Creeds Of Christendom With A History And Critical Notes

Latin Editions.

Catechismus ex decreto Conc. Trident. Pii V. jussu editus, Romæ ap. Paulum Manutium, 1566, in editions of different sizes, very often reprinted all over Europe.

Catechismus ad Parochos, ex decreto Concilii Tridentini editus. Ex Pii V. Pont. Max. jussu promulgatus. Syncerus et integer, mendisque iterum repurgatus operâ P. D. L. H. P. A quo est additus apparatus ad Catechismum, in quo ratio, auctores, approbatores, et usus declarantur, Lugduni, 1659: Paris, 1671; Lovan.1678; Paris, 1684; Colon.1689, 1698, 1731; Aug. Vindel.1762; Lugdun.1829; Mechlin, 1831; Ratisb.1856 (730 pp.).

Catechismus ex decreto Conc. Tridentini ad Parochos Pii Quinti Pont. Max. jussu editus. Ad editionem Romæ A.D.1566 juris publici factam accuratissime expressus, ed. stereotypa VI., Lipsiæ (Tauchnitz), 1859, 8vo.

Also in Streitwolf et Klener: Libri Symb. eccl. cath., Tom. I. pp.101-712. A critical edition, indicating the different divisions, the quotations from the Scriptures, the Councils, and other documents.

Translations.

The Catechism for the Curates, composed by the Council of Trent, and published by command of Pope Pius the Fifth. Faithfully translated into English. Permissu superiorum. London, 1687.

The Catechism of the Council of Trent, translated into English by J. Donovan, Baltimore, 1829.

The Catechism of the Council of Trent, translated into English, with Notes, by T. A. Buckley, B.A., London, 1852, 8vo.

German translations, first, by Paul Hoffäus, Dillingen, 1568, 1576; another at Wien, 1763; one by T. W. Bodemann, Göttingen, 1844; and by Ad. Buse, Bielefeld, (with the Lat. text), 3d ed.1867, 2 vols.

French translations, published at Bordeaux, 1568; Paris, 1578, 1650 (by P. de la Haye), 1673, etc.

History.

Julii Pogiani Sunensis (d.1567): Epistolæ et Orationes olim collectæ ab Antonio Maria Gratiano, nunc ab Hieronymo Lagomarsinio e Societate Jesu advocationibus illustratæ ac primum editæ, Rom., Vol. I.1752; II.1756; III.1757; IV.1758.

Apparatus ad Catechismum, etc., mentioned above, by an anonymous author (perhaps Anton. Reginaldus), first published in the edition of the Catechism, Lugd.1659. The chief source of information.

J. C. Köcher: Catech. Geschichte der Pübstlichen Kirche, Jen.1753.

Köllner: Symbolik der röm. Kirche, pp.166-190. K. gives a list of other works on the subject.

The Roman Catechism was proposed by the Council of Trent, which entered upon some preparatory labors, but at its last session committed the execution to the Pope. [194] The object was to regulate the important work of popular religious instruction, and to bring it into harmony with the decisions of the Council. [195] Pius IV. (d.1565), under the advice of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo (Archbishop of Milan), intrusted the work to four eminent divines, viz., Leonardo Marini (afterwards Archbishop of Lanciano), Egidio Foscarari (Bishop of Modena), Muzio Calini (Archbishop of Jadera-Zara, in Dalmatia), and Francesco Fureiro (of Portugal). Three of them were Dominicans (as was the Pope himself). This explains the subsequent hostility of the Jesuits. Borromeo superintended the preparation with great care, and several accomplished Latin scholars, especially Jul. Pogianus, aided in the style of composition. [196] The Catechism was begun early in 1564, and substantially finished in December of the same year, but subjected for revision to Pogianus in 1565, and again to a commission of able divines and Latinists. It was finally completed in July, 1566, and published by order of Pope Pius V., in September, 1566, and soon translated into all the languages of Europe. Several Popes and Bishops recommended it in the highest terms. The Dominicans and Jansenists often appealed to its authority in the controversies about free will and divine grace, but the Jesuits (Less, Molina, and others) took ground against it, and even charged it with heresy.

The work is intended for teachers (as the title ad Parochos indicates), not for pupils. It is a very full popular manual of theology, based upon the decrees of Trent. It answers its purpose very well, by its precise definitions, lucid arrangement, and good style.

The Roman Catechism treats, in four parts: 1, de Symbolo apostolico; 2, de Sacramentis; 3, de Decalogo; 4, de Oratione Dominica. It was originally written and printed without divisions. [197] Its theology belongs to the school of Augustine and Thomas Aquinas, and hence it displeased the Jesuits. While it passes by certain features of the Roman system, as the indulgences and the rosary, it treats of others which were not touched upon by the Fathers of Trent, as the limbus patrum, the doctrine of the Church, and the authority of the Pope.

Notwithstanding the high character and authority of this production, it did not prevent the composition and use of many other catechisms, especially of a more popular kind and in the service of Jesuitism. The most distinguished of these are two Catechisms of the Jesuit Peter Canisius (a larger one for teachers, 1554, and a smaller one for pupils, 1566); the Catechism of Cardinal Bellarmin (1603), which Clement VIII. and later Popes commended as an authentic and useful exposition of the Roman Catechism, and which is much used by missionaries; and the Catechism of Bossuet for the diocese of Meaux (1687). The Roman Church allows an endless multiplication of such educational books with adaptations to different nationalities, ages, degrees of culture, local wants and circumstances, provided they agree with the doctrinal system set forth by the Council of Trent. Most of these books, however, must now be remodeled and adjusted to the Council of the Vatican. [198]