T

Tabernacle: The receptacle in which the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in churches, chapels, and oratories. It is to be immovable, solid, locked, and located in a prominent place.

Targum (plural: targumim) is an Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) written or compiled in the Land of Israel or in Babylonia from the Second Temple period until the early Middle Ages (late first millennium)

Te Deum: The opening Latin words, Thee, God, of a hymn of praise and thanksgiving prescribed for use in the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours on many Sundays, solemnities and feasts.

Teleological Argument: The reasoning from the order of the world to prove the existence of God, who has a purpose in creation.

Temperance: Moderation, one of the four cardinal virtues.

Temptation: Any enticement to sin, from any source: the strivings of one’s own faculties, the action of the devil, other persons, circumstances of life, etc. Temptation itself is not sin. Temptation can be avoided and overcome with the use of prudence and the help of grace.

Textual criticism is a branch of philology that examines the extant copies of a written text to produce a version of the text that is as close as possible to the original. This original is called the archetype.

Textus Receptus (Latin: "received text") is the name given to the first Greek language text of the New Testament to be printed with movable type. Manuscripts were collected by Dutch Catholic scholar and humanist Desiderius Erasmus in 1516 for his translation of the Bible into Latin, and later used as the basis for the translation of the New Testament in the King James Version of the Bible. The Textus Receptus is classified by scholars as a late Byzantine text. There is evidence that the Textus Receptus dates to the time of the church father Cyprian (200-258AD).

Thanksgiving: An expression of gratitude to God for his goodness and the blessings he grants; one of the four ends of prayer.

Theandric: “divine-human”, indicating the actions of Jesus, both divine and human.

Theism: A philosophy which admits the existence of God and the possibility of divine revelation; it is generally monotheistic and acknowledges God as transcendent and also active in the world.  Because it is a philosophy rather than a system of theology derived from revelation, it does not include specifically Christian doctrines, like those concerning the Trinity, the Incarnation and Redemption.

Theocracy: “rule of God” A system of government where God rules through the king, applying divine norms to political realities. It appears in Islam, in Byzantine Empire, in Calvin’s government, etc.

Theodicy: From the Greek for God (theos) and judgment (dike), the study of God as he can be known by natural reason, rather than from supernatural revelation. First used by Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-1716), its primary objective is to make God’s omnipotence compatible with the existence of evil.

Theogony: the study of the origins and genealogy of the gods

Theological Virtues: The virtues which have God for their direct object: faith, or belief in God’s infallible teaching; hope, or confidence in divine assistance; charity, or love of God. They are given to a person with grace in the first instance, through baptism and incorporation in Christ.

Theology: Knowledge of God and religion, deriving from and based on the data of divine Revelation, organized and systematized according to some kind of scientific method. It involves systematic study and presentation of the truths of divine Revelation in Sacred Scripture, tradition, and the teaching of the Church. Theology has been divided under various subject headings. Some of the major fields have been: dogmatic (systematic theology), moral, pastoral, historical, ascetical (the practice of virtue and means of attaining holiness and perfection), sacramental, and mystical (higher states of religious experience).  Other subject headings include ecumenism (Christian unity, interfaith relations), ecclesiology (the nature and constitution of the Church), and Mariology (doctrine concerning the Blessed Virgin Mary), etc.

Theophany: “appearance of God” or visible manifestations of the divine, like the burning bush or Sinai, the Transfiguration, and so on.

Theosophy: any of various philosophies professing to achieve a knowledge of God by spiritual ecstasy, direct intuition, or special individual relations, esp. a modern movement following Hindu and Buddhist teachings and seeking universal brotherhood. Christian Theosophy is a branch that strives for the knowledge of God and Jesus obtained by the direct intuition of the Divine essence.

Theotokos: From the Greek for God-bearer, the preeminent title given to the Blessed Mother in the Oriental Church; in Latin is Deigenitrix. This title has very ancient roots, stretching as far back as the third century but it did not became official in the Church until the Council of Ephesus in 431.

Thomism: The philosophy based on St. Thomas Aquinas (1224/5-1274), which is mandated to be the dominant philosophy used in Catholic educational institutions. (See also Neo-Scholasticism and Scholasticism.)

Tiara: The papal crown until Paul VI.

Tithing: Contribution of a portion of one’s income, originally one-tenth, for purposes of religion and charity. The practice is mentioned 46 times in the Bible. In early Christian times, tithing was adopted in continuance of Old Testament practices of the Jewish people, and the earliest positive church legislation on the subject was enacted in 567. Catholics are bound in conscience to contribute to the support of their church, but the manner in which they do so is not fixed by law. 

Titular Sees: Dioceses where the Church once flourished but which now exist only in name or title. Bishops without a territorial or residential diocese of their own; e.g., auxiliary bishops, are given titular sees. There are more than 2,000 titular sees

Tonsure: Saving the head as sign of dedication to God. In ancient times it was a rite to enter the clergy; it was abolished in 1972. But it still practiced in various religious orders, both east and west.

Transfinalization, Transignification: Terms coined to express the sign value of consecrated bread and wine with respect to the presence and action of Christ in the Eucharistic sacrifice and the spiritually vivifying purpose of the Eucharistic banquet in Holy Communion. The theory behind the terms has strong undertones of existential and “sign” philosophy, and has been criticized for its openness to interpretation at variance with the doctrine of transubstantiation and the abiding presence of Christ under the appearances of bread and wine after the sacrifice of the Mass and Communion have been completed. The terms, if used as substitutes for transubstantiation, are unacceptable; if they presuppose transubstantiation, they are acceptable as clarifications of its meaning.

Transubstantiation: “The way Christ is made present in this sacrament (Holy Eucharist) is none other than by the change of the whole substance of the bread into his Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into his Blood (in the Consecration at Mass), this unique and wonderful change the Catholic Church rightly calls transubstantiation” (encyclical Mysterium Fidei of Paul VI, Sept. 3, 1965). The first official use of the term was made by the Fourth Council of the Lateran in 1215. Authoritative teaching on the subject was issued by the Council of Trent.

Treasury of the Church: The superabundant merits of Christ and the saints from which the Church draws to confer spiritual benefits, such as indulgences.

Triduum: A three-day series of public or private devotions.

Trinity: The tri-personal God.

Tutiorism: (Latin tutior, "safer"), is a moral doctrine which holds that in case of doubt one must take the morally safer side.

Typology: Interpretation of OT persons and events as foreshadowing NT realities; so Melchisedech (‘type”) speaks of Christ (“antitype”), the flood foreshadows baptism, etc.

U

Ubiquity of God: Omnipresence.

Ultramontanism: The movement found primarily in France during the 19th century that advocated a strong sense of devotion and service to the Holy See. Generally considered a reaction to the anti-papal tendencies of Gallicanism, its name was derived from the Latin for “over the mountains,” a reference to the Alps, beyond which rested Rome and the Holy See.

Unction: From the Latin, ungere, meaning to anoint or smear, a term used to denote the Sacrament of the Sick (or the Anointing of the Sick); it was more commonly termed Extreme Unction and was given as an anointing to a person just before death.

Uniates: Name given to the Ruthenians united with Rome (1596) and then to the Orientals in communion with Rome.

Unitarianism believes in the oneness of God as opposed to traditional Christian belief in the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Historic Unitarians believed in the moral authority, but not the deity, of Jesus. Unitarians are characterized by some as being identified through history as free thinkers and dissenters, evolving their beliefs in the direction of rationalism and humanism.

Universal Law: See Law.

Universalism: Universal reconciliation, or universal salvation, is the doctrine that all will be saved. Among theologians the doctrine is often referred to using the Greek word apocatastasis.

Urbi et Orbi: A Latin phrase meaning “To the City and to the World” that is a blessing given by the Holy Father.  Normally, the first Urbi et Orbi delivered by a pontiff is immediately after his election by the College of Cardinals.  This is a blessing accompanied by a short address to the crowds in St. Peter’s Square and to the world; frequently, as with Pope John Paul II in 1978, it is delivered in as many languages as possible.  The pope also delivers an Urbi et Orbi each year at Christmas and at Easter.

Usury: Excessive interest charged for the loan and use of money; a violation of justice.

Utraquism:  means this: Man, in order to be saved, must receive Holy Communion when he wishes and where he wishes, under the forms of bread and wine (sub utraque specie).