Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/543

 THE HOLY SCRIPTURES; THE BIBLICAL COMMISSION.

Apostolical Letter Vigilantice, October 30, 1902.

Faithful to the tradition of watchfulness and zeal by which We, first of all, because of Our office, are bound to preserve the deposit of faith safe and inviolate. We gave to the world in the year 1893 the Encyclical Provi- dentissimus. In it We included, after due examination, a number of questions concerning the study of Holy Scrip- ture. The grandeur and extreme utility of the subject impelled Us, in effect, to determine, as far as in Us lay, the directive principle of those studies so necessary now that the increase of erudition confronts us every day with the consideration of novel questions which are some- times in danger of being treated in a manner fraught with rashness.

Wherefore, We have warned all Catholics, and espe- cially those in Holy Orders, of the work which each one should undertake in this matter in accordance with the abilities with which he is endowed, and We applied Our- selves with the greatest care to show how and in what manner these studies should be developed in conformity with the needs of our epoch. This document has not been without result, and it is with, joy that We recall the testimonies of submission which the bishops and a great number of men eminent in science hastened to give Us while proclaiming at the same time the opportuneness and the importance of what We had written; and promising to conform with the greatest diligence to Our instruc-

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