Draft of a Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (De Ecclesia)

Description

"eleven chapters of the draft De Ecclesia elaborated by the preparatory Theological Commission for Vatican II"

The first document, On the sources of revelation , is what the council fathers rejected by a simple majority (1,368 = 61% < ⅔!) on Nov. 20, 1962; what Ratzinger harshly criticized (Ratzinger Reader pp. 258 ff.); and what John XXIII thereafter called upon a mixed commission with members from the Doctrinal Commission and from the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity (incl. liberal Card. Frings et al.) to redraft. The other documents weren't even voted upon, because it was thought they didn't correspond with John XXIII's opening address!

The text was on the sources of revelation (De fontibus revelationis), and 61% of the bishops voted not to use it as the basis for further discussion; Pope John XXIII then ordered that it be submitted to a mixed commission composed of members from the Doctrinal Commission and from the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. None of the other doctrinal texts prepared for the Council were submitted for a formal vote. After the vote on the De fontibus draft, it was recognized that they would all have to be revised in the light of the Pope’s opening address and its ratification by the votes of the bishops on liturgy and on the sources of revelation. Even the text on the Church [De Ecclesia], which was briefly discussed at the end of the first session, did not come up for a vote.

the eleven chapters of the draft De Ecclesia elaborated by the preparatory Theological Commission for Vatican II. I apologize that they are not a single file, but I haven’t figured out how to combine several pdf documents to make a single one. The “2013” in the file name is there only to remind me of when I made the last revisions to my translation. But now Alan Aversa has kindly sent me all eleven chapters as a single file, and I will put that first, followed by the single chapters in case someone wants to use only one of them.

The Latin text of this schema can be found in two places: in the volume distributed to the Council Fathers during the first session: Schemata Constitutionum et Decretorum de quibus disceptabitur in Concilii sessionibus. Series secunda: De Ecclesia et de B. Maria Virgine (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1962) 7-90; and in the official acta of the first session: Acta Synodalia Sacrosancti Concilii Oecumenici Vaticani II , Vol. I, Pars IV (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, 1971), 12-122.

The official acta are still for sale, I believe, but not the original volume distributed sub secreto at the Council.

If you make use of these translations, please acknowledge the source.