Credentes

Credentes is a Latin term that generally means “believers” or “the believing ones.” It is the present active participle of credo and can function as either an adjective or a substantive. When used as a noun, credentes designates a group—the believers—often Christians or the faithful in contrast to skeptics or opponents of faith.

In Latin grammar, credentes derives from the verb credo, with the participial ending -ens forming a plural. As a substantive, it can name those who profess a belief; as an adjective, it may describe people or groups described as believing. The exact sense of credentes depends on context, and translations typically render it as “believers” or “the believers.”

Historically, credentes appears in classical and medieval Latin prose and poetry, as well as in doctrinal, liturgical, and patristic writings, to refer to individuals or communities who profess a faith. It is encountered in discussions of faith, doctrine, and ecclesial identity, illustrating how Latin texts distinguished the faithful from others during various periods of Christian antiquity and medieval scholasticism.

In contemporary scholarship, credentes is primarily of linguistic and historical interest. It is not a widely used term for a modern organization or movement, but it remains a helpful key for understanding Latin descriptions of religious communities. The term is closely related to credo, the root of the English creed, reflecting shared origins in expressions of belief.