704 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



of both sexes throughout the Catholic world a Ple- 

 nary Indulgence in the manner of a Jubilee, during 

 one month, up to the end of the coming year 1865, 

 and not longer, to be carried into effect by You, Ven- 

 erable Brethren, and the other legitimate local Ordi- 

 naries, in the form and manner laid down at the 

 commencement of Our Sovereign Pontificate by Our 

 Apostolical Letters, in form of a Brief, dated the 20th 

 of November, anno 1846, and sent to the whole 

 Episcopate of the world, commencing with the 

 words, " Area no Divince Providentice consilio," *md 

 with the faculties given by Us in those same Let- 

 ters. We desire, however, that all the prescriptions 

 of Our letters shall be observed, saving the excep- 

 tions We have declared are to be made. And We 

 have granted this, notwithstanding all which might 

 make to the contrary, even those worthy of special 

 and individual mention and derogation; and in order 

 that every doubt and difficulty may be removed, 

 We have ordered that copies of those Letters should 

 be again forwarded to You. 



"Let us implore, Venerable Brethren, from our 

 inmost hearts, and with all our souls, the mercy of 

 God. He has encouraged us so to do, by saying: 

 "I will not withdraw my mercy from them." Let 

 us ask and we shall receive ; and if there is slowness 

 or delay in its reception, because we have grievously 

 offended, let us knock, because to him that knocketh 

 it shall be opened ; if our prayers, groans, and tears, 

 in which we must persist and be obstinate, knock at 

 the door ; and if our prayer be united ; let each one 

 pray to God, not for himself alone, but for all his 

 brethren, as the Lord hath taught us to pray." (St. 

 Cyprian, Epistle 11.) But, in order that God may 

 accede more easily to Our and Your prayers, and 

 to those of all His faithful servants, let us employ in 

 all confidence as our Mediatrix with him the Virgin 

 Mary, Mother of God, who " has destroyed all heresies 

 throughout the world, and who, the most loving 

 Mother of us all, is very gracious . . and full of 

 mercy . . . allows herself to be entreated by all, 

 shows herself most clement towards all, and takes 

 under her pitying care all our necessities with a most 

 ample affection (St. Bernard, Germ, de duodecim 

 pei'0(iativis J3. M. V., in verbis^ Apocalyp.), and who, 

 "sitting as queen upon the right hand of her only 

 begotten Son Our Lord Jesus Christ in a golden 

 vestment clothed around with various adornments," 

 there is nothing which she cannot obtain from Him. 

 Let us implore also the intervention of the Blessed 

 Peter, Chief of the Apostles, and of his co-Apostle 

 Paul, and of all those Saints of Heaven, who, having 

 already become the friends of God, have been ad- 

 mitted into the celestial kingdom, where they are 

 crowned and bear palms, and who henceforth certain 

 of their own immortality, are solicitous for our salva- 

 tion. 



In conclusion, We ask of God from Our inmost 

 soul the abundance of all His celestial benefits for 

 You, and We bestow upon You, Venerable Brethren, 

 and upon all faithful Clergy, and Laity committed to 

 Your care, Our Apostolic Benediction from the most 

 loving depths of Our heart, in token of Our charity 

 towards you. PIUS PP. IX. 



Given at Rome from St. Peter's, this 8th of Decem- 

 ber, 1864, the tenth anniversary of the Dogmatic 

 Definition of the Immaculate Conception of the 

 Virgin Mary, Mother of God, in the nineteenth 

 year of Our Pontificate. 



THE SYLLABUS OF THE PRINCIPAL EPVRORS OF OUR TIME, 

 WHICH ARE STIGMATIZED IN THE COXSISTOEIAL ALLO- 

 CUTIONS, ENCYCLICAL, AND OTHER APOSTOLICAL LET- 

 TERS OF OUR MOST HOLY FATHER, POPE Pics IX. 

 I. Pantheism, Naturalism, and Absolute Rationalism,. 

 1. There exists no Divine Power, Supreme Being, 

 Wisdom, and Providence distinct from the universe, 

 and God is none other than nature, and is therefore 

 mutable. In effect, God is produced in man and in 



the world, and all things are God, and have the very 

 substance of God. God is therefore one and the 

 same thing with the world, and thence spirit is the 

 same thing with matter, necessity with liberty, true 

 with false, good with evil, justice with injustice. 

 (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.) 



2. All action of God upon man and the world is to be 

 denied. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.) 



3. Human reason, without any regard to God, is 

 the sole arbiter of truth and falsehood, of good and 

 evil ; it is its own law to itself, and suffices by its 

 natural force to secure the welfare of men and of na- 

 tions. (Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.) 



4. All the truths of religion are derived from the 

 native strength of human reason ; whence reason is 

 the master rule by which man can and ought to ar- 

 rive at the knowledge of all truths of every kind. 

 (Encyclical letters, Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, 

 Singulari quidem, 17th March, 1856, and the Allocu- 

 tion Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.) 



5. Divine revelation is imperfect, and, therefore, 

 subject to a continual and indefinite progress, which 

 corresponds with the progress of human reason. 

 (Encyclical Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, and 

 the Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1862.) 



6. Christian faith is in opposition to human reason, 

 and divine revelation not enly does not benefit, but 

 even injures the perfection of man. (Encyclical QM 

 pkiribus, 9th November, 1846, and the "Allocution 

 Maxima quadam, 9th June, 1862.) 



7. The prophecies and miracles, uttered and nar- 

 rated in the Sacred Scriptures, are the fictions of po- 

 ets ; and the mysteries of the Christian faith, the re- 

 sult of philosophical investigations. In the books of 

 the two Testaments there are contained mythical in- 

 ventions, and Jesus Christ is Himself a mythical fic- 

 tion. (Encyclical Qui pluribus, 9th November, 1846, 

 wud the Allocution Maxima quidem, 9th June, 1882.; 



II. Moderate Rationalism. 



8. As human reason is placed on a level with Re- 

 ligion, so theological matters must be treated in the 

 same manner as philosophical ones. (Allocution 

 Singular i quadam perfusi, 9th December, 1854.) 



9. All the dogmas of the Christian Religion are, 

 without exception, the object of natural science or 



Ehilosophy, and human reason, instructed solely by 

 istory, is able, by its own natural strength and prin- 

 ciples, to arrive at the true knowledge of even the most 

 abstruse dogmas : provided such dogmas be proposed 

 as subject matter for human reason. (Letter ad 

 Arcldep. Frisinq. Gravissimas, llth December, 1862 

 to the same, Tuas libenter, 21st December, 1863.) 



10. As the philosopher is one thing, and philosophy 

 is another, so it is the right and duty of the philos- 

 opher to submit himself to the authority which he 

 shall have recognized as true ; but philosophy neither 

 can nor ought to submit to any authority. (Letter ad 

 ArcJiiep. f rising. Gravissimas, llth December, 18^2 

 to the same, Tuas libenter, 21st December, 1863.) 



11. The Church not only ought never to animad- 

 vert upon philosophy, but ought to tolerate the er- 

 rors of philosophy, leaving to philosophy the care of 

 their correction. (Letter ad ArcJiiep. Frising. llth 

 December, 1862.) 



12. The decrees of the Apostolic See and of the 

 Roman Congregation fetter the free progress of sci- 

 ence. (Id. Ibid.) 



13. The method and principles by which the old 

 scholastic Doctors cultivated theology, are no longer 

 suitable to the demands of the age and the progress 

 of science. (Ib. Tuas libenter, 21st December, 1863.) 



14. Philosophy must be treated of without any ac- 

 count being taken of supernatural revelation. (Id. 

 Ibid.) 



N. B. To the rationalistic system belong, in groat 

 part, the errors of Anthony Gunther, condemned in 

 the letter to the Cardinal Archbishon of Cologne, 

 " Eximia/m tuam," June 15. 1847 ; and in that to the 

 Bishop of Breslau, " Dolor e baud wfdiocri," April 

 30, I860. 



