First Vatican Council
- proper noun
:
Primer Concilio Vaticano
- In 1870, the First Vatican Council was held to declare the doctrine of papal infallibility when speaking ex cathedra.
Examples
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In April 1870, the First Vatican Council issued the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith, Dei Filius, which then deeply influenced the notion of God's revelation that was held by generations of Catholic theology teachers and students.
Academic text (2010) -
The background here was the First Vatican Council, where a preparatory commission had drawn up a lengthy draft declaration on the church, but deliberations were cut short by the Franco-Prussian War and the invasion of the Papal States by the Piedmontese armies.
Academic text (2013) -
Many Catholic authorities and experts had held the position that since the First Vatican Council, ending in 1870, future councils would be unnecessary.
Academic text (2013) -
In its reaffirmation of aspects of the teaching of the First Vatican Council and of Pascendi, the oath functions as part of a broader strategy.
Academic text (2010) -
So, too, did the Theological Commission for the First Vatican Council, swayed by the Roman theologian Giantommaso Tosa.
Academic text (1991) -
In 1870, the Theological Commission for the First Vatican Council judged that the inseparability of marital contract and marital sacrament could not be defined.
Academic text (1991) -
The decisions made during the First Vatican Council have had a lasting impact on the Roman Catholic Church.
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Many Catholic beliefs were reaffirmed during the First Vatican Council, particularly the concept of papal authority.
Synonyms
1
9.5
A meeting of Catholic leaders in 1869-1870 that says the pope cannot be wrong when teaching on faith and morals
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a referential proper name composed directly from 'first' + 'Vatican' + 'council', so a learner who knows those words can reasonably infer it refers to the initial ecclesiastical assembly held at the Vatican. However, the precise historical details and doctrinal content (dates and the declaration of papal infallibility) are encyclopedic and not derivable from the constituents. Because the basic referential composition is predictable but the full meaning requires prior knowledge, it is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
First Vatican Council comes from a simple place-and-order image: it was the first large council — a meeting of church leaders — held at the Vatican, the pope's city. At that 1869–1870 meeting the bishops defined what we now call 'papal infallibility', saying the pope cannot be wrong when he speaks officially, which is why the council is remembered today.