PROFESSIONE DI FEDE. – In the broad sense, it is any external act of Christian virtue that presupposes faith; in the proper and formal sense, it is the explicit manifestation of one’s religious convictions in obedience to the authority of God revealing Himself.
Besides the divine precept to profess the faith externally, recalled by the CIC in can. 1325 (v. FEDE, cols. 1087–88), there is also ecclesiastical law obliging certain persons to make the p. of f. in specific cases, according to a prescribed formula, as a guarantee of obedience to the ecclesiastical magisterium.
In the first centuries, the solemn p. of f. had to be made before receiving Baptism, just as today the baptismal rite entails the recitation of the Creed; later it began to be imposed on Catholics suspected of heresy and on heretics returning to the Church, but especially on candidates for Holy Orders and the episcopate. In the seventh century there are also traces of the oath attached to the p. of f., the content of which was subsequently determined precisely by the Council of Trent (sess. XXV, chap. 2, de reform.). The formula still in force is that of Pius IV, modified by Pius IX, who in 1877 inserted into it the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the definitions of the First Vatican Council.
Pius X, with the motu proprio Sacronanctum Antitritum of 1 September 1910, prescribed that the recited p. of f. should also be signed and imposed the anti-modernist oath. At present the CIC (cann. 1406–1408) specifies the persons bound to make the p. of f. and the manner of making it: a) the persons obliged are: 1) those who take part, with a deliberative or consultative vote, in an ecumenical or particular council, or in a diocesan synod. The president makes the profession before the assembly, the members before the president or his delegate; 2) those promoted to the dignity of cardinal; they make the profession before the dean of the S. College, the senior cardinals of the Orders of priests and deacons, and the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church; 3) before the delegate of the Apostolic See, those promoted to an episcopal see, even a non-residential one, to the governance of an abbey or nullus prelature, or to an apostolic vicariate; 4) the capitular vicar before the cathedral Chapter; 5) before the Ordinary of the place or his delegate and the Chapter, those promoted to a dignity or a canonry; 6) before the Ordinary of the place or his delegate and before the other consultors, those appointed diocesan consultors; 7) before the Ordinary of the place or his delegate, the vicar general, parish priests, and all those provided with a parochial benefice, even if removable; the rector and the professors of theology, canon law, and philosophy in seminaries at the beginning of each academic year or at least upon assuming office; all those who are ordained subdeacons; book censors; priests designated for hearing confessions and for preaching; 8) before the Ordinary or his delegate, the rector of a canonically erected university or faculty; before the rector and his delegate, the professors, at the beginning of each academic year or at least upon assuming their teaching position; all those who, having passed the examinations, obtain academic degrees; 9) in clerical religious institutes, the superior makes the profession before the Chapter or the superior who appointed him, or before a delegate of one of them. All these persons are required to renew the p. of f. whenever they move from one office to another that likewise requires such a profession.
b) The obligation to make the p. of f. is personal, and therefore one made through a procurator is not valid. The p. of f. may not be made before laypersons (can. 1407). The obligation of the p. of f. is grave, and anyone who neglects it commits an ecclesiastical offense subject to penalties in accordance with can. 2403. When several persons make the p. of f., it is sufficient for one to recite the formula and for the others to pronounce the final expression of promise and oath.
#### PROFESSIONE RELIGIOSA: V. RELIGIOSI.