Apostolic Succession

[NewCatholic1207]

I ran across a site about Catholic and Apostolic Succession:

mysite.verizon.net/res7gdmc/aposccs/index.html

It claims that over 90% of the 5000 current Catholic Bishops trace their lineage back to one Bishop, Scipione Rebiba.

I have two questions. Can anyone tell me if this man’s research is correct?

and

If it is, why does the lineage apparently stop in 1541. What about before that?

Thanks in advance and God Bless.

 

[David_Zampino]

Yes, this site is legit, and yes, 90% of current bishops trace their succession through Bp. Rebiba.

Prior to 1541, you’d need to take a look at Bp. Rebiba’s consecrators, and as the site suggests, while we know he was validly consecrated, we don’t, at this time, have documentation as to who the consecrators were – only educated guesses.

Also, as the site points out, Bp. Rebiba’s link to Pope Benedict XIII, who consecrated so many bishops, is the reason for the plethora of current bishops able to trace back to him.

It’s a fascinating subject!

 

[NewCatholic1207]

Doesn’t this give ammunition to Protestants who say there is no apostolic succession?

 

[David_Zampino]

I don’t particularly see how. We know he was consecrated and enjoyed a long ministry. We know that nobody suggested that there was anything illegitimate about him – and judging from when he lived, during the heart of the Reformation controversies, if there were questions, they certainly would have been brought up!

 

[Ignatius]

Doesn’t this give ammunition to Protestants who say there is no apostolic succession?

No because we have the lists of Apostolic lineage from as early as the 200’s Tertullian compiled lists of the Bishops of Rome and these were continually updated going forward over the last 2000 years. Lists are also available for several of the Eastern Apostolic Sees such as Antioch, Alexandria, etc.