is a fact that falls within the domain of history. To relate the events connected with this Revelation, their sequence, relations, and results, in order to impart a knowledge of Christian doctrine, is to follow the historical method. In his treatise for catechists, a work which left a lasting impress on the Church's catechetical system, St. Augustine strongly recommends this method. He advises the catechist to give a brief account of religious history from the beginning, in order to explain creation and original sin; to show how the Old Testament foretells the coming of the Redeemer, and the establishment of the Church; then to relate the events of our Lord's life, the beginnings of the Church and her subsequent history; and thereby to convey to the pupils a knowledge of Christian belief and precepts. On the simple enunciation of a truth of faith the mind may ascend from the ideas expressed to principles on which these ideas depend; or it may develop the consequences contained in the truth. This is the logical plan, based on the natural tendency of the mind to correlate and systematize its knowledge. It is followed by the great catechism published by the authority of the Council of Trent, for the purpose of resisting Protestantism, which did not dispute the fact of Revelation. The influence of this catechism has caused the logical method to predominate for the last three centuries. The historical method, however, was maintained and perpetuated by Bossuet, who, following the counsels of St. Augustine, composed for his diocese an abridgment of sacred history to be used in conjunction with the catechism in vogue. The truths of faith and the facts of religious history, associated with Revelation and its propagation, are perpetuated in a striking, sensible manner by institutions, laws, customs, ceremonies, symbols, prayers and other observances. The Church, with her entire constitution, organization, discipline, and worship, is a per petual living monument embodying and, throughout the ages, witnessing to the doctrine of the faith. To teach this doctrine by interpreting the meaning of the Church's life and action is the liturgical method. These three methods do not exclude one another. Each one of them, in turn, possesses its own special advantages for some divisions of the catechism; and the whole ground is best covered when they are combined. If we examine the homilies of the Fathers we shall find that they make use of the three plans. Along with Benedict XIV. the present Supreme Pontiff calls the office of catechist the most useful of institutions for the glory of God. He observes that the teaching of the catechism is a work more important than that of the sacred orator who eloquently defends religion; or than that of the priest who laboriously compiles learned books to illustrate the truths of faith. The proper fulfilment of this office, he warns us, is not an easy task: "It is much easier to find a preacher capable of delivering an eloquent and elaborate discourse than a catechist able to impart instruction in a manner entirely worthy of praise. It must, therefore, be carefully borne in mind that whatever facility of ideas and language a man may have inherited from nature, he will never be able to teach the catechism to the young and the adult without preparing himself thoughtfully for the task." The first indispensable condition for fruitful work is, according to St. Augustine, that the catechist bring to his task a spirit of love: "If you do not love God and your brethren how will you laboriously spell out the first words of faith to the ignorant? Where will you discover the secret of repeating again and again the same truth in a variety of ways? Whence will you draw the courage and industry necessary to cultivate this soil abounding only in briars and thistles? . . . You must repeat and repeat the same things. Let the love which animates. you give them an appearance of novelty." Catechetical instruction, Piux X. observes, is the basis of all other kinds of religious instruction. Ignorance of the catechism he declares to be the chief cause of that rapid increase of infidelity and immorality which he witnesses, not only among the poorer classes, "but in the highest walks of life and among those who, inflated with knowledge, rely upon a vain erudition and think themselves at liberty to turn religion into ridicule and to blaspheme that which they know not." His words confirm the solemn warning which a late learned prelate addressed to his clergy: The most effectual of all preaching, and that without which all other preaching is nearly useless, is the teaching of the catechism to the young. The priest who would neglect every other instruction and teach the catechism to the children of his parish would have done a great deal. The priest who would discharge every other duty and neglect this one would have done nothing. The one will be preparing for his successor a generation of, at least, believing Christians; the other, a generation of baptized pagans. |