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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Latin Church</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/09022a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The Latin Church is simply that vast portion of the Catholic body which obeys the Latin patriarch, which submits to the pope, not only in papal, but also in patriarchal matters"> <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="09022a.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/l.htm">L</a> > Latin Church</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>Latin Church</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>The word Church (<em>ecclesia</em>) is used in its first sense to express the whole congregation of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03699b.htm">Christendom</a> united in one Faith, obeying one <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">hierarchy</a> in communion with itself. This is the sense of <a href="../bible/mat016.htm#vrs18">Matthew 16:18</a>; <a href="../bible/mat018.htm#vrs17">18:17</a>; <a href="../bible/eph005.htm#vrs25">Ephesians 5:25-27</a>, and so on. It is in this sense that we speak of the <em>Church</em> without qualification, say that Christ founded one Church, etc. But the word is constantly applied to the various individual elements of this union. As the whole is <em>the</em> Church, the universal Church, so are its parts the Churches of <a href="../cathen/04363b.htm">Corinth</a>, <a href="../cathen/01777b.htm">Asia</a>, <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, etc. This second use of the word also occurs in the <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a> (<a href="../bible/act015.htm#vrs41">Acts 15:41</a>; <a href="../bible/2co011.htm#vrs28">2 Corinthians 11:28</a>; <a href="../bible/rev001.htm#vrs4">Revelation 1:4, 11</a>, etc). Any portion then that forms a subsidiary unity in itself may be called a local Church. The smallest such portion is a <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">diocese</a>  thus we speak of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a>, of <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milan</a>, of Seville. Above this again we group metropolitical provinces and national portions together as unities, and speak of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Africa, of Gaul, of <a href="../cathen/14169b.htm">Spain</a>. The expression <em>Church of Rome</em>, it should be noted, though commonly applied by non-Catholics to the whole <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> body, can only be used correctly in this secondary sense for the local diocese (or possibly the province) of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, mother and mistress of all Churches. A German <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> is not, strictly speaking, a member of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> but of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Cologne, or Munich-Freising, or whatever it may be, in union with and under the obedience of the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Roman Church</a> (although, no doubt, by a further extension <em>Roman Church</em> may be used as equivalent to <em>Latin Church</em> for the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The word is also used very commonly for the still greater portions that are united under their <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a>, that is for the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchates</a>. It is in this sense that we speak of the Latin Church. The Latin Church is simply that vast portion of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> body which obeys the Latin patriarch, which submits to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, not only in <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">papal</a>, but also in patriarchal matters. It is thus distinguished from the <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Eastern Churches</a> (whether <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> or Schismatic), which represent the other four <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchates</a> (Constantinople, Alexandria, <a href="../cathen/01570a.htm">Antioch</a>, <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a>), and any fractions broken away from them. The Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> has always been considerably the largest. Now, since the great part of <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Eastern Christendom</a> has fallen into <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a>, since vast new lands have been colonized, conquered or (partly) converted by Latins (America, <a href="../cathen/02113b.htm">Australia</a>, etc.), the Latin part of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> looms so enormous as compared with the others that many people think that every one in communion with the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> is a Latin. This <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> is fostered by the <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglican</a> branch theory, which supposes the situation to be that the <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Eastern Church</a> is no longer in communion with <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>. Against this we must always remember, and when <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> point out, that the constitution of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is still essentially what it was at the time of the <a href="../cathen/11045a.htm">Second Council of Nicaea</a> (787; see also canon 21 of Constantinople IV in 869 in the "Corp. Jur. can.", dist. xxii, c. vii). Namely, there are still the five <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchates</a>, of which the Latin Church is only one, although so great a part of the Eastern ones have fallen away. The <a href="../cathen/05230a.htm">Uniate Churches</a>, small as they are, still represent the old <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Christendom of the East in union with the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, obeying him as <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, though not as their patriarch. All Latins are <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>, but not all <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> are Latins. The old frontier passed just east of <a href="../cathen/12174a.htm">Macedonia</a>, Greece (Illyricum was afterwards claimed by Constantinople), and Crete, and cut Africa west of <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>. All to the west of this was the Latin Church.</p> <p>We must now add to Western <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europe</a> all the new lands occupied by Western <a href="../cathen/05607b.htm">Europeans</a>, to make up the present enormous Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. Throughout this vast territory the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a> reigns as patriarch, as well as by his supreme position as visible head of the whole Church. With the exception of very small remnants of other uses (Milan, Toledo, and the <a href="../cathen/03096a.htm">Byzantines</a> of Southern <a href="../cathen/08208a.htm">Italy</a>), his <a href="../cathen/13155a.htm">Roman Rite</a> is used throughout, according to the general principle that rite follows the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>, that local <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> use the rite of their patriarch. The <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">medieval</a> Western uses (Paris, Sarum and so on), of which people at one time made much for controversial purposes, were in no sense really independent rites, as are the remnants of the Gallican use at <a href="../cathen/10298a.htm">Milan</a> and Toledo. They were only the <a href="../cathen/13155a.htm">Roman Rite</a> with very slight local modifications. From this conception we see that the practical disappearance of the <a href="../cathen/06357a.htm">Gallican Rite</a>, however much the archæologist may regret it, is justified by the general principle that rite should follow <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. Uniformity of rite throughout <a href="../cathen/03699b.htm">Christendom</a> has never been an ideal among <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a>; but uniformity in each <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a> is. We see also that the suggestion, occasionally made by advanced <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglicans</a>, of a Uniate Anglican Church with its own rite and to some extent its own <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> (for instance with a married <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a>) is utterly opposed to antiquity and to consistent canon law. <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> is most certainly part of the Latin <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. When <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglicans</a> return to the old Faith they find themselves subject to the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, not only as head of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, but also as patriarch. As part of the Latin Church <a href="../cathen/05445a.htm">England</a> must submit to Latin canon law and the <a href="../cathen/13155a.htm">Roman Rite</a> just as much as <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a> or <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>. The comparison with Eastern Uniates rests on a misconception of the whole situation. It follows also that the expression <em>Latin</em> (or even <em>Roman</em>) <em>Catholic</em> is quite justifiable, inasmuch as we express by it that we are not only <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> but also members of the Latin or Roman <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchate</a>. A Uniate on the other hand is a Byzantine, or <a href="../cathen/01736b.htm">Armenian</a>, or <a href="../cathen/09683c.htm">Maronite</a> <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a>. But a <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> who is in <a href="../cathen/13529a.htm">schism</a> with the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">Holy See</a> is not, of course, admitted by <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholics</a> to be any kind of <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> at all.</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">Fortescue, A.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Latin Church.</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/09022a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Fortescue, Adrian.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Latin Church."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 9.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09022a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael C. Tinkler.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1910. 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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