Preview: Pope Leo XIII to English Catholics in 1895

On Monday, June 23 we'll discuss another great anniversary on the Son Rise Rise Morning Show: the 130th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII's Apostolic Letter to England, "Amantissima Voluntatis" ("Most Loving Will") dated on April 27, 1895. You could listen to the letter here.

As usual, I'll be on the air about 7:50 a.m. Eastern/6:50 a.m. Central. Please listen live here or catch the podcast later here.

As the old Catholic Encyclopedia summarizes Pope Leo XIII's activities re: the British Isles (and indeed, the Empire):

Among the acts of Leo XIII that affected in a particular way the English-speaking world may be mentioned: for England, the elevation of John Henry Newman to the cardinalate (1879), the "Romanos Pontifices" of 1881 concerning the relations of the hierarchy and the regular clergy, the beatification (1886) of fifty [sic] English martyrs, the celebration of the thirteenth centenary of St. Gregory the Great, Apostle of England (1891), the Encyclicals "Ad Anglos" of 1895, on the return to Catholic unity, and the "Apostolicæ Curæ" of 1896, on the non-validity of the Anglican orders. He restored the Scotch hierarchy in 1878, and in 1898 addressed to the Scotch a very touching letter. In English India Pope Leo established the hierarchy in 1886, and regulated there long-standing conflicts with the Portuguese authorities. In 1903 King Edward VII paid him a visit at the Vatican. The Irish Church experienced his pastoral solicitude on many occasions. His letter to Archbishop McCabe of Dublin (1881), the elevation of the same prelate to the cardinalate in 1882, the calling of the Irish bishops to Rome in 1885, the decree of the Holy Office (13 April, 1888) on the plan of campaign and boycotting, and the subsequent Encyclical of 24 June, 1888, to the Irish hierarchy represent in part his fatherly concern for the Irish people, however diverse the feelings they aroused at the height of the land agitation.

And he named Saint Bede the Venerable a Doctor of the Church in 1889. And Pope Leo XIII declared many Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales blessed or venerable: 

• In 1886, Pope Leo XIII beatified 54 martyrs, including Thomas More and Bishop John Fisher and 11 others who were canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI;
• In 1886, Pope Leo also declared 29 English Catholic martyrs to be Venerable (several of these martyrs had died in chains, that is, is prison or because of their treatment in prison);
• In 1895, Pope Leo XIII beatified nine more martyrs

So it's clear that he had many connections to the Catholics of England; in the letter he mentions one English Catholic he'd met, the now-Venerable Servant of God Father Ignatius (Spenser) of St. Paul, who led a Crusade of Prayer for the reunion of all Christians in England with the Catholic Church.

Antonia Moffat writes about this letter for EWTN Britain:

On April 27, 1895, Pope Leo XIII wrote a deeply moving letter to the English people, reminding them of their rich Christian heritage and calling for prayer and unity with the Apostolic See. More than 130 years later, his words continue to inspire hope and faith in England today.

The letter was written to remind the English of their Christian heritage, of England’s privileged title as the Dowry of Mary, of the courageous faith of their forefathers and foremothers, and of the historic unity of faith with the Apostolic See of Peter.

How beautiful that a pope should write such a loving letter to the English people – a letter of encouragement, fatherly compassion and deep affection. In many ways, he poured out his heart in love, care and lament before the Living God. And we, the English Catholics and peoples, are the esteemed recipients of this legacy.

In his letter Pope Leo XIII traces the history of the relationship between the universal Catholic Church, especially the Papacy, and the English people from Pope St. Gregory the Great and St. Augustine of Canterbury to the schism and Protestant Reformation and its aftermath (from an unofficial translation):

That the English race was in those days devoted to this centre of Christian unity divinely constituted in the Roman Bishops, and that in the course of ages men of all ranks were bound to them by ties of loyalty, are facts too abundantly and plainly testified by the pages of history to admit of doubt or question. But, in the storms which devastated Catholicity throughout Europe in the sixteenth century, England, too, received a grievous wound; for it was first unhappily wrenched from communication with the Apostolic See, and then was bereft of that holy faith in which for long centuries it had rejoiced and found liberty. It was a sad defection; and Our predecessors, while lamenting it in their earnest love, made every prudent effort to put an end to it, and to mitigate the many evils consequent upon it. It would take long, and it is not necessary, to detail the sedulous and increasing care taken by Our predecessors in those circumstances.

He rejoiced, with some reservations, that Catholics were more able to practice their faith and be active participants in the political and legislative life of England:

We do not doubt that the united and humble supplications of so many to God are hastening the time of further manifestations of His merciful designs towards the English people when the Word of the Lord may run and be glorified. Our confidence is strengthened by observing the legislative and other measures which, if they do not perhaps directly, still do indirectly help forward the end We have in view by ameliorating the condition of the people at large, and by giving effect to the laws of justice and charity.

He commended the Catholics of England and the English people in general, for their concern for "the social issues" he'd highlighted in Rerum Novarum, but urged them to keep in mind the true means of their success:

For the labors of man, whether public or private, will not attain to their full efficacy without appeal to God in prayer and without the divine blessing. For happy is that people whose God is the Lord. For the mind of the Christian should be so turned and fixed that he places and rests the chief hope of his undertakings in the divine help obtained by prayer, whereby human effort is super-naturalized and the desire of doing good, as though quickened by a heavenly fire, manifests itself in vigorous and serviceable actions. In this power of prayer God has not merely dignified man, but with infinite mercy has given him a protector and help in the time of need, ready at hand to all, easy and void of effect to no one who has resolute recourse to it. "Prayer is our powerful weapon, our great protection, our storehouse, our port of refuge, our place of safety."

Finally, Pope Leo offered a prayer after invoking the beautiful legacy of England at the "Dowry of Mary" for the reunion of all Christians:

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy "Dowry" and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee. By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world ; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the cross. O sorrowful Mother! intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.

“When England goes back to Walsingham, Our Lady will come back to England" quoth Pope Leo XIII two years later.

Richard II had dedicated England as a Dowry to the Blessed Virgin Mary on June 15, 1381, in the midst of the Peasants Revolt. He knelt before the shrine of Our Lady of Pew in Westminster Abbey and "solemnly declared in Latin: 'Dos tua Virgo pia haec est. Quare rege, Maria.' Which translates as: 'This is your Dowry, O Holy Virgin. Mary, do thou rule in it.'" This action is depicted in the famous and beautiful Wilton Diptych.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us!

Image Credit (Public Domain): Pope Leo XIII (April 11, 1878)

Two Presidents' Bibles; Pope Francis on St. Jerome and the Bible

This can't be a coincidence: Pope Francis issues an Apostolic Letter, Scripturae Sacrae Affectus (Devotion to Sacred Scripture) on September 30, 2020, the 1600th anniversary of the death of St. Jerome, the great biblical scholar, hermit, and translator of the Holy Bible. Then on October 1, I see two Bible related items in the Wall Street Journal: a review of The Jefferson Bible, a book about President Thomas Jefferson's editing of the four Gospels, by Peter Manseau, senior curator of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and an advertisement for a new edition of the Protestant version of the New Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, annotated by President Jimmy Carter, titled the Simple Faith Bible!

First, a few excerpts from Pope Francis's letter:

Devotion to sacred Scripture, a “living and tender love” for the written word of God: this is the legacy that Saint Jerome bequeathed to the Church by his life and labours. Now, on the sixteen hundredth anniversary of his death, those words taken from the opening prayer of his liturgical Memorial[1] give us an essential insight into this outstanding figure in the Church’s history and his immense love for Christ. That “living and tender love” flowed, like a great river feeding countless streams, into his tireless activity as a scholar, translator and exegete. Jerome’s profound knowledge of the Scriptures, his zeal for making their teaching known, his skill as an interpreter of texts, his ardent and at times impetuous defence of Christian truth, his asceticism and harsh eremitical discipline, his expertise as a generous and sensitive spiritual guide – all these make him, sixteen centuries after his death, a figure of enduring relevance for us, the Christians of the twenty-first century.

From the section "Love for Sacred Scripture":

The distinctive feature of Saint Jerome’s spirituality was undoubtedly his passionate love for the word of God entrusted to the Church in sacred Scripture. All the Doctors of the Church – particularly those of the early Christian era – drew the content of their teaching explicitly from the Bible. Yet Jerome did so in a more systematic and distinctive way.

Exegetes in recent times have come to appreciate the narrative and poetic genius of the Bible and its great expressive quality. Jerome instead emphasized in sacred Scripture the humble character of God’s revelation, set down in the rough and almost primitive cadences of the Hebrew language in comparison to the refinement of Ciceronian Latin. He devoted himself to the study of sacred Scripture not for aesthetic reasons, but – as is well known – only because Scripture had led him to know Christ. Indeed, ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.[28]

Jerome teaches us that not only should the Gospels and the apostolic Tradition present in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Letters be studied and commented on, but that the entire Old Testament is indispensable for understanding the truth and the riches of Christ.[29]The Gospel itself gives evidence of this: it speaks to us of Jesus as the Teacher who appeals to Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (cf. Lk 4:16-21; 24:27.44-47) in order to explain his own mystery. The preaching of Peter and Paul in the Acts of the Apostles is likewise rooted in the Old Testament, apart from which we cannot fully understand the figure of the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour. Nor should the Old Testament be thought of merely as a vast repertoire of citations that prove the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Rather, only in light of the Old Testament prefigurements is it possible to know more profoundly the meaning of the Christ event as revealed in his death and resurrection. Today we need to rediscover, in catechesis and preaching, as well as in theological exposition, the indispensable contribution of the Old Testament, which should be read and digested as a priceless source of spiritual nourishment (cf. Ez 3:1-11; Rev 10:8-11).[30]

And finally, from the section "The Study of Sacred Scripture":

Biblical passages are not always immediately accessible. As Isaiah said (29:11), even for those who know how to “read” – that is, those who have had a sufficient intellectual training – the sacred book appears “sealed”, hermetically closed to interpretation. A witness is needed to intervene and provide the key to its liberating message, which is Christ the Lord. He alone is able to break the seal and open the book (cf. Rev 5:1-10) and in this way unveil its wondrous outpouring of grace (Lk 4:17-21). Many, even among practising Christians, say openly that they are not able to read it (cf. Is 29:12), not because of illiteracy, but because they are unprepared for the biblical language, its modes of expression and its ancient cultural traditions. As a result the biblical text becomes indecipherable, as if it were written in an unknown alphabet and an esoteric tongue.

This shows the need for the mediation of an interpreter, who can exercise a “diaconal” function on behalf of the person who cannot understand the meaning of the prophetic message. Here we think of the deacon Philip, sent by the Lord to approach the chariot of the eunuch who was reading a passage from Isaiah (53:7-8), without being able to unlock its meaning. “Do you understand what you are reading?” asked Philip, and the eunuch replied: “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:30-31).[32]

Jerome can serve as our guide because, like Philip (cf. Acts 8:35), he leads every reader to the mystery of Jesus, while responsibly and systematically providing the exegetical and cultural information needed for a correct and fruitful reading of the Scriptures.[33] In an integrated and skilful way he employed all the methodological resources available in his day – competence in the languages in which the word of God was handed down, careful analysis and examination of manuscripts, detailed archeological research, as well as knowledge of the history of interpretation – in order to point to a correct understanding of the inspired Scriptures.

I certainly recommend you read the entire letter.

So we might say that The Jefferson Bible and Jimmy Carter's annotation of the Simple Faith Bible propose two Presidents of the United States of America as guides to interpreting the Sacred Scriptures.

In Crawford Cribben's WSJ review of Peter Manseau's The Jefferson Bible, Cribben suggests that Jefferson may not be a reliable guide as he notes that Jefferson not only removed all the miraculous healings from his version of the four Gospels, but he excised "any discussion of repentance and forgiveness". Thus, Jefferson proposes a moral standard without any recourse once one fails to live up to it--which Cribben notes Jefferson needed himself, given "his relationship with his slave Sally Hemmings" and "the paternity of her children." (Jefferson's hairs found in the original volume provided conclusive DNA evidence.)

Cribben further cites Manseau's comment that "Jefferson's Jesus stories are all set up with no pay off." . . . "Time and again, Jesus indicates that he might be able to perform a miracle of some kind, and then does nothing." Not to mention that His Passion and Resurrection could not be part of The Jefferson Bible, and thus not part of Thomas Jefferson's (hidden) message to the new Republic and its citizens. And St. Paul told us what that means to Christians: “If Christ has not been raised, then empty [too] is our preaching; empty, too, your faith ... you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:14-17), as Pope Benedict XVI reminded us in 2008.

This excerpt from Manseau's The Jefferson Bible was published on the Smithsonian Magazine website, describing the rediscovery of Jefferson's work. The Jefferson Bible by Peter Manseau is part of the Princeton University Press Lives of Great Religious Book series.

As to President Jimmy Carter, we know that he has taught Sunday School for decades and meditated upon the meaning of Sacred Scripture and its application to Christian life. You may look inside the Zondervan Simple Faith Bible here. I presume that in many ways, Carter will emphasis the moral standard that Jesus did proclaim but also reflect on Jesus as Our Savior and Resurrected Redeemer, as this passage indicates reflecting on Matthew 3:1–2:

Pause for a moment and consider what John [the Baptist] meant by the words kingdom of heaven. The Pharisees and Sadducees distinguished God’s kingdom as something far in the distance or something with elements of punishment for sins. So here John the Baptist uses kingdom of heaven as a phrase designed to alert the people. He wanted them to see that they needed to repent in the present because the kingdom of heaven was already in their midst.

We live in the midst of the kingdom of heaven now, just as John did in the time of Christ. The kingdom of heaven is a continuing history of human beings and our relationship and reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus Christ. Everything now and in days past and in years ahead is under the sovereignty of God. Human beings are designed to live in God’s kingdom. And we can be part of the kingdom of heaven if we separate ourselves from the morals and customs and demands of the secular world and align ourselves with God through faith in Jesus.

"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."--St. Jerome

Image Credit (public domain) Pinturicchio's St. Jerome in the desert