A while back, So And So emailed me asking access to the locked post on AEternus ille caelestium. I declined, saying that the post was not yet ready to publish, and needed quite a bit of commentary. Well, someone was impatient today and tried to break in to that locked post about a zillion times by way of the servers at stumbleupon. Whatever. Even if it’s been hacked and copied, it won’t be understood, guaranteed. It needs commentary! But, just to whet your appetite, here’s a random sentence from that non-document, translated and with an initial interlinear fisking, but without the necessary commentary. Remember, there are only two copies in the world. All the rest were burned by Saint Robert Bellarmine and the rest of the Cardinals of Holy Mother Church. It is by far the most important non-document of the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
14 AETERNUS ILLE CAELESTIUM
Verum quia nihil profuisset huius editionis auctoritatem grauissimo sanxisse decreto, si illius quæ germana esset lectio nesciretur, sacerq. textus ita disputantium pateret arbitrio, vt is, qui aduersus perfidum hostem, tamquam validissimus mucro distri- ctus fuerat, idem & clypeus fieri posset, quo debilitati iam, cæsiq. hostis latera tegerentur.
Even so, since nothing had been done to ratify the authority of this edition by a most weighty decree, so if there were anyone who was ignorant of the genuine reading, then the Sacred Text would be open to the judgement of those disputing, so that he, fighting against a faithless enemy, would have lost the strongest edge which would become a shield, for him who is already weakened, to cover his flanks from the blows of the enemy.
In other words:
Even so, since nothing had been done [since 8 April 1546] to ratify the authority of this edition [of the true, textual critical Vulgate as desired by Trent in the first dogmatic decree of the fourth session (Sacrosancta), with Sixtus V thinking that he has that edition in hand, an opinion that would cost him his life] by a most weighty decree [which AEternus ille caelestium sets out to be with multiple threats of excommunications for those who do not accept its contents], so if there were anyone who was ignorant of the genuine reading [of that edition put together according to that decree of Trent (Sacrosancta)], then the Sacred Text [even in the original languages] would be open to the judgement of those disputing [a Catholic with one of the new Protestants], so that he [the Catholic], fighting against a faithless enemy [the new Protestant], would have lost the strongest edge (of the sword) [as would be provided by just such a textually critically sound text, approved by the Supreme Magisterium], which would [have] become a shield for him who is already weakened [because of the unmitigated violence of the "Reformation"], to cover his flanks from the blows of the enemy.
Sixtus V, a hero of mine, for whom I’ve prayed (he’s not even a “Servant of God” as far as I know) and from whom I’ve asked intercession (since, whether in heaven or still in purgatory, he can still pray for all of us), understood the difficulty if not the best solution. I would often find myself before his tomb in the Sistine Chapel of Saint Mary Major’s through my years in Rome. Both Sixtus V and Robert Bellarmine are very significant, influential figures for this hermit of yours.
The commentary just on the significance of this sentence would go about 250 pages. In fact, it has. That was when I had a learned Cardinal as a second reader for yet another thesis… and that was all just chapter one, but I digress. Hacker knuckleheads, if successful, will only find an unfinished product (minus all commentary) which they will not be able to finish or interpret. Any efforts of theirs will only help my cause to publicize — later, please God — a popular and correct interpretation of what is actually going on with this document.
Warning to hackers: Really, what I say is true. The only people who have understood this document to date are Sixtus V, Bellarmine (later), the Pope in the last part of Bellarmine’s life, also Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius X and a not so well known Italian priest. That’s it. Oh… me too. Oh, and the Cardinal who was second reader… But that’s another story altogether.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
Father, is hacking for an unholy purpose a mortal sin? (I would exempt hacking to protect a nation’s security or to save somebody’s life.) BTW, I couldn’t hack my way out of a paper bag, so this is just a question for my own learning on moral theology.
That’s good!
The obvious question: if there are but two copies of a papal document that’s over 400 years old, how did one of them come to be yours?
I did take a peek at the old Catholic Encylopedia’s article on St. Robert which obliquely mentioned this.
Hello Greg! Instead, I was, I would even say, best friends of the Cardinal Librarian/Archivist of the Holy Roman Church. Both copies were there at the time, locked in safes of safes of vaults of vaults of vaults. He directed the Prefect to get the copy for me, watching closely as a paged through the significant bits, copying by hand what was important, but not enough. One of those copies, the one I had been examining, went to the safes of the safes of the vaults of the vaults of the locked chambers of the locked chambers of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, where I was great friends of the Prefect there. He didn’t look over my shoulder, but left it with me at ‘my’ table, where I basically lived for years on end. When all was clear, I took out my trusty el cheapo digital camera of the time and took pictures of this document and other interesting and important pages for textual criticism even and especially in our own day. I’ve had many things dropped into my hands in the two decades I was in Rome. I really, really need to write about this stuff, going to the heart of a solution to the Reformation. There are so many distractions.
Father you absolutely need to get this book and the Genesis book done! They sound incredible!
A great Genesis Book written from a Catholic perspective is called ”
The Doctrines of Genesis 1-11″ by Rev. Victor P. Warkulwiz, M.S.S. Have you read it Father?
Never heard of it Justin. Where could I get it… Sounds great!
Father-
I bought it from this link: http://www.genesis1-11.org/ That being said it was sent to my address from some group called “The John Paul II Institute of Christian Spirituality”. So far it’s quite good although I must say I do not have much of a science background so some of the stuff the author talks about in the science/physics realm kind of loses me somewhat. It’s just nice to see Catholics actually trying to take Genesis seriously once again. From my own glance at your own paper on the subject it seems like you are one them. I can’t wait to see the popular version (i.e. in laymans terms) of your thesis. The whole Genesis/Creation stuff is own of the things that fascinates me.
Thanks, Justin. I need that encouragement.
but Father, but Father, please help me understand, what is this document, and why are there only 2?
It’s about the would-have-been Vulgate as desired by the Fathers of Trent according to the dogmatic decree Sacrosancta of the 4th Sesssion of that Council. There are only two because the rest were burned. Sixtus V understood what to do, how to do it, but did not have the Vulgate in hand. Meanwhile, Bellarmine did not understand what to do or how to do it and also did not have the Vulgate as desired by Trent in hand. He only understood at the end of his life, when it was too late to do something about it. All this has absolutely everything to do with ecumenism at the highest levels and at the deepest of ecclesiological foundations.
Father,
While I truly do not understand, I dare suspect that this document is capable of shedding much light on what happened in the Curia during the Reformation. I eagerly await more clarity in this area. So much time is spent on the division hate and death that what was going on at the higher levels is forgotten.
My sporadic incursions into history have given me a great deal of respect for Bellarmine. Anyone who could both give the Divine Right of Kings a good thrashing, and write “The Art of Dying Well” has both an incisive mind and a great deal of spiritual sensitivity in the best Ignatian tradition. From what you say here, the story behind this document could well shed a bit of light on his more human side, too.
I can understand, someone’s impatience to examine it. I cannot condone someone virtually breaking and entering to hurry the process!! However, I know that in my ignorance I could not hope to fit the document into it’s proper context, nor understand what it said without a good deal of help. You could write at least three books out of what it all could mean, and the personalities involved.
I too applaud your working on a book about Genesis. I agree with Justin that this book has been long neglected, especially in our era–as if some were embarrassed by it. This is especially true considering how important it is to Christ’s teaching, and what a great pillar of earlier understanding of Natural Law that goes largely unaccredited. You don’t see Aquinas making that mistake!
I think we have forgotten the art of the parable. How can we understand the teachings of Our Lord if we have lost the art of the parable? No wonder our culture has forgotten, ridicules and (in it’s own mind at least) negates Christ! My readings are not comprehensive, but in all my wanderings the last writer to truly address this subject is… wait for it… G K Chesterton.
When it comes to understanding parables, Chesterton had the unfair advantage of being a poet.
He died around the same time as my great grandfather. It’s about time someone brought it again to our tired world’s attention!
Thank you very much, V, for the encouragement. I’ve been very distracted with the collection of wood for the winter, etc. Your words make me long to get to the writing as soon as possible.