The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-10-20

Have we any facts p'oN'I9 SoiiS'SsS
~ that the Bishop of Rome occupied a
special place of authority in the early
Christian Church?
Before advancing a direct reply l
want TO warn you that you have no
right to expect more detailed proof
than the circumstances of the case
warrant. The early ages OF the
Church were times of persecution and
opposition. You can not suppose that
the pope sat quietly down, surround
ed by a college of learned and sanity
men and sent forth his encyclical let
tiers to the ends of the earth. The
first bishops of Rome were like their
divine Master: they hardly had a
stone wherein to lay their heads;
they were driven into exile and most
of the early Popes suffered martyr
dom. Nevertheless history does fur
nish us with not a few concrete facts
whose accumulative weight proves
that the Bishop of Rome occupied a
special place of authority in the early
Christian Church. Cd Clement was
Bishop of Rome while ST. John, the
evangelist was alive. Clement died
about the year SO A. d. He wrote a
letter and sent legates to settle dis
pute that had arisen in the Church
at Corinth and he did this without any
invitation from the Corinthians CD
Ignatius, martyr, was born about the
wear so A.. D. and died in the first
years of the second century. He says
the Church of Rome "presides over
the brotherhood OF love-" that is, the
head of the churches of Christendom.
go st. Polycarp "a. D. 69-155) jour-
neyed. to Rome to have the Pope de-
eide a controversy about the celebra-
ton of Easter, and the Pope's decision
was final. (4) st. Irenaeus CA. d.
115-190), speaking of the Church of
Rome says: All other churches must
agree with her because of the greater
authority" t5) Victor was Bishop of
Rome A. D. 189-19S; he exercised au-
thority over the churches of Asia in
the Paschal controversy. Co Aber-
cius was Bishop in Asia Minor and
died about the year 200 A. D. He left
an inscription describing his travels.
He visited Rome and says of the
Roman church: ITO Rome, He
Christ sent me to contemplate ma
jeSty, and to see queen golden-robed
and golden-sandled A1fy one ac-
quainted with the phraseology of the
East can not fail to see in this praise
an acknowledgment of the supremacy
of the Roman See. Beginning with
the third century, testimonies of
friends and enemies, believers and her.
etics SO multiply that it would require a
volume to enumerate them in detail.
Why do Catholic priests wear such
peculiar clothes during services?
The vestments worn by the priest
at Mass mark him a man apart from
the world, as in the Old Law: And
these shall be the vestments which
they shall make: rational and an
ephod, tunic and a straight linen
garment, a mitre and a girdle. They
shall make the holy vestments for
thy brother Aaron and his sons, that
they may do the Offices of the priest
hood unto me-"
Symbolically, they call to mind some
detail of our Lords Passion, for the
Mass daily. shows forth the death of
the Lord until He come" The amice,
q linen covering of the priests head
and shoulders, is symbolic of the
linen scarf placed over our Lords
eyes; the alb, the long linen garment
OF the priest, of the white garment
wherewith Herod in mockery clothed
Him: the cincture and stole, of the
cords with which He was bound the
.chasuble, of the purple garment the
soldiers gave Him. The different
colors of the vestments worn at diff
ferent seasons of the year and on diff
ferent feast days are also symbolic
white OF innocence, red Of martyrdom
purple of penance, green of hope, and
black of mourning.
These vestments naturally. seem pc.
culiar to the eye of the twentieth cen.
tury, for they all date back to Roman
days-none of them being later than
the eighth century. In the same way
the dress of the Oriental today is
strange to US, as our collars, cuffs and
trousers are extraordinary to him.
Docs the Catholic Church dogmatic-
ally teach that the origin of the race
is exactly as set forth in Genesis?
OF course; the Church could not do
otherwise-neither can any Christian
The book of Genesis is inspired; ii
enjoys for it's sanction the knowledge
and veracity of God, and there can be
no higher authority than this. What
ever the book of Genesis states, is
true. The matter to be determined is
what does Genesis teach? The Church
teaches dogmatically that the entire
Bible, with all it's parts (hence also
Genesis and all its parts) is inspired
Without entering into a discussion
about the nature of inspiration and
how it affected the inspired writer's
this must be admitted, that whatever
was written under divine inspiration
is infallibly true, and must be accepted
as such. This is Catholic dogma
Therefore the Church andfall Catho
lies must accept the origin of the
human race as set forth in Genesis
If m11st however he constantly horne