DECRETUM AD ARMENOS - Enciclopedia Cattolica, Vol. IV, p. 756

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

DECRETUM AD ARMENOS. – Bull Exultate Deo, for the union of the Armenians with the Catholic Church, published at the Council of Florence on 22 Nov. 1439.

HISTORY. – The first contacts aimed at bringing the dissident Armenians into the unity of the Church date from 1433–34 and were due to the legates of the Council of Basel.

The Decretum ad Armenos (D. ad A.) is a decree of the Council of Florence, drawn up in the form of a bull, which sets forth the doctrine of the Catholic Church on the principal points of faith and the rites of the universal Church. The D. ad A. is drawn up to offer a “brief compendium” of the doctrine of the Church on these same points. The D. is not, however, merely doctrinal. It also contains “precepts and statutes,” e.g., it fixes the date of certain feasts (bull Exultate Deo, ed. cit. of the Florentine Council, loc. cit., pp. 125, 135, 134, 125).

Point 8 has a disciplinary character, while points 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 are dogmatic in character, although even in these not everything is strictly dogmatic (e.g., point 1 contains the precept of singing the “Creed” with the “Filioque” at solemn Masses on Sundays and major feasts). The value of point 5 is disputed. Some theologians regard it as an official exposition, because made by an ecumenical council, of Catholic doctrine on the Sacraments. Others see in it an act of the ordinary magisterium, in which the infallibility of the Church is not engaged. Others think it is a particular instruction for use by the Armenians, imposing on them the ceremonies and rites of ordination already in use among Catholic Armenians. The reason for the differing evaluations lies in what the decree says about the matter and form of the sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders and in its reliance on the opuscule of St. Thomas: “De articulis Fidei et Sacramentis Ecclesiae,” with additions and variations suited to the needs of the Armenians. The apostolic constitution Sacramentum Ordinis of 30 Nov. 1794 does not fix the value of this part of the D. ad A.

Taken as a whole, the D. ad A. is a conciliar decree, having full juridical value because promulgated in a solemn session of the council. It is not, however, imposed on the whole Church, nor does it establish for the whole Church the matter and form of every sacrament (F. Hürth, Commentarius ad Const. Apost. Sacramentum Ordinis, in Periodica de re morali et canonica, 27 [1948], pp. 17–18).

BIBL.: Documents: Concilium Florentinum. Documenta et scriptores (Pont. Inst. Studiorum Orientalium, series A) Epistolae pontificiae, ed. G. Hofmann, parts 1 and 2 (in part 2, at pp. 124–138, the text of the D. ad A. according to the original preserved in the Laurentian Library of Florence), Rome 1940–46; G. Hofmann, De unione rerum orientalium (Textus et documenta, series theol., no. 19), Rome 1935. Studies: J. de Guibert, Le décret du Concile de Florence par les Arméniens, sa valeur dogmatique, in Bull. de littérature ecclésiastique, 10 (Toulouse 1919), pp. 81–95, 150–62, 195–215; G. M. Van Rossum, De Essentia Sacramenti Ordinis, 2nd ed., Rome 1935, pp. 173–208; M. Quera, El decreto de Eugenio IV para los armenios, y el Sacramento del Orden, Estudios eclesiásticos, 4 (1925), pp. 138–153, 237–50; id., Más acerca del decreto de Eugenio IV para los armenios y el Sacramento del Orden, ibid., 6 (1927), pp. 54–78, 157–70; G. M. Perella, Il decreto di Eugenio IV pro Armenis relativo al Sacramento dell'Ordine, in Divus Thomas, 13 (Piacenza 1936), pp. 448–453; G. Hofmann, Die Einigung der armenischen Kirche mit der katholischen Kirche und dem Konzil von Florenz, in Orientalia Christiana, 3 (1939), pp. 151–85; P. Galtier, Encore un mot sur la nature du décret « pro Armenis », in Gregorianum, 3 (1944), pp. 171–85; M. Quera, Una palabra más sobre el decreto « pro Armenis », in Estudios eclesiásticos, 21 (1947), pp. 187–207; F. Hürth, Commentarius ad Constitutionem Apostolicam (Sacramentum Ordinis), in Periodica de re morali et canonica, 27 (1948), pp. 16–18. Giuseppe Rambaldi