The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-09-26

you think that an adjust and an all
loving God could command such cruel
ties as are described in Deut. 1921,
where IL says: "But whatsoever is dead
Of itself, eat not thereof. Give it to
the stranger that is within thy gates
or sell IL to him: because thou are the
holy people Of the Lord thy God" g.
Why are the Books of Samuel omitted
from the Catholic Bible?
l. Catholics accept the inspiration
OF the Old Testament on the authority
Of the Church The Church has that
authority from God Who preserves her
from error in using it to teach doc
trines of Faith and Morals To show
that the Catholic Church has that au-
thority all we need to do is to show
that 1t Is the true Church of Christ.
In answer to another question you will
see brief outline of only one of the
many arguments that prove the divin-
ity of the Catholic Church. Thus hav-
ing established the Church, when she
tells us that the Old Testament is in
spired We have all the argument we
need. Another line of argument would
be as follows: Our Divine Lord and
His Apostles under His guidance and
with His approval accepted and en-
forced the Official teaching of the Jew
ish Church of His time about the in
spiratiOn of the Old Testament. This
can be shown from many passages of
the New Testament. Now what Christ
accepted and authorized must be true.
z. You ought to have indicated where
exactly the cruelty came in in the pas
sage you quote. 1t contains merely
one of the ceremonial laws of the
Mosaic ritual about unclean food The
mere fact that God Himself imposed
these laws is an all-sufficient reason
for accepting them with silence and
submission. Still you can see that
God Himself deigns even in the very
verse you quote to give one reason
for this particular law, namely, thou
are the holy people of. the Lord: thy
God" Almighty God assigned certain
laws, customs, manners, ETC., as dis
tinguishing marks of His chosen peo-
pie; this tended to remind them of
divine blessings showered upon them,
and the destiny assigned them among
the nations, and thus to keep them
faithful. The law in question was not
cruel but kind to the Jews at all
events. Perhaps you see cruelty to
the strangers in the prescription that
they were to get or to buy whatsoever
q nf ~
assume at once that the law referred
to animals that died of virulent' dis
ease that must be necessarily fatal,
or seriously dangerous to human
health and so were unfit for human
consumption. Keep to the words of
the text and you will see they do not
necessarily contain this meaning. g.
The Books of Samuel are in the Cath
Ollie Bible and in the official Latin
Vulgate you will find them called by
that name, as well as by the name
of the First and the Second Books
Of Kings. The latter name is pre-
ferred in the English translation of
the official Latin, just as it was pre-
ferredi by the Greek translators and
by many of the Fathers of the Church.
Our First and Second Kings there
fore are the same books with minor
differences) as the Protestant and
Hebrew First and Second. Samuel,
while our Third and Fourth Kings are
what they call First and Second Kings.
Samuel is the principal figure in the
First Book where his history is given;
he had great deal to do with the
transition of the Jewish people from
theocracy to mere human monarchy
and he anointed Saul and David as
Kings of Israel. The history of Saul
and of David occupies most of the
rest of the books in question, from
which you will! see a reason for call
ing them the first-two Books of Kings
instead of the First and Second of
Samuel The names or titles of the
books of the Old Testament are
mostly matter of human custom and
tradition and not of divine inspiration
We hold to the custom and tradition
of the Catholic Church, from which
Luther and his followers departed in
favor of the discarded Jewish usage
merely out of hatred for the Church.
l.. Can anybody but an italian be.
come Pope? Was there ever a Pope
that was not an Italian? 2. May the
Sacred College choose Iayman for
the office of Pope, or are they limited
in their choice to those that are Car
dinals or Rishops2
1. The first of the Popes, st. Peter,
was not an Italian; and there is no
law or rule limiting the choice of the
Sacred College to Italians. But the
Pope is Bishop of Rome and as such
successor of st. Peter: and it is fitting
that he be quite at home there, able
to direct the permanent officials of the
Holy See with native understanding
and familiar with the atmosphere of
the Capital of Christendom. OF the
Popes, 1O4 were Romans, 1914 natives
of other parts of Italy, Al were French.
men, 8 Greeks, Germans, Asiatics,
8 Africans, 8 Spaniards and Dalma.
tians. while Palestine, Thrace, Holland,
Portugal and England have each given
one Pope to the Church. In the ex-
cellent little work, 'catholic Belief,
by Very Reverend Joseph Faa di