“If anyone says that the received and approved rites of the Catholic Church, accustomed to be used in the administration of the sacraments, may be despised or omitted by the ministers without sin and at their pleasure, or may be changed by any pastor of the churches to other new ones, let him be anathema.” – The Council of Trent
“[Our Pastoral solicitude] induces us to earnestly protect and preserve in everything and especially in the sacred rites of the Church the best and old norm.” – Pope Clement VIII
“The best advice that I can give you is this: Church-traditions— especially when they do not run counter to the faith— are to be observed in the form in which previous generations have handed them down… The traditions which have been handed down should be regarded as apostolic laws." – St. Jerome
The devil has always attempted, by means of the heretics, to deprive
the world of the Mass, making them precursors of the Anti-Christ, who,
before
anything else, will try to abolish and will actually abolish the Holy
Sacrament of the altar, as a punishment for the sins of men, according to
the
prediction of Daniel "And strength was given him against the continual
sacrifice" (Daniel 8:12D). --St. Alphonsus Liguori, Doctor of the Church
(1696-1787)
"It is prohibited for the faithful to even touch the sacred vessels, or receive in the hand."-Pope Saint Sixtus I (115-125 AD)
"Persecution has come upon us, right honorable brethren, and persecution in the severest form. Shepherds are persecuted that their flocks may be scattered. And the worst of all is that those who are being treated ill cannot accept their sufferings in proof of their testimony, nor can the people reverence the athletes as in the army of martyrs, because the name of Christians is applied to the persecutors. The one charge which is now sure to secure severe punishment is the careful keeping of the traditions of the Fathers." – St. Basil the Great
"For nothing so much disturbs the mind, though it be done for some beneficial purpose, as to innovate and introduce strange things, and most of all when this is done in matters relating to divine worship and the glory of God." -- St. John Chrysostom
"That rule must be absolutely observed which states that, except for the most serious reasons and with the Apostolic See, no innovations are to be introduced into the holy rites of the liturgy." – Pope Gregory XVI
"Pope (Saint) Gelasius in his ninth letter (chap. 26) to the Bishops of Lucania condemned the evil practice which had been introduced of women serving the priest at the celebration of Mass. Since this abuse had spread to the Greeks, Innocent IV strictly forbade it in his letter to the Bishop of Tusculum: 'Women should not dare to serve at the altar; they should be altogether refused this ministry.' We too have forbidden this practice in the same words …." -Benedict XIV, Allatae sunt, #29, July 26, 1755
“The proposition of the synod by which it shows itself eager to remove the cause through which, in part, there has been induced a forgetfulness of the principles relating to the order of the liturgy, "by recalling it (the liturgy) to a greater simplicity of rites, by expressing it in the vernacular language, by uttering it in a loud voice"; as if the present order of the liturgy, received and approved by the Church, had emanated in some part from the forgetfulness of the principles by which it should be regulated,—rash, offensive to pious ears, insulting to the Church, favorable to the charges of heretics against it.”-Pope Pius VI, Auctorem Fide (28 August 1794), Condemning the Synod of Pistoia and its errors of trying to change the Liturgy
For the Church, precisely because it embraces all nations and is destined to endure until the end of time … of its very nature requires a language that is universal, immutable, and non-vernacular.
Pope Pius XI, Officiorum Omnium, 1922
The use of the Latin language prevailing in a great part of the Church affords at once an imposing sign of unity and an effective safeguard against the corruptions of true doctrine.
Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 1947, Sec. 60
Latin is the immutable language of the Western Church.
Pope John XXIII
The Catholic Church has a dignity far surpassing that of every merely human society, for it was founded by Christ the Lord. It is altogether fitting, therefore, that the language it uses should be noble, majestic, and non-vernacular.
Pope John XXIII, Veterum Sapientia, February 22, 1962 (just eight months before the opening of Vatican II), chap. 13
We also, impelled by the weightiest of reasons … are fully determined to restore this language to its position of honor and to do all We can to promote its study and use. The employment of Latin has recently been contested in some quarters, and many are asking what the mind of the Apostolic See is in this matter. We have therefore decided to issue the timely directives contained in this docuмent, so as to ensure that the ancient and uninterrupted use of Latin be maintained and, where necessary, restored.
Pope John XXIII, Veterum Sapientia,
February 22, 1962 (just eight months before the opening of Vatican II), chap. 13
The use of the Latin language … is to be preserved in the Latin rites.
Second Vatican Council, Sacrosanctum Concilium
(Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy), para. 36.1
If the Church is to remain truly the Catholic Church, it is essential to keep a universal tongue.
Cardinal Heenan (1967)
The Latin language is assuredly worthy of being defended with great care instead of being scorned; for the Latin Church it is the most abundant source of Christian civilization and the richest treasury of piety…. We must not hold in low esteem these traditions of your fathers, which were your glory for centuries.
Pope Paul VI, Sacrificium Laudis, August 15, 1966, Epistle to Superiors General of Clrical Religious Institutes Bound to Choir, on the Celebration of the Divine Office in Latin
"It is necessary to obey a Pope in all things as long as he does not go against the universal customs of the Church, but should he go against the universal customs of the Church, he need not be followed.” -- Pope Innocent III
"'One faith,' St. Paul writes (Eph. 4:5). Hold most firmly that our faith is identical with that of the ancients. Deny this, and you dissolve the unity of the Church ... We must hold this for certain, namely: that the faith of the people at the present day is one with the faith of the people in past centuries. Were this not true, then we would be in a different church than they were in and, literally, the Church would not be One." -- St. Thomas Aquinas
"The Apostles, led by the inward instinct of the Holy Ghost, handed down to the churches certain instructions which they did not put in writing, but which have been ordained, in accordance with the observance of the Church as practiced by the faithful as time went on. Wherefore the Apostle says (2 Thessalonians 2:14): "Stand fast; and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word"--that is by word of mouth--"or by our epistle"--that is by word put into writing." -- St. Thomas Aquinas
If a future Pope teaches anything contrary to the Catholic Faith, do not follow him.
-Pope Pius IX
These enemies of divine revelation extol human progress to the skies, and with rash and sacrilegious daring would have it introduced into the Catholic religion as if this religion were not the work of God but of man, or some kind of philosophical discovery susceptible of perfection by human efforts.
-Bl. Pope Pius IX
…The Roman Pontiffs have always…held that all those rites should be preserved which deviate neither from accuracy in matters of faith, nor from what is fitting.” – Pope Pius IX
It is a sin to believe that there is salvation outside the Catholic Church!
-Bl. Pope Pius IX
For the Church of Christ, watchful guardian that she is, and defender of the dogmas deposited with her, never changes anything, never diminishes anything, never adds anything to them; but with all diligence she treats the ancient docuмents faithfully and wisely; if they really are of ancient origin and if the faith of the Fathers has transmitted them, she strives to investigate and explain them in such a way that the ancient dogmas of heavenly doctrine will be made evident and clear, but will retain their full, integral, and proper nature, and will grow only within their own genus – that is, within the same dogma, in the same sense and the same meaning.” -Bl. Pope Pius IX
It is error to believe that Every man is free to embrace and profess that religion which, guided by the light of reason, he shall consider true.
-Bl. Pope Pius IX
The civil liberty of every mode of worship, and full power given to all of openly and publicly manifesting their opinions and their ideas conduce more easily to corrupt the morals and minds of the people... The Roman Pontiff cannot and ought not to reconcile himself or agree with, progress, liberalism and modern civilization.
-Bl. Pope Pius IX
The Roman Pontiffs have always...held that all those rites should be preserved which deviate neither from accuracy in matters of faith, nor from what is fitting.
-Bl. Pope Pius IX
"It is not the part of prudence to neglect that which antiquity in its long experience has approved and which is also taught by apostolic authority." -- Pope Leo XIII
No human law can abolish the natural and original right of marriage, nor in any way limit the chief and principal purpose of marriage ordained by God’s authority from the beginning: “Increase and multiply.
-Pope Leo XIII
Nothing emboldens the wicked so greatly as the lack of courage on the part of the good.
Pope Leo XIII
The equal toleration of all religions...is the same as atheism.
-Pope Leo XIII
Remember and understand well that where Peter is, there is the Church; that those who refuse to associate in communion with the Chair of Peter belong to Antichrist, not to Christ. He who would separate himself from the Roman Pontiff has no further bond with Christ.
-Pope Leo XIII
Divorce is born of perverted morals and leads to vicious habits.
Pope Leo XIII
They knew only too well the intimate bond which unites faith with worship, 'the law of belief with the law of prayer,' and so, under the pretext of restoring it to its primitive form, they corrupted the order of the liturgy in many respects to adapt it to the errors of the Innovators.
Pope Leo XIII
The faith by which we live shall never vary in any age . . . for one is the Faith which sanctifies the Just of all ages.
-Pope St. Leo the Great
A great safeguard is the entire faith, the true faith, in which neither anything whatever can be added by anyone nor anything taken away; for, unless faith be one, it is not the faith.
-Pope St. Leo the Great
From the time the Christian religion began to be spread, she has held unchangeable and taught uncorrupted throughout the world the doctrines which she has received once and for all from her patron and founder, Saint Peter.
-Pope St. Nicholas the Great
It is an error to believe that Christ did not teach a determined body of doctrine applicable to all times and to all men, but rather that He inaugurated a religious movement adapted, or to be adapted, to different times and different places.
-Pope St. Pius X
Absolute truth must be unchangeable!
-Pope St. Pius X
Beyond a doubt, they perish eternally who do not keep the Catholic faith entire and unchanged.
-Pope Gregory XVI
Let them innovate in nothing, but keep the traditions.
-Pope St. Stephen I
The nature of the Catholic faith is such that nothing can be added to it, nothing taken away. Either it is held in its entirety or it is rejected totally. This is the Catholic faith which, unless a man believes faithfully ann firmly, he cannot be saved.
-Pope Benedict XV
Let nothing new be introduced, but only what has been handed down.
-Pope Benedict XV
"I am convinced that the crisis in the Church that we are experiencing today is to a large extent due to the disintegration of the liturgy.”-Pope Benedict XVI, "Milestones: Memoirs 1927-1977" (SF, CA: Ignatius), p. 149.
This Apostolic Church never turned from the way of truth nor held any kind of error. It is imperative that nothing of the truths which have been defined be lessened, nothing altered, nothing added, but that they be preserved intact in word and meaning. This is the true rule of faith.
-Pope St. Agatho the Wonderworker
The devil is always discovering something novel against the truth.
-Pope St. Leo the Great
Nothing new is allowed, for nothing can be added to the old. Look for the faith of the elders, and do not let our faith be disturbed by a mixture of new doctrines.
-Pope St. Sixtus III
"The Liturgy is indeed a sacred thing, since by it we are raised to God and united to Him, thereby professing our faith and our deep obligation to Him for the benefits we have received and the help of which we stand in constant need. There is thus a close connection between dogma and the sacred Liturgy, and between Christian worship and the sanctification of the faithful. Hence Pope Celestine I saw the standard of faith expressed in the sacred formulae of the Liturgy. 'The rule of our faith', he says, 'is indicated by the law of our worship...' No wonder, then, that the Roman Pontiffs have been so solicitous to safeguard and protect the Liturgy. They have used the same care in making laws for the regulation of the Liturgy, in preserving it from adulteration, as they have in giving accurate expression to the dogmas of the faith." – Pope Pius XI
"Hence to neglect, or to reject, or to devalue so many and such great resources which have been conceived, expressed and perfected so often by the age-old work of men endowed with no common talent and holiness, working under the vigilant supervision of the holy magisterium and with the light and leadership of the Holy Ghost in order to state the truths of the faith ever more accurately, to do this so that these things may be replaced by conjectural notions and by some formless and unstable tenets of a new philosophy, tenets which, like the flowers of the field, are in existence today and die tomorrow; this is supreme imprudence and something that would make dogma itself a reed shaken by the wind." -- Pope Pius XII
I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a Divine warning against the ѕυιcιdє of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soulI hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past.
-Pope Pius XII
To separate tabernacle from altar is to separate two things which by their origin and nature should remain united.
-Pope Pius XII
The day the Church abandons Her universal tongue will be the day before She returns to the Catecombs.
-Pope Pius XII
By divine mandate the interpreter and guardian of the Scriptures, and the depository of Sacred Tradition living within her, the Church alone is the entrance to salvation: She alone, by herself, and under the protection and guidance of the Holy Spirit, is the source of truth.
-Pope Pius XII
True Christianity today is not different from primitive Christianity ... She remains what she has been since her foundation: always the same.
-Pope Pius XII
The preaching of the faith has lost nothing of its relevance in our times. The Church has a sacred duty to proclaim it without any whittling-down, just as Christ revealed it, and no consideration of time or circuмstance can lessen the strictness of this obligation.
-Pope Pius XII
Topic: Favorite quotes defending Traditional Catholicism? (Read 2633 times)