Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Heckerism \Heck"er*ism\, n. (R. C. Ch.)
(a) The teaching of Isaac Thomas Hecker (1819-88), which
interprets Catholicism as promoting human aspirations
after liberty and truth, and as the religion best suited
to the character and institutions of the American people.
(b) Improperly, certain views or principles erroneously
ascribed to Father Hecker in a French translation of
Elliott's Life of Hecker. They were condemned as
``Americanism'' by the Pope, in a letter to Cardinal
Gibbons, January 22, 1899.