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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Ecclesiastical Discipline</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/05030a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Various meanings discussed"> <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="05030a.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/d.htm">D</a> > Ecclesiastical Discipline</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>Ecclesiastical Discipline</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>Etymologically the word <em>discipline</em> signifies the formation of one who places himself at school and under the direction of a master. All <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> are the disciples of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, desirous to form themselves at His school and to be guided by His teachings and precepts. He called Himself, and we, too, call Him, Our Master. Such, then, is evangelical discipline. However, in ecclesiastical language the word <em>discipline</em> has been invested with various meanings, which must here be enumerated and specified.</p> <h2 id="section1">Meaning of discipline</h2> <p>All discipline may be considered first in its author, then in its subject, and finally in itself. In its author it is chiefly the method employed for the formation and adaptation of the <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> and directions to the end to be attained, which is the perfect conduct of subjects; in this sense discipline is said to be severe or mild. In those who receive it discipline is the more or less perfect conformity of acts to the directions and formation received; it is in this sense that discipline may be said to flourish in a <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monastery</a>. Or, again, it is the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> of subjects to conform their acts to <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> and directions, and is thus defined by <a href="../cathen/03467c.htm">Cardinal Cavagnis</a>: <em>Praxis factorum fidei consona</em> — "conduct conforming itself to <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>" (Inst. jur. publ. eccl., Bk. IV, n. 147). More frequently, however, discipline is considered objectively, that is, as being the <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> and measures for the practical guidance of subjects. Thus understood ecclesiastical discipline is the aggregate of <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> and directions given by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> to the faithful for their conduct both private and public. This is discipline in its widest acceptation, and includes natural and Divine as well as positive <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> and <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, worship, and <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a>; in a word, all that affects the conduct of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>. But if we eliminate <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> merely formulated by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> as the exponent of natural or <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, there remain the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> and directions laid down and formulated by <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> authority for the guidance of the faithful; this is the restricted and more usual acceptation of the word discipline. Nevertheless, it must be understood that this distinction, however justified, is not made for the purpose of separating ecclesiastical laws into two clearly divided categories in so far as practice is concerned; the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> does not always make known to what extent she speaks in the name of natural or of <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a> and with this corresponds the observance of <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> by her subjects.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2 id="section2">Object of discipline</h2> <p>Since ecclesiastical discipline should direct every <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> life, its object must differ according to the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a> incumbent on each individual. The first <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> of a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> is to believe; hence dogmatic discipline, by which the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> proposes what we should believe and so regulates our conduct that it shall not fail to assist our <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>. Dogmatic discipline springs from the power of <em>magisterium</em>, i.e. the teaching office, in the exercise of which power the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> can proceed only by declaration; therefore it is ecclesiastical discipline only in a broad sense. The second <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> is to observe the Commandments, hence moral discipline (<em>disciplina morum</em>). Strictly understood the latter does not depend much more upon the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> than does dogmatic discipline, as the <a href="../cathen/09076a.htm">natural law</a> is anterior and superior to ecclesiastical law; however, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> authoritatively proposes to us the moral law, she specifies and perfects it; hence it is that we generally call moral discipline whatsoever directs the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> in those acts that have a moral value, including the observance of positive <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> both <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> and secular. Among the chief <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a> of a <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> the worship of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> must be assigned a place apart. The rules to be observed in this worship, especially public worship, constitute <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> discipline. This cannot be said to depend absolutely upon the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, as it derives the essential part of the <a href="../cathen/10006a.htm">Holy Sacrifice</a> and the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a> from <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>; however, for the greater part, <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> discipline has been regulated by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> and includes the rites of the <a href="../cathen/10006a.htm">Holy Sacrifice</a>, the administration of the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a> and of the <a href="../cathen/13292d.htm">sacramentals</a>, and other ceremonies.</p> <p>There still remain the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a> incumbent on the faithful considered individually, either on the members of different groups or classes of <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a>, or, finally, on those who are to any extent whatever depositaries of a portion of the authority. This is discipline properly so called, exterior discipline, established by the free legislation of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> (not, of course, in a way absolutely independent of natural or <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, but outside of, yet akin to this <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>) for the good government of <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> and the sanctification of <a href="../cathen/07762a.htm">individuals</a>. On <a href="../cathen/07762a.htm">individuals</a> it imposes common <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> (the Commandments of the Church); then it states their mutual <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligations</a>, in conjugal <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> by matrimonial discipline, in larger <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">societies</a> by determining relations with <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> superiors, <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parish</a> <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a>, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, etc. Special classes also have their own particular discipline, there being <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerical</a> discipline for the <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clergy</a> and religious or monastic discipline for the religious. The government of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> is in the hands of <a href="../cathen/12386b.htm">prelates</a> and superiors who are subject to a special discipline either for the conditions of their recruitment, for the determining of their privileges and <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duties</a>, or for the manner in which they should fulfil their functions. We may include here the rules for the administration of temporal goods. Finally, any authority from which emanate orders or prohibitions should have power to ratify the same by penal measures applicable to all transgressors; hence, another object of discipline is the imposing and inflicting of disciplinary sanctions. It must be noted, however, that the object of these measures is to ensure observance or to chastise infractions of the natural and Divine as well as of ecclesiastical laws.</p> <h2 id="section3">Disciplinary power of the Church</h2> <p>It is evident, therefore, that the disciplinary power of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is a phase, a practical application, of its <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">power of jurisdiction</a>, and includes the various forms of the latter, namely, legislative, administrative, judicial, and coercive power. As for the power of order (<em>potestas ordinis</em>), it is the basis of <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> discipline by which its exercise is regulated. For the <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proof</a> that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is a <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> and that, as such, it necessarily has the <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">power of jurisdiction</a> which it derives from Divine institution through the <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a>, see <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">CHURCH</a>. Disciplinary power is <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> by the very fact of its exercise; it is an organic necessity in every <a href="../cathen/14074a.htm">society</a> whose members it guides to their end by providing them with rules of action. Historically it can be shown that a disciplinary power has been exercised by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> uninterruptedly, first by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a> and then by their successors. The Apostles in the first council at <a href="../cathen/08344a.htm">Jerusalem</a> formulated rules for the conduct of the faithful (<a href="../bible/act015.htm">Acts 15</a>). <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> gave moral advice to the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> of <a href="../cathen/04363b.htm">Corinth</a> on virginity, marriage, and the agape (<a href="../bible/1co007.htm#vrs11">1 Corinthians 7:11</a>). The Pastoral <a href="../cathen/05509a.htm">Epistles</a> of <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> are a veritable code of <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">clerical</a> discipline. The <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, moreover, has never ceased to represent herself as charged by Christ with the guidance of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">mankind</a> in the way of <a href="../cathen/05551b.htm">eternal</a> <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>. The <a href="../cathen/15030c.htm">Council of Trent</a> expressly affirms the disciplinary power of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in all that concerns <a href="../cathen/09306a.htm">liturgical</a> discipline and Divine worship (Sess. XXI, c. ii): "In the administration of the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a>, the substance of the latter remaining intact, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> has always had power to establish or to modify whatever she considered most expedient for the utility of those who receive them, or best calculated to ensure respect for the <a href="../cathen/13295a.htm">sacraments</a> themselves according to the various circumstances of time and place." In fact, we need only to recall the numerous <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> enacted by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> in the course of centuries for the maintenance, development, or restoration of the moral and spiritual life of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2 id="section4">Mutability of discipline</h2> <p>That ecclesiastical discipline should be subject to change is natural since it was made for men and by men. To claim that it is immutable would render the attainment of its end utterly impossible, since, in order to form and direct <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>, it must adapt itself to the variable circumstances of time and place, conditions of life, customs of peoples and races, being, in a certain sense, like <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a>, all things to all men. Nevertheless, neither the actual changes nor the possibility of further alteration must be exaggerated. There is no change in those disciplinary measures through which the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> sets before the faithful and confirms the natural and the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, nor in those strictly disciplinary regulations that are closely related to the natural or <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>. Other disciplinary rules may and must be modified in proportion as they seem less efficacious for the social or individual welfare. <a href="../cathen/14697c.htm">Thomassin</a> aptly says [Vetus et nova Ecclesiæ disciplina (ed. Lyons, 1706), preface, n. xvii]: "Whoever has the least <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of ecclesiastical laws, those that concern government as well as those that regulate <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a>, knows well that they are of two kinds. Some represent immutable rules of eternal <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>, itself the fundamental law, the source and origin of these <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> from the observance of which there is no <a href="../cathen/05041a.htm">dispensation</a>, against which no prescription obtains, and which are not modified either by diversity of custom or vicissitudes of time. Other <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> rules and customs are by nature temporary, indifferent in themselves, more or less authoritative, useful, or <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> according to circumstances of time and place, having been established only to facilitate the observance of the fundamental and eternal law." As to the variations of discipline concerning these secondary <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> the same author describes them in these terms (loc. cit., n. xv): "While the Faith of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> remains the same in all ages, it is not so with her discipline. This changes with time, grows old with the years, is rejuvenated, is subject to growth and decay. Though in its early days admirably vigorous, with time defects crept in. Later it overcame these defects and although along some lines its usefulness increased, in other ways its first splendour waned. That in its old age it languishes is evident from the leniency and indulgence which now seem absolutely <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>. However, all things fairly considered, it will appear that old age and youth have each their defects and good qualities." Were it <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> to exemplify the mutability of ecclesiastical discipline it would be perplexing indeed to make a choice. The ancient catechumenate exists only in a few rites; the <a href="../cathen/09022a.htm">Latin Church</a> no longer gives Communion to the <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laity</a> under two kinds; the discipline relating to penance and <a href="../cathen/07783a.htm">indulgences</a> has undergone a profound evolution; matrimonial law is still subject to modifications; <a href="../cathen/05789c.htm">fasting</a> is not what it formerly was; the use of censures in penal law is but the shadow of what it was in the <a href="../cathen/10285c.htm">Middle Ages</a>. Many other examples will easily occur to the mind of the well-informed reader.</p> <h2 id="section5">Disciplinary infallibility</h2> <p>What connexion is there between the discipline of the Church and her <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a>? Is there a certain disciplinary <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a>? It does not appear that the question was ever discussed in the past by <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> unless apropos of the <a href="../cathen/02364b.htm">canonization</a> of <a href="../cathen/04171a.htm">saints</a> and the <a href="../cathen/01656b.htm">approbation</a> of <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious</a> orders. It has, however, found a place in all recent treatises on the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> (De Ecclesiâ). The authors of these treatises decide unanimously in favour of a negative and indirect rather than a positive and direct <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a>, inasmuch as in her general discipline, i.e. the <a href="../cathen/09068a.htm">common laws</a> imposed on all the <a href="../cathen/05769a.htm">faithful</a>, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> can prescribe nothing that would be contrary to the natural or the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>, nor prohibit anything that the natural or the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a> would exact. If well understood this thesis is undeniable; it amounts to saying that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> does not and cannot impose practical directions contradictory of her own teaching. It is quite permissible, however, to inquire how far this <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a> extends, and to what extent, in her disciplinary activity, the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> makes use of the privilege of inerrancy granted her by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> when she defines matters of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and <a href="../cathen/10559a.htm">morals</a>. <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">Infallibility</a> is directly related to the teaching office (<em>magisterium</em>), and although this office and the disciplinary power reside in the same <a href="../cathen/07322c.htm">ecclesiastical authorities</a>, the disciplinary power does not necessarily depend directly on the teaching office. Teaching pertains to the order of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>; legislation to that of <a href="../cathen/08571c.htm">justice</a> and <a href="../cathen/12517b.htm">prudence</a>. Doubtless, in last analysis all ecclesiastical laws are based on certain fundamental <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truths</a>, but as <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> their purpose is neither to confirm nor to condemn these <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truths</a>. It does not seem, therefore, that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> needs any special privilege of <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a> to prevent her from enacting <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> contradictory of her <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>. To claim that disciplinary <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a> consists in regulating, without possibility of <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a>, the adaptation of a general law to its end, is equivalent to the assertion of a (quite unnecessary) positive <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a>, which the incessant abrogation of <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> would belie and which would be to the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> a burden and a hindrance rather than an advantage, since it would suppose each law to be the best. Moreover, it would make the application of <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> to their end the object of a positive judgment of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>; this would not only be useless but would become a perpetual obstacle to disciplinary reform.</p> <p>From the disciplinary <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, correctly understood as an indirect consequence of her <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrinal</a> <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallibility</a>, it follows that she cannot be rightly accused of introducing into her discipline anything opposed to the <a href="../cathen/09071a.htm">Divine law</a>; the most remarkable instance of this being the suppression of the <a href="../cathen/03561a.htm">chalice</a> in the Communion of the <a href="../cathen/08748a.htm">laity</a>. This has often been <a href="../cathen/15446a.htm">violently</a> attacked as contrary to the Gospel. Concerning it the <a href="../cathen/04288a.htm">Council of Constance</a> (1415) declared (Sess. XIII): "The claim that it is sacrilegious or illicit to observe this custom or law [Communion under one kind] must be regarded as <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">erroneous</a>, and those who obstinately affirm it must be cast aside as <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a>." The opinion, generally admitted by <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a>, that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallible</a> in her <a href="../cathen/01656b.htm">approbation</a> of <a href="../cathen/12748b.htm">religious</a> orders, must be interpreted in the same sense; it means that in her regulation of a manner of life destined to provide for the practice of the evangelical counsels she cannot come into conflict with these counsels as received from Christ together with the rest of the Gospel revelation. (See <a href="../cathen/13136a.htm">ROMAN CONGREGATIONS</a>.)</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">THOMASSIN, <em>Vetua et nova Ecclesiæ disciplina</em> (ed. Lyons, 1706), preface; JEILER in <em>Kirchenlex.,</em> s.v. <em>Disciplin;</em> all treatises on public ecclesiastical law, especially that by CAVAGNIS, <em>Inst. jur. publ. eccl.</em> (Rome, 1906), I. III, ch. ii; the treatise <em>de Ecclesiâ</em> in theological works, especially in HURTER, <em>Theol. dogm. comp.</em> (Innsbruck, 1878), I, thesis xlvi, and WILMERS, <em>De Christi Ecclesiâ</em> (Ratishon, 1897), 469 sq.</p></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">Ecclesiastical Discipline.</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/05030a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Boudinhon, Auguste.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Ecclesiastical Discipline."</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/05030a.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> 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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