The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-25

4 0AAJ IA AIC hAC"1 AOA Az "oS
Rome's official historian, and his
works were for long years preserved
with great care in the archives Of
the Empire.
A third authority OF Roman days is
c. Suetonius Tranquillus, who lived
from 81 to 13S A. D., and who held
official positions during the reign oil
Trajan and Hadrian. He wrote 8
biography Of the first twelve Emper
ors, using for, this purpose the i'm
perial archives, to which he had free
access because of his office In the
26th chapter of his Life of Claudius'
we read, "I1e (Claudins) banisheG
from Rome all the Jews, who were
continually making disturbances al
the instigation of one Chrestus.'
| Chrestus, a name in common usage
among the Romans and the Greeks
was the cause of both the disturb
ances and the explosions. We may
safely conjecture that the name is
none other than Christus, and that the
uprisings are wrongfully attributed tc
Him instead of to the strife between
the Christians and the Jews.
Again in the 10Th chapter of the
Life of Nero" Suetonius writes
He likewise inflicted punishments
on the Christians, a sort of people who
| held new and impious superstition
These are the three classical wit
nesses to the belief in Christ's ex
istence during the first and second
centuries; the witnesses whose words
have withstood the most violent
attacks of the critics. There still
remain the second century testimonies
of Lucian, the scoffer, and CELSIUS, the
Pagan, as we'll as the still later testi.
mony of Porphyry. These all in turn
attacked Christianity, but not one
ever denied the historicity of the life
of its founder. Here we may add the
mute monumental evidences found in
the catacombs; inscriptions, proved
beyond doubt, to date back to the
time of Nero and earlier.
Jewish Testimony.
The next class of testimony which
we shall consider is that from Jewish
sources. Strange to say, we find in
Philo, q contemporary of Jesus, not
one word regarding Him or His mis-
sion. And yet, when we consider
that Philo was Jew, with all Jews
desire for, and belief in, a political
Messias--a man who would restore
the ancient glory of Israel,-we see
how little he would be prepared to
regard, or to mention the activity and
pretentions of the spiritual Christ.
The earliest Jewish testimony we
can present is that of Josephus Flaw
us. Josephus was born about the year
81 A. D. At the beginning of the
Jewish insurrection in the year &C,
he Joined the rebels, and was appoint
ed commander of the troops in
Galilee. At the fall of Jotapata in the
year 81, he was captured by the
Romans, but was released by Yes
pasian in 60, after he had prophesied
the latter's accession to imperial
power. He then took the surname
Flavius. Later he accompanied the
Roman troops under Titus, and took
part in the siege and destruction of
Jerusalem. Then he returned to
Rome, where he gave himself up to
the pursuit of letters until his death
in 100.
In his Antiquities we read: "Now
there was about this time Jesus, a
wise man, if it be lawful to call Him
man, for He was a doer of wonder
full works,-a teacher of such men as
receive the truth with pleasure He
drew over to him, both many of the
Jews and many of the Gentiles. He
was the Christ, and when Plate, at
the suggestion of the principal men
amongst us, had condemned Him to
the cross, those that loved Him at
first did not forsake Him, for He ap-
peared to them alive again on the
third day, as the divine prophets had
foretold these, and ten thousand
other wonderful things concerning
him; and the tribe of Christians, so
named from Him, are not extinct at
this day.
And again in Book 90, 81: $50 he
(Annas) assembled the sanhedrin of
judges, and brought before them the
brother of Jesus, who was called
Christ, whose name was James, and
some others; and when he had
formed an accusation against them
as breakers of the law, he delivered
them to be stoned
These quotations clearly show that
Josephus knew Jesus, and that he
made mention of Him at least in the
passage referring to the martyrdom
of James and his companions, a pas
sage the authenticity of which is
admitted by all scholars.
We may include in the Jewish
sources the mass of literature attack
ing the character of Jesus and of His
Holy Mother, diatribes against the
Christian life and morals, which had
their inception in the hatred of the
Jews of the first century. This litera-
ture is altogether false in its charges,
as all critics now admit, but it serves
to show that even though the charac-
ter of Christ was attacked in those
early days, His existence was never
doubted. 'y
The present day, in it's historical
setting furnishes a curious parallel to
the early days of Christianity. If
we examine the works published by
citizens or partisans of the warning