The Tradition of Men

Donna Morley, Ph.D.

Consider. Each of the following traditions has been brought into the Catholic church. Not one of these traditions are mentioned in the Old or New Testament.

In the year....

        300   Making the sign of the Cross

        310   Praying for the dead

        320   Use of wax candles in the church

        375   Worship of angels

        375   The veneration of saints and use of images commanded

        385   Prohibition of clerical marriage

        394   The inception of the Mass

        431   The exaltation of Mary (ordered by the Council of Ephesus)

        431   Apostle Peter lives and ministers up to the present day, and forever, in his successors.

        500   Priests began to dress differently from laymen

        526   The conception of the sacrament Extreme Unction

        553   Mary is given the title “perpetual virgin”

        590   Title of pope is originated. The first man-made pope was Gregory I.

        593  The doctrine of Purgatory enters the church

        600   Latin language is ordered to be used in the mass

        607   Prayers begin to be directed to Mary, dead saints, and angels

        607   Title of Universal Bishop

        709   Kissing the pope’s foot (began with Pope Constantine)

        786   Veneration of the cross, images, and relics

        850   Holy water invented (water + salt + priests’ blessing)

        890   Worship of St. Joseph

        995   Canonization of dead saints

        998   Fasting during Lent

      1079    Celibacy of the priesthood (decreed by Pope Gregory VII)

11^th cent.  Attendance of the Mass made obligatory

      1090    The Rosary–praying with beads

      1184    The Inquisition (enacted by the Council of Verona)

      1215    Transubstantiation (decreed by Pope Innocent III)  

      1215    Confessing sins to priest, instead of to God

      1215    Yearly confession prescribed (Fourth Lateran Council)

      1220    Adoration of the wafer (Host/Eucharist)