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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: The Faithful</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/05769a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Those who have bound themselves to a religious association, whose doctrine they accept, and into whose rites they have been initiated. Among Christians the term is applied to those who have been fully initiated by baptism and, regularly speaking, by confirmation"> <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="05769a.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/f.htm">F</a> > The Faithful</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>The Faithful</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> <p>(<a href="../cathen/09019a.htm">Latin</a> <em>fideles</em>, from <em>fides</em>, faith.)</p> <p>Those who have bound themselves to a religious association, whose <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> they accept, and into whose rites they have been initiated. Among <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> the term is applied to those who have been fully initiated by <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> and, regularly speaking, by confirmation. Such have engaged themselves to profess <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> in <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>, from Whom they received it as a gift; henceforth they will proclaim His teachings, and live according to His law. Hence the term so frequent in <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a> documents, <em>Christifideles</em>, "the faithful of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>". The distinction between <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> and faithful is now very slight, not only because adult <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> has become the exception, but also because liturgically the rite of the catechumenate and that of <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> have merged into one another. On the other hand, in the <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Latin Church</a> at least, confirmation and first Communion have been separated from the <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptismal</a> initiation. In the primitive Church it was otherwise; initiation into the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> consisted in two distinct acts, often accomplished years apart from one another. First, one became a <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a> by the <a href="../cathen/07698a.htm">imposition of hands</a> and the <a href="../cathen/13785a.htm">sign of the cross</a>; this was a kind of preliminary profession of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>  "eos qui ad primam fidem credulitatis accedunt" (Council of Elvira, about 300, can.xlii), which authorized the <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a> to call himself a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a>. Only by the second act of initiation, i.e. by <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> itself, was he authorized to call himself one of the faithful, and participate immediately in all the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">Christian mysteries</a>, including the Eucharist.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Strictly speaking, therefore, the term <em>faithful</em> is opposed to <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a>; hence, it is not met in the writings of these early <a href="../cathen/06001a.htm">Christian Fathers</a> who flourished before the organization of the catechumenate. It is not found in <a href="../cathen/08580c.htm">St. Justin</a> nor in <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">St. Irenæus of Lyons</a>; <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a>, however, uses it, and reproaches the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a> for obliterating all distinction between <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumens</a> and the faithful: <em>quis catechumenus, quis fidelis incertum est</em> (De praeser., c. xli; P.L., II, 56). Henceforth, in the patristic writings and canons of councils we meet quite frequently the antithesis of <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumens</a> and <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptized</a> <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>, <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> and faithful. Thus <a href="../cathen/02084a.htm">St. Augustine</a> (Tract. in Joannem, xliv, 2; P.L., XXXV, 1714): "Ask a man: are you a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a>? If he be a <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> or a <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jew</a>, he will reply: I am not a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a>. But if he say: I am a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a>, ask him again: are you a <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a>, or one of the faithful?" Similarly the Council of Elvira considers the case of a "faithful" <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptizing</a> a <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a> in case of necessity (can. xxxviii); again, of sick <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagans</a> asking for the <a href="../cathen/07698a.htm">imposition of hands</a> of the catechumenate, and thus becoming <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> (can. xxxix); of participation in an <a href="../cathen/07636a.htm">idolatrous</a> sacrifice on the part of a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a>, and again by one of the faithful (can. lix); of betrayal to the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> magistrate (<em>delatio</em>), to which a difference of guilt is attached according as the crime was perpetrated by one of the faithful or by a <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a> (can. lxxiii).</p> <p>The title <em>fidelis</em> was often carved on epitaphs in the early <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> period, sometimes in opposition to the title of <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a>. Thus, at <a href="../cathen/06105c.htm">Florence</a>, a master (<em>patronus</em>) dedicates to his <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumen</a> servant (<em>alumna</em>) the following inscription: "Sozomeneti Alumnae audienti patronus fidelis", i.e. "her master, one of the faithful, to Sozomenes, his servant and hearer", by which term he means one of the well-known degrees of the catechumenate (<a href="../cathen/09723b.htm">Martigny</a>, Dict. des antiq. chreét., Paris, 1877). Even now the <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptismal</a> rite provides for <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> request of <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> on the part of an <em>infidelis</em>, i.e. a non-Christian (see INFIDEL); it exhibits venerable vestiges of the primitive <em>scrutinium</em> or preliminary examination, the guarantors (<em>sponsores</em>) or god-father and god-mother, the rites of the catechumenate, the communication of the Creed (<em>traditio symboli</em>) and the <a href="../cathen/09356a.htm">Our Father</a>, the renunciation of <a href="../cathen/04764a.htm">Satan</a> and <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, the adhesion to <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>, and the triple profession of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>. The candidate for <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> is still asked at the entrance to the <a href="../cathen/02274a.htm">baptismal font</a>: "Wilt thou be <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptized</a>? It was <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a>, therefore, and is so yet, that one entered the ranks of the faithful through the principal initiatory rite of <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>.</p> <p>Naturally enough, even in <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> antiquity, attention was drawn to the analogous ceremonies of <a href="../cathen/03777a.htm">circumcision</a> (the sign, if not the rite, of the admission of <a href="../cathen/12481c.htm">proselytes</a> to the profession of <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a>) and of the bloody bath of the <em>taurobolium</em>, by which the faithful of <a href="../cathen/10402a.htm">Mithra</a> were initiated (Cumont, Les Mysteéres de Mithra, Paris, 1902). The <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a> of the faithful <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> are indicated by the preparatory rites of his reception and by his actual <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>. He begins by asking for <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> (in <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>) and, through that <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, for eternal life. The Creed is then delivered to him, and he returns it (<em>redditio symboli</em>) i.e. repeats it aloud. At the <a href="../cathen/02274a.htm">baptismal font</a> he recites solemnly the profession of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>. From all this it is clear that his first <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> is to believe (see <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">FAITH</a>). His second <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> is to regulate his life or conduct with his new <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian faith</a>, i.e. having renounced <a href="../cathen/04764a.htm">Satan</a> and <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a>, he must avoid all <a href="../cathen/14004b.htm">sin</a>. "So behave", was it said to him, "that henceforth thou mayest be the temple of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>." <a href="../cathen/06780a.htm">St. Gregory I</a> says (Hom. in Evang. xxix, 3; P.L., LXXVI, 1215): "Then only are we truly the faithful when by our acts we realize the promises made with our lips. On the day of our <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, indeed, we promised to renounce all the works and all the pomps of the ancient enemy."</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Finally, since the faithful have <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntarily</a> sought membership in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Christian society</a> they are bound to submit to its authority and obey its rulers. As to the <a href="../cathen/13055c.htm">rights</a> of the faithful, they consist chiefly in the fullest participation in all the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">Christian mysteries</a>, so long as one does not become unworthy of the same. Thus the faithful <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> is entitled to take part in the <a href="../cathen/10006a.htm">Holy Sacrifice</a>, to remain in the assembly after the <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> has sent away the <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">catechumens</a>, to offer up with the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priest</a> the <em>orate fidelium</em> or <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> of the faithful, to receive there the Body and Blood of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, and to receive the other rites and <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a>. He may also aspire to the highest rank of the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>. In a word, he is a full member of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a>, and is such, regularly speaking, in perpetuity. If by reason of his own misdeeds he deserves to be expelled from said <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a>, repentance and the reparatory penitential rite, a second <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>, as it were, permit his return. Finally, if he persist in the observance of his <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptismal</a> promises, he will obtain eternal life, i.e. his original petition at the moment of <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a>. See <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">BAPTISM</a>, <a href="../cathen/03430b.htm">CATECHUMEN</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Boudinhon, A.</span> <span id="apayear">(1909).</span> <span id="apaarticle">The Faithful.</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/05769a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Boudinhon, Auguste.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"The Faithful."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 5.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1909.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05769a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by William J. Rosini.</span> <span id="dedication">In memory of Dorothy and Evoldo Rosini.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. 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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