The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine was an association established at Rome in 1562 for the purpose of giving religious instruction. City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,823,807 almost 4,000,000 1...

Till about the thirteenth century, the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer formed the general basis of religious instruction; all the faithful had to know them by heart, and parish priests were commanded to explain them on Sundays and festivals. Then the range of instruction was widened to include the Commandments and sacraments, the virtues and vices. (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... The Apostles Creed (in Latin, Symbolum (Credo) Apostolicum), is an early statement of Christian belief, possibly from the first or second century, but more likely post-Nicene Creed in the early 4th Century AD. The theological specifics of the creed appear to be a refutation of Gnosticism, an early heresy. ... The Lords Prayer (sometimes known by its first two Latin words as the Pater Noster, in Greek as the , or the English equivalent Our Father) is probably the best-known prayer in Christianity. ... This article is about the list of religious and moral imperatives. ... A sacrament is a Christian rite that mediates divine grace. ...

The Synod of Lambeth under Archbishop Peekham, in 1281, was content to order priests to explain the truths of faith four times year, but the Provincial Council of Lavour, in 1368, commanded parish priests to give instruction on all Sundays and feast days. This council also published a catechism to serve as a textbook for the clergy in giving instructions in Christian doctrine, which was followed in all the dioceses of Languedoc and Gascony. Similar manuals were published elsewhere. Catechism Lesson, by Jules-Alexis Muenier, 1890 A catechism is a summary of Christian religious doctrine. ... Coat of arms of the province of Languedoc, now being used as an official flag by the Midi-Pyrénees region as well as by the city of Toulouse Languedoc (Lengadòc in Occitan) is a former province of France, now continued in the modern-day régions of Languedoc... Gascony (French: Gascogne, pronounced  ; Gascon: Gasconha, pronounced ) is an area of southwest France that constituted a royal province prior to the French Revolution. ...

The Council of Trent, seeing how multitudes had fallen from the Faith through ignorance of their religion and recognizing the truth proclaimed by Gerson more than a century before, that church reform must begin with the religious instruction of the young, issued the "Catechismus ad Parochos", and decreed that throughout the Church instructions in Christian doctrine should be given on Sundays and festivals. The Council of Trent is an ecumenical council recognized by the Roman Catholic Church held from December 13, 1545, to December 4, 1563. ...

But the work of organizing religious instruction had already begun. In 1536 the Abbate Castellino da Castello had inaugurated a system of Sunday schools in Milan. About 1560 a wealthy Milanese nobleman, Marco de Sadis-Cusani, having established himself in Rome, was joined by a number of zealous associates, priests and laymen, pledged to instruct both children and adults in Christian doctrine. Pope Pius IV in 1562 made the church of Sant' Apollinare their central institution; but they also gave instructions in schools, in the streets and lanes, and even in private houses. The association growing, it divided into two sections: the priests formed themselves into a religious congregation, "The Fathers of Christian Doctrine", while the laymen remained in the world as "The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine". Sunday school, Indians and whites. ... Milan (Italian: Milano; Milanese dialect: Milán) is the main city in northern Italy, and is located in the plains of Lombardy, the most populated and developed region in Italy. ... Pius IV, né Giovanni Angelo Medici (March 31, 1499 – December 9, 1565), pope from 1559 to 1565, was born of humble parentage in Milan, unrelated with the Medicis of Florence. ...

Encouragement from the Holy See was quickly forthcoming. In 1571, Pope St. Pius V, in the Brief "Ex debito pastoralis officii", bore witness to the good already accomplished, and recommended bishops to establish it in every parish. Pope Paul V, by the Brief "Ex credito nobis", in 1607, erected it into an archconfraternity, with St. Peter's, Rome as its head centre. A rescript of the Sacred Congregation of Indulgences, in 1686, urged its establishment wherever possible. From Rome it spread rapidly over Italy, France, and Germany. It found advocates in Cardinal Bellarmine, St. Francis of Sales, and St. Charles Borromeo; who drew up a code of rules and established it in every parish of his diocese. Saint Pius V, né Antonio Ghislieri, from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri (January 17, 1504 – May 1, 1572) was pope from 1566 to 1572 and is a saint of the Catholic Church. ... Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino (Saint Robert Bellarmine), a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church and a controversialist, was born at Montepulciano (35 km s. ... Saint Francis of Sales (in French, St François de Sales), seventeenth-century bishop of Geneva and Roman Catholic saint, was born at Thorens into a Savoyard noble family on 21 August 1567. ... Carlo Borromeo (October 2, 1538 - November 4, 1584), saint and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, son of Ghiberto Borromeo, count of Arona, and Margarita de Medici, was born at the castle of Arona on Lago Maggiore. ...

The First Provincial Council of Westminster urged that its members should be used in both Sunday and day-schools, but while Sunday-schools are plentiful, the confraternity is only sparsely established in England. Lastly, in 1905 Pope Pius X strictly ordained that "in each and every parish the society commonly called the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine shall be canonically erected". If the central confraternity in a diocese is affiliated to the Archconfraternity of Santa Maria del Pianto in Rome, all others participate in all the confraternity indulgences. Pope Saint Pius X (Latin: ), born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto (June 2, 1835 – August 20, 1914), was Pope from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII. He was the first pope since the Counter-Reformation Pope St. ...

Similar in scope and character to the above are the PIEUSES UNIONS DE LA DOCTRlNE CHRÉTIENNE, founded by the Dames de l'Adoration Perpetuelle at Brussels in 1851, for giving religious instruction to boys and girls. In Brussels they are found in about thirty parishes. In 1894 Leo XIII erected it into an archconfraternity for Belgium.

THE ARCHCONFRATERNITY OF VOLUNTARY CATECHISTS (Oeuvre des Catéchismes) was founded to help parish priests in giving religious instructions to children attending the primary schools in Paris and other parts of France, after these had been laicized. In 1893 Leo XIII gave it the rank of an archconfraternity with power to affiliate all similar confraternities in France. The indulgences granted to all these confraternities are very numerous.

External link

• Confraternity of Christian Doctrine - Original Catholic Encyclopedia article

This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia. The Catholic Encyclopedia (also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia today) is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by the The Encyclopedia Press, designed to give authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine. // History The writing of the encyclopedia began on January 11... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Catholic Encyclopedia (also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia today) is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by the The Encyclopedia Press, designed to give authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine. // History The writing of the encyclopedia began on January 11...