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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Apostolicity</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/01648b.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="The mark by which the Church of today is recognized as identical with the Church founded by Jesus Christ upon the Apostles"> <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="01648b.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/a.htm">A</a> > Apostolicity</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>Apostolicity</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>Apostolicity is the mark by which the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of today is recognized as identical with the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> founded by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> upon the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. It is of great importance because it is the surest indication of the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> Church of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, it is most easily examined, and it virtually contains the other three marks, namely, Unity, Sanctity, and <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholicity</a>. Either the word "Christian" or "Apostolic", might be used to express the identity between the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of today and the primitive Church. The term "Apostolic" is preferred because it indicates a correlation between Christ and the Apostles, showing the relation of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> both to Christ, the founder, and to the Apostles, upon whom He founded it. "Apostle" is one sent, sent by authority of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> to continue His Mission upon earth, especially a member of the original band of teachers known as the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Twelve Apostles</a>. Therefore the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is called Apostolic, because it was founded by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> upon the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. Apostolicity of <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> and mission is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>. Apostolicity of <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> requires that the deposit of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> committed to the Apostles shall remain unchanged. Since the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is <a href="../cathen/07790a.htm">infallible</a> in its teaching, it follows that if the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of Christ still exists it must be teaching His <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>. Hence</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>Apostolicity of mission is a guarantee of Apostolicity of <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>. <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">St. Irenæus</a> (Adv. Haeres, IV, xxvi, n. 2) says: "Wherefore we must obey the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> who have succession from the Apostles, as we have shown, who, together with succession in the episcopate, have received the certain mark of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> according to the will of the Father; all others, however, are to be suspected, who separated themselves from the principal succession", etc. In explaining the concept of Apostolicity, then, special attention must be given to Apostolicity of mission, or <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a>. Apostolicity of mission means that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is one moral body, possessing the mission entrusted by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> to the Apostles, and transmitted through them and their lawful successors in an unbroken chain to the present representatives of Christ upon earth. This authoritative transmission of power in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> constitutes <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a>. This <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a> must be both material and formal; the material consisting in the actual succession in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, through a series of <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> from the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostolic</a> age to the present; the formal adding the element of authority in the transmission of power. It consists in the legitimate transmission of the ministerial power conferred by Christ upon His <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. No one can give a power which he does not possess. Hence in tracing the mission of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> back to the Apostles, no lacuna can be allowed, no new mission can arise; but the mission conferred by Christ must pass from generation to generation through an uninterrupted lawful succession. The Apostles received it from Christ and gave it in turn to those legitimately appointed by them, and these again selected others to continue the work of the ministry. Any break in this succession destroys Apostolicity, because the break means the beginning of a new series which is not Apostolic. "How shall they preach unless they be sent?" (<a href="../bible/rom010.htm#vrs15">Romans 10:15</a>). An authoritative mission to teach is absolutely <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a>, a man-given mission is not authoritative. Hence any concept of Apostolicity that excludes authoritative union with the Apostolic mission robs the ministry of its Divine character. Apostolicity, or <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a>, then, means that the mission conferred by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> upon the Apostles must pass from then to their legitimate successors, in an unbroken line, until the end of the world. This notion of Apostolicity is evolved from the words of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> Himself, the practice of the Apostles, and the teaching of the Fathers and <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theologians</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>.</p> <p>The intention of Christ is apparent from the <a href="../bible">Bible</a> passages, which tell of the conferring of the mission upon the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. "As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you: (<a href="../bible/joh020.htm#vrs21">John 20:21</a>). The mission of the Apostles, like the mission of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>, is a Divine mission; they are the Apostles, or ambassadors, of the Eternal Father. "All power is given to Me in <a href="../cathen/07170a.htm">heaven</a> and on earth. Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world: (<a href="../bible/mat028.htm#vrs18">Matthew 28:18</a>). This Divine mission is always to continue the same, hence it must be transmitted with its Divine character until the end of time, i.e. there must be an unbroken lawful succession which is called Apostolicity. The Apostles understood their mission in this sense. <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a>, in his Epistle to the Romans (x, 8-19), insists upon the necessity of Divinely established mission. "How shall they preach unless they be sent?" (x, 15). In his letters to his disciples Timothy and Titus, <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> speaks of the <a href="../cathen/11189a.htm">obligation</a> of preserving Apostolic <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>, and of ordaining other disciples to continue the work entrusted to the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. "Hold the form of sound words, which thou hast heard from me in <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and in the <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> which is in <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ Jesus</a>" (<a href="../bible/2ti001.htm#vrs13">2 Timothy 1:13</a>). "And the things which thou hast heard from me by many witnesses, the same commend to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach others also" (<a href="../bible/2ti002.htm#vrs2">2 Timothy 2:2</a>). "For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting and shouldst ordain <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> in every city, as I also appointed thee" (<a href="../bible/tit001.htm#vrs5">Titus 1:5</a>). Just as the Apostles transmitted their mission by lawfully appointing others to the work of the ministry, so their successors were to ordain <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> to perpetuate the same mission given by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>, i.e. an Apostolic mission must always be maintained in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The writings of the Fathers constantly refers to the Apostolic character of the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> and mission of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. See <a href="../cathen/12219b.htm">St. Polycarp</a>, St. Ignatius, (<a href="../fathers/0109.htm"><em>Smyrnæans</em> 8</a>), <a href="../cathen/04045a.htm">St. Clement of Alexandria</a>, <a href="../cathen/04595b.htm">St. Cyril of Jerusalem</a>, <a href="../cathen/02035a.htm">St. Athanasius</a> (History of Arianism), <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a> (Lib. de Praescipt, n. 32, etc). We quote a few examples which are typical of the testimony of the Fathers. St. Irenæus (Adv. Haeres, IV, xxvi, n. 2): "Wherefore we must obey the <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, who have succession from the Apostles," etc.  quoted above. <a href="../cathen/04012c.htm">St. Clement</a> (Ep. I, ad. Cor., 42-44): "<a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> was sent by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, and the Apostles by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>....They appointed the above-named and then gave them command that when they came to die other approved men should succeed to their ministry." <a href="../cathen/04583b.htm">St. Cyprian</a> (Ep. 76, Ad Magnum): "Novatianus is not in the Church, nor can he be considered a bishop, because in contempt of Apostolic tradition he was ordained by himself without succeeding anyone." Hence authoritative transmission of power, i.e. Apostolicity, is essential. In all <a href="../cathen/14580x.htm">theological</a> works the same explanation of Apostolicity is found, based on the Scriptural and patristic testimony just cited. <a href="../cathen/02567a.htm">Billuart</a> (III, 306) concludes his remarks on Apostolicity in the words of <a href="../cathen/08341a.htm">St. Jerome</a>: "We must abide in that Church, which was founded by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>, and endures to this day.: Mazella (De Relig. et Eccl., 359), after speaking of <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a> as an uninterrupted substitution of <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">persons</a> in the place of the Apostles, insists upon the necessity of <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> or authoritative transmission, thus excluding the hypothesis that a new mission could ever be originated by anyone in the place of the mission bestowed by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> and transmitted in the manner described. Billot (De Eccl. Christi, I, 243-275) emphasizes the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> that the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, which is Apostolic, must be presided over by <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a>, who derive their ministry and their governing power from the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. Apostolicity, then, is that <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a> by which the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of today is one with the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of the Apostles in origin, <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>, and mission.</p> <p>The history of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> from St. Peter, the first Pontiff, to the present Head of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, is an evident <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proof</a> of its Apostolicity, for no break can be shown in the line of succession. <a href="../cathen/10794a.htm">Cardinal Newman</a> (Diff. of Anglicans, 369) says: "Say there is no church at all if you will, and at least I shall understand you; but do not meddle with a fact attested by <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">mankind</a>." Again (393): "No other form of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> but this present <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> Communion has a pretence to resemble, even in the faintest shadow, the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> of antiquity, viewed as a living religion on the stage of the world;" and again, (395): "The immutability and uninterrupted action of the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a> in question throughout the course of <a href="../cathen/07365a.htm">Church history</a> is a plain note of identity between the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> of the first ages and that which now goes by that name." If any break in the <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a> had ever occurred, it could be easily shown, for no fact of such importance could happen in the history of the world without attracting universal notice. Regarding questions and contests in the election of certain <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">popes</a>, there is no real difficulty. In the few cases in which controversies arose, the matter was always settled by a competent tribunal in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, the lawful Pope was proclaimed, and he, as the <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">successor of St. Peter</a>, received the Apostolic mission and <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> in the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. Again, the <a href="../cathen/07256b.htm">heretics</a> of the early ages and the <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sects</a> of later times have attempted to justify their teaching and practices by appealing to the <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> of the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, or to their early communion with the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. Their appeal shows that the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> is regarded as Apostolic even by those who have separated from her communion.</p> <p>Apostolicity is not found in any other <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>. This is a <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> consequence of the <a href="../cathen/15179a.htm">unity of the Church</a>. If there is but one <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> Church, and if the <a href="../cathen/03449a.htm">Catholic</a> <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a>, as has just been shown, is Apostolic, the <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> inference is that no other Church is Apostolic. (See above quotations from <a href="../cathen/10794a.htm">Newman</a>, "Diff. of Anglicans", 369, 393.) All <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sects</a> that reject the Episcopate, by the very fact make <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">Apostolic succession</a> impossible, since they destroy the channel through which the Apostolic mission is transmitted. Historically, the beginnings of all these Churches can be traced to a period long after the time of Christ and the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a>. Regarding the <a href="../cathen/06752a.htm">Greek Church</a>, it is sufficient to note that it lost <a href="../cathen/01641a.htm">apostolic succession</a> by withdrawing from the <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> of the lawful successors of St. Peter in the <a href="../cathen/07424b.htm">See of Rome</a>. The same is to be said of the <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglican</a> claims to continuity (MacLaughlin, "Divine Plan of the Church", 213; and, <a href="../cathen/10794a.htm">Newman</a>, "Diff. of Angl.", Lecture 12.) for the very fact of separation destroys their <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a>. They have based their claims on the validity of <a href="../cathen/01491a.htm">orders in the Anglican Church</a>. <a href="../cathen/01491a.htm">Anglican orders</a>, however, have been declared invalid. But even if they were valid, the <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglican Church</a> would not be Apostolic, for <a href="../cathen/08567a.htm">jurisdiction</a> is essential to the Apostolicity of mission. A study of the organization of the <a href="../cathen/01498a.htm">Anglican Church</a> shows it to be entirely different from the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> established by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</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">O'Reilly, T.</span> <span id="apayear">(1907).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Apostolicity.</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/01648b.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">O'Reilly, Thomas.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Apostolicity."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 1.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1907.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01648b.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Jim Holden.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to Dave Higbee at the Irenaeus Center, Rochester, New York.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.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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