ral view of the history of the Church makes it clear that thesixteenth-century Catholic reform is not essentially different from otherreforms, which have applied an irresistible law and thus serve asmile-stones on the road of time. The work of Cluny in the eleventhcentury, the achievements of St. Norbert, St. Bernard and others in thetwelfth, the heroic undertakings of St. Francis and St. Dominic in thethirteenth -- all these monumental and unending labours are of the samespirit and the same significance as those accomplished by the Popes andthe Fathers of Trent, and by the religious founders of that period. Hereindeed we have one of the most permanent features of Christianity, one ofthe most certain evidences of its divine origin and of the reality ofthose promises which it claims to have received. For ever draggeddownward by the weight of original sin, the baptized soul repeatedly fallsback into darkness. Nevertheless, with equal regularity, there springsfrom her very depths, where primeval defilement cannot altogether mask,much less destroy, the supernatural resemblance, a force that impels heronce more upward to light and life: a force whose name is Grace... Whereas Protestantism marks a complete break in the history ofChristendom, the most grievous and most tragic there has ever been, theCatholic reform stands in the direct line of ancient tradition. It isitself, in fact, the rediscovery of the living Tradition. From whateverpoint of view it is considered, the same permanency is observed. Thereforming decrees of Trent are in perfect harmony with the GregorianBulls, while those concerning faith look back constantly to the ancientconciliar decisions, to the decretals of the popes, to the FathersandDoctors of the Church. Likewise in the moral sphere: Tauler, Suso andthe great medieval mystics form an obvious link between St. Ignatious ofLoyola and the "Imitation," as do the Fraternities and Oratories of DivineLove betwe...
