St. Alphonsus Against the "Reformers"
A quote from St. Alphonsus Mary De Liguori (1696-1787), Bishop and Doctor*
of the Church. St. Francis Jerome, when he visited the parents of St.
Alphonsus shortly after his birth, made this prophecy: "This child will
be blessed with length of days; he shall not see death before his
ninetieth year; he will be a bishop and will do great things for Jesus
Christ." This prophecy certainly came true. One of the most
accomplished of all the saints is Alphonsus Liguori. He was a lawyer in
both civil and Church law before he dedicated his whole life to serving
God. He was founder of a religious order, author of more than a hundred
books, originator of modern moral theology, renowned preacher and
confessor, bishop, musical composer and painter. For all of his 91 years
on earth, he was also a man of prayer and deep personal holiness. He
gives an example of true Christian living that all of us would do well
to follow. Now the quote:
"A church which is not one in its doctrine and
faith can never be the True Church ... Hence, because truth must be one,
of all the different churches ... only one can be the true one ... and out of that Church there is no salvation.
Now, in order to determine which is this one true Church ... it is
necessary to examine which is the Church first founded by Jesus Christ,
for, when this is ascertained, it must be confessed that this one alone
is the true Church which, having once been the true Church must always
have been the true Church and must forever be the true Church. For to
this first Church has been made the promise of the Savior that the gates
of Hell would never be able to overturn it (Matthew 16:18) ... In the
entire history of religion, we find that the Roman Catholic Church
alone was the first Church, and that the other false and heretical
churches afterwards departed and separated from her. This is the Church
which was propagated by the Apostles and afterwards governed by pastors
whom the Apostles themselves appointed to rule over her ... This
character can be found only in the Roman Church, whose pastors descend
securely by an uninterrupted and legitimate succession from the Apostles
of the world (Matthew 28:20)
"The innovators themselves do not deny that the
Roman Church was the first which Jesus Christ founded ... however, they
say ... that it was the true Church until the fifth century, or until
... it fell away, because it had been corrupted by the Catholics ... But
how could that Church fall which St. Paul calls the "pillar and ground
of truth" (I Timothy 3:15)? ... No. The Church has not failed ... The
truth is ... that all the false churches which have separated from the
Roman Church have fallen away and erred ... To convince all heretical
sects of their error, there is no way more certain and safe than to show
that our Catholic Church has been the first one founded by Jesus
Christ; for, this being established, it is proved beyond all doubt that
ours is the only true Church and that all the others which have
left it and separated are certainly in error ... But, pressed by this
argument, the innovators have invented an answer: they say that the
visible Church has failed, but not the invisible Church ... But these
doctrines are diametrically opposed to the Gospel.
Relics of St. Alphonsus
"The innovators have been challenged several times to produce a text of
Sacred Scripture which would prove the existence of the invisible church
they invented, and we are unable to obtain any such text from them.
How could they adduce such a text when, addressing His Apostles whom He
left as the propagators of His Church, Jesus said: "You cannot be
hidden" (Matthew 5:14)? ... Thus He has declared that the Church cannot
help but be visible to everyone ... The Church has been at all times,
and will forever be, necessarily visible, so that each person may always
be able to learn from his pastor the true doctrine regarding the dogmas
of faith ... to receive the Sacraments, to be directed in the way of
salvation, and to be enlightened and corrected should he ever fall into
error. For, were the Church in any time hidden and invisible, to whom
would men have recourse in order to learn what they are to believe and
to do? ... It was necessary that the Church and her pastors be obvious and visible,
principally in order that there might be an infallible judge ... to
resolve all doubts, and to whose decision everyone should necessarily
submit. Otherwise, there would be no sure rule of faith by which
Christians could know the true dogmas of faith and the true precepts of
morality, and among the faithful there would be endless disputes and
controversies ... "And Christ gave some apostles, and others pastors and
doctors, that henceforth we be no more children tossed to-and-fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:11-14)
"But what faith can we learn from these false
teachers when, in consequence of separating from the Church, they have
no rule of faith? ... How often Calvin changed his opinions! And,
during his life, Luther was constantly contradicting himself: on the
single article of the Eucharist, he fell into thirty-three
contradictions! A single contradiction is enough to show that
they did not have the Spirit of God. "He cannot deny Himself" (II
Timothy 2:13). In a word, take away the authority of the Church, and
neither Divine Revelation nor natural reason itself is of any use, for
each of them may be interpreted by every individual according to his own
caprice ... Do they not see that from this accursed liberty of
conscience has arisen the immense variety of heretical and atheistic
sects? ... I repeat: if you take away obedience to the Church, there is no error which will not be embraced.
*DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH – a title officially conferred by the Church on
ecclesiastical writers of eminent learning and a high degree of sanctity
who have distinguished themselves by their defense, exposition and
preservation of Catholic doctrine
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