Councils of the Church

The Gap Years between Vatican 1 (1869-70) and Vatican 2 (1962-65)

Those of you, who have taken the time to read, or perhaps study, the documents of the Second Vatican Council, must have been impressed, if not baffled, by the vast scope of the topics covered and the depth and participatory nature of the debate on the topics. However, it will be very worthwhile at this stage of our consideration to examine what happened in the gap of 92 years between the two Vatican Councils.

In case you are amazed by the length of time between Vatican 1 and Vatican 2, you need to note that there were 300 years between the Council of Trent and Vatican 1. This should serve to inform us that the influence of the Council of Trent was enormous, until Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962.

The First Vatican Council was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This twentieth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the Council of Trent, opened on 8 December 1869 and adjourned on 20 October 1870. Unlike the five earlier General Councils held in Rome, which met in the Lateran Basilica and are known as Lateran Councils, it met in the Vatican Basilica, hence its name. Its best-known decision is its definition of papal infallibility.

The Council was convoked to deal with the contemporary problems of the rising influence of rationalism, liberalism, and materialism. Its purpose was, besides this, to define the Catholic doctrine concerning the Church of Christ. There was discussion and approval of only two constitutions: the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith and the First Dogmatic Constitution on the Church of Christ, the latter dealing with the primacy and infallibility of the bishop of Rome

Discussion of the rest of the document on the nature of the Church was to continue when the bishops returned after a summer break. However, in the meanwhile the Franco-Prussian War broke out. With the swift German advance and the capture of Emperor Napoleon III, France was no longer in a position to protect the Pope's rule in Rome.

Consequently, on 20 September 1870 the Kingdom of Italy captured Rome and annexed it. One month later, on 20 October 1870, Pope Pius IX suspended the Council indefinitely. It was never reconvened and formally closed in 1960 prior to Second Vatican Council.

So our question now is what happened after the “suspension” of the First Vatican Council in 1870? Although there was an invasion of the papal state by the forces of Garibaldi, this however did not mean that the Church had to wait a further long period before dealing with the drafts and proposals sent by many bishops across the globe for the attention of the council.

Many of these were updated and implemented by Pius IX and his successors. For example, there was a call from many bishops that St. Joseph be named the Patron Saint of the Universal Church, which was promulgated by Pius IX on 8 December, 1870. Moral and religious problems which were expected to be brought before the council, were taken up by Pope Leo XIII and dealt with through a series of encyclicals; thus an encyclical in the year 1880 dealt Christian Marriage, then in 1881 one dealt with the Origin of Civil Power, another one in 1884 dealt with Freemasonry, another in 1888 dealt with Human Freedom.

Pope Leo XIII also issued new regulations regarding the index of forbidden books in 1900. All of this was in the early period of the gap years after the suspension of the Council.

Later Pope Pius X took up in legislation such issues as the philosophical and theological studies to be undertaken by candidates for the priesthood. He was also responsible for the revision of the prayers of the Breviary, and particularly for the codification of the whole of modern canon law. This should serve to inform us that in a way the matters sent to the First Vatican Council were handled after its suspension by the Holy Father, no doubt after much consultation within the Roman Curia.

But the most bold initiative was the promulgation of the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 1 November 1950, by Pope Pius XII, following the dogma of papal infallibility accepted by the First Vatican Council.

During his long reign, Pius XII issued 41 encyclicals, among them of note were the following:-

·         Mystici Corporis Christi - On the Mystical Body of Christ - the Church - June 1943

·         Divino Afflante Spiritu - On Sacred Scripture - September 1943

·         Mediator Dei - On the Sacred Liturgy - November 1947

·         Humani Generis- On Human Origin - August 1950

Original article by Fr Malcolm Rodrigues SJ. Additional adaptations have been made for clarity with information obtained from “Vatican Council”, Catholic Encyclopedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica: First Vatican Council.