II. Episcopacy of the Roman Catholic Church. — (1.) The theory of the Episcopacy according to Eoman ■writers springs from the Eomish doctrine of a visible Church. "An invisible Church" (Mcihler, Symbolism, § 43) " needs onh' an inward, purely spiritual sacrifice, and a general priesthood;" but the visible Church, in its very idea, according to the Romish view, requires an external sacrifice, and the consecration of especial priests to perform it. The priest is supposed to re- ceive the internal consecration from God through the external consecration of the Church^ — that is to say, lie receives the Holy Ghost through the imposition of hands of the bishops. The stability of the visible Church is supposed to require, therefore, an ecclesias- tical ordination, originating with Christ, and per- petuated in uninterrupted succession ; so that, as the apostles were sent forth by Christ, they, in their turn, instituted bishops, and these have appointed their suc- cessors down to our days. But, if these bishops are to form a perpetual corporation, they need a centre and head connecting them firmlj^ together, and exer- cising jurisdiction over them, and this head is found in the pope. The Episcopacj^ ivith the pope nt its head, is revered in the Church of Rome as a divine in- stitution.
(2.) We say "with the pope at its head," for this point is essential to the Eomish idea of an Epi.-copacy jure divino. The Eoman Churdi has been divided on this question for ages. It formed one of the chief controversies in the Council of Trent, where manj' of tlie bishops earnestly endeavored to have their office pronounced to be of divine right apart from the pope, "while the papal legates strenuously, but adroitly, re- sisted this claim, and managed to jirevent its authori- zation by the council. The declarations of Trent on the subject are as follows (sess. xxiii, De Refol-matione, ch. iv"): "The sacred and Itoly synod c\eclarcs that, besides the other ecclesiastical degrees, bishops, who have succeeded unto the place of the apostles, princi-
pally belong to the {this') hierarchical order ; that they are placed, as the aj^ostle says, by the Holy Ghost to rule the Church of God (Acts xx, 28) ; that the}- are superior to priests ; confer the sacrament of ordina- tion ; ordain the ministers of the Church, etc." Fur- ther (same session, Can. vi) : " If any one shall say that in tlie Catholic Church there is not a hierarchy instituted bj' divine ordination, consisting of bishops, priests, and ministers, let him be anathema." And also (Can. vii), "If any one shall say that bishops are not superior to priests, or that they have not the pow- er of confirming and ordaining, etc., let him be anath- ema." Nothing is said here of the divine rir/ht of the Episcopal order. But, in fact, it is not even called an order at all. In chapter ii of the same session (Touclb- ing tlie seven orders') we have ])riests, deacons, sub- deacons, acolytes, exorcists, readers, and door-keepers, but not a word about bishops. So far as order is con- cerned, the bishops are simply priests. The Catechism of the Council of Trent declares that the order of priest- hood, though essentially one, has diff'erent degrees of dignity and power^ — 1, simple priests ; 2, bishops ; 3, archbishops ; 4, patriarchs ; and, 5, superior to all, the sovereign pontiff. The history of the stormy 22d session of the council throws great light upon these decrees. A canon was proposed concerning " the in- stitution of bishops," and the Spanish prelates de- manded an addition to it, declaring the Episcopate to be of divine right. This question arose, in fact, in 1546, and was before the council, in some shape or other, until 15C2 (sess. xxii), when it took the precise form, " Are bishops supei-ior to priests by divine right, or onl}^ by ecclesiastical and papal right.'" Tlie pope knew that if it should be decided that the bishops held their power direct!}^ from God, tliere was no ground for the doctrine that they existed only through the pope, and feared that they would ultimatelv assert their entire independence. The dispute ended in drop- ping altogether the canon on the "institution of bish- ops," and substituting the vague decree and canon above cited.
(3.) Two theories, then, of the Episcopate exist in the Eoman Church : 1, the so-called Papal system, ac- cording to which the pope is the sole bishop tiy divine right, and all other bishops exist only through him, and derive their superioritj' to presbyters solely from him ; 2, tlie Episcopal system, which asserts an inde- pendent divine right on the pjart of each bishop. The former is the ultramontane view, and it is now prev- alent throughout almost all the Eoman world. The latter is the moderate or Gallic view. It holds that the bishops are the rightful governors of the Church, superior to presbyters by the direct appointment of God ; and maintains that the pope is, with regard to other bishops, jjrimus inter pares, ajipointed for the sake of keeping up the unity of the Chui-ch as a cor- porate body. The question, in fact, turns upon that of the primacy of the see of Eome. See Pkim-Acy. The Episcopal theory was adopted hy the Galilean clergy (see Gallicanism), by the Janscnists (q. v.), and bj' Hontheim (q. v.). The present tendency of the entire Eomish Church, however, is to the ultra- montane theory.