Fernán Caballero

 Raimundo Diosdado Caballero

 Juan Caballero y Ocio

 Cabasa

 Jean Cabassut

 Miguel Cabello de Balboa

 Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca

 John & Sebastian Cabot

 Francisco Cabral

 Pedralvarez Cabral

 Estévan (Juan) Cabrillo

 Cadalous

 Caddo Indians

 Cades

 Antoine de Lamothe, Sieur de Cadillac

 Diocese of Cadiz

 St. Caedmon

 University of Caen

 Cæremoniale Episcoporum

 Caesarea

 Caesarea Mauretaniae

 Caesarea Palaestinae

 Caesarea Philippi

 St. Caesarius of Arles

 Caesarius of Heisterbach

 St. Caesarius of Nazianzus

 Caesarius of Prüm

 Caesar of Speyer

 Caesaropolis

 Archdiocese of Cagliari

 Diocese of Cagli e Pergola

 Charles Cahier

 Daniel William Cahill

 Diocese of Cahors

 Diocese of Caiazzo

 Armand-Benjamin Caillau

 Cain

 Cainites

 Joseph Caiphas

 Caius

 John Caius

 Popes Sts. Caius and Soter

 St. Cajetan

 Constantino Cajetan

 Tommaso de Vio Gaetani Cajetan

 Diocese of Calabozo

 Diocese of Calahorra and La Calzada

 Calama

 Fray Antonio de la Calancha

 Calas Case

 Mario di Calasio

 Pedro de Calatayud

 Military Order of Calatrava

 Archdiocese of Calcutta

 Polidoro (da Caravaggio) Caldara

 Domingos Caldas-Barbosa

 Pedro Calderon de la Barca

 Caleb

 Christian Calendar

 Jewish Calendar

 Reform of the Calendar

 Ambrogio Calepino

 Paolo Caliari

 California

 Vicariate Apostolic of Lower California

 California Missions

 Louis-Hector de Callières

 Callinicus

 Callipolis

 Pope Callistus I

 Pope Callistus II

 Pope Callistus III

 Jacques Callot

 Pierre Cally

 Dom Augustin Calmet

 Caloe

 Diocese of Caltagirone

 Diocese of Caltanisetta

 Calumny

 Dionysius Calvaert

 Congregation of Our Lady of Calvary

 Mount Calvary

 Calvert

 Diocese of Calvi and Teano

 John Calvin

 Calvinism

 Justus Baronius Calvinus

 Calynda

 Camachus

 Camaldolese

 Diego Muñoz Camargo

 Luca Cambiaso

 Archdiocese of Cambrai

 University of Cambridge

 Cambysopolis

 George Joseph Camel

 Diocese of Camerino

 Camerlengo

 St. Camillus de Lellis

 Camisards

 Luis Vaz de Camões

 Girolamo Campagna

 Domenico Campagnola

 Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan

 Pedro Campaña

 Tommaso Campanella

 Giuseppe Campani

 Diocese of Campeche

 Lorenzo Campeggio

 Bernardino Campi

 Galeazzo Campi

 Giulio Campi

 Campo Santo de' Tedeschi

 Jean-Pierre Camus de Pont-Carré

 Cana

 Canada

 José de la Canal

 Canary Islands

 Canatha

 Luis Cancer de Barbastro

 Candace

 Diocese of Candia

 Candidus

 Candlemas

 Candles

 Candlesticks

 Canea

 Vicariate Apostolic of Canelos and Macas

 Vincent Canes

 St. Canice

 Henricus Canisius

 Theodorich Canisius

 Alonso Cano

 Melchior Cano

 Canon

 Canon (2)

 Canoness

 Canon of the Mass

 Canon of the Holy Scriptures

 Apostolic Canons

 Collections of Ancient Canons

 Ecclesiastical Canons

 Canons and Canonesses Regular

 Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception

 Canopus

 Canopy

 Canossa

 Antonio Canova

 Cantate Sunday

 Ancient Diocese of Canterbury

 Canticle

 Canticle of Canticles

 Cantor

 Cesare Cantù

 Canute

 St. Canute IV

 Diocese of Capaccio and Vallo

 Baptiste-Honoré-Raymond Capefigue

 Pietro Caperolo

 John Capgrave

 Diocese of Cap Haïtien

 Capharnaum

 Capitolias

 Capitularies

 Episcopal and Pontifical Capitulations

 Count Gino Capponi

 Domenico Capranica

 Giovanni Battista Caprara

 John Capreolus

 Capsa

 Captain (In the Bible)

 Captivities of the Israelites

 Archdiocese of Capua

 Capuchinesses

 Capuchin Friars Minor

 Capuciati

 Apostolic Prefecture of Caquetá

 José de Carabantes

 Caracalla

 Archdiocese of Caracas

 Vincent Caraffa

 Caraites

 Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz

 Auguste Carayon

 James Joseph Carbery

 Carbonari

 Ignatius Carbonnelle

 Diocese of Carcassonne (Carcassum)

 Girolamo Cardan

 Juan Cardenas

 Cardica

 Cardinal

 Cardinal Protector

 Cardinal Vicar

 Cardinal Virtues

 Bartolommeo and Vincenzo Carducci

 Carem

 Mathew Carey

 Etienne de Carheil

 Diocese of Cariati (Paternum)

 Caribs

 Giacomo Carissimi

 Dionigi Carli da Piacenza

 Ancient Diocese of Carlisle

 Carlovingian Schools

 Carmel

 Mount Carmel

 Carmelite Order

 Melchior Carneiro

 Jean-Baptiste Carnoy

 Horacio Carochi

 Caroline Books (Libri Carolini)

 Caroline Islands

 Raymond Caron

 René-Edouard Caron

 Vittore Carpaccio

 Carpasia

 Diocese of Carpi

 Carracci

 Bartolomé Carranza

 Diego Carranza

 Juan Carreno de Miranda

 Rafael Carrera

 Carrhae

 Joseph Carrière

 Louis de Carrières

 Charles Carroll of Carrollton

 Daniel Carroll

 John Carroll

 Archdiocese of Cartagena

 Diocese of Cartagena

 St. Carthage

 Archdiocese of Carthage

 Carthusian Order

 Georges-Etienne Cartier

 Jacques Cartier

 Bernardino Lopez de Carvajal

 Gaspar de Carvajal

 Juan Carvajal (Carvagial)

 Luis de Carvajal

 Luisa de Carvajal

 Thomas Carve

 John Caryll

 Carystus

 Diocese of Casale Monferrato (Casalensis)

 Giovanni Battista Casali

 Vicariate Apostolic of Casanare

 Girolamo Casanata

 Bartolomé de las Casas

 Diocese of Caserta

 John Casey

 Henri Raymond Casgrain

 Cashel

 St. Casimir

 Casium

 Jean-Jacques Casot

 George Cassander

 Joseph Cassani

 Diocese of Cassano all' Ionio

 Patrick S. Casserly

 John Cassian

 William Cassidy

 Giovanni Domenico Cassini

 Cassiodorus

 François Dollier de Casson

 Diocese of Cassovia

 Castabala

 Andrea Castagno

 Diocese of Castellammare di Stabia

 Diocese of Castellaneta (Castania)

 Juan de Castellanos

 Benedetto Castelli

 Pietro Castelli

 Giovanni Battista Castello

 Baldassare Castiglione

 Count Carlo Ottavio Castiglione

 Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

 Castile and Aragon

 Cristóbal de Castillejo

 Caspar Castner

 Castoria

 Francesco Castracane degli Antelminelli

 Alphonsus de Castro

 Fernando Castro Palao

 Guillen de Castro y Bellvis

 Casuistry

 Edward Caswall

 Roman Catacombs

 Catafalque

 Giuseppe Catalani

 Catalonia

 Archdiocese of Catania (Catanensis)

 Diocese of Catanzaro

 Catechumen

 Categorical Imperative

 Category

 Catenæ

 Cathari

 Cathedra

 Cathedral

 Cathedraticum

 Ven. Edmund Catherick

 Monastery of St. Catherine

 Catherine de' Medici

 St. Catherine de' Ricci

 St. Catherine of Alexandria

 St. Catherine of Bologna

 St. Catherine of Genoa

 St. Catherine of Siena

 St. Catherine of Sweden

 Catholic

 Catholic Benevolent Legion

 The Catholic Club of New York

 Catholic Epistle

 Catholic Knights of America

 Catholic Missionary Union

 Catholicos

 Catholic University of America

 François Catrou

 Diocese of Cattaro (Catharum)

 Augustin-Louis Cauchy

 Caughnawaga

 François-Etienne Caulet

 Caunus

 Cause

 Nicolas Caussin

 Diocese of Cava and Sarno

 Felice Cavagnis

 Bonaventura Cavalieri

 James Cavanagh

 Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi

 Celestino Cavedoni

 Andres Cavo

 William Caxton

 Diocese of Cayes

 Comte de Caylus

 Charles-Félix Cazeau

 St. Ceadda

 Diocese of Cebú

 St. Cecilia

 Cedar (1)

 Cedar (2)

 St. Cedd

 Cedes

 Brook of Cedron

 Diocese of Cefalù

 Rémi Ceillier

 Celebret

 Celenderis

 Pope St. Celestine I

 Pope Celestine II

 Pope Celestine III

 Pope Celestine IV

 Pope St. Celestine V

 Celibacy of the Clergy

 Cella

 Elizabeth Cellier

 Benvenuto Cellini

 Celsus the Platonist

 Conrad Celtes

 The Celtic Rite

 Cemetery

 Religious of the Cenacle

 Robert Cenalis

 Diocese of Ceneda

 Censer

 Censorship of Books

 Ecclesiastical Censures

 Theological Censures

 Census

 German Roman Catholic Central Verein of North America

 Centuriators of Magdeburg

 Centurion

 St. Ceolfrid

 Ceolwulf

 Francisco Cepeda

 Ceramus

 Cerasus

 Ceremonial

 Ceremony

 Cerinthus

 Certitude

 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

 Salazar Francisco Cervantes

 Diocese of Cervia

 Andrea Cesalpino

 Giuliano Cesarini

 Diocese of Cesena

 St. Ceslaus

 Cestra

 Ceylon

 Noel Chabanel

 Diocese of Chachapoyas

 James Chadwick

 Pierre Chaignon

 Chair of Peter

 Chalcedon

 Council of Chalcedon

 Chalcis

 Chaldean Christians

 Chalice

 Richard Challoner

 Diocese of Châlons-sur-Marne

 Cham, Chamites

 Archdiocese of Chambéry (Camberium)

 Samuel de Champlain

 Anthony Champney

 Jean-François Champollion

 Etienne Agard de Champs

 Chanaan, Chanaanites

 Diego Alvarez Chanca

 Chancel

 Bl. Pierre-Louis-Marie Chanel

 Vicariate Apostolic of Changanacherry

 Claude Chantelou

 Chantry

 Jean Chapeauville

 Chapel

 Placide-Louis Chapelle

 Chaplain

 Jean-Antoine Chaptal

 Chapter

 Chapter House

 Character

 Character (in Catholic Theology)

 Charadrus

 Jean-Baptiste Chardon

 Mathias Chardon

 Chariopolis

 Charismata

 Civil Law Concerning Charitable Bequests

 Charity and Charities

 Congregation of the Brothers of Charity

 Sisters of Charity

 Charlemagne

 St. Charles Borromeo

 Emperor Charles V

 Charles Martel

 Diocese of Charleston

 François-Xavier Charlevoix

 Diocese of Charlottetown

 François-Philippe Charpentier

 Pierre Charron

 Charterhouse

 Alain Chartier

 Diocese of Chartres

 La Grande Chartreuse

 Chartulary

 Georges Chastellain

 Pierre Chastellain

 Chastity

 Chasuble

 François-René de Chateaubriand

 Diocese of Chatham

 Geoffrey Chaucer

 Pierre-Joseph Chaumonot

 Maurice Chauncy

 Pierre-Joseph-Octave Chauveau

 Chelm and Belz

 Timoléon Cheminais de Montaigu

 Cherokee Indians

 Chersonesus

 Cherubim

 Maria Luigi Carlo Zenobio Salvatore Cherubini

 Ancient Diocese of Chester (Cestrensis)

 Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus

 Michel-Eugène Chevreul

 Diocese of Cheyenne

 Antoine-Léonard de Chézy

 Gabriello Chiabrera

 Diocese of Chiapas

 Diocese of Chiavari

 Chibchas

 Archdiocese of Chicago

 Henry Chichele

 Ancient Catholic Diocese of Chichester (Cicestrensis)

 Diocese of Chicoutimi

 Francesco Chieregati

 Archdiocese of Chieti

 Diocese of Chihuahua

 Diocese of Chilapa

 Children of Mary

 Children of Mary of the Sacred Heart

 Chile

 Domingo (San Anton y Muñon) Chimalpain

 China

 Chinooks

 Diocese of Chioggia (Chiozza)

 Chios

 Chippewa Indians

 Diocese of Chiusi-Pienza

 Chivalry

 Choctaw Indians

 Choir (1)

 Choir (2)

 Etienne-François, Duc de Choiseul

 Gilbert Choiseul du Plessis-Praslin

 Pierre Cholonec

 Alexandre-Etienne Choron

 Chrism

 Chrismal, Chrismatory

 Chrismarium

 Order of the Knights of Christ

 Diocese of Christchurch

 Christendom

 Christian

 Christian Archæology

 Christian Art

 Christian Brothers of Ireland

 Sisters of Christian Charity

 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine

 Brothers of Christian Instruction

 Christianity

 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge

 Congregation of Christian Retreat

 Christina Alexandra

 Christine de Pisan

 Bl. Christine of Stommeln

 Christmas

 St. Christopher

 Pope Christopher

 St. Chrodegang

 St. Chromatius

 Chronicon Paschale

 Biblical Chronology

 General Chronology

 Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria

 St. Chrysogonus

 Chrysopolis

 Chur

 Church

 Churching of Women

 Church Maintenance

 Chusai

 Chytri

 Giovanni Giustino Ciampini

 Agostino Ciasca

 Ciborium

 Pierre-Martial Cibot

 Robert Ciboule

 Cibyra

 Andrea Ciccione

 Count Leopoldo Cicognara

 El Cid

 Cidyessus

 Diocese of Cienfuegos

 Carlo Cignani

 Cenni di Pepo Cimabue

 Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano

 Prefecture Apostolic of Cimbebasia (Upper)

 Archdiocese of Cincinnati

 Cincture

 Cinites

 Cinna

 Circesium

 Circumcision

 Feast of the Circumcision

 Cisalpine Club

 Cisamus

 Cistercian Sisters

 Cistercians

 Citation

 Abbey of Cîteaux

 Citharizum

 Diocese of Città della Pieve

 Diocese of Città di Castello

 Ciudad Real

 Diocese of Ciudad Rodrigo

 Cius

 Civil Allegiance

 Diocese of Cività Castellana, Orte, and Gallese

 Diocese of Civitavecchia and Corneto

 Abbey of Clairvaux

 Volume 5

 Clandestinity (in Canon Law)

 St. Clare of Assisi

 St. Clare of Montefalco

 Bl. Clare of Rimini

 William Clark

 Claudia

 Claudianus Mamertus

 Claudiopolis (1)

 Claudiopolis (2)

 Francisco Saverio Clavigero

 Christopher Clavius

 Claudius Clavus

 James Clayton

 Clazomenae

 Clean and Unclean

 Jan van Cleef

 Joost van Cleef

 Martin Van Cleef

 Mathieu-Nicolas Poillevillain de Clémanges

 Charles Clémencet

 Franz Jacob Clemens

 Clemens non Papa

 Pope St. Clement I

 Pope Clement II

 Pope Clement III

 Pope Clement IV

 Pope Clement V

 Pope Clement VI

 Pope Clement VII

 Pope Clement VIII

 Pope Clement IX

 Pope Clement X

 Pope Clement XI

 Pope Clement XII

 Pope Clement XIII

 Pope Clement XIV

 Cæsar Clement

 François Clément

 John Clement

 Clementines

 Bl. Clement Mary Hofbauer

 Clement of Alexandria

 St. Clement of Ireland

 Maurice Clenock

 Cleophas

 Clerestory

 Cleric

 Giovanni Clericato

 Clericis Laicos

 John Clerk

 Agnes Mary Clerke

 Clerks Regular

 Clerks Regular of Our Saviour

 Clerks Regular of the Mother of God of Lucca

 Diocese of Clermont

 Pope St. Cletus

 Diocese of Cleveland

 Josse Clichtove

 William Clifford

 Diocese of Clifton

 José Climent

 Ven. Margaret Clitherow

 Diocese of Clogher

 Cloister

 School of Clonard

 Diocese of Clonfert

 Abbey and School of Clonmacnoise

 St. Clotilda

 Clouet

 Councils of Clovesho

 Giorgio Clovio

 Clovis

 Diocese of Cloyne

 Congregation of Cluny

 John Clynn

 Bernabé Cobo

 Viatora Coccaleo

 Diocese of Cochabamba

 Martin of Cochem

 Diocese of Cochin

 Jacques-Denis Cochin

 Pierre-Suzanne-Augustin Cochin

 Johann Cochlæus

 Co-consecrators

 Cocussus

 Codex

 Codex Alexandrinus

 Codex Amiatinus

 Codex Bezae

 Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus

 Codex Sinaiticus

 Codex Vaticanus

 Thomas Codrington

 Co-education

 Nicolas Coeffeteau

 Coelchu

 Theodore Coelde

 St. Coemgen

 Coenred

 Coeur d'Alêne Indians

 Edward Coffin

 Robert Aston Coffin

 Cogitosus

 Diego López de Cogolludo

 Hermann Cohen

 Diocese of Coimbatore

 Diocese of Coimbra

 Jean-Baptiste Colbert

 Henry Cole

 Edward Coleman

 Henry James Coleridge

 John Colet

 Nicola Coleti

 St. Colette

 John Colgan

 Diocese of Colima

 Frédéric-Louis Colin

 Jean-Claude-Marie Colin

 Coliseum

 Diego Collado

 Collect

 Collectarium

 Collections

 Collectivism

 Diocese of Colle di Val d'Elsa

 College

 College (in Canon Law)

 Apostolic College

 Collège de France

 Collegiate

 St. Colman

 Walter Colman

 Joseph Ludwig Colmar

 Cologne

 University of Cologne

 Bl. Colomba of Rieti

 Republic of Colombia

 Archdiocese of Colombo

 Matteo Realdo Colombo

 Colonia (1)

 Colonna

 Egidio Colonna

 Giovanni Paolo Colonna

 Vittoria Colonna

 Colonnade

 Colophon

 Colorado

 Colossæ

 Epistle to the Colossians

 Liturgical Colours

 St. Columba of Terryglass

 St. Columba

 St. Columba, Abbot of Iona

 St. Columbanus

 Columbia University

 Christopher Columbus

 Diocese of Columbus

 Column

 Diocese of Comacchio

 Comana

 Diocese of Comayagua

 François Combefis

 Daniel Comboni

 St. Comgall

 Commandments of God

 Commandments of the Church

 Commemoration (in Liturgy)

 Commendatory Abbot

 Giovanni Francesco Commendone

 Commentaries on the Bible

 Philippe de Commines

 Commissariat of the Holy Land

 Commissary Apostolic

 Ecclesiastical Commissions

 Commodianus

 Commodus

 Brethren of the Common Life

 Philosophy of Common Sense

 Martyrs of the Paris Commune

 Communicatio Idiomatum

 Communion-Antiphon

 Communion-Bench

 Communion of Children

 The Communion of Saints

 Communion of the Sick

 Communion under Both Kinds

 Communism

 Diocese of Como

 Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement

 Compensation

 Occult Compensation

 Privilege of Competency

 Complin

 Compostela

 Compromise (in Canon Law)

 St. Conal

 St. Conan

 Conaty, Thomas James

 Concelebration

 Diocese of Concepción

 Conceptionists

 Industrial Conciliation

 Daniello Concina

 Conclave

 Concordances of the Bible

 Concordat

 The French Concordat of 1801

 Diocese of Concordia (Concordia Veneta)

 Diocese of Concordia (Corcondiensis in America)

 Concubinage

 Concupiscence

 Concursus

 Charles-Marie de la Condamine

 Etienne Bonnot de Condillac

 Condition

 Thomas Conecte

 Ecclesiastical Conferences

 Confession

 Confessor

 Confirmation

 Confiteor

 Confraternity (Sodality)

 Confucianism

 Congo Independent State and Congo Missions

 Congregatio de Auxiliis

 Congregationalism

 Congregational Singing

 Catholic Congresses

 Congrua

 Congruism

 Conimbricenses

 Giles de Coninck

 Connecticut

 John Connolly

 Pope Conon

 Conradin of Bornada

 Bl. Conrad of Ascoli

 Conrad of Hochstadt

 Conrad of Leonberg

 Conrad of Marburg

 Bl. Conrad of Offida

 St. Conrad of Piacenza

 Conrad of Saxony

 Conrad of Urach

 Conrad of Utrecht

 Florence Conry

 Ercole Consalvi

 Consanguinity (in Canon Law)

 Conscience

 Hendrik Conscience

 Consciousness

 Consecration

 Consent (in Canon Law)

 Consentius

 Conservator

 Papal Consistory

 Cuthbert Constable

 John Constable

 Constance

 Council of Constance

 Constantia

 Pope Constantine

 Diocese of Constantine (Cirta)

 Constantine Africanus

 Constantine the Great

 Constantinople

 Councils of Constantinople

 Rite of Constantinople

 Ecclesiastical Constitutions

 Papal Constitutions

 Consubstantiation

 Diocesan Consultors

 Philippe du Contant de la Molette

 Gasparo Contarini

 Giovanni Contarini

 Contemplation

 Contemplative Life

 Vincent Contenson

 Continence

 Contingent

 Contract

 The Social Contract

 Contrition

 Contumacy (in Canon Law)

 Adam Contzen

 Convent

 Convent Schools (Great Britain)

 Order of Friars Minor Conventuals

 Diocese of Conversano

 Conversi

 Conversion

 Convocation of the English Clergy

 Henry Conwell

 Archdiocese of Conza

 Vicariate Apostolic of Cooktown

 William Henry Coombes

 Copacavana

 Cope

 University of Copenhagen

 Nicolaus Copernicus

 François Edouard Joachim Coppée

 Coptos

 Claude-Godefroi Coquart

 Coracesium

 Ambrose Corbie

 Monastery of Corbie

 St. Corbinian

 James Andrew Corcoran

 Michael Corcoran

 Confraternities of the Cord

 Giulio Cesare Cordara

 Charles Cordell

 Balthasar Cordier

 Diocese of Cordova (Cordubensis)

 Diocese of Cordova (Cordubensis in America)

 Juan de Cordova

 Core, Dathan, and Abiron

 Vicariate Apostolic of Corea

 Archdiocese of Corfu

 Diocese of Coria

 Corinth

 Epistles to the Corinthians

 Gaspard-Gustave de Coriolis

 Diocese of Cork

 School of Cork

 Maurus Corker

 Cormac MacCuilenan

 Elena Lucrezia Piscopia Cornaro

 Jean-Baptiste Corneille

 Michel Corneille (the Younger)

 Michel Corneille (the Elder)

 Pierre Corneille

 Jacob Cornelisz

 Cornelius

 Pope Cornelius

 Peter Cornelius

 Cornelius Cornelii a Lapide

 Karl Josef Rudolph Cornely

 Nicolas Cornet

 Cornice

 Abbey of Cornillon

 Giovanni Maria Cornoldi

 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado

 Coronation

 Gregorio Nuñez Coronel

 Juan Coronel

 Corporal

 Corporation

 Corporation Act of 1661

 Feast of Corpus Christi

 Corpus Juris Canonici

 Fraternal Correction

 Correctories

 Michael Augustine Corrigan

 Sir Dominic Corrigan

 Corsica

 Hernando Cortés

 Giovanni Andrea Cortese

 Diocese of Cortona

 Abbey of Corvey

 Corycus

 Corydallus

 Juan de la Cosa

 Archdiocese of Cosenza

 Henry Cosgrove

 Edmund Cosin

 Cosmas

 Sts. Cosmas and Damian

 Cosmas Indicopleustes

 Cosmas of Prague

 Cosmati Mosaic

 Cosmogony

 Cosmology

 Francesco Cossa

 Lorenzo Costa

 Giovanni Domenico Costadoni

 Republic of Costa Rica

 Francis Coster

 Clerical Costume

 Maria Cosway

 Jean-Baptiste Cotelier

 Cotenna

 Cotiæum

 Pierre Coton

 Diocese of Cotrone

 Robert de Coucy

 Frederic René Coudert

 General Councils

 Evangelical Counsels

 Counterpoint

 The Counter-Reformation

 Court (in Scripture)

 William Courtenay

 Ecclesiastical Courts

 Jean Cousin

 Charles-Edmond-Henride Coussemaker

 Pierre Coustant

 Nicolas Coustou

 Diocese of Coutances

 Louis-Charles Couturier

 Diego Covarruvias

 Covenanters

 Covetousness

 Diocese of Covington

 Cowl

 Michiel Coxcie

 Michiel Coxcie

 Charles-Antoine Coysevox

 Lorenzo Cozza

 Giuseppe Cozza-Luzi

 Cracow

 Pearl Mary Teresa Craigie

 Richard Crashaw

 Jean Crasset

 Mrs. Augustus Craven

 Gaspar de Crayer

 Richard Creagh

 Creation

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Pedro Calderon de la Barca

Calderon de la Barca, Pedro, b. 1600; d. 1681; a Spanish dramatist whose activity marks the second half of the golden age of Spanish literature. His time was one of social and political decay under the rule of Phillip III and Phillip IV, when all things indicated the irretrievable loss of the mighty foreign empire which Spain had acquired during previous reigns; yet, even in this melancholy period Spain produced a poet of lasting national significance in the person of Calderon. Undoubtedly the value of Calderon has been overrated, in so far as the modern world has allowed him to outshine Lope de Vega, for it should be remembered that Calderon inherited the scenic traditions of the sixteenth century, to which Lope had given a magnificent development. Yet Calderon must be credited with giving to those traditions an interpretation which clearly captivated his contemporaries as it did the more recent race of the Romantics in Germany. By giving full expression in his theatre to purely national qualities he endeared himself to his own people in a way that will always safeguard his repute wherever Spanish is spoken and the past glory of Spain is revered. Like Lope de Vega, he came of a northern (Asturian) stock, although he was born in Madrid. After a preliminary training in the capital, he went to the University of Salamanca at a time when that institution was at the acme of its glory, and there he spent six years. The few facts ascertainable for the years ensuing upon his residence at Salamanca show him figuring in the Spanish campaigns in Italy and in the Netherlands, and then returning to Madrid to undertake the management of the theatre of the Buen Retiro. The reigning monarch, Philip IV, was exceedingly attached to him and showed him favour in various ways, as by bestowing a pension on him, by urging him to constant dramatic composition, and by providing funds for the expenses involved in splendid and costly performances of his plays. In 1637 he was appointed to membership in the Order of Santiago, and three years later he served with his order in the campaign against the rebellious Catalans. Like Lope, he turned to Holy orders when his prime was passing, for in 1651 he was ordained to the priesthood; but, quite unlike Lope, he was an exemplary minister of the ministry. Honours came to him in his new vocation; thus, in 1663 he was appointed an honorary chaplain to the sovereign, and in 1666 he was made superior of the congregation of St. Peter. His dramatic labours were carried on unabated after his ordination and continued down to the year of his death. Of less varied genius than his predecessor, Lope de Vega, Calderon gave expression to himself in his dramas only; for his non-dramatic prose works are of very minor value—a treatise on painting is perhaps the most notable—and his lyrics, although many in number, are to be sought in his plays and not in any considerable separate collections. It is to be observed, none the less, that he is a great lyric poet, and that his lyrism saturates his dramatic compositions from first to last. With the collected editions of his plays published during his lifetime, Calderon was not concerned at all, except that he superinteded the preparation of the edition of his autos (sacred allegorical dramas) which appeared in 1676. On the basis of a list of his pieces which he prepared in 1681, his biographer, Vera Tasis, published after his death a nine-volume edition of them. This was made up somewhat ad libitum, as the critic Menéndez y Pelayo has pointed out; yet, in default of a better edition, it still remains authoritative, in spite of the fact that it was put forth by one of the most culteranistic disciples of the poet. We should be glad to believe, as some scholars are inclined to do, that the offensive Gongorism of many passages in Calderon's best pieces, their obscurity and extravagant bombast, should be charged to the account of a meddlesome collector and editor, that is, to Vera Tasis, and not to Calderon. The extant works of Calderon embrace some 120 comedias, including individual works and those written in collaboration with others, and, furthermore, some 70 or 80 autos sacramentales (sacred allegorical dramas on the Eucharist). In so far as regards the comedias, the modern editions reproduce the text of Vera Tasis; he did not print the autos in his collection. The fullest modern edition of all Calderon's plays is that of J.G. Keil (4 vols., Leipzig, 1827-30); the most accessible is, as yet, that in the "Biblioteca de autores españoles", vols. VII, IX, XII, and XIV, which also has some of the autos in vol. LVIII. The best edition of the autos continues to be that of J. Fernandez de Apontes (1759-60). Vera Tasis stated in his "Fama póstuma de Calderón" that the poet had written a great number of entremeses and sainetes (interludes and short farces); as a matter of fact, not more than a score of such briefer pieces, interludes and the like, can now be found. Were one to contrast Shakespear with Lope de Vega, he would discover that, while Shakespear belongs to all men and all time, Lope is the particular property of Spain, and is bounded by national limitations. The character of Calderon is even more limited still; he is not only Spanish rather than universal, but, as a Spaniard, he typifies the sentiments and ideals of a narrowly restricted period, the seventeenth century. It may be added that in his theatre and in his daily life he was a model of the truly Christian and knightly poet of his period. The ideas most distinctive of his age which we see reflected in Calderon's dramatic works are:


  • intense devotion to the Catholic Faith;
  • absolute and unquestioning loyalty to the Spanish sovereign; and
  • a highly developed, even much exaggerated, feeling of honour (the pundonor).

His religious fervour is exemplified in his comedias devotas (sacred dramas not allegorical) as, for instance, in his "Príncipe constante" and his "Purgatorio de San Patricio", the latter being one of the most famous of the literary treatments of the legend of St. Patrick's Purgatory, and especially in his autos sacramentales. These little pieces (see AUTOS SACRAMENTALES) deal only with the Eucharistic Mystery, which is set forth through the medium of allegorical characters. In the production of them Calderon has never been surpassed. For while "his set pieces", in the opinion of Fitzmaurice-Kelly, who is a competent judge, "are disfigured by want of humour and by over-refinement", these faults "turn to virtues in the autos, where abstractions are wedded to the noblest poetry, where the Beyond is brought down to earth, and where doctrinal subtleties are embellished." Typical autos are "Los encantos de la culpa", which D.F. MacCarthy translated so skillfully under the title of "The Sorceries of Sin", "La viña del Señor", "La siembra del Siñor", and "La semilla y la cizaña". In his strictly secular pieces Calderon has succeeded rather by virtue of his lyrism, which is undoubtedly of transcedent quality, than because of any considerable dramatic ingenuity of his own. In fact, fertility of conception as to plot and incident was strikingly lacking in him, he was not in the least loath to borrow ideas from his predecessors and contemporaries, and sometimes he went so far as to appropriate whole sections of their dramas. In the creation and development of character he achieved any high degree of success only occasionally. There is, on the whole, so much of a sameness about his personages and their behaviour as to justify the charge of monotony brought against him. To the national principle of blind and unreasoning fealty to the monarch he gives expression in a number of his most read plays, among which are the "El Príncipe constante", "La banda y la flor", and "Guárdate de agua mansa". The point of honour, often carried to morbid extremes, provides the motif in such characteristic pieces as the "Alcade de Zalamea", the "Pintor de su deshonra", the "Médico de su honra", and "A secreto agravio secreta venganza." The actuating principle in these works can hardly appeal to us; we can feel little sympathy with a personage who methodically and in cold blood slays the one by whom his honour has been affronted. For us such an action is a perversion of the ideals of chivalry. That Calderono could, when he chose to exert himself, attain to some depth of philosphic thought is proved by "La vida es sueño", in which there is a wealth of fancy that charms us even despite the occasional bombast and obscurity of the style. A noteworthy piece because of its relation to a philosophic question agitated by Goethe and Marlowe is the "Mágico prodigioso", wherein we have a Spanish treatment of the Faust legend. In conclusion, there may be set down the final judgment upon Calderon by Fitzmaurice-Kelly, a critic not at all too favourable and yet disposed to do justice to his subject. He says that "Calderon takes rank among the greatest authors of the Spanish theatre in that he is the greatest Spanish poet who has had his recourse in the dramatic form. His race, his faith, his temperament, his especial environment prevented him from becoming a universal poet; his majesty, his devout lyrism, his decorative fancy suffice to put him in the first rank of national poets."

FITZMAURICE-KELLY, History of Spanish Literature (London and New York, 1907); TRENCH, Calderon (London, 1880), still useful, although a little antiquated; MACCOLL, Selected Plays of Calderon (London, 1888); MACCARTHY, Love the Greatest Enchantment, etc. (London, 1861); KRENKEL, Klassische Bühnendichtungen der Spanier (annotated edition of three leading plays, Leipzig, 1881-87); MENÉNDEZ Y PELAYO, ed., Teatro selecto de Calderón (4 vols., Madrid, 1881); ROUANET, Drames religieux de Calderon (Paris, 1888); Poesías inéditas de Calderon (Madrid, 1881); MOREL-FATIO, Calderon in Revue critique des travaux d'érudition (Paris, 1881); GöNTHER, Calderon und seine Werke (2 vols., Freiburg im Br., 1888).

J. D. M. Ford