Rev. Fr. John Laux - Church History: A History of the Catholic Church to 1940

Church History

A Complete History Of The Catholic Church To The Present Day

For High School, College, and Adult Reading

Rev. John Laux, M.A .

Copyright 1930, 1931, 1932, 1945 by Benziger Brothers, New York.

Republished in 1989 by TAN Books.

Typography is the property of TAN Books, and may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 88-51074

TAN Books
Charlotte, NC
www.TANBooks.com

2012

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

In addition to providing a textbook for students, the author has also endeavored to present to the general reader, especially the Catholic layman, a concise, clear history of the Catholic Church.

Although there are several Church histories in English, some are too elementary to be satisfying to the adult lay reader, while others are too technical or voluminous. More especially, they do not present sufficient matter on the history of the Church in our own country, and they all lack the illustrative material which is so helpful and even necessary to the full understanding of the persons, events, and places read about. It is hoped that the copious illustrations and maps appearing in this volume will make it still more interesting to the reader, while the numerous excerpts from the writings of the Fathers, Doctors, documents of the Councils of the Church and of the Popes, etc., will make for better acquaintance with these interesting phases of Church History.

May these pages, with the blessing of God, have some share in inspiring our Catholic people with a deeper appreciation of our Holy Church, whose history is the most glorious monument of her greatness and her power.

The author desires to thank the Rev. Michael Leick, of Villa Madonna College, Covington, Ky., for his many valuable suggestions and for the time and trouble involved in reading the proof sheets.

For permission to cite a number of passages, verbatim or in condensed form, from copyrighted works, the author is under obligation to the following: Henry Holt and Company, publishers of Professor Richard Newhall's The Crusades; Charles Scribner's Sons, publishers of The Ante-Nicene Fathers and Thatcher and McNeal's Source Book for Medieval History ; G. P. Putnam's Sons, publishers of Canon Barry's The Papal Monarchy; B. Herder Book Co., publishers of Southwell's Triumphs Over Death , the English translations of Pastor's History of the Popes and Janssen's History of the German People and of Addis and Arnold's Catholic Dictionary; Mr. Arthur Preuss, editor and publisher of the Fortnightly Review ; The Macmillan Company, publishers of Bryce's Holy Roman Empire ; the America Press, publishers of the Quarterly Magazine Thought; and the Queen's Work Press, publishers of Growth of the Churches in the United States: a Chart by Leo A. Doyle, S.J.

J OHN J. L AUX

Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

INTRODUCTION

The pupil whose formal education ceases with his graduation from a Catholic High School has in the past found no place he could read the magnificent epic foreshadowed in the prophetic text "Going, therefore, teach ye all nations" (Matt. xxviii. 18). This little volume is intended to supply the deficiency.

What is hardest in the task of the high school teacher in religion is to show how the human element in the Church is continually thwarting the divine, and how at the same time Divine Providence is daily making use of this human element in helping the Church achieve her destiny. At no time has the tendency to pass by in silence the claims of the Church to a special deference as God's mouthpiece been more blatant than at present. Hence the weight of the old scholastic argument " Ab esse ad posse valet illatio ," the historical argument. As a review of the practical results of the Church's activity in the world, results both to the world and to the Church, such a compendium of Church History is an indispensable companion volume to a student of the Church's teaching mission. In the eyes of the unfriendly, the apparent failure of the Church in achieving the purposes of her dogmatic and sacramental armory, presents the most promising angle of attack and confutation, and hence, the educated Catholic layman must have a correct understanding of the fundamental position of both sides of the controversial problem and a knowledge of the sources of more specialized polemical weapons in meeting these attacks.

Incidentally Church History thus puts the pupil in contact, during his most impressionable years, with the annals of the greatest humanizing agency the world has ever seen, and serves as a correlation point for the more secular intellectual treasures the race is bequeathing the student during his initiation into mental maturity and breadth of outlook. As a supplement to the more formal study of his religion, and its dealings with the individual soul, or as a basic text in Church History, this volume should assist in emphasizing the social values of the Church, values that become more important as society becomes more complex.

The treatment of the subjects is possibly novel but hardly radical. The author has kept in mind very definitely the class of reader for whom the book is intended. While introductory, it is far from a bare outline, and should prove adapted peculiarly well to its objective, the Catholic student high school body of America. As indicated, it would seem to achieve its purpose best as supplementary study in the formal religion classes. Of particular value in this connection are the readings from the original sources appended to each chapter. They give a contemporary flavor to the narrative and acquaint the student with the works of the great Christian writers. This approach is strengthened by the brief but adequate and vivid biographies interspersed in the text. Another feature of classroom value is the series of summaries of the so-called "turning points in the history of the Church." The entire book, therefore, keeps in view not only the needs of the high school pupil, but does it with the help of modern pedagogy, so that we have here a text that should find its way soon into the hearts of both teachers and pupils.

R EV. F RANCIS J. B REDESTEGE

CINCINNATI, OHIO

CONTENTS

List of Maps

St. Boniface, the Apostle to the Germans, felling the "sacred" oak tree dedicated to the god Thor at Geismar. A vast crowd of pagans watched intently, expecting some dire misfortune to overwhelm St. Boniface. But when the oak tree fell to the ground and the saintly Bishop remained unharmed, the pagans with one accord praised the God of the Christians and asked to be received among His followers. St. Boniface baptized them, and out of the wood of the tree he built a little oratory dedicated to St. Peter. (See page 221).

SECTION I

The Ancient Church to the Beginning of the Pontificate of Gregory the Great, A.D. 590

FIRST PERIOD

From the Founding of the Church to the Edict of Milan, A.D. 313

CHAPTER I

PREPARATION OF THE WORLD FOR CHRISTIANITY

The "Fullness of Time "