Mechelse Catechismus

Geloven Leren

About this app

The Mechelen Catechism is a catechism that was developed at the beginning of the 17th century by the Jesuits at the request of Archbishop Matthias Hovius (1542-1620). He first appeared in 1607 and was drafted in question and answer form. The version from 1623 of this catechistical manual would form the basis for religious instruction in all Belgian dioceses until well into the twentieth century.

This text of our official catechism, valid for the whole country in 1954 and later, is here and there adapted to the current laws in the Church (eg concerning fasting days, eucharistic sobriety, etc.).

Incidentally, like all Catholic catechisms, this catechism carries a certain eternal value, in the sense that through the loyalty to the age-old Tradition of the Church, he enjoys the infallibility of the "Ordinary Universal Teaching Office". In this "G.U.L." According to the Doctrine of the Church, a bishop is indeed infallible in his ministry (here: catechism), in so far as he represents what has always been believed, everywhere and by everyone in the Church ("quod semper, ubique et ab omnibus creditum est "), in other words what belongs to the Faith of Faith and as such rises to the doctrine of the Apostles and is drawn from the infallible doctrines of the Church. The latter is found in the ex-cathedra statements of Popes and Church meetings, in the unanimous doctrine of the majority of the Church fathers and of the theologians throughout the ages. This is a characteristic of the true Church: it is one, in many respects among others: one in her Doctrine over the ages. That is why this catechism is so up-to-date as ever.

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