wiki143 - User contributions [en]

Marcial Maciel

2025-06-06T19:01:57Z

70.90.76.5: /* Earlier relations with the Vatican */ Removed a speculation that makes grave and unfounded insinuations about an individual and related organization.

{{short description|Mexican priest, founder of the Legion of Christ, sexual abuser}}
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=October 2017}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| honorific_prefix = The Reverend
| type = priest
| name = Marcial Maciel
| honorific_suffix = [[Legion of Christ|LC]]
| title = 1st [[General Director]] of the [[Legion of Christ]]
| image = Fr._Marcial_Maciel_LC_Late_2004.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| church = [[Latin Church]]
| archdiocese =
| province =
| metropolis =
| diocese =
| term_start = January 3, 1941
| term_end = January 20, 2005
| successor = [[Álvaro Corcuera]]
| other_post =

| ordination = November 26, 1944
| ordained_by =

| birth_name = Marcial Maciel Degollado
| birth_date = {{birth date |1920|3|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Cotija, Michoacán]], Mexico
| death_date = {{death date and age|2008|1|30|1920|3|10|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Jacksonville, Florida]], US
| buried = [[Michoacan]]
| resting_place_coordinates =
| religion = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]
| residence =
| parents =
| spouse = 
| children =
| occupation =
| profession = 
| education =
| alma_mater =
| motto =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| coat_of_arms =
| coat_of_arms_alt =
}}
'''Marcial Maciel Degollado''' {{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Legion of Christ|LC]]}} (March 10, 1920 – January 30, 2008) was a Mexican [[Catholic]] [[Priesthood (Catholic Church)|priest]] who founded the [[Legion of Christ]] and the [[Regnum Christi]] movement. He was general director of the Legion from 1941 to 2005. Throughout most of his career, he was respected within the church as "the greatest fundraiser of the modern Roman Catholic church" and as a prolific recruiter of new seminarians.<ref name="money">{{cite web |url=http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/money-paved-way-maciels-influence-vatican |title=Money paved way for Maciel's influence in the Vatican |last1=Berry |first1=Jason |date=April 6, 2010 |website=ncronline.org |publisher=National Catholic Reporter |access-date=December 21, 2015 |archive-date=October 21, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021133610/http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/money-paved-way-maciels-influence-vatican |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Late in his life, Maciel was revealed to have been a longtime [[Addiction|drug addict]] who [[Sexual abuse cases of Marcial Maciel|sexually abused at least 60 boys]] and young men in his care. After his death, it came to light that he had also maintained sexual relationships with at least four women, one of whom was a minor at the time. He fathered as many as six children, two of whom he is alleged to have sexually abused.<ref name="ap" /><ref name="ipsnews">{{cite news|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2010/05/pope-rewrites-epitaph-for-legion-of-christ-founder/ |title=Pope Rewrites Epitaph for Legion of Christ Founder |last=Godoy |first=Emilio |publisher=IPS News |date=May 3, 2010 |access-date=December 21, 2015}}</ref><ref>Mexico City, Mexico, March 4, 2010 / 06:56 pm (CNA/EWTN News). The Legionaries of Christ released two statements today responding to the dramatic revelations by a woman and her three sons who claim to be the wife and children of Fr. Marcial Maciel.</ref>

In 2006, [[Pope Benedict XVI]] removed Maciel from active ministry, based on the results of an investigation by the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] in April 2005. Maciel was ordered "to conduct a reserved life of prayer and penance, renouncing every public ministry".<ref name="ipsnews"/><ref name="telegraph.co.uk" /><ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8656085.stm |title=Catholic order to be overhauled after founder's abuse |work=BBC News |date=2010-05-01 |access-date=2010-09-19}}</ref> He died in 2008. On March 25, 2010, a communiqué on the Legion's website acknowledged as factual the "reprehensible actions" by Maciel, including sexual abuse of minor seminarians.<ref name=communique>{{cite web|url=http://www.legionariesofchrist.org/eng/articulos/articulo2.phtml?se=243&ca=703&te=475&id=29158&csearch=703 |title=COMMUNIQUÉ On the current circumstances of the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi Movement |date=25 March 2010 |work=legonariesofchrist.org |publisher=Legionaries of Christ |access-date=27 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100408124301/http://www.legionariesofchrist.org/eng/articulos/articulo2.phtml?se=243&ca=703&te=475&id=29158&csearch=703 |archive-date=8 April 2010 }}</ref> In May 2010, the Vatican denounced Maciel's actions and appointed a Papal Delegate to oversee the order and its governance.

==Early life and training==
Maciel was born in [[Cotija, Michoacán]], Mexico, the youngest boy of nine children, to a family with connections within the [[Catholic Church in Mexico]]. Numerous relatives were priests, and four of his uncles were bishops. He had a troubled youth. His uncle molested him.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maciel’s Son Details Abuse |url=https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2010/06/20/maciels-son-details-abuse/ |website=Type Investigations |date=June 20, 2010 |quote=My dad told me his uncle, this guy, used to masturbate him, and I have to masturbate him. … Why do you say that to a kid?}}</ref> His father ridiculed him and encouraged his brothers to whip him. He sent the boy to work in the sugar fields to toughen him up, and years later Maciel told one of his own victims that mule drivers on his father's ranch had sexually abused him.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:IrxrF81VH8cJ:www.vowsofsilencefilm.com/news/NCR_020508.pdf+Maciel%2Bseminary%2Bexpell&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESijSQ0OOTY3N-MIr10pt_BcFM3f1ezbnRefqnf4yLTFoSHk16Xjcps_fqRV-1src69dhh-Cq_WyxnOs-jfkcndCX_FQWZzzcKU-olTPfwNPieePgA--QvSoMh5OwDH8YdvMMWh_&sig=AHIEtbSdsTnwq1Jo4N042i84gag7g8WSSg |title=Analysis: Legion of Christ Founder leaves a flawed legacy |access-date=2010-09-19}}</ref><ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/>

Maciel was the grand-nephew of Bishop [[Rafael Guízar y Valencia]], who was canonized in 2007. There has been speculation that Maciel's scandalous conduct at age 18 contributed to Guizar's fatal heart attack. According to an investigative report:

<blockquote>The day before Bishop Guizar died, he had been heard shouting angrily at Marcial Maciel. He was giving his eighteen-year-old nephew a dressing down after two women had come to the bishop's house to complain about Maciel, who was their neighbor. Father Orozco, who was among the original group of boys to found the Legion of Christ in 1941, said he heard the women had complained about the "noise" Maciel was making with children he had brought into his home to teach religion. He said that the seminary officials blamed Maciel for his uncle's heart attack.<ref>Berry and Renner (2004): 155</ref></blockquote>

Maciel was expelled from two seminaries for reasons that have never been revealed, and became a priest only after one of his bishop uncles [[Ordination|ordained]] him after private studies,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2008a/022208/022208o.htm |title=Fr. Marcial Maciel leaves behind a flawed legacy |newspaper=National Catholic Reporter|date=22 February 2008|author=JASON BERRY |access-date= 28 December 2019}}</ref> on November 26, 1944, in Mexico City. The ordination was filmed and used in later years for publicity.<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newsweek.com/father-marcial-maciel-and-popes-he-stained-62811 |title=Father Marcial Maciel And The Popes He Stained |magazine=Newsweek |date=11 March 2013 |first1=JASON |last1=BERRY |access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref>

In 1941, Maciel founded the [[Legion of Christ]], a Roman Catholic [[religious congregation]] of pontifical right, with the support of Francisco González Arias, [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Cuernavaca|Bishop of Cuernavaca]]. From the beginning, he served as its general director. In 1959 Maciel founded its lay arm [[Regnum Christi]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.laici.va/content/laici/en/sezioni/associazioni/repertorio/mov-ap-regnum-christi.html|title=Regnum Christi Apostolic Movement|website=www.laici.va}}</ref> All Legionaries were compelled "to take private vows, never to speak ill of Maciel or any superiors, and to report to their superiors anyone who did", facilitating a "cult of personality" according to Jason Berry.<ref name="Berry-12-4-2010">{{cite web |last1=Berry |first1=Jason |title=How Father Maciel Built His Empire |url=https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2010/04/12/father-maciel-built-empire/ |website=Type Investigations, A Project of Type Media Center |access-date=14 August 2021 |date=12 April 2010}}</ref> In Regnum Christi discussion groups, followers studied Maciel's letters.<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/>

Maciel wrote extensively on the formation of priests and other matters pertaining to Church governance. His main stated purpose for the Legion of Christ was to form and motivate enterprising lay members of the Catholic Church to take an active part in the Church's mission, in particular the members of Regnum Christi.

Through the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi, Maciel started many schools, a network of universities, and numerous charitable institutes.<ref name="LC_history" />

==Earlier relations with the Vatican==

Until his misdeeds became public, Maciel was well-regarded by the Papal See. He accompanied [[Pope John Paul II]] on his visits to Mexico in 1979, 1990, and 1993, and was appointed by the Pope to the Ordinary Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Formation of Priests in Circumstances of the Present Day (1990). He was a member of the Interdicasterial Commission for a Just Distribution of Clergy (1991), the Fourth General [[Conference of Latin American Bishops]] (CELAM) (1992), the Ordinary Assembly of the [[Synod of Bishops (Catholic)|Synod of Bishops]] on the Consecrated Life and Its Role in the Church and in the World (1994), the Synod of Bishops' Special Assembly for America (1997) and (since 1994) as a permanent consultant to the [[Congregation for the Clergy]]. The [[golden anniversary]] of his priestly ordination was celebrated on 26 November 1994, with 57 Legionary priests ordained the day prior. Maciel served as Chancellor of the [[Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum]], which is based in Rome.

Maciel collaborated extensively with Pope John Paul II, in person and through his subordinates in the Legion of Christ. The pope admired Maciel for strictly adhering to the magisterium and the vocations to the Legion of Christ. Maciel received many donations from Mexico's richest families,<ref name="Los Angeles Times">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-may-01-la-fg-vatican-abuse-20100501-story.html Vatican orders overhaul in Mexico after investigation of sexual abuse], ''[[Los Angeles Times]],'' May 1, 2010</ref> much of which Maciel and the Legion passed on to the Vatican over many years.

When Pope Pius XII's [[Vatican Apostolic Archive|archives]] were opened to the public in 2024, documents were found showing Maciel was protected by [[Giuseppe Pizzardo]], the then No. 2 of the [[Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]], from a judgement proposed by [[Giovanni Battista Scapinelli di Leguigno|Giovanni Battista Scapinelli]]. A 1956 draft of the memo describes a measure originally requiring Maciel to cease any contact with his students and attend treatment for his morphine addiction, or be [[Suspension (Catholic canonical penalty)|suspended a divinis]]. By October 2, 1956, the measure was edited to remove the prohibition against contact with seminarians, and later documents say further action against Maciel was superseded by "recommendations and interventions by high-ranking personalities".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Winfield |first1=Nicole |title=Vatican's Pius XII archives shed light on another contentious chapter: The Legion of Christ scandal |url=https://apnews.com/article/vatican-legion-pius-xii-abuse-91744e8054aa839647633e1d56372165 |website=AP News |date=21 July 2024 |publisher=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=21 July 2024}}</ref>

==Fundraising==
Jason Berry reports that early in his career, only two years into being a priest, Maciel visited the Vatican in 1946 to donate $10,000 from "several of Mexico's wealthiest families and its president, [[Miguel Aleman Valdes]]", appealing for support for scholarships for seminarians to study in Spain.<ref name="Berry-12-4-2010"/>

Maciel sought and received large donations from the wives of wealthy men such as Flora Barragán, "the widow of an industrialist" from [[Monterrey]].<ref name="Berry-12-4-2010"/> Barragán reportedly donated $50 million to Maciel's Legion of Christ. According to José Barba, a "Mexico City college professor and former Legion seminarian", <blockquote>“Maciel was 27 when he purchased the [first seminary] estate. In 1950 he began construction on the Instituto Cumbres, the first prep school, in Mexico City, the land for which Flora provided. That summer he also inaugurated Collegio Massimo in Rome. He was 30. In 1953 he tried to start construction of a college in Salamanca," but that was delayed a year.<ref name="Berry-12-4-2010"/></blockquote>

The Garza-Sada families were another Monterrey group who donated to him. After the family patriarch, Dionisio Garza Garza, died, Maciel courted and received generous donations from his widow Roberta Garza. According to her daughter, the widow “never learned about his kids. He targeted women in Mexico of a certain class who were not allowed to work.... For cultured women who were bored, Maciel offered a sense of purpose.”<ref name="Berry-12-4-2010"/> A "continuing flow of money" to Maciel's projects also came from two children of Dionisio Garza Garza—Paulina and Luis.

Another benefactor was Josefita Pérez Jiménez, the daughter of a former Venezuelan dictator, who provided largesse for a seminary in Salamanca, Spain built in 1958 by Maciel. Boarders at Catholic schools were also a focus. According to Roberta Garza, ”They were grooming us for [[Regnum Christi]] — the Movement. If your family had money, power, influence, they wanted you. They kept telling me, 'God gave you everything, you must give back by fighting the forces of evil.'"

The highest level of membership in Maciel's Regnum Christi group, lay celibates, "live in communities and work relentlessly on fundraising".<ref name="Berry-12-4-2010"/>

==Sexual abuse cases==
{{Main|Sexual abuse cases of Marcial Maciel}}

In December 2019, the organization accepted responsibility for 175 cases of child sexual abuse by 33 priests, including 60 minors who were abused by Maciel.<ref>{{citation|website=La Jornada|language=es|trans-title=The Legion of Christ accepts sexual abuse of 175 minors|title=Legionarios de Cristo aceptan abuso sexual de 175 menores de edad|author=Ana Langner|url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/ultimas/sociedad/2019/12/21/legionarios-de-cristo-aceptan-abuso-sexual-de-175-menores-de-edad-5006.html |date=December 21, 2019}}</ref> Former Vatican [[Cardinal Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[Angelo Sodano]] was accused of leading the effort to shield Maciel and other sexually abusive Legion of Christ clergy.<ref name="ap">{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/e23d4e965a0b84cad18bef11d9b5d825|title=Legion of Christ finds 33 priests, 71 seminarian sex abusers|website=[[Associated Press]] |date=28 April 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/12/cardinal-tainted-by-abuse-scandals-steps-down-as-dean-pope-sets-term-limit|title=Cardinal tainted by abuse scandals steps down as dean, pope sets term limit|website=Crux|date=21 December 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/cardinal-92-who-sought-deal-to-bury-sex-abuse-documents-resigns-1.4122879|title=Cardinal (92) who 'sought deal' to bury sex abuse documents resigns|first=Patsy|last=McGarry|date=December 21, 2019|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref>

In 1976, Juan Vaca, a former student of Maciel, who states that Maciel molested him from the age of 12 to 24, wrote a 12-page single-spaced letter to Maciel attacking him for his abuse and the "aberrant and sacrilegious abuse" of 20 other "good and gifted young boys." Vaca's letter was included in a dossier sent by Bishop [[John R. McGann|John Raymond McGann]] to the Vatican suggesting that it investigate the accusation. "The letter was acknowledged; nothing happened." In 1978, when John Paul II became pope, the bishop and Vaca wrote again. "But again, nothing happened."<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/>

In 1989, Juan Vaca tried again, sending "a long, detailed letter" to John Paul "in a dossier ... via Vatican diplomatic pouch, again including his original statement naming Maciel's victims". He also asked for release from his vows of ordination arguing "that because of the abuse, he never should have been ordained". Several years later he was sent a document releasing him, "but on the Maciel charges—again, nothing".<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/>

On February 23, 1997, a report in ''[[The Hartford Courant]]'' "exposed a history of pedophilia" by Maciel involving nine victims who came forward to go on the record.<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/>
The victims alleged that they had been abused as youths and young men by Maciel while studying under him in Spain and Rome in the 1940s and 1950s. The group, which included respectable academics and former priests, lodged formal charges at the Vatican in 1998. They were told the following year that the [[Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith]], then headed by Cardinal [[Joseph Ratzinger]] (later Pope Benedict XVI), was not moving forward with a direct prosecution. Whether Cardinal Ratzinger made this decision on his own or on orders by Pope John Paul II is not publicly known.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/apr/29/catholicism.mexico | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Jo | last=Tuckman | title=The Rev Marcial Maciel | date=April 29, 2008}}</ref>

The Vatican refused to comment on the American report, while Maciel claimed innocence but refused to be interviewed.<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/> The Legion set up a website accusing the nine of fomenting a "conspiracy" against Maciel. American Roman Catholic luminaries came to the defense of Maciel and the Legion: [[William Donohue]] of the [[Catholic League (U.S.)|Catholic League]] called the men's claims "balderdash"; Father [[Richard John Neuhaus]] of ''[[First Things]]'' magazine called the charges false with "a moral certainty"; other defenders included John Paul II biographer and NBC Vatican analyst [[George Weigel]]; [[William Bennett]], a former Reagan Education secretary; [[Mary Ann Glendon]], a Harvard Law professor. The allegations were ignored by John Paul II who continued his praise of Maciel.<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/>

==Other illicit activities==
===Drug addiction===
During his life, Maciel was the focus of several investigations of his behaviour. There were allegations of [[drug abuse]], for which he was investigated in 1956; he was hospitalized for [[morphine addiction]].<ref name="necn.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.necn.com/02/11/10/Inside-look-at-the-Legionaries-of-Christ/landing_newengland.html?blockID=179291&feedID=4206 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130130011023/http://www.necn.com/02/11/10/Inside-look-at-the-Legionaries-of-Christ/landing_newengland.html?blockID=179291&feedID=4206 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-30 |title=Inside look at the Legionaries of Christ |publisher=Necn.com |date=2010-02-11 |access-date=2010-09-19}}</ref> He was also investigated for allegedly [[Child sexual abuse|sexually abusing children]]. But there was no public notice of his suspension,<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/> and he was returned as head of the Congregation.

===Mistresses and children===
In July 2009, a Spanish daily published an interview with a woman who had had a child with Maciel in 1986 and was living in a luxury apartment in Madrid which Maciel had purchased for her.<ref>''Periodista Digital'' 2009-08-09</ref> A day later, Mexican media reported that attorney José Bonilla would represent three of a possible total of six of Maciel's natural children in a civil lawsuit to recover Maciel's estate. The lawyer claimed that Maciel owned several properties in Mexico and around the world in his own name.<ref>''Milenio'' 2009-08-11</ref><ref>''La Jornada'' 2009-08-11</ref> According to José Bonilla, whose son was attacked by a teacher at one of Maciel's schools, Maciel took an adoptive son and a natural son—Omar and Raúl—on trips to Europe, using an assumed name of "Raúl Rivas". From the ages of 8 and 14 they were molested by him and were photographed in the process, but "as teenagers they began pushing him off".<ref name="Berry-12-4-2010"/><ref name="type">{{cite web |title=Maciel’s Son Details Abuse |url=https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2010/06/20/maciels-son-details-abuse/ |website=Type Investigations |date=June 20, 2010}}</ref>

In February 2009, news broke that Maciel had led a double life.<ref name="CNA">{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/14969/legionaries-of-christ-acknowledge-founders-inappropriate-behavior |title=Legionaries of Christ acknowledge founder's 'inappropriate' behavior |date=3 February 2009 |publisher=[[Catholic News Agency]] |access-date=27 March 2010 |archive-date=21 June 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621001304/http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14969 |url-status=live }}</ref> Álvaro Corcuera, the General Director, visited each of the Legionary Territories and publicly apologized for Maciel's behaviour. Additionally, the Legion has publicly acknowledged that Maciel had fathered a daughter.<ref>Thompson, Damien. 2009-02-04</ref> As a result of all these acknowledgements, Pope Benedict XVI personally intervened and initiated a formal Vatican visitation of all legionary houses.<ref>Catholic News Agency, March 3, 2009.</ref>

===Plagiarism===
In 1959 Maciel published a book, ''{{lang|es|El salterio de mis días}}'' (''The [[Psalter]] of My Days''), which was widely read among members of the Legion and partially translated into English. It was a memoir of experiences of persecution.

On December 11, 2009, the [[:es:ACI Prensa|Agencia Católica de Informaciones]] of Lima, Peru, sister agency of the [[Catholic News Agency]], reported that a Legion of Christ internal memorandum acknowledged, without using the word "[[plagiarism]]", that the book copied the memoir of {{ill|Luis Lucia (politician)|lt=Luis Lucia|ca|Lluís Lúcia i Lúcia|es|Luis Lucia Lucia}}, a Spanish journalist and Christian Democrat politician.<ref name="CNA1">{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/18105/legion-of-christ-discloses-fr-maciels-plagiarism-to-its-members |title=Legion of Christ discloses Fr. Maciel's plagiarism to its members |last1=[[Catholic News Agency|CNA]] Staff |date=December 18, 2009 |website=[[Catholic News Agency]] |access-date=December 30, 2015}}</ref> Although the Legion's memorandum described Maciel's book as "a slight rewriting", a Spanish legionary familiar with it stated that it copied Lucia's memoir "80 percent in style and content."<ref name="CNA1" />

Lucia's memoir was titled ''{{lang|es|El salterio de mis horas}}'' (''The Psalter of My Hours''). He completed it in 1941 while a political prisoner of the Francoist [[Spanish State]]; it was published posthumously in Spain in 1956; that edition is believed to have been used by Maciel as the basis of his own book.<ref name="CNA1"/><ref>''El Mundo'', 2009-12-12</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/52932/finding-god-in-francos-prison-a-new-edition-of-luis-lucias-psalter-of-my-hours |title=Finding God in Franco's Prison: A new edition of Luis Lucia's Psalter of my Hours |last1=Boudet |first1=Jean |date=8 July 2014 |website=[[Catholic News Agency]] |access-date=27 December 2015}}</ref>

===Forced retirement===

In January 2005, Maciel was required to step down as head of the order. A few days before John Paul II died, Cardinal Ratzinger announced his intention of removing "filth" from the Church; many believed he was referring specifically to Maciel.<ref name="telegraph.co.uk">''Telegraph'' 2006-02-02</ref> After Ratzinger re-opened an investigation, the Vatican requested that Maciel withdraw from active ministry. In January 2006, Maciel stepped down as head of the Legion of Christ and tendered its leadership to long-time follower [[Álvaro Corcuera]]. In May 2006, Ratzinger, now as Pope Benedict XVI, disciplined him: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered Maciel to live "a reserved life of penitence and prayer, relinquishing any form of public ministry",<ref>''Catholic News Agency'' 2009-02-03</ref> and published a press communique to that effect.<ref>Vatican Communiqué, {{cite web | title=Father Marcial Maciel Invited to Renounce All Public Ministry | url=http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=89444 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002200617/http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=89444 | archive-date=2006-10-02 }}, Zenit News Agency (19 May 2006)</ref> A canonical trial was however ruled out, officially because of his advanced age and poor health,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gr--cvFSDTkGlXe2dGEvNS4PBSyQ |title=AFP: Catholic Church to overhaul disgraced Legionaries order |date=March 5, 2014 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305223715/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gr--cvFSDTkGlXe2dGEvNS4PBSyQ |archive-date=5 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and Maciel was never [[Loss of clerical state (Catholic Church)|defrocked]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/27/world/europe/27legion.html|title=Catholic Order Admits Its Founder Abused Boys Over Decades|first=Rachel|last=Donadio|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 26, 2010}}</ref>

In 2007, the order was told to cancel the vows of its members to never criticize their superiors, and to inform on any dissent within the order. Maciel moved from Rome to a house he shared with other priests in [[Jacksonville]], [[Florida]], where he died on January 30, 2008, at age 87.<ref name="LC_history">{{citation |url=http://www.legionariesofchrist.org/eng/articulos/categoria_secc.phtml?lc=se-238_ca-886_ci-887&width=1280&height=1024 |title=Our History - Legion of Christ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140305161449/http://www.legionariesofchrist.org/eng/articulos/categoria_secc.phtml?lc=se-238_ca-886_ci-887&width=1280&height=1024 |archive-date=March 5, 2014 |access-date=December 30, 2015 }}</ref> He had a private funeral and was buried in his birthplace, Cotija, Michoacán.

Maciel never made any apologies, and continued to deny the allegations. Corcuera apologized to the victims both for Maciel's actions and the inaction of others.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=359&ca=509&te=903&id=29158&csearch=509 |title="Communique", Regnum Christi, March 25, 2010 |access-date=2012-08-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723014507/http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=359&ca=509&te=903&id=29158&csearch=509 |archive-date=2012-07-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Later relations with the Vatican==
Investigative journalist [[Jason Berry]] wrote in an April 2010 article in the ''[[National Catholic Reporter]]'' that the "charismatic" founder of the Legion of Christ "sent streams of money to [[Roman curia]] officials with a calculated end. Maciel was buying support for his group and defence for himself, should his secret life become known."<ref name="rewrite"/> Based on "former Legion insiders", Berry reports of large donations, "always in cash" and thus untraceable. "Fine wines and $1,000 Spanish hams" were delivered "to favored officials".<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/> "Pivotal supporter" Cardinal Angelo Sodano benefited from banquets for 200 members of his extended family when he became cardinal and again when he became secretary of State, and $5,000 to $10,000 fees when he gave speeches to the Legion.<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/> [[Stanisław Dziwisz]], the "gatekeeper of attendance" to private papal masses, normally admitted "only a few world leaders", but allowed a family from Mexico to attend when they gave him $50,000. Maciel also "sent $1 million via Dziwisz in advance of a papal trip to Poland."<ref name=newsweek-11-3-2013/>

Berry and his late colleague Gerald Renner wrote the 2004 book ''Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II'', and the related TV documentary [http://www.vowsofsilencefilm.com/ ''Vows of Silence''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181007041910/http://www.vowsofsilencefilm.com/ |date=2018-10-07 }} on Maciel and the Legion of Christ. According to Berry, Maciel's key supporters, who provided him with a protective shield, included Cardinal Angelo Sodano, [[Vatican secretary of state]] (1991–2006) under popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI; Cardinal [[Eduardo Martínez Somalo]], prefect of the [[Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life]]; and Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Polish secretary of John Paul II (1978–2005).<ref name="rewrite">{{cite web|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51302 |title=Pope Rewrites Epitaph for Legion of Christ Founder |publisher=[[Inter Press Service]] |date=2010-05-03 |access-date=2010-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612004458/http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=51302 |archive-date=2010-06-12 }}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]'' reported claims that even under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who took an immediate interest in the case, the investigation into Maciel remained stalled. "Other factors delayed a reckoning. Some questioned the accounts of abuse; one of the original nine complainants recanted."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/world/europe/03maciel.html?src=me | work=The New York Times | title=Abuse Case Offers a View of the Vatican's Politics | first1=Daniel J. | last1=Wakin | first2=James C. | last2=McKinley Jr | date=May 2, 2010}}</ref>

===Denunciation by the Church===
In March 2009, Pope Benedict XVI ordered an [[canonical visitation|apostolic visitation]] of the Legionaries of Christ.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/16431/apostolic-visit-to-legionaries-of-christ-to-begin-july-15 |title=Apostolic visit to Legionaries of Christ to begin July 15  |date=July 1, 2009 |website=Catholic News Agency |access-date=March 24, 2016}}</ref> Five bishops from five different countries, working independently of each other,<ref name=statement/> conducted an extensive investigation which took them to nearly every one of the religious order's houses<ref name=cna/> and on March 15, 2010, submitted their report to the Vatican. On March 25, 2010, the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christ issued a joint statement acknowledging Maciel's history of sex abuse and apologized.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/03/26/mexico.priest.abuse/index.html|title=Mexican Catholic order's founder abused boys, sect admits - CNN.com|website=www.cnn.com}}</ref>

On May 1, 2010, after a two-day meeting in Rome with the bishops, the Vatican issued a statement on the report<ref name="statement"/> and announced that the Pope would name a delegate to the Legion and a [[apostolic visitor|visitator]] to Regnum Christi,<ref>On July 9, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI appointed then-Archbishop, now Cardinal [[Velasio De Paolis]] [[papal delegate|his delegate]] to examine the Legionaries' constitution and to begin an investigation of Regnum Christi.[https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/world/europe/02legion.html Pope Reins In Catholic Order Tied to Abuse (New York Times, May 2, 2010)], [http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=359&ca=509&te=903&id=30264&csearch=509 Pope Benedict XVI names Papal Delegate for the Legion of Christ - Regnum Christi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407113908/http://www.regnumchristi.org/english/articulos/articulo.phtml?se=359&ca=509&te=903&id=30264&csearch=509 |date=2016-04-07 }}</ref> because the "conduct of [Maciel] has given rise to serious consequences in the life and structure of the Legion, such as to require a process of profound re-evaluation." In its statement the Vatican denounced Maciel for having created a system of power that enabled him to lead an "immoral" double life "devoid of scruples and authentic religious meaning."<ref name="statement">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_comunicato-legionari-cristo-2010_en.html|title=Communiqué of the Holy See regarding the Apostolic Visitation of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ, 1 May 2010|website=www.vatican.va}}</ref><ref name=cna>{{Cite web|url=https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/19521/fr-maciel-guilty-profound-revision-of-legion-needed-report-apostolic-visitors|title=Fr. Maciel guilty, 'profound' revision of Legion needed, report Apostolic Visitors|website=Catholic News Agency}}</ref> The Vatican statement was unusually explicit in its denunciation of Maciel's crimes and deception.

The "very serious and objectively immoral acts" of Maciel, which were "confirmed by incontrovertible testimonies", represented "true crimes and manifest a life without scruples or authentic religious sentiment", the Vatican said.<ref name=cna/> The Vatican also stated that the Legion created a "mechanism of defense" around Maciel to shield him from accusations and suppress damaging witnesses from reporting abuse. "It made him untouchable", the Vatican said. The statement decried the "lamentable disgracing and expulsion of those who doubted" Maciel's virtue. The Vatican statement did not address whether the Legion's leadership would face any sanctions.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704608104575217921161835094|title=Pope Benedict to Overhaul Legion of Christ|date=3 May 2010|access-date=22 December 2019|via=www.wsj.com|author= Stacy Meichtry |author2=José De Córdoba|newspaper=Wall Street Journal}}</ref> The Vatican acknowledged the "hardships" faced by Maciel's accusers through the years when they were ostracized or ridiculed, and commended their "courage and perseverance to demand the truth."<ref name="Los Angeles Times"/>

==See also==
* [[Carlos Miguel Buela]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
*{{in lang|es}} ''ACI Prensa''. 2009 December 11. [http://www.aciprensa.com/noticia.php?n=27863 Legión de Cristo da a conocer a sus miembros plagio de P. Maciel en libro espiritual] (Legion of Christ announces to its members plagiarism of Father Maciel in a spiritual work).
*''Associated Press''. 2006 October 16. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927214105/http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2006/10/16/News/Pope-Benedict.Bestows.Sainthood.In.Ceremony-2351422.shtml Pope Benedict bestows sainthood in ceremony].
*Berry, Jason. [http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/money-paved-way-maciels-influence-vatican Money paved way for Maciel's influence in the Vatican (First of Two Parts)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021133610/http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/money-paved-way-maciels-influence-vatican |date=2011-10-21 }}. [[National Catholic Reporter]], Apr. 06, 2010
*Berry, Jason. [http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/how-fr-maciel-built-his-empire How Fr. Maciel built his empire (Second of Two Parts)]. [[National Catholic Reporter]], Apr. 12, 2010
*Berry, Jason, and Renner, Gerald. 2004. ''Vows of Silence: The Abuse of Power in the Papacy of John Paul II''. Free Press. {{ISBN|0-7432-4441-9}}
*''Vows of Silence'', a one-hour documentary on Father Maciel and the Legion of Christ
*''Catholic News Agency''. 2009 February 3. [https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/14969/legionaries-of-christ-acknowledge-founders-inappropriate-behavior Legionaries of Christ acknowledge founder's 'inappropriate' behavior] .
*''Catholic News Agency''. 2009 March 31. [https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/15538/pope-initiates-apostolic-visitation-of-the-legion-of-christ Pope initiates Apostolic Visitation of the Legion of Christ] .
*Conde, Angeles, and Murray, David. 2005. ''The Legion of Christ: A History''. Circle Press. {{ISBN|0-9743661-2-9}}
*{{in lang|es}} ''La Jornada'' (Mexico). 2009 August 11. [http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/08/11/index.php?section=sociedad&article=035n1soc Reclaman derechos hereditarios tres hijos más de Marcial Maciel] (Three more children of Marcial Maciel demand there inheritance).
*''Los Angeles Times''. 2008 February 1. [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-feb-01-me-maciel1-story.html Catholic order's founder was rebuked for sex abuse].
*Maciel, Marcial. 2003. ''Christ is My Life''. Circle Press. {{ISBN|1-928832-97-0}}
*{{in lang|es}} ''Milenio'' 2009 August 11 [https://web.archive.org/web/20090817004800/http://impreso.milenio.com/node/8622629 Tres hijos de Maciel pelearán sus bienes].
*{{in lang|es}} ''El Mundo'' (Madrid). 2009-12-12. [http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2009/12/12/internacional/1260637560.html Maciel plagió el libro de cabecera de los Legionarios].
*{{in lang|es}} ''Periodista Digital'' (Madrid). 2009 August 9. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090813082912/http://www.periodistadigital.com/religion/object.php?o=1223828 La hija del pecador Legionario de Cristo].
*''Telegraph'' (UK). 2008 February 2. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1577304/The-Reverend-Marcial-Maciel.html Obituary of the Reverend Marcial Maciel]
*Thompson, Damian. 2009 February 4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110511144858/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/8282097/ Legionaries of Christ face disaster after founder's double life is exposed]

== External links ==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160306142344/http://legionofchrist.com/ Legionaries of Christ]
*[http://nationalcatholicreporter.org/update/bn051806.htm National Catholic Reporter article on his faculties being restricted]
*[http://www.regnumchristi.org/ Regnum Christi]

{{Regnum Christi}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Catholicism}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maciel, Marcial}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Cotija de la Paz]]
[[Category:LGBTQ Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in Latin America]]
[[Category:Founders of Catholic religious communities]]
[[Category:Legionaries of Christ]]
[[Category:Mexican spiritual writers]]
[[Category:Burials in Michoacán]]
[[Category:Regnum Christi]]
[[Category:Scandals in Mexico]]
[[Category:Catholic priests convicted of child sexual abuse]]
[[Category:20th-century Mexican Roman Catholic priests]]
[[Category:People named in the Paradise Papers]]

Tertullian

2025-05-29T15:39:47Z

70.90.76.5: /* Baptism */ fine-tuned word choice.

{{Short description|Roman Christian theologian and writer (c. 155 – c. 220)}}
{{Infobox theologian
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Tertullian
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Tertullian2.png
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name = Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus
| birth_date = {{circa|155 AD}}
| birth_place = [[Carthage]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_date = after 220 AD
| death_place = Carthage, Roman Empire
| region =
| nationality =
| education =
| occupation =
| era = [[Patristics|Patristic age]]
| notable_works = ''[[Apologeticus]]''
| tradition_movement = [[Trinitarianism]]
| main_interests = [[Soteriology]], [[traducianism]]
| notable_ideas = ''[[Hypostasis (philosophy and religion)|Hypostasis]]'', ''[[ousia]]'', [[sacrament]], [[consubstantiality]], ''[[persona]]'', [[religious liberty]]
}}
{{Catholic philosophy}}

'''Tertullian''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ər|ˈ|t|ʌ|l|i|ə|n}}; {{langx|la|Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus}}; {{circa}} 155 – {{circa}} 220 AD<ref>{{cite book |author=Audi, Robert |title=The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page=908 |date=1999}}</ref>) was a prolific [[Early Christianity|early Christian]] author from [[Roman Carthage|Carthage]] in the [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman province of Africa]].{{sfn|Barnes|1971|p=58}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Harrison |first=Peter |date=June 2017 |title='I Believe Because it is Absurd': The Enlightenment Invention of Tertullian's Credo |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/abs/i-believe-because-it-is-absurd-the-enlightenment-invention-of-tertullians-credo/69340C3AF8366E79BCF3BDD804DED82E |journal=Church History |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=339–364 |doi=10.1017/S0009640717000531 |issn=0009-6407 |jstor=26784720 |s2cid=164425317 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of [[Latin literature|Latin]] Christian literature and was an early [[Christian apologetics|Christian apologist]] and a polemicist against [[Heresy in Christianity|heresy]], including contemporary [[Christian Gnosticism]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Versluis, Arthur |title=Magic and Mysticism |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |date=2007 |page=23}}</ref>

Tertullian was the first theologian to write in Latin, and so has been called "the father of [[Latin Christianity]]",<ref>{{cite book |last=Benham |first=William |author-link=William Benham (priest) |date=1887 |title=The Dictionary of Religion |publisher=Cassell |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofreli00benhuoft |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofreli00benhuoft/page/n1024 1013]}}</ref>{{sfn|Ekonomou|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IaO-AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA22 22]}} as well as "[[History of Christian theology|the founder of Western theology]]".<ref name="gonzales">{{cite book|author= Gonzáles, Justo L.|title=The Story of Christianity|volume= 1|chapter= The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation|location=New York |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |date=2010|pages=91–93}}</ref> He is perhaps most famous for being the first writer in Latin known to use the term ''[[trinity]]'' (Latin: ''trinitas'').<ref>{{Cite book |chapter=Tertullian, Originator of the Trinity |date=2012-01-30 |title=From Logos to Trinity |pages=190–220 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9781139003971.010 |isbn=978-1-139-00397-1}}</ref>

Tertullian originated new theological concepts and advanced the development of early Church doctrine. However, some of his teachings, such as the [[Subordinationism|subordination]] of [[God the Son|the Son]] and [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Spirit]] to [[God the Father|the Father]], were later rejected by the Church.<ref name="lesaint">{{cite encyclopedia |author=Le Saint, W. |title=Tertullian |encyclopedia=The New Catholic Encyclopedia|date= 2003 |volume=13 |page=837}}</ref> According to [[Jerome]], he later joined the [[Montanist]] sect and may have [[apostasized]];<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tertullian {{!}} Biography, Works, Theology, Montanism, & Facts |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tertullian |access-date=2022-04-11 |website=Encyclopaedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> however, modern scholars dispute this.{{sfn|Barnes|1971|p=11}}

== Life ==
Scant reliable evidence exists regarding Tertullian's life; most knowledge comes from passing references in his own writings. [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]] was famous as the home of [[orator]]s, and that influence can be seen in his writing style with its archaisms or provincialisms, its glowing imagery and its passionate temper. He was a [[scholar]] with an excellent education. He wrote at least three books in [[Koine Greek]]; none of them are extant.

Some sources describe him as [[Berbers|Berber]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkwBAAAAMAAJ|title=L'Algérie et son passé: ouvrage illustré de 82 gravures en phototypie|last=Berthier|first=André|date=1951|publisher=Picard|page=25|isbn=978-2-7084-0171-6|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_BYtAQAAIAAJ|title=Intellectual Traditions of Pre-colonial Africa|last=Hilliard|first=Constance B.|date=1998|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-07-028898-0|page=150|language=en}}</ref> The linguist René Braun suggested that he was of [[Punics|Punic]] origin but acknowledged that it is difficult to decide since the heritage of Carthage had become common to the Berbers.<ref name="Wilhite">{{Cite book|last=Wilhite|first=David E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXNJeW0g6kMC&pg=PA134|title=Tertullian the African: An Anthropological Reading of Tertullian's Context and Identities|date=2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-092626-2|page=134|language=en}}</ref> Tertullian's own understanding of his ethnicity has been questioned:<ref name="Wilhite" /> He referred to himself as ''Poenicum inter Romanos'' ({{Literal translation|Punic among Romans}}) in his book ''De Pallio''<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Young|first1=Frances Margaret|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rTpSoYGM2WcC&pg=PA358|title=Other Greek Writers, John of Damascus and Beyond, the West to Hilary|last2=Edwards|first2=Mark J.|last3=Parvis|first3=Paul M.|date=2006|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-429-1885-6|language=en}}</ref> and claimed Africa as his ''patria''.<ref name="Wilhite" /> According to church tradition, Tertullian was raised in Carthage.<ref name ="Oxford">{{cite book| editor-last =Cross | editor-first = F. L. |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church|location= New York|publisher= Oxford University Press|date= 2005}}</ref> Jerome claimed that Tertullian's father held the position of ''centurio proconsularis'' ("aide-de-camp") in the [[Roman army]] in Africa.<ref>[[Jerome]], 'Chronicon' 16.23–24</ref>

Tertullian has been claimed to have been a trained lawyer and an ordained priest. Those assertions rely on the accounts of [[Eusebius of Caesarea]], ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Church History]]'', II, ii. 4, and [[Jerome]]'s ''[[De Viris Illustribus (Jerome)|De viris illustribus]]'' (''On famous men'') chapter 53.{{efn|See introduction to {{harv |Barnes|1971}}; however, Barnes retracted some of his positions in the 1985 revised edition.}} Tertullian has also been thought to be a lawyer, based on his use of legal analogies and on an identification of him with the jurist Tertullianus, who is quoted in the ''[[Pandects]]''. Although Tertullian used a knowledge of Roman law in his writings, his legal knowledge does not demonstrably exceed what could be expected from a sufficient Roman education.{{sfn|Barnes|1971|pp=24, 27}} The writings of Tertullianus, a lawyer of the same ''[[agnomen]]'', exist only in fragments and do not explicitly denote a Christian authorship. The notion of Tertullian being a priest is also questionable. In his extant writings, he never describes himself as ordained in the church{{sfn|Barnes|1971|p=11}} and seems to place himself among the laity.<ref>Tertullian, De Exhortatione Castitatis 7.3 and De Monogamia 12.2</ref>

His conversion to Christianity perhaps took place about 197–198 (cf. [[Adolf Harnack]], [[Bonwetsch]], and others), but its immediate antecedents are unknown except as they are conjectured from his writings. The event must have been sudden and decisive, transforming at once his own personality. He writes that he could not imagine a truly Christian life without such a conscious breach, a radical act of conversion: "Christians are made, not born" (''Apol''., xviii). Two books addressed to his wife confirm that he was married to a Christian wife.<ref>{{cite web|title=Book Written to His Wife|website=New Advent |url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0404.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304214727/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0404.htm|archive-date=2014-03-04}}</ref>

In his middle life (about 207), he was attracted to the "New Prophecy" of [[Montanism]], but today most scholars reject the assertion that Tertullian left the mainstream church or was excommunicated.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXnQjPvrDZUC&q=%22overwhelming+consensus+that+Tertullian+was+not+a+Montanist+schismatic%22&pg=PA46
| title=Tertullian and Paul| isbn=978-0-567-55411-6| last1=Still| first1=Todd D| last2=Wilhite| first2=David E| date=2012| publisher=A&C Black}}</ref> "[W]e are left to ask whether Saint Cyprian could have regarded Tertullian as his master if Tertullian had been a notorious schismatic. Since no ancient writer was more definite (if not indeed fanatical) on this subject of schism than Saint Cyprian, the question must surely be answered in the negative."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tertullian.org/articles/powell_tertullianists.htm|title=Tertullian: Douglas Powell, Tertullianists and Cataphrygians, Vigiliae Christianae 29 (1975), pp. 33–54}}</ref>

In the time of [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], a group of "Tertullianists" still had a basilica in Carthage, which within the same period passed to the orthodox church. It is unclear whether the name was merely another for the North African Montanists{{efn|The passage in ''[[Praedestinatus]]'' describing the Tertullianists suggests that might have been the case, as the Tertullianist minister obtains the use of a church in Rome on the grounds that the martyrs to whom it was dedicated were Montanists. However, the passage is very condensed and ambiguous.}} or that it means that Tertullian later split with the Montanists and founded his own group.

Jerome<ref>{{cite book|author= Jerome |title=De viris illustribus | page =53}}</ref> says that Tertullian lived to old age. By the doctrinal works he published, Tertullian became the teacher of [[Cyprian]] and the predecessor of Augustine, a key figure of western theology.

== Writings ==

=== General character ===
Thirty-one works are extant, together with fragments of more. Some fifteen works in Latin or Greek are lost, some as recently as the 9th century (''De Paradiso, De superstitione saeculi, De carne et anima'' were all extant in the now damaged [[Codex Agobardinus]] in 814 AD). Tertullian's writings cover the whole theological field of the time{{snd}}[[apologetics]] against paganism and Judaism, [[polemic]]s, polity, discipline, and morals, or the whole reorganization of human life on a Christian basis; they gave a picture of the religious life and thought of the time which is of great interest to the church historian.

Like other early [[Christianity|Christian]] writers Tertullian used the term ''paganus'' to mean "civilian" as a contrast to the "soldiers of Christ".<ref>Ernest Weekley, ''Etymological Dictionary of English'', s.v. "pagan".</ref> The motif of [[Miles Christianus|Miles Christi]] did not assume the literal meaning of participation in war until Church doctrines justifying Christian participation in battle were developed around the 5th century.<ref>{{Cite journal| issn = 1449-9320| volume = 8| issue = Journal Article| pages = 77–| last = Iwanczak| first = Wojciech| title = Miles Christi: the medieval ideal of knighthood| journal = Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association| date = 2012| url = http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GPS&sw=w&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CA454359740&asid=b7bcab1e0aab147ff62b696318501ae7}}</ref> In the 2nd-century writings of Tertullian, ''paganus'' meant a "civilian" who was lacking self-discipline. In ''De Corona Militis'' XI.V he writes:<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cameron|first=Alan G.|author-link=Alan Cameron (classical scholar)|title=The Last Pagans of Rome|year=2011|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-978091-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHgvpINWV_QC|oclc=553365192}}</ref>
{|
|style="padding-left: 6em; padding-right: 1em;"|''Apud hunc [Christum] tam miles est paganus fidelis quam paganus est miles fidelis''.<ref>[[s:la:De corona militis#11|''De Corona Militis'' XI.V]]</ref>
|style="padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 6em;"|With Him [Christ] the faithful citizen is a soldier, just as the faithful soldier is a citizen.<ref>[[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume III/Apologetic/The Chaplet, or De Corona/Chapter XI|Ante-Nicene Fathers III, De Corona XI]]</ref>
|}

=== Chronology and contents ===
The chronology of his writings is difficult to fix with certainty. In his work against [[Marcion]], which he calls his third composition on the Marcionite heresy, he gives its date as the fifteenth year of the reign of Severus (''Adv. Marcionem'', i.1, 15) – which would be approximately 208.

The writings may be divided according to their subject matter, falling into two groups: Apologetic and polemic writings, like ''[[Apologeticus]]'', ''De testimonio animae'', the [[anti-Judaism|anti-Jewish]] ''[[s:Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume III/Apologetic/An Answer to the Jews|Adversus Iudaeos]]'', ''Adv. Marcionem'', ''Adv. Praxeam'', ''Adv. Hermogenem'', ''De praescriptione hereticorum'', and ''Scorpiace'' were written to counteract [[Gnosticism]] and other religious or philosophical doctrines. The other group consists of practical and disciplinary writings, e.g., ''De monogamia'', ''Ad uxorem'', ''De virginibus velandis'', ''De cultu feminarum'', ''De patientia'', ''De pudicitia'', ''De oratione'', and ''Ad martyras''.

Among his apologetic writings, the ''Apologeticus'', addressed to the Roman magistrates, is a most pungent defense of Christianity and the Christians against the reproaches of the pagans, and an important legacy of the ancient Church, proclaiming the principle of [[freedom of religion]] as an inalienable human right and demanding a fair trial for Christians before they are condemned to death.

Tertullian was the first to disprove charges that Christians sacrificed infants at the [[Eucharist|celebration of the Lord's Supper]] and committed incest. He pointed to the commission of such crimes in the pagan world and then proved by the testimony of [[Pliny the Younger]] that Christians pledged themselves not to commit murder, adultery, or other crimes. He adduced the inhumanity of pagan customs such as feeding the flesh of gladiators to beasts. He argued that the gods have no existence and thus there is no pagan religion against which Christians may offend. Christians do not engage in the foolish worship of the emperors, that they do better: they pray for them, and that Christians can afford to be put to torture and to death, and the more they are cast down the more they grow; "the blood of the Christians is seed" (''Apologeticum'', 50). In the ''De Praescriptione'' he develops as its fundamental idea that, in a dispute between the Church and a separating party, the whole [[Legal burden of proof|burden of proof]] lies with the latter, as the Church, in possession of the unbroken tradition, is by its very existence a guarantee of its truth.

The five books against Marcion, written in 207 or 208, are the most comprehensive and elaborate of his polemical works, invaluable for gauging the early Christian view of Gnosticism. Tertullian has been identified by Jo Ann McNamara as the person who originally invested the consecrated virgin as the "bride of Christ", which helped to bring the independent virgin under patriarchal rule.{{sfn|Bitel|2008|p=17}}

Scholars in the past accepting the Montanist theory have also divided his work into earlier Catholic works and the later supposedly Montanist works (cf. Harnack, ii.262 sqq.), aiming to show the change of views Tertullian's mind underwent.

===Manuscripts===
The earliest [[manuscript]] (handwritten copy) of any of Tertullian's works dates to the eighth century, but most are of the fifteenth. There are five main collections of Tertullian's works, known as the ''Cluniacense'', ''Corbeiense'', ''Trecense'', ''Agobardinum'' and ''Ottobonianus''. Some of Tertullian's works are [[Lost literary work|lost]]. All the manuscripts of the ''Corbeiense'' collection are also now lost, although the collection survives in early printed editions.<ref>[https://tertullian.org/manuscripts/index.htm The Text Tradition: An Introduction to and Overview of the Manuscripts], from The Tertullian Project. It contains a complete list of known surviving and lost manuscripts of Tertullian.</ref>

== Theology ==

=== Specific teachings ===
Tertullian's main doctrinal teachings are as follows:

====God====
Tertullian reserves the appellation God, in the sense of the ultimate originator of all things, to the Father,<ref name="stanford">{{cite encyclopedia |author=Tuggy, Dale |editor=Zalta, Edward N. |title=History of Trinitarian Doctrines |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2016/entries/trinity/trinity-history.html#Tertul |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=24 September 2016|date=2016}}</ref> who made the world out of nothing through his Son, the Word, has corporeity, though he is a spirit ({{lang|la|De praescriptione}}, vii.; {{lang|la|Adv. Praxeam}}, vii). However Tertullian used 'corporeal' only in the [[stoicism|Stoic]] sense, to mean something with actual material existence, rather than the later idea of flesh.

Tertullian is often considered an early proponent of the [[Nicene Creed|Nicene doctrine]], approaching the subject from the standpoint of the [[Logos (Christianity)|Logos doctrine]], though he did not state the later doctrine of the [[immanent Trinity]]. In his treatise against Praxeas, who taught [[patripassianism]] in Rome, he used the words "trinity", "economy" (used in reference to the three persons), "persons", and "substance", maintaining the distinction of the Son from the Father as the unoriginate God, and the Spirit from both the Father and the Son ({{lang|la|Adv. Praxeam}}, xxv). "These three are one substance, not one person; and it is said, 'I and my Father are one' in respect not of the singularity of number but the unity of the substance." The very names "Father" and "Son" indicate the distinction of personality. The Father is one, the Son is another, and the Spirit is another ({{lang|la|"dico alium esse patrem et alium filium et alium spiritum"}} {{lang|la|Adv. Praxeam}}, ix)), and yet in defending the unity of God, he says the Son is not other ({{lang|la|"alius a patre filius non est"}}, ({{lang|la|Adv. Prax.}} 18) as a result of receiving a portion of the Father's substance.<ref name="stanford" /> At times, speaking of the Father and the Son, Tertullian refers to "two gods".<ref name="stanford" />{{efn |{{lang|la|"Ergo, inquis, si deus dixit et deus fecit, si alius deus dixit et alius fecit, duo dii praedicantur. Si tam durus es, puta interim. Et ut adhuc amplius hoc putes, accipe et in psalmo duos deos dictos: Thronus tuus, deus, in aevum, <virga directionis> virga regni tui; dilexisti iustitiam et odisti iniquitatem, propterea unxit te deus, deus tuus."}} ({{"'}}Therefore', thou sayest, 'if a god said and a god made, if one god said and another made, two gods are being preached.' If thou art so hard, think a little! And that thou mayest think more fully, accept that in the Psalm two gods are spoken of: 'Thy throne, God, is for ever, a sceptre of right direction is thy sceptre; thou hast loved justice and hast hated iniquity, therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee.{{'"}}) {{lang|la|Adv. Prax.}} 13}} He says that all things of the Father belong also to the Son, including his names, such as Almighty God, Most High, Lord of Hosts, or King of Israel.<ref>{{lang|la|Adv. Prax.}} 17.</ref>

Though Tertullian considered the Father to be God (Yahweh), he responded to criticism of the [[Sabellianism|Modalist]] Praxeas that this meant that Tertullian's Christianity was not monotheistic by noting that even though there was one God (Yahweh, who became the Father when the Son became his agent of creation), the Son could also be referred to as God, when referred to apart from the Father, because the Son, though subordinate to God, is entitled to be called God "from the unity of the Father" in regards to being formed from a portion of His substance.<ref name="stanford" />{{efn|{{lang|la|"Si filium nolunt secundum a patre reputari ne secundus duos faciat deos dici, ostendimus etiam duos deos in scriptura relatos et duos dominos: et tamen ne de isto scandalizentur, rationem reddimus qua dei non duo dicantur nec domini sed qua pater et filius duo, et hoc non ex separatione substantiae sed ex dispositione, cum individuum et inseparatum filium a patre pronuntiamus, nec statu sed gradu alium, qui etsi deus dicatur quando nominatur singularis, non ideo duos deos faciat sed unum, hoc ipso quod et deus ex unitate patris vocari habeat."}} ("If they do not wish that the Son be considered second to the Father, lest being second he cause it to be said that there are two gods, we have also showed that two gods are related in Scripture, and two lords. And yet, let them not be scandalized by this – we give a reason why there are not said to be two gods nor lords but rather two as a Father and a Son. And this not from separation of substance but from disposition, since we pronounce the Son undivided and unseparated from the Father, other not in status but in grade, who although he is said to be God when mentioned by himself, does not therefore make two gods but one, by the fact that he is also entitled to be called God from the unity of the Father.") {{lang|la|Adv. Prax.}} 19}} ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'' comments that for Tertullian, "There was a time when there was no Son and no sin, when God was neither Father nor Judge."<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url= http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm |title=Tertullian | encyclopedia = The Catholic Encyclopedia}}</ref><ref name="Princeton Theological Review 1906, pp. 56, 159">[[Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield|B. B. Warfield]] in ''Princeton Theological Review'', 1906, pp. 56, 159.</ref> Similarly [[J.N.D. Kelly]] stated: "Tertullian followed the Apologists in dating His 'perfect generation' from His extrapolation for the work of creation; prior to that moment God could not strictly be said to have had a Son, while after it the term 'Father', which for earlier theologians generally connoted God as author of reality, began to acquire the specialized meaning of Father of the Son."<ref>J. N. D. Kelly, ''Early Christian Doctrines'', Continual International Publishing Book, c. 1960, 2000, p. 112</ref> As regards the subjects of [[subordinationism|subordination]] of the Son to the Father, the ''New Catholic Encyclopedia'' has commented: "In not a few areas of theology, Tertullian's views are, of course, completely unacceptable. Thus, for example, his teaching on the Trinity reveals a subordination of Son to Father that in the later crass form of [[Arianism]] the Church rejected as heretical."<ref name="lesaint" /> Though he did not fully state the doctrine of the immanence of the Trinity, according to B. B. Warfield, he went a long distance in the way of approach to it.<ref name="Princeton Theological Review 1906, pp. 56, 159" />

====Apostolicity====
Tertullian was a defender of the necessity of apostolicity. In his ''Prescription Against Heretics'', he explicitly challenges heretics to produce evidence of the [[apostolic succession]] of their communities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0311.htm|title=The Prescription against Heretics: Chapter 32}}</ref>

==== Eucharist ====
Unlike many early Christian writers, Tertullian (along with [[Clement of Alexandria]]) used the word "figure" and "symbol" to define the Eucharist, since in his book ''Against Marcion'' he implied that "this is my body" should be interpreted as "a figure of my body"; others have also suggested that he believed in a [[Lord's Supper in Reformed theology|spiritual presence in the Eucharist]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cjIsAQAAMAAJ&dq=Tertullian+spiritual+presence+Eucharist&pg=PA136 |title=Bibliotheca Sacra and Theological Review |date=1844 |publisher=Allen, Morrill, and Wardwell |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbBPAAAAMAAJ&dq=Tertullian+spiritually+present+Eucharist&pg=PA525 |title=The British Magazine and Monthly Register of Religious and Ecclesiastical Information, Parochial History, and Documents Respecting the State of the Poor, Progress of Education, Etc. |date=1833 |publisher=J. Petheram |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaye |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZcZKlLb53AC&dq=Tertullian+spiritually+present+Eucharist&pg=PA154 |title=Works of John Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln: Miscellaneous works with memoir of the author |date=1888 |publisher=Rivingtons |language=en}}</ref>

==== Baptism ====
Tertullian advises the postponement of baptism of little children and the unmarried, he mentions that it was customary to baptise infants, with sponsors speaking on their behalf.<ref>"The delay of baptism is preferable; principally, however, in the case of little children. For why is it necessary ... that the sponsors likewise should be thrust into danger? ... For no less cause must the unwedded also be deferred—in whom the ground of temptation is prepared, alike in such as never were wedded by means of their maturity, and in the widowed by means of their freedom—until they either marry, or else be more fully strengthened for continence." {{cite book |title=[[Ante-Nicene Fathers (book)|The Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325]] |volume=3 |at=Part III, Chapter 18 |year=1885 |publisher=Christian Literature Company |editor-first1=Alexander |editor-last1=Roberts |editor-first2=James |editor-last2=Donaldson |editor-first3=Arthur Cleveland |editor-last3=Coxe |editor-first4=Philip |editor-last4=Schaff |display-authors=etal}} For the text, see [[s:Ante-Nicene_Fathers/Volume_III/Ethical/On_Baptism/XVIII|Wikisource]].</ref> He argued that an infant ran the risk of growing up and then falling into sin, which could cause them to lose their salvation, if they were baptized as infants.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Esler |first=Philip F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fyCAgAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+ex+opere+operato&pg=PA570 |title=The Early Christian World |date=2002-09-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-54919-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Contrary to early Syrian baptismal doctrine and practice, Tertullian describes baptism as a cleansing and preparation process which precedes the reception of the Holy Spirit in post-baptismal anointing ({{lang|la|De Baptismo}} 6). {{lang|la|De Baptismo}} includes the earliest known mention of a prayer for the consecration of the waters of baptism.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johnson |first=Maxwell E. |title=The rites of Christian initiation: their evolution and interpretation |date=2007 |publisher=Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0-8146-6215-1 |edition=revised and expanded |location=Collegeville, Minnesota |oclc=123485489}}</ref>

Tertullian had an {{lang|la|[[ex opere operato]]}} view of the baptism, thus the efficacy of baptism was not dependent upon the faith of the receiver.<ref name=":2" /> He also believed that in an emergency, the laity can give the baptism.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Still |first1=Todd D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7GLm2X6BRdEC&dq=Tertullian+outside+the+church+no+salvation&pg=PA176 |title=Tertullian and Paul |last2=Wilhite |first2=David |date=2012-12-20 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-567-00803-9 |language=en}}</ref>

==== The Church ====
According to James Puglisi, Tertullian interpreted that in Matthew 16:18–19 "the rock" refers to Peter. For him, Peter is the type of the one Church and its origins, this Church, is now present in a variety of local churches.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Puglisi |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZ2vkWM8IpwC&dq=Tertullian+pope+calixtus&pg=PA36 |title=How Can the Petrine Ministry Be a Service to the Unity of the Universal Church? |date=2010-11-09 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=978-0-8028-4862-8 |language=en}}</ref>.He mocked [[Pope Callixtus I|Pope Calixtus]] or [[Agrippinus of Carthage|Agrippinus]] (it is debated which one he was referring to) when he challenged him on the Church forgiving capital sinners and letting them back into the church.<ref name=":3" /> He believed that the people who committed grave sins, such as sorcery, fornication and murder, should not be let inside the church.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gomez |first=Cristina Lledo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7mObDwAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+Fornicators&pg=PT79 |title=The Church as Woman and Mother: Historical and Theological Foundations |date=2018 |publisher=Paulist Press |isbn=978-1-58768-694-8 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Marriage ====
Tertullian's later view of marriage, such as in his book ''Exhortation to Chastity'', may have been heavily influenced by Montanism. He had previously held marriage to be fundamentally good, but after his conversion{{dubious|date=March 2024}} he denied its goodness. He argues that marriage is considered to be good "when it is compared with the greatest of all evils". He argued that before the coming of Christ, the command to reproduce was a prophetic sign pointing to the coming of the Church; after it came, the command was superseded. He also believed lust for one's wife and for another woman were essentially the same, so that marital desire was similar to adulterous desire. He believed that sex even in marriage would disrupt the Christian life and that abstinence was the best way to achieve the clarity of the soul. Tertullian's views would later influence much of the [[Western Christianity|western church]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Schafer |first=Steven |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0uvDwAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+Fornicators&pg=PA10 |title=Marriage, Sex, and Procreation: Contemporary Revisions to Augustine's Theology of Marriage |date=2019-09-09 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=978-1-5326-7182-1 |language=en}}</ref>

Tertullian was the first to introduce a view of "sexual hierarchy": he believed that those who abstain from sexual relations should have a higher hierarchy in the church than those who do not, because he saw sexual relations as a barrier that stopped one from a close relationship with God.<ref name=":5" />

==== Scripture ====
Tertullian did not have a specific listing of the canon; however, he quotes [[First Epistle of John|1 John]], [[First Epistle of Peter|1 Peter]], [[Epistle of Jude|Jude]], [[Revelation]], the [[Pauline epistles]] and the [[four Gospels]]. In his later books, he also started to use the [[The Shepherd of Hermas|Shepherd of Hermas]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McDonald |first=Lee Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfvUDQAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+canon&pg=PA80 |title=The Formation of the Biblical Canon: Volume 2: The New Testament: Its Authority and Canonicity |date=2017-01-26 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-567-66885-1 |language=en}}</ref> Tertullian made no references to the [[book of Tobit]]; however, in his book ''Adversus Marcionem'' he quotes the [[book of Judith]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hengel |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUmGZ0NiweAC&dq=Tertullian+tobit&pg=PA117 |title=Septuagint As Christian Scripture |date=2004-05-01 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-567-08287-9 |language=en}}</ref> He quoted most of the [[Old Testament]] including many [[deuterocanonical books]], however he never used the books of [[Books of Chronicles|Chronicles]], [[Book of Ruth|Ruth]], [[Book of Esther|Esther]], [[2 Maccabees]], [[Second Epistle of John|2 John]] and [[Third Epistle of John|3 John]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last1=Tertullianus |first1=Quintus Septimius Florens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHYl6rhy4FkC&dq=Tertullian+apocrypha&pg=PA13 |title=Tertullian |last2=Dunn |first2=Geoffrey D. |date=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-28231-4 |language=en}}</ref> He defended the [[Book of Enoch]] and he believed that the book was omitted by the Jews from the canon. He believed that the [[epistle to the Hebrews]] was made by [[Barnabas]].<ref name=":6" /> For Tertullian, scripture was authoritative; he used scripture as the primary source in almost every chapter of his every work, and very rarely anything else.<ref name=":6" /> He seems to prioritize the authority of scripture above anything else.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last1=Tertullianus |first1=Quintus Septimius Florens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHYl6rhy4FkC&dq=Tertullian+apocrypha&pg=PA13 |title=Tertullian |translator-last=Dunn |translator-first=Geoffrey D. |date=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-28231-4 |page=15 |language=en}}</ref>

When interpreting scripture, he would occasionally believe passages to be allegorical or symbolic, while in other places he would support a literal interpretation. He would especially use allegorical interpretations when dealing with Christological prophecies of the Old Testament.<ref name=":7" /> Scripture was a record of the earlier Tradition that should not be interpreted outside that tradition: scripture should not be cherry-picked and early interpretations should be preferred over later ones.

=== Other beliefs ===
Tertullian denied Mary's virginity ''in partu'',{{sfn|Wirth|2016|p=167}} and he was quoted by [[Helvidius]] in his debate with Jerome.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wirth|first=Douglas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u584DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT168|title=Shivering Babe, Glorious Lord: The Nativity Stories in Christian Tradition|date=2016-05-13|publisher=WestBow Press|isbn=978-1-5127-3871-1|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume III: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 311–600 |website=Christian Classics Ethereal Library|url=https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc3/hcc3.iii.vii.xx.html|access-date=2022-02-18}}</ref> He held similar views as [[Antidicomarians]].<ref>Cross, FL, ed. (2005), "Brethren of the Lord". ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. New York: Oxford University Press.</ref>[[John Norman Davidson Kelly|J. N. D. Kelly]] argued that Tertullian believed that Mary had imperfections, thus denying her [[Sinlessness of Mary|sinlessness]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=White|first=James|title=Mary—Another Redeemer?|publisher=Bethany House|year=1998}}</ref>

Tertullian is said to have held to a view similar to the Protestant [[priesthood of all believers]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ellingsen |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ahjsCgAAQBAJ&dq=priesthood+of+all+believers+Tertullian&pg=PA59 |title=African Christian Mothers and Fathers: Why They Matter for the Church Today |date=2015-10-21 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=978-1-60608-550-9 |language=en}}</ref>{{dubious|date=March 2024}} and that the distinction of the clergy and the laity is only because of ecclesiastical institution and thus in an absence of a priest the laity can act as priests; his theory on the distinction of the laity and clergy is influenced by Montanism and his early writings do not have the same beliefs.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hierarchy of the Early Church |url=https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/hierarchy-of-the-early-church |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=Catholic Answers |quote=H. The Hierarchy as an Ecclesiastical Institution.—(I) The utterance of Tertullian (De exhort. cast. vii), declaring that the difference between the priests and the laity was due to ecclesiastical institution, and that therefore any layman in the absence of a priest could offer sacrifice, baptize, and act as priest, is based on Montanistic theories and contradicts earlier teachings of Tertullian (e.g., De baptismo, xvii). (2)}}</ref>

He believed in [[Iconoclasm]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dimmick |first1=Jeremy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBNREAAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+iconoclasm&pg=PA40 |title=Images, Idolatry, and Iconoclasm in Late Medieval England: Textuality and the Visual Image |last2=Simpson |first2=James |last3=Zeeman |first3=Nicolette |date=2002-02-14 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-154196-4 |language=en}}</ref>

He believed in [[historic premillennialism]]: that Christians will go through a period of tribulation, to be followed by a literal 1000-year reign of Christ.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Chung |first1=Sung Wook |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AlcXEAAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+premillennialism&pg=PA12 |title=Models of Premillennialism |last2=Mathewson |first2=David L. |date=2018-08-27 |publisher=Wipf and Stock |isbn=978-1-5326-3769-8 |language=en}}</ref>

He attacked the use of [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Greek philosophy]] in Christian theology. For him, philosophy supported religious idolatry and heresy. He believed that many people became heretical because of relying on philosophy.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tertullianus |first1=Quintus Septimius Florens |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UL7CRhPtD5sC&dq=Tertullian+pihilosophy&pg=PA31 |title=Tertullian |last2=Dunn |first2=Geoffrey D. |date=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-28230-7 |language=en}}</ref> He stated "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilhite |first=David E. |url= |title=Tertullian the African: An Anthropological Reading of Tertullian's Context and Identities |date=2011-06-24 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-092626-2 |language=en}}</ref>

Tertullian's views of angels and demons were influenced by the Book of Enoch. He held that the Nephilim were born out of fallen angels who mingled with human women and had sexual relations. He believed that because of the actions of the [[Watcher (angel)|watcher]]s as described in the Book of Enoch, men would later judge angels.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lindsay |first=Dennis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bwVlDwAAQBAJ&dq=Tertullian+nephilim&pg=PT148 |title=Giants, Fallen Angels, and the Return of the Nephilim: Ancient Secrets to Prepare for the Coming Days |date=2018-08-21 |publisher=Destiny Image |isbn=978-0-7684-4418-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Porter |first1=Stanley E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=58DauSER-yIC&dq=Tertullian+Watchers&pg=PA109 |title=Christian-Jewish Relations Through the Centuries |last2=Pearson |first2=Brook W. |date=2004-12-19 |publisher=A&C Black |isbn=978-0-567-04170-8 |language=en}}</ref> He believed that angels are inferior to humans, and not made in the image of God. He believed that Angels are imperceptible to our senses, but they may choose to take on a human form or change shape.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Jeffrey Burton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxwR74_cpx4C&dq=Tertullian+Watchers&pg=PA96 |title=Satan: The Early Christian Tradition |date=1987 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-9413-0 |language=en}}</ref>

He taught [[Fideism|fideistic]] concepts such as the later philosophers [[William of Ockham]] and [[Søren Kierkegaard]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Fideism |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/fideism |access-date=2022-09-08 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Montanism ===
The extent and nature of Tertullian's involvement to Montanism is now disputed by modern scholars. Montanism in North Africa seems to have been a counter-reaction against secularism. The form of Montanism in North Africa seems to have differed from the views of [[Montanus]], and thus the North African Montanists believed Catholic bishops to be successors of the apostles, the New Testament to be the supreme authority on Christianity and they did not deny most doctrines of the Church.<ref name=":22">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Montanism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Montanism |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Montanism |access-date=2022-04-07 |language=en}}</ref>

==== Tertullianists ====
Tertullianists were a group mentioned by [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] as founded by Tertullian.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tabbernee |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2dAY4kKZRgC&dq=Augustine+Tertullianism&pg=PA268 |title=Fake Prophecy and Polluted Sacraments: Ecclesiastical and Imperial Reactions to Montanism |date=2007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-15819-1 |language=en}}</ref> There exists differences of opinion on Tertullianists; Augustine seems to have believed that Tertullian, soon after joining the [[Montanism|Montanists]], started his own sect derived from Montanism, while some scholars believe that Augustine was in error, and that Tertullianists was simply an alternative name of North African Montanism and not a separate sect.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tabbernee |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2dAY4kKZRgC&dq=Augustine+Tertullianism&pg=PA268 |title=Fake Prophecy and Polluted Sacraments: Ecclesiastical and Imperial Reactions to Montanism |date=2007 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-15819-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Binder |first=Stephanie E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAYUjbBe8ggC&dq=Tertullianism&pg=PA56 |title=Tertullian, On Idolatry and Mishnah Avodah Zarah: Questioning the Parting of the Ways Between Christians and Jews |date=2012-11-13 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-23478-9 |language=en}}</ref>

== Moral principles ==

Tertullian was an advocate of discipline and an austere code of practise, and like many of the African fathers, one of the leading representatives of the rigorist element in the early Church. His writings on public amusements, the veiling of virgins, the conduct of women, and the like, reflect these opinions. His views may have led him to adopt [[Montanism]] with its ascetic [[rigor]] and its belief in [[chiliasm]] and the continuance of the prophetic gifts. Geoffrey D. Dunn writes that "Some of Tertullian's treatises reveal that he had much in common with Montanism ... To what extent, if at all, this meant that he joined a group that was schismatic (or, to put it another way, that he left the church) continues to be debated".<ref name="Dunn 2004 p. 4">{{cite book | last=Dunn | first=G.D. | title=Tertullian | publisher=Routledge | series=Early church fathers | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-415-28231-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kHYl6rhy4FkC&pg=PA4 | access-date=11 Jul 2023 | page=4}}</ref>

On the principle that we should not look at or listen to what we have no right to practise, and that polluted things, seen and touched, pollute (''De spectaculis'', viii, xvii), he declared a Christian should abstain from the theatre and the amphitheatre. There pagan religious rites were applied and the names of pagan divinities invoked; there the precepts of modesty, purity, and humanity were ignored or set aside, and there no place was offered to the onlookers for the cultivation of the Christian graces. Women should put aside their gold and precious stones as ornaments,<ref>''De cultu'', v–vi</ref> and virgins should conform to the law of St. Paul for women and keep themselves strictly veiled (''De virginibus velandis''). He praised the unmarried state as the highest (''De monogamia'', xvii; ''Ad uxorem'', i.3) and called upon Christians not to allow themselves to be excelled in the virtue of celibacy by [[Vestal Virgin]]s and Egyptian priests. He even labeled second marriage a species of adultery (''De exhortatione castitatis'', ix), but this directly contradicted the Epistles of the [[Apostle Paul]]. Tertullian's resolve to never marry again and that no one else should remarry eventually led to his break with Rome because the orthodox church refused to follow him in this resolve. He, instead, favored the Montanist sect where they also condemned second marriage.{{sfn|Bitel|2008|p=21}} One reason for Tertullian's disdain for marriage was his belief about the transformation that awaited a married couple. He believed that marital relations coarsened the body and spirit and would dull their spiritual senses and avert the Holy Spirit since husband and wife became one flesh once married.{{sfn|Bitel|2008|p=17}}

Tertullian has been criticised as [[misogynistic]], on the basis of the contents of his ''De Cultu Feminarum'', section I.I, part 2 (trans. C.W. Marx):<ref name="Amy Place 2020 p. 260">{{cite book | last=Place|first=Amy|chapter=Fashioning the Female in the Early North African Church|editor-last1=Harlow | editor-first1=M. | editor-last2=Michel | editor-first2=C. | editor-last3=Quillien | editor-first3=L. | title=Textiles and Gender in Antiquity: From the Orient to the Mediterranean | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | series=Bloomsbury Classical Studies Monographs: Classics & Archaeology | year=2020 | isbn=978-1-350-14149-0 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a6IyEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA260 | access-date=11 Jul 2023 | page=260}}</ref><ref name="Ferguson 1999 p. 44">{{cite book | last=McKechnie|first=Paul|chapter="Women's Religion" and Second Century Christianity|editor-last=Ferguson | editor-first=Everett | title=Christianity and Society: The Social World of Early Christianity | publisher=Garland Pub. | series=Garland series | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-8153-3068-4 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=awAeGS_mnokC&pg=PA44 | access-date=11 Jul 2023 | page=44}}</ref> "Do you not know that you are [[Eve]]? The judgment of God upon this sex lives on in this age; therefore, necessarily the guilt should live on also. You are the gateway of the devil; you are the one who unseals the curse of that tree, and you are the first one to turn your back on the divine law; you are the one who persuaded him whom the devil was not capable of corrupting; you easily destroyed the image of God, [[Adam]]. Because of what you deserve, that is, death, even the Son of God had to die."

The critic [[Amy Place]] notes, however, that "Revisionist studies later rehabilitated" Tertullian.<ref name="Amy Place 2020 p. 260"/> This is discussed by other theorists such as Benjamin H. Dunning.<ref name="Dunning 2011 p. 126">{{cite book | last=Dunning | first=B.H. | title=Specters of Paul: Sexual Difference in Early Christian Thought | publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press, Incorporated | series=Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-8122-0435-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hy24NoIRLu8C&pg=PA126 | access-date=11 Jul 2023 | page=126}}</ref>

Tertullian had a radical view on the cosmos. He believed that heaven and earth intersected at many points and that it was possible that sexual relations with supernatural beings can occur.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://legacy.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/archives/archive_1715.asp |title=Scholar Discusses the 'Bride of Christ' in the Early Church |website=Fordham.edu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181118102358/https://legacy.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/archives/archive_1715.asp |archive-date=November 18, 2018 }}</ref>

== Works ==
[[File:Septimi Florensis Tertulliani Opera.tif|thumb|''Septimi Florensis Tertulliani Opera'' (1598)]]
Tertullian's writings are edited in volumes 1–2 of the ''[[Patrologia Latina]]'', and modern texts exist in the ''[[Corpus Christianorum Latinorum]]''. English translations by [[Sydney Thelwall]] and Philip Holmes can be found in volumes III and IV of the ''[[Ante-Nicene Fathers (book)|Ante-Nicene Fathers]]'' which are freely available online; more modern translations of some of the works have been made.

;Apologetic
* ''[[Apologeticus|Apologeticus pro Christianis]]''.
* ''Libri duo ad Nationes''.
* ''De Testimonio animae''.
* ''Ad Martyres''.
* ''[[De Spectaculis]]''.
* ''De Idololatria''.
* ''Ad Scapulam liber''.
;Dogmatic
* ''De Oratione''.
* ''De Baptismo''.
* ''De Poenitentia''.
* ''De Patientia''.
* ''Ad Uxorem libri duo''.
* ''De Cultu Feminarum lib. II''.
;Polemical
* ''De Praescriptionibus adversus Haereticos''.
* ''De Corona Militis''.
* ''De Fuga in Persecutione''.
* ''Adversus Gnosticos Scorpiace''.
* ''Adversus Praxeam''.
* ''Adversus Hermogenem''.
* ''Adversus Marcionem libri V''.
* ''[[Adversus Valentinianos]]''.
* ''Adversus Judaeos''.
* ''De Anima''.
* ''[[De Carne Christi]]''.
* ''De Resurrectione Carnis''.
;On morality
* ''De velandis Virginibus''.
* ''De Exhortatione Castitatis''.
* ''De Monogamia''.
* ''De Jejuniis''.
* ''De Pudicitia''.
* ''De Pallio''.

===Possible chronology===
The following chronological ordering was proposed by [[John Kaye (bishop)|John Kaye]], Bishop of Lincoln in the 19th century:<ref>cf. J.Kaye, 1845, ''The Ecclesiastical History of the Second and Third Centuries''.
List here as reproduced in Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors, 1867–1872, ''Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translation of the Writings of the Fathers, Down to AD 325'', Vol. 18, p. xii–xiii</ref>

Probably mainstream (Pre-Montanist):
* 1. ''De Poenitentia'' (On Repentance)
* 2. ''De Oratione'' (On Prayer)
* 3. ''De Baptismo'' (On Baptism)
* 4, 5. ''Ad Uxorem'', lib. I & II, (To His Wife)
* 6. ''Ad Martyras'' (To the Martyrs)
* 7. ''De Patientia'' (On Patience)
* 8. ''Adversus Judaeos'' (Against the Jews)
* 9. ''De Praescriptione Haereticorum'' (On the Prescription of Heretics)

Indeterminate:
* 10. ''Apologeticus pro Christianis'' (Apology for the Christians)
* 11, 12. ''ad Nationes'', lib. I & II (To the Nations)
* 13. ''De Testimonio animae'' (On the Witness of the Soul)
* 14. ''De Pallio'' (On the Ascetic Mantle)
* 15. ''Adversus Hermogenem'' (Against Hermogenes)

Probably Post-Montanist:
* 16. ''Adversus Valentinianus'' (Against the [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinians]])
* 17. ''ad Scapulam'' (To Scapula, Proconsul of Africa)
* 18. ''De Spectaculis'' (On the Games)
* 19. ''De Idololatria'' (On Idolatry)
* 20, 21. ''De cultu Feminarum'', lib. I & II (On Women's Dress)

Definitely Post-Montanist:
* 22. ''Adversus Marcionem'', lib I (Against [[Marcion]], Bk. I)
* 23. ''Adversus Marcionem'', lib II
* 24. ''De Anima'' (On the Soul),
* 25. ''Adversus Marcionem'', lib III
* 26. ''Adversus Marcionem'', lib IV
* 27. ''De Carne Christi'' (On the Flesh of Christ)
* 28. ''De Resurrectione Carnis'' (On the Resurrection of Flesh)
* 29. ''Adversus Marcionem'', lib V
* 30. ''Adversus Praxean'' (Against [[Praxeas]])
* 31. ''Scorpiace'' (Antidote to Scorpion's Bite)
* 32. ''De Corona Militis'' (On the Soldier's Garland)
* 33. ''De velandis Virginibus'' (On Veiling Virgins)
* 34. ''De Exhortatione Castitatis'' (On Exhortation to Chastity)
* 35. ''De Fuga in Persecutione'' (On Flight in Persecution)
* 36. ''De Monogamia'' (On Monogamy)
* 37. ''De Jejuniis, adversus psychicos'' (On Fasting, against the materialists)
* 38. ''De Puditicia'' (On Modesty)

=== Spurious works ===
{{main|Pseudo-Tertullian}}
There have been many works attributed to Tertullian in the past which have since been determined to be almost definitely written by others. Nonetheless, since their actual authors remain uncertain, they continue to be published together in collections of Tertullian's works.

The popular ''Passio sanctae Perpetuae et Felicitatis'' (Passion of Saints Perpetua and Felicity), much of it presented as the personal diary of [[Perpetua]], was once assumed to have been edited by Tertullian. That view is no longer widely held, and the work is usually published separately from Tertullian's own works.

== Influence on Novatianism ==
The [[Novatianism|Novatians]] refused forgiveness to idolaters or for people who committed other heinous sins, and made much use of the works of Tertullian; some Novatians even joined [[Montanism|Montanists]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-04-03|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Novatian and Novatianism|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11138a.htm|access-date=2022-02-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403211934/http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11138a.htm|archive-date=2019-04-03}}</ref> The views of [[Novatian]] on the [[Trinity]] and [[Christology]] are also strongly influenced by Tertullian.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Novatian|url=http://earlychristianwritings.com/novatian.html|access-date=2022-02-18|website=earlychristianwritings.com}}</ref>

Ronald E. Heine writes, "With Novatianism we return to the spirit of Tertullian, and the issue of Christian discipline.<ref name=":1" />

== See also ==
* [[Christian pacifism]]
* ''[[Credo quia absurdum]]''
* [[Septimia gens]]
* [[Pseudo-Tertullian]]
* [[Tertulia]]
* [[Descriptions in antiquity of the execution cross]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|35em}}

== Sources ==
* {{cite book|last=Barnes|first=Timothy|title=Tertullian: A literary and historical study|publisher= Oxford|year= 1971|edition= Reprinted with appendix of revisions 1985|url=https://archive.org/details/tertullianhistor0000barn|url-access=registration|isbn=978-0-19-814362-8}}
* {{cite book|author1=Bitel, Lisa M. |author2=Lifshitz, Felice |title= Gender and Christianity in medieval Europe: new perspectives|location= Philadelphia|publisher= University of Pennsylvania Press|date= 2008|url= https://archive.org/details/genderchristiani0000unse|isbn= 978-0-8122-4069-6|ref= {{sfnref|Bitel|2008}}|url-access= registration}}
* {{cite book|author=Daniel, Robin |title=This Holy Seed: Faith, Hope and Love in the Early Churches of North Africa|location=Chester|publisher= Tamarisk Publications|date= 2010 |url=http://www.opaltrust.org |isbn= 978-0-9538565-3-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Ekonomou|first=Andrew J.|title=Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes: Eastern influences on Rome and the papacy from Gregory the Great to Zacharias, A.D. 590–752|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IaO-AAAAQBAJ|publisher= Lexington Books|year= 2007|isbn=978-0-7391-3386-6}}
* {{cite book|title=The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge|author=Schaff, Philip |title-link=Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge }}

==Further reading==
* Ames, Cecilia. 2007. "Roman Religion in the Vision of Tertullian." In ''A Companion to Roman Religion''. Edited by Jörg Rüpke, 457–471. Oxford: Blackwell.
* Dunn, Geoffrey D. 2004. ''Tertullian''. New York: Routledge.
* Gero, Stephen. 1970. "Miles gloriosus: The Christians and Military Service according to Tertullian." ''Church History'' 39:285–298.
* Hillar, Marian. 2012. ''From Logos to Trinity. The Evolution of Religious Beliefs from Pythagoras to Tertullian''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
* Lane, Anthony N. S. 2002. "Tertullianus Totus Noster? Calvin's use of Tertullian." ''Reformation and Renaissance Review'' 4:9–34.
* O'Malley, Thomas P. 1967. ''Tertullian and the Bible. Language, Imagery, Exegesis''. Latinitas christianorum primaeva 21. Nijmegen, The Netherlands: Dekker & Van de Vegt.
* Otten, Willemien. 2009. "Views on Women in Early Christianity: Incarnational Hermeneutics in Tertullian and Augustine." In ''Hermeneutics, Scriptural Politics, and Human Rights''. Between text and context. Edited by Bas de Gaay Fortman, Kurt Martens, and M. A. Mohamed Salih, 219–235. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
* {{Cite book|last=Osborn|first=Eric F.|author-link=Eric F. Osborn|title=Tertullian, First Theologian of the West|year=2003|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-52495-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZW7O0D9E4xQC}}
* Rankin, David. 1995. ''Tertullian and the Church''. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
* Wilhite, David E. 2007. ''Tertullian the African. An Anthropological Reading of Tertullian's Context and Identities''. Millennium Studien 14. Berlin and New York: De Gruyter.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus}}
{{Wikisource author}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Library resources box |by=yes |onlinebooks=yes |others=yes |about=yes |label=Tertullian |viaf= |lccn= |lcheading= |wikititle=}}
'''Primary sources'''
* [http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT369.HTM Tertullian's works in many languages, including Latin, and English], website intratext.com.
* English translations of all Tertullian's works can be found in Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, editors, 1867–1872, ''Ante-Nicene Christian Library: Translation of the Writings of the Fathers, Down to AD 325'', Edinburgh: T&T Clark: [https://books.google.com/books?id=3_JGNrvfAcEC&dq=editions:HARVARD32044029851862&pg=PR3 Vol. 7 (Tertullian's Against Marcion)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=J90IAQAAIAAJ&dq=editions:HARVARD32044029851862&pg=PP17 Vol. 11(Tertullian's Treatises, Pt. 1)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=XyEVvIMhnKMC&dq=editions:HARVARD32044029851862&pg=PR7 Vol. 15 (Tertullian's Treatises, Pt.2)], [https://books.google.com/books?id=xN8IAQAAIAAJ&dq=editions:HARVARD32044029851862&pg=PR3 Vol. 18 (Tertullian's Treatises, Pt. 3)]
* [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/searchresults?q=+at+Tertullian Works by Tertullian at Perseus Digital Library]
* {{Librivox author |id=15516}}

'''Secondary sources'''
* [https://earlychurch.org.uk/tertullian.php EarlyChurch.org.uk] Detailed bibliography and on-line articles.
* Jerome's [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2708.htm On Famous Men] Chapter 53 is devoted to Tertullian.
* {{cite CE1913 |last=Chapman |first=Henry Palmer |wstitle=Tertullian |volume=44 |short=x}}
* {{cite EB1911 |last=Harnack |first=Adolf |wstitle=Tertullian |volume=26 |pages=661–663 |short=x}}
* [http://www.tertullian.org The Tertullian Project], a site which provides all of Tertullian's works in Latin, translations in many languages, manuscripts etc.
* J. Kaye, Bishop of Lincoln (1845, third edition) ''[https://archive.org/details/ecclesiasticalhi1845kaye The Ecclesiastical History of the Second and Third Centuries, illustrated from the writings of Tertullian]''. London: Rivington.

{{Montanism}}
{{History of Catholic theology|uncollapsed}}
{{History of the Roman Catholic Church|collapsed}}
{{Latin Church footer}}
{{Social and political philosophy}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:155 births]]
[[Category:220 deaths]]
[[Category:2nd-century Berber people]]
[[Category:2nd-century Christian theologians]]
[[Category:2nd-century Punic people]]
[[Category:2nd-century Romans]]
[[Category:2nd-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:3rd-century Berber people]]
[[Category:3rd-century Christian theologians]]
[[Category:3rd-century Punic people]]
[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:3rd-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:Ancient Christian anti-Judaism]]
[[Category:Ancient Christians involved in controversies]]
[[Category:Berber Christians]]
[[Category:Berber writers]]
[[Category:Carthage]]
[[Category:Christian anti-Gnosticism]]
[[Category:Christian apologists]]
[[Category:Christian ethicists]]
[[Category:Christian pacifists]]
[[Category:Church Fathers]]
[[Category:Converts to Christianity from ancient Roman religions]]
[[Category:Historians of the Catholic Church]]
[[Category:Marcionism]]
[[Category:Montanism]]
[[Category:Post–Silver Age Latin writers]]
[[Category:Romans from Africa]]
[[Category:Septimii|Florens Tertullianus, Quintus]]