CATECHISM OF PERSEVERANCE

[doue_ha_mem_bro]

Q. What happened about the close of the fourth century?
A. About the close of the fourth century schism and heresy caused a number of disorders. Great saints retired into the desert, there to do penance for the sins of the world, and obtain a victory for the church; of this number was St. Hilarion.

Q. Who was St. Hilarion?
A. St. Hilarion was born in Palestine, of idolatrous and rich parents. At the age of fifteen he retired into the desert, where he lived to the age of eighty-four, practising the most incredible austerities. Perceiving that his death was near, he said : " What dost thou fear, my soul ; it is now seventy years that thou servest Jesus Christ, why shouldst thou fear ?"

Q. What new heresy arose at this time?
A. At this time arose the heresy of Macedonius, who denied the divinity of the Holy Ghost. Our Lord came to the aid of his church, by means of the council of Constantinople, which condemned the heretic, and added some words to the symbol of Nice, the better to explain the faith touching the Holy Ghost. This is the symbol sung at Mass.

Q. Was the church in peace after the condemnation of Macedonius?
A. She was not. The followers of this heretic, as well as the Arians, troubled the church by spreading their errors. But God raised up, to oppose them, a great doctor named St. Ambrose. St. Ambrose was the son of the prefect of Gaul, and was made bishop of Milan, notwithstanding his tears and his opposition. He extinguished the heresy of the Arians in his diocess, and showed himself always firm in defending the cause of God.

Q. On what occasion did his firmness show itself in a special manner?
A. His firmness was specially shown in his conduct towards Theodosius the Great. This emperor, having massacred seven thousand in habitants of the city of Thessalonica, dared immediately after to enter the church. St. Ambrose stopped him at the door, and made him do penance. The emperor submitted with humility.

Q. Who was St. Augustin?
A. St. Augustin was born at Tagaste, in Africa. His mother was St. Monica, and his father Patrick, a pagan, but he was converted by the prayers and patience of his virtuous wife. In his youth, St Augustin fell into every disorder, from which he was withdrawn by St. Ambrose, and St. Monica his mother.

Q. What did he do after his conversion?
A. After his conversion, he retired into the country ; became the bishop of Hippo, and confounded the heretics, schismatics, and pagans, who united their attacks against the church. Like St. Ambrose, he sold the sacred vessels to redeem captives, and died so poor as to render it unnecessary for him to make a will.

for download, print, and above all share : https://gloria.tv/user/SC92WVppTo2U1QcNfiNBNv4qX


CATECHISM OF PERSEVERANCE - COURSE THIRD - CHAPTER 23 - Christianity preserved and propagated - St. Hilarion, St. Ambrose, St. Augustin -2nd General Council - 4th and 5th Centuries - AN HISTORICAL, DOCTRINAL,MORAL, AND LITURGICAL EXPOSITION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION Translated from the French of Mgr Gaume by REV. F. B. JAMISON

[doue_ha_mem_bro]

COURSE THIRD - CHAPTER 28 - Christianity preserved and propagated - St. Sophronius - 6th General Council - St.Willibrod - 7th and eight Centuries - AN HISTORICAL, DOCTRINAL,MORAL, AND LITURGICAL EXPOSITION OF THE CATHOLIC RELIGION Translated from the French of Mgr Gaume by REV. F. B. JAMISON

Q. Who gave the last blow to the empire of the Persians ?
A. Mahomet gave the finishing blow to the empire of the Persians. He was born at Mecca, a small town in Arabia, of obscure parents. Crime cost him nothing, if by it he could attain his wishes. In order to hold a more sure and unlimited sway over the Arabs, a great number of whom were still idolaters, he determined to form a religion for them.

Q. What was his religion ?
A. The religion of Mahomet was an absurd mixture of Christianity, Judaism, and idolatry. He admits the existence of one God, but denies the free will of man ; he prescribes different acts of religion, but sanctions the most shameful sins, and promises his followers sensual pleasures in eternity as their reward.

Q. What were the effects of this religion ?
A. It produced debasement, corruption, slavery, and barbarism ; whereas Christianity has purified morals, abolished slavery, and civilized nations.

Q. Did Mahomet succeed in establishing his religion?
A. He succeeded by means of the sword. His law was : Believe or die ! The Mahometans owe their success to force and the love of pleasures ; whereas the apostles established the Christian religion by placing a restraint upon all the passions of man, and by suffering martyrdom themselves.

Q. Is the religion of Mahomet one ?
A. Whilst the Christian religion is one and undivided, Mahometanism is divided into a multitude of sects. There are more than sixty of these sects.

Q. What was the end of Mahomet ?
A. A Jewish woman, wishing to ascertain if Mahomet was really a prophet, as he pretended, poisoned a shoulder of mutton, and gave it to him to eat.. The pretended prophet did not discover it until after he had eaten of it, and died miserably.

Q. How did the empire of the Persians terminate?
A. Omar, one of the lieutenants of Mahomet, was appointed by Providence to punish the Persians. He declared war against them, killed their last king, and destroyed their empire. The Mahometans, called by God to chastize the guilty nations, reduced to servitude all the provinces of the east which embraced heresy.

Q. What other calamity afflicted the church ?
A. The heresy of the Monothelites. These heretics pretended that there was but one will, although there were two natures in our Lord They were condemned in the sixth general council, held at Constantinople in 680.

Q. How did God console the church ?
A. God consoled the church by the evangelical life of a great number of saints, who repaired the scandals and crimes caused by heresy. Of this number was St. Anastasius, a solitary of Mount Sinai.

Q. How did God repair the losses sustained by the church ?
A. God repaired the losses which the church had sustained from heresy and Mahometanism by the conversion of new nations. These were the Frisons, the Hollanders, and a portion of the Danes. The missionary who carried the gospel to them was St. Willibrod, a Benedictine religious of England. He was sent by Pope Sergius.

for download, print, and above all share : https://gloria.tv/post/rr33aFAmk7JN2bNAkbJjf9RZ6