In honor of Saint Cyprian's feast day tomorrow I was reading some of his epistles and found an interesting paragraph where the bishop writes about the Eucharist and Justification by faith. Curiously, Cyprian refers to the Eucharist both as the body/blood and bread/wine. He also seems to agree with the evangelical doctrine of St. Paul that we are justified by faith before God … [Read more...]
Feast of St. Augustine
Today the Latin / Western Church commemorates St. Augustine of Hippo. One great ecclesiastical historian around here has called him the grandfather of the Western Church. Jaroslav Pelikan said that the whole of catholic history was the church's struggle to understand and implement the doctrines of St. Augustine, and BB Warfield famously wrote that the Reformation was the … [Read more...]
St. Monica
For those of you who haven't read the Confessions of St. Augustine, St. Monica, is remembered as the gracious doctor's mother. She prayed for Augustine for over seventeen years, that he would be converted to the true faith. As the phrase usually goes: Augustine wouldn't have been a saint unless Monica had. The episode reminds me of a story wherein Pope Paul VI upon becoming … [Read more...]
This Vale of Tears: Leo, Fenelon, and Greene on Christian Life
"nothing is more effectual in prevailing with God than that a man should judge himself and never cease from asking pardon, knowing that he is never without fault. For human nature has this flaw ... from the corruptible body springs that which may corrupt the soul also. Hence although the inner man be now reborn in Christ and rescued from the bonds of captivity, it has unceasing … [Read more...]
Ratzinger, Luther, and Vatican II: An Episode in the History of Augustinianism
I was reading an old review from the Tablet today and it made me smile. It was discussing Cardinal Ratzinger before he was elected as Pope and made some interesting assertions that are rarely discussed any more, but were accepted at the time: "It is certainly strange that the 'enforcer' of Catholic orthodoxy should be a self-confessed anti-Thomist. His dislike of the views of … [Read more...]