Les images et les reliques
The True Purpose of Sacred Images
The Church clarifies that honor paid to images is directed solely toward the originals they represent, rejecting any superstitious belief in inherent power.
As for images, the Council of Trent expressly forbids believing that any divinity or power is in them for which they should be revered, asking any grace of them, or placing one's trust in them; and it wills that all the honor paid them be referred to the originals they represent (Council1 Council of Trent, Session2 25, decree on invocation,3 etc. .
Charity and Clarity in Controversy
The author argues that many religious disputes arise from misunderstandings of terminology and could be resolved through charitable dialogue.
From this teaching you can see how right I was when I said that a great part of our controversies would vanish through mere understanding of the terms, if these matters were treated with charity; and if our adversaries calmly considered the preceding explanations, which contain the express doctrine of the Council of Trent, they would stop objecting that we injure the mediation of Jesus Christ and that we invoke the saints, or that we adore images in a manner that is proper4 only to God.5 It is true that, since in a certain sense adoration, invocation, and the name of mediator belong only to God and to Jesus Christ, it is easy to abuse these terms in order to make our doctrine hateful. But if they are reduced in good faith to the sense we have given them, these objections will lose all their force; and if the gentlemen of the so-called Reformed religion still have some other, less important difficulties left, sincerity will compel them to admit that they are satisfied on the main subject of their complaints.6
Read the original Latin
Pour les images, le concile de Trente défend expressément d'y croire aucune divinité ou vertu pour laquelle on les doive révérer, de leur demander aucune grâce, et d'y attacher sa confiance; et veut que tout l'honneur se rapporte aux originaux quelles représetUent (Conc. Tridfc Sess. xxv. decr. de ia voc. etc.) .
On peut voir, par cette doctrine, avec combien de Tenté j'ai dit qu'une grande partie de nos controverses s'évanouirait par la seule intelligence des termes, si on traitait ces matières avec charité; et si nos adversaires considéraient paisiblement les explications précédentes, qui comprennent la doctrine expresse du concile de Trente, ils cesseraient de nous objecter que nous blessons la médiation de Jésus-Christ et que nous invoquons les saints; ou que nous adorons les images d'une manière qui n'est propre. qu'à Dieu. Il est vrai que, comme en certain sens, l'adoration, l'invocation, et le nom de médiateur ne convient qu'à Dieu et à Jésus-Christ, il est aisé d'abuser de ces termes, pour rendre notre doctrine odieuse. Mais si on les réduit de bonne foi au sens que nous leur avons donné, ces objections perdront toute leur force; et s'il reste à Messieurs de la religion prétendue réformée quelques autres difficultés moins importantes, la sincérité les obligera d'avouer qu'ils sont satisfaits sur le principal sujet de leurs plaintes.
Notes
- 1 ↩Source reads «quelles représetUent»; translated as the intended «qu'elles représentent» ("they represent").
- 2 ↩Source «Tridfc Sess.» treated as garbled «Trid. Sess.» (Tridentinum / Council of Trent, Session).
- 3 ↩Source «de ia voc.» treated as garbled «de invoc.» (de invocatione), matching Trent Sess. XXV on the invocation and veneration of the saints, relics, and sacred images.
- 4 ↩Source reading «avec combien de Tenté j'ai dit» is corrupt (OCR/print error). Translated as the stock classical collocation «avec combien de raison j'ai dit» (“how right I was when I said”); less likely alternatives include justesse or vérité.
- 5 ↩Fragment completes s1’s broken construction: «d'une manière qui n'est propre qu'à Dieu» = “in a manner that is proper only to God.”
- 6 ↩«Messieurs de la religion prétendue réformée» is the standard early-modern Catholic designation for Reformed/Protestant interlocutors; rendered “gentlemen of the so-called Reformed religion” to keep the period polemical force without modernizing the label away.
Exposition de la doctrine de l'Église catholique sur les matières de controverse companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit