Angelus News | September 23, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 19

more briefly with the aim of making
the catechism “more widely known
and more deeply understood.”
The fourth section of the catechism,
a treatment of prayer based on the Our
Father, concludes with a prayer by the
fourth-century doctor of the church St.
Cyril of Jerusalem.
Thirty years later, the great doctor’s
words provide a fitting conclusion to
this remarkable work: “Then, after the
prayer is over you say ‘Amen,’ which
means ‘So be it,’ thus ratifying with our
‘Amen’ what is contained in the prayer
that God has taught us.”
The interior of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. | SHUTTERSTOCK
Russell Shaw is a writer from Washington,
D.C. He is the author of more
than 20 books, and previously served as
secretary for public affairs of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops/
United States Catholic Conference
from 1969 to 1987.
True religion by the book
comes from a Greek word meaning “instruction,” and
such religious education has always been part of the Church’s life.
“Catechism”
St. Luke wrote his Gospel so “that you may know the truth concerning
the things about which you have been instructed (katēchēthēs)” (Luke 1:4).
In the early Church most teaching was done out loud. There was no way to
mass-produce books, and most people could not read anyway. Possession of
Christian books was, moreover, a crime punishable by death.
Toward the end of the Roman Persecution (around A.D. 305), an African
Christian named Lactantius composed the first summary exposition of Christian
doctrine in his Divine Institutes.
Not until the fourth century, when the faith was legalized, did the first true catechism
appear. It was the Great Catechism composed by St. Gregory of Nyssa
around A.D. 385. It was intended for instructors, and it served the purpose of a
modern curriculum.
In the Middle Ages, similar books emerged, usually built around the Apostle’s
Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and other numbered lists
Icon of St. Gregory of Nyssa. | SHUTTERSTOCK
(works of mercy, deadly sins, virtues, sacraments, etc.).
With the invention of the printing press, around 1440, mass literacy — and
mass instruction — became possible for the first time. There was great demand for religious books.
In the 1500s, with the Reformation, came the need to define true religion from false. In 1529, Martin Luther defined
his religion against the Catholic Church’s doctrine, and he published his tenets in simple form in his bestselling Small
Catechism.
Catholics soon countered Luther’s claims in their own catechisms. St. Peter Canisius produced one in 1555, and the
Council of Trent promulgated the Roman Catechism in 1566.
The centuries that followed brought an explosion of literacy — and an explosion of catechisms. In 1885 the Baltimore
Catechism first appeared in the United States, and it ushered in an unprecedented period of religious literacy in the
Church. In England, the Penny Catechism had a similar effect.
— Mike Aquilina
12 • ANGELUS • September 23, 2022