First Vatican Council – Constitutio Dei Filius (1870): dogmatic definition on the creation of the angels (Mansi, vols. 49-53).

The First Vatican Ecumenical Council (1869-1870), presided over by Pius IX, in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius (April 24, 1870), solemnly confirmed the doctrine of the creation of the angels against the modernist errors. The text takes up and reaffirms the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). Full text in Mansi Sacrorum Conciliorum vols. 50-52 (Conc. Vat. I, Pars 2).

Context, errors combated

Vatican I was convoked to respond to the errors of the nineteenth century:

• Materialism: denies the existence of spirits (angels)
• Pantheism: identifies God with nature (denies a creature distinct from the Creator)
• Naturalism: denies the supernatural, including the action of the angels
• Rationalism: reduces faith to natural reason, rejects the invisible
• Modernism: still taking shape, it will be condemned by Pius X in 1907

Latin text, Dei Filius, cap. 1 (De Deo rerum omnium Creatore)

Sancta catholica apostolica Romana Ecclesia credit et confitetur, unum esse Deum verum et vivum, Creatorem ac Dominum caeli et terrae, omnipotentem, aeternum, immensum, incomprehensibilem, intellectu ac voluntate omnique perfectione infinitum…

…Hic solus verus Deus bonitate sua et omnipotenti virtute non ad augendam suam beatitudinem, nec ad acquirendam, sed ad manifestandam perfectionem suam per bona, quae creaturis impertitur, liberrimo consilio simul ab initio temporis utramque de nihilo condidit creaturam, spiritualem et corporalem, angelicam videlicet et mundanam: ac deinde humanam, quasi communem ex spiritu et corpore constitutam.”

English translation, Dei Filius, cap. 1

“The Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church believes and confesses that there is one true and living God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, omnipotent, eternal, immense, incomprehensible, infinite in intellect, will, and in every perfection…

…This one true God, by His goodness and omnipotent power, not in order to increase His happiness nor to acquire it, but to manifest His perfection through the goods that He communicates to creatures, by a free counsel created simultaneously out of nothing, at the beginning of time, both creatures, the spiritual and the corporeal, that is, the angelic and the earthly, and then the human, as a common creature constituted of spirit and body.”

The five anathematizing canons of cap. 1

Cap. 1 of Dei Filius is followed by 5 anathemas (doctrinal canons). Those relevant to angelology:

Can. 1, against atheism

Latin: “Si quis unum verum Deum, visibilium et invisibilium creatorem et Dominum negaverit: anathema sit.”

English: “If anyone denies the one true God, Creator and Lord of things visible and invisible, let him be anathema.”

Can. 2, against materialism

Latin: “Si quis praeter materiam nihil esse affirmare non erubuerit: anathema sit.”

English: “If anyone is not ashamed to affirm that nothing exists besides matter, let him be anathema.”

This canon implies the existence of the angels as immaterial spiritual beings.

Can. 5, against pantheism

Latin: “Si quis non confiteatur, mundum resque omnes, quae in eo continentur, et spirituales et materiales, secundum totam suam substantiam a Deo ex nihilo esse productas…: anathema sit.”

English: “If anyone does not confess that the world and all things contained in it, both spiritual and material, were produced by God out of nothing according to their whole substance, let him be anathema.”

The three dogmatic affirmations about the angels

Vatican I solemnly reaffirms and confirms:

1. The angels exist as spiritual creatures (against materialism)
2. The angels were created by God out of nothing (against pantheism + emanationism)
3. The angels were created at the beginning of time (cf. Lateran IV, simul ab initio temporis)

Continuity with the Fourth Lateran Council (1215)

The text of Dei Filius cap. 1 is almost identical to the Firmiter credimus of Lateran IV (1215). This deliberate repetition is significant:

Vatican I takes up Lateran IV almost verbatim, adding only “liberrimo consilio” (by a most free counsel) to underscore the absolute freedom of creation, against any Neoplatonic determinism or emanationism.

What Vatican I lacked

Vatican I was interrupted by the occupation of Rome by the Italian Risorgimento (September 20, 1870). The following were approved:

• Constitutio Dei Filius (on the Catholic faith)
• Constitutio Pastor Aeternus (on the papal Primacy and infallibility)

But the following were prepared and not put to a vote:

• Schema de Ecclesia (on the Church in its entirety)
• A more detailed schema on the angels and demons
• Schema on the last things

The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) took up part of this material, especially in Lumen Gentium, but systematic angelology/demonology has not been treated again in an ecumenical council since Lateran IV.

Doctrinal legacy

Dei Filius cap. 1 remains the most recent dogmatic definition on the creation of the angels. It is cited literally:

• Codex Iuris Canonici 1917 + 1983: on the profession of faith of clerics
• Lumen Gentium 49-50: see post
• Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) no. 327: “The angels are spiritual, non-corporeal beings”
• Paul VI, Credo of the People of God (1968): see post

Further reading

Fourth Lateran Council (1215) | Denzinger – Index | CCC – Angels and Demons | Paul VI Credo

See our complete guide to Catholic Angelology.