The Oath Against Modernism was instituted by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X (; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing Modernism in the Catholic Church, modern ...

in his ''

motu proprio In law, (Latin for 'on his own impulse') describes an official act taken without a formal request from another party. Some jurisdictions use the term for the same concept. In Catholic canon law, it refers to a document issued by the pope on h ...

'' ''Sacrorum antistitum'' on September 1, 1910. The oath was required of "all

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

pastors A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicis ...

, confessors,

preachers A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a m ...

, religious superiors, and

professors Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

in philosophical-theological

seminaries A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clerg ...

" of the

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 ...

. It remained in force until the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...

, with the approval of

Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

, replaced it with a revised

Profession of Faith A profession of faith is a personal and public statement of a belief or faith. Judaism Among the Jews, the profession of faith takes the form of '' Shema Israel'' (שמע ישראל in Hebrew), ''Shema Israel Hachem Elokenu, Hachem Ekhad''; is ...

on July 17, 1967. The oath marked the culmination of Pius X's campaign against the theological movement of

Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

, which he extensively analyzed and denounced as

heretical Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

in his 1907 encyclicals ''

Pascendi Dominici gregis ''Pascendi Dominici gregis'' ( English: ''Feeding the Lord's Flock'') is a papal encyclical letter, subtitled "''On the Doctrines of the Modernists''", promulgated by Pope Pius X on 8 September 1907. Context Pius X viewed the church as under si ...

'' and ''

Lamentabili sane exitu ''Lamentabili sane exitu'' ("with truly lamentable results") is a 1907 syllabus, prepared by the Roman Inquisition and confirmed by Pope Pius X, which condemns what it deems to be errors in the exegesis of Holy Scripture and in the history and in ...

''. The Oath Against Modernism is still pronounced by the

Society of Saint Pius X The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX; ("Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X"), FSSPX) is a canonically irregular traditionalist Catholic priestly fraternity founded in 1970 by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Lefebvre was a leading traditionalis ...

, and sedeprivationist and

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 such as the

Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (; CMRI) is a sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation. The CMRI is dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Fátima and the devotion of the practice of Total Consecrat ...

and the

Istituto Mater Boni Consilii The Institute of the Mother of Good Counsel (; ; IMBC) is a sedeprivationist traditionalist Catholic religious congregation based in Italy. History The Institute of the Mother of Good Counsel was formed in December 1985, when four Italian pri ...

References

External links

The original Latin text of ''Sacrorum antistitum''
* Latin translation of ''Sacrorum antistitum'' in ''The American Catholic Quarterly Review'' (October 1910: vol. 35 (140), pp. 712–31)
The oath against modernism in English, excerpted from ''Sacrorum antistitum''
{{Authority control Religious oaths Modernism in the Catholic Church

See also

References

External links