Normae Congregationis

Normae Congregationis (NC) is a 1978 document written by the Vatican's Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (SCDF) concerning guidelines for Catholic bishops in discerning claims to private revelation such as apparitions.

Origin

In November 1974, when the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith met for its annual Plenary Congregation,^[1] part of the discussion concerned problems relating to reported apparitions and revelations. New developments in theology and psychology prompted questions on how to evaluate claims of such events.

The eventual fruit of those discussions was a four-page document in Latin bearing the title "Normae S. Congregationis pro doctrina fidei de modo procedendi in diudicandis praesumptis apparitionibus ac revelationibus" ("Norms of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Manner of Proceeding in Judging Presumed Apparitions and Revelations", hereinafter Normae Congregationis or NC). The document was approved by Pope Paul VI in February 1978 and was signed by Franjo Cardinal Seper and Archbishop Jérôme Hamer, then the prefect and secretary of SCDF.

The Holy See decided that the text was an "in-house" document intended for bishops, and as such did not need to be published.^[1] It was given to bishops “sub secreto” and not published in the Holy See's official journal Acta Apostolicae Sedis.

Publication

Though Normae Congregationis had been issued sub secreto, excerpts from the text and, later, full translations of it have been published.

In 1994, Japanese author Francis Mutsuo Fukushima published a book entitled Akita: Mother of God as Co-Redemptrix.^[2] Chapter 3 of Akita quoted parts of NC in Latin with an English translation, with permission from Fukushima's bishop. Three years later, French authors Joachim Bouflet and Philippe Boutry published a French translation of the entire document in their book Un signe dans le ciel.^[3]

NC became accessible to the English-speaking world when British author Donal Anthony Foley translated NC into English from the French of Bouflet and Boutry and placed it on the web site of his Theotokos publishing house, along with the French text from Un signe dans le ciel.^[4][5] Another English translation, also based upon the French text in Bouflet & Boutry, was made by Fr. James Mulligan in 2008.^[6]

In 2007, Mariologist Fr. Rene Laurentin published his own French translation of NC in his Dictionnaire des apparitions de la Vierge Marie ("Dictionary of Marian Apparitions")^[7][8]

In 2010, American blogger Kevin Symonds published an emendation of Foley's English translation, based upon the original Latin text of NC.^[9]

Current status

In 2001,^[10] 2003^[11] and 2008, there were reports from Vatican sources that the Holy See was preparing to update NC.^[12][13] However, this was contested in a 2009 article in the National Catholic Register based upon the word of an anonymous Vatican official.^[14]

As of September 2010, NC remains in force.

The Constats

There has been some discussion concerning NC's presentation of the possible judgments given by a diocesan bishop on a claim to private revelation.^[15] There are traditionally three such possible judgments in Catholic theology:

• Constat de supernaturalitate ("It is confirmed to be of supernatural origin")
• Non constat de supernaturalitate ("It is not confirmed to be of supernatural origin")
• Constat de non supernaturalitate ("It is confirmed to be of non-supernatural origin")

Because NC mentions only the first two options, there is a question of whether or not CDF decided to forego the third "constat" and collapse its meaning into the second.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Gianni Cardinale (interview with Abp. Amato). "Tempi e criteri per "giudicare" le apparizioni". Eroici Furori (originally from Avvenire). http://www.eroicifurori.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3780. 
2. ^ Akita: Mother Of God As Coredemptrix. Queenship Publishing. http://www.queenship.org/productdetails.cfm?sku=3231. 
3. ^ Un signe dans le ciel. Grasset. http://www.decitre.fr/livres/UN-SIGNE-DANS-LE-CIEL.aspx/9782246520511. 
4. ^ "1978 Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith document on apparition discernment, Normae Congregationis, (unofficial English translation)". Donal Foley. http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/appdisce/cdftexte.html. 
5. ^ "1978 Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith document, Normae Congregationis, on apparition discernment". Donal Foley. http://www.theotokos.org.uk/pages/appdisce/cdftextf.html. , (in French)
6. ^ James Mulligan (2008). "Medjugorje: What's Happening". London: Dusty Sandals Press. http://www.totalcatholic.com/store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=94. 
7. ^ "Dictionnaire des apparitions de la Vierge Marie". http://www.amazon.fr/Dictionnaire-%C2%ABapparitions%C2%BB-Vierge-Marie-interdisciplinaire/dp/2213631018/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283206281&sr=8-1. 
8. ^ He also provides the Latin word "taxativa" in NC I:B with respect to the positive and negative criteria being "indicative standards and not final arguments" (as Bouflet/Boutry and Foley translate).
9. ^ "Desiderium (blog)". Kevin Symonds. http://d-rium.blogspot.com/p/normae-s-congregationis.html. 
10. ^ Attività delle Santa Sede, 2001, p. 707. The Italian reads: "La Congregazione per la Dottrina della fede - ben cosciente di dovere dare anche sull'argomento delicato una risposta pastorale adeguata alle indagini che, con insistenza, gli giungono da diverse parti del mondo cattolico -, progetta di fornire al popolo di Dio ed ai suoi pastori delle linee d'orientamento a partire dai nuovi criteri aggiornati, in modo da chiarire il senso delle apparizioni, messaggi e fenomeni straordinari dello stesso tipo nella luce del deposito della fede, ed a proporre criteri pratici di discernimento"
11. ^ John Thavis (Feb. 12, 2003). "Assessing apparitions: Vatican considers guidelines to help bishops". Denver Catholic Register. http://www.archden.org/dcr//news.php?e=11&s=1&a=177. 
12. ^ "Esclusivo (in Italian)". Petrus (commentary site). http://www.papanews.it/news.asp?IdNews=11058. 
13. ^ "Exclusive (translation of article from Petrus)". Te Deum Laudamus (blog). http://te-deum.blogspot.com/2009/01/another-translation-of-petrus-article.html. 
14. ^ Tom McFeely (January 14, 2009). "False Rumors About Apparitions". National Catholic Reporter. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/false_rumors_about_apparitions/. 
15. ^ Richard Chonak (March 21, 2010). "Has Medjugorje already received a negative verdict?". Catholic Light (blog). http://catholiclight.stblogs.org/archives/2010/03/medjugorje-comm.html. 

See also

• Marian apparition

External links

• English translation by Donal Foley
• English translation by Kevin Symonds et al.
• Is seeing believing? How the church faces claims of Marian apparitions