«LAMENTABILI SANE EXITU». — Decree of the Holy Office of 3–4 July 1907 condemning propositions of the Modernists.
After the condemnation of the books of Loisy (1903), two theologians from Paris (G. Letourneau and P. Bouvier) extracted 33 erroneous propositions from them and submitted them to the judgment of the archbishop, Cardinal Richard. The list was immediately forwarded to the Holy Office, within which an examining commission was constituted, including Cardinals Serafino Vannutelli, Augusto Di Pietro, Mariano Rampolla, Girolamo M. Gatti, Domenico Ferrata, Pietro Respighi, Raffaele Merry del Val, Andrea Steinhuber, Francesco Segna, and Calasanzio Vives y Tuto. The Parisian list was discussed, modified, and above all expanded by the addition of 32 further propositions drawn from other Modernist authors. The definitive draft appears to have been prepared by the Franciscan David Fleming. During the preparatory period, some information leaked out and the press made use of it to formulate the most fanciful hypotheses. Finally, the decree appeared in *L’Osservatore Romano* on 6 July 1907, dated 3 July and approved by Pius X the following day.
The decree begins with two observations: the present age is afflicted with a fever for novelty, to which even some Catholic writers succumb, who, under the pretext of a deeper penetration of truth in the light of the historical method, admit a corruptive evolution of dogma. To oppose these novelties, which have spread even among the faithful, Pius X ordered the Holy Office to examine and condemn the principal errors. What follows is a simple list of 65 propositions, without any external division and without any special gradation in determining the gravity of the individual errors.
Yet an internal logic emerges from the examination, governing the structure of the document, which is composed of seven distinct groups of propositions: 1–8: the authority of the Church’s magisterium in religious matters, especially in the field of biblical exegesis; 9–19: inspiration and historicity of the Bible, particularly of the Gospels; 20–36: fundamental notions regarding Revelation, dogma, and faith; 27–38: origin and development of Christological dogma; 39–51: origin and development of the Sacraments in general and in particular; 52–57: origin, nature, and evolution of the Church and its constituent elements; 58–65: general character and value of Christian doctrine as a whole.
From this imposing body of propositions there emerge condemnations—even in their particular applications—of free examination in religious matters, especially when practiced; of naturalism, which denies the inspiration and divine origin of Sacred Scripture; of criticism that deprives the Gospels of their historical foundation; of subjectivism, which reduces religion to an internal phenomenon of consciousness; of evolutionism applied to Christological, sacramental, and ecclesiological dogmas; and of relativism, which denies the absolute value of Christian Revelation and Catholic dogmatics.
A rapid survey shows that all the conceptions of A. Loisy (v.), G. TYRRELL, GEORGE (v.), and E. Le Roy are present here, although the condemnation is not directed against any particular person and aims solely at striking the Modernist system in its principles and immediate deductions and applications.
The decree issued by the Holy Office, bearing the ordinary approval of the Supreme Pontiff, is not an infallible document (cf. L. Choupin, *Valeur des décisions doctrinales et disciplinaires du St-Siège*, 3rd ed., Rome 1929, pp. 71–75). Nevertheless, it is an authentic document of the Holy See, which must be received with full external and internal submission. Moreover, by rejecting errors diametrically opposed to Revelation and Catholic dogma, this decree belongs to the number of those that prepare the way for a more solemn and decisive document of the Church’s magisterium. The decree is the natural preface to the encyclical *Pascendi dominici gregis* (v.).
ANTONIO PIOLANTI