In this episode of the program I answer two questions regarding apostolic succession and whether, in fact, we have an unbroken chain going back to the apostles.
The first question comes from Marci in Mexico, who wonders about the effect that various practices have on the liceity (lawfulness) and validity of episcopal consecrations.
The second question comes from a gentleman who asks about a particular figure from the 1500s–Cardinal Scipione Rebiba–who has a very unusual property: 91% of all modern Catholic bishops trace their episcopal lineage back to him, and we’re not entirely sure who consecrated Rebiba.
What are the implications of that for apostolic succession?
In the process of answering this, I invite Dr. Andrew Jones of Logos Bible Software on the show. Dr. Jones has a doctorate in medieval history, so this is right up his alley.
In the second half of the show I keep Dr. Jones on the line to update us about current Logos Bible Software projects, including the newly-released Catechism of the Catholic Church set (which you may already have–free of charge) and their forthcoming translations of certain key works by St. Thomas Aquinas that have never been translated into English before. (I’m excited about getting my hands on those!)
To read the transcript, just click the big, friendly red button.
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@DrOakley1689 @logos an apologetics pack, I’d you will.
This was a fascinating podcast, Jimmy. Thank you. After poking around on catholic-hierarchy.org for a while and, as you said, almost all the bishops trace back to Cardinal Rebiba, but no farther. This doesn’t worry me because of the co-consecrators, as you explained, but what about the 10% of bishops that don’t dead-end at Cardinal Rebiba? Can we trace them back to the Apostles? Are there any tools out there for exploring the episcopal lineage through co-consecrators? Again, this was an interesting topic.
Jimmy, I read the transcript, not having time right now to listen to the podcast. Quite fascinating, and I appreciate your researching these issues and making them known. However, one small point — I don’t know who prepares your transcripts, but it’s kind of disconcerting that they don’t know the difference between Canon and Cannon, between principal and principle, or between allusion and illusion. In the transcript, these errors make it look like you don’t know what you’re talking about, and I know that’s not the case.
I would have preferred to learn that our bishops have multiple and robust lines of succession. A 91% bottleneck implies an oppressive group think that tolerated only a single point of view. After all, there were twelve apostles, why are so many lines snuffed out? Yet the underlying facts do not support a grand conspiracy to muzzle and control. Pope Benedict XIII (of the Rebiba line) preferred to consecrate bishops himself. His new bishops from the early 1700s were disbursed out to new frontiers all over the world, and those frontiers had explosive growth. These new bishops consecrated their own successors because of logistics — there was no British Airways service for other apostle lines to pop in and out for frontier area ordinations.
The undocumented status of Rebiba’s consecration means we cannot be sure that our lines of succession to the apostles are intact — this is clearly the Holy Spirit’s doing. Doubt diminishes ego driven certainty, and requires constant communion with God to monitor the steps we take. Thus, I think we can expect our episcopacy to overtly manifest charism and grace to re-assure us that they really are successors of the apostles.