Arnold Mathew

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Not to be confused with Matthew Arnold.
Arnold Harris Mathew
Arnold Mathew.jpg
Arnold Harris Mathew consecration
Successor Rudolph de Landas Berghes, Bernard Mary Williams
Orders
Ordination 1877
Consecration April 28, 1908
by Gerardus Gul
Personal details
Birth name Arnold Harris Ochterlony Matthews[citation needed]
Born (1852-08-07)August 7, 1852
Montpellier, Hérault, France
Died 19 December 1919(1919-12-19) (aged 67)
Hertfordshire, England
Nationality British
Denomination Old Roman Catholic, Anglican and Roman Catholic
Coat of arms {{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}

Arnold Harris Mathew, de jure Earl of Landaff of Thomastown,[1] (August 7, 1852 – December 19, 1919) was the founder and first bishop of the Old Catholic Church in the United Kingdom and a noted author on ecclesiastical subjects.

Matthews had been both a Roman Catholic and an Anglican before becoming a bishop in the Union of Utrecht. His early life is the subject of some interest from researchers as a result of his aristocratic connections and his father's connection with colonial India.

Contents

Biography [edit]

Mathew was a descendant of Theobald Mathew the noted "Apostle of Temperance".[2] Born in France in 1852 and baptised in the Roman Catholic Church; due to his mother's scruples he was rebaptised in the Church of England. He studied for the ministry in the Scottish Episcopal Church, but sought reconciliation and confirmation in the Church of Rome.[3]

As a Roman Catholic, he was ordained priest in 1877 in the Pro-Cathedral in Glasgow by the Most Revd Charles Eyre, Archbishop of Anazarba, in partibus infidelium Vicar-General of the Western District of Scotland, who became the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow after the restoration of the hierarchy to Scotland. Mathew was granted a Doctor of Divinity degree by Pope Pius IX. He became a Dominican in 1878 but only persevered a year, moving around a number of dioceses: Newcastle, Plymouth, Nottingham and Clifton. He remained a Roman Catholic priest until, in 1889, various personal doubts and issues caused him to retire from the Roman obedience. Later in 1891 he was persuaded to "trial" the Anglican ministry and went to assist the rector of Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, London. He was never officially received into the Church of England, neither did he formally leave the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1897, Mathew had met the Revd Richard O'Halloran[4] and became curious about the suggestion of an Old Catholic Church in Great Britain. O'Halloran had been corresponding with the Old Catholic bishops in Holland and Germany and believed that such a movement would interest a large number of disaffected Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics. In June 1906 the Royal Commission appointed in 1904 to inquire into "ecclesiastical disorders", afterwards known as the Ritual Commission,[5] presented its report and this was followed by the issue of Letters of Business. It was expected that the Catholic-minded Anglican clergy,[6] with their congregations, might, by Act of Parliament, be forced out of the Anglican Communion. Persuaded by O'Halloran, Mathew decided to join the movement and was elected the first Regionary Old Catholic Bishop for Great Britain and in 1908 the Old Roman Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht was petitioned to consecrate him to this charge.

Consecration [edit]

On 28 April 1908, in St Gertrude's Cathedral, Utrecht, Mathew was consecrated Regionary Old Catholic Bishop for Great Britain and Ireland at the hands of Msgr Gerardus Gul, Archbishop of Utrecht, assisted by Msgr Jacobus Johannes van Thiel, Bishop of Haarlem, Msgr Nicolaus Bartholomeus Petrus Spit, Bishop of Deventer and Msgr Josef Demmel, Bishop of Bonn.

Mathew's election was to some extent a precautionary endeavour by those anticipating a precipitous action of the Government regarding the Ritual Commission's findings, there were only a small number of Old Catholics in England. However, the King's Letters of Business dealing with the Report of the Ritual Commission received no further attention as other important issues, including questions of tariff reform, claimed the immediate attention of the Government and no action was taken. The result being that those who had taken part in Mathews' election were able to remain within the Anglican Communion. Added to the natural differences with their former brethren in the Roman Church was a campaign of persecution directed by certain elements among the Anglicans of the state Church of England, described by Willibald Beyschleg, professor ordinarius of practical theology of the University of Halle and a noted Old Catholic historian, as "those who emphatically desire to be ‘catholic’ but are at the same time wholly out of sympathy with Old Catholics."[7] They were a small group of ritualistic clergy of the established English Church "on the way to Rome" while the Old Catholics were "on the way from Rome".[8] Unprepared for the position in which he then found himself, Mathews disclosed the matter fully before the Dutch bishops who, with the Old Catholic bishops, held an inquiry into the circumstances. Mathew was subsequently publicly exonerated from all suggestion of misrepresentation in a letter to The Manchester Guardian of 3 June 1908, the bishops also refused his request to retire and insisted he continue with the original mission[9] (though they were later to try and retract this affirmation in 1920).[10])

Arnold Harris Mathew being ordained a bishop by the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht, Gerardus Gul, at Utrecht, 28 April 1908

Mission in England 1908-1919 [edit]

In 1909, Mathew issued The Old Catholic Missal & Ritual[11] for the use of English-speaking Old Catholics with the imprimatur of Mgr Gerardus Gul, Archbishop of Utrecht. In September 1909, Mathew attended the Old Catholic Congress in Vienna, where he expressed his sympathy with the conservative position of the Dutch Old Catholics opposing the innovations being introduced among the German and Swiss Old Catholics to accept the decrees of the Holy Synod of Jerusalem (1672) and to renounce the Sacrament of Penance (auricular confession), the invocation of the saints and alterations in the liturgy, including the omission of the Pope's name from the Canon of the Mass. Mathew expressed fears that the trend of Continental Old Catholicism was towards Modernism, perhaps because of the growing association with Anglicans and Lutherans, and hoped for a return to the traditional principles of the Church of Utrecht. At Utrecht, in October 1910, he assisted at the consecration of Michael John Maria Kowalski as archbishop of the Old Catholic Church of the Mariavites of Poland.

Autonomy and Independence [edit]

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Eventually, with the support of his clergy, on 29 December 1910, Mathew issued a pastoral letter entitled "A Declaration Of Autonomy And Independence"[12] from the Union of Utrecht Churches. This necessitated then the continuation of the apostolic succession for the survival of the "old" Roman Catholic faith and so, on 7 January 1911, Mathew consecrated Archdeacon Francis Herbert Bacon, Canon Cuthbert Francis Hinton, Fr William Edmond Scott-Hall and Fr Frederick Clement Christie Egerton to the episcopate. An episcopal synod then followed and Mathew was unanimously elected Old Roman Catholic Archbishop of Great Britain and Ireland. Mathew's consecrations including two former Roman Catholic priests, Fathers Howarth and Beale, who had been excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham for embezzling. Mathew then sent documents to Pope Pius X attesting to the episcopal consecrations. On 11 February 1911, in response and arguably in recognition of the validity of the consecrations, Pope Pius X formally excommunicated Mathew in the papal bull Gravi Iamdiu Scandalo[13] for having consecrated bishops without permission of the Holy See (which permission the Dutch Church was granted freedom from by previous papal bulls).[14]

A noted author and historian, Mathew had an excellent knowledge of the Eastern Orthodox Church and established cordial relations between the English Old Catholics and the Patriarchal See of Antioch. Now an archbishop, Mathew had been in contact with people interested in extending the presence of the Eastern Orthodox Church to Western Europe. On 5 August 1911, at a conference in Bredon's Norton, Worcestershire attended by Archbishop Gerassimos Messarra, Archbishop of Beirut, Legate of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Mathew and others. After a long and full discussion the faith of the Old Roman Catholic Church under Archbishop Mathew was considered in full accord with that of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Mathew was then solemnly received by Mgr Messarra on behalf of Gregory IV (Haddad) and the Old Roman Catholic Church into union with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch as an autocephalous jurisdiction of the Holy Synod and on 26 February 1912, Photius, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, also accepted this union.[15] As this status has never been formally withdrawn or repudiated, it may be reasonably argued that Old Roman Catholic bishops are not in fact episcopi vagantes (an oft used term of disparagement by critics) but bishops of a canonically autocephalous church in communion with two historical patriarchal sees of the ancient undivided church.

What distinguished the scholarly Mathew and the episcopate he established in Scotland and America from that of the continental Old Catholics was his insistence on the inviolable episcopal authority of each national body of Old Catholics. This had been in the minds of the original Old Catholic congresses, but the German episcopate, because of its preponderance of numbers and wealth attempted to create a small hierarchical system patterned on the Roman administration with the Archbishop of Utrecht in the position of ranking prelate or "little pope". The English Old Catholics, seeing in this the possibilities of the former mistake of the Western Church with a Germanic, instead of an Italian, spiritual protectorate over the whole Christian world, restated the original Old Catholic principles of autonomy and had received the support of their Orthodox friends in this respect.

In 1914, the previous bishops having left the church for various reasons, Mathew elected Bishop Rudolph Francis Edward Hamilton de Lorraine-Brabant, Prince de Landas Berges, to continue the succession and initially to establish the ministry of the Old Roman Catholic Church in Scotland and then later in the United States. Shortly thereafter, Father Carmel Henry Carfora, an Italian Franciscan friar who had left the Roman Catholic Church, was elected to succeed Bishop de Landes Berghes as Archbishop of the Old Roman Catholic Diocese of America. Because of the move to America of Bishop de Landas Berghes, to safeguard the succession once more, Canon Bernard Mary Williams was consecrated by Mathew on 14 April 1916. On 25 March 1917, Mathew appointed Bishop Williams as his successor and, on 20 December 1919, died at South Mimms, Hertfordshire where he had retired.

Death [edit]

On 19 December 1915, Mathew made a submission to the Vatican, confirmed by announcements in letters in The Times of 31 December 1915 and in The Tablet on 16 January 1916. But because the Holy See insisted that he would only be reconciled as a layman and would be obliged to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility and primacy of the Roman Pontiff, Mathew then sought union with the Church of England but the Archbishop of Canterbury refused to give him any position as an Anglican cleric. Mathew retired to a village in the English countryside and contented himself with assisting at services in an Anglican parish church. He died suddenly in December 1919 and was buried in the Parish of Saint Giles in South Mimms, Hertfordshire.

Contemporary significance [edit]

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There are many independent churches, "rites" and ecclesiastic bodies in the English speaking world, particularly in North America and some in Continental Europe which trace their holy orders to Mathew's apostolic succession. This makes Mathew a significant figure in the Independent Sacramental Movement. However, genuine Old Roman Catholic jurisdictions directly descended from the missionary endeavours of the first generation of Mathew's bishops are very few.

Mathew's activities as a bishop gave birth to the Liberal Catholic Church and the more conservative Old Roman Catholic churches, which are autocephalous churches holding to a traditional Roman Catholic worship style, most rejecting the dogmas of the First Vatican Council (1869-1870) but some offering nominal acceptance.

Old Roman Catholic Church [edit]

In Europe the maintenance of traditional Old Roman Catholicism (i.e. maintaining the original aims of Mathew and arguably the original mission of the Ultrajectines) is maintained by the Old Roman Catholic Church in Europe (ORCCE) [part of the Old Roman Catholic Church Latin Rite (ORCC/LR), the only global Old Roman Catholic jurisdiction with provinces in North America, South America, Asia and Africa] and the Old Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain (ORCC/GB) headed by Archbishop Douglas Lewins, the lineal descendant of Mathew's original church.

In the United States, as well as the Old Roman Catholic Church Latin Rite (ORCC/LR), the following are the only churches descended directly from the Old Roman Catholic Church of North America founded by Landas Berghes succeeded by Carfora, namely the Old Roman Catholic Church: See of Caer-Glow (ORCC/SoG) headed by Archbishop John Humphreys; the Old Roman Catholic Church in North America (ORCCNA) headed by Archbishop Francis P. Facione; the Old [Roman] Catholic Church of America (OCCA) headed by Archbishop Henry Pleau; the Traditional Roman Catholic Church (TRCC) headed by Archbishop Sherman Mosley; the Old Roman Catholic Church Americas (ORCCA) and the North American Old Roman Catholic Church (NAORCC) headed by Archbishop Edward J. Ford. There are also individual Old Roman Catholic bishops operating single missions, but these are very few in number.

There are other churches using the name "Old Roman Catholic" that have no direct connection to the above jurisdictions and are not directly descended from the original Old Roman Catholic missions. Such churches' claims to being Old Roman Catholic are usually by virtue of having attained Mathew's succession from various episcopi vagantes or by adopting the polity of Old Roman Catholicism.

Liberal Catholic Church [edit]

Mathew was a traditional Ultrajectine and Roman Catholic in his religious beliefs and believed the bishops he consecrated were orthodox in their theology as well, preaching doctrines common to the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches. However, some transpired to have strong leanings toward Theosophy, occultism and Spiritualism and what may now be called "New Thought" ideas, much to Mathew's own shock and chagrin. In 1918, a couple of Theosophical-minded bishops of Mathew's Old Roman Catholic Church set up their own "Liberal Catholic Church", a syncretistic semi-Christian Theosophic sect with a "High Church" Catholic liturgy and an eclectic theology incorporating Hindu and Theosophist doctrines such as karma and reincarnation along with a terminology of "vibrations", "astral planes" and so on.

The Liberal Catholic Church was initially the creation largely of the Right Revd James Ingall Wedgwood (born 1883), a zealous Theosophist, Freemason and Rosicrucian who was also ordained as an Old Roman Catholic Church bishop by Mathew, who later disowned him, and in 1918 became the first Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church with several thousand members in England, Europe, North America and Asia.

Validity [edit]

Concerning the validity of the Holy Orders conferred by Mathew in the period following his departure from the Union of Utrecht.

Utrecht denial [edit]

On the 29 April 1920 the International Bishops' Conference (IBC) of the Union of Utrecht, declared Mathew's consecration to have been in mala fides ("in bad faith"). The suggestion was that the petition for his consecration and its 150 signatories collated by O'Halloran was false in its premise for the consecration[16] and thus the consecration was invalid. However, Mathews had disclosed the matter fully before the Dutch bishops days after the consecration when it transpired that the Anglicans who had participated in his election withdrew from the petition due to the changed situation regarding the Ritual Commission (see above). Certain unprincipled elements of this Anglo-Catholic group exerted pressure on the Dutch Church to disavow the English Old Catholics, but without result. At one time they intended to besmirch the Mathew's character by elaborating on a statement made by a Roman Catholic editor that Mathew’s credentials to the Dutch Church contained false statements, but the bishops of Holland, after a thorough investigation themselves, vindicated Mathew. The Roman priest himself recalled the original statement, saying that since he made it he had satisfied himself by a personal investigation that it was groundless. The Old Catholic bishops then held an inquiry into the circumstances and Mathew was publicly exonerated from all suggestion of misrepresentation in a letter to The Manchester Guardian of 3 June 1908, the bishops also refused Mathew's request to retire (see above). Also, on 5 October 1909, together with the Old Catholic bishops Thiel, Demmel, Spit and the Utrecht Archbishop Gul, Mathew assisted at the consecration of the Mariavite bishop Kowalski and two assistant bishops for the Old Catholic Church in Poland, so clearly there was no suggestion of mala fides or "invalidity" then by the Old Catholic bishops.

With reference to Mathew's "Declaration of Autonomy" of 29 December 1910, the court session of the IBC on 11 September 1913 simply stated that the matter was "solved" and made no reference to Mathew with regard to any deceit or invalidity. Though the IBC did also state that consecrated persons and communities connected with Mathew would not be welcome by the Union of Utrecht[17] (though recently an invitation was extended to such see Conference of North American Old Catholic Bishops).

The new determination by Utrecht may have been influenced by a desire to have closer relations with the Anglican Communion. In 1908 Lambeth had expressed regret over the consecration of Mathew but had indicated a desire for a closer relationship with Utrecht. This may have been due to the famous pronouncement by Pope Leo XIII in his bull Apostolicae Curae of 1896 that Anglican orders were "null and void". Certainly it had been the impetus of not a few Anglican clergy to seek Mathew out for clandestine reordination after his consecration and it may almost certainly have been the basis upon which some had supported the petition for his consecration by Utrecht (see above). The Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York had replied to the Holy See in Saepius Officio: Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the bull Apostolicae Curae of H.H. Leo XIII.[18] giving a defence of Anglican orders, but discussions about union with Utrecht had been taking place since the end of the 19th century, such as the conferences of reunion in Bonn in 1874 and 1875 convoked by Johann von Döllinger. Though the Dutch bishops in a report of 1894 still could not decide on the recognition of Anglican orders.[19] It would appear then that a desire for closer cooperation on the part of Utrecht with an Anglican desire for the recognition of their orders, conspired to impugn the reputation of Mathew.[20] By June 1925 the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury stated that the Dutch Old Catholic Church had "after lengthy investigations and serious discussions" arrived "without any reservation (to recognise) that the apostolic succession was not interrupted in the Church of England"[17] and in 1931 the Bonn Agreement was signed and intercommunion agreed between the Utrecht Union and the Anglican Communion.

The new Utrecht position however, cannot and does not alter the sacramental validity of the consecration of Mathew which relies solely on the ceremony and intentions of the consecrating bishops rather than on any external circumstances. As the ceremony is known to have taken place and no-one has questioned the intentions of the bishops involved, according to sacramental theology and canonical principles, Mathew's consecration can only be considered valid[21] “…an act, especially one as solemn as an ordination, must be re­garded as valid, as long as invalidity would not be clearly demon­strated.”[22] Pietro, Cardinal Gasparri (pioneer and co-author of the Codex Iuris Canonici 1917).

Rite [edit]

Old Roman Catholic jurisdictions have consistently employed the Tridentine Ordinal and Pontificale for the conferral of ordinations and the consecration of bishops. This was the case with the See of Utrecht right up to and some years beyond the consecration of Mathew himself, without any alterations to the ceremonies. The "Old Catholic Missal & Ritual"[11] published by Mathew in 1909 contains a direct vernacular translation of the Pontificale Romanum and it is either this or the original Latin that is used in all Old Roman Catholic ceremonies still to this day, even by those jurisdictions who permit modern liturgies for the Mass. “A priest or bishop who confers a sacrament doesn’t have to ‘prove’ that he intends to do what the Church does. He is automatically presumed to intend what the rite means. This is certain theological doctrine, taught by the Church. And to deny it is ‘theologically rash.”[23]

Of "Schismatic" or "Excommunicate" ordinations [edit]

Traditionalist Roman Catholics sometimes assert that an episcopal consecration without a papal mandate is invalid despite the teaching of the following Popes; Pope Alexander VII,[24] Pope Clement XI and Pope Benedict XIV declared that consecrations performed without such a dispensation are valid.[25] The teachings of the canonists directly contradict it too. Bouix says flatly: “Even if there should be a consecration without any assistants and without obtaining a pontifical dispensation, it would still be valid.”[26] Regatillo, writing in a 1953 work, goes even further. He says that a consecration performed without a dispensation would be valid even if the bishop “is the only one who is present at the consecration.”[27]

Sometimes, it is asserted that, because Mathew was excommunicated by Pius X, anyone ordained or consecrated by him thereafter (11 February 1911) incurs the same penalty. However, canon law says that “It is not permitted to extend penalties from person to person or from case to case, even though the reason is the same or even stronger.”[28] Receiving orders from an excommunicate incurs only suspension.[29] Thus Mathew's excommunication is not “contagious” and wouldn’t pass along to clergy deriving their orders from him.

Furthermore, Roman Catholic canon law says that “Except as provided in §3,[2] the faithful can for any just cause ask for sacraments or sacramentals of one who is excommunicated, especially if there is no one else to give them; and in such cases the excommunicated person so asked may administer them, and is not obliged to ask the reason for the request.”[30] Though no Old Roman Catholic bishops have been declared "excommunicate" (which must be publicly declared by the Apostolic See and the name of the excommunicated person made public[31]) since Mathew and thus as his excommunication is not contagious, this scenario does not apply.[clarification needed]

Licit or illicit [edit]

It is also suggested that such orders are "illicit" i.e. non canonical. The canonical dispute between the Holy See and the See of Utrecht about whether the Ultrajectine See could elect its own Bishops was never canonically i.e. legally, concluded (Pius IX ignoring "due process" and erecting an uncanonical hierarchy in Holland in 1853). Thus, it is arguably only just according to Canonical principles to assume that the inalienable right granted by Papal Bull of Bl. Eugene III is still extant and in effect.[32]

The rightful Archbishop of Utrecht (Geraldus Gul) in 1908 consecrated and commissioned Arnold Harris Mathew as a Bishop in accordance with the norms of universal ecclesiastical law, nominating and electing him to a title. When the See of Utrecht fell into 'apostasy' in 1910, Bishop Mathew justifiably declared autonomy from the Ultrajectine See on December 29, 1910[33] and justifiably perpetuated her canonical rights and prerogatives for the continuation and perpetuation of the Old Roman Catholic Church from Utrecht.

On August 5, 1911, [now] Archbishop Mathew was received by His Eminence the Most Reverend Archbishop Gearrasimos Messara of Beirut, Syria into the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and the East and intercommunion was established between the second most ancient See of Christendom and first "cathedra" of the Apostle Peter and the Old Roman Catholic Church recognised as an "autocephalous" i.e. self-governing, jurisdiction. This occurred similarly with the Patriarchate of Alexandria in 1912. Thus making the Old Roman Catholic Church a Canonical entity in both the Western and Eastern Catholicates.

Thus the term "Episcopi Vagantes"[34] ought not be applied to the Old Roman Catholic Church, in all her duly constituted and canonically governed ecclesial communities around the world, nor particularly her Bishops. The Old Roman Catholic Church is a recognised autocephalous and canonical ecclesial entity equal to any other so recognised Church of the East and has an historic and legitimate claim to Canonical status within the Latin Rite.

Affirmations of validity [edit]

There are various incidences where Old Roman Catholic orders have been affirmed by theologians, canonists and even representatives of the Holy See.

According to supporters, the consecration of Hiram Hulse indicates that the Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA regarded the Mathew line as being not only valid but even desirable. On 12 January 1915, in New York City, Hiram Hulse was consecrated as a bishop in Cuba for the Protestant Episcopal Church assisted by Bishop de Landes Berghes in the Mathew line. This indicates that there were no apparent perceived problems in relation to valid holy orders in the early 20th century. The orders of De Landes Berghes, consecrated after Mathew left the Union of Utrecht, were apparently viewed by his contemporaries as valid despite any adverse comments from Utrecht.

Archbishop Frederick Linale of the Old Roman Catholic Church Great Britain,[35] third in succession from Archbishop Carfora (via Richard Arthur Marchenna and George Gerard Shelley) sought and obtained a declaration from Rome confirming the validity of his Orders, firstly in 1962.[36] Then on 1/9/1982, Archbishop Romolo Carboni,[37] the Apostolic Nuncio to Italy, wrote to His Eminence, the Cardinal Prefect of the Council for the Public Affairs of the Church, [document 1490/82], asking him to look into the Apostolic Succession of Mgr Linale. This task was given to Mgr Annibale Ilari, who had access to the Vatican Archives. In his written report to the Cardinal Prefect, dated 8/2/83, Mgr Ilari ended with the conclusion:

"I have attached a brief scheme of succession which ties Mgr Linale to the Supreme Pontiffs Benedict XIII, Benedict XIV and Pius IX, with the aim of assuring him that his lineage truly links him to the See of Peter."

The Old Catholic Church of British Colombia, whose orders derive from Mathew through Ernest W. Jackson, was for a brief time a probationary member of the International Bishops' Conference (IBC) of the Union of Utrecht;[38] the union accepted the validity of their orders. An investigation by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Quebec, in a public apology made for having maligned Fr. Claude Lacroix, asserted the validity of the Old Catholic Church BC's holy orders, "Father Lacroix is actually a validly ordained priest" and "Similarly, certificates of baptism given out by the Old Catholic Church of B.C. may be accepted for the inscription of children to First Communion and Confirmation program".[39]

In 2002, Cardinal Gagnon[40] was invited to investigate documentation relating to the episcopal orders received by Bishop Andre Letellier, with a view to commenting on the validity of his consecration. Letellier was consecrated on 23 May 1968 by the late Archbishop Andre Leon Zotique Barbeau of the Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada. Archbishop Barbeau had in turn been consecrated by Archbishop Charles (Ignatius Carolus) Brearley,[41] an English Old Catholic bishop based in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Cardinal Gagnon's statement in part reads "...nothing allows me to doubt the validity of episcopal ordination of Mgr André Letellier by Archbishop André Barbeau and that of Archbishop Barbeau by Archbishop Ignatius Charles Brearley, Primate of the Church of the "Old Catholics" having its seat in England. The ordinations of the "Old Catholics" are generally considered to be the same as those of Orthodox bishops."[42]

Despite critics, there is incontrovertible evidence that the Apostolic Succession of Mathew originating from the See of Utrecht, has been consistently considered "valid" by Vatican officials and Roman Catholic canon lawyers and theologians,[43] irrespective of the excommunication of Mathew by Pius X [see above]. But in all such cases it has been assumed that orthodox praxis and intention has been concurrent with each ordination/consecration and the cases of particular affirmation have only been of individuals known to be conservative in Catholic doctrine. In all above cases too, only the Pontificale Romanum has been used for the Rite of Consecration, other liturgies are not therefore affirmed. It certainly cannot be assumed that the arguments and affirmations detailed here are in any way applicable "across the board" to other groups outside the Old Roman Catholic tradition, most especially those whose teachings are not consistent with orthodox and conservative Catholic doctrine. Similarly, though the canonical principles above may be applied to other scenarios, the conclusions rely inherently on orthodox Catholic praxis and would not apply to those demonstrably apostate or heretical by comparison to traditional Catholic doctrine.

It is generally suggested that Roman Catholics may fulfill their Holy Day of Obligation by attending Mass celebrated by an Old Roman Catholic priest if unable to attend a Roman Catholic Mass.[44] The Roman Catholic Church teaches, "The Churches which, while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches" in the 2000 declaration, Dominus Iesus, of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This speaks primarily to the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, but also to "separated churches in the West", which is understood to be a reference to Old Catholics.[45]

Publications [edit]

  • Genealogy of the Earls of Landaff, of Thomastown County Tipperary, Ireland . np, nd (ca. 1895)
  • The life of Sir Tobie Matthew. Bacon's alter ego, by his kinsman Arnold Harris Mathew and Annette Calthrop. E. Mathews, London 1907
  • Woman suffrage TC & EC Jack, London 1907
  • The life and times of Hildebrand, Pope Gregory VII F. Griffiths, London 1910
  • The life and times of Rodrigo Borgia, Pope Alexander VI S. Paul & co., London 1912
  • An Episcopal Odyssey, 1 November 1915

Further reading [edit]

  • Urs Küry: Die altkatholische Kirche, ihre Geschichte, ihre Lehre, ihr Anliegen. Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1978 ISBN 3-7715-0190-3
  • Henry RT Brandreth: Episcopi vagantes and the Anglican Church. Borgo Press, San Bernardino, 1987, ISBN 0893705586
  • Karl Pruter: The Old Catholic Church, a history and chronology. St. Willibrord's Press, San Bernardino, 1996, ISBN 0912134194
  • Christoph Schuler: The Mathew Affair. The failure to Establish an Old Catholic Church in England in the context of Anglican Old Catholic relations between 1902 and 1925. Stichting Centraal oud Katholiek Boekhuis, Amersfoort 1997, ISBN 90-70596-64-4
  • Andre J. Queen: Old Catholic, History, Ministry, Faith & Mission. Universe, Lincoln, 2003, ISBN 0595749364
  • Kurt J. Bruk: War Bischof Arnold Harris Mathew ein Vaganten-Bischof? Arcturus Publishing, Schäffern 2005, ISBN 3-901489-40-1

References [edit]

  1. ^ In 1890 he put forward his claim to Garter King of Arms for the title of 4th Earl of Llandaff of Thomastown, Co. Tipperary. Christopher Hill (2004). Episcopal Lineage: A Theological Reflection on Blake v Associated Newspapers Ltd. Ecclesiastical Law Journal, 7, pp 334-338 doi:10.1017/S0956618X00005421
  2. ^ Theobald Mathew http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10047a.htm
  3. ^ Christopher Hill (2004). Episcopal Lineage: A Theological Reflection on Blake v Associated Newspapers Ltd. Ecclesiastical Law Journal, 7, pp 334-338 doi:10.1017/S0956618X00005421
  4. ^ http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/33652/pages/6280/page.pdf
  5. ^ http://anglicanhistory.org/pwra/rced9.html
  6. ^ http://anglicanhistory.org/ssc/embry/chapter15.htm
  7. ^ Der Altkatholicismus, Willibald Beyschleg
  8. ^ Der Altkatholicismus, Willibald Beyschleg, ISBN 10 0837084032
  9. ^ http://web.me.com/dlewins/Old_Roman_Catholic_Church_in_GB/
  10. ^ The International Old Catholics Bishops Conference meeting on 29 April 1920, though without providing proper explanation. They attempted to suggest that they had been "hoodwinked" by Mathew and O'Halloran. However, in the same year, the Church of England was eager to develop friendly relations with the Utrecht Union and perhaps it was convenient, after the death of Mathew to try and repair relations by "brushing under the carpet" the original "failed experiment?" http://www.stmichael-online.de/mathew.htm
  11. ^ a b http://www.archive.org/details/oldcatholicmiss00unknuoft
  12. ^ Second section, reprinted from An Episcopal Odyssey by Arnold Harris Mathew, Archbishop of the Old Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain and Ireland, 1 November 1915, http://www.occesussex.co.uk/declarations.htm
  13. ^ http://www.chantcd.com/real_excomm.htm
  14. ^ In 1145 Pope Eugene III granted the cathedral chapter of Utrecht the right to elect bishops after such had been requested by the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III and Bishop Heribert of Utrecht. The Fourth Lateran Council confirmed this in 1215. Pope Leo X issued the papal bull Debitum Pastoralis in 1520 giving extraordinary powers to Philip of Burgundy, 57th Bishop of Utrecht, essentially removing the ability of any external authority to "in the first instance, have his cause evoked to any external tribunal, not even under pretense of any apostolic letters whatever; and that all such proceedings should be, ipso facto, null and void".
  15. ^ p.23 "A summary of the history, faith, discipline and aims of the Old Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain" by Archbishop Bernard Mary Williams, published 1924
  16. ^ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns, p. 97. Urs Küry was a professor at the University of Bern and former bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Switzerland
  17. ^ a b Über die sogenannten "Vagantenbischöfe" by Matthias Niche http://www.stmichael-online.de/mathew.htm
  18. ^ Saepius Officio, Answer of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to the Bull Apostolicae Curae of H. H. Leo XIII, 19 February 1897 (Latin original) (English translation).
  19. ^ Urs Küry: The Old Catholic Church. Their history, their teaching, their concerns, p. 109.
  20. ^ Christoph Schuler: The Mathew Affair. The failure to Establish an Old Catholic Church in England in the context of Anglican Old Catholic relations between 1902 and 1925, Stichting Centraal oud Katholiek Boekhuis, Amersfoort 1997
  21. ^ This is “the queen of pre­sump­tions, which holds the act or contract as valid, until inva­lidity is proved.” Wanenmaker, Canonical Evidence in Marriage Cases, (1935),408.
  22. ^ “…tum quia actus, praesertim adeo solemnis qualis est ordina­tio, habendus est ut validus, donec invaliditas non evincatur.”Cardinal Gasparri, (also compiler of the Code of Canon Law), Tractatus de Sacra Ordinatione (1893), 1:970
  23. ^ Leeming, Principles of Sacramental Theology, (1956) 482 quoted by Cekada, Anthony. “The Validity of the Thuc Consecrations.” Sacerdotium 3, Spring, 1992
  24. ^ Brief Alias, 27 February 1660. “Quantum spectat ad sacramentum et impressionem characteris fuisse validam.” "The Great Excommunicator" by the Rev. Anthony Cekada, http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=54&catname=14
  25. ^ De Synodo Diocesana, 13.13.9-10. “…consecrationem hujusmodi validam, licet illicitam, esse censuerunt… ratam firmamque, sed illicitam Consecrationem pronuntiavit.” Benedict’s emphasis, quoting Clement’s decree of 26 November 1718. "The Great Excommunicator" by Rev. Anthony Cekada http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=54&catname=14
  26. ^ D. Bouix, Tractatus de Episcopo (Paris: Ruffet 1873), 1:243. “Sed etiamsi fiat consecratio absque ullis assistentibus, et absque obtenta Pontificia dispensatione, adhuc valida erit.” "The Great Excommunicator" by Rev. Anthony Cekada http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=54&catname=14
  27. ^ E. Regatillo, Interpretatio et Jurisprudentia Codicis J.C. (Santander: Sal Terrae 1953), 465. “Unus episcopus sufficit ad validitatem consecrationis, dummodo ritum essentialem cum debita intentione ponat. Idque etsi sine pontificia dispensatione unicus sit qui consecrationi intersit.” "The Great Excommunicator" by the Rev. Anthony Cekada http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=54&catname=14
  28. ^ Can 2219 §3. Non licet poenam de persona ad personam vel de casu ad casum producere, quamvis par adsit ratio, imo gravior, salvo tamen praescripto can. 2231. Codex Iuris Canonici 1917 "The Great Excommunicator" by Rev. Anthony Cekada http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=54&catname=14
  29. ^ i.e. a prohibition from licitly exercising orders. “Those who presume to receive orders from one who is excommunicated, or suspended, or interdicted, after a declaratory sentence has been passed upon him, or from a notorious apostate, heretic, or schismatic, ipso facto incur a suspension a divinis reserved to the Holy See; one who in good faith is ordained by any such person is forbidden to exercise the orders so received until he shall be dispensed.” Can 2375. Catholici qui matrimonium mixtum, etsi validum, sine Ecclesiae dispensatione inire ausi fuerint, ipso facto ab actibus legitimis ecclesiasticis et Sacramentalibus exclusi manent, donec ab Ordinario dispensationem obtinuerint. Codex Iuris Canonici 1917 "The Great Excommunicator" by Rev. Anthony Cekada http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=54&catname=14
  30. ^ Can 2261 §1. Prohibetur excommunicatus licite Sacramenta et Sacramentalia conficere et ministrare salvis exceptionibus quae sequuntur. §2. Fideles, salvo praescripto §3, possunt ex qualibet iusta causa ab excommunicato Sacramenta et Sacramentalia petere, maxime si alii ministri desint, et tunc excommunicatus requisitus potest eadem ministrare neque ulla tenetur obligatione causam a requirente percontandi. Codex Iuris Canonici 1917 "The Great Excommunicator" by the Rev. Anthony Cekada, http://www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php?id=54&catname=14
  31. ^ Canon 2258.2 §2. Nemo est vitandus, nisi fuerit nominatim a Sede Apostolica excommunicatus, excommunicatio fuerit publice denuntiata et in decreto vel sententia expresse dicatur ipsum vitari debere, salvo praescripto can. 2343, §1, n. 1. Codex Iuris Canonici 1917
  32. ^ In 1145 Bl. Eugene III granted the Cathedral Chapter of Utrecht the perpetual right to elect their own bishops. In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council (Canons 23 and 24) confirmed this privilege. In In 1520, Pope Leo X decreed in his papal bull [Debitum Pastoralis] that the Bishop of Utrecht, his successors, his clergy, and his laity should never be tried by an external tribunal of canon law. If any such proceedings did take place they were null and void.
  33. ^ Reprinted from "An Episcopal Odyssey" by Arnold Harris Mathew, Archbishop of the Old Roman Catholic Rite in Great Britain and Ireland, November 1, 1915 http://www.catholic-canc.us/autonomy.html
  34. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (1958 edition, edited by F L Cross) gives a succinct definition of episcopi vagantes: “The name given to persons who have been consecrated bishop in an irregular or clandestine manner or who, having been regularly consecrated, have been excommunicated by the Church that consecrated them and are in communion with no recognised see. A man is also included in this group when the number in communion with him is so small that his sect appears to exist solely for his own sake.”
  35. ^ ORCC GB website http://www.oldromancatholic.org.uk/Great_Britain/Episcopal_Succession.html
  36. ^ "Schism, Apostasy, Anglican Orders and Ecumenism" By K. Platt http://www.churchinhistory.org/pages/leaflets/schism.htm
  37. ^ Biography details http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bcarboni.html
  38. ^ http://www.oldcatholicbc.com/?page_id=382
  39. ^ "Rectification de la chancellerie au sujet de l’Église Vieille Catholique de C.-B. et du Père Claude Lacroix, prêtre de cette Église" http://www.oldcatholicbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/RC_archdiocese_of_Quebec.pdf
  40. ^ Édouard Gagnon (January 15, 1918 – August 25, 2007) was a Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal and President of the Pontifical Council for the Family for 16 years, from 1974 to 1990. He became a cardinal on May 25, 1985.
  41. ^ Brearley had been consecrated by Matthew Cooper, who had been consecrated by James Bartholomew Banks, who had been consecrated by Frederick Samuel Willoughby, who had been consecrated by Mathew
  42. ^ "To whom it may concern: After having studied the documentation about Mgr André Letellier and his predecessors in episcopal succession, I am convinced that he has been validly consecrated a bishop. It is not my intention to rule on the reports of the organization, incorporated under the name of Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada with the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Canada and of Québec. But nothing allows me to doubt the validity of episcopal ordination of Mgr André Letellier by Archbishop André Barbeau and that of Archbishop Barbeau by Archbishop Ignatius Charles Brearley, Primate of the Church of the "Old Catholics" having its seat in England. The ordinations of the "Old Catholics" are generally considered to be the same as those of Orthodox bishops. I have known Archbishop Barbeau for more than 60 years since our time at the Grand Seminary of Montreal. I have had little contact with him thereafter, having exercised my ministry far from here. But he has always been known to me as a man of prayer, a mystic. And I think that his disciples are also, above all, men of prayer. + Edouard Cardinal Gagnon, p.s.s. Montreal, 6 May 2002" For further details, and a copy of the statement, see http://www.thedegree.org/cardgagnon.html
  43. ^ The Roman Catholic Church has repeatedly affirmed its recognition of the validity of the orders and sacraments of the Old Roman Catholic Church throughout the world. See Addis and Arnold's Roman Catholic Dictionary, which says of this church: “They have retained valid Orders... We have been unable to discover any trace of heresy in these books,” (i.e. Those officially ordered for use in the Old Roman Catholic Church). A Catholic Dictionary, by Donald Attwater, bearing the imprimatur of Cardinal Hayes of New York, states of the Old Roman Catholic Church: “Their orders and sacraments are valid.” Another statement concerning the Old Roman Catholic Church, appears in the work by Father Konrad Algermissen, Christian Denominations, published in 1948 and bearing the imprimatur of John Cardinal Glennon of St. Louis: “The North American Old Roman Catholic Church (has) received valid episcopal consecration...”(p. 363). In 1928, The Far East magazine, published by the St. Columban Fathers of St. Columban's, Nebraska, answered an inquiry concerning the validity of orders conferred in the North American Old Roman Catholic Church. The magazine article mentions Archbishop Carfora favorably and states that: “these orders are valid...”(p. 16. Jan. 1928 issue). “We have no reason to doubt that the Old Catholic Orders are valid. The Apostolic Succession does not depend on obedience to the See of Peter, but rather on the objective line of succession from apostolic sources, the proper matter and form, and proper intention…likewise Old Catholic Bishops are bishops in Apostolic Succession…The Old Catholics,, like Orthodox, possess a valid priesthood.“ [William J. Whalan, pp204,248] “Catholics may receive the Eucharist, penance, or anointing from sacred ministers of Catholic denominations whose Holy Orders are considered valid by the Roman Catholic Church. This includes all Eastern Orthodox priests, as well as priests of the Old Catholic or Polish National Church.” [Thomas P. Doyle, O.P., p.44]
  44. ^ “The principal condition is that these sacraments can be received only from validly ordained ministers. These are ministers who belong to “churches that have preserved the substance of the Eucharistic teaching, the sacraments of orders, and apostolic succession” This would include all Eastern non-Catholic churches, the Polish National Church, Old Catholic, and Old Roman Catholic." [The Pastoral Companion – A Canon Law Handbook for Catholic Ministry – Third Edition [1997] by John M. Huels,J.C.D. page 335]
  45. ^ Dominus Iesus, 17 and footnote 59


Episcopal lineage
Consecrated by: Gerardus Gul
Consecrator of
Bishop Date of consecration
Ralph Whitman June 8, 1910
Herbert Ignatius Beale June 13, 1910
Arthur William Howarth June 13, 1910
Francis Herbert Bacon January 7, 1911
Cuthbert Francis Hinton January 7, 1911
Frederick Clement Christie Egerton January 7, 1911
William Edmond Scott-Hall January 7, 1911
Victor Alexander de Kubinyi June 15, 1913
Rudolph de Landas Berghes June 29, 1913
James Arron Bell October 7, 1914
Frederick Samuel Willoughby October 28, 1914
Bernard Mary Williams April 14, 1916
James Columba McFall July 2, 1916
Authority control
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