Christian Doctrine, Archconfraternity of. — Established in Rome by Paul V with the brief *Ex credito nobis* of 6 Oct. 1607.
The impetus given by the Council of Trent to the Catholic Restoration had led, through the initiative of the pious layman Marco de Sadis Cusanin of Milan, to the founding in Rome of a “Company or Congregation of the said Christian Doctrine” (q.V. CATECHESIS), which devoted itself to teaching catechism to children in parishes, institutions, and in the streets, with its seat at the church of S. Martino in Panerella, a dependent church of the basilica of S. Lorenzo in Damaso. Paul V, witnessing the progress and fruits obtained, wished to place it under his special protection and erected it, by the aforementioned brief, into an archconfraternity in the basilica of S. Peter, granting it, besides indulgences, the faculty of aggregating all other similar confraternities erected in Rome by the Ordinary. The archconfraternity drew up its own statutes and regulations, which were progressively adapted to the times and various needs; with the bull *Salutaris doctrinae fontes* of 9 Mar. 1746, Benedict XIV transferred its seat to the church of S. Maria del Pianto.
Pius X, with the encyclical *Acerbo nimis* of 15 Apr. 1905, decreed that the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine be established in all Catholic parishes, so that parish priests might have, for the teaching of catechism, valuable auxiliaries in the pious lay persons who wish to contribute to this salutary and holy work (Acta Sanctae Sedis, 39 [1905], pp. 271 ff.). The same is prescribed by the Code of Canon Law (can. 711 § 2), which adds that every confraternity lawfully erected by Ordinaries is ipso iure aggregated to the Archconfraternity of Rome and shares in its indulgences and privileges. No fixed organization is laid down; hence Ordinaries may issue those norms which they deem opportune *secundum peculiaria adiuncta* (cf. reply of 6 Mar. 1927 of the Commission for the Interpretation of the Code of Canon Law: AAS, 19 [1927], p. 151); in fact, special statutes for such confraternities are appended to the decrees of various Diocesan Councils and Synods. Their establishment was again urged by the decree *Provido sane consilio* of the Sacred Congregation of the Council (12 Jan. 1935: AAS, 27 [1935], pp. 145-54).