Gallicanism

Gallicanism, a theory of state‐church relations, favouring the limitation of papal authority by general councils and/or state intervention. It was strong in France where, from the mid‐15th century, the emerging state brought the church under its control. This was achieved at the expense both of the Gallican church's relations with Rome and of the independence of its bishops. A milestone in the process was the 1682 Declaration of the Four Articles. In Ireland, a form of Gallicanism emerged in the Restoration period when Old English catholics attempted in the Remonstrances of 1661 and 1666 to reconcile loyalty to the pope with that required by the king. With the re‐entry of Catholics into civil life in the late 18th century, the old question of divided loyalties arose once again and some early 19th‐century bishops, anxious to speed up the granting of Catholic emancipation, considered giving London a veto on episcopal appointments. Maynooth College, because of its state grant, independent governing structures, and French associations, was held in suspicion by some bishops. In the 1850s Archbishop Cullen, anxious to increase episcopal control of the college, accused some of its professors of Gallican tendencies. In the longer term, ultramontanism proved more politically useful to the Irish Catholic community than Gallicanism.

Thomas O'Connor