Folio 598

Pius XI, 1922-1939

printed p. 566 · pdf p. 598

and of theology and the instruction of their students in these disciplines according to the method, doctrines, and principles of the Angelic Doctor, and may hold them sacred," and that all so conduct themselves according to this norm as to be truly able to call him that master. "But let not some exact from others anything more than this which the Church, the mistress and mother of all demands of all; for in those matters about which there is wont to be varied opinions among teachers of higher distinction among our Catholic schools no one is to be prevented from following the opinion which seems to him the more probable."

The Revival of Merits and Gifts2

[From the Bull of Jubilee, "Infinita Dei misericordia," May 29, 1924]

2193. Now when the Hebrews in the year of the Sabbath, after recovering their goods which had passed into the ownership of others, were returning "to their own possession," and the servants, now free, were betaking themselves "to their former family" [Lev. 25:10], and the debt of the debtors was cancelled, all this more happily happens and is accomplished among us in the year of atonement. For, all who by doing penance carry out the salutary orders of the Apostolic See in the course of the great Jubilee, the same regain anew and receive that abundance of merits and gifts which they had lost by sinning, and they are so set free from the cruel domination of Satan that they regain the freedom "wherewith Christ has made us free" [Gal. 4:31], and, finally, of all the punishment which they would have been obliged to pay for their faults and sins, because of the highly accumulated merits of Jesus Christ, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the saints, they are fully absolved.

The Kingship of Christ3

[From the Encyclical, "Quas primas," December 11, 1925]

2194. Moreover, on what foundation this dignity and power of our Lord rests, Cyril of Alexandria aptly observes: "He obtained his dominion over all creatures, to speak in a word, not by having wrested it by force or brought it in from some other source, but by His own essence and

  1. [continuation of footnote from preceding page] greatest principles and pronouncements," of St. Thomas (S.C. de Sem. et Stud. Univ. AAS 8 [1916], 157), containing "safe norms for directing, without imposing any duty to embrace all" (Benedict XV, Ench. Cleric. 1938, n. 929); furthermore, the arguments of St. Thomas for the existence of God are "today also the strongest of all" (Pius XI, AAS 15 [1923], 317). ↩

  2. AAS 16 (1924), 210. On this passage, see Zeitschr. f. kath. Theol. 49 (1925), 298 ff. (J. B. Umberg). ↩

  3. AAS 17 (1925), 598 ff. ↩