DOCSLIB.ORG

The True and False Infallibility of the Popes, Will Speedily Appear in an English Translation, I Refrain from Doing So

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The True and False Infallibility of the Popes, Will Speedily Appear in an English Translation, I Refrain from Doing So This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. http://books.google.com THE TRUE AND THE FALSE Infallibility of iThe Popes. A CONTROVERSIAL REPLY TO DR. SCHULTE. ST Dr. JOSEPH JFESSLER, Late Bishop of St. Fatten, in Awtria, and Secretary- General of the Vatican Council. A Work honoured by a Brief of Approbation from His Holiness Pope Pius IX. ftnuMlatcfe from fyc ttltfrt Coition VY PERMISSION OF THE EDITORS OP THE LATE BISHOP FESSLER'S WORKS. New York : THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY, No. 9 WARREN STREET. i875- THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY CONTENTS. I. True and False Infallibility.— Fessler. II. Mr. Gladstone's Expostulation Unravelled. — Bishop Ullathorne. Submission to a Divine Teacher. — Bishop Vaughan. Syllabus for the People. JSx trad from a Brief addressed to Bishop Fessler by his Holiness Pope Pius IX. April vj, 1871. ' . Peropportunum autem et utilissimum existimavimus retudisse te audaciam Professoris Schulte incitantis saeculares Potestates ad- versus dogma Pontificiae infallibilitatis ab cecumenica Vaticana Syno- do definitae. Non omnes enim, inter laicos praesertim, rei indolem perspectam habent ; et Veritas luculenter exposita multas abigere so- let ab honestorum mentibus obliquas opiniones, saepe cum lacle haustas, aliosque confirmare in recta sententia et adversus insidias munire. Quamobrem si hujusmodi commenta refellere pergas, op- time certe merebis de sanctissima religione nostri. et Christiano po- pulo, quem, uti bonus Pastor, a venenatis pascuis abduces. Pergra- tum Nos tibi profitemur animum, cum ob volumen oblatum, turn ob amantissimas litteras tuas ; tibique amplam apprecamur obsequii de- votionisque tuae mercedem ' Translation. * . We esteem it a very opportune and useful thing to have beaten back the audacity of Professor Schulte, inciting as he does the secu lar powers against the dogmi of Papal Infallibility, as denned by the Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. For it is a matter the true meaning of which, not all men, and especially not all laymen, have a thoroughly clear understanding of, and the truth, when lucidly set forth, is wont to expel from properly constituted minds opinions which men perhaps have drunk in with their mother's milk, to confirm others in a right mind, and fortify them against insidious attacks. Where fore, if you continue to refute figments of this kind, you will deserve well of our most holy religion, and of all Christian people, in that, like a good pastor, you withdraw them from poisoned pastures We make known to you, then, the great pleasure ^you have giren Us, both by reason of the book which you have presented to Us, as well as by reason of your most affectionate letters ; and V£c pray that you \ 2 Papal Brief to Bishop Fessler. may receive a rich reward for your deference to Our authority and devotion towards Ourselves ' (Signed by the Pope's own hand) Note. — The fact of the Brief and its signature is derived from M. Anton. Erdinger, director of the Episcopal Seminary at St. Polten, author of the Life of Bishop Fessler, who sent a copy of it to M. Cosquin of the Fran$ais. to whom I am indebted for these important notices. The Pope's Brief is not given entire, as the remainder of it has re ference solely to local diocesan affairs. TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION. This important work of the lamented Dr. Fessler, Bishop of St. Polten, or more properly St. Hippo- lytus, in Austria, who was Secretary-General to the Vatican Council in the year 1870, and who, worn out with the fatigues of the Council, died two years afterwards, is now for the first time brought before the notice of English Catholics. Entitled by the good Bishop himself The True and False Infallibility of the Pope, it presents to the reader a perfect ' repertorium ' of all the stock objections and erroneous representations, both as regards the doctrine itself, and as regards the history of previous Papal rescripts and acts, that the fertile mind and extensive reading of Dr. Schulte, Professor of Canon and German Law in the University of Prague, could ingeniously pile together and misconstrue, in order to bring odium upon all Papal Bulls and Papal acts from, as he says, the time of Pope Gregory VII. These misstatements and misconstructions Bishop Fessler, with extraordinary labour and patience, has met and refuted one by one. The refutations re mained unanswered during the Bishop's lifetime, nor have we heard of Dr. Schulte having attempted any answer since his death, although he has gone on reiterating his former statements. It is the old story 2 Introduction. of 'mumpsimus." Nevertheless, as this particular mumpsimus is of German extraction, it has been thought that it would not be amiss, while German meets German in this strife of the True and of the False Infallibility, they should carry on the battle in English, that we, who have an equal interest in the issue of the contest, may hear both sides, and judge for ourselves which is the true and which the false. And it is this which constitutes the special merit of Bishop Fessler's work, that, in this properly German quarrel, it states fairly all that Dr. Schulte has to say on his own side, so that although we have not actually his book before us, we can hear him speak both in the titles of the chapters and in the propositions brought forward, all of which are given in Dr. Schulte's own words; thus the reader, be he Catholic or be he Protestant, may see for himself what has been said on the part of those who have tried to make Infallibility impossible, by the process of reduciio ad absurdum, and what by those who calmly and dispassionately have endeavoured to bring it back to its true significance. It is strange that, considering the general interest of the subject, the comprehensive character of the work, its general acceptation in Germany, and, last ly, the author's thorough knowledge of his subject, which his peculiar position during the Council, as its Secretary-General, enabled him to obtain, so valu able a work should have remained so long untrans lated. And this becomes the more remarkable when we consider that after the first edition had been sent to Rome, and there thoroughly examined and ap Introduction. 3 roved, the second and third editions were publish ed after the Pope himself had written to Bishop essler commending him for having, by means of is work, ' as a good pastor done good service to r holy religion,' and exhorting him to go on bringing back Christian people from poisoned pas- res ;' the particular ' poisoned pastures' indicated y the Pope being evidently those false and exagge- ted notions of Infallibility which Dr. Schulte and thers of his stamp have been engaged in propagat- It will be a further good result of the present con troversy if it brings us to see the danger of all exag gerated statements, even when made with good inten tions, for it is precisely to these statements that the now open adversaries of the Church appeal, in order to place the true doctrine before their dupes in an odious form. And this good result has already fol lowed from the French translation, edited by M. Em manuel Cosquin, editor of the Fra?i^ais. It has 'put the question before many, who had been made anx ious by exaggerated statements, in a way which ren dered it quite easy of acceptance.' The existence of this translation was, I regret to say, not known to me until my own translation from the original was com pleted ; in fact the editor kindly sent me a copy when he saw my advertisement of the pamphlet in the newspapers, accompanied with the obliging per mission to make jisfi. of his prefatory matter, his valuable notes from the ' Pastoral Instruction' of the Swiss Bishops, and the useful and comprehensive in dex at the end of his edition. As a most valuable 4 Introduction. confirmation of the position assumed by Bishop Fess- ler, I would refer my readers to M. Cosquin's two notes, which I have translated from the French, and appended to the second chapter of this work. ; That Bishop Fessler was really the exponent of the mind of most of the German Bishops, and in particu lar that his work exercised a special influence on the learned historian of the Councils, Mgr. Hefele, Bi shop of Rothenburg, will be sufficiently shown by the following letter, translated from the Gcrmania, the organ of the Catholics of Berlin, whose editor, Herr Majunke, although a deputy in the German Assembly, is now undergoing his sentence, as a confessor for the Faith, in a common German prison. Extract from the Roman correspondent of the Gcr- mania of Berlin, of Nov. 3, 1872: Rome, Oct. 26. ' The letter of Bishop Hefele, which has lately been published, gave rise to an explanation on the part of this prelate; as a result of which the follow ing information came to my knowledge, which, on account of its high importance, I think I ought not to withhold from your readers, and so much the more as it concerns our lately deceased and univer sally honored Bishop of St. Polten. Mgr. Fessler, who was on very intimate terms with Dr. Hefele, the Bishop of Rothenburg, sent to him, accompanied with a most affectionate letter, expressive of all those feelings which he entertained towards him as a bro ther in the episcopal office, a copy of the work which he had composed On the True and False Infallibility of Introduction.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sedevacantists and Una Cum Masses
    Dedicated to Patrick Henry Omlor The Grain of Incense: Sedevacantists and Una Cum Masses — Rev. Anthony Cekada — www.traditionalmass.org Should we assist at traditional Masses offered “together with Thy servant Benedict, our Pope”? articulate any theological reasons or arguments for “Do not allow your tongue to give utterance to what your heart knows is not true.… To say Amen is to what he does. subscribe to the truth.” He has read or heard the stories of countless early — St. Augustine, on the Canon martyrs who chose horrible deaths, rather than offer even one grain of incense in tribute to the false, ecu- “Our charity is untruthful because it is not severe; menical religion of the Roman emperor. So better to and it is unpersuasive, because it is not truthful… Where there is no hatred of heresy, there is no holi- avoid altogether the Masses of priests who, through ness.” the una cum, offer a grain of incense to the heresiarch — Father Faber, The Precious Blood Ratzinger and his false ecumenical religion… In many parts of the world, however, the only tra- IN OUR LIVES as traditional Catholics, we make many ditional Latin Mass available may be one offered by a judgments that must inevitably produce logical conse- priest (Motu, SSPX or independent) who puts the false quences in our actual religious practice. The earliest pope’s name in the Canon. Faced with choosing this or that I remember making occurred at about age 14. Gui- nothing, a sedevacantist is then sometimes tempted to tar songs at Mass, I concluded, were irreverent.
    [Show full text]
  • James III and VIII
    Gale Primary Sources Start at the source. James III and VIII Professor Edward Corp Université de Toulouse Bonnie Prince Charlie Entering the Ballroom at Holyroodhouse before 30 Apr 1892. Royal Collection Trust/ ©Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2018 EMPOWER™ RESEARCH The life story of James III and VIII is mainly contained Germain-en-Laye in France, James had good reason to within the Stuart Papers in the Royal Archives at be confident that he would one day be restored to the Windsor Castle. They contain thousands of documents thrones of his father. In the second (1719-66), when he in hundreds of volumes giving details of his political mainly lived at Rome, he increasingly doubted and and personal correspondence, of his finances, and of eventually knew that he would never be restored. The the management of his court. Yet it is important to turning point came during the five years from the recognise that the Stuart Papers provide a summer of 1714 to the summer of 1719, when James comprehensive account of the king's life only from the experienced a series of major disappointments and beginning of 1716, when he was 27 years old. They tell reverses which had a profound effect on his us very little about the period from his birth at personality. Whitehall Palace in June 1688 until he reached the age He had a happy childhood at Saint-Germain, where he of 25 in 1713, and not much about the next two years was recognised as the Prince of Wales and then, after from 1713 to the end of 1715.
    [Show full text]
  • Prayer in the Life of Saint Francis by Thomas of Celano
    PRAYER IN THE LIFE OF SAINT FRANCIS BY THOMAS OF CELANO J.A. Wayne Hellmann Brother Thomas of Celano,1 upon the request of Pope Gregory IX,2 shortly after the 1228 canonization of Francis of Assisi, wrote The Life of St. Francis.3 In the opening lines, Thomas describes the begin- nings of Francis’s conversion. Thomas writes that Francis, secluded in a cave, prayed that “God guide his way.”4 In the closing lines at the end of The Life, Thomas accents the public prayer of the church in the person of pope. After the canonization Pope Gregory went to Francis’s tomb to pray: “by the lower steps he enters the sanc- tuary to offer prayers and sacrifices.”5 From beginning to end, through- out the text of The Life of St. Francis, the author, Brother Thomas, weaves Francis’s life together through an integrative theology of prayer. To shape his vision of Francis, Thomas, as a hagiographer, moves with multiple theological and literary currents, old and new. At the core of his vision, however, Thomas presents the life of a saint that developed from beginning to end in prayer. To do this, he employs 1 Brother Thomas of Celano was born into the noble family of the Conti dei Marsi sometime between the years of 1185–1190. Celano, the place of his birth, is a small city in the Abruzzi region southeast of Aquila. Thomas may have included himself a reference in number 56 of his text that “some literary men and nobles gladly joined” Francis after his return from Spain in 1215.
    [Show full text]
  • William Cave (1637-1713) and the Fortunes of Historia Literaria in England
    WILLIAM CAVE (1637-1713) AND THE FORTUNES OF HISTORIA LITERARIA IN ENGLAND ALEXANDER ROBERT WRIGHT Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, December 2017 Faculty of English Abstract WILLIAM CAVE (1637-1713) AND THE FORTUNES OF HISTORIA LITERARIA IN ENGLAND Alexander Robert Wright This thesis is the first full-length study of the English clergyman and historian William Cave (1637-1713). As one of a number of Restoration divines invested in exploring the lives and writings of the early Christians, Cave has nonetheless won only meagre interest from early- modernists in the past decade. Among his contemporaries and well into the nineteenth century Cave’s vernacular biographies of the Apostles and Church Fathers were widely read, but it was with the two volumes of his Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Historia Literaria (1688 and 1698), his life’s work, that he made his most important and lasting contribution to scholarship. The first aim of the thesis is therefore to build on a recent quickening of research into the innovative early-modern genre of historia literaria by exploring how, why, and with what help, in the context of late seventeenth-century European intellectual culture, Cave decided to write a work of literary history. To do so it makes extensive use of the handwritten drafts, annotations, notebooks, and letters that he left behind, giving a comprehensive account of his reading and scholarly practices from his student-days in 1650s Cambridge and then as a young clergyman in the 1660s to his final, unsuccessful attempts to publish a revised edition of his book at the end of his life.
    [Show full text]
  • The “Doctrine of Discovery” and Terra Nullius: a Catholic Response
    1 The “Doctrine of Discovery” and Terra Nullius: A Catholic Response The following text considers and repudiates illegitimate concepts and principles used by Europeans to justify the seizure of land previously held by Indigenous Peoples and often identified by the terms Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius. An appendix provides an historical overview of the development of these concepts vis-a-vis Catholic teaching and of their repudiation. The presuppositions behind these concepts also undergirded the deeply regrettable policy of the removal of Indigenous children from their families and cultures in order to place them in residential schools. The text includes commitments which are recommended as a better way of walking together with Indigenous Peoples. Preamble The Truth and Reconciliation process of recent years has helped us to recognize anew the historical abuses perpetrated against Indigenous peoples in our land. We have also listened to and been humbled by courageous testimonies detailing abuse, inhuman treatment, and cultural denigration committed through the residential school system. In this brief note, which is an expression of our determination to collaborate with First Nations, Inuit and Métis in moving forward, and also in part a response to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we would like to reflect in particular on how land was often seized from its Indigenous inhabitants without their consent or any legal justification. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), the Canadian Catholic Aboriginal Council and other Catholic organizations have been reflecting on the concepts of the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius for some time (a more detailed historical analysis is included in the attached Appendix).
    [Show full text]
  • From Papal Bull to Racial Rule: Indians of the Americas, Race, and the Foundations of International Law
    Vera: From Papal Bull to Racial Rule: Indians of the Americas, Race, an FROM PAPAL BULL TO RACIAL RULE: INDIANS OF THE AMERICAS, RACE, AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW KIM BENITA VERA* The "discovery" and conquest of the "New World" marked the inauguration of international law,' and constituted a watershed moment in the emergence of race in European thought.2 What might the coterminous rise of formative. moments in race thinking and international law suggest? In my provisional reflections on this question that follow, I trace juridical and religio-racial conceptions of indigenous peoples of the Americas as a central thread in the evolution of international law. I will begin with a discussion of the fifteenth-century papal bulls issued in regard to the Portugal-Spain disputes over lands in Africa and the Americas. I will then proceed to follow some strands of racial and juridical thought in the accounts of Francisco de Vitoria and Hugo Grotius, two founding figures in international law. I suggest that Vitoria's treatise, On the Indians Lately Discovered,3 evinces the beginnings of the shift Carl Schmitt identifies from the papal authority of the respublica Christiana to modern international law.4 Vitoria's account, moreover, is both proto-secular and proto-racial. * Assistant Professor, Legal Studies Department, University of Illinois at Springfield, J.D./Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2006. 1. See, e.g., CARL ScHMrT, THE NOMOS OF THE EARTH IN THE INTERNATIONAL LAW OF THE Jus PUBLICUM EUROPAEUM 49 (G. L. Ulmen trans., 2003). 2. DAVID THEO GOLDBERG, RACIST CULTURE: PHILOSOPHY AND THE POLITICS OF MEANING 62 (1993).
    [Show full text]
  • Decoding the Statutes of Gregory IX for the University of Paris 1231
    Decoding The Statutes of Gregory IX for the University of Paris 1231 What had motivated Gregory IX's interest in the University of Paris? The Statutes of Gregory IX 1 for the University of Paris 1231 2 define the new rights and privileges of the teachers and students and help stopping the exodus of the teachers and students from the University, particularly for Oxford. It serves to ratify with immediacy as per a perceived denial 3 of justice, which had been sanctioned by Queen Blanche in 1229 and resulted in the teachers’ 2-year suspension of their teaching for the courses in retaliation. 4 Well-versed in the political situation of Europe 5, Pope Gregory IX’s 6 worries seem well-founded an exodus of teachers and students from The University of Paris does happen before the enactment of The Statutes. The teacher-student exodus in Europe has always been a widespread phenomenon.7 Gregory XI’s bestow on students’ right and privileges may well be his being a past student of The University of Paris, but his strong stance in anti-hereticism might point to his intended control over the teachers and students 8 carries much water. While no ulterior motive could justly be implied to Gregory IX, as a nephew of the 1 Based on the translation from Dana C. Munro, trans., University of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints , (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1897), Vol. II: No. 3, pp. 7-11 2 Hereafter called The Statutes. 3 The trouble originated in a quarrel in an inn in Paris which developed into a fight between the students and the citizens of Paris.
    [Show full text]
  • Dositheos Notaras, the Patriarch of Jerusalem (1669-1707), Confronts the Challenges of Modernity
    IN SEARCH OF A CONFESSIONAL IDENTITY: DOSITHEOS NOTARAS, THE PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM (1669-1707), CONFRONTS THE CHALLENGES OF MODERNITY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Christopher George Rene IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Adviser Theofanis G. Stavrou SEPTEMBER 2020 © Christopher G Rene, September 2020 i Acknowledgements Without the steadfast support of my teachers, family and friends this dissertation would not have been possible, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to express my deep debt of gratitude and thank them all. I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, who together guided me through to the completion of this dissertation. My adviser Professor Theofanis G. Stavrou provided a resourceful outlet by helping me navigate through administrative channels and stay on course academically. Moreover, he fostered an inviting space for parrhesia with vigorous dialogue and intellectual tenacity on the ideas of identity, modernity, and the role of Patriarch Dositheos. It was in fact Professor Stavrou who many years ago at a Slavic conference broached the idea of an Orthodox Commonwealth that inspired other academics and myself to pursue the topic. Professor Carla Phillips impressed upon me the significance of daily life among the people of Europe during the early modern period (1450-1800). As Professor Phillips’ teaching assistant for a number of years, I witnessed lectures that animated the historical narrative and inspired students to question their own unique sense of historical continuity and discontinuities. Thank you, Professor Phillips, for such a pedagogical example.
    [Show full text]
  • The Christian Doctrine of Discovery
    The Christian Doctrine of Discovery By Dan Whittemore, Denver, Colorado, USA For centuries, indigenous peoples around the world have suffered the disastrous impact of European colonization. As a Christian, descended from Europeans, I am remorseful and repentant because I am complicit in this problem. Undoubtedly some of my ancestors helped create the situation that has resulted in discrimination and prejudicial and derogatory concepts of the original inhabitants. Broken contracts, ignorance of native culture and spirituality, and illegitimate appropriation of lands have contributed to poverty and psychological damage that persist. We are challenged to examine the root causes and make corrections. The centuries-old Christian Doctrine of Discovery, if repudiated, could initiate justice for all indigenous people. The Doctrine of Discovery is the premise that European Christian explorers who “discovered” other lands had the authority to claim those lands and subdue, even enslave, peoples simply because they were not Christian. This concept has become embedded in the legal policies of countries throughout the world. This is an issue of greed, oppression, colonialism, and racism. The doctrine’s origins can be traced to Pope Nicholas V, who issued the papal bull1 Romanus Pontifex in 1455 CE. The bull allowed Portugal to claim and conquer lands in West Africa. After Christopher Columbus began conquering newly “found” lands in the Americas, Pope Alexander VI granted to Spain the right to claim these lands with the papal bull, Inter caetera, issued in 1493. The Treaty of Tordesillas settled competition between Spain and Portugal. It established two principles: 1) that only non-Christian lands could be taken, and 2) that potential discoveries would be allocated between Portugal and Spain by drawing a line of demarcation.
    [Show full text]
  • Awka Journal 2012 Print
    The Babylonian Captivity of the Popes: Lessons for the 21st Century Church Leaders Chinedu E. Nnatuanya Abstract Since the death and resurrection of Christ, the church has been a focal point in the history and development of the human race. Church as an institution has been a determinant factor in the socio-economic, politico-cultural and religious segments of the society. As a great player, its success has been the success of the society and its failure the failure of humanity. However, this institution has affected the society positively and negatively through her various stages it has passed since inception. Nevertheless, looking at the present church characterized with politics of rancor, struggle for power, excesses and abuses, intolerance, corruption, divide and rule, ethnicity, favoritism among others, it seemed as if to say that the church has not learnt from her passed. The captivity of the popes has a great volume of lesson for present leaders in a view to have rethink. Therefore, this work ventures at investigating why this captivity in order to prevent such event in this present time. Introduction Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the church has metamorphosed into series of stages. It has been persecuted more than any other institution yet has survived. In each period the church came out not being the same. However, between 1305-1416 the church passed through prolonged period of crises during which it seems that the church is doomed to destruction. It found its authority undermined, openly challenged and divided among rivals. Although, at the end, it emerged with its authority, yet the struggle for supremacy brought about significant changes to the structure of the church and sowed the seed that germinated during the reformation era.
    [Show full text]
  • John Carroll and the Origins of an American Catholic Church, 1783–1815 Author(S): Catherine O’Donnell Source: the William and Mary Quarterly, Vol
    John Carroll and the Origins of an American Catholic Church, 1783–1815 Author(s): Catherine O’Donnell Source: The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 68, No. 1 (January 2011), pp. 101-126 Published by: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5309/willmaryquar.68.1.0101 Accessed: 17-10-2018 15:23 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The William and Mary Quarterly This content downloaded from 134.198.197.121 on Wed, 17 Oct 2018 15:23:24 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 101 John Carroll and the Origins of an American Catholic Church, 1783–1815 Catherine O’Donnell n 1806 Baltimoreans saw ground broken for the first cathedral in the United States. John Carroll, consecrated as the nation’s first Catholic Ibishop in 1790, had commissioned Capitol architect Benjamin Latrobe and worked with him on the building’s design. They planned a neoclassi- cal brick facade and an interior with the cruciform shape, nave, narthex, and chorus of a European cathedral.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unigenitus of Clement XI
    Theological Studies 49 (1988) THE UNIGÉNITOS OF CLEMENT XI: A FRESH LOOK AT THE ISSUES JACQUES M. GRES-GAYER The Catholic University of America HERE is an enigma about Unigenitus, the ill-fated bull issued by Pope TClement XI (1713) against the resurgence of Jansenism. If the Jansenist movement in general has continued to attract scholars, whose recent contributions are changing perspectives,1 the constitution that condemned 101 "Jansenist propositions" extracted from the Réflexions morales was until recently left scrupulously untouched. It seemed taken for granted as an inevitable pivot—either a terminus ad quern, the logical conclusion of a century of theological and political disputes, or a terminus a quo, the origin of a movement of rebellion that eventually developed into a revolution.2 In other words, it was considered more a catalyst or an excuse for a latent social and political conflict than its real cause; hence the interest manifested in its prolegomena or later development rather than in the document itself. It was the document itself, however, the solemn exercise of the papal magisterium, that stimulated what was then perceived as the major crisis in Catholic history. The animosities, the political schemes, and the negotiations which accompanied its preparation, the uproar, the renewed negotiations, and the conflicts which followed its publication, suggest that there was more to this document than a collection of 101 condemned extracts from a spiritual book. But what was Unigenitus all about? In what appears to be a healthy reaction to a quasi-exclusive emphasis on the social and political elements of the conflicts surrounding the bull, major scholars of Jansenism have lately advocated an approach that 1 See the review article by William H.
    [Show full text]