Catholic Thought discussion

I look forward to reading your thoughts and will add my own in soon!

Leslie

Chapter 17 “The Vikings Tamed, Rome Cleansed”

Spain had an opportunity to push for reconquest because the Moslems atypically lost effective leadership and also fought among each other. Other Christian nations did too. The German emperor who was the Holy Roman emperor began what led to a thousand year history of warfare between two neighbors when he invaded neighboring Poland.

Carroll tells us that the Pope who “should always be the prime repository of the road views and vision of the Church” at this time “often stood in the shadow” (p. 459). He suggests I think that the monasteries were crucial. The Cluny Abbey with its Benedictine rule and reform spread its influence in Western and Central Europe.

The mayhem may have ended in Rome but the competition for the seat of St. Peter continued. Benedict IX was in and out three times as the pope. Money was involved. The families continued to compete for the seat. Gregory VI was seated. Carroll tells us “he found Rome in virtual anarchy” (p. 462). A council too deposed him in less than two years when “the story of his financial arrangements with Benedict IX came out” (p. 462)

The future Pope St. Gregory VII appeared in Rome as a young student monk. German emperor Henry III got involved in reforming the papacy. He nominated candidates a popes and bishops. Carroll tells us his intentions are good. There are a few short-lived popes until bishop Bruno of Alsace-Romaine comes to Rome as a pilgrim to become Pope Leo IX.

Chapter 18 “Renewal of the Papacy” (1049-1073)

We get another frightening look at the abyss in the morals of the Church priesthood and hierarchy that St. Peter Damian (c. 1007-1070) exposed. Simony got its name from its established practice in feudalism. Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) made some sweeping reforms against both simony and violations of clerical celibacy but was held back by the argument that if he carried his improvements in the Church “it would deprive Christ’s people almost entirely of priest” (p. 472). There was no concrete proof this applied to all priests but the majority of bishops bought their consecrations. Pope Leo nevertheless goes through with the reforms in Northern Italy first, travels to Cologne and Reims, and Mainz to continue the much needed work. He holds synods and issued blanket excommunications of bishops and priests living publicly in violation of their vows of celibacy. I wish we were told a little bit about the welfare of the wives and concubines who were expelled from the cities over clerical unchastity. Historians like modern news commentators prefer the headlines to the full stories.

Pope Leo IX efforts did make permanent changes in the three countries where he was personally active. Countries outside the main were less fortunate. Hungary reverted to paganism. Simony was the order of they day in England. Southern Italy was in anarchy. Normans of northern France had settled there but the Italians hated these fierce foreign invaders.

The new Pope Nicholas II succeeded in coming to some sort of peace with the southern Normans with major help. They in turn assisted the Church in freeing Sicily from the Moslems who have been there for two hundred years.

There was another anti-pope and much disorder on papal ascendancy from the German and Italian nobles.

In Spain there was continued struggle. Carroll first mentioned a future national hero known as El Cid. We will no doubt hear more of him in the concluding chapters. There was a popular Hollywood film which I saw in my young age that left me with the impression that Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar called El Cid, drove the Moors out of Spain. That’s what the end scene of the film with the turbaned infidels driven to the sea and to the waiting ships suggests. This was not to be for another 300 years.

Carroll describes the contenders for Anglo-Saxon Edward the Confessor’s throne after he dies and how the French Normans ended up in England after the battle of Hastings. It’s a complicated and strange history including Pope Alexander II’s support of the Normans.

The Byzantines were weak and threatened by a new enemy, the Seljuk Turks, a new menace to them from the East.

I have not forgotten about this book. I am still reading and trying to catch up. I'm reading too many books at once. Thank you Galicius for staying on top of the reading!

The Schism of 1054 was one of topics in chapter 18 that caught my attention. The debate over using leavened or unleavened bread in the mass, although an important difference, seems like a minor issue that lead up to a major split yet to be healed. I was not aware that in 1966 Pope Paul VI and the Patriarch Athenagoras met together and annulled the 1054 excommunications of Humbert and Cerularius. It most definitely would be a miracle if the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches reunited.

Susan Margaret wrote: "The Schism of 1054 was one of topics in chapter 18 that caught my attention. The debate over using leavened or unleavened bread in the mass, although an important difference, seems like a minor iss..."

Several years ago I tried to understand the schism; after some research I came to the conclusion that there had been a decision to separate which was followed by an intensive search for reasons to support that decision.

Mike wrote: "Susan Margaret wrote: "The Schism of 1054 was one of topics in chapter 18 that caught my attention. The debate over using leavened or unleavened bread in the mass, although an important difference,..."

That was like giving-in to a temptation or an irrational move and looking for reasons later.