A compendium of the history of the Catholic church

Front matter

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{UNITED STATES OF, AMERICA.

A COMPENDIUM

Preface

A general knowledge of what is termed "Profane History," or the record of the principal facts and events of all the nations and peoples who have lived and flourished from the Creation to the present time, is deemed a necessary portion of a thorough education, and every effort is used to store our minds with this important and interesting information.

While there are numerous and excellent works of profane history published, a reliable and authentic history of the Catholic Church has been an acknowledged want, particularly at the present time, when the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, now in session, is awakening an interest in all the nations of the world, Catholic and Protestant, in regard to the Future of that Church, which, from her very foundation, was the means of the wonderful spread of the Gospel among all nations.

In our own country, Catholic Missionaries have been the zealous and successful pioneers, not only in civilizing the Aborigines, but in discovering and developing the sources of our greatest treasures, and consequently of diffusing civilization and refinement wherever their salutary and enlightening influence has been exerted.

4 PREFACE.

In order to supply this want, the present work has been compiled and translated from the ablest and most reliable authors. Every important event connected with the History of the Church, her trials and her progress; her victories over persecutions, heresies, and even scandals, are briefly and impartially stated.

As some are frequently deterred from reading books of this nature, by their length, and not less by the high prices they command, this volume has been prepared with the view of placing it within the reach of all, and in such language, as will prove interesting to the most casual and hasty reader.

It is confidently hoped, that this work will inspire all with a new love and reverence for our Holy Mother, the Church; while the touching examples of the martyrs' constancy in persecution and torments, and the edifying lives of the saints who have adorned every century, will animate and encourage the practice of piety and virtue.

The Translator.

Albany, May, 18 TO.

Introduction

The Church is that society which Jesus Christ established in order to give a spiritual birth to the children of Cod, and to form in virtue and holiness, those who are destined one day to become the citizens of heaven. As the execution of this design embraces all ages, it is necessary that the Church shall exist without interruption until the end of the world ; she must be always visible, and always pure in faith and morals ; she must always possess saints, and charity must always abide with her. " The race of Christians," says St. Bernard, " shall never fail, neither shall faith among men, nor charity in the Church, because Jesus Christ has sanctified all ages."

Nevertheless it has been predicted that the Church shall be persecuted by the powers of this world ; that she shall be torn by heresies and schisms ; that scandals shall spring up in her midst, and that tares shall grow up with the wheat. It is therefore evident, that, attacked on all sides, she could not have existed, much less have established herself, unless 1* she had been sustained by an All-powerful hand. Her Divine Author has also promised to be with her until the end of time; that is to say, He will always assist her with His invisible protection.

Her birth was miraculous, and she has been sustained by a continual miracle ; it was necessary that God should enable her to triumph over every obstacle that men have never ceased to place in her way. Without His protection she would have perished under the sword of persecutors, who endeavored for three centuries to strangle her in her cradle; but persecution, instead of destroying, has only served to extend and multiply her. God has inspired a multitude of heroes with supernatural courage and patience, and the admiration which their virtues excited converted the executioners themselves.

The Church would have perished owing to the efforts of numerous heretics who have successively attacked the dogmas of faith; but their efforts, although often supported by the power of emperors and kings, instead of changing the faith has only served to place it in a brighter light and exhibit it to greater advantage.

God has raised up a vast army of holy Doctors to refute each error as soon as it appeared. He has facilitated the holding of councils where all novelties in faith have been solemnly condemned, and where the truth has been declared authoritatively in terms which admit of no equivocation or subterfuge.

The Church would have perished owing to the laxity of morals, which at certain times prevailed among her children, and even among her priests ; but, notwithstanding the vices and disorders which have sometimes reigned in her midst, the pastoral authority has always been recognized, her discipline has ever remained holy, and her teachings irreprehensible. She has never ceased to oppose to indifferentism and sin, the holy maxims of the gospel ; she has never ceased to form perfect christians, whose eminent sanctity has loudly condemned the prevailing vices, and she has held up to the gaze of the Universe, models of every virtue. This abiding victory which the Church has obtained over tyrants, over heresies and over sin, is a striking miracle of the power of G-od ; the waters have sought to engulf her, the winds have howled and raged against her, but she has never fallen, because she is founded upon the rock which is Jesus Christ and upon his inviolable promises. How beautiful, how worthy of veneration, is this Church, which, in its duration as well as in its origin, gives evidence of its divine character.

There is nothing more admirable than a society of men, who alone remain unchangeable in the constant vicissitudes of human events, who, although every thing else crumbles around them, stand firm and immovable, like a rock in the midst of the sea, always One, always Holy, always Catholic, always Apostolic ; that is to say, the Church has preserved without interruption all her marks and prerogatives, although assailed by violent tempests. It is the visible accomplishment of the words of her divine Author: "All power is given to me; go teach all nations ; and behold I am with you always, even to the consummation of the world." Nothing less than an omnipotent power could preserve the Church from that instability which belongs to the things of this earth ; nothing less than a divine hand could build an immortal edifice which neither violence nor storm could shake or destroy, and which, instead of being weakened, is strengthened and fortified by the very means used by her enemies to overthrow her.

" No," exclaims the illustrious Bossuet, " there is nothing greater, nothing more divine in the character of Jesus Christ than for Him to have predicted on the one side that the Church would always be attacked, either by persecutions, by heresies and schisms which would spring up daily, or by the coldness of charity which would result from relaxation of discipline, and on the other hand to have promised, that, despite all obstacles, nothing should prevent this Church from preserving her vitality, from always having pastors who would transmit from one to the other, from hand to hand, the authority of Jesus Christ and with it the holy doctrines and sacraments. No other founder of a new sect has ever dared to say what would either become of him or of the society he established. Jesus Christ is the only one who has explained in clear and precise terms, not alone the circumstances of His passion and death, but also the combats and victories of His Church. " I have established you/' said He to the Apostles, " that you shall go, that you shall bear fruit, and that your fruit shall remain." And how shall it remain? He does not hesitate to declare, and He announces in emphatic language a duration without interruption and without any other end than that of the Universe itself.

These are the promises which He has made in return for the labors of twelve fishermen, and behold the manifest seal of the truth of His words. We are confirmed in our belief of past events, by remarking the distinctness with which He saw into the future.

Two things strengthen us in our faith — the miracles worked by Jesus Christ in the presence of the Apostles and the people, and the visible accomplishment of his predictions and promises.

The Apostles saw but the first of these two things, and we see but the second, nevertheless it is as impossible to refuse to believe in one who worked such prodigies and to deny the truth of His predictions, as it is to deny that He was capable of performing such wonders. "Therefore," says St. Augustine, "our faith is confirmed on two sides, neither the Apostles nor we can doubt, that which they saw in the beginning assured them of what would follow — that which has already happened assures us of that which they saw and admired in the beginning."

Bossuet again says : " Beside the advantage which the Church of Jesus Christ possesses of being founded upon divine and miraculous facts which were recorded with due solemnity and without fear of contradiction at the very time of their occurrence, there is another in favor of those who did not live at that time, a perpetual miracle, which confirms the truth of all the others, and that is the continuance of a religion always victorious over the efforts made to destroy it."

What a consolation for the children of God, what a convincing argument of the truth of their faith when they are enabled to trace back in uninterrupted succession from Pius IX, who now fills the pontifical chair, to St. Peter, who was made the Prince of the Apostles by Jesus Christ Himself. And from thence ascending to the pontiffs of the old law, they trace back to Aaron and Moses, and then to the patriarchs — and from them to the verybeginning of the world.

What a succession ! what a tradition ! what a marvelous chain of events ! If our • mind, naturally unstable, has become by reason of its uncertainty the sport of its judgment, and therefore requires, when questions arise which concern our eternal salvation, a fixed and absolute authority — what greater authority is necessary than that of the Catholic Church which unites in itself all the authority of past ages, all the ancient traditions of the human race to its very origin, who justifies itself by its succession, and who carries in its eternal duration the plain impress of the hand of God.