Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Apostolicae curae
Apostolicae curae is the title of an apostolic letter, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The Anglican Communion made no official reply, but the archbishops of Canterbury and York of the Church of England published a response known by its Latin title Saepius officio in 1897.
Leo XIII deemed Anglican ordinations to be invalid because he found the Anglican Edwardine Ordinals deficient in intention and form. He declared that the rites expressed an intention to create a priesthood different from the sacrificing priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church and to reduce ordination to a mere ecclesiastical institution instead of a sacramental conferral of actual grace by the action itself, thereby invalidating any sacramental holy orders. He raised similar objection to the Anglican rite for the consecration of bishops, thus dismissing the entire subject of the apostolic succession of Anglican priests and bishops from validly ordained 16th-century bishops.
The view of many Anglican bishops and defenders was that the required references to the sacrificial priesthood at the heart of the Roman argument never existed in many of the ancient Latin liturgical rites' ordination liturgies, or in certain Eastern Catholic ordination liturgies that the Roman Catholic Church considered to be valid. In the Roman Catholic view, the differences between these rites are a matter of tradition or custom, and indicate no intention to exclude a sacrificing priesthood.
In 1896, Pope Leo XIII established a commission to reconsider the validity and liceity of all Anglican orders after receiving an appeal for such a review from Fernand Portal, a Roman Catholic priest and former missionary, and Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax, an Anglican. Following the establishment of the Church of England outside of papal authority, the Catholic Church did not recognize the consecrations of bishops by a prelate who accepted the supremacy of the English monarch and whose appointments lacked papal confirmation. Several centuries later, some hoped that a review in light of a contemporary understanding of grace that had developed in sacramental theology would support a different assessment. Leo's commission was equally divided between two opposing views, and Leo relied on his personal theologian, Cardinal Raffaele Pierotti, who was titled the Master of the Apostolic Palace (the role now called Theologian of the Pontifical Household). Pierotti held a negative position on the validity of Anglican orders and believed that reaffirmation of their invalidity would result in many converts to Catholicism.
Prior to Apostolicae curae, decisions had already been given by Rome that Anglican orders were invalid. The practices of the Catholic Church had supposed their invalidity. Whenever former Anglican priests desired to be priests in the 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 Catholic Church practice of 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 Catholic Church. A few 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 who 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 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 in September 1896 and declared Anglican orders to be "absolutely null and utterly void": "ordinationes ritu anglicano actas irritas prorsus fuisse et esse, omninoque nullas." The bull explained at length that the decision rested on extrinsic and on intrinsic grounds.
The extrinsic grounds were said to be in the fact of the implicit approval of the Holy See given to the constant practice of unconditionally ordaining former Anglican priests who desired to be priests in the 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 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 King Edward VI, were thought to be invalid by the 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 I and King Philip, Pope Julius III sent Cardinal Reginald 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 Pole on 8 March 1554 distinguished two classes of priests:
Hub AI
Apostolicae curae AI simulator
(@Apostolicae curae_simulator)
Apostolicae curae
Apostolicae curae is the title of an apostolic letter, issued in 1896 by Pope Leo XIII, declaring all Anglican ordinations to be "absolutely null and utterly void". The Anglican Communion made no official reply, but the archbishops of Canterbury and York of the Church of England published a response known by its Latin title Saepius officio in 1897.
Leo XIII deemed Anglican ordinations to be invalid because he found the Anglican Edwardine Ordinals deficient in intention and form. He declared that the rites expressed an intention to create a priesthood different from the sacrificing priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church and to reduce ordination to a mere ecclesiastical institution instead of a sacramental conferral of actual grace by the action itself, thereby invalidating any sacramental holy orders. He raised similar objection to the Anglican rite for the consecration of bishops, thus dismissing the entire subject of the apostolic succession of Anglican priests and bishops from validly ordained 16th-century bishops.
The view of many Anglican bishops and defenders was that the required references to the sacrificial priesthood at the heart of the Roman argument never existed in many of the ancient Latin liturgical rites' ordination liturgies, or in certain Eastern Catholic ordination liturgies that the Roman Catholic Church considered to be valid. In the Roman Catholic view, the differences between these rites are a matter of tradition or custom, and indicate no intention to exclude a sacrificing priesthood.
In 1896, Pope Leo XIII established a commission to reconsider the validity and liceity of all Anglican orders after receiving an appeal for such a review from Fernand Portal, a Roman Catholic priest and former missionary, and Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax, an Anglican. Following the establishment of the Church of England outside of papal authority, the Catholic Church did not recognize the consecrations of bishops by a prelate who accepted the supremacy of the English monarch and whose appointments lacked papal confirmation. Several centuries later, some hoped that a review in light of a contemporary understanding of grace that had developed in sacramental theology would support a different assessment. Leo's commission was equally divided between two opposing views, and Leo relied on his personal theologian, Cardinal Raffaele Pierotti, who was titled the Master of the Apostolic Palace (the role now called Theologian of the Pontifical Household). Pierotti held a negative position on the validity of Anglican orders and believed that reaffirmation of their invalidity would result in many converts to Catholicism.
Prior to Apostolicae curae, decisions had already been given by Rome that Anglican orders were invalid. The practices of the Catholic Church had supposed their invalidity. Whenever former Anglican priests desired to be priests in the 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 Catholic Church practice of 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 Catholic Church. A few 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 who 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 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 in September 1896 and declared Anglican orders to be "absolutely null and utterly void": "ordinationes ritu anglicano actas irritas prorsus fuisse et esse, omninoque nullas." The bull explained at length that the decision rested on extrinsic and on intrinsic grounds.
The extrinsic grounds were said to be in the fact of the implicit approval of the Holy See given to the constant practice of unconditionally ordaining former Anglican priests who desired to be priests in the 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 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 King Edward VI, were thought to be invalid by the 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 I and King Philip, Pope Julius III sent Cardinal Reginald 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 Pole on 8 March 1554 distinguished two classes of priests: