The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-02-23

i quite as easy 10 suppose that she became " full
Of grace" at one time ~ ct another; and one sup
position would be a. valid IS the other. Tor the
angel does not help us. 6ach are the statements
of Scripture upon which We ere to believe thai
the Immaculate Conception has ever been the
faith Of the church Perhaps, after all, these
-four bishops may be excused for their ignorance
Possibly they may have been reading the 5th chap
ter of St. Pspl's + piste to the Romans, where he
says: I" Wherefore, a. By one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed
upon al men. for that al hare sinned" In their
simplicity they may. from this, have inferred. 10
the language of the archbishop OF Ruen, !" that
this belief (viz; that the Virgin vas conceived
without ain 10 not clezuy contained In the deposit
Of the Holy scTiptsIss;n Or perhaps, they had
verse AZ, etc.: " Then said unto Him, behold
thy mother and thy brethren stand without, de.
string to speak with thee. But He answered.
who is my mother, and who are my brethren
And he stretched forth His hands toward His de-
ciples and sAid. behold my mother and my breth-
rem. For whosoever shall do the will OF my father
who IL in heaven, the same is my brother aud sis
ter and modisr;n Or, possibly; hey remembered s
the 9Th and 2Sth verses OF 18th chapter OF St
Luke. viz " And II came to pass, as He spake these
things, . certain woman Of the company lifted up
her voice and said unto Him, blessed Is the ioonsb
that bare thee and the paps which thou has
sucked. But he sale, yea rather. blessed are
they that hear the word -sf~G0D, and keep
it,5 Observe the words. " keep itn-not suppress
it on account of the "disposition Of the public
mind" or on account OF badly chosen
Surely, then, we should not harshly judge the
bishop of Adria for saying OF the new dogma,
that be finds no testimony in the Scriptures or
holy fathers, If we except many ausgoTacs spoken
of The Eternal Wisdom.n Bat will not longer
tax or patience Mr.. Editor. In his nrst article,
the author declares the Immaculate Conception to
have been dhcdys pisusly believed rom the ear
Test DAYS. I" and that it Is and eUer has been the
foins Of the church, In his second article, by
way of proof he finds Saint Jerome, in the fourth
century, applying the word " immaculate" to the
Virgin. but not saying single uord about her
Z" conception being immaculate. He then hnds
st. John Damascene making this belief popular "a
the seuenth century in the Eastern Church. He
does not tell us when it became popular in the
Western or the Roman Church.; had he done so,
hewonld probably have been less severe towards
| the archbishop of Rouen for saying, 81 consider
that the belief of the Immaculate Conception does
| not reach, in way az all explicit or imposing,
above the eleUenh century" or towards
the bishop Of Ceryia for declaring, There was 2
deep silence as TO this truth in the first centuries.
He allows, in the second article, that there were
| some who denied the Immaculate Conception and
! that the pontiffs protected them. he does moi
| tell us rho denied il; had be done so, he would
! probably have appreciated the statement Of the
bishop Of Adrs, that - older fathers and doctors
| heologi0ns. and the trlole order Of the Donatni
| cans, and dte schole schoolof ThOnists, not only
| srere ignordnt Of IL, bit renttued tCith all her
| niqRd aud rehesnefst abundance of argument 70
| OSSuH H. llauys 10 grams thnt euo ttninaou'
| late Conception ID ROl1, e. a. since December 6th
| 1854 "a defined truth which all Catholics mus
believe. under penalty Of becoming heretics, and
OF being separated from the church." aud h'
confesses that this not the case PRIOR 10 1854
though it had been taught by God himself, in Holl
Scripture, for over one thousand years! The de
NAL of Gods statement did not make man {
hereto it needed that man deny the statemen
of Pope Plus the TX to do psdt! Let me, there
fore conclude with quotation from
French writer upon this subject-he says t"W
ell believe, then, that the Catholic bath Is essen
Italy one.r Una fdes-ssJs St Paul, zone Lord
one faith" Well, suppose the lmmaculate Cor
ception becomes dogma, we shall no longe
have the one faith. THIS will have been the fat
previous to le54, and that subsequently. BefoT
is54 how many fundamental, mysteries does tn
Roman Catholic Church believed ,Ihree-viz
the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery {
the incarnation, the mystery Of Redemption
After 1854 how msnyi -Four; the fourth bein
the mystery of the Immaculate Conception OF u
Blessed Virgin. We call our faith the Cathol
faith, 10 disting nish it from what is not sucl
Thenceforth soe can no longer do so. For Cathol
means that which il Of al ages. as well as OF Q
places. Now. plainly, our faith will be no long
Catholic when any one Of its dogmas shall have hs
l. = = So = rl1 100 ssvERIrAs.n