Daily Manning Quote

Educate your children, and promote by all the power you have the Christian education of the children of the poor. The root of society is in the child. The education of the child is the first obligation of the law of God on men.

Daily Manning Quote

We think that Saints are like the great mountains, or like the cedars of Lebanon, in the kingdom of God—seldom to be seen, and afar off. There are Saints standing amongst us, and we know them not. They do not know it themselves, for sanctity sees only its own imperfections.

Daily Manning Quote

As the only reality in the world is man, so the only reality in man is his spiritual life. We must strive to be more alone. Solitude and silence are full of reality.

De Ecclesia Militante, Chapter 1 (Latin)

CAPUT PRIMUM
DE NOMINE ECCLESIÆ

Controversia de Ecclesia militante, multas habet partes. Primum enim de ipsa secundum se agendum erit; tum de membris ejus, hoc est, de clericis, de monachis, de laicis. Rursum autem de Ecclesia militante secundum se considerata, de qua nunc disputare aggredimur, tres sunt præcipue controversiæ. Prima est, de nomine et definitione Ecclesiæ. Secunda, de qualitate, seu de visibilitate ejusdem. Tertia, de notis, quibus ea certo cognosci potest.

A prima nunc exordiemur; si tamen antea propter studiosos nomina eorum auctorum notaverimus, qui de Ecclesia scripserunt, seu potius eorum quorum nos libros legimus; nec enim omnes legimus. Igitur scripserunt de hoc argumento b. Augustin. lib. de unitate Ecclesiæ; b. Cyprianus librum ejusdem tituli, necnon Optatus lib. 6. contra Parmenianum. Ex recentioribus scripsit Thomas Waldensis tom. 1. lib. 2. doctrinæ fidei cap. 8. 9. 10. etc. Joan. de Turrecremata summam de Ecclesia; Joannes Driedo in lib. 4. de dogmatibus ecclesiasticis, cap. 2. Albertus Pighius controversia 3. cardinalis Hosius in confessione, in explicatione symboli, et lib. 5. contra prolegomena Brentii; Petrus a Soto 1. part. defensionis suæ contra Brentium. Joannes a Daventria in confut. 7. artic. Confessionis Augustanæ; Joannes Cochlæus Philippica 4. et in lib. de Scripturæ et Ecclesiæ auctoritate: Joannes Eckius initio sui Enchiridii, Alphonsus a Castro lib. 6. cont. hæres. Melchior Canus lib. 4. de locis. Joannes Antonius Delphinus in libris trib. de Ecclesia, Joannes a Lovanio in explicat. symboli, et omnes alii, qui symbolum exposuerunt. Franciscus Turrianus in libris duobus de Ecclesia, et ordinat. ministr. Post quos, anno 1577. ineunte, nos hæc ipsa, quæ nunc emittimus in lucem in scholis disputavimus. A quo tempore scripsit etiam de eodem argumento Gregorius de Valentia in sua Analysi fidei catholicæ part. 6. et scripserunt etiam alii, sed non vacavit per alias occupationes eorum libros evolvere.

Venio nunc ad propositam disputationem: Ac ut primum de nomine, deinde de re ipsa dicamus, Ecclesiæ nomen est græcum, deduciturque a verbo εκκαλεω, quod est evoco. Itaque Ecclesia est evocatio, sive coetus vocatorum. Dicitur autem populus Dei coetus vocatorum, quia nemo ad hunc populum se adjungit per se, et suo proprio instinctu, sed omnes quotquot veniunt, a Dei vocatione præveniuntur. Est enim vocatio primum beneficium, quod sancti a Deo recipiunt: Quos vocavit, inquit apostolus Rom. 8. hos justificavit: quos justificavit, hos et magnificavit. Et Actor. 2. Quoscumque advocaverit Dominus Deus noster. Hinc toties apostolus Christianos appelat vocatos, in omnibus fere epistolis.

Sunt autem tria circa hoc nomen notanda. Primo, nomen Ecclesiæ cum aliquo adjuncto, posse et in bonam et in malam partem accipi; dicitur enim: Ecclesia malignantium psalm. 25. Et Ecclesia sanctorum psalm. 88. Absolute autem positum hoc nomen, non intelligi nisi de Ecclesia Christi; excepto uno loco Act. 19. ubi de populo ethnicorum dicitur: Erat enim Ecclesia Confusa.

Secundo, nota cum Augustino in psal. 81. in illud: Deus stetit in synagoga Deorum: tametsi eadem sit Ecclesia veteris Testamenti et novi, quoad essentiam; tamen quia status Ecclesiæ novi Testamenti est longe excellentior, ideo etiam nomina esse distincta. Nam populus veteris Testamenti proprie dicitur synagoga, idest, congregatio, populus novi Testamenti nusquam dicitur synagoga, sed semper Ecclesia, idest, evocatio. Congregari enim commune est hominibus cum bestiis: at evocari proprium est hominum. Neque refert, quod populus Judæorum in Testamento veteri passim vocatur etiam Ecclesia: nam tam synagoga, quam Ecclesia apud Hebræos dicitur a congregando עדה quod vertimus synagoga, dicitur a יען congregare. Similiter, קהל, idest, Ecclesia, dicitur a קהל congregari. Itaque sunt nomina duo, sed idem prorsus significant.

Tertio nota, quemadmodum civitas nunc significat coetum hominum, nunc locum, in quo coetus ille habitat, ita etiam Ecclesiam in Scripturis nunc significare coetum fidelium, ut Rom. 16. Salutant vos omnes Ecclesiæ Asiæ, nunc locum ipsum, in quo fideles congregantur, ut Judith 6. Omnis populus per totam noctem intra Ecclesiam oraverunt, quamquam nos nunc solum de Ecclesia,ut coetum fidelium significat, disputamus.

Daily Manning Quote

The great sin of us all is creature-worship — putting creatures in the place of God; and this brings us into bondage. But there is one creature in the world which is the most subtle of all ; there is one creature which is the most fascinating, the most deceitful, which brings men into bondage more than anything else, and that creature is self — the love of self.

Papal Tiara

Check out the new papal tiara at Orbis Catholicus, the blogging home of the inimitable John Paul Sonnen:

In London

Will be in London for the next few days. Will post pictures when I return to Rome.

Daily Manning Quote

Obedience of domestic life is a great discipline of humility, piety, and self-content. A good son will make a good priest, and a good daughter will make a good nun. A disobedient son will hardly make an obedient priest, and an unloving daughter will hardly make a sister of charity. A good home is a great novitiate.

Daily Manning Quote

It is more generous, it is more in conformity with the example set us by our Divine Lord and Master, to deny ourselves in many things that are lawful. Apply this to dress, to pleasures, to amusements, to the expenditure you make on yourself, to your domestic and private life, and you will find a wide field for its application.

Daily Manning Quote

I have been often asked whether it is lawful to go to a theatre. My answer has been always, "I cannot forbid you. If you ask what I advise, I say without hesitation, 'Do not go.' I would to God that those who can refrain from such things, as an offering to our Divine Redeemer, would refrain for ever."

De Ecclesia Militante - Chapter 1

Chapter One
About the Name of the Church

(1) The controversy about the Church militant has many parts. For she is first considered as she is in herself; then about her members, that is, about clerics, about monks, about laity. But returning to the Church considered according to herself, about which we now start to dispute, there are especially three controversies. The first is about the name and definition of ‘Church.’ The second, about the quality or about the visibility of the same. The third, about the notes, by which she is able to be known certainly.

(2) Now we begin from the first; and yet before that, on account of the zealous, we would note the name of the authors who have written about the Church, or rather, of those whose books we have read; for we have not read everything. And so, Bd. Augustine, in the lib. de unitate Ecclesiae; Bd. Cyprian, in a book of the same title; but also Optatus in book six contra Parmenianum, have written about this argument. Of the more recent, Thomas Waldensis, in volume 1, book 2 doctrinae fidei, has written; [as have] Joannes de Turrecremata, in summam de Ecclesia; John Driedo, in book 4 of de dogmatibus ecclesiasticis, chapter 2; Albert Pinghius, controversia 3; Cardinal Hosius [Stansislaw Hozjusz] in confessione, in explicatione symboli, and in book 5 contra prolegomena Brentii; Peter a Soto in the first part of his defense against Brentius; John Daventria, in confut. 7. art. Confessionis Augustanae; John Cochlaeus, in Philippica 4, and in the book de Scripturae et Ecclesiae auctoritate; John Eck, in the beginning of his Enchiridii; Alphonsus de Castro, in book 6 contra haeres.; Melchior Cano in book 4 de locis symboli; John Antonius Delphinus, in three books de Ecclesia, John of Louvain in explicat. symboli, and all others who have explained the Creed; and Francis Turrianus in two books, de Ecclesia, and ordinat. minstr. After which, beginning in 1577 we disputed in the schools these very things which we now bring to light. From which time Gregory de Valencia has written about the same thing in his Analysi fidei catholicae part 6, and others also have written, but he is not free to evaluate their books on account of other occupations.

(3) I come now to the proposed disputation: and as we speak first about the name and then about the thing itself, [we say] that the name ‘Church’ is Greek, and is derived from ’εκκαλέο, that is, ‘I call out/forth.’ And so, ‘Church’ is a calling out, or an assembly of the called. But the Church is designated a assembly of the called, because no one joins himself to this people through himself, and his own proper instinct; but all whosoever come, are prevented by the call of God. For the call is the first benefit which the saints receive from God: “Whom he calls,” says the apostle in Romans 8, “Those he justifies; whom he justifies, those also he shall magnify.” And Acts 2, “Whomsoever the Lord our God shall call.” Then too the apostle calls all Christians ‘called’, in almost all of his letters.

(4) But there are three things about this name that should be noted. First, the name ‘Church’ with some adjective can be taken both in a good sense and in a bad sense; for Psalm 25 says, “the Church of the Wicked,” and Psalm 88, “the Church of the Saints.” But this name put absolutely should not be understood except of the Church of Christ; except in one place in Acts 19 where it speaks about the people of the gentiles: “For the assembly was confused.”

(5) In the second place, note with Augustine on Psalm 81 on the passage “God stood in the assembly of the gods,” even though the Church of the Old Testament and that of the New are the same as far as the essence, nevertheless, because the status of the Church of the New Testament is by far more excellent, therefore, the names are also different. For the people of the Old Testament is properly called the synagogue, that is, the gathering, or congregation. The people of the New Testament is nowhere called synagogue, but always the Church, that is, the calling out. For being gathered, congregated, is common to men and beasts; but being called out is proper to men. Nor does it make any difference that the people of the Jews in the Old Testament are sometimes also called the Church. For both synagogue and Church, among the Hebrews, come from gathering ‘ādāh [עדה (ayin-dalet-he)]; what we translate ‘synagogue’ comes from yā’an [יען (yod-ayin-nun)] ‘to gather.’ Likewise qāhāl [קהל (qoph-he-lamed)], that is, “Church,” comes from qāhal [קהל (qoph-he-lamed)] ‘to be gathered.’ Therefore there are two names, but they mean exactly the same thing.

(6) Third note, in the same way that ‘city’ signifies at times a assembly of men, and at other times, the place in which that assembly dwells; so also ‘Church’ sometimes signifies the assembly of the faithful, as in Romans 16: “All of the Churches of Asia greet you,” and elsewhere that place in which the faithful are gathered, as in Judith 6: “The whole people prayed in the Church throughout the night”; although, now we are disputing only about the Church as it signifies the assembly of the faithful.

Saint Robert Bellarmine - De Ecclesia Militante

Today I'm beginning to post St. Robert Bellarmine's classic work, De Ecclesia Militante. Despite its importance to the study of ecclesiology, to the best of my knowledge there is no English version available. I will be posting a (very rough) English translation, with the Latin text following in a later post. I hope that by making this text available on the internet, it will prompt other students to rediscover Bellarmine's theology.

Daily Manning Quote

Read the rules of life which S. Paul gave to Bishops, Priests, people, parents, children, servants, and homes. Read also what S. Peter counselled as to dress and ornaments. See what the Saints thought, said, and practised even in their childhood, before they had ripened beyond our reach,as to amusements, self-indulgence, and the dangers of the world. These are, or ought to be, the standard of our life.

Daily Manning Quote

To put man and woman upon an equality is not to elevate woman, but to degrade her. I trust that the womanhood of England, to say nothing of the Christian conscience which yet remains, will resist by a stern moral refusal the immodesty which would thrust women from their private life of duty and supremacy into the public conflicts of men.

Bear in mind these three things: (1) First, that the Author and Founder of the devotion to the Mother of God is Jesus Himself. (2) Secondly, that the chief promoters of it were the apostles and disciples of our Lord. (3) Thirdly, that in nothing do we go beyond them.

Daily Manning Quote

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is no more than the final analysis, both in conception and in expression, of the pre-eminent and singular sanctification of the Mother of God.

Daily Manning Quote

The answers to prayer, through the intercession of Mary, in every age of the Church, and in every state of life, and in all manner of trials, public and private, have taught the faithful that she bears an office of power and patronage over us.

Daily Manning Quote

If it were true of the poor woman who anointed the head of Jesus, "Wheresoever the Gospel shall be preached that which this woman hath done shall be told for a memorial of her," how much more of her who ministered to Him the substance of His humanity! If the name Mary Magdalene was to be embalmed in the Gospel, how much more the name of His Blessed Mother!

Save the Cardinal Petition

"The Cardinal" is an historic London Pub, named for Cardinal Manning. Join the petition to keep its name!

http://www.rcdow.org.uk/diocese/default.asp?library_ref=4&content_ref=3310

Daily Manning Quote

In no point do we go beyond the devotion of the disciples to Mary; in no point did the devotion of the disciples fall short of ours. No one, not even the Saints of the Church, not even S. Bernard, S. Bonaventure, S. Alphonsus, loved or venerated the Blessed Virgin with a love so tender, a veneration so profound, as S. Peter, S. James and S. John.

Daily Manning Quote

The disciples, from the moment of their call to follow Jesus, learned to know, reverence, and love His Mother. She was the Mother of their Master—of Him Who had spoken to them as never had any man spoken before. His words penetrated and fascinated their hearts with a thrill of awe and love such as no human voice had ever caused till then. He had manifested in their presence alone an honour to His Mother such as He showed to no other.