The Roman Catholic Church and the Law
PROTESTANTS and others who are loath to admit that there is no command in the Bible for observing Sunday, will be forcibly reminded by a recent motu proprio, or encyclical, of Pope Pius X, that the pope and the Catholic Church are the only authority for Sunday observance. This encyclical bears date of July 2, and is printed in full in the Rome, a semi-official Catholic paper published in the city whose name it bears. The new law provides for the Catholics of the world eight "days of obligation," when all who recognize the Roman see as the head of the church must cease from labor and hear mass. These days are in addition to Sunday, which the encyclical especially provides shall remain a day of rest and the hearing of mass. It is as follows: The Roman Pontiffs, supreme custodians and moderators of ecclesiastical discipline, have always been accustomed to benignantly relax the laws of the Sacred Canons as often as the good of the Christian people counselled it. We also, as We have before now considered it wise that other matters should be changed, on account of the changed conditions of the times and of civil society, so likewise at the present time We think it Our duty, considering the special circumstances of Our age, to introduce some opportune modifications in the Ecclesiastical Law as to the observance of Feast days of precept. For men to-day traverse with marvellous rapidity the greatest distances by land and sea, and through wider facilities for travelling find readier access to those nations where the number of Feast days of precept is less. Also increased commerce and the additional demands of business seem to suffer loss from the delays caused by frequent Feast days. Finally the daily increasing cost of the necessaries of life makes it additionally desirable that the servile work of those who gain their living by the day may not be too often interrupted. For such reasons repeated petitions, particularly in these later times, have been made to the Holy See that the number of Feast days of precept be diminished. Having all these things present in Our mind, it has seemed to Us, who have at heart the well-being of the Christian people, a counsel in the highest degree opportune to diminish the number of Feast days declared by the Church to be of precept. Wherefore by Motu Proprio and after mature deliberation, having heard the counsel of Our Venerable Brothers the Cardinals of Holy Roman Church who are charged with the codification of Ecclesiastical law, we prescribe with regard to Feast days as follows: I. The ecclesiastical precept of hearing Holy Mass and of abstaining from servile work remains in force only for the following days: All and every Sunday, the Feast of the Nativity, of the Circumcision, of the Epiphany and of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ; of the Immaculate Conception and of the Assumption of Blessed Mary Mother of God; of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul; and finally of All Saints. [Boldface ours throughout.] II. The Feasts of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist, both with Octave, shall be celebrated as in their proper place; the first, on the Sunday following the nineteenth day of March, the Feast remaining fixed on the nineteenth day of March if that day falls on a Sunday; the other on the Sunday preceding the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The Feast, too, of Corpus Christi, equally with privileged Octave, shall be celebrated, as in its proper place, on the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus remaining attached to the Friday within the Octave. III. To the ecclesiastical precept spoken of above the Feasts of Patrons shall not be subject. Ordinaries, however, may transfer the solemn celebration of them to the Sunday immediately following. IV. If in any place any one of the Feasts indicated has been legitimately abolished or transferred, let nothing be done without consultation with the Apostolic See. But if in any nation or region the Bishops deem it right to preserve any one of the Feasts abrogated, let them refer it to the Holy See. V. If, however, with any one of the Feasts which We wish preserved there should coincide a day consecrated to abstinence or fasting, We grant the same dispensation also for Feasts of Patrons abolished by this law of Ours, should it happen that they be celebrated solemnly and with a large attendance of the people. In giving this new proof of Apostolic solicitude We nourish the certain hope that all the faithful, even on these days which we now remove from the number of those of strict precept, will no less than before show testimony of their piety towards God and of their veneration for the Saints, and that on the other Feasts which are preserved by the Church they will care with greater diligence than before for the observance of the precept. All things whatsoever even such as require special mention to the contrary notwithstanding. Given at Rome at Saint Peter's on the second day of July, 1911, in the eighth year of our Pontificate. NOTE.—This translation of the papal decree was published in "Rome," a weekly paper published at Rome, Italy, issue of July 15, 1911. Catholics of the United States now observe six "days of obligation" every year in addition to Sundays. The two new ones imposed by Pope Pius X are the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul, and the feast of Epiphany. In some European countries loyal Catholics have been required to observe as many as twenty-five days a year in addition to every first day, which means, of course, one day every two weeks. Working people have found this burdensome. The pope declares it to be his object to ease the burden, as he says repeated petitions that he do so have been made to him. This is a step on the part of the pope toward the unification of Catholic law for the world. He says he has taken it after mature deliberation, and after having consulted with the cardinals charged with the codification of ecclesiastical law. Truly, it is difficult for man to improve upon God's law, which requires that he rest only upon the seventh day of the week, Saturday. This day God set apart in Eden as the Sabbath for man; and God's law, never having been changed or abrogated, still requires men to keep it sacred. The new ecclesiastical law becomes operative in America by being transmitted by the pope to Archbishop Falconio, the apostolic delegate at Washington, D. C. He in turn communicates it to the archbishops of the country, they send it to the bishops, the bishops to the priests, and the priests announce it from the pulpits. The phrase providing that the precept of "abstaining from servile work" remains in force only for the days named by the pope, not only commands the observance of the feast-days, but teaches that God's holy law, commanding the observance of the Sabbath, need not be obeyed. Not only this, but in placing upon men the obligation to keep Sunday and the other feast-days, the Papacy requires that they abstain only from "servile work," while God's law requires that on His Sabbath men cease from all their work, whether of hand or mind. This latest law of the pope is another evidence, added to that already at hand, that the Catholic system, with the Roman see at its head, has thought "to change times and laws," as the prophet Daniel was shown in vision 2,500 years ago it would do. Dan. 7:25. Jehovah's Sabbath Law, as Written on Two Stone Tablets at Sinai, After Having Been Given to Man in Eden
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: . . . wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Ex. 20:8-11, A.R.V. The Apostle Paul's Comment upon the Law
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Rom. 3:31. Christ's Comment on the Law
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. Matt. 5:17.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. . . . I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:1, 9. Latest Encyclic of Pope Pius X, Commanding the World to Rest on Sundays, and on Eight Feast-Days a Year. This Encyclic Bears Date of July 2, 1911.
The ecclesiastical precept of hearing Holy Mass and of abstaining from servile work remains in force only for the following days:
All and every Sunday, the Feast of the Nativity, of the Circumcision, of the Epiphany and of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ; of the Immaculate Conception and of the Assumption of Blessed Mary Mother of God; of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul; and finally of All Saints.
The Feasts of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the Nativity of Saint John Baptist, both with Octave, shall be celebrated as in their proper place; the first, on the Sunday following the nineteenth day of March, the Feast remaining fixed on the nineteenth day of March if that day falls on a Sunday; the other on the Sunday preceding the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul; and then at the Corpus Christi, equally with privileged Octave, shall be celebrated as in its proper place, on the Sunday after the Most Holy Trinity, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus remaining attached to the Friday within the Octave.
FRANCISCO. The Vatican maintains a small army of several hundred men, and they have been armed with the oldest type of guns, Cardinal Merry Del Val denominating them "flintlocks" and "halberds of the time of Michelangelo." A despatch says that "a large consignment of rifles, automatic pistols, and ammunition of the modern type has just reached the Vatican after some trouble at the frontier." These modern implements, according to the cardinal secretary of State, are to replace the obsolete guns with which the Swiss gendarmes have hitherto been armed. How will those professing the name of Christ harmonize such actions with the following Scripture verses, from the writings of one of the greatest of the apostles of Christ?—"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God in the pulling down of strongholds.)" 2 Cor. 10:3, 4. And again the words of the Master?—"Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." Matt. 26:52.