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Augustine and Gallicanism

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Augustine in a Time of Crisis

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Abstract

Two Augustinian arguments loom large in the Gallican tradition: (1) the obligation of obeying the civil power (Romans 13:1, “Let every soul be subject to higher powers”), and (2) the corporate character of Christ’s grant in Matthew 16:19 (“Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in the heavens”). Relying on the seventeenth-century Gallican Edmond Richer, I argue that Augustinian theses regarding civil and ecclesiastical power go hand in hand (even in the context of different ecclesiastical theories, like Gallicanism and papalism). Second, I show that an early application of Augustinian political theory in the context of modern sovereignty goes along not with a secular “liberalism” but rather with a heightening of the effects of civil sovereignty, including in the ecclesiastical sphere.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The definitive modern treatment is Philippe Denis, Edmond Richer and the Renewal of Conciliarism in the 17th Century, trans. Carole Beckett (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 2019).

  2. 2.

    Edmond Richer, Vindiciae doctrinae majorum Scholae Parisiensis (Cologne: Balthasar von Egmondt, 1683).

  3. 3.

    All biblical translations are drawn from the Douay Old Testament (1609) and Rheims New Testament (1582), with modernized spelling.

  4. 4.

    “Si ergo hoc in ecclesia fit; Petrus, quando claues accepit, ecclesiam sanctam significauit.” For canonistic references, consult Pope Gregory XIII, Corpus juris canonici, 4 vols. (Rome: In aedibus Populi Romani, 1582).

  5. 5.

    For this story as a whole, see Richard Tuck, The Sleeping Sovereign: The Invention of Modern Democracy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).

  6. 6.

    On the Gallican background of liberalism, see Dale K. Van Kley, The Religious Origins of the French Revolution: From Calvin to the Civil Constitution, 1560–1791 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999).

  7. 7.

    The De regno et regali potestate was privately published in English as The Kingdom and the Regal Power, trans. George Albert Moore (Chevy Chase, MD: Country Dollar Press, 1954).

  8. 8.

    William Barclay, De regno et regali potestate (Paris: Guillaume Chaudière, 1600), Book 3, Chap. 8, p. 156.

  9. 9.

    Barclay, De regno et regali potestate, Book 3, Chap. 9, p. 163.

  10. 10.

    Barclay, De regno et regali potestate, Book 3, Chap. 11, p. 177.

  11. 11.

    William Barclay, Of the Authoritie of the Pope: Whether, and how farre forth, he hath Power and Authoritie ouer Temporall Kings and Princes (London: Arnold Hatfield, 1611), table of contents.

  12. 12.

    Francesco Bozio, De temporali ecclesiae monarchia et iurisdictione (Cologne: Joannes Gymnicum, 1602), p. 430. See Augustine, Contra Faustum, Book 22, sec. 77.

  13. 13.

    John of Paris, Chap. 4, p. 88.

  14. 14.

    Barclay, Authoritie, pp. 15–16.

  15. 15.

    Barclay, Authoritie, p. 26.

  16. 16.

    “Id multis ante seculis, magnu<m> Ecclesiae lumen Augustinus sancte & sapienter admonuit, atque ex Apostoli Pauli scriptis luculenter comprobauit: cuius sententiam Ecclesia adeo gratam & ratam habet, vt eam in Canones retulerit …. nam consilia separationis (hoc est communicationis) & inania sunt, & perniciosa atque sacrilega: quia & impia & superba fiu<n>t, & plus perturbant infirmos bonos, quam corrigunt animosos malos.” pp. 38–9.

  17. 17.

    Robert Bellarmine, On the Temporal Power of the Pope. Against William Barclay, in On Temporal and Spiritual Authority, ed. Stefania Tutino (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2012). For the original text, see Robert Bellarmine, De potestate Summi Pontificis in temporalibus, adversus Gulielmum Barclaium, in Opera omnia, ed. Justin Fèvre (Paris: Vivès, 1891), 12:1–113.

  18. 18.

    Bellarmine, On the Temporal Power of the Pope, p. 168.

  19. 19.

    Bellarmine, On the Temporal Power of the Pope, p. 221.

  20. 20.

    Decretum Parlamenti Parisiensis contra librum Cardinalis Bellarmini de Potestate summi Pontificis in temporalibus (Frankfurt, 1611).

  21. 21.

    Jean Gerson, Tractatus de potestate ecclesiastica, in Opera, ed. Edmond Richer (Paris: N.p., 1606), Vol. 1, col. 115.

  22. 22.

    Brian Tierney, Foundations of the Conciliar Theory: The Contribution of the Medieval Canonists from Gratian to the Great Schism, enlarged new edition (Leiden: Brill, 1998), pp. 27–32.

  23. 23.

    For a papalist theological reading that takes account of conciliarist objections, see Juan de Torquemada, Summa de ecclesia (Venice: Cum privilegio Pii IV, 1561), lib. 2, cap. 75.

  24. 24.

    Edmond Richer, A treatise of ecclesiastical and politike power (London: W. S., 1612), sec. 2 (no pagination).

  25. 25.

    My translation from Jean Gerson, Tractatus de potestate ecclesiastica, col. 115 lit. C.

  26. 26.

    Richer, Treatise, sec. 11–12. In modern numbering, see Augustine, Letter 93 to Vincentius, trans. J. G. Cunningham, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. Philip Schaff (Buffalo: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 1:383.

  27. 27.

    Edmond Richer, De potestate ecclesiae in rebus temporalibus (Cologne: Bernard Hestingh, 1691). For the dating of Richer’s work, see Denis, 134 n. 36. Translations from the text are my own.

  28. 28.

    See Augustine on Romans, ed. Paula Fredriksen (Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1982). Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, p. 75.

  29. 29.

    Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, p. 94.

  30. 30.

    Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, p. 96.

  31. 31.

    Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, p. 165.

  32. 32.

    Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, pp. 214–15.

  33. 33.

    Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, p. 301.

  34. 34.

    Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, p. 306.

  35. 35.

    Richer, De potestate ecclesiae, p. 318.

  36. 36.

    Edmond Richer, Traité des appellations comme d’abus, 2 vols. (Paris: N.p., 1763).

  37. 37.

    Edmond Richer, Defensio libelli (Cologne: Balthasar ab Egmond, 1701).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Dallas, Irving, TX, USA

    Gladden J. Pappin

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX, USA

    Boleslaw Z. Kabala

  2. Department of Political Science, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA

    Ashleen Menchaca-Bagnulo

  3. St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Nathan Pinkoski

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Pappin, G.J. (2021). Augustine and Gallicanism. In: Kabala, B.Z., Menchaca-Bagnulo, A., Pinkoski, N. (eds) Augustine in a Time of Crisis. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61485-0_8

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