The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-12-06
to The Evil her foot was to subdue and crush.
The Arsastle Iax q,

| to The Evil her foot was to subdus and crush
The Apostle st. James in the Liturgy, quoted
by st. Cyril, of Jerusalem; A. d. 347 thus re-
fers to the Blessed Virgin, "Most glorious, mos
holy, Immaculate mother of God and ever Viz
gin r. 1t also adds the very marked expires
sion, I'm every respect out Of the range of sinfu
men," This example which bears the seal OF
the Apostolic faith, is quite snfoient to set any
mind at rest upon the objection that this is q
new doctrine of the present day.
To st. James illustrious example might b,
| added other venerated names-St. Mark, St
John Chrysostom, St. Basil all unite in pro-
claiming her as spotless, immaculate, as one
alone aoorthy toholly to become the mother of
God.
Referring to our own history, we find that
when Louisiana was Spanish Colony, the
oath for Office administered in the city of New
Orleans and throughout the entire territory,
to all public dignitaries commenced with these
words: Fl. n G,.-
L appointed - swear before God
On the holy cross and on the evangelists, to
maintain and defend the mystery of the i'm.
inaculate conception of Our Lady, the Virgin
Mary, and the royal jurisdiction to (which I
appertain in virtue of imy ofice"-This was in
1852, and shows very conclusively that it was
the predominant idea of the Spanish mind the
gallant and chivalrous wish of every Catholic
heart.
1t is true the Church did not define the doc
trine as an article of faith, a necessary and in
tegral part of the Christians belief, until the
present century.
1t was only in the fourth century that the
0Oual Datura md vi TN IF IIol,,
was defined as an article of faith, not because
it was not always believed and ackuo wledged
by the Church. but because the Macedonian
heresy attacked the divinity of the HOLY
Ghost.
In the same way, the Church proclaimed in
thunder tones the immaculate Conception of
the Mother of its Lord and founder, because
the world, by means of o countless number of
heresies, sought to rob the Son of an honor
which came to Him through the divine privi-
lege accorded to His chosen Mother.
In 1915, Spain went into an ecstasy of delight
because Pope Paul v. gave q solemn sanction
TO tha6 which had ever been the favorite
dogma of this land of faith and heroism.- And
from that day to this the Spaniard salutes his
neighbor with the angelic Gave Maria puris-
sima" and he responds, "Sin peccado con-
ceplda (" Conceived tCttRout sin
But at this moment another wonderful
phenomenon, in the material world, recurs to
our mind. On the Sth of December, the whole
civilized world will await with Impotence the
result of the observations made by astron omers
upon what is called the transit of Venus.
This beautiful and interesting planet, in it's
regular and unchanging march, will pass di-
,ectly between our earth and the face of the
un. 1t will then appear as tiny black spot
lowly creeping over the cleaning disc of our
central orb. This phenomenon affords many
'ad valuable data for astronomical calculations
md is looked forward to with intense interest
n both hemispheres. The first observed
ransit of Venus occurred December 4tb, 1889
the one now expected will constitute the
ourth recurrence of the transit-and yet will
ny intelligent man deny that the same {
henomenon had taken place at the regular {
ppointed time ever since the creation of the .
IN with it's retinue of planetsl And yet no !
,ortal eye had ever seen before what was OBJ {
erved and noted down on that memorable Ath
f December, 1889.
60 it is in the realms of faith. There are
'onderful truths, sublime facts, ever taking {
lace around MS, the eye of man cannot see s
lem clearly, but by aided the light of God and !
irected by the lens of faith, the wonderful +
sions and enhancing phenomena burst upon g.
10 gaze with all the charm and beauty of
ovelty; and we realize their unchanging 8
nth and enduring order.
And even as VenusS the beautiful one, as she y
styled by the ancientE, serves to give to tie !,
ientiic mind new and more perfect ideas of Il
% Gun, 30 does the Virgin Mary, the ever fair v
ID shining creation of omnipotent power, VI
nvey to the Christian mind vaster, deeper,
ander, truer ideas of the Sun of Righteous
ss, the Light and Glory of the world. oi
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