In The Same Sense

EXIMIA NOS LÆTITIA

TO OUR VENERABLE BROTHER
AUGUSTIN-HUBERT, BISHOP OF POITIERS.

Venerable Brother, Hail and Apostolic Blessing.

We experienced an unusual joy in reading the letters addressed to Us by Our dear son Joseph Foulon, cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Archbishop of Lyon, on the eve of the Nuns in December of last year. These letters taught us that those who are called there "of the Little Church", having at their head, as the main interpreter of their thought, an honorable man, Marius Duc, clearly incline to repudiate the schism in which they have hitherto retained, and to seek appropriately Catholic communion under the bishops established by the Roman Pontiff. Nothing, in fact, could happen to us more pleasant than to see ourselves the paternal exhortations and the wishes of our illustrious predecessors Pius VII, Leo XII, Pius IX, no less than Our personal concerns, finally reach the desired outcome. .

The same beloved son having come, at the call of God, to the crown of heavenly justice, We have deemed it appropriate to answer you, Venerable Brother, in whose diocese, as in that of Lyons, there are many of these men; and We have the full confidence and complete certainty of having in you a help full of zeal and above all industry in this work so holy and so pleasing to God, When the illustrious prelate, whom We have recently appointed for, the Church of Lyons, will have taken possession of her new dignity, it will be up to you to communicate Our designs to her, so that the union of our efforts can lead us more surely to the goal.

What, in this matter, seems to Us in the first place excellent, is that, according to what has been reported to Us, the matter should be dealt with the man whose intentions are so laudable and with those who, while refusing , under the influence of a deplorable error, to be in communion with the legitimate pastor, however, have no animosity against the Church.

These not only have rejected the solicitations of heretics and enemies of the Catholic name, but also profess our Catholic doctrines and observe our rites, our discipline and our way of praying. We conceive of all this the best hope that men, thus disposed, will easily listen to those who warn them with prudence and charity.

Indeed, the points on which, it is said, their doubts and hesitations are based, need more warning than refutation. They claim that their only concern is to assert the proper and original law of the Church, having nothing more at heart than to see her freedom protected from all. action of human powers. They find the most absolute guarantee and the surest defense of this freedom in that the bishops retain, in perpetual stability, the place they occupied in the holy hierarchy; hence it is forbidden to remove them from their seat and their dignity.

Certainly, a man of good sense will never believe that the rights and freedom of the Church hold more in the heart of a few individuals or a few bishops, than of the Holy See himself, and of the Mother and Mistress of all the Churches, - so much so that, in order to procure this good, the Roman Church needs the stimuli of those who, in order to want to be and be considered as true. Catholics owe him above all submission and obedience. If we must recognize, it is true, and consider as an acquired and consecrated right, that no bishop can be removed from his see and his dignity by human powers, we must not be difficult either to admit that the same is permitted at the Apostolic See, because of its supreme authority over the lambs and the sheep,whenever serious circumstances require it and the supreme good of the Church.

Similar examples are not lacking in the annals of the Church, either in ancient times or in earlier times. It is a memorable fact that that of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus spontaneously leaving his seat of Constantinople for the sake of peace. It is also worth reporting, the sentence of Saint Melchiades: Our predecessor, "so free from all fault, so honest, so far-sighted, so peaceful (1). The latter, in fact, in order to extinguish in principle the schism of Donat which was to afflict the Church after the persecution of Diocletian, decreed on his own authority: that where the discussion would have created two bishops on the same seat, that one would be confirmed in his office, which would have been ordained first; the second to be provided with another Church (2).From which it followed that the Catholic bishop had to leave his seat in favor of the bishop who would have abjured the schism.

This holy Pontiff made such a great deal of peace in the Church that he was not afraid to prefer bishops of a Catholicism and a proven integrity to bishops guilty of schism, if the latter wanted to return from their error to the truth. . It is for this very reason that he was proclaimed by Saint Augustine, “the very good man, the son of Christian peace, the father of the Christian people (3).”

These praises suit in all justice the virtue and conduct of Pius VII. As soon as tranquility succeeded the acute crisis, divine goodness helping, he devoted all his care to healing the wounds inflicted on France and the Church by the horrors of impiety. He did so by his well-known decrees, which are of admirable foresight. By restoring religion to its former glory, he so fortunately strengthened the peace of the Church that the Order of Bishops established by his authority was regarded as worthy of his high office and became the object of the veneration of all the faithful. These prelates were therefore received into the communion of the Catholic fraternity by bishops from all over the world.

There can therefore be no proven cause in law for these men, whoever were the first leaders of those in question today, to have separated from the most holy communion of catholic universe. Let them not rely on the honesty of their morals nor on their loyalty to discipline, nor on their zeal to keep the doctrine and the stability of religion. Doesn't the apostle openly say that all this is useless without charity (4)? Absolutely no bishop regards them and governs them as his sheep. They must conclude from this, with certainty and evidence, that they are defectors from the fold of Christ. May they hear this cry of Saint Ignatius, a man of apostolic times and illustrious martyr: "I will write to you again if, by favor of God,I am learning that all of you and each one without exception, you are united in the same faith under the one Jesus Christ, obeying the bishop and his priests, breaking in the unity of the same spirit the unique bread in which is the source of immortality (5). “Or again:” Refrain from harmful herbs that Our Lord Jesus Christ does not cultivate; they don't have not been planted by the Father. Whoever is, of God and of Jesus Christ, is with the bishop, and whoever returns, led by penance, to the unity of the Church, is of God and is according to Jesus Christ. Make no mistake, my Brothers, if anyone follows the authors of the schism, he is not heir to the kingdom of God (6).”

To this also comes down to the fact that nothing can be promised of the graces and the fruits of the perpetual sacrifice and the sacraments which, while being administered with sacrilege, were nevertheless valid and served in some way to this form and appearance of piety, which indicates Saint Paul (7) and of which Saint Augustine speaks at greater length. “The shape of the branch,” says the latter very rightly, “can be visible even outside the vine, but the invisible life of the root can only be preserved in union with the vine. This is why the bodily sacraments, which some keep and advocate outside the unity of Christ, can keep the appearance of godliness. But the invisible and spiritual virtue of true piety cannot reside there, any more than sensitivity dwells in an amputated limb (8).But no longer having a single priest who adheres to their doctrine, they can no longer even take advantage of this appearance of piety. They no longer have the sacraments, except baptism, which they say, without solemnity, to children; baptism fruitful for these, provided that at the age of discretion they do not adhere to the schism, but mortal for those who administer it, for, by conferring it, they are voluntarily making an act of schism.

If they are willing to stop attentively to all these considerations, and to consider all of these things with righteousness, it is impossible that, moved by serious anxieties, they will not be led to hear the voice of the God of mercies, and to respond to the wishes of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, Mother so desirous of the salvation of her children.
The essential good and the first of all is in question, because “what more do you want, O men (may this exhortation, borrowed from Saint Augustine, act on their hearts!) What more do you want? It is not your money or your gold. Your land, your property, the health of your body are not in question. It is about gaining eternal life and fleeing eternal death. It is to your souls that we appeal; finally get out of your sleep (9).”

Public monuments are proof of this, these bishops who, after having long and so well deserved from the Church, have, for lack of having sufficiently examined the question, seemed at first to resist the invitations of Pius VII, those even, and all of them. without any exception, after having acquired a more exact knowledge and understanding of the cause, lent a docile ear to the exhortations of the Sovereign Pontiff. It is, moreover, certain that the decrees and prescriptions of the Apostolic See which contributed to raising the Catholic religion in France from its ruins were fully approved by these same prelates and by the entire episcopal body. All understood that it is not allowed to anyone to affirm, or that the Catholic Church was in some way exiled from France by Pius VII,or that it be reduced to residing only in a few men deprived of pastors. These bishops who, some immediately, others later, obeyed the orders of the Roman Pontiff, had previously shown themselves before God and the Church, by the firmness of their will against the efforts of the ungodly, through sufferings and trials of all kinds, workers whom nothing can confuse . They aided the Church even more and provided more for the salvation of peoples when, in order to reestablish peace, and to restore religion in France, they offered to God and to the Church to abdicate their dignity, without any attack done to it. authority of the Apostolic See.

It remains for Us, Venerable Brother, to wish that Our concerns and Our efforts, to which the pastoral prudence and charity of the Archbishop of Lyon, as well as yours, will respond faithfully, receive the greatly desired increases of this God whose glory appears admirable in those whom he leads back to the straight path of salvation.

And now, as a testimony of Our special benevolence and as a pledge of heavenly gifts, We extend with great affection to you, your clergy, and your people, the apostolic blessing.

Given in Rome, near St. Peter, on July 19, 1893, the sixteenth of our Pontificate.

LEON XIII, POPE.

ENDNOTES

1. S. August., Ep. XLIII, c. 5.
2. Ibid.
3. I. Cor., Xiii, 3.
4. Ad. Ephes. xx.
5. Ad. Polycarp. vi.
6. II. Tim. iii, 5.
7. Serm. LXXI, in Matth. 32.
8. Ep. XLIII. 3.