The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-08-18

| question. 10 you Del1oVe IN the AS
sumption of the Blessed Virgin?" We
should expect well informed Catho-
lie to answer as follows: 81 believe in
it as so highly probable that it would
be rash and uncatholic to call it into
| question; and my confidence rests on
the general consensus of the faithful,
and the general attitude of the
Church. / conceive it quite possible
that the Church might go further and
utter formal definition on the point;
and then my belief, fully confident as
| it may be now, would rise to an abso-
| lutte certainty of faith
As regards outsiders it Is important
| that we should be frank in. avowing
the real nature of our belief and the
ground on which it rests " hen called
upon to prove the Assumption as a
fact. Our direct appeal is neither to
Scripture nor to the documents of
contemporary history The evidence
on which we rely is of an indirect
nature; viz, the existence of a tradi-
ton, confessedly ancient, which from
its universally and persistence shows
signs OF an apostolic origir1-confirm-
ed indeed by Though not resting on)
the still earlier apocryphals, which III
the light of this traditional belief
may be regarded as rejecting it In
the primitive ages of the Church; but
strengthened specially by the favor
| shown to this belief by the Church in
her liturgical books, where she embod-
| les celebration of the feast through
| out the world; and moreover, is
decidedly significant-has even made
it a holiday of obligation.
Indirect Argument for Outsiders.
AS to the reasonable possibility of
the belief being true, there is one
| point which, if worked out, might
(without absolutely proving anything)
at least appeal to the outsiders mind.
In the Scripture we read Of several
| persons having been raised from the
| dead; e.. g., the son of the widow of
Serapta, the daughter of Jarius, Lag
arus, ETC.; and above all, the bodies
of the saints which arose at the time
OF the crucifixion, and going into the
city appeared to many" Besides this
we read of two cases of bodily as
sumption without death intervening:
those of Enoch and Elias. The rea-
sons for these miraculous events are
not in all cases clear to us; but they
must have had a special divine pur.
pose. 1t is true that those who were
raised from the dead returned to this
life only to die again, but in the case
lcf those who rose at the crucifixion
this is a point disputed. Now we al
believe that at the last day every man
woman and child will be raised from
the dead, and their whole person
body and soul, will be assumed.
The cases of resurrection and assump
ton recorded in the Bible are there
fore merely anticipations of what will
occur to the whole human race at the
end of the world. So in like manner
we hold that in the case of Our Lady
the two events were combined, anC
her resurrection and assumption was
merely an anticipation of what viii
lsOoner or later be the common pre-
lrogative OF all mankind And if Goo
mas seen good in certain less striking
cases to anticipate these two events
and to record them in the Bible, there
/ seems to be nothing intrinsically i'm
Il probable-considerin her august ex
Icellence, and her near relationship t,
the risen and assembled Christi
thinking that a like anticipation ma.
have taken place in the case of Gu
Lady. For this, however, we can fur
nish no assurance of fact, other thai
that which rests on the traditional be
lief and feeling of the Catholic Church