The Leonine Encyclicals: 1878-1902

A MUCH needed book for our own times! Pope Leo XIII leaves no doubt as to how Catholics should live their lives in the world! Is as useful now as it was in his own time! Such clarity in his writtings, no guess work unlike current popes. EVERY CATHOLIC should have this book!! And anyone who calls themselves a Christian should at least read it! Truly Pope Leo XIII's writtings are "A Light in the Heavens"!

«There is nothing so hurtful to Christian wisdom as that it should not be known.» - Pope Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter *Sapientiae Christianae* (1890)I have a personal debt to Pope Leo XIII. In 1879, a year after his inauguration, he issued an encyclical- a circular letter in Latin addressed to all high Church officials- in which he urged his «Venerable Brethen, in all earnestness, to restore the golden wisdom of St. Thomas, and to spread it far and wide for the defence and beauty of the Catholic faith, for the good of society and for the advantage of all the sciences» (*Aeterni Patris*.) Out of this encyclical, and other efforts of the Pope such as the preparation of a new edition of the works of St. Thomas in the 1880s or the foundation in 1891 of the Institute of Philosophy of Louvain, came the great neoscholastic revival of the late 19th century, one of whose fruits was the publication of a book which finally convinced me of the existence of God.*Aeterni Patris* is only one of the documents reproduced in this thick, 580-page volume, which offers a selection of Leo XIII's epoch-making encyclicals, as well as a few apostolic letters and personal letters, arranged chronologically.According to the *Catholic Enclyclopedia*, the function of encyclicals is to «condemn some prevalent form of error, point out dangers which threaten faith or morals, exhort the faithful to constancy, or prescribe remedies for evils foreseen or already existent». Potential readers of this book should therefore be warned that encyclicals are not merely presentations of Church doctrine, but that they are also composed to a large extent of orders, exhortations, advice, prayers, congratulations, condemnations and other non-argumentative passages.Among the most important encyclicals collected here are those dealing with the social doctrine of the Church, from the repeated, unequivocal condemnations of socialism, communism and anarchism, to a strong criticism of the separation of Church and state or a defense of the sanctity of Christian marriage against the encroachments of the state. Conservatives and classical liberals might wish to have the following words engraved in gold letters on their mantelpiece: «The first and most fundamental principle if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property» (*Rerum Novarum*, 1891.)Of great relevance to modern discussions of «civil rights» is the Apostolic Constitution *Officiorum ac Munerum*, which briefly summarizes the history of Church control of the press and contains the text of the «General decrees concerning the prohibition and censorship of books», spelling out the general rules to be observed by Church officials and the faithful generally concerning various sorts of potentially dangerous publications. As for the principle behind these rules, it is best summarized by a short sentence in the Pope's 1908 *Review of his Pontificate* : «the rights of truth [...] are superior

Prophesied by St. Malachy as "A light in the heavens," he truly was, as these great Encyclicals more than prove. Sheds the light of Faith on virtually all major problems of the world--problems we still face. Written 100 years ago, they read like written today. Modern man founders in a sea of problems of his own making. Like a becan light, these great encyclicas show the solutions. All his famous letters: *Freemassonry *Angilican Ordes* Working Classes* Americanism, etc. We today witness the extremity of the errors Leo addressed. Says that the Catholic Faith is the answer. A book every adult Catholic should read.

Rerum Novarum has been revisited more than any other encyclical in the last century. It is arguably the most important encyclical in the modern era. Leo XIII's other encyclcals and writings are vital for serious research not only of the 18th century church, but of the development of doctrine in the 20th century as well. No other work has these documents together in one volume.