ANGLICANISM. - By A. is meant the doctrine and ecclesiastical regime of the Anglican Church (Church of England).

1. A. and the Anglican Communion

The Church of England comprises only the two ecclesiastical provinces of Canterbury and York. The provinces and dioceses established outside England, such as the Episcopal Church of Scotland, the Churches of Wales and Ireland, formerly united and now separated (disestablished) from the Church of England, the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States (v. EPISCOPALE, CHIESA PROTESTANTE), the dioceses of the British Dominions and colonies, are indeed part of the "Anglican Communion" or "Anglican-Episcopal Communion," but either they do not recognize the King of England as head of the Church, or the tribunals through which the King exercises his ecclesiastical jurisdiction do not extend their authority to them (v. COLESNO); so that, in the strict sense, A. applies only to the two archbishoprics of England, Canterbury and York. The common bonds of the Anglican Communion are: the Book of Common Prayer (v.), the 39 Articles of Religion (v.), both however with certain changes, and the Lambeth Conferences (v.).

2. Characteristics of A

A., which from Henry VIII (1506-47) and Edward VI (1547-53) to Elizabeth (1558-1603), with the brief interruption of the reign of Mary Tudor (1553-58), had passed through the phases of schismatic, Lutheran-Calvinist, Calvinist-Zwinglian, took on its definitive characteristics in the time of Elizabeth.

Among these characteristics we may indicate: a) the ambiguity of language in the formulas of the Book of Common Prayer and of the 39 Articles of Religion, which gave occasion for diverse interpretations: from this remote principle derive the three present divisions among Anglicans: High Church, Low Church, and Latitudinarian or Modernist Church (Broad Church) and, unfortunately, also the incomprehensible Anglican "comprehensiveness" (v.); b) the preservation of the episcopate, by which A. distinguished itself from the sects of the European continent, and the preservation of certain ceremonies and usages of the Catholic Church; c) the supremacy of the King or Queen of England in ecclesiastical matters, which converted A. into the religion of the State, in such a way as to consider the followers of any other religion as traitors, and therefore the persecutions against Catholics, Puritans, Congregationalists, etc.

3. A. up to the 19th century

The vicissitudes of A. in its early times are confused with the vicissitudes of the Book of Common Prayer and of the 39 Articles of Religion. Many

English Protestants, who during the reign of Mary Tudor had taken refuge on the continent and had there absorbed Calvinist doctrines, were unwilling to conform either with the preservation of the episcopate or with the ceremonies of the Anglican Church. They wanted a Church purified of all these "papist" elements, hence their name of Puritans (v.). These, although in reality Calvinists, at first in part accepted compromising with the Queen's supremacy, but in part were unwilling to recognize this supremacy, claiming to introduce into it the presbyterian regime, without bishops. Others taught that every group of faithful or "congregation" was independent of every authority and hierarchy: hence the name of "Independents" or "Congregationalists" (v. CONGREGAZIONALISTI; ROBINSON). These, with certain others of lesser importance, e.g. the Baptists, are known in history by the name of "Nonconformists" (v.). Their opposition to A. manifested itself clearly in the so-called "Marprelate controversy" (v.).

During the reign of Elizabeth's successor, James I (1603-25), at the Hampton Court Conference (1604), the Nonconformists presented their doctrines and their grievances, but obtained nothing other than the translation of the Bible (v. VERSIONE AUTORIZZATA). To the King, although educated in Scottish Calvinism, the Anglican Church, of which he was head and master, was more advantageous than the others in which he would have been a simple believer. In the times of James I's successor, that is of Charles I (1625-49), the Anglican Church, attacked in its doctrine and in its regime by the Nonconformists, produced a series of valiant Anglican theologians, such as L. Andrewes (v.), W. Laud (v.), R. Hooker (v.), J. Taylor (v.), etc., who were called the "Caroline Divines," although not all wrote precisely during this reign. Having been able to obtain nothing from the King or from his ministers, the Nonconformists resorted to arms and, united with the Scottish Presbyterians, discontented because the King had wished to impose A. on Scotland, began the civil war, which led to the final execution of Archbishop Laud and of the King himself (1649). A. was suppressed and persecuted and the Calvinist Westminster Confession (v. CONFESSIONI DI FEDE) published. G. Fox, amid such confusion of doctrines, founded the sect of the Quakers, and the Calvinist and Independent doctrines of Oliver Cromwell dominated in England (1649-60). With Charles II (1660-85) A. was officially re-established; the hereditary formula for the consecration of bishops and priests was corrected (v. ANGLICANE ORDINAZIONI), in 1673 the Test Act was promulgated, by which all government employees - and as such the ministers of religion were considered - had to accept the Book of Common Prayer, leaving many Nonconformist ministers without office, and the doctrine of transubstantiation was condemned, with an oath that the Kings of England pronounced until the beginning of the 20th century. Charles II was succeeded by his brother James II (1685-88), a Catholic, who in 1687 promulgated the "Declaration of Indulgence," by which all Englishmen were declared equal before the law, without distinction of religious faith, and the oath against transubstantiation was suspended. The fury of the Anglicans, the treason of the most prominent men, both ecclesiastical and lay, certain imprudent steps of the King and the calculated duplicity of his son-in-law William of Orange were the cause of the revolution of 1688, in which the King lost the crown.

James II was succeeded on the throne of England by the Calvinist William III (1688-1702). Calvinism returned to the surface; Parliament imposed the oath of adherence to the new King; certain Anglican bishops were unwilling to take it and the party of the Non-Jurors was formed (v. NON JURORS). The Toleration Act was proclaimed, but Catholics, Unitarians (v. ANTITRINITARI) and Jews were excluded from it. Upon William's death, he was succeeded by Anne (1702-14), the second Protestant daughter of James II, who completely re-established A. in England.

At her death three tendencies were already clearly discernible, which still endure today, namely: Anglicans, adherents of the doctrines and regime of the Anglican Church, who later formed the nucleus of the present "High Church"; Evangelicals, Calvinist at bottom and intransigent Protestants, from whom the present "Low Church" derives; and between these two extremes the Latitudinarians, of rationalist tendency, who took seriously neither the doctrines nor the laws of the official Church, from whom the present "Broad Church" or Modernist derives. After the death of Anne, the throne of England, from which Parliament had excluded the Catholic branch of the Stuarts, was occupied by the Protestant House of Hanover. During the 18th century the Anglican Church fell into a great lethargy. First of all the Bangor controversy (v.) threatened to undermine the entire structure of Anglicanism; then the suppression of the "convocations," which still maintained a little life among Anglican ecclesiastics; and finally the rationalist doctrines of Locke (1632-1702), which were debated in halls and assemblies, the anti-Trinitarian doctrines of Clarke (1675-1729) and the deist doctrines of Toland (1669-1722), Tindal (1657-1733), etc., wrought havoc in the ranks of Anglicanism. In vain the Methodists attempted to infuse a little life into it; they, having been rejected by the Anglican Church, formed a separate sect at the death of Wesley.

4. State of Catholics

The apathy of Anglicanism at this time did not in the least diminish that anti-Catholic spirit, that No-Popery, which was the marrow of the entire Anglican tradition. With the exception of the death penalty, Catholics during the 18th century remained subject to all the vexations of the preceding centuries.

They were excluded from the universities, from public offices, from the ranks of the army and navy and from Parliament; they could not even vote, nor have weapons, nor a horse whose price was greater than 5 pounds sterling. A Protestant who saw a Catholic riding a good horse could take it from him, paying him the aforementioned price. They were the "pariahs" of English society and their condition was far worse than that of any Protestant in Catholic countries. Only in 1778 was the first law in their favor promulgated (Catholic Relief Act), by which they could inherit, possess real property, etc. There still remained against them the danger of accusation of high treason, but the danger was rather theoretical, since they were no longer "hanged, disemboweled, quartered" as the law required. In 1791 another law was published (Relief Bill), by which they could aspire to magistracies, celebrate their worship in churches and chapels, provided that no bell towers were erected nor bells rung, and they were no longer obliged to take either the oath of the king's spiritual supremacy or the oath against transubstantiation.

In 1829 they obtained, through the Emancipation Bill, to be equated almost in everything with Protestants. But the systematic and implacable oppression of three centuries had reduced the Catholics of Ireland to so deplorable a state and those of England to so depressing an inferiority that they took almost a century to assume in society the place that was their due, even as simple citizens.

5. Anglicanism in the 19th and 20th centuries

The history of Anglicanism in these two centuries, after the secession of the Darbyites or Plymouth Brethren (v. DARBY, JOHN NELSON), is reduced almost entirely to the three movements, the "Tractarian," the "Ritualist" and the "Anglo-Catholic," known by the name of the "Oxford Movement" (v.).

Among the various effects, good or bad, that are attributed to the Oxford Movement, one may number: 1) The revision of the Book of Common Prayer (v.), which, prepared over many years, approved by the bishops and by the House of Lords, was rejected no fewer than twice (Dec. 1927 and June 1928) by the House of Commons, revealing to the entire world the sad subjection of the Anglican Church to civil authority, even in purely spiritual matters. 2) The efforts made to unite with other Churches, with the Easterners, with the Old Catholics, with the Catholics (v. MALINES, CONVERSATIONS OF), with the Nonconformists and with all the Protestant sects ("conferences of faith and discipline") at the conferences of Lausanne (1927) and Edinburgh (1937), efforts that failed or that obtained at most a communicatio in dicinta and the recognition of Anglican ordinations by some Eastern schismatic Churches. 3) The claim of the validity of their ordinations which, diligently examined by the Holy See, led to the publication of the bull of Leo XIII Apostolicae curae (Sept. 13, 1896), which declared them null and invalid (v. ANGLICAN ORDINATIONS). 4) An intense development of spiritual life by means of societies and also religious communities. The Official Year-book of the Church of England, of 1939, cites, under the title of Religious Life, no fewer than eight religious communities of men, some with the three religious vows and with the rules of St. Francis and St. Benedict, and 41 congregations of women, dedicated to the contemplative life, to spiritual retreats, to works of charity, missionary, parochial, etc., some with choir, like the Connesses Regular of Our Lady of Victory, others dedicated to the worship of the Most Blessed Sacrament, like the Community of Reparation to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, etc. 5) The Anglo-Catholics have contributed to uprooting some inveterate prejudices against the Catholic Church, but the name of Anglo-Catholics, and also the name of "Catholics," usurped by them, the rubrics of the Mass, the images and statues in the churches, the confessional, etc. have caused much confusion. 6) From the Oxford Movement proceed the conversions of some eminent men, like Newman, Manning, Faber, Vernon Johnson, etc. 7) The introduction of so many ceremonies into Anglican worship, contrary to the doctrines of the 39 articles and to the rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, occasioned for the Anglo-Catholic ministers serious disputes and lawsuits with some Anglican bishops and aroused in a certain English Protestant press the fanaticism of past times. Suffice it to cite the pamphlets of the Protestant Truth Society, of the Widely Press. 8) From the Oxfordians likewise comes the theory of the three branches of the Church of Christ, which consists in believing that the true Church of Christ is composed of the three Churches that have preserved the episcopate, namely the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church and the Eastern Church. These Churches, they maintain, are divided among themselves only in disciplinary matters and in secondary points of dogma, but all three form the true Church of Jesus Christ. The bull Apostolicae curae, by denying the validity of Anglican ordinations and therefore of the Anglican episcopate, condemned this theory and that of "continuity," by which the Anglo-Catholics claim that the Anglican bishops are the successors of the apostles.

6. Doctrine and regime

The doctrine and the system of ecclesiastical government of Anglicanism are found in the two sole symbolic books, the Book of Common Prayer, called more briefly the Prayer Book, and the 39 articles of religion. In them are found orthodox doctrines common with Catholics and many heterodox ones. Newman, in Tract 90, sought to explain them in a Catholic sense; his explanations were rejected by the Anglican Church. This determined him to study the Catholic Church more deeply, and from this study came his conversion (v. NEWMAN). Regarding, then, the ecclesiastical regime, the fundamental article is XXXVII, which recognizes the king (or queen) of England as supreme head of the Church. Not all power of legislating has been taken from this, but its decrees are without value if they lack the placet of Parliament and of the king. Leaving aside the parochial meetings or councils, the synods and the conferences diocesan conferences, the two most important institutions are the "Convocations," equivalent to provincial synods, and the "Assembly of the Church," equivalent to the national synod.

The "Convocations" come down to two, since there exist only two ecclesiastical provinces, Canterbury and York. In them the bishops of the province (Upper House) and the priests (Lower House) take part. Henry VIII preserved them, but subjected them completely to the State by the decree of 1534, so that they cannot assemble without the king's permission, nor promulgate decrees or canons without his approval. In 1717, on the occasion of the Bangor controversy, they were suspended by the king, and were resumed only in 1852, largely also because of the religious awakening due to the Oxford movement. They may deliberate on everything concerning the religious good of the province, but the decrees must be approved by the State. The "Church Assembly" is a new institution, founded with the authorization of the State in 1919. It consists of three houses: in the first (House of Bishops), or house of bishops, sit the two archbishops of Canterbury and York, and all the bishops of the two provinces, 43 in total; in the second (House of Clergy), or house of the clergy, sit those dignitaries and ministers who have the right to take part in the Convocations, 341 in all, besides 3 delegates of the universities; in the third (House of Laity), or house of the laity, sit the lay persons elected for this purpose, 342 in number. The decrees of the Assembly, in order to have legal force, must be approved by parliament and the king.

If to all this one adds that the State is what elects the archbishops, the bishops and the principal ecclesiastical dignitaries, one must note that the dependence of the Anglican Church on the State is almost total, and only the administration of the sacraments escapes the State.

Bibliography12 works

BIBL.: J. Lingard, The History of England, 10 vols., 6th ed., London 1854; M. I. F. McCarthy, Church and State in England and Wales 1829-1906, Dublin 1906; S. L. Ollard, A Dictionary of English Church History, London 1912; A. E. McKilliam, A Chronicle of the Archbishops of Canterbury, ibid. 1913; H. Lowter Clarke, Constitutional Church, ibid. 1924; H. A. Wilson, The Anglican Communion, ibid. 1929; Report of the Oxford Movement, Centenary Congress, Milwaukee Wisc. 1933; T. Dilworth-Harrison, Everyman's History of the Oxford Movement, London 1933; W. A. Visser, The Hooft, Anglo-catholicism and Orthodoxy, ibid. 1933; H. Belloc, Breve Storia d'Inghilterra, Italian trans., 2 vols., Rome 1934; The Churchman's Handbook, London 1935, 1936; The Official Year-Book of the Church of England, London 1940.

Camillo Crivelli