TESTEM
BENEVOLENTIAE NOSTRAE
Concerning
New Opinions, Virtue, Nature And Grace, With Regard To Americanism
Pope
Leo XIII Encyclical promulgated on January 22, 1899.
In his 1899 encyclical Testem
Benevolentiae , responding to the controversy over
“Americanism”
Pope Leo Xiii, offered some candid advice to the American hierarchy---
advice
that remains useful today.
The following is Pope Leo’s
encyclical in its entirety. It also bears witness to Rome’s
longstanding
concern that the failure to uphold unpopular doctrines could lead to a crisis
in the American Church. (The
encyclical was addressed to Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore, with
instructions that it should be passed along to the other American Bishops.)
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Encyclical promulgated on January 22, 1899.
To Our Beloved Son, James Cardinal Gibbons,
Cardinal Priest of the Title Sancta Maria, Beyond the Tiber,
Archbishop of Baltimore:
Beloved
Son, Health and Apostolic Blessing:
We
send to you by this letter a renewed expression of that good will which we have
not failed during the course of our pontificate to manifest frequently to you
and to your colleagues in the episcopate and to the whole American people,
availing ourselves of every opportunity offered us by the progress of your
church or whatever you have done for safeguarding and promoting Catholic
interests. Moreover, we have often considered and admired the noble gifts of
your nation which enable the American people to be alive to every good work
which promotes the good of humanity and the splendor of civilization. Although
this letter is not intended, as preceding ones, to repeat the words of praise
so often spoken, but rather to call attention to some things to be avoided and
corrected; still because it is conceived in that same spirit of apostolic
charity which has inspired all our letters, we shall expect that you will take
it as another proof of our love; the more so because it is intended to suppress
certain contentions which have arisen lately among you to the detriment of the
peace of many souls.
It
is known to you, beloved son, that the biography of Isaac Thomas Hecker,
especially through the action of those who under took to translate or interpret
it in a foreign language, has excited not a little controversy, on account of
certain opinions brought forward concerning the way of leading Christian life.
We,
therefore, on account of our apostolic office, having to guard the integrity of
the faith and the security of the faithful, are desirous of writing to you more
at length concerning this whole matter.
The
underlying principle of these new opinions is that, in order to more easily
attract those who differ from her, the Church should shape her teachings more in
accord with the spirit of the age and relax some of her ancient severity and
make some concessions to new opinions. Many think that these concessions should
be made not only in regard to ways of living, but even in regard to doctrines
which belong to the deposit of the faith. They contend that it would be
opportune, in order to gain those who differ from us, to omit certain points of
her teaching which are of lesser importance, and to tone down the meaning which
the Church has always attached to them. It does not need many words, beloved
son, to prove the falsity of these ideas if the nature and origin of the
doctrine which the Church proposes are recalled to mind. The Vatican Council
says concerning this point: "For the doctrine of faith which God has revealed
has not been proposed, like a philosophical invention to be perfected by human
ingenuity, but has been delivered as a divine deposit to the Spouse of Christ
to be faithfully kept and infallibly declared. Hence that meaning of the sacred
dogmas is perpetually to be retained which our Holy Mother, the Church, has
once declared, nor is that meaning ever to be departed from under the pretense
or pretext of a deeper comprehension of them." —Constitutio de Fide
Catholica, Chapter iv.
We
cannot consider as altogether blameless the silence which purposely leads to
the omission or neglect of some of the principles of Christian doctrine, for
all the principles come from the same Author and Master, "the Only
Begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father."—John i, 18. They
are adapted to all times and all nations, as is clearly seen from the words of
our Lord to His apostles: "Going, therefore, teach all nations; teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and behold, I am
with you all days, even to the end of the world."—Matt. xxviii, 19. Concerning this point the
Vatican Council says: "All those things are to be believed with divine and
catholic faith which are contained in the Word of God, written or handed down,
and which the Church, either by a solemn judgment or by her ordinary and
universal magisterium, proposes for belief as having been divinely
revealed."—Const. de fide, Chapter iii.
Let it be
far from anyone's mind to suppress for any reason any doctrine that has been
handed down. Such a policy would tend rather to separate Catholics from the
Church than to bring in those who differ. There is nothing closer to our heart
than to have those who are separated from the fold of Christ return to it, but
in no other way than the way pointed out by Christ.
The
rule of life laid down for Catholics is not of such a nature that it cannot
accommodate itself to the exigencies of various times and places. (VOL.
XXIV-13.) The Church has, guided by her Divine Master, a kind and merciful
spirit, for which reason from the very beginning she has been what St. Paul
said of himself: "I became all things to all men that I might save
all."
History
proves clearly that the Apostolic See, to which has been entrusted the mission
not only of teaching but of governing the whole Church, has continued "in
one and the same doctrine, one and the same sense, and one and the same
judgment,"—Const. de fide, Chapter iv.
But
in regard to ways of living she has been accustomed to so yield that, the
divine principle of morals being kept intact, she has never neglected to
accommodate herself to the character and genius of the nations which she
embraces.
Who
can doubt that she will act in this same spirit again if the salvation of souls
requires it? In this matter the Church must be the judge, not private men who
are often deceived by the appearance of right. In this, all who wish to escape
the blame of our predecessor, Pius the Sixth, must concur. He condemned as
injurious to the Church and the spirit of God who guides her the doctrine
contained in proposition lxxviii of the Synod of Pistoia, "that the
discipline made and approved by the Church should be submitted to examination,
as if the Church could frame a code of laws useless or heavier than human
liberty can bear."
But,
beloved son, in this present matter of which we are speaking, there is even a
greater danger and a more manifest opposition to Catholic doctrine and
discipline in that opinion of the lovers of novelty, according to which they
hold such liberty should be allowed in the Church, that her supervision and
watchfulness being in some sense lessened, allowance be granted the faithful,
each one to follow out more freely the leading of his own mind and the trend of
his own proper activity. They are of opinion that such liberty has its
counterpart in the newly given civil freedom which is now the right and the
foundation of almost every secular state.
In
the apostolic letters concerning the constitution of states, addressed by us to
the bishops of the whole Church, we discussed this point at length; and there
set forth the difference existing between the Church, which is a divine
society, and all other social human organizations which depend simply on free
will and choice of men.
It
is well, then, to particularly direct attention to the opinion which serves as
the argument in behalf of this greater liberty sought for and recommended to
Catholics.
It
is alleged that now the Vatican decree concerning the infallible teaching
authority of the Roman Pontiff having been proclaimed that nothing further on
that score can give any solicitude, and accordingly, since that has been
safeguarded and put beyond question a wider and freer field both for thought
and action lies open to each one. But such reasoning is evidently faulty,
since, if we are to come to any conclusion from the infallible teaching
authority of the Church, it should rather be that no one should wish to depart
from it, and moreover that the minds of all being leavened and directed thereby,
greater security from private error would be enjoyed by all. And further, those
who avail themselves of such a way of reasoning seem to depart seriously from
the over-ruling wisdom of the Most High—which wisdom, since it was
pleased to set forth by most solemn decision the authority and supreme teaching
rights of this Apostolic See—willed that decision precisely in order to
safeguard the minds of the Church's children from the dangers of these present
times.
These
dangers, viz., the confounding of license with liberty, the passion for
discussing and pouring contempt upon any possible subject, the assumed right to
hold whatever opinions one pleases upon any subject and to set them forth in
print to the world, have so wrapped minds in darkness that there is now a
greater need of the Church's teaching office than ever before, lest people
become unmindful both of conscience and of duty.
We,
indeed, have no thought of rejecting everything that modern industry and study
has produced; so far from it that we welcome to the patrimony of truth and to
an ever-widening scope of public well-being whatsoever helps toward the
progress of learning and virtue. Yet all this, to be of any solid benefit, nay,
to have a real existence and growth, can only be on the condition of
recognizing the wisdom and authority of the Church.
Coming
now to speak of the conclusions which have been deduced from the above
opinions, and for them, we readily believe there was no thought of wrong or
guile, yet the things themselves certainly merit some degree of suspicion.
First, all external guidance is setaside for those souls who are striving after
Christian perfection as being superfluous or indeed, not useful in any
sense—the contention being that the Holy Spirit pours richer and more
abundant graces than formerly upon the souls of the faithful, so that without
human intervention He teaches and guides them by some hidden instinct of His
own. Yet it is the sign of no small over-confidence to desire to measure and
determine the mode of the Divine communication to mankind, since it wholly
depends upon His own good pleasure, and He is a most generous dispenser 'of his
own gifts. "The Spirit breatheth whereso He listeth."—John iii,
8.
"And
to each one of us grace is given according to the measure of the giving of
Christ."—Eph. iv, 7.
And
shall any one who recalls the history of the apostles, the faith of the nascent
church, the trials and deaths of the martyrs—and, above all, those olden
times, so fruitful in saints—dare to measure our age with these, or
affirm that they received less of the divine outpouring from the Spirit of
Holiness? Not
to dwell upon this point, there is no one who calls in question the truth that
the Holy Spirit does work by a secret descent into the souls of the just and
that He stirs them alike by warnings and impulses, since unless this were the
case all outward defense and authority would be unavailing. "For if any
persuades himself that he can give assent to saving, that is, to gospel truth
when proclaimed, without any illumination of the Holy Spirit, who give's unto
all sweetness both to assent and to hold, such an one is deceived by a
heretical spirit."—From the Second Council of Orange, Canon 7.
Moreover,
as experience shows, these monitions and impulses of the Holy Spirit are for
the most part felt through the medium of the aid and light of an external
teaching authority. To quote St. Augustine. "He (the Holy Spirit)
co-operates to the fruit gathered from the good trees, since He externally
waters and cultivates them by the outward ministry of men, and yet of Himself
bestows the inward increase."—De Gratia Christi, Chapter xix. This,
indeed, belongs to the ordinary law of God's loving providence that as He has
decreed that men for the most part shall be saved by the ministry also of men,
so has He wished that those whom He calls to the higher planes of holiness
should be led thereto by men; hence St. Chrysostom declares we are taught of
God through the instrumentality of men.—Homily I in Inscrib. Altar. Of
this a striking example is given us in the very first days of the Church.
For
though Saul, intent upon blood and slaughter, had heard the voice of our Lord
Himself and had asked, "What dost Thou wish me to do?" yet he was
bidden to enter Damascus and search for Ananias. Acts ix: "Enter the city
and it shall be there told to thee what thou must do."
Nor
can we leave out of consideration the truth that those who are striving after
perfection, since by that fact they walk in no beaten or well-known path, are
the most liable to stray, and hence have greater need than others of a teacher
and guide. Such guidance has ever obtained in the Church; it has been the
universal teaching of those who throughout the ages have been eminent for
wisdom and sanctity—and hence to reject it would be to commit one's self
to a belief at once rash and dangerous.
A
thorough consideration of this point, in the supposition that no exterior guide
is granted such souls, will make us see the difficulty of locating or
determining the direction and application of that more abundant influx of the
Holy Spirit so greatly extolled by innovators To practice virtue there is
absolute need of the assistance of the Holy Spirit, yet we find those who are
fond of novelty giving an unwarranted importance to the natural virtues, as
though they better responded to the customs and necessities of the times and
that having these as his outfit man becomes more ready to act and more
strenuous in action. It is not easy to understand how persons possessed of
Christian wisdom can either prefer natural to supernatural virtues or attribute
to them a greater efficacy and fruitfulness. Can it be that nature conjoined
with grace is weaker than when left to herself?
Can
it be that those men illustrious for sanctity, whom the Church distinguishes
and openly pays homage to, were deficient, came short in the order of nature
and its endowments, because they excelled in Christian strength? And although
it be allowed at times to wonder at acts worthy of admiration which are the
outcome of natural virtue—is there anyone at all endowed simply with an
outfit of natural virtue? Is there any one not tried by mental anxiety, and
this in no light degree? Yet ever to master such, as also to preserve in its
entirety the law of the natural order, requires an assistance from on high
These single notable acts to which we have alluded will frequently upon a
closer investigation be found to exhibit the appearance rather than the reality
of virtue. Grant that it is virtue, unless we would "run in vain" and
be unmindful of that eternal bliss which a good God in his mercy has destined
for us, of what avail are natural virtues unless seconded by the gift of divine
grace? Hence St. Augustine well says: "Wonderful is the strength, and
swift the course, but outside the true path." For as the nature of man,
owing to the primal fault, is inclined to evil and dishonor, yet by the help of
grace is raised up, is borne along with a new greatness andstrength, so, too,
virtue, which is not the product of nature alone, but of grace also, is made
fruitful unto everlasting life and takes on a more strong and abiding
character.
This
over-esteem of natural virtue finds a method of expression in assuming to
divide all virtues in active and passive, and it is alleged that whereas
passive virtues found better place in past times, our age is to be
characterized by the active. That such a division and distinction cannot be
maintained is patent—for there is not, nor can there be, merely passive
virtue. "Virtue," says St. Thomas Aquinas, "designates the
perfection of some faculty, but end of such faculty is an act, and an act of
virtue is naught else than the good use of free will," acting, that is to
say, under the grace of God if the act be one of supernatural virtue.
He
alone could wish that some Christian virtues be adapted to certain times and
different ones for other times who is unmindful of the apostle's words:
"That those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be made conformable to the
image of His Son."— Romans viii, 29. Christ is the teacher and the
exemplar of all sanctity, and to His standard must all those conform who wish
for eternal life. Nor does Christ know any change as the ages pass, "for
He is yesterday and today and the same forever."—Hebrews xiii, 8. To
the men of all ages was the precept given: "Learn of Me, because I am meek
and humble of heart."—Matt. xi, 29.
To
every age has He been made manifest to us as obedient even unto death; in every
age the apostle's dictum has its force: "Those who are Christ's have
crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences." Would to God that more
nowadays practiced these virtues in the degree of the saints of past times, who
in humility, obedience and self-restraint were powerful "in word and in
deed" —to the great advantage not only of religion, but of the state
and the public welfare.
From
this disregard of the angelical virtues, erroneously styled passive, the step
was a short one to a contempt of the religious life which has in some degree
taken hold of minds. That such a value is generally held by the upholders of
new views, we infer from certain statements concerning the vows which religious
orders take. They say vows are alien to the spirit of our times, in that they
limit the bounds of human liberty; that they are more suitable to weak than
›o strong minds; that so far from making for human perfection and the
good of human organization, they are hurtful to both; but that this is as false
as possible from the practice and the doctrine of the Church is clear, since
she has always given the very highest approval to the religious method of life;
nor without good cause, for those who under the divine call have freely embraced
that state of life did not content themselves with the observance of precepts,
but, going forward to the evangelical counsels, showed themselves ready and
valiant soldiers of Christ. Shall we judge this to be a characteristic of weak
minds, or shall we say that it is useless or hurtful to a more perfect state of
life?
Those
who so bind themselves by the vows of religion, far from having suffered a loss
of liberty, enjoy that fuller and freer kind, that liberty, namely, by which
Christ hath made us free. And this further view of theirs, namely, that the
religious life is either entirely useless or of little service to the Church,
besides being injurious to the religious orders cannot be the opinion of anyone
who has read the annals of the Church. Did not your country, the United States,
derive the beginnings both of faith and of culture from the children of these
religious families? to one of whom but very lately, a thing greatly to your
praise, you have decreed that a statue be publicly erected. And even at the
present time wherever the religious families are found, how speedy and yet how
fruitful a harvest of good works do they not bring forth! How very many leave
home and seek strange lands to impart the truth of the gospel and to widen the
bounds of civilization; and this they do with the greatest cheerfulness amid
manifold dangers! Out of their number not less, indeed, than from the rest of
the clergy, the Christian world finds the preachers of God's word, the
directors of conscience, the teachers of youth and the Church itself the
examples of all sanctity.
Nor
should any difference of praise be made between those who follow the active
state of life and those others who, charmed with solitude, give themselves to
prayer and bodily mortification. And how much, indeed, of good report these
have merited, and do merit, is known surely to all who do not forget that the
"continual prayer of the just man" avails to placate and to bring
down the blessings of heaven when to such prayers bodily mortification is added.
But
if there be those who prefer to form one body without the obligation of the
vows let them pursue such a course. It is not new in the Church, nor in any
wise censurable. Let them be careful, however, not to set forth such a state
above that of religious orders. But rather, since mankind are more disposed at
the present time to indulge themselves in pleasures, let those be held in
greater esteem "who having left all things have followed Christ."
Finally,
not to delay too long, it is stated that the way and method hitherto in use
among Catholics for bringing back those who have fallen away from the Church
should be left aside and another one chosen, in which matter it will suffice to
note that it is not the part of prudence to neglect that which antiquity in its
long experience has approved and which is also taught by apostolic authority.
The scriptures teach us that it is the duty of all to be solicitous for the
salvation of one's neighbor, according to the power and position of each. The
faithful do this by religiously discharging the duties of their state of life,
by the uprightness of their conduct, by their works of Christian charity and by
earnest and continuous prayer to God. On the other hand, those who belong to
the clergy should do this by an enlightened fulfillment of their preaching
ministry, by the pomp and splendor of ceremonies especially by setting forth
that sound form of doctrine which Saint Paul inculcated upon Titus and Timothy.
But if, among the different ways of preaching the word of God that one
sometimes seems to be preferable, which directed to non-Catholics, not in
churches, but in some suitable place, in such wise that controversy is not
sought, but friendly conference, such a method is certainly without fault. But
let those who undertake such ministry be set apart by the authority of the
bishops and let them be men whose science and virtue has been previously
ascertained. For we think that there are many in your country who are separated
from Catholic truth more by ignorance than by ill-will, who might perchance
more easily be drawn to the one fold of Christ if this truth be set forth to
them in a friendly and familiar way.
From
the foregoing it is manifest, beloved son, that we are not able to give
approval to those views which, in their collective sense, are called by some
"Americanism." But if by this name are to be understood certain
endowments of mind which belong to the American people, just as other
characteristics belong to various other nations, and if, moreover, by it is
designated your political condition and the laws and customs by which you are
governed, there is no reason to take exception to the name. But if this is to
be so understood that the doctrines which have been adverted to above are not
only indicated, but exalted, there can be no manner of doubt that our venerable
brethren, the bishops of America, would be the first to repudiate and condemn
it as being most injurious to themselves and to their country. For it would
give rise to the suspicion that there are among you some who conceive and would
have the Church in America to be different from what it is in the rest of the
world.
But the
true Church is one, as by unity of doctrine, so by unity of government, and she
is catholic also. Since God has placed the center and foundation of unity in
the chair of Blessed Peter, she is rightly called the Roman Church, for
"where Peter is, there is the church." Wherefore, if anybody wishes
to be considered a real Catholic, he ought to be able to say from his heart the
selfsame words which Jerome addressed to Pope Damasus: "I, acknowledging
no other leader than Christ, am bound in fellowship with Your Holiness; that
is, with the chair of Peter. I know that the church was built upon him as its
rock, and that whosoever gathereth not with you, scattereth."
We
having thought it fitting, beloved son, in view of your high office, that this
letter should be addressed specially to you. It will also be our care to see
that copies are sent to the bishops of the United States, testifying again that
love by which we embrace your whole country, a country which in past times has
done so much for the cause of religion, and which will by the Divine assistance
continue to do still greater things. To you, and to all the faithful of
America, we grant most lovingly, as a pledge of Divine assistance, our
apostolic benediction.
Given
at Rome, from St. Peter's, the 22nd day of January, 1899, and the thirty-first
of our pontificate.
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