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PART SECOND.
XIV. Is it true that the Catholic Church forbids reading the Bible?
The Church has received the deposit of the holy Scriptures from God, and nothing has she more at heart than to see her children nourished with the Divine Word, and meditating its oracles. Yet she surrounds this excellent reading with certain precautions which her maternal prudence has learned from faith and experience.
She well knows how Satan employed the holy Scriptures to tempt the Christ in the desert, and how the Scribes and Pharisees always opposed Jesus in the name of God's word. She holds sacred and inviolable the teachings of her first Supreme Pontiff, the Prince of the Apostles, who, in reference to the holy Scriptures, warns the faithful that in "the Epistles of St. Paul are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." (2 Pet. iii. 16.) Hence it is by Holy Writ that the Church is directed to give her children this divine food with great prudence. But then experience also comes to the aid of faith, in a matter of so much importance, and, thus, the example of all heretics, and, above all, of modern heretics, shows most conclusively that this reading of the Bible may in some circumstances, and especially in vernacular translations, become a source of danger. Consequently, she has laid down some very simple and wise rules, not for the purpose of preventing this salutary reading, but to avert danger.
The first rule is, that we should receive both the text and the interpretation of the Scriptures from the legitimate pastors of the Church, and from them alone, "lest," as St. Peter adds, "being led away by the errors of the unwise, ye fall from your own steadfastness." (Loc. cit.)
Then the Church commands that only those translations shall be employed which have been carefully examined and approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. Thereby the faithful are taught that what they read is indeed the word of God, and not the human rendering of some ignorant or dishonest translator. She wishes, moreover, that this same authority be consulted as regards the proper dispositions of mind and heart which one must possess in order to derive profit from this holy reading.
The simple announcement of these practical rules will explain their profound wisdom. They are not only wise, but they are necessary.
The Church thereby shows a far more tender regard for the holy word of God than those rash innovators who, under pretence of placing it within reach of every one, have trailed it in the mud, and profaned it shamefully. Only the Catholic Church respects the Bible, because she alone comprehends its sanctity and proper usage.
And let us here add, what may be new to many, namely: the holy Scriptures are far more extensively read among Catholics than they are by Protestants. At mass, every day, selections from the Old Testament and from the Epistles are read together with prominent portions taken from the Holy Gospels.
Many Catholics carry about their persons the New Testament or at least the Four Gospels; which practice has become a rule with seminaries. Few indeed are to be found among the clergy who do not make the reading and meditation of the Scriptures a part of their daily studies. I cannot say how much the reverend pastors of Protestant Churches read the Bible; but I know their flocks do not read it much. In many a Protestant family, parents forbid the reading thereof, certainly with good reason, as there are many passages which it would not be prudent to allow a young man or woman to read. The Bible is preeminently the Book of the Priesthood. Besides the Eucharist, it is the most precious deposit entrusted to the hands of the priests who have been charged with the salvation of souls. By its proper use they enrich the souls of the people as well as their own souls. Theirs is the mission to make it beloved and respected by everybody, to impart it to all in portions as may be required, and thus preserve to the world of God its essential character — that of Light and Life.
The respect and love which holy priests and true Catholics have for the Bible is unsurpassable. St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, and the great reformer of the Italian clergy in the sixteenth century, always read the Bible on his knees, and with uncovered head: once four long hours was he absorbed in this occupation. St. Philip Neri bathed with his tears the pages he knew by heart; and so also did St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul. M. Olier, the reformer of the clergy in France, had a wonderful veneration for the book. He had it bound in covers of massive silver, and kept it in a special place, aloof from any other book; he never opened it but with his surplice on, and always on his knees, in spite of his acute infirmities. In these sentiments are French seminarians, for the most part under Sulpitian charge, trained for the sanctuary.
Jesus is the manna hidden in the Scriptures. Happy are those who search for it and find it! Happy the faithful soul who, by the light of the Holy Church and of true faith, and in a spirit of piety, love, and sanctification, searches the adorable Word of God, and from it, as well as from the sacrament of the altar, obtains substantial food of true and solid piety!
XIV. Is it true that the Catholic Church forbids reading the Bible?
The Church has received the deposit of the holy Scriptures from God, and nothing has she more at heart than to see her children nourished with the Divine Word, and meditating its oracles. Yet she surrounds this excellent reading with certain precautions which her maternal prudence has learned from faith and experience.
She well knows how Satan employed the holy Scriptures to tempt the Christ in the desert, and how the Scribes and Pharisees always opposed Jesus in the name of God's word. She holds sacred and inviolable the teachings of her first Supreme Pontiff, the Prince of the Apostles, who, in reference to the holy Scriptures, warns the faithful that in "the Epistles of St. Paul are some things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as also the other Scriptures, to their own destruction." (2 Pet. iii. 16.) Hence it is by Holy Writ that the Church is directed to give her children this divine food with great prudence. But then experience also comes to the aid of faith, in a matter of so much importance, and, thus, the example of all heretics, and, above all, of modern heretics, shows most conclusively that this reading of the Bible may in some circumstances, and especially in vernacular translations, become a source of danger. Consequently, she has laid down some very simple and wise rules, not for the purpose of preventing this salutary reading, but to avert danger.
The first rule is, that we should receive both the text and the interpretation of the Scriptures from the legitimate pastors of the Church, and from them alone, "lest," as St. Peter adds, "being led away by the errors of the unwise, ye fall from your own steadfastness." (Loc. cit.)
Then the Church commands that only those translations shall be employed which have been carefully examined and approved by the ecclesiastical authorities. Thereby the faithful are taught that what they read is indeed the word of God, and not the human rendering of some ignorant or dishonest translator. She wishes, moreover, that this same authority be consulted as regards the proper dispositions of mind and heart which one must possess in order to derive profit from this holy reading.
The simple announcement of these practical rules will explain their profound wisdom. They are not only wise, but they are necessary.
The Church thereby shows a far more tender regard for the holy word of God than those rash innovators who, under pretence of placing it within reach of every one, have trailed it in the mud, and profaned it shamefully. Only the Catholic Church respects the Bible, because she alone comprehends its sanctity and proper usage.
And let us here add, what may be new to many, namely: the holy Scriptures are far more extensively read among Catholics than they are by Protestants. At mass, every day, selections from the Old Testament and from the Epistles are read together with prominent portions taken from the Holy Gospels.
Many Catholics carry about their persons the New Testament or at least the Four Gospels; which practice has become a rule with seminaries. Few indeed are to be found among the clergy who do not make the reading and meditation of the Scriptures a part of their daily studies. I cannot say how much the reverend pastors of Protestant Churches read the Bible; but I know their flocks do not read it much. In many a Protestant family, parents forbid the reading thereof, certainly with good reason, as there are many passages which it would not be prudent to allow a young man or woman to read. The Bible is preeminently the Book of the Priesthood. Besides the Eucharist, it is the most precious deposit entrusted to the hands of the priests who have been charged with the salvation of souls. By its proper use they enrich the souls of the people as well as their own souls. Theirs is the mission to make it beloved and respected by everybody, to impart it to all in portions as may be required, and thus preserve to the world of God its essential character — that of Light and Life.
The respect and love which holy priests and true Catholics have for the Bible is unsurpassable. St. Charles Borromeo, Archbishop of Milan, and the great reformer of the Italian clergy in the sixteenth century, always read the Bible on his knees, and with uncovered head: once four long hours was he absorbed in this occupation. St. Philip Neri bathed with his tears the pages he knew by heart; and so also did St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul. M. Olier, the reformer of the clergy in France, had a wonderful veneration for the book. He had it bound in covers of massive silver, and kept it in a special place, aloof from any other book; he never opened it but with his surplice on, and always on his knees, in spite of his acute infirmities. In these sentiments are French seminarians, for the most part under Sulpitian charge, trained for the sanctuary.
Jesus is the manna hidden in the Scriptures. Happy are those who search for it and find it! Happy the faithful soul who, by the light of the Holy Church and of true faith, and in a spirit of piety, love, and sanctification, searches the adorable Word of God, and from it, as well as from the sacrament of the altar, obtains substantial food of true and solid piety!
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre