Catholicisation

Not to be confused with Catholic missions.

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

The term is also used^{[citation needed]} for the communion of Eastern Christian churches into the Catholic Church; the Eastern Catholic Churches that follow 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]}

See also: Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples

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

Main article: Eastern Catholic Churches

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Main articles: Union of Brest, Union of Uzhhorod, and Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians

During the period from the 16th up to the 18the century, in eastern regions of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Kingdom of Hungary several successive campaigns of Catholicization were undertaken in order to convert local Eastern Orthodox Christians into Catholicism.^[3][4][5]

Serbs

Catholic priest Sidonije Šolc converting Serbian Orthodox Christians to Catholicism, in Bosanska Dubica (August 1941)

Main article: Catholic clergy involvement with the Ustaše

The Council of Trent (1545–63) 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.^[6]

Since the many migrations of Serbs into the Habsburg monarchy beginning in the 16th century, there were efforts to Catholicize the community. The Orthodox Eparchy of Marča became the Catholic Eparchy of Križevci after waves of Uniatization in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[7] Notable individuals active in the Catholicisation of Serbs in the 17th century include Martin Dobrović, Benedikt Vinković, Petar Petretić, Rafael Levaković, Ivan Paskvali and Juraj Parčić.^[7][8][9] 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 Catholicize the Serbs.^[10]

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.

Re-Catholicisation during Counter-Reformation

Main article: Counter-Reformation

See also

• Inquisition
• Proselytism

Christianization by the papacy

• Christianization of Poland
• Christianization of Bohemia

References

1. Peter Hamish Wilson (2009). The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy. Harvard University Press. p. 357. ISBN 978-0-674-03634-5.
2. Vuković 2004, p. 424.
3. Litwin 1987, p. 57–83.
4. Tóth 2002, p. 587-606.
5. Kornél 2011, p. 33-56.
6. 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
7. Kašić, Dušan Lj (1967). Srbi i pravoslavlje u Slavoniji i sjevernoj Hrvatskoj. Savez udruženja pravosl. sveštenstva SR Hrvatske. p. 49.
8. Kolarić, Juraj (2002). Povijest kršćanstva u Hrvata: Katolička crkva. Hrvatski studiji Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. p. 77. ISBN 978-953-6682-45-4.
9. Dimitrijević, Vladimir (2002). Pravoslavna crkva i rimokatolicizam: (od dogmatike do asketike). LIO. p. 337. ISBN 9788683697045.
10. Gavrilović, Slavko (1993). Iz istorije Srba u Hrvatskoj, Slavoniji i Ugarskoj: XV-XIX vek. Filip Višnjić. p. 30. ISBN 9788673631264.

Sources

Books

• 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), pp. 4–6.
• Forster, M.R., The Thirty Years' War and the Failure of Catholicization. The Counter-Reformation: The Essential Readings, pp. 163–97.
• Ionescu, D., 1991. Roumania: The Orthodox-Uniate Conflict. Report on Eastern Europe, 2(31).
• 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.
• 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.
• Vuković, Slobodan V. (2004). "Uloga Vatikana u razbijanju Jugoslavije". Sociološki Pregled. 38 (3): 423–443. doi:10.5937/socpreg0403423V.

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.