What is Sacred Tradition?

Sacred Tradition is the living transmission of the faith that Christ entrusted to the apostles. Through the Holy Spirit, the Church preserves and hands on this apostolic faith from one generation to the next.

Where it comes from. Jesus did not write a book or command the apostles to communicate only through writing. He taught them, formed them, established sacraments, and sent them to preach and make disciples (Mt 28:19-20). The apostles handed on what they had received through oral preaching, Christian worship, their manner of life, and inspired writings. St. Paul therefore commands Christians to "stand firm and hold to the traditions" taught either orally or by letter (2 Thess 2:15). He also tells Timothy to entrust his teaching to faithful men able to teach others (2 Tim 2:2).

How it relates to Scripture. Sacred Scripture is the inspired Word of God committed to writing. Sacred Tradition transmits the Word of God entrusted by Christ and the Holy Spirit to the apostles (CCC 81). Scripture and Tradition flow from the same divine source and form one sacred deposit of faith (CCC 80, 97). The Church receives both with reverence. She does not derive certainty about every revealed truth from Scripture alone (CCC 82). Tradition does not compete with the Bible. It identifies, safeguards, and faithfully interprets the apostolic faith within which the Bible was written and received.

How it is preserved. The apostles appointed bishops as successors and entrusted them with teaching authority (CCC 77). Through apostolic succession, preaching, liturgy, creeds, councils, and the Church's constant faith, the apostolic inheritance remains alive. The Magisterium serves this deposit by authentically interpreting Scripture and Tradition, while remaining subject to God's Word (CCC 85-86). The Holy Spirit guides the Church into a deeper understanding of the same revealed truth (Jn 16:13; CCC 94).

What Tradition does not mean. Sacred Tradition, with a capital T, differs from local customs and changeable church traditions. Devotions, styles of sacred music, fasting rules, and liturgical customs may develop, vary, or be revised. The Church distinguishes these from the apostolic Tradition that belongs to the deposit of faith (CCC 83). Genuine doctrinal development clarifies what God has revealed. It cannot contradict earlier revealed truth or introduce a new public revelation, since God's definitive revelation has been given in Christ (CCC 65-66).

In practice. Read Scripture within the faith of the Church that received, preserved, and proclaimed it. The Catechism, the liturgy, the councils, and the writings of the Fathers can help you see how the same apostolic faith has been handed down across the centuries.