Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 7.djvu/776

 INCARNATE

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INCARNATION

Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament,

Ordek of the, fountlcd in the early part of the seven- teenth century by Jeanne Chezard de Matel. The illustrious foundress was born in 1596, at Roanne, France, and died in 1670 at Lyons. The rules and constitutions of the order were approved in 1033 by Urban VIII, and confirmed in 1644 by Innocent X. The principal object of the order is the education of youth. The first house was founded at Lyons, France, foundations being subsequently established at Avig- non, Paris, and various other places in France. At the time of the French Revolution the religious were driven out of their monasteries, and destruction threatened the order, but the Word Incarnate watched over its preservation, and, after the restoration of peace, the order was re-established. Azerables, France, claims the privilege of being the cradle of the resuscitated order. It thence again spread its branches over many parts of France. In 1S52, Bishop Odin, first Bishop of Texas, visited France to obtain religious for his far-off mission. A little band, headed by the noble and self-sacrificing Mother St. Claire, left Lyons to transplant to the Xcw World the Order of the Incarnate Word. .\t Brownsville, Texas, then a mere fort, was founded the first house in America. Many hardships had to be encoimtered, and many difficulties faced, but the wise anil prudent manage- ment of the superioress, and the devotion and self- sacrifice of the pioneer band, overcame every obstacle. In 1S66 an establishment was foimded at Victoria by religious from Brownsville, Texas, Mother St. Claire being again chosen superioress. The same wise ad- ministration caused this house to prosper, and in a few years it had sent out subjects to begin foundations at Corpus Christi, Houston, and Hallettsville. The.se, in turn, made foundations in many places in Mexico. The community of Victoria consists at pre.sent of forty-four members. Mother M. .Antoinette, who was then a novice of the house of Lyons, and was the first to join the commimity after its commence- ment here, is the present superioress. The institute is in a very flourishing condition. A new, excellently- equipped academy has been built at Victoria, where a high standard of education is maintained by an effi- cient staff.

Mother Antoinette.

Incarnation, the mystery and the dogma of the Word made Flesh. In this technical sense the word incarnalion was adopted, during the twelfth century, from the Norman-French, which in turn hatl taken the word over from the Latin incarnntio (sec O.xford Dictionarj', s. v.). The Latin Fathers, from the fourth century, make common use of the word; so Saints Jerome, .\mbrose, Hilary, etc. The Latin incarnatio (in: cam, flesh) corresponds to the Greek cdpKwffis, or ivirdpKuais. which words depend on John (i, 14) Kal 6 A6yos aap^ (yiviTO, "And the Word was made flesh". The.-ie two terms were in use by the Greek Fathers from the time of St. Irenceus — i. e. according to Harnack, .\, d. 1S1-1S9 (cf. Iren., ".^dv. H:er." Ill, 19, n. i.; Migne, VII, 939). The verb ffapKovffBai, to lie made flesh, occurs in the creeil of the Council of Nica>a (cf. Denzinger, " Enchiridion", n. 86). In the language of Holy Writ, flesh means, by synecdoche, human nature or man (cf. Luke, iii, 6; Rom., iii, 20). Suarez deems the choice of the word incarnation to have been very apt. Man is called flesh to emphasize the weaker part of his nature. When the Word is said to have been incarnate, to have been made Flesh, the Divine goodness is better expressed whereby God "emptied Himself . . . and was found in outward bearing (<rx'^fMTt) like a man" (Phil, ii, 7); He took upon Him.self not only the nature of man. a nature capable of suffering and .sick- ness and death. He became like a man in all save only sin (cf. Suarez, "De Incamatione", Praf. n. 5).

The Fathers now and then use the word IvavSpiin-qiTi.i, the act of becoming man, to which correspond the terms inhumanatio, used by .some Latin Fathers, and "Menschwerdung", current in German. The mys- tery of the Incarnation is expre.s.sed in Scripture by other terms: eirt\Ti\j/is, the act of taking on a nature (Heb., ii, 16): iTrKpdveia, appearance (II Tim., i, 10); ipavipwan iv aapKl, manifestation in the flesh (I Tim., iii, 16) ; auinaros KardpTijfws, the fitting of a body, what some Latin leathers call incorporatio (Heb., x. 5); KivoKTis, the act of emptying one's self (Phil., ii, 7). In this article, we shall treat of the fact, nature and effects of the Incarnation.

I. The Fact of the Incabn.\tion implies three facts: (1) The Divine Person of Jesus Christ ; (2) The Human Nature of Jesus Christ; (3) The Hypostatic Union of the Human with the Divine Nature in the Divine Person of Jesus Christ.

(1) The Divine Person of Jesus Christ. — We pre- suppose the historicity of Jesus Chri.st, — i. e. that He was a real person of history (cf. Jest s Christ); the Messiahship of Jesus; the historical worth and authen- ticity of the Gospels and Acts; the Divine amba.s.sa- dorship of Jesus Christ established thereby; the estal)hshment of an infallible and never failing teach- ing l)ody to have and to keep the deposit of revealed truth entrusted to it by the Divine ambassador, Jesus Chri.st; the handing down of all this deposit by tra- dition and of part thereof by Holy Writ; the canon and inspiration of the Sacred Scriptures — all these questions will be foimd treated in their proper places. Moreover, we assume that the Divine nature and Divine personality are one and in.separable (see Trinity). The aim of this article is to prove that the historical person, Je.sus Christ, is really and truly God, — i. e. has the nature of God, and is a Divine person. The Divinity of Jesus Christ is established by the Old Testament, by the New Testament and by tradition.

A. The Old Testament proofs of the Divinity of Jesus presuppose its testimony to Him as the Christ, the Messias (see Messhs). Assuming then, that Jesus is the Christ, the Messias promised in the Old Testament, from the terms of the promise it is certain that the One promised is God, is a Divine Person in the strictest sense of the word, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of the Father, One in nature with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Our argument is cumulative. The texts from the Old Testament have weight by themselves; taken together with their fulfilment in the New Testament, and with the testimony of Jesus and His apostles and His Church, they make up a cumulative argument in favour of the Divinity of Jesus Christ that is overwhelming in its force. The Old Testament proofs we draw from the Psalms, the Sapiential Books and the Prophets.

(a) Testimony of the Psalms.— Ps. ii, 7. "The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee." Here Jahweh, i. e., God of Israel, speaks to the promised Messias. So St. Paul interprets the text (Heb., i, 5) while proving the Divinity of .lesus from the Psalms. The objection is raised that St. Paul is here not interpreting but only accommodating Scripture. He applies the very .same words of Ps. ii, 7 to the priesthood (Heb., v, 5) and to the resurrection (.\cts, xiii, 33) of Jesus; but only in a figurative sense did the P'ather beget the Messias in the priesthood and resurrection of Jesus; hence only in a figurative .sense did He beget Jesus as His Son. We answer tha4 St. Paul speaks figuratively and ac- commodates Scripture in the matter of the priesthood and resurrection but not in the matter of the eternal generation of Jesus. The entire context of this chapter shows there is a question of real sonship and real Divinity of Jesus. In the same verse, St. Paul applies to the Christ the words of .lahweh to David, the tj-pe of Christ : "I will be to him a father, and he shall