UNAM SANCTAM. - During the conflict that divided Philip IV the Fair and Boniface VIII, the latter published on 18 Nov. 1302 a bull dealing with the relations between temporal and spiritual power.
[In the theoretical part the Pope subordinated civil authority to the Church and attributed to the Church the right to judge it in the event of « deviation ». The dogmatic conclusion was as follows: « We declare, say, define and pronounce that the submission of every human creature to the Roman Pontiff is of necessity for salvation ». The bull aroused controversies. Some did not consider it authentic (P. Mury, La bulle Unam Sanctam, in Revue des questions historiques, 26 [1879], pp. 91-130), others regarded it as the work of Giles of Rome (J. Rivière, Le problème de l'Église et de l'Etat au temps de Philippe-le-Bel, Louvain 1926, pp. 394-404). The bull, however, is perfectly authentic and appears in the papal Registers (G. Digart, Les Registres de Boniface VIII [Bibl. Ec. Franç. Athén. et Rome, 2nd series, IV], Paris 1884-1935, no. 5382, and H. Denifle, Specimina paleografica, Rome 1888, ph. XLVI); nor is there any evidence that would permit its attribution to Giles of Rome, but its drafter seems to have made use of the latter's treatise De ecclesiastica potestate.
The dogmatic definition promulgated by Boniface VIII has a general character and names no one in particular. It contains no allusion to the motives and does not decide the question of the relations between the spiritual and the temporal, which therefore remains undetermined. The definition moreover introduces no innovations and stands alongside the doctrine professed by St. Thomas Aquinas.
Bibliography
Guglielmo Mollat