The Christian Meaning of History

Considered in the light of Christian doctrine, the history of our time is illuminated. We recognize in it the battle of mysterious occult forces that confront each other: those of heaven and those of hell. Our history resembles that which the author of the Apocalypse described almost two thousand years ago, and it is not very difficult to recognize the threats of the Beast, his lies, his blasphemies, his implacable tyranny, his colossal power of destruction. But also, far from allowing ourselves to be shaken, we know where the source of all hope and all salvation is to be found: "God," says Bossuet, "has done a work in our midst which fills all times and all places, and carries throughout the earth, with the impression of his hand, the character of his authority, it is Jesus Christ and His Church". "Christ is at home in history," Dom Guéranger assures us, "history unfolds under his kingdom, it is directed towards an end that will console us in everything".

Friar Albert-M. Schmitt

Just as, for the Christian, separate philosophy does not exist, so for him, there is no such thing as a history that is only human. Man has been divinely called to the supernatural state; this state is the end of man; the annals of mankind must offer the trace.

Dom Prosper Guéranger