unity resulting from the administrative power of their Head; harmonic and external unity in the activity of the members, arising from the power of superintendence; and formal and intrinsic unity of doctrine and Faith, produced by authoritative definition.
4. The unity of the Teaching Body is not that of a lifeless machine but of a living organism. Each member is formed to the likeness of the Head by God Himself, Who gives life to Head and members alike through the action of the Holy Ghost.
II. The original members of the Apostolate chosen by Christ Himself for the fundamental promulgation and propagation of the Gospel possessed the attributes of the Apostolate in an eminent degree. This was necessary in view of the objects they had to attain. Their superiority over their successors appears in the authenticity of the testimony of each of them taken individually, in the authoritative power to teach conferred upon all of them and not restricted to the chief Apostle, and lastly in the personal infallibility of every one of them. As they were the first witnesses of the doctrine of Christ they were not only the channels but also the sources of the Faith of every age, and therefore it was necessary that their testimony should be endowed with a special internal and external perfection. The internal perfection arose from the fact of their being eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of the whole Revelation, and of their being so filled with the Holy Ghost that each of them possessed a complete and infallible knowledge of revealed doctrine; while the external perfection was the gift of miracles, by which they were enabled to confirm the authenticity of their testimony. Again, the Apostles were to give an efficient support to their Chief—who was to be the permanent foundation of the Church—in the original establishment of the kingdom of God upon earth, and particularly in the original promulgation of Christian truth. Each of them therefore received the same authority to teach as their Chief, although it was not purely and simply a sovereign authority. And, lastly, their infallibility was a necessary consequence of the authenticity of their testimony and the assistance of the Holy Ghost.
