Page:The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII.djvu/544



538 THE BIBLICAL COMMISSION.

tions. Another remembrance no less agreeable comes to Us in the fact that excellent beginnings were immediately made by some in the direction indicated, and an enthu- siasm awakened in various places in the prosecution of such studies. Nevertheless, We remark that the causes which prompted Us to pubhsh the previous Letter are still per- sistent and more serious. It is therefore necessary to insist more emphatically on what has already been enjoined and more than ever to express Our desire that Our Vener- able Brethren of the episcopate should v/atch with the greatest vigilance over these studies. To ensure greater facility as well as fruitful ness. We have resolved to add new strength to Our authority in this matter. As the task now before Us of explaining these divine books and main- taining them intact is too difficult for Our Cathohc inter- preters to acquit themselves well of, if left to their indi- vidual efforts, and because the work is nevertheless so necessary on account of the manifold developments of science and the appearance of such multitudinous error, it is deemed proper that a federation of energies should be made, and that assistance should be afforded under the auspices and direction of the Apostolic See. This result, it appears to Us, can be easily attained if we make use in the present instance of the means which We have al- ready employed for advancing other studies.

Wherefore, it has seemed good to Us to institute a council or, as it is termed, a commission of men of learn- ing whose duty shall be to effect that in every possible manner the divine text will find here and from every quarter the most thorough interpretation which is de- manded by our times, and be shielded not only from every breath of error, but also from every temerarious opinion. It is proper that the principal seat of this commission should be in Rome, under the very eyes of the Sovereign Pontiff. As it is the seat of the mistress and guardian of Christian knowledge, it should also be the centre from which there should flow through the whole body of the