Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern AuthoritiesCallan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Religion
Moral Theology: A Complete Course Based on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Best Modern Authorities
Callan, Charles J. (Charles Jerome)
Christian ethics -- Catholic authors
759. Similarly, although the Church offers for human faith alone
certain particular facts of history, one who rejects them may easily be
guilty of contempt or temerity. Such particular facts are: (a)
apparitions of heavenly beings in post-Biblical times, such as the
appearance of the Archangel Michael in Monte Gargano about 525 and the
appearance of the Blessed Virgin at Lourdes in 1858, for which the
Church has instituted feasts; (b) deeds related in the legends of the
Saints, such as the victory of St. Catherine of Alexandria over the
pagan philosophers and the carrying of her body to Mt. Sinai by Angels,
which the Church inserts in the Breviary lessons; (c) the authenticity
of relics. In granting certificates of genuineness, the Church
guarantees only that there is sufficient historical evidence or
probability for the belief that particular bones or other objects
belonged to a particular Saint.
760. Many tenets of the Church, indeed, have not the prerogative of
infallibility--for example, decrees of the Popes not given _ex
cathedra_, decisions of Congregations made with Papal approval,
teachings of Bishops to particular members of the Church, doctrines
commonly held by Catholics as theological truths or certain
conclusions. These decrees, decisions, etc., receive not the assent of
Catholic faith, but what is called religious assent, which includes two
things, viz., external and internal assent.
(a) External assent should be given such teachings--that is, the homage
of respectful silence due to public authority. This does not forbid the
submission of difficulties to the teaching authority, or the scientific
examination of objections that seem very strong.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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