Miracles can be separated into four categories: bodily miracles, intellectual miracles (e.g., prophecies), moral miracles, and social miracles.[1] All of these miracles unreservedly are found in the Catholic Church and can prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the Catholic Church alone is the one true Church. Regarding the social miracles, in particular, the Church is herself the social miracle par excellence.
The 5 Criteria Demonstrating the Church as a Social Miracle
The Fathers of the First Vatican Council pointed out five characteristics that demonstrate that the Catholic Church is a true social miracle:
- Her admirable propagation
- Her exalted holiness
- Her marvelous and unlimited fruitfulness in all good things
- Her catholic unity
- Her unconquered stability
The Marvelous Propagation of the Church
The Church has spread to all corners of the world through the preaching and sacrifices of the Apostles and their successors even though they were not educated men; nevertheless, they achieved success that by earthly standards seems impossible. And all of this would continue under the leadership of simple men who before Pentecost had fled the Cross and hid in fear. Their transformation and eventual martyrdoms are true social miracles.
The Exalted Holiness of the Church
Despite the sinfulness of her members, the Church continues to worship God in His established means of worship (i.e., the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass) and through the Sacraments which He instituted for our salvation. Monsignor Fenton explains this criterion:
“Primarily the way in which this organization manifests its holiness is by devoting itself corporately to the worship of God. The Catholic Church, as a society, has its central and essential function in the sacrifice of the Mass. The person who takes the trouble to examine this activity can see immediately that, in the ineffable profundity and complexity of its nature, it is an operation of outstanding holiness. Jesus of Nazareth commanded His Church to repeat, in memory of Him, the solemn sacrificial act which He instituted in the upper room the night before He died…”
Beyond the holiness of divine worship, the Church is still the mother of many souls who have reached Heaven and whose presence in Heaven is attested to by miracles beyond human abilities. These miracles of the saints further corroborate the holiness of the Church beyond any natural level whatsoever.[2]
The Countless Fruitful Works of the Church
Our Redeemer declared, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit” (Matthew 7:17). And the Church is abounding in good fruits.
The Catholic Church played a pioneering role in the establishment and management of hospitals. Monastic orders, such as the Benedictines and Franciscans, built and operated hospitals to care for the sick and injured. The Church has been a major contributor to education, operating countless schools, colleges, and universities worldwide. This commitment to education has helped millions access knowledge and skills.
Catholic institutions also have historically provided care and support for orphaned and abandoned children, giving them a stable environment and educational opportunities. During various disease outbreaks, including plagues, the Church often played a vital role in tending to the afflicted, offering medical care, and providing comfort to those in need, often when civil leaders abandoned the people. The Catholic Church has a longstanding tradition of charitable giving, providing food, clothing, shelter, and other material assistance to the impoverished, both on a local and global scale.
All of this provides further evidence of the Church as a true social miracle, as Father Fenton explains:
“The Church is not a social miracle merely because it is a philanthropic organization, nor for that matter, merely because its activities are purely beneficial. It is outstanding, a source of wonder in the created universe because its activity for good is totally unrestricted. It was beneficial to the Romans and the Persians. It is beneficial today in America and in China. Wherever it exists it manifestly adapts itself to the temper, to the requirements, and to the capacities of the peoples who rejoice in its presence. A society within the natural compass of human achievement can obviously be of benefit to some peoples at some times. Only the Catholic Church, among the visible organizations laboring in the world in which we live, has proven an unmixed blessing to the men of all lands and of all ages” (emphasis added).
The Church in Her Catholic Unity
Father Fenton also adds an explanation as to why this criterion is fulfilled by the Catholic Church:
“When we say however that the Church is a manifest social miracle by reason of its catholic unity, we affirm that an organization so constituted is manifestly beyond the natural competence of creatures to form and to continue. Man has always found it quite impossible to set up any sort of a strictly universal kingdom which functioned successfully. Time and again the world has been plagued with would-be conquerors who were avid to bring the entire earth under their sway. And, each time such an individual has appeared, the world has very soon enjoyed the pleasure of seeing his efforts overthrown…”
The Unconquered Stability of the Church
The final criterion is the Church’s ability to continue despite the persecution which has never ceased to attack her. The martyrs have given witness to Christ through the centuries. The Church has been persecuted since the time of St. Peter. More than thirty of the first popes died for the Faith. It has been assailed continually by Islam. The Church was persecuted during the time of King Henry V of England and Queen Elizabeth I. It suffered in Japan and survived even without priests. It was persecuted during the French Revolution and endured despite Napoleon’s arrogant boast that he would end the papacy. It was persecuted in Mexico, where Father Miguel Agustin Pro was murdered. It was persecuted in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s, where at least 6,832 priests and Religious were martyred, including 13 bishops. In more recent decades the Church has suffered greatly in every country that has adopted atheistic communism. And Catholics are still being murdered – for being Catholic – in our day too. Yet the Church continues as a true miracle in the social order.
Conclusion
While we can and should appeal to the historical reality of Jesus and the miracles that are attributed to Him through authentic historical sources like the Gospels, and while we can and should appeal to the prophecies that further attest to the truth of the Catholic Faith, we would be remiss if we did not address in our apologetic work the Church as a true social miracle using the aforementioned five criteria.
ENDNOTES:
[1] “In the first place, they can take place in the world of bodily activity, and these motives of credibility are miracles in the strict sense of the term. A prophecy is a miracle in the intellectual order, the manifestation of some knowledge that evidently could belong naturally to God alone. When, in the life of an individual man, we find moral and mental excellence of unlimited perfection and consequently beyond the natural sphere of man’s capacity, we rightly designate these qualities as moral or sapiential miracles. The only other sort of objective or external motive of credibility available to man and useful as a guarantee of the divine origin of some doctrine must be sought in the social order. God could produce and sustain in the world some society which is visibly beyond the natural power of man either to originate or to continue. The Catholic Church proposes herself as such a sign of divine revelation”
Quoted from: Monsignor Joseph Clifford Fenton, Laying the Foundation: A Handbook of Catholic Apologetics and Fundamental Theology (Emmaus Road Publishing, 2016), p. 435.
[2] The miracles associated with the saints are so numerous that an entire volume of books could be devoted to listing them alone. Dozens of saints – including St. Catherine of Siena, St. John of God, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque – have had the visible marks (stigmata) of the wounds of Christ on their bodies. Overall, more than 500 people have had the visible (or invisible) wounds of Christ on their bodies. There are more than 150 incorruptible saints whose incorruptibleness defies all of science. There are dozens of confirmed and verified apparitions in history, not only of our Blessed Mother (e.g., at Guadalupe, Rue de Bac, La Salette, Lourdes, Quito, and Fatima) but also of St. Michael the Archangel (e.g., Mount Gargano, near Naples, Italy; and at Fatima) and other saints (e.g., St. Joseph at Fatima).
Furthermore, many saints have raised the dead. St. Vincent Ferrer alone is known to have raised more than thirty people from the dead, and the Church records 873 authenticated miracles he performed. St. Rose of Viterbo, St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Collette, and St. Juan Capistrano are just some of the other saints who have raised the dead. The miracles associated with the saints overwhelmingly and beyond the shadow of a doubt illustrate the supernatural holiness of the Church. Such miracles are not found in any other religion apart from the Catholic Religion.
See https://fatima.org/news-views/miracles-are-proof-of-the-catholic-churchs-divine-origin/ for more information.