Selections of John MacEvilly’s Writings on the Jews

About the Author

John MacEvilly (1818–1902) was born at Louisburgh, County Mayo, Ireland, on 15 April 1818. Ordained to the priesthood in 1842, he served as Professor of Sacred Scripture at St. Jarlath’s College, Tuam, from 1844, and as its President from 1852 to 1857. He was consecrated Bishop of Galway in 1857, appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Tuam in 1877, and succeeded as Archbishop in 1881, a position he held until his death on 26 November 1902.

MacEvilly was the first English-language Catholic commentator to produce a complete exposition of every book of the New Testament except the Apocalypse. His multi-volume Exposition of the Epistles, Pauline and Catholic and his commentaries on the four Gospels and Acts of the Apostles ran through multiple editions published by M.H. Gill of Dublin and Benziger Brothers of New York. He attended the First Vatican Council (1869–70). His commentaries were widely used in Catholic seminaries throughout Ireland, Britain, and North America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The passages compiled below are drawn from his commentaries on the Gospel of St. Matthew and the Acts of the Apostles. They represent his exposition of the scriptural tradition known as Adversus Judaeos — the theological indictment of the Jewish people for their rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah, their obstruction of the Gospel, the destruction of Jerusalem as divine punishment, and the consequent supersession of the Synagogue by the Church.

All quotations are verbatim from the primary sources cited.

I. The Wretched Deicides: Jewish Guilt for the Crucifixion

Acts 2:23 — “This same being delivered up, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked men have crucified and slain.”

“St. Peter now following up the chief subject of his discourse, proceeds to treat of the terrible crime of the Jews, in subjecting to the death of the cross Him whose Divine mission was so clearly proved. This delicate subject he treats, however, with wonderful prudence, avoiding, as much as possible, giving offence or creating prejudices. Without extenuating their guilt, he puts forward, in the first instance, the foreknowledge of God and His Eternal Decree, determining on the death of His Son as the means marked out, in His Infinite Wisdom, for accomplishing the salvation of mankind. Hence, foreseeing from Eternity that in abandoning His Son to the fury of the Jews, they would subject Him to the death of the cross, He, therefore, by a permissive Decree, determined on doing so, thus securing the ends of Redemption. This, however, did not diminish the crime of those wretched Deicides, who acted all along as free agents.“

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 2:23, p. 26–27. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

II. The Greatest Crime Ever Perpetrated on Earth

Acts 2:36 — “Therefore let all the house of Israel know most certainly that God hath made both Lord and Christ, this same Jesus, whom you have crucified.”

“‘Whom you have crucified,’ thus, rendering yourselves guilty of the greatest crime ever perpetrated on this earth. In this peroration and conclusion of his discourse, he meant to excite in them feelings of compunction and to stimulate them to penance, which, with the aid of God’s grace, he succeeded in doing.”

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 2:36, p. 30. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

III. Save Yourselves from This Perverse Generation

Acts 2:40 — “And with very many other words did he testify and exhort them, saying: Save yourselves from this perverse generation.”

“‘This perverse,’ unbelieving, unrepenting ‘generation.’ Similar are the words (Matthew xii. 39). They should strive not to be involved in the common ruin in store for the wicked unbelievers. This is the practical summary of St. Peter’s exhortation.”

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 2:40, p. 32. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

IV. The Destruction of Jerusalem as Divine Punishment

Acts 2:19 — “And I will shew wonders in the heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath: blood and fire, and vapour of smoke.”

“Not unlikely, the prodigies mentioned here and quoted from Joel have immediate reference to the unheard of calamities that befel the Jewish nation in the sack of Jerusalem under Titus, in punishment of their obstinate infidelity and resistance to grace, shown in their rejection of their long expected Messiah, their crimes culminating in the crucifixion of the Son of God. The interval between our Lord’s death and the final end of all things was comparatively very brief, and the woes that befell Jerusalem were only a type of those that are to take place at the end of the world.”

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 2:19, p. 25. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

V. The Hideous Crime of Deicide

Acts 3:17 — “And now, brethren, I know that you did it through ignorance, as did also your rulers.”

“After having proved, by a freedom of speech truly Apostolic, that they were guilty of the hideous crime of Deicide, and uttered hard truths, He now wishes to extenuate their guilt, addressing them ‘as brethren,’ and by kindness He wishes to inspire them with hope of pardon. He puts forward the same excuse, ‘ignorance,’ which our Lord Himself advanced in their behalf — ‘they know not what they do.’ He by no means insinuates that they were innocent. He had stated the contrary (v. 14). But, with a view of moving them to repentance by the hope of pardon, He says, their crime, in itself enormous, was extenuated by the fact of their not knowing Him to be their long-expected Messiah.”

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 3:17, p. 40–41. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

VI. The Author of Life Killed; Barabbas the Murderer Preferred

Acts 3:14–15 — “But you denied the Holy one and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you. But the author of life you killed, whom God hath raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.”

“‘A murderer,’ Barabbas. Here their conduct is powerfully contrasted with that of Pilate, a pagan, not favoured with the lights vouchsafed to them.”

“‘Author of life.’ Our Lord is the source of all life, physical and spiritual. A powerful contrast here between Barabbas, the destroyer of life, and Jesus, the source of it in all.“

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 3:14–15, p. 40. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

VII. The Same Men Who Arraigned Our Lord: The Sanhedrin

Acts 4:5–7 — “And it came to pass on the morrow that their princes, and ancients, and scribes, were gathered together in Jerusalem…”

“The assembly of the Sanhedrim, or great council of the nation, which wielded such authority, probably, the first time, since they condemned our Lord, shows the alarm caused the heads of the Jewish Church by the successes of the Apostles. Hence, they leave nothing undone to stop them. It was before these same men our Blessed Lord was arraigned; it was they handed him over to Pilate (Matthew xxvi. 50). It was before the same that Peter denied our Lord (Matthew xxii. 70. &c.).”

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 4:5, p. 47–48. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

VIII. The Greatest Crime That Could Be Perpetrated

Acts 4:10–11 — “Be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God hath raised from the dead, even by him this man standeth here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you the builders, which is become the head of the corner.”

“‘Crucified,’ ‘raised from the dead.’ The contrast is so striking. They put him to death. God raised him up from the dead. The accusers now become the accused. With singular intrepidity and courage, St. Peter heretofore so timid, charges them with the greatest crime that could be perpetrated, the murder of their own long-expected Messiah and deliverer, putting to death the author of life.“

Source: An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles, commentary on Acts 4:10, p. 49. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1899. Archive.org: https://archive.org/details/expositionofacts00maceuoft

IX. Delivered to the Iron Legions of Vespasian: Divine Retribution

Matthew 27:2 — “And delivering him bound, they led him away and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.”

“By a just judgment of God, as they delivered up the Son of God to the Romans, to be crucified; they were, in turn, delivered over to the iron legions of Vespasian and Titus, to be butchered and banished, and their city levelled to the dust.“

Source: An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, commentary on Matthew 27:2. 4th ed. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son / New York: Benziger Brothers, 1898. The Divine Lamp: https://thedivinelamp.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/father-macevillys-commentary-on-matthew-chapter-27/

X. Judas’s Testimony Renders the Jews Inexcusable

Matthew 27:4 — “Saying: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. But they said: What is that to us? look thou to it.”

“He did not leave the Jews the extenuating excuse, that in crucifying our Redeemer, they had the testimony of one of His own bosom friends, who was best acquainted with His manner of life. His very traitor bears testimony in His favour, so that, besides the testimony of His doctrine, and good works, and miracles, even this last testimony borne Him by Judas and Pilate’s wife, renders them inexcusable.“

“‘What is that to us?’ They make light of co-operating in the death of a man, declared by His very betrayer to be innocent.“

Source: An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, commentary on Matthew 27:4. The Divine Lamp: https://thedivinelamp.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/father-macevillys-commentary-on-matthew-chapter-27/

XI. Consummate Hypocrites: They Shed the Blood They Would Not Touch

Matthew 27:6 — “But the chief priests having taken the pieces of silver, said: It is not lawful to put them into the corbona, because it is the price of blood.”

“These consummate hypocrites, who ‘strain out a gnat and swallow a camel’ (Matt. 23:24), scruple to employ for sacred purposes the price of blood, and make no scruple to unjustly shed that blood.“

Source: An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, commentary on Matthew 27:6. The Divine Lamp: https://thedivinelamp.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/father-macevillys-commentary-on-matthew-chapter-27/

XII. Shutting the Kingdom of Heaven Against Men

Matthew 23:13 — “But woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men, for you yourselves do not enter in; and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter.”

“Christ came to preach the near approach of ‘the kingdom of heaven,’ shut for 4000 years; and to open it to mankind by His death and Passion. The immediate portal or doorway leading to this kingdom is faith in Christ. For, He is the door; only through faith in Him, can one enter. The Scribes and Pharisees, who, not only themselves, refused to believe in Christ, but did their utmost to prevent others from believing in Him, or becoming His followers, closed it, or kept it closed ‘against men,’ or, in the face of many who were about to enter. By denouncing the doctrine of Christ, by representing Him as an impostor, and His miracles as performed from the influence of Satan, they prevented men who were about to enter the Church, and embrace the faith of Christ, from doing so.”

“They concealed from the people the true knowledge of the prophecies regarding Christ, and perverted them, out of jealousy towards Him, and a vain desire to uphold their own authority, to their own ruin and that of others.“

Source: An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, commentary on Matthew 23:13. The Divine Lamp: https://thedivinelamp.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/father-macevillys-commentary-on-matthew-chapter-23/

XIII. Making Proselytes Children of Hell

Matthew 23:15 — “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; because you go round about the sea and the land to make one proselyte; and when he is made, you make him the child of hell twofold more than yourselves.”

“The Scribes and Pharisees left nothing undone to make as many converts to Judaism as possible; and, thus, endeavoured to gain a character for extraordinary religious zeal. But, in reality, these ‘hypocrites’ had in view, to advance their own ambitious and avaricious ends, by sharing in the profits accruing from the sacrifices, or victims which these converts would present in the temple. ‘A child of hell,’ deserving hell, ‘twofold more than yourselves,’ worse than the Pharisees themselves, even in the proportion of two to one. How this happens our Redeemer does not say; but, it is supposed to occur in one of two ways: either, that the converts, scandalized at the hypocrisy and wicked lives of the Pharisees, or, disgusted with the yoke of the law, to which were superadded Pharisaical traditions, again returned in disgust to the worship of idols, and thus sinned more grievously than before; since, they sinned with greater light and knowledge, and added the crime of apostasy to their other sins, thus selling their souls doubly to the devil.”

“How applicable are not these words of our Redeemer to these modern Pharisees, these unprincipled traffickers in human souls, who infest this country, seeking some unhappy victims of misery and wretchedness, not to console them, like the good Samaritan, with the wine and oil of gladness, irrespective of religion, but, to corrupt them first with bribes, and then seduce them to abjure, against conscience, all they hold most sacred, in order to join their sect, not caring what they become, if, after the voice of conscience is stifled, they can be brought to blaspheme God’s Holy Church, the Angels and Saints of heaven; and above all, the Glorious and Immaculate Queen of the Saints, so dear to every Christian heart.”

Source: An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, commentary on Matthew 23:15. The Divine Lamp: https://thedivinelamp.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/father-macevillys-commentary-on-matthew-chapter-23/

XIV. Predicting the Ruin of Jerusalem: After Predicting Maltreatment of the Apostles

Matthew 23:1–3 (Analysis) — Overview of Chapter 23

“After silencing the Scribes and Pharisees, and seeing them still incorrigible and obdurate, our Lord, in order to guard His disciples and the people against being seduced by them, publicly denounces them for their vices. Before doing so, however, He distinguishes their public official teaching from their private vices, and tells the people to attend to their teaching in their official capacity, but by no means to imitate them in their wicked conduct, which He describes (Mt 23:1–7)… He next pronounces woes and maledictions against the Scribes and Pharisees, which He repeats eight times, on account of their detestable lives, and the vices, which they shamelessly indulged in (Mt 23:13–33). After predicting their maltreatment of the Apostles, and the preachers of the Gospel, He foretells the utter ruin of themselves and their city, notwithstanding His special love, repeatedly manifested to, but as often spurned and undervalued by, the unhappy Jerusalem (Mt 23:34–39).”

Source: An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, Analysis of Chapter 23. The Divine Lamp: https://thedivinelamp.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/father-macevillys-commentary-on-matthew-chapter-23/

Primary Sources

1. An Exposition of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, 4th ed., enlarged. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son / New York: Benziger Brothers, 1898.

2. An Exposition of the Acts of the Apostles: Consisting of an Analysis of Each Chapter, and of a Commentary, Critical, Exegetical, Doctrinal, and Moral. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son / New York: Benziger Brothers, 1899.

3. An Exposition of the Epistles, Pauline and Catholic, 2 vols., 4th ed., enlarged. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son / New York: Benziger Brothers.

  • Contains the commentary on 1 Thessalonians 2:14–16 (“Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets… contrary to all men… the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost”); not yet fully digitized.

4. An Exposition of the Gospel of St. Luke. Dublin: M.H. Gill.

5. An Exposition of the Gospel of St. John, 2nd ed. Dublin: M.H. Gill.