Neo-ultramontanism
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Neo-ultramontanism (or new ultramontanism) is the belief of certain
Although few contemporary historians of the Roman Catholic Church distinguish between neo-ultramontanism and the more moderate ultramontanism of mainstream nineteenth-century Roman Catholicism, there were substantial differences between the two. The neo-ultramontanes wanted to pass by decree the most extreme definition of papal infallibility possible and did not wish for debates at all. They were, indeed, regarded as imprudent by more moderate ultramontanists who won the debate at the First Vatican Council.
Origins and history
Neo-ultramontanism as a movement dates back to the writings of
The term neo-ultramontanism, however, was not coined until 1893, when it was used by one of its strongest adherents,[citation needed] the British lay convert William George Ward[1] and adopted by Cardinal Henry Manning. Cuthbert Butler, an historian of the First Vatican Council, summarized Ward's viewpoint:
He held that the infallible element of bulls, encyclicals, etc., should not be restricted to their formal definitions but ran through the entire doctrinal instructions; the decrees of the Roman Congregation, if adopted by the Pope and published with his authority, thereby were stamped with the mark of infallibility, in short "his every doctrinal pronouncement is infallibly rendered by the Holy Ghost".[2]
During the lead-up to the First Vatican Council the neo-ultramontanes were very well organized and included within their ranks a substantial portion of the 601 bishops who voted on the question of infallibility at that council. They were concentrated in Western Europe, but did not manage to win the debate, which liberal historians attribute to their lack of theological and historical understanding of how the doctrine of infallibility was first proposed.[citation needed]
After the First Vatican Council, neo-ultramontanism as a semi-organized movement declined as its chief adherents were not replaced.
Criticism of the term
Many Catholic Church historians are critical of the term neo-ultramontanism because they believe that it fails to clarify clearly the position of those who advocated it and that it was never in any general use, always being confined to a few of either its staunchest advocates or to strong opponents of its beliefs like the Lord Acton.
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Collins 1997, pp. 45, 60.
- ^ Cuthbert 1962, pp. 57–58.
- ^ Lash, Nicholas (2 December 1995). "On Not Inventing Doctrine". The Tablet. p. 1544. Retrieved 16 November 2017 – via Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research.
Works cited
- ISBN 978-0-00-628039-2.
- Cuthbert, Butler (1962). Butler, Christopher(ed.). The Vatican Council, 1869–1870. London: Collins and Harvill Press.
Further reading
- Brown, Marvin L. Jr. (1977). Louis Veuillot: French Ultramontane Catholic Journalist and Layman, 1813–1883. Durham, North Carolina: Moore Publishing Co. ISBN 978-0-87716-070-0.
- Gough, Austin (1986). Paris and Rome: The Gallican Church and the Ultramontane Campaign, 1848–1853. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-821977-4.
- Holmes, J. Derek (1978). More Roman than Rome: English Catholicism in the Nineteenth Century. London: Burns and Oates. ISBN 978-0-86012-060-5.
- Nédoncelle, Maurice; et al., eds. (1960). L'ecclésiologie au XIXe siècle [Ecclesiology in the 19th Century] (in French). Paris: Éditions du Cerf.
- Rao, John C. (2005). "School Days". Seattle Catholic. Retrieved 17 November 2017.
- Ward, Wilfrid (1912) [1893]. William George Ward and the Catholic Revival. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. LCCN 01020612. Retrieved 16 November 2017.