JUBILEE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXII, Issue 14, 7 April 1904, Page 3

JUBILEE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

POPE PIUS'S ENCYCLICAL LETTER

(Concluded from last week.)

THE KNOWLEDGE AND LOVE OF CHRIST. Under these circumstances, Venerable Brethren, it is this end whioh all the solemnities that are everywhere being prepared in honor of the holy and Immaculate Comceptiom of Mary should have in view. No homage is more agreeable to her, none is sweeter to her than we should know and really love Jesus Ohrist Let then crowds fill the churches— let solemn feasts be celebrated and pjublic rejoicings be made : these are things eminently stuited for enlivening our faith. But unless heart and will be added, they will be all empty forms, mere appeafcajnees of piety. At such a spectacle, the Virgin, borrowing the words of Jes-us Christ, would address us with the Just reproach • J This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me ' (Matth xv., 8). For to be right and good, worship of the Mother of God ought to spring from the heart ; acts of the body have here neither utility nor value if the acts of the soul ha,ve no part in them Now these latter can only have one object, which is t)hat we should fully carry out what the divine Son of Mary commands. For if true love alone has the power to unite the wills of men, it is of the first necessity that we should have one will with Mary to serve Jesus Christ our Lord What this most prudent Virgin said to the servamts at the marriage feast of Cana she addresses also to us ' Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye ' (John ii , 5). Now bore is Ihe word of Jesus Ohrist : ' If you would enter into life, keep the commandmenfs ' (Matt yix., 17). Let them each one fully convince himself of this, that if his piety towards the Blessed Virgin does not hinder him from sinning, or does not move his will to amend an evil life, it is a piety deceptive and lying, wanting as it is in proper effect and its natural fruit. If anyone desires a confirmation of this it may easily be found in ..., The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary For leaving asjde tradition which, as well as Scripture, is a source of truth, how has "this persiuasion of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin appeared so conformed to the Catholic mmd and feeling that it has been held as being one, and as it were inborn in the soul of the faithful 9 'We shrink from saying,' is the answer of Dionysius of Chartreux, 'of this woman who was to crush the head of the serpent fhat had been crusihe'd by him and that Mother of God that she had ever been a daughter of the Evil One ' (Sent. d. 3, q. I) No, to the Christian intelligence the idea is unthinkable that the flesh of Christ, holy, stainless, rnaiocent, was formed in the womb of Mary of a flesh which had ever, if only for the briefest moment, contracted any stain And why so, but because an infinite opposition separates God from sin ? There certainly we have the oiie;in of the conviction common to all Christians that Jesns Christ before, clothed in human natoire, lie cleansed us from our sins in His blood, accorded Mary the grace and special privilege of being preserved and exempted, from the first moment of her conception, from All Stain of Original Sin. If then God has a horror of sin as to have willed to kee-p free the future Mother of His Son not, only from tihe stains which are voluntarily contracted but, by a special favor and in prevision of the merits of Jesius Christ, from that other stain of which the sad sign is transmitted to all us sons of Adam by a sort of hapless heritage : who can doubt fhat it is a duty for every one who seeks by his homage to gain the heart of Mary to correct his vicious and depraved habits and to subdue the passions which incite him to e f vil ?

Whoever moreover wishes, and no one ought not so to wish, that his devotion should be worthy of her and perfect, should go further and strive might and main to imitate her example. It is a divine law that those only attain everlasting happiness who have by such fai'tfliflul following reproduced in themselves the form of the patience and sanctity of Jesus Christ : ' for whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be miade conformable to the image of His Son ; that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren ' (Romans viii., 291. But siuch generally is our infirmity that we are easily discouraged by the greatness of such an example : by the providence of Gk>d, however, another example is proposed to us, which is both as near to Christ as human nature allows, awd more nearly accords with the weakness of our nature. And this is no other than the Mother of G-od. ' Such was Mary,' very pertinently points out St. Am/brose, ' that Her Life is an Example to All.' Arid, therefore, he rightly concludes : ' Have then before your eyes, as an image, the virginity and life of Mary from whom as from the mirror shines forth the brightness of chastity and the form of virtue ' (De Virginib. L. ii., c. ii.). Now if it becomes children not to omit the imitation of any of the virtues of this most Blessed Mother, we yet wish that the faithful apply themselves by preference to the principal virtues which are, as it were, the nerves and joints of the Christian life— we mean faith,, hope, and charity towards God and our neighbor. Of t|hese virtues the life of Mary bears in all its phases the brilliant dharacter ; but they attained their highest degree of splendor at the time when she stood by her dying Son. Jesus is nailed to the cross, and the malediction is hurled against Him that ' He made Himself the Son of G-od ' (John xix., 7). But she unceasingly recognised and adored the divinity in Him. She bore His dead body to the tomb, but never for a moment doubted that He would rise again. Then the love of God with which she burned made her a partaker in the sufferings of Christ and the associate in His passion ; with him moreover, as if forgetful of her own sorrow, she prayed for the. pardon of the executioners although they in their hate cried out : 'His blood be upon us and upon our children ' (Matth. xxvii., 25). A HELP TO VIRTUE. Bjut lest it be thought tthat We have lost s-ight of Our subject, which is the Immaculate Conception, what great and effectual succour will be found in it for the preservation and right development of those same virtues. Wihat truly is the point of departure of the enemies of religion for the sowing of the great and serious errors by which the faith of so many is shaken? They begin by denying that/ man has fallen by sin and been cast down from his former position. Hence they regard as mere fables original sin aod the evils that were its consequences. Humanity vitiated in its source vitiated in its turn the whole race of man ; and thus was evil introduced amongst men and the necessity for a Redeemer involved. All this rejected it is easy to understand that no place is left for Ohrist, for the Church, for g*race or for anything that is above and beyond nature : in one word the whole edifice of faith is shaken from top to bottom. But let people believe ahd confess that the Virgin Mary has been from the first moment of her conception preserved from all stain ; and it is straightway necessary that they should admit both original sin and the rehabilitation of the human race by Jesnis Christ the Gospel, and the Church and the law of suffering. By virtme of this Rationalism and Materialism is torn up by the roots antd destroyed, and there remains to Christian wisdom the glory of having to guard and protect the truth. It is moreover a vice common to the enemies of the faith of our time esndcially that they repudiate and proclaim the necessity of repudiating all respect and obedience for The Authority of the Church, and even of any human power, in the idea that it will thin be miore easy to rrnake an end of faith. Here we have the origin of Anarchism, than which nothing is more pernicious and pestilent to the order of things whether natural or supernatural. Now this plague, which is equally fatal to society at large a"nd to Christianity, finds its ruin in the dogma of the Immaculate Conception by the obligation which it imposes of roc o£ni sine: in the Church a power before which not only has the will to bow, but the intelligence to subieet itself. It is from a subiection of the reason of this sort that Christian neople sine thus the praise of the Mother of God : ' Thou art all fair, 0 Mary, and the stain of orierinal sin is not in thee ' (Mass of Immac. Co'nce-n.). And thus once again is justified what the Church attributes to this august Virgin that she has exterminated all heresies in the world 1 .

And if, as the Ap,ostle declares, faith is nothing else than the substance of things to be hoped fof (Hebr. xi. I) everyone will easily allow 'that our faith is confirmed and our hope aroused and strengthened by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. The Virgin was kept the more free from all stain of original sin becapse she was to he the Mother of Christ ; and she was the Mother of Christ that the hope of everlasting happiness might be born again in our souls. Leaving aside charity towards God, Who can Contemplate- the Immaculate Virgin withdut feeling moved to fulfil that precept which Christ called peculiarly His own, namely that <<f losing one another as He loved us ? 'A great sign,' thus the Apostle St. John describes a^vision divinely sent him, aipipears m the heavens : « A woman clothed with thesun, and with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars upon her head ' (Apoc. xii., I). Everyone knows that this woman signified, the Virgin Mary, the stainless one who brought forth our Head. The Apostle continues : ' And, being with child, she cried travailing an birth, and was in pain to be delivered ' (Apoc. xii., 2). John therefore saw the Most Holy Mother of (rod already in eternal happiness, yet travailing in a mysterious childbirth. What birth was it ? Surely it was the birth of us who, still in exile, are yet to be generated to the perfect charity of God, and to eternal happiness. And the birth pains show the love and desire with which the Virgin from heaven above watches over us, and strives with unwearying prayer to bring about the fulfilment of the number of the elect. This same charity we desire that all should earnestly endeavor to attain, taking special occasion from the extraordinary feasts in honor of the Imiria&ulaote Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Oh how bitterly and fiercely is Jesjus Christ now being persecuted, and the most holy religion which He founded ! And how grave is the peril that threatens many of being drawn away by tlhe errors that are afoot on all sides, to the abandonment of the faith ! ' Then let him who thinks he stanjds take heed lest he fall ' (I Cot. x., 12) And let all, with hunrble prayer and entreaty, implore of God through tihe intercession of Mary, that those who have abandoned the truth may repent. We know, indeed, from experience that such prayer, born of charity and relying ooi the Virgin, has never ebeen vain. True, even in tlhe fluture tihe strife against the Qh,urch will never cease, ' for tihere m,ust be also heresies, that they also who are reproved may be made manifest among you ' (I Cor. x>i., 19). But neither will the Virgin ever cease to s'utcor us in our trials, however grave they be and to carry on tlhe fight fought by her since her conception, so that every day we may repeat : ' To-day the head of the serpent of old was crushed by her ' (Office Immac. Con., 11. Vespers, Magnif.). A JUBILEE INDULGENCE. Anid that heavenly graces may help us & mote abu'ndiamtly than usual during this year in *-H nay her fuller honor, to attain the imitation of the Virgin, and that thus We may more easily secure Our object of restoring all things in Christ, We have determined after the examiple of Our Predecessors at the beginning of their Pontificates, to grant to the Catholic world an extraoridinery indulgence in the form of a Jubilee. Wherefore, confiding in the mercy of Almighty God and in the authority of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, by virtue of that power of binding and loosing which, unworthy though we are, the Lord has given Us, We do concede and impart the most plenary indulgence of all their sins to the faithful, all and several of both sexes, dwelling in this Our beloved City, or con-ing to it, who from the first Sunday in Lent, that is from the 21st of February, to the second day in June, the solemnity of the Most Sacred Body of Christ, inclusively, shall 1 three times visit one of the four Paiiiarchal basilicas, and there for some time pray God for the liberty and exaltation of the Catholic Church and this A.positolic See, for the. extirpation of heresies and the conversion of all who are in error, for I.>-e concord of Christian Princes and the peace and unity of all the faithful, and according to Our intention ; and who, within the said period, shall fast onre, rfine only meagre fare, excepting the days not irrJurird \"r the Lenton tndult ; a-nd, after confessing their* ri^is, shall receive the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist ; and to all others, wherever they be, dwelling; outside' this -city, who, within the time above mentioned or d^rire a snare of three months, even not continuous, to Vie definitely appointed by the ordinaries according to the convenience of the faithful, but before the. eighth day cf .December, shall three times vmt tihe catlWdral church if there be c^e, or, if not, the parish church : or, in the albsemre rf this, i<be principal church ; and shall devoutly fulfil the other works above-mentioned. And We do at the same time permit that this indulgence,

v whioh is to be gained only onee t may be applied in suf-j -frage for the souls Which have passed from this life i united in charity with God. We do, moreover, concede that travellers by land or sea may gain* the same indulgence immediately they return to their homes provided they perform the works already noted. To confessors approved by their respective ordinaries We grant faculties for commuting the above works enjoined by Us . For Other Works of Piety, amd Uhis concession shall be applicable not only to ' regulars of both sexes but to all others who cannot perform the works prescribed, and We do grant faculties also to dispense from Communion children who have not yet besn admitted to it. Moreover to the faithful, all and several, the laity ar^d the clergy both secular and regular of all orders and institutes, even those calling for special mention, We do grant permission and power, for this sole object, to select any priest, regular or secular, ampng those actually approved (which faculty may also be used by njuns, novices, and other women living in the cloister, provided the coniesaor they select be ope approved for nuinis) by whom, when they have confessed to him within the prescribed time with the intention of gaining t(he present jubilee and of fulfilling all the other works requisite for gaining it, they may on this sole * occasion and only in the forum of conscience be absolved from all excommunication, suspension, and every other ecclesiastical sentence and censure pronounced or inflicted for any pause by the law or by a judge, including those reserved to the ordinary and to Us or to the Apostolic See, even in cases reserved in a special manner to anybody whomsoever and to Us and to the Apostolic See ; and they may also be absolved from all sin or excess, even those reserved to the ordinaries themselves and to Us and to the Apostolic. See, on condition, hioweiver, that a salutary penance be enjoined 'together with the other prescriptions of the law," and in the case of heresy after the abjuration and retractation of error as is enjoined by tihe law ; and the said priests may further commute to other pious and salutary works all vows even those taken under oath and reserved to the Apostolic See (except those of chastity, of religion, and of obligations which have been accepted by third persons) ; and with the said penitents, even regulars, in sacred orders such confession's may dispense from all secret irregularities contracted solely by 1 violation of censures affecting the exercise of s>aid orders and promotion to higher orders*. But We do not intend by the present letters to dispense from any irregularities whatsoever, or from crime or defe(#, public or private, contracted' in any manner through notoriety or other incapacity or inability ; nor do We intend to derogate from the Constituion with its accompanying declaration, published -by Benedict XIV. of happy memory, which begins with the words ' Sacramentum poenitentiae ; ' nor is it Our inteintilcn that these present Letters may, tor can, in any way avail those who, by Us and the A<postolic See, or by any ecclesiastical judge, have been by name excommumicated, suspended, interdicted, or declared under otiher sentences or censures, or who have been publicly denounced, unless they do within the allotted time satisfy, or, when necessary, come to an agreement with the parties concerned. OTHER INDULGENCES NOT REVOKED. To all this We are pleased to add that We do concede and will that aM retain during this time of Jubilee the piivilege of gaining all other indulgences, not excepting plenary indulgences, which have been granted by Our Predecessors or by Ourself. We close these Letters, Venerable Brethren, by manifesting anew the great hope We earnestly cherish that t.hrougih. tjhis extraordinary gift of Jubilee granted by Us ifeder the auspices of the Immaculate -Virgin, large numbers of those who are unhappily separated from Jesus Christ may return to Him, and that love of virtue a,nid fervor of devotion may flourish anew among the Christian people. Fifty years ago, when Prus IX. proclaimed as an atticle of faith the Immaculate Conception of the most Blessed Mother of Christ, it seemed, as we have already said, as if an incredible wealth of graice were poured o,ut upon the earth ; and with the increase of confidence in the Virgin Mother of God, the- old. religious spirit of the people was everywhere greatly augmented. Is it forbidden us to hope for still greater things for the future ? True, we are passing t(hroiugh disastrous times, when we may well make our own The Lametotation of the Prophet : ' There is no truth and no mercy and no knowledge of "God om tihe earth. Blasphemy and lying and homicide and theft and adultery have inundated it ' (Os. iv., 1-2).

Yet in the midst nf this defuge of evil, the Virgin Most Clement rises before our eyes like a rainbow, as the arbiter of peace between God and man ,: ' I will set my bow in the clouds and it shall be the sign of a covenant between me and between the earth ' (Gen. ix., 13)'. Let the storm rage and sky darken— not for that shall we be dismayed. ' And the bow shall be in the clouds, anid I shall see it and shall remember the (Everlasting covenant ' (Ibid. 16). ' And there shall no more be waters of a flood to destroy all flesh ' (Ibid. 15). Oh yes, if we trust as we should in Mary, now especially when we aie about to celebrate, with more than usiual fervor, her Immaculate Conception, we shall recognise in her that Virgin most powerful ' w,ho with virginal foot did crush the head of the serpent ' (Off. Immac. Cone). In pledge of these graces, Venerable Brethren, We impart the Apostolic Benediction Jovingly in the Lord to you and to your people. Given at Rome at St. Peter's on the second day of February, 1904, m the first year of Our Pontificate. PIUS X., POPE.