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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Schism</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13529a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="In the language of theology and canon law, the rupture of ecclesiastical union and unity"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="13529a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/s.htm">S</a> > Schism</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Schism</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <h2 id="section1">General ideas, moral character, and penal sanctions</h2> <p>Schism (from the Greek <em>schisma</em>, rent, division) is, in the language of <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theology</a> and canon law, the rupture of <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> union and unity, i.e. either the act by which one of the faithful severs as far as in him lies the ties which bind him to the social organization of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> and make him a member of the <a href="../cathen/10663a.htm">mystical body of Christ</a>, or the state of dissociation or separation which is the result of that act. In this etymological and full meaning the term occurs in the books of the <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a>. By this name <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> characterizes and condemns the parties formed in the community of <a href="../cathen/04363b.htm">Corinth</a> (<a href="../bible/1co001.htm#vrs12">1 Corinthians 1:12</a>): "I beseech you, brethren", he writes, ". . . that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment" (ibid., i, 10). The union of the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a>, he says elsewhere, should manifest itself in mutual understanding and convergent action similar to the harmonious co-operation of our members which <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> hath tempered "that there might be no schism in the body" (<a href="../bible/1co012.htm#vrs25">1 Corinthians 12:25</a>). Thus understood, schism is a genus which embraces two distinct species: <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretical</a> or mixed schism and schism pure and simple. The first has its source in <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> or joined with it, the second, which most <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> designate absolutely as schism, is the rupture of the bond of subordination without an accompanying persistent <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a>, directly opposed to a definite <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogma</a>. This distinction was drawn by <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a> and <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a>. "Between heresy and schism", explains <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a>, "there is this difference, that <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> perverts <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogma</a>, while schism, by rebellion against the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, separates from the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. Nevertheless there is no schism which does not trump up a <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> to justify its departure from the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> (In Ep. ad Tit., iii, 10). And <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a>: "By <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">false doctrines</a> concerning <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a> wound <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, by iniquitous dissensions schismatics deviate from fraternal charity, although they believe what we believe" (<a href="../fathers/1304.htm"><em>On Faith and the Creed</em> 9</a>). But as <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a> remarks, practically and historically, <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> and schism nearly always go hand in hand; schism leads almost invariably to denial of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> primacy.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Schism, therefore, is usually mixed, in which case, considered from a moral standpoint, its perversity is chiefly due to the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> which forms part of it. In its other aspect and as being purely schism it is contrary to charity and obedience; to the former, because it severs the ties of fraternal charity, to the latter, because the schismatic rebels against the Divinely constituted <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">hierarchy</a>. However, not every disobedience is a schism; in order to possess this character it must include besides the transgression of the commands of superiors, denial of their Divine right to command. On the other hand, schism does not necessarily imply adhesion, either public or private, to a dissenting group or a distinct <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>, much less the creation of such a group. Anyone becomes a schismatic who, though desiring to remain a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a>, rebels against legitimate authority, without going as far as the rejection of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> as a whole, which constitutes the crime of apostasy.</p> <p>Formerly a man was rightly considered a schismatic when he disregarded the authority of his own <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>; hence the words of <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a> quoted above. Before him <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">St. Cyprian</a> had said: "It must be understood that the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> is in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> and the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> and he is not in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> who is not with the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>" (Epist., lxvi, 8). Long before, <a href="../cathen/07644a.htm">St. Ignatius of Antioch</a> laid down this principle: "Where the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> is there is the community, even as where Christ is there is the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>" (<a href="../fathers/0109.htm"><em>Smyrnæans</em> 8.2</a>). Now through the centralizing evolution which emphasizes the preponderant rôle of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">sovereign pontiff</a> in the constitution of <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> unity, the mere fact of rebelling against the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a> is often a step toward schism; it is not a schism in him who remains, or claims to remain, subject to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>. In the material sense of the word there is schism, that is rupture of the social body, if there exist two or more claimants of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papacy</a>, each of whom has on his side certain appearances of right and consequently more or less numerous partisans. But under these circumstances <a href="../cathen/06642a.htm">good faith</a> may, at least for a time, prevent a formal schism; this begins when the legitimacy of one of the pontiffs becomes so evident as to render adhesion to a rival inexcusable. Schism is regarded by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> as a most serious fault, and is punished with the penalties inflicted on <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a>, because <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> usually accompanies it. These are: <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> incurred <em>ipso facto</em> and reserved to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">sovereign pontiff</a> (cf. <a href="../cathen/01645a.htm">"Apostolicæ Sedis"</a>, I, 3); this is followed by the loss of all ordinary <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> and incapacity to receive any <a href="../cathen/02473c.htm">ecclesiastical benefices</a> or dignities whatsoever. To communicate <em>in sacris</em> with schismatics, e.g., to receive the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a> at the hands of their <a href="../cathen/10326a.htm">ministers</a>, to assist at <a href="../cathen/11219a.htm">Divine Offices</a> in their <a href="../cathen/14495a.htm">temples</a>, is strictly forbidden to the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a>.</p> <p>Some <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> distinguish "active" from "passive" schism. By the former they understand detaching oneself deliberately from the body of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, freely renouncing the <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">right</a> to form a part of it. They call passive schism the condition of those whom the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> herself rejects from her bosom by <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a>, inasmuch as they undergo this separation whether they will or no, having deserved it. Hence, this article will deal directly only with active schism, which is schism properly so-called. It is nevertheless clear that so-called passive schism not only does not exclude the other, but often supposes it in fact and theory. From this point of view it is impossible to understand the attitude of <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestants</a> who claim to hold the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> they abandoned responsible for their separation. It is <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> by all the historical monuments and especially by the writings of <a href="../cathen/09438b.htm">Luther</a> and <a href="../cathen/03195b.htm">Calvin</a> that, prior to the <a href="../cathen/01455e.htm">anathema</a> pronounced against them at the <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a>, the leaders of the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformation</a> had proclaimed and repeated that the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> was "the Babylon of the Apocalypse, the <a href="../cathen/14379b.htm">synagogue</a> of <a href="../cathen/04764a.htm">Satan</a>, the <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> of <a href="../cathen/01559a.htm">Antichrist</a>"; that they must therefore depart from it and that they did so in order to re-enter the way of <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>. And in this they suited the action to the word. Thus the schism was well consummated by them before it was <a href="../cathen/14133a.htm">solemnly</a> established by the authority which they rejected and transformed by that authority into a just penal sanction.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2 id="section2">Schism in the light of Scripture and tradition</h2> <p>As schism in its definition and full sense is the practical denial of <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> unity, the explanation of the former requires a clear definition of the latter, and to prove the necessity of the latter is to establish the intrinsic malice of the former. Indeed the texts of <a href="../cathen/13635b.htm">Scripture</a> and <a href="../cathen/15006b.htm">Tradition</a> show these aspects of the same <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> to be so closely united that passage from one to the other is constant and spontaneous. When Christ built on Peter as on an unshakable foundation the indestructible edifice of His <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> He thereby indicated its essential unity and especially the hierarchical unity (<a href="../bible/mat016.htm#vrs18">Matthew 16:18</a>). He expressed the same thought when He referred to the faithful as a Kingdom and as a flock: "Other sheep I have, that are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd" (<a href="../bible/joh010.htm#vrs16">John 10:16</a>). Unity of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and worship is more explicitly indicated by the words outlining the solemn mission of the Apostles: "Going therefore, teach ye all nations; <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptizing</a> them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (<a href="../bible/mat028.htm#vrs19">Matthew 28:19</a>). These various forms of unity are the object of the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> after the <a href="../cathen/14341a.htm">Last Supper</a>, when Christ <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prays</a> for His own and asks "that they may be one" as the Father and the Son are one (<a href="../bible/joh017.htm#vrs21">John 17:21, 22</a>). Those who violate the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> of unity shall become strangers to <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> and his spiritual <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a>: "And if he will not hear the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, let him be to thee as the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">heathen</a> and <a href="../cathen/12553d.htm">publican</a>" (<a href="../bible/mat018.htm#vrs17">Matthew 18:17</a>).</p> <p>In faithful imitation of his <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Master's</a> teaching <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> often refers to the <a href="../cathen/15179a.htm">unity of the Church</a>, describing it as one edifice, one body, a body between whose members exists the same solidarity as between the members of the human body (<a href="../bible/1co012.htm">1 Corinthians 12</a>; <a href="../bible/eph004.htm">Ephesians 4</a>). He enumerates its various aspects and sources: "For in one Spirit were we all <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptized</a> into one body, . . . and in one Spirit we have all been made to drink" (<a href="../bible/1co012.htm#vrs13">1 Corinthians 12:13</a>); "For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread" (<a href="../bible/1co010.htm#vrs17">1 Corinthians 10:17</a>). He sums it up in the following formula: "One body and one Spirit; . . . one Lord, one <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, one <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>" (<a href="../bible/eph004.htm#vrs4">Ephesians 4:4-5</a>). Finally he arrives at the <a href="../cathen/09324a.htm">logical</a> conclusion when he <a href="../cathen/01455e.htm">anathematizes</a> <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrinal</a> novelties and the authors of them (<a href="../bible/gal001.htm#vrs9">Galatians 1:9</a>), likewise when he writes to Titus: "A man that is a <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretic</a>, after the first and second admonition, avoid" (<a href="../bible/tit003.htm#vrs10">Titus 3:10</a>); and again when he so energetically condemns the dissensions of the community of <a href="../cathen/04363b.htm">Corinth</a>: "There are contentions among you. . . . every one of you saith: I am indeed of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul then crucified for you? Or were you <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptized</a> in the name of Paul?" (<a href="../bible/1co001.htm#vrs11">1 Corinthians 1:11-13</a>). "Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">our Lord Jesus Christ</a>, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same judgment" (<a href="../bible/1co001.htm#vrs10">1 Corinthians 1:10</a>). St. Luke speaking in praise of the primitive church mentions its unanimity of <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a>, obedience, and worship: "They were persevering in the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of the apostles, and in the communication of the breaking of bread, and in <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a>" (<a href="../bible/act002.htm#vrs42">Acts 2:42</a>). All the first Epistle of St. John is directed against contemporary innovators and schismatics; and the author regards them as so foreign to the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> that in contrast to its members "the Children of God", he calls them "the children of the devil", (<a href="../bible/1jo003.htm#vrs10">1 John 3:10</a>); the children "of the world" (iv, 5), even <a href="../cathen/01559a.htm">Antichrist</a> (ii, 22; iv, 3).</p> <p>The same <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> is found in all the evidences of Tradition, beginning with the oldest. Before the end of the first century St. Clement writing to the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/04363b.htm">Corinth</a> in order to restore peace and harmony strongly inculcates the necessity of submission to the "hegoumenos" (<a href="../fathers/1010.htm">Epistle 1.3</a>), "to the guides of our <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">souls</a>" (lxiii, 1), and to the "presbyters" (xlvii, 6; liv, 2; lvii, 1). It is, says he, a "grave <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a>" to disregard their authority as the Corinthians are doing (xliv, 3, 4, 6; xlvii, 6); it is a <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> to <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honour</a> them (i, 3; xxi, 6). There must be no division in the body of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, xlvi, 6. The fundamental reason of all this is the Divinely instituted hierarchical order. The work of Christ is in fact continued by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>, who are sent by Christ as He was sent by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (xlii, 1, 2). It was they who established the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm"><em>"episcopi"</em></a> and <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a>" (xlii, 4) and decided that others should succeed them in their ministry (xliv, 2). He thus explains the gravity of the <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a> and the severity of the reproaches addressed to the fomenters of the troubles. "Why should there be among you disputes, quarrels, dissensions, schisms, and <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a>? Have we not one and the same <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, one and the same Christ? Is it not the same spirit of grace that has been poured out upon us? Have we not a common vocation in Christ? Wherefore, divide and separate the members of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, be at <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> with our own body, be so foolish as to forget that we are members of one another?" (xlvi, 5-7). St. Ignatius insists no less forcibly on the necessity of unity and the danger of schism. He is the first author in whom we find episcopal unity clearly outlined, and he beseeches the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a> to range themselves about the "presbyters" and the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a> and especially through them and with them about the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>: "It is fitting that you be of one mind with the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, as you are, because your venerable presbyterium is attached to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> as the strings to the lyre" (<a href="../bible/eph006.htm#vrs1">Ephesians 6:1</a>); "you must not take advantage of the age of your <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, but, being mindful of the power of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God the Father</a>, you should show him every manner of respect, as do the holy priests" (<a href="../fathers/0105.htm"><em>Magnesians</em> 3.1</a>). The <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> is the centre and pivot of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>: "Where he is there should the community be" (<a href="../fathers/0109.htm"><em>Smyrnæans</em> 11.1</a>). The <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a> of the faithful towards the <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">hierarchy</a> are summed up in one: to be united to it in sentiment, <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, and obedience. They must be always submissive to the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, the presbyterium, and the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacons</a> (<a href="../fathers/0104.htm"><em>Ephesians</em> 2.2, 5.3 and 20.2</a>; <a href="../fathers/0105.htm"><em>Magnesians</em> 2, 3.1, 6.1-2, 13.2</a>; <a href="../fathers/0106.htm"><em>Trallians</em> 2.1-2 and 13.2</a>; <a href="../fathers/0108.htm"><em>Philadelphians</em> 7.1</a>; <a href="../fathers/0109.htm"><em>Smyrnæans</em> 8.1</a>; <a href="../fathers/0110.htm"><em>Polycarp</em> 6.1</a>). <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> being the word of the Father and the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> being in the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of Christ (<em>en Iesou christou gnome</em>) it is fitting to adhere to the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> (<a href="../bible/eph003.htm#vrs2">Ephesians 3:2</a>; <a href="../bible/eph004.htm#vrs1">4:1</a>); "Those who belong to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> ally themselves with the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>. Brethren, be not deceived; whosoever follows a schismatic shall not inherit the <a href="../cathen/08646a.htm">Kingdom of Heaven</a>" (<a href="../fathers/0108.htm"><em>Philadelphians</em> 3.2-3</a>). Finally, as the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> is the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrinal</a> and disciplinary centre so he is the <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> centre: "Let that Eucharist be lawful which is <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> by the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> or one deputed by him. . . . It is forbidden to <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptize</a> or celebrate the agape without the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>; what he approves is what is pleasing to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, in order that all that is done may be stable and valid" (<a href="../fathers/0109.htm"><em>Smyrnæans</em> 8.1-2</a>).</p> <p>Towards the end of the second century <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">St. Irenæus</a> lauds in glowing terms the unity of that universal Church "which has but one heart and one <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>, whose <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> is in keeping" and which seems "as the sole sun illuminating the whole world" (<a href="../fathers/0103110.htm"><em>Against Heresies</em> 1.10</a>). He condemns all <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrinal</a> division, basing his arguments on the teaching authority of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in general and of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> in particular. The <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>, preached by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>, is preserved in the Churches founded by them; but since it would take too long to question all the Apostolic Churches it is sufficient to turn to that of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>: "For the entire <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> that is all the faithful in the world, should be in agreement with this <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a>, because of its superior pre-eminence; and in it all the faithful have preserved the <a href="../cathen/15006b.htm">Apostolic tradition</a>" (iii, 2, 3). It is therefore of the utmost necessity to adhere to this Church because where the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is, there is the <a href="../cathen/07409a.htm">Spirit of God</a>, and where the <a href="../cathen/07409a.htm">Spirit of God</a> is there is the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, there is all grace and the spirit is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> (iii, 24). But to adhere to this Church is to submit to the <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">hierarchy</a>, its living and <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallible</a> magistracy: "The <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> are to be obeyed, those who are the successors of the Apostles and who with the episcopal succession have received an assured charisma of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>. . . . Those who leave the successors of the Apostles and assemble in any separated place must be regarded with suspicion or as <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a>, as men of <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> doctrines, or as schismatics. Those who rend the <a href="../cathen/15179a.htm">unity of the Church</a> receive the Divine chastisement awarded to Jeroboam; they must all be avoided" (iv, 26).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>At the beginning of the third century <a href="../cathen/04045a.htm">Clement of Alexandria</a> describes the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> as the city of the <em>Logos</em> which must be sought because it is the assemblage of all those whom <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> desires to save (<a href="../fathers/02104.htm"><em>Stromata</em> IV.20</a> and <a href="../fathers/02107.htm">VII.5</a>; "Pædag.", i, 6; iii, 12). <a href="../cathen/11306b.htm">Origen</a> is more explicit; for him also the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is the city of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (<a href="../fathers/04163.htm"><em>Against Celsus</em> III.30</a>), and he adds: "Let no one be deceived; outside this abode, that is outside the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, no one is saved. If anyone leaves it he himself shall be accountable for his death" (In lib. Jesu Nave, Hom., iii, 5). In Africa <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a> likewise condemns all separation from the existing Church. His "De præscriptionibus" is famous, and the fundamental thesis of the work, inferred by its very title, is summed up in the priority of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> and the relative novelty of <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> (principalitatem veritatis et posteritatem mendacii), thus implying the prohibition to withdraw from the guidance of the <a href="../cathen/15006b.htm">living magisterium</a>: "If the <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Lord Jesus Christ</a> sent His <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a> to preach we conclude that we must not receive other preachers than those appointed by Him. What they have preached, in other words, what Christ has revealed to them, can only be established by the Churches founded by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a> themselves, to which they preached the Gospel by word and writing" (De præscr., xxi).</p> <p>But the great <a href="../cathen/01181a.htm">African</a> champion of <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> unity was <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">St. Cyprian</a>, against the schismatics of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> as well as those of Carthage. He conceived this unity as reposing on the effective authority of the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, their mutual union, and the pre-eminence of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">Roman pontiff</a>: "God is one, Christ is one, one is the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, and one the chair founded on Peter by the word of the Lord" (Epist. lxx); "This unity we <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> who govern in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> should firmly uphold and defend, in order to show that the episcopate itself is one and undivided" (De ecclesiæ unit., v); "Know that the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> is in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> and the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, and that if anyone is not with the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> he is not in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. . . . The <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is one, formed of the harmonious union of <a href="../cathen/11537b.htm">pastors</a> who mutually support one another" (Epist. lxxvi, 5). To unity of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> must be joined <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> unity: "A second altar and a new <a href="../cathen/12409a.htm">priesthood</a> cannot be set up beside the one altar and the one <a href="../cathen/12409a.htm">priesthood</a>" (Epist. lii, 24). <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">Cyprian</a> saw no legitimate reason for schism for "what rascal, what traitor, what madman would be so misled by the spirit of discord as to believe that it is permitted to rend, or who would dare rend the Divine unity, the garment of the Lord, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church of Jesus Christ</a>?" (De eccl., unit., viii); "The spouse of Christ is chaste and incorruptible. Whoever leaves the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> to follow an adulteress renounces the promises of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. He that abandons the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Christ will not receive the rewards of Christ. He becomes a stranger, an ungodly man, an enemy. <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> cannot be a Father to him to whom the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is not a mother. As well might one be saved out of the <a href="../cathen/01720a.htm">ark of Noah</a> as out of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. . . . He who does not respect its unity will not respect the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">law of God</a>; he is without <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> in the Father and the Son, without life, without <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>" (op. cit., viii).</p> <p>From the fourth century the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of the <a href="../cathen/15179a.htm">unity of the Church</a> was so clearly and universally admitted that it is almost superfluous to quote particular testimonies. The lengthy polemics of Optatus of <a href="../cathen/10304b.htm">Milevis</a> ("De schism. Don.", P.L., XI) and of <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> (especially in "De unit. eccl.", P.L., XLIII) against the <a href="../cathen/05121a.htm">Donatists</a> accuse these sectaries of being separated from the ancient and primitive trunk of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>. And to those who represented their group as a portion of the universal Church <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> replied: "If you are in communion with the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> world send letters to the Apostolic Churches and show us their replies" (Ep., xliv, 3). These letters (litteræ formatæ) then constituted one of the authentic marks and elements of visible unity. Concerning this unity the various forms of which he explains, <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> agrees with <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">St. Cyprian</a> in maintaining that outside of it there is no <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>: "Salus extra ecclesiam non est" (De bapt., iv, 24), and he adds in confirmation of this that outside the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> the means of <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>, <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, and even <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> will avail nothing, the Holy Ghost not being communicated. During the same century Roman supremacy began to be emphasized as a factor of unity. <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>, says <a href="../cathen/11262b.htm">St. Optatus</a>, desired to attach unity to a definite centre; to this end He made "Peter the head of all the Apostles; to him He first gave the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">episcopal see</a> of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, in which sole see unity should be preserved for all; he is therefore a sinner and a schismatic who would erect another see in opposition to it" (De schism. Don., ii, 2); "Solicitude for assuring unity caused blessed Peter to be preferred before all the Apostles and to receive alone the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven that he might admit others" (vii, 3). Pacianus of Barcelona also says that <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> gave to Peter alone the <a href="../cathen/08631b.htm">power of the keys</a> "to make him alone the foundation and beginning of unity" (ad unum ideo ut unitatem fundaret ex uno Epist., iii, 11).</p> <p>Most contemporary writers in the <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Latin Church</a>, Hilary, Victorinus, <a href="../cathen/01383c.htm">St. Ambrose</a>, the <a href="../cathen/01406a.htm">Ambrosiaster</a>, <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a>, speak in like manner and quite as explicitly. All regard Peter as the foundation of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, the Prince of the Apostles who was made perpetual head in order to cut short any attempt at schism. "Where Peter is," concludes St. Ambrose, "there is the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>; where the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is there is no death but eternal life" (In Ps., xl, 30). And <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a>: "That man is my choice who remains in union with the chair of Peter" (Epist., xvi, 2). Both declare, like <a href="../cathen/11262b.htm">St. Optatus</a>, that to be out of the Roman communion is to be out of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, but they lay especial emphasis on the jurisdictional and teaching authority of the centre of unity. Their texts are classics: "We must have recourse to your clemency, beseeching you not to let the head of all the Roman world, the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a>, and the most holy Apostolic Faith be disturbed; for thence all derive the <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> communion" (Ambrose, "Ep.", xi, 4). "I who follow no guide save Christ am in communion with Your Holiness, that is with the chair of Peter. I <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> that on this rock the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is built. Whosoever partakes of the Lamb outside this house commits a <a href="../cathen/13321a.htm">sacrilege</a>. Whosoever does not gather with you, scatters: in other words whosoever is not with Christ is with <a href="../cathen/01559a.htm">Antichrist</a>" (Jerome, "Epist.", xv, 2).</p> <p>The East also saw in Peter and the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">episcopal see</a> founded by him the keystone of unity. Didymus calls Peter "the corypheus, the head, who was first among the Apostles, through whom the others received the keys" (De Trinit., i, 27, 30; ii, 10, 18). Epiphanius also regards him as "the corypheus of the Apostles, the firm stone on which rests the unshakable <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>" ("Anchor.", ix, 34; "Hær.", lix, 7, 8) and <a href="../cathen/08452b.htm">St. Chrysostom</a> speaks unceasingly of the privileges conferred on Peter by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>. Moreover the Greeks recognized in the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> a pre-eminence and consequently an incontestable unifying rôle by acknowledging her right to intervene in the disputes of the particular Churches, as is <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> by the cases of <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a>, <a href="../cathen/09642a.htm">Marcellus of Ancyra</a>, and <a href="../cathen/08452b.htm">Chrysostom</a>. In this sense <a href="../cathen/07010b.htm">St. Gregory Nazianzen</a> calls ancient <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> "the president of the <a href="../cathen/15183a.htm">universe</a>, <em>ten proeodron ton olon</em>" (Carmen de vita sua), and it is also the reason why even the Eusebians were willing that the case of <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a>, after they had passed on it, should be submitted to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope's</a> judgment (Athan., "Apol. contra Arian", 20).</p> <h2 id="section3">Attempts to legitimize schism</h2> <p>The foregoing texts are sufficient to establish the gravity of schism from the standpoint of the economy of <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a> and <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a>. In this connection it may be of interest to quote the appreciation of Bayle, a writer above suspicion of partiality and a tolerant judge: "I <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> not," he writes, "a more grievous crime than that of tearing the mystical body of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>, His church which He purchased with His own blood, that mother which bore us to <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, who nourishes us with the milk of understanding, who leads us to eternal life" (Supplement to Philosophical Comment, preface).</p> <p>Various motives have been brought forward in justification of Schism:</p> <p>(1) Some have claimed the introduction into the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of abuses, dogmatic and <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> novelties, <a href="../cathen/14339a.htm">superstitions</a>, with which they are permitted, even bound, not to ally themselves. Without entering into the foundation for these charges it should be noted that the authors cited above do not mention or admit a single exception. If we accept their statements separation from the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is necessarily an <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, an injurious and blameworthy act, and abandoning of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> way of <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>, and this independent of all contingent circumstances. Moreover the doctrines of the Fathers exclude <em>a priori</em> any such attempt at justification; to use their words, it is forbidden for <a href="../cathen/07762a.htm">individuals</a> or particular or national Churches to constitute themselves judges of the universal Church; the mere fact of having it against one carries its own condemnation. <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> summed up all his controversy with the <a href="../cathen/05121a.htm">Donatists</a> in the maxim: "The whole world unhesitatingly declares them wrong who separate themselves from the whole world in whatsoever portion of the whole world" (quapropter securus judicat orbis terrarum bonos non esse qui se dividunt ab orbe terrarum, in quacumque parte orbis terrarum) . Here Bayle may be quoted again: "Protestants bring forward only questionable reasons; they offer nothing convincing, no demonstration: they prove and object, but there are replies to their <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proofs</a> and objections; they answer and are answered endlessly; is it worth while to make a schism?" (Dict. crit., art. Nihusius).</p> <p>(2) Other schismatics have pleaded the division of the articles of the Creed into fundamental and nonfundamental. Under <a href="../cathen/06319a.htm">FUNDAMENTAL ARTICLES</a> it is shown that this distinction, wholly unknown prior to the sixteenth century, and repugnant to the very conception of Divine <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, is condemned by Scripture, and, for want of a clear line of demarcation, authorizes the most monstrous divergences. The indispensable unity of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> extends to all the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truths</a> revealed by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and transmitted by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. Tradition repeats, though in different forms, all that Irenæus wrote: "The Church spread everywhere throughout the world received from the Apostles and their disciples <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> in one <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>" (here follow the words of the Creed), then the writer continues: "Depositary of this preaching and this <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> which multiplies throughout the world, watches them as diligently as though she dwelt in one house. She believes unanimously in these things as though she had but one heart and <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>; she preaches them, teaches them, and bears witness to them as though she had but one mouth. Though there are in the world different languages there is but one single and identical current of tradition. Neither the Churches founded in <a href="../cathen/06395b.htm">Gaul</a>, nor those among the Iberians, nor those in the countries of the Celts, nor those in the East, nor those of <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, nor those of Lybia, nor those in the centre of the world present any differences of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> or preaching; but as the sun created by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, is one and the same throughout the world, so a single light, a single preaching of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>, illuminates every place and enlightens all men who wish to attain to the <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>" (Adv. Hær., i, 10). It has been shown above how the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/09472a.htm">Lyons</a> declared that the continuators of the Apostolic ministry were the "presbyters of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>", and that a man was a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> and a <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> only on condition of obeying them without reserve.</p> <p>(3) The theory of the <a href="../cathen/07131b.htm">happy</a> medium or <em>via media</em> advocated by the <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglicans</a>, especially by the Oxford leaders of the early nineteenth century as a means of escape from the difficulties of the system of fundamental articles, is no more acceptable. <a href="../cathen/10794a.htm">Newman</a> demonstrated and extolled it to the best of his talent in his "Via Media", but he soon recognized its weakness, and abandoned and rejected it even before his <a href="../cathen/04347a.htm">conversion</a> to <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a>. According to this theory, in order to safeguard unity and avoid schism it is sufficient to abide by Scripture as interpreted by each individual under the direction or with the assistance of tradition. At any rate the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> should not be regarded as <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallible</a>, but only as a trustworthy witness with regard to the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> sense of the inspired text when she testifies to an interpretation received from Apostolic times. It seems unnecessary to point out the illusory and almost contradictory character which such a rule ascribes to the living teaching authority; obviously, it does not meet the conditions for unity of <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">belief</a> which requires conformity with Scripture and, no less, with the living authority of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, or more exactly, implies absolute obedience to the <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallible</a> teaching authority  both to that which interprets the Scripture and to that which preserves and transmits under any other form the deposit of Revelation.</p> <p>St. Irenæus is most explicit on all these points: according to him <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> is <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> and its enemies confounded equally by Scripture and tradition (<a href="../fathers/0103302.htm"><em>Against Heresies</em> III.2</a>), but the authentic guardian of both is the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, i.e. the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> as successors of the Apostles: "Apostolic tradition is manifested throughout the world, and everywhere in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> it is within the reach of those who desire to <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>, for we can enumerate the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> established by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>, as well as their successors down to our own times" (op. cit., iii). To these guardians and to them alone we should have recourse with confidence: "The <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> which it is easy to <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> through the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> must not be sought elsewhere; in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in which as in a rich treasury, the Apostles deposited in its fulness all that concerns the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>: from her whosoever desires it shall receive the draught of life. She herself is the gate of life; all the others are thieves and robbers" (iii, 4). Such is the authority of the living tradition that, in default of Scripture, recourse must be had to tradition alone. "What would have become of us if the Apostles had not left us the Scriptures? Would we not have to rely on that tradition which they confided to those to whom they committed the government of the Churches? This is what is done by many barbarian peoples who <a href="../cathen/02408b.htm">believe</a> in Christ and who bear the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> of <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a> written in their hearts by the <a href="../cathen/07409a.htm">Holy Spirit</a> without ink or paper and who faithfully preserve the ancient tradition" (iii, 4). It is plain that with the assistance of the Holy Ghost the teaching authority of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is preserved from <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a>: "Where the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is, there is the <a href="../cathen/07409a.htm">Spirit of God</a>; and where the <a href="../cathen/07409a.htm">Spirit of God</a> is there is the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> with every grace, and the Spirit is <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>" (iii, 24). "That is why obedience must be rendered to the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">presbyters</a> who are in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, and who having succeeded the Apostles, together with the episcopal succession have received by the will of the Father a certain charisma of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>" (iv, 26). This is far removed from the half-way assertions and the restrictions of the Oxford School. The same conclusion may be drawn from <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian's</a> declaration of the impossibility of solving a difficulty or terminating a dispute by Scripture alone (De præscript., xix), and from <a href="../cathen/11306b.htm">Origen's</a> words: "Since among many who boast of a <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> in conformity with that of Christ some do not agree with their predecessors, let all adhere to the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> transmitted from the Apostles by way of succession and preserved in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> till the present time: we have no <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> in which to believe but that which does not deviate from the eccelesiastical and <a href="../cathen/15006b.htm">Apostolic tradition</a>" (<a href="../fathers/04120.htm"><em>De Principiis</em> Preface, no. 2</a>).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2 id="section4">Principal schisms</h2> <p>In this world the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is militant and as such is exposed to conflict and trial. Human conditions being what they are partial or local schisms are bound to occur: "I hear", says <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a>, "that . . . there are schisms among you; and in part I believe it. For there must be also <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresies</a>: that they also, who are approved, may be made manifest among you" (<a href="../bible/1co011.htm#vrs18">1 Corinthians 11:18-19</a>). In the full and primitive sense of the word every serious rupture of unity and consequently every <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresy</a> is a schism. This article, however, will pass over the long series of <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heresies</a> and treat only those defections or <a href="../cathen/12738a.htm">religious</a> <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sects</a> to which historians commonly give the specific name of schisms, because most frequently, and at least in the beginning of each such sectarian division, <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrinal</a> <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> was only an accessory. They are treated in chronological order and the most important only briefly, these being the subjects of special articles in the ENCYCLOPEDIA.</p> <p>(1) Mention has already been made of the "schisms" of the nascent Church of <a href="../cathen/04363b.htm">Corinth</a>, when it was said among its members: "I indeed am of Paul; and I am of Apollo; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ." To them <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul's</a> energetic intervention put an end.</p> <p>(2) According to Hegesippus, the most advanced section of the <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaizers</a> or <a href="../cathen/05242c.htm">Ebionites</a> at <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> followed the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> Thebutis as against St. Simeon, and after the death of St. James, <font size=-2>A.D.</font> 63, separated from the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>.</p> <p>(3) There were numerous local schisms in the third and fourth centuries. At <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> Pope Callistus (217-22) was opposed by a party who took exception to the mildness with which he applied the penitential discipline. <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">Hippolytus</a> placed himself as <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> at the head of these malcontents and the schism was prolonged under the two successors of Callistus, <a href="../cathen/15209a.htm">Urban I</a> (222-30) and Pontianus (230-35). There is no <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> that <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">Hippolytus</a> himself returned to the pale of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> (cf. d'Alès, "La théol. de s. Hippolyte", Paris, 1906, introduction).</p> <p>(4) In 251 when <a href="../cathen/04375c.htm">Cornelius</a> was elected to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">See of Rome</a> a minority set up <a href="../cathen/11138a.htm">Novatian</a> as an <a href="../cathen/01582a.htm">antipope</a>, the pretext again being the pardon which <a href="../cathen/04375c.htm">Cornelius</a> promised to those who after apostatizing should repent. Through a spirit of contradiction <a href="../cathen/11138a.htm">Novatian</a> went so far as to refuse forgiveness even to the dying and the severity was extended to other categories of grave <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sins</a>. The <a href="../cathen/11138a.htm">Novatians</a> sought to form a Church of <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a>. In the East they called themselves <em>katharoi</em>, pure. Largely under the influence of this <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> they administered a second <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> to those who deserted <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicism</a> to join their ranks. The <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> developed greatly in the Eastern countries, where it subsisted until about the seventh century, being recruited not only by the defection of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>, but also by the accession of <a href="../cathen/10521a.htm">Montanists</a>.</p> <p>(5) During the same period the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Carthage was also a prey to intestinal divisions. St. Cypnan upheld in reasonable measure the traditional principles regarding penance and did not accord to the letters of confessors called <em>libelli pacis</em> the importance desired by some. One of the principal adversaries was the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> Donatus Fortunatus became the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of the party, but the schism, which was of short duration took the name of the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> <a href="../cathen/06027c.htm">Felicissimus</a> who played an important part in it.</p> <p>(6) With the dawn of the fourth century <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a> was the scene of the schism of Meletius, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/09468a.htm">Lycopolis</a>, in the <a href="../cathen/14561a.htm">Thebaid</a>. Its causes are not known with <a href="../cathen/03539b.htm">certainty</a>; some ancient authors ascribe it to rigorist tendencies regarding penance while others say it was occasioned by usurpation of power on the part of Meletius, notably the conferring of ordinations outside his <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a>. The <a href="../cathen/11044a.htm">Council of Nicæa</a> dealt with this schism, but did not succeed in completely eradicating it; there were still vestiges of it in the fifth century.</p> <p>(7) Somewhat later the schism of Antioch, originating in the troubles due to <a href="../cathen/01707c.htm">Arianism</a>, presents peculiar complications. When the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> Eustathius, was deposed in 330 a small section of his flock remained faithful to him, but the majority followed the <a href="../cathen/01707c.htm">Arians</a>. The first <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> created by them was succeeded (361) by Meletius of <a href="../cathen/13667a.htm">Sebaste</a> in <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenia</a>, who by force of circumstances became the leader of a second <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a> party. In fact Meletius did not fundamentally depart from the Faith of Nicæa, and he was soon rejected by the <a href="../cathen/01707c.htm">Arians</a>: on the other hand he was not recognized by the Eustathians, who saw in him the choice of the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a> and also took him to task for some merely terminological differences. The schism lasted until about 415. Paulinus (d. 388) and Evagrius (d. 392), Eustathian <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, were recognized in the West as the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/11537b.htm">pastors</a>, while in the East the Meletian <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> were regarded as legitimate.</p> <p>(8) After the banishment of <a href="../cathen/09217a.htm">Pope Liberius</a> in 355, the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> Felix was chosen to replace him and he had adherents even after the return of the legitimate <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>. The schism, quenched for a time by the death of Felix, was revived at the death of Libenius and the rivalry brought about bloody encounters. It was several years after the victory of Damasus before peace was completely restored.</p> <p>(9) The same period witnessed the schism of the Luciferians. Lucifer, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/03139c.htm">Calaris</a>, or <a href="../cathen/03139c.htm">Cagliari</a>, was displeased with <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">Athanasius</a> and his friends who at the Synod of Alexandria (362) had pardoned the repentant <a href="../cathen/13693b.htm">Semi-Arians</a>. He himself had been blamed by <a href="../cathen/05614b.htm">Eusebius of Vercelli</a> because of his haste in ordaining Paulinus, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of the Eustathians, at Antioch. For these two reasons he separated from the communion of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>. For some time the schism won adherents in <a href="../cathen/13473b.htm">Sardinia</a>, where it had originated, and in <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>, where Gregory, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Elvira, was its chief abettor.</p> <p>(10) But the most important of the fourth-century schisms was that of the <a href="../cathen/05121a.htm">Donatists</a>. These sectaries were as noted for their obstinacy and fanaticism as for the efforts and the writings rather uselessly multiplied against them by <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> and <a href="../cathen/11262b.htm">St. Optatus</a> of <a href="../cathen/10304b.htm">Milevis</a>.</p> <p>(11) The schism of Acacius belongs to the end of the fifth century. It is connected with the <a href="../cathen/12454b.htm">promulgation</a> by the emperor Zeno of the edict known as the <a href="../cathen/07218b.htm">Henoticon</a>. Issued with the intention of putting an end to the <a href="../cathen/14597a.htm">Christological</a> disputes, this document did not satisfy either <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> or <a href="../cathen/10489b.htm">Monophysites</a>. <a href="../cathen/06030b.htm">Pope Felix II</a> <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunicated</a> its two real authors, <a href="../cathen/11770a.htm">Peter Mongus</a>, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Alexandria, and <a href="../cathen/01082a.htm">Acacius of Constantinople</a>. A break between the East and the West followed which lasted thirty-five years. At the instance of the general Vitalian, protector of the <a href="../cathen/11330a.htm">orthodox</a>, Zeno's successor Anastasius promised satisfaction to the adherents of the <a href="../cathen/03555a.htm">Council of Chalcedon</a> and the convocation of a <a href="../cathen/04423f.htm">general council</a>, but he showed so little good will in the matter that union was only restored by Justin I in 519. The reconciliation received official sanction in a profession of Faith to which the Greek <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> subscribed, and which, as it was sent by Pope Hormisdas, is known in history as the Formula of Hormisdas.</p> <p>(12) In the sixth century the schism of Aquilea was <a href="../cathen/03459a.htm">caused</a> by the consent of <a href="../cathen/15427b.htm">Pope Vigilius</a> to the condemnation of the <a href="../cathen/14707b.htm">Three Chapters</a> (553). The ecclesiastical provinces of <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milan</a> and Aquilea refused to accept this condemnation as valid and separated for a time from the <a href="../cathen/01640c.htm">Apostolic See</a>. The Lombard invasion of <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a> (568) favoured the resistance, but from 570 the <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milanese</a> returned by degrees to the communion of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>; the portion of Aquilea subject to the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantines</a> returned in 607, after which date the schism had but a few churches. It died out completely under <a href="../cathen/13728b.htm">Sergius I</a>, about the end of the eighth century.</p> <p>(13) The ninth century brought the schism of Photius, which, though it was transitory, prepared the way by nourishing a spirit of defiance towards <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> for the final defection of Constantinople.</p> <p>(14) This took place less than two centuries later under <a href="../cathen/10273a.htm">Michael Cerularius</a> who at one stroke (1053) closed all the churches of the Latins at Constantinople and confiscated their <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a>. The deplorable <a href="../cathen/13535a.htm">Greek schism</a> (see <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">GREEK CHURCH</a>), which still subsists, and is itself divided into several communions, was thus consummated. The two agreements of reunion concluded at the <a href="../cathen/09476c.htm">Second Council of Lyons</a> in 1274, and at that of Florence in 1439, unfortunately had no lasting results; they could not have had them, because on the part of the Greeks at least they were inspired by interested motives.</p> <p>(15) The schism of Anacletus in the twelfth century, like that of <a href="../cathen/06031b.htm">Felix V</a> in the fifteenth, was due to the existence of an <a href="../cathen/01582a.htm">antipope</a> side by side with the legitimate pontiff. At the death of Honorius II (1130) <a href="../cathen/08012a.htm">Innocent II</a> had been regularly elected, but a numerous and powerful faction set up in opposition to him Cardinal Peter of the Pierleoni <a href="../cathen/05782a.htm">family</a>. <a href="../cathen/08012a.htm">Innocent</a> was compelled to flee, leaving <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> in the hands of his adversaries. He found refuge in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>. <a href="../cathen/02498d.htm">St. Bernard</a> ardently defended his cause as did also <a href="../cathen/11100b.htm">St. Norbert</a>. Within a year nearly all <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> had declared in his favour, only <a href="../cathen/13613a.htm">Scotland</a>, Southern <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>, and <a href="../cathen/13772a.htm">Sicily</a> constituting the other party. The emperor Lothaire brought <a href="../cathen/08012a.htm">Innocent II</a> back to <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, but, supported by Roger of <a href="../cathen/13772a.htm">Sicily</a> the <a href="../cathen/01582a.htm">antipope</a> retained possession of the Leonine City, where he died in 1138. His successor <a href="../cathen/15411a.htm">Victor IV</a> two months after his election, sought and obtained pardon and reconciliation from the legitimate pontiff. The case of <a href="../cathen/06031b.htm">Felix V</a> was more simple. <a href="../cathen/06031b.htm">Felix V</a> was the name taken by Amadeus of <a href="../cathen/13492a.htm">Savoy</a>, elected by the Council of Basle, when it went into open revolt against <a href="../cathen/05601a.htm">Eugenius IV</a>, refused to disband and thus incurred <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> (1439). The <a href="../cathen/01582a.htm">antipope</a> was not accepted save in <a href="../cathen/13492a.htm">Savoy</a> and <a href="../cathen/14358a.htm">Switzerland</a>. He lasted for a short time with the pseudo-council which had created him. Both submitted in 1449 to <a href="../cathen/11058a.htm">Nicholas V</a>, who had succeeded <a href="../cathen/05601a.htm">Eugenius IV</a>.</p> <p>(16) The <a href="../cathen/13539a.htm">Great Schism of the West</a> is the subject of a special article (<a href="../cathen/13539a.htm">WESTERN SCHISM</a>); see also <a href="../cathen/04288a.htm">COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE</a>; <a href="../cathen/12112b.htm">COUNCIL OF PISA</a>.</p> <p>(17) Everyone knows the shameful origins of the schism of <a href="../cathen/07222a.htm">Henry VIII</a>, which was the prelude to the introduction of <a href="../cathen/12495a.htm">Protestantism</a> into <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a>. The voluptuous monarch was opposed by the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> in his projects for <a href="../cathen/05054c.htm">divorce</a> and remarriage, and he separated from the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>. He succeeded so well that in 1531 the general assembly of the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> and the Parliament proclaimed him head of the national Church. <a href="../cathen/15554a.htm">Warham</a>, <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">Archbishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/03299b.htm">Canterbury</a>, had at first caused the adoption of a restrictive clause: "as far as <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a> permits". But this important reservation was not respected, for the rupture with the Roman Court followed almost immediately. In 1534 the Act of Supremacy was voted according to the terms of which the king became the sole head of the <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Church of England</a> and was to enjoy all the prerogatives which had hitherto belonged to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>. Refusal to recognize the new organization was <a href="../cathen/12565a.htm">punished with death</a>. Various changes followed: suppression of <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">convents</a>, destruction of <a href="../cathen/12734a.htm">relics</a> and of numerous pictures and <a href="../cathen/13641b.htm">statues</a>. But <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogma</a> was not again attacked under <a href="../cathen/07222a.htm">Henry VIII</a>, who pursued with equal severity both attachment to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> and the doctrines of the <a href="../cathen/12700b.htm">Reformers</a>.</p> <p>(18) In the article <a href="../cathen/08285a.htm">JANSENIUS AND JANSENISM</a> are described the formation and vicissitudes of the schism of <a href="../cathen/15245a.htm">Utrecht</a>, the unhappy consequence of <a href="../cathen/08285a.htm">Jansenism</a>, but which never spread beyond a handful of fanatics. Subsequent schisms belong to the end of the eighteenth and the nineteenth century.</p> <p>(19) The first was caused in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> by the Civil Constitution of the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> of 1790. By this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> the national Constituent Assembly aimed at imposing on the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> a new organization which essentially modified its condition as regulated by public ecclesiastical law. The 134 <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> of the kingdom were reduced to 83, according to the territorial division into departments; the choice of curés fell to electors appointed by members of district assemblies; that of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> to electors named by the assemblies of departments; and <a href="../cathen/08065a.htm">canonical institution</a> devolved upon the <a href="../cathen/10244c.htm">metropolitan</a> and the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> of the province. All <a href="../cathen/02473c.htm">benefices</a> without <a href="../cathen/04572a.htm">cure of souls</a> were suppressed. A later ordinance made obedience to these articles a condition of admission to any <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> office. A large number of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> and <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, in all, according to some sources, about a sixth of the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>, and according to other documents nearly a third, were weak enough to take the <a href="../cathen/11176a.htm">oath</a>. Thenceforth the French <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> was divided into two factions, the jurors and the non-jurors, and the schism was carried to the utmost extreme when intruders under the name of <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> claimed to occupy the departmental sees, during the lifetime and even in defiance of the <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> of the real titulars. The condemnation of the Civil Constitution by <a href="../cathen/12131a.htm">Pius VI</a> in 1791 opened the eyes of some, but others persisted until their "Constitutional Church" declined shamefully and disappeared irrevocably in the <a href="../cathen/13009a.htm">Revolutionary turmoil</a>.</p> <p>(20) A schism of another nature and of less importance was that of the so-called <em>Petite Église</em> or the <em>Incommunicants</em>, formed at the beginning of the nineteenth century by groups who were dissatisfied with the Concordat and the concordatory <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>. In the provinces of the west of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> the party acquired a certain stability from 1801 to 1815; at the latter <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> it had become a distinct <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a>. It languished on till about 1830, and eventually became extinct for lack of <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> to perpetuate it. In <a href="../cathen/02395a.htm">Belgium</a> some of its members call themselves Stevenists, thus abusing the name of a reputable ecclesiastic, Corneille Stevens, who was capitular <a href="../cathen/15402a.htm">vicar-general</a> of the <a href="../cathen/10679a.htm">Diocese of Namur</a> until 1802, who afterwards wrote against the <a href="../cathen/01756a.htm">Organic Articles</a>, but accepted the Concordat and died in 1828, as he had lived, in submission to the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a>.</p> <p>(21) In 1831 the Abbé Chatel founded the <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">French</a> <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, a small group which never acquired importance. The founder, who at first claimed to retain all the <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogmas</a>, had himself <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> by Fabre Palaprat, another self-styled <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of the "Constitutional" type; he soon rejected the <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a> of the teaching Church, <a href="../cathen/03481a.htm">celibacy of priests</a>, and abstinence. He recognized no <a href="../cathen/05766b.htm">rule of faith</a> except individual evidence and he officiated in French. The <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> was already on the point of being slain by ridicule when its meeting-places were closed by the Government in 1842.</p> <p>(22) About the same time <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a> was the scene of a somewhat similar schism. When in 1844 the <a href="../cathen/07400b.htm">Holy Coat</a> was exposed at <a href="../cathen/15042a.htm">Trier</a> for the veneration of the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a>, a suspended <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a>, Johannes Ronge, seized the occasion to publish a violent pamphlet against Arnoldi, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/15042a.htm">Trier</a>. Some malcontents ranged themselves on his side. Almost simultaneously John Czerski, a dismissed vicar, founded in the Province of Posen, a "Christian <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> community". He had imitators. In 1845 the "German Catholics", as these schismatics called themselves, held a synod at Leipzig at which they rejected among other things the primacy of the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, auricular confession, <a href="../cathen/03481a.htm">ecclesiastical celibacy</a>, the veneration of the <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a>, and suppressed the Canon in their Eucharistic Liturgy which they called the "German liturgy". They gained recruits in small numbers until 1848, but after that <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> they declined, being on bad terms with the Governments which had at first encouraged them but which bore them ill-will because of their political agitations.</p> <p>(23) While this <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sect</a> was declining another sprang up in antagonism to the <a href="../cathen/15303a.htm">Vatican Council</a>. The opponents of the recently-defined <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a>, the <a href="../cathen/11235b.htm">Old Catholics</a>, at first contented themselves with a simple protest; at the Congress of <a href="../cathen/10631a.htm">Munich</a> in 1871 they resolved to constitute a separate Church. Two years later they chose as <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> the Professor Reinkens of <a href="../cathen/02761a.htm">Breslau</a>, who was recognized as <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> by <a href="../cathen/12519c.htm">Prussia</a>, <a href="../cathen/02194a.htm">Baden</a>, and <a href="../cathen/07298c.htm">Hesse</a>. Thanks to official assistance the rebels succeeded in gaining possession of a number of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> churches and soon, like the German <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> and schismatics in general, they introduced disciplinary and <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrinal</a> novelties, they successively abandoned the precept of confession (1874), <a href="../cathen/03481a.htm">ecclesiastical celibacy</a> (1878), the Roman liturgy, which was replaced (1880) by a German liturgy, etc. In <a href="../cathen/14358a.htm">Switzerland</a> also the opposition to the <a href="../cathen/15303a.htm">Vatican council</a> resulted in the creation of a separate community, which also enjoyed governmental favour. An Old <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> faculty was founded at <a href="../cathen/02507b.htm">Berne</a> for the teaching of <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theology</a>, and E. Herzog, a professor of this faculty, was elected <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of the party in 1876. A congress assembled in 1890, at which most of the dissident groups, <a href="../cathen/08285a.htm">Jansenists</a>, <a href="../cathen/11235b.htm">Old Catholics</a>, etc., had representatives, resolved to unite all these diverse elements in the foundation of one Church. As a matter of fact, they are all on the road to <a href="../cathen/06258b.htm">free-thinking</a> and <a href="../cathen/12652a.htm">Rationalism</a>. In <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> a recent attempt at schism under the leadership of Herbert Beale and Arthur Howarth, two Nottingham <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, and Arnold Mathew, has failed to assume proportions worthy of serious notice.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">ST. THOMAS, <em>Summa,</em> II-II, (q-xxxix); TANQUEREY, <em>Synopsis theologi,</em> I (Rome, 1908); FUNK, <em>Patres apostolici,</em> I (Tübingen, 1902); TIXERONT, <em>Histoire des dogmes</em> (Paris, 1905-9); FUNK, <em>Lehrb. der Kirchengesch</em> (Paderborn, 1902); ALBERS, <em>Enchirid. hist. eccles.</em> (Nimeguen, 1909-10); DUCHESNE, <em>Hist. ancienne de l'église</em> (Paris, 1907-10); GUYOT, <em>Dict. universel des hérésies</em> (Paris, 1847).</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Forget, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1912).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Schism.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13529a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Forget, Jacques.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Schism."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 13.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1912.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13529a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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