The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-06-20
.ns star ano Catholic messenger.
NEW oRLEANs, SUNDAY. JUNE 20 IRIS
Tho siKn Of the True Church

Beyond the four essential marks Of the
Church of God-proving it to be one hoy
Catholic, aud Apostolic-tbeTe is a NTH
II ia the Sign of the Son of Man. 1t Is the
seal of the living God and il is simply
paramount. Any one can read It. j. 10
yisible to the whole world. IL was first
seen, it wac first proclaimed upon Calvary
YAH salra teipsum descende de eruce
con tfdit in Dec. lberet nuRc, 81 ruf, cam
dsscendat name de cruce, ct credimas. ~ an
save tbyself descend from the cross lie
copfided in God let Him DOW deliver lin
if He will let Him come down now from
the cross and we will believe"
The Sign Of the True Church is not alone,
however, this, OF sharing. during all these
nineteen centuries. in the obloQuy and
dereliction of its Divine Founder in His
Passion, 1t signifies yet more the fulfil
ment, quite literally, of our Saviour's
prophecy to His chosen Disciples as the re-
eipients of the very crown and consumma-
ton of the Eight Beatitudes. "Biessed are
ye when they shail revie you and perse-
cute you, and speak all that is evil against
you, untruly, or Ny sake; be glad aud re-
joice, flor your reward is very great IN
Heaven. For so they persecutcd the Pro-
phets that were before you" This he
save to those whom He declares to be the
salt of the earth, the light of the world, the
city seated on o mountain, and that cannon
be hid. If the Church were not prosecuted.
il it were not reviled, il all manner OF evil
were not spoken against it, now, at this
present moment, or any time during these
last nineteen centuries or eighteen centu-
ries and half, some doubt might have
crept in as to it's being the veritable and
living Church Of God. AS tits, it still bears
very visibly indeed, stamped indelibly upon
its forehead, that supreme Sign Manual Of
the Son of God.
oh in
Holy not alone in the holiness of that doc
trine, but in the holiness also, generation
after generation, of it's beatified and can
onized children, Catholic, that is to say
universal, in it's subsistence through all
ages, in its teaching not one nation, but all
nations, and in lite maintaining not one
truth alone, but all truths,-ApOstolic in
from our Lords time down to our own
time, from the year 80 to the year 1875,
from the Prince of the Apostles, St. Peter
tTh Is PetT1s ct super haRc petram edifcabo
Eeclesiaps 1seam) to Plus TX, the two hun
dred and fifty sixth Pontiff in historical sue
cession from the Fisherman-the Catholic
Church possesses VIGOROUSLY, alone among
all the Churches, the supreme ard para
mount sign of its truth, the ineffaceable
mark imprinted on it by our Lord Himself,
sbe sign Of the Cross which it has still the
glory OF bearing, and which, in the midst of
geviling, it will continue to bear until the
end, when that Sign of the Son of Man, no
longer q mark of obloquy, shall shine lumi-
Dously in the heavens.
Even now-as St. Augustine wrote near
ly fifteen centuries ago-AtteHde gtoridD
sYHSis ipgius : Jam iR JroRte reguBi cruz lila
6So est cUj iRinici iRsuitdreruRt. Behold
The glory of the Gross! 1t not only shines
upon the summit OF every Christian diadem,
it not only glitters upon the Hottest pima
IL fAk,, d., .t~t -
Christendom, but it retains to itself, as in
obedience to the promise of our Lord, it
has retained ever since HE sent forth His
Disciples to preach the Gospel to the ends
Of she earth, the pre- eminent glory Of being
The Perfeetipg sign of the truth. nay, of the
identity and Of the absolute ibdestTuctibili-
~ of the Church of God. Again, we re
peat the very words Of the crowuiDg Beati
Ssde-addressed by our Lord to HIS Disci
plea in she divine Sermon on tie Mount
''Blessed are ye BEAT Estis) when they
shall revile You and persecute you, apC
speak all that is evil against you, uBtruly
tor Ny cake. Be glad and rejoice tGd"det
Sx erultate), for your reward is very grea
in Heaven. For SO they prosecuted III,
prophets that were before YOU
Does any one want to recognize which il
the true Church Here is the sign ready t
hand. Those who run can read it. Which
Il the Church that is prosecuted that il
Teyiled 7 that has all manner of evil
spoken against it 1t is the same Church
that Ave cara ago, III proof of its Cathoii
city, gathered together, literally from thu
very ends of the earth, the larges
Rcumenicai Council that has ever assem-
hled. We who write this saw with on
own eyes that grand array pass within
arms reach of where we stood in the grea
Basilica of st. Peters, on the 9Th of Decem
Der, 1867, to the number of 779, Patri
ooncilu. Cardinals, Patriarchs, Arch bishops
Bishops, Mitred ACCIDENTALLY an ethDo
logical study within themselves, lresen tin
TO view, as they did, that wonderful con
course OF Brshops, types of the whole hu
man race, representing every cline, speak
ing every language. If you wanted to see
We thought at the time, palpably, and sub
stantially, and undeuiably before You i
the flesh the Catholic Church-not til
Church of England, not the Church of
nation, not the Church of one particula
corner of the world, but the Church of til
whole world, the Catholic Church or Un
yersal-there it was quite plainly aud ur
nistakably before you! Aud as that ms
jestic and unparalleled procession ad vance
from the main entrance of st. Peters to til