THE SIMIAN ORIGIN OF MAN. 349 



heresy and the discussions which arose concerning 

 the transmission of original sin, the dogmatic tradi- 

 tion respecting the origin of the soul was not so 

 strongly affirmed as it was subsequently, and hence 

 the vacillations of the great Bishop of Hippo, and 

 others, between Creationism and Traducianism.' 

 Since the time, however, of St. Thomas Aquinas 

 and St. Bonaventure, the doctrine of Creationism has 

 been regarded as practically beyond controversy, 

 among all well-accredited theologians, and we can 

 now look upon Melchior Cano as accurately express- 

 ing the mind of the Church, when he declares that it 

 " without doubt pertains to faith, that the soul ex- 

 ists not through generation, but by creation." " 



Creation of Man's Body. 



So far, then, as the soul of man is concerned, it 

 is manifest from the foregoing paragraphs that 

 according to Catholic teaching, each individual soul 

 is created directly and immediately by Almighty 

 God. Man, however, is not a pure spirit, but a 

 creature composed of a rational soul and a corrupti- 

 ble body. The question now arises : Was the body 

 of the first man, the progenitor of our race, created 

 directly and immediately by God, or was it created 

 indirectly and through the operation of secondary 



1 " Tempore Augustini nondum erat per Ecclesiam declara- 

 tnm, quod anima non esset ex traduce," writes the Angelic 

 Doctor. 



2 "Nunc autem, cum post ea tempora theologorum fideli- 

 umque omnium firmatum sit, animam non per generationem, 

 sed per creationem existere, sine dubio ad fidem ilia qurestio per- 

 tinet." "De Loc. Theol.," lib. XII, cap. xiv. 



