Anglo-Papalism
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Anglican Papalism, also referred to as Anglo-Papalism, is a subset of
Anglo-Catholicism Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...
with adherents manifesting a particularly high degree of influence from, and even identification with, the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. This position has historically been referred to as ''Anglican Papalism''; the term ''Anglo-Papalism'' is an American
neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
and it seems not to have appeared in print prior to the 1990s. Anglican Papalists have suggested "that the only way to convert England is by means of an 'English
Uniate The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...
' rite". Anglican Papalists have historically practiced praying the Dominican rosary, among other Marian devotions, Corpus Christi procession, as well as the reservation of and
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, also called Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament or the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, is a devotional ceremony, celebrated especially in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in some other C ...
.


Origins

The origins of "Anglican-Papalism", as it was then termed, lie in the writings of Spencer Jones, vicar of
Moreton-in-Marsh Moreton-in-Marsh is a market town in the Evenlode Valley, within the Cotswolds district and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Gloucestershire, England. Its flat and low-lying site is surrounded by the Cotswold Hills. The River Evenlode r ...
, and Lewis T. Wattson, an American who became an Anglican Franciscan friar. Both men were active around the turn of the twentieth century. Later adherents of the tradition include Henry Fynes-Clinton, Dom Gregory Dix and Hugh Ross Williamson. Some Anglican religious communities were Anglican Papalist, prominent among them the
Benedictines The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly Christian mysticism, contemplative Christian monasticism, monastic Religious order (Catholic), order of the Catholic Church for men and f ...
of Dix's Nashdom Abbey, who used the
Roman Missal The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Roman Rite, the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church. There have been several editions. History Before the Council of Trent (1570) ...
and monastic breviary in Latin.


Beliefs and practices

Anglican Papalists regard the
Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
as the earthly leader of the
Christian Church In ecclesiology, the Christian Church is what different Christian denominations conceive of as being the true body of Christians or the original institution established by Jesus Christ. "Christian Church" has also been used in academia as a syn ...
. They generally accept in full all the
Ecumenical Council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...
s recognised by the Catholic Church, including the Councils of Trent and the
First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...
, along with nearly all subsequent definitions of doctrine, including the bodily
Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...
and her
Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...
. There are Anglican Papalists who are in communion with the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
who reject the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City for session ...
for the same reasons many
traditionalist Catholics Traditionalist Catholicism is a movement that emphasizes beliefs, practices, customs, traditions, liturgical forms, devotions and presentations of teaching associated with the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). ...
do;
sedevacantist Sedevacantism is a traditionalist Catholic movement which holds that since the 1958 death of Pius XII the occupiers of the Holy See are not valid popes due to their espousal of one or more heresies and that, for lack of a valid pope, the See ...
groups, in particular, reject the Vatican II council. Most Anglo-Catholics regard the
English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
as an act of the Church of England repudiating papal authority. They usually regarded
Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a theologian, leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He is honoured as a Oxford Martyrs, martyr ...
as more of a translator than as a theologian, and saw the service in the first ''Book of Common Prayer'' as being the Mass in English. Anglo-Papalists, on the other hand, regard the Church of England as two provinces of the Catholic Church's
Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...
(the
Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consi ...
and the
Province of York The Province of York, or less formally the Northern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England and consists of 14 dioceses which cover the northern third of England and the Isle of Man. York was elevated to ...
) forcibly severed from the rest by an act of the English Crown. In his defence of Anglican orders, Gregory Dix speaks of Cranmer and his associates using the power of the English state to impose their views on the church by Act of Parliament. Anglican Papalists therefore regard the ''Book of Common Prayer'' as having only the authority of custom, and believe it is legitimate to use the
Roman Missal The Roman Missal () is the book which contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of the Roman Rite, the most common liturgy and Mass of the Catholic Church. There have been several editions. History Before the Council of Trent (1570) ...
and Breviary for their worship. Like many other Anglo-Catholics, Anglican Papalists make use of the
rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...
,
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, also called Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament or the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, is a devotional ceremony, celebrated especially in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in some other C ...
and other Catholic devotions. Some have regarded Thomas Cranmer as a heretic and his second Prayer Book as an expression of
Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a Swiss Christian theologian, musician, and leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swi ...
an doctrine (as did Gregory Dix in his pamphlet "Dixit Cranmer et non Timuit"). They have actively worked for the reunion of the Church of England with the
Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...
, as the logical objective of the
Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...
. In 1908, they began the "Church Unity Octave of Prayer", the precursor of the much more general "
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is an ecumenical Christian observance in the Christian calendar that is celebrated internationally. It is kept annually between Ascension Day and Pentecost in the Southern Hemisphere and between 18 January a ...
".


Liturgy

The
English Missal ''The English Missal'' (sometimes referred to as the ''Knott Missal'') is a translation of the Roman Missal used by some Anglo-Catholic parish churches. After its publication by W. Knott & Son Limited in 1912, ''The English Missal'' was rapidly ...
has been widely used by Anglican Papalists. This volume, which is still in print, contains a form of the
Tridentine Mass The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or ''usus antiquior'' (), Vetus Ordo or the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) or the Traditional Rite, is the liturgy in the Roman Missal of the Catholic Church codified in ...
in English interspersed with sections of the Book of Common Prayer. The Roman Catholic writer Fr. Adrian Fortescue's ''Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described'' served as a useful guide as to how to use the missal. At early celebrations, some Anglican Papalist priests would use only the Roman Missal, in Latin or in English translation. Many modern Anglo-Papalists use the modern Catholic rite of Mass in English. Some Anglican Papalist parishes advocate "corporate worship in the Latin tongue".


Groups and publications

Anglican Papalists have established a variety of organisations, including the Catholic League and the Society for Promoting Catholic Unity (SPCU), which published ''The Pilot''. They have also provided the leadership in many more general Anglo-Catholic organisations such as the Annunciation Group. Other Anglican Papalist groups include the Sodality of the Precious Blood. Priests of the sodality commit themselves to recitation of the modern Roman
Liturgy of the Hours The Liturgy of the Hours (), Divine Office (), or ''Opus Dei'' ("Work of God") are a set of Catholic prayers comprising the canonical hours, often also referred to as the breviary, of the Latin Church. The Liturgy of the Hours forms the official ...
and to the Latin Rite discipline of celibate chastity. The now-defunct Society of SS. Peter and Paul published the
Anglican Missal The Anglican Missal is a liturgical book used liturgically by some Anglo-Catholics and other High Church Anglicans as an alternative or supplement to editions of the ''Book of Common Prayer''. The ''Anglican Missal'' is distinct from the simi ...
. In the 1950s the Fellowship of Christ the Eternal Priest, which was established for Anglican ordinands in the armed forces, published a journal called ''The Rock'', which was strongly pro-Roman. Few copies remain as it consisted of cyclostyled sheets.


Personal ordinariates

On 9 November 2009,
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
promulgated the
apostolic constitution An apostolic constitution () is the most solemn form of legislation issued by the Pope.New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law, pg. 57, footnote 36. By their nature, apostolic constitutions are addressed to the public. Generic constitutions use ...
''Anglicanorum coetibus'', allowing the creation of
personal ordinariates A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church establish ...
that would allow Anglican clergy and faithful to reunite with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of a "distinctive Anglican patrimony". The first Anglican ordinariate, known as the
Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic ...
, was established on 15 January 2011 in the United Kingdom; it has attracted large numbers of Anglican Papalists, Anglo-Catholics and Anglican clergy in opposition to the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
(CoE), including four Bishops of the CoE ( Jonathan Michael Goodall, Michael James Nazir-Ali, John William Goddard and Peter Robert Forster). The second Anglican ordinariate, known as the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, was established on 1 January 2012 in the United States. The already existing
Anglican Use The Anglican Use, also known as ''Divine Worship'', is a use of the Roman Rite celebrated by the personal ordinariates, originally created for former Anglicans who converted to Catholicism while wishing to maintain "aspects of the Anglican p ...
parishes in the United States, which have existed since the 1980s, formed a portion of the first American Anglican ordinariate. These parishes were already in communion with Rome and use modified Anglican liturgies approved by the Holy See. They were joined by other groups and parishes of Episcopalians and some other Anglicans. A third Anglican ordinariate, known as the
Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a personal ordinariate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church primarily within the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference. It is organised to serve groups of ...
, was established on 15 June 2012 in Australia.


References


Bibliography

* Gregory Dix, ''The Question of Anglican Orders'', Dacre Press, 1944. pp. 31–32. * Peter F Anson, ''The Call to the Cloister'', London SPCK, 1955, pp. 183–192, 462–466, 547–548. * Peter F Anson. ''Fashions in Church Furnishings 1840-1940'', Faith Press, 1960, Chapters XXIX, XXX. * Hugh Ross Williamson, ''The Walled Garden'', Macmillan, 1957, Chapters X, XIV–XVI. * Michael Yelton. ''Anglican Papalism''. Canterbury Press Norwich, 2005. .


External links

{{Portal, Christianity
Catholic League
an Anglo-Papalist organisation centred in England
Historical documents regarding the Society of SS Peter and Paul
an Anglo-Papalist publishing company prominent in the early years of the Catholic Revival, from
Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ...

A Simple Mass Book
(1920) liturgical expression of Anglo-Papalism Anglo-Papalism