Rev. Fr. George Johnson - The Story of the Church: Her Founding, Mission and Progress

The Story of the
Church

Her Founding, Mission
and Progress

A Textbook in Church
History

George Johnson
Jerome D. Hannan
Sister M. Dominica

Copyright 1980, George Johnson, Jerome D. Hannan, Sister M. Dominica

Jan Van Eyck

THE SOURCE OF LIFE OR THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY

God the Father is seated on a throne with the Blessed Virgin on His right and St. John the Evangelist on His left. Christ the Victim of the Sacrifice, symbolized by the Lamb, rests at the feet of God the Father. The mystical fountain flowing from the altar of the Lamb sends forth Sacred Hosts. This separates two groups of persons, the one at the right representing Judaism, and the other, Christianity.

PREFACE

To know and to understand the Church is a sacred duty for every Catholic. The Church is not just an organization to which we belong; it is an organism of which we are a part. Loyalty to the Church is not merely one among many loyalties. It is the one great loyalty of our lives in which all other loyalties are rooted and from which all derive their life and strength. For the Church is Christ and in the Church we are united with Him and with one another as members of one Body. Hence, a burning love for the Church must always be an outstanding characteristic of a good Catholic.

This book has been written for boys and girls with the hope that as they learn the story that it tells, their love of Christ in His Church will increase and that a lifelong interest in Church History will be enkindled. As much as possible we have tried to weave our story around the great men and women who in every age have labored heroically for the spread of the Kingdom of Christ and who have won for themselves the most glorious title that can be given to a human being, the title of Saint. Christ lived in them and through them revealed to the world the power and the beauty of His Gospel.

Not everything that the Church has accomplished since the day when she first went forth to preach the Gospel to all the nations is written down in this book. Many great Saints there were whose names are not mentioned. Because they are aware that crowded programs of study leave but little time in our schools for Church History, the authors have attempted to tell their story as briefly as possible. If they succeed in arousing the interest of the boys and girls in the Church and her Saints, there will be a turning to other books for the purpose of filling in the picture which here is presented only in outline.

The Story of the Church is told in three parts: First, in the days of the Roman Empire, then through the Ages of Faith, and finally in Modern Times, Christ in His Church advances down the ages unto the fulfillment of His Mission. The Gospel is preached to every creature and the result is that sanctity flourishes in every age. Because of sanctity, the world has been made richer, socially and intellectually, while Christian art and literature and music have bestowed treasures of beauty upon the human race. "I am come that they may have life and may have it more abundantly.'' The Church, as the source of this abundant life, is what this book attempts to portray.

THE AUTHORS

1935. On the Feast of Christ the King

CONTENTS

List of Maps

The Story of the Church

PART ONE

THE CHURCH IN THE DAYS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

INTRODUCTION

The wonderful spread of the Church during the first three centuries of her existence is one of the proofs that she is a Divine Institution. That a religion preached in the little country of Palestine by One Who was meek and humble of heart, and Who chose a few humble fishermen to carry His message out into the world should in the space of three hundred years become mightier than Pagan Rome is in very truth a miracle. The First Part of our text tells the story of the Church in the days of the Roman Empire and follows her out from the Upper Room in Jerusalem as she goes forth to preach the Gospel to all nations.

In Unit I the story of the apostles is related from the beginning of the Church in Jerusalem until St. Peter takes up his residence in Rome. Unit II describes the life of the Christians in those early days. The Roman Empire feared them and sought by means of one cruel and bloody persecution after another to destroy their Church. Yet, the blood of martyrs proved to be the seed of Christians, and the Church prospered even in the midst of the storm.

Finally, peace came to the followers of Jesus Christ. The Emperor Constantine proclaimed to the world that henceforth Christians were free to practice their religion and that they would have the protection of the Empire. All of this will be told in Unit III, where we shall also meet the great Fathers of the Church, the saintly men who explained the teachings of Christianity to the people of their own times and whose writings belong to what we call the Tradition of the Church.

Free now to live and to grow as Christ intended her to, the Church began to blossom forth in all her beauty. She was deeply interested in the temporal welfare of her children and took measures to improve the condition of the poor and the lowly. She became the inspiration of painting and sculpture and architecture. She perfected her own organization and made laws for the guidance of the flock of Christ. Yet in everything she thought first and foremost of the spiritual welfare of her children and led them onward and upward along the path of sanctity.

PREVIEW

Unit One

HOW THE APOSTLES, GOING FORTH, PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS

Our Savior had promised the apostles that he would remain with them all days, even to the end of the world. He came to establish His Kingdom and that Kingdom is the Church. He ascended into heaven, but He promised His followers that He would not leave them orphans, but would send them the Holy Ghost, who would dwell in their hearts and keep them mindful of the truths that He had taught them.

In this Unit you will learn how the Church came forth from the Upper Room on Pentecost to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The condition of the world, at that time, will be described. The first preaching was to the Jews, and the story of the founding of the Church in Jerusalem will be told. You will see how the zeal of the apostles and of their first converts made them ready to go into bondage and death. You will learn of the miraculous conversion of St. Paul and go forth with him on his missions to convert the pagan world. St. Peter, the Rock upon which Christ had built His Church, goes from Jerusalem to Antioch and finally to Rome, which city, from that time forward, is the seat of the government of the Church. St. Paul also comes to Rome, and these two great princes of the Church, together with great numbers of their converts, suffer martyrdom when the Emperor Nero is moved by suspicion and fear to persecute the Christians and to attempt to destroy the Church.

Unit One

HOW THE APOSTLES, GOING FORTH, PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS

Unit One

HOW THE APOSTLES, GOING FORTH, PREACHED THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS

I. THE CHURCH BEGINS HER MISSION

THE JEWISH PEOPLE, THEIR RELIGION AND LIFE

It was in the year 63 B.C. that the Jewish people lost their independence. Dissensions had arisen among the descendants of the Machabees. They took their dispute to Rome, and Pompey, the illustrious general, was commissioned to help them to settle their differences. As a result, Jerusalem passed under the control of the Romans, and strangers sat on the throne of David.