Vatican Council I – Constitution on the Son of God (1870): Dogmatic definition on the creation of angels (Mansi, vols. 49-53).

Vatican I (1869-1870) – Confirmation of Angelology

The First Ecumenical Council of Vatican (presided over by Pope Pius IX) in its Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius (April 24, 1870) solemnly confirmed the doctrine of angelic creation against modernist errors. The text echoes and reaffirms the teachings of the Fourth Lateran Council (1215).

Key Details:

• Council: Vatican I (20th Ecumenical Council)
• Convocator: Blessed Pius IX
• Dates: December 8, 1869 – July 18, 1870 (suspended due to the Risorgimento)
• Document: Constitutio Dogmatica Dei Filius, April 24, 1870
• Sources: Mansi Sacrorum Conciliorum vols. 50-52 (Conc. Vat. I, Pars 2); Denzinger-Schoenmetzer 3000-3045

Errors Combated

Vatican I addressed the errors of the 19th century:

• Materialism: Denies the existence of spirits (angels).
• Pantheism: Identifies God with nature, denying a distinct creature from the Creator.
• Naturalism: Denies the supernatural, including the action of angels.
• Rationalism: Reduces faith to natural reason, rejecting the invisible.
• Modernism: Still developing at the time; condemned by Pius X in 1907.

Latin Text from Dei Filius, Chapter 1 (On God as Creator of All Things)

The holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church believes and confesses that there is one true and living God, Creator and Lord of heaven and earth, almighty, eternal, immense, incomprehensible, infinite in intellect, will, and every perfection… this alone true God by His goodness and omnipotent power not to increase His own blessedness, nor to acquire it, but to manifest His perfection through the goods which He imparts to creatures, most freely from the beginning of time created both creature out of nothing, spiritual and corporeal, that is angelic and worldly: and then human, as a common one constituted from spirit and body.

Portuguese Translation from Dei Filius, Chapter 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 only true God, by His goodness and omnipotent power, not to increase His happiness nor to acquire it, but to manifest His perfection through the goods He communicates to creatures, with free counsel created simultaneously from nothing, at the beginning of time, both creatures, the spiritual and the corporal, that is, the angelic and the mundane, and then the human, as a common creature constituted of spirit and body.

The Four Anathemas from Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of Dei Filius is followed by five anathemas (dogmatic canons). Those relevant to angelology:

Canon 1 – Against Atheism

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

Portuguese: “Se alguém negar o único Deus verdadeiro, Criador das coisas visíveis e invisíveis, seja anátema.”

Canon 2, Against Materialism

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

English: “If anyone does not blush at affirming that nothing exists beyond matter, let him be anathema.”

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

Canon 5, Against Pantheism

“If anyone does not confess that the world and all things contained therein, both spiritual and material, according to their entire substance are created by God from nothing…: let him be anathema.”

English: “If anyone does not confess that the world and all things contained therein, both spiritual and material, were produced by God from nothing according to their whole substance… be anathema.”

The Three Dogmatic Affirmations About Angels

Vatican I reaffirms and solemnly confirms:

• Angels exist as spiritual creatures (against materialism)
• Angels were created by God out of nothing (against pantheism and emanationism)
• Angels were created at the beginning of time (cf. Fourth Lateran Council, Simul ab initio temporis)

Continuity with the Fourth Lateran Council (1215)

The text of Dei Filius chapter 1 is almost identical to Firmiter credimus from the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). This deliberate repetition is significant:

Vatican I reiterates almost verbatim the language of Lateran IV, adding only “liberrimo consilio” (with liberal counsel) to emphasize the absolute freedom of creation against any determinism or Neo-Platonic emanationism.

What Was Missing from Vatican I?

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

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

But it prepared but did not vote on:

• Schema on the Church (Ecclesia)
• A more detailed Schema on Angels and Demons
• A Schema on Final Causes

Vatican II (1962-1965) picked up some of this material, particularly in Lumen Gentium, but systematic angeology/demonology was not again treated in a universal council after Lateran IV.

Doctrinal Legacy

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

Catholic Theological Resources on Angels and Demons:

• Codex Iuris Canonici 1917 & 1983: Regarding the profession of faith of clerics.
• Lumen Gentium 49-50: See post on angels and the pilgrim Church on high.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) n. 327: “The angels are spiritual beings, not corporeal.”
• Paul VI, Credo of the People of God (1968): See post on angels and demons in Paul VI’s Credo.

Additional Reading:

• Fourth Lateran Council (1215) | Denzinger – Systematic Index of Definitions and Dogmas | CCC – Angels and Demons (328-336, 391-395) | Paul VI Credo (1968).

Explore our comprehensive guide to Angelology in the Catholic Church.