The Profession of
Faith
I, N.N., declare with a firm
faith that
I believe and profess each and all the articles that are contained in
the
Apostles' Creed, that is: I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Creator
of Heaven and Earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, Who
was
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into Hell, the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven and
sitteth
at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty; from thence He will come
to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy
Catholic Church; the communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Amen.
I admit and embrace most firmly the
apostolic
and ecclesiastical traditions and all the other constitutions and
prescriptions
of the Church.
I admit the sacred Scriptures
according to
the sense which has been held and which is still held by Holy Mother
Church,
whose duty it is to judge the true sense and interpretation of the
Sacred
Scriptures, and I shall never accept or interpret them except according
to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
I profess that the Sacraments of the
New Law
are, truly and precisely seven in number, instituted for the salvation
of mankind, though all are not necessary for each individual: Baptism,
Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, Holy Orders and
Matrimony.
I profess that all confer grace and that of these Baptism, Confirmation
and Holy Orders cannot be repeated without sacrilege.
I also accept and admit the ritual
of the
Catholic Church in the solemn administration of al] the above mentioned
Sacraments.
I accept and hold, in each and every
part,
all that has been defined and declared by the Sacred Council of Trent
concerning
Original Sin and Justification. I profess that in the Mass is offered
to
God a true, real and propitiatory sacrifice for the living and the
dead;
that in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist is really, truly and
substantially
the Body and Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of Our Lord
Jesus
Christ, and that there takes place what the Church calls
transubstantiation,
that is the change of all the substance of bread into the Body and of
all
substance of wine into the Blood. I confess also that in receiving
under
either of these species one receives Jesus Christ, whole and entire.
I firmly hold that Purgatory exists
and that
the souls detained there can be helped by the prayers of the faithful.
Likewise I hold that the Saints, who reign with Jesus Christ, should be
venerated and invoked, that they offer prayers to God for us and that
their
relics are to be venerated.
I profess firmly that the images of
Jesus
Christ and of the Mother of God, ever Virgin, as well as of all the
Saints
should be given due honor and veneration. I also affirm that Jesus
Christ
left to the Church the faculty to grant Indulgences and that their use
is most salutary to the Christian people. I recognize the Holy Roman,
Catholic
and Apostolic Church as the mother and teacher of all the Churches and
I promise and swear true obedience to the Roman Pontiff, successor of
St.
Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus Christ.
Besides I accept, without
hesitation, and
profess all that has been handed down, defined and declared by the
Sacred
Canons and by the general Councils, especially by the Sacred Council of
Trent and by the Vatican General Council, and in a special manner
concerning
the primacy and infallibility of the Roman Pontiff. At the same time I
condemn and reprove all that the Church has condemned and reproved.
This
same Catholic Faith, outside of which nobody can be saved, which I now
freely profess and to which I truly adhere, the same I promise and
swear
to maintain and profess, with the help of God, entire, inviolate and
with
firm constancy until the last breath of life; and I shall strive, as
far
as possible, that this same faith shall be held, taught and publicly
professed
by all those who depend on me and by those of whom I shall have charge.
So help me God. |