735 Venerable Bede
born near St. Peter and St. Paul monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow, England
Girvi, in Anglia, tránsitus sancti Bedæ Venerábilis,
Presbyteri, Confessóris et Ecclésiæ Doctóris,
sanctitáte et eruditióne celebérrimi. Ipsíus
autem festum recólitur sexto Kaléndas Júnii.
At Jarrow in England, the death of St. Venerable Bede,
priest, confessor and doctor of the Church, well known for his sanctity and
scholarship. His feast, however, was celebrated on the 27th day of
May.
He was sent there when he was three and educated
by Abbots Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrid. He became a monk at the monastery,
was ordained when thirty, and except for a few brief visits elsewhere, spent
all of his life in the monastery, devoting himself to the study of Scripture
and to teaching and writing.
He is considered one of the most learned men of his time
and a major influence on English literature.
His writings are a veritable summary of the learning of
his time and include commentaries on the Pentateuch and various other books
of the Bible, theological and scientific treatises, historical works, and
biographies.
His best-known work is HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, a history of the
English Church and people, which he completed in 731. It is an
account of Christianity in England up to 729 and is a primary source of early
English history. Called "the Venerable" to acknowledge his wisdom and learning,
the title was formalized at the Council of Aachen in 853. He was a careful
scholar and distinguished stylist, the "father" of English history, the first
to date events anno domini (A.D.),
and in 1899, was declared the only English doctor of the Church. He died
in Wearmouth-Jarrow on May 25.
735 ST BEDE THE VENERABLE, DOCTOR
OF THE CHURCH
ALMOST all that is known about the life of St Bede is derived from a short
account he has given of himself and from a touching description of his last
hours written by one of his disciples, a monk called Cuthbert. In the closing
chapter of his famous work, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People,
the Venerable Bede says:
“Thus much concerning the
ecclesiastical history of Britain and especially of the English nation, I,
Bede, a servant of Christ and priest of the monastery of the Blessed Apostles
St Peter and St Paul, which is at Wear-mouth and at Jarrow, have with the
Lord’s help composed so far as I could gather it either from ancient documents
or from the traditions of our forefathers or from my own knowledge. I was
born in the territory of the said monastery and at the age of seven I was,
by the care of my relations, given to the most reverend Abbot Benedict [St
Benedict Biscop] and afterwards to Ceolfrid to be educated. From that time
I have spent my whole life in that monastery, devoting all my efforts to
the study of the Scriptures, and amid the observance of monastic discipline
and the daily charge of singing in the church it has ever been my delight
to learn or teach or write. In my nineteenth year I was admitted to the diaconate
and in my thirtieth to the priesthood—both by the hands of the most reverend
Bishop John [St John of Beverley] and at the bidding of Abbot Ceolfrid. From
the time of my ordination up till my present fifty-ninth year I have endeavoured,
for my own use and that of the brethren, to make brief notes upon the Holy
Scriptures either out of the works of the venerable fathers or in conformity
with their meaning and interpretation.”
He goes on to give a list
of his writings and concludes with the words:
“And I pray thee, loving
Jesus, that as thou hast graciously given me to drink in with delight the
words of thy knowledge, so thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one
day to thee, the fountain of all wisdom, and to appear for ever before thy
face.”
That Bede sometimes visited friends in other monasteries has
been inferred from the fact that in 733 he stayed for a few days in York
with Archbishop Egbert; but except for such brief interludes his life was
spent in a round of prayer and praise, of writing and of study. A fortnight
before Easter 735 he began to be much troubled by shortness of breath, and
all seem to have realized that the end was near. Nevertheless his pupils
continued to study by his bedside and to read aloud, their reading often
interrupted by tears. He for his part gave thanks to God. During the “Great
Forty Days” from Easter to the Ascension, in addition to singing the office
and instructing his pupils, he was engaged on a translation of St John’s
Gospel into English, and a collection of notes from St Isidore; for, he said,
“I will not have my scholars read what is false or labour unprofitably on
this after my death.” On Rogation Tuesday he began to be much worse, but
he passed the day peacefully and dictated in school, saying occasionally:
“Go on quickly: I do not know how long I shall hold out and whether my Maker
will soon remove me.”
After a wakeful night spent in thanksgiving he began to dictate the last
chapter of St John. At three in the afternoon he sent for the priests of
the monastery, distributed to them some pepper, incense and a little linen
which he had in a box and asked for their prayers. They wept much when he
said they would see his face on earth no more, but rejoiced that he was about
to return to his Creator. In the evening the boy who was acting as his amanuensis
said, “There is still one sentence, dear master, which is not written down”,
and when that last passage had been supplied and he was told that it was
finished, Bede exclaimed, “You have well said . . . all is finished. Take
my head in your hands that I may have the comfort of sitting opposite the
holy place where I used to pray and that, so sitting, I may call upon my Father.”
And on the floor of his cell, singing “Glory be to the Father and to the
Son and to the Holy Ghost”, he breathed his last.
Several fantastic stories have been invented to account for the title of
“Venerable” by which Bede is known ; it was actually a term of respect not
infrequently bestowed in days of old upon distinguished members of religious
orders. We find it applied to Bede by the Council of Aáchen in 836,
and the title seems to have struck the public imagination as peculiarly suitable.
It has clung to him through the succeeding centuries and, though in 1899
he was authoritatively recognized as saint and doctor of the Church, it remains
his special designation to this day.
Bede, the only English doctor of the Church, is the only Englishman who sufficiently
impressed Dante to name him in the Paradiso. That that one should be Bede
is not surprising: the monk who hardly left his monastery became known throughout
England and far beyond—his homilies are read in the Divine Office everywhere
in the Western church. But for his Ecclesiastical History—which is more than
ecclesiastical—England’s history before 729, “the year of the comets” would
be dark indeed; through the school of York, founded by his pupil Archbishop
Egbert, and by his own writings, he was a power in the scholarship of Carolingian
Europe; and if we know little enough about his personal life, that account
of his last hours by the monk Cuthbert is enough—“the death of his saints
is precious in the eyes of the Lord”. St Boniface said of Bede that
he was “a light of the Church lit by the Holy Ghost”; and that light has
never been quenched, even in this world.
Many books have
been written about St Bede and his times, especially by Anglicans. Dr William
Bright’s Chapters of Early English Church History (1878)
is in some respects open to objection from a Catholic point of view, but
no one has written more eloquently or sympathetically of Bede’s own
character. Bede His Life, Times and Writings, ed. by A. Hamilton
Thompson (1935), is a most valuable collection of essays by non-Catholic
scholars. H. M. Gillett’s popular biography is excellent, as is the essay
in R. W. Chambers’s Man’s Unconquerable Mind (1939), pp. 23—52.
In the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vi, we have little but what
purports to be a life by Turgot, really an extract from Simeon of Durham,
and an account of the translation of Bede’s remains to Durham cathedral.
The definitive edition of the Ecclesiastical History and
other historical works is C. Plummer’s (1896), but there are several more
popular translated editions; Stapleton’s delightful version (1565) was reprinted
in 1930, and modernized by P. Hereford in 1935. For Bede’s martyrology, see
D. Quentin, Les martyrologes historiques (1908). See also
T. D. Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue (RolIs Series), vol. i,
pp. 450—455. “Remember”, writes Cardinal Gasquet, “what the work was upon
which St Bede was engaged upon his deathbed—the translation of the gospels
into English”…But of this work “ to break the word to the poor and unlearned”
nothing is now extant.
735 Saint Bede was a church historian
who recorded the history of Christianity in England up to his own time
He was probably born around 673 in Northumbria. We do not know exactly where
he was born, but it is likely that it was somewhere near Jarrow. When he
was seven, Bede was sent to St Benedict Biscop (January 12) at the monastery
of St Peter at Wearmouth to be educated and raised. Then he was sent to the
new monastery of St Paul founded at Jarrow in 682, where he remained until
his death. There he was guided by the abbot St Ceolfrith (September 25),
who succeeded St Benedict in 690, ruling both Wearmouth and Jarrow.
There is an incident in the anonymous Life of Ceolfrith which may refer to
the young Bede. A plague swept through Ceolfrith's monastery in 686, taking
most of the monks who sang in the choir for the church services. Only the
abbot and a young boy raised and educated by him remained. This young boy
"is now a priest of the same monastery and commends the abbot's admirable
deeds both verbally and in writing to all who desire to learn them."
Grieved by this catastrophe, Ceolfrith decided that they should sing the
Psalms without antiphons, except at Matins and Vespers. After a week of this,
he went back to chanting the antiphons in their proper place. With the help
of the boy and the surviving monks, the services were performed with difficulty
until other monks could be brought in and trained to sing.
St Bede was ordained as a deacon when he was nineteen, and to the holy priesthood
at the age of thirty by St John of Beverley (May 7), the holy Bishop of Hexham
(687), and later (705) of York. Bede had a great love for the church services,
and believed that since the angels were present with the monks during the
services, that he should also be there. "What if they do not find me among
the brethren when they assemble? Will they not say, 'Where is Bede?'
Bede began as a pupil of St Benedict Biscop, who had been a monk of the famous
monastery at Lerins, and had founded monasteries himself. St Benedict had
brought many books with him to England from Lerins and from other European
monasteries. This library enabled Bede to write his own books, which include
biblical commentary, ecclesiastical history, and hagiography.
Bede was not an objective historian. He is squarely on the Roman side in
the debate with Celtic Christianity, for example. He was, however, fair and
thorough. His books, derived from "ancient documents, from the traditions
of our ancestors, and from my own personal knowledge" (Book V, 24) give us
great insight into the religious and secular life of early Britain. To read
St Bede is to enter a world shaped by spiritual traditions very similar to
those cherished by Orthodox Christians. These saints engage in the same heroic
asceticism shown by saints in the East, and their holiness fills us with
love and admiration. Christians were expected to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays,
and there was a forty day Nativity Fast (Book IV, 30).
St Bede became ill in 735. For about two weeks before Pascha, he was weak
and had trouble breathing, but experienced little pain. He remained cheerful
and gave daily lessons to his students, then spent the rest of the day singing
Psalms and giving thanks to God. He would often quote the words of St Ambrose,
"I have not lived in such a way that I am ashamed to live among you, and
I do not fear to die, for God is gracious" (Paulinus, Life of Saint Ambrose,
Ch. 45).
In addition to giving daily lessons and chanting the Psalms, St Bede was
also working on an Anglo-Saxon translation of the Gospel of St John, and
also a book of extracts from the writings of St Isidore of Seville (April
4). On the Tuesday before the Feast of the Lord's Ascension, the saint's
breathing became more labored, and his feet began to swell. "Learn quickly,"
he told those who were taking dictation from him, "for I do not know how
long I can continue. The Lord may call me in a short while."
After a sleepless night, St Bede continued his dictation on Wednesday morning.
At the Third Hour, there was a procession with the relics of the saints in
the monastery, and the brethren went to attend this service, leaving a monk
named Wilbert with Bede. The monk reminded him that there remained one more
chapter to be written in the book which he was dictating. Wilbert was reluctant
to disturb the dying Bede, however. St Bede said, "It is no trouble. Take
your pen and write quickly."
At the Ninth Hour, Bede paused and told Wilbert that he had some items in
his chest, such as pepper, incense, and linen. He asked the monk to bring
the priests of the monastery so that he could distribute these items to them.
When they arrived, he spoke to each of them in turn, requesting them to pray
for him and to remember him in the services. Then he said, "The time of my
departure is at hand, and my soul longs to see Christ my King in His beauty."
That evening, Wilbert said to him, "Dear Master, there is one sentence left
unfinished."
Bede said, "Very well, write it down."
Then the young monk said, "It is finished now."
St Bede replied, "You have spoken truly, it is well finished." Then he asked
Wilbert to raise his head so that he could see the church where he used to
pray. After chanting, "Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy
Spirit" to its ending, St Bede fell asleep in the Lord Whom he had loved.
Although St Bede reposed on May 25, the eve of the Ascension, he is commemorated
on the 27th, since the Feast of St Augustine of Canterbury is appointed for
the 26th. His body was first buried in the south porch of the monastery church,
then later transferred to a place near the altar. Today his holy relics lie
in Durham Cathedral, in the Galilee chapel.
St Bede is the only Englishman
mentioned by Dante in the DIVINE COMEDY (Paradiso).
May 25, 2010 St. Bede the Venerable (672?-735)
Bede is one of the few saints honored as such even during his lifetime. His
writings were filled with such faith and learning that even while he was
still alive, a Church council ordered them to be read publicly in the churches.
At an early age Bede was entrusted to the care of the abbot of the Monastery
of St. Paul, Jarrow. The happy combination of genius and the instruction
of scholarly, saintly monks produced a saint and an extraordinary scholar,
perhaps the most outstanding one of his day. He was deeply versed in all
the sciences of his times: natural philosophy, the philosophical principles
of Aristotle, astronomy, arithmetic, grammar, ecclesiastical history, the
lives of the saints and, especially, Holy Scripture. >From the time of
his ordination to the priesthood at 30 (he had been ordained deacon at 19)
till his death, he was ever occupied with learning, writing and teaching.
Besides the many books that he copied, he composed 45 of his own, including
30 commentaries on books of the Bible.
Although eagerly sought by kings and other notables, even Pope Sergius, Bede
managed to remain in his own monastery till his death. Only once did he leave
for a few months in order to teach in the school of the archbishop of York.
Bede died in 735 praying his favorite prayer: “Glory be to the Father, and
to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As in the beginning, so now, and forever.”
His Ecclesiastical History of the English People is commonly regarded as
of decisive importance in the art and science of writing history. A golden
age was coming to an end at the time of Bede’s death: It had fulfilled its
purpose of preparing Western Christianity to assimilate the non-Roman barbarian
North. Bede recognized the opening to a new day in the life of the Church
even as it was happening.
Comment:Though his History is
the greatest legacy Bede has left us, his work in all the sciences (especially
in Scripture) should not be overlooked. During his last Lent, he worked on
a translation of the Gospel of St. John into English, completing it the day
he died. But of this work “to break the word to the poor and unlearned” nothing
remains today.
Quote: “We have not, it seems
to me, amid all our discoveries, invented as yet anything better than the
Christian life which Bede lived, and the Christian death which he died” (C.
Plummer, editor of Bede’s Ecclesiastical History).
|
1085 Pope Gregory VII At Salerno, the death of blessed , a most
zealous protector and champion of Church liberty. Pope St. Gregory
VII (HILDEBRAND).
Salérni deposítio beáti
Gregórii Séptimi, Papæ et Confessóris, ecclesiásticæ
libertátis propugnatóris ac defensóris acérrimi.
At Salerno, the death of blessed Pope Gregory VII, a most
zealous protector and champion of Church liberty.
One of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs and
one of the most remarkable men of all times; born between the years 1020
and 1025, at Soana, or Ravacum, in Tuscany; died 25 May, 1085, at Salerno.
1085 ST GREGORY VII, POPE
THE Bollandist compilers of the Acta Sanctorum remark by way of a preface
to the life of Gregory VII that he suffered much from persecutions during
his lifetime and from calumnies after his death. It is, however, satisfactory
to note that, whereas it was once the fashion to depict this great pope as
an ecclesiastical tyrant, modern historians are agreed in recognizing his
whole policy to have been inspired, not by ambition, but by an unquenchable
thirst for justice—the establishment of righteousness upon the earth.
St Gregory was born in the hamlet of Rovaco, near Saona in Tuscany, and received
at baptism the name of Hildebrand. Nothing is known of his parentage, but
he was sent when young to Rome, to the care of an uncle who was superior
of the monastery of St Mary on the Aventine. From there he attended the Lateran
school where one of his masters, John Gratian, formed so high an opinion
of him that, upon being raised to the papacy as Gregory VI, he chose his
former pupil as his secretary. After Gregory’s death in Germany, Hildebrand
retired into a monastery which—if we accept the tradition—was the great abbey
of Cluny, then ruled over by St Odilo as abbot and St Hugh as prior. Gladly
would Hildebrand have spent the rest of his life in the cloister, but Bruno,
bishop of Toul, who was chosen to fill the chair of St Peter, persuaded him
to return with him to Rome. There, as economus to Pope St Leo IX, he restored
financial stability to the treasury and order to the city, besides co-operating
with all that pontiff’s attempted reforms. Under St Leo’s four successors
he continued to act as chief counsellor, and indeed was regarded by many
as the “power behind the throne”. Nobody then was surprised when, at the
death of Alexander II in 1073, Cardinal Archdeacon Hildebrand was elected
pope by acclamation. He took the name of Gregory VII.
He had reason to be appalled at the magnitude of the task which lay before
him. It was one thing to denounce the abuses which were corrupting the Church,
as his friend St Peter Damian was doing, or even to wield the sword of justice
in the service of other popes as he himself had done. It was quite another
thing to feel directly responsible to God as Christ’s vicar on earth for
the suppression of those abuses. No man was better qualified for the task.
“On you, who have reached the summit of dignity, are fixed the eyes of all
men”, wrote William of Metz. “They know the glorious combats you have sustained
in. a lower station, and one and all now long to hear great things of you”.
They were not disappointed.
To aid him in the reforms he was about to undertake Gregory could expect
little help from those in authority. Of the great rulers, the best was William
the Conqueror, ruthless and cruel though he showed himself at times. Germany
was governed by Henry IV, a young man of twenty-three, dissolute, greedy
of gold, tyrannical; whilst of Philip I, king of France, it has been said,
“His reign was the longest and most discreditable which the annals of France
have known”. The leaders of the Church were as corrupt as the rulers of the
state, to whom indeed they had become subservient, bishoprics and abbeys
being sold by kings and nobles to the highest bidder or bestowed on favourites.
Simony was general, while clerical celibacy was so little regarded that in
many districts priests openly lived as married men, squandered the tithes
and offerings of the faithful on their families, and even in some cases bequeathed
their livings to their children. The rest of Gregory’s life was to be spent
in heroic efforts to free and purify the Church by putting down simony and
clerical incontinency, and by abolishing the whole system of investitures,
i.e. the bestowal of church preferments by laymen and their symbolical conveyance
by presentation of the crozier and the ring.*[*The pope’s aim, of course,
was to keep civil rulers” in their place “vis-à-vis the Church. On
the other hand, the large landed properties of bishoprics and abbacies made
their holders barons of great power, and sovereigns wanted to keep a feudal
relation with and due control over them. To this extent—and it was a most
important consideration—the sovereigns were justified, The distinction between
the conferring of the episcopal office and the grant of its temporalities
was not yet clear in people’s minds.]
Shortly after his accession Gregory deposed Godfrey, archbishop of Milan,
who had obtained his office by bribery, and in his very first Roman synod
he enacted stringent decrees against simoniacal and married priests. Not
only were they disqualified from exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction or
holding any benefice, but the faithful were warned not to avail themselves
of their ministrations. These decrees roused great hostility, especially
in France and Germany: a council assembled in Paris declared them intolerable,
irrational, and calculated to make the validity of a sacrament dependent
on the character of the celebrant. St Gregory, however, was not one to be
daunted by opposition or deflected from pursuing the right course. A second
synod held in Rome the following year went still further, and abrogated the
whole system of lay investiture. It pronounced the excommunication of “any
person, even if he were emperor or king, who should confer an investiture
in connexion with any ecclesiastical office”. To publish and enforce his decrees
he made use of legates, for he could not trust the bishops. These representatives,
who were nearly all monks whom he had known and tested, served him courageously
and well in these times of exceptional difficulty.
In England, William the Conqueror refused to give up investiture or to do
fealty (several Christian princes had at one time or another put their realms
under the protection of the Holy See); but he accepted the other decrees,
and Gregory, who seeing to have trusted him, did not press the matter of
investiture. In France the reforms were eventually carried through, that
is, they were accepted in principle and gradually in practice, through the
energy of the legate, Hugh of Die; but it was a long struggle, and most of
the bishops had to be deposed before it was over. But it was from the Emperor
Henry IV that the worst trouble came; eventually he raised the restive clergy
of Germany and northern Italy and the anti-papal Roman nobles against the
pope. While singing the midnight Mass of Christmas in St Mary Major’s, Gregory
was carried off and held captive for several hours until rescued by the people.
Shortly after, a meeting of German bishops at Worms denounced the pope, the
bishops of Lombardy refused him obedience, and Henry sent an envoy to Rome
who informed the cardinals that Gregory was a usurper whom the emperor was
going to replace. The next day Gregory excommunicated Henry with special
solemnity, releasing his subjects from their allegiance to him. It was a
moment of deep significance in the history of the papacy.
It was also an opportunity for those German nobles who wished to get rid
of their king. In October 1076 these met, and agreed that Henry should forfeit
his crown unless he had received absolution from the pope within a year of
his excommunication and had appeared for judgement before a council which
Gregory should preside over at Augsburg in the following February. Henry
resolved to save himself by an appearance of submission. With his wife and
baby and one attendant he crossed the Alps in most severe weather, and came
up with the pope at the castle of Canossa, between Modena and Parma. He demanded
admission, was refused, and spent three days, dressed as a penitent, at the
castle gate. This has sometimes been called arrogant and cruel conduct on
Gregory’s part, but he was probably making up his mind what to do. However,
he had little alternative: Henry had come as a private penitent and, though
the pope might well suspect him of bad faith, he had no evidence of it. Accordingly,
Henry was at length admitted, accused himself, and was absolved.
In the phrase “ Go to Canossa” this incident has become symbolical of the
triumph of church over state. In fact it was a triumph for Henry’s political
wiliness there is no evidence that he ever seriously gave up his claim to
confer investiture, and subsequent events led to something very like downfall
for Gregory VII.
In spite of Henry’s reinstatement some of the nobles elected his brother-in-law,
Rudolf of Swabia, in his place in 1077. Though for a time St Gregory tried
to remain neutral, he found himself compelled to renew the excommunication
and declared in favour of Rudolf who, however, was slain in battle. Henry
on his part promoted the election of Guibert, archbishop of Ravenna, as antipope
and, as soon as death had freed him of his rival, marched an army into Italy.
For two years he unsuccessfully besieged Rome, but the third year he succeeded
in taking it. St Gregory retired into the castle of Sant’ Angelo, where he
remained until he was rescued by an army under Robert Guiscard, the Norman
duke of Calabria. The excesses of Guiscard’s followers, however, roused the
Romans to fury, and St Gregory, because he had summoned the Normans to his
aid, shared their unpopularity. As a consequence he retired first to Monte
Cassino and then to Salerno, humiliated and in failing health, deserted by
thirteen of his cardinals.
Gregory made a last appeal to all who believed that “the blessed Peter is
father of alt Christians, their chief shepherd under Christ, that the holy
Roman church is the mother and mistress of all the churches”; and in the
following year he died, on May 25, 1085. On his death-bed he expressed his
forgiveness of all his enemies and raised all the excommunications he had
pronounced, except those against Henry IV and Guibert of Ravenna. “I have
loved righteousness and hated iniquity”, he declared with his last breath,
“that is why I die in exile.”
St Gregory VII was certainly one of the greatest men among the popes, though
far from being faultless his faults were those of his time, and to many they
make him an unsympathetic character. But ambitious in any worldly sense he
was not: his life was devoted to the cleansing and fortifying of the
Church, because it was God’s Church and should be the abode of charity and
justice upon earth. His name was added to the Roman Martyrology (wherein
he is called not Sanctus but Beatus) by Cardinal Baronius, and his feast
was given to all the Western church by Pope Benedict XIII in 1728—much to
the indignation of Gallican churchmen in France.
The Bollandists
in the Acta Sanctorum, May, vol. vi, print with other material three
documents which to some extent help us to appreciate Hildebrand as a man
and a saint. The first is a formal biography by Paul Bernried, completed
only in 1128, but founded on the recollections of those who knew Gregory
VII and upon a study of his Registers. The second is a memoir of which Pandulf
is the probable author the third an adaptation by Cardinal Boso, the Englishman,
of Bonizo’s Liber ad Amicum, which was written in Gregory’s lifetime.
But the pope belongs to all history, and official documents such as the Regesta,
at least what is left of them, do in this ease very much help to elucidate
his character. From Mgr Mann’s
Lives of the Popes, vol. vii (1910), pp. 1—217, a full and satisfactory
account of the pontificate, especially in its external aspects, may be obtained.
There is also a good bibliography, in which Mgr Mann judiciously goes out
of his way to commend J. W. Bowden’s Life and Pontificate of Gregory VII,
though it was published as far back as 1840. The literature of the subject
is vast and has grown immensely since Mann wrote in 1910. Mention may be
made of the studies by Mgr Batiffol (1928) and H. X. Arquillière (1934);
an admirable sketch, based on more profound but scattered studies published
elsewhere, is that of A. Fliche in the series “Les Saints” (1920), and V.
Fliche has since published a more exhaustive work, La Réforme grégorienne
(1925), on which cf. the Analecta Bollandiana, vol. xliv (1926),
pp. 425—433. See also W. Wühr, Studien zu Gregors VII Kirchenreform
(1930); Fliche and Martin, Histoire de I’ Église, vol. viii
and on the problem of Gregory’s Regesta consult the studies of W. M. Peitz
and of E. Caspar. An English translation of Gregory’s correspondence, by
E. Emerton, appeared in 1932, and at Rome Studi Gregoriani, ed. G.
B. Borino, began publication in 1947.
The early years of his life are involved in considerable obscurity. His
name, Hildebrand (Hellebrand)--signifying to those of his contemporaries
that loved him "a bright flame", to those that hated him "a brand of hell"--would
indicate some Lombard connection of his family, though at a later time, it
probably also suggested the fabled descent from the noble family of the Aldobrandini.
That he was of humble origin--vir de plebe, as he is styled in the letter
of a contemporary abbot--can scarcely be doubted. His father Bonizo is said
by some chroniclers to have been a carpenter, by others a peasant, the evidence
in either case being very slender; the name of his mother is unrecorded.
At a tender age he came to Rome to be educated in the monastery of Santa
Maria on the Aventine Hill, over which his maternal uncle Laurentius presided
as abbot. The austere spirit of Cluny pervaded this Roman cloister, and it
is not unlikely that here the youthful Hildebrand first imbibed those lofty
principles of Church reform of which he was afterwards to become the most
fearless exponent. Early in life he made his religious profession as a Benedictine
monk at Rome (not in Cluny); the house of his profession, however, and the
year of his entrance into the order, both remain undetermined. As a cleric
in minor orders he entered the service of John Gratian, Archpriest of San
Giovanni by the Latin Gate, and on Gratian's elevation to the papacy as Gregory
VI, became his chaplain. In 1046 he followed his papal patron across the
Alps into exile, remaining with Gregory at Cologne until the death of the
deposed pontiff in 1047, when he withdrew to Cluny. Here he resided for more
than a year.
At Besançon, in January,
1049, he met Bruno, Bishop of Toul, the pontiff-elect recently chosen at
Worms under the title of Leo IX, and returned with him to Rome, though not
before Bruno, who had been nominated merely by the emperor, had expressed
the intention of submitting to the formal choice of the Roman clergy and people.
Created a cardinal-subdeacon, shortly after Leo's accession, and appointed
administrator of the Patrimony of St. Peter's, Hildebrand at once gave evidence
of that extraordinary faculty for administration which later characterized
his government of the Church Universal. Under his energetic and capable direction
the property of the Church, which latterly had been diverted into the hands
of the Roman nobility and the Normans, was largely recovered, and the revenues
of the Holy See, whose treasury had been depleted, speedily augmented. By
Leo IX he was also appointed propositus or promisor (not abbot) of the monastery
of St. Paul extra Muros. The unchecked violence of the lawless bands of the
Champagne had brought great destitution upon this venerable establishment.
Monastic discipline was so impaired that the monks were attended in their
refectory by women; and the sacred edifices were so neglected that the sheep
and cattle freely roamed in and out through the broken doors. By rigorous
reforms and a wise administration Hildebrand succeeded in restoring the ancient
rule of the abbey with the austere observance of earlier times; and he continued
throughout life to manifest the deepest attachment for the famous house which
his energy had reclaimed from ruin and decay. In 1054 he was sent to France
as papal legate to examine the cause of Berengarius. While still in Tours
he learned of the death of Leo IX, and on hastening back to Rome he found
that the clergy and people were eager to elect him, the most trusted friend
and counsellor of Leo, as the successor. This proposal of the Romans was,
however, resisted by Hildebrand, who set out for Germany at the head of an
embassy to implore a nomination from the emperor. The negotiations, which
lasted about eleven months, ultimately resulted in the selection of Hildebrand's
candidate, Gebhard, Bishop of Eichstadt, who was consecrated at Rome, 13
April, 1055, under the name of Victor II. During the reign of this pontiff,
the cardinal-subdeacon steadily maintained, and even increased the ascendancy
which by his commanding genius he had acquired during the pontificate of
Leo IX. Near the close of the year 1057 he went once more to Germany to reconcile
the Empress-regent Agnes and her court to the (merely) canonical election
of Pope Stephen X (1057-1058). His mission was not yet accomplished when
Stephen died at Florence, and although the dying pope had forbidden the people
to appoint a successor before Hildebrand returned, the Tusculan faction seized
the opportunity to set up a member of the Crescentian family, John Mincius,
Bishop of Velletri, under the title of Benedict X. With masterly skill Hildebrand
succeeded in defeating the schemes of the hostile party, and secured the
election of Gerard, Bishop of Florence, a Burgundian by birth, who assumed
the name of Nicholas II (1059-1061).
The two most important transactions
of this pontificate--the celebrated decree of election, by which the power
of choosing the pope was vested in the college of cardinals, and the alliance
with the Normans, secured by the Treaty of Meifi, 1059--were in large measure
the achievement of Hildebrand, whose power and influence had now become supreme
in Rome. It was perhaps inevitable that the issues raised by the new decree
of election should not be decided without a conflict, and with the passing
away of Nicholas II in 1061, that conflict came. But when it was ended, after
a schism enduring for some years, the imperial party with its antipope Cadalous
had been discomfited, and Anselm of Baggio, the candidate of Hildebrand and
the reform party, successfully enthroned in the Lateran Palace as Alexander
II. By Nicholas II, in 1059, Hildebrand had been raised to the dignity and
office of Archdeacon of the Holy Roman Church, and Alexander II now made
him Chancellor of the Apostolic See. On 21 April, 1073, Alexander II died.
The time at length had come when Hildebrand, who for more than twenty years
had been the most prominent figure in the Church, who had been chiefly instrumental
in the selection of her rulers, who had inspired and given purpose to her
policy, and who had been steadily developing and realizing, by successive
acts, her sovereignty and purity, should assume in his own person the majesty
and responsibility of that exalted power which his genius had so long directed.
On the day following the death
of Alexander II, as the obsequies of the deceased pontiff were being performed
in the Lateran basilica, there arose, of a sudden, a loud outcry from the
whole multitude of clergy and people: "Let Hildebrand be pope!" "Blessed
Peter has chosen Hildebrand the Archdeacon!" All remonstrances on the part
of the archdeacon were vain, his protestations fruitless. Later, on the same
day, Hildebrand was conducted to the church of San Pietro in Vincoli, and
there elected in legal form by the assembled cardinals, with the due consent
of the Roman clergy and amid the repeated acclamations of the people. That
this extraordinary outburst on the part of the clergy and people in favour
of Hildebrand could have been the result of some preconcerted arrangements,
as is sometimes alleged, does not appear likely. Hildebrand was clearly the
man of the hour, his austere virue commanded respect, his genius admiration;
and the prompitude and unanimity with which he was chosen would indicate,
rather, a general recognition of his fitness for the high office. In the
decree of election those who had chosen him as pontiff proclaimed him "a
devout man, a man mighty in human and divine knowledge, a distinguished lover
of equity and justice, a man firm in adversity and temperate in prosperity,
a man, according to the saying of the Apostle, of good behaviour, blameless,
modest, sober, chaste, given to hospitality, and one that ruleth well his
own house; a man from his childhood generously brought up in the bosom of
this Mother Church, and for the merit of his life already raised to the archidiaconal
dignity". "We choose then", they said to the people, "our Archdeacon Hildebrand
to be pope and successor to the Apostle, and to bear henceforward and forever
the name of Gregory" (22 April, 1073), Mansi, "Conciliorum Collectio", XX,
60.
The decree of Nicholas II having
expressly, if vaguely acknowledged the right of the emperor to have some
voice in papal elections, Hildebrand deferred the ceremony of his consecration
until he had received the royal sanction. In sending the formal announcement
of his elevation to Henry IV of Germany, he took occasion to indicate frankly
the attitude, which, as sovereign pontiff, he was prepared to assume in dealing
with the Christian princes, and, with a note of grave personal warning besought
the king not to bestow his approval. The German bishops, apprehensive of
the severity with which such a man as Hildebrand would carry out the decrees
of reform, endeavoured to prevent the king from assenting to the election;
but upon the favourable report of Count Eberhard of Nettenburg, who had been
dispatched to Rome to assert the rights of the crown, Henry gave his approval
(it proved to be the last instance in history of a papal election being ratified
by an emperor), and the new pope, in the meanwhile ordained to the priesthood,
was solemnly consecrated on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, 29 June, 1073.
In assuming the name of Gregory VII, Hildebrand not only honoured the memory
and character of his earliest patron, Gregory VI, but also proclaimed to
the world the legitimacy of that pontiff's title.
From the letters which Gregory
addressed to his friends shortly after his election, imploring their intercession
with heaven in his behalf, and begging their sympathy and support, it is abundantly
evident that he assumed the burden of the pontificate, which had been thrust
on him, only with the strongest reluctance, and not without a great struggle
of mind. To Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Cassino, he speaks of his elevation
in terms of terror, giving utterance to the words of the Psalmist: "I am
come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me"; "Fearlessness and
trembling are come upon me, and darkness hath covered me." And in view of
the appalling nature of the task that lay before him (of its difficulties
no one indeed had a clearer perception than he), it cannot appear strange
that even his intrepidspirit was for the moment overwhelmed. For at the time
of Gregory's elevation to the papacy the Christian world was in a deplorable
condition. During the desolating era of transition--that terrible period
of warfare and rapine, violence, and corruption in high places, which followed
immediately upon the dissolution of the Carlovingian Empire, a period when
society in Europe and all existing institutions seemed doomed to utter destruction
and ruin--the Church had not been able to escape from the general debasement.
The tenth century, the saddest, perhaps, in Christian annals, is characterized
by the vivid remark of Baronius that Christ was as if asleep in the vessel
of the Church. At the time of Leo IX's election in 1049, according to the
testimony of St. Bruno, Bishop of Sengi, the whole world lay in wickedness,
holiness had disappeared, justice had perished and truth had been buried;
Simon Magus lording it over the Church, whose bishops and priests were given
to luxury and fornication" (Vita S. Leonis PP. IX in Watterich, Pont. Roman,
Vitae, I, 96). St. Peter Damian, the fiercest censor of his age, unrolls
a frightful picture of the decay of clerical morality in the lurid pages
of his "Liber Gomorrhianus" (Book of Gomorrha). Though allowance must no
doubt be made for the writer's exaggerated and rhetorical style--a style
common to all moral censors-- yet the evidence derived from other sources
justifies us in believing that the corruption was widespread. In writing
to his venerated friend, Abbot Hugh of Cluny (Jan., 1075), Gregory himself
laments the unhappy state of the Church in the following terms: "The Eastern
Church has fallen away from the Faith and is now assailed on every side by
infidels. Wherever I turn my eyes--to the west, to the north, or to the south--I
find everywhere bishops who have obtained their office in an irregular way,
whose lives and conversation are strangely at variance with their sacred
calling; who go through their duties not for the love of Christ but from
motives of worldly gain. There are no longer princes who set God's honour
before their own selfish ends, or who allow justice to stand in the way of
their ambition. . . .And those among whom I live--Romans, Lombards, and Normans--are,
as I have often told them, worse than Jews or Pagans" (Greg. VII, Registr.,
1.II, ep. xlix).
But whatever the personal feelings
and anxieties of Gregory may have been in taking up the burden of the papacy
at a time when scandals and abuses were everywhere pressing into view, the
fearless pontiff felt not a moment's hesitation as to the performance of
his duty in carrying out the work of reform already begun by his predecessors.
Once securely established on the Apostolic throne, Gregory made every effort
to stamp out of the Church the two comsuming evils of the age, simony and
clerical incontinency, and, with characteristic energy and vigor, laboured
unceasingly for the assertion of those lofty principles with which he firmly
believed the welfare of Christ's Church and the regeneration of society itself
to be inseparably bound up. His first care, naturally, was to secure his
own position in Rome. For this purpose he made a journey into Southern Italy,
a few months after his election, and concluded treaties with Landolfo of
Benevento, Richard of Capun, and Gisolfo of Salerno, by which these princes
engaged themselves to defend the person of the pope and the property of the Holy
See, and never to invest anyone with a church benefice without the papal
sanction. The Norman leader, Robert Guiscard, however, maintained a suspicious
attitude towards the pope, and at the Lenten Synod (1075) Gregory solemnly
excommunicated him for his sacrilegious invasion of the territory of the
Holy See (Capun and Benevento). During the year 1074 the pope's mind was
also greatly occupied by the project of an expedition to the East for the
deliverance of the Oriental Christians from the oppression of the Seljuk
Turks. To promote the cause of a crusade, and to effect, if possible, a reunion
between the Eastern and the Western Church--hopes of which had been held
out by the Emperor Michael VIII in his letter to Gregory in 1073--the pontiff
sent the Patriarch of Venice to Constantinople as his envoy. He wrote to
the Christian princes, urging them to rally the hosts of Western Christendom
for the defense of the Christian East; and in March, 1074, addressed a circular
letter to all the faithful, exhorting them to come to the rescue of their
Eastern brethren. But the project met with much indifference and even opposition;
and as Gregory himself soon became involved in complications elsewhere, which
demanded all his energies, he was prevented from giving effect to his intentions,
and the expedition came to naught. With the youthful monarch of Germany Gregory's
relations in the beginning of his pontificate were of a pacific nature. Henry,
who was at the time hard pressed by the Saxons, had written to the pope (Sept.,
1073) in a tone of humble deference, acknowledging his past misconduct, and
expressing regret for his numerous misdeeds--his invasion of the property
of the Church, his simoniacal promotions of unworthy persons, his negligence
in punishing offenders; he promised amendment for the future, professed submission
to the Roman See in language more gentle and lowly than had ever been used
by any of his predecessors to the pontiffs of Rome, and expressed the hope
that the royal power and the sacerdotal, bound together by the necessity
of mutual assistance, might henceforth remain indissolubly united. But the
passionate and headstrong king did not long abide by these sentiments.
With admirable discernment, Gregory began his great work of purifying
the Church by a reformation of the clergy. At his first Lenten Synod (March,
1074) he enacted the following decrees:
* That clerics who had obtained any grade or office of
sacred orders by payment should cease to minister in the Church.
* That no one who had purchased any church should retain
it, and that no one for the future should be permitted to buy or sell ecclesiastical
rights.
* That all who were guilty of incontinence should cease
to exercise their sacred ministry.
* That the people should reject the ministrations of clerics
who failed to obey these injunctions.
Similar decrees had indeed been
passed by previous popes and councils. Clement II, Leo IX, Nicholas II, and
Alexander II had renewed the ancient laws of discipline, and made determined
efforts to have them enforced. But they met with vigorous resistance, and
were but partially successful. The promulgation of Gregory's measures now,
however, called forth a most violent storm of opposition throughout Italy,
Germany, and France. And the reason for this opposition on the part of the
vast throng of immoral and simoniacal clerics is not far to seek. Much of
the reform thus far accomplished had been brought about mainly through the
efforts of Gregory; all countries had felt the force of hiswill, the power
of his dominant personality. His character, therefore, was a sufficient guarantee
that his legislation would not be suffered to remain a dead letter. In Germany,
particularly, the enactments of Gregory aroused a feeling of intense indignation.
The whole body of the married clergy offered the most resolute resistance,
and declared that the canon enjoining celibacy was wholly unwarranted in
Scripture. In support of their position they appealed to the words of the
Apostle Paul, I Cor., vii,2, and 9: "It is better to marry than to be burnt";
and I Tim., iii, 2: "It behooveth therefore a bishop to be blameless, the
husband of one wife." They cited the words of Christ, Matt., xix, 11: "All
men take not this word, but they to whom it is given"; and, recurred to the
address of the Egyptian Bishop Paphnutius at the Council of Nice. At Nuremberg
they informed the papal legate that they would rather renounce their priesthood
than their wives, and that he for whom men were not good enough might go
seek angels to preside over the Churches. Siegfried, Archbishop of Mainz
and Primate of Germany, when forced to promulgate the decrees, attempted
to temporize, and allowed his clergy six months of delay for consideration.
The order, of course, remained ineffectual after the lapse of that period,
and at a synod held at Erfurt in October, 1074, he could accomplish nothing.
Altmann, the energetic Bishop of Passau, nearly lost his life in publishing
the measures, but adhered firmly to the instructions of the pontiff. The
greater number of bishops received their instructions with manifest indifference,
and some openly defied the pope. Otto of Constance, who had before tolerated
the marriage of his clergy, now formally sanctioned it. In France the excitement
was scarcely less vehement than in Germany. A council at Paris, in 1074, condemned
the Roman decrees, as implying that the validity of the sacraments depended
on the sanctity of the minister, and declared them intolerable and irrational.
John, Archbishop of Rouen, while endeavouring to enforce the canon of celibacy
at a provincial synod, was stoned and had to flee for his life. Walter, Abbot
of Pontoise, who attempted to defend the papal enactments, was imprisoned
and threatened with death. At the Council of Burgos, in Spain, the papal
legate was insulted and his dignity outraged. But the zeal of Gregory knew
no abatement. He followed up his decrees by sending legates into all quarters,
fully empowered to depose immoral and simoniacal ecclesiastics.
It was clear that the causes
of the simony and of the incontinence amongst the clergy were closely allied,
and that the spread of the latter could be effectually checked only by the
eradication of the former. Henry IV had failed to translate into action the
promises made in his penitent letter to the new pontiff. On the subjugation
of the Saxons and Thuringians, he deposed the Saxon bishops, and replaced
them by his own creatures. In 1075 a synod held at Rome excommunicated "any
person, even if he were emperor or king, who should confer an investiture
in connection with any ecclesiastical office", and Gregory recognizing the
futility of milder measures, deposed the simoniacal prelates appointed by
Henry, anathematized several of the imperial counsellors, and cited the emperor
himself to appear at Rome in 1076 to answer for his conduct before a council.
To this Henry retorted by convening a meeting of his supporters at Worms on
23 January 1076. This diet naturally defended Henry against all the papal
charges, accused the pontiff of most heinous crimes, and declared him deposed.
Theses decisions were approved a few weeks later by two synods of Lombard
bishops at Piacenza and Pavia respectively, and a messenger, bearing a most
offensive personal letter from Henry, was dispatched with this reply to the
pope. Gregory hesitated no longer: recognizing that the Christian Faith must
be preserved and the flood of immorality stemmed at all costs, and seeing
that the conflict was forced upon him by the emperor's schism and the violation
of his solemn promises, he excommunicated Henry and all his ecclesiastical
supporters, and released his subjects from their oath of allegiance in accordance
with the usual political procedures of the age.
Henry's position was now precarious.
At first he was encouraged by his creatures to resist, but his friends, including
his abettors among the episcopate, began to abandon him, and the Saxons revolted
once more, demanding a new king. At a meeting of theGerman lords, spiritual
and temporal, held at Tibur in October, 1076, the election of a new emperor
was canvassed. Onlearning through the papal legate of Gregory's desire that
the crown should be reserved for Henry if possible, the assembly contented
itself with calling upon the emperor to abstain for the time being from all
administration of public affairs and avoid the company of those who had been
excommunicated, but declared his crown forfeited if he were not reconciled
with the pope within a year. It was further agreed to invite Gregory to a
council at Augsburg in the following February, at which Henry was summoned
to present himself. Abandoned by his own partisans and fearing for his throne,
Henry fled secretly with his wife and child and a single servant to Gregory
to tender his submission. He crossed the Alps in the depth of one of the
severest winters on record. On reaching Italy, the Italians flocked around
him promising aid and assistance in his quarrel with the pope, but Henry
spurned their offers. Gregory was already on his way to Augsburg, and, fearing
treachery, retired to the castle of Canossa. Thither Henry followed him,
but the pontiff, mindful of his former faithlessness, treated him with extreme
severity. Stript of his royal robes, and clad as a penitent, Henry had to
come barefooted mid ice and snow, and crave for admission to the presence
of the pope. All day he remained at the door of the citadel, fasting and
exposed to the inclemency of the wintry weather, but was refused admission.
A second and a third day he thus humiliated and disciplined himself, and
finally on 28 January, 1077, he was received by the pontiff and absolved
from censure, but only on condition that he would appear at the proposed council
and submit himself to its decision.
Henry then returned to Germany,
but his severe lesson failed to effect any radical improvement in his conduct.
Disgusted by his inconsistencies and dishonesty, the German princes on 15
March, 1077, elected Rudolph of Swabia to succeed him. Gregory wished to
remain neutral, and even strove to effect a compromise between the opposing
parties. Both, however, were dissatisified, and prevented the proposed council
from being held. Henry's conduct toward the pope was meanwhile characterized
by the greatest duplicity, and, when he went so far as to threaten to set
up an antipope, Gregory renewed in 1080 the sentence of excommunication against
him. At Brixen in June, 1080, the king and his feudatory bishops, supported
by the Lombards, carried their threat into effect, and selected Gilbert,
the excommunicated simoniacal Archbishop of Ravenna, as pope under the title
of Clement III. Rudolph of Swabia having fallen mortally wounded at the battle
of Mersburg in 1080. Henry could concentrate all his forces against Gregory.
In 1081 he marched on Rome, but failed to force his way into the city, which
he finally accomplished only in 1084. Gregory thereupon retired into the
exile of Sant' Angelo, and refused to entertain Henry's overtures, although
the latter promised to hand over Guibert as a prisoner, if the sovereign
pontiff would only consent to crown him emperor. Gregory, however, insisted
as a necessary preliminary that Henry should appear before a council and
do penance. The emperor, while pretending to submit to these terms, tried
hard to prevent the meeting of the bishops. A small number however assembled,
and, in accordance with their wishes, Gregory again excommunicated Henry.
The latter on receipt of this news again entered Rome on 21 March, 1084.
Guibert was consecrated pope, and then crowned Henry emperor. However, Robert
Guiscard, Duke of Normandy, with whom Gregory had formed an alliance, was
already marching on the city, and Henry, learning of his advance, fled towards
Citta Castellana. The pontiff was liberated, but, the people becoming incensed
by the excesses of his Norman allies, he was compelled to leave Rome. Disappointed
and sorrowing he withdrew to Monte Cassino, and later to the castle of Salerno
by the sea, where he died in the following year. Three days before his death
he withdrew all the censures of excommunication that he had pronounced, except
those against the two chief offenders--Henry and Guibert. His last words
were: "I have loved justice and hated iniquity, therefore I die in exile."
His body was interred in the church of Saint Matthew at Salerno. He was beatified
by Gregory XIII in 1584, and canonized in 1728 by Benedict XIII. His writings
treat mainly of the principles and practice of Church government. They may
be found under the title "Gregorii VII registri sive epistolarum libri" in
Mansi, "Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio" (Florence, 1759)
and "S. Gregorii VII epistolae et diplomata" by Horoy (Paris, 1877).
|
Mary Mother of GOD
Among the most important titles we
have in the Catholic Church for the Blessed Virgin Mary are Our Lady of Victory
and Our Lady of the Rosary. These titles can be traced back to one of the
most decisive times in the history of the world and Christendom. The Battle
of Lepanto took place on October 7 (date of feast of Our Lady of Rosary),
1571. This proved to be the most crucial battle for the Christian forces
against the radical Muslim navy of Turkey. Pope Pius V led a procession around
St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City praying the Rosary. He showed true pastoral
leadership in recognizing the danger posed to Christendom by the radical
Muslim forces, and in using the means necessary to defeat it. Spiritual battles
require spiritual weapons, and this more than anything was a battle that
had its origins in the spiritual order—a true battle between good and evil.
