CAMERONIANS. - Name given to the followers of Riccardo Cameron (1648–80). He was a fanatical partisan of the “Covenanters,” defenders of the “Covenant” (1643), the pact by which the Scots had bound themselves to defend the most rigorous Calvinism in their homeland. When the “Covenanters” were defeated at the battle of Bothwell Bridge (1679), during the reign of Carlo II (1660–85), Cameron gathered men and continued the war; in the declaration of Sanqubar (1680) he rejected not only the Anglican ecclesiastical hierarchy, but also the monarchy. Killed shortly afterwards at the battle of Aird's Moss, his followers continued the struggle and rebellion against the Stuarts until the Revolution of 1688. When, after this, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland was reorganized, the C. refused to unite with it because it had not fully restored the “Covenant,” and formed the “Reformed Presbyterian Church.” This church still exists not only in Scotland but also in Ireland and the United States; it represents the most rigorous branch of Scottish Presbyterianism and considers itself the legitimate descendant of the old “Covenanters,” defenders of one of the most fanatical and hostile-to-the-Catholic-Church covenants.
Cameronians
BIBL.: J. H. Blunt, s. V. in Dictionary of Sects, Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties and Schools of Religious Thought, Londra 1874; T. McCrie, The Story of the Scottish Church, there 1875, pp. 243–246 and passim; W. Benham, s. V. in Dictionary of Religion, Nuova York 1887. Camillo Crivelli
Cite this article
“CAMERONIANI.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. III (1949), p. 275. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/cameroniani.