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Immortale Dei: On the Christian Constitution of States
Leather Binding on Spine and Corners with Golden Leaf Printing on round Spine (extra customization on request like complete leather, Golden Screen printing in Front, Color Leather, Colored book etc.) Reprinted in 2018 with the help of original edition published long back [1905]. This book is printed in black & white, sewing binding for longer life, printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, we processed each page manually and make them readable but in some cases some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume, if you wish to order a specific or all the volumes you may contact us. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want to know more about our old treasure so we brought it back to the shelves. Hope you will like it and give your comments and suggestions. - Spanish, Pages 338. EXTRA 10 DAYS APART FROM THE NORMAL SHIPPING PERIOD WILL BE REQUIRED FOR LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. COMPLETE LEATHER WILL COST YOU EXTRA US$ 25 APART FROM THE LEATHER BOUND BOOKS. {FOLIO EDITION IS ALSO AVAILABLE.} Complete Constitución cristiana del estado : o sea Declaración de la encíclica "Inmortale Dei" de la Santidad de León Papa XIII de este nombre / por Alberto Vial y Guzmán. 1905 Catholic Church. Pope, - (Leo XIII).
29 pages, Unknown Binding
First published November 1, 1885
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About the author
Pope Leo XIII
297 books66 followersPope Leo XIII (Italian: Leone XIII), born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, reigned as Pope from 20 February 1878 to his death in 1903. He was the oldest pope (reigning until the age of 93), and had the third longest pontificate, behind that of Pope Pius IX (his immediate predecessor) and John Paul II. He was the most recent pontiff to date to take the pontifical name of "Leo" upon being elected to the pontificate until 2025.
He is well known for his intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his famous papal encyclical [Book: Rerum novarum] and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. He influenced Roman Catholic Mariology and promoted both the rosary and the scapular.
Leo XIII issued a record of eleven Papal encyclicals on the rosary earning him the title as the "Rosary Pope". In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix. He was the first pope to never have held any control over the Papal States, after they were dissolved by 1870. He was briefly buried in the grottos of Saint Peter's Basilica before his remains were later transferred to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
He is well known for his intellectualism, the development of social teachings with his famous papal encyclical [Book: Rerum novarum] and his attempts to define the position of the Catholic Church with regard to modern thinking. He influenced Roman Catholic Mariology and promoted both the rosary and the scapular.
Leo XIII issued a record of eleven Papal encyclicals on the rosary earning him the title as the "Rosary Pope". In addition, he approved two new Marian scapulars and was the first pope to fully embrace the concept of Mary as Mediatrix. He was the first pope to never have held any control over the Papal States, after they were dissolved by 1870. He was briefly buried in the grottos of Saint Peter's Basilica before his remains were later transferred to the Basilica of Saint John Lateran.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 11, 2022
Solid and historically grounded. I disagree with some of his historical claims (they fit better in a Protestant context) but well within the tradition of Christendom. He's a big believer in the state working for the ends of the church, a position dismayingly at odds with post Vatican II teaching. For him, liberty is for the end of virtue.
June 9, 2023
Instead of trying to write something fancy that makes me sounds smarter than I am, why don't I try writing one of these reviews that sounds like me. I liked this encyclical. More or less, I've liked all the encyclicals I've read in the last six months. Probably the most interesting thing I can say about reading them is that until about 2 years ago I had no idea what an encyclical was. That's sad. The Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, has been writing these for hundreds (thousands?) of years to guide us on how to live according with the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Church Fathers, and the traditions of the Christian Church. It has been becoming clearer to me in fits and starts for the last few years that according to the traditions, precepts, and moral guidance of the Christian Church is probably (likely) the most profound and natural way to make one's way though life. Naturally, Christians believe such because these teachings were imparted to us by God as he come down and made himself man. But even if one isn't Christian, the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Church Fathers, the Magisterium are probably the best tools to use to guide your life.
Anyway, this encyclical, written in the 1880s, concerns the role the Catholic Church should play in relation with civil society/civil society. Needless to say, there have ben hundreds of books written by the greatest theologians and historians of the last 500 years exploring how Church and State should interact, support one another; which institution should be subordinate to which, why, and to what extent. It's a fascinating realm of study, thought, and topic to ponder. This encyclical is worth reading because it tells us very clearly where the Catholic Church stood on the issue as the 19th century was coming to a close. I will also add it's a topic well worth pondering now as liberalism (the State in the West) brings us new horrors by the week. More freedom, more choice, more individualism, alienation from one another, from the Earth, from our families, from our bodies; more technology, new AI. We're spinning off the edge. And the Catholic Church is always there to lead us back to Christ. Back to the one true way. Back to God. Back to our natural state. Back to how we should be living, relating to each other, relating to our bodies, relating to the world, taking care of each other, etc.
The question is to what extent should the one true religion be "foisted" on nonbelievers. To what extent should religion be a privatized realm of action. Clearly in the United States we believe religion should be privatized. The State is the State and religion is religion, "over there." But when true religion is on the sidelines, put "over there," false religions take its place. New idols take its place. Make no mistake, we American believe: we believe in money, power, security, wealth, pleasure, arms, beauty, sex, entertainment, clothes, vacations, travel. Oh, we believe. We worship. We just call it by another verb. We don't call it "prayer," although it is. And we call it by other nouns. We don't call it "belief," although it is.
Anyway, this encyclical, written in the 1880s, concerns the role the Catholic Church should play in relation with civil society/civil society. Needless to say, there have ben hundreds of books written by the greatest theologians and historians of the last 500 years exploring how Church and State should interact, support one another; which institution should be subordinate to which, why, and to what extent. It's a fascinating realm of study, thought, and topic to ponder. This encyclical is worth reading because it tells us very clearly where the Catholic Church stood on the issue as the 19th century was coming to a close. I will also add it's a topic well worth pondering now as liberalism (the State in the West) brings us new horrors by the week. More freedom, more choice, more individualism, alienation from one another, from the Earth, from our families, from our bodies; more technology, new AI. We're spinning off the edge. And the Catholic Church is always there to lead us back to Christ. Back to the one true way. Back to God. Back to our natural state. Back to how we should be living, relating to each other, relating to our bodies, relating to the world, taking care of each other, etc.
The question is to what extent should the one true religion be "foisted" on nonbelievers. To what extent should religion be a privatized realm of action. Clearly in the United States we believe religion should be privatized. The State is the State and religion is religion, "over there." But when true religion is on the sidelines, put "over there," false religions take its place. New idols take its place. Make no mistake, we American believe: we believe in money, power, security, wealth, pleasure, arms, beauty, sex, entertainment, clothes, vacations, travel. Oh, we believe. We worship. We just call it by another verb. We don't call it "prayer," although it is. And we call it by other nouns. We don't call it "belief," although it is.
July 11, 2024
Immortale Dei offers a sense of just how embattled the Catholic Church felt in a late-nineteenth-century world in which political liberalism and free market capitalism were ascendant. For a Catholic like myself who very much favors liberalism (and is not for that reason necessarily a liberal Catholic, whatever that means), it is a difficult text to read: Leo XIII rejects, for example, individuals’ liberty of conscience, freedom of religion, and the separation of church and state, all on ostensibly natural law principles. He fiercely defends the freedom of the Catholic Church as autonomous in its own, spiritual sphere, yet also insists that “complete harmony” between the “ecclesiastical” and the “civil” powers is most conducive to the end for which each exists and, ultimately, to the common good. One is struck by his patent disdain for liberal political philosophy as manifestly contrary to both reason and nature, and the overall reactionary tone of the encyclical. Gaudium et spes and Pacem in terris are a far cry from the defensive yet triumphalist posture Leo adopts in Immortale Dei.
That said, Leo makes an important qualification to his objection to political liberalism and his rejection of many of its fundamental tenets. He insists that the Catholic Church is not, contrary to common perceptions at the time, always and everywhere a supporter of monarchy. In fact, for Leo, “no one of the several forms of government is in itself condemned, inasmuch as none of them contains anything contrary to Catholic doctrine, and all of them are capable, if wisely and justly managed, to ensure the welfare of the State” (36). In a similar vein, he writes that “in matters merely political, as, for instance, the best form of government, and this or that system of administration, a difference of opinion is lawful” (48). From our contemporary perspective, this concession may not seem like much, but it marked an important moment in the development of Catholic social thought.
That said, Leo makes an important qualification to his objection to political liberalism and his rejection of many of its fundamental tenets. He insists that the Catholic Church is not, contrary to common perceptions at the time, always and everywhere a supporter of monarchy. In fact, for Leo, “no one of the several forms of government is in itself condemned, inasmuch as none of them contains anything contrary to Catholic doctrine, and all of them are capable, if wisely and justly managed, to ensure the welfare of the State” (36). In a similar vein, he writes that “in matters merely political, as, for instance, the best form of government, and this or that system of administration, a difference of opinion is lawful” (48). From our contemporary perspective, this concession may not seem like much, but it marked an important moment in the development of Catholic social thought.
May 10, 2025
Me la he puesto en audio con el Microsoft Edge de la web del Vaticano (https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xi...), aunque ha habido un ratillo hacia el medio que no he prestado mucha atención. Me parece que el último capítulo lo leí ayer.
June 20, 2025
Świetna encyklika wręcz idealnie przedstawia klasyczne poglądy katolicyzmu na sprawy relacji państwa i kościoła świetnie przedstawia katolickiej wolności.
January 29, 2018
As with most of Church doctrine in some way or the other, it's surprisingly relevant to our days: for example the problems with considering that the Church opposes any form of government, that the state has no moral duties and no responsibility in the preservation of religion, and that Catholics should stay out of the whole thing or profess their beliefs in private. Leo XIII's most known encylical is Rerum Novarum for its condemnation of socialism, but this one is just as relevant.
[...] no one of the several forms of government is in itself condemned, inasmuch as none of them contains anything contrary to Catholic doctrine, and all of them are capable, if wisely and justly managed, to insure the welfare of the State. [...]
In the same way the Church cannot approve of that liberty which begets a contempt of the most sacred laws of God, and casts off the obedience due to lawful authority, for this is not liberty so much as license, and is most correctly styled by St. Augustine the "liberty of self ruin," and by the Apostle St. Peter the "cloak of malice" [...]
"to take no share in public matters would be as wrong as to have no concern for, or to bestow no labour upon, the common good, and the more so because Catholics are admonished, by the very doctrines which they profess, to be upright and faithful in the discharge of duty, while, if they hold aloof, men whose principles offer but small guarantee for the welfare of the State will the more readily seize the reins of government." [...]
"Catholics have just reasons for taking part in the conduct of public affairs. For in so doing they assume not nor should they assume the responsibility of approving what is blameworthy in the actual methods of government, but seek to turn these very methods, so far as is possible, to the genuine and true public good, and to use their best endeavours at the same time to infuse, as it were, into all the veins of the State the healthy sap and blood of Christian wisdom and virtue"
"[...]let this be understood by all, that the integrity of Catholic faith cannot be reconciled with opinions verging on naturalism or rationalism, the essence of which is utterly to do away with Christian institutions and to install in society thesupremacy of man to the exclusion of God." [...]
"But in matters merely political, as, for instance, the best form of government, and this or that system of administration, a difference of opinion is lawful. Those, therefore, whose piety is in other respects known, and whose minds are ready to accept in all obedience the decrees of the apostolic see, cannot in justice be accounted as bad men because they disagree as to subjects We have mentioned; and still graver wrong will be done them, if - as We have more than once perceived with regret - they are accused of violating, or of wavering in, the Catholic faith."
[...] no one of the several forms of government is in itself condemned, inasmuch as none of them contains anything contrary to Catholic doctrine, and all of them are capable, if wisely and justly managed, to insure the welfare of the State. [...]
In the same way the Church cannot approve of that liberty which begets a contempt of the most sacred laws of God, and casts off the obedience due to lawful authority, for this is not liberty so much as license, and is most correctly styled by St. Augustine the "liberty of self ruin," and by the Apostle St. Peter the "cloak of malice" [...]
"to take no share in public matters would be as wrong as to have no concern for, or to bestow no labour upon, the common good, and the more so because Catholics are admonished, by the very doctrines which they profess, to be upright and faithful in the discharge of duty, while, if they hold aloof, men whose principles offer but small guarantee for the welfare of the State will the more readily seize the reins of government." [...]
"Catholics have just reasons for taking part in the conduct of public affairs. For in so doing they assume not nor should they assume the responsibility of approving what is blameworthy in the actual methods of government, but seek to turn these very methods, so far as is possible, to the genuine and true public good, and to use their best endeavours at the same time to infuse, as it were, into all the veins of the State the healthy sap and blood of Christian wisdom and virtue"
"[...]let this be understood by all, that the integrity of Catholic faith cannot be reconciled with opinions verging on naturalism or rationalism, the essence of which is utterly to do away with Christian institutions and to install in society thesupremacy of man to the exclusion of God." [...]
"But in matters merely political, as, for instance, the best form of government, and this or that system of administration, a difference of opinion is lawful. Those, therefore, whose piety is in other respects known, and whose minds are ready to accept in all obedience the decrees of the apostolic see, cannot in justice be accounted as bad men because they disagree as to subjects We have mentioned; and still graver wrong will be done them, if - as We have more than once perceived with regret - they are accused of violating, or of wavering in, the Catholic faith."
October 24, 2019
As a Catholic subject to the magisterium and an ancap, this encyclical provided much food for thought as to the coherence and permissibility of my political commitments with my religious commitments.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews