THE RISE OF THE PAPACY
[Sidenote: The greatness of the Church.]
17. While the Franks were slowly developing the strength which
Charlemagne employed to found the most extensive realm that has existed
in Europe since the Roman Empire, another government, whose power was
far greater, whose organization was far more perfect, and whose vitality
was infinitely superior to that of the Frankish empire, namely, the
Christian Church, was steadily extending its sway and establishing the
foundations of its later supremacy.
We have already seen how marvelously the Christian communities founded
by the apostles and their fellow-missionaries multiplied until, by the
middle of the third century, writers like Cyprian came to conceive of a
"Catholic," or all-embracing, Church. We have seen how Constantine first
made Christianity legal, and how his successors worked in the interest
of the new religion; how carefully the Theodosian Code safeguarded the
Church and the Christian clergy, and how harshly those were treated who
ventured to hold another view of Christianity from that sanctioned by
the government.[25]
We must now follow this most powerful and permanent of all the
institutions of the later Roman Empire into the Middle Ages. We must
stop a moment to consider the sources of its power, and then see how the
Western, or Latin, portion of Christendom fell apart from the Eastern,
or Greek, region and came to form a separate institution under the
longest and mightiest line of rulers that the world has ever seen, the
Roman bishops. We shall see how a peculiar class of Christians, the
monks, developed; how they joined hands with the clergy; how the monks
and the clergy met the barbarians, subdued and civilized them, and then
ruled them for centuries.
[Sidenote: Sources of the Church's power.]
The tremendous power of the Church in the Middle Ages was due, we may be
sure, to the way in which it adapted itself to the ideas and needs of
the time; for no institution can flourish unless it meets the wants of
those who live under it.
[Sidenote: Contrast between pagan and Christian ideas.]
One great source of the Church's strength lay in the general fear of
death and judgment to come, which Christianity had brought with it. The
Greeks and Romans of the classical period thought of the next life, when
they thought of it at all, as a very uninteresting existence compared
with that on this earth. One who committed some signal crime might
suffer for it after death with pains similar to those of the hell in
which the Christians believed. But the great part of humanity were
supposed to lead in the next world a shadowy existence, neither sad nor
glad. Religion, even to the devout pagan, was mainly an affair of this
life; the gods were to be propitiated with a view to present happiness
and success.
Since no satisfaction could be expected in the next life, it was
naturally deemed wise to make the most of this one. The possibility of
pleasure ends--so the poet Horace urges--when we join the shades below,
as we all must do soon. Let us, therefore, take advantage of every
harmless pleasure and improve our brief opportunity to enjoy the good
things of earth. We should, however, be reasonable and temperate,
avoiding all excess, for that endangers happiness. Above all, we should
not worry uselessly about the future, which is in the hands of the gods
and beyond our control. Such were the convictions of the majority of
thoughtful pagans.
[Sidenote: Other-worldliness of mediæval Christianity.]
Christianity opposed this view of life with an entirely different one.
It laid persistent emphasis upon man's existence after death, which it
declared infinitely more important than his brief sojourn in the body.
Under the influence of the Church this conception of life had gradually
supplanted the pagan one in the Roman world, and it was taught to the
barbarians. The other-worldliness became so intense that thousands gave
up their ordinary occupations and pleasures altogether, and devoted
their entire attention to preparation for the next life. They shut
themselves in lonely cells; and, not satisfied with giving up most of
their natural pleasures, they inflicted bodily suffering upon themselves
by hunger, cold, and stripes. They trusted that in this way they might
avoid some of the sins into which they were prone to fall, and that, by
self-inflicted punishment in this world, they might perchance escape
some of that reserved for them in the next. As most of the writers and
teachers of the Middle Ages belonged to this class of what may be called
professional Christians, i.e., the monks, it was natural that their kind
of life should have been regarded, even by those who continued to live
in the world, as the ideal one for the earnest Christian.
[Sidenote: The Church the one agent of salvation.]
The barbarians were taught that their fate in the next world depended
largely upon the Church. Its ministers never wearied of presenting the
momentous alternative which faced every man so soon as this fleeting
earthly existence should be over,--the alternative between eternal bliss
and perpetual, unspeakable physical torment. Only those who had been
duly baptized could hope to reach heaven; but baptism washed away only
past sins and did not prevent constant relapse into new ones. These,
unless their guilt was removed through the instrumentality of the
Church, would surely drag the soul down to perdition.
[Sidenote: Miracles a source of the Church's power.]
The divine power of the Church was, furthermore, established in the eyes
of the people by the miraculous works which her saints were constantly
performing. They healed the sick and succored those in distress. They
struck down with speedy and signal disaster those who opposed the Church
or treated her holy rites with contempt. To the reader of to-day the
frequency of the miracles recorded in mediæval writings seems
astonishing. The chronicles and biographies are filled with accounts of
them, and no one appears to have doubted their common occurrence.[26]
[Sidenote: The Church and the Roman government.]
18. The chief importance of the Church for the student of mediæval
history does not lie, however, in its religious functions, vital as they
were, but rather in its remarkable relations to the civil government. At
first the Church and the imperial government were on a friendly footing
of mutual respect and support. So long as the Roman Empire remained
strong and active there was no chance for the clergy to free themselves
from the control of the emperor, even if they had been disposed to do
so. He made such laws for the Church as he saw fit and the clergy did
not complain. The government was, indeed, indispensable to them. It
undertook to root out paganism by destroying the heathen shrines and
preventing heathen sacrifices, and it harshly punished those who refused
to accept the teachings sanctioned by the Church.
[Sidenote: The Church begins to seek independence.]
But as the barbarians came in and the great Empire began to fall apart,
there was a growing tendency among the churchmen in the West to resent
the interference of rulers whom they no longer respected. They managed
gradually to free themselves in large part from the control of the civil
government. They then proceeded themselves to assume many of the duties
of government, which the weak and disorderly states into which the Roman
Empire fell were unable to perform properly. In 502, a church council at
Rome declared a decree of Odoacer's null and void, on the ground that no
layman had a right to interfere in the affairs of the Church. One of the
bishops of Rome (Pope Gelasius I, d. 496) briefly stated the principle
upon which the Church rested its claims, as follows: "Two powers govern
the world, the priestly and the kingly. The first is indisputably the
superior, for the priest is responsible to God for the conduct of even
the emperors themselves." Since no one denied that the eternal interests
of mankind, which devolved upon the Church, were infinitely more
important than those matters of mere worldly expediency which the state
regulated, it was natural for the clergy to hold that, in case of
conflict, the Church and its officers, rather than the king, should have
the last word.
[Sidenote: The Church begins to perform the functions of government.]
It was one thing, however, for the Church to claim the right to regulate
its own affairs; it was quite another for it to assume the functions
which the Roman government had previously performed and which our
governments perform to-day, such as the maintenance of order, the
management of public education, the trial of lawsuits, etc. It did not,
however, exactly usurp the prerogatives of the civil power, but rather
offered itself as a substitute for it when no efficient civil government
any longer existed. For there were no states, in the modern sense of the
word, in western Europe for many centuries after the final destruction
of the Roman Empire. The authority of the various kings was seldom
sufficient to keep their realms in order. There were always many
powerful landholders scattered throughout the kingdom who did pretty
much what they pleased and settled their grudges against their fellows
by neighborhood wars. Fighting was the main business as well as the
chief amusement of the noble class. The king was unable to maintain
peace and protect the oppressed, however anxious he may have been to do
so.
Under these circumstances, it naturally fell to the admirably organized
Church to keep order, when it could, by threats or persuasion; to see
that sworn contracts were kept, that the wills of the dead were
administered, and marriage obligations observed. It took the defenseless
widow and orphan under its protection and dispensed charity; it promoted
education at a time when few laymen, however rich and noble, pretended
even to read. These conditions serve to explain why the Church was
finally able greatly to extend the powers which it had enjoyed under the
Roman Empire, and why it undertook functions which seem to us to belong
to the state rather than to a religious organization.
[Sidenote: Origin of papal power.]
19. We must now turn to a consideration of the origin and growth of the
supremacy of the popes, who, by raising themselves to the head of the
Western Church, became in many respects more powerful than any of the
kings and princes with whom they frequently found themselves in bitter
conflict.
[Sidenote: Prestige of the Roman Christian community.]
While we cannot discover, either in the Acts of the Council of Nicæa or
in the Theodosian Code, compiled more than a century later, any
recognition of the supreme headship of the Bishop of Rome, there is
little doubt that he and his flock had almost from the very first
enjoyed a leading place among the Christian communities. The Roman
Church was the only one in the West which could claim the distinction of
having been founded by the immediate followers of Christ,--the "two most
glorious apostles."
[Sidenote: Belief that Peter was the first Bishop of Rome.]
The New Testament speaks repeatedly of Paul's presence in Rome, and
Peter's is implied. There had always been, moreover, a persistent
tradition, accepted throughout the Christian Church, that Peter was the
first Bishop of Rome. While there is no complete documentary proof for
this belief, it appears to have been generally accepted at least as
early as the middle of the second century. There is, certainly, no
conflicting tradition, no rival claimant. The _belief itself_, whether
or not it corresponds with actual events, is indubitably a fact, and a
fact of the greatest historical importance. Peter enjoyed a certain
preëminence among the other apostles and was singled out by Christ upon
several occasions. In a passage of the New Testament which has affected
political history more profoundly than the edicts of the most powerful
monarch, Christ says: "And I say also unto 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 unto thee the keys of the
kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven."[27]
[Sidenote: The Roman Church the mother church.]
It was thus natural that the Roman Church should early have been looked
upon as the mother church in the West. Its doctrines were considered the
purest, since they had been handed down from its exalted founders. When
there was a difference of opinion in regard to the truth of a particular
teaching, it was natural that all should turn to the Bishop of Rome for
his view. Moreover, the majesty of the capital of the world helped to
exalt its bishop above his fellows. It was long, however, before all the
other bishops, especially those in the large cities, were ready to
accept unconditionally the authority of the Bishop of Rome, although
they acknowledged his leading position and that of the Roman community.
[Sidenote: Obscurity of early bishops of Rome.]
We know comparatively little of the bishops of Rome during the first
three centuries of the Church's existence. Even as the undisputed heads
of their persecuted sect, they could not have begun to exercise the
political influence which they later enjoyed, until Christianity had
gained the ascendancy and the power of the Empire had become greatly
weakened.
[Sidenote: Period of the Church fathers.]
We are, however, much better instructed in regard to the Church of the
fourth and early fifth centuries, because the century following the
Council of Nicæa was, in the history of church literature, what the
Elizabethan era was in that of England. It was the era of the great
"fathers" of Christian theology, to whom all theologians since have
looked back as to the foremost interpreters of their religion. Among the
chief of these were Athanasius (d. 373), to whom is attributed the
formulation of the creed of the Orthodox Church as opposed to the
Arians, against whom he waged unremitting war; Basil (d. 379), the
promoter of the monastic life; Ambrose, Bishop of Milan (d. 397); Jerome
(d. 420), who prepared a new Latin version of the Scriptures, which
became the standard (Vulgate) edition; and, above all, Augustine
(354-430), whose voluminous writings have exercised an unrivaled
influence upon the minds of Christian thinkers since his day.
Since the church fathers were chiefly interested in matters of doctrine,
they say little of the organization of the Church, and it is not clear
from their writings that the Bishop of Rome was accorded as yet the
supreme and dominating position which the popes later enjoyed.
Nevertheless, Augustine calls a contemporaneous Bishop of Rome the "head
of the Western Church," and almost immediately after his death one
ascended the episcopal chair at Rome whose ambition, energy, and
personal bravery were a promise of those qualities which were to render
his successors the kings of kings.
[Sidenote: Leo the Great, 440-461.]
[Sidenote: Decree of Valentinian III.]
With the accession of Leo the Great (440-461) the history of the papacy
may, in one sense, be said to have begun. At his instance, Valentinian
III, the emperor of the West, issued a decree in 445 declaring the power
of the Bishop of Rome supreme, by reason of Peter's merits and apostolic
headship, and by reason of the majesty of the city of Rome. He commanded
that the bishops throughout the West should receive as law all that the
Bishop of Rome sanctioned, and that any bishop refusing to answer a
summons to Rome should be forced to obey by the imperial governor. But a
council at Chalcedon, six years later, raised new Rome on the Bosphorus
(Constantinople) to an ecclesiastical equality with old Rome on the
Tiber. The bishops of both cities were to have a co-superiority over all
the other prelates. This decree was, however, never accepted in the
Western or Latin Church, which was gradually separating from the Eastern
or Greek Church whose natural head was Constantinople.[28] Although the
powers to which Leo laid claim were not as yet even clearly stated and
there were times of adversity to come when for years they appeared an
empty boast, still his emphatic assertion of the supremacy of the Roman
bishop was a great step toward bringing the Western Church under a
single head.
[Sidenote: Duties that devolved upon the early popes.]
Not long after the death of Leo the Great, Odoacer put an end to the
western line of emperors. Then Theodoric and his East Goths settled in
Italy, only to be followed by still less desirable intruders, the
Lombards. During this tumultuous period the people of Rome, and even of
all Italy, came to regard the pope as their natural leader. The emperor
was far away, and his officers, who managed to hold a portion of central
Italy around Rome and Ravenna, were glad to accept the aid and counsel
of the pope. In Rome the pope watched over the elections of the city
officials and directed in what manner the public money should be spent.
He had to manage and defend the great tracts of land in different parts
of Italy which from time to time had been given to the bishopric of
Rome. He negotiated with the Germans and even directed the generals sent
against them.
[Sidenote: Gregory the Great, 590-604.]
20. The pontificate of Gregory the Great, one of the half dozen most
distinguished heads that the Church has ever had, shows how great a part
the papacy could play. Gregory, who was the son of a rich Roman senator,
was appointed by the emperor to the honorable office of prefect. He
began to fear, however, that his proud position and fine clothes were
making him vain and worldly. His pious mother and his study of the
writings of Augustine, Jerome, and Ambrose led him, upon the death of
his father, to spend all his handsome fortune in founding seven
monasteries. One of these he established in his own house and subjected
himself to such severe discipline and deprivations that his health never
entirely recovered from them. He might, in his enthusiasm for
monasticism, have brought himself to an early grave if the pope had not
commanded him to undertake a difficult mission to Constantinople; there
he had his first opportunity to show his great ability in conducting
delicate negotiations.
[Sidenote: Ancient Rome becomes mediæval Rome.]
When Gregory was chosen pope (in 590) and most reluctantly left his
monastery, ancient Rome, the capital of the Empire, was already
transforming itself into mediæval Rome, the capital of Christendom. The
temples of the gods had furnished materials for the many Christian
churches. The tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul were soon to become
the center of religious attraction and the goal of pilgrimages from
every part of western Europe. Just as Gregory assumed office a great
plague was raging in the city. In true mediæval fashion, he arranged a
solemn procession in order to obtain from heaven a cessation of the
pest. Then the archangel Michael was seen over the tomb of Hadrian[29]
sheathing his fiery sword as a sign that the wrath of the Lord had been
turned away. With Gregory we leave behind us the history of the Rome of
Cæsar and Trajan and enter upon that of Innocent III and Leo X.
[Sidenote: Gregory's writings.]
Gregory enjoyed an unrivaled reputation during the Middle Ages as a
writer. He is reckoned with Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome as one of the
four great Latin "fathers" of the Church. His works show, however, how
much less cultivated his period was than that of his predecessors. His
most popular book was his _Dialogues_, a collection of accounts of
miracles and popular legends. It is hard to believe that it could have
been composed by the greatest man of the time and that it was designed
for adults. In his commentary on Job, Gregory warns the reader that he
need not be surprised to find mistakes in grammar, since in dealing with
so high a theme a writer should not stop to make sure whether his cases
and tenses are right.[30]
[Illustration: The Castle San Angelo, formerly the Tomb of the Emperor
Hadrian]
[Sidenote: Gregory as a statesman.]
Gregory's letters show clearly what the papacy was coming to mean for
Europe when in the hands of a really great man. While he assumed the
humble title of "Servant of the servants of God," which the popes still
use, Gregory was a statesman whose influence extended far and wide. It
devolved upon him to govern the city of Rome,--as it did upon his
successors down to the year 1870,--for the eastern emperor's control had
become merely nominal. He had also to keep the Lombards out of central
Italy, which they failed to conquer largely on account of the valiant
defense of the popes. These duties were functions of the civil power,
and in assuming them Gregory may be said to have founded the temporal
power of the popes.
[Sidenote: Gregory's missionary undertakings.]
Beyond the borders of Italy, Gregory was in constant communication with
the emperor, with the rulers of Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy.
Everywhere he used his influence to have good clergymen chosen as
bishops, and everywhere he watched over the interests of the
monasteries. But his chief importance in the history of the papacy is
attributable to the missionary enterprises which he undertook, through
which the great countries which were one day to be called England,
France, and Germany were brought under the sway of the Roman Church and
its head, the pope.
Gregory was, as we have seen, an enthusiastic monk, and he naturally
relied chiefly upon the monks in his great work of converting the
heathen. Consequently, before considering his missionary achievements,
we must glance at the origin and character of the monks, who are so
conspicuous throughout the Middle Ages.
General References.--There is no satisfactory history of the
mediæval Church in one volume. Perhaps the best short account in
English is FISHER, _History of the Christian Church_ (Charles
Scribner's Sons, $3.50). MOELLER, _History of the Christian
Church_, Vols. I-II (Swan Sonnenschein, $4.00 a vol.), is a dry but
very reliable manual with full references to the literature of the
subject. ALZOG, _Manual of Universal Church History_ (Clarke,
Cincinnati, 3 vols., $10.00), is a careful presentation by a
Catholic scholar. MILMAN, _History of Latin Christianity_, although
rather old, is both scholarly and readable, and is to be found in
most libraries. GIESELER, _Ecclesiastical History_ (5 vols., now
out of print, but not difficult to obtain), is really a great
collection of the most interesting extracts from the sources, with
very little indeed from the author's hand. This and Moeller are
invaluable to the advanced student. HATCH, _Growth of Church
Institutions_ (Whittaker, $1.50), gives an admirably simple account
of the most important phases of the organization of the Church.