THE BULL PROPTEREA QUOD ANTIQUIS.
We Melchisedec II. by the grace and consecration of Our Divine Lady and the Holy Trinity Vicar of Christ and High Priest of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church Pontifex Maximus and Bishop of Rome Do hereby ex cathedra and with sanction and mandate of the Sanhedrin and of the bishops and pastors of the Church in solemn Æcumenical Council assembled and speaking with the infallible voice of the Church declare
Thatt Whereas throughout past ages the Divine Wisdom hath allotted to the nations of mankind such religious dispensations as were commensurate with their undeveloped state in things spiritual leading them gradually through the darkness of barbarous cults and afterwards through the dispensation of the Hebrew patriarchs and prophets unto the present phrase of the Catholic Church in the dispensation of Christ our Lord and His successors the Bishops of Rome each preceding dispensation thus giving place to a higher one accordingly as the Church became capable of receiving it And Whereas the culminating dispensation of all could not be given forth from the Divine counsels until the time had come when the eyes of mankind should open naturally to see the truth concerning the Divine Nature and Image as shown in the perfections of womanhood And Whereas this truth hath ever more and more of late years been tacitly recognised in the devotions of the faithful in all lands even to the extent of causing multitudes who are neglectful of mass and confession to come and kneel at the shrines of Our Blessed Lady and to draw with them into the fold many who had kept aloof in enmity And Whereas the weighty pressure of the said devotion to the Queen of Heaven hath come to bear with such force upon the pastors of the Church that they can no longer doubt that it is
