Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus: Part Three
The Church has
always Believed and Taught that Only those who Die as Catholics Can be Saved
I have compiled
some quotes from the Bible, the Fathers, the Doctors, Saints and Popes in
order to demonstrate this.
Pope Clement VI, A.D. 1342-1352 (D 550 b,l): "We ask if you
believe and the Armenians obedient to you, that no man of those
travelling outside the faith of the same Church and obedience to
the Pontiff of the Romans can finally be saved; [...and] if you have
believed and believe that all those who have set themselves up against
the Faith of the Roman Church and have died in final impenitence have
been damned and have descended to the perpetual torments of hell."
(Super Qibusdam)
Blessed Nicholas Talvilich (died 1391): "You Mohammedans are in a state of
everlasting damnation. Your Koran is
not God's law nor is it revealed by Him.
Far from being a good thing, your law is utterly evil. It is founded neither in the Old Testament
nor in the New. In it are lies,
foolish things, buffooneries, contradictions, and much that leads not to
virtue and goodness but to evil and to all manner of vice."
Saint Vincent Ferrer (died A.D. 1419): "One who dies a Jew will be
damned." [He converted tens of thousands of them by his preaching.]
Blessed Juliana of Norwich (died A.D. 1423): "I knew in my faith that the
Jews were accursed and condemned without end, except those who were
converted." (Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love)
Pope Eugenius IV, A.D. 1431-1447, at Council of Florence
***INFALLIBLE***: Ex cathedra: "It [the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church] firmly believes, professes, and proclaims that none of
those outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but neither Jews,
nor heretics and schismatics, can become participants in
eternal life, but will depart "into everlasting fire which was prepared
for the devil and his angels" [Matt. 25:41], unless before the end of
life they have been added to the Church; and that the unity of the
ecclesiastical body is so strong that only to those remaining in it
are the sacraments of the Church of benefit for salvation, and do fastings,
almsgiving, and other functions of piety and exercises of Christian
service produce eternal reward, and that no one, whatever
almsgiving he has practised, even if he has shed [his] blood for
the name of Christ, can be saved, unless he has remained in the bosom
and unity of the Catholic Church." (Cantate Domino, A.D. 1442)
Pope Paul III (A.D. 1534-1549) who convened the Council of Trent:
"To all faithful Christians to whom this writing may come, health in
Christ our Lord and the apostolic benediction. The sublime God so loved the human race that He created man in
suchwise that he might participate, not only in the good that other creatures
enjoy, but endowed him with capacity to attain to the inaccessible and
invisible Supreme Good and behold it face to face; and since man,
according to the testimony of the sacred scriptures, has been created to
enjoy eternal life and happiness, which none may obtain save
through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, it is necessary that he should
possess the nature and faculties enabling him to receive that faith; and that
whoever is thus endowed should be capable of receiving that same faith. Nor is it credible that any one should
possess so little understanding as to desire the faith and yet be destitute
of the most necessary faculty to enable him to receive it. Hence Christ, who is the Truth itself,
that has never failed and can never fail, said to the preachers of the faith
whom He chose for that office "Go ye and teach all nations." He said "all," without
exception, for all are capable of receiving the doctrines of the faith. The enemy of the human race, who opposes
all good deeds in order to bring men to destruction, beholding and envying
this, invented a means never before heard of, by which he might hinder the
preaching of God's word of Salvation to the people: he inspired his
satellites who, to please him, have not hesitated to publish abroad that the
Indians of the West and the South, and other people of whom We have recent
knowledge should be treated as dumb brutes created for our service,
pretending that they are incapable of receiving the Catholic Faith. We, who, though unworthy, exercise on
earth the power of our Lord and seek with all our might to bring those sheep
of His flock who are outside into the fold committed to our charge, consider,
however, that the Indians are truly men and that they are not only capable of
understanding the Catholic Faith but, according to our information, they
desire exceedingly to receive it. Desiring
to provide ample remedy for these evils, We define and declare by these Our
letters, or by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed
with the seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, to which the same credit shall
be given as to the originals, that, notwithstanding whatever may have been or
may be said to the contrary, the said Indians and all other people who may
later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of
their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be
outside the faith of Jesus Christ; and that they may and should, freely
and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and the possession of their property;
nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall
be null and have no effect. By virtue
of Our apostolic authority We define and declare by these present letters, or
by any translation thereof signed by any notary public and sealed with the
seal of any ecclesiastical dignitary, which shall thus command the same obedience
as the originals, that the said Indians and other peoples should be converted
to the faith of Jesus Christ by preaching the word of God and by the
example of good and holy living." (Sublimus Deus)
There follows some quotes from the English martyrs
before we return to the general chronological presentation:
Saint John Fisher (died A.D. 1535): "Consectanteum est vt quisquis
huius veritatis fidem aspernatur, is omnino periturus sit, quum extra
Catholicam ecclesiam, nemini salus obuenire queat." (Ver. Corp. 4.
prooem, Opera, p.998.)
Saint Thomas More (died A.D. 1535): "Outside the Church there is
no salvation, and therefore if the claims of the pope be true at all,
then he who denies them imperils his soul." (Dialogue concerning
Heresies.)
Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. (died A.D. 1581): "There is but one plain known
road: when you wander from this you are lost. You must be altogether within the House of God, within
the walls of salvation, to be sound and safe from injury. If you wander or walk abroad ever so
little, if you carelessly thrust hand or foot out of the Ship, you shall be
thrust forth: the door is shut, the ocean roars, you are undone."
(Letters from the Saints, Fr. Claude Williamson, London: Wyman and Sons,
1948.)
Saint Henry Walpole, S.J. (died A.D. 1595): "He said that by the grace of
God he was in peace with all the world, and prayed God for all, particularly
those who were the cause of his death; yet he heartily prayed for them, that
God would enlighten them with His truth, bring them back to His Church, and
dispose them for His mercy. He also
said: "May His Divine Majesty never suffer me to consent to the least
thing by which He may be dishonoured, nor you to desire it of me, and God is
my witness, that to all here present, and particularly to my accusers, I wish
as to myself the salvation of their souls, and that to this end they may live
in the true Catholic Faith, the only way to eternal
happiness.""
Saint Robert Southwell, S.J. (died A.D. 1595): "Embrace His mercy before the time
of rigour and return to His Church lest He debar you from His kingdom. He cannot have God for his Father who does
not possess the Catholic Church for his Mother. Turn now the bias of your heart towards the Sanctuary of
Salvation and the city of refuge."
"He cannot have God for his Father that refuses
the Catholic Church for his Mother; neither can he attain to the Church
Triumphant who is not a member of the Church Militant."
Blessed James Duckett (A.D. 1602): "James Duckett showed great alacrity
in his mind, and spoke boldly and cheerfully, to the astonishment of many
beholders. He said of how he
professed that he died a Catholic, and that so he had lived; [...] telling
the people in general that he was most willing to die for that cause, and that
it was as impossible for any one to be saved outside of the Catholic
Church as for any to avoid the deluge that was outside of Noah's ark.
[...] And so the cart was drawn from
him." (Life of James Duckett, Duckett's Bookshop)
Saint Edmund Arrowsmith,
S.J. (died A.D. 1628): "You
gentlemen, who are come hither to see my end, bear witness with me that I die
a constant Roman Catholic, and for Jesus Christ's sake. Let not my death be a hindrance to your
well-doing and going forward in the Catholic religion, but rather an
encouragement therein. For Jesus'
sake have a care for your souls, than which nothing is more precious; and
become members of the true Church as you tender your salvation; for hereafter
that alone will do you good.
Nothing doth so much grieve me as this England which I pray God soon
convert."
Fr. William Ward or Webster (died A.D. 1641): "Hereunto the Sheriff replied,
saying, "You die not for point of religion, but for seducing the King's
liege subjects." To this the
Holy Martyr answered, he had seduced none, but reduced or converted many, the
which he was glad of, and did wish he could not only have converted more, but
even all England; because there was no other saving faith than that of
the Roman Catholic Church, "and as for this faith, I die myself most
willingly, so I say unto you all, that will hope for salvation, you must
die in the same faith at least, if not for it." He hung till he was dead."
Fr. Hugh Green or Ferdinand
Brooks (died A.D. 1642): "I
am here condemned to die for my religion, and for being a priest. [...] Against this Roman faith all the sectaries
cried out; and all heretics that have been since Christ oppugn this faith,
and yet truly out of it none can be saved."
Fr. Edward Morgan or
Singleton (died A.D. 1642):
"Before he spoke the servant of God kneeled down in the cart, [...] He began by signing himself with the sign
of the cross, [...] "There is
but one God," said he, "one faith, one baptism, one true Church in
which is found true hope of salvation, out of which there can be none;
and for this true Church of Christ I willingly die." [...] Then after he had recommended his
departing soul by prayer to God, the cart was drawn away, and he was suffered
to hang until he was dead, and then he was cut down, bowelled, and
quartered."
Fr. Thomas Holland, S.J. (died A.D. 1642): "Arising from the sledge, and
perceiving the people to be very silent and attentive in expectation of what
he should say, he began to speak to them (making the sign of the cross) to
this effect: [...] Then he proceeded
to tell the people that there could be but one true faith, one true
Church, and no salvation out of it. [...] Then shutting his eyes for a while in silent prayer, then
looking towards his confessor who was there in the crowd, at this signal
given, received his last absolution; after which the cart was drawn away and
he was left hanging till he quietly expired; his eyes being observed to
remain fixed on heaven, and his hands all the while joined before his
breast."
Venerable Francis Bell
O.S.F. (died A.D. 1643):
"Many officers and other were drawn to the place where he was
imprisoned. One of them asked him
what religion he was of. [...] In
fine, at parting, he told them plainly and sincerely that no salvation
could be hoped for out of the Catholic Church, and that he wished them all to
be even as he was, excepting his present state of confinement. [...] Then being put up into the cart, and
having leave of the Sheriff (who treated him with a great deal of humanity)
to speak to the people, he delivered himself to them in these, or the like
words: "[...] But above all, I exhort you to renounce heresy, in
which you have been so long engaged; for this (with grief I speak it) has cut
you off like putrid members from the true body of Christ, and like dead
branches from the tree of His Church. [...]
There can be only one Catholic Church, of which I am a member. This, with the help of God, I will profess
till my dying hour. Rest assured,
outside the Catholic Church there is no salvation." He hanged for
the space of one Miserere, and then was cut down, dismembered,
bowelled, and quartered."
Saint Henry Morse, S.J. (died A.D. 1645): "I am come hither to die for my
religion, for that religion which is professed by the Catholic Roman Church,
founded by Christ, established by the Apostles, propagated through the ages
by an hierarchy always visible to this day, grounded on the testimonies of
holy scriptures; upheld by the authority of fathers and councils, out of
which, in fine, there can be no hopes of salvation."
Fr. William Lloyd (died A.D. 1679): "In the name of the Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost; amen. Dearly
beloved countrymen: It is, even by God's holy providence, that now I am come
to the last hour of my mortal life in this miserable world and therefore am
desirous to give an account to all the world, in what faith and religion I
lived while I was in this world, and in which I am resolved to depart out of
this world, which is the only holy Catholic and Apostolical faith and
religion, that is, the very same in all points as the apostles themselves
lived and died in, [...] which is the only faith in which a man can be
saved, and no other. [...] And
to find out the apostolic faith, without which no man can please God,
nor consequently be saved, we must find out the eldest faith amongst
Christians, which was planted by our Saviour Himself amongst His apostles,
which doth still last, and will last for ever."
Saint John Kemble (died A.D. 1679): ""It will be expected I
should say something, but as I am an old man, it cannot be much. [...] I die only for professing the old Roman
Catholic religion, which was the religion that first made this kingdom Christian,
and whoever intends to be saved must die in that
religion." [...] The cart was
drawn away, and he hanged at least half and hour before he was quite dead,
the knot of the rope not being rightly applied; though this, as it is
believed, happened rather by accident than design."
We shall now return to the more general chronological
presentation.
Saint Francis Xavier, S.J. (died A.D. 1552): "Many, many people hereabouts
[the East] are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is
nobody to make them Christians. Again
and again I have thought of going round the universities of Europe,
especially Paris, and everywhere crying out like a madman, riveting the
attention of those with more learning than charity: "What a tragedy: how
many souls are being shut out of heaven and falling into hell, thanks
to you!" (Letter to Saint Ignatius Loyola, S.J.)
"Eternal God, Creator of all things, remember that
the souls of unbelievers have been created by Thee, and formed to
Thine own image and likeness. Behold,
O Lord, how hell is being filled with these very souls. Remember that Jesus Christ Thine only Son,
for their salvation, suffered a most cruel death. Do not permit, O Lord, I beseech Thee, that Thy Divine Don be
any more slighted by unbelievers, but rather being appeased by the prayers of
Thy saints, and of the Church, the most holy Spouse of Thy Son, deign to be
mindful of Thy mercy, and forgetting their idolatry and their unbelief, bring
them to know Him Whom Thou didst send, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who
is our health, life and resurrection, through Whom we have been redeemed and
saved, to Whom be all glory forever.
Amen." (Saint Francis Xavier's Prayer for Unbelievers)
Pope Saint Pius V (A.D. 1566-1572): "He Who reigns on high, to Whom
is given all power in Heaven and on earth, has entrusted His Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church, outside of which there is no salvation to one
person on earth alone, namely: to Peter, the prince of the Apostles and to
Peter's successor, the Roman Pontiff, to be governed by Him with the fullness
of power." (Readings in Church History)
Pius issued the Roman
Catechism (1566), known also as that of the Council of Trent by
which it was ordered, the Council called to deal with the
"Protestant" apostasy, and edited under Saint Charles Borromeo:
"That faith thus
understood is necessary to salvation no man can reasonably doubt,
particularly since it is written: "without faith it is impossible
to please God." For as the end proposed to man as his ultimate happiness
is far above the reach of human understanding, it was therefore necessary
that it should be made known to him by God. This knowledge, however, is
nothing else than faith, by which we yield our unhesitating assent to
whatever the authority of our Holy Mother the Church teaches us to have been
revealed by God." (Part One, The Creed)
"Infidels are
outside the Church because they never belonged to, and never knew the
Church, and were never made partakers of any of her Sacraments. Heretics and schismatics are excluded
from the Church, because they have separated from her and belong to her only
as deserters belong to the army from which they have deserted." (Part 1
article 9 section 3)
"Among these figures [of the Church] the ark of
Noah holds a conspicuous place. It
was built by the command of God, in order that there might be no doubt that
it was a symbol of the Church, which God has so constituted that all who
enter therein through Baptism, may be safe from danger of eternal death,
while such as are outside the Church, like those who were not in the
ark, are overwhelmed by their own crimes." (Part 1 article 9 section 5)
"Moreover, the Church alone has the
legitimate worship of sacrifice, and the salutary use of the Sacraments,
which are efficacious instruments of divine grace, used by God to produce
true holiness. Hence, to possess true
holiness, we must belong to this Church. [...] All other societies arrogating to themselves the name of
"church," must necessarily, because guided by the spirit of the
devil, be sunk in the most pernicious errors, both doctrinal and moral.
[...] In Jerusalem only was it
lawful to offer sacrifice to God, and in the Church of God only are to
be found the true worship and true sacrifice which can at all be
acceptable to God." (Part 1 article 9)
Original Douay-Rheims Bible
with original commentary and marginal notes included (A.D. 1582) being the Bible of English speaking
Catholics for centuries:
1 Corinthians 13:3:
""And if I should distribute all my goods to be meat for the
poor, and if I should deliver my body so that I burn, and have not charity,
it doth profit me nothing."
"3. "Deliver my body".] "Believe (saith St. Augustine)
assuredly and hold for certain, that no Heretic and Schismatic that
uniteth not himself to the Catholic Church again, how great alms so ever
he give, yea or shed his blood for Christ's name, can possibly be saved." For, many Heretics by the cloak of
Christ's cause, deceiving the simple suffer much. But where true faith is not, there is no
justice, because the just liveth by faith.
So it is also of Schismatics, because where charity is not, justice
can there be none: which if they had, they would never pluck in pieces
the body of Christ which is the Church. (Aug. seu. Fulg. de fid. ad Pet. c.
39.) So saith St. Augustine in divers
places, not only of Heretics that died directly for defense of their heresy,
as the Anabaptists and Calvinists now a days do (for that it is more
damnable): but of some Heretics and Schismatics that may die among the
Heathen or Turks for defense of truth or some Article of Christ's religion.
(Aug. de verb. Do. sr. 50 c. 2. & in Psal. 34 conc. 2 prope finem.; Cypr.
de unit. Ec. nu. 8.)"
Ephesians 5:23: ""Because
the man is the head of the woman: as Christ is the head of the Church. Himself, the Saviour of his body."
"Marginal note: No salvation out of the
Catholic Church.
"23. "Saviour of his body".] None hath salvation or benefit by
Christ, that is not of his body the Church.
And what Church that is, St. Augustine expresseth in these
words. "The Catholic Church
only is the body of Christ, whereof he is head. Out of the body the Holy Ghost quickeneth no
man.""
Hebrews 11:6:
""But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that
cometh to God, must believe that he is, and is a rewarder to them that seek
him."
"6. "He that cometh".] Faith is the foundation and ground of all
other virtues and worship of God, without which no man can please God. Therefore if one be a Jew, a heathen,
or an heretic, that is to say, he be without the Catholic
faith, all his works shall profit him no whit to salvation."
1 St. John 1:3:
""that you also may have society with us, and our society may be
with the Father and with his Son JESUS Christ."
"Marginal note: No salvation but in the Society of
the Church.
"3. "You may have society".] St. John showeth manifestly, that
whosoever desire to be partakers with God, must first be united to the
Church's society, learn that faith, and receive those Sacraments, which the
Disciples received of the Truth itself, conversant with them in flesh. So saith Venerable Bede upon this
place. Whereby we see there is no
society with God in sects or schisms, nor anywhere but in the
unity, fellowship, and commandment of that Church which can prove itself to
descend from the Apostles."
Saint Charles Borromeo, Founder, (died A.D. 1584): "I wish to die in the
Roman Catholic Apostolic Church in which all the saints since Jesus
Christ have died, and out of which there is no salvation."
(Prayer to Guardian Angel)
Saint Peter Canisius S.J., Doctor, (died A.D. 1597): "Outside of this
communion, as outside of the ark of Noah, there is absolutely no salvation
for mortals: not for Jews or pagans who never received the
faith of the Church, nor for heretics who, having received it,
corrupted it; not for schismatics who left the peace and unity of the
Church; and finally neither for the excommunicated or those who for any other
serious cause deserve to be put away and separated from the body of the
Church like pernicious members. For
the rule of Cyprian and Augustine is certain: he will not have God for
his Father who would not have the Church for his mother." (Catechismi
Latini et Germanici)
Saint Robert Bellarmine S.J., Doctor, (died A.D. 1621): "Outside the Church
there is no salvation [...] therefore in the symbol [Apostles Creed] we
join together the Church with the remission of sins: "I believe in the
Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins"
[...] For this reason the Church is
compared with the ark of Noah, because just as during the deluge, everyone
perished who was not in the ark, so now those perish who are not in the
Church." (On the Sacrament of Baptism)
"I believe that for the good Christians there is
eternal life full of every happiness and free from every sort of evil; as, on
the contrary, for the infidels and bad Christians, there is eternal
death full of every misery and deprived of every good." (Compendium)
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