Ecclesiam a Jesu Christo was a Papal constitution promulgated by Pius VII in 1821.
It stated that Freemasons must be excommunicated for their oath bound secrecy of the society and conspiracies against church and state.
It also linked Freemasonry with the Carbonari, an anti-clerical revolutionary group active in Italy. It said that the Carbonari affected a love of the Catholic religion. However the true goals of the Carbonari was said to be:
- Religious indifference
- Disestablishment of the church and total religious freedom
- The profanation of Jesus Christ through their ceremonies
- To scorn, and perhaps replace the sacraments of the church
- To plot against Papal primacy
All members of the Carbonari were excommunicated, along with those who kept Carbonari secrets and those promoting Carbonari literature.
Famous quotes containing the word jesu:
“Jesu Crist us sende
Housbondes meke, yonge, and fresshe abedde,
And grace t’overbyde hem that we wedde.
And eek I preye Jesu shorte hir lyves
That wol nat be governed by hir wyves;
And olde and angry nigardes of dispence,
God sende hem sone verray pestilence.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)