1

Lesson 19: The Great Eastern Schism of 1054

INITIAL ESTRANGEMENTS
The Great Eastern Schism did not happen instantly but a result of a gradual tension that started with initial estrangements.
- (+) Contrasts in liturgy, discipline, politics and dogma between the Eastern and Western Church.
- (+) Political, social, religious disciplinary, linguistic, cultural reasons
- (+) Increase tension caused by:
a. Establishment of the Western Empire under Charlemagne and Otto the Great. Remember that after the fall of the Western roman
empire in 476, the East wanted to assume the role as Basileia Romaion = empire of the romans but because of the concept of
Translatio imperii (transfer of rule) the pope granted the rule of the empire to leaders such as Charlemagne and Otto the Great.

b. Iconoclasm Controversy– this was clarified by the second council of Nicaea and was seen as the protest of the Frankish empire
against the east roman claim to leadership in the dogmatic, ecclesiastical and political sphere.

c. Territorial claims of Byzantine in Italy (Ravenna and Southern Italy)

d. Frankish expansion into Italy.
e. Acacian Schism (482-519)

The Acacian schism between the Eastern and Western Christian Churches lasted thirty-five years, from 484-519. It resulted from a
drift in the leaders of Eastern Christianity toward Monophysitism ( the Christological position that Jesus Christ has only one nature,
his human nature being absorbed by his divine nature), and Emperor Zeno's unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the parties with the
Henotikon (The Henotikon (ἑνωτικόν "act of union") was issued by Byzantine emperor Zeno in 482, in an unsuccessful attempt to
reconcile the differences between the supporters of the Council of Chalcedon and the miaphysites. It was followed by the Acacian
schism.)with the death of accacius, patriach of constantinople and pope Felix III, the schism ceased.

f. Photian Schism (863-867)

This conflict was precipitated by the opposition of Roman Catholic Pope Nicholas I (r. 858-867) to the appointment by Byzantine
Emperor Michael III of a lay scholar as Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople. The schism effectively ended in 867 with both the death
of Pope Nicholas I and the first deposition of Photius.

g. 330 – Constantinople made capital of the Roman Empire

h. Great Heresies (IV-V-VI centuries)

The Church was shaken and agitated by dogmatic controversies especially in the East about the most important doctrine of
Christianity, such as the Trinity, Christology, doctrine of the Sacraments and the dispute on Grace. These were the times of the bitter
disputes on Arianism, Nestorianism, Monophysitism, Monothelism, Origenism, Donatism, Pelagianism, etc…embittered and
prolonged because of the intervention of the imperial authority, but most of them were concluded in Great Ecumenical Councils,
which fixed the triumph of truth and Christian theology. The Eastern Church, however, saw the separation of whole regions because
of these disputes (Syria, Persia, Egypt, Abyssinia, Armenia).

i. Barbarian invasions
j. Moslem invasions
k. Normans in Italy

SCHISM OF 1054

How did it formally begin?

- Constantine IX (ca. 1000-1055) and Argyros (Governor for South Italy) were inclined toward an alliance with the Pope to fight
together the Normans in Southern Italy.
- The German Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) extended his political power into Southern Italy at the same time the Normans were
seizing it from the Byzantines.

Patriarch’s Move
- Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople (1043-1058) feared an expansion of papal power into his sphere of jurisdiction
and prevented an understanding by emphasizing ecclesiastical conflicts by:
Closure of Latin Churches and monasteries in Constantinople
Condemnation of the Latin use of unleavened bread during mass.
Condemnation of clerical celibacy
Condemnation of the inclusion of filioque in the creed.

FILIOQUE
- The Western Church uses a version of the Nicene Creed which has the Latin word filioque ("and from the Son") added after the
declaration that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. Scripture reveals that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. The
external relationships of the persons of the Trinity mirror their internal relationships. Just as the Father externally sent the Son into the
world in time, the Son internally proceeds from the Father in the Trinity. Just as the Spirit is externally sent into the world by the Son
as well as the Father (John 15:26, Acts 2:33), he internally proceeds from both Father and Son in the Trinity.

- FOR THE EAST:

Καὶ εἰς τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον, τὸ κύριον, τὸ ζῳοποιόν, τὸ ἐκ τοῦ Πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον
(And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, from the Father proceeding).

- FOR THE WEST:

Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum, et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit
(And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and giver of life, who from the Father and the Son proceeds).

PAPAL MOVE
- The Pope sent 3 legates to Constantinople
a. Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida Lotharingian nobles who are ardent defenders of the
b. Papal Chancellor Frederick of Lorraine Gregorian Reform
c. Archbishop Peter of Amalfi
- The Legates rely on (1) Donation of Constantine[1] which was then regarded as genuine and (2) the absolute primacy of the Pope
derived from the succession from Peter.
- Legates demanded recognition of the Roman primacy of jurisdiction and Western customs were regarded as valid ones and the only
one corresponding to tradition à Patriarch refused to receive the legates.
- Cardinal Humbert delivers a passionate polemic against the patriarch and made a bull of excommunication (July 16, 1054) which
he placed on the altar of Hagia Sophia and in the presence of the clergy and populace exclaimed “Videat Deus et Judicet” (Let God
see and judge)
- Implication of the Bull of excommunication: It shows clearly how the Western Church had developed a new and independent
direction and how little the reformers understood the mentality of the Greek.

COUNTER-EXCOMMUNICATION
- When Leo IX died on April 19, 1054, his successor [Hadrian IV (1054-1059)] was not chosen until December 4, 1054, that’s
why the patriarch’s counter excommunication is neither for the Pope nor the Roman Church, but for the legates.

CONCLUSION
- The mutual excommunications by the Pope and the Patriarch that year became a watershed in church history. The
excommunications were not lifted until 1965, when Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, following their historic meeting in
Jerusalem in 1964, presided over simultaneous ceremonies that revoked the excommunication decrees.
- In spite of renewed attempts at unification, the schism continued to this day.

[1] According to which Constantine the Great when he had transferred his residence from Rome to Byzantium ca. 330, had ceded
Pope Sylvester (314-335) and the Roman See the sovereign authority over the whole western half of the Roman empire. It is based on
an old Sylvester legend of the 5th century. According to the fantastic and completely invented narrative, Constantine attributed his
miraculous cure from leprosy to Pope Sylvester and in gratitude transferred the control over Rome and the Western countries to the
Roman See. The basis was possibly the intention to protect the papacy against the tutelage of East Rome and to guarantee its political
and ecclesiastical independence in the West.

2
Lesson 12: Pope Formosus (891-896) and the Cadaver Synod (896)

The death of Pope Nicholas I or the Pope Nicholas the Great saw the departure from the scene of the strongest pope of the 9th century,
whose interest went far beyond Italy and the remnants of the Carolingian empire. He spoke with kings and wrote to emperors and
patriarchs and dealt with strong archbishops. Bulgars, Slavs and Greeks were part of his vision of his office. His place in history was
diminished because of what happened to the papacy in the next century and half.

POPE FORMOSUS (891-896)

Pope Formosus is more remembered today for his posthumous life than his real life. He was dispatched by Pope Nicholas I to Bulgaria
as Bishop of Porto. Later, he served as papal adviser until the reign of Pope John VIII.

Formosus was excommunicated by Pope John VIII who removed him as bishop of Porto. As early as 872, he was a candidate for the
papacy, but due to political complications, he left Rome and the court of Pope John VIII that year.

John convened a Synod at Troyes, and Formosus was ordered to return or be excommunicated on charges that:
1. He had aspired to the Bulgarian Archbishopric and the Holy See.
2. He had opposed the emperor and had deserted his diocese without papal permission.
3. He had despoiled the cloisters in Rome.
4. He had performed the divine service in spite of the interdict.
5. He had conspired with certain iniquitous men and women for the destruction of the Papal See.

Formosus was brought before Pope John VIII and swore the he would never attempt to regain his office nor would he ever return to
Rome.

In 882, one of Pope John VIII’s relatives attempted to poison the pope but failed and then proceeded to bludgeon him to death with a
hammer. Pope Marinus I (882-884) absolved Formosus of the oaths taken at Troyes and restored him as Bishop of Porto.

In 891, there was a sede vacante and and Formosus was chosen apparently by the clergy and people of Rome without any outside
influence.

CUSTOM: The custom of the both the East and West held a bishop to be ‘married’ to his bishopric (meaning ‘til death do us part),
from which there could be no divorce. The transfer of bishop from one diocese to another was virtually unknown. Formosus’
translation from Porto to Rome became a controversy.

POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT: He was involved in the petty political squabbles in Italy. The dukes of Spoleto had desired the
imperial title, and the previous pope had crowned Duke Wido as emperor. The Spoletans wanted to recrown Wido and his son
Lambert as co-emperor. Formosus asked Arnulf, the Carolingian King of East Franks (Germany) to delivery Italy from the Spoletans.
Formosus was imprisoned by the Spoletans but Arnulf freed him. Formosus crowned Arnulf as emperor, calling him “Caesar
Augustus”. On his way, the emperor died and before the news reached Rome, Pope Formosus died as well.
But the story does not end there. In the next 8 years, there were 9 popes. Formosus’ immediate predecessor was Boniface VI (896), a
man already twice degraded for immoral behavior, lived only two weeks. He was then succeeded by Stephen VI (896-897). The
circumstances of Stephen VI’s election are unclear, but he was sponsored by one of the powerful Roman families, the house of
Spoleto, that contested the papacy at the time. He was a puppet of the Spoletans who would like revenge against Formosus even if he
was already dead.

Pope Stephen VI ordered the body of Formosus to be exhumed. By then, nine months or so after his death, the body although intact,
has indicated corruption. The pope ordered the body to be clad in full papal vesture and set on a chair in the Basilica of St. John
Lateran, where a Roman Synod in January 897 sat in judgment. This is called the “Cadaver Synod”.

Two charges were made against him:

1. He had broken the oath taken at Troyes.
2. He illegally moved as bishop from one diocese to another.

Unable to response (of course, because he is dead), an immature deacon represented Formosus, whose argument lacked persuasion.
Formosus, or rather the body of Formosus, was condemned, and he was divested of the papal regalia and vestments. The fingers of his
right hand used in blessing were hacked off and his body thrown in a common grave.

Grave robbers disturbed the body of Formosus in the hope of finding ding treasures. Instead, they found a mutilated, unadorned rotting
body. In disgust, they cast it into the Tiber River. Torrential rains at that night caused the flooding of the Tiber and that the body of
Formosus was carried downstream to the shore of Porto. It was said that a monk, following the instructions given him in a vision,
found the body and secretly buried it at Porto.

Back in Rome, Stephen VI had been seized by his enemies, put in chains, placed in prison and strangled to death. At about this time,
an earthquake caused the roof of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, scene of the trial, to fall in.
Pope Romanus became the new pope but lived only for two months. The next Pope, Theodore II, had even a shorter reign of 20 days
but long enough to effect the rehabilitation of Formosus. Pope Theodore learned what happened at Porto and ordered the body to be
exhumed again. With reverence and, finally, dignity the body was solemnly returned from Porto to Rome. There it was reclad in papal
vestment and, with solemnity, replaced in its original tomb in St. Peter’s, where it still rests.

The title ‘emperor’ ceased to exist and local factions ruled Europe. The local faction that ruled Rome ruled the Papacy. The Crescenzi,
the Theophylact and the Tusculani families sought control of Rome. They made popes even from their own families.

3
Lesson 21 - The Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns, called by the Pope and with the main goal of restoring
Christian control of the Terra Sancta (Holy Land). The crusaders came from all over western Europe. The main series of Crusades
occurred between 1095 and 1291.The Crusades were fought mainly by Roman Catholics against Muslims, [though some campaigns
were diverted to fight Greek Orthodox Christians in Byzantium.]

SCENARIO IN THE MIDDLE EAST

A. FOR THE CHRISTIANS

-       The Terra Sancta is the place of nativity, ministry, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, whom Christians regard as the Messiah.
It is, indeed, a very important place for Christians.
-       After the Constantine's conversion to Christianity (313) and later, the founding of the Byzantine Empire after the partition of
the Roman Empire, the Holy Land had become a predominantly Christian. Churches commemorating various events in the life of
Jesus had been erected at key sites.

B. FOR THE MOSLEMS

-       Jerusalem in particular holds a significance in Islam as it holds it to be the site of the ascension into heaven of
the prophet Muhammad whom Muslims believe to be the foremost prophet of Allah and Jerusalem is often regarded as the third most
sacred site[1] in Islam.
-       The Muslim presence in the Holy Land began with the initial Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century under the
Rashidun Caliphs. The Muslim armies' successes put increasing pressure on the Byzantine Empire which had originally claimed the
region as their territory.

C. FOR THE JEWS

-  Jerusalem also holds historical and religious importance for Jews as it is the site of the Western Wall, the last remaining piece of
the Second Temple. Jews consider Jerusalem as their ancestral homeland, and had been visiting the city since its destruction in 70
CE and its occupation in AD 136.

SCENARIO IN WESTERN EUROPE

1.     The Crusades were, in part, an outlet for an intense religious piety which rose up in the late 11th century among the lay people. A
crusader would, after pronouncing a solemn vow, receive a cross from the hands of the pope or his legates, and was thenceforth
considered a "Miles Ecclesiae".

People became personally engaged in a dramatic religious controversy such as the Investiture controversy. The result was an
awakening of intense Christian piety and public interest in religious affairs, and was further strengthened by religious propaganda,
which advocated Just War in order to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims.

2.  Indulgence or the remission of sin was a driving factor and provided any God-fearing man who had committed sins with an
irresistible way out of eternal damnation in hell.

POPE URBAN II
The immediate cause of the First Crusade was the Byzantine emperor Alexius I's (1081-1118)  appeal to Pope Urban II (ca. 1042 – 29
July 1099) for mercenaries to help him resist Muslim advances into territory of the Byzantine Empire.

In 1071, the Byzantine Empire was defeated, which led to the loss of all of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) save the coastlands.
Although attempts at reconciliation after the East–West Schism between the Catholic Church in Western Europe and the Eastern
Orthodox Church had failed, Alexius I hoped for a positive response from Urban II.
Pope Urban II defined and launched the crusades at the Synod of Piacenza then at the Council of Clermont in 1095. He was a reformer
worried about the evils which had hindered the spiritual success of the church and its clergy and the need for a revival of religiosity.
He was moved by the urgent appeal for help from Byzantine Emperor Alexius I. Urban's solution was announced on the last day of the
council when the pope suddenly proclaimed the Crusade against the infidel Muslims. He called for Christian princes across Europe to
launch a holy war in the Holy Land. He contrasted the sanctity of Jerusalem and the holy places with the plunder and desecration by
the infidel Turks. He exited outrage by vividly describing attacks upon the Christian pilgrims. He also noted the military threat to the
fellow Christians of Byzantium. He charged Christians to take up the holy cause, promising to all those who went remission of sins
and to all who died in the expedition immediate entry into heaven.

Then Urban raised secular motives, talking of the feudal love of tournaments and warfare. He urged the barons to give up their
fratricidal and unrighteous wars in the West for the holy war in the East. He also suggested material rewards, regarding feudal
fiefdoms, land ownership, wealth, power, and prestige, all at the expense of the Arabs and Turks. He said they could be defeated very
easily by the Christian forces. When he finished, his listeners shouted "Deus volt" (God wills it). This became the battle cry of the
crusaders. Urban put the bishop of Le Puy in charge of encouraging prelates and priests to join the cause. Word spread rapidly that
war against unbelief would be fused with the practice of pilgrimage to holy sites, and the pilgrims' reward would be great on earth, as
in heaven. Immediately thousands pledged themselves to go on the first crusade. Pope Urban's speech ranks as one of the most
influential speeches ever made: it launched the holy wars which occupied the minds and forces of western Europe for two hundred
years.

2 elements: lay piety + knightly energy (bloody and un-Christian rage) = military-religious expedition against the Seljuk Turks

Pope Urban II placed himself at the head of the movement and carried the masses with him. At that time Henry IV & French King
Phillip I were excommunicated so the Pope became the leader of all western movement.

CAUSES OF THE CRUSADES

a.   Spiritual Awakening
b.   Loss of Holy places i.e. Conquest of Jerusalem (1071) by the Seljuk Turks[2]
c.   Moving complaints of oppressions and exploitations by the pilgrims
d.   Threat to Byzantium by the Seljuk Turks

SUMMARY OF THE CRUSADES

a.   First Crusade or Peasant’s Crusade (1096-1099)

-   Crusaders:   disorganized (leaderless) and unenlightened (uneducated) bands of peasants
-   In the Rhineland there was a bloody pogroms of Jews and in the Balkans as well so that Alexius I did   not allow them to enter
Constantinople.
-  Leader of the Peasants: Under the leadership of hermit Peter Amiens a part was able to reach Asia minor. Most of the peasants died
during the trip.
-  Leaders of the Main Army of the knights:   Raymond of Toulouse, Godfrey of Bouillon (with his brothers Baldwin and Eustachius)
and Norman Bohemond of Tarentum reached Constantinople by various routes.
-   In 1099, Jerusalem was recaptured.
-   The bloodbath is un-Christian and un-Evangelical. It placed a heavy burden upon their conscience but who can judge what went on
the minds of these rough and uneducated warriors whose religious fervor was mixed by a fight for life and death?
-   Result of 1st Crusade:   Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, a liege state with smaller crusading states (principalities) of Tripolis,
Antioch and Edessa

    Godfrey of Bouillon – 1st Protector of the Holy Sepulcher; defeated Egyptian Sultan of Askalon
    Baldwin I (1100-1118) – Christian King of Jerusalem
    Fulco of Anjou (1131-1143) achieved greatest extension of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem
   
b.   Second Crusade (1147-1149)
-    Leaders: Bernard of Clairvaux who persuaded French King Louis VII and German King Konrad III
-    Result:    Jerusalem was lost again in 1187

c.   Third Crusade (1189-1192)

-   Leader:   Emperor Frederick Barbarossa won over the Turks at Ikonium but drowned at Saleph in 1190
-   Result:    English King Richard the Lion-hearted and French King Philip II did not recapture Jerusalem but concluded a Truce with
Sultan Saladin which assures the peaceful visit of Christian pilgrims in the holy land.

d.   Fourth Crusade (1202-1204)

-   Last crusade called by Innocent III
-           Venetian merchants diverted the crusade to Constantinople for selfish commercial interest.
-           Result:  
1st conquest of Constantinople (July 17, 1203)
2nd conquest of Constantinople (April 13, 1204) à Latin Kingdom[3] w/c lasted until 1261
(+) corruption of the crusade: Crusaders must go to the Holy Land

CHILDREN’S CRUSADE (1212)

-       The thought rose of sending defenseless children than armed warriors
-       Leaders:   French Shepherd Boy Stephen and 10 yr old Nicholas of Cologne
-       Result:  Girls were cruelly abused by swindler.
Others were sold as slaves in Alexandria to ship owners

FRANCIS OF ASSISI
-       He adopted peaceful conversion than crushing conquest.
-       He visited the Sultan at Damietta to bring him the message of the Gospel.
-       When the Christians ravaged Damietta in 1219 and captured, they were spared by the Sultan.

e.   Other Crusades

1).   Fifth Crusade (1228-1229)
-   Leader:  a private Project of Emperor Frederick II (excommunicated at this time)
-  Result:   He negotiated with the Egyptian Sultan and Jerusalem was returned to the Christians but in
                 1244 the city was lost for good.

2).   Sixth Crusade (1248-1254)

-           Leader:   Louis IX (saint) of France who wanted to conquer Egypt and eventually Holy Land
-           Result:             
The French army was defeated in Cairo (April 1250). The king was captured with his troops
In 1270,   Louis IX undertook a second crusade à failure
In 1291, Acre and the last vestiges of the crusading states were lost. 

THE KNIGHT ORDERS

-           Monastic knights are the most unique phenomena in the middle ages.
-           The three orders of knights owe their existence to the crusading experience of the Holy land.
-   Vows: poverty, chastity, obedience, care of exhausted and sick pilgrims, protection of the holy places against the infidels.

a.   Order of St. John (1120)

-   It was founded in 1099 as the Brotherhood of the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem
-   It was reorganized into an order in 1120
-   Habit: Black coat with white cross
-   Seats of Order:         Cyprus (1291) à Rhodes (1309) à Malta (1539); Hence, Maltese Order.

b. Order of the Templars (ca.1118)

-   It was founded in 1118 by 8 French knights in the Temple of Solomon
-   Habit:           White coat with red cross  
-   Seat of Order:           Cyprus
-   It was dissolved by the Council of Vienne due to the intrigues of the French King Philip the fair (1311-1312)

c. Order of the Teutonic Knights (1198)

-   It was founded in 1189/1190 as a collegiate brotherhood by citizens of Bremen and Lübeck
-   It was reorganized into an order in 1198
-   Grand Master:          Hermann of Salza (1210-1239) Prussia became the seat of Order
-   Seat or Order:           Marienburg, Prussia
-   The order was devoted in building a state and spreading Christianity in the Baltic.
-   Habit:          White coat with Black cross (Baliktad ng Order of St. John!)
-   In 1525, Grand Master Albrecht of Brandenburg seized the state refashioned it into a secular Protestant dukedom.

THE MEANING OF THE CRUSADE MOVEMENTS

CONCLUSION
a.     The Holy Land remained in the hands of the Moslems.
b.     Millions may have died leaving their children behind
c.     By bringing the war at the heart of the Moslems, the crusade avoided or at least postponed the invasion of Europe.
d.     European Renaissance can be understood.
e.     A religiosity that is more Bible-oriented had a political awakening. The Bible was read with new eyes. There is a need to
rediscover apostolic poverty.

POSITIVE SIGNIFICANCE
a.   It greatly strengthened the consciousness of the west
b.   It expanded European horizon.
c.   It promoted scientific learning through encounter with Byzantine and Islamic Cultures
d.   Exchange of goods and commerce between two civilizations
e.   Eastern influence on the growth of western Philosophy, Theology.
f.  Western piety à the crusaders for the sake of Christ faced the perils of peregrinatio religiosa    (religious pilgrimage), bearing the
cross in imitation of Christ.
g.   Christian poverty movement was reawakened.

SUMMARY

1095 AD         -           First Crusade called for by Pope Urban II

1096 AD         -           People's Crusade begins
1099 AD         -           Jerusalem taken, the massacre of Jews and Muslims taints all views of the crusades to the present day
1119 AD         -           Christian states erected, Templars and Hospitallers founded
1147 AD         -           Second Crusade, short and sweet - Christian army loses
1187 AD         -           Saladin retakes Jerusalem, crusaders' castles fall
1189 - 1192 AD - Third Crusade, Richard the Lionheart, Christian army regains some ground, but fails to retake Jerusalem
1204 AD         - Fourth Crusade, never reaches the Holy Land, sacks Constantinople instead - not a boost for ecumenism
1212 AD         - Children's Crusade, total disaster, as they either die or become slaves
1217 - 1222 AD - Fifth Crusade, tries for Egypt, fails
1228 AD         - Sixth Crusade, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II reoccupies Jerusalem under a peace treaty, not for long
1248 AD         - Seventh Crusade, tries for Egypt again, King Louis IX (Saint Louis) captured
1291 AD         - Acre falls, end of European presence in the Holy Land

REQUIRED READING: Crash Course on the Crusades by Steve Weidenkopf[4]

The Crusades are one of the most misunderstood events in Western and Church history. The very word “crusades” conjures negative
images in our modern world of bloodthirsty and greedy European nobles embarked on a conquest of peaceful Muslims. The Crusades
are considered by many to be one of the “sins” the Christian Faith has committed against humanity and with the Inquisition are the go-
to cudgels for bashing the Church.

While the mocking and generally nasty portrayal of the Crusades and Crusaders on the big screen ranges from Monty Python farce to
the cringe worthy big budget spectacles like Kingdom of Heaven (2005), it is the biased and bad scholarship such as Steven
Runciman’s History of the Crusades, or the BBC/A&E documentary, The Crusades, hosted by Terry Jones (of Monty Python acclaim)
that does real damage. From academia to pop-culture, the message is reinforced and driven home with resounding force: the Crusades
were bad and obviously so. The real story is of course far more complicated and far more interesting.

It is worth our time to be versed in the facts and especially to recall the tremendous faith, sacrifice, and courage that inspired the vast
majority of the Crusaders to act in defense of Christendom.

What were the Crusades?

When answering the question “what were the Crusades” one has to keep in mind that Crusading took on many different forms
throughout the movement which spanned a significant portion of European history lasting from 1095 – 1798.

There were Crusades against the Muslims (in the Holy Land, in Spain, in the Balkans and even in Austria); against pagan tribes in the
Baltic regions; against heretics (notably in southern France); and even against enemies of the Pope (e.g. the Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II).
Despite the many different forms, there were four essential ingredients that classified an armed expedition as a Crusade:

The taking of the Cross

Participants took a public, binding ecclesiastical vow to join a military expedition with defined aims. As a sign of their vow, they
sewed a red cross onto their garments. The cross could only be removed upon successful completion of their armed pilgrimage.

Papal endorsement
A Crusade had to be called by the Pope or endorsed by him.

Privileges
A crusader received certain privileges from the Church, specifically, the protection of family and property. Those who attacked a
crusader’s land were subject to severe ecclesiastical penalties (including excommunication). Additional privileges included the right to
demand and receive hospitality from the Church on the journey, exemption from tolls and taxes, immunity from arrest, and exemption
from interest payments.

Indulgence
Crusaders were granted a partial or plenary indulgence for completion of their armed pilgrimage.
When most people think of the Crusades they simple think it was a prolonged martial engagement of European knights against the
Muslims in the Holy Land. The truth is that each expedition was launched for distinct reasons with years and even decades separating
the campaigns. Crusade historians have traditionally numbered these distinct expeditions in the following manner:

Crusade Dates Major Events Major Characters

First 1096 –1102 ·       Liberation of Antioch - 1098 ·       Godfrey of Bouillon
·       Liberation of Jerusalem - 1099 ·       Raymond of Toulouse
·       Bohemond
·       Bishop Adhemar
Second 1147 – 1149 ·       Siege of Damascus (failed) ·       Louis VII of France
·       Conrad III – Holy Roman Emperor (HRE)
Third 1189 – 1192 ·       Liberation of Acre – 1191 ·       Saladin
·       Treaty = Christian access to ·       HRE Frederick Barbarossa
Jerusalem for 3 years ·       Richard I – King of England
·       Philip II – King of France
Fourth 1201 – 1205 ·       Sack of Constantinople ·       Pope Innocent III
– 1204 ·       Doge Enricho Dandolo – Venice
·       Alexius Angelus
·       Boniface of Montferrat
Fifth 1218 – 1221 ·       Invasion of Egypt ·       Cardinal Pelagius
·       St. FrancisAl-Kamil
Sixth (a.k.a. Crusade of 1228 – 1229 ·       Restoration of Jerusalem by ·       HRE Frederick II
Frederick II) treaty

With this backdrop, we can now address the five most enduring modern myths regarding the Crusades.

Myth #1: The Crusades were wars of unprovoked aggression

From its beginnings, Islam has been a violent and imperialistic movement. Within 100 years of the death of Mohammed, Islamic
armies had conquered ancient Christian lands in the Middle East, North Africa, and Spain. The Holy City of Jerusalem was captured
in 638. Islamic armies launched raids throughout the Mediterranean and even attacked Rome in 846. Life in the conquered regions for
Christians was not easy; many were forced to convert, others converted due to societal pressure (Christians and Jews were considered
to be barely above the status of slaves in Islamic society); still others maintained the Faith at great risk.

Although there were periods of relative peace and calm between Muslims and Christians, including Christian pilgrims from Europe,
the situation radically changed in the early 11 thcentury when the Egyptian Muslim ruler of Jerusalem ordered the destruction of the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The church was later rebuilt, but the arrival of the Seljuk Turks (non-Arab Muslims), who conquered Jerusalem from the Egyptian
Muslims in the late 11th century, negatively altered the landscape for the Christians. In 1065 the Seljuks began a campaign of
persecution against Christian pilgrims in the Holy Land in which the Bishop of Bamberg and 12,000 pilgrims were massacred by the
Muslims only two miles from Jerusalem. They waged war against the Christian Byzantine Empire, winning a decisive victory at the
Battle of Manzikert (1071). It was this event that one historian has described as “the shock that launched the Crusades.”[1]

After losing the Battle of Manzikert, the Byzantine Emperor wrote the Pope a letter requesting western aid. It was for this reason and
for the liberation of Jerusalem and other ancient Christian lands that eventually led Pope Bl. Urban II to call the First Crusade at the
Council of Clermont on November 27, 1095.

The Crusaders understood they were participating in an armed pilgrimage for the restoration of ancient Christian lands. The Crusades
were defensive wars aimed at the restoration of property not unprovoked aggressive campaigns of conquest.

Myth #2: The Crusades were about European greed for booty, plunder and the establishment of colonies.
Scholarship over the last forty years has clearly demonstrated the fallacy of this modern myth, yet it still persists. The myth postulates
the reason for the Crusades grew out of the European population boom experienced in the mid 11 th century, which saw the rise of
numerous second and third born sons who could not inherit the family land. As a result, European society became violent and the
Church channeled this violence by directing the attention of these latter born sons to the Holy Land where they could acquire land and
wealth through violent conquest. In short, the Crusades were colonial enterprises aimed at increasing European wealth. This sounds
logical; however, the facts do not fit the myth.

Modern scholars have shown through meticulous research that it was the first-born sons, not the second and third, who made up the
majority of Crusaders. As one historian has remarked, “it was not those with the least to lose who took up the cross, but rather those
with the most.”[2] The vast majority of Crusaders actually left the Holy Land and returned home upon completion of their vows; just
as pilgrims today go to a church or shrine and then return home.

Of the 60,000 fighting men who went on the First Crusade, only 300 knights and 2,000 infantry remained after the liberation of
Jerusalem.

If the Crusades were an ancient land-grab, then why did so many European knights travel 2,500 miles, finance four times their annual
income for expenses and risk certain death to go?

It is hard for the modern mind to grasp the reality that the society of the late 11 th and early 12th century was a society rooted in the
Catholic Faith. Men left the comfort of home to engage in an armed pilgrimage because of their love for Christ and a concern for their
souls.

Records left by these first Crusaders show they were motivated by the granting of a plenary indulgence in reparation for their sins.
One crusader, Odo of Burgundy, undertook

“the journey to Jerusalem as a penance for my sins… Since divine mercy inspired me that owing to the enormity of my sins I should
go to the Sepulchre of Our Savior, in order that this offering of my devotion might be more acceptable in the sight of God, I decided
not unreasonably that I should make the journey with the peace of all men and most greatly of the servants of God. ”[3] Indeed, one
contemporary chronicler remarked, “the Crusader set himself the task of winning back the earthly Jerusalem in order to enjoy the
celestial Jerusalem.”[4]

Although many crusaders were motivated by piety, of course not all participants had such pure motives. As with any human
undertaking, the Crusades also drew men more concerned with temporal affairs than spiritual affairs. “A crusade army was a curious
mix of rich and poor, saints and sinners, motivated by every kind of pious and selfish desire…”[5]

Recognizing this reality does not give credence to the modern myth, rather it acknowledges human nature. The fact remains that the
vast majority of crusaders were pious warriors fighting to liberate the land of Christ from the yoke of the Muslims in order to bring
peace.

Myth #3: When Jerusalem was captured in 1099 the crusaders killed all the inhabitants – so many were killed that the blood flowed
ankle deep through the city.
Soon after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, former President Bill Clinton gave a speech at Georgetown University wherein he
embraced this modern myth and said one reason why Muslims dislike the Western world was because of the massacre of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem in 1099.

Despite the obvious physical inability for blood to flow ankle-deep through a city, this myth fails to take into account the harsh reality
and rules of 11th century warfare. Standard practice at the time dictated that a city that refused to surrender at the sight of a siege army
would suffer any and all consequences of a successful siege; this is why many cities agreed to terms before commencement of the
siege.
Both Christian and Muslim armies followed this policy. If a city surrendered before the siege, the inhabitants were allowed to remain
in the city and keep their possessions. Crusaders allowed Muslims to keep their faith and practice it openly upon surrender. In the case
of Jerusalem, most of the city had fled at the news of the incoming Christian army. When the Crusaders broke through the defenses
and took the city, they did kill many inhabitants, including non-combatants; others were ransomed and some were expelled.

Myth #4: The Crusades were also wars against the Jews and should be considered the first Holocaust.
As the First Crusaders marched through Europe on their way to the Holy Land via Constantinople, many smaller bands of armed men
followed in their wake. A leader of one of these bands, Count Emich took it upon himself to march down the Rhine valley targeting
various Jewish communities.

Emich embraced the anti-Semitic notion that it was pointless for Crusaders to march 2,500 miles to fight Islam when there were
“enemies of Christ” in their midst. His force engaged in pogroms in numerous German towns in search of money and a misguided and
unsanctioned sense of holiness. The Church in no way endorsed Count Emich’s tactics and many bishops tried to protect local Jews;
indeed, the Bishop of Speyer had those engaged in pogroms arrested, tried and punished. The Bishop of Mainz allowed local Jews to
take up refuge in his palace; unfortunately, Count Emich violated this sanctuary, stormed the palace and killed them all. It is important
to note that numerous contemporary chronicles condemn the actions of Emich and like-minded men. The Church also actively spoke
out against such outrages.

During the time of the Second Crusade (1147 – 1149), St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who after the Pope was the most well-known and
respected churchman in Christendom, spoke out strongly against anti-Semitism. He wrote, “We have heard with joy that zeal for God
burns in you, but wisdom must not be lacking from this zeal. The Jews are not to be persecuted, nor killed, nor even forced to flee.”[6]

A Cistercian monk named Radulf preached and exhorted the people to engage in pogroms in the Rhineland. Upon hearing reports of
Radulf’s preaching, St. Bernard went to Germany, severely rebuked Radulf and sent him back to his monastery.

None of the anti-Jewish “armies” made it to the East, after their rampage of murder and plunder, the brigands dispersed. So, these
groups cannot accurately be called Crusaders. Although numerous Jewish populations were harmed during the time of the crusading
movement, these attacks were not directly part of the movement as none of the main armies participated in them and the Church did
not sanction the attacks, rather, she worked to stop them.

Myth #5: The Crusades are the source of the modern tension between Islam and the West
Those searching for answers to explain the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have turned to the Crusades. They cite the Crusades as
the reason for Islamic hatred of the West and believe Muslims are trying to “right the wrongs” of centuries of oppression stemming
from the Crusades. Little do these individuals know that the Crusades were mostly forgotten in the Islamic world until the 20 th century.

From an Islamic perspective, the Crusades were an insignificant historical period, only lasting 195 years (from 1096 – 1291);
interestingly, the first Arabic history of the Crusades was not written until 1899. The main reason for this lack of interest stemmed
from the fact that the Crusades were unsuccessful in establishing the permanent liberation of the Holy Land.
As an example of the lack of import Islam placed on the Crusades concerns Kaiser Wilhelm II (1888 –1918) and the Muslim general
Saladin.

Saladin was the great liberator of Jerusalem, re-conquering the city from the Christians in 1187 after a decisive victory over a large
Christian army at the Battle of Hattin. He also fought battles against the legendary King Richard I, the Lionheart, during the Third
Crusade, as a result, the name and fame of Saladin was well remembered in Europe throughout the centuries. In 1899, Kaiser Wilhelm
traveled to Damascus and while there desired to visit the tomb of Saladin. When he found it, he was shocked at its dilapidated state.
The tomb of the man who had united Islam in the 12 th century and re-conquered most of the Crusader states, had been forgotten and
allowed to decay. The Kaiser laid a wreath with the inscription, “to the Hero Sultan Saladin” and then paid for the restoration of the
tomb. [7]

It wasn’t until widespread European colonialism after the breakup of the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the early 20 th century that the
Crusades came to be used as anti-imperialist propaganda both in European academia and in the Muslim world. This propaganda has,
unfortunately, found widespread acceptance and focus in the Muslim world and has led to a gross historical misunderstanding.

One Crusade historian has remarked how “generations of Arab school children have been taught that the crusades were a clear case
of good vs. evil. Rapacious and zealous crusaders swept into a peaceful and sophisticated Muslim world leaving carnage and
destruction in their wake.”[8]
This false history was exploited by the likes of Osama bin Laden and continues with other Jihadists groups today, which frequently
use crusading imagery and even the term “crusaders” in relation to the Western world. Mehmet Ali A?ca, the man who attempted to
assassinate Pope John Paul II, was enamored with this false history as he stated,  “I have decided to kill Pope John Paul II, supreme
commander of the crusades.”[9]
There are many reasons for the current tension between Islam and the West but the Crusades are not one of them. In  The New Concise
History of the Crusades Thomas Madden summarizes the situation today well:

“…that led to the attacks of September 11, but the artificial memory of the crusades constructed by modern colonial powers and
passed down by Arab nationalists and Islamists. They stripped the medieval expeditions of every aspect of their age and dressed them
up instead in the tattered rags of 19th century imperialism. As such, they have become an icon for modern agendas that medieval
Christians and Muslims could scarcely have understood, let alone condoned.”[10]

Pope Benedict XVI has emphasized the need for a “New Evangelization” to re-spread the Faith to areas of the world where it has been
lost or forgotten. Part of the New Evangelization is learning the authentic history of the Church and Western Civilization. No greater
example, of an area where authentic learning is paramount, is found than the Crusades.

[1] Hilaire Belloc, The Crusades – the World’s Debate, ( Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1992), 17.
[2] Thomas Madden, New Concise History of the Crusades, (New York, NY: Rowan & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2005), 12.
[3] Quoted in Ibid., 148.
[4] Quoted in Regine Pernoud, The Crusaders – the Struggle for the Holy Land, trans. Enid Grant, (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press,
2003) 23.
[5] Madden, New Concise History, 13.
[6] St. Bernard, Epistolae, quoted in Chronicles of the Crusades, ed. Elizabeth Hallam, (New York, NY: Weidenfeld and Nicolson,
1989), 126.
[7] Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Crusades – A History, 2nd ed., (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005), 305.
[8] Madden, New Concise History, 220.
[9] Madden, editor, Crusades the Illustrated History, (Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, 2004), 208.
[10] Madden, New Concise History, 222.

[1] Mecca is first and Medina is second.

[2] One of the two famous division of Turks ( Seljuk and Ottoman). They were terrible people coming from the East.
[3] Byzantium developed hatred to the Latin Church
[4] Steve Weidenkopf is a Lecturer of Church history at the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College and the creator and
presentor of the adult faith-formation program Epic: A Journey through Church History He is a member of the Society for the Study of
the Crusades & the Latin East and the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. He and his family live in Northern Virginia.

4
Lesson 28 - The Knights Templars
The Knights Templars were the earliest founders of the military orders, and are the type on which the others are modeled. They are
marked in history (1) by their humble beginning, (2) by their marvelous growth, and (3) by their tragic end.

Their humble beginning

Immediately after the deliverance of Jerusalem, the Crusaders, considering their vow fulfilled, returned in a body to their homes. The
defense of this precarious conquest, surrounded as it was by Mohammedan neighbors, remained. In 1118, during the reign of Baldwin
II, Hugues de Payens, a knight of Champagne, and eight companions bound themselves by a perpetual vow, taken in the presence of
the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to defend the Christian kingdom. Baldwin accepted their services and assigned them a portion of his
palace, adjoining the temple of the city; hence their title "pauvres chevaliers du temple" (Poor Knights of the Temple). Poor indeed
they were, being reduced to living on alms, and, so long as they were only nine, they were hardly prepared to render important
services, unless it were as escorts to the pilgrims on their way from Jerusalem to the banks of the Jordan, then frequented as a place of
devotion.

The Templars had as yet neither distinctive habit nor rule. Hugues de Payens journeyed to the West to seek the approbation of the
Church and to obtain recruits. At the Council of Troyes (1128), at which he assisted and at which St. Bernard was the leading spirit,
the Knights Templars adopted the Rule of St. Benedict, as recently reformed by the Cistercians. They accepted not only the three
perpetual vows, besides the crusader's vow, but also the austere rules concerning the chapel, the refectory, and the dormitory. They
also adopted the white habit of the Cistercians, adding to it a red cross.
Notwithstanding the austerity of the monastic rule, recruits flocked to the new order, which thenceforth comprised four ranks of
brethren:

1. the knights, equipped like the heavy cavalry of the Middle Ages;
2. the serjeants, who formed the light cavalry;
3. and two ranks of non-fighting men:
a. the farmers, entrusted with the administration of temporals;
b. and the chaplains, who alone were vested with sacerdotal orders, to minister to the spiritual needs of the order.

Their marvelous growth

The order owed its rapid growth in popularity to the fact that it combined the two great passions of the Middle Ages, religious fervour
and martial prowess. Even before the Templars had proved their worth, the ecclesiastical and lay authorities heaped on them favours
of every kind, spiritual and temporal. The popes took them under their immediate protection, exempting them from all other
jurisdiction, episcopal or secular. Their property was assimilated to the church estates and exempted from all taxation, even from the
ecclesiastical tithes, while their churches and cemeteries could not be placed under interdict. This soon brought about conflict with the
clergy of the Holy Land, inasmuch as the increase of the landed property of the order led, owing to its exemption from tithes, to the
diminution of the revenue of the churches, and the interdicts, at that time used and abused by the episcopate, became to a certain
extent inoperative wherever the order had churches and chapels in which Divine worship was regularly held. As early as 1156 the
clergy of the Holy Land tried to restrain the exorbitant privileges of the military orders, but in Rome every objection was set aside, the
result being a growing antipathy on the part of the secular clergy against these orders. The temporal benefits which the order received
from all the sovereigns of Europe were no less important. The Templars had commanderies in every state. In France they formed no
less than eleven bailiwicks, subdivided into more than forty-two commanderies; in Palestine it was for the most part with sword in
hand that the Templars extended their possessions at the expense of the Mohammedans. Their castles are still famous owing to the
remarkable ruins which remain: Safèd, built in 1140; Karak of the desert (1143); and, most importantly of all, Castle Pilgrim, built in
1217 to command a strategic defile on the sea-coast.

In these castles, which were both monasteries and cavalry-barracks, the life of the Templars was full of contrasts. A contemporary
describes the Templars as "in turn lions of war and lambs at the hearth; rough knights on the battlefield, pious monks in the chapel;
formidable to the enemies of Christ, gentleness itself towards His friends." (Jacques de Vitry). Having renounced all the pleasures of
life, they faced death with a proud indifference; they were the first to attack, the last to retreat, always docile to the voice of their
leader, the discipline of the monk being added to the discipline of the soldier. As an army they were never very numerous. A
contemporary tells us that there were 400 knights in Jerusalem at the zenith of their prosperity; he does not give the number of
serjeants, who were more numerous. But it was a picked body of men who, by their noble example, inspirited the remainder of the
Christian forces. They were thus the terror of the Mohammedans. Were they defeated, it was upon them that the victor vented his fury,
the more so as they were forbidden to offer a ransom. When taken prisoners, they scornfully refused the freedom offered them on
condition of apostasy. At the siege of Safed (1264), at which ninety Templars met death, eighty others were taken prisoners, and,
refusing to deny Christ, died martyrs to the Faith. This fidelity cost them dear. It has been computed that in less than two centuries
almost 20,000 Templars, knights and serjeants, perished in war.

These frequent hecatombs rendered it difficult for the order to increase in numbers and also brought about a decadence of the true
crusading spirit. As the order was compelled to make immediate use of the recruits, the article of the original rule in Latin which
required a probationary period fell into desuetude. Even excommunicated men, who, as was the case with many crusaders, wished to
expiate their sins, were admitted. All that was required of a new member was a blind obedience, as imperative in the soldier as in the
monk. He had to declare himself forever "serf et esclave de la maison" (French text of the rule). To prove his sincerity, he was
subjected to a secret test concerning the nature of which nothing has ever been discovered, although it gave rise to the most
extraordinary accusations. The great wealth of the order may also have contributed to a certain laxity in morals, but the most serious
charge against it was its insupportable pride and love of power. At the apogee of its prosperity, it was said to possess 9000 estates.
With its accumulated revenues it had amassed great wealth, which was deposited in its temples at Paris and London. Numerous
princes and private individuals had banked there their personal property, because of the uprightness and solid credit of such bankers.
In Paris the royal treasure was kept in the Temple. Quite independent, except from the distant authority of the pope, and possessing
power equal to that of the leading temporal sovereigns, the order soon assumed the right to direct the weak and irresolute government
of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a feudal kingdom transmissible through women and exposed to all the disadvantages of minorities,
regencies, and domestic discord. However, the Templars were soon opposed by the Order of Hospitallers, which had in its turn
become military, and was at first the imitator and later the rival of the Templars. This ill-timed interference of the orders in the
government of Jerusalem only multiplied the intestine dessentions, and this at a time when the formidable power of Saladin threatened
the very existence of the Latin Kingdom. While the Templars sacrificed themselves with their customary bravery in this final struggle,
they were, nevertheless, partly responsible for the downfall of Jerusalem.

To put an end to this baneful rivalry between the military orders, there was a very simple remedy at hand, namely their amalgamation.
This was officially proposed by St. Louis at the Council of Lyons (1274). It was proposed anew in 1293 by Pope Nicholas IV, who
called a general consultation on this point of the Christian states. This idea is canvassed by all the publicists of that time, who demand
either a fusion of the existing orders or the creation of a third order to supplant them. Never in fact had the question of the crusaders
been more eagerly taken up than after their failure. As the grandson of St. Louis, Philip the Fair could not remain indifferent to these
proposals for a crusade. As the most powerful prince of his time, the direction of the movement belonged to him. To assume this
direction, all he demanded was the necessary supplies of men and especially of money. Such is the genesis of his campaign for the
suppression of the Templars. It has been attributed wholly to his well-known cupidity. Even on this supposition he needed a pretext,
for he could not, without sacrilege, lay hands on possessions that formed part of the ecclesiastical domain. To justify such a course the
sanction of the Church was necessary, and this the king could obtain only by maintaining the sacred purpose for which the possessions
were destined. Admitting that he was sufficiently powerful to encroach upon the property of the Templars in France, he still needed
the concurrence of the Church to secure control of their possessions in the other countries of Christendom. Such was the purpose of
the wily negotiations of this self-willed and cunning sovereign, and of his still more treacherous counsellors, with Clement V, a
French pope of weak character and easily deceived. The rumour that there had been a prearrangement between the king and the pope
has been finally disposed of. A doubtful revelation, which allowed Philip to make the prosecution of the Templars as heretics a
question of orthodoxy, afforded him the opportunity which he desired to invoke the action of the Holy See.

Their tragic end

In the trial of the Templars two phases must be distinguished: the royal commission and the papal commission.

First phase: the royal commission

Philip the Fair made a preliminary inquiry, and, on the strength of so-called revelations of a few unworthy and degraded members,
secret orders were sent throughout France to arrest all the Templars on the same day (13 October, 1307), and to submit them to a most
rigorous examination. The king did this, it was made to appear, at the request of the ecclesiastical inquisitors, but in reality without
their co-operation.

In this inquiry torture, the use of which was authorized by the cruel procedure of the age in the case of crimes committed without
witnesses, was pitilessly employed. Owing to the lack of evidence, the accused could be convicted only through their own confession
and, to extort this confession, the use of torture was considered necessary and legitimate.

There was one feature in the organization of the order which gave rise to suspicion, namely the secrecy with which the rites of
initiation were conducted. The secrecy is explained by the fact that the receptions always took place in a chapter, and the chapters,
owing to the delicate and grave questions discussed, were, and necessarily had to be, held in secret. An indiscretion in the matter of
secrecy entailed exclusion from the order. The secrecy of these initiations, however, had two grave disadvantages.

As these receptions could take place wherever there was a commandery, they were carried on without publicity and were free from all
surveillance or control from the higher authorities, the tests being entrusted to the discretion of subalterns who were often rough and
uncultivated. Under such conditions, it is not to be wondered at that abuses crept in. One need only recall what took place almost daily
at the time in the brotherhoods of artisans, the initiation of a new member being too often made the occasion for a parody more or less
sacrilegious of baptism or of the Mass.

The second disadvantage of this secrecy was, that it gave an opportunity to the enemies of the Templars, and they were numerous, to
infer from this mystery every conceivable malicious supposition and base on it the monstrous imputations. The Templars were
accused of spitting upon the Cross, of denying Christ, of permitting sodomy, of worshipping an idol, all in the most impenetrable
secrecy. Such were the Middle Ages, when prejudice was so vehement that, to destroy an adversary, men did not recoil from inventing
the most criminal charges. It will suffice to recall the similar, but even more ridiculous than ignominious accusations brought against
Pope Boniface VIII by the same Philip the Fair.

Most of the accused declared themselves guilty of these secret crimes after being subjected to such ferocious torture that many of them
succumbed. Some made similar confessions without the use of torture, it is true, but through fear of it; the threat had been sufficient.
Such was the case with the grand master himself, Jacques de Molay, who acknowledged later that he had lied to save his life.

Carried on without the authorization of the pope, who had the military orders under his immediate jurisdiction, this investigation was
radically corrupt both as to its intent and as to its procedure. Not only did Clement V enter an energetic protest, but he annulled the
entire trial and suspended the powers of the bishops and their inquisitors. However, the offense had been admitted and remained the
irrevocable basis of the entire subsequent proceedings. Philip the Fair took advantage of the discovery to have bestowed upon himself
by the University of Paris the title of Champion and Defender of the Faith, and also to stir up public opinion at the States General of
Tours against the heinous crimes of the Templars. Moreover, he succeeded in having the confessions of the accused confirmed in
presence of the pope by seventy-two Templars, who had been specially chosen and coached beforehand. In view of this investigation
at Poitiers (June, 1308), the pope, until then sceptical, at last became concerned and opened a new commission, the procedure of
which he himself directed. He reserved the cause of the order to the papal commission, leaving individuals to be tried by the diocesan
commissions to whom he restored their powers.
Second phase: the papal commission

The second phase of the process was the papal inquiry, which was not restricted to France, but extended to all the Christian countries
of Europe, and even to the Orient. In most of the other countries — Portugal, Spain, Germany, Cyprus — the Templars were found
innocent; in Italy, except for a few districts, the decision was the same. But in France the episcopal inquisitions, resuming their
activities, took the facts as established at the trial, and confined themselves to reconciling the repentant guilty members, imposing
various canonical penances extending even to perpetual imprisonment. Only those who persisted in heresy were to be turned over to
the secular arm, but, by a rigid interpretation of this provision, those who had withdrawn their former confessions were considered
relapsed heretics; thus fifty-four Templars who had recanted after having confessed were condemned as relapsed and publicly burned
on 12 May, 1310. Subsequently all the other Templars, who had been examined at the trial, with very few exceptions declared
themselves guilty.

At the same time the papal commission, appointed to examine the cause of the order, had entered upon its duties and gathered together
the documents which were to be submitted to the pope, and to the general council called to decide as to the final fate of the order. The
culpability of single persons, which was looked upon as established, did not involve the guilt of the order. Although the defense of the
order was poorly conducted, it could not be proved that the order as a body professed any heretical doctrine, or that a secret rule,
distinct from the official rule, was practised. Consequently, at the General Council of Vienne in Dauphiné on 16 October, 1311, the
majority were favourable to the maintenance of the order.

The pope, irresolute and harrassed, finally adopted a middle course: he decreed the dissolution, not the condemnation of the order, and
not by penal sentence, but by an Apostolic Decree (Bull of 22 March, 1312). The order having been suppressed, the pope himself was
to decide as to the fate of its members and the disposal of its possessions. As to the property, it was turned over to the rival Order of
Hospitallers to be applied to its original use, namely the defence of the Holy Places. In Portugal, however, and in Aragon the
possessions were vested in two new orders, the Order of Christ in Portugal and the Order of Montesa in Aragon. As to the members,
the Templars recognized guiltless were allowed either to join another military order or to return to the secular state. In the latter case, a
pension for life, charged to the possessions of the order, was granted them. On the other hand, the Templars who had pleaded guilty
before their bishops were to be treated "according to the rigours of justice, tempered by a generous mercy".

The pope reserved to his own judgment the cause of the grand master and his three first dignitaries. They had confessed their guilt; it
remained to reconcile them with the Church, after they had testified to their repentance with the customary solemnity. To give this
solemnity more publicity, a platform was erected in front of the Notre-Dame for the reading of the sentence. But at the supreme
moment the grand master recovered his courage and proclaimed the innocence of the Templars and the falsity of his own alleged
confessions. To atone for this deplorable moment of weakness, he declared himself ready to sacrifice his life. He knew the fate that
awaited him. Immediately after this unexpected coup-de-théâtre he was arrested as a relapsed heretic with another dignitary who chose
to share his fate, and by order of Philip they were burned at the stake before the gates of the palace. This brave death deeply impressed
the people, and, as it happened that the pope and the king died shortly afterwards, the legend spread that the grand master in the midst
of the flames had summoned them both to appear in the course of the year before the tribunal of God.

Such was the tragic end of the Templars. If we consider that the Order of Hospitallers finally inherited, although not without
difficulties, the property of the Templars and received many of its members, we may say that the result of the trial was practically
equivalent to the long-proposed amalgamation of the two rival orders. For the Knights (first of Rhodes, afterwards of Malta) took up
and carried on elsewhere the work of the Knights of the Temple.

This formidable trial, the greatest ever brought to light whether we consider the large number of accused, the difficulty of discovering
the truth from a mass of suspicious and contradictory evidence, or the many jurisdictions in activity simultaneously in all parts of
Christendom from Great Britain to Cyprus, is not yet ended. It is still passionately discussed by historians who have divided into two
camps, for and against the order. To mention only the principal ones, the following find the order guilty: Dupuy (1654), Hammer
(1820), Wilcke (1826), Michelet (1841), Loiseleur (1872), Prutz (1888), and Rastoul (1905); the following find it innocent: Father
Lejeune (1789), Raynouard (1813), Havemann (1846), Ladvocat (1880), Schottmuller (1887), Gmelin (1893), Lea (1888), Fincke
(1908). Without taking any side in this discussion, which is not yet exhausted, we may observe that the latest documents brought to
light, particularly those which Fincke has recently extracted from the archives of the Kingdom of Aragon, tell more and more strongly
in favor of the order.

Lesson 20 - The New Spirit of the West

- The spirit of reform which started in Cluny soon influenced the whole life of the Christian West.
- Spirituality is not measured according to the visible achievement of an epoch but by the quality of its inwardness and depth, by the
degree in which Christ’s life is imitated, and by the way it receives the message of the Gospel.
- With regard to spirituality, Reform means there was an existing spirituality that was restructured while Renaissance means new
spirituality.

VITA APOSTOLICA
- After Cluny, many lived as hermits in the wilderness, either isolated or in colonies; others became wandering preachers and
penitents.
- The ideal of life, which guided these individuals, was the vita apostolica. It is the return to the apostolic poverty of the early
Church.

MONASTIC LIFE

A. St. Romualdus and the Camaldolese

St. Romualdus
ST.ROMUALDUS (951-1072)
- - a.k.a. the Fireman
- - He would like to inspire the whole world with his sense of contrition and “to change it into nothing but a hermitage.”
- - To atone for a capital crime committed by his father, he entered the Monastery of S. Apollinare at Classe near his home town
Ravenna after a wild youth.
- He founded Fonte Avellana, Camaldoli (main foundation. Hence, Camaldolese), etc.
- - The Camaldolese community is a mixture of hermits and cenobites: only the beginners lived in a community under the Benedictine
Rule while advanced ones settled in hermitages around the main house.

ST.PETER DAMIAN (1007-1072)

- a Camaldolese who was made cardinal (1057) and leader of the Roman Reform Party.
- A doctor of the Church

ST. NILUS (+1005)

- He founded the Basilian monastery of Grottaferrata.

ST. JOHN GUALBERT (1073)

- His father was assassinated and promised vengeance but when he saw his father’s assassin he cried.
- He created a center of spiritual rejuvenation at Vallombrosa.

B. Itinerant Preachers
-ex. Robert of Abrissel (1073), Vitalis of Tierceville (+1122)
They roamed in Germany and France and lived the Vita Apostolica (of poverty and voluntary renunciation) as an example for the
people.

C. St. Bruno and the Carthusians

- Founder of the Order of Carthusians (1084)
- Bishopric of Reims à withdrew from public life à founder the 1st Cartusia in the Grande Chartreuse
- (+) foundations in La Torre and S. Stefano
- They preserve spirit of genuine religiosity through prayer and introspection
- The Order survived the late Middle Ages and Reformation without loss: “Cartusia numquam reformata, quia numquam deformata”

D. St. Bernard and the Cistercians

- The Order of Cistercians instigated the call for reform of Benedictine monasticism
- Robert of Molesme (+1111) + 20 companions à founded a strict Benedictine reform monastery in Citeaux.
- Abbots Alberic (1099-1109) and Stephen Harding (1109-1133) à drafted the Carta Caritatis(Charter of Love)

THE REFORM OF BENEDICTINE MONASTICISM

In the Charta Caritatis, apostolic poverty, solitude for prayer, and regular manual labor were emphasized.
The Cistercians rejected the traditional feudal order in the monastic sphere because of the wealth which easily accompanies it.

On April 1112, he knocked at the gate of Citeaux with 30 companions

Through him the Benedictine reformed monastery gained impetus.
In 1115, Bernard moved to Clairvaux + 12 companions and established a new community.

During his lifetime he founded 68 monasteries and at his death it had grown to 350 à 530 à 700 monasteries and 900 nunneries.
Bernard’s goals:
(1) sanctification and intensification of Benedictine monasticism
(2) Religious revival of the whole Church

He wrote the rule for the order of Templars.

He leads the 2nd crusade in 1147.
Doctor of the Church, Theologian, mystic, but basically a monk.

SECULAR CLERGY

A. Canons Regular and the Clergy

- There were only few independent parishes then and majority of the clergy performs their religious duties while concentrated in the
Episcopal or central churches of the original parishes.
- St. Augustine of Hippo gave the clerics a firm rule (Canon = rule)which is intended for the continuance of the vita
communis(demands obedience from administration) in imitation of the apostles.
- The canons (unlike the monks) were not prevented from owning private property and they did not swear
monastic vows but demands obedience from administration.
- Only with obedience from administration could a canon accomplish his duty (divine service in the
cathedral or collegiate Church).

Since the clerics enjoyed more freedom à prone to corruption à Boniface and Charlemagne instigated the reform.

In 768, Chrodegang of Metz wrote a new rule for canons which required the clergy to live either monastice (i.e. as monks) or canonice
(i.e. collegiate communities)
In 816, Louis the Pious decreed the Institution canonica from Aachen but did not take long effect with the dissolution of the
Carolingian empire.
During 9th – 10th century, properties of the cathedral and collegiate Churches were divided among individuals à end of vita
communis.

CANON REGULARS and SECULAR CANONS and the GREGORIAN REFORM

The Gregorian reform through Hildebrand (later Pope Gregory VIII) demanded from all cathedral and collegiate religious that they
give up all private property and live according to a definite rule.
Those who gave up their properties were called canon regulars and those who did not were secular canons
The Gregorian reformers persuade all collegiate canons to accept the Augustinian rule.

Centers of Gregorian Reform

Canons of the Lateran
Augustinian canons of the Great St. Bernard
The Congregation of St. Victor in Paris
The Canons of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
Canons of the Cross
The Gregorian Reform called for the sanctification of the secular clergy.

Attributes of the New Clergy:

1.Apostolic poverty
2.Celibacy
3.Obedience to the Spiritual Leadership
4.Hierarchical Church consciousness
5.Theological training
6. Irreproachable personal life

B. St. Norbert and the Praemonstratensians

ST. NORBERT (1082-1134)
- He refused the Bishopric of Cambrai twice offered by Henry V .
- His visit in a Benedictine reformed monastery in Siegburg and a visit with a hermit pointed out to him the urgent need of reform
of the clergy.
- He wandered in France for few years as an itinerant preacher and penitent.
- He realized that the only way to fight heresies is to emphasize the poverty of Christ.
- In 1120, he founded the monastery of Premontre for a community of canons abiding the Augustinian rule.
- In 1125, he became archbishop of Magdeburg.

6
Lesson 23 - The Great Mendicant Orders

1. INTRODUCTION
- Great saints are God’s answer to the particular needs and difficulties of an age.
- By perfectly living the ideal of poverty in imitatio Christi, and at the same time refraining from scolding others for their wealth or
going so far as calling property as “evil” in itself, Dominic and Francis taught the way to possess and to renounce at the same time.

2. ST. FRANCIS AND THE FRANCISCANS (ORDO FRATRUM MINORUM)

- he was born in Assisi in 1181/1182.
- 1205 – on his way to a military campaign in Apulia to gain knighthood, he was seized by the ideal of poverty. He renounced the
world and performed works of penitence and charity.
- 1206 – his father expelled him and he wandered through the country singing and begging
- 1208/1209 – Mt 10:5 ff gave him a pattern of future life.
- 1209/1210 – went to Rome to receive papal approval of his way of life and authorization to preach from Innocent III.

- 1214/1215 – preaching penance and God’s love, he traveled through Italy, Southern France and Spain.
- they called themselves fratres minores: they wanted to convert the Cathari and the Moors not by force but through love, humility
and joy.
- Illness prevented his crossing over to Morocco and at 1215 he returned to Assisi.
- 1219 – he accompanied a crusading army in Egypt. Instead of conquering with weapons his mission is to achieve conquest through
love.
- 1221 – Francis gave a rule to his order which was redacted by Cardinal Ugolino and approved in 1223.
- 1224 – he suffered from grave affliction of eye and stomach, received the stigmata of the Lord in Mount Alverno.
- October 3, 1226 – he died while singing the Te Deum

ORDER OF STA. CLARA

- Closely associated to the Franciscans
- 1212 – St. Claire put herself under the guidance of St. Francis and settled in San Damiano
- 1221 – third orders were added to the movement

SUPPLEMENTUM:

There are three autonomous branches of the first Franciscan Order, the Friars Minor simply so called (but until lately usually known
as Observants or Recollects), the Capuchins Friars Minor and the Conventual Friars Minor. This division of the first Franciscan Order
has come about by reason of various reforms; thus the Observants were a reform which separated from the Conventuals, and the
Capuchins are a reform of the Observants.

3. ST. DOMINIC AND THE DOMINICANS (ORDO FRATRUM PRAEDICATORUM)

- He was born in ca.1170 in Caleruega
- He studied Philosophy and Theology in the University of Palencia
- He stayed for 10 years at the Cathedral of Osma where he became subprior
- He was a canon regular who on his trip to Rome in 1204 became acquainted with the Cathari in southern France. Story of the
innkeeper who he converted. For 11-12 years he preached in the Languedoc area
- itinerant preacher and living in apostolic poverty.
- poverty + good theological training
- 1215 – he asked for the approval of his order and Innocent III demanded him to accept the Augustinian Rule and Honorius III
confirmed the order in Dec. 1216 and Jan 1217 held the title Order Friar Preachers .
- 1217 – Prouille (association of pious women). Later, third order were added.
- Peter Seila donated the first house of the OP
- He is present in the 4th Lateran council
- August 15, 1217 – He dispersed his brethren to the university and other places

4. OTHER MENDICANT ORDERS

a. The Carmelites (1229, 1247)
- They were relocated in Europe from the Holy land (Christian hermits) in 1228, and Gregory IX approved the group in 1229 and
became an order in 1247
- Order for women was established in 1452

b. The Augustinians (Ordo Heremitorum Sancti Augustini)(1256)

- They received papal approval in 1256

c. There were still other mendicants such as Trinitarians and Mercedarians who remain in the Church not outside the Church like the
heretics.

7
Lesson 24 - Theology and Universities

EARLY SCHOLASTICISM

BERENGAR OF TOURS (+1088)

- Ruprecht of Deutz (+1135) was still within the old tradition but Berengar of Tours (+1088) open a new field
- Berengar denied the real presence of the body of Christ. He held that the bread and wine are mere symbols which were not changed
in consecration, but only received supernatural strength.
- In 1079, Tome rejected his doctrine and he submitted to the decision.
- The 4th Lateran Council (1215) decided that the consecration on Holy Mass effected a real change of essence à transubstantiation.

ANSELM OF CANTERBURY (+1109)

- Father of Scholasticism – he applied reason tremendously to the clarification of faith.
- Reason cannot explain truth more than it is but makes truth more comprehensible to us.
- Faith could be supported by the intellect , and in fact required it: fides quaerens intellectum (Faith seeking understanding).
- Classical words of Anselm: “Quod Deus Homo?” (Why did become a man?)
- Existence of God can be shown not only through revelation but also by the use of the intellect à Ontological demonstration of the
existence of God.
- In the doctrine of redemption and Christology, he went a new way à Doctrine of Satisfaction

PETER ABELARD (1079-1142)

- dialectical and critical method of Sic et non (Yes and No) blurred the lines between faith and knowledge.
- He opposed Bernard of Clairvaux at the Synod of Sens (1141) and a number of his proposition were rejected.

GRATIAN (+1158)
- Father of Canonics
- camaldolese monk who compiled and codified church laws (canones)
- his Concordantia Discordantium Canonum (later simply Decretum Gratiani) became the matrix if the Corpus Juris Canonici, which
until 1918 remain the authoritative lawcode of the Church. Revised in 1983.
- additions to the Decretum Gratiani
a. Liber Extra Decretum by Gregory IX (1234)
b. Liber Sextus Decretalium by Boniface VIII (1298)
c. Constitutiones Clementinae (1317)
d. Extravagantes i.e. papal decrees of later times

PETER LOMBARD ((+1160)

- Lecturer at Universioty of Paris and future bishop
- He wrote the Sentences (Sententiarum Libri IV)

HIGH SCHOLASTICISM

AVICENNA (+1037), AVERROES (+1198), and MAIMONIDES (+1204)

- Through these Arab and Jewish thinkers, the West learned more about the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
ALBERT THE GREAT (+1280)
- Doctor Universalis- a scholar of universal erudition
- “ The wisest of the saints and the most saintly of the wise”
- He taught in Cologne and Paris and was the professor of Thomas Aquinas in Paris (1243-1247)
- Thomas Aquinas accompanied him in Cologne to found the Studium Generale
- First to apply systematically the Aristotelian philosophical and Theological method to Christian Theology.

THOMAS AQUINAS ((+1274)

- Doctor Angelicus- most gifted Theologian of the middl;e ages, mystic and saint.
- He was born in Rocca sicca in 1226/1227 and entered OP in 1244
- He taught in Rome, Paris, and Naples.
- His works: Summa Theologiae, Summa Contra Gentiles, Quaestiones Quodlibetales, Quaestiones Disputatae, Commentaries on
the Holy scripture, Aristotle, etc.

MEISTER ECHART (+1328)

BONAVENTURE (+1274)
- Doctor Seraphicus – his Theology is influenced by mysticism
- He was born in 1217/1218 near Viterbo and entered the OFM in 1243.
- He studied and taught together with Thomas Aquinas in Paris
- Augustinian and Platonic thought
- His Works: Breviloquium (1275) – a compendium of dogmatics
Itinerarium mentis ad Deum (1259) – devotional and mystical
Vita maior S. Francisci – to relieve tensions between conventuals and spirituals
- While Thomas Aquinas worked principally with the intellect, Bonaventure was more influenced by the will i.e. knowledge of
God is Thomas’ concern, his concern is love of God

DUNS SCOTUS (+1308)

- Last great figure of the High Scholasticism
- He was born in 1265 in Scotland
- A professor in Paris and Cologne
- Mary’s immaculate conception is prior redemption by Christ
- He emphasizes the primacy of the will, freedom and love.

CREATION OF THE UNIVERSITIES

- Universities were the center of Theological studies and science
- 1200 – professors in Paris formed a corporation à Universitas Magistrorum – Gregory IX gave the corporation independence from
Bishop (1231) and granted numerous privileges
- A Universitas developed in Bologna but here the students conducted the incorporation à Universitas Scholarium
- Many of such corporations were formed and were simply called Universities
- The University of Paris is the “Mother of Sciences” with the greatest prestige and number of students
- There were monastic schools, collegiate schools, and cathedral schools but not universal
- Robert de Sorbon (1258) founded a college for poor students of Theology. La Sorbone de Paris à College of Theology for poor
students.
- Paris à Philosophy and Theology; Bologna à law; Padua à Medicine
- Philosophical faculty (facultas atrium) is a prerequisite in choosing a specialty: Theology, law or medicine

STUDIUM PARTICULARE vs. STUDIUM UNIVERSALE

- Unlike local schools (Studium particulare), the universities were characterized by accepting students and tutors from everywhere
and their degrees were universally recognized in the Christian west (Studium Universale)

CONCLUSION
- University studies were regarded as an independent Third Power in addition to Sacerdotium and Imperium
- Cologne canon Alexander of Roes in his clever parable of the Pavo in 1284 attributed the sacerdotium to the Italians, the imperium
to the Germans, and the studium to the French, as particular functions of these people in the service of the western community.
- The acquisition of a doctoral degree from one of these universities meant equality with the nobility. Learning truly ennobled a
person!

8
Lesson 25 - The Papacy from Innocent III to Boniface VIII

1. INTRODUCTION
- Since Gregory VII, the papacy achieved a dizzying and untenable height with Innocent III.
- In Germany, Henry VI died leaving his two-year old son Frederick II as heir. There was a struggle in the succession which
reinforced the primatial position of the papacy in the whole Western Church.
- All that the Gregorian reform had striven for and Gregory VII had demanded in his Dictatus Papae (1075) was realized under
Innocent III.

KEY CONCEPTS OF PAPACY AS ZENITH OF POWER

- PLENITUDO POTESTATIS: The Pope fully possessed the plenitudo potestatis (plenitude of power) as he is the supreme
legislator, judge, and administrator and exercise this sovereign assurance over the whole Church in so far the universal to fulfill their
mission and the mission of Christ to be fulfilled.
- IMPERIUM ROMANUM: The Imperium Romanum is the idea of papal world domination deeply rooted not just in the religious
and political thought of the age but stemmed from the Christian responsibility which a reformed papacy felt for Western Christianity.
Nothing political, Germany still has its own king and not lose independence. It is focused on the universality of mankind, the ideal of
common value with common destiny.
- CHRISTIANITAS/ POPULUS CHRISTIANUS: The Christianitas/ Populus Christianus is the global unity of the people who
share the same faith. It is supernatural and therefore the supranational community of all Christians. The real ruler is Jesus Christ who
is represented by the two lights: the Pope (sun) and the Emperor (moon) in governing Christendom.
- CAPUT CHRISTIANITATIS: The Pope is the caput Christianitatis because he is the head and guide of the western world which,
though consisting of many people, was united in the same faith.
- IMPERATOR: The Supreme Judge. It is meant here without any political connotation.
- VICARIUS CHRISTI: a more theological title which means the administration of the papal office solely in the knowledge of his
responsibility to God.

2. INNOCENT III (1198-1216)

- Lothar Segni was born in 1160.
- He studied Theology and canon law in Paris and Bologna.
- He became a member of the college of cardinals during the papacy of his uncle Clement III (1187-1191)

HIERARCHIA
- Innocent III showed a great openness to all the problems of an age which was filled with cultural, political, social, and religious
tensions and contrasts.
- Through internal consistency and strength he forced the many diverse tendencies to conform to a uniform principle of order which,
in light of the time, could only be papal order.
- If Innocent interfered with secular matters, he did so out of responsibility and the conviction that all things in the world must submit
to God’s Order, and that even kings and princes were subject to God’s judgment.
- The world appeared to Innocent III as Hierarchia which means holy order/ arrangement. Everything is arranged by God. Everything
is established in beautiful arrangement; the fine distinction between purely political and purely spiritual, between Church and State,
had not been so refined that overlapping and infringement could be avoided.

RATIONE PECCATI
- The pope always felt justified and even obligated to intervene whenever order was disturbed through moral guilt or objective
injustice.

ARBITER MUNDI
- Thus as caput Christianitatis he must be an arbiter mundi meaning any difficult questions may be referred to him.

DOUBLE ELECTION OF 1198

- Because the Pope is the arbiter mundi, he intervened with the German struggle for the throne after the double election of 1198.
- He did not claim approbation of election itself but merely the judgment of moral qualities of the candidates.
- He rejected Staufen[1] Philipp of Swabia – violent man + Staufic Sicilian policy[2]
- But when Philipp of Swabia turned out to be a moderate man and gave guarantees with respect to his Sicilian policy after victory
over anti-king Otto IV à Pope concluded peace with him.
- In 1208, Philipp was assassinated and Otto won recognition in the empire à the pope crown him unhesitantly as emperor in 1209.
- The pope was disappointed because Otto did not keep his word and in 1210 he upholds the Staufic Sicilian policy
- Innocent III now disputed Otto’s right to the crown and set against him the now adult Frederick II who sworn not to attempt to
unite Sicily with the German crown.

IMPLICATION OF THE SICILIAN POLICY TO THE PAPACY

- It is not a purely territorial one but affects the whole Church and therefore universal.
- The unification of Sicily with the German empire will make the Pope as subordinate imperial bishop and would have taken from
the Pope the independence from the universal empire.
- The Western dualism will be lost.
- Innocent III believed that the papacy could only fulfill its universal function if there is independence and sovereignty of the
Church State.

INNOCENT III’S CONCEPT OF THE PROPER STRUCTURE OF THE EUROPEAN WORLD

- The state should be combined in a higher order under papa leadership since the spiritual is superior to the secular.
- Hence, idea of a papal liege lordship over the Christian people of the West
- No question on the establishment of hierocracy
- The Christianitas headed by the Pope was not to be a state; it was not at all a real societas, but the relationship the relation of the
Papacy and the Christian world which is appropriate to the age.
- Therefore, the sovereignty of the secular rulers remain and the papal claim to leadership was only an indirect character.
- Papal leadership merely demanded the acknowledgment of the Supreme norms of the Christian faith and of the moral authority
of the papacy. So, dualism was preserved.

- Papal liege lordship was started in the contested Italy.

- Empress Constance, Kings of Denmark, England, Aragon, Dalmatia, Portugal, Poland, Bohemia, Hungary and other smaller
territories accepted their countries from the Pope as fiefs.
- The preservation of law and peace, the traditional duties of the emperor, passed to the papacy and a papal system of vassalage
developed which was constructed entirely on the strong moral authority of the Pope.
- Papal Primacy: papal intervention in Episcopal elections and reserve the causae maiores for the Curia in Rome.
- (+) reform in papal administrative offices, of monasticism and of the clergy à good order

INQUISITION
- The pope put unworthy prelates and bishops before the inquisitional court.
- At first, he is mild and lenient but upon the death of Cistercian Peter Castelnou, his papa legate, in Jan 1208 by the Cathari in
Southern France à crusade of 1209 à papal legate Arnaldus Amalrici and Count Simon of Montfort were to blame for the bloodshed.

INNOCENT III ON THE POVERTY MOVEMENT

- 1201 – he gave his special concern to the Lombardic Humiliati
- 1208 – he founded the Alliance of Poor Catholics
- 1209/1210 – kind reception to St. Francis of Assisi who requested for papal authorization.
- Innocent III distance from wealth and never felt its addiction.

FOURTH LATERAN COUNCIL (November 1215): PEAK OF INNOCENT III’S PONTIFICATE

- Attended by 500 bishops and 800 abbots
- Definition of the doctrine of transubstantiation, ordinances regarding obligatory annual confession, and communion at Easter.
- Innocent died soon after the council in July 16, 1216 and his successors did not maintain the high ideals of a Universal Church.

3. THE LAST BATTLE BETWEEN THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE

FREDERICK II
- Frederick II revived the question on the precedence of the State or the Church
- Frederick II revived the Staufic policy over Sicily instead of going to the crusade as he promised à threat to the Pal States à
Gregory IX excommunicated him in 1228
- While under the ban, he went to the crusade and successfully obtain the cession of the Holy land to the Christians by treaties with
Sultan Al Kamil.
- 1230 – Gregory IX lifted the ban
- 1239 - He was excommunicated again for his revival of the Staufic policy.
- 1241 – His goal was to capture Rome and make it the seat of his universal empire à reducing the Pope into a mere imperial
episcopate.
- His death created distuirbed peace in germany because of elections and counter-elections.

INNOCENT IV (1243-1254) AND THE STAUFIC POLICY (Again!)

- Innocent died soon after the council in July 16, 1216 and his successors did not maintain the high ideals of a Universal Church.
- First Council of Lyons – excommunicated Frederick II once more.
- To escape the danger of the Staufic policy, he transferred lower Italy, Sicily and Naples as papal fiefs to Charles of Anjou.
- After Fredrick II’s death, Conrad IV (1250-1254) fought for the Staufic heritage
- After Conrad IV’s death, Manfred, his half brother, retains the crown to his 2 year-old son, Conradin
- After Manfred’s death (1266), Conradin set out in 1267 to regain Lower Italy but he was beheaded by Charles of Anjou in 1268.
- Imperial power comes to a cruel destruction.
- The Papacy also declines as it can’t maintain its Universal position because of the rising national states and dissolution of the
western community.
- France now became the strongest power.

4. BONIFACE VIII (1294-1303)

- Pope of the Jubilee; He is the last Medieval Pope
- He dreams of a universal theocratic western state under papal leadership
- Now that France is the strongest power, Philip the Fair (1285-1314) will be his enemy because he also dreams of French world
domination.

UNAM SANCTAM (1302) [10 points]

- Relied on the doctrine of the two-swords and declared obedience to the pope is a necessity for salvation.
- It asserts the supremacy of the papacy and and the universal rule of Papacy over State.

THE FALL OF BONIFACE VIII AND THE PAPACY

- Pope was arrested in the papal palace of Anagni in September 1303
- The sacrilege of the family of Sciarra Colonna in the Palace of Anagni, where the Pope was spitted on, insulted and seriously
beaten by the followers of the Colonnas with the approval of the powerful French William of Nogaretà symbol of rebellion of the New
Age against the Middle ages:
a. rising laicism and secularism against ecclesiasticism
b. triumph of absolutistic nationalism over universal Christian spirit
- The citizens of Anagni liberated the Pope after 2 days.
- After few weeks, Boniface VIII died.

[1] a dynasty of German emperor who wants to control Sicily.

[2] Staufic concept of uniting lower Italy and Sicily with the German empire was regarded by the papacy as reprehensible, dangerous
and illegal.

9
Required Reading - Unam Sanctam

POPE BONIFACE VIII’S UNAM SANCTAM

I. INTRODUCTION
The nature of the “Church is to become a sacrament of salvation.”[1] It is brought about by various means of sanctification and
different acts of pastoral services rendered to the faithful. It is for this reason that the Church is considered as the authority regarding
faith and morals. The concern of the Church is not just to give the spiritual needs of the believers through the sacraments and
sacramentals[2] but also to educate the people towards an ethical way of living patterned on Christian values.
Through the course of Christian history, this mission of the Church is carried out under the supreme authority of the pope as the Vicar
of Christ. This title, however, gained different understanding and interpretation of power execution. During the medieval period,
especially on the rise of French monarchial government, papal subordination has become the sole criterion for salvation. This
articulation was given by Pope Boniface VIII in his papal bull, Unam Sanctam.[3]
This paper tries to give a glimpse of the historico-political context on the document and its circumstances.

II. BENEDETTO CAETANI

Around the year 1235, a man named Benedetto Caetani was born in Anagni,[4] Italy. His early youth was spent in Todi where he took
his legal studies. He entered the monastery of Friars Minor in Valletri[5] and soon became a canon at the cathedral. On 1264, he
became part of the Roman Curia by serving cardinals who became popes like Martin IV and Adrian V. Eventually he was sent to
England as a rector of St. Lawrence Church and a papal notary in France. He was later on created as a cardinal on April 12, 1281 by
then Pope Martin V.
III. POPE BONIFACE VIII
During those times, the Papal State was in Naples. “Politically it was one of the most centralized states, economically it was a major
commercial center and grain producer, and culturally it was a point of diffusion of Greek and Arab learning into western Europe.”[6]
Pope Celestine V, after five months in his papacy, has resigned and just lived in a hermitage, who later on was abdicated. After ten
days, “the cardinals met in Castel Nuovo, Naples who, on the third scrutiny, elected Benedetto Cardinal Caetani on December 24,
1294 as the successor to the papacy.
Immediately, he transferred the Seat of Papacy from Naples back to Rome. “The ceremony of his consecration and coronation as the
Supreme Pontif of the Roman Cathlic Church was performed in St. Peter’s Basilica on January 23, 1295.”[7] This pope is described as
“an intelligent but rude and ill-tempered man.”[8] Through the course of his papacy, he asserted the supremacy of the pope in relation
with other institutions and imperial states. He wanted to monopolize the power of governance in both spiritual and temporal by being
subjected to his authority.
IV. UNAM SANCTAM
On November 18, 1302, Boniface VIII issued the Unam Sanctam which has been considered as “one of the most extreme statements
of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made.”[9] It is a bull that “lays down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Church, the
necessity of belonging to it for the attainment of eternal salvation, the position of the pope as supreme head of the Church, and the
duty thence arising of submission to the Pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation.”[10] The original document
does not exist anymore but there is a version of the same text attributed to Pope Boniface VIII’s files in the Vatican Archives.
Nevertheless, this one is a landmark in the history of the doctrine of Papal Primacy.
Its message is addressed primarily to the ruling powers of Europe. It is the “classical expression of the specifically medieval
claim of the Papacy to absolute dominion over the Christian Commonwealth, its people, princes and kings.”[11] Here, Boniface uses
the image of the two swords, “following St. Bernard’s allegorical interpretation of Luke 22: 38,”[12] pertaining to the spiritual and
temporal jurisdiction of the Papal Supremacy. Moreover, it is a response to all who contradict the authority of the pope and “re-
statement of the reality of the Church’s divinely-given right to correct the sins which kings commit as kings,”[13]
V. POLITICAL CONTEXT
The bull was established as an assertion of Pope Boniface VIII against the taxation of the clergy imposed by the kings of France and
England. The unexceptional taxation was brought about by these two kingdoms in “preparation for war with one another over their
conflicting claims to rule the southwestern parts of modern France.”[14] This has become an immense problem in the financial system
of the Roman Church, particularly to the pope himself.
As a solution for this, Pope Boniface VIII declared 1300 as a Jubilee Year. The announcement for Plenary Indulgence was spread
throughout the demography of Christian world. Almost 200, 000 faithful have flocked to the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome.
This time, gathering money from pilgrims has been successful at the height of the papacy.
However, with the gravity of anger held by King Philip IV[15] of France against Pope Boniface VIII, he sent “William Nogaret, one
of Philip’s chief adviser, and Sciarra Colonna, with a band of hired ruffians surprised the Aged Pontiff in his palace at Anagni,
insulted him, hurled in his face the most infamous accusations, and brutally mistreated him; it is said that Colonna struck him with his
iron glove.”[16] He was rescued by the people there but after a couple of days, he died on October 11, 1303. There was a myth that
“he had died of suicide from gnawing through his own arm and bashing his skull into a wall.”[17]
VI. CONCLUSION
Pope Boniface VIII reigned for almost nine years. Throughout his papacy, the various challenges to the Church of Rome gave rise to
assert Papal Supremacy. Even though he failed to implement the law of the two swords over the other authorities, the papacy still
stood on its place. However, his death would be the beginning of the so called Babylonian Captivity of Papacy under the French
Imperial Kings.
As a final remark, the Church, no matter how dark it has taken place in history, her mission to become a living sacrament of salvation
continues. Thus, the ultimate criterion for salvation, based on Church magisterium, is not to submit oneself to the pope but to the one
whom he represents – Christ the Lord. Amen.

UNAM SANCTAM
Urged on by our faith, we are obliged to believe and hold that there is one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And we firmly believe
and profess that outside of her there is no salvation nor remission of sins , as the bridegroom declares in the Canticles, "My dove, my
undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her." And this represents the one mystical
body of Christ, and of this body Christ is the head, and God is the head of Christ. In it there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. For in
the time of the Flood there was the single ark of Noah, which prefigures the one Church, and it was finished according to the measure
of one cubit and had one Noah for pilot and captain, and outside of it every living creature on the earth, as we read, was destroyed.
And this Church we revere as the only one, even as the Lord saith by the prophet, "Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from
the power of the dog." He prayed for his soul, that is, for himself, head and body. And this body he called one body, that is, the
Church, because of the single bridegroom, the unity of the faith, the sacraments, and the love of the Church. She is that seamless shirt
of the Lord which was not rent but was allotted by the casting of lots. Therefore, this one and single Church has one head and not two,
- for had she two heads, she would be a monster,- that is, Christ and Christ's vicar, Peter and Peter's successor. For the Lord said unto
Peter, "Feed my sheep." "My," he said speaking generally and not particularly, "these and those," by which it is to be understood that
all the sheep are committed unto him. So, when the Greeks or others say that they were not committed to the care of Peter and his
successors, they must confess that they are not of Christ's sheep , even as the Lord says in John, "There is one fold and one shepherd."
That in her and within her power are two swords, we are taught in the Gospels, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword.
For when the Apostles said, "Lo, here,"- that is, in the Church,- are two swords, the Lord did not reply to the Apostles "it is too much,"
but "it is enough." It is certain that whoever denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter, hearkens ill to the words of the
Lord which he spake, "Put up thy sword into its sheath." Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword
and the temporal sword; the latter is to be used for the Church, the former by the Church; the former by the hand of the priest, the
latter by the hand of princes and kings, but at the nod and sufferance of the priest. The one sword must of necessity be subject to the
other, and the temporal authority to the spiritual. For the Apostle said, "There is no power but of God, and the powers that be are
ordained of God"; and they would not have been ordained unless one sword had been made subject to the other, and even as the lower
is subjected by the other for higher things. For, according to Dionysius, it is a divine law that the lowest things are made by mediocre
things to attain to the highest. For it is not according to the law of the universe that all things in an equal way and immediately should
reach their end, but the lowest through the mediocre and the lower through the higher. But that the spiritual power excels the earthly
power in dignity and worth, we will the more clearly acknowledge just in proportion as the spiritual is higher than the temporal. And
this we perceive quite distinctly from the donation of the tithe and functions of benediction and sanctification, from the mode in which
the power was received, and the government of the subjected realms. For truth being the witness, the spiritual power has the functions
of establishing the temporal power and sitting in judgment on it if it should prove to be not good. And to the Church and the Church's
power the prophecy of Jeremiah attests: "See, I have set thee this day over the nations and the kingdoms to pluck up and to break
down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
And if the earthly power deviate from the right path, it is judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power deviate from the
right path, the lower in rank is judged by its superior; but if the supreme power [the papacy] deviate, it can be judged not by man but
by God alone. And so the Apostle testifies, "He which is spiritual judges all things, but he himself is judged by no man." But this
authority, although it be given to a man, and though it be exercised by a man, is not a human but a divine power given by divine word
of mouth to Peter and confirmed to Peter and to his successors by Christ himself, whom Peter confessed, even him whom Christ called
the Rock. For the Lord said to Peter himself, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth," etc. Whoever, therefore, resists this power so
ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God, unless perchance he imagine two principles to exist, as did Manichæus, which we
pronounce false and heretical. For Moses testified that God created heaven and earth not in the beginnings but "in the beginning."
Furthermore, that every human creature is subject to the Roman pontiff, - this we declare, say, define, and pronounce to be altogether
necessary to salvation.

10
Required Reading - St. Francis of Assisi
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Saint Francis of Assisi

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In a recent Catechesis, I illustrated the providential role the Orders of Friars Minor and the Order of Preachers, founded by St Francis
of Assisi and St Dominic de Guzmán respectively, played in the renewal of the Church in their day. Today I would like to present to
you the figure of Francis, an authentic "giant" of holiness, who continues to fascinate a great many people of all age groups and every
religion.

"A sun was born into the world". With these words, in the Divine Comedy (Paradiso, Canto XI), the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri
alludes to Francis' birth, which took place in Assisi either at the end of 1181 or the beginning of 1182. As part of a rich family his
father was a cloth merchant Francis lived a carefree adolescence and youth, cultivating the chivalrous ideals of the time. At age 20, he
took part in a military campaign and was taken prisoner. He became ill and was freed. After his return to Assisi, a slow process of
spiritual conversion began within him, which brought him to gradually abandon the worldly lifestyle that he had adopted thus far. The
famous episodes of Francis' meeting with the leper to whom, dismounting from his horse, he gave the kiss of peace and of the message
from the Crucifix in the small Church of St Damian, date pack to this period. Three times Christ on the Cross came to life, and told
him: "Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins". This simple occurrence of the word of God heard in the Church of St Damian
contains a profound symbolism. At that moment St Francis was called to repair the small church, but the ruinous state of the building
was a symbol of the dramatic and disquieting situation of the Church herself. At that time the Church had a superficial faith which did
not shape or transform life, a scarcely zealous clergy, and a chilling of love. It was an interior destruction of the Church which also
brought a decomposition of unity, with the birth of heretical movements. Yet, there at the centre of the Church in ruins was the
Crucified Lord, and he spoke: he called for renewal, he called Francis to the manual labour of repairing the small Church of St
Damian, the symbol of a much deeper call to renew Christ's own Church, with her radicality of faith and her loving enthusiasm for
Christ. This event, which probably happened in 1205, calls to mind another similar occurrence which took place in 1207: Pope
Innocent III's dream. In it, he saw the Basilica of St John Lateran, the mother of all churches, collapsing and one small and
insignificant religious brother supporting the church on his shoulders to prevent it from falling. On the one hand, it is interesting to
note that it is not the Pope who was helping to prevent the church from collapsing but rather a small and insignificant brother, whom
the Pope recognized in Francis when he later came to visit. Innocent III was a powerful Pope who had a great theological formation
and great political influence; nevertheless he was not the one to renew the Church but the small, insignificant religious. It was St
Francis, called by God. On the other hand, however, it is important to note that St Francis does not renew the Church without or in
opposition to the Pope, but only in communion with him. The two realities go together: the Successor of Peter, the Bishops, the
Church founded on the succession of the Apostles and the new charism that the Holy Spirit brought to life at that time for the Church's
renewal. Authentic renewal grew from these together.

Let us return to the life of St Francis. When his father Bernardone reproached him for being too generous to the poor, Francis,
standing before the Bishop of Assisi, in a symbolic gesture, stripped off his clothes, thus showing he renounced his paternal
inheritance. Just as at the moment of creation, Francis had nothing, only the life that God gave him, into whose hands he delivered
himself. He then lived as a hermit, until, in 1208, another fundamental step in his journey of conversion took place. While listening to
a passage from the Gospel of Matthew Jesus' discourse to the apostles whom he sent out on mission Francis felt called to live in
poverty and dedicate himself to preaching. Other companions joined him, and in 1209 he travelled to Rome, to propose to Pope
Innocent III the plan for a new form of Christian life. He received a fatherly welcome from that great Pontiff, who, enlightened by the
Lord, perceived the divine origin of the movement inspired by Francis. The Poverello of Assisi understood that every charism as a gift
of the Holy Spirit existed to serve the Body of Christ, which is the Church; therefore he always acted in full communion with the
ecclesial authorities. In the life of the Saints there is no contradiction between prophetic charism and the charism of governance, and if
tension arises, they know to patiently await the times determined by the Holy Spirit.

Actually, several 19th-century and also 20th-century historians have sought to construct a so-called historical Francis, behind the
traditional depiction of the Saint, just as they sought to create a so-called historical Jesus behind the Jesus of the Gospels. This
historical Francis would not have been a man of the Church, but rather a man connected directly and solely to Christ, a man that
wanted to bring about a renewal of the People of God, without canonical forms or hierarchy. The truth is that St Francis really did
have an extremely intimate relationship with Jesus and with the word of God, that he wanted to pursue sine glossa: just as it is, in all
its radicality and truth. It is also true that initially he did not intend to create an Order with the necessary canonical forms. Rather he
simply wanted, through the word of God and the presence of the Lord, to renew the People of God, to call them back to listening to
the word and to literal obedience to Christ. Furthermore, he knew that Christ was never "mine" but is always "ours", that "I" cannot
possess Christ that "I" cannot rebuild in opposition to the Church, her will and her teaching. Instead it is only in communion with the
Church built on the Apostolic succession that obedience too, to the word of God can be renewed.

It is also true that Francis had no intention of creating a new Order, but solely that of renewing the People of God for the Lord who
comes. He understood, however, through suffering and pain that everything must have its own order and that the law of the Church is
necessary to give shape to renewal. Thus he placed himself fully, with his heart, in communion with the Church, with the Pope and
with the Bishops. He always knew that the centre of the Church is the Eucharist, where the Body of Christ and his Blood are made
present through the priesthood, the Eucharist and the communion of the Church. Wherever the priesthood and the Eucharist and the
Church come together, it is there alone that the word of God also dwells. The real historical Francis was the Francis of the Church, and
precisely in this way he continues to speak to non-believers and believers of other confessions and religions as well.

Francis and his friars, who were becoming ever more numerous, established themselves at the Portiuncula, or the Church of Santa
Maria degli Angeli, the sacred place par excellence of Franciscan spirituality. Even Clare, a young woman of Assisi from a noble
family, followed the school of Francis. This became the origin of the Second Franciscan Order, that of the Poor Clares, another
experience destined to produce outstanding figures of sainthood in the Church.

Innocent III's Successor, Pope Honorius III, with his Bull Cum Dilecti in 1218 supported the unique development of the first Friars
Minor, who started missions in different European countries, and even in Morocco. In 1219 Francis obtained permission to visit and
speak to the Muslim sultan Malik al-Klmil, to preach the Gospel of Jesus there too. I would like to highlight this episode in St Francis'
life, which is very timely. In an age when there was a conflict underway between Christianity and Islam, Francis, intentionally armed
only with his faith and personal humility, travelled the path of dialogue effectively. The chronicles tell us that he was given a
benevolent welcome and a cordial reception by the Muslim Sultan. It provides a model which should inspire today's relations between
Christians and Muslims: to promote a sincere dialogue, in reciprocal respect and mutual understanding (cf. Nostra Aetate, 3). It
appears that later, in 1220, Francis visited the Holy Land, thus sowing a seed that would bear much fruit: his spiritual sons would in
fact make of the Sites where Jesus lived a privileged space for their mission. It is with gratitude that I think today of the great merits of
the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

On his return to Italy, Francis turned over the administration of his Order to his vicar, Br Pietro Cattani, while the Pope entrusted the
rapidly growing Order's protection to Cardinal Ugolino, the future Supreme Pontiff Gregory IX. For his part, the Founder, dedicated
completely to his preaching, which he carried out with great success, compiled his Rule that was then approved by the Pope.

In 1224, at the hermitage in La Verna, Francis had a vision of the Crucified Lord in the form of a seraph and from that encounter
received the stigmata from the Seraph Crucifix, thus becoming one with the Crucified Christ. It was a gift, therefore, that expressed
his intimate identification with the Lord.

The death of Francis his transitus occurred on the evening of 3 October 1226, in the Portiuncula. After having blessed his spiritual
children, he died, lying on the bare earthen floor. Two years later Pope Gregory ix entered him in the roll of saints. A short time after,
a great basilica in his honour was constructed in Assisi, still today an extremely popular pilgrim destination. There pilgrims can
venerate the Saint's tomb and take in the frescoes by Giotto, an artist who has magnificently illustrated Francis' life.

It has been said that Francis represents an alter Christus, that he was truly a living icon of Christ. He has also been called "the brother
of Jesus". Indeed, this was his ideal: to be like Jesus, to contemplate Christ in the Gospel, to love him intensely and to imitate his
virtues. In particular, he wished to ascribe interior and exterior poverty with a fundamental value, which he also taught to his spiritual
sons. The first Beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5: 3)
found a luminous fulfilment in the life and words of St Francis. Truly, dear friends, the saints are the best interpreters of the Bible. As
they incarnate the word of God in their own lives, they make it more captivating than ever, so that it really speaks to us. The witness
of Francis, who loved poverty as a means to follow Christ with dedication and total freedom, continues to be for us too an invitation to
cultivate interior poverty in order to grow in our trust of God, also by adopting a sober lifestyle and a detachment from material goods.
Francis' love for Christ expressed itself in a special way in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. In the Fonti
Francescane (Writings of St Francis) one reads such moving expressions as: "Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world
tremble, and let the heavens exult, when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest. Oh
stupendous dignity! O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles himself that for our
salvation he hides himself under an ordinary piece of bread" (Francis of Assisi, Scritti, Editrici Francescane, Padova 2002, 401).

In this Year for Priests, I would also like to recall a piece of advice that Francis gave to priests: "When you wish to celebrate Mass, in
a pure way, reverently make the true sacrifice of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Francis of Assisi, Scritti,
399). Francis always showed great deference towards priests, and asserted that they should always be treated with respect, even in
cases where they might be somewhat unworthy personally. The reason he gave for this profound respect was that they receive the gift
of consacrating the Eucharist. Dear brothers in the priesthood, let us never forget this teaching: the holiness of the Eucharist appeals to
us to be pure, to live in a way that is consistent with the Mystery we celebrate.

From love for Christ stems love for others and also for all God's creatures. This is yet another characteristic trait of Francis'
spirituality: the sense of universal brotherhood and love for Creation, which inspired the famous Canticle of Creatures. This too is an
extremely timely message. As I recalled in my recent Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, development is sustainable only when it respects
Creation and does not damage the environment (cf. nn. 48-52), and in the Message for the World Day of Peace this year, I also
underscored that even building stable peace is linked to respect for Creation. Francis reminds us that the wisdom and benevolence of
the Creator is expressed through Creation. He understood nature as a language in which God speaks to us, in which reality becomes
clear, and we can speak of God and with God.

Dear friends, Francis was a great Saint and a joyful man. His simplicity, his humility, his faith, his love for Christ, his goodness
towards every man and every woman, brought him gladness in every circumstance. Indeed, there subsists an intimate and indissoluble
relationship between holiness and joy. A French writer once wrote that there is only one sorrow in the world: not to be saints, that is,
not to be near to God. Looking at the testimony of St Francis, we understand that this is the secret of true happiness: to become saints,
close to God!

May the Virgin, so tenderly loved by Francis, obtain this gift for us. Let us entrust ourselves to her with the words of the Poverello of
Assisi himself: "Blessed Virgin Mary, no one like you among women has ever been born in the world, daughter and handmaid of the
Most High King and heavenly Father, Mother of our Most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, spouse of the Holy Spirit. Pray for us... to your
most blessed and beloved Son, Lord and Master" (Francesco di Assisi, Scritti, 163).

11

12
Lesson 26 - The Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy and the Great Western Schism

1. INTRODUCTION
- Because of the French influence more and more Frenchmen were included in the college of
Cardinals so the next popes were Frenchmen.
- Clement V (1305-1314) did not think it necessary to go to Rome. He was consecrated in Lyons and remained in France à resided
in Avignon à Babylonian Captivity[1]

2. THE “BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY” OF THE PAPACY IN AVIGNON (1306-1378)

- It refers to the Papacy's sojourn in Avignon between 1309 and 1378, when the Popes became irresolute tools in the hands of
power-hungry French rulers and toy of international politics therefore seen by some as "captives" of the French Kings .As a
consequence, the papacy renounced its freedom of decision and lost its supra-partisan universal ecclesiatical authority.
- Repercussion: The transfer from Rome to Avignon is the shifting of spiritual and political center of gravity.
ROME
- The Eternal City of Rome is connected to
century old tradition
succession to the apostolic see of St. Peter
concept of a western universalism founded by the Imperium Romanum.

AVIGNON
- situated completely within the sphere of power of the French Monarchy
- Even if Clement VI purchased Avignon in 1348 and become an independent papal territory à still surrounded on all sides by th
French Kingdom
- Repercussion: The Popes of the 11th and 12th centuries were free from the superiority of the emperor.They defended succefully
the struggles against the Staufic Sicilian policy à now voluntary surreder to the French King by the French Popes

CLEMENT V (1305-1314)
- The first Avignon Pope
- As “Captive”
He had to give in to the demand French king to open proceedings against the late Boniface VIII
He was quiet to the request of Philip the Fair to destroy the Templars.
- the king coveted the wealth & privileges of the Templars
- 1307 – Philip slandered by accusing them of heresy and sodomy.
- 2,000 Templars were arrested, their estates confiscated.
- Philip used torture to extract confessions and fictitious accusations
- Clement V take no step and after initial hesitation he also accused them of heresy
- Clement V dissolved the Order of the Knights Templar on March 22, 1312 at the Council of Vienne.
- Philip the Fair took their possessions and made over into Knights of St. John à Clement V is silent.
- Clement V tolerated Philip the Fair when he burned Grand Master Jacques de Molay and other Templars in Paris in 1314 despite
his protestation of innocence

JOHN XXII (1316-1334)

- The pope removed King Louis the Bavarian (1314-1347) in office in 1323 under a shabby pretext.
- Last great battle between the sacerdotium and imperium à issue is not one of ideas but naked political goals.

DEFENSOR PACIS AND CONCILIARISM: IMPERIAL COUNTER ATTACK AGAINST THE PAPACY [30 points]

DEFENSOR PACIS
- For the first time, there’s an imperial counterattack is not against individual pope but the papacy as an institution.
- The Pope is just a human creation who must be in the service of the people of God.
- In 1324, Louis the Bavarian moved against John XXII by appealing to the General Council.
- All opponents of the pope were gathered including two scholars from the University of Paris, Marsilius of Padua and John
Jandun who fled from France.
- The General Council presented Louis as Defensor Pacis
a. He questioned the hierarchical order of the Church and demanded a democratic structure.
b. He denied the papal primacy and assigned the supreme power of the Church to the people alone.
c. He asserted that the Church was the community of all believers and that the clergy is not superior to the laity.

CONCILIARISM
- The theory that basically placed the general council above the Pope.
- Neither popes nor bishops nor priests had received an independent function from Christ; they officiated merely as agents of the
congregatio fidelium which was represented by the general council.
- General Council is the highest authority in the Church which transformed the papacy into a mere executive organ of the council,
subordinated it to the council, and obliged the pope to be obedient to the council which had the right to demand an account from him
at any time and if necessary, to remove him from office.
- Radical point: the Papacy is simply a human institution and that the real congregatio fidelis is the general council.
- Popes and bishops are merely human creation therefore Popes can be opposed because they are not the Vicarius Christi.
- It is extremely revolutionary ideas. It is a clash of theological, ideological ideas not physical. Papacy sank more and more.

O-o-O-o-O

FISCALISM
- It is the acquisition of money, resources, and taxes to run the Curia
- Reasons for Fiscalism:
a. The Papal court had to replace the failing revenues of the Papal States.
b. The Papacy has to adapt itself to the new circumstances of transition from agrarian to money economy which takes place because
of the flowering of mercantile cities.
- Fiscalism caused anger and disturbance because
a. the fees for dispensation, privileges and pardons often is full of simony
b. there were fees for provisions, reservations and expectancies
c. payment to the archbishop for receiving the pallium
d. Annate and spoils from the revenues of the first year and the property of deceased prelates.
e. Crusade tax though there were no crusades.
f. Feudal taxes and taxes from the countries which become fiefs under Innocent III
g. And many more…
- These demands were exacted ruthlessly under threats of censure and excommunication esp. Germany where attitude of Papacy to
Louis Bavarian was considered hostile to Germany à resentment grows à this resentment found reflection in the 15th century
Gravamina Nationis Germanicae[2] and final effect in the 16th century mass defections at the time of the Reformation.

3. THE GREAT WESTERN SCHISM (1378-1415)

- The Avignon exile contributed to the great crisis which followed: The Great Western Schism (378-1415) and the epoch of
Conciliarism

START OF SCHISM
- Schism[3] occurred with the death of Gregory XI (1370-1378) the schism occurred. Influenced by the great prophetic
announcements of Catherine of Siena (+1380) and Bridget of Sweden[4] (+1373) + the chaotic conditions in the Papal States.
Gregory XI returned to Rome in 1377 but died before he can leave again.

CONCLAVE UNDER PRESSURE

- The law on Papal election requires that the conclave had to be held in Rome for the first time in 70 years.
- 11 out of 16 Cardinals were Frenchmen and Romans fear that another Frenchman would be elected Pope
- To prevent à they put the electors under severe pressure, armed bands made it to the conclave and demanded that a Roman be
elected.
- The cardinals realized that they have to acquiesce of they want to survive the conclave.
- April 8, 1378 à Urban II, an Italian was elected
- The Cardinals fled the city for safety and they return for Urban’s coronation on April 18, 1378 and swore allegiance to him.

THE CHURCH NOW HAS TWO POPES

- 3 months later, 11 Frenchmen and a sole Spaniard Peter Luna[5] left Urban’s court and declared that because of the use of force,
under grave fear and coercion, the election was annulled.
- September 20, 1378 à French Pope Clement VII (1378-1394) was elected. He stayed in Avignon.
- The three Italian Cardinals (the fourth had died) renounced Urban and supported Clement VII
- The Church now has two popes!
- Although French nationalistic and egoistic intrigues were a major cause of the double election, the fact of the riotous character of
Urban’s selection cannot be denied.
- Under such circumstances the validity of Urban’s election cannot be proven, conversely the invalidity of Clement’s election
cannot simply be maintained either.

URBAN VI: MAY TOPAK?

- After Urban VI inauguration, he showed himself so overbearing, cruel, and fanatical not only to the cardinals but also his curial
officials and supporters were of the opinion that his sudden elevation had left him mentally deranged.
- According to canon law, the election of a mentally deranged person to the papacy is invalid.

DOMINICANS ON BOTH SIDES

- St. Catherine of Siena defended Urban VI sole legitimacy
- St. Vincent Ferrer stood for the exclusive validity of Clement VII’s election.

NON POSSUMUS [WE CANNOT (RENOUNCE)]

- Both Popes were so deeply convinced of their own legitimacy and the illegality of other.
- They regarded it as a principle of conscience to defend the Papacy with all means and to combat their opponent
- To voluntarily resign from the papal office to free the way of the Church to unity, which was suggested to them frequently, was
rejected by both popes with Non Possumus
- It is in first person plural, we which means the Church is involved.
- Given the conviction of their conscience such a step had to appear to them as treason to the legitimacy and validity of the
apostolic succession which is obligated to them by God to preserve.

ROMAN LINE OF SUCCESSION

Urban VI (1378-1389)
Boniface IX (1389-1404)

AVIGNON LINE OF SUCCESSION

Clement VII (1378-1394)
Benedict XIII (1394-1417)[6]
Innocent VII (1404-1406)
Gregory XII (1406-1415)

4. CONCLUSION
ALTERNATIVES FOR OVERCOMING THE SCHISM
- In 1394, the University of Paris suggested three alternatives.
a. Via Cessionis (voluntary renunciation)
b. Via Compromissi (submission of the Pope to arbitration)
c. Via Concilii (Decision by a general council)

EFECTS OF THE GREAT WESTERN SCHISM [Good Question for Finals]

a. Western Europe was politically divided over which pope to support. Of course France supported the Avignon pope. Along with
France were Sicily, Scotland, Castile, Aragon, and Portugal. On the other side, Rome supported the Roman pope, as did Flanders,
Poland, Hungary and Germany.
b. There was a constitutional crisis between two popes. The two popes were constant rivals. De facto all Christianity was under ban.
The subjects of the one pope was excommunicated the other. It was common to hear each calling the other the anti-pope and also
trying to get him out of a position of leadership.
c. The influence extended to all countries, dioceses and parishes and caused discord and conflict, as both popes appointed their own
candidates and all offices were filled doubly.
d. Many citizens were confused over this split.” The papal office suffered the most; the pope's authority diminished as pious
Christians became bewildered and disgusted."

13

14
REQUIRED READING: Saint Clare of Assisi
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Hall
Wednesday, 15 September 2010

Saint Clare of Assisi

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

One of the best loved Saints is without a doubt St Clare of Assisi who lived in the 13th century and was a contemporary of St Francis.
Her testimony shows us how indebted the Church is to courageous women, full of faith like her, who can give a crucial impetus to the
Church's renewal.
So who was Clare of Assisi? To answer this question we possess reliable sources: not only the ancient biographies, such as that of
Tommaso da Celano, but also the Proceedings of the cause of her canonization that the Pope promoted only a few month after Clare's
death and that contain the depositions of those who had lived a long time with her.

Born in 1193, Clare belonged to a wealthy, aristocratic family. She renounced her noble status and wealth to live in humility and
poverty, adopting the lifestyle that Francis of Assisi recommended. Although her parents were planning a marriage for her with some
important figure, as was then the custom, Clare, with a daring act inspired by her deep desire to follow Christ and her admiration for
Francis, at the age of 18 left her family home and, in the company of a friend, Bona di Guelfuccio, made her way in secret to the Friars
Minor at the little Church of the Portiuncula. It was the evening of Palm Sunday in 1211. In the general commotion, a highly symbolic
act took place: while his companions lit torches, Francis cut off Clare's hair and she put on a rough penitential habit. From that
moment she had become the virgin bride of Christ, humble and poor, and she consecrated herself totally to him. Like Clare and her
companions, down through history innumerable women have been fascinated by love for Christ which, with the beauty of his Divine
Person, fills their hearts. And the entire Church, through the mystical nuptial vocation of consecrated virgins, appears what she will be
for ever: the pure and beautiful Bride of Christ.

In one of the four letters that Clare sent to St Agnes of Prague the daughter of the King of Bohemia, who wished to follow in Christ's
footsteps, she speaks of Christ, her beloved Spouse, with nuptial words that may be surprising but are nevertheless moving: "When
you have loved [him] you shall be chaste; when you have touched [him] you shall become purer; when you have accepted [him] you
shall be a virgin. Whose power is stronger, whose generosity is more elevated, whose appearance more beautiful, whose love more
tender, whose courtesy more gracious. In whose embrace you are already caught up; who has adorned your breast with precious
stones... and placed on your head a golden crown as a sign [to all] of your holiness" (First Letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague: FF,
2862).

Especially at the beginning of her religious experience, Francis of Assisi was not only a teacher to Clare whose teachings she was to
follow but also a brotherly friend. The friendship between these two Saints is a very beautiful and important aspect. Indeed, when two
pure souls on fire with the same love for God meet, they find in their friendship with each other a powerful incentive to advance on the
path of perfection. Friendship is one of the noblest and loftiest human sentiments which divine Grace purifies and transfigures. Like St
Francis and St Clare, other Saints too experienced profound friendship on the journey towards Christian perfection. Examples are St
Francis de Sales and St Jane Frances de Chantal. And St Francis de Sales himself wrote: "It is a blessed thing to love on earth as we
hope to love in Heaven, and to begin that friendship here which is to endure for ever there. I am not now speaking of simple charity, a
love due to all mankind, but of that spiritual friendship which binds souls together, leading them to share devotions and spiritual
interests, so as to have but one mind between them" (The Introduction to a Devout Life, III, 19).
After spending a period of several months at other monastic communities, resisting the pressure of her relatives who did not at first
approve of her decision, Clare settled with her first companions at the Church of San Damiano where the Friars Minor had organized a
small convent for them. She lived in this Monastery for more than 40 years, until her death in 1253. A first-hand description has come
down to us of how these women lived in those years at the beginning of the Franciscan movement. It is the admiring account of
Jacques de Vitry, a Flemish Bishop who came to Italy on a visit. He declared that he had encountered a large number of men and
women of every social class who, having "left all things for Christ, fled the world. They called themselves Friars Minor and Sisters
Minor [Lesser] and are held in high esteem by the Lord Pope and the Cardinals.... The women live together in various homes not far
from the city. They receive nothing but live on the work of their own hands. And they are deeply troubled and pained at being
honoured more than they would like to be by both clerics and lay people" (Letter of October 1216: FF, 2205, 2207).

Jacques de Vitry had perceptively noticed a characteristic trait of Franciscan spirituality about which Clare was deeply sensitive: the
radicalism of poverty associated with total trust in Divine Providence. For this reason, she acted with great determination, obtaining
from Pope Gregory IX or, probably, already from Pope Innocent III, the so-called Privilegium Paupertatis (cf. FF., 3279). On the basis
of this privilege Clare and her companions at San Damiano could not possess any material property. This was a truly extraordinary
exception in comparison with the canon law then in force but the ecclesiastical authorities of that time permitted it, appreciating the
fruits of evangelical holiness that they recognized in the way of life of Clare and her sisters. This shows that even in the centuries of
the Middle Ages the role of women was not secondary but on the contrary considerable. In this regard, it is useful to remember that
Clare was the first woman in the Church's history who composed a written Rule, submitted for the Pope's approval, to ensure the
preservation of Francis of Assisi's charism in all the communities of women large numbers of which were already springing up in her
time that wished to draw inspiration from the example of Francis and Clare.

In the Convent of San Damiano, Clare practised heroically the virtues that should distinguish every Christian: humility, a spirit of
piety and penitence and charity. Although she was the superior, she wanted to serve the sick sisters herself and joyfully subjected
herself to the most menial tasks. In fact, charity overcomes all resistance and whoever loves, joyfully performs every sacrifice. Her
faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was so great that twice a miracle happened. Simply by showing to them the Most
Blessed Sacrament distanced the Saracen mercenaries, who were on the point of attacking the convent of San Damiano and pillaging
the city of Assisi.

Such episodes, like other miracles whose memory lives on, prompted Pope Alexander IV to canonize her in 1255, only two years after
her death, outlining her eulogy in the Bull on the Canonization of St Clare. In it we read: "How powerful was the illumination of this
light and how strong the brightness of this source of light. Truly this light was kept hidden in the cloistered life; and outside them
shone with gleaming rays; Clare in fact lay hidden, but her life was revealed to all. Clare was silent, but her fame was shouted out"
(FF, 3284). And this is exactly how it was, dear friends: those who change the world for the better are holy, they transform it
permanently, instilling in it the energies that only love inspired by the Gospel can elicit. The Saints are humanity's great benefactors!

St Clare's spirituality, the synthesis of the holiness she proposed is summed up in the fourth letter she wrote to St Agnes of Prague. St
Clare used an image very widespread in the Middle Ages that dates back to Patristic times: the mirror. And she invited her friend in
Prague to reflect herself in that mirror of the perfection of every virtue which is the Lord himself. She wrote: "Happy, indeed, is the
one permitted to share in this sacred banquet so as to be joined with all the feelings of her heart (to Christ) whose beauty all the
blessed hosts of the Heavens unceasingly admire, whose affection moves, whose contemplation invigorates, whose generosity fills,
whose sweetness replenishes, whose remembrance pleasantly brings light, whose fragrance will revive the dead, and whose glorious
vision will bless all the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, because the vision of him is the splendour of everlasting glory, the radiance
of everlasting light, and a mirror without tarnish. Look into this mirror every day, O Queen, spouse of Jesus Christ, and continually
examine your face in it, so that in this way you may adorn yourself completely, inwardly and outwardly.... In this mirror shine blessed
poverty, holy humility, and charity beyond words..." (Fourth Letter to Blessed Agnes of Prague, FF, 2901-2903).

Grateful to God who give us Saints who speak to our hearts and offer us an example of Christian life to imitate, I would like to end
with the same words of Blessing that St Clare composed for her Sisters and which the Poor Clares, who play a precious role in the
Church with their prayer and with their work, still preserve today with great devotion. These are words in which the full tenderness of
her spiritual motherhood emerges: "I give you my blessing now while living, and after my death, in as far as I may: nay, even more
than I may, I call down on you all the blessings that the Father of mercies has bestowed and continues to bestow on his spiritual sons
and daughters both in Heaven and on earth, and with which a spiritual father and mother have blessed and will bless their spiritual
sons and daughters. Amen" (FF, 2856).