It is sufficiently recognized by you that no small share of Our thoughts and of Our care is devoted to Our endeavor to bring back to the fold, placed under the guardianship of Jesus Christ, the chief Pastor of souls, sheep that have gone astray.  To achieve this goal, We have thought it most conducive to this salutary end and purpose to describe the exemplar and, as it were, the lineaments of the Church.  Among these the most worthy of Our chief consideration is Unity.  The divine Author impressed it on the Church as a lasting sign of truth and of unconquerable strength.  The essential beauty and comeliness of the Church should greatly influence the minds of those who consider it.  Nor is it improbable that ignorance may be dispelled by the consideration; that false ideas and prejudices may be dissipated from the minds chiefly of those who find themselves in error without fault of theirs; and that even a love for the Church may be awakened in the souls of men, like unto that charity with which Christ loved and united Himself to that spouse redeemed by His precious Blood.  Christ loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for it. (Eph. 5, 25.)
    If those about to come back to their most loving Mother (not yet fully known, or culpably abandoned) should perceive that their return involves not, indeed, the shedding of their blood (at which price however, the Church was bought by Jesus Christ)  but some lesser trouble and labor, let them clearly understand that this duty has been laid on them not by the will of man but by the will and command of God. Thus they may, by the help of heavenly grace, realize and feel the truth of the divine saying, My yoke is easy and My burden light. (Matt. 11, 30.)
    Therefore, having put all Our hope in the Father of lights from whom comes every good gift and every perfect gift (James 1, 17.) -- from Him, namely, Who alonegives the growth (1 Cor. 3, 6.) -- We earnestly pray that He will graciously grant Us the power of bringing conviction home to the minds of men.

    Although God, by His own power, can do all that is effected by created natures, nevertheless in the counsels of His loving providence He has preferred to help men by the instrumentality of men.  And, as in the natural order He does not usually give full perfection except by means of man's work and actions, so also He makes use of human aid for that which lies beyond the limits of nature; namely, for the sanctification and salvation of souls.  But it is evident that nothing can be communicated among men save by means of external things which the senses can perceive.  For this reason the son of God assumed human nature, Himself, taking the nature of a slave and being made like unto men (Phil. 2, 6, 7.) -- and thus living on earth He taught His doctrine and gave His laws, conversing with men.

    And since it was essential that His divine mission should be perpetuated to the end of time, He took to Himself disciples, trained them Himself, and made them partakers of His own authority.  And when, from Heaven He had invoked upon them the Spirit of Truth, He bade them go through the whole world and faithfully preach to all nations what He had taught and what He had commanded, so that by the profession of His doctrine, and the observance of His laws, mankind might attain to holiness on earth and never-ending happiness in Heaven. In this manner and on this principle, the Church was begotten. If we consider the chief end of this Church and the proximate efficient causes of salvation, it is undoubtedly spiritual; but in regard to those who compose it, and to the things which lead to these spiritual gifts, it is external and necessarily visible.  The apostles received a mission to teach by visible and audible signs, and they discharged their mission only by words and acts which certainly appealed to the senses.  So that their voices falling upon the ears of those who heard them begot faith in souls -- Faith depends on hearing and hearing on the words of Christ. (Rom. 10. 17.)  And faith itself -- that is assent given to the first and supreme truth -- though residing essentially in the intellects, must be manifested by outward profession -- For with the heart we believe unto justice, and with the mouth profession of faith is made unto salvation. (Rom. 10, 10.)  In the same way, in man, nothing is more internal than heavenly grace which begets sanctity, but the ordinary and principal means of obtaining grace are external: that is to say, the Sacraments which are administered by men specially selected for that purpose, by means of certain ordinances.
    Jesus Christ commanded His apostles and their successors to the end of time to teach and rule the nations. He ordered the nations to accept their teaching and obey their authority.  But this correlation of rights and duties in the Christian commonwealth not only could not have been made lasting, but could not even have been initiated except through the senses, which are of all things the messengers and interpreters.

    For this reason the Church is so often called in Holy Scriptures a body, and even the Body of Christ -- Now you are the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12, 27.) -- and the Church is visible precisely because it is a body: and because it is the Body of Christ it is living and energizing, because by the infusion of His power Christ guards and sustains it, just as the vine gives nourishment and renders fruitful the branches united to it.  And as in the animals the vital principle is unseen and  invisible, and is evidenced and manifested by the movements and action of the members, so the principle of supernatural life in the Church is clearly shown in that which is done by it.

    From this it follows that those who arbitrarily conjure up and picture to themselves a hidden and invisible Church are in serious and pernicious error, as also are those who regard the Church as a human institution which claims a certain obedience in discipline and external duties, but which is without the never-ending communication of the gifts of divine grace, and without all that which testifies by continual and unquestioned signs to the existence of that life which is drawn from God.  It is undoubtedly as impossible that the Church of Jesus Christ can be the one or the other as that man should be a body alone or a soul alone. The connection and union of both elements is as absolutely essential to the true Church as the intimate union of the soul and body is to human nature. The Church is not something dead; it is the Body of Christ endowed with supernatural life.  As Christ, the head and exemplar, is not wholly in His visible human nature, which Photinians and Nestorians assert, nor wholly in the invisible divine nature, as the Monophysites hold, but is one from and in both natures, visible and invisible; so the Mystical Body of Christ is the true Church only because its visible parts draw life and power from the supernatural gifts and other things whence spring their very nature and essence.  But since the Church is such by Divine Will and Constitution, such it must uniformly remain to the end of time.  If it did not, then it would not have been founded as perpetual and the end set before it would have been limited to some definite place and to some certain period of time; both of which are contrary to the truth.  The union therefore of visible and invisible elements, because it harmonizes with the natural order and by God's Will appertains to the very essence of the Church, must necessarily remain so long as the Church itself shall endure.  Consequently Chrysostom writes: "Secede not from the Church: for nothing is stronger than the Church.  Thy hope is the Church: thy salvation is the Church; thy refuge is the Church.  It is higher than the heavens and wider than the earth.  It never grows old, but is ever full of vigor.  Wherefore Holy Scriptures pointing to its strength and stability calls it a mountain." (Hom. De capto Eutropio, n. 6.)

    Also Augustine says: "Unbelievers think that the Christian religion will last for a certain period in the world and will then disappear.  But it will remain as long as the sun -- as long as the sun rises and sets; that is, as long as the ages of time shall roll, the Church of God -- the true body of Christ on earth -- will not disappear." (In Psalm. 70, n. 8.) And in another place: The Church will totter if its foundation shakes; but how can Christ be moved?...  Christ remaining immovable, it (the Church ) shall never be shaken.  Where are they that say that the Church has disappeared from the world, when it cannot even be shaken?" (Enarration in Ps. 103, sermo 2, 5.)

    He who seeks the truth must be guided by these fundamental norms.  That is to say, that Christ the Lord instituted and formed the Church: hence when we are asked what its nature is, the main thing is to see what Christ wished, and what in fact He did.  Judged by such a criterion it is the unity of the Church which must be principally considered; and of this, for the general good, it has seemed useful to speak in this Encyclical.

    It is so evident from the clear and frequent testimonies of Holy Scriptures that the true Church of Jesus Christ is one, that no Christian can dare to deny it.  But in judging and determining the nature of this unity many have erred in several ways.  Not the foundation of the Church alone, but its entire constitution, belongs to the class of things effected by Christ's free choice.  For this reason the entire case must be judged by what was actually done.  We must therefore investigate not how the Church may possibly be One, but how He, Who founded it, Willed that it should be One.
    But when we think of what was actually done we find that Jesus Christ did not, in point of fact, institute a Church to embrace several communities similar in nature, but in themselves distinct, and lacking those bonds which render the Church unique and indivisible after that manner in which in the symbol of our faith we profess: "I believe in one Church.

    "The Church in respect of its unity belongs to the category of things indivisible by nature, though heretics try to divide it into many parts... We say, therefore, that the Catholic Church is unique in its excellence.... Moreover, the eminence of the Church arises from its unity, as the principle of its constitution -- a unity excelling all else, and having nothing similar to it or equal to it. (S. Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromatum 1. 8, c. 17.)   For this reason Christ, speaking of this Mystical Edifice, mentions only One Church, which He calls His own -- "I will build My Church"; any other Church except this one, since it has not been founded by Christ, cannot be the true Church.  This becomes even more evident when the purpose of the divine Founder is considered.  For what did Christ the Lord ask?  What did He desire in regard to the Church founded, or about to be founded?  This: to transmit to it the same mission and the same mandate which He had received from the Father, that they should be perpetuated.  This He clearly resolved to do: this He actually did.  As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. (John 20, 21.) As thou hast sent Me into the world, so I also have sent them into the world. (John 17, 18.)

    But Christ's mission is to save that which had perished; namely, not some nations or peoples, but the whole human race, without distinction of time or place.  The Son of man came that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3, 17.)  For there is no other Name under Heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4, 12.)  The Church, therefore, is bound to communicate without limit to all men, and to transmit through all ages, the salvation effected by Jesus Christ, and the blessings flowing therefrom.  Therefore, by the will of its Founder, it is necessary that this Church should be one in all lands and at all times.  To justify the existence of more than one Church it would be necessary to go outside in this world, and to create a new and unheard-of race of men.

    That the one Church should embrace all men everywhere and at all times was seen and foretold by Isaias, when looking into the future he saw the appearance of a mountain conspicuous by its all-surpassing altitude, which set forth the image of "the house of the Lord" -- that is, of the Church.  And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains. (Isa. 2, 2.)
   But this mountain which rises over all other mountains is one; and the house of the Lord to which all nations shall come to seek the rule of living is also one.  "And all nations shall flow unto it.  And many peoples shall go, and say: Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. (Isa. 2, 2. 3.)
    Explaining this passage, Optatus of Milevis says: "It is written in the prophet Isaias: 'From Sion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.'  For it is not on Mount Sion that Isaias sees the valley, but on the holy mountain; that is, the Church, which has raised itself manifestly throughout the entire Roman world under the whole heavens.... Hence the Church is the spiritual Sion in which Christ has been constituted King by God the Father, and which exists throughout the entire earth, on which there is but One Catholic Church." (De Schism Donatist. 1. 3, n. 2.)   And Augustine says: "What can be so conspicuous as a mountain, or so well known?  There are, it is true, mountains which are unknown because they are situated in some remote part of the earth.... But this mountain is not unknown; for it has filled the whole face of the world, and about this it is said that it is prepared on the summit of the mountains." (In Ep. Joan., tract. 1, n. 13.)

    Furthermore, the Son of God decreed that the Church should be His Mystical Body, with which He should be united as the Head, after the manner of the human body which He assumed, to which the natural head is physiologically united.  As He took to Himself a mortal body which He gave to suffering and death in order to pay the price of man's redemption, so also He has One Mystical Body in which and through which He renders men partakers of holiness and of eternal salvation.  God has made Him (Christ) head over all the Church, which is His Body. (Eph. 1, 22, 23.)   Scattered and separated members cannot possibly cohere with the head so as to make one body.  But St. Paul says: All the members of the body, many as they are, form one body, so also is it with Christ. (1 Cor. 12, 12.)   Wherefore this Mystical Body, he declares, is closely joined and knit together. The head, Christ: From Whom the whole body, being closely joined and knit together, through every joint of the system, according to the functioning in due measure of each single parts. (Eph. 4, 15, 16.)   And so scattered members, separated one from the other, cannot be united with one and the same head.  "There is one God, and one Christ; and His Church is One and the faith is One; and one the people, joined together in the solid unity of the body in the bond of concord.  This unity cannot be broken, nor the one body divided by the separation of its constituent parts. (S. Cypr., De Catn. Eccl. Un. 23.)    And to set forth more clearly the unity of the Church, he makes use of the illustration of a living body, the members of which cannot possibly survive unless united to the head and drawing from it their vital force.  Separated from the head they must of necessity die.  "The Church," he says, "cannot be divided into parts by the separation and cutting asunder of its members.  What is cut away from the mother cannot live or breathe apart. (Ibid.)   What similarity is there between a dead and a living body?  For no one ever hated his own flesh; on the contrary he nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ also does the Church: because we are members of His Body, made from His Flesh, and from His Bones. (Eph. 5, 29, 30.)
    Another head similar to Christ must be invented -- that is, another Christ -- if besides the One Church, which is His Body, men wish to set up another.  "See what you must beware of -- see what you must avoid -- see what you must dread.  It happened that, as in the human body, some member may be cut off -- a hand, a finger, a foot.  Does the soul follow the amputated member?  As long as it was in the body it lived: separated, it loses its life.  So the Christian is a Catholic as long as he lives in the Body: cut off from it he becomes a heretic -- the life of the spirit follows not the amputated member." (S. August., Sermo 267, n. 4.)
    Hence the Church of Christ is one and the same forever; those who leave it depart from the Will and Command of Christ the Lord -- leaving the path of salvation they enter on that of perdition. "Whosoever is separated from the Church is united to an adulteress.  He has cut himself off from the promises of the Church, and he who leaves the Church of Christ cannot arrive at the rewards of Christ.... He who observes not this unity observes not the law of God, holds not the faith of the Father and the son, clings not to life and salvation." (S. Cypr., De Cath. Eccl. Un. 6.)

    But He, indeed, Who made this One Church, also gave it Unity, that is, He made it such that all who are to belong to it must be joined by the closest bonds, so as to form one society, one kingdom, one body -- one body and one spirit, even as you were called in one hope of your calling. (Eph. 4, 4.)  Jesus Christ, when His death was near at hand, declared His Will in this matter, and solemnly offered it, pray, but for those also who through their word are to believe in Me.... that they also may be One in Us.... that they may be perfected in Unity. (John 17,20, 21, 23.)  Yes, he commanded that this unity should be so closely knit and so perfect among His followers that it might, in some measure, shadow forth the union between Himself and His Father: I pray that they all may be one, even as Thou, Father, in Me, and I in Thee. (Ibid 21.)

    Agreement and union of minds is the necessary foundation of this perfect concord among men, from which concurrence of wills and similarity of action are the natural results.  Therefore, in His divine Wisdom, He ordained in His Church Unity of Faith: a virtue which is the first of those bonds which unite man to God, and from which we receive the name of the Faithful -- one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. (Eph. 4, 5.)  That is, as there is one Lord and one Baptism, so should all Christians, without exception, have but one Faith.  And so the Apostle St. Paul not merely begs but entreats and implores Christians to be all of the same mind, and to avoid difference of opinions: I beseech you, brethren, by the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be perfectly united in one mind and in one judgment. (1 Cor. 1, 10.)  Such passages certainly need no interpreter; they speak clearly enough for themselves.  Besides, all who profess Christianity recognize that there can be but one Faith.  It is of the greatest importance, and indeed of absolute necessity,as to which many are deceived, that the nature and character of this oneness should be recognized.  And, as We have already stated, this is not to be ascertained by conjecture, but by the certain knowledge of what was done; that is by seeking for and ascertaining what kind of unity in faith has been commanded by Jesus Christ.

    The heavenly doctrine of Christ, although for the most part committed to writing by Divine Inspiration, could not join the minds of men if left to the human intellect alone.  It would, for this very reason, be subject to several and contradictory interpretations.  This is so not only because of the nature of the doctrine itself and of the mysteries it involves, but also because of the disagreements of the human mind and of the disturbing element of conflicting passions.  From a variety of interpretations a variety of beliefs is necessarily generated; hence come controversies, dissensions, and wranglings such as have arisen in the past, even in the first ages of the Church.  Irenaeus writes of heretics as follows: "Admitting the Holy Scriptures they distort the interpretations." (Lib. 3, cap. 12, n. 12.)  And Augustine: "Heresies have arisen, and certain perverse views ensnaring souls and precipitating them into the abyss only when the Scriptures, good in themselves, are not properly understood." (In Evang. Joan., 18, c. 5, n. 1.)  Besides Holy Scriptures it was absolutely necessary to insure this union of men's minds -- to effect and preserve unity of ideas -- that there should be another principle.  This the wisdom of God requires: for He could not have Willed that the Faith should be one if He did not provide means sufficient for the preservation of this Unity, and this Holy Scripture clearly sets forth as We shall presently point out.  Certainly the Infinite Power of God is not bound by anything; all things obey it as so many passive instruments.  In regard to this external principle, therefore, we must inquire which one of all the means in His Power Christ did actually adopt.  For this purpose it is necessary to recall to mind the Institution of Christianity.

    We have regard only of what is witnessed to by Holy Scriptures and what is otherwise well known.  Christ proves His own Divinity and the Divine Origin of His mission by miracles; He teaches Heavenly Doctrine to the multitudes by word of mouth; and He absolutely commands that the assent of faith should be given to His teaching, promising Eternal Rewards to those who believe and eternal punishment to those who do not. If I do not perform the works of My Father, do not believe Me. (John 10, 37.)  I had not done among them works such as no one else has done, they would have no sin. (John 15, 24.)  But if I do perform them, and you are not willing to believe Me, believe the works. (John 10, 38.)  Whatsoever He commands, He commands by the same authority.  He demands the assent of the mind to all truths without exception.  It was therefore the duty of all who heard Jesus Christ, if they wished for eternal salvation, not only to accept His Doctrine as a whole, but to assent with their entire mind to all and every part of it, since it is unlawful to withhold faith from God even in regard to one single point.

    When about to ascend into Heaven He sends His Apostles in virtue of the same power by which He had been sent from the Father; and He instructs them to spread abroad and propagate His teaching. All power in Heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.... teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  (Matt. 28, 18, 19, 20.)  So that those obeying the Apostles might be saved, and those disobeying should perish.  He who believes and is Baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. (Mark 16, 16.)  But since it is obviously most in harmony with God's providence that no one should have entrusted to him a great and important mission unless he were supplied with the means of properly carrying it out, for this reason Christ promised that He would send the Spirit of Truth to His disciples to remain with them forever.  But if I go I will send Him ( the Paraclete) to you.... But when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will teach you all the truth. (John 16, 7-13.) And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to dwell with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. (John 14, 16, 17.) He will bear witness concerning Me.  And you also bear witness. (John 15, 26-27.)  Hence He commands that the teaching of the apostles should be religiously accepted and piously observed as if it were His own -- He who hears you, hears Me; and he who rejects you rejects Me. (Luke 10, 16.)  Wherefore the apostles are ambassadors of Christ as He is the ambassador of the Father. As the Father has sent Me, I also send you. (John 20, 21.)  Hence as the apostles and disciples were obliged to obey Christ, so also those whom the Apostles taught were, by God's command, obliged to obey them.  And, therefore, it was no more permissible to repudiate one of the Apostles' teaching than it was to reject any point of the Doctrine of Christ Himself.

    Truly the voice of the apostles, when the Holy Ghost had come down upon them, throughout the world.  Wherever they went they proclaimed themselves the ambassadors of Christ Himself.  Through Whom (Jesus Christ) we have received grace and apostleship to bring about obedience to faith among all nations for His name's sake. (Rom. 1, 5.)  And God makes known their divine mission by numerous miracles. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the preaching by the signs that followed. (Mark 16, 20.)  But what is this word?  That which embraces all things, that which they had learned from their Master; because they openly and publicly confess that they cannot help speaking of what they had seen and heard.
    But, as We have already said, the apostolic mission was not destined to die with the apostles themselves, or to come to an end in the course of time, since it was meant for the people at large and instituted for the salvation of the  human race.  For Christ commanded His apostles "to preach the Gospel to every creature, to carry His Name to nations and kings, and to be witnesses to Him to the ends of the earth".  He further promised to assist them in the fulfillment of their sublime mission, and this, not only for a few years or centuries, but for all time -- "even to the consummation of the world".  Upon which St. Jerome says: "He who promises to remain with His disciples to the end of the world declares that they will be always victorious, and that He will never depart from those who believe in Him". (In Matt., 1, 4, c. 28, n. 20.)  But how could all this be realized in the apostles alone, subjected as they were to the universal law of dissolution by death?  It was consequently provided by God that the Magisterium instituted by Jesus Christ should not end with the life of the apostles, but that it should be perpetuated.  We see it in truth transmitted, and, as it were, passed from hand to hand.  Because the apostles consecrated Bishops, and each one appointed those who were to succeed them immediately "in the ministry of the Word".

    No, more: they also required their successors to choose fitting men, to endow them with like authority, and to entrust to them the office and mission of teaching.  Therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace which is in Christ Jesus; and the things that thou hast heard from me through many witnesses, commend to trustworthy men, who shall be competent in turn to teach others. (2 tim. 2, 1, 2.)  Therefore, as Christ was sent by God and the Apostles by Christ, so the Bishops and those who succeeded them were sent by the Apostles.  "The Apostles were appointed by Christ to preach the Gospel to us.  Jesus Christ was sent by God.  Christ is therefore from God, and the Apostles from Christ, and both according to the Will of God.... Preaching therefore the Word through the countries and cities, when they had proved in the Spirit the first-fruits of their teaching they appointed Bishops and Deacons for the Faithful.... They appointed them and then ordained them, so that when they themselves had passed away other trustworthy men should carry on their ministry." (S. Clemens Rom. Epist. I ad Corinth. cap. 42, 46.)  On the one hand, therefore, it is necessary that the mission of teaching whatever Christ had taught should remain perpetual and unchangeable, and on the other that the duty of accepting and professing all their doctrine should likewise be perpetual and unchangeable.  "Our Lord Jesus Christ, when in His Gospel He testifies that those who are not with Him are His enemies, does not specify any special form of heresy, but declares that all heretics who are not with Him and do not gather with Him, scatter His flock and are His adversaries: He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who gathers not with Me scatters." (S. Cyprianus, Ep. 69 ad Magnum, n. 1.)

    The Church, founded on these principles and mindful of its office, has done nothing with greater zeal and effort than it has shown in guarding the integrity of the Faith.  Hence it regarded as rebels and expelled from the ranks of its children all who held beliefs on any point of doctrine different from its own.  The Arians, the Montanists, the Novatians, the Quartodecimans, the Eutychians, certainly did not reject all Catholic Doctrine: they abandoned only a certain part of it.  Still who does not know that they were declared heretics and banished from the bosom of the Church?  In like manner were condemned all authors of heretical doctrines who followed them in subsequent ages. "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole series of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, taint the real and simple Faith taught by Our Lord and handed down by Apostolic Tradition." (Auctor Tract. de Fide Orthodoxa contra Arianos.)
    The practice of the Church has always been the same, as is shown by the unanimous teaching of the Fathers, who were wont to consider as outside Catholic communion, and alien to the Church, whoever would withdraw in the least degree from any point of doctrine proposed by its authoritative Magisterium.   Epipharius, Augustine, Theodoret, drew up a long list of the heresies of their times.  St. Augustine observes that other heresies may spring up, to a single one of which, should anyone give his assent, he is by this very fact cut off from Catholic unity.  "No one who absolutely does not believe in all (these heresies) can for that reason consider himself as a Catholic or call himself one.  For there may be or may arise some other heresies, which are not set out in this work of ours, and if any one holds to one single one of these he is not a Catholic." (St. Augustinus, De Haeresibus, n. 88.)

    The need of this divinely instituted means for the preservation of unity, about which We speak, is urged by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Ephesians.  In this he first admonishes them to preserve with every care harmony of minds: Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Eph. 4, 3, et seq.)  And as souls cannot be perfectly united in charity unless minds agree in Faith, he wishes all to keep the same Faith: One Lord, one Faith, and this so perfectly one as to prevent all danger of error: that we be now no longer children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine devised in the wickedness of men, in craftiness, according to the wiles of error, (Eph. 4, 14.) and this, he teaches, is to be observed, not only for a while, but until we all attain to the Unity of the Faith... to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ. (Eph. 4, 13.)  But, in what has Christ placed the primary principle, and the means of preserving this Unity?  In this that -- He gave some men as Apostles... and others as Pastors and Teachers in order to perfect the Saints for a work of ministry, for building up the Body of Christ. (Eph. 4, 11, 12.)

    Hence, from the very earliest times the Fathers and Doctors of the Church have been accustomed to follow and with one accord to defend this rule. Origen writes: "As often as the heretics allege the possession of the canonical Scriptures, to which all Christians give unanimous assent, they seem to say: 'Behold the Word of Truth is in the houses'.  But we should not believe them and not abandon the primary and Ecclesiastical Tradition.  We should not believe other than as has been handed down by the Tradition of the Church of God." (Vetus Interpretatio Commentariorum in Matt. n. 46.)  Irenaeus also says: "The doctrine of the Apostles is the True Faith.... which is known to us through the Episcopal succession.... which has reached even unto our age by the very fact that the Scriptures have been zealously guarded and fully interpreted." (Contra Haereses, 1. 4, c. 33, n. 8.)  And Tertulian: "It is therefore clear that all Doctrine which agrees with that of the Apostolic Churches  -- the matrices and original centers of the Faith -- must be looked upon as the Truth, maintaining without hesitation that the Church received it from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, and Christ from God.... We are in communion with the Apostolic Churches, and by the very fact that they agree among themselves we have a testimony of the Truth." (De Praescript., c. 31.)  And thus Hilary: "Christ teaching from the ship signifies that those who are outside the Church can never grasp the Divine Teaching: for the ship embodies the Church where the Word of life is deposited and preached.  Those who are outside are like sterile and worthless sand: they cannot understand." (Comment. in Matt. 13, n. 1.)  Rufinus praises Gregory of Nazianzus and Basil because "they studied the text of Holy Scriptures alone, and took the interpretation of its meaning not from their own inner consciousness, but from the writings and on the authority of the ancients, who in their turn, as is clear, took their norm for understanding the meaning from the Apostolic Succession." (Hist.Eccl. 1. 2, c. p. 9.)

    Therefore, as appears from what has been said, Christ instituted in the Church a living, authoritative, and permanent Magisterium, which by His own power He strengthened, by the Spirit of Truth He taught, and by miracles confirmed.  He willed and ordered, under the gravest penalties, that its teachings should be received as if they were His own.  As often, therefore, as it is declared on the authority of this teaching that this or that is contained in the deposit of divine revelation, it must be believed by every one as true.  If it could in any way be false, an evident contradiction follows: for then God Himself would be the author of error in man.  "Lord, if we be in error, we are being deceived by Thee." (Richardus de S. Victore, De Trin., 1. 1, c. 2.)  In this manner, all cause for doubting being removed, can it be lawful for any one to reject any one of those truths without by the very fact falling into heresy? -- without separating himself from the Church? -- without repudiating in one sweeping act the whole of Christian teaching?  For such is the nature of faith that nothing can be more absurd than to accept some things and reject others.
    Faith, as the Church teaches, is "that supernatural virtue by which, through the help of  God and through the assistance of His grace, we believe what He has revealed to be true, not on account of the intrinsic truth perceived by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God Himself, the Revealer, Who can neither deceive nor be deceived." (Conc. Vat., Sess. 3, c. 3.)  If then it be certain that anything is revealed by God, and this is not believed, then nothing whatever is believed by divine faith: for what the Apostle St. James estimates to be the effect of a moral delinquency, the same is to be said of an erroneous opinion in the matter of faith. Whoever offends in one point, has become guilty in all. (James 2, 10.)  No, it applies with greater force to an erroneous opinion.  Because it can be said with less truth that every law is violated by one who commits a single sin, since it may be that he only virtually despises the majesty of God the Legislator.  But he who dissents even in one point from divinely revealed truth absolutely rejects all faith, since he thereby refuses to honor God as the supreme Truth and the formal motive of faith.  "In many things they are with me, in a few things they are not with me; but in those few things in which they are not with me the many things in which they are will not profit them" (St. August. in Psal.liv., n. 19.)  And this in fact most rightly; for they who take from Christian doctrine what they please rest on their own judgments, not on faith; and not bringing every mind into captivity to the obedience of Christ, (2 Cor. 10, 5.) they more truly obey themselves than God.  "You, who believe what you like of the Gospels and believe not what you like, believe yourselves rather than the Gospels." (S. Augustinus 1. 17, Contra Faustum Manichaeum, c. 3.)

    For this reason the Fathers of the Vatican Council laid down nothing new, but followed divine revelation and the acknowledged and immutable teaching of the Church as to the very nature of faith, when they decreed as follows: "All those things are to be believed by divine and Catholic Faith which are contained in the written or unwritten Word of God, and which are proposed by the Church as divinely revealed, either by a Solemn Definition or in the exercise of its ordinary and universal Magisterium." (Sess. 3, c. 3.)  Hence, as it is clear that God absolutely Willed that there should be Unity in His Church, and as it is clear what kind of Unity He Willed, and by means of what principle He ordained that this Unity should be maintained, We may address the following words of St. Augustine to all who have not deliberately closed their minds to the truth: "When we see the great help of God, such manifest progress and such abundant fruit, shall we hesitate to take refuge in the bosom of that Church which, as is evident to all, possesses the supreme authority of the Apostolic See through the Episcopal succession?  In vain do heretics rage round it; they are condemned partly by the judgment of the people themselves, partly by the weight of Councils, partly by the splendid testimony of Miracles.  To refuse the primacy to the Church is most impious and extremely arrogant.  And if all learning, no matter how easy and common it may be, in order to be fully understood requires a teacher and master, what can be greater proof of pride and rashness than to be unwilling to learn about the books of the divine mysteries from the proper interpreter, and to wish to condemn them unknown?" (De Unit. Credence, c. 17, n. 35.)

    It is, then, undoubtedly the office of the Church to guard Christian Doctrine and to propagate it in its integrity and purity.  But this is not all: the object for which the Church has been founded is not wholly attained by the performance of this duty.  For, since Jesus Christ delivered Himself up for the salvation of the human race, and to this end directed all His teaching and commands, so He commanded the Church to strive, by the Truth of its Doctrine, to sanctify and to save mankind.  But Faith alone cannot compass so great, excellent, and important an end.  There must also be the fitting and devout worship of God, which is to be found chiefly in the Divine Sacrifice and in the dispensation of the Sacraments, as well as salutary laws and discipline.  All these must be found in the Church, since it continues the mission of the Savior forever.  The Church alone offers to the human race that Religion -- that state of absolute perfection -- which He wished, as it were, to be incorporated in it.  And it alone supplies those means of salvation which accord with the ordinary counsels of Providence.

    But as this Heavenly Doctrine was never left to the arbitrary judgment of private individuals, but from its inception delivered by Jesus Christ, was afterwards committed by Him exclusively to the Magisterium already named, so the power of performing and administering the Divine Mysteries, together with the authority of ruling and governing, was not bestowed by God on all Christians without distinction, but on certain chosen persons.  For to the Apostles and their legitimate successors alone these words have reference: "Going into the whole world preach the Gospel.  Baptizing them."  "Do this in commemoration of Me."  "Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them."  And in like manner He ordered only the Apostles and those who should lawfully succeed them to feed -- that is to govern with authority -- all Christian souls.  Hence it also follows that it is necessarily the duty of Christians to be subject and to obey.  And these duties of the Apostolic office are, in general, all included in the words of St. Paul: Let a man so account us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. (1 Cor. 4, 1.)

    Therefore Jesus Christ bade all men, present and future, to follow Him as their leader and Savior; and this not merely as individuals, but as forming a society, organized and united in mind.  In this manner a duly constituted society should exist, formed out of the divided multitude of peoples, one in faith, one in end, one in the participation of the means adapted to the attainment of the end, and one as subject to one and the same authority.  To this end He established in the Church all those principles which necessarily  tend to make organized human societies, and through which they attain the perfection proper to each.  That is, in it (the Church), all who wished to be the sons of God by adoption might attain to the perfection demanded by their high calling, and might obtain salvation.  Hence the Church, as we have said, is man's guide to whatever pertains to Heaven.  This is the office appointed unto it by God: that it may watch over and may order all that regards Religion, and may, without let or hindrance, exercise, according to its judgment, its charge over Christianity.  Hence they who claim that the Church has any wish to interfere in civil matters, or to encroach upon the rights of the State, know it not, or wickedly calumniate it.

    God indeed even made the Church a society far more perfect than any other.  For the end for which the Church exists is as much higher than the end of other societies as Divine Grace is above nature, as immortal blessings are above the passing things on the earth.  Therefore the Church is a society Divine in its origin, supernatural in its end and in the means proximately adapted to the attainment of that end; but it is a human community inasmuch as it is composed of men.  For this reason we find it called in Holy Scriptures by names indicating a perfect society.  It is spoken of as the house of God, the city placed upon the mountain to which all nations must come.  But it is also the fold presided over by one Shepherd, and into which all Christ's sheep must commit themselves.  Truly, it is called the kingdom which God has raised up and which will stand forever.  Finally it is the Body of Christ -- that is, of course, His Mystical Body, but a body living and duly organized and composed of many members; members indeed which have not all the same functions, but which, united one to the other, are kept bound together by the guidance and authority of the head.

    In fact, no true and perfect human society can be imagined which is not governed by some supreme authority to which all Christians must render obedience.  For this reason, as the unity of the faith is of necessity required for the unity of the Church, inasmuch as it is the body of the faithful, so also for this same unity, inasmuch as the Church is a divinely constituted society, unity of government, which effects and involves unity of communion, is necessary jure divino.  "The unity of the Church is shown in the mutual connection or communication of its members, and likewise in the relation of all the members of the Church to one Head." (St. Thomas, 2a 2ae 9, 39, a. 1.)
    From this it is easy to see that men can fall away from the unity of the Church by schism, as well as by heresy.  "We think that this difference exists between heresy and schism" -- writes St. Jerome: "heresy has no perfect dogmatic teaching, whereas schism, through some Episcopal dissent, also separates from the Church." (S. Hieronymus, Comment. in Epist. ad Titum. c. 3, 5, 10, 11.)  In which judgment St. John Chrysostom agrees:  "I say and protest," he writes, "that it is as wrong to divide the Church as it is to fall into heresy." (Hom. 11, in Ep. ad Eph., n. 5.)  Hence as no heresy can ever be justifiable, so in like manner there can be no justification for schism.  "There is nothing more grievous than the sacrilege of schism... there can be no just necessity for destroying the unity of the Church." (S. Augustinus, Contra Epistolam Parmeniani, 1. 2, c. 2, n. 25.)

    The nature of this supreme authority, which all Christians are bound to obey, can be known only by finding out what was the evident and positive Will of Christ.  Certainly Christ is a King forever; and though invisible, He continues until the end of time to govern and guard His Church from Heaven.  But since He Willed that His kingdom should be visible He was obliged, when He ascended into Heaven, to designate a Vicar on earth.  "Should any one say that Christ is the one Head and the one Shepherd, the one Spouse of the one Church, he does not give a suitable reply.  It is clear, indeed, that Christ is the Author of grace in the Sacraments of the Church; it is Christ Himself Who baptizes; it is He Who forgives sins; it is He Who is the true Priest Who has offered Himself upon the Altar of the Cross, and it is by His power that His body is daily Consecrated upon the Altar; and yet, because He was not to be visibly present to all the faithful, He made choice of Ministers through whom the above mentioned Sacraments should be dispensed to the faithful as said above." (Cap. 74.)  "For the same reason, therefore, because He was about to withdraw His visible presence from the Church, it was necessary that He should appoint some one in His place, to have charge of the universal Church.  Hence before His Ascension He said to Peter, 'Feed My sheep'." (St. Thomas, Contra Gentiles, 1. 4, c. 76.)

    Therefore Jesus Christ appointed Peter to be the Head of the Church; and He also determined that the authority instituted in perpetuity or the salvation of all should be inherited by His Successors, in whom the same permanent authority of Peter himself should continue.  And so He made that remarkable promise to Peter and to no one else: Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church. (Matt. 16, 18.)  "To Peter the Lord spoke: to one, therefore, that He might establish Unity upon One." (S. Pacinus ad Sempronium, Eph. 3, n. 11.)  "Without any prelude He mentions St. Peter's name and that of his father (Blessed art thou Simon, son of John) and He does not wish him to be called Simon any more, claiming him for Himself according to His divine authority, He aptly names him Peter, from petra the rock, since upon him He was about to found His Church." (S. Cyrillus Alexandrinus, in Evang. Joan., 1. 2, in c. 1. 5, 42.)
    From this text it is evident that by the Will and command of God the Church rests upon St. Peter, just as a building rests on its foundation.  Now the proper nature of a foundation is to be a principle of cohesion for the various parts of the building.  It must be the necessary condition of stability and strength.  Remove it and the whole building falls.  It is consequently the office of St. Peter to uphold the Church, and to guard it in all its strength and indestructible Unity.  How could he fulfill this office without the power of commanding, forbidding, and judging, which is properly called jurisdiction?  It is only by this power of jurisdiction that nations and commonwealths are held together.  A primacy of honor and the obscure right of giving advice and admonition, which is called direction, could never obtain for any society of men unity or strength.  The words -- and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it -- proclaim and establish the authority of which we speak.  "What is the it?"  writes Origen.  "Is it the rock upon which Christ builds the Church or is it the Church?  The expression indeed is ambiguous, as if the rock and the Church were one and the same thing.  I indeed think that this is so, and that neither against the rock upon which Christ builds His Church nor against the Church shall the gates of hell prevail." (Origenes, Comment, in Matt., tom. 12, n. 2.)  The meaning of this divine utterance is, that, notwithstanding the wiles and intrigues which they bring to bear against the Church, it can never be that the Church, entrusted to the care of Peter, shall succumb or in any wise fail.  "For the Church, as the edifice of Christ Who has wisely built 'His house upon a rock,' cannot be conquered by the gates of hell, which may prevail over any man who shall be off the rock and outside the Church, but shall be powerless against it." (Ibid.)  Therefore God confided His Church to Peter so that he might safely guard it with his invincible power.  He invested him, therefore, with the needful authority; since the right to rule is absolutely required by him who has to guard human society really and effectively.  This, moreover, Christ gave: "I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven."  And He is clearly still speaking of the Church, which a short time before He had called His own, and which He declared He wished to build on Peter as on a foundation.  The Church is embodied not only as an edifice but as a kingdom, and every one knows that the keys constitute the usual sign of governing authority.  Hence when Christ promised to give to Peter the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, He promised to give him power and authority over the Church.  "The Son committed to Peter the office of spreading the knowledge of His Father and Himself over the whole world.  He Who increased the Church in all the earth, and proclaimed it to be stronger than the heavens, gave to a mortal man all power in Heaven when He handed him the keys." (S. Johannes Chrysostomus, Hom. liv., in Matt. 5, 2.)  In this same sense He says: "Whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven, and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven."  This metaphorical expression of binding and loosing indicates the power of making laws, of judging and of punishing; and the power is said to be of such extent and force that God will ratify whatever is decreed by it.  Therefore it is supreme and absolutely independent, so that, having no other power on earth as its superior, it embraces the whole Church and all things entrusted to the Church.

    The promise is carried out when Christ the Lord after His Resurrection, having thrice asked Peter whether he loved Him more than the rest, lays on him the injunction: "Feed My lambs -- feed My sheep."  That is He confides to him, without exception, all those who were to belong to His fold.  "The Lord does not hesitate.  He interrogates, not to learn but to teach.  When He was about to ascend into Heaven He left us, as it were, a Vicar of His love... and therefore because Peter alone of all others professes his love he is preferred to all -- that being the most perfect he should govern the more perfect." (S. Ambrosius, Exposit. in evang. secundum Lucam, 1. 2.)
    these, then, are the duties of shepherd: to put himself as leader at the head of his flock, to provide proper food for it, to ward off dangers, to guard against insidious fees, to defend it against violence: in a word, to rule and govern it.  Since therefore Peter has been placed as shepherd of the Christian flock he has received the power of governing all men for whose salvation Jesus Christ shed His Blood.  "Why has He shed His Blood?  To redeem the sheep which He handed over to Peter and his successors." (S. Johannes Chrysostomus, De Sacerdotio, 1. 2.)

    And since all Christians must be closely united in the communion of One immutable Faith, Christ the Lord, in virtue of His prayers, obtained for Peter that in the fulfillment of his office he should never fall away from the Faith.  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith may not fail," (Luke 22, 32.)  and He moreover commanded him to impart light and strength to his brethren as often as the need should arise: strengthen thy brethren. (Ibid.)   He willed then that he whom He had appointed as the Foundation of the Church should be the defense of its Faith.  "Could not Christ, who confided to him the kingdom by His own authority, have strengthened the Faith of one whom He designated a rock to show the Foundation of the Church?" (S. Ambrosius, De Fide, 1. 4, n. 56.)  For this reason Jesus Christ Willed that Peter should participate in certain names, signs of great things which properly belong to Himself alone: in order that identity of titles should show identity of power.  So He Who is Himself the Chief Corner Stone; in Him the whole structure is closely fitted together and grows into a Temple Holy in the Lord, (Eph. 2, 21.)  placed Peter as it were a stone to support the Church.  "When he heard thou art a rock, he was ennobled by the announcement.  Even though he is a rock, not as Christ is a Rock, but as Peter is a rock.  For Christ is by His very Being an immovable Rock; Peter only through this rock, Christ imparts His gifts, and is not exhausted... He is a Priest, and makes Priests.  He is a Rock, and constitutes a rock."  (Hom. de Poenitetia, n. 4 in Appendice opp. S. Basilii.)  He Who is the King of His Church, Who has the key of David, He Who opens and no one shuts, and Who shuts and no one opens. (Apoc. 3, 7.)  having delivered the keys to Peter declared him Prince of the Christian common-wealth.  So, too, He, the Great Shepherd, who calls Himself the Good Shepherd, constituted Peter the pastor of His lambs and sheep.  Feed My lambs, feed My sheep. Hence Chrysostom says: "He was pre-eminent among the Apostles: He was the mouthpiece of the Apostles and the Head of the Apostolic College... at the same time showing him that henceforth he ought to have confidence, and as it were blotting out his denial, He entrusts to him the government of his brethren... He says to him: 'If thou lovest Me, be over My brethren'."  Finally He Who confirms in every good work and word (2 Thess. 2, 16.)  commands Peter to confirm his brethren.
    Justly, therefore, does Saint Leo the Great say: "From the whole world Peter alone is chosen to take the lead in calling all nations, to be the head of all the Apostles and of all the Fathers of the Church.  So that, although in the people of God there are many Priests and many Pastors, Peter should by right rule all of those over whom Christ Himself is the Chief Ruler." (Sermo 4, c. 2.)  And so Saint Gregory the Great, writing to the emperor Maurice Augustus, says: "It is clear to all who know the Gospel that the care of the whole Church was entrusted to Saint Peter, the Apostle and Prince of all the Apostles, by the Word of the Lord.... Behold! he has received the keys of the Heavenly Kingdom -- the power of binding and loosing is conferred upon him: the care of the whole government of the Church is confided to him." (Epist. 1. 5, Epist. 20.)

    It was necessary that a government of this kind, since it belongs to the constitution and formation of the Church, as its principal element -- that is as the principle of Unity and the Foundation of lasting stability -- should in no wise come to an end with St. Peter, but should pass to his successors from one to another.  "There remains, therefore, the ordinance of truth, and St. Peter, persevering in the strength of the Rock which he had received, hath not abandoned the government of the Church which had been entrusted to him." (S. Leo M. sermo 3, c. 3.)  For this reason the Pontiffs who succeed Peter in the Roman Episcopate receive the supreme power in the Church, jure divino.  "We define" (declare the Fathers of the Council of Florence) "that the Holy and Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff holds the primacy of the Church throughout the whole world: and that the same Roman Pontiff is the successor of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and the true Vicar of Christ, the Head of the whole Church, and the Father and Teacher of all Christians; and that full power was given him, in blessed Peter, by Our Lord Jesus Christ to feed, to rule, and to govern the Universal Church, as is also contained in the acts of Ecumenical Councils and in the Sacred Canons." (Conc. Florentinum.)  In like manner the Fourth Lateran Council declares: "The Roman Church, as the Mother and Mistress of all the Faithful, by the Will of Christ holds primacy of jurisdiction over all other Churches."  These declarations were preceded by the consent of antiquity which always acknowledged, without the slightest doubt or hesitation, the Bishops of Rome, and revered them, as the legitimate successors of St. Peter.

    Who is not aware of the many and manifest testimonies of the holy Fathers which exist to this effect?  Most notable is that of Saint Irenaeus, who, referring to the Roman Church, says: "With this Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority, it is necessary that every Church should be in concord"; (contra Haereses, 1. 3, c. 3, n. 2.)  and St. Cyprian also says of the Roman Church, that "it is the root and mother of the Catholic Church, the chair of Peter, and the principal Church from which sacerdotal unity has its source." (Ep. ;48, ad Cornelium, n. 3, and Ep. lix., ad eundem, n. 14.)  He calls it the chair of Peter because it is occupied by the successor of Peter; he calls it the principal Church, because of the primacy conferred on Peter himself and his legitimate successors; and the source of Unity, because the Roman Church is the efficient cause of unity in the Christian commonwealth.  For this reason Jerome addresses Damasus thus: "My words are spoken to the successor of the Fisherman, to the disciple of the cross.... I communicate with none save your Blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter.  For this I know is the rock on which the Church is built." (Ep. 15, ad Damasum, n. 2.)  Unity with the Roman see of Peter is to him always the public test of a Catholic.  "I acknowledge every one who is united with the See of Peter." (Ep. 16, ad Damasum, n. 2.)  And for a similar reason St. Augustine publicly attests that "the primacy of the Apostolic chair always existed in the Roman Church"; (Ep. 43, n. 7.)  and he denies that any one who dissents from the Roman faith can be a Catholic.  "You are not to be looked upon as holding the true Catholic faith if you do not teach that the faith of Rome is to be held." (Sermo 120, n. 13.)  So, too, St. Cyprian:  "To be in communion with Cornelius is to be in communion with the Catholic Church." (Ep. 55, n. 1.)  In like manner Maximus the Abbot teaches that obedience to the Roman Pontiff is the proof of the true faith and of legitimate communion.  "Hence if a man does not want to be, or to be called, a heretic, let him not strive to please this or that man... but let him hasten before all things to be in communion with the Roman See.  If he be in communion with it, he should be acknowledged by all and everywhere as faithful and orthodox.  He speaks in vain who tries to persuade me of the orthodoxy of those who, like himself, refuse obedience to his Holiness the Pope of the most holy Church of Rome; that is to the Apostolic See."  The reason and motive of this he explains to be that "the Apostolic See has received and has government, authority, and power of binding and loosing from the Incarnate Word Himself; and, according to all Holy Synods, Sacred Canons and Decrees, in all things and through all things, in respect of all the holy Churches of God throughout the entire world, since the Word in Heaven Who rules the heavenly power binds and looses there." (Defloratio ex. Ep. ad Petr. illustr.)

    Therefore what was recognized and observed as Christian faith, not by one nation nor in one age, but by the East and by the West, and through all ages, this Philip, the Priest, the Pontifical Legate at the Council of Ephesus, no voice being raised in disagreement, recalls: "No one can doubt, yes, it is known unto all ages, that St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, the pillar of the faith and the ground of the Catholic Church received the Keys of the Kingdom from Our Lord Jesus Christ.  That is: the power of forgiving and retaining sins was given to him who, up to the present time, lives and exercises judgment in the persons of his successors." (Actio 3.)  The declaration of the Council of Chalcedon on the same matter is present to the mind of all: "Peter has spoken through Leo," (Actio 2.)  to which the voice of the Third Council of Constantinople answers as an echo:  "The chief Prince of the Apostles was fighting on our side: for we have had as our ally his follower and the successor to his See: and the paper and the ink were seen, and Peter spoke through Agatho." (Actio 18.)
    In the formula of Catholic faith drawn up and proposed by Hormisdas, which was subscribed at the inception of the sixth century in the great Eighth C    ouncil by the Emperor Justinian, by Epiphanius, John and Menna, the Patriarchs, this same is declared with great weight and solemnity .  "For the declaration of Our Lord Jesus Christ saying: 'Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church,' etc., cannot be overlooked.  What is said is proved by the result, because Catholic faith has always been preserved without stain in the Apostolic See." (Post. Epistolam, 26, ad omnes Epis. Hispan., n. 4.)  We have no wish to quote every available declaration; but it is well to recall the formula of faith which Michael Paleologus professed in the Second Council of Lyons: "The same holy Roman Church possesses the sovereign and plenary primacy and authority over the entire Catholic Church, which, truly and humbly, it acknowledges to have received together with the plenitude of power from the Lord Himself, in the person of St. Peter, the Prince or Head of the Apostles, of whom the Roman Pontiff is the successor.  And as it is bound to defend the truth of faith beyond all others, so also if any question should arise concerning the faith it must be determined by its judgment." (Actio 4.)

    But if the authority of Peter and his successors is plenary and supreme, it is not to be regarded as the only authority.  For He Who made Peter the foundation of the Church also chose twelve, whom He called Apostles; (Luke 6, 13.) and just as it is essential that the authority of Peter should be perpetuated in the Roman Pontiff, so, by the fact that the Bishops succeed the Apostles, they inherit their ordinary power, and thus the Episcopal order necessarily belongs to the essential constitution of the Church.  Although they do not receive plenary, or universal or supreme authority, they are not to be regarded as vicars of the Roman Pontiffs; because they exercise a power really their own, and are most truly called the ordinary pastors of the peoples over whom they rule.

    But since the successor of Peter is one, and those of the Apostles are many, it is necessary to examine into the relations which exist between him and them according to the divine constitution of the Church.  Above all things the need of union between the Bishops and the successors of Peter is evident and undeniable.  This tie once broken, Christians would be separated and scattered, and would in no wise form one body and one flock.  "The safety of the Church depends on the dignity of the chief Priest, to whom if an extraordinary and supreme power is not given, there are as many schisms to be expected in the Church as there are Priests." (S. Hieronymus, Dialog. contra Luciferianos, n. 9.)  It is necessary, therefore, to bear this in mind, namely, that nothing was conferred on the Apostles apart from Peter, but that several things were conferred upon Peter aside from the Apostles.  St. John Chrysostom in explaining the words of Christ says: "Why, passing over the others, does He speak to Peter about these things?"  And he answers unhesitatingly and at once, "Because he was pre-eminent among the Apostles, the mouthpiece of the Disciples, and the Head of the College." (Hom. 88, in Joan., n. 1.)  He alone was named as the Foundation of the Church.  To him He gave the power of binding and loosing; to him alone was given the power of feeding.  On the other hand, whatever authority and office the Apostles received, they received in conjunction with Peter.  "If the divine benignity willed anything to be in common between him and the other princes, whatever He did not deny to the others He gave only through him.  So that whereas Peter alone received many things, He conferred nothing on any of the rest without Peter participating in it." (S. Leo M.,  sermo 4, c. 2.)
    From this it must be clearly understood that Bishops are deprived of the right and power of ruling, if they deliberately withdraw from Peter and his successors; because, by this secession, they are separated from the Foundation on which the whole edifice must rest.  They are consequently outside the edifice itself; and for this very reason they are separated from the fold, whose leader is the Chief Pastor; they are exiled from the Kingdom, the keys of which were given by Christ to Peter alone.

    These things enable us to see the Heavenly ideal, and the divine exemplar of the constitution of the Christian commonwealth, that is: When the divine Founder decreed that the Church should be one in Faith, in government, and in communion, He selected Peter and his successors as the principal and center, as it were, of this Unity.  Where St. Cyrpian says: "The following is a short and easy proof  of the Faith.  The Lord said to Peter: 'I say to thee thou art Peter'; on him alone He built His Church; and although after His Resurrection He gives a similar power to all the Apostles and says: 'As the Father has sent Me,' etc., still in order to make the need of Unity clear, by His own authority He laid down the source of that Unity as beginning from one." (De Unit. Eccl., n. 4.)  And Optatus of Milevis says: "You cannot deny that you know that in the city

of Rome the Episcopal chair was first conferred on Peter.  In this Peter, the Head of all the      Apostles (hence his name Cephas), has sat; the only chair in which Unity was to preserved for all, lest any of the other Apostles should claim anything as exclusively his own.   So much so, that he who would place another chair against that one Chair, would be a schismatic and a sinner." (De Schism. Donat., 1. 2.)  Hence the teaching of Cyprian, that heresy and schism arise and are begotten from the fact that due obedience is refused to the supreme authority. "Heresies and schisms have no other origin than that obedience is refused to the Priest of God, and that men lose sight of the fact that there is one judge in the place of Christ in this world." (Epist. 12 ad Cornelium, n. 5.)  No one, therefore, unless in communion with Peter can share in his authority, since it is absurd to imagine that he who is outside can command in the Church.  Therefore Optatus of Milevis blamed the Donatist for this reason: "Against which gates (of hell) we read that Peter received the saving keys, that is to say, our prince, to whom it was said by Christ: 'I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.' Whence is it therefore that you strive to obtain for yourselves the keys of the kingdom of Heaven -- you who fight against the Chair of Peter?" (Lib. 2, nn. 4, 5.)

    But the Episcopal order is rightly judged to be in communion with Peter, as Christ commanded, if it be subject to and obeys Peter; otherwise it necessarily becomes a lawless and disorderly crowd. It is not sufficient for the due preservation of the Unity of the Faith that the Head should merely have been charged with the office of superintendent, or should have been invested solely with a power of direction.  But it is absolutely essential that he should have received real and sovereign authority which the whole community is bound to obey.  What had the Son of God in view when He promised the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to Peter alone?  Biblical usage and the unanimous teaching of the Fathers manifestly show that supreme authority is meant in the passage by the word Keys.  Nor is it lawful to interpret in a different sense what was given to Peter alone, and what was given to the other Apostles conjointly with him.  If the power of binding, loosening, and feeding confers upon each and every one of the Bishops, the successors of the Apostles, a real authority to rule the people committed to him, certainly the same power must have the same effect in his case to whom the duty of feeding the lambs and sheep has been assigned by God.  "Christ constituted (Peter) not only Pastor, but Pastor of Pastors; hence Peter feeds the lambs and feeds the sheep, feeds the children and feeds the mothers, governs the subjects and rules the Prelates, because the lambs and the sheep form the whole of the Church." (S. Brunonis Episcopi Signiensis comment. in Joan., p. 3, c. 21, n. 55.)  Therefore those remarkable expressions of the ancients concerning St. Peter, which most clearly point out the fact that he was placed in the highest degree of dignity and authority.  They frequently call him "the prince of the College of the Disciples, the Prince of the holy Apostles; the Leader of that Choir; the Mouthpiece of all the Apostles; the Head of that Family; the ruler of the whole world; the first of the Apostles; the safeguard of the Church."  In this sense St. Bernard writes as follows to Pope Eugenius: "Who are you?  The great Priest -- the high Priest.  You are the Prince of Bishops and the heir of the Apostles.... You are he to whom the keys were given.  There are, it is true, other gatekeepers of Heaven and other Pastors of flocks, but you are so much the more glorious as you have inherited a different and more glorious Name than all the rest.   They have flocks consigned to them, one to each; to you all the flocks are confided as one flock to One Shepherd, and not alone the sheep, but the Shepherds.  You ask how I prove this?  From the words of the Lord.  To which -- I do not say -- of the Bishops, but even of the Apostles have all the sheep been so absolutely and unreservedly committed?  If thou lovest Me, Peter, feed My sheep.  Which sheep?  Of this or that people, of this city, or country, or kingdom?  My sheep, He says: to whom therefore is it not evident that He does not specify some, but all?  We can make no exception where no distinction is made." (De Consideratione, 1. 2, c. 8.)

    But it is opposed to the truth, and in plain contradiction with the divine constitution of the Church, to maintain that while each Bishop is individually bound to obey the authority of the Roman Pontiffs, taken collectively the Bishops are not so bound.  For it is the nature and object of a foundation to support the unity of the whole edifice and to give stability to it, rather than to each component part; and in the present case this is much more applicable, since Christ the Lord desired that by the strength and solidity of the Foundation the gates of hell should be prevented from prevailing against the Church.  All are agreed that the divine promise must be understood of the Church as a whole, and not of any certain portions of it.  These can indeed be overcome by the assaults of the powers of hell, as in point of fact has happened to some of them.  Moreover he who is placed over the whole flock must have authority not only over the sheep scattered throughout the Church, but also when they are assembled together.  Do the sheep when they are all assembled together rule and guide the shepherd?  Do the successors of the Apostles assembled together form the Foundation on which the successor of St. Peter rests in order to derive therefrom strength and stability?  Surely jurisdiction and authority belong to him in whose power have been placed the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, not alone in all provinces taken singly, but in all taken collectively.  And as the Bishops, each in his own district, command with real power not only individuals but the whole community, so the Roman Pontiffs, whose jurisdiction extends to the entire Christian commonwealth, must have all its parts even taken collectively, subject and obedient to their authority.  Christ the Lord, as we have quite sufficiently shown, made Peter and his successors His Vicars, to exercise forever in the Church the power which He exercised during His mortal life.  Can the Apostolic College be said to have been above its Master in authority?
    This power over the Episcopal College to which we refer, and which is clearly set forth in Holy Scriptures, has ever been acknowledged and attested by the Church, as is clear from the teaching of General Councils.  "We read that the Roman Pontiff has pronounced judgments on the Prelates of all the Churches; we do not read that anybody has pronounced sentence on him." (Hadrianus 2, in Allocutione 3, ad Synodum Romanum an. 869. Cf. Actionem 7, Conc. Constantinopolitani 4.)  The reason for which is stated thus: "there is no authority greater than that of the Apostolic See." (Nicolaus in Epist. 86 ad Michael. Imperat. "It is evident that the judgment of the Apostolic See, than which there is no authority greater, may be rejected by no one, nor is it lawful for any one to pass judgment on its judgment.")  Hence Gelasius on the decrees of Councils says: "That which the First See has not approved of cannot stand; but what it has thought well to decree has been accepted by the whole Church. (Ep. 26. ad Episc. Dardaniae, 5.)  It has ever been unquestionably the office of the Roman Pontiffs to ratify or to reject the decrees of Councils.  Leo the Great abrogated the acts of the Conciliabulum of Ephesus.  Damasus rejected those of Rimini, and Hadrian I those of Constantinople.  The twenty-eighth Canon of the Council of Chalcedon, by the very fact that it lacks the assent and approval of the Apostolic See, is admitted by all to be valueless.  Rightly, therefore, has Leo X laid down in the fifth Lateran Council "that the Roman Pontiff alone, as having authority over all Councils as is clear, not only from the testimony of Holy Scriptures, from the teaching of the very Councils themselves."  Indeed, Holy Scripture attests that the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven were given to Peter alone, and that the power of binding and loosening was granted to the Apostles and to Peter; but there is nothing to show that the Apostles received supreme power without Peter, and against Peter.  Such power they certainly did not receive from Jesus Christ.  Therefore, in the decree of the Vatican Council as to the nature and authority of the primacy of the Roman Pontiff, no newly conceived opinion is set forth, but the venerable and constant belief of every age. (Sess. 4, c. 3..)

    Nor does it cause any confusion in the administration that Christians are bound to obey a twofold authority.  We are prohibited in the first place by Divine Wisdom from entertaining any such thought, since this form of government was established by the Counsel of  God Himself.  In the second place we must observe that the due order of things and their mutual relations are disturbed if there be a twofold magistracy of the same rank set over a people neither of which is amenable to the other.  But the authority of the Roman Pontiff is supreme, universal, independent; that of the Bishops limited, and dependent.  "It is not congruous that two superiors with equal authority should be placed over the same flock; but that two, one of whom is higher than the other, should be placed over the same people is not incongruous.  Thus the parish Priest, the Bishop, and the Pope, are placed immediately over the same people." (St. Thomas in 4 Sent. dist. 17, a. 4, ad q. 4, ad 3.) So the Roman Pontiffs, mindful of their duty, desire above all things, that the divine Constitution of the Church should be preserved. Consequently, as they defend with all necessary care and vigilance their own authority, so they have always labored, and will continue to labor, that the authority of the Bishops may be upheld.  Yes, they look upon whatever honor or obedience is given to the Bishops as paid to themselves.  "My honor is the strength and stability of my  brethren.  Then am I honored when due honor is given to every one." (S. Gregorius M. Epistolarum, 1. 8, ep. 30, ad Eulogium.)

    In what has been said We have faithfully described the exemplar and form of the Church as divinely constituted.  We have treated at length of its Unity: We have adequately explained its nature, and pointed out the way in which the Divine Founder of the Church Willed that it should be preserved.  There is no reason to doubt that all those, who by divine grace and mercy have had the happiness to have been born, as it were, in the bosom of the Catholic Church, and to have lived in it, will listen to Our Apostolic Voice: My sheep hear My Voice, (John 10, 27.)  and that they will derive from Our words fuller instruction and a more perfect disposition to remain united with their respective Pastors, and through them with the Supreme Pastor, so that they may remain more securely within the one fold, and may therefrom derive a greater abundance of salutary fruit.  But We, who notwithstanding Our unfitness for this great dignity and office, govern by virtue of the authority conferred on Us by Jesus Christ, as We look on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith, (Heb. 12, 2.) feel Our heart fired by His charity.  What Christ has said of Himself We may truly repeat of Ourselves: Other sheep I have that are not of this fold: them also I must bring and they shall hear My Voice. (John 10, 16.)  Let all those, therefore, who detest the widespread irreligion of our times, and acknowledge and confess Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Savior of the human race, but who have wandered away from the Spouse, listen to Our voice.  Let them not refuse to obey Our paternal charity.  Those who acknowledge Christ must confess Him wholly and entirely.  "The Head and the body are Christ wholly and entirely.  The Head is the only-begotten Son of God, the body is His Church: the Bridegroom and the Bride, two in one flesh. All who differ from the scriptures concerning Christ, although they may be found in all places in which the Church is found, are not in the Church; and again all those who agree with the Scriptures concerning the Head, and do not communicate in the Unity of the Church, are not in the Church." (S. Augustinus, Contra Donatistas Epistola, sive De Unit. Eccl., c. 4, n. 7.)

    And with the same yearning Our soul goes out to those whom the foul breath of irreligion has not entirely corrupted, and who at least seek to have the true God, the Creator of Heaven and earth, as their Father.  Let such as these take counsel with themselves, and realize that they can in no way be counted among the children of God, unless they take Christ Jesus as their Brother, and at the same time the Church as their Mother.  We lovingly address to all the words of St. Augustine: "Let us love the Lord our God; let us love His Church; the Lord as our father, the church as our Mother.  Let no one say, I go indeed to idols, I consult fortune-tellers and soothsayers; but I leave not the Church of God: I am a Catholic.  Clinging to thy Mother, you offend your Father.  Another, too, says: 'Far be it from me; I do not consult fortune-tellers, I seek not soothsaying, I seek not profane divinations, I go not to the worship of devils, I serve not stones: but I am on the side of Donatus'.  What does it profit you not to offend the Father, who avenges an offense against the Mother?  What does it profit to confess the Lord, to honor God, to preach Him, to acknowledge His son, and to confess that He sits on the right hand of the Father, if you blaspheme His Church?... If you had a beneficent friend, whom you honored daily -- and even once calumniated his spouse,  would you ever enter his house?  Hold fast, therefore, O dearly beloved, hold fast altogether God as your Father, and the Church as your Mother." (Enarratio in Ps. 88, sermo 2, 14.)
    Above all things, trusting in the mercy of God, Who is able to move the hearts of men and to incline them as and when He pleases, We most earnestly commend to His loving kindness all those of whom We have spoken.  As a pledge of divine grace and as a token of Our affection, We lovingly impart to you, in the Lord, Venerable Brethren, to your Clergy and people, Our Apostolic Blessing.  June 20, 1896.
                                                                                                                 POPE LEO XIII

    This most beautiful mountain is like the Catholic Church.  Dark storm clouds come down over this mountain and for days no one can see it.  When finally the storm clouds raise this mountain shines forth more beautiful than ever, so white and pure, in all it's magnificent glory for all to see.  Such will be the Church -- the Mystical Body of Christ -- at the triumph of the Church, when the Immaculate Heart of Mary, in Her triumph, crushes the head of the serpent, the Antichrist.

    As Peter was given a new name so does the new Supreme Pontiff become known by another.  After the election he extends his first blessing to the people -- a Benediction which was not given in the open for years until Pope Pius XI established the custom.
    The Coronation, one of the most magnificent of Vatican Ceremonies, takes place shortly after the election.  With the Pope carried high in a golden chair and attended by brilliantly attired chamberlains and soldiers, the Coronation Mass is an unrivaled spectacle of beauty, dignity, and ancient pageantry.  At the Coronation, in the midst of the pomp and splendor, a master of ceremonies recites in Latin: "Holy Father, thus does the glory of the world pass away."  As the first Cardinal Deacon places the three-crowned Tiara on the head of the Pope, he says: "Receive the three-crowned Tiara, and know that thou art the Father of Princes and Kings, the Pastor of the earth, and Vicar of Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory forever.  Amen."
    The CORONATION of Pope Pius XII took place on the balcony of St. Peter's in March, 1939.  (From the book "The Vatican and Holy Year" by Stephen S. Fenichell & Phillip Andrews. -- 1950 edition.)

    (Tradition is an equal part of the authoritative teaching of the Church -- From the book "The Immaculate Way" by Brian Farrelly, S.M.M. -- 1963 edition.)

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