Roman Catholic Church.

Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Bellarmine, in his treatise De Eccl. milit., chap. 2, defines the 'church' Copyright 1891 in U.S. by J. B. Lippincott Company. militant' as follows: 'An assembly of men united by the profession of the same Christian faith, and by the communion of the same sacraments, under the rule of legitimate pastors, and especially of the one vicar of Christ on earth, the Roman pontiff.' It is evident that this is really a definition of the Roman Catholic Church. The truth is that the Roman Catholic Church claims exclusive right to the title of Church of Christ on earth, and declares that 'outside of her fold there is no salvation.' This claim of the Church of Rome to be the exclusive means of salvation has been much misunderstood, and calls for some words of explanation. As we intend to remove a misconception, we explain first what the claim does not mean. It does not mean that none but Roman Catholics are in the way of salvation. This is sufficiently clear from the Encyclical letters ('Quanto conficiamur') of Pope Pius IX., dated August 10, 1863. 'It is well known,' writes His Holiness, 'that those who labour under an invincible ignorance concerning our most holy religion, and who at the same time sedulously observing the natural law and the precepts thereof, which are inscribed by God on the hearts of all, are ready to obey God, can, the virtue of divine light and grace working within them, attain to eternal life.' It is not then the teaching of the Roman Church that none but Roman Catholics are saved. The sense of the axiom 'outside the Church of Rome there is no salvation,' as understood by Roman Catholic theologians, is that, whereas Christ came on earth to establish a church which was to be the divinely appointed means for the salvation of all men, the Roman Catholic Church is that church. Further light may be cast on the sense of this axiom by considering the distinction made by Roman Catholic theologians between the body of the church and the soul of the church. By the body of the church they understand the church considered as a visible and external society. By the soul of the church they understand the supernatural life of the members of the church—that is to say, sanctifying grace. Whoever, then, is in the state of grace belongs to the soul of the church. Whoever is not in the state of grace, even though he belong to the visible and external organisation or body of the church, does not belong to the soul of the church. Now the axiom 'outside the church there is no salvation' has reference primarily to the soul of the church. Thus, then, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, the non-Catholic who dies in the state of grace is saved. The Catholic who dies out of the state of grace is lost.

In the symbol commonly known as the Nicene Creed, faith is expressed in 'one, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.' Christian antiquity then regarded unity, sanctity, catholicity, and aposto- licity as properties of the true church. The Church of Rome claims to possess these properties, and to possess them manifestly, and in consequence claims to be clearly recognisable as the true church of Christ.—The Church of Rome claims to be one, with the completest and most perfect unity, with unity of doctrine, unity of liturgy, and unity of government. (1) With unity of doctrine. Roman Catholics all the world over have precisely the same faith: the learned, indeed, may have a larger acquaintance with the doctrines of faith than the illiterate; but there is nothing believed by the most learned theologian which is not believed, at least implicitly, by the most simple member of the faithful. Every Roman Catholic says, 'I believe whatever the holy Catholic Church proposes for my belief.' (2) With unity of liturgy. In every part of the world the Roman Catholic Church offers the same unbloody sacrifice of the mass, everywhere administers the same sacraments, everywhere observes the same great festival days, &c. (3) With unity of government. Roman Catholics, whether living under monarchical or republican governments, whether united to each other or divided from each other by their various national interests, are everywhere in subjection to their pastors and bishops, and above all to the Holy See. Indeed, it has perhaps never been denied that with respect to unity the Roman Catholic Church excels all other churches.—The Roman Catholic Church claims to possess visibly the second property of the true church—viz. sanctity. She claims to be holy (1) by reason of the holy doctrines which she teaches. Thus, she insists upon the great truth of moral responsibility. She declares that, though man's freedom of will was impaired by the Fall, it was not destroyed; that freedom of will remains, and that no adult can be saved without the due exercise of it. She proclaims that 'faith without works is dead.' She calls upon her children to confront their evil passions with the weapons of fasting and mortification in their hands; holds in high honour the 'life of counsels,' the life of voluntary poverty, chastity, and obedience; and declares that such was the life of the Lord and of the precursor of the Lord. (2) By reason of the means of holiness which she provides. Prominent amongst these a Roman Catholic would place the sacrament of penance. (3) By reason of the fruit of holiness which she produces. Professing that she has existed from the first, the Roman Catholic Church claims as her own all the saints of past times. She declares that her power of producing saints is strong to this day, and points to a St Francis Xavier, a St Charles Borromeo, a St Philip Neri, a St Francis de Sales, a St Vincent de Paul, and many other saints of more recent times. And whoever is acquainted with the rigorous inquiry which precedes the process of canonisation, whatever he may think of the faith of those canonised by Rome, will admit that the saints of the Roman Church were men of even heroic virtue.—The Roman Catholic Church claims to visibly possess the third property of the true church—viz. catholicity. She claims to be Catholic de jure, inasmuch as she was commissioned to 'teach all nations;' and also de facto, and this in three ways. (1) With respect to persons. This means that Roman Catholics constitute by far the most numerous body of Christians. (2) With respect to place. This means that the Roman Catholic religion is more or less diffused wherever Christianity prevails. (3) With respect to time. This means that she has existed visibly since the days of the apostles, and that she will exist visibly till the end. The claim of continued existence from the first really merges into the claim of apostolicity, which we shall next explain. Her belief in her continuance of existence till the end she bases on Christ's promise of constant assistance, which she declares was made to herself.—Finally, the Church of Rome claims to possess visibly the fourth property of the true church—apostolicity. She claims to be apostolic (1) as founded by Christ through the apostles, and because her pastors descend from the apostles by a succession which has never been broken. Under this head we may remark that, while many Protestant writers have denied that St Peter the apostle ever resided in Rome, on the other hand many well-known Protestant authorities, such as Barrow, Cave, Chamier, Vossius, Baratier, Bishop Pearson, and Whiston, have freely conceded this to the Catholics. Whiston states that the fact of St Peter's residence at Rome 'is so clear in Christian antiquity that it is a shame for any Protestant to confess that any Protestant ever denied it.' Bishop Pearson declares that 'it is wonderful that those can be found who deny that Peter ever was at Rome.' Baratier is still more emphatic: 'All the ancients,' he writes, 'and the great majority of the moderns have undertaken to derive the succession of the bishops of Rome from the apostle Peter. So great in this matter has been the agreement of all that in truth it ought to be deemed a miracle that certain persons born in our day have presumed to deny a fact so manifest.' Besides claiming connection with the apostles, by a line of pastors descending from them in uninterrupted succession, the Church of Rome claims to be apostolical (2) by reason of her doctrines. She denies that she has ever surrendered any doctrine taught by the apostles, and she denies that she has ever professed any doctrine which is not contained in divine apostolical tradition. Here it must be remembered that, while the Church of Rome accepts the Word of God alone and exclusively as the Rule of Faith, besides the Sacred Scriptures or written Word of God it admits an unwritten Word of God, which possesses an authority equal to that of the written Word. By the unwritten Word of God Roman Catholics understand a body of truths delivered by Christ to the apostles, and by the apostles to their successors, and which were not in the first instance committed to writing. It is certainly worthy of note that Christ did not write, but preach; that he did not command his apostles to write, but to preach; that only five out of the twelve apostles—reckoning St Mathias in the place of Judas—are recorded to have written anything at all; that three out of these five—St Peter, St James, and St Jude—have left us nothing more than brief epistles, written under particular circumstances, and for special reasons; that more than half of the New Testament was written by inspired men who were not among the apostles to whom the commission was addressed by our Saviour. The church is the depository, guardian, and living and infallible interpreter of both the written and the unwritten Word of God. It may be remarked, in passing, that there would seem to be some analogy between the Roman Catholic rule of faith and the civil constitution of England. According to Judge Blackstone's Commentary, the municipal laws of England are divided into lex non scripta, the unwritten or common law, and the lex scripta, or statute law; and the common law is the 'first ground and chief corner-stone of the laws of England.' If the question arises as to how these customs or maxims are to be known, and by whom their validity is to be determined, Blackstone decides that the question must be settled by the judges in the several courts of justice, for these judges are 'the depositories of the law, the living oracles, who must decide in all cases of doubt.'

The Church of Rome teaches that no addition has ever been made to the deposit of faith left by the apostles to the church, and that no objective increase of revelation is to be expected. She does not deny that divine revelations have been made to individuals since the days of the apostles, but she holds that such revelations do not increase the deposit of Christian revelation, and do not constitute an article of Catholic faith to be professed by all the faithful. The faithful are not bound to accept revelations made to private persons, even though the church should express approval of these revelations; for it is understood that the church does not intend by her approval to guarantee their genuineness. The approval of the church amounts to no more than a declaration that there is nothing in the supposed revelations at variance with sound faith and morality. But though the entire deposit of faith was received by the church from the apostles, it does not follow that all the truths contained in this deposit were revealed explicitly, and have been at all times explicitly taught by the church. There has, indeed, never been any difference with respect to the formal object, as it is called, or motive of faith. Whatever truth has been believed has always been accepted on the authority of God who revealed it. But with respect to the material object of faith—i.e. the truths of revelation—there has been this difference, that, while some have been from the first explicitly believed, others were at one time believed implicitly only. The distinct proposition and promulgation of these latter doctrines belongs to the magisterium, or teaching office, which the church exercises under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The church fulfils this teaching office in many ways: (1) By indicating in detail the various truths contained in some complex article of explicit faith. Thus, it was always expressly believed by the church that our Saviour was a true and perfect man. But if our Saviour was truly man it follows that He possessed a human body, a rational soul, a human will, and a human energy. And these various consequences the church distinctly proposed for explicit belief, on the emergence of the Gnostic, Apollinarian, Monothelete, and other heresies at variance with these consequences. Or, to take an instance from Roman Catholic theology, the plenitude of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome has always been a principle of faith explicitly believed. But, as occasions and circumstances required, the church has proposed for explicit faith one or other of the prerogatives involved in this primacy. (2) By enunciating in particular truths already comprehended in some universal proposition of explicit faith. Thus, while the church had already taught that grace was necessary for all salutary actions and states, on occasion of the Semipelagian heresy it distinctly decreed that grace was necessary for entrance into the way of salvation and for perseverance in the same. (3) By proposing distinctly and articulately what was already believed, though with less distinctness. Thus, according to Roman Catholics, it has always been the belief of the church that it was due to the honour of the Son of God that His mother should be free from the least stain of sin. The proclamation, then, in recent years of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was no more than the distinct and articulate declaration of a truth which had been an object of implicit belief from the first. (4) By expressly declaring some truths which had been already indicated by the practice of the church. Thus, the church, by not rebaptising those converted to her fold from heresy, had practically manifested her belief in the validity of baptism conferred by heretics; but when the validity of heretical baptism was impugned she expressly declared that where the proper matter, form, and intention were employed such baptism was valid. Thus, then, according to the Roman Catholic teaching, there may be truths objectively contained in the deposit of revelation, or the remote rule of faith, which have not been always clearly proposed and promulgated by the proximate rule of faith—i.e. the magisterium of the church. Until they are thus proposed and promulgated they may be called in question without loss of faith; for the unity of faith is maintained so long as there is due subjection to the magisterium of the church. In the history of many doctrines we may distinguish three distinct phases: (1) In the first instance, they are implicitly contained in revelation indeed, but not yet proposed by the church; and by the faithful they are not explicitly believed, neither are they called in question. (2) Then arises a controversy concerning these doctrines; some are for accepting, others for rejecting them. (3) Finally, the church, either by solemn judgment or by her common teaching, declares that these doctrines belong to the deposit of revelation; and thenceforward they are an object of explicit faith.

For the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church concerning the Holy See we must refer our readers to the articles POPE, INFALLIBILITY, &c. We may, however, mention here that the very name Roman Catholic is intended as an expression of the belief that there can be no true Catholicity without union with Rome. Roman Catholics assert that there can be no catholicity without unity; and they contend that the See of Rome has always been regarded as the source of unity, and that communion with Rome was regarded by the early church as the ultimate proof of orthodoxy. In support of this contention they quote many striking declarations of the Fathers and of the early councils. The name 'Roman Catholic' is not new. Cardinal Newman, writing of the 5th and 6th centuries, says: 'It is more than remarkable that Catholics of this period were denoted by the additional title of "Romans." Nor was this association of Catholicism with the See of Rome an introduction of that age' (Essay on Development, chap. v.).

The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church consists of the sovereign pontiff, who is assisted by the Sacred College of Cardinals, and by several sacred congregations, or permanent ecclesiastical committees; of the patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops; of the apostolic delegates, vicars, and prefects; and of certain abbots and prelates. The cardinals, who are the advisers and assistants of the sovereign pontiff, constitute the supreme council or senate of the church; and on the death of the pontiff they elect his successor. The College of Cardinals when complete consists of 70 members: 6 cardinal bishops, whose dioceses are the 6 'Suburban Sees' of Ostia and Velletri, Porto and Santa Rufina, Albano, Frascati, Palestrina, and Sabina, 50 cardinal priests, and 14 cardinal deacons. In January 1891 there were 64 cardinals, of whom 36 were Italian; 9 Austrian, German, or Polish; 6 French; 4 British subjects; 4 Spanish; 2 Portuguese; 1 of the United States; 1 Belgian; and 1 Swiss. The sacred congregations, about 20 in number, consist of cardinals, consultors, and officials, and carry on the central administration of the Roman Catholic Church. The following are the principal congregations. (1) The Congregation of the Council, for the interpretation and execution of the decrees of the Council of Trent, and for receiving from bishops reports on the state of their dioceses. Attached to this there is a special Congregation for the Revision of Pro- vincial Synods. (2) The Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, for judging appeals against episcopal sentences, for the hearing of causes between bishops and regulars, and for the revision and approbation of rules of religious bodies. (3) The Congregation of Propaganda, for the propagation of the faith and the government of the church in non-Catholic countries. Attached to this there is a Congregation for Affairs of the Oriental Rite, with a commission for the revision and correction of Oriental books. (4) The Congregation of Sacred Rites, for the decision of all questions relative to the liturgy, rites, and ceremonies, and for the conduct of the processes of the beatification and canonisation of saints. (5) The Congregation of the Index, for the condemnation of writings prejudicial to faith or morality. (6) The Congregation of the Holy Office, sometimes known as the Congregation of the Inquisition, for the examination and repression of heretical doctrines. (7) The Congregation of Indulgences and Sacred Relics, for the proclamation of indulgences and the decision of questions relating to them, and for the authentication and distribution of relics. (8) The Congregation of Ecclesiastical Immunity, for maintaining ecclesiastical privileges and exemptions, as to persons, places, and things. The jurisdiction of the congregations does not cease on the death of the sovereign pontiff; nevertheless all important business is suspended during the vacancy of the Holy See.

There are 10 patriarchates, with 13 patriarchal sees—8 of the Latin rite, and 5 of Oriental rite. The greater or more ancient patriarchates are those of Alexandria, Latin; Antioch, with 4 patriarchal sees, Latin, Maronite, Melchite, and Syriac; Constantinople, Latin; and Jerusalem, Latin. The less are those of Babylon, Chaldaic; Cilicia, Armenian; East Indies, Latin; Lisbon, Latin; Venice, Latin; and West Indies, Latin. There are in the communion of Rome, besides the 13 patriarchal sees, 871 archiepiscopal and episcopal residential sees of the Latin rite, and 76 archiepiscopal and episcopal residential sees of Oriental rite. Besides the archbishops and bishops of these residential sees, there were in January 1891 308 archbishops and bishops of titular sees. In the British empire there are 123 Roman Catholic residential archiepiscopal and episcopal sees, 23 vicariates-apostolic, and 8 prefectures-apostolic, with a Roman Catholic population of about 10 millions. Nineteen of the 23 vicariates-apostolic in the British empire are held or administered by bishops of titular sees. Titular sees, or, as they were styled till 1882, sees in partibus infidelium—i.e. sees which in ancient times existed in those eastern regions which have now lost the faith and fallen into barbarism—are, for the most part, assigned to archbishops and bishops who are appointed to apostolic delegations, of which there are 7, or to vicariates-apostolic, of which there are 118, or to prefectures-apostolic, of which there are 37, or to the office of coadjutor, auxiliary, or administrator of a diocese. Delegates-apostolic and vicars-apostolic enjoy episcopal jurisdiction, and exercise episcopal powers, in countries where a hierarchy proper has never been established, or having once existed has been suppressed. When the ancient hierarchy of England came to an end in 1585 with the death of Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St Asaph, the English Catholics were at first placed under the jurisdiction of archpriests or prefects-apostolic. But in the year 1623 Pope Gregory XV. appointed a vicar-apostolic with jurisdiction over all the Catholics of England. About sixty years later, in 1688, Pope Innocent XI. created four districts or vicariates, the London, Midland, Northern, and Western, appointing to each district its own vicar-apostolic. In 1840 Pope

Gregory XVI. created eight districts or vicariates, the London, Western, Eastern, Central, Welsh, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Northern, each district having, of course, its own vicar-apostolic. In 1850 Pope Pius IX. re-established the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England. The vicars-apostolic were all bishops of titular sees. Thus, Cardinal Wiseman, who before the restoration of the hierarchy was vicar-apostolic for the London district, was entitled while vicar-apostolic Bishop of Melipotamus. Prefects-apostolic are as a rule not bishops, but simple priests, who receive from the Holy See authority to exercise quasi-episcopal jurisdiction in missionary countries.

As is well known, the Latin rite prevails with few exceptions in the West, and also in some regions of the East; nevertheless various other rites are also followed within the communion of Rome. These are (1) the Greek rite, of which there are the following forms. (a) The Greco-Roumanian. There are 3 bishops and 1 archbishop of this rite, whose sees are situated in Austria-Hungary. The language of the liturgy is Roumanian, excepting in the parish of Scaiusiu, in the diocese of Lugos, where the language employed is the ancient Slav. (b) The Greco-Ruthenian. There are 8 bishops and 1 archbishop of this rite, with sees in Austria-Hungary and Russian Poland. The liturgical language is the ancient Slav. (c) The Greco-Bulgarian. Of this rite there is an archbishop, vicar-apostolic, for Constantinople and its neighbourhood, with 2 bishops, vicars-apostolic, for Macedonia and Thrace. The liturgical language is ancient Slav. (d) The Greco-Melchite. Of this rite is the Melchite patriarch of Antioch, with 4 archbishops and 9 bishops, whose sees are situated in Syria. The liturgical language is the Arabic. There are missions at Cæsarea in Cappadocia, Constantinople, and Malgara in Thrace of the pure Greek rite, which are also in communion with Rome. (2) The Syriac rite, of which there are the following forms. (a) The pure Syriac. Of this rite is the Syriac patriarch of Antioch, with 4 archbishops and 8 bishops, whose sees are situated in Egypt, Syria, and Turkish Armenia. The liturgical language is the ancient Syriac. (b) The Syro-Chaldaic. Of this rite is the patriarchate of Babylon, with 4 archiepiscopal and 7 episcopal sees situated in Kurdistan, Turkish Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Persia. The liturgical language is the ancient Chaldaic. (c) The Syro-Maronite. Of this rite is the Maronite patriarch of Antioch, and 7 archbishops and 2 bishops, whose sees are situated in Syria, in various other provinces of Asiatic Turkey, and in the island of Cyprus. The liturgical language is the ancient Syriac. (d) The Syro-Malabaric. This rite is followed in the vicariates-apostolic of Kottayam and Trichur in the East Indies. The liturgical language is the Syro-Malabaric. (3) The Armenian rite. To this rite belong the Armenian patriarchate of Cilicia, the archiepiscopal see of Lemberg in Austria-Hungary, the episcopal see of Artuin in the Russian empire, and 17 episcopal sees situated in Turkish Asia, Egypt, and Persia. The language of the liturgy is the ancient Armenian. (4) The Coptic rite. Of this rite there are two forms: (a) the form followed in the vicariate-apostolic situated in Egypt, where the Coptic or ancient Egyptian is the language of the liturgy; (b) the form observed in the vicariate-apostolic in Abyssinia, where the liturgical language is the ancient Ethiopic or Geez.

The Roman Catholic populations of the various countries of Europe are, according to The Statesman's Year-book (1891), as follows: Great Britain and Ireland, 5,640,891; Austria-Hungary, 25,591,000; Belgium, 6,079,798; Denmark, 2985; France, 29,201,703; German Empire, 16,785,734; Greece, about 12,000; Italy, 28,853,480; the Netherlands, 1,439,137; Portugal, 4,707,678; European Russia, 8,300,000; Spain, 17,529,860; Sweden and Norway, 1329; Switzerland, 1,190,008. For European Turkey accurate statistics are not given, but the number of Roman Catholics has been estimated at 1,000,000. Thus the total Roman Catholic population in Europe amounts to 146,335,603. According to Werner's Atlas des Missions Catholiques (Freiburg, 1886), the Roman Catholic populations of the other continents are as follows: Asia, 9,234,000; Africa, 2,656,000; America, 51,033,790; Australia and Polynesia, 672,000. Thus the total Roman Catholic population of the world amounts to nearly 210,000,000.

See Cardinal Manning's Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost; Newman's Essay on Development of Doctrine; Wiseman's Lectures on the Catholic Church; Ward's Essays on the Church's Doctrinal Authority; Murphy's Chair of Peter (1888); Leibnitz's System of Theology, translated by Russell (1850); Catholic Directory (Burns and Oates); Missiones Catholice (Propaganda Press, Rome). The organisation and statistics of the Catholic Church will be found in the relevant paragraphs on the several Catholic countries. The more important Catholic doctrines and institutions are all dealt with in separate articles in this work; as are also the saints and thinkers. See especially the articles: