Pope Gregory XIII — Sancta Mater Ecclesia, On the Preaching of the Word of God to Hebrews Once a Week for Their Conversion, in Places Where Their Synagogues Exist (1584 AD)
Holy mother Church, whose head is Christ, pouring her innate charity broadly out upon all, never ceases with pious affection to have mercy on the peculiar remnants of the ancient Israelite people and people of God, and is deeply saddened that the nation of the Jews — once enriched with extraordinary gifts and graces, for whom was the adoption of sons, the glory, the testament, the legislation, the service and the promises, whence also Christ our Savior deigned to be born according to the flesh — now dispersed for so many ages through the diverse parts of the world, and wretchedly wandering like a plague-ridden flock through trackless and waterless places, is perishing of hunger for the word of God and thirst for the refreshing water, and being expelled far not only from the earthly Jerusalem over which the Lord wept, but, what is more grievous, also from the heavenly Jerusalem, unless it shall confess Christ whom it denied. Moved by this compassion and sorrow, we too are not lightly stirred, and daily devise something by which provision may be more opportunely made for their conversion and salvation, and they may be able, God being propitious, to arrive at the way of understanding which they have closed to themselves.
§ 1. All bishops and prelates commanded to arrange weekly sermons for Jews where synagogues exist
Wherefore, meditating on these things with anxious mind, and following in the footsteps of Nicholas Pope V and certain other Roman Pontiffs our predecessors, we command by this general constitution all patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and other prelates of churches, even those distinguished with the honor of the cardinalate, that each in his own cities, lands, and places in which a competent number of Jews constituting a synagogue dwells, should take care, on the Sabbath or another fixed day of the week, to have a sermon or lecture delivered to the Jews themselves, summoned to a designated place — not, however, a sacred one nor one where holy things are customarily performed — by some master in theology or another suitable man to be chosen by them, with a fitting stipend assigned to him from the contribution of those same Hebrews or otherwise as shall seem most convenient to them, skilled in the Hebrew language as far as possible; in which sermons or lectures the scriptures of the Old Testament — namely of Moses and the prophets, and especially those which are read or chosen that Sabbath in their synagogues — shall be expounded to them according to the interpretations of the holy Fathers and the true sense of the Catholic Church; and therein shall be discoursed concerning the truth of the Christian faith, the certain coming and incarnation of the Son of God, His nativity, life, miracles, passion, death, burial, descent into hell, resurrection, ascension into heaven, the preaching of His Gospel throughout the whole world by His apostles and other saints, confirmed by innumerable and most illustrious virtues and the glory of illustrious miracles, and His spiritual and true kingdom; and concerning the abolition of the impious worship of idols and the calling of the nations; concerning the perpetual desolation both of Jerusalem and of the land of those same Jews, and their dispersion and captivity everywhere on earth; and concerning other dogmas and articles of similar argument from the law and the prophets; and moreover concerning the long and futile expectation of the Jews for the Messiah’s coming and for a carnal kingdom of his, and their vain hope of returning to the promised land and the restoration of the third temple, which has so often and indeed daily frustrated them; and finally concerning their manifold and varied errors and heresies into which they have most miserably plunged themselves, since they refused to acknowledge the Lord Christ coming in the flesh; and concerning the false interpretation of the sacred Scriptures handed down by their rabbis — who have twisted and corrupted and do not cease to corrupt and deprave the literal sense of those scriptures with fables, lies, and various deceits and methods — and concerning all other things which can convert them to the knowledge of the faith, to the correction of their errors, and to the orthodox faith, the preacher shall prudently address for the reason of place, time, and argument taken up, with true demonstrations drawn from holy Scripture, with no detraction or anger, but with great charity and modesty striving to open to them the light of truth.
§ 2. Jews over twelve required to attend; penalties for absentees and for any Christian who prevents their attendance
To which sermons and lectures we will that all and each of the Jews of either sex over the age of twelve, not prevented by illness or another legitimate cause — which they must make known to the ordinaries — dwelling or arriving from elsewhere in the city and places aforesaid, even if they do not have domicile there, shall come in turn and in thirds at least, and never fewer. If they shall neglect to do this, they shall be compelled to attend those same sermons, by the penalty of interdiction of commerce with the faithful and other penalties to be imposed at the discretion of the ordinary according to the degree of contumacy, until they shall have made competent satisfaction. And if any of the number of the faithful shall be so unmindful of the salvation of himself or of his neighbor — of whom each has a commandment — that he shall have drawn away or impeded or striven to impede them in any way from these salutary sermons or lectures, directly or indirectly, he shall be bound by the sentence of excommunication by that very fact.
Given at Rome, at Saint Mark’s, in the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1584, on the fifteenth of July, in the thirteenth year of our pontificate.
Dated July 15, 1584; pontificate year 13.
Source. Bullarium Romanum, Taurinensis Edition, Vol. VIII, pp. 487–489. Pope Gregory XIII, Sancta Mater Ecclesia, on the weekly preaching of the word of God to Hebrews for their conversion. Translated from the Latin.