Cardinal Edward Manning, The temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost, 1865: Ch. 2 ...truth... is sustained indeed by the presence of a Divine Person and an infallible Teacher.
...There are some [Protestants] who appeal from the voice of the living Church to antiquity...that the only certain rule of faith is to believe that which the Church held and taught while yet it was united and therefore infallible...This theory...denies the indivisible unity of the Church, and the perpetual voice of the Holy Ghost...the unity of the Church is absolute...its infallibility is perpetual...that is, from the presence and operations of the Holy Ghost.
(2.2) And next, as the unity is perpetual, so is the infallibility. Once infallible, always infallible: in the first, in the fifth, in the fifteenth, in the nineteenth century: the Divine Teacher always present...and the organ of His voice always the same....To affirm that it has been suspended because of the sins of men, denies the perpetuity of the office of the Holy Ghost, and even of His presence; for to suppose Him present but dormant, is open to the reproach of Elias; to suppose His office to be suspended, is to conceive of the Divine Teacher after the manner of men. And further: this theory denies altogether the true and divine character of the mystical body as a creation of God, distinct from all individuals, and superior to them all: not on probation, because not dependent on any human will, but on the Divine will alone; and, therefore, not subject to human infirmity, but impeccable, and the instrument of probation to the world.
...the office of the Holy Spirit as the Illuminator has a special promise of perpetuity. It is under the character of this Spirit of Truth that our Lord promises that He should ' abide with us for ever.' He shall bring all things to your mind,' not to the Apostles only, but to all who should believe in their word.' And this office of the Holy Ghost consists in the following operations:
- First, in the original illumination and revelation in the minds of the Apostles, and through them to the Church throughout the world.
- Secondly, in the preservation of that which was revealed,
- Thirdly, in assisting the Church to conceive, with greater fulness, explicitness, and clearness, the original truth in all its relations.
- Fourthly, in defining that truth in words, and in the creation of a sacred terminology,
- Lastly, in the perpetual enunciation and proposition of the same immutable truth in every age.
The Holy Spirit, through the Church, enunciates to this day the original revelation with an articulate voice, which never varies or falters. Its voice to-day is identical with the voice of every age...And this office of enunciating and proposing the faith is accomplished through the human lips of the pastors of the Church. The pastoral authority, or the Episcopate, together with the priesthood and the other orders, constitute an organized body, divinely ordained to guard the deposit of the Faith. The voice of that body...is the voice of the Holy Ghost. The pastoral ministry as a body cannot err, because the Holy Spirit, who is indissolubly united to the mystical body, is eminently and above all united to the hierarchy and body of its pastors...it was to the Apostles as emphatically, and therefore to their successors with equal emphasis, that our Lord, when He constituted them the sole fountain of His faith and law and jurisdiction to the world, pledged also His perpetual presence and assistance 'all days, even unto the consummation of the world.'
...it was to Peter as the head and centre of the Apostles, and for their sakes and for their support in faith, that our Divine Lord said, 'I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted confirm thy brethren.' It is needless for me to say that the whole tradition of the Fathers recognizes the perpetuity of the Apostolic College in the Episcopate diffused throughout the world...
God has provided that what He has revealed should be for ever preserved and enunciated by the perpetual presence and assistance of the same Spirit from whom the revelation originally came.(1) The voice of the living Church(2) Holy Scripture...rightly understood...(3) Tradition ...found in all the world...(4) The Decrees of General Councils...(5) The Definitions and Decrees of Pontiffs, speaking ex cathedra, or as the Head of the Church and to the whole Church, whether by Bull, or Apostolic Letters, or Encyclical, or Brief, to many or to one person, undoubtedly emanate from a divine assistance, and are infallible.
...the Pontiffs, as Vicars of Jesus Christ...the Divine Head of the Church of whom they are the representatives on earth...The infallibility of the Head of the Church extends to the whole matter of revelation, that is, to the Divine truth and the Divine law, and to all those facts or truths which are in contact with faith and morals...the assistance of the Holy Spirit certainly preserves the Pontiffs from error; and such judgments are infallible, and demand interior assent from all.
...the truths of revelation are so enunciated by the Church as to anticipate all research, and to exclude from their sphere all human criticism.Ch. 4 ...But the appeal to antiquity is both a treason and a heresy. It is a treason because it rejects the Divine voice of the Church at this hour, and a heresy because it denies that voice to be Divine.How can we know what antiquity was except through the Church? No individual, no number of individuals can go back through eighteen hundred years to reach the doctrines of antiquity...Historical evidence and Biblical criticism are human after all, and amount at most to no more than opinion, probability, human judgment, human tradition.It is not enough that the fountain of our faith be Divine. It is necessary that the channel be divinely constituted and preserved.
St. Vincent of Lerins, however, taught differently:
St. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium, 434:Ch. 2. A General Rule for distinguishing the Truth of the Catholic Faith from the Falsehood of Heretical Pravity.[4.] I have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical pravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this effect: That whether I or any one else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the snares of heretics as they rise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith, we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways; first, by the authority of the Divine Law, and then, by the Tradition of the Catholic Church.[6.] Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all priests and doctors.Ch. 8. Exposition of St. Paul's Words, Gal. 1. 8: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema."[22.] Why does he say Though we? Why not rather though I? He means, though Peter, though Andrew, though John, in a word, though the whole company of apostles, preach unto you other than we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Tremendous severity! He spares neither himself nor his fellow apostles, so he may preserve unaltered the faith which was at first delivered. Nay, this is not all. He goes on Even though an angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. It was not enough for the preservation of the faith once delivered to have referred to man; he must needs comprehend angels also. Though we, he says, or an angel from heaven. Not that the holy angels of heaven are now capable of sinning. But what he means is: Even if that were to happen which cannot happen — if any one, be he who he may, attempt to alter the faith once for all delivered, let him be accursed.
But I do agree with Manning when he says the Holy Spirit is with the Church in perpetuity. This refutes those tiny recusant sects out there, as well as my former self. Christ has not abandoned His Church; we were never meant to form a paper "church" of our own, built on our own understanding of internet translated books of antiquity.
Either infallibility is found in the person of the pope, the Vicar of Christ, who IS the Apostolic See, and who IS tradition (as Antipope Pius IX shouted at Vatican I): or infallibility is found in the conciliar consensus of Bishops, Successors of the Apostles, who daily profess the same faith as found, not only in antiquity, but in the constant practice of the Church, through her unchanging Sacraments and Liturgies.
Pope St. Sixtus III (432-440): Let no license be allowed to novelty, because it is not fit that any addition should be made to antiquity. Let not the clear faith and belief of our forefathers be fouled by any muddy admixture.
Like Manning, "Traditional Catholics" who accept the First Vatican Council must believe that not only the Roman Pontiff, but also the entire Roman See (Cardinals with appellate power to elect a new pope), will never fall away from the faith. This means that Catholics must accept the Second Vatican Council, or they excommunicate themselves!
See:
"Vatican I Refutes Traditional Roman Catholicism"
https://thecatholiccottage.blogspot.com/2023/10/vatican-i-refutes-traditional.html
The Roman church has translated and reinterpreted the scriptures, contrary to the early Fathers, to support its new 2nd millennium heresy of papalism. Take this verse for example:
Douay-Rheims Bible
Luke 22:31-32 Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.
Greek-English Interlinear literal translation
https://biblehub.com/interlinear/luke/22.htm
Luke 22:31-32 Simon, Simon, Behold, Satan demanded to have all of you to sift like wheat; I however begged for you, that not may fail the faith of you; and you, when you have turned back, strengthen the brothers of you.
Note the differences:
- you vs. all of you
- prayed vs. begged
- thy faith fail not vs. thy faith might fail not
ἐκλίπῃ (eklipē) = may fail or might failThe Greek tense here is "aorist subjunctive active", which intentionally denotes the present, not necessarily the future. This tense is lost in the Latin and English translations; only in the translations can such claims as papal infallibility and indefectibility can be made here.
- being once converted vs. having turned back
- confirm' vs. 'strengthen
These differences are significant, and the early Church Fathers, such as the previously mentioned St. Cyril of Alexandria, do not interpret the passage to mean Christ gave some special charism to St. Peter for the Church's future benefit. Pope St. Coelestine confirms what was believed from the beginning, and echoed by St. Vincent of Lerins: The Holy Spirit confirms the truth in Councils, and nothing may be added to the original doctrines of the Apostles, by any bishop, including the pope:
Synodal Letter of Pope Coelestine to the Ecumenical Council of Ephesus, 431: Coelestine the bishop to the holy Synod assembled at Ephesus, brethren beloved and most longed for, greeting in the Lord:A Synod of priests gives witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit. For true is that which we read, since the Truth cannot lie, to wit, the promise of the Gospel; "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And since this is so, if the Holy Spirit is not absent from so small a number how much more may we believe he is present when so great a multitude of holy ones are assembled together! Every council is holy on account of a peculiar veneration which is its due; for in every such council the reverence which should be paid to that most famous council of the Apostles of which we read is to be had regard to. Never was the Master, whom they had received to preach, lacking to this, but ever was present as Lord and Master; and never were those who taught deserted by their teacher. For He that had sent them was their teacher; He who had commanded what was to be taught, was their teacher; He who affirms that He himself is heard in his Apostles, was their teacher. This duty of preaching has been entrusted to all the Lord's priests in common, for by right of inheritance we are bound to undertake this solicitude, whoever of us preach the name of the Lord in divers lands in their stead for He said to them, "Go, teach all nations." You, dear brethren, should observe that we have received a general command: for He wills that all of us should perform that office, which He thus entrusted in common to all the Apostles. We must needs follow our predecessors. Let us all, then, undertake their labors, since we are the successors in their honour. And we shew forth our diligence in preaching the same doctrines that they taught, beside which, according to the admonition of the Apostle, we are forbidden to add aught. For the office of keeping what is committed to our trust is no less dignified than that of handing it down...
"Pope St. Gregory the Great Refuses the Title Universal"
St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentaries on the Holy Gospel According to St. Luke, Homily 144 (on Ch. 22, verses 31-34)
Simeon, Simeon, behold Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not: and do you also hereafter when converted strengthen your brethren. And he said to Him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. But He said, I tell you, Peter, that the cock shall not crow today until you have thrice denied that You know Me.The prophet Isaiah bids those who embrace a life of piety towards Christ to go to the proclamations of the Gospel, saying, "You who thirst, go to the waters." But these waters are not the material waters of earth, but rather are divine and spiritual, poured forth for us by Christ Himself. For He is the river of peace, and the torrent of pleasure, and the fountain of life. And so we have heard Himself plainly saying, "Whosoever thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." Come therefore, that here also we may delight ourselves in the sacred and divine streams which now from Him: for what says He to Peter? "Simeon, Simeon, behold Satan has asked for you to sift you like wheat: but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not."
Now it is, I think, both necessary and profitable for us to know what the occasion was which led our Saviour's words to this point. The blessed disciples then had been disputing with one another, "which of them was the great one:" but the Saviour of all, as the means whereby they obtained whatsoever was useful and necessary for their good, delivered them from the guilt of ambition, by putting away from them the striving after objects such as this, and persuading them to escape from the lust of preeminence, as from a pitfall of the devil. For He said, "he who is great among you, let him be as the youngest, and he who governs as he that serves." And He further taught them that the season of honour is not so much this present time as that which is to be at the coming of His kingdom. For there they shall receive the rewards of their fidelity, and be partakers of His eternal glory, and wear a crown of surpassing honour, eating at His table, and sitting also upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
But lo! He also offers them a third assistance, as we read in the lessons before us. For He teaches us, that we must think humbly of ourselves, as being nothing, both as regards the nature of man and the readiness of our mind to fall away into sin, and as strengthened and being what we are only through Him and of Him. If therefore it is from Him that we borrow both our salvation, and our seeming to be something in virtue and piety, what reason have we for proud thoughts? For all we have is from Him, and of ourselves we have nothing. "For what have you that you did not receive? But if you also received it, why do you glory, as though you did not receive it?" So spoke the very wise Paul: and further, the blessed David also at one time says, "In God we shall make strength:" and at another again, "Our God is our house of refuge and our strength." And the prophet Jeremiah also has somewhere said, "O Lord, my strength and my house of refuge, and my help in the days of trouble." And the blessed Paul also may be brought forward, who says with great clearness, "I can do all things through Christ, Who strengthens me." Yes, Christ Himself also somewhere says to us, "Without Me you can do nothing.
Let us then glory not in ourselves, but rather in His gifts. And if this be the state of any one's mind, what place can the desire of being set above other men find in him, when thus we are all both partakers of the same one grace, and also have the same Lord of hosts as the Giver both of our existence and of our ability to do well. To humble therefore our tendency to superciliousness, and to repress ambitious feelings, Christ shows that even he who seemed to be great is nothing and infirm. He therefore passes by the other disciples, and turns to him who is the foremost, and set at the head of the company, and says; "that Satan has many times desired to sift you as wheat:" that is, to search and try you, and expose you to intolerable blows. For it is Satan's wont to attack men of more than ordinary excellence, and, like some fierce and arrogant barbarian, he challenges to single combat those of chief repute in the ways of piety. So he challenged Job, but was defeated by his patience, and the boaster fell, being vanquished by the endurance of that triumphant hero. But human nature he makes his prey, for it is infirm, and easy to be overcome: while he is harsh and pitiless and unappeasable in heart. For, as the sacred Scripture says of him, "His heart is hard as a stone: and he stands like an anvil that cannot be beaten out." Yet he is placed under the feet of the saints by Christ's might: for He has said, "Behold, I have given you to tread on serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you." "Satan therefore, He says, has desired to sift you like wheat: but I have offered supplication in your behalf, that your faith [might] fail not."
See again, He humbles Himself to us, and speaks according to the limits of man's estate, and yet He is God by nature, even though He became flesh. For though He is the power of the Father, by Whom all things are preserved, and from Whom they obtain the ability to continue in well-being, He yet says that He offers supplication as a man. For it was necessary, yes necessary, for Him Who, for the dispensation's sake, became like to us, to use also our words, when the occasion called Him thereto in accordance with what the dispensation itself required. "I have supplicated therefore, He says, that your faith [might] fail not." Now by this then He shows, that if he had been yielded up to Satan to be tempted, he would have proved altogether unfaithful: since, even when not so yielded up, he proved weak from human feebleness, being unable to bear the fear of death. For he denied Christ, when a young girl troubled him in the high priest's palace by saying, "And you also are one of His disciples."
The Saviour then forewarned him what would have been the result had he been yielded up to Satan's temptation: but at the same time He offers him the word of consolation, and says, "And do you also hereafter, when converted, strengthen your brethren:" that is, be the support, and instructor and teacher of those who draw near to Me by faith. And moreover, admire the beautiful skill of the passage, and the surpassing greatness of the divine gentleness! For, lest his impending fall should lead the disciple to desperation, as though he would be expelled from the glories of the apostleship, and his former following (of Christ) lose its reward, because of his proving unable to bear the fear of death, and denying Him, at once Christ fills him with good hope, and grants him the confident assurance that he shall be counted worthy of the promised blessings, and gather the fruits of steadfastness. For He says, "And do you also, when converted, strengthen your brethren." O what great and incomparable kindness! The disciple had not yet sickened with the malady of faithlessness, and already he has received the medicine of forgiveness: not yet had the sin been committed, and he receives pardon: not yet had he fallen, and the saving hand is held out: not yet had he faltered, and he is confirmed: for "do you, He says, when converted, strengthen your brethren." So to speak belongs to One Who pardons, and restores him again to apostolic powers.
But Peter, in the ardour of his zeal, made profession of steadfastness and endurance to the last extremity, saying that he would manfully resist the terrors of death, and count nothing of bonds; but in so doing he erred from what was right. For he ought not, when the Saviour told him that he would prove weak to have contradicted Him, loudly protesting the contrary; for the Truth could not lie: but rather he ought to have asked strength of Him, that either he might not suffer this, or be rescued immediately from harm. But, as I have already said, being fervent in spirit, and warm in his love towards Christ, and of unrestrainable zeal in rightly performing those duties which become a disciple in his attendance upon his Master, he declares that he will endure to the last extremity: but he was rebuked for foolishly speaking against what was foreknown, and for his unreasonable haste in contradicting the Saviour's words. For this reason He says, "Verily I tell you, that the cock shall not crow tonight, until you have thrice denied Me." And this proved true. Let us not therefore think highly of ourselves, even if we see ourselves greatly distinguished for our virtues: rather let us offer up the praises of our thanksgivings to Christ Who redeems us, and Who also it is that grants us even the desire to be able to act rightly: by Whom and with Whom to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen.
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