Gleeson Library’s Special Collections include more than 17,000 items including books, manuscripts, photographs, drawings, engravings, and other artworks. Here’s a peek at just one of those special items.
The history of the Roman Catholic Church is full of complicated clashes of theology, politics, and power. One of these controversial episodes in Church history is the 18th century rise of Febronianism in Germany. Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (1701–1790), a Jesuit-educated historian and bishop, kicked off this controversy when he wrote De statu Ecclesiae et legitima potestate Romani Pontificis liber singularis, ad reuniendos dissidentes in religione Christianos compositu in 1763. (In English: Concerning the State of the Church and the Legitimate Power of the Pope: A Book Composed for the Purpose of Reuniting Separated Christians).
Hontheim’s book synthesized arguments against the Pope’s power over the Roman Catholic Church in Germany and he proposed that local bishops should have more control over local church matters. Because Hontheim knew his book would be controversial, he published the book using a fictional location of “Bullioni” and the pseudonym “Justini Febronii.”
Scholar Ulrich L. Lehner has written a detailed history of the publication history and controversies surrounding this book. In it, Lehner writes that the publication of this book “stirred up a hornet’s nest.” Indeed, Pope Clement XIII formally condemned the book in 1764 as heretical and it was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the official list of books forbidden by the Vatican.
Clement XIII also ordered European bishops to suppress the book, with mixed success. His official condemnation had the unintended effect of increasing the spread of Febronianism throughout Europe. De Statu Ecclesiae was reissued in 1764, perhaps to meet this increased demand, and reprinted and translated from the original Latin into German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. This popularity also sparked refutations and counter-arguments written by a variety of other contemporary theologians.
In 1778, Hontheim was forced by the Vatican to retract his earlier statements under the threat of excommunication. However, even his retraction was not without controversy. Although it was widely spread that “Febronius” was retracting his original treatise, the actual published text contained inconsistencies and seemed at times to reinforce his original arguments. Published again under the Febronius pseudonym, the retraction, entitled Commentarius in suam retractationem, continued to cause scandal in the Church.
The Donohue Rare Book Room has a copy of the original 1763 publication of De Statu Ecclesiae, and the library also has copies of some of the published refutations and the seemingly insincere retraction. The books are notable for their age, provenance, decorations, and physical appearance. They are also extraordinary artifacts of their time and noteworthy documentation of the infamous Febronian controversy.
To get a closer look at the original edition of De Statu Ecclesiae, or any Special Collections item, stop by the Donohue Rare Book Room on the 3rd floor of Gleeson Library. You can also contact us to ask a question or schedule an appointment.
For more information about the history of this book, see:
Lehner, Ulrich L. 2008. “Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim’s Febronius: A Censored Bishop and His Ecclesiology.” Church History & Religious Culture 88 (2): 205–33. doi:10.1163/187124108X354321 [Link to article for USF students and faculty]
Forster, Marc R. 2004. “Febronianism.” Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World v.2, pp. 365-366. Gale eBooks [Link to article for USF students and faculty]
Maass, F. 2003. “Hontheim, Johann Nikolaus von.” New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 7, pp. 89-90. Gale eBooks, [Link to article for USF students and faculty]