Erasmus.
Erasmus.
After Erasmus, whom Pope Leo called his “beloved son,” had listed the books that our churches acknowledge as canonical (Catech. Symb. 4, p. 153), he adds: “The authority of the ancients concluded the books of the Old Testament within this number. About their trustworthiness it is wrong to doubt. But now, the Book of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, the Books of Tobit, Judith, Esther, and the Maccabees have been accepted for use in the Church. Now the Spirit of the Church knows whether the Church accepts these books with the same authority as the rest.” To this we must oppose Augustine’s statement (Contra Faustum, bk. 11, c. 5) and that of Cajetan on 1 Corinthians 12: “Only those writings have the authority of Holy Scripture that the apostles wrote or approved.”