Vol 9 Issue 53 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
December 31, 2016 ~ Saint Sylvester, opn!
1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (99)
2. Circumcision
3. Saint Concordius
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
This year will mark the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Protestant revolt that caused the loss of so many souls in once Catholic Europe. It will also mark 100 years since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia that caused the loss of innumerable persons in its eradication of the Catholic and Orthodox faith as radicals imposed atheistic Communism. Our Lady of Fatima prophesied the tragedy that the world would incur from these Marxists as they would spread their godless theories throughout the world. There is not one country not infected by these theories and it is a result because Catholics did not heed the warnings to pray and sacrifice for the conversion of sinners—instead the seeds of universal salvation and evolution in the guise of Modernism began to penetrate the Clergy and laity such that by 1960 the state of the clergy of the Church was rotten enough to fall with the laity who corrupted by them. The Secular Society, i.e., the godless Society, of today is the product of, as Saint Bernard would say, good intentions but not good works by Catholics: Catholics who would like to see peace, but never do anything to obtain it; Catholics who would see their children faithful but are not faithful themselves nor see to it that that children live the faith; Catholics who claim they oppose immorality but don’t avoid it themselves. As faithful Catholics will reflect upon the anniversaries that have caused so much detriment to the salvation of souls, let them not forget the message of Fatima this year—taking time to read the story or watch the movie and to take to heart the message by offering prayer and sacrifice and especially the resolution to live their Catholic Faith. If the world could be removed so far from God is such a short time, it means that the withdrawal of God’s grace can bring each and all swiftly to blindness to Him and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. (Luke 11:26; cf. Matt. 12:45, 2 Peter 2:20 and 1 Tim. 5:8). Rather, may the words that are heard as the next year closes be that of: Well done, good and faithful servant, because thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will place thee over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matt. 25:21)
As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor
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Baptism
Means of Salvation
Sacrament of Baptism
Baptism by Desire and Baptism in Blood
Continuing a summary of teachings prior that have been looked upon as the basis for understanding the necessity of the Church as means of Salvation:
Saint Fulgentius of Ruspa (467-533), writing on the Faith to Peter (De fide ad Petrem, 36-38, 77-79) gives the following outline:
Hold most firmly and never doubt that the Sacrament of Baptism can exist not only within the Catholic Church but also among heretics who baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. But, outside the Catholic Church, it can be of no use. Indeed, just as within the Church salvation is conferred through the Sacrament of Baptism on those who believe rightly, so for those baptized outside the Church destruction is increased by that same Baptism, if they do not return to the Church. So much does the communion of ecclesiastical society count for salvation that the one is not saved by Baptism to whom it is not given where it ought to be given. The one baptized outside the Church has Baptism, but, for that one separated from the Church, it is for his judgment. And, because it is obvious that, wherever it is given this Baptism is to be given only once; therefore, although it will have been given by heretics in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, it is to be recognized with respect and for that reason not to be repeated. For the Savior says, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed.” (John 13:10.)
Hold most firmly and never doubt that everyone baptized outside the Catholic Church cannot be a partaker of eternal life, if before the end of this life they will not have returned to the Catholic Church and have been incorporated into it. Because, “if I have,” says the Apostle, “all faith and know all mysteries, but I do not have charity, I am nothing.” (1 Cor. 13, 2.) So, in the days of the flood, we read that no one could have been saved outside the ark.
Hold most firmly and never doubt that not only all pagans but also all Jews and all heretics and schismatics who finish this present life outside the Catholic Church will go “into eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25, 41)
Therefore, this established teaching was not something new when the teaching of extra ecclesiam non salus was adopted by the Fourth Lateran Council in the year 1215 when opposing the errors of the Albigensians and other heretics of the time:
One indeed is the universal Church of the faithful, outside which no one at all is saved, [cf. St. Cyprian, Ep. 73, To Jubaianus, n. 21; ML 3, 1123B] in which the priest himself is the sacrifice, Jesus Christ, whose body and blood are truly contained in the sacrament of the altar under the species of bread and wine; the bread (changed) into His body by the divine power of transubstantiation, and the wine into the blood, so that to accomplish the mystery of unity we ourselves receive from His (nature) what He Himself received from ours. And surely no one can accomplish this sacrament except a priest who has been rightly ordained according to the keys of the Church which Jesus Christ Himself conceded to the Apostles and to their successors. But the sacrament of baptism (which at the invocation of God and the indivisible Trinity, namely, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, is solemnized in water) rightly conferred by anyone in the form of the Church is useful unto salvation for little ones and for adults. And if, after the reception of baptism, anyone shall have lapsed into sin, through true penance he can always be restored. Moreover, not only virgins and the continent but also married persons pleasing to God through right faith and good work merit to arrive at a blessed eternity.
Previous, Innocent III gave the Archbishop of Terraco a Profession of Faith (Eius exemplo) on December 18, 1208, which exacted these words from Durand of Osca and his Waldensian followers: By the heart we believe and by the mouth we confess the one Church, not of heretics but the Holy Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic (Church) outside which we believe that no one is saved. (Cf. DB 423)
Boniface VIII, in the Bull Unam sanctam of November 18, 1302, provided this teaching of no salvation outside the Catholic Church:
With Faith urging us we are forced to believe and to hold the one, holy, Catholic Church and that, apostolic, and we firmly believe and simply confess this (Church) outside which there is no salvation nor remission of sin, the Spouse in the Canticle proclaiming: “One is my dove, my perfect one. One she is of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her” [ Song. 6:8]; which represents the one mystical body whose head is Christ, of Christ indeed, as God. And in this, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” [Eph. 4:5]. Certainly Noah had one ark at the time of the flood, prefiguring one Church which perfect on one cubit had one ruler and guide, namely Noah outside which we read all living things on the earth were destroyed. Moreover this we venerate and this alone, the Lord in the prophet saying: “Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword; my only one from the hand of the dog” [Ps. 21:21]. For in behalf of the soul, that is, in behalf of himself, the head itself and the body he prayed at the same time, which body he called the “Only one” namely, the Church, because of the unity of the spouse, the faith, the sacraments, and the charity of the Church. This is that “seamless tunic” of the Lord [ John19:23], which was not cut, but came forth by chance. Therefore, of the one and only Church (there is) one body, one head, not two heads as a monster, namely, Christ and Peter, the Vicar of Christ and the successor of Peter, the Lord Himself saying to Peter: “Feed my sheep” [ John21:17]. He said “My,” and generally, not individually these or those, through which it is understood that He entrusted all to him. If, therefore, the Greeks or others say that they were not entrusted to Peter and his successors, of necessity let them confess that they are not of the sheep of Christ, since the Lord says in John, “to be one flock and one Shepherd” [John 10:16]. (Cf. DB 468),
And Clement VI sent the letter Super quibusdam to the Consolator, the Catholicon of the Armenians, on September 20, 1351, the following acceptance of Faith: In the second place, we ask whether you and the Armenians obedient to you believe that no man of the wayfarers outside the faith of this Church, and outside the obedience of the Pope of Rome, can finally be saved. (Cf. DB 570 b)
There is no difference where at the Council of Florence, in the Bull, Cantate Domino, February 4, 1442, it was decreed the Jacobites were to accept the following as Faith:
It firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that those not living within the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics cannot become participants in eternal life, but will depart “into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels” [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of life the same have been added to the flock; and that the unity of the ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings, almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever almsgiving he has practiced, even if he has shed blood for the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church. (Cf. St. Fulgentius, De fide, ad Petrum, c. 37ff., n. 78 ff. [ML 65, 703 f.]; —DB 714)
The Council of Trent proscribed a profession of faith by all converts from Protestantism and for all priests before ordination which, after the Nicene-Constantinople Creed states:
The apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all other observances and constitutions of that same Church I most firmly admit and embrace. I likewise accept Holy Scripture according to that sense which our holy Mother Church has held and does hold, whose [office] it is to judge of the true meaning and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures; I shall never accept nor interpret it otherwise than in accordance with the unanimous consent of the Fathers. (Cf. DB 995)
And then demands acceptance of the teachings of the Council of Trent, including Purgatory, intercession of saints and indulgences, concludes:
Also all other things taught, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and ecumenical Councils, and especially by the sacred and holy Synod of Trent, I without hesitation accept and profess; and at the same time all things contrary thereto, and whatever heresies have been condemned, and rejected, and anathematized by the Church, I likewise condemn, reject, and anathematize. This true Catholic faith, outside of which no one can be saved, (and) which of my own accord I now profess and truly hold, I, N., do promise, vow, and swear that I will, with the help of God, most faithfully retain and profess the same to the last breath of life as pure and inviolable, and that I will take care as far as lies in my power that it be held, taught, and preached by my subjects or by those over whom by virtue of my office I have charge, so help me God, and these holy Gospels of God. (Bull of Pius IV, Iniunctum nobis, November 13, 1565; Cf. DB 1000)
As in conscience the neo-Modernist Conciliar Church clergy could not accept The apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all other observances and constitutions of that same Church as they went about dismantling the faith of millions and rejecting the teachings of the Council of Trent this profession of faith was abrogated along with the Oath against Modernism Pope Pius X imposed on September 1, 1910—an oath they hated because it bothered their conscience—in 1967, when Giovanni Montini (announced July 21, 1967; cf. AAS 59, 1058) replaced it with the Nicene Creed. Giovanni Montini then produced his Credo of the People of God of June 30, 1968 (Solemnia hac liturgia) which states: We give thanks, however, to the divine goodness that very many believers can testify with us before men to the unity of God, even though they know not the mystery of the most holy Trinity (§ 9) after stating God is the creator in each man of his spiritual and immortal soul. (§ 8) And, in regards to salvation, paragraphs 22-23 states:
Recognizing also the existence, outside the organism of the Church of Christ, of numerous elements of truth and sanctification which belong to her as her own and tend to Catholic unity, (Cf. Lumen Gentium, 8.) and believing in the action of the Holy Spirit who stirs up in the heart of the disciples of Christ love of this unity, (Cf. ibid., 15.) we entertain the hope that the Christians who are not yet in the full communion of the one only Church will one day be reunited in one flock with one only shepherd.
We believe that the Church is necessary for salvation, because Christ, who is the sole mediator and way of salvation, renders Himself present for us in His body which is the Church. (Cf. ibid., 14.) But the divine design of salvation embraces all men; and those who without fault on their part do not know the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but seek God sincerely, and under the influence of grace endeavor to do His will as recognized through the promptings of their conscience, they, in a number known only to God, can obtain salvation. (Cf. ibid., 16.)
This was presented by Montini on behalf of all the People of God, a firm witness to the divine Truth entrusted to the Church to be announced to all nations. (§ 7) Giovanni Montini, by this “Apostolic Letter” gutted the Church of her teachings of sixteen hundred years, placing her back to when the Church was struggling to oppose the heresies of Arianism, Manichaeism and Gnosticism, the Meletian Schism, the Easter Controversy along with the prevailing Paganism at the Council of Nicaea and Semi-Arianism (Christ like but not same-substance as the Father), Macedonianism (Holy Ghost is not God) and Apollinarianism (Christ had no human mind) at the Council of Constantinople in 381. It may have been in the guise of telling all non-Catholics that unity could be achieved by starting all over again at this point of the Church in history, but knowingly or unknowingly it allowed the neo-Modernists to reject all the definitions of the Catholic Church and reformulate Church terms into new meanings.
(To be continued)
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Fr. Leonard Goffine
The Ecclesiastical Year (1880)
NEW YEAR’S DAY
Why is this day so called?
Because the secular year begins with this day, as the Church year begins with the First Sunday in Advent.
What should we do on this day?
An offering of the new year should be made to God, asking His grace that we may spend the year in a holy manner, for the welfare of the soul.
Why do we wish each other a “Happy New Year”?
Because to do so is an act of Christian love; but this wish should come from the heart, and not merely from worldly politeness, otherwise we would be like the heathens (Mt. 5:47), and receive no other reward than they.
What feast of the Church is celebrated today?
The Feast of the Circumcision of our Lord, Who, for love of us, voluntarily subjected Himself to the painful law of the Old Covenant, that we might be freed from the same.
What was the Circumcision?
It was an external sign of the Old Law, by which the people of that day were numbered among the chosen people of God, as now they become, by baptism, members of the Church of Christ.
What is the signification of Circumcision in the moral or spiritual sense?
It signifies the mortification of the senses, of evil desires, and inclinations. This must be practiced by Christians now, since they have promised it in baptism which would be useless to them without the practice of mortification; just as little as the Jew by exterior Circumcision is a true Jew, just so little is the baptized a true Christian without a virtuous life. Beg of Christ, therefore, today, to give you the grace of the true Circumcision of heart.
PRAYER I thank Thee, O Lord Jesus, because Thou hast shed Thy blood for me in Circumcision, and beg Thee that by Thy precious blood I may receive the grace to circumcise my heart and all my senses, so that I may lead a life of mortification in this world, and attain eternal joys in the next. Amen.
COLLECT O God, Who, by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary, hast bestowed upon mankind the rewards of eternal salvation; grant, we beseech Thee, that we may feel the benefit of her intercession for us, through whom we have deserved to receive the author of life, our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who livest and reignest, etc.
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