Many Catholics think that “Catholic” means “universal,” and they are correct, but they make the mistake of thinking this is universal not through history, but just today in this current Church crisis.
We look to the great saint and doctor of the Church of the 5th century, St. Vincent of Lerins, for how to navigate a Church crisis when many bishops believe and teach different things. St. Vincent of Lerins was one of the very, very few bishops who fought against the global 5th century heresy of Arianism believed by 98% of the bishops of his day.
We will see below in his writings why “Catholic” does not mean “universal” (for example, as in an opinion poll of a certain time of history) but rather that Catholicism is that what has been believed “everywhere, always and by all” Catholics of the past, for New Advent quotes the great saint:
Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and in the strictest sense Catholic, which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we in no way depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by our holy ancestors and fathers.
Here’s some other quotes in italics from the doctor of the Church, St. Vincent Lerins, who stood against the global heresy of the 4th century of Arianism with my analysis in bold applying it to the current global heresy of modernism:
St. Vincent: What then will a Catholic Christian do, if a small portion of the Church have cut itself off from the communion of the universal faith? What, surely, but prefer the soundness of the whole body to the unsoundness of a pestilent and corrupt member? What, if some novel contagion seek to infect not merely an insignificant portion of the Church, but the whole? Then it will be his care to cleave to antiquity, which in the present cannot possibly be seduced by any fraud of novelty.
Of course, the first sentence might not be used by traditionalists but rather against traditionalists, namely, “if a small portion of the Church have cut itself off from the communion of the universal faith,” it should be excised from the body. Indeed, are not those today who attend the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) and hold to the same faith as our great-grandparents simply “a small portion of the Church”? Yes, we are small, and some would say “pestilent.” However, St. Vincent of Lerins is again asking us to consider not only the 1B Catholics living currently, but all the Catholics who have ever lived. How do we know this is his assertion? Because he links the word “pestilent” with the two words “novel contagion.” Any new doctrine developed by so-called “Catholics” must always be seen as a novel infection affecting only certain sad times of Church history. The cure for the cancer of any such “novel contagion” in any dark point of Church history was just written by the Doctor of the Church: “It will be his care to cleave to antiquity, which in the present cannot possibly be seduced by any fraud of novelty.”
Continue reading at Padre Peregrino