Obscure Historical Points of Interest of The Catholic Church

Please read the following items and contemplate the impact they have had on the teachings and practices of the Church:

1. Making the sign of the cross began A.D. 300

2. Priests began to dress differently from laymen A.D. 500

3. Extreme Unction invented in A.D. 526

4. Latin Language, used in prayer and worship, imposed by Gregory I in A.D. 600

5. Worship of the Cross, images and relics, authorized in A.D. 786

6. Celibacy of the priesthood, decreed by Pope Gregory VII in A.D. 1079

7. Transubstantiation, proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in A.D. 1215

8. Auricular confession of sins to a priest instead of to God, instituted by Pope Innocent III, in Laterna Council in A.D. 1215

9. Adoration of the wafer (Host), decreed by Pope Honorius III in A.D. 1220

10. Bible forbidden to laymen, placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Council of Toulouse in A.D. 1229

11. Cup forbidden to the people at Communion by Council of Constance in A.D. 1414

12. Apocryphal books added to the Bible by the Council of Trent in A.D. 1546

The Truth Revealed About: Obscure Historical Points of Interest of The Catholic Church

Please read the following items and elaborate on their impact to the teachings and practices of the Church:

1. Making the sign of the cross began A.D. 300 a) The theologian Tertullian, writing in 211, said, “We furrow our forehead with the sign [of the Cross].” Making the sign was already an old custom when he wrote. (Catholicism and Fundamentalism, p.38)

2. Priests began to dress differently from laymen A.D. 500 a) So what? The same charge can be brought against fundamentalist preachers who conduct services while dressed in choir robes. Boettner’s statement happens to be true, but it proves nothing. The main vestment worn by priests during the Mass is the chasuble. It is really nothing more than a stylized Roman overcoat. (C&F p.39)

3. Extreme Unction invented in A.D. 526 a) Boettner makes no effort to give the Church’s explanation of the sacrament’s origin...found in the New Testament itself: “Is one of you sick? Let him send for the presbyters of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name. Prayer offered in faith will restore the sick man, and the Lord will give him relief; if he is guilty of sins, they will be pardoned” (James 5:14-15). (C&F p.39)

4. Latin Language, used in prayer and worship, imposed by Gregory I in A.D. 600 a) Perhaps [Boettner] wants to suggest that, until recently, priests used Latin, even after the people had turned to vernacular tongues, in order to keep secret such things as what was happening during Mass. That theory does not hold up, since even Catholics who knew no Latin knew what was going on at Mass - all they had to do was look on the righthand pages of their missals to see the translation of the Latin that was on the facing pages. (C&F p.40)

5. Worship of the Cross, images and relics, authorized in A.D. 786 a) Catholics do not worship the Cross or images or relics. They use these physical objects to remind themselves of Christ and his special friends, the saints in heaven. (C&F p.40)

6. Celibacy of the priesthood, decreed by Pope Gregory VII in A.D. 1079 a) Catholics do not deny that some early Popes were married and that celibacy, for priests in the Latin (Western) Rite, did not become mandatory until the early Middle Ages...No one is forced to be a priest (or a nun, for that matter; nuns also do not marry) so no Catholic is forced to be celibate...celibacy is a disciplinary, not a doctrinal, injunction. (C&F pp.41-42)

7. Transubstantiation, proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in A.D. 1215 a) The implication is that transubstantiation was not believed until 1215...Transubstantiation is just a technical term used to describe what happens when the bread and wine used at Mass are turned into the actual Body and Blood of Christ. The belief...stems from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel... (C&F p.42)

8. Auricular confession of sins to a priest instead of to God, instituted by Pope Innocent III, in Lateran Council in A.D. 1215 a) Origen, writing around 244, referred to the sinner who “does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord”. Cyprian of Carthage, writing seven years later, said, “Finally, of how much greater faith and more salutary fear are they who...confess to the priests of God in a straightforward manner and in sorrow, making an open declaration of conscience.” (C&F p.43)

9. Adoration of the wafer (Host), decreed by Pope Honorius III in A.D. 1220 a) What the reader is supposed to think, apparently, is that Catholics worship the bread used at Mass. They do not. What they worship is Christ, and they believe the bread and the wine are turned into his actual Body and Blood. (C&F p.44)

10. Bible forbidden to laymen, placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Council of Toulouse in A.D. 1229 a) [The] Index was established in 1543, so a council held in 1229 hardly could have listed a book on it...The council held in Toulouse dealt with the Albigensian heresy, a variety of Manichaeanism, which maintained that marriage is evil because the flesh is evil...In order to promulgate their views, the Albigensians used vernacular versions of the Bible to “substantiate” their theories...[and they] were twisting the Bible to support an immoral moral system. So the bishops at Toulouse restricted the use of the Bible until the heresy was ended. (C&F p.45)

11. Cup forbidden to the people at Communion by Council of Constance in A.D. 1414 a) [I]f both the Body and Blood are contained in [the host and the cup], then the communicant needs to receive only one...In 1414, there seemed to be [reasons to restrict the communicants to receiving only the host]. The first reason was that some people misunderstood the Eucharist and thought it had to be received under both forms because one form contained only the Body and the other only the Blood. By restricting communicants to the host alone the Church emphasized the true doctrine. (C&F p.46)

12. Apocryphal books added to the Bible by the Council of Trent in A.D. 1546 a) The fact is that the Council of Trent did not add to the Bible what Protestants call the apocryphal books. Instead, the Reformers dropped from the Bible books that had been in common use for centuries. (C&F p.46)

These half-truths (the main items not in bold) have been excerpted from the “Bible” of Anti-Catholic Fundamentalists, Roman Catholicism by Loraine Boettner on pages 7&8.

For a deeper understanding of the deception, lies and intentional distortions of the sacred beliefs, practices, devotions and history of the Catholic Church by (sometimes well- meaning) fundamentalists, please see Karl Keating’s Catholicism and Fundamentalism. It covers these items in further depth.

(Catholicism and Fundamentalism: The Attack on “Romanism” by “Bible Christians” by Karl Keating; Ignatius Press, 1988 Pp. 37-50)