The Synod of Pistoia

Abstract

This chapter examines in detail the Synod of Pistoia (18–28 September 1786) and the Acts and Decrees it promulgated. It follows a topical approach, and considers the reforms that the Jansenist-inspired synod attempted alongside the papal condemnations in the bull Auctorem fidei (1794). The Acts and Decrees were permeated by a Jansenist view of church history that blamed Molinism, the papacy, and the friars for “obscuring” the truth. The chapter then explores Pistoian ecclesiology, and its potent combination of Erastianism, episcopalism, and Richerism. Next, it examines the Synod’s inchoate vision of religious liberty. The last two sections investigate liturgical and devotional reforms that strikingly foreshadow Vatican II. These parallels include simplifying the liturgy and encouraging lay participation in it, pronouncing the Eucharistic canon out loud, promoting the vernacular, encouraging the reception of communion, focusing worship on the altar, contextualizing devotions Christocentrically, and asserting the centrality of lay vernacular Bible reading.