CONTENTS
ST. PETER
ST. LINUS c. 67-c. 76
ST. CLETUS c. 76-c. 91
ST. CLEMENT I C. 91-C. 100
ST. EVARISTUS c. 100-c. 105
ST. ALEXANDER I c. 105-c. 115
ST. SIXTUS I c. 115-c. 125
ST. TELESPHORUS C. 125-C.138
ST. HYGINUS c. 138-140
ST. PIUS I c. 140 - c. 154
ST. ANICETUS C. 155-C. 166
ST. SOTER c. 167-c. 175
ST. ELEUTHERIUS c. 174-c. 189
ST. VICTOR I c 189-199
ST. ZEPHYRINUS c. 199-c. 217
ST. CALIXTUS I C. 217-C. 222
ST. URBAN I c. 222-c. 230
ST. PONTIAN 230 -235
ST. ANTERUS 235 - 236
ST. FABIAN 236 - 250
ST . CORNELIUS 251 - 253
ST . LUCIUS 253 - 2544
ST. STEPHEN I 254-257
ST. SIXTUS 257 - 258
ST. DIONYSIUS 259 - 268
ST. FELIX I 269 - 274
ST. EUTYCHIAN 275 - 283
ST. CAIUS 283 - 296
ST. MARCELLINUS 296 - 304
ST. MARCELLUS I 308 - 309
ST. EUSEBIUS 309 or 31O
ST. MILTIADES 311 - 314
ST. SYLVESTER I 314 - 335
ST. MARK 336
ST. JULIUS I 337-352
LIBERIUS 352 - 366
ST. DAMASUS I 366 - 384
ST. SIRICIUS 384 - 399
ST. ANASTASIUS I 399 - 401
ST. INNOCENT I 401 - 417
ST. ZOSIMUS 417 - 418
ST. BONIFACE I 418 - 422
ST. CELESTINE I 422 -432
ST. SIXTUS III 432 - 440
ST. LEO I, THE GREAT 440 - 461
ST. HILARY 461 - 468
ST. SIMPLICIUS 468 - 483
ST. FELIX II 483 - 492
ST. GELASIUS I 492 - 496
ANASTASIUS II 496 - 498
ST. SYMMACHUS 498 - 514
ST. HORMISDAS 514 - 523
ST. JOHN I 523 -526
ST. FELIX III 526 - 530
BONIFACE II 530 - 532
JOHN II 533 - 535
ST. AGAPETUS I 535 - 536
ST. SILVERIUS 536 - 537
VIGILIUS 537 - 555
P E L A G I U S I 556 - 561
JOHN III 561 - 574
BENEDICT I 575 - 579
PELAGIUS II 579 - 590
ST. GREGORY I, THE GREAT 590 - 604
SABINIAN 604 - 606
BONIFACE III 607
ST. BONIFACE IV 608 - 615
ST. DEUSDEDIT 615 - 618
BONIFACE V 619 - 625
HONORIUS I 625 - 638
SEVERINUS 640
JOHN IV 640 - 642
THEODORE I 642 - 649
ST. MARTIN I 649 - 654
ST. EUGENE I 654-657
ST. VITALIAN 657 - 672
ADEODATUS 672 - 676
DONUS 676 - 678
ST. AGATHO 678 - 681
ST. LEO II 682 - 683
ST. BENEDICT II 684 - 685
JOHN V 685 - 686
CONON 686 - 687
ST. SERGIUS 687-701
JOHN VI 701 - 705
JOHN VII 705 - 707
SISINNIUS 708
CONSTANTINE 708 - 715
ST. GREGORY II 715 - 731
ST. GREGORY III 731 - 741
ST. ZACHARY 741 - 752
STEPHEN 752
STEPHEN III 752 - 757
ST. PAUL I 757 - 767
STEPHEN IV 768 - 772
HADRIAN I 772 - 795
ST. LEO III 795 - 816
STEPHEN V 816 -- 817
ST. PASCHAL I 817 - 824
EUGENE II 824 - 827
VALENTINE 827
GREGORY IV 827 - 844
SERGIUS II 844 - 847
ST. LEO IV 847 - 855
BENEDICT III 855 - 858
ST. NICHOLAS I, THE GREAT 858 - 867
HADRIAN II 867 - 872
JOHN VIII 872 - 882
MARINUS I 882 - 884
ST. HADRIAN III 884-885
STEPHEN VI 885 -891
FORMOSUS 891 -896
BONIFACE VI 896
STEPHEN VII 896 - 897
ROMANUS 897
THEODORE II 897
JOHN IX 898 - 900
BENEDICT IV 900 - 903
LEO V 903
SERGIUS III 904 -911
ANASTASIUS III 911 - 913
LANDUS 913 914
JOHN X 914 -928
LEO VI 928 - 929
STEPHEN VIII 929 - 931
JOHN XI 931 - 936
LEO VII 936 - 939
STEPHEN IX 939 - 942
MARINUS II 942 - 946
AGAPETUS II 946 - 955
JOHN XII 955 - 963
BENEDICT V 964
LEO VIII 963 -965
JOHN XIII 965 - 972
BENEDICT VI 972 - 974
BENEDICT VII 974 - 983
JOHN XIV 983 - 984
JOHN XV 985 - 996
gregory v 996 - 999
SYLVESTER II 999 - 1003
JOHN XVII 1003
JOHN XVIII 1O03 - 1009
SERGIUS IV 1009 - 1012
BENEDICT VIII 1012 - 1024
JOHN XIX 1024 - 1032
BENEDICT IX 1032 -1044
GREGORY VI 1045 -1046
CLEMENT II 1046 - 1047
DAMASUS II 1048
ST LEO IX 1049-1054
VICTOR II 1055 - 1057
STEPHEN X 1057 - 1058
NICHOLAS II 1059 - 1061
ALEXANDER II 1061-1073
ST. GREGORY VII 1073 - 1085
BLESSED VICTOR III 1086 - 1087
BLESSED URBAN II 1088 -1099
PASCHAL II 1099 - 1118
GELASIUS II 1118 - 1119
CALIXTUS II 1119 -1124
HONORIUS II 1124 - 1130
INNOCENT II 1130 - 1143
CELESTINE II 1143 - 1144
LUCIUS II 1144 - 1145
BLESSED EUGENE III 1145 -1153
ANASTASIUS IV 1153 -1154
HADRIAN IV 1154 - 1159
ALEXANDER III 1159 -1181
LUCIUS III 1181-1185
URBAN III 1185 - 1187
GREGORY VII 1187
CLEMENT III 1187 -1191
CELESTINE III 1191 - 1198
INNOCENT III 1198 -1216
HONORIUS III 1216 -- 1227
GREGORY IX 1227 -- 1241
CELESTINE IV 1241
INNOCENT IV 1241 -- 1254
ALEXANDER IV 1254 -- 1261
URBAN IV 1261 -- 1264
CLEMENT IV 1265 -- 1268
BLESSED GREGORY X 1271 --1276
BLESSED INNOCENT V 1276
HADRIAN V 1276
JOHN XXI 1276-1277
NICHOLAS III 1277 -- 1280
MARTIN IV 1281 - 1285
HONORIUS IV 1285 -1287
NICHOLAS IV 1288 -- 1292
ST. CELESTINE V 1294
BONIFACE VIII 1294 - 1303
BLESSED BENEDICT XI 1303 - 1304
CLEMENT V 1305 - 1314
JOHN XXII 1316 - 1334
BENEDICT XII 1334 -- 1342
CLEMENT VI 1342 - 1352
INNOCENT VI 1352 - 1362
BLESSED URBAN V 1362 -- 1370
GREGORY XI 1370 - 1378
URBAN VI 1378 - 1389
BONIFACE IX 1389 - 1404
INNOCENT VII 1404 --1406
GREGORY XII 1406 --1415
MARTIN V 1417 - 1431
EUGENE IV 1431-1447
NICHOLAS V 1447 -- 1455
CALIXTUS III 1455 -1458
PIUS II 1458 - 1464
PAUL II 1464 -- 1471
SIXTUS IV 1471 - 1484
INNOCENT VIII 1484 -1492
ALEXANDER VI 1492 - 1503
PIUS III 1503
JULIUS II 1503 -- 1513
LEO X 1513 -- 1521
ADRIAN VI 1522 -1523
CLEMENT VII 1523 -- 1534
PAUL III 1534 - 1549
JULIUS III 1550 -- 1555
MARCELLUS II 1555
PAUL IV 1555 -- 1559
PIUS IV 1559 - 1565
ST. PIUS V 1566-1572
GREGORY XIII 1572 - 1585
SIXTUS V 1585 -1590
URBAN VII 1590
GREGORY XIV 1590 -- 1591
INNOCENT IX 1591
CLEMENT VIII 1592 - 1605
LEO XI 1605
PAUL V 1605 - 1621
GREGORY XV 1621 -1623
URBAN VIII 1623 --1644
INNOCENT X 1644 -- 1655
ALEXANDER VII 1655 - 1667
CLEMENT IX 1667 - 1669
CLEMENT X 1670 - 1676
BLESSED INNOCENT XI 1676 - 1689
ALEXANDER VIII 1689 - 1691
INNOCENT XII 1691 - 1700
CLEMENT XI 1700-1721
INNOCENT XIII 1721 --1724
BENEDICT XIII 1724 -1730
CLEMENT XII 1730 - 1740
BENEDICT XIV 1744 0 - 1758
CLEMENT XIII 1758 - 1769
CLEMENT XIV 1769-1774
PIUS VI 1775 -- 1799
PIUS VII 1800-1823
LEO XII 1823 - 1829
PIUS VIII 1829 - 1830
GREGORY XVI 1831 -- 1846
PIUS IX 1846 -- 1878
LEO XIII 1878 -- 1903
ST. PIUS X 1903 - 1914
BENEDICT XV 1914 -1922
PIUS XI 1922 - 1939
PIUS XII 1939 - 1958
JOHN XXIII 1958-1963
PAUL VI 1963 -- 1978
JOHN PAUL I 1978
JOHN PAUL II 1978 --
ST. PETER
The first Pope was a Galilean fisherman named Simon. He was from
Bethsaida
on the lake of Genesareth. He and his brother Andrew had been attracted
by
St. John the Baptist. When the Baptist directed them to Christ, Jesus saw
in Simon a man of destiny. He saw in the rough fisherman the rock on which
He would build His Church, and so He called Simon "Peter," which means
rock. Later, Jesus in a scene of historic importance solemnly commissioned
Peter.
"And Jesus came into the quarters of Caesarea Philippi: and he asked his
disciples, saying: Whom do men say that the Son of man is?
"But they said: Some John the Baptist, and other some Elias, and others
Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
"Jesus saith to them: But whom do you say that I am?
"Simon Peter answered and said: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living
God.
"And Jesus answering said to him: Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona:
because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father who is
in heaven. And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I
will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever
thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."
(Matthew 16:13-19.)
Peter had made a great act of faith and had been given a great
responsibility. He was to be the Vicar of Christ on earth, the first Pope.
Yet Peter fell: in a moment of weakness he denied Jesus; but he was quick
to repent. With bitter sorrow he mourned his shameful sin, and Jesus
forgave him utterly as only God can forgive. He favored Peter with a
special apparition in the glory of the first Easter. He ratified and
confirmed the appointment of Peter as first Pope when He gave Peter the
charge to feed His flock, lambs and sheep alike.
After the Holy Ghost descended on the apostles that great day of Pentecost,
Peter worked hard and worked well for Jesus. He presided over the council
which chose Matthias to replace Judas, he supported the newly converted
Paul, he threw open the gates of the Church to the Gentiles. He suffered
imprisonment only to be released by an angel because he was destined for
further labor. He worked in Jerusalem, in Antioch, and in great Rome
itself, the imperial metropolis of the Western world. Peter proved by his
devotion, a devotion faithful unto death, that Jesus had indeed seen
something He could build on in the rough, untried Galilean fisherman.
When Nero struck the Christian flock, the shepherd was not spared. They
crucified Peter head down, tradition tells us, because he did not feel
worthy to die like his Lord, Jesus. It was on a hill they crucified Peter.
The name of that hill was the Vatican.
ST. LINUS
c. 67-c. 76
About St. Peter a great deal is known; about his successors, considerably
less. For the early popes the main written source is the "Liber
Pontificalis." This account of the lives of the popes was begun probably
early in the sixth century while the Ostrogoths ruled Italy. The author had
access to earlier written sources, but he was not rigidly critical. Since
there are a number of mistakes which historians have checked, the "Liber
Pontificalis," though valuable, is scarcely to be considered infallible. It
is, however, the best written source extant for many of the early popes.
St. Linus, according to the "Liber Pontificalis," was an Italian from
Tuscany. His father's name was Herculanus. He died a martyr and was
buried
on the Vatican near St. Peter.
It is probable that St. Paul refers to him when he writes from Rome to
Timothy, "Eubulus and Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren
salute thee" (2 Tim., 4:21).
Little as is known of St. Linus, churchgoers can be reminded of him every
time they see a woman in church wearing a hat or kerchief, for it is said
that it was this second pope who decreed that women should enter church
only with heads covered.
The feast of St. Linus is celebrated on September 23.
ST. CLETUS
c. 76-c. 91
St. Cletus has given earlier historians some trouble because of his name.
Two of the early lists of the popes, the so-called "Liberian Catalogue" and
the "Poem Against Marcion" list an Anacletus as well as a Cletus. Most
ancient lists, however, give the papal succession as Peter, Linus, Cletus,
Clement; and modern scholars agree that this is the correct listing.
Anacletus is a variant of Cletus, and this seems to have caused the
difficulty.
St. Cletus was a Roman. His father's name was Emilianus. Cletus ruled the
Church from some time in the reign of the Emperor Vespasian to some time
in
the reign of Domitian. He was martyred and buried near St. Peter on the
Vatican. St. Cletus' feast is celebrated along with that of St. Marcellinus
on the twenty-sixth of April.
ST. CLEMENT I
C. 91-C. 100
St. Clement, according to tradition, was ordained by Peter himself. Some
early writers, indeed, thought that Clement was Peter's immediate
successor, but modern scholars agree that he is Peter's third successor.
St. Clement has been identified with the Clement mentioned by St. Paul in
his Epistle to the Philippians; but that Clement seems to have been a
Philippian. For a time there were some who identified St. Clement with T.
Flavius Clemens, a cousin of the Emperors Titus and Domitian. This is
especially appealing because it is highly probable that the noble Roman was
a martyr in the persecution of his cousin Domitian. Against this romantic
theory is the prosaic fact that the early writers make no mention at all of
this. Surely if the fourth pope had been a cousin of the Emperor, it would
have been widely heralded. Modern scholars think that St. Clement was a
freedman or the son of a freedman of the imperial household. It is doubtful
whether he was of Jewish or Gentile origin. Some would argue for Jewish
descent because his famous epistle is so steeped in the Old Testament.
St. Clement was a Roman; he was martyred--at some place away from
Rome.
This is about all that is known for certain of Clement's death. The Greek
"Acts of the Martyrs" (written in the fourth century) gives many and
interesting details. St. Clement was exiled by the Emperor Trajan to the
Chersonese, modern Crimea. There the holy Pope worked with such zeal
among
the prisoners laboring in the mines that he was condemned to death. He
was
thrown into the sea with an anchor tied around his neck. This is probable
enough, but the story goes on to say that the sea flowed back a mile or so
to reveal the body of the saint resting in a beautiful marble shrine.
In the ninth century, St. Cyril, the Apostle of the Slavs, discovered some
bones and an anchor in a Crimean mound. He translated these bones to
Rome,
where Pope Hadrian II placed them in the altar of St. Clement's Basilica.
Whether or not these bones are authentic, St. Clement left us a real relic
of the highest value in his famous letter to the Corinthians. This epistle,
which modern scholars agree is authentic, rebukes the Corinthians for a
schism which had broken out in their church. Written while one of the
apostles was still alive, this letter of Clement is the first great non-
inspired Christian document. It is interesting indeed that it shows the
fourth pope interfering to put another apostolic church in order.
The feast of St. Clement is celebrated on November 23.
ST. EVARISTUS
c. 100-c. 105
St. Evaristus was, according to the "Liber Pontificalis," a Greek from
Antioch whose father, Juda, was a Jew from the birthplace of Jesus,
Bethlehem. He ruled the Church while Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan were
emperors. His pontificate saw the end of Domitian's tyranny and the start
of the Antonine dynasty.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis" this pope divided Rome into parishes.
This, however, is generally believed by modern scholars to be a later
organization. He also appointed seven deacons to check the preaching of a
bishop for possible slips which might have dogmatic implications. This
might refer to the prefaces of the mass where sometimes a sermon was
added
to the prayer recalling the feast. Evaristus is said to have ordained
fifteen bishops, seven priests, and two deacons.
Of his death nothing is known except that according to tradition he was a
martyr. St. Evaristus is buried near St. Peter on the Vatican. His feast is
celebrated on October 26.
ST. ALEXANDER I
c. 105-c. 115
The next Pope was, according to the "Liber Pontificalis," a Roman named,
like his father before him, Alexander.
St. Alexander is said to have introduced into the Mass the prayer just
before the Consecration which recalls the memory of Christ's passion. He is
also credited with the order that houses should be blessed with water to
which salt had been added.
St. Alexander's death has caused confusion among scholars because an
account of the death of another St. Alexander, who was not a bishop,
tallies somewhat closely with the account of the Pope's martyrdom in the
"Liber Pontificalis." Duchesne, the learned editor of the "Liber
Pontificalis," concludes that there can be no certainty in the matter.
The traditional account of St. Alexander's martyrdom is that he was
beheaded on the Via Nomentana within seven miles of the city of Rome,
along
with Eventius, a priest, and Theodulus, a deacon. St. Alexander was buried
on the Via Nomentana near the spot where he suffered.
His feast, together with that of Sts. Eventius and Theodulus, is celebrated
on May 3.
ST. SIXTUS I
c. 115-c. 125
According to the "Liber Pontificalis" St. Sixtus was a Roman, the son of
Pastor. He ruled the Church in the time of Emperor Hadrian. Pope Sixtus I
decreed that the sacred vessels should not be touched except by the clergy.
This is one of several ordinances attributed to the early popes regarding
the sacredness of the ceremonial vessels. Sixtus also decreed that a bishop
who had been summoned to Rome should not be received by his people
when he
returned until he presented the letter of greeting from the Apostolic See.
Another very interesting ordinance attributed to Pope Sixtus I is the one
which orders the priest after the preface to sing the Sanctus with the
people. This is truly a beautiful prayer, "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of
Hosts. The heavens and earth are filled with Thy glory, Hosanna in the
highest. Blessed is He Who cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the
highest." Since it is found in all the early liturgies, Duchesne concludes
that it quite probably dates back to the time of Sixtus I and even earlier.
Pope St. Sixtus I was martyred, but there are no available details of his
death. He was buried on the Vatican near St. Peter. Pope Clement X gave
some relics of St. Sixtus I to the well-known seventeenth century French
Cardinal de Retz. He put them in the Abbey of St. Michael in Lorraine.
The feast of Pope St. Sixtus I is kept on April 6.
ST. TELESPHORUS
C. 125-C.138
St Telesphorus was a Greek who had been an anchorite. He ruled the
Church
in the time of Emperor Antoninus Pius. To St. Telesphorus are attributed
some church practices which endure down to this day. According to the
"Liber Pontificalis" St. Telesphorus ordered a fast for seven weeks before
Easter. That the Lenten fast goes back even before the time of Telesphorus,
St. Irenaeus gives testimony. But the length of the fast varied
considerably in those early days. It is probable enough that Pope St.
Telesphorus did make some regulation as to the length of the Lenten fast.
A custom much loved even today is also attributed to St. Telesphorus. He is
said to have ordered that although Mass was not celebrated before the hour
of tierce (i.e., 9 to 12 o'clock in the morning) at Christmas time Mass
should be celebrated at night. This is the first mention of the beloved
midnight Mass. However, scholars doubt whether this decree actually does
go
back to the time of St. Telesphorus.
St. Telesphorus is said also to have decreed that the Gloria in excelsis
should be sung at the Christmas Mass and only at the Christmas Mass. This
magnificent hymn of praise is not said at all Masses even today. As late as
the eleventh century, though the Pope could say it oftener, priests were
not allowed to say it except at Easter.
St. Telesphorus died a martyr as is known not only from the "Liber
Pontificalis" but also from the earlier testimony of St. Irenaeus. He was
buried near St. Peter on the Vatican. His feast is kept on January 5 in the
Roman liturgy and February 22 in the Greek.
ST. HYGINUS
c. 138-140
St. Hyginus was a Greek. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" he had been
a philosopher, but modern scholars are inclined to think that he is
confused with a Latin author of the same name.
During the pontificate of St. Hyginus the heretics Valentinus and Cerdo
came to Rome. Cerdo, as Eusebius tells us in his Ecclesiastical History,
was in and out of the Church a number of times. He would teach error,
repent, and then fall back into error again.
Since this is the first mention of heresy in these lives, it might be
helpful to explain just what is meant by heresy and heretic. Heresy is a
diluted or perverted Christianity. The English word comes from the Greek
word which means a choosing. A heretic is one who chooses what he will
believe of Christ's teaching.
The particular heresy taught by Valentinus and Cerdo was Gnosticism.
Valentinus, indeed, was an outstanding teacher of Gnosticism. He taught
that Jesus is a higher being who, though not God, is gradually being
purified, and will lead the elect with Him into the pleroma or "fullness."
Gnosticism seems to have been a hodgepodge of lofty philosophic
speculation
about God and nature, a Manichean fear of matter, and in its later phases,
some downright crude superstitions.
St. Hyginus did some organizing of the clergy.
According to tradition he died a martyr, but the ancient writers are silent
on this point. His feast is kept on January 11.
ST. PIUS I
c. 140 - c. 154
St. Pius I, according to the "Liber Pontificalis," was an Italian from
Aquileia. His father's name was Rufinus. He was a brother of the famous
Hermas, the author of "The Shepherd," a precious early Christian document.
Hermas in this work says that he was a slave and then a freedman. This,
however, is quite possibly a fictional device of the author. If it is true,
it would indicate that St. Pius was of a low social origin.
St. Pius had to cope with the Gnostic heretics who were active at Rome
during his reign. The Pope excommunicated a Gnostic leader named
Marcion,
who thereupon set up his own church. But if heretics afflicted the soul of
St. Pius, he must have been consoled by the visit of St. Justin, the great
defender of Christianity. Justin was a convert from paganism. He had a
restless desire for truth which had led him through the Stoic, Platonic,
and Pythagorean schools of philosophy to the Bible and Christianity. Not
content with securing peace of soul through Christ, Justin wrote much to
defend Christ's doctrines, and finally died a martyr.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Pope St. Pius ordered that a heretic
coming from the Jews should be received and baptized. This is somewhat
obscure, and it is not certain whether he meant a heretic in the modern
sense, i.e., some Judaeo Christian, or a real Jew.
Later legend credits St. Pius with establishing the two Roman churches of
St. Pudens and St. Praxedes, but this lacks historical justification.
St. Pius is honored as a martyr by the Church. He was buried near St. Peter
on the Vatican. His feast is kept on July 11.
ST. ANICETUS
C. 155-C. 166
St. Anicetus was a Syrian from Emesa. His father's name was John. His
pontificate is interesting because during it the controversy over the date
for celebrating Easter appears for the first (but by no means the last)
time. At this period the Eastern Christians, following the tradition of St.
John and St. Philip, celebrated the feast of the Lord's resurrection on the
fourteenth day of the Jewish month Nisan, the day on which Jesus ate the
Paschal Supper. The Western Christians, on the other hand, celebrated the
feast of the resurrection on the Sunday following the fourteenth Nisan.
This seemed proper because although it would not always be the actual
date
of the Lord's resurrection, it would be the day. And this is the reason
that Sunday was already holy in Christian tradition. Against the authority
of St. John and St. Philip, the West urged the tradition of St. Peter and
St. Paul.
Now one of the most venerated figures in the mid-second century church
was
St. Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. This old man, at the time in his
eighties, was a disciple of the apostle St. John. (By the fifties of the
second century he must have been one of the last.) St. Polycarp, naturally
devoted to the practices he had learned from the apostle, wished to have
the whole church celebrate Easter on the fourteenth Nisan. Accordingly, he
came to Rome to confer with the Pope. Pope Anicetus was not convinced,
but
in turn he failed to convince Polycarp of the value of the Western date.
Since this was not a question of doctrine but only of discipline, the Pope
graciously allowed the venerable old saint to return to Smyrna and go on
celebrating Easter on the date he had learned from St. John.
Another distinguished visitor to Rome in the time of St. Anicetus was
Hegesippus, perhaps the earliest Church historian outside the sacred
authors.
An interesting disciplinary decree is attributed to St. Anicetus by the
Liber Pontificalis. He forbade the clergy to grow long hair after the
precept of St. Paul (I Cor. 11:14).
St. Anicetus died a martyr and was buried on the Vatican. His feast is kept
April 17.
ST. SOTER
c. 167-c. 175
St. Soter was a Campanian from Fundi, the modern Fondi. His father's
name
was Concordius. He decreed that no monk should touch the consecrated
altar
cloth or offer incense in church. Some manuscripts read "nun" instead of
"monk" in the above prohibition.
These meager details, given for what they are worth, are from the sixth-
century "Liber Pontificalis," but for St. Soter there is a very interesting
reference in the early fourth-century "Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius."
Eusebius speaking of St. Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, says (IV, xxiii, 9-
15):
"There is moreover, extant a letter of Dionysius to the Romans addressed to
Soter who was then bishop, and there is nothing better than to quote the
words in which he welcomes the custom of the Romans which was
observed down
to the persecution in our own times. 'This has been your custom from the
beginning, to do good in manifold ways to all Christians, and to send
contributions to the many churches in every city, in some places relieving
the poverty of the needy and ministering to the Christians in the mines, by
the contribution which you have sent from the beginning, preserving the
ancestral custom of the Romans, true Romans as you are. Your blessed
bishop
Soter has not only carried on the habit but has even increased it, by
administering the bounty distributed to the saints and by exhorting with
his blessed words the brethren who come to Rome, as a loving father would
his children.'"
In this same letter he also quotes the letter of Clement to the
Corinthians, showing that from the beginning it had been the custom to read
it in the church. "Today we observed the holy day of the Lord, and read out
your letter, which we shall continue to read from time to time for our
admonition, as we do that formerly sent us by Clement."
This letter shows that Pope St. Soter was very charitable. It also
indicates the high respect the Corinthians had for the letter of Pope St.
Clement and the letter of Soter. The "persecution in our own times"
mentioned by Eusebius was the persecution of Diocletian. The words of
Eusebius are testimony that the Roman See was as preeminent in charity
as
it was in dignity.
St. Soter was buried in the cemetery of Calixtus. He is honored by the
Church as a martyr. His feast together with that of St. Caius, is
celebrated on April 22.
ST . ELEUTHERIUS
c. 174-c. 189
According to the "Liber Pontificalis," St. Eleutherius was a Greek from
Nicopolis in Epirus. His father's name was Habundius. He ordered that no
food which was fit for a human being should be despised by Christians. This
decree, if authentic, probably was aimed at the Montanists, a fanatical
puritanical sect, or the Manicheans, who despised meat.
St. Irenaeus, the famous father of the Church, was sent by St. Pothinus and
the clergy of Lyons to confer with Pope Eleutherius about Montanism.
Unfortunately Eusebius, who narrates the fact, did not preserve the details
of this interesting mission. Montanism was a peculiar exaggeration or
parody of Christianity started by a Phrygian ex-priest of Cybele, Montanus.
This man taught that inspiration and ecstasy rather than the hierarchy
should guide the faithful, that martyrdom should be rashly sought, that
marriage was wrong, and that Montanus was, if not the Holy Ghost himself,
the authentic herald of the Holy Ghost. In a modified form this heresy
infiltrated into the West. Since its most common manifestation was an
exaggerated strictness and since at first in the West it did not seek to
break away from the Church, it is not surprising that it took a little time
before it was discovered for the heresy it was. It is not clear whether
Pope St. Eleutherius condemned Montanism at this time.
A very interesting item in the "Liber Pontificalis" concerns the reception
by Pope Eleutherius of a letter from Lucius, the king of Britain, asking
for instruction in the Christian faith: very interesting but almost
certainly untrue. Britain at this time was a Roman province. It is true
that some high land chief from beyond the wall might call himself king, but
it is quite unlikely that such a remote red-shanks should have written to
Rome. The early British historian Gildas makes not the slightest mention of
such an incident. Most modern scholars agree that the story is apocryphal.
An interesting theory advanced by some modern scholars is that the author
of the "Liber Pontificalis" or a copyist confused Lucius, king of Britain,
with Lucius, king Britium in Mesopotamia.
St. Eleutherius was buried near St. Peter in the Vatican. He is honored by
the Church as a martyr. His feast is kept on May 6.
ST. VICTOR I
c 189-199
St. Victor's reign is noted for a lull in the persecution and a crisis in
the Easter controversy.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Victor was an African, the son of
Felix. He decreed that after an emergency baptism, whether in river,
spring, sea, or marsh, the neophyte should be treated as a Christian in
full standing.
The lull in the persecution was due to a woman named Marcia, who seems
to
have been a sort of morganatic wife of the Emperor Commodus. Marcia had
great influence on Commodus. Friendly to Christianity, she used this
influence to soften the lot of the hard-pressed Christians. She asked Pope
Victor for a list of the Christians condemned to work in the mines of
Sardinia and secured the release of these poor victims.
At this time the controversy over the day for celebrating Easter came to a
head. In Rome, where there lived many Asiatics, it must have been
disconcerting to see one group of Christians observing the fast of lent and
commemorating Christ's passion while other Christians were joyously
celebrating the feast of the resurrection. Pope Victor determined to put a
stop to this and ordered Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus, to hold a council
of Asiatic bishops and get them to follow the Western custom of celebrating
Easter on Sunday. Polycrates did indeed assemble the bishops, but
informed
the Pope that neither he nor the Asiatic bishops could abandon the
tradition of St. John and St. Philip. Pope Victor put his foot down and
ordered the Church to celebrate Easter on Sunday. All but the bishops of
Asia Minor obeyed. Thereupon Victor excommunicated them. St. Irenaeus,
now
bishop of Lyons, pleaded with the Pope that after all, was only a matter of
discipline and that the Pope's illustrious predecessors had allowed the
divers of dates. Furthermore, St. Irenaeus argued, it was a sad thing for
the glorious see of Ephesus to be cut off from Catholic unity. Pope Victor,
convinced, seems to have relented. At any rate after this time the practice
of celebrating Easter on Sunday spread throughout the East.
Right at Rome a certain Blastus refused to obey the Pope and started a
little church of his own. The Pope also had to excommunicate Theodotus,
leather seller who had come from Byzantium Rome. This tanner denied the
divinity of Christ and also set up a little church of his own. The Gnostics
too gave trouble to Victor.
Pope St. Victor wrote several treatises including (probably) one on dice
throwers. St. Jerome calls him the first Latin writer in the Church.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis," St. Victor died a martyr and was
buried on the Vatican near St. Peter. His feast is kept on July 28.
ST. ZEPHYRINUS
c. 199-c. 217
The pontificate of this first third-century pope was to see a storm of
heresy rage around the pontiff, who had to keep a firm hand on the tiller
of Peter's bark.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Zephyrinus was a Roman, the son of
Habundius. He ordered that all ordinations, whether of priests, deacons, or
simple clerics, should take place before the assembled clergy and laity.
The storm which agitated Christian thought in the time of Pope Zephyrinus
was due to a double heresy. On the one hand, Theodotus the Tanner,
though
excommunicated by Pope St. Victor, was still teaching that Christ was not
the true Son of God. On the other hand, a certain Praxeas came to Rome to
tell Pope Zephyrinus that the old idea of the Trinity was all wrong, that
really there were not three Persons in one Divine Nature, but only three
modes of one substance.
Pope Zephyrinus, who was no philosopher, clung firmly to the traditional
doctrine handed down from the Apostles. In the midst of these metaphysical
storms, he also had a good strong adviser in Calixtus, who succeeded him
as
Pope.
Eusebius in his "Ecclesiastical History" has an interesting story about the
heretics in the pontificate of Pope Zephyrinus. Theodotus the Tanner, far
from being silenced by Pope Victor's excommunication, had set up his own
church. He had found backers in another Theodotus (a banker) and
Asclepediotus. The heretics found a man of some prestige to be bishop for
them. This was Natalius, who had been a confessor of the faith and had
suffered tortures for it. They paid him a yearly stipend--150 denarii,
about $25 in prewar money. But as Eusebius tells the story, Jesus, not
wishing that one who had suffered for him should go out of the church, sent
angels in visions to bring Natalius to a better frame of mind. Natalius,
blinded by the pinchbeck glory of being a heretical bishop, at first paid
the visions little attention. But one night the angels gave the stubborn
fellow a sound whipping. This brought him to his senses. He put on sack-
cloth, covered himself with ashes and hastened to throw himself before
Pope
Zephyrinus and plead for pardon.
Besides heresy, Pope Zephyrinus had to cope with renewed persecution.
Septimius Severus, friendly at the start of his reign, became decidedly
hostile. During the pontificate of Zephvrinus the Emperor issued his famous
decree forbidding anyone to become a Christian.
St. Zephyrinus is honored as a martyr by the Church. He was buried in his
own cemetery or August 26. His feast is kept on August 26.
ST. CALIXTUS I
C. 217-C. 222
St. Caliztus (or Callistus) was a Roman from the Trastevere district. His
father's name was Domitius. He decreed a fast from corn, wine, and oil
three times a year. These fasts together with the lenten fast make up the
fasts of the four seasons which the Ember days prescribe even to today.
Pope Calixtus is said to have built a basilica across the Tiber in his
native Trastevere district. He constructed a cemetery on the Appian Way
which is one of the most famous of Christian cemeteries. In it are buried
many popes and martyrs.
The "Liber Pontificalis" gives the above information, but Calixtus is
chiefly known from the writings of his enemies. Hippolytus accused him of
being too friendly to the Monarchian heretics in spite of the fact that
Calixtus condemned Sabellius, the leader of that heresy. Both Hippolytus
and Tertullian were deeply outraged by an act of the Pope which would
endear him to most and shows him to be a true disciple of the merciful
Christ. In the early Church there was a strong tendency to rigorism. Some
bishops had refused to receive back into communion apostates, adulterers,
and murderers. Such sinners, no matter how deeply they might repent,
would
remain excommunicated until death. By the time of Calixtus this practice
had become general in the Church. How painful for repentant sinners this
must have been can easily be imagined. Calixtus decreed that all sinners
who truly repented could be absolved and received back into the Church
after suitable penance.
The grim Tertullian, infected with Montanist puritanism, was furious.
Hippolytus went so far as to set himself up as antipope. Both wrote
bitterly against the mercy of Pope Calixtus.
St. Calixtus died a martyr. He was buried in the Cemetery of Calipodius on
the Aurelian Way. His feast is kept on October 14.
ST. URBAN I
c. 222-c. 230
St. Urban's name is familiar to many because of his supposed connection
with the beautiful life of St. Cecilia.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis," he was a Roman, the son of Pontius.
He had all the sacred vessels made of silver, and presented to the Church
twenty-five silver patens. It seems that in the early Church glass as well
as silver was a favorite material for the sacred vessels. He converted many
and among them Valerian, the husband of St. Cecilia.
Actually, it is pretty clear that this Urban did not have any dealings with
St. Cecilia. The "Liber Pontificalis" seems to have relied on the fifth-
century Passion of St. Cecilia. This is an account of St. Cecilia's
martyrdom which is embroidered with legend. That St. Cecilia was a noble
Roman lady who was martyred is certain, but her martyrdom goes back to
an
earlier time than the reign of Pope Urban.
As a matter of fact, Pope Urban lived in times of comparative peace for the
Church. The Emperor Alexander Severus, a mild man, even had a statue of
Jesus in his collection of gods. Nor was his prefect, the great lawyer
Ulpian, a persecutor. Alexander was influenced by his mother Julia
Mammaea,
who was a friend of the great Christian writer Origen. He even decided a
lawsuit in favor of the Christians. The Christians were disputing the title
to some land with a tavern keeper. The Emperor decided in favor of the
Christians, saying that it was better to have God worshipped on the land in
question than a tavern set up.
Urban was buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus. He is honored by the Church
as a martyr. His feast is kept on May 25.
ST. PONTIAN
230 -235
St. Pontian was a Roman, the son of Calpurnius. He had to face a flare-up
of persecution. Alexander Severus was assassinated in 235. His successor,
Maximinus, an ex-wrestler, had no great preoccupation with matters of
religion, but he hated Alexander Severus, and since Alexander had favored
the Christians, Maximinus hastened to persecute them. He ordered that the
leaders of the Church should alone be struck. And so St. Pontian found
himself hustled off to the mines of Sardinia.
In the mines he had as companion none other than the antipope Hippolytus.
This priest, it may be remembered, had been so disgusted with Pope
Calixtus
and his edict of mercy that he had revolted and set himself up as antipope.
Now in the mines of Sardinia he came to a better frame of mind. Not only
did he become reconciled with St. Pontian, but he ordered all his followers
to return to the Church. He made a good end, dying a confessor of Christ,
and it is touching that down to this day, the Church celebrates the feast
of St. Pontian, the Pope, and St. Hippolytus, once antipope, on the same
day, November 19.
St. Pontian seems to have abdicated when sent to the mines and to have
been
succeeded at Rome by Anterus. At any rate, in November 235 he was
brutally
beaten to death, a martyr for Christ. Pope Fabian brought his body back to
Rome and buried him in the Cemetery of Calixtus.
ST. ANTERUS
235 - 236
St. Anterus was elected Pope even before the death of St. Pontian. Pontian,
evidently considering that he could not rule the Church efficiently from a
Sardinian mine, abdicated.
Anterus, according to the "Liber Pontificalis," was a Greek, the son of
Romulus. He ruled the Church for a very short time, about forty days. He
ordained a bishop for Fundi in Campania. The memory of Anterus should be
dear to historians, for he ordered that the acts of the martyrs should be
collected from notaries and kept in the church.
St. Anterus probably died a martyr. At any rate the Church celebrates his
feast as that of a martyr on January 3. He was buried in the Cemetery of
Calixtus. A stone with the inscription "Antherus Epi[scopus]" written in
Greek letters has been discovered in this cemetery
ST. FABIAN
236 - 250
A pretty story of Fabian's election to the papacy is told by Eusebius in
his "Ecclesiastical History" ( VI, xxix ):
"It is said that Fabian, after the death of Anteros, came from the country
along with others and stayed at Rome, where he came to the office in a
most
miraculous manner, thanks to the divine and heavenly grace. For when the
brethren were all assembled for the purpose of appointing him who should
succeed to the episcopate, and very many notable and distinguished
persons
were in the thoughts of many, Fabian, who was there, came into nobody's
mind. But all of a sudden, they relate, a dove flew down from above and
settled on his head as clear imitation of the descent of the Holy Ghost in
the form of a dove upon the Savior; whereupon the whole people, as if
moved
by one divine inspiration, with all eagerness and with one soul cried out
"worthy," and without more ado took him and placed him on the episcopal
throne."
According to the prosaic "Liber Pontificalis," Fabian was a Roman, the son
of Fabius. He appointed seven deacons to the seven districts of Rome. He
ordered subdeacons to cooperate with the notaries in gathering the acts of
the martyrs. He brought back the body of St. Pontian from Sardinia and
buried it in the Cemetery of Calixtus. This cemetery was enlarged and
beautified. Vaults were adorned with paintings. A church rose above the
cemetery. Later writers attributed all kinds of regulations to the busy
time of Pope Fabian. Gregory of Tours, the famous historian of the Franks,
even credits Fabian with starting the evangelization of Gaul. This is
manifestly false because the Church existed in Gaul before the time of
Fabian, but it is probable enough that he did something for the Gallic
Church.
All this activity was made possible by the peace which the Church enjoyed
at this time. The first half of the third century was in general a period
of peace. Septimius Severus, at the beginning of the century, and
Maximinus, just before Fabian's reign, had been persecutors, but they were
exceptions. After the death of the ex-wrestler Maximinus, his successors
Papienus, Balbinus, and Gordianu had let the Christians pretty much alone.
And Philip who murdered and succeeded Gordian was himself a Christian--
of
sorts. Philip, though he presided at pagan games, was quite friendly to the
Christians, and during his reign Christianity flourished. Fabian's activity
has been noted; and at the same time Gregory, the wonder-worker, bishop
of
Neo-Caesarea, Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, the great Origen, and others
were writing to create Christian literature. It looked as if the Church
were going to burst out of the catacombs to flourish in the light of day.
But the pagans were angry. Even before the death of Emperor Philip in 249
there had been isolated outbreaks against the Christians. The pagans
bitterly resented Christian growth, and when Decius succeeded Philip as
emperor, that resentment mounted the throne. Decius was on principle a
determined and ruthless enemy of the Christian name. Septimius Severus
had
tried to stop conversions; Maximinus had gone after the leaders. Decius
issued an edict ordering all Christians to deny Christ by some tangible
sign such as offering incense to idols. The storm hit a church softened by
peace. On all sides many hastened to deny Christ, but there were many too
who stood up and faced the worst tortures and death for Him. Among these
was St. Fabian. The details of his martyrdom are lacking, but it is
historically certain. He is buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus. His feast
is kept on January 20.
ST . CORNELIUS
251 - 253
Decius is reported to have said that he would prefer to have a rival
emperor rather than a bishop in Rome. As long as such an emperor was in
full career, it was impossible for the Christians to elect a new pope. But
after over a year the Emperor was distracted by rebels, the persecution
slackened, and the Christians were able to elect a new pope. Cornelius,
their choice, was a Roman, a man of strong mind and strong character. He
was to need both.
The winds of persecution had ceased to blow, but they left the bark of
Peter tossing in the swells. The persecution had been too much for many
Christians. Many had weakly denied Christ. Some had actually sacrificed to
idols. Others had bribed officials to say that they had. Now that peace was
restored, these poor weaklings came from all corners to try to get back
into the Church. The Pope had to face the double challenge of laxism which
too easily passed over the grievous offense and rigorism which repulsed the
poor people.
At first the laxists had to be checked. Many confessors, that is, those who
had confessed Christ before a heathen judge, took it upon themselves to
give the repentant apostates certificates entitling the holder to
restoration to communion. This degenerated into a regular traffic, and when
St. Cyprian, the bishop of Carthage, tried to stop it, a certain Novatus
set up a dupe of his named Felicissimus as antibishop and went off to Rome
to get the Pope's support. Comelius, however, was not deceived. He
condemned the schism and the laxist practices. The repentant apostates
might indeed return to communion but only after due penance.
This moderate regulation provoked the rigorists, and a man named Novatian
came to Rome and set himself up as antipope. He accused Comelius of
having
bribed an official to say that he had denied Christ. No wonder Cornelius
wrote bitterly about Novatian in a letter to Bishop Fabius of Antioch. St.
Cyprian loyally backed the Pope. At this time he wrote the classical
treatise, "On the Unity of the Church."
Novatian the rigorist, oddly enough, joined hands with Novatus the laxist.
The movement they started spread into the East. It absorbed many of the
old
Montanists. These people called themselves Cathari (Puritans).
The persecution once more flared up when a plague set the fanatical
populace to demanding death for the Christians. Emperor Trebonianus
Gallus
yielded to the demand. This time the Christians were better prepared and
the shocking wave of apostasy which had marked the Decian persecution
was
not repeated. Pope Cornelius kept his Romans in high morale. He was
exiled
to Centum Cellae, the modern Civita Vecchia, and was martyred there in
253.
He was buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus. The feast of St. Comelius,
together with that of his friend St. Cyprian, is kept on September 16
ST . LUCIUS
253 - 2544
St. Lucius, according to the "Liber Pontificalis," was a Roman, the son of
Porphyrius. When he succeeded St. Comelius, the persecution of
Trebonianus
Gallus was still raging, and the new Pope was exiled. Soon, however, the
persecution died away and Lucius was able to return to Rome. There is
extant a letter from St. Cyprian congratulating the Pope on his return from
exile and praising him for his confession of Christ.
St. Lucius continued the policy of Cornelius in admitting repentant
apostates to communion after due penance. St. Cyprian praises him for this.
The "Liber Pontificalis" attributes to Pope Lucius a decree ordering that
two priests and three deacons should live with a bishop that they might be
witnesses for him. Duchesne, however, considers this decree apocryphal.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Pope Lucius was beheaded in the
persecution of Valerian. This is almost certainly inaccurate, for Lucius
died before the persecution of Valerian broke out. At any rate, St. Lucius
died some time in the beginning of March 254, and was buried in the
Cemetery of Calixtus. His tombstone has been discovered. The feast of St.
Lucius is kept on March 4.
ST. STEPHEN I
254-257
St. Stephen's pontificate, though short was to see the Church troubled by a
vexatious controversy within and attacked by a bitter persecution from
without.
St. Stephen was a Roman, the son of Jobius. He ordered the clergy not to
use their consecrated vestments for daily purposes.
The key figure in the vexing dispute over rebaptism was the bishop of
Carthage, the great writer St. Cyprian. Cyprian, a man of vigor, called
upon Pope Stephen to depose the bishops of Merida and Leon in Spain
because
during the persecution they had secured certificates saying that they had
sacrificed to idols. Pope Stephen agreed with Cyprian and did depose the
weak pair. Cyprian, who certainly kept an eye on things, once more called
on the Pope--this time to depose Marcian, bishop of Arles in Gaul, because
he had fallen into the Novatian heresy. Once more Pope Stephen
consented.
But a third time Cyprian found that Stephen could not agree with him, and
that was in the thorny question of heretical baptism.
There were a number of converts coming into the Church from heresy. Now
if
these were lapsed Catholics, they were absolved and given penance. But
what
if they were pagans who had been baptized by heretics? St. Cyprian firmly
believed that they must be rebaptized and, being Cyprian, loudly proclaimed
it. For, said Cyprian, outside the Church baptism is simply not valid.
Cyprian held a council of African bishops in 255 and this council approved
Cyprian's view. He sent the decisions of the council on to Pope Stephen.
The Pope refused to approve. In his answer to Cyprian, Stephen took the
stand that tradition was sacred. In often quoted words Stephen said, "Let
there be no innovation beyond what has been handed down." In other
words,
as supreme guardian of Christian tradition, Stephen refused to recognize
Cyprian's theory and practice as truly Christian.
St. Cyprian had definitely acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope, but he
did not seem to feel that the matter of rebaptism fell within the limits of
papal jurisdiction. To bolster his position he held another council in 256,
and once more the African bishops backed him up. Although there was no
talk
of the Pope's decision, it was a defiant act. Stephen began to threaten
excommunication. Thereupon St. Firmilian, bishop of Caesarea in
Cappadocia,
wrote a strong letter attacking such a course. St. Stephen, a patient man,
seems to have let matters ride. Soon the persecution of Valerian ended the
lives of both principals. As usual the Roman doctrine finally prevailed. By
the end of the century all Africa was in accord with Rome in this matter,
and the dissident dioceses of Asia followed somewhat later.
The persecution, in which St. Cyprian gloriously atoned for what fault
there was in his well-meaning
but misguided stubbornness, was roused by Emperor Valerian. Valerian, an
honest soldier, was at first favorable to the Christians, but influenced by
his right-hand man Macrianus, he turned to magic and soon issued two
edicts
of persecution. These aimed at the leaders of the Church and the corporate
life of the Church.
St. Stephen fell a victim to this persecution. The details of his martyrdom
are not clear. It may be that he died an exile. He was buried in the
Cemetery of Calixtus. His feast is kept on August 2.
ST . SIXTUS
257 - 258
The author of the "Liber Pontificalis" calls St. Sixtus a Greek and a
philosopher, but modern scholars think that Pope Sixtus is confused with
another Sixtus, a Pythagorean philosopher. Whether a philosopher or not,
Pope Sixtus II was a glorious martyr.
St. Stephen had caused a good deal of excitement by his threat to
excommunicate those bishops who did not conform in the matter of heretical
baptism. St. Firmilian of Antioch had written a bitter letter to Stephen.
St. Dionysius of Alexandria had written a mild letter pleading for mercy
and forbearance. To St. Sixtus II, Dionysius addressed a similar appeal.
His words were heeded. Pope Sixtus II, though he upheld the traditional
Roman doctrine, did not break off relations with those African and Asiatic
churches which followed St. Cyprian.
Sixtus felt the full force of Valerian's persecution. That emperor had
issued his second more drastic edict of persecution in 258. Soon blood was
flowing. Since the Cemetery of Calixtus was too well known to government
officials for safety, Pope Sixtus held services across the Appian Way in
the Cemetery of Praetextatus. This cemetery seems to have been private
rather than Church property. The precaution, however, was in vain. One day
when Pope Sixtus was giving a talk to the faithful, the police broke in,
arrested Sixtus and his chief clerics, and carried them off to the prefect.
On this occasion they do not seem to have bothered about the lay people.
According to tradition, the touching scene between St. Sixtus and his chief
deacon, St. Lawrence, occurred at this time. Lawrence was absent when the
police made their swoop. On hearing the news, he hastened to meet the
Pope
and asked him, "Where are you going, father, without your son? Where are
you going, O priest, without your deacon?" Pope Sixtus replied, "My son,
you I am not abandoning. Greater strife awaits you. Stop weeping; you will
follow me in three days" (Paul Allard, Les dernieres persecutions du
troisieme siecle, p. 91). And so it happened. The police pounced on St.
Lawrence and put pressure on him to deliver up the treasures of the Church.
St. Lawrence agreed to lead the prefect to the treasures, and since the
reserve money of the Church had been distributed to the poor, Lawrence,
even as Cornelia pointed to her children as her jewels, pointed to the poor
as the Church treasure. The prefect was disappointed. Lawrence met death
like a hero.
Pope St. Sixtus II was put to death on August 6 in the cemetery where he
had been holding services. He was buried, however, in the Cemetery of
Calixtus. His feast is kept on August 6, the anniversary day of his
martyrdom.
ST. DIONYSIUS
259 - 268
The storm of persecution which had slain St. Sixtus and St. Lawrence blew
throughout Rome with such violence that for some time the Christians could
not elect a new pope. But by July of 259 Emperor Valerian was too busy
worrying about Persians to pay much attention to Christians. On July 22,
259, the priest Dionysius was elected pope.
St. Dionysius was to have a peaceful pontificate. In 260 Valerian was
defeated by Sapor the Persian. He was made prisoner and then skinned.
His
son and successor, Gallienus, though an incapable ruler, was well-disposed
to the Christians. Salonina, his wife, may well have been a Christian
herself. Gallienus issued a decree of toleration which not only gave the
Christians a breathing spell but even restored confiscated Church property.
It is interesting to note that the decree dealt directly with the heads of
the churches.
While there was peace at Rome, there was trouble in the East. The
Persians
had ravaged Cappadocia, and the Christians had shared in the general
agony.
Pope Dionysius sent the sufferers a letter of consolation and a large sum
of money to redeem such of the faithful as had been captured and enslaved.
The Pope was on guard to defend the purity of Christian doctrine. His
namesake, Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, had gone astray in his
speculations on the Trinity. The Pope, alarmed, held a synod at Rome, then
sent a letter condemning the doctrinal vagaries of the good Alexandrian.
This letter is important for its dogmatic content. It is a prelude to
Nicaea. In it the Pope defends the true doctrine of the Three Persons in
one divine nature. Dionysius of Alexandria was less than exact in his
phraseology, but he was no heretic. The good old man died at peace with
the
Church.
A real heretic, however, was troubling the Church in Asia at this time.
Paul of Samosata, who incongruously combined the offices of bishop of
Antioch and treasurer of the civil government, taught that Jesus was not
true God. To meet this threat, the Asiatic bishops held a council at
Antioch in 264 and condemned Paul's teaching. This council sent a circular
letter addressed to Dionysius and Maximus, bishop of Alexandria, to inform
the Christian world of its doings.
Pope Dionysius also seems to have done some organizing of new parishes
around Rome.
Dionysius died in December 268 and was buried in the Cemetery of
Calixtus.
His feast is kept on December 26.
ST. FELIX I
269 - 274
St Felix was a Roman, the son of Constantius. He was elected pope in 269.
A
letter to Bishop Maximus of Alexandria was once thought to be his, but
later scholars have decided that it was a forgery.
During the pontificate of St. Felix, the capable organizer and clever
general Aurelian became emperor. Aurelian has a very interesting
connection
with the Pope. The pontificate of St. Dionysius had been troubled by the
heresy of Paul of Samosata. A council held at Antioch had deposed Paul as
bishop of Antioch, but the wily heretic hung on to the Church property and
refused to give it up to his successor, Demetrianus. Emperor Aurelian,
passing through Antioch, was called upon to settle the matter. The Emperor
decided that he was truly the bishop who was in communion with the
bishops
of Rome and Italy. And so the orthodox Demetrianus was able to take over
from the heretical Paul of Samosata.
St. Felix is credited with ordering the celebration of Masses over the
sepulchers of the martyrs.
Pope St. Felix is called a martyr by the "Liber Pontificalis," which also
says that he built a basilica on the Aurelian Way in which he was buried.
Modern scholars, however, do not consider this to be true. Duchesne thinks
that it is a confusion of Pope Felix with another Felix who was a martyr
and was buried on the Aurelian Way. At any rate, Pope St. Felix died in 274
and was most probably buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus. His feast is kept
on May 30.
ST. EUTYCHIAN
275 - 283
Except for the information given by the "Liber Pontificalis" little is
known about Pope St. Eutychian, and the accuracy of the "Liber
Pontificalis" entry on Pope Eutychian is rather suspect. There is even
confusion about the length of his reign between the "Liber Pontificalis,"
which says that Pope Eutychian ruled the Church eight years and eleven
months, and Eusebius, who gives him a reign of only ten months.
Pope Eutychian made a regulation allowing fruit --but only grapes and
beans--to be blessed on the altar.
He is said to have buried 324 martyrs with his own hands. He made the
regulation that martyrs should be buried in a dalmatic (a purple tunic) and
he wished that all burials of martyrs should be reported to him.
Pope St. Eutychian is called a martyr, but that he died a violent death is
considered unlikely. He was buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus. And at
least the fact that he was buried in this cemetery is certain, for his
tombstone has been discovered there. His feast is kept on December 8.
ST. CAIUS
283 - 296
If an account of the martyrdom of St. Susanna were correct, there would be
a very interesting fact about Pope St. Caius--that he was a relative of the
terrible persecutor, Diocletian. But scholars give small credit to the
account of the martyrdom of St. Susanna. It is true that the "Liber
Pontificalis" confirms this relationship of Caius with Diocletian, but the
"Liber Pontificalis" pretty clearly leaned on the unhistorical account of
St. Susanna for its information.
There is little information available on Pope St. Caius except that given
by the "Liber Pontificalis." The accounts of popes and acts of the martyrs
were quite probably destroyed when Diocletian made a determined effort to
do away with all Christian writings.
St. Caius was a Dalmatian, the son of Caius. He decreed that before a man
could be bishop, he must first be porter, reader, exorcist, acolyte,
subdeacon, deacon, and priest. He also divided the districts of Rome among
the deacons.
When the persecution of Diocletian began to rage, so we are told, St. Caius
took refuge in the catacombs and died there a confessor. But actually the
persecution of Diocletian did not even begin until six or seven years after
the death of St. Caius. It is true that during the pontificate of Caius,
Diocletian ascended the imperial throne, but at first the great organizer
was anything but hostile to the Christians.
At this period, however, work on the catacombs was pushed vigorously.
New
galleries were excavated and small churches built over them.
St. Caius died in 296 and was buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus. His
tombstone has been pieced together. The feast of St. Caius together with
that of Pope St. Soter is celebrated on April 22.
ST. MARCELLINUS
296 - 304
The next pope was to see the end of the long period of peace and the start
of a most violent persecution, the persecution of Diocletian.
St. Marcellinus was a Roman, the son of Projectus. When he first became
pope, Diocletian was already on the throne, but he had not yet drawn the
sword against the Christians. Indeed, at first under the influence of his
wife, Prisca, and his daughter, Valeria, the despot left the Christians
fairly free. The peace, however, had caused Christianity to grow and grow.
This provoked a fierce reaction among the pagans, and they had a leader in
no less a dignitary than the Caesar Galerius.
According to Lactantius, the historian of the persecution, Diocletian was
first angered by the Christians when the augurs or soothsayers told him
that they could not prophesy because Christians made the sign of the cross.
The Emperor promptly ordered all Christians to apostatize or get out of the
army. This was in 302. The next year at a conference in Nicomedia,
Galerius
urged the Emperor to extend himself against the Christians. Diocletian
asked the opinion of the oracle of Apollo at Miletus. Naturally, the oracle
saw eye to eye with Galerius. But Diocletian started easily. At first he
ordered the confiscation of Church property and the destruction of
Christian books. When a rash Christian actually tore down the imperial
edict right under the imperial nose at Nicomedia and two very convenient
fires broke out in the imperial palace, Diocletian, enraged, took off the
gloves. It was apostatize or die, and soon blood was streaming.
The persecution hit Rome with disastrous results for the historians. The
papal archives were seized and destroyed. The famous Cemetery of
Calixtus
was saved by the Christians, who blocked up the entrance.
Pope St. Marcellinus was accused by Donatist heretics of having handed
over
the sacred books. Some went so far as to accuse him of having sacrificed to
idols. The Liber Pontificalis repeats this but adds that St. Marcellinus
repented and died a martyr. Actually it is not certain either that St.
Marcellinus weakened or that he was a martyr. St. Augustine denies openly
that the Pope had weakened, and there is no conclusive evidence of his
having been killed.
At any rate, St. Marcellinus did die a confessor of Christ in 304.
According to the Liber Pontificalis, after his head was cut off, his body,
along with those of other martyrs, was left lying on the street for twenty-
six days to terrify the Christians. Then a priest buried the Pope in the
Cemetery of Priscilla. His feast is kept on April 26.
ST. MARCELLUS I
308 - 309
Diocletian's persecution had so badly disorganized the Church in Rome that
not until 308 was a successor to Pope Marcellinus chosen. The new pope
was
Marcellus, a Roman from the Via Lata district.
By this time the persecution had died down in the West, but the new pope
faced enormous difficulties. His first task was to reorganize the badly
shaken Church, and this task Marcellus seems to have accomplished. His
second task, however, was more difficult. It will be remembered that after
the short but very severe persecution of Decius the Church had been
troubled by the problem of what to do with the numerous weaker brethren
who
had fallen under the stress of persecution. Now this same problem once
more
arose, but this time the trouble came from a different source. In the
aftermath of the old persecution the chief trouble had come from harsh
rigorists, and it had been necessary for Pope St. Cornelius to insist that
the poor weak ones should be readmitted to communion with the Church
after
due penance. Now Pope St. Marcellus found that the weaker brethren
wished
indeed to be readmitted to the Church, but that they had small stomach for
penance. The Pope's attempts to enforce this Church discipline were
fiercely resented. Under the leadership of one who had denied Christ, even
in time of peace, the malcontents raised so much trouble that fights broke
out and blood was shed. The Emperor Maxentius seems to have believed
that
Pope Marcellus was at the bottom of these broils, and sent him into exile.
There is a story, not well authenticated, that the Pope was forced to work
in the stables of the imperial post. But at any rate it is certain that
after a short time Pope Marcellus died in exile. He is honored as a martyr
and a saint. His feast is kept on January 16. The exile of Pope Marcellus
is one of the first examples of the secular government interfering with the
Church apart from outright persecution.
ST. EUSEBIUS
309 or 31O
The man chosen to succeed St. Marcellus was a Greek priest named
Eusebius.
Except that he was the son of a doctor, nothing is known of his early life.
There is some confusion about the date of his reign. He seems to have
ruled
the Church for only four months from April to August, but whether it was in
the year 309 or 310 is uncertain.
It was a troubled community that Eusebius was called upon to rule. The
same
situation which led to the exile of Pope Marcellus still prevailed. The
fight over readmission of fallen Christians to the fold still raged on.
Under the circumstances it is not surprising that the election of a new
pope was bitterly contested. Pope Eusebius determined to follow the same
sane policy of Pope Marcellus. He would readmit the fallen brethren, but
only after due penance. The storm increased. The malcontents went so far
as
to choose an antipope, a man named Heraclius. Once more matters came
to the
point of open strife. Once more Emperor Maxentius intervened. But this time
he exiled pope and antipope alike.
Eusebius was sent to Sicily where he died shortly after. Like Marcellus he
is honored as a saint and a martyr. His feast is kept on September 26.
ST . MILTIADES
311 - 314
The storm which had exiled Popes Marcellus and Eusebius seems to have
prevented an early election of a successor, but finally in 311 Miltiades,
an African, was chosen. (His name is also recorded in the forms Milziadus
and Melchiadus. ) The new pope was to guide the bark of Peter into calmer
waters. Actually the Church in the West was already enjoying relief from
persecution. But though Maxentius in the West was easy on the Christians,
his colleague Galerius continued to scourge the Christians of the East
pitilessly. In 311 struck down by disease, Galerius decided to call a halt
to his war on Christ. He issued a decree of toleration which had its effect
even in Rome. Maxentius turned over to Pope Miltiades several churches
which had been confiscated.
Pope Miltiades worked hard to get the Church back in shape after the
severe
storm. He also brought back the remains of Pope St. Eusebius and buried
them with due honor in the Cemetery of Calixtus.
Though St. Miltiades ruled the Church for only three years, he was to
witness one of history's turning points--the coming of Constantine and the
end of an era, the era of persecution. Constantine had been proclaimed
emperor in Gaul, and now in 312 he marched on Rome to overthrow the
tyrant
Maxentius. Constantine, although not a Christian, had seen the cross in a
vision and had learned that "by this sign shalt thou conquer." And for the
first time in history the cross of peace appeared on the standards of an
army. Under the banner of the cross the legions of Constantine met and
routed the army of Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. This dramatic victory
ushered in a new era, an era of peace for the Church. The very next year,
313, at Milan, Constantine and his colleague Licinius issued the famous
decree of toleration which really set the Christians free, free to come out
of the catacombs.
A new era meant a new position for the Church and new problems. Both
position and problems were quickly given emphasis by a gathering of
bishops
held by Pope Miltiades in the Lateran Palace. This palace, so long revered
in Christian memory, had belonged to the Laterani family. Nero had
confiscated it, and now Constantine's wife, Fausta, give it to the Pope.
Here in this stately palace overlooking the forum with its proud pagan
monuments, the Pope presided over a gathering of fifteen Italian and three
Gallic bishops to settle an African difficulty. In Africa a schism had
broken out headed by an intriguer named Donatus. These Donatists
disputed
the rule of Carthage with the true bishop, Caecilian. Constantine, troubled
by the resulting disturbances, had asked the Pope to do something about
the
matter, and this synod in the Lateran answered by condemning Donatus.
St. Miltiades died shortly after. He was called by St. Augustine an
excellent pontiff. He had given the Church good leadership in a difficult
time of transition. St. Miltiades was buried in the Cemetery of Calixtus.
It is significant that he was the last pope to be buried in a catacomb.
ST. SYLVESTER I
314 - 335
If legend were history, the life of St. Sylvester would indeed be
interesting. It would be pleasant to recount how St. Sylvester baptized the
great Constantine and how Constantine was cured of leprosy by the
baptismal
waters. But this is a legend which, along with others, grew up around the
papal contemporary of the colorful emperor.
Sylvester was a Roman, the son of Rufinus. He was ordained a priest by
Marcellinus. Chosen Pope in 314, he continued the work of organizing the
peacetime Church so well begun by St. Miltiades. Sylvester saw the building
of famous churches, notably the Basilica of St. Peter and the Basilica of
St. John Lateran, built near the former imperial palace of that name. It is
quite probable too that the first martyrology or list of Roman martyrs was
drawn up in his reign.
Towering over all other events of his pontificate, however, was the first
ecumenical or general council of the Church. An ecumenical council
represents the entire teaching Church as opposed to a diocesan synod or a
metropolitan or a national council. The ecumenical council, like the pope,
is infallible in matters of faith and morals because it is the voice of the
teaching Church.
A heresy had arisen in Alexandria and at that time was making great
headway
throughout the East, the heresy of Arius, a priest of Alexandria. Arius
taught that Jesus Christ was not truly divine, that His nature was not the
same as that of the Father but only similar. It was to study this question
and to pronounce the true teaching of the Church that bishops from all
parts of the empire made their way to Nicaea in 325. The Emperor
Constantine, still a catechumen, had at first made light of the matter, but
when his eyes were opened to the danger of Arian doctrine by Hosius of
Cordova, he became so interested that he went to Nicaea himself.
Pope Sylvester sent two legates to represent him Vitus and Vincentius, and
it seems that it was the Pope who suggested the term consubstantial to
describe the relation of Christ's nature to the Father. The Council
condemned Arius and drew up the famous Nicene Creed. This creed, said
in
all the Catholic Churches throughout the world, proclaims that Jesus is
true God of true God consubstantial with the Father.
St. Sylvester died in 335. He was buried in a church which he himself had
built over the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria. His feast is kept
on December 31.
ST. MARK
336
St. Mark, a Roman, the son of Pricus, succeeded St. Sylvester as pope on
January 18, 336. If an epitaph composed by Pope St. Damasus refers to
Pope
Mark, as the archeologist De Rossi believes, St. Mark was a man who "filled
with the love of God, despised the world . . . the guardian of justice, a
true friend of Christ."
Emperor Constantine continued to show his generosity to the Church, for he
gave to St. Mark two basilicas and the estates necessary to maintain them.
One of these, the Church of St. Mark, still exists, though its present
structure does not go back to the fourth century. The other was a cemetery
church in the Catacomb of Balbina, a cemetery which lies between the
Appian
and Ardeatine roads.
St. Mark is said to have decreed that a new pope should be consecrated by
the bishop of Ostia. This is quite probable, for this custom is very
ancient. He is also said to have decreed that the bishop of Ostia should
receive the pallium. The pallium is a vestment of white wool which a pope
wears as a symbol of the fullness of his apostolic power and an archbishop
wears as a symbol of his participation in that power. An archbishop may not
exercise any metropolitan prerogative until he has received the pallium
from the pope.
St. Mark died on October 7, 336, after a pontificate of less than a year.
He is buried in the cemetery of Balbina, a place he seems to have chosen
for himself. His feast is kept on October 7.
ST. JULIUS I
337-352
With Pope St. Julius the Papacy finds at its doorstep the vexing problem of
the Eastern Arians. It is true that the Council of Nicaea had condemned
Arianism, but in spite of that Arians had been growing in strength and had
even gained the ear of Constantine, and what was more crucial, that of his
son Constantius who succeeded him in the East.
The man who was compelled to face the problem was Julius, a Roman who
had
been chosen to succeed Mark after an unexplained interval of four months.
He soon received delegates from Alexandria asking him to acknowledge a
certain Pistus as bishop of Alexandria in place of Athanasius, the mighty
fighter for orthodoxy. The delegates tried to prove that Athanasius, who
actually had been the victim of Arian intrigue, had been validly deposed.
Athanasius on his part also sent envoys and later came to Rome in person
to
plead his case before the Pope. The Arians asked Julius to hold a synod to
decide the case, but when in 341 Julius actually did convene it, they
refused to attend. The Pope held it without them and over fifty bishops
decreed that Athanasius had been unjustly condemned. Julius informed the
Arians at Alexandria of this decision and let them know that he was
displeased at their uncooperative attitude.
The Emperor Constans, who ruled in the West, was favorable to the
orthodox
Christians while his brother Constantius, who ruled the East, was proArian.
At this time both Emperors agreed to hold a big general council to see if
religious unity could be achieved. Pope Julius approved of the plan and
sent legates to Sardica, the modern Sofia, where the council gathered. The
council did not achieve religious unity because the Arians, when they found
themselves outnumbered, walked out. The council once again vindicated
Athanasius and once more repeated the solemn Nicene Creed. It also left
an
interesting set of regulations on the manner in which appeals to the pope
should be made.
In spite of the repeated vindications of Athanasius, that good man was
unable to return to his see. Emperor Constans supported the Arian George
until the usurper died. Then and only then was the long-suffering
Athanasius allowed to go home. Pope Julius, delighted, wrote a letter to
the people of Alexandria, congratulating them on the return of their true
bishop.
At Rome the number of Christians continued to grow during the pontificate
of Julius. He built two new basilicas and three cemetery churches. The stay
of St. Athanasius at Rome helped to popularize Egyptian monasticism and
gave an impetus to religious life there.
Pope St. Julius died April 12, 352. He was buried in the Cemetery of
Calepodius. His feast is kept on April 12.
LIBERIUS
352 - 366
The scene is a council at Milan in 355. Emperor Constantius demands that
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, be condemned. The bishops cry out that
to
do so would be against the canon of the Church. Emperor Constantius, a
bandy-legged fellow, roars: "My will is the canon." Five words which
clearly and brutally define caesaropapism: The Emperor's will is the rule
of the Church. From now on the popes will be troubled again and again by
imperial interference, and of this Pope Liberius is an outstanding example.
Liberius was a Roman who succeeded St. Julius as pope in the May of 352.
He
was soon to face despotic meddling. Constans, emperor in the West, had
been
killed in a rebellion; and though his brother Constantius mastered the
rebels to become sole emperor, this spelled trouble. Constantius, under the
influence of Arians, had long vexed the Eastern Church. Now he began to
make matters unpleasant for the West. Pope Liberius appealed to him to
hold
a council. Constantius did so, but bullied the assembled bishops and the
papal legates into abandoning Athanasius. Liberius, naturally, was
displeased. Another council was held at Milan in 335. Emperor Constantius
bluntly told the bishops to obey him or face exile. A few brave souls
refused and were promptly banished. Pope Liberius wrote to the victims,
hailing them as martyrs.
Constantius realized that his pet project of uniting the Christians by a
semi-Arian formula would not succeed as long as the Pope defended
orthodoxy. He sent his confidential eunuch to Rome laden with gifts and
loud with threats. But when Liberius spurned gifts and threats alike, he
was hustled off to the imperial court to be browbeaten by Caesar in person.
Constantius angrily asked the Pope who he was to stand out for Athanasius
against the world. He then exiled Liberius to Thrace and isolated him from
friends and counselors. To rule the Church the Emperor set up an antipope,
Felix, but the disgusted Romans refused to cooperate with the imperial
whim.
Liberius returned to Rome but what price did he pay? Scholars still dispute
the matter. There is evidence that Liberius abandoned Athanasius and
signed
some vaguely worded compromise formula. In any case, the question is
historical not theological, for papal infallibility is not involved.
Whether or not Liberius had a moment of weakness in exile, he continued to
fight on for orthodoxy after his return. He deplored the weakness of those
bishops who signed a compromise formula at Rimini in 359. He had the
satisfaction of seeing the Arians first split into factions, then decline
rapidly. Their great power at this period depended on imperial backing;
when imperial policy changed they had little to fall back on. And change it
did. Julian the Apostate succeeded Constantius in 361. Since Julian
despised all Christians, orthodox or Arian, the Church was freed from the
smothering embrace of Caesar. Liberius had the joy of receiving back into
the Church a large number of moderate Arians.
Liberius died April 12, 366. He is not honored as a saint.
ST. DAMASUS I
366 - 384
After Julian the Apostate was cut off in full career by a Persian arrow,
the Church in the West enjoyed peace. That brave and capable soldier,
Valentinian, was not only a Christian but a Catholic. It was a time for
growth and development, and in St. Damasus the Church had a leader
suited
to the time. Damasus was born in Rome of Spanish descent. He was
elected
pope by a large majority, but a minority refused to accept the election and
set up Ursinus as antipope. Rome rang with tumult until finally Valentinian
exiled Ursinus.
Damasus was a capable administrator, a writer, and a holy bishop. He
repeatedly condemned heresy yet was so merciful to repentant heretics that
the dour old Arian-fighter, Lucifer of Cagliari, actually left the Church
in disgust to start a rigorist schism. While Arians still troubled the
Church new heresies added to the difficulties of Damasus. Macedonius was
teaching that the Holy Ghost was not divine. Apollinaris was holding that
Christ did not have a rational human soul. Both heresies were condemned
by
Damasus.
In the East the Arians were enjoying a final fling. Valentinian's less
capable and less orthodox brother, Valens, was under Arian influence. He
made it hot for the orthodox, but in 378 Valens was ridden down by the
hard-charging Goths at Adrianople. His successor, Emperor Theodosius,
threw
his support to the orthodox and asked that a council of the Church in the
Eastern Empire be held to settle the matter. This council met at
Constantinople in 381. Since it was an Eastern council, Pope Damasus
does
not seem to have had any direct connection with it, but the council adopted
the Pope's teaching, recondemned Arianism and made a strong declaration
of
the divinity of the Holy Ghost against the Macedonians. Damasus approved
the doctrinal decrees of the council and it became ranked as an ecumenical
council.
Damasus published a canon of Holy Scripture, that is, a list of the books
of the Old and New Testaments which are to be considered the inspired
word
of God. To spread the knowledge of Holy Scripture, the Pope urged his
friend the great St. Jerome to translate the Bible. St. Jerome did so and
produced that Vulgate edition which has served the Church so long and so
usefully.
Damasus was noted, too, for his clear statement on the hierarchy in the
Church. Quoting the words of Christ to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this
rock I will build My church," Damasus says that the Roman Church is above
all others. Next in importance comes Alexandria, founded by St. Mark at St.
Peter's command, and Antioch, where St. Peter ruled before going to Rome.
Now that the persecutions were over, Damasus worked hard to foster
devotion
to the martyrs. He encouraged pilgrimages to the catacombs. He built
stairways and light wells in the sacred vaults. On the martyrs' tombs he
placed inscriptions. Indeed, the Pope himself wrote many of these in
excellent verse. He diligently searched the records for accounts of
martyrdoms. Historians and archeologists as well as lovers of Holy Writ owe
much to this intelligent and pious pope.
ST. SIRICIUS
384 - 399
Siricius was a Roman, the son of Tiburtius. He entered the service of the
Church as a youth and served as a deacon from the time of Pope Liberius.
He
was unanimously elected to succeed Pope Damasus in December of 384.
St. Siricius is noted for being the author of the first papal decretal
which has survived. There were earlier ones, but this is the first that has
come down to modern times. A decretal contains an authoritative decision
on
questions of discipline. The occasion of this decretal was a letter from
Himerius, bishop of Tarragona in Spain, who wrote to Pope Damasus
asking
for his decision in several matters of discipline. Siricius answered on
February 10, and ordered that his reply should be communicated to the
neighboring bishops. Among other things the Pope declared that converted
Arians did not have to be rebaptized and that priests should be celibate.
On January 6, 386, Pope Siricius held a synod at Rome, attended by eighty
bishops, at which a number of disciplinary decisions were made. The Pope
sent these decisions to the bishops of North Africa. He also sent out a
letter to various churches urging the election of worthy bishops and
priests. But around 388, Siricius was to have something to worry about at
home. A monk named Jovinian, who had enjoyed a reputation for a strict
life, came to Rome and began to teach that after all a strict life was
useless. Vows, virginity, fasting, and good works were of small avail.
Jovinian, quite consistently, gave up his strict life and not content with
taking it easy himself began to persuade a number of monks and nuns to
give
it all up and get married. Lay people, scandalized at this, urged Siricius
to do something. The Pope then held a synod in 390 which condemned the
theories of Jovinian and excommunicated him and his chief followers.
Siricius then sent three priests to Milan to tell St. Ambrose about the
synod. Ambrose himself held a synod which praised the Pope for his
watchfulness and repeated the condemnation of Jovinian.
Pope Siricius received an embassy from the East asking him to put an end
to
the long-drawn-out schism in the see of Antioch. For years two bishops and
their successors had disputed the bishopric. Now Pope Siricius granted the
plea that he recognize the last survivor, Flavian, as true bishop and
readmit him to communion.
The venerable Basilica of St. Paul's-Without-the-Walls, which was destroyed
by fire in 1823, was built by Siricius. He dedicated this famous church in
390.
St. Siricius is buried in the Cemetery of Priscilla. His feast is kept on
November 26.
ST. ANASTASIUS I
399 - 401
Although the pontificate of St. Anastasius was brief, he had time to show
that watchful care for the preservation of pure doctrine which
distinguishes the holders of the Roman See. A Roman, the son of Maximus,
Anastasius was elected to succeed Siricius in 399.
One of his first problems was an appeal which had been made to Pope
Siricius. At this time (and many other times too) the writings of Origen
enjoyed a great vogue. This brilliant but erratic third-century writer
exercised a charm over men's minds which, in view of his sometimes less
than orthodox opinions, could be dangerous. St. Jerome himself, grim
watchdog of orthodoxy that he was, had issued an expurgated edition of
Origen's Homilies. But heretics were now appealing to the authority of
Origen and it was imprudent of St. Jerome's old friend Rufinus to choose
this moment for a translation of Origen's philosophical study, Peri Archon.
He explained, however, that since a greater name had already translated
Origen's Homilies he felt justified. Jerome was furious. Not at all
mollified by the reference to one greater, he attacked his old friend with
bitterness. Then Rufinus became angry and told his reading public quite
bluntly that Jerome was a defamer. The East rang with the shock of this
battle of words, and an appeal was made to the Pope. Siricius, probably in
view of the personalities involved, had been slow to act, but now St.
Anastasius felt that the time had come to speak out. He condemned Origen
and deprecated the translation of Rufinus. Shortly after the Pope spoke,
the imperial government banned the works of Origen.
St. Anastasius also wrote to the bishops of Africa urging them to keep up
the good fight against the Donatist heretics. But again, like so many
popes, he was merciful to repentant heretics.
Evidently there was some trouble about unauthorized priests drifting in to
Rome, for Anastasius ordered that no priest from across the sea should be
received unless he had a letter signed by five bishops. He also decreed
that priests should stand with heads bowed while the gospel was being
read.
He built a basilica called the Crescentian.
St. Anastasius was a friend of the great Fathers of the Church, St.
Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Paulinus. St. Paulinus had a pleasant visit
with the Pope. St. Anastasius died in December 401 with the empire on the
brink of disaster. St. Jerome says that he was a man of apostolic zeal and
great poverty, and that Rome did not deserve to possess him long lest the
world's head be cut off while ruled by such a bishop. His feast is kept on
December 16.
ST. INNOCENT I
401 - 417
A frightful storm was blowing up over Italy as Anastasius died. The man
chosen to succeed him and face the storm was Innocent. Innocent was born
at
Albanum near Rome. He seems to have been brought up among the
Roman clergy.
He was unanimously elected pope in December 401.
The great Theodosius had made his sons Honorius and Arcadius emperors
in
the West and East respectively. They were weak men quite incapable of
coping with the barbarian storm. Honorius however, had at his side the
competent general Stilicho who beat off every attempt of Alaric the
Visigoth to get down into Italy. But when in 408 Emperor Honorius had
Stilicho killed on suspicion of treason, the gates were open and down came
Alaric. Honorius, safe in the fortress of Ravenna, defied the Goth and
refused to give terms. Alaric rushed on Rome, but Rome's towers and walls
were too much for the wild men who marched with Alaric. The Goths
blockaded
the city and ravaged the neighborhood. At last on the payment of a large
ransom Alaric withdrew to Tuscany. But the ambitious Visigoth was
determined to have his way. He kept on demanding from Honorius
Dalmatia,
Venetia, and Noricum, plus tribute. To save Rome from another attack Pope
Innocent personally went with an embassy from Rome to the imperial court
at
Ravenna. Honorius, safe himself, would not budge. Once more Alaric
attacked
the city; once more he was baffled by Rome's lofty walls. But on a third
attempt, traitors opened the Salarian gate and the Goths poured into the
helpless city. For five days the barbarians burned and plundered. The world
was shocked by the fall of great Rome. Pope Innocent, still at Ravenna,
must have been heartbroken. It was to a ravaged city that he returned.
Oddly enough, Pope Innocent found Honorius more cooperative in
ecclesiastical than in civil matters. While the Emperor took steps against
heretics, the Pope worked hard to maintain discipline. He issued decretals
to Bishop Victricius in Gaul and to the Spanish bishops. Innocent began to
hear complaints about a new heresy called Pelagianism and to receive
decrees from councils in Jerusalem and Africa condemning it. The Pope
approved these decrees, and himself condemned the heresy.
From Constantinople came word that the legitimate patriarch, the great St.
John Chrysostom, had been driven from his see. Theophilus, a meddling
patriarch of Alexandria, had come to Constantinople and intrigued with the
weak Emperor Arcadius to have the golden-tongued orator deposed. Pope
Innocent wrote a stern rebuke to the Alexandrian meddler and denounced
the
intruded usurper.
At home a wealthy matron named Vestina gave Innocent the money to build
and
endow a church dedicated to Sts. Gervase and Protase. This church still
exists under the name of San Vitale.
Pope Innocent died in 417. He is buried i basilica above the Catacomb of
Pontian.
ST. ZOSIMUS
417 - 418
That he was a Greek, the son of Abram, is all that is known of the early
life of St. Zosimus. His pontificate, however, though short, is important
for a climax in the fight against Pelagianism.
Pelagius (man of the sea) was the nickname by which Morgan, a tall
Britisher, was popularly known. This monk had come to Rome some time
around
400, and had established a reputation as a spiritual adviser. After a while
he moved on to Palestine, and soon his doctrine had the empire in an
uproar. Briefly, Pelagianism denied original sin and the necessity of
divine grace to perform meritorious acts, indeed even to win heaven itself.
A Roman lawyer named Caelestius and a clever thinker, Julian of Eclanum,
proved zealous propagators of the Britisher's heresy. But of course this
heresy, so fundamentally opposed to basic Christian truths, aroused great
opposition. St. Augustine, especially, attacked it with all his learning
and genius. Pope Innocent had received decrees from councils in
Jerusalem
and Africa condemning Pelagianism and had himself approved the decrees.
After Innocent died, Caelestius went to Rome to make a personal appeal
against the decisions of the local councils. A fast talker, he loudly
proclaimed that he believed whatever the Pope believed. And while
Caelestius was edifying all at Rome by his pious demeanor, Pelagius sent a
cleverly worded confession of faith to the Pope. No wonder Zosimus was
taken in! He wrote to the African bishops that they had acted hastily in
condemning Pelagius and Caelestius, since it was not sure that these
gentlemen had taught the doctrine for which they have been blamed. But by
an interchange of letters the African bishops were able to unmask the real
attitude of Pelagius and Caelestius. Once Pope Zosimus was convinced
that
the pair actually taught heretical doctrine, he spoke out strongly in a
famous Epistola tractoria or encyclical letter which clearly and forcefully
condemned Pelagius and Pelagianism. Of this epistle, worthy to be ranked
with the great modern encyclicals, Prosper of Aquitaine said that it put
the sword of Peter into the hands of every bishop. St. Augustine was
delighted with it and when Julian of Eclanum clamored for a council, the
great doctor coolly replied that competent authority had judged the case.
St. Zosimus decreed that clerics should not drink in taverns. He died
December 27, 418, and was buried in the cemetery Church of St. Lawrence
in
Agro Verano.
ST. BONIFACE I
418 - 422
After the death of Pope Zosimus, the Archdeacon Eulalius at the head of a
mob of clerics and laymen seized the Lateran Basilica and prevented the
rest of the priests from entering and holding the election of the pope
according to custom. They then elected Eulalius himself. Meanwhile the
majority of the priests set the election for the next day; and since they
could not hold it in the Lateran, they agreed to meet in the Church of
Theodora. There they elected an old priest, Boniface.
Boniface, a Roman of high character, was consecrated in the Church of St.
Marcellus, while Fulalius was consecrated in the Lateran. The rebels
succeeded in getting the traditional consecrator of the pope, the bishop of
Ostia, to perform the function.
Rome was in a bad way with two men claiming to be the true pope. Both
appealed to Emperor Honorius at Ravenna. Honorius, undecided, held a
gathering of Italian bishops to discuss the ticklish situation, but no
decision was reached. The Emperor then called for a larger council, to
which he invited the bishops of Gaul and Africa. The council decided that
neither claimant should celebrate Easter in Rome while the case was being
decided. Boniface obeyed, but Eulalius entered the city in Passion Week,
refused to obey the prefect's order to get out, and finally with a gang of
partisans seized the Lateran. The imperial officials had to use force to
get him out.
At last a letter from Honorius announced that the council had decided that
Boniface was the legitimate pope and that he should be received as such.
On
April 10, St. Boniface solemnly entered the city amid the cheers of the
populace. Even so, a year later when Boniface became sick, the partisans
of
Eulalius raised their heads; but they were unable to upset the sick Pope.
Boniface continued the fight against the Pelagian heresy on two fronts.
While he asked St. Augustine to write a treatise refuting the heretics, he
obtained from Emperor Honorius a decree ordering all bishops to subscribe
to the condemnation of Pelagius and Caelestius. He used his influence with
Honorius also to preserve his jurisdiction as patriarch over Illyricum.
Theodosius II, now Emperor of the East, had detached that area from the
Western Patriarchate and placed it under the patriarchal jurisdiction of
Constantinople. Honorius succeeded in persuading Theodosius to repeal
the
decree.
St. Boniface I died September 4, 422. His feast is kept on October 25.
ST. CELESTINE I
422 -432
Two acts make the pontificate of St. Celestine outstanding: the
condemnation of the Nestorian heresy and the sending of St. Patrick to
Ireland.
A Campanian, Celestine was said to have lived for a while with St. Ambrose
at Milan. He was certainly a deacon at Rome in the time of Pope Innocent I.
In contrast to the stormy election of Pope Boniface, Celestine's seems to
have been quiet and harmonious. Once pope, St. Celestine continued the
fight against now dying Pelagianism. He had the satisfaction of seeing it
die away in Britain, the native isle of its founder, under the spirited
attack of St. Germanus of Auxerre and St. Lupus of Troyes. When the
heresy
in the diluted form known as Semi-Pelagianism raised its head in Gaul,
Celestine wrote against this new danger. A great friend of St. Augustine,
he wrote a letter to the bishops of Gaul on the occasion of the mighty
father's death, praising him and forbidding all attacks on his memory. The
Pope also got the Council of Ephesus to condemn Pelagianism.
But the third great ecumenical council held at Ephesus in 431 was chiefly
concerned with still another new heresy. Nestorius, a priest of Antioch,
had become patriarch of Constantinople. From the eminence of this lofty
position he taught the new doctrine that in Christ there are not only two
natures, which is correct, but that there are also two persons, which is
incorrect. A logical consequence was that Mary was not the Mother of God
but only of the human person of Christ. This aroused horror even in
Constantinople itself, while St. Cyril, the patriarch of Alexandria,
attacked the new doctrine most vigorously. Both Nestorius and Cyril were
soon clamoring to the Pope for a decision. Celestine held a synod at Rome
in 430 and condemned Nestorianism. Nestorius was to be deposed and
excommunicated if he persisted in teaching false doctrine. Nestorius
refused to submit, all the more because Cyril, who had been made the
Pope's
agent in the matter, demanded more than Celestine had asked. A general
council was called to meet at Ephesus in 431. The council condemned
Nestorianism, to the great joy of the people.
It is probable, though not certain, that St. Celestine a short time before
his death personally commissioned St. Patrick to preach the gospel to the
Irish. At any rate, it was at this time that Patrick did begin his
marvelous work. St. Prosper of Aquitaine says that Celestine saved the
Roman island for the faith and to the "barbarous" island brought the light
of Christ.
At Rome Celestine restored the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, which
had been destroyed by the Goths. He also caused some interesting pictures
of the saints to be painted in the Church of St. Sylvester.
St. Celestine died on July 27, 432. His feast is kept on July 27. The Greek
Church also honors Celestine because of his part in putting down the
Nestorian heresy.
ST. SIXTUS III
432 - 440
Sixtus was one of those gentle souls who seem to exist for the purpose of
binding wounds and healing bruises. A Roman, prominent among the
clergy, a
friend of St. Augustine, Sixtus was a natural choice for pope. He set
himself the task of consolidating the victory over Pelagianism and
Nestorianism by kindness and gentleness. Indeed, at one time it appeared
as
if that clever protagonist of Pelagianism, Julian of Eclanum, was about to
pull the wool over the Pope's eyes. But his insincerity was unmasked, and
Sixtus refused him readmittance into the Church. At the side of Sixtus in
this matter stood a deacon named Leo whose aid was very valuable to the
Pope. Of him more shall be heard.
The Pope's kindness had happier results with the Nestorians. In 433, Sixtus
held a council at Rome at which he announced that Cyril of Alexandria had
informed him that many Nestorian leaders had returned to the Church.
Certainly Sixtus made it easy for them to do so.
The condemnation of Nestorianism had been a striking vindication of the
honor paid to Mary as Mother of the Person who is God. Indeed, just as the
word consubstantial was the keyword of orthodoxy against the Arians, so
theotokos (Mother of God) was the keyword of orthodoxy against the
Nestorians. The Council of Ephesus precipitated a spontaneous outburst of
devotion to Mary. St. Sixtus celebrated the council by rebuilding the old
basilica of Pope Liberius and decorating it with magnificent mosaics
picturing the childhood of Jesus and the life of Mary. The church, which
was dedicated to the Mother of God, is called St. Mary Major.
Sixtus III did much for the churches in Rome. Not only did he redecorate
St. Mary Major but he obtained from Emperor Valentinian III a golden image
adorned with jewels on which the twelve apostles were represented. This he
placed over the tomb of St. Peter. He did some restoration in the old
Lateran Basilica and he erected a silver altar and porphyry columns in the
Church of St. Lawrence.
St. Sixtus III died August 19, 440. He was buried in that Church of St.
Lawrence he did so much to adorn. His feast is kept on August 19.
ST. LEO I, THE GREAT
440 - 461
"A burden to shudder at"--thus St. Leo I spoke of the papal office. Yet few
have been so capable of bearing that burden as the clever, energetic, and
holy Tuscan who succeeded St. Sixtus III. A deacon in the Church at Rome
Leo was absent in Gaul on an important mission for the Emperor when St.
Sixtus III died. He returned to find himself pope.
To rule the mid-fifth-century Church was not easy. The West was filled with
the clamor of barbarians wandering through provinces which had lost the
nerve to resist. The East was troubled with a new and dangerous heresy.
How
Leo faced both situations is the story of his pontificate.
Leo acted strongly against all heresies, but the dogmatic crisis of his
pontificate arose when the Constantinople monk Eutyches and the patriarch
of Alexandria, Dioscorus, began to teach that in Christ there is only one
nature. This Monophysite ( one-nature ) heresy made such progress in the
East that St. Flavian, the patriarch of Constantinople, called on the Pope
to do something about it. Leo did. In a famous letter to Flavian, the Pope
so clearly and forcefully exposed and condemned the Monophysite error
that
this letter has been venerated as a creed.
The Monophysites, however, gained the ear of the Eastern Emperor,
Theodosius II, and succeeded in holding a packed synod at Ephesus. There
they so maltreated the saintly Flavian that he died, and they proclaimed
the Monophysite error to be true Christian doctrine. Leo came to the
rescue. In stinging words he characterized the Ephesus affair as a robbery,
and the name has lived. To this day it is known as the robber synod. To
counteract Monophysite influence on Theodosius, Leo got Valentinian III,
the Western Emperor, to wake up his cousin to the danger of fostering
heresy. Though Theodosius died, his successor Marcion heeded the Pope.
To
settle the matter a great council, the fourth ecumenical, was called to
meet at Chalcedon in 451. There the fathers condemned Eutyches and
accepted
Leo's letter as the symbol of orthodox belief. Though the Monophysite
heresy lingered long to trouble the Eastern Church, this great council
killed its chance to win the East.
In the West imperial feebleness forced Leo to stand as buffer between his
people and barbarian hordes. Attila the Hun, checked at Chalons, had burst
over the Alps in 452. Leo went north to meet Attila. On the banks of the
Mincio these two giants of the age met, one representing brute might, the
other, moral force. And Leo prevailed. Attila agreed to make peace and
spare Rome. Three years later when a Vandal fleet sailed up the Tiber, the
panic-stricken Romans turned to their bishop. The Pope went outside the
walls to meet Genseric, the Vandal king. Genseric agreed to spare the lives
and homes of the Romans. Then for fourteen days the Vandals helped
themselves to the wealth of imperial Rome, but true to Genseric's promise
to the Pope, they set no fires and kept their swords sheathed.
The many-sidedness of Leo is a marvel. Diplomat, statesman, administrator,
theologian, orator,
and above all a holy man, this pope well deserves the title, Leo the Great.
ST. HILARY
461 - 468
To replace a man like Leo was not easy, but the next pope was a man after
Leo's heart, the archdeacon Hilary. Hilary was a Sardinian who had joined
the Roman clergy and had been sent by St. Leo as one of the papal legates
to the council at Ephesus in 449. This council, intended to settle the
Monophysite affair, got out of hand. Packed with Monophysites and
presided
over by Dioscorus, the patriarch of Alexandria, the assembly refused to
listen to the protests of the papal legates. Dioscorus steam-rollered
through the council a condemnation of the orthodox and saintly Flavian,
patriarch of Constantinople, and an approval of the Monophysite leader
Eutyches. In vain Hilary protested. He had to fly in fear for his life and
hide in a chapel of St. John the Evangelist. It was only with difficulty
that he got back to Rome. No wonder St. Leo called this Ephesus council a
gathering of robbers!
As pope, Hilary worked hard to foster order in the Gallic hierarchy. When a
certain Hermes illegally made himself archbishop of Narbonne, two Gallic
delegates came to Rome to appeal to Pope Hilary. He held a council at
Rome
in 462 to settle the matter. He also upheld the rights of the see of Arles
to be the primatial see of Gaul. From Spain also came appeals of a similar
nature. To settle these Hilary held a council at Rome in 465. This is the
first Council at Rome whose acts have come down to us. According to the
"Liber Pontificalis" he sent a letter to the East confirming the ecumenical
councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, and the famous dogmatic
letter
of his predecessor St. Leo to Flavian. He also publicly in St. Peter's
rebuked the shadow-emperor Anthemius for allowing a favorite of his to
foster heresy in Rome.
St. Hilary deserves great credit for his work in building and decorating
churches in Rome. Of especial interest is the oratory he built near the
Lateran, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist. The Pope attributed his
escape from the wild Monophysites at Ephesus to the intercession of the
Beloved Disciple, and to show his gratitude he built this beautiful
oratory. Over its doors may still be seen the inscription, "To his
deliverer, Blessed John the Evangelist, Bishop Hilary, the Servant of
Christ." Hilary built two more churches and spent freely in decorating
still others. The gold and silver and marble used so lavishly by this Pope
in adorning the Roman churches indicate that the wealthy families of Rome
must have saved something from the grasping hands of Goths and Vandals.
St. Hilary died on February 29. His feast is kept on February 28.
ST. SIMPLICIUS
468 - 483
St. Simplicius, a native of Tivoli, was elected to succeed St. Hilary. His
election was peaceful, his pontificate stormy. The empire in the West was
dying. After the murder of Valentinian III back in 455, a succession of
nine shadow emperors held the throne. Most of these were tools of
barbarian
generals, and finally in the time of Pope Simplicius in 476 the Heruli
chieftain Odovakar deposed the last of these little monarchs and informed
Emperor Zeno at Constantinople that he would rule the West for him. By this
time, anyway, the imperial government had ceased to exercise much
influence
in the West. Visigoths ruled Spain, Franks and other tribes dominated Gaul,
Vandals controlled Africa, and Britain had long been abandoned to Picts and
Scots, Angles and Saxons.
The Pope was not much troubled by the change. Odovakar, though an
Arian,
treated the Church well. But Simplicius was very much troubled by affairs
in the East.
In 475 a usurper named Basiliscus drove Emperor Zeno from the throne.
Basiliscus favored the Monophysites, and now these heretics enjoyed a very
resurrection. Timothy the Cat, that old Monophysite who had been deposed
from the see of Alexandria by Emperor Marcion, now returned in triumph.
Peter the Fuller took over Antioch. The usurper Basiliscus issued an
imperial decree known as the "Encyclion" which ordered the dogmatic letter
of St. Leo to Flavian and the acts of the Council of Chalcedon to be
burned. It looked as if the whole East trembled on the brink of heresy as
five hundred bishops actually subscribed to this audacious bit of imperial
dogmatizing. Acacius the patriarch of Constantinople, still held firm, and
to his rescue came Pope Simplicius. He strongly encouraged the monks and
clergy of Constantinople to resist the usurper's tyranny. But though
Constantinople held firm, Antioch and Alexandria were in heretic hands.
When Timothy the Cat died, he was succeeded by his friend the equally
ardent Monophysite, Peter the Hoarse.
Just when things looked worst, Emperor Zeno made a comeback and
regained
the throne. Out went the intruded Monophysite bishops. Back came the
Catholics. Pope Simplicius could feel that he had helped the East survive a
fierce tempest. The time of peace, however, was very short. When the
Catholic patriarch of Alexandria died, the Catholics elected John Talaia to
succeed him. The Monophysites once more elected Peter the Hoarse. Now
the
Emperor Zeno and Patriarch Acacius began to favor the Monophysite,
Peter.
Strange this! But politics were at work. Zeno, alarmed at the strength of
the Monophysites, was thinking of a way to pacify them, and Acacius was
hand in glove with the Emperor. In spite of the Pope's protests, Peter the
Hoarse was recognized as true patriarch of Alexandria. Then Peter went to
Constantinople, where he joined Zeno and Acacius to cook up a
compromise
known as the Henoticon. This was in 482 while Simplicius still lived; but
he died before the storm reached its peak.
St. Simplicius built four churches in Rome. He died in 483. His feast is
kept on March 2.
ST. FELIX II
483 - 492
St. Felix II has the extraordinary distinction of being not only a pope and
saint himself, but the great-grandfather of another pope and saint, Gregory
the Great. Felix had been married, but his wife had died before he became a
priest. He was a member of an old Roman family of senatorial rank.
No sooner was he elected pope than Felix faced the vexing problem posed
by
Emperor Zeno's ill-considered attempt to unify the East by compromise. One
of the evils which result from politicians meddling in church matters is
the tendency to make a deal. And that is just what Zeno did. Alarmed by the
hold that the Monophysites had on Egypt and Syria, Zeno issued his famous
Henoticon (act of union) and ordered all to subscribe to it. This Henoticon
was a creed drawn up by Acacius, the hitherto orthodox patriarch of
Constantinople, and Peter, the Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria. It was
orthodox in what it said, but implicitly it condoned the Monophysite heresy
by omitting the decision of the Council of Chalcedon and the letter of Pope
Leo to Flavian. Like so many compromises it pleased few. The more ardent
Monophysites refused to follow their leader, Peter, and Pope Felix
denounced it. With true spiritual independence, he warned the Emperor not
to interfere in theological matters and "to allow the Catholic Church to
govern itself by its own laws."
Pope Felix sent legates to Constantinople to summon Acacius to Rome, but
to
his dismay the Pope discovered that his legates had approved the election
of the Monophysite Peter as patriarch of Alexandria and had communicated
with heretics--in short, had sold him out. Felix held a synod at Rome in
484 at which he excommunicated the untrustworthy legates. He also
excommunicated Acacius, but the patriarch remained stubborn. Thus
started
the Acacian schism in which Constantinople was officially separated from
the Roman Church over the Henoticon. Even after Acacius died, the schism
dragged on until the next century.
In the last years of this pontificate Theodoric led his Ostrogoths into
Italy to defeat Odovakar and take over the rule of Italy--all in the name
of Emperor Zeno. Though an Arian, Theodoric treated the Church well. It
was
different in Africa, where in the early years of his reign Felix heard
anguished cries for help from the hapless Catholics. Hunneric, the Arian
Vandal, ruthlessly harried the poor African Catholics. Pope Felix got
Emperor Zeno to bring his influence to bear on the fierce Vandal, but this
accomplished little. After Hunneric died, the persecution slackened, and
the Pope then helped to get the Church in Africa on its feet. He followed
the usual papal policy of mildness towards weak brethren who had given
way
in the storm.
Pope St. Felix died March 1, 492. He is buried in St. Paul's on the Ostian
Way.
ST. GELASIUS I
492 - 496
"More a servant than a sovereign-thus Dionysius Exiguus describes St.
Gelasius I.
Yet he spoke so beautifully of the majesty of Peter's see that his words
have been quoted down the ages. As late as the last ecumenical council,
Pope Gelasius was quoted as an authority on papal infallibility.
Gelasius was an African either by birth or descent. A member of the Roman
clergy, he worked in close cooperation with St. Felix II, and when he
became pope he continued the policy of his predecessor. Gelasius found
the
Church of Constantinople still in schism. Although the patriarch Euphemius
had returned to orthodoxy, he refused to strike the name of Acacius from
the diptychs. The diptychs were tablets used in the churches of those days
on which were written the names of living and dead dignitaries. Since they
were visible signs of the communion of saints, the names of all in heresy
or schism or under excommunication were excluded from these diptychs. A
number of bishops appealed to Gelasius to relent and readmit
Constantinople
to communion, but the Pope explained that it was a question not of
personality but of principle, that to allow the name of Acacius to remain
on the diptychs would be to repudiate his predecessor's actions against the
Monophysite compromisers. Gelasius also defended the rights of the
ancient
patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch against the encroachments of
Constantinople.
Although the Pope had his troubles with Emperor Anastasius over the
Henoticon, he got along well with the Arian Theodoric. His difficulty at
home arose, not from the government, but from a group of superstitious
Romans. A plague had afflicted the city and these superstitious citizens,
led by the Senator Andromachus, revived the Lupercalia to bring back good
luck to the city. The Lupercalia were originally a pagan rite celebrated in
mid-February, but it became a good luck superstition. Youths clad in skins
ran around the city with whips to chase away bad luck. They struck any
woman they met a blow which was supposed to confer fertility. That such
rank superstition should be revived was a challenge to the Pope and
vigorously he met it. Gelasius forbade all Catholics to have anything to do
with the affair, and wrote against it so vigorously that he soon ended the
mischievous nonsense.
Gelasius, like his predecessor, spoke firmly to the Emperor on the need of
independence for the Church. No history of political theory is complete
without a discussion of this pope's masterly exposition of the role of
Church and State in a famous letter to Emperor Anastasius. Gelasius
defends
the position of the Church as a perfect society, and at the same time
recognizes the legitimate functions of both Church and State.
Although a great writer, Gelasius made his strongest impression as a man
of
holiness. Prayerful and austere, he loved the companionship of monks. He
was outstanding for his sense of justice and above all for his charity to
the poor. "Great even among the saints," Gelasius died November 21, 496.
ANASTASIUS II
496 - 498
Anastasius II is a much-maligned pope. Misunderstood by his
contemporaries,
he has been abused by medieval historians, and even placed in hell by
Dante! Modern historical research, however, has cleared the memory of this
pope.
Anastasius II, a Roman, was a man of kindly and peaceable disposition.
Distressed at the continued schism of Constantinople, he sent legates to
the Emperor and messages of peace to the Patriarch. He did not sacrifice
principle. He continued to demand the condemnation of the schismatic,
Acacius. But the Romans seem to have misunderstood this, and they began
to
grumble. Their indignation flamed higher when they learned that Pope
Anastasius had received back into communion Archbishop Andrew of
Thessalonica, who had been an ardent partisan of the schismatic Acacius.
They do not seem to have realized that Archbishop Andrew had repented
and
had repudiated Acacius and returned to Catholic unity.
The confusion of the Romans was caused perhaps at least partially by the
indiscreet remarks of Photinus, Andrew's legate to the Pope. At the same
time the pro-Byzantine intrigues of the Senator Festus caused the Romans
to
be intensely suspicious. All this resulted in a good deal of bitterness on
the part of Roman clergy and laity against peace-loving Pope Anastasius.
Anastasius, however, was unable to effect the reunion which he desired and
was spared the necessity of pacifying his disturbed Romans by his sudden
death in 498.
The "Liber Pontificalis" remarks that he was cut down by divine
intervention; but Duchesne regards this as a manifestation of party feeling
rather than the recording of cold history. There is no historical
justification at all for the horrible death dreamed up for him by the more
imaginative chroniclers of the Middle Ages.
While Pope Anastasius was having his troubles, an event full of future
significance took place in Gaul. Clovis, the Frankish king, was baptized by
St. Remigius.
ST. SYMMACHUS
498 - 514
The death of Anastasius left Rome tense with bitterness and suspicion as
two factions struggled for control. The first and larger was the group
which, out of misunderstanding, had grumbled at the late Pope's peace
policy. The other faction was the pro-Byzantine party led by Senator
Festus. This intriguer was anxious to make Rome conform to the imperial
wish concerning Zeno's Henoticon. The clergy gathered at the Lateran on
November 22, 498, and elected Symmachus. Later that same day, the pro-
Byzantine minority went to St. Mary Major and elected an antipope,
Lawrence. Off to Ravenna went embassies from pope and antipope to
Theodoric. Theodoric wisely decided to recognize Symmachus because he
had
been elected first and by a majority. Lawrence bowed and was made bishop
of
Nocera.
Symmachus, a Sardinian who had been baptized at Rome and had been a
deacon
there, took steps to prevent a recurrence of the trouble. He held a synod
on March 1, 499, which passed stringent decrees against electioneering for
the papacy. The next year he welcomed Theodoric to Rome. The great
Ostrogoth received a splendid reception, and in turn promised to respect
the privileges of the Romans.
The pro-Byzantine party raised its head again in 501. Led by Festus, they
accused the Pope of all kinds of crimes from celebrating Easter on the
wrong date to immoral conduct. When Theodoric sent for Symmachus, the
Pope
boldly refused to be judged by a secular ruler. Theodoric then requested a
synod to settle the matter, and sent, as Visitor to Rome, Bishop Peter of
Altinum.
The Pope agreed to the synod but refused to accept the Visitor. When, with
his approval, the synod met, Symmachus demanded his complete
reinstatement
before answering any charge. Though the synod agreed to this, Theodoric
did
not. The Pope then gave in, and set out for the synod, but was attacked by
partisans of the proByzantine faction and driven back to St. Peter's.
This outrage ended his complaisance, and he refused to have anything
more
to do with the synod. Embarrassed, the synod broke up declaring that it had
no competence to judge a pope, and that Symmachus should be regarded
as
free from all crime.
Theodoric, however, refused to accept this, and the pro-Byzantine faction
brought back Antipope Lawrence and installed him in the Lateran. For four
years this schism dragged on, to the distress of the faithful. The patient
Pope was gradually winning back the adherents of Lawrence when
Theodoric
changed his mind, and by withdrawing his support from the schismatics, put
an end to the matter.
In spite of all this trouble, Symmachus kept an eye on the East and rebuked
Emperor Anastasius for his support of the Monophysite heresy. As firmly as
Gelasius, the Pope maintained the independence of his spiritual power. He
found time to do a good deal of building in Rome, including three refuges
for the poor. He also sent alms to the persecuted Catholics of Africa. St.
Symmachus died July 19, 514. Venerated as a saint, his feast is kept on
that day.
ST. HORMISDAS
514 - 523
Gloom and storm marked the pontificates of Anastasius II and Symmachus,
but
on St. Hormisdas the sun of peace and victory shone with cheerful splendor.
St. Hormisdas was born at Frosinone in the Roman Campagna. Married
before
ordination, he had a son, Silverius, who also became pope. As a deacon,
Hormisdas had staunchly backed St. Symmachus in his trouble with the
antipope Lawrence and the pro-Byzantine faction. Elected with difficulty,
St. Hormisdas began his career of peace with victory by receiving back into
the Church the last die-hards of the Laurentian schism.
A greater victory was in the making. Ever since 484 the Church of
Constantinople had been in schism. First, Patriarch Acacius had supported
the Henoticon and had died excommunicated and in schism. Then even
when the
patriarchs had returned to orthodoxy, they could not bring themselves to
strike the name of Acacius from the liturgical diptychs or tablets. The
fact that Emperor Anastasius, who ruled during most of this time, tended to
the Monophysite heresy did not help matters. But more and more the
orthodox
clergy, monks, and laity of the East longed for an end to this schism which
weakened their stand against the Monophysites.
In 514 General Vitalian revolted and forced Anastasius to make overtures
towards reunion; but since Anastasius was not serious, nothing came of this
attempt. A number of Eastern bishops, however, independently made their
submission to Rome. When Anastasius died in 517 hopes rose. His
successor,
the rugged soldier Justin I was orthodox. Popular opinion, the Emperor, and
orthodoxy for once all agreeing, the way to reunion was easy. A synod at
Constantinople sent a legate to Pope Hormisdas to seek reunion.
The Pope sent back a legation with a formula of faith, and on Holy
Thursday, March 28, 519, the papal legates received the Church of
Constantinople back to Catholic unity. The ceremony was hailed with tears
of joy, for this union was extremely popular.
The formula of Hormisdas which the Pope sent to be signed on this
occasion
is a masterpiece of clarity. It repeats the condemnation of the heresies
condemned by the ecumenical councils and it formally condemns the
memory of
Acacius who had started this schism. It so clearly stated the primacy and
infallibility of the Roman See that from that day to the time of the
Vatican Council, it has been a powerful weapon in the arsenal of Catholic
orthodoxy. It was subscribed to by the patriarch of Constantinople, it
swept the East and in the end was signed by 2,500 bishops.
Another joyous moment for St. Hormisdas came when word was brought
from
Africa that after the death of the Vandal king Thrasamund, the hardpressed
African Church enjoyed a little peace.
Hormisdas forbade the use of the expression "one of the Trinity was
crucified," not because it could not be understood in a true sense, but
because it was used as a Monophysite catchword. He sent letters to the
bishops of Gaul and Spain on disciplinary matters.
When St. Hormisdas died in 523 the Church was, on the whole, peaceful,
but
black clouds were piling up in the West.
ST. JOHN I
523 -526
John, a Tuscan, the Archdeacon of the Roman clergy, was elected to
succeed
St. Hormisdas, but he was not to enjoy the same prosperity as his
predecessor. Now that the Acacian schism had ended in the East and an
orthodox emperor ruled at Constantinople, the hitherto mild Theodoric
began
to make trouble at home. The Ostrogoth king was growing old and
suspicious.
He regarded the new friendliness between Rome and Constantinople as a
possible danger to his regime. His suspicion rose to fury when he heard
that Emperor Justin had taken measures against the Arian heretics in the
East and had deprived them of their churches. The angry Goth seems at
first
to have thought of waging war in favor of his fellow Arians. Then he
decided to see what he could accomplish by an embassy. He summoned
Pope
John to Ravenna and imposed upon him the decidedly disagreeable task of
going to Constantinople at the head of this embassy to ask the orthodox
emperor to restore the churches to the Arians. John objected, but Theodoric
packed him and the embassy on board ship and away they sailed for
Constantinople.
The mission was embarrassing but the journey glorious. Wherever they
stopped the Pope was hailed with joy, and when they approached
Constantinople, Pope John was met at the twelfth milestone by a brilliant
procession of clergy carrying crosses and candles.
Emperor Justin received him with the highest honors. On Easter Sunday,
April 19, 526, he celebrated Mass in Sancta Sophia. He crowned the
Emperor.
He received enthusiastic pledges of loyalty from the Eastern bishops.
Alexandria alone, now hardening in its Monophysite heresy, remained aloof.
This glorification of Pope John by the devout people of Constantinople was
his Thabor. Calvary was before him. Theodoric was waiting for him, now a
brutal Theodoric who had just butchered the gentle philosopher Boethius
and
the senator Symmachus. When the Pope got back to Ravenna Theodoric
threw
him into prison. Already tired by his journey and worn by new sufferings,
Pope John did not last long in a prison cell. He died May 18, 526. He was
buried outside the walls of Ravenna, but later his body was brought back to
Rome and buried in St. Peter's. St. John is honored by the Church as a
martyr; his feast is kept on May 27.
ST. FELIX III
526 - 530
When Theodoric learned that his victim, Pope St. John, had died in prison
he took measures to ensure that the next pope would be friendly. He put
forward as his candidate Felix of Samnium, a priest of the Roman Church.
The King's wishes were respected, and Felix, a man of excellent character
anyway, was elected.
In spite of being a royal nominee Felix proved to be a good pope. He used
his favor with the Gothic Court to help the Church. Theodoric did not long
survive his illustrious victim, Pope John, and died on August 30, 526. He
was succeeded by his grandson, Athalaric, a lad of ten. The real power was
the Queen Mother, Amalasuntha. This lady, Theodoric's daughter, was quite
favorable to the Church, and from her Pope Felix secured a decree, drawn
up
by the noble old Cassiodorus, which reserved the trial of clerics to the
pope. Violations of this law of clerical immunity were to be punished by a
heavy fine, and any money thus obtained was to go to the poor. The Pope
also received two temples in the Roman forum, that of Romulus, and that of
the Sacred City. These he made over into the Church of Sts. Cosmas and
Damian. The church still stands and to this day may be seen there mosaics
made by order of Pope Felix.
In Gaul there had arisen a mitigated form of Pelagianism. This Semi-
Pelagianism had been taught by the ascetic John Cassian and a clever
writer, Faustus of Riez. It lingered in Gaul, and St. Caesarius of Arles
called on the Pope to help him fight this heresy. Pope Felix backed St.
Caesarius by his approval, and by trying to circulate the saint's book
against the Semi-Pelagians. He also sent a list of canons which explained
the Catholic doctrine on grace against the Semi-Pelagian heresy. These
were
incorporated in the decrees of the Second Council of Orange, held in 529,
which did much to end the Semi-Pelagians.
In 529, too, an event happened of profound importance. St. Benedict
founded
the Monastery of Monte Cassino, the mother abbey of those hosts of
monasteries which did so much for the Church and for civilization.
Monasticism was already a powerful force, but St. Benedict is rightly
regarded as the patriarch of Western monks. His rule--holy, wise, moderate-
-has been a ladder to perfection for millions.
By 530 Felix was gravely ill. He worried a good deal about the future, for
party feeling was running high in Rome. Pro-Goths clashed with pro-
Byzantines as the shadow of the reconquest loomed over the city. In these
disturbed circumstances Felix felt justified in taking an extraordinary
step. He chose his own successor! He gave his own pallium to the
archdeacon
Boniface and solemnly proclaimed that he should be the next pope. He died
shortly after in 530.
BONIFACE II
530 - 532
The clergy and people of Rome had yielded to the wish of Theodoric and
elected Felix, but there was great dissatisfaction with the quite
irregular, though well-meant, attempt of Felix to appoint his own
successor. When Felix died, the majority of the clergy and people refused
to accept his nominee, the archdeacon Boniface, and elected instead the
clever diplomat Dioscorus, a Greek from Alexandria. Dioscorus had served
the papacy brilliantly on important missions. He was consecrated in the
Lateran Basilica while Boniface had to be contented with the Julian
Basilica. With two claimants consecrated, it looked as if Rome was in for a
bad time; but in less than a month Dioscorus was dead. His followers wisely
chose to submit to Boniface. Boniface made them anathematize the
memory of
Dioscorus and agree that he had the right to appoint his successor.
Boniface, though a Roman himself, was the son of Sigisbald, a fact of some
interest because it is the first German name connected with a pope. At
first he seemed to proceed with rather a high hand. Not only did he compel
the Roman clergy and people to recognize his right to appoint his
successor, but he soon summoned a synod in St. Peter's and announced
that
he had appointed the deacon Vigilius to succeed him and to be the next
pope. The people took it quietly, but soon resentment was sweeping Rome
at
this highhanded procedure. When Boniface realized that the city was
seething with dissatisfaction, he did a big thing. He summoned another
synod to St. Peter's and this time he announced that he had been wrong in
seeking to appoint his successor. Then in the presence of the clergy he
burned the decree appointing Vigilius the next pope.
The old Roman Senate still existed and it is interesting to note that its
last decree which has come down to us concerned papal elections. The
decree
forbade under punishment any bribery in papal elections. This only
reinforced Church law, but that the Senate considered it necessary throws
light on the disturbed conditions of the time.
Boniface II approved of the decrees of the Second Council of Orange in
Gaul, which condemned the Semi-Pelagian error. He helped to reorganize
the
Church in Africa, now rebuilding after the storm of the Vandal persecution.
Boniface II was a very charitable man. He spent a great deal on the poor,
especially when a famine threatened the city. He died in 532 and was buried
in St. Peter's.
JOHN II
533 - 535
It was a good two months after the death of Boniface II before a successor
was chosen, two months which may have been filled with shady
electioneering. At last, however, on January 2, 533, the priest Mercurius
was elected pope. Mercurius changed his name to John, the first instance of
a pope doing this. He had been the priest in charge of St. Clement's Church
on the Coelian Hill.
An official complained to the Gothic court at Ravenna that there had been
bribery and that even sacred vessels had been offered for sale during the
two months' vacancy. King Athalaric then ordered that the decree of the
Senate against bribery in papal elections should be carved on marble and
set up in the court of St. Peter's. Athalaric added to the decree that
henceforth when any disputed papal election should be brought to Ravenna,
a
sum of money should be paid--the money to go to the poor.
John II got along well with both the government at Ravenna and the imperial
government at Constantinople. Emperor Justinian sent him a profession of
faith and some rich gifts, including a gold chalice that was richly set
with precious stones. The formula "One of the Trinity was crucified," which
had been frowned on by Pope Hormisdas, now began to be used again in
the
East. Emperor Justinian defended it, while those tireless watchdogs of
orthodoxy the "sleepless" monks opposed it. This time the Pope approved
its
use. There was no contradiction. Hormisdas had frowned on it, not because
it was heretical, but because the Monophysites were using it as a
catchword. Now, since it was being used as a catchword of orthodoxy
against
the Nestorians, Pope John II approved of it.
From Gaul, John received the sad case of Bishop Contumeliosus of Riez.
This
bishop seems to have fallen into grave sin and to have seized some church
property. St. Caesarius of Arles treated the matter in a synod held at
Marseilles in 533. He sent the decisions of the synod to the Pope, and John
II confirmed them. Contumeliosus was to be confined in a monastery and to
make good from his own property what he had taken from the church.
John II died in 535 and was buried in St. Peter's.
ST. AGAPETUS I
535 - 536
The pontificate of St. Agapetus I, though short, is filled with interest.
The son of a priest who had been killed in the stormy days of Pope
Symmachus, he was archdeacon of the Roman clergy when elected.
Agapetus was
evidently one of the majority which had backed Dioscorus in the struggle
against the appointed pope, Boniface II. At any rate, one of the first
things he did was to seek the decree which Boniface had issued
anathematizing Disocorus and have it publicly burned.
From Gaul Agapetus received an appeal from Contumeliosus, bishop of
Riez,
who had been condemned for immorality by a synod headed by St.
Caesarius of
Arles. Agapetus ordered St. Caesarius to give the accused bishop a new
trial. He ratified the decrees of a council held at Cathage. Of interest to
lovers of education is the fact that Agapetus cooperated with Cassiodorus
in founding his famous monastery at Vivarium.
The main interest of this pontificate, however, lies in the mission to
Constantinople which concluded it. King Theodahad, a nephew of
Theodoric,
asked the Pope to go to Constantinople to plead with Emperor Justinian to
call off the threatened invasion of Italy. The Pope agreed to go, all the
more readily because he had learned that the Monophysites once more
threatened Constantinople. He even pledged the gold and silver vessels of
St. Peter's to raise the funds necessary for the journey.
Justinian gave the Pope a warm welcome, but would not hear of peace.
Preparations were far too advanced, he told Agapetus, to call off the
invasion. The Pope was more successful in his effort to check Monophysite
designs on the Church of Constantinople. Justinian, cultured and serious,
was an orthodox ruler, but unfortunately he was under the thumb of his
wife, the famous Theodora. Theodora, an actress risen to be empress, had
the impudence to meddle in theology. Passionately the little comedian
backed up the Monophysites, and at this very time she pulled enough wool
over Justinian's eyes to get a creature of hers with Monophysite tendencies
made patriarch of Constantinople. This man, Anthimus, had been bishop of
Trebizond. Without canonical authority he left his see to become patriarch.
Once more the Monophysites threatened Constantinople. But Pope
Agapetus
came to the rescue. Informed of the Monophysite tendencies and irregular
position of the Patriarch, the Pope refused to have anything to do with
him. Justinian, moved by Theodora's outcries, became annoyed. He went so
far as to threaten the Pope, but St. Agapetus replied that he had come to
visit the most Christian Emperor only to find a Diocletian. He added that
he was not moved by the imperial threats. Justinian, a good man at heart,
thought better of it, and allowed justice to take its course. Pope Agapetus
then deposed Patriarch Anthimus, and personally consecrated his
successor,
Mennas. Once more the papacy saved Constantinople from the threat of
heresy. And the Greek Church is grateful. Agapetus is celebrated as a saint
not only in the Roman but in the Greek calendar.
The old Pope was ailing and before he could return to Rome, he died at
Constantinople on April 22, 536.
ST. SILVERIUS
536 - 537
A saint and the son of the great Pope St. Hormisdas, Silverius was to enjoy
no such glory as had his father. But if he could not follow him in his
brilliant achievements, he could imitate his virtue and devotion. Silverius
was the nominee of Gothic King Theodahad. That monarch, quivering with
fear
at the imminent East Roman invasion, determined to have a loyal pope as
the
zero hour drew near. He appointed the subdeacon Silverius. Since Silverius
was an excellent cleric, the clergy of Rome accepted Theodahad's choice.
But while the Goth put his candidate on Peter's throne, Empress Theodora
was taking measures to get her pet patriarch back in Constantinople and her
pet project of at least a compromise on the Monophysite heresy adopted.
She
had the power and the tool to make life miserable for Pope Silverius.
Justinian's great general Belisarius, after a triumphant sweep through
Sicily, was marching on Rome. Silverius, seeing that resistance was
useless, advised surrender and on December 9, 536, the East Roman army
filed through the Porta Asinaria to enter Rome in triumph. But the Goths
were not finished yet. They deposed the useless Theodahad and made
Witiges
their new king. He came storming down to Rome with a large army and
besieged the city. While this was going on, Belisarius received orders from
Theodora to put pressure on Pope Silverius to allow the deposed Anthimus
to
return as patriarch of Constantinople and to surrender to the one-nature
heresy. Belisarius summoned Silverius to his headquarters in the Pincian
Palace to answer trumped-up charges of plotting to open a gate to the
Goths. He then abruptly demanded that the Pope should surrender to
Theodora
by recalling Anthimus and giving in on the Monophysite question. Silverius
refused and on another visit to the Pincian Palace was seized, stripped of
his pallium, and clothed in a monk's habit. It was then announced that Pope
Silverius had been deposed. Belisarius summoned the clergy and ordered
them
to elect another pope. Theodora had her creature ready for the occasion. He
was none other than that deacon, Vigilius, who had been chosen by
Boniface
II as his successor. When Boniface changed his mind about appointing his
own successor, Vigilius did not despair. He intrigued with Empress
Theodora; indeed, he paid her a large sum of money and promised to carry
out her wishes as far as he could. Now he was elected to replace St.
Silverius.
St. Silverius was exiled to Patara in Lycia, but the bishop there wrote
feelingly to Emperor Justinian that it was a shame to see the "pope who
rules the Church through the world . . . a homeless exile." Justinian,
troubled, was about to restore the Pope when Theodora once more
intervened.
Silverius was indeed sent back to Italy, but as a prisoner of his intruded
successor. Vigilius sent him to Palmaria, an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea,
and very shortly afterward this noble confessor died in exile.
VIGILIUS
537 - 555
How Vigilius, a Roman deacon and the son of an honorary consul, intrigued
to get the papacy has been described in the life of St. Silverius. After
Silverius died; Vigilius was generally recognized as legitimate pope. He
had schemed to become pope, but he was to reap more trouble than
satisfaction from his ambitious sowing. Though he disappointed his
patroness, that actress-theologian Theodora, by continuing the orthodox
policy of his predecessors, he was not popular at Rome.
Most of the vexations which made life miserable for Vigilius arose from the
Monophysite question. Justinian, himself orthodox, had a politician's
preoccupation with placating the Monophysites, so numerous in the East.
He
also had a preoccupation with dogmatic questions as if his great works of
reconquest and reorganization of the empire were not enough. It was
suggested that a condemnation of three fifth-century ecclesiastics would go
far toward placating the Monophysites. Such a condemnation would be
orthodox because Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret, and Ibas had
manifested
Nestorian tendencies. Yet it would please the Monophysites because the
one-
nature heresy was the opposite of the Nestorian or twoperson heresy.
Justinian, charmed with the idea, issued the famous Three Chapters or lists
of condemnations of Theodore, Theodoret, and Ibas. The Three Chapters,
however, aroused some opposition in the East and a great deal more in the
West, first because they condemned men who had long ago died at peace
with
the Church, and then because this condemnation, quite wrongly, was
regarded
as a slap against the Council of Chalcedon. Then too, the Emperor had no
right to meddle in matters of doctrine.
Justinian hauled Pope Vigilius off to Constantinople. Though he received
the Pope with the greatest honor, he soon put pressure on him to agree to
the Three Chapters. Poor Vigilius! Buffeted between the relentless pressure
of the Emperor to agree to the Three Chapters, and the angry determination
of the Westerners that he should repudiate them, he did not know which
way
to turn. It must be remembered that as far as doctrine goes, the Three
Chapters were orthodox. At first Vigilius agreed to the Three Chapters
Western bishops defiantly went into schism. The Westerners in his own
retinue gave him gloomy looks and loud arguments. Disconcerted, Vigilius
took back his agreement. Justinian's answer was to make him an honored
prisoner. The Pope escaped out the window down a rope and fled to
Chalcedon. The Emperor coaxed him back and proposed a general council.
Vigilius at first boycotted it. However, this council held at
Constantinople in 553 is regarded as ecumenical because later Vigilius and
other popes acknowledged it. While the council was approving the Three
Chapters, the Pope delighted the Westerners by condemning them. But at
last
he changed his mind again and agreed to the Three Chapters and the
council.
Justinian had his way. Quite pleased with the Pope now, Justinian sent him
back to Rome and gave him that famous Pragmatic Sanction which allows
the
popes a good share of temporal power in Rome.
Vigilius died at Syracuse on his way back, on June 7, 555. His pontificate
was stormy and unhappy. Italy was desolated by the war between
Byzantines
and Goths. With Milan and Aquilea in schism, Vigilius left a legacy of
trouble to his successors.
P E L A G I U S I
556 - 561
A dramatic scene illustrates the difficulties faced by Pope Pelagius I. On
a solemn occasion before the great General Narses and a large gathering of
the Roman people, Pelagius mounted the ambo in St. Peter's and holding
above his head a book of Gospels and a cross swore that he was not guilty
of plotting evil against Vigilius. The career of Pelagius explains the need
for so dramatic a gesture.
Pelagius was a Roman, the son of a high government official. As deacon he
had accompanied Pope Agapetus to Constantinople and had remained as
the
Pope's ambassador. There he became very friendly with Justinian. He
returned in 543 and was in Rome when Totila the Goth besieged the city.
He
did much for the suffering people. He spent lavishly to provide food for
them and tried to get a truce from Totila. Here he failed, but he did
succeed in getting the Goth to promise to spare the lives of the
inhabitants when he finally took the city in December 546. Totila sent him
as ambassador to Constantinople to arrange a peace, but Justinian refused,
saying that Belisarius was his plenipotentiary for Italy.
Pelagius again went to Constantinople to support Vigilius in the struggle
over the Three Chapters. He was a strong influence on the Pope against the
Three Chapters. When Vigilius finally did accept them, Pelagius seems to
have lost his head for a time and to have defied the Pope. Later thoughts
were cooler thoughts, and he came to agree with Pope Vigilius. This change
of mind restored him to the favor of Justinian. When Vigilius died, the
Emperor strongly urged the candidacy of Pelagius. Ten months after the
death of Vigilius, Pelagius was consecrated. But his troubles were many. He
had to calm the tempest raised by the Three Chapters, and he had to help
his poor flock so distressed by the Gothic War. To calm the Three Chapters
tempest was not easy, especially since Pelagius had once attacked them so
bitterly. Now he was stormed at and abused as a traitor. Throughout the
West there was general uneasiness. Milan and Aquileia refused to return to
Catholic unity. Gaul was troubled. Even at Rome Pelagius felt it necessary
to make the dramatic gesture described above. Pelagius handled a difficult
situation with skill. He used a calm, levelheaded approach. All he asked of
angry dissidents was submission to the Holy See without mentioning the
irritating Three Chapters. He kept on insisting that neither the Three
Chapters nor the Fifth General Council were opposed to Chalcedon. Though
he
failed to bring back Milan and Aquileia, he did much to calm the West
elsewhere. He averted trouble in Gaul by a timely letter to King Childebert
and by appointing as his vicar there the excellent Sapandus, archbishop of
Arles.
An excellent administrator, Pelagius ran the papal estates or patrimony of
Peter with an efficient hand. He was unsparing in his charity to the poor.
He used freely the authority given the pope by the Pragmatic Sanction. The
city of Rome, so battered by the war, felt his restoring hand. Pelagius I
died March 4, 561, a much more popular man than he had been at his
accession.
JOHN III
561 - 574
In spite of the comparative length of John's pontificate, not too much is
known about it. This ignorance is probably due to the Lombard invasions
which began during John's reign. The reconquest of Italy by the Empire had
brought little happiness and less peace to the Italians. Belisarius and
Narses had indeed destroyed the Ostrogoth power, but their less capable
successors proved unable to protect Italy from barbarians far more
destructive than the Goths, the ferocious Lombards. Then too Rome had
been
badly hurt by the repeated sieges undergone in the Gothic war. With the
population scattered and the aqueducts broken, Rome was but the shadow
of
the bustling city of the Caesars. It is at this time that the ancient
Senate disappears from history, while more and more the popes are forced
to
take up the burden of political responsibility. It is a true transition
period from ancient to early medieval times.
John III was a Roman, the son of a nobleman, Anastasius. He was
consecrated
in mid-July 561. The main features of John's pontificate are his relations
with General Narses, his ill advised reinstatement of two Gallic bishops,
and his care for the monuments of Christian antiquity.
Narses, the famous eunuch and general who completed the conquest of
Italy
from the Goths, continued to protect the country in the first years of
John's pontificate. He destroyed several armies of assorted barbarians, to
the great relief of the threatened Italians. But he was accused before the
Emperor Justin II of disloyalty and recalled. The whole matter is quite
confused. According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Narses had gone down to
Naples when Pope John, realizing how necessary he was for the country's
safety, went to Naples and pleaded with him to return. After Narses had
asked what mischief he had done to the Romans, Pope John replied that he
himself would sooner leave Rome than have Narses abandon the city. The
great general returned; but some trouble evidently arose, for Pope John
retired from the city to the Church of Sts. Tiburtius and Valerian in the
Catacomb of Praetextatus on the Appian Way. Narses was accused of
inviting
the Lombards into Italy, but this is far from certain. His removal,
however, did invite them, for it created a power vacuum which these
Northern wild men were quick to fill.
John III does not seem to have been well advised in his handling of an
appeal from two Gallic bishops. Salonius of Embrum and Sagittarius of Gap
had been deposed by a synod at Lyons on serious charges. With the favor
of
Guntram, King of Burgundy, they appealed to the Pope. John quashed the
decision of the synod and ordered the bishops reinstated. This was a
mistake, for later on they had to be deposed again by the second synod of
Chalons in 579.
In spite of the troubled times, John finished the Church of Sts. Philip and
James, a grand structure in the Byzantine manner, gleaming with mosaics,
warm with color. He also did much for the catacombs. It is scarcely an
exaggeration to say that by his regulations the catacombs were preserved.
John III died July 13, 574, and was buried in St. Peter's.
BENEDICT I
575 - 579
That Benedict was a Roman, the son of Boniface, is all that is known of the
early life of this first of a long line of popes to bear the name. Benedict
seems to have been called Bonosus by the Greeks. After John III died, there
was an interval of over ten months before Benedict was consecrated. By
now
the emperors were claiming the right to confirm papal elections, and with
Lombard bands on the prowl, the difficulty of communicating with
Constantinople was great.
Benedict's pontificate was filled with misery. The Lombard problem had
landed with a thud on the doorstep of the papacy. After the death of
Alboin, the chief who had led them into Italy, the Lombards soon broke up
into bands led by dukes. While this lack of unity saved several cities for
the empire, it increased the sufferings of the people. Without any central
control, Lombard war parties ravaged up and down the peninsula. This ten-
year period from 574 to 584, the decade of the dukes, was the most
miserable period of the Lombard invasions. Nor was the Eastern Empire
able
to help. When in 577, the Patrician Pamphronius brought from Rome to
Constantinople three hundred pounds of gold to persuade the Emperor to
send
help, he was told that the armed forces of the empire had their hands full
fighting Persians. The best use he could make of the money was to offer it
as a bribe to the Franks or to the Lombards themselves.
Famine too threatened Rome, but Benedict had the satisfaction of seeing an
imperial grain fleet from Egypt sail up the Tiber to relieve his distressed
Romans.
It is quite probable that Benedict was the pope who received the famous
cross donated by Emperor Justin II to the shrine of the Apostles. At any
rate, in an inscription on the cross, Emperor Justin piously hopes that in
consideration of his gift, Heaven will send help to the city.
This cross, over a foot high, is covered with silver gilt and adorned with
jewels. It still may be seen in St. Peter's.
Benedict I died July 30, 579, as the Lombards were besieging Rome. He
was
buried in St. Peter's.
PELAGIUS II
579 - 590
Pelagius II was a Roman, but his father had a German name, Winigild.
When
Pelagius was elected pope, the Lombards were blockading Rome, making it
impossible to send for the imperial confirmation of the election. After an
interval of four months Pelagius was consecrated without the imperial
confirmation. Once pope, Pelagius succeeded in getting the Lombards to
raise the siege. He then sent an embassy to Constantinople to inform the
Emperor of his election and to get help. As usual, the plea brought back
little but words from the palace on the Golden Horn. Later the Emperor
Maurice sent a new official with the title of exarch to handle both
military and civil government for the Emperor.
Disappointed with Constantinople, Pope Pelagius turned to the Franks. He
wrote to Aunacharius, bishop of Auxerre, pleading with him to use his
influence with the Frankish kings to come down and help poor Italy. The
emperor added his pleas to those of the Pope, and the Franks did move an
army down into the peninsula. But Lombard gold soon turned back the
brave
Franks and nothing was accomplished.
While his ambassador, the great Gregory, continued to bombard the
Emperor
with appeals. Pelagius himself asked Decius the exarch to protect Rome.
Decius pathetically replied that it was all he could do to protect Ravenna.
But at last the exarch did manage to get a truce with the wild men, and for
a short spell Italy was at peace.
Pelagius took advantage of this breathing spell to try to bring the Three
Chapters schism to an end. Back in the time of Pope Vigilius Northern Italy
had revolted from the Holy See over the Three Chapters. Milan and Genoa
had
returned to Catholic unity but Northeastern Italy, led by the archbishop of
Grado, remained stubborn. Actually this schism had begun at Aquileia, but
the Lombards had sent Bishop and people scurrying to the island of Grado
for safety. To these people Pelagius wrote letter after letter pleading
with them to return to Catholic unity. It was no use. Poorly educated, they
could ill understand the Pope's arguments and they remained stubborn in
their schism.
The exarch Smaragdus now put pressure on them. At the Pope's request he
ordered them at least to attend a council at Ravenna. When nothing came of
this, the exarch bluntly ordered Archbishop Severus to enter into
communion
with the orthodox archbishop of Ravenna. Though Severus obeyed, once
out of
the exarch's clutches he quickly went back into schism. The schism dragged
on, despite the efforts of Pope Pelagius II.
Pelagius worked zealously to foster celibacy among the Western clergy. He
adorned St. Peter's and rebuilt St. Lawrence's. A charitable soul, he
turned his own house into a hospital. His charity was needed, for at this
time Rome was devastated by a great flood.
Pelagius II died, the victim of a plague, February 7, 590.
ST. GREGORY I, THE GREAT
590 - 604
Gregory the Great was born in Rome at some time around 540. His father,
Gordianus, was a wealthy patrician with a fine town house on the Coelian
Hill and large estates in Sicily. More important than noble blood and great
wealth, this family had a strong Christian spirit. Gregory's mother,
Sylvia, was honored as a saint as were his father's two sisters, and John
the Deacon can speak of Gregory's education as that of a saint among
saints.
Gregory, with his wealth and family influence, soon became prefect of the
city. While in this high position he decided to give up a career in the
world for the life of a monk. Never halfhearted, Gregory used his six
Sicilian estates to found monasteries and turned his Coelian Hill residence
into another, dedicated to St. Andrew. Here he lived the simple, prayerful
life of a monk. His retirement was interrupted. Pope Pelagius II sent
Gregory as ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople. After six
years at the capital Gregory was allowed to return to his beloved
monastery, of which he became abbot.
Probably at this period of his life Gregory saw the Saxon slaves who so
stirred his zeal. He tried to go to England, indeed actually received the
Pope's blessing and was on his way. But the Romans, who loved the abbot
of
St. Andrew's, raised so loud a protest that Gregory was recalled.
In 590 when Pope Pelagius died, Gregory was unanimously chosen to
succeed
him. Reluctantly he had to exchange the quiet life of a monk for the
ceaseless activity of the pope. But always eager to do God's will, Gregory
plunged manfully into his new work and filled fourteen years with great
achievements.
As an administrator Gregory kept a watchful eye on the vast estates which
formed the patrimony of Peter. But the money that efficient management
brought into the treasury the Vicar of Christ's great charity caused to
flow out just as rapidly.
Faced with the frightful menace of the Lombards, Gregory worked hard and
intelligently to save Rome from devastation. Although the pope was not at
that time the highest civil authority in Italy, the weakness and
incompetence of the imperial officials threw a heavy burden on Gregory's
broad shoulders. In spite of Lombard ferocity and Byzantine fecklessness,
Gregory managed to bring a measure of peace to bleeding Italy.
Gregory made several improvements in the liturgy, and his name is
immortalized in the Gregorian chant.
Once pope, Gregory did not forget the English. He sent St. Augustine on his
historic mission in 597 and thus accomplished by another what he had
longed
to do himself. He worked hard with St. Leander to convert the still Arian
Spanish Visigoths, and also paved the way for the conversion of the
Lombards.
Gregory was a popular preacher and a writer
whose works lived. His style, while not that of Cicero or Augustine, was
suited to the rougher and simpler taste of his day and of darker days to
come. Gregory's Homilies, Dialogues, and Pastoral Care did much to form
the
minds of the men of the early middle ages.
Gregory protected the Jews at a time when other rulers were giving the poor
people a. bad time.
The great Pope died in 604 with Italy at peace, the conversion of Spain
accomplished, and that of England under way. He deserves to be called
Gregory the Great, but the title which suits the noble old Roman best was
that given to him in an early epitaph--God's Consul.
SABINIAN
604 - 606
Very little is known of Sabinian's early life except that he was born in
the town of Blera not far from Viterbo in Tuscany, and that his father's
name was Bonus.
In 593 Sabinian was in the Pope's service, for in that year Gregory the
Great sent him as an apocrisarius (ambassador) to the imperial court. In
Constantinople Sabinian had to deal with the ambition of the patriarch with
the Lenten name, John the Faster. John may have fasted from food, but he
had a taste for titles. He liked to call himself "Ecumenical Bishop," i.e.,
universal bishop. Since this high-sounding title seemed to imply a claim to
universal jurisdiction in the Church, Pope Gregory, of course, could not
allow it, and there was some spirited correspondence between Rome and
Constantinople. Sabinian seems to have had trouble handling John the
Faster
and probably welcomed being recalled in 597. The next thing known about
him
is his election to succeed Gregory as Pope in 604 Sabinian's pontificate
was as difficult as it was short. The Lombards once more took the warpath
though fortunately the exarch Smaragdus was able to buy them off before
too
much damage was done. But what the Lombards spared, the forces of
nature
destroyed. The winter of 604-605 was extremely severe. Frost devastated
the
Italian vineyards, and following the frost came swarms of mice, and
following the voracious rodents came a disease called rust which played
havoc with the corn crop. Sabinian had his hands full trying to play
Joseph's role by collecting wheat, first to provide against the menace of a
Lombard siege, then to sell to the famine-stricken people.
Sabinian consecrated twenty-six bishops and gave gifts to St. Peter's.
Outside of this we know nothing for certain except that he died in February
606 and was buried on the Vatican.
BONIFACE III
607
Boniface, the son of John Cataadioce, was a Roman who, like his
predecessors, served as a papal official. He was, according to Gregory the
Great, "of tried faith and character." Gregory sent him as ambassador to
Constantinople, where he seems to have done very well.
As ambassador his chief task was the usual one of pleading with the
Emperor
not to leave his Italian subjects defenseless before the ever-present
threat of the Lombard. Boniface had a peculiarly thorny problem, however,
in the case of a refugee bishop who had fled from the menace of raiding
Slavs and Avars. It seems that John, bishop of Euria in Epirus, had fled
along with his clergy to the comparative safety of Cassiope on the island
of Corcyra. Not content, however, with securing safety, Bishop John began
to usurp episcopal authority in his hospitable refuge. Naturally the local
bishop, Alcison, objected to this--to say the least --uncanonical behavior.
But somehow the refugee bishop had won the favor of the Emperor Phocas,
perhaps because he, too, was a usurper. Bishop Alcison appealed to the
Pope, and Gregory the Great instructed his ambassador at Constantinople
to
settle the difficulty. It is a tribute to his diplomacy that Boniface was
able to bring the affair to a satisfactory conclusion and at the same time
to secure the esteem of the Emperor Phocas.
The date of Boniface's return from Constantinople is not certain, but the
interregnum of almost a year (Sabinian was buried February 22, 606, and
Boniface III consecrated February 19, 607) might be explained by the fact
that Boniface was elected while still serving as ambassador at
Constantinople. The circumstances of this election are not known, but it is
also possible that the long delay was due to difficulties over the
election, for Boniface was most insistent on free elections. He held a
council at Rome which was attended by seventy-two bishops and the
Roman
clergy, at which Boniface showed a wise preoccupation with freedom of
papal
and episcopal elections. He forbade anyone to start working on an election
of a new pope or bishop until three days after the late incumbent's burial.
He went so far as to forbid anyone under pain of excommunication even to
speak of a pope's successor during his lifetime.
The trouble over the title of "Universal Bishop" assumed by the patriarch
of Constantinople, John the Faster, flared up again, for John's successor,
Cyriacus, also insisted on using this title. Boniface thereupon secured
from Emperor Phocas a decree acknowledging that "the See of Blessed
Peter
the Apostle should be the head of all the Churches" and that the title of
"Universal Bishop" should be reserved exclusively for the bishop of Rome.
This, of course, was no new departure in imperial policy. Long ago the
great lawgiver, Justinian, had legally recognized the primacy of the Roman
pontiff. But at this time the repetition was considered necessary to curb
the titular pretensions of the Patriarch.
Boniface died in 607, the same year in which he was consecrated. He was
buried in St. Peter's, November 12.
ST. BONIFACE IV
608 - 615
Boniface IV was born in the province of Valeria. His father was a doctor
named John. Like St. Gregory the Great, Boniface turned his house into a
monastery. Like Gregory, too, he entered the papal service, but unlike
Gregory, Sabinian, and Boniface III, he does not seem to have served as
ambassador to Constantinople. He became dispensator, that is, a high
official in the administration of the patrimony of St. Peter; and evidently
he gave satisfaction, for Gregory the Great speaks of him as "my most
beloved son Boniface the deacon."
Boniface was consecrated pope on either August 25 or September 15, 608.
The
day is disputed. As pope, Boniface did something which has endeared him
to
those who love classical antiquity. He turned the Pantheon into a Christian
church. The Pantheon was a temple dedicated to Jupiter, Mars, and Venus.
Built about 25 B.C. by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the great friend and
general of Augustus, it was rebuilt in its present circular form by Hadrian
early in the second century. It is an outstanding example of ancient Roman
architecture, famed for its large dome and elaborate brickwork. If today
this masterpiece of classical antiquity can be admired much as it stood in
the days of the Caesars, it is due to Pope Boniface IV. He consecrated the
one-time temple of the gods to the one true God under the title of Our Lady
and the Martyrs. Had he not done so, in all probability this architectural
gem would have been seized by some turbulent little baron, and its beauty
would have vanished under the repeated batterings of feudal brawls.
Boniface took an interest in the newly fledged church in England. He had an
interview with Mellitus, the first bishop of Saxon London, and sent letters
to Lawrence, the archbishop of Canterbury, and to King Ethelbert.
He also had dealings with that remarkable Irish monk and missionary, the
impetuous, restless, lovable St. Columban. St. Columban, a splendid
example
of Irish missionary zeal, had already preached the gospel in Gaul and
Switzerland. Now he was working among the Lombards of North Italy. He
became involved in the struggle against heresy, and with more zeal than
theological science, Columban sent Pope Boniface a letter in which he
mingled expressions of the greatest respect with free reprehensions for the
Pope's attitude in a theological quarrel about which the impulsive monk
candidly confessed he knew little!
Boniface, if his epitaph may be trusted, took Gregory the Great for his
model. He seems to have succeeded in following his holy predecessor, for
like Gregory, Boniface is honored as a saint. He died in 615 and was buried
in St. Peter's. His feast is kept on May 25.
ST. DEUSDEDIT
615 - 618
Deusdedit, a Roman, the son of Stephen, was consecrated pope on
October 19,
615. He is also known as Adeodatus I.
His pontificate was filled with troubles, civil commotions, and natural
disasters. Rebels flouted the imperial authority both at Ravenna and
Naples. Up north at Ravenna the exarch John, along with other imperial
officials, had been murdered. Down south at Naples a certain John of
Compsa
had risen in revolt, taken over the town, and proclaimed his independence
of the Emperor Heraclius. Heraclius, who had succeeded the weak Phocas
in
610, was not the man to allow his empire to fall to pieces. He sent his
able chamberlain, the Patrician Eleutherius to set matters to rights in his
Italian dominions. Eleutherius acted with vigor. First he restored order in
Ravenna. Then he marched south along the Flaminian Way. After pausing
in
Rome to receive a warm welcome from the loyal Pope, he marched on
Naples,
stormed the city, and put the rebel John to death. Instead of letting well
enough alone, however, Eleutherius turned on the Lombards and rekindled
a
war which soon he was forced to end by once more buying off those tough
barbarians.
Pope Deusdedit had his hands full taking care of his Roman flock, for
disaster struck hard at the city on the Tiber. In August 618, Rome was
rocked by an earthquake and soon after devastated by plague. A true vicar
of Christ, Deusdedit worked hard to help his people in their troubles.
Pope Deusdedit was especially fond of his secular clergy and seems to
have
leaned on them rather than on monks for support. His love for his secular
clergy was manifested even after death, for in his will he left a sum of
money to be distributed among them.
Tradition has it that Deusdedit was the first pope to use the leaden seal
for pontifical documents which has given them the name of bull. The Latin
bulla means seal. At any rate there still exists such a leaden bulla or
seal dating from this pope's reign.
Deusdedit died in November 618 and was buried in St. Peter's. Like his
predecessor, Deusdedit is honored as a saint. His feast is kept on
November
8, the day of his burial.
BONIFACE V
619 - 625
Boniface V was a Neopolitan, the son of John. He was very probably one of
the capable clerical staff of Pope Gregory the Great. His character is
indicated by the fact that he was called "the mildest of men."
Boniface was consecrated pope on December 23, 619. Almost immediately
he
faced an embarrassing situation. The Patrician Eleutherius, who had so
vigorously put down all rebels in the time of Pope Deusdedit, now decided
to play the rebel himself. First he took over Ravenna. Then he proclaimed
that he wished to assume the imperial crown in Rome "where the seat of
empire had its permanent place." This was to place Pope Boniface in a
delicate situation. Loyalty to the far-off Emperor Heraclius would forbid
any such coronation. The presence of the armed cohorts of Eleutherius
would
be a cogent argument in its favor. But the rebel army spared Pope Boniface
the trouble of making the delicate decision. Before Eleutherius could reach
Rome, his own soldiers slew him and sent his would-be crowned head to
Emperor Heraclius in Constantinople.
The acolytes seem to have been a pushful group in those days, for Boniface
twice had to issue decrees restraining their activity, once to prevent them
from taking part in the distribution or translating of relics, and again
from taking the place of deacons in the ceremony of baptism.
Boniface took a great interest in the infant church in England. He wrote
letters encouraging the missionaries there. He also insisted that Pope
Gregory had established Canterbury as the metropolitan see and forbade
anyone to go against this. Canterbury was under the special guardianship of
Rome. Meanwhile, the missionary Paulinus had been hard at work trying to
convert the great northern kingdom of Northumbria. Pope Boniface came to
his aid by writing letters to the royal family. He also sent gifts--an
embroidered tunic and cloak for King Edwin and a silver mirror and an
inlaid ivory comb for Queen Ethelberga. Doubtless these latter would
console the Christian Kentish lady in her Northumbrian exile.
Pope Boniface's reign saw the rise of great troubles in the East. The
Persians under King Chosroes had fought their way to Jerusalem, and to
the
great grief of the Christians, had carried off the true cross. Meanwhile in
622 a camel-driver with dreams, driven out of Mecca, had been forced to fly
to friendly Medina. History was in the making.
Boniface finished the construction of the Cemetery of St. Nocomedes on the
Via Nomentana, but when he died in 625, he was buried like his
predecessors
in St. Peter's.
HONORIUS I
625 - 6 3 8
A pope condemned by a council of the Church. Such was Honorius I. The
Sixth
Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople in 680 condemned this pope's
slackness in detecting error. Pope Leo II in approving the decrees of the
Council stated that Pope Honorius was condemned because "he permitted
the
immaculate faith to be stained."
Such an introduction to the life of Pope Honorius I is spectacular and
suits well the position of this pope in church history, but it does little
justice to his achievements as an administrator, highly regarded by his
contemporaries.
Honorius was born in Campania, the son of Petronius, a consul. He was
consecrated pope in November 625. As pope, he devoted himself to
keeping up
the churches of Rome. He adorned the principal gate of St. Peter's with 975
pounds of silver. He built a new, lavishly ornamented church in honor of
St. Agnes. Honorius was noted for his efficient management of the estate of
the patrimony of St. Peter. He also took care of several matters concerning
ritual. Indeed, as a practical administrator, Honorius proved to be pre-
eminent.
Yet he is remembered today as the pope who was condemned by a Council!
A
key to understanding this pope's trouble is to remember that he was a
practical administrator without being a deep theologian. He was a true
father who wished to bring all his children together. And he did have a
certain amount of success. He brought to a temporary end the schism of
Aquileia. He succeeded--a touchy matter--in bringing the Southern Irish to
abandon their traditional date for Easter. St. Patrick had, of course,
brought over the date then celebrated at Rome; but since 432 the date had
been corrected, and the difference between the corrected Roman date and
the
Patrician date had been a source of strife and contention.
Now perhaps the most troublesome heresy was still the Monophysite, which
though condemned by Pope St. Leo I and the Council of Chalcedon back in
451
still afflicted whole provinces of the East. It is easy to imagine the joy
of the Pontiff when Sergius, the patriarch of Constantinople, wrote him
that Cyrus, patriarch of Alexandria, had reconciled Monophysite Egypt to
the true faith! It is also easy to see how Honorius should have tried to
soothe any quarrel which might endanger this great reconciliation. And
Sergius informed him that a monk named Sophronius was threatening to
upset
all this fine work with his stubborn opposition to the use of the term,
"one operation," i.e., of the God-Man, Christ.
Actually Sophronius was right, because under the compromise formula the
Egyptians still held the basic Monophysite principle; but the eager
Honorius wrote a letter to Sergius in which, while he teaches the orthodox
doctrine of one person and two natures in Christ, he expressed his opinion
that neither the term "one operation" nor the term "two operations" should
be used. This is what the Sixth Ecumenical Council and Leo II rightly
censured, for Honorius should have been more on his guard, and should
have
spoken more clearly and forcibly when appealed to as head of the Church.
All this storm rose after the death of Honorius. He was held in high esteem
when he died in October 638. He was buried in St. Peter's.
SEVERINUS
640
Honorius had died in October 658, Severinus, a Roman, had been elected
almost at once, but the Emperor Heraclius refused to confirm the election.
Instead of a confirmation he sent Severinus a formula of faith--a heretical
formula of faith. Heraclius, like so many other Byzantine emperors, had
taken to dogmatizing. And an emperor amidst dogmas is like the bull in the
china shop or at the very least, Saul among the prophets. Since the
Monophysite heresy had been a source of great weakness to the Eastern
Empire, Heraclius grasped eagerly at any chance to put an end to it. Now
the compromise formula of one will in Christ had appealed forcibly to
practical men who longed for reunion. Even Pope Honorius had been less
than
careful in this matter. Consequently when Sergius, the patriarch of
Constantinople drew up a compromise formula called the Ecthisis, Heraclius
adopted it and ordered all to subscribe. Now this Ecthisis--the Greek word
means exposition (of the faith)--was downright heretical. It held that
there is only one will in Christ. This doctrine is called monothelite from
the Greek words meaning one will. It is open to the same objections as the
Monophysite heresy itself. If Christ had no human will, He would not be
true man.
The imperial officials in Italy put pressure on the pope-elect to sign this
heretical formula. The exarch Isaac sent a representative to Rome who
plundered the Lateran Palace. But Pope Severinus meekly waited out the
storm. He had sent ambassadors to Constantinople to win the imperial
confirmation from Heraclius. The task was difficult, for the emperor was
determined to force his pet formula on the Pope, and of course, Severinus
could not possibly sign it. At last the Emperor gave way before the
firmness and tact of the ambassadors. After over a year and a half,
Severinus was consecrated, probably on May 28, 640.
Once consecrated, Severinus promptly and roundly condemned the
heretical
formula. He also built the apse of St. Peter's. It was all he had time to
do, for, an old man when elected, he died on August 2, 640.
JOHN IV
640 - 642
John, a native of Dalmatia and the son of a lawyer, was chosen to succeed
Severinus. John had been archdeacon of Rome and as such had played a
prominent part in ruling the see. He was consecrated on Christmas Eve 640.
Pope John IV proved to be a vigorous foe of the Monothelite or One Will
heresy. He promptly held a synod at Rome and condemned both the heresy
itself and the compromise formula called the Ecthisis. This firm stand
produced good results, for Emperor Heraclius now dropped the Ecthisis and
returned to Catholic orthodoxy. And when Heraclius died in 641 the Pope
encouraged his successors to remain constant in the faith.
John also defended the memory of Pope Honorius and rebuked those who
tried
to make him a friend of the Monothelites. In a letter to the sons of the
Emperor Heraclius, John explained the real meaning of the Honorius letter.
Pope Honorius had succeeded in bringing Southern Ireland--Mogh's half of
Ireland as it was called by the ancient Gaels--into line with the current
corrected date for celebrating Easter. John IV tried to do the same for the
Northern Irish and the frontier Gaels in Scotland--in vain. It took another
lifetime to convince the stubborn men of Conn's half of Ireland that there
had been an improvement in the reckoning of Easter since 432 when good
St.
Patrick landed.
Pope John did not forget his native Dalmatia. This land badly needed a
little friendly aid, for it was being harried by the still untamed Serbs
and Croats. To the distressed country the Pope sent an abbot named Martin
with an ample supply of money to see what he could do about redeeming
poor
Dalmatians who had been carried off by the barbarians.
Through this abbot the Pope also secured the translation of relics of the
saints from the troubled churches of Dalmatia to the haven of Rome. To
receive these relics the Pope built a church which still stands.
Pope John IV died in October 642. He was buried in St. Peter's.
THEODORE I
642 - 649
Theodore, a Greek from Jerusalem, was elected to succeed John IV. He
was
consecrated on November 24, 642. He proved to be a father to the poor and
a
zealous caretaker of the churches in Rome.
Once more the story of a pope's life is taken up with the One Will heresy.
Once more a supreme pontiff has to cope with an imperial meddler.
Theodore
did not shirk the difficulties he faced. He fought continually to bring
back all to Christian unity. And he was kept busy. Letters poured in from
Cyprus and from Africa to ask the Pope's protection against heresy. At
Constantinople the patriarch Pyrrhus had been deposed and replaced by
Paul.
The Pope insisted that Pyrrhus should have a fair trial.
A great consolation was afforded Pope Theodore when the Abbot Maximus,
a
hard-working champion of the Catholic faith, brought to Rome none other
than the deposed patriarch of Constantinople, Pyrrhus. In 645 Pyrrhus
recanted his errors before the Pope, but later he seems to have relapsed.
Meanwhile a new storm had been gathering in the palaces of
Constantinople.
The patriarch Paul, though enraged at Pope Theodore's insistence on a fair
trial for Pyrrhus, was no fanatical Monothelite. Like many Byzantine
statesmen of the period, he wanted to restore a sense of union and
solidarity in the shaken empire. Together with the energetic but unfeeling
Emperor Constans II the Patriarch concocted a new formula, the Type of
constans. This Type pretended to teach no doctrine, whether orthodox or
heretical; it merely forbade any more discussion on the whole matter of the
will of Christ. Christian teachers could not allow the Emperor to stop
their mouths on a question of faith, and so the stage was set for a tragedy
in which Constans played the villain and the pope the hero, but it was not
to be Pope Theodore. Theodore's reply to the Type was to declare the
patriarch Paul deposed, an act which caused violent repercussions in
Constantinople. Theodore died in May 649. His successor was to feel the
full force of the imperial wrath.
ST. MARTIN I
649 - 654
The man chosen to face the storm raised by the Emperor Constans was
Martin
from Todi, of noble birth, learned, experienced, and above all a man of
solid virtue. He had served as ambassador to Constantinople and had had
dealings with the Byzantine bureaucracy over the question of the deposition
of Pyrrhus. He was to need all his experience and all his virtue to face
the imperial fury.
Scarcely had Martin been consecrated on July S, 649, when he was
bombarded
with appeals to make a downright condemnation of Monothelism and a
ringing
declaration of the true doctrine that in Christ there are two wills. Martin
held a council in the Lateran attended by 105 bishops. The Fathers strongly
condemned the notion that there is but one will in Christ. They further
condemned the Emperor's Type for daring to silence the teaching of truth.
Prudently the council gave credit to Constans for good intentions, but that
did not appease the furious Emperor.
Constans decided on strong measures. Olympius, his new exarch, was
ordered
to force all Italians from the Pope down to accept the Type. But Olympius
found himself at a loss. He tried to persuade the Pope, with no success. He
tried to prevent a schism. In vain. At last he decided to have the strong
and popular Pope assassinated. But what seemed a miraculous intervention
caused Olympius to repent, wash his hands of the affair, and go off to
Sicily to fight Moslem raiders.
Constans was furious. He sent another exarch, Theodore Calliopas to bring
Pope Martin back to Constantinople. Calliopas entered Rome with his
armed
cohorts and carried off the unresisting Pope. This terrible voyage took
over a year. The Pope already sick, was reduced to utter misery by the time
the ship landed. He was so weak he could not stand unsupported.
Martin was accused before the imperial court of crimes ranging from
intrigue against the Emperor to lack of faith in regard to the Mother of
God! Weak as he was and in dire peril, Martin could only laugh at the
absurd accusations.
And indeed the witnesses brought against him were so contradictory that
the
kindly Pope pleaded that they be excused from testifying on oath lest they
add perjury to false witness.
Constans, determined to break the Pope, had him condemned to death in a
public square with a large crowd to witness his degradation. The crowd,
however, showed by silence its disapproval of the shameful goings on. After
eighty-five days in a Byzantine prison, Pope Martin was exiled to Cherson
in what is now the Crimea. There in that frontier outpost he suffered until
death released him on September 6, 655.
In life Martin was disgraced, loaded with chains and exiled, but after
death, miracles were worked at his tomb. He was hailed as a saint. And to
this day the gallant Pope is regarded as a martyr for the faith not only by
the Roman Church but also by the Greek and the Russian.
ST. EUGENE I
654-657
Once Martin had been torn away from Rome, the exarch Theodore
Calliopas
tried to get the Romans to elect another pope. At first they refused, and
the Apostolic See was administered by the archpriest, the archdeacon, and
the chief notary, as was the custom during a vacancy. What happened next
is
obscure, but it is known that a Roman named Eugene was consecrated
pope on
August 10, 654, at a time when St. Martin was still living. Either Eugene
was an antipope forced on the reluctant Romans by the Emperor, or he was
chosen freely on the presumed consent of St. Martin to keep the Emperor
from forcibly planting a docile tool on the throne of St. Peter. Two facts
indicate that the latter was the case. First, Eugene was a noble character
who refused to yield to imperial pressure. Second, Pope St. Martin seems to
have recognized Eugene as legitimate Pope.
Eugene was a Roman from the Aventine, a gentle and holy man who had
been a
cleric from his youth. He was a man of great charity to the poor. However,
like his predecessors, he had to face the troublesome problem of the One
Will heresy.
Eugene promptly sent legates to Constantinople to inform Constans of his
election. These legates, with more simplicity than shrewdness, received the
patriarch of Constantinople into communion with the Holy See in spite of
the fact that the patriarch remained ambiguous on the question whether
Christ had one will or two wills. Pope Eugene disavowed this action. The
legates, he claimed, had authority to deal with the Emperor alone. The
legates brought back from Constantinople a synodical letter of the
Patriarch which was also obscure. When it was read in the Church of St.
Mary Major, the people raised such an uproar that the Pope could not go on
with his Mass until he had assured them that the objectionable letter would
not be accepted.
To cross the Emperor was dangerous business, and the firmness of St.
Eugene might well have been punished as had that of St. Martin. Indeed
when
the imperial officials were exiling that sturdy defender of the faith, the
abbot Maximus, they told him bluntly that when they had a little rest from
the Moslems, they would roast him and the present Pope just as they had
roasted Pope Martin. But the Moslems did not give them the little rest.
Constans had his hands full fighting the men of Islam, who were hammering
relentlessly on the empire's bastions.
And so Eugene was able to end his brief pontificate in peace. He died in
657. He is considered a saint and is commemorated in the Roman
martyrology
on June 2, the day of his burial in St. Peter's.
ST. VITALIAN
657 - 672
Except that he was a native of Segni in the Campagna and that his father's
name was Anastasius, nothing is known of this saintly pope's early life.
Enthroned on July 30, 657, Vitalian at once held out olive branches to the
estranged East. He sent letters to the Emperor Constans II and to Peter,
patriarch of Constantinople. The Emperor replied graciously and sent the
Pope a copy of the Gospels with a gold cover adorned with jewels. At this
time Constans seems to have abandoned his policy of persecution. The
patriarch also replied in a friendly manner. In answer to Vitalian's
exhortation to return to Catholic unity and orthodoxy, Peter replied that
he believed like the Pope. Vitalian's name was inserted in the
Constantinople diptychs. Vitalian has been accused of being too
conciliatory towards heresy, but the charge is, to say the least, not
proven. Actually his name was removed from the Constantinople diptychs
later by a more actively Monothelite patriarch.
In 662 Emperor Constans decided to go west and establish himself in Italy.
Not too popular at Constantinople, he sought new prestige in the West.
When
he approached Rome he was met at the sixth milestone by Pope Vitalian
and
the clergy. His stay in the Holy City was harmonious, and peacefully he
visited Rome's famous shrines. His parting gesture, however, gave the city
little cause to remember his visit with pleasure. Constans seized all the
bronze he could lay hands on, taking even the bronze tiles from the famous
Pantheon, now St. Mary of the Martyrs. Unable to cope with the Lombards,
Constans withdrew to Sicily. Here in the midst of a reign of terror, the
despot was knifed in his bath. With the accession of his son Constantine
IV, better times dawned.
Pope Vitalian had trouble with Ravenna and Crete. The archbishop of
Ravenna
wished to get more independence from Rome, and had successfully
appealed to
Emperor Constans II. This trouble lasted until the pontificate of Leo II.
From Crete came an appeal from John, bishop of Lappa. Bishop John had
been
deposed by a synod under the direction of the metropolitan of Crete, John.
The Pope held a synod at Rome, decided that John had been unjustly
condemned, and ordered the metropolitan to reinstate him in his see.
Vitalian had the satisfaction of learning that in the great synod of
Whitby, England definitely adopted the Roman date of Easter. To England
he
sent one of Canterbury's greatest archbishops, the learned and pious monk,
Theodore of Tarsus.
Vitalian was considered a firm ruler of the Church, one who preserved
discipline. He died January 27, 672. Venerated as a saint, his feast is
kept on that date.
A D E O D A T U S
672 - 676
Adeodatus, a kindly monk, was elected to succeed St. Vitalian in 672.
Adeodatus was a Roman, the son of Jovinian. He was a monk in the
monastery
of St. Erasmus on the Coelian Hill. This monastery had been established in
the mansion of the Valeri, one of the great patrician families of old Rome.
Consecrated April 11, 672, Adeodatus from the first seems to have made a
great impression with his kindness and liberality. He was accessible to all
and did what he could to send all away satisfied. He also increased the
allowance which the popes of this period granted to the clergy.
Liberal to all, Adeodatus was most generous to his own old monastery. He
granted to St. Erasmus the revenues from many estates. He also restored
the
Church of St. Peter which is situated some miles out of the city on the Via
Portuensis.
During his pontificate the Saracens made a destructive foray into Sicily.
There are extant two letters of this Pope which deal with exemptions of
monasteries from the control of the local bishop. In a letter to the
bishops of Gaul, Adeodatus remarks that since Crotopert, bishop of Tours,
had himself exempted the monastery of St. Martin, he would confirm this
exemption, but that it was not the custom of the Holy See to do so.
Adeodatus, also known as Adeodatus II, died in 676 and was buried in St.
Peter's.
DONUS
676 - 678
There was an interval of 138 days between the death of Adeodatus and the
consecration of Donus his successor, an interval filled with remarkably bad
weather. Lightning killed men and beasts, and storms so raged that the
people prayed in daily litanies that the necessary farm work might go on.
Donus was a Roman, the son of Maurice. He had the satisfaction of
receiving
the submission of Reparatus, archbishop of Ravenna, who had revolted
from
papal control. At Constantinople, however, the Patriarch Theodore showed
a
disquieting tendency towards the One Will heresy. Right at home, the Pope
found a colony of Syrian monks, in a monastery called Boethius, who were
Nestorians. Donus broke up the heretical community dispersing the monks
throughout Italy. The Boethius monastery he staffed with Romans.
Donus paved the courtyard of St. Peter's with large marble blocks. He also
restored the Church of St. Euphemia on the Appian Way and another on the
Ostian way the identity of which is obscure.
Donus died in 678 and was buried in St. Peter's, April 11.
ST. AGATHO
678 - 681
St. Agatho ranks with St. Leo the Great and St. Hormisdas for his
outstanding contribution to orthodoxy in the East. Agatho was a Sicilian,
probably from Palermo. It is possible that he is the Agatho referred to by
St. Gregory the Great in a letter to the abbot of St. Hermes in Palermo.
The abbot, wrote Gregory, could receive Agatho into his monastery if
Agatho's wife was willing to enter a convent. There are reasons to believe
that Pope Agatho is this monk, but on the other hand it would make him a
very old man indeed. Monk or not, Agatho was a man of amiable disposition
who got along well with people. Probably he was efficient in business
matters too, for contrary to custom, he kept the treasurer's office in his
own hand after becoming pope.
The great event of this pontificate was the Sixth General Council, the
Third of Constantinople which extinguished the Monothelite heresy and
reunited Constantinople to Rome. It started when Emperor Constantine IV,
the Bearded, having pacified the empire politically, desired to pacify it
religiously. This capable ruler had defeated the Saracens and held back the
Avars. Now he deplored the schism which separated the East from Rome.
He
wrote to Pope Donus suggesting a conference on the matter. Donus was
dead
by the time the letter arrived, but Agatho was quick to seize the olive
branch proffered by the Emperor. He ordered councils held throughout the
West so that legates could present the universal tradition of the Western
Church. Then he sent a large delegation to meet the Easterners at
Constantinople.
The projected conference developed into a general council. The legates,
patriarchs, and fathers gathered in the domed hall of the imperial palace
on November 7, 680. The Monothelites or One Will heretics presented their
case. Then the letter of Pope Agatho was read which explained the
traditional belief of the Church that in Christ there are two wills, divine
and human. The council agreed that Peter spoke through Agatho. Patriarch
George of Constantinople accepted Agatho's letter, as did most of the
bishops present. The council proclaimed the existence of the two wills in
Christ and condemned the old Monothelites Sergius and Cyrus. Pope
Honorius
was included in the condemnation. When the council ended in September of
681 the decrees were sent to the Pope, but Agatho had died in January.
The
Sixth General Council not only ended the Monothelite heresy but it healed
the schism between Constantinople and Rome.
Pope Agatho also had to judge an appeal made from England by Wilfrid,
bishop of York. Wilfrid arrived in Rome in 679 to protest against the
action of Theodore, archbishop of Canterbury. Theodore had carved up
Wilfrid's diocese, appointing three bishops to govern the new sees. Wilfrid
appealed to the Pope against this rather arbitrary proceeding. Pope Agatho
held a council to discuss the matter, and the wise decision was that
Wilfrid's diocese should indeed be divided, but that Wilfrid himself should
name the bishops.
Agatho is venerated as a saint by both Latins and Greeks.
ST. LEO II
682 - 683
Like his predecessor St. Agatho, Leo II was a Sicilian. Elected shortly
after the death of Agatho, Leo was not consecrated for over a year and a
half. The reason for this odd delay is not evident, but it may have been
due to negotiations regarding imperial control of papal elections. Pope
Agatho had been engaged in these negotiations and Constantine the
Bearded
had already promised to abolish or at least reduce the tax which for some
time now popes had been compelled to pay to the imperial government at
their consecration.
Leo II was a man learned for his time who knew Greek and was an orator of
some polish. Virtuous too, he was a lover of poverty and very good to the
poor. Highly esteemed by his contemporaries, he is considered a saint by
the Church.
Though his pontificate was quite short, Leo did accomplish something.
Since
St. Agatho had died while the Sixth Ecumenical Council was still in
progress, it was Leo who received the decrees of this council. He confirmed
them with pleasure. He accepted the inclusion of Pope Honorius among
those
condemned for the Monothelite heresy, but made it clear that Honorius was
condemned not for teaching heresy, but for allowing it to spread by his
negligence. Leo wrote to the bishops of the West publishing the decrees of
the council, and explaining the condemnation of Pope Honorius. Since the
Monothelite heresy had never been popular in the West, there was no
difficulty in getting the West to accept these decrees.
At this time Leo put a period to the attempt of the Ravenna archbishops to
get away from the control of the Bishop of Rome as primate. The friendly
Constantine the Bearded revoked the decree of his father Constans in favor
of Ravenna. The kind Pope sweetened the matter for the Ravenna bishops
by
abolishing the tax it had been customary for them to pay when they received
the pallium and by other concessions.
Probably because of Lombard raids, Leo transferred the relics of a number
of martyrs from the catacombs to churches inside the walls of the city. He
also dedicated two churches, St. Paul's and Sts. Sebastian and George.
St. Leo II died June 28, 683, and was buried in St. Peter's. His feast is
kept on June 28.
ST. BENEDICT II
684 - 685
Once again there was a long interval between the election and the
consecration of a pope, but this time something was done about it.
Benedict, a Roman, the son of John, was elected to succeed St. Leo II; but
he was not consecrated until June 26, 684. Churchmen were weary of these
long delays which were due to the necessity of waiting for imperial
confirmation of the papal election. Benedict obtained from Emperor
Constantine the Bearded a change in regulations which permitted the
exarch
of Ravenna to make the confirmation. This shortened considerably the
interval between election and confirmation.
Benedict II was a man richly endowed with noble qualities. He had been in
the service of the Church from his youth. Humble, patient, and generous, he
was well-schooled in the Scriptures and sacred music. His pontificate,
however, was too short to allow him much accomplishment.
Following his predecessors' example, Benedict wrote to Spain to hurry the
bishops along in sending in their adhesion to the Sixth General Council.
King Ervig then held a council at Toledo in November 684 to discuss the
matter. The council condemned the Monothelite heresy, and St. Julian,
archbishop of Toledo, drew up a profession of faith which he sent to the
Pope. Benedict, though pleased, was not quite satisfied with some of the
expressions used in this profession and sent it back with a request for
some changes in terminology.
Like all the contemporary popes of this efficient emperor, Benedict got
along well with Constantine the Bearded. Indeed Constantine asked the
Pope
to adopt his two sons, Justinian and Heraclius. As a token of this adoption
he sent Pope Benedict locks of the princes' hair.
The charity and kindness of St. Benedict II appears in the effort he made
to convert Macarius, ex-patriarch of Antioch. Macarius had been
condemned
as a Monothelite and deposed by the Sixth General Council.
The Pope took the occasion of his orthodox successor's death to send
Macarius one of his special advisers to attempt to win him back. It was no
use; Macarius died a heretic.
Since Benedict was very good to his clergy, it was fitting that his last
big ceremony was the distribution of gifts and favors on Easter Sunday,
March 26, 685. At once after this ceremony the saintly Pope fell sick and
soon died. He was buried in St. Peter's on May 8. Benedict is venerated as
a saint; his feast is kept on May 7.
JOHN V
685 - 686
Medieval Rome was scarcely a health resort, but even so the extreme
shortness of so many seventh-century pontificates does seem to indicate
that venerable old age was one of the things the electors looked for in a
pope. John V was another example of this; he ruled the Church for just over
a year.
John V was a Syrian from the neighborhood of Antioch. By 680 he must
have
been well established in the Roman clergy, for Pope St. Agatho sent him as
legate to the Sixth Ecumenical Council. From Constantinople he brought
back
the account of the proceedings of the council and also some imperial
decrees. John was elected in a return to the ancient manner by the
generality, that is, by the clergy and laity of Rome in the Lateran
basilica. He was consecrated at once in July 685. It is not clear just what
the author of John's biography in the Liber Pontificalis means by the
return to the ancient manner. Popes before and after John V were elected
by
the generality in the Lateran basilica. Duchesne supposes that the
expression refers to the new imperial regulations of Constantine the
Bearded. These regulations, whether they merely permitted the exarch of
Ravenna to confirm the election or allowed complete freedom certainly
marked a change. They did away with excessive intervals between election
and consecration which had been due to the necessity of sending all the
way
to Constantinople for imperial confirmation.
This Syrian Pope was a man of energy and learning, but his health was not
equal to the strain. Not long after his election he fell ill, and though he
lingered on for a time, he could not get much accomplished. He had the
misfortune to lose the best friend the papacy had had on the imperial
throne for some time. Constantine IV, the Bearded, died in 685. While still
legate, John had secured from this friendly emperor a decree lowering the
taxes the popes paid on their estates of the patrimony of Peter.
Constantine had left the empire more united religiously and stronger
politically than he had received it from his father Constans II. Under his
clever and vigorous leadership, Constantinople had returned to Catholic
unity and orthodoxy. The Sixth Ecumenical Council had condemned the
Monothelites. The fierce onslaught of the Saracens had been checked
before
the walls of Constantinople, and if Egypt and Syria were gone, the
remaining provinces were protected by a better organization.
John V settled a jurisdictional squabble over Sardinia. Citonatus,
archbishop of Cagliari, had presumed to consecrate Novellus bishop of
Torres without so much as a by-your-leave of the Pope. John V held a
council at Rome and decided to place Torres under his direct supervision.
John V died in the summer of 686 and was buried in St. Peter's on August
2.
CONON
686 - 687
After John's death, trouble brewed in Rome. The army pushed forward, as
their candidate for the papacy, Peter the archpriest, while the clergy
favored the priest Theodore. Matters looked bad for a while. The army held
the gates of the Lateran Basilica, and there was danger of a double
election. Fortunately, however, after some negotiations, clergy and army
agreed on a compromise candidate, the excellent priest Conon. A strikingly
venerable old gentleman, Conon was just the man to pacify the spirit of
faction. He was very old, he was kind, he enjoyed an excellent reputation.
Conon was the son of a soldier. He had been educated in Sicily but had
come
to Rome and had been ordained priest there. He enjoyed excellent relations
with the new Emperor Justinian II. There was no indication of the trouble
this unworthy son of a great father was to give. Conon received a letter
from the Emperor which informed the Pope that the original acts of the
Sixth Ecumenical Council had been recovered and that the Emperor, after
making all high ecclesiastical, civil, and military officials sign them,
had taken measures for their preservation. The Emperor also showed his
good
will toward the papacy by lowering some of the taxes on the patrimony.
Pope Conon seems to have been influenced by schemers, for he appointed
as
manager of the Sicilian estates of the patrimony a character named
Constantine. Apparently this was against the advice of the Roman
counselors
of the pope. It would have been well had Conon taken his counselors'
advice. Constantine by his extortions soon had the Sicilian papal estates
in an uproar. The governor had to intervene and clap Constantine into
prison.
More consoling were the Pope's dealings with the great Irish missionary St.
Killian. Ireland at this time was at the peak of its prestige as a country
of saints and scholars. Irish monks swarmed over Europe, bringing Christ to
thousands. A group of these pilgrims for Christ led by Sts. Killian and
Colman had visited Wurzburg on the Main River in Franconia. Much taken
by
the beauty of the countryside and the fine character of the Germans, St.
Killian determined to go to Rome to see Pope John and secure from him an
apostolic commission to preach the gospel to the Germans. When the
zealous
Gaels reached Rome, John was dead; but Conon received them most
kindly. He
ordained Killian bishop and sent him to preach Christ to his beloved
Germans.
Conon, very old when elected, was soon so sick he could hardly go through
with the usual ordinations. He died in September 687 and was buried in St.
Peter's.
ST. SERGIUS
687-701
Sergius was a compromise choice for the papacy, an excellent one. The
archdeacon Paschal had bribed John, the exarch of Ravenna. The exarch
obligingly ordered his minions at Rome to put Paschal in as pope, but a
large party supported the archpriest Theodore. Once more, just when things
looked bad, the common sense of the majority led to a compromise. Sergius
was elected. Theodore at once submitted. Paschal was forced to do so, but
he sent to the exarch at Ravenna, promising him a hundred pounds of gold
if
he would come to Rome and make him pope. The greedy exarch came
swiftly,
but he was realistic enough to see the folly of overriding the majority. He
coolly dropped Paschal and agreed to the choice of Sergius, but he insisted
on the payment of the huge sum Paschal had promised. In vain did Sergius
and the Romans protest against this outrageous demand. Not until the
money
was paid did the rapacious exarch allow the consecration of Sergius to take
place. Sergius was a Syrian from Antioch. Probably his family had fled from
the Moslem invasion, for he was educated at Palermo. He went to Rome,
joined the school for sacred music, was ordained priest, and was placed in
charge of the Church of St. Susanna. Noted for his devotion to the martyrs,
he often said Mass in the catacombs.
Sergius received much consolation from the West. In 688 Caedwalla, the
mighty king of the West Saxons, came a pilgrim to Rome seeking baptism
from
the Pope. St. Willibrord, an Anglo-Saxon monk, came to seek the Pope's
blessing on a mission to the Frisians. Sergius consecrated him bishop and
sent him off to fruitful labor among the barbarians. Then too, the old
Three Chapters schism finally ended with the submission of the bishop and
clergy of Aquileia-Grado.
From the East came trouble. At Constantinople, Emperor Justinian II
decided
that since the last two general councils, the fifth and sixth, had issued
no disciplinary decrees, he would hold one to supply the deficiency.
Justinian's council is, therefore, called the Quinisext (fifth-sixth). It
is also called the Trullan Council because it was held in the same domed
hall, the Trullus, in which the Sixth Ecumenical Council had been held. The
Westerners called it the erratic synod, and with reason. For this gathering
of Eastern bishops presumed to issue 102 canons, some of which were
quite
objectionable, notably the one which stated that Constantinople had the
same rights in the Church as Rome. When Pope Sergius refused to confirm
these decrees, Justinian acted to force him. He sent Zacharias, captain of
the bodyguard, to bring back the decrees signed or the Pope a prisoner. It
was to be Constans II and St. Martin over again. But times had changed.
The
imperial forces in Italy, now more Italian home guards than regulars from
the East, refused to cooperate. Indeed, the army from Ravenna marched on
Rome to attack not Sergius but Zacharias. Zacharias pleaded with Sergius
to
save him and when the army of Ravenna approached, the bold captain went
to
cover under the Pope's bed! Sergius calmed the soldiers, who spared the
captain's life but drove him from the city. Since Justinian himself was
driven into exile by a rebellion at home, there was nothing he could do
about it.
It was this pious and firm Pope who ordered the beautiful prayer Agnus Dei
to be added to the
Mass.
St. Sergius died, and was buried in St. Peter's on September 8, 701. His
feast is kept on September 9.
JOHN VI
701 - 705
Since there is no mention of discord at the election of John VI, it may be
presumed that it went off peacefully. He was consecrated on October 30,
701. That John was a Greek is about all that is known of his early life.
Coming events cast their shadow before, and two incidents in John's
pontificate form a large shadow of the approaching temporal power of the
papacy. Shortly after John's accession, a new exarch of Ravenna, the
Patrician Theophylact, entered Rome. The reason for the exarch's visit to
Rome remains somewhat obscure, but whatever it was, his arrival excited
the
Italians. Marching on Rome, the Italian home guards threatened the exarch,
but Pope John, like Pope Sergius, protected the Emperor's representative.
He sent priests to the angry soldiers and succeeded in quieting them. They
spared the exarch, but did punish some of his minions and informers.
Once more the Lombards took the warpath. This time it was Duke Gisulf of
Benevento who sent his warriors swarming over Campania. The smoke of
burning towns and the wailing of captives marked the progress of these wild
men. The imperial authorities could not stop them, but the Pope did what he
could. John VI sent a number of priests on an embassy to Gisulf to
persuade
him to release his captives and go home. The Pope's emissaries
succeeded,
but at the cost of a large ransom. In these two incidents--the Pope saving
the exarch from the Italians and the Pope saving the Italians from the
Lombards--may be seen an indication of the future temporal power of the
papacy. Not as a glittering honor but as a burdensome duty did temporal
power come to the popes.
Over twenty years before, St. Wilfrid of York had come to Rome to seek and
find justice at the hands of Pope St. Agatho. Now once more enmeshed in a
network of troubles and annoyances, Northumbria's great bishop came to
John
VI. John held a synod, which after listening to Wilfrid and his accusers,
cleared Wilfrid. The Pope gave Wilfrid letters to King Aldfrid of
Northumbria and King Ethelred of Mercia. After a little more trouble,
Wilfrid was able to close his stormy life in peace.
John VI died in January 705, and was buried in St. Peter's on January 11.
JOHN VII
705 - 707
John VII was a Greek of illustrious family. His father, Plato, was a
curator of the imperial palace. He had done much to restore the decaying
palace of the Caesars on the Palatine Hill. John became rector of the
estates of the patrimony of Peter on the Appian Way. He was learned,
eloquent and very devoted to Mary, the Mother of God. He seems, however,
to
have been somewhat timid, and timidity was not the quality most desirable
in a pope who had to face the restored Justinian II.
Justinian had been overthrown and, with his nose sliced off, exiled to
Cherson. Now in 705, with the help of the Bulgarians he stole into
Constantinople through an aqueduct and reestablished himself on the
throne.
Blood flowed in torrents. The slit-nosed one, as he is termed, was not
gentle. He put out the eyes of Patriarch Callinicus and sent him to Rome.
No doubt the city was filled with horror stories of this Grand Guignol
emperor.
Once his enemies were disposed of, the tenacious Justinian turned his
attention to reviving his pet project--getting the Pope to confirm the
decrees of the Quinisext or Trullan Council. It will be remembered that
only the violent reaction of the Italian soldiers had saved Pope Sergius
from being carried off to Constantinople because he had refused to confirm
these decrees, some of which were highly objectionable. Now Justinian sent
Pope John VII copies of the decrees and a letter in which he urged the Pope
to hold a synod and decide which decrees he could confirm and which he
would reject. This sounds quite reasonable, but Pope John was evidently
too
much afraid of Justinian to take the slit-nosed one at his word. He sent
the decrees back unsigned and without comment. And shortly afterwards in
707, he died.
For a wonder, John had more pleasant relations with the Lombards. Aripert
II, king of the Lombards, restored to the Pope the estates of the patrimony
in the Cottian Alps area which had been confiscated years ago in the time
of King Rothari. To confirm this restitution, Aripert sent the Pope a deed
written in golden letters.
It is interesting to note that the English clergy of that day were not
sticklers for propriety in dress. Pope John VII had to rebuke them for
their love of the gay clothes of laymen. John seems to have inherited from
his father, the curator of the palace an interest in restoring buildings.
He restored the Lateran Basilica and had frescoes painted in St. Mary
Antiqua.
SISINNIUS
708
Sisnnius is remarkable for the shortness of his pontificate, which lasted
about twenty days, and for the fact that he was so tormented by gout that
he could not even feed himself. Except that Sisinnius was a Syrian, the son
of John, nothing is known of his early life. It remains obscure just why a
man in his ailing condition should have been elected pope. His biographer
in the "Liber Pontificalis" says that he was a steady man who was
solicitous for the welfare of the citizens of Rome. Perhaps it was this
reputation which caused the Romans to take a chance on his health.
That Sisinnius was a man of foresight is proved by one of his first acts.
He ordered that lime should be prepared so that the walls of Rome could be
strengthened. The papal limekilns were ordered into full production, but,
of course, Sisinnius died before much could be done. This anxiety about
Rome's walls proves that Sisinnius was a man of vision. The Lombards
were
always a threat, and now the crescent of Islam was beginning to swell
toward the full moon.
Sisinnius had time to ordain a bishop for Corsica and for nothing more. He
was dead and buried in St. Peter's by February 4, 708.
CONSTANTINE
708 - 715
Constantine, like Sisinnius, was a Syrian. He was a mild, amiable man.
Felix, archbishop of Ravenna, refused to sign their customary act of
submission to the Pope. Terrible punishment followed swiftly, not from the
good-natured Pope, but from the grim Justinian. The Emperor ordered
Ravenna
to be sacked because some of its citizens had taken part in the rebellion
of 695. Archbishop Felix had his eyes torn out, and he was driven into
exile. After the murder of Justinian in 711, Felix was allowed to return.
He then submitted to the Pope.
Consolation came from England when Coenred, king of Mercia, abdicated
and
entered a Roman monastery. Even more impressive was it when Offa, the
beautiful young prince of Essex, left throne and wealth to serve Christ in
the monastic habit.
Constantine received an invitation from Justinian II to visit him at
Constantinople to settle the question of the Quinisext or Trullan Council
decrees. The Pope, with visions of eyeless bishops and tortured victims,
might well have trembled at this invitation, but if he did fear, he was
most agreeably surprised. The Emperor received him with the highest
honor.
The people of Constantinople joyously greeted the Pope at the seventh
milestone. Justinian received Holy Communion from the Pope and promised
to
renew all the privileges of the Church. Then Constantine and the Emperor
went into consultation on the vexed problem of Justinian's pet project, the
Quinisext Council. Constantine seems to have done what John VII feared to
do, to have approved whatsoever in the canons of this council did not
oppose, faith, morals, or the decrees of the Roman Church. Justinian
appears to have been satisfied with this. At any rate, Pope Constantine
returned safely, complete with eyes, on October 24, 711.
The Pope soon learned that Justinian had been murdered. He had reason to
regret the loss of the slit-nosed one, for the next emperor, Philippicus,
was a Monothelite. He decided to wipe out the Sixth Ecumenical Council
and
make the One-Will heresy the official religion of the empire. A council of
Eastern bishops obediently went into heresy at the imperial nod. They
repudiated the Sixth Ecumenical Council and adopted the Monothelite
heresy.
The Pope's answer was to have a series of pictures painted in the portico
of St. Peter's showing the six ecumenical councils. The Romans refused to
place the heretic Emperor's name or image on their coins. Imperial troops
carried the answer of Philippicus and blood flowed. The Pope, however,
quieted the struggle and his patience was rewarded. It was the usurper's
turn to be deposed and have his eyes put out. Anastasius II who took the
throne was orthodox, and the Monothelite heresy at last sinks into a
memory.
Constantine died and was buried in St. Peter's on April 9, 715.
ST. GREGORY II
715 - 731
St. Gregory II was a Roman of noble family. From his youth a cleric,
Gregory was made treasurer by St. Sergius, and papal librarian. As a
deacon
he accompanied Constantine on his visit to Justinian II and is credited
with the skillful answers which at once satisfied the half-mad monarch and
safeguarded Catholic doctrine and practice. Gregory was consecrated on
May
19, 715. A man of virtue and eloquence, he was well versed in Holy
Scripture. Above all, he was prudent and firm.
Gregory II showed great interest in the vital work of conversion going on
in lands beyond the old empire's far-flung borders. He encouraged St.
Corbinian to keep on sacrificing his desire for solitude and continue his
work among the Bavarians. In 718 Pope Gregory received Winfred, a
zealous
young English monk who sought his blessing on a mission to the Germans.
The
Pope gave him not only a blessing but a name glorious in the annals of
Christianity--Boniface. He recalled St. Boniface to Rome in 722, questioned
him about his faith, and thoroughly satisfied, consecrated him bishop and
sent him back to his Germans.
Gregory was fond of monks. He turned his ancestral mansion into a
monastery
and rebuilt Monte Cassino. This mother abbey of the Benedictines,
destroyed
by the Lombards around 580, had been a desolate ruin
On the Lombards, Gregory had a good influence. He helped them with their
laws. But when these still untamed barbarians began raiding imperial
territory in Italy, Gregory tried to stop them. Loyalty to the Emperor,
however, was becoming difficult.
Leo III, a tough soldier from the Isaurian uplands, had saved the empire
from the Saracens by his spirited defense of Constantinople in 717. Leo was
a very demanding taxgatherer. His impositions caused discontent especially
in Italy, where the small protection afforded by imperial forces made high
taxes seem a bad investment. Discontent flamed higher when in 726 the
Emperor touched not only his subjects' purses but their devotion. Leo,
rough soldier that he was, decided to play the theologian. His pet idea was
to forbid the use of sacred images. Iconoclasm, the Greek word for image
breaking, is a Jewish-Moslem idea, quite alien to Christian tradition. The
imperial decree, issued in 726, provoked riot and rebellion in the East.
More constructively, it occasioned the masterful writings of the great
Eastern doctor of the Church, St. John Damascene.
The imperial decree forbidding images reached Italy in 727. Pope Gregory
held a synod at Rome which stated the traditional teaching of the Church.
He then wrote to Leo reproving him for his meddling and teaching him the
traditional doctrine of the Church. He quite bluntly warned the Emperor
against enforcing his decree in the West. The Pope also supported the
deposed patriarch of Constantinople and threatened his intruded successor.
Leo sent a fleet to seize the Pope, but a storm destroyed it. He did seize
the estates of Peter's patrimony in Sicily and Calabria. His officials in
Italy were prevented by the aroused Italians and the Lombards from taking
measures against the Pope. The Italians wished to set up a rival emperor,
but Gregory dissuaded them. The extraordinary circumstances forced
Gregory
to assume more temporal power in Rome.
This great Pope died in February 731. His feast is kept on February 13.
ST. GREGORY III
731 - 741
As the funeral procession of St. Gregory II moved slowly along, there was a
sudden outcry. The clergy and people shouted that Gregory, a Syrian who
was
walking with the Pope's bier, should be the next pope. And they hurried him
off without further ado, and elected him. The man who could arouse such
unusual and universal enthusiasm must have been a striking personality.
And
indeed the biographer of Gregory paints him in glowing colors. He was an
educated man who knew both Latin and Greek, polished in style, learned in
Holy Scripture, pious, zealous for the faith, and a lover of the poor.
Consecrated on March 18, 731, Gregory III at once turned his attention to
the image-breaking controversy. To recall Leo the Isaurian to an orthodox
state of mind, he sent him the priest George with letters of warning and
instruction. When George returned from the East, the Pope was surprised to
find that the timid legate had been afraid even to deliver the letters to
the fierce Isaurian. Not unnaturally angry, Gregory was going to degrade
George from the priesthood, but the clergy of a synod held to consider the
situation, persuaded the Pope to let George off with a penance. However,
Gregory sent him back to the Emperor. This time the imperial officials in
Sicily seized George and exiled him.
Gregory held another synod, this time with ninety-three bishops and the
clergy and people of Rome. The council decreed that anyone who should
destroy or dishonor holy images should be excommunicated But the
Emperor
would not allow the envoys even to reach him. His answer was to send a
fleet to carry out the imperial decrees. The fleet was shipwrecked, but Leo
punished the Italians by raising their taxes and the Pope by confiscating
the estates of the patrimony in Sicily and Calabria.
The Emperor also transferred the Church in Calabria, Sicily, and Illyricum
from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Rome as patriarch to the
jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople. This arbitrary act was a
remote cause of the unhappy Eastern Schism. It made the patriarchate of
Constantinople practically coterminous with the Eastern Empire. And in
spite of the fact that it had been thus arbitrarily given to them by a
heretical emperor, the patriarchs of Constantinople clung to their
increased jurisdiction.
St. Boniface visited Pope Gregory III in 737 to receive consolation from
him. Gregory asked Boniface's cousin, the holy monk Willibald, to help in
the conversion of the Germans. The Pope granted the request of Egbert of
York that he should be made archbishop, thus restoring to England the two
metropolitan sees planned by Gregory the Great.
Once more a pope was troubled by the Lombards. Liutprand, King of the
Lombards, strove to break the Lombard Dukes of Spoleto and Benevento
and to
overrun all Italy. He ravaged the exarchate of Ravenna and marched south.
The Dukes allied themselves with Pope Gregory, but nothing could stop
Liutprand. Once more the Lombards ravaged Roman territory. The Pope, at
a
loss, appealed to Charles Martel, the Frankish "hammer." Charles sent an
embassy to Rome, but
no help. Actually he could do little, for his health was broken.
In the middle of all this trouble, late in 741, St. Gregory III died. His
feast is kept on November 28.
ST. ZACHARY
741 - 752
Zachary, a Greek from Calabria, was not only saintly and capable, but one
of those happy people with a gift for making friends. This personal charm
was manifested in the first problem he faced, the recovery of four cities
from the Lombards. Though Liutprand, king of the Lombards, after much
dealing and negotiating, had promised to restore the cities, he did not.
Pope Zachary then went directly to the king with astounding results. Not
only did Liutprand give back the four cities, but he restored the Sabine
estate of the patrimony, and gave the Pope outright some other cities. Pope
and king had dinner together to celebrate, and Liutprand declared that he
had never had so glorious a dinner. The power of Zachary's charm was
even
more strikingly revealed when Liutprand began to invade Ravenna. The
exarch, left without adequate help by the Emperor, cried out for help to
the Pope. Zachary sent an embassy which accomplished nothing. He then
went
north to see Liutprand personally. The Pope was received with grateful joy
at Ravenna, but Liutprand, firmly set on taking over the exarchate, tried
to stop him from coming to court. When Zachary refused to be stopped,
Liutprand received him graciously. This time it took argument, but again
Zachary won. Liutprand ended by not only stopping the invasion of Ravenna
but actually restoring territory he had already taken. St. Boniface
continued his great work under Zachary. Christianity was now so far
advanced in Germany that a synod could be held. Not content with his
mighty
missionary activity, Boniface, helped by Pippin the Short, worked hard to
reform the Frankish church. Zachary helped him by wise words of cheer and
received with good-humored kindness complaints that Boniface made about
certain matters in Rome.
In the East, Constantine V Copronymus had succeeded his father Leo, but
Constantine was even more devoted to smashing images than Leo. Vainly
did
Zachary urge him to return to Catholic orthodoxy.
More successful with the Lombards, Zachary once again checked an
invasion.
King Ratchis was dissuaded from carrying fire and sword into Roman
territory. Ratchis soon after abdicated and came to Rome to receive the
monastic habit from Zachary. Another distinguished prince, Pippin's brother
Carloman, had already done the same thing.
In 751 Zachary received a momentous case of conscience from Pippin, the
Frankish mayor of the palace. For years these mayors of the palace had
ruled the Franks while the Merovingian kings vegetated. Now Pippin
determined to dethrone Childeric II, the last of these shadow monarchs, and
mount the throne himself. Before so grave a step, he and the nobles sent to
Pope Zachary for advice. Zachary's famous answer was that he who did the
work of king should be king.
It is no surprise that this genial Pope should be very kind to the poor and
the sick. He was generous to the clergy and did much to restore the Roman
churches. St. Zachary died in March 752. His feast is kept on March 15.
STEPHEN
752
Two things are noteworthy about Pope Stephen II. He had the shortest
pontificate in the whole history of the papacy and he caused annoyance to
historians because of the dispute as to whether or not he should be
included in the list of popes.
Stephen was a priest of the Roman clergy. After the death of the great St.
Zachary, Stephen was elected unanimously. He accepted and was sitting
down
doing business in the Lateran Palace the third day after his election when
apoplexy struck him. He died the day after.
Many historians did not include him in the list of popes, and as a result
in some books the numeral after later popes named Stephen is placed thus:
Stephen (II) III. This is confusing and quite unnecessary. Everything
points to the conclusion that the short-lived Stephen should be included in
the list of popes. He was duly elected. He accepted. He actually was
governing the Church when he was struck down. According to tradition, he
should be included in the list of popes, and indeed his picture has its
place in the famous medallions of the popes in the basilica of St. Paul-
Outside-the-Walls. Last, but not least, Stephen is included in the list of
popes given in the "Annuario Pontificio." For these reasons, even though he
was never consecrated, Stephen has his place in this book, and his
successor will be called Stephen III without any parenthesis.
STEPHEN III
752 - 757
The biographies of preceding popes reveal how gradual was the growth of
the
temporal power of the papacy. More and more the rude pressure of
circumstance compelled popes to play the civil ruler. Now by mid-eighth
century, the emperors had left Italy derelict and the popes were forced to
choose between letting the hated Lombards overrun his people or taking
power themselves. Stephen III had to make this decision.
Stephen III was a Roman deacon brought up by the popes after the death of
his father. Since he was formed by men like St. Gregory III and St.
Zachary, it is no surprise that Stephen was devoted to ecclesiastical
tradition, a lover of the poor, and a firm defender of the people.
The East still groaned under the fury of the image-breaking Emperor
Constantine. There was not much Stephen could do but try to recall the
Emperor to his duty. He wrote to Constantine, but it did no good.
The Lombards, under fierce King Aistulf, having overrun the exarchate of
Ravenna, had their eyes on Rome. The Pope, alarmed for the city's safety,
made a peace treaty for which he paid handsomely. But Aistulf cared little
for treaties. The Emperor, his hands full with Bulgarians and Saracens, was
devoting his spare time to smashing images. The best he could do for Italy
was to send an ambassador with an order for the Pope to persuade Aistulf
to
give back Ravenna. Stephen did go to Pavia, but when he could get nothing
out of Aistulf, he passed the Alps and made a personal appeal to Pippin.
The Pope solemnly anointed Pippin and his sons Charles and Carloman as
kings. Then Pippin, after Aistulf repulsed three embassies, led a Frankish
army into Italy and brought the tough Lombard to terms. He was to give up
Ravenna and keep peace. But once the Franks disappeared over the Alps,
Aistulf called for an all-out war to overrun Italy. Burning and ravaging,
the Lombards marched on Rome and blockaded the city. Frantically the
Pope
multiplied appeals to Pippin, the last being written in the name of St.
Peter himself. After three months the situation looked black, but the
Lombards raised the siege and went north. Pippin was on his way at last.
Another embassy appeared from Constantinople. When they heard about
Pippin,
the envoys hurried to meet him and offered him presents if he would restore
the exarchate to the Emperor. Pippin replied that it was only for Blessed
Peter that he had taken arms, and it was to Blessed Peter he would restore
the territory.
Pippin defeated the Lombards again, and this time saw to it that peace was
kept. Stephen III was put in control of the exarchate of Ravenna and now in
756 may be considered the first of the papal monarchs.
Stephen died in 757. Though known to history as the first pope-king, he was
better known to the Roman poor for his great charity.
ST. PAUL I
757 - 767
Paul was the brother of Pope Stephen III, and like him was educated under
the tutelage of the popes. Paul served his brother on many diplomatic
missions. The two brothers seem to have been quite close, and when
Stephen
fell ill in 757 Paul devotedly nursed him. Even while Stephen was dying, a
party began an intrigue to seat the archdeacon Theophylact on the papal
throne. But when Stephen was buried, the great majority chose Paul to
succeed his brother. He was consecrated on May 29, 757.
Naturally Paul continued the policy of his brother. He maintained close
relations with Pippin and relied on his aid to hold the Papal States
against Lombard and Greek. The greatest danger was from the Lombards.
Aistulf had died shortly after his final defeat and he was succeeded by
Desiderius, duke of Istria. But the new king met a sudden and strange
challenge, ex-king Ratchis, who had abdicated in 768 to become a monk,
now
left his monastery to dispute the iron crown with Desiderius. Desiderius
promised peace to the Pope if he would help him, and Stephen had sent an
embassy including Paul which had persuaded Ratchis to return to his duties
in the cloister.
Desiderius, forgetful of this act of friendliness, had designs on the Papal
States. He even made an alliance, strange enough, with the Eastern
Empire.
Pope Paul pleaded with Pippin for help, but the Frankish king was so
involved in wars with the dukes of Aquitaine and Bavaria, that he could
help the Pope only by diplomacy. Actually Paul succeeded in holding on to
his kingdom without any major war. Toward the end of his pontificate he
even asked Pippin to get Desiderius to help him against the Greeks!
The threat from the Greeks was not too serious. The Emperor, with no army
to spare for Italy, relied on diplomacy. He tried to pervert Pippin to his
iconoclast heresy, but his pleas were resisted by the stout-hearted Frank.
The Pope, of course, was not idle. He wrote to Pippin and encouraged him
to
remain loyal and orthodox. The Pope's care was rewarded. The Frankish
bishops assembled in a synod at Gentilly in 767 and reaffirmed their belief
in traditional Catholic doctrines, especially in the correct veneration of
holy images.
Paul also wrote to Emperors Constantine and Leo to win them back from
their
heresy, but again in vain.
Paul was a man of noble character, outstanding even among the popes for
his
charity to the poor. During the night he would often visit prisons and
perform acts of mercy. His only defect was, perhaps, a poor choice of
officials; but if he discovered any injustice, he hastened to make up for
it. He died outside the city on June 28, 767. Paul I is venerated as a
saint. His feast is kept on June 28.
STEPHEN IV
768 - 772
That the Pope should be king had numerous advantages, but one grave
disadvantage was the intense stimulus royal power gave to the ambition of
the little lords who infested the area around Rome. One of these, Toto,
duke of Nepi, led an armed gang into Rome, held his private election, and
declared his brother Constantine pope. That Constantine was a layman did
not trouble the duke. But Christopher and his son Sergius, two high
officials of the late Pope Paul, managed to get out of the city and fly to
the Lombards. They got a Lombard army to come down and throw out the
intruder. After a fight in which Toto was killed the way was open for an
honest election; but before Christopher could get back to the city,
Waldipert, a Lombard priest, staged his private election, and proclaimed
Philip, a monk, the next pope. Christopher demanded the removal of this
intruder and finally held an open and honest election, from which the
priest Stephen emerged pope.
Stephen had come to Rome from Sicily at an early age and had entered the
Benedictine monastery of St. Chrysogonus. St. Zachary ordained him priest
and used him in the papal service. Stephen remained with the dying Pope
Paul while Toto was beginning his intrigues. His early career of goodness
and service fits the character given him by his biographer in the Liber
Pontificalis, but horrible cruelties took place in his reign. Probably he
was not able to control his subordinates. Even before he was consecrated
on
August 7, 768, the terror began. Antipope Constantine, his brother Passious
his official Theodore, the Lombard priest Waldipert --all had their eyes
torn out.
In 769 Pope Stephen held a synod at the Lateran at which the eyeless
Constantine was ordered to be beaten and cast out of the Church. More
constructively, the synod decreed very wise regulations for future papal
elections. The pope must be chosen from the cardinals, that is, the more
important of the Roman clergy. The clergy are to elect, and only after the
election are the Roman army and the people to acclaim the elected pope.
Nobles outside the city are to have nothing to do with the election. The
synod also upheld the veneration of holy images and condemned Emperor
Constantine's image-breaking council of 754.
Christopher, the primicerius, had been the hero of Stephen's election; and
he remained the Pope's right-hand man. He tried to get back the territory
which Desiderius had promised to restore. And when Desiderius forgot his
promises, Christopher had tried to get Charlemagne to intervene. Naturally
Desiderius hated Christopher. He paid the Pope's chamberlain, Paul Afiarta,
to blacken the character of Christopher and his son Sergius. Then in the
Lent of either 770 or 771, he came down to Rome with an army to pray!
Christopher manned the walls and refused to let this strange pilgrim
inside. But after some obscure intrigues, Christopher and his son Sergius
went out to St. Peter's (then outside the walls) to Pope Stephen who had
been talking to the Lombards. The Pope went back to the city and Paul
Afiarta came out, seized Christopher and Sergius, and put out their eyes.
Pope Stephen died in February 772. His last years like his first were
troubled by cruelty. Paul Afiarta, now in power, wreaked vengeance on his
enemies.
Stephen is venerated as a saint in certain districts of Sicily but not by
the universal church.
HADRIAN I
772 - 795
The stormy pontificate of Stephen IV had been not the beginning but only
the forerunner of a time of troubles for the papacy. On Stephen's death,
there was a speedy quiet, unanimous election of the holy priest Hadrian.
Hadrian, a Roman of noble family, had been known for his austere piety
even
before he became a cleric. Now as pope his first act was one of justice to
recall the exiled victims of Paul Afiarta.
The Lombard menace still loomed over Rome. Desiderius, after a deal of
ravaging, marched on Rome as a pilgrim--he said. Hadrian, not at all
reassured by the Lombard's pilgrim staff, mobilized his army and forbade
Desiderius to enter Rome under pain of excommunication. Though the
Lombard
turned back, his continued depredations forced Hadrian to appeal to
Charlemagne. Charlemagne, after a vain try at diplomacy, marched into
Italy, defeated Desiderius, and blockaded him in Pavia. While the siege was
in progress, Charlemagne hurried to Rome to pay the Pope a visit. Hadrian,
at first a little suspicious, was delighted to find in his powerful
protector a true friend. Charlemagne confirmed Pippin's donation. Then
having captured Pavia, he put Desiderius in a monastery and made himself
king of the Lombards.
Hadrian found a new version of an old heresy arising in Spain. Elipandus,
bishop of Toledo, and Felix, bishop of Urgel, taught that the Second Person
of the Trinity did not really become Man but only adopted human nature in
such a way that Jesus Christ the Man is only an adopted Son of God. The
Pope wrote to the Spanish bishops to condemn this Neo-Nestorianism, and
Charlemagne had a council at Ratisbon in 785 and another at Frankfort in
794 echo the Pope's condemnation.
Ever since the iconoclast or image-breaking heresy had separated
Constantinople from Catholic unity, the popes had not ceased to urge the
emperors to repent. Now at last a ruler arose who would listen. When Leo IV
died in 780, he left a beautiful wife, Irene, who ruled for her little son
Constantine VI. Empress Irene at once allowed the veneration of images,
and
soon she listened to the Pope's plea for a general council. The Seventh
Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea in 787 under the legates of Pope
Hadrian, reaffirmed Catholic belief in the proper veneration of images.
Both Empress Irene and Patriarch Tarasius accepted the decrees and
ended
the iconoclast schism. Once more Constantinople returned to Catholic unity
and orthodoxy.
Hadrian was delighted, but he was annoyed because the imperial
government
refused to return the estates of the patrimony confiscated by Leo the
Isaurian, and refused also to return to the Western patriarchate
jurisdiction over Illyricum.
The Pope was embarrassed to find the Franks attacking the Seventh
Ecumenical Council. The Caroline Books were a bitter and stupid attack on
the council, and the Council of Frankfort had the boldness to censure the
Seventh Ecumenical Council. This Frankish furor seems to have been
caused
by a misunderstanding and perhaps a mistranslation of the acts of the
Nicaea council. Hadrian was patient. He contented himself with gently
reminding Charlemagne that after all it was to St. Peter and his successors
that Christ left the government of the Church. He explained the true
meaning of the decrees of Nicaea.
Hadrian was a great builder, who did much for Rome. Above all, he was a
true father to his people. Not content with giving help to the needy and
distressed, he visited them personally.
Hadrian died on Christmas Day 795. He had been a great leader for the
Church.
ST. LEO III
795 - 816
On the very day of Hadrian's funeral, December 26, 795, the pious priest
Leo was unanimously elected to succeed him. Leo, from a family of ordinary
folks, had been a cleric from his youth. He had risen to be cardinal-priest
of Santa Susanna and a high papal official. He was a kind, charitable, and
devoted ecclesiastic.
The new Pope lost no time showing Charlemagne that he intended to
maintain
friendly relations. It was well that he did so, for kind and amiable as he
was, Leo was to be attacked in body and reputation. In 799 a conspiracy
was
hatched by Paschal the primicerius, a nephew of the late pope. While Leo
was walking in the procession of the Greater Litanies on April 25, armed
men scattered the procession and fell on the Pope. They threw the Pope
down, hurriedly stabbed at his eyes and tore at his tongue. Then after
leaving Leo lying all bloody in the street, they came back, dragged him
into St. Sylvester's Church and had another go at blinding him. Then they
placed him in the monastery of St. Erasmus. Quite surprisingly, Leo
recovered the use of eyes and tongue. His friends got him out of the
monastery and Winichis, duke of Spoleto, took him under his protection. Leo
went to Paderborn to get Charlemagne's aid. The great Frank received the
Pope with honor and sympathy. He sent Leo back with officials to settle the
matter. The Pope's entry into Rome was a triumph, for the conspiracy was
not popular. Charlemagne himself came down to Rome in 800 and held a
great
assembly in St. Peter's. He wished to clear the Pope of serious accusations
which the frantic conspirators brought against their victim. The bishops,
of course, refused to try the Pope, but Leo willingly mounted the ambo in
St. Peter's and solemnly swore that he was innocent of the charges.
Charlemagne ordered the conspirators to be executed, but at the Pope's
kind
plea, commuted their sentence to exile.
Two days later at the Christmas Mass, the Pope placed a jeweled crown on
Charlemagne's head while St. Peter's rang with the glad shout. "To Charles,
the most pious Augustus, crowned by God, to our great and peace-loving
emperor, life and victory!" The empire in the West was restored. Leo hoped
to see the new Emperor of the West marry Irene, the Eastern Empress, but
the deposition of Irene in 802 ended the project.
Leo got along well with Charlemagne, but after the Emperor died in 814,
new
troubles broke out in Rome. A fresh conspiracy was organized, but this time
the Pope got wind of it in time and had the ringleaders seized and
executed. Then the little lords of the Campagna banded together to march
on
Rome, but the duke of Spoleto dispersed them.
Leo helped the monks of Constantinople who led by St. Theodore Studites,
had been exiled for opposing imperial tyranny. From Charlemagne the Pope
had received a large share of the treasure the Frank had captured from the
Avars. Leo used his money as a just steward, to help the poor and to
beautify churches. This busy Pope worked to build or restore 160 churches.
Under Hadrian and Leo III the decay of Rome was checked.
St. Leo III died in June 816. His feast is kept on June 12.
STEPHEN V
816 -- 817
The first election of a pope under the restored empire of the West shows
the independence the papacy intended to have in the new regime. The
Byzantine emperors' claim to confirm the election of a pope had caused
some
difficulties. Now since the time of Zachary confirmation of an election was
no longer sought, even from the Exarch of Ravenna. The Roman clergy did
not
give the new Western emperor, Louis the Pious, any chance to interfere.
Speedily they elected the deacon Stephen, and speedily was he
consecrated.
Stephen was a Roman of noble family, a family that was to give to the
papacy not only himself, but two other ninth-century popes, Sergius II and
Hadrian II. Stephen had been trained by Pope Hadrian I and had gained an
excellent reputation as a young man of virtue and ability. Ordained a
deacon by Leo III, he was a zealous worker in the Lord's vineyard. He was
an amiable man who loved peace.
Such a pope was bound to do nothing to provoke the Emperor. Once the
independence of the papacy was safeguarded, Stephen showed the
greatest
good will. He had the Romans swear allegiance to the Emperor as protector.
He sent a legation to Louis the Pious to notify the Emperor of his election
and to arrange for an interview.
Pope Stephen crossed the Alps in August and met Emperor Louis the Pious
at
Rheims. The Emperor received the Pope with joy and profound respect.
Stephen crowned Louis and his wife, Irmengard as emperor and empress.
To
Theodulf, bishop of Orleans, one of the Emperor's principal advisers, the
Pope granted the pallium. Louis gave the Pope many presents including an
estate in France. The meeting at Rheims was most harmonious.
On the way back to Rome, Stephen visited Ravenna whose archbishop,
Martin,
had given Leo III some trouble. But now all was sweetness, and the Pope
celebrated Mass in the cathedral and exhibited a relic, very precious, if
authentic--the sandals of Christ. Stephen entered Rome in November. With
him came a number of prisoners from the time of Leo III to whom the kind
Pope gave pardon.
Stephen died on January 25, 817, and was buried in St. Peter's.
ST. PASCHAL I
817 - 824
Because St. Paschal I, like Hadrian I and St. Leo III, was devoted to
beautifying churches, something is known of this Pope's personal
appearance. Contemporary mosaics picture him as a tall man with large
eyes
and without a beard. Paschal was a Roman who was brought up in the
Lateran
seminary. Ordained priest, he so impressed St. Leo III by his piety that he
was made superior of St. Stephen's monastery. There he took care of the
pilgrims who came to visit the Apostles' shrine. He was a kind man, who
quietly supplied whatever the poorer pilgrims might need.
Paschal was elected unanimously to succeed Stephen V. He was
consecrated
without any reference to the Emperor. But though firm in his stand for
independence, he enjoyed good relations with Louis. Indeed in 817 he
received from Louis a document confirming the donations of Pippin and
Charlemagne and recognizing the independence of papal elections. In 823
Lothair, the Emperor's oldest son and King of Italy, came to Rome to be
crowned by the Pope.
A faction arose headed by no less a personage than Theodore, the
primicerius, or chief minister, which favored imperial control of Rome.
After Lothair's departure, a group of papal supporters entered the Lateran,
seized Theodore and Leo his son-in-law, blinded them, and cut their heads
off. Their followers, furious and frightened, complained hotly to Emperor
Louis. When Louis sent envoys to investigate the killing, Paschal adopted
the Frankish custom of compurgation to clear himself. He and a number of
bishops solemnly swore that he was innocent of the bloody deed. But at the
same time, the Pope refused to punish the killers because after all the
victims had been guilty of high treason.
Paschal was pained to learn that image-breaking was once more rampant in
the Eastern Empire. Leo V, the Armenian, replaced the Orthodox Patriarch
Nicephorus with a layman, called a synod which repudiated the Seventh
Ecumenical Council, and persecuted the Orthodox. The Pope wrote to
Emperor
Leo instructing him in true Catholic doctrine, but it was no use. He wrote
letters of consolation to the great St. Theodore Studites and the
persecuted clergy and religious of the East. He welcomed those who fled to
Italy.
Paschal encouraged missionary activity in the North. He commissioned
Abbo,
archbishop of Rheims, and Bishop Halitgar to preach the gospel to the
Danes.
His great kindness makes Paschal a likable saint. As superior of St.
Stephen's, he had been very good to poor pilgrims. As Pope he not only
helped refugees from iconoclast persecution, but he spent freely and widely
to ransom poor prisoners taken by the Saracens, who at that time were
making life on the Mediterranean coasts miserable for Christian folk.
St. Paschal died in 824. His feast is kept on May 14.
EUGENE II
824 - 827
When St. Paschal died, factional feeling which had flared up in the killing
of Theodore and Leo, embittered the election. The nobles, who stood
against
Paschal's independent policy, prevailed and secured the election of the
archpriest Eugene. Abbot Wala, a great minister of Charlemagne and Louis,
who was present in Rome at the time, threw his weight to Eugene. Eugene,
a
spiritual man, may have been the candidate of a faction, but he was no
tool. As archpriest he had been in charge of Santa Sabina Church and had
an
excellent reputation for learning and goodness.
Emperor Louis naturally was pleased at the election, and quick to seize the
favorable moment, sent his son Lothair to Rome to put imperial relations
with the papacy on a more favorable footing. The imperialist nobles were
now reinstated. Some were brought back from exile; others recovered
confiscated property. Lothair then arranged with the Pope a Roman
Constitution which definitely recognized the Emperor as overlord of Rome
while it conceded immediate temporal power to the Pope. Papal elections
were to be held correctly, but the newly elected pope could not be
consecrated until in the presence of imperial envoys he had taken an oath
of loyalty to this Constitution. The increasing weakness of the Carolingian
empire, however, doomed this Constitution to an early death.
The Eastern Emperor, Leo V, had been assassinated in 820. His successor,
Michael II, the Stammerer, though an image-breaker, at first showed an
inclination to compromise; but when he found out that the Orthodox had no
wish for compromise with heretics he resumed the persecution. St.
Theodore
Studites had written to him urging the Emperor to consult the Pope as head
of the Church. Michael did write to Pope Eugene and to Emperor Louis the
Pious, but nothing came of the matter. Louis had some Frankish bishops
study the matter, and they, still misunderstanding the acts of the Seventh
Ecumenical Council, wrote an attack on the straw men their imaginative
ignorance had constructed. Naturally this was no help in clarifying ideas
for Michael!
In 826 Pope Eugene held a council at Rome which passed thirty-eight
canons,
most of them concerning reform. Simony was strictly forbidden; churches
destroyed by war were to be rebuilt; schools were to be opened in all
parishes.
Archbishop Abbo had given up the work of converting the Danes, but the
great St. Ansgar stepped into his place. Pope Eugene encouraged the
Apostle
of the Scandinavians and commended him to all Catholics.
Eugene died in August, 827.
VALENTINE
827
Valentine was a Roman of an upper-class family living in the area of the
Via Lata, then the aristocratic section of the city. His parents, who were
as good as they were noble, brought Valentine up in a truly Christian
manner, and he grew up to be a serious young man devoted to prayer and
his
studies. He became a cleric and caught the eye of Pope St. Paschal I, who
placed him in charge of the Lateran Palace. Paschal grew to be very fond of
this promising cleric and made him archdeacon of the Roman Church. Pope
Eugene II also appreciated Valentine's excellent qualities and, like
Paschal, relied upon his help in governing the Church.
After Eugene's death, the Roman clergy and nobles gathered in the Lateran
to elect a new pope. This time there was no contest at all. Clergy and
nobles alike raised the cry: "Valentine, the most holy archdeacon, is
worthy of the Apostolic See; Valentine must be made pope!" Then they
streamed out of the Lateran and hurried to the Church of St. Mary Major
where they found Valentine at prayer. In spite of his earnest protests that
he was not worthy, they insisted on Valentine's election.
Valentine seems to have been an ideal choice. He certainly did enjoy a
wonderful reputation. But he was to have little chance to prove his worth
as pope. Within about forty days of his election Valentine was dead.
The nobles had triumphed in the election of Eugene II. In Valentine's
election there had been no contest, but it is noted that the nobles like
the clergy, took part in the affair. So far the nobles' influence had not
been bad. Eugene was a good pope; Valentine promised to be an excellent
one. But as their power grows and the imperial grip on Rome relaxes, the
little lords will prove to be unworthy of the responsibility of sharing in
a papal election. Their participation in these elections foreshadows a dark
and stormy time for the papacy.
GREGORY IV
827 - 844
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God. But
sometimes their efforts are not appreciated by the children of men. So it
was with Gregory IV.
Gregory IV was a Roman of noble family, ordained priest by St. Paschal. He
became cardinal-priest of St. Mark. He was a handsome man with an
excellent
reputation. Gregory was elected without difficulty, but the imperial envoys
insisted that his consecration should be held up until the Emperor
confirmed the election. This took some time, and it was not until March 828
that Gregory was consecrated.
Europe at this time is entering a period of darkness and agony. The long
ships of the Norsemen scoured the coasts and stabbed up the rivers.
Saracen
galleys made the Mediterranean coasts horrid with cries of grief and pain.
The Saracens were tearing Sicily from feeble Byzantines and getting a
foothold in Southern Italy. The Avars were raiding the Eastern Marches. And
all the while the descendants of Great Charles were earnestly ruining the
empire with their bitter and bloody family fights.
Pope Gregory did what he could to defend Christendom from these evils. He
was persuaded by Lothair, the Emperor's oldest son, to cross the Alps to
mediate between the sons and the father. When Gregory reached Alsace,
he
was welcomed by an angry protest from bishops favorable to Emperor
Louis.
Gregory told the malcontents plainly that they should not forget that "the
government of souls, which belongs to the supreme pontiff, is greater than
the imperial power which is temporal." But Gregory failed in his attempt at
mediation and must have felt frustrated on that "field of lies."
Later on, after the death of Emperor Louis, Gregory tried to bring peace to
the quarreling sons. But the brothers smashed each other on the disastrous
field of Fontenay in 841, and the empire was divided by the famous treaty
of Verdun in 843.
From the East Gregory received more consolation. The iconoclast
persecutor
Theophilus was dead, and his widow, the Empress Theodora replaced the
iconoclast Patriarch John with the Orthodox Methodius. A synod was held in
842 which restored the veneration of holy images.
St. Ansgar visited Rome and Gregory gave him the pallium and made him
papal
legate to the countries of the North. Gregory also extended the feast of
All Saints on November 1 to France and Germany.
Peace-loving though he was, Gregory had to take military measures to
protect the Papal States against the Saracens. He built a fort at Ostia
near the mouth of the Tiber to defend Rome from these bold marauders.
Gregory IV died in January 844.
SERGIUS II
844 - 847
Sergius II presents a puzzle to the historian. His early career so
successful, his actions in many cases so wise and prudent, conflict
violently with the character given him by one manuscript of the Liber
Pontificalis. This manuscript, after describing the Pope most favorably in
the usual way of an official biographer, suddenly changes tone completely.
Sergius was an irritable old man tormented with gout who left all business
to his brother, Benedict. And Benedict carried matters with a high hand.
Simony (the buying and selling of sacred things) became the order of the
day, and extortion was practiced on a wide scale. At any rate, there must
have been some grounds for so severe an indictment. But since there are
no
other sources to confirm or deny the guilt of Pope Sergius, the historian
must be cautious.
Sergius was a Roman of the same noble family as Stephen V. Orphaned at
twelve, Sergius was placed by Leo III in the School for Sacred Music. Here
he did well, and when he became Pope he remembered his happy school
days
and rebuilt the school on a grander scale. The talented young man was
favored by all the popes from Leo III to Gregory IV. Made cardinal priest
of Sts. Silvester and Mark by Paschal, he was made archpriest by Gregory
IV.
When Gregory died, Sergius was put forward as the candidate of the
nobility. At first it looked as if he would be elected easily, but suddenly
a mob proclaimed the deacon John pope and by force took over the Lateran
Palace. The nobility, furious, rallied and drove the mob out. It would have
gone hard with John had not Sergius interceded for him.
Sergius was consecrated without waiting for imperial confirmation. When
Emperor Lothair heard of this, he sent an army led by his son Louis to
teach the Romans manners. Though the army approached Rome burning
and
ravaging, Pope Sergius went out to meet Louis and succeeded in calming
him.
The Pope would not allow Louis to enter St. Peter's until he had given
assurance of his good will. And even then, he firmly refused to allow the
destructive army inside the walls.
Pope Sergius crowned Louis King of Italy, but he refused to allow the
Romans to swear allegiance to him. Only to the Emperor Lothair would
Pope
and Romans swear allegiance.
Warnings had been coming in that the Saracens might strike at Rome. In
846
a Saracen fleet sailed up the Tiber, took Ostia and Portus, and defeated
all relief forces. The city itself was saved by its old walls, but St.
Peter's was outside the walls, and to the horror of Christendom the Moslems
pillaged the venerable basilica which housed the Apostles' body. It is
estimated that they carried off from the basilicas of St. Peter and St.
Paul-Outside-the-Walls three tons of gold and thirty of silver.
Christendom rose up in horror, and the next year the Saracens were driven
from Italy for the time being.
Sergius died suddenly on January 27, 847.
ST. LEO IV
847 - 855
With St. Peter's standing forlorn and desolate, the Romans, terrified at
the Saracen peril, hastened to elect the holy priest Leo. After two months'
delay, they decided to go ahead with his consecration without waiting for
imperial confirmation. But they sent to Emperor Lothair to assure him that
they did not mean to lessen his prerogative.
Though Leo was a Roman, his father's name Radoald might possibly be an
indication of Teutonic descent. Educated in the monastery of St. Martin,
Leo made such a reputation for holiness that Gregory IV took him for the
papal service. Sergius II made him cardinal-priest of the Four Crowned
Martyrs' Church.
Leo, though a spiritual man, had to devote a great deal of time to temporal
matters. Determined that the sack of St. Peter's should not be repeated,
Leo started to build a wall around the Vatican Hill and district. It was a
great undertaking for those rude times, but the energy of the Pope was
unflagging. He got money from the Emperor and workers from the
agricultural
estates of the patrimony. But while the walls were rising, news came that
near Sardinia a great Saracen fleet was being readied to sail against Rome.
This time, however, the Italians took measures to defend the Eternal City.
A fleet from the Southern seaports of Naples, Amalfi and Gaeta, sailed into
the Tiber. Since these cities were nominally under the Eastern Emperor, the
Romans wondered whether the fleet had come to help them or attack them.
When Admiral Caesarius reassured the Pope, Leo led a Roman army to
Ostia to
join the fleet. He celebrated Mass and gave Holy Communion to all hands.
Thus fortified spiritually and ready with their arms, the Christians met
the Saracens. After some indecisive fighting, a strong wind blew up,
separated the fleets, and completely wrecked the Saracen fleet; Rome was
saved.
Leo did not remain idle. He kept the walls rising, and finally in 852, they
were ready. The new enclosed area, justly called the Leonine City, was
dedicated by the Pope with a solemn procession around the walls and a
Mass.
Leo also built a fortified town at Portus near the mouth of the Tiber and
settled Corsican refugees there to man the walls. He rebuilt Centumcellae,
sacked by the Saracens back in 813, in a better location. He also did what
he could to restore St. Peter's and adorn other churches.
Leo held a synod in 853 which renewed the reform canons of Eugene's
synod
in 826. He gave added solemnity to the feast of Mary's Assumption by
giving
it an octave. He protected his subjects from rapacious underlings.
Two monarchs were crowned by Leo. Louis, Lothair's son, was crowned
emperor
in 850. In 853 a far more interesting coronation took place. Ethelwulf,
king of the West Saxons, sent his young son Alfred to be crowned by Pope
Leo. The Pope made Alfred his spiritual son.
St. Leo died July 17, 855, with a great reputation for sanctity. Indeed he
was credited with working miracles. His feast is kept on July 17.
BENEDICT III
855 - 858
It is between St. Leo IV and Benedict III that the medieval gossips put the
marvelous and fabulous Pope Joan. For this odd story of a woman pope
there
is not the slightest historical justification. Dark as was the age, there
is enough light on the election of Benedict III to show that there is no
room for any pope or popess between Benedict and Leo. And there was
enough
excitement and scandal too in the daring attempt of the excommunicated
priest Anastasius to steal the papacy without the old wives' tale of Pope
Joan.
After Leo's death, Benedict, a Roman, the cardinal-priest of St. Calixtus,
was elected pope. Legates were sent to the Emperor with notice of the
election. Then came trouble. Arsenius, bishop of Horta, an ambitious man,
got hold of the legates and persuaded them somehow to betray Benedict
and
get the Emperor to put in his son Anastasius instead. That Anastasius had
been excommunicated under St. Leo IV seemed not to have bothered him
at
all.
When the legates returned to Rome with the imperial envoys, they brought
Anastasius to Rome in triumph. He smashed the notices of his
excommunication and took over the Lateran Palace. Benedict was stripped
of
his vestments and kept a prisoner. But the Frankish envoys and the Roman
plotters did not reckon with public opinion. At a new election the crowd
boldly cried that Anastasius was excommunicated. The Frankish envoys,
impressed by the determination of the Romans to have Benedict, gave in.
Out
went Anastasius and Benedict returned in triumph to the Lateran. He used
his victory mercifully, even restoring Anastasius to lay communion and
making him an abbot.
Benedict was a man who as a young student had soaked up knowledge like
a
sponge. Under St. Leo IV he had become cardinal-priest of St. Calixtus.
Though he was a mild man, Benedict could take vigorous action when it was
necessary in the interest of good morals. He was horrified by the
distressing state of affairs in the Frankish realms. Under Charlemagne's
incapable descendants anarchy grew and disorders multiplied. Benedict
wrote
to the bishops of France rebuking them for not speaking out against the
mushrooming evils. He also rebuked Emperor Lothair II for sheltering
Ingeltrude, the runaway wife of the Italian, Count Boso. This Ingeltrude
was an international scandal, and the Pope had her excommunicated.
A more consoling event was the visit of King Ethelwulf of the West Saxons
with his young son Alfred. He brought the Pope many presents from
England.
Benedict made a regulation that the pope and all the clergy must attend the
funeral of a priest. He worked to repair the damage done by the Saracens to
St. Peter's and St. Paul's, but his time was short. He died on April 17,
858.
ST. NICHOLAS I, THE GREAT
858 - 867
There have been many great popes, but to three only has posterity awarded
the title of the Great: St. Leo I, St. Gregory I, and St. Nicholas I.
Nicholas, a man of handsome appearance, was noted for two virtues,
charity
and justice. He took loving care of his poor, and for the oppressed or
wronged he was a mighty protector. Add great strength of soul and dynamic
energy, and it is easy to see why this man made so strong an impression on
his age.
Nicholas was a Roman, the son of an official in the papal service. Educated
at the Lateran, he joined the clergy, was highly favored by Popes St. Leo
IV and Benedict II, and after Benedict's death was easily elected his
successor.
His passion for justice led him to oppose Lothair, king of Lorraine, when
that unworthy monarch wished to exchange his wife for his mistress. Lothair
had the subservient Frankish bishops at his beck, but when the injured wife
appealed to the Pope, it was a different story. Nicholas not only quashed
the unjust verdicts but deposed the influential archbishops of Cologne and
Trier. Angrily they appealed to Emperor Louis II. Louis marched on Rome to
teach the Pope a new canon law by force of arms. He blockaded Nicholas
and
had the indomitable Pope reduced almost to starvation, when a fever
brought
the Emperor to think better of his brutal conduct. The Franks marched away,
Lothair remained married, the archbishops remained deposed. It was a
striking stand for the independence of the spiritual and the maintenance of
moral standards.
As for an injured wife, so did the Pope act for a deposed bishop. Rothad of
Soissons, deposed by the famous Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims, appealed
to
Nicholas. The Pope, after studying the case, ordered Rothad reinstated. As
for a bishop, so did the Pope act for oppressed people. Archbishop John of
Ravenna had caused great complaints by his oppression. Nicholas, after
several unsuccessful attempts to get justice, went personally to Ravenna
and saw to it that property was restored to rightful owners.
The Bulgarians at this time were becoming Christians. In contact with both
the Eastern and the Western rite, they hesitated between the two. Nicholas
sent them legates and wrote a regular treatise to answer their questions.
Constantinople resented the efforts of the Pope to attach the Bulgarians to
the Western Patriarchate. But it was an internal conflict which caused a
schism to break out. St. Ignatius, the patriarch, was deposed. Photius, the
most brilliant Greek of the age, replaced him. According to Dvornik, whose
studies have undermined the traditional view of this Photian business, St.
Ignatius actually resigned and Photius was legitimate patriarch. When
Photius and Emperor Michael III appealed to the Pope, Nicholas sent
legates
to a synod held at Constantinople to judge the affair. But even though the
legates favored Photius, Nicholas still refused to recognize him. It seems
that bitter opponents of Photius had fled to Rome to give the Pope their
side of the picture. Then Photius lost his temper. He held a synod in 867
which denounced certain Western practices and declared Nicholas
deposed.
But it was Photius who was deposed. His protector Michael III was
overthrown by Basil the Macedonian. Basil promptly replaced Photius with
St. Ignatius.
Nicholas encouraged St. Ansgar and his successor Rembert in their activity
among the Scandinavians. He also tried hard to bring peace to Europe, but
to keep the descendants of Charlemagne from fighting was too much even
for
Nicholas.
Nicholas the Great died November 13, 867. His feast is kept on that day.
HADRIAN II
867 - 872
Hadrian was a most reluctant candidate for the papacy. After the death of
St. Leo IV and again after the death of Benedict III the Romans had turned
to him as their first choice only to meet with a firm refusal. A third
time, however, Hadrian gave in. Hadrian was a Roman of the same family
as
Popes Stephen V and Sergius II. His father Talarus became a bishop, and
Hadrian himself had married and had a daughter before he became a priest.
As cardinalpriest of St. Mark's he made so vivid an impression on the
Romans by his prodigal charity to the poor that a story is preserved that
once he miraculously multiplied some money he was distributing until every
man in a huge crowd got three pennies.
When the people heard that Hadrian had at last accepted the papacy,
nothing
would do them but that he should be consecrated at once, and it was only
with difficulty that the nobles persuaded them to await the Emperor's
confirmation. Louis gave it quickly, and Hadrian was consecrated December
14, 867.
It is not easy to follow a strong pope like St. Nicholas. Party feeling ran
high. Enemies of St. Nicholas urged Hadrian to change policies, while the
numerous admirers of the late Pope watched jealously to see that he
changed
nothing. The nobles were becoming more insolent. The Duke of Spoleto
entered the city and practically sacked it. Arsenius, bishop of Orta, was
still an important man in Rome. His son Anastasius, the former antipope,
was papal librarian. Another son, Eleutherius, decided to marry the Pope's
daughter. That the lady was already engaged bothered him not at all. The
rascal kidnapped the girl and her mother, and when imperial officials
closed in on him, he brutally slew both mother and daughter.
In the East Hadrian had the satisfaction of ending the Photian schism. When
Emperor Basil asked the Pope to settle the matter, Hadrian held a synod at
Rome, and then sent legates to Constantinople. There at the Eighth
Ecumenical Council, held in 869-870, the deposition of Photius and the
reinstatement of St. Ignatius as patriarch were confirmed.
Hadrian followed Nicholas in refusing to grant the request of Boris, king
of the Bulgarians, that Formosus, bishop of Porto, should be archbishop for
the new Christians. Boris then turned to Constantinople and joined the
Eastern Patriarchate and the Greek rite.
Those great apostles, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, visited Pope Hadrian in
867. The Pope treated them with all honor, encouraged their grand work
among the Slavs, and permitted them to use the Slavonic language in the
liturgy.
Like his predecessors, Hadrian tried and failed to keep peace among the
Carolingian kings. He
encouraged Emperor Louis II in his efforts to clear the Saracens out of
Southern Italy.
An old man when elected, Hadrian died in November or December 872.
JOHN VIII
872 - 882
In a sad period of anarchy the Church received a strong leader when John,
archdeacon of the Roman clergy, was elected to succeed Hadrian II.
Although
probably old and in failing health when elected, John's strong will rose
above age and ailments to make him a very active pope.
From Constantinople John received messages asking him to acknowledge
Photius as patriarch. After the death of St. Ignatius, Photius once more
had been made patriarch. The Pope sent legates to a synod held in 879-
880.
Although Photius did tamper with papal letters, he explained the matter to
Pope John's satisfaction, and John not only acknowledged Photius but
approved the acts of this synod which wiped out the synod of 869-870, the
so-called Eighth Ecumenical Council. The Greeks acknowledged the Pope's
primacy. Even more, they restored Bulgaria to the Western Patriarchate.
Emperor Basil cooperated with Pope John in his efforts against the
Saracens.
Toward the Western Slavs John also acted wisely. Germans with ambitions
for
political and religious domination over Moravia resented the work of St.
Methodius. When they actually made him a prisoner, Pope John ordered
that
he be released. At the same time he forbade the use of the Slavonic
liturgy. After German complaints about the disloyalty of St. Methodius kept
coming in, John called Methodius to Rome. Convinced of the loyalty and
sanctity of the great apostle, the Pope sent him back with honor and with
permission to use the Slavonic liturgy again.
John tried desperately to keep the sinking Western Empire afloat. After the
death of Louis II, he decided that of all the claimants, Charles the Bald
of France would make the best emperor. He crowned Charles in 875 and
encouraged the French emperor's attempt to put new life into the empire.
Charles in turn granted the Pope freedom of papal elections and other
favors. But Charles died in 877. After a period of anxious searching, the
Pope had to be content with a shadow emperor, Charles the Fat.
John struggled manfully against the Saracens. He strained every nerve to
unite the Italians against the common foe, but sadly he had to rebuke some
for even allying themselves with the Moslem. He extended the fortifications
of Rome. He built a fleet and defeated the Saracens in a sea fight at
Circe.
Nor was Pope John less active against enemies at home. German
resentment at
his coronation of Charles the Bald had led the duke of Spoleto to chase him
from Rome. But he came back determined to do his duty. He struck a blow
for
decency by cleansing the city of a nest of corrupt officials and evil
nobles. Oddly enough, associated with the rascals was the austere
Formosus.
Formosus, a focus of discontent, was banished.
John died December 16, 882. A gruesome story is told of his death.
According to one German annalist, a relative of Pope John gave him poison,
but sick and old though the Pope was, the poison worked slowly. Impatient,
the villain seized a hammer and beat the Pope to death. But this story is
not at all certain.
MARINUS I
882 - 884
Marinus was a native of Gallese, a little town on the Rome-Ravenna road.
His father Palumbo was a priest, and he himself started out in the service
of the Church at the early age of twelve. The capable young man rose
steadily. He was ordained subdeacon by St. Leo IV, and as subdeacon he
assisted at the reception of the imperial embassy for Michael III in 860.
In 866, after being made a deacon, Marinus was sent on a legation to
Constantinople, but imperial officials refused to allow the legates to
cross the Bulgarian-imperial frontier. He reached Constantinople in 869 as
the third of the papal legates to preside over the Eighth Ecumenical
Council. His firm conduct so irritated Emperor Basil that the bold legate
was actually imprisoned for a time. Even after being made bishop of Caere,
Marinus continued to be employed by the Pope. As late as 882 he was sent
on
a diplomatic mission to Athanasius, bishop of Naples.
Though it was quite against custom to elect a bishop to be pope, Marinus
was chosen to succeed John VIII. His long record of service probably led
the clergy to break the custom. It was no easy task the new pope faced.
John had been a strong ruler, and now Italy tossed restlessly. The Emperor,
Charles the Fat, was no help. The Pope met him at the monastery of
Nonantula in 883 to discuss the sad state of affairs. But Charles the Fat's
policy of taking away fiefs from nobles increased the confusion. The
nobles, led by Guido of Spoleto, defied the Emperor successfully.
At home Marinus reversed the policy of John VIII by recalling Formosus,
bishop of Porto. John had not only banished Formosus but had made him
swear
never to come back to Rome. Marinus absolved him from the promise and
recalled him. Formosus, austere man that he was, kept strange company.
He
was a focus for party feeling and remained a stormy petrel in Roman
politics even as a corpse.
It is said that Marinus condemned Photius again but Dvornik denies this. It
is certain that out of regard for the great King Alfred, Marinus exempted
the district of the Anglo-Saxons from taxation.
Marinus I died around the middle of May 884.
ST. HADRIAN III
884-885
Except that he was a Roman, the son of Benedict, and that he was elected
pope probably on May 17, 884, practically nothing is known about Hadrian
before he became pope.
As pope, Hadrian had his troubles with the gang of evildoers broken up by
Pope John VIII. After that strong pontiff died, they had drifted back to
Rome. One of them, George of the Aventine, had a life which would make
headline material for the yellow press. He had poisoned his brother for the
sake of his mistress. He had solidified his position by marrying the niece
of Pope Benedict III; but later on, wishing to marry the daughter of
Gregory, a high official, he killed his wife almost in public. George had
escaped punishment by his influence with the imperial officials and his
father-in-law, Gregory. But now, for reasons that remain obscure, justice
caught up with him. Pope Hadrian III had his eyes put out. Criminals often
have little significance for the historian, but when, like George, they are
part of the ruling class of Rome, the nobles who are coming to influence
papal elections, then they have a sad significance.
Hadrian sent a friendly letter to Photius. He took under his protection the
Monastery of St. Giles in France and the Monastery of St. Sixtus in
Piacenza.
According to the medieval chronicler Martinus Polonus, the Italian
nobility, seeing that the Carolingians could do little but fight among
themselves, asked Pope Hadrian to do something for Italy. Hadrian then
issued two decrees. The first proclaimed that the pope-elect should be
consecrated without waiting for any imperial confirmation. The second
stated that if Emperor Charles the Fat died without heirs male the nobles
of Italy should select one of their number to be Emperor and King of Italy.
Since the only source for these decrees is an uncritical thirteenth-century
chronicler, it is doubtful whether Hadrian actually did issue these
decrees.
Emperor Charles the Fat invited Pope Hadrian to a diet at Worms at which
the question of the imperial succession would be discussed. Hadrian, after
appointing John, bishop of Pavia, to rule Rome in his absence, left for
Germany. But he did not get out of Italy. Sickness struck him down, and he
died near Nonantula probably in September 885. He was buried in the
Church
of the Monastery of St. Silvester. Except for the exiled Pope St. Martin I,
Hadrian III is the first pope since Gregory the Great not to be buried in
St. Peter's.
STEPHEN VI
885 -891
When Hadrian III died on his way to Worms, Rome was suffering from
famine
and drought. The people, hoping God would bless them under a holy pope,
cried out for Stephen, cardinal-priest of the Four-Crowned Martyrs. All
agreed on Stephen, and he was consecrated the next Sunday without
waiting
for any imperial confirmation. Emperor Charles the Fat was angry when he
heard of this, but when he discovered how universal was the desire for
Stephen, he let the matter rest.
Stephen was the son of Hadrian, a noble, living in the upper-class Via Lata
district. Hadrian, a man of good life, had his son educated by Zachary,
bishop of Anagni and papal librarian. Then he entered the Lateran and was
made cardinal-priest of the Four-Crowned Martyrs by Marinus I.
Stephen deserved the reputation he enjoyed for holiness. But he was also a
practical man. He took the people around the papal treasury and showed
them
how empty it was. Then he helped them as best he could. To fight the
plague
of locusts which was then desolating Rome, he offered a reward for every
pint of locusts brought in. When this failed to make an appreciable dent in
the millions of insects, Stephen, after prayer, blessed holy water and gave
it to the people to sprinkle on their fields. The plague ended.
Stephen did what he could to adorn the churches, but above all he was
interested in souls. He preached frequently. He denounced magical and
superstitious practices; above all, he was good to the poor. A lover of
justice, he personally consecrated Teutbold, bishop of Langres when his
metropolitan tried to override the people's will. He checked the impudence
of Frothar who had usurped the see of Poitiers, and rebuked the archbishop
of Ravenna for uncanonical conduct. When Photius was removed from the
patriarchate of Constantinople to make way for Emperor Leo's brother
Stephen, the Pope refused to acknowledge Stephen until he had been
assured
that Photius had resigned. At the beginning of his pontificate he had found
a letter addressed to Hadrian from Emperor Basil which denounced the
Roman
Church for allowing Marinus, already a bishop, to become pope. Stephen
defended the act of the Roman See in a dignified and skillful manner.
The sad condition of the Western Empire presented the Pope with a vexing
problem. Charles the Fat, deposed in 887, had died the following year. The
old empire of Charlemagne was now broken up into five or six pieces.
Shadowy as was the imperial title, there was heated competition for it.
Stephen crowned Guido, duke of Spoleto, emperor on February 21, 891.
The
turbulent dukes of Spoleto had been thorns in papal sides, but Stephen
seems to have got along well with Guido. However, the title did not mean
much because Guido could not control Italy, much less the territories
beyond the Alps.
In the midst of gathering gloom, in September 891, the saintly Stephen
died.
FORMOSUS
891 -896
Formosus is one of the most puzzling of the popes. His friends described
him in glowing terms--his chastity, his austerity, his prayer, and his
kindness to the poor; and if his friends' testimony might be suspected,
there remains the fact that he was given high honors and great
responsibilities by the great St. Nicholas, that he was used on important
missions by several popes, and that Boris, king of the Bulgarians, admired
him so much that he insisted on having Formosus as archbishop of the
Bulgarians and was very much put out when his pleas were not granted. On
the other hand, John VIII deposed him from his see, excommunicated him,
and
made him swear not to return to Rome. And the same praise and blame
followed him even after death. It may be that, as happens often enough to
good men, Formosus was taken advantage of by rascals. It is certain that he
was a storm center in Roman politics.
St. Nicholas made Formosus cardinal-Bishop of Porto in 864, and in 866
sent
him to convert the Bulgarians. He made such an impression on King Boris
that he demanded Formosus for his archbishop, but neither Nicholas nor
Hadrian II would listen to the Bulgarian's plea. Formosus served on several
important legations, and his career was brilliant until John VIII made his
famous purge. When John swept away the nest of evildoers, headed by
men
like Gregory and George of the Aventine, Formosus fled. John then had him
deposed and excommunicated. It still remains obscure just what the trouble
was. Formosus was accused of ambition and of conspiracy. Pope Marinus I
recalled Formosus to Rome and restored him to his position as cardinal-
bishop of Porto.
At the death of Stephen VI, Formosus was the popular choice for pope. If
his friends may be believed, he showed no ambition, even clinging to the
altar of his Church at Porto when they came to bring him to Rome.
Formosus lived up to his high character by his efforts to rule the Church
wisely. He held a council at Rome and ordered or encouraged councils at
Chalons, Tribur, and Vienne. He was deeply concerned with the growing
interference of laymen in church affairs. He made some regulation about the
ordinations of Photius. He decided that Bremen should remain under the
archdiocese of Hamburg.
In high politics, Formosus was, perhaps, not so wise. In the welter of
anarchy which followed the deposition of Charles the Fat, Stephen VI had
crowned Guido, duke of Spoleto, emperor. Formosus had followed the same
policy, even crowning Guido's little son Lambert as emperor; but since
order and peace were not to be expected from the turbulent Spoletans,
Formosus invited Arnulf of Carinthia, King of Germany and the ablest of
Charlemagne's descendants, to come down to Italy and rescue the Holy
See
from the stifling grasp of the house of Spoleto. Amulf defeated Guido, who
died at that time, and then marched on Rome to expel the empress mother
Ageltruda. Formosus welcomed Arnulf and crowned him emperor in 896.
Arnulf
marched on Spoleto, but was struck down by paralysis. Ageltruda was now
safe, but she did not forget what she considered was the double-dealing of
Pope Formosus.
Formosus died April 4, 896, but even dead he remained a storm center.
BONIFACE VI
896
After the death of Formosus, anarchy touches even the papal throne. This
period is well termed by Cardinal Baronius the Iron Age. Magyars now were
to add their savage raids to the misery caused by the fury of Norsemen and
Saracens. And over the corpse of Charlemagne's empire little lords fought
brutally. There was little room for learning, little time for culture in
the midst of raids and burnings. Sanctity itself, while present, was not
overconspicuous. The tide of ancient culture had gone out, leaving
malodorous and muddy flats. The tide of the great medieval culture was not
yet beginning to flow. Even the papacy felt the impact of this gloomy age.
The Italian nobles, free from imperial interference, felt themselves
masters of Rome. They dominated papal elections, they thrust relatives onto
Peter's throne, they proved themselves unworthy of power and
responsibility. Yes, it was the Iron Age of the tenth century that was
dawning for the papacy too. Boniface VI was a Roman. the son of Adrian.
His career, like those of many popes of this period is obscure. Boniface
had been degraded from both the subdiaconate and the priesthood. Now a
popular faction made him pope. The third canon of a council held at Rome
in
898 by Pope John IX declared this election of Boniface was invalid because,
as a degraded priest, he was ineligible.
Boniface lasted as pope only fifteen days. Some say that he was deposed
by
the Spoleto gang to clear the road for their man, Stephen. Others say that
he was carried off by gout on May 22, 886.
Horace Mann, the historian of the popes, doubts whether the third canon of
Pope John's council actually refers to a pope. He claims that Boniface was
acknowledged as pope, both at the time and by later popes. Most historians,
however, agree that the Boniface mentioned in the council is Boniface VI.
In favor of Mann's theory is the fact that Boniface VI has maintained his
place in the list of true popes even in the last revision published in the
"Annuario Pontificio" in 1948.
STEPHEN VII
896 - 897
The year 897 opened with the loss of a grand relic of early times. The
venerable old Lateran Basilica crashed in ruins. It was a fit beginning for
a black year.
Stephen VII was a Roman, the son of John, who himself became a priest.
Stephen had been consecrated bishop of Anagni by Pope Formosus. The
circumstances of his election to the papacy are obscure.
Stephen's correspondence with Fulk, archbishop of Rheims, shows that he
was
interested in synods and that he planned to hold one in September 896, but
for some unknown reason he was unable to do so. He did hold a local synod
in the early part of 897, the strangest synod ever held and the most
gruesome.
Although he had been consecrated bishop by Pope Formosus, Stephen
seems to
have belonged to the opposite faction. But probably the moving spirit in
this horrid business was the house of Spoleto. It will be remembered that
Formosus, after crowning young Lambert, had called in Arnulf to become
emperor and put down the Spoletans. Driven out of Rome by Arnulf and
threatened in Spoleto itself, Lambert was saved by Arnulf's sudden
sickness. Then he cleared out Arnulf's officials and took over central
Italy. In January 897 Lambert and his mother, the fiery Ageltruda, entered
Rome in triumph. But Formosus was beyond vengeance. He was dead and
buried
with honor as pope. This last fact could still be canceled.
Stephen VII herded together some of the Roman clergy into a synod.
Terrified and aghast, they watched a grisly scene unfold. The decaying
corpse of Pope Formosus was carried into the hall. Clad in pontifical
vestments it was seated in a chair. A quaking deacon stood by the corpse
as
defense attorney while a series of charges against the late pope were read.
The synod then condemned Formosus because he had exercised his
functions
after having been deposed and because he had left the see of Porto for that
of Rome. His ordinations were declared invalid. Then the three fingers used
by a Pope in blessing were cut off and the pontifical vestments were torn
from the poor corpse. Underneath the ceremonial splendor was found a hair
shirt. The body was then buried in a pilgrims' cemetery, but a gang dug it
up and threw it into the Tiber.
Stephen, by declaring the ordinations of Formosus invalid, defended himself
against those who blamed him for leaving the see of Anagni for that of
Rome. Since he had been consecrated by Formosus, he had not really been
a
bishop. He ordered all those ordained by Formosus to turn over to him
written resignations of their offices. It looked like a purge of all
friends of Formosus.
Stephen VII did not survive the shocking synod very long. When Lambert
had
to leave to fight the marquis of Tuscany, the Romans rose against Stephen.
Then he was seized and himself stripped of the pontifical robes. Clad in a
monk's habit, he was thrown into a dungeon, and in August, 897, Stephen
VII
was strangled.
ROMANUS
897
The circumstances of this pontiff's election and death are obscure. Indeed
probability is the best that can be had except for some routine actions.
Romanus was a native of Gallese, which was also the birthplace of Pope
Marinus I, the friend of Formosus. His father's name was Constantine.
Romanus was cardinal-priest of St. Peter-in-Chains when he was elected
pope. He was elected pope in the summer of 897, probably in August.
Since Stephen VII had been overthrown and killed by an uprising, it is
probable that Romanus was not one of Stephen's faction. Indeed a fifteenth-
century edition of a papal catalogue mentions that Romanus took measures
against Stephen. But all that is certain about the pontificate of Romanus
is the following administrative facts. He granted the pallium to Vitalis,
patriarch of Grado, and gave a privilege to the church of Grado. When the
Spanish bishops of Elna and Germa came to Rome to seek papal
confirmation
of the goods of their dioceses, Romanus granted it. He also coined money.
He had time to do little else, for he was dead in November.
It is possible, though not highly probable, that Romanus was deposed. One
manuscript, and one only, mentions that Romanus was made a monk. To
make a
pope assume the monastic habit was a way to depose him. But in this case
it
is more probable that the lonely manuscript confused Romanus with
Stephen
VII. At any rate, nothing is known of Romanus' death.
THEODORE II
897
The holy priest Theodore was elected to succeed Romanus. Theodore was
a
Roman, the son of Photius. It is interesting to note that his brother
Theotius was also a bishop. Theodore had been ordained a priest by Pope
Stephen VI.
If Flodoard, canon of Rheims, can be trusted, Theodore II was a man of
excellent character. Moderate, chaste, a lover of the poor and the clergy,
and a peacemaker, Theodore seemed to be just the man for the troublous
times. And what is known of Theodore confirms this good opinion. But
Theodore was to be pope for less than three weeks.
At once the new Pope ordered a synod to be held. At this synod the
clergymen who had been ordained by Formosus and deposed by Stephen
VII were
restored. Theodore ordered the written resignations which Stephen VII had
collected from them to be burned. And now at last the poor battered body of
Formosus found rest. After it had been thrown into the Tiber the corpse had
washed ashore near the Church of St. Acontius in Porto. According to one
story, Formosus then appeared to a monk and asked him to bury the body.
The
monk did so, but secretly for fear of the late pope's enemies. According to
another account, fishermen found the body. At any rate when Pope
Theodore
II learned of the discovery of the body, he had it brought back to Rome in
solemn procession. Once more clothed in the pontifical vestments, the body
was placed before the Confession of St. Peter. Then in the presence of
Pope
Theodore, a Mass was said for the soul of Formosus, and his poor battered
body was restored to its own tomb. One chronicler remarks that he heard
from the Romans that when the body entered St. Peter's, certain images of
the saints bowed their heads to it.
Theodore had time for little else. He granted a privilege to the church of
Grado and had a coin struck. Twenty days after his election he was dead.
JOHN IX
898 - 900
Although John IX ruled the Church for only two years, he did much to bring
order out of confusion. Had he lived longer perhaps the papacy might have
been spared some of the misery it suffered in the dark tenth century.
John IX was born in Tivoli, the son of Rampoald. He became a Benedictine
monk and a priest. After the death of Theodore II, the majority which
favored that pontiff's actions in favor of Formosus rallied around John.
The other faction tried to elect Sergius, but John prevailed. Sergius,
excommunicated, had to leave Rome.
John at once displayed his power of organization. He held a synod at Rome
which confirmed the acts of Theodore's synod and repealed those of the
ghastly corpse-synod of Stephen VII. These were burned. Those who had
been
ordained by Formosus were restored to their positions. Reordinations were
forbidden. Yet John in a spirit of moderation did not punish those who had
taken part in the corpse-synod. He accepted the excuse that they had done
so under compulsion. In the field of politics, the synod recognized as
valid the anointing of Lambert of Spoleto as emperor, and rejected that of
Berenger of North Italy.
John then went to Ravenna where he held another synod in the presence of
Emperor Lambert. He had been horrified at the miserable disorder of the
country through which he passed, and he earnestly besought Lambert to
keep
order in Italy.
This synod echoed a decree of the Roman synod to insure order in papal
elections. The elections were to be made by the clergy with the consent of
the people and in the presence of the imperial envoys. At this wild time
imperial protection seemed desirable even at the risk of imperial
interference. But the decree was to mean nothing. No emperor had much
power; and the very next year Emperor Lambert was killed in a hunting
accident. Poor Arnulf, also a crowned emperor, was paralyzed and died
shortly after. With no emperor, the door of control of papal elections
swung open to the unbridled ambition of the nobles.
John was not so lost in political dealings that he forgot the spiritual. He
pleaded with the bishops assembled at Ravenna to give the good example
so
desperately needed, and to bring down God's blessing by prayer and
fasting.
In spite of scolding letters from German bishops, Pope John IX protected
the Slavs from German domination. He appointed a metropolitan and three
bishops for Moravia.
In the East John IX had the great satisfaction of seeing unity and harmony
prevail at Constantinople. Whether or not there had been a second Photian
schism, it was certainly over now.
John's accomplishments are amazing in view not only of the great
difficulties of the time, but of the shortness of his pontificate. Some
time in the year 900 this wise and energetic pope died.
BENEDICT IV
900 - 903
To succeed John IX another excellent man was chosen--the priest,
Benedict.
Benedict was a Roman, the son of Mammalus. He had been ordained priest
by
Formosus and had a high regard for that storm-tossed pope. Nothing is
known
of his election, but it may be presumed that the party which favored the
memory of Pope Formosus still had the upper hand. The date of his election
is not certain, but it was some time in the first half of the year 900.
Benedict seems to have been a man of noble character. Both the author of
his epitaph and the historian Flodoard agree that he was worthy of his
name.
Pope Benedict was grieved to learn that Winedmar, a henchman of Count
Baldwin of Flanders, had murdered Fulk, the excellent archbishop of
Rheims.
Benedict ordered the bishops of France to publish the excommunication of
the sacrilegious murderer.
The Eastern Empire under the weak rule of Leo VI, the Philosopher, was
staggering under Saracen blows. Since the Moslems had captured Amasia
in
Pontus, its bishop, Malacenus, came to Rome to seek help from the Pope.
Benedict received him with great kindness and gave him a letter to all
bishops and counts, urging them to treat the poor refugee bishop with all
consideration.
The political situation in Italy after the death of Emperor Lambert was
more chaotic than ever. The North Italian prince, Berenger, tried to get
the imperial title and power over all Italy. To oppose him Adelbert II,
marquis of Tuscany, called for a more distant king, Louis of Provence.
Louis came down into Italy, defeated Berenger, and reached Rome in 901.
Pope Benedict crowned him emperor. The Pope and the new emperor got
along
well together. They discussed various problems of church and state at a
great meeting in a hall near St. Peter's. But Louis was unable to make good
his claim to Italy. The next year, 902, defeated by Berenger, Louis was
forced to swear never to return to Italy. In 905 he broke his word, invaded
Italy, and was again captured by Berenger. This time Louis was sent back
over the Alps without his eyes. Hence, he is known to history as Louis the
Blind.
Benedict IV held a synod in the Lateran Palace. He died sometime in the
summer of 903.
LEO V
903
The Bretons have an old legend that St. Tugdual, the patron of Treguier,
went to Rome on a pilgrimage and while in the Holy City was elected pope.
He chose to be called "Leo Britigena" as is narrated in the Roman
Catalogue. This much can be said for the legend: The Roman Catalogues
that
come down to us do make Leo V a priest from outside Rome. But they also
say
that he was from Priapi in the Ardeatine district of Italy.
Leo V is spoken of as a praiseworthy and holy man, but practically nothing
is known of his early life or of his election. Whatever his qualifications,
his pontificate was so short that he had no time to do more than grant the
canons of Bologna the pleasant privilege of exemption from taxes.
After a few weeks, Christopher, the cardinal-priest of St. Damasus, led an
uprising against Leo, overthrew him, and put him in prison. Christopher
then usurped the papal throne. But he was not popular, and Sergius, who
had
been excommunicated and driven into exile by Pope John IX, plotted with
the
Romans against him. With French help and Roman fifth-column activity,
Sergius overthrew Christopher and put him in prison. Since Sergius then
was
elected pope, it is highly probable that Leo was already dead. One lone
author, however, states that Sergius, out of pity, had both Leo and
Christopher executed. This is not probable, and it is not mentioned by any
other author of the period. At any rate, whatever the manner of his death,
Leo V disappeared from history at this time.
SERGIUS III
904 -911
Poor Formosus was now buried in peace, but his grave must have trembled
when Sergius marched into Rome to complete the overthrow of the usurping
Christopher and take over the papacy, for Sergius was a bitter enemy of
Formosus. It is said that Formosus had consecrated Sergius bishop of
Caere
to prevent him from becoming pope. Whether this was true or not, Sergius
certainly hated the memory of Formosus. Though Sergius indulged in no
resurrection-man tactics himself, he heartily approved of Stephen VII's
corpse-synod. He had an epitaph placed on Stephen's tomb which honored
that
pontiff and insulted Formosus.
Not content with assailing the memory of his hated predecessor, Sergius
now
reversed the policy of Theodore II and John IX. He held a synod and
declared that the ordinations performed by Formosus were invalid. This
caused a tempest in the holy-water fonts throughout Italy. Bishops and
priests, who were given the choice of submitting to reordination or losing
their positions, protested angrily. Sergius threatened to imprison any
stubborn followers of Formosus. He was a thoroughgoing party man, whose
narrow policy inspired intense bitterness.
Sergius was a Roman of noble family. He had tried for the papacy in the
election which had produced John IX and had been excommunicated and
exiled
by that vigorous pontiff. He had returned in triumph, at the request of the
Romans, and had succeeded the antipope Christopher. He associated
himself
closely with the most powerful noble in Rome, the Duke, Commander of the
Army, and Master of the Wardrobe, Theophylactus. The family of this man
will control the papacy for decades. Sergius is even accused of having a
son by Marozia, the daughter of Theophylactus, a son who became Pope
John
XI.
On the other hand, there are glowing accounts of Sergius which make such
shameful goings on quite improbable. With the manuscripts available, the
just historian can scarcely convict Sergius of such misconduct. But neither
can he acquit him.
Sergius seems to have been a hard-working pope, and except for his
unfortunate policy against the party of Formosus, a fairly wise one. He
showed great solicitude for the welfare of the Church by getting a number
of synods held. He defended the doctrine that the Holy Ghost proceeds from
the Father and the Son. He brought peace to Constantinople by declaring
valid Emperor Leo's fourth marriage. The other three wives were dead, but
some Greeks refused to consider a fourth marriage valid no matter how free
the prospective bridegroom.
In a material way he took steps to get help for John, archbishop of
Ravenna, against the depredations of the Count of Istria. He rebuilt the
Lateran Basilica which had crashed in ruins in 896.
Sergius III died either in April or June, 911.
ANASTASIUS III
911 - 913
Not much is known of Anastasius III. He was a Roman, the son of Lucian,
and
he was elected pope either in April or June, 911. He seems to have been an
excellent man and a good pope.
One interesting fact about the pontificate of Anastasius III was the visit
of Howel the Good king of Wales. Howel was engaged in drawing up a code
of
laws for his hill-country Celts. Determined to see that the laws were well
drawn up, he made the difficult journey to Rome to see Pope Anastasius
and
ask him to confirm the new Welsh laws.
Outside of the fact that he granted the pallium to Ragenbert, bishop of
Vercelli, and various privileges to the bishop of Pavia, and confirmed the
privileges of the church of Grado, nothing else is known of the acts of
Pope Anastasius III.
In Germany, however, an event of some significance took place. Louis the
Child, whose reign was disaster to the strife-torn country, was replaced by
Conrad the Franconian. Louis was the last of Charlemagne's line to rule in
Germany.
Anastasius III died some time in the summer of 913. He was buried in St.
Peter's. His epitaph pithily remarks that the tomb holds the bones but
could not contain the merits of this Pope who ruled the Church well.
LANDUS
913 914
Landus was a native of Sabina whose father's name was Taino, He granted
a
privilege to the Church of the Holy Savior in Forum Novum in his native
district of Sabina. He was a man of good character and ruled the Church for
about six months. Elected in July or August 913, he died in February or
March 914, and this is all that is known of Pope Landus.
The characters of Anastasius III and Landus prove that if Theophylactus
was
controlling the papal elections at this time, he was seeing to it that good
men were chosen. Since the house of Theophylactus will pretty much
dominate
the papacy for the next half century, it is useful to understand the
position of this interesting family in history. Theophylactus was a Roman
noble who became a high official in the papal service. Sparked by his
ambitious wife Theodora and their vigorous daughters, Theodora and
Marozia,
this family secured so dominant a position in Roman politics that they
reduced the temporal power of the pope to a shadow. Even worse, they
placed
in the papal throne men tragically unfit for the high office. Naturally
such power aroused a good deal of opposition, and unfortunately for their
memory much of what is known of this dark period comes down from their
enemies. If these may be believed, the family of Theophylactus was a nest
of horrible corruption. Older historians, Catholic and non-Catholic alike,
have accepted the charges against the house of Theophylactus. Cardinal
Baronius, the great counterreformation church historian, denounces this
family and some of their popes in unmeasured terms. But modern
historians,
more critical, are a bit dubious about accepting the invectives of party
foes as gospel. Still, when all allowance for partisan feeling is made, the
story of the house of Theophylactus and its influence on the papacy is
black enough.
JOHN X
914 -928
As a diplomat, warrior, and ecclesiastical administrator, John X stands out
among the popes of this period. John was born at Tossignano in Romagna.
He
entered the ranks of the clergy and in 905 was elected Archbishop of
Ravenna. On the death of Landus, the dominant faction among the Roman
nobles, probably led by Theodora, invited John to come to Rome and be
elected pope. Although by this time several popes had been bishops before
they became popes, the tradition against exchanging dioceses died hard,
and
there were not wanting those who called John X an intruder.
A vigorous and able man, John at once decided to put an end to the
frightful devastation caused by the Saracens. A group of Moslems had
fortified themselves on a hill overlooking the Garigliano River in Southern
Italy, and from this stronghold they brutally harried the poor Italians.
John X worked feverishly to form an alliance and for a marvel he
succeeded.
Northern, central, and southern Italians were for once united. Helped by
Greek naval units from the Eastern Empire, they moved against the
Saracens.
Pope John in person led the Roman contingent. The allied army defeated
the
Saracens and drove them back into their stronghold. Then when the
starving
Moslems tried to break through the iron ring, they were cut to pieces. A
wave of rejoicing swept through Italian homes. Pope John X, on his return
to Rome, was given a triumphant reception. He deserved it.
John X tried to unite the South Slavs more closely to Rome. He discouraged
the Slavonic liturgy, and succeeded in having his views adopted by a
national synod of Spalato in 926. He also worked on the Bulgarians and
enjoyed some passing success in bringing Bulgaria under his jurisdiction.
In Germany Pope John encouraged the clergy to support the hard-pressed
King
Conrad in his efforts to bring law and order to that distressed country. He
sent a legate to preside at a synod held at Altheim in 916, which not only
enacted decrees to better church discipline but threatened rebels with
excommunication. In France too the Pope tried to protect a distressed king
from treacherous nobles. When Heribert, Count of Vermandois, seized King
Charles the Simple in 923, Pope John threatened him with
excommunication.
He did, however, make an odd concession to this Heribert; he confirmed the
election of his son Hugh to the great diocese of Rheims. Hugh was all of
five years old! Of course the Pope provided for the spiritual rule of the
diocese, but such a confirmation shows the unholy power of the nobility.
In Italy, John crowned Berenger Emperor in 915, but a faction invited
Rudolf of Burgundy to compete with Berenger. When Berenger was
assassinated
in 924, the Pope seems to have called on Hugh, the successor of Louis the
Blind, of Provence, to come down and be King of Italy. He met Hugh at
Mantua, but Hugh was either unable or unwilling to help the poor Pope in
his home troubles.
It seems that John X was getting too independent for Marozia, now the
dominant figure of the Theophylactus clan. In 928 she had the Pope's
brother Peter killed and the Pope himself thrown into prison. Whether he
was smothered with a pillow or died of anxiety, John X did not long survive
his imprisonment.
LEO VI
928 - 929
Again, here is a pope about whom little is known. Leo was a Roman. His
father Christopher, had been primicerius, i.e., a high official in the
papal service in the time of John VIII. He seems to have supported that
pontiff in his vigorous purge of disorderly elements in Rome. Leo entered
the ranks of the clergy and at the time of his election was attached to the
Church of Santa Susanna. It would be very interesting to know the
circumstances of his election. Since Marozia had overthrown Pope John X,
it
is highly probable that she had something to do with putting in Leo VI, but
no documentary evidence describes the election.
The only act of Leo VI which has come down to posterity is his approval of
the decrees of the national synod held at Spalato in 926. He granted the
pallium to the archbishop of Spalato and decreed that he was to have
metropolitan jurisdiction over all Dalmatia.
Leo VI seems to have been a good man. Certainly no historian has anything
to say against him. The thirteenth century writer Ptolemy of Lucca says "he
exercised no tyranny and died in peace, and . . . according to most writers
he was buried in St. Peter's."
Leo's pontificate extended probably from June 928 to February 929.
STEPHEN VIII
929 - 931
A Greek writer of the twelfth century at a time when Constantinople was in
schism, brought a remarkable accusation against Pope Stephen VIII, an
accusation which, if true, makes this pontiff a pioneer in clerical
appearances. According to this hirsute Greek, Pope Stephen VIII was "the
first pope who was shameless enough to shave himself and to order the rest
of Italy to do likewise."
Stephen VIII was a Roman, the son of Teudemund. He was cardinal-priest
of
St. Anastasia. Nothing is known of the circumstances of his election, and
not much more about his brief papal career. His memory survives in the
privileges he granted to several monasteries in Italy and France.
Although it was in 910 in the pontificate of Sergius III that it was
founded, and it was from Pope John X that it received papal protection, it
can be mentioned here that by now the great monastery of Cluny was
quietly
at prayer and work. In 910 William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine founded
this abbey for the good of the souls of his late King Eudes, of his parents
and his servants. At the time of Stephen VIII, St. Odo was abbot. This
Benedictine monastery, Cluny, was to reorganize Benedictine monasticism
and
from Cluny would come spiritual leaders who would do much to start the
great renaissance in the eleventh century
Stephen VIII seems to have been a virtuous man whose pontificate passed
peacefully. He died sometime in the early part of 931.
JOHN XI
931 - 936
John XI is called the son of Pope Sergius III by the "Liber Pontificalis;"
but as has been mentioned in the biography of Sergius III, this is not at
all certain. Whoever his father was, John's mother was certainly the famous
daughter of Theophylactus, Mary, known to history as Marozia. (Marozia
means "little Mary".)
John entered the ranks of the clergy and became cardinal-priest of Santa
Maria in Trastevere. His mother Marozia now dominated the political scene
in Rome, and when Stephen VIII died, it was small wonder that her son
John
should be chosen pope. John seems to have been a good young priest.
Only in
his twenties, he was probably pretty much under his powerful mother's
influence.
John granted privileges to the great monastery of Cluny. It is interesting
to note that at St. Odo's request, John granted privileges not only to
Cluny, but to dependent monasteries. Cluny was more than a strict and
pious
abbey, it was the mother house of a congregation of monasteries. Since in
the primitive Benedictine system, the abbot of each monastery was
supreme,
the dependence of a whole chain of monasteries on a mother abbey is a
new
departure. It proved very useful in the stormy days of the tenth century
when a monastery, left to itself, could easily fall into decay.
Whatever John's gifts as a ruler, he had little opportunity to exercise
them. His mother Marozia naturally had strong influence over her young
son.
Marozia, widowed twice, had married Hugh, King of Provence. Hugh was at
first well received by the Romans, but soon it became clear that Marozia's
son Alberic II was not happy. Rome was too small for Hugh and Alberic.
Alberic struck first. Raising a mob, he rushed in on his mother's
headquarters, the Castle of St. Angelo, with such force that Hugh fled.
Alberic put his mother in prison. He also made his brother Pope John XI a
prisoner. And after this revolution, which took place either in late 932 or
early 933, Alberic ruled Rome like a dictator. He called himself Senator,
Patrician, and Prince of the Romans. He usurped the temporal power
completely and allowed his brother, the Pope, only the exercise of his
spiritual duties. Indeed even in spiritual matters he interfered. It was at
Alberic's insistence that John granted the pallium to Theophylactus,
patriarch of Constantinople, and Artaud, archbishop of Rheims.
John XI died either in December 935 or January 936. His pontificate marks
the complete supremacy in Rome of the house of Theophylactus.
LEO VII
936 - 939
Alberic II, now holding supreme temporal power in Rome, had no intention
of
seeing an independent pope arise who might try to get back the papacy's
temporal power. Accordingly, Alberic saw to it that the clergy always chose
his man. This much must be said for Alberic: usually his man was a good
man.
After the death of his brother, John XI, Alberic secured the election of
Leo VII. Leo was a Roman, the priest of St. Sixtus. He was probably a
Benedictine monk. He was certainly a pious and spiritual man. Learned and
gracious, Leo was not interested in becoming pope, and it took a little
pressure to gain his consent. His lack of ambition probably commended him
highly to Prince Alberic.
Leo VII granted privileges to various monasteries, especially to Cluny. He
sent for St. Odo, the abbot of Cluny, to help bring peace to wartorn Italy.
Hugh of Provence, though driven from Rome by his stepson Alberic, was
still
king of Italy, and actually had some power in the North. Not the man to
accept defeat easily, Hugh continually attacked Alberic and on three
occasions laid siege to Rome itself. It was on one of these occasions that
Pope Leo VII asked St. Odo to come down from France and mediate
between
Hugh and Alberic. The great abbot worked hard and produced a patched-up
peace. Alberic agreed to marry Alda, Hugh's daughter, and Hugh agreed to
take his army home. Alberic and Pope Leo saw eye to eye in their attitude
toward monks and monasteries. Alberic persuaded St. Odo to take over the
supervision of all the monasteries around Rome. He also gave his old home
where he had been born to be a monastery in honor of Our Lady. To this
day
the monastery of Our Lady on the Aventine survives as a memorial to the
piety of Prince Alberic II.
Pope Leo VII cooperated in the grand work of restoration being done in
Germany by Henry the Fowler and his son Otto. He appointed Frederick,
archbishop of Mainz, to be his legate for all Germany so that he could
reform the clergy. He refused to allow the overzealous German to baptize
Jews by force, but he was enough the child of his age to permit Frederick
to drive the Jews out of the cities if they would not accept baptism.
Leo VII died in July, 936.
STEPHEN IX
939 - 942
Stephen was a Roman, he entered the ranks of the clergy and became
cardinal-priest of Sts. Silvester and Martin. He was elected pope on July
14, 939.
A prot�g� of Prince Alberic, Stephen had little to do with ruling the Papal
States, but he did make his influence felt in France. It is interesting to
note that at a time when their temporal power was reduced to nothing, the
popes could still exercise so much influence for peace.
What happened was this. Louis, the young son of Charles the Simple, was
called back to France from England by the great lords. This not unworthy
descendant of Charlemagne, however, actually tried to rule France. When
the
lords saw this, they plotted, intrigued, and rebelled against Louis. And
soon they were pressing him hard. Pope Stephen now intervened. He sent a
legate named Damasus on a peacemaking mission. The result was that the
French bishops, assembled in synod, tried to persuade Hugh, duke of
Francia, to submit peacefully to his monarch. In vain. Hugh continued to
make life miserable for young Louis. Then Stephen took two measures, one
conciliatory, the other threatening. He granted the pallium to Hugh's
nephew, the boy archbishop of Rheims. He told the nobles that if by
Christmas 942 they had not sent him envoys to assure him of their
submission to their lawful king, they would be excommunicated. This threat
bore fruit; the feudal opposition died down a little and some of the
pressure was lifted off King Louis.
The same year, 942, Rome itself was again besieged by Hugh of Provence,
and
again St. Odo, abbot of Cluny, intervened to bring peace.
Stephen IX died toward the end of October, 942.
MARINUS II
942 - 946
Marinus II was another one of Prince Alberic's candidates for the papacy
and another good man. Marinus was a Roman. At the time of his election to
the papacy he was the priest of the Church of St. Ciriacus. He was elected
Pope in October, 942.
Like all of Alberic's popes, Marinus got along well with the dictator, and
seemingly allowed him to run the Papal States without any attempt at
interference. In spiritual matters, Marinus worked to promote good order
and discipline among the clergy and granted privileges to monasteries. He
continued the legation of Frederick, archbishop of Mainz, in Germany.
Frederick had been appointed by Pope Leo VII as papal vicar for all
Germany
with full power to root out abuses among the clergy.
In Italy Pope Marinus protected the Benedictine monks from a greedy
bishop.
Sicus, bishop of Capua, took from the monks a church which an earlier
bishop of Capua had given them. Sicus then gave the church as a benefice
to
a deacon who seems to have been a boon companion of the bishop. When
Marinus got word of this, he not only ordered Bishop Sicus to restore the
church to the monks, but he forbade him to associate any longer with the
deacon.
Though not too much is known about Marinus II, what is known indicates
that
he was a spiritual man, a man with a strong sense of responsibility for the
Church, and a lover of the poor.
It is said that St. Ulric, famous archbishop of Augsburg, came to Rome at
this time and had a visit with Pope Marinus II.
Marinus II died in the spring of 946.
AGAPETUS II
946 - 955
Agapetus II was a Roman and an excellent man. And that is about all that is
known of him before he became pope. He was consecrated pope on May
10, 946.
Agapetus II finally settled the vexed dispute between Artaud and Hugh for
the see of Rheims by deciding in favor of Artaud. This settlement was in
line with the papal policy of supporting the house of Charlemagne. Louis IV
wished to see Artaud archbishop of Rheims because he did not want that
influential see to fall into enemy hands. Hugh was the nephew of Hugh the
Great, duke of Francia, and trouble-maker-in-chief to the King.
Agapetus II worked well for reform and spreading the gospel. He cooperated
with German efforts to christianize the Scandinavians. He confirmed the
privileges of Hamburg as metropolitan see for the nascent church in
Denmark. From Jutland he received an embassy asking for missionaries.
He
worked well, too, for reform of the monks and clergy. He granted many
privileges to monasteries. One religious house which received a privilege
from Pope Agapetus II was Gandersheim, famous for its talented nun
Hroswitha. Hroswitha was a poet and a dramatist. Agapetus also protected
monks from greedy princes.
The pontificate of Agapetus II is marked by the entry on the Italian scene
of a great man and a great precedent. The man was Otto I, king of
Germany.
The precedent was the interference of German kings in Italian politics.
North Italy was again in turmoil. Hugh of Provence abdicated as King of
Italy and went back to Provence to die. His son Lothair died in 950 and
Berenger, marquis of Ivrea, was recognized as king. But Berenger proved
worthless. He stirred up enemies on all sides and he treated Adelaide, the
beautiful young widow of Lothair, with harshness. Adelaide escaped from
his
clutches and appealed to Otto. The great German promptly marched into
Italy, overthrew Berenger, married Adelaide, and was crowned King of Italy.
But when he wished to come to Rome to be crowned emperor, Prince
Alberic
said no. He had no wish to see the powerful German in his preserves. Pope
Agapetus was probably willing enough to crown Otto, but in Rome Alberic
was
still the real temporal ruler.
Agapetus II died in December 955. He is buried in the Lateran.
JOHN XII
955 - 963
John XII might be called a poor little rich boy. His father Prince Alberic
had secured the election of good, if not overaggressive, popes. He had even
favored monastic reform. But he left a miserable legacy to the Church--his
son. Alberic had made the clergy promise to elect his son Octavian as
successor to Agapetus II. Brought up free and easy with plenty of money,
Octavian was a young man more fitted to adorn the ranks of cafe society
than the Chair of Peter. On his father's death he had succeeded to his
titles and power. On the death of Agapetus, he became pope. The first pope
since John II to change his name, he took the name John XII.
John XII has a bad reputation, but it is only fair to remember that many of
the stories told about him come from political enemies, especially that
evil-tongued old gossip, Liutprand of Cremona. But even after allowing a
generous discount for prejudice, enough remains against John XII to rank
him as one of the few bad popes.
Though John enjoyed temporal power as well as spiritual, he was not long
to
enjoy this double power. Berenger, king of Italy, had made himself so
unpopular that Pope John voiced the sentiments of the Italian people when
he called on King Otto I of Germany to free Italy from Berenger's tyranny.
Otto chased Berenger into the mountains, then entered Rome to be
welcomed
by the Pope. Otto guaranteed the privileges and territory of the Pope and
John agreed to support Otto. Once more the Roman Empire came alive as
on
Candlemas Day, 962, the Pope crowned Otto emperor.
But after Otto went north to complete the liquidation of Berenger, John,
realizing that Otto meant to supervise matters in Rome, plotted against him
with Berenger and his son Adalbert. At first Otto laughed it off, but the
imperialist faction at Rome, not amused, urged the Emperor to come back.
When he approached the city in November 963, Pope John fled. Otto made
the
Romans swear henceforth never to elect a pope without his approval. A
synod
summoned John to come back and stand trial for his misdeeds. John
answered
by threatening to excommunicate anyone who should attempt to set up an
antipope. The council did just that. After a month it declared John deposed
and elected Leo, a layman. But Leo's power lasted only until Otto left the
city. Then back came John in triumph. He made good his threat of
excommunication and made life miserable for the imperialists. Otto, on
hearing of all this, was preparing to return when he learned that on May
14, 964, John XII had died.
John, if Liutprand can be believed, died an evil death; struck down while
in the act of adultery, he lingered eight days and died without Holy
Viaticum.
BENEDICT V
964
The death of John XII gave the Romans a chance to make peace with
Emperor
Otto by accepting his pope, Leo VIII. But the Romans did nothing of the
kind. At once they elected the cardinal-deacon Benedict. Benedict was a
Roman, a notary from the region of Marcellus. He enjoyed a reputation for
learning. He had taken part in the council which had deposed John XII and
elected Leo VIII. Now, however, he repudiated Leo and accepted the
election.
Though the Romans elected Benedict in defiance of the Emperor, they did
send an embassy to tell him about their proceedings. The embassy met with
a
cold reception. Otto refused to hear of another pope. Leo was his pope and
he proclaimed that he would as soon give up his sword as give up Leo.
These
words from a German warrior boded ill for Benedict. But Benedict,
undaunted, first made the Romans swear to support him, then calmly
proceeded with his consecration. When Otto heard of this he was furious.
And now, completely victorious over Berenger, he had his hands free to
attend to the Romans. Soon a large imperial army stood before the walls of
Rome and soon the Romans felt the pinch of hunger. Benedict showed
plenty
of fight. He did not spare himself in encouraging the Romans to fight on
for liberty and the papacy. But though the old walls resisted the battering
of Otto's clumsy engines, famine entered the city and compelled the
Romans
to surrender.
All the fight seems to have oozed out of Benedict. If Liutprand can be
trusted, Benedict asked for pardon. Though he was true pope, Benedict's
position was weakened by the fact that he had taken part in the election of
his rival Leo VIII, a fact the imperialists were quick to point out. They
asked the unfortunate Benedict how he dared to have assumed the
pontifical
robes while Leo yet lived. Benedict, according to Liutprand, caved in. He
admitted he had been wrong and agreed to his deposition.
Otto brought the deposed pope back to Germany and entrusted him to
Adaldag,
archbishop of Hamburg. Adaldag seems to have treated the unfortunate
Benedict with kindness. Benedict edified all by bearing his misfortunes
with patience. This was not easy, for though Adaldag was considerate, other
Germans regarded Benedict as an insolent fellow who dared to defy their
Emperor.
Benedict died a happy death on July 4, 965, at Hamburg. Some years later
his body was brought back to Rome.
LEO VIII
963 -965
Was Leo VII true pope or antipope? For a long time he was considered by
many historians as only antipope. But the latest revision of the list of
popes in the "Annuario Pontificio" includes Leo VIII. This might seem to
indicate that the more or less official opinion is that Benedict actually
did agree to his deposition and that Leo's position was regularized by the
consent of the Roman clergy.
Leo was a Roman of well-known family. A lay official of the papal court, he
had taken part in the council which had deposed John XII. He was then
chosen to succeed John. This was highly irregular, not only because the
council had no right to depose the pope, but because Leo was a layman.
The
bishop of Ostia hurried through the necessary ordinations without the
customary intervals. Elected as a layman on December 4, Leo was
consecrated
bishop on December 6.
Leo was quite unpopular with the Romans, who regarded him as an imperial
tool. Shortly after his consecration Otto sent a part of his army north. At
once the Romans revolted. Otto's remaining warriors sallied into the
streets and wrought havoc on the poor Romans. Realizing how much his
hold
on Rome depended on brute strength, Otto took a hundred hostages from
Roman
families. Leo. with more good nature than shrewdness, urged Otto to
release
them. The result was that when Otto went north the Romans soon sent Leo
packing and welcomed John XII back to the Lateran.
After John's death in 964 the Romans still refused to accept Leo, but when
Otto's army forced them to surrender, Leo's moment of triumph arrived.
Entering the city in the train of the victorious Otto, Leo was able to
summon a council and have Benedict V brought before him. Liutprand had
described the scene. Assembled in the Lateran Basilica were the Pope, the
Emperor, and a number of bishops. Benedict, clad in the pontifical robes,
stood before them. After admitting his fault, Benedict took off the pallium
and handed it to Leo. Leo then removed the chasuble and stole from
Benedict
and declared that he was reduced to the rank of deacon. Since Benedict
seems to have consented to his deposition, Leo may be regarded as true
pope
from July 964.
Leo was said to have repaid his imperial maker by giving him extraordinary
privileges and indeed by surrendering to the Emperor the lands donated by
Pippin and Charlemagne. But these concessions and gifts were only
forgeries
cooked up in the bitter days of the lay-investiture struggle.
Leo VIII died in March 965.
JOHN XIII
965 - 972
John XIII, like John XII, was a member of the house of Theophylactus. But
except for name and family he had little in common with his kinsman. John
XII might have been called John the Bad; John XIII was called John the
Good. John's father, also named John, had married the younger Theodora,
the
sister of the famous Marozia. Later he became a bishop. John himself, quite
unlike John XII, was brought up strictly and educated at the Lateran with
the young clerics. He served in the papal chancery, took part in the
condemnation of his relative, John XII, and then in his restoration. With a
reputation for learning and virtue he became papal librarian, then bishop
of Narni. One homely little detail, all too rare in these early
biographies, comes down to us. John was nicknamed "white hen" on
account of
his fair hair. John was not the first choice of the Romans. When Leo VIII
died the Romans sent to the Emperor, asking him to give them back
Benedict
V; but before this request could be acted on, Benedict died. Otto sent
representatives to Rome to see that his choice was made pope, and the
Emperor's choice was John, bishop of Narni, who was duly elected. Otto
probably thought that in choosing John he was not only getting a good and
reliable pope, but one that would be pleasing to the Romans. After all,
John was of the family of Theophylactus, and Otto hoped that this would
help to reconcile the sensitive Romans to the imperial yoke. But because he
was Otto's choice, the Romans turned against John.
A faction led by Rofred, a Campagna count, and Peter, the city prefect,
raised the cry: "Out with the foreigners!" They seized John and threw him
into the Castle of St. Angelo. Later when he was removed to a castle in the
country, John escaped. He fled to Pandulf of Capua, and after an exile of
almost a year made his way back to Rome. The Romans, learning that Otto
was
coming, gave the Pope a grand reception. But Otto was angry, and when he
entered the city in August 966, rough German hands administered bloody
justice to the Romans. This brought peace, and for the rest of his
pontificate John had little trouble with the Romans. He got along well with
Otto. On Christmas Day, 967, the Pope crowned his young son Otto II as
co-
emperor. John assisted Otto in the marriage negotiations which brought to
young Otto the hand of the beautiful and remarkably able Theophano, young
daughter of the Eastern Emperor Romanus II.
John XIII cooperated with the Emperor in forwarding missionary activity on
the frontiers. He confirmed the erection of Magdeburg as a metropolitan
see. The famous diocese of Posen was established for the Poles in 966.
John
also backed St. Dunstan in his efforts to reform the Church in England.
John XIII died peacefully at Rome, September 6, 972. Though noticeably
under Otto's influence, he was a good pope.
BENEDICT VI
972 - 974
Little as is known of the achievements of Pope Benedict VI, the somber
circumstances of his death throw a baleful light on conditions in tenth-
century Rome. Benedict VI was a Roman from the Forum district. His
father's
name was Hildebrand. At the time of his election, Benedict was cardinal-
deacon of the Church of St. Theodore at the foot of the Palatine Hill.
Though elected shortly after the death of John III in September 972,
Benedict was not consecrated until January 19, 973. This delay was
doubtless due to the wait for Emperor Otto's approval of the election.
Except for a few privileges granted by Benedict, nothing is known of his
rather short pontificate until the events leading to his death.
Otto I died May 7, 973, leaving the throne to his son Otto II, then
eighteen years old. The next year young Otto had to fight a civil war with
Henry the Wrangler, duke of Bavaria. While the young emperor had his
hands
full in Germany, some Romans planned a revolution. In 974 Crescentius, a
brother of the late Pope John XIII, and a scheming deacon Boniface Franco,
seized control of the city. Crescentius made himself Patrician; Boniface
took over the papacy. He called himself Boniface VII. Benedict VI was shut
up in the Castle of St. Angelo.
When Otto II heard of this outrageous attempt, he sent Count Sicco to
restore order. Sicco demanded the release of Pope Benedict, but the
antipope hastened to have the Pope killed. Before Count Sicco could
overthrow the usurpers, a priest named Stephen strangled poor Pope
Benedict.
Benedict VI seems to have been a good pope. He was certainly an
unfortunate
one.
BENEDICT VII
974 - 983
The cruelty of the antipope Boniface did not do him much good. So great
was
the indignation against the murderer that Count Sicco, the imperial agent,
was able to overthrow Boniface and the Patrician, Crescentius. This cleared
the way for a new election. Emperor Otto II and his mother, St. Adelaide,
wished Maieul, abbot of Cluny, to take the papal throne. But Maieul firmly
refused. He felt that it was his duty as it was his preference to continue
to rule the monastic flock entrusted to his care. Otto then chose Benedict,
the bishop of Sutri. Thus Benedict, like his predecessor and namesake, was
a Roman. He was elected pope in October 974.
One of the new pope's first acts was to hold a synod to condemn the
antipope Boniface. Though Boniface fled to Constantinople, he had a party
at Rome which gave Benedict some trouble. Benedict was able to maintain
himself for six years without much help from the Emperor, who was very
busy
in Germany. But it was not easy, and in 980 Pope Benedict was relieved to
hear that Otto had crossed the Alps. The Emperor celebrated the Easter of
981 in Rome and so overawed the factions that Benedict was able to finish
his pontificate in peace.
The Pope held a great council in the presence of Otto, which legislated
against simony. Benedict then addressed an encyclical letter to the Church
throughout the world, publishing the decree against simony. (Simony is the
buying or selling of sacred things.) The Pope added that if any bishop-
elect could not get consecrated without paying money to his metropolitan,
he could come to Rome and be consecrated there.
Besides the Emperor, another visitor to Benedict VII was Hugh Capet,
founder of France's great third dynasty. He secured from the Pope an
exemption for a French monastery. Indeed, Benedict was very generous in
the
matter of privileges. Many were the German bishops and abbots who
obtained
various privileges from this gracious Pope.
It is interesting to note that Benedict consecrated a bishop for Carthage,
a city which had long been under Moslem domination. He also gave the
tonsure to Dunwallon, a Southern Welsh king and was kind to Sergius,
archbishop of Damascus, a refugee from the Saracens.
Benedict died probably on July 10, 983. According to his epitaph he was
very good to widows and orphans. Though epitaphs are not the most critical
sources, it is not difficult to believe that Benedict VII was a very
charitable pope.
JOHN XIV
983 - 984
Benedict VII had died in peace, and since Otto II was still in Italy the
new pontificate got off to a smooth start. It was to have a rough ending.
To succeed Benedict VII, Otto secured the election of Peter, bishop of
Pavia. A native of Pavia, Peter Canepanova rose to be not only bishop of
Pavia, but chancellor of the Kingdom of Italy. He also served as imperial
agent in Rome. While chancellor he had had a disagreement with the
famous
scholar Gerbert, then abbot of Bobbio. Later, however, they became quite
friendly. When he was elected pope, Peter took the name John XIV.
With a good churchman and a close friend of the Emperor on the papal
throne, much could be expected from such a harmonious pope-emperor
relationship. But Otto, only twenty-eight years old, fell a victim to his
doctors. Four drachms of aloes proved too much for the young Emperor's
constitution, and assisted by Pope John, he died a most edifying death. He
was buried in St. Peter's.
Otto's premature death was a calamity for the empire; it was stark disaster
for the Pope. With the Emperor's strong hand removed, the party of the
antipope Boniface raised its head. At Easter 984 a revolt broke out. Back
came the cruel antipope from Constantinople. Well supplied with gold,
Boniface spent money lavishly to secure the triumph of his party. With the
help of the Patrician Crescentius he seized Pope John, declared him
deposed, and thrust him into the Castle of St. Angelo. While Boniface
lorded it at the Lateran, the Pope languished in his cell, and by August 20
he was dead. There was a report that he had died a violent death, but this
is not at all certain. It is certain that John XIV died in prison on August
20. The antipope Boniface did not long survive his victim. He died quite
suddenly in July 985. His body was seized by a gang of his own party, who
resented the antipope's strong hand. These rascals skinned the corpse and
dragged it to the statue of Marcus Aurelius in front of the Lateran. Some
clerics removed it and gave it a decent burial.
JOHN XV
985 - 996
John XV was a Roman, the son of a priest named Leo. At the time of his
election John was cardinal-priest of St. Vitalis. The only authentic fact
about his election is that it took place in August 985.
John XV was a learned man and a writer. He has been accused of rank
nepotism and grasping avarice, but the accusations are far from proved.
Indeed the poor man had little to say about civil government in Rome. A
kinsman of Prince Alberic II now repeated Alberic's seizure of civil power
in Rome. Crescentius of the Marble Horse, as he was called, was the son of
that Crescentius who had led the revolt against Benedict VI. Shortly after
John's election, Crescentius established himself as practically dictator in
Rome. A smooth politician, he even got along with the Empress Theophano
when she visited Rome in 989.
Though John XV was limited in temporal power at Rome, he made his
influence
felt in distant lands. His mediation was sought in a quarrel between
Ethelred the Unready, king of England, and Richard, duke of Normandy.
Through his legate Leo, the Pope succeeded in bringing about a peaceful
settlement. The most interesting case of Pope John's pontificate was the
fight over the archbishopric of Rheims in France. Hugh Capet, helped by
Archbishop Adalberon of Rheims and the monk, Gerbert, had finally
supplanted the Carolingian dynasty on the throne of France. The
Carolingian
Charles, duke of Lorraine, invaded France in an attempt to dethrone Hugh.
He captured Rheims and its archbishop Arnulf. Now Arnulf was himself a
Carolingian, and Hugh suspected that Arnulf had sold out his king for his
family. Hugh therefore asked Pope John to depose Archbishop Arnulf.
Before
the Pope could answer, the tide of war swung in favor of Hugh, and he
drove
Lorraine's forces out of Rheims and seized Arnulf. The King then had a
synod depose Arnulf and elect his friend and backer, the monk Gerbert.
Pope
John did not allow this highhanded action to go without rebuke. He ordered
the French bishops to hold a free synod, which quashed the deposition of
Arnulf. The affair caused an outbreak of antipapal sentiments among
Gerbert's supporters. But in the end Gerbert had to go.
John V canonized Ulrich, the holy bishop of Augsburg on January 31, 993.
He
also granted numerous privileges to various churches and monasteries.
In 995 the tyranny of the Patrician Crescentius so irked the Pope that he
fled to Tuscany and appealed to Emperor Otto III to put an end to the
Patrician's usurpation. Crescentius, ever more the diplomat than the
fighter, pleaded with the Pope to come back to Rome, and before the
Emperor
arrived, John was once more back in the Lateran. While all eyes were
turned
on the approaching Emperor, John XV was carried off by a fever in March or
April, 996.
Gregory V
996 - 999
The approach of the emperor's army inspired the Romans with such respect
for Otto that they sent to ask him to name his choice for pope. Otto
promptly designated his chaplain and cousin, Bruno. Bruno was thereupon
elected and consecrated. He took the name Gregory V. The first German
pope
was a young man in his twenties. He was learned and could preach not only
in Latin and German, but in the budding Italian. He was a bit quick-
tempered, but on the whole an excellent priest and a good pope.
On May 21, 996, Gregory crowned Otto emperor. Naturally enough, he and
Otto
got along well together. But he could show his independence too, as when
he
condemned the monk Gerbert for the attempt to take over the see of
Rheims;
Gerbert was a friend of Otto's. When Gerbert submitted, however, he was
made archbishop of Ravenna.
Emperor Otto had started for Rome at the request of the late Pope John XV
to check the tyranny of the Patrician Crescentius. The Emperor intended to
punish the usurper, but papal good nature prevailed and Gregory begged
the
rascal off. It was a mistake. Scarcely had Otto left Rome when Crescentius
began to plot against the Pope. Alarmed, Gregory begged Otto to return, but
the Emperor was unable to do so. Within a few months Crescentius drove
the
Pope out of Rome and set up as antipope the Calabrian Greek, John
Philagathus.
Gregory went to Pavia and held a synod. The synod condemned all those
who
supported the antipope and excommunicated Crescentius. This synod also
condemned King Robert of France for attempting matrimony with his
kinswoman
Bertha.
The next year, 998, after all attempts to bring Crescentius and his
antipope John XVI to their senses had failed, Otto marched on Rome.
Crescentius holed up in the Castle of St. Angelo; the antipope fled to a
castle in the country. Without waiting upon the angry Emperor's arrival, a
Roman faction seized the antipope, tore out his eyes and tongue, cut off
his ears and nose, and confined him in a monastery. The Pope and
Emperor
made a triumphant entry in February 998. Gregory held a Council which
deposed John from his rank as a priest. The mutilated wretch was then
insulted by the mob and finally kept in a monastery for the rest of his
life. Crescentius held out stubbornly in St. Angelo, but at last the
Germans battered their way into the Castle. Crescentius was beheaded on
the
battlements and his body tossed into the moat.
In spite of these political ups and downs, Pope Gregory found time to do
much for monasteries. The great religious reform of the coming century was
to be powered by monks, and Gregory V did his part in preparing for it by
favoring these spiritual champions against bishops, all too often mixed up
in worldly and political matters.
Gregory V died on February 4, 999.
SYLVESTER II
999 - 1003
Credulous folk believed that Gerbert, the learned monk who became Pope
Sylvester II, was a magician, and around this interesting personality grew
an aura of occult legend. But the cold facts of Sylvester's career are too
interesting to need any seasoning from fervid imaginations.
Gerbert was born of lowly origin in Auvergne. Educated by the Benedictines
and by the bishop of Vich in Spain, Gerbert became the leading Western
scholar of his day. Brought to Rome by Borel, count of Barcelona, the
learned monk so impressed Pope John XIII that he sent Gerbert to Otto the
Great. Otto made him tutor to his son, and Gerbert always was close to the
imperial family. After Otto's death Gerbert went to Rheims to teach in the
cathedral school there. He interested himself in literature, music,
philosophy, theology, mathematics, and the natural sciences. His
inspirational teaching made Rheims an intellectual center. As a collector
of books Gerbert resembles some of the more avid Renaissance humanists.
Not
contented with speculation, this practical man constructed globes,
observation tubes, and a complicated abacus. He is credited by some with
having introduced Arabic numerals to the west and with the invention of the
pendulum clock.
Otto II made him Abbot of St. Columban's monastery at Bobbio, but he had
to
fight so much to preserve his abbey's temporalities from greedy hands that
in disgust he soon withdrew to Rheims. There he became a bosom friend of
the political minded Archbishop Adalberon and threw himself into the maze
of intrigue which ended the Carolingian dynasty in France. After this
intrigue was successfully climaxed by the coronation of Hugh Capet in 987,
Gerbert might reasonably have expected to become archbishop of Rheims
on
Adalberon's death. But Hugh passed him over for Arnulf. Arnulf, however,
sided with his kinsman Charles of Lorraine when that duke invaded France
in
an effort to dethrone Hugh. Hugh captured Arnulf and had a council depose
him and elect Gerbert in his place. Gerbert, who believed devoutly with St.
Paul that "if a man desireth the work of a bishop he desireth a good work,"
was delighted. Not so Pope John XV, who frowned on such arbitrary
depositions and elections. When the Pope ordered another and more free
council to study the matter, Gerbert grew rebellious. He gained nothing by
it. Suspended, he left France for the court of Otto III. Though his
ambition caused him to be less than obedient he had too much virtue and
good sense not to submit at last. He was rewarded, for if Otto was unable
to get him reinstated at Rheims, he did have him made archbishop of
Ravenna. Soon afterwards Gregory V died and Otto had Gerbert elected
Pope.
The combination of the learned Sylvester II, as Gerbert was now known,
and
the idealistic Otto promised much for Christendom but the promise was not
fulfilled. The Romans drove both Emperor and Pope out of Rome in 1001,
and
though Sylvester managed to return after Otto's early death in 1002, he was
overshadowed by Crescentius III.
Though this short pontificate was something of an anticlimax to a colorful
career, Sylvester did accomplish something. He called attention to needs of
the Holy Land, he created the see of Gnesen for the Poles and that of Gran
for the Hungarians. He sent a royal crown to St. Stephen of Hungary.
Sylvester II died May 12, 1003.
JOHN XVII
1003
The last pope named John was John XV. There had indeed been a man
who
called himself John XVI, but he was John Philagathus the unfortunate
antipope set up by Crescentius II against Pope Gregory V. John XVII,
therefore, should have been called John XVI. The reason why John Sicco,
who
became Pope Sylvester's successor, was called John XVII is not hard to
guess. Crescentius III was now Patrician and the real power in Rome; and
Crescentius III was the son of Crescentius II who had set up antipope John
XVI. Consequently, Crescentius III would naturally insist that the pope
whose election he had secured should assume the style of John XVII. Thus
his father would be saved from being publicly branded as the supporter of
an antipope.
Crescentius III dominated the papacy during this period and carried matters
with so high a hand that by one chronicle he is called "the destroyer of
the apostolic see." This however, was probably because he usurped the
popes' temporal power. As far as can be known, Crescentius III seems to
have secured the election of worthy men as popes.
John XVII was a Roman named John Sicco. Before he became a priest he
had
been married and had had three children, all of whom entered the
ecclesiastical state. All that is known of his brief pontificate is that he
was consecrated on June 13, 1003, and that he died on November 6 of that
same year.
John XVII was buried in the Lateran Basilica.
JOHN XVIII
1O03 - 1009
On the death of John XVII, Crescentius III secured the election of another
John--John Phasanus. John Phasanus was a Roman of the Metrovian Gate
district. His father, Ursus, had become a priest. John himself was cardinal
of St. Peter's. It is uncertain whether it was St. Peter's in the Vatican
or St. Peter-in-Chains. John seems to have been a man of excellent
character. He was consecrated on Christmas Day, 1003, under the title of
John XVIII.
Stirring events took place in this pontificate as Ardoin, the last
independent medieval King of Italy, strove vainly to hold his kingdom
against the attacks of Emperor Henry II. Crescentius seems to have kept the
Pope from taking any part in this struggle.
John XVIII, however, did accomplish some things in the ecclesiastical
sphere. He seems to have put an end to an obscure Eastern schism. For
some
reason not known, Constantinople had revolted from Rome in the last years
of the tenth century. Now in the pontificate of John XVIII the breach was
healed and Constantinople once more returned to Catholic unity.
If John XVIII had been unable to help Henry II in his Italian campaign, he
did work closely with the pious Emperor in his German affairs. Henry, like
the Ottos, relied on churchmen to balance the power of the turbulent lay
lords. He now revived the see of Merseburg which had been suppressed in
the
reign of Otto II. Henry also wished to establish a new see at Bamberg to
serve as a base for missionary activity among the Slavs. In both of these
matters Pope John cooperated closely.
In France the Pope came to the rescue of Goslin, abbot of Fleury. The
archbishop of Sens and the bishop of Orleans were both trying to make the
abbot give up his papal privilege of exemption. The Pope took this
seriously. He sent the bishop of Piperno into France to investigate the
matter, and he ordered the offending bishops to come to Rome and give an
account of themselves.
John also gave the pallium to Meingaudus, archbishop of Trier, and to
Alphege, archbishop of Canterbury. In the temporal sphere, he set up salt
works near Porto. But John's pontificate was not easy. Plague and famine
desolated Rome, and to add to the misery, Saracens operating out of
Sardinia ravaged the coasts.
The end of John's pontificate is interesting but obscure. It seems that he
abdicated and retired to become a monk in the Monastery of St. Paul-
Outside-the-Walls. He died shortly afterwards, probably in the summer of
1009.
SERGIUS IV
1009 - 1012
Sergius IV had what was probably the most unusual name of any of the long
line of St. Peter's successors. Before his election to the papacy, Sergius
was known as Peter Pig's Mouth! Peter Pig's Mouth ( Buccaporca ) was
born
of a poor family in the Pina district of Rome. His father, likewise named
Peter, was a shoemaker. His humble origin did not prevent Peter from rising
in the ranks of the Church. A pious and intelligent young man, he rose to
be cardinal-bishop of Albano in 1004 and in 1009 he was elected pope. He
was enthroned under the name of Sergius IV.
In 1010 Christendom was deeply moved by the news from the East that the
fanatical caliph of Egypt, El Hakim, had destroyed the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This vandalism had two effects in the West; one
bad
and one good. The bad one was that the Jews were attacked because of
rumors
that they had incited El Hakim to act against the Christians. This was
quite probably false for that madman mixed up Jews and Christians in his
violent vagaries. The good result was that devotion to the Holy Sepulcher
of Christ grew and pilgrimages increased as a reaction to the horrifying
news. Pope Sergius, if a bull attributed to him be authentic, called on the
kings and princes of the West to drive the Saracens out of the Holy Land.
Whether or not the bull is authentic, the crusading idea is beginning to
show signs of life.
Sergius continued the policy of his predecessors in exempting monasteries
from episcopal control. At Rome he evidently chafed under the yoke of the
Patrician Crescentius, for there is evidence that the Pope was working to
foster an imperialist party. Indeed an old twelfth-century chronicle of the
counts of Anjou has a curious account of how Crescentius met his death.
According to this chronicle when the fierce Count Fulk the Black was
passing through Rome on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Sergius IV
complained to him about the evil deeds of Crescentius. Thereupon the
redoubtable Angevin, without much ado, had the Patrician shot down by his
archers. An interesting story, but definitely not true. Crescentius, though
he died at this time, did not perish at the hands of Angevin archers. But
the story does reflect the tension between Pope and Patrician.
When a famine hit Rome, Sergius showed himself to be a true shepherd of
his
flock and worked devotedly to help his hungry people.
Sergius IV died on May 12, 1012. He is buried in the Lateran. Though not
canonized, Sergius is venerated as a saint by the Benedictines.
BENEDICT VIII
1012 - 1024
With the accession of Benedict VIII, the house of Tusculum mounts the
papal
throne. This family, like that of Crescentius, was a branch of the house of
Theophylactus which had so frequently dominated Rome in the past
century.
Now in 1012 the Tusculan branch of the family prevailed over the
Crescentian. Theophylactus, one son of Gregory, count of Tusculum,
became
Pope Benedict VIII; Romanus, another son, was made senator of all the
Romans.
The election of Theophylactus was disputed by a certain Gregory. Unable to
prevail at Rome, Gregory fled to Henry II for help, but Henry recognized
Benedict VIII. Benedict VIII proved to be an excellent ruler both in
spiritual and temporal matters. He welcomed Henry to Italy and on February
14, 1014, he crowned Henry emperor. Benedict's relations with the saintly
ruler were always cordial.
Benedict quickly showed that he was a strong man who would brook no
disobedience from turbulent lords. Crescentius, a cousin of the late
Patrician, had seized a castle belonging to the monastery of Farfa. The
monks had appealed to Henry and the Emperor asked the Pope to see that
justice was done. Crescentius mocked the Pope's invitation to do justice,
but when he found Benedict coming after him with an army, he agreed to be
reasonable.
In tackling the Saracen menace Pope Benedict showed vigorous and
competent
leadership. The Saracens had seized Luna in Tuscany and from this base
were
spreading misery over the land. Benedict attacked them by land and by sea
and drove them out of Italy. Furious, the Moslem chief sent the Pope a bag
of chestnuts with the threat that he would be back the next summer with a
soldier for every chestnut. Benedict, not to be outdone in this war of
nerves, sent the Moslem a bag of rice with the warning that he when he
came
would find a soldier for every grain of rice! The Pope was better than his
word. Believing that the best defense is a good offense, Benedict
succeeded
in getting the Genoese and Pisans to sail against Sardinia, the Moslem
base. The combined Heets captured the island. This was a great Christian
victory, for the Moslems had held Sardinia for over a century.
Benedict also opposed the aggression of the Eastern Empire in Southern
Italy. He made allies of some adventurous Normans, and finally went to
Germany to warn Emperor Henry of the danger. While there he consecrated
the
cathedral of Bamberg and visited the famous monastery of Fulda. Henry
gave
the Pope a confirmation of the donation of Charlemagne and Otto. Then
coming down into Italy, he checked the Greeks.
Though much occupied with temporal matters, Benedict also vigorously
acted
in spiritual matters. He held a Council at Pavia in 1018 which legislated
against the prevailing abuses of simony and clerical marriage. The holy
Emperor worked closely with the Pope in his reform efforts. Benedict also
encouraged the Truce of God, that interesting attempt to limit the private
wars of that turbulent period. He also encouraged the Cluniac reform which
was still working quietly toward a better day.
Benedict VIII died on April 7, 1028. The first of the Tusculan popes had
been a good one.
JOHN XIX
1024 - 1032
At Benedict's death, his brother Romanus, the consul and senator of all the
Romans, decided to become pope. Though he was a layman, Romanus
was
elected. A little influence, a little judicious spending, and the papacy
was his. Disgruntled observers remarked that he was senator in the morning
and pope in the evening. And indeed there was a hurried conferring of holy
orders until sometime in April 1024, Romanus was consecrated pope as
John
XIX.
Though his accession to the papacy was, to say the least, somewhat
irregular, John did not make a bad pope. Unfortunately, however, he was
not
the man his brother Benedict had been, nor was Conrad II the emperor that
St. Henry II had been. During this pontificate the cause of reform suffered
a setback. Conrad II, the first of the Salian emperors, came down into
Italy in 1026 and the next year proceeded to Rome for coronation. This was
an unusually splendid affair, graced as it was by the presence not only of
the Pope and Emperor but of King Canute of England and Denmark and
King
Rudolf of Burgundy. Conrad, an energetic ruler, was too much occupied with
consolidating his power to further the cause of reform. Indeed, if
anything, he impeded it by his appointments.
A curious incident occurred shortly after John became pope. Envoys from
the
powerful Eastern Emperor Basil II arrived in Rome and with golden
arguments
began to press the Pope to grant to the Patriarch of Constantinople the
title of Universal or Ecumenical Patriarch and recognize that the Patriarch
should have in the East the same jurisdiction the Pope had in the whole
world. News of this request spread rapidly, and Western public opinion rose
up against the ambition of Constantinople. Pope John, though he may have
been inclined to grant the request, finally refused it. The Easterners were
furious, and Pope John's name was stricken from their diptychs or
liturgical tablets.
Though John was not the fighter against abuses that his brother had been,
he did favor the Cluniac monks and grant privileges to monasteries. Then
too, he showed good sense in handling appeals. Indeed, in one case he
showed more than good sense; he showed true humility. Abbot William of
St.
Benignus in Dijon wrote to the Pope scolding him for his lack of vigor in
carrying on the fight against simony. Pope John thanked him and praised
the
outspoken monk for his zeal.
John XIX did a little building. He also summoned to Rome Guido of Arezzo,
the famous monk who organized the do-re-mi scale. The Pope encouraged
the
great music reformer and urged him to instruct the Roman clergy in music.
John XIX died probably in October 1032. Though his method of becoming
pope
was not above reproach, he had not done badly.
BENEDICT IX
1032 -1044
At the death of John XIX, his brother Alberic decided to keep the papacy in
the family by having his young son Theophylactus elected. Theophylactus, a
young man probably about twenty years old, was a cleric. That was about
his
only qualification for the papacy. Unqualified by his youth, his bringing
up, his depravity, Benedict IX became one of the very few really
disreputable popes.
The story of Benedict's pontificate is as unsatisfactory as his life. The
Romans rose against him probably about 1036 and drove him from the city.
Benedict proceeded to Cremona, where he met Emperor Conrad II and
received
a promise of protection. By imperial influence Benedict returned to Rome,
only to be driven out again in 1044. This time there was a fight, and
Benedict's supporters grimly clung to a foothold in the Trastevere
district. Inside the city, John, bishop of Sabina, was set up as Pope
Sylvester III, but Benedict was not idle. He had fled for help to his
family's base at Tusculum and within two months his tough Tusculans
fought
their way into the city, sent Sylvester III back to his diocese of Sabina,
and restored Benedict IX.
Once restored, Benedict did not feel at ease on the papal throne. For some
reason, in 1045 he decided to abdicate. As Desiderius, the abbot of Monte
Cassino (later Pope Victor III), put it, "Devoted to pleasure, he preferred
to live like Epicurus rather than like a pope." Consequently, he abdicated
and handed over the papacy to the worthy archpriest, John Gratian.
Benedict
did not go empty-handed. Gratian paid a large sum to get rid of this
offensive character.
The charms of retirement soon wore thin for Benedict, and a short time
after his abdication he was once more claiming to be pope. With Sylvester
III and Benedict IX fighting Gregory for the control of Rome, things were
in a frightful muddle. This was ended by Henry III, who had succeeded his
father Conrad II in 1039. Henry came down into Italy, cooperated with
Gregory to get rid of the pretensions of Sylvester and Benedict, and then
had a council demand and receive Gregory's abdication. Henry then put in a
German pope--Clement II.
Benedict made one more comeback. After the death of Clement II, he once
again entered Rome and held sway at the Lateran, but only from November
8,
1047 to July 17, 1048. Henry III insisted on his removal and brusquely
ordered Boniface, marquis of Tuscany, to expel Benedict.
What happened to Benedict after this is obscure. According to one report,
which it may be hoped is true, Benedict retired to the abbey of
Grottaferrata, resigned all claim to the papacy, and spent his last years
as a penitent.
Scandalous as Benedict had been, he carried on the routine business of the
papacy. And like the few other bad men who were popes, Benedict taught
nothing but the pure doctrine of Christ, though by so doing he condemned
and did not excuse his own evil life.
GREGORY VI
1045 -1046
Gregory VI is noted as the pope who purchased the papacy! Yet Gregory VI
was a good man, a good priest, and a good pope. What happened was this.
When the scandalous Benedict IX began to grow weary of being pope he
went
to his godfather, John Gratian, the worthy archpriest of St. John-at-the-
Latin-Gate, and asked him if it were legitimate for a pope to abdicate.
John joyously assured him that it was and urged Benedict to take a step so
profitable for the Church. Benedict, however, demanded compensation, and
John gave him a large sum of money he had at hand for some worthy
object.
He did not think the money could be better spent than in ridding the Church
of so scandalous a pastor. The good priest does not seem to have realized
that such a proceeding would itself give scandal as an act of simony,
especially since simony, the sale or purchase of sacred things, was an
abuse of the period.
John Gratian himself was elected to succeed Benedict. According to some
he
accepted reluctantly. He was consecrated as Gregory VI. His election was
hailed with joy, for the venerable priest enjoyed an excellent reputation.
The fiery reformer St. Peter Damian wrote from his Camaldolese monastery
to
congratulate Gregory and urge him to campaign vigorously against abuses.
Gregory took that advice. He tried hard to rule the Church well, and he
relied for help on his chaplain, a holy and able young monk named
Hildebrand. But it was a difficult task. The confusion of the years
preceding had caused anarchy in the Papal States. Armed bands roved
about.
The Pope's temporal authority was defied. Gregory tried first by gentle
means, then by raising an armed force, to restore order. But soon confusion
was worse confounded. Sylvester III, the antipope of 1044, came back to
Rome to dispute the papacy with Gregory. Worse still, Benedict IX, weary of
retirement, once more claimed the papal throne. Since each had his
supporters in the city, the turbulent state of affairs can be imagined. At
last a faction sent to Henry III and asked him to set things straight. Down
into Italy came King Henry, and Gregory went to meet him at Piacenza. He
cooperated with Henry and called a council at Sutri which declared that
Sylvester's election had been invalid. Benedict was passed over because he
had abdicated. Prospects for Gregory looked bright, but when Henry came
to
Rome for Christmas, another synod was held and it became evident that
King
Henry intended to oust Gregory. Using the excuse that Gregory had
committed
the sin of simony, the council demanded his abdication. The good man
freely
admitted that he had paid money to Benedict, but declared that he
considered the transaction justified by extraordinary circumstances. He now
acknowledged that he had done wrong and humbly begged pardon. Such
humility
was exemplary, but it did not satisfy Henry. He wanted the Pope out, and so
just before Christmas 1046, Gregory abdicated.
Henry sent the ex-pope to Germany as a state prisoner. With him went his
chaplain Hildebrand. Gregory died some time after 1047, but the date and
place of his death are unknown.
CLEMENT II
1046 - 1047
After Henry III had disposed of Gregory VI (and Sylvester III and Benedict
IX) the way was open for a new election. When the Romans meekly told
Henry
to select the new pope, he chose Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg.
Adalbert
definitely refused, but he suggested a substitute, Suidger, bishop of
Bamberg. Suidger was not particularly anxious to exchange his beloved
Bamberg for turbulent Rome; but Henry liked the idea and persuaded
Suidger
to accept. He was enthroned as Clement II.
Suidger was born in Saxony of noble parents. He entered the ecclesiastical
state and became chaplain of Herman, archbishop of Hamburg, canon of
Halberstadt, and finally in 1040, bishop of Bamberg. He was a holy man and
a kind one.
On Christmas Day 1046, Clement was enthroned. Immediately after the
ceremony the new pope crowned Henry and his wife Agnes. Henry not only
became emperor but assumed the title of Patrician, and to him the Romans
conceded the right of nominating the pope. So general was the disgust at
the irresponsible conduct of the Roman nobility that this act, which tended
to place the papacy in thraldom to the Emperor, was actually hailed with
joy even by reformers. And indeed as long as Henry III lived it worked well
enough. But the danger is that not every emperor is a Henry III.
Clement II wasted no time in starting his reform campaign. Early in January
1047 he held a synod in Rome which condemned simony and punished
those
guilty of this sin by excommunication. Indeed, anyone who knowingly even
accepted ordination at the hands of a simoniacal bishop was condemned to
do
penance for forty days. Clement sought the advice of the great St. Peter
Damian. This monk, whose outspokenness in denouncing abuses would
make a
modern gasp, did much to help Clement.
Clement accompanied Emperor Henry III in a progress through Southern
Italy.
At the Emperor's wish, the Pope excommunicated the people of Benevento
when
they refused to open their gates to the imperial party. Clement then
accompanied Henry at least to Northern Italy. At Pesaro he was struck down
by illness and on October 9, 1047, Clement II died. There was suspicion
that ex-Pope Benedict IX had poisoned him, but this suspicion does not
seem
to be justified.
Clement was an able and holy pope, but his pontificate had been too brief
to allow him to do more than make a good start toward reform. He granted a
number of privileges especially, of course, one to his beloved see of
Bamberg.
DAMASUS II
1048
When an embassy from Rome reported the death of Clement II to Emperor
Henry
III and asked him to name a new pope, the Emperor did not reply at once. A
conscientious man, he asked the advice of Wazo, bishop of Liege. Wazo,
after mature deliberation, informed the Emperor that Gregory VI should be
sent back to Rome. But Wazo's reflection was a little too mature. Henry had
grown impatient, and by the time Wazo's answer reached him, he had
already
made his choice. The Romans had asked for Halinard, bishop of Lyons, but
Halinard would not hear of becoming pope. Henry then named the Bavarian
Poppo, bishop of Brixen.
It was one thing for the Emperor in far-off Saxony to name Poppo as the
next pope. It was something else to get him seated on the papal throne in
St. Peter's. That throne was once more occupied by ex-Pope Benedict IX!
After Clement's death, Benedict, by judicious spending, had gained enough
supporters in Rome to make a comeback, and he was also backed by
Boniface,
the powerful marquis of Tuscany. Henry was detained in Germany, but he
ordered Marquis Boniface to escort Poppo to Rome and see to it that he
was
enthroned in St. Peter's. Boniface dared not disobey openly. He simply told
Poppo that Benedict now had full control over the city, and that now a poor
old man, he did not feel equal to the task of dislodging the ex-pope. Back
went Poppo to Henry with this disheartening message. Henry, not
unnaturally, was furious. He sent Poppo right back to the reluctant marquis
with an order to get Benedict out of Rome and install Poppo or face
trouble. This time Boniface's age did not interfere with his obedience. He
promptly ousted ex-Pope Benedict and finally on July 17, 1048, Poppo was
enthroned as Pope Damasus II.
Damasus had no chance to show what he could do as pope. July is a hot
month
in Rome and was probably too hot for the Bavarian pope. Though he quickly
got out of Rome and retired to rural Palestrina, he was soon a very sick
man. By August 9, Damasus II was dead. He was buried in the Church of
St.
Lawrence-Outside-the-Walls.
ST LEO IX
1049-1054
St. Leo IX, the first of a number of truly great reform popes, was born at
Egisheim in Alsace, June 21, 1002, of a family connected with the imperial
house. Bruno became a cleric quite young, and already in 1017 was a
canon
at Toul. When his father's cousin Conrad came to the throne, Bruno was
sent
to serve in the royal chapel. At court as at home he distinguished himself
by his goodness. In 1026 Bruno led his bishop's feudal levy into Italy to
support Conrad's demonstration. The next year Bruno became bishop of
Toul.
He worked hard to reform his diocese.
After the death of Damasus II, Henry III named his cousin Bruno to the
papacy. Bruno showed a spirit of independence by refusing to accept until
the Roman clergy elected him. Already popular with the Romans, Bruno was
enthusiastically received, and on February 12, 1049, he was enthroned as
Leo IX.
The great objective of the new Pope was reform. He held a Council at Rome
in April, 1049, which once more legislated against simony and clerical
marriage. Reform decrees already existed, but this time something new was
added--a personal determined effort on the Pope's part to get these decrees
enforced. Leo took to the road and at Pavia in North Italy, Mainz in
Germany, and Rheims in France the energetic Pope filled the bishops with
an
ardent will to cooperate with the reform.
While Leo's pontificate saw a grand start toward reform in the West, it
also witnessed the events leading to the sad Eastern Schism. Michael
Caerularius, the ambitious patriarch of Constantinople, launched an anti-
Western propaganda campaign to loosen the bonds of union. When he
proceeded
to close Latin churches in Constantinople and force Latin monks to adopt
the Greek rite, Leo protested. The Emperor forced the patriarch to give in,
but when Leo sent legates to investigate, they were defied by the
patriarch. The legates then on July 16, 1054, excommunicated the patriarch.
The patriarch thereupon revolted from Rome, and the sad Eastern Schism
had
begun. Leo died before this final break occurred.
Leo had been hearing bitter complaints about the brutal conduct of the
Normans in South Italy. He went to Germany for help, but though he got
little, he decided to lead an army against the Normans anyway. The tough
Normans routed the papal army and soon were battering at the gates of
Civitella, the papal headquarters. To avert more bloodshed, Leo
surrendered
himself to the enemy. His dignity accomplished more than his army. The
Normans, embarrassed at having the Pope a prisoner, promised to become
his
allies!
This campaign took a great deal out of Leo. A sick man, he covered the
distance back to Rome, but died piously on April 9,1054.
Among the interesting visitors received by Leo
was Shakespeare's famous Macbeth of Scotland. Leo arranged for the
appointment of a bishop for far-off Iceland. Not only a great leader and
administrator, Leo was a musician of note. He composed music for feasts of
St. Gregory and St. Columban. But more than all these, Leo was kind,
patient, humble--a true pope, a real saint.
VICTOR II
1055 - 1057
When St. Leo IX died, ex-pope Benedict IX made a final attempt to get back
in the papal throne. The Romans beat him off and then waited for the return
of Hildebrand before taking steps to elect a new pope. Hildebrand had been
in France working for reform and in Leo's name investigating a heretic
named Berengarius. He hurried back to Rome to find that the clergy were
anxious to have an independent election and that he was a favored
candidate. Though few more clearly realized the need for papal
independence
than Hildebrand, this monk was no fanatic. He knew that Emperor Henry III
would take it very ill if the Romans elected a pope without consulting him;
and he realized that Henry, a conscientious man, would pick a good
candidate. Therefore, Hildebrand persuaded the Romans to hold up the
election and send him to ask Emperor Henry to give the Romans a pope of
their choice. Under Hildebrand's guidance they chose Gebhardt, Bishop of
Eichstatt, a powerful minister of the Emperor. Henry, though reluctant to
lose his trusty councilor, consented. Gebhardt himself was also reluctant,
but finally he too consented and went down to Rome, where he was
joyously
elected and enthroned as Victor II on April 13, 1055.
Gebhardt, count of Calvi, Tollenstein, and Hirschberg, was born in Suabia
sometime around 1018. Through the influence of his uncle Gebhardt, bishop
of Ratisbon, young Gebhardt, though only twenty-four years old, received
the bishopric of Eichstatt. Young though he was, Gebhardt proved to be an
excellent bishop and a top-flight administrator. Henry soon drew him into
the imperial service and made him one of his most important ministers.
Victor II continued the strong reform policy of St. Leo. And while he was
not the man to truckle to the Emperor, he got along very well with him.
This close cooperation of Pope and Emperor enabled the work of reform to
go
forward with dispatch. Victor also secured restitution to papal control of
some territory and indeed also the addition of the Duchy of Spoleto to the
Papal States. He relied on Hildebrand to keep the papal finances in some
kind of order.
In 1056 Victor visited Henry III at Goslar. A clever diplomat, he succeeded
in appeasing the Emperor's wrath against the house of Tuscany. Countess
Beatrice and her daughter Matilda, who had been state prisoners, were
allowed to return to Italy. Matilda would later repay the papacy for
Victor's kindness. The Pope helped Henry on his death bed, and after this
untimely death Victor did much for the Empress Agnes and her boy Emperor
Henry IV, who was only six years old.
By the Lent of 1057 Victor was back in Rome. He used diplomacy to quiet
the
restless Normans of South Italy. He made Frederick, abbot of Monte
Cassino
and brother of Godfrey, duke of Lorraine, a cardinal. While he was in
Tuscany settling a jurisdictional dispute between the bishops of Arezzo and
Siena, he fell sick and on July 28, this fine reform pope died.
STEPHEN X
1057 - 1058
The pontificate of Stephen X marks a step forward in the fight for reform.
Preceding popes had struck hard at simony and clerical marriage. Now the
ax
began to swing at the root --lay control of church offices. It is true that
the strong hand and good heart of Henry III had rescued the papacy from
irresponsible Roman lords. Still imperial control of the papacy was
dangerous, and lay control of any church position from pope to abbot was
not only an evil, but a root of evils.
At the death of Victor II the situation favored a move toward papal
independence. Henry IV was a small boy. His mother, the empress-regent
Agnes, was not likely to raise too great a stir if a pope were elected
without waiting for her approval. Then too, the Romans acted shrewdly.
They
elected Cardinal Frederick, abbot of Monte Cassino and brother of Godfrey,
duke of Lower Lorraine and Tuscany. If anyone could make an independent
election stick, it would be a clergyman with such very powerful
connections.
The Romans' choice was good in many ways. Frederick was the son of
Gozelon,
duke of Lower Lorraine. After studies at St. Lambert's in Liege, Frederick
became a canon, and then archdeacon of that Church. St. Leo IX made him
chancellor and librarian of the Apostolic See. He became an important aid
to the great reforming pope. St. Leo sent him to Constantinople on the
mission which ended so sadly in the Eastern Schism. On his return,
Frederick was attacked by a robber baron and stripped of all the treasures
given to him by Emperor Constantine. Then, learning that Emperor Henry III
was angry with him, Frederick retired to Monte Cassino and became a
monk.
Elected abbot, he was consecrated by Pope Victor II and made cardinal-
priest of St. Chrysogonus.
Frederick was consecrated pope as Stephen X because his election took
place
on August 2, 1057, Pope St. Stephen's feast day. Stephen gathered around
him the great reformers of the age. He forced the fiery monk of Fonte
Avellano, St. Peter Damian, to become cardinal-bishop of Ostia. He sent
Hildebrand to smooth over the free election with Empress-Regent Agnes.
And
after the capable monk succeeded in this delicate mission, he was sent into
France to push on the work of reform.
The condition of the clergy in Milan was so bad that the city might be
considered a capital of the antireform party. The Milanese people, however,
rose against their unworthy pastors, and though given the contemptuous
name
of "patari", i.e., ragamuffins, they made matters hot for the abuse-ridden
clergy. While Pope Stephen moderated the violence of these eleventh-
century
vigilantes, he approved of their association.
For some reason, possibly to wage war on the troublesome South Italian
Normans, Stephen asked the monks of Monte Cassino to lend him all their
gold and silver. But when he saw that the
monks were less than delighted with the proposal, the good Pope relented
and let them bring their treasures back.
Like his German predecessors, Stephen was soon sick. He died on a trip to
Tuscany on March 29, 1058. To the Romans he left a legacy of good
advice--
not to elect a successor until the return of Hildebrand.
NICHOLAS II
1059 - 1061
The Romans did not have a chance to take the late Pope Stephen's advice
about waiting for Hildebrand before holding an election. When news of
Stephen's death arrived, Gregory, count of Tusculum, and other lords
swarmed into the city with their men-at-arms and took over the election. In
vain the cardinals protested; in vain St. Peter Damian lifted his voice. In
spite of the cardinals, a tumultuous mob proclaimed John, bishop of
Velletri, pope. He was enthroned as Benedict X. But the election was not
uncontested. Even at Rome in the Trastevere district, a group refused to
acknowledge Benedict. St. Peter Damian and the cardinals fled North. And
on
his way back from France, the man was coming for whose arrival Pope
Stephen
had wished the Romans to wait, Cardinal Hildebrand.
When Hildebrand learned that the house of Theophylactus was once more
trying to get control of the papacy, he acted swiftly. First he secured the
support of Duke Godfrey and of the German court. Then he held a meeting
with the cardinals at Siena at which Gerard of Burgundy, bishop of
Florence, was named pope-elect. Duke Godfrey and Wibert, the imperial
chancellor, mobilized at Sutri. Then after Gerard held a council which
declared Benedict deposed, the army marched on Rome. A little fighting
sent
Benedict and his barons flying. Then a great assembly gathered at the
Lateran to investigate the election of Benedict. The council declared the
election invalid and deposed Benedict. Gerard was elected and enthroned
as
Nicholas II.
Gerard was born in Burgundy, and like his predecessor he had been a
canon
at Liege. While bishop of Florence he had made a reputation as a reform
prelate. As pope he lived up to this reputation.
The main blow struck for reform by Nicholas was the promulgation of new
papal election decrees at a synod held at Rome in 1059. According to these
decrees the pope should be elected by the cardinal-bishops. The rest of the
clergy and the laity of Rome had the right to acclaim the election. The
pope should normally be a member of the Roman clergy, but in case of
necessity could come from outside Rome. The election, if possible, was to
be held at Rome; but if necessary, it could be held elsewhere. The pope-
elect was to wield full authority even if he could not reach Rome. Imperial
control was limited to a personal right granted by the pope to confirm
papal elections.
These decrees, an important move toward papal independence, were
bitterly
resented by the German court, and a papal legate, sent to smooth matters
over, was turned away. A German synod dared to condemn the decrees
and
declare Nicholas II deposed. But Nicholas could ignore the angry clamor,
for he had two strong supports in Duke Godfrey and the Normans. Nicholas
had secured the aid of the Normans at Melfi in 1059. At a meeting there,
the Pope agreed to recognize Robert Guiscard as duke of Apulia, and the
Normans agreed to supply the strong arms Nicholas needed to seize
Benedict
and maintain his independence.
In his short pontificate Nicholas did much. He renewed the election decrees
in 1061. He condemned Berengarius, a Frenchman who denied
transubstantiation. He fostered reform by means of energetic legates; and
he made Hildebrand, reform's greatest champion, archdeacon of the Roman
church.
Nicholas II died at Florence in July 1061.
ALEXANDER II
1061-1073
The death of Nicholas II and the anger which his election decrees had
aroused in the German court raised the hopes of the Roman barons. Eager
to
outflank the cardinals, they sent to the Empress Agnes to ask her to give
Rome a pastor. But the cardinals proceeded to elect one of the foremost
reformers of Italy, Anselm, bishop of Lucca. Hildebrand persuaded the
reluctant Anselm to accept; and he was enthroned as Alexander II on
October
1, 1061.
Anselm was born near Milan and studied in the famous monastery of Bec
under
Lanfranc. As a member of the Milanese clergy he became a leader of the
Patari, those embattled folk who made things miserable for evil-living
priests. Archbishop Guido got the fiery Anselm out of Milan by having him
made bishop of Lucca, but Anselm continued to encourage the Patari and
even
returned to Milan as papal legate with Hildebrand.
Before this zealous pope could devote himself to reform he had to establish
himself on a throne set shaking by intrigue. The antireform party and the
Roman nobles had secured the ear of Empress Agnes, and at a council held
at
Basel in October 1061, the antireform candidate Cadalus, bishop of Pavia,
was declared pope by young Henry IV. In spite of St. Peter Damian's fiery
expostulation, Cadalus accepted and called himself Honorius II. Alexander,
however, had a powerful friend in Godfrey, duke of Tuscany. And soon in a
palace revolution Anno, archbishop of Cologne, replaced Empress Agnes as
the power behind the young king's throne. Anno held a diet at Augsburg in
October 1062 which decided in favor of Alexander.
Safe on his throne, Alexander blasted away at abuses. He held a synod at
the Lateran in 1063 which condemned Cadalus and passed a series of
reform
decrees. One of these reflects the vigilante attitude of the Milanese
Patari. It forbade lay folk to hear the Mass of a priest who did not live
chastely.
Cadalus advanced on Rome with an army, but Duke Godfrey and the
Normans
drove him back. To break the antipope's morale a great council was held at
Mantua in 1064, and once more Alexander was proclaimed legitimate pope.
Though Cadalus continued to claim to be pope, he sank from being a
menace
to being a minor nuisance
The Normans also gave trouble to the Pope when they tried to take over
Rome
in 1066. Godfrey came to the rescue, and after a little fighting, more
talking, and the payment of a round sum of money, the Normans went
home. In
other directions Alexander II encouraged the Normans. He blessed a banner
for William, duke of Normandy, and approved of his famous expedition to
England. He encouraged the Italian Normans to attack Sicily and begin the
reconquest of that island from the Moslems.
Alexander's great work was pushing the reform movement. He not only
enacted
decrees but strove with all his might to get them carried out. No respecter
of persons, he refused to annul the marriage of Henry IV. He deposed
simoniacal bishops no matter how influential, and his legates carried the
fight into far corners. He boldly excommunicated King Henry's advisers
when
they practiced simony. When Alexander II died on April 21, 1073, he had
prepared the way for Hildebrand, and he had fired the opening gun in the
great fight against lay investiture.
ST. GREGORY VII
1073 - 1085
Hildebrand was born of poor parents at Soana in Tuscany. Educated at a
Roman monastery and the Lateran school, he became a monk. Pious,
bursting
with energy, and gifted with administrative ability, the little monk was to
become a great pope. When his old teacher John Gratian, became Pope
Gregory
VI, he took Hildebrand into his service and ordered him to clean up the
city, tormented by violence and barefaced robbery, grim heirlooms of
Benedict IX's disorderly pontificate. The young monk organized a police
force which knocked some order into the Roman lordlings. At Gregory's
resignation Hildebrand followed him into Germany. At Gregory's death, he
retired to Cluny. Pope Leo IX took Hildebrand back to Rome and henceforth
he served as a strong right arm to the reforming popes. After Alexander II
died, the demand for Hildebrand was too great to be resisted. He was
consecrated as Gregory VII on June 30, 1073.
With St. Gregory VII the fight against abuses reached a new pitch of
intensity. This devout, very sincere man faced squarely the sad condition
of the Church. No fanatic, he concentrated on the worst abuses. Now the
root of abuse was the way kings and lords appointed bishops and abbots by
lay investiture. Gregory swung the ax at this root by absolutely banning
lay investiture at a Roman synod in 1075. The stage was set for the clash
with King Henry IV.
Henry had talked fair, but continued to act evilly. Cencius, a Roman noble
friendly to the king, broke in on Gregory's Christmas Mass and carried him
a prisoner to his tower. But the Romans swarmed so angrily around his
tower
that the rascal lord quickly released the outraged Pope.
Gregory then summoned Henry under pain of excommunication to appear
before
a Roman synod to answer charges. Henry's answer was to hold his own
synod
at Worms and have his subservient bishops condemn Gregory. The Pope
excommunicated Henry and released his subjects from their allegiance.
Saxony rose in arms and Henry's throne quaked when the nobles of
Germany
gathered at Tribur in October 1076. Gregory's legates persuaded the nobles
to give Henry a chance to repent before deposing him. A national diet under
the Pope's presidency was summoned at Augsburg for 1077.
Henry, knowing his unpopularity with many nobles, had no wish to face this
assembly. He hurried over the Alps before Gregory could reach Germany.
As a
suppliant he appeared before the castle of Canossa where Gregory had
retired. Cleverly the King stood shivering in a penitential garb while
Countess Matilda, the Pope's hostess, and St. Hugh of Cluny pleaded for
mercy. Gregory knew he should await the Augsburg meeting, but he had
been
jockeyed by Henry into a position where he simply had to absolve the king.
Once absolved, Henry went back to his old ways. He set up an antipope, the
abuse-loving Guibert of Ravenna. He defeated the German nobles,
captured
Rome, and installed his creature in the Lateran as Clement III. Gregory,
besieged in the Castle of St. Angelo, was rescued by the Normans. But
soon
he had to leave Rome. Worn out the brave old saint died at Salerno in 1085.
"I have loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile," he
said; but he had paved the way for a better future. He was canonized by
Benedict XIII in 1728.
BLESSED VICTOR III
1086 - 1087
Few have been more reluctant to accept the papacy than the monk who
became
Victor III. Dauferius was born of the noble family of the princes of
Benevento. Though his family planned a marriage for him, Dauferius was
determined to be a monk. When his father died fighting the Normans,
Dauferius escaped the watch of his relatives and entered a monastery. But
the enraged relatives hunted him down, tore off his religious habit and
hustled the would-be monk home. Dauferius, however, had a mind of his
own,
and soon escaped again. This time his relatives agreed to let him remain a
monk. As a Benedictine monk, he received the name Desiderius.
In spite of his aversion to honor and power, his sweet disposition and
pronounced ability caught the attention of the reforming Popes. St. Leo IX
and Victor II took a great liking to the young Benedictine, and Stephen X
made him abbot of Monte Cassino. Desiderius proved to be one of the
greatest in the long line of Cassinese abbots. Desiderius found the old
abbey in a ruinous state and energetically undertook a wide-scale
rebuilding program. Under his leadership there rose a chapter house, an
abbots' house, a library, a dormitory, and a great church. From far-off
Constantinople he procured artists in mosaic and marble to beautify his
church. Pope Alexander II consecrated it in 1071.
No mere bricks-and-mortar abbot, Desiderius took great pains to help his
monks advance in the spiritual life. Nor was he neglectful of the abbey's
intellectual life. He was zealous to secure manuscripts for his library,
among them works of Cicero, Ovid, and Virgil.
As abbot of Monte Cassino, Desiderius was a great personage in Southern
Italy. This power he used loyally to back the reform popes. Nicholas II
made him a cardinal and papal legate. He had great influence with the
Normans, and it was he who secured their help for St. Gregory VII in his
time of need. It is not surprising that when Gregory VII died, Abbot
Desiderius was sought as his successor. But Desiderius simply would not
agree to accept the heavy honor. At last on Pentecost Sunday, May 24,
1086,
the exasperated Cardinals and clergy carried Desiderius to the Church of
St. Lucy, and forcibly clothing him with the papal mantle, called him
Victor III. But four days later Victor put off the papal insignia and
withdrew to Monte Cassino. It was almost a year before he finally consented
to serve as pope. At a great council held at Capua in 1087 Victor at last
surrendered. When the Normans drove antipope Guibert out of Rome,
Victor
was solemnly enthroned in St. Peter's May 9, 1087.
Much could be hoped for from such a pope as Blessed Victor III; but his
health was shattered, and his short pontificate was stormy. Unable or
unwilling to maintain himself in Rome against Antipope Guibert, Victor held
a council at Benevento which once more excommunicated the antipope and
once
more condemned lay investiture.
After this Victor sank rapidly until on September 16, 1087, the gentle Pope
died at Monte Cassino. He was buried in his beloved monastery.
BLESSED URBAN II
1088 -1099
Odo of the knightly family of Lagery was born around 1042 at Chatillon-sur
Marne in Champagne. His parents were pious and Odo followed their
example.
After studies at Rheims under St. Bruno, the founder of the great
Carthusian order, Odo became a canon and archdeacon of Rheims. But he
left
rank and honor to be a monk at Cluny. There under the great abbot St.
Hugh
he progressed mightily in the spiritual life and was made prior. When St.
Gregory VII asked Hugh for some monks who would make good bishops,
Hugh
sent Odo to Rome. Made cardinal-bishop of Ostia in 1078, Odo served
Gregory
with loyalty and skill in the fight against Henry IV, Antipope Guibert, and
church abuses. As legate in Germany from 1082 to 1085, Odo did
accomplish
much for reform by securing the election of worthy bishops. He held a synod
in Saxony which passed reform decrees and condemned Antipope Guibert.
After
the short pontificate of Victor III, Odo was elected pope by acclamation on
March 12, 1088. He took the name Urban II.
Urban never knew lasting peace in the bitter fight with Henry IV. He was in
and out of Rome a number of times, and at his death the struggle was far
from ended. But more important than the monotonous ups and downs in the
struggle for reform was the great event which did so much to change the
Middle Ages--the crusade.
The East had been swamped by a horde of Seljuk Turks who had swarmed
out of
Central Asia to threaten the Eastern Empire and make life miserable for
Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. The great St. Gregory VII had planned
to organize a crusade in answer to anguished appeals from the shaky
Eastern
Empire, but the fight over lay investiture had prevented him from doing
this. Now Urban II decided to do something about it. Most eager to end the
unfortunate Eastern Schism, Urban was anxious to oblige the Emperor.
Indeed
he absolved Alexius from excommunication. Besides recovering the Holy
Sepulcher of Christ, Urban hoped that the expedition would lead to reunion
of the Eastern Church with Rome and that given a nobler ideal to fight for,
the warriors of the West would rise above petty squabbles. Accordingly, in
November 1095 Urban assembled at Clermont in France 13 archbishops,
225
bishops, and 90 abbots. After the council passed reform decrees, Urban
addressed the assembly in words which set the West ablaze with ardor.
"God
wills it!" was the enthusiastic reply, and from the great feudal
principalities came hard-fighting knights led by Godfrey of Lorraine,
Robert of Nomandy, Hugh of Vermandois, Raymond of Toulouse, and
Bohemond of
Norman Italy. To control these strong personalities, Urban appointed
Adhemar, bishop of Le Puy, as his legate.
Urban worked hard to make the crusade a success. And before his death
Jerusalem had fallen to the Christian army; but before he could hear the
good news, Urban II died on July 27, 1099. From the time of his death
Urban
was honored for his sanctity, but it was only in 1881 that he was
officially beatified by Leo XIII.
PASCHAL II
1099 - 1118
It is usually tragic when one who vividly realizes his lack of aptitude for
a position is forced to accept it. Such was the pathetic situation of the
gentle monk Rainerius who became pope in a stormy time.
Rainerius was born in Blera near Faenza in Italy. From his early youth, he
was a monk. Sent to Rome by his monastery, he caught the eye of Gregory
VII, who made him cardinal-priest of St. Clement's. He also became abbot
of
St. Lawrence's. Under Urban II he served as legate, and at Urban's death
he
was chosen to succeed the crusader pope. Aghast at the thought, Rainerius
fled, but was discovered and brought back. Practically forced to be pope,
he took the name Paschal II.
A mild, peaceable man, Paschal at first seemed to have fallen on happy
days. The formidable Henry IV first abdicated, then died. Henry V, his son,
had overthrown his father and had promised much to the Church. But once
secure on his throne, Henry V was as bad as his father. Paschal
condemned
lay investiture, but soon Henry V was marching on Rome with two
objectives:
imperial coronation and permission to practice lay investiture.
Paschal made a revolutionary attempt to end the lay investiture quarrel
once and for all by having churchmen give up their feudal possessions. How
then could they live? By alms. The solution was beautiful and simple. Too
simple. The great German prince-bishops and lord-abbots looked bleakly on
the proposal while Henry himself was not enthusiastic. He liked the idea of
great church vassals; all he wanted was to control them. The proposal was
considered, however, and Henry entered Rome peacefully on February 12,
111.
But when the time came for Henry's coronation, the affair exploded in a
stormy scene in St. Peter's. The Germans would not hear of Paschal's plan
to extricate the Church from the octopus grasp of feudal ties. Angrily they
demanded that Paschal crown Henry at once. When Paschal refused, Henry
carried him off a prisoner. The cardinal of Tusculum rallied the Romans and
forced Henry to evacuate the city. But he dragged the Pope with him. At
last when rescue seemed impossible, and Henry brutally threatened to
butcher or mangle the companions of the Pope, the gentle Paschal gave
way
and agreed to allow Henry to practice lay investiture. Henry then released
Paschal, followed him to Rome, and was crowned emperor on April 13,
1111.
Scarcely had the news of Paschal's surrender spread when indignant
messages
rained in on the poor Pope. He was accused of being weak, which was true;
of being heretical, which was false. The tortured Pope put off the papal
robes and fled to a desert island. Alarmed, the reform party brought him
back. They then prevailed on Paschal to revoke his concession to Henry,
since it was granted by force, and once more condemn lay investiture.
For some years Paschal had peace because Henry was busy in Germany,
but in
1117 the Emperor once more took Rome. Paschal fled to Benevento, but
soon
he was able to return to Rome. He died there on January 21, 1118. Though
Paschal II had had a tormented pontificate, he did have the satisfaction of
seeing the lay investiture question reasonably settled in England by Henry
I and St. Anselm.
GELASIUS II
1118 - 1119
When Conrad of Salzburg, a gallant fighter for reform, heard that John
Coniulo had become Pope Gelasius II, he cried out: "Among the cardinals a
worse choice could not have been made than John, but there may be some
virtue in Gelasius." There was indeed. Few suffered so much in so short a
time for ecclesiastical liberty as Gelasius II.
John Coniulo was born of noble parents at Gaeta. He became a monk at
Monte
Cassino, but Urban II brought him to Rome to serve as chancellor. Urban
wished to improve the style of papal documents, and it was for this that he
called on John. John did much to improve the style of papal documents. He
served Urban and Paschal loyally. Indeed, it was his unswerving loyalty to
Paschal II in his time of trial that had aroused the suspicions of the more
extreme reformers.
When Paschal died, Rome was torn between papal and imperial factions.
The
cardinals managed to meet in a monastery, and there they elected John of
Coniulo. He accepted and was called Gelasius II. His initiation into the
papacy was rude. A nobleman named Cencius Frangipane broke into the
monastery, grabbed Gelasius by the throat, threw him to the ground and
actually kicked the old man with his spurred feet. Then he dragged him off
by the hair and threw him into a dungeon. The Romans, infuriated, went
right after the ruffian and soon secured the Pope's release.
This brutal act was seemingly a sideshow to the main struggle with Henry V
over lay investiture. Henry, as soon as he learned of the election, hurried
to Rome to put pressure on the new pope. Gelasius quickly showed his
mettle. He fled and took a ship down river to Porto. The Germans chased
the
Pope and fired arrows at his ship. Unable to get to sea because of a
furious storm, the old Pope left his galley and made his painful way to the
castle of Ardea thirty miles distant. There followed a grim game of hide
and seek as the Germans scoured the countryside, but Gelasius gave his
pursuers the slip, got back safely on his ship and sailed away to Gaeta.
There he was ordained priest on March 9, and bishop the next day.
When Henry set up Maurice, archbishop of Braga, as antipope, Gelasius
excommunicated Henry and his "idol." The Normans helped Gelasius get
back
to Rome but could not clear the city of the antipope's forces. Gelasius was
chanting vespers in the Church of St. Praxed when the Frangipani burst in.
The old Pope managed to get on a horse and fly. He was found by his
friends
in a field outside the city.
Disgusted with Rome, he left for France. After consecrating the new
cathedral at Pisa, he reached France safely and there was treated royally.
Gelasius worked hard, but his health was shattered. When he realized that
he was dying, he. asked to be carried to the monastery of Cluny, and there
in that wellspring of reform the gallant Gelasius II died on January 29,
1119.
CALIXTUS II
1119 -1124
Blue blood of blue bloods was Guy of Vienne who became Calixtus II. Guy
was
born probably at Quingey in 1060, the son of William, count of Burgundy. By
blood or marriage he was related to Emperor Henry V, Henry I of England,
Louis VI of France, and Alfonso VII of Castile. Guy became a priest when
quite young and soon rose to be archbishop of Vienne. He acted as legate
for Paschal II and held a council at Vienne which boldly excommunicated
Henry V when that monarch wrested the privilege of lay investiture from
poor Paschal. The council urged Paschal to confirm its decrees and hinted
that he had better do so--or suffer worse! Since Paschal did so, there was
no trouble; but the incident reveals a lack of perfection in Guy's
obedience and loyalty. He was, however, a strong reform bishop and a
popular one. Elected pope by the cardinals at Cluny, Guy was most
reluctant
to accept; but finally all objections were overruled and he was enthroned
at Vienne on February 9,1119, as Calixtus II.
The outstanding event of this pontificate was the settlement of the lay
investiture quarrel. While Calixtus captured Henry's antipope at Sutri,
Henry was meeting much opposition in Germany. And all this time a great
tide of public opinion favoring a peaceful settlement was rising swiftly.
After some preliminary negotiations, Henry held a great diet at Worms in
September 1122 to discuss the matter. After heated discussions, the papal
legates and the Emperor drew up a concordat or agreement between
Church and
State. By this concordat the Emperor renounced the right of investiture by
ring and crozier, thus conceding the independence of the spiritual power.
The Pope allowed investiture by scepter as a symbol of the temporal fiefs
connected with the bishopric or abbey. Thus while the principle of
spiritual independence was saved, the legitimate rights of civil rulers to
some control over fiefs was safeguarded. The Emperor guaranteed free
elections, but the Pope agreed that the Emperor could be present at
elections, a concession which could easily make free elections a mockery
The Concordat of Worms was hailed as a victory for the Church and sent
papal prestige skyrocketing. In cold sober fact it left the Church still
far too open to secular control. At any rate Henry was released from
censures, and men rejoiced in the peace that followed.
In March 1123 Calixtus held the ninth ecumenical council, the First
Lateran. This, attended by over 300 bishops and 600 abbots, confirmed the
Concordat of Worms. It passed the usual reform decrees and one striking
new
one. Before this, if a priest married, the marriage, though illicit and
sinful, was valid. Now such a marriage was declared null and void; in other
words, no marriage.
Calixtus II favored St. Norbert and approved the Premonstratensian order.
He also approved the Knights of St. John or Hospitallers, that famous
crusading order. An able spiritual ruler, Calixtus proved also a capable
king. Heads literally rolled when he stormed the castles of lawless Roman
lords. Even in turbulent Rome itself there was a momentary pause in the
clash of arms. No wonder an old chronicler calls Calixtus II, "the father
of peace."
Calixtus II died on December 13, 1124.
HONORIUS II
1124 - 1130
In sharp contrast to the high-born blue blood Calixtus II, his successor
Lambert was born of a poor family. But in the Middle Ages the Church
provided a career open to talent, and of talent Lambert had plenty. About
his early life little is known except that he was born at Fiagnano near
Imola. He must have had a good education for he had the reputation of
being
crammed full of literature. He became archdeacon of Bologna and then
under
Urban II joined the papal court. Paschal II made him cardinal-bishop of
Ostia and Calixtus II sent him as legate to the famous Diet of Worms. There
his diplomatic skill helped to bring an end to the lay investiture
struggle. This success gave Lambert a reputation and made him an
outstanding possibility for the papacy. Yet his election was to be most
peculiar.
With the strong hand of Calixtus removed, Rome rapidly returned to its
customary disorder. The powerful Frangipane family wished to secure the
election of Lambert, but the popular choice was Cardinal Saxo. The
cardinals, as often happens chose neither favorite, but a dark horse,
Theobald Buccapecu, who was called Celestine II. But while the cardinals,
Lambert among them, were singing the Te Deum, the irritated Frangipani
began to shout, "Lambert Pope!" and without more ado hustled Lambert off
to
a throne and proclaimed him Honorius II. A nasty schism was in the making,
but Theobald, a good humble man, seeing that most of the cardinals went
over to Honorius, resigned. Honorius also had qualms. Calling the cardinals
together he too resigned; but though the cardinals accepted the
resignation, they immediately re-elected him. His conscience appeased,
Honorius accepted.
Although the lay investiture quarrel had been settled at Worms, Honorius
might have had trouble with Henry V. That wily monarch was not proving to
be overnice in his fulfillment of the Concordat. But Henry died in 1125 and
with him ended the Salian dynasty. His successor, Lothair of Supplinburg,
loyally carried out the Concordat. Honorius, in turn, loyally backed
Lothair against a rebellion raised by Henry's nephew, Frederick of
Hohenstaufen.
When Roger of Sicily tried to take over South Italy, Honorius used both
spiritual and temporal arms to stop him. Roger defied both, and Honorius
gave in and allowed Roger to unite South Italy and Sicily. Honorius had to
intervene strongly to restore good order in the great monasteries of Monte
Cassino and Cluny. He also tried to settle the quarrel between Latin
bishops in Palestine.
A positive achievement was the solemn confirmation of the
Premonstratensian
Order in 1126. Honorius also approved the order of Knights Templar. These
fighting monks along with the Hospitallers were a mighty bastion to the
Kingdom of Jerusalem.
In 1130 Honorius felt that he was dying. Since Cardinal Pierleone openly
planned to succeed him, Honorius withdrew to a monastery on the Celian.
Even there his deathbed was disturbed. A rumor of his death brought
Pierleoni swarming around the monastery, and they dispersed only when
the
sick Pope showed himself at a window. Honorius died on February 14,
1130.
INNOCENT II
1130 - 1143
If the Frangipani had forcibly thrust their candidate into the papal throne
in the person of Honorius, their rivals, the Pierleoni, were ready to take
over on the death of Honorius. But they had a big difficulty. Their
candidate, Peter Pierleone himself, although formerly a monk of Cluny and
now a cardinal, was not noted for his ecclesiastical character. And so when
his faction openly prepared to put the eager Pierleone on the throne of
Peter, the alarmed cardinals made an agreement to entrust the election to a
committee of eight. This committee elected Cardinal Gregory Papareschi of
St. Angelo, who took the name Innocent II. The Pierleoni refused to give
in, and other cardinals of their faction elected Peter, who took the name
Anacletus II. The Church was faced by a schism.
Innocent had to fly from Rome to France, but if Rome rejected him, the
Church did not. To his support rallied the two most respected and powerful
personalities in Europe, St. Bernard and St. Norbert, and in their train
came the Emperor and the kings of France and England; Roger of Sicily
was
the only great ruler to support Anacletus. After the death of Anacletus,
the schism fizzled out. Though Roger set up another antipope, he soon
submitted.
Innocent II was a man of high character against whom even his enemies
had
nothing to say. Indeed it was his excellent reputation in contrast to that
of Anacletus which had moved St. Bernard to support him so vigorously. A
Roman of the Trastevere district, Innocent had become a monk and then
abbot
and was made cardinal by Blessed Urban II. He had served with distinction
at the Council of Worms.
Much could be expected from such a pope, but political difficulties plagued
Innocent. His greatest achievement was the general council held at the
Lateran in 1139. Here over 500 bishops and abbots passed a series of
reform
decrees which confirmed those of St. Gregory VII. But the clash of arms
distracted the Pope during much of his reign.
Innocent had taken stern measures against Anacletus and his followers. He
had even proclaimed a crusading indulgence for those who would fight
against that arch supporter of the schism, Roger of Sicily. But Roger had
his revenge. The Pope, in a dispute over Capua, advanced with an army
against the Normans. The armies clashed on the Garigliano with disastrous
results for Innocent. The Pope and his whole court were taken prisoner by
the redoubtable Roger! Roger, like Robert Guiscard with St. Leo IX, treated
the Pope deferentially, but he made Innocent confirm the royal title which
Anacletus had given him. On his part he agreed to hold the Kingdom of
Sicily as a fief from the Pope.
Innocent gave Rome good government and beautiful churches. But the
Romans
proved ungrateful. Because the Pope tried to moderate their vengeance
against Tivoli, the Romans revolted and set up a republic. In the midst of
all this turmoil, Innocent II died on September 24, 1143.
CELESTINE II
1143 - 1144
Following Innocent's death, Rome enjoyed the first peaceful papal election
for years. While the barons kept their swords sheathed, the cardinals
unanimously elected Guido de Castellis, the cardinal-priest of St. Mark. He
took the name Celestine II.
Guido was born either at Citta de Castellis on the Tiber or Macerata in the
March of Ancona. Authorities differ as to his birthplace, but it is certain
that he was a man of excellent character. He had studied under Peter
Abelard and greatly admired this powerful thinker and brilliant lecturer.
Indeed, the outspoken St. Bernard, who regarded Abelard with high
suspicion, warned Guido, then a cardinal, not to carry his love for his old
teacher to the point of loving his errors.
Learned and hard-working, Guido rose in the ranks of the Church. He
served
in the papal court and was created cardinal by Honorius II in 1127. In the
stormy times when Innocent II was opposed by Pierleone or Anacletus II,
Guido from the first stood by Innocent. Innocent raised him to the rank of
cardinal-Priest of St. Mark.
Celestine's election was hailed with high satisfaction. Great hopes were
entertained, but Celestine, quite an old man, was soon to die.
His one achievement was the reconciliation of King Louis VII. This settled
a painful problem left over from Innocent's reign. Louis had forbidden the
canons of Bourges to elect Pierre de la Chatre archbishop, but the chapter
defied the king and elected Pierre. Louis thereupon determined that though
the canons might elect Pierre, he would see to it that the new archbishop
never sat on his episcopal throne. Pierre appealed to Pope Innocent against
this highhanded interference, and the Pope bluntly stated that Louis was
but a boy and must be educated. He personally consecrated Pierre
archbishop, and when the king still refused to let him into Bourges,
Innocent put an interdict on every place the king might enter. This meant
that such places could have only the most necessary church services and
these performed without solemnity.
The count of Champagne, one of France's great feudal lords, gave the
exiled
archbishop asylum. There was bad blood between king and count, and
soon,
despite the efforts of St. Bernard, war flamed out in Northern France. In
this struggle occurred the horrible affair in which over a thousand people
were burned to death in a church at Vitry.
The war still dragged on and the interdict still hung heavy over Louis when
Innocent died. St. Bernard, the count of Champagne, and finally King Louis
himself, all pleaded with the new pope to bring about peace. This Celestine
succeeded in doing. The king allowed Archbishop Pierre to enter his
cathedral city, and Celestine removed the interdict.
Celestine was quite determined to choose a foreign policy of his own.
Unlike Innocent, he was
not satisfied with Stephen's title to rule England. Still less did he like
the concessions Innocent had made to Roger of Sicily. Perhaps it was as
well for the Pope that he died before trying conclusions with that tough
and capable Norman.
Celestine II died on March 8, 1144. He was buried in the Lateran.
LUCIUS II
1144 - 1145
This pope's life presents an interesting paradox. Defied and set at naught
in his own city by the turbulent Romans, he found his fingers on the pulse
of Europe.
Gerard Caccianemici was a native of Bologna. His was the standard
successful career in the papal service. Canon of St. John Lateran, papal
librarian, chancellor of the Apostolic See, and cardinal, he rose steadily
under Popes Honorius II and Innocent II. There are no extant details of his
election to the papacy. Gerard was consecrated March 12, 1144. He took
the
name Lucius II.
Though he ruled less than a year and was forced to fight to control his own
city, Pope Lucius yet found time to send legates to and receive embassies
from the far corners of Europe. The king of Portugal sent to Lucius to
commend Portugal to the Pope as a feudal fief. Historians consider that
when Lucius accepted the homage of Alfonso Henriquez the independence
of
Portugal was assured. The City of Corneto, once papal territory, returned
voluntarily to the Pope's lordship in the time of Lucius. Humbert, lord of
Pringins, a castle near Lake Geneva, came to Rome to offer feudal homage
to
the pope.
But what a different picture at home! At first indeed the Romans accepted
the Pope. Relations between Celestine and King Roger of Sicily had been
badly strained, but Lucius was a personal friend of Roger's--indeed, had
stood godfather to one of his children. And so when Pope Lucius and Roger
met at a conference at Ceprano, there was good hope for peace. But in
spite
of the friendship of the principals, peace did not come. The cardinals and
the Romans were quite anti-Norman, and through their efforts the
conference
broke up. Roger, enraged, sent his mail-clad knights against the Pope and
soon even the Romans had to agree to a truce.
But if the Normans subsided, the Romans did not. Angry at the Pope's
peace
policy and filled with delusions of grandeur, they set up the republic.
Jordan of the Pierleoni family, a brother of the old antipope Anacletus,
was made Patrician. Pope Lucius, in distress, turned to Emperor Conrad,
but
Conrad was deaf to his appeals even when St. Bernard added his voice to
that of the Pope. Finally, Lucius turned to those natural enemies of the
Pierleoni, the Frangipani, and soon Rome rang with the clash of steel and
the hoarse war cries of barons and burghers. Jordan had fortified the
Capitol. The Frangipani operated from the Circus Maximus. According to
one
chronicle, Pope Lucius, leading an assault on the Capitol, was struck down
by enemy stones. The silence of most chronicles leads historians to-doubt
this, but at any rate Lucius did die on February 15, 1145.
BLESSED EUGENE III
1145 -1153
After the death of Lucius the cardinals withdrew to the Monastery of St.
Caesarius where, protected by Frangipani swords, they could elect a pope
in
peace. The election was speedy and surprising. Quickly the cardinals
chose,
not one of their own number, but Bernard, the Cistercian abbot of St.
Anastasius. He took the name Eugene III.
Bernard Paganelli was born in Pisa. He was a canon of the cathedral there
and a high official when he met St. Bernard. This meant a radical change.
He resigned his high offices to follow St. Bernard, that spiritual pied
piper, into a Cistercian monastery. When Innocent II asked St. Bernard to
send Cistercians to Rome, it was Bernard Paganelli who led the monks to
St.
Anastasius. There he attracted many vocations and the monastery was
flourishing when Bernard was elected pope.
Eugene was a man of real holiness, humble, kindly, and cheerful. If he was
severe, he was severe on principle as when he deposed the archbishops of
Mainz and York. He accomplished much for the church. He might have done
more if he had not been so troubled by the perennial Roman problem.
Eugene had to go to Farfa to be consecrated in peace. But soon, tired of
the excesses of Jordan, the Patrician, the Romans welcomed the Pope back
and agreed to a compromise. The office of Patrician was abolished. The
senate was to remain but to acknowledge the lordship of the Pope. This did
not work well and soon the disgusted Pope once more left the city.
The fall of Edessa. a bastion of the crusader kingdom, had alarmed Europe.
Eugene proclaimed the second crusade. St. Bernard preached it. Louis VII
of
France and Emperor Conrad III were its leaders. Weak leaders they proved
to
be. The Germans were cut up in Asia Minor, the French butchered in a
mountain defile. Louis and Conrad reached Jerusalem indeed, but rather as
pilgrims than war leaders. The crusade which had begun in hope ended in
disillusionment. So keenly did Eugene feel this that he left France.
The Pope was active in promoting the spiritual welfare of the church. He
received an embassy from the Catholic Armenians and sent those good
people
a letter of instruction. He arranged discussions with the Greeks. He held a
council at Rheims at which the Trinitarian vagaries of Gilbert de la Porree
were condemned. On the other hand the pope approved of the visions of the
holy mystic Hildegarde.
Though he had actually been guardian of France during the crusade,
Eugene
could not control his own city. Arnold of Brescia, whom the pope had once
pardoned, was now the idol of the factious Romans. Diplomacy and a show
of
force enabled Eugene to enter Rome once more in 1149, but he had so hard
a
time keeping order that he appealed to Conrad to come down and settle
matters. The Emperor died before he could do so. His nephew and
successor
agreed to come into Italy. He was to come many times and the popes would
not be pleased. Conrad's successor was Frederick Barbarossa.
Blessed Eugene died at Tivoli July 8, 1153. He was buried in St. Peter's
with great marks of veneration.
ANASTASIUS IV
1153 -1154
Though the successor of Eugene ruled less than two years, he earned
something of a reputation as an archeologist and an appeaser.
On the very day of Eugene's death the cardinals chose the vicar-general of
Rome, Conrad, cardinalbishop of Sabina, as his successor. Conrad took the
name Anastasius IV.
Conrad was a Roman by birth, probably the nephew of Pope Honorius II. He
had been a staunch supporter of Innocent II in the struggle with antipope
Anacletus. He enjoyed great prestige, but at the time of his election was
an infirm old man.
Anastasius IV was charitable and kind. He displayed a great interest in
archeology. He repaired the Pantheon, made important excavations under
the
Lateran, and found the bodies of the famous martyrs Saints Cyprian and
Justina.
When Pope Anastasius wrote to the holy nun Hildegarde asking to see her
writings so he could advance in virtue, the mystic roundly told him that he
neglected justice and that he must arouse himself and save his flock!
Anastasius is blamed also by the famous historian Otto of Freising for
appeasing the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
What happened was this: Frederick had, without the Pope's consent,
translated Wichmann, bishop of Naumburg, to the see of Magdeburg. Pope
Eugene had refused to approve of this. Anastasius sent a legate to confer
with Frederick about the matter, but Frederick without much ceremony sent
him back to the Pope. The poor legate died on the way and Frederick then
sent an embassy of his own. This embassy included Wichmann, the very
cause
of the trouble! Anastasius not only received the embassy, but he approved
of the translation and gave Wichmann the pallium.
This was a resounding victory for the Emperor. It may have had great
influence on his future policy. At any rate, Frederick felt that Anastasius
was a fine pope from his standpoint and hastened preparations for an
expedition to Rome. But Anastasius died before Frederick could arrive, and
the pope he was to deal with was the calm, capable Englishman Hadrian IV.
Anastasius died December 3, 1154. He was buried in a porphyry
sarcophagus
believed to have once sheltered the remains of St. Helena, mother of
Constantine.
HADRIAN IV
1154 - 1159
Hadrian's life is a consolation to those who make a slow start in life.
Born near St. Alban's, England, Nicholas Breakspear started slowly indeed.
Educated at the famous abbey of St. Albans, Nicholas was refused
admission
as a monk, probably owing to indolence. After further studies and some
drifting in France, he became abbot of the Monastery of St. Rufus near
Avignon. But the community grew to dislike him so much that for the sake of
peace Pope Eugenius removed him. The Pope, however, showed what he
thought
of Nicholas by making him bishop of Albano and cardinal.
Cardinal Nicholas was sent on a difficult and delicate mission. Norway and
Sweden were becoming restive because their bishops were under the
archbishop of Lund in Denmark. Nicholas handled this affair with great
wisdom and tact.
Shortly after he returned from his Scandinavian mission, Pope Anastasius
died and the cardinals elected Nicholas by acclamation. Unwillingly he
accepted. He took the name Hadrian IV.
The cardinals chose well. Hadrian was big. It is pleasant to relate that he
showered favors on St. Albans, the monastery which rejected him, and St.
Rufus, the monastery which had driven him out.
Hadrian is noteworthy as the only English pope --and also because he gave
Ireland to King Henry II of England. He allowed Arnold of Brescia, that
stormy petrel of Roman politics, to be executed. He fought the Normans and
was beaten by them at Benevento in 1156. But overshadowing all other
events
of his reign was the start of the papacy Hohenstaufen fight.
Frederick of Hohenstaufen, the emperor, was filled with absolutist ideas.
At first, indeed, he helped Hadrian, but a clash between an emperor
consumed with power lust, and a pope determined to be independent was
inevitable. At the diet of Besancon the growing strain snapped the cable of
understanding with a crash that reverberated around Europe. The Pope had
sent legates with a letter reproving the Emperor because he had allowed the
murder of the archbishop of Lund by a robber baron to go unpunished. In
the
letter Hadrian appealed to the Emperor's gratitude because of the benefits
he had given him. The Germans took this to mean that the Pope claimed to
have given Frederick the empire as a fief! Frederick sent the delegates
packing, and although Hadrian explained that by the word "beneficia" he
meant not fiefs but benefits, real peace did not come.
In 1158 Frederick captured Milan, and with the Lombard cities overawed,
proceeded to hold the famous diet of Roncaglia. There he played the
absolutist, and practically destroyed the self-rule of the Lombard cities.
Hadrian demanded that he recognize the Pope's independence in Rome.
Frederick's answer was to stir up the Romans to drive Hadrian out of the
city. Hadrian threw his support to the embattled communes of Lombardy. In
the midst of this strife Hadrian died at Anagni, September 11, 1159.
ALEXANDER III
1159 -1181
Roland Bandinelli, who succeeded Hadrian IV, was a man of great qualities
of character and mind. He had taught canon law at Bologna at the very time
when Gratian was at work on his monumental decree. Pope Eugene III
made him
a cardinal and chancellor of the Apostolic See. Much could be expected
from
such a pope and much was accomplished; but owing to imperial
interference,
the Pope was not free to devote himself entirely to constructive activity
until the last years of his long pontificate.
What happened was this. Hadrian's death had left Rome seething. Most of
the
cardinals wished to hold the election at Anagni far from the Roman mob, but
the Romans quickly stopped that. They refused to allow Hadrian to be
buried
until all was set for the election. In spite of all the imperialists'
efforts, Cardinal Roland Bandinelli was elected by a large majority. Then
followed an undignified scene. Cardinal Octavian, the imperialist
candidate, tried to tear the papal mantle away from Roland, then produced a
mantle of his own, and fighting off the angry cardinals, made his way to
the high altar of St. Peter's, where he announced his election as Victor
IV. The imperialists acclaimed him with enthusiasm and forced the real pope
to retire to a fortress for safety. Alexander III, as the new pope chose to
be called, thus began his pontificate in strife.
Emperor Frederick naturally backed Octavian. He called a council at Pavia,
and when Alexander refused to have anything to do with it, the council
finally proclaimed Octavian or Victor IV true pope. But if the Emperor and
his minions backed Octavian, most of Europe rallied to Alexander. Yet for
years the fight went on. It was under these circumstances that Henry II of
England and St. Thomas of Canterbury fought over the Constitutions of
Clarendon, and if Alexander seemed to lack firmness sometimes in dealing
with the fierce Plantagenet, his delicate circumstances must be kept in
mind.
At last Alexander forged the alliance between pope, Normans of Sicily, and
Lombard communes which was to check the haughty Frederick. After many
vicissitudes Frederick's German chivalry went down before the Italian
burghers at Legnano in 1176, and the next year at Venice a truce was
signed
between Alexander and Frederick which brought peace.
Once peace gave him the opportunity, Alexander called the tenth general
council, the Third Lateran, to meet in 1179. At his council many decrees
were passed reforming the Church and remedying outstanding social
abuses.
Tournaments were strictly forbidden, the truce of God reemphasized, and
excommunication hurled at those who robbed poor shipwrecked people.
Alexander was a great defender of the downtrodden. Jews enjoyed his
protection and indeed even occupied positions in the papal service. He took
many steps to help the poor and was always quick to praise rulers who did
something for their poorer subjects.
Even greater was Alexander's contribution to education. He protected
masters from undue exactions for the license to teach, he insisted on
freedom for those who were competent to teach, he worked to spread free
education "so that the poor may rejoice." He has been called Europe's first
minister of education.
Alexander III died August 31, 1181, at Civita Castellana. The Romans, once
more in a state of turmoil, insulted his body, but the North Italian city
states have left him an epitaph and a monument in the city which checked
Frederick Barbarossa, the city named after the great Pope--Alessandria.
LUCIUS III
1181-1185
Ubaldus Allucingolus, who succeeded Alexander III, was born at Lucca
probably in 1097. At any rate he was quite an old man when elected pope.
His election, in contrast to Alexander's, was quiet. The cardinals were
unanimous for Ubaldus. He took the name Lucius III.
Ubaldus studied canon law at Pisa, took the Cistercian habit from St.
Bernard, was made cardinalpriest by Innocent II, and cardinal-bishop by
Eugenius III. He served on legations to the emperor at Constantinople and
to the Norman court at Palermo. He had been a commissioner at the peace
conference of Venice.
Lucius, like so many medieval popes, had great trouble with Romans. The
Romans, once more on the war path against Tusculum, had that city in a
desperate condition when an appeal to Pope Lucius brought help. The Pope
first pleaded with the senate to show reasonableness--in vain. Then Lucius
turned to that fighting archbishop, Christian of Mainz. Christian, a
powerful Rhenish princebishop, advanced on Rome; but fever, the slayer of
Germans, struck him down. To the Pope's consolation he died with the
sacraments, sorry for his evil life. To the Pope's dismay, his death gave
the Romans the upper hand and they used it brutally. They were especially
hard on clerics who supported the Pope. On one raid they captured some
clerics, blinded them all but one, and putting paper caps on their heads
with the name of a cardinal written on each, they put the poor victims
backward on asses and ordered the lone one left with sight to lead the
pitiable procession to the Pope! Lucius excommunicated the brutes who had
committed the outrage.
Lucius went to Verona in 1184 to discuss outstanding problems with
Emperor
Frederick. Though the Peace of Constance had confirmed the Truce of
Venice,
there were two questions on which Pope and Emperor disagreed. One, a
disputed episcopal election, was settled later. The other was of great
importance. Emperor Frederick had for some time been working to unite the
imperial crown with that of Norman Sicily. Now his chance arrived and he
succeeded in negotiating a marriage between his son and heir Henry and
Constance who, though considerably older than Henry, was the heiress to
the
rich Norman dominions in Italy and Sicily. Pope Lucius opposed this
marriage--as well he might, for in it was the germ of the terrible papacy-
Hohenstaufen fight which rocked the thirteenth century, ruined the
Hohenstaufens, and did no good to the papacy.
The Pope and Emperor were in agreement on two other matters, repression
of
heresy and the need for a new crusade. Lucius ordered the bishops to hunt
out heretics while Frederick put them under the ban of the Empire. While
both agreed that a new crusade was necessary to check the might of
Saladin,
nothing was done until too late.
Pope Lucius received letters from the Armenians asking him for help against
Byzantine persecution. They claimed that they were orthodox and asked for
instructions on the Roman discipline. Pope Lucius answered them most
affectionately and sent them copies of the Roman liturgical books.
Lucius III died at Verona on November 25,1185. His death interrupted the
conference with the Emperor.
URBAN III
1185 - 1187
Once again a pope was elected without disorder. On the very day of Lucius'
death, December 25,1185, the cardinals at Verona unanimously elected
Humbert Crivelli, the archbishop of Milan.
Humbert Crivelli was a native of Milan. He is known first as archdeacon of
Bourges in France. He became a close friend and admirer of St. Thomas
Becket who said of him: "One more loyal to . . . the Church could not
possibly be found." At once eloquent and business-like, Humbert rose to be
cardinal-priest in 1183, and archbishop of Milan in January 1185. In
December of the same year he was chosen pope. He took the name Urban
III.
Urban's brief pontificate was much taken up with quarrels with the Emperor
Frederick and his son Prince Henry. Indeed, Urban has been accused of
being
anti-imperialist because his relatives had suffered when Frederick had
captured Milan in the old war. But such a supposition is quite unnecessary
to explain Urban's policy. If it was somewhat unyielding, it was no
different from that of most of the popes of this period.
Urban III, like Lucius, had little desire to see Prince Henry marry
Constance, the heiress to the Norman dominions in South Italy and Sicily.
But since nothing could be done to prevent it, the Pope sent legates to
assist at the ceremony. He did, however, refuse to crown Henry co-emperor.
Frederick, without the Pope's consent, proclaimed his son Caesar and had
him crowned King of Italy at Aquileia. Urban's answer was to suspend the
bishops who had taken part in the coronation.
The Pope, on his part, irritated Frederick considerably by intervening in
the disputed Trier episcopal election, to consecrate Volmar the anti-
imperialist candidate.
Frederick left Italy to his son Henry, who proceeded to make life miserable
for the Pope, even going so far as to cut off the nose of some poor papal
official. Meanwhile, Frederick summoned the German bishops to meet at
Geilenhausen, and the assembled bishops obligingly sent Urban a letter
asking him to come to terms with their imperial master. This annoyed Pope
Urban because he felt that in opposing Frederick he was upholding the
cause
of the German bishops.
The Pope decided to excommunicate Frederick, but the people of Verona
pleaded that they belonged to the Emperor and that such a blow launched in
their city might bring dire consequences. Urban thereupon left for Venice,
but at Ferrara dysentery struck him down. His last days were saddened by
fear for the Holy City of Jerusalem. On July 7 the knighthood of the
crusading kingdom had been almost wiped out by Saladin, in the dust and
heat of the disastrous day at Hattin. Indeed Jerusalem had fallen on
October 2, but the bad news had not yet reached Urban when he died
October
20, 1187. He is buried in Ferrara Cathedral.
GREGORY VII
1187
Urban's death in the gloomy days when Jerusalem had just fallen left the
cardinals anxious to pick a strong leader. They first wished to choose
Henry of Albano, but he firmly declined and urged them to choose Albert de
Mora, the chancellor of the Apostolic See. Thereupon the cardinals turned
to Albert, who accepted and took the name Gregory VIII.
Albert de Mora was born in Benevento of noble parents. He was a man of
learning, piety, and winning ways. He had been a Premonstratensian, but
was
made cardinal deacon by Hadrian IV in 1155. He served as vice-chancellor
when Roland Bandinelli was chancellor, and when Roland became Pope
Alexander III Albert succeeded him as chancellor of the Apostolic See. He
was the last head of the papal chancery to hold the title of chancellor
until the twentieth century.
Alexander III made Albert cardinal-priest and employed him in missions of
the highest importance. Albert crowned Alfonso II of Portugal. He went as
legate to Hungary and was sent to England to investigate the famous
murder
in the cathedral of St. Thomas Becket. He it was who absolved the
repentant
King Henry.
He was a holy man, severe with himself, but kind to others, a great foe to
superstitious practices. No wonder that when Cardinal Henry of Albano
proposed him, the cardinals were quick to agree.
Gregory soon showed that he grasped the key problem of the hour--the
rescue
of fallen Jerusalem. He realized that it was first necessary to have peace
among Christians if war was to be successfully made on the infidel. He soon
let it be known that there was no longer any question of excommunicating
Emperor Frederick, and he tacitly ignored the causes of friction between
Pope and Emperor. Frederick, now really anxious to go on a crusade, was
delighted and did what he could to help the Pope have peace. These tactics
of appeasement worked well for the time. Frederick did get ready to lead an
army toward Palestine. The third crusade was under way.
Gregory set out for Pisa to try to put a stop to the fight between that
port and its commercial rival Genoa. The Christians would need the help of
both. On the way the Pope stopped at Parma where he held a council filled
with the business of the crusade. It is interesting to note that this pope,
usually so mild and merciful, yet ordered the bones of Octavian, the
antipope Victor IV, to be thrown out of the church in Parma where they were
buried.
To Pisa Gregory called the Genoese leaders and the cause of peace was
making progress when a fever carried off this likable pope on December 11,
1187. His pontificate though brief was glorious. He had promoted peace
among Christians; he had set in motion the Third Crusade.
CLEMENT III
1187 -1191
Paul Scolari, who became Pope Clement III, was a native of Rome. A
distinguished member of the Roman clergy, he was first archpriest of the
Basilica of St. Mary Major, then cardinal-bishop of Palestrina. He had been
considered as a possible choice for pope before this, but his poor health
had been regarded as an impediment. And indeed Paolo did suffer from
heart
trouble. Even now at the death of Gregory VIII the first choice of the
cardinals was Theobald, cardinal-bishop of Ostia, but Theobald refused and
then on December 19, 1157, the cardinals turned to Paolo, weak heart and
all. On December 20 Paolo was crowned as Clement III.
The first Roman to be elected pope for some years, Clement was popular
with
his fellow citizens. A peace was patched up, and soon the Pope was settled
in the Lateran. To enjoy peace at Rome, Clement consented to allow the
walls of hated Tusculum to be torn down. A charter drawn up in 1188
regulated the rights of Pope and the commune.
Clement's chief interest, however, was to rescue Jerusalem. He continued
and developed the policy of his predecessor, Gregory VIII: peace among
Christians, war on the Moslem. The Pope did everything possible to favor
Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and had the satisfaction of seeing the old
hero lead a large army toward the Holy Land. He had less success in his
efforts to make peace between Henry II of England and Philip Augustus of
France; but after Henry's defeat and death, Richard the Lion-Hearted and
Philip finally got started for Palestine. Clement III deserves great credit
for his vigorous efforts to support the Third Crusade. By diplomacy, by
encouragement, by financial aid, this farsighted Pope did everything
possible to win back Jerusalem. The small result of this great effort was
not the fault of the Pope and he died before the crusade had definitely
failed.
The death of William II, Norman king of Sicily, presented Clement III and
his successors with a thorny problem. The legitimate successor of William
was Constance, wife of Henry of Germany. The Sicilians, not liking the idea
of German rule, backed Tancred, an illegitimate relative of the Norman
family. Clement, who had absolutely no desire to see Hohenstaufens on
both
sides of him, recognized Tancred as king of Sicily. But Henry VI had no
intention of allowing his wife's magnificent inheritance escape him. Soon
he was on his way south with a large army.
Clement III did not have to cope with the difficult situation. Before Henry
reached Rome, Clement was dead. He died in March 1191. Scotsmen may
well
revere his memory, for Clement III definitely freed the Church in Scotland
from ecclesiastical dependence on the English archbishop of York. This
large-hearted Pontiff helped to redeem captives and protected the Jews.
CELESTINE III
1191 - 1198
With Henry of Germany marching on the city, the cardinals turned to old
Hyacinth Bobo, cardinal-deacon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. The old
veteran
refused to accept the burdensome honor, but when the danger of delay was
pointed out to him, he gave in. Hyacinth Bobo was a Roman. His brother
Ursus is considered the founder of the famous Orsini family. Already a
cardinal in 1144, Hyacinth had a long and distinguished career in the papal
service. While in France he had become a great admirer of the philosopher
Peter Abelard, and had backed him even against the formidable St.
Bernard.
On three different occasions he went on papal missions to Spain, and as
recently as 1187, when he had tried to depose the bishop of Coimbra, he
had
been bluntly warned by the angry Portuguese monarch to get out before his
feet were cut off! Perhaps his most important mission was that given him by
Hadrian IV in 1157. The English pope sent him to soothe Frederick
Barbarossa after the Emperor had been so irritated by Roland Bandinelli.
With a record like this it is easy to see why the cardinals ignored his
great age and elected the octogenarian Hyacinth. He was ordained priest on
April 13 and consecrated pope on the next day--Easter Sunday--under the
name Celestine III.
The new pope welcomed Henry VI, and after receiving pledges of loyalty to
the rights of church, he crowned Henry emperor. Henry won the support of
the Romans by allowing them to destroy hated Tusculum. Though Henry
guaranteed the rights of the Church, he was a dangerous man. His
ambitions
were as far-reaching as his means to obtain them were ferocious. He
enjoyed
initial success in his campaign to take over the Norman kingdom of Naples-
Sicily, but disease soon decimated his army and sent him flying north, a
sick man. Constance, his wife, was then seized by the Neapolitans and
turned over to Tancred. Pope Celestine came to the rescue and by a threat
of excommunication forced King Tancred to release the lady.
The Pope was less successful in his attempt to protect Richard the Lion-
Hearted from Henry. The mean-spirited Emperor had taken the returning
crusader from Leopold of Austria and was holding him for a huge ransom.
The
Pope should have acted most strenuously against this gross violation of a
crusader's rights, and Richard's old mother, the fiery Eleanor of
Aquitaine, told the Pope so in spirited if respectful pleas. Celestine did
threaten the Emperor, but greedy Henry released Richard only after a king's
ransom was exacted.
After the death of Tancred, Henry once more, and this time successfully,
invaded South Italy. With the fierce Hohenstaufen on both sides of him,
Pope Celestine might have had trouble, but Henry died in 1197, leaving only
an infant son.
Celestine acted vigorously to protect the sanctity of the marriage bond
when Philip II of France tried to repudiate his Danish wife, Ingeborg. He
fostered the Teutonic Knights and the Bridgebuilding Brothers. He
canonized
several saints, among them the Irish Malachi. He protected the Jews and
victims of shipwreck. Greatly interested in the Holy Land, he did much for
the Knights Templar and the Knights of St. John.
Celestine III died after a busy pontificate on January 8, 1198.
INNOCENT III
1198 -1216
On the very day Celestine III was buried the cardinals elected a young
intellectual named Lotario de' Conti. They did well, for Lotario became one
of the greatest medieval popes, Innocent III. Lotario de' Conti was born at
Anagni about 1160. His father Trasimund, count of Segni, was a powerful
lord. Lotario was interested in things of the mind and in the full
intellectual current of his day. He studied at Rome, Paris, and Bologna. A
canon lawyer of distinction, he was created cardinal by his uncle, Clement
III. But during the pontificate of Celestine III, Lotario retired from the
papal court and wrote two spiritual treatises. It was with reluctance that
he mounted the papal throne. He was consecrated on February 22, 1198.
Innocent III was in full accord with the Italian patriotism which sparked
risings against the Germans left by the late Henry VI to lord it in Italy.
The troubled state of the empire, with Otto of Nordheim and Philip of
Swabia battling for the crown, gave Innocent a chance not only to reassert
papal independence but even to extend papal influence. Here, however,
Innocent was not particularly successful. Otto of Nordheim, whom he
crowned
as Otto IV, out-Hohenstaufened the Hohenstaufens in trampling on Church
rights. And when Otto was finally defeated, Innocent's ward, Frederick II,
was ready to take over, and he was to multiply griefs for the Church.
Constance, the widow of Henry VI, had left her little orphaned son
Frederick to the Pope's guardianship, and Innocent loyally preserved Sicily
for his ward.
A great lover of justice and a first-rate judge, Innocent attracted many
cases to the papal court. His influence was far-reaching. He became feudal
overlord of Aragon and England when Pedro II and John handed over their
respective realms as fiefs. John, badgered by rebellious barons, threatened
by the French, and excommunicated by a shocked Pope, wriggled out of a
bad
situation by this shrewd move, which cost him little. Indeed, Innocent
later declared the Magna Charta null and void because it was extorted from
his vassal by violence!
Innocent acted to clear the Papal States of the Manichean heretics, but did
not resort to the death penalty. When the Albigensians, as the Manicheans
were called in France, murdered a papal legate, Innocent preached a
crusade
against them. He also started the Fourth Crusade. But flouted and tricked
by the worldly Venetians, the Pope had the mortification of seeing the
crusaders attack first the Catholic city of Zara, then the Christian city
of Constantinople.
Innocent's real greatness lies in the spiritual sphere. In 1215 he held the
famous Fourth Lateran Council. This, the twelfth ecumenical council,
condemned the Albigensians and the vagaries of Abbot Joachim. It
encouraged
learning, took measures against abuses, and made the rule in force to this
day that every Catholic must receive Holy Communion at Easter time. It also
called for a crusade, and it was while trying to get this crusade going
that Innocent III died at Perugia on July 16, 1216.
Innocent III is truly remarkable for the way he retained his keen spiritual
sense in the hurly-burly of business. He helped the Armenians and
Maronites
to return to Catholic unity. He welcomed St. John of Matha and encouraged
his order for the redemption of captives. St. Dominic found him sympathetic
and won approval for the Friars Preachers. And when that Iyric poet of
Christian spirituality, Francis of Assisi, came to Rome, he found, not a
political-minded bureaucrat, but a priest who could understand the
magnificent Franciscan folly of the Cross. If Innocent III did nothing more
than enable Dominic and Francis to start their orders, he would deserve to
be remembered as one who had done much for the Church and for the
world.
HONORIUS III
1216 -- 1227
Honorius III was elected pope by the method of compromise. This means
that
the cardinals entrusted the choice of the next pope to a committee. In this
case the committee was composed of Ugolino, cardinal-bishop of Ostia, and
Guido, cardinal-bishop of Praeneste. The two chose the aged Cencio
Savelli.
Cencio Savelli was born in Rome of a powerful family. As a very young man
he entered the ranks of the clergy and rose to be canon of St. Mary Major,
cardinal-deacon and cardinal-priest. He worked for Cardinal Hyacinth Bobo,
and when Hyacinth became Pope Celestine III, Cencio became his
chamberlain,
or prime minister. While chamberlain, he drew up a tax list which was of
great value to the papal government. After Celestine's death Innocent III
likewise made use of Cencio's capable services.
Cencio was about sixty-eight years old when chosen pope, and he accepted
the honor with reluctance. He was consecrated as Honorius III on July
24,1216, at Perugia and was crowned at Rome on August 61.
Honorius III was an attractive personality. He combined love of learning, a
practical aptitude for affairs, and a charming kindliness. Though old
Honorius threw himself into the work of ruling the Church with plenty of
vigor. He was determined to carry out his great predecessor's plan for a
new crusade, and he made great efforts to get it under way. In this he was
not particularly successful. Emperor Frederick II, who had vowed to go on
the crusade and was its natural leader, dilly-dallied and hemmed and hawed
down to the death of Honorius. Meanwhile the ambitious monarch secured
the
imperial coronation from the hopeful Honorius on November 22, 1220. In
1217
King Andrew of Hungary led a group of knights to the Holy Land, but
accomplished little. Even more disastrous was the movement led by John
de
Brienne in 1218 which is known as the Fifth Crusade. The crusade got off to
a grand start when the Christian army captured Damietta, a key port in
Egypt. The Sultan El Kamil actually offered to surrender Jerusalem and
other holy places in exchange for Damietta, but Honorius guessed wrong.
Expecting Frederick to start any time now, he declined the offer. The
crusaders advanced on Cairo, were trapped in the Nile Valley, and had to
surrender anyway. This fiasco was a cruel blow to Honorius, but to the end
of his life the gallant old Pope continued to work for a new crusade.
Honorius worked hard to promote peace among Christian princes. Like
Innocent III, he made his influence felt in the far corners of Europe. He
urged Louis VIII of France to take over the Albigensian crusade. In England
he protected King John's little boy Henry III and took measures to
safeguard his throne. He crowned Peter Courtenay as Latin Emperor of
Constantinople in 1217. He took a militant interest in spreading the gospel
among the Prussians.
Like Innocent III, Honorius favored the great new orders of friars. He
approved the Dominicans in 1216 and the Franciscans in 1223. In January
1226 he approved the Carmelites. The Cistercians, too, felt the strong
support of the pious Pope. A canonist who contributed much to church law,
Honorius took a keen interest in the ardent intellectual life of the
universities. He granted privileges to the great universities of Paris and
Bologna.
One of this kind pope's last acts was to help the Roman people during a
famine. Highly indignant when merchants stored grain and sent prices
skyrocketing, Honorius secured grain from Sicily to feed his hungry people.
Honorius III died greatly respected on March 18, 1227.
GREGORY IX
1227 -- 1241
Ugolino de' Conti, son of the Count of Segni and a grandnephew of Innocent
III, was born at Anagni. Educated at Bologna and Paris, Ugolino developed
into a first-rate papal diplomat. Made cardinal-bishop of Ostia by Innocent
III, he served on the committee which elected Honorius III. Chosen to
succeed Honorius on March 19, 1227, Ugolino took the name Gregory IX.
Although an old man, he abounded in vigor. His achievements were many
and
all the more remarkable because so much of his time was taken up fighting
Frederick II.
As cardinal, Gregory had given the Cross to Frederick back in 1220. Now as
pope, he urged the Emperor to fulfill his crusading vow. Frederick did sail
in 1227, but a few days later he returned on a plea of sickness. Suspecting
trickery, Gregory excommunicated the reluctant crusader. Frederick
answered
by stirring up an imperialist revolt in Rome which sent the Pope flying
from the city. After vainly seeking release from censure, Frederick went
off, an excommunicated emperor, to win a crusade without a fight. While the
Emperor was gaining Jerusalem by a treaty with the Sultan, the Pope was
vainly trying to replace him on the imperial throne. Finally in 1230 a
peace was patched up, but Gregory grew increasingly uneasy as the
despotic
Frederick strove to enchain Italy. After the Emperor smashed the embattled
North Italian burghers at Cortenuova in 1237, Gregory tried to rescue the
hard-pressed Lombard communes. Frederick invaded the Papal States, and
once
more Gregory excommunicated him. Since curses and pleas fell on deaf
ears,
Gregory called a crusade against Frederick and summoned a council to
meet
at Rome. Frederick stopped the council by capturing a fleet-load of
prelates bound for Rome! Gregory died suddenly on August 22, 1241, with
Frederick's army threatening Rome.
Though Gregory must have felt frustrated in his efforts to curb Frederick,
he could look back on a record rich in achievement. A personal friend of
St. Francis, St. Clare, and St. Anthony, he did much to foster Franciscan
growth. His keen legal sense was a great help in the order's early days. He
had presided at St. Dominic's funeral and regarded the Friars Preachers
with high favor. This intelligent Pope deserves credit for the blooming
intellectual life of the age, for he it was who saved Aristotle for the
schoolmen when the Philosopher, mistranslated and misinterpreted, was in
danger of being driven from Christian classrooms. He gave his alma mater,
Paris, the bull "Parens scientiarum," the Magna Carta of that university.
In this medieval Wagner Act, the right of the university to go on strike is
fully recognized.
Very much the man of his age, Gregory IX climaxed a century of resentment
against the antisocial Albigensians by starting the papal inquisition. A
severe man toward heretics, he had approved of Emperor Frederick's law
which decreed death by fire for unrepentant heretics.
Gregory's vision was not limited by the West. He strove unsuccessfully to
promote reunion with the Greeks. He did succeed in bringing back the
Syrian
Monophysites to Catholic unity. He planned great missionary enterprises,
and he made a collection of canon law so valuable that its influence
extends to modern times.
CELESTINE IV
1241
The death of Gregory IX was good news to Emperor Frederick II, and he
loudly proclaimed his jubilation to the world. According to Frederick's
smug expression, Gregory had flouted the August One, i.e., the Emperor,
and
therefore had not been allowed to live through avenging August. Frederick
expressed the hope that the next pope would be more favorable; and to give
some force to his hope, the Emperor remained with his army threatening
Rome.
Meanwhile in Rome the senator Matteo Rosso Orsini promptly confined the
cardinals in the Septizonium to hurry them on to an election. This appears
to be the first conclave in the strict sense of the word, that is, the
locking up of the cardinals until they had elected a pope. Though Frederick
withdrew his army into Apulia, the cardinals had a hard time coming to a
decision. Cardinal Godfrey Castiglioni took an early lead in the balloting
but was unable to command the necessary twothirds majority. When the
Romans
heard the rumor that the cardinals were going to elect an outsider as a
compromise, a mob insulted the conclave. Indeed it is said that the Romans
threatened to dig up the corpse of Pope Gregory and put it in with the
cardinals if they did not elect one of their number. Through the frightful
heat of August and September into October the conclave struggled. At last
on October 25, 1241, Godfrey Castiglioni gained the necessary majority. He
accepted and chose the name Celestine IV.
Godfrey Castiglioni was born in Milan, the son of John Castiglioni and
Cassandra Crivelli, the sister of Urban III. He entered the rank of the
clergy and rose to be a canon and chancellor of the church of Milan. In
1187 he resigned his honors to enter the Cistercian monastery of
Hautecombe. There he is said to have written a History of the Kingdom of
Scotland. Forty years later, in 1227, Gregory IX made him cardinal-priest
of St. Mark, and twelve years later still, in 1239, Gregory made him
cardinal-bishop of Sabina. He must have been a very old man indeed when
elected pope.
His advanced age and weak health were probably the chief reasons why the
divided cardinals agreed at last on Celestine. He might have made a good
pope, for he was an excellent theologian and was charitable to the poor,
but he had no time to prove his ability. The sick old man lasted exactly
seventeen days as pope. On November 10, 1241, Celestine IV died. His
death
was the signal for most of the cardinals to hurry out of Rome, because they
had no wish to undergo another ordeal like the last conclave. The few
cardinals who remained buried Celestine IV in St. Peter's on November ll.
INNOCENT IV
1241 -- 1254
When after a stormy interval of over seventeen months, the cardinals
managed to hold an election at Anagni in June 1243, they quickly elected
Sinibaldo de' Fieschi. He chose to be called Innocent IV. With the Emperor
still hostile, Sinibaldo seemed a good choice. He had been friendly with
Frederick, yet his character indicated that he would be nobody's puppet.
Sinibaldo was born in Genoa, the son of the count of Lavagna. After
teaching canon law at his alma mater, Bologna, he joined the papal court
and rose to be vice-chancellor of Rome, cardinal and bishop of Albenga.
The first problem facing Innocent was to end, if possible, the struggle
with Frederick. Hope rose as the Emperor congratulated the new pope and
peace negotiations got under way. Soon Innocent released Frederick from
censure and Frederick agreed to evacuate the Papal States and release his
clerical prisoners. Peace was restored--and high time, for the Mongols
threatened Eastern Europe, and in 1244 the Moslems recaptured
Jerusalem.
The peace, however, was momentary. Frederick, slow to keep promises,
exasperated Innocent by holding on to his clerical prisoners, and still
more by stirring up trouble at Rome. His patience exhausted, Innocent fled
to Lyons and called a council to meet there in 1245. This First Council of
Lyons, the thirteenth ecumenical, passed some reform decrees, but the
outstanding event was the condemnation and deposition of Frederick II.
When Frederick heard of his deposition, he is said to have placed a crown
on his head and defied the Pope to knock it off. Innocent tried to do just
that. He ordered the German nobles to elect a new king, but neither Henry
of Thuringia nor William of Holland was able to do much against Frederick's
son Conrad. Innocent preached a crusade against Frederick, but St. Louis
of
France, the only monarch powerful enough, had no stomach for such a
crusade. He did go on a crusade, but it was against the Moslems. Though
St.
Louis protected the Pope at Lyons against imperialist attack, he would go
no farther.
Even Frederick's death in 1250 did not bring peace. His son Conrad IV
continued the quarrel. Innocent, as suzerain of Sicily, hawked the Sicilian
crown around Europe, but with Conrad's halfbrother Manfred holding Sicily
in arms, there was no rush of takers. At last at Conrad's death in 1254
hopes rose. Conrad left his baby son to the Pope's guardianship, and
Innocent recognized the rights of the little Conrad to Sicily. But
Innocent's stormy pontificate was not to end in peace. Manfred revolted and
routed a papal army at Foggia. Once more war was kindled. Innocent,
gravely
ill from pleurisy, died shortly after on December 7, 1254.
This fight of the papacy with the Hohenstaufen might have been necessary
to
safeguard freedom; it was certainly disastrous. Italy was desolated; papal
taxation grew and grew, and with it a loud chorus of complaint. Abuses
increased while Innocent was preoccupied with the struggle.
Yet Innocent IV did accomplish something positive. He added significantly
to church law. He did a great deal for the rising universities. He sent
missionaries to the Mongols, and he defended the Jews from the ridiculous
charge of ritual murder.
ALEXANDER IV
1254 -- 1261
There was consternation among the cardinals at Naples when Innocent IV
passed away. The papal army had just been routed, and the cardinals
yearned
to set distance between themselves and the victorious Manfred. But the
podesta of Naples locked up the cardinals and told them bluntly that they
would stay locked up until they gave the Church a new pastor. On
December
12, 1254, the second day of the conclave, the cardinals elected by
compromise Rinaldo de' Conti. He accepted and chose to be called
Alexander
IV.
Rinaldo was the son of the count of Segni and the third pope of that family
to reign in the thirteenth century. He rose swiftly in the ranks of the
hierarchy and was made cardinal deacon by his uncle, Gregory IX, in 1227
and cardinal-bishop of Ostia in 1231. He received from his uncle not only
honors but also a strong attachment to the Franciscans. When he learned
that St. Clare was gravely ill, he went to Assisi to console her and heeded
the saint's dying request to obtain from Innocent IV a confirmation of the
Poor Clares' privilege of poverty.
As pope, Alexander was not the strong man that Innocent IV had been. It is
true that he rejected the peace feelers put out by the victorious Manfred
and re-excommunicated Frederick's son, but he was quite unable to make
head
against him. Down to Alexander's death Manfred maintained himself in
Sicily. Alexander also had a hard time in Rome.
The senator Brancaleone of Bologna practically set the Pope's civil
authority there at naught. In Germany too Alexander timidly intervened to
support Richard of Cornwall against Alfonso of Castile in the futile
struggle for the imperial crown. Neither ever became real emperor.
At Paris a great fight was brewing in the university. The secular masters
hotly resented the invasion of the friars. Led by the Burgundian William of
St. Amour, they furiously denounced both Dominicans and Franciscans.
Small
chance they had of being listened to with favor by Alexander! He loved the
friars and backed them up strongly. Alexander IV did the university a great
favor when he confirmed the right of men like Albert the Great and Thomas
Aquinas to teach in its lecture halls.
Alexander also repealed a decree of his predecessor which had revoked
some
of the privileges granted to the friars. He absolved Henry III of England
from his oath to observe the famous Provisions of Oxford, because King
Henry was his vassal and had no right to take such an oath without his
approval, and also because Henry had been forced to take the oath.
Alexander IV showed himself less broadminded than Innocent IV in his
dealings with the Greeks.
On the whole, Alexander was a good spiritual man but not at all as gifted
with ability to govern as his kinsmen Innocent III and Gregory IX.
Alexander IV died at Viterbo on May 25, 1261.
URBAN IV
1261 -- 1264
At Alexander's death there were only eight cardinals left, and they had a
hard time agreeing on the new pope. At last after three months they went
outside their number to choose Jacques Pantaleon, the patriarch of
Jerusalem. Jacques accepted and took the name Urban IV. Jacques
Pantaleon
was born at Troyes in Champagne. After studies at the cathedral school of
Troyes, he took the doctorate in canon law at Paris. He attracted the
attention of Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyons in 1245. Thereafter
his rise was rapid. He served as papal legate, became bishop of Verdun and
patriarch of Jerusalem. As a papal legate, Jacques enjoyed success in
peace
negotiations between the Teutonic Knights and the Prussians. He helped
the
Poles and raised money for Innocent's fight with the Hohenstaufen. As
patriarch of Jerusalem, he wrote an account of the Holy Land. It was while
back in Italy seeking aid for the troubled crusading kingdom that he was
elected pope.
With goodness, energy, ability, and experience on his side, Urban should
have accomplished much; but he had only three years, and the miserable
Hohenstaufen fight still ate deeply into a pope's time and energy. Manfred,
Frederick's son, was still powerful in Sicily, but Urban was determined to
root out the Hohenstaufen. First he worked diligently and with intelligence
to whip papal finances into order. Then by a mixture of diplomacy and a
pretty free use of his spiritual authority, he did much to discomfit
Ghibellines and encourage Guelfs throughout Italy. But the key to the
situation was to find some prince willing to accept the throne of Sicily
and strong enough to push Manfred off it. Edmund of Lancaster had
accepted
the throne, but since he showed little inclination to tackle Manfred, his
acceptance was academic. At last in the person of Charles-of Anjou, Urban
found the man for the job. Charles, the brother of St. Louis, was ready,
willing, and able, with a good deal of papal help of course, to take over
Sicily. Before a French expedition could materialize, Urban IV died at
Viterbo on October 2, 1264.
A former patriarch of Jerusalem, Urban naturally was much concerned
about
the perilous position of the crusading kingdom. The Tartars overran
Palestine, then were chased out by the capable sultan of Egypt, Beibars,
while behind their bastions at Acre and Antioch the crusaders trembled.
Urban preached a crusade, but the crusade against Manfred prevented
much
coming of a crusade against the Moslem.
Catholics throughout the world can remember Urban IV when they celebrate
Corpus Christi, that beautiful special feast of the Blessed Sacrament.
Juliana, the holy nun of Mt. Cornillon, had got Robert, archbishop of
Liege, to start the feast in his diocese. Robert's successor, Henry, urged
Urban to extend the feast to the whole world, and in a bull filled with
glowing praise of the Holy Sacrament, Urban did so on August 11, 1264. To
Urban also Catholics owe the very beautiful Mass and office of the feast,
for it was at Urban's request that St. Thomas Aquinas wrote them.
CLEMENT IV
1265 -- 1268
Clement IV had a rather interesting family history. His father became a
Carthusian monk, and the Pope himself had been married and the father of
two daughters before he entered the ranks of the clergy. Guy Foulques was
born at St. Gilles in France. He followed his father into the profession of
law and also into the service of the counts of Toulouse. Later he became a
councilor of St. Louis IX. After his wife's death he became a priest and
rose rapidly to become bishop of Le Puy, archbishop of Narbonne, and
cardinalbishop of Sabina. Distinguished by a love for justice and an
aptitude for conciliation, Guy was much in demand as an arbitrator. Urban
IV sent him as legate to England to settle the troubles between Henry III
and the barons. The barons flushed with their victory, refused to let the
legate land in England, and nothing much was accomplished. Guy was on
his
way back from this mission when he learned that he had been elected pope.
He tried to refuse, but since the cardinals would not hear of it, he was
crowned at Perugia in February 1265. He took the name Clement IV.
Clement IV was holy and capable, but the Sicilian affair consumed most of
his short time. He continued the policy of Urban IV and urged Charles of
Anjou to hurry his preparations. Charles eluded a Sicilian fleet, slipped
past a boom on the Tiber, and entered Rome on May 23, 1265. The Pope
and
the Guelfs were overjoyed. Months passed in raising a large enough army,
but finally Charles was crowned king of Naples-Sicily on January 6, 1266.
He advanced into his kingdom and defeated Manfred near Benevento.
Manfred
fell and Charles took over with little more trouble. But Charles, grim and
dour, and his Frenchmen grew increasingly unpopular. Soon a revolt broke
out and the Sicilians invited Conradin (little Conrad) the son of Conrad IV
to take the Sicilian throne. Conradin, a youth of fifteen, accepted the
call and invaded Italy. Clement, who had warned Charles against
harshness,
excommunicated Conradin. But the young Hohenstaufen cared as little for
papal censures as his grandfather Frederick II. On he came. Rome fell into
his hands and hailed him with joy. Ghibellines all over Italy raised their
heads in hope. But joy was turned to sorrow when Conradin's army ran into
Charles near Tagliacozzo on August 28, 1268. Once more the
Hohenstaufen
forces went down before the tough Frenchman. Conradin was captured
shortly
after. In vain Pope Clement pleaded for mercy. The young Conrad fell under
the headsman's ax and with him perished the Hohenstaufens.
Clement sent that first-rate diplomat, Cardinal Ottoboni Fieschi, to
England to settle the baronial problem. The barons were not talking big
now. Prince Edward had defeated them at Evesham and was pushing them
hard.
Clement repaid the barons' scurvy treatment of him as legate by urging
Prince Edward to have mercy on them.
Clement IV died at Viterbo on November 29, 1268.
BLESSED GREGORY X
1271 --1276
After Clement V died in 1268, the cardinals promptly began election
proceedings at Viterbo, but they were decidedly slow to elect a new pope.
To help the hopelessly split cardinals come to a decision the people of
Viterbo threatened to cut off their food supply and actually did tear the
roof off the house in which they were deliberating! Even this vigorous
measure did not end matters. Not until almost three anxious years had
slipped by did the Cardinals agree to a compromise. Six cardinals were
delegated to choose a pope. They chose the archdeacon of Liege Tedaldo
Visconti, who at that very time was on a crusade. If the cardinals had
caused much grief by their unconscionable slowness, at least they gave the
Church a great leader.
Tedaldo Visconti was born in Piacenza in 1210. Although only archdeacon
when elected, Tedaldo had wide experience in the service of the Church. He
had been on missions to France, Germany, and England. He attended the
First
Council of Lyons in 1245. He was a friend of St. Louis and a companion of
Prince Edward in the Holy Land. He was consecrated March 13, 1271, and
took
the name of Gregory X.
Gregory X was a man of large ideas, one of the great medieval popes. He
yearned to save the Holy Land so sorely beset by the Moslem. The great-
souled Pope strove to promote concord among Christians, and with some
notable success. He saw the end of Germany's interregnum with the
election
of Rudolph of Hapsburg in 1273. He called a general council in 1274. This
council, the Second Council of Lyons, might be called a high-water mark of
the Middle Ages. St. Thomas died trying to reach it. St. Bonaventure shed
luster on it until he died. And at it the Eastern Church returned to
Catholic unity.
The Eastern emperor, Michael Paleologus, considerably alarmed by the
activity of Charles of Anjou, for several years had entertained thoughts of
reunion. Now he sent delegates to Lyons, and there the Greeks agreed to
return to Catholic unity. It was a great day for Christians, even though
there were not lacking some who doubted the sincerity of the conversion. At
all events it was a great step and had the union been as carefully
nourished as it was painfully born, it just might have endured.
Pope and council did not neglect reform. Notably they decreed a series of
severe regulations regarding papal elections. The Pope, understandably
alarmed, planned to make future conclaves finish in reasonable time.
Gregory proved to be an efficient ruler of the Papal States and a
charitable father to the poor. He began work on repairing St. Peter's that
might have saved the venerable basilica had it been continued. But
Gregory's career was cut short. Just after celebrating Christmas the great-
souled Pope died, January 10, 1276. He has been beatified. He well
deserved
the honor.
BLESSED INNOCENT V
1276
Peter of Tarentaise was born in Savoy, probably in 1225, of noble and
wealthy parents. He grew up good-looking and bright. While still a
youngster, he abandoned wealth and position to enter the Order of
Preachers. These were stirring times in the intellectual life of Europe and
the Dominicans were in the van of progress. To Paris, the thought capital
of medieval Europe, went the young Peter to study under St. Albert the
Great, and to become a master in theology and a colleague of St. Thomas
Aquinas. He wrote much. Indeed his busy pen got him into trouble. His
writings were attacked as unsound; but a colleague, quite possibly great
Thomas himself, came to his rescue and defended his orthodoxy.
Peter proved to be no ivory-tower scholar. A born ruler of men, he served
with distinction as prior provincial of the French Dominicans, then as
vicar general of the Order. In 1272 he was made archbishop of Lyons and
cardinal. The very next year Pope Gregory X chose Lyons as the site of a
general council of the Church. Naturally preparations for the great event
kept the archbishop busy, and once the council convened, Peter was in the
thick of things. He worked much with St. Bonaventure, and when the lovable
Franciscan died, Peter preached his eulogy. He had the consolation of
baptizing one of the Tartar envoys to the council. He worked hard and with
great joy for the reunion of the Eastern Church.
After the council, Peter's reputation stood high, and when Gregory X died
in 1276, the cardinals thought at once of the charming and capable
archbishop of Lyons. He was elected on the first scrutiny.
Peter took for his name Innocent V and for his motto: "My eyes are ever
toward the Lord" (Ps. 24:15). He might well have taken "Blessed are the
peacemakers," for bringing peace was his favorite task. As archbishop he
had put an end to strife between the episcopal palace and the citizens. He
had soothed King Philip in a dispute over temporal jurisdiction. He had
been instrumental in promoting good relations between the friars and the
secular clergy. Now as Pope Innocent he continued this Christlike work. To
Genoa, torn with civil war, the Pope sent a letter pleading for peace, and
it was consolation to Innocent that on his deathbed word was brought of his
success. He removed an interdict from Florence. He strove to keep peace
between Emperor Rudolph and the ambitious Charles of Anjou.
Though a man of peace, Innocent was keenly alive to the plight of
Christians face to face with the menace of Islam. He sought help for the
Spaniards who were having another tussle with the Moors. He urged Philip
of
France to lead an army to the Holy Land where the old crusaders' kingdom
tottered on its last legs.
But his brilliant career was abruptly cut off. Innocent V died after a
short illness on June 22, 1276.
HADRIAN V
1276
Ottoboni Fieschi, of a noble Genoese family, was a nephew of Pope
Innocent
IV. He became Innocent's chaplain, a canon twice over, archdeacon of
Rheims
and of Parma, and a cardinal. His uncle allowed him to hold many
benefices,
and he in turn worked busily to provide his own nephews with good pickings
among the loaves and fishes.
Dante placed Hadrian in the fifth circle of purgatory because he had become
converted from attachment to worldly goods only after he became Pope. But
Cardinal Ottoboni was a faithful worker in the vineyard during the reigns
of Pope Alexander IV, Urban IV, Clement IV, and Gregory X. He proved his
sterling worth when Clement IV sent him on a difficult and delicate mission
to England that of making peace between Henry III and his rebel barons.
Ottoboni was sent with such full legatine powers that under the Pope he
ruled the Church in England during his mission. His staff, it is
interesting to observe, included two future Popes, Gregory X and Boniface
VIII. So earnestly and skillfully did he work to bring about peace and to
strengthen the Church that F. M. Powicke calls Ottoboni's mission, "the
noblest expression in English history in the later Middle Ages of the unity
of the two powers, the lay and the spiritual, in a joint recognition of the
underlying unity of Christendom" (King Henry III and the Lord Edward
Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1947, Vol. II, p. 528).
When Blessed Innocent V died in Rome, the cardinals had a bad time of it.
Charles of Anjou, as Senator of Rome acting on the regulations of Gregory
X, locked up the poor cardinals, and after eight days had produced no pope,
reduced them to bread and water. Finally the French cardinals learned that
Charles had no objection to Cardinal Ottoboni. He was thereupon elected
unanimously. Ottoboni took the name Hadrian V. He was a sick man, indeed
hastening toward the grave. Feeling no doubt that the severity of Anjou had
hastened his end, he suspended the election regulations of Gregory X. He
wished so to amend them as to make it impossible for the cardinals to be
again mistreated as they were by the redoubtable Charles.
He had no time to amend them for though he went to Viterbo to escape the
deadly Roman dog days, he died on August 18 in the Franciscan friary at
Viterbo. Hadrian was never consecrated bishop or indeed, ordained priest.
He had been a deacon when elected; a deacon he died.
He was buried in the Franciscan Church at Viterbo.
JOHN XXI
1276-1277
John XXI is unique in two things: he is the only Portuguese pope, and he is
the only pope placed in Paradise by that fierce Ghibelline, Dante.
Peter Juliani, the son of Julian a physician, was born probably in Lisbon
in 1215. Like so many thirteenth-century leaders, he went to the University
of Paris. He became proficient in philosophy, theology and medicine.
Indeed, he became a doctor of medicine and wrote treatises in the fields of
philosophy and medicine. Dante calls him, "he of Spain in his twelve
volumes shining."
Peter became a professor of medicine at the University of Siena. At first,
it seems, he was hard pressed to make a living, but later the Sienese seem
to have done well by their illustrious professor. The date on which he
became attached to the papal curia is not known, but his rise was swift.
His services were generously rewarded by a number of benefices, and
finally
he was made cardinal-bishop of Albano.
Hadrian V had died at Viterbo and it was there that the cardinals gathered
for the conclave. The people of Viterbo wanted to enforce the regulations
of Gregory X concerning papal elections. These called for an election ten
days after the pope's death in the city where the pope had been in
residence with his court. The cardinals were to remain secluded from all
outside contacts, even their food being passed through a little window or
drum. After three days their food was to be cut to a single dish, morning
and night for five days. After that it was bread and water for the
cardinals until they could give the Church a new shepherd.
Now since Hadrian V had suspended these regulations, the cardinals
objected
very strenuously to being compelled to observe them. The Viterbese
unmoved
by Their Eminences' protests, closed them up and relentlessly cut down
their diet as the days dragged on.
Highhanded the Viterbese may have been, but they got results. The
cardinals
soon agreed on a candidate--the Portuguese physician-philosopher, Peter
Juliani. He took the name of John XXI.
One of the new Pope's first acts was to repeal the election decree of
Gregory X. This, it seems, caused great scandal, but in view of the harsh
treatment just undergone by the Pope and his cardinals, the action, if
regrettable, is quite understandable.
John XXI worked hard during his short reign to promote peace among
Christian princes. He took measures to correct any abuses in the collection
of papal taxes in England. In answer to complaints about this, he ordered
his chief collector to look into the matter and punish any offenders. All
the papal tax collectors in England were ordered to go to London and there
take an oath to perform their duties properly.
Always a man of science as well as a priest, John built for himself a room
in the papal palace at Viterbo where he could study the stars, a sort of
observatory. This observatory was to be the death of the Pope. One night in
the spring of 1277, the roof collapsed on the student Pope. The great beams
crushed him horribly. For a while he lingered, conscious and fortified by
the last rites of the Church, but on May 20, 1277, the sixth day after the
accident, Pope John XXI passed away. He was buried in the Cathedral of
St.
Lawrence at Viterbo.
NICHOLAS III
1277 -- 1280
One day a great Roman nobleman, a warm admirer of St. Francis,
presented
his little boy to the saint and offered him for the friars. The gentle
saint replied that the boy would never enter the Friars Minor but would
become a protector of the order and Lord of the World. Prophetic words
indeed, for that little boy was to become Pope Nicholas III. Giovanni
Orsini was born in Rome around 1216 of that famous "bear" family whose
fighting and achievements filled the chronicles of medieval Rome. Young
Giovanni entered the service of the Church and rose rapidly until in 1244
he was made cardinal. He was a fine-looking man of good talents and
excellent character. His reputation for justice and tact must have been
great, for King Louis IX expressly asked for him to deal with the
arrangement of peace between France and England. He became protector
of the
Franciscan order, even as the saint of Assisi had prophesied, and he served
as arch-priest of St. Peter's.
After John XXI's tragic death, the value of the old election regulations of
Gregory X became apparent. The cardinals, relieved of pressure, spent
months instead of days picking a new pope. Finally, after the people of
Viterbo, out of patience with the hesitating cardinals, once more locked
them up, the conclave on November 25, 1277, voted unanimously for
Cardinal
Giovanni Gaetani Orsini. He took the name Nicholas III.
Nicholas proved to be an excellent ruler. He firmly defended the rights of
the papal kingdom, and his efforts were rewarded when Rudolf of Hapsburg
finally fulfilled his promise to leave the Romagna to the Pope. Nicholas
also, though not hostile to Charles of Anjou, was determined to put limits
to that prince's power. He asked him to resign as Senator of Rome and was
seeking to moderate Anjou's eastern ambitions when he died. He defended
the
rights of the Church in Hungary and Castile. He took great pains to promote
peace and collected money for a crusade. He had been inquisitor general,
and as pope he showed a lively interest in the repression of heresy.
His zeal was really apostolic. He had a friendly feeling for the Jews and
urged preachers to try to win over the children of Israel. He sent
Franciscan missionaries to Hungary to preach to the Cumans, an Asiatic
people who had fled from the grim Tartar menace. In 1278 Pope Nicholas
sent
five Franciscans to preach to the Tartars themselves. They were to preach
first in Persia and then go on to China. No limited horizons for Pope
Nicholas!
In the history of the Franciscan order Nicholas III looms large. His bull
"Exiit qui seminat" is one of the great charters of the friars. In it the
Pope strove to end disputes over the kind of poverty to be practiced by the
friars, and he forbade anyone to attack the rule of St. Francis.
That Dante placed this great pope in hell is scarcely a tribute to the
Florentine's judgment. The only defect that seemed blameworthy in Nicholas
was the way he distributed honors and favors among his relatives.
Otherwise
his character was noble. His achievements were many, and there was great
promise of more, but it was not to be. Nicholas' career was cut off by
apoplexy in 1280 at Soriano near Viterbo.
MARTIN IV
1281 - 1285
When word reached Rome that Pope Nicholas had died, the turbulent
barons
and people swarmed into the streets to attack the Orsini. The late Pope's
lavish favors to his family had kindled hate in many a heart, and now that
the strong hand of Nicholas was lifeless, that hate exploded into violence.
At Viterbo the cardinals, once more free of Gregory X's election
regulations, took plenty of time in conclave. The Orsini faction, too weak
to elect one of their own, were yet strong enough to block anyone else.
After almost six months had brought no progress, the people of Viterbo
stormed the episcopal palace, broke into the conclave and carried off the
two leading Orsini cardinals. The deadlock thus rudely broken, the
Cardinals elected Simon de Brion who took the name Martin IV. Although
actually only the second Martin, Simon assumed the style of Martin IV
because in the thirteenth century the two Popes Marinus were listed as
Martin.
Simon de Brion was born in Northern France of noble ancestry. He became
a
priest and distinguished himself in the service of the Church. King St.
Louis IX made him chancellor of France. Pope Urban IV created him
cardinal
and in 1264 sent him as legate to France to persuade Charles of Anjou to
undertake the conquest of Sicily. Simon's outlook was strongly French.
Unfortunately Pope Martin's did not become much wider.
Martin IV reversed his great predecessor's statesmanlike policy. He gave
the go signal to Anjou's ambitions. He excommunicated the emperor
Michael
Paleologus and precipitated a renewal of the Eastern Schism. The great
work
of Gregory X and the Second Council of Lyons was undone.
His partiality for Anjou also involved Pope Martin in an affair which cost
the papacy much in money and prestige. The French had become hated in
Sicily. Anjou was a stern character, the French men-at-arms were arrogant.
An incident touched off that explosion of hatred called the Sicilian
Vespers when the gutters of Palermo ran with French blood. Soon the whole
island had risen against Anjou. The rebels formed a republic, and far from
repudiating the feudal overlordship of the Pope, they sent emissaries to
acknowledge him as their suzerain. All they asked was that Anjou and his
French should not return.
Pope Martin refused to deal with them, and only then did the Sicilians turn
to Peter of Aragon, who had married Constance, daughter of Manfred. Peter
accepted the throne. The Pope thundered anathema at Peter. He
excommunicated the Sicilians. He ordered a crusade preached against
Aragon
Money sorely needed for the defense of the last Christian outpost in
Palestine flowed into the war chest of Anjou. And all in vain. The
Aragonese were in Sicily to stay.
The whole business was a sad one. It cheapened ecclesiastical penalties,
irritated non-French Christians, and at a somber moment for the Holy Land
did much to weaken the prospect of a general crusade.
Martin IV was carried off by a violent fever on March 28, 1285. His
intentions were no doubt good, but his reign was unfortunate. To do him
justice he had been most reluctant to become pope.
HONORIUS IV
1285 -1287
Giacomo Savelli, a man so crippled that he had to say Mass sitting down,
was chosen to succeed Martin IV. But if Giacomo was crippled in body, his
mind was vigorous. He was chosen pope the second day after Pope
Martin's
funeral, a quick election indeed. The cardinals wanted no repetition in
Perugia of the mob violence of Viterbo. Cardinal Savelli took the name
Honorius IV after his granduncle, Honorius III.
Giacomo Savelli was born of a famous old Roman family. He pursued at
least
some of his studies at the University of Paris, an institution for which he
had the highest regard. Created cardinal in 1261 by Pope Urban IV,
Giacomo
played a prominent part in top-level papal diplomacy. He was one of the
cardinals delegated to invest Charles of Anjou with the crown of Sicily in
1265. He served on the compromise committee of cardinals which chose
Gregory X to break the long deadlock after the death of Clement IV. He
conducted negotiations with Emperor Rudolf of Hapsburg under Popes
Gregory
X, Hadrian V, and Nicholas III.
After his election Honorius returned the papal court to Rome, where he was
highly popular. A true Roman, he tried to improve the city and to rule the
papal kingdom efficiently.
Honorius was a mild man, quick to forgive, quick to remove ecclesiastical
censures. He removed an interdict from Venice. He tried to bring peace to
bitterly quarreling Genoa and Pisa. His gentle firmness succeeded in
bringing about the repeal of objectionable laws in Florence and Bergamo.
This mild policy brought success, but mildness and success both stopped
short of Sicily. Honorius continued Martin IV's unrelenting policy toward
the Aragonese and the Sicilians, and that policy remained ineffectual and
unfortunate.
Martin IV had deposed Peter III of Aragon in favor of Charles of Valois,
younger son of Philip III of France. In 1285 Philip led a large army across
the Pyrenees. Edward of England pleaded with Pope Honorius to help put
an
end to this disastrous strife between Christians, but Honorius firmly
refused. Philip died; his army accomplished nothing. Peter of Aragon died
shortly after. His son James clung to Sicily in spite of Franco-papal force
and excommunication and interdict. Edward, eager for a real crusade, tried
once more for peace. In vain. By now Charles of Anjou was dead, and his
son
and heir, Charles of Salerno, a prisoner in Sicilian hands, was willing to
renounce his claim to Sicily and content himself with Naples. It looked at
last as if peace were at hand; but the Pope would not allow it! And
meanwhile money needed for a real crusade was being collected in the face
of bitter grumbling to carry on this miserable little fight.
Honorius was not notably pro-French, but he had a strong Guelf
background.
Above all, he had a legal mind. To him the Sicilians were wrong, and that
was all there was to it.
Honorius did show a lively interest in missionary activity. He sent
prospective missionaries to study at the University of Paris. He fostered
the study of oriental languages. Honorius was not strong enough to check
the trend toward the abuse of plurality of benefices. He was a good man,
but scarcely a great pope. He died in Rome on April 3, 1287.
NICHOLAS IV
1288 -- 1292
After the death of Honorius IV, the folly of abrogating Gregory X's
election regulations was starkly evident. For almost a year the cardinals
wrangled, quite unable to come to a decision. Finally they elected Jerome
of Ascoli, but it took a week and a repeated election to convince the
Franciscan cardinal that he should accept. On February 22, 1288, Jerome
accepted and took the name Nicholas IV.
Jerome Masci was born on September 30, 1227 at Lisciano, near Ascoli.
Although his parents were lowly folk, he formed a strong friendship with a
noble boy named Conrad. The two became Franciscans and studied
together at
Assisi. At Perugia they received their doctorate in theology. Both went to
Rome to teach theology, and then their paths separated. Conrad went to
Africa to preach to the infidel; Jerome to Dalmatia to serve as minister
provincial of Slavonia.
Sent by Gregory X to Constantinople to prepare the way for the reunion of
the churches at Lyons, Jerome accomplished his mission work with
distinction. He was elected minister general of the Franciscan order in
1274 to succeed St. Bonaventure. Nicholas III made him cardinal priest and
sent him on a peace mission to France, where he was joined by his old
friend, Conrad. Martin IV made him cardinal-bishop of Praeneste, and there
he worked until his election to the papacy. One of his first moves as pope
was to call Conrad from Paris to make him a cardinal, but his old friend
died.
Nicholas IV, as might be expected of a Franciscan, was intensely interested
in missionary projects. He sent the famous Franciscan John of
Montecorvino
to follow the tracks of Marco Polo and preach Christianity in far-off
China. He corresponded with Mongols, Bulgarians, and Tartars.
Nicholas was also interested in art, and he made Rome quite a center for
artists and architects. He has been called the Maecenas of his age. He did
much to foster universities, helping those already existing and granting
charters to new foundations.
The reluctance of Nicholas to accept the heavy duty of ruling the Church
may have been due to real self-knowledge. Good, kind, holy, Nicholas was
not a successful ruler. He seems to have been too narrow in his views, too
slow in transacting business, and too little gifted with a sense of the
practical.
The papal states, so well ruled by Honorius IV, were soon in an uproar. The
Pope was accused of favoring the Colonna family and the Franciscans. In
his
relations with Sicily, Nicholas persisted in an intransigent attitude
towards the Aragonese. Indeed, he even annulled a treaty which Edward I
had
negotiated between Charles of Salerno, the rightful king, and James of
Aragon, who actually held the island. At a time when all efforts should
have been centered on saving the Holy Land, Nicholas was urging the
French
to attack Aragon. His policy, on the verge of success, crashed in ruin when
James of Sicily succeeded his brother as king of Aragon.
The fall of Acre in 1291 caused Nicholas at long last to go all out for a
crusade. Earnestly he urged Philip of France and Edward of England to take
the cross. He called a council to arrange matters for 1293, but on Good
Friday, April 4, 1292, Pope Nicholas IV died.
ST. CELESTINE V
1294
Once more the cardinals cruelly hurt the Church as their wrangling left it
without a pope for over two years. The deadlock was finally broken in a
manner quite startling. Cardinal Orsini told his colleagues that a holy
monk had warned him that God had revealed that they would be punished if
they did not put an end to their differences and elect a pope. Moved, the
cardinals did elect a pope--the holy monk himself, Peter of Murrone!
Peter was the son of poor parents. Born early in the century, he was the
eleventh of twelve children. Right from the start he delighted his good
parents by manifesting signs of real sanctity. He became a hermit on Mt.
Murrone; then to avoid the crowds which flocked around him, he withdrew to
even more remote Mt. Majella. Here he lived an austere life, filled with
prayer, long fasts, hair shirts, and iron chains. But since crowds still
pursued him, he formed a branch of the Benedictine order, later called the
Celestines. For lay folk he founded a sort of "third order."
Such was the man elected by the cardinals to rule the Church. One requisite
Peter certainly had --sanctity. But could a simple old man who had lived
his life in the mountains cope with the complex situations faced by
medieval popes?
Peter naturally was overwhelmed when the cardinals' delegates, after a
weary climb through the mountains, announced his election. He wanted to
refuse, to fly, but his monks told him roundly that it was his duty to end
the long vacancy. King Charles of Naples, overjoyed at the election of a
friend, hastened to add his pleas to those of the monks. Torn between fear
of acting against God's will and of being a mighty poor pope, the old man
was sadly distressed. At last he accepted and took the name of Celestine V.
Trouble started at once. Charles of Naples had been a good friend of the
monk, but he could not resist taking advantage of the pope. It was as if
poor Celestine were his mouthpiece! The cardinals reluctantly had to come
to Aquila in the Kingdom of Naples for the consecration on August 29.
Celestine then proceeded, not to Rome, but to Naples. He created new
cardinals who were all French or Neapolitan. But if the king found
Celestine a puppet, unscrupulous curial officials found the simple old man
a gold mine. Soon they were selling blank bulls!
Celestine longed only for peace, and if he was no ruler, he was still a
saint. He realized that he had made a mistake. More and more he thought of
resigning. He made sure he could abdicate. He asked advice of canon
lawyers. He renewed-- much to the disgust of the cardinals--the badly
needed election decree of Gregory X.
A poetical message from the famous Jacopone da Todi proved to be a last
straw. The fiery Franciscan warned the Pope of the abuses which were
running riot under his feeble old hands.
On December 13 Celestine met the cardinals in the great hall of the palace.
Clad in full pontificals, he read them the decree of abdication, then
stepped down and stripped himself of all papal insignia. The "great
refusal," as Dante called it, had been made.
Celestine was kept in confinement by his successor Boniface VIII, lest he
should become the tool of designing schemers and endanger the unity of
the
Church. He died on May 19,1296. Pope Clement V canonized him.
BONIFACE VIII
1294 - 1303
After St. Celestine's abdication, the cardinals quickly elected Benedict
Caetani, who took the name Boniface VIII. Boniface was a fiery old man, a
canon lawyer and a veteran in the papal service. He is said to have given
two hours to prayer every day. He certainly needed it, for trouble was his
portion.
Those who had profited from the simplicity of Celestine naturally resented
his successor. The extremists among the Franciscans joined with the
powerful Colonna family to oppose the Pope. Boniface acted forcefully. He
deposed the Colonna cardinals and destroyed the Colonna stronghold of
Palestrina. But he was to face opponents far stronger than half-cracked
friars or turbulent barons.
Edward I of England and Philip IV of France were getting ready for war.
Both agreed on one thing: that the Church should provide the sinews of war.
Complaints started coming in from bishops who felt that the Church was
being squeezed unfairly, and Boniface came to their rescue. In the bull
"Clericis laicos" he forbade churchmen to grant money to kings without
papal permission. Edward's answer was to outlaw the clergy. Philip forbade
the export of gold, a shrewd blow because much papal revenue came from
France.
Boniface backed down. He explained that in case of necessity churchmen
need
not wait for the papal permission. Since the kings could decide when a
state of necessity existed, this was quite satisfactory to the crown.
For a short time after this Boniface enjoyed a little peace. He canonized
Philip's grandfather, the great Louis IX. He proclaimed a jubilee for 1300.
The thousands of devout pilgrims who thronged Rome were a source of
consolation, and Boniface needed consolation.
Philip the Fair, surrounded by men like Pierre Flotte, William Nogaret, and
Pierre Dubois, who had a superexalted idea of kingly power, was a difficult
problem. Soon complaints reached the Pope that Philip was taking very full
advantage of the papal relaxation to milk the French church. Furthermore he
was harboring the Pope's enemies and when Boniface delegated the bishop
of
Pamiers to preach a crusade, Philip had him arrested! To stir up hatred
against Boniface, Philip stooped to circulating a forged bull in which the
pope was made to claim that he ruled France as a political overlord!
Boniface issued a bull warning Philip and summoned the French bishops to
meet in Rome in 1302 to discuss ways and means for bringing the king to
his
senses. Even when his French chivalry was badly mauled by the sturdy
Flemish burghers at Courtrais in 1302, Philip continued his opposition. The
pope then issued his famous bull "Unam sanctam." This bull has caused a
good deal of commotion, but actually, though Boniface uses some strong
language, all he defines is that it is necessary for all to be subject to
the Roman pontiff--a thing Catholics held and do hold.
Boniface, seeing Philip so stubborn, prepared to excommunicate him. But
the
unscrupulous Frenchman took the offensive. His henchman Nogaret and
Sciarra
Colonna led an armed band into Italy. By forced marches they reached
Anagni, where the Pope was staying, and broke into the city. Boniface
awaited them seated on his throne. When Colonna and his swordsmen
broke in,
Boniface greeted them with the words, "Here is my neck, here is my head."
Colonna was quite ready to kill the Pope, but Nogaret restrained him. From
September 7 to September 9 they held Boniface prisoner. Nogaret wished
to
carry him off to France, but Colonna refused to allow this. While they were
quarreling, Cardinal Nicholas Boccasini rallied the papal forces and
rescued the poor old Pope.
Boniface returned to Rome but died shortly after on October 13, 1303.
BLESSED BENEDICT XI
1303 - 1304
It was a troubled group of cardinals who gathered in conclave after the
death of Boniface. Charles II of Naples had entered Rome and was urging
them to make a quick election. The aggressive Nogaret was still in Italy
trying to raise another armed gang. Under the circumstances there was no
dissension. The cardinals quickly elected Nicholas Boccasini, the man who
had rescued Pope Boniface at Anagni. He took the name Benedict XI.
Nicholas Boccasini was born at Treviso around 1240 of a poor but pious
family. At the early age of fourteen he entered the Dominican order. He
loved his order deeply and always acknowledged how much he owed to it. A
bright youngster, Nicholas was destined for higher studies and the
professorial chair. He became prior, provincial of Lombardy, and finally in
1296, master general of the order. Boniface VIII made him a cardinal in
1298, and used him on peace missions to France and Hungary. When
Nogaret
and Sciarra Colonna made their swoop at Anagni, it was Cardinal Nicholas
who rescued the old Pope from their clutches.
At his election, then, Benedict XI was a man of loyalty, learned, pious, of
a sweet disposition, much more ready to forgive than to fight. Faced with
the problem of whether to oppose or appease the rough, wily Philip of
France, a man like Benedict naturally leaned towards appeasement as far
as
it was possible without loss of principle. The new Pope absolved right and
left. Philip was addressed as "dear son," his excommunication not even
mentioned. Even the Colonna family was partially restored. Only the actual
perpetrators of the Anagni outrage, who indeed were still working against
the Pope, were excluded from the general wave of pardons.
Appeasement, as usual, did not work. Philip, continued to oppress the poor
Cistercians because they had been loyal to the Pope. He was to give more
trouble later.
Benedict tried to promote peace, vainly in factious Florence, successfully
between Venice and Padua. He had friendly relations with King Stephen
Urosh
of Serbia. Serbia at that time was growing to be the dominant Balkan power.
Although Stephen was willing to allow his western Yugoslavs to remain loyal
to Rome, he made no move towards uniting Serbia proper to the Holy See.
While staying at Perugia, Benedict was stricken with dysentery on June
22,1304; on July 7 he died. Many suspected that the Holy Pope had been
killed by poison. Stories of how Benedict was given some poisoned figs
were
quite common. Modern scholars, however, believe that Benedict died a
natural death.
Benedict XI was beatified by Pope Clement XIV in 1773. His feast is kept on
July 7. Pious and learned, the author of commentaries on various books of
both the Old and New Testament, Benedict richly deserved the honor.
Whether
or not his appeasement policy was justified by future events --and there is
some dispute about it--Pope Benedict's sincerity and desire to do the best
thing are unquestioned.
CLEMENT V
1305 - 1314
When Clement was on his solemn procession to be crowned, a wall crashed
down on the cavalcade, knocking the Pope off his horse, sending his tiara
flying. When the tiara was recovered, its most precious jewel, a ruby, was
missing. This crash was a fitting prelude to a reign which began a time of
troubles for the papacy.
After Benedict died, the cardinals wrangled for almost a year before Orsini
and Colonna interests agreed on a compromise candidate, Bertrand de Got.
Bertrand had been absent visiting his see of Bordeaux. He accepted, took
the name Clement V, and summoned the cardinals to Lyons for his
coronation.
Born at Villandraut in Gascony in 1264, Bertrand rose steadily in the
service of the Church to be archbishop of Bordeaux. Though a friend of
Philip IV, he had been loyal to Boniface VIII in his struggle with the
French monarch. Naturally, however, he welcomed Benedict's appeasement
policy and had renewed his friendship with Philip.
Clement, unwilling to face the trouble of living in turbulent Rome,
wandered about France. Finally in 1309 he settled at Avignon, a pleasant
little town on the banks of the Rhone. Avignon then belonged not to the
king of France but to the king of Naples. It was almost surrounded by the
papal territory of the Venaissin, and Clement VI purchased the town itself.
Thus started the Avignon "exile" or the "Babylonian Captivity" of the
papacy which was to last, with a slight interruption, until 1378. These
terms mean simply this period in which the popes lived and held their court
at peaceful Avignon and exercised their control of Rome through vicars.
Clement V was terrified by Philip IV a fact of which the monarch was well
aware. Philip had his heart set on the condemnation of Boniface VIII as a
heretic. He bullied Clement into actually starting a process, but the Pope
delayed until to his intense relief Philip told him he could end the
affair. The king now had his sights set on living game, the rich order of
Knights Templar. The Pope declared Boniface innocent, and then called a
general council to meet at Vienne in 1311.
The military Order of the Temple had lost prestige with the final collapse
of the crusading kingdom in 1291. Its enormous wealth excited jealous
greed. Its international military force was a scandal to the new
nationalism and reviving absolutism. Philip seized the French Templars and
after a deal of grim work by inquisition torturers secured confessions of
all kinds of evil deeds. Clement, evidently not too much impressed by
confessions of such dubious value, suppressed the order without
condemning
it. Its property was to go to the Knights of St. John, but Philip secured
the lion's share of the loot in France.
The Council of Vienne was the fifteenth ecumenical council. It censured the
errors of a Franciscan, Peter John Olivi, and condemned some wild
vagaries
associated with the Beghards and Beguines.
Clement V was a canonist of distinction and a man with wide educational
interests. He erected universities at Orleans and Perugia. He ordered that
chairs of Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic should be founded at Paris, Oxford,
Bologna, and Salamanca. A good-natured man, he was too generous to his
relatives and too easy-going with his court. He created a vast
preponderance of French cardinals, and when he died on April 20, 1314,
French influence was paramount in the papal court.
JOHN XXII
1316 - 1334
The pope is infallible in matters of faith and morals when he speaks ex
cathedra, i.e., as supreme teacher. John XXII offers a classic example of a
case where the pope is not infallible. John held that the souls of the just
do not enjoy God until after the General Judgment, but he made it clear
that he was not teaching this as Pope. Indeed at last convinced that he was
wrong, the humble Pope admitted it.
It was only after a broken and stormy conclave that at long last on August
7,1316, Jacques d'Euse was elected pope. John XXII, as he chose to be
called, was born at Cahors in 1249. He had been a brilliant professor of
canon law, bishop of Avignon, and cardinal. Now at seventy-two he was a
brisk little man of simple tastes and driving energy. He found the papal
court disorganized by the long vacancy, and the papal treasury empty. A
good administrator, John got both back in shape. He increased
centralization of church government and stepped up papal taxation.
Though a thorough Frenchman, John was no man's tool. Indeed, quite in the
tradition of Innocent III he interfered vigorously in a disputed imperial
election. After Emperor Henry VII died Frederick of Austria and Louis of
Bavaria fought for the imperial crown. John insisted that he should decide
the case, but when Louis won an appeal to arms at Muhldorf in 1322, he did
not give the Pope a chance to reverse that decision. Soon the Pope was
excommunicating Louis, and the Emperor was appealing to a general
council
against the Pope. Louis marched on Rome, had himself crowned there by
that
same Sciarra Colonna who had outraged Boniface VIII at Anagni, and
installed as antipope Peter Rainalducci, a Franciscan. Though Louis was
soon forced to leave Rome, and the antipope repented, the fight between
Pope and Emperor raged on. Around Louis gathered a corps of antipapal
writers. Marsiglio of Padua wrote his "Defensor Pacis" and a group of
renegade Franciscans, among them the nominalist philosopher William of
Occam, blasted the Pope from the pulpit and in books.
The great Franciscan order had been troubled for some time by an extremist
group in Southern France and Italy who panted after the pseudomystical
revelations of Abbot Joachim and the vagaries of Olivi. They were now
urging the quite unfounded idea that Christ and his apostles owned nothing
even in common. John wished to settle this, but a general chapter of the
Order anticipated the Pope by announcing that it was Catholic belief that
Christ and his apostles owned nothing even in common. John then dropped
the
arrangement by which the Pope owned and the Friars used their
possessions.
He condemned the extremists' theory about Christ's poverty as heretical.
This it was which sent a number of rebel friars to serve as volunteers for
the Emperor in his struggle with the Pope. The majority of the Order, with
true Franciscan obedience and humility, remained loyal.
John XXII died in 1334 at the age of eighty-four. He had been a great
organizer and had contributed much to canon law.
BENEDICT XII
1334 -- 1342
"You have elected a jackass!" cried Jacques Fournier when to his
astonishment he found that he had been elected on the first ballot. But the
self-styled jackass was actually the outstanding theologian in the college
of cardinals. Jacques Fournier was born at Saverdun in Southern France.
He
became a Cistercian monk, studied theology at Paris, and rose to be bishop
of Pamiers and later of Mirepoix. John XXII made him a cardinal in 1327 and
depended upon his theological knowledge in the struggles which marked
that
Pontiff's stormy reign. Elected unanimously on the first ballot, Jacques
chose the name Benedict XII.
At first Benedict toyed with the idea of going back to Rome. From the
Eternal City came urgent invitations. But Romans were still turbulent and
Avignon was quiet and pleasant. Far from leaving, Benedict began to build
that huge fort of a palace which is the landmark of the Avignon exile.
Since Benedict had been a fervent monk, the "spiritual" Franciscan minority
hoped that the new Pope would be more favorable to them. But Benedict
was a
great lover of obedience and orthodoxy, and he soon showed the
recalcitrant
friars that the monk Pope had much the same ideas as his canonlawyer
predecessor. He worked hard to reform religious orders. One outstanding
measure was his determined effort to get wandering monks and friars back
into cloister. A number of maladjusted religious had been roaming the roads
seeking adventure and, of course, giving no end of scandal.
Benedict did his best to shepherd this wandering flock back into the fold.
He enacted other measures which helped the Benedictines, and in general
did
much to check abuses and foster regularity in religious houses.
Benedict also tried to reform the abuses which were creeping into the
Roman
court. And he gave to all a shining example of detachment by his steady
refusal to enrich his relatives. He loved peace so much that he declared he
would not fight even to preserve the papal kingdom. When the storm clouds
which warned of the coming Hundred Years' War loomed, Benedict exerted
himself to dissipate them. Pro-French he may have been to the extent of
creating a great majority of French cardinals, but when war threatened, he
showed himself a truly impartial peacemaker. Unfortunately he succeeded
only in postponing the terrible war.
Benedict XII has been praised by some of his contemporaries and harshly
criticized by others. This is not strange, for he was a pious man and an
earnest reformer. Reforms tread on toes and cause anguished outcries.
Besides, Petrarch did not like Benedict because he would not come back to
Rome, and the fight with Louis the Bavarian still went on. History has done
justice to this holy and learned Pope. If he had any weakness it was in the
field of diplomacy. His simple monastic outlook was ill-attuned to the
complexities of high policy.
Benedict XII died on April 25, 1342.
CLEMENT VI
1342 - 1352
It is said that Philip VI of France sent an envoy to Avignon to secure the
election of his favorite, Pierre Roger. The envoy arrived to find that the
cardinals had already elected a pope --Pierre Roger. He took the name
Clement VI. Pierre was born in 1291 near Limoges of the noble family of the
counts of Beaufort. He entered the Benedictine monastery of La Chaise
Dieu
at the age of ten. He studied at Paris and distinguished himself as a
theologian. Abbot, bishop, archbishop, and cardinal--his career was
brilliant. The king, like the ecclesiastical authorities, appreciated
Pierre's ability and made him chancellor.
Clement VI, like Benedict XII, had been a monk; but while Benedict
remained
the austere religious bent upon reform, Clement developed into a
magnificent prince, scattering largesse with both hands. To Avignon flocked
swarms of fortune hunters and pleasure-seekers. The austere castle built by
Benedict was transformed into a princely palace. Abuses, pruned by
Benedict, flourished with renewed vitality. The extravagance of Clement
hurt the financial position of the papal court even as the sumptuous
display lowered its prestige. Not that Clement was a bad man (Petrarch's
accusations seem unfounded) but his court echoed to the music of the lute
and the lively trumpets of the tournament.
In Clement's reign, Rome saw the meteoric rise and fall of Cola de Rienzi.
At first Clement allowed the Tribune to rule Rome, but when Rienzi
abandoned good sense, the Pope withdrew his support and Rienzi's regime
collapsed. Far from returning to Rome, Clement dug the papacy in deeper at
Avignon by purchasing the territory from Joanna, queen of Naples and
countess of Provence. He did agree to the Romans' request that the Holy
Year should be celebrated every fiftieth year.
Clement tried to stop the disastrous war between France and England. He
succeeded only in arranging a truce. Indeed, his partiality for France (he
lent large sums to Philip ) led to the Statute of Provisors which limited
papal financial exactions in England.
Clement did what he could to promote a league against the Turks. The
league
enjoyed limited success by clearing Turkish pirates from the Archipelago.
He also tried to bring back Greeks and Armenians to Catholic unity.
When the Black Death hit Europe, Clement proved that under his rich robes
beat the heart of a true vicar of Christ. The dreadful scourge desolated
France in 1348. Avignon was hit hard, but the Pope stayed at his post. He
took spiritual and temporal measures to check the plague and bolster
morale. The stunning blow had numbed men's wits and soon the cry arose
that
the Jews had poisoned the wells. In German cities mobs rose against the
poor Jews. Clement spread the papal mantle around this persecuted folk.
He
excommunicated those who attacked them and opened the Papal States to
Jewish refugees.
Clement VI died rather suddenly on December 6, 1352. St. Brigit of Sweden,
the famous mystic, had spoken severely of the Pope, but she believed that
by his charity he would be saved.
INNOCENT VI
1352 - 1362
Clement VI had eased the election regulations of Gregory X, but at the next
conclave the cardinals did not need the more comfortable conditions, for
they quickly elected Etienne Aubert, who took the name Innocent VI.
Etienne
Aubert was born at Mont near Limoges of parents in moderate
circumstances.
He became a professor of law at Toulouse, bishop of Noyon and later of
Clermont, and a cardinal in 1342. Zealous for reform, he leaned much on
the
advice of the austere Carthusian Jean Birel. He tried hard to reverse the
extravagant policy of Clement. He sent the place-hunters packing, cut down
financial abuses, and put a damper on the gaiety of the Avignon court.
Financially, however, he could not cut down papal taxation much. Indeed he
was so distressed that to make ends meet he actually had to sell paintings,
jewels, even the church plate.
In spite of his earnest efforts papal prestige declined. King Edward III of
England in 1363 issued the statute of Praemunire which hampered relations
between Englishmen and the Holy See. In 1356 Emperor Charles IV issued
the
Golden Bull, which regulated the imperial election--without mention of the
Pope. Even at Avignon the Pope was no longer safe. The Peace of Bretigny
which put a temporary stop to the war between France and England sent
swarms of free companions rampaging into Avignon, and indeed besieging
the
Pope. The cardinals themselves had shown a disturbing tendency when in
the
conclave they had all signed an agreement that the man elected pope
should
give the sacred college a good deal more power than it deserved. A
number,
among them Etienne Aubert, had signed only with the restrictive clause, "if
and insofar as it is according to law." Once pope, Innocent wasted little
time in denouncing the mischievous agreement as contrary to the laws of
Gregory X and Clement V.
To settle the affairs of turbulent Rome, Innocent first sent Rienzi back to
pacify the city, but the people butchered the Tribune. Already in 1353
Innocent had sent as his vicar into Italy the man who would restore order
there, the Spaniard Gil Albornoz. Albornoz, cardinal archbishop of Toledo,
had fled from the court of Pedro the Cruel, unable to restrain his
indignation at that monarch's conduct. He battered and coaxed the Italian
barons until he succeeded in making it possible for a pope to live in Rome
once more. Unfortunately Innocent was too old and sick to have the
necessary energy.
Innocent resumed the work of Benedict XII in reforming religious orders.
Though a friend of fervent religious, his legal mind had little sympathy
for the remnants of the rebellious "spiritual" Franciscans. His last years
were painful, as the Black Death once again struck Avigon. He died
September 22, 1362. He had tried hard and had been a good pope. St.
Brigit
of Sweden declared that "Pope Innocent, more abominable than Jewish
usurers, a greater traitor than Judas, more cruel than Pilate, has been
cast into hell like a weighty stone." Historians do not endorse this harsh
judgment of the Swedish mystic, who, though she was a saint, sometimes
said
more than her prayers.
BLESSED URBAN V
1362 -- 1370
The last two popes had been Limousins, natives of the area around
Limoges,
and created a number of Limousin cardinals. This group was resented by
the
others and feelings ran so high that there was little prospect of a quick
election. But to the general amazement and the discontent of most, the
first ballot, taken without consultation as a trial, gave the necessary
votes to Hugh Roger, a Limousin and brother of Clement VI! When Hugh
greatly relieved the cardinals by refusing they went outside the Sacred
College to elect the holy Benedictine, William de Grimoard. He accepted
and
chose to be called Urban V.
William de Grimoard was born at Grisac in 1310 of noble parents. His
mother
was the sister of the holy Elzear de Sabran whom Urban was to canonize.
After studies at Montpellier and Toulouse, William became a Benedictine
monk. He rose to be abbot of St. Victor and was employed by Innocent VI in
various legations. He was distinguished for his holiness and love of
learning.
With such a man on Peter's throne, and with Albornoz still strongly ruling
the Papal States, hope rose that at last the Pope would go home. And
indeed, much as he loved Avignon, Urban felt it his duty to take up
residence in the Eternal City. Of course, the fact that he had been
compelled to pay a huge sum to Bertrand du Guesclin to rid the county of
marauding free companions helped to lessen the grief of leaving. Even so,
the cardinals threatened to abandon him if he left Avignon. Urban quelled
the cardinals and finally landed in the Papal States on June 3, 1367.
Albornoz was there to greet him with joy. Urban made a grand entry into
Rome on October 16. The Pope was home at last, but not for long. Urban
enjoyed two great moments in Rome. One was when Emperor Charles IV
came
down to have his empress crowned by the Pope. It was a very love-feast
between papacy and empire. Better still was the moment when standing on
the
stairs of St. Peter's the Pope welcomed the Byzantine emperor, John V, and
received him back to the Catholic unity. Unfortunately, however, the
Emperor was unable to make his people follow him, and the Pope was
unable
to rouse Western might to rescue the East from the onrushing Ottomans.
Albornoz had died the year Urban reached Rome, and with his strong hand
removed, the papal kingdom rang with clashing swords. Visconti of Milan
was
on the prowl, Perugia revolted, Sir John Hawkwood attacked the Papal
States
with his free companions. Discouraged, Urban decided to go back to the
quiet gardens of Avignon. Besides, the Anglo-French War was once more
flaring up and the Pope felt he could do more for peace at Avignon. The
Romans pleaded with their father not to abandon them. St. Brigit of Sweden
warned him that if he returned to Avignon he would die shortly after. In
spite of pleas and threats, Urban left Rome and reached Avignon
September
27, 1370. On December 19 he was dead.
Pius IX beatified this holy Benedictine Pope. His feast is kept on December
19.
GREGORY XI
1370 - 1378
If ever a youngster could have been spoiled by early honors, it was Pierre
Roger de Beaufort who became Pope Gregory XI. The nephew of Clement
VI, he
was skyrocketed to ecclesiastical honors. A canon at eleven, he was a
cardinal at nineteen. But Pierre was not spoiled. After receiving the red
hat he calmly went to class at the University of Perugia where he made a
reputation for goodness and learning. His ability and his sweet disposition
probably explain how he, though a Limousin, was elected pope
unanimously.
The story of Gregory XI is the drama of his return to Rome. Though Gregory
dearly loved France and his family, he was a man of principle and from the
start proclaimed his intention of going to Rome. But obstacles and
opposition kept piling up as the years moved along. The Pope was
desperately hard pressed for means. Papal taxation was bitterly resented,
and Gregory actually at one time had to pawn the crown jewels. He tried to
make peace between France and England. Bernabo Visconti, the monster
of
Milan, kept Northern Italy in turmoil until 1375, and then Florence, allied
with rebel cities of the Pope's own kingdom, rocked central Italy with
warfare.
Meanwhile cardinals and curia officials used every argument and took
advantage of every excuse to delay the Pope's going. Charles V of France
sent his own brother to plead with the Pope; even more powerfully and
steadily Gregory's own family battered at his will with their love. And if
Gregory had a fault, it was undue fondness for his family.
On the other hand, to strengthen his good resolution came mystic messages
from St. Brigit of Sweden, messages with a double refrain: Rome, Peace.
And
when St. Brigit died in 1373, St. Catherine of Siena continued to fire the
Pope's will with burning words. In 1376 this amazing nun arrived at Avignon
as a peace ambassadress from Florence. She treated Pope, cardinals, and
courtiers to downright plain speaking. Gregory was upbraided for his
inordinate love of his relatives. The good Pope took the scolding meekly,
and at long last set September 13, 1376, as the date of departure. When on
that day the Pope reached the door, he found his father, the count de
Beaufort, waiting for him. In a last desperate gesture of pleading, the
Pope's father threw himself across the threshold. Gregory, his heart torn,
courageously stepped over the old man. With this act of obedience to
Christ's command to hate one's father, the Avignon exile of the papacy
came
to an end.
Gregory reached Rome on January 17, 1377, but it was to be no haven of
peace. Florence, in league with rebellious papal cities, was battling
furiously. Gregory had hit back hard with an interdict, but though the
Florentines felt the pinch, they fought on. Throughout 1377 Italy ran with
blood. Cardinal Robert of Geneva and his Breton mercenaries disgraced the
papal arms by the butchery of Cesena. At last in 1378 a congress gathered
at Sarzana to bring peace to Italy, but before it could finish Gregory was
dead.
Gregory's stay in Rome had not been happy. He longed for the peace of
Avignon. Never robust, his health declined rapidly and on March 28,1378,
Gregory XI died.
URBAN VI
1378 - 1389
Not for seventy-five years had Rome seen a conclave. The cardinals met at
the Vatican on April 7 in the midst of excited clamoring for a Roman or at
least an Italian pope. Oddly enough, in view of the troubles to come, there
was little difficulty agreeing on a candidate. Though the French cardinals
had a big majority, they were split between the Limousins and the others.
As in 1362, they looked outside the Sacred College and chose Bartolommeo
Prignano, archbishop of Bari. At first glance he was an excellent
compromise. Not a cardinal, he had been closely connected with the curia
as
acting vice-chancellor. Not a Frenchman, he was a subject of the French
queen of Naples and had lived for years at Avignon. Outside the Vatican a
mob was roaring, and on April 8 the guards told the cardinals to hurry it
up. It was at this point that Prignano was elected by a vote of fifteen to
one, Orsini dissenting because he feared the election might be considered
invalid. Later on, during a lull in the mob activities, the cardinals once
again elected Prignano unanimously. After this, the mob broke in, terrified
the cardinals, and pillaged the palace. The excitement subsided and
Prignano, informed of his election, accepted and chose to be called Urban
VI. The cardinals now enthroned Urban, asked him for the customary favors,
and wrote to their six colleagues at Avignon that they had made a free
election. Yet within six months they revolted, declared Urban's election
invalid and elected an antipope!
Urban VI had been a successful curia official, well-known to the cardinals
for his austere goodness and his efficiency. But once pope, Urban's austere
but fiery disposition knew no bounds. His plans were excellent, his
execution faulty. He promised a thorough reform, but began it by tongue-
lashing cardinals and bishops until their souls quivered in angry
humiliation. He threatened loudly to end French domination of the Church by
creating large numbers of Italian cardinals. But he did not act, and while
he raged on, cardinals were slipping away to gather finally at Fondi. There
on September 20, 1378, declaring that Urban's election was invalid because
of fear, the cardinals elected an antipope, Robert of Geneva, who took the
name Clement VIII. Failing to take Rome from Urban, he retired to Avignon.
Europe was torn apart. Most of Italy, the Empire, England, Poland, and
Hungary remained loyal to Urban, while France, Scotland, Naples, and the
Spanish kingdoms eventually backed Clement. Saints were on both sides.
St.
Catherine of Siena wrote to Urban, "Those devils in human form have made
an
election. They have not elected a vicar of Christ, but an anti-Christ." Yet
St. Vincent Ferrer supported Clement.
Urban proved to be a difficult ruler. His intemperate harshness embroiled
him in quarrels on all sides. His plans for reform were balked by the
confusion. His pontificate was unhappy. On October 30, 1389, Urban died
with Europe in turmoil and even his own followers disheartened.
BONIFACE IX
1389 - 1404
The great western schism was not a schism in the ordinary sense that
people
revolted from the pope. The Great Western Schism was a split in the Church
because it was doubtful to many just who was the legitimate pope. This
split caused frightful desolation in the Church. Each claimant
excommunicated the other and his supporters. Two papal courts had to be
maintained. The popes felt powerless to insist on reform or to fight
against the encroachments of the state. In short, the Great Western Schism
was stark disaster.
When Urban VI died, a discredited old man, it was hoped that the schism
would end. But since Clement VII at Avignon showed no inclination to
abdicate, Urban's fourteen Cardinals elected young Pietro Tomacelli, who
took the name Boniface IX.
Boniface IX was a Neapolitan of poor but noble birth. As a young man he
had
been made cardinal by Urban and now at thirty-three he assumed the
headship
of the Church at a critical time. His reputation was that of a clever and
amiable diplomat rather than that of a scholar. Amiable he proved to be. By
his winning charm he did much to repair the damage Urban's bitter
harshness
had caused. But he did not succeed in ending the schism.
Clement excommunicated Boniface and Boniface returned the compliment.
He
did try to negotiate with Clement, but with no result. Hope flared high
when in 1394 Clement VII died. The University of Paris, even the French
king himself, urged the Avignon cardinals to hesitate before perpetuating
the dreadful schism. But not they! The Avignon cardinals hurriedly rushed
through an election and chose the Spaniard Pedro de Luna, who took the
name
Benedict XIII.
Boniface felt the weakness of his position. He was compelled to tolerate
state interference with his rights. He could not cope with abuses. Indeed,
in his pontificate abuses multiplied. Papal taxation, already unpopular,
was increased. To gain the money he so desperately needed for the
expenses
of the papal curia Boniface resorted to questionable means. It was during
this pontificate that money and indulgences began that close association
which was a scandal to many. Yet Boniface did not want the money for
himself.
In the political sphere Boniface won a victory over Clement VII when
Ladislaus, his candidate for the throne of Naples, ousted Louis of Anjou,
the favorite of the Avignon claimant. In general, however, there was a
dreary and inconclusive seesaw. Benedict's position was even worse than
that of Boniface, for the French, enraged at his stubbornness, withdrew
their obedience from him for some years.
Boniface did what he could to help the Eastern Empire, now tottering under
the blows of that powerful Ottoman, Bajazet. He also canonized the
outspoken mystic, Brigit of Sweden.
In 1404 Benedict sent an embassy to Boniface, but nothing came of it; and
shortly after, tormented by stones, Boniface IX died.
INNOCENT VII
1404 --1406
When Boniface IX died there were present in Rome delegates from the
Avignon
claimant, Benedict XIII. The cardinals asked these delegates if their
master would abdicate if the cardinals refrained from holding an election.
Only after they were bluntly told that Benedict would never abdicate did
the cardinals proceed to an election. Even then, each cardinal took an oath
that if elected he would do everything possible, even abdicate, to end the
schism. The man they chose was the able and pious Cosimo de' Migliorati,
who took the name Innocent VII.
Cosimo de' Migliorati was born at Sulmona in the Abruzzi at some time
around 1336. Though of humble origin, he secured a good education at
Perugia, Padua, and Bologna. After teaching law at Perugia and Padua,
Cosimo went to Rome and entered the papal service under Urban VI. He
served
as a papal collector in England for ten years. He was made bishop of
Bologna in 1386, archbishop of Ravenna in 1387 and a cardinal in 1400.
Boniface IX leaned heavily on him in his last painful years, when stones
impaired his capacity for business.
Pious as well as learned, Innocent immediately took steps to end the
schism. He called a council to discuss ways and means to the desired end;
but before the council could meet, Rome was in an uproar. A rebellion broke
out which was subdued only with the aid of Ladislaus, king of Naples. But
Ladislaus exacted a high price. He insisted that the Pope should make no
agreement which might prejudice the rights of Ladislaus to Naples. Since
the French still had their eyes on Naples, this might complicate any
negotiations to end the schism. Then too, Ladislaus began to encroach on
the papal territory. Encouraged by Ladislaus, a Roman faction once more
rebelled and sent the Pope flying to Viterbo. Though the Romans welcomed
him back, it is easy to see that such broils left little time to work on
healing the schism.
Disturbed as was his pontificate, Innocent VII had great plans for
restoring the University of Rome. He also tried to reform the curia. But he
had neither the peace nor the time necessary to accomplish much, for on
November 6,1406, this able but frustrated Pope passed away. He was a
good
man whose only fault was nepotism. That he was unable to end the agony
of
the schism is due more to the stormy circumstances of his reign than to any
bad will on his part.
GREGORY XII
1406 --1415
Once again the cardinals bound themselves by oath that the man elected
would abdicate to end the schism if Benedict XIII would do likewise. To
make doubly sure, the cardinals elected Angelo Corrario, an austere old
man
in his seventies. He took the name Gregory XII. Angelo Corrario was born at
Venice of noble parents. Bishop of Castello in 1380, he became a cardinal
in 1400. A pious man, he was outstanding for his desire to end the schism.
At first it looked as if Gregory really meant business about abdicating. He
notified Benedict of his election and of his intention to abdicate if
Benedict would do so too. Hopes rose when Benedict agreed at least to
meet
Gregory, but it soon became evident that neither was anxious to abdicate
and they never reached agreement. Benedict's conduct is not surprising, but
Gregory's was a disappointment. The truth seems to have been that his
relatives, of whom he was inordinately fond, badgered the old man into
forsaking his good intentions. Ladislaus, king of Naples, added his
pressure to that of Gregory's relations.
Gregory's cardinals, growing ever more disgusted, were driven to rebellion
when against his word Gregory created four new cardinals--all nephews!
Some
of his cardinals now left Gregory and began negotiations with equally
disgusted Avignon cardinals. Together they called a general council to meet
at Pisa on their own--quite inadequate--authority and summoned both
Gregory
and Benedict to appear. When neither did, the Council of Pisa in 1409,
first declared Gregory and Benedict deposed, then proceeded to confound
confusion by electing a third pope! Gregory was not idle before this
threat. He created ten new cardinals to replace the rebels and held his own
council, a small affair, at Cividale. This little gathering denounced
Benedict XIII and Alexander V, as the Pisa pope was known.
The condition of the Church was now darker than before, but it was the
proverbial darkest hour before dawn. Events marched rapidly. Alexander V
died in 1410. John XXIII, who was elected to succeed him by the Pisa
cardinals, was put under great pressure to call a new general council. This
council, which met at Constance in 1414, finally did end the schism. The
heroes of the council were Emperor Sigismund, who did so much to get the
council under way, Charles Malatesta, count of Rimini, and Gregory XII.
Malatesta, who was Gregory's friend and protector, urged him to live up to
his good resolutions and do his part to end the schism. Gregory at last
agreed and sent a legate to the Council of Constance, first to convoke the
council in Gregory's name and then to announce his abdication. The council
accepted Gregory's convocation, thus implicitly recognizing his legitimacy.
On July 4, 1415, Gregory abdicated, and the way was open to end the sad
business of the schism. John XXIII accepted deposition; Benedict XIII,
stubborn to the bitter end, refused to abdicate. Abandoned by all the
powers and all but three of his cardinals, he was passed over.
Gregory XII had been treated by the council as legitimate pope, and after
his abdication he was made bishop of Porto and perpetual legate of Ancona.
He died piously at Recanati on October 18, 1417.
MARTIN V
1417 - 1431
After years of agony the great western Schism drew to its end. Gregory XII,
the legitimate pope, after convoking the council already gathered at
Constance, had abdicated. John XXIII, the Pisa claimant, had been
deposed.
Only the Avignon claimant, Benedict XIII, remained, and the council, kings,
and churchmen strove to persuade him to abdicate. Not he! Even when
abandoned by the powers and by his staunch supporter and friend St.
Vincent
Ferrer, he retired to Peniscola and continued to denounce all opponents.
When the Spanish kingdoms abandoned him and made their submission to
Constance, the way was open for an undisputed election.
After three days of conclave, Oddone Colonna was elected unanimously on
November 11. He took the name Martin V. Christendom once more
recognized
the same pope. As an old chronicler put it, "Men could scarcely speak for
joy."
Oddone Colonna was born at Genazzano in 1386. After studies at Perugia
he
entered the diplomatic service of the Church. He became a cardinal in 1405
and abandoned Gregory XII to take part in the Council of Pisa. A subdeacon
at his election, he was rapidly ordained deacon, priest, and bishop before
his coronation on November 21.
Martin V was a vigorous man, virtuous, able, and gracious. He needed all
his good qualities, for the difficulties he faced were immense. Though the
schism had ended, it left a rich legacy of evils. At first Martin could not
even get to Rome, but by skillful diplomacy he entered the city in 1420. He
found it in dreadful shape and worked hard to restore it.
Martin was much less successful in launching the needed reform. His
energy
was diverted from this task by his fear of a council. The Council of
Constance in a revolutionary series of decrees had declared that a general
council is above the pope. Martin was unable to approve this, but he feared
to provoke a fresh schism. Consequently, he cleverly approved whatever
the
council had done in a conciliar manner. Since the revolutionary decrees had
been carried in a manner far from conciliar they were implicitly excluded
from the papal approval. Constance had also decreed that councils should
be
held at stated intervals. These councils might have been helpful to promote
reform, but under the troublesome circumstances it is no wonder that Martin
feared them. Martin indeed called a council for Pavia in 1423, but when the
plague sent it to Siena, so few were present that the Pope dissolved it.
This council decreed that another should meet at Basel in seven years.
Though Martin convoked it in 1431, his successor had to face it. Martin
died February 29, 1431.
Martin V did not start the thorough reform so much needed, but he did
accomplish something. He supported the great Franciscan St. Bernardino of
Siena in his propagation of devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. He created
excellent cardinals. He did so much for Rome and the Papal States that he
is known as "the second founder of the papal monarchy and the Restorer of
Rome."
EUGENE IV
1431-1447
Gabriele Condulmer was born in 1338 of a noble and wealthy Venetian
family.
He gave away his wealth and joined the canons regular of St. Augustine.
His
uncle, Pope Gregory XII made him a cardinal in 1408. He remained loyal to
his uncle at the time of Pisa, and went to Constance only after Gregory's
abdication. He was elected pope on the first ballot and took the name
Eugene IV.
Tall, thin, austere, Eugene's very presence inspired reverence. Generous
and religious, he made an amiable pope. He had something to learn about
diplomacy and did improve as he grew older. He had agreed to an election
capitulation which gave the cardinals more power than they deserved. He
took harsh measures against the family of Martin V, but the powerful
Colonna fought back so furiously that it took the aid of Florence, Venice,
and Naples to beat them down to terms. A revolution broke out in Rome
which
sent Eugene flying to Florence, but soon the papal government was re-
established.
Eugene's greatest problem was the council that Martin had convoked at
Basel
in Switzerland. The council got out of hand and by a series of
revolutionary decrees tried to make a limited monarchy out of the papacy.
For a while the situation was dark, but fear of another schism so
frightened the best men that when the Pope moved the council to Ferrara,
the leaders all obeyed. One cardinal, a few bishops, and a rabble of
theologians defied the Pope to remain at Basel and go from absurdity to
worse. This rump council deposed Eugene and elected an antipope,
Amadeus of
Savoy, who took the name Felix V. For a short time this pocket-size schism
had some support, but meanwhile great things were in the making at Ferrara
and Florence where the council moved in 1439.
The Eastern emperor, John VII, eager for Western help against the Turks,
led an imposing array of dignitaries to the council at Ferrara to seek
reunion with Rome. At Florence the union was solemnly proclaimed. There
was
great rejoicing that the Eastern Schism was now healed, but the union,
though accepted sincerely by men like Bessarion and Isidore of Kiev, was
not popular at Constantinople and lasted only until the fall of the Empire
in 1453.
To the council also came an Armenian delegation to renounce the
Monophysite
heresy and return to Catholic unity. Copts and Abyssinians soon joined the
Armenians. These unions, though short-lived, were important, because
since
Florence there had been at least small groups which stayed faithful to
Rome. These are called Uniates. At Basel also the Hussites of Bohemia,
having soundly trounced crusading armies, became freely reconciled to the
Church. The results of this Basel-Ferrara-Florence Council are highly
significant. The excesses of the rebellious Basel group struck a blow at
the conciliar theory while the return of the Eastern Churches to unity
enhanced the prestige of the papacy.
Eugene did try to reform the Church, but he was preoccupied with the
council. He did encourage St. Frances of Rome in her noble work. He
himself
gave good example by his piety and charity. He tried to get a crusade under
way against the Turks, but it was drowned in blood at Varna. He did
succeed
in negotiating a concordat with the Byzantine Empire.
Now the Renaissance was blooming, and the Pope did his part to
encourage
art. He ordered the bronze gates which still stand at the entrance to St.
Peter's. He also commissioned the famous Fra Angelico to decorate a new
chapel in the Vatican.
Eugene IV died February 23, 1431. He had guided the Church through a
tempestuous time.
NICHOLAS V
1447 -- 1455
In the person of Nicholas V the Renaissance mounted the fisherman's
throne.
An enthusiastic patron of artists, scholars, and men of letters, Nicholas
did much to create a humanist atmosphere around the papal court.
Thomas Parentucelli was born November 15th, 1397, probably at Sarzana
in
Liguria. The son of a poor physician who died while Thomas was yet a
youngster, he was forced by lack of funds to interrupt his studies at the
University of Bologna to serve as tutor to Florentine noble families. This
stay at the capital of the Renaissance during two formative years probably
did much to make him the humanist he was. He finally finished his course at
Bologna and joined the staff of Bologna's holy bishop Nicholas Albergati.
Ordained priest soon after, Thomas followed his master to Rome when
Albergati was made a cardinal. His wide reading stood him in good stead
when he was employed in delicate negotiations with the Greeks at Florence.
After this his rise was rapid. Bishop of Bologna in 1444, cardinal in 1446,
he was elected pope in 1447. He took the name Nicholas V.
Nicholas achieved some brilliant successes. He arranged the Concordat of
Vienna with the Emperor Frederick III in 1448 and put an end to any
possibility of imperial support for the Basel schismatics. In 1449 that
ghost of a gathering, now in session at Lausanne, wheezed its last.
Antipope Felix V resigned. Nicholas by his kindness made submission easy
for all.
Emperor Frederick III came down to Rome in 1452 to be crowned by
Nicholas.
He was the last emperor to be crowned at Rome. In 1450 Nicholas had
proclaimed the jubilee and once more Rome was filled with pilgrims.
Nicholas did much to promote reform. He sent out excellent legates like the
great Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa and the Franciscan St. John Capistrano to
work for reform in Germany. Unfortunately on the other hand, Nicholas
contributed to creating a decidedly worldly atmosphere around the papal
court by employing such men as Lorenzo Valla, Pozzio, and Filelfo,
brilliant scholars, to be sure, but also downright filthy writers.
A true child of the Renaissance, Nicholas was enthusiastic about all forms
of culture. His reign was a real golden age for hungry artists. While
humanists like Valla were put to work translating Thucydides, artists like
Fra Angelico were painting masterpieces on Vatican walls and architects
like Alberti were working on the Belvedere. Meanwhile, spurred on by lavish
papal rewards, searchers were combing ancient monasteries for classical
manuscripts. And here, perhaps, is the chief title of honor for Nicholas V.
He was the founder of the Vatican Library.
Two events saddened the last years of the humanist Pope. In 1453 his heart
was wrenched by the fall of Constantinople. While the West supinely stood
by, Mohammed II broke through the walls and put a final period to the
Roman
Empire of the East. Nicholas had given what help he could. It was not
enough and it was not in time.
Early in 1453 a gentleman named Stephen Porcaro, on fire with humanist
ideals of ancient republican Rome, launched a conspiracy to overthrow the
Pope. Though the plot was foiled, Nicholas was badly shaken. From 1453 to
his death in 1455 Nicholas was tormented by gout and other sicknesses. On
November 15, 1455, the humanist Pope died, his eyes fixed on the crucifix.
CALIXTUS III
1455 -1458
Alonso Borgia was born in Xativa near Valencia of an old Catalan family,
January 13, 1378. A brilliant professor of canon law at the University of
Lerida, he was made canon by Antipope Benedict XIII. After that obstinate
Spaniard died, Alonso used his influence to reconcile his shadow
successor,
Antipope Clement VIII, to Pope Martin V. Martin made him bishop of
Valencia, and Alonso showed his loyalty by refusing the position of royal
Aragonese envoy to the schismatic Council of Basel. Eugene IV thereupon
made him cardinal and invited him to join the papal curia, where he served
with credit.
Alonso was a dark horse in the conclave which followed the death of
Nicholas V. Only after the cardinals failed to unite on the outstanding
Capranica or Bessarion, the learned and pious Greek, did the votes swing in
compromise to Alonso Borgia. Alonso accepted and took the name Calixtus
III.
Although seventy-seven years old, Calixtus still had abundant energy. His
great objective was to save Christendom from the Turks. To this end he
subordinated everything else. Humanists and artists wailed for the good old
times of Nicholas V. Money still flowed, but to generals and munition
makers rather than to poets and artists. The careers of Calixtus III and of
his successor Pius II prove that if a large part of Eastern Europe went
under the Turkish domination the fault was not the popes. The failure of
Calixtus proves how far papal prestige had already declined. Calixtus
pleaded, urged, threatened the monarchs of Europe--in vain.
Calixtus had one moment of triumph when that great Hungarian, John
Hunyadi,
accompanied by St. John Capistrano, saved Belgrade from the mighty grasp
of
Mohammed II. It was a great victory, but unfortunately Hunyadi died shortly
after it. He had no successor, and even the glory of the Belgrade victory
could not infect the cold monarchs of Europe with crusading enthusiasm.
Absorbed as he was with the crusade idea, Calixtus still found time for an
act of justice. It was he who ordered the posthumous re-examination of Joan
of Arc's case which resulted in the glorious vindication of that heroine.
A man of austere life, Calixtus was in many ways a good pope.
Unfortunately
he had one defect, dangerous in a spiritual leader. He was overfond of his
family. Catalans flooded to Rome to enjoy papal favor--much to the disgust
of the Romans. Calixtus created two of his nephews cardinals at an early
age. One of these, Rodrigo Lanzol-Borgia was later, as Pope Alexander VI,
to overshadow Calixtus by his reputation--a reputation that was quite
unsavory.
Calixtus III died still full of plans for the future on August 6, 1458. His
death was the signal for popular outbreaks against the hated Catalans.
PIUS II
1458 - 1464
The man chosen to succeed Calixtus III was the humanist, historian,
statesman, and reformed rake, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini. Aeneas Sylvius
was born at Corsignano near Siena of poor but noble parents. He studied at
the University of Siena and later sat at the feet of Filelfo in Florence.
Aeneas Sylvius combined hard study with loose living. Though he took
canon
law and entered the ecclesiastical service, he had too much respect for
holy orders to become a priest living as he was. He served various princes
of the Church, including Capranica and Albergati. On a mission to Scotland
when his ship was threatened by a storm, Aeneas Sylvius vowed to walk
barefoot to the nearest shrine of Our Lady if a landfall was safely made.
The nearest shrine was ten miles away from the landfall, but Aeneas Sylvius
resolutely trudged barefoot through bleak Scottish snow to pay his debt. It
cost him dearly, for he contracted gout, a disease which tormented him the
rest of his life.
His conversion, however, did not yet take place. He joined the schismatic
Council of Basel and formed one of a rebellious and loose-living circle
there. He wrote tracts against the Pope, and filthy prose and poetry which
would cause Pius II much bitter regret. Having a keen sense of the wind's
direction, Aeneas abandoned the moribund Basel council for the service,
first of the Emperor Frederick III, then of the Pope. He served the papacy
well, taking a large part in the negotiations which led to the Concordat of
Vienna. Calixtus III made him cardinal in 1456, and in 1458 after a
somewhat difficult conclave. Aeneas Sylvius emerged as pope. He chose
the
name Pius II.
Pius had already turned over a new leaf when he had become a priest. Now
he
strove to live up to his chosen name. He publicly retracted his youthful
errors and bade the Christian world to reject Aeneas but accept Pius. As
pope, he led a simple life more like that of a monk than of a Renaissance
prince. He loved nature, and whenever possible he worked outdoors. He
was
accustomed to give audiences sitting under the chestnut trees or beside
some splashing fountain.
If the humanists expected a return of the golden age of Nicholas V, they
were disappointed. Pius did not altogether neglect the arts, but his main
concern was to carry on the crusading policy of Calixtus III. The necessity
of a crusade was impressed upon him by the piteous complaints of princes
driven from Greece and the Eastern islands by Ottoman might. Pius called a
congress of the powers to meet at Mantua in 1459, but the congress did
little else than prove the Pope's zeal. Power politics, and narrow power
politics at that, prevailed among the monarchs of Renaissance Europe.
Pius enjoyed one great triumph when he succeeded in getting Louis XI of
France to abrogate the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges. Even this, however,
was spoiled by future encroachments of the spider king.
Although he saw the need for a thoroughgoing reform, Pius undertook only
partial reforms. He concentrated on the crusade. He even wrote a letter to
Sultan Mohammed II, urging him to become a Christian. No answer. At last,
as if to shame the sluggard kings, Pius, old and sick, dragged himself to
Ancona, where he had assembled a small crusading army. Fever struck him
down, and on August 14, 1464, he died on the shores of the Adriatic,
looking towards the East he had so much desired to help.
PAUL II
1464 -- 1471
When a young Venetian heard that his uncle had been elected pope, he
promptly abandoned his business career for the service of the Church. His
foresight was justified. He advanced steadily until he became Pope Paul II.
Pietro Barbo was born in Venice on February 23, 1417, of a wealthy
Venetian
merchant family. His mother, Polixena Condulmer was the sister of Pope
Eugene IV. A very pious woman, she brought up Pietro carefully. Her
brother
the Pope saw to it that Pietro had the best teachers, once he embraced the
ecclesiastical state. Pope Eugene made him a cardinal in 1440.
After Pius II had died at Ancona, the cardinals hurried back to Rome and
proceeded to hold an election. The conclave was short; after the first
ballot the cardinals elected Pietro Barbo. He wished to take the name
Formosus II, but since that name means handsome, the cardinals
dissuaded
him out of fear that the people would consider it a vulgar allusion to
Pietro's striking good looks. He next chose Mark, but since the second
evangelist's name was used as a war cry by the armed forces of Venice, the
cardinals likewise vetoed it. Finally he chose Paul II. No one objected to
the apostle of the gentiles.
Paul II refused to ratify an election capitulation which the cardinals had
signed. Indeed, no pope could in justice ratify such a document, for it
unduly exalted the power of the cardinals.
Paul's election was popular, and with reason. He was a large-hearted man
who loved to do things for the people. He took very good care of Rome
itself. He saw to it that adequate provisions reached the city. He made war
on robber barons. He tried to stamp out the vendetta which disgraced the
section. Other rulers had done as much, but Paul stands out as a pope who
provided not only spiritual and temporal care for the people, but even saw
to it that they had fun! Pageants, glowing with all the color of the
Renaissance, delighted the Romans. Games, races, fun for every class
marked
the holiday season under this genial pontiff. The Pope himself loved to
stand at the window of his palace and watch the merrymaking. But Paul was
no playboy pope. Quite alive to the danger from the Moslem, he welcomed
the
epic Albanian hero Skanderbeg and sent him home to renew the fight, with
a
blessing and a substantial sum of money. Like his predecessors, Paul tried
to arouse Europe to a sense of its danger, but like his predecessors, he
failed. He was very good to those poor refugees from the Ottoman
onslaught
who had come to Rome for a refuge.
Nor was he blind to the need for reform. Though he failed to launch the
root-and-branch reform which was needed, he did limit financial abuses.
Yet Paul II had a bad press. And why? Because he dared to clear out some
humanists from the papal curia, they gave the pope a bad reputation. His
unpopularity with the humanist extremists was heightened when he
swooped
down on an academy presided over by an eccentric named Pomponio Leto.
At
this academy, atheism and sedition were discussed--somewhat
academically to
be sure. Still, the Pope had the Porcaro conspiracy to remember.
Paul also had trouble with some people quite other than pedants--the
shrewd
Louis XI of France and the cold Venetian oligarchs. George Podiebrad, king
of Bohemia, with his Hussite tendencies was also a vexation to Paul II.
Paul II died suddenly of a stroke on July 26, 1471.
SIXTUS IV
1471 - 1484
Francesco Della Rovere was born at Celle on July 21, 1414, of poor
parents.
He was a sickly youngster, and his mother consecrated him by vow to St.
Francis. At the age of nine he was put under the care of a Franciscan
schoolmaster, and later on he entered the Franciscan order. He proved to
be
a talented student at the universities of Pavia and Bologna. Ordained, he
taught theology with an extraordinary success. Even the learned Cardinal
Bessarion sat in on his lectures.
As provincial of the Ligurian province of his order, Francesco worked hard
for reform, and after 1464 when he was elected minister-general of the
order, he extended his efforts to the whole order. He so ably defended his
friars before Paul II that not only was the Pope appeased but he made
Francesco a cardinal in 1467. Cardinal Francesco continued to live as
simply as Fra Francesco. He devoted his leisure to study and produced a
number of volumes which earned him considerable notice, especially a work
defending Mary's Immaculate Conception. With perhaps less success he
strove
to show that Aquinas and Duns Scotus differed only in words!
Such was the man the cardinals chose to succeed Paul II on August 7,
1471--
a friar, zealous for reform, a hard-working scholar learned in theology.
Surely now it would seem that the church had a leader who would undertake
the root-and-branch reform so long desired. But not since Urban VI had a
pope been more of a disappointment.
It is true that Sixtus IV, as Francesco chose to be called, accomplished
some good in his pontificate. He tried to regulate abuses in the
inquisition. He made Rome more sanitary. He could be called a second
founder of the Vatican Library. He was a great patron of art, and for this
he will be remembered whenever men look at the Sistine Chapel.
In spite of all this his pontificate must be considered a dismal failure.
At a time when the Church needed reform and rightly expected vigorous
leadership in that direction, Sixtus IV caused the moral tone of Roman
ecclesiastical life to dive sharply. Not that he was crudely immoral: the
Franciscan pope, devoted to Mary, lived a private life which is attacked
only by gossipy enemies whose testimony is of no value. The crime of
Sixtus
was nepotism. From Liguria came numerous relatives to fatten on church
wealth and to lower church standards. He created youthful nephews
cardinals
and loaded them with ecclesiastical plums.
The moral tone of Rome sank as parties, gambling, and loose living became
commonplace. The older cardinals looked on with dismay at these
manifestations of a new spirit, but they were dying off, and the future
remained with the numerous cardinals created by Sixtus IV, the cardinals
who did much to pave the way for the success of the Protestant revolt.
Sixtus lowered the prestige of the papacy also by becoming involved in a
shabby conspiracy to overthrow the Medici in Florence. To do him justice
the Pope insisted that no blood be shed, but still any connection with the
Pazzi conspiracy, which was climaxed by a murder on the altar of the
cathedral in Florence, is a disgrace to a Pope.
Sixtus IV died August 12, 1484, in the midst of diplomatic and military
failure. It was fitting, for the keynote of his pontificate is failure.
INNOCENT VIII
1484 -1492
The death of Sixtus IV was the signal for a general outbreak against his
pushful and greedy relatives. Once more Orsini and Colonna stood to arms
while Caterina Sforza, the redoubtable wife of Girolamo Riario, the late
Pope's favorite lay nephew, seized the Castle of St. Angelo. It looked as
if blood would wash Roman gutters, but cooler heads prevailed, and the
cardinals were able to proceed to an election.
The conclave, like Rome itself, was torn by factions. The chief rivals were
Giuliano della Rovere, the most able of the late Pope's nephews, and
Rodrigo Borgia, the nephew of Calixtus III. Bargaining seems to have been
quite open, and the election was decided when Della Rovere and Borgia got
together on a compromise candidate, a weak, good-natured man whom the
ambitious cardinals hoped to dominate, Giovanni Battista Cibo.
Giovanni Battista Cibo was born in Genoa in 1432, the son of a Roman
senator. As a young man he was somewhat licentious and had two
illegitimate
children, Franceschetto and Teodorina. But after young Cibo took orders he
settled down. He became bishop of Savona in 1467, and in 1473 exchanged
Savona for the see of Olfetta in Naples. He was created cardinal in 1473 by
Sixtus IV. He chose the name of Innocent VIII.
The first part of his reign was dominated by Cardinal Giuliano della
Rovere, that most able and energetic of Sixtus IV's nephews, but the easy-
going Innocent soon tired of power politics and allowed Lorenzo de' Medici
to guide his policy during the latter part of his pontificate. He made
Lorenzo's teen-age nephew a cardinal, but stipulated that he should not
assume the robes and obligations of the cardinalate until he was eighteen.
Innocent summoned a congress to meet at Rome in 1490 to discuss a
crusade
against the Turks. Interest in the proposal was heightened by the presence
of the Sultan's brother, Prince Jem, in Rome. But as usual, nothing came of
the congress.
Although Pope Innocent meant well, he contributed to the decline of papal
prestige by his open acknowledgment of his illegitimate children in the
Vatican. His son Franceschetto, who was living a dissolute life, was no
help to the Pope.
Then too, Innocent was very hard pressed for funds. To get them he
increased the number of purchasable offices. This in turn caused graft and
corruption among officials. Innocent had the bitter experience of seeing
forged bulls sold under his very eyes. When the culprits were discovered,
death was their portion, but great damage was done before the forgeries
were discovered.
Innocent had the consolation of hearing of the fall of Granada to the arms
of Ferdinand and Isabella. But his pontificate, on the whole, did little
for the Church. He himself seemed to realize this, and on his deathbed he
asked the cardinals' forgiveness for having done so little and begged them
to elect a better successor. How they answered this appeal is a matter of
history.
Innocent VIII died devoutly on July 25, 1492.
ALEXANDER VI
1492 - 1503
Borgia poison is almost certain to figure largely in any Renaissance novel.
It does not figure in history. Yet, though hostile exaggeration and
downright lies did much to create it, there was unfortunately, some basis
in fact for the miasma of scandal which surrounds the name of Alexander VI.
Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol was born at Xativa in Spain on January 1, 1431. His
mother was the sister of Pope Calixtus III. A cardinal at twenty-five,
Rodrigo reached eagerly for the ecclesiastical plums his uncle shook down
for him. His eagerness did not extend to ecclesiastical morals. Though
rebuked by Pius II, young Rodrigo continued to live evilly.
Such was the man the cardinals elected in answer to poor Innocent's plea
that they elect a better pope. Yet Rodrigo's election was hailed by the
Romans with enthusiasm. Alexander VI, as Rodrigo chose to be called, was
still a fine figure of a man when elected at the age of sixty-one. He was
talented, generous, a wise patron of art. He performed the exterior
ceremonies of his office with decorum and dispatched the routine business
of the papacy with ability. He promoted peace between Spain and Portugal,
putting a rein on their fierce competition for empire by his line of
demarcation. He treated Jewish refugees from Spain with kindness. In
Rome
he made considerable improvements and did much for the university.
Alexander had to face a difficult problem when the French king, Charles
VIII, came storming down into Italy to make good his claim to Naples. It
was a touchy moment for Alexander when the French approached Rome.
His
enemies--Giuliano della Revere, the Orsini, Savonarola--clamored for his
deposition as a simoniacal prelate. But Alexander, no fool when it came to
diplomacy, outmaneuvered them all and escaped scot-free from the French
menace. He was not done with Savonarola. The friar of San Marco
continued
to denounce Alexander, but in 1498 the people of Florence turned against
him and put the bold preacher to death.
There was a moment when it looked as if Alexander might turn over a new
leaf. One night his favorite son, Juan, disappeared after a party. After
days of anxious search, his body, pierced with wounds, was fished from the
Tiber. The grief-stricken old Pope was crushed and gave much thought to
reform. A commission drew up a plan full of promise. But the mood passed,
and soon Alexander was deep in plans to push his son Caesar's career.
Caesar abandoned the ecclesiastical state (though a cardinal, he was not a
priest) and to him Alexander allotted the turbulent semi-independent
northern section of the Papal States known as Romagna. Caesar smashed
his
way into his duchy and held it with a mixture of skill, energy, and
ruthlessness which made him Machiavelli's idol. But his activity was in
vain. His sickness and the Pope's death were to rob him of a principality.
After dining at a cardinal's villa the Pope and Caesar defied the
treacherous night air of a Roman August. Soon both were down with
malaria.
Caesar managed to pull through, but Alexander, now seventy-three,
succumbed. It was six o'clock on August 13 that Alexander VI went to meet
Him as his judge Whose vicar on earth he had been.
PIUS III
1503
Though Alexander was dead, Caesar still lived and lived in Rome where he
could keep an eye on the conclave. But it was a sick Caesar, a Caesar still
shaky from his bout with fever that all eyes watched anxiously. Even so,
the cardinals were frightened enough to plan to hold the conclave in the
Castle of St. Angelo rather than the Vatican. But when the ambassadors of
the Empire, France, Spain, and Venice joined the cardinals in urging the
terrible duke to withdraw, the convalescent Caesar agreed to do so. With
his litter disappeared his chance to dominate the conclave. The Borgias
were on the way out.
Three candidates led the field in this conclave-- the great enemy of
Alexander VI, Giuliano della Rovere, the wealthy and powerful minister of
Louis XII, Georges d'Amboise, and the raffish Ascanio Sforza. When none
of
these could gain the necessary majority, they turned to a compromise
candidate, Francesco Piccolomini, a sick old man. On September 22,
Francesco was elected and took the name Pius III. It was a popular choice.
Francesco Todeschini Piccolomini was born May 9, 1439, in Siena. His
father
was a man of great wealth. His mother, Laodinica Piccolomini, was the
sister of Pope Pius II. Pius adopted young Francesco and gave him his
name
and coat of arms. He proved to be a bright student, and took his doctorate
in law at the University of Perugia. Although Pius II made him a cardinal
and archbishop of Siena at the age of twenty, he did not take priest's
orders until elected pope as an old man of sixty-four. Pius II, however,
took good care to give him a holy and able coadjutor to act as bishop in
his place.
Young as he was, Francesco proved worthy of the sacred college by his
excellent life. During the worldly times of Sixtus IV and Alexander VI,
Cardinal Piccolomini stayed away from Rome as much as he could. He
served
the Popes as legate on various occasions, with skill and usually with
success. The election of such a man, as able as he was religious, delighted
those who yearned for a thorough reform. But Pius was not to be given the
opportunity for accomplishing great things.
Although only sixty-four when elected, Pius was a sick man. Tormented by
gout, he suffered severely, but bravely went through the ceremonies of
ordination, consecration as a bishop, and coronation as pope. So sick that
he had to say Mass sitting down, the courageous Pope tried desperately to
carry on the business of the papacy. He planned to call a general council.
He announced that he was to be a pope of peace. But the pressure was too
much for his tired old frame. He fell into a fever and by October 17 his
doctors were in despair. After receiving the viaticum and extreme unction,
the noble old man died peacefully on the evening of October 18. He had
been
pope for less than a month.
JULIUS II
1503 -- 1513
Giulano Della Rovere, born in poverty at Albrissola in Liguria, became one
of the most powerful Renaissance popes. His fortune was made when his
uncle
became Pope Sixtus IV. Sixtus made Giuliano (who had been a Franciscan)
a
cardinal and heaped honors upon him. At his uncle's death Giuliano eagerly
competed for the tiara with Rodrigo Borgia. Though forced to accept
Innocent VIII as a compromise, Giuliano soothed his ambition by doing
much
of the governing for that easy-going pontiff. At the next conclave Giuliano
and Rodrigo once more strove for election. This time Rodrigo won, and as
Alexander VI he had little use for his rival. Giuliano, on his part, eyed
the Borgia Pope with suspicion and busied himself with intrigue. He even
worked on Charles VIII of France to invade Italy. At Alexander's death
Giuliano once more tried for the tiara once more failed. But when Pius III
quickly passed away, Giuliano finally succeeded. He took the name Julius
II.
Julius was fifty when elected. He was vigorous, irascible, a man of his own
counsel, very much a man of his own age, an outstanding personality in an
age of individualists. He is chiefly remembered for two things: he rebuilt
the papal kingdom, and he made Rome a Mecca for artists and art-lovers.
Julius devoted himself to the task of becoming master in the papal kingdom.
He managed to get Caesar Borgia out of the country. He drove the Baglioni
out of Perugia, and when the Bentivogli of Bologna proved stubborn, he
excommunicated them and their supporters, and battered his way into the
city. Venice, insolent on its lagoons, defied the Pope and held on to
portions of Romagna. Julius formed the League of Cambrai with Emperor
Maximilian and Louis XII of France. League forces soon compelled the
proud
republic to disgorge its ill-gotten gains. This pleased the Pope, but
another result of the war did not. France got hold of Milan. The stormy but
shrewd Julius now raised the cry "Out with the barbarians." Against France
he formed the "Holy League" with Ferdinand and his old enemy Venice.
Again
the Pope was successful, and the French retreated beyond the Alps.
Louis XII had countered this political "Holy League" by inspiring a church
council at Pisa in 1511 with the help of a few rebellious cardinals. As
usual Julius acted decisively. He called a true council to meet at the
Lateran. This Fifth Lateran Council left the French council at Pisa to
wither on the vine. Unfortunately, though the Lateran Council checkmated
the French, it did not produce the thoroughgoing reform so badly needed.
Julius II was a truly great patron of art. He set Michael Angelo to work on
the Sistine Chapel, Raphael on the Vatican, and Bramante to plan St.
Peter's. In his reign the capital of the Renaissance may be said to have
moved from Florence to Rome.
After ailing for some time Julius II died peacefully on February 21, 1513.
His death was regretted by the Romans, for if he had not been a great
Pope,
he had been a good king. Julius II shocked many by his open display of
power politics, but it must be said that if Julius worked like a secular
prince, it was not to promote the glory of his own family, but the welfare
of the papal kingdom. He has been called the second founder of the papal
states.
LEO X
1513 -- 1521
If ever a man was produced by the Italian Renaissance it was Giovanni de'
Medici. He was born at Florence in 1475, the son of the magnificent
Lorenzo. Marsilio Ficino and Politian saw to his humanist education.
Destined for the Church, he was tonsured at the age of seven or eight and
soon became abbot of several monasteries. A cardinal at thirteen, he was
pope at thirty-eight.
Yet Giovanni had his troubles too. His family was expelled from Florence in
1494. Appointed legate in Romagna by Julius II, Giovanni was taken
prisoner
by the French in the War of the Holy League. But then fortune's wheel spun.
The Medici recovered control of Florence in 1512, and the very next year
Giovanni entered the conclave a dark horse to emerge as Pope Leo X.
Leo faced the crushing responsibility of spiritual leadership with a light
heart. He loved shows and games, and many a play and ballet was
performed
for the Pope's amusement. A keen sportsman, Leo spent much time
hunting. He
was careless of the morals of the humanists he patronized as long as their
Latin was Ciceronian. Yet Leo had no scandal in his own life, before or
after becoming pope. He was charitable, said his prayers regularly, and
even fasted three times a week.
His open-handed extravagance made Rome a happy hunting grounds for
humanists, but it so seriously embarrassed the papal treasury that Leo was
forced to stoop to unworthy devices to secure necessary funds. In politics
Leo played a shifty game without much ability and usually reaped only
embarrassment.
He completed the Fifth Lateran Council called by Julius. But, though
excellent reform decrees had been passed, little enough came of them.
Leo's
most famous achievement was the Concordat of Bologna, an agreement
with
Francis I of France signed in 1516 which put an end to the semischismatical
policy intermittently followed by the French since the Council of Basel.
This agreement, which allowed the king to name bishops and abbots, gave
him
so great a stake in French church wealth that greed would not tempt the
French monarchs, as it did others, to leave the Church so that they could
confiscate its wealth. These advantages, however, were dearly bought, for
the concordat left an open avenue to corruption in the French church.
Leo X had been elected by the younger cardinals, and these made so many
demands on him that he could not satisfy all. One of the disgruntled
dignitaries, Cardinal Petrucci, plotted to poison the Pope. Leo discovered
the plot, had Petrucci executed, and then at one sitting created thirty-one
new cardinals, a wise step which ensured a loyal college.
Leo had appointed Raphael to proceed with the building of St. Peter's, but
lack of funds forced the great artist to chafe in idleness. The Pope
granted an indulgence to all who under the usual conditions contributed to
the building of the basilica. Tetzel, preaching this indulgence in Germany,
stirred a stormy Augustinian to challenge him and indulgences on October
31, 1517. From 1517 to 1521 Martin Luther drifted into open rebellion
against the Catholic religion. Leo was quite patient with him, but at last
in 1520 he condemned Luther's errors by the bull "Exsurge Domine."
Condemnations were not enough. By December 1, 1521, when Leo X died,
Germany was aflame. It was the time's misfortune that when the Church
needed a Hildebrand on the papal throne all it got was a Medici.
ADRIAN VI
1522 -1523
After Leo's death his cousin Giulio was the dominant figure in the
conclave, but unable to control the necessary majority, Giulio proposed a
compromise candidate, Cardinal Adrian Florensz, absent in Spain serving
as
viceroy for Charles V. Cajetan, the famous Thomist, earnestly seconded this
proposal; and almost before they knew it, the cardinals elected the grave
Dutchman. Adrian accepted and chose to be called Adrian VI.
Adrian was born in Utrecht, on March 2, 1459. His parents, poor and pious,
gave him a good religious foundation which was deepened by his early
schooling with the Brothers of the Common Life. Helped financially by
Margaret of York, dowager duchess of Burgundy, he took his doctorate in
theology at Louvain in 1491. He taught theology there and published two
books. Among those who came to his lectures was the famous Erasmus.
Chancellor of the university, twice rector, councilor of Duchess Margaret,
he was chosen by Emperor Maximilian to be tutor to his grandson and heir.
Adrian's work with the young prince paid dividends in the sturdy
Catholicism of Emperor Charles V.
Sent to Spain on a delicate mission in 1515, he found himself the next year
co-viceroy with the great reformer Ximenes. He was made Bishop of
Tortosa,
a cardinal, and grand inquisitor. After Ximenes died, Adrian carried on as
sole viceroy.
The election of this Dutchman, this great friend of Charles V, stunned
everyone including the cardinals, but by his firm though tactful dealings
with Charles, Adrian soon showed that he would be no tool in imperial
hands. It was not until late August that Adrian reached Rome, a decidedly
hostile Rome. All the pagan humanists, all the swarm of place-hunters and
job-buyers, feared the stern theologian. And with reason, for Adrian was
determined to reform the Church and to start right in at Rome.
Adrian faced a serious situation. In the East the Turks were about to
batter their way into Rhodes, in Germany Luther's revolt still blazed, and
at home the Church needed reform. Adrian tried to get adequate help for
Rhodes, but had to see it fall. Against Luther he tried to get Erasmus to
use his golden pen, but that timid humanist still hung back. With rare
moral courage Adrian, in his instruction to Chieregati, his nuncio in
Germany, fearlessly acknowledged the existence of abuses, abuses he was
determined to stamp out.
Adrian devoted himself to this task. He ruthlessly slashed the expenses of
his court. He suppressed useless offices. He avoided even the suspicion of
favoring his own family. But it takes time to overcome the resistance of
vested interests and the inertia of human weakness. And time was running
out on the sexagenarian Pope. A fierce outbreak of plague sent the
cardinals on the run for a safer climate, and though the indomitable old
Dutchman stayed on and survived, he lost six precious months because
little
could be done in the absence of the cardinals; and then when the plague
died down and the cardinals came back, Adrian fell sick. He died September
12, 1523. The frivolous rejoiced at his passing, but it was a tragedy for
the Church.
CLEMENT VII
1523 -- 1534
After Adrian, another Medici. At the conclave Leo's cousin Giulio won the
tiara after stubborn competition from cardinals Farnese and Wolsey. He took
the name Clement VII.
Giulio de' Medici was born in Florence in 1478. Created cardinal in 1513,
he was considered the architect of Leo's foreign policy. Giulio was a
handsome man of good morals, and quite free from the frivolity of Leo X,
but he was not very able and was tortured with a dangerous inability to
make up his mind. In short, he was scarcely the pope for troubled times.
Two tragedies mark the reign of this second Medici pope: the sack of Rome
and the loss of England.
After trying vainly to bring about peace between the Emperor and Francis I,
Clement, unlucky and improvident, made an alliance with the French even
as
they were on the march for Pavia and disaster. The Emperor, really angry,
made himself disagreeable to the Pope. Clement, frightened more than
ever,
formed the League of Cognac against him. In return the imperialists egged
on the Colonna to make trouble for the Pope. These ruffians burst into
Rome, sacked the Vatican, and desecrated St. Peter's, a grim prelude to
next year's frightful tragedy. The next year, 1527, the imperialist army in
North Italy, infuriated by lack of pay and longing for plunder, marched
south. Florence, threatened, was saved by the Cognac League Army. The
mercenaries, however, had fixed their greedy eyes on a greater prey, rich
Rome itself.
Abandoning even their guns, the motley horde of Spaniards, Italians, and
Germans hastened toward the city. On May 5, even without artillery, the
wild throng broke through the feeble defenses of the papal capital.
Clement, who had only just reached the safety of the Castle of St. Angelo,
had to listen to the agonized screams of his poor flock. A nightmare
followed as pikemen butchered men, women, and children, plundered and
desecrated to their hearts' content. The glory of Renaissance Rome was
extinguished in blood. Clement finally made peace with the Emperor,
indeed,
even crowned him at Bologna in 1530; but a greater disaster than the
sacking of Rome was in the making.
Henry VIII of England had written against Luther, and even in politics was
quite pro-papal; but a lustful attachment to Anne Boleyn showed how weak
his principles were. Eagerly he bombarded Clement with requests for an
annulment of his marriage with Catharine of Aragon. Clement, reluctant to
displease the friendly monarch and hoping that something would turn up to
change the situation, stalled and delayed. But he was waiting for a break
that never came, and when all the facts were in, there was only one
decision possible: that Henry's was a good marriage. Henry did not wait for
the final decision. In 1534 he climaxed a series of anti-Catholic acts by
forcing the Church in England to break from Catholic unity.
Clement VII died shortly after on September 26, 1534.
PAUL III
1534 - 1549
Paul III, like the fabled Janus, looks two ways, back to the bad old times
of Renaissance Rome, forward to the glory of the Catholic Reform.
Alessandro Farnese was born of a noble family in 1468. Educated by
Pomponio
Leto in the house of Lorenzo de' Medici and at the University of Pavia, he
was steeped in Renaissance culture and Renaissance morality. Though he
entered the service of the Church and was created cardinal in 1503 by
Alexander VI, he lived a loose life. But he gradually improved, and when in
1519 he decided to become a priest, he turned over a new leaf and
thenceforth lived chastely. Agreeable and competent, he got along with the
variety of popes he served from Alexander VI to Clement VII. And when
Clement died, Alessandro's election was achieved with ease and hailed with
delight.
Paul III, as he chose to be called, was a good pope, a strong pope,
sagacious, energetic, and largely devoted; not entirely devoted, for he was
guilty of favoring his relations. But he compensated for this dangerous
fault by his great work in promoting the Catholic Reform.
Paul III began to do what Adrian VI had been prevented by death from
doing.
Paul did not merely talk reform, he reformed. There was a crying need for
spiritual cardinals to replace the worldly Renaissance princes of the last
generation. Paul filled the sacred college with earnest reformers, men like
Gian Pietro Caraffa and Reginald Pole.
There was a crying need for reform in the papal curia. Paul began that work
over the agonized protests of vested interest. There was a crying need for
reform of the clergy and the religious orders. Paul gave strong support to
new orders and reforms of the old orders. He backed up reforming bishops
who put their dioceses in order. On September 27, 1540, Paul approved of
the Society of Jesus, and before his pontificate was over, Ignatius and his
followers were spreading throughout Europe and Xavier had left for India
and spiritual conquest. Paul favored the Theatines, the Barnabites, and the
Ursulines, and in a time of trial, his wisdom protected the great reform
order of the Capuchins.
Above all, Paul after most vexing difficulties got the long-desired general
council under way. On December 13, 1547, his legates opened the Council
of
Trent. And Trent is a watershed in church history
Paul III forbade the enslavement of the Indians. He rebuked Francis I for
his ferocious cruelty toward the Protestants, while, on the other hand, he
established the Index of Forbidden Books to check heretical tendencies. He
was a great patron of art. Under him Michael Angelo began that dome of St.
Peter's which today is a landmark of Rome.
But Paul's great glory lies in the fact that when he died on November
10,1549, a new era had been born, the era of the Catholic Reform.
JULIUS III
1550 -- 1555
Paul III had moved the ecumenical council from Trent to Bologna. This
enraged the Emperor, who forbade his subjects to leave Trent. With some
members at Trent and others at Bologna, the council was at a standstill.
But after Paul's death the man chosen to succeed him was Cardinal del
Monte
who, as senior papal legate, had opened the council. Now he ordered the
fathers back to Trent and once more the great work of the council went
forward. Unfortunately, however, the defeat of the Emperor by the
Schmalkaldic army and lack of French cooperation forced the Pope to
suspend
the council in 1552.
Giovan Maria Ciocchi del Monte was born in Rome on September 10, 1487,
the
son of a brilliant lawyer. After studies in law and theology he became
archbishop of Siponto. He served Clement VII as prefect of Rome and, less
agreeably, as a hostage to the wild men who had sacked the city. Indeed,
when poor Clement could not keep up the exorbitant payments demanded,
the
future pope was very close to being hanged! Created cardinal by Paul III,
he served on the commission to prepare for the great council and then as
the council's first president. His election on February 7, 1550, was the
result of a compromise. He took the name Julius III.
Julius was a well-meaning but easy-going man. He favored his relatives,
spent money lavishly, and loved good times. But on the other hand, he did
continue Paul III's work in favoring the forces of reform. At the instance
of St. Ignatius he founded the famous German College to provide zealous
and
learned priests for the afflicted Empire.
Julius showed excellent good sense and tact in his dealings with England.
Mary, now on the throne, was negotiating for the return of England to
Catholic unity. Julius appointed her kinsman Cardinal Pole to be his legate
in the matter and gave him the widest faculties to ease troubled
consciences. He did not insist on the return of stolen monastic property.
He was rewarded by seeing England once more a Catholic country.
Julius III, greatly interested in learning and art, promoted the
development of the Vatican Library and of the Roman and various German
universities. He favored Michael Angelo and the historian of art, Vasari.
Pierluigi Palestrina, the great composer, he placed in charge of St.
Peter's choir.
Julius might have been more fond of ease and jollification than suited
either his state or the times, but it is to his credit that the work of
reform did continue. By the time Julius died on March 23, 1555, St. Peter
Canisius was spearheading a Catholic reaction in Germany, St. Francis
Xavier had died trying to get into China after an epic sweep through the
Indies and Japan, and zealous Franciscans and Dominicans were spreading
the
gospel in the Americas.
MARCELLUS II
1555
There are a few characters in whom the Renaissance spirit and the
Christian
spirit met in so harmonious a blending that in them the best spirit of the
age seemed incarnate. St. Thomas More was one such. Pope Marcellus II
was
another.
Marcello Cervini was born May 6, 1501, of a noble family of Montepulciano.
His father Ricciardo, a scientist, started Marcello on the path to
knowledge. Marcello was a serious young man, yet so agreeable that he
was
liked everywhere. At Siena, where he continued his education, he was so
respected that his presence was enough to cut off evil conversation. He
completed his education at Rome, where he made such an impression on
Clement VII that the Pope ordered Marcello to collaborate with his father
on a book dealing with calendar reform. He helped his father not only on
the book but on his estates. Marcello proved to be a practical farmer as
well as a scholar, a conjunction not always found.
After his parents' death he settled the family, then went to Rome where he
served first in the papal chancery, then in the diplomatic corps. Cardinal
Farnese, who had studied under Marcello and liked him, used him a great
deal in affairs of state. His advancement was swift. Bishop of Nicastro and
administrator of Reggio and later of Gubbio, he took great pains to reform
those dioceses. Created cardinal in 1539, he served as legate at Trent,
where he did valuable work on the decrees on scripture, tradition, and
justification.
Marcello is remembered by scholars as one of the great directors of the
Vatican Library. By his cataloguing, his acquisition of new manuscripts and
his printing of old ones he contributed a great deal to scholarship. He was
a friend to young writers and such scholars as Seripando, Sirleto, and
Panvinio owed much to him.
Such then was the man the cardinals chose to succeed Julius III. His
election on April 10, 1555, was hailed with joy, especially by those eager
for reform. Marcellus II (he retained his own name) wasted no time. He cut
down the display of the coronation. He rigidly refused to favor his
relatives. He issued severe regulations for his household. He proclaimed
his intention of resuming the Council of Trent. Men felt a golden age of
the papacy was dawning; but the greater the hope, the greater the
disappointment.
The long ceremonies of the coronation and Holy Week had so exhausted
the
delicate Pope that he fell into a fever. In spite of doctors' orders he
continued to work. Although the fever persisted, the doctors were not
alarmed; but on May I, 1555, after a pontificate of only twenty-two days,
Pope Marcellus died in his sleep.
His memory is enshrined in Palestrina's great Mass of Pope Marcellus, and
still more in the hearts of those who reverence goodness and scholarship.
PAUL IV
1555 -- 1559
Under Marcellus reform had begun to stir Rome like an insistent but gentle
breeze. Under his successor reform roared through the city with all the
violence and some of the freakishness of a tornado.
Giovanni Pietro Caraffa was born near Benevento on June 28,1476, of a
noble
Neopolitan family. With his connections advancement was easy. He served
Leo
X as diplomat in England and Spain. He was a zealous bishop of Chiete; but
dissatisfied with the comfortable life of a Renaissance prelate, he yearned
to be a Camaldolese monk or a Dominican friar. He finally persuaded
Clement
VII to let him join the new order of Theatines founded by his friend St.
Cajetan. Caraffa became general of the order, the object of which was to
promote the welfare of the secular clergy. Paul III used both the order and
Caraffa to further his reform projects. Indeed Caraffa became Paul's right-
hand man in matters of reform. Created cardinal in 1536, and archbishop of
Naples soon after Caraffa worked furiously to carry out the reform plans of
his chief.
Caraffa was chosen Pope after a stubborn election May 23, 1555. He was
an
old man of seventy-nine, but a vigorous old man, full of fire and fight. He
took the name Paul IV. Though deeply religious, Paul IV was hot-tempered,
had small understanding of human nature, and was too fond of his relatives.
These relatives caused him grief, for they disgraced the high positions he
gave them. But to do Paul justice, when his eyes were opened, he ruthlessly
disgraced them.
Paul was extremely anti-Spanish, and soon was involved in a disastrous
war
with Philip II. By 1557 the Pope was soundly beaten, and when let off with
easy terms, he prudently decided to spend more time on spiritual
activities. Paul IV had already begun to work on reform. With furious zeal
he swung the ax, cutting down expenses and his own revenues. He gave
good
example too by his private life, which was pious and austere.
Paul had a horror of heresy which surpassed even his horror of abuses. As
cardinal he had urged Paul III to reestablish the Roman Inquisition, and
now under his eager hands it leaped into high gear. When he extended its
competence to cover moral cases as well as heresy, Rome trembled. When
it
came to heresy, Paul had an enormous capacity for suspicion. He jailed
Cardinal Morone, a truly great prelate, on suspicion of heresy. He recalled
Cardinal Pole from England where he had just reconciled that country with
the Church to answer the same charge! Small wonder ordinary men shook.
Paul IV died August 18, 1559, admitting his faults. But in spite of them,
he did much for the Church. Many of his reform decrees were adopted by
the
Council of Trent. His harshness was resented by the Romans, who threw
down
his statue and attacked the Inquisition Office to celebrate his death. But
this very harshness cleared away any last remnants of the pagan miasma
which afflicted Renaissance Rome. The best epitaph for the fierce old
reformer was the statement of the Venetian ambassador--that in his reign
Rome had been turned into a monastery.
PIUS IV
1559 - 1565
After the stormy Caraffa came the peaceful Medici. The conclave, so
bitterly split between French and Spanish factions that it dragged on for
months, finally settled on Gian Angelo Medici as a compromise. Elected
Christmas Day 1559, he took the name Pius IV.
Gian Angelo Medici was born March 31, 1499, of a struggling Milanese
family
which had no connection with the wealthy Florentines. He started his
university education at Pavia as a charity student. After 1521 things
improved, and he concluded his education at Bologna and entered the papal
service. His progress was slow because he was neither of high enough birth
to gain honors by influence nor of high enough morality to gain them by
merit. At last created cardinal by Paul III in 1549, he enjoyed some favor
under Julius III, but faded into the background under Paul IV.
Pius IV was a good-natured, cheerful Lombard. He quickly curbed the power
of the Inquisition and removed some names from the Index. But for all his
mildness, Pius was determined that the work of reform should proceed. With
less hubbub he continued Paul's reform of the papal court, but his great
achievement was the successful ending of the Council of Trent.
The council had not met since 1552, and the obstacles to its resumption
were enormous. It took patient and persevering diplomacy to accomplish its
resumption and conclusion. Aided by brilliant legates, especially Morone
(the same Morone who languished in an Inquisition jail under Paul IV!) the
council jerked its way forward through the thorny obstacles which sprang up
in its path. At last on December 3, 1563, it held its final session. When
early the next year Pius confirmed the council's decrees, he could justly
feel that he had accomplished a great work.
Pius, however, had something of the Renaissance prelate in him. He
heaped
favors on his numerous relatives in the grand manner, but even here he
touched gold. One nephew, quickly raised to the purple, proved to be St.
Charles Borromeo, the very model of a reform bishop, and the good angel of
the reign.
As a diplomat, Pius renewed relations with Emperor Ferdinand which had
been
broken off by the impetuous Paul. He worked steadily for peace among the
princes. As a patron of art and learning Pius was in the best Renaissance
tradition. He supported old Michael Angelo, and under him the work of St.
Peter's went forward. He fostered the University of Rome with warm
patronage.
In 1564 a crack-brained fellow named Accolti planned to murder Pius to
make
way for an angelic successor! The plot was betrayed and Pius suffered
nothing worse than a scare. But by the end of 1565, he was tormented by
gout, and on December 9,1565, a fever struck him down.
Pius IV had his faults, but his name will ever be remembered with two
glorious names in the history of the Church: the Council of Trent and St.
Charles Borromeo.
ST. PIUS V
1566-1572
A report circulated in Rome that Pius IV would be succeeded by an angelic
pastor. For once such a report proved true. The next pope was the great St.
Pius V.
Antony Ghislieri was born of poor parents near Alessandria on January 17,
1504. Educated by the Dominicans he entered the order and took the name
Michael. He was ordained in 1528 and for years taught philosophy and
theology. He served his order in several high offices and the Church as an
inquisitor. A man of great austerity and prayer, he caught the eye of the
reforming Caraffa. When Caraffa became Paul IV, he made the holy
Dominican
a bishop, cardinal, and grand inquisitor. Under the easy-going Pius IV,
Ghislieri found himself out of favor, and it was a surprise when on January
7, 1566, he was elected pope. He took the name Pius V.
Pius set his heart on carrying out the reforms of Trent, extirpating heresy
and promoting peace among princes to unite them against the Ottoman
menace.
He accomplished the reform objective to a large extent. One department
after another felt the force of his zeal. Religious orders bloomed anew
under his fostering hand. He published the catechism of the Council of
Trent, and an improved edition of the missal and breviary. Pius tried to
make Rome truly a holy city. Immorality he punished severely. Bull fights
were forbidden. He actually tried to stop bull fighting in Spain, but that
was too much even for a pope!
A former grand inquisitor, Pius dealt harshly with heretics. Queen
Elizabeth he excommunicated in 1570, an act which, while it heightened the
persecution of Catholics in England, also did much to strengthen them.
The great concern of the Pope's last years was the Ottoman's fierce
onslaught. When in 1570 they tore Cyprus from the Venetians, the Christian
outposts in the Levant shook with fear. Then Pius, in Chesterton's words,
"called the kings of Christendom for swords about the cross." But "the cold
Queen of England is looking in the glass. The shadow of the Valois is
yawning at the Mass." The Venetians, however reluctantly, had to fight
because the Turks were attacking them, and Philip of Spain alone joined the
Pope and the Venetians in a crusading league. After disappointing delays,
the league fleet under Don John of Austria smashed the big Turk fleet at
Lepanto in 1571. The delighted Pope established the feast of Our Lady of
Victory to commemorate this astounding victory, which he attributed to
Mary's intercession.
It had been weary work getting this crusade going, work that took a good
deal out of the old Pope. Though he suffered much from stone, his prayer
was: "Lord increase my pains, but increase my patience too." Pius died
joyfully on May 1, 1572. Venerated at once by the Roman people, he was
beatified by Clement X in 1672 and canonized by Clement XI in 1712. His
feast is kept on May 5, and on this day Romans still gather at his shrine
to venerate a great pope and a holy man.
GREGORY XIII
1572 - 1585
On May 13, 1572, Ugo Boncompagni was elected Pope without delay or
difficulty. He chose to be called Gregory XIII. Born at Bologna on January
1, 1502, he studied and then taught law at the city's famous university. In
1539 he entered the papal service. He served Paul III and Pius IV at the
Council of Trent. He was made a bishop by Paul IV and a cardinal by Pius
IV.
He had not always lived up to Christian standards, but after his ordination
he proved to be an excellent prelate. At the papal court he was closely
associated with St. Charles Borromeo, whose example was a shining
beacon.
Gregory XIII was not particularly successful in his political ventures. He
hailed the massacre of St. Bartholomew with a Te Deum and a medal, but
what
the Pope celebrated was the news that the king had been preserved from a
Huguenot conspiracy. The butchery he deplored even with tears. He tried
hard to put new life into the league against the Turks, but Venice made a
separate peace with the Sultan. He tried to help poor Ireland groaning
under the Elizabethan terror, but again he failed. The erratic Stukely sent
to Ireland, ended up in Africa, and the galiant Fitzmaurice expedition was
bloodily crushed.
Nor was Gregory a great success as ruler of the papal kingdom. His
financial policy was a failure, and he was quite unable to cope with the
impudent bandits who plagued the territory.
Gregory gave a great gift to civilization when in 1578 he introduced the
reformed calendar which bears his name. He also did much to beautify
Rome.
But a pope's interests are chiefly spiritual, and here Gregory shone. His
life, simple and pious gave great edification. He devoted himself to
carrying out the reforms of Trent. Gregory especially interested himself in
the training of good priests. He personally either founded or supported
twenty-three seminaries, including the English College and the German
College. He erected a fine new building for the Jesuits' Roman College,
thenceforth known as the Gregorian University.
Gregory was a careful watchman over the purity of the faith. He condemned
the errors of Baius, a Louvain professor, and kept a sharp eye on heresy.
But his wide vision made him keenly interested in the positive spreading of
the faith. In Europe he sent missionaries to England and Sweden. To Ivan
the Terrible in far-off Muscovy he sent a legate. On the global front the
Pope was consoled by favorable reports from Japan, the Philippines, India,
Mexico, and South America. A picturesque event highlighted the intense
missionary activity of the reign when Japanese envoys from the Daimios of
Bungo, Arima, and Omura visited Rome to venerate the Holy Father.
Gregory
was delighted, and the envoys edified all by their sincere piety and
charming manners.
Gregory XIII died April 10, 1585. His name is enshrined in the calendar we
use today and the university which has alumni all over the world.
SIXTUS V
1585 -1590
Few popes have so captured the imagination as Gregory's successor, the
Minorite Conventual Felice Peretti who took the name Sixtus V. A vigorous
sixty-four on his election, with sharp eyes gleaming from under bushy
brows, Sixtus ruled the Church with intelligence and vigor.
Felice Peretti was born December 13, 1521, at Grottamare of poor parents.
He did the usual chores of a peasant lad until a Franciscan uncle sent him
to the Conventual friary at Montalto to get an education. Felice loved the
friars and soon entered the order. He became a learned theologian and an
eloquent preacher. In 1552 he preached the Lent in Rome and gained the
friendship of such reform leaders as Cardinals Caraffa and Ghislieri, St.
Ignatius and St. Philip Neri. Though his severity as an inquisitor at
Venice led to his recall, his rise in the hierarchy was rapid. Procurator-
general of the Franciscans, bishop and cardinal, he was confessor to St.
Pius V. But Gregory XIII had little use for him, and during Gregory's
reign, Felice devoted himself to scholarly pursuits. In spite of his
absence from the center of power he was quickly elected to succeed
Gregory
on April 24, 1585.
Sixtus proved to be both a good king and a good pope. He fearlessly
grappled with the bandit problem which had plagued so many popes. First,
he
secured extradition treaties with neighboring states, then he pursued the
criminals with ruthless severity. The knowledge that neither noble blood
nor powerful protectors could shield rascals from the noose or the ax made
robbery a less popular pastime in the Papal States.
Horrified at the state of papal finances, Sixtus by new taxes, by
increasing the number of salable offices, and by other devices, managed to
amass a huge treasure in Castle of St. Angelo, while at the same time he
spent much on public works. He finally got the dome of St. Peter's
finished, built a new Lateran Palace, erected four obelisks and a large
aqueduct to bring water for Rome's many fountains. Keenly interested in the
welfare of the poor, he planned to drain the Pontine Marshes and strove to
keep the price of bread low.
Sixtus V might be called the great organizer of the papacy in modern times.
With lucidity and vigor he so efficiently reorganized the papal curia that
essentially his system still prevails. He grouped the cardinals into
fifteen congregations, each of which assisted the pope in a special phase
of Church business. The number of cardinals he limited to seventy. Sixtus
also restored the custom that bishops should visit Rome at regular
intervals.
Sixtus admired Elizabeth of England and longed for her return to the old
faith, but the execution of Mary Stuart did much to disillusion him, and he
helped Philip send his anything but invincible armada against Elizabeth. He
was, however, no court chaplain to Philip. In France where the murder of
Henry III had left the throne open to Huguenot Henry of Navarre, the Pope,
though at first hostile to Navarre, adopted a cautious policy which
disgusted the Spaniards but paid dividends later.
Sixtus V died August 27, 1590. One of his last acts was to take half a
million ducats from his St. Angelo treasury to help the poor during a bad
harvest.
URBAN VII
1590
Urban VII was the first of three popes whose combined reigns did not last a
year and a half.
Giambattista Castagna was born in Rome on August 4,1521, of a noble
family.
He studied at Perugia and Padua and finally took a doctorate in canon and
civil law at Bologna. He entered the service of his uncle, Cardinal
Girolamo Verallo, and started his diplomatic journeyings by going with him
on a legation to France in 1551. In 1553 he was made archbishop of
Rossano
in the Kingdom of Naples. Though he served his diocese for twenty years
before resigning it in 1573, Castagna made his chief reputation as a
brilliant diplomat. Pius IV sent him into Spain with Cardinal Buoncompagni
in 1564 and then left him there as nuncio. He got along well with the
Spaniards, and it was during his nunciature that the League, which resulted
in the victory of Lepanto, was formed.
Under Gregory XIII Castagna served as nuncio in Venice and legate in
Bologna. He represented Gregory at the peace conference between the
Spaniards and the Dutch held at Cologne in 1579-1580. Gregory made him
a
cardinal in 1583, and only two years later at the conclave held after
Gregory's death, Castagna was considered a likely candidate for the
papacy.
Sixtus V, like his predecessors, had a high regard for Castagna and used
him as legate in Bologna. Besides all these diplomatic offices, Castagna
had played a distinguished part in the last sessions of the Council of
Trent.
After Sixtus died there was some civil commotion, but the cardinals got
matters under control, and the conclave went smoothly enough. Contrary to
what often happens, Castagna went into the conclave the favorite and came
out pope. He was elected September 15, 1590, and took the name Urban
VII.
Urban showed his kind and sympathetic nature at once. He promptly told
the
pastors of Rome to draw up for him lists of their needy parishioners. He
ordered the bakers to keep the price of bread low and told them that he
would make up any loss they might thereby suffer--an early and very
Christian example of price subsidy!
Although seventy when elected, Urban was quite vigorous, and it was hoped
that this kind and capable man would live to do much for the Church. But
that terrible scourge of old Rome, the malarial mosquito, struck the new
Pope down. Within three days of his election, Urban was shaking with fever.
The people of Rome, frantic at the thought of losing so good a shepherd,
multiplied prayers as 30,000 men marched in procession. The Jews, too,
are
said to have fasted and prayed for the good Pope's recovery.
But it was not to be. Urban had Mass celebrated every day in his room and
just as the Mass was ending on September 27, he died peacefully.
Charitable
to the last, Urban left his private fortune to provide endowment for poor
girls.
GREGORY XIV
1590 -- 1591
The election of Gregory XIV marked a high point in Spanish interference in
papal elections. With Henry of Navarre rapidly gaining ground in France,
Philip was determined to have a Pope who would be stern with Navarre. His
ambassador, the haughty Olivares, bluntly told the cardinals that of their
number, only seven were acceptable to Spain's monarch. Resentment at
such
barefaced dictation flared and for two months the conclave was deadlocked.
But the Spanish forces prevailed, and finally on December 5, 1590, the
cardinals elected Niccolo Sfondrati, one of Philip's seven. He took the
name Gregory XIV.
Niccolo Sfondrati was born near Milan on February 11, 1535. His father, a
Milanese senator, became a cardinal after his wife's death and was
considered a possible choice for the papacy in the conclave of 1550.
Niccolo studied law at Perugia and Padua, then entered the service of St.
Charles Borromeo. Pius IV made him bishop of Cremona in 1560. The
following
year he went to Trent, where he did some good work at the last sessions of
the Great Council. He ruled his diocese wisely, and though Gregory XIII
made him a cardinal in 1583, he remained a working bishop and only went
to
Rome when necessity demanded.
Gregory XIV was a man of deep piety. The friend of St. Charles Borromeo
and
St. Philip Neri, he had been a true reform bishop. But now his health was
poor and he had little experience in political and diplomatic affairs.
Unfortunately he chose as his secretary of state Paolo Emilio Sfondrati, a
young nephew, pious, but even less experienced than the Pope.
Gregory quickly abandoned the cautious policy of Sixtus V with regard to
the complex French situation. Sincerely convinced that the Spaniards and
the League ( formed to fight for Catholic interests in France) were right
in mistrusting Henry of Navarre, he hurled spiritual thunderbolts at
Navarre's numerous ecclesiastical supporters. More, he sent money and
even
a papal expeditionary force to aid the embattled Leaguers and their Spanish
allies.
Plague and famine ravaged Rome during Gregory's pontificate. The kind
Pope
did what he could for his people. Ecclesiastics from the cardinals down to
simple religious worked to help the stricken. Prominent was St. Camillus de
Lellis, the founder of the Fathers of the Good Death. At this time also
that remarkable young man Aloysius Gonzaga died caring for the plague-
stricken.
Gregory XIV, ill at ease in political affairs, interested himself in all
reform projects. He approved the Order of the Fathers of the Good Death
and
encouraged reformers everywhere. He had not time to accomplish much, for
his health, always bad, soon failed completely, and on October 16, 1591,
Gregory XIV died.
INNOCENT IX
1591
Even before Gregory XIV breathed his last, Spanish and anti-Spanish
factions were hard at work electioneering for the next pope. Many
churchmen
were angry at King Philip's highhanded interference when at the last
conclave he had excluded all but seven cardinals. This time the Spaniards
did not go so far, but they still controlled a majority and after a quick
conclave the cardinals chose another of Philip's seven, Gian Antonio
Facchinetti. He accepted and took the name Innocent IX.
Gian Antonio Facchinetti was born at Bologna on July 20, 1519. He studied
at his birthplace's famous university and took his doctorate in law there.
He entered the service of the powerful Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, held
several diplomatic posts, and then was made bishop of Nicastro by Pius IV.
As bishop, he attended the Council of Trent and then returned to his
diocese to rule it according to the reform decrees of the Council. St. Pius
V sent him as nuncio to Venice in 1566. There he worked hard and
successfully to forge the Venetian link in the alliance which led to the
brilliant victory at Lepanto. When in 1575 he resigned his diocese because
of ill health, Gregory XIII made him titular Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Gregory used him a good deal and made him a cardinal in 1583.
Gian Antonio Facchinetti was a quiet, studious man who lived a holy and
retired life. He devoted himself to his business and his books. He wrote
several, including a treatise on the Politics of Aristotle and an attack on
Machiavelli. Admired as a holy and learned man, he made few enemies and
had
been among the favorites at several conclaves.
Innocent IX was crowned on November 3, 1591, by Cardinal Andrew of
Austria,
a Hapsburg prince who had entered the service of the Church. Innocent's
election was hailed with joy by the Romans, and the new Pope added to his
popularity when his first measures were an attempt to end the food scarcity
in Rome and to put down the bandits. Though old and sickly, Innocent threw
himself into the work of being pope with youthful vigor and enthusiasm. He
plunged into considerations of reform and administration. But he was to be
denied the time to do much. He did make one important administrative
change
when he broke the secretariat of state into three divisions. He reasoned
that it was too much work for one cardinal and now appointed a cardinal for
France and Poland, another for Spain and Italy, and a third for Germany.
Showing great interest in Germany, he re-established the German
Congregation and lowered certain papal taxes for Germans.
Innocent was especially insistent on orderly finances. He demanded an
efficient administration and rigid economy. Toward Henry of Navarre he
maintained the same general attitude as Gregory XIV. It is true that he cut
down the sum of money he had been spending on the war against Navarre,
but
he kept the papal army at the side of Spanish and League forces.
Though feeble, Innocent insisted in making a pilgrimage to the chief
churches in Rome during bleak December. He caught cold, and by
December 30
he was dead. His body, exposed in St. Peter's, was venerated by the
Romans.
CLEMENT VIII
1592 - 1605
Among the popes there have been poor men in plenty, but Clement VIII was
the first bank clerk to obtain the tiara. Ippolito Aldobrandini was born in
1536 at Fano. His father was a political exile from Florence. Ippolito,
rescued from the bank by Cardinal Farnese's kindness, studied law at
Padua,
Perugia, and Bologna. He entered the service of the Church, but his
advancement was slow until the reign of Sixtus V. That energetic Pope
promoted him rapidly. A cardinal in 1585, Ippolito made a great reputation
as legate to Poland in 1588. Thereafter he was considered a possibility for
the papacy. Elected on January 30, 1592, he took the name Clement VIII.
Clement was above all a spiritual pope. For years Philip Neri had been his
confessor, and now every night the great Oratorian Baronius came to hear
the Pope's confession. As zealous as he was devout, the busy Clement
would
often take a confessional in St. Peter's so that anyone who wished could go
to the Pope himself. He did much to promote the forty hours' devotion. He
often visited hospitals, not only to comfort the sick and distribute alms,
but to check on the food. He was a truly humble man who could accept
criticism. His only defect was nepotism.
Clement's great achievement was the settlement of the French problem.
Henry
of Navarre was gaining steadily. Now that he had accepted Catholicism,
opposition melted away. French bishops absolved him, but still at Rome the
Spaniards grimly struggled to prevent the Pope from granting Henry
absolution. Influenced by spiritual men like St. Philip Neri, the historian
Baronius, the theologian Toledo, Clement at last on September 17, 1595,
solemnly absolved Henry IV. The way was open for peace in France and
men
felt that the danger of Spanish domination over the papacy was on the
wane.
Clement was a great mission pope. Under his vigorous leadership, the
enterprising Ricci entered China, the Japanese withstood the first shock of
persecution, and Franciscans, Dominicans, and Jesuits reaped rich harvests
in the Philippines, Mexico, and South America. The Pope sent missionaries
to Persia and Abyssinia and even to the court of the Great Mogul. He strove
to reunite the Copts of Egypt and the schismatics of Serbia. He succeeded
in bringing some Ukrainians back to the Church by the Union of Brest in
1598. And at home in Europe the tide of Catholic reform was winning back
much that had been lost in the bad days. It was a great outpouring of zeal,
and to channel and control it Clement set up a congregation of cardinals.
Two famous executions took place in Clement's reign--that of the parricide
Beatrice Cenci about whom legend and Shelley have woven an unmerited
spell,
and that of Giordano Bruno. Clement forbade dueling, revised the breviary,
and found time to encourage the poet Tasso and set on foot many works of
art. To judge the case of the great Jesuit theologian Luis Molina, whose
doctrine on grace had been assailed by Dominicans, the Pope set up a
special congregation. Clement took great interest in this matter, but
before it could be settled, he was struck down by apoplexy, March 5, 1605.
LEO XI
1605
Leo XI was a member of the famous Medici family and a grandnephew of
Leo X.
But while Leo X was a thoroughgoing Renaissance prince, his grandnephew
was
a true Counterreformation pope. One typical Medici quality was shared by
both, a love for literature and art.
Alessandro de' Medici was born in 1555. He was a pious lad and was so
fond
of the Dominican friars of San Marco that it was thought that this Medici
would enter the family of Savanarola. But he chose to become a secular
priest and worked quietly in a country parish until 1569, when his
relative, Duke Cosimo, sent him as Tuscan ambassador to Rome. At Rome
he
became a disciple and close friend of St. Philip Neri. In 1573 Alessandro
was made, first, bishop of Pistoia, then archbishop of Florence. Though he
was forced to remain at Rome, Alessandro saw to it that the reform decrees
of Trent were carried out in his archdiocese. Made a cardinal by Gregory
XIII in 1583, he was sent by Clement VIII as legate to France in the
crucial years 1596-1598. There he became a friend of Henry IV.
Naturally the Spaniards were opposed to him, and his chances for the
papacy
were so lightly esteemed that Cardinal Avila, King Philip's mouthpiece, did
not bother to publish his monarch's veto until too late. Baronius, the
great historian, was the favorite at the conclave which began on March
14,1605; but Baronius had told too much truth too impartially in his
history to suit Spanish susceptibility, and so this holy and learned man,
to his own joy and relief, was kept from becoming pope. At last after
several weeks the majority swung to Medici. Too late Cardinal Avila
protested bitterly, but even his own party told him to quiet down.
Alessandro accepted and chose to be called Leo XI. The French were
jubilant
but Leo quickly showed that he intended to be the tool of no ruler.
Easter Sunday, April 17, the coronation day of Leo, was a gala occasion for
the Romans, but for Leo himself it was deadly. The old man caught a chill
during the ceremonies and soon was in bed fighting vainly for his life.
When it became evident that he was going to die, appeals rained on him to
make a nephew a cardinal. Although the candidate was worthy, Leo had so
great a horror for this rather common papal failing, that he repeatedly
refused. Indeed when his confessor added his voice to the general pleading,
Leo exchanged his confessor for another more prudent or detached.
Leo XI died piously on April 27,1605. Although he had ruled so short a
time, he managed to lower taxes and send help to the Hungarians in their
struggle against the Turks.
PAUL V
1605 - 1621
Baronius and St. Robert Bellarmine were among those considered as
successors of Leo XI, but finally the cardinals chose Camillo Borghese, who
took the name Paul V. Camillo Borghese was born at Rome on September
17,
1550. His family, originally from Siena, claimed relationship with the
great mystic, St. Catherine. Trained at Perugia and Padua, Camillo became
an expert canon lawyer. In 1596 Clement VIII made him a cardinal and vicar
of Rome. No party man, he was agreeable to all factions.
Paul V was a vigorous fifty-two when elected. Pious and learned, charitable
and hard-working, he made an excellent pastor. Being a canon lawyer, he
believed rules were made to be kept, and his rigorous enforcement of Trent
reform decrees caused a deal of rustling in Roman ecclesiastical circles.
The same respect for law made him a terror to evildoers. Like Sixtus V he
was concerned to put down banditry.
Paul V had a hard time with Venice. The republic's pride seemed to swell in
proportion as its power decreased. It had defied church law to forbid the
erection of new church buildings and to arrest two clerics. Paul tried to
bring the republic to reason, but when the oligarchs stubbornly defied all
threats, the Pope excommunicated doge and senate and placed Venice
under
interdict. The Venetian government defied the interdict by ordering priests
to go ahead with services, and when Capuchins, Jesuits, and Theatines
refused, the oligarchs expelled them. This quarrel almost flamed into a
European war. When Paul tried to raise an army, England and Holland
threatened to intervene in favor of Venice. Meanwhile a war of words was
bitterly fought. Paolo Sarpi, a Servite who combined brilliant scholarship
with a most peculiar notion of Catholic loyalty, wrote furiously against
the Pope, while Baronius and St. Robert Bellarmine brought their vast
learning into play to defend him. After a year of struggle, shrewd King
Henry IV of France mediated to bring peace. Venice gave in as little as
possible but enough to justify the Pope in releasing the republic from
censure.
Wily King James of England also gave trouble to Paul. He issued a new
oath
of allegiance which, cunningly worded, was considered acceptable by some
Catholics. Paul V had to condemn this oath twice, and even so, it made for
division among the English Catholics.
A great patron of art, Paul V succeeded in having Carlo Maderna finally
bring the construction of St. Peter's to a grandiose finish. Paul had one
defect, nepotism Too fond of his relatives, he made the fortune of the
Borghese family. He was, however, a broad-minded and energetic leader in
mission activity. He did not discourage the daring innovations of men like
Matteo Ricci and Robert de Nobili.
Paul V died of a stroke on January 28,1621.
GREGORY XV
1621 -1623
It was Alessandro Ludovisi, an amiable old gentleman of sixty-seven, that
the cardinals finally chose to succeed Paul V. He took the name Gregory
XV.
Alessandro Ludovisi was born of noble parents in 1554 at Bologna. After
studies under the Jesuits at the Roman and German Colleges, he took a
degree in law at Bologna. After distinguished service in the legal
department of the papacy, Alessandro was made a cardinal and archbishop
of
Bologna by Paul V.
Though Gregory XV was a sick old man and had only a short pontificate, he
had great ability, and it had distinction. He began by securing a valuable
helper. He made his young nephew Ludovico a cardinal and his right-hand
man. Ludovico proved to be a real staff to his old uncle. He was a pious,
hard-working, and loyal servant.
There had been much dissatisfaction with the conduct of papal elections.
Reform-minded men felt that politics had too much scope in the conclaves.
Other popes had given thought to the matter, but sick old Gregory provided
a solution. He made a series of regulations so sound that to this day, in
essentials at least, they govern the conduct of papal elections. Other
popes had set up congregations to regulate missionary activity, but to
Gregory XV goes the honor of having established on a permanent basis the
great Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. A congregation is a
committee to assist the pope in ruling the Church. This committee oversees,
regulates, and fosters mission activities all over the globe.
Gregory XV encouraged the Catholics of Germany, now engaged in the
grim
Thirty Years' War. He did much to obtain the electorate for Maximilian of
Bavaria. By diplomacy he averted war between France and Spain over the
Valtelline Pass. Gregory's foreign policy was wholeheartedly Catholic and
supranational, and by it he increased the prestige of the papacy.
A pious man himself, Gregory XV did much to promote devotion to the
saints.
Devotion to St. Joseph and St. Anne, so popular in modern times, received
great impetus from Gregory. He also defended the doctrine of Mary's
Immaculate Conception, though he did not feel that the time was ripe for
declaring it a dogma. In a great ceremony at St. Peter's he canonized
Ignatius Loyola, Teresa of Avila, Francis Xavier, Philip Neri, and a
Spanish farmer named Isidore. Naturally, so devout a pope was interested
in
enforcing the reform decrees of Trent.
Gregory XV suffered a great deal from gout and from stone. A fever carried
him off on July 8,1623. His pontificate was short but glorious.
URBAN VIII
1623 --1644
Urban VIII in the conclave of 1623, his comparative youth, his vigor, his
talent, his goodness, all seemed to indicate a long and successful
pontificate. Urban's pontificate was indeed long, but it was scarcely
successful.
Maffeo Barberini was born at Florence in 1568 of wealthy parents. Educated
by the Jesuits, he dabbled in literature, but for a profession turned to
law. After taking his degree at Pisa, Maffeo joined the pope's legal staff
and rose to be archbishop of Nazareth, cardinal and bishop of Spoleto. He
twice served as nuncio to France, did much there for reform, and won the
friendship of Henry IV.
Urban VIII faced a difficult situation. The Thirty Years' War was going
full blast when he was elected, and it was still dragging on at his death.
Urban has been criticized for not giving sufficient support to the
Catholic-Hapsburg side, but it must be remembered that the situation was
not simple. At that, Urban did give support to the Hapsburgs, though he
probably could have given more. To have excommunicated Louis XIII or his
powerful minister, Richelieu, might have had dangerous results. Still,
whatever Urban's responsibility or lack of it, the fact remains that at the
outset of his pontificate the tide of the Catholic Counterreformation
slapped menacingly at Protestant bastions. At his death that tide had
receded.
Urban had small success in other fields also. He started and lost a war
with the Farnese family over the territory of Castro, a proceeding which
did not enhance the papacy's prestige. He is connected with the famous
condemnation of Galileo. The imprudent astronomer had been lured by his
enemies on to the field of theology and as a result had been condemned by
a
commission of the Holy Office. He gave in, however, and suffered small
inconvenience in a sort of house arrest. The affair was unfortunate; for
though papal infallibility was not involved, papal prestige was. And the
more the Copernican theory was accepted, the more the condemnation of
Galileo gave a pretext to rationalist calumnies that the Church is opposed
to science.
Urban "reformed" the breviary, a reform that brought anguished cries from
many quarters. Even his magnificent baroque building program under the
directing genius of Bernini is somewhat overshadowed by Pasquino's cruel
pun. Urban had taken bronze from the Pantheon to make cannons and to
build
the baldachin of St. Peter's. And to this day his name is "immortalized" in
Pasquino's words "What the barbarians spared the Barberini destroyed."
Urban, however, was a good pope and did accomplish something. He
condemned
Jansen's dangerous book, "Augustinus." He encouraged foreign missions.
He
favored the beautiful forty hours' devotion. He severely curtailed
unofficial canonizations. He missed the chance of becoming a great leader
in the field of religious orders for women when he discouraged Mary Ward
and her English ladies.
Urban VIII died on July 29, 1644.
INNOCENT X
1644 -- 1655
Innocent X, he was promised thorns; and the promise was kept. Innocent's
was indeed a thorny pontificate.
Giambattista Pamfili was born in Rome on May 6, 1574, of noble parents.
After taking a degree in law at the Roman University, he entered the papal
service. Appointed nuncio to Naples, he displayed a great talent for
diplomacy. Urban VIII made him a cardinal and sent him as nuncio to Spain.
Though seventy years old, he was a favorite in the conclave of 1644.
Elected, he chose the name Innocent X.
Innocent X was a healthy old gentleman who was pious and capable. His
charity was outstanding; during a famine which afflicted Rome in 1649, he
outdid himself in centering efforts to give bread to his people. But
Innocent, like Urban, was given to nepotism. Since none of his nephews
proved to have much ability, he came to depend on his sister-in-law, the
grasping Olimpia Maldaichino.
In 1648 the miserable Thirty Years' War was finally ended by peace
congresses at Munster and Osnabruck. Innocent sent the capable Fabio
Chigi
to safeguard Catholic interests, but the nuncio was not listened to in the
congress, and when Innocent himself protested against unjust measures in
the treaties, he was unheeded. A new era had begun, the era of secularism.
Innocent had trouble in Portugal too. In 1640 a rising had chased out the
Spanish Hapsburgs and re-established the House of Braganza. Fearing to
offend Spain, neither Urban VIII nor Innocent X acknowledged John of
Braganza in any way, even by confirming his appointments to Portuguese
bishoprics. The result was that soon Portugal had only one bishop left--a
sad state of affairs.
Innocent X is a pope who helped Ireland. To the embattled Irish grimly
fighting for faith and fatherland, Innocent sent the capable nuncio
Rinnuccini. In return the Irish sent to the Pope the banners captured by
Owen Roe O'Neill at Benburb. But the shrewd Rinnuccini was unable to
prevail over Anglo-Irish folly, and Innocent lived to hear of the victories
and butcheries of Oliver Cromwell and of the sad fate of the Irish
Catholics.
The Pope had more success in his efforts to help Venice against the Turks.
To aid the Venetians in their fight to hold Crete, Innocent sent them
ships, men, and money.
The Jansenists, although Jansen's Augustinus had been condemned by
Urban,
still gave trouble. Innocent took five propositions from Jansen's book and
condemned them, but even this did not quash these peculiar heretics.
Innocent, though an old man, enjoyed good health and was a hard worker.
Not
until December 1654 did his health give way, and even then he tried to keep
going. On January 7, 1655, Innocent X died. His burial was cheap and
simple
because the sister-in-law, whom he had enriched, refused to pay for the
customary pomp.
ALEXANDER VII
1655 - 1667
In the conclave of 1655 appeared a group of cardinals who pledged
themselves to remain independent of personal ties and political
connections. This group, called by the Spanish ambassador "the flying
squadron," did much to preserve the independence of the Church for many
a
conclave. On April 7 after a long conclave, Fabio Chigi was elected. Fabio
took the name Alexander VII.
Fabio Chigi was born in Siena on February 13, 1599. Like Urban VIII he
wrote verse, but adopted the law as a profession. He rose to be vice-legate
of Ferrara, bishop of Nardo and apostolic visitor to Malta. He made a great
reputation as a diplomat when Urban VIII sent him to Cologne as nuncio in
1639. Innocent X made him envoy to the peace congress at Munster in
1648,
and though Fabio could accomplish little of what the Pope wanted, he so
pleased Innocent that he made Fabio secretary of state and cardinal.
Alexander VII was a sincere man, gifted with ability and endowed with
piety. He tried to avoid nepotism, but he later relaxed his great
strictness toward his relatives. He proved his charity when the plague hit
Rome in 1656. Alexander, who had been staying at healthy Castel
Gandolfo,
hastened back to Rome to take personal charge of his people. He not only
adopted sensible sanitary measures but calmed the people by frequent
public
appearances.
Alexander helped Venice and the Empire in the fight against the Turks. He
succeeded in prevailing upon Venice to allow the return of the Jesuits,
banished for their loyalty to Paul V. His relations with young Louis XIV
were not so happy. When some Corsican papal soldiers, not unprovoked,
attacked the French embassy in Rome, Louis took advantage of the
occasion
to humiliate the Pope. Alexander was most conciliatory, but when he
resisted demands which he could not in justice grant, Louis annexed
Avignon
and prepared to march on Rome. Poor Alexander had to give in; with the
Grand Duke of Tuscany mediating, peace was signed at Pisa.
Alexander also had trouble with the Jansenists. The French appealed to him
for a formula of submission which the Jansenists should sign. Alexander
sent them the formula, but a number of Jansenists including the nuns of
Port Royal refused to sign it. The Pope also rebuked a few moral
theologians who had advanced laxist opinions.
In 1655 Alexander had received the most celebrated convert of the age,
Queen Christina of Sweden. This talented daughter of Catholicism's great
enemy Gustavus Adolphus had given up a throne for the faith.
Alexander VII died on May 22, 1667. His memory is kept fresh by Bernini's
magnificent colonnade, for it was Alexander who is responsible for its
erection.
CLEMENT IX
1667 - 1669
Clement IX might be called the playwright pope because before his
elevation
to Peter's throne he had been a successful dramatist. Giulio Rospigliosi
was born at Pistoia in 1600. Educated at the Jesuit Roman College, he went
on to take doctorates in philosophy and theology. But he loved poetry and
letters. His plays, which reflected the influence of the great Calderon,
seem to have been quite successful. His creative pen did not hinder his
rise in the papal service. The cultured Urban VIII and his powerful nephews
made much of him. Giulio went to Spain as nuncio and served there with
distinction for nine years. On his return his fortune paled, for he had
been too closely attached to the family of Urban VIII to receive honors
from Innocent X. Alexander VII however, made him secretary of state and
cardinal. Amiable, gifted, and popular, Giulio was a favorite in the
conclave of 1667.
He chose to be called Clement IX and with reason, for he was clement by
nature. This pope loved conciliation. His favorite expression seemed to
have been, "We concede." His relations with the cantankerous Jansenists
go
far to prove this. Four French bishops had refused to sign the formula of
faith drawn up by Alexander VII. These peculiar heretics did not want to
leave the Church but neither did they want to leave their erroneous
opinions. The result was a series of mental gymnastics and contortions. At
this time they were accepting the Pope's condemnation of the five
propositions taken from Jansen's book, but refusing to believe that the
propositions had been maintained by Jansen--at least in the sense the Pope
had condemned them. Since Jansenism had become fashionable, it was
thought
best to allow the stubborn four bishops to sign a less explicit formula of
faith. This face-saving device was adopted by Clement, who was served
poorly by his less than shrewd French nuncio. This compromise, which
produced only a lull in the Jansenist storm, is called the Clementine
Peace.
Clement also tried hard and finally with success to end the war between
aggressive Louis XIV and Spain. The Pope wanted all Christians to help the
Venetians save Crete. He himself made great efforts but in vain. Candia,
the last Christian stronghold, fell in 1669.
Clement was a very attractive character. Free from nepotism, he was
devoted
to his flock. He personally heard confessions in St. Peter's. He lowered
the tax on flour, and he reorganized papal finances. Stingy only with
himself, he spent much to help the Venetians and was a generous patron of
artists, and a kind father to the poor.
Clement IX died on December 9,1669.
CLEMENT X
1670 - 1676
In the conclave which followed the death of Clement IX, Emilio Altieri was
scarcely an outstanding favorite. He had been made a cardinal only a few
weeks before, and he was an old man of almost eighty. Yet it was Emilio
Altieri who emerged from this long and stubbornly contested conclave as
Pope Clement X. The conclave which had begun on December 20, 1669,
ended
only when there was a general swing to Altieri on April 29, 1670. Even then
Altieri objected that he was too old, but he was overruled and installed as
Pope Clement X.
Emilio Altieri was born at Rome on July 13, 1590, of a noble and pious
family. Educated at the Roman College, he went on to take his law degree
at
the Roman University. Although he became a brilliant attorney, Emilio
entered the ranks of the clergy and rose to be bishop of Camerino in I627.
Urban VIII made him governor of Loreto and apostolic visitor for the Papal
States. Innocent X sent him as nuncio to Naples, where he ran into the
torrid situation created by Masaniello's rising against Spain. He fell into
disfavor with Innocent and returned to his diocese, but Alexander VII
recalled him to Rome, and Clement IX made him a cardinal at long last on
November 27, 1669.
Clement X, though an octogenarian, was able to work hard. Indeed his
hours
dismayed the members of his household, for he always rose two hours or
more
before daybreak and was often at work by five o'clock in the morning.
Clement was very charitable and did much for the poor, not only by
generous
alms but by social legislation. He tried to improve agriculture and foster
industry in the Papal States. At first Clement did not do much for his
relations, but as he grew older he grew softer toward them.
Clement was much preoccupied with the problem of Poland. That fair land
was
not only invaded by Turks but torn with civil dissension. The Pope
despatched a nuncio to work for unity. At the death of the weak young King
Michael the Pope worried lest a Protestant mount the Polish throne.
Clement
was relieved when the fighting nobleman John Sobieski was elected. To
help
Sobieski the Pope sent a subsidy, and he had the satisfaction of hearing
that Sobieski had defeated the Turks near Lvov. Clement tried hard to get
the Powers to help the hard-pressed Poles.
Clement had to suffer from French arrogance, but he entertained hopes that
the French invasion of Holland would aid the Church. He sent a legate to
the peace congress of Nijmegen.
The octogenarian Pope had celebrated the jubilee of 1675, but in 1676
dropsy attacked Clement and on July 22, 1676, a fever carried him off.
BLESSED INNOCENT XI
1676 - 1689
When the cardinals chose Benedetto Odescalchi to be Pope Innocent XI,
they
chose a man of piety, ability, and firmness who was to be one of the
greatest seventeenth century pontiffs.
Benedetto Odescalchi was born at Como on May 16, 1611. After studies at
the
local Jesuit school, Benedetto took law at Rome and Naples. His ability
caused him to rise in the papal service. He loved his work at Rome so much
that he even resigned his bishopric of Novara to work on at Rome.
Innocent XI devoted himself to saving Austria from the Turks. He pleaded
with the kings of Europe to help distressed Austria, but that Christian
monarch, Louis XIV, actually encouraged the Turks! Poland's fighting King
John Sobieski was of nobler stuff, but it took an incredible amount of
patient diplomacy on the Pope's part to get help for the Emperor.
Innocent's work was rewarded. Sobieski and his Poles, Lorraine and his
Germans smashed the Turks as they were about to break through Vienna's
walls. It was a great victory and a decisive one. After 1683 the Turks will
be on the defensive.
Innocent XI was strong yet prudent. He needed both virtues in his dealings
with Louis XIV. The Sun Monarch was riding too high to brook opposition
even from a pope. He had extended the regale in an unfair and illegal
manner. The regale was an ancient privilege the French kings had of taking
over the revenue and the right of appointments to benefices in vacant
dioceses. Though this dangerous custom had been restricted far back in the
Middle Ages, Louis was now extending it in an arbitrary manner. Innocent
protested in three successive briefs, but Louis answered by having an
assembly of subservient clergymen pass the famous Four Articles of 1682.
This manifesto of Gallicanism was, to say the least, highly objectionable.
Innocent was put out, and relations were badly strained. Nor were they
eased by the petty and arrogant resistance of the French king to Innocent's
attempt to confine ambassadors' right of asylum to reasonable limits. And
the Pope was not impressed by the clumsy and highhanded treatment of
French
Protestants which culminated in the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.
Innocent also was too prudent to encourage James II in his well-meant but
untimely actions in favor of English Catholics.
Although the pious Pope was for a time fooled by the Spanish pseudo-
mystic
Miguel de Molinos, he soon condemned quietism. He also condemned a
number
of laxist propositions. As an administrator Innocent XI was outstanding. By
the practice of severe economy he soon managed to balance the papal
budget,
indeed even to produce a surplus, and on top of that to lower taxes!
Rigidly conscientious, Innocent avoided nepotism.
Innocent XI died on August 12, 1689. He was beatified by Pope Pius XII on
October 7, 1956.
ALEXANDER VIII
1689 - 1691
Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni entered the conclave of 1681 a favorite. At first,
however, the Austrian and French monarchs objected to him. The French
tried
to force Pietro to promise certain concessions before they allowed his
election. But Pietro replied that while he wished to have peace with
France, he would make no sacrifice of his honor. The French gave in, and
Pietro was elected. He took the name Alexander VIII.
Pietro Ottoboni was born in Venice on April 22, 1610. After studies in law
at Padua, Pietro entered the papal service. He distinguished himself at
Rome by his ability to get business done quickly. Made a cardinal by
Innocent X, Pietro joined the "flying squadron," that group of Cardinals
who remained independent of countries or persons in the conclaves. One
reason why the French were slow to accept him was the loyalty with which
he
had backed Innocent XI in his struggle with Louis XIV.
Alexander VIII was a man of great charm. Kind and affable he was
somewhat a
contrast to the rather severe Innocent XI. Festivals which Innocent had
frowned on once more delighted the Romans. Unfortunately, he was also a
contrast to his predecessor in the way he treated his relatives. Innocent
had been rigid against nepotism. Alexander loved to shower favors on his
family. But at least he did not allow his relatives to influence papal
policy.
A Venetian, Alexander was naturally interested in helping the Republic of
Venice in its fight against the Turks. This was in line with usual papal
policy and presented only the problem of raising the necessary money. The
War of the League of Augsburg, however, made the Pope's position
delicate.
On the one side was Catholic France; on the other, Catholic Austria. Since
Louis was helping exiled King James II, French propagandists loudly
proclaimed the struggle a holy war. Alexander, not impressed, was careful
to observe neutrality. Indeed relations between the Sun Monarch and the
Pope were far from good.
Innocent XI had secretly excommunicated Louis XIV and Louis in turn had
once more taken Avignon from the Pope. Worse still, Louis insisted on
appointing to vacant bishoprics the subservient clergymen who had signed
the objectionable Four Articles of 1682. Since Innocent XI and Alexander
VIII refused to confirm these appointments, the number of vacant French
bishoprics began to mount. Alexander's last act undertaken on his deathbed
was a brief which declared the Four Articles null and void, and pleaded
with Louis to act like a Catholic.
Alexander also condemned two odd propositions held by two individual
Jesuits, and thirty-one Jansenist propositions.
Though seventy-nine when elected, Alexander was still vigorous. In 1691,
however, he failed rapidly and by February 1, 1691, Alexander VIII was
dead.
INNOCENT XII
1691 - 1700
"Innocent by name and nature too." Thus Robert Browning describes the
last
seventeenth-century pope in "The Ring and the Book." In saying this,
Browning spoke not only as a poet but as a historian, for Innocent XII was
indeed a man of deep piety. Elected as a compromise after a heated
conclave
had gone on for five months, Antonio Pignatelli accepted and chose the
name
Innocent XII.
Antonio Pignatelli was born at Spinazzola near Naples on March 13,1615.
Educated by the Jesuits at the Roman College, Antonio early earned a
striking reputation for goodness. After taking a degree in law, Antonio
entered the papal service and under a succession of popes served
brilliantly. Under Clement X, however, Antonio's career was checked. He
was
recalled from the nunciature at Vienna to be made bishop of Lecce. But the
check was only temporary. Antonio went on to become a great cardinal-
archbishop of Naples.
Innocent XII was seventy-six when elected, but he had a commanding
appearance and excellent health. He accomplished much in his nine years'
pontificate. First of all, he put through a reform which, though excellent,
was acutely painful to papal finances. He abolished the purchase of
offices. Then Innocent, completely free from nepotism himself, struck a
great blow at this occupational failing of many popes. By a bull of 1692
Innocent made nepotism very difficult, a reform which increased papal
prestige even with Protestants.
Innocent had some trouble with Jansenists both in France and Holland. He
also had to condemn the quietism of Madame Guyon and a book by the
noble
archbishop of Cambrai, Fenelon.
Innocent XII reaped the fruit of the noble firmness of Innocent XI and the
firm patience of Alexander VII in dealing with the arrogant Sun Monarch.
Louis, now contending in arms with half Europe, felt the need of coming to
an agreement with the Pope. After a deal of backing and filling, Louis
finally in 1693 revoked his order enforcing the Four Articles of 1682 on
the French clergy. This was a triumph for papal rights over royal
absolutism.
Innocent showed moderation in his foreign policy. He did not protest when
Ernest Augustus of Hanover became a ninth imperial elector. He gained a
diplomatic triumph at the Peace of Ryswick when a clause safeguarded
Catholic rights in restored territories. He welcomed the conversion of
Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony and kingelect of Poland. He deplored
the persecution in Ireland and begged funds for the distressed Irish.
Innocent XII approved of the fateful step by which Charles II of Spain
passed over his Austrian kinsmen to choose Philip the grandson of Louis
XIV
as heir to his far-flung Spanish possessions.
Innocent XII died piously on September 27, 1700.
CLEMENT XI
1700-1721
With Charles II of Spain about to die childless, leaving his vast dominions
behind him, it was only human that the great Catholic powers should strive
to secure a friendly pope. The conclave of 1700 dragged on, lost in mazes
of Bourbon and Hapsburg intrigue, until the news that Charles of Spain had
at last died spurred the cardinals into a feverish search for a compromise.
They elected Gian Francesco Albani but Albani refused to accept the
burdensome honor, and it took several days and the combined arguments of
four theologians to overcome his reluctance. He chose to be called Clement
XI.
Gian Francesco Albani was born at Urbino on July 22, 1649. Educated at
the
Roman College, he became a distinguished scholar and a prominent
member of
Queen Christina's Academy. He made a number of translations from Greek
into
Latin. Not until he was twenty-eight did Gian Francesco enter the papal
service, indeed he did not become a priest until a few months before his
election. Secretary for briefs under Innocent XI, he was made a cardinal by
Innocent XII. He was a strong right hand to Alexander VIII in his struggle
with Louis XIV and to Innocent XII in his war on nepotism.
Clement XI was only fifty-one when elected, and his vigorous health, great
talents, and sincere piety promised a long and successful pontificate.
Clement's pontificate was indeed long, but it was not too successful. The
age was turning irreligious. Bayle and Fontenelle were already writing,
Voltaire and Rousseau were growing up. Clement worked hard, but even a
capable pope can do only so much.
Clement's first problem was to guide the Church through the stormy War of
the Spanish Succession. Although he tried to remain neutral, he was at
heart an adherent of the Bourbons, and had advised Innocent XII to approve
the will of Charles II leaving Spain to Philip of Anjou. When the Austrians
invaded the Papal States, the Bourbons gave no aid, and Clement was
compelled to halt the Austrians by acknowledging Charles of Hapsburg as
king of Spain. Now, of course, Louis and grandson Philip grew indignant,
but Clement could do nothing about it. The war ended at Utrecht and Rastatt
with the Pope pretty much ignored.
Another vexing problem was that of the revived Jansenists. Under the
leadership of Pasquier Quesnel, the Jansenists were becoming a source of
great alarm. By his bulls "Vineam Domini" in 1705 and especially the
famous
"Unigenitus" in 1713, Clement XI struck a mighty blow at the cat-lived
sectaries.
Clement XI also took measures against the Malabar and Chinese rites, but
the vexed question dragged on. Keenly interested in missionary activity,
this zealous Pope fostered numerous seminaries to provide workers for the
foreign missions. He tried to win over Czar Peter the Great, but was not
too severely disillusioned when Peter's interest in Roman Catholicism died
out after his decisive victory at Poltava.
Clement XI died March 19,1701.
INNOCENT XIII
1721 --1724
The election of Michelangelo de' Conti aroused nostalgic memories of the
Middle Ages, for Michelangelo was of the same family which had produced
three thirteenth-century popes: Innocent III, Gregory IX, and Alexander IV.
Yet the very circumstances of the election showed how wide was the chasm
which separated the politically powerful papacy of Innocent III from the
badgered papacy of Innocent XIII. The favorite in the conclave had been
Cardinal Paolucci, the late Pope's secretary of state; but when his
election seemed near, Cardinal Althan in the name of Emperor Charles VI
declared him excluded. Then the cardinals turned to Michelangelo de' Conti,
who took the name Innocent XIII.
Michelangelo de' Conti was born May 13, 1655, in the family's ancestral
castle at Poli. He studied first with his uncle, the bishop of Ancona, and
then with the Jesuits at the Roman College. In the papal service he rose to
be governor of Ascoli, Frosinone, and Viterbo. In 1695 he was sent as
nuncio to Switzerland and made titular archbishop of Tarsus. From 1698 to
1709 he served as papal ambassador to Portugal, where he won the
esteem of
Lisbon court. In 1706 he was made a cardinal. After his return from
Portugal he became bishop of Osimo, and later was given the see of
Viterbo.
Sickness compelled him to resign his see in 1719.
A stout old gentleman of sixty-six, Innocent XIII was known for his
blameless life, his ability, and his strong sense of dignity. This sense of
dignity added to ill health tended to make the Pope somewhat hard to see.
But if officials and envoys found Innocent difficult, the poor discovered
in him a father.
Innocent XIII granted the investiture of Naples Sicily to Emperor Charles
VI, but his kindness was not rewarded. The Hapsburgs continued to
encroach
on ecclesiastical rights, refused to restore Comacchio, and ignored the
Pope's rights in Parma.
The irrepressible Jansenists hoped that Innocent would not be as firm
against them as had been Clement XI. They were disappointed. Innocent
insisted on submission to the bull Unigenitus. Though he met with much
insubordination in France, the old Pope stood firm. Even worse was the
situation in Holland, where stubborn Jansenists got themselves a bishop
and
revolted from the Pope. To this day a small Jansenist sect exists in
Holland.
The sore problem of the Chinese rites remained to vex Innocent. The Pope
misled by a volley of attacks on the Jesuits, actually threatened to forbid
the order to receive novices. The Jesuit General Michelangelo Tamburini,
however, presented a convincing defense; but before Innocent could act on
the matter he was dead. Meanwhile the Church in China reeled under
persecution.
Never well, Innocent was attacked by dropsy in February 1724. On March 7
Innocent XIII died.
BENEDICT XIII
1724 -1730
If Pietro Francesco Orsini was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he
did not wait long to throw it away. Born February 22, 1649, at Gravina,
Pietro Francesco was the heir not only to his father, the duke of Gravina,
but to his uncle, the duke of Bracciano. But the noble young man spurned
these great Orsini titles for the white habit of a son of St. Dominic.
Though he overcame family opposition to become a Dominican friar, it was
difficult in that aristocratic age for a highborn ecclesiastic to escape
honors. Clement X forced the red hat on the reluctant young friar, and soon
he was ruling the see of Manfredonia, then Cesena, and finally Benevento,
where he spent thirty-eight years. He loved Benevento and earned the title
of the city's second founder by his loving charity after the disastrous
earthquakes of 1688 and 1702.
When the conclave of 1724 was worn out with over two months of
ineffectual
wrangling, the cardinals turned to the spiritual-minded Dominican
archbishop. But Orsini refused, and it took a great deal of argument and
the pressure of the Dominican general to bring him to accept. He chose to
be called Benedict XIII.
One of the first problems faced by Benedict was the accusation against the
Jesuits of insubordination in the matter of the Chinese rites. Benedict,
after mature consideration, convinced by Jesuit General Tamburini's
defense, acquitted the Jesuits and quashed the stern decree of Innocent
XIII.
The Jansenists, disappointed in Innocent XIII, had great hopes in Benedict.
These sectaries tried to shelter themselves behind the massive form of St.
Thomas and claimed that they held Dominican doctrine on grace. The
Dominican Pope disabused them. He issued a bull filled with praise of St.
Thomas and of the Dominicans, but of words of encouragement for
Jansenists
there were none. Benedict insisted on submission to Clement XI's bull
Unigenitus, and what is more, he secured the submission of the Jansenist's
champion, Cardinal de Noailles, archbishop of Paris. At long last it was
the beginning of the end for Jansenism.
Benedict was less happy in his dealings with the Powers. The shrewd
politicos of the despots' courts wrung extreme concessions from the good-
natured and inexperienced Pontiff. Even less happy was Benedict in routine
government. Though he tried hard to improve ecclesiastical discipline and
was most devoted to the spiritual side of his work, he was too loyal to his
friends. He placed implicit confidence in a cleric he had brought from
Benevento, Cardinal Coscia. Coscia was a grafter, and under him the papal
curia deteriorated. Benedict, busy insisting that priests should not wear
wigs and blessing altars, was deaf to the clink of gold talking loudly to
Coscia and his associates.
Benedict XIII died February 23, 1730. His virtues were his own, his defects
were due to inexperience and lack of aptitude for government. After all, he
had not wanted to be pope. Benedict left the Church a legacy most
precious.
He first approved of the Congregation of the Cross and Passion of Our Lord
founded by St. Paul of the Cross.
CLEMENT XII
1730 - 1740
Another conclave in which the representatives of the Great Powers battled
through weary months ended on July 12, 1730, with the election of feeble
old Lorenzo Corsini, who took the name Clement XII.
Lorenzo Corsini was born at Florence on April 7, 1652, of an ancient
family, the most famous member of which was St. Andrew Corsini. Lorenzo
passed up the paternal estates to enter the clerical ranks. After studies
at the Jesuit Roman College, he took a doctorate in law at the University
of Pisa. He proved to be a hard-working, capable papal official and was
made treasurer by Innocent XII and a cardinal by Clement XI. His
experience
in papal government made him shrewder than his predecessor, but his age
and
health greatly handicapped him. Seventy-nine at his election, Clement soon
went completely blind and for a large part of his pontificate had to rule
from his bed. But there was still plenty of mental vigor in the old man,
and he had the happy faculty of choosing honest and competent officials.
Clement began by making a clean sweep of the corrupt Beneventan officials
and an example of the chief offender, Cardinal Coscia. He imposed a large
fine and a prison sentence on that grafter, an act of salutary severity.
Under Clement XII the government of the Papal States improved, though
some
may object to his use of the lottery as a painless way of raising money.
In dealing with the Great Powers, Clement suffered the same humiliations
as
most eighteenth century popes. His suzerain right over Parma was ignored,
and Bourbons vied with Hapsburgs in putting pressure on the old Pope. The
Pope did not find the eighteenth-century despots particularly benevolent.
Clement continued to insist on Jansenist submission to the bull
"Unigerlitus," and he had the satisfaction of receiving the submission of a
group of French monks. But while the Jansenist menace subsided, another
and
greater evil loomed up over the age, the onrush of infidelity. Clement
struck at this new enemy by his bull of 1738 which condemned
Freemasonry.
This he did because all too often the un-Christian and anti-Christian
tendencies of the age were channeled into the lodges. Masonic religiosity
was well suited to the deism of the age. Clement did much to further
mission activity. He had the joy of receiving back to Catholic unity a
large number of Monophysite Copts.
As pope, Clement continued the patronage of art and letters he had begun
as
cardinal. He did much to beautify Rome.
Cardinal Alberoni, the one-time ambitious and all-powerful prime minister
of Spain, was now like Napoleon in Elba as a papal official. He attacked
little San Marino and annexed it to the Papal States. Clement XII, learning
that this was unjust, restored its liberty to the mountain republic.
After almost ten years Clement XII finally succumbed to a number of
diseases on February 6, 1740.
BENEDICT XIV
1744 0 - 1758
"If you want a saint, take Gotti; if you want a statesman, take Aldovrandi;
if you want a good fellow, take me." Thus spoke Prospero Lambertini in his
jocose way at the painfully long conclave of 1740. When the cardinals took
Lambertini at his word, they got a good fellow, all right; but much more, a
good priest and a good pope. Lambertini accepted and chose to be called
Benedict XIV.
Prospero Lambertini was born March 31, 1675, at Bologna of an ancient
family which had produced two members worthy of beatification. After
studies under tutors and the Somaschi Fathers, Lambertini took doctorates
in law and theology when only nineteen. He entered the papal service and
rose to be titular archbishop of Theodosia, archbishop of Ancona, and
finally of Bologna. As archbishop he proved to be a great spiritual leader.
A cardinal in 1728, he became a trusted adviser of the popes. Yet his power
to work was so great that with all his work he was able to be a scholar and
at the same time to enjoy the company in which his good humor and brilliant
wit made him popular.
Even as cardinal, Benedict XIV had been known for his tendency to
conciliation. As pope he went the limit in his efforts to appease the
power-greedy monarchs. If Benedict's extensive concessions to Spain,
Naples, and Sardinia aroused criticism, at least they proved his deep
desire for peace and harmony.
Since Benedict was known to be so conciliatory, Jansenists and infidels
hoped much from him. Of course they were disappointed. Although he was
a
little easier on the Jansenists, he continued to demand submission to the
bull Unigenitus. When Benedict accepted Voltaire's dedication of his drama
Mahomet, infidels hoped that at last they had a pope suitable to the
eighteenth century. But Benedict soon showed his awareness of the time's
danger by condemning the works of Voltaire and other infidels and by
renewing Clement XII's prohibition of Freemasonry.
Benedict XIV stands out among modern popes as a great legislator. Many-
sided, he improved not only canon law but liturgy and ecclesiastical
discipline. A scholar himself, he founded four academies in Rome and
worked
hard to improve the University of Rome. He gave the Church a glorious new
order when in 1749 he approved the rule of St. Alphonsus Liguori's
Redemptorists.
In the field of mission activity Benedict put a definite end to the
arguments about the Chinese rites by ordering all missionaries to take an
oath against the forbidden practices. Benedict secured the reunion of the
Egyptian Melchites, and by skillful diplomacy averted a storm among the
Maronites.
Since his pontificate had begun with the War of the Austrian Succession
and
ended with the Seven Years' War still raging, Benedict's diplomatic
problems were many and delicate. Through them all he so conducted
himself
that at his death on May 3, 1758, Benedict XIV was mourned even by
Protestants. The English Protestant Horace Walpole observed that Benedict
"restored the lustre of the tiara. By what art did he achieve that glory?
Solely by his virtues."
CLEMENT XIII
1758 - 1769
Storm signals were flying as the cardinals met in conclave on May 15, 1758.
The spirit of the age which frowned on religious orders and papal control
had entered the courts of the Catholic kings. A strong pope was needed, but
the Powers wanted a compliant one. When France vetoed the capable
Cardinal
Cavalchini, the conclave chose Carlo Rezzonico. Rezzonico unwillingly
accepted and chose to be called Clement XIII. Rezzonico was known to be
good and capable, but somewhat timid and indecisive. What the Powers did
not take into consideration was the man's deep spirituality. Timid perhaps
by nature he was fearless when principle was at stake.
Carlo Rezzonico was born at Venice on March 7, 1693, of a noble family.
Educated by the Jesuits at Bologna, he took his degree in law at Padua. In
the papal service Carlo rose steadily. He became cardinal-deacon in 1737,
bishop of Padua in 1743, and cardinal-priest in 1747. As bishop he
distinguished himself by his spiritual leadership. He held an important
synod in 1746, and he issued a beautiful pastoral on the priestly life.
Clement XIII had to face the terrible onslaught of the Catholic powers on
the Jesuits. This order, with its fourth vow of special obedience to the
Pope and its insistence on solid Christian education, was a cinder in the
eye of "enlightened" despots and their ministers. As followers of a false
"enlightenment" they were offended by the Jesuits' staunch Christianity; as
believers in the all-powerful state, they objected to an order so devoted
to the Pope. Regalists and Jansenists, Gallicans, and infidels found one
common hate--the Jesuits.
The opening gun of the anti-Jesuit attack was fired by Carvalho, the
powerful minister of weak King Joseph of Portugal. In 1759, with great
brutality, he suppressed the order in Portugal. Clement XIII objected, but
his remonstrances only provoked a rupture of diplomatic relations between
Portugal and the Vatican. France suppressed the Society of Jesus in 1763
and Spain drove the Jesuits out in 1767. Spain's puppets, the king of
Naples and the duke of Parma followed suit. Parma's action, coupled with
other anticlerical decrees, especially irritated Clement XIII because the
Pope was rightfully the suzerain of Parma. Consequently the courageous
Clement issued a monitorium declaring the Parma decrees null and void.
This
act of justice aroused the despots to frenzy. France seized the papal
territory of Avignon. Naples took Benevento. Then in a joint note the
Bourbon and Portuguese courts bluntly and forcefully demanded that the
Pope
withdraw his monitorium and suppress the Society of Jesus.
Greatly upset by these broils, Clement's health gave way and on February
7,
1769, the brave but gentle Pope died. Clement XIII has been called the
eighteenth-century Hildebrand, and he deserves the title. While Clement's
memory is held in honor by all who admire courage and adherence to
principle, it is especially revered by Catholics because Clement XIII is
the pope who, against much opposition, established the beautiful feast of
the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
CLEMENT XIV
1769-1774
The powers balked by courageous Clement XIII were determined that this
time
they would get a pope they could handle. The pressure put on the conclave
was overwhelming. Lists were prepared rating the cardinals according to
their acceptability to the kings. And pressure was necessary, for most of
the cardinals were independents who thought first of the good of the
Church. The man who emerged from all this as pope was the Conventual
Franciscan, Cardinal Lorenzo Ganganelli. As the only religious in the
college of cardinals, and a man who had been fond of the Jesuits,
Ganganelli was acceptable to the independents. But he had also won the
favor of the Crowns by assuring them that in his opinion a pope could
suppress the Jesuits with a good conscience and that a pope should try to
please the Powers.
Giovanni Vincenzo Ganganelli was born October 31, 1705, at Sant'
Arcangelo
near Rimini. In 1723 he became a Friar Minor Conventual, taking the name
Lorenzo. Fra Lorenzo showed excellent talent and rose to a high position in
his order. He was made a consultor of the Holy Office by Benedict XIV and
a
cardinal by Clement XIII.
Clement XIV, as Ganganelli chose to be called, promptly threw over the firm
policy of Clement XIII. He fairly rained concessions on the greedy despots.
But though mildly pleased, the courts were not satisfied with the new Pope,
because Clement showed no eagerness to suppress an order so devoted to
the
Pope, so praised by popes down to his predecessor, Clement XIII. Years
went
by --no suppression. Now the Bourbon courts had made it a point of honor
to
force the Pope to prove that they were justified in their tyrannical acts
against the Jesuits by suppressing them. Charles III of Spain was
especially insistent, and in 1772 to bring about the suppression he sent
the aggressive and capable Jose Monino as ambassador to the Holy See.
This
determined driver was given one task--to secure the suppression of the
Jesuits. Coldly, insistently, he cajoled, badgered, and bullied poor
Clement until the harried Pope cried out in distress. When Maria Teresa,
busy marrying off her daughters to Bourbons, abandoned the Jesuits,
Clement
gave in.
In the words of Pius XII: "Under the pressure of the unjust and envious
secular forces of the times in a sea of dark forebodings, a Father's hand
sacrificed it [the Society of Jesus] for the tranquillity of the bark of
Peter."
By the brief Dominus ac Redemptor, Clement suppressed the Society of
Jesus.
Appeasement rarely works, and though France restored Avignon and
Naples
Benevento, Clement soon found that the monarchs' arrogant interference
with
Church rights only mounted after the destruction of the Jesuits.
Clement did enjoy some gleams of consolation, especially when Mar
Simeon, a
Nestorian patriarch, led six bishops back to Catholic unity.
Clement XIV felt his unhappy position keenly and under the strain his
health gave way. He died September 22, 1774.
PIUS VI
1775 -- 1799
"As handsome as he is holy," thus the Romans described Gianangelo
Braschi,
who as Pius VI succeeded Clement XIV. Gianangelo Braschi was born
December
25, 1717, at Cesena of noble parents. After studies with the Jesuits, the
bright young man took his degree in law when only seventeen. Braschi
caught
the eye of Benedict XIV, who offered him a canonry in St. Peter's, but the
handsome lawyer was engaged to be married. At last he decided to become
a
priest; his fiancee entered a convent. Braschi became papal treasurer, and
in 1773 a cardinal. Not yet sixty and full of vigor, Pius VI was to need
all his reserves of holiness and strength to face what was coming.
Pius found the Jesuit problem still haunting the Vatican. He released some
Jesuits imprisoned by Clement, but friendly as he was, he dared not do
more. When he showed an inclination to allow the Society of Jesus to
remain
alive in Russia, the Bourbons stormed at him so fiercely that he had to
insist on breaking up this last Jesuit province. Catherine of Russia,
however, refused to allow the brief of suppression to be published in her
dominions, and since Clement had so arranged matters that the
suppression
brief would become law in a diocese only when the bishop published it, the
Jesuits lived on in Russia. In 1780 Pius VI, by word of mouth, approved of
their existence.
The Jesuit problem was the least of the Pope's worries. Emperor Joseph II,
flailing about in a frenzy of misdirected zeal, was limiting papal power,
suppressing monasteries, and changing church regulations in a manner
which
led sardonic Frederick II to call him "my brother the sacristan." However
amusing to old Fritz, Joseph's vagaries were more than an annoyance to
Pius. He actually made the long trip to Vienna to try to talk sense into
the imperial meddler, but in vain. Joseph's brother, Leopold, Grand Duke of
Tuscany, was just as bad, and one of his bishops, Ricci of Pistoia, held a
synod in 1786 which passed some outrageous decrees. Pius condemned
these in
1794. The ecclesiastical electors--the prince-bishops of Mayence, Treves,
and Cologne--got into the act in 1786 by issuing a Febronian manifesto
known as the Punctuation of Ems. Febronianism was the doctrine taught by
Von Hontheim (who wrote under the pen name Febronius) which claimed
that
the pope was not superior to all bishops and that Catholic kings should
reduce the papal power.
The king of Naples saw to it that Bourbons contributed to the Pope's
misery, but all these troubles faded in the intense glare of the French
Revolution.
Pius grew increasingly alarmed as the revolutionists multiplied anti-
Catholic measures. The confiscation of Church property, the suppression of
papal taxes, the patient Pope let go by, but he secretly protested against
the suppression of religious orders, and he had to speak out when the
little bunglers of the Constituent Assembly tried to drive France into
schism with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Pius saw the Church in
France driven underground as blood-drunk Jacobins drove priests and nuns
to
the knife. Soon the Revolution flowed over the Alps and Napoleon forced
the
Pope to accept the harsh Treaty of Tolentino in 1797. But the Directory,
more cruel than Napoleon, soon took over Rome and made the old Pope a
prisoner. Dragged to France, Pius was greeted by the people with
affectionate enthusiasm. His health gave way at Valence, and a prisoner
and
an exile, Pius VI died August 22, 1799. His last words were: "Lord forgive
them."
PIUS VII
1800-1823
When Pius VI died a prisoner in France, there were those who sneered that
Pius VI would be Pius the Last. But the cardinals got together at Venice
and elected another and great Pius in the person of Barnaba Chiaramonti,
who took the name Pius VII.
Barnaba Chiaramonti was born at Cesena, August 14, 1740, of noble
parents.
At the age of sixteen Barnaba entered a Benedictine monastery and took
the
name Gregorio. He became abbot of San Callisto in Rome, but Pius VI took
him from the monastery to make him bishop of Tivoli, then bishop of Imola,
and in 1785 a cardinal. When the French overran Imola in 1797, Cardinal
Chiaramonti earned the admiration of Napoleon by sticking to his post. By
interceding with Generals Augereau and Macdonald, he saved his flock from
misery; and in a Christmas address he said: "The democratic form of
government is not . . . repugnant to the Gospel. On the contrary it exacts
all the sublime virtues which are learned only in the school of Jesus
Christ." These words, now commonplace, took vision and courage to utter in
1797 with the smell of blood still rank on French "democracy."
Pius VII had the great joy of restoring religion in France. After difficult
negotiations a concordat was signed in 1801 between the Holy See and the
French Republic. Pius had the gift of choosing and trusting capable
assistants, and it was one of these, the outstanding diplomat Cardinal
Consalvi, who went to Paris and pulled the concordat through tight places.
In spite of the fact that Napoleon played the weasel with his "organic
articles," the concordat was a great blessing. No wonder Pius VII took the
extraordinary step of going to Paris for Napoleon's coronation in 1804.
Napoleon, however, soon gave the Pope plenty of trouble. He kept insisting
that Pius take sides in the war against England. Bitterly disappointed at
the Pope's neutrality, he finally seized the Papal States in 1809. When
Pius boldly excommunicated him, Napoleon had the Pope carried off a
prisoner to France. In 1813 Napoleon first isolated Pius from his trusted
advisers and then bullied him into making concessions which the Pope
bitterly regretted. It was not long before Pius withdrew these, and not
long either before Napoleon, with his empire collapsing, freed the Pope. By
May 27, 1814, Pius was back in Rome.
Two events show the prestige and independence Pius had gained for the
papacy. On August 7,1814, Pius VII restored the Society of Jesus
throughout
the world. The second act was in the temporal sphere. Cardinal Consalvi
represented the Pope at the Congress of Vienna, and from that assembly of
the Powers he brought back the entire Papal States to Pius VII. Only the
outside territories like Avignon in France and Benevento in Naples were
excepted.
A third act shows why Pius deserved so much prestige. A true Vicar of
Christ, he sheltered the broken family of Napoleon, and he even interceded
with the British to soften the lot of his old persecutor on St. Helena.
When Pius VII died on August 20, 1823, Gallicanism and Jansenism were
becoming historical memories. It is true that infidelity still threatened,
but many intellectuals were now reading Christian apologists like
Chateaubriand and Lammenais rather than Voltaire and Rousseau.
LEO XII
1823 - 1829
"Will you elect a skeleton?" asked gaunt Cardinal Della Genga when the
conclave of 1823 swung toward him. But the skeleton proved to have plenty
of life, and as Leo XII gave the Church guidance for almost six years.
Annibale della Genga was born of a noble family at Castello della Genga
near Spoleto. After studies at Osimo and Rome, Della Genga was ordained
priest in 1783 at the age of twenty-three. Pius VI took the young priest
into his service, and he soon showed his tact by preaching a funeral
oration for Emperor Joseph II. To give a sermon on Joseph without
compromising the Church or offending Hapsburg ears was no easy task, but
Della Genga managed it. In 1792 he became a canon of the Vatican, and in
1793 titular archbishop and nuncio to Lucerne, then nuncio to Cologne, and
in 1805 nuncio extraordinary to the Diet of Ratisbon. Napoleon did not care
for Della Genga and tried to have him removed, but Pope Pius refused to
recall his faithful envoy. In 1808 Della Genga accompanied Cardinal
Caprara
to Paris on a mission to see if Napoleon could be brought to see reason.
But the Emperor was in no mood for compromise. After Napoleon carried off
the Pope to France, Della Genga retired to a monastery and spent some
quiet
years drilling a choir of peasants in plain chant. Recalled from rustic
obscurity when Pius returned to Rome, he was sent to Paris to convey the
Pope's congratulations to Louis XVIII. Consalvi, who was already
representing the Pope in Paris, imagined that Della Genga's mission was an
insult, and this caused some unpleasantness.
A few years later Pius made Della Genga a cardinal and bishop of
Sinigaglia. Since he could not stand the Sinigaglia climate, Della Genga
soon resigned his see and became vicar of Rome.
At the conclave the Powers favored Castiglioni, but among the cardinals
Severoli was the favorite. Cardinal Albani in Austria's name declared
Severoli excluded, but this barefaced interference boomeranged. At once
the
independent cardinals elected the "skeleton."
Leo XII showed that he was a big man by making use of Consalvi's advice
until the great diplomat died. Much alarmed by the march of infidelity, Leo
took measures against indifferentism. He also condemned societies which
distributed unauthorized editions of the Bible. Secret societies were a
thorny problem for the old Pope. Though he condemned them, they
continued
to flourish right under his eyes. To crush them Leo sent Cardinal Rivarola
to Ferrara and Rivarola ruled with an iron hand. But down to his death the
secret societies, especially the Carbonari, troubled the Pope.
Though Leo was a conservative old gentleman, his pastor's heart could not
endure the sight of empty bishoprics in South America. In spite of his own
inclinations and of Bourbon wrath, he implicitly recognized the
independence of the South American republics by treating with them about
the appointment of new bishops.
Leo XII had tried to rule the Romans like a strict old-fashioned father,
and his strict old-fashioned methods were resented. Leo XII died February
10, 1829, a good priest, if not a great ruler.
PIUS VIII
1829 - 1830
A mild, moderate man, Francesco Xaverio Castiglioni had been the favorite
of the Powers in the conclave of 1823. He was again the favorite in 1829,
and this time he was elected. He chose the name Pius VIII.
Francesco Xaverio Castiglioni was born of a noble family at Cingoli on
November 20, 1761. Educated by the Jesuits, he took law at Bologna and
Rome. At Rome he worked with his professor, Devoti, on his book dealing
with canon law. When Devoti became bishop of Anagni, he took his
promising
pupil along as vicar-general. Castiglioni later served as vicar-general for
Bishop Severoli of Angoli, an interesting association because in the
conclave of 1823, Severoli was vetoed by Austria in an effort to help
Castiglioni become pope. Bishop of Montalto and later bishop of Cesena,
Castiglioni ran into trouble with the occupying French forces when he
refused to swear allegiance to Napoleon as king of Italy. He was arrested
by the French for his boldness, but after Napoleon's downfall, Pius VII
made him a cardinal and bishop of Frascati.
Pius VIII was a spiritual man of deep conscientiousness. To avoid the least
suspicion of nepotism, he refused to allow his relatives even to come to
Rome. He abandoned Leo's repressive policy in running the Papal States,
but
he repeated Leo's condemnations of indifferentism, unauthorized Bible
societies, and secret societies.
Although it lasted for less than two years, the pontificate of Pius VIII
saw some outstanding events. Rome was overjoyed to learn in 1829 that
the
great Daniel O'Connell had at last overcome mountains of bigotry and walls
of prejudice to wrest from a reluctant government freedom for British and
Irish Catholics.
Prussia, however, gave the Pope cause to worry. That country on its march
to empire had gobbled up large sections in the Rhineland, Silesia, and
Poland with Catholic populations. It was now trying to prevent children of
mixed marriages from being brought up as Catholics.
Pius, faced with weak German bishops and a bullying government, went to
the
utmost limits in concession by allowing priests to assist passively at
mixed marriages in which the proper promises had not been given. But even
this rather amazing concession did not satisfy the Berlin bureaucrats.
Pius was greatly alarmed by the revolutions of 1830. It was only with
reluctance that he brought himself to recognize the revolutionary
government of France's King Louis-Philippe. The revolution in France set up
tremors throughout Europe, but the gentle Pius VIII did not have to worry
about the situation, because on December 1, 1830, he died.
GREGORY XVI
1831 -- 1846
Gregory XVI has been pilloried as the pope who so hated modern
developments
that he would not allow railroads in his dominions! There is some truth in
that. As a temporal ruler Gregory was reactionary--no doubt about it. But
as a spiritual ruler Gregory carried on a pope's real work with
distinction.
Bartolommeo Cappellari was born of a noble family at Belluno in Northern
Italy on September 8, 1765. Against family opposition he entered a
Camaldolese monastery in 1783, taking the name Mauro. Ordained a priest
in
1787, he taught philosophy and theology to the young religious. In 1799 he
wrote a defense of papal rights and papal infallibility. Pius VII made him
abbot of St. Gregory's Monastery on the Coelian Hill, but when the French
took over Rome, Cappellari retired to a Camaldolese monastery and once
more
taught philosophy.
Called to Rome by Pius VII after his restoration, Cappellari twice refused
bishoprics. Leo XII made him a cardinal in 1825 and prefect of the
Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. In the conclave of 1830
Cardinal Giustiniani was the favorite, but when Spain vetoed him, the
cardinals elected the pious Camaldolese Cardinal Cappellari. He took the
name Gregory XVI.
Gregory XVI continued to live like a monk. It was his cross that, a simple
pious religious, he was plunged into the vortex of a revolutionary storm
which was rocking Europe. In the Papal States, revolutionists were
triumphant in Bologna, and in Rome itself a rising was barely nipped in the
bud. Unable with weak papal forces to put down the rebels, Gregory called
on Austria, and Austrian bayonets restored order in Bologna. Jealous of
Austrian intervention, the French seized Ancona. It took years to get the
French and the Austrians out again. The Powers took this opportunity to
read the Pope a lecture on government and to urge certain reforms on him.
Gregory, however, could scarcely take seriously such requests from
notorious despots like Metternich and Czar Nicholas I. Indeed, down to the
last Gregory believed in ruling his States with a strong hand. Impatient
with his own liberals, Gregory had little sympathy even for Catholic rebels
like the Belgians and Poles. Yet he did what he could to soften the lot of
the oppressed Poles, even speaking very bluntly to Czar Nicholas when that
despot visited Rome. Gregory condemned the slave trade in 1839, and he
adopted a sane policy of dealing with de facto governments which was to
save much embarrassment for the Holy See.
In 1832 Gregory had the unpleasant task of condemning a number of errors
connected with the brilliant Catholic periodical L'Avenir. He disliked
doing this because the writers were great defenders of papal rights against
statism. He also condemned a synthesis of Kantian and Catholic thought
dreamed up by a Bonn professor named Hermes, and when another
professor,
Bautain of Strasbourg, attacked the proper sphere of reason, the vigilant
Gregory condemned him.
Though Gregory suffered much from political troubles and from the
persecution of his children in Spain, he enjoyed the consolation of seeing
the Church win a great fight with Prussian bureaucracy in the mixed-
marriage question.
Gregory XVI died June 9,1846.
PIUS IX
1846 -- 1878
The cardinals, who felt that Gregory XVI had been a little severe, fixed
their eyes on the amiable Cardinal Mastai-Ferretti, but the Austrians also
had their eyes on him--cold eyes. Austria's representative Cardinal
Gaysruck reached the conclave with a veto for Mastai-Ferretti, but it was
too late. He had already been elected and had chosen the name Pius IX.
Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti was born at Sinigaglia on May 13, 1792. Refused
admission to the pope's noble guards because of epileptic attacks, he
turned to the study of theology, and when his epilepsy passed away,
Giovanni was ordained a priest. In 1823 he accompanied the apostolic
delegate to Chile, and thus became the first pope to have visited the new
world. As archbishop of Spoleto, he handled the revolt of 1831 with kind
diplomacy. He persuaded the rebels to down arms and the avenging
Austrians
to be merciful. Transferred to Imola in 1832, he became a cardinal in 1840.
Pius IX at once started to live up to his liberal reputation. He promptly
issued an amnesty for political prisoners and made numerous reforms in the
Papal States. The delighted Romans took the horses from his carriage to
pull it themselves, while girls strewed flowers in the way. But, however
numerous his concessions, they were not sufficient to please the radicals,
and when Pius refused to join the war against Austria in stormy forty-
eight, his popularity plummeted. On November 15 the radicals stabbed the
Pope's prime minister, Rossi, and practically besieged Pius himself.
Disgusted, Pius fled to Gaeta, leaving Mazzini and his minions to take over
at Rome. In 1849 a French army restored papal authority in Rome, and in
1850 back came Pius IX, thoroughly cured of liberalism.
The restoration was not to last. In 1860 Cavour and Garibaldi wrested most
of the Papal States from Pius, and in 1870 when the French garrison was
withdrawn from Rome, the Piedmontese moved in. Pius, after making a
token
resistance, confined himself to the Vatican. He refused to accept the
situation, and Italo-papal relations remained fundamentally strained until
1929.
If Pius was unfortunate in the temporal sphere, he showed himself a
vigorous leader in spiritual matters. In 1854 he declared it a dogma that
Mary was conceived without original sin. This was an assertion of papal
infallibility and a challenge to a materialistic age which had little
belief in original sin. In 1864 Pius issued the encyclical "Quanta cura"
and with it a syllabus of seventy errors. This was no sudden whim of the
Pope's, but a measure which had been widely discussed and long
pondered.
Since it was an outspoken and even harsh indictment of many nineteenth-
century trends, it caused a sensation. Indeed the syllabus has been an
arsenal of anti-Catholic arguments for many who misjudged or
misinterpreted
it.
The greatest event of the pontificate of Pius IX was the Vatican Council.
This, the twentieth ecumenical council, proclaimed as a dogma that the
pope
when speaking ex cathedra, that is, as pope, can make no mistake in
solemn
declarations of what must be believed in matters of faith and morals. Pius
had to adjourn the council in the summer of 1870 owing to the outbreak of
the FrancoPrussian War.
Pius IX died, a very old, tired man, on February 7, 1878.
LEO XIII
1878 -- 1903
It was in a gloomy atmosphere that the first conclave since the fall of
Rome gathered, but that conclave produced a pope who would lift up the
hearts of Catholics, and indeed of all men of good will throughout the
world, the great Leo XIII.
Gioacchino Pecci was born at Carpineto on March 2, 1810. After education
at
the Jesuit college in Viterbo, the Roman College, and the College for
Nobles, Pecci hesitated about becoming a priest; but in 1837 he made his
decision and plunged wholeheartedly into the priestly life.
In 1838 Gregory XVI sent Pecci to rule Benevento as a legate. He gave the
district a taste of good government by running down the bandits who
infested the area. Moved to Perugia in 1841, Pecci started a bank for the
poor and introduced other reforms. In 1843 he went as nuncio to Belgium,
and when recalled in 1845 he was made bishop of Perugia. Pius IX made
him a
cardinal in 1853. Pecci ruled his diocese in such a manner as to foreshadow
his career as pope. He insisted on religious instruction and on the study
of Aquinas. He spoke out against the social evils of the day. When the
Piedmontese took Perugia from the Pope in 1860, anticlerical politicians
made life miserable for Catholics. Pecci stood up to them, registering
eighteen protests; yet such was his diplomacy that despite his manly
defense of church rights, he got along with the government. In 1877 Pius IX
called him to Rome and made him camerlengo. After Pius died Pecci
succeeded
him as Leo XIII.
Leo found the Church under fire in many countries, and except for Italy,
his policy was one of conciliation. He made the road to Canossa easy for
Bismarck, who called off his anti-Catholic campaign. He tried to get French
Catholics to come down from a royalist dream world to republican reality.
He soothed the English by frowning on the vigorous methods of Irish
agrarian reformers. He even won a few concessions for the Czar's
oppressed
Catholic subjects. When in 1885 Germany and Spain accepted Leo's
arbitration in a dispute over the Caroline Islands, it was a token of the
Pope's new prestige.
It was as a leader in ideas that Leo is truly great. He saw the need for
emphasizing the value of St. Thomas, and he recalled Catholic thinkers to
the study of Aquinas. He encouraged biblical studies and while rightly
cautious about certain "critical" tendencies of the age, he left the way
open to continued improvement. To historians Leo was a true friend. He
opened the Vatican archives to research and he urged scholars to tell the
truth and tell it whole.
Above all, by his encyclical "Rerum novarum," Leo brought Christ into the
factories and slums. As Christ once scourged the buyers and sellers in the
temple, so now did His Vicar flail those who defiled God's human temples by
cruel economic and social measures. Critical of both extreme socialist and
capitalist solutions to the day's problems, Leo laid down Christian norms
to guide men to a better social system. Published in 1891, "Rerum novarum"
was hailed by Catholics and non-Catholics alike.
Though Leo XIII died on July 20, 1903, his influence lives on.
ST. PIUS X
1903 - 1914
Shortly before his death, wise old Leo XIII told Cardinal Sarto that he
would be the next pope and would do much for the Church. Leo was right on
both counts.
Giuseppe Sarto was born at Riese on June 2, 1835. His father, a cobbler,
also served as janitor in the parish church and postman. A bright, pious
lad, Giuseppe studied under his pastor, then at a nearby secondary school,
and finally at the seminary in Padua. Ordained in 1858, Sarto worked hard
and well as parish priest. In 1884 he became bishop of Mantua and did so
much for that rundown diocese that Leo XIII made him a cardinal and
moved
him to Venice. Both as bishop of Mantua and patriarch of Venice, Sarto
proved to be a zealous pastor and a highly capable administrator. In the
conclave of 1903 Rampolla took an early lead, but Austria vetoed him and
the cardinals turned to Sarto. He accepted unwillingly and took the name,
Pius X.
Pius was not to enjoy peace. The French Republic was waging bitter war on
the Church. The government suppressed religious orders, attacked religious
education, and in 1905 unilaterally denounced the concordat, separated
Church and State, and confiscated Church property. When Pius forbade
Catholics to form the associations required by the government to run the
churches, things looked desperate; but the government backed down from
its
extreme position, and though extremely poor, the French Church struggled
on. In Spain and Portugal, too, Pius had the grief of seeing the Church
attacked.
Attack from outside was not the greatest danger.
Some priests, infected with bad philosophical ideas and worse theological
ones, were striving to make modernism prevail within the Church.
Modernism
does not mean a devotion to television or atomic research, but a very
dangerous adaptation of the dogmas of faith to fads of the day. Pius banned
the works of leading modernists, and by his encyclical "Pascendi" and his
decree "Lamentabilis," published in 1907, he struck hard at modernism.
Determined to tear it out by the roots, Pius followed these measures by
demanding from every priest an oath against modernism. Under this attack
the dangerous movement wilted, and the Church was saved much trouble
by the
saintly Pope's alert vigilance.
Pius took as his motto Paul's expression: "to restore all things in
Christ." He made every effort to live up to it. He reformed Church music.
He reorganized the papal court and Italian seminaries. He reformed the
breviary. He started the tremendous work of codifying canon law. But above
all, Pius will be remembered as the Eucharistic Pope. He wished children to
receive Holy Communion when they reached the age of reason, and in a
return
to the early Christian practice he begged Catholics to receive Holy
Communion frequently.
Pius X predicted that a great war would break out in 1914, but when it came
it nearly broke his great heart. He died on August 20, 1914. The people,
with touching devotion, kept thronging around the kind-hearted Pope's tomb.
Miracles were worked. In June, 1951, Pius XII beatified and on May 29,
1954, canonized this great Pope of the Eucharist.
BENEDICT XV
1914 -1922
With battle smoke hanging heavy over Flanders fields and Carpathian
Mountains, the Cardinals realized that the next pope should be a diplomat.
The man chosen was Giacomo della Chiesa, who took the name Benedict
XV.
Giacomo della Chiesa was born at Genoa on November 21, 1854. He
studied law
at Genoa and theology at Rome's Gregorian University. Ordained in 1873,
he
became a doctor of sacred theology in 1879. Giacomo entered the papal
diplomatic service and soon caught the eye of the great diplomat Rampolla.
When Rampolla became secretary of state, Giacomo joined him as a
valuable
assistant. In 1901 he was made under-secretary of state. Pius X continued
him in this office until 1907, when he made Giacomo archbishop of Bologna.
Here Della Chiesa proved to be a capable and excellent spiritual leader.
Pius X made him a cardinal in 1914.
Benedict XV faced a difficult task. As father of all Catholics he had to
maintain strict neutrality. He succeeded so well that while excitable
Allies called him pro-German, excitable Germans called him pro-Ally.
Benedict constantly pleaded for peace, but not until 1917 did he judge the
time ripe for a formal attempt to mediate between the Powers. Certain
German elements welcomed the papal overtures, but after a good deal of
excited buzzing and rumor mongering, it became sadly evident that not even
the hideous blood bath of three years had brought either side to be really
earnest in a desire for a fair and square peace. The Pope did his best to
lessen the miseries of the frightful conflict. Thanks to Benedict, disabled
prisoners were exchanged through neutral countries, and later, after weary
efforts, Benedict succeeded in getting wounded and sick prisoners sent to
recuperate in the comparatively well-off neutral countries. The Pope also
tried to help suffering civilians. His intercession enabled deported
Belgians to return home. He begged mercy for the poor Armenians, and he
donated money freely to the suffering all over war-torn Europe.
After the armistice Benedict continued his good work. He pleaded with the
Allies to stop the murderous blockade of Germany which was causing so
much
suffering to women and children. At the Pope's command a collection was
taken up in Catholic churches throughout the world to help hungry children.
Benedict urged Wilson to use his great influence for a just peace, but the
Pope expressed disappointment at the results of the Paris Peace
Conference.
Although excluded from the League of Nations, the Pope praised the idea
behind it, and at a time of excited nationalist hate, he pleaded for
recognition of human solidarity.
In 1917 Benedict promulgated the great new Code of Canon Law but he
gave
the credit to his illustrious predecessor, Saint Pius X.
Influenza carried off this man of peace on January 22, 1922. Among his last
words were "We offer our life to God on behalf of the peace of the World."
Rightly has Benedict XV been called "The good Samaritan of humanity.
PIUS XI
1922 - 1939
Achille Ratti, like Pius X, had parents who were just plain folks. Born at
Desio on May 31, 1857, he went to the seminary at Milan and then on to the
Gregorian University to take his doctorate in theology. After a few years
in a parish, Father Ratti was put to work at the Ambrosian Library in
Milan. Here he made such a reputation that Pius X in 1912 made him
assistant librarian at the Vatican and soon after head of the great Vatican
Library. Scholar that he was, Ratti was no pale bookworm. He was an
expert,
indeed something of a champion, in a difficult and dangerous sport,
mountain climbing.
In 1918 Benedict XV sent Ratti from his research to serve first as visitor
and then as nuncio to stormy Poland. For a scholar in his sixties to go on
his first diplomatic mission to a country coming to life after over a
century of partition was something of a task. But the old historian
successfully handled a situation perplexing enough to trouble a supreme
court full of Solomons. He showed courage too. When other diplomats fled
before Trotsky's onrushing Red Army, Ratti remained to hear the thunder of
Soviet guns in threatened Warsaw. He had the satisfaction of seeing the
heroic Poles strike back and rout the Communists.
In 1921 Benedict made Ratti a cardinal and archbishop of Milan. A few
months later Benedict was dead and Ratti succeeded him. He chose the
name
Pius XI.
Pius XI faced a sadly disturbed postwar world, a world threatened and
tempted by fascism and communism. Far from yielding to discouragement
Pius
strove mightily to rally the forces of good and to remedy the times' evils.
To remind a materialistic world of the primacy of the spiritual, Pius
established the beautiful feast of Christ the King. In thirty encyclicals
he shed light on the difficulties of the day. Outstanding were his
encyclicals on education, marriage, and above all, on the social problem.
Though he fought manfully for principle, Pius was quick to extend the hand
of friendship, and his pontificate is notable for a whole series of
concordats. The outstanding event of this kind was, of course, the Lateran
Treaty of 1929, which put a long-desired and satisfactory end to the Roman
question.
Pius XI deeply appreciated the oneness of mankind. He ardently fostered
mission activity and was eager to see native clergy, headed by native
bishops, take over as many mission fields as possible. In what has been
called the Magna Carta of the missions, Pius allowed certain customs
which,
once open to superstition, had become secularized with the centuries. He
was keenly interested in the separated Eastern churches and yearned for
reunion with them. His great heart was angered by base attacks on the
Jews,
and he bluntly told the world that to be antisemitic was to be un-
Christian. It is characteristic of the man that one of his first acts was
to continue feeding starving Russians in spite of Soviet ingratitude, and
one of his last was to lash out at racist laws.
Pius had much sorrow. He grieved over the sufferings of his children in
Mexico, Russia, Spain, and Germany. But he was not soured. Just before
he
died on February 10, 1939, Pius offered his life for the peace of the
world.
PIUS XII
1939 - 1958
March 1939 was a time of high tension as Hitler, unsatisfied with his
Munich mouthful, was preparing to rend Europe. Faced with this situation
the cardinals quickly elected Eugenio Pacelli, the late Pope's capable and
experienced secretary of state.
Eugenio Pacelli was born at Rome on March 2, 1876, of a family devoted to
the papal service. Eugenio, eager to become a priest, worked so hard at the
Capranica Seminary that his health gave way and he was forced to leave
the
seminary. Leo XIII allowed young Pacelli to live at home while completing
his courses and in this way Pacelli reached ordination in 1899.
Eugenio began his priestly career with a combination of parish work and
professional study. He took a degree in Canon and Civil Law at the
Apollinaris. Cardinal Rampolla, on the watch for talent, took Pacelli into
his department of state. Pius X made him a monsignor and set him to work
on
the titanic task of re-codifying canon law. During the First World War
Pacelli gained valuable experience helping Benedict XV and Cardinal
Gaspari
in their humane efforts.
In 1917 Benedict sent Pacelli as nuncio to Munich to forward the Pope's
peace plans. Although Pacelli managed to secure an interview with the
Kaiser, nothing came of it, and Germany went down in 1918. Red revolution
swept Munich and Pacelli got a bitter taste of life under the hammer and
sickle. Several times the Reds threatened him but he managed to calm
them
down. Once an automobile in true gangster fashion roared by his house
blasting it with machine-gun fire. When the Weimar Republic was
established, Benedict created a nunciature at Berlin and sent Pacelli to be
the first nuncio. He got along well with the Germans and left with regret
in 1929 to be made a cardinal. The next year he succeeded the aged
Gaspari
as Secretary of State. Few popes have traveled as widely as Pius XII, and
he is the first pope to have visited the United States.
In the gloomy days of the Second World War Pius tried hard to keep a door
open to peace. On December 24, 1939, he gave the world a sane fivepoint
peace program. If he could not stop the war, at least he could and did
relieve the sufferings of the miserable millions of refugees and war
victims. Pius called on Catholics all over the world and especially in
comparatively comfortable America to share with the needy. Pius also did
much to save Rome from destruction, but he saved more than buildings.
While
Gestapo agents glared, Jews, refugees, and all manner of hunted folk found
safety in the tiny Papal State.
After the war Pius continued to stress the need for a just peace. A
realist, the Pope understood the thorny difficulties faced by the United
Nations, but he approved of it and encouraged all good works tending to
foster international understanding. As pastor of souls Pius keenly felt the
need of modern man for spiritual sustenance. To make it easier for people
to attend Mass and receive Holy Communion, Pius greatly relaxed the old
rules governing the time of Mass and the fast necessary to receive Holy
Communion. He also simplified the breviary.
Pius XII died on October 9, 1958. For suffering people of all faiths or no
faith he had been a true father.
JOHN XXIII
1958-1963
Angelo Roncalli was born November 25, 1881, at Sotto il Monte near
Bergamo
in Northern Italy. His parents were small farmers, and in a large family
Angelo learned the give and take which later made him so excellent a
diplomat. After work in the fields, Angelo studied for the priesthood at
the seminary in Bergamo. He won a scholarship to the Pontifical Seminary
at
Rome. Ordained in 1904, he said his first Mass in St. Peter's.
Young Father Roncalli returned to his diocese as secretary to Bishop
Radini-Tedeschi and Professor of Church History and Apologetics at the
Bergamo seminary. Somehow he found time to work for a diocesan
organization
of Catholic women and for a residence hall for students. World War I
interrupted this busy life. Father Roncalli became Sergeant Roncalli of the
medical corps and later Lieutenant Roncalli of the chaplains' corps.
When the guns fell silent, Roncalli returned to his old life, but not for
long. Benedict XV called him to Rome to work for the important
Congregation
for the Propagation of the Faith. In 1925 Pius XI made him an archbishop
and appointed him Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria. Ten years later as
Apostolic Delegate to Greece and Turkey, Roncalli moved on to Istanbul.
There he spent most of World War II, and in that neutral city, so rife with
suspicion and intrigue, Roncalli managed to get along with everybody. He
did what he could to help the Greeks suffering from famine and occupation
and to assure the Turks of his affection. These years in the Near East
afforded him many contacts with members of the separated Eastern
Churches,
contacts which fanned the flame of his desire to heal the sad breach
between so many Eastern Catholics and the See of Peter.
His success in Istanbul led Pius XII to send Roncalli as nuncio to France,
a France seething with passions aroused by the disasters and heroisms of
the war. Taking up his post in Paris early in 1945, Roncalli by delicate
tact and warm sympathy managed to minimize difficulties between outraged
Gaullists and nervous Vichyites, a task to appall the suavest of diplomats.
He also displayed his grasp of the need for international understanding by
his friendly attitude as unofficial observer at UNESCO. His ability to make
friends and win respect for the Church was shown in a striking way in 1953
when Pius XII made him a cardinal. He received the red hat from his good
friend President Auriol, a socialist.
Shortly after, Cardinal Roncalli was made Patriarch of Venice. He proved
himself to be a people's patriarch, always accessible. Vigorous yet kindly,
he led his flock in the path of Christian virtue.
Such was the man the cardinals elected Pope on October 28, 1958. John
XXIII, as he chose to be called, soon showed himself to be an energetic
man
with far-reaching plans. On January 25, 1959, he announced plans for a
general or ecumenical council which would be called the Second Vatican
Council. He opened it on October ll, 1962. By then he knew of his own fatal
illness. His death on June 3, 1963, followed a long agony. It evoked an
astonishing wave of sympathy from all quarters which was a response to his
exceptionally warm and outgoing personality.
PAUL VI
1963 -- 1978
Giovanni Battista Montini was born in Brescia, Lombardy, on September 27,
1897. His father was a successful journalist and a member of the Italian
Chamber of Deputies. As a young man the future pope had such poor
health
that he was allowed to attend the seminary as a day student. He was
ordained at Brescia on May 29, 1920, and sent to Rome for further studies.
Having entered the papal diplomatic service he was sent to Warsaw as
secretary to the nuncio. His health failed and he returned to Rome, where
he w as assigned to the secretariat of state.
By 1937 he was under secretary, and by 1952 acting secretary, of state.
During World War II he was in charge of the Vatican's work for refugees and
prisoners of war. He was there all during the occupation of Rome when
there
was a real danger the Germans would take the Pope and his chief aides
with
them when they were driven north. On December l, 1954, Pius XII made him
Archbishop of Milan, the largest and, after Rome, the most important
diocese in Italy.
Since Pius XII made no cardinals after 1953, the Archbishop of Milan was
not a member of the conclave of 1958; but he was one of the first cardinals
made by John XXIII in December of that year. He played a prominent role in
the Council and since he was clearly the favorite of John XXIII, his
election as his successor (June 21, 1963) was almost taken for granted.
The pontificate of Paul VI will always be linked with the Council. His was
the task of bringing it to a successful conclusion (December 8, 1965) and
of starting, though he knew he could not finish, the implementation of its
decrees. One of its major themes was collegiality, or the collective
responsibility of all the bishops, under the pope, for the general welfare
of the Church. He wished to govern with and through the various national
episcopal conferences. He was determined to hold firmly to basic Catholic
teaching on faith and morals and to allow any other changes circumstances
might suggest. Since conditions vary greatly from place to place and some
people had unusual notions of the changes the Council had intended, there
was some confusion about what could be done.
He will be remembered for his work toward the reunion of all Christians,
his reaching out to the immense multitudes who belong to non-Christian
religions or to none, his internationalizing the Roman Curia, and his
untiring work for peace. He w as deeply interested in the emerging nations
of the Third World and supported every effort for their social advancement.
He was the first pope to visit every continent, and the first since St.
Peter to visit the Holy Land. The first papal visit to the Western
Hemisphere was his visit to the United Nations Headquarters in New York
on
October 4, 1965. His attempt to establish better relations with communist
governments had few results and aroused mixed feelings in various Catholic
circles. His exceptional capacity for work lasted to the end, which came
quite suddenly on August 6, 1978.
JOHN PAUL I
1978
Albino Luciani was born on October 12, 1912, in what is now Canale
d'Agordo, in the diocese of Belluno in the Dolomite Alps of Northern Italy.
His father, a confirmed socialist who did not oppose his son's vocation to
the priesthood, was a migrant worker and then a glassblower in Venice. The
family, like those of Pius X and John XXIII, was always poor, and Albino
knew from personal experience the hardships suffered by the modern urban
proletariat. He was the first pope chosen from their ranks.
After studies in the local seminary and Rome, he was ordained on July 7,
1935. He was assigned at once to teach theology in the seminary, of which
he was made vice-rector, and by 1947 he became vicar general of Belluno.
In
December 1958 John XXIII made him Bishop of Vittorio Veneto, near
Venice,
and as a special mark of friendship consecrated him himself in St. Peter's
in Rome. Paul VI made him Patriarch of Venice in December 1969, and
Cardinal in March 1973.
In his years in Belluno, Vittorio Veneto, and Venice, Cardinal Luciani
shunned the limelight so successfully that if he had died a week before his
election as pope it would hardly have been noticed outside his home
territory. He was helped by his unimpressive appearance and bearing, his
lack of eloquence, and his absorption in the inner life of the Church. He
kept out of the public controversies of the day unless, like communism and
divorce, they affected the interests of religion. His field of special
interest was catechetics, and he was a born teacher. He had a hobby that is
rare among Italian ecclesiastics: English literature, with special
attention to Mark Twain. He was not an accomplished linguist, and his first
and last trip outside Italy was to Brazil in 1977. His health was always
indifferent, but he compensated for it by careful use of his time.
The conclave of August 1978 was the largest ever, and one of the shortest.
There were l 14 eligible voters, including 27 Italians, but lll were able
to attend. The world was surprised by the conclave's duration--it ended on
the third ballot on the first day of voting--and even more by its choice.
In the worldwide speculation that preceded it, few thought of the Patriarch
of Venice, though two of the six popes elected in this century came from
that beautiful city. The new Pope, the first who ever used a double name,
chose the names of his two immediate predecessors as a sign of continuity.
He had never been in the diplomatic service of the Church, nor had he
served in the central headquarters in Rome. The conclave sought and found
a
pastoral pope. The wisdom of its choice was proved by his instant rapport
with people everywhere and by the sorrow caused by his sudden and wholly
unexpected death on September 28, 1978. He had not had time even to
outline
the program of his pontificate.
JOHN PAUL II
1978 --
Karol Wojtyla was born in Wadowice, near Cracow, Poland, on May 18,
1920.
His father, a noncommissioned officer in the Polish Army, and all the other
members of his immediate family died before his ordination. His university
studies were interrupted by the German and Russian invasion of Poland in
September 1939. Under the Nazi occupation he worked in a stone quarry
and
later in a chemical plant. When the Russians seized all of Poland he
continued as a laborer while finishing his studies in an underground
seminary in Cracow. He was ordained on November l, 1946, and sent to
Rome
for further studies. There he began to show the flair for languages that
was so evident later. He learned flawless Italian and also the French he
used while working among the Polish workers in France and Belgium.
On his return to Poland he was assigned to parish work and then, in
addition, to the university apostolate. Pius XII made him an auxiliary
bishop of Cracow in July 1958; Paul VI made him Archbishop of Cracow in
1964, and Cardinal in June 1967. He was the second highest prelate in the
Church in Poland; above him was Cardinal Wyszynski, Primate of Poland
and
the Archbishop of Warsaw, who was a prisoner from 1950-1953. These two
worked in perfect harmony in spite of the efforts of the Communists to
drive a wedge between them.
The difficult situation in which the Church finds herself in Poland is well
known. Although about ninety percent of the people are practicing and even
militant Catholics, the government is entirely in the hands of the local
Communist Party backed up by the presence of Soviet troops. The
government
cannot get rid of the Church and the Church knows that any attempt to get
rid of the government risks open intervention on a massive scale by the
Soviets. While their basic principles are wholly incompatible, both sides
are Polish and wish to avoid a greater Russian presence. In these
circumstances Cardinal Wojtyla showed himself a courageous and adroit
leader.
His election to the papacy astounded the world. He is not only the first
non-Italian since 1523, but the first Pole or Slav ever chosen. He is also
the first pope to have spent his entire priestly life under communist rule.
He is a multilingual and many-faceted man whose numerous visits from
Poland
to Rome and to the Polish communities all over the world have given him an
exceptional personal knowledge of the condition of the Church in many
areas. Perhaps his outstanding gift is his capacity to communicate with
ordinary people, which was shown so dramatically in his triumphal visits to
Mexico and Poland in 1979 as well as his trips to Ireland and the United
States.
