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1. Definition The term Gallicanism (from Middle Latin gallicanus, hence French  gallicanisme) was coined by 19th-century Ultramontanism. It encapsulates a variety of theories and practices intended to justify and realize the freedom and independence of the French church vis-à-vis the papacy’s claim of universal jurisdiction. There were two basic types of Gallicanism: a more theologically based  “episcopal Gallicanism” (Episcopalianism), which derived the independence of the territorial church from the dignity of the episcopate, an…

1. Concept A diocese (from the Greek dioíkesis, Latin  dioecesis, “administration,” “administrative district”) is an ecclesiastical territory within which a Catholic bishop executes his office (Episcopate). The equivalent in the German-speaking Protestant world is the institution of the Landeskirche. The term “diocese” (French diocèse; Spanish  diócesis; Italian  diocesi; German  Diözese) dates back to Late Antiquity. The term “bishopric” and cognates (French évêché; Spanish obispado; German  Bistum, from MHG  bischoftuom, “that pertaining to the bishop”) h…

1. Definition Modern scholars use the term  Catholicism as a collective term for all the sociocultural manifestations of the Roman Catholic Church, from the forms of its institutional constitution through individual and collective manifestations of religiosity to ideal-typical ethicopolitical attitudes, patterns of economic behavior, artistic styles, interpretive mental models, and theological meanings. The first and most fundamental feature of Catholicism is probably its claim – unlike the “heretical …

Little study has been devoted to the history of the term and the phenomenon. Early occurrences of the term appeared in Victorian England, where Protestant anti-Catholicism was organized in numerous societies during the first half of the 19th century (British Reformation Society, 1827; Protestant Association, 1835/1836; National Club, 1845 [7]; [6]). Although central themes of its later manifestations were anticipated in the anticlericalism, antipopery, and the anti-Roman tenor of some late medieval reform movements (including the Reformation)…

1. DefinitionA broad concept of episcopalism embraces all models of church polity and ecclesiological theories (theories of the church) in which the episcopate is understood as the fundamental principle of church polity. In contrast to Protestantism, theoretical episcopalism in the medieval and Roman Catholic Church does not include constitutional legitimation of church governance by the secular sovereign (cf. Episcopal system) but rather theological and canonistic arguments justifying the episcopal structure of the church.The broad spectrum of practical fo…

1. History 1.1. Antiquity and Middle Ages 1.1.1. Claim and characterCiting the quotation attributed to Christ, “Thou art Peter [Greek Pétros, “rock”], and upon this rock I will build my church” (Mt 16,18), the papacy saw itself as an institution founded by Jesus Christ, in which the implicit seniority of Peter among the group of the Apostles was perpetuated in the form of a hierarchical supreme head of the Roman Catholic Church, equipped with exclusive powers. Seen in terms of historical development, however, this …

1. Catholic1.1. DistinctionsIn contrast to Protestantism, in early modern Catholicism the medieval feudal notion of the religious elite as a separate social estate lived on (Estates, society of) [3]. The clerical class, as distinct from the laity, comprised those who – on the basis of a sacramental understanding of ministerial office – exercised authority (Latin potestas) in the church (Office). The outward distinction of the clerical estate was marked by the claim of exclusive privileges (e.g. immunity in tax matters and criminal cases, separ…