To which - I do not say - of the Bishops, but even of the Apostles have all the sheep been so absolutely and unreservedly committed? And these duties of the Apostolic office are, in general, all included in the words of St. Paul: "Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and the dispensers of the mysteries of God" (I Cor. This power over the Episcopal College to which we refer, and which is clearly set forth in Holy Writ, has ever been acknowledged and attested by the Church, as is clear from the teaching of General Councils. "There is one God, and one Christ; and His Church is one and the faith is one; and one the people, joined together in the solid unity of the body in the bond of concord. Die Kirche Christi sei somit eine einzige und fortwährende und „ alle, die gesondert gehen, irren vom Willen und von der Vorschrift Christi, des Herrn, ab, verlassen den Weg des Heiles und gehen dem Untergang entgegen“. He requires the assent of the mind to all truths without exception. "We define" (declare the Fathers of the Council of Florence) "that the Holy and Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold the primacy of the Church throughout the whole world: and that the same Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and the true Vicar of Christ, the head of the whole Church, and the father and teacher of all Christians; and that full power was given to him, in Blessed Peter, by our Lord Jesus Christ to feed, to rule, and to govern the universal Church, as is also contained in the acts of oecumenical councils and in the sacred canons" (Conc. Rightly, therefore, has Leo X. laid down in the 5th council of Lateran "that the Roman Pontiff alone, as having authority over all Councils, has full jurisdiction and power to summon, to transfer, to dissolve Councils, as is clear, not only from the testimony of Holy Writ, from the teaching of the Fathers and of the Roman Pontiffs, and from the decrees of the sacred canons, but from the teaching of the very Councils themselves." In amplissimo | Derjenige weiche von der Wahrheit ab, der die Kirche so darstelle, als ob sie weder erfasst noch gesehen werden könne; als ob sie, wie man behauptet, nur etwas „Luftleeres“ wäre, wodurch viele christliche Gemeinschaften, obgleich voneinander im Glauben getrennt, doch durch ein unsichtbares Band untereinander vereint wären. Epist. 3. Eccl., cap. Wherefore as no heresy can ever be justifiable, so in like manner there can be no justification for schism. In this way a duly constituted society should exist, formed out of the divided multitude of peoples, one in faith, one in end, one in the participation of the means adapted to the attainment of the end, and one as subject to one and the same authority. And He is clearly still speaking of the Church, which a short time before He had called His own, and which He declared He wished to build on Peter as a foundation. Irenaeus too says: "The doctrine of the Apostles is the true faith...which is known to us through the Episcopal succession...which has reached even unto our age by the very fact that the Scriptures have been zealously guarded and fully interpreted" (Contra Haereses, lib. This He clearly resolved to do: this He actually did. Assuredly the infinite power of God is not bound by anything, all things obey it as so many passive instruments. If thou lovest me, Peter, feed my sheep. Satis Cognitum On the Unity of the Church. For this purpose it is necessary to recall in thought the institution of Christianity. But he who dissents even in one point from divinely revealed truth absolutely rejects all faith, since he thereby refuses to honour God as the supreme truth and the formal motive of faith. The Apostles received a mission to teach by visible and audible signs, and they discharged their mission only by words and acts which certainly appealed to the senses. "That they may be one" - "Ut unum sint" has been the rallying cry of Churchmen since Vatican II, and the explanation for the promotion... View full product details » Main Menu. iii., cap. wherefore Gelasius on the decrees of Councils says: "That which the First See has not approved of cannot stand; but what it has thought well to decree has been received by the whole Church" (Epist. Militantis ecclesiae | Pastoralis officii | Es gibt zwei wichtige Enzykliken zur Ekklesiologie: „Satis cognitum“ und „Mystici corporis“ aus dem Jahre 1943. It was thus the duty of all who heard Jesus Christ, if they wished for eternal salvation, not merely to accept His doctrine as a whole, but to assent with their entire mind to all and every point of it, since it is unlawful to withhold faith from God even in regard to one single point. Quamquam pluries | It is of the greatest importance and indeed of absolute necessity, as to which many are deceived, that the nature and character of this unity should be recognized. Satis cognitum. From this it is easy to see that men can fall away from the unity of the Church by schism, as well as by heresy. What is said is proved by the result, because Catholic faith has always been preserved without stain in the Apostolic See" (Post Epistolam, xxvi., ad omnes Episc. 2. The expression indeed is ambiguous, as if the rock and the Church were one and the same. $4.25. IN THE encyclical Satis Cognitum, Pope Leo XIII observes that, since Christ instituted and formed the Church, it is of capital importance in any discussion of its nature and constitution to know just what His will in the matter really was: "Ecclesiam instituit formavitque Christus Dominusproptere; a naturaillius cum quaeritur, caput est nosse quiChristud volueris t quidque reapse effecerit. 7. And as it is bound to defend the truth of faith beyond all others, so also if any question should arise concerning the faith it must be determined by its judgment" (Actin iv.). xi., 30). And as the Bishops, each in his own district, command with real power not only individuals but the whole community, so the Roman pontiffs, whose jurisdiction extends to the whole Christian commonwealth, must have all its parts, even taken collectively, subject and obedient to their authority. It is not sufficient for the due preservation of the unity of the faith that the head should merely have been charged with the office of superintendent, or should have been invested solely with a power of direction. Encyclical of Pope leo xiii, dated June 20, 1896, formulating the pope's teaching on the unity and unicity of the Church. That is, as there is one Lord and one baptism, so should all Christians, without exception, have but one faith. My honour is the strength and stability of my brethren. ii., 16) commands Peter "to confirm his brethren.". xvii., Contra Faustum Manichaeum, cap. in Matt., tom. Now the proper nature of a foundation is to be a principle of cohesion for the various parts of the building. The conditions for the return of Protestants are established by God, not by men. Doch erst das II.Vatikanum nahm sich des Themas „Kirche“ in bislang unbekannter Ausdrücklichkeit an. It has ever been unquestionably the office of the Roman Pontiffs to ratify or to reject the decrees of Councils. . It happens that, as in the human body, some member may be cut off - a hand, a finger, a foot. Dall’alto dell’Apostolico Seggio | And Optatus of Milevis says: "You cannot deny that you know that in the city of Rome the Episcopal chair was first conferred on Peter. Judged by such a criterion it is the unity of the Church which must be principally considered; and of this, for the general good, it has seemed useful to speak in this Encyclical. Hierzu gehört diese Enzyklika und die Verfassung der Kirche, diese Schreiben haben eine besondere Bedeutung, denn sie sind das Schema über die Kirche, den Papst und die Bischöfe, das vom ersten Vatikanischen Konzil erarbeitet wurde. Hispan., n. 4). Grande munus | And, therefore, it was no more allowable to repudiate one iota of the Apostles' teaching than it was to reject any point of the doctrine of Christ Himself. That which comprehends all things, that which they had learnt from their Master; because they openly and publicly declare that they cannot help speaking of what they had seen and heard. und datiert vom 29. "It is not congruous that two superiors with equal authority should be placed over the same flock; but that two, one of whom is higher than the other, should be placed over the same people is not incongruous. 3). Magni nobis gaudi | iv., n. 56). Caritatis | 74). de Poenitentia, n. 4 in Appendice opp. beschreibt die Kirche als „societas“, er schreibt aber auch den Symbolen und der geistigen Seite der Kirche eine wichtige Rolle zu. Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. An diesem sichtbaren Leib der Kirche – im Verhalten von uns Menschen, die wir die Kirche hier auf Erden bilden – würden Elend, Verzagtheit und Verrat hervorgehen. Encyclical: Satis Cognitum. Tametsi futura prospicientibus | iii., 6) - We earnestly pray that He will graciously grant Us the power of bringing conviction home to the minds of men. 175-176). Do the successors of the Apostles assembled together constitute the foundation on which the successor of St. Peter rests in order to derive therefrom strength and stability? The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of her office, has done nothing with greater zeal and endeavour than she has displayed in guarding the integrity of the faith. Divinum illud munus | Add to Cart. As long as it was in the body, it lived; separated, it forfeits its life. Venerable Brethren, Health, and Benediction. Permoti nos | It is then undoubtedly the office of the church to guard Christian doctrine and to propagate it in its integrity and purity. A primacy of honour and the shadowy right of giving advice and admonition, which is called direction, could never secure to any society of men unity or strength. 8. This is so, not only because of the nature of the doctrine itself and of the mysteries it involves, but also because of the divergencies of the human mind and of the disturbing element of conflicting passions. And Augustine: "Heresies have arisen, and certain perverse views ensnaring souls and precipitating them into the abyss only when the Scriptures, good in themselves, are not properly understood" (In Evang. Autor: Papst Leo XIII. liac., ad eundem, n. 14). But since the Church is such by divine will and constitution, such it must uniformly remain to the end of time. (fem. This metaphorical expression of binding and loosing indicates the power of making laws, of judging and of punishing; and the power is said to be of such amplitude and force that God will ratify whatever is decreed by it. Do the sheep when they are all assembled together rule and guide the shepherd? Wherefore, from the very earliest times the fathers and doctors of the Church have been accustomed to follow and, with one accord to defend this rule. Providentissimus Deus | And, since it was necessary that His divine mission should be perpetuated to the end of rime, He took to Himself Disciples, trained by himself, and made them partakers of His own authority. "We think that this difference exists between heresy and schism" (writes St. Jerome): "heresy has no perfect dogmatic teaching, whereas schism, through some Episcopal dissent, also separates from the Church" (S. Hieronymus, Comment. secundum Lucam, lib. When He was about to ascend into Heaven He left us, as it were, a vice-gerent of His love....and so because Peter alone of all others professes his love he is preferred to all-that being the most perfect he should govern the more perfect" (S. Ambrosius, Exposit. But it is also the fold presided over by one Shepherd, and into which all Christ's sheep must betake themselves. "I acknowledge everyone who is united with the See of Peter" (Ep. xliii., n. 7); and he denies that anyone who dissents from the Roman faith can be a Catholic. This, furthermore, Christ gave: "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of Heaven." Aber die Kirche sei weder nur dies noch erschöpfe sie sich in solchen Erbärmlichkeiten; es fehle auch nicht an Großmut, Heroismus und unauffälliger Heiligkeit, noch an Menschen, die ihr Leben im Dienst ihrer Glaubensbrüder und aller Menschen freudig hingeben würden. "By whom (Jesus Christ) we have received grace and Apostleship for obedience to the faith in all nations for His name" (Rom. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos). 4, ad 3). Quum diuturnum | Let no one say, I go indeed to idols, I consult fortune-tellers and soothsayers; but I leave not the Church of God: I am a Catholic. Jesus Christ was sent by God. xii., n. ii). We have already given the full text of this late encyclical, but it may be well lo give our readers also a condensed view of the subject, with its divisions and principal ideas. He who increased the Church in all the earth, and proclaimed it to be stronger than the heavens, gave to a mortal man all power in Heaven when He handed him the Keys" (S. Johannes Chrysostomus, Hom. Humanum genus | To refuse to the Church the primacy is most impious and above measure arrogant. Nor is it improbable that ignorance may be dispelled by the consideration; that false ideas and prejudices may be dissipated from the minds chiefly of those who find themselves in error without fault of theirs; and that even a love for the Church may be stirred up in the souls of men, like unto that charity wherewith Christ loved and united himself to that spouse redeemed by His precious blood. In faith commanded by Christ, has a strong influence on souls und der geistigen der! 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