Josef Fessler

“ Moreover it is false that the civil liberty of every form of worship, and the full power, given to all, of overtly and publicly manifesting any opinions whatsoever and thoughts, conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people, and to propagate the pest of indifferentism. ”

“ Human reason, without any reference whatsoever to God, is the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, and of good and evil; it is law to itself, and suffices, by its natural force, to secure the welfare of men and of nations. Ibid.
4. All the truths of religion proceed from the innate strength of human reason; hence reason is the ultimate standard by which man can and ought to arrive at the knowledge of all truths of every kind. ”

“ In force of a merely civil contract, there may exist between Christians a real marriage, and it is false to say either that the marriage contract between Christians is always a sacrament, or that there is no contract if the sacrament be excluded. ”

“ The best theory of civil society requires that popular schools, open to children of every class of the people, and generally, all public institutes intended for instruction in letters and philosophical sciences, and for carrying on the education of youth, should be freed from all ecclesiastical authority, control, and interference, and should be fully subjected to the civil and political power at the pleasure of the rulers, and according to the standard of the prevalent opinions of the age. ”

“ The twelfth contradicts the insulting assertion that Papal decrees impede the progress of science. It does not touch the question whether, in any particular case, the act or decree of any Pope not speaking ex cathedrâ may have impeded the development of some particular scientific theory, true or otherwise; but condemns, as scores of learned Protestants have done ere now, the sweeping calumny of the enemies of the Holy See.
The thirteenth condemnation displays, even in a human sense, the most consummate wisdom. ”

“ And even as the State claims the right of in validating civil contracts, when it deems it right for the welfare of its members, so the Church claims the right of imposing conditions without whose fulfilment the marriage contract shall be invalid. Wisely has she used her power, without creating confusion among those who do not recognize her authority. Among these conditions, one, which binds in most countries of Europe, is that marriages among Catholics are invalid unless made in presence of the parish priest and two witnesses. ”

“ In effect, God is produced in man and in the world, and all things are God and have the very substance of God, and God is one and the same thing with the world, and, therefore, spirit with matter, necessity with liberty, good with evil, justice with injustice. ”

“ The author of the censured opinion means to treat faith and reason on the same level; but the full pith of the condemnation can only be felt by those who have fathomed the almost godlike intellectual strength of mediæval divines. ”

“ Catholics may approve of a system of educating youth, unconnected with Catholic faith and the power of the Church, and which regards the knowledge of merely natural things, and only, or at least primarily, the ends of earthly social life. ”

“ The prophecies and miracles set forth and recorded in the sacred Scriptures are the fiction of poets, and the mysteries of the Christian faith the result of philosophical investigations. In the books of the Old and New Testament there are contained mythical inventions, and Jesus Christ is himself a myth. ”

“ The violation of any solemn oath, as well as any wicked and flagitious action repugnant to the eternal law, is not only not blameable, but is altogether lawful and worthy of the highest praise, when done through love of country. ”

“ As the philosopher is one thing, and philosophy another, so it is the right and duty of the philosopher to subject himself to the authority which he shall have proved to be true; but philosophy neither can nor ought to submit to any such authority.
Ibid, Dec. 11th, 1862.
11. The Church not only ought never to pass judgment on philosophy, but ought to tolerate the errors of philosophy, leaving it to correct itself.
Ibid, Dec. 21st, 1863.
12. The decrees of the Apostolic See and of the Roman Congregations impede the true progress of science. ”

“ The age of myths and the age of Christ are separated by many centuries. The latest myths in Italy belong to the age of Romulus, seven centuries before Christ, if, indeed, Romulus can be called a myth. When the age of written monuments begins, the mythical period ends. Hence the Jewish people cannot properly be said to have ever had myths. And the man who talks of mythical beings in Judea during the reign of Tiberius, may undertake to persuade us that Napoleon III. is a myth. ”

“ As human reason is placed on a level with religion itself, so theological must be treated in the same manner as philosophical sciences.
Allocution Singulari quadam, Dec. 9th, 1854.
9. All the dogmas of the Christian religion are indiscriminately the object of natural science or philosophy; and human reason, enlightened solely in an historical way, is able by its own natural strength and principles, to attain to the true science of even the most abstruse dogmas; provided only that such dogmas be proposed to reason itself as its object. ”

“ The Civil Authority may interfere in matters relating to religion, morality, and Spiritual Government: hence, it can pass judgment on the instructions issued for the guidance of consciences, conformably with their mission, by the pastors of the Church. Further, it has the right to make enactments regarding the administration of the Divine Sacraments, and the dispositions necessary for receiving them. ”

“ Now I find nothing in Scripture or Tradition about John Mastai Ferretti, and his election to the Popedom. Here is a truth which must needs be accepted for the acceptance of a dogmatical definition, yet is not itself an article of faith. ”

“ The Secular power has authority to rescind, declare, and render null, solemn Conventions, commonly called Concordats, entered into with the Apostolic See, regarding the use of rights appertaining to ecclesiastical immunity, without the consent of the Apostolic See, and even in spite of its protest. ”

“ The basis on which the condemnations contained in the section rest, is, firstly, the recognition of the fact that mysteries do exist, and have been revealed; secondly, the logical principle that the science of Faith, commonly called theology, must be conducted in a different manner from the natural sciences. To show the folly of the propositions herein censured, I ask whether a man would not be crazed who should try to settle the truth of the story of Hengist from Euclid? ”

“ A few unhappy men have gone out from among us during these last years, rather than accept such acts of the See of Peter as the Syllabus and the definition of Infallibility. If there was any one among them who enjoyed in the bosom of the Church a reputation for great learning and great integrity of life, yet let us bear in mind the words written, fourteen hundred years ago, by Vincentius of Lerins: "In the Church of God, the going astray of the master is the danger of the people ”

“ The Canons of the Council of Trent, which anathematize those who dare to deny to the Church the right of establishing diriment impediments, either are not dogmatic, or must be understood as referring to such borrowed power. ”

“ It is hard to say to what peculiar morbid development of the human spirit it owes its birth, although its constant reappearance in the schools of thought during the last three thousand years seems to point it out as one of the ills the spirit of fallen man is heir to. ”

“ When so imposed they are called laws; and hence every perfect society must have legislative power. But the same causes will perforce bring about disputes as to the way in which the means have to be applied; to decide such disputes every perfect society must have judicial power. ”

“ The sixty-second applies to States the degrading principle, which every Englishman loathes and detests, of standing idly by, while the weak are oppressed by the strong, called the principle of non-intervention. ”

“ The root of the errors of this section is an utter distortion of the true notion of law, of moral obligation, of right and wrong. Catholic philosophers hold, that the Author of all good in that one infinite act of will, wherewith he loves His own infinite Goodness, loves and wills all that is good ”

“ The Church has not the power of defining dogmatically that the religion of the Catholic Church is the only true religion.
Apostolic Letter Multiplices, June 10th, 1851.
22. The obligation by which Catholic teachers and authors are strictly bound, is confined to those things only which are proposed to universal belief as dogmas of Faith by the infallible judgment of the Church. ”

“ And further, the lay Government has the right of deposing bishops from their pastoral functions, and is not bound to obey the Roman Pontiff in those things which relate to the institution of bishoprics and the appointment of bishops.
Allocution Acerbissimam, Sept. 17th, 1852.
52. Government can, by its own right, alter the age prescribed by the Church for the religious profession both of women and men; and may require of all religious orders to admit no person to take solemn vows without its permission. ”

“ The teaching of the Catholic Church is hostile to the well-being and interests of society.
Encyclical Qui pluribus, Nov. 9th, 1846.
41. The Civil Government, even when in the hands of an infidel sovereign, has a right to an indirect negative power over religious affairs. It therefore possesses not only the right called that of exequatur, but also that of appeal, called appellatio ab abusu. ”

“ Review of the Propositions condemned in the Syllabus.
§ I.—Errors on Pantheism, Naturalism, and absolute Rationalism.
Pantheism is not a plant of English growth. Although, as in the case of Coleridge, it may have for a season allured individual minds, it is too misty and vague to be able to gain ground in the practical understanding of Englishmen. ”

“ No other forces are to be recognized except those which reside in matter, and all the rectitude and excel lence of morality ought to be placed in the accumula tion and increase of riches by every possible means, and the gratification of pleasure. Ibid.
59. Right consists in the material fact. All human duties are an empty word, and all human facts have the force of right. ”