Page 72

Page 72

Roman Catholics THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG 72

x.14). But Roman Catholics deny the charge, and reverently regard the mass as a dramatic commemoration and renewed application of the great mystery of redemption, and the daily food of the devout believer (on the Roman Catholic worship, cf. the literature under BREVIARY; MASS; and MISSAL).

4. History. The earliest record of a Christian Church in Rome is given in Paul's Epistle to the Romans (58 A.D). Though not founded by Peter or Paul, it may possibly be traced to those " strangers

of Rome, Jews, and proselytes," who 1. The witnessed the Pentecostal miracle on Founds- the birthday of the Christian Church

tion. (Acts ii. 10). It is probably the oldest church in the West, and acquired great distinction by the martyrdom of Peter and Paul. The Vatican Hill, where the chief of the apostles was crucified, became the Calvary, and Rome the Jerusalem, of Latin Christendom. The Roman martyrdom of Paul is universally conceded. The sojourn of Peter in Rome has been doubted by eminent Protestant scholars, and it can not be proved from the New Testament (unless " Babylon " in I Pet. v. 13 be understood figuratively of Rome); but it is so generally attested by the early Fathers, Greek as well as Latin, that it must be admitted as a historical fact, though Peter probably did not reach Rome before 63 A.D., as there is no mention made of him in the Epistle to the Romans, or in Paul's Epistles of the Roman captivity, written between 61 and 63. The metropolitan position of the city, whose very name means " power," and which for so many centuries had been the mistress of the world, together with the wide-spread belief that Christ (Matt. xvi. 18) had instituted a perpetual primacy of the Church in the person of Peter and his successors in office, supposed to be the bishops of Rome, are the chief secondary causes of the rapid growth of that congregation to the highest influence. It inherited the ambition and prestige of empire, and simply substituted the cross for the sword as the symbol of power. For fifteen centuries the fortunes of Western Christendom were bound up with the Roman Church; and even now, in its old age, it is full of activity everywhere, but especially in Protestant countries, where it is stimulated by opposition. Three stages may be distinguished in the development of Roman Catholicism.

The age of ancient Greco-Latin Catholicism, from the second to the eighth century, before the final rupture of the Greek and Latin communions. This

is the common inheritance of all 2. Greco- churches. It is the age of the Fathers,

Latin Catholicism. of the ecumenical creeds and councils,

and of Christian emperors. Many of the leading features of Roman Catholicism, as distinct from Protestantism, are already found in the second and third centuries, and have their roots in the Judaizing tendencies combated by St. Paul. the spirit of traditionalism, sacerdotalism, prelacy, ceremonialism, asceticism, monasticism, was powerfully at work in the East and the West, in the Nicene and post-Nicene ages, and produced most of those doctrines, rites, and institutions which are to this day held in common by the Greek and Roman

churches. There are few dogmas and usages of Romanism which may not be traced in embryo to the Greek and Latin Fathers: hence the close resemblance of the Greek and Roman churches, notwithstanding their rivalry and antagonism. But, alongside of these Romanizing tendencies, there are found also, in the school of St. Augustine, the Evangelical doctrines of sin and grace, which were, next to the Bible, the chief propelling force of the Reformation.

The age of Medieval Latin Catholicism, as dis tinct and separated from the Greek, extends from Gregory I. (or from Charlemagne) to the Reforma tion (590-1517). It is the missionary age of Ca tholicism among the Celtic and Teutonic races in northern and central Europe. Here s. Medieval belong the conversion of the barbarians Latin of Europe, under the fostering care of dour. Christen- the bishoPS of Rome the growth of ~ papal absolutism, though in constant conflict with the secular power, especially the Ger man empire; the scholastic theology, culminating in the discussions of Anselm and the system of Thomas Aquinas, "and also the various forms of mysticism, represented by St. Bernard, Richard and Hugo of St. Victor (qq.v.), and Eckhart, Tauler (qq.v.), and other German mystics (see MYsTICIsM); an imposing theocracy, binding all the nations of Europe together, yet with strong elements of op position in its own communion, urging forward toward a reformation in head and members. Here occurred the Crusades (q.v.), lasting for two hun dred years (1096-1292), and here was born the Gothic type of architecture and were reared the im posing cathedrals of the continent and Great Brit ain. In this period belongs the revival of monas ticism in the rise of the mendicant orders, with Francis of Assisi and Dominic of Spain (qq.v.) as their founders; and also the papal schism with rival popes reigning in Rome and Avignon (1377 1417). The Middle Ages cradled the Protestant Reformation as well as the papal Counter-Reforma tion. Wyclif in England, Hus in Bohemia, Wessel in Germany, Savonarola in Italy, the Waldenses, the Bohemian Brethren, the Councils of Pisa, Con stance, and Basel (qq.v.), and the revival of letters (see HUMANISM), prepared the way for the great movement of the sixteenth century, which emanci pated Christendom from the spiritual bondage of Rome.

The age of modern Romanism, dating from the Reformation, or from the Council of Trent (1563). This is Roman Catholicism, in opposition not only to the Greek Church, but to Evangel-

4.Modern ical Protestantism. In some respects Romanism. it was an advance upon the Middle Ages, and experienced great benefit from the Reformation. No Alexander VI., who was a monster of wickedness, nor Julius II., who preferred the sword to the staff, nor Leo X., who had more interest in classical literature and art than in the Church, could now be elected to the chair of St. Peter. No such scandal as the papal schism, with two or three rival popes cursing and excommunicating each other, has disgraced the Church since the sixteenth century. On the other hand, the papacy has given