INCURABLES, HOSPITAL OF THE. - The rise of hospitals for the incurably is a typical phenomenon of the Renaissance. Two facts of great importance, though coming from entirely opposite fields, led to their foundation.
C. Ioannis Britanici Brixiani Regule ad infittitione Darii Hippolyti & Poponii Ioannis Mariæ filiogifuop.
Rámatica è ssa qua reale loquendi reflècìs fcribendi ratio percipitur. Ars autè eft cui iufque fcientia doctrina uel ufu fufcpta; fuc ars eft poteflas uam i. ordinem efficièsc Gámatica aut interpretatur litteratura: & gramaticus litterator apoton gámaton hoc eft a litteris. Ex litteris enim fyllabae funtres fyllabis dictiones: ex dictionibus oratio: fuga gramatica: funt quattuor litteras: fyllabae: dictio: oratio: litteratur: S. fyllabatur: I. Sci. Dicto ut fcipio: oratio: ut fcipio: deleuit cartographi: & Littera et mina pars usos composit. re: hoc eft quae coftar ex copositione litteraeque uox indiuida qua fcribi pot: dicta quafi legiterae: o g legibus iter ad legendum oftendat: ua literis quæ in charta funt quum ipfae littera fcribuntur uel op fcript: deleit pofunt: & Littera aut: differit ab elementis: Ele menta enim dicatur ipfae pronuntationes: Nota uero earum littera: Abufue tamen littera pro elementis: & elementa pro litteris uocantur: & Littera autem dicunt ter elementa: quæ damodum illa coenitia o. corpus fpicium: fficet littera coi: & littera: uoce: qui copur aliqd coponut: & Littera aut: fit dur: & uigita: b c d e f g ikl m n o p q r f u x y z, h uero: fpiatio: is magis.
(per courtesy of Dr. T. M. Guarnaschelli)
INCUNABULA - Johannes Britannicus Regulae, I. decorated with woodcuts, Brescia, 23 March 1490, c. 3° - Venice, Biblioteca civica Correr.
The Church, founded by Christ, is indestructible. He said: "Upon this rock I will build my Church" (Mt. 16, 18). He also said: "Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Mt. 28, 20); "I will ask the Father and he will send you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever" (Jn. 14, 16). The Church is therefore guaranteed divine assistance until the end of the world, which will not allow it to perish or weaken. The Fathers of the Church, especially St. Augustine in his struggle against the Donatists, have often had occasion to defend and illustrate, against the sects, the unshakable stability of the Catholic Church. The promise of indestructibility can only refer to II. False churches, sects, schisms, etc., are destined sooner or later to disappear, as history indeed confirms. The Arian churches have disappeared, and the Nestorian church is gradually dying out; Protestantism has fragmented into countless sects; the autocephalous Byzantine churches are victims of internal discord.
Indestructibility does not condemn the Church to a state of stasis or immobility; it does not prevent progress and change, but such progress is homogeneous and arises from within without deviation (v. DOGMA). These changes, relating to organization, discipline, and liturgy, do not affect the essence of the Church; they are not of divine institution and can therefore evolve according to the needs of times and places. This synthesis of immutability and progress is found only in the true Church. False churches either corrupt themselves intrinsically or remain attached to old and obsolete forms from which they can no longer free themselves, often succumbing to the temptation of making a virtue of necessity, as if these forms were genuine expressions of true immutability.