Apostolicae Curae
Encyclopedia
Apostolicae Curae is the title of a papal bull
, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII
, declaring all Anglican ordinations
to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury
and York
of the Church of England
responded to the papal charges with the encyclical
Saepius Officio in 1897.
The principal objection to Anglican orders being valid, according to Leo XIII, was the alleged deficiency of intention and of form of the Anglican ordination
rites. In the case of deficiency of intention, the pope declared that the rites expressed an intention to create a priesthood different from the sacrificing priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church
and reduce ordination to a mere ecclesiastical institution, an appointment or blessing, instead of a sacramental conferral of actual grace by the action itself.
The view of many Anglican bishops and apologists was that the required references to the sacrificial priesthood never existed in many ancient Latin Rite ordination liturgies, or in certain Eastern Rite ordination liturgies that the Roman Catholic Church considered to be valid. Many Roman Catholic apologists, including English bishops, asserted that those Eastern Rite forms adequately described the powers proper to a bishop, including his supreme priesthood and the ordination of priests, deacons and subdeacons, thus confirming the true intention and meaning of the rite.
Prior to Apostolicae Curae, decisions had already been given by Rome
that the Anglican orders
were invalid. The practices of the Roman Catholic Church
had supposed their invalidity. Whenever former Anglican priests desired to be priests in the Roman Catholic Church they were unconditionally ordained. As the Oxford Movement
progressed, several members of the clergy and laity of the Church of England
argued that the practice of the Roman Catholic Church unconditionally ordaining clerical converts from Anglicanism
arose out of a lack of inquiry into the validity of Anglican orders and from mistaken assumptions which, in the light of certain historical investigations, could no longer be asserted.
Those who were interested in a corporate reunion of Rome
and Canterbury
thought that, as a condition to such reunion, Anglican orders might be accepted as valid by the Roman Catholic Church. A few Roman Catholic writers thought that there was at least room for doubt and joined with them in seeking a fresh inquiry into the question and an authoritative judgment from Pope Leo XIII
. The pope permitted the question to be re-examined. He commissioned a number of men, whose opinions on the matter were known to be divergent, to state the grounds for his judgment in writing. He then summoned them to Rome and directed them to exchange writings. The pope placed at their disposal all the documents available and directed them to further investigate and discuss the matter. Thus prepared, he ordered them to meet in special sessions under the presidency of a cardinal
appointed by him. Twelve such sessions were held in which "all were invited to free discussion." He then directed that the acts of those sessions, together with all the documents, should be submitted to a council of cardinals, "so that when all had studied the whole subject and discussed it in Our presence each might give his opinion". The final result was the Papal bull
Apostolicae Curae, in which Anglican orders were declared to be invalid. The bull was issued 15 September 1896 and declared Anglican orders to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The bull explained at length that the decision rested on extrinsic and on intrinsic grounds.
given to the constant practice of unconditionally ordaining former Anglican priests who desired to be priests in the Roman Catholic Church and, also, in the explicit declarations of the Holy See as to the invalidity of Anglican orders on every occasion when its decision was given. According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, to attempt to confer orders a second time on the same person would be a sacrilege. Rome, by knowingly allowing the practice of ordaining former Anglican priests, supposed that their orders were invalid. The bull points out that orders received in the Church of England, according to the change introduced into the Ritual under Edward VI
, were thought to be invalid by the Roman Catholic Church. This was not through a custom grown up gradually, but from the date of that change in the ritual.
When the reconciliation of the Church of England with the Holy See took place in the reign of Queen Mary
, Pope Julius III
sent Reginald Cardinal Pole as Legate
to England with powers to meet the case. Those powers were "certainly not intended to deal with an abstract state of things, but with a specific and concrete issue." They were directed towards providing for holy orders in England "as the recognized condition of the circumstances and the times demanded." The powers given to Cardinal Pole on 8 March 1554 distinguished two classes of priests: "the first, those who had really received sacred orders, either before the secession of Henry VIII, or, if after it and by ministers infected by error and schism, still according to the accustomed Catholic Rite; the second, those who were initiated according to the Edwardine Ordinal, who on that account could be promoted, since they had received an ordination that was null." The mind of Julius III appears also from the letter dated 29 January 1555 by which Cardinal Pole delegated his powers to the Bishop of Norwich
. To the same effect was a bull issued by Pope Paul IV
on 20 June 1555 and a brief dated 30 October 1555. Apostolicae Curae also cites John Clement Gordon
who had received orders according to the Edwardine Ritual. Pope Clement XI
issued a decree on 17 April 1704 that he should be ordained unconditionally and he grounded his decision on the "defect of form and intention".
The same was held to be true of episcopal consecration. The episcopate is thought to constitute the priesthood in the highest degree. It was concluded that the true priesthood was utterly eliminated from the Anglican rite and the priesthood was in no way conferred truly and validly in the episcopal consecration of the same rite. For the same reason the episcopate was in no way truly and validly conferred by it and this the more so because among the first duties of the episcopate is that of ordaining ministers for the Holy Eucharist.
The pope went on to state that the Anglican ordinal had included what he felt were the errors of the English Reformation
. It could not be used to confer valid orders, nor could it later be purged of this original defect, chiefly because he felt the words used in it had a meaning entirely different from what would be required to confer the sacrament. The pope felt that not only was the proper form for the sacrament lacking in the Anglican ordinal, but the intention was also lacking. He concluded by explaining how carefully and how prudently this matter has been examined by the Holy See. He stated that those who examined it with him were agreed that the question had already been settled, but that it might be reconsidered and decided in the light of the latest controversies over the question. He then declared that ordinations conducted with the Anglican rite were "null and void", and implored those who were not Roman Catholic and who wanted orders to return to the one sheepfold of Christ where they would find the true aids for salvation. He also invited those who were the ministers of religion in their various congregations to be reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church, assuring them of his sympathy in their spiritual struggles. The bull concludes with the usual declaration of the authority of an apostolic letter.
Frederick Temple
, Archbishop of Canterbury
, and William Dalrymple Maclagan
, Archbishop of York
, answered Pope Leo's charges in their written response, Saepius Officio: Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the bull Apostolicae Curae of H.H. Leo XIII. It was written to prove the sufficiency of the form and intention used in the Anglican ordinal rites since the time of the English Reformation. According to this view, the required references to the sacrificial priesthood never existed in many ancient Catholic ordination liturgies and also in certain current Eastern Rite ordination liturgies the Roman Catholic Church considered valid.
First, they asserted that the ordination ceremonies in question were biblically valid. They then provided pages of quotations, detailing Roman and Orthodox liturgies that they considered guilty of the same alleged offenses. According to the archbishops, if the ordinations of the bishops and priests in the Anglican churches were invalid then, by the same measure, so must be the ordinations of clergy in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
On the charge of intent, the response argued that the readmission of the required phrases in 1662 were addressed more to the Presbyterian
rather than the Roman controversy. They asserted also that the Book of Common Prayer
as a whole contained a strong sacrificial theology in the ordinal. They agreed that, at the time of the reunion of the churches under Queen Mary, many Edwardian priests were deprived for various reasons. They then demonstrated that not one priest was deprived on account of defect of order. Some were voluntarily reordained and others received anointing as a supplement to their previous ordination. Some, and perhaps the majority, remained in their benefices without reordination. In some cases, Edwardian priests were promoted to higher positions in the Roman Catholic Church. They argued against the pope's example of John Clement Gordon, stating that - among other things - Gordon's desire for reordination had its roots in the discredited Nag's Head Fable
.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales issued a response to Saepius Officio and pointed out the Protestantism of Cranmer and the English Reformers.
or evangelical views (Temple was a contributor to the defining broad church
document, Essays and Reviews
, while Mclagan was high church
), and some Evangelicals distanced themselves from the Response. One Evangelical response declared that “Christian teaching must be tested by the New Testament, not by any nebulous formula known as Catholic truth”.
Another Anglican view was that of Randall Davidson, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. He stressed “the strength and depth of the Protestantism of England” and regarded other differences with Rome as much more important than its views on Anglican orders. This view seems to have been widely held at the time, judging from the reaction of Herbert Cardinal Vaughan, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster
: he was somewhat surprised that the pope's decision was so well received in England.
Helped by articles in The Times
, Apostolicae Curae was understood to mean that orders conferred in the Church of England were not, to the pope, orders in the Roman Catholic sense. Anglican resentment began to abate. Cardinal Vaughan's biographer comments that, "there would probably have been much more resentment had the Holy See
declared in favour of Anglican orders and declared Anglican clergy ‘massing priests’". Nonetheless Vaughan saw fit to publish "A Vindication of the Bull 'Apostolicae Curae' by the Cardinal Archbishop and Bishops of the Province of Westminster" in 1898.
, monk of Nashdom Abbey, published an eloquent defence of Anglican orders.
Looking at the Edwardian ordinal, Dix found sufficient mention of the priesthood in the service, the actual formula at the laying on of hands
being concerned not only with the priestly act of forgiving sins but also with administering the sacraments and sufficient mention of intention in the prefaces to the ordination rites, to make it impossible to believe that the priesthood was not being conferred and the traditional ministry continued. Nevertheless, he concluded by arguing that if Anglican authority committed itself to unity schemes that equated Anglican orders with those of Methodists and other Protestants, their action would justify Leo XIII and declare Apostolicae Curae to be right.
, an English Catholic weekly magazine, Timothy Dufort argued that “a way is open for the recognition of the Orders held in the Church of England today without the necessity of contradicting Pope Leo XIII”. He argues that the present BCP wording introduced in the 1662 Ordinal signifies the orders being bestowed in the clearest of terms and would meet Leo's requirements, while that of 1552 and 1559 did not. Furthermore the answer of the archbishops in his view has in itself removed another obstacle as it shows an intention on the part of the archbishops that is clearly adequate by the tests of Trent and the Holy Office. The final obstacle, the gap between 1552 and 1662, to which Pope Leo refers, has also disappeared. Old Catholic bishops, recognised as valid by Rome, have acted as co-consecrators in episcopal consecrations with Anglicans. By 1969, Dufort argued, all Anglican bishops are now also in the Old Catholic succession. He argued Apostolicae Curae had been overtaken by events.
.
The late Cardinal Basil Hume, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster (London, England), suggested that the conclusions of Apostolicae Curae can only relate to the situation in 1896 and that the involvement of Old Catholic
bishops in Anglican ordinations since the Bonn Agreement
in the 20th century, along with changes of the consecratory prefaces, have re-established apostolic succession within Anglicanism. Archbishop Hume said in 1978:
By 1994 his opinion was that doubts could exist about the invalidity of certain Anglican ordinations:
was formerly a bishop of the Church of England, but became a Roman Catholic after retirement and, in 1994, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Hume. This ordination was conditional due to "prudent doubt" about the invalidity of his ordination in the Church of England. Rome agreed with Cardinal Hume's assessment that there was uncertainty in some cases. He was later appointed a Chaplain of His Holiness
and then a Prelate of Honor (both of which carry the title Monsignor
) by Pope John Paul II
on 3 August 2000.
(then Prefect
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
, and later Pope Benedict XVI) issued a doctrinal commentary to accompany Pope John Paul II
’s apostolic letter Ad Tuendam Fidem
, which established penalties in Canon law
for failure to accept “definitive teaching”. Despite the ongoing work of the ecumenical Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission
(ARCIC), Ratzinger’s commentary listed Leo XIII’s declaration in Apostolicae Curae that Anglican orders are “absolutely null and utterly void” as one of the teachings to which Catholics must give “firm and definitive assent”. These teachings are not understood by the Church as revealed doctrines but are rather those the church’s teaching authority finds to be so closely connected to God's revealed truth that belief in them is required to safeguard the divinely revealed truths of the Christian Faith. Those who fail to give “firm and definitive assent”, according to the commentary, would “no longer be in full communion with the Catholic Church”.
The continuing authority of Apostolicae Curae was reinforced in the essay The Significance of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus by Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda
SJ, Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, released on 9 November 2009. (Anglicanorum Coetibus introduces a canonical structure that provides for groups of Anglican clergy and faithful to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church "while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.") In the essay, which is approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Fr Ghirlanda comments that “the ordination of ministers coming from Anglicanism will be absolute, on the basis of the Bull Apostolicae curae
of Leo XIII of September 13, 1896.”
as priests and bishops in the Anglican Communion has been interpreted as expressing an understanding of ordination differing from the Roman Catholic Church, which officially holds that male-only priesthood is a definitive teaching.
Similarly, the decision of some Anglican bodies to extend intercommunion to churches without the traditional understanding of apostolic succession
, such as various Lutheran churches (see Porvoo Agreement), also indicates a breaking with apostolic teaching and practice according to the Roman Catholic Church. While the 1999 concordat in the United States between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
(ELCA) calls for Episcopal bishops to participate in the consecration of ELCA bishops, the agreement did not require the re-ordination of all ELCA bishops and ministers. This was done so that ELCA ministers ordained by these ELCA bishops could also serve in the Episcopal Church.
Nevertheless, it seems as though the Roman Catholic Church is broadening its criteria for recognition of Anglican orders and aligning itself more with Eastern Orthodoxy's criteria. For example, when Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, delivered a talk at a conference of Anglican bishops and laity at St. Albans, UK, in 2003, he noted that "a final solution [to recognition of Anglican orders] can be found only in the larger context of full communion in faith, sacramental life and shared apostolic vision." He specifically mentioned obstacles like "lay presidency, the ordination of women, and ethical problems such as abortion and homosexual partnerships." This position (with its emphasis on "doctrinal belief") seems to be in line with the attitude of Orthodoxy toward Anglican orders. Kallistsos Ware, for example, notes in his book, The Orthodox Church: "For Orthodoxy, the validity of ordinations does not depend simply on the fulfillment of certain technical conditions (external possession of the apostolic succession; correct form, matter and intention). The Orthodox also ask: What is the sacramental succession and priesthood? How does it understand the eucharistic presence and sacrifice? Only when these questions have been answered can a decision be made about the validity or otherwise of ordination. To isolate the problem of valid orders is to go up a blind alley. Realizing this, Anglicans and Orthodox in their discussions from the 1950s onwards have left the question of valid orders largely to one side, and have concentrated on more substantive and central themes of doctrinal belief."
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
, declaring all Anglican ordinations
Anglican ministry
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves...
to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
and York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
responded to the papal charges with the encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
Saepius Officio in 1897.
The principal objection to Anglican orders being valid, according to Leo XIII, was the alleged deficiency of intention and of form of the Anglican ordination
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
rites. In the case of deficiency of intention, the pope declared that the rites expressed an intention to create a priesthood different from the sacrificing priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and reduce ordination to a mere ecclesiastical institution, an appointment or blessing, instead of a sacramental conferral of actual grace by the action itself.
The view of many Anglican bishops and apologists was that the required references to the sacrificial priesthood never existed in many ancient Latin Rite ordination liturgies, or in certain Eastern Rite ordination liturgies that the Roman Catholic Church considered to be valid. Many Roman Catholic apologists, including English bishops, asserted that those Eastern Rite forms adequately described the powers proper to a bishop, including his supreme priesthood and the ordination of priests, deacons and subdeacons, thus confirming the true intention and meaning of the rite.
Origins
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
that the Anglican orders
Anglican ministry
The Anglican ministry is both the leadership and agency of Christian service in the Anglican Communion. "Ministry" commonly refers to the office of ordained clergy: the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. More accurately, Anglican ministry includes many laypeople who devote themselves...
were invalid. The practices of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
had supposed their invalidity. Whenever former Anglican priests desired to be priests in the Roman Catholic Church they were unconditionally ordained. As the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
progressed, several members of the clergy and laity of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
argued that the practice of the Roman Catholic Church unconditionally ordaining clerical converts from Anglicanism
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
arose out of a lack of inquiry into the validity of Anglican orders and from mistaken assumptions which, in the light of certain historical investigations, could no longer be asserted.
Those who were interested in a corporate reunion of Rome
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and Canterbury
Anglican Communion
The Anglican Communion is an international association of national and regional Anglican churches in full communion with the Church of England and specifically with its principal primate, the Archbishop of Canterbury...
thought that, as a condition to such reunion, Anglican orders might be accepted as valid by the Roman Catholic Church. A few Roman Catholic writers thought that there was at least room for doubt and joined with them in seeking a fresh inquiry into the question and an authoritative judgment from Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
. The pope permitted the question to be re-examined. He commissioned a number of men, whose opinions on the matter were known to be divergent, to state the grounds for his judgment in writing. He then summoned them to Rome and directed them to exchange writings. The pope placed at their disposal all the documents available and directed them to further investigate and discuss the matter. Thus prepared, he ordered them to meet in special sessions under the presidency of a cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
appointed by him. Twelve such sessions were held in which "all were invited to free discussion." He then directed that the acts of those sessions, together with all the documents, should be submitted to a council of cardinals, "so that when all had studied the whole subject and discussed it in Our presence each might give his opinion". The final result was the Papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
Apostolicae Curae, in which Anglican orders were declared to be invalid. The bull was issued 15 September 1896 and declared Anglican orders to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The bull explained at length that the decision rested on extrinsic and on intrinsic grounds.
Extrinsic grounds
The extrinsic grounds were said to be in the fact of the implicit approval of the Holy SeeHoly See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
given to the constant practice of unconditionally ordaining former Anglican priests who desired to be priests in the Roman Catholic Church and, also, in the explicit declarations of the Holy See as to the invalidity of Anglican orders on every occasion when its decision was given. According to the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, to attempt to confer orders a second time on the same person would be a sacrilege. Rome, by knowingly allowing the practice of ordaining former Anglican priests, supposed that their orders were invalid. The bull points out that orders received in the Church of England, according to the change introduced into the Ritual under Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
, were thought to be invalid by the Roman Catholic Church. This was not through a custom grown up gradually, but from the date of that change in the ritual.
When the reconciliation of the Church of England with the Holy See took place in the reign of Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, Pope Julius III
Pope Julius III
Pope Julius III , born Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte, was Pope from 7 February 1550 to 1555....
sent Reginald Cardinal Pole as Legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
to England with powers to meet the case. Those powers were "certainly not intended to deal with an abstract state of things, but with a specific and concrete issue." They were directed towards providing for holy orders in England "as the recognized condition of the circumstances and the times demanded." The powers given to Cardinal Pole on 8 March 1554 distinguished two classes of priests: "the first, those who had really received sacred orders, either before the secession of Henry VIII, or, if after it and by ministers infected by error and schism, still according to the accustomed Catholic Rite; the second, those who were initiated according to the Edwardine Ordinal, who on that account could be promoted, since they had received an ordination that was null." The mind of Julius III appears also from the letter dated 29 January 1555 by which Cardinal Pole delegated his powers to the Bishop of Norwich
Bishop of Norwich
The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers most of the County of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. The see is in the City of Norwich where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided...
. To the same effect was a bull issued by Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV
Pope Paul IV, C.R. , né Giovanni Pietro Carafa, was Pope from 23 May 1555 until his death.-Early life:Giovanni Pietro Carafa was born in Capriglia Irpina, near Avellino, into a prominent noble family of Naples...
on 20 June 1555 and a brief dated 30 October 1555. Apostolicae Curae also cites John Clement Gordon
John Clement Gordon
John Clement Gordon , originally just John Gordon, bishop of Galloway, was born in Scotland on 1644, and was a member of the Gordon family of Coldwells, near Ellon in Buchan, Aberdeenshire...
who had received orders according to the Edwardine Ritual. Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI
Pope Clement XI , born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was Pope from 1700 until his death in 1721.-Early life:...
issued a decree on 17 April 1704 that he should be ordained unconditionally and he grounded his decision on the "defect of form and intention".
Instrinsic grounds
The intrinsic reason for which Anglican orders were pronounced invalid by the bull, was the "defect of form and intention." It set forth that the Sacraments of the New Law, as sensible and efficient signs of invisible grace, ought both to signify the grace that they effect, and effect the grace that they signify. The rite used in administering a sacrament must be directed to the meaning of that sacrament or else there would be no reason why the rite used in one sacrament may not effect another. What effects a sacrament is the intention of administering that sacrament and the rite used according to that intention. The bull took note of the fact that in 1662 the form introduced in the Edwardine ordinal of 1552 had added to it the words: "for the office and work of a priest". But it observed that this shows that the Anglicans themselves perceived that the first form was defective and inadequate. Rome felt that even if this addition could give the form its due signification, it was introduced too late. A century had already elapsed since the adoption of the Edwardine ordinal and as the hierarchy had become extinct there remained no power of ordaining.The same was held to be true of episcopal consecration. The episcopate is thought to constitute the priesthood in the highest degree. It was concluded that the true priesthood was utterly eliminated from the Anglican rite and the priesthood was in no way conferred truly and validly in the episcopal consecration of the same rite. For the same reason the episcopate was in no way truly and validly conferred by it and this the more so because among the first duties of the episcopate is that of ordaining ministers for the Holy Eucharist.
The pope went on to state that the Anglican ordinal had included what he felt were the errors of the English Reformation
English Reformation
The English Reformation was the series of events in 16th-century England by which the Church of England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church....
. It could not be used to confer valid orders, nor could it later be purged of this original defect, chiefly because he felt the words used in it had a meaning entirely different from what would be required to confer the sacrament. The pope felt that not only was the proper form for the sacrament lacking in the Anglican ordinal, but the intention was also lacking. He concluded by explaining how carefully and how prudently this matter has been examined by the Holy See. He stated that those who examined it with him were agreed that the question had already been settled, but that it might be reconsidered and decided in the light of the latest controversies over the question. He then declared that ordinations conducted with the Anglican rite were "null and void", and implored those who were not Roman Catholic and who wanted orders to return to the one sheepfold of Christ where they would find the true aids for salvation. He also invited those who were the ministers of religion in their various congregations to be reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church, assuring them of his sympathy in their spiritual struggles. The bull concludes with the usual declaration of the authority of an apostolic letter.
Anglican responses
No official reply was promulgated by the Church of England or by any other Anglican church. At the Lambeth Conference of 1897 a subcommittee report made reference to "an examination of the position of the Church of England" by the pope, but they declined to submit any resolution concerning "the Latin communion".Saepius Officio
Frederick Temple
Frederick Temple was an English academic, teacher, churchman and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1896 until his death.-Early life:...
, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
, and William Dalrymple Maclagan
William Dalrymple Maclagan
William Dalrymple Maclagan PC was Archbishop of York from 1891 to 1908, when he resigned his office, and was succeeded in 1909 by Cosmo Gordon Lang, later Archbishop of Canterbury...
, Archbishop of York
Archbishop of York
The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man...
, answered Pope Leo's charges in their written response, Saepius Officio: Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the bull Apostolicae Curae of H.H. Leo XIII. It was written to prove the sufficiency of the form and intention used in the Anglican ordinal rites since the time of the English Reformation. According to this view, the required references to the sacrificial priesthood never existed in many ancient Catholic ordination liturgies and also in certain current Eastern Rite ordination liturgies the Roman Catholic Church considered valid.
First, they asserted that the ordination ceremonies in question were biblically valid. They then provided pages of quotations, detailing Roman and Orthodox liturgies that they considered guilty of the same alleged offenses. According to the archbishops, if the ordinations of the bishops and priests in the Anglican churches were invalid then, by the same measure, so must be the ordinations of clergy in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.
On the charge of intent, the response argued that the readmission of the required phrases in 1662 were addressed more to the Presbyterian
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
rather than the Roman controversy. They asserted also that the Book of Common Prayer
Book of Common Prayer
The Book of Common Prayer is the short title of a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion, as well as by the Continuing Anglican, "Anglican realignment" and other Anglican churches. The original book, published in 1549 , in the reign of Edward VI, was a product of the English...
as a whole contained a strong sacrificial theology in the ordinal. They agreed that, at the time of the reunion of the churches under Queen Mary, many Edwardian priests were deprived for various reasons. They then demonstrated that not one priest was deprived on account of defect of order. Some were voluntarily reordained and others received anointing as a supplement to their previous ordination. Some, and perhaps the majority, remained in their benefices without reordination. In some cases, Edwardian priests were promoted to higher positions in the Roman Catholic Church. They argued against the pope's example of John Clement Gordon, stating that - among other things - Gordon's desire for reordination had its roots in the discredited Nag's Head Fable
Nag's Head Fable
The Nag's Head Fable was a fiction which purported that Matthew Parker, an Archbishop of Canterbury, was not consecrated solemnly, but instead was consecrated with a Bible pressed to his neck while inside the Nag's Head tavern...
.
The Catholic bishops of England and Wales issued a response to Saepius Officio and pointed out the Protestantism of Cranmer and the English Reformers.
Other Anglican responses
Saepius Officio was not presented as an official response of the church. Neither author represented low churchLow church
Low church is a term of distinction in the Church of England or other Anglican churches initially designed to be pejorative. During the series of doctrinal and ecclesiastic challenges to the established church in the 16th and 17th centuries, commentators and others began to refer to those groups...
or evangelical views (Temple was a contributor to the defining broad church
Broad church
Broad church is a term referring to latitudinarian churchmanship in the Church of England, in particular, and Anglicanism, in general. From this, the term is often used to refer to secular political organisations, meaning that they encompass a broad range of opinion.-Usage:After the terms high...
document, Essays and Reviews
Essays and Reviews
Essays and Reviews, published in March 1860, is a broad-church volume of seven essays on Christianity. The topics covered the biblical research of the German critics, the evidence for Christianity, religious thought in England, and the cosmology of Genesis....
, while Mclagan was high church
High church
The term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
), and some Evangelicals distanced themselves from the Response. One Evangelical response declared that “Christian teaching must be tested by the New Testament, not by any nebulous formula known as Catholic truth”.
Archbishop of Westminster
The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the Metropolitan of the Province of Westminster and, as a matter of custom, is elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, and therefore de facto spokesman...
: he was somewhat surprised that the pope's decision was so well received in England.
Helped by articles in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Apostolicae Curae was understood to mean that orders conferred in the Church of England were not, to the pope, orders in the Roman Catholic sense. Anglican resentment began to abate. Cardinal Vaughan's biographer comments that, "there would probably have been much more resentment had the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
declared in favour of Anglican orders and declared Anglican clergy ‘massing priests’". Nonetheless Vaughan saw fit to publish "A Vindication of the Bull 'Apostolicae Curae' by the Cardinal Archbishop and Bishops of the Province of Westminster" in 1898.
Gregory Dix
Arguing that “It is a commonplace of all theology, Roman or Anglican, that no public formulary can be or ought to be interpreted by the private sense attached to it by the compilers”, and that consequently the views of Cranmer were irrelevant, in 1944 Gregory DixGregory Dix
George Eglinton Alston Dix was an English monk and priest of Nashdom Abbey, an Anglican Benedictine community. He was a noted liturgical scholar whose work had particular influence on the reform of Anglican liturgy in the mid-20th century.-Life:Dix was born in Woolwich...
, monk of Nashdom Abbey, published an eloquent defence of Anglican orders.
Looking at the Edwardian ordinal, Dix found sufficient mention of the priesthood in the service, the actual formula at the laying on of hands
Laying on of hands
The laying on of hands is a religious ritual that accompanies certain religious practices, which are found throughout the world in varying forms....
being concerned not only with the priestly act of forgiving sins but also with administering the sacraments and sufficient mention of intention in the prefaces to the ordination rites, to make it impossible to believe that the priesthood was not being conferred and the traditional ministry continued. Nevertheless, he concluded by arguing that if Anglican authority committed itself to unity schemes that equated Anglican orders with those of Methodists and other Protestants, their action would justify Leo XIII and declare Apostolicae Curae to be right.
Timothy Dufort
Writing in May 1982 in The TabletThe Tablet
The Tablet is a Catholic international weekly review published in London. Contributors to its pages have included Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Paul VI ....
, an English Catholic weekly magazine, Timothy Dufort argued that “a way is open for the recognition of the Orders held in the Church of England today without the necessity of contradicting Pope Leo XIII”. He argues that the present BCP wording introduced in the 1662 Ordinal signifies the orders being bestowed in the clearest of terms and would meet Leo's requirements, while that of 1552 and 1559 did not. Furthermore the answer of the archbishops in his view has in itself removed another obstacle as it shows an intention on the part of the archbishops that is clearly adequate by the tests of Trent and the Holy Office. The final obstacle, the gap between 1552 and 1662, to which Pope Leo refers, has also disappeared. Old Catholic bishops, recognised as valid by Rome, have acted as co-consecrators in episcopal consecrations with Anglicans. By 1969, Dufort argued, all Anglican bishops are now also in the Old Catholic succession. He argued Apostolicae Curae had been overtaken by events.
John Jay Hughes
In more recent times the Reverend John Jay Hughes, amongst a few other Roman Catholic writers, have concluded that there were enough flaws in and ambiguity surrounding the pope’s apostolic letter that the question of the invalidity of Anglican holy orders allegedly merited re-examination. Father Hughes himself had previously been an Anglican priest and was subsequently conditionally (sub conditione) ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. Other Anglican theological critics argue that apostolic succession had never been broken in the first place, due to valid ordinations tracing back to Archbishop Laud and beyond to Archbishop ParkerMatthew Parker
Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
.
Basil Hume
Old Catholic Church
The term Old Catholic Church is commonly used to describe a number of Ultrajectine Christian churches that originated with groups that split from the Roman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, most importantly that of Papal Infallibility...
bishops in Anglican ordinations since the Bonn Agreement
Bonn Agreement (religion)
The Bonn Agreement of 1931 is a document that established full communion between the Church of England and the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht, including the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands...
in the 20th century, along with changes of the consecratory prefaces, have re-established apostolic succession within Anglicanism. Archbishop Hume said in 1978:
By 1994 his opinion was that doubts could exist about the invalidity of certain Anglican ordinations:
Graham Leonard
Graham LeonardGraham Leonard
Graham Douglas Leonard KCVO was a British priest. His principal ministry was as a bishop of the Church of England but, after his retirement as the Bishop of London, he became a Roman Catholic, becoming the most senior Anglican cleric to do so since the English Reformation...
was formerly a bishop of the Church of England, but became a Roman Catholic after retirement and, in 1994, he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Hume. This ordination was conditional due to "prudent doubt" about the invalidity of his ordination in the Church of England. Rome agreed with Cardinal Hume's assessment that there was uncertainty in some cases. He was later appointed a Chaplain of His Holiness
Chaplain of His Holiness
A Chaplain of His Holiness is a priest to whom the Pope has granted this title. They are addressed as Monsignor and have certain privileges, such as regards ecclesiastical dress....
and then a Prelate of Honor (both of which carry the title Monsignor
Monsignor
Monsignor, pl. monsignori, is the form of address for those members of the clergy of the Catholic Church holding certain ecclesiastical honorific titles. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian monsignore, from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord"...
) by Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
on 3 August 2000.
Reaffirmation by the Holy See
In 1998 Joseph Cardinal RatzingerPope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
(then Prefect
Prefect
Prefect is a magisterial title of varying definition....
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
, and later Pope Benedict XVI) issued a doctrinal commentary to accompany Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
’s apostolic letter Ad Tuendam Fidem
Ad Tuendam Fidem
Ad Tuendam Fidem is an apostolic letter of Pope John Paul II issued motu proprio on May 18, 1998.The apostolic letter made modifications to the Oriental and Latin codes of canon law defining penalties for public dissent by public ministers of the Church....
, which established penalties in Canon law
Canon law (Catholic Church)
The canon law of the Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation. It lacks the necessary binding force present in most modern day legal systems. The academic...
for failure to accept “definitive teaching”. Despite the ongoing work of the ecumenical Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission
Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission
The Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission is an organization which seeks to make ecumenical progress between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
(ARCIC), Ratzinger’s commentary listed Leo XIII’s declaration in Apostolicae Curae that Anglican orders are “absolutely null and utterly void” as one of the teachings to which Catholics must give “firm and definitive assent”. These teachings are not understood by the Church as revealed doctrines but are rather those the church’s teaching authority finds to be so closely connected to God's revealed truth that belief in them is required to safeguard the divinely revealed truths of the Christian Faith. Those who fail to give “firm and definitive assent”, according to the commentary, would “no longer be in full communion with the Catholic Church”.
The continuing authority of Apostolicae Curae was reinforced in the essay The Significance of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus by Fr. Gianfranco Ghirlanda
Gianfranco Ghirlanda
Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J. is an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.-Biography:Gianfranco Ghirlanda was born on 5 July 1942 in Rome....
SJ, Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, released on 9 November 2009. (Anglicanorum Coetibus introduces a canonical structure that provides for groups of Anglican clergy and faithful to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church "while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.") In the essay, which is approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Fr Ghirlanda comments that “the ordination of ministers coming from Anglicanism will be absolute, on the basis of the Bull Apostolicae curae
Apostolicae Curae
Apostolicae Curae is the title of a papal bull, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be "absolutely null and utterly void"...
of Leo XIII of September 13, 1896.”
Complications
In recent decades several developments have complicated the possible re-examination of Anglican orders by the Roman Catholic Church. The ordination of womenOrdination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
as priests and bishops in the Anglican Communion has been interpreted as expressing an understanding of ordination differing from the Roman Catholic Church, which officially holds that male-only priesthood is a definitive teaching.
Similarly, the decision of some Anglican bodies to extend intercommunion to churches without the traditional understanding of apostolic succession
Apostolic Succession
Apostolic succession is a doctrine, held by some Christian denominations, which asserts that the chosen successors of the Twelve Apostles, from the first century to the present day, have inherited the spiritual, ecclesiastical and sacramental authority, power, and responsibility that were...
, such as various Lutheran churches (see Porvoo Agreement), also indicates a breaking with apostolic teaching and practice according to the Roman Catholic Church. While the 1999 concordat in the United States between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a mainline Protestant denomination headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA officially came into existence on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three churches. As of December 31, 2009, it had 4,543,037 baptized members, with 2,527,941 of them...
(ELCA) calls for Episcopal bishops to participate in the consecration of ELCA bishops, the agreement did not require the re-ordination of all ELCA bishops and ministers. This was done so that ELCA ministers ordained by these ELCA bishops could also serve in the Episcopal Church.
Nevertheless, it seems as though the Roman Catholic Church is broadening its criteria for recognition of Anglican orders and aligning itself more with Eastern Orthodoxy's criteria. For example, when Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, delivered a talk at a conference of Anglican bishops and laity at St. Albans, UK, in 2003, he noted that "a final solution [to recognition of Anglican orders] can be found only in the larger context of full communion in faith, sacramental life and shared apostolic vision." He specifically mentioned obstacles like "lay presidency, the ordination of women, and ethical problems such as abortion and homosexual partnerships." This position (with its emphasis on "doctrinal belief") seems to be in line with the attitude of Orthodoxy toward Anglican orders. Kallistsos Ware, for example, notes in his book, The Orthodox Church: "For Orthodoxy, the validity of ordinations does not depend simply on the fulfillment of certain technical conditions (external possession of the apostolic succession; correct form, matter and intention). The Orthodox also ask: What is the sacramental succession and priesthood? How does it understand the eucharistic presence and sacrifice? Only when these questions have been answered can a decision be made about the validity or otherwise of ordination. To isolate the problem of valid orders is to go up a blind alley. Realizing this, Anglicans and Orthodox in their discussions from the 1950s onwards have left the question of valid orders largely to one side, and have concentrated on more substantive and central themes of doctrinal belief."