they
have observed a marked tendency to piety and an aptitude for intellectual work.
The presbyteral schools are thus the first step, as it were, of the stairs
which from the junior to the senior seminaries carry up to the priesthood those
young men to whom the Saviour repeats the appeal He addressed to Peter and
Andrew, to John and James, "Leave your nets; follow Me, I will make you
fishers of men."[4]
7. With regard to the junior
seminary, this very valuable institution has been frequently and justly
compared to the beds in which are set apart such plants as call for the most
particular and assiduous care as the only way to make them bear fruit and
produce a recompense for the labors of their cultivation. On this subject, we
renew the recommendation addressed by our predecessor, Pius IX, to the Bishops
in his Encyclical of December 8, 1849. This is itself based on one of the most
important decisions of the Fathers of the Council of Trent. To France belongs
the glory of having held it in most account during the present century, for of
the ninety-four dioceses in the country there is not one which is not endowed
with one or more junior seminaries.
8. We know, Venerable
Brothers, the solicitude which you bestow on these institutions so justly dear
to your pastoral zeal, and we congratulate you on it. The priests who labor,
under your superintendence, for the formation of the youth called to enroll
itself later on in the ranks of the sacerdotal army, cannot too often meditate
before God on the exceptional importance of the mission with which you entrust
them. They have not simply to instruct their children in the elements of
letters and human science, like the general run of masters-that is the least
part of their task. Their attention, zeal and devotion must be ever on the
watch and active, in order, on the one hand, to study continually, under the
eye and in the light of God, the souls of the children and the indications of
their vocation to the service of the altar, and, on the other, to help the
inexperience and feebleness of their young disciples in order to protect the
precious grace of the Divine call against all deadly influences, both from without
and from within. They have therefore to exercise a ministry that is humble,
laborious and delicate, and requires constant abnegation. To sustain their
courage in the fulfillment of their duties, they will take care to temper it in
the purest sources of the spirit of faith. They must never lose sight of the
fact that the children whose intelligence, heart and character they are engaged
in forming are not being prepared for earthly functions, however legitimate or
honorable. The Church confides those children to them in order that they may
one day be fit to become priests; that is to say, missionaries of the Gospel,
continuers of the work of Jesus Christ, distributers of His Grace and His
Sacraments. Let this purely supernatural consideration incessantly imbue their
double function as professors and educators, and be the leaven, so to say,
which is to be mixed with the best flour, according to the Gospel parable, so
as to transform it into sweet and substantial bread.[5]
9. And as an abiding
thoughtfulness for the first and indispensable formation of the spirit and
virtues of the priesthood should inspire the masters of your junior seminaries
in their relations with their pupils, so, too, the system of study and the
whole economy of discipline must be allied to this same primary and directing
idea. We are not unaware, Venerable Brothers, that you are to a certain extent
obliged to reckon with the State programme and with the conditions imposed by
it for obtaining university degrees, owing to the fact that in certain cases
such degrees are required of priests engaged in the management of free colleges
under the patronage of the Bishops and religious congregations, or in the
higher teaching of Catholic faculties which you have so laudably established.
It is, moreover, of sovereign importance for the maintenance of the influence
of the clergy on society that they count among their ranks a sufficient number
of priests yielding nothing in science, of which degrees are the official
evidence, to the masters whom the State trains for its Iyceums and
universities.
10. Nevertheless, after making
all the allowances imposed by circumstances for this exigency of the State
programme, the studies of aspirants to the priesthood must remain faithful to
the traditional methods of past ages. It is these which have produced the
eminent men of whom France is so justly proud - the Petaus, Thomassins,
Mabillons and many others, to say nothing of your Bossuet, called the Eagle of
Meaux, because in loftiness of thought and nobility of expression his genius
soars in the highest regions of Christian science and eloquence. The study of
belles lettres rendered mighty aid in making these men valiant and useful
workers in the service of the Church and capable of writing works which were truly
worthy to pass down to posterity, and which contribute even to-day to the
defense and propagation of revealed truth. For the belles lettres have the
property, when taught by skilful Christian masters, of rapidly developing in
the souls of young men all the germs of intellectual and moral life, whilst at
the same time contributing accuracy and broadness to the judgment and elegance
and distinction to expression.
11. This consideration assumes
special importance when applied to Greek and Latin literature, the depositaries
of those masterpieces of sacred science which the Church with good reason
counts among her most precious treasures. Half a century ago, at that period
(all too brief!) of true liberty, during which the bishops of France were free
to meet and concert such measures as they deemed best calculated to further the
progress of religion, and, at the same time, most profitable to the public
peace, several of your Provincial Councils, Venerable Brothers, recommended in
the most express terms the culture of the Latin tongue and literature. Even
then your colleges deplored the fact that the knowledge of Latin in your
country tended to diminish.[6]
12. But if the methods of
pedagogy in vogue in the State establishments have been for several years past progressively
reducing the study of Latin and suppressing the exercises in prose and poetry
which our fathers justly considered should hold a large place in college
classes, the junior seminaries must put themselves on their guard against these
innovations, inspired by utilitarian motives and working to the detriment of
the solid formation of the mind. To the ancient methods so often justified by
their results we would freely apply the words of St. Paul to his disciple
Timothy, and with the apostles we would say to you, Venerable Brothers,
"Guard the deposit"[7] with jealous care. If it should be
destined-which God forbid!-one day to disappear from the other public schools,
let your junior seminaries and free colleges keep it with an intelligent and
patriotic solicitude. Doing so, you will be imitating the priests of Jerusalem,
who, saving the sacred fire of the temple from the barbarian invader, so hid it
as to be able to find it again and restore it to its splendor when the evil day
should have passed.[8]
13. Once in possession of the
Latin tongue-the key, so to say, of sacred science-and their mental faculties
sufficiently developed by the study of the belles lettres, young men destined
for the priesthood pass from the junior to the senior seminary. There they will
prepare themselves by piety and the exercise of the priestly virtues for the
reception of Holy Orders, while devoting themselves to the study of philosophy
and theology.
14. In our Encyclical
"Aeterni Patris," which we once again recommend to the attentive
perusal of your seminarists and their masters, we declared, with St. Paul as
our authority, that it is by the empty subtleties of false philosophy "per
philosophiam et inanem fallaciam" that the minds of the faithful are most
frequently led astray and the purity of the faith corrupted among men, we
added, and the events of the last twenty years have furnished bitter
confirmation of the reflections and apprehensions we expressed at the time. If
one notes the critical condition of the times in which we live and ponders on
the state of affairs in public and private life he will have no difficulty in
seeing that the cause of the evils which oppress us, as well as those which
menace, lies in the fact that erroneous opinions on all subjects, human and divine,
have gradually percolated from philosophical schools through all ranks of
society, and have come to be accepted by a large number of minds.[9]
15. We renew our condemnation
of those teachings of philosophy which have merely the name, and which by striking
at the very foundation of human knowledge lead logically to universal
skepticism and to irreligion. We are profoundly grieved to learn that for some
years past some Catholics have felt at liberty to follow in the wake of a
philosophy which under the specious pretext of freeing human reason from all
ideas and from all illusions, denies it the right of affirming anything beyond
its own operations, thus sacrificing to a radical subjectivism all the
certainties which traditional metaphysics, consecrated by the authority of the
strongest thinkers, laid down as the necessary and unshakable foundations for
the demonstration of the existence of God, the spirituality and immortality of
the soul, and the objective reality of the exterior world. It is to be deeply
regretted that this doctrinal skepticism, of foreign importation and Protestant
origin, should have been received with so much favor in a country so justly
celebrated for its love of clearness of thought and expression. We know,
Venerable Brothers, how far you share our well-grounded anxiety on this
subject, and we reckon on you to redouble your solicitude and vigilance in
shutting out this fallacious and dangerous philosophy from the teaching in your
seminaries, and to honor more than ever the methods we recommended in the
above-quoted Encyclical of August 4, 1879.
16. In our times the students
in your junior and senior seminaries can less than ever afford to be strangers
to the study of physical and natural science. To it, therefore, they must apply
themselves-but in due measure and in wise proportions. It is by no means
necessary that in the scientific course annexed to the study of philosophy the
professors should feel themselves obliged to expound in detail the almost
innumerable applications of physical and natural sciences in the different
branches of human industry. It is enough that their pupils have an accurate
knowledge of the main principles and summary conclusions, so as to be able to
solve the objections which infidels draw from these sciences against the
teachings of Revelation.
17. It is of capital
importance that the students of your senior seminaries should study, for at
least two years, with great care, "rational" philosophy, which, as
the learned Benedictine Mabillon, the glory of his order and of France, used to
say, will be of the greatest assistance to them, not only in teaching them how
to reason well and arrive at right conclusions, but in putting them in a
position to defend the orthodox faith against the captious and often sophistical
arguments of adversaries.[10]
18. Next come the sacred
sciences, properly so called-Dogmatic and Moral Theology, Sacred Scripture,
Church History and Canon Law. These are the sciences proper to the priest-in
them he receives a first initiation during his sojourn in the senior seminary,
but he must pursue his studies in them throughout the remainder of his life.
19. Theology is the science of
the things of faith. It is nourished, Pope Sixtus V. tells us, at those
ever-willing springs-the Holy Scriptures, the decisions of the Popes, the
decrees of the Councils."
20. Called positive and
speculative or scholastic, according to the method followed in studying it,
theology does not confine itself to proposing the truths which are to be
believed; it scrutinizes their inmost depths, shows their relations with human
reason, and, aided by the resources which true philosophy supplies, explains,
develops and adapts them accurately to all the needs of the defense and
propagation of the faith. Like Beseleel, to whom the Lord gave His spirit of
wisdom, intelligence and knowledge, when intrusting him with the mission of
building His temple, the theologian "cuts the precious stones of divine
dogma, assorts them skilfully, and, by the setting he gives them, brings out
their brilliancy, charm and beauty.''[12]
21. Rightly, then, does the
same Sixtus V. call theology (and here he is referring especially to scholastic
theology) a gift from heaven, and ask that it be maintained in the schools and
cultivated with great ardor, as being abundant in fruitfulness for the
Church.[13]
22. Is it necessary to add
that the book par excellence in which students may with most profit study
scholastic theology is the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas? It is our
wish, therefore, that professors be sure to explain to all their pupils its
method, as well as the principal articles relating to Catholic faith.
23. We recommend equally that
all seminarists have in their hands, and frequently peruse, that golden book
known as the Catechism of the Council of Trent, or Roman Catechism, dedicated
to all priests invested with the pastoral office (Catechismus ad Parochos).
Noted both for the abundance and accuracy of its teaching and for elegance of
style, this catechism is a precious summary of the whole of theology, dogmatic
and moral. The priest who knows it thoroughly has always at his disposal
resources which will enable him to preach with fruit, to acquit himself fitly
in the important ministry of the confessional and the direction of souls, and
be in a position to refute triumphantly the objections of unbelievers.
24. With regard to the study
of the Holy Scriptures, we call your attention once more, Venerable Brothers,
to the teachings we laid down in our Encyclical "Providentissimus Deus,"[14]
which we wish the professors to put before their disciples, with the necessary
explanations. They will put them specially on their guard against the
disturbing tendencies which it is sought to introduce into the interpretation
of the Bible, and which would shortly, were they to prevail, bring about the
ruin of its inspiration and supernatural character. Under the specious pretext
of depriving the adversaries of the revealed word of apparently irrefutable
arguments against the authenticity and veracity of the Holy Books, some
Catholic writers have thought it a clever idea to adopt those arguments for
themselves. By these strange and perilous tactics they have worked to make a
breach with their own hands in the walls of the city they were charged to defend.
In our Encyclical above quoted, and in another document,[15] we have spoken our
mind on this rash, dangerous policy. While encouraging our exegetists to keep
abreast with the progress of criticism, we have firmly maintained the
principles which have been sanctioned in this matter by the traditional
authority of the Fathers and Councils, and renewed in our own time by the
Council of the Vatican.
25. The history of the Church
is like a mirror, which reflects the life of the Church through the ages. It proves,
better far than civil and profane history, the sovereign liberty of God and His
providential action on the march of events. They who study it must never lose
sight of the fact that it contains a body of dogmatic facts which none may call
in question. That ruling, supernatural idea which presides over the destinies
of the Church is at the same time the torch whose light illumines her history.
Still, inasmuch as the Church, which continues among men the life of the Word
Incarnate, is composed of a divine and human element, this latter must be
expounded by teachers and studied by disciples with great probity. "God
has no need of our lies," as we are told in the Book of Job.[16]
26. The Church historian will
be all the better equipped to bring out her divine origin, superior as this is
to all conceptions of a merely terrestrial and natural order, the more loyal he
is in naught extenuating of the trials which the faults of her children, and at
times even of her ministers, have brought upon the Spouse of Christ during the
course of centuries. Studied in this way, the history of the Church constitutes
by itself a magnificent and conclusive demonstration of the truth and divinity
of Christianity.
27. Lastly, to finish the
cycle of studies by which candidates for the priesthood should prepare
themselves for their future ministry, mention must be made of Canon Law, or the
science of the laws and jurisprudence of the Church. This science is connected
by very close and logical ties with that of Theology, which it applies
practically to all that concerns the government of the Church, the dispensation
of holy things, the rights and duties of her ministers, the use of temporal
goods which she needs for the accomplishment of her mission. "Without a
knowledge of Canon Law (as the Fathers of one of your provincial councils very
well said), theology is imperfect, incomplete, like a man with only one arm.
Ignorance of Canon Law has favored the birth and diffusion of numerous errors
about the rights of the Roman Pontiffs and of Bishops, and about the powers
which the Church derives from her own Constitution-powers whose exercise she
adapts to circumstances.''[17]
28. We shall sum up all we
have just said concerning your junior and senior seminaries in this sentence of
St. Paul, which we recommend to the frequent meditation of the masters and
pupils of your ecclesiastical athenaeums: "O Timothy, carefully guard the
deposit which has been confided to you. Fly the profane novelties of words and
objections which cover themselves with the false names of science, for all they
who have made profession of them have erred in the faith."[18]
29. And now we have a word to
say to you, dearly beloved sons, who have been ordained priests and become the
cooperators of your Bishops. We know, and the whole world knows with us, the
qualities which distinguish you. There is no good work of which you are not the
inspiration or the apostles. Docile to the counsels we gave you in the
Encyclical "Rerum Novarum," you go to the people, to the workers, to
the poor. You endeavor by all means in your power to help them, raise them in
the moral scale, render their lot less hard. To this end you form reunions and
congresses; you establish homes, clubs, rural banks, aid and employment offices
for the toilers. You labor to introduce reforms into economic and social life,
and in the difficult enterprise you do not hesitate to make serious sacrifices
of time and money; and with the same scope you write books and articles in the
newspapers and reviews. All these are, in themselves, highly praiseworthy, and
in them you give no equivocal proofs of good will and of intelligent and
generous devotedness to relieve the most pressing needs of contemporary society
and of souls.
30. Still, beloved sons, we
deem it our duty paternally to call your attention to some fundamental
principles to which you will not fail to conform if you desire that your
activity be really fruitful and reproductive.
31. Remember, above all, that
zeal, to be profitable and praiseworthy, must be "accompanied by
discretion, rectitude and purity." Thus does the grave and judicious
Thomas a Kempis express himself. Before him St. Bernard, the glory of your
country in the twelfth century, that indefatigable apostle of all great causes
touching the honor of God, the rights of the Church or the good of souls, did
not fear to say that "zeal, separated from knowledge and from the spirit
of discernment or discretion, is insupportable . . . that the more ardent zeal
is, the more necessary is it that it be accompanied by that discretion which
puts order into the exercise of charity and without which even virtue may be
changed into a defect and a principle of disorder.''[19] And discretion in
activity and in the choice of means of rendering activity successful is all the
more in dispensable from the fact that the present times are disturbed and
environed with numerous difficulties. This or that act, measure or practice,
suggested by zeal, while excellent in themselves, can only-owing to the
circumstances of the race-produce bad results. Priests will avoid this
inconvenience and this evil, if before and during their action they take care
to conform to established order the rules of disciplines. And ecclesiastical
discipline demands union among the different members of the hierarchy, and the
respect and obedience of inferiors to their superiors. In our recent letter to
the Archbishop of Tours we said the same thing: "The edifice of the Church
of which God Himself is the architect, rests on a very visible foundation, primarily
on the authority of Peter and his successors, but also on the Apostles and the
successors of the Apostles, the Bishops, so that to hear their voice or to
despise it is tantamount to hearing or despising Jesus Christ
Himself."[20]
32. Listen, then, to the words
addressed by St. Ignatius, the great martyr of Antioch, to the clergy of the
primitive Church: "Let all obey their Bishops, as Jesus Christ obeyed His
Father. In all things touching the sense of the Church do nothing without your
Bishop, and as our Lord did nothing but in close union with His Father, so
priests, do you nothing without your Bishop. Let all members of the priestly
body be united, as all the strings of a harp are united in the
instrument."[21]
33. Should you, on the
contrary, act as priests independently of this submission to and union with
your Bishops, we would repeat to you the words of our predecessor, Gregory XVI,
viz., that "you utterly destroy, as far as in you lies, the order
established with a most wise forethought by God, the author of the
Church."[22]
34. Remember, too, beloved
sons, that the Church is rightly compared to an army in battle array
"sicut castrorum acies ordinata,"[23] because it is her mission to
combat the enemies, visible and invisible, of God and men's souls. Wherefore
did St. Paul recommend Timothy to bear himself "as a good soldier of Jesus
Christ?"[24] Now, that which constitutes the strength of an army and
contributes most to its victory is discipline and the exact and rigorous
obedience of all toward those in command.
35. Just here zeal out of
place and without discretion may easily become the cause of real disaster. Call
to mind one of the most memorable facts of sacred history. Certainly neither
courage, willingness, nor devotion to the sacred cause of religion were lacking
in those priests who gathered round Judas Maccabeus, to fight with him against
the enemies of the true God, the profaners of the temple, the oppressors of
their nation. And yet, releasing themselves from the rules of discipline, they
rashly engaged in a combat in which they were vanquished. The Holy Spirit tells
us of them "that they were not of the race of those who might save
Israel." Why? Because they would obey only their own inspirations, and
threw themselves forward without awaiting the orders of their leaders. "In
die illa ceciderunt sacerdotes in bello, dum volunt fortiter faccre, dum sine
consilio exeunt in praelium.[25] Ipsi autem non erant de semine virorum
illorum, per quos salus facta est in Israel."[26]
36. On this point our enemies
may serve us for an example. They are well aware that union is strength,
"vis unita fortior," so they do not fail to unite close when it comes
to attacking the holy Church of Jesus Christ
37. If, then, you desire, as
you certainly do, beloved sons, that in the formidable contest being waged
against the Church by anti-Christian sects and by the city of the evil one, the
victory be for God and His Church, it is absolutely necessary for you to fight
all together in perfect order and discipline under the command of your
hierarchical leaders. Pay no heed to those pernicious men who, though calling
themselves Christians and Catholics, throw tares into the field of the Lord and
sow division in His Church by attacking and often even calumniating the Bishops
"established by the Holy Ghost to rule the Church of God."[27] Read
neither their pamphlets nor their papers. No good priest should in any way lend
authority either to their ideas or to their license of speech. Can he ever
forget that on the day of his ordination he promised "obedientiam et
reverentiam" to his Bishop before the holy altar?
38. Above all things,
remember, beloved sons, that an indispensable condition of true zeal and the
best pledge of success in the works to which hierarchical obedience consecrates
you is purity and holiness of life. "Jesus began by practicing before
preaching."[28] Like Him, the priest must preface preaching by word by
preaching by example. "Separated from the world and its concerns (say the Fathers
of the Council of Trent), clerics have been placed on a height where they are
visible and the faithful look into their lives as into a mirror to know what
they are to imitate. Hence clerics and all they whom God has called specially
to His service should so regulate their actions and morals that there may be
nothing in their deportment, manners, movements, words and in all the other
details of their life which is not deeply impressed with religion. They must
carefully avoid faults which, though trivial, in others would be very serious
to them, in order that there be not a single one of their acts which does not
inspire respect in all."[29] With these recommendations of the sacred
Council, which we would wish, beloved sons, to engrave in all your hearts,
those priests who certainly fail to comply, who adopted in their preaching
language out of harmony with the dignity of their priesthood and the sacredness
of the word of God; who attended popular meetings where their presence could
only excite the passions of the wicked and of the enemies of the Church, and
who exposed themselves to the grossest insults without profit to any one, and
to the astonishment, if not scandal, of the pious faithful; who assumed the
habits, manners, conduct and spirit of laymen. Salt must certainly be mingled
with the mass which it is to preserve from corruption, but it must at the same
time defend itself against the mass under pain of losing all savor and becoming
of no use except to be thrown out and trampled under foot.[30]
39. So, too, the priest who is
the salt of the earth must in his necessary contact with the society by which
he is surrounded, preserve modesty, gravity and holiness in manner, action and
speech, and not allow himself to become infected with the levity, dissipation
and vanity of the worldly. He must, on the contrary, in the midst of the men,
keep his soul so united with God that he lose nothing of the spirit of his holy
state, and be not constrained to make before God and his conscience the sad and
humiliating avowal: "I never go among laymen that I do not return less a
priest."
40. Is it not because they
have, with a zeal that is presumptive, set aside those traditional rules of
discretion, modesty and prudence that certain priests consider as out of date
and incompatible with "the present needs of the ministry those principles
of discipline and conduct which they received from their masters in the senior
seminary?" They are to be seen rushing, as if by instinct, into the most
perilous innovations in speech, manners and associations. Several of them,
alas! rashly putting themselves on the slippery incline from which they have no
native power to escape, and despising the charitable warnings of their
superiors and their older and more experienced colleagues, have ended in apostasies
which rejoice the hearts of the adversaries of the Church and brought bitterest
tears into the eyes of their Bishops, their brothers in the priesthood and the
pious faithful. St. Augustine tells us: "When a man is out of the right
way the more quickly and impetuously he advances, the more he errs."[31]
41. There are, of course, some
changes which are advantageous and calculated to advance the kingdom of God in
men's souls and in society. But, as the Holy Gospel tells us,[32] it is the
province of the "Father of the household" and not of the children or
servants to examine them, and, if he judges well, to give them currency side by
side with the timehonored and venerable usages, which make up the rest of his
treasury.
42. Lately when fulfilling the
apostolic duty of putting the Catholics of North America on their guard against
innovations, tending, among other things, to substitute for the principles of
perfection consecrated by the teaching of doctors and the practice of saints
moral maxims and rules of life more or less impregnated with that naturalism
which nowadays endeavors to penetrate everywhere, we proclaimed aloud that far
from repudiating and rejecting "en bloc" the progress accomplished in
the present epoch, we were only too anxious to welcome all that goes to augment
the patrimony of science or to give greater extension to public prosperity. But
we took care to add that this progress could be of efficacious service to the
good cause only when harmonized with the authority of the Church.[33]
43. As a conclusion to this
letter we are pleased to apply to the clergy of France what we formerly wrote
for the priests of our diocese of Perugia. We reproduce here a portion of the
pastoral letter we addressed to them on July 19, 1866:
44. "We ask the
ecclesiastics of our diocese to reflect seriously on their sublime obligations
and on the difficult circumstances through which we are passing and to act in
such wise that their conduct be in harmony with their duties and always
conformable to the rules of an enlightened and prudent zeal. For thus even our
enemies will seek in vain for motives of reproach and blame: qui ex adverso est
vereatur nihil habens malum dicere de nobis.[34]
45. "Although
difficulties and dangers are every day multiplying, the pious and fervent
priest must not for that be discouraged - he must not abandon his duties or
even draw rein in the accomplishment of the spiritual mission he has received
for the welfare and salvation of mankind and for the maintenance of that august
religion of which he is herald and minister. For it is especially by
difficulties and trials that his virtue becomes strong and stable; it is in the
greatest misfortunes, in the midst of political transformations and social
upheavals that the salutary and civilizing influence of his ministry shines
forth with greatest brilliancy.
46. " . . . To come down
to practice we find a teaching admirably adapted to the circumstances in the
four maxims which the great Apostle St. Paul gave to his disciple Titus. In all
things give good example by your works, your doctrine, the integrity of your
life, by the gravity of your con duct, using none but holy and blameless
language.[35] We would that each and every member of our clergy meditate on
these maxims and conform his conduct thereto.
47. "In omnibus teipsum praebe exemplum
bonorum operum. In all things give an example of good works; that is, of active and
exemplary life, animated by a true spirit of charity and guided by the maxims
of evangelical prudence - of a life of sacrifice and toil, consecrated to the
welfare of your neighbors, not with earthly views or for a perishable reward,
but with a supernatural object. Give an example by that language at once
simple, noble and lofty, by that sound and blameless discourse which confounds
all human opposition, calms the long standing hatred the world has sworn
against you, and wins for you the respect and even esteem of the enemies of
religion. Every one devoted to the service of the sanctuary has been at all
times obliged to show himself a living model and perfect exemplar of all the
virtues; but g this obligation becomes all the more instant when, as a
consequence of social upheavals, we are treading a difficult and uncertain path
where we may at every step discover ambushes and pretexts of attack....
48. "In doctrina. In the
face of the combined efforts of incredulity and heresy to consummate the ruin
of Catholic faith, it would be a real crime for the clergy to remain in a state
of hesitancy and inactivity. In such an outpouring of error and conflict of
opinion he must not prove faithless to his mission, which is to defend dogma
assaulted, morality travestied and justice frequently outraged. It is for him
to oppose himself as a barrier to the attacks of error and the deceits of
heresy; to watch the tactics of the wicked who war on the faith and honor of
this Catholic country; to unmask their plots and reveal their ambuscades; to
warn the confiding, strengthen the timid and open the eyes of the blinded.
Superficial erudition or merely common knowledge will not suffice for all this
- there is need of study, solid, profound and continuous, in a word of a mass
of doctrinal knowledge sufficient to cope with the subtlety and remarkable
cunning of our modern opponents....
49. "In integritate. No
better proof of the importance of this council could be had than the sad
evidence of what is going on around us. Do we not observe that the lax life of
some ecclesiastics brings discredit and contempt on their ministry and proves
the occasion of scandals? If men, endowed with minds as brilliant as they are
remarkable, now and then desert the ranks of the sacred soldiery and rise in
revolt against the Church - that mother who, in her tenderness and affection
had advanced them to the direction and for the salvation of souls, their
defection and wanderings have most frequently had their origin in want of
discipline and evilness of life
50. "In gravitate. By
gravity is to be understood that serious, judicious, tactful con duct which
should be characteristic of every faithful and prudent minister chosen by God
for the government of His family. While thanking God for having vouchsafed to
raise him to this honor, he must show himself faithful to all his obligations,
and at the same time balanced and prudent in all his actions; he must not allow
himself to be dominated by base passions, nor carried away by violent and
exaggerated language; he must lovingly sympathize with the misfortunes and
weaknesses of others; do all the good he can to every one, disinterestedly,
unostentatiously, and maintaining ever intact the honor of his character and
sublime dignity."
51. We return now to you,
beloved sons in the French clergy, and we are firmly convinced that our
perceptions and counsels, solely inspired as they are by our paternal
affection, will be understood and received by you in this sense and bearing we
wished to give them in addressing you this letter.
52. We expect much from you,
because God has richly endowed you with all the gifts and qualities necessary
for performing great and holy deeds for the advantage of the Church and
society. We would that not one among you permit himself to be tarnished by
those imperfections which dim the splendor of the sacerdotal character and
injure its efficacy.
53. The present times are
evil; the future is still more gloomy and menacing, and seems to herald the
approach of a redoubtable crisis and social upheaval. It behooves us, then, as
we have said on many occasions, to honor the salutary principles of religion,
as well as those of justice, charity, respect and duty. It is for us to imbue
men's souls with these principles - and especially those souls which have
become captive to infidelity or disturbed by destroying passions, to bring
about the reign of the grace and peace of our Divine Redeemer, Who is the Light
and the Resurrection and the Life, and in Him to unite all men, notwithstanding
the inevitable social distinctions which divide them.
54. Yes, now more than ever,
is there need of the help and devotedness of exemplary priests, full of faith,
discretion and zeal, who, taking inspiration from the gentleness and energy of
Jesus Christ, Whose true ambassadors they are, "pro Christo legatione
fungimur,"[36] to announce with a courageous and inexhaustible patience
the eternal truths which are seldom fruitless of virtue in men's souls.
55. Their ministry will be
laborious - often times even painful, especially in countries where the people
are absorbed in worldly interests and live in forgetfulness of God and His holy
religion. But the enlightened, charitable and unwearying influence of the
priest fortified by Divine grace will work, as it has already worked, prodigies
of resurrection almost beyond belief.
56. With all our soul and with
unspeakable joy we hail this consoling vista, and meanwhile with all the
affection of our heart we grant the Apostolic Benediction to you, venerable
brothers, and to the clergy and people of France.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the 8th of
September, in the year 1899, the twenty-second of our Pontificate.
1.
Mt 5.13.
2.
I Tm 4.12.
3.
S. Greg. M. Lib. Regulae Past. P. 1, c. 1.
4.
Mt 4.19.
5.
Mt 13.33.
6.
Litt. Synod.
Patrum Conc. Paris. ad clericos et fideles, an. 1849 in Collectio Lacensis, Tom. IV,
coll. 86.
7.
I Tm 6.20.
8.
2 Mc 1.19-22.
9.
Encyclical letter, Aeterni Patris, August 4, 1879.
10.
De studiis monasticis, Part.11, c. 9.
11.
Apostolic constitution, Triumphantis lerusalem.
12.
S. Vinc. Lir. Commonit. c. 2.
13.
Apostolic constitution, Triumphantis Ierusalem.
14.
November 18, 1893.
15.
Letter to the Min. Gen. of the Friars Minor, November 25, 1898.
16.
Jb 13.7.
17.
Conc. prov. Bitur., an. 1868.
18.
Tm 6.20-21.
19.
S. Bernard. Serm. XLIX in Cant. n. 5.
20.
Epist. ad Arch Turon.
21.
S. Ign. Ant. Ep. ad Smyrn. 8; idem. ad Magn. 7; idem. ad Ephes. 4.
22.
Encycli cal epistle, Mirari vos, August 15, 1832.
23.
Ct. 6.3.
24.
I Tm 2.3.
25.
1 Mc 5.67.
26.
I Mc 5.62.
27.
Acts 20.28.
28.
Acts 1.1.
29.
S. Conc. Trid. sess. XXII, de Reform. c. 1.
30.
Mt 5.13.
31.
Enarr. in Ps. XXXI, n. 4.
32.
Mt 13.52.
33.
Epist. ad S. R. E. Presbyt. Card. Gibbons, January 22, 1899.
34.
Ti 2.8.
35.
Ti 2.7.
36.
2 Cor 5.20.