Maria Teresa Prendergast & Thomas A Prendergast. The Oxford Handbook of Propaganda Studies. Editor: Jonathan Auerbach & Russ Castronovo. December 2013.
Translation of Inscrutabili Divinae Providentiae Arcano
The Establishment of the Congregation for the Propagation (Propaganda) of the Faith:
Servant of the Servants of God
For the perpetual remembrance of this matter.
To the Bishops in Christ: We who have been called to govern the office over which we have watched so attentively, and who have used the authority that is granted to us from on high (not by our own merit but by inspiration from the Holy Spirit and the unfathomable mysteries of the divine providence), recognize—after careful study and consideration—that our duty is to lead the wretched and errant sheep back to the folds of Christ, so that they might recognize that they are of the flock and pasture of our Lord. In this way, and with the aid of divine grace, these unhappy sheep will abandon their heretical wanderings in evil pastures, and their drinking of deadly, pestilential waters; instead, they will turn to the pasture of true Faith, where they may gather wholesome teachings and be led to the source of the water of life.
And truly who does not understand that all of our care and effort has been determined and inspired by our desire to lead these souls to the church of Christ? Certainly God so much desired the salvation of the world that he gave up his Only Son—his Only Son—so that he might, by means of the splendor of his glory, the form of his essence, the power of his word, and his loving charity redeem his servants—even his errant servants—ransoming them with his blood. For he emptied himself of himself, taking on the form of a servant; in this way he made himself totally subservient, even to death on the Cross, to ransom his sheep.
This unparalleled deed of charity ought to be imitated by all faithful Christians; indeed all who have proven to be members of the body of Christ ought to be glorified—those who respond to God’s words not merely as listeners, but by emulating the deeds of our saintly Apostles. For this reason God admonishes us: “Be imitators of Christ, as my most beloved children; and walk in love, as Christ has loved us, who has delivered himself up for us.” If these words were written to all Christians, how much more are they written to those who are, because of the duties of their office as Bishops, called by Christ to guide his Church?
And how much more important are these words (with which, through his Prophets, God continually warns us), if the shepherds themselves graze while they do not lead their flocks out to graze, and, what is worse, if, through their neglect, the shepherds do not help the weak sheep become strong, nor heal the sick sheep, nor bind their broken limbs, nor lead back those who are cast down, nor seek the lost? These words should greatly inspire all the Leaders of the Church; above all, those of us who have been chosen to lead and direct others. Indeed we exhort and urge not only citizens of the world in general but all of God’s Shepherds in particular to follow this course.
For this reason God commanded all his Apostles to preach the Gospel to all. This task was first and primarily given to Peter, who, of all the Apostles, first led the way, and hence was given preeminence over all—to him alone did God give the order that he lead his sheep to green pastures. And this is why it was that God granted Peter the vision of that vessel—almost like a sheet—let down from heaven by four corners, within which were seen all four-footed creatures, and creeping things of the earth, and flying creatures of the sky. And then followed a voice, which called out “Rise Peter, slay and devour,” that the work of Peter and his successors might be predetermined. For their task was to collect foolish, impious men from the four parts of the world into a flock, so that, by symbolically killing them—that is, as if killing off and devouring their impious practices—they might transform them into members of the body of Christ. In this way they might participate in Christ and know of Christ, so that, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, they might be transported to the eternal pastures, where they might drink freely and inexhaustibly of their delight in God.
For one cannot recall without tears these many scattered sheep who have wandered from the truth in these calamitous times because they were enslaved by the guiles of Satan and thus never knew the Holy Catholic Church and the sheepfold of Christ. Hence it is that, having been moved with compassion for these peoples, we have turned our thoughts to the immeasurable multitudes of people who, for so many years, have been seized by the most impure madness of the whole race of the Agarens, and, blinded by the shadows of liars, have turned to insane errors. We are shaken by pity, perceiving how these populous races, turning their backs on the gifts of heaven, have been transformed into beasts, and are nourished and perpetuated (propagari) for the eternal fires prepared by the Devil and his messengers.
Among them are those who have remained righteous—who call on the name of Christ; yet even these men have been infected by the poison of these heresies, so that very few recognize the truth, and almost all of these—sinners in many things, not just one—have wholly turned to sin.
While sins are being committed by us, the enemy has sown weeds over the good seeds throughout the North, and in this way has spread dreadful infections and has already destroyed innumerable souls, provinces, and even kingdoms taken by force from Christ and surrendered to tyranny.
This is why we look back to the vigilance of the shepherds, our predecessors—the Roman pontiffs of happy memory, who dedicated themselves to the harvest of souls by good works, diligence, and zeal. With this model our successors will be able to follow our own work. For this reason we have initiated this undertaking by calling together our venerable brothers, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, entrusting this work to them, so that this work may continue over a long and uninterrupted course of time. For this reason, too, we have turned to members of the Curia, and also to those of the prelacy, to religious men, and to the Secretary of the Vatican—asking all to congregate initially into one group, so as to come together and be vigilant over this matter of great seriousness. Because, for this work to be done as excellently as possible, all must meet face to face with myself once a month, and, further, at least twice a month in the dwelling place of an elder of the congregation. In this way they may know all and individual matters pertaining to the purpose of propagating (propagandam) the faith in the whole world; then all are to meet again in the aforementioned place of congregation to report back to me the important matters that have been discussed. Certainly they should discuss the remaining matters among themselves and settle them with prudence among themselves. Let them oversee all the missions for the proclamation and teaching of the Gospel and Catholic doctrine, and let them appoint the necessary agents for this work.
We also impart and grant to this congregation in advance—by means of our apostolic authority—full and liberal powers, means, and permission to take on each and every relevant, specific and distinct matter that will need to be inquired into, managed, dealt with, acted upon, and carried out. And truly a matter of such importance should be speedily advanced; hence we command that—beyond funds from our personal treasury and funds collected from the faithful—those who carry out this work should also be funded from reserves in our Apostolic Camera. In this way, we will continue to support this work in the future. And, furthermore, we command that the people who carry out this work report back to this Holy See of ours; hence we free this group fully from all other duties, as they are expressed in writing.
Now, the cardinals, whom I place in charge over this holy work, are as follows:
Anthony Sauli of Ostia, Edward Farnesi of Saint Sabina, Octavius Bandinus of Praeneste, Bishops; Francis de Surdis of Saint Praxedis, Maffeo Barberini of Saint Honuphrius, John Garzias Millinus of the Church of the Quatuor Coronatorum, Casper Borgia of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, Robert Ubaldi of Saint Alexius, Scipio [Cobellutius] of Saint Susanna, Peter Valerius of the Blessed Saviour in Lauro, Itelius Frederick de Zolleren of Saint Lawrence Panisperna, Louis Ludovisi of Saint Mary’s Transpontinae, and Francis Sacratus, cardinal-Priests. The prelates are: our beloved son, John Baptist Vives, referendary of both our Signaturas, and John Baptist Agucchi, our Secretary and Notary of the Apostolic See, and Dominic a Jesu Maria, Professor and Vicar-General of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites. Francis Ingoli, priest of Ravenna, Doctor of Both Laws, has been appointed secretary by us.
In order for the congregation to be perpetually strong, enduring, and efficacious for all eternity—including those who observe this group and those who in the future will firmly and continually observe it—we affirm that this group ought itself to be observed by others. And that, in this way and in no other way through any other Judges whatsoever—regular or appointed—it is only by the Causarum Palatii Apostolici Auditores and by the cardinals of the Most Holy Roman Church that these issues should be taken up and considered; those issues considered to be trivial and inane should be considered differently from intelligent and significant cases.
These issues should be considered in themselves, not withstanding any other issues associated with them, whatever they might be: whether they be by nature, by apostolic succession, by private statute, by privilege, by dispensations, or by ecclesiastical letter; whether they be by congregation, society, or custom, under whatsoever course or form, and by whomever it might be—even by repeal of a law, by other legally valid writings, by unusual and lesser clauses, by other decrees by rank or type, or all others—and by all other earlier expressions to the contrary howsoever lawful, sanctioned, and renewed.
These decrees will hold for all and sundry of these points, by the matter contained therein in entirety, having been clearly expressed and inserted correctly to the word, enduring by their own integrity, notwithstanding all other claims to the contrary, unless we distinctly and clearly modify these decrees. Therefore it is forbidden—to all who are rash enough to consider changing these decrees—to attempt to change this text of ours, either by commissions or commendations of good will or by votes, or by decrees, grants, impartitions, or amendments. Should anyone presume to attempt such amendments, that person will be the object of the wrath of God Omnipotent, and of his Apostles, Saints Peter and Paul.
Dated in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord of one thousand six hundred and twenty two, in the tenth day of the month of July, in the second year of our papacy in Rome, at the basilica of Saint Maria Maggiore.
Paul Felicianus.
Secretary of Ursinus
Registered by the Vatican Secretary of State
Critical Commentary on Inscrutabili Divinae Providentiae Arcano
In 1621, the aging and ailing cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi was elected pope, taking on the name of Gregory XV. His awareness that his health was failing (he died two years later), combined with an increasing awareness that “multitudes” of Catholics were turning to Protestantism, led to the appearance of the bull, “Inscrutabili,” completed in early January 1622. This bull established the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith (Congregatione de Propaganda Fide) as a powerful and highly influential department within the Curia that developed branches in sites as diverse as Mexico, Sweden, Russia, and Jamaica soon after Gregory’s death. By establishing this enormous administrative entity, the Pope and his Curia recognized that the goal of “the propagation of our faith to the entire world” could no longer be left to smaller commissions, like the one established earlier by Pope Gregory XII. Such commissions were impermanent, restricted to individual nations, and inevitably dependent on the personal zeal of individual popes. The bull institutionalized the propagation of the faith and formalized two major missionary goals: win back Catholics who had turned to Protestantism—“the enemy,” who “throughout the North,” “has sown weeds over the good seeds”; and bring those into the fold who “never knew the Holy Catholic Church.” In pursuing these two major goals, the Pope not only brought new energies to the Counter Reformation but, inadvertently, turned the quite neutral term propaganda (spreading, extending, conquering, or giving birth to) into something akin to its modern meaning of actively spreading one’s ideological truths to those who are either ignorant of these truths or allied to other, quite opposed, truths.
Not surprisingly, the writers of the document employed Biblical precedent and typology to substantiate these aims by turning to the figure of Christ and to Biblical history before Christ. The main vehicle for these figurative and prefigurative readings is that of the “Pastor Bonus” or the Good Shepherd. The figure is, of course, familiar from a number of different locations in the Bible, but is especially evident in the gospel of John (John 10). Here, Christ identifies himself as the shepherd who, unlike the hireling, cares for his flock. The Papal bull uses such references to suggest that “all of God’s shepherds” themselves need to follow the model of Christ by tending to their scattered flock. As this typological reading is developed, the document takes on something of a hectoring tone, turning to the prophet Ezekiel’s critique of the leaders of Israel. Gregory’s bull does not quite castigate the leaders of the Church in the same way that Ezekiel critiqued the leaders of Israel for being self-indulgent and negligent shepherds, but he does paraphrase Ezekiel 34:2 in the beginning of the bull (“Woe to the shepherds of Israel, that feed themselves: should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds?”). The writers of the document thus suggest that the creation of the Congregation is, at the very least, belated, and that the Catholic prelacy has neglected its pastoral duty. This bull, then, is presented as a corrective to what Gregory suggests is the laxness of Catholic prelates, whose excessive confidence in the strength of the Catholic Church—and hence lack of careful vigilance of its people—was at least indirectly responsible for the growth of Protestantism.
Given the exhortative, missionary rhetoric of the document, it is tempting to see in this pastoral metaphor the seeds of the modern understanding of the word “propaganda” itself—but, as is apparent even from a preliminary reading of the document, propaganda does not quite have the same force that it very quickly obtained. The word propaganda as it appears here is a gerundive form of the Latin word propagare, a verb that had several connotations in Latin. It could mean “to propagate or generate,” or, by extension, it could mean “to increase, enlarge.” It appears to have been most often used by Cicero (whose works were a strong component of Renaissance Latin education) to signify “conquest” or spreading one’s territory out into new areas. All of these meanings are, of course, relevant to a document that was created to support a rebirth of Catholicism throughout the world by spreading its message to all known territories. These connotations remind us that propagare was still very much an active verb with a number of possible connotations. But perhaps equally significant is the fact that it was not common. It seems to have been carefully chosen by the Pope, or one of his writers, to add to the sense of a religious Crusade implied in its frequent association with “bellum” by Cicero.
In its gerundive form, however, the term propaganda carries some of the qualities of a noun, hence signifying literally “the act of spreading” (or “propagating” or “conquering”). Significantly this form of propagare appears twice in the document—once at the head of the bull (as a feminine ablative, singular), and later, well into the document, where it is used to describe the administrative purpose and tasks of the committee. The second time, the quite similar word is propagandam (feminine, accusative, singular). It is in these two expressions, then, that the term comes closest to having a fixed, nominal meaning that carries some of the connotations of its modern meaning. Interestingly, this second instance appears in the phrase “ad Fidem in universo Mundo propagandam pertinentia” (“pertaining to the purpose of propagating the faith in the whole world”). It is here that the document codifies the purposeful nature of propaganda in a sentence that speaks to the establishment of the administrative and bureaucratic identity of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. It is at this moment in the text that Pope Gregory moves from metaphorical associations of prelates with shepherds to the practicalities of the work of the Congregation, as he goes on to address when, where, and how often the committee should meet, as well as who its members should be.
Both times that propaganda appears in its gerundive form, then, it has strong administrative associations—as if the Pope and his writers wished to associate the term with this one particular missionary and bureaucratic body. Elsewhere, however—when the word appears as the present passive infinitive propagari (to be perpetuated, increased)—it takes on the more common, neutral connotations of the time; hence it can be used to express the work of Protestants as well as that of Catholics. Equally clear is the fact that the word propagari accompanies the far darker, more ominous language that emerges when the focus of the document turns from those who have never known Christianity to those who have been led away from Catholicism by Protestant ministers and missionaries. In this section, which recalls “the immeasurable multitudes of people who have been seized by the most impure madness of the whole race of the Agarens,” the document uses the term “propagari” to suggest that entire nations are nourished (ali) and generated for the eternal fires of hell. The passage seems to refer to Psalm 82, which mentions the Agarens—a loose confederation of Arab tribes—as enemies of Israel (the reference links this document with both the earlier Papal crusades and the Spanish reconquista of Catholicism from Turkish and Arabic Islam). As is common in the Old Testament, the text calls down the wrath of God upon the enemy, in this case praying that the Agarens be consumed by fire. In Gregory’s bull, however, it is clearly the modern embodiment of the Agarens—Protestantism—that is leading God’s people to the fires of hell.
But why the use of the passive voice in propagari? Its use here suggests that the real problem inheres in the mysterious, diabolical agency that actually alters humanity, making it bestial—fit only for the eternal fires of the devil. By extension, blame falls not on all Protestants but rather on Protestant leaders and missionaries, whose spreading of “insane errors” compels Catholics to abandon their faith. It is very clear, then, that the Church understood propagari as an activity that existed not only within, but also outside of the Church. It could, in other words, be profoundly good—a tool that would enable the shepherd to lead his sheep back to the fold—or it could be terribly malicious, leading nations (nationes) to renounce their humanity. Whether it be in its associations with the Crusades or in the intent to counter the work of the Reformation, there is no doubt that the Church was thinking territorially here—of conquering or reconquering souls and territories that had been conquered by the Protestants.
We are prepared for the darker implications of propagari slightly earlier in the document, when the language shifts radically and peculiarly from the metaphor of the Good Shepherd to the story of Peter’s vision from Acts 10. In this vision, Peter is told to consume the beasts that he is shown, even though they are purportedly unclean. Quoting from the Bible here, “Surge Petre, occide, et manduca” (“Rise Peter, slay and devour”), the writer deploys animality as a sign of misunderstanding the word of Christ—a misunderstanding so severe that the errant must be sacrificed and eaten. Such a vision might be seen as grotesque, yet it fits in well with the idea of the Corpus Mysticum—the mystical body of Christ that is the Church, along with the Catholic Church’s insistence on transubstantiation: the belief that, each time Catholics partake in communion, they are literally eating the body of Christ, sacrificed for all mankind. This idea—particularly in the context of Acts 10—depends on the notion that the faith needs to be actively brought to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. Metaphorically, this propagation of the faith can only be achieved if the Gentiles are incorporated into the Corpus Mysticum. The story, then, is transformed from a lesson about the need to incorporate the Gentiles into the early Church, into a lesson that the Church needs to incorporate into itself all who occupy the position of Gentiles—whether it be those who have never known Catholicism or those who have turned away from it. In this way, unbelievers are not destroyed like chaff; instead, their impious practices are devoured by the Church and they are transformed into members of the body of Christ. However, even as propagari is associated with the loss of Catholic souls, propaganda speaks to the institution that will bring these souls back to the universal Church.
Gregory ends the exordium by recalling the parable of the Wheat and the Tares from Matthew 13. In recollecting how “the enemy” has sown weeds among the wheat, especially (as we have seen) in the regions to the North, he specifies the extent to which Protestantism has driven the formation of the Congregation. He also echoes the agricultural metaphor of planting and harvest, a metaphor that he used to illuminate the fate of the Agarens, who, like the weeds, have grown up with the good seed but, in the end, will become like chaff—burned in the furnaces of fire that are reserved for the wicked at the end of Time. Yet, as Gregory had suggested earlier, the true enemies are not Protestants themselves. The rationale for the creation of the Congregation is that those who are misled need to be led back to the Church. And thus, after invoking the apocalyptic idea of the everlasting fires, Gregory returns to what has been central in the bull—the ability of the good shepherd to protect and lead the souls of his flock back to the fold. Gregory suggests, in fact, that we need only look to the past, “our predecessors,” who were vigilant shepherds and who were dedicated to the “harvest of souls” in order to project forward to those who follow “us.” “Propaganda,” then, takes on a timeless quality, even, as it is clear that the word is being used in a relatively new way—an attempt to “propagate” the faith in order to “increase” the faithful.