Catholic Magazine and Review/Volume 3/Gregory XVI's Encyclical Letter

by Gregory XVI

We take the liberty of extracting from the Directory a translation of the Encyclical Letter of his Holiness. Most of our readers will have already seen it: but still we have thought it right to give it a place in the Magazine for future reference-

Encyclical Letter of our most holy Father Pope Gregory, by Divine Providence the sixteenth of the name, addressed to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops and Bishops.

POPE GREGORY XVI

Venerable Brethren,

Health and Apostolical Benediction.

We doubt not but you are surprised at not yet having received from us, since the government of the Universal Church was committed to Our Humility, a Letter, in accordance with primitive usage, and with Our affection towards you. It was indeed Our most earnest desire, without delay, to lay open Our hearts to you, and in communicating Our own sentiments, to address you in language suitable to the command which We have received in the person of Saint Peter, to confirm Our brethren.^[1]—But you were not ignorant of the gathering calamities and anxieties which burst upon Us in the very first moments of Our pontificate, when had not the right hand of God supported Us, you must ere now have lamented Our having fallen a victim to the dark conspiracy of impious men. But Our mind shrinks from the memory of troubles, whose sad recital would be only re-opening the sources of sorrow; and We rather bless the God of all consolation, who in subduing the rebels hath shielded Us from impending danger; and who, in stilling the tempest, hath granted a pause to our apprehensions. Hereupon We resolved to delay no longer to communicate Our advice to you for curing the bruises of Israel: but again the fulfilment of Our desires was impeded, by the weight of care imposed on Us in the reinstatement of public order.

Meanwhile, another cause for Our silence arose, from the insolence of faction, which laboured again to raise the standard of rebellion. Finding that long endurance and mildness, instead of softening, appeared rather to foment the spirit of licentiousness, We were at last, With extreme sorrow of heart, compelled to raise the scourge entrusted to Us by the Almighty, for subduing the obstinacy of men;^[2] Hence you will easily conclude that Our anxieties have been every day multiplied.

But having at length taken possession of Our See in the Lateran Basilic, according to the custom and institution of our predecessors, We turn to you without delay. Venerable brethren, and in testimony of Our feelings towards you, We select for the date of our letter this most joyful day on which We celebrate the solemn festival of the Most Blessed Virgin's triumphant Assumption into Heaven, that She who has been through every great calamity Our Patroness and Protectress, may watch over Us, writing to you, and lead Our mind by Her heavenly influence to those counsels which may prove most salutary to Christ's flock.

In sorrow, and with a mind broken with grief, We address you—you, whom We know from your devotedness to religion, to have suffered proportional anxiety of mind in witnessing the depravity of the times with which religion has now to struggle. For We may truly say, this is the hour and power of darkness to sift as wheat the sons of election.^[3] Truly "hath the earth mourned and faded away … infected by the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have broken the everlasting covenant."^[4]

We speak, Venerable Brethren, of what your own eyes have witnessed, and over which our tears flow in common. Wickedness is restless, science grown insolent, licentiousness unrestrained. The holiness of things sacred is despised; and the majesty of the divine worship, at once so efficacious and so necessary, is called in question, is vilified, is mocked at by evil men. Hence the perversion of sound doctrine, and hence the effrontery with which errors of every kind are disseminated. The law of the sanctuary, its rights, its customs, whatever is most holy in discipline, is attacked by the tongues of them that speak iniquity. Our Roman See of St. Peter, on which Christ laid the foundation of His Church, is assailed on all sides; and the bonds of unity are every day weakened, and breaking asunder. The divine authority of the Church is opposed; robbed of her rights, She is laid prostrate to satisfy human expediency, and iniquity exposes her a degraded slave to the hatred of the nations. The obedience due to Bishops is infringed, and their rights are trodden under foot. The schools and the universities echo monstrous novelties, which no longer content themselves with undermining the foundation of the Catholic faith, but quitting their lurking holes, rush openly to horrid and impious war with it.—The youth corrupted by the doctrines and examples of their teachers, have inflicted a deep wound upon Religion, and have introduced a most gloomy perversion of manners. Hence it is that men flinging away the restraints of our Holy religion, which can alone keep together the elements of kingdoms, and impart strength and stability to government, have brought us to witness the destruction of public order, the downfall of States, and the overthrow of all legitimate power. These accumulated miseries owe their origin principally however to the activity of certain societies, in which is collected, as in one common receptacle, whatever heresy, or the most impious sects, offer of crime, of sacrilege, and of blasphemy.

These things, Venerable Brethren, and many others, some perhaps more distressing, which it were long to enumerate, must still, as you well know, embitter and prolong Our grief, seated as We are in the Chair of the Prince of the Apostles, where the zeal for the whole of Our Father's House must consume Us more than others. But aware at the same time that We have been placed here not only to deplore, but also to crush the evils to the utmost of Our power, We turn to your fidelity for aid, and We appeal to your solicicitude for the salvation of the Catholic flock, Venerable Brethren, because your tried virtue and religion, exemplary prudence, and unremitting zeal, give Us courage, and shed a sweet consolation over Our minds, afflicted as they are in this season of trial. For it belongs to Us to give the alarm, and to leave no means untried which may prevent the boar of the forest from trampling down the vineyard, or the wolf from taking the lives of the flocks. Ours is the task to drive the sheep into healthful pastures which preclude all suspicion of danger. But God forbid, Dearest Brethren, God forbid that while so many evils press, while so many dangers threaten, pastors should be wanting to their duty, and that fear-stricken, they should fly from their flocks, or slumber in idle and inactive forgetfulness of them. In union of spirit then, let us be true to our common cause, or rather to the cause of God; and let us unite our vigilance and exertions against the common enemy, for the salvation of the whole people.

Now you will best correspond with these sentiments, if in compliance with the nature of your situation, you "attend unto yourselves and to doctrine;" ever bearing in mind, "that the Universal Church suffers from every novelty,"^[5] as well as the admonition of the Pope St. Agatho, "that from what has been regularly defined, nothing can be taken away, no innovation introduced there, no addition made; but that it must be preserved untouched both as to words and meaning."^[6] This will preserve unshaken, that unity which belongs to the Chair of St. Peter as its foundation, so that there, where the rights of all the Churches by an admirable union have this origin, "may be a wall of protection, a port in which no wave ever breaks, and a treasury of inxehaustible resources."^[7] To humble, therefore, the audacity of those who would encroach upon the rights of Our Holy See, or who would destroy its junction with the Churches, to which those Churches owe their support aud their vigour, inculcate in her regard the most zealous fidelity, and most sincere veneration, proclaiming with St. Cyprian, "that he falsely imagines himself to be in the Church, who deserts the Chair of Peter, upon which the Church is founded."^[8]

To this point, therefore, your labours must tend, and your vigilance must be unceasingly directed to preserve the deposit of faith, amidst the wide-spreading conspiracy formed for the impious pur| pose of tearing it from you to destroy it. Let all remember that the principles of sound doctrine, with which the people are to be imbued, must emanate from, and that the rule and the administration of the universal Church belongs to, the Roman Pontiff, to whom was delivered "the full power of feeding, ruling, and governing the Universal Church, by Christ our Lord," as the Fathers of the Council of Florence have unequivocally declared.^[9] It is the duty of all Bishops then to adhere most faithfully to the Chair of St. Peter, to preserve their deposit holily and religiously, and to feed God's dock entrusted to them. Priests too, it behoveth to be subject to their Bishops, whom St. Jerome admonishes them, "to regard as the parents of their souls;"^[10] and let them never forget, that the earliest canons forbid them to exercise any function of their ministry, or to enter on the task of teaching or of preaching, "without the sanction of the Bishop to whose care the people are entrusted, and from whom the account of their souls will be required."^[11] Be it therefore held as a certain truth, that all those who attempt anything in opposition to the order thus marked out, become thereby, as far as their power permits them, refractory members of the Church.

It would moreover be a crime, and entirely at variance with that deep veneration with which the laws of the Church should be received, to censure in the wild spirit of criticism, discipline sanctioned by her, whether as regards the administration of things sacred, the rules of morality, the rights of the Church, or of her ministers, or to cavil at its clashing with the principles of natural law, or to pronounce it lame and imperfect, and subject to the civil tribunal.

Again, as it is evident that the Church, to use the words of the Council of Trent, "was instructed by Christ Jesus, and by his Apostles, and that the Holy Ghost suggests to her every truth to be taught,"^[12] it is no less absurd than injurious to her, that anything by way of "Restoration," or "Regeneration," should be forced upon her as necessary for her soundness or increase, as if she could be thought obnoxious to decay, or to obscurities, or to any other such inconveniencies. By such contrivances the innovators hope "to mould the foundations of a modern "human institution," and thus would be at length realized, what St. Cyprian so strongly declaimed against, the conversion of an essentially divine "into a mere human Church."^[13] Let the projectors of such a scheme then remember, on the testimony of St. Leo, "that the dispensing with the canons hath been committed to the Roman Pontiff only, and not in any private individual, but in him only resides the power of making decrees touching the ordinances of the Fathers and also as St. Gelasius writes, to balance the decrees of the Canons, and to determine the precepts of their predecessors, so as to direct, after careful consideration, what relaxations the circumstances of the times require for the good of particular churches."^[14]

And here We wish to see your constancy ever watchful to defend religion against that most foul conspiracy against the celibacy of the Clergy, which as you know is daily extending its influence, and in which the ranks of the impious philosophers of the day are swelled by the accession of some even of the ecclesiastical order, who, forgetful of their character and of their duty, and yielding to the allurements of passion, have been carried by their licentiousnees so far as in some places publicly to solicit the intervention of their princes, and even to repeat their solicitations with them in order to abrogate this most holy branch of discipline. But why detain you with the recital of attempts so revolting? Having confidence in your piety, to you We commit the defence of a law of so much moment, against which the darts of the lascivious are directed from every quarter. Preserve the building entire; and in its protection and defence, neglect none of those resources, which the sacred Canons have in reserve for you.

Then on the subject of honorable marriage, which St. Paul hath pronounced "a great Sacrament in Christ and in the Church,"^[15] our common cares are required to correct errors repugnant to its sanctity and to its indissoluble tie, and to put down all attempts at innovation. Your attention had been directed to this subject in the letter addressed to you by Our predecessor of happy memory, Pius VIII.; but the noxious evil is still increasing. The people must therefore be carefully instructed, that matrimony once lawfully engaged in, can never be dissolved: that God hath decreed that the society formed by those, who have once been united in wedlock, should continue during the whole of their lives: and that the tie of union can only be dissolved by death. Mindful at the same time that it holds a place among things sacred, and is consequently subject to the Church, let the people have always before their eyes the laws framed by the Church respecting and let them comply with them religiously and exactly; for it is on that depends the validity, the stability, and the just union of marriage. Let them beware of offending in any way against the sacred Canons, and the decrees of Councils, properly impressed with the conviction, that no happy issue can result from marriages contracted in defiance of Church discipline; or when neglecting to invoke the previous blessing of Heaven, and without one thought given to the obligation incurred, or to the mystery signified, the contracting parties place their only end in the unbridled indulgence of appetite.

But let us turn to another most prolific cause of those evils, which We deplore as at present afflicting the Church. We allude to the principle of "Indifference"—that depraved principle, which, by the contrivances of wicked men has become very prevalent: maintaining eternal salvation to be equally attainable in whatever profession of faith, provided the natural dictates of morality be therein observed. But in a matter so clear and evident you will easily extirpate this most pernicious error from among the people committed to your charge. Let them tremble at the admonition of the Apostle:—"One God, one faith, one baptism"^[16]—who pretend that every religion conducts, to the haven of beatitude, and let them reflect from the language of the Redeemer, that "not being with Christ, they are against Christ; that not gathering with him, they are unhappily scattering;"^[17] and that consequently they will "without doubt perish eternally, unless they hold fast the Catholic faith, and preserve it whole and inviolate."^[18] Let them hearken to the voice of St. Jerome, who, when the Church was torn into three parts by schism, relates that he, firm to his purpose, said to those who attempted to draw him over to their party: "I hold fellowship with them that cling to the Chair of Peter."^[19] For vainly would such a one flatter his conscience with his regeneration in water. To him St. Augustine addresses himself: "The twig lopped from the vine, retains its shape, but what will its shape avail it, when separated from the life-giving root?"^[20]

From this polluted fountain of "Indifference," flows that absurd and erroneous doctrine, or rather raving, in favour and defence of "liberty of conscience;" for which most pestilential error, the course is opened by that entire and wild liberty of opinion, which is everywhere attempting the overthrow of religious and civil institutions; and which the unblushing impudence of some has held forth as an advantage to religion. "But what," exclaimed St. Augustine, "what worse death to the soul than freedom in error?"^[21] For only destroy those fences, which keep men within the paths of truth, leave them to the headlong sway of their natural evil propensities, and the "bottomless pit" at once yawns before you, from which St. John saw the smoke arise, which darkened the sun, and which shed its locusts over the face of the earth.^[22] For hence arise these revolutions in the minds of men: hence this aggravated corruption of youth; hence this contempt among the people of sacred things, and of the most holy institutions and laws; hence, in one word, that pest of all others, most to be dreaded in a state, unbridled liberty of opinion, licenciousness of speech, and a lust of novelty, which, according to the experience of all ages, portend the downfal of the most powerful and flourishing empires.

Hither tends that worst and never sufficiently to be execrated and detested liberty of the press, for the diffusion of all manner of writings, which some so loudly contend for, and so actively promote. We shudder, Venerable Brethren, at the sight of the monstrous doctrines, or rather portentous errors, which crowd upon Us in the shape of numberless volumes and pamphlets, small in size, but big with evils, which stalk forth in every direction, breathing a malediction which we deplore over the face of the earth. Yet are there not wanting, alas! those who carry their effrontery so far, as to persist in maintaining that this amalgamation of errors is sufficiently resisted, if in this inundation of bad books, a volume now and then issue from the press in favour of religion and truth. But is it not a crime then, never sufficiently to be reprobated, to commit deliberate and greater evil, merely with the hope of seeing some good arise out of it?—Or is that man in his senses, who entrusts poison to every hand, exposes it at every mart, suffers it to be carried about oh all occasions, aye, and to, become a necessary ingredient of every cup, because an antidote may be afterwards procured which chance may render effective?

Far other hath been the discipline of the Church, in extirpating this pest of bad books, even as far back as the times of the Apostles, who we read committed a great number of books publicly to the flames.^[23] It is enough to read the laws passed in the fifth Council of Lateran on this Subject and the constitution afterwards promulgated by Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo X.; "that what was wholesomely invented for the increase of faith, and for the extension of useful arts, may not be diverted to a contrary purpose, and become an obstacle to the salvation of Christ's faithful."^[24] The subject engaged the closest attention of the Fathers of the Council of Trent, and as a remedy to so great an evil, they passed that most salutary decree for forming an index of the works in which depraved doctrine was contained.^[25] "No means must be here omitted," says Clement XIII. Our predecessor of happy memory, in the Encyclical Letter on die proscription of bad books,—"no means must be here omitted, as the extremity of the case calls for all our exertions, to exterminate the fatal pest which spreads through so many works; nor can the materials of error be otherwise destroyed, than by the flames which consume the depraved elements of the evil."^[26] From the anxious vigilance then of the Holy Apostolic See, through every age, in condemning and in removing from men's hands suspected and profane books, becomes more than evident, the falsity, the rashness, and the injury offered to the Apostolic See by that doctrine, pregnant with the most deplorable evils to the Christian world, advocated by some condemning this censure of books as a needless burden, rejecting it as intolerable, or with infamous effrontery proclaiming it to be irreconcilable with the rights of men, or denying in fine the right of exercising such a power, or the existence of it in the Church.

Having moreover heard that doctrines are now circulated in writings among the common people, subversive of the fidelity and the submission due to princes, and that in consequence the flame of sedition is every where kindling; all care must be employed to prevent the people being seduced from the path of duty. Be the admonition of the Apostle known to all, that "there is no power but from God; and those that are ordained of God. Therefore he that resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, And they that resist, purchase to themselves damnation."^[27] Wherefore both divine and human laws cry out against those who by the basest machinations of treason and rebellion, strive to dissolve the bonds of allegiance to princes, and to drive them from their states.

It was to preserve their character undefiled with this foul blot, that the Christians of old, under the rage of persecution, continued to deserve the praise of the Emperors and of the Empire, not merely by the fidelity, exactness, and promptitude with which they discharged every office imposed upon them not at variance with their religion, but more particularly by their constancy in the field, and the readiness with which they shed their blood in the common cause. "The christian soldier," says St. Augustine, "fought under the banner of the Pagan Emperor; but when the cause of Christ came on, he acknowledged no other than his celestial Master. He separated the character of his eternal from that of his temporal Lord; but to please the former, he became the obedient subject of the latter."^[28]—It was with eyes steadily fixed on this distinction, that Mauritius, the dauntless martyr, and the Theban legion's captain, found a ready answer to the Emperor, as recorded by St. Eucherius. "We are your soldiers O Emperor, but we are bold to confess, that we are at the same time servants of God. …, And now not the last hope of life moves us to rebel. With arms in our hands we remain defenceless, for we choose rather to die than to shed blood."^[29] But to set in its true light the fidelity of the first Christians to their princes, we should remember with Tertullian, that at that time "the Christians were neither wanting in numbers, nor in resources to resist their persecutors. We are but of yesterday," he exclaims, "yet do we fill every place around you; your cities and your islands; your fortresses and your municipal towns; your councils, your very camps; your tribunes and the palace, the senate and the forum. To what warlike achievements should we not be adequate, and prepared for, even against forces more numerous than ourselves? We, who so little fear death, if our religion did not require us rather to suffer than to inflict death. If numerous as we are, we had retired from you in some distant corner of the earth, the desertion of so many citizens of every class, would have branded the character of your government with infamy; and would itself have been your punishment Then would you have stood aghast at the solitude extending before you. … You would have asked for your own subjects. The number of your enemies would then have exceeded that of the citizens left behind; but as it is, those enemies shew meanly before the multitude of Christians."^[30]

These illustrious examples of unshaken subjection to Rulers necessarily flowing from the ever holy precepts of the Christian Religion, loudly condemn the insolence and impiety of those who, maddening in the free unbridled passion of untamed liberty, leave no stone unturned to break down and destroy the constitution of states, and under the appearance of liberty to bring slavery on the people.—This was the object of the impious ravings and schemes of the Waldenses, of the Beguardins, of the Wickliffites, and of the other children of Belial, the refuse of human nature and its stain, who were so often and so justly anathematized by the Apostolic See. Nor had they any other object than to triumph with Luther in the boast "that they were independent of every one;" and to attain this the more easily and readily, they fearlessly waded through every crime.

Nor can we augur more consoling consequences to religion and to governments, from the zeal of some to separate the Church from the State, and to burst the bond, which unites the priesthood to the Empire. For it is clear, that this union is dreaded by the profane lovers of liberty, only because it has never failed to confer prosperity on both.

But in addition to the other bitter causes of Our solicitude, and of that weight of sorrow which oppresses Us in the midst of so much confusion, come certain associations, and political assemblies, in which, as if a league were struck with the followers of every false religion and form of worship, under a pretended zeal for piety, but in reality urged by the desire of change, and of promoting sedition, liberty of every kind is maintained, revolutions in the state and in religion are fomented, and the sanctity of all authority is torn in pieces.

With a heavy heart, but with confidence in Him who commands die winds, and brings tranquillity. We have written on these subjects to you, Venerable Brethren, that putting on the buckler of faith, you may be encouraged to go forth and fight the battles of the Lord. You above all others it behoveth to stand as a wall against every height exalting itself against the knowledge of God. Unsheath then the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and let those who hunger after justice, receive bread from your hands. Called to be labourers in the vineyard of the Lord, confine yourselves to this, labour at this, that every root of bitterness may be torn up in the field entrusted to your care, and that every noxious weed being destroyed, a joyful harvest of virtues may flourish. Embrace with paternal tenderness those in particular who have devoted their minds to sacred studies and to philosophical enquiries. Exhort them and warn them, however, against an imprudent reliance on the unassisted powers of their own minds, which might seduce them from the pathway of truth into the high road of impiety. Bid them remember that "God is the guide of wisdom, and the director of the wise,"^[31] and that without God it is impossible to understand the nature of God, who teaches men by his word to know God.^[32] He is a proud, or rather a foolish man, who weighs in a human balance the mysteries of faith, which surpass all understanding, or who confides in the deductions of his own intellect, which subject to the common fatality of human nature, is necessarily weak and infirm.

May this our seal for the welfare of religious and public order, acquire aid and authority from the princes. Our dearest sons in Christ, who, let them reflect, have rceived their power not merely for their temporal rule, but chiefly for the protection of the Church. Let them carefully observe, that whatever is done for the good of the Church, necessarily benefits their government, and confirms the peace of their states. Let them be persuaded that the cause of the Faith interests them more nearly than that of their Kingdom; and let them weigh the vast importance to themselves, (We speak with St. Leo, the Sovereign Pontiff,) "that the crown of faith should be added to the diadem which they have received from the hand of God." Placed over their subjects as parents and as guardians, they will ensure for them a true, constant, rich repose and tranquility, if they make it their first care to protect religion and piety towards God, who has written on his thigh, "King of Kings, and Lord of Lords."

But that all may have a successful and happy issue, let us raise our eyes to the most blessed Virgin Mary, who alone destroys heresies, who is our greatest hope, yea the entire ground of our hope.^[33] May She exert her patronage to draw down an efficacious blessing on our desires, our plans, and proceedings, in the present straitened condition of the Lord's flock. We will also implore, in humble prayer, from Peter the Prince of the Apostles, and from his fellow Apostle Paul, that you may all stand as a wall to prevent any other foundation than what hath been laid: and supported by this cheering hope, We have confidence that the Author and Finisher of faith, Jesus Christ, will at last console us all in the "tribulations which have found us exceedingly." To you, Venerable Brethren, and to the flocks committed to your care, We most lovingly impart, as auspicious of celestial help, the Apostolic Benediction.

Dated at Rome, from S. Mary Major's, August 15th, the festival of the Assumption of the same Blessed Virgin Mary, the year of our Lord 1832, of our Pontificate the Second.

 

1. Luke xxii 32.
2. 1 Cor. iv. 21.
3. Luke xxii. 53.
4. Is. xxiv. 4, 5.
5. St. Celest. P. Epistle xxi. to the Bishops of Gaul.
6. St. Agatho P. Epistle to the Emp. apud Labb. Tom. ii. page 235.
7. St Innocent, P. Epis. ii. apud Constat.
8. St. Cyp. On the Unity of the Church.
9. Council of Flor. Sess. xxv. In definit apud Labb. Tom. xviii. Col. 528, edit. Ven.
10. St. Jerome, Epis. ii. to Nepotian, i. 24.
11. From Can. Ap. xxxviii. apud Labb. To. 1. page 88, Edit. Mansi.
12. Council of Trent Sess. xiii. de Eucharist in prœm.
13. St. Cyprian, Ep. lii. Edit. Baluz.
14. St. Gelasius P. in his Ep. to the Bp. of Lucania.
15. Ephes. v. 33.
16. Ephes. iv. 6.
17. Luke xi. 93.
18. Athanasian Creed.
19. S. Hier. Ep. 58.
20. S. Aug. In Psal. cont. part. Donat.
21. S. Aug. Ep. 166.
22. Apocal. 9. 8,
23. Acts xix.
24. Act. Conc. Lateran V. sess. 10. ubi refertur Const. Leonis X.
25. Con. Trid. sess. 18. 25.
26. Lett Clem. xiii. Chretianæ, 26 Nov. 1766.
27. Rom. xiii. 1. 2.
28. S. Aug. In Psal. 124. n 7.
29. S. Eucher. Apud, Ruinart.
30. Tertul in Apologet Cap. 37.
31. Wisd. vii. 15.
32. S. Iren. 14. 10.
33. S. Bern. Serm. de Nat. B. M. V. 7.