MIRACLE, MORAL (THE CHURCH)

One may note from the start a difference of thrust between the argument adduced when the Church is presented as a moral miracle and the argument adduced from the marks of the church. In the latter argument the intention is to show that the Catholic Church at the time the argument is offered manifests itself as the legitimate continuation and prolongation of the religious society founded by Christ and consequently is through Christ a divine institution and bearer of a divine legation. The argument from the Church as a moral miracle, if validly constructed, has as its immediate conclusion (thus prescinding from the foundation of the Church by Christ) the truth that the Church is certified to speak in the name of God.

The notion that the Church in its concrete existence—its life, growth, vigor, activity—is a testimonial to its divine mission has never been absent from Catholic thought, though it has not always been equally emphasized in its teaching. It is suggested or proposed in elementary form in the early Fathers, is developed more fully in Augustine's City of God (bk. 22), and is advanced in summary form by St. Thomas Aquinas (C. gent. 1.6). In the 19th century, restated by J. Kleutgen and Cardinal J. Franzelin, it was stressed by Cardinal V. Dechamps, Archbishop of Malines, to whose efforts is in large measure due the decree of Vatican I (H. Denzinger, Enchiridion symbolorum 3013) that "the Church in itself (per se ipsa ) by reason of its admirable growth, its outstanding sanctity and unfailing fruitfulness, its catholic unity and unwavering stability is a great and perpetual motive of credibility and an unimpeachable testimony of its own divine legation." In the century after Vatican I, most of the theologians writing in the field of apologetics presented at greater or less length this demonstration along the lines marked out by that Council.

Force of Conciliar Decree. It has been generally maintained by theologians that the Council did not intend to insist as much on the specific aspects under which the miracle may be considered as on the basic truth that the Church is in itself an indisputable proof of its claims. Still less, it may be held, did the fathers of the Council teach that all the aspects are equally evident at all times. It may be thought that as in the case of other living things the vitality—and here the miraculous vitality—would in the early years be manifested in the phenomenon of growth (the admirabilis propagatio ) and in more mature years in the vigor by which the living subject resists fission, deterioration, and decay (the fecunditas, unitas catholica, and invicta stabilitas ).

Modes of Presentation. One can here but sketch the type of argumentation that is to be found fully developed in standard theological treatises. The treatment here confines itself to only some of the aspects indicated by the council: that of the growth or spread of the Church during the two-and-a-half centuries before the peace of Constantine, and that of its enduring unity in the centuries since then.

Early Growth. In developing the argument from the Church's growth during the first centuries, theologians recall that in those years the Church grew from a membership of some few thousands to a number estimated between seven and ten million (within the Roman Empire, which at the end of this period probably numbered about 50 million). This numerical increase was achieved, though not equally, in all parts of the empire and among all classes of society; hence it cannot be explained as an increase based on a natural appeal to racial or class interests. Most important, it was accomplished in the face of tremendous obstacles and at the cost of great sacrifices. Among these are generally enumerated: (1) the antipathy of the Gentile world to the Jewish people, from whom sprang the One to whom the Church paid divine worship and proclaimed as its founder; (2) the scandal of His Crucifixion, and of the ignorance and lowly condition of those who first preached His gospel; (3) the theoretical doctrine, which though lofty and noble surpassed and affronted human reason without catering to the taste for the exotic or the esoteric as did gnostic teachings or mystery religions; (4) the moral doctrine that unequivocally condemned vices, even the customary and comfortable ones;(5) the harassments from the increasingly hostile attitude of the Roman government—even though persecutions were sporadic and, in the early part of this period, often only local, there was never a time when a Christian could breathe freely in the conviction that his life, his family, his home, his position, his possessions were secure from private or public prosecutor; (6) the abuse or ridicule frequently encountered, a factor especially important insofar as it endangered the faith and allegiance of younger and adolescent Christians; (7) the necessity that often arose of refusing or surrendering lucrative and decent occupations or offices, denying oneself the pleasure of feasts, entertainments, and spectacles because they were in one way or other connected with pagan rites, implied acceptance of pagan religions (see Tertullian's De idololatria ). Given all the difficulties from which the Christian could easily have extricated himself by simply renouncing his membership in the Church, the continued existence and the steady growth of the Church evidences in its members a level of conduct surpassing human strength and moral courage.

Enduring Unity. In much the same way, Catholic writers develop the argument from the steady unity of the church during the time that has passed since the age of persecution. They recall that over a period of 1,600 years in all parts of the world (though again by no means equally in all) this religious society has maintained itself and grown to encompass nearly 500 million members. In so doing, it has not ceased to maintain a clear doctrinal and social unity, notwithstanding grave and constant difficulties.

The obstacles to doctrinal unity are found (1) in the delicate harmony of Catholic doctrine itself, a body of truths neither simple nor crude, but complex and finely integrated—balancing the simplicity and unity of the divine nature with the Trinity of Persons, the divinity of Christ with His complete humanity, the validity of the concept of nature and natural law with the fact of universal supernatural destination, human freedom with the efficaciousness of grace, the superabundant merits of Christ with the merits of the justified individual, rights of the individual with the claims of society and public order, rights of the Church with the rights of civil society, rights of married people to personal fulfillment with the claims of marriage as an institution; and (2) in the succession of philosophies, ideologies, intellectual movements that have claimed acceptance especially in those parts of the world in which the Church counted the greater number of its members; thus, in succession and sometimes overlapping, Manichaeism, Pelagianism, medieval pantheism, Renaissance humanism, the Enlightenment, rationalism, skepticism, idealism, modern atheistic or anti-Christian communism, certain forms of scientism, evolutionism, individualism, and personalism. (see unity of faith.)

The Church's social unity has been threatened over many centuries by caesaropapism and exaggerated nationalism with its chauvinistic appeal to national or racial feelings, aspirations, and pride. The history of the Church in the U.S. during most of the last two centuries is almost by itself sufficient documentation of the difficulty (and one that appears naturally insuperable) of maintaining Catholic unity among Catholics drawn from different peoples and nations of Europe.

Although it is true that in the course of these centuries millions have forsaken this unity, and hence although it is to be conceded that a greater and more striking miracle is conceivable, still there remains the fact of the one common religious allegiance of almost one-sixth of the world's population. It may be added that the defections from unity over the centuries at least assure one that this unity has been maintained among men and women subject to all the normal centrifugal strains and to all the natural appeal of newer, attractive, more "up-to-date" systems that would answer to the needs, the aspirations, or the desires of the moment.

See Also: miracle, moral.

Bibliography: General. a. michel, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al. (Paris 1903–50) Tables générales 1:1111–14. m. grand'maison, L'Église par elle-même motif de crédibilité (Rome 1961). r. latourelle, Théologie de la révélation (Bruges 1963), esp. 446–453. a. g. sertillanges, Le Miracle de l'Église (Paris 1936). Early growth of Church. h. leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, ed. f. cabrol, h. leclercq, and h. i. marrou (Paris 1907–53) 5.1:978–1014. e. kirschbaum and l. hertling, The Roman Catacombs and Their Martyrs, tr. m. j. costelloe (2d. ed. London 1960). l. hertling, "Die Zahl der Christen zu Beginn des vierten Jahrhunderts," Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie 58 (1934) 243–253; "Die Zahl der Märtyrer bis 313," Gregoriana 25 (1944) 103–129.

[s. e. donlon]