An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine Part 38

Or again, how distinct is the language of the Breviary Services on the Festival of Pentecost, or of the Holy Trinity, from the language of the Services for the a.s.sumption! How indescribably majestic, solemn, and soothing is the "Veni Creator Spiritus," the "Altissimi donum Dei, Fons vivus, ignis, charitas," or the "Vera et una Trinitas, una et summa Deitas, sancta et una Unitas," the "Spes nostra, salus nostra, honor noster, O beata Trinitas," the "Charitas Pater, gratia Filius, communicatio Spiritus Sanctus, O beata Trinitas;" "Libera nos, salva nos, vivifica nos, O beata Trinitas!" How fond, on the contrary, how full of sympathy and affection, how stirring and animating, in the Office for the a.s.sumption, is the "Virgo prudentissima, quo progrederis, quasi aurora valde rutilans? filia Sion, tota formosa et suavis es, pulcra ut luna, electa ut sol;" the "Sicut dies verni circ.u.mdabant eam flores rosarum, et lilia convallium;" the "Maria Virgo a.s.sumpta est ad aethereum thalamum in quo Rex regum stellato sedet solio;" and the "Gaudent Angeli, laudantes benedic.u.n.t Dominum." And so again, the Antiphon, the "Ad te clamamus exules filii Hevae, ad te suspiramus gementes et flentes in hac lacrymarum valle," and "Eia ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos misericordes oculos ad nos converte," and "O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria." Or the Hymn, "Ave Maris stella, Dei Mater alma," and "Virgo singularis, inter omnes mitis, nos culpis solutos, mites fac et castos."

3.

Nor does it avail to object that, in this contrast of devotional exercises, the human will supplant the Divine, from the infirmity of our nature; for, I repeat, the question is one of fact, whether it has done so. And next it must be asked, whether the character of much of the Protestant devotion towards our Lord has been that of adoration at all; and not rather such as we pay to an excellent human being, that is, no higher devotion than that which Catholics pay to St. Mary, differing from it, however, in often being familiar, rude, and earthly. Carnal minds will ever create a carnal worship for themselves; and to forbid them the service of the Saints will have no tendency to teach them the worship of G.o.d.

Moreover, it must be observed, what is very important, that great and constant as is the devotion which the Catholic pays to the Blessed Mary, it has a special province, and has far more connexion with the public services and the festive aspect of Christianity, and with certain extraordinary offices which she holds, than with what is strictly personal and primary in religion.

Two instances will serve in ill.u.s.tration of this, and they are but samples of many others.[428:1]

4.

(1.) For example, St. Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises are among the most approved methods of devotion in the modern Catholic Church; they proceed from one of the most celebrated of her Saints, and have the praise of Popes, and of the most eminent masters of the spiritual life. A Bull of Paul the Third's "approves, praises, and sanctions all and everything contained in them;" indulgences are granted to the performance of them by the same Pope, by Alexander the Seventh, and by Benedict the Fourteenth. St. Carlo Borromeo declared that he learned more from them than from all other books together; St. Francis de Sales calls them "a holy method of reformation," and they are the model on which all the extraordinary devotions of religious men or bodies, and the course of missions, are conducted. If there is a doc.u.ment which is the authoritative exponent of the inward communion of the members of the modern Catholic Church with their G.o.d and Saviour, it is this work.

The Exercises are directed to the removal of obstacles in the way of the soul's receiving and profiting by the gifts of G.o.d. They undertake to effect this in three ways; by removing all objects of this world, and, as it were, bringing the soul "into the solitude where G.o.d may speak to its heart;" next, by setting before it the ultimate end of man, and its own deviations from it, the beauty of holiness, and the pattern of Christ; and, lastly, by giving rules for its correction. They consist of a course of prayers, meditations, self-examinations, and the like, which in its complete extent lasts thirty days; and these are divided into three stages,--the _Via Purgativa_, in which sin is the main subject of consideration; the _Via Illuminativa_, which is devoted to the contemplation of our Lord's pa.s.sion, involving the process of the determination of our calling; and the _Via Unitiva_, in which we proceed to the contemplation of our Lord's resurrection and ascension.

5.

No more need be added in order to introduce the remark for which I have referred to these Exercises; viz. that in a work so highly sanctioned, so widely received, so intimately bearing upon the most sacred points of personal religion, very slight mention occurs of devotion to the Blessed Virgin, Mother of G.o.d. There is one mention of her in the rule given for the first Prelude or preparation, in which the person meditating is directed to consider as before him a church, or other place with Christ in it, St. Mary, and whatever else is suitable to the subject of meditation. Another is in the third Exercise, in which one of the three addresses is made to our Lady, Christ's Mother, requesting earnestly "her intercession with her Son;" to which is to be added the Ave Mary.

In the beginning of the Second Week there is a form of offering ourselves to G.o.d in the presence of "His infinite goodness," and with the witness of His "glorious Virgin Mother Mary, and the whole host of heaven." At the end of the Meditation upon the Angel Gabriel's mission to St. Mary, there is an address to each Divine Person, to "the Word Incarnate and to His Mother." In the Meditation upon the Two Standards, there is an address prescribed to St. Mary to implore grace from her Son through her, with an Ave Mary after it.

In the beginning of the Third Week one address is prescribed to Christ; or three, if devotion incites, to Mother, Son, and Father. In the description given of three different modes of prayer we are told, if we would imitate the Blessed Mary, we must recommend ourselves to her, as having power with her Son, and presently the Ave Mary, _Salve Regina_, and other forms are prescribed, as is usual after all prayers. And this is pretty much the whole of the devotion, if it may so be called, which is recommended towards St. Mary in the course of so many apparently as a hundred and fifty Meditations, and those chiefly on the events in our Lord's earthly history as recorded in Scripture. It would seem then that whatever be the influence of the doctrines connected with the Blessed Virgin and the Saints in the Catholic Church, at least they do not impede or obscure the freest exercise and the fullest manifestation of the devotional feelings towards G.o.d and Christ.

6.

(2.) The other instance which I give in ill.u.s.tration is of a different kind, but is suitable to mention. About forty little books have come into my possession which are in circulation among the laity at Rome, and answer to the smaller publications of the Christian Knowledge Society among ourselves. They have been taken almost at hazard from a number of such works, and are of various lengths; some running to as many as two or three hundred pages, others consisting of scarce a dozen. They may be divided into three cla.s.ses:--a third part consists of books on practical subjects; another third is upon the Incarnation and Pa.s.sion; and of the rest, a portion is upon the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist, with two or three for the use of Missions, but the greater part is about the Blessed Virgin.

As to the cla.s.s on practical subjects, they are on such as the following: "La Consolazione degl' Infermi;" "Pensieri di una donna sul vestire moderno;" "L'Inferno Aperto;" "Il Purgatorio Aperto;" St.

Alphonso Liguori's "Ma.s.sime eterne;" other Maxims by St. Francis de Sales for every day in the year; "Pratica per ben confessarsi e communicarsi;" and the like.

The t.i.tles of the second cla.s.s on the Incarnation and Pa.s.sion are such as "Gesu dalla Croce al cuore del peccatore;" "Novena del Ss. Natale di G. C.;" "a.s.sociazione pel culto perpetuo del divin cuore;" "Compendio della Pa.s.sione."

In the third are "Il Mese Eucaristico," "Il divoto di Maria," Feasts of the Blessed Virgin, &c.

7.

These books in all three divisions are, as even the t.i.tles of some of them show, in great measure made up of Meditations; such are the "Breve e pie Meditazioni" of P. Cra.s.set; the "Meditazioni per ciascun giorno del mese sulla Pa.s.sione;" the "Meditazioni per l'ora Eucaristica." Now of these it may be said generally, that in the body of the Meditation St. Mary is hardly mentioned at all. For instance, in the Meditations on the Pa.s.sion, a book used for distribution, through two hundred and seventy-seven pages St. Mary is not once named. In the Prayers for Ma.s.s which are added, she is introduced, at the Confiteor, thus, "I pray the Virgin, the Angels, the Apostles, and all the Saints of heaven to intercede," &c.; and in the Preparation for Penance, she is once addressed, after our Lord, as the Refuge of sinners, with the Saints and Guardian Angel; and at the end of the Exercise there is a similar prayer of four lines for the intercession of St. Mary, Angels and Saints of heaven. In the Exercise for Communion, in a prayer to our Lord, "my only and infinite good, my treasure, my life, my paradise, my all," the merits of the Saints are mentioned, "especially of St. Mary." She is also mentioned with Angels and Saints at the termination.

In a collection of "Spiritual Lauds" for Missions, of thirty-six Hymns, we find as many as eleven addressed to St. Mary, or relating to her, among which are translations of the _Ave Maris Stella_, and the _Stabat Mater_, and the _Salve Regina_; and one is on "the sinner's reliance on Mary." Five, however, which are upon Repentance, are entirely engaged upon the subjects of our Lord and sin, with the exception of an address to St. Mary at the end of two of them. Seven others, upon sin, the Crucifixion, and the Four Last Things, do not mention the Blessed Virgin's name.

To the Manual for the Perpetual Adoration of the Divine Heart of Jesus there is appended one chapter on the Immaculate Conception.

8.

One of the most important of these books is the French _Pensez-y bien_, which seems a favourite, since there are two translations of it, one of them being the fifteenth edition; and it is used for distribution in Missions. In these reflections there is scarcely a word said of St.

Mary. At the end there is a Method of reciting the Crown of the Seven Dolours of the Virgin Mary, which contains seven prayers to her, and the _Stabat Mater_.

One of the longest in the whole collection is a tract consisting princ.i.p.ally of Meditations on the Holy Communion; under the t.i.tle of the "Eucharistic Month," as already mentioned. In these "Preparations,"

"Aspirations," &c., St. Mary is but once mentioned, and that in a prayer addressed to our Lord. "O my sweetest Brother," it says with an allusion to the Canticles, "who, being made Man for my salvation, hast sucked the milk from the virginal breast of her, who is my Mother by grace," &c. In a small "Instruction" given to children on their first Communion, there are the following questions and answers: "Is our Lady in the Host? No.

Are the Angels and the Saints? No. Why not? Because they have no place there."

9.

Now coming to those in the third cla.s.s, which directly relate to the Blessed Mary, such as "Esercizio ad Onore dell' addolorato cuore di Maria," "Novena di Preparazione alla festa dell' a.s.sunzione," "Li Quindici Misteri del Santo Rosario," the princ.i.p.al is Father Segneri's "Il divoto di Maria," which requires a distinct notice. It is far from the intention of these remarks to deny the high place which the Holy Virgin holds in the devotion of Catholics; I am but bringing evidence of its not interfering with that incommunicable and awful relation which exists between the creature and the Creator; and, if the foregoing instances show, as far as they go, that that relation is preserved inviolate in such honours as are paid to St. Mary, so will this treatise throw light upon the _rationale_ by which the distinction is preserved between the worship of G.o.d and the honour of an exalted creature, and that in singular accordance with the remarks made in the foregoing Section.

10.

This work of Segneri is written against persons who continue in sins under pretence of their devotion to St. Mary, and in consequence he is led to draw out the idea which good Catholics have of her. The idea is this, that she is absolutely the first of created beings. Thus the treatise says, that "G.o.d might have easily made a more beautiful firmament, and a greener earth, but it was not possible to make a higher Mother than the Virgin Mary; and in her formation there has been conferred on mere creatures all the glory of which they are capable, remaining mere creatures," p. 34. And as containing all created perfection, she has all those attributes, which, as was noticed above, the Arians and other heretics applied to our Lord, and which the Church denied of Him as infinitely below His Supreme Majesty. Thus she is "the created Idea in the making of the world," p. 20; "which, as being a more exact copy of the Incarnate Idea than was elsewhere to be found, was used as the original of the rest of the creation," p. 21. To her are applied the words, "Ego primogenita prodivi ex ore Altissimi," because she was predestinated in the Eternal Mind coevally with the Incarnation of her Divine Son. But to Him alone the t.i.tle of Wisdom Incarnate is reserved, p. 25. Again, Christ is the First-born by nature; the Virgin in a less sublime order, viz. that of adoption. Again, if omnipotence is ascribed to her, it is a partic.i.p.ated omnipotence (as she and all Saints have a partic.i.p.ated sonship, divinity, glory, holiness, and worship), and is explained by the words, "Quod Deus imperio, tu prece, Virgo, potes."

11.

Again, a special office is a.s.signed to the Blessed Virgin, that is, special as compared with all other Saints; but it is marked off with the utmost precision from that a.s.signed to our Lord. Thus she is said to have been made "the arbitress of every _effect_ coming from G.o.d's mercy." Because she is the Mother of G.o.d, the salvation of mankind is said to be given to her prayers "_de congruo_, but _de condigno_ it is due only to the blood of the Redeemer," p. 113. Merit is ascribed to Christ, and prayer to St. Mary, p. 162. The whole may be expressed in the words, "_Unica_ spes mea Jesus, et post Jesum Virgo Maria. Amen."

Again, a distinct _cultus_ is a.s.signed to Mary, but the reason of it is said to be the transcendent dignity of her Son. "A particular _cultus_ is due to the Virgin beyond comparison greater than that given to any other Saint, because her dignity belongs to another order, namely to one which in some sense belongs to the order of the Hypostatic Union itself, and is necessarily connected with it," p. 41. And "Her being the Mother of G.o.d is the source of all the extraordinary honours due to Mary," p.

35.

It is remarkable that the "Monstra te esse Matrem" is explained, p. 158, as "Show thyself to be _our_ Mother;" an interpretation which I think I have found elsewhere in these Tracts, and also in a book commonly used in religious houses, called the "Journal of Meditations," and elsewhere.[436:1]

It must be kept in mind that my object here is not to prove the dogmatic accuracy of what these popular publications teach concerning the prerogatives of the Blessed Virgin, but to show that that teaching is not such as to obscure the divine glory of her Son. We must ask for clearer evidence before we are able to admit so grave a charge; and so much may suffice on the Sixth Test of fidelity in the development of an idea, as applied to the Catholic system.

FOOTNOTES:

[422:1] Supr. p. 173.

[423:1] Supr. p. 174.

[428:1] _E. g._ the "De Imitatione," the "Introduction a la Vie Devote,"

the "Spiritual Combat," the "Anima Divota," the "Paradisus Animae," the "Regula Cleri," the "Garden of the Soul," &c. &c. [Also, the Roman Catechism, drawn up expressly for Parish instruction, a book in which, out of nearly 600 pages, scarcely half-a-dozen make mention of the Blessed Virgin, though without any disparagement thereby, or thought of disparagement, of her special prerogatives.]

[436:1] [Vid. Via Media, vol. ii. pp. 121-2.]

CHAPTER XII.

APPLICATION OF THE SEVENTH NOTE OF A TRUE DEVELOPMENT.