To All Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, and Bishops of the Catholic World.
Venerable Brothers, Greetings and Apostolic Benediction.
1. We think that you wonder why, from the time of Our assuming the
pontificate, We have not yet sent a letter to you as is customary and as Our
benevolence for you demanded. We wanted very much to address you by that voice
by which We have been commanded, in the person of blessed Peter, to strengthen
the brethren.[1] You know what storms of evil and toil, at the beginning of Our
pontificate, drove Us suddenly into the depths of the sea. If the right hand of
God had not given Us strength, We would have drowned as the result of the
terrible conspiracy of impious men. The mind recoils from renewing this by
enumerating so many dangers; instead We bless the Father of consolation Who,
having overthrown all enemies, snatched Us from the present danger. When He had
calmed this violent storm, He gave Us relief from fear. At once We decided to
advise you on healing the wounds of Israel; but the mountain of concerns We
needed to address in order to restore public order delayed Us.
2. In the meantime We were again delayed because of the insolent and factious
men who endeavored to raise the standard of treason. Eventually, We had to use
Our God-given authority to restrain the great obstinacy of these men with the
rod.[2] Before We did, their unbridled rage seemed to grow from continued
impunity and Our considerable indulgence. For these reasons Our duties have been
heavy.
3. But when We had assumed Our pontificate according to the custom and
institution of Our predecessors and when all delays had been laid aside, We
hastened to you. So We now present the letter and testimony of Our good will
toward you on this happy day, the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin. Since
she has been Our patron and savior amid so many great calamities, We ask her
assistance in writing to you and her counsels for the flock of Christ.
4. We come to you grieving and sorrowful because We know that you are
concerned for the faith in these difficult times. Now is truly the time in which
the powers of darkness winnow the elect like wheat.[3] "The earth mourns and
fades away....And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof, because they
have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinances, they have broken
the everlasting covenant."[4]
5. We speak of the things which you see with your own eyes, which We both
bemoan. Depravity exults; science is impudent; liberty, dissolute. The holiness
of the sacred is despised; the majesty of divine worship is not only disapproved
by evil men, but defiled and held up to ridicule. Hence sound doctrine is
perverted and errors of all kinds spread boldly. The laws of the sacred, the
rights, institutions, and discipline -- none are safe from the audacity of those
speaking evil. Our Roman See is harassed violently and the bonds of unity are
daily loosened and severed. The divine authority of the Church is opposed and
her rights shorn off. She is subjected to human reason and with the greatest
injustice exposed to the hatred of the people and reduced to vile servitude. The
obedience due bishops is denied and their rights are trampled underfoot.
Furthermore, academies and schools resound with new, monstrous opinions, which
openly attack the Catholic faith; this horrible and nefarious war is openly and
even publicly waged. Thus, by institutions and by the example of teachers, the
minds of the youth are corrupted and a tremendous blow is dealt to religion and
the perversion of morals is spread. So the restraints of religion are thrown
off, by which alone kingdoms stand. We see the destruction of public order, the
fall of principalities, and the overturning of all legitimate power approaching.
Indeed this great mass of calamities had its inception in the heretical
societies and sects in which all that is sacrilegious, infamous, and blasphemous
has gathered as bilge water in a ship's hold, a congealed mass of all filth.
6. These and many other serious things, which at present would take too long
to list, but which you know well, cause Our intense grief. It is not enough for
Us to deplore these innumerable evils unless We strive to uproot them. We take
refuge in your faith and call upon your concern for the salvation of the
Catholic flock. Your singular prudence and diligent spirit give Us courage and
console Us, afflicted as We are with so many trials. We must raise Our voice and
attempt all things lest a wild boar from the woods should destroy the vineyard
or wolves kill the flock. It is Our duty to lead the flock only to the food
which is healthful. In these evil and dangerous times, the shepherds must never
neglect their duty; they must never be so overcome by fear that they abandon the
sheep. Let them never neglect the flock and become sluggish from idleness and
apathy. Therefore, united in spirit, let us promote our common cause, or more
truly the cause of God; let our vigilance be one and our effort united against
the common enemies.
7. Indeed you will accomplish this perfectly if, as the duty of your office
demands, you attend to yourselves and to doctrine and meditate on these words:
"the universal Church is affected by any and every novelty"[5] and the
admonition of Pope Agatho: "nothing of the things appointed ought to be
diminished; nothing changed; nothing added; but they must be preserved both as
regards expression and meaning."[6] Therefore may the unity which is built upon
the See of Peter as on a sure foundation stand firm. May it be for all a wall
and a security, a safe port, and a treasury of countless blessings.[7] To check
the audacity of those who attempt to infringe upon the rights of this Holy See
or to sever the union of the churches with the See of Peter, instill in your
people a zealous confidence in the papacy and sincere veneration for it. As St.
Cyprian wrote: "He who abandons the See of Peter on which the Church was
founded, falsely believes himself to be a part of the Church."[8]
8. In this you must labor and diligently take care that the faith may be
preserved amidst this great conspiracy of impious men who attempt to tear it
down and destroy it. May all remember the judgment concerning sound doctrine
with which the people are to be instructed. Remember also that the government
and administration of the whole Church rests with the Roman Pontiff to whom, in
the words of the Fathers of the Council of Florence, "the full power of
nourishing, ruling, and governing the universal Church was given by Christ the
Lord."[9] It is the duty of individual bishops to cling to the See of Peter
faithfully, to guard the faith piously and religiously, and to feed their flock.
It behooves priests to be subject to the bishops, whom "they are to look upon as
the parents of their souls," as Jerome admonishes.[10] Nor may the priests ever
forget that they are forbidden by ancient canons to undertake ministry and to
assume the tasks of teaching and preaching "without the permission of their
bishop to whom the people have been entrusted; an accounting for the souls of
the people will be demanded from the bishop."[11] Finally let them understand
that all those who struggle against this established order disturb the position
of the Church.
9. Furthermore, the discipline sanctioned by the Church must never be
rejected or be branded as contrary to certain principles of natural law. It must
never be called crippled, or imperfect or subject to civil authority. In this
discipline the administration of sacred rites, standards of morality, and the
reckoning of the rights of the Church and her ministers are embraced.
10. To use the words of the fathers of Trent, it is certain that the Church
"was instructed by Jesus Christ and His Apostles and that all truth was daily
taught it by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."[12] Therefore, it is obviously
absurd and injurious to propose a certain "restoration and regeneration" for her
as though necessary for her safety and growth, as if she could be considered
subject to defect or obscuration or other misfortune. Indeed these authors of
novelties consider that a "foundation may be laid of a new human institution,"
and what Cyprian detested may come to pass, that what was a divine thing "may
become a human church."[13] Let those who devise such plans be aware that,
according to the testimony of St. Leo, "the right to grant dispensation from the
canons is given" only to the Roman Pontiff. He alone, and no private person, can
decide anything "about the rules of the Church Fathers." As St. Gelasius writes:
"It is the papal responsibility to keep the canonical decrees in their place and
to evaluate the precepts of previous popes so that when the times demand
relaxation in order to rejuvenate the churches, they may be adjusted after
diligent consideration."[14]
11. Now, however, We want you to rally to combat the abominable conspiracy
against clerical celibacy. This conspiracy spreads daily and is promoted
by profligate philosophers, some even from the clerical order. They have
forgotten their person and office, and have been carried away by the enticements
of pleasure. They have even dared to make repeated public demands to the princes
for the abolition of that most holy discipline. But it is disgusting to
dwell on these evil attempts at length. Rather, We ask that you strive with all
your might to justify and to defend the law of clerical celibacy as prescribed
by the sacred canons, against which the arrows of the lascivious are directed
from every side.
12. Now the honorable marriage of Christians, which Paul calls "a
great sacrament in Christ and the Church,"[15] demands our shared concern lest
anything contrary to its sanctity and indissolubility is proposed.
Our predecessor Pius VIII would recommend to you his own letters on the subject.
However, troublesome efforts against this sacrament still continue to be made.
The people therefore must be zealously taught that a marriage rightly entered
upon cannot be dissolved; for those joined in matrimony God has ordained a
perpetual companionship for life and a knot of necessity which cannot be loosed
except by death. Recalling that matrimony is a sacrament and therefore subject
to the Church, let them consider and observe the laws of the Church concerning
it. Let them take care lest for any reason they permit that which is an
obstruction to the teachings of the canons and the decrees of the councils. They
should be aware that those marriages will have an unhappy end which are entered
upon contrary to the discipline of the Church or without God's favor or because
of concupiscence alone, with no thought of the sacrament and of the mysteries
signified by it.
13. Now We consider another abundant source of the evils with which the
Church is afflicted at present: indifferentism. This perverse opinion is
spread on all sides by the fraud of the wicked who claim that it is possible
to obtain the eternal salvation of the soul by the profession of any kind of
religion, as long as morality is maintained. Surely, in so clear a matter,
you will drive this deadly error far from the people committed to your care.
With the admonition of the apostle that "there is one God, one faith, one
baptism"[16] may those fear who contrive the notion that the safe harbor of
salvation is open to persons of any religion whatever. They should consider the
testimony of Christ Himself that "those who are not with Christ are against
Him,"[17] and that they disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore
"without a doubt, they will perish forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith
whole and inviolate."[18] Let them hear Jerome who, while the Church was torn
into three parts by schism, tells us that whenever someone tried to persuade him
to join his group he always exclaimed: "He who is for the See of Peter is for
me."[19] A schismatic flatters himself falsely if he asserts that he, too, has
been washed in the waters of regeneration. Indeed Augustine would reply to such
a man: "The branch has the same form when it has been cut off from the vine; but
of what profit for it is the form, if it does not live from the root?"[20]
14. This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and
erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be
maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though
some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage
accrues to religion from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of
error," as Augustine was wont to say.[21] When all restraints are removed by
which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already
inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly "the bottomless pit"[22] is
open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of
which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of
minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws -- in other
words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows,
even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory
perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion,
license of free speech, and desire for novelty.
15. Here We must include that harmful and never sufficiently denounced
freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to the people,
which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor. We are horrified
to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and
wide in countless books, pamphlets, and other writings which, though small in
weight, are very great in malice. We are in tears at the abuse which proceeds
from them over the face of the earth. Some are so carried away that they
contentiously assert that the flock of errors arising from them is sufficiently
compensated by the publication of some book which defends religion and truth.
Every law condemns deliberately doing evil simply because there is some hope
that good may result. Is there any sane man who would say poison ought to be
distributed, sold publicly, stored, and even drunk because some antidote is
available and those who use it may be snatched from death again and again?
16. The Church has always taken action to destroy the plague of bad books.
This was true even in apostolic times for we read that the apostles themselves
burned a large number of books.[23] It may be enough to consult the laws of the
fifth Council of the Lateran on this matter and the Constitution which Leo X
published afterwards lest "that which has been discovered advantageous for the
increase of the faith and the spread of useful arts be converted to the contrary
use and work harm for the salvation of the faithful."[24] This also was of great
concern to the fathers of Trent, who applied a remedy against this great evil by
publishing that wholesome decree concerning the Index of books which contain
false doctrine.[25] "We must fight valiantly," Clement XIII says in an
encyclical letter about the banning of bad books, "as much as the matter itself
demands and must exterminate the deadly poison of so many books; for never will
the material for error be withdrawn, unless the criminal sources of depravity
perish in flames."[26] Thus it is evident that this Holy See has always striven,
throughout the ages, to condemn and to remove suspect and harmful books. The
teaching of those who reject the censure of books as too heavy and onerous a
burden causes immense harm to the Catholic people and to this See. They are even
so depraved as to affirm that it is contrary to the principles of law, and they
deny the Church the right to decree and to maintain it.
17. We have learned that certain teachings are being spread among the common
people in writings which attack the trust and submission due to princes;
the torches of treason are being lit everywhere. Care must be taken lest the
people, being deceived, are led away from the straight path. May all recall,
according to the admonition of the apostle that "there is no authority except
from God; what authority there is has been appointed by God. Therefore he who
resists authority resists the ordinances of God; and those who resist bring on
themselves condemnation."[27] Therefore both divine and human laws cry out
against those who strive by treason and sedition to drive the people from
confidence in their princes and force them from their government.
18. And it is for this reason that the early Christians, lest they should be
stained by such great infamy deserved well of the emperors and of the safety of
the state even while persecution raged. This they proved splendidly by their
fidelity in performing perfectly and promptly whatever they were commanded which
was not opposed to their religion, and even more by their constancy and the
shedding of their blood in battle. "Christian soldiers," says St. Augustine,
"served an infidel emperor. When the issue of Christ was raised, they
acknowledged no one but the One who is in heaven. They distinguished the eternal
Lord from the temporal lord, but were also subject to the temporal lord for the
sake of the eternal Lord."[28] St. Mauritius, the unconquered martyr and leader
of the Theban legion had this in mind when, as St. Eucharius reports, he
answered the emperor in these words: "We are your soldiers, Emperor, but also
servants of God, and this we confess freely . . . and now this final necessity
of life has not driven us into rebellion: I see, we are armed and we do not
resist, because we wish rather to die than to be killed."[29] Indeed the faith
of the early Christians shines more brightly, if with Tertullian we consider
that since the Christians were not lacking in numbers and in troops, they could
have acted as foreign enemies. "We are but of yesterday," he says, "yet we have
filled all your cities, islands, fortresses, municipalities, assembly places,
the camps themselves, the tribes, the divisions, the palace, the senate, the
forum....For what war should we not have been fit and ready even if unequal in
forces -- we who are so glad to be cut to pieces -- were it not, of course, that
in our doctrine we would have been permitted more to be killed rather than to
kill?...If so great a multitude of people should have deserted to some remote
spot on earth, it would surely have covered your domination with shame because
of the loss of so many citizens, and it would even have punished you by this
very desertion. Without a doubt you would have been terrified at your
solitude.... You would have sought whom you might rule; more enemies than
citizens would have remained for you. Now however you have fewer enemies because
of the multitude of Christians."[30]
19. These beautiful examples of the unchanging subjection to the princes
necessarily proceeded from the most holy precepts of the Christian religion.
They condemn the detestable insolence and improbity of those who, consumed with
the unbridled lust for freedom, are entirely devoted to impairing and destroying
all rights of dominion while bringing servitude to the people under the slogan
of liberty. Here surely belong the infamous and wild plans of the Waldensians,
the Beghards, the Wycliffites, and other such sons of Belial, who were the sores
and disgrace of the human race; they often received a richly deserved anathema
from the Holy See. For no other reason do experienced deceivers devote their
efforts, except so that they, along with Luther, might joyfully deem themselves
"free of all." To attain this end more easily and quickly, they undertake with
audacity any infamous plan whatever.
20. Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the
plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the
state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the
priesthood. It is certain that that concord which always was favorable and
beneficial for the sacred and the civil order is feared by the shameless lovers
of liberty.
21. But for the other painful causes We are concerned about, you should
recall that certain societies and assemblages seem to draw up a battle line
together with the followers of every false religion and cult. They feign piety
for religion; but they are driven by a passion for promoting novelties and
sedition everywhere. They preach liberty of every sort; they stir up
disturbances in sacred and civil affairs, and pluck authority to pieces.
22. We write these things to you with grieving mind but trusting in Him who
commands the winds and makes them still. Take up the shield of faith and fight
the battles of the Lord vigorously. You especially must stand as a wall against
every height which raises itself against the knowledge of God. Unsheath the
sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and may those who hunger after
justice receive bread from you. Having been called so that you might be diligent
cultivators in the vineyard of the Lord, do this one thing, and labor in it
together, so that every root of bitterness may be removed from your field, all
seeds of vice destroyed, and a happy crop of virtues may take root and grow. The
first to be embraced with paternal affection are those who apply themselves to
the sacred sciences and to philosophical studies. For them may you be exhorter
and supporter, lest trusting only in their own talents and strength, they may
imprudently wander away from the path of truth onto the road of the impious. Let
them remember that God is the guide to wisdom and the director of the wise.[31]
It is impossible to know God without God who teaches men to know Himself by His
word.[32] It is the proud, or rather foolish, men who examine the mysteries of
faith which surpass all understanding with the faculties of the human mind, and
rely on human reason which by the condition of man's nature, is weak and infirm.
23. May Our dear sons in Christ, the princes, support these Our desires for
the welfare of Church and State with their resources and authority. May they
understand that they received their authority not only for the government of the
world, but especially for the defense of the Church. They should diligently
consider that whatever work they do for the welfare of the Church accrues to
their rule and peace. Indeed let them persuade themselves that they owe more to
the cause of the faith than to their kingdom. Let them consider it something
very great for themselves as We say with Pope St. Leo, "if in addition to their
royal diadem the crown of faith may be added." Placed as if they were parents
and teachers of the people, they will bring them true peace and tranquility, if
they take special care that religion and piety remain safe. God, after all,
calls Himself "King of kings and Lord of lords."
24. That all of this may come to pass prosperously and happily, let Us raise
Our eyes and hands to the most holy Virgin Mary, who alone crushes all heresies,
and is Our greatest reliance and the whole reason for Our hope.[33] May she
implore by her patronage a successful outcome for Our plans and actions. Let Us
humbly ask of the Prince of the Apostles, Peter and his co-apostle Paul that all
of you may stand as a wall lest a foundation be laid other than that which has
already been laid. Relying on this happy hope, We trust that the Author and
Crown of Our faith Jesus Christ will console Us in all these Our tribulations.
We lovingly impart the apostolic benediction to you, venerable brothers, and to
the sheep committed to your care as a sign of heavenly aid.
Given in Rome at St. Mary Major, on August 15, the feast of the Assumption of
the Virgin, in the year of Our Lord 1832, the second year of Our Pontificate.
1. Lk 22.32. 2. I Cor 4.21. 3. Lk 22.53. 4. Is 24.5. 5. St.
Celestine, Pope, epistle 21 to Bishop Galliar. 6. St. Agatho, Pope, epistle to
the emperor, apud Labb., ed. Mansi, vol. 2, p. 235. 7. St. Innocent, epistle 11
apud Constat. 8. St. Cyprian, de unitate eccles. 9. Council of Florence, session
25, in definit. apud Labb., ed. Venet., vol. 18, col. 527. 10. St. Jerome,
epistle 2 to Nepot. a. 1, 24. 11. From canon ap. 38 apud Labb., ed Mansi, vol.
1, p. 38. 12. Council of Trent, session 13 on the Eucharist, prooemium . 13. St.
Cyprian, epistle 52, ed. Baluz. 14. St. Gelasius, Pope, in epistle to the bishop
of Lucaniae. 15. Heb 13.4. 16. Eph 4.5. 17. Lk 11.23. 18. Symbol .s. Athanasius.
19. St. Jerome, epistle 57. 20. St. Augustine, in psalm. contra part. Donat. 21.
St. Augustine, epistle 166. 22. Ap 9.3. 23. Acts 19. 24. Acts of the Lateran
Council 5, session 10, where the constitution of Leo X is mentioned; the earlier
constitution of Alexander VI, Inter multiplices, ought to be read, in which
there are many things on this point. 25. Council of Trent, sessions 18 and 25.
26. Letter of Clement XIII, Christianae, 25 November 1766. 27. Rom 13.2. 28. St.
Augustine in psalt. 124, n. 7. 29. St. Euchenius apud Ruinart. Acts of the Holy
Martyrs concerning Saint Maurius and his companions, n. 4. 30. Tertullian, in
apologet., chap. 37. 31. Wis 7.15. 32. St. Irenaeus, bk. 14, chap. 10. 33. St.
Bernard, serm de nat. b.M.v., sect. 7.
