Celebrating 100 years
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The Creed of the Twelve Apostles
From the sixth century on, the popular explanation of the origin of the Apostles'Creed was that on the day of Pentecost, when the twelve received the Holy Spirit, they decided that before they set out to preach Christ to the world, they would agree on a brief summary of Christian Faith. Therefore, St. Peter set forth the first article: "I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth." Peter's brother, St. Andrew, chimed in with the second article: "And in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord." And so they continued, each of the twelve composing one of the twelve articles of Faith embodied in the Creed.
By the fifteenth century, however, it became commonly accepted that this "committee authorship" was a legend. Scholars would discover that the full text of the familiar Creed was arrived at only in the sixth century, having passed through stages of evolution.
But, if the Apostles' Creed was not the joint composition of the apostles themselves, it was certainly apostolic in another sense.
Jesus had commissioned the Twelve to preach the good news and to baptize all mankind "The man who believes in it and accepts baptism," he said, "will the saved." (Mk. 16:15) That meant that the baptizer would have to ask the candidate to express his belief in Christ's teaching before he gave him the saving sacrament. For this purpose it was necessary to have some formulary of Christian faith. The formulas that were developed varied slightly, but from the first century on - that is, before the days of the apostles themselves - the basic elements of Catholic faith were there, explicitly or implied. The Apostles' Creed has never been declared infallible by the definition of an ecumenical council or a pope; but it is commonly accepted as an infallible statement of Catholic truths because its articles are scriptural and have been accepted by the Church from ancient and even apostolic times.
If we want to appreciate how this Creed originated in the liturgy of baptism, we need only read the age-old rite of Catholic baptism as it is observed even today. Just before he pours the water, the minister of baptism asks the adult candidate (or, if they are infants, his sponsors) a series of questions on Christian belief. These questions are none other than the articles of the Apostles' Creed, phrased as queries rather than as statements. We all repeat them every Holy Saturday when we renew our baptismal vows.
When group instructions in Christian doctrine were given to adult catechumans during Lent in the early Church, their course of doctrine was called the "handing over of the `symbol'" that is, of the Creed or formula of faith. According to the tradition called the "discipline of the secret," which was aimed at protecting the articles of faith from being known and mocked by non-Christians, the candidates were told not to commit the Creed to writing, but only to memory. Then on the fourth Sunday of Lent, all were asked to recite the Creed from memory in Church. This was called "handing back the `symbol'."
Ever since then, the Apostles' Creed has continued to be the easier and more popular of the two great creeds, the other being the Nicene Creed which is normally recited or sung at Sunday Mass. It is the Apostles'Creed that forms part of the rosary.
This great Creed is a statement of belief that each of us should pronounce daily in our prayers. It reminds both God and ourselves that we have accepted and engraved in our hearts the faith that was preached by the apostles. --Father Robert F. McNamara
