“To us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6): The Importance of the Infancy of Christ

Note: This is a slightly adjusted version of a talk given by the author in December 2023.

The Incarnation of Christ is, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “the mystery of the wonderful union of the divine and human natures in the one person of the Word.” (CCC 483). At Mass, we proclaim our belief in it in the Nicene Creed: “and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became man.” [1] So much can be said about this unique and singular event in history, but here we will be examining two questions in particular. Why did our Lord come as an infant child? And why is this important for us? 

New Release: Reprint of Danielou on Biblical Typology

From the first centuries of its existence, the Church has interpreted the historical events recounted in the Old Testament as being "types" or "figures" of the events of the New Testament and of the sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ. In fact, the traditional Latin liturgy was born from this intimate connection of ancient temple sacrifice and incarnational fulfillment. Ironically, those who were promoting the "ressourcement" of the Church Fathers were the same ones who gleefully slaughtered the liturgy that best represented the mind of the Fathers.

Jean Cardinal Danielou, one of the foremost Catholic scholars of the twentieth century, and a theologian especially concerned with the relationship between history and the Christian revelation, examines in this excellent book -- now reprinted in a nice new edition by Ex Fontibus -- the typological interpretation of the Fathers of the Church and their contemporaries during the first three centuries of the Christian era. Among examples he discusses are the crossing of the Jordan by the Israelites as a type of baptism, Rahab as a type of the Church, and the fall of Jericho as a figure of the end of the world. The complex interpretations of Adam, the flood, and the sacrifice and marriage of Isaac are also described in full and commented on. Like Louis Bouyer, Jean Danielou is at his best when he is transmitting the rich content of tradition to modern readers.

De Mattei: The religious war of the IV Century and of our times

Roberto de Mattei 

Corrispondenza Romana

April 25, 2018

The Church advances through history forever victorious, in accordance with the marvelous plans of God. The first three centuries reached their peak under Emperor Diocletian (284-305). All appeared to be lost. Discouragement was a temptation for many Christians and among them there were those who lost the faith. But those who persevered had the immense joy, not many years later, of seeing the Cross of Christ blazing on the banners of Constantine at the Battle of Saxa Rubra (312). This victory changed the course of history. The Milan-Nicomedia Edict of 313, granting liberty to Christians, overturned Nero’s senatus consultum, which had proclaimed Christianity a “superstitio illicita”.  The public Christianization of society had its beginnings in a climate of enthusiasm and fervor.

New Reprints of Three Theological Classics

People who enjoy reading theological books quickly discover, in the vaults of university libraries, at used bookstores, or by lucky links online, a lot of hidden gems out there — books that were first published 50, 75, 100 years ago or even more, which have long since fallen out of print and yet very much deserve to be back in print for new readers.

Francis' falsified footnotes: He mangles the Church Fathers, too

By this stage of Francis' pontificate, faithful Catholics have become all too familiar with the Pope's tendency to misquote and wrest the words of the Holy Gospel and of previous Magisterial documents not only in his "off the cuff" allocutions, homilies, and interviews, but even in his formal, prepared documents. It only makes sense that, as we shall see below, the Pope shows the same disrespect for the Church Fathers.

To cite one of the most egregious manglings of the Church's previous Magisterium:  While all the faithful are rightly outraged or troubled by his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia's infamous Footnote 351 granting permission for unrepentant adulterers to commit sacrilege at Mass, we cannot forget that the Pope in Amoris laetitia conveniently failed to quote St. John Paul's Familiaris consortio no. 84 which explicitly upholds Christ's commandment forbidding Communion for purportedly remarried adulterers, while Amoris laetitia's Footnote 329 rips the Second Vatican Council's Gaudium et spes no. 51 (concerning temporary abstinence from marital relations) completely out of context in order to argue that "doing it for the children" might mitigate the mortal sin of adultery. (We reported and commented on these things the lamentable day Amoris laetitia was issued.)