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Pius XI
Lux Veritatis: On the Council

—
of EjDhesuso I93I0

THE LIGHT OF TRUTH
CONCERNING THE CELEBRATION OF THE

FIFTEENTH CENTENARY OF THE OECU-

MENICAL COUNCIL OF EPHESUS

Encyclical Letter

(Lux veritatis)

of

His Holiness, Pope Pius XI

(Vatican Press Translation)

Issued December 25, 1931

NATIONAL CATHOLIC WELFARE CONFERENCE

1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W.

WASHINGTON. D. C.

B



ENCYCLICAL

OF

POPE PIUS XI

THE LIGHT OF TRUTH
CONCERNING THE CELEBRATION OF
THE FIFTEENTH CENTENARY OF THE
OECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF EPHESUS

COPYRIGHT, 1932

BY

NATIONAL CATHOLIC WELFARE CONFERENCE
1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W.

Washington, D. C,

WASHINGTON, D. C.

J-21139

RANSDELL INC.



ENCYCLICAL LETTER

TO THE VENERABLE BRETHREN,

PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES, ARCHBISHOPS, BISHOPS

AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES

IN PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE

CONCERNING THE

CELEBRATION OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTENARY

OF THE OECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF EPHESUS

POPE PIUS XI

VENERABLE BRETHREN

GREETING AND APOSTOLICAL BLESSING

I

History as the light of truth and witness ofthe ages, if properly investigated and dili-
gently explored, shows that the divine promise

made by Jesus Christ: 'T am with you all days,

even to the consummation of the world” ^ has never

failed His spouse, the Church, and will certainly

never fail in future. Nay more, the fiercer the

waves on which the divine bark of Peter is tossed,

in the course of the centuries, the closer at hand

and stronger is the aid of divine grace. This is

what happened in the early days of the Church,

not only when the Christian name was a hated

stigma to be punished by death, but also when the

True Faith of Christ, owing to the treachery of

the sowers of heresies, especially in Eastern coun-

tries, was greatly confused and in imminent peril.

As the persecutors of Catholicity one after another

perished miserably, and the Roman Empire itself

^ Matthew 28, 20.

3



4 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

fell in ruins, so the heretics all, as withered

branches ^ severed from the divine vine, could not

drink in the sap of life, nor produce fruit.

The Church of God, however, amid so many

storms and changes in perishable institutions, rely-

ing solely on God has at all times proceeded on her

way with sure and stately step, and has never

ceased to guard devotedly the sacred deposit of

evangelical truth confided to her by her Founder.

These things occur to Our mind. Venerable

Brethren, as We begin to address you by this letter
on the most happy event, the celebration of the

fifteenth centenary of the Oecumenical Council of

Ephesus, in which the cunning impudence of the

erring was exposed, and, supported by heavenly

aid, the unshaken faith of the Church shone

brightly.

Commemoration Is Applauded

We know how at Our request two excellent
men ^ formed a committee to commemorate as

worthily as possible this centenary, not only here

in the chief city of the Catholic world, but among

the nations everywhere. We know also how those
to whom this charge was given by Us spared neither

study nor labor, each to the best of his ability, that

this salutary undertaking might be carried for-

ward. On this alacrity of minds—with which
nearly everywhere and with an altogether admir-

able cooperation bishops and distinguished mem-

bers of the laity freely responded to their utmost

—

We express Our hearty congratulations. By it We

^ John 1 S, 6.

® Letter to the Most Eminent Cardinals, B. Pcmpili and A.

Sincero, d. 2 5 Dec., 1930, Acta Ap. Sedis, Vol. XXIII, pp.

10- 12 .



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 5

are confident the Catholic cause will reap in the

future no slight advantage.

Considering this event and all the facts and cir-

cumstances connected with it, as the celebration

draws to a close, and the sacred season when the

Blessed Virgin Mary brought forth for us the

Saviour comes round again, We, by the apostolical

office which We hold from on high, deem it proper
to communicate with you by this Encyclical Letter

on this most important matter. We cherish the
good hope that not only will Our words be pleas-

ing and useful to you and yours, but also, that if

the many who are separated from the Apostolic

See, brothers and sons most dear to Us, being moved

by the quest of truth, reflect and ponder on them,

they cannot help being led by history as teacher of

life, and affected by the desire at least of one fold

and one Shepherd, to embrace the true faith which

is ever kept sound and entire in the Roman Church.

In the process which the Fathers of the Council of

Ephesus followed, in opposing the Nestorian heresy

and conducting the Council three dogmas of the

Catholic Religion, which We shall treat principally,
shine forth with brilliancy in the eyes of all;

namely, that the person of Jesus Christ is one and

divine; that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be

acknowledged and venerated by everyone as really

and truly the Mother of God; and that when mat-

ters of faith or morals are concerned the Roman

Pontiff has from on high an authority which is

supreme, above all others and subject to none.

The Warning of St. Paul

To proceed with order, as a beginning We make
Our own the sentiment and warning of the Apostle



6 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

of the Gentiles to the Ephesians: ''Until we all meet

into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of

the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the

measure of the age of the fulness of Christ; That

henceforth we be no more children tossed to and

fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine

by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness,

by which men lie in wait to deceive. But doing

the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up

in Him Who is the Head, even Christ: From Whom
the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined

together, by what every joint supplieth, according

to the operation in the measure of every part,

maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of

itself in charity.”
^

Just as the Fathers of the Council followed this

apostolical exhortation with wonderful unanimity,

so We wish that everyone without discrimination
or prejudice should take it as addressed to himself

and turn it to good account.

As all know, Nestorius was the author of the

whole controversy. He did not originate new doc-

trine by his own talent and study, but borrowed it

from Theodore, Bishop of Mopsuestia, and under-

took to popularize it zealously, after developing it

and clothing it with the appearance of novelty and

with great array of language and sentiment, ex-

celling as he did in the gift of expression.

Born in Germanicia, a town of Syria, he went as

a youth to Antioch there to be instructed in sacred

and profane learning. In that city, so famous at

the time, he first embraced the monastic life and

next, owing to instability of character, left it and

^ Ephesians 4, 13-16.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 7

became a priest, taking wholly to preaching in

the quest of human applause more than of the

glory of God. The fame of his eloquence inflamed

the multitude and spread so far and wide that he

was invited to Constantinople, then widowed of its

Shepherd, and not long after, with the hearty ap-

probation of all, he was raised to the episcopal dig-

nity. In this truly distinguished See, instead of

ceasing to spread his perverse doctrines, he con-

tinued to teach and popularize them with still

greater authority and boastfulness.

Points of Nestorius’ Heresy

To appreciate the matter properly, it will help

to touch briefly on the principal points of the Nes-

torian heresy. This highly elated man, claiming

that there were two hypostases, the human of Jesus,

and the divine of the Word, meeting in one com-

mon "prosopo” as he termed it, denied the mar-

vellous and substantial union of the two natures,

which we call hypostatic, and asserted that the only

begotten Word of God was not made man, but

was in human flesh only by indwelling, by good

pleasure and by virtue of operating in it: that

therefore He should be called not God but "Theo-

phoron,” or god-bearer, in much the same manner

as prophets and other holy men, owing to the divine

grace imparted to them, might be called god-

bearing.

From these perverse fabrications of Nestorius it

was easy to recognize in Christ two persons, one

divine, the other human. It followed necessarily

that the Blessed Virgin Mary is not truly the

Mother of God. Theotokos, but Mother rather of



8 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

the man Christ, Chrhtotocon, or at most Theo-

dochon, that is, the recipient of God/

Wicked dogmas of this kind, proclaimed not

covertly nor obscurely by a private individual, but

openly and plainly by the very Bishop of the See

of Constantinople, created the greatest mental dis-

turbance, especially in the Eastern Church. Among

the opponents of the Nestorian heresy, who were

numerous in the Eastern Empire’s capital city itself,

was that most holy man and champion of Catholic

integrity, Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, who

holds without question the principal place. As

soon as he heard of the perverse opinions of the

Bishop of Constantinople, he earnestly defended

the orthodox faith, as he was most zealous not only

for his own sons, but also for the erring brethren,

and endeavored by letters to Nestorius written in

a fraternal spirit to bring him back to the norm

of Catholic truth.

When, however, the obdurate pertinacity of

Nestorius made useless this earnest effort of charity,

Cyril, dutifully aware, and fearless champion, of

the authority of the Roman Church, would not

urge the matter by himself nor in so grave a case

pass sentence without previously petitioning and

obtaining the judgment of the Apostolic See. To

the “Most Blessed” therefore “and most dear to God

Father Celestine” he wrote a most respectful let-

ter in which, in filial spirit, he says, among other

things: “The longstanding custom of the Church

requires that such matters be made known to Your

Holiness.” . . “We are not breaking off com-

® Mansi, Conciliorum Amplissima Collectio IV, c. 1007;

Schwartz, Acta Conciliorum Oecumenicorum 1, 5. p. 408.

® Mansi, I.C., IV, 1011.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 9

munion with him openly and plainly until we

shall have made these things known to your loving

kindness. Deign therefore to declare your opinion

so that it may be clearly known to us whether we

should have anything in common with him, or tell

him plainly that no one can have anything in com-

mon with one who fosters and preaches such

erroneous doctrine. Furthermore, your entire

opinion and your decision in this matter should be

clearly made known to the most pius and godfear-

ing bishops of Macedonia and to every bishop in

the East.”
^

Condemnation of the Heresy

Nestorius was not ignorant of the supreme au-

thority of the Bishop of Rome over the universal

Church. More than once, in fact, by letters

written to Celestine, he attempted to prove the

correctness of his teaching, and to preoccupy and

win over the mind of the Pontiff to himself, but in

vain. Since therefore the ill-coined words of the

heresiarch expressed serious errors, no sooner had

the Bishop of the Apostolic See perceived these

than, applying the remedy, lest the plague of

heresy might become more dangerous by delay, he

solemnly condemned the errors found by a synodal

examination, and decreed that they should be con-

demned by all.

Now here We request you. Venerable Brethren,
to observe closely how greatly the procedure of

the Roman Pontiff in this case differed from that

which was followed by the Bishop of Alexandria.

Although the latter occupied the See which ranked

Mansi, l.c., IV, 1015.



10 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

as primatial in the Eastern Church, he was unwill-

ing, as We have said, to adjudge this most grave
controversy about Catholic faith until he could

learn the sacred decision of the Apostolic See. Ce-

lestine, on the other hand, convoking a synod in

Rome, and weighing the matter carefully, by virtue

of his supreme and absolute authority over the

universal flock of Christ, solemnly decreed and

sanctioned what follows about the teaching of the

Bishop of Constantinople. He wrote to Nestorius:

*'Know plainly therefore that this is Our sentence:

Unless you preach what the Roman, the Alexan-

drian, and the universal Catholic Church holds,

and what the sacred and holy Church of Constan-

tinople held so well up to your time, and unless

within ten days from the time this covenant be-

comes known to you, you shall have in open and

written confession condemned this perfidious in-

novation, which aims at separating what the vener-

able Scripture has joined together, you are cast out

from communion with the universal Catholic

Church. This formula of Our judgment, with all

the documents. We have forwarded by Our es-
teemed deacon Possidonius to my saintly fellow
priest, the Bishop of the renowned city of Alexan-

dria, who has fully reported to Us on this subject,

so that as Our viceregent he may make known Our

decision to you and to all the brethren, as they

should all know what is done, since the matter

treated concerns them all.”
®

The Roman Pontiff enjoined on the Patriarch of

Alexandria the execution of this sentence in these

grave words: "Armed with the authority of Our

Mansi, 1. c., IV, 1034 sq.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 11

See, and acting in Our stead, you will execute this

sentence with strict vigor so that within the ten

days as numbered in this covenant, he shall con-

demn his perverse preachings by written profes-

sion, and affirm that he holds concerning the birth

of Christ as God the faith which the Roman

Church, the Church of your holiness and the faith-

ful hold universally. Unless he shall do this, let

your holiness provide for that Church, and let him

know that he is in every way removed from our

body.”
^

Romeos Place in the Council

Some writers, however, both of earlier and more

recent date, as if attempting to make light of the

indisputable authority of the documents We have
quoted, have put forth this opinion of the whole

affair often in a proud and boastful spirit. Grant,

they say thoughtlessly, that the Roman Bishop did

issue a peremptory and absolute judgment which

the Alexandrian Bishop, through enmity with Nes-

torius, had provoked and gladly made his own:

nevertheless, the Council of Ephesus, convened

afterwards, again passed judgment on the whole

matter, that had been already judged and wholly

reprobated by the Holy See, and decided by its own

supreme authority what all should think of it.

Whence, as they conclude, it follows that an Oecu-

menical Council has rights more powerful and

valid than the authority of the Bishop of Rome.

However, all who look diligently into facts and

written documents for honest history, with minds

wholly free of prejudices, can see how these men

strive vainly to invest a counterfeit with semblance

Migne, P. L., 50, 463; IV, 1019 sq.



12 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

of truth. First of all, be it observed that when the

Emperor Theodosius, and his colleague Valentinian

in his name, convoked an Oecumenical Council,

the sentence of Celestine had not yet reached Con-

stantinople, and was in no way known there.

Besides, when Celestine learned that the Council

of Ephesus had been convoked, he did not object

to the proposed deliberation; nay he even wrote to

Theodosius and the Alexandrian Archbishop

praising this proposal, and delegated and sent as

his legates to preside over the Council, the Patriarch

Cyril, the Bishops Arcadius and Projectus, and the

priest Philip.

Now in doing this the Roman Pontiff did not
leave to the arbitration of the Council the case as if

undecided, but firmly adhering to "what has

already been decided by Us,” he ordered the

Fathers of the Council to execute the sentence im-

posed by him so that, conferring among themselves

and offering prayers to God, they might endeaver

to bring back the erring Bishop of the Constanti-

nopolitan See to the unity of the Faith. Cyril in-

quired from the Pontiff how he should act in the

business, "whether the sacred Council should ad-

mit a man who condemned what it held; or

whether, as the time for indulgence had passed, the

sentence already imposed should take effect.”

Celestine wrote: "Let this be the part of your

holiness and of the venerable brethren in the Coun-

cil, that the strife arisen in the Church be sup-

pressed, and let Us learn that, God helping, the

affair is closed with the avowed correction. We do

Mansi, I.C., IV, 1291.

Mansi, I.C., IV, 1292.

12 Mansi, I.C., IV, 1287.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 13

not say We are not of the Council, because We can-
not be absent from those, wherever they may be,

with whom one faith still unites Us ... We are there
because what is done there for all is in Our

thoughts; We are acting spiritually, because We do
not appear to act corporally. I am eager for Cath-

olic peace, and I am eager for the salvation of one

perishing if only he be willing to admit his ailment.

This We say lest perhaps We might seem to be
wanting to one who may be willing to correct him-

self. Let this show that Our feet are not swift to

shed blood, since he knows that the remedy is

offered to him.”

Acceptance of Papal Authority

These words of Celestine reveal his paternal spirit,

and prove most convincingly that before every-

thing else he sought to have the true light of faith

shine upon blinded minds and that he would re-

joice at the return of the erring to the Church.

Moreover, what he prescribed to his legates as they

set out for Ephesus makes clear the concern and

solicitude with which he ordered that the divinely

bestowed rights of the Roman See should be kept

safe and secure: "We command that the authority
of the Apostolic See be protected, as the instruc-

tions which have been given you state. You are to

be present at the Council since, should disputes

arise, you are to judge of the various opinions, not

to take part in the contest.”

The legates did as instructed, with the Fathers

of the sacred Council in full agreement. Indeed,

in firm and faithful accordance with the most

Mansi, l.c., IV, 1292.

Mansi, l.c., IV, 556 ,



14 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

absolute commands of the Pontiff as stated above,

when they arrived at Ephesus after the conclusion

of the first session, they insisted that all the decrees

enacted at the previous session should be submitted

to them, to be confirmed and approved in the

name of the Apostolic See: *'We request you to

direct that we be shown all the acts of this sacred

Council so that in accordance with the decision of

our blessed Pope and of this sacred gathering we

also may confirm. . .

Before the entire Council the priest Philip uttered

that remarkable opinion on the primacy of the

Roman Church which the dogmatic Constitution

of the Vatican Council itself quotes (Pastor Aeter-

nusY^\ "No one doubts, nay for centuries it has

been known that the holy and most blessed Peter,

prince and head of the Apostles, column of faith,

and foundation of the Catholic Church, received

from Our Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour and Re-

deemer of the human race, the keys of the King-

dom, that the power of binding and loosing sins

was given to him; that up till now and forever he

lives in his successors and exercises judgment.”

What more? Did the Fathers of the Oecumeni-

cal Council object to the way the legates acted, or

were they in any way opposed to it? On the con-
trary. Written documents have come down which

establish most clearly their obedient respect and

reverence. In the second section of the Council

when the pontifical legates, reading Celestine’s

letters, said among other things: "In Our solicitude

We have directed Our holy brothers and fellow

Mansi, l.c., IV, 1290.

Cone. Vatic., sess IV, cap 2.

Mansi, l.c., IV, 1295.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 15

priests, one in mind with Us, the Bishops Arcadius

and Projectus and Our fellow priest Philip, to be

present at what is done and to perform what 'We

have before decreed, not doubting that the assent

of your holiness will be given to this. . . So

far from resenting this ruling of the supreme judge,

the Fathers of the Council, praising it, with one

voice acclaimed the Supreme Pontiff with these

utterances: "A just judgment! To the new Paul

Celestine, to the new Paul Cyril, to Celestine,

guardian of the faith, to Celestine one in heart with

the Council, to Celestine, the whole Council gives

thanks; one Celestine, one Cyril, one faith in the

Council, one faith the world over!”

Other Confirmations

When it came to condemning and reprobating

Nestorius, the Fathers of the Council did not think

that the matter was for them to judge freely and

all over again, but plainly professed themselves

anticipated and bound by the oracle of the Roman

Pontiff. "Overtaking him (Nestorius) as think-

ing and preaching impiously, and obliged by the

sacred canons and the letter of our most holy father

and fellow in the ministry, Celestine, Bishop of the

Church of Rome, in a flood of tears we have to

arrive at this sad sentence against him. Wherefore

Our Lord Jesus Christ, outraged by his blasphemous

utterances, by this most sacred Council has defined

that the same Nestorius is deprived of the episcopal

dignity and cut off from all sacerdotal association

and gathering.”

Mansi, I.C., IV, 1287.

Mansi, l.c., IV, 1287.

Mansi, I.C.. IV, 1294 sq.



16 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

Firmus, Bishop of Caesarea, proclaimed the very

same thing in the second session of the Council:

"The Apostolic and Holy See by letters of the most

holy Bishop Celestine, which he has sent to most

devoted Bishops, . . . even before he prescribed

the decision and rule concerning this affair, which

we also have followed . . . since Nestorius, when

cited by us, has not appeared, we command that

the formula be executed pronouncing on him

canonical and apostolical judgment.”

Now therefore the documents quoted by Us es-
tablish so expressly and significantly that the belief

in the authority of the Roman Pontiff over the

entire flock of Christ, subject to none and infallible,

flourished in those days in the universal Church,

as to recall to Our mind that clear and brilliant

statement of Augustine a few years before on the

judgment brought by Pope Zosimus in his Trac-

torial Letter against the Pelagians: "In these words

of the Holy See Catholic belief is so venerable and

well founded, so certain and clear, that no Chris-

tian may doubt it.”

Would that the most holy Bishop of Hippo could

have been present at the Council of Ephesus; grasp-

ing with his keen intellect the point at issue between

the disputants, how ably he would have shed light

on the dogmas of Catholic truth and defended

them with his courage! However, when the legates

of the Emperors reached Hippo, to hand him the

letters of invitation, there was nothing to be done,

except to mourn over the extinction of that sur-

Mansi, I.C., IV, 1287 sq.

Epist. 190, Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum,

57, p. 159 sq.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 17

passing splendor of Christian wisdom and his See

ravaged by the Vandals.

You are aware, Venerable Brethren, that some

who are engaged in historical investigation special-

ize not only in clearing Nestorius from the stain

of heresy, but also in accusing the most holy Alex-

andrian bishop Cyril of a wicked rivalry, of calum-

niating Nestorius as an enemy and of contending

with all his might to bring about his condemna-

tion for things he did not teach. Indeed, the de-

fenders of the Bishop of Constantinople do not

hesitate to brand with this grave incrimination

Our most blessed predecessor Celestine himself and

even the sacrosanct Council of Ephesus.

General Recognition of Decree

However, the universal Church answers by

reprobating this vain and rash venture. At all

times she has recognized that the condemnation of

Nestorius was justly pronounced, that Cyril’s doc-

trine was orthodox, and she has ever regarded with

veneration the Council of Ephesus as one of the

Oecumenical Councils celebrated under the in-

spiration of the Holy Spirit.

Indeed, passing by many of the most convincing

written documents, everyone surely knows that

very many of the disciples of Nestorius—who had
before their eyes the course of events, and who had

no tie of relationship with Cyril—although they
had been drawn to the other side out of friendship

with Nestorius and on account of the strong at-

traction of his writings and the very exciting ardor

of his controversies, after the Council of Ephesus,

as if they had been stricken by the light of truth,

they gradually deserted the heretical Constant!-



18 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

nopolitan Bishop as one to be shunned by the law

of the Church. Of these there were certainly

many survivors when Our predecessor of happy

memory, Leo the Great, wrote as follows to Pas-

chasinus. Bishop of Lilybseum, his legate to the

Council of Chalcedon: "You know that the whole

Church of Constantinople with all its monasteries

and many bishops agreed in subscribing to anathe-

matize Nestorius and Eutyches and their dog-

mas.” In a dogmatic letter to the Emperor Leo he

proclaimed Nestorius in the plainest terms as a here-

tic and teacher of heresy with no one to gainsay it.

"Anathema therefore,” he says, "to Nestorius, who

believed the Blessed Virgin Mary was Mother not

of God but of man only; who did not believe that

there was one Christ in the Word and in the flesh,

but one person in the flesh and another of the Deity,

and preached as a separate and apart one son of

God, another son of man.” As all should know,

the Council of Chalcedon sanctioned this by repro-

bating Nestorius again and praising the doctrine of

Cyril. Our most holy predecessor, Gregory the

Great, had scarcely been raised to the Chair of Peter

when in his synodical letter to the Eastern Bishops,

after mentioning the four Oecumenical Councils

—

of Nice, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon

—

he makes this most noble and most important state-

ment: "On these as on a foursquare stone rises and

stands the structure of faith and of each one’s life

and action. Whosoever does not cling to their

solidity, even though he be a stone, lies outside the

structure.”

23 Mansi, I.C., VI, 124.

2^ Mansi, l.c., VI, 351-3 54.

2® Migne, P.L., 77, 478, cfr. Mansi, l.c., IX, 1048.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 19

It should be clear to all therefore that Nestorius

really preached heretical tenets, that the Patriarch

of Alexandria was a strenuous defender of Catholic

faith, and that the Pontiff Celestine, with the Coun-

cil of Ephesus, guarded the ancient doctrine and

the supreme authority of the ApostoUc See.

II

Let us now. Venerable Brethren, proceed to in-

vestigate further those points of doctrine which

the Oecumenical Council of Ephesus openly pro-

fessed and sanctioned with its authority by the

condemnation of Nestorius. Besides condemning

Pelagius and his followers—one of whom Nestorius
surely was—the principal matter in question, and
one on which the Fathers solemnly and almost

unanimously agreed, was that the opinion of the

heresiarch was impious and opposed to Holy Writ,

and that what he rejected is therefore certain,

namely, that there is one person in Christ, and that

divine. Since Nestorius, as We have said, stub-
bornly contended that the Divine Word is not sub-

stantially and hypostatically united with human

nature, but by a certain accidental and moral bond,

the Fathers at Ephesus, in condemning the Bishop

of Constantinople, clearly professed the right doc-

trine of the Incarnation to be held firmly by all.

In letters and capitularies sent previously to Nes-

torius and inserted in the Acts of this Oecumenical

Council, Cyril, in wonderful agreement with the

Roman Church, maintained this in these learned

and insistent words . . . "'On no account is it

lawful to divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two

sons . . . For Scripture does not say that the

Word associated with Himself the person of man,



20 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

but was made flesh. That the Word was made flesh

means It communicated like us with flesh and blood.

It made our body Its own and came forth as man

from a woman not losing divinity nor origin from

the Father, but, in assuming flesh. It remained what

It was.”

We are taught by Sacred Scripture and by di-
vine tradition that the Word of God united Itself

not to any individual man, already in existence,

but that the one and the same Christ is the Word

of God dwelling in the bosom of God before all

ages, and made man in time. Divinity and

humanity in Jesus Christ, Redeemer of the human

race, are bound together in the wonderful union

which is justly styled hypostatic, and this is proved

most clearly in Holy Writ wherein the one Christ

is called not only God and Man, but distinctly

held also as God and likewise as man, and, finally,

as man to die, and as God to rise from the dead.

In other words. He Who is conceived in the
womb of the Virgin by the action of the Holy

Spirit, born, laid in the crib, calling Himself son of

man, suffers, dies nailed to the Cross, is altogether

the same, called by the Eternal Father in a won-

derful and solemn manner: *'My Beloved Son,”^^

with divine power grants pardon for sin,”^® restores

by His own power the sick to health^^ and recalls

the dead to life.‘'^° All this is clear evidence of two

natures in Christ, from which proceed works that

are divine and human, and shows also very clearly

Mansi, I.C., IV, 891.

Matt. 3, 17; 17, 5. 11 Peter 1, 17.

2«Matt. 9, 1 - 6 . Luke 5, 20-24. VII 48, al.

Matt. 8, 3. Mark 14, 1. Luke 5, 13. John 9, al.

John 11, 43. Luke 7, 14 al.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 21

that Christ is one, God and man alike, through the

unity of the Divine Person by which he is called

'^Theantropos.”

Doctrines Approved and Confirmed

It is clear to all that this doctrine handed down

by the Church has been approved and confirmed

by the dogma of human Redemption. For how

could Christ, said to be "First born of many breth-

ren, wounded on account of our iniquities,®*

redeem us from the servitude of sin unless, like

ourselves, he possessed human nature? In like man-

ner, by what right could He be said to satisfy the

justice of the Heavenly Father, outraged by the

human race, unless by His Divine Person He was

able to do so by His immense and infinite dignity?

This principle of Catholic truth cannot be con-

tradicted for the reason that our Redeemer, not

having a human person, should seem to lack some

perfection of His human nature and therefore as

man be inferior to ourselves. As Aquinas shrewdly

and wisely reminds us: "Personality belongs to the

dignity and perfection of any being in so far as

the dignity and perfection of any being require

that it should have its own existence as is under-

stood, by the term person. It is, however, a greater

dignity for anyone to exist in someone of greater

dignity than to have one’s own existence. There-

fore human nature is more dignified in Christ than

in us, because in us with our own existence it has

its own personality, whereas in Christ it exists in

the person of the Word. As it pertains to the

Rom. 8, 29.

Isaias 53, 5. Matt. 8, 17.



22 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

dignity of the form to be the completion of the

species, so the sensitive nature in man is more noble

because of its conjunction with the more noble

completing form than it is in the brute animal in

which it is the completing form.”^^

Moreover it is worth while observing that an

Arius, that most nefarious subverter of Catholic

unity, opposed the divine nature of the Word con-

substantial with the Eternal Father, so Nestorius,

arguing in a wholly different manner, by denying

the hypostatic union of the Redeemer, denied to

Christ divinity full and entire as not being the

Word. If, as he rashly considered, the divine and

human nature in Christ were united only by a

moral connection—which, as We have said, the
prophets and others of heroic Christian holiness had

obtained on account of their union with God—the
Saviour of the human race would differ little or

not at all from those whom He redeemed by His

grace and blood. With the abandonment therefore

of the doctrine of the hypostatic union, on which

the dogma of the Incarnation and human Redemp-

tion rests and depends, the whole foundation of the

Catholic religion falls away in ruin. We do not
wonder therefore that the entire Catholic world

trembled before the perilous advance of the Nes-

torian heresy; nor do we wonder that the Council

of Ephesus zealously resisted its rash and very crafty

attack on the ancestral faith and, by executing the

sentence of the Roman Pontiff, overthrew it with

dire anathema.

We therefore, responding with minds in concord
with every age of the Christian era, venerate as Re-

®®Summ. Theol. 111.11.2.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 23

deemer of the human race not "Elias . . . nor one

of the Prophets” in whom the God of heaven dwells

by His grace, but with the Prince of the Apostles,

acknowledging like him this heavenly mystery,

with one voice proclaim: "Thou art Christ, Son of

the living God.”^^

With this dogma of truth safely established, it

is easy to conclude that the entire fabric of mun-

dane things has by the mystery of the Incarnation

been invested with a dignity greater than can be

imagined, far greater than that to which the work

of creation was raised. Among the offspring of

Adam there is One, namely Christ, Who attained
everlasting and infinite, divinity, and Who is united
with it in a mysterious and most intimate manner;

Christ, We repeat, our brother, possessed of human
nature, but God with us, or Emmanuel, Who by
His grace and merits has brought us back to the

divine Author and recovered for us that heavenly

blessedness from which by original sin we had fallen

away. Let us therefore be of grateful mind, follow

our precepts, imitate our examples. In this way we

shall be partakers of the Divinity, "Who deigned

to partake of our human nature.”^®

Those Who Wandered From Faith

At all times, as We have said, through the course
of ages the true Church of Jesus Christ has dili-

gently safeguarded this genuine and incorrupt doc-

trine on the personal unity and divinity of its

Founder, but unfortunately it is otherwise among

those who wander most pitiably outside the one fold

Matt. 16
, 14.

3® Roman Missal.



24 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

of Christ. Wq regret that, whenever anyone sepa-
rates himself obstinately from the infallible teach-

ing of the Church, he loses gradually the certain

and true doctrine about Jesus Christ. If we should

ask the many different sects, those especially dating

from the XVI and XVII centuries and still bearing
the honored name Christian, all of which at the

time they broke away professed firm belief in

Christ as God and man, what they now think of

Him, we would receive various and often conflict-

ing answers. Indeed, few of them have kept the

right doctrine and full faith concerning the person

of our Redeemer
;
the others, even when they affirm

something like it, seem to be like evaporated per-

fumes bereft of their essence. They present Jesus

Christ as man, endowed with divine gifts, united

more than others in some hidden way with divinity,

very close to God; but they are far removed from

a full and sincere profession of Catholic faith.

Others still admit nothing divine in Christ, believe

He is merely man favored, it is true, with unusual

gifts of body and soul, but liable to error and to

human frailties. Hence it appears clearly that all

these, like Nestorius, wish by rash endeavor *'to

dissolve Christ,” and therefore, according to the

Apostle John, are not of God.®®

From the exalted summit of this Apostolic See

We therefore, with fatherly spirit, call upon all
who glory in being disciples of Christ, and who

place in Him their hope of salvation, of each one

in particular and of human society, to cling always

fast to the Roman Church in which Christ is be-

lieved with one faith, whole and perfect, worship-

1 John 4, 3.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 25

ped with sincere adoration, and loved with undy^

ing flame of burning charity. Let those who preside

over flocks separated from us remember how their

forerunners solemnly professed the faith of Ephe-

sus, and how in the past as in the present it has

been kept and earnestly defended by this supreme

Chair of Truth. Let them remember that this

genuine unity of the faith rests and stands only on

the one rock set by Christ, and further that it has

been preserved safe and secure by the supreme

authority of the successors of Blessed Peter.

On this unity of the Catholic religion We dis-
coursed a few years ago in the Encyclical Letter

Mortalium animos, but it will help to recall this

briefly to mind, since the hypostatic union of

Christ, solemnly affirmed in the Council of Ephe-

sus, brings back and puts before us the image of

that unity by which our Redeemer wishes His

Mystical Body, the Church, to be distinguished as

one body^^ "fully compacted and joined together.”^®

If the personal unity of Christ exists as the mys-

terious exemplar with which He wishes the struc-

ture of Christian society to conform, everyone can

see that this certainly cannot result from a feigned

combination of discordances, but only from one

hierarchy, one teaching body, one rule of belief,

one Christian faith.^^ To this unity of the Church

which is kept by communion with the Apostolic

See Philip, the legate of the Bishop of Rome, wit-

nessed when, reading the letters of Celestine with

the unanimous applause of the Fathers of the Coun-

1 Cor. 12, 12.

Ephesian 4, 16.

Encycl. Mortalium animos.



26 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

cil, he uttered these memorable words: "We give
thanks to this sacred and venerable Council, for as

the letters of our holy and blessed Father were read

to you, your holy members have followed them

with your holy salute to the holy head, and with

your holy acclamations. Your holiness is aware

that the blessed Apostle Peter is the source of all

faith and chief of the Apostles.”^®

Now if ever. Venerable Brethren, all good men
should be bound together in professing one and the

same sincere faith in Jesus Christ and His mystical

Spouse the Church, when everywhere so many men

strive to throw off the yoke of Christ, spurn the

light of His doctrine, shut off the channels of His

grace, repudiate the divine authority of Him Who
has become "a sign of contradiction.”^^ Since in-

numerable evils result from this deplorable deser-

tion of Christ and increase daily, it is time that all

should seek a remedy from Him Who is the One
"under heaven given unto men, whereby we must

be saved.”^^

In this way alone, with the Sacred Heart of

Jesus inspiring the souls of mortals, can happier

times come to the individual, the family and to civil

society, so bitterly disturbed in these days.

Ill

From this principle of Catholic doctrine, which

We have treated thus far, there necessarily follows
the dogma of the divine motherhood which we

predicate of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as Cyril re-

minds us, "not that the nature or divinity of the

Mansi, I.C., IV, 1290.

Luke 2, 34.

Acts 4, 12.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 27

Word took its origin or beginning from the holy

Virgin, but that He derived from her His sacred

body perfected by an intelligent soul to which the

Word of God hypostatically united is said to be

born according to the flesh.

If the Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary is God, she

certainly who bore Him should rightly and de-

servingly be called Mother of God. If the person

of Jesus Christ is one and divine, surely Mary is

not only Mother of Christ but she should be called

Deipara, Theotocos. She who was saluted by Eliza-
beth, her relative, "Mother of my Lord,”^^ who is
said by the Martyr Ignatius to have brought forth

God,^® she from whom Tertullian says God was

born,^® we can all venerate as the benign parent of

God, whom the eternal Godhead favored with ful-

ness of grace and honored with so much dignity.

Moreover, no one can reject this truth handed

down from the first ages of the Church, because

the Blessed Virgin Mary gave to Jesus Christ a body

but did not generate the Word of the heavenly

Father; for Cyril in his day rightly and luminously

answers that as all in whose womb our earthly fab-
ric is procreated, but not a human soul, are truly

mothers and are styled so, so in like manner through

the unity of person of the Son she acquired divine

maternity."^^ Rightly therefore the impious opinion

of Nestorius which the Bishop of Rome, led by the

divine spirit, had condemned the year before, was

Mansi, I.C., IV, 891.

Luke 1, 43.

Ephes VII, 18-20.

De Came Christi, 17 P.L., II, 781.

Mansi, l.c., IV, 599.



28 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

again solemnly reprobated by the Council of

Ephesus.

So great was the piety of the people of Ephesus

to the Virgin as Deipara, and so intense their love

that on hearing the judgment of the Fathers of the

Council they acclaimed them with an outpouring

of joy, and forming ranks with blazing torches

they accompanied them to their homes. Surely she,

the great Parens Dei, smiling sweetly from heaven

on that remarkable spectacle, took care of her chil-

dren of Ephesus and all the faithful of Christ in

the Catholic world who were disturbed by the

treachery of the Nestorian heresy, with maternal

heart and ever ready assistance.

From this dogma of the divine maternity, as

from a hidden spring of gushing water, flows the

singular grace of Mary and, after God, her great

dignity. Indeed, as Aquinas nobly writes, "The

Blessed Virgin as Mother of God has a certain in-

finite dignity from the infinite Good God is.”^® This

Cornelius a Lapide develops and explains more

fully: "The Blessed Virgin is Mother of God, and

therefore by far excels all the angels, even the sera-

phim and cherubim. She is Mother of God, there-

fore most pure and holy, so much so that under

God no greater purity can be imagined. She is

Mother of God, and therefore whatever privilege

has been granted to any of the saints (in the way of

grace ingratiating, gratum faciens)

,

that she has

above all.”^^

Catholic Piety Toward Mary

Why therefore should so many innovators and

Theol. Ill, a.6.

In Matt. 1, 6.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 29

non-Catholics bitterly condemn our piety toward

the Virgin as Deipara as if we took away a worship

due to God alone? Do they not know or consider

attentively that nothing can be more pleasing to

Christ Jesus, Who certainly loves His mother with
a boundless love, than that we should venerate her,

love her ardently, and, by imitating her most holy

example, endeavor to obtain her powerful pat-

ronage?

Here We cannot pass over in silence what is of
great comfort to Us, the fact that in our days some

of the innovators know better the dignity of the

Virgin as Deipara and are drawn and disposed to

reverence and honor her diligently. Provided this

proceeds from a serious and sincere conscience, and

not with the motive of winning the favor of Cath-

olics, as we have found in some places. We trust
that, through the works and prayers of all good

people, and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin,

these may be at length brought back to the fold of

Jesus Christ, and in this way to Us, who, though

unworthy, act in His place on earth and exercise

His authority.

We feel that We should mention another func-
tion of the Motherhood of Mary, Venerable Breth-

ren, which is still more pleasant and delightful.

Since she brought forth the Redeemer of the human

race and of all of us, whom the Lord Christ has
willed to regard as brothers, she is in a certain man-

ner the most benign mother.^®

Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII,

wrote: *'Such a one God gave us in whom, as He

chose her for Mother of His Only Begotten, He im-

Rom. 8, 29.



30 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

planted a maternal heart, capable of nothing but

love and forgiveness; such by His own acts Jesus

Christ manifested her, since He was subject and of

His own accord obedient to her as a son to a mother;

such He proclaimed her from the Cross when He

committed the whole human race, through the

disciple John, to be cared for and cherished by her;

such finally she dedicated herself when, assuming,

with great courage, the vast responsibility of the

heritage left by her divine Son, she began at once

to discharge maternal duties to all.”®^

Wherefore let us be drawn to her by a certain

very powerful impulse and let us trust to her con-

fidently all that is ours—joys, if we rejoice; woes,
if we are in trial; hopes, if we endeavor to rise to

better things. If the Church falls on difficult times,

if faith wanes and charity grows cold, if morals,

private and public, grow worse, if any danger

threatens the Catholic cause or civil society, let us

have recourse to her begging help from heaven; in

the supreme trial of death, when all hope, all help,

is gone, let us lift up our eyes in tears and trembling,

imploring through her pardon from her Son and

eternal joy in heaven.

Plea for Unity

With more ardent effort therefore in the present

needs under which we labor, let all go to her, and

with supplication beg earnestly "that, by inter-

ceding with her Son, the erring nations may return

to Christian principles and precepts, on which the

foundation of public welfare rests, and through

which desirable peace and true happiness flourish in

Encycl. Oct. Mens. Adventante, Sept., 1891.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 31

abundance. From her also let them more earnestly

pray for what all should have most at heart, that

Mother Church may have liberty and the fruit of

it in tranquillity, a liberty which it will use for the

sole purpose of procuring the highest interests of

mankind, and from which harm has never come to

individuals or statesa but always many very great

benefits.”®^

Under the auspices of the heavenly Queen, We
desire all to beg for a very special favor of the

greatest importance, that she who is loved and

venerated with such ardent piety by the people of

the East, may not permit that they should be un-

happily wandering and still kept apart from the

unity of the Church and thus from her Son, Whose

Vicar on earth We are. May they return to the
common Father whose judgment the Fathers of the

Council of Ephesus accepted so reverently, and

whom they all saluted as ''guardian of the faith.”

May all return to Us, Who feel for all a paternal
kindness, and Who repeat as Our own those most
loving words with which Cyril appealed to Nes-

torius: "May the peace of the Church be preserved

and may the bond of love and concord remain un-

broken among the priests of God!”^^

Would, moreover, that very soon the happiest of

days might dawn when the Virgin Mother of God,

looking out through her image so exquisitely

worked in mosaic under Our predecessor Sixtus III

in the Liberian Basilica, and restored by Us to its

original beauty, would see the separated children

returning to venerate her with Us with one mind

Epist. Encycl. s.c.

Mansi, I.C., IV, 891.



32 THE LIGHT OF TRUTH

and one faith! That certainly would be Our

greatest possible joy.

We deem it auspicious that We are celebrating
Our tenth anniversary; We, who have defended the

dignity and sanctity of the chastity of marriage

against the assault of all manner of fallacy,®^ and

who have solemnly championed the sacred rights of

the Catholic Church in the instruction of youth,

and set forth and explained the manner in which it

is to be imparted and the principles to which it

should conform. The directions We have given
on both subjects are in accordance with the exalted

exemplar of the divine maternity and of the family

of Nazareth. As Our predecessor of happy mem-

ory, Leo XIII, says: "In Joseph fathers of families

have the most beautiful model of fatherly attention

and providence
;
in the most holy Virgin Mother of

God the most extraordinary pattern of love, mod-

esty, perfect submission and fidelity; in Jesus, Who
as son of the household was subject to them, a

Divine Exemplar of obedience to admire, cultivate

and imitate.”

In a special manner is it opportune that those

mothers of our day who, wearied of child-bearing

or of the matrimonial bond, have neglected or vio-

lated the obligation they assumed, should look and

meditate intently upon Mary, who ennobled the

responsible charge of motherhood to the highest

degree. This inspires the hope that with the grace

received through the Queen of Heaven, they may

become ashamed of the dishonor branded on the

Litt. Encycl. Casti Connubii, XXI, Dec., 1930.

Litt. Encycl. Divini Illius Magistrii XXI, Dec., 1929.

Litt. Apost. Neminem fugit XIV, Jan., 1882.



THE LIGHT OF TRUTH 33

great sacrament of matrimony and be happily

moved, as far as possible, to attain to her wonder-

fully laudable virtues.

Mass of the Divine Maternity

If all these things should result as We counsel, if
domestic society—the principle and foundation of
all human intercourse—should revert to the most
exalted standard of this holiness, we could in time

provide a remedy for our dangerous evil conditions.

May it so happen that "the peace of God which

surpasseth all understanding”®^ keep the minds and

hearts of all and, with all our minds and forces

united, may the longed-for Kingdom of Christ be

established!

We shall not conclude this Letter without an-
nouncing something that will surely please you

greatly. We desire that this centenary shall have a
liturgical memorial, which will help to revive piety

toward the great Mother of God among clergy and

people. Wherefore We have directed the supreme
Congregation of Sacred Rites to issue a Mass and

Office of the Divine Maternity to be celebrated by

the universal Church.

Meantime, as a presage of heavenly gifts and a

mark of Our paternal will. We bestow affection-
ately in Our Lord on you, each and all. Venerable

Brethren, and on your clergy and people, the Apos-

tolical Benediction.

Given at Rome, in Saint Peter’s, 25 December, on

the Feast of the Birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in

the year 1931, the tenth of Our Pontificate.

PIUS PP. XL

Philippians 4, 7.







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