GALLICAN CHURCH 



65 



of Toun(6th century ) speaks of neven missionary 

 bi-liops Dent to Gaul from Koine, of whom Satur- 

 iiiiuis settled at Toulouse, Dionywius at Paris, and 

 Tn.phimus iit Arli->. 1'rolialily liis account, is a 

 combination of various local traditions of tlie first 

 bishops of important, towns with a much earlier 

 narrative of tlic iiiartyriloin of Saturninus under 

 I Veins (250). Although sharing in the general 

 literary inferiority of Western ecclesiastics during 

 the early period, tne church of Caul nuinl>er8 several 

 iniiietit names in the literature of the 3d, 4th, and 

 "ith centuries. The works of Ireim-us, Sulpicius 

 Sevenis, Hilary of 1'oi tiers, Hilary of Aries, Vincent 

 of Lerins, Prosper, Victor, Eucherius, Salvian, and 

 Gregory of Tours combine to form a body of litera- 

 ture of which the later French Church is not un- 

 reasonably proud. The hierarchical organisation 

 of the church in Gaul was from an early period 

 among the most complete and regular in western 

 Christendom; and in the council held at Aries in 

 314 we may recognise the titles of many bishops of 

 MM which are still represented in the episcopate of 

 France. 



But the history of the Gallican Church, so far as 

 regards the development of those peculiar principles 

 which have acquired the distinctive name of ' Galli- 

 canism,' begins at a much later period. From 

 circumstances which are differently viewed by the 

 opposite schools of theology, the papacy l>egan, 

 from the very date of the establishment of the 

 Western Empire, to exercise a large influence 

 over the civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs of the 

 several European kingdoms. On the other hand, 

 owing to the intimate connection between the 

 church and state in most of these kingdoms, and 

 especially to the feudal relations between the 

 crown and the church dignitaries, the crown also 

 asserted a correlative claim to certain privileges in 

 respect of ecclesiastical affairs. The satisfactory 

 adjustment of these conflicting claims was the 

 great problem of medieval polity ; and the alterna- 

 tions of the struggle between them form the staple 

 of medieval history. In the church of France the 

 party maintaining the prerogatives of the French 

 crown and the pnvileges of the national church of 

 France against the adverse claims of the Roman 

 see gave to the principles which they professed 

 the name of Gallicanism. This name has come 

 to designate, in general, that system in Roman 

 Catholic theology which, while it recognises the 

 primacy of the Roman pontiff, by divine right, over 

 the universal church, yet asserts the independence 

 of national churches in many details of self-govern- 

 ment and of local discipline, and limits the papal 

 prerogatives by canons and decrees of general coun- 

 cils and by the laws of the universal church. It 

 must be added that, while the Gallican theory to 

 this extent claims exemption from the authority of 

 the pope, it acquiesces, to an almost proportionate 

 degree, in the assumption of ecclesiastical authority 

 on the part of the state. 



We can recognise the working of these principles 

 in the opposition which the so-called Isidorian 

 decretals (see CANON LAW ) encountered in France. 

 They were embodied, during the reign of St Louis, 

 in the Pragmatic Sanction of 1269, which provided 

 that the administration of the church should be in 

 conformity with ' the common law, the canons of 

 Councils, and the statutes of the ancient Fathers.' 

 They were carried to their extreme extent by 

 Philippe le Bel in his contest with Boniface VIII. 

 The conflicting claims of the rival popes in the 

 Western schism tended still more to weaken 

 the papal authority; and the expedient of con- 

 vening a general council to pronounce upon these 

 claims gave prominence to one of the leading 

 dogmas of Gallicanism the superiority in point of 

 authority of a general council to the pope. The 

 213 



disciplinary enactment* of the councils of Conntance 

 and Bowel were mainly directed toward* the limita- 

 tion of the papal authority in the exercwe of church 

 patronage ; and t he-e enactmentM were in the main 

 embodied in the French law by the celebrated 

 Pragmatic Sanction (q.v.) of Bourgcs in 1437. 



The Pragmatic Sanction wa* sujK;rseded in 1516 

 by the Concordat of Bologna between Leo X. and 

 * rands I. This treaty gave the nomination of 

 bishops to the crown, and the right of instituting 

 them to the pope, but it was with the greatest 

 reluctance, and only ' at the express command of 

 the king,' that the Parlement of Paris registered 

 (1518) the papal bull that condemned the Prag- 

 matic Sanction. The purely Gallican principles of 

 the councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basel still 

 remained the standard expression of French con- 

 victions as to the rightful position of the church. 

 The great jurists Pithou and Pupin, in asserting 

 the liberties of the church, equally enforced the 



Erivileges of the crown. It was a contest between 

 ouis XIV. and Innocent XI. regarding the so- 

 called right of Regalia the right claimed by 

 kings of receiving the revenues of a bishopric 

 during a vacancy, and of presenting to Itenences 

 pending a new appointment that led to the famous 

 Declaration of the French Clergy in 1682, which 

 has since been regarded as the charter of Gal- 

 licanism. This formulary emanated from an extra- 

 ordinary assembly of 35 bishops and 35 other 

 clergy convened by royal authority at Paris, 19th 

 March 1682. It was drawn up by Bossuet, and 

 consists of four articles. The first declares that 

 ' the jurisdiction of St Peter and his successors 

 in the Roman see as vicars of Chiist on earth, 

 although divinely bestowed, is confined to things 

 spiritual and appertaining to salvation, and does 

 not extend to civil or temporal affairs.' The 

 article therefore declares ' that princes are not 

 subject in temporal things to any ecclesiastical 

 authority ; ' that they cannot be deposed ' either 

 directly or indirectly by the power of the keys, and 

 that their subjects cannot be dispensed from their 

 subjection or released from their allegiance.' The 

 second article renews the declaration of the Council 

 of Constance with regard to the superiority of a 

 general council over the pope, and declares that 

 that article is not to be restricted in its application 

 to a period of schism such as existed at the time of 

 the council. The third asserts that the authority 

 of the pope is ' to be restricted bv the canons of the 

 universal church,' and that ' the rules, customs, 

 and institutions of the Gallican kingdom and church 

 remain in full force.' This is the article which 

 asserts the celebrated 'Gallican Lil>erties.' The 

 fourth article, while it concedes to the pope 'the 

 chief part in questions of faith,' and professes that 

 'his decrees extend to each and every church,' 

 nevertheless maintains ' that his judgment is not 

 irreformable, unless it shall have been confirmed by 

 the consent of the entire church.' The chief rules, 

 customs, and institutions of the Gallican Church 

 referred to in the third article are, that the Gallican 

 Church does not receive all the decrees of councils 

 and of popes in matters of discipline, and that those 

 only are in force which are so received ; that the 

 Gallican Church holds itself free to receive or reject 

 the rules of the Roman chancery : that the Roman 

 pontiff' cannot levy any impost from the French 

 clergy without their own consent ; that he cannot 

 bestow of his own motion on a foreigner any benefice 

 within the French Church ; that neither he nor his 

 legates can hear French causes in ' the first instance,' 

 and that in cases of appeal he is Iwund to assign 

 native judges to hear the appeal, even if tin- 

 appellant should be a metropolitan or primate ; that 

 the French bishops shall not he required to attend 

 any general council except with the permission of 



