''Testem benevolentiae nostrae'' is an

apostolic letter Ecclesiastical letters are publications or announcements of the organs of Roman Catholic ecclesiastical authority, e.g. the synods, but more particularly of pope and bishops, addressed to the faithful in the form of letters. Letters of the pop ...

written by

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

to Cardinal

James Gibbons James Cardinal Gibbons (July 23, 1834 – March 24, 1921) was a senior-ranking American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Apostolic Vicar of North Carolina from 1868 to 1872, Bishop of Richmond from 1872 to 1877, and as ninth ...

Archbishop of Baltimore The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Baltimore ( la, link=no, Archidiœcesis Baltimorensis) is the premier (or first) see of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the United States. The archdiocese comprises the City of Baltimore and nine of M ...

, dated January 22, 1899. In it, the pope addressed a

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

that he called Americanism and expressed his concern that the

Catholic Church in the United States With 23 percent of the United States' population , the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided i ...

should guard against American values of

liberalism Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...

and pluralism undermining the doctrine of the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

Background

''Testem benevolentiae nostrae'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "Witness to Our Good Will."

was concerned about the culture of Catholics in the United States in response to the preface of the French

translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

of the biography of the American priest Isaac Thomas Hecker.Pallen, Condé. "Testem Benevolentiae." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 7 November 2015 Hecker's biography reached

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

11 years after Hecker had died in good standing with the Church, and its French translation included a liberal preface by Abbé Félix Klein. Leo proposed to review certain opinions expressed by the translator in the book about Hecker. In particular, Klein implied that Hecker thought that the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

should adapt to the new advanced civilization, relax its disciplines regarding the rule of life and the deposit of faith, and pass over or minimize certain points of doctrine or give to them a new meaning that the Church had never held.

Content

Rejection of American particularism

''Testem benevolentiae nostrae'' involved American particularism and view of individual

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

. On particularism, it was believed that a movement of American Catholics felt they were a special case and needed greater latitude to assimilate to a majority-

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

nation. The letter rejected the idea of some who conceive and would have the Church in America to be different from what it is in the rest of the world.Pope Leo XIII. ''Testem benevolentiae nostrae'', 22 January 1899
/ref> The letter actually had more to do with Catholics in

than those in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. French conservatives were appalled at Abbé Félix Klein's remarks in a book about an American priest, Isaac Thomas Hecker, and claimed that a number of the American Catholic clergy shared those views.Kelly, Joseph Francis. ''History and Heresy'', Liturgical Press, 2012
Leo expresses concern that Americans would value their freedom and

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and to value independence and self-reli ...

so much that they would reject the idea of

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

and the priesthood: "Did not your country, the United States, derive the beginnings both of faith and of culture from the children of these religious families?" It was not uncommon for American bishops, finding themselves having to provide education and health care to large numbers of immigrants, to solicite congregations pointedly that were involved in those activities. Leo cautioned against valuing an active apostolate more than a contemplative one: "Nor should any difference of praise be made between those who follow the active state of life and those others who, charmed with solitude, give themselves to prayer and bodily mortification."

Negative view of freedom of press

In November 1892, at a meeting of the archbishops held in New York City, Bishop

Francesco Satolli Francesco Satolli (21 July 1839 – 8 January 1910) was an Italian theologian, professor, cardinal, and the first Apostolic Delegate to the United States. Biography He was born on 21 July 1839, at Marsciano near Perugia. He was educated at ...

, who would soon be the first

apostolic delegate An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international o ...

to the United States, presented 14 propositions regarding the solution of certain school problems that had been for some time under discussion. The draft propositions were "inopportunely" published with incorrect interpretations and malign insinuations in some papers, which caused a good deal of "acrid" discussion.Parsons, Reuben. "Leo XII and the Church in the United States", ''Studies in Church History'', Century XIX, Pt. II, J.J. McVey, 1900
/ref> The apostolic letter clearly rejects full freedom of the press:

"These dangers, viz., the confounding of license with liberty, the passion for discussing and pouring contempt upon any possible subject, the assumed right to hold whatever opinions one pleases upon any subject and to set them forth in print to the world, have so wrapped minds in darkness that there is now a greater need of the Church's teaching office than ever before, lest people become unmindful both of conscience and of duty."

Cardinal Gibbons's response

The letter did not assert that Hecker or other Americans had held any unsound doctrine but instead stated merely that if such opinions had existed, the hierarchy was to eradicate them. Cardinal James Gibbons and many other prelates replied to Rome. With a nearly-unanimous voice, they declared that the incriminated opinions had no existence among American Catholics, and Hecker had never countenanced the slightest departure from Catholic principles in their fullest and strictest application.

Legacy and influence

John L. Allen Jr. John L. Allen Jr. (born January 20, 1965) is an American journalist and author who serves as editor of the Catholic news website ''Crux'', formerly hosted by ''The Boston Globe'' and now independently funded. Before moving to ''The Boston Globe ...

believes that the apostolic letter was really directed at liberal currents in France. The disturbance caused by the condemnation was slight since almost the entire laity and a considerable part of the clergy were unaware of the affair. However, the letter ended up strengthening the position of the conservatives in France. Smith, Michael Paul. "Isaac Thomas Hecker." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 20 February 2020

References

Sources

Catholic Encyclopedia article on the letter

External links

{{Wikisource, Testem Benevolentiae Nostrae

Documents of Pope Leo XIII History of Catholicism in the United States History of Catholicism in France Religion and politics 1899 documents 1899 in Christianity January 1899 events