Rome and the-Bible

New Zealand Tablet, 13 August 1908, Page 22

Rome and the-Bible

•* -. ■ vis - « i'l ■■■-.• , From the time that the Catholic ecclesiastic is raised to..the rank of subdeacon until the"" time when he lie 9 racked upon his death-bed, he is scrupulous" in the daily perusal of the "Divine Office, as it is called. And this consists of over thirty psalms,'. I a number of ' lessons ' from the Old and New Testaments, comments on portions of the Scriptures by- Fathers or Doctors of the Church, lives of saints, and numerous antiphons, hyrryis,' and prayers. Yet it is even still not uncommon to come across the controversial suggestion that the Catholic clergy have little regard for the Sacred Word—a suggestion made at times by those ,-wlio, - having formerly made the Eible a fetish, have~now begun to; turn it into a football. * ' "" X From the Rome correspondence of the Glasgow Observer of June 27 we take the following report of a Biblical' function that ' s took place in Rome a few weeks ago —nay, in the very halls of • the Vatican itself:—'This week there took place at the~-Vatican the first "examination for the new 'degree of Doctor in -Holy -Scrip- \ turc, instituted by the present Pope a few' years" ago in connection with the Commission for "the study, of Biblical subjects* "The nature of this examination would-be a surprise to those' Protestants who still retain the idea that the Catholic clergy "have never heard of the Bible, and who are so fond of talking "of the ignorance of the Catholic priests.' The candidate, the Abb^ Gry, of the Catholic Institut of Paris, had in the course of the • examination to prepare in an hour's time a thesis, which would take forty minutes to deliver, on any subject which the examiners might suggest in connection with the Bible, and afterwards .to defend it against objections raised by," perhaps, the most learned Biblical students in the world. In addition to this, he had 10 defend another thesis which" he had previously prepared, the subject in this case being the Parable' of JSfioch. Further,, he. had to present some Oriental language ""other than those appearing in the original text of Holy Scripture? Then'he was • subjected *to questions in the exegesis of any 'part of the Old or "New Testaments, as well as on pretty well every conceivable subject connected with Biblical Science. The learned Abbe passed through this ordeal in the most brilliant manner, and was after-wards,-amidst the applause of all present, declared a'Doctor in Holy Scripture, the highest diploma in' such a subject which, I suppose, is obtainable at the present day. 1