avius's great work _De theologicis dogmatibus_ (especially
the 1st vol., 1644) made the word "dogma" current for _doctrines which
were authoritative as formulated by the church_. We must keep in mind,
however, that the question is not simply one as to the meaning of a
word. The equation holds, more firmly than ever; dogma=the contents of
faith. It has to be established on the Roman Catholic side that faith
(or dogma; the two are inseparable) deals with divine truths
historically revealed long ago but now administered with authority,
according to God's will, by the church. The Englishman Henry Holden (see
above), the Frenchman Veronius (Francois Veron, S.J., 1575-1649) in his
_Regle generale de la foy catholique_ (1652), the German Philipp Neri
Chrismann,[13] in his _Regula fidei catholicae et collectio dogmatum
credendorum_ (1792),[14] all work at this task. Dogmas or articles of
faith (taken as synonymous) depend upon revelation in Scripture or
tradition, as confirmed by the church whether acting in general councils
or through the pope (in some undefined way; Holden)--in general councils
or by universal consent (Chrismann; of bishops? the definite Gallican
theory?). Veronius is willing to waive the difficult point of church
infallibility as the Council of Trent did not define it. Holden insists
strongly upon infallibility. Church traditions are infallible; and
church dogmas reach us (from the original revelation) through an
infallible medium, the Catholic Church, which the Protestants sadly
lack. In Chrismann the word "dogma" has superseded the word "article";
Holden uses both, though "article" has the preponderance. All three
writers seek to draw a sharp line round what is "of faith." Hence in
Chrismann (who is in other respects the most definite of the three) we
have a view of dogma almost as clear-cut as that of the Protestant
schoolmen. Dogmas are _revealed_; dogmas are _infallible_; the church is
infallible on dogmas (for this statement he cites Muratori) _and on
nothing else_.

This whole period of theology, Protestant and Roman Catholic, is
statical. Men are defining and protecting the positions they have
inherited; they do not think of progress. And yet the Roman Catholic
Church had upon its hands one great unsettled question--the thesis of
the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin. This became the standing type
of an assertion which, while favoured by the church and on the very
verge of dogma, was yet not a dogm