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Author Topic: "On the Fewness of the Saved: Teaching of the Saints" Fr. Francis-Xavier Godts  (Read 8379 times)

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Offline OABrownson1876

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I have read St. Leonard of Port Maurice's (d. 1751) sermon on the "Fewness of the Saved," which he preached to multiple adult Catholics during his lifetime.  He certainly does not maintain the majority of adult Catholics as saved.   

Offline AnthonyPadua

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A nice sermon on the fewness of the saved. Not sure who the priest is.


I have read St. Leonard of Port Maurice's (d. 1751) sermon on the "Fewness of the Saved," which he preached to multiple adult Catholics during his lifetime.  He certainly does not maintain the majority of adult Catholics as saved. 
certainly a sobering topic…

https://www.olrl.org/snt_docs/fewness.shtml

Fr. Godts in chapter 4, "The Teaching of the Saints is Approved by the Theologians," quotes a Fr. Mauran, who says:

"Alas it must be admitted that the great majority tell us, as St. Thomas Aquinas does, that the saved are in the minority!- What a terrible doctrine.  I must admit that it has always shocked me.- Yet it is very painful to see such an opinion taught throughout the Middle Ages.  In our own days those theological treatises that are classics in a great many Major Seminaries still teach the same opinion, notably the theological manuals of Vencent and Bonal.  Cardinal Gousset also tells us that 'the majority of men are lost.'  Yet a reaction against these deplorable doctrines is becoming established in men's minds." (pg. 123)

This quote from Fr. Mauran safely summarizes Fr. Godts' position.  I think it safe to say that were Fr. Godts living today he would be of the "Rigorist" camp, which is to say that the majority of baptized, adult Catholics are damned.  Today, we as traditional Catholics, would probably modify the "Rigorist" position to read, "Only those baptized Catholics who attend the Latin Mass and condemn the New Mass, will be saved."  This is my position as a traditional Catholic.  Of course we can argue what constitutes "the Latin Mass"/"New mass", et cetera.

Let us assume that there are 10 million Traditional Catholics in the world, which might be a high figure.  Or consider this statistic: Assuming the world population to be 7 billion, one percent of the world population would be 70 million; so assuming all Trads save their souls, this would be 1/7th of one percent of the world population.   
Even those of us who are "baptized Catholics who attend the Latin Mass and condemn the New Mass" cannot be complacent. We must "work out our salvation with fear and trembling."

Thank you for the link to Fr. Faber’s treatise, Yeti.  Scribd has one as well, but I was unable to post it.