Church Fathers

“ For we pay what is due to holy church when we, who have Christ as our supreme pontiff, provide with temporal gifts for their material support Christ's ministers, whom by an indistinct faith we respect as ministers and fathers for their works’ sake, and whom we by uncertain knowledge regard as members of Christ. ”

“ They are fathers. They hold the evangelical office in the Church. It is their business and right to bestow blessings upon the people, to make promises unto them in the name of the Lord, as it may be given them by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to comfort them in the hours of sorrow and trouble, to strengthen their faith by the promises that shall be made to them through the Spirit of God, and to be fathers indeed of the people, leading them into all truth.—Oct. ”

“ Yet those most primitive Fathers know of no such thing as a Priest, or a Sacrifice, among the ministers and ordinances of the Church on earth; though it is the subject upon which their compositions almost exclusively turn, and they tell us much about Elders. ”

“ The fathers of the first six or seven centuries, so far as they agree, may be fairly taken to represent the main stream of Christian tradition and belief during the period when the apostolic teaching took shape in the great creeds and dogmatic decisions of Christendom. ”

“ For the honor which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents, and he who shows reverence [προσκυνεῖ] to the image shows reverence to the subject represented in it. For thus the teaching of our holy Fathers, which is called the tradition of the Catholic Church, which from one end of the earth to the other hath received the Gospel, is strengthened. Thus we follow Paul, who spake in Christ, and the whole divine Apostolic company and the holy Fathers, holding fast the traditions which we have received. ”

“ Let them flourish in completeness and in happy success, under the direction of the Church, in accordance with the salutary teaching and example of the holy Fathers, and the laudable traditions of antiquity; and, as time goes on, let them be widened and extended as the interests and glory of truth may require — the interests of that Catholic truth which comes from above, the never-failing source of man's salvation. Finally, We admonish with paternal love all students and ministers of the Church al ways to approach the sacred waitings with reverence and piety ”

“ But we trust that they will be found plain, simple, and direct, and that there may be those among our Catholic brethren who will derive an appreciable benefit from their perusal—some clearer view of Christian doctrine or moral duty, some thought to touch the heart, and draw it upward to God. ”

“ FOR if I in this little time have had such a familiarity with your bishop, I mean not a carnal, but spiritual acquaintance with him; how much more must I think you happy who are so joined to him, as the church is to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ to the Father; so that all things may agree in the same unity.
2 Let no man deceive himself; if a man be not within the altar, he is deprived of the bread of God. For if the prayer of one or two be of such force, as we are told; how much more powerful shall that of the bishop and the whole church be? ”

“ Brethren, let us individually—yea, let every man and woman, every Bishop, every Elder, every High Priest, every Deacon, and every member of the Church of Jesus Christ stand firm for the cause of God in their place and station. Let every man who has a family preside over that family as a man of God ”

“ THE Eternal Pastor and Bishop of our souls, in order to continue for all time the life-giving work of His Redemption, determined to build up the Holy Church, wherein, as in the house of the living God, all who believe might be united in the bond of one faith and one charity. Wherefore, before He entered into His glory, He prayed unto the Father, not for the Apostles only, but for those also who through their preaching should come to believe in Him, that all might be one, even as He the Son and the Father are one. ”

“ The king, astonished, asked, "Who had presumed to give such stripes to so great a man?" And was much frightened when he heard that the bishop had suffered so much at the hands of the apostle of Christ for his salvation. Then abjuring the worship of idols, and renouncing his unlawful marriage, he embraced the faith of Christ, and being baptized, promoted the affairs of the church to the utmost of his power. ”

“ I hold, too, that this should not only be a rule for the Salesians and their Co-operators, but for all the faithful and especially for the clergy; for besides the duty of a son toward a Father, besides the duty which all Christians have of veneration for the Vicar of Christ, the Holy Father has a special claim upon our fidelity and deference, as being chosen from among the most enlightened and prudent, and the most conspicuous for virtue, and because in directing the Church he is guided by the light of the Holy Ghost. ”

“ As the great central rite of Christian worship it is presented day after day, in myriads of churches, from age to age, to the eyes and hearts of men. The act in which Christians assemble, in which they offer up at once their repentance and their requests, their thanksgivings and their praises, to Him who has formed them into one Body, lives upon this truth. And further, the order of men which is the backbone of the Church, the great Christian priesthood, made by our Lord in instituting the rite and conferring the gift, exists for its continuance. ”

“ Although the Scripture, the true word of God, is not to us a rule of faith, taken independently of the teaching authority of the pastors of the Church, the successors of the apostles, yet it is not inferior to the Church in excellence and dignity. ”

“ As God is determined to bring all his dear people home to glory, as the objects of his everlasting love, the subjects of his eternal choice, as the predestinated to the adoption of sons, as the purchase of his blood, and as the preserved in Christ Jesus, so, the means for their preparation for that glory is clearly specified in the Word—“Without holiness no man shall see the Lord;”—and this holiness is the Lord Jesus, as the elect Head of the Church. The wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification of them ”

“ Under the supreme authority of a common father, of the bishop of bishops, the experience of old men, the zeal of the young, the inspiration of the holy and the wisdom of the wise, will all concur in declaring the present condition of the church, its mission upon the earth, and its duties in the future. ”

“ Let us remark, once more, as a confirmation of the above, that the archetype of visible unity in the Church, which our Lord sets before us in His prayer to the Father, is no other than that most high and solemn of all things conceivable, the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son. "Holy Father, keep them in Thy name whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as We also are;" and again, for all successive generations of the faithful, "that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." ”

“ How, then, could God the Father admit one into his Kingdom, who has always refused to do his will, - who, instead of learning to do the will of God, the full doctrine of Christ, through the Catholic Church, was himself his own teacher, his own lawgiver, his own judge, in all religious matters! ”

“ The Father loves the Son, and hath given all things into his hands. But that which completes the comfort of this is that he is the head over all things to the church; he is entrusted with all power, that is, that he may dispose of all the affairs of the providential kingdom in subserviency to the designs of his grace concerning his church. ”

“ The duties of the priest towards the Eucharist and towards the secrecy of the confessional seemed so grave to me that I wondered how anybody had ever found in himself the courage to undertake them; and I was not surprised when he told me that the fathers of the Church had written books as thick as the Post Office Directory and as closely printed as the law notices in the newspaper, elucidating all these intricate questions. ”

“ MAY God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom it hath pleased to exalt thee to the dignity of the High Priesthood, Himself abundantly shed on thee the sacred chrism and mysterious ointment, and plentifully enrich thee with His spiritual benediction ✠: whatever thou shall bless✠, be it blessed; and whatever thou shalt sanctify, be it sanctified; and may the laying on of these sacred hands profit all, unto salvation. Amen.
The anointed hands of the Elect are bound with linen, and the Consecrating Bishop, standing, without mitre, blesses the Crosier, saying:
Oremus. ”

“ To you, O Father, all hearts are open; fill, we pray, the heart of this your servant whom you have chosen to be a bishop in your Church, with such love of you and of all the people, that he may feed and tend the flock of Christ, and exercise without reproach the high priesthood to which you have called him, serving before you day and night in the ministry of reconciliation, declaring pardon in your Name, offering the holy gifts, and wisely overseeing the life and work of the Church. ”

“ What we have said will be sufficient, we trust, to stimulate all those who are imbued with the spirit of Catholic faith to greater zeal and effort in the sacred cause of the church, in which the laity have as great an interest as the clergy. ”

“ Let not my brother churchman, however, satisfy himself with being a member of the visible Church; but let him examine himself whether he be a living branch in the true vine, united to Christ by faith, and bringing forth the fruits of righteousness by virtue of union with Him. Let him inquire whether he have ever experienced conversion to God,—whether his heart have been humbled, spiritualized, and comforted by those doctrines which he professes to believe as derived from Scripture, and by that worship in which he professes to join as being primitive and “according to godliness.” ”

“ Were you not both, some years ago, Augustine friars?
Voes. Yes.
Priest. How came you to quit the bosom of the church of Rome?
Voes. On account of her abominations.
Priest. In what do you believe?
Voes. In the Old and New Testaments.
Priest. Do you believe in the writings of the fathers, and the decrees of the councils?
Voes. Yes, if they agree with Scripture.
Priest. Did not Martin Luther seduce you both?
Voes. He seduced us even in the very same manner as Christ seduced the apostles; that is, he made us sensible of the frailty of our bodies, and the value of our souls. ”

“ In the world of spirits there are Apostles, Prophets, Elders, and members of the Church of the Saints, holding keys of priesthood, and power to teach, comfort, instruct and proclaim the Gospel to their fellow spirits, after the pattern of Jesus Christ. ”

“ Nowhere can there be found a body of men or a series of rulers so venerable, so renowned for wisdom, justice, charity, and holiness, as the Popes, bishops, and priests of the Catholic Church in every age, from the time of Christ until the present. ”

“ It is a thing indeed to be thankful for, that instead of the reign of conferences and synods, priests and popes, we have the blessed privilege of living under the loving rule of the holy Trinity, with Christ himself as the head of the church, and all we are breth-ren. ”

“ In the name of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who reigns for ever and for ever, and governs his church, it was thought meet that we should assemble, according to the custom of the venerable canons, to treat about the necessary affairs of the church. ”

“ Grant that thy Church, being delivered from false apostles, may always be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. ”

“ Holy Father,--As it has pleased God by His divine providence so to ordain, that in His Church, under His Son, Jesus Christ crucified, all those who should believe in Him and be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, should recognize one universal and Catholic Church as Mother, whose commandments together with the ten of the law we should keep under pain of damnation, it is requisite that each one who aspires to eternal life should fix his eyes upon her. ”

“ I assure you, a day has not passed without my offering up my unworthy prayers to Almighty God in your behalf; and I cannot refrain from again saying, that I hope one day we shall be united in the same faith of the One Holy and Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ. How great is the consolation to belong to that holy Church which alone Jesus Christ has founded, which alone He has illustrated with a never-failing succession of {188} pastors and of miracles, from which all others have separated, and out of which I find in the Holy Scriptures no covenanted promise of salvation! ”

“ Holds Power of Priesthood—The Gospel which we preach is the Gospel of life and salvation. The Church {7} which we represent is the Church and Kingdom of God, and possesses the only faith by which the children of men can be brought back into the presence of our Father and God. The Lord has set his hands to restore all things as in the beginning, and by the administration of his holy Priesthood, save all who can be saved, cleanse from the world the consequences of the Fall and give it to the hands of his Saints. ”