Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

Concerning the monuments in general, three things are considered: necessity, species, and certitude.

1. Necessity of the monuments. The monuments of Tradition are necessary not indeed absolutely, but nevertheless in a certain respect.

a) The monuments of Tradition are not absolutely necessary. For the principal organ chosen by Christ for witnessing, transmitting, and preserving Tradition is the apostolic succession, i. e. the ever-living magisterium of the Church, as is evident from the preceding article. Hence Tradition is perpetually safeguarded and manifested by the living testimony of the bishops who actually rule the Church. And indeed the moral consensus of the bishops, since it coincides with the magisterium of the whole dispersed Church,¹ is an infallible testimony of Tradition. Therefore, even if no monuments existed or were employed to prove the transmitted truth, the transmitted truth would be certain by the very fact that the college of bishops consents to it. Nevertheless:

b) The monuments of Tradition are necessary in a certain respect for preserving and investigating Tradition. For although the magisterium of the Church possesses a "sure charism of truth," it nevertheless does not attain the truth by the charism of a new revelation. Hence an inquiry into the faith and profession of Christian antiquity is often necessary, either when the present consensus is not sufficiently clear, or whenever, in order to instruct the faithful or to confound heretics, the connection of the present profession with antiquity and the unity of faith through all ages must be demonstrated. Therefore the living magisterium of the Church and, a fortiori, theological science stand in need of the support of the monuments of Tradition.

2. Species of the monuments. The pristine traditions were committed to writing in various documents by the rulers of the Church, by the simple faithful, and sometimes also by heretics and unbelievers. The principal documents are these:

a) The acts of councils, of the supreme pontiffs, and of individual bishops. These acts are placed in the first place both because they are immediate testimonies of the guardians of Tradition, and because they are at the same time authentic judgments of the magisterium, which constitute also the proximate rule of faith.

b) The symbols of faith, namely the apostolic symbol, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan, the Athanasian, and the Tridentine. The commentaries on the symbols are the catechisms of various times and of various churches, among which stands out the "Roman Catechism published by Pius V by decree of the Council of Trent."²

c) Liturgical books: missals, sacramentaries, pontificals, rituals, breviaries, finally all the monuments which pertain to religious worship. These indeed are of outstanding authority according to that saying: "The law of praying establishes the law of believing."³ For the liturgies express in practice the dogmas of faith and set before the eyes the most ancient Traditions of the Church.

d) The canon law of all ages: penitential books, disciplinary canons, ecclesiastical laws general and particular. For by all these the life of Christians is directed according to the norm of faith, and hence faith itself is copiously manifested.

e) The works of Christian art, sculpted, painted, architectural, in the catacombs, crypts, sanctuaries, sarcophagi, chairs, and furnishings destined for the sacred or profane use of the faithful, in which inscriptions or epigraphs are very often found. Monuments of this kind sometimes illustrate the transmitted doctrine more vividly than written books, because they set before the eyes by art the life, the worship, and faith itself of the ancients.

f) Whatever documents of ecclesiastical history: acts of the martyrs, lives of the saints, the history of heresies, of dogmas, of popes, of bishops, of religious orders, etc.

g) The writings of the Fathers and of the theologians, which so excel all the other monuments of Tradition that they deserve to be treated individually.

3. Certitude of the monuments. The monuments of antiquity furnish a certain argument of divine Tradition insofar as they manifest the consensus of the successors of the apostles. This indeed happens:

a) When the concordant monuments of all ages attest some doctrine as revealed. This is surely the same as if the successors of the apostles, that is, the living magisterium of all centuries together with the learning Church, stood present to testify to the faith preached always from the apostles onward. But no more manifest demonstration of Tradition can be conceived. Therefore...

b) When the concordant monuments of one age only attest some doctrine as revealed. For in this way it is shown that the living magisterium of the respective age consented to that doctrine. But the consensus of the living magisterium of every single age infallibly testifies the faith. Therefore...

c) When monuments are at hand which are indeed few in number, but of such weight that they represent the common faith of the Church. For there are truths which have been expressed in rare monuments. Likewise very many ancient monuments have perished in the course of the centuries. Nevertheless, having weighed their character and circumstances, the few monuments that remain are sometimes able to demonstrate with certainty the consensus of the magisterium. Therefore...

d) When finally it is proved even by a single monument that the Church has proposed some doctrine as revealed by a solemn judgment. For if it infallibly stands by the solemn judgment of an ecumenical council or of the supreme pontiff that some doctrine is revealed, a fortiori it stands that it was handed down by the apostles and their successors. Therefore...

Scholion. From what has been said one may estimate the well-known canon of s. Vincentii lirinensis: "Great care must be taken that we hold what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all. For this is truly and properly catholic."⁴ This rule is positive, i. e. everything is catholic "which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all"; but not exclusive, i. e. as if only that is catholic "which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all". For very many things are contained in Tradition only implicitly, and at length in the course of the centuries and with the progress of knowledge and of proposition they are preached explicitly by the teaching Church, and are likewise believed by the learning Church. Although, however, that saying of s. Vincentius taken in the exclusive sense does not hold for these, nevertheless they are truly and properly catholic. Nor indeed does Vincentius himself deny this, since in his work he sets the greatest store by the progress of faith through the more explicit knowledge and proposition of those truths which previously were admitted only implicitly.⁵