number of those religious and discreet men, who sincerely labor much for reunion with the Catholic Church, is increasing. We can hardly say how strongly these and other signs quicken the charity of Christ in Us, and redoubling Our prayers from Our inmost soul We call down a fuller measure of divine grace, which, poured out on minds so well disposed, may issue in the ardently desired fruit, the fruit, namely, that We may all meet into the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, one body and one Spirit; as you are called in one hope of your calling—one Lord, one faith, one baptism.
With loving heart, then, We turn to you all in England, to whatever community or institution you may belong, desiring to recall you to this holy unity. We beseech you, as you value your eternal salvation, to offer up humble and continuous prayer to God, our Heavenly Father, the giver of all light, who with gentle power impels us to the good and the right; and without ceasing to implore light to know the truth in all its fulness, and to embrace the designs of His mercy with single and entire faithfulness, calling upon the glorious name and merits of Jesus Christ, who is the author and finisher of our faith, who loved the Church and delivered Himself for it, that He might sanctify it and might present it to Himself a glorious Church. Difficulties there may be for us to face, but they are not of a nature which should delay Our apostolic zeal or stay your energy. Ah, no doubt the many changes that have come about, and time itself, have caused the existing divisions to take deeper root. But is that a reason to give up all hope of remedy, reconciliation and peace? By no means if God is with us. For we must not judge of such great issues from a human standpoint only, but rather must we look to the power and mercy of God. In great and arduous enterprises, provided they are undertaken with an earnest and right intent, God stands by man's side, and it is precisely in these difficulties that the action of His providence shines forth with greatest splendor. The time is not far distant when thirteen centuries will have been completed since the English race welcomed those apostolic men sent, as We have said, from this very city of Rome, and, casting aside the pagan deities, dedicated the first fruits of its faith to Christ our Lord and God. This encourages Our hope. It is, indeed, an event worthy to be remembered with public thanksgiving; would that this occasion might bring to all reflecting minds the memory of the faith then preached to your ancestors, the same which is now preached—Jesus Christ yesterday, to-day, and the same forever, as the apostle says, who also most opportunely exhorts you, as He does all, to remember those first preachers who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
In such a cause We, first of all, call to Our assistance as Our allies the Catholics of England, whose faith and piety We know by experience. There can be no doubt that, weighing earnestly the value and effects of holy prayer, the virtue of which We have truly declared, they will strive by every means to succor their fellow-countrymen and brethren by invoking in their behalf the divine clemency. To pray for oneself is a need, to pray for others is a counsel of brotherly love; and it is plain that it is not prayer dictated by necessity so much as that inspired by fraternal charity which will find most favor in the sight of God. The first Christians undoubtedly adopted this practice. Especially in all that pertains to the gift of faith the early ages set us a striking example. Thus it was the custom to pray to God with ardor that relations, friends, rulers, and fellow-citizens might be blessed by a mind obedient to the Christian faith.
And in regard to this there is another matter which gives Us anxiety. We have heard that in England there are some who, being Catholics in name, do not show themselves so in practice; and that in your great towns there are vast numbers of people who know not the elements of the Christian faith, who never pray to God, and live in ignorance of His justice and of His mercy. We must pray to God, and pray yet more earnestly in this sad condition of things, since He alone can effect a remedy. May He show the measures proper to be taken; may He sustain the courage and strength of those who labor at this arduous task; may He deign to send laborers into His harvest.
Whilst We so earnestly press upon Our children the duty of prayer, We desire at the same time to warn them that they should not suffer themselves to be wanting in anything that pertains to the grace and the fruit of prayer, and that they should have ever before their minds the precept of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians: Be without offence to the Jews and to the Gentiles, and to the Church of God. For besides those interior dispositions of soul necessary for rightly offering prayer to God, it is also needful that they should be accompanied by actions and by words befitting the Christian profession—first of all, and chiefly, the exemplary observance of uprightness and justice, of pitifulness for the poor, of penance, of peace and concord in your own houses, of respect for the law—these are what will give force and efficacy to your prayers. Mercy favors the petition of those who in all justice study and carry out the precepts of Christ, according to His promise: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be done unto you. And therefore do We exhort you that, uniting your prayer with Ours, your great desire may now be that God will grant you to welcome your fellow-citizens and brethren in the bond of perfect charity. Moreover, it is profitable to implore the help of the saints of God, the efficacy of whose prayers, specially in such a cause as this, is shown in that pregnant remark of St. Augustine as to St. Stephen: "If holy Stephen had not prayed, the Church to-day would have had no Paul."
We therefore humbly call on St. Gregory, whom the English have ever rejoiced to greet as the apostle of their race, on Augustine his disciple and his messenger, and on those other saints of God, through whose wonderful virtues and no less wonderful deeds England has merited the title of "Island of the Saints"; on St. Peter and St. George, those special patrons, and above all on Mary, the Holy Mother of God, whom Christ Himself from the Cross left to be the mother of mankind, to whom your kingdom was dedicated by your forefathers under that glorious title "The Dowry of Mary." All these with full confidence We call upon to be Our pleaders before the throne of God that, renewing the glory of ancient days, He may fill you with all joy and peace in believing: that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Ghost. Care should be taken that the prayers for unity already established amongst you Catholics on certain fixed days should be made more popular and recited with greater devotion. Especially that the pious practice of the Holy Rosary, which We Ourselves have so strongly recommended, should flourish, for it contains as it were a summary of the Gospel teaching, and has always been a most salutary institution for the people at large. Moreover, We are pleased of Our own will and authority to add still another to the sacred Indulgences which have been granted from time to time by Our predecessors. We grant, that is, to all those who piously recite the prayer appended to this letter, to whatever nation they may belong, an indulgence of three hundred days; moreover, a plenary indulgence once a month on the observance of the usual conditions to those who have recited it daily.
Finally, may the divine prayer of Christ Himself for unity fill up the full measure of Our desires, a prayer which on this day, through the mystery of His most holy resurrection, We repeat with the utmost confidence: Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me: that they may be one as We also are one...Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth...And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me: that all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee; that they also may be one in Us...I in them and Thou in Me: that they may be made perfect in one: and the world may know that Thou hast sent Me and hast loved them, as Thou hast also loved Me.
Finally, We desire all manner of blessings from God for the whole of the British people, and with all Our heart We pray that those who seek the kingdom of Christ and salvation in the unity of faith may enter on the full realization of their desires.
To the Blessed Virgin.
Prayer for England.
O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry" and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross. O sorrowful Mother! intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
Encyclical Letter Satis Cognitum, June 20, 1896.
It is sufficiently well known unto you that no small share of Our thoughts and of Our care is devoted to Our endeavor to bring back to the fold) placed under the guardianship of Jesus Christ, the chief Pastor of souls, sheep that have strayed. Bent upon this, We have thought it most conducive to this salutary end and pur- pose to describe the exemplar and, as it were, the linea- ments of the Church. Amongst these the most worthy of Our chief consideration is Unity. This the divine Author impressed on it as a^^lasting sign of truth and of unconquerable strength. The essential beauty and come- liness of the Church ought greatly to influence the minds of those who consider it. 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. Christ loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it} If those about to come back to their most loving Mother (not yet fully known, or culpably abandoned) should perceive that their return involves not indeed the shedding of their blood (at which price nevertheless the Church » Eph. V. 25 350 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 351 was bought by Jesus Christ) but some lesser trouble and labor, let them clearly understand that this burden has been laid on them not by the will of man but by the will and command of God. They may thus, by the help of heavenly grace, realize and feel the truth of the divine saying, My yoke is sweet and My burden light} ' — " Wherefore, having put all Oiu* hope in the Father of lights, from whom cometh every best gift and every perfect gift ^ — from Him, namely, who alone gives the increase ^ — We earnestly pray that He will graciously grant Us the power of bringing conviction home to the minds of men.
Although God can do by His owti power all that is effected by created natures.-nevertheless in the counsels of His loving pro\ddence He(has preferred to help men by the instrumentality of menS And, as in the natural order He does not usually give fuD perfection except by means of man's work and actions so also He makes use of human aid for that which lies beyond the limits of nature; that is to say, for the sanctification and salvation of souls. But Ut is obvious that nothing can be communicated amongst men save by means of external things which the senses can preceive. For this reason the Son of God assumed human nature — who being in the form of Goaj...emptied Hirn- self, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of a man * — and thus living on earth He taught His doc- trine and gave His laws, conversing with men.
And since it was necessary that His divine mission should be prepetuated to the end of time. He took to Himself (disciples,/ trained by Himself, and made them (partakers of His own authority^ And, when He had mvoked upon them from heaven the Spirit of Truth, He bade them go through the whole world and faithfully preach to all nations what He had taught and what He had commanded, so that by the profession of His doctrine, and the observance of His laws, the human race might 352 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
attain to holiness on earth and never-ending happiness in heaven. In this wise, and on this principle, the Church was begotten. If we consider the 'chief end of this Church^ and the proximate efficient causes" of salvation, it is un- doubtedly sjfyjri hml; but in regard to those who constitute it, and to the things which lead to these spiritual gifts, it is external and necessarily visible. The apostles re- ceived 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. So that their voices falling upon the ears of those who heard them begot faith in souls — Faith cometh by hearing, ami hearing by the word of Christ} And faith_itse].f— that is assent given to the first and supreme truth — though residing essentially in the intellect, must^ be manifested by outward prpfessloii — For, with the heart, we believe unto justice; but with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation? In the same way, in man, nothing is more internal than heavenly grace which begets sanctity, but the ordinary and chief means of obtaining grace are ex- ternal: that is to say, the sacraments which are adminis- tered by men specially chosen for that purpose, by means of certain ordinances.
Jesus Christ commanded His apostles and their suc- cessors to the end of time to teach and rule the nations. He ordered the nations to accept their teaching and obey their authority. Bvit this correlation of rights and duties in the Christian commonwealth not only could not have been made permanent, but could not even have been initiated except throvigh the senses, which are of all things the messengers and interpreters.
For this reason the Church is so often called in holy writ a body, and even the^ body of Christ — Now you are the body of Christ ^— and precisely because it is a body is the Church visible:^ and because it is the body of Christ THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 353 is it living and energizing, because by the infusion of His power Christ guards and sustains it, just as the vine gives nourishment and renders fruitful the branches united to it. And as in animals the vital principle is unseen and invisible, and is evidenced and manifested by the move- ments and action of the members, so the principle of supernatural life in the Church is clearly shown in that which is done by it.
From this it follows that those who arbitrarily conjure up and picture to themselves a hidden and invisible Church are in grievous and pernicious error, as also are those who regard the Church as a human institution which claims a certain obedience in discipline and external duties, but which is mthout the perennial communication of the gifts of di_yine grace, and without all that which testifies by constant andTundoubted signs to the existence Qf_thatjife_ which is drawn fro m_Ggd. It is assuredly as impossible that the Church of Jesus Christ can be the one or the other as that man should be a body alone or a soul alone. The connection and union of both_ elements is as abso- lutely necessary to the true Church as the intimate union of the soul and body is to human nature. The Church is not something dead: it is the body of ^hrist endoaxd^ "^!l^^P?I5£tllIlLii£^- As Christ, thehie^d and exemplar, is not wholly in His visible human nature, which Photin- ians and Nestorians assert, nor wholly in the in\dsible divine nature, as the Monophysites hold, but is one, from and in both natures, visible and invisible; so the mystical body of Christ is the true Church only because its visible parts draw life and power from the supernatural gifts and other things whence spring their very nature and essence. But since the Church is such by divine will and constitu- tion, such it must uniformly remain to the end of time. If it did not, then it would not have been founded as perpetual and the end set before it would have been limited to some certain place and to some certain period of time; both of which are contrary to the truth. The union 354 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
consequently of visible and invisible elements, because it harmonizes with the natural order and by God's will belongs to the very essence of the Church, must neces- sarily remain so. long as the Church itself shall endure. Wherefore Chrysostom writes: "Secede not from the Church: for nothing is stronger than the Church. Thy hope is the Church; thy salvation is the Church; thy refuge is the Church. It is higher than the heavens and wider than the earth. It never grows old, but is ever full of vigor. Wherefore holy writ pointing to its strength and stabihty calls it a mountain." ^ Also Augustine says: "Unbelievers think that the Christian religion will last for a certain period in the world and will then disappear. But it will remain as long as the sun — as long as the sun rises and sets; that is, as long as the ages of time shall roll, the Church of God — the true body of Christ on earth — will not disappear." ^ And in another place: "The Church will totter if its foundation shakes; but how can Christ be moved?...Christ re- maining immovable, it (the Church) shall never be^ shaken. Where are they that say tKat the Church has disappeared from the world, when it cannot even be shaken?"^ He who seeks the truth must be guided by these funda- mental principles. That is to say, that Christ the Lord instituted and formed the Church: wherefore when we are asked what its nature is, the main thing is to see what Christ wished, and what in fact He did. Judged by such a criterion it is the unity of the Church which must be prin- cipally considered; and of this, for the general good, it has seemed useful to speak in this Encyclical.
It is so evident from the clear and frequent testimonies of holy writ that the true Church of Jesus Christ is onej that no Christian can dare to deny it. But in judging and determining the nature of this unity many have erred in various ways. Not the foundation of the Church alone, ^ Enarratio in Psalm, ciii., sermo ii., n. 5.
THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH. 355 but its whole constitution, belongs to the class of things effected by Christ's free choice. For this reason the entire case must be judged by what was actually done. We must consequently investigate not how the Church may possibly be one, but how He, who founded it, willed that it should be one.
But when we consider what was actually done we find that Jesus Christ did not, in point of fact, institute a Church to embrace several communities similar in nature, but in themselves distinct, and lacking those bonds which render the Church unique and indivisible after that manner in which in the symbol of our faith we profess: "I believe in one Church."
"The Church in respect^f its unity belongs to the category of things Jndixisible by nature, though heretics try to divide it into many parts...We say, therefore, that the Catholic Church is unique in its essence, in its ^^ctrine, in its origin, and in its excellence...Further- more, the eminence of the Church arises from its unity, as the principle of its constitution — a unity surpassing all else, and haymg_nothing hke unto it or equal to it.^ For this reason Christ, speaking of this mystical edifice, men- tions only one Church, which He calls His own — "I will build My Church "; any other Church except this one, rtf since it has not been founded by Christ, cannot be the true Church. This becomes even more evident when the purpose of the di\'ine Founder is considered. For what did Christ the Lord ask? What did He wish in regard to the Church founded, or about to be founded? This: to transmit to it the same mission and the same mandate which He had received from the Father, that they should be^perpetuated.. This He clearly resolved to do: this He actually did. As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.^ As thou hast sent Me into the world I also have sent thxm into the world.^ S. Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromatum lib. \'iii., c. 17 356 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
But the mission of Christ is to save that which had perished; that is to say, not some nations or peoples, but the whole human race, without distinction of time or place. The Son of man came that the world might he saved by Him} For there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved? The Church, therefore, ^j g^ bound to communicate without stint to all men, and to transmit through all ages, the salvation effected by Jesus_Christ, and the blessings flowing therefrom. Where- fore, by the will of its Founder, it is necessary that this Church should be one in all lands and at all times. To justify the existence of more than one Church it would be necessary to go outside this world, and to create a new and unheard-of race of men.
That the one Church should embrace all men every- where and at all times was seen and foretold by Isaias, when looking into the future he saw the appearance of a mountain conspicuous by its all-surpassing altitude, which set forth the image of "the house of the Lord" — that is, of the Church. And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of the mountains.^ But this mountain which towers over all other moun- tains is one; and the house of the Lord_ to which all na- . tion^ shall come to seek the rule of li^dng is also one. " And all nations shall flow unto it. And. many peoples shall go, and say: Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach its His ways, and we will walk in His paths.* Explaining this passage, Optatus of Milevis says: "It is written in the prophet Isaias: ' From Sion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.' For it is not on Mount Sion that Isaias sees the valley, but on the holy mountain; that is, the Church, which has raised it- self conspicuously throughout the entire Roman world 'John iii. 17. ^^Acts iv. 12 ^Isa. ii. 2. ■• Isa. ii. 2, 3. under the whole heavens...The Church is, therefore, the spiritual Sion in which Christ has been constituted King by God the Father, and which exists throughout the entire earth, on which there is but one Catholic Church," And Augustine says: "What can be so manifest as a mountain, or so well known? There are, it is true, mountains which are unknown because they are situated in some remote part of the earth...But this mountain is not unknown; for it has filled the whole face of the world, and about this it is said that it is prepared on the summit of the mountains."
Furthermore, the Son of God decreed that the Church should be His mystical body, with which He should be united as the head, after the manner of the human body which He assumed, to which the natural head is physiologically united. As He took to Himself a mortal body which he gave to suffering and death in order to pay the price of man's redemption, so also He has one mystical body in which and through which He renders men partakers of holiness and of eternal salvation. God hath made Him (Christ) head over all the Church, which is His body. Scattered and separated members cannot possibly cohere with the head so as to make one body. But St. Paul says: All the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body, so also is Christ. Wherefore this mystical body, he declares, is compacted and fitly joined together. The head, Christ: from whom the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth, according to the operation in the measure of every part. And so dispersed members, separated one from the other, cannot be united with one and the same head. "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 358 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
of concord. This unity cannot be_brokenj nor the one body divided by the separation of its constituent parts.* And to set forth more clearly the unity of the Church, he makes use of the illustration of a living body, the members of which cannot possibly hve unless united to the head and drawing from it their \'ital force. Separated from the head they must of necessity die. "The Church," he says, '•'cannot be divided into parts by the separation and cut- ting asunder of its members. What is cut away from the mother cannot live or breathe apart.^ What sim- ilarity is there between a dead and a hving body? For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cher- isheth it, as also Christ doth the Church: because we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones?
Another head like to Christ must be invented — that is, another Christ — if besides the one Church, which is His body, men wish to set up another. "See what you must beware of — see what you must avoid — see what you must dread. It happens that, as in the human body, some member may be cut off — a hand, a finger, a foot..Does- thesoul follow the amputated mernber? As long as it was in. the body jt lived;. separated, it f orfeits4ts life. So the Christian is a Catholic as long as he lives in the body: cut off from it he becomes a heretic — the life of the spirit follows not the amputated member."* The Church of Christ, therefore, is one and the same forever; those „who leave it depart from the will and com- mand of_Christ the Lord — leaving the path of salvation they enter on that of perdition. "Whosoever is separated from the Church is united to an adulteress. He has cut himself off from the promises of the Church, and he who leaves the Church of Christ cannot arrive at the rewards of Christ...He who observes not this unity observes not 1 S. Cvprianus, De Cath. Eccl. Unitate, n. 23.
S. Augustinus, Sermo cclxvii., n. 4. the law of God, holds not the faith of the Father and the Son, clings not to life and salvation."
But He, indeed, who made this one Church, also gave it unity, that is. He made it such that.all who are to belong to it must be united by the closest bonds, so as to form one, society, one kingdom, one body—one body and one spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling. Jesus Christ, when His death was nigh at hand, declared His will in this matter, and solemnly offered it up, thus addressing His Father: Not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in Me...that they also may be one in Us...that they may be made perfect in one. Yea, He commanded that this unity should be so closely knit and so perfect amongst His followers that it might, in some measure, shadow forth the union between Himself and His Father: I pray that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee.
Agreement and union of minds is the necessary foundation of this perfect concord amongst men, from which concurrence of wills and similarity of action are the natural results. Wherefore, in His divine wisdom, He ordained in His Church Unity of Faith; a virtue which is the first of those bonds which unite man to God, and whence we receive the name of the faithful—one Lord, one faith, one baptism. That is, as there is one Lord and one baptism, so should all Christians, without exception, have but one faith. And so the Apostle St. Paul not merely begs but entreats and implores Christians to be all of the same mind, and to avoid difference of opinions: I beseech you, brethren, by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms amongst you, and that you be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment. Such passages certainly need no interpreter; they speak clearly enough for themselves.
360 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH.
Besides, all who profess Christianity allow that there can be but one faith. It is of the greatest importance, and indeed of absolute necessity, as to which many are de- ceived, that the nature and character of this unity should be recognized. And, as We have already stated, this is not to be ascertained by conjecture, but by the cer- tain knowledge of what was done; that is by seeking for and ascertaining what kind of unity in faith has been commanded by Jesus Christ.