05-08-2026, 07:47 AM
Mgr. Louis de Ségur: Short Answers to Common Objections Against Religion - 1908
TWENTY-THIRD OBJECTION. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS HAD ITS DAY.
Answer. Behold nearly two thousand years that she has existed, and nearly as long a time that the same thing has been said of her.
Every age, every impious wretch, every inventor of a sect or heresy, thinks he is at last arrived at that famous day when the Catholic Church is to be buried never to rise again; each of them thinks he is destined to intone the "De Profundis" of the papacy, of the Catholic priesthood, of the mass, and of all the ancient articles of the Church's faith . . . and, nevertheless, the Day comes not.
Thus, in the first century of Christianity, one of the proconsuls of the Emperor Trajan wrote to him, "Before long, thanks to persecution, this sect will be crushed, and we shall hear no more of this God crucified."
And Trajan is dead, and that God crucified reigns ever in the world!
In the same manner, three centuries later, Julian, the apostate, boasted of "preparing the grave of the Galilean," that is, of annihilating His religion and His Church . . .
And Julian is dead, and the Galilean and His Church live still!
So, in the sixteenth century, Luther, that revolutionary monk, who made a religion out of pride and revolt, spoke of the papacy as of a superannuated institution about to perish for ever: "Oh, Pope!" said he, "I was thy torment during my lifetime; after my death I shall prove thy destruction!" . . .
And Luther is dead, and his Protestantism is melting away on all sides! And the papacy remains more living, more flourishing, more venerated than ever!
In like manner, Voltaire, the enemy of Jesus Christ, who signed his letters, "Voltaire, the Christ-mocker," or, "Let us crash the wretch" (that is to say, Jesus Christ and His Church), wrote to one of his friends, "I am weary of hearing that twelve men were sufficient to found the Catholic religion; I want to show the world that one man was sufficient to destroy it." "Twenty years hence," he wrote to another, "the Galilean will have a fine game!"*
And twenty years later, to the very day, Voltaire died in a paroxysm of despair, calling for a priest, whom his friends, the philosophers, would not suffer to approach him.
And the Catholic Church lives still, traversing the ages, crushing in her peaceful passage all those who wish to crush her.
The same fate will attend our grand modern systems, philosophical and social, which modestly assume to be reformations of the religion of Jesus Christ, substitutes for the Catholic Church.
Less formidable than their predecessors, these poor people never suspect their weakness! They imagine they are producing something new, while they only hash up the old theme of the Voltaires, the Calvins, the Luthers, the Ariuses, etc., etc.
Have they forgotten the Saviour's words to the first Pope and to the first bishops: "Go, teach all nations, I will be with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."
Have they forgotten what He said to the chief of the apostles: "Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it?"
What God has founded, can they hope to be able to destroy?
No, the Catholic Church has not "had her day;" her day will never come to an end, until the world shall have come to an end.
The Church fears nothing; she knows what is the divine principle of her strength, of her life. And she will consign her present adversaries to the tomb, more surely and speedily than she has done any of their predecessors.
TWENTY-THIRD OBJECTION. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH HAS HAD ITS DAY.
Answer. Behold nearly two thousand years that she has existed, and nearly as long a time that the same thing has been said of her.
Every age, every impious wretch, every inventor of a sect or heresy, thinks he is at last arrived at that famous day when the Catholic Church is to be buried never to rise again; each of them thinks he is destined to intone the "De Profundis" of the papacy, of the Catholic priesthood, of the mass, and of all the ancient articles of the Church's faith . . . and, nevertheless, the Day comes not.
Thus, in the first century of Christianity, one of the proconsuls of the Emperor Trajan wrote to him, "Before long, thanks to persecution, this sect will be crushed, and we shall hear no more of this God crucified."
And Trajan is dead, and that God crucified reigns ever in the world!
In the same manner, three centuries later, Julian, the apostate, boasted of "preparing the grave of the Galilean," that is, of annihilating His religion and His Church . . .
And Julian is dead, and the Galilean and His Church live still!
So, in the sixteenth century, Luther, that revolutionary monk, who made a religion out of pride and revolt, spoke of the papacy as of a superannuated institution about to perish for ever: "Oh, Pope!" said he, "I was thy torment during my lifetime; after my death I shall prove thy destruction!" . . .
And Luther is dead, and his Protestantism is melting away on all sides! And the papacy remains more living, more flourishing, more venerated than ever!
In like manner, Voltaire, the enemy of Jesus Christ, who signed his letters, "Voltaire, the Christ-mocker," or, "Let us crash the wretch" (that is to say, Jesus Christ and His Church), wrote to one of his friends, "I am weary of hearing that twelve men were sufficient to found the Catholic religion; I want to show the world that one man was sufficient to destroy it." "Twenty years hence," he wrote to another, "the Galilean will have a fine game!"*
And twenty years later, to the very day, Voltaire died in a paroxysm of despair, calling for a priest, whom his friends, the philosophers, would not suffer to approach him.
And the Catholic Church lives still, traversing the ages, crushing in her peaceful passage all those who wish to crush her.
The same fate will attend our grand modern systems, philosophical and social, which modestly assume to be reformations of the religion of Jesus Christ, substitutes for the Catholic Church.
Less formidable than their predecessors, these poor people never suspect their weakness! They imagine they are producing something new, while they only hash up the old theme of the Voltaires, the Calvins, the Luthers, the Ariuses, etc., etc.
Have they forgotten the Saviour's words to the first Pope and to the first bishops: "Go, teach all nations, I will be with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."
Have they forgotten what He said to the chief of the apostles: "Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it?"
What God has founded, can they hope to be able to destroy?
No, the Catholic Church has not "had her day;" her day will never come to an end, until the world shall have come to an end.
The Church fears nothing; she knows what is the divine principle of her strength, of her life. And she will consign her present adversaries to the tomb, more surely and speedily than she has done any of their predecessors.
"So let us be confident, let us not be unprepared, let us not be outflanked, let us be wise, vigilant, fighting against those who are trying to tear the faith out of our souls and morality out of our hearts, so that we may remain Catholics, remain united to the Blessed Virgin Mary, remain united to the Roman Catholic Church, remain faithful children of the Church."- Abp. Lefebvre