Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and EducationAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
Journal in France in 1845 and 1848 with Letters from Italy in 1847: Of Things and Persons Concerning the Church and Education
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
France -- Church history -- 19th century; Italy -- Church history -- 19th century
I said it appeared to me that the Intercession of the Saints for the
Church on earth and its particular members could not but be an
essential part of the Communion of Saints, and this once being
granted, the pre-eminent position of the Blessed Virgin accounted for
the effects wrought by her intercession; that those who had carried
her power to the highest yet made it a simply intercessory power.
"Monstra te esse matrem" was the highest exhibition of her authority.
When the mind comes to reflect upon her, and the position she holds,
so unapproachable by any other creature, it can hardly fail to come to
these results. The greater tenderness and devotion of spirit
discernible among Roman Catholics must be on account of their so
vividly realising the Communion of Saints, and this specially in the
case of the Blessed Virgin. We must not reason from the ignorant and
superstitious members of the Roman Church, any more than from the
apathy and utter deadness of heart and irreverence apparent in so many
of our own people. The cultus of the saints may be idolatry to those
who do not realise the ineffably higher office of our Lord. I can
conceive their asking, What good can the bones of dead men do? But
when the reality of Christ's presence in the tabernacles of their
flesh is felt, I could not see how the grace and glory bestowed by the
Head upon his members detracted from Himself, as the source and giver
of it. The Communion of Saints, therefore, would account for the
answers given to prayers for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin.
But how could the Saints know of the prayers made to them? I said I
saw no difficulty in the view of divines, that those who enjoyed
the vision of God, beheld in Him the needs and requests of their
brethren in the flesh.
Lady ---- has an odd notion of the soul slumbering till the
Resurrection, which, I said, she must allow me to say, was simply
false doctrine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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