Heckerism

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Heckerism \Heck"er*ism\, n. (R. C. Ch.)
     (a) The teaching of Isaac Thomas Hecker (1819-88), which
         interprets Catholicism as promoting human aspirations
         after liberty and truth, and as the religion best suited
         to the character and institutions of the American people.
     (b) Improperly, certain views or principles erroneously


         ascribed to Father Hecker in a French translation of
         Elliott's Life of Hecker. They were condemned as
         "Americanism" by the Pope, in a letter to Cardinal
         Gibbons, January 22, 1899.
         [Webster 1913 Suppl.]