St Augustine on Genesis

These quotes ares from St Augustine on the Literal Interpretation of Genesis (I copied it from this page Creation and Genesis you can find more on the question here. )

"It not infrequently happens that something about the earth, about the sky, about other elements of this world, about the motion and rotation or even the magnitude and distances of the stars, about definite eclipses of the sun and moon, about the passage of years and seasons, about the nature of animals, of fruits, of stones, and of other such things, may be known with the greatest certainty by reasoning or by experience, even by one who is not a Christian. It is too disgraceful and ruinous, though, and greatly to be avoided, that he [the non-Christian] should hear a Christian speaking so idiotically on these matters, and as if in accord with Christian writings, that he might say that he could scarcely keep from laughing when he saw how totally in error they are. In view of this and in keeping it in mind constantly while dealing with the book of Genesis, I have, insofar as I was able, explained in detail and set forth for consideration the meanings of obscure passages, taking care not to affirm rashly some one meaning to the prejudice of another and perhaps better explanation" (The Literal Interpretation of Genesis 1:19–20 [A.D. 408]).

"With the scriptures it is a matter of treating about the faith. For that reason, as I have noted repeatedly, if anyone, not understanding the mode of divine eloquence, should find something about these matters [about the physical universe] in our books, or hear of the same from those books, of such a kind that it seems to be at variance with the perceptions of his own rational faculties, let him believe that these other things are in no way necessary to the admonitions or accounts or predictions of the scriptures. In short, it must be said that our authors knew the truth about the nature of the skies, but it was not the intention of the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, to teach men anything that would not be of use to them for their salvation" (ibid., 2:9).

Basically, he is saying that God gave us his Word to help us reach heaven, not to save us the trouble of investigating the natural world for ourselves.

He is also saying that Christians should investigate things scientifically. There are some things that can't be known by reason alone, so God revealed them to us in His Word and gave us the gift of faith to help us understand them better. But the things that CAN be known by reason should be investigated by reason, not simply accepted and passed on with no concern for if they are true or not.

This is what the Catholic Church has always held, though there may have been individuals in the Church who didn't act that way. This is still true today, of course, of people both in and out of the Catholic Church.

Now let's go on to the actual text.