The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-04-12

ls GOGS SGAuOVS 9H0bG
greatly from the Protestant Bible?
My friend says any lay person can
tell one from the other by reading
them. 2. Is the King of Italy Cath
oIic? 8. What is the prevailing re-
ligion in Mexico? Are there not many
Free Masons there? a. Is Savon-
arola upheld by the Catholic Church?
1. The Catholic Bible differs con-
siderably from the Protestant Bible. 1t
contains many books not found in the
Protestant version and besides, in the
latter, there are many false transla-
lions which change the meaning of i'm
portant dogmatic passages. Errors too
numerous to enumerate, have been
found in the Protestant Bible. If
lay person is sufficiently familiar with
the Catholic Bible, he can detect the
more important errors and mistakes
in the Protestant Bible, but if he is
not familiar with the Catholic Bible
the errors of the Protestant Bible
cannot be detected by merely reading
it. 2. Yes. 3. The prevailing relig-
ion of Mexico is the Catholic. This is
true especially of the people at large,
but the rulers of the country and their
henchmen are Freemasons. The gov
eminent of the country is in their
hands and hence their attitude to-
wards the Church cannot be construed
as the attitude of the common people
of Mexico who are faithful and loyal
in their Catholic belief. 4. If you
mean that the Catholic Church did not
condemn Savonarola as hereto on
account of his false teaching, then the
Catholic Church did uphold him. But
Savonarola, on account of his fanati-
cism, refused to submit to the eccles-
iastical authorities and was excom-
municated by them. He was Dom
inican monk who, in the fifteenth cen
fury, undertook to reform the morals
and regenerate the religious life of
the people of Florence. In the begin
ming of his career, he was filled with
zeal, piety and self-sacrifice, and sue
ceeded in reforming many abuses.
Later on, he became fanatic in his
denunciation of the prevailing evils
and in his attempts at reformation.
Led on by misdirected and intemper-
ate zeal he became obstinate and dis
obedient to the Church authorities,
and, on one preteXt or another, re-
fused to go to Rome when summoned
by Pope Alexander vi. to defend him.
self on the score of prophecies attri-
buted to him. He refused to abide by
prohibition placed upon him not to
continue preaching and finally he was
communicated on May IL, 1897, but
he refused to submit. He had many
enemies in Florence who fostered OPP
position to him among the people.
This finally led to an outbreak dur
ing which the Monastery of San
Marco was attacked and Savonarola
was taken prisoner with another,
monk, tried, found guilty and put to
death on May Is, 1893. Savonarola
was not a hereto in matters of faith.
He preached no new doctrine; but
his fanaticism and disobedience
brought about his downfall, and his
enemies encompassed his death. Some
ISSd1u u1lu d0 a VI JuC
Reformation" How far this is from
a statement of the truth is shown by
the following quotation from "Savon-
arola and the Reformation" by J. Proc
ter: "Savonarola's life, teaching, and
creed were the very antithesis of the
formers of the sixteenth age. They
left the cloister for the world; he left
the world for the cloister, and was
ever true to his vows. They began by
selfdeformation, on their own admis-
sion; he by self-reformation, on the
evidence of friend and foe They
dragged down public morality, on their
own showing; he raised it to the high
est perfection. They aimed at reform
ing creed and doctrine; he reformed
morals and men, uphOldng always doc
trine and creed. They denied what
he taught: the necessity of good
works, the need of the sacraments as
channels of grace, transubstantiation,
rites and ceremonies, loyalty to Peters
See, and devotion to the Mother of
God. How, then, can he be their lead
err their 'harbinger," who condemns
and mathematics them ALP"
1. How can the second of July be
the visitation of the Blessed Virgin
Mary? ! do not understand this. 2.
Are vows of all kinds taken at the
Altar of God, before the Blessed Sacra-
ment and congregation of people to
be kept as sacred? 8. | was asked
by an non-catholic: "What do you
call the church," and the answer
given was "The Law of God" Was the
answer correct? The non-CathoIic said
they called their Church the place or
house they meet in.
l. The Feast of the Visitation of
the Blessed Virgin Mary commemo-
rates the journey made by her across
the mountains of Hebron, south of
Jerusalem, to the home of her cousin
st. Elizabeth. This visit is described
in the Gospel of st. Luke Il, $3.50. 1t
took place after the Annunciation by
the Archangel Gabriel and the Incarna-
ton of our Lord. The feast was first
observed among the Franciscans in
the latter half of the thirteenth cen
tury 1t spread to many churches and
was celebrated on different dates. 1t
was finally extended to the entire
Church NV Popo TTrhon VT IN Anil