Holy Catholic Church

“ The Catholic Church alone possesses, as her undivided property, the glorious character of Catholic. In her communion alone, numbers of holy apostolic men have abounded in all ages, who, leaving all they possessed or could expect in this world, and burning with zeal for the conversion of souls to God, have dedicated themselves entirely to carry the light of the Gospel to those who " sat in darkness and in the shadow of death," and to bring heathen nations to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. ”

“ To obtain eternal salvation is it sufficient to be a member of the Catholic Church?
No; for there are also rotten and dead members (Apoc. iii. 1) , who by their sins bring upon themselves eternal damnation.
73. What, then, do we profess to believe by these words of the Creed, 'I believe in the Holy Catholic Church'?
We profess to believe that Jesus Christ has established a visible Church, endless in her duration, and infallible in her doctrine, which we must believe and obey without reserve, if we would obtain eternal salvation; and that this is no other than the Roman Catholic Church. ”

“ I offer it to obtain from Thy infinite goodness, for my parents, benefactors, friends and enemies, all those precious gifts and graces which only through Him can be obtained, who is Just by excellence, and who became a victim for the sins of man. I earnestly entreat Thee to bless and protect the Holy Catholic Church, our chief Pastor the Pope, our Bishops and Clergy. Remember also, O Lord, the souls of the faithful departed; and grant them, through the merits of Thy Son, eternal light and peace. Have mercy upon all heretics, infidels and sinners. Bless and preserve all mine enemies ”

“ In this profession it is declared that the Holy Catholic Church is one not in virtue of outward forms, or even through perfect agreement among its members upon all details of doctrine, but because of the holiness of those who compose it. It refuses to excommunicate any who hold fast the form of sound words, and who adhere to one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. ”

“ Let us all meet in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Suffer that We should invite you to the unity which has ever existed in the Catholic Church and can never fail; suffer that We should lovingly hold out Our hand to you. The Church, as the common mother of all, has long been calling you back to her; the Catholics of the world await you with brotherly love, that you may render holy worship to God together with us, united in perfect charity by the profession of one Gospel, one faith, and one hope. ”

“ As in these respects, so in others, the church has made a holy conquest of whatever is noblest among the endowments of men. In speaking of Catholic history, even from the secular point of view, it may be justly said, that nowhere else has there been such wonderful discernment of the various capacities of the human mind, and of their various adaptations. Tenacious of the truth and of all its prerogatives, the Catholic Church has, nevertheless, allowed a wide liberty of thought. ”

“ This spiritual insight springing from the light of faith is the secret source of Catholic life, the inward principle which prompts the obedience of Catholics to the divine authority of the holy church, and from which is born the consciousness of the soul’s filiation with God, whence flow that perfect love and liberty which always accompany this divine Sonship. ”

“ These waverers, these men who lack force of character, whose hearts are charged with diluted Catholicism, know and believe, and by listening to sermons and religious instructions can completely convince themselves, that the Catholic Church is divine in her origin, holy in her founder, infallible in her doctrines, apostolic in her organization, glorious and wonderful in her saints. ”

“ Yet, this is the first lesson that the Catholic child learns at his mother's knee, As he goes on, he learns more and more of God's works of mercy toward man, of his institutions for our salvation and our sanctification, and all he learns he sees reproduced in a glance in the ceremonial of the church, which speaks to him in accents more and more eloquent, as his knowledge expands and his heart is brought more fully into conformity with God's holy teachings. In the liturgy and the various other rites of the church, she has enshrined all the great dogmas of religion. ”

“ It is therefore a contradiction in terms for a person who denies or doubts this doctrine to call himself a Catholic. We cannot too constantly or earnestly impress this truth on the minds of the Catholic people, that the rule of faith is the present, concrete, living, and perpetual teaching of that supreme authority which Christ has established in the church. We believe, on the veracity of God, by a supernatural faith which is given by the Holy Ghost in baptism, those truths which the holy church proposes to our belief. ”

“ The apostolic courage with which the Catholic bishops, not fearing temporal loss, not even imprisonment and exile, defend the rights of God and of his holy church, as also the inalienable rights of Catholic conscience, and the priestly fidelity and firmness with which the Catholic clergy, not led astray by illusions and threats, remain true to the episcopate and the church, deserve the admiration and respect of all Catholics and of every right thinking man. ”

“ Christ is with us; therefore our priesthood involves the gift of a heavenly power. Christ is with us; therefore our gospel is vital truth, instinct with a quickening spirit. Christ is with us; therefore our sacraments are not mere naked signs, but divine mysteries, infolding the grace of life. Christ is with us; therefore the Holy Catholic Church is not a ghastly corpse, but a living body, composed of living members, united to a living Head. Christ is with us; therefore let us not weary in our blessed work, nor faint under the burden and heat of the day ”

“ Let us pray for the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which is spread from one end of the earth to the other; that God would preserve and keep it unshaken, and free from the waves of this life, until the end of the world, as founded upon a rock; and for the holy parish in this place, that the Lord of the whole world may vouchsafe us without failure to follow after His heavenly hope, and without ceasing to pay Him the debt of our prayer. Let us pray for every episcopacy which is under the whole heaven, of those that rightly divide the word of Thy truth. ”

“ The church has no mission or authority to add any thing to the deposit of faith, committed by our Lord, orally or by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to the apostles. Her office is to guard, to teach, to protect, and explain the faith. She decides what Jesus Christ taught to the apostles, and they to their successors, according to evidence contained in Scripture and apostolic tradition, assisted by the infallible light of the Holy Spirit. Whatever she defines as pertaining to Catholic faith has always been believed in the church. ”

“ To ensure this the father of the faithful sets the whole Catholic world together praying, and fasting, and giving alms, and confessing their sins, and making holy, devout communion, so as to take heaven by storm, as our Lord said we might. "For the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away." What a sublime spectacle, which only the Catholic Church can show—two hundred and fifty millions of people all turning to God at once! No wonder the Catholic Church saves the world. ”

“ There is no age, no sex, no station in life for which the Catholic Church has not saints, whose example teaches us to avoid sin and to observe faithfully the commandments of God and the Church at this or that age, or in this or that station. ”

“ They do not seem to grasp the idea that although the Church is a national Church, it is not a national Church alone, but it is the Church of Christ, the Church of all races and all ages. It is a Catholic Church because it teaches the same faith as was taught in Apostolic days by men who received that faith from Jesus. Among the primary teaching of the Catholic faith there is the belief in the necessity of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion and in a regularly ordained ministry. It is on the importance and meaning of these things that Dissenters differ from us. ”

“ So that he regards his Church as a FACT borne witness to on all hands; a sure and stable REALITY. Over and above all which, there is an Internal evidence also of Catholic Truth, which the humble and obedient surely possess at length. (John vii. 17.) For the Catholic Church teaches that the Baptismal grace of Regeneration, if watered by prayer and holy teaching, will at length expand into a certainty of persuasion of Her sacred institutes, (Prov. iv. 18; 2 Tim. i. 12.) which heresy will labour vainly to destroy. ”

“ The Catholic Church is to-day more zealous, more compact, more united, more confident of herself, more energetic, and better organized, than she was at the commencement of 1871. The Roman Catholics have good reason to be thankful that their church has gained in faith, in the spirit of sacrifice and prayer, in devoutness in worship, and in all Christian virtues. ”

“ O God, Who, by the fruitful virginity of blessed Mary, hast given to mankind the rewards of eternal salvation: grant, we beseech Thee, that we may experience her intercession for us, by whom we deserved to receive the Author of life, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end. ”

“ The Catholics believe that their Church is in possession of the doctrine taught by Christ, and listen to it as they would to Him. Judge from this how strong and lively must be the faith of a Catholic, how firm and immovable, since the voice of their Church is the voice of their Saviour, and the interval of eighteen hundred years disappears as they every day hear the voice of Jesus. There cannot be any division in this Church. ”

“ GLORY, honor, and praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ; may all the world adore Thee: blessed be Thy Holy Name, who for us sinners vouchsafed to be born of an humble Virgin; and blessed be Thy infinite goodness, who died upon the cross for our redemption.
O Jesus, Son of God, and Saviour of mankind, we beseech Thee to have mercy on us, and so dispose our lives here by Thy grace, that we may hereafter rejoice with Thee forever in Thy heavenly kingdom. Amen.
O DEAR Jesus, my blessed Saviour and Redeemer, the sweet Comforter of all sad, desolate, and distressed souls ”

“ PRESERVE, O Lord, forever, in my soul, the holy resolutions wherewith Thou hast now inspired me, and grant me grace faithfully to put them in execution. Without Thy aid, I can do nothing; I therefore earnestly crave Thy assistance to conquer all the difficulties I may meet with in the way of my salvation. Regard me with the eyes of mercy; have compassion on my weakness; and strengthen me daily with Thy grace. O glorious Virgin, unite with me in giving thanks to Thy beloved Son, who has restored me to His grace, and refreshed my soul with the banquet of His most precious body. ”

“ I, thy most unworthy servant, come to confide, in a special manner, to thy pure hands, and to thy watchful solicitude, the purity of my soul and body. Angel of purity, I earnestly beseech thee to intercede for me with Jesus Christ, the immaculate Lamb, and with His holy Mother, the Virgin of virgins, that I may be preserved from every grievous sin, and from the least stain of impurity.
When thou seest me tempted, and in danger of sinning against that virtue which was so dear to thee, remove far from my mind and heart every unchaste thought and desire ”

“ Happily, Catholics have faith in a God above it all. If it has done no other good, it has brought out to the eyes of the world, in a wonderful manner, at once the vastness and the unity of the Catholic Church. ”

“ I ADORE Thy infinite greatness, O divine Majesty, who filleth both heaven and earth, and art adored by all the blessed spirits, angels and saints, who, without ceasing, praise and cry out before Thee, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." ”

“ O MOST amiable and adorable Heart of Jesus! centre of all hearts, glowing with charity, and inflamed with zeal for the interest of Thy Father, and the salvation of mankind! O Heart ever sensible of our misery, and ever in motion to redress our evils, the real victim of love in the Holy Eucharist, and propitiatory sacrifice for sin on the altar of the cross! ”

“ And even as thou didst once snatch the Child Jesus from the danger of death, so now defend the Holy Church from the snares of the enemy and from all adversity. Grant us thy perpetual protection, so that, sustained by thy example and thy help, we may live in holiness, and die in piety, and reach the everlasting blessedness of heaven. ”

“ To the most holy and undivided Trinity, to the manhood of our crucified Lord Jesus Christ, to the fruitful virginity of the most blessed and glorious Mary, ever a virgin, to the entire assembly of the saints, be ascribed everlasting praise, honor, power, and glory, by every creature ”

“ O blessed Mother, and Virgin undefiled, O glorious Queen of the world, plead for us before the Lord.
During Eastertide
Ant. O Queen of heaven, rejoice,
Alleluia, for He Whom
thou wast meet to bear, Alleluia,
hath risen, as He said, Alleluia;
pray for us to God, Alleluia.
During Advent
Ant. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, Mary; fear not, thou shalt hold within thy womb the Son of God, Alleluia.
From Christmas until Candlemas
Ant. How great the mystery of our inheritance! The womb of one that knoweth not man hath become the temple of God! ”