From Catholic Encyclopedia on Orestus Augustus Brownson:
"so able and intrepid an advocate did he prove in defence of the Faith, that he merited a letter of approbation and encouragement from the Bishops of the United States assembled in Plenary Council at Baltimore, in May, 1849, and from Pope Pius IX, in April, 1854."
From Brownson's Quarterly Review for October, 1860:
Protestants accuse our church of overlaying faith with a mass of errors, and smothering true piety with a multitude of superstitious practices and observances. The charge is false; but if brought against portions of a Catholic population, and not against the church, it would be not absolutely unfounded. We have many devotions perfectly true, holy, and useful, in the sense in which they have been proposed; but which individuals may abuse and render superstitious in practice. All these devotions are fitted and intended to impress upon the mind and heart the great mysteries of our faith, and to quicken our love and gratitude to him who hath died to redeem us. Thus we wear the scapular or a miraculous medal, or make a pilgrimage to La Salette in honor of our Lady, and so far as these things remind us of the mystery of the Incarnation, render our faith in that great mystery more lively, our devotion to God more fervent, our love to our neighbor more ardent, and our resolution to imitate the supernatural virtues of our Lady herself firmer, they are good, and serve admirably the purposes of the Christian life; but if supposed to be sacraments, to have some virtue in themselves, independent of the disposition of him who observes them, they become in those who so suppose, simple superstitious practices. To suppose that the simple wearing of the scapular of our Lady, even if one should die with it on, is of itself a sure guaranty against eternal punishment, is mere superstition, and not a harmless superstition either. The scapular is not a charm, and the benefits promised to the wearer are secured only by his faith and piety, his earnest devotions, or his observing certain prescribed conditions, and he who observes those conditions will be saved, without wearing it, though he may be detained longer in purgatory.
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