secular arm

From Late Middle English seculer arm, seculer arme (“civil authority or power”),^[1] a calque of Medieval Latin bracchium saeculāre (“(figurative) civil or lay power”),^[2] from Latin bracchium (“arm”) + saeculāre (neuter singular form of saeculāris (“profane, temporal, worldly”)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛkjʊlə ˈɑːm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɛkjələɹ ˈɑɹm/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)m
• Hyphenation: se‧cul‧ar arm

secular arm (plural (rare) secular arms)

1. (Christianity, law, historical) The lay or temporal authority of a secular court to pronounce punishment (particularly capital punishment) of an offender tried by an ecclesiastical court.

   The secular arm as a means by which lay power intervenes in ecclesiastical cases had two types: sought and unsought by the Church.

   • 1612, [Miguel de Cervantes], “Of the Pleasant and Curious Search Made by the Curate and the Barber, of Don-Quixotes Library”, in Thomas Shelton, transl., The History of the Valorous and Wittie Knight-errant Don-Quixote of the Mancha. , London: William Stansby, for Ed Blount and W. Barret, →OCLC, part 1, page 44:

     Then there's no more to be done, but to deliuer them vp to the ſecular arme of the olde vvife, and do not demaund the reaſon, for that vvere neuer to make an end.

     A figurative use.

   • 1687, Gilbert Burnet, “The Translators Preface”, in L[ucius] C[aecilius] F[irmianus] Lactantius, translated by Gilbert Burnet, A Relation of the Death of the Primitive Persecutors. , Amsterdam: J S, →OCLC, pages 29–30:

     The firſt Inſtance of the Imploying the Secular Arm againſt Hereticks, that vvas ſet on by any of the Orthodox, vvas under the Reign of that bloody Tyrant [Magnus] Maximus, and it vvas managed by tvvo ſuch ſcandalous Biſhops, that their ill Lives is no ſmall Prejudice againſt every thing that vvas carried on by ſuch Inſtruments.

   • 1728, E[phraim] Chambers, “Arm”, in Cyclopædia: Or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences;  In Two Volumes, volumes I (A–H), London: James and John Knapton , →OCLC, page 138, column 1:

     The Secular Arm is the Lay or Temporal Authority of a ſecular Judge; to vvhich Recourſe is had for the Execution of the Sentences paſs'd by Eccleſiaſtical Judges. […] The Church ſheds no Blood: Even the Inquiſition, after they have found the Perſon guilty, ſurrenders him to the ſecular Arm.

   • 1744, “To the Reader”, in Certain Queries, with Their Respective Answers; by Way of Introduction to the Reverend Mr. Godfrey Arnold’s Impartial History of the Church and Hereticks. , London: G. Smith, ; and sold by Mrs. Cooper, ; likewise, by Mr. Wilcox, ; and Mr. Hodges, , →OCLC, paragraph 19, page 5:

     And vvhether the former [the corrupted clergy] did not abuſe the Povver of the Magiſtracy, in bringing over the Secular Arms for the Support of their VVickedneſs, excluding the vvhole Community from inſpecting and deciding the Matter?

   • 1792 February 8, [François] Blanchet, translated by , “The Dean of Badajoz, a Tale”, in James Anderson, editor, The Bee, or, Literary Weekly Intelligencer, , volume VII, Edinburgh: for the editor, →OCLC, page 209:

     [W]e not only exhort you to expiate by a penitence proportionate to the enormity of such a crime, but also order you to quit the territories of the church vvithin three days, under pain of being given up to the secular arms, and the rigour of the flames.

   • 1812 March 9 (date written), Gideon Ouseley, “A Short View of the Apostacy, and of the Man of Sin, which was to Appear in the Church, Predicted by the Prophet Daniel, and by the Apostles St. Paul, St. Peter, and St. John, as Recorded in the Holy Scripture”, in A Short Defence of the Old Religion, against Certain Novelties, Recommended to the People of Ireland, Dublin: J. O. Bonsall, , published 1821, →OCLC, page 239:

     These doctrines are false; […] Yet all who reject them are by the Council of Trent and the Papal Church pronounced accursed heretics and excommunicated, and therefore to be given over to the secular arm, as we have just seen that millions have been, to be destroyed or burned; […]

   • 1830 May 1, “The Waldenses and Albigenses. 3.”, in The Protestant, volume I, number 18, New York, N.Y.: James B. Requa, , →OCLC, page 137, column 1:

     And as many of this devoted people as they could get into their hands, were delivered over to the secular arms; scarcely was there a city or town throughout Piedmont, in which some of these martyrs were not sacrificed by the devouring superstition of the priests dominant.

   • 1870 October, “Art. IX.—Quarterly Book-table. ”, in D D Whedon, editor, Methodist Quarterly Review, volume XXII (4th Series; volume LII overall), New York, N.Y.: Carlton & Lanahan , →OCLC, page 634:

     We also understand that when the secular arm has the power it is requirable by the Church to execute those who entertain views opposed to the Papacy; and that the only reason why the Church does not now require it is that the secular arm is not at the Pope's command.

   • 1980, John A[nthony] Hardon, “SECULAR ARM”, in Modern Catholic Dictionary, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, →ISBN, page 496, column 1:

     In the Middle Ages, however, sometimes the assistance of the secular arm was sought, especially in trials for heresy or grave immorality when Church officials felt that sterner punishment was deserved than they could administer.

• Usage tends to be ambiguous as to whether the intended sense of arm is “branch of an organization” or “power”, although it is clear that the secular and ecclesiastical “branches” are of different organizations.

• long arm
• two swords

• secular arm on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “secular arm, n.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• Elizabeth Knowles, editor (2000), “the secular arm”, in The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 978, column 2.