CAPG's Blog 

"What is the end of a preacher? Is it to please? To gain applause? To obtain promotion? Or is it to give men life; to make them " Sorrowful unto penance"?

I am of opinion, writes St. Francis of Sales, that a preacher ought not to aim at the gratification of the ear, which is the result of artifice, of worldly elegance, of merely ornamental oratory. He who desires to please his audience says only "pleasant things". The craving for applause blinds him to the truth. He relies almost exclusively on the persuasive words of human wisdom, he makes little or no account of the Word of God, which ought to be the chief source of sacred eloquence, and he speaks in a style more suited to the platform than to the pulpit, more profane than sacred.

 Hence there arises amongst the people and even amongst the clergy, a vitiated taste in respect to the Word of God, which gives scandal to the pious and no profit to the incredulous; for these latter, although they sometimes come to the church, especially if attracted by such high-sounding words as Progress, Fatherland, Modern Science, and loudly applaud the preacher, go forth from it no better than they entered."

Source: The Priest of Today, Rev. Thomas O'Donnell 1911 page 226

The daily celebration of the Mass over the whole Christian world fulfills the prophecy contained in the first chapter of Malachias V.11.

"For from the rising of the sun, even to the going down, My Name is great among the Gentiles" (i.e., among those who were to form the present Christian world); "and in every place there is sacrifice, and there is offered to My Name a clean oblation; for My Name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts."

The Mass is this fore-told sacrifice, and clean oblation. It is offered from the rising to the going down of the sun; and it is the self-same sacrifice as that offered once in a bloody manner upon the Cross, but now in an unbloody manner on every Catholic altar. The self-same Christ is at once the High-Priest and the Victim.

The Sacrifice of the Mass is not inconsistent with the truths that, firstly, there is but One Sacrifice; secondly, that the merits of the Sacrifice of the Cross are all-sufficient; and, thirdly, that Christ, having once died, can do so no more. The Mass and the Oblation on Calvary are one, because there is the same Divine victim, Jesus Christ, in each case. It is not held to create new merits by adding to those gained on the Cross, but only apply daily those so gained.

Christ does not die on the Altar, yet remains a perfect victim. Death is not essential for a sacrifice, as we learn by the old anti-type of the offering of Mass, when the Scape-Goat, being offered up as a sacrifice to God, was afterwards allowed to go free into the wilderness. (Lev. xvi, 10.)

Sacrifice has always been the one supreme from of Divine worship, and nothing more perfectly shows forth the death of the Lord, till he come (i. Cor. xi, 26), and so well obeys the Divine injunction on this matter, as the offering of the Holy Mass.

The Holy Eucharist is at the same time a sacrifice in itself and also a memorial of the Sacrifice of Calvary. The Sacrifice of the Mass does not lose its rightful claim to be a sacrifice because it is at the same time commemorative of another sacrifice. "The action of the Last Supper looked forward to that action on Calvary, as the action of the Holy Mass looks backwards upon it. As the shadow is cast by the rising sun towards the west, and as the shadow is cast by the setting sun towards the east, so the Holy Mass is, I may say, the shadow of Calvary, but it is also the reality: (Cardinal Manning - Glories of the Sacred Heart).

The words of the Mass were not primarily intended to be recited or even followed by the people. The Congregation only assist at the action, priests alone being set apart to sacrifice by the reception of the powers conferred in the Sacrament of Holy Orders; and non-Catholics, if uninformed, are naturally surprised to find a priest celebrating Mass recite much of it in silence. As a proof of the former proposition, there is a portion of the Mass still called the Secret; and in ancient times a screen was drawn between the priest and the laity, so that the latter were not permitted even to see the act, yet were considered as duly participating in all its merits by their mere presence. Today the laity are rather recommended to follow the words, and these are set down in all their prayer-books in English and Latin; yet every one assisting at Mass is free to use any private form of prayer and meditation.

We have strong confirmation of the antiquity of the Mass in the writings of the pagan Romans, whose calumnies show that the Mass was always the one principal service of the early Christians. These writers refer to the slanderous stories of their times, that the Christians killed an infant and ate its flesh at their religious meetings. Such misrepresentations were very common, and prove that the primitive Christians did sacrifice and receive the Body and Blood of our Lord in their Holy Communions. Those pagan tales with their half-truths are evidently founded on the celebration of the Holy Mass wherein Christ is sacrificed.

The words of the Mass are almost solely derived from Scripture, and could the Catholic Church more practically and more publicly venerate its Divine inspiration than in this full use of the Bible in its greatest act of worship?

Source: Guide to a Catholic Church: for non-Catholic Visitors, by Fox, WL and O'Gorman, RA. 1904

Father Tyler Sparrow, Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh NC.

"Bear in mind that Holy Mass is the True and Supreme Sacrifice of the Christian religion and that all those who would assist at it correctly should join in offering it to the most high God. The Mass to the Christian is not merely a form of prayer; it is an act of worship and a sacrifice; for all who hear Mass offer the Divine Oblation together with the priest.

First of all, there is the great High Priest, the Chief Sacrificer, Christ, who Himself offers every Mass that is said to His heavenly Father. Then there is the officiating priest, who immolates the Divine Victim. Thirdly, there are the Faithful, who, present at the Holy Sacrifice, have also the power of offering it - and in fact, sometimes do so with greater profit that the priest himself. Fourthly, there are those who either "pay for the Mass" (ie. give the priest a stipend for offering it), or provide something necessary for celebrating it, such as the chalice of the vestments. Lastly, those too must be included who, unable to assist in person, unite themselves in spirit to the priest and join with him in his sacrificial act while remaining in their own homes. They also, since they participate in a certain measure in offering the Holy Sacrifice, participate in its fruits and may, if they so will, assign to others the benefit of those fruits.

Ponder well these truths, for they contain valuable instruction and comfort."

Source: The Incredible Catholic Mass by Fr. Martin Von Cochem

"George Goyau, when giving notice of the forthcoming publication of a book entitled Lettres de Prêtres aux Armées ( Priests' Letters to the Armies), calls the Holy Mass "the greatest event in the history of humanity," and he adds:

"Daily, the priest brings the effective operation of our Divine Redeemer to bear upon the destinies of the human family. By a supreme act he interweaves the weft of our daily sins with the Divine Ransom; above the chaos of both open and hidden faults he raises the Victim. Our human history is continually being permeated with this Divine sacrifice, a sacrifice both multiple and one. To many this sacred rite is a mere commonplace thing. Nevertheless, through the agency of the priest, they are present at the recurrence of the decisive moment when our guilty world, so justly disinherited, was suddenly put on the way to the plenitude of the supernatural life by the two Mysteries of the Incarnation and the Redemption. God has chosen the priest to perpetuate these two Mysteries, and no human catastrophe can draw him away from this duty, which from the day of his ordination is one, for eternity, with the very life of his soul."

    We could not express more briefly the grandeur and the responsibility of the priesthood. What is the priest? One who carries Christ on through the ages. But Jesus Christ came upon earth to give, to His Eternal Father, a Pontiff, a priest who could adequately make Reparation and Expiation. The priest, therefore, who is charged to prolong, as it were, the role of Christ, ought to imitate Him by offering himself with Christ as an evidence of adoration and expiation. The priest who consecrates will therefore be a victim with Jesus. He does not understand his whole ministry if he confines it to the distribution of the Body of Christ, of the word of God, of the forgiveness of Christ, and does not at the same time accept the role of the victim like his Master, of whom he takes the place and perpetuates the work.

   All the years Jesus spent upon earth He was a victim, but He was not satisfied with this, for He had determined to prolong His Sacrifice by the agency of His priests. This He accomplished at the Last Supper, on the eve of His death; hence the Mass sets forth, without the shedding of blood, the immolation of Christ bleeding upon the Cross. Uplifted on Golgotha, Christ between Heaven and earth will be a shield interposed between God's justice and man's sin.

   Jesus' mediation will be accepted by God, because of His wounds and His precious blood poured forth. But Jesus is is likewise the shield between Heaven and earth, between God's justice and our sins in every Mass. Each "elevation" compensates for our manifold scandals; each uplifting of the Hose atones for some decadence of ours, for our falls into sin, because the virtue of His blood and wounds lasts on. There are not two sacrifices, but this is the same as that of the Cross, though set forth differently. This is the formal teaching of the Council of Trent.

  How many of the faithful, who hear Mass, do not seem to have any knowledge of this adorable Mystery! How many use prayers which have no reference whatever to the Mass, though perhaps appropriate for other occasions! How many know the term "Holy Sacrifice," without any conception of the exact truth and stupendous reality with which it corresponds!"

 Source: The Ideal of Reparation by Fr. Raoul Plus, S.J. 1852

O Holy Spirit, Creator, be propitious to the Catholic Church; and by Thy heavenly power make it strong and secure against the attacks of its enemies; and renew in charity and grace the spirit of Thy servants, whom Thou has anointed, that they may glorify Thee and the Father and His Only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. amen.
 Manual of prayers to the Holy Ghost by Very Rev. Fr. Felix of Jesus 1941

"How is it possible that a merciful God could punish with eternal misery poor human beings for slips and faults of natural weakness? Why does He create them? Does He rejoice in calling persons into existence to damn them? God created us for eternal happiness; heaven is our destiny. Those who succeed in damning themselves, do it against the will of God. 

God, though infinite in His mercy is infinite in all His perfections: He is infinitely just. No punishment which He can inflict upon him who dies in mortal sin will be commensurate with His justice unless that punishment be boundless in its intensity and eternal in its duration.

I do not understand how anybody can believe in a God without believing in everlasting punishment. The very existence of God calls for a hell of the wicked where the worm never dies and the fire shall never be quenched. He who dies in mortal sin remains in that sin, as the Scripture assures us: "Wherever the tree falleth there it shall lie." He remains for all eternity as he died: the enemy of God. And God must for all eternity treat him as His enemy. Reason, I repeat, requires the existence of hell; therefore, all ages and all nations have believed in it. The pagans firmly believed in it; they spoke of the wicked dead as suffering endless banishment and as being condemned to endless labor and torment.

It is no credit to our enlightened age if it records the names of individuals who became conspicuous by sneering at the mention of hell, who pretended there was no such place or state or hell-fire or everlasting punishment. Does such an impudent denial destroy the doctrine of hell? Besides, hell is not an opinion, and not even a mere doctrine, but hell is a real fact; reason and revelation convince us of the existence of this fact. Can a man do away with a fact by denying it? Is there no such city as San Francisco, because you deny it on the ground that you never saw it? Does the sun cease to shine as soon as you state: The sun is not shining? Moreover, did ever a learned man prove that there was no hell? Voltaire and Rousseau made a desperate attempt to prove the non-existence of hell, but all that these blasphemers accomplished was to assert boldly that perhaps there was no hell. Against such a silly perhaps we have sound reason supported by the infallible word of God to convince us of hell. Yes, there is a hell, and those who refuse to believe in it will be cast into it forever. The wicked may wish that there be no hell and laugh at the idea of it: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, shall say to them on the last day: "Depart from Me, ye accursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels." Such is the just retribution of mortal sin, which is a turning away from God for the sake of a created thing. The damned are deprived of ever seeing God. This is the greatest of all imaginable sufferings, and yet it is a most appropriate punishment: He who has rejected God on earth, shall be rejected by Him for all eternity.

As soon as the wicked soul leaves the body in death, it shall realize the irreparable loss of God, and find itself cast away from the face of God forever. It shall be sunk into the flames of hell, into a sea of fire. The soul, without the body, can be reached by this fire; God shall cause all those sensations in the soul which it had when lodged in the body. The fire of hell, set ablaze to punish the Wicked, is not like earthly fire; it does not consume, but preserves; it does not give light, but causes extreme darkness.

The unspeakable torment of hell is waiting for you if you die in a grievous sin. Make up your mind to avoid such an eternal misfortune at the risk of losing everything temporal."

Source: Spiritual Pepper and Salt for Catholics and Non-Catholics by Bishop William Stang 1902

I. They Were The First To Be Called.
II. They Were The First To Be Enlightened.
III. They Were The First To Be Comforted.

"And there were in the same country, shepherds watching, and keeping the night-watches over their flock. And behold an Angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them, and they feared with a great fear: and the Angel said to them: Fear not."—St. Luke ii. 8, 9, 10.

1. And behold an Angel of the Lord stood by them. The shepherds who kept watch over their flocks by night, were a figure of Priests, who, as St. Ambrose says, in the night time of this present life sleep not, but watch in order to guard the souls committed to their care from the assaults of their spiritual enemies; and it was fitting, as St. Ambrose says further, "that shepherds should be found watching, and that they should be the first to receive the Heavenly Tidings, that He, the Good Shepherd, the Pattern of Shepherds, was born." Therefore all Priests who teach or direct souls, should remember that they especially are called upon to adore the new-born Child. Venerable Bede says, "Mystically speaking, they signify the pastors of the flock, teachers also, and rulers of faithful souls." Let us then be the first at the manger; let us contemplate this great mystery; let us be the first to attract the glance of the Divine Child, and let us melt into tears of tenderness, love, and compunction. He says to us: Come, make haste, and buy of Me without price, at the expense of only asking, the wine of strength, and the milk of consolation: "Come, make haste, buy wine and milk . . . without any price" (Isa. lv. 1). "Come, eat My Flesh, and drink My Blood; this is your food, this is your drink, and therefore am I born in Bethlehem," that is, in " the House of Bread." "Come eat My bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you" (Prov. ix. 5). Come, you who are afflicted with misery, oppressed by the weight of your ministry. "Come to me all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you" (St. Matt. xi. 28). Let us go, then; "let us go over to Bethlehem," let us imitate the shepherds, who came with haste, and let us be the first to offer tribute to the new-born Monarch; for the princes of the people ought to go before the people in their acts of homage.

2. And the brightness of God shone round about them. The light which shone round about the shepherds is an image of the divine light with which worthy ministers of God are invested; and, as St. Gregory says, the greater their vigilance for the salvation of souls, the greater will be the light of grace which enlightens them; and the more solicitous they are for the welfare of their flocks, so much the more will they merit to understand divine truths better than others. God, who predestined us to the priesthood, Who enlightened us with His heavenly light from our earliest years, and gave us a clearer knowledge of His Son than He gave to the rest of the Faithful: "He hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Christ Jesus" (2 Cor. iv. 6). When we studied Dogmatic Theology, we learned the treatise, De Incarnatione, in order that the sublime teaching of this great mystery might be impressed on our minds; we have often instructed the ignorant in it, we have confuted unbelievers, we have defended its truth. One step more remains for us to take, and it is this; to nourish our minds and hearts with the Faith and sound doctrine, by imploring the descent of the divine light into our souls, and so shall we be "good ministers of Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. iv. 6). Therefore let us hasten to adore the Divine Child; let us study Him, the pattern of humility, patience, and every virtue; let us say to Him, with St. Bernard: "The meaner Thou makest Thyself for me, the dearer Thou art to me." Let Thy grace be made manifest in us, bestow on us abundance of light, for Thou hast "destroyed death, and brought to light life and incorruption by the gospel" (2 Tim. i. 10).

3. Fear not. The Angel took away all fear from the hearts of the shepherds; much more will Jesus Christ take away all fear from the hearts of His Priests. He says to them now from the manger, by His infant cries, what, on another occasion, He said in words: "It is I, fear ye not" (St. Matt. xiv. 27). I am Who am, and you are My ministers; whom should you fear? I am come, not to give you the spirit of fear, which was in the Old Law, but the spirit "of power, and of love, and of sobriety" (2 Tim. i. 7). Preach My Gospel without shame, without weariness, without diffidence: "be not ashamed of the testimony of Our Lord . . . but labor with the gospel according to the power of God" (2 Tim. i. 8). Three times to-day you will offer the mighty Sacrifice which is the source of all strength, which, as Holy Church declares, was the support of the martyrs amidst their torments; three times to-day you will eat My Flesh and drink My Blood, so that in the strength of that food you may walk, even to "the Mount of God" (3 Kings xix. 8). And we will answer Him: Jesus, be Thou my strength: come to me, come to my soul, live in me; or, with St. Ambrose, we may say, For otherwise what would Thy coming into the world profit me 1

"Say to my soul, I am thy Salvation."—Ps. xxxiv. 3. "The Lord is my strength, and my praise, and He is become my salvation." —ha. xii. 2.

Source: Meditations for the use of the clergy, for every day in the year by Archbishop Angelo Agostino Scotti 1872

The Catechism of the Council of Trent

"The more learned the person is, who is the author of error, the greater are the people's temptations.

He only is a true, genuine Catholic, who loves the word of God and his Church, the mystical body of Christ, above all other considerations in the world; who values neither the authority, nor love, nor wit, nor eloquence, nor philosophy of any man breathing, in comparison of his divine Religion and the faith of the Catholic Church; upon all these things he looks down with contempt, and fixed and immovable in the faith, resolves to believe nothing upon the authority of one single man, but what he finds anciently and universally to have been believed by the Catholic Church; and whatever upstart, unheard of doctrine he finds to be secretly introduced, in opposition to all the faithful, let him look upon that as matter of temptation, rather than an article of faith: and this advice of mine will then especially, appear more reasonable, when he reflects upon that of St. Paul, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, where he declares, That there must be also heresies: that they who are approved, may be made manifest among you 1 Cor. xi. 19. As if he should have said, this is the reason why God does not interpose miraculously, and destroy heresies in a moment, that the approved may be made manifest, that is, that every firm, faithful, and constant lover of the Catholic faith, under such a temptation, might be a more shining example to the world, of the true power of godliness.

And in truth, when any new born heresy first shews its head in the Church, the good grain is then soon discovered by its weight, and the chaff by its lightness: and then upon the sifting temptation, that chaff submits to the first wind, which had no solidity to secure it on the floor. For some fly off immediately, others are shocked only, and turn occasionalists, being afraid of perishing out of the Church, and yet, at the same tie, ashamed of returning perfectly into it, wounded, half dead, and half alive, and just in the condition of those men, who have taken such a dose of poison, as will neither destroy nor be digested, neither let them die or live.

Pitiable condition? For with what whirlwinds, what tides of restless passion are such wretches agitated! One while, they are transported with every wind of doctrine; another while, they return and fall foul upon themselves, and, like conflicting waves, are dashed to pieces by their own contrary motions; this moment, they are confident in uncertainties, and the moment after as irrationally fearful, where no fear exists; unknowing where to go, where to return, what to desire, what to deprecate; what to receive, and what to relinquish.

Nevertheless, this unhappy vibration and instability of mind, points to its own cure, if men would but wisely consider the merciful design of Providence, in this very affliction. For therefore, whilst without the haven of the Catholic faith, are they thus afflicted, thus tossed and shattered almost to pieces with inward storms of clashing thoughts, that by this restless posture of mind, being made sensible of the danger they are in, and their distance from salvation, they might take down those sails of pride and vanity, which they have unhappily spread before every gust of heresy, and make all the sale they can into the safe and peaceable harbour of their holy mother, the Catholic Church; and there, being sea sick, as it were, with errors, discharge these foul and bitter waters, to make room for the pure waters of life. There they may unlearn well, all they have learned ill, and get a right notion of all those doctrines of the church they are capable of understanding, and believe those that surpass all understanding."

Source: Grounds of Catholic Doctrine: by Bishop Challoner: as contained in the Profession of Faith, published by Pope Pius IV

"The persecutions which the evil enemy has stirred up at various times against the most holy sacrifice of the Mass are a proof how sacred a thing it must be, and how obnoxious to the devil; otherwise he would not attack it with such violence. "

Source: Explanation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by Rev. Cochem

"The oftener I reflect upon these things, the more I am astonished at the extravagance of some men, at that complication of impiety and blindness; in a word, at that strange insatiable lust after novelty in religion, that they cannot rest contented with the old rule of faith, once delivered and deposited in the Primitive Church, but must be, every day, upon new researches, and are never well but when they are aiding altering, or curtailing Christianity; as if the doctrine was not from heaven, nor one Revelation sufficient, but only a human institution, which could not possibly be perfected, but by mending it every day; or to speak more truly, by picking holes in it every day.

And yet the divine oracles, both in the Old and New Testament, loudly remonstrate against all such alterations. Pass not beyond the bounds, which thy fathers have set, Prov. xxiii. 28. And judge not against a judge, Eccles. viii. 17. He, that breaketh a hedge, a serpent shall bite him, Eccles. x.8. And so likewise that severe charge of the apostle, which has often been, and always will be, as it were the Spiritual Sword, to lop off the sprouting heresies of every age. The charge is this, 1 Tim. vi. 20,21. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trusts, avoiding the profane novelties of words, and oppositions of knowledge falsely so culled, which some promising, have erred concerning the faith.

And yet, after all this, there are some such hardy veterans in wickedness, of that barren effrontery, and irrefragable obstinacy, as to stand proof against all this powerful impression of scripture; men, who will capitulate upon no terms of reason, nor be touched by the most shocking  arguments, nor be dismayed, to say no more, by the most terrible menaces from heaven. But to proceed: Avoid, says St. Paul, the profane novelties of words; he did not say, avoid the primitive doctrines, but just the contrary; for if novelty is to be avoided, antiquity is to be retained; if novelty is profane, antiquity is sacred. But the apostle goes on and adds, oppositions of knowledge falsely so called. A most true character of the doctrine of heretics, who set a gloss upon their ignorance, with the title of science, and call darkness light, and light darkness. Which some, says he, promising have erred concerning the faith. Promising what? Why some new, strange, unheard of doctrines; for this is the cant of these promisers to the Catholics: Come hither, O ye unwise and simple wretches, come to our meetings, O ye that love to go by the name of Catholics, and here learn the true and saving faith, which none are gifted to understand, but those of our way only; a mystery, that has been hidden from the world for many ages, and graciously revealed, but of late, to the Lord's people; but you must be content to learn this faith privily, and by stealth, and then you will find it wondrous sweet and edifying.

And moreover, I must advise you to teach it with the same privity as you learned it, and be sure, that it comes not to the ears of the world, not that the Church knows one syllable of the mystery: for it is given but to few to know the secrets of the Lord. But is not this the very invitation of the courtesan in the Proverbs of Solomon, calling them that pass by the way, and go on their journey: he that is a little one, let him turn to me, and to the fool she said: Stolen waters are sweeter, and hidden bread is more pleasant. But what are the words following? Why, he knoweth not that giants are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell. Prov. ix. 15,16,17,18. And who are the giants, but those whom the apostles says, have erred concerning the faith?"

Source: Grounds of Catholic Doctrine: by Bishop Challoner: as contained in the Profession of Faith, published by Pope Pius IV,

"The following facts have been clearly established from Luther's own writings

1. At the beginning of the Reformation, Luther acted as a downright hypocrite towards Pope Leo X. and shortly before dying, he wrote a most low, coarse, disreputable, and satanical book of one hundred and fifty-seven pages, against Pope Paul III. Even supposing Protestantism was right and the Catholic Church was wrong, such a book as Luther wrote: "Against the Popery of Rome, instituted by the Devil," would be a lasting disgrace to any author.

2. Having rejected the authority of the Pope, he admits the authority of Satan; for he informs us in plain, unmistakable words, that the Devil argued in favor of his doctrine of justification by faith alone, and against Mass, Mary, and the Saints.

3. Strange to say, he expects Christ will approve of his preaching those very doctrines, which had met with the sanction of Satan. For Luther has the boldness to assure us, that Our Lord looks upon him as an Evangelist, and that he himself will not allow his teaching to be judged by anyone, not even by an Angel.

4. Having thus set the authority of the Pope at nought, admitted the authority of Satan, proclaimed his own authority as that of an Evangelist, who is not even to be judged by an Angel, Luther boldly rejects the inspired Word of God, as contained in St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, and in the Apocalypse or Book of Revelations. As to the Epistle of St. James, it is only a straw epistle because, in opposition to Luther, St. James ventures to "attribute justification to the works."

5. Not satisfied with this, he even falsified the Bible by adding the word "alone" to Rom. III. 28. He has the honesty to tell us why he does so. It was in order to express his doctrine of justification by faith alone in a more "clear and powerful" manner. The text in the English Protestant Bible is: "We conclude that a man is justified by faith without deeds of the law." Luther translates: "So we now hold it, that man is justified, without doing the works of the law, alone by faith."

6. We can hardly expect, that a man who thus deals with the inspired Word of God, will respect the laws of God. Now, one of the most fundamental laws, promulgated here on earth by the Son of God, is the law concerning the unity of Christian marriage. Luther's teaching, however, is in direct opposition to this. He says: "I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives." Nor does he, in the case of Prince Philip of Hesse, shrink from putting this his doctrine into practice; for Luther willfully and deliberately signed a document granting his Highness leave to have two wives at the same time. Moreover, in one of his sermons, the Reformer of Germany did not blush to sanction adultery under circumstances, which ought never to be mentioned from a Christian pulpit. Is it God, or is it Satan who speaks through Luther?

7. Whilst constantly asserting his own authority and acting with the utmost recklessness, concerning the Holy Bible and the unity of marriage, Luther treats with an insufferable arrogance and intolerance all those who refuse to submit to his authority. As to the Jews, it is well known how, in the Middle Ages, they were constantly protected by the Popes, even in Rome itself, where they had a special quarter of the town allotted to them. How differently Luther acts. He says the churches (synagogues) and schools of the cursed Jews are to be burnt down, their houses destroyed, their Prayer Books taken away from them, their Rabbis forbidden to teach, they are to be refused all legal protection when they go into the country; all their money is to be taken from them, and if all is not sufficient, they are to be driven off like mad dogs.

8. A satanical hatred of the Pope and of all Roman Catholics is one of the characteristic features in the history and character of Luther. According to his views Popery is instituted by the Devil, the Pope is Antichrist, whose tongue ought to be torn out through the back of his neck and nailed to the gallows; the Catholic bishops are "wolves, tyrants, murderers of souls, and the Apostles of Antichrist;" every Catholic is "at least a murderer, a robber, a persecutor." And he asks the Princes: "Why do we not wash our hands in their blood?"

9. But even Protestants differing from him do not fare any better. So, for example, he denounces those who do not believe that the very same Body of Our Lord which was nailed to the Cross is received in the Last Supper as blasphemers and enemies of Christ, and he adds that they cannot hope for any communion with him (Luther). He says: "I should have to condemn myself with them into the depths of Hell, if I were to hold with them."

10. The results of his teaching are such as might be expected from what we have already said. He maintains that the poor man "has ample reason to break forth with the flail and the club." The peasants do break forth with the flail and the club. Luther now advises them to go home quietly. They refuse. Luther then orders everybody to "strike in... to strangle and stab, secretly or openly." "For in the case of a man in open rebellion everybody is both chief justice and executioner." One hundred thousand peasants are killed or executed. 

11. Such were the political consequences of his teaching. The moral results were even more disastrous; for wherever Luther's teaching waw accepted, the Last Supper was treated with contempt, the former generosity in supporting the clergy, churches, schools, the sick and the poor, cease; children were neglected, drunkenness began to spread like a deluge, in fact every virtue decreased, and every kind of vice increased. Luther tells us that, under the Pope, people had had only one Devil, and that now, under the Gospel, they had "seven worse ones."

Would it not have been better if he had left the poor people with the one Devil, and had spared them the six other worse ones?

12. A man who pretends to be a Reformer is sent either by God or by Satan. Now, every sign of a Divine mission is utterly wanting, both in Luther's teaching, and in the results of his teaching. How different in every respect are not Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and the prophets of old from the would be Reformer? But, can Luther perhaps be compared to the Apostles? let us see. Did St. Peter, or St. Paul, or any of them, ever dare to allow a Christian to have two wives at the same time? Is not this fact alone sufficient to prove to every fair-minded man, that Luther was not sent by God? Moreover, was the result of St. Paul's teaching an increase of drunkenness and every kind of vice, and a decrease of every kind of virtue? No, certainly not. Luther, therefore, bears no resemblance to any of those men, of whom the Scripture tells us that they were sent by God as Reformers of their nation of of the world. We, therefore, refuse to believe in his Divine mission, and that on Scriptural grounds. But mark also another reason. Luther refused to believe that Carlstadt had the sanction of Heaven, and for a reason which is very instructive. Writing against this pretended Reformer, he says, "God does not break up the old order for a new one without working great signs. Therefore we cannot believe a person, who appeals to his own spirit and to his inward feeling, and rushes head-long against the usual order of God, unless he also performs miracles."

13. Now, Luther, I judge you by your own test. Where are the miracles, with which you prove your Divine mission? You know very will, that you never performed a single one. And therefore we would be acting in opposition to your own advice, were we to believe in you.

14. But, if Luther was not commissioned by God, then the glorious old Church of our Forefathers, the Church of which we say, in the Apostle's Creed: "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church," is the true Church of God. And, in that case, not Luther, but the great and illustrious St. Ignatius, was the real Reformer of the sixteenth century."

Source: Luther's Own Statements Concerning His teachings and its Results, by Fr. Henry O'Connor SJ 1884