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CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, un...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 533 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, See also:general, universal) , a designation adopted in the 2nd See also:century by the See also:Christian See also:Church to indicate Christendom as a whole, in contrast with individual churches. With this See also:idea went the notions that See also:Christianity had been diffused throughout the whole See also:earth by the apostles, and that only what was found everywhere throughout the church could be true. The See also:term thus in See also:time became full of dogmatic and See also:political meaning, connoting, when applied to the church, a universal authoritative and orthodox society, as opposed to Gnostic and other " sects " (cf. the famous See also:canon of See also:Vincent of Lerins A.D. 434; quod ubique, quod See also:semper, quod ab See also:omnibus See also:credit um est). The term " Catholic " does not occur in the old See also:Roman See also:symbol; but See also:Professor Loofs includes it in his reconstruction, based on typical phrases in See also:common use at the time of the ante-Nicene See also:creeds of the See also:East. In the See also:original See also:form of the Nicene creed itself it does not occur; but in the creed of See also:Jerusalem (348), an amplification of the Nicene symbol, we find " one See also:Holy Catholic Church," and in the revision by See also:Cyril of See also:Alexandria (362) " Catholic and Apostolic Church " (see CREEDS). Thus, though the word " Catholic " was See also:late in finding its way into the formal symbols of the church, it is clear that it had See also:long been in use in the original sense defined above. It must be See also:borne in mind, however, that the designation Catholic" was equally claimed by all the warring parties within the church at various times; thus, the followers of See also:Arius and See also:Athanasius alike called themselves Catholics, and it was only the ultimate victory of the latter that has reserved for them in See also:history the name of Catholic, and branded the former as Arian. With the See also:gradual development and stereotyping of the creed it was inevitable that the term " Catholic " should come to imply a more narrowly defined orthodoxy. In the Eastern churches, indeed, the conception of the church as the See also:guardian of " the faith once delivered to the See also:saints " soon overshadowed that of See also:interpretation and development by catholic consent, and, though they have throughout claimed the See also:title of Catholic, their See also:chief See also:glory is that conveyed in the name of the Holy Orthodox Church. In the See also:West, meanwhile, the growth of the See also:power of the papacy had tended more and more to the interpretation of the word " catholic " as implying communion with, and obedience to, the see of See also:Rome (see PAPACY); the churches of the East, no less than the heretical sects of the West, by repudiating this See also:allegiance, had ceased to be Catholic.

This See also:

identification of " Catholic " with " Roman " was accentuated by the progress of the See also:Reformation. The Reformers themselves, indeed, like other dissidents and reformers before them, did not necessarily repudiate the name of Catholic; they believed, in fact, in catholicism, i.e. the universal See also:sanction of their beliefs, as firmly as did the adherents of " the old See also:religion "; they included the Catholic creeds, See also:definitions formulated by the universal church, in their service books; they too appealed, as the fathers of See also:Basel and See also:Constance had done, from the papal See also:monarchy to the See also:great ecclesiastical See also:republic. The Church of See also:England at least, emphasizing her own essential catholicity, retained in her See also:translations of the See also:ancient symbols the word" catholic " instead of replacing it by " universal." But the See also:appeal to the verbally inspired See also:Bible was stronger than that to a church hopelessly divided; the Bible, and not the consent of the universal church, became the touchstone of the reformed orthodoxy; in the nomenclature of the time, " evangelical " arose in contradistinction to " Catholic," while, in popular parlance, the " protest of the Reformers against the " corruptions of Rome " led to the invention of the term " See also:Protestant," which, though nowhere assumed in the See also:official titles of the older reformed churches, was See also:early used as a generic term to include them all. " Catholic " and " Catholicism " thus again changed and narrowed their meaning; they became, by universal usage, identified definitely with " Romanist " and the creed and obedience of Rome. Even in England, where the church retained most strongly the Catholic tradition, this distinction of " Protestant" and "Catholic" was clearly maintained, at least till the Catholic revival "in the Church of England of the 19th century. On the See also:continent of See also:Europe the See also:equivalent words (e.g. Ger. Katholik, Katholizismus; Fr. catholique, catholicisme) are even more definitely associated with Rome; they have lost the sense which they still convey to a considerable school of Anglicans. The dissident " Catholic " churches are forced to qualify their titles: they are " Old Catholics " (Alt-Katholiken) or " See also:German Catholics (See also:Deutsch-Katholiken). The Church of Rome alone, officially and in popular parlance, is " the Catholic Church " (katholische Kirche, eglise catholique), a title which she proudly claims as exclusively her own, by divine right, by the sanction of immemorial tradition, and by See also:reason of her perpetual protest against the idea of " See also:national " churches, consecrated by the Reformation (see CHURCH HISTORY, and ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH). ' The additional qualification of " Roman she tolerates, since it proclaims her See also:doctrine of the see of Rome as the See also:keystone of Catholicism; but to herself she is "the Catholic Church," and her members are "Catholics." Yet to concede this claim and surrender without qualification the word " Catholic " to a See also:connotation which is at best only universal in theory, is to beg several very weighty questions. The doctrine of the Catholic Church, i.e. the essential unity and interdependence of " all See also:God's faithful See also:people scattered through-out the See also:world," is common to all sections of Christians.

The creed is one; it is the interpretation that differs. In a somewhat narrower sense, too, the Church of England at least has never repudiated the conception of the Catholic Church as a divinely instituted organization for the safe-guarding and See also:

proclamation of the Christian See also:revelation. She deliberately retained the Catholic creeds, the Catholic See also:ministry and the appeal to Catholic antiquity (see ENGLAND, CHURCH or). A large See also:section of her members, accordingly, laying stress on this See also:side of her tradition, prefer to See also:call themselves " Catholics." But, though the invention of the terms " Roman Catholic " and " Roman Catholicism " early implied the retention by the See also:English Church of her Catholic claim, her members were never, after the Reformation, called Catholics; even the See also:Caroline divines of the 17th century; for all their " popish practices," styled themselves Protestants, though they would have professed their adherence to the Catholic faith " and their belief in " the Holy Catholic Church." Clearly, then, the exact meaning of the term varies according to those who use it and those to whom it is applied. To the Romanist " Catholic " means " Roman Catholic "; to the high See also:Anglican it means whatever is common to the three " historic branches into which he conceives the church to be divided—Roman, Anglican and Orthodox; to the Protestant pure and See also:simple it means either what it does to the Romanist, or, in expansive moments, simply what is " universal " to all Christians. In a yet broader sense it is used adjectivally of See also:mere wideness or universality of view, as when we speak of a See also:man as " of catholic sympathies " or " catholic in his tastes." The name of Catholic Epistles is given to those letters (two of See also:Peter, three of See also:John, one of See also:James, one of See also:Jude) incorporated in the New Testament which (except 2 and 3 John) are not, like those of St See also:Paul, addressed to particular individuals or churches, but to a larger and more indefinite circle of readers. (See BIBLE: New Testament, Canon.) The title of Catholicus (ccaOoXtebs) seems to have been used under the Roman See also:empire, though rarely, as the See also:Greek equivalent ofconsularis and praefectus. Thus See also:Eusebius (Inst. ecel. viii. 23) speaks of the catholicus of See also:Africa (xaBoXacov Tns 'A4pu ei s). As an ecclesiastical title it was used to imply, not universal (ecumenical), but a great and widespread See also:jurisdiction. Thus the See also:bishop of the important see ofSeleucia (See also:Bagdad), though subordinate to the See also:patriarch of See also:Antioch, had the title of Catholicus and power to consecrate even archbishops; and on the See also:division of the see there were two Catholici under the patriarch of Antioch. In See also:Ethiopia, too, there were Catholici with less extensive See also:powers, subject to the patriarch of Alexandria.

The title now survives, however, only as that of the See also:

head of the Armenian Church (q.v.). A bishop's See also:cathedral church is, how-ever, in Greek the Catholicon. An isolated use of the word " catholic " as a See also:secular legal term survives in Scots See also:law; a catholic creditor is one whose See also:debt is secured over several or over all of the subjects belonging to the debtor.

End of Article: CATHOLIC (Gr. KcaBoXuK6s, general, universal)

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