IMPORTANT NOTE: To open a linked file, don't just click on the file. Instead, do a right click, and choose "Open Link in New Window." If you don't do a right click, the file may not open properly.
IMPORTANT NOTE: To open a linked file, don't just click on the file. Instead, do a right click, and choose "Open Link in New Window." If you don't do a right click, the file may not open properly.
IMPORTANT NOTE: To open a linked file, don't just click on the file. Instead, do a right click, and choose "Open Link in New Window." If you don't do a right click, the file may not open properly.
IMPORTANT NOTE: To open a linked file, don't just click on the file. Instead, do a right click, and choose "Open Link in New Window." If you don't do a right click, the file may not open properly.
In the Christian religion it is believed that God first spoke to our first parents, Adam and Eve. When our first parents sinned, God promised them a Redeemer. Out of their descendants God selected certain individuals through whom He revealed Himself and His plan of salvation. He then selected Abraham to be the Father of His chosen people. It was from his lineage that a Redeemer was to come and save the world from its sins. Through the ages God continued to reveal Himself through the patriarchs and the prophets in preparation for the coming of the promised Redeemer: Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The revelations delivered to the patriarchs and the prophets were therefore only partial revelations given to pave the way for Christ our Savior. It was through Christ that God’s full and final revelation was to come. In his letter to the Hebrews St. Paul said: “God, who, at sundry times and in divers manners, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, last of all, in these days hath spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world” (Heb. 1:1-2). Christ is, therefore, the Light of the World and the bearer of God’s full revelation.
A personal website of Mr. Romeo Maria del Santo Niño, O.P.
January 25, 2024 Edition
NOTES:
1 It was reported that St. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross, but this information does not date earlier than the 14th century. St. Hippolytus of Rome simply said that St. Andrew was crucified and suspended from an olive tree. The date of death is from the Catholic Encyclopedia. See St. Hippolytus of Rome, On the Apostles and Disciples NOTE: Some scholars regard this as the work of another person, "Pseudo-Hippolytus."
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2 St. James the Less is also known as St. James the Just, and is identified by St. Jerome as being the "brother" (or cousin) of our Lord, being the son of Mary of Cleophas, who was the Blessed Virgin Mary's sister (John 19:25). See St. Jerome, On Illustrious Men, Chapter 2.
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3 St. Jerome says that St. James was stoned, then clubbed to death. See St. Jerome, On Illustrious Men, Chapter 2.
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4 Calamene was probably identical to Madras (modern-day Chennai) in Mylapore, India.
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5 In his short work on The Apostles and the Disciples, #6, St. Hippolytus said that when St. Bartholomew went to India, he left his disciples a copy of the Gospel of St. Matthew. The Ecclesiastical Writer, Eusebius of Caesarea, says the same in his Church History, Book V, Ch. 10, # 3. The Gospel was in Hebrew.
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6 According to St. Hippolytus of Rome, St. Bartholomew was crucified with his head down. The fact that he was skinned alive is from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
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7 That St. John was plunged into a cauldron of burning oil and escaped unhurt was mentioned by Tertullian in Prescription against Heretics, Ch. 36
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