In this and the next Chapter we shall ask how the Church merits this title and wherein lies the sanctifying power of her action. Since “the end of the commandment,” as the apostle tells us (1 Tim. i, 5), “is charity, from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unfeigned faith,” does she really show herself, in her doctrine and worship, to be the great school of charity, to be the institute of salvation in a special and comprehensive sense?

If we would appreciate the sanctifying power of the Church, it is of fundamental importance to understand her dogmatic teaching concerning the character and development of the regenerate man, the “homo sanctus,” to understand therefore her conception of justification.