The Irish standard., 1909-04-10

, applied to the true Church and her
children. Accordingly we find it used
| by the immediate disciples of the
Apostles, as distinguishing rlark Of
the True Church.
One of these was the illustrious
martyr, st. Ignatius. Bishop of Anti
och (died A. D. 114), who, writing to
the Church of Smyrna, expressly says.
that Christ is where the Catholic
Church isl
In like manner the same Church of
Smyrna, giving relation of the mar
tyrdom of their Holy Bishop, st. Poly
carp, who was equally a disciple of
the Apostles. addresses 1t to THE
Catholic Churches" (Euseb. Fec. Hist.
! L. w., C. 15.)
This characteristic title Of the true
Church continued to, be pointed out by
the succeeding Fathers in .heir writ
| ings and the Acts Of their, Councils. /
! st.2cyril,s directions 10 his pupils we
already. sean &
"We." says =. Father q the Fifth
Il century.ss'are called Catholic Chris
tiaiis." j..
His contemporary, st. Pacian, de-
scribes himself as follows:,. christian
is my name, Catholic us my surname;
by the former am called, by the lat
ter am distinguished. BY the name
OF Catholic our society is distinguish
ed from all heretics.'
But there is not one Of the Fathers
or Doctors of antiquity, who declares
SO copiously or SO pointedly on this
title Of the true Church. as the great
st. Augustine. We have above already
heard Of him. To the same purpose
he says elsewhere:
I'VE must hold fast the communion
of that Church which is called Cath
Ole, not only by her children, but also
by her enemies. For heretics and
schismatics. whether they will or not,
when they are speaking Of the Catho-
lie Church with strangers, or with
their own people, called her by the
name Of Catholic; inasmuch they
would not be understood, If they did
not call her by the name by which all
the world called her."
/ In proportion to their affection for
the glorious name Of Catholic Ia the
, aversion Of these primitive Doctors to
every ecclesiastical name or title de-
rived from particular persons. coun-
+, tries, or opinions.
What new heresy," says st. Vim
cent Of Lerins, in the Sixth Century.
lever sprouted up without bearing the
, name Of it's founder, the date Of its
origin. etc.,"
st. Justin, the philosopher and mar
tyr. had previously made the same re-
mark in the second century with re-
spect to the Marcionite.. vaIentinian.
and other heretics Of his time.
Finally, the nervous st. jerome lays
down the following rule on tho subject:
I'VE must live and die in that
Church which. having been founded
by the Apostles, continues down to
the present day. If, then. you should
hear OF any Christians not deriving
their name from Christ, but from some
other founder, as the Marcionites. the
vafentinians, etc, be persuaded that
they are not Of Christ's society, but of
Anti Christ's." (Advers. Lucifcren.)--
See Miners end Of Religious contro-
versy. Letter xviii.
Reverting now to the attempt to
style Catholics "Romanists.' we can
not do better than quote the following
remarks from recent correspondent
to the Editor Of the Saturday Review:
May be allowed to point out, with
all respect, that two incorrect express
sions have somehow crept into your
Interesting review of the Catholic En-
cyclopedia'- and Roman
Iism,' where Roman Catholic aud Ro-
. man Catholicism aresmeant? Not only