Bad Books and the Like

[Shin]

'We must fight valiantly, as much as the matter itself demands and must exterminate the deadly poison of so many books; for never will the material for error be withdrawn, unless the criminal sources of depravity perish in flames.'

Pope Clement XIII, Encyclical Christianae, 11-25, A.D. 1766

'Should we not also be angry with those who use the most wicked indecency of word and example to corrupt pure and strict morals by mortal sin, who recommend to the minds of the unwary an accursed license of living, and who cause an extreme loss of faith? Then consider how they sprinkle their writings with a certain refined splendor, a seductive pleasantness of speech and allurement so as to penetrate more easily into the readers' minds and infect them more deeply with the poison of their error. Thus they will give the snake's poison in the cup of Babylon to the unwary who are seduced and blinded by their smooth speech and so do not recognize the poison that kills them.'

Pope Clement XIII, Encyclical Christianae, 11-25, A.D. 1766

'Reveal to the faithful the wolves which are demolishing the Lord's vineyard. They should be warned not to allow themselves to be ensnared by the splendid writing of certain authors in order to halt the diffusion of error by cunning and wicked men.

In a word, they should detest books which contain elements shocking to the reader; which are contrary to faith, religion, and good morals; and which lack an atmosphere of Christian virtue. We manifest to you Our great happiness in this matter that most of you, following the apostolic customs and energetically defending the laws of the Church, have shown yourselves zealous and watchful in order to avert this pestilence and have not allowed the simple people to sleep soundly with serpents.'

Pope Clement XIII, Encyclical Christianae, 11-25, A.D. 1766

'O you, then, young people! who have as yet escaped this contagion, beware of reading pernicious books; reject them with horror whenever they are offered to you. Should one of them fall into your hands, do not even look at it, lest you might be tempted to read it and say not that you read it only for obtaining instruction to adorn your mind or to improve your style.'

St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle

'The reading of bad books, which fills the mind with a thousand dangerous thoughts, and the imagination with a crowd of indecent phantoms, thence the poison passes into the heart, and produces ruin and death. One bad book is sufficient to corrupt a multitude of young people. That pernicious volume passes into every hand, the contagion spreads, and infects an entire household. The effect is still more fatal if it be one of those abominable works where passionate intrigues, lascivious anecdotes, and obscene descriptions are joined with impious maxims, and principles of irreligion capable of destroying the fear of God, and shaking the foundations of Faith. That barrier once broken down to what excess will not they go, who have swallowed the poison? Into what disorders may they fall, and who can restrain them?'

St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle

'Books which openly oppose the teaching of Christ are to be burned.'

Pope Pius VII, Encyclical 'On a Return to Gospel Principles', 'Diu Satis', 5-15 A.D. 1800

'What I shall now speak of was, I believe, the beginning of great harm to me. I often think how wrong it is of parents not to be very careful that their children should always, and in every way, see only that which is good; for though my mother was, as I have just said, so good herself, nevertheless I, when I came to the use of reason, did not derive so much good from her as I ought to have done -- almost none at all; and the evil I learned did me much harm. She was very fond of books of chivalry; but this pastime did not hurt her so much as it hurt me, because she never wasted her time on them; only we, her children, were left at liberty to read them; and perhaps she did this to distract her thoughts from her great sufferings, and occupy her children, that they might not go astray in other ways. It annoyed my father so much, that we had to be careful he never saw us. I contracted a habit of reading these books; and this little fault which I observed in my mother was the beginning of lukewarmness in my good desires, and the occasion of my falling away in other respects. I thought there was no harm in it when I wasted many hours night and day in so vain an occupation, even when I kept it a secret from my father. So completely was I mastered by this passion, that I thought I could never be happy without a new book.'

St. Teresa of Jesus

'But some one may say, What harm is there in reading romances and profane poetry when they contain nothing immodest? Do you ask what harm? Behold the harm: the reading of such works kindles the concupiscence of the senses, and awakens the passions; these easily gain the consent of the will, or at least render it so weak that when the occasion of any dangerous affection occurs the devil finds the soul already prepared to allow itself to be conquered. A wise author has said that by the reading of such pernicious books heresy has made, and makes every day, great progress; because such reading has given and gives increased strength to libertinism. The poison of these books enters gradually into the soul; it first makes itself master of the understanding, then infects the will, and in the end kills the soul. The devil finds no means more efficacious and secure of sending a young person to perdition than the reading of such poisoned works.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Doctor of the Church

'The reading of spiritual works is as profitable as the reading of bad books is noxious. As the former has led to the conversion of many sinners, so the latter is every day the ruin of many young persons. The first author of pious books is the Spirit of God; but the author of pernicious writings is the devil, who often artfully conceals from certain persons the poison that such works contain, and makes these persons believe that the reading of such books is necessary in order to speak well, and to acquire a knowledge of the world for their own direction, or at least in order to pass the time agreeably.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Doctor of the Church

'To instruct children from pagan books is not only to teach them useless things, it is to take them from God, and sacrifice them to the Demon. What are all these things but wind and smoke? Are there no other means by which to cultivate the mind, to give the tongue eloquence? Thy praises, Lord, so eloquently sung in the Scriptures, would have elevated, would have fixed, my feeble heart, and prevented its becoming a prey to unclean birds. Ah! there is more than one way of sacrificing man to demons . . . Is it thus, then, that the child should be trained up? Are those the models that should be presented to him? In acting thus you offer neither birds, nor animals, nor human blood even, you offer what is much more abominable, you immolate the young on the altar of Satan.'

St. Augustine

'Never read books you aren't sure about. . . even supposing that these bad books are very well written from a literary point of view. Let me ask you this: Would you drink something you knew was poisoned just because it was offered to you in a golden cup?'

St. John Bosco

'A father who desires to regulate his family well should endeavor first to remove from his house all evil, and afterwards to promote virtue. What I say of fathers is intended also for mothers.

I. With regard to removing evil.

1. A father must prevent his children from associating with bad company, or with ill-conducted servants, or with a master who does not give a good example.

2. He must remove from his house any male or female servant that may be a source of temptation to his daughters or sons. Virtuous parents do not admit into their house young female servants when their sons are grown up.

3. He should banish from his house all books that treat on obscene subjects, or on profane love, romances, and all similar works; such books are the ruin of innocent young persons. Videumaun tells us of a young man who was an example to all his fellow-citizens. He accidentally read an obscene book, and fell into such horrid crimes that he became the scandal of the entire people. His conduct was so scandalous that the magistrates were obliged to banish him from the city. Another young man, who had failed in his efforts to seduce a woman, put a book in her way that treated on love, and thus he made her lose her honor and her soul. A parent is still more strictly bound to remove the class of books  that has now become so common, which, besides the other poison, contains also errors against faith or against the Church.'

He is bound to remove from his house immodest pictures, particularly if they are obscene. Father Rho tells us that Cardinal Bellarmine went into a private gentleman's house, where he happened to see some immodest pictures; so he said to him: "My friend, I am come to entreat you for God's sake to do a work of charity in clothing the naked." The gentleman promised to do so; so the Cardinal pointed to the picture, saying- "There are the naked people I mean." Oh, how delighted is the devil when he sees in any house an immodest picture! It is related in the life of Father John Baptist Vitelli that a troop of devils was once seen in the hall of a certain nobleman offering incense to an immodest picture that hung there, in return for the souls which they gained by it.'

St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori, Doctor of the Church

[Shin]

Nine Ways of being an Accessory to Another’s Sin

I. By counsel
II. By command
III. By consent
IV. By provocation
V. By praise or flattery
VI. By concealment
VII. By partaking
VIII. By silence
IX. By defense of the ill done

[Therese]

One of the many major errors of the modernist church is its doing away with the Index of Forbidden Books and with the penalties associated with the reading of such dangerous, harmful books.

[Therese]

Many souls are being lost on account of bad literature.  The (true) Catholic Church truly knows the goodness and value of her Index of Forbidden Books.  I'd never wilfully read a book on its list.  It's a pity that most people have never heard of the Index of Forbidden books, lost as they are in the modernist church.  How God is punishing His children!  

[Shin]

In a preface to one of Rev. Butler's Lives of the Saints, one reads:

As in corporal distempers, a total loss of appetite, which no medicines can restore, forebodes certain decay and death: so, in the spiritual life of the soul, a neglect or disrelish of pious readings and instruction is a most fatal symptom: -- What hopes can we entertain of a person to whom the science of virtue, and of eternal salvation, doth not seem interesting, or worth his application? "It is impossible," says St. Chrysostom, "that a man should be saved, who neglects assiduous pious reading or consideration. Handicraftsmen will rather suffer hunger, and all other hardships, than lose the instruments of their trade, knowing them to be the means of their subsistence."

No less criminal and dangerous is the disposition of those who misspend their precious moments in reading romances and play-books, which fill the mind with a worldly spirit, with a love of vanity, pleasure, idleness and trifling; which destroy and lay waste all the generous sentiments of virtue in the heart, and sow the seeds of every vice, which extend their baneful roots over the whole soil. Who seeks nourishment from poisons? What food is to the body, that our thoughts and reflections are to the mind; by them the affections of the soul are nourished. The camelion changes its colour as it is affected by sadness, anger, or joy; or by the colour upon which it sits: and we see an insect borrow its lustre and hue from the plant or leaf upon which it feeds. In like manner, what our meditations and affections are, such will our souls become, either holy and spiritual, or earthly and carnal. By pious reading, the mind is instructed and enlightened, and the affections of the heart are purified and inflamed. In is recommended by St. Paul as the summary of spiritual advice.

Devout persons never want a spur to assiduous reading or meditation. They are insatiable in this exercise, and, according to the golden motto of Thomas a Kempis, they find their chief delight in a closet with a good book. Worldly and tepid Christians stand certainly int he utmost need of help to virtue. The world is a whirlpool of business, pleasure, and sin. Its torrent is always beating upon their hearts, ready to break in, and bury them under its flood, unless frequent pious reading and consideration oppose a strong fence to its waves. The more deeply a person is immersed in its tumultuous cares, so much greater ought to be his solicitude to find leisure to breath, after the fatigues and dissipation of business and company; to plunge his heart, by secret prayer, in the ocean of the divine immensity, and, by pious reading, to afford his soul some spiritual reflection: as a wearied husbandman, returning from his labour, recruits his spent vigour and exhausted strength, by allowing his body necessary refreshment and repose.

[Shin]

From a commentary on the Present Index Legislation:

'The Apostles frequently warned their disciples against the baneful influence of intercourse with the enemies of Christianity, either in word or writing. In the Acts of the Apostles it is recorded that the people of Ephesus, at the instigation of St. Paul, brought all their bad books into a public place and burned them, St. Paul warns his disciple Timothy again and again against the effects of vain and novel teachings. In his First Epistle to him, he admonishes him to guard the faith that has been entrusted to him; and prescribes as a means of doing so, the avoidance of profane novelties and oppositions which are circulated abroad under the false name of science ; and in his Second Epistle he advises him to have nothing to do with the vain babblings of the day;  "for," says he, " they tend very much to ungodliness, and they spread like a canker."

The Fathers of the Church not only strove against bad men, but also against bad books. In the middle of the third century we hear St. Cyprian warning his flock against association with those who had been driven from the Church. "Do not believe them," he says. "Do not take darkness for light, poison for cure, death for life. Fly from all association with such men; avoid their discourse as you would a canker, and fly from it as you would from a pest." St. Gregory asserts that heretics mix truth with falsehood to attract an audience, and that then they administer what is bad, in order that they may corrupt with a hidden pest.

St. Isidore asserts that to read books subversive of religion is as bad as to offer incense to the devil: St. Jerome remarks that as no one would enter a shattered bark in order to avoid shipwreck, so no one ought to study a book full of error in order to learn truth. Origen, who was well acquainted with the insinuating wiles of the popular enemies of Christianity, warns his readers:  "Let not the brilliancy of the work deceive you, nor the beauty of the language allure." And louder still is the admonition of Tertullian, "No one can be improved by what injures him; no one enlightened by what blinds him." If such were the opinions entertained by the early Fathers of the Church of the works of heretics, how can we describe the horror with which they fled from their company?'

[Shin]

'He had been lost; he was sought, he was found, and now he is converted. He is going to burn the books that would have consumed him, in order that the fire that burns them may save him.'

St. Augustine