Latin phrase related with the matyrdom of some early Christians, AD 304
Catholic nationalists block gay rights pride march in Częstochowa
"Non possumus" is a Latin, Catholic, religious phrase that translates as "we cannot". It originated with the martyrdom of the Martyrs of Abitinae, who were murdered in AD 304 when Roman Emperor Diocletian prohibited Christians under penalty of death to possess the Sacred Scriptures, convene on Sunday to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, and erect premises for their assemblies.
The phrase was not intended to express incapacity but, on the contrary, absolute moral determination to obey the Catholic Faith.
The full sentence of the phrase is "sine dominico non possumus" ("we cannot [live] without Sunday"). It expresses the necessity of Sunday and the Holy Eucharist for Christianity.[1]
Another ecclesiastic use of the phrase has been attributed to Pope Leo the Great, who wrote in AD 448 that "quibus viventibus non communicavimus mortuis communicare non possumus" ("we cannot hold communion in death with those who in life were not in communion with us"). Recourse to this principle has been had to justify various ecclesiastical practices, including refusal of funeral liturgies and refusal of abrogating the ex-communication of decedents. Some have used it to object to ecumenism and general relations with non-Christians.[2]
In the 19th and 20th centuries, "non possumus" dominated the diplomacy of Popes Pius IX, Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Benedict XV, and Pius XI, especially after the capture of Rome when the Supreme Pontiff became the prisoner in the Vatican and chose to limit his contact with the outside world.[3] It is generally thought that the Second Vatican Council reversed this attitude.
This Latin phrase is also connected with the history of Poland. On 8 May 1953 Polish bishops sent a formal letter to the party leaders of the communist People's Republic of Poland to declare their decisive refusal to subordinate the Church to the communist state. In retaliation, the government imprisoned their Primate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński.[4]
^"ZENIT - Pope to Proclaim Cry of Abitene Martyrs". web.archive.org. June 7, 2011. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
^Feuer, Alan (June 13, 2002). "Diocese of Brooklyn Denies Funeral Mass for Gotti". Retrieved April 20, 2024 – via NYTimes.com.
^"Pius IX revisited". EWTN. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
^"Aresztowanie Prymasa Polski. W środku nocy na Miodowej zapalono wszystkie światła". Rzeczpospolita (in Polish). Retrieved 2023-12-04.
"Nonpossumus" is a Latin, Catholic, religious phrase that translates as "we cannot". It originated with the martyrdom of the Martyrs of Abitinae, who...
Rafael Merry del Val ordained that the Church's policy was explained nonpossumus on such matters, decreeing that as long as the Jews denied the divinity...
Spiritus Sanctus sit. Quod si non est, aut Pater est caritas, aut Filius, aut ipsa Trinitas, quoniam resistere nonpossumus certissimae fidei, et validissimae...
Pentecost in the Tridentine missal, we find the words "qui sine te esse nonpossumus", meaning "we who without Thee cannot be (or exist)". With this one may...
Attempt at a biography), PhD thesis, Vienna, 1995. Johan Ickx, "The Roman 'nonpossumus' and the Attitude of Bishop Alois Hudal towards the National Socialist...
Est ridiculum ad ea quae habemus nihil dicere, quaerere quae habere nonpossumus; et de hominum memoria tacere, litterarum memoriam flagitare; et, cum...
yielded, nor given ground") Norrland Engineer Company: Nos nihil efficere nonpossumus (Latin for "to us, nothing is impossible") Skaraborg Regiment: Arvet...
present indicative in the main clause: sī pēs condoluit, sī dēns, ferre nōnpossumus (Cicero) 'if ever a foot or a tooth has begun to ache, we can't bear...
majority of international EU students came from the Netherlands, while most non-EU ones come from China. KU Leuven is financially independent from the Catholic...
reconciliation with the Vatican; but his efforts were rendered ineffectual by the nonpossumus of the pope. Disdainful of the intrigues of his rival Rattazzi, he found...
originelle du littérateur – 1945 Du poétique. Selon l'humanité, non-selon les poètes – 1946 Nonpossumus. À propos d'une certaine poésie moderne – 1946 Le rapport...
controversy is mistakenly called Arian." For this reason, Ayres refers to the non-Nicenes of the fourth century not as 'Arians' but as 'Eusebians'. For example:...
He replied: "Sine dominico nonpossumus" - we cannot live without this thing of the Lord. Often abbreviated "nonpossumus", this phrase was to echo down...
of the LGBT march scheduled to take place on 20 July, Wojda issued a nonpossumus proclamation to be read in all churches in Białystok and the entire Podlaskie...
in 1861, Pius IX, at Antonelli's suggestion, replied with the famous "Nonpossumus" but in 1862 accepted too late Ricasoli's proposal concerning ecclesiastical...
Office, in which capacity he reportedly explained the Papal policy of nonpossumus to Theodor Herzl and the emerging movement of Zionism, saying that as...
coherent units such as continents or oceans or groups of legends. There are 17 non-blank coloured pages which may be viewed online (and zoomed to a medium resolution...
of the article: In his, quae contra rationem iuris constituta sunt, nonpossumus sequi regulam iuris.] libri 54 digestorum: "The nature of a cavil, which...
Lossky, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, ISBN 8820984083, 2010 Sine Dominico nonpossumus. Itinerario formativo per universitari nel rapporto tra culto e cultura...
Norrbotten Regiment (2000–2004) Garrison/HQ Boden Motto(s) Nos nihil efficere nonpossumus ("Here are no impossibilities") Colors Black March "Bodens ingenjörkårs...
a divine duty imposed by the nature of baptism and that "we cannot" (nonpossumus) do otherwise. Jewish orphans controversy (1946) Cunningham, James J...
the religious sphere. Thomander was as firmly opposed to the policy of nonpossumus as he was to radical subversion. He set out his position in a paper entitled...
Global Information