Catholicisation

Catholicisation (American English: Catholicization) refers mainly to the conversion of adherents of other religions to Catholicism, and the system of expanding Catholic influence in politics. Catholicisation was a policy of the Holy See through the Papal States, the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy. Sometimes this process is referred to as re-Catholicisation, although in many cases Catholicised people had never been Catholics before.^[1]

The Eastern Catholic Churches are a communion in the Catholic Church of Eastern Christian rites such as the Byzantine, Alexandrian, Armenian, East Syrian and West Syrian Rites, as opposed to the Latin Church.

Catholic doctrine

Christian denominations in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth before (1573) and after (1750) the campaign of Catholicisation^{[image reference needed]}

The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (Latin: Congregatio pro Gentium Evangelizatione), formerly Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Latin: Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide) is the congregation of the Roman Curia responsible for missionary work and related activities.

In 1439 in Florence, the Declaration of Union was adopted, according to which "the Roman Church firmly believes that nobody, who does not belong to the Catholic Church, not only unbelievers, but Judeans (Jews), nor heretics, nor schismatics, cannot enter the kingdom of heaven, but all will go to the eternal fire, which is saved for devils and their angels, if they not before death turn to that church".^[2] The Council of Trent (1545–63) had the mission to gain, apart from "stray" Protestants, also the numerous schismatics from the Catholic Church in southeastern Europe.^[2]

Catholicisation and Uniatism

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

During the period from the 16th to the 18th century, in eastern regions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Kingdom of Hungary several successive campaigns of Catholicisation were undertaken in order to convert local Eastern Orthodox Christians into Catholicism.^[3]^[4]

Transylvania

The Transylvanian Armenians, refugees from Moldavia and Poland, were Catholicized in the 1685–1715 period.^[5] The vicar Bertalan Szebelébi tried to convert these Armenians in c. 1680, but failed.^[6] In 1682–84, Uniatization missions were conducted among the Transylvanian Armenians.^[7] After the death of local Armenian Apostolic bishop Minas in 1686, the local Catholic church under Oxendio spread lies that Minas had converted to Catholicism.^[8] In 1689, the Transylvanian Armenians signed a religious union.^[6]

Following the Habsburg takeover of Transylvania in the 1680s, bishop of Gyulafehérvár, Atanasie Anghel, entered into full communion with the See of Rome by the Act of Union of 1698, that was formalized by a synod of bishops on 4 September 1700.

Serbs

Since the 15th century Bosnian Franciscans were allowed to propagate their religious doctrine and work on gaining adherents.^[2] It was decreed on 23 August 1418 by Pope Martin V that the Franciscan friars preach Catholicism among the "recently converted" in Serbia, Bosnia, Wallachia, and Bulgaria (Latin: fidelibus noviter conversis ... fidem catholicam praedicando).^[9] The Council of Trent (1545–1563) had the mission to gain both Protestants, and Orthodox Christians in southeastern Europe.^[2] The Serbian Orthodox Church became targeted, the strongest pressure during the term of Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605), who used the difficult position of the Orthodox in the Ottoman Empire and conditioned the Serbian Patriarch to Uniatize in return for support against the Turks.^[2]

Serbian Orthodox Christians and Bogomils were targeted for Catholicisation by clergy from Republic of Ragusa.^[10]

Since the many migrations of Serbs into the Habsburg monarchy beginning in the 16th century, there were efforts to Catholicise the community. The Orthodox Eparchy of Marča became the Catholic Eparchy of Križevci after waves of Uniatisation in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[11] Notable individuals active in the Catholicisation of Serbs in the 17th century include Martin Dobrović, Benedikt Vinković, Petar Petretić, Rafael Levaković and Ivan Paskvali.^[11]^[12]^[13] The Catholic bishops Vinković and Petretić wrote numerous inaccurate texts meant to incite hatred against Serbs and Orthodox Christians, some of which included advice on how to Catholicise the Serbs.^[14]

During World War II, the Axis Ustashe led the campaign of Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia. An estimated 300,000 were converted to Catholicism, most temporarily.

References

^ Peter Hamish Wilson (2009). The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy. Harvard University Press. p. 357. ISBN 978-0-674-03634-5.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Vuković 2004, p. 424.
^ Litwin 1987, p. 57–83.
^ Tóth 2002, p. 587-606.
^ Kornél 2011, pp. 33–56.
^ ^a ^b Kornél 2011, p. 41.
^ Kornél 2011, p. 42.
^ Kornél 2011, p. 44.
^ Fermendžin 1892, p. 105.
^ Irena Ipšić, 2013, Vlasništvo nad nekretninama crkvenih i samostanskih ustanova na orebićkome području u 19. stoljeću, https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=155415 #page=235
^ ^a ^b Kašić, Dušan Lj (1967). Srbi i pravoslavlje u Slavoniji i sjevernoj Hrvatskoj. Savez udruženja pravosl. sveštenstva SR Hrvatske. p. 49.
^ Kolarić, Juraj (2002). Povijest kršćanstva u Hrvata: Katolička crkva. Hrvatski studiji Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. p. 77. ISBN 978-953-6682-45-4.
^ Dimitrijević, Vladimir (2002). Pravoslavna crkva i rimokatolicizam: (od dogmatike do asketike). LIO. p. 337. ISBN 9788683697045.
^ Gavrilović, Slavko (1993). Iz istorije Srba u Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji i Ugarskoj: XV-XIX vek. Filip Višnjić. p. 30. ISBN 9788673631264.

Sources

Kornél, Nagy (2011). "The Catholicization of Transylvanian Armenians (1685-1715): Integrative or Disintegrative Model?". Integrating Minorities: Traditional Communities and Modernization. Cluj-Napoca: Editura ISPMN. pp. 33–56. ISBN 9786069274491.
Litwin, Henryk (1987). "Catholicization among the Ruthenian Nobility and Assimilation Processes' in the Ukraine during the Years 1569-1648" (PDF). Acta Poloniae Historica. 55: 57–83. ISSN 0001-6829.
Vuković, Slobodan V. (2004). "Uloga Vatikana u razbijanju Jugoslavije". Sociološki Pregled. 38 (3): 423–443. doi:10.5937/socpreg0403423V.
Fermendžin, Eusebius, ed. (1892). Monumenta spectantia historiam Slavorum meridionalium: Edidit Academia Scienciarum et Artium Slavorum Meridionalium: Acta Bosnae. Vol. XXIII.
Zach, Krista (1979). "Die bosnische Franziskanermission des 17. Jahrhunderts im süd-östlichen Niederungarn: Aspekte ethnisch - konfessioneller Schichtung in der Siedlungsgeschichte Niederungarn" (PDF). Studia Hungarica. 13.

Caffiero, Marina; Cochrane, Lydia G. (2012). Forced Baptisms: Histories of Jews, Christians, and Converts in Papal Rome. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25451-0.
Ó hAnnracháin, Tadhg (2015). Catholic Europe, 1592-1648: Centre and Peripheries. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927272-3.
Paris, Edmond (1988). Convert-- or die!: Catholic persecution in Yugoslavia during World War II. Chick Publications. ISBN 9780937958353.
Skinner, Barbara (2009). The Western Front of the Eastern Church: Uniate and Orthodox Conflict in 18th-century Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Northern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-87580-407-1.

Journals

Atlagić, M. (2008). "Katoličenje Srba na Kosovu i Metohiji u XVII vijeku" (PDF). Baština (25): 137–147.
Bourdeaux, M. (1974). "The Uniate churches in Czechoslovakia". Religion in Communist Lands. 2 (2): 4–6.
Forster, M. R. "The Thirty Years' War and the Failure of Catholicization". The Counter-Reformation: The Essential Readings: 163–97.
Ionescu, D. (1991). "Roumania: The Orthodox-Uniate Conflict". Report on Eastern Europe. 2 (31).
Jovičin, Miroslav (2025). "Срби и Римска курија I" [Serbs and the Roman Curia I]. Novi Sad: Културни центар Новог Сада.
Miltojević, Milutin (2014). "Српска историографија о унијаћењу Срба у седамнаестом веку". Историографија и савремено друштво. Филозофски факултет Ниш: 220–230.
Sadkowski, K. (1998). "From Ethnic Borderland to Catholic Fatherland: The Church, Christian Orthodox, and State Administration in the Chelm Region, 1918-1939". Slavic Review. 57 (4): 813–839. doi:10.2307/2501048. JSTOR 2501048. S2CID 163300416.
Tóth, István György (2002). "Počiatky rekatolizácie na východnom Slovensku (The Beginning of re-Catholicization in Eastern Slovakia)". Historický časopis. 50 (4): 587–606.

Conference papers

Cuming, G. J., ed. (2008). The Mission of the Church and the Propagation of the Faith: Papers read at the Seventh Summer Meeting and the Eighth Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-10179-0.

[Wilson2009-1] Peter Hamish Wilson (2009). The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy. Harvard University Press. p. 357. ISBN 978-0-674-03634-5.

[FOOTNOTEVuković2004424-2] Vuković 2004, p. 424.

[FOOTNOTELitwin198757–83-3] Litwin 1987, p. 57–83.

[FOOTNOTETóth2002587-606-4] Tóth 2002, p. 587-606.

[FOOTNOTEKornél201133–56-5] Kornél 2011, pp. 33–56.

[FOOTNOTEKornél201141-6] Kornél 2011, p. 41.

[FOOTNOTEKornél201142-7] Kornél 2011, p. 42.

[FOOTNOTEKornél201144-8] Kornél 2011, p. 44.

[FOOTNOTEFermendžin1892105-9] Fermendžin 1892, p. 105.

[10] Irena Ipšić, 2013, Vlasništvo nad nekretninama crkvenih i samostanskih ustanova na orebićkome području u 19. stoljeću, https://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=155415 #page=235

[Kasic1967-11] Kašić, Dušan Lj (1967). Srbi i pravoslavlje u Slavoniji i sjevernoj Hrvatskoj. Savez udruženja pravosl. sveštenstva SR Hrvatske. p. 49.

[12] Kolarić, Juraj (2002). Povijest kršćanstva u Hrvata: Katolička crkva. Hrvatski studiji Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. p. 77. ISBN 978-953-6682-45-4.

[13] Dimitrijević, Vladimir (2002). Pravoslavna crkva i rimokatolicizam: (od dogmatike do asketike). LIO. p. 337. ISBN 9788683697045.

[14] Gavrilović, Slavko (1993). Iz istorije Srba u Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji i Ugarskoj: XV-XIX vek. Filip Višnjić. p. 30. ISBN 9788673631264.

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