by
Pope Pius XII
on
The Most Opportune Way To
Promote Biblical Studies
(Divino Afflante Spiritu)
Septembe 30, 1943
6. Study of the Holy Fathers. In the
accomplishment of this task the Catholic Exegete will find invaluable help
in an assiduous study of those works, in which the Holy Fathers, the Doctors
of the Church and the renowned Interpreters of past ages have explained
the Sacred Books. For, although sometimes less instructed in profane
learning and in the knowledge of languages than the Scripture Scholars
of our time, nevertheless by reason of the Office assigned to them by God
in the Church, they are distinguished by a certain subtle insight into
Heavenly things and by a marvelous keenness of intellect, which enables
them to penetrate to the very innermost meaning of the Divine Word and
bring to light all that can help to elucidate the teaching of Christ and
to promote holiness of life.
It is indeed regrettable that such precious Treasures
of Christian antiquity are almost unknown to many writers of the present
day, and that students of the history of Exegesis have not yet accomplished
all that seems necessary for the due investigation and appreciation of
so momentous a subject. Would that many, by seeking out the Authors
of the Catholic interpretation of Scripture and diligently studying their
works and drawing thence the almost inexhaustible riches therein stored
up, might contribute largely to this end, and that it might be daily more
apparent to what extent those authors understood and made known the Divine
Teaching of the Sacred Books, and that the interpreters of today might
thence take example and seek suitable arguments.
For thus at long last will be brought about the
happy and fruitful union between the Doctrine and spiritual sweetness of
expression of the Ancient Authors and the greater Erudition and maturer
knowledge of the modern, having as its result new progress in the never
fully explored and inexhaustible field of the Divine Letters.
7. Special Tasks of Interpreters. Moreover
we may rightly and deservedly hope that our time also can contribute something
towards the deeper and more accurate interpretation of Sacred Scripture.
For not a few things, especially in matters pertaining to history, were
scarcely at all or not fully explained by the Commentators of past ages,
since they lacked almost all the information which was needed for their
clearer exposition. How difficult for the Fathers themselves, and
indeed well nigh unintelligible, were certain passages is shown, among
other things, by the oft-repeated efforts of many of them to explain the
first chapters of Genesis; likewise by the reiterated attempts of
St. Jerome so to translate the Psalms that the literal sense, that, namely,
which is expressed by the words themselves, might be clearly revealed.
There are, in fine, other Books and Texts, which
contain difficulties brought to light only in quite recent times, since
a more profound knowledge of Antiquity has given rise to new questions,
on the basis of which the point at issue may be more appropriately examined.
Quite wrongly therefore do some pretend, not rightly understanding the
conditions of Biblical Study, that nothing remains to be added by the Catholic
Exegete of our time to what Christian Antiquity has produced; since, on
the contrary, these our times have brought to light so many things, which
call for a fresh investigation, and which stimulate not a little the practical
zest of the present-day Interpreter.
8. Character of Sacred Writer. As in
our age, indeed new questions and new difficulties are multiplied, so,
by God's favor, new means and aids to Exegesis are also provided.
Among these it is worthy of special mention that Catholic Theologians,
following the Teaching of the Holy Fathers and especially of the Angelic
and Common Doctor, have examined and explained the nature and effects of
Biblical Inspiration more exactly and more fully than was wont to be done
in previous ages. For having begun by expounding minutely the Principle
that the Inspired Writer, in composing the Sacred Book, is the living and
reasonable Instrument of the Holy Ghost, they rightly observe impelled
by the Divine Motion, he so uses his faculties and powers, that from the
Book composed by him all may easily infer "the special character of each
one and, as it were, his personal traits." Let the Interpreter then,
with all care and without neglecting any light derived from recent research,
endeavor to determine the peculier character and circumstances of the Sacred
Writer, the Age in which he lived, the sources written or oral to which
he had recourse and the forms of expression he employed.
Thus can he the better understand who was the Inspired
Author, and what he wishes to express by his Writings. There is no
one indeed but knows that the Supreme Rule of the interpretation is to
discover and define what the Writer intended to express, as St. Athanasius
excellently observes: "Here, as indeed is expedient in all other
passages of Sacred Scripture, it should be noted, on what occasion the
Apostle spoke; we should carefully and faithfully observe to whom and why
he wrote, lest, being ignorant of these points, or confounding one with
another, we miss the real meaning of the Author."
9. Importance of Mode of Writing. What
is the literal sense of a passage is not always as obvious in the Speeches
and Writings of the Ancient Authors of the East, as it is in the works
of our own time. For what they wished to express is not to be determined
by the Rules of Grammar and Philology alone, nor solely by the context;
the Interpreter must, as it were, go back wholly in Spirit to those remote
centuries of the East and with the aid of History, Archaeology, Ethnology,
and other Sciences, accurately determine what modes of writing, so to speak,
the Authors of that Ancient Period would be likely to use, and in fact
did use.
For the Ancient peoples of the East, in order to
express their ideas, did not always employ those forms or kinds of speech
which we use today; but rather those used by the men of their times and
countries. What those exactly were the Commentator cannot determine
as it were in advance, but only after a careful examination of the Ancient
Literature of the East. The investigation, carried out, on this point,
during the past forty or fifty years with greater care and diligence than
ever before, has more clearly shown what forms of expression were used
in those far off times, whether in poetic description or in the formulation
of Laws and Rules of life or in recording the facts and events of History.
The same inquiry has also clearly shown the special pre-eminence of the
people of Israel among all the other Ancient Nations of the East in their
mode of compiling History, both by reason of its Antiquity and by reason
of the faithful record of events; qualities which may well be attributed
to the Gift of Divine Inspiration and to the peculiar Religious purpose
of Biblical History.
Nevertheless no one, who has a correct idea of Biblical
Inspiration, will be surprised to find, even in the Sacred Writers, as
in other Ancient Authors, ceratin fixed ways of expounding and narrating,
certain definite idioms, expecially of a kind peculiar to the Semitic tongues,
so-called approximations, and certain hyperbolical modes of expression,
nay, at times, even paradoxical, which even help to impress the ideas more
deeply on the mind. For of the modes of expression which, among Ancient
peoples, and especially those of the East, human language used to express
its thought, none is excluded from the Sacred Books, provided the way of
speaking adopted in no wise contradicts the Holiness and Truth of God,
as, with his customary Wisdom, the Angelic Doctor already observed in these
words: "In Scripture Divine things are presented to us in the manner which
is in common use amongst men." For as the substantial Word of God
became like to men in all things, "except sin," so the Words of God, expressed
in human language, are made like to human speech in every respect, except
error. In this consists that "condescension" of the God of Providence,
which St. John Chrysostom extolled with the highest praise and repeatedly
declared to be found in the Sacred Books.
Hence the Catholic Commentator, in order to comply
with the present needs of Biblical Studies, in explaining the Sacred Scripture
and in demonstrating and proving its immunity from all error, should also
make a prudent use of this means, determine, that is, to what extent the
manner of expression or the literary mode adopted by the Sacred Writer
may lead to a correct and genuine interpretation; and let him be convinced
that this part of his Office cannot be neglected without serious detriment
to Catholic Exegesis. Not infrequently -- to mention only one instance
-- when some persons reproachfully charge the Sacred Writers with the same
historical error or inaccuracy in the recording of facts, on closer examination
it turns out to be nothing else than those customary modes of expression
and narration peculiar to the Ancients, which use to be employed in the
mutual dealings of social life and which were sanctioned by common usage.
When then such modes of expression are met within
the Sacred Text, which, being meant for men, is couched in human language,
justice demands that they be no more taxed with error than when they occur
in the ordinary intercourse of daily life. By this knowledge and
exact appreciation of the modes of speaking and writing in use among the
Ancients can be solved many difficulties, which are raised against the
veracity and Historical value of the Divine Scriptures, and no less efficaciously
does this study contribute to a fuller and more lumininous understanding
of the mind of the Sacred Writer.
10. Studies of Biblical Antiquities. Let
those who cultivate Biblical Studies turn their attention with all due
diligence towards this point and let them neglect none of those discovereies,
whether in the Domain of Archaeology or in Ancient History or Literature,
which serve to make better known the mentality of the Ancient Writers,
as well as their manner and art of reasoning, narrating and writing.
In this connection Catholic laymen should consider that they will not only
further profane Science, but moreover will render a conspicuous service
to the Christian cause if they devote themselves with all due diligence
and application to the exploration and investigation of the Monuments of
Antiquity and contribute, according to their abilities, to the solution
of questions hitherto obscure.
For all human knowledge, even the non-sacred has
indeed its own proper dignity and excellence, being a finite participation
of the infinite knowledge of God, but it acquires a new and higher dignity
and, as it were, a Consecration, when it is employed to cast a brighter
light upon the things of God.
11. Way of Treating More Difficult Questions. The
progressive exploration of the antiquities of the East, mentioned above,
the more accurate examination of the Original Text itself, the more extensive
and exact knowledge of languages both Biblical and Oriental, have with
the help of God, happily provided the solution of not a few of those questions
which the time of Our Predecessor Leo XIII of immortal memory, were raised
by critics outside or hostile to the Church against the Authenticity, Antiquity,
Integrity and Historical Value of the Sacred Books. For Catholic
Exegetes, by a right use of those same scientific arms, not infrequently
abused by the adversaries, proposed such interpretations, which are in
harmony with Catholic Doctrine and the genuine current of Tradition, and
at the same time are seen to have proved equal to the difficulties,
either raised by new explorations and discoveries, or bequeathed by antiquity
for solution in our time.
Thus has it come about that confidence in the Authority
and Historical Value of the Bible, somewhat shaken in the case of some
by so many attacks, today smong Catholics is completely restored; moreover
there are not wanting even non-Catholic writers, who by serious and calm
inquiry have been led to abandon modern opinion and to return, at least
in some points, to the more Ancient ideas. This change is due in
great part to the untiring labor, by which Catholic Commentators of the
Sacred Letters, in no way deterred by difficulties and obstacles of all
kinds, strove with all their strength to make suitable use of what learned
men of the present day, by their investigations in the Domain of Archaeology,
of History or Philology, have made available for the solution of new questions.
12. Difficulties Not Yet Solved. Nevertheless
no one will be surprised, if all difficulties are not yet solved and overcome;
but that even today serious problems greatly exercise the minds of Catholic
Exegetes. We should not lose courage on this account; nor should
we forget that in the human sciences the same happens as in the natural
world; that is to say, new beginnings grow little by little and fruits
are gathered only after many labors. Thus it has happened that certain
disputed points, which in the past remained unsolved and in suspense, in
our days, with the progress of studies, have found a satisfactory solution.
Hence there are grounds for hope that those also will by constant effort
be at last made clear, which now seem most complicated and difficult.
And if the wished for solution be slow in coming
or does not satisfy us, since perhaps a successful conclusion may be reserved
to posterity, let us not wax impatient thereat, seeing that in us also
is rightly verified what the Fathers, and especially Augustine, observed
in their time, viz.: God wished difficulties to be scattered through the
Sacred Books inspired by Him, in order that we might be urged to read and
scrutinize them more intently, and, experiencing in a salutary manner our
own limitations, we might be exercised in due submission of mind.
No wonder if of one or other question no solution wholly satisfactory will
ever be found, since sometimes we have to do with matters obscure in themselves
and too remote from our times and our experience; and since Exegesis also,
like all other most important Sciences, has its secrets, which, impenetrable
to our minds, by no efforts whatsoever can be unraveled.
13. Definite Solutions Sought. But this
state of things is no reason why the Catholic Commentator, inspired by
an active and ardent love of his subject and sincerely devoted to Holy
Mother Church, should in any way be deterred from grappling again and again
with these difficult problems, hitherto unsolved, not only that he may
refute the objections of the adversaries, but also may attempt to find
a satisfactory solution, which will be in full accord with the Doctrine
of the Church, in particular with the Traditional Teaching regarding the
inerrancy of Sacred Scripture, and which will at the same time satisfy
the indubitable conclusion of profane sciences.
Let all the other sons of the Church bear in mind
that the efforts of these resolute laborers in the vineyard of the Lord
should be judged not only with equity and justice, but also with the greatest
Charity; all moreover should abhor that intemperate zeal which imagines
that whatever is new should for that very reason be opposed or suspected.
Let them bear in mind above all that in the Rules and Laws promulgated
by the Church there is question of Doctrine regarding Faith and Morals;
and that in the immense matter contained in the Sacred Books -- Legislative,
Historical, Sapiential and Prophetical -- there are but few Texts whose
sense has been defined by the Authority of the Church, nor are those more
numerous about which the Teaching of the Holy Fathers is unanimous.
There remain therefore many things, and of the greatest importance, in
the discussion and exposition of which the skill and genius of Catholic
Commentators may and ought to be freely exercised, so that each may contribute
his part to the advantage of all, to the continued progress of the Sacred
Doctrine and to the defense and honor of the Church.
This true liberty of the children of God, which
adheres faithfully to the Teaching of the Church and accepts and uses gratefully
the contributions of profane science, this liberty, upheld and sustained
in every way by the confidence of all, is the condition and source of all
lasting Fruit of all solid progress in Catholic Doctrine, as Our Predecessor
of happy memory Leo XIII rightly observes, when he says: "Unless
harmony of mind be maintained and Principles safeguarded, no progress can
be expected in this matter from the varied studies of many.'
14. Use of Scripture in Instruction of Faithful. Whosoever
considers the immense labors undertaken by Catholic Exegetes during well
nigh two thousand years, so that the Word of God, imparted to men through
the Sacred Letters, might daily be more deeply and fully understood and
more intensely loved, will easily be convinced that it is the Serious Duty
of the faithful, and especially of Priests, to make free and Holy use of
this Treasure, accumulated throughout so many centuries by the greatest
intellects. For the Sacred Books were not given by God to men
to satisfy their curiosity or to provide them with material for study and
research, but, as theApostle observes, in order that these Divine Oracles
might "instruct us to salvation, by the Faith which is in Christ Jesus"
and "that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work."
Let Priests therefore, who are bound by their Office
to procure the eternal salvation of the faithful, after they have themselves
by diligent study perused the Sacred Pages and made them their own by Prayer
and Meditations, assiduously distribute the Heavenly Treasures of the Divine
Word by Sermons, Homilies and Exhortations; let them confirm the Christian
Doctrine by sentences from the Sacred Books and illustrate it by outstanding
examples from Sacred History and in particular from the Gospel of Christ
Our Lord; and -- avoiding with the greatest care those purely arbitraty
and far-fetched adaptations, which are not a use, but rather an abuse of
the Divine Word -- let them set forth all this with such eloquence, lucidity
and clearness that the faithful may not only be moved and inflamed to reform
their lives, but may also conceive in their hearts the greatest veneration
for the Sacred Scripture.
The same veneration the Bishops should endeavor
daily to increase and perfect among the faithful committed to their care,
encouraging all those initiatives by which men, filled with apostolic zeal,
laudably strive to excite and foster among Catholics a greater knowledge
of and love for the Sacred Books. Let them favor therefore and lend
help to those pious Associations whose aim it is to spread copies of the
Sacred Letters, especially of the Gospels, among the faithful, and to procure
by every means that in Christian families the same be read daily with piety
and devotion: let them efficaciously recommend by word and example, whenever
the Liturgical Laws permit, the Sacred Scriptures translated, with the
approval of the Ecclesiastical Authority, into modern languages; let them
themselves give public conferences or dissertations on Biblical Subjects,
or see that they are given by other public Orators well versed in the matter.
Let the Ministers of the Sanctuary support in every
way possible and diffuse in fitting manner among all classes of the faithful
the periodicals which so laudably and with such heartening results are
published from time to time in various parts of the world, whether to treat
and expose in a scientific manner Biblical questions, or to adapt the fruits
of these investigations to the Sacred Ministry, or to benefit the faithful.
Let the Ministers of the Sanctuary be convinced that all this, and whatsoever
else an apostolic zeal and sincere love of the Divine Word may find suitable
to this High Purpose, will be an efficacious help to the cure of souls.
15. Curriculum in Seminaries. But it
is plain to everyone that Priests cannot duly fulfill all this, unless
in their Seminary days they have imbibed a practical and enduring love
for the Sacred Scriptures. Wherefore let the Bishops, on whom devolves
the Paternal Care of their Seminaries, with all diligence see to it that
nothing be omitted in this matter which may help towards the desired end.
Let the Professors of Sacred Scripture in the Seminaries give the whole
course of Biblical Studies in such a way, that they may instruct the young
aspirants to the Priesthood and to the Ministry of the Divine Word with
that knowledge of the Sacred Letters and imbue them with that love for
the same, without which it is vain to hope for copious Fruits of the Apostolate.
Hence their exegetical explanation should aim especially
at the Theological Doctrine, avoiding useless desputations and omitting
all that is calculated rather to gratify curiosity than to promote True
learning and solid piety. The literal sense and especially the Theological
let them propose with such definiteness, explain with such skill and inculcate
with such ardor that in their students may be in a sense verified what
happened to the Disciples on the way to Emmaus, when, having heard the
Words of the Master, they exclaimed: "Was not our heart heart burning within
us, whilst He opened to us the Scriptures?"
Thus the Divine Letters still become for the future
Priests of the Church a pure and never-failing source for their own spiritual
life, as well as food and strength for the Sacred Office of Preaching which
they are about to undertake. If the Professors of this most important
matter in the Seminaries accomplish all this, then let them rest joyfully
assured that they have most efficaciously contributed to the salvation
of souls, to the progress of the Catholic Faith, to the Honor and Glory
of God, and that they have performed a Work most closely connected with
the Apostolic Office.
16. Value of Divine Word. If these things
which We have said, Venerable Brethren and Beloved Sons, are necessary
in every age, much more urgently are they needed in our sorrowful times,
when almost all peoples and nations are plunged in a sea of calamities,
when a cruel war heaps ruins upon ruins and slaughter upon slaughter, when,
owing to the most bitter hatred stirred up among the nations, We perceive
with greatest sorrow that in not a few has been extinguished the sense
not only of Christian moderation and Charity, but also of humanity itself.
Who can heal these mortal wounds of the human family if not He, to whom
the Prince of the Apostles, full of confidence and love, addresses these
words: "Lord, the whom shall we go? Thou hast the Words of
eternal life."
To this Our Most Merciful Redeemer we must therefore
bring all back by every means in our power; for He is the Divine Consoler
of the afflicted; He it is Who teaches all, whether they be invested with
public authority or are bound in duty to obey and submit, True Honesty,
absolute Justice and generous Charity; it is He in fine, and He alone,
Who can be the firm Foundation and support of peace and tranquillity:
"For other Foundation no man can lay, but that which is laid: which is
Christ Jesus." This the Author of salvation, Christ, will men more
fully know, more ardently love and more faithfully imitate in proportion
as they are more assiduously urged to know and meditate the Sacred Letters,
especially the New Testament, for, as St. Jerome the Doctor of Stridon
says: "To ignore the Scriptures is to ignore Christ"; and again: "If there
is anything in this life which sustains a wise man and induces him to maintain
his serenity amidst the tribulations and adversities of the world, it is
in the first place, I consider, the meditation and knowledge of the Scriptures."
There those who are wearied and oppressed by adversities
and afflictions will find true consolation and Divine Strength to suffer
and bear with patience; there -- that is in the Holy Gospels -- Christ,
the highest and greatest example of Justice, Charity and Mercy, is present
to all; and to the lacerated and trembling human race are laid open the
Fountains of the Divine Grace without which both peoples and their Rulers
can never arrive at, never establish, peace in the state and unity of heart;
there in fine will all learn Christ, "Who is the Head of all Principality
and Power" and "Who of God is made unto us Wisdom and Justice and Sanctification
and Redemption."
CONCLUSION
Having expounded and recommended those things which
are required for the adaptation of Scripture Studies to the necessities
of the day, it remains, Venerable Brethren and Beloved Sons, that to Biblical
Scholars who are devoted Sons of the Church and follow faithfully her Teaching
and Direction, We address with Paternal affection, not only Our congratulations
that they have been chosen and called to so sublime an Office, but also
Our encouragement to continue with ever renewed vigor, with all zeal and
care, the Work so happily begun. Sublime Office, We say; for what
is more sublime than to scrutinize, explain, propose to the faithful and
defend from unbelievers the very Word of God, communicated to men under
the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost?
With this Spiritual Food the mind of the Interpreter
is fed and nourished "to the commemoration of Faith, the consolation of
Hope, the exhortation of Charity." "To live amidst these things,
to meditate these things, to know nothing else, to seek nothing else, does
it not seem to you already here below a foretaste of the Heavenly Kingdom?"
Let also the minds of the faithful be nourished with this same Food, that
they may draw from thence the knowledge and love of God and the progress
in perfection and the happiness of their own individual souls. Let,
then, the Interpreters of the Divine Oracles devote themselves to this
Holy Practice with all their heart. "Let them pray, that they may
understand"; let them labor to penetrate ever more deeply into the Secrets
of the Sacred Pages; let them Teach and Preach, in order to open to others
also the Treasures of the Word of God.
Let the present-day Commentators of the Sacred Scripture
emulate, according to their capacity, what those illustrious Interpreters
of past ages accomplished with such great fruit; so that, as in the past,
so also in these days, the Church may have at her disposal learned Doctors
for the expounding of the Divine Letters; and through their assiduous labors,
the faithful may comprehend all the splendor, stimulating language, and
joy contained in the Holy Scriptures. And in this very arduous and
important Office let them have "for their comfort the Holy Books" and be
mindful of the promised reward: since "they that are learned shall shine
as the brightness of the Firmament, and they that instruct many unto Justice,
as stars for all eternity."
And now, while ardently desiring for all Sons of
the Church, and especially for the Professors in Biblical Science, for
the young Clergy and for Preachers, that, continually mdeitating on theDivine
Word, they may taste how good and sweet is the Spirit of the Lord; as a
presage of Heavenly Gifts and a token of Our Paternal good will.
We impart to you one and all, Venerable Brethren and Beloved Sons, most
lovingly in the Lord, the Apostolic Benediction.
Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, on the 30th of September,
the Feast of St. Jerome, the greatest Doctor in the exposition of the Sacred
Scriptures, in the year 1943, the fifth of Our Pontificate.
POPE PISU XII.
DESCRIPTION OF MAGNIFICENT
PAPAL CORONATION
As Peter was given a new name so does the new
Supreme Pontiff become known by another. After the election he extends
his first blessing to the people -- a Benediction which was not given in
the open for years until Pope Pius XI established the custom.
The Coronation, one of the most magnificent of
Vatican Ceremonies, takes place shortly after the election. With
the Pope carried high in a golden chair and attended by brilliantly attired
chamberlains and soldiers, the Coronation Mass is an unrivaled spectacle
of beauty, dignity, and ancient pageantry. At the Coronation, in
the midst of the pomp and splendor, a master of ceremonies recites in Latin:
"Holy Father, thus does the glory of the world pass away." As the
first Cardinal Deacon places the three-crowned Tiara on the head of the
Pope, he says: "Receive the three-crowned Tiara, and know that thou
art the Father of Princes and Kings, the Pastor of the earth, and Vicar
of Jesus Christ, to Whom be honor and glory forever. Amen."
The CORONATION of Pope Pius XII took place on
the balcony of St. Peter's in March 1939. (From the book "The
Vatican and Holy Year" by Stephen S. Fenichell & Phillip Andrews.--1950
edition.)
(Tradition is an equal part [along with the Bible] of the Authoritative Teaching of the Church -- From the book "The Immaculate Way" by Brian Farrely, S.S.M. -- 1963 edition.)
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