INTRODUCTION
THE attempt in this
book is not so much to amass statistics and arguments, as to illustrate
and elucidate the ancient forms and ceremonies of the Church, full of
beauty and rich measures of spiritual grace, the understanding for which
has been more or less diminished in the gradual disintegration of
Protestant influence and surroundings. The truths of religion were
blazoned forth from the statues and carvings of the churches, the
architecture of churches and cathedrals symbolized them. They were fixed
in the hearts of the people by ceremonies, processions, and pilgrimages,
and the Church lovingly taught her children even by plays and spectacles.
These things were once part of the daily life and being of the nations of
Europe: a rich treasury of religion, of refining education, of spiritual
and material development, with which the Church trained and fortified the
people, and bound them to her with bonds of love and understanding, that
reached into every phase and time of life.
The history of Europe up to the sixteenth century, despite the
setbacks of barbarian conquests and ambitious heresies, is one long
unfolding of the beneficent influence of the Catholic Church upon the
minds and habits of men. In the sixteenth century there came the unhappy
revolt of Luther, and education, art, literature, and liberty, all were
shaken and hampered in their progress, in sympathy with the attacks upon
religion. The fury of the new religion was turned against all the
practices which had made Catholicity intimate with, and part of, the daily
life of the faithful. As the result of this, many beautiful customs have
been curtailed, and others have seemed to lose their meaning for the
people, because of the lack of frank and fervent expression which gave
them at one time constant and unmistakable purpose: So deeply, on the
other hand, have the Protestants themselves come to feel the necessity for
the outward expression of an inward faith, that little by little they have
begun to turn back to the ancient forms, though with them the forms remain
but outward signs without the deep meaning and vitality of the graces
which inherently belong to them as part of the ritual of the holy Catholic
Church.
So closely, indeed, do they follow Catholic tradition, that
the ritual in some of the so-called "High Churches" of England and America
can hardly be distinguished by the ordinary person from that of the
Catholic Church. Then the plea is made to the ignorant or the doubting
that these are in truth "Catholic" churches also, or almost like the
Catholic Church. Such things may deceive for the time, until the seeker
for truth has learned to tell the difference.
How can we tell it? Cardinal Newman enlightens us: "How can
you detect the sham but by comparing it with the true? Your artificial
flowers have the softness and brilliancy of nature, till you bring in the
living article, fresh from the garden. You detect the counterfeit coin by
ringing it with the genuine. So it is in religion. Protestantism is at
best but a fine piece of waxwork, which does not look dead only because it
is not confronted by that Church which really breathes and lives. The
living Church is the test and the confutation of all false Churches. The
dazzling brightness of her glance, the sanctity beaming from her
countenance, the melody of her voice, the grace of her movements, will
prove her the bride of Christ."
Even the most severe of Protestant churches nowadays is apt to
have stained glass windows with biblical scenes, if not scenes from the
lives of the saints. The pictures of the Madonna will be found in
Protestant homes, frequently, to be sure, on the plea that they are
reproductions of the masters—Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Raphael, Michael
Angelo, and so on. Still even a taste for art would not have tolerated
them some years ago, and it may be hoped that, the door once opened, it
will swing wider and wider, until those whom false education rather than
disposition has held away from the Mother Church find their home and rest
within her fold once more. This progress toward our holy Church would
undoubtedly be hastened if Catholics themselves exemplified in their
lives, faithfully and boldly, the teachings of the Church, and would be
found more ready to explain her customs and her history to their
non-Catholic friends. In this most worthy and necessary purpose, this
book, it is hoped, will be a help. One of the intentions of the League of
the Apostleship of Prayer was for "a greater use of reason in religion."
This, in fact, may be said to be the intention of this book: "A greater
use of reason in religion." Chiefly because of this the first part of the
book treats of faith and the word of God.
A long chapter is devoted to the Sacraments. Goethe, who
surely had little spiritual sympathy with religion, describes these
beautifully as "a bright series of holy acts of equal value," by which
"cradle and grave are connected in an unbroken circle, no matter how wide
apart they may happen to be."
The center of all Catholic worship is ever the Holy Sacrifice
of the Mass, and its ceremonies are, therefore, especially eloquent with
meaning. They tell the story of the redemption of man by the death of Our
Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary. There is not on earth an occurrence more
sublime than the Mass. Every part of the Mass is intended by the Church
to inspire an understanding and appreciation, as far as it is possible to
the human mind, of the august mystery of the Holy Sacrifice, and it would
seem that no one, indeed, knowing the meaning of the different parts of
the Mass could ever be carried away by extraneous thoughts and
distractions. Temptations might come, but the heart, fortified by
understanding, would seem bound to hold fast to the infinite graces of the
time, rather than to allow itself to be turned in the least by the passing
questions and wishes of daily life. True it may be that those who
understand the Mass best do not always pray the best. Yet it cannot be
the fault of their knowledge, but rather of a will which refuses to be
humble and satisfied in this knowledge.
The Mass is ever the same, whether read in the open air by the
wandering missionary or in St. Peter's itself. Naturally, however, where
the opportunities permitted, the Church and the people have found highest
inspiration in giving every evidence of human gratitude and worship to the
divine mystery of love. Painters and architects have beautified the
sanctuaries of our faith, poets and musicians have added sublimity to
worship by hymn and music.
From the very beginning the Church has had her adversaries, as
was foretold, but like soldiers hastening to defend the standard of their
country, there have risen within her bosom at all times great men and
great women who have defended her against the enemy from without, and
strengthened her within by teaching, by example, and by sacrifice. These
were mostly the founders of the great Religious Orders, whose labors laid
the foundation of the structure of our modern civilization; for, while
they taught men to believe and to pray, they also taught them to live by
honest labor, and to respect one another's rights and liberties. Imbued
with a love of study themselves, they found ever-increasing numbers of
followers, and with the skill of the hand linked with the toil of the
brain, Europe emerged from the double shadows of invading barbarism and
decaying paganism.
The heresies which have retarded the labors of the Church and
her servants are all briefly outlined, but special attention is given to
Luther and the movement which began with him, both because of its extent
and of the nearness to us of the effects resulting from it.
The associations of prayer and of charity are developed at
length, for as Pope Pius IX, said, "They are an army set in battle array
to combat the adversaries of the faith, not with the clash of arms, but
with the silent weapons of prayer."
The feasts of Our Lord and of His holy mother and the saints
are given, with a brief history of their origin, since they are, in a way,
landmarks in the life of the Church, calling to the minds of her children
the great events of the Redemption, and commemorating graces and favors in
the history. The book closes with an outline of Church history, leaving
this as a last spur toward the greater study of all things pertaining to
the holy, the Catholic, the one true Church.
* * *
In the compilation of this work the Editor has drawn from the
best books on the subject treated in this volume. He wishes especially to
give credit to Bishop Stang's excellent "Spiritual Pepper and Salt;"
"Catholic Belief", by Father Faŕ di Bruno; "The Means of Grace," by Rev.
H. Rolfus; "The Sacraments of the Holy Catholic Church," by Rev. A. A.
Lambing and "Catholic Ceremonies," by the Abbé Durand. |