excommunication

[Eng. excommunicat(e); -ion; Fr. excommunication; Span. excom union; Ital. scommunicazione, all from Latin excommunicatio.] IMG:content-1237.png:[blocks in formation] excreable Ecclesiol.: The spiritual penalty of excluding an offender from the communion and all the privileges of the Church, and from Christian society. It is founded on 1 Cor. v. In the first century, those guilty of gro sins, and who had been vainly admonished, were excommunicated. If they repented, they were again admitted to all Christian privileges, but after a second grievous fall, they were finally excluded from the ranks of the faithful. Among those on whom discipline was exercised were Christians who denied their faith for fear of their lives during persecution, returning again when the danger was over. In the third century, during the sharp Decian persecution, a controversy arose in the Church as to the treatment of these weak brethren. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, was for severity, and carried his point against quite a multitude of his fellow believers who were in favor of leniency. The Nov a tians in the third century, and the Donatists in the fourth, broke off from the Church catholic, from causes connected with the di atisfaction they felt that the Church had, in their view, too easily restored to their old status those erring disciples. A distinction gradually arose between a le er and a greater excommunication, the latter called also Anathema. In the middle ages, during the dominancy of the Papacy, the greater excommunication became a formidable power, and was used as a weapon wherewith to a ail even kings and emperors. The first reigning prince thus excommunicated was kobert, King of France, in 998. The Pope who did the deed was Gregory V. Many other cases followed. In 1077 Gregory VII. excommunicated the Emperor Henry IV. of Germany, absolving his subjects from their allegiance, and the proud monarch had ultimately to seek reconciliation with the offended hierarch. In 1208, Pope Innocent III. acted similarly to King John of England, the interdict not being reversed till 1214. To omit other cases, Pope Pius VII. in 1809 excommunicated Napoleon I., and in 1860, Pope Pius IX. virtually did so to Napoleon III. and Victor Emmanuel, though not naming the delinquents. ex-com-mūn-i-ca-tor, s. [EXCOMMUNICATE, v.] One who excommunicates. "Himselfe was one of the excommunicators ." -Prynne: Treachery and Disloyalty , pt. i., p. 19.