(κατασχίσμα, a rent), in its general acceptation signifies division or separation; but it is chiefly used in speaking of separations happening from diversity of opinions among people of the same religion or faith. Thus we say the schism of the ten tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the schism of the Persians from the Turks and other Mahomedans, &c. Among ecclesiastical authors, the great schism of the west is that which happened in the times of Clement VII. and Urban VI., which divided the church for forty or fifty years, and was at length ended by the election of Martin V. at the council of Constance. The Romanists number thirty-four schisms in their church, and bestow the name of English schism on the reformation of religion in this kingdom. Those of the church of England apply the term schism to the separation of the nonconformists, viz., the Presbyterians, Independents, and Baptists, for a further reformation.