Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 10.djvu/68

 MATERNITY

46

MATHATHIAS

psychical qualities of iniiUcr, while Iilc:ihsiii lias ile- nicil the materiality of the soul or of Ciod. Conse-- iHientlv, a complete and harmonious world-theory could not be reached. The Ideal or End-in-itself Materialism, or Monism, is the crown or acme of all philosophies, since in it is contained the .absolute truth, to which the leading intellects of all times have gradu- ally and laboriously contributed. Into it flow all philosophical and religious systems, as streams into the sea." "Spirit or (iod is m.atter, and, vice versa, matter is spirit or God. Matter is no raw, lifeless mass, as was hitherto generally assumed, since all chemicivphysical processes .are self-purposive. Matter, which is the eternal, unending, visible, audible, weigh- able. measurable etc. deity, is gifted with the highest evolutionary and transforming spiritual or vital qualities, and indec-d po.s.sesses power to feel, will, tliink, and rememlier. All that exists is matter or God. A non-material being does not exist. Even space is matter ..."

One needs only to indicate such fruits of materialis- tic science to illustrate in their absurdity the con- sequences of the pernicious conception of man and the universe known as Materialism. But we cite these instances also as a positive proof that the much-laudetl victory of modern Idealism over Mate- rialism has no foundation in fact. To our own time may be applied what the well-known historian of Materialism, Friedrich Albert Lange (Gescliichte des Materialismus u. Kritik seiner Bedeutung in der Ge- genwart), wrote in 1S75: "The materialistic strife of our day thus stands before us as a serious sign of the times. To-day, as in the period before Kant and the French Revolution, a general relaxation of philo- sophical effort, a retrogression of ideas, is the basic ex- planation of the spread of Materialism." What he says indeed of the relaxation of philosophical effort is no longer true to-day; on the contrary, seldom has there been so much philosophizing by the qualified and the unqualified as at the beginning of the present and the end of the last century. Much labour has been devoted to philosophy and much has been accom- plished, but, in the words of St. Augustine, it is a case of mngni gressus prwter viam (i.e. long strides on the wrong road). We find simply philosophy without ideas, for Positivism, Empiricism, Pragmatism, Psy- chologism, and the numerous other modern systems are all enemies of ideas. Even Kant himself, whom Lange invokes as the bulwark against Materialism, is very appropriately called by the historian of Idealism, O. Willman, " the lad who throws stones at ideas ".

The idea, whose revival and development, as Lange expects, "will raise mankind to a new level", is, as we have shown, not to be sought in non-Christian philoso- phy. Only a ret urn to the Christian view of the world , which is founded on Christian philosophy and the teachings of the Socratic School, can prevent tlie catastrophes prophesied by Lange, and perhaps raise mankind to a higher cultural level. This philosophy offers a thorough refutation of cosmological and an- thropological Materialism, and raises up the true Idealism. It shows that matter cannot of itself be un- created or eternal, which indeed may be deduced from the fact t hat of itself it is inert, indifferent to rest and to motion. But it must be either at rest or in motion if it exists; if it existe<l of itself, in virtue of its own nature, it would be also of itself in either of those conditions. If it were of itself originally in motion, it coulil have never come to rest, and itwould not be true that its nature is indifferent to rest and to motion and could be equally well in either of the two condi- tions. With this simple argument the fundamental error is confuted. An exhaustive refutation will be founfl in the present author's writings: " Der Kosmos " (Paderbom, 1908); "Gott u. die Schopfung" (Ratis- bon, 1910); "Die Theodizee" (4th ed., 1910); "Lehr- buch der Apologetik", I (.3rd ed., Miinster, 1903).

Anthropological Materialism is completely disproved by demonstrating for psychical activities a simple, spiritual substance tlistinct from the body — i. e. the soul. Reason assumes the existence of a simple being, since a multiiilieity of atoms can possess no unitary, in- divisible thought, and cannot coinpare two ideas or two psychical states. That which makes the com- parison must have simultaneously in itself both the states. But a material atom cannot have two differ- ent conditions simultaneously, cannot for example simultaneously execute two different motions. Thus, it must be an immaterial being which makes the com- parison. The comparison itself, the perception of the identity or difference, likewise the idea of necessity and the idea of a pure spirit, are so abstract and meta- phvsical that a material lieimr cannot be their subject.

ForafuUrnfui iiiMM ..t i.i.ln Li-ir ,1 Miitorialism sec GuT-

BKRLET, LcArfti/. ', ;■, . . : II I , M 1 1 1 istiT, 1904) ; Idem,

DerKampfum,h.-.r ,.,[, .ju I , I , M^niz, liKW). Con-

sult alsn K»BHi, ;; :■ .'. ,,: ,l,„ M. (.siutliiart, 1S64); Prat, L'impi/i-'!" ' ■! ' 1/ I'lM-. IsOS); MoloNo, Le M. et la forcf (2adoi!.riii !■.; . \\i u n.i^a, Ueber d.Gremen d. mechan- ischen X'!' . _ : •■ j V'^nn. l^7!i);Fi.lNT,AntithcisticThcones (Londuii. 1^^,',)); I'uwm;, ,'^omc Difficulties of M. in Princeton Rev. (ISSl), pp. 341-372; Drkssi^kr, Der belcbte u. der unbelebte Staff (Freiburg, 1SS3); Lilly, Materialism and Morality in Fortnightly Remrw (1.S.S6). .57.f-94; (1SS7>, 276-93; Bossu, Refutation du mnl/rinli.-,,,,.- a.nnvnin. ISillll; nHKiiFii, Der M . eine Verirrung 'I mt 'i.;\i>'i,'i/. i: i ,, ;. . ; I'.n Im, I ^'r' i i ', iKw.xNrK, WHIM, bethel^': ■ ' / ' i. /' ' 'i'- -■ (1899),

86-96: COURBKI,/ 1/ r.:, i , I i : ■ i:TON, 7'Af

Insufficiency of .M. lu r ,J..'LU',.,u.lS.~l'..iM V:i; Pesch, Die grossen Wcltralhsel (Freiljur^, ISSii; 3rd ed., 1907); Stockl, Der M. gepriift in seinen Lehrsiitzen u. deren Conse- quenzcn (Mainz, 1878). See also bibliograptiy under God, Soul, SpiRiTtTAiJsM, World.

CoNSTANTIN GUTBERLET.

Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Feast of THE, second Sunday in October. — The object of this feast is to commemorate the dignity of Mary as Mother of God. Mary is truly the Mother of God, because she is the Mother of Christ, who in one person unites the human and the divine nature. This title was solemnly ratified by the Council of Ephesus,22 June, 431. The hymns used in the office of the feast also allude to Mary's dignity as the spiritual Mother of men. The love of Mary for all mankind was that of a mother, for she shared all the feelings of her Son whose love for men led Him to die for our redemption (Hunter, Dogm. Theol. 2, 578). The feast was first granted, on the petition of King Joseph Manuel, to the dioceses of Portugal and to Brazil and Algeria, 22 Jan., 1751, to- gether with the feast of the Purity of Mary, and was assigned to the first Sunday in May, dupl. maj. In the following year both feasts were extended to the province of Venice, 1778 to the kingdom of Naples, and 1807 to Tuscany. At present the feast is not found in the universal calendar of the church, but nearly all diocesan calendars have adopted it. In the Roman Breviary the feast of the Maternity is com- memorated on the second, and the feast of the Purity on the third, Sunday in October. In Rome, in the Church of S. Augustine, it is celebrated as a dupl. 2. classis with an octave, in honour of the miraculous statue of the Madonna del Parto by Sansovino. This feast is also the titular feast of the Trinitarians under the invocation of N. S. de los Remedies. At Mesagna in Apulia it is kept 20 Feb. in commemoration of the earthquake, 20 Feb. 1743.

HoLWECK, Fasti Mariani (Freiburg, 1892); Albers, Bluthen- Kriimc (Paderbom, 1894), v 484 ss.

F. G. HoLWECK.

Matemus, Saint. See Eucharius, Saint, Bishop OF Trier.

Matemus, Firmictts. See Firmicus Maternu.s.

Mathathias, the n.ame of ten persons of the Bible, variant in both Hebrew and Greek of Old Testament and in Greek of New Testament; uniform in Vulgate. The meaning of the name is " gift of Jah ", or " of Jah- weh" (cf. OMuipos). In the Hebrew, the first four of these persons are called Mattith Jah (nTinO).