Customer Reviews

Iota Unum: A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the Twentieth Century

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author, Professor Romano Amerio, was a "peritus" (a theological expert) at Vatican II. He is therefore in a unique position to comment on the Council. But Amerio does far more than comment. Here we have a fine Thomistic mind dispassionately explaining how Vatican II inaugerated a "new theology" based on modern notions that had been consistently condemned by the Church since the time of the French Revolution. From the very first paragraph of the book, the reader realizes that he is in the hands of a master. Whether it is ecueminsm, the new Mass, the new buzzword of "dialogue", Amerio dissects the issue and shows the non-Catholic thinking and principles that are part and parcel of the "Spirit of Vatican II." He exposes the sophisms of the modern apologists of the Council, while vigorously defending the traditional teachings of Catholicism. This book is A MUST for Catholics who love their faith but are disillusioned by the modern, liberal trends in the Church. Superb!

In this exhaustive analysis of the changes in the Catholic Church this century--which he demonstrates to be in the direction of a change of essence (i.e., not just a cultural modification)--Amerio brings out the underlying issues of world-views in conflict. He shows that the Second Vatican Council, in committing the Church to "embrace the world", was operating according to a this-worldly philosophy which ultimately betrays the Church's whole nature and purpose. What of the future? Amerio's outlook is bleak. No easy comfort here. The prospect is one of continued fragmentation of the Church but, bearing in mind Christ's promise (that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against his Church), the Church will survive in integrity, even if in the form of a "remnant".

I give 5 stars to the book, but 1 star to Amazon. The Amazon edition is a paperback at $44.95. Note that at Angelus Press http://www.angeluspress.org/iota_unum.htm the "hardback" is $44.95, and the "paperback" is $29.95.

Because I saw the $44.95 figure on both websites, I made a hasty assumption which was wrong. This is more than a coincidence.

First time I've been suckered at Amazon.

In the Sermon on the Mount, answering the misconceptions of those who thought he had come to «abolish the law and the prophets», Jesus Christ said: «For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth shall pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished» (Matthew 5.18.) He thereby established the immutability of the Truth, of the Moral Law and of the Revelation from Old Testament times to the Last Judgment.

But immutability does not sit well with modern man, whose fondness for discarding iotas has affected many within the Catholic Church, to the point that one may wonder whether it is undergoing a crisis comparable to the Lutheran secession, the schism of the French clergy during the French Revolution or the modernist heresy at the turn of the 19th century.

Having defined a «crisis» as a rejection of the very principles of the Church *from within*, as opposed to the world at large, Romano Amerio (1905-1997) searches ecclesiastical history for clear-cut instances, establishing standards with which to judge the present situation. He then surveys the preparation for Vatican II, of which he speaks with some measure of authority, since he was the peritus for the bishop of Lugano and «got to know all the documents»; the course of the council itself; and finally the immediate post-conciliar period under the pontificate of Paul VI, a pope whose renunciation of authority made him rather unfit for the post, leading to a proliferation of abuses sheepishly condemned by ineffective words.

The book then adopts a more thematic approach, dealing with such issues as the crisis of the priesthood, liturgical absurdities or increasingly outspoken, heretical and obdurate dissent within the Church. It is easy to picture the author painstakingly collecting thousands of articles from the Osservatore Romano and the religious press, building up his case over two decades of meticulous research. But what he offers us is no mere enumeration, no disjointed «horror file», but a methodical diagnosis of the evils he describes, down to their metaphysical and theological roots.

Amerio has a gift for identifying «-isms», or ideologies that are displacing traditional pillars of Catholic thought. «Mobilism» is the self-contradictory, romantic «mentality that values becoming more than being, motion more than rest, action more than the goal», holding that «to be forever aspiring is better than attaining». Feminism he aptly shows to be a «masculinism». «Discussionism» is the egalitarian cult of dialogue which has replaced proselytism; «juvenilism», the adoration of youth that surfaces in some naive pontifical statements; and pyrrhonism, the root-and-branch skepticism that is engulfing the Church built on a rock.

A master logician, Amerio dissects what he calls (after Giordano Bruno) the «circiterisms» of the reformists- a generic name for the fuzzy, «more-or-less» thinking that characterizes much of post-conciliar rhetoric. He is dismayed by «that dulling of logical thought, which stems from losing a sense of the difference between the natures of things, and which leads to a confusing of one thing with another», as evinced by the non-missionary vocation of modern missions; the «hybridization of faith and hope» in theological discourse; or the priests and married men who perceive their very identity as a constraint on their liberty. Particularly noteworthy is Amerio's discussion of Heaven and Hell as the eternal vindication of the distinction between right and wrong.

*Iota Unum* is more than 700 pages of sheer intellectual brilliance. Not only is Romano Amerio a highly cultured man, and a specialist of such writers as Antonio Rosmini, Campanella (on whom he wrote his PhD thesis) or Manzoni (whose *Observations on Catholic Morality* he published a critical edition of), but he is also a luminously clear, deep and systematic thinker, a distinction which years of teaching philosophy, greek and latin can only partly explain. There is probably no university left in the world where you can learn to think like that.

Considering this work to be definitely one of the best I have reviewed for this site, I have already bought a copy of the author's *Stat Veritas*, a much slimmer volume of commentaries on the apostolic letter «Tertio Millennio Adveniente», fortunately translated in French; but as for the rest of his bibliography, which I would have gladly devoured, Amerio has simply made me add Italian to the list of languages I wish I could read.

This is a magnificent work on the post-conciliar Church which is THOROUGHLY documented and covers just about every topic that one could think of. It is outstanding to be read from begining to end or simply to be used as a reference. Amero, who was a peritus at Vatican II, is certainly in a good position to know what he is talking about. This book should especially be on the shelf of any priest or seminarian who is looking for an adequate book on the Changes of the Church following Vatican Council II. Again, the best book I have read to date on the subject.

Vatican II, which elected to entertain rather than to condemn error, opened the doors to the faithless innovators (lurking within the episcopate itself) who have since wreaked havoc on the post-conciliar faithful.

A luminous reading from start to finish: clear, cogent, absorbing and oh-so true to Catholic Tradition! Amerio says more in a few words than I've gotten from whole pages or chapters of other books. I especially appreciate the frank, informative and philosophical discussions of the topics, which are exhaustive and pertinent to the Church today.

Reading and reflecting on works like Iota Unum only adds to my fervent prayer that Pope Benedict XVI's much-awaited motu proprio will free the Mass of St. Pius V to stem the tide of abuses in the Novus Ordo and to provide the only stable reference the New Mass so urgently needs to effect genuine reform! Right now, in the diocese of Albany, NY, Bishop Hubbard's "Called to BE Church," a secular humanist propaganda campaign to annihilate any remaining vestiges of the Faith among those he was ordained to shepherd, is underway. Our diocese' only hope to combat this diabolical program, I believe, is the Traditional Latin Mass, coupled with the prayers, sufferings and resistance of Albany's "remnant."

God bless Mr. Amerio and those upholding the beautiful, entirety of Catholic Tradition.

This book is necessary reading for anybody that studies religion. I've been surprised by the number of people that aren't familiar with this book. Iota Unum is a classic.

I always thought Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre was something of a pompous ass, but that was more because of his triumphal Frenchness than what many regard as his peculiar reactionary and un-progressive religious beliefs. This book was frequently recommended by him as setting forth the fact of the post Conciliar crisis in detail. And that it does. Virtually all of my friends were born, and for sure educated, long after Vatican II was concluded. At best they were raised up in the developing "Sprit of the Council." I, however, have one advantage: I was raised in and still warmly recall and cherish the old Faith, and have seen Alfredo Cardinal Ottaviani's predictions regatding Paul VI's New Mass come true. Lex Orandi really does end up being Lex Credendi. The majority of Catholics largely no longer believe in the Real Presence. Reverence for the Eucharist and the sacred (both persons and places) is at an all time low. Sunday Mass attendance seems to have dropped by 2/3's locally. Latin is no longer the language of the Church, and Gregorian Chant has virtually disappeared. (I have a few ideas as to how Latin could be restored among both clergy and laity, and the same technology might work for Chant, but I doubt either the Vatican or the clergy are interested in my ideas.)

Bodily mortification is largely out the window. For all practical purposes both laity and clergy have fully invested themselves into the consumer economy, and there is no end to the "necessary" gadgets we manage to acquire, from electronics to new cars to other "toys." Statistics show we divorce, "shack up," contracept and abort at about the same rate as our non-Catholic neighbors. Many Catholics are not buried with a Catholic Funeral Mass, or even grave side services. It's almost like for most of us the Faith does not matter any more. Amerio's comments regarding changes in the Catholic way of death and dying are most touching, especially to one who is probably closer to death, by reason of age at least, than many of you, and who does not look forward to spending his last days or hours in a hospital or convalescent home, away from family, friends, and the rites of the Church.

Lets face it, the changes of the past four plus decades have been a total disaster. Romano Amerio details these changes, some ecclesiastically approved, others tolerated, and many of which I, at least, only suspected (like tampering with Scriptural readings to change their meaning, like watering things down, so to speak). But when one lists all the changes, approved and tolerated, one cannot help but wonder if it really is the same Church founded by Christ, or something new and, frankly, an alien thing. God, no doubt, will bring us, or at least some of us back in due course, but a future generation may well regard Lefebvre as another Athanasias, truly Catholic when virtually the rest of the Church went Arian.

Do not discard but read this book, even jumping back and forth from chapter to chapter. It is hard cover, so should last in your library. (My own soft cover version had been on a shelf for a couple years before I finally began delving into it. It has gotten a bit dog eared over the last month or two.)

This book helps explain my affection for the Old Mass, and my intention to fund education in it for as many priests as possible, if only as a way of preserving some semblance of belief in traditionally taught Catholic Doctrine. The reading of it may not be enjoyable, but it will be enlightening.

This is a fascinating account of what really happened at the Council by a Swiss Philosopher and Classics Professor who was actually one of the few lay Peritus who was involved in the lead up to the Council. It will help you to understand how the Council has been subsequently mis-interpreted and what the Council Fathers were hoping to achieve. It delves into areas that have been given little assessment by others, this book is a must read.

Iota Unum is a very great work, a work of genius by a preeminent scholar of the xxth century, everyone knows this. One is compelled to more than one reading of it, I think. To call it comprehensive is insufficient. It is, in sum, right. Right in its foundation and its diagnoses. Right in its hope for repair through authentic renewal. When the great Swiss thinker wrote Iota Unum, reaction within the Vatican was one of niggardly appreciation for Amerio's inevitable contribution, and his genius treated with unattractive indifference. Iota Unum's tidings stung those men whose eminent programme was laid bare irrefutably except by a kind of conjured fantasy, a programme irrevocably called out so as never to be allowed again its lying falsity. An argument could be made that this single critical book germinated renewing seeds of reason and fidelity in the Church, as fidelity is ever falsity's enemy. L'Osservatore Romano, hotbed of Vatican political skullduggery, at the time and for many years dismissed Amerio's work as "anticonciliar reaction," refusing to discuss the book or its arguments in any way, creating division where none had been before. In like manner has the lamentable legacy of Vatican Council II been the division of Catholic unity. Ah, but pride and time! Today, I experienced tremendous satisfaction to read that L'Osservatore Romano has contritely and publicly rehabilitated Romano Amerio, in connection with a recent Roman symposium on his thought and work, praising his "primacy of truth over love." A sign like this of such deep change in the heart of Rome with respect to the tragedy of the last 40 years is immensely important. Imagine the things that might come! Read this book. The vision is new and fresh, and the remedy good news.