'I know that after my death some men will come to you, bringing new doctrines, new constitutions, new ceremonies. Do not believe them. If an angel from heaven should so come, let him be anathema.'

St. John of Capistrano

'Now you are made Bishop of Bologna. I congratulate you. But you will go farther; you will be a Cardinal, and afterwards, Pope. . . You are Thomas, indeed, for Thomas was incredulous.'

St. John of Capistrano, prophecizing the future, (to Thomas Parentucelli, who later became Pope Nicholas V)

'Language which might inspire aversion for the higher classes is, and can only be regarded as, altogether contrary to the true spirit of Christian charity. Likewise, all terms smacking of an unhealthy novelty in Catholic publications are condemnable, such as those deriding the piety of the faithful, or pointing out a new orientation of the Christian life, new directions of the Church, new aspirations of the modern soul, a new social vocation of the clergy, or a new Christian civilization.'

Pope St. Pius X

'I cannot sufficiently be astonished that such is the insanity of some men, such the impiety of their blinded understanding, such, finally, their lust after error, that they will not be content with the rule of faith delivered once and for all from antiquity, but must daily seek after something new, and even newer still, and are always longing to add something to religion, or to change it, or to subtract from it!'

St. Vincent of Lerins

'We have nothing to say which you have not already heard, no doctrine to propound that is new to anyone; but we treat of matters which it is necessary for everyone to bear in mind, and God inspires us with the hope that our message will not fail to bear abundant fruit.'

Pope St. Pius X

'Whence we preach nothing except what we have received from our forefathers. In all things, therefore, both in the rule of faith in the observance of discipline, let the pattern of antiquity be observed.'

Pope St. Leo the Great

'The rule of piety admits nothing new. All things are to be delivered to those who come after us with the same fidelity with which they were received by us. It is our duty to follow religion, not make religion follow us.'

St. Vincent of Lerins

'Teach nothing new, but implant in the hearts of everyone those things which the fathers of venerable memory taught with a uniform preaching.'

Pope St. Leo the Great

'What then should a Catholic do if some part of the Church were to separate itself from communion with the universal Faith? What other choice can he make but to prefer to the gangrenous and corrupted member the whole of the body that is sound. And if some new contagion were to try to poison no longer a small part of the Church, but all of the Church at the same time, then he will take the greatest care to attach himself to antiquity which, obviously, can no longer be seduced by any lying novelty.'

St. Vincent of Lerins

'Perceiving the Christian religion tottering this long time, the primary means of salvation neglected; and being moved by the manifest danger and perdition of the flock of Christ, we recur to the doctrine of the Fathers, ordaining nothing new, nothing of our own invention; form the full conviction of the necessity of embracing the exclusive and primary path of salvation -- the trite path of the Saints: because we are not aware of any other entrance, for either flock or pastors, into the kingdom of heaven than that which is pointed out by him who said, I am the gate; whosever will enter through me, shall find security and pasture; and what we find preached by the Apostles, and observed by the Fathers.'

Pope St. Gregory VII