Folio 439

Gregory XVI, 1831-1846

printed p. 407 · pdf p. 439

1621. And so we condemn and reject the aforesaid books wherever and in whatever idiom, in every edition or version so far published or to be published in the future, which God forbid, under tenor of these present letters, and we further command that they be placed on the Index of forbidden books.

Faith and Reason (against Louis Eugene Bautain)1

[Theses written by Bautain under order of his bishop, Sept. 8, 1840]

1622. 1. Reason can prove with certitude the existence of God and the infinity of His perfections. Faith, a heavenly gift, is posterior to revelation; hence it cannot be brought forward against an atheist to prove the existence of God [cf. n. 1650].

1623. 2. The divinity of the Mosaic revelation is proved with certitude by the oral and written tradition of the synagogue and of Christianity.

1624. 3. Proof drawn from the miracles of Jesus Christ, sensible and striking for eyewitnesses, has in no way lost its force and splendor as regards subsequent generations. We find this proof with all certitude in the authenticity of the New Testament, in the oral and written tradition of all Christians. By this double tradition we should demonstrate it (namely, revelation) to those who either reject it or, who, not having admitted it, are searching for it.

1625. 4. We do not have the right to expect from an unbeliever that he admit the resurrection of our divine Savior before we shall have proposed definite proofs to him; and these proofs are deduced by reason from the same tradition.

1626. 5. In regard to these various questions, reason precedes faith and should lead us to it [cf. n. 1651].

1627. 6. Although reason was rendered weak and obscure by original sin, yet there remained in it sufficient clarity and power to lead us with

  1. Cf. Ass. 3 (1867) 224.—Louis Eugene Marie Bautain, born Feb. 17, 1796, at Paris, for a long time professor at Agentoratus (now Strassburg), when he had brought forth (published) certain doctrines about reason and faith different from the common opinions, was warned by his bishop (de Trévern), who also published a pastoral instruction about this matter. Gregory XVI in a Brief dated Dec. 20, 1834, praised the zeal of the bishop, and expressed the hope that the priest would retract his opinions. Bautain, a man highly deserving in other respects, laudably subjected himself, and on Nov. 18, 1835, wrote six orthodox propositions. Nevertheless, when the danger threatened that all his works would be condemned, he set out for Rome and submitted his principal work, "La Philosophie du christianisme," to ecclesiastical judgment and on Sept. 8, 1840, he rewrote the propositions mentioned above, but slightly changed, which, translated word for word (together with the original text) we present. (Cf. De Regny, L'Abbé Bautain, Paris, 1884, 248).—He died on the 15th of October, 1867. ↩