In continuing, the Church must be One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. I believe in one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church. (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed).
a. The Church is One.
The Catechism of the Council of Trent, from which source Catholics were taught throughout the world, summarizes this unity as follows:
"My dove is one, my beautiful one is one." [Cant. vi.8] So vast a multitude, scattered far and wide, is called one, for the reasons mentioned by St. Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." [Eph. iv.5.] This Church has, also, but one ruler and one governor, the invisible one, Christ, Whom the Eternal Father "hath made head over all the Church, which is His body;" [Eph. i.22, 23] the visible one, him, who, as legitimate successor of Peter the prince of the Apostles, fills the apostolic chair.
Vatican Council Session IV (July 18, 1870:)
"The eternal Pastor and Bishop of our souls" [1 Pet. 2:25], in order to render the saving work of redemption perennial, willed to build a holy Church, in which, as in the house of the living God, all the faithful might be contained by the bond of one faith and charity. Therefore, before His glory was made manifest, "He asked the Father, not only for the Apostles but also for those who would believe through their word in Him, that all might be one, just as the Son Himself and the Father are one" [ John 17:20 f.]. Thus, then, as He sent the apostles, whom He had selected from the world for Himself, as He himself had been sent by the Father [ John 20:21], so in His Church He wished the pastors and the doctors to be "even to the consummation of the world" [ Matt. 28:20]. But, that the episcopacy itself might be one and undivided, and that the entire multitude of the faithful through priests closely connected with one another might be preserved in the unity of faith and communion, placing the blessed Peter over the other apostles He established in him the perpetual principle and visible foundation of both unities, upon whose strength the eternal temple might be erected, and the sublimity of the Church to be raised to heaven might rise in the firmness of this faith. [Cf. St. Leo the Great, serm. 4 de natali ipsius c. 2] And, since the gates of hell, to overthrow the Church, if this were possible, arise from all sides with ever greater hatred against its divinely established foundation, We judge it to be necessary for the protection, safety, and increase of the Catholic flock, with the approbation of the Council, to set forth the doctrine on the institution, perpetuity, and nature of the Sacred Apostolic Primacy, in which the strength and solidarity of the whole Church consist, to be believed and held by all the faithful, according to the ancient and continual faith of the universal Church, and to proscribe and condemn the contrary errors, so pernicious to the Lord’s flock. (Dogmatic Constitution I on the Church of Christ, Preamble; cf. D 1821)
To preserve that unity, a visible head is necessary:
That this visible head is necessary to establish and preserve unity in the Church is the unanimous accord of the Fathers; and on this, the sentiments of St. Jerome, in his work against Jovinian, are as clearly conceived as they are happily expressed: "One," says he, "is chosen, that, by the appointment of a head, all occasion of schism may be removed;" [S. Hyeron. Lib. I contr. Jovin. In med. Et epist. 57.] and to Damasus, "Let envy cease, let the pride of Roman ambition be humbled: I speak to the successor of the fisherman, and to the disciple of the cross. Following no chief but Christ, I am united in communion with your Holiness, that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that on that rock is built the Church. Whoever will eat the lamb outside this house is profane: who ever is not in the ark of Noah shall perish in the flood." The same doctrine was, long before, established by S. S. Irenaeus, [Iren. Lib. 3 contr. Haeres. Cap. 3.] and Cyprian: [B. Cyprian. de simp. Praeel. In principio fere.] the latter, speaking of the unity of the Church, observes: "The Lord said to Peter, I say to thee Peter! thou art Peter: and upon this rock I will build my Church" [Matt. 16:18.] He builds His Church on one; and although, after His resurrection, He gave equal power to all His Apostles, saying, As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you. Receive ye the Holy Ghost; [John 20:21, 22.] yet, to display unity, He disposed, by His Own authority, the origin of this unity, which had its beginning with one.
Again, Optatus of Milevis says: "It cannot be ascribed to ignorance on your part, knowing, as you do, that the episcopal chair, in which, as head of all the Apostles, Peter sat, was, first, fixed by him in the city of Rome, that in him alone may be preserved the unity of the Church; and that the other Apostles may not claim each a chair for himself; so that, now, he, who erects another, in opposition to this single chair, is a schismatic and a prevaricator." [Optat. Initio lib. 2. Ad Parmen.]
In the next place, St. Basil has these words: "Peter is made the foundation, because he says: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God: and hears in reply that he is a rock; but although a rock, he is not such a rock as Christ, for in himself Christ is, truly, an immoveable rock, but Peter, only by virtue of that rock; for God bestows his dignities on others: He is a priest, and he makes priests; a rock, and he makes a rock: what belongs to himself, he bestows on his servants.: [Basil. Hom. 29. Quae est de paenit.]
Lastly, St. Ambrose says: "Should any one object, that the Church is content with one head and one spouse, Jesus Christ, and requires no other, the answer is obvious; for, as we deem Christ not only the author of all the Sacraments, but, also, their invisible minister; (he it is who baptises, he it is who absolves, although men are appointed by him the external ministers of the sacraments) so has he placed over his Church, which he governs by his invisible spirit, a man to be his vicar, and the minister of his power: a visible Church requires a visible head, and, therefore, does the Saviour appoint Peter head and pastor of all the faithful, when, in the most ample terms, he commits to his care the feeding of all his sheep; [45 John 21:15.] desiring that he, who was to succeed him, should be invested with the very same power of ruling and governing the entire Church." (Rom. Cat. I, ix)
The unity is in Faith (and Hope):
Leo XIII in Satis Cognitum:
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" (Eph. iv., 5). 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" (I Cor. i., 10). Such passages certainly need no interpreter; they speak clearly enough for themselves. 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 deceived, 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 certain knowledge of what was done; that is by seeking for and ascertaining what kind of unity in faith has been commanded by Jesus Christ.
The heavenly doctrine of Christ, although for the most part committed to writing by divine inspiration, could not unite the minds of men if left to the human intellect alone. It would, for this very reason, be subject to various and contradictory interpretations. 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. From a variety of interpretations a variety of beliefs is necessarily begotten; hence come controversies, dissensions and wranglings such as have arisen in the past, even in the first ages of the Church. Irenaeus writes of heretics as follows: "Admitting the sacred Scriptures they distort the interpretations" (Lib. iii., cap. 12, n. 12).
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. Joan., tract 18:, cap. 5, n. 1). Besides Holy Writ it was absolutely necessary to insure this union of men’s minds - to effect and preserve unity of ideas - that there should be another principle. This the wisdom of God requires: for He could not have willed that the faith should be one if He did not provide means sufficient for the preservation of this unity; and this Holy Writ clearly sets forth as We shall presently point out. Assuredly the infinite power of God is not bound by anything, all things obey it as so many passive instruments. In regard to this external principle, therefore, we must inquire which one of all the means in His power Christ did actually adopt. For this purpose it is necessary to recall in thought the institution of Christianity. (Par. 6-7)
Again, the Roman Catechism (ibid.):
The Apostle, moreover, writing to the Corinthians, tells them, that there is but one and the same Spirit who imparts grace to the faithlul, as the soul communicates life to the members of the body. [I Cor 12:11, 12.] Exhorting the Ephesians to preserve this unity, he says, "Be careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." [Eph. iv.3.] As the human body consists of many members, animated by one soul, which gives sight to the eyes, hearing to the ears, and to the other senses, the power of discharging their respective functions; so, the mystical body of Christ, which is the Church, is composed of many faithful. The hope, to which we are called, is, also, one, as the Apostle tells us in the same place: [Eph. iv.4.] we all hope for the same consummation, eternal life. Finally, the faith, which all are bound to believe and to profess, is one: "Let there be no schisms amongst you;" [I Cor i.10.] and baptism, which is the seal of our solemn initiation into the Christian faith, is, also, one. [Eph. iv.5.]
Pius IX in his Allocution, Ubi primum to the Consistory, December 17, 1847:
...We have a special reverence for and We defend very strongly those [traditions] which are in harmony with the tradition of the other Churches, and above all with this Holy Roman Church, with which, to use the words of Irenaeus, "by reason of her eminent primacy, every church must necessarily agree, that is to say, the faithful of the entire world, and in which is kept, by all the faithful, the tradition which comes from the Apostles"[Adv. Haereses, III, 3, 2.]
Therefore, let those who wish to be saved come to this pillar, to this foundation of the truth which is the Church; let them come to the true Church of Christ which, in her Bishops and in the Roman Pontiff, the supreme head of all, possesses the uninterrupted succession of apostolic authority, which has never had anything more closely at heart than to preach, to preserve, and to defend with all her strength the doctrine announced by the Apostles on the order of Jesus Christ; who, since the days of the Apostles, has grown in the midst of difficulties of every kind, and who, splendid with the splendor of miracles in the entire, world, made fruitful by the blood of Martyrs, ennobled by the virtues of Confessors and Virgins, strengthened by the testimony and the wise writings of the Fathers, has sent down roots and still nourishes in all the countries of the earth, brilliant in the perfect unity of her faith, of the sacraments and of her spiritual sacred government. For Us, who, in spite of Our unworthiness, sit on this supreme Chair of the Apostle Peter, on which Jesus Christ Our Lord laid the foundations of his Church, We will never spare either Our efforts or Our labors, to bring back, by the grace of the same Jesus Christ, to this unique way of truth and salvation, those in ignorance and error. Let all those who oppose Us remember that heaven and earth will pass away, but that not One of Christ's words can pass away, that nothing can be changed in the doctrine which the Catholic Church has received from Jesus Christ to preserve, to defend, and to preach.
Monsignor Van Noort provides this outline:
Christ willed that His Church enjoy unity of faith and of profession (credal unity) which consists in this, that all the members of the Church hold and make profession of the same doctrine as it is presented for belief by the Church’s teaching office.
Note the phrase "make profession of"; for a purely internal assent of the mind to truth does not satisfy the requirements of a visible society such as the Church is. This assent must be given clear outward expression as well: Because with the heart a man believes and attains holiness, and with the lips profession of faith is made and salvation secured (Rom. 10:10).
He then provides the Scriptural texts that prove our Lord and the Apostles demand that everyone profess the faith preached by the apostles and their successors: Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-17; Gal. 1:8; I Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:5, 13-14; Tit. 3:10-11. Next, he draws from early Christianity:
According to St. Justin, real Christians are "disciples of the genuine and unsullied doctrine of Jesus Christ," and are "one mind, one congregation, one Church." On the contrary, "those who claim to be Christians but do not hold His doctrine" are heretics.’ Hegesippus stigmatizes as heretics those "who have, each of them, privately introduced their own pet opinions," because "by introducing strange doctrine . . . they have rent asunder the unity of the Church." [Cited in Eusebius' History of the Church, 4. 21.] St. Irenaeus: "Just as the sun is one and the same all throughout the world, so too the preaching of the truth shines everywhere and enlightens all who desire to arrive at a knowledge of the truth... for the universal Church has the one and the same faith all throughout the world." [Adversus haereses i. 10. 2-3].
St. Augustine lists eighty-eight heresies, and then concludes: "There may be or there may arise other heresies, but if anyone espouses one of them, he will not be a Catholic Christian." [Liber de haeresibus concl.]
Van Noort then defines unity of faith:
The unity of faith which Christ decreed without qualification consists in this, that everyone accepts the doctrines presented for belief by the Church's teaching office. In fact our Lord requires nothing other than the acceptance by all of "the preaching of the apostolic college, a body which is to continue forever; or, what amounts to the same thing, of the pronouncements of the Church's teaching office, which He Himself set up as the rule of faith. And /127/ so, (a) the essential unity of faith definitely requires that everyone hold each and every doctrine clearly and distinctly presented for belief by the Church's teaching office; and that everyone hold these truths explicitly or at least implicitly, i.e., by acknowledging the authority of the Church which teaches them. But, (b) it does not require the absence from the Church of all controversy about religious matters. For as long as there does not exist a clear and explicit statement of the Church about some point or other, even though it may perchance be contained objectively in the sources of revelation, it can be freely discussed without any detriment to the unity of the faith, provided that all the disputants are ready to bow to a decision of the Church's teaching office, should one be forthcoming. Obviously the unity of faith does not extend beyond the limits of the rule of faith. (op. cit., p. 126-28; cf. Ott, Part 2, chapt. 3, p. 15)
The Unity is also in Communion (Charity)
"I therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation in which you are called, With all humility and mildness, with patience, supporting one another in charity. 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." (Ephesians 4:1-5)
"That they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they may be one, as we also are one: 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." (John 17:21-23)
Ludwig Ott in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma:
This consists, on the one hand, in the subjection of the members of the Church to the authority of the bishops and of the Pope (unity of government or hierarchical unity); on the other hand, in the binding of the members among themselves to a social unity by participation in the same cult and in the same means of grace (unity of cult or liturgical unity). The unity both of faith and of communion is guaranteed by the Primacy of the Pope, the Supreme Teacher and Pastor of the Church (centrum unitatis: D 1960). One is cut off from the unity of Faith by heresy and from the unity of communion by schism. (Part 2, chapt. 3, p. 15; cf. Noort, op. cit., p. 128)
It can be summed up in the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, in his work, The Apostles’ Creed:
The unity of the Church arises from three sources:
(1) the unity of faith. All Christians who are of the body of the Church believe the same doctrine. "I beseech you... that you all speak the same thing and that there be no schisms among you" [1 Cor 1:10]. And: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" [Ephesians 4:5];
(2) the unity of hope. All are strengthened in one hope of arriving at eternal life. Hence, the Apostle says: "One body and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling" [Ephesians 4:4];
(3) the unity of charity. All are joined together in the love of God, and to each other in mutual love: "And the glory which You hast given Me, I have given them; that they may be one, as We also are one" [Jn 17:22]. It is clear that this is a true love when the members are solicitous for one another and sympathetic towards each other: "We should in every way grow up in Him who is the head, Christ. From whom the whole body, being joined and fit together, by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and builds itself up in charity" [Eph 4:15-16]. This is because each one ought to make use of the grace God grants him, and be of service to his neighbor. No one ought to be indifferent to the Church, or allow himself to be cut off and expelled from it; for there is but one Church in which men are saved, just as outside of the ark of Noah no one could be saved. (Art. ix.)
In the previous section a review of the Church’s teaching on possessing the mark of being one was provided. The other marks, holy, catholic and apostolic will now be examined to clarify that the understanding Sede Vacantist bishops and priests have is not erroneous.
Next week: 2b. The Catholic Church Must be Holy
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