CONCLUSION

THE CHURCH AND SCIENTIFIC PROGRESS

THIS, Venerable Brethren, is what We have thought it Our duty to write to you for the salvation of all who believe. The adversaries of the Church will doubtlessly abuse what We have said to refurbish the old calumny by which We are traduced as the enemy of science and of the progress of humanity. As a fresh answer to such accusations, which the history of the Christian religion refutes by never-failing evidence, it is Our intention to establish by every means in Our power a special Institute in which, through the co-operation of those Catholics who are most eminent for their learning, the advance of science and every other department of knowledge may be promoted under the guidance and teaching of Catholic truth. God grant that We may happily realize Our design with the assistance of all those who bear a sincere love for the Church of Christ. But of this We propose to speak on another occasion.

Meanwhile, Venerable Brethren, fully confident in your zeal and energy, We beseech for you with Our whole heart the abundance of heavenly light, so that in the midst of this great danger to souls from the insidious invasions of error upon every hand, you may see clearly what ought to be done, and labour to do it with all your strength and courage. May Jesus Christ, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, be with you in His power; and may the Immaculate Virgin, the destroyer of all heresies, be with you by her prayers and aid. And We, as a pledge of Our affection and of the Divine solace in adversity, most lovingly grant to you, your clergy and people, the Apostolic Benediction.

Given at St. Peter’s, Rome, on the eighth day of September, one thousand nine hundred and seven, the fifth year of Our Pontificate.
Pius X., POPE.

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES
III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS
IV. RULES CONCERNING THE READING OF BAD BOOKS
V. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN CENSORSHIP
VI. PARTICIPATION OF THE CLERGY IN THE MANAGEMENT AND EDITORSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS
VII. CONGRESSES OF PRIESTS
VIII. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN VIGILANCE COUNCILS
IX. TRIENNIAL REPORT PRESCRIBED TO BISHOPS

Q. What does the Sovereign Pontiff prescribe to all the Bishops and all the Superiors-General of religious Orders?

A. Lest what We have laid down thus far should pass into oblivion, We will and ordain that the Bishops of all dioceses, a year after the publication of these letters and every three years thenceforward, furnish the Holy See with a diligent and sworn report on the things which have been decreed in this Our Letter, and on the doctrines that find currency among the clergy, and especially in the seminaries and other Catholic institutions, those not excepted which are not subject to the Ordinary, and We impose the like obligation on the Generals of religious Orders with regard to those who are under them.

CONCLUSION

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES
III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS
IV. RULES CONCERNING THE READING OF BAD BOOKS
V. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN CENSORSHIP
VI. PARTICIPATION OF THE CLERGY IN THE MANAGEMENT AND EDITORSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS
VII. CONGRESSES OF PRIESTS
VIII. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN VIGILANCE COUNCILS

Q. In what terms does His Holiness, Pius X., order the constitution of vigilance committees in every diocese?

A. But of what avail would be all Our commands and prescriptions if they be not dutifully and firmly carried out? In order that this may be done, it has seemed expedient to Us to extend to all dioceses the regulations which the Bishops of Umbria, with great wisdom, laid down for theirs many years ago. ” In order,” they say, ” to extirpate the errors already propagated, and to prevent their further diffusion, and to remove those teachers of impiety through whom the pernicious effects of such diffusion are being perpetuated, this sacred Assembly, following the example of St. Charles Borromeo, has decided to establish in each of the dioceses a Council consisting of approved members of both branches of the clergy, which shall be charged with the task of noting the existence of errors, and the devices by which new ones are introduced and propagated, and to inform the Bishop of the whole, so that he may take counsel with them as to the best means for suppressing the evil at the outset, and preventing it spreading for the ruin of souls or, worse still, gaining strength and growth.” (Acts of the Congress of the Bishops of Uiubria, November, 1849, lit. 2, art. 6.) We decree, therefore, that in every diocese a council of this kind, which We are pleased to name ” The Council of Vigilance,” be instituted without delay.

Q. How are the members of the Council of Vigilance to be chosen?

A. The priests called to form part in it shall be chosen somewhat after the manner above prescribed for the censors.

Q. When must they meet, and are they bound to secrecy?

A. They shall meet every two months on an appointed day in the presence of the Bishop. They shall be bound to secrecy as to their deliberations and decisions.

Q. What shall be the duty of the members of the Council of Vigilance?

A. In their functions shall be included the following: They shall watch most carefully for every trace and sign of Modernism both in publications and in teaching, and to preserve from it the clergy and the young they shall take all prudent, prompt, and efficacious measures.

Q. What must be, in an especial manner, the object of their attention?

A. Let them combat novelties of words, remembering the admonitions of Leo XIII. : (Instruct. S. C. NN. EE. EE., January 27, 1902.) “It is impossible to approve in Catholic publications a style inspired by unsound novelty which seems to deride the piety of the faithful and dwells on the introduction of a new order of Christian life, on new directions of the Church, on new aspirations of the modern soul, on a new social vocation of the clergy, on a new Christian civilization, and many other things of the same kind.” Language of the kind here indicated is not to be tolerated either in books or in lectures.

Q. Must the Councils keep an eye upon the works that deal with pious local traditions and relics?

A. The Councils must not neglect the books treating of the pious traditions of different places or of sacred relics. Let them not permit such questions to be discussed in journals or periodicals destined to foster piety, neither with expressions savouring of mockery or contempt, nor by dogmatic pronouncements, especially when, as is often the case, what is stated as a certainty either does not pass the limits of probability or is based on prejudiced opinion.

Q. What rules must be observed with regard to relics?

A. Concerning sacred relics, let this be the rule: If Bishops, who alone are judges in such matters, know for certain that a relic is not genuine, let them remove it at once from the veneration of the faithful; if the authentications of a relic happen to have been lost through civil disturbances, or in any other way, let it not be exposed for public veneration until the Bishop has verified it. The argument of prescription or well-founded presumption is to have weight only when devotion to a relic is commendable by reason of its antiquity, according to the sense of the Decree issued in 1896 by the Congregation of Indulgences and Sacred Relics : ” Ancient relics are to retain the veneration they have always enjoyed except when in individual instances there are clear arguments that they are false or supposititious.”

Q. What rules must be followed in judging of pious traditions?

A. In passing judgment on pious traditions, let it always be borne in mind that in this matter the Church uses the greatest prudence, and that she does not allow traditions of this kind to be narrated in books except with the utmost caution, and with the insertion of the declaration imposed by Urban VIII.: and even then she does not guarantee the truth of the fact narrated; she simply does not forbid belief in things for which human evidence is not wanting. On this matter the Sacred Congregation of Rites, thirty years ago, decreed as follows: ” These apparitions or revelations have neither been approved nor condemned by the Holy See, which has simply allowed them to be believed on purely human faith, on the tradition which they relate, corroborated by testimony and documents worthy of credence.” (Decree, May 2, 1877.) Anyone who follows this rule has no cause to fear. For the devotion based on any apparition, in as far as it regards the fact itself, that is to say, in so far as the devotion is relative, always implies the condition of the fact being true; while in as far as it is absolute, it is always based on the truth, seeing that its object is the persons of the Saints who are honoured. The same is true of relics.

Q. And, last, must the Council of Vigilance keep a watch on social institutions and writings on social questions?

A. Finally, We entrust to the Councils of Vigilance the duty of overlooking assiduously and diligently social institutions as well as writings on social questions, so that they may harbour no trace of Modernism, but obey the prescriptions of the Roman Pontiffs.

IX. TRIENNIAL REPORT PRESCRIBED TO BISHOPS

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES
III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS
IV. RULES CONCERNING THE READING OF BAD BOOKS
V. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN CENSORSHIP
VI. PARTICIPATION OF THE CLERGY IN THE MANAGEMENT AND EDITORSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS
VII. CONGRESSES OF PRIESTS

Q. What rules are binding on priests who organize a congress of priests or take part in one?

A. We have already mentioned congresses and public gatherings as among the means used by the Modernists to propagate and defend their opinions. In the future Bishops shall not permit congresses of priests except on very rare occasions. When they do permit them it shall only be on condition that matters appertaining to the Bishops or to the Apostolic See be not treated in them, and that no resolutions or petitions be allowed that would imply a usurpation of sacred authority, and that absolutely nothing be said in them which savours of Modernism, Presbyterianism, or Laicism. At congresses of this kind, which can only be held after permission in writing has been obtained in due time and for each case, it shall not be lawful for priests of other dioceses to be present without the written permission of their Ordinary. Further, no priest must lose sight of the solemn recommendation of Leo XIII.: ” Let priests hold as sacred the authority of their pastors; let them take it for certain that the sacerdotal ministry, if not exercised under the guidance of the Bishops, can never be either holy, or very fruitful, or worthy of respect.” (Lett. Encycl. Nobilissvma Gallorum, February 10, 1884.)

VIII. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN VIGILANCE COUNCILS

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES
III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS
IV. RULES CONCERNING THE READING OF BAD BOOKS
V. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN CENSORSHIP
VI. PARTICIPATION OF THE CLERGY IN THE MANAGEMENT AND EDITORSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS

Q. May members of the secular clergy manage reviews or newspapers without the authorization of the Ordinary?

A. Having said this much in general, We now ordain in particular a more careful observance of Article XLII. of the above-mentioned Constitution Officiorum, according to which “it is forbidden to secular priests, without the previous consent of the Ordinary, to undertake the editorship of papers or periodicals.” This permission shall be withdrawn from any priest who makes a wrong use of it after having received an admonition thereupon.

Q. What are the duties of the Bishops with regard to correspondents or collaborators of reviews and newspapers?

A. With regard to priests who are correspondents or collaborators of periodicals, as it happens not un-frequently that they contribute matter infected with
Modernism to their papers or periodicals, let the Bishops see to it that they do not offend in this manner; and if they do, let them warn the offenders and prevent them from writing.

Q. What is the duty of the Superiors of religious Orders, and, in case of their negligence, the duty of the Bishops?

A. We solemnly charge in like manner the Superiors of religious Orders that they fulfil the same duty; and should they fail in it, let the Bishops make due provision, with authority from the Supreme Pontiff.

Q. Must there be a special censor appointed for each review and newspaper ? What shall be his office, and what the Bishop’s?

A. Let there be, as far as this is possible, a special censor for newspapers and periodicals written by Catholics. It shall be his office to read in due time each number after it has been published, and if he find anything dangerous in it, let him order that it be corrected as soon as possible. The Bishop shall have the same right even when the censor has seen nothing objectionable in a publication.

VII. CONGRESSES OF PRIESTS

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES
III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS
IV. RULES CONCERNING THE READING OF BAD BOOKS
V. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN CENSORSHIP

Q. What is the duty of the Bishops with regard to the publication of books, etc.?

A. It is not enough to hinder the reading and the sale of bad books; it is also necessary to prevent them from being published. Hence, let the Bishops use the utmost strictness in granting permission to print.

Q. Ought the Bishops to institute official censors?

A. Under the rules of the Constitution Officiorum, many publications require the authorization of the Ordinary, and in certain dioceses (since the Bishop cannot personally make himself acquainted with them all) it has been the custom to have a suitable number of official censors for the examination of writings. We have the highest esteem for this institution of censors, and We not only exhort, but We order, that it be extended to all dioceses. In all Episcopal Curias, therefore, let censors be appointed for the revision of works intended for publication, and let the censors be chosen from both ranks of the clergy secular and regular men whose age, knowledge, and prudence will enable them to follow the safe and golden mean in their judgments.

Q. What shall be the duties of these censors?

A. It shall be their office to examine everything which requires permission for publication according to Articles XLI. and XLII. of the above-mentioned Constitution. The censor shall give his verdict in writing. If it be favourable, the Bishop will give the permission for publication by the word Imprimatur, which must be preceded by the Nihil Obstat and the name of the censor.

Q. Must censors be appointed in the Roman Curia?

A. In the Roman Curia official censors shall be appointed in the same way as elsewhere, and the duty of nominating them shall appertain to the Master of the Sacred Palace, after they have been proposed to the Cardinal Vicar and have been approved and accepted by the Sovereign Pontiff. It will also be the office of the Master of the Sacred Palace to select the censor for each writing. Permission for publication will be granted by him as well as by the Cardinal Vicar or his Vicegerent, and this permission, as above prescribed, must be preceded by the Nihil Obstat and the name of the censor.

Q. May mention of the censor sometimes be suppressed?

A. Only on very rare and exceptional occasions, and on the prudent decision of the Bishop, shall it be possible to omit mention of the censor.

Q. What precaution must be taken for the protection of the censor?

A. The name of the censor shall never be made known to the authors until he shall have given a favourable decision, so that he may not have to suffer inconvenience either while he is engaged in the examination of a writing, or in case he should withhold his approval.

Q. On what condition may a censor be chosen from among the members of a religious Order?

A. Censors shall never be chosen from the religious Orders until the opinion of the Provincial, or, in Rome, of the General, has been privately obtained; and the Provincial or the General must give a conscientious account of the character, knowledge, and orthodoxy of the candidate.

Q. What approbations must books have that are published by religious?

A. We admonish religious Superiors of their most solemn duty never to allow anything to be published by any of their subjects without permission from themselves and from the Ordinary.

Q. May the censor rely upon his title to defend his personal opinions?

A. Finally, We affirm and declare that the title of censor with which a person may be honoured has no value whatever and can never be adduced to give credit to the private opinions of him who holds it.

VI. PARTICIPATION OF THE CLERGY IN THE MANAGEMENT AND EDITORSHIP OF NEWSPAPERS

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES
III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS
IV. RULES CONCERNING THE READING OF BAD BOOKS

Q. What is the duty of the Bishops as regards writings tainted with Modernism?

A. It is also the duty of the Bishops to prevent writings of Modernists, or whatever savours of Modernism or promotes it, from being read when they have been published, and to hinder their publication when they have not.

Q. What is their duty in this matter with regard to seminaries and Universities?

A. No books or papers or periodicals whatever of this kind are to be permitted to seminarists or University students. The injury to them would be not less than that which is caused by immoral reading nay, it would be greater, for such writings poison Christian life at its very fount.

Q. Ought the, same measures to be taken in the case of works written by Catholics who are imbued with modern philosophy and unsafe in theology?

A. The same decision is to be taken concerning the writings of some Catholics who, though not evilly disposed themselves, are ill instructed in theological studies and imbued with modern philosophy, and strive to make this harmonize with the Faith, and, as they say, to turn it to the profit of the Faith. The name and reputation of these authors cause them to be read without suspicion, and they are, therefore, all the more dangerous in gradually preparing the way for Modernism.

Q. Are the Bishops bound publicly and solemnly to condemn the pernicious books that get into their dioceses?

A. To add some more general directions in a matter of such moment, We order that you do everything in your power to drive out of your dioceses, even by solemn interdict, any pernicious books that may be in circulation there. The Holy See neglects no means to remove writings of this kind, but their number has now grown to such an extent that it is hardly possible to subject them all to censure. Hence it happens sometimes that the remedy arrives too late, for the disease has taken root during the delay. We will, therefore, that the Bishops, putting aside all fear and the prudence of the flesh, despising the clamour of evil men, shall, gently by all means but firmly, do each his own part in this work, remembering the in-junctions of Leo XIII. in the Apostolic Constitution Officiorum: ” Let the Ordinaries, acting in this also as delegates of the Apostolic See, exert themselves to proscribe and to put out of reach of the faithful injurious books or other writings printed or circulated in their dioceses.” In this passage the Bishops, it is true, receive an authorization, but they have also a charge laid upon them. Let no Bishop think that he fulfils this duty by denouncing to Us one or two books, while a great many others of the same kind are being published and circulated.

Q. May the Bishops condemn, and ought they even at times to condemn, works that have an Imprimatur?

A. Nor are you to be deterred by the fact that a book has obtained elsewhere the permission which is commonly called the Imprimatur, both because this may be merely simulated, and because it may have been granted through carelessness or too much indulgence or excessive trust placed in the author, which last has, perhaps, sometimes happened in the religious Orders. Besides, just as the same food does not agree with every one, it may happen that a book, harmless in one place, may, on account of the different circumstances, be hurtful in another. Should a Bishop, therefore, after having taken the advice of prudent persons, deem it right to condemn any of such books in his diocese, We give him ample faculty for the purpose, and We lay upon him the obligation of doing so. Let all this be done in a fitting manner, and in certain cases it will suffice to restrict the prohibition to the clergy.

Q. When the prohibition is restricted to the clergy, may Catholic booksellers continue to sell the book that has been forbidden?

A. In all cases it will be obligatory on Catholic booksellers not to put on sale books condemned by the Bishop.

Q. What are the duties of the Bishops with regard to Catholic booksellers?

A. While We are treating of this subject, We wish the Bishops to see to it that booksellers do not, through desire for gain, engage in evil trade. It is certain that in the catalogues of some of them the books of the Modernists are not unfrequently announced with no small praise. If they refuse obedience, let the Bishops, after due admonition, have no hesitation in depriving them of the title of Catholic booksellers. This applies, and with still more reason, to those who have the title of Episcopal booksellers. If they have that of Pontifical booksellers, let them be denounced to the Apostolic See. Finally, We remind all of Article XXVI. of the above-mentioned Constitution Officiorum : ” All those who have obtained an Apostolic faculty to read and keep forbidden books are not thereby authorized to read and keep books and periodicals forbidden by the local Ordinaries, unless the Apostolic faculty expressly concedes permission to read and keep books condemned by anyone whomsoever.”

V. INSTITUTION OF DIOCESAN CENSORSHIP

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES
III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS

Q. With what vigilance are candidates for Holy Orders to be chosen?

A. Equal vigilance and severity are to be used in examining and selecting candidates for Holy Orders. Far, far from the clergy be the love of novelty! God hateth the proud and the obstinate mind.

Q. What will be required in future as a condition for validly conferring the doctorate of theology and canon law?

A. For the future the doctorate of theology and canon law must never be conferred on anyone who has not first of all made the regular course of scholastic philosophy; if conferred, it shall be held as null and void.

Q. What rules laid down for clerics, both secular and regular, in Italy, are henceforth extended to all countries?

A. The rules laid down in 1896 by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars for the clerics, both secular and regular, of Italy, concerning the frequenting of the Universities, We now decree to be extended to all nations.

Q. What prohibition is added by the Sovereign Pontiff?

A. Clerics and priests inscribed in a Catholic Institute or University must not in the future follow in civil Universities those courses for which there are chairs in the Catholic Institutes to which they belong. If this has been permitted anywhere in the past, We ordain that it be not allowed for the future.

Q. What must the Bishops do who preside over the direction of such Universities and Institutes?

A. Let the Bishops who form the governing board of such Catholic Universities or Institutes watch with all care that these Our commands be constantly observed.

IV. RULES CONCERNING THE READING OF BAD BOOKS

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES
II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES

Q. With what prudence, and according to what rules, must professors for seminaries and Catholic Universities be chosen?

A. All these prescriptions, both Our own and those of Our Predecessor, are to be kept in view whenever there is question of choosing directors and professors for seminaries and Catholic Universities. Anyone who in any way is found to be tainted with Modernism is to be excluded without compunction from these offices, whether of government or of teaching, and those who already occupy them are to be removed. The same policy is to be adopted towards those who openly or secretly lend countenance to Modernism, either by extolling the Modernists and excusing their culpable conduct, or by carping at scholasticism, and the Fathers, and the magisterium of the Church, or by refusing obedience to ecclesiastical authority in any of its depositaries; and towards those who show a love of novelty in history, archaeology, Biblical exegesis; and, finally, towards those who neglect the sacred sciences or appear to prefer to them the secular. In all this question of studies you cannot be too watchful or too constant, but most of all in the choice of professors; for, as a rule, the students are modelled after the pattern of their masters. Strong in the conscious ness of your duty, act always in this matter with prudence and with vigor.

III. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDENTS

BACK TO CONTENTS

PART III
THE REMEDIES FOR MODERNISM

I. RULES RELATIVE TO STUDIES

Q. What does the Holy Father ordain on the subject of philosophy?

A. He says: In the first place, with regard to studies, We will and strictly ordain that scholastic philosophy be made the basis of the sacred sciences.

Q. Following Leo XIII., what reservation does Pius X. make in his prescription?

A. It goes without saying that ” if anything is met with among the scholastic doctors which may be regarded as something investigated with an excess of subtlety, or taught without sufficient consideration; anything which is not in keeping with the certain results of later times; anything, in short, which is altogether destitute of probability, We have no desire whatever to propose it for the imitation of present generations.” (Leo XIII., Encycl. Mterni Patris.)

Q. What scholastic philosophy is prescribed in seminaries and religious Institutes?

A. Let it be clearly understood above all things that, when We prescribe scholastic philosophy, We understand chiefly that which the Angelic Doctor has bequeathed to us, and We therefore declare that all the ordinances of Our Predecessor on this subject continue fully in force; and, as far as may be necessary, We do decree anew, and confirm, and order that they shall be strictly observed by all. In seminaries where they have been neglected, it will be for the Bishops to exact and require their observance in the future; and let this apply also to the Superiors of religious Orders.

Q. Would it be a great disadvantage to set aside St. Thomas?

A. We admonish professors to bear well in mind that they cannot set aside St. Thomas, especially in metaphysical questions, without grave disadvantage.

Q. In what words does Pius X. recommend the study of theology?

A. On this philosophical foundation the theological edifice is to be carefully raised. Promote the study of theology by all means in your power, so that your clerics on leaving the seminaries may carry with them a deep admiration and love of it, and always find in it a source of delight. For ” in the vast and varied abundance of studies opening before the mind desirous of truth, it is known to everyone that theology occupies such a commanding place that, according to an ancient adage of the wise, it is the duty of the other arts and sciences to serve it, and to wait upon it after the manner of handmaidens.” ( Leo XIII., Lett. Ap. In Magna, December 10, 1889.)

Q. Does not the Sovereign Pontiff, all the same, praise the theologians who teach positive theology?

A. We will add that We deem worthy of praise those who, with full respect for tradition, the Fathers, and the ecclesiastical magisterium, endeavour, with well-balanced judgment, and guided by Catholic principles (which is not always the case), to illustrate positive theology by throwing upon it the light of true history.

Q. In teaching positive theology, what is to be avoided?

A. It is certainly necessary that positive theology should be held in greater appreciation than it has been in the past, but this must be done without detriment to scholastic theology; and those are to be disapproved as Modernists who exalt positive theology in such a way as to seem to despise the scholastic.

Q. According to what law ought the study of natural sciences to be regulated?

A. With regard to secular studies, let it suffice to recall here what Our Predecessor has admirably said: ” Apply yourselves energetically to the study of natural sciences, in which department the things that have been so brilliantly discovered and so usefully applied, to the admiration of the present age, will be the object of praise and commendation to those who come after us.” (Leo XIII., Alloc., March 7, 1880.) But this is to be done without interfering with sacred studies, as Our same Predecessor prescribed in these most weighty words: ” If you carefully search for the cause of those errors you will find that it lies in the fact that in these days, when the natural sciences absorb so much study, the more severe and lofty studies have been proportionately neglected some of them have almost passed into oblivion, some of them are pursued in a half-hearted or superficial way, and, sad to say, now that the splendour of the former estate is dimmed, they have been disfigured by perverse doc trines and monstrous errors.” (Loc. cit) We ordain, therefore, that the study of natural sciences in the seminaries be carried out according to the law.

II. CHOICE OF THE DIRECTORS AND PROFESSORS FOR SEMINARIES AND CATHOLIC INSTITUTES

BACK TO CONTENTS