These are prayers that all Catholics should be familiar with Here are a list of prayers taken from the 1885 Baltimore Catechism , which has been known ever since as a valuable tool for learning the Catholic faith. These are prayers that Catholic can use in their daily lives for much fruit. List of Prayers from the Baltimore Catechism The Lord's Prayer (Our Father) The Angelical Salutation (Hail Mary) The Apostles' Creed The Confiteor An Act of Faith An Act of Hope An Act of Love An Act of Contrition The Blessing before Meals Grace after Meals Prayers The Lord's Prayer (Our Father) Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. The Angelical Salutation (Hail Mary) Hail Mary, full of grace! the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. The Apostles' Creed I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified; died, and was buried. He descended into hell; the third day He arose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The Confiteor I confess to Almighty God, to blessed Mary, ever Virgin, to blessed Michael the Archangel, to blessed John the Baptist, to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and to all the Saints, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word and deed, through, my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. Therefore, I beseech blessed Mary, ever Virgin, blessed Michael the Archangel, blessed John the Baptist, the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and all the Saints, to pray to the Lord our God for me. May the Almighty God have mercy on me, and forgive me my sins, and bring me to everlasting life. Amen. May the Almighty and merciful Lord grant me pardon, absolution, and remission of all my sins. Amen. An Act of Faith 0 my God! I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three Divine persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy Divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that he will come to, judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived An Act of Hope 0 my God! relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer. An Act of Love 0 my God! I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all love. I love my neighbor as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured. An Act of Contrition 0 my God! I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins, because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all-good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to amend my life. The Blessing before Meals † Bless us, 0 Lord! and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Grace after Meals † We give Thee thanks for all Thy benefits, 0 Almighty God, who livest and reignest for ever; and may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Fr. Nerinckx was a heroic missionary priest who brought many souls to God “Do not forsake Providence and He will never forsake you!” The churches founded by Fr. Nerinckx in Kentucky are as follows: Holy Mary’s, Calvary St. Vincent de Paul, New Haven St. Romuald, Hardinsburg St. Paul, Big Clifty St. Ignatius, White Mills St. Clare’s, Colesburg St. Charles, St. Mary’s St. Bernard, Clementsville St. Patrick’s, Mercer County St. Augustine, Lebanon St. Augustine, Grayson St. Anthony, Axtel And the renewed Holy Cross church which he helped build with his own hand on the site of the first Catholic church ever built in Kentucky, a log chapel constructed by the pioneers in 1792 A passage from Martin John Spalding’s Sketches of the Early Catholic Missions of Kentucky : “His labours in the arduous field upon which he had now entered were as great as their fruit was abundant. With his whole soul, he devoted himself to the work of the ministry. He even seemed to court labours and sufferings for their own sake. Of a powerful frame, and of herculean constitution, he never spared himself. His rest was brief, and his food was generally of the coarsest kind. He generally arose several hours before day, which hours he devoted to prayer and study. In fact, he seemed to be always engaged in mental prayer, no matter how numerous or distracting were his employments. “He appeared to live solely for God, and for his neighbour. Performing his duty was his daily bread. And though old age was fast creeping over him, yet he relaxed in nothing his exhausting labours. His soul was still fresh and vigorous; and God so preserved his health, that, even at the age of sixty, he seemed gifted with all the strength and vigour of youth. “He seldom missed offering up the Holy Sacrifice daily, no matter what had been his previous fatigues or indisposition. Often was he known to ride twenty-five or thirty miles fasting, in order to be able to say Mass. His missionary labours would be almost incredible, were they not still so well remembered by almost all the older Catholics of Kentucky. “His courage was unequalled: he feared no difficulties, and was appalled by no dangers. Through rain and storms; through snows and ice; over roads rendered almost impassable by the mud; over streams swollen by the rains, or frozen by the cold; by day and by night, in winter and in summer; he might be seen traversing all parts of Kentucky in the discharge of his laborious duties. Far from shunning, he seemed even to seek after hardships and dangers. “He crossed wilderness districts, swam rivers, slept in the woods among the wild beasts; and while undergoing all this, he was in the habit of fasting, and of voluntarily mortifying himself in many other ways. His courage and vigour seemed to increase with the labours and privations he had to endure. As his courage, so neither did his cheerfulness, ever abandon him. He seldom laughed, or even smiled; but there was withal an air of contentment and cheerfulness about him which greatly qualified the natural austerity of his countenance and manners. He could, like the great Apostle, make himself “all to all, to gain all to Christ.” ” An account of Father Charles Nerinckx’s last days written by Bishop Flaget: “After the arrival of [Father] Nerinckx at the residence of the Sisters, in Missouri, he wrote to me a most affecting letter, describing the good they had accomplished in that diocese, and the hopes which he entertained of their being one day useful to the Indians. Thence he went to visit an establishment of Flemish Jesuits, which is pretty numerous, and about ninety miles distant from the monastery. After spending some days of edifying fervor in the midst of those holy and beloved countrymen of his, he set out on his return to the monastery, and thence intended coming to Kentucky. Near St. Louis, he had an interview with an Indian chief, who promised to send him a great number of the young females of his tribe, to be educated by the Sisters. He made haste to carry this news to the monastery, and his heart burned within him, while his imagination pictured to itself the good prospect, which lay open to his hopes. “On his road, however, was a path to a settlement of eight or ten Catholic families, who had not seen a priest during more than two years. Desirous of doing all the good in his power, he assembled them, heard their confessions, gave them instructions, and celebrated for them the holy sacrifice of the mass. He was thus occupied, from a little after daybreak, until towards three o’clock in the evening. Seeing the good dispositions of those Catholics, he proposed to them to build a church, in order to encourage priests to come to them; a subscription was immediately opened by those present; out of his own small means he gave ten dollars; and signatures for over nine hundred dollars were instantly affixed to the sheet. “After all this exertion, in such broiling weather, he felt feverish symptoms. These continued the next day, but apparently much diminished. He wished to go to St. Genevieve, which was only fifteen or eighteen miles distant; and though the journey was short, still the exertion and the burning sun greatly increased the fever. The pastor of St. Genevieve (M. Dahman) received him with great kindness and affection. He was obliged to betake himself immediately to bed; the physicians came promptly, and paid him every attention; but to no purpose. “[Father] Nerinckx was, I trust, in the eye of God, ripe for heaven; and his Lord saw that it was time to bestow upon his faithful servant the recompense of his labors. He had the use of his reason to the last, and edified all who saw him by his piety and patience. On the ninth day of his sickness, about nine in the morning, he received the holy viaticum and extreme unction, after having made his confession; and about five in the evening, he breathed out his pure soul to return to its Creator, with entire resignation, and without a struggle.” Martin John Spalding concludes: “Fr. Nerinckx had reached his 63rd year; and, during the last forty years of his life, he had laboured for the glory of God and the good of his neighbour, with a constancy, an activity, and a zeal, seldom equalled, never, perhaps, surpassed. His whole life had been one continued voluntary martyrdom and holocaust. He contemned this world, and panted only for heaven; but he ardently wished to go to paradise with a numerous escort of souls, whom he had been instrumental in rescuing from perdition, and leading to salvation. This thought seemed to engross his whole mind and soul: and his life was but a carrying of it out. That God, whom he served so long and so faithfully, has no doubt long since crowned these lofty aspirations of His humble and heroic servant.” A passage from The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky , 1884: “The announcement of his death in Kentucky was the occasion of general sorrow among Catholics. He was personally known by the greater number of these, and where that was not the case, there were none who had not knowledge of his reputation for sanctity. The fact of his death was announced from the pulpit of the cathedral, Bardstown, by Bishop Flaget himself, and as he told the story of his life and death, of the services he had rendered to the diocese, and of the christian virtues that ennobled his character, his eyes overflowed and the tones of his voice were indicative of deep anguish. The cathedral congregation had seen less, possibly, of Father Nerinckx than any other in the State; but a stranger in their presence that day would have thought that the dead priest had been bound to them by long-established pastoral ties. Among the people of his own congregations there was felt much keener sorrow, but to this was added a sentiment that was akin to triumph. They had been served by a saint! — thus they reasoned — and they had now an intercessor in heaven who would pity them because they had been his children.” A section from Father Nerinckx’s will: “[Have] Zeal for souls — your own and that of so many desolate orphans and scholars — burning zeal of Jesus and Mary! Gain souls, hunt souls, catch souls, court souls, draw souls, pull souls, carry souls, deliver souls, shelter souls, buy souls! . . . Souls! Souls! and nothing but souls, for the love of Jesus, the owner of all souls! “…The writer’s wish is here set down on paper; may he hear it accomplished on earth, and may he see it rewarded in the company of the Friends of Mary in heaven! Amen! Amen!!” Prayer for God’s help: “O Jesus, Who didst inspire Thy servant, Charles Nerinckx, with boundless zeal for the salvation of souls, and who didst fill him with a compassionate love for Thee and Thy Blessed Mother, deign to make known to Thy Church that his labors were acceptable to Thee, and through the merits of Thy passion and death, and the intercession of Thy Mother, mercifully grant the favor which we now beg of Thee …(insert prayer intention)… Amen.” A passage from 1880s’ The Life of Charles Nerinckx  by Bishop Camillus Maes of Covington: “On the night of Father Nerinckx’ death, a very remarkable incident had taken place at the Convent of Bethlehem: “Sisters Benedicta Fenwick and Mechtildis Hayden were making the hour’s adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament, when the latter, hastily rising off her knees, went to Sister Benedicta and said to her in a low voice, ‘Father Nerinckx is dead, I know he is. He is now in the presence of the Blessed Virgin whom he so tenderly loved on earth; and, in a short time, I shall follow.’​ Sister Mechtildis had been suffering for a long time from a cancer in the head, and was so very sick with consumption that she had to remain in bed the next day. On the evening of that day, August 13th, 1824, and whilst the corpse was being brought from Ste. Genevieve, a similar scene, as strongly savoring of the supernatural, and the truth of which is vouched for by Sister Eulalia Kelly, who was an eye-witness to the fact, occurred toward nine o’clock, P.M. Sister Mechtildis got out of bed and began running about the house, singing: ‘Praises to the Lord! Our dear Father Nerinckx is in heaven! Alleluia!’ Thinking that her suffering had made the poor sister light in the head, her companions did all they could to quiet her; but to all their entreaties she only answered; ‘Father Nerinckx is in heaven!’ About a quarter of an hour later, the messenger from Ste. Genevieve actually arrived, and brought them the first news of the death of their founder, adding that the funeral procession was on its way to Bethlehem, and would arrive there some time during the night.” An inscriptions on his grave at Loretto: ‘In memory of Rev. Charles Nerinckx, a native of Flanders, who died Aug’t. 12th, 1824, in Missouri. His remains were translated to Kentucky in 1833, by brother Charles Gilbert, at the request of the Loretto Society, and interred at this place by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Flaget, and the Rev. G. I. Chabrat, Superior of the Society.’ May God bless the Kentucky Holy Land well into the future and may we never forget the sacrifices and love of our founding father and apostle On August 12th, 2024 At 5–5:30pm, a great prayer rally will be held at the Sisters of Loretto cemetery, the home of Fr. Nerinckx’s grave. After, at 6:30pm, all are invited to travel the 10 minute drive to the Abbey of Gethsemani, where upon Calvary Hill, the giant hill with the cross, we will have a Great Novena session . On-fire Catholic leaders will give a talk about how we, as a community united in prayer, can make the next 9 years a great novena leading up to the 2,000th anniversary of the Catholic Church (2033). Can you believe we live at a time such as this? You do not want to miss this historic occasion.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1) It was the trick of the demons to make men believe in gods. The gods of the Pagans were evil — false idols. “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). Though man believes he doesn’t believe in gods, the Fallen still seek to deceive. They still yearn for our misplaced worship. And they just walked out of a theatre showing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Are alien sightings just demonic possessions? “The demons of the air together with the Antichrist will perform great wonders on earth and in the atmosphere, and men will become more and more perverted. God will take care of His faithful servants and men of goodwill. The Gospel will be preached everywhere, and all peoples of all nations will get to know the truth.” (Secret of Our Lady of La Salette to Melanie [1879 Version]) — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — The Earth will be covered in darkness, and Hell will be loosed on Earth. The thunder and lightning will cause those who have no faith or trust in my Power, to die of fear. During these three days of terrifying darkness, no windows must be opened, because no one will be able to see the earth and the terrible color it will have in those days of punishment without dying at once…” (Blessed Anna Maria Taigi’s 1880 journal, a vision of the Three Days of Darkness) Both of these prophecies of the end time predict, and have an eerie focus, that the sky will be a major battleground in the last days. The Blessed Anna Maria Taigi says no windows must be opened when the earth becomes dark, for to look outside, into the sky, will cause death at once. Both of these excerpts come from writings from the 19th century. Though there are a few purported sightings of unidentified flying objects before the invention of the airplane, by far, by large, the UFO phenomenon didn’t start until the 20th century. In 1959, the famous psychologist Carl Jung wrote Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky. Instead of trying to account for UFOs as a literal reality, he opted to see them instead as a psychic aspect, a fantasy of the unconscious. “If the round shining objects that appear in the sky be regarded as visions, we can hardly avoid interpreting them as archetypal images. They would then be involuntary, automatic projections based on instinct, and as little as any other psychic manifestations or symptoms can they be dismissed as meaningless and merely fortuitous,’ Jung wrote. There is no doubt that man’s sci-fi imagination, created by books and radio shows like The War of the Worlds, and films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, lead to this newfound superstition. One must also not underestimate the vast changes to society by the rapid technological progress at the time. The Second World War was a war of surprises. The term foo-fighter was created by pilots to describe the unknown aircraft they were seeing. Doctor Edgar Vinacke was assigned by the U.S. Navy to investigate the effects of a pilot’s vertigo. He writes in The Concept of Aviator’s “Vertigo”: “They are largely dependent upon their own experience, which must supplement and interpret the traditions about “Vertigo” which are passed on to them. When a concept thus grows out of anecdotes cemented together with practical necessity, it is bound to acquire elements of mystery. So far as “vertigo” is concerned, no one really knows more than a small part of the facts, but a great deal of the peril. Since aviators are not skilled observers of human behavior, they usually have only the vaguest understanding of their own feelings. Like other naive persons, therefore, they have simply adopted a term to cover a multitude of otherwise inexplicable events.” The Roswell Incident occurred on July 8th, 1947. The Air Force reported that they captured a “flying saucer”, which they retrieved after a farmer reported a crash on his ranch. Only a couple of hours later, the Army then announced that it was merely a weather balloon. The public interest in this case soon withered away. That was until 1978. That was the year Jesse Marcel, an officer who recovered the debris on the ranch, told a journalist that the weather balloon was a cover-up. Three years earlier, Orthodox monk, Seraphim Rose published Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future. It is a masterpiece that engages with the rapidly changing religious aspect of man. In it, Rose tackles the New Age, Hinduism, the Charismatic movement, and the inevitability of Judgement Day. He also devotes a chapter to UFOs. “UFOs are but the newest of the mediumistic techniques by which the devil gains initiates into his occult realm. They are a terrible sign that man has become susceptible to demonic influence as never before in the Christian era. In the 19th century it was usually necessary to seek out dark seance rooms in order to enter into contact with demons, but now one need only look into the sky (usually at night, it is true). Mankind has lost what remained of basic Christian understanding up to now, and now passively places itself at the disposal of whatever “powers” may descend from the sky.” Rose outlines modern man’s science fiction imagination. “The center of the science-fiction universe (in place of the absent God) is man — not usually man as he is now, but man as he will “become” in the future, in accordance with the modern mythology of evolution.” It is ironic that Humanism, which began circa the time of the Renaissance in the 1300s, finds its final end in looking, projecting beyond the human. Humanists search for the extraterrestrial, in their gnostic hope that they will reveal secret knowledge, or that they will help man escape his mortality and suffering. Aliens are nearly always described as the final end of evolution: a god. “Among the characteristics of the “highly-evolved” creatures of the future are: communication by mental telepathy, ability to fly, materialize and dematerialize, transform the appearances of things or create illusionary scenes and creatures by “pure thought,” travel at speeds far beyond any modern technology, to take possession of the bodies of earthmen; and the expounding of a “spiritual” philosophy which is “beyond all religions” and holds promise of a state where “advanced intelligences” will no longer be dependent on matter. All these are the standard practices and claims of sorcerers and demons. A recent history of science fiction notes that “a persistent aspect of the vision of science fiction is the desire to transcend normal experience.” Let us look at a type of UFO report — the alien abduction. “There have been a number of cases, seriously reported by seemingly reliable people, of “abductions” by UFO occupants, usually for purposes of “testing.” Almost all evidence of these cases (if we exclude “contactees”) has been obtained by regressive hypnosis; the experience is so traumatic to the witnesses that the conscious mind does not remember it, and it is only some time later that such people agree to be hypnotized in order to explain some mysterious “time loss” in connection with their “Close Encounter” experience — the first part of which they do remember.” As reported by exorcists, memory loss, occurring during the affliction., is a key aspect of demonic possession. One loses control of the memory. In a research paper titled “Beyond dissociative disorders: A qualitative study of Polish catholic women reporting demonic possession”, memory loss is one of the most common experiences during a possession. “High absorption,” it says, “in inner experiences and trance-like states could also lead to memory problems. In stressful situations some participants stopped paying attention to what was happening around them and concentrated on bodily sensations or feelings.” “Some or many of the experiences, it may be, are the result of hoaxes or hallucinations; but it is simply impossible to dismiss all of the many thousands of UFO reports in this way. A great number of modern mediums and their spiritistic phenomena are also fraudulent; but mediumistic spiritism itself, when it is genuine, undeniably produces real “paranormal” phenomena under the action of demons. UFO phenomena, having the same source, are no less real.” (…) “It is a sign of the spiritual crisis of today that modern men, for all their proud “enlightenment” and “wisdom,” are becoming once more [Rose previously recounted stories of saints seemingly visited by UFOs] aware of such experiences — but no longer have the Christian framework with which to explain them. Contemporary UFO researchers, seeking for an explanation of phenomena which have become too noticeable to overlook any longer, have joined today’s psychic researchers in an attempt to formulate a “unified field theory” that will encompass psychic as well as physical phenomena. But such researchers only continue the approach of “enlightened” modern men and trust their scientific observations to give answers in a spiritual realm that cannot be approached “objectively” at all, but only with faith.” “And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth …” (Revelation 20:7–8) “ … the “message” of the UFOs is: prepare for Antichrist; the “savior” of the apostate world is coming to rule it. Perhaps he himself will come in the air, in order to complete his impersonation of Christ (Matt. 24:30; Acts 1:11); perhaps only the “visitors from outer space” will land publicly in order to offer “cosmic” worship of their master; perhaps the “fire from heaven” (Apoc. 13:13) will be only a part of the great demonic spectacles of the last times. At any rate, the message for contemporary mankind is: expect deliverance, not from the Christian revelation and faith in an unseen God, but from vehicles in the sky.” Since the sky is a place for the devil’s deception, a place for his coming “miraces”, Seraphim Rose recounts a quote by Symeon the New Theologian: “the struggler of prayer should quite rarely look into the sky out of fear of the evil spirits in the air who cause many and various deceptions in the air.” “In earlier centuries Christians were very cautious about strange and new phenomena, knowing of the devil’s wiles; but after the modern age of “enlightenment” most people have become merely curious about such things and even pursue them, relegating the devil to a half-imaginary realm” Rose concludes, after accounting most of the alien phenomenon to demons, that “[the Christian] lives in a world that is clearly fallen, both the earth below and the stars above, all being equally far from the lost paradise for which he is striving. He is part of a suffering mankind all descended from the one Adam, the first man, and all alike in need of the redemption offered freely by the Son of God by His saving Sacrifice on the Cross. He knows that man is not to “evolve” into something “higher,” nor has he any reason to believe that there are “highly evolved” beings on other planets; but he knows well that there are indeed “advanced intelligences” in the universe besides himself: these are of two kinds, and he strives to live so as to dwell with those who serve God (the angels) and avoid contact with the others who have rejected God and strive in their envy and malice to draw man into their misfortune (the demons). He knows that man, out of self-love and weakness, is easily inclined to follow error and believe in “fairy tales” that promise contact with a “higher state” or “higher beings” without the struggle of Christian life — in fact, precisely as an escape from the struggle of Christian life. He distrusts his own ability to see through the deceptions of the demons, and therefore clings all the more firmly to the Scriptural and Patristic guidelines which the Church of Christ provides for his life.” Do not put it past the demons to decieve humanity in such a way as appealing to their fantasies. They once appealed to our ancestors in Greece. The 2nd century Christian Justin Martyr once wrote about the Greek gods in his First Apology: “For the truth shall be spoken; since of old these evil demons, effecting apparitions of themselves, both defiled women and corrupted boys, and showed such fearful sights to men, that those who did not use their reason in judging of the actions that were done, were struck with terror; and being carried away by fear, and not knowing that these were demons, they called them gods, and gave to each the name which each of the demons chose for himself. And when Socrates endeavoured, by true reason and examination, to bring these things to light, and deliver men from the demons, then the demons themselves, by means of men who rejoiced in iniquity, compassed his death, as an atheist and a profane person, on the charge that “he was introducing new divinities;” and in our case they display a similar activity. For not only among the Greeks did reason (Logos) prevail to condemn these things through Socrates, but also among the Barbarians were they condemned by Reason (or the Word, the Logos) Himself, who took shape, and became man, and was called Jesus Christ; and in obedience to Him, we not only deny that they who did such things as these are gods, but assert that they are wicked and impious demons, whose actions will not bear comparison with those even of men desirous of virtue. Justin also tells an amazing tale of the demons, who were unable to predict Christ, but nonetheless having some intuition about who He would be from hearing the prophets, attempted to put forward their own god, Bacchus, the god of the grape (wine), after hearing from Mosesthat the Messiah would wash “His robe in the blood of the grape.” Martyr also examines the other gods (demonic idols) by this measure. “But those who hand down the myths which the poets have made, adduce no proof to the youths who learn them; and we proceed to demonstrate that they have been uttered by the influence of the wicked demons, to deceive and lead astray the human race. For having heard it proclaimed through the prophets that the Christ was to come, and that the ungodly among men were to be punished by fire, they put forward many to be called sons of Jupiter, under the impression that they would be able to produce in men the idea that the things which were said with regard to Christ were mere marvellous tales, like the things which were said by the poets. And these things were said both among the Greeks and among all nations where they [the demons] heard the prophets foretelling that Christ would specially be believed in; but that in hearing what was said by the prophets they did not accurately understand it, but imitated what was said of our Christ, like men who are in error, we will make plain. The prophet Moses, then, Was, as we have already said, older than all writers; and by him, as we have also said before, it was thus predicted: “There shall not fail a prince from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until He come for whom it is reserved; and He shall be the desire of the Gentiles, binding His foal to the vine, washing His robe in the blood of the grape.” The devils, accordingly, when they heard these prophetic words, said that Bacchus was the son of Jupiter, and gave out that he was the discoverer of the vine, and they number wine [or, the ass] among his mysteries; and they taught that, having been torn in pieces, he ascended into heaven. And because in the prophecy of Moses it had not been expressly intimated whether He who was to come was the Son of God, and whether He would, riding on the foal, remain on earth or ascend into heaven, and because the name of “foal” could mean either the foal of an ass or the foal of a horse, they, not knowing whether He who was foretold would bring the foal of an ass or of a horse as the sign of His coming, nor whether He was the Son of God, as we said above, or of man, gave out that Bellerophon, a man born of man, himself ascended to heaven on his horse Pegasus. And when they heard it said by the other prophet Isaiah, that He should be born of a virgin, and by His own means ascend into heaven, they pretended that Perseus was spoken of. And when they knew what was said, as has been cited above, in the prophecies written aforetime, “Strong as a giant to run his course,” they said that Hercules was strong, and had journeyed over the whole earth. And when, again, they learned that it had been foretold that He should heal every sickness, and raise the dead, they produced Aesculapius.” To conclude, prepare yourself for the end times. Your end-time could come today. Stay away from mortal sin. Stay in a state of grace. Pray for God’s mercy, so that you do not fall for the deception of demons. The end times will certainly see many “miracles.” “And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” (Matthew 24:22)

< Proof of the Papacy Tool St. Jerome Keys, Apostolic See, Rock of the Church, Papal Authority, Chief of the Apostles, Peter's Faith, Apostolic Lineage, Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter, Shepherd “Blessed Cyprian attempted to avoid heresy, and therefore rejected the baptism conferred by heretics, sent [the acts of] an African Council on this matter to Stephen, who was then Bishop of the city of Rome, and twenty-second from St. Peter; but his attempt was in vain. Eventually those very Bishops, who had decreed with him that heretics were to be rebaptized, returned to the ancient custom, and published a new decree.” (Against the Luciferians, 23). “[Pope] Stephen . . . was the blessed Peter’s twenty-second successor in the See of Rome” (St. Jerome, Father and Doctor of the Church, Against the Luciferians 23 [A.D. 383]). “‘But, you [Jovinian] will say, ‘it was on Peter that the Church was founded’ [Matt. 16:18]: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the Apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends upon them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appointed, there may be no occasion for schism.” (Against Jovinian 1:26 [A.D. 393]). “Being informed, then, by a letter of the aforesaid bishop, we inform your holiness that we in like manner who are set in the city of Rome in which the prince of the apostles, the glorious Peter, first founded the church and then by his faith strengthened it; to the end that no man may contrary to the commandment read these books which we have mentioned, have condemned the same; and have with earnest prayers urged the strict observance of the precepts which God and Christ have inspired the evangelists to teach. We have charged men to remember the words of the venerable apostle Paul, prophetic and full of warning:--’if any than preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.’ ” (Letter 95). “A great many years ago when I was helping Damasus bishop of Rome with his ecclesiastical correspondence, and writing his answers to the questions referred to him by the councils of the east and west,” (Letter 123). “The words may be justly applied to him: "Seed of evil-doers, prepare thy children for the slaughter because of the sins of thy father." Jovinianus, condemned by the authority of the Church of Rome,” (Against Vigilantius). “Far be it from me to censure the successors of the apostles, who with holy words consecrate the body of Christ, and who make us Christians. Having the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” (Letter 14). “I meantime keep crying: ‘He who clings to the chair of Peter is accepted by me.’ ” (Epistle 57). “I think it is my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church (Rome) whose faith has been praised by Paul. I appeal for spiritual food to the church whence I have received the garb of Christ.” (Letter 15 [396 A.D). “even before the Apostle Paul, Peter had come to know that the law was not to be in force after the gospel was given; nay more, that Peter was the prime mover in issuing the decree by which this was affirmed. Moreover, Peter was of so great authority, that Paul has recorded in his epistle: “Then, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.” In the following context, again, he adds: “Then, fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles;” proving that he had not had confidence in his preaching of the gospel if he had not been confirmed by the consent of Peter and those who were with him.” (Letter to Augustine). “Simon Peter, the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles, after having been bishop of the church of Antioch and having preached to the Dispersion . . . pushed on to Rome in the second year of Claudius to over-throw Simon Magus, and held the sacerdotal chair there for twenty-five years until the last, that is the fourteenth, year of Nero. At his hands he received the crown of martyrdom being nailed to the cross with his head towards the ground and his feet raised on high, asserting that he was unworthy to be crucified in the same manner as his Lord.” (Lives of Illustrious Men [c. 396 A.D]). “Clement, of whom the apostle Paul writing to the Philippians says ‘With Clement and others of my fellow-workers whose names are written in the book of life,’ the fourth bishop of Rome after Peter, if indeed the second was Linus and the third Anacletus, although most of the Latins think that Clement was second after the apostle” (Lives of Illustrious Men 15 [A.D. 396]). “I follow no leader but Christ and join in communion with none but your blessedness [Pope Damasus I], that is, with the chair of Peter. I know that this is the rock on which the Church has been built. Whoever eats the Lamb outside this house is profane. Anyone who is not in the ark of Noah will perish when the flood prevails” (Letters 15:2 [A.D. 396]). “Far be it from me to speak adversely of any of these clergy who, in succession from the apostles, confect by their sacred word the Body of Christ and through whose efforts also it is that we are Christians” (Letters 14:8 [A.D. 396]). “The Church here is split into three parts, each teacher to seize me for its own. . . Meanwhile I keep crying: "He that is joined to the chair of Peter is accepted by me!" Meletius, Vitalis, and Paulinus each claims to be loyal to you, which I could believe did only one make the claim. As it is, either two of them are lying, or else all three. Therefore I implore Your Blessedness by the cross of the Lord, by the necessary glory of our faith, the Passion of Christ -- that as you follow the Apostles in dignity may you follow them also in worth,-- . . . tell me by letter with whom it is that I should communicate in Syria. Despise not a soul for whom Christ died! (Letter of Jerome to Pope Damasus, 15, 2 [A.D. 374-379]) “The well-being of a Church depends upon the dignity of its chief-priest, and unless some extraordinary and unique functions be assigned to him, we shall have as many schisms in the Churches as there are priests.” (St. Jerome, The Dialogue Against the Luciferians, ch 9). “This was to prove that among the ancients, priests were the same as bishops; but by degrees, in order that the young shoots of dissensions might be uprooted, the whole solicitude was given to one man. As therefore the priests are aware that by the custom of the Church they are subject to him who is set over them, so let bishops remember that it is rather by custom than by the truth of the Lord's disposition that they are greater than priests, and that they ought to rule the Church in common with them, as Moses, did," etc… “A priest is then the same as a bishop , and before party - spirit in religious matters arose by the devil's suggestion , and it was said among the peoples : ' I am of Paul , I of Apollos , and I of Cephas , ' the Churches were governed by a common council of presbyters . But after each of them came to think that those whom he had baptized were his own and not Christ's , it was decreed in the whole world that one of the priests should be elected to be placed above the others , and that to him the whole care of the Church should belong , and thus the seeds of division should be destroyed.” (Commentary on Ep. of Titus, vol VII, 694-5[597]). “When there has been much disputing, Peter rose up, with his wonted readiness, and said, ‘Men and brethren… we shall be saved even as they’. And to this opinion the apostle James and all the elders gave consent. These quotations should not be tedious to the reader, but useful for to him and to me, as proving that, even before the apostle Paul, Peter had come to know what the law was not to be in force after the gospel was given: nay more, that Peter was the prime mover in issuing the decree by which this was affirmed. Moreover Peter was of so great authority that Paul has recorded in his epistle ‘Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter’…. proving that he would not have had confidence in his preaching of the gospel if he had not been confirmed by the consent of Peter and those who were with him… No one can doubt, therefore, that the apostle Peter was himself the author of that rule which he is accused of breaking” (Epistle 112, On the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15). “Since the East, shattered as it is by the long-standing feuds, subsisting between its peoples, is bit by bit tearing into shreds the seamless vest of the Lord, woven from the top throughout, [John 19:23] since the foxes are destroying the vineyard of Christ, [Song of Songs 2:15] and since among the broken cisterns that hold no water it is hard to discover the sealed fountain and the garden inclosed, [Song of Songs 4:12] I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul. I appeal for spiritual food to the church whence I have received the garb of Christ. The wide space of sea and land that lies between us cannot deter me from searching for the pearl of great price. [Matthew 13:46] Wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together. [Matthew 24:28] Evil children have squandered their patrimony; you alone keep your heritage intact. The fruitful soil of Rome, when it receives the pure seed of the Lord, bears fruit an hundredfold; but here the seed grain is choked in the furrows and nothing grows but darnel or oats. [Matthew 13:22-23] In the West the Sun of righteousness [Malachi 4:2] is even now rising; in the East, Lucifer, who fell from heaven, [Luke 10:18] has once more set his throne above the stars. [Isaiah 14:12] You are the light of the world, [Matthew 5:14] you are the salt of the earth, [Matthew 5:13] you are vessels of gold and of silver. Here are vessels of wood or of earth, [2 Timothy 2:20] which wait for the rod of iron, [Revelation 2:27] and eternal fire. “Yet, though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I demand the safe-keeping of the victim, from the shepherd the protection due to the sheep. Away with all that is overweening; let the state of Roman majesty withdraw. My words are spoken to the successor of the fisherman, to the disciple of the cross. As I follow no leader save Christ, so I communicate with none but your blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter. For this, I know, is the rock on which the church is built! [Matthew 16:18] This is the house where alone the paschal lamb can be rightly eaten. [Exodus 12:22] This is the Ark of Noah, and he who is not found in it shall perish when the flood prevails. [Genesis 7:23] But since by reason of my sins I have betaken myself to this desert which lies between Syria and the uncivilized waste, I cannot, owing to the great distance between us, always ask of your sanctity the holy thing of the Lord. Consequently I here follow the Egyptian confessors who share your faith, and anchor my frail craft under the shadow of their great argosies. I know nothing of Vitalis; I reject Meletius; I have nothing to do with Paulinus. He that gathers not with you scatters; [Matthew 12:30] he that is not of Christ is of Antichrist.” (Epistle 15 to Pope Damasus [A.D. 376). “If, then, the apostle Peter, upon whom the Lord has founded the Church, [Matthew 16:18]has expressly said that the prophecy and promise of the Lord were then and there fulfilled, how can we claim another fulfilment for ourselves?” (Letter 41). “The fruitful soil of Rome, when it receives the pure seed of the Lord, bears fruit an hundredfold“ (Epistle 15). “...yet one of them is elected among the twelve, that by the setting up of a head the occasion of schism may be removed. But why was not John, the virgin, elected? Deference was had to age, because Peter was older,” (Against Jovinnius). “I meantime keep crying: He who clings to the chair of Peter is accepted by me. Meletius, Vitalis, and Paulinus all profess to cleave to you, and I could believe the assertion if it were made by one of them only. As it is, either two of them or else all three are guilty of falsehood. Therefore I implore your blessedness, by our Lord's cross and passion, those necessary glories of our faith, as you hold an apostolic office, to give an apostolic decision. Only tell me by letter with whom I am to communicate in Syria.” (Epistle 16 to Pope Damasus). “Whosever you be who assert new dogmas, I beg you to spare Roman ears, spare that faith which was praised by the mouth of the Apostle. Why after four hundred years do you try to teach us what we knew not till now? Why do you produce doctrines which Peter and Paul did not think fit to proclaim? Up to this day the world has been Christian without your doctrine. I will hold to the faith in my old age in which I was regenerated as a boy.” (Epistle 84). "These words are his own, he cannot deny them. The very elegance of the style and the laboured mode of speech, and, surpassing all these, the Christian 'simplicity' which here appears, reveal the character of their author. But there is a different phase of the matter: Eusebius, it seems, has depraved these books; and now my friend who accuses Origen, and who is so careful of my reputation, declares that both Eusebius and I have gone wrong together, and then that we have held correct opinions together, and that in one and the same work. But he cannot now be my enemy and call me a heretic, when a moment before he has said that his belief was not dissonant from mine. Then, I must ask him what is the meaning of his balanced and doubtful way of speaking: The Latin reader, he says, will find nothing here discordant from our faith. What faith is this which he calls his? Is it the faith by which the Roman Church is distinguished? Or is it the faith which is contained in the works of Origen? If he answers the Roman, then we are the Catholics, since we have adopted none of Origen's errors in our translations. But if Origen's blasphemy is his faith, then, though he tries to fix on me the charge of inconsistency, he proves himself to be a heretic." (Contra Rufinus, Book I). “For your admonition concerning the canons of the Church we thank you, for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth... but know that we have nothing more at heart than to observe the laws of the Church, and not to move the landmarks of the Fathers, and ever to be mindful of that Roman faith which the Church of Alexandria boasts of participating.” (Epistle 63 to Pope Theophilus). “Was there no other province in the world to receive this panegyric [gathering] of voluptousness into which this adder could have crept, but that one which was founded on Christ the Rock by the doctrine of Peter?" (Contra Jovinian, Book II). “Origen himself in a letter written to Fabian, bishop of Rome, expresses penitence for having made erroneous statements, and charges Ambrose with over haste in making public what was meant only for private circulation.” (Epistle 84). “You [Donatist] know what the Catholic Church is, and what that is cut off from the vine; if there are any among you cautious, let them come; let them find life in the root. Come, brethren, if you wish to be engrafted in the vine; a grief it is when we see you lying thus cut off. Number the bishops even from the very seat of Peter, and see every succession in that line of fathers; that is, the rock, which the proud gates of hell prevail against not” (Psalmus contra partem Donati). “So, you see, the labors of this one man have surpassed those of all previous writers, Greek and Latin. Who has ever managed to read all that he has written? Yet what reward have his exertions brought him? He stands condemned by his bishop, Demetrius, only the bishops of Palestine, Arabia, Phenicia, and Achaia dissenting. Imperial Rome consents to his condemnation, and even convenes a senate to censure him, not — as the rabid hounds who now pursue him cry — because of the novelty or heterodoxy of his doctrines, but because men could not tolerate the incomparable eloquence and knowledge which, when once he opened his lips, made others seem dumb.” (Epistle 33, an account of St. Pope Pontianus (A.D. c. 230) ratifying a condemnation of Origen in Alexandria). “Since the East, dashed against itself by the accustomed fury of its peoples, is tearing piecemeal the undivided tunic of Christ, woven from the top throughout, and foxes are destroying the vine of Christ, so that among the broken cisterns which have no water it is hard to locate the sealed fountain and the enclosed garden, I have considered that I ought to consult the chair of Peter, and the faith praised by the mouth of the apostle, asking now food for my soul, from the place whence I received the garment of Christ. Neither the vast expanse of ocean, nor all the breadth of land which separates us could preclude me from seeking the precious pearl. ‘Wherever the body is, there.’ “...will the eagles be gathered together." Now that evil children have squandered their patrimony, you alone keep your heritage intact. There the fertile earth reproduces a hundredfold the purity of the Lord's seed. Here the corn, cast into the furrows, degenerates into darnel or wild oats. It is now in the West that the sun ofjustice rises ; whilst in the East Lucifer who fell has set his seat above the stars. "Ye are the light of the world." "Ye are the salt of the earth." Ye are vessels of gold and silver. Here the vessels of clay or wood await the iron rod and eternal fire. “Yet though your greatness terrifies me, your kindness attracts me. From the priest I ask the salvation of the victim; from the shepherd, the safety of the sheep. Away with envy! The canvassing of the Roman height recedes. I speak with the successor of the fisherman, with the disciple of the cross. Following none in the first place but Christ, I am in communion with your beatitude, that is with the chair of Peter. On that rock I know the Church is built. Whoever shall eat the Lamb outside this house is profane. If any be not with Noah in the ark, he shall perish in thejood. And because for my sins I have migrated to this solitude, where Syria borders on the barbarians, and I cannot always at this great distance ask for the Holy One of the Lord from your holiness, therefore I follow here your colleagues the Egyptian confessors; and under these great ships, my little vessel lies hid. Vitalis I know not, Meletius I reject; I ignore Paulinus. Whoso gathereth not with thee scattereth, that is, he who is not of Christ is anti-Christ. “Decide, I beseech, if you please, and I will not fear to acknowledge three hypostases. If you order it, let a new creed be compiled after the Nicene, and the orthodox will confess in like words with the Arians. . . . Well might Ursinus 1 be joined to your beatitude, Auxentius2 to Ambrose. Far be this from the faith of Rome. May the devout hearts of the people drink no such sacrilege. Let us be satisfied to say one substance, three persons subsisting, perfect, equal, coeternal. Let us drop three hypostases, if you please, and hold one. It is no use using different words in the same sense. . . . But if you think right that, with explanations, we should say three hypostases, we do not refuse. . . “Wherefore I beseech your holiness, by the crucified Saviour of the world, that you will write and authorize me to say or refuse the hypostases. . . . Likewise inform me with whom I ought to communicate at Antioch; for the Campenses are joined to the heretical Tarsenes, and desire nothing but to preach three hypostases in the old sense, as if supported by the authority of your communion.” (Epistle 15, to Pope Damasus [A.D. 375]). “I therefore, who received Christ's robe in Rome, am now detained in the border waste of Syria. And, lest you think I received this sentence from another, I inflicted my own punishment. But as the heathen poet says : "They change sky, not mind, who cross the sea." The untiring foe follows me behind, so that now I wage fierce wars in the desert. On the one side storm the raging Arians, upheld by worldly power. On the other, a church, torn in three parts, tries to seize me. The authority of ancient monks who dwell around rises against me. Meantime I cry: "He who is joined to Peter's chair is mine." Meletius, Vitalis, and Paulinus say that they adhere to you. If one of them asserted this, I could believe him. Now either two are lying or all. Therefore I implore your blessedness by the cross of the Lord, by the essential glory of our faith, the passion of Christ, that you who follow the apostles in honour will follow them in worth. May you sit in judgement on a throne with the twelve. In old age, may another gird you with Peter : may you gain with Paul the heavenly citizenship, if you write and tell me with whom I ought to communicate in Syria. Despise not a soul for which Christ died.” (Epstle 16), to Pope Damasus). “Liberius was ordained the 34th bishop of the Roman church, and when he was driven into exile for the faith, all the clergy took an oath that they would not recognize any other bishop. But when Felix was put in his place by the Arians, a great many foreswore themselves; but at the end of the year they were banished, and Felix too; for Liberius, giving in to the irksomeness of exile and subscribing to the heretical and false doctrine, made a triumphal entry into Rome.” (Chronicon ad Ann). “ . . . The safety of the church depends on the dignity of the high priest. If to him is not given a certain independence and eminence of power, there will be made in the church as many schisms as there are priests. This is the reason that without chrism and the command of a bishop, neither presbyter nor deacon has the right to baptize. . . . “Cyprian of blessed memory tried to avoid broken cisterns, and not to drink of strange waters ; and therefore, rejecting heretical baptism, he summoned his African synod in opposition to Stephen, who was the blessed Peter's 22nd successor in the see of Rome. They met to discuss this matter, but the attempt failed. At last those very bishops who had together with him determined that heretics must be rebaptized reverted to the old custom, and published a fresh decree. . . “.If, however, those who were ordained by Hilary, and who have lately become sheep without a shepherd, are disposed to allege scripture in support of what the blessed Cyprian left in his letters, advocating the rebaptizing of heretics, I beg them to remember that he did not anathematize those who refused to follow him. . . . “Hilary himself confesses that Julius, Mark, Sylvester,' and the other bishops of old alike welcomed all heretics to repentance ; and further, to show that he could not justly claim possession of the true custom, the council of Nicaea also, to which we referred not long ago, welcomed all heretics with the exception of the disciples of Paul of Samosata. “I might spend the day in speaking to the same effect, and dry up all the streams of argument with the single sun of the Church.” (Contra Luciferianos [A.D. 383]). “We read in Isaiah, "A fool will speak folly". I am told that someone has been mad enough to put deacons before presbyters, that is, bishops. For when the apostle plainly teaches that presbyters are the same as bishops, what happens to the server of tables and widows that he sets himself up arrogantly over those at whose prayers the body and blood of Christ are made? . . . That afterwards one was chosen to preside over the rest, this was done as a remedy for schism, lest anyone should rend the Church of Christ by drawing it to himself. Besides at Alexandria, from Mark the evangelist until the episcopates of Heraclas and Dionysius, the presbyters always chose one of their number, and placing him in a higher rank called him bishop. . . . For what does a bishop do which l a presbyter does not, except ordain? It is not the case that there is one church at Rome, and another in all the world besides. Gaul and Britain, Africa and Persia, India and the barbarians worship one Christ and observe one rule of truth. If you ask for authority, the world outweighs the city. Wherever there is a bishop, whether at Rome or Gubbio, or Constantinople or Rhegium, or Alexandria or Tanis, his worth is the same, and his priesthood is the same.1 The power of riches or the lowliness of poverty does not make him a higher or a lower bishop. But all are successors of the apostles. “But you say, "How is it that at Rome a presbyter is ordained on the recommendation of a deacon?" Why bring forward to me the custom of one city? Why in the laws of the Church do you appropriate a paltry case which has given rise to pride? The rarer a thing is, the more it is sought. In India pennyroyal is more costly than pepper. Deacons, being few, are made honorable; presbyters in the mass are made contemptible. But even in the church of Rome, presbyters sit and deacons stand ; although bad habits have gradually crept in, so that I have seen a deacon, in the absence of a bishop, sit among the presbyters, and at social gatherings give blessings to them. Those who act thus must learn that they are wrong.” (Epistle 45, to Ansella). “It was decreed in the whole world that one of the presbyters should be elected to be placed above the others, to whom the whole care of the church should belong, and the seeds of schism should be destroyed. . . . so let bishops remember that it is rather by custom than by the truth of the Lord's direction that they are greater than presbyters.” (In Epistolam ad Titum). “But you say that the Church was founded upon Peter: although elsewhere the same is attributed to all the apostles, and they all receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and the strength of the Church depends on them all alike, yet one among the twelve is chosen so that when a head has been appoint~d, there may be no occasion for schism. But why was not John chosen, who was a virgin? Deference was paid to age, because' Peter was the elder : one who was a youth, I may say almost a boy, could not'be set over men of advanced age ; and that the good Master, who was bound to remove every occasion of strife among his disciples, . . . might not seem to afford a ground for jealousy in appointing the young man whom he had loved. Peter was an apostle, and John was an apostle; the first married, the second a virgin. But Peter was only an apostle, while John was an apostle and an evangelist and a prophet.” (Adversus Jovinianum [A.D. 392]). “Would you know, Paula and Eustochium, how the apostle designates each province by its own qualities? To this day remain the same traces of virtues and of errors. Of the Roman people the faith is praised. Where else do people run with the same eagerness and in such crowds to the churches or to the tombs of the martyrs? Where does the Amen so resound like the thunder of heaven, shaking the empty temples of the idols? Not that the Romans have any other faith than that of all the churches of Christ, but in them is greater devotion and simplicity in believing. Again they are reproved for laxity and I pride. For laxity as follows : "I beseech you, brethren, mark ~ them which are causing divisions.” (In Epistolam ad Galatas). “Was there no other province in the whole world to receive the gospel of pleasure, and into which the serpent might insinuate itself, except that which was founded by the teaching of Peter upon the rock Christ Idol temples had fallen 1 before the standard of the cross and the severity of the gospel ; now on the contrary lust and gluttony try to overthrow the solidity of the cross. Mighty city, mistress city of the world, city of the apostle's praises, show the meaning of your name. Rome is either strength in Greek, or height in Hebrew. Lose not the excellence your name implies : let virtue lift you up on high ; do not let sensuality debase you. (Adversus Jouinianum). “Whoever you are who are thus preaching new doctrines, I beseech you to spare the ears of the Romans, spare the faith of a church which an apostle has praised. Why after 400 years do you try to teach us Romans doctrines of which we have known nothing until now? Why do you proclaim in public, opinions which Peter and Paul refused to profess? Until now, no such teaching has been heard of, and yet the world has become Christian.” (Epistle 84, to Pammachius and Oceanus [A.D. 400]). “When there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, with his wonted readiness, and said, ‘Men and brethren . . . we shall be saved even as they. And to his opinion the apostle James and all the elders together gave consent.’ “These quotations should not be tedious to the reader, but useful both to him and to me, as proving that, even before the apostle Paul, Peter had come to know that the law was not to be in force after the gospel was given ; nay more, that Peter was the prime mouer in issuing the decree by which this was affirmed. Moreover Peter was of so great authority that Paul has recorded in his epistle "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter ". . . proving that he would not have had confidence in his preaching of the gospel if he had not been confirmed by the consent of Peter and those who were with him. . . . No one can doubt, therefore, that the apostle Peter was himself the author of that rule which he is accused of breaking.” (Epistle 112, to St. Augustine [A.D. 404]). “I have all but passed over the most important point of all. While you were still quite small, Bishop Anastasius of holy and blessed memory ruled the Roman church. In his days a terrible storm of heresy came from the East and strove first to corrupt and then to undermine that simple faith which an apostle has praised. However, the bishop, rich in poverty and as careful of his flock as an apostle, at once smote the noxious thing on the head, and stayed the hydra's hissing. Now I have reason to fear-in fact a report has reached me to this effect that the poisonous germs of this heresy still live and sprout in the minds of some to this day. I think, therefore, that I ought to warn you, in all kindness and affection, to hold fast the faith of the saintly Innocent, the son of Anastasius and his successor in the apostolic see; and not to receive any foreign doctrine, however wise and discerning you may take yourself to be. (Epistle 130, to Demetrias [A.D. 414]). Proof of the Papacy Tool

< Proof of the Papacy Tool Pope St. Dionysius of Rome “Next I naturally turn to those who divide and cut into pieces and destroy that most sacred doctrine of the Church of God, the monarchy. . . . So we may not divide into three god- heads the wonderful and divine unity; nor disparage as a created being the dignity and exceeding majesty of the Lord; but we must believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Christ Jesus his Son, and in the Holy Ghost, and that the word is united to the God of the universe. For he says " I and the Father are I one" and " I am in the Father and the Father is in me ". In this way both the divine Trinity and the holy doctrine of the monarchy will be preserved.” (Adversus Sabellianos, preserved in Athanasius’s De Decretis Nicaenae Synodi [c. A.D. 260]). Proof of the Papacy Tool

< Proof of the Papacy Tool Possidius Apostolic See “Augustine strove for nearly ten years, writing and publishing books, and frequently speaking about the Pelagian errors. And since these heretics were trying to bring the apostolic see round to their view, African councils of holy bishops also did their best to persuade the holy Pope of the city (first the venerable Innocent, and afterwards his successor, Zosimus) that this heresy was to be abhorred and condemned by catholic faith. And these bishops of so great a see successively branded them, and cut them off from the members of the Church, giving letters to the African churches in the West, and to the churches of the East, and declared that they were to be anathematized and avoided by all catholics. The judgement pronounced upon them by the Catholic Church of God was heard and followed also by the most pious emperor Honorius, who condemned them by his laws, and ordered them to be treated as heretics. Wherefore many of them have returned to the bosom of holy Mother Church, whence they had wandered, and are yet returning, as the truth of the right faith becomes known against this detestable error.” (Vita Augustini, On Augustine and The Council of Milevis [A.D. 437]). Proof of the Papacy Tool