ut, sublata schismatis occasione, Ecclesia tota una conservaretur, atque suo fundamento innixa, firma adversus inferi portas consisteret. of heavenly doctrine; that the occasion of schism being removed, the whole Church might be kept one, and, resting on its foundation, might stand firm against the gates of hell. At vero cum hoc ipsa ætate, qua salutifera Apostolici muneris efficacia vel maxime requiritur, non pauci inveniantur, qui illius auctoritati obtrectant; necessarium omnino esse censemus, prærogativam, quam unigenitus Dei Filius cum summo pastorali officio conjungere dignatus est, solemniter asserere. But since in this very age, in which the salutary efficacy of the Apostolic office is most of all required, not a few are found who take away from its authority, we judge it altogether necessary solemnly to assert the prerogative which the only-begotten Son of God vouchsafed to join with the supreme pastoral office. Itaque Nos traditioni a fidei Christianæ exordio perceptæ fideliter inhærendo, ad Dei Salvatoris nostri gloriam, religionis Catholicæ exaltationem et Christianorum populorum salutem, sacro approbante Concilio, docemus et divinitus revelatum dogma esse definimus: Romanum Pontificem, cum ex Cathedra loquitur, id est, cum omnium Christianorum pastoris et doctoris munere fungens pro suprema sua Apostolica auctoritate doctrinam de fide vel moribus ab universa Ecclesia tenendam definit, per assistentiam divinam, ipsi in beato Petro promissam, ea infallibilitate pollere, qua divinus Redemptor Therefore faithfully adhering to the tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith, for the glory of God our Saviour, the exaltation of the Catholic religion, and the salvation of Christian people, the sacred Council approving, we teach and define that it is a dogma divinely revealed: that the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of the office of pastor and doctor of all Christians, by virtue of his supreme Apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine regarding faith or morals to be held by the universal Church, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, is possessed of that infallibility with which the divine Redeemer
Ecclesiam suam in definienda doctrina de fide vel moribus instructam esse voluit; ideoque ejusmodi Romani Pontificis definitiones ex sese, non autem ex consensu Ecclesiæ, irreformabiles esse. willed that his Church should be endowed for defining doctrine regarding faith or morals; and that therefore such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are irreformable [310] of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church. Si quis autem huic Nostræ definitioni contradicere, quod Deus avertat, præsumpserit: anathema sit. But if any one--which may God avert--presume to contradict this our definition: let him be anathema. Datum Romæ, in publica Sessione in Vaticana Basilica, solemniter celebrata, anno Incarnationis Dominicæ millesimo octingentesimo septuagesimo, die decima octava Julii. Pontificatus Nostri anno vigesimo quinto. Given at Rome in public Session solemnly held in the Vatican Basilica in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy, on the eighteenth day of July, in the twenty-fifth year of our Pontificate.
[268] Isaiah lix. 21.
[269] Wisd. viii. 1.
[270] Heb. iv. 13.
[271] Rom. i. 20.
[272] Heb. i. 1, 2.
[273] 1 Cor. ii. 9.
[274] Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Session the Fourth. Decree concerning the Canonical Scriptures.
[275] Heb. i. 11.
[276] Mark xvi. 20.
[277] 2 Peter i. 19.
[278] Canons of the Second Council of Orange, confirmed by Pope Boniface II., A.D. 529, against the Semipelagians, Canon VII. See Denzinger's Enchiridion Symbolorum, p. 53 (Würzburg, 1865).
[279] Isaiah xi. 12.
[280] Heb. xii. 2, and x. 23.
[281] John i. 17.
[282] 1 Cor. ii. 7-9.
[283] Matt. xi. 25.
[284] 2 Cor. v. 7.
[285] From the Bull of Pope Leo X., Apostolici regiminis, read in the Eighth Session of the Fifth Lateran Council, A.D. 1513. See Labbe's Councils, Vol. XIX. p. 842 (Venice, 1732).
[286] Coloss. ii. 8.
[287] Vincent. of Lerins, Common. n. 28.
[288] John xvii. 21.
[289] From Sermon IV. chap. ii. of St. Leo the Great, A.D. 440, Vol. I. p. 17 of edition of Ballerini, Venice, 1753; read in the eighth lection on the Feast of St. Peter's Chair at Antioch, February 22.
[290] John i. 42.
[291] Matt. xvi. 16-19.
[292] John xxi. 15-17.
[293] From the Acts (Session Third) of the Third General Council of Ephesus, A.D. 431, Labbe's Councils, Vol. III. p. 1154, Venice edition of 1728. See also letter of St. Peter Chrysologus to Eutyches, in life prefixed to his works, p. 13, Venice, 1750.
[294] From Sermon III. chap. iii. of St. Leo the Great, Vol. I. p. 12.
[295] From St. Irenæus against Heresies, Book III. cap. iii. p. 175, Benedictine edition, Venice, 1734; aad Acts of Synod of Aquileja, A.D. 381, Labbe's Councils, Vol.II. p. 1185, Venice, 1728.
[296] From chap. iv. of Twenty-third Session of Council of Trent, 'Of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.'
[297] From the letters of St. Gregory the Great, Book VIII. 30, Vol. II. p. 919, Benedictine edition, Paris, 1705.
[298] From a Brief of Pius VI. Super soliditate, of Nov. 28, 1786.
[299] From the Acts of the Fourteenth General Council of Lyons, A.D. 1274 (Labbe's Councils, Vol. XIV. p. 512).
[300] From Letter VIII. of Pope Nicholas I., A.D. 858, to the Emperor Michael (Labbe's Councils, Vol. IX. pp. 1339 and 1570).
[301] Matt. xvi. 18.
[302] From the Formula of St. Hormisdas, subscribed by the Fathers of the Eighth General Council (Fourth of Constantinople), A.D. 869 (Labbe's Councils, Vol. V. pp. 583, 622).
[303] From the Acts of the Fourteenth General Council (Second of Lyons), A.D. 1274 (Labbe, Vol. XIV. p. 512).
[304] From the Acts of the Seventeenth General Council of Florence, A.D. 1438 (Labbe, Vol. XVIII. p. 526).
[305] John xxi. 15-17.
[306] From a letter of St. Cyril of Alexandria to Pope St. Celestine I., A.D. 422 (Vol. VI. Part II. p. 36, Paris edition of 1638).
[307] From a Rescript of St. Innocent I. to the Council of Milevis, A.D. 402 (Labbe, Vol. III. p. 47).
[308] From a letter of St. Bernard to Pope Innocent II. A.D. 1130 (Epist. 191, Vol. IV. p. 433, Paris edition of 1742).
[309] Luke xxii. 32. See also the Acts of the Sixth General Council, A.D. 680 (Labbe, Vol. VII. p. 659).
[310] That is, in the words used by Pope Nicholas I., note 13, and in the Synod of Quedlinburg, A.D. 1085, 'It is allowed to none to revise its judgment, and to sit in judgment upon what it has judged' (Labbe, Vol. XII. p. 679).