MAGISTERIUM, ECCLESIASTICAL. The SOLEMN or the ordinary magisterium of the Church is the norm of faith in truths revealed by God...

A dogmatic definition must be clear and certain in order to bind in faith.  Consequently, a doubtful definition is practically an invalid definition.  In certain cases, the teaching Church expresses doctrinal judgment without committing to a final form her whole authority.  The ecclesiastical magisterium often approves or condemns a doctrine without a final judgment on the absolute truth or falsity of the doctrine.  These acts of the ecclesiastical magisterium are issued by the pope, councils, and at times, with previous specific approval of the Roman pontiff, by Roman congregations and pontifical commissions, through decrees, constitutions, replies to questions, condemned propositions, etc.

The faithful are bound in conscience to assent to such acts.  Their assent must be not only external but internal and sincere, because the proximate norm of certainty in matters of faith is, not the private judgment of the faithful, but the authoritative judgment of the teaching Church.  The obligation to profess the faith includes the duty to accept all the decisions of the ecclesiastical magisterium.  This assent to the decisions of the teaching Church binds one in relation to their merits (see Propositions, Condemned).  The object of the magisterium of the Church is the proposal of all truths contained in the Word of God, written or orally handed down through tradition, or the condemnation of errors concerning these truths.  Apart from official public revelation destined to all men, according to His mysterious plans, God manifests Himself by visible sings and visions or apparitions, particularly to souls who, in humility and detachment, seek a closer contact with Him and endeavor to deserve His love.  Private revelations must be shown never to conflict with the public revelation in the DEPOSITUM FIDEI [deposit of faith], for private revelations merely possess relative and secondary importance in sustaining the faith of the generous believer.  Such private revelations have never been imposed as a part of Catholic faith indispensable for salvation. We cannot, however, agree with certain modern theologians who seem to deny the teaching Church any right to pass judgment on private revelations.  This position must be considered a theological minimism, contrary to the almost unanimous opinion of theologians... (Compiled under the direction of Francesco Cardinal Roberti, Edited by Monsignor Pietro Palazzini, translated by Henry J. Yannone, S.T.L., 1962, Imprimatur  Lawrence J. Shehan, D.D., April 15, 1962, pp. 725-726.)

COMMENTARY

Just in case some of you might be getting a headache trying to sort through all of the technical jargon in the above definitions, there are two kinds of Magisterium, Solemn and Ordinary.

Both the Solemn and the Ordinary Magisterium of the Catholic Church are the norms of faith in truths revealed by God.  What are the sources for the norms of faith in truths revealed by God, a.k.a. Divine Revelation?

In the Catholic Church, the truths revealed by God in the days of the New Testament - Divine Revelation - are to be found:  1)  in the authentic Apostolic Tradition; and, 2) in Sacred Scripture.

Council of Trent

The Council of Trent required that the entire Bible, all of Sacred Scripture, could only be correctly interpreted in accordance with the unanimous consent of Fathers of the Catholic Church.

Beginning with Ordination to Sub-Deaconate, and repeated at the Ordination of Deacons, Priests, and the Consecration of Bishops, the Profession of Faith must be taken. In this solemn Oath, the Ordinand solemnly swears before God that said Ordinand:

"will never accept or interpret it [Sacred Scripture] in a manner different from the unanimous consensus [agreement] of the Fathers of the Church" (THE PROFESSION OF FAITH, Required by the Roman Catholic Councilof Trent, Session 25, Wednesday, December 4, 1563, Decree Concerning Reform, Chapter II, while the actual required text was issued by the Papal Bull INJUNCTUM NOBIS of Pius IV, Giovan Angelo De Medici, [Friday, December 25, 1559 - Thursday, December 9, 1565] Friday, November 13, 1564).

In plain English this means that any Sub-Deacon, Deacon, Priest, or Bishop of whatever rank of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, automatically commits the Mortal Sin of Perjury any time he would break his Solemn Oath!

This clearly proves the proper role of the authentic Apostolic Tradition as it was preserved by the Catholic Church through the Apostles, Apostolic Fathers, and Fathers of the Catholic Church.

God the Son, the incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, gave His Apostles a mandate:  “Going therefore, teach ye all nations...teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. xxviii, 19-20).

WHAT are some of the things that Jesus Christ commanded the Apostles and their Episcopal successors down through the ages to observe?  To keep the Catholic Faith unchanged.  To keep the ontological and metaphysical essences of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Seven Sacraments - which He Himself perfectly instituted - unchanged.  In other words, Christ never gave the Church, whether in the person of His Apostles, or in any other way, any power, authority, or jurisdiction to change any of these things.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that in the various documents of the Catholic Church, you will find an emphasis on the unity of consistency since the first mark of the True Church is unity in teaching, in faith, in belief, in the ontological and metaphysical essences of the liturgy for the Mass and Seven Sacraments.  Here are a few random examples.

The Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, commanded the Apostles and their Episcopal successors to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as testified by an Apostolic Father of the Catholic Church in these words:

“Accordingly, God, anticipating all the sacrifices which we offer through this name, and which Jesus the Christ enjoined us to offer, i.e. in the Eucharist of the bread and the cup [**], and which are presented by Christians in all places throughout the world, bears witness that they are well-pleasing to Him” (Saint Justin Martyr [b. Sichem, a.k.a. Neapolis, or Flavia Neapolis, modern day Nablus, Palestine c. 100 A.D. - d. Rome, Italy c. 165 A.D.], Second Apology of Justin Martyr for Christians:  Addressed to the Roman Senate, Chapter CXVII (117), Malachi’s Prophecy Concerning the Sacrifices of the Christians. It Cannot Be Taken as Referring to the Prayers of Jews of the Dispersion; emphasis added).

**  N.B.  Because of the bloody Religious persecution of Catholics who were being killed by the thousands in in those days, not to mention the vicious attacks against the teachings of the Catholic Church by the pagans and Jews, the fact that the Mass was a Mystical Sacrifice in which Transubstantiation is effected, was kept a secret.  This is also the reason why the Catechumens were dismissed before the Canon of the Mass was begun, called the Mass of the Faithful.  This was called the "Law of Secrecy" and was applied to other areas as well.

The 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ also taught His Apostles how to offer the Holy Sacrfice of the Mass as the same Apostolic Father informs us:

“.........But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration” (Saint Justin Martyr, The First Apology of Justin, Chapter LXVII (67), Weekly Worship of the Christians; emphasis added).

In the above quote of Saint Justin Martyr you have another example of the deliberate vagueness of the Apostolic Fathers concerning the Mass and the Sacraments, in part because of the "Law of Secrecy".

One early Father of the Catholic Church has written about the Law of Secrecy saying:  "Among the 'doctrines' and the 'definitions' kept in the Church, we have received some from the written teaching and we have obtained the other ones, SECRETLY TRANSMITTED, from the Apostolic Tradition. They all  have the same validity with regard to piety, as no one would doubt if he has any experience of ecclesiastical institutions; because if we attempt to do away with unwritten customs, by claiming that they have no great validity, we would unknowingly hurt the Gospel on its very essential points" (Catholicus Saint Basil the Great [b. Caesarea, Cappadocia 329 A.D. - d. Caesarea, Cappadocia on Monday, January 1, 379 A.D.]. His Mother was Emmelia, the Daughter of a holy martyr.  He was the Catholicus of Caesarea, Metropolitan Archbishop of Cappadocia, Exarch of Pontus, Superior of fifty Chorepiscopi [Sunday, June 14, 370 A.D. - Monday, January 1, 379 A.D.], Doctor of the Catholic Church, SOURCES CHRETIENNES, 17, 232-233, Traite du Saint-Esprit, 28.)

An even earlier Father of the Catholic Church gives us more details about this Law of Secrecy in which he writes about Saint Mark the Evangelist, a disciple of Saint Peter, concerning both the written notes of Saint Peter as well as the written notes of Saint Mark.  But he goes on to write about how not even Saint Mark revealed the "things not to be uettered".  Nor did Saint Mark write down the hierophantic (sacred mysteries - including those of the Mass and Sacraments) teachings of Christ in his Gospel.  The Truth hidden by seven veils is also a mystical reference to the Divine Liturgies of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Seven Sacraments.  Below is the actual text of what Father Clement of Alexandria wrote in context.

Definitions:

hierophantic
Adjective:  hierophantic (comparative: more hierophantic, superlative: most hierophantic).
Positive - hierophantic (comparative: more hierophantic; Superlative: most hierophantic).
Of or relating to a hierophant.

hierophant
Etymology:  Greek: hiero-, holy + phainein, to show.
Noun:  Singular-hierophant;  Plural-hierophants.
1) An ancient Greek priest who interpreted sacred mysteries, especially the priest of the Eleusinian mysteries.
2) An interpreter of sacred mysteries or arcane knowledge.
3) One who explains or makes a commentary.

"But when Peter died a martyr, Mark came over to Alexandria, bringing both his own notes and those of Peter, from which he transferred to his former book the things suitable to whatever makes for progress towards knowledge.  THUS HE [i.e. Mark] COMPOSED A MORE SPIRITUAL GOSPEL FOR THE USE OF THOSE WHO WERE BEING PERFECTED.  Nevertheless, HE DID NOT YET DIVULGE THE THINGS NOT TO BE UTTERED [the Law of Secrecy; in other words this Spiritual Gospel did not reveal everything!], NOR DID HE WRITE DOWN THE HIEROPHANTIC TEACHING OF THE LORD, but to the stories already written he added yet others and, moreover, brought in certain sayings of which he knew the interpretation would, as a mystagogue, lead the hearers into the INNERMOST SANCTUARY OF THAT TRUTH HIDDEN BY SEVEN VEILS" (Father Clement of Alexandria, a.k.a. Titus Flavius Clemens [b.  at Alexandria or Athens c. 150  A.D. - d. probably between 215 A.D. - 220 A.D.], a Father of the Catholic Church, the illustrious head of the Catechetical School at Alexandria at the close of the second century, who was often quoted by the famous Church historian Eusebius; Letter to Theodore, emphasis added).

Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P.

The "Law of Secrecy" was obviously on the mind of the Angelic Doctor when he wrote the following:

“Our Lord used determinate words in consecrating the Sacrament of the Eucharist”  (Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P., [b. 1225 A.D. in Rocca Secca, Naples, Italy - d. Wednesday, March 7, 1274 A.D., in Fossa Nuova, Italy], Doctor of the Church, Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 60, Article 7).

“...But those things that are essential to the Sacrament are instituted by Christ Himself, Who is God and man.  And though they are not all handed down by the Scriptures, yet the Church holds them from the intimate Tradition of the Apostles [i.e. the authentic Apostolic Tradition], according to the saying of the Apostle (1 Cor. 11:34):  `The rest I will set in order when I come.’”  (Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 64, Article 2, Reply to Objection 1).

“The Evangelists did not intend to hand down the forms of the Sacraments, which in the primitive Church had to be kept concealed [because of the Law of Secrecy], as Dionysius observes at the close of his book on the ecclesiastical hierarchy”  (Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 78, Article 3, Reply to Objection 9).

N.B.  Here it seems that not only does Saint Thomas have in mind the actual FORM of words for each Sacrament, but also “form” in the sense of the entire liturgical “shape” or “form” of each Sacrament; in others words, what was the equivalent in the Primitive Church of the modern Ritual.

“...if the [Double] Consecration was not performed then [i.e. in the time of the Apostles] by these words, neither would it be now”  (Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 78, Article 1, Reply to Objection 1).

“Since, therefore, the sanctification of man is in the power of God Who sanctifies, it is not for man to decide what things should be used for his sanctification,but this should be determined by Divine institution” (Summa Theologica, Part III, Question 60, Article 5).

This also means that Jesus Christ neither gave the Apostles or their Episcopal successors, nor the Church per se, any power, authority, or jurisdiction to change both the ontological essences and the metaphysical essences of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Seven Sacraments.

To do so would be to "play god" and thus to bring the curse of God down upon the heads of those aggressive, obnoxious, disgusting, vile, odious, loathsome, repugnant, abhorrent, despicable, ignorant, and contemptible FOOLS who would even attempt to try to do this - those experts in nothingness, with a Ph.D. in black holes, the penumbrae of which eclipse the curse of Eliseus!

“This preaching [kerygma] and this faith the Church, although scattered over the whole world, diligently observes, as if it occupied but one house, and believes as if it had but one mind.  The Church preaches [kerygma] and teaches [Magisterium] as if it had but one mouth. And although there are many languages in the world, the meaning of the [ancient authentic Apostolic] Tradition is one and the same” (Bishop Saint Irenæus [b. Proconsular Asia c. 130 A.D. - d. Lyons, France either on Monday, June 28, or Monday, August 23, in about 202 A.D.], Bishop of Lyons, Father of the Catholic Church.  He was a Disciple of Bishop Saint Polycarp [c. 69 A.D. - d. martyred on Saturday, February 23, 166 A.D.].  Saint Polycarp, in turn, was a Disciple of Saint John the Apostle, Evangelist and author of the Apocalypse [b.  ?  A.D. - d. Ephesus, c. 101 A.D.], who made him the Bishop of Smyrna. Saint Polycarp is an Apostolic Father of the Catholic Church.  Bishop Saint Irenæus, Against the Heresies {written 180 A.D. - 199 A.D.}, Book I, chapter 10, ¶ 2).

“The teaching [Magisterium] of the Apostles [Apostolic Tradition] is the true gnosis [knowledge]. We have the Ancient Constitution (systema) of the Church throughout the world, and the character of the [Mystical] Body of Christ in the successions of Bishops to whom they [the Apostles] entrusted the Church in each place, which has come down to us with its safeguard of the Scriptures in the fulness and soundness of their interpretation, without addition or subtraction” (Bishop Saint Irenæus, Against the Heresies,  {written 180 A.D. - 199 A.D.}, Book 4, chapter 33, ¶ 8).

“Let them innovate in nothing, but keep the [Apostolic] Traditions [Magisterium]” (Nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est.)” (Pope Saint Stephen I [Friday, May 12, 254 - Sunday, August 2, 257], Letter to Saint Cyprian, 74).

“And now, through the love which He had for all the saints, having come to our most important topic, we turn to the subject of the Tradition which is proper for the churches, in order that those who have been rightly instructed may hold fast to that Tradition which has continued until now, and fully understanding it from our exposition may stand the more firmly therein... The Holy Ghost bestows the fulness of Grace on those who believe rightly that they may know how those who are at the head of  the Church should teach [an act of Magisterium] the Tradition and maintain it in all things” (Pope Hippolytus I, a.k.a. Hippolytus of Rome [217 A.D. - 236 A.D.], The Apostolic Tradition, I).

“Let us note that the very tradition, teaching [Magisterium], and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave, was preached [Magisterium] by the Apostles, and was preserved by the Fathers. On this was the Church founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is, nor any longer ought to be called, a Christian”  (Patriarch Saint Athanasius [b. Alexandria, Egypt 296 A.D. - d. Alexandria, Egypt on Wednesday, May 2, 373A.D.], Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, Letter to Serapion of Thmuis, 359 A.D.).

“If then these things are so, it is the same degree manifest that all doctrine [Magisterium] which agrees with the Apostolic churches— those molds and original sources of the faith—must be reckoned for Truth, as undoubtedly containing that which the churches received from the Apostles, the Apostles from Christ, Christ from God. Whereas all doctrine [a false Magisterium] must be prejudged as false which savors of contrariety to the Truth of the churches and Apostles of Christ and God” (Tertullian, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus [b. Carthage, 155 A.D. - d. 225 A.D.], On the Prescription of Heretics, 21).

“But God’s Word is one and the same and, as it is written: The Word of God endureth forever [Isaias 40:8] unchanged, not before or after another, but existing the same always.  For it was fitting, whereas God is One, that His Image should be One also, and His Word One and One His Wisdom” (Patriarch Saint Athanasius, Four Discourses Against the Arians, Discourse II, Chapter XVII, Introduction to Proverbs viii. 22, Continued, ¶ 36).

"But, regarding those other observances which we keep and all the world keeps, and which do not derive from Scripture but from Tradition, we are given to understand that they have been ordained or recommended to be kept by the Apostles themselves, or by plenary councils, whose authority is well founded in the Church.  Such are the annual commemorations of the Lord’s Passion, Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, the descent of the Holy Spirit from heaven, and other such observances as are kept by the universal Church wherever it is found"  (Saint Augustine, a.k.a. Aurelius Augustinus [b. Tagaste, Africa, Saturday, November 13, 354 A.D. - d. Hippo Regia, Africa, Wednesday, August 28, 430 A.D.], Bishop of Hippo Regia, Father and Doctor of the Catholic Church, the Doctor of Grace, a protégé of Patriarch Saint Ambrose [b. in Gaul, possibly at Trier, Arles, or Lyons in 340 A.D. - d. at Milan, Italy on Friday, April 4, 397 A.D.] Patriarch of Milan [374 A.D. - Friday, April 4, 397 A.D.], Letter 54, 1, 1 to Januarius, 400 A.D.(c.); CV 34, 2, 159; ML 33, 200; M.J. Rouet De Journel, S.J., ENCHIRIDION PATRISTICUM, 1419.)

"None should be allowed to call into question the belief [Magisterium] which our fathers received from the Apostles, as if there were any doubt what this is"  (Pope Saint Leo I   [Saturday, September 29, 440 - Thursday, November 10, 461], Letter to Emperor Marcian at Constantinople, Monday, June 26, 451.)

“This Catholic Church spread throughout the world is known by three particular marks: whatever is believed and taught [Magisterium] in it has the authority of the Scriptures, or of Universal Tradition, or at least of its own and proper usage. And this authority is binding on the whole Church as is also the Universal Tradition of the Fathers” (Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius [b. at Rome, Italy in 480 A.D. - d. (martyred?) at Pavia in 524 A.D. or 525 A.D.], De Fide Catholica).

"If anyone rejects all ecclesiastical Tradition, either written or unwritten:  let him be anathema" (Seventh Œcumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicæa [Thursday, September 24, 787 A.D. - Friday, October 23, 787 A.D.], anathemae).

“Those therefore who after the manner of wicked heretics dare to set aside Ecclesiastical Traditions, and to invent any kind of novelty [a false Magisterium], or to reject any of those things entrusted to the Church, or who wrongfully and outrageously devise the destruction of any of those Traditions enshrined in the Catholic Church, are to be punished thus:  if they are Bishops, We order them to be deposed; but if they are Monks or Lay Persons, We command them to be excluded from the community” (Seventh Œcumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicæa, anathemae).

Bishop Saint Isidore of Seville

“Therefore, heresy is so-called from the Greek word meaning “choice”, by which each chooses according to his own will what he pleases to teach or believe.  BUT WE ARE NOT PERMITTED TO BELIEVE WHATEVER WE CHOOSE, NOR TO CHOOSE WHATEVER SOMEONE ELSE HAS BELIEVED.  We have the Apostles of God as authorities, who did not themselves of their own will choose what they would believe, but faithfully transmitted to the nations the teaching [Magisterium] received from Christ.  So, even if an Angel from Heaven should preach [Magisterium] otherwise, he shall be called anathema”  (Saint Isidore of Seville [b. Cartagena, Spain 560 A.D. - d. Seville, Spain, 636 A.D.], Bishop of Seville, Doctor of the Catholic Church, Etymologies, 8, 3; emphasis added).

“We do not change the everlasting boundaries which our Fathers have set, but we keep the [Apostolic] Tradition [Magisterium], just as we received it”  (Father Saint John Damascene, a.k.a. Saint John of Damascus, [b. Damascus, Syria 676 A.D. - c. 770 A.D.; Last of the Greek Fathers of the Catholic Church], On Icons 11, 12; found in Jacques Paul Migne [b. Saint-Flour, France on Saturday, October 25, 1800 A.D. - d. Paris, France on  Sunday, October 24, 1875 A.D.], Patrologiæ Graecæ Cursus Completus, 2nd series, published in 166 volumes [1857 A.D. - 1866 A.D.], Volume XCIV [94], Column 1297B; emphasis added.)

"...I...Pope-elect...do confess that as long as I continue in this transitory life I will firmly believe and hold the Catholic Faith according to the Traditions of the Apostles, the Doctrinal Councils and the prior Pontiffs...this...I will keep inviolate...and defend and proclaim [Magisterium] with my life and blood...  (Council of Constance 1414-1418, Solemn Public Oath of the Pope-elect - violation of which is the Mortal Sin of Perjury!).

When the Arian heretics with their FALSE MAGISTERIUM were running rampant and condemning real Catholics who remained faithful to the TRUE MAGISTERIUM of the authentic Apostolic Tradition of the Catholic Church and were keeping True Catholics out of what once had been Catholic Churches, one saintly Pastor wrote to his flock a letter, a portion of which is given below:

Patriarch Saint Athanasius of Alexandria

“May God console you! ... What saddens you ... is the fact that others have occupied the Churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises -- but you have the apostolic faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the faith? The true faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in this struggle -- the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the faith?

“True, the premises are good when the apostolic faith is preached [the True Magisterium] there; they are holy if everything takes place there in a holy way ...

“You are the ones who are happy; you who remain within the Church by your faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the faith which has come down to you from apostolic tradition, and if an execrable jealously has tried to shake it in a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it [ a false Magisterium]in the present crisis.

“No one, ever, will prevail against your faith, beloved brothers, and we believe that God will give us our Churches back some day.

“Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church but in reality they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray [false Magisterium].

“Even if Catholics faithful to tradition [the True Magisterium] are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ” (Patriarch Saint Athanasius, Letter to His Flock, Coll. Selecta SS. Eccl. Patrum. Caillu and Guillou, Volume 32, pp 411-412).

History has repeated itself in recent history.  The born-again Arian heretics, as the result of the infiltration of the Roman Catholic Church by Modernistic heretics and their unholy alliance with Freemasonic Clergy infiltrators as well as Communist Clergy infiltrators, have made up a false Magisterium to replace the True, authentic, traditional and unchangeable True Magisterium, along with their false faith, mass, and sacraments which are actually an anti-Catholic Faith, anti-Catholic Masses of all kinds of abominations, and anti-Catholic Sacraments.  Once more those who are faithful to the authentic traditional and unchangeable True Magisterium are outside the buildings of the church but within the True Catholic Faith, Mass, and Sacraments of the Catholic Church.  Here is a summary of the present situation:

Summary of the True Authentic Magesterium of the Catholic Church

We teach today the same True Catholic Faith the first Bishops-the Apostles-taught yesterday.*

We preach today the same True Catholic Faith the first Bishops-the Apostles-preached yesterday.*

We believe today the same True Catholic Faith the first Bishops-the Apostles-believed yesterday.*

We reject today the same anti-Catholic errors the first Bishops-the Apostles-rejected yesterday.*

We use today the same essence/nature of the True Rite of the Catholic Mass, as perfectly instituted by the Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, which the first Bishops-the Apostles-used yesterday.*

We use today the same True essence/nature of the Rites for the Seven Sacraments, as perfectly instituted by the Eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, which the first Bishops-the Apostles-used yesterday.*

Recap

We do today what the first True Bishops - the Apostles - did yesterday.*

IF, as some claim, We are in error today, then the Apostles themselves were in error yesterday!*

(* Yesterday means during the Public Ministry of the Twelve Apostles and Saint Paul the Apostle who died as Holy Martyrs for the unchangeable Catholic Faith they taught and preached.)

Simplification

In Anglo-Saxon English this very simply means that those who would want to condemn us today - because we hold fast to the authentic Apostolic Tradition of an unchangeable Catholic Teaching given to us by Jesus Christ and His Holy Apostles, and the unchangeable ontological and metaphysical essences perfectly instituted by Jesus Christ for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the administration of the Seven Sacraments - automatically condemn all of the Apostles, all of their Episcopal successors, the second generation of Bishops, and all of the Catholic Clergy from the days of the Apostles up to 1944 A.D. when the major anti-Catholic changes were begun.

Actually, in the process, they also automatically condemn their Catholic Grandparents, their Catholic Great-Grandparents, their Catholic Great-Great-Grandparents, etc. who assisted at the same unchangeable Holy Sacrifice of the Mass which, by the Most Holy Will and Grace of God, I continue to offer today in virtue of the True Magisterium in contradistinction to the false magisterium which pervades what used to be "Catholic" Churches before Synod Vatican 2 in the early 1960's!

Or, to cite the instance of that famous holy martyr of the 16th Century:

Saint Thomas More

When Sir Saint Thomas More, [b. London, England 1477 A.D. - martyred, Tower Hill, London, England, Saturday, July 6, 1535 A.D.] refused to follow the English Episcopate of his day into apostasy, Sir Thomas Audley, the Speaker of the House of Commons, taunted him with the contemptuous question:  Are you wiser than all the bishops of England?

Sir Saint Thomas More answered: For one Bishop of your opinion, I have a hundred Saints of mine.

In Conclusion

Saint Vincent of Lerins

“With regard to the Tradition of the Church, two precautions had to be rigorously and thoroughly observed, adhered to by everyone who does not wish to become a heretic:

first: it must be ascertained whether there exists from ancient times a decree established by all the Bishops of the Catholic Church with the authority of a universal [Œcumenical] Council  [an act of the Magisterium]; and,

second:  should a new question arise for which no decree can be found, one must revert to the opinions of the Holy Fathers; - to be more precise, of those Fathers who remained in their own times and places in the Unity of Communion [i.e. the Communio or union of the Catholic Clergy] and of Faith  and who were therefore held as teaching [this is an act of the Magisterium] probable doctrine” (Saint Vincent of Lerins [b. Toul, France, c. 400 A.D. - d. Island of Lerins, c. 450 A.D.], A Commonitory [an aid to memory] for the Antiquity and Universality of the Catholic Faith Against the Profane Novelties of All Heresies, Chapter 29).

Saint Isidore of Seville, Spain

“Therefore, heresy is so-called from the Greek word meaning “choice”, by which each chooses according to his own will what he pleases to teach or believe. But we are not permitted to believe whatever we choose, nor to choose whatever someone else has believed.  We have the Apostles of God as authorities, who did not themselves of their own will choose what they would believe, but faithfully transmitted to the nations the teaching received from Christ.  So, even if an Angel from Heaven should preach otherwise, he shall be called anathema”  (Saint Isidore of Seville [b. Cartagena, Spain 560 A.D. - d. Seville, Spain, 636 A.D.], Bishop of Seville, Spain, Doctor of the Catholic Church, Etymologies, 8, 3; emphasis added).

Roma locuta, causa finita.