Cum occasione

Last updated
Cum occasione
Apostolic constitution of Pope Innocent X
C o a Inocentius X.svg
Signature date 31 maggio 1653
SubjectCondemned five propositions found in Cornelius Jansen's Augustinus as heretical

Cum occasione is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Innocent X in 1653 which condemned five propositions said to have been found in Cornelius Jansen's Augustinus as heretical. [1]

Contents

The five errors of Jansen on Grace condemned in Cum occasione are:

  1. "Some of God's commandments are impossible to just men who wish and strive to keep them, considering the powers they actually have; the grace by which these precepts may become possible is also wanting to them." [2] [lower-alpha 1]
  2. "In the state of fallen nature no one ever resists interior grace." [2] [3]
  3. "In order to merit or demerit, in the state of fallen nature, we must be free from all external constraint, but not from interior necessity." [4] [lower-alpha 2]
  4. "The Semi-Pelagians admitted the necessity of interior preventing grace for all acts, [lower-alpha 3] even for the beginning of faith; but they fell into heresy in pretending that this grace is such that man may either follow or resist it." [4] [lower-alpha 4]
  5. "It is Semi-Pelagian to say that Christ died or shed His blood for all men." [4] [lower-alpha 5]

Bernard Otten explained, in A manual of the history of dogmas, that the first four of these propositions are absolutely condemned as heretical; while the fifth is condemned as heretical when taken in the sense that Christ died only for the predestined. [4]

See also

Notes

  1. Denzinger (2012, n. 2001) translated the first proposition as: "Some of God's commandments cannot be observed by just men with the strength they have in the present state, even if they wish and strive to observe them; not do they have the grace that would make their observance possible."
  2. Where Otten translated "we must be free from all external constraint, but not from interior necessity", Denzinger translated as "it is necessary for man to have freedom from necessity, but freedom from coercion suffices." [4] [5]
  3. Where Otten translated "interior preventing grace", Denzinger translated as "prevenient interior grace". [4] [6]
  4. Where Otten translated "but they fell into heresy in pretending that this grace is such that man may either follow or resist it", Denzinger translated as "and their heresy consisted of this, that they held this grace to be such that the human will could either resist it or submit to it." [4] [6]
  5. Where Otten translated "for all men", Denzinger added "for all men without exception". [4] [7]

Citations

  1. Denzinger 2012, n. 2001–2007.
  2. 1 2 Otten 1918, p. 508.
  3. Denzinger 2012, n. 2002.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Otten 1918, p. 509.
  5. Denzinger 2012, n. 2003.
  6. 1 2 Denzinger 2012, n. 2004.
  7. Denzinger 2012, n. 2005.

Related Research Articles

Pelagianism is a Christian theological position that holds that the fall did not taint human nature and that humans by divine grace have free will to achieve human perfection. Pelagius, an ascetic and philosopher from the British Isles, taught that God could not command believers to do the impossible, and therefore it must be possible to satisfy all divine commandments. He also taught that it was unjust to punish one person for the sins of another; therefore, infants are born blameless. Pelagius accepted no excuse for sinful behaviour and taught that all Christians, regardless of their station in life, should live unimpeachable, sinless lives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jansenism</span> Theological movement within Catholicism (17th–18th centuries)

Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of free will and divine grace in response to certain developments in the Roman Catholic Church, but later developing political and philosophical aspects in opposition to royal absolutism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornelius Jansen</span> Dutch bishop and theologian (1585–1638)

Cornelius Jansen was the Dutch Catholic bishop of Ypres in Flanders and the father of a theological movement known as Jansenism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelagius</span> 4th-century theologian, namesake of Pelagianism

Pelagius was a British theologian known for promoting a system of doctrines which emphasized human choice in salvation and denied original sin. Pelagius was accused of heresy at the synod of Jerusalem in 415 and his doctrines were harshly criticized by Augustine of Hippo, especially the Pelagian views about mankind's good nature and individual responsibility for choosing asceticism. Pelagius especially stressed the freedom of human will. Very little is known about the personal life and career of Pelagius.

Gennadius of Massilia, also known as Gennadius Scholasticus or Gennadius Massiliensis, was a 5th-century Christian priest, monk, and historian.

Semi-Pelagianism is a historical Christian theological and soteriological school of thought about the role of free will in salvation. In semipelagian thought, a distinction is made between the beginning of faith and the increase of faith. Semi-Pelagian thought teaches that the latter half – growing in faith – is the work of God, while the beginning of faith is an act of free will, with grace supervening only later.

Baianism is a term applied to the school of thought of Catholic theologian Michael Baius (1513-1589). Its foremost apologists, Baius among them, largely claimed this school and its teachings to be a return to a sort of Augustinianism, against the reliance on Scholasticism and Scholastic writings which held sway over most Catholic theologians at the time. It is the immediate historical predecessor of Jansenism, and, as with Jansenism, has been deemed heterodox by the Catholic Church.

The Declaration of the Clergy of France was a four-article document of the 1681 assembly of the French clergy. Promulgated in 1682, it codified the principles of Gallicanism into a system for the first time into an official and definitive formula.

<i>Augustinus</i> (Jansenist book) Book by Cornelius Jansenius

Augustinus seu doctrina Sancti Augustini de humanae naturae sanitate, aegritudine, medicina adversus Pelagianos et Massilianses, known by its short title Augustinus, is a theological work in Latin by Cornelius Jansen. Published posthumously in Louvain by Jacobus Zegers in 1640, it was in three parts:

  1. On Pelagianism
  2. On original sin
  3. On divine grace

Caelestius was the major follower of the Christian teacher Pelagius and the Christian doctrine of Pelagianism, which was opposed to Augustine of Hippo and his doctrine in original sin, and was later declared to be heresy.

Ad sanctam beati Petri sedem is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Alexander VII in 1656 which judged the meaning and intention of Cornelius Jansen's words in Augustinus, and confirmed and renewed the condemnation in Cum occasione promulgated by Pope Innocent X in 1653 that five propositions found in Augustinus were heretical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Calvinist–Arminian debate</span> Christian theological debate

The history of the Calvinist–Arminian debate begins in the early 17th century in the Netherlands with a Christian theological dispute between the followers of John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius, and continues today among some Protestants, particularly evangelicals. The debate centers around soteriology, or the study of salvation, and includes disputes about total depravity, predestination, and atonement. While the debate was given its Calvinist–Arminian form in the 17th century, issues central to the debate have been discussed in Christianity in some form since Augustine of Hippo's disputes with the Pelagians in the 5th century.

Heresy in Christianity denotes the formal denial or doubt of a core doctrine of the Christian faith as defined by one or more of the Christian churches.

The formulary controversy was a 17th- and 18th-century Jansenist refusal to confirm the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists on the part of a group of Catholic ecclesiastical personnel and teachers who did not accept the charge that their beliefs about the nature of man and grace were heretical as the Holy See declared. In the Kingdom of France, it pitted Jansenists against Jesuits. It gave rise to French theologian Blaise Pascal's Lettres provinciales, the condemnation of casuistry by the Holy See, and the dissolution of organised Jansenism.

Vineam Domini Sabaoth is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Clement XI in 1705 which declared that "obediential silence" is not a satisfactory response to the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dogma in the Catholic Church</span> Articles of faith

A dogma of the Catholic Church is defined as "a truth revealed by God, which the magisterium of the Church declared as binding". The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

The Church's Magisterium asserts that it exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging Catholics to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heresy</span> Belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established belief or customs

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.

Regiminis Apostolici is an apostolic constitution in the form of a papal bull promulgated by Pope Alexander VII in 1665 which required, according to the Enchiridion symbolorum, "all ecclesiastical personnel and teachers" to subscribe to an included formulary, the Formula of Submission for the Jansenists:

I, N., submit to the apostolic constitution of the Supreme Pontiff Innocent X dated May 31, 1653, and to the constitution of the Supreme Pontiff Alexander VII dated October 16, 1656, and, with a sincere heart, I reject and condemn the five propositions taken from the book of Cornelius Jansen entitled Augustinus and in the sense understood by that same author, just as the Apostolic See has condemned them by the two above-mentioned constitutions, and I so swear: So help me God, and these holy Gospels of God.

Heresy is defined by the Catholic Church as "the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after the reception of baptism of some truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith". The term heresy connotes both the belief in itself, and the attitude towards said belief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthonius Triest</span> Roman Catholic bishop

Anthonius Triest, was the fifth bishop of Bruges and the seventh bishop of Ghent.

References