m V Zhc ^Rational Cbutcbes, EDITED BY P. H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A., F.R.Hist.S. THE CHURCH IN ITALY. -•-, I MAP OF ITAHT "sShewmg the Ecclesiastical Divisions from the end of ^jr&"\ tKe ^ ceretul7 to the rear 1500. THE CHURCH IN ITALY ARTHUR ROBERT PENNINGTON, M.A., CANON NON-RESIDENTIARY OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL, AND RECTOR OF UTTERBY, LINCOLNSHIRE. mu$ iiKaps. LONDON: WELLS GARDNER, DARTON & CO. 3 PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C. AND 44 VICTORIA STREET, S.W. PREFACE. THE history of the Church in Italy is a comprehensive subject. The historian must not only trace the his tory of the different Churches in Italy established at Rome, Milan, Aquileia, Ravenna, Venice, Florence, and Naples, but he must also show the success which attended the efforts of the Church of Rome to impose her yoke upon those Churches and upon the Churches in foreign nations. The Roman Church is essentially no less national than the British; only the greater extent of the dominions of Rome caused her religious system to prevail through Europe far more generally and more widely than the British. I shall show how the idea of Rome's universal empire dawned on the mind of Innocent I., and shall explain the different cir cumstances which aided the Popes in the prosecution of their design through successive ages. As the history of the other Churches has come, or will come, before the public in other works of this series, it will be necessary only to give here the general results of the movements of which the several countries have been the theatre. An attempt has been made, for instance, vi PREFACE. to form an estimate of the success which attended the designs of Innocent III. against the independence of foreign Churches, as well as of the results of the struggle between the Church of Rome and the Re formation in the various countries of Europe at the time of the conclusion of the Treaty of Westphalia, A.D. 1648. The new information obtained has been, as far as possible, introduced into this volume. This observa tion applies to many parts of Papal history, but es pecially to the first three centuries, the Reformation, and the Counter-Reformation. Attention has been particularly drawn to the teaching of St. Clement of Rome and of the Catacombs. Information as to the time just before, and after the beginning of the Refor mation in Italy, and as to the period of the Counter- Reformation, has been obtained from sources laid open in recent years, including the despatches of the Venetian ambassadors. Dealing, as they do, with the passing events of the moment, and often record ing things which the ambassadors had seen, heard, or done, they are among our most valuable historical materials. The records of the Inquisition in Italy, now accessible, have been examined. The results of recent researches into the history of the Waldenses, and of the important part which they have acted in the struggle for religious liberty, have a place in this volume, because they have been always closely con nected with Italy, and are now incorporated with it. PREFACE. vii A work, of which the author is Commendatore G. Berthelet, published a short time since at Rome, has been found useful in regard to Papal elections. It is entitled " La Elezione del Papa" (Storia e Documenti), and contains a large number of hitherto unpublished documents illustrating the views taken by different Pontiffs on the questions of nepotism, the Temporal Power, the duties and rights of the Cardinals, and the mode of electing the Pope. Some Bulls on these sub jects are now published for the first time. The history of Papal elections has hitherto been hardly touched. Students should turn their attention to the Italian family archives, which are now laid open. The rich ness of these, which we may almost call virgin mines, exceeds description. We cannot recover the exact features of particular Conclaves till the contents of these archives have been examined. The examination may serve to show the contrast between the petty intrigues, the jealousy, the mean causes which have often decided Papal elections, and the momentous issues depending upon them. Points of interest con nected with Conclaves which are involved in mystery only because they are intricate, have, however, been clearly ascertained, and are stated in this volume. A list of original and modern writers, whose works have been consulted in the preparation of this history, has been placed at the end of it. Even for those periods for which the latter must be trusted, the former have not been neglected. It is important to verify many of the viii PREFA CE. references in the original sources. A list of the Popes and Anti-Popes has been added, the dates of whose appointment or election have been found after careful examination. A description has also been given of the life of the Church, including its ritual, its services, its doctrines, the construction of the Churches, the appointment of bishops, the rise of asceticism, the origin and growth of monasticism, interdicts, the creation of legates, the position and power of Councils in the Church, the learning or ignorance of the clergy, their zeal or their neglect of duty, the state of morality among them and the laity, the works of the painters and sculptors who have employed their talents in the service of the sanc tuary, the great poems which lived through the ages, so far as they are connected with the subject, and the musical composers and the writers of hymns whom all succeeding times have embalmed with their praises. I. THE CHURCH OF ROME TO CONSTANTINE'S CON VERSION : II. ROME AND MILAN IN THE FOURTH CENTURY . 55 III. SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY . . ¦ . . 102 IV. TEMPORAL DOMINION . . . . 160 V. THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY . . .216 VI. DECLINE OF THE PAPACY ... 263 VII. THE POPES AS TEMPORAL PRINCES . .318 VIII. THE REFORMATION ... . .362 IX. THE COUNTER-REFORMATION ... . 395 X. THE DECREPITUDE OF THE PAPACY . . 427 XI. THE CHURCH IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . 447 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF BISHOPS OF ROME OR POPES 487 LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED 49 1 INDEX ... 495 ERRATA. Page III, line 8 from bottom, for " Alaric " read " Attila." 5 from bottom, for " came near " read " suffered near." 6, 7, for " condemning " read " giving his support to.'' 2, for " when it was " read " after it had been.'' (>,for " Paschasius " read " Berenger." IS, for " 1133 " read " 1139.'' 3, for " policy " read " polity." 13, for " its surface " read " the surface of the ocean." 12, for " him " read " them.'' 7 from bottom, ,/&r " Pius IV." read " Pius II." ., 129; »> ., 134. 3) » 2IO, )3 „ 210, I) .. 233, J) ,. 277, J) ,, 283, 3) ,. 321. 3) ., 323, 33 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. CHAPTER I. THE CHURCH OF ROME TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. Origin of the Church at Rome — Description of the persecution under Nero, as well as of its causes and results — The preaching of S. Paul at Rome — The persecution under Domitian, and the his torical evidence obtained from it — The silent progress of Chris tianity — Legend of S. Peter's episcopate — The early Bishops of Rome — S. Clement — Importance of the use of Greek at Rome — The Church could not otherwise have maintained its unity — Rome the home of many heresies — The case of Marcus Aurelius shows the silent progress of Christianity — Contest between the Judaising Christians and their opponents — Zephyrinus and Callistus— The case of Bishop Hippolytus — The Emperor Alexander Severus — Churches first built at Rome in his reign — The persecution under the Emperor Decius — Novatus and Novatian — Dispute between S. Cyprian and Pope Stephen as to baptism — Assertion of supre macy by Stephen — The Diocletian persecution — The Catacombs and their teaching — The conversion of Constantine. CHRISTIANITY was divinely nurtured at Rome amid a tainted and oppressive atmosphere. Even if S. Paul had not paused to give us in the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans a description of the vices which reigned in the city of Rome, we should find abundant confirmation of the truth of our assertion in A 2 HISTORY OP THE CHURCH IN ITALY the heathen writers of antiquity. Impiety, extrava gance, ostentation, gluttony, sensuality, and cruelty were the vices of a society which had cast off every restraint, and degraded itself to the level of the very beasts that perish. We cannot speak positively as to the origin of Christianity in Rome. We may conclude that it was carried to Rome by those " strangers of Rome " who returned to the city after having heard S. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost. We have evidence of its existence at Rome in the reign of Claudius. That emperor, probably in consequence of disputes with the Christians and Jews, had issued his edict for the expulsion of them from the city. This expulsion was the means of bringing two of them, Aquila and Priscilla, into direct communication with S. Paul at Corinth. They were, like himself, tent-makers, and followed their calling together. They were instructed by him in the Christian faith, and afterwards, on their return to Rome, communicated the knowledge which they had gained from him to the Christians in the city. The high and mighty ones of the earth had not yet cast in their lot with them. " Pudens and Claudia," mentioned in 2 Tim. iv. 21, were not the Pudens and Claudia of Martial's celebrated epigram. " The house hold of Narcissus" (Rom. xvi. 1 1) were unknown slaves, as also were those of "Caesar's household" (Philip. iv. 22). Bishop Lightfoot states that only a small pro portion of the offices in that household were held by Romans, and that we have ample evidence that Greeks, Egyptians, Syrians, and Jews had positions of influ- TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 3 ence in it. These people had not in any way come into collision with the Imperial government. On the contrary, they had been "subject to it not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake." The Christians had not hitherto attracted public ob servation. But on a sudden they became visible amid the glare of the flames which, in the year 64, wrapped the towers, the temples, the monuments, the palaces, and the humbler dwellings of the eternal city. The Emperor Nero was commonly supposed to have directed the conflagration to be kindled. All the vices which at this time defiled the heathen world seemed to be com bined in his person. He was the very incarnation of vice and wickedness. He now wanted a stimulant for a jaded appetite. He was said to have gazed with delight on the awful spectacle; to have seen without one feeling of grief the temples and monuments asso ciated with the glorious days of his forefathers lying a mass of ruins on the ground ; to have heard without one emotion of pity the shrieks of the men, women, and children as they perished in this terrible con flagration. Nero was probably afraid that the public indignation would be directed against himself. He knew that the public voice demanded vengeance on the authors of the calamity. Perhaps he would never of his own accord have accused the Christians, because they had not come prominently before him or the citizens of Rome. He might not have heard of them amid the thousands of the inhabitants of Rome. His infamous Empress Poppsea may have charged them with the 4 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY crime. She certainly was not a Christian. She was very friendly with the Jews, who were the bitterest enemies of the Christians. She seemed too to have a reason for making this charge. The Christians were deeply grieved on account of abounding iniquity. They might have spoken publicly to the polluted sinners in the city of Rome of a lake of fire where " the smoke of their torment should ascend up for ever and ever." They might, as we know that they fully expected very soon the second coming of the Son of Man to execute judgment, have been heard expressing the belief that He was now come to wrap the universe in flames, and to consume it together with its inhabitants. The Romans would have been irritated too because they saw that the Christians were very different from themselves ; that, while their shrieks of despair had sounded through the city, the Christians had showed a great serenity while the flames were raging around them. They knew not the hidden source of their calmness — the presence of Him who is afflicted in all the afflictions of His followers, and who will so support them by the Angel of His presence that they shall be able to rejoice in the midst of the greatest calamities. We are justified in coming to this conclusion because we know that S. Paul thought very highly of their progress. We learn from his epistle, written to the Roman Church in the year 58, that he did not propose to pay them a lengthened visit, but simply to come to Rome on his way to the remote region of Spain. He would have thought that they did not much need his assistance, because, through the labours of Aquila and TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 5 Priscilla, and other Roman Christians, who, after having been under his teaching in Corinth and other cities, had returned to their native city, the Christianity which he preached was flourishing among them. The epistle was, we know, followed in the year 61 by his visit to Rome. He came in bonds. He had been nearly killed by his fellow-countrymen at Jeru salem for declaring the temporary character of the Jewish ritual and law (Acts xxi. 28 ; xxiv. 5, 6). The Jews had brought a charge against him of sedition and tumult which, having appealed to Caesar, he now came to answer. When he arrived in Rome he was perhaps accommodated in a hired cabin attached to the outer court of the palace. " He received all that came to him, preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him." We cannot wonder that this free intercourse was allowed when we hear that the Christians had hitherto done nothing to offend the popular prejudices. They had not separ ated from the unbelievers ; they wore no distinctive garb, but carried on their ordinary callings among them, and even intermarried with them. They burnt their dead after the Roman fashion, gathered their ashes into the sepulchres of the Romans, and in scribed over them the customary dedication to the Divine Spirits. The simple fact that at the end of two years S. Paul was allowed to take his departure from Rome, shows that he and the other Christians had not, by separating themselves from them and doing violence to their prejudices, rendered themselves obnoxious to 6 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY the Romans and to the Imperial government. Many, doubtless, would avail themselves of the freedom of access to them. Imagination loves to dwell on the company gathered round the Apostle, and listening with deep attention to every word which issued from his lips. Among them would have been some who were unable to cast off the heavy burden, under the weight of which they were groaning, but were now enabled by the preaching of the Apostle to rise to their high destinies as sons and daughters of eternity. Some too there were who, having started back with a rebound from the very impure springs of worldly pleasure in their own pol luted city, had been led by the Apostle to slake their burning thirst in the fountain of living waters which, illumined by the bright beams of the Sun of Right eousness, sparkles in the midst of the heavenly Paradise. Some too were anxious to learn from the Apostle the first rudiments of the Gospel. Some also there must have been who, when they heard the animating words of the Apostle, found their wavering resolutions fixed, their drooping zeal rekindled, their fainting faith revived. He was able too, in some cases, to eradicate deeply-rooted prejudices ; to inspire some with courage to withstand the scoff and jeers of the proud and worldly around them ; and to animate others to show, like himself, ardent zeal, tempered with wisdom, in the service of their Divine Master. Many too caught through him the reflection of the brightness of his Lord's character, and shone with a pure and holy radiance which must have commended Chris- TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 7 tianity to the polluted inhabitants of Rome. At present, indeed, very few Italians were converted. A great proportion of the converts greeted by S. Paul in the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans bear Greek names. They may have been also Jews, or other foreigners, but certainly were not Romans by birth. Greeks and Jews were the persons most likely to submit to the yoke of a crucified Redeemer. The true children of Rome could not cast off their pre judices, especially when the exhortation to do so came from one who was in bonds. We know that he ad dressed especially the Jews at Rome ; " that some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not." He must have made it his great object to show them, as he had proved to them in his Epistle, that Judaism was only a temporary institution de signed for a peculiar people during the infancy of the world; and that it was to be superseded by Chris tianity, which alone could reveal to them the mode of a sinner's reconciliation with his Maker. We may conclude that the number of Christians thus increased must have been considerable, and that they must have shown themselves vastly superior to the ignoble herd of sensualists and worldlings around them, or Nero and the multitude would not have con sented to receive them as atoning offerings for this great conflagration. They had been quite prepared in the manner just described to witness a good confession before many witnesses. The refinement of cruelty was displayed in the tortures inflicted upon them. Nero well knew that a nation which had been trained 8 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY to delight in the agonies .of their victims, as in the gladiatorial shows, would be more likely to forget their miseries, and to cease to regard him as the author of the conflagration, if he devised a punishment, the savage cruelty of which sends a thrill of horror through the hearts of all who read the description of it, or of all who, standing in the front of S. Peter's at Rome, endeavour to contemplate it through the haze of eighteen centuries. As Archdeacon Farrar writes in his " Early Days of Christianity," vol. i. p. 68 : " Imagine it, that we may realise how vast is the change which Christianity has wrought in the feelings of mankind. There, where the vast dome rises, were once the gardens of Nero. They were thronged with gay crowds, among whom the Emperor moved in frivo lous degradation, and on every side were men dying slowly on their cross of shame. Along the paths of those gardens were ghastly torches blackening the ground beneath them with streams of sulphurous pitch, and each of those living torches was a martyr in his shirt of fire. And in the amphitheatre hard by, in the sight of 20,000 spectators, famished dogs were tearing in pieces some of the best and purest of men and women, hideously disguised in the skins of bears and wolves. Thus did Nero baptize in the blood of martyrs the city which was to be for ages the capital of the world." As we stand on that spot we are reminded that the hour of retribution has arrived. Christianity has taken captive those who seemed likely to be its conquerors. She has gone forth on her errand of mercy, dropping TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. g balm into the wounds which sin has made, healing the sick, bidding the afflicted soul be comforted, and shed ding a pure and holy light on nations, once " sitting in darkness and the shadow of death." The very events which at that time seemed to be against the Church have been the means of establishing her on a foundation firmer than that of the heavens and the earth. " Merses profundo, pulchrior evenit : Luctere, multa proruet integrum Cum laude victorem : geretque Proelia conjugibus loquenda." We think that we have said enough to show the real cause of this barbarous and inhuman treatment of the Christians. They suffered because popular indignation wanted a victim. The same toleration was accorded to Christianity as to other religions. Probably it would have attracted little notice if it had not been forced into a dangerous prominence. The public in dignation afterwards roused against Nero must have been favourable to its progress, because the sympathy of the public was called forth on behalf of those whom he had made the victims of unheard-of barbarities. Moreover, many who were dissatisfied with the moral system of heathenism would have looked favourably on a religion which animated its professors with a superhuman courage, and enabled the Christians to glorify God in the midst of the severest sufferings. We see only indistinctly the growth of Christianity in Rome and Italy during the early centuries. S. Luke drops the curtain on the history of S. Paul at the end of the Acts of the Apostles. S. Paul io HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY himself is not supposed to have fallen on the occa sion of the Neronian persecution. He was absent from the city at the time, but returned soon after it. In the epistle which he wrote from Rome within two or three years of this date no allusion occurs to the recent sufferings of the disciples. The story that he was beheaded at Rome in the last year of Nero has been transmitted to us from very early times. Perhaps the words of the Apostle (2 Tim. iv. 6), " I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand," which indicate the expecta tion of speedy martyrdom, may have suggested the ecclesiastical tradition. We must not suppose that this martyrdom was accompanied by a general pro scription of the Christians. Some writers, including Tertullian, have asserted that it extended to the pro vinces. But we know that he often misinterprets facts to the advantage of his own arguments. We have every reason for believing that Nero respected the maxims of his country in tolerating those religions against which no public scandal could be alleged. Christian writers, while citing the Neronian as the first of the persecutions, have never specified any of the victims as being among the "noble army of martyrs." We see imperfectly that Christianity was making some progress among the higher classes in the reign of Domitian during the last years of the first century. As Bishop Lightfoot observes (Apostolic Fathers, S. Clement, part i. p. 30), " It is the tendency of religious movements to work their way upwards from beneath, TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. n and Christianity was no exception to the general rule. Starting from slaves and dependants, it advanced slowly, step by step, till at length it laid hands on the princes of the Imperial house." He mentions the probability that, even before S. Paul's visit, Pom- ponia Greecina, the wife of Plautius, the conqueror of Britain, was a Christian. The correctness of this surmise seems to have been converted almost into a certainty by a discovery in the Catacombs in recent years. The Emperor Domitian pretended to be a champion of the ancient religion, and was very indignant if any of the citizens embraced the doctrines or followed the usages of the Jewish part of the community. This charge, together with a charge of impiety, was brought by Domitian against several persons of high rank in the city. We incline, however, to believe that these persons were really Christians. The Romans, who attached great importance to success, were not likely to become Jews, because the latter were a con quered and degraded people. The Jews had only recently been banished from Judaea, and were now wandering with weary foot over foreign countries. Flavius Clemens, the cousin of the Emperor, and Acilius Glabrio, once a consul, were sentenced to death and executed on the charge just referred to ; and many distinguished persons, against whom the same .charge was made, were proscribed and sent into exile, from which, however, they returned on the death of the tyrant. Evidence has been obtained which seems to show 12 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY that our supposition is correct, and that Christianity had made its way into the Imperial family. Domi- tilla, the wife of Flavius Clemens and the niece of Domitian, was one of those who had been banished from Rome. A Christian cemetery was discovered at Rome about forty years ago, which the learned De Rossi, of whom we shall speak presently, has proved to have stood on an estate of Domitilla, now called Tor Marancia. He seems to have proved also that Petronilla, whose sarcophagus was removed to the Vatican in the middle of the eighth century, was a scion of the Flavian house, who, like her relations, Flavius Clemens and Flavius Domitilla, had been con verted to Christianity (Lightfoot's " Clement," vol. i. PP- 35-38). The tradition has been transmitted by Eusebius that John the Evangelist, having been summoned to Rome by Domitian on the charge of impiety, and of having adopted foreign manners, was cast into a caldron of boiling oil, where he was miraculously preserved. The tradition has, however, no historical value. We are inclined to think that these proceed ings of Domitian have been too hastily dignified with the name of persecution ; that the tyrant was influ enced rather by a regard for his own safety than for the religious interests of the community ; that Christi anity is now assuming, in spite of disaster, the place once occupied by the old religion ; and that the record is chiefly valuable because it affords us indirect evidence, with which, in the absence of the direct evidence, often not now to be obtained, we must be TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 13 satisfied, that Christianity was embraced at this time not only by the poor and the illiterate, but by the educated, the learned, and the refined. We are groping at this time painfully in the dark. " The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." The leaven only silently and gradually pervades the whole mass. Occasionally our attention is attracted by the eruptive forces of nature. The volcano pours forth a flood of lava which spreads ruin and desola tion as it rolls onwards. So, in the history of the world, we have sudden and violent changes, the con sequences of which extend to succeeding generations. But ordinarily those changes are the most enduring which slowly transform society and cause the moral wilderness to rejoice and blossom as the rose. The causes and the manner of those changes are often hidden from us. The river flows on in its subter raneous course, but ultimately it emerges from its hiding-place and pours its fertilising tide over a barren and desolate waste so as to clothe it with rich vegeta tion. So it is in the case before us. Occasionally a gleam of light darts across the gloom, but then again, very soon, " the blackness of darkness " gathers around us. God was advancing during that age slowly and silently towards the accomplishment of His purposes. The building was constantly growing by the addition of fresh materials, which unseen hands were labouring to compact and consolidate. We shall have a very good idea of this part of our subject if we wander back in imagination through the ages, and stand near 14 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY the glorious structure erected by Solomon as it was rising in columned majesty : " No workman steel, no ponderous axes rung, Like some tall palm the noiseless fabric sprung. Majestic silence ! " Thus we can only speculate on the causes of the great religious revolution before us. We cannot tell exactly in what manner the Church gathered in her converts from the heathen masses ; from the Imperial palace; from the merchants who carried on their trade with all parts of the world ; from the mass who crowded the temples, attracted by the pomp and glare of the worship; from those even who took a fierce delight in the gladiatorial shows and in the immodest exhibitions of the theatre, or from those who frequented the temples of sin where Pleasure erected her throne, and assembled constantly crowds of her worshippers. We can see, however, that she was gradually regenerating society ; that she was rais ing the tone of morals in that polluted city; that Sensuality no more showed her unblushing front in the streets of Rome in the face of day; that many there were who ministered to the relief of the dis tressed and the perishing, and poured the oil and wine of heavenly consolation into the wounded spirit ; that at length Religion cast aside her death-shroud, and went forth in all her native loveliness, surrounded by her family of love; and that she was gradually animating the Romans with the hope of a time when the immortal spirit, released from the shackles TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 15 of moitality, should expatiate in perfect happiness through the unmeasured regions of the heavenly world. The Bishop of Rome occupied in those days a very subordinate position. A mass of legend and super stition has grown up around him, which the discoveries of recent years enable us to dissipate. We have on the threshold of our subject to deal with the legend of the twenty-five years of S. Peter's Roman episcopate. The real inventor of that story was the editor of the Clementine romance, which probably emanated from a distant part of the world, and must have been written soon after the middle of the second century. We have here a fictitious account of the sayings and doings of S. Clement. We believe that this romance, shown by Bishop Lightfoot (S. Clement, vol. i. p. 55) to be full of mis-statements and anachronisms, and the false de cretals, of which we shall speak hereafter, form the forgeries on which the superstructure of Romanism rests. This work was brought to Rome at the end of the second or beginning of the third century. A letter from Clement to James at Jerusalem was pre fixed to it, stating that Peter had ordained him and placed him in his own chair of teaching as Bishop of Rome. The doctrinal teaching of this work was rejected as heretical. The history in the book was, however, at once received, because it was felt that the consecration of S. Clement to this bishopric by S. Peter was highly honourable to the Church and people of Rome. The tradition thus described has ever since been 16 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY accepted by the Church of Rome. A careful exami nation will serve to show us that the legend of the twenty-five years of S. Peter's Roman episcopate is confronted with grave chronological difficulties. We are told (Acts xii. 17) that he departed from Jerusalem in the year 42, obviously to escape the persecution of Herod. The Epistle to the Romans was written in the year 58. S. Paul could not have written as he has written to the Romans (i. 11-15, xv. 20-24) if anv Apostle, especially S. Peter, had paid a visit to Rome, the metropolis of the world. But we think that at a later date S. Peter may have visited Rome, and there suffered martyrdom. In his first epistle (1 Peter v. 13, R.V.) he writes, " She that is in Babylon, elect together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Mark my son." Babylon cannot have been the Egyptian Babylon, which was a mere fortress. If, therefore, it was not the great Babylon, it must have been Rome. Other reasons for this supposition are that Babylon was a mystic name inherited from the Jews, and that ecclesiastical tradition has represented S. Mark as S. Peter's com panion to the city of Rome. The elect (lady) obviously means the Church in that place. Again, the prophecy in S. John xxi. 18, "When thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee," has always been understood to refer to the death of S. Peter, which has been connected by tradition with Rome. Clement of Rome, in his epistle, of which we shall speak directly, refers to S. Paul and S. Peter as having suffered martyrdom. These Apostles were evidently selected in preference to any others, to James the son TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 17 of Zebedee, and James the Lord's brother, because he wished to bring before them examples which they had themselves witnessed. Ignatius, too, on his way to his martyrdom at Rome in the early part of the second century, writing from Asia Minor, does not speak of S. John, whom in that locality we should suppose that he would mention, because his was the great name in it, and because he was staying with him, but of Peter and Paul, because they had visited Rome and were remembered by the Roman Church. Dionysius of Corinth, writing A.D. 170, speaks of Peter and Paul as " having taught in Italy and suffered martyrdom at the same time ; " and Gaius, the Roman Presbyter, in the early part of the third century, thus writes about the Apostles S. Peter and S. Paul : " I can show you the trophies (the reliques) of the Apostles. If thou wilt go to the Vatican or to the Ostian Way I will show you the reliques of those who founded this Church." The question arises when S. Peter could have visited Rome. We have seen that he could not have visited the city before the year 58. We have sufficiently precise information in the Apostolic records respecting S. Paul for the next five years in connection with Rome to justify us in asserting that S. Peter could not in that period have visited the city. We may then find a place for Peter's visit in the period of S. Paul's first and second captivities, A.D. 63-67. The statement that he was buried in the Vatican, close to which the Christians suffered under Nero, would render the supposition probable that he was B 1 8 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY one of those who, wrapped in their robes of flame, suffered during those hideous festivities. The proba bility of this supposition is strengthened when we read the passages in his first epistle: i. 6, 7; ii. 12; iii. 14, 16, 17; iv. 12, 13; iv. 14, 16; v. 6; v. 9, in which the Christians are animated by various motives to bear up under the fiery persecution which had actually begun, or seemed likely soon to rage with violence against them. We thus seem to have proved that it was quite impossible that Peter could have been Bishop of Rome for twenty-five years. The important question, how ever, is, whether he really presided over that See. Now the language of ecclesiastical writers for the first two centuries seems to forbid the assignment of that position to him. Dionysius of Corinth speaks of S. Peter and S. Paul as having jointly planted the two Churches of Corinth and Rome, and Irenaeus begins his list of Roman bishops by naming Peter and Paul as the founders of the Church, and as having appointed Linus bishop. We must see, therefore, that there is just as good reason for calling Paul the first Bishop of Rome as for giving that title to Peter. This diffi culty is clearly felt by Von Dollinger. He is evidently unwilling to call Peter, Bishop of Rome. He writes concerning this passage in Irenaeus : " This makes the regulation of the Roman Church, and the appoint ment of Linus, a common act of both apostles; and since that time the Roman bishops have often been regarded as their successors. The Roman Church was considered as inheriting alike from S. Paul his preroga- TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 19 tive as Apostle of the Gentiles, and from S. Peter his dignity as the foundation of the Church, and as partak ing of the power of the keys." He adds that afterwards such expressions are of frequent occurrence, as that the Roman Church is the seat of the two apostles, and that the Church of Rome is founded on S. Peter and S. Paul. Now the admission that the origin of the Roman episcopate is to be traced as much to S. Paul as to S. Peter, is equivalent to an admission that neither bishop, in the modern sense of the word, could be considered as presiding over the metropolis of the world. Bishop Lightfoot, having disposed of the alleged episcopate of S. Peter, has, after much labour, patient investigation, and a comparison of different lists, enabled us to discover the order of the succession of the early Bishops of Rome, and the duration of their episcopate (Clement of Rome, c. v.). He correctly states that when we are able to fix the date of the episcopate by its connection with some public event, and we find the date so obtained at variance with the date which we have found in the manner just described, of course we must accept the public date in pre ference to the other dates. Guided by him, we come to the conclusion that Linus was bishop for twelve years, Anencletus, unknown to fame, for twelve years, Clement for nine years, Evarestus for eight years, Alexander for ten years, and Xystus for ten years. As regards these names Bishop Lightfoot observes : " I see no reason to question that they not only repre sent historical persons, but that they were bishops in the sense of monarchical rulers of the Roman Church, 20 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY though their monarchy may have been much less aris tocratic than the episcopate even of the succeeding century." With Clement, the third on the list, we emerge into the dawn of history. He was a man of Jewish descent, a freedman or the son of a freedman, belonging to the household of Flavius Clemens, the Emperor's cousin, and was Bishop of Rome from A.D. 91 to A.D. 100. We have a very precious composition by him, an epistle written shortly before the close of the first century, an important portion of which, amounting to about one- tenth of the whole, was recovered only a few years ago. It was addressed to the Corinthian Church under circumstances which would have led him to assert his authority if he were conscious that he possessed it. And yet he does not once refer to himself or his office. The letter is addressed throughout from the Church of Rome to the Church of Corinth, and the plural number — " We consider," " we have sent " — with re ference to the Church and not to the Bishop, is con stantly used. In fact it is described in the second century by Dionysius of Corinth and Irenaeus of Lyons as a 'letter from the Church of Rome and not from the Bishop. In this letter there is not the least allusion to any power claimed or supposed to be claimed by the Bishop of Rome. This suppression of self, indeed, is very remarkable. " It might have been expected," writes Bishop Lightfoot (St. Clement of Rome, i. p. 69), "that somewhere towards the close mention would have been made (though in the third person) of the TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 21 famous man who was at once the actual writer of the letter and the chief ruler of the Church in whose name it was written. Now, however, that we possess the work complete, we see that his existence is not once hinted at from beginning to end. The name and personality of Clement are absorbed in the Church of which he is the spokesman." We now return to the general history. Dean Milman states correctly in his " History of Latin Christianity" that the •Roman Church was one of the confederation of Greek religious republics founded by Christianity. Their scriptures, their religious works, their liturgy, were all written in the Greek language. We may men tion among those works the Epistle of Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, the works of Justin Martyr, and the work of Hippolytus, "The Refutation of all Heresies." The Churches of Rome and the West kept up through Greek their connection with the Eastern Churches. Greek, too, was the commercial language throughout the empire. The Greek Old Testament was read in the synagogues of the foreign Jews. The gospels and the Apostolic writings, so soon as they became part of the public worship, must have been read, like the Sep- tuagint, in the original tongue. Latin had in fact, since the days of Tacitus, Quintilian, and Pliny, been in a state of suspended animation. At the beginning of the second century Greek seems to have resumed its ascen dency throughout the Roman empire. We may thus explain the fact mentioned by Sozomen that there was no preaching in Rome during the earlier centuries. Among the worshippers may have been Latins, who 22 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY understood the Greek language imperfectly. The Scrip tures were explained according to the knowledge of those who were present at the public assemblies. In fact, as Dean Milman observes, Pope Leo I. (A.D. 440-461) was the first celebrated Latin preacher. His sermons are, however, the rude efforts of an untried orator, and far different from those finished compositions with which at this time the silver-tongued John Chrysostom astonished and delighted the people of Constantinople. We shall at once see the importance of this main tenance of the Greek language at Rome when we remember that the Roman Church could not other wise have promoted that unity of the Church, on which was sifepended the fate of Christianity. Rome reigned without a rival because it was the capital of the civilised world, because visitors flocked to it from every land, because it was the centre of commerce, because the intellect of its sons had achieved the proudest triumphs, and because it was the home of that ancient race which had spread the terror of its arms over conquered nations. This civil greatness of the town determined its ecclesiastical position. The Roman Church would, as we have seen in the case of Corinth, naturally give advice in all cases of diffi culty and emergency. The collective wisdom of the assembled fathers of the Church, not of the bishops only, would be available in the first and second centu ries for her deliverance from the dangers with which she was threatened. They might also, when they looked forth on Christendom from their watch-tower, TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 23 warn any particular Church of dangers and difficulties, which, unless averted by wisdom and prudence, would act on them like the hurricane when it desolates the earth, lays low many goodly fabrics, and tears from its roots the giant oak, the monarch of the forest. When, about the end of the second century, the bishops began to take the place of the Church, they would, as we shall see, have the power given to them of controlling the destinies of Christendom. If the hour of trial came, as they stood in the van of the Church's army, they might be able from that position, which was universally conceded to them, by their burning words to arm others with courage and to animate them to deeds of noble daring. Thus all good Bishops of Rome would feel that an enor mous responsibility rested upon them. The Church was united by a knowledge of the Greek language ; but if the Church of Rome, and afterwards the bishops, had given their advice or issued their com mands in Latin, the different Churches could not have been formed into an united body of men, who might not only maintain their position, but also make a vigorous onset on the foe. We must not omit to state that Rome was the home of all those heresies by which the Church was rent asunder. She was not the mother of any heresies because she had no theological school. Of the eleven bishops who governed the Church of Rome during the first two centuries, two only appear to have had any reputation for literary attainments — S. Clement, already described, and Victor, who is considered as 24 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY the first ecclesiastical author who wrote in the Latin tongue. We find scarcely any names of literary celebrity in the Roman Church in the first three centuries of the Christian era. Bishop Pearson (Dissert. I., c. iii.) contrasts the want of theological learning in the Roman Church in that age with the superior erudition and the literary and scientific culture of the Eastern Church. Neander (" Church History," ii. 333) speaks of "the crude and undigested form of doctrine in the Roman Church," -affirming in p. 337 that it was not very precisely defined; and in other places speaks of the Church of Rome as barren in theological science. But Rome, though she did not in this manner be come distinguished, gained in another way an unen viable notoriety. She became the battle-ground on which the representatives of various heresies struggled for the mastery. Here contended Theodotus and Artemon, who asserted that the Son of God was a mere man, conceived miraculously, but still only a man eminently endued with the Spirit of God; Praxeas, Noetus, and Sabellius, Patripassians. Not one of these opinions originated in Italy. In the Eastern Church alone could be found the learning and subtlety of intellect required to refute these and other errone ous views concerning the relations of the persons in the Godhead to one another, and the union of the Divine and human natures in the person of our Lord and Saviour. The Greek language was the great agency which contributed to the attainment of this end. The varied movements of Greek thought had provided TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. . 25 it with expressions which were very serviceable in ex plaining the mysteries of Christianity. If Latin had been the language of our religion we might have found an ambiguity of doctrinal statement which would have caused endless confusion. Without the intel ligence of the Eastern theologians, and their power of distinguishing the points at issue, the world must, humanly speaking, have become Arian. We see, therefore, that it was a matter of little importance that there was no one at this time at Rome qualified to come forward on the theological arena, and " to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered unto the saints." We have in the case of Marcus Aurelius, emperor A.D. 161 to 180, a proof of the silent progress of Christianity since apostolic times. In fact, we shall find that enlightened pagans of the second century were infinitely removed in points of faith and practice from those who lived five centuries before them. That imperial Stoic, like the Christians, looked down with contempt on the pomps, pleasures, and vanities of this passing scene. The wonder, then, is that he came forward as a violent persecutor of the Christians. The causes were the following. The Christians did not hesitate to predict publicly that the temples of heathen ism would soon be overthrown, and that Christian shrines would be erected on their ruins. The darkened aspect of the times converted the feeling created against them by this prediction into active hostility. The Chris- - tians were affirmed also to be the authors of all the calamities which were descending on the empire. But 26 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY the principal cause was that the Stoic philosopher was jealous of the triumphant assurance exhibited by Chris tians in the hour of their departure. The philosopher in his chamber resigned himself to his inevitable lot, and calmly proceeded on his journey to the unknown world beyond the grave ; and the soldier boldly con fronted death on the battlefield while thousands were falling around him. Marcus did not know that the cause of the difference was that the one was sustained only by vague conjectures of a future state, and that the other departed with a hope full of immortality. We do not wonder, therefore, to hear that Justin Martyr, the apologist of Christianity, was summoned before Rusticus, the prefect of the city, the philosophic teacher of Marcus Aurelius, A.D. 166 or 167, and that, on his refusal to offer sacrifice, and his open avowal of Christianity, he ratified with his blood at Rome the doctrines for which he had abandoned the Gentile philosophy. At this crisis orders were issued to the provinces to imitate the devotion of the capital. We can see, however, that this opposition of Aurelius to Christianity was more apparent than real ; that the Emperor had advanced far beyond the old Stoical doctrine, and that he was not merely one of those who wished to show themselves truly great in struggling with adversity. We do not find that he and others had embraced the doctrines of Christianity. They disdained a religion founded by one who was igno- miniously crucified. But still we see in him, and in others like him, a longing for immortality, a desire to lean on an unseen arm at every step of their TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 27 journey through life, a conviction that there is a God who watches over our every thought, word, and action, and an assurance that a knowledge of God is alone able to satisfy the enlarged capacities of the immortal spirit. When we look at the writings of Aurelius, we might fancy that we are reading the writings of a Christian, because we see in them a glowing description of the beauty of virtue, and a noble superiority to the sordid and debasing pursuits and pleasures of a world that lieth in wickedness. In that gilded palace of marble on the banks of the Tiber erected by Nero, the scene of his Bacchanalian orgies, purified by Aurelius from its abominations, in a solitary chamber far from the tumult of the world, this imperial ruler of many nations sat and reflected on his duties, writing the same maxims which were the means of _ giving strength to the obscure Christian who saw them engraved on the walls of the Catacombs, or the prisoner in the dungeon, who might soon be called to yield up his life in the service of his Divine Master. The contest between the Judaisers and their op ponents had always raged with great bitterness at Rome. We observe in S. Paul's Epistle symptoms of a fierce struggle between an extreme Gentile and an extreme Jewish party in the Romish Church. In the very heat of his argument against the Jews, the Apostle stops to vindicate their just privileges. The Quarto- Deciman controversy was the means of reviving that bitterness. The Asiatic Churches agreed to the Jewish custom, and kept their Paschal supper on the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month. Asiatics residing at 28 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY Rome were allowed for some time to follow the usage of their country. Soter, however, who held the See from A.D. 1 68 to 176, required them to conform to the custom at Rome, thus showing his opposition to the Judaising element in the Church. One Blastus, an Asiatic, who had gone to Rome, insisted on the ob servance of the Quarto-Deciman practice. The Roman bishop Victor (A.D. 173-202) at once deposed him from the Roman body of presbyters. Councils were held, apparently in accordance with the wishes of Victor, in various countries, all of which showed that they were favourable to his views. The Asiatics, however, in their Council, refused to depart from their rule. Victor then, in an imperious letter, cut them off from com munion with the Church, and endeavoured to procure the same condemnation from other branches of it. He has been strongly condemned for taking this course. This has been considered by many as the first mild attempt at Papal aggression. This design was frustrated by the resistance of Irenaeus. But there are considerations which may serve to miti gate the harshness of the judgment which has been pronounced upon him. We must remember that in the second century the controversy with Judaism ex cited the same bitterness of feeling which the Roman Catholic controversy has excited in later times. Sus picions were at once aroused as to the orthodoxy of any one who endeavoured to celebrate Easter on the day of the Passover of the unbelieving Jews. As long as the custom did not extend beyond the Asiatic Church, the Church of Rome was inclined to tolerate TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 29 it. The effort made by Blastus to force it on that Church brought the question into a dangerous pro minence. Then it would seem that there must be an end of all toleration. Great inconvenience would ob viously arise if some members of the Church were keeping the feast, and others were observing the pre liminary fast. We must remember, too, that Victor wrote to other bishops, and obtained from them con vincing evidence that this was only a local peculiarity before he pronounced the sentence of excommunica tion. We observe that the letter is still written in the name of the Church, but, unlike Clement, Victor brings forward his own name prominently in it. We must, therefore, regard it as the first attempt to substitute the Bishop of Rome for the Church of Rome, which Bishop Lightfoot (St. Clement of Rome, vol. i. p. 70) rightly regards as the second stage in the development of the Roman supremacy. We have hitherto resembled travellers on a railway under the ground. Occasionally we come to an open ing through which a flood of light is poured in upon us. Then again we have to pursue our journey in total darkness. We have -this advantage over those who have gone before us, that we can at this particular point, and at other points which have come before us, emerge into the full blaze of day. A work called "The Refutation of all Heresies " was brought from Mount Athos to Paris A.D. 1842, and having been prepared for publication was printed at Oxford A.D. 1851. The opinion almost universally held by learned men of all denominations is that it was the work of Hippolytus, a 30 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY learned man in the Church of Rome between the years 210 and 235. He was connected as a bishop with Portus, at the northern mouth of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from Rome. He had the charge of a motley group, constantly fluctuating, who were flocking through it to Rome. He was peculiarly qualified to be, as he calls himself, the " Bishop of the Gentiles," by which words he means the various nationalities represented at Portus, because, to use the words of Bishop Light foot, " he was conversant in the manners and language of Greece, the lingua franca of the East, and indeed of the civilised world." Among the heresies refuted in this book was one called the Patripassian, the authors of which affirmed that the Father really had suffered. They were the originators of the heresy of Sabellius, who affirmed that the Son is the same as the Father under different names. The writer charges with that heresy Zephy- rinus and Callistus, the former of whom occupied the See of Rome from A.D. 202 to 219, and the latter from 219 to 223. They were held in great esteem by the Church of Rome, and were entered in her breviary as martyrs. Zephyrinus is described in the treatise as a covetous man, under the influence of Callistus, who led him to adopt his unsound principles. Callistus was the slave of Carpophorus, a Christian of Caesar's household. He had embezzled many deposits en trusted to him by widows and orphans for a bank of which he had the charge at Rome. When he found that his fraud had been discovered, he endeavoured to escape by sea, but was brought back from the ship by TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 31 his master, and placed in the pistrinum for run away slaves. He was then sentenced to the mines of Sardinia. Some time afterwards he and other Christians were released from them under an order from the Emperor Commodus, which his favourite concubine, Marcia, friendly to the Christians, had per suaded him to send. Callistus was not included in the order, but in consequence of his earnest entreaties he was released. As Carpophorus still made his charge against him, Pope Victor, who was sorry for his re turn, in order to keep him out of the way of Carpo phorus, sent him to Antium, and made him a monthly allowance for his maintenance. After the death of Victor, his successor, Zephyrinus, transferred him to Rome, and placed him over the cemetery. At this time there were two parties in Rome, the one the orthodox, and the other consist ing of those who inclined to the errors of Sabellius. Callistus endeavoured to ingratiate himself with both parties. He was orthodox with the orthodox, and with the Sabellians he was a Sabellian. Hippolytus direcdy stigmatises Zephyrinus and Callistus as patrons of the heresy of Sabellianism. Callistus again inveighed with great bitterness against Hippolytus, calling him a Ditheist, or believer in two Gods, because he would not say that the Father and Son were one Divine Being under different names. So great was the address of Callistus in dealing with both parties that on the death of Zephyrinus he became Bishop of Rome. Subsequently, as Hippolytus informs us, he devised a new heresy, denying the 32 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY divinity of the Son as a distinct person from the Father, and yet not professing that the Father had suffered in the Son. We see then that the Bishops of Rome may err and have erred in matters of faith. When we find that Hippolytus never incurred any ecclesiastical censure for his protest against the heresy of these bishops, and that he was never condemned for heresy as one who resisted the Divine Head of the Church, we must suppose that the Bishop of Rome was not considered the vicegerent of Christ on earth, and that he was not supposed to be the infallible arbiter of controversies. We find in the reign of Alexander Severus (A.D. 222- 235) other proofs that Christianity was making silent progress. He placed an image of Christ along with the images of Pagan deities in his oratory. Christian bishops were admitted to court. He desired that pro vincial magistrates or procurators should be accused in public, and that proof of the alleged crimes should be given by the accusers. He deemed it a great grievance that Christians should publish the names of priests to be ordained, and that publicity should not be required in the case of rulers of provinces, espe cially when on them depended the lives and fortunes of thousands. We must say, too, that Christianity was emerging from obscurity and asserting its claims, when we find that this young emperor gave to the Christians a piece of ground the ownership of which was disputed by a company of victuallers, for the reason that it was better that it should be devoted to the worship of God in any form, than applied to a TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 33 profane and unworthy purpose. The heathen temples were remarkable for their elaborate adornment, and for their massive grandeur. The heathens were sur prised that the Christians had no temples in which they could solemnise their worship. Even the Jews had their synagogues in which they carried on their ritual. But the Christians seemed unwilling to come forward and worship God in the blaze of day. They would meet in the bosom of some grove, where no sound was heard but the melody of the birds ; or in the secret chamber, to which those only were admitted whose hearts were beating high with love to Christ. These private assemblies were at once their security and their danger : their security because the furious rabble could not track them to their hiding-place, and wreak their vengeance upon them by indiscriminate mas sacre; and their danger because the heathen govern ments could not understand a religion without a temple, and would imagine that at these mysterious meetings, in which they shunned the face of day, they gave proof of their atheism — a charge, we know, often brought against them — or indulged in criminal license, or formed a conspiracy against the constituted authorities of the country. But now these buildings, humble at first, but afterwards enlarged, were reckoned among those more stately temples which flung wide their gates to crowds of worshippers from every part of the world. The prosperous condition of the Church just described ceased under the Emperor Decius. The persecution carried on by him, A.D. 250, had its origin in his strong opposition to Christianity. The Gothic war 34 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY had shaken the Roman empire to its foundation. Paganism attributed the public calamities to the relaxed morality which prevailed among the people. In their blindness the Romans chose to consider the Christians as the authors of the evil in question. They saw that, through the favour of the Emperor, Christian temples were rising in Rome, and that the Christian bishop met the Roman pontiff on equal terms before the Imperial throne. They thought that the favour thus shown exhibited a flagrant departure from the piety and wisdom of their forefathers. The Emperor was told that a voice, issuing from the tombs of his ancestors the Decii, should have reminded him of the duty in cumbent upon him to restore in the city the severe morality of the old Romans, and banish from it a reli gion which had dared to vie with the religion of their forefathers. The object of the Decian persecution was to purify the city from these men who were supposed to have inflicted a deadly blow on its peace and pros perity. The bishop Fabianus, the first Roman bishop who became a martyr, was one of the first victims offered as a sacrifice to appease the anger of the offended deities of Olympus. In the episcopate of Fabianus, Novatus, who had opposed Cyprian at Carthage, on account of his alleged severity to those who had lapsed in the Decian perse cution, made his appearance at Rome. Here he entered into a close alliance with Novatian, whose name, by an extraordinary coincidence, nearly re sembled his own. Fabianus, though Novatian had never sought the completion of his baptismal gift by TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 35 the imposition of hands, yet admitted him to the priest hood because he thought that, on account of his com manding abilities, he would render important services to the cause of Christian truth. When Novatus arrived at Rome, Novatian entered into a close alliance with him. Novatian was very strongly opposed to the restoration of the lapsed to the Church, but thought that they might, on their repentance, obtain the bless ings of pardon and reconciliation. After the elevation of Cornelius, A.D. 25 1, to the See of Rome, Novatian led a schismatical party altogether opposed to any conces sion. When, however, the schism was really formed, he sought consecration from three bishops of obscure Sees, who came to Rome for that purpose, and set him up in opposition to Cornelius. Cyprian made common cause with Cornelius against Novatian, not so much because the views of the latter as to discipline were erroneous, as because he was guilty of schismatical usurpation. We observe here that Novatus had changed sides, not because he had changed his views, but because he wished to oppose one who had been regularly called to preside over the Roman Church. A large number of Roman confessors had at first joined Novatian. They had, however, afterwards returned to their allegiance to Cornelius. Novatianism spread through Christendom, increasing in bitterness, and con tinuing to inflict lifelong exclusion from Holy Com munion. It was really beaten down in the conflict. Nay, it increased the strength of its adversary. We may say that, by the law of reaction, it strengthened the feeling in favour of the absolving power of the clergy— 36 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY a doctrine which, soon after this time, began to be de veloped — because it asserted that there are some sins to which it cannot extend. The elevation of rival bishops to the episcopate in Rome, Carthage, and other cities, served to impress Christians with a deeper conviction that, as they were now taught to accept the legend of S. Peter's episcopate, the nations of Christendom ought to be united beneath the spiritual dominion of his successor. Another controversy after this time disturbed the peace of the Church. Cyprian was a prominent figure in it. Stephen, who became Bishop of Rome about the year 253, a man of violent temper, and passionately fond of controversy, soon after his election came for ward and opposed some African bishops on the manner of admitting converts from heresy and schism to the Church. The question was whether the converts should be admitted by imposition of hands, or whether heretical baptism ought to be deemed of no validity. Many maintained that, in this case, they should be re-baptized before they could be admitted to the privi leges of Church-membership. Cyprian was drawn into this dispute, and maintained very strongly that re-baptism was, in this case, absolutely indispensable, unless they had been baptized by the Church before they fell into heresy. He was supported on this question by the African bishops. Stephen maintained the contrary opinion, denounced Cyprian in strong language as a false Christ, a false apostle, and a deceitful worker, and broke off communion with the African bishops. Firmilian, one of the latter, after TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 37 abusing Stephen in his reply, states that he had brought forward his succession from S. Peter as a reason for their submission to his judgment on this question. Both of his antagonists, however, treat the authority thus supposed to be given to him as aggravating his fault, if he does not agree with them in doctrine. Thus, then, we may consider the episcopate of Stephen as the time when, from the fiction that S. Peter was Bishop of Rome, his supposed successor developed the consequence that he had a right to dictate the faith of the Church. We find, however, that this doctrine was strongly opposed, not only in the East, but also in the neighbouring province of Africa. The Diocletian persecution, which lasted from the year 302 to 309, was the last desperate struggle for ascendency between Paganism and Christianity. The new Paganism, springing out of the alliance between the philosophy and the religion of the old world, which was really a dreary scepticism, had forced it on the reluctant emperor. Christianity had now for many years made steady progress. The miseries which had come upon the whole Roman empire arising from the tyranny of the Emperor, from the burdensome taxa tion, and from the devastations of the barbarians, had materially aided it. Many were enabled to bear up under the evils of this present life by the prospect of blessedness in a future and higher state of exist ence. Churches were rising in every part of the empire. The Christians were admitted to offices in the State. The wife and daughter of the Emperor were avowed partakers of the Christian mysteries. 38 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY Darkness at this time settles over the Bishops of Rome. We see, however, that, when the persecution began, Christianity was in a flourishing condition. When seven years had passed, it did not show any symptoms of decay. After the suspension of the public worship the Christians met, as we shall see, in the Catacombs. Many who resisted unto death rejoiced when he approached them in his most terrible form. Thus the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church. Many could not conceal their admiration when the immortal spirit broke away triumphantly from its earthly prison. At length the sanguinary violence of the persecution ceased. Galerian, who carried it on after the abdica tion of Diocletian, with whom he had been associated in the empire, was suffering from an ulcer, which was preying on the lower part of his body. Smitten, it may be, with remorse, or with superstitious terror, he confessed before the whole Roman world his defeat, by issuing an edict permitting the public profession of Christianity. The dying emperor condescended even to apologise to the Christians for the sufferings which he had inflicted upon them. Thus Paganism was conquered in the conflict. Very soon the song of triumph would be heard in the empire, when Christi anity, in the person of the Emperor Constantine, sat on the Imperial throne, and shed her benignant influence on the numerous nations which submitted to his rule. When we visit the Catacombs, we shall be reminded of the source of that confidence which thus enabled the Christians to triumph amid the agonies of dis- TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 39 solving nature, and shall learn in the bowels of the earth that Christianity was with them an actuating energising principle. We shall seem, as we stand and muse in that burial-place of the primitive Christians at Rome, to be associated in spirit with those who, having deposited their dead in the galleries on each side of us, must often have come here to dwell on the virtues of the friends whom they had lost, and to gather from the inscriptions and the emblems placed in them that encouragement and strength which they needed to enable them to do valiantly in the service of their great spiritual Leader. In one respect, indeed, we cannot resemble them. The shrine has to some extent been desecrated. In the early ages, and in those after the discovery of the Catacombs, of which we shall speak presently, a superstitious importance was attached to the relics of the saints. The conse quence was that the graves were despoiled, and the bones were removed to Rome or scattered over Europe. The inscriptions and the emblems are deposited in Rome. Very few, indeed, remain in those dwellings of the dead. Of the 6000 inscriptions found in the Cata combs belonging to the first four centuries, two-thirds, or about 4000, are older than the "Edict of Milan," A.D. 313. We must visit Rome, or read the works of De Rossi, to whom we are so much indebted for his careful study of the subject, or those of Brownlow and Northcote, Mr. Parker, or Mr. Burgon, in order that we may obtain from them that information as to primitive Christianity which they are so well suited to give us. When we contrast the inscriptions in the Catacombs 40 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY with those on heathen tombs elsewhere, breathing de spair and utter misery, we seem to be emerging from the gloom of the dungeon into the brightness of the noon-day sun. The words on them, " Mayest thou live in the spirit," "May thy spirit rest in God," " Mayest thou live in God," " Here rests in peace Felicissimus," " Peace to Fortunata, our sweetest daughter,'' " O Philumen, in peace be thy spirit," "O Agape, thou livest forever," "O Macus, inno cent boy, thou hast already begun to be among the innocent ! Unto thee how sure is thy present life ! Thee how joyous the Church, (thy) mother, receiveth on thy return from this world ! Hushed be this bosom's groans. Dried be these weeping eyes ! " " Victorina in peace and in Christ," " Here in the Holy Spirit of God lieth Portus " — these, and many more like these, show that the primitive Christians were sustained by a well- grounded hope of a happy eternity in the presence of their Saviour and their God. But these memorials of the departed spoke also by sculptured symbols. De Rossi thinks that many of the decorative details, usually ascribed to the third century, are nearer to the Apostolic age. We know that symbolism was a most important means of in struction in the early days of Christianity. The Fathers constantly used this -method of interpreting Scripture. The main thought present to the minds of those who painted these walls was that Jesus Christ conquered death and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel. Accordingly, we find that Jonah cast out of the belly of the whale on the dry ground TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 41 as a type of our Lord's resurrection is of more frequent occurrence than any other, and that the deliverance of the faithful from the raging lions of the- world, a type of our own resurrection, as Daniel was delivered from the beasts of prey into whose lair he had been ruthlessly flung, is constantly symbolically represented on the slabs in the Catacombs. We believe also that these symbols were designed to show those who as sembled within the Catacombs the way in which they might purify their hearts and lives, that so they might be partakers of a joyful resurrection and obtain the approbation of the Judge. We have here presented to us the idea of that new life, which, beginning in baptism and nourished by the Holy Eucharist, as well as by the other means symbolically represented to the early Church, shall at length be exchanged for a life of eternal joy and triumph in the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We cannot examine these emblems and the monu mental pages without coming to the conclusion that the Christians in those days exhibited a holy joy in tribulation which quite cast into the shade the apathy of the Stoical philosophers around them. We shall attach the greater importance to those expressions when we remember that they occur in the dwelling- place of the dead, in the immediate neighbourhood too of those who had laid down their lives for Christ's sake and the Gospel's. We find in these sanctuaries of the departed emblems of triumphant joy, the good shepherd who watches over his flock amid flowery meadows or near warbling groves, the peasants gather- 42 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY ing the purple clusters of the vine, the lamb, the representation of happy and innocent childhood, and a symbol. of the spotless Redeemer — the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world; the flowers which seem to load the air with their fragrance ; the palm as the symbol of victory in the conflict between the flesh and the spirit, as well as in the final struggle with our last and most dreaded enemy ; and the three children in the "burning fiery furnace," with an ex pression of holy joy on their countenances, designed to remind Christians that they also should rejoice in the midst of the severest trials for righteousness' sake. We see then tha't these Christians rejoiced in tribu lation. The Diocletian persecution has directed our thoughts first to this part of our subject. The harp yielded the most exquisite music when its framework was most shattered and its strings were most torn. Even when the Christians were the objects of unmitigated scorn and obloquy, when they did not know that they should not have to encounter death coming to them in his most terrible form, we do not find them invoking vengeance on their enemies ; we do not read one complaint against that Almighty Being who had so severely afflicted them. On the contrary, we find the evidence of a hope which soars beyond the narrow limits of time and sense, and enables them to expatiate over those regions which lie around the throne of the Eternal, and which leads them to anticipate a time when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed in re assembling the scattered members of His family never more to be separated. TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 43 But we must inquire more particularly into the distinct teaching of the Catacombs. First, then, as Dean Burgon justly observes in his excellent letters from Rome, "We do not find in them any reference to those tenets by which modern Romanists are dis tinguished. We do not see in the Catacombs any token of the supremacy given to S. Peter. On the contrary, the Bishops of Rome occupy a place among the humblest of their contemporaries. We find con stant allusions to two sacraments, and constant hints that the cup was given to the laity. We can see no allusions to Purgatory or to the Invocation of the Saints. We have distinct evidence that the clergy were married in the following inscription, ' Gauden- tius, the presbyter, to himself and his wife Severa, a virtuous woman.' Above all, we find no reference to that worship of the Virgin, now a distinguishing feature in the Roman Catholic system. The Virgin and the Child are a subject almost unknown on the Catacombs. We thus find a silent witness borne against the Church of Rome from her own walls, because she has cor rupted 'the faith once for all delivered unto the saints.'" We find also on these walls a distinct protest against the Church of Rome, because she has kept back and still keeps back the Bible from the people. We gather from this monumental range that the Christians were supposed to have a great knowledge of and reverence for Scripture ; that the Old and New Testaments were understood to be the constant guides and companions of those who looked at these walls ; that God's Word was their joy in prosperity, 44 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY their comfort in adversity, their stay in sickness, their consolation in death, the foundation of their hope of a joyful meeting with the Saviour on the great day of His appearing. We have seen that this symbolism aided them in bearing up under the pressure of adversity. We must now endeavour to glean from it information as to the manner in which it advanced their preparation for the eternal state. We gather from these symbols that they attached paramount importance in their public worship to the Holy Eucharist. We come to this conclusion from the variety of symbols em ployed to represent it. We have, for instance, the fish floating in water with a basket containing bread and a small vessel of wine on its back, where the fish is employed as an emblem of Christ. We are thus reminded of our Church Catechism, " an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ Himself." We come to the same conclusion from the variety of symbols by which it is brought before the faithful. They were reminded of it by the multiplication of the loaves, the changing of water into wine, the shower of manna descending from heaven, white and glistering, and gathered in the folds of vestments by four Israelites. Thus realising by faith the spiritual presence of their Redeemer, they were refreshed and strengthened for their spiritual warfare, and were enabled to look for ward in the full confidence of faith to that blessed time when they should sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb in the kingdom of their Father. TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 45 We have now only space enough at our disposal to mention a few of those more striking representations which were distinctly connected with a spiritual pur pose. The healing of the paralytic was designed to teach them the importance of the healing of the diseases of our souls ; and the giving of sight to the blind, our spiritual illumination by Christ ; Moses striking the rock was intended to remind them of the importance of baptism ; Job is introduced as a witness to the resurrection of the body ; and the ascension of Elias has reference to the ascension of Him who, having conquered the powers of death and hell, ascended to the right hand of His Father's throne. We find throughout these emblems a distinct purpose to keep Christ prominently before the primitive Chris tians. Occasionally the artists introduced heathen scenes and figures. They could not at once work on other models. They used the purest types. We see Christ represented as the fish, because the correspond ing word in Greek is formed of the first letters of Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour ; as Orpheus, surrounded by wild beasts, entranced by the melody of his lyre, who charms away our evil passions, and introduces harmony among the discordant faculties of our soul; as the good shepherd, an imitation of Mercury, in order that they might be constantly reminded of the amazing- love of Him who sought for His sheep, wandering in this waste howling wilderness ; as a fountain from which issued streams designed for the cleansing and refreshment of the nations ; as a rock beneath which we may find refuge from the storms of temptation — 46 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY " the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." The dove pecking at a cluster of grapes is a type of a gracious soul which, having found no rest for the sole of its foot in its wanderings over the earth, is now eating the fruit of the tree of life in the midst of the Paradise of God. "The anchor, a symbol almost more frequently used in the most ancient parts of the Catacombs than any other, is a token, expressive of hope, as old as Christianity itself." The ship under full sail represents the Christian in his passage over the world's storm -tossed waters, which terminates when it reposes calmly on its shadow in the haven of eternity. We must not, however, dwell too long on this deeply interesting subject. We trust that, aided by others in our search, we have discovered the key which unlocks the spiritual treasure-house. We think that the symbolical representations here brought before us were designed to develop and foster that spiritual life which, in the case of very many of the Christians in those days, ended in a life of eternal blessedness and glory. As the early Christians regarded the body of the loved lost one with a profound reverence which was deepened by the confident expectation that the Saviour would soon appear to take them to Himself, they had mortuary chapels in which some religious service would have been solemnised. The afflicted Christians would often visit these chapels, that they might weep and watch around the grave of the husband, the wife, or the child, who had all too soon vanished from their sight. In those sacred retreats they would pour out their hearts in prayer, and thus obtain that peace TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 47 which passeth all understanding, that joy with which the stranger intermeddleth not. We know also that, meditating on the hope full of immortality expressed in the earlier epitaphs, and on the symbolic teaching given on those monumental stones, they would be enabled not only patiently to submit to the will of their Heavenly Father, but also, when they returned to the world's highway, to exhibit a transcript, however faint, of those graces and virtues which dignified and adorned the character of their Divine Master. The annual festivals, too, held in the Catacombs in honour of all those who had fallen asleep in Jesus, would serve not only to express their assurance of a joyful resur rection, but also to remind them that they were associ ated with the Church Invisible, the members of which are now slumbering for a season in the dwelling-place of departed spirits ; especially as there was always to be found at them an administration of the Holy Eucharist, which serves peculiarly to remind Christians that they are members of the same family, heirs of the same in heritance, and partakers of the same divine grace and Strength by which they are to be guided and supported through all the trials and dangers of this mortal life, until at length they are gathered into the same fold of glory in heaven. They would also thus be fired with the holy ambition of emulating the virtues of their friends as well as of the blessed martyrs, and of holding on their way triumphantly amid the dangers and diffi culties of their earthly warfare. We cannot agree with those who maintain that the Christians constantly took up their abode in these 48 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY Catacombs and carried on their worship in them during the days of primitive Christianity. On the contrary, we judge from the construction of these subterranean retreats that they were hastily adapted to the purposes of concealment and worship when the sword of per secution was unsheathed against the Church. When we look at the extended labyrinths, the small chapels, and the narrow passages rising one above another, we maintain that it was absolutely impossible that a large number could, even in a time of persecution, have taken up their abode in them. Mr. Northcote, who is a great authority on the subject, expresses this opinion. He states that only bishops like Stephen (A.D. 253-257) or Sixtus II. (A.D. 258), or bishops who had made themselves obnoxious to the Roman govern ment, could have resided for a length of time in them. " In no part of them," he says, " do we find anything like preparation for dwelling or for any purpose but worship and interment." We know also that there was no persecution at Rome of the Christians as such from the reign of Nero (A.D. 64) to the reign of Decius (a.D. 249-251). On the contrary, we find, as we have already stated, that the Christians were as free to carry on their worship as the inhabitants of any other city. Possibly, also, from this persecution to the more violent persecution under Diocletian and Galerius, the Christians may have been occasionally exposed to the fury of the persecutor. The Roman Christians may not have escaped in the time of Claudius and Aurelian. But we have abundant evidence that though they may have been occasionally TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 49 interrupted in their worship, they came forward boldly, asserted their rights as Roman citizens, and often suc cessfully resisted their implacable adversaries. We have distinct proof that religious worship was regularly solemnised in the Catacombs. The necessity laid upon the Christians to assemble in these subterranean retreats is thus described by Tertullian {Apol. vii., ad Nationes) : " We are daily besieged and caught unawares in our religious as semblies and congregations." We cannot, however, discover any proof that they were used for this pur pose till the middle of the third century, at the time of the Decian persecution. The cemeteries made in the first and second centuries were not adapted to the purposes of worship. We see that in the third cen tury, when the hour of persecution came, necessity, the mother of invention, enabled them to construct, in connection with receptacles for the departed, a suc cession of chambers which might answer the purpose of a perfect subterranean church. We know that when the Christians thus assembled in these subterranean sanctuaries, they did not feel at all sure that they should escape the savage fury of the persecutors. But they were determined rather to expose themselves to this danger than lose the oppor tunity of holding through the Divine ordinances, and especially through the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, that communion with their risen and ascended Lord, which is the appointed means of conveying strength to every part of His mystical body. We know, how ever, that the armed satellites of the Imperial perse- 50 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY cutor often tracked them to their hiding-place. In one fearful persecution a multitude of faithful Christians suffered death in the Catacombs on the Salarian Way. The Emperor Numerianus directed that sand and stones should be heaped up against the entrance, so that those victims of his wrath were literally buried alive. An affecting proof of their fate was found long afterwards, not only in the bones of the dead, but also in several silver cruets, which had served for the Eucharistic celebration. An impressive circum stance accompanied the martyrdom of Pope Stephen, A.D. 257. The ministers of death rushed into the subterranean chapel where they found him officiating, and, as if struck with a sudden awe, waited till the rite was concluded before they slew him in his epis copal chair. We have not space for other instances of the vengeance of the persecutor. We know that the Roman soldiers bathed their swords in the blood of unoffending men and women, and even helpless children; but we have evidence that the immortal spirits of many rose joyfully out of the ruins of the body, and found their long-sought rest in the presence of their Saviour. In subsequent ages the martyrs, through the public honours given to them, changed places with the perse cutors. "Where else," said Jerome, "do the faithful flock with such zeal and in such numbers as to the tombs of the martyrs in Rome ? " Christian writers have vied with one another in prose and verse in their description of the zeal of the vast multitudes who, neglecting the capital and the Pagan shrines, have poured forth through the gates of Rome to do TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 51 honour to the martyrs buried in the Catacombs. We have travelled a little beyond the age on which we are engaged in order that we may conclude what we have to say on this interesting subject. We cannot commend the zeal thus exhibited. A change was, as we shall see, coming over the spirit of the times. The Church had degenerated from the simple faith of those days when she was called upon to contend with the armed followers of the Imperial persecutor. An idea seems to have prevailed in the early ages that the souls of the martyrs hovered over their tombs, and that prayers might be there addressed to them. Afterwards it became the custom to address them in every place. Then, as it was impossible to check the progress of superstition, men conceived the idea that they might do honour to those holy men who had laboured and suffered in the service of their Master. We believe that we have here the germ of that worship of the saints, which is one of the worst errors of the Roman Catholic system. We know that subsequently, on the transference of the relics of the martyrs to Rome, shrines were provided for them, and they became objects of worship. The consequence was that for about 700 or 800 years the Catacombs were buried in oblivion. They were again discovered early in the sixteenth century. At length, through the persevering zeal of many who have laboured in archaeological research, they have given up their secrets. A new page has thus been opened in the Church's history. We have drawn from them a proof of the value of the Christianity of the early and golden age of the Church. A voice seems 52 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY to issue from them reproving us for our degeneracy. Religion was with those primitive Christians a reality. They, unlike many in the present day, walked with God. They strove to live the life of heaven upon earth. They walked as seeing Him who is invisible, and as mingling with the inhabitants of the world of glory. Thus were they favoured with those views of heaven's glories which, like the grapes of Eshcol, in the case of the wanderers in the wilderness, served to assure them of an abundance in that good land towards which they were travelling. So they found heaven opened in their, souls, and felt, when constrained to return to the earth, that life is nothing worth, but as it serves to prepare us for its enjoyments. Thus were they pre pared for the joys and services of that better land of which the beloved Evangelist writes, " I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it, and the city hath no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." We must, before we close this chapter, bring forward the conversion of Constantine and the establishment of Christianity by him, which are very important events in the world's history. His victories and his policy no longer exercise any influence on the state of Europe. We may, however, say that the consequences of his conversion have extended to the whole civilised world. We shall see that the removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople from Rome, to which he paid only two visits after his conversion, has been the cause of the aggrandisement of the Pope. TO CONSTANTINE'S CONVERSION. 53 We are familiar with the story of the miraculous cross seen by Constantine in the sky, with the words underneath it, "By this conquer," and with the repeti tion of this vision in a dream as he was marching, A.D. 312, to attack Maxentius. Possibly he saw only a remarkable appearance in the air, which, as he was looking out for an omen as to the future, his excited imagination may have converted into the Christian symbol. This appearance, as Dean Stanley says, not unfrequently in the afternoon assumes the form of a cross. Thus he was led to march forward with the full assurance of victory. The result was, as we know, the establishment of Christianity. We see much which perplexes us in the history of the following years. He spoke of the Divinity in vague and am biguous terms. To the great indignation of the Romans he refused to take part in the rites of Jupiter Capitolinus. But he may only have showed here his contempt for the popular religion. When he con ferred privileges and removed disabilities he placed Christians on the same level with the heathen. The edict of Milan, A.D. 313, did not make Christianity the State religion. Its effect was to annul all legal hindrances to freedom of worship. At first Con stantine was only vaguely monotheistic. But we believe that he advanced slowly until at length he avowed his belief in the fundamental doctrines of the Gospel. He wished all his subjects to cast away their ancient superstitions, and to embrace Christianity. But still he would not allow any compulsion to be exercised upon them. His measures were designed 54 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. rather to reform abuses which had crept into the old system than to lead to its total abolition. We cannot, therefore, be surprised to find that Christianity advanced slowly in the empire. Many do not rightly understand the difficulties in the way of its progress. The religion of Rome was interwoven with its history, its literature, its institutions, with the whole texture of its domestic and political life. Against this time-honoured system the waves of Christianity had been for two centuries rolling in vain. We see that they were slowly undermining the fabric; but we do not see immediately any remarkable results. We know that for two centuries the Church of Rome was not Latin. It was composed of Greeks and Orientals who had come to reside in the metropolis. Its bishops and its language were Greek. For more than half a century after the conversion of Constantine, we think that it is perfectly evident that the senate, the aristocracy, and the educated were still, if they were anything at all, decidedly Pagan. But still if we look beneath the surface, we shall see a change advancing which is a necessary stage of transition from an ancient historic religion to Christianity. We have seen enough to show us that the higher and more cultivated classes among the Romans were passing through a period of scepticism after the popular religion had ceased to satisf}' them, and before Christianity had secured its hold upon them. At length the change came. The wave rolling rest lessly for ages had quite sapped the foundation. As we shall see in the next chapter, the ancient structure fell with a crash which resounded through the world. CHAPTER II. ROME AND MILAN IN THE FOURTH CENTURY. Changed position of the Bishop of Rome — Bishop Liberius and his heresy — Contest for the bishopric between Damasus and Ursici- nus — Reflections upon it — Asceticism — Origin of it at Rome — The monks of the Thebaid — State of society at Rome— The ascetic movement among the females at Rome promoted by S. Jerome — Description of Marcella, Asilla, Fabiola, Paulla, Eustochium, and Blesilla — Departure of Jerome from Rome — Full description of the life and work of Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, of the Church at Milan, and of the Emperor Theodosius — The construction of the Churches in the fourth century — Description of the clergy and the services — The mode of the appointment of bishops in Italy, and their ecclesiastical and civil duties — The abolition of Paganism at Rome — Innocent I. and his ideas as to Rome's universal empire. We find that the history of the earlier Roman bishops is involved in obscurity. One reason probably is that they were inferior men. If they had possessed capacious intellect to conceive, and indomitable energy to cany into effect vast designs, they would have awakened the jealousy of the civil power. Thus the Papacy would have perished in its birth. But after the conversion of Constantine they came prominently forward ; they shone with a brightness reflected from the throne. The head of the Emperor's religion is the first Christian of the first city in the world. The heathen priesthood retire into the shade. Formerly the pontiffs, the consulars, the senators, the lawyers, the military commanders, nay, even gladiators who 56 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. ministered to the public pleasures, were much more noticed than the Bishop of Rome. But now these stars which once glittered in the Pagan firmament must pale their diminished rays before the broad effulgence of the newly risen luminary. The first bishop who attracts our notice after this period is Liberius (A.D. 352-366), who would probably have remained in obscurity if he had not come forward in connection with the Trinitarian controversy. He at first opposed Athanasius, but afterwards strongly sup ported him. Every effort was made, but at first in vain, by the Emperor Constantius to induce him to withdraw his support. The former was an Arian, and had become sole Emperor of the East and West by the death of his two brothers. Liberius was afterwards sent by Constantius in chains to Bercea in Thrace. Felix, a Roman deacon, was appointed to succeed him in the See of Rome. The clergy of Rome, however, and the people remained away from the churches where Felix officiated. The hope formed by the Emperor that this banishment would be the means of subduing his spirit was fully realised. Liberius was afterwards brought back to Rome, and was appointed by the Emperor bishop along with Felix. As his spirit was broken by his captivity and the indignities which he had undergone in the course of it, he was induced to sign the Arian creed in the sense that while Christ was Divine he was not consubstantial with the Father. Felix did not await his arrival, but retired to the country at some distance from Rome. Liberius made atonement for his weakness. When a majority among ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 57 400 bishops accepted a formula expressing the Arian creed at a Council at Rimini, he in a very emphatic manner condemned them. In consequence of his bold ness he was again deposed from his See, and was obliged to take refuge in the Catacombs, where he remained till the death of Constantius. We may observe in the case of this Pope that times are changed. This retrac tation is against the modern Papal claim to Infallibility. We may, however, give him some praise. He does not appear before us as a martyr refusing to sacrifice to idols, but as a Christian prelate determined not to give up his conscientious convictions, and disdaining to bow down in abject submission before a heretical emperor. We have in the contest for the Papacy between Damasus and Ursicinus a painful proof that the Church had greatly degenerated from the simplicity of those days when she was obliged to struggle for her existence with the armed followers of the Imperial persecutor. A tide of wealth flowed in upon her. A mitre rich with gems blazed on the brow of the Bishop of Rome. This magnificence corresponded to the sacredness with which his character was supposed to be invested. The heathen nations, before their conversion to Christianity, regarded their priests with idolatrous veneration. They accorded to the Christian priests the same reverence after their conversion. The position of bishop was sought at this time on account of this adventitious splendour. A fierce contest for it was carried on between Damasus and Ursicinus. Possibly, too, the monastic party, now rising into pro minence, may have stirred up this strife, because thev 58 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. were strongly opposed to the wealth of the clergy. The clashing of the swords, the sound of riven helmets was heard as the combatants fought hand to hand in the streets of Rome. The churches were deluged with blood. Dead bodies were scattered about Rome. This contest, often renewed, was at length decided in favour of Damasus. He was bishop from A.D. 366 to 384. We have here a proof that times are changed with the Bishop of Rome. We have the first step towards those later times when the pearl of great price lifted to the brow of a corrupt priesthood shot forth a splendour, like the glare issuing from the red star which the immortal bard of antiquity represented as blazing in the autumnal skies. " Ichabod, Ichabod, the glory hath departed," was beginning to be inscribed on the sacred portals of the Church. Those very men were surrounded with earthly pomp and magnificence who ought to have taught their followers to despise riches, and to feel that the world is less than nothing when compared with the prospect of glory, honour, and immortality opening out before them. Asceticism was a distinct feature of this age at Rome. It was very prevalent in the early ages of the Church. The general tendency when corruption of manners prevails to a great extent is to go into the opposite extreme, and to condemn every kind of enjoyment. The early Christians condemned garlands for the head, perfumed ornaments, and the arts of painting and sculpture. The feeling was that we can not retreat too far from the prevailing vices. We have an illustration of the truth of this assertion in ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 59 the importance attached to celibacy in the early years of Christianity. S. Paul thought highly of it, because it frees us from those cares and anxieties which hinder us from devoting our every energy to the attainment of the prize of our high calling. But afterwards celi bacy was recommended on account of the superior purity of him who embraced that condition of life. Many who were really opposed to the heresy, adopted, so far as marriage is concerned, the Manichean idea that there is a principle of evil in matter. The idea was that the marriage state might be innocent, but could only be called so when there was such a separa tion of it from human passion as was an absolute impossibility. Here we see a recoil from a prevailing sin of the age. The best excuse which Jerome can offer for it is, that it is necessary to produce virgins, and to supply the Church with its proper aristocracy. The result of these views was that those who pro fessed celibacy were regarded as a superior order of Christians. Many were induced to remain virgins whose affections were set on the gaudy follies and glittering vanities of a world that lieth in wickedness. They were spoilt by the adulation which they received. The virgins were the best dressed in every congrega tion. The issue was that, as Cyprian passionately exclaims, "The Church has frequently to bemoan the fall of its virgins." A sterner discipline was intro duced. Then followed that separation from the world and those irrevocable vows on the evil of which the history of the Church before the Reformation furnishes us with a sad and impressive commentary. 60 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. We cannot doubt to whom may be attributed the origin of asceticism at Rome at the time now before us. Athanasius, during his three years' exile at Rome, beginning about the year 340, not only confirmed the Romans in their opposition to that creed which denies the essential dignity and divinity of the Saviour of the world, but also sowed the seeds of that love of celibacy which afterwards sprang up into an abundant harvest. The monastic system was certainly not the creation of the Roman Catholic Church. It owed its origin to that passion for a life of contemplation and celibacy common to most of the Eastern religions, which led men to abstain from marriage, to shun intercourse with the world, and to bury themselves in a solitude. Those who, in order to gain a victory over themselves, had retired to the desert, or to the cave in the mountain, where they en gaged in labour, meditation, and prayer, were likely to be the most successful in promoting the moral and spiritual regeneration of the immortal beings around them. As Gibbon, in his " History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," writes (chap, xxxvii.): "Egypt, the fruitful parent of superstition, afforded the first example of a monastic life. Antony, an illiterate youth of the lower parts of the Thebaid, distributed his patrimony, deserted his family and native home, and executed his monastic penance with original and intrepid fanati cism." He and the monks generally had always been the warmest supporters of Athanasius. They had sheltered him for six years in the Thebaid with a loving devotion to his cause which has rarely been equalled, certainly never surpassed. Athanasius had ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 61 gone beyond the sternest ascetic in the rigour of his austerities. He was accompanied to Rome by two monks, Ammon and Isidore, the first of whom had worn himself out by fastings and mortifications in his desert solitude. The second was a brilliant young man, possessing popular talents, who was well able to induce any to embrace the opinions or to follow the course of life which he advocated with impassioned energy. The Romans were astonished to hear that a large spiritual army, amounting to 100,000, had sud denly sprung into existence in Egypt, consisting of dwel lers in monasteries near the towns, who were incessantly engaged in prayer and manual labour ; of the more re cluse monks who had built their cells in clusters of three or four, or who had taken refuge in those natural and artificial caves which abound in Egypt ; and of those solitaries who, dwelling apart in the dens and caves of the desert, were engaged in a constant warfare with the gloomy temptations of solitary life, or, as it was be lieved, with those visible evil spirits who were united to hinder their progress to heaven. As Dean Milman writes (" History of Christianity," vol. iii. p. 224), " Men plunged into the desert alone, or united them selves with others, under a deep conviction that there was a fierce contest taking place for the soul of each individual, not between moral influences and unseen spiritual agencies, but between beings palpable, material, or at least having at their command material agencies, and constantly controlling the course of nature." This Egyptian monasticism afterwards passed away like a vision of the night. Before we describe the 62 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. commencement of the work in Italy, we will let the Count Montalembert ("Monks of the West," vol. i. pp. 376-378) describe the end of monasticism in the East. "After an age of unparalleled virtue and fruitfulness, the monastic order allowed itself to be overcome through all the Byzantine empire by that enfeeblement of which Oriental Christianity has been the victim. . . . While the monks of the West strove victoriously against the corruption of the ancient world, converted and civilised barbarous nations, and preserved the treasures of ancient literature, the monks of the East sank gradually into nothingness. . . . They could neither renovate the society around them, nor take possession of Pagan nations. . . . They have saved nothing, re generated nothing, elevated nothing. It has been with religion as with the glory of arms and the splendour of letters. Following a mysterious but undoubted law, it is always from the East to the West that progress, light, and strength have gone forth. Like the light of day, they are both in the East, but rise and shine more brilliantly as they advance towards the West." Jerome carried on the work begun at Rome by Athanasius. He was the great advocate of Monach- ism in the West. We must, if we would understand the cause of his success, consider the state of society at Rome during this period. Jerome was the stern censor of the vices, the luxury, and effeminacy of the Christian laity and clergy in the fourth century. Rome was destroyed not so much by the cruelty and vices of its rulers, as by the luxury which drained the empire of its wealth in order that the court, the nobles, the ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 63 senate, the army, and the populace of the city might be able to live in luxurious indolence, and indulge in those vices which degrade a man to the level of the brute creation. Gibbon (chap, xxi.) has given an excel lent summary of the sarcastic description of the Roman lords and ladies of the day, written by the contemporary Pagan historian Ammianus Marcellinus. The last was an observant and thoughtful witness of the events of his own time. He deserves to be placed among the great masters of history. Gibbon writes: — " Shut up in their palaces, where, if a sunbeam pene trates, they will lament that they were not born in the land of the Cimmerians, the regions of eternal darkness, these worthies only occasionally go abroad to display their splendid dresses on their lofty chariots, or in some freak to dash at speed through the streets. In public, at the baths, or elsewhere, they will treat their fellow-citizens with contempt, while if some infamous instrument of their vices appears, they rush to embrace her as if she was a Cleopatra." The luxury of the ladies was equal to the luxury of the husbands. "At home, crowds of eunuchs are a necessary part of the furniture of a fine lady's apartments, and her sole occupation is some new invention of dress or paint. Their light robes of silk, which cover rather than conceal the person, are curiously inwrought with pictures ; the Christians have some story from Scrip ture, the heathens prefer the loves of Venus and Adonis." " If they go abroad, they never " (as Jerome says of Paula) " set their feet upon the ground, but are 64 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. borne on their litters by their eunuchs — a whole army of servants accompanying them, the body-slaves in front, the cooks behind them, the eunuchs again in the rear." We could easily multiply passages of this descrip tion. We have sufficient evidence that society was rotten to its very core. Christianity had greatly de generated, and was infected with the vices of the city. All classes of the clergy, priests, deacons, and monks, Church widows and Church virgins, were steeped in luxury, vice, worldliness, and sensuality. In the midst of this social disorganisation and pol lution, Jerome, or to give him his full name, Eusebius Hieronymus, comes prominently before us. He was a native of Strido, near Aquileia, a large and important town a little eastward of that cluster of low islands on which its inhabitants, fleeing from the invading Huns, founded the modern city of Venice. His father sent him for his education to Rome. We next find him at Treves. Probably he hoped that the reputation which he had gained at Rome would be the means of obtain ing for him employment in the service of the State, as the Emperor Valentinian at the time resided in the city. He afterwards repaired to Rome, where that remarkable reformation had begun, through the influence of the ladies of Rome, with which he was to be subsequently connected. On his return to Aquileia he expatiated with enthusiastic eloquence on Roman asceticism, and gathered round him a little band of young men who assisted in propagating his views on the subject His schemes for the promotion of it in Aquileia ended in disastrous failure, as they were strongly opposed by the ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 65 inhabitants. He then formed the design of going with his companions to Egypt or Syria, the latter of which was also a great school of the ascetic life. As a priest of Antioch was at the time in Aquileia on his way home, he determined to accompany him to the former city. Antioch was at that time agitated by a contest between rival claimants for the See. Jerome threw himself into it with fiery energy, and forgot for a time his views as to an ascetic life. They were accidentally revived by a visit to Malchus, who lived in a solitude not far from the city. This interview rekindled his enthusiasm. He retired to the neighbouring desert of Chalcis, where he spent three years of his life. He afterwards visited Constantinople. He was in the city at the time of the second great (Ecumenical Council which condemned the Apollinarian heresy and settled the rival claims to the Sees of Constantinople, Alexan dria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. The Western bishops asserted that a Council ought to be held at Rome with reference to these matters. The Council was held, but it was attended by only two of the Eastern bishops — Paulinus of Antioch, and Epiphanius of Cyprus ; Jerome accompanied Paulinus to Rome. The bishop, Damasus, was so much pleased with him that he made him secretary to it. This Council on some points did not come to the same decision as the Council at Con stantinople. The one, however, has been comparatively forgotten, but the other has been universally recognised in Christendom. An important result of the movement was that it brought Jerome to Rome, and enabled him, through his support of the female devotees in Rome, to E 66 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. gain an influence as the advocate of Monachism in Europe which has endured through successive generations. We have seen that Athanasius and his anchorites from the Thebaid, Ammon and Isidore, began this movement at Rome. They described to their auditors, who hung entranced upon their lips, with great vivid ness, the life of self - mortification and self- exal tation of which they had been eye-witnesses. They talked of the monasteries of women, and spoke with enthusiasm of those who in retirement held high con verse with their adorable Saviour. The result of their address was very remarkable. A band of female saints, the like of whom has never been seen in the history of Christianity, came into existence. We might have supposed that the females who joined the move ment were in all cases of the class of the dignified Roman matrons, women of severe virtue, who trained for future service the illustrious citizens of the ages of the Republic. We find, however, that many of them were of the class of those who had lived from their early years a life of vice and sensuality, who had taken pleasure in the bloody scenes of the arena, and had given the signal to plunge the knife into the side of the conquered gladiator. Even if they had not gone to this extreme of wickedness, they were females of the class lately described, who had often spent a patrimony on pleasures designed to gratify a jaded appetite. But they had found vanity and vexation of spirit inscribed on all the sources of human enjoy ment. Their present life was a reaction against or a recoil from their former life of luxurious indolence. ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 67 The voice of conscience told them that a sure hope of a blessed immortality is of unspeakably greater value than all the treasures of the universe. They saw that they must become candidates for the imper ishable crown. They must seek that better part which can never be taken away from them, but which liveth and abideth lasting as God's eternal throne. Jerome, on his return to Rome, had become the director of this spiritual society. He has left us a gallery of female portraits which have become known throughout the civilised world. We have no doubt that the descriptions which he has given have aided greatly in subsequent times in promoting the progress of monasticism in Europe. Marcella was the leading spirit of this band of female enthusiasts. Athanasius, when he came to Rome, took up his abode in the palace of her mother, Albina. She was entranced by his description of the solitaries and the holy virgins of the Thebaid. When he left Rome he gave her his life of S. Anthony, which seems to have decided her as to the course of life which she subsequently adopted. She was especially delighted with the passage in which one of them, Anthony, is described in his aerial dwell ing, suspended between heaven and earth, on the summit of a rock which was almost inaccessible. When the child had developed into womanhood, she became the most beautiful of the Roman ladies (Jerome, Epist. xcvi.). After the death of her husband, soon after her marriage, we are not surprised to hear that her hand was sought by a large number of suitors of high rank, one of whom was Cerialis, closely 68 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. allied to the Imperial family. She encountered a storm of indignation from her relations when she refused this splendid alliance ; but she persevered in her determination to reject every suitor, and to consecrate her life to a perpetual widowhood. She gave up to her relations her jewels and her most precious marbles, determined never again to use paint nor to be enrobed in silk, but made it her object to be very simple in her attire, and wore nearly always a black robe. Jerome informs us that she was assailed with ridi cule, misrepresentation, reproach, and obloquy ; but she persevered in her determination to come out and be separate from the world, and to live for eternity. She at first endeavoured to serve God in the crowded city ; she was one of those, to use Keble's words — " In this loud stunning tide Of human care and crime, With whom the melodies abide Of th' everlasting chime ; Who carry music in their heart, Through dusky lane and wrangling mart, Plying their daily task with busier feet Because their secret souls a holy strain repeat." She at length, however, determined to withdraw alto gether from the city, and to take up her abode in the palace of her ancestors on Mount Aventine. She soon gathered around her in her retreat females totally diffe rent from the ignoble herd of sensualists and worldlings in the city of Rome. Thus the first convent in Rome came into existence under gilded roofs. The females who joined her were ladies rich and influential, chiefly ROME AND MILAN-FOURTH CENTURY. 69 of the patrician rank. The oratory of Mount Aventine soon became the seat of a power with which the clergy were called upon to reckon. We have first Asilla, a widow who sold her jewels, lived frugally, and gave constantly to the poor. We have next Fabiola, the penitent of the party, who had married a second husband during the lifetime of the first, and made atonement, by her holy devotedness, for the sins of the early part of her life. Conspicuous among these was Paulla, sprung from a long line of illustrious ancestors. She was one of the greatest ladies of the Roman aristocracy. Brought up in the midst of an opulence which had no equal in the West, she had lived from her infancy a very effeminate life. She had, however, preserved in that luxurious society the chaste dignity of a Roman matron. The loss of her husband led her to bid farewell to the world, and in the retirement of Mount Aventine to make preparation for eternity. She had two daughters, Eustochium and Blesilla. The first had been from her early years brought up in the palace of Marcella, and had declared her determination to become a Church virgin. Her acquaintance formed a plot to prevent her from carrying that determination into effect. They seized her, took away from her her woollen habit, placed the most fashionable ornaments on her head, covered her with jewels, and arrayed her in a magnificent evening dress. She submitted quietly to them; but on her return to Mount Aventine, she at once resumed the dress of the sisterhood. Blesilla, on the other hand, was a gay young widow who lived 70 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. as if pleasure were the only object for which man is created, and life were one long holiday. Jerome had been, since his return to Rome, the spiritual adviser of the sisterhood. His great object was not critical work on the Scriptures, but the pro motion of asceticism at Rome. These devotees under his guidance gave themselves up to prayer and good works, to those spiritual exercises, to those divine meditations which connected them with eternity. The study of the sacred volume formed a large part of their religious life. They were even earnest students. Paulla and Marcella studied first Greek and then Hebrew, in order that they might be able to chant the Psalms in the original language. The influence of this spirit was soon felt in various directions in Rome. A remarkable conversion drew attention to the movement. The gay young widow, Blesilla, was laid on the bed of sickness. She fancied that the Saviour had touched her in the midst of her disease, and immediately the fever left her. She at once renounced the world, and fashioned her household after the pattern of the households of Marcella and Paulla. We will describe the change in the words of Jerome (Epist. xix., ad Marcellam). " Our dear widow, in other days, adorned herself with fastidious care, and was consulting her mirror all the day long, to see if anything were want ing to set off her beauty. Now she says with con fidence the words of the Apostle, ' We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, ROME AND MILAN—FOURTH CENTURY. 71 even as by the Spirit of the Lord' (2 Cor. iii. 18). Formerly a bevy of handmaidens dressed her hair, and her innocent head was tortured with an elaborate coiffure ; now she is content to cover it with a veil. Formerly feather-beds seemed too hard for her, and she could hardly sleep on a couch piled up with them ; now she rises betimes to prayer, and precenting the Alleluia to the rest with a ringing voice, she is the first to sing the praises of God. . . . Her knees press the earth, floods of tears wash her cheeks, once daubed with unguents. . . . Silk robes have given way to a scanty brown tunic, and common sandals replace the gilded shoe, and the finery has been sold to feed the poor; in place of the girdle of plates of gold and precious stones, a woollen cord loosely restrains her robe. If any serpent, with honied voice, should try to persuade her to eat again the forbidden fruit, she would strike him to her feet with an anathema, and say to him, as he writhed in the dust, ' Get thee behind me, Satan!' . . ." We cannot wonder, therefore, that afterwards, having tried to comfort her mother, who was incon solable for her death, Jerome should have said (Epist. xxii., ad Paulani) : " So while my spirit reigns in my members, I pro mise, I engage, I bind myself, that my tongue shall sound her name. There shall be no page that does not speak of Blesilla ; wherever the record of my dis course shall come, she shall accompany my works; and I will teach virgins, monks, and priests her name. . . . She lives with Christ in heaven, and she shall 72 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. live on earth in the mouths of men. ... I will place her name in the midst between those of Paulla and Eustochium ; in my books she shall find a deathless fame ; she shall hear me always speaking of her with her mother and her sister." The history of this movement at Rome may now be brought to an end. We have no doubt that it aided the promotion of a reform in the upper classes at Rome, and that it served to quicken the monastic life, not only in Italy, but also throughout Europe. Jerome has, indeed, in the words of his own boastful prediction, through his works, conferred immortality on Paulla, Blesilla, and Eustochium. The monastic system was, however, very unpopular at Rome among the literary men and the clergy. On the occasion of the funeral of Blesilla, when her mother broke out into a passion of groans and tears, loud cries were heard : " See this mother weeping for the daughter, whom she has killed by fasting. Let us drive this cursed race of monks out of the city." Jerome, too, had made himself very unpopular with the clergy, through his fierce invectives against them. We cannot be surprised, therefore, to learn that he was not elected to the Papacy, as he expected to be on the death of Damasus, which happened a month after the death of Blesilla. He would, how ever, have been a very indifferent bishop. He had not the tact nor temper required for a ruler of men. Moreover, he would not have had leisure for the pre paration of that great work, the Vulgate Bible, on which his fame with posterity chiefly rests. This is ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 73 his great title to the appellation of a Father of the Church. As Wiclif translated the Bible into the vul gar tongue of England, so Jerome translated the Old and New Testaments into Latin, the vulgar tongue of Europe, thus giving its inhabitants the opportunity of reading in their own tongue the wonderful works of God. After his disappointment as to the Papacy, Jerome bade an indignant farewell to Italy. He left behind him many converts to his views. His great object, however, was to induce others to leave this Babylon of the West. Paulla and Eustochium accompanied him to the Holy Land. Fabiola visited them, but afterwards returned to Rome, where she renounced the world, built hospitals, and ministered with her own hands to the sick and the poor. Paulla, Eusto chium, and Jerome afterwards visited Egypt. They all passed the remainder of their lives at Bethlehem, and in its immediate neighbourhood, in which were monasteries presided over by Paulla and Jerome. We must now describe a distinguished contemporary of Jerome, Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who has left the impress of his character and work not only on the age in which he lived, but on succeeding genera tions. At the very time when the Bishops of Rome were comparatively without authority, Ambrose came boldly forward and asserted Papal pretensions, not for his own aggrandisement, but for the promotion of the best interests of society, and from a regard to the eternal and immutable principles of justice. "Ambrose was, in fact, the spiritual ancestor of the Hildebrands and Innocents." His influence was often felt in the 74 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Eastern Church, at Antioch, at Caesarea, at Constan tinople, and at Thessalonica. In Gaul and in Spain the Bishop of Milan was regarded as the great authority to whom an appeal was to be made. The bishops in both countries felt that they were bound to recognise his decisions. Even in Africa great importance was attached to a judgment given by S. Ambrose. At the end of the fourth century we find that a Council, over which the Bishop of Milan presided, was held at Turin to settle several disputes which were brought before it by the Churches of France. The most important bishops of France felt that they were in the presence of a superior authority, and that they were bound by his decisions. No doubt Milan held this position partly because it was at this time the seat of the Imperial government. We shall see in the next chapter that Constantinople became ecclesiastically the second city in the empire, when Constantine took up his abode in it. But still we doubt not that Milan became important also at this time because S. Ambrose was its bishop. In fact he glittered like a bright star in the ecclesiastical firmament. Arianism had been very successful in the north of Italy. In the year 355 the Council of Milan had required Dionysius, the orthodox bishop, to subscribe an Arian creed. On his refusal he was sent into exile along with Liberius of Rome. Auxentius, an Arian, was then promoted to the See. On his death in the year 374 a struggle for the bishopric was carried on between the Athanasian and Arian party. Milan was at this time the seat of the Western Empire. Valentinian, ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 75 the emperor, urged the provincial bishops with whom the appointment rested to proceed to an election. They all wished him to take the appointment into his own hands. He declined to accede to their request and dismissed them to their deliberations. The church in which the Synod assembled was thronged with people. Intense excitement prevailed. The apprehension was entertained that there would be a fray between the rival parties. Ambrose, the son of the Praetorian Prefect of Gaul, who bore the same name with himself, had been entrusted with the administration of the province of iEmilia and Liguria, in which Milan was situated. His business as pre sident was to keep order in the assembly. When the excitement was at its height, he entered the church, and exhorted the people to be tranquil. Suddenly a cry was heard like the cry of a child : " Ambrose is bishop." Both parties immediately urged Ambrose, with surprising unanimity, to accept the offered dignity. But he trembled and drew back when he considered the dangers and difficulties to which he would be exposed. He would have to confront Paganism, still struggling for the mastery. He might have to guide the barque of the Church over the stormy waves of another persecution. He would have to do battle with the numerous heresies, especially with Arianism, now so popular in high places, which denied that fundamental article of the Christian faith, Christ's eternal existence, and His consubstantiality with the Father. He therefore retired from the assembly, and endeavoured to take himself out of the way of the 76 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. greatness thus sought to be thrust upon him. He went to his office, and by issuing stern orders endea voured to convince the people that he should be very severe as a bishop. But they were not to be so deceived. Again he sought safety in flight. But the people followed him and brought him back to the city. At length, convinced by the surprising unanimity which prevailed that it was the will of God that he should be bishop, he accepted, A.D. 374, the perilous dignity. Very soon after his elevation to the bishopric the orthodox Emperor Valentinian died. His eldest son, Gratian, now about seventeen, succeeded to the imperial throne. Since, however, some of the soldiers had proclaimed his infant half-brother emperor, he con sented to share with him the imperial dignity. He had scarcely reached his twentieth year when the tragical end of their uncle Valens at Constantinople made them Emperors of the East and the West. As Gratian felt the burden of the undivided empire too great for him to bear, he determined to associate with him in the empire a distinguished Spaniard, Theo- dosius. A successful revolt, a few years after his accession, was organised against him by Maximus, who had commanded the soldiers in Britain. He assumed the imperial purple and invaded Gaul. Gratian marched to meet him, but, having been deserted by his soldiers, fled to Lyons, where he hoped that he should be in safety. He was, however, treacherously murdered by an officer in the service of Maximus, who gained access to him by an unworthy stratagem. He fell, calling on his beloved Ambrose. ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 77 Justina, the empress, the widow of Valentinian, who had been his second wife, and who was the mother of the present emperor, Valentinian II., had be come a pervert to Arianism. She bitterly opposed Ambrose because he upheld the orthodox faith. He had already greatly offended her by promoting the election of an orthodox bishop to the See of Firmium. For a time, however, she dissembled her resentment. Ambrose had laid her under great obligations. He had, by successful negotiation, induced the usurper Maximus to remain on the other side of the Alps, and to take Tr&ves for his capital, leaving to Valentinian, Italy, Africa, and Illyricum. But at length, A.D. 385, she made a public exhibition of her enmity to him. The wonder is that, as he at first had scarcely any theo logical learning before his elevation to the bishopric, he should in a very short space of time not only have gained a knowledge of a difficult controversy, but that he should also, as his subsequent works show, have mastered the most abstruse questions in theology, and should have poured forth work after work in which he defended the fundamental truths of Christianity, or endeavoured to promote the edification of the Church. Gratian had asked him about the end of the year 377 to instruct him in the Nicene faith. Ambrose replied by sending to him two books, " On the Faith." Gratian was so delighted with them that he asked Ambrose to visit him, and to give him further instruction. His subsequent intercourse greatly endeared Ambrose, as we have just seen, to him. We are not surprised, therefore, to find that Justina 78 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. was very angry with him. She now came forward in open opposition to him, and demanded that one of the churches should be surrendered to the Arians. Ambrose replied that God's priest could not surrender God's temple to His enemies. Troops were sent under arms to occupy the church. Ambrose passed the whole of one day, apparently the Tuesday in Holy Week, in the church ; at night he went home to rest, but he returned early on the Wednesday morning. He found the church surrounded by the soldiers, but they were orderly in their behaviour. Ambrose ascended the pulpit, and in a stirring address ex horted the people to patience and perseverance. They all passed that night in the church, as egress was pre vented by the soldiers. On the Thursday they heard that the soldiers were withdrawn from the churches, and that Justina had given way. Ambrose, however, rightly thought that the quietude which now prevailed was only a deceitful calm before another storm. In the year 386, Justina extorted another decree from Valentinian that the Arians should be legally recog nised, and that, consequently, they should be allowed to occupy some at least of the churches. Ambrose was required to quit the city or to hold a public contro versy with Auxentius, a leading man among the Arians, on the points at issue between him and that party. Ambrose, in a spirited reply which he addressed to the Emperor, declined to accept either alternative. He had previously taken precautions against the occupation of the churches by the Arians without the employment of a strong body of soldiers. The pastors, by the direc- ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 79 tion of Ambrose, told the people to assemble in their churches, where they remained day and night, reliev ing one another by turns, and passing the time in the recitation of psalms and the singing of hymns. Some of the latter were from the pen of Ambrose himself; they spoke very strongly of the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. We may presume that one of them was the well-known hymn, " jEterna Christi munera," with its distinct enunciation of Trinitarian doctrine. The mode adopted in reciting the psalms was that which we term antiphonal, or alternating from side to side. The practice adopted at this time has spread from Italy over the whole of Europe. These sacred songs and the spirit-stirring addresses of Ambrose were the means of animating the people with a superhuman courage. A cordon of soldiers was drawn round the church. A report was spread that Ambrose intended to leave the city, and that they were about to break in upon the people. Ambrose at once addressed them in a sermon. " I am not intending to desert you," he said. " I fear neither threats nor suf ferings ; they are temptations from the Evil One. . . , Remember how Elisha's servant, when his eyes were opened, saw the troops of angels round himself and his master. . . . Come what may, our answer to the demand will be that of Naboth in our lesson to-day, ' The Lord forbid it that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee,' the inheritance of Dionysius, Eustorgius, Myrodes, and all the confessors and mar tyrs who have preceded me here." The people hung upon the lips of the preacher. One pulse was beating 80 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. throughout the assembly. One spirit of determination animated the whole. When the Emperor was urged to confront Ambrose in the church, he replied, " His eloquence would compel yourselves to lay me bound, hand and foot, before his throne." So great even in those days was the power of the Church, when accompanied by fiery energy and a firm determination rather to endure the loss of all things than submit to the unjust demands of this world's potentates. But Ambrose did not trust to his eloquence alone. He determined to make an appeal to the miraculous powers which we may readily believe he thought that he possessed. He had been asked to consecrate a church. He said that he was unable to comply with that request unless the bodies of martyrs were dis covered. He desired that an excavation should be made in the front of the Church of S. Felix and S. Nabor. The result was that the skeletons of two tall men were discovered, around which was a quantity of blood. These were declared to be the bodies of Gervasius and Protasius, who had suffered martyrdom in the time of Nero or Domitian. These relics were duly deposited in the new church. Several miraculous cures were alleged to have been effected in the cases of those who were brought into contact with them. We may readily believe that Ambrose had not risen above the superstition of the age; that he would not propa gate a deliberate lie ; and that he firmly believed, when he said so, that the cures had been effected. The straightforward tenor of his character forbids any other supposition. This appeal to miracle insured the triumph ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 81 of the Athanasian cause. Justina would not venture any longer to oppose one who had been distinguished by a Divine interposition on his behalf, and withdrew from the contest in utter despair of securing the ascendency of Arianism in Milan. The events of the following year obliged her to come to that decision. A new champion of orthodoxy appeared in the field. Maximus, with the view of advancing his own purposes, declared his determination to enforce the Nicene creed, and made preparation for the invasion of the territories of Valentinian. Ambrose was at this time unsuccessful in diverting him from his purpose. When reproached for his last interference, he answered with proud dignity that he was glad to have saved the orphan emperor. Maximus afterwards drove Ambrose from his presence, when the latter told him that he would hold no further intercourse with him till he had submitted to a penance for the murder of Gratian. Justina, ready enough to confront Ambrose, trembled before the invader. She and Valentinian fled first to Aquileia and afterwards to Thessalonica, where she was in the dominions of Theodosius. She breathed her last in the following year, chiefly from a broken heart, in consequence of the failure of her schemes for securing the ascendency of Arianism in Italy. Maxi mus, after inflicting the greatest barbarities, became Emperor of the West. The usurper was not long permitted to triumph. Theodosius mustered his forces and marched against him. A battle was fought, in which his army was utterly annihilated. Maximus was surrendered by the F 82 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. conqueror to the soldiers, who very soon put him to death. Theodosius passed the winter at Milan, and employed himself in restoring order in the dominions of his youthful colleague. Ambrose was brought into direct connection with him. He might command the movements of a feeble boy, but he would now have to confront one of the greatest men who had mounted the imperial throne. He soon came into collision with him. The Christians in a small place near Aquileia had burnt down a synagogue of the Jews, and some monks had destroyed a chapel in the same place, connected with the Valentinian heresy. Theodosius immediately ordered the Bishop to see that the synagogue was re built at the expense of the Christians, and that the monks should make compensation for the destruction of the chapel. Ambrose at once wrote a strong letter of remonstrance to Theodosius, in which he greatly blamed him for having espoused the cause of those who were enemies to Christ. If he, as Bishop, he said, should comply with this mandate, he would be an apostate, and the Emperor would be answerable for his apostacy. We have here an evidence of the strong feeling against the Jews which has existed through the ages. The awful curse, " His blood be on us and on our children," which they pronounced on them selves, has always followed them in the land of the stranger. They have been pressed down to the earth beneath the iron yoke of powerful oppressors. Am brose shows that in regard to them he had not risen superior to the feeling of the age. But still we must say that he showed a spirit of intolerance which is ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 83 highly reprehensible. We now mention the matter in order to show the influence which he at this time wielded. The mighty monarch was obliged to quail before him. This letter, followed up by a strong appeal which Ambrose made to him in the church, induced the Emperor to rescind the obnoxious order. We must now speak of a victory gained over Theo dosius in the cause of justice and humanity which the world since those days has embalmed with its praises. Ambrose had previously shown his power over him by compelling him to withdraw from the sanctuary when he went up to make his offering at the holy table. He must remain outside the impassable rails. He now comes forward to do battle with an oppressor. A dispute had arisen in Thessalonica about a favourite charioteer in the circus, who had been imprisoned by the order of the governor. The people demanded his release. On his refusal the people rose in insurrec tion, murdered the governor and some of his officers, and dragged their bodies through the streets. The Emperor, instead of following the advice of Ambrose and settling the matter judicially, in his absence gave way to his fiery temper. He issued an order that the people should be invited to attend the circus, and that they should be put to the sword. They had not the least idea for what purpose they were summoned. An indiscriminate massacre of all sexes and ages avenged the insult offered to the representatives of the Emperor. Seven thousand victims fell in the circus. Ambrose was overwhelmed with horror when he heard the tragical tale. When Theodosius, a few days 84 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. afterwards, came to the church, Ambrose made an address to him, reported by Theodoret, a few words from which we will give as they are rendered by our own judicious Hooker: "With what eyes wilt thou look upon the habitation of our common Lord ? With what feet wilt thou tread on that sacred floor ? How wilt thou stretch forth those hands from which the blood of unrighteous slaughter distils ? The body of our Lord, all holy, how wilt thou take into such hands ? How wilt thou put His blood into the mouth, the words from which have caused slaughter ? " The Emperor, on hearing this address, immediately retired. He knew Ambrose to be inflexible in his purpose. The prelate refused Theodosius an inter view, which he solicited. In a letter to him Ambrose denounced the crime, and said that Theodosius must do public penance for it. The Emperor could not at first make up his mind to fulfil the conditions on which alone he could be admitted to the Holy Communion. For eight months he endured this exclusion. Rufinus, who had been sent as a mediator, ventured to say that the Emperor was coming to Ambrose immediately. " I warn you," was the answer, "that, if he does come, I shall prevent him from entering the sacred portal." The Emperor, seeing that he could not obtain admis sion to the Church otherwise than by submission, said, " I will go and receive the chastisement which I deserve." Proceeding to the consecrated precincts, he said to Ambrose, " I am here to beg that you will remember the mercy of our common Lord, and not close against me the door which He opens to every penitent." The ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 85 issue was that since, as Ambrose told him, he had allowed his temper to act the part of judge, the excom munication would be removed on two conditions — that he should submit to a public penance, and that he should issue an edict to the effect that there should be a delay in the execution of a public sentence for thirty days after it was passed. Then, prostrate on the floor of the church, smiting on his breast and crying, " My soul cleaveth unto the dust, quicken Thou me accord ing to Thy word," the imperial ruler of many nations, the conqueror in many battles, the legislator of many countries, obtained with great difficulty the absolution which he had for some time solicited in vain. Ambrose enjoyed after this time the constant friend ship of Theodosius. He showed his regard for him by pronouncing, A.D. 395, a funeral oration over this dis tinguished emperor. Ambrose followed him in two years to the grave. We in the West are under very great obligations to Ambrose. We believe that he has done more than any one else to stay the progress of that wave of Arianism which, without him, would have rolled over Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Britain. In his public teaching, in his warfare with the Empress, in the Synod of Aquileia, A.D. 381, and in almost all his works, he has declared the essential dignity and divinity of the Saviour of the world. We may see also in the victory of Ambrose over Theodosius another reason for which the world has given to him its applause. This victory produced a deep impression on his contemporaries. They were struck with awe when they saw that the mind of 86 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. such a man as Theodosius had submitted to ecclesiasti cal penance. Everywhere else throughout the Roman world the State and the Church crouched at the feet of the Emperor. In Milan alone Theodosius trembled before the Church. Christianity, in the person of Ambrose, appeared before the world as the champion of the weak against the oppressor. He was influenced by higher and holier motives than many leading mem bers of the Church of Rome in subsequent ages. Thomas a Becket never thought of rebuking Henry II. for his injustice, inhumanity, and unbridled licentious ness ; but remonstrated with him constantly because he would not allow him to place the Church above the law, and to promise absolute impunity to the clerical offender. Innocent III. sent an interdict on England and France, thus breathing over both countries the curse of spiritual death — in the one case because John would not receive Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury; and, in the other, that he might gratify his lust of power by annulling the marriage of Philip Augustus to Agnes of Meranie, to which he would have consented if the question of the divorce from his first wife had been first of all submitted to him. But Ambrose asserted this power because he wished to condemn a deed of atrocious cruelty and vengeance, to bring forward the claims of justice, and to establish a tribunal which should defend the weak from the arbitrary violence of the powerful oppressor. The influence of S. Ambrose has been perpetuated in the Church of Milan in the Ambrosian Rite. This form of Liturgy is of earlier date than S. Ambrose. ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 87 Liturgies were, for the first three centuries, transmitted for use in the different churches. They were formed on a common type, but were not drawn up in writing. Each bishop was allowed to compose a new, or to alter " an ancient Liturgy for his diocese, without reference to any other authority. ..Thus this formula of the Milanese Church was amplified, but not originally written, by S. Ambrose. When Gregory the Great revised the ancient Roman Liturgy, the Church of Milan would not, for some unknown reason, accept his revision. The Em peror Charlemagne formed the design of making the Roman Rite compulsory in the West. The Milanese clergy strongly opposed the introduction of it, and they were ultimately successful in their opposition. About the year 1060 Pope Nicolas II. made another attempt to introduce the Roman Rite into Milan, and secured the assistance of Peter Damian. But Nicolas died before he had accomplished his object, and was succeeded by Alexander II., who, being a native of Milan, would not allow any further step to be taken in the matter. Since that time the Ambrosian Rite has held its place. The clergy of Milan will not allow strangers to use the Roman Liturgy in their churches. Some suppose that the Gallican Liturgy derived its origin from it. The chief differences between the Roman and the Ambrosian Rite are in the introits, collects, epistles, and gospels. The breaking of the bread takes place immediately before the Lord's Prayer, and there is no second oblation. In these respects also it differs from the Roman Liturgy. The Breviary of Milan is not the same as that of Rome. We must 88 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. add that gradual approximations have been made by the Milan Liturgy to the Roman form, but that it is still quite a distinct rite from the latter. We must now speak of the services rendered by S. Ambrose to sacred music. We may have some doubts if he was right in appealing to an alleged miracle in defence of the Creed of S. Athanasius. But we can have no doubt that he was deserving of com mendation for making use of music for the purpose of kindling and keeping alive the devotional spirit. If heaven be ever felt here below, it is when old and young, rich and poor, are engaged in offering the incense of praise to the Almighty Creator. When the Christian ascends the mount of praise, he undergoes a spiritual transfiguration. His robes of mortality are changed for robes of light, glistening with the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. A bright cloud over shadows the mount. The Lord Jesus is there, and His glorified saints with him. We have no doubt, then, that in this matter S. Am brose rendered an important service to the Church. His contribution to Church music has been so system- atised by Gregory the Great that it is impossible to say exactly how much is due to the great Bishop of Milan. Probably only twelve of the eighty hymns commonly ascribed to S. Ambrose have been really composed by him. The antiphonal chanting of the Psalms was perhaps borrowed by him from the Eastern Church. We find a trace of responsive chanting in Exod. xv. 21, "Miriam answered them;'' and in I Samuel xviii. 7, " The women answered one another ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 89 when they played." We gather also from Ezra iii. 12 and Nehemiah xii. 40 that this was the settled order of the second temple. Ambrose, as the prelate of the Church which had a closer connection with Greece than any other Church, would naturally at this time have adopted the Oriental use. We have seen that the hymns written by S. Am brose were the means of animating the Christians with courage when they stood in their churches to defend them against the soldiers of Justina. He seems to have struck a keynote in Church music. Compared with the Church music of our own time, the Ambrosian music may appear as severe as the Ambrosian poetry ; but still it is very devout and very accurate in express ing the language of theology. " The great objects of faith," writes Archbishop Trench, "in their simplest expression are felt by him so sufficient to stir all the deepest affections of the heart that any attempt to dress them up, to array them in moving language, were merely superfluous. The passion is there, but it is latent and repressed, a fire burning inwardly, the glow of an austere enthusiasm which reveals itself indeed, but not to every careless beholder. Nor do we presently fail to observe how truly these poems belonged to their time, and to the circumstances under which they were produced; how suitably the faith which was in actual conflict with, and was triumphing over the powers of the world, found its utterance in hymns such as those, wherein is no softness, perhaps little tenderness, but a rock-like firmness, 'the old Roman stoicism transmuted and glorified into that 90 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. nobler Christian courage which encountered and at length overcame the world.'" We wish that we could think that our glorious "Te Deum " is to be ascribed to Ambrose. We know, in deed, that the Church is under great obligations to him for having by his preaching removed the Manichean doubts from the mind of S. Augustine when he was Professor of Rhetoric at Milan ; but we have not sufficient evidence that the legend is history. It is said that it was composed by bishop and neophyte in a burst of ecstasy immediately after the performance of the sacred rite, and chanted by them alternately as they returned from the baptistery to their places in the church ; but it is scarcely possible that this remarkable hymn should have originated in this manner unless some trace of it were found in the works of S. Ambrose or S. Augustine, especially in the Confessions of the latter. Their names were pro bably connected with it because the one introduced it into the Church of Milan, and the other, taught by S. Ambrose, into the Churches of Africa. But we have Augustine's evidence as to the effect which the Ambrosian chant produced upon him. His sensitive conscience was alarmed, lest, when he wept at the solemn music, he should seem to be surrendering him self to the luxury of sweet sounds rather than imbibing the glorious spirit of the hymn. But he says after wards, "When I remember the tears which I shed at the chants of the Church as soon as I recovered my faith, and that I am moved not by the chant but by what is chanted, when it is chanted with a clear voice ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 91 and suitable modulation, I acknowledge again the great usefulness of the institution." The Ambrosian chant, with its simple but strong tones, is still pre served in the Church of Milan ; but in the rest of Italy it has been superseded by the grander Roman chant, which was introduced by Gregory the Great. We must now endeavour to ascertain the construc tion of the churches through which these sacred strains resounded. The general plan of them was taken from the Roman courts of justice, whose title (Basilica) they still retain. Constantine erected more than one of them at Rome ; but from various causes not a vestige of one of them remains. The church of S. Paul, with out the walls, built by Theodosius the Great, was the one representation of the imperial Christian Basilica till our days. It was burned down in July, 1823. The ground plan of the Basilica must be sought in the church of S. Clement's. S. Maria Maggiore, and one or two others, have been so altered as onty to reveal to the most careful study their original designs. The principal Basilicas had an outer porch called Propylon. To this part of the building those were admitted who were severed from Christian communion. From hence was entered the atrium, a court sur rounded by four porticoes, in the centre of which gushed out a fountain, where the faithful before they entered the church used to wash their hands and their face. Around the fountain were usually inscribed in Latin or Greek the words, " Wash your sins and not your faces only." From the atrium there was admis sion by three or five portals to the nave, flanked by 92 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. two aisles, that on the left for the males, and that on the right for the females, the centre being left free for processions. Beyond and below the span of the triumphal arch rose the sanctuary, ascending by steps, and comprising the confessional or crypt, where reposed the ashes of some saint or martyr. Above it was the high altar, canopied by a baldachino with pillars, and surrounded by candelabra. Beyond the altar was a semicircular recess, with a throne for the bishop and stone benches for the clergy. The whole of this part was commonly called tribunal, because it answered to that part where, in the Pagan Basilica, the chief magistrate presided. The clergy officiated in long white vestments, over which a pallium, or woollen band studded with black crosses, was worn by the bishop, who was not yet distinguished by his mitre or crosier. Incense sent up its fragrant cloud, an emblem of the heartfelt de votion which ascends to God's mercy-seat ; precious balsams were burned in the sanctuary, and a profusion of lights from candelabra shed a flood of brightness over the sacred building. The consecration was always in unleavened bread, and in wine which was mixed with a little water, set apart out of the obla tions made for this use and for the support of the ministers. These offerings were of various kinds, and included corn and oil, birds, fruits, milk, and honey, besides bread, wine, and incense. The Eucha rist was reserved in a silver tabernacle or in a hanging- dove of some precious material, in order to be ready for the communion of the sick. Travellers were also ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 93 allowed to take it with them on long journeys, that they might communicate in private ; and even the hermits of the desert were allowed to have it in their solitude. The antiquity of the practice of reserving the sacred Eucharist, and of sending it to those who were unable to partake of it in public worship, appears very plainly from the story of the young martyr, an acolyte, who, as we learn from the "Acts of Pope Stephen," was beaten to death in the streets of Rome because he would not state where those sacred ele ments were which were sought in vain on his own person. The communion in one kind, that of the cup, was early adopted for children. The practice of giving it to adults, which, however, was adopted only in a few dioceses, was strongly condemned by Pope Paschal even as late as the year 1 1 10, who commanded that it should be given in both kinds. He condemned the contrary practice, because it was " a human and novel invention." We must now glance at the bishops in Italy. The division of the empire into Vicariates probably sug gested the appointment of the Metropolitan Sees within their boundaries. As the civil Vicariate of Rome comprised the provinces of Etruria, Umbria, Picenum, Naples, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, so the Roman pontiff was invested with supreme jurisdiction as metropolitan over the Churches in that district. The authority of the Bishop of Milan also extended over all Churches in the " Vicariate of Italy," of which that city was the capital, including nearly twenty Episcopal Sees. This is a specimen of other pro- 94 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. vinces. The Picenian province, for example, comprised Sinigaglia and three Episcopal Sees; the Flaminian province contained Ravenna and other bishoprics; the ^Emilian province, Bologna, and the Venetian, Aquileia, besides other Sees. These were all of them quite independent of the Bishop of Rome. The power of the people seems to have prevailed very strongly at this time in the election of bishops. The people proposed the candidate whom the clergy elected; or else the people and the clergy together chose one out of the three candidates proposed by all the bishops of the province; or several candidates were proposed to the metropolitan, who accepted and ordained the most suitable for the office. His con firmation of the election was final. This principle of popular intervention is laid down very strongly by two Popes of the fifth century. "Let no bishop be given to those unwilling to receive him; the consent of the clergy and people are requisite " (Celestine I. ; Epist. ii. 5). " When the election of a chief priest has to be decided, he who is demanded by the consent of the clergy and people should be preferred to all others " (Leo I., ad Anastas.). The election of S. Ambrose is a striking example. The popular voice alone raised him to the bishopric when he was not only a la3Tnan but when he had not even been baptized. The bishops of those ages were not only the guardians of the truth but also the protectors against oppression. Their civil duties were to interpose in the enforcement of the law, and to exhort judges to humanity even in the treatment of the guilt}'. Thrice every week the ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 95 bishop visited all the prisoners in the prisons. Elected to his sacred office by general acclamation, or at least with the suffrages of the clergy and people, he became " the supreme arbiter in such civil matters as occurred among members of the body, and thus the conservator of peace" (Milman, " History of Christianity," b. iv. c. 1). He would not only aid them in these temporal and spiritual matters, but also, as we shall see directly in the case of S. Ambrose, in making an aggressive move ment on the heathenism still firmly entrenched within the Eternal City. We must now describe the final struggle with paganism at Rome. We must not suppose that it had been deprived of its grandeur. Rome at the end of the fourth century was, for the most part, pagan. We must see that the old religion was still very powerful when we find that there were at Rome one hundred and fifty temples, and one hundred and eighty smaller chapels and shrines still used for public worship ; and that there were in the Capitol fifty temples or shrines, bearing the most sacred names in the annals of Rome, those of Jove, of Mars, of Janus, of Romulus, of Caesar, and of Victory. The Emperor still bore the title of the Su preme Pontiff; grand religious processions still marched along the streets ; the consuls were still obliged to ascend the Capitol before they began to discharge the duties of their office ; the people still thronged to the festivals, an attendance at which formed an important part of their worship ; and the pontiffs still made their offerings in the name of the whole human race. But the vast and imposing structure of heathenism 96 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. had been shaken to its very foundation. All who read the signs of the times saw very plainly that it must soon become a mass of ruins. The Emperor had ceased to reside at Rome; and the present emperor, Theodosius, no longer regarded the ancient religion with a superstitious reverence. The Pagan, Praetex- tatus, had only about the year ^y6 consecrated twelve statues in the Capitol to the gods who were supposed to preside over the special grandeur of Rome. He little thought that, in a few years, those statues and the shrines of the Pagan deities would be shattered into fragments. The Emperor, having ceased to reside at Rome, could not be supposed to have the same veneration for the ancient monuments of Rome as those who were accustomed to go in and out among them. We must not, therefore, be surprised to find that Gratian, over whose feeble mind Ambrose had gained influence, disdainfully refused to be invested with the dignity of Supreme Pontiff, which was always held by the Emperor. The next hostile measure was still more unexpected. Men might have thought that some of the statues of the gods would be cast down from their pedestals. But no one could have sup posed that this fate would befall the statue of Victory, associated with triumphs which have shed an im perishable glory on the annals of Rome. But it was decreed that the altar from which the smoke of the sacrifice designed to hallow the public worship in con nection with it ascended should be removed, and the statue itself should be taken away from the Senate House and transferred to Constantinople. ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 97 This first attack on Paganism was quickly followed by other measures equally directed against it. A law was passed confiscating the property of the temples, and depriving the priesthood of its privileges and immunities. The celebrated Symmachus, the prefect of Rome, pleaded powerfully and eloquently for the ancient religion in a petition framed by him and pre sented in the name of the Senate to the Emperor Valentinian. The personification of Rome in his address is very striking. " Most excellent princes, fathers of your country, respect my years, and permit me still to practise the religion of my ancestors, in which I have grown old. Grant me the liberty of living according to my ancient usage. This religion has subdued the world to my dominion ; these rites repelled Hannibal from the walls, the Gauls from the Capitol. Have I lived thus long to be rebuked in my old age for my religion ? It is too late ; it would be discreditable to amend in my old age. I entreat but peace for the gods of Rome, the tutelary gods of my country." The orator concludes by appealing to the deified father of the Emperor, who looks down with sorrow from his starry citadel to see the violation of the law of toleration which he had established. Ambrose answered this eloquent address. "The Emperor," he said, " who shall be guilty of such con cessions will find that the bishops will neither endure nor connive at his sin. If he enters a church, he will find no priest, or one who will defy his authority. The Church will indignantly reject the gifts of him who has shared them with Gentile temples. It is written, G 98 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. 'Man cannot serve two masters.' How long did Hannibal insult the gods of Rome ? It was the goose, and not the deity that saved the Capitol. . . . Are not the baths, the porticos, the streets, still crowded with images ? Must they still keep their place in the great council of the empire ? You compel to worship if you restore the altar. And who is this deity ? Victory is a gift, and not a power ; she depends on the courage of the legions, not on the influence of the religion. She is a mighty deity who is bestowed by the numbers of an army or the doubtful issue of a battle." The Pagans, unable to answer arguments, deter mined to employ carnal weapons to beat down then- opponents. The result of the murder of Valentinian, after a military insurrection which was the means of placing Eugenius on the throne, was that throughout Italy the temples were reopened, the smoke of the sacrifice once more ascended, and the entrails of the animals were examined for the signs of victory. But Theodosius was more than a match for the insurgents. A stern edict was issued by him, forbidding his sub jects to worship the household gods, to use lamps or incense, and to offer an innocent victim in sacrifice. Any house where incense was used was at once to become the property of the state. He followed up this edict by marching against the insurgents. A decisive victory over them dissipated for a time their hopes of the restoration of Paganism. After the death of Theodosius, Honorius, finding that the Pagan wor ship continued, issued a very severe edict, directing that all images shall be thrown down, that the edifices ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 99 now useless and deserted shall be occupied by the imperial officers, and prohibiting all sacrilegious rites, festivals, and ceremonies. The bishops were required to suppress the latter, and the civil authorities were bound under a heavy penalty to assist them. The Emperors had dislodged many stones from the ancient and venerable structure, and had made several fissures in its walls. But still the statues of the Prince had continued objects of worship. The Romans had lighted lamps before them, and asked them to turn away the evils which threatened them. Theodosius had be come a god notwithstanding his opposition to Paganism. As the official religion, it looked to the sovereign to support it. It now abandoned every hope when the Emperor prohibited it. The hand of the conqueror was, however, required to complete its destruction. The illustrious Stilicho, the last of the old Romans, the devoted patriot, the skilful general, the sagacious states man, had twice diverted the storm of war from the walls of Rome. When he was put to death by the order of the Emperor Honorius, a man vastly inferior to himself, on the false charge that he was plotting his death, Rome lay open to the barbarian conqueror. Alaric the Goth with his armed bands burst in the dead of the night into the city and mowed down like the bearded grain the un resisting Romans. The soldiers bathed their swords in blood. Shrieks of despair rang through the city. The shouts of the conquerors were heard among smoking ruins, plundered houses and temples, and dead bodies which were scattered through the streets. The palace on the hill of Rome, where the aged Marcella gathered ioo HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. her devotees, the houses of Paulla, and many others, in whose fate we have learned to take an interest, were the first to attract the plunderer. We cannot describe the horrors expressed by the words " given up to sack and pillage." Marcella was put to the torture, scourged, and trampled under foot to make her reveal the hiding-place of the wealth which she had spent in building churches and hospitals and in ministering to the wants of the dis tressed and the perishing. She died a few days after wards. The Christian churches alone escaped. Alaric, a Christian but an Arian, directed that they should be spared, and that they should be inviolable sanctuaries ; while the treasures of the temples, the buried hoards of Roman families, the wealth obtained by years of con quest, the jewels and plate of the heathen were carried away. The sacredvessels andtheornamentsof theChris- tians remained in their uninjured sanctuaries. Many of the heathen nobles were carried into captivity, some fled from the city during the siege, others abandoned for ever their ancient home. Thus they were scattered among the nations like the fragments of some mighty vessel. The exiles, though for a time they retained their faith, were soon absorbed in the Christian population of the empire. The grand temples of the heathens could not be destroyed ; many of them remained empty, but some were converted into Christian churches. Thus the Holy Eucharist was administered and the voice of prayer and praise ascended to the One living and true God through His Son Jesus Christ where once multi tudes had bowed down in solemn adoration before the polluted deities of Olympus. ROME AND MILAN— FOURTH CENTURY. 101 Innocent I., the Pope at this time (A.D. 410), was absent from Rome when the thunder-clouds burst over it. He must have been regarded with greater venera tion because he seemed to have been preserved by the special intervention of God. He was the first Pope to whose prophetic eye had been presented the vision of Rome's universal empire. He had surpassed many of his predecessors in his assertions. He rejected the authority of the Council and the Emperor. He asserted that not only the Churches of Italy, but of Spain and Africa, having been planted by S. Peter, owed allegiance to the Roman See ; and now his ambi tious vision seemed to be realised. The Emperor of the West, Honorius, a mere phantom of royalty, had during the horrors of the assault found refuge in Ravenna. We see now the beginning of a reign at Rome without a rival in Italy. The ancient religion was buried beneath the ruins of the city ; the throne of Innocent was erected upon them. He was the head of a Church which had no opponent in Rome. Possibly an inferior person would not have been so successful as Innocent ; for he was a man of a heroic soul and of great ability. He and his successors became the masters of the Western Church by being the re presentatives of its feelings and opinions. Thus he was the founder of an empire which, consolidated and strengthened, would continue to exist when many kingdoms and dynasties established a long time after wards should have vanished away. CHAPTER III. SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. Causes of the growth of the Papal power — The Pope and the Churches of Africa — The life, work, and character of Leo the Great — The invasion of Italy by Attila— The Church of Aquileia — Rufinus — The Republic and Church of Venice — Pope Hilarus — Canon of Chalcedon as to primacy of Rome — Causes of the struggle and of the schism between Rome and Constantinople — Italy conquered by Theodoric — The Church of Ravenna — Tole ration of Theodoric — Struggle between Laurentius and Symma- chus for the Papacy — Results of the struggle — Submission of Constantinople to Rome — Splendid strategy of Rome — Cause of the imprisonment and death of Pope John — Death of Theodoric — Subversion of the Ostrogothic kingdom an evil — The Emperor Justinian — Victory gained by Pope Agapetus over him and Con stantinople — Italy conquered by Justinian — Intrigues of Vigilius for the Papacy, which are successful — His opposition to Justinian — His subsequent submission and retractations — The legislation of Justinian — Benedict of Nursia — Results of his work — Cassiodo- rus — The life, character, work, and opinions of Gregory the Great — The ritual and music of the Church — The Popes in the seventh century inferior men — Success of the Popes in asserting their supremacy. WE have seen the foundation of the Papal empire. Afterwards every effort was made to compact and consolidate the structure. As formerly, during the " high and palmy " state of the empire, in all difficult matters relating to the body politic, so now in its decline, in those relating to the Church, applications were made to Rome for advice from all parts of the world. The letters sent in reply, at first expressed in mild and moderate language, afterwards assumed the SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. I03 tone of arbitrary mandates, in which the direst penal ties were denounced on those who set them at defiance. Each new concession led to a new encroachment on the spiritual jurisdiction of other bishops. An appli cation made to the Bishop of Rome for concurrence in judgments pronounced by particular Churches was construed into an admission that he was, by virtue of his descent from S. Peter, the spiritual dictator of Christendom. Appeals addressed to the Bishop of Rome by bishops or presbyters in their differences, and applications from monarch s to interfere in their quarrels, were made the occasion of asserting a right to decide by his own arbitrary will, not only the disputes of indi viduals, but also the controversies by which the Church was rent asunder. Thus Zosimus, Bishop of Rome, A.D. 417, put a wrong interpretation upon a canon of the Council of Sardica, held A.D. 343-344 or 347, which he incorrectly asserted to be a canon of the Council of Nicaea, in order to establish his right to entertain an appeal made to him by an African pres byter against his own bishop. As other bishops of Rome have appealed to this canon in support of their pretensions, it may be as well to show that they can not rest upon it their claims to receive appeals. In that Council it was proposed that, if it pleased the charity of the assembled fathers, bishops who differed among themselves might appeal to Julius, Bishop of Rome, who might appoint bishops from the appellant's province, and, if he thought fit, legates representing himself, to settle the matter. This, however, was a 104 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. privilege conferred on Julius himself, because he had been always on the orthodox side, and was not to be granted to his successors in the See of Rome. It is evident, too, that he could not call those causes before him from another tribunal ; that he could only receive appeals, and that he was not to have any voice in the decision of them. Moreover, the expression, " if it please your charity," shows very plainly that the fathers might, if they had chosen, have refused their assent to this proposition, and establishes the fact that the Bishops of Rome had not been constituted, because they were in succession from S. Peter, arbiters of the destinies of Christendom. We may observe also that the Bishops of Rome became the first bishops in Christendom because the civil greatness of the town determined its ecclesiastical position. We have already glanced at this subject in chap. i. p. 22. Constantinople had been raised to its high position simply by the will of the Emperor Constantine. At the time when it became a capital, the recognised order of precedence of the great Sees was Rome, Alexandria, Antioch. Constantinople was not a metropolitan See, but was subject to Heraclea. No apostle had visited the town or suffered martyrdom in it. Yet, without a struggle, Heraclea is placed in a subordinate position, and the Bishop of Constantinople takes precedence of its bishop. It is plain that all the causes which, notwithstanding its late foundation, contributed to raise the See of Constantinople to the second place in Christendom, would have been quite sufficient to raise the See of Rome to the first place in it SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 105 We see, then, that thus gradually the Bishops of Rome obtained additional power. Those who at first opposed them at length submitted to their will. The Churches of Africa were willing at first to admit that the Church of Rome was entitled to high honour on account of its connection with the apostles, but they objected to the assumption of supremacy over them. They had strongly condemned the error of Pelagius and Celestius, who denied the doctrine of original sin, and they wished to obtain the concurrence of Innocent in their judgment. They felt that he was the only person to whom they could apply, as the Churches of the East took no interest in this question and were occupied with their own disputes. They thought, too, that Pelagius, as residing at Rome, was amenable to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome. Innocent concurred in their judgment and anathematised Pelagianism. He saw that his decision would be in harmony with the spirit of the age. This is one of the secrets of the success of Roman assumptions. The Bishops of Rome floated to supremacy on the high tide of popular opinion. The Popes endeavoured as far as possible to represent the general opinion of Christianity. Zosimus, how ever, the successor of Innocent, A.D. 417, condemned the judgment of his predecessor. The Africans now showed their independence of Rome. They positively refused to repeal the sentence of condemnation which they had passed on Pelagius and Celestius till they had revoked their errors. Zosimus was at length obliged to give way and to annul his precipitate judg ment. Again, when Celestine I., A.D. 422, brought for- 106 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. ward the canon of Sardica in support of his claims to supremacy, they denied the right of any foreign Church to interfere with them, and adduced the genuine canon of Nicaea, which gave the members of each provincial Council full authority over their own affairs. At last, however, in the middle of the fifth century, they ac knowledged the Pope's authority, because they wished to obtain his support against the Arian invaders of their country. The removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople had also aided the Bishop of Rome greatly in carrying his ambitious designs into effect. The next event which augmented his authority was the removal of the civil government from Rome to Ravenna by Honorius, the Western Emperor. He was, in the absence of the latter, invested with political importance. So when, A.D. 476, in consequence of a mutiny of the troops, Romulus Augustulus, the last Emperor of the West, ceased to reign, the centre of gravity was changed from the Palatine to the Lateran, and the Bishop of Rome was invited to ascend the throne of the vanished Emperor. He was compelled to consult in peace and war the safety of the city. Every year the advantage gained by him from the abandonment of Rome by the Emperors became more and more manifest. The Emperor possessed the power of deciding the fate and of dictating the faith of the Bishops of Con stantinople, but the Bishops of Rome were becoming independent sovereigns. The Bishops of Rome also possessed influence, not only as the bishops of that city, which was still con- SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 107 sidered as the capital of the world, but also as the alleged successors of S. Peter, their lineal descent from whom was, at the beginning of the fifth century, an accredited article of Christianity. The West, too, en joyed profound peace, while the East was torn by civil dissensions. The dignity of the Bishops of Rome had risen in the estimation of the world in consequence of their freedom from those indignities to which the great prelates of the East were subjected. They had not mingled in personal affrays, endured bodily violence, nor been punished with death, exile, nor excommunica tion. The feuds, also, between the rival patriarchs of the East on religious or political questions aided the progress of Rome to supremacy. The alliance of the Bishop of Rome was of the greatest consequence to those who were engaged in them, which they were willing to purchase by the admission of a right of interference in their concerns. Those feuds tended also to impress the minds of men with a conviction of the importance of one head of the Church, of one supreme arbiter of controversies. In the West the Roman See, in the authority, the dignity, and the succession of the prelates, was unlike the Eastern Church, the succession in which was often broken by the claims of rival bishops. The regularity of that succession, and their freedom also from heresy when other bishops were constantly departing from the faith, contributed to increase their influence throughout the Christian world, not only during the early ages of the Church, but also during those which followed Constantine's conversion. The barbarous 108 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. nations, on their irruption into the Roman empire, augmented their power, for they brought with them from the woods and marshes of Germany the same superstitious veneration for the Pope which they had formerly accorded to the head of their own idolatrous religion. The clergy also continued to be for a long time of Roman descent. Thus that unbroken unity was preserved, the centre of which was Rome. The principle of the unity of the Church as one spiritual communion, independent of place, time, or government, which was brought forward in the third century, and which, when the Western pro vinces of the Empire were broken into separate and hostile states, became advantageous by introducing, through a common belief, the feeling of common interests, gave birth to another, that the one body could have only one head, and so prepared the way for the establishment of Rome's spiritual supremacy. The series of undistinguished Popes was at length broken by Leo I., surnamed the Great Pope, A.D. 440 to 461. He was born in a most important crisis. The process of disintegration was going on in the West for the whole of this century. The hosts of the barbarians were rushing down to ravage and to destroy. Theodosius, one of the most powerful emperors who had ever presided over the destinies of the Roman empire, had, as we have seen, passed away. Honorius, his son, almost an idiot, had fled through cowardice to Ravenna, which was almost impregnable because it was surrounded by morasses, and because he had thrown up fortifications to defend it. Everything SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 109 betokened a collapse. Stone after stone was dislodged from the citadel. Society was sunk in the depths of vice and luxury. In this crisis Leo was born. The hour had come and the man. Leo stood forward on the world's high stage. He was a man born to command. When Sixtus died in August A.D. 440, he was at once elected Pope. He was really the first great Pope who had sat on the Papal throne. He was a man of lofty and severe character, and had a firm conviction that the Papacy was the appointed centre of the Church's unity. He felt that the Church must stand like a rock in the desert waste of ocean, uninjured by the dashing of the billows, unshattered by the violence of the tempest. He saw that ability, firmness, discipline, organisation in a united Church were the qualities required in the man who would make the Church a tower of strength in the hour of danger. In this sense Leo was one of the founders of the Mediaeval Papacy. Leo, a few years after his elevation to the Papacy, A.D. 452, came forward as the saviour of his country. The storm of war had been rolling rapidly forward, shattering the towers and palaces in the proudest cities, and smiting down villages, churches, and count less human beings in its desolating progress. Attila, with his hordes of barbarians, was at no great distance from Rome. They were encamped on the shores of the Lake Benachus, in the green fields of the Mantuan land, where the " silver-grey cattle " of which Virgil sang, still bathe in the calm waters of his native no HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Mincius. The spot is almost in sight of the farm where Melibaeus and Tityrus conversed beneath the shade of the wide-spreading beech-tree. The sun of Italy, from its azure sky, was pouring a flood of splendour over one of the loveliest scenes of earth, through which moved the figures of wild but splendidly attired horse men. As Attila was gazing on this scene, rejoicing in the assurance that his barbarians would soon hold a wild revel in the streets and palaces of the Eternal City, he sees a long train of horsemen winding along through the distant country. At their head appeared an old man riding on a mule. He was followed by others clothed with princely splendour, the ambassa dors of Valentinian to him. With a slow step, that old man climbed the hill. He was tall and well-propor tioned. His snowy hair, escaping from a cap of pecu liar form, flowed down in curls over his shoulders. His eye is calm and mild, but full of slumbering fire, and his step, though slow, is planted firmly on the ground. His demeanour is one of firmness and resolu tion. Painting has done her best to give us a vivid impression of the scene. The figures five and breathe on the canvas of the immortal Raphael in the Vatican. As Leo speaks, the dark eye is filled with the fire of genius. The features beam with the divine light of enthusiasm. The lips seem to tremble with the elo quence of the heart. The broad chest heaves beneath his flowing robes from the effect of the lofty words which issue from his lips. He seems to be remind ing Attila that, if he turned not back, he should share the fate of Alaric, who, when warned to return, SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. m disregarded the warning, and conquered Rome and died. He then told Attila that he was the " Scourge of God," appointed to execute vengeance on His enemies; but that now he had fulfilled his destiny, and that he should retrace his steps, lest God should take his strength from him, and bring his glory to shame. We can see the effect which this spirit-stirring address produced on Attila. He appears, as history has described him, " a man of a terrible presence, proud in his gait, rolling his eyes hither and thither." The savage warriors, indeed, men of low stature, having " a broad chest, a big head, a snub nose, and a hideous colour," seem to be gazing with abject terror at S. Peter and S. Paul, who are hovering above them in the sunny air, the guardians of the Eternal City. But Attila keeps his eyes fixed upon Leo with that stern and immovable gaze before which nations had hitherto trembled. His look of admiration seems to show that he regards Leo as a superior being, who has descended from a higher sphere, commissioned to declare God's will to the inhabitants of this district of His empire. We know the result of this interview. Alaric pro mised to cross the Danube and to live henceforth at peace with the Romans. Some have supposed that he turned back because he heard that the troops of Marcian, the Eastern Emperor, were advancing against him; but a careful examination will serve to show us that military considerations did not determine his retreat. The fear of the fate of Alaric was upon him. 112 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. The impression thus produced was deepened by the presence of Leo, a man evidently of heroic courage, because he trembled not before his gaze; a man too of a firm will, ready to go on even if he stood alone against the universe in arms ; a man of great elo quence, of a holy life, holding too an office which was venerated by the whole civilised world. We cannot wonder, therefore, that he should have yielded to the spell which the presence and address of Leo cast upon him, and that he should have abandoned his purpose. We can have no doubt that this deliverance of Rome from Attila produced a wonderful impression on the minds of people in Rome and throughout the world, and that it tended greatly to the exaltation of the Papacy. When the Emperor proved of no use, the Pope had stood forth as the saviour of the city. He did not afterwards succeed in preventing Genseric, the king of the Vandals, from sacking Rome, but he mitigated the horrors of the capture. He induced him "to refrain from fire, slaughter, or outrage." We seem, therefore, to be justified in asserting that the Bishop of Rome at this time mounted up the first step of the throne of that temporal kingdom which the Popes made it their great object during the Middle Ages to establish. Circumstances were before the time of Leo so ordered as to thrust greatness on the Roman See. Leo was not slow in taking advantage of them. His great object was to save the world and the. Church from absolute disorganisation. His theory tends to SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 113 absolutism. The imperialism of old Rome has an ascendency over him. He asserts that what Peter was in old days, his representative the Pope is at the present time. His commission is to " strengthen the brethren," "to feed Christ's sheep." "From Peter, as from a head, his gifts should flow out into the whole body, so that he should know that he has no share in the divine mystery who has dared to retire from the solid foundation of S. Peter." Again, he states that thus S. Peter is one with Christ in His mediatorial office, and should therefore share his regal power, so that Peter, and consequently his successor, the Pope, should govern all bishops and pastors by his peculiar office, whom Christ governs by His supreme authority. We look at this theory in great astonishment, for we cannot find in Scripture any hint that Peter is the channel of grace to the other apostles. While, how ever, we cannot agree with Leo in the arguments here used, and think that the proposed kingdom is too much of the earth, earthy, we cannot fail to give the tribute of our applause to him who, when the old empire had lost its power to control the wild forces of disorder and disintegration everywhere at work, laboured from disinterested motives to establish a spiritual monarchy, which he saw, with prophetic prescience, should extract order out of chaos, and should prove to be more en during, more powerful, and of greater extent than the secular imperialism. The Eutychian controversy also tended to aggrandise Leo and the Papal See. We do not hesitate to say that for his work in this matter every National Church H4 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. is under infinite obligations to him. Leo strongly asserted the humanity of Jesus Christ. He inflicted penalties on the Roman Manicheans, not only on ac count of their disgraceful immoralities, but also because they made the human nature of Christ unreal, and seemed to be obscure as to His divinity. He laid down very plainly the doctrine of the Incarnation, affirming the existence of the divine and human natures in the person of Christ. He sent his representative to support that view very strongly at the Council of Ephesus ; but in a tumultuous assembly Eutychian- ism, which denies that doctrine, was strongly affirmed. Leo used every effort, but in vain, to induce the Emperor to call a Council to reverse that decision ; he was, however, unwilling to do so. His successor summoned it at Chalcedon. Leo's celebrated " Tome " proving the correct doctrine was read, and was received with tumultuous applause. Thus through Leo's influence the doctrine was established. Rome thus played a prominent part in the affirmation of that doctrine. Just when her claims as to juris diction were brought prominently forward, Eutyches appeared on the scene, and gave her the opportunity of being not only the centre of authority, but also the centre of truth. Thus, then, we owe Leo a debt of gratitude for preserving to us uninjured the valuable treasure of a faith in our Lord's humanity. When we see, further, that his life was dedicated to Christ and His Church ; when we consider his Christian character, especially as exhibited in his sermons ;,when we observe that his great object was the promotion of SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 115 the Divine glory; when we find that he endeavours to keep his exploits in the background, and to fix the eyes of those whom he addressed on the divine and human person of his dear Redeemer — those most opposed to Papal aggrandisement must admit that he deserves to be called a saint, and that he has established a strong claim on the admiration of succeeding generations. The invasion of Italy by Attila reminds us of another Church, which, like Milan, was independent of Rome. The barbarian chieftain, enraged by the stubborn re sistance of Aquileia, gave it up to his soldiers to wreak their vengeance upon it. The wretched inhabitants were plundered and put to the sword, and the women became the victims of the brutal lust of the barbarians. When we were speaking of Jerome, we described its situation at the northern bend of the Adriatic Sea, at no great distance from the modern Venice. A Roman colony occupied it 1 8 1 B.C. Aquileia, when it received Christianity, was a town of the greatest commercial importance. It became the emporium for commerce between Italy and the modern Illyrian provinces of Austria. When Illyria and Pannonia became Roman provinces, all the luxuries and produce from the seat of empire found their way into the new territory. Aquileia also sent the corn, the wine, the oil, and the woven fabrics of the Mediterranean provinces into Pannonia and Noricum. It might, at the time before us, have contested with Milan and Ravenna the dis tinction of being the most important city of Northern Italy. Ecclesiastical, had, according to the usual rule, followed commercial supremacy. The Bishop of Aqui- 116 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. leia ruled as Metropolitan over Istria and the whole of Venetia, comprising no less than twenty-seven Suf fragan Sees. Between the years 350 and 450, Verona, in Lombardy, and Silistria, on the Lower Danube, ac knowledged his supremacy. Probably the portion of Illyricum assigned to the East on the accession of Theodosius ceased before long to belong to the See of Aquileia. Verona and the whole of Western Vene tia may have been transferred as a compensation for the loss, from the metropolitan jurisdiction of Milan to that of Aquileia soon after the death of S. Ambrose. We have to add to the preceding statement that a distinguished man, Rufinus, the earliest Western ecclesiastical historian, a member of the Church of Aquileia, who died A.D. 410, wrote a commentary on its Creed, one of the first books printed in England, to which learned men for the last three centuries have appealed exclusively for the origin and true character of what is called the Aposdes' Creed. We here refer to the Creed of twelve articles, supposed to have been com posed by the twelve Aposdes before their separation, each Apostle contributing one article. Mr. Ffoulkes has, however, shown in his work on the Creeds that, on account of the manifest interpolations in it, it is quite impossible that the Exposition can have been written by Rufinus. Divested of its interpolations, the work of Rufinus may be understood as preserv ing the exact form of the Aquileian Creed in his day. It ran thus: — (1) I believe in God the Father Almight}-, invisible and impassible ; (2) and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord ; (3) who was bom by SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 117 the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary; (4) was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and was buried; (5) rose again the third day from the dead ; (6) ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of the Father ; (7) from thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead ; (8) and in the Holy Ghost; (9) the Holy Church; (10) the re mission of sins; (11) the resurrection of this body. The Church intended that the individual should always be reminded that it was this body with which I am now clothed. We find here also a remarkable ecclesiastical in stitution which belonged to Aquileia as a border town, when it was partially restored by Narses, the exarch of Ravenna, about a hundred years after this time. The Western prelate of Aquileia, on account of the connection with the East thus established, assumed the dignity of Patriarch, which belongs to the Eastern prelates. He took this title not only without consult ing Rome, but at the beginning of a long schism from it. This schism arose from the condemnation of the three Chapters, of which we shall speak directly. He withdrew his allegiance from Vigilius because the latter condemned them. The Patriarchate survived its reverses and its temporary removal to Grado. At Aquileia he must have presided over a few houses, as we learn that a hundred years later, probably in con sequence of the conflagration kindled by the soldiers of Attila, scarcely a vestige of it remained. The restoration did not materially increase the number of the houses. The Popes recognised the Patriarchs in their new dignity when the schism ceased. Notwith- 118 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. standing a fresh act of disloyalty in taking the part of Photius, John XIX. spoke of the See of Aquileia, two centuries after him, about A.D. 1030, as being second in rank to Rome, and above all the Episcopal Sees in Italy. In fact, the Patriarchate has ceased to exist only about 190 years, for we are told of an election to it A.D. 1688 ; but the dignity was really granted by Nicolas V. to the See of Venice, A.D. 145 1. The city, however, disappears from history at the time now before us. "At the present day two or three mean-looking villages cower amid the vast enclosure, chiefly filled with maize-fields and cherry-trees, while the high-pitched roof of the Duomo, with its tall detached campanile, dominates the plain " (Hodgkin's "Italy and her Invaders," ii. 179). We must here notice also the share of Attila in bring ing into existence another important actor on the stage of Italy, the Republic of Venice. We mention Venice particularly, because the city will come prominently before us hereafter. We shall find that Venice is remarkable at once for her devotedness to the Pope and for her independence ; for her liberality to the Church and her ministers, and for her jealousy of spiritual despotism ; for her lavish bounty designed to add to the pomp and glare of public worship, and for the trouble which she gave to the Papal See ; for her willingness to submit to the claims of the Pope when ever she could safely do so, and for the patriotism which led her to spurn them when they encroached on her spiritual and temporal liberties. The tradition which asserts that Venice and its neighbouring cities in the Lagunes were peopled by SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 119 fugitives from Aquileia and other neighbouring towns is so constant that we feel bound to accept it. We must, when we stand near to Venice, peopled from Padua, take a little time to free ourselves from the spell cast upon us by " The pleasant place of all festivity, The revel of the earth, the masque of Italy," as she rises before us with her gorgeous palaces, in order to bring before us the desolate islands and the far extending wastes of sand and sea in which the high-born Roman provincial and the delicate females took refuge when, A.D. 452, Attila's soldiers wrapped in flames the churches, the mansions, and the towers of Aquileia, Concordia, Altinum, and Padua. The fugi tives were safe, because only pilots of experience can guide a large vessel through those mazy channels. The contrast will seem to us complete when, as we are informed by Cassiodorus, the secretary to Theo doric the Ostrogoth, for 250 years the refugees in those islands prolonged an obscure existence, fishing, damming out the waves with vine branches, driving piles in the sandbanks, and gradually extending their villages. But " out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." Attila has in Venice, as we shall find in a future chapter, helped to raise a barrier against the Turks, who otherwise, like a mighty torrent, would have rolled with desolat ing fury over the continent of Europe. Leo died A.D. 461, and was succeeded by Hilarus the Sardinian. We notice in his pontificate that as 120 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. the glory of the empire wanes, the splendour of the Papal court increases. We find in the Lives of the Popes a long page containing a list of the costly gifts of gold and silver which he offered in the three ora torios erected by him in the Lateran Basilica. We notice too at this time that while poverty reigned in the city, and the houses were becoming more squalid in their appearance, the shrines of martyrs and saints were adorned with ever-increasing splendour. The only public event with which he was connected was the defeat of an attempt made by the Emperor An- themius to restore the worship of the gods in the Capitol. The pontificate of the successor of Hilarus, Pope Simplicius, was signalised by a stage in the disintegra tion of the Western provinces of the Empire. Romulus Augustulus was deposed in a successful mutiny, A.D. 476, by Odoacer, a soldier of fortune from the banks of the Danube, who afterwards became King of Italy. Romulus was the last native Caesar of Rome. The East and West were severed only for administrative purposes. They were still supposed to constitute a single empire. We now see a re-union of the East and West. Odoacer, taking the title of king, ruled for fourteen years as the vicar of the Eastern Emperor. This revolution attracted the attention of those who presided over the Sees of Rome and Constantinople. We have seen that the civil posi tion of a city determined its ecclesiastical greatness. Now if there were no Emperor in the Western pro vinces, it would seem as if Rome, the imperial city, SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 121 were dethroned from its " pride of place." One of the canons of the Council of Chalcedon, passed after Leo's legates had left, made the primacy of old Rome depend not on its connection with Peter, but on its position in the world. Acacius, the Bishop of Constantinople, a man of great ability and of a very ambitious spirit, at once saw the advantage which this canon gave him. He had secured the election of Peter the Stammerer to the See of Alexandria, and had nullified the election of a rival candidate, John Talaias. Felix II., the suc cessor of Simplicius, sent legates insisting on the restoration of Talaias to the See. The legates were imprisoned and threatened with death unless they recognised Peter the Stammerer. Felix retaliated by anathematising Acacius, deposing him from his bishop ric, and cutting him off as a diseased limb from the communion of the Church. The parchment contain ing the sentence was conveyed to Constantinople, and fastened to the dress of Acacius as he was about to officiate in the church. Acacius proceeded with the ceremony. Suddenly he paused. With a clear voice, he ordered the name of Felix, Bishop of Rome, to be struck off the list of bishops in connection with the Church. This scene at Constantinople, A.D. 484, was the commencement of the first great schism of thirty- five years between the Eastern and Western Churches. In A.D. 489 a great king appeared on the scene, who was at length asked to assist in settling this ecclesiastical strife. Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, had induced the Eastern Emperor to give his sanction to the inva sion of Italy. The object was to deprive the barbarian 122 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. King Odoacer of his usurped dominion. Victory twice rested on the banners of Theodoric. Odoacer took refuge in Ravenna, where he was besieged for three years. When he surrendered, an arrangement was made that he and Theodoric should be joint-rulers of Italy. Soon afterwards Theodoric invited him, AD. 493, to a banquet, where he was treacherously assassinated. Ravenna was the usual residence of Theodoric during his reign. In Ravenna he endeavoured to rival, nay, to surpass, the magnificence of Rome. Skilful artists were invited from that city to execute works in mosaic which we still admire in the basilicas and baptisteries. Ravenna was also adorned with new palaces, baths, and amphitheatres, and churches. In a magnificent palace at the eastern side of Ravenna, of which crumbling walls only remain, resided for more than thirty years the great Theodoric, looking to the dark and magnificent pine-wood, near which he fought his last battle with Odoacer, and seeing from its high towers the blue waters of the Adriatic Sea. The ecclesiastical traditions of Ravenna form a large ingredient in its history. We cannot, however, do more than give a brief reference to them. The chronicle by Agnellus (Muratori, Rerum Ital. Script?), a bishop of the See, extending from A.D. 50 to 800, is a very precious document of those early ages. We learn from it that the legend is that the Church was founded by Apollinaris, the friend and disciple of S. Peter ; that he governed the diocese for twenty-nine years ; that he baptized his converts in the sea and celebrated worship in a cottage on the shore ; and that SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 123 till Ursus was elected, A.D. 400, the flock had no other temples than cottages. We read nothing in those early ages of interference from Rome. On the con trary, we learn from the chronicle that the Emperor Valentinian III., in the early part of the fifth century, was so greatly moved by the preaching of the bishop, John Angeloptes, that he gave him fourteen cities with their churches, to be governed by him as archbishop. These fourteen cities, with their bishops, are stated to have been in the year 839, when the history was written, still subject to the Church of Ravenna. We further read that " he received from the Emperor a pallium of white wool, and that he and his successors have used such a vestment down to the present day." , This statement is very important, because it would seem to show that the Church of Ravenna was quite independent of the Church of Rome even as to inves titures. We come to the same conclusion from the legend that after the election of Severus, A.D. 346, the dove uniformly appeared in the assembly convened to elect a bishop, to guide the human choice according to the Divine will. Severus, a wool-comber, one day said to his wife, " I will now go and see how a dove shall descend from high heaven, and light on the head of him who is to be chosen bishop." Having on his dirty clothes, he hid himself behind the door of the palace where the people were assembled. While he was standing there, a dove whiter than snow lighted on his head. He drove it away, but it settled there a second" and a third time. Then the authorities crowded round him, gave thanks to God, and hailed 124 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Severus as bishop. This legend serves to show the legal intervention of the popular element, and the freedom of Ravenna from the interference of Rome in the appointment of its archbishop. Theodoric was distinguished for his toleration. In this respect he stands in marked contrast to the bar barian Genseric and his son, who plunged into the thick of the theological battle, cutting out the tongues and racking the limbs of Catholic bishops ; and Clovis, who made his zeal his excuse for invading the lands of his kinsman. He and his people were Arians, but they had not a burning zeal for proselytism, because their Arianism was hereditary, their conversion having accidentally taken place under the rule of an Arian emperor. Theodoric, too, felt himself bound to re spect the religious opinions of the majority of his subjects. This moderation will seem remarkable, especially when, as we shall see under Justinian, the theocratic idea of imperial supremacy had been held by Constantine, and especially by his successors. The Catholic had an equal chance with the Arian of obtaining the royal favour. The Arian clergy shared the tolerant feelings of the King. The noble words of Theodoric reported by Cassiodorus (Var. ii. 27), " We commend the religion of our subjects, since no one can be forced to believe against his will," show us very plainly that the Emperor was determined not to do violence to their conscientious convictions. He thought that they would be rewarded or punished for them by God when they stood before His tribunal. In consequence of this impartial position, he was SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 125 able to exercise great influence on Papal elections. Pope Gelasius, A.D. 493, in reply to an embassy from Constantinople on the subject of the reconciliation of the two Churches, refused to have any peace till a strong censure was passed on Acacius, who had anathematised the Roman Pontiff. The Emperor Anastasius rather wished his name to be passed over in silence than publicly expunged from the diptychs. After his death the arch-presbyter Laurentius was brought forward as a candidate for the Papacy by the party which did not wish for a strong censure on Acacius. The candidate of the opposite party, Symmachus, was elected before him in one church and Laurentius was elected afterwards in another. The city was plunged into the turmoil of a contest for the Papacy. The streets were deluged with blood. Then Rome reaped the advantage of the enlightened toleration of the King. His sentence was, "The candidate first elected, if also the candidate elected by most voices, ought to be Pope." He who fulfilled these conditions was Symmachus. But the matter was not yet settled. The oppo site party determined to oppose Symmachus. They brought against him a charge of gross immorality and of alienation of the property of the Church. The King, hearing of these charges, summoned him to answer them at Rimini. Imagining that some females whom he saw entering the city were brought to bear witness against him, he stole away by night and took refuge in S. Peter's at Rome. Theodoric, hearing of his flight, appointed a visitor, Peter of Altino, to hear the charges against him and 126 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. to govern the Church in his stead. He showed great partiality, turning out of the churches those whom Symmachus had appointed, and substituting for them the followers of Laurentius. Theodoric was after wards asked by some to summon a Council at Ravenna to settle the matter ; but he told them that he did not wish to interfere in it, and directed them to summon a Council at Rome. The Council assembled on Sep tember i, A.D. 501. The Pope on his way to it was assailed by the partisans of Laurentius, and was saved from personal violence only by the body-guard of Theodoric. This disturbance secured the victory to Symmachus ; he could now plead his sacred pre rogative. He retired saying, " I am in God's hands and the King's ; I appear not before the Council." Theodosius, angry on account of the insult offered to himself in the persons of the body-guard, gave his full consent to the decrees restoring Symmachus to his high office. He resumed his dignity without having seemed to submit to its jurisdiction. We can see in the decree of the Council a faint intimation that the Pope is exempt from all human authority. The con tention here affirmed, which ultimately prevailed, was that a Council could not sit in judgment on a Pope. We may also say that while it was maintained by some and denied by others that a king could call a Council, it was never formally denied that the Pope was subject for adultery to his jurisdiction. Symmachus, thus restored to his dignity, took no part in the ecclesiastical war with the East. The great event of his pontificate before this time was the SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 127 passing of a law forbidding canvassing for the Papacy during the lifetime of the Pope, and declaring the election to be in the majority of the clergy. The war with Constantinople had continued now for thirty years. The principal actors in the drama, including Acacius, had passed away, but Rome adhered to her determi nation not to have any peace till a strong censure was passed on Acacius. Hormisdas, of whom hopes were entertained on account of his mildness, in A.D. 514 and 515 proved as inexorable as his predecessors. The acceptance of the terms of reconciliation involved concessions, including that censure which the Emperor Anastasius was determined not to pronounce. The Emperor Justin, once an unlettered peasant, at once, A.D. 509, opened negotiations with Rome. The am bassadors sent by the Pope were instructed to say that the bishops must sign a libellus if they wished to be reconciled. The signature was equivalent to a decla ration that they had fallen from the faith. The end was that the Patriarch in the name of the Church adopted the whole of the libellus, with its strong assertion of the office of Peter and the Apostolic See as the guardians of the faith of Christendom, and anathematised Acacius. We cannot too strongly condemn the spirit which many of the Popes displayed during this struggle, but we must admit that they have shown themselves very skilful in their movements. They have taken advantage of the circumstances which were presented to them, and have developed a power of splendid strategy which has greatly improved their position. 128 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. They have increased their power by defeating the attempt to dethrone them from their high place as spiritual heads of Christendom. They will now, as we shall see, have an army of legates, monks, bishops, and clergy under their command, who will carry on the war for them, and add new provinces to their dominions. They will encounter reverses in that war fare, as in the case of Vigilius, of whom we shall soon speak, which have left an indelible stain on their annals, and have greatly hindered them in their aggressive designs. But we shall find that often, regarding only the maxims of worldly wisdom, and disregarding those higher and holier rules of action with which those maxims are often at variance, they have advanced from victory to victory, until they have at length compelled many nations to submit to their dominion. The sun of Theodoric, which had shed its soft radi ance over the mountains, the lakes, and the valleys of Italy, was, A.D. 526, sinking down amid a gloomy mass of clouds. He had shown in the controversy which he carried on as to Symmachus sound sense and practical statesmanship. A free Church in a free State was one of his maxims. He had made one or two mistakes, but he knew how to retrieve them. He had taken no part in the struggle between Rome and Constantinople for supremacy. But the fanaticism exhibited by the Emperor Justin aroused in him the worst passions of human nature. "The head and front of his offending" was that he was an Arian. The Emperor, when he persecuted the Manicheans, SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 129 had made an exception in favour of the Arians. But now they also must be persecuted. Theodoric showed the change which this intolerance had made in him by compelling Pope John, the first of a long line of the same name, to go on a mission to Constantinople to remonstrate with Justin on his persecution of the Arians, and to obtain from him the restitution of the churches of which he had deprived them. The simple fact that, sorely against his will, he undertook this mission at the bidding of a heretical sovereign, shows us very plainly that the Church was in those days subject to the State. We cannot tell, in conse quence of the conflicting testimony on the subject, whether he succeeded in the object of his mission. We do know, however, that directly after his return he was thrown into prison, possibly because he had influenced the Emperor for objects the very reverse of those which he had undertaken to promote. He died after an imprisonment of several months, and thus became a martyr in the estimation of Romanists. The subsequent execution of Boethius and Symmachus, the former of whom was the author of a work, " Consola tions of Philosophy," very popular among Christians in former days, in which, however, there is nothing distinctively Christian, has been the means of sur rounding them with a halo of sanctity as martyrs, as they came near the death of Pope John, to which they are very far from being entitled. Theodoric wrongly supposed that they had been engaged in a treasonable conspiracy against him. These untimely executions hastened his death. The grand mausoleum 1 130 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. still standing at Ravenna, erected in his lifetime, has become a cenotaph. The Roman Catholics execrate his memory. Many, however, while they condemn his Arianism, think that he ought to be honoured for his just and beneficent rule. The glory of the services which he rendered to Italy is tarnished by only one fault, of which he bitterly repented before his death. We do not hesitate to say that the subversion of the Ostrogothic kingdom, which soon followed, has been a real evil to Italy. Rome has kept Italy disunited, and has hindered her from taking a high place because she was jealous of any rival authority in the country. She has constantly, as we shall see, been bringing fresh sovereigns over the Alps, who have laid waste her fertile plains, sowed dissension among her cities, and have proved the worst enemies of Italian liberty and independence. If Rome had surrendered her temporal power, she would not have lessened her influence by involving herself in political strife, and she would have extended her spiritual empire over the minds of men throughout the continent of Europe. We have described a victory gained by the Bishop of Rome which served to extend the boundaries of his empire. We shall have to describe another less important victory, which, however, strengthened his position for offensive warfare. We shall then have to speak of a terrible reverse, the consequences of which have extended to the age in which we live. We must now bring forward other actors in the Papal drama. The Emperor Justinian was in some respects SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 131 a remarkable man. His military achievements decided the course of the history of Italy, and affected the development of Western Europe. His legal works, besides, regulated the jurisprudence of the empire for three centuries and a half, and are inextricably inter woven with the web of European civilisation. The permanent and far-reaching influences of his reign could only have been created by a personal ascendency of a remarkable kind. He strove to be absolute in Church and State. He was Pope and Caesar. By his victories and his administration he raised the empire to a high place among the nations. But he was proud, avaricious, weak, and prodigal. He shocked his subjects by making a beautiful courtesan, Theodora, the partner of his throne. She was proud, self-willed, a heretic, and a bigot, and utterly devoid of religious principle. She presumed to settle the appointments to ecclesiastial dignities, and even sold the Papacy. Theodoric had for his successor in Italy his grand son, Athalaric, who died young from the effects of debauchery. His mother, Amasaluntha, who had aided him in the government, before his death gave her hand and the kingdom to her cousin, Theodotus. He soon succeeded in banishing the unhappy daughter of Theodoric to a lonely island in the Lake Bolsena, and there put her to death. Justinian made this barbarous murder a pretext for invading Italy. The Catholic clergy, too, urged him to deliver them from the rule of an Arian. Theodotus persuaded Pope Agapetus to go on a mission to Constantinople to appease the anger of Justinian. He is the only one of the Popes — Felix [32 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. IV., Boniface II., John II., and himself — since the death of Theodoric, who has left his mark on the history of the Church. He was more than eighty when he was promoted to the See, which he held for only ten months. He entered Constantinople on February 20, A.D. 536, and was received with great respect by the Emperor and citizens. He was altogether unsuccessful in the object of his mission, but he advanced the position of his See. Anthimus was at this time Bishop of Constan tinople, and was strongly suspected of holding the Eutychian views of the Empress Theodora, to whom he owed his promotion to the See. Agapetus sternly declined to recognise him, not only because he was a heretic, but also because, in disregard of a canon of the Church, he had been promoted from Trebizond to Constantinople. Justinian tried to terrify him by his frown and by his commanding voice, " Comply with my request, or I will cause thee to be earned away into banishment." Quite unmoved, Agapetus replied in these memorable words, " I, who am a sinner, came with eager longing to gaze on the most Christian Emperor, Justinian. In his person I find a Diocletian, whose threats do not terrify me." Justinian must be praised, because this bold language moved rather his admiration than his anger. Agapetus was allowed by the Emperor to question Anthimus as to his faith. When Agapetus found that he was an undoubted Monophysite, Justinian at once deprived him of his See, and Agapetus consecrated a new prelate to the See, Mennas, who held firmly the decrees of Chalcedon. This visit of Agapetus was a step in the progress of SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 133 Rome towards an universal Patriarchate. The whole scene suggests the idea that the Patriarch of Constan tinople occupies a subordinate position to the successor of S. Peter. We must now speak of the degradation of the Papacy. Belisarius, the great general of Justinian, had advanced rapidly in his career of victorv, and had made himself master of Rome. Silverius at this time (a.d. 536-537) sat in the chair of S. Peter. Vigilius, a member of one of the official families of Rome, had made the attain ment of the Papacy the object of his ambition. He had intrigued for it. Boniface II., alleging as his ex cuse the disorders which prevailed in the city on the occasion of the election of the Popes, made the attempt, A.D. 53 1, to acquire the power to nominate his successor, and was induced to appoint Vigilius ; but the pressure ' of public opinion obliged him to revoke, and even to burn, the decree of nomination. Vigilius, seeing that he had no chance of obtaining the Papacy through the suffrages of the clergy and people, adopted another means of attaining his object. He saw that Theodora was determined to restore the Monophysitcs to their ascendency. He now made overtures to her; he promised tiiat if she would be instrumental in his appointment to the Papacy, he would aid her in the attainment of her object. She sent him with a letter to Belisarius, in which he was charged to make Vigilius Pope. The old Papal biographer has brought forward the following events with dramatic vividness. Vigilius promised Belisarius 100 lbs. weight of gold or ^Sooo if he were enthroned instead 134 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of Silverius in the chair of S. Peter. A letter was produced, written in the name of Silverius, offering to open the Asinarian Gate to the Goths. The latter had retired from Rome on the approach of Belisarius, but they had returned, and were now besieging the city. Silverius was urged to avert his ruin by con demning the Monophysites. He at first wavered in his determination to maintain the profession of his faith, but at last he became inflexible in his purpose not to yield to his persecutors. He was then sum moned before Antonina, the wife of Belisarius, the accomplice in all the intrigues of Theodora, who was as depraved as herself. She was lying on a couch, and Belisarius was sitting by her side. He would not interfere because he had no fancy for the task. A false charge was then made against Silverius. Anto nina said to him, " Tell us, Lord Pope Silverius, what have we done to thee and the Romans that thou shouldest wish to betray us to the Goths ? " Then he was stripped, clothed in his monastic dress, de posed from the See, and sent into banishment at Portus. Justinian, having heard of his deposition, desired that he should be sent to Rome and put on his trial. If the letters were forged, he was to be restored to the Papal throne. After his return, his enemies seized him again and sent him to the desolate island of Palmaria, where he died on the 21st of June, A.D. 538, perhaps by the hand of violence. Vigilius now obtained the object of his ambition. For a time he declared his support of the decree of the Council of Chalcedon ; but four years afterwards, SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 135 when urged by Theodora to fulfil the condition of his appointment and to declare himself in favour of the Monophysites, he did not venture to refuse to comply with her demand. He was afterwards summoned to Constantinople and charged to condemn the three Chapters, or the works of three divines long dead, who had supported, or seemed to support, the Nestorian heresy. Vigilius well knew that though the Eutych- ians would be delighted, the orthodox would think that a blow was aimed at the authority of the Council of Chalcedon. He at first refused to comply with this demand, but at length he was obliged in private to say that he would do his utmost for the condemnation of the Chapters. The jealousy of the Western Bishops was roused by the interference of the Emperor in ecclesiastical matters. Anxious not to offend them, he joined them in condemning as traitors those who celebrated mass in any church where the Emperor's edict against the Chapters was read. This opposition roused Justinian to frenzy. The full weight of his anger descended on Vigilius. The successor of S. Peter was exposed to one indignity after another. On one occasion the soldiers endea voured to drag him from a church, to the pillars of which he clung with convulsive grasp. But he per severed in his opposition to Justinian. He deliberately prepared a document in which he condemned the pro ceedings of those who wished to condemn the three Chapters. A sentence of banishment was then passed upon him. He was conveyed to the little island of Proconnesus, near the end of the Sea of Marmora. At 136 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. length his courage gave way. He had now paid the full penalty of his ambition. He had drained the cup of sorrow to its very dregs. After six months of banishment, he wrote a letter to the Patriarch of Con stantinople, saying that he had examined the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, and that he found in them many things which he was now prepared to condemn. Two months afterwards he addressed a long Constitu tion to the Bishops of the West, retracting what he said as to the impropriety of condemning the three Chapters. He was then allowed to return to Italy. But he was not again to see the Church of the Lateran. His health, which had suffered from his many sorrows, from a painful disorder, and from his banishment, now became rapidly worse. He could proceed no farther than Sicily, where he died on the 7th January, A.D. 555. Such was the unhappy end of Vigilius. He has inflicted a severe wound on his spiritual mother. His frequent waverings and retractations have been often brought forward in disproof of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, which, as we shall see in our last chapter, is now the keystone of the arch of the Roman Catholic system. His case seems to show that if the Greek Emperor could have retained Italy, the Bishop of Rome would have become as subservient to the Emperor as the Bishop of Constantinople. The separation of the East from the West, to be described in the next chap ter, is the epoch of Papal supremacy. The Papacy, as the source of authority, must have suffered in the estimation of the world through the indignities offered to the Pope, even if at this time he had been a man SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 137 who consistently maintained his conscientious con victions. But the indecision of Vigilius, his alleged crimes, and his association with the intrigues of the court were the means of inflicting a wound on the Papacy from which it did not recover until, forty years after this time, Gregory the Great infused fresh vigour into its languid frame, and raised it to a high place among the nations. We may here refer to the legislation of Justinian, and to its effects upon Christendom. As Dean Milman writes ("History of Latin Christianity," book iii. c. 5): " That Justinian is a Christian Emperor appears in the front of his jurisprudence. Before the august temple of the Roman law there is, as it were, a vestibule in which the Emperor seats himself as the religious legis lator of the world in its new relation towards God. The Christian Emperor treats all mankind as his sub jects in their religious as well as their civil capacity. The Emperor's creed, as well as his edicts, are the universal law of the empire. . . . Justinian declares that he holds the doctrine of the Church, of the Apostles and their successors. He recognises the authority of the four great Councils. He even acknow ledges the supremacy of the Roman Church, and com mands all the Churches to be united to her. At the time of the publication of the Code, John III. was Bishop of Rome ; but he had been appointed under the exarch ; his inauguration had submissively awaited the Emperor's approval. Rome, therefore, it was hoped, had become, notwithstanding the rapid advance of the Lombards, an integral, an inseparable part of the 138 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. empire. Justinian, therefore, legislates for Rome as for the East." Justinian further directed all metropolitans, bishops, and clergy to obey, and, if commanded, to publish all the laws, because they are divine. He prescribed the ordination of bishops, the persons qualified for ordina tion, the whole form and process of the ceremony; but, at the same time, he allows the canons of the Church to have the same authority as his own laws. He also regulated the authority of the ecclesiastical as well as of the civil magistrates of the realm. We will give an instance, because it has lately come before us. The trial of a bishop by a Synod of bishops appears to be in accordance with primitive usage ; but Justinian directed a departure from it, because he wished to assimilate the method of judicature in the Church to that of the empire. As in the latter there was a regular gradation, and consequent appeal from the proconsul or governor of the province to the ex arch of the diocese, then to the prefect, and lastly to the Emperor; so Justinian designed that there should be an appeal from the bishop in the (eccle siastical) diocese to the metropolitan in the (eccle siastical) province, and then to the Patriarch, the chief bishop of several provinces. Thus ultimately Justinian helped to establish the supremacy of the Pope. As the Emperor was the top-stone of the civil organisation, so the Pope became the top-stone of the ecclesiastical organisation. We have hitherto wandered occasionally in a glimmer ing light through devious tracks, where we have en- SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 139 countered men once highly distinguished, who are now forgotten by the world. We have now to speak of one not moving in the world's highway, who has exercised an undoubted influence on the future of Christendom. Benedict was born about A.D. 480 at Nursia, under the shadow of the highest peaks of the Apennine range. He was the son of noble parents. He was sent at an earlj' age for his education to Rome. The air was at this time impregnated with that spirit of monasticism which Athanasius introduced into Italy. Benedict was infected by it, and determined to bury him self in a desert solitude. He must have been at this time of tender years, as he took with him his faithful nurse as the companion of his flight; but he soon separated from her, plunging into wild gorges and ascending inaccessible hills. At length he came to a kind of basin, opening out between two immense walls of rock, from which a stream descends to a place about fifty miles from Rome called Subiaco. On his way he met a monk, Romanus, who supplied him with a hair cloth shirt and a monastic dress made of the skins of beasts. Under his guidance, ascending the rock, he discovered in it a cave to which the light of the sun never penetrated. He buried himself for three years in this living tomb. The monk Romanus supplied him with a loaf daily from his own scanty fare, lower ing it to him by a rope to which was attached a bell warning him that it was coming. This cave thus became the cradle of the Benedictine Order. In this retreat Benedict carried on, like the soli taries of the Thebaid, a ceaseless warfare with the 140 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Prince of Darkness. Once the vision of a beautiful lady, whom he had known at Rome, hovered before him, and he was tempted to return to Rome to have intercourse with her. He extinguished the passion by stripping off his clothing and roiling himself in a clump of thorns and nettles till his body was torn with wounds. Again he was tempted by the sin of ambition. The monks of a neighbouring monastery, hearing of the fame of his sanctity, which was now published through the neighbourhood, invited him to become their superior. He thought that he was punished for his ambition in accepting the post, as they attempted to poison him. They did not like the strictness of his rule. But it is said that he made the sign of the cross over the vessel, and it fell, shivered to pieces as if it had been struck with a stone. He immediately returned to his beloved cavern. Very soon large multitudes flocked to him, Romans and barbarians, nobles and priests, attracted by the fame of his virtues and alleged miracles. He was obliged, therefore, to build twelve monasteries in the neighbourhood, every one inhabited by twelve monks. The nobles brought their young sons to be trained by him. This popularity made him unpopular with the neighbouring clergy. A priest sent him, according to the common custom, a piece of bread as a token of brotherhood, which he believed to be poisoned. He gave it to a crow, which immediately fell down in the agonies of death. Again he sent seven shame less women to the monks' cells. This step was so outrageous that he determined to leave the gorges of SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 141 Subiaco, where he had lived for thirty-five years ; but probably the real reason was that he found himself to be the centre of an admiring multitude, and that he could not have that solitude which was the object of his desire. Benedict ended the journey, which he made, A.D. 528, in search of a new home in a scene of incomparable grandeur. Upon the boundaries of Samnium and Campania rises a high and isolated hill, surrounded by picturesque eminences, overlooking the course of the Liris, and the plain which extends towards the Mediterranean. On this hill stood the celebrated monastery of Monte Cassino. The record of those years, as of those passed at Subiaco, is a record of alleged miracles. The ground where he proposed to build the monastery was occupied by an altar and a statue of Apollo, to which the peasants had offered sacrifice. The devil, angry because he was disturbed in his peculiar domain, by sitting on one of the stones which it was proposed to raise to a place in the build ing, made it immovable till Benedict by his prayers compelled him to depart. This was one of those struggles with the devil in bodily form which were a distinguishing feature of the belief of the Middle Ages. Into that fold, when completed, came men of all ranks, many of whom sought repose for their minds, wearied by the strife of a turbulent age. The saint was constantly engaged in pouring the oil and wine of heavenly consolation into their wounded spirits. Many young men of noble families placed themselves under his charge. At length the end came. The death of his sister Scholastica, who had established a monastery 142 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. in the neighbourhood, warned him of his own depar ture. He survived her only forty days. Standing by her grave, which he had caused to be opened for the reception of his own remains, according to his bio grapher, Gregory the Great, he died, murmuring a last prayer, on 2 1st March, A.D. 543. We have thus brought before our readers an im portant part of the Church's history. While other institutions have risen, flourished, and are now for gotten, the name of Benedict of Nursia and of his monastery on Mount Cassino has lived, and will live, in durable records. After his death, Benedictine monasteries continued to rise throughout Italy in secluded valleys and on the summit of lofty moun tains. The monastic system of Benedict passed from Italy to France, Spain, and England. It continued to flourish till the thirteenth century, when the holiness of the contemplative life was cast into the shade, as we shall see, by the enthusiastic zeal of S. Francis and S. Dominic, who stood on the world's highway and addressed to all around them the words of exhortation and remonstrance. We have thus brought before our readers an impor tant factor in the religious life of the Church during the dark and middle ages. We have seen the origin of this movement in the times of S. Jerome. We can see that it began as an honest though superstitious reform in a time of general immorality. Its first leaders were men of genius and practical sagacity, who, seeing its fitness in some respects to supply the wants of the times, were slow to discern its errors and abuses. The SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 143 latter were not developed till subsequent ages. We can easily see why it is that the fame of Benedict of Nursia has eclipsed the fame of the early and Western supporters of monastic institutions. The reason is that he supphed a regula or rule, a complete code of monastic duty, which men very much wanted to enable them to organise the movement. The chief principles of that code were labour, solitude, silence, obedience, the careful celebration of divine worship, and a regu lated life of devotion to God. A little reflection will enable us to see that this system could not be the means of advancing vital Christianity; the social virtues had no place in it. The man's thoughts are concen trated on himself. A morose and contemptuous ignor ance often grew up because there was no communica tion with the rest of mankind. The want of objects of natural affection could only tend to harden the heart, and those who were thus merciless to themselves could not help being merciless to their fellow-creatures. Those have often been the greatest bigots who have never learnt to sympathise with the sorrows and relieve the wants of the destitute and afflicted. But we are told that the Benedictine monks have a strong claim on our gratitude because they have pre served for us, not only the writings of the Hebrew prophets and theological treatises, but also the works of the orators, poets, historians, and philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome. We are quite willing to admit that they have conferred this benefit on mankind. But we must give the glory of the commencement of this movement to a distinguished man, Cassiodorus, for 144 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. thirty years minister of Theddoric, who aided him in bearing the burden of the cares of government, and in ruling wisely and justly the people committed to his charge. After the death of his honoured sovereign, finding that he could not support a tottering state, he determined to bid farewell to the world, and to pass the remainder of his life in retirement on his patri monial estate, close to the Gulf of Squillace, at the extremity of Calabria, where, to use his own words, the azure sea bathes a shore clad with incomparable and perpetual verdure. He erected on the hill and by his fish-ponds two monasteries for his followers. We learn that religion and learning were the two great ends to which his system was to be subservient. Benedict had spoken chiefly of manual labour. He thought it very important that a great part of the day should be devoted to it. Only two hours were to be given to reading for their own spiritual advantage. Cassiodorus agreed with him as to manual labour, but he made a distinction as to those whom he wished constantly to engage in it. He appointed to it those who were not qualified for the intellectual work which was the great end of his monastic system. We see then here the distinction between the system at Squillace and at Monte Cassino. Benedict did not design any useful end beyond themselves when he directed his followers to engage in manual labour. He did not intend to extend the arts and husbandry of civilised life into barbarous regions. His object was to give variety to their work; to employ the time which could not be employed in worship and study. SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 145 In fact, like other monks, he thought only of the salva tion of the individual soul. But Cassiodorus wished to make use of the intellectually gifted to advance the cause of religion, learning, and civilisation. He saw the monuments of ancient genius, the precious treasures of Christian antiquity, perishing in the sack of towns as the barbarian soldiers passed over Italy. He would snatch them from the destruction with which they were threatened ; he would employ his intel lectual monks in copying those accumulated works of antiquity. Here then comes in, after the death of Benedict, the commencement of this work at Monte Cassino. Cassiodorus showed his wisdom in giving this direction to the energies of the monks. If they had confined their attention to theology, they would have shown that fanaticism which rent asunder so ciety in the cities of the East. We see, then, that to Cassiodorus is due the commencement of that intellectual movement among the Benedictines which has made them famous among the nations. We ought to hold in high esteem one whom the world has too much forgotten, because he gave the first impulse towards the work of preserving in our monasteries theological treatises and copies of the Scriptures, " the thoughts which breathe the words which bum," in the works of the immortal sages, his torians, and poets of antiquity ; those glowing embers at which learning and vital religion rekindled their torch when the}' woke from their death-like slumber shortly before the Reformation. Let us then express our gratitude to him who, having set the lamp of K 146 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. learning in the calm solitudes of Squillace, was the means of placing it on Monte Cassino, there, with the exception of a short interval during the Lombard invasion, long to burn with surpassing and enduring brightness; that eloquent mount, appropriately called "the Sinai of the Middle Ages," speaking from beyond the silent river Liris, as it glides towards die sea with voices still audible across the Dark and Middle Ages. We return to the general history. The Papacy had suffered greatly from the tergiversation of Vigilius. She had since his death, for more than fifty years, occupied a very humiliating position. The Pope must obey the commands of the Emperor, or of his repre sentative in Italy, the Exarch of Ravenna. Narses, originally an eunuch, was the first Exarch. He had completed the conquest of Italy begun by Belisarius. The power and majesty of the Papacy were under an eclipse ; it seemed as if the sun would soon altogether disappear from the firmament. Many, however, there were who indulged the fond belief that he would ere long appear in unclouded majesty and pour a flood of light over the nations of Europe. " Fond, impious man ! thinkest thou yon sanguine cloud, Raised by thy breath, has quenched the orb of day ? To-morrow he repairs the golden flood And wanns the nations with redoubled ray." Narses had cruelly oppressed the people of Italy. They appealed to the Emperor at Constantinople against his oppressive rule. He revenged himself by calling in the Lombards to ravage and destroy. The feeble SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 147 Exarch who succeeded Narses acknowledged that he had no power to protect Rome. Gregory, of a sena-r torial family, the Abbot of S. Andrews, one of six monasteries which he had founded at Rome, was the only person who seemed to the clergy and citizens qualified to save the city. He was a man of surpass ing energy, of firm resolution, of consummate ability, and of great learning. He had hitherto passed his time in reading, meditation, and prayer. He had in jured his health by fasting, vigils, and study. The city and country were suffering from great calamities. The Lombards were laying waste Italy. The Tiber had overflowed its banks and had swept away the corn. A pestilence was ravaging the city. With one voice the senate, the people, and the clergy summoned him to the Papal chair. At first he shrank from the dangerous and responsible post, and attempted to escape from Rome ; but he was followed, brought back to the cit}', and forcibly placed on the throne of S. Peter, a.d. 590. He was, however, impressed with the belief that he should not long occupy his seat. We cannot study his letters without seeing that his views were con trolled by one solemn belief; we do not think that sufficient importance has been attached to it. He firmly believed that the world was near its end. The fall of Rome and the disintegration of the empire were events which Christian and Pagan writers had dis tinctly foreseen. To the latter they involved the destruction of the monuments of art and literature ; to the former they portended not only the subversion 148 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of all earthly thrones, but the final consummation of all earthly things, when the Lord should appear to execute judgment. Long before and long after Rome was taken by Alaric, we find ever recurring at the time of great national troubles a strong disposition on the part of the theologian and the commentator to regard the predictions in the Book of Daniel regarding the Fourth Kingdom, the denunciations of the later Sybilline verses, and the predictions in the Apocalypse, as having direct relation to present or impending cala mity. Thus it was that Tertullian was led to pray that the power of Rome might long endure, and that Jerome in his cell at Bethlehem interpreted, to use Villemain's grand expression, the denunciations of the prophets by the light of burning Rome. To these ideas the Lombard invasion had given a distinct and solemn emphasis. If an Italy laid waste, smoking cities, desecrated temples, shattered shrines, and ruined monasteries — if slaughter, rapine, and social disorgani sation such as the empire had never before witnessed, could be considered as directing the thoughts to the final crisis, then surely the end was at hand. Gregory's adoption of the monastic life seems to have closely followed the invasion. This explanation may serve to account for the contempt of Pagan teaching and the marvellous energy which he at this time displayed. Why spend time on the follies and errors of Paganism, when the Judge was soon coming to call us to account for the employment of our precious moments ? The night was soon coming when no man can work. To exalt the power of Rome, that she might be an instru- SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 149 ment of blessing to the nations, to convert the heathen, to study the Scriptures and to unfold their meaning, to adorn and celebrate the ritual of the Church — these were objects in comparison with which, at the present time, every other object seemed to fade into utter insignificance. Gregory, under the influence of these feelings, by his unceasing correspondence with the sovereigns of the Western kingdoms and their ministers, as well as with the hierarchy, in which claims hitherto disputed or half preferred assumed a more definite form, and were enforced in the language of devotion or of adula tion, promoted more than any of his predecessors the progress of Rome's ecclesiastical authority. His letters, more than 800 in number, exhibit him as struggling with difficulties which seemed almost insurmountable; as a man of comprehensive views, full of sympathy for the troubles of others, devoted to the cause of his Church, and anxious for the propagation of the faith through the length and breadth of the world. His minute supervision of every department of public business ; his omnipresent energy, which was such that he was at one and the same time holding correspond ence with kings on matters involving the best interests of the Church, or planning military operations which had for their object to beat back the Lombard hordes from the plains of his native land, or directing the man agement of some distant farm, one, it may be, of many farms belonging to himself, which he had added to the estates of the Church, in the neighbourhood of Rome, in Apulia, Campania, Liguria, Sardinia, Corsica, Dal- 150 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. matia, and Illyricum ; or arranging for the relief of those suffering from poverty, to several of whom he sent dishes every day from the fare prepared for him self; his zealous efforts to secure the planting of the cross in foreign countries ; his administration of dis cipline ; his superintendence of vacant dioceses ; the numerous works which he published — all this varied activity, all this disinterested labour, contributed greatly to the exaltation of the Papacy. We who live in this later age, when we look back, must admit, while we condemn Gregory's errors, that, by forming at this time the Mediaeval Papacy, he has proved the saviour of the Church and of Europe. The Papacy was the only power which preserved its vital energy. But it seemed to be in the agonies of death. A physician was wanted to infuse vigour into its debilitated frame. An European despotism was an impossibility ; some power was required which would unite the nations without infringing their liberty of action. We see in Anglo-Saxon times in England the evils which flowed from the disintegration of the country into various and conflicting States. Arch bishop Theodore contributed to the formation and per fection of its present unity. The Anglo-Saxons became accustomed to the idea of a monarch reigning over an united people when they saw a primate whose sway extended throughout England occupying the archi- episcopal throne of Canterbury. " It is impossible," writes Dean Milman (" History of Latin Christianity," book iii. c. vii.), " for man to imagine by what other organising and consolidating force the commonwealth SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 151 of the Western nations could have grown up to a dis cordant, indeed, and conflicting league, with that unity and conformity of manners, usages, laws, religion, which have made their rivalries, oppugnances, and even their long, ceaseless wars, on the whole to issue in the noblest, highest, most intellectual form of civilisation known to man." If, too, the Pope had not possessed sufficient power to compel the hierarchy to work on a fixed system, the members of it could not have brought their united force to bear on the promotion of the best interests of the Church and the body politic. Gregory was the physician who infused life into the languid frame. He accomplished this end partly in the manner just de scribed, partly by becoming a temporal ruler at Rome, not from inclination, but because the rightful ruler had abdicated his post. The bishops would have become subservient to the civil power, and would have been utterly unable to arrest the progress of confusion and lawlessness. The quarrel with John the Faster, Patri arch of Constantinople, because he assumed the title of ecumenical, which he supposed to mean universal, bishop ; his declaration that it was " a proud and foolish word," and that the assumption of it was an imitation of the devil, show us very plainly that he did not, like his successors, wish to be considered the sole and supreme head of the Christian Church. In opposition to the Patriarch, he adopted the title, since taken by all Popes, " Servant of the servants of God." He never interfered with the appointments to bishoprics. At the same time the appointment of 152 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. vicars, often deacons, in distant provinces, shows a determination to set aside the rights of bishops and to assert the universal authority of the Pope. We have seen that the succession of the Popes from S. Peter was, at least 300 years before the time of Gregory, received through a forgery (p. 15) as one of the fundamental articles of Christianity. We know, however, that, as he was the first to assert that the power of the keys confided to S. Peter descended through a long chain to the Bishops of Rome, his suc cessors in the See, rather than to the body of the bishops, the sharers in one indivisible episcopacy, and by the distribution of filings from the chains of S. Peter set in golden keys, endowed, as he was not ashamed to say, with supernatural virtue, he contributed more than any of his predecessors to the supremacy which Rome afterwards claimed over the nations. We must now pronounce a censure on those errors which disfigured the ecclesiastical system of Gregory. We know that the fathers were very strongly opposed to the use of images in the worship of God. This spirit prevailed during the first three centuries. But gradually the Christians became less decided in their protest against the reigning idolatry. They thought that the heathen would be more likely to embrace Christianity if images of God and Christ were in troduced into their houses and churches. But that introduction was accompanied with a direct intima tion that they were not to be worshipped, and that they were designed to enable them to rise to the con ception of God. Gregory, in reply to a complaint SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 153 made to him against Bishop Serenus, who had ordered them to be removed, said, " It is one thing to worship an image, and another thing to learn by it what is to be worshipped." At the same time, he strenuously opposed the removal of images. But it is difficult to arrest the progress of superstition ; the end was that, under the sanction of the Pope, the people used images to bring God before them, till at length they gave them that direct worship due only to the invisible Creator. Again, the credit of establishing the doctrine of Purgatory among the truths of the Church is due to the superstition of Gregory. In the fourth book of his Dialogues he maintains the existence of a Pur gatory for the expiation of the more venial offences of persons whose general excellence may have de served such indulgence. His theory was eagerly embraced by the Benedictine monks, whom Gregory strongly supported, and was found to be so profitable, that by them and others it was zealously propagated through Europe. We must notice, also, other opinions which we must strongly condemn. We must praise him when we find him rebuking the prevailing vices, endeavouring to re form discipline, to introduce improvements into the ecclesiastical system, to induce his clergy to lead a very holy life, and to devote all their energies to their work. We cannot, however, read his Dialogues with out the painful consciousness that there is a wide difference between them and the earlier literature of the Church. The amazing catalogue of miracles, the startling prominence given to demonology, the belief 154 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. in direct and visible diabohc agency, the trust in the intercession of the saints ; his profound veneration for relics, such as the filings from the chains of S. Peter, already referred to, one of their golden nails, and fragments of the gridiron on which S. Laurence was roasted; the readiness to believe in such appari tions as serve to make manifest the state of the dead ; the reliance on prayer and the Eucharistic sacrifice for the relief of souls in Purgatory, show that the Church had departed from the religious belief of those days when her leading men took refuge occasionally in the Catacombs, and that, without any opposition from him, she had corrupted " the faith once for all delivered unto the saints." We must now describe Gregory's arrangements as to the clergy and services of the Church. In his time the clergy of Rome were thirteen cardinal-archpriests and twenty-five cardinal-priests, ten minor presbyters and seven cardinal-deacons. Gregory insisted on the celibacy of the deacons as well as of the higher orders of the clergy. The cardinal in those days was very dif ferent from the high dignitary who now holds the office. The number of cardinals is now seventy, com prising six bishops, fifty priests, and fourteen deacons. They form the Council of the Pope. Thirty titles, which are the same as parishes, were, in Gregory's time, superintended by the priests. The chief in each title was the cardinal-priest. Gregory appointed the churches in which were to be celebrated the services in Lent or at the four great festivals. A grand pro cession accompanied him to the church where they SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 155 were held. Often he ascended the pulpit, rebuked the people for the sins which had caused God to enter on His strange work of punishing, and told them that their calamities showed very plainly that the day was not very far distant when they would be summoned to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. The ritual of the Church was always celebrated in Gregory's time with great magnificence. He remoulded and condensed the earlier form of the Canon of the Mass. His form is still used at every altar of the Roman Catholic Church. By him were introduced the Kyrie Eleison, the sprinkling of ashes on the head on the first day of Lent, the procession and the Litany of the Rogations on 25 th of April, the carry ing of the palms in procession on the Sunday before Easter, the symbolic washing of the feet of pilgrims by bishops officiating on Holy Thursday, and the organised "Stations" for Lent and Advent at the principal churches of Rome. All these observances are still maintained exactly as he instituted them. By him were the Holy Week and Christmas celebrations developed into their present form. We may mention the blessing of the sacred oils on Holy Thursday ; the Adoration of the Cross, to the thrilling chant, " Ecce lignum crucis," on Good Friday ; the illumination of the church during the chant of the Litanies, and the first Mass of the Resurrection, contemplated as taking place at midnight on Easter Eve. The modulation of the chant, the animating soul of the whole service, was under the peculiar direction of Gregory. As a musical reformer he eclipsed the fame 156 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of S. Ambrose. As church- song before his time was all Ambrosian, so has it since been all Gregorian. The noble Pentecostal hymn, "Veni Creator Spiritus," owes its origin to Gregory. The modes and the scales were finally settled by him until the time came when music broke through its trammels, rejected the use of modes and systems, essentially imperfect, and under the fostering influence of a truer science deve loped its hidden and inexhaustible resources. Gregory formed schools of singers who were instructed by him self. Augustine, on his visit to Britain, was accom panied by a school of choristers, who were employed to soothe and awe the inhabitants. Fleury states that " in the time of John the Deacon, about the year 900, the original of his Antiphonarius was preserved with great respect, as well as the couch on which he reposed while chanting, and the whip with which he menaced the children." We are told that they chanted alter nately, according to the custom introduced at Milan. The chanting was at this time exclusively vocal. No instrument was heard in the services of the Church at Rome until Pope Vitalianus, about the middle of the seventh century, introduced instruments described by chroniclers as " organa," not probably like those which we now use, but some other species of mechanism suited to sustain or alternate with vocal performance. But still we cannot doubt that, without that accom paniment, the chant would produce a thrilling effect on the worshipper, especially on the more solemn days in the sanctuary, when Gregory, hoping by two means to take captive the senses, directed that candelabra, SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 157 one of which often contained 365 candles, should pour a flood of light through the sacred building. In the century which followed the death of Gregory the Great on March 10, A.D. 604, twenty-four Popes oc cupied the chair of S. Peter. They have most of them died unhonoured and unremembered. Rome would willingly, if possible, blot out of her calendar Honorius I. (a.D. 625 -638), who was guilty of fundamental error, because he allowed the existence of a divine will only in the Saviour ; and she would, if possible, forget the case of Martin I. (A.D. 649-654), which shows very plainly the nature of the relations at that time existing between the Pope and the Emperor. The former, because he would not obey an edict issued by the latter, forbidding all controversy on the subject of monothelism, was dragged through the city of Con stantinople with an iron collar round his neck, and immured in a dungeon, where he nearly died from cold and bodily infirmities. We shall close this por tion of our history with the mention of the name of Constantine, who died A.D. 715, because he was the last Pope who was subject to the Eastern Emperor. With Gregory II., the next Pope, we enter on a new period in the history of Christendom. We must, before we conclude this chapter, endea vour to discover if the Popes at this time had been successful in securing a recognition of their claim to be the heads of the Churches of Christendom. This is an important part of our subject. We must look be yond Italy; we must see when and how they began to impose their yoke and their system on foreign Churches. 158 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. We have stated (p. 101) that Innocent I., A.D. 402- 417, was the first person to conceive the idea of Rome's universal supremacy. He claimed the allegiance of the Churches of Italy, Spain, Gaul, and Africa, but he was unsuccessful in maintaining his claim. Other Popes in the fifth century were constantly endea vouring to bring the nations under their yoke. Thus Symmachus, at the end of it, appointed Caesarius, Bishop of Aries, his vicar in Gaul, with the power of convoking Councils. He was induced to undertake the office by the grant of the pallium, the white woollen stole with four crosses, the badge of the office of a metropolitan, of which we shall speak in the next chapter. But the Popes were not really successful till the time of Gregory I. in securing the recognition of this claim. They did not obtain it through the inferior and degraded Popes of the seventh century, nor through Boniface III., who, A.D. 606 or 607, induced the usurper Phocas at Constan tinople to confer on him the title of Universal Bishop. The world saw that the title was given because Phocas hated the Patriarch, as he had preserved the widow and the daughter of the murdered Emperor Maurice from his vengeance. Thus the donor himself and his motive alike discredited the gift. We believe that they owe their high position to all the circumstances which have come before us in this chapter, and especially to the splendid career of Gregory the Great. The inhabitants of Germany were at this time reduced to the obedience of S. Peter and his successors. The clergy of Germany were SPIRITUAL SUPREMACY. 159 constantly coming to Rome to visit the shrines of the Apostles and to do homage to the Pope. The Arch bishop of Ravenna, who had maintained his indepen dence of the Pope, was, at the end of the seventh century, compelled to acknowledge his supremacy. We find, too, that applications were constantly made for advice and assistance to the Holy See, and that Roman usages were constantly adopted by the Churches. Take the case of the Saints of Iona, that bleak and lonely island near the coast of Scotland, beaten by the surges of the Atlantic, who, nearly thirteen hundred years ago, persevered with great energy and success in diffusing through the north of Scotland and England, under the leadership of S. Aidan, the blessings of a Christianity not borrowed from Rome. These spiritual heroes, having engaged in controversy with the ecclesiastics from Rome at the Council of Whitby, A.D. 664, on various points, especially the time of keeping Easter, sustained a defeat, and were obliged to withdraw from England because the Roman champions, alleging the authority of S. Peter in support of points which Oswy, king of Northumberland, had never considered, had induced him, since he was prudently resolved not to offend the doorkeeper of heaven, to give his verdict against them. We here close our chapter on a very important part of the history of the Church of Italy, in which we have seen the Popes struggling for spiritual supre macy. We are now to contemplate them as aiming at temporal dominion and as carrying on a conflict with the monarchs of Christendom. CHAPTER IV. TEMPORAL DOMINION. The separation of the East from the West — Pepin and Charlemagne assist the Popes against the Lombards, and give them a princi pality — The donation of Constantine — Ravenna gained after a long struggle — Coronation of Charlemagne by Leo III. — Creation of the Holy Roman Empire — Legislation of Charlemagne for the clergy and laity — Matters of doctrine settled by him — Aquileia and the Patriarch Paulinus — Origin of the Church of Venice — Learning nearly extinct in Italy — Disordered stale of Italy, and its effect on the Papacy — Nicolas I. and the False Decretals — The degradation of the Papacy — Connection between Germany and Italy established by the Emperor Otho — Appointment of Popes by Otho I., Otho II., Otho III., and Henry III.— Leo IX. and his design to make the Papacy a power in Europe — Change in the mode of election to the Papacy — Gregory VII. or Hildebrand elected Pope — His vast designs, energy, struggles, and character — Opposition of Milan to the celibacy of the clergy — At length compelled to submit to the Pope —War of investitures — Death of Gregory — Ritual and doctrine of the Church — Consequences of the Pontificate of Gregory. GREGORY II. (A.D. 715-731), of whom Barrow says, " He effectually did cause the Romans and the Italians to secede from their allegiance to the Emperor," may be considered as the father of the doctrine which was brought to maturity under Gregory VII., that the Pope ought to reign supreme over the monarchs as well as over the Churches of Christendom. Barrow says further in his treatise on the Papal supremacy, that " this is the highest source to which this extravagant authority can be traced." The advance of Moham- 160 TEMPORAL DOMINION. 161 medanism was the remoter cause of the emancipation of the Pope. He must ere long have been free, be cause the Emperor was obliged to employ all his military resources to defend himself from the followers of the false prophet who were surrounding the Byzan tine empire. He would thus have been left without any power to protect the exarchate of Ravenna. But there can be no doubt that the decree passed by the Emperor Leo for the destruction of images was the immediate cause of the separation of the East from the West, for by it he provoked the hostility of all classes of his subjects. It is true, indeed, that the Eastern portion of them, desirous of conciliating his favour, at length submitted to the will of his son and successor, Constantine Copronymus, who inherited the religious opinions of his father. The assembled fathers of Con stantinople passed a decree for the suppression of the worship of images, but the laity in the West expressed their abhorrence of the impiety which levelled a deadly blow at them. They could not sympathise with the burning zeal against image-worship which, Leo firmly believed, had caused God to enter on His strange work of punishing, and to send the Mohammedans on Christendom as the executioners of His vengeance. The people, after the time of Gregory the Great, had been very much attracted to the images of the saints, martyrs, the Virgin, and the Saviour. Gregory II., who was full of zeal for images, fomented their indig nation on account of the suppression of the worship of them. The Pope thus, as before, gained influence by being the representative of the mind of his age. L 1 62 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. He longed, also, to deliver the Popes from their degra dation as subjects of Constantinople. He hesitated, indeed, for some time about casting off the yoke of the Emperor, because he did not see at first who remained to defend him from his enemies. The Lom bards were threatening to reduce Italy to subjection. At length Gregory, A.D. 730, and his successor, Gregory III., A.D. 732, summoned Councils, intended as a defiance to the Emperor, in which anathemas were fulminated against the destroyers of images. The Em peror sent a fleet and army into the Adriatic Gulf, A.D. 733, to reduce the Pope and Italy to subjection ; but the former encountered' a violent storm, and many of the vessels were wrecked. Henceforth he abandoned the exarchate to its fate. His real power in Italy now ceased altogether, and the Pope became sole master in Rome. The extirpation of the Ostrogoths was soon followed by the invasion of the Lombards. The whole land was imperial only for fifteen years (A.D. 553-568). No one remained to arrest the progress of the Lombards towards supreme dominion. The Pope Zacharias, indeed, simply by the awe with which he inspired Liutprand, the monarch of the Lombards, not only succeeded in the year 742 in inducing him to abandon his design against Rome, but also in turning him aside from the exarchate of Ravenna. Astolph, one of his successors, was not inspired with the same reverence for the Papal dignity. The independence of Rome was in danger. Italy was about to become a Lombard kingdom. The future destinies of the Papacy were trembling in the balance. The Pope was likely TEMPORAL DOMINION. 163 to become the subject of a Lombard sovereign. In this case he would have sunk back to his spiritual functions, and would have been deprived of that para mount authority which often enabled him to guide at will the course of events in the nations of Europe. But a mighty potentate was at hand to aid him in his extremity. Gregory II., and after him Gregory III., had already summoned to their assistance Charles Martel, the mayor of the palace to the King of France, in whom at this time was vested the whole kingly power. These are the first steps in Papal aggrandise ment, and show that the Popes are beginning to act as independent sovereigns. The negotiations were inter rupted by the death of the two latter, A.D. 741. But Pepin, the son of Charles, was equally ready to aid Pope Zachary, the successor of Gregory, in the hour of danger. The latter had already, having been first consulted by Pepin and the States on the lawfulness of the project, expressed an opinion in favour of the deposition, on account of his incapacity, of the phan tom of royalty, Childeric, and had intimated that Pepin, who really governed France with the humble title of mayor or duke, might be invested with the regal dignity. Gregory VII., Innocent III., and Boni face VIII. are, however, altogether incorrect in assert ing that Zachary had, by his own authority, deposed the last Merovingian king, and that in doing so he exercised a right belonging to his office ; for it is quite evident that his answer was not a command, but an opinion, and that Pepin was made king, not by the Pope, but by the choice of his own countrymen. The 1 64 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Pope's opinion was, however, valuable, as it at once enabled him to take possession of the regal dignity. Pepin soon had the opportunity of showing his gratitude for the religious sanction thus given to his usurpation. When the Lombard was advancing against Rome, threatening to exterminate the inhabi tants, Stephen II., A.D. 755, in an agony of fear, ven tured on the step of forging a letter in the name of S. Peter, to summon him to his assistance. S. Peter is thus made to express himself: "I, Peter the Apostle, protest, admonish, conjure you, the most Christian kings, Pepin, Charles, and Carloman . . . the Mother .of God likewise adjures, admonishes, and commands, she, together with the thrones and domi nions, and all the hosts of heaven, to save the hal lowed city of Rome from the detested Lombards. If you hasten, I, Peter the Apostle, promise you my protection in this life and in the next. . . To me you owe all your victories. Obey, and obey speedily, and through my prayers our Lord Jesus Christ will give you in this life length of days, security, victory, and in the life to come will multiply His blessings upon you among His saints and angels." So great was the credulity of the times, that this letter produced the desired effect. It ran like wildfire through the land. The nation of the Franks flew to arms to obey, as they thought, S. Peter and the Mother of God. Pepin placed himself at their head. They crossed the Alps, twice swept like a mighty torrent over the plains of Italy, defeated the Lombards, and compelled them to evacuate the contested territory. TEMPORAL DOMINION. 165 The Pope Stephen, having been successful in one forgery, ventured on another. He persuaded Pepin to cede to him the city of Rome, with the exarchate of Ravenna, which he had wrested from the Lombards, exhibiting to him the instrument called the Donation of Constantine, designed to persuade him that he was only confirming a grant made by the first Chris tian emperor. We find now the same unanimity in the Roman Catholic as in the Greek and Reformed Churches in proclaiming it to be a forgery. But for many centuries popes, cardinals, and theologians have appealed to this document as the title-deed to the pos session of spiritual and temporal dominion. We will give the reasons for this appeal in the words of Gibbon. "This fiction was productive of the most beneficial effects. . . . The Popes were delivered from their debt of gratitude, and the nominal gifts of the Carlovingians were no more than the just and irrevocable restitution of a scanty portion of the ecclesiastical state. The sovereignty no longer depended on the choice of a fickle people, and the successors of Peter and Con stantine were invested with the purple and prerogatives of the Caesars." The Popes thus acquired the rank of temporal princes in Italy in the year 754. When, on the death of Pepin, the Lombards, in the same year, rose in insurrection against the Popes, Pepin's greater son, Charlemagne, rushed down upon them like a mighty whirlwind. Very soon their kingdom in the north of Italy was overthrown, and the kingdom of the Franks was established on its ruins. He increased his father's grant by fresh acces. 166 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. sions of territory. His grant is said to have included the whole of Italy, the exarchate of Ravenna from Istria to the frontiers of Naples, and the island of Corsica. The Pope, however, did not gain possession of Ravenna without a long struggle. We have seen that the Arch bishops of Ravenna had always asserted their inde pendence of Rome. Ever since the fall of the Greek Government, the Archbishops had claimed, and to a certain extent exercised, the temporal dominion over the exarchate. When Charlemagne left Italy, Leo placed garrisons of his own troops at Bologna, Imola, and the other towns, asserting his right to hold and govern them. The Pope Hadrian sent his own soldiers through the duchy of Ferrara, and required the inhabi tants to take the oath of allegiance to him; but the soldiers of the Archbishop compelled them to retire from the territory still held by him. At length, A.D. 783, the Pope Hadrian was successful, and took possession of the exarchate with the power and privileges of a temporal prince. But Charlemagne considered Ravenna still under his supreme jurisdiction, even asserting his right to confirm the election to the See; and when, A.D. 785, he gave an order for the expulsion of certain Venetian merchants, who were engaged in carry ing on the slave-trade, from the territory, he was at once obeyed by the Papal officers as their lawful sovereign. When, in the year 800, Charlemagne visited Rome, the Pope Leo III. determined to carry into effect a design which he had long been revolving in his mind. The present seemed to be a fitting opportunity to assert TEMPORAL DOMINION. 167 his independence of the East, which had long ceased to protect him. The Empress Irene, after the un natural murder of her son, had just usurped the throne of Constantinople. He thought it an intolerable evil that the Byzantine factions should impose such a ruler on the original seat of empire. He knew that the memory of the Roman empire, which had nominally ceased to exist in the west of Europe after the deposi tion of Romulus Augustulus in the year 476, when the Emperor of Constantinople became its sole head, was still preserved in laws and customs, and in the con tinued existence of many of its institutions. He now determined to revive this high dignity. A mighty monarch was now near at hand, who had been valiant for the truth upon the earth, who had extended the boundaries of the Church, and had rendered many nations tributary to his dominion. We need not, therefore, be surprised to hear that he should have determined to cast off his nominal allegiance to the Eastern empire, and to invest this illustrious monarch with the purple and diadem of the Caesars. On Christmas Day in the year 800, the Pope was seated on his throne surrounded by his clergy, in a stately temple, where now, surmounted by its " vast and wondrous dome," rises " Christ's mighty shrine " above the supposed tomb of S. Peter. Charlemagne was kneeling in prayer before the high altar. Suddenly the Pope rose from his seat, anointed him with the oil of consecration, administered to him the coronation oath, in which he pledged himself to defend the faith and privileges of the Church, and placed on his brow the 1 68 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. imperial diadem. In the shout which rang through the building, " Long life and victory to Charles, the most pious Augustus, crowned by God, the great and pacific Emperor of the Romans," was announced an event which has affected for good or for evil genera tions then unborn. If Luther had not witnessed Tetzel's shameless sale of indulgences, some spiritual hero, with " strength surpassing Nature's law," would have risen up, who would have shaken to its founda tion the dominion of the Papacy. If Columbus had not ploughed the mighty waste of waters, some other mariner would have brought the riches of America before the inhabitants of Europe. But we do not make too strong an assertion when we say, that if Charlemagne had not assumed the imperial diadem, the course of events would have been different from what it has proved to be in the nations constituting the great European commonwealth. The effect of the establishment of this empire, after wards officially called the Holy Roman Empire, was at once seen in the consolidation of the power of the Emperor. " By establishing the sovereignty on the basis of the old Roman empire, it acquired something of the stability of ancient right " (Milman's " Latin Chris tianity," vol. ii. p. 272). The terms Eastern and Western Empire are now for the first time applicable. The case was different in the fifth century. There was then only one Roman Empire ruled by two Emperors. New Rome gave old Rome an idea which old Rome had given to herself. Every member of the Church, of whatever nation he might be, would owe allegiance to TEMPORAL DOMINION. 169 one who had defended her in the hour of danger. The assumption of this title, too, was a means of consoli dating the numerous nations subject to his rule. We shall see hereafter the effect which the Holy Roman Empire produced on the Papacy. The Pope obtained a spiritual empire commensurate with it. He was indeed obliged to become one of the vassals of the Emperor. Yet surely there was no degradation in being subject to this mighty monarch ; for, as the sove reign of the Transalpine West, he had pre-eminence above all other powers. " The Frankish alliance, . the dissolution of the degrading connection with the East, the magnificent donation, the acceptance of the imperial crown at the Pope's hands, the visit to Rome, whether to protect the Pope from his unruly subjects or for devotional purposes — everything tended to throw a deepening mysterious majesty round the Pope, the more imposing according to the greater distance from which it was contemplated" ("Latin Christi anity," vol. ii. p. 306). Charlemagne in return for this magnificent donation assumed the power of legislating for the clergy as well as for the laity. His throne rested on the basis of Christianity. The importance of the religious functions of the monarch during the early and middle ages is a subject of which many, even of historical students, can scarcely be said to have an intelligent conception. The Emperor Justinian sought in his legislation to promote the spiritual and everlasting interests of the people com mitted to his charge. The power, both civil and ecclesi astical, was indeed occasionally under an eclipse. But 170 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. whenever the sun shone forth with a softened radiance in an energetic Christian kingdom, we seem to have, along with the blessing of a good government, the re vival of the theocratic idea of the royal supremacy in things spiritual, as we see the monarch by his legislation showing that his object is to train his people, not only for time, but also for eternity. We see the orb in its full splendour and magnitude in the legislation of Charlemagne. The laws which fix the obligations, the revenues, and the duties of the clergy are issued in the name of the Emperor. His Institutes are in the lan guage of command to both branches of the ecclesiastical army, the secular and monastic clergy. The Pope, the Archbishop of Ravenna, the Patriarch of Aquileia, the Bishop of Milan, and the German bishops acknowledge his ecclesiastical rule. His object was to develop to the utmost their power as metropolitans, in order that there might be an appeal to them from the arbitrary power of bishops. As we have seen, Justinian had done so before him. We have no doubt that Charle magne by his magnificent grants, and by the elevation of their character through his legislation, raised the hierarchial power more than he depressed it. The clergy must have felt honoured in being, with the rest of Christendom, subject to the jurisdiction of the Emperor. Charlemagne also took upon himself to settle matters of doctrine. The Council of Frankfort, guided by him, condemns the second Synod of Nicaea, because it com mands the same adoration to be paid to images as to the Divine Trinity. The famous Carolinian books show TEMPORAL DOMINION. 171 us very plainly his own opinions on this subject, and enable us correctly to interpret the short decree of Frankfort. He will not allow kneeling before them, burning of lights or the offering of incense to them ; but he will allow them to be in the church to keep alive the memory of pious men and of great spiritual achievements. The Carolinian books were sent to Hadrian I., Pope (A.D. 772-795). He was too prudent not to conceal his indignation at this assumption of power by the Emperor and a Transalpine Council. A feeble answer shows his dread of the supreme power of the Emperor. But already to him as to others may have occurred the mode of revenge which was developed in subsequent ages. He who could raise up could cast down; he who could confer the crown could deprive the Emperor of it. Another important ecclesiastical change was sanc tioned in the Synod at Aix in the year 809. The Nicene Creed was not introduced into any Western liturgy until it was interpolated with the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son as well as from the Father. We learn that the creed, with the full con sent of Charlemagne, with that clause was adopted by the Synod. The Pope Leo wanted the Synod to re trace its steps; but the members disregarded his remonstrances. He showed his determination to keep the creed unaltered in his Church, by having a silver tablet made with two plates, and the creed engraved in Latin on one, and in Greek on the other ; in both cases without the words, "and from the Son." This tablet was by his orders affixed to the " confes- 172 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. sion " or shrine of S. Peter in the church of that name at Rome. Peter Damian writes of it in the eleventh century that it was then seen in front of the shrine of S. Paul. We see, then, that Charlemagne felt himself bound by his coronation compact to act as the Christian head of a Christian people. If we look at the Emperor of Russia in the present day, we shall have a clearer idea of the subject before us. He stands forth to our view as the impersonation at once of the Church and the commonwealth, as the theological teacher and the fierce warrior of the battlefield, wielding the sword in> one hand and the crosier in the other, and having before him the flashing weapons of his serried batta lions, and the armoury of spiritual weapons, the cannon with whose deadly discharge his soldiers make deep gaps in the ranks of his foes, and the artillery of theological controversy with which he lays low those doctors of the Church who exalt themselves against him. We are reminded, in connection with the Council of Frankfort, of the importance of Aquileia, of a very distin guished man, now forgotten by the world, who presided over its Church, and of the high place which the latter occupied among the Churches of Italy. We have seen that Aquileia was the only Church which boasted a patriarch besides Rome. From the days of Augustus it ranked next to Rome. The Church was, therefore, the second in Italy. The Huns had levelled its walls and palaces with the ground, which were only partially restored by Narses. We find, however, that under TEMPORAL DOMINION. 173 Charlemagne and his descendants it attained greater ecclesiastical splendour than it had ever previously enjoyed. The first Patriarch of the See was named Paulinus. Another of the same name and dignity, and of far greater attainments, occupied the See at the close of the eighth century. He was idolised by Alcuin, the great teacher employed by Charlemagne, and was regarded even by the latter with awe. He was the episcopal soul of the Council of Frankfort, which has left its mark on history. When he had written against Felix, Bishop of Urgel in Spain, with regard to the sect of the Adoptionists, he is supposed to have exhausted the controversy. "Aquileia locuta, causa finita est." This was the tone adopted by his admirers. " Should you have occasion to see Patriarch Paulinus ?" says Alcuin, writing to Arno, Archbishop of Saltzburg, "salute him for me a thousand times. I have just finished his book of the Catholic faith, and so pleased was I with its eloquence and flowers of speech, and the way in which it handled the faith, that I think any further discussion of the topics at issue between ourselves and the partisans of Felix to be superfluous. Happy is the Church and the people of Christ as long as, besides the lord king, it shall possess one such defender of the Catholic faith." We are here reminded of Venice, to which city, as we have said, the Patriarchate of Aquileia was subsequently transferred. Attila by his destruction of Aquileia, from which the inhabitants fled for safety to the islands where Venice sits enthroned, was (p. 119) the remote cause of 174 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. the grandeur of that celebrated city. The emigrants adopted forms of local government, and elected for each island a magistrate, who remained in office for a year. They agreed, A.D. 697, with the advice of the Patriarch of Grado, to raise up a higher dignitary for life, with the title of Doge. In enumerating the prerogatives origin ally conferred upon the Doge, the chronicle of Andrea Dandolo enables us to see the germ of that ecclesiastical polity which this oligarchic state so zealously maintained in subsequent ages. The ecclesiastical assemblies could be held only by the appointment of the Doge. The elec tion of prelates was made with the concurrence of the clergy and people ; but they were obliged to receive in vestiture from him, and could not be installed without his mandate. The origin of the See is involved in the mists of legend. The first to hold spiritual rule in these islands was Obealtus, who was confirmed by Pope Hadrian I., A.D. 773, invested by the Doge, con secrated by the Patriarch of Grado, and installed in his cathedral of S. Peter on the island of Castello, which, from its former name, Olivola, gave to the bishopric its original designation of Olivensis. He persisted till death in the ascetic self-denial of a hermit, and, according to the legend, was rewarded by a vision of the Virgin Mary in a glory amid a choir of angels, while he was celebrating midnight mass in his cathedral. But while it may be true that Papal confirmation was deemed essential to the validity of ecclesiastical elections in Venice, it must be maintained, on the authority of Ughelli (Italia Sacra), that the appointment was made by the clergy and people, and TEMPORAL DOMINION. 175 that afterwards "none could rise to the patriarchal dignity unless first designated by the Venetians them selves." We have thus endeavoured to discover the origin of the Church of Venice, not only because, as we have observed, it was associated with the people in making Venice a barrier against the Turks, who would otherwise have overrun half Europe, but also because it carried on a constant struggle witii the Popes throughout its history, and often came off victorious in the conflict. Charlemagne has gained imperishable renown on account of his zeal for the advancement of learning. He summoned Alcuin from Britain to aid him in the work of dispersing the thick darkness at this time brooding over the nations of Europe. Italy shared with other nations the admirable institutions estab lished by him and some of his successors. Some of the Popes and leading ecclesiastics of Italy aided in the work which had for its object the promotion of the onward march of civilisation. Eugenius II., A.D. 826, decreed that in all dioceses there should be schools designed to teach sciences, the arts, and religious doctrine. But his efforts were in vain ; for, A.D. S53, he was obliged to renew this enactment. The Emperor Lothaire issued a decree for founding schools in the chief Italian cities, with a preamble declaring that " in every part of Italy learning was totally extinct." A Bishop of Modena, too, obliged his priests to keep schools for all children brought to them. At Rome, also, the schools founded by Gregory the Great had become colleges for the complete course of ecclesiasti- 176 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. cal studies. One oasis in the desert still indeed existed, which was made verdant by the fresh spray of the Castalian spring. The monks in the monastery of Monte Cassino, which after its destruction by the Lombards, was restored by Charlemagne and en dowed with great wealth, continued their useful work for the coming centuries. Canons, too, of Roman Councils were published in the ninth century, directing the suspension of any priests who were convicted of gross ignorance. Ratherius says that many of them did not know the Apostles' Creed. But all these efforts failed of the wished-for success. The constant irruptions of the Lombards and Normans into Italy proved greatly detrimental to the progress of literature and science. Even Germany outstripped Italy in the march of in tellectual improvement. We should have thought that Italians would have been fired with the ambition of rivalling the glories of those days when stars of a dazzling brightness glittered in the literary firmament of Italy. But we are obliged sorrowfully to admit that learning was at this time totally extinct in Italy. During four centuries we cannot discover the name of any one remarkable for intellectual progress. " Ichabod, Ichabod, the glory hath departed," might have been inscribed over the portals of that Temple of Learning, which has through the ages attracted the attention of the whole civilised world. The best proof of the merits of Charlemagne is to be found in the disorders which prevailed after his death, in the strains of the poets, who described in glowing verse deeds in comparison of which the achievements TEMPORAL DOMINION. 177 of the elder age fade into utter insignificance ; in the loud lament which issued from the lips of many when at the end of the ninth century, oppression laid waste the fairest provinces of Europe; and in the fervent prayer which they breathed for the restoration of the golden age, when that heaven-descended emperor chained down the evil spirit of anarchy, united the nations of the earth beneath his sceptre, and asserted the majesty of the law throughout his extensive domi nions. His son Lewis succeeded to the Imperial dignity. In subordination to him, his three sons ruled over the provinces. A rebellion soon broke out, which ended in his deppsition. Another war between his sons began soon after his death, memorable as having ended in the partition treaty of Verdun, A.D. 843, from which modern Germans date the commencement of their national existence. To Lothaire, the eldest son, as Emperor, was assigned a long narrow kingdom, extending from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, and including the northern half of Italy. In reading the complicated history of the following years, we seem to be wandering by the pale light of the moon through the tangled recesses of a large forest. We need only observe here that the direct line of the successors of Charlemagne came to an end in the person of Charles the Fat, who, after having reigned over the dominions of his ancestors, was deprived of the kingdom of Italy. His successor, the illegitimate Arnulf, made a vain effort to recover that country. Then followed the age of oppression, disorder and rebellion against con stituted authority to which reference has just been M 178 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. made. The fountains of the great deep of human society seemed to be broken up. The Northmen on the one side, the Saracens on the other, threatened the conquerors of Christian Europe. The Saracens had surrounded the capital of Christendom on every side, and had plundered her two principal sanctuaries. The petty dukes in the neighbourhood of Rome over ruled the Papal power, and made the Pope the slave of contending factions. At the end of the ninth cen tury an anarchy prevailed in the Empire and the Papacy. Pope succeeded Pope with startling rapidity, appointed by the rival factions in Italy. The Papacy was often won by crime and vacated by murder. The great master spirit had disappeared, who alone could still the raging of the tempest, and hush the troubled elements to peace. We have been particular in describing the circum stances of the times, because they have given occasion for the Decretal Epistles, a very gross literary forgery. The See of Rome was, soon after the time when they made their appearance in the city of Rheims, occupied by Nicolas I. (a.D. 858-867). He surpassed many of his predecessors in the boldness of his designs. His desire was to cause the Roman supremacy to assume the form of an absolute monarchy. The circumstances of the times just described seemed to favour his design. The clergy had suffered from the lawlessness which universally prevailed. The persecution of the Church had reached a height unknown in the history of former ages. The sanctity which protected their persons and property no longer existed. The metropolitans alone were safe from the violence of the oppressor. They TEMPORAL DOMINION. 179 tyrannised over the bishops and the inferior clergy, or at all events they did not exert themselves to defend them from the royal tyranny. Nicolas had often stood forth as the champion of the weak against the strong. Thus he carried the opinion of the world with him, while every step which he took tended to the exaltation of the Papacy. He had com pelled Lothaire to respect the sanctity of the marriage bond, and to take back the wife whom he had unjustly repudiated; he had fulminated his anathemas against metropolitans who had tyrannised over the bishops and inferior clergy, and persevered in a systematic course of violence and wrong ; he had annulled the decisions of "Councils which had contravened the immutable principles of justice. In the year 851 he had been engaged in an ecclesiastical contest from which he had come off victorious. John, Archbishop of Ravenna, was obliged to submit to him. The archbishops of Ravenna had, as we have stated, constantly asserted their independence of the See of Rome, and had even claimed to be on an equality with the Pope. The present archbishop had taken possession of certain estates claimed by the Roman See, and had treated with con tempt the citation of the Pope to appear before him to answer for certain heretical opinions. But the Emperor and his own citizens would not espouse his cause. The former told him to humble himself before the Pope. The end was that he was obliged to repair to Rome, and, as we are informed by Anastasius, "in the presence of many barons and magnates, to place the written profession of his orthodoxy on the life-giving Cross of 180 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Christ our Lord, on the Pope's sacred sandals, as well as on the book of the Gospels." He was obliged also to submit to the sentence which required him to make an annual pilgrimage to Rome for the rest of his life, and to engage never again to consecrate bishops in the Romagna province unless freely elected by the clergy and people, and accepted by the Holy See. Thus came to an end this opposition to Papal supremacy in Italy. Nicolas had endeavoured in the same manner as his predecessors to curb the lawlessness of arbitrary power. But now a new weapon was placed in his hands, which he gladly deposited in his arsenal, to be drawn forth when occasion required, to smite down the oppressors of the Church. He thought that every effort must be exerted to restore to the clergy the sanctity which had hitherto surrounded their persons and property, and that a court of appeal must be esta blished against this secular and ecclesiastical tyranny. The False Decretals supplied the Popes with every means for the attainment of their object. The alleged judgments of the Bishops of Rome in former ages, in unbroken succession from S. Peter, gave them everything which they could require to establish the authority of the Pope over the kings and Churches of Christendom. Rome was, in fact, stated to be the tribunal to which all men were to appeal against the exactions of arbitrary violence. The Popes, by quoting the Decretals, gave their deli berate sanction to this great historic forgery. They have done much to mould the Church of the Middle Ages. The decrees were calculated, when carried into TEMPORAL DOMINION. 181 effect, to place kings in abject submission at the feet of the Pope. The expression of doubt as to their genuineness was regarded in those days as equivalent to a denial of the divine authority of the Holy Scrip tures. But the Reformation laid open the volume to the most searching criticism, the result of which was that the discovery was made that this was the most successful fraud ever perpetrated in the domain of religion or literature. The leading controversialists of the Church of Rome struggled for some time after the Reformation to maintain their authority. The evidence against them was, however, so overwhelming that they were obliged to admit that they were an imposture. The fraud was admitted by Pius VI. in the year 1789, in his answer to the German arch bishops. The Jesuits have gone still further in recent times. Father Regnon, in his work, "Etudes de Theol., par les P. P. Jesuites a Paris," in 1866, writes thus : " The impostor really gained his end, and altered the whole discipline of the Church, as he desired, but he did not hinder the universal decay. God blesses no fraud ; the False Decretals have done nothing but mis chief." They are now condemned as forgeries by the universal voice of Christendom. The following extract from the works of Dupin of the Sorbonne, one of the most learned of the Roman Catholic controversialists, sets the question of their genuineness at rest for ever: — "All these Decretals were unknown to all the ancient Fathers, to all the Popes, and to all the ecclesiastical authorities who wrote before the ninth century. Now what rational man can suppose that so vast a number 1 82 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of epistles from so many holy Popes, that contained so many important points in relation to the discipline of the Church, could be unknown to Eusebius, to S. Jerome, to S. Augustine, to S. Basil, and, in short, to all those authors that have spoken of the writings of the Popes, or have written concerning the discipline of the Church ? . . . There are passages taken out of the Fathers, Popes, and Councils more modern than the very Popes by whom they are pretended to be written, and in which many things are to be found that do not agree with the true history of those times, being purposely said to favour the Court of Rome, and to establish her pretensions against the rights of bishops and the liberties of the Churches. But it would take up too much time to show the falsity of these monuments, which are now rejected by common consent, even by those authors who are most favourable to the Court of Rome, who are obliged to abandon the patronage of these epistles, though they have done a vast amount of service in establishing the greatness of the Court of Rome, and ruining the ancient discipline of the Church, especially in relation to ecclesiastical judgments and the rights of bishops." We shall see, when we come to the time of Gregory VII., that these epistles contained within themselves everything calculated to establish the authority of the Popes over the Churches and sovereigns of Christen dom. But this consummation was suspended by the continued degradation of the Papacy. Italy was for seventy years from A.D. 890 a prey to intestine dis orders, It had become the battlefield of contending TEMPORAL DOMINION. 183 princes. One emperor after another had been elevated to the throne. The authority of none of them, however, was recognised in Italy. Even in their own country they had no real authority. The consequence was the deep abasement, almost the annihilation of the Papacy. Men who outraged all laws, divine and human, were elevated to the Papal throne by the petty princes who had risen up in Italy, and by the unprincipled nobility, the intriguing clergy and the venal populace of the metropolis. The assent of the Emperor, which, from the time of Charlemagne, had always been required, had given the Christian world some control over the election. But the Empire was now in abeyance. Even shame less courtezans, Theodora and her daughters, Marozia and Theodora, had influence enough to place their lovers and sons in the chair of S. Peter. Whoever now obtained the mastery in Rome nominated the Pope. Many of the Popes now appointed, after having enjoyed for a time their dignity, were deposed, ban ished, or hurried away to prison, where they perished by the bowl of poison, or by the dagger of the as sassin. A succession of Popes from A.D. 936, Leo VII., Stephen IX., Martin III., and Agapetus II., appointed by the will of Alberic, the master of Rome, pass over the throne of the Papacy, leaving no more signs of their power in Rome than the barque leaves on the surface of the ocean. The spiritual thunders at this time sounded faintly in the firmament. The Popes had neither leisure nor inclination to prosecute the schemes of their predecessors, which had for their object to raise them to the summit of worldly greatness.- 184 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. The wonder is that the empire of the Papacy, being founded on reverence of opinion, should have survived the degradation of a century. But the fact was that the dogma that the Pope was the successor of S. Peter was so deeply fixed in the minds of the people — being regarded as an article of faith as much as the Incarnation — that it served to reconcile them to the greatest inconsistencies. At length a remedy for the evil was found. Otho I., who had given proof of his power by extending and consolidating the Empire of Germany, having been invited by John XII. to revive his claim to the crown, and to terminate the reign of disorder in Italy and the metropolis, descended on its plains with a force which bore down all opposition, and was crowned at Rome in the year 962. We must remember the union thus established be tween Germany and Italy if we would rightly under stand the history of the Papacy, Italy, and Europe during the Middle Ages. The kingdom thus restored by Otho differed from the Empire of Charlemagne in this, among many other important particulars, that he did not rule over so wide an extent of country as his illustrious predecessor. He assumed the title of Roman Emperor, partly from ambitious motives, partly also because he thought that the awe inspired by the title would aid him in breaking the power of a turbu lent feudal aristocracy. He thought also that the re ligious associations connected with the title would awe into submission those rude and superstitious warriors. The Pope in those days, so far from wishing to destroy the Imperial power, thought the preservation of it TEMPORAL DOMINION. 185 absolutely indispensable to the maintenance of his own dominion. Just as some powerful baron was often chosen by monasteries to beat back the enemy from the lands which he was threatening to lay waste, and to take the command of their tenants whenever the monarch summoned them to assemble beneath his standard, so the Emperor was to defend the Roman Catholic Church, to wage war with heretics and un believers, and to plant the standard of the Cross in heathen countries. We see, then, the influence which Otho, as invested with a religious character, might be expected to exercise over his turbulent feudal aristo cracy. This idea of the Holy Roman Empire, thus dimly shadowed forth in the time of Otho, was deve loped in subsequent ages. He merged the king in the emperor, and for ever fixed the Imperial crown in the German nation. The election by the German Diet gave him the kingdom of Rome and Italy ; but his coronation in that capital by the Pope was considered as indispensable to the assumption of the Imperial title. One of the first acts of Otho I. had been to depose Pope John on account of his vices, and to nominate a new Pope, Leo VIII. The Pope and the citizens yielded to the Emperor an absolute veto on Papal elections. The Papacy was disposed of by his son Otho II. and his grandson Otho III. The Pope ap pointed by the latter, A.D. 999, was Gerbert, Silvester II., who derived from the Arabian doctors in Spain the extensive and profound learning for which he was conspicuous. The decree for the election of the Emperor develops the designs of Otho and his Pope : 1 86 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. " In the name of the Holy Trinity, Otho, the servant of the Apostles, by the will of God the Saviour, Emperor of the Romans, We declare Rome to be the mother of the Churches." He thus assumes the power not only of electing, but, by God's grace, of creating the Pope. Rome, however, did not enter into the designs of the Pope for her aggrandisement. When he appeared before Rome he found the gates closed against him. He addressed the Romans from a neighbouring tower, and expatiated on his designs for the restoration of those days when Rome sat enthroned among the nations. The Romans opened the gates to him, not because they were moved by the prospect of those traditionary glories, but because they were afraid of being beaten down by overwhelming numbers. The bright vision which had animated his soul with en thusiasm soon vanished away. Stephania, the wife of Crescentius, whom Otho had ordered to be executed in a barbarous manner because he had rebelled against him, inflicted vengeance on the murderer of her hus band. She found an opportunity of administering to him a subtle poison. The whole Transalpine world mourned over his untimely end. Rome thus filled up the measure of her iniquities. She removed from her one who might have succeeded in his design of estab lishing a kingdom more durable and better organised than that of Charlemagne, and might have made Rome the metropolis of a regenerated world. The first attempt to rescue the appointment to the Papacy from the hands of the populace and the turbulent nobles of Rome had ended in failure. The TEMPORAL DOMINION. 187 Romans, indignant because their privilege to appoint the universal bishop was taken from them by the hand of a master, often, as soon as the Imperial standards had disappeared in the gorges of the Tyrol, deposed the Pope so nominated, and relapsed into their former condition of stormy independence. John XII., after the departure of Otho, regained his dignity. Leo VIII. was subsequently reinstated by Otho. John XIII. was deposed by an insurrection, A.D. 965, and banished to Cyprus, but was restored by Otho. Bene dict VI. was murdered by the Romans, A.D. 973, at the instigation of the consul Crescentius, under whom they established a republic. John XV., A.D. 985, was driven into exile, but was afterwards restored. Gregory V., A.D. 997, was ejected by Crescentius, who installed another Pope. Otho, after the execution of Crescentius, gave up his Pontiff to be mutilated by the multitude. Silvester II. was the only Pope who remained in undisturbed possession of his high office ; but even he was supposed to have lost his life through a grievous malady caused by the administra tion of poison by the widow of Crescentius. The degradation of the Papacy continued after the death of Otho III. From A.D. 1002 to 1046 the Papal chair was occupied by infamous men appointed by the counts of Tusculum, the masters of Rome, who had bought the venal people. Two of these Popes, Benedict VIII. and John XIX., disgraced themselves by their violence. The third, Benedict IX., a boy not more than twelve years of age, for whom the gold of his family secured the Papacy, was the slave of every vice and the 188 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. patron of every crime. Low debaucheries, midnight orgies, and brutal murders disgraced the head of Christendom. At one time three candidates for the Papacy encountered one another with carnal weapons in the streets of Rome. At length, th« Emperor Henry III., obeying a summons from Rome, crossed the Alps and deposed the three claimants, " the three devils," as they were called by an unceremonious con temporary. The only remedy was the appointment of a stranger, as there was not one in the Church who was not disqualified for the office by his want of learning and by his vices and crimes. Henry nomi nated for the office three Popes in succession, who laboured to cleanse the polluted sanctuary. The first two Popes, Clement II. and Damasus II., died within a very short time of their appointment, before they had fulfilled the expectations which were formed of them. The third, Leo IX., will be for ever memor able, not only on his own account but also because he was the means of bringing the great master-spirit of the age, Hildebrand, Gregory VII., prominently for ward on the world's high stage. At the celebrated monastery of Cluny, towards the end of the year 1048, Bruno, the Bishop of Toul, arrayed in all the splendour and attended by the retinue of a Pontiff elect, demanded the hospitality and homage of the monks. Hildebrand, the Prior of Cluny, was distinguished above his brethren by the holiness of his life and his ardent zeal for God's glory. He did not hesitate to tell Bruno that he had not been properly appointed to the Papacy because he TEMPORAL DOMINION. 189 had been appointed by the secular power beyond the precincts of the holy city. Bruno immediately divested himself of his sacred vestments, laid aside the ensigns of his high office, and, accompanied by Gregory only, passed on foot through the gate of the city. The acclamations of the assembled citizens were the reward of Bruno for this acknowledgment that it was their privilege to elect the head of the Church. Hildebrand was at once rewarded for the service which he had rendered to Bruno by his appointment to the dignity of a cardinal and to the offices of sub-deacon of Rome and superintendent of the church and convent of S. Paul. A ray now streamed through the clouds, and gilded the raging billows. Bruno, who took the title of Leo IX., was fired with the holy ambition of making the Papacy the arbiter of the spiritual and temporal destinies of Christendom. This was the grand vision which had unfolded itself to two at least of" his dis tinguished predecessors, Leo the Great and Gregory the Great. The pilgrims, on their return from their pilgrimage to Rome, had carried through Europe the report of the utter degradation of the Papacy. Even those who received with unwavering submission the decrees of the Pope could hardly believe that the fiends who reigned at Rome ought to have a hold upon their spiritual allegiance. Leo was determined to enable the Papacy to fulfil what he believed to be its glorious destiny. He felt sure that he should be able to rehabilitate the Papacy. He would go forth and preach to the nations by the silent elo quence of a holy life. He would exhibit to them 190 HISTORY OP THE CHURCH IN ITALY. that nobility of spirit, that dignity of character, that superiority to the sordid and debasing pursuits and pleasures of the world which are expected and should be found in the followers of Him who was "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners." He would appear among the bishops and clergy as the stern censor of abuses, and would show to the nations that his great object was to promote the moral and spiritual regeneration of Europe. We are thus re minded of the difference between the Italian Church and the other Churches of Europe. The Italian Church was essentially a national Church, as much as any of the other Churches. But the difference between her and them was that Rome impressed upon them the distinguishing features of her system and character. This is an important part of our subject. We must say that it was through the efforts of Leo that Rome was rescued from that deep gulf of abasement into which she had sunk during the preceding century. He smote with his spiritual weapons those marauding prelates who had gone forth from their feudal castles, spreading ruin and desolation around them. He de posed those in France and Germany who had been guilty of simony, murder, or unnatural crimes. We may say that, if he had not taken this course, perhaps the Churches of France and Spain would have cast off their allegiance to the Papacy. He had by this one campaign restored the Papacy to its former autho rity over the minds of men. He had elevated the pride of Germany in having given such a Pope to the world. He came back to Italy, having gained an TEMPORAL DOMINION. 191 influence which enabled him to repress the turbulent spirit of the Italian nobles and people, and could reflect with pleasure that he had confirmed the waver ing nations in their allegiance to the See of Rome. Leo, in acknowledgment of his services in Germany, was allowed by the Emperor to conduct a body of soldiers to Italy to expel the Norman invaders of the Papal territory. But the swords and the lances of their leaders prevailed against the spiritual weapons of the successor of S. Peter. Heartbroken on account of his defeat, and full of remorse because he had fought with carnal weapons, Leo pined away and died. After him came Victor II., Stephen IX., and Nicolas II., who occupied the Papal chair chiefly through the strong recommendation of Hildebrand. Stephen conferred on Hildebrand the dignity of Cardinal Archdeacon of Rome, and of legate at the Imperial court. In com pliance with the urgent request of Hildebrand, Nicolas summoned a Council at Rome A.D. 1059, at which was effected a change in the mode of election to the Papal See, which, with some modifications, continues in force to the present time. An important book, lately issued at Rome by Commendatore Berthelet, " La Elezione Del Papa, Storia e Documenti," " The History of the Elections of the Popes and Documents relating to it," many of which are now for the first time pub lished, gives full information as to this important subject not only at the time now before us, but also through subsequent ages. It is really a history of the internal life of the Papacy from the earliest times to the present day. The electors to the Bishopric of Rome from the 192 HISTORY OP THE CHURCH IN ITALY. beginning were the local ecclesiastical body, in con junction with the nobility, the army, and the repre sentatives of the Roman people. The name of the Pope was originally given to all bishops, and did not become the peculiar title of the Bishop of Rome till the year 510. He was elected by acclamation when it had been ascertained that all or nearly all the electors agreed in recommending him. The dis turbances in the streets of Rome in the time of Theodoric, of which a description has been given, gave occasion for the rule that the election should be confirmed by the Emperor. The objections to this arrangement were that he might have to wait a long time for his appointment, which might not be con firmed by the Emperor because he disliked him, and that he would have to pay a large sum of money into the Imperial treasury. Some Popes in those early times were consecrated without the consent of the Emperor. In the year 681 the Emperor Constan tine Pogonatus issued a decree that the appointment should not be confirmed by the Emperor, but his successor recalled it. We know that Charlemagne and some of his successors, with the full consent of the clergy and people of Rome, confirmed the appointments to the Papal See. The Papacy at that time needed a protector. Even in the turbulent ninth century Leo IV., Benedict III., Nicolas I., Adrian II., and John VIII. waited for the consent of the Emperor to their nomination. But now all thinking men at Rome were convinced that the scan dalous scenes, the bribery at every election, and the TEMPORAL DOMINION. 193 disgraceful conduct of many of the Popes, rendered it absolutely necessary that there should be a change in the mode of the appointment to the Papal See if Rome continued to appoint the arbiter of the spiritual and temporal destinies of Christendom. Many, too, were anxious not only that the German Emperors should not have the power of appointing to the Papacy, but also that they should, as laymen, be excluded from all connection with a spiritual appointment. Accord ingly we find that, in the decree passed at the Council, the Imperial rights were reserved very ambiguously. The decree vested the election in the higher clergy, the cardinal-bishops, who were the bishops in the Roman territory, and the cardinal-priests, who were the rectors of the churches of Rome. The inferior clergy and people had no voice in the election; they could only give their consent to it. The Pope must be chosen from the Roman clergy, unless there should be no one among them qualified for the high dignity. If from any cause the election could not take place in Rome, the electors, however few they might be, might proceed to an election in another city. The grace of God and the pardon of their sins are then implored for all those who faithfully observe the decree of the Council. Nicolas died very soon after he had obtained this decree from the Council. Hildebrand, at the first conclave which assembled after his death, strongly recommended that an envoy should be sent to the Queen Agnes, who governed the Empire for her young son, Henry IV, to propitiate her by offering that any ecclesiastic whom she recommended should be N 194 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. appointed, if she would consent that the cardinals alone should choose the Pope. She was very indignant, and refused their proposal. By the advice of Guibert, the Chancellor of the Empire, a Council consisting of Ger man and Lombard bishops was summoned at Basle to consider the matter. The choice of the Council fell on Cadalous, Bishop of Parma, who took the name of Honorius II. Hildebrand and the cardinals answered this defiance by electing Anselm Bishop of Lucca, who is known to history as Alexander II. After a short but bloody conflict, the rivals, following the advice of the Duke of Tuscany, retired to their dioceses to await the decision of the Emperor and the proper authori ties. Alexander rewarded the service which Hilde brand had rendered to him in promoting his election by appointing him Chancellor of the Holy See. The Council was afterwards summoned at Augsburg, at which Alexander was declared the rightful Pontiff. He governed the Church from A.D. 1061 to A.D. 1073. The time had now come when Hildebrand was to receive the reward of the important services which he had rendered to the Holy See. He had been the ruling spirit under five Popes — Leo, Victor, Stephen, Nicolas, and Alexander — four of whom were indebted to him for their election. But now he must himself be raised to the Papal throne. The clergy were assembled in the Lateran Church to celebrate the obsequies of Alexander. Hildebrand, as Archdeacon, was performing the service. Suddenly, in the midst of the requiem for the departed, a shout was heard which seemed to come as if by inspiration from the TEMPORAL DOMINION. 195 assembled multitude, " Hildebrand is Pope ! S. Peter chooses the Archdeacon Hildebrand ! " From the funeral procession Hildebrand flew to the pulpit, and with impassioned gestures seemed to be imploring silence. The storm, however, did not cease till one of the cardinals, in the name of the Sacred College, declared that they had unanimously elected him whom the people had chosen. Arrayed in the scarlet robes, crowned with the Papal tiara, Gregory VII. ascended the chair of S. Peter. The Pope very soon made known the course which he should pursue. He issued a prohibition against the marriage of the clergy, and in a Council at Rome abolished the right of investiture. He was determined to redress the wrongs of society. He had seen oppres sion laying waste the fairest provinces of Europe ; he had seen many princes, goaded on by the revengeful passions of their nature, flinging wide their standard to the winds, and dipping their hands in the blood of those who, if Christianity be not a fable, were their very brothers. A magnificent vision rose up before him. He would rule the world by religion ; he would be the Caesar of the spiritual monarchy. He and a Council of prelates, annually assembled at Rome, would constitute a tribunal from whose judgment there should be no appeal, empowered to hold the supreme media tion in matters relating to the interests of the body politic ; to settle contested successions to kingdoms ; and to compel men to cease from their dissensions. The civil power was to pledge itself to be prompt in the execution of their decrees against those who 196 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. despised their authority. But if the decisions of those judges were to carry weight, they must be men of unblemished integrity. The purity of their ermine must be altogether unsullied. The sale of the highest spiritual offices by the prince, who had deprived the clergy and people of their right to elect to them, which had stained the hands of the Church and undermined its power, must be altogether forbidden. Elections must be free. The custom of investiture by sovereigns with the ring and crosier, which had rendered the hierarchy and clergy the creatures of their will, must be forbidden. The clergy must possess an absolute exemption from the criminal justice of the State. They must recognise but one ruler, the Pope, who disposed of them indirectly through the bishops or directly in cases of exemption, and used them as tools for the execution of his behests. In fact, they were to consti tute a vast army, exclusively devoted to the service of an ecclesiastical monarch. They must be unconnected by marriage with the world around them, that they might be bound more closely to one another and to their head ; that they might be saved from the temptation of restless projects for the advancement of their families, which have caused so much scandal in the world ; and that they might give an exalted idea of their sanctity, inasmuch as, in order that they might give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word, they would forego that connubial bliss, the portion of those, " the happiest of their kind, Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend." TEMPORAL DOMINION. I97 The marriage of the clergy was everywhere more or less repugnant to the general feeling of Christen dom. We have traced in our second chapter the rise and progress of asceticism in the Church. We have shown its source in human nature, and that its growth was quickened by a reaction from the immorality of Paganism. The general effect on the position of the clergy was to compel them to keep progress with the prevailing movement. Men consecrated to the service of Jehovah must rise superior to the common herd of their fellow-creatures. By a decree of Pope Siricius at the end of the fourth century, marriage was inter dicted to all priests and deacons. This decree was, however, very imperfectly observed during the follow ing centuries. The general feeling was, however, at this time very strongly against the married clergy. But throughout the spiritual realm of Hildebrand in Italy, from Calabria to the Alps, the clergy had risen up in rebellion against him and the Popes, his pre decessors, when they attempted to coerce them into celibacy. We believe that this opposition much more than the strife as to investitures was the cause of the strong feeling, almost unprecedented, which existed against Gregory VII. When we see the determina tion thus evinced, we are reminded of a struggle having reference to this matter which again brings Milan prominently before us. The Bishops of Milan from the time of S. Ambrose constantly asserted their independence of Rome. They occupied so high a position as heads of the "Italian diocese," corresponding to the position of the Roman 198 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Church as head of the " Suburbicarian," into which two dioceses the whole of Italy was at that time, as we have seen, divided, that we are not surprised to find them constantly acting independently of the Bishops of Rome. Even Roman Catholic historians — Cantu and Ughelli — admit that for two centuries, the ninth and the tenth, their clergy asserted that the Church of S. Ambrose was not inferior to the Church of S. Peter. The primitive freedom of election to that See is illustrated by the elevation of S. Ambrose by uni versal suffrage, of which we have given a description. They had a great reverence for that distinguished prelate, which was shared by the cities of Italy. We are told that on one occasion, A.D. 1201, his name was adopted as the watchword of battle, and that when the soldiers of Crema heard the shout, "S. Ambrose and Milan ! " without striking a blow, they fled precipitately from the battlefield. The Archbishop of Milan was the most powerful prince when there was not an emperor or king in the north of Italy. Milan owes much of her glory to her archbishops. Archbishop Anspert, in the ninth century, haughtily neglected the citations of the Pope. Conrad in the eleventh century accepted the iron crown of Lombardy from the hands of Archbishop Heribert. The choice of the people, after the death of Heribert, fell upon Guido. He comes before us in connection with the question of the marriage of the clergy, which was agitating Christendom. The clergy of Milan were the avowed champions of it. A large proportion of the TEMPORAL DOMINION. 199 Lombard clergy were married men. They boldly asserted their right to remain so, alleging the words of S. Ambrose as the authority for the marriage of the clergy. But still there were many of the clergy of Milan who regarded this privilege with great indignation. Three persons — Anselm of Badagio, Ariald, a man of humble birth, and Landulph, a noble — headed the movement against it. In a great festival, Ariald had endeavoured to compel all the clergy to sign an agreement not to enter into the married state. A priest, irritated, made a violent speech and struck him. This was the signal for an insurrection. The people, often on the side of those who are the most austere in their profession of religion, attacked the married clergy, and compelled them to separate from their wives. Married priests were dragged from the altar while they were at mass. They were assaulted, beaten, and threatened with death in the streets. Guido at length took courage, and assembled a Synod at Novara, at which he ex communicated the turbulent Ariald and his followers. They laughed the excommunication to scorn. The Pope, A.D. 1067, sent Peter Damian, and Anselm, Bishop of Lucca, to quell the insurrection. The fickle multi tude, apprised of the object of their mission, thought that they had come to encroach on their spiritual liberties. They were now furious in defence of the married clergy. The house of the legates was sur rounded by multitudes who fiercely threatened them, and raised the cry, " The Church of S. Ambrose ought not to be subject to the laws of Rome. The Pope has no authority over this See. Why are the legates 200 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. sent hither?" The heroic self-possession of Peter Damian saved his own life and the life of his colleague. He ascended the pulpit, and in an eloquent address told them that S. Ambrose, whom they supposed to be on their side, had really endeavoured to root out of the city this pestilential heresy, the marriage of the clergy. The Pope came off a victor in the conflict. The multitude were now as strongly against the marriage of the clergy as they were in favour of it. As the clergy had no supporters, they must submit to an imperious master. The Archbishop and clergy were now obliged to take an oath against the marriage of the clergy and against simony, of which very many of them had been guilty. Thus, while she ruthlessly broke many hearts, amid the clashing of the swords, the sound of riven helmets, the Church of Rome imposed her doctrine of the celibacy of the clergy on the Church of Milan. The strife of centuries was at an end. The clergy and people of Milan were obliged to crouch in abject submission at the feet of the imperious suc cessor of the fisherman of Galilee. We must now show that Gregory enforced his views as to investitures. This part of our subject is important, because it gave occasion for the assertion that the Pope could depose the holy Roman Emperor and the King of Italy if he should find him morally or physically disqualified for fulfilling the condition on which his appointment depended, that he should defend him from his enemies. Henry IV., at the beginning of his reign only ten years of age, was at this time Emperor. One day, as he was standing by TEMPORAL DOMINION. 201 the Rhine, a galley with silken streamers appeared, into which he was invited to enter. After he had been gliding for some time down the stream, he found that he was a prisoner. The Archbishops of Milan and Cologne, with other powerful lords, having con signed him to a degrading captivity, administered in his name the government of the Empire. By affording him every means of vicious indulgence, they were only too successful in corrupting a noble and generous nature. Very soon he was guilty of crimes, and plunged into excesses which seemed to cry aloud for vengeance. The Pope saw that the time had come for the execution of his designs. Henry had been guilty of the grossest simony. The spiritual dignities had been openly sold to the highest bidder. He saw also that, while the clergy took the oath of fealty to the monarch and were invested by him with the ring and crosier, he could not establish the superiority of the spiritual to the temporal jurisdic tion. He therefore summoned a Council at the Lateran, A.D. 1075, which issued a decree against lay investitures. The Pope, having thus declared war against the Emperor, proceeded to fill up certain vacant bishoprics and to suspend bishops, both in Germany and Italy, who had been guilty of simony. He also cited Henry before him to answer for his simony, crimes, and excesses. This citation is alleged to have given occa sion for an attempted crime, supposed to have been sanctioned by Henry, which may show us, as we shall see again, that while the Pope was asserting a right to 202 History of the church in iTalY. rule over the nations, he could not rule in his own city. On Christmas Eve, A.D. 1 07 5, the city of Rome was visited with a violent tempest. Darkness brooded over the land. The inhabitants thought that the day of judgment was at hand. In the midst of this war of the elements two processions were seen advancing to wards the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. At the head of one of them was Hildebrand, leading his priests to worship at a shrine. At the head of the other was Cencius, a Roman noble. In one of the pauses in the roar of the tempest, when the Pope was heard blessing his flock, the arm of Cencius grasped his person, and the sword of a ruffian inflicted a wound on his fore head. Bound with cords, the Pope was removed to a mansion in the city, from which he was the next day to be removed to exile or to death. A sword was aimed at the Pontiff's bosom, when the cries of a fierce multitude, threatening to burn down the house, ar rested the arm of the assassin. An arrow discharged from below reached and slew the latter. Cencius fell at the Pope's feet, a suppliant for pardon and for life. The Pontiff immediately pardoned him. Then, amid the acclamations of the Roman people, Gregory pro ceeded to complete the interrupted solemnities at Santa Maria Maggiore. The war between Henry and the Pope continued. Henry summoned a Synod at Worms in January, A.D. 1076, which decreed the deposition of the Pope. The envoy charged to convey this sentence appeared in the Council Chamber of the Lateran in February, A.D. 1076, before an assembly consisting of the mightiest TEMPORAL DOMINION. 203 in the land, whom the Pope had summoned to sit in judgment on Henry. With flashing eyes, and in a voice of thunder, he directed the Pope to descend from the chair of S. Peter. Cries of indignation rang through the hall, and a hundred swords were seen leaping from their scabbards to inflict vengeance on the daring in truder. The Pope with difficulty stilled the angry tumult. Then, rising with calm dignity, amid the breathless silence of the assembled multitude, he uttered that dread anathema which "shuts paradise and opens hell," and absolved the subjects of Henry from their allegiance. The inhabitants of Europe were struck dumb with amazement when they witnessed this exercise of Papal prerogative. They thought that the powerful arm of Henry would have been raised to smite down the audacious Hildebrand. The Pope, however, well knew that Henry had by his excesses alienated from himself the affections of his subjects. The sentence gave a pretext to many of his nobility to withdraw from their allegiance. Awed by spiritual terrors, his attendants fell away from him as if he had been smitten by a leprosy. An assembly was now summoned at Tribur, in obedience to a requisition from the Pope, at which it was decreed that, if the Emperor continued excom municate on the 23rd February, A.D. 1077, his crown should be given to another. The theory of the Holy Roman Empire had thus become a practical reality. The vassal of Otho had reduced the successor of Otho to vassalage. A great Pope had wrung from the superstition and reverence of mankind a spiritual 204 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. empire, which, it was hoped, would extend its sway to earth's remote boundaries. Henry seemed to be convinced that it was of no use to continue the conflict. He therefore determined to cross the Alps in a winter so severe that the Rhine was congealed into one solid mass of ice. In the pro secution of his journey he passed through trackless wastes of snow, and ascended and descended precipices the sight of which would have appalled the stout heart of the most experienced hunter of the Alps. At length he arrived in front of the fortress of Canossa in the Apennines, where Gregory was residing with the Countess Matilda of Tuscany, the most tender and devoted of his spiritual adherents. She now ruled over the States which had descended to her from her father, Boniface, the Duke and Marquis of Tuscany. Arrayed in the garment of a penitent, bare-footed, with slow step and abject demeanour, the imperial ruler of many nations toiled up the steep ascent which led to the courtyard of the castle. He passed through two outer courts, but found the third closed against him. Here, stiff with cold, faint with hunger, and overpowered by shame and anger, he waited for three days from morning to evening for admission to the presence of Hildebrand. When on the fourth day he was admitted, and had cast himself at the feet of the Pope, weeping and crying again and again for mercy, Gregory was pleased to absolve him. The Lombard lords, who had rejoiced in the arrival of their sovereign in Italy, were waiting in neighbour ing valleys for tidings from the castle. At length a TEMPORAL DOMINION. 205 bishop was seen descending the steep path, who soon appeared among them, announced the submission of Henry, and exhorted them to seek absolution from the Pope. Immediately a shout of indignation and defiance burst from every lip. They rejected the pardon, and denied the authority of the Emperor. At length Henry appeared and walked along the Lombard lines. Con tempt was in every eye, and derision was heard from every tongue. But they were soon animated by their old spirit of loyalty, and accompanied him to Reggio, where, in a conclave of ecclesiastics, he concerted schemes for their deliverance from their spiritual op pressor. He boldly opposed the Pontiff, imprisoned his legates, and asserted his rights as emperor. His reward was a burst of sympathy and loyalty from his Italian subjects. His opponents, however, were not inactive. The Germans knew that the Pope had deposed their king ; they did not, therefore, doubt that he was strongly on their side. They therefore proceeded at once to the election of Rudolph of Saxony. This intelligence aroused the slumbering loyalty of the other Germans. Men's hearts yearned over their king. The standards of Henry once more floated over the citadels on the Rhine. The Pope, after an offer of mediation between the contending parties which could not be accepted, retired to his own city. The war continued. Rudolph was defeated with great loss at Fladenheim. The skill and courage of the Saxon commander, however, turned a defeat into a victory. Emboldened by this victory, Gregory excom- 206 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. municated Henry, and "gave, granted, and conceded" that Rudolph might rule the Italian and German empire. With the sanction of thirty bishops, an Anti- pope, Guibert, was elected at Brixen. The war raged with undiminished violence. The Saxons, the only power in alliance with the Romans, gained a victory over Henry in Germany at the very same time when Matilda's forces fled before his army in the Mantuan territory. Matilda had lately granted all her hereditary States to Gregory and his successors for ever. Before the summer of the year 1080 the citizens of Rome saw the forces of Henry in the Campagna. The siege of Rome continued for three years. The capture of the city was imminent, when the forces of Robert Guiscard, the Norman, came to the rescue of the Pope. Nicolas II. had bestowed on Robert Guiscard the investiture of the duchies of Apulia and Calabria; Sicily also, the conquest of which his brother Richard was meditating, being prospectively added to Robert's dominions. The oath taken by Robert Guiscard on this occasion bound him to be the devoted defender of the pontificate. He now became a friend indeed. A hasty retreat saved the forces of Henry from the impending danger. The Pope returned in triumph to the Lateran. But within a few hours he heard from the streets the clash of arms and the loud shouts of the combatants. A fierce contest was raging between the soldiers of Robert and the citizens who espoused the cause of Henry. A conflagration was kindled which at length destroyed three-fourths of the city. Gregory, perhaps conscience-stricken when he thought of the wars which TEMPORAL DOMINION. 207 he had kindled, sought in the castle of Salerno from the Normans the security which he could no longer expect among his own subjects. He soon found that the hand of death was upon him. He summoned round his • bed the bishops and cardinals who had accompanied him in his flight from Rome. He main tained the truth of the principles for which he had always contended. He forgave and blessed his enemies with the exception of the Anti-pope and the Emperor. He had received the transubstantiated elements. The final unction had been given to him. He then pre pared himself to die. Anxious to catch the last words from that tongue to the utterances of which they had always listened with intense delight, his followers were bending over him when, collecting his powers for one last effort, he said in an indignant tone, "I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and there fore I die in exile." We see the results of the victory of Hildebrand in the history of the following ages. We admit that the proudest monarchs of Christendom became vassals in the train of the Pope, and that he exercised a powerful control over a wild and warlike aristocracy. We admit also that the Papacy, strengthened by him, prevented the different forces from coming together in a very fierce conflict. We musk remember, also, that if the Pope had not compelled the hierarchy to work on a fixed system, its rule would have lost its unity, and with its unity its authority would have perished. In these respects, with some qualifications, Gregory may be regarded as the benefactor of the human race. But 208 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. in other respects he has laid himself open to strong censure. The idea that one man, nay, an order of men, should become in any sense divine, so that every attempt to limit their authority is treason, is deserving of the strongest condemnation. When he pretended to heal the wounds of society, he was constantly acting as if he wished to gratify his lust of power by dethron ing kings, and reigning as an absolute monarch over the nations. For the sake of a visionary and imprac ticable scheme, he fomented instead of allaying civil discord. The doctrine of the celibacy of the clergy has been a fruitful source of evil. The court, too, which Gregory established became the grandest and most magnificent failure in history. It soon became as corrupt as the worst of the tribunals by which it was surrounded. If true, this monarchical autocracy was taught by means utterly at variance with the true spirit of Christianity. The foundation of this Papal system was laid on the dead bodies of the victims of desolating wars, and its stones were cemented with the blood of the countless victims of his triumphs. We shall close this chapter with a description of the consequences of this pontificate as developed in the con solidation of the Papal despotism. Before, however, we proceed to them we must refer to the worship and doctrine of the Church during the last three centuries. Claud, Bishop of Turin, appointed in the year 817, distinguished himself by his strong opposition to the worship of images and saints. In matters of ritual, religious observance, and discipline, we have several instances of development. We learn from a work of TEMPORAL DOMINION. 209 Attone, Bishop of Vercelli, A.D. 924, that private or solitary masses were at that time forbidden, from which prohibition we gather that the idea of communion still predominated over the idea of sacrifice ; that all were required to communicate at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost ; and that public amusements on festivals are forbidden. Important also is the testimony in these writings to the freedom still prevailing in the mode of election to bishoprics : "The elect is to be most diligently examined by the Metropolitan and other bishops of the same province. If he be found worthy, let him be solemnly consecrated with the consent of the sovereign to whose government the diocese seems to belong." We find also that the sanctuary was adorned with increasing splendour. Statues of gold and silver, especially those assumed to be exact likenesses of our Lord, were placed in the churches ; and the hangings in them were adorned with gold, or studded with gems. The illuminations in the sanctuary were brilliant. We find, however, that the cross was not placed upon the holy table, but that it had a conspicuous place in the temple. All were required to present obla tions at mass. Tithes, in their origin voluntary, were now prescribed by law. Communion was always re ceived in both kinds; and baptism was administered with triple immersion of the body in fonts made like wells. We read that there was an increasing veneration for relics during this period. They were constantly divided and transferred to other places. Large sums were given for them. The doctrine of Transubstan- tiation, though held by some, had not in the time of 0 210 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Gregory VII. become a doctrine of the Church. Ber- enger opposed it when it was brought forward by Paschasius Radbert. Gregory showed at a Council of the Lateran, A.D. 1079, that he had not made up his mind on the subject, because he dismissed Paschasius not only uncondemned, but even with honour. The erroneous dogmas of the Church of Rome were, how ever, making progress during the period which has come before us in this chapter. We notice a constantly increasing veneration for the Virgin Mary. The angelic salutation became a popular form of prayer. Peter Damian, who represents very much the opinions of others, styles Mary, in a sermon on her Assumption, " Sovereign Lady of the World, Queen of Heaven, seated at the right hand of God ; all-beautiful because all-deified, and placed on the throne of the Trinity." He also promoted the practice of dedicating Saturdays to Mary ; Fridays to the commemoration of the Cross and Passion ; and Mondays to intercession for the souls in purgatory. The last observance was founded on the belief that a rest was allowed on Sundays, and that on the morrow there was a renewal of the sufferings in the purgatorial state. We must now consider the important consequences of the pontificate of Gregory. We have been parti cular in describing the Decretal Epistles, because with out them there would have been no Gregory. During the period of degradation which has come before us, they were scarcely used, because the Popes had neither leisure nor inclination for the prosecution of their schemes of worldly aggrandisement. At length, TEMPORAL DOMINION. 211 two hundred years after the time of Nicolas I., who often used them, Pope Gregory VII. drew them forth from the Papal arsenal and applied them to his own purposes. He thought that they would aid him in his design of welding the States of Europe into a priest- kingdom, of which he should be the head. The following statements are made in "The Pope and the Council " by Janus, which are proved to have the direct sanction of the justly celebrated Von Dollinger. Gregory was the first to introduce, by new means, a new constitution of the Church. Bishop Anselm of Lucca, A.D. 1080-1086, in obedience to the command of Gregory, threw into a convenient form everything in the Isidorian Decretals which would tend to establish the absolute power of the Pope. The Gregorian super structure was erected on the foundation of the Decretals. Whatever present exigencies required was selected from them, and applied without hesitation to the purposes of Gregory. He did not systematically take part in these forgeries, but in his eagerness for dominion he made use of the first forged document in support of his pre tensions. He was the life and soul of the enterprise. He borrowed one main support of his fabric from the Epistles. Pseudo-Isidore had made Pope Julius, about the year 338, write to the Eastern bishops, " The Church of Rome, by a singular privilege, has the right of opening and shutting the gates of heaven to whom she will." On this declaration Gregory built his scheme of dominion. How should he not be able to judge on earth, on whose will hung the salvation or damnation of men ? By means of this right of binding 212 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. or loosing, the Papacy was able to establish many of its claims. Thus when Gregory, who was the first to assert that the power of dethroning kings belonged to the Papacy, wanted to depose the German Emperor, he said, "To me is given the power to bind or loose on earth and in heaven." By the same power of loosing he absolved subjects from their oaths of alle giance, and gave away the property of others ; for he declared at the Roman Synod A.D. 1080, "We desire to show the world that we can give or take away at our will, kingdoms, duchies, earldoms — in a word, the possessions of all men, since we can bind or loose." We see, then, how this spiritual autocrat used the Decretals for the accomplishment of his objects. They were the broad foundation on which he reared the superstructure. Peter Damian, Cardinal Deusdedit, and Humbert, besides Anselm, all Italians, aided him in his work. But as his designs extended even beyond those contemplated in them, he was obliged to improve upon them by new forgeries. The forger had made Pope Julius, A.D. 342, write in two spurious epistles that the Apostles and the Nicene Council had stated that no Council could be held without the Pope's injunction. Anselm and Deusdedit could, therefore, bring forward his authority for the Decree resting the summoning of Councils and their decisions on the good pleasure of the Pope. But they could not, simply by means of them, remove Synods of particular Churches out of their way altogether. And yet they felt that this removal was indispensable to Papal absolutism, as they were the means of preserving TEMPORAL DOMINION. 213 the independent Church life which they were anxious to destroy altogether. Accordingly, by a wilful per version of language, they represented Gregory the Great as having declared that no one ever had been, or ever would be, permitted to hold a particular (not (Ecumenical) Synod. Gregory also made use of the pallium, or white woollen stole with four crosses, as a means of bringing metropolitans into subjection to the Papacy. At first, as we have seen in the case of Pope Symmachus (p. 158), who was the first to use it, this was a mere orna ment to which no right was attached. The Popes showed themselves excellent judges of human nature in sending it to metropolitans. Titles of honour, decora tions such as our own ribbons of the Garter or the Bath, distinctions in the colour or shape of a garment, may become instruments of power, because they have an irresistible charm for the majority. Warriors have been animated by the prospect of this distinction to plunge into the thick of the battle, and to seek " the bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth." We re member the words of our own Nelson, " A peerage or Westminster Abbey." At first, metropolitans, though most anxious to possess the pallium, were unwilling to receive it on the grounds offered by Rome. But at length the destruction of their metropolitical rights was completed by the Isidorian forgeries, and by the Decretum of Gratian, to be described directly, in which it was stated that no metropolitan could perform an ecclesiastical function till he had received the ornament. Thus, then, Gregory carried out his design, which was 214 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. to overthrow the independence of National Churches, and to reign as a single spiritual despot over the Churches as well as the monarchs of Christendom. Gratian's work, called the Decretum, which issued from Bologna, the first school of law in Europe, about the middle of the twelfth century, became afterwards the great manual for the guidance of Roman Catholic theologians. We mention it now, about fifty years before the time when it was issued, because Gregory, Anselm of Lucca, Deusdedit, Humbert, and Petei Damian had prepared the way for it by their fabrica tions, and because it materially aided them in their design of establishing the despotism of the Papacy. For a long time it ruled all questions of difficulty as to the canon law. References to Gratian. were made, as in the present day references to Scripture in a work on theology. In the Roman courts Gratian's code was acted on ; in Bologna it was taught. Even the Emperor Frederick had his son instructed in it. No book has ever exercised so much influence on the Church. In fact, this system of law constitutes the Papacy. It regulates the powers of Popes over kings and States, when they are to be excommuni cated, and when their subjects are to be absolved from their oaths of allegiance ; it settles the rights of the Popes over the bishops and clergy, as well as the prerogatives of the latter, and their freedom from the penalties of the civil laws and the national courts of the realm; in fact it contains all the laws which relate to the Roman Catholic Church, and to the establishment of the supremacy of the Pope. Now this TEMPORAL DOMINION. 215 book, the main support of the Papal system, is founded on the False Decretals, and on the fabrications of the Gregorian school and of Gratian. To the first four centuries there were ascribed 107. decretal epistles of the Popes, of which 84 were forgeries and 23 genuine. Gratian has quoted as authority 65 of the forgeries and one of the genuine epistles ; 324 of his canons are deduced from the former, and only 12 from the latter. But we have not yet exhausted our subject. The early history of the Christian Church could not be reconciled with the statements of this work. Accord ingly it has been falsified by writers in the interest of the Popes whose works are studied along with the Decretum. Thus, like the addition of fresh materials to a building, layer after layer of forgeries was piled up in the Church. But though the foundation of the building has disappeared through the admission of the Roman Catholics that the Decretals and the Donation of Constantine are forgeries, yet the building still rises before us. The advocates of this system, finding that they cannot argue for it as heretofore, have been con tent to fall back on tradition, and have asserted that the possession of the supremacy and of the rights which the Papacy has maintained through past ages, is an indisputable proof of her right to the continued enjoyment of them. Thus, then, she converts the iniquity of her fathers into an evidence of right, and refuses to abandon claims founded on gross literary forgeries. CHAPTER V. THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. The Crusades— The legatine authority — The concordat at Worms- Causes of the struggle between the Papacy and the Empire— Sus pension of it — Arnold of Brescia — Continuance of the struggle — Frederick Barbarossa — Adrian IV. — Frederick unsuccessful in Lombardy — His humiliation at Venice — Decree in regard to Papal elections — Pause in the contest between the Papacy and the Empire — Interdicts increase the power of the Pope — The three Lateran Councils — Councils as tools of Papal domination — The designs of Innocent III. and the results of his pontificate — The Mendicant Orders — Contest of the Popes with the Emperor Frederick II. and his defeat, with its consequences to the Empire — Gregory X. and his decree for Papal elections — The doctrine and ritual of the Church — Hymnology — Painting — The Sicilian Vespers. THE pontificate of Urban II., who was Pope A.D. 1 087- 1 099, is one of the great epochs in the history of the Papacy and of Italy. The first crusade pro moted by him united all Christendom in one vast confederacy, the head of which was the Pope. The recital of the wrongs done by the Turks to the pilgrims to the Holy Sepulchre inflamed the heart of one man, Peter the Hermit, with a holy indignation. His voice rang through Europe, animating her warriors to come to their deliverance. Pope Urban II., while in conflict with the Emperor, and while an exile from Rome, from which he had been driven by the rival Pontiff, Cle ment, seconded his summons by an eloquent appeal at the Council of Clermont, A.D. 1095. Immediately n6 ' THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 217 afterwards the cry, " God wills it ! God wills it ! " burst from the lips of the assembled multitudes. The spirit of warlike enthusiasm spread rapidly through Europe, like a conflagration among the trees of the forest. Myriads of warriors rose in every part of Europe, determined to conquer or to die in the service of their Redeemer. Bearing before them the standard marked with His cross, that the sight of it might inflame them with superhuman valour, kings, priests, nobles, men, women, and children rushed like a torrent on Judaea. The banner, on which every eye was fixed, was at length carried triumphantly through the thick of the battle, and was planted on the battlements of Jerusalem. When we remember that a Pope kindled all this wild and warlike enthusiasm — that he and his. successors promised to those who were engaged in these expeditions the re mission of all penance, the absolution from ail sins, the dispensation from the practices of self-denial, and, if they fell, eternal happiness — when we hear that no consideration would induce them to release sovereigns from the vow which they had made to go to the Holy Land, and that they either demanded its fulfilment, or else used it as a means of keeping them in subjection to their authority — we must see that the Popes must have seemed to the men of those days to be invested with a surpassing majesty, and that they must have greatly increased the power which they possessed over the nations. The legatine authority also at this time expanded. An ecclesiastic of high rank had occasionally been commissioned to preside in local Councils, and to 218 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. negotiate with sovereigns. As acting in the Pope's person, he assumed the right of superseding all ordinary jurisdiction. The Crusades gave the oppor tunity of sending legates into every country of Chris tendom, to preach and to gather recruits for the Crusades. The public mind became more and more habituated to the presence of the Pope in his represen tative, who superseded all authority in his name. In such a cause, ecclesiastics could not venture to resist the encroachment on their jurisdiction. The ensigns of authority with which they were invested afterwards struck terror even into assemblies, consisting of the highest and mightiest of this world's potentates. As suming absolute authority over national Churches, these legates lived in splendour at the expense of the victims of their tyranny, deposing bishops, and pro nouncing the sentence of excommunication against all those who had dared to resist some decree which they had issued from their council-chamber. Like a torrent they rolled over the land, sweeping away the ancient landmarks, laying low many goodly fabrics, and spreading ruin and desolation around them. We must here resume the history of the struggle between the Papacy and the Empire. The contest as to investitures was terminated by a concordat at Worms, A.D. 1 122, which was advantageous to the former. The Popes were successful in asserting their right to invest with the ring and crosier, which were the emblems of the spiritual office, while the Emperors or their officers reminded the bishops-elect, by the touch of the sceptre, that as magnates of the realm the THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 219 former had a claim on their allegiance. The Popes, however, of that period, Urban II. and Paschal II., have paid a heavy penalty for that advantage in the strong feeling excited against them, because they stirred up the sons of Henry to unnatural rebellion against their father, which ended in his deposition and his death from a broken heart, A.D. 1 106. The sense of misery occasioned by a deed almost parricidal, prompted by the ambition of one who ought to have allayed instead of kindling civil discord, appears in every syllable of a most pathetic letter written to his rebellious son, the perusal of which cannot fail to draw forth tears from those who possess the finer feelings of humanity, and can sympathise with one called on to drain the cup of sorrow to its very dregs. The conflict between the Papacy and the Empire was not, however, terminated by the concordat at Worms, but afterwards became a struggle for universal domi nion. The Emperor was quite willing to allow supre macy to the Pope in spiritual matters, insisting only on his subordination to him as a temporal prince, because he was the successor of those Caesars to whom the first Christians had rendered absolute obedience ; but the Pope was determined to reign supreme over the bodies as well as the souls of his fellow-men. On the other hand, William of Occam, Marsilius of Padua, and the great Italian poet Dante subsequently displayed their vigorous eloquence, and the might and majesty of their intellect, in maintaining the supremacy of the Emperor in the temporal department over the 220 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Papacy. This terrible warfare, with only short inter vals of repose occasioned by the exhaustion of the combatants and by other causes, was waged in Europe. for nearly two centuries. The Popes were, as we shall see, completely successful ; they reigned without a rival in Christendom. History has, however, con signed a few of them to disgrace, because they broke the hearts of some who refused to submit to their dominion, and because they committed crimes in order that they might sweep away from their path those who stood between them and the attainment of the object of their ambition. The contest was, however, suspended for some time after the concordat at Worms. Various events oc curred which prevented the Popes from prosecuting their designs against the Empire. The first event was the contest between rival candidates for the Papacy, A.D. 1130-1138, which was at length decided in favour of Innocent II. Another cause was the establishment of a republic at Rome. Ever since the beginning of the contest between the Papacy and the Empire, a spirit of independence had been growing in the Italian cities. Though the authority of the Emperor as king of Italy was admitted, it was praptically little felt, as the Emperors were seldom seen on the south of the Alps. Most of the Lombard cities had set up govern ments of their own under a republican form. Arnold of Brescia was infected by the prevailing spirit of opposi tion to the Church and the Emperor. With a dangerous eloquence which acted on the inflammable minds of the people like a spark on withered grass, he declaimed in THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 221 Brescia against the avarice, the ambition, and temporal authority of the clergy. The people, instructed by him, could not believe that if the monks, who mortified the flesh and wore robes of serge, were, as they be lieved them to be, imitators of the fisherman of Galilee, and above all of Him who had not where to lay His head, the bishops and abbots ought to wear the jew elled mitre, or the robe stiff with gold and brocade ; to sit at festal boards covered with the choicest delicacies ; to issue from their feudal towers on richly-caparisoned horses, or to be invested with the ensigns of earthly sovereignty. These doctrines spread like wildfire through Italy. The Bishop and clergy of Brescia, apprehensive of the consequences of this teaching, procured a decree from the Lateran Council imposing silence on Arnold, and banishing him from Italy. After a residence of seven years in Zurich, we find him in Rome, the old commonwealth of which he was anxious to restore. Under the influence of his doc trines the people rose up in rebellion against their lawful monarch, and reconstituted the Senate, whom they invested with supreme authority. This body afterwards announced to the Pope that they would be subject only to his spiritual authority; declared that the Pope and clergy must henceforth be satisfied with the tithes and oblations of the people, and elected a patrician, to whom they entrusted the executive power. Arnold, by his eloquence, won over many of the nobility and clergy to the popular side. The people now obtained possession of the city, and levelled many of its houses with the ground. The Popes strove 222 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. in vain against this self-constituted government. Inno cent had died at the beginning of the outbreak. Lucius II. fell mortally wounded while endeavouring to storm the Capitol at the head of his soldiers. Eugenius III. launched a sentence of excommunication against Arnold. In his struggle with him he gained a temporary success. He induced Tivoli to take up arms against Rome. The Republic was compelled to capitulate. But he was afterwards obliged to retire from the city. After an absence of some years, acknowledging the Republic, he entered the city and endeavoured successfully, by his generosity and his boundless charity, to undermine its authority with the people. This subtle policy of Eugenius enabled his succes sor, Adrian IV., to adopt very severe measures against Arnold. One of the cardinals had been accidentally killed in a popular tumult on his way to the Lateran. Adrian immediately punished the Romans by placing the city under an interdict. He was urgently implored to remove it ; but he would not do so excepting on a condition — to which the Senate was obliged to yield its assent — that the Republic was abolished, and Arnold was banished from Rome. Frederick Barbarossa had just arrived in Italy for the purpose of being invested with the diadem of the Holy Roman Empire. Adrian would not crown him till he surrendered Arnold to his vengeance. Without any hesitation, Frederick com pelled one of the crown vassals, with whom he had taken refuge, to deliver him up to his officers. He was soon afterwards put to death at Rome, and his ashes were cast into the Tiber, that the people might THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 223 not worship him as a martyr. But the movement which he inaugurated was not terminated by his martyrdom. The various designs formed in the course of the next three hundred years for the revival of republican institutions have, as we shall see, failed of the wished-for success. But the separation of the temporal and spiritual jurisdiction has at length been accomplished. On the 20th of September 1870 the temporal sovereignty of the Pope came to an end, and the movement celebrated its triumph on that very spot in which, A.D. 1 1 5 5, its first champion was com mitted to the flames. The struggle between the Papacy and the Empire had been suspended since 11 22. No Pontiff, after the time of Gregory VII., had thought of waiting for the confirmation of the Emperor. On the contrary, it was pretended that the Emperor ought to be confirmed by the Pope, and that he ought to be deposed by him if he proved unworthy of the high dignity. Since the days of John VIII., who lived two hundred years before Gregory, the Popes availed themselves of every oppor tunity of asserting their right. The visit of Lothaire to Rome for the purpose of being invested with the Imperial crown was commemorated by a picture in the Lateran Palace, in which, and in two Latin verses underneath it, he is represented as doing homage to the Pope. Frederick Barbarossa, who began his reign as Holy Roman Emperor A.D. 11 52, was a firm opponent of ecclesiastical encroachments. He was the national hero of Germany, the most illustrious on the roll of her chivalry, whose exploits the poets 224 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. have embalmed with their praises, and whom the legend represents as lying amid his knights in an enchanted sleep in a cavern amid limestone crags, scarcely accessible to human foot, waiting for the hour when the raven shall no longer hover round their summit, and the pear-tree shall blossom in the valley, to issue forth with his Crusaders, and to restore to Germany the golden age of unit}'. He did not hesi tate to assert that his office was ordained by God, and was as sacred as the Pope's. This celebrated monarch — the mightiest who had reigned in Trans alpine Europe since Charlemagne — had for his rival Adrian IV., Nicolas Breakspeare, the humble servitor of St. Alban's Abbey, the only Englishman who has ever occupied the Papal throne, to which, without any friends to advance his claim, he had raised himself simply by his talents, his learning, and his virtues. He was surpassed by none of his predecessors in the boldness with which he asserted the prerogatives of the Pope. On the first journey of Frederick to Rome, he refused to hold the stirrup of Adrian when he dismounted from his horse ; but at length he was obliged to do so, as the latter refused to crown him, or to give him the kiss of peace, till he had followed the custom of his predecessors. Shortly afterwards, when Frederick was holding a diet of more than usual magnificence at Besancon, the Papal legates were introduced to the assembly, and read a letter from the Pope, in which he reminded him that he had given him the Imperial crown and would confer upon him, if dutiful, still greater benefits. The word THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 225 " bencficia," taken in its feudal sense as intimating that the Empire was held as a fief from the Pope, pro voked angry shouts from the assembled nobles. The tumult was exasperated by the words of Cardinal Roland, " Of whom then does he hold the Empire, but of our Lord the Pope ? " Immediately the Count Palatine of Witdesbach drew his sword to cut down the audacious ecclesiastic. The strife was at length appeased, and new legates were afterwards sent, who explained the doubtful words, and disclaimed all pre tension on the part of the Pope to make the Empire a grant of the Papacy. The quarrel was soon afterwards renewed. There were several subjects of dispute, but the principal one was whether or no Rome should be left entirely to the government of the Pope. Frederick maintained his claim in the following words : " For the city of Rome, by the grace of God, I am Emperor of Rome ; if Rome be entirely withdrawn from my authority, the Empire is an idle name, the mockery of a title." The poor scholar of England, though he had the Emperor with all the princes and prelates against him, though in fact he stood almost alone, does not hesitate to address him in the language of scorn and defiance. He called him Rabshakeh and Achitophel, and applied to him other odious names in the Old Testament. After threatening the Emperor with a public excommunica tion, he continues, " Was not the Empire transferred by the Popes from the Greeks to the Teutons ? The king of the Teutons is not Emperor till crowned by the Pope. ... It is in our power to grant the Empire to whom p 226 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. we will. For this reason are we placed over kingdoms, that we may destroy and pluck up, build and plant." The schism which followed Adrian's death, A.D. 1 1 59, led to a still more momentous conflict. Frederick espoused the cause of the Anti-pope whom his party had chosen ; while Alexander III., chosen by the majority of cardinals, appealed to the support of sound Churchmen through Europe. The Bull of Nicolas II. (A.D. 1059) had not settled the number of votes re quired for a canonical election. Besides, the clergy and the people would not resign without a struggle their privilege of having an active share in the election of the Pontiff. In the time of Alexander III. they revenged themselves by supporting the Anti-popes. This silence, and the determination of the two parties to assert their rights, were the cause of schisms and seditions, when, as we are informed by Moroni, for the first time Celestine II. (A.D. 1 143) and afterwards Alexander III. (A.D. 11 59) were elected without their consent. We are distinctly told that Lucius II., A.D. 1 144, was elected by the clergy and people. Otto of Freisingen also informs us in his chronicle that Eugenius III., A.D. 1 145, was elected by their common vote, and that Adrian IV. was enthroned by them. The question, too, whether the Bishop of Rome was to be considered a Pope or an Anti-pope, created great variations of practice in regard to the mode of election. Moroni reckons up, before A.D. 1072, eighteen of those variations. We can only say that the fine of demarca tion between de jure and de facto was constantly changing, but that the tendency was towards the THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 227 recognition of an exclusive right of election in the College of Cardinals. The contest of twenty years which followed the election of Alexander III. and the Anti-pope, though apparently a struggle between rivals for the Papacy, was nothing more than an effort of the monarch to recover his supremacy over the priesthood. In all probability he would have been successful, if he had not been en gaged in a conflict with the cities of Lombardy. Alex ander was obliged for years to seek refuge in France, and even in Italy he could not maintain himself against the factions at Rome. Inflamed with anger against Milan, because she oppressed her neighbours and would not allow his regalian rights, Frederick besieged the city ; and having forced her by famine to capitulate, levelled her walls and houses to the ground. Tortona, the ally of Milan, had been previously compelled to sur render. Some of the cities took part with the Emperor. The party names of Guelph and Ghibelline, the former representing the supporters of the Pope, the latter, the cities which sided with the Emperor, were not assumed till the thirteenth century. These names, in their origin German, afterwards became exclusively Italian. We may here notice that the hereditary affection for the two parties divided the minds of men for a long period, and that the names were employed to keep up civil strife when their origin was forgotten. Faction became a second country, which was served more faithfully than their own city. Lombardy now groaned beneath the yoke of des potism. At length all the cities, including those 228 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. whose private animosities had led them to assist the German conqueror, resenting the imposition of taxes which, not having been for a long time paid, were apparently obsolete, and the assertion of an authority over them which had not been exercised since the days of Henry IV., formed a league against their oppressor. That league was hallowed by the Pope, because he saw that, by giving employment to his arms, it would aid him in his contest with Frederick. After several years, on the field of Legnano, the standard of the Empire fell before the carroccio of Milan, or the waggon with a flagstaff on it which served the Lombards as a rallying-point in battle. The Pope had previously seen the German host, when flushed with victory, suddenly annihilated by a fever within the walls of Rome. Pope after Pope had been set up against Alexander, but they had generally ceased to be respected. At length Frederick, humbled by these disasters, and unable to raise a fresh army, was induced not only to give freedom to the Lombard cities, but also, by the mediation of the Doge, to meet his adversary the Pope, Alexander III., at Venice, A.D. 1177. Three slabs of red marble in the porch of S. Mark's indicate the spot where Frederick knelt in sudden awe before the Pope, who raised him with tears of joy and gave him the kiss of peace. A painting in the wall of the ducal palace has given currency to a legend, which the poet has also described, that — " In the temple porch Did Barbarossa fling his mantle off, And kneeling, on his neck received the foot Of the proud Pontiff." THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 229 Alexander had thus proved himself to be a very remarkable Pope. For twenty-two years he guided the Church amid a thousand storms. He had for his opponent an emperor of powerful genius. An exile from the day when he assumed the tiara, living in exile a great part of his pontificate, he yet came off victorious. On the brass in the floor at St. Mark's, which is gone, the words were engraved which were addressed by the Pope to the Emperor, " The lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot." The scene needed not this embellishment to give it full signifi cance. It marked the second defeat of the secular power in a conflict which it could not repeat under more favourable circumstances — the final abandon ment, by the greatest prince of his time, of an enter prise which had for its object to compel the Pope once more to acknowledge his supremacy. The pontificate of Alexander III. was signalised by an important change in the mode of Papal elections. It was very natural that a Pope who suffered so much from the persistent hostility of so many Anti-popes, from the time when he fled before the Anti-pope from Rome and was hastily consecrated in the parish church of Ninfa — that forsaken town, mirrored in the trans parent waters of a hushed mere, which stands in the Pontine marshes — should have felt the importance of removing all uncertainty as to the number of those qualified to vote, which had given strength to the cause of several pretenders to the Papacy. Accord ingly, when he found himself victor in the conflict which he had long carried on with an undying spirit, 230 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. he summoned (A.D. 1 179) a Council to meet in the Lateran Palace, and caused a decree to be promulgated that no election should be valid with a majority of less than two-thirds of the Sacred College — a provision which has remained in force to the times in which we live. Thus this great Pope gave stability to the Papacy, and contributed to the success of its struggle for the supremacy in Europe. After the humiliation of Frederick the contest between the Empire and the Papacy was for some time suspended. The Emperor was accidentally drowned in the year 1 1 89, on his way to the Holy Land, in a small river in Asia Minor. His son and successor, Henry, was excom municated, not for asserting the rights of the Empire against the Pope, but for his cruelty. He became, however, absolute master of Germany and Italy, and enjoyed more power than his father Barbarossa. But by his atrocious cruelties, and his tyranny, by which he brought an universal execration on the Ghibelline cause, he contributed more than has been commonly supposed to the growth of the Papal power. The death of Celestine III., A.D. 1198, may be regarded as the termination of an epoch during which the Popes had been struggling on amid reverses towards victory. Henry had died three months before him. An infant was the heir of the Empire. In the closing years of this century the Papacy may be regarded as being in repose, gathering up itself for the great manifestation of its strength under Innocent III. During this pause in the contest we will mention other causes of its ascendency. One of the most im- THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 23I portant was the interdict or suspension of religious offices under which the Popes often placed a whole kingdom, because the prince had disobeyed an arbi trary edict which they had issued from their Council Chamber. We find the first instance of an interdict in Italy in the pontificate of Alexander III. While it lasted, gloom sat on every countenance. The curse of God seemed to brood over the land. A dark shadow rested on the gardens of roses, the fountains, the verdant meadows, and the soft and flowery land scape. The crosses were veiled. The statues of the saints were clothed in sable drapery. The music of the village bells which summoned to the house of God no longer floated over forest, and mountain, and river. The bride, adorned with chaplets of pearls and roses, and the bridegroom clothed in gay attire, were no longer seen advancing towards the sacred edifice; for men were compelled to enter on the closest of earthly relationships without any benediction from the Church. The bannered procession, the priest arrayed in his gorgeous robes, all the pomp and ceremonial with which the Church of Rome rivets the senses of her worshipping assemblies, had altogether disappeared from the calendar of their daily existence. In silence and solitude, as if he were guilty of a heinous offence, the priest baptized the newly-born infant. But heavier losses than these were a consequence of the interdict. No longer could the priest hear the confession from the lips of the dying one, or give him absolution while he held up before him the symbol of redemption. No longer could the requiem resound 232 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. through the sacred building over the body of the de parted. The dead were buried in unhallowed ground, or they were cast recklessly on the soil, where they pleaded powerfully and eloquently against those who had dared to provoke the vengeance of the Pope. When we consider the superstitious importance at tached in those days to confession and absolution, and the other rites and ceremonies of the Church, we wonder that the Popes should have failed in a single instance in enforcing an immediate and unqualified submission to their arbitrary mandates. The Councils of the Church, which were in the early ages a great means of protection against inter nal corruption, afterwards became, by the adopted decretal forgeries of Gregory VII., mere tools of Papal domination. All synods reckoned as oecumenical, whose decrees were received by the whole Church, were held during the first seven centuries in the East, at Nicaea, Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Constantinople. Down to the end of the ninth century, the Popes never made an effort to gather around them a synod of bishops from different countries. The tenth and eleventh centuries passed without any great synod. Urban II., on his own authority, rely ing on the Decretals, summoned Councils at Clermont and Piacenza with reference to the crusading move ment. Princes were no longer allowed, as in former times, to summon them. In A.D. 1 123, immediately after the close of the controversy as to Investitures, in order to set a seal to the great victory won by Gregory VII., Calixtus II. summoned a numerous THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 233 Synod, afterwards called (Ecumenical (the first Lateran), which was, as if to emphasise the triumph of the Popes over the episcopal order, attended by 600 abbots and 300 bishops. The Pope promulgated at it certain laws on simony, clerical marriages, the invasion of ecclesi astical property, and the conversion of churches into fortresses — matters of subordinate importance. At Pisa a great Council was held in May 1136, when, mainly through the influence of the celebrated Bernard, the Abbot of Clairvaux, Anacletus, the opponent of Inno cent II., was excommunicated, and the sentence of deposition, without the hope of restoration, was pro nounced against his partisans. In A.D. 1 133 Inno cent II. assembled the second Lateran Synod at Rome. It was attended by a thousand archbishops and bishops. The Pope, in his opening speech, asserted the feudal authority of S. Peter's successor over all other members of the hierarchy. The Council afterwards passed canons as to discipline, and re- enacted in its fullest extent the Truce of God. The third of these Roman assemblies (the third Lateran) was held A.D. 11 79 at Rome, by Alexander III. It was attended by nearly three hundred bishops and by about seven hundred abbots and others. The most important of its twenty-seven canons was a new order as to the election of the Pope. It provided that the election should rest exclusively in the College of Cardinals, without the Emperor, and it added to the electing body certain official members of the Roman clergy, thus depriving the Roman clergy of any chiefs under whom they might have complained 234 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of their exclusion from their ancient rights of election. The important points, however, to be observed in connection with all these Councils are that the Pope published the decrees in his own name, in direct con travention of the practice which had prevailed for nearly a thousand years; that the bishops appeared as mere witnesses to hear the Pope's commands, and to see him tear (A.D. 1139) the pallium with words of abuse from the shoulders of prelates ordained by his rival, Anacletus; and that these assemblies were really, as the Emperor described the third Lateran Synod in a document, " the Council of the Supreme Pontiff." The pontificate of Innocent III. (A.D. 11 98-1 2 15) was the period during which the spirit of Papal usurpa tion was most strongly displayed. His extraordinary learning, his unwearied diligence, and his profound knowledge of human nature sustained a fearless spirit, which grasped at universal dominion. His language was the following : " As the sun and moon are placed in the firmament, the greater as the light of the day, and the lesser of the night, thus there are two powers in the Church — the pontifical, which, as having the charge of souls, is the greater ; and the royal, which is the less, to which the bodies of men are entrusted." He asserted also that the priesthood is the sole ordi nance of God, and that all rank not held by that body is an excrescence on the Divine plan of the govern ment of the world. He calmly exercised as his right the Papal supremacy, strengthened in the manner in dicated, and transmitted it made almost irresistible to ITALY During the XIII Century. lKre. THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 23; his successors. His predecessors had succeeded in imposing their yoke on the Churches of Italy. The government of Ravenna was administered by her pre lates in the name of and in subjection to the Popes ; but occasionally, as has been seen, they rebelled against him. The See had for a century set up an Anti-pope. Paschal II., at the Synod of Guastilla, A.D. 1106, had directed the body of the Anti-pope Guibert, Archbishop of Ravenna, to be taken up and cast into the Tiber. The See of Ravenna was punished by depriving it of the province of ^Emilia, and its supremacy over the bishoprics of Pisa, Piacenza, and Reggio. At the time now before us it retained its independence of Rome under the government of its archbishops, who affected a shadowy title to the succession of the Greek ex-arch bishop. Milan, however, within the limits described in a former chapter, acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. The turbulent city had been induced by the celebrated Bernard, whom it idolised, to disown, A.D. 1 1 36, the Anti-pope Anacletus, to consent that its bishop should accept the pah from Innocent, and to take an oath to him by which, in the words of the chronicler Landulph, "he turned the liberty of the Church of Milan into the contrary." We must, however, remember that the question now before us was only one of jurisdic tion, and that these and the other Churches of Italy always acknowledged all the distinctive doctrines of Romanism. The spiritual thunders were, during the pontificate of Innocent, constantly reverberating through the fir mament. He compelled monarch after monarch to bow 236 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. down at his footstool. The times were very favour able to Papal aggrandisement. Innocent saw that the Papacy would confer a blessing on Christendom. Everywhere appeared disorder and insubordination. The fairest provinces of Italy were under the yoke of German adventurers. The Lombard republics were engaged in warfare within their own walls, or with their neighbours ; and rival candidates were struggling for the Empire. While, however, he was revolving in his mind great schemes of dominion, he was greatly disturbed by the insubordination displayed by the city of Rome and the Papal States. He at length succeeded in an object in which his predecessors had failed, and established his supreme dominion over them. The prefect of the city had hitherto held his office under the Emperor. Innocent abo lished this last vestige of Imperial authority by com pelling the prefect to take an oath of submission to himself, and to receive investiture at his hands, not by a secular symbol, the sword, but by a mantle and the silver cup. The Pope also set aside the chief senator of Rome, in whom the power of the senate had centred, and appointed another, from whom he exacted an oath of fealty. He thus estab lished the exclusive authority of the Pope in the city of Rome. But still his pontificate was not altogether free from the tumults occasioned by the Roman factions which had so often harassed his pre decessors. Innocent found the pontifical dominions in a state which threatened his government with dissolution. THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 237 No territories were under his control excepting the Roman Campagna. Even in this district many mili tary counts or captains, established by the late Emperor, issued from their fortresses, laying waste the country, and spreading the terror of their arms as far as the gates of the city. The distant provinces were almost all alienated from the Papal rule. Innocent, availing himself of the hatred universally felt by the Italians for the Germans, and of the dissensions existing amongst the latter, succeeded in compelling Conrad, Duke of Spoleto, to surrender all the patrimonial do mains of the Pope, and to return to Germany. The Pope succeeded also in recovering Romagna from Mark- wald, the Imperial seneschal, who had been invested by Henry with its government, and compelled him, after excommunication by two cardinals, to withdraw into the Apulian kingdom. City after city — Peru gia, Gubbio, Lodi, Foligno, Terni — dashed down the Imperial banner, and acknowledged the supremacy of Innocent. He went about from city to city, receiving the allegiance of one after another, and depriving the robber-chieftains of their usurped authority over them. On the death of Henry VI., A.D. 1198, when Otho of Brunswick and Philip of Suabia, the brother of Barbarossa, contended for the Empire, Innocent III., having been appealed to for support by both parties, mingled in the fray. After some hesitation he assumed the function of supreme arbiter in the quarrel, sided with Otho, declared him to be Emperor, and plunged into the strife with all the fiery energy 238 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of his nature. After a bloody warfare of ten years, when Innocent was beginning to think of abandon ing the contest as hopeless, Otho gained possession of the Empire through the assassination of Philip, A.D. 1208. He excited, however, the anger of the Pope, because he not only invaded the patrimony of the Church, but endeavoured to gain possession of the kingdom of Naples. Innocent, after some hesitation, launched against him the anathemas of the Church, which, aided by the strong feeling ex cited by his pride and extortion, led to his deposition. Frederick II.-, the grandson of Barbarossa, the ward of the Pope, who when the contest began was judged to be too young to reign, was now, with the consent of the Pope, elevated to the Imperial dignity. The pontificate of Innocent was closed by the fourth Lateran Council, held in the year 12 15, the most cele brated and numerous of the ancient assemblies of the Latin Church, consisting of yj primates, 417 bishops, and a much greater multitude of abbots and priors, besides ambassadors from the West and East, which he made a mere court for the promulgation of decrees on transubstantiation, auricular confession, and other matters dictated by himself. For the political ability which he displayed, for the triumphs which he gained, for the almost irresistible strength with which he endowed the Papacy, the reign of Innocent will be for ever memorable in the annals of the world. Under him it rose to its proudest elevation. We find, however, that his success was more in appearance than reality; that his policy ended in THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 239 disastrous failure, or in splendid triumphs which prepared the way for future reverses. He nearly failed in his contest with Philip of Hohenstaufen. If the latter had not been assassinated, Innocent must have retired ignominiously from the battlefield. Before that event, the dignity of the Pope was lowered by the absolution which he extorted from him. He was obliged also to abandon the object of his policy, which was to break the succession in the House of Hohenstaufen, and to assist in the elevation of one of that hated family to the Imperial dignity. He thus prepared the way for the dangerous strife with Frederick II. We may also refer generally to his action on foreign Churches, which will be given at length in their history. In defiance of Innocent, the noble-hearted barons of England, led on by Stephen Langton, his own nominee, extorted Magna Charta from an arbitrary monarch. Again it will appear, in the history of the Eastern Church, that a tyrannical attempt to subjugate rather than to win has incal culably widened the breach between her and the Western Church. So, in the history of the Church of France, it will be seen that the terrible carnage of the Albigenses has branded the Papacy with a guilt which will cleave to her for ever. We see then that Innocent could not always enforce obedience to his mandates even at a time when, by constant repetition of the claim from the days of Hildebrand, men were impressed with a conviction of the full sovereignty of the Popes, and shuddered when they thought of resistance to their dominion; 240 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. and that even then he had shaken the throne which seemed fixed on a firm foundation. The idea of the tribunal which Innocent, following the example of Gregory, sought to establish for the purpose of ex tirpating evil and suppressing tyranny, inhumanity, and injustice, was nothing more than a splendid illusion; for the elements of its success were that the arbiter should be absolutely impartial in his judg ments; that he should have the power of enforcing obedience to his mandates ; and that he should not only be perfectly sinless, but that he should exhibit that perfect holiness for which our Divine Master was distinguished. Now these qualities were as far as possible from being exhibited by one who, while his moral character was irreproachable, while he was frequent in charitable offices and generous in the distribution of his revenues, constantly interfered on the side of injustice; who could not compel men to abide by his judgment; who looked rather to the interests of his Church than to the general interests of society ; and who endeavoured by persecution, and fire, and sword, to extend his sway to earth's remote boundaries. During the thirteenth century the new religious Orders of the Mendicants, the Franciscans, the Domi nicans, the Augustinians, and the Carmelites — the institution of which dates from the pontificate of Innocent III., and are a great event of it — contributed most effectually to the aggrandisement of the Papacy. Innocent III., who at first dismissed St. Francis of Assisi with contempt, at length, convinced that the THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 241 older Orders were, on account of their avarice and opulence, losing their hold on the masses, accepted his offer to establish a body of men who, like the disciples of our Lord, possessed neither gold nor silver nor brass in their purses, nor scrip for their journey, depending for the means of support on the alms of the faithful. The Dominicans were a society of itinerant teachers, and were not in the first instance bound by any vow of poverty. But when S. Dominic saw that the vow gave the Franciscans an immense superiority over them in pubhc estimation, he thought it right to imitate their self-denial, and imposed the obligation of poverty on his disciples. Seclusion for the sake of meditation had been the object of the earlier Orders. Their founders imagined that if they buried themselves in the gloom of a monas tery, or in a desert solitude, they might, by assiduous efforts, soar aloft on the wing of contemplation, hold converse with the Tri-une Jehovah, and even behold the glory which issues from His throne. The Domi nicans were, however, directed to stand on the world's highway, and to address to those around them the word of exhortation and remonstrance. Innocent gave a reluctant consent to the establishment of this Order. When the Franciscans found that their rivals gained no little influence by their preaching, they followed their example, and perhaps with equal success. Those ^ bare feet, that robe of serge, that noble superiority to the sordid and debasing pursuits and pleasures of the secular clergy, produced a wonderful impression on the minds of the large body of their fellow-countrymen. a 242 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Being themselves destitute of the common comforts and even necessaries of life, they would learn to sympathise with those whose tattered raiment scarcely afforded them any protection against the wintry blast. The starting tear at the sight of misery, the earnest endeavour to lighten the burden which pressed so heavily upon them, at once won for them the affec tion of the poorer classes. They would go into the lazar-house full of the victims of disease ; they would endeavour to alleviate the racking torture which they saw on all sides of them ; they would stand near those stricken down by the plague, who were shunned by all the world besides ; they would cheer them with the prospect of a world where they would exchange their squalid raiment for a robe of immortality. They would visit, too, the dens of sin and infamy; they would go among the sons of violence and crime, stand ing between them and some person whom they had destined as their prey ; fixing on them a flashing eye, and addressing them in a voice of thunder, they would scare them from their purpose, reminding them of a time when all their deeds of violence should bear witness to the justice of their condemnation. Their influence with -the multitude has never been surpassed. Their poverty, their abnegation of self, their holiness confirmed the people in their allegiance to their spiritual mother. They crowded to their churches, believing them to be the presence-chamber of God, beautified by the presence of the celestial powers. They hung spellbound on the lips of the preacher, fancying, as they gazed on that pallid coun- THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 243 tenance, on that form wasted with fastings and mor tifications, or on that blue eye glistening with a brightness which seemed to show that the holy man was often wrapt into an ecstatic trance, or as they listened to that fervid eloquence which rushed like a torrent from the lips of the preacher, that they were gazing on and listening to a messenger of Jeho vah, commissioned to declare His mind and will to the inhabitants of this district of His empire. But their influence extended further. The lord of the castle, unable to derive any comfort from the ministrations of the chaplain, who had often been the gayest of the gay at the festive board, who had quaffed the wine from the goblet as freely as any of the revellers, would summon to his bedside one of those holy men with whose fame the whole neighbourhood was ringing, that he might confess to him and receive absolution before his departure. Their influence, how ever, was not confined to these matters. They at length had among them the most subtle intellects of the age. Many became distinguished as Schoolmen, and trained most successfully students in the investigation of truth. They were well versed in the arts of diplo matic intrigue. They directed from the Council-board the movements of armies, swayed the destinies of States and Empires, and regulated the proceedings of those who acted a conspicuous part on the world's high stage. We find that the Pontiffs of the thirteenth century, fully aware of the assistance which, on account of their influence with all classes, the Mendicants would 244 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. give them, had placed on their brow the Episcopal mitre, conferred upon them their richest livings, em ployed them in difficult and delicate negotiations, and consulted them in all affairs affecting the best interests of the Church. We cannot wonder, therefore, that at all times, and especially in the war with Frederick II., of which we shall speak directly, they should have repaid the Pope by becoming the propagators of his fulmina- tions in all lands, and his most powerful auxiliaries; that they should have magnified the Papal supremacy ; and that they should have aided the Popes in their design of reigning with despotic sway over the nations. At length the Empire fought its last terrible battle with the Papacy. The hero of this desperate struggle was Frederick II., the grandson of Barbarossa, to whose elevation to the imperial throne Innocent III. had made no objection. We see this remarkable man only indistinctly through the mists of calumny and prejudice. We are, however, able to discover that though he was guilty of dissimulation, though he was fond of sensual enjoyment, though he per secuted heretics, though he was stained with more than one deed of cruelty, he was a man of winning manners, and was ardently beloved by his followers ; that he was remarkable as a warrior and politician, a poet, and a lawgiver ; that he had a refined, subtle, and philosophical intellect, which he inherited from his Italian mother, and which was fostered by his education among the orange groves of Palermo. He established universities, which, if they had continued to THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 245 flourish, might have hastened on the glorious era of Italian art and literature. Greek was spoken in many parts of his kingdom. If he had lived, the revival of the study of the Greek language might have taken place before the capture of Constantinople. He was distinguished for his love and study of literature. He could speak fluently all the languages spoken by his subjects — Greek, Latin, German, French, Italian, and Arabic. In his reign, and under his fostering influ ence, began to be formed the " Tuscan's siren tongue." The aggressive designs of the Popes were the cause of the enmity with which they pursued this illustrious and unfortunate monarch. The struggle was indeed inevitable. The Emperors were willing to acknow ledge the supremacy pf the Popes in spiritual matters, but they could endure no superior as temporal rulers. The Pope, on the other hand, wished to reign supreme in both departments. Frederick aspired to a supremacy altogether irreconcilable with that of the Supreme Pon tiff. The contest may indeed be said to have begun for the third and last time with the quarrel between Innocent III. and Otho IV, in the year 1211; but it was suspended during the pontificate of Honorius III. (A.D. 1216-1227), who, in consequence of his mild temper and his indecision, was unwilling to come to an open rupture with the Empire. Even then, how ever, were heard the first murmurs of the coming tempest. Honorius was very angry with Frederick because he would not receive the bishops appointed by him to five sees which the latter had kept vacant in his dominions, and asserted in his correspondence 246 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. that to him Frederick owed the crown of the Holy Roman Empire. The inheritance of the kingdom of Naples and Sicily, which Frederick had obtained through the marriage of his father with Constance, the heiress of the Norman kings, was one cause of the animosity with which he was pursued by the Popes, for it was regarded as a fief of the Holy See, and by his possession of it he could threaten the Pope on the south as well as the north. The claims of the Popes to a sovereignty over that kingdom date from a treaty between Innocent II. and Ruggero II., drawn up at Benevento in the year 1139, by which the Pope, on condition of an annual tribute, recog nised the sovereign rights of the Norman prince. The Popes had reason to fear Frederick, for he was the most popular and powerful sovereign whose territories have surrounded the dominions of the Holy See. Frederick's misfortune was that he had given Gregory IX., a man of amazing energy, vast learning, and indomitable re solution, who, at the age of eighty, became Pope (A.D. 1227), a hold upon him, of which he did not fail to make use for the advancement of his preten sions. In a moment of youthful enthusiasm, he made a vow at San Germano in July, A.D. 1225, under pain of a sentence of excommunication if he neglected to keep it, that he would in two years, in August, A.D. 1227, engage in a crusade for the recovery of the holy places from the infidel. The wars in his domi nions prevented him from fulfilling his vow so soon as he intended. The Pope, attributing the delay to an unwillingness to keep his vow, thrice excommuni- THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 247 cated him, and after the second sentence placed his kingdom under an interdict. Frederick at length sailed for the Holy Land, in July, A.D. 1228, but was followed by ban and ana thema because he had not given satisfaction to the Church before his departure. As he heard that a Papal army had in his absence broken into Apulia, he concluded a by no means inglorious treaty with the Sultan for the surrender of Jerusalem, and re turned for the defence of his territory. His return disconcerted the designs of the Pope against it. The latter, on hearing of the treaty, issued a fiercer excom munication than the last, and called on the princes of Europe to sweep from his path this contumacious heretic. As, however, they saw the malevolent spirit of the Pope, and would not therefore range themselves on his side, he was obliged to absolve him without any satisfaction for this sin, thus admitting the in justice of the former sentence of excommunication. During the whole of this period the feuds between the Imperiahsts and the Papalists raged with great fury. Not only was city opposed to city, but each city was divided into two factions. The Guelphs and Ghibellines, as they were now called, were distinguished not only by varieties of dress, but by the architecture of their houses, and by differences in the minutest habits of life. They regarded as quite secondary the support of the laws, the impartiality of tribunals, or the equal participation of the citizens in the sovereignty. A hollow truce of nine years, from A.D. 1230- 1239, between the Pope and the Emperor was sue- 248 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. ceeded by a still more deadly conflict. The Pope had strengthened his cause by allying himself with the Lombard republics, and by coming forward as their champion against the Emperor. Frederick gained a great victory over them at Corte Nuova, A.D. 1237, after which several of them threw open their gates to the conqueror. The probability was that all Italy would soon lie prostrate at his feet. The Pope, to save himself from this degradation, made an alliance with Venice, and entered into mortal combat with the Empire. Again, on March 24, A.D. 1239, the thunder storm of anathema and interdict burst over the head of Frederick. Again, in reply to an address of the latter to the princes of Christendom, Gregory delivered a more passionate invective than those which he had formerly published against him. He rises in it from one bold invective to another. It was full of calum nious charges. The princes and potentates of Europe would not range themselves on his side because they saw that his charges were dictated by inexorable hatred, and by a determination not to submit to his supremacy. Gregory, however, though supported only by mercenary troops and by the arms of the free cities, confronted with an undaunted mien his powerful adversary. He excited the vehement anger of the princes of Germany and of the King of France by his effrontery in deposing Frederick, and in making an offer of the imperial crown to Robert, the brother of the latter, which he indignantly refused. But his feeble forces were unable to cope with the powerful legions of the Emperor. Town after town in his terri- THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 249 tories was wrested from him. The Pope, however, still bore up against him with undaunted courage. He sought to surround himself with spiritual terrors, and summoned a General Council. Frederick pre vented it from being held by seizing the vessels con veying several of the prelates to it, and committing them to prison. The raging lion stood at bay in a circle which, as his foes pressed on, became con tinually narrower. The capture of the city seemed to be inevitable. The Pope, however, was spared this humiliation. At the age of nearly a hundred years, when he ought to have been preparing himself by spiritual exercises for his final change, his spirit passed away with words of defiance and hatred on his lips, just after he had seen the camp-fires of the marauders, who were about to be let loose for pillage and massacre within the walls of the Eternal City. Frederick seemed to have gained a victory over the Papacy. The sun shone forth with unclouded majesty. The nations little thought that before another gene ration had passed away the glory of the House of Hohenstaufen would be extinguished for ever. Innocent IV., elected in June 1243, proved a more formidable opponent to Frederick than his predecessor. The negotiations, begun with a view to the removal of the sentence of excommunication, ended in failure. In A.D. 1245, "to the astonishment and horror of all who knew him, Innocent deposed Frederick in a full Council of the Church, and absolved his subjects from their allegiance." But the incantation of the magician did not at once display its subtle power. The forces 250 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of Frederick inflicted a crushing defeat on the rival set up against him. But dark clouds soon gathered around Frederick. A defeat which he sustained before Parma, the fate which befel his beloved son Enzio, the treachery of his chosen friend Peter de Vinea, wrung his heart with anguish and paralysed his energies. At length the end came. He was overtaken with mortal sickness at Fiorentino, and breathed his last in the arms of his beloved son Manfred. We see, then, that the Empire was beaten down in the conflict. The result is a convincing proof of the awe of the Papacy which prevailed during the thirteenth century. We have no doubt that the Mendicant Friars deepened that awe, and thus enabled Innocent to pro ceed successfully to this gross act of usurpation. Even Frederick could not always shake off his awe of the Pope. When he was about to gain some important advantage, he shrunk back overpowered and con founded by the contemplation of one whose form seemed to dilate into a supernatural grandeur, like the form of the Prince of Darkness, as Milton has described him, when he stood " collecting all his might," "like Teneriffe or Atlas unremoved," ready to do battle with the angelic squadrons of the Almighty. Like Dante, the immortal bard of Italy, he made a distinction between individual Popes and their high dignity. Though we should have expected Dante to honour Frederick II., because he was one of that im perial race to which the poet looked as the means of consolidating the different States of Italy, yet we find that he has placed him in the lowest part of hell, on THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 251 account of his opposition to the Papacy. Thus, while Frederick honoured the office, he condemned strongly the rapacity and the arrogance of the Popes with whom he contended. He and the men of his generation had a far greater awe of the Papacy than the contemporaries of Henry IV. and Frederick Barbarossa. He could not venture like them to set up an Anti-pope, while they raised one potentate after another to the im perial dignity. Many in that age recognised the right of the Popes to depose him. This deposition, and the struggle to assert his rights, inflicted an injury on the Empire from which it never recovered. Though he never resigned the imperial dignity, he was virtually deposed by the edict of Innocent, for he passed the remainder of his life in the midst of war, sedition, and treason, with a limited possession of the authority of the Holy Roman Emperor. But though he was almost heartbroken, yet he struggled on bravely, and did not humble himself before the Pope, like Henry IV. at Canossa, and Frederick Barbarossa at Venice. His own generation visited him with unsparing censure ; but pos terity, while admitting that there is much in him which deserves blame, have considered him " more sinned against than sinning," have admired some of his quali ties, have compassionated his sorrows, and have pro nounced a strong condemnation on the Popes, who, they consider, will be held responsible for many of his wicked deeds when they stand before the judgment-seat. Innocent, even after the death of Frederick, con tinued to bear an unquenchable hatred to the House of Hohenstaufen. He endeavoured, but in vain, by 252 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. denunciations and interdicts to deprive his son Conrad of the kingdom of Naples. Death soon laid its hand upon the latter. An infant, Conradin, was now the heir of the House. Innocent despoiled him of his paternal inheritance. The spoliation was followed by the death of the Pope. Innocent left a name odious for rapacity, inordinate ambition, and implacable pride. His successors, Alexander IV. (A.D. 1254-1261), Urban IV. (A.D. 1261-1265), and Clement IV. (A.D. 1265- 1268) pursued the members of the House with bitter and unrelenting hostility. Manfred, the illegitimate son of Frederick II., a poet hke his father, a man of consummate courage and of great ability — as Dante (" Purgatorio," canto iii. v. 107) calls him, — " Gentle and fair and comely of aspect " — reconquered the kingdom of Naples. He ruled it justly in the name of his nephew Conradin, intend ing to bequeath it to him at his death. He was, however, unable to do so, as he was defeated and slain in the battle of Benevento, A.D. 1266, by Charles of Anjou, the brother of Louis, King of France, to whom Urban IV. had offered the kingdom. The heaps of bones piled up at Ceperano, even in Dante's time — " there where treachery Branded the Apulian name " — a just accusation, for the battle was lost through the treachery of the Apulian barons — the command given by Pope Clement to the Archbishop of Cosenza to tear up Manfred's bones from their rude sepulchre near THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 253 the Bridge of Benevento, are an impressive commen tary on the destructive effects produced by the wrath of him who, as the ambassador of the Prince of Peace, should have bound together in the bands of love the members of the human family. But the Pope had not yet exhausted the vials of his wrath. Christendom heard with horror that Con radin, the grandson of Frederick II., the last heir of the House, whose youth and chivalry might well have moved to pity even a heart of stone, having been defeated and taken prisoner at Tagliacozza, A.D. 1268, by Charles of Anjou, in an expedition the object of which was to deliver his paternal inheritance from his galling yoke, had been doomed, perhaps with the ap proval and in accordance with the suggestion of Pope Clement, to be executed as a felon and a rebel on a public scaffold. The Popes thus succeeded in blotting out the name of the House of Hohenstaufen from under heaven. The death of this heroic boy, which left another stain of blood on the annals of the Papacy, marked the termination of the struggle of two hundred years between the Emperors and Popes for supremacy. The latter now reigned without a rival. A different result should hardly have been expected. The Papacy had this advantage over the Empire, that, as the head of the ecclesiastical body which expressed the intellect of the age, it could bring a tremendous force to bear against its secular adversary. The Popes, too, could hurl against their foes the thunderbolts of heaven, so that valiant knights and nobles trembled while they 254 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. fought against them. The Emperors also were likely to be beaten down, because they acknowledged the claims of the Papacy as a spiritual power on their allegiance. The Empire survived the ruin of the greatest of its Houses ; but it was terribly weakened by the struggle, and never again displayed the might and majesty for which it was conspicuous among the nations. Clement IV. died on November 29, A.D. 1268. There were at this time two parties in the Conclave, the one favourable to the French invasion, the other opposed to Charles of Anjou. Eighteen of the car dinals on the death of Clement IV. assembled in Viterbo, and for two years and nine months disputed about the nomination of the spiritual head of Chris tendom. Charles of Anjou took up his abode in Viterbo, in the hope of coercing the cardinals of the national party into the election of one of his own creatures. His presence only added fuel to the flames of this memorable contest. The citizens of Viterbo tried the effect of physical hardship on the cardinals. They stripped the episcopal palace of its roof, so that the cardinals were exposed to the in clemency of the weather. But these sharp measures of the inhabitants of Viterbo produced as little impres sion upon them as the remonstrances of kings. For more than a year after this time they continued to fight among themselves, until at length they were induced to give to six of their number the power of nominating a Pope, whom the others agreed to acknow ledge. This is the first instance of election by com promise. On the 1st September, A.D. 1 271, the choice THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 25S of the electors fell on Theobald Visconti, Archdeacon of Liege, and not a cardinal, who assumed the name of Gregory X. This excellent Pope had been deeply grieved by the spectacle which the Church exhibited when the Fathers of the Conclave were wrangling at Viterbo. He there fore determined to establish a ceremonial which should prevent the recurrence of these scenes. He summoned a Council at Lyons, one of the objects of which was to regulate abuses and to give effect to his wishes in regard to Papal elections. In the decree passed at this Council, the principle was first adopted of locking up the Fathers in order to prevent the action of secular influences. That decree, with some modifications here after to be noticed, has continued in force to the pre sent day. It was ruled that on a Pope's decease ten days should elapse before a Pope could be chosen, in order to give the cardinals at a distance time to come to the Conclave ; that during the election they should be lodged in one chamber, so closed on every side as to leave no possibility of entrance or exit; that no one should approach them or address them privately, unless with the consent of all present, and on the business of the election ; that no letters should be sent to them ; that the chamber should have but one win dow, large enough for the admission of necessary food, but not of the human body ; that if in three days they did not come to a decision, for the five following days they should be content with a single dish as well for dinner as for supper ; that afterwards they shall have no other nourishment than bread and water; and that, 256 HISTORY OP THE CHURCH IN ITALY. during the election, they shall receive nothing from the apostolical chamber, nor any other revenues of the Roman Church. The faithful observance of these pro visions was entrusted to the guardianship of the civil authorities of the locality in which they met, under the penalty of incurring excommunication for the neglect of the duty thus imposed upon them. We will now glance at the ritual, discipline, and doctrine of the Church during the two centuries de scribed in this chapter. The ceremonies of the mass were still concealed in the twelfth century by curtains, which were only drawn aside at the more solemn parts of the service. The swinging censer, suspended by chains, which sent aloft its fragrant cloud, designed to symbolise the ascending of adoration, was also introduced at the time now before us. The term " transubstantiation," which Fleury states to have been first used by Hilde- bert, Archbishop of Tours, in the early part of the twelfth century, was now generally admitted ; but it was not formally sanctioned until the fourth Lateran Council was held, A.D. 121 5. The elevation, imme diately after the consecration of the sacred elements, had been first practised in the early part of the twelfth century, but it did not become the usage of the Latin Church till the close of it. The doctrine of the Corporal Presence attained its highest ritual expression in the festival of Corpus Domini, instituted by Urban IV, A.D. 1264. Gregory IX. was the first to direct the ringing of bells at the elevation and before the viati cum, when it was carried in procession to the sick. THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 257 That these usages were generally admitted in other lands as in Italy appears from the fact that a synod in London, A.D. 1281, directed that the Eucharist should be reserved in a locked tabernacle; that a bell should be rung at the elevation; and that all who heard it, whether in the church or outside it, should immediately kneel. Thus was brought into prominence the leading feature of the Roman Catholic worship— the adoration of the Host. The doctrine now before us leads to the grossest idolatry. The people are called upon to give that worship to the creature which is due only to the invisible Creator. We must at the same time enter our protest against a doctrine which, with the view of magnifying the priestly office, asserts that we have the povjer of repeating the spotless sacrifice once offered to effect a reconciliation between man and his Maker. In confession, the immediate exercise of the absolv ing power by the priest was now conveyed in the words, "Ego te absolvo," substituted for "Absolu- tionem tribuat tibi omnipotens Deus." Penance was no longer regulated by the ancient canons, but was left to the discretion of the father confessor. The faithful of both sexes were ordered by the Lateran Council to confess their sins to their own pastor at least once in the year, and to perform the penance enjoined by him. During the thirteenth century the system of indul gences was carried further by new practical applica tions. It was supposed that the saints, by their works of penitence and their undeserved sufferings, had done more than was necessary for their own salvation, and R 258 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. that their merits, with those of the Saviour, formed a treasury which the Church could apply to the relief of its members in this life and in purgatory. A plenary indulgence was sent forth as an inducement to join the crusade for the Holy Land. Another novelty was the acceptance of money for penances. The increasing devotion to the Virgin Mary is mani fest from the introduction into public worship, in accordance with the direction of Gregory IX., of the "Salve Regina," and in the appointment of a new festival in honour of her nativity. An element of public worship which during this period attained its final form was the hymn, to the perfection of which various writers contributed. The numerous hymns introduced at an earlier time are by different writers from the fourth to the twelfth century — S. Ambrose, Prudentius, Gregory the Great, who was the author of the sublime "Veni Creator Spiritus," S. Hilary, Fortunatus, Sedulius, Theodol- phus, S. Bernard. The most beautiful of the hymns to the Virgin, "Ave Maris Stella" and the "Jesu Dulcis Memoria," are by S. Bernard. The pathetic " Stabat Mater " was probably composed by Innocent III. " Dies Irae " is the work of Celano, a Franciscan. Peter Damian was the author of a divine poem on the delights of Paradise, and of a large number of hymns to the Virgin. The charm of these hymns owes its origin entirely to the music. Separate the poetry from the music, examine the thoughts and the images brought before us, and the spell of the poetry which, heard in the sanctuary, — THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 259 " Dissolved us into ecstasies And brought all heaven before our eyes," is altogether broken. Listen to it, or read it with the imagination or the memory full of the music as the hymn swelled the notes of praise in the sacred over ture, and you will find that it has a sympathy with the religious emotions which words are unable to express. The lyre from which these exquisite strains proceeded was, however, broken at the end of the Middle Ages. We must now describe the wonderful progress of Christian painting and art during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was originally designed to kindle into life in worship the purer and holier emo tions of the soul. It addressed itself to the illiterate and the vulgar, the learned and the refined. The Saviour in the West was at first a beautiful youth, designed to show that the world had again become young in Christ; but afterwards He became, in the hands of the painters, a dismal, self-torturing monk. This personification of the Saviour was succeeded by the King of terrible majesty before whose awful judgment-seat are gathered the guilty members of the human family. The Cross, too, became the crucifix. Agony was the prevailing tone of the representa tions of our Lord. But this was only one school of Byzantine art. Painting in Italy was more true to its native dignity. It strove to maintain the nobler conceptions of the God-Man, and to exhibit the Divi nity as glorifying the flesh in which He dwelt. But in general the images were stiff, rigid, and altogether 260 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. destitute of emotion. Gradually upon the artists dawned a glimpse of more refined beauty, of forms more instinct with life. It was impossible that the Saviour should not relax His stern features — that the Virgin Mary should not be wakened into maternal tenderness. But at length the period of designing merely for popular worship drew to its close. In the last half of the thirteenth century the names of Guido of Sienna, Giunto of Pisa, and of Cimabue, were borne abroad on the trumpet-blast of fame through Christendom. Such seems to have been the state of painting during the darker ages. A brighter star than Ciinabue, soon after his first appearance, began to glitter in the firma ment of Italy. A very beautiful passage of Dante (" Purgatorio," c. xi. 91-98), on the instability of human greatness, is founded on the obscuration of the glory of Cimabue : — " O powers of man ! how vain your glory ! nipt E'en in its height of verdure, if an age Less bright succeed not. Cimabue thought To lord it over painting's field ; and now The cry is Giotto's, and his name eclipsed. Thus hath one Guido from the other snatched The letterM prize. . . ." As Dean Milman observes (" Latin Christianity," book xiv. c. x.) : — " Turn from the vast, no doubt majestic, Redeemer of Cimabue, over the high altar of Pisa, to the free creations of Giotto at Florence or Padua. Giotto was the great deliverer. Invention is no sooner free than it expatiates in unbounded variety. Giotto is adorning Italy from the Alps to THE STRUGGLE AND THE VICTORY. 261 the Apennines. . . . The whole Scripture, the whole of Legend, the life of the Virgin, of the Saints, of the founders of Orders, even the invisible worlds which Dante had revealed in poetry, now expanded into art." Italy seems to have hailed with enthusiasm, through the voices of her most distinguished men, this new epoch of art in Giotto. "The vulgar," writes Petrarch, "cannot understand the surpassing beauty of Giotto's Virgin, before which the masters stand in astonishment." "Giotto," says Boccacio, "imitates nature to perfect illusion." Villani describes him as transcending all former artists in the truth of nature. We must now, before we close this chapter, resume our history. After the death of Gregory X., in January, A.D. 1 276, three Popes pass rapidly before us. This was the age of magnificent designs, as short-lived as the Popes to whom they owed their origin. Nicolas III., who became Pope in November, A.D. 1272, refused to crown Rudolph of Hapsburg till he had confirmed all the spiritual and temporal possessions of the Holy See. He thus acquired the whole of Romagna and Bologna as fiefs of Rome. He almost anticipated the nepotism of later ages, for which Dante (" Inferno," xix. 66} has given him a place in the infernal regions, for he had nearly completed the design of dividing Italy between two members of his house. The election of Martin IV, A.D. 1282, was almost immediately followed by an insurrection called the Sicilian Vespers, in which the inhabitants of the island avenged their wrongs, and the murder of the heroic boy Conrad, on the Papacy and Charles of Anjou. 262 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. On Easter Tuesday, as the inhabitants of Palermo were sauntering towards a church to celebrate vespers, a Sicilian, provoked by an insult offered to his wife by one of a party of French soldiers, drew his sword and killed him on the spot. Immediately the cry of " Death to the French ! " rang through the city. The indigna tion excited by the countless acts of tyranny, of which the Sicilians had been the victims, now burst forth with fearful violence against the French. Men, women, and children of the hated race were slaughtered without mercy. The whole nation rose against their oppres sors. Charles of Anjou no sooner heard of the insur rection than he invaded the island, threatening to make it a desolate waste. But Peter of Arragon, the son-in- law of Manfred, who was at that time with his fleet on the coast of Africa, compelled Charles of Anjou to evacuate it, accepted the crown of Sicily, which was offered to him, and wrested Sicily for ever from the grasp of this oppressor. The Pope in vain fulminated his anathemas against Peter and the Sicilians. A gift made by the Popes had been annulled. A signal victory was gained over the Papacy. The Sicilian Vespers may be considered as the end of the period, beginning with the pontificate of Innocent III., which may be called the noon-day of Papal dominion ; for the loss of a crown conferred by the Pope may be regarded as a symptom of the commencement of the decline, difficult to fix, of which we shall speak in the next chapter. CHAPTER VI. DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. Improvements in the system of Tapal elections — The Papal Empire — Causes of the decline of the Papacy — Boniface VIII. — Effect of Dante's works on the Papal power — Contest of Louis of Bavaria for the Empire — Effect of the residence at Avignon on the Papacy — Nicolas Rienzi — Return of the Popes to Rome — The Papal schism — Councils of Pisa and Constance — Election of Martin V. — The Councils of Basle, Florence, and Ferrara — Effect of the Councils on the power of the Pope, and the causes of their failure — The Italians strongly in favour of the Papal power— The Churches of Milan, Naples, Florence, and Venice — The Waldenses. We have seen the gradual improvement in the system designed to create the head of the Churches in Chris tendom. This is an important part of our history. The study of the regulations governing Papal Conclaves has been too much neglected. The constitutions of Nicolas II., A.D. 1059, and of Alexander III., A.D. 1 179, were fundamental instruments for the organic powers of franchise vested in the College of Cardinals, and for fixing the number of votes required for an elec tion ; and that of Gregory X., which has lately come before us, was the instrument for the ceremonial ob served on the occasion of the cardinals meeting in conclave. These constitutions, with some modifications in points of detail, constitute the organism under which Papal elections are conducted in the age in which we live. The Popes thus created have gradually established 263 264 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. the theory of a priestly empire, the limits of which are coextensive with those of the world. We should have imagined that they would have at once seen that it was impossible for one man, often in the decline of life when he was raised to his high dignity, to main tain the faith of the Church, to enforce her discipline, to settle her controversies, to determine appeals, to suppress disorders, to give laws, and to administer justice to nations differing in language, manners, and customs, throughout his extensive dominions. The Popes did indeed occasionally complain that they were of all men most miserable, and that they were pressed down to the earth beneath an overwhelming burden. But they imposed no restriction on themselves, and made it their great object to establish an absolute dominion over the nations. They were not indeed altogether their own masters. The rival principles of a cardinals' oligarchy and of Papal absolutism were from the age now before us for at least two centuries trembling in the balance. The cardinals contrived in many cases to make the Popes the mere creatures of their will, and took care that they should not give up any of the accepted principles. In many cases, too, their will was simply the tradition of the Curia, or the Roman Court, which the Roman Church became in the early part of the twelfth century. This tribe of writers, notaries, and tax-gatherers employed in transactions about privileges, dispensations, and exemptions, under whose tyranny Christendom groaned for many ages, was constantly multiplying taxes, and adding, by means of the enormous mass of indulgences, graces, and absolu- DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 265 tions, to the profits gained by themselves and the Popes. But while some Popes may have groaned beneath the tyranny of this serried phalanx of officials, many of them aided them in the schemes which had for their object to impose on the nations the yoke of an intolerable bondage. We must now contemplate the descent of the Popes from their proud elevation. Some revolutions which affect the destinies of states and empires occur with startling rapidity; but, in speaking of the Papal Empire, we cannot tell exactly when it began to be shaken. We have the same difficulty in settling when old age, creeping on a man, began to rob him of his strength. Slowly, as in this case, that extraordinary power has been decaying through successive genera tions. The strong-built walls and the stately columns of the gorgeous structure seem to rise before us with the same imposing grandeur during the thirteenth century; but a close examination will serve to show that they were exhibiting symptoms of decay before the accession of Boniface VIII. (A.D. 1294), and will prepare us to see the cause of the large fissures which appear in them. The causes of the decay of the Papal power are to be sought in the history of the preceding age. The Curia contributed largely to it. When the freedom of episcopal election was restored by the Concordat at Worms, the Pope came at length to be considered as the judge in all cases of appeal. The litigants were required to carry their cause to Rome, where, in conse quence of the minute formalities required by the Curia, the Popes found no difficulty in setting aside the election, and in conferring the bishopric on their own candidate. 266 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. They also supplied the want of election or the unfitness of the elected by a nomination of their own. But these were not the only instances of arbitrary interference with Church patronage. The Popes began by asking, as a favour, that a particular living might be conferred on some one whom they strongly recommended. These recommendatory letters were called mandates. But examples produce custom. The doubtful precedent of the one generation became the established rule of the next, so that they obtained a large share of the patronage in most of the countries in Europe. Then they claimed the patronage of the benefices held by all the clerks who died at Rome. Thus, then, in various ways they wrested benefices from their lawful patrons, which enabled those who held them to live in ignoble ease in their marble palaces on the banks of the Tiber. This extortion and appropriation of benefices were causes of the loss of the prodigious influence which the Popes exercised over the secular clergy and the hierarchy. The laity also were justly indignant when they found them selling bishoprics and benefices at Rome to the highest bidder, especially when they saw that the wealth thus poured into their treasury was appropriated to the purpose of swelling the pomp and augmenting the retinue of the alleged successor of the fisherman of Galilee. Songs, in which the vena lity and avarice of the Pope, legates, and cardinals were made the subject of satire, were heard at the boards of the monks or in the banqueting-hall of the feudal castle. The long contest between the Papacy and the Empire had left in the vanquished party an animosity DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 267 which sought its gratification in vituperative language against the Papacy, by which it had been deprived of its pre-eminence among the nations. The moral prestige of the Papacy was lowered by the conflict. The interdicts, too, exasperated the minds of men against a power which deprived nations of the ordi nances of religion because their kings had disobeyed an edict issued from the Council Chamber of the Lateran. We have been thus particular in enumerating the causes of the decline of the Papal power, because we must remember that the Popes did not descend suddenly from their proud elevation in the time of Boniface VIII. Martin IV (A.D. 1281-1285), Honorius IV. (AD. 1285- 1287), and Nicolas IV (a.D. 1287-1292) did not make any abatement in the arrogance of their claims. Celes- tine V, who became Pope in the year 1294, after an interregnum of more than two years, is the only Pope who ever resigned the pontificate. The circumstances attending his remarkable elevation are the following. The cardinals had been engaged in deliberating as to a successor to Nicolas IV., and were unable to agree, when one of them exclaimed that a holy man had declared that it had been revealed to him that unless they immediately proceeded to an election the judg ments of God would descend upon them. They soon ascertained that the person here referred to was Peter Murrone, who dwelt in a small underground cell in Mount Murrone, in Abruzzi. After a high eulogium on his virtues, mistaking passionate emotion excited by what they had heard for inspiration, on the pro position of one of them he was unanimously elected 268 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. by the cardinals to the pontificate. The aged recluse, who was unfitted for the common offices of society, reluctantly accepted the high dignity; but, soon find ing that he was quite disqualified for it, he resigned it in full consistory at Naples in December, A.D. 1294, after having held it for five months. Dante has placed the shade of him who made through baseness " the great abdication," among the wretched crew, " hateful to God and his enemies ; " but all contemplative spirits have reverenced him for this preference of his mountain-cell to the greatness which had been thrust upon him. The decline of the Papal power became manifest after the accession of Boniface VIII. to the pontifical throne in the year 1 294. Nothing had ever been seen equal to the splendours of his coronation. First, he assumed a valuable mitre. The cap was a tissue of peacock's feathers. The diadem flamed with gems. At the top a great carbuncle was placed, from which hung festoons of rubies and other jewels. This tiara was placed on his head, while the following words were said by the officiating cardinal : " Receive the tiara, that thou mayest know thyself to be the Father of Princes and of Kings, the Ruler of this world, the Vicar on earth of Jesus Christ our Saviour, to whom be glory and honour for ever and ever." Such was the state assumed by the pretended vicegerent of that houseless wanderer who had not where to lay his head, and who declared, "I receive not honour from men." Boniface surpassed even Innocent III. in the arro gance of his pretensions, launching his spiritual thunder- DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 269 bolts against states and empires, summoning princes to his tribunal, that he might, as an infallible judge, settle their controversies, and laying claim to supreme domi nion over the monarchs of the earth. His first act of arrogance was to issue his celebrated bull, "Clericis Laicos," in which he pronounced sentence of excom munication on all those who should levy and on those who should pay taxes on the property of the Church without the consent of the Pope. This bull was directed against Edward of England and Philip of France, who levied these taxes and continued their hostilities, notwithstanding his mandate that they should desist from them. Boniface afterwards engaged in a contest with the Colonnas, from which he came off victorious. He was afraid of this House, because the members of it were inclined to call in question the validity of his elevation to the Papacy, on account of an unworthy artifice which he employed. The Colonna cardinals and the members of the family of Orsini had consented to leave the nomination to the Papacy to him, thinking that he would nominate one of them to that dignity. The result, however, was that he appointed himself. He availed himself of the opportunity afforded by the plunder of a caravan, in one of their marauding expedi tions in the Roman territory, to issue a bull denouncing the whole family as disturbers of the public peace, and deposing James and Peter Colonna from the office of cardinal. After a proclamation, in reply to which they denied his right to be Pope, he issued his sentence against them, excommunicating them and confiscating 270 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. their property. The Orsinis and others became the executioners of his vengeance. The result was that their strongholds were destroyed, and that the family became exiles in foreign lands. We may easily suppose that this success would not contribute to lessen the audacity of Boniface. But, no doubt, the success attending the Jubilee, which, forti fied by the precedent of the Jewish dispensation, he appointed to be held in Rome in the year 1300, con tributed greatly to his haughtiness. Finding that it was in vain to attempt to rekindle a zeal for the Cru sades, which had been a source of enormous wealth to the Church of Rome, he issued a bull, promising plenary remission of sins to all those who should visit in that year the shrine of S. Peter. Multitudes obeyed the Papal summons, and poured untold wealth into the Papal treasury. Two priests stood beside the high altar, with rakes in their hands, sweeping from it the enormous heaps of coin laid upon it. Thus, then, the avarice with which Dante has branded him was fully gratified. He would think also that the pilgrims to Rome, having seen the crowds which, in obedience to his summons, had visited the city, and having wit nessed the pomp with which he was surrounded, would return home with a deeper awe of the Roman Pontiff. But these expectations were in vain. The ground beneath his feet was beginning to rock as if it were about to be opened by an earthquake. The Colonnas in foreign lands swelled the chorus of condemnation of one whom they termed a monster in human shape. The pilgrims to Rome increased the popular feeling DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 271 against him by relating that, inflated with arrogance, he had appeared, seated on the throne of Constantine, with the Imperial crown on his head and a sceptre in his hand, shouting aloud, " I am Caesar ! I am Em peror ! " We cannot be surprised, therefore, to hear that the tide was now turning- against him. Boniface afterwards issued another bull against Philip of France, because he continued his invasion of the property of the Church, and because he had imprisoned the Bishop of Pamiers, his legate, who was a turbulent man and odious to him. In this bull he asserted that he was " set over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant " — language which was understood as asserting his power to absolve subjects from their aUegiance. Philip, enraged, directed the burning of this bull amid the sound of trumpets. At the con sistory held soon after this time at Rome, the cele brated bull, "Unam Sanctam," was issued, in which Boniface asserted that the Pope has two swords : the one, the spiritual, to be used by himself; the other, the temporal, to be used by his permission, and in accor dance with his directions ; that the temporal sword is under the spiritual sword ; and that it is necessary to salvation to believe that the whole human race .is subject to the Roman Pontiff. He also published a brief declaring the King of France excommunicate, and requiring him to appear in three months at Rome to answer the charges against him. Philip was much enraged at this insolence of the Pope, and was proceeding to extreme measures against 272 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. him when he was delivered in an unexpected manner from his adversary. The Pope had retired for a short time to his native city, Anagni. The sentence of excommunication was to be issued on the 8th of Sep tember. But on a sudden he was awakened from his dream of victory by loud shouts echoing through the streets of " Success to the King of France ! Death to Pope Boniface ! " Sciarra Colonna, accompanied by William of Nogaret, a lawyer, was rushing at the head of three hundred lawless soldiers through Anagni. The cardinals, terrified, fled from their palaces through the common sewer. The Pope meanwhile arrayed himself in his vestments, and sat alone in his palace, calmly expecting the end. William of Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna soon burst into his chamber. They assailed him with reproaches, and called on him to abdicate the Papacy. They forced him from his palace, made him ride through the city on an ass with his face to the tail, and placed him in close confinement. Any design of personal violence failed in conse quence of the dispersion of the soldiers through the city. At length the citizens, who at first took part with the soldiers, rose against them and drove them from Anagni. The citizens of Rome, too, indignant on account of the violence offered to Boniface, sent a band of horsemen, who escorted him in triumph to the city. But his spirit was broken by the insults offered to him. His enemies say that, foreseeing his approach ing end, he dismissed his attendants, refused food, and shut himself up in his chamber, that no one might DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 273 witness his death-struggle. They add, that after a little time his attendants burst into his room, and found him dead on his bed, having his head wrapped in the counterpane, with which they suppose that he had suffocated himself. His pastoral staff was lying beside him, showing marks of his teeth and covered with foam. His white locks were stained with blood, and his hands were, in his fury, bitten away. This account appears to be disproved by the state of his body when his grave was opened, 303 years after his death, for the purpose of transferring it to another sepulchre. It was found to be uncorrupted ; his hands and feet were^ free from mutilation, and the veins and nerves were swelling with flesh. The probability is that he breathed his last in peace, surrounded by some of his cardinals, from whom he received the last sacraments. He died on the 10th of October, A.D. 1303. Boniface has been consigned to infamy by contem porary poets and historians for the exhibition of some of the most revolting features of the human character. Many of the charges, such as that he did not believe in eternal life ; that he was guilty of monstrous heresy ; that he was a wizard ; and that he asserted that it is no sin to indulge in the most criminal pleasures — are certainly untrue. They are due chiefly to his cruelty to Celestine and the Celestinians, and his severity to the Colonnas, which led the two latter to go every where blackening his character. They have been exaggerated by Dante; and they may be ascribed generally to his pride and violence, and to the obsti- 9 274 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. nate determination, formed by a man who "was born an age too late," to advance claims then gene rally becoming unpopular, far surpassing in arro gance those maintained by the most arbitrary of his predecessors. The last words of his celebrated epitaph, " He died like a dog," are scarcely appro priate; but the first words are substantially correct, " He came in like a fox, and he ruled like a lion." We know, indeed, that, from the operation of the causes already stated, from the advance of the spirit of freedom, and from the development of the intel lectual powers, the Papacy, though apparently as ma jestic as ever, was gradually losing the power which it once wielded over the nations ; but we are equally certain that it would have never descended swiftly from an elevation to which it was never again raised if it had not been hurled down from it by Boniface VIII. This victory of Philip over Boniface was, in fact, the commencement of a wide-spread reaction on the part of the laity against ecclesiastical predominance. The Papacy had first shown its power by a great dramatic act, and its decline was shown in the same manner. The drama of Anagni is to be set against the drama of Canossa. The Papacy was about this time again degraded. Clement V, to whose election Philip of France had been instrumental, was induced, A.D. 1305, to transfer it to Avignon. The period of seventy years, which began in that year, has not unfitly been termed the Babylonish captivity, because it was passed by the Popes beneath the sceptre of a foreign king, and DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 275 because they were slaves like the Jews during their exile from the city of their fathers. One of the con ditions of Clement's appointment was that he should arraign Boniface. After having presided over a Council in which he was obliged to listen to the charges brought against him, he was allowed by his master to issue a Bull which, while it absolved him, magnified Philip's zeal for the Catholic faith, declared that all proceedings instituted against the King and others during his con test with Boniface were to be revoked and cancelled, and that every word injurious to the King of France was to be erased from the archives of the Papacy. Three years after this judgment, in the year 1313, Clement was summoned to his account. He has been commended for the subtle policy which enabled him to avert from a dead Pope a blow which must have recoiled on his living successor ; but he has left a character stained with rapacity and sensuality, and he will be for ever memorable because he reduced the Papacy to a state of vassalage to the King of France, from which the wonder is that it ever rose to its former independent position among the nations. Men could no longer be inspired with their former awe of the Papacy when they found that, by the obliteration of all proceedings injurious to Philip from the Papal records, he was justified for all his deeds of violence, and for his charges, which would have caused the direst anathemas of Hildebrand and Innocent to be pronounced upon him. This mighty and majestic King was not the only person who at this time degraded the Papacy. The 276 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. illustrious poet Dante, his contemporary, who probably began his immortal poem, the " Divina Commedia," at the beginning of the fourteenth century, at that time successfully assailed it. No doubt his primary object in its composition was to glorify Beatrice, whose sur passing beauty had captivated his youthful imagina tion. That angelic form had just lighted on this orb which she had scarcely seemed to touch, and was then lost to him for ever. Her death seems to have been the means of shrouding his existence in an impene trable gloom. The pale phantom of the departed Beatrice was constantly gliding before him. It hovered over him in the sunny air ; it mingled with the forms radiant with youthful beauty, which floated on fairy footsteps through the mazes of the dance; its tread fell on his ear, interrupting the harmonious strain which music was breathing around him; its presence cast a dark shadow over the gorgeous scenery, over the lake sleeping like a crystal mirror in the bosom of the mountains, over the flowery meads, the rich pastures, and the golden cornfields of his beloved Italy. His melancholy found vent in that poem which has been the means of transmitting his name with honour to succeeding generations. " There is perhaps no work in the world," as Lord Macaulay observes, " so deeply and uniformly sorrowful. The gloom of his character discolours all the passions of men and all the face of nature, and tinges with its own livid hue the flowers of Paradise and the glories of the eternal throne." But while we hold that the grand idea present to DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 277 the mind of the poet was the glorification of Beatrice, we must at the same time maintain that a secondary was the reform of the civil and ecclesiastical policy at that time established in Italy. It is true that only in a qualified sense we can look upon him as a reformer. To the close of his days he held all the doctrines of Romanism. We can have no doubt that his denunciation of the vices of the Popes, and his opposition to them as temporal rulers, contributed greatly to weaken the Papacy. He has assigned to some of them a place in the infernal regions. He inveighs bitterly against Pope Nicolas and Pope Boniface on account of their avarice and simony (" Inferno," canto xix. 105, &c). The former, on account of his simony, was buried head foremost in the livid rock ; flames play over the soles of his feet, causing them to glance to and fro in excruci ating agony. He is represented as anticipating a similar fate for Pope Boniface, whom he directly charges with having, by corrupt means, obtained the Papal tiara, and with having made use of the oppor tunities afforded by his high dignity to add to his enormous wealth. He then launches forth into a strain of righteous indignation against the Popes, telling Nicolas that he well deserved the torments inflicted upon him. He then charges them with having bowed down in guilty adoration before an idol of gold and silver, and compares Rome to that mystic Babylon — that woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and jewels, having a golden cup in her hands, who 278 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. had surrendered herself to the lewd embraces of the monarchs of Europe. He also condemns in no mea sured terms the simony of Boniface VIII. He charges him with writing his ecclesiastical censures only to be paid for revoking them. S. Peter also rebukes the covetousness of Boniface, who made Rome, the sepulchre in which his ashes were enshrined, a com mon sink of corruption (" Paradiso," canto xxvii. 11. 25-30). Another charge was that, placing themselves under the banner of the Guelphs, the Popes had kindled and kept alive in Italy the flames of civil war. S. Peter is represented as complaining ("Paradiso," canto xxvii. 46-51) that the keys, the well-known emblems of Papal authority, were emblazoned on the standards which floated in the front of the battle, wherever it glowed most fiercely. We see then that, on public grounds, Dante visited Boniface and his predecessors with unsparing cen sure. In condemning them he condemned that system which gave them the power of interfering in matters of civil government. It was his firm belief that many of the disasters of Italy owed their origin to the union of the temporal and spiritual authority in the Pope. Thus he writes (" Purgatorio," c. xvi. 11. 127-129): — "The Church of Rome, Mixing two governments that ill assort, Hath missed her footing, fallen into the mire." Again (" Purgatorio," c. xvi. 11. 98-99), he compares the Pope, on account of this union of the temporal and DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 279 spiritual power, to an unclean beast under the Levitical law — " Who chews the cud, but does not cleave the hoof." Dante was, in fact, impressed with the conviction that Italy could not be " great, glorious, and free " until her states were consolidated into one government under a powerful central authority. He had seen the evils which flowed from disunion. The different states had been prevented by this cause from offering an effectual resistance to the armies of the invader. Dante was indignant with the Popes because they opposed that consolidation from the fear of being deprived of the ensigns of sovereignty. He visited the avarice of Boni face and of the other Popes with unsparing censure, because they had taught the multitude to seek their happiness in the accumulation of wealth, thus creating an obstacle to the regeneration of Italy which the poet deemed insurmountable. " Therefore the multitude, who see their guide, Strike at the very root they covet most ; Feed there, and look no further." — " Purgatorio," c. xvi. 11. 100-102. The monks had followed their example — " Modern shepherds need Those who on either hand may prop and lead them, So burly are they grown ; and from behind Others to hoist them. Down the palfrey's sides Spread their broad mantles, so as both the beasts Are covered with one skin. O Patience ! thou That look'st on this and dost endure so long ! " — "Paradiso," c. xxi. 11. 130-135. 280 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. This avarice, which had eaten like a cancer into the bowels of Italy, was a great hindrance to its political regeneration. The avaricious would oppose the advent of the Emperor because they might be deprived through war of the wealth which they had poured into their coffers. Now, this corruption is directly attributed by Dante to that fatal dowry of temporal dominion which Constantine was alleged to have conferred on the Church — " Ah, Constantine ! to how much ill gave birth, Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower Which the first wealth)' Father gained from thee." — " Inferno,'' c. xix. 11. 115-118. Dante saw that his apprehensions were not with out foundation when he found Clement V, from the fear of the loss of his temporal power, withholding his adhesion to the cause of Henry of Luxemburg, the Holy Roman Emperor, very soon after the poet had expressed his wish that the different states of Italy might be united under his dominion. For this reason he has branded him with infamy as "a shepherd without law," and has represented him as having a mournful pre-eminence in crime above his numerous predecessors (" Inferno," c. xix. 1. 83). He has also shown his zeal for the Empire in his treatise "De Monarchia," in which he endeavours to prove that the authority of the sovereign emanates from God, and is not therefore subject to the temporal authority of the Church. The idea of the Emperor as an absolute mon arch had thus been raised higher than ever by Dante, and by the lawyers Marsilius of Padua and others. DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 281 Dante ("Paradiso," c. xxx. 11. 133-138) has sung the praises of the Emperor Henry VII., because he hoped that he would revive the glories of those days when Italy sat as a queen among the nations. He has also (" Purgatorio," c. vii. 11. 94-97) severely reproved the Emperor Rudolph of Hapsburg for neglecting Rome and Italy. But in the " Divina Commedia " he may be said to have sung the dirge of the Empire. Henry, descending on the plains of Italy with a little band of knights, was indeed at first hailed with acclamations, but a powerful confederacy was afterwards formed against him. He at length sank beneath a fever, A.D. 13 13, after having for a year maintained a conflict with overwhelming numbers. The phantom of Impe rial authority lingered on in Italy. We shall describe directly another contest for the Empire. Matthew Villani, however, fifty years after this time, sees that the Emperor cannot reign south of the Alps. Ghibelline tyrants still, indeed, advance the Imperial pretensions to justify their attack on their Guelphic neighbours; but before the middle of the fifteenth century, the end of the time included in this chapter, the names of Guelph and Ghibelline had ceased to have their former signification. The Pope was no longer the defender, nor the Emperor the assailant, of municipal freedom, because the latter had dis appeared from Italy. But the spirit of faction sur vived the cause of faction. The old warcries served as a pretext for wars of hatred or aggrandisement. The sceptre of Italy had fallen from the grasp of the Emperors. Vanquished in successive ages by 282 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. the Popes, the cities, and the nobles, it became evi dent that they could not again possess the sovereignty of Italy. We have a proof in the history of the following years that Dante and other distinguished writers, while they aided in revining for a time the Imperial authority, had inflicted a severe wound on the Papacy. John XXII., the successor of Clement V, Benedict XII., and Clement VI., were for -thirty years in the thick of one of those struggles between the Papacy and the Empire which have left their deep impress on the history of former ages of the Church. Louis, Duke of Bavaria, and Frederick of Austria were candidates for the vacant dignity. Louis was excommunicated by John because, after the victory over his rival, A.D. 1322, he assumed the title of King of the Romans, before John had given judgment in the contested elec tion. Louis, in order to show his contempt for the Pope, marched in triumph through Italy, was crowned with great pomp at Rome, deposed John, and set up an Anti-pope. But he was soon compelled to abandon his short-lived kingdom, and the Anti-pope was com pelled to humble himself before Pope John. This contest is distinguished in some important par ticulars from its predecessors. Gregory VII. wished to prohibit Henry IV. from investing the hierarchy with the ring and crosier, because they thus became the creatures of his will. The Popes who contended with Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II. strove to prevent the one from imposing on the Empire and Italy the yoke of slavery, and the other from threatening DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 283 them on the south as well as the north through the occupation of Naples and Sicily. But in this contest no Papal interest can be said to be involved. Louis was impressed with a deep sense of religion, was will ing to make any concession so that he might live on good terms with the Pope, and was too weak to be formidable to him. We observe, too, another point of difference between the present and former contests for the Empire. When Hildebrand uttered his anathema against Henry, his attendants fell away from him. But now the Papal anathemas were no longer like the hurricane which lashes the waves into fury, but like the gentle breeze which just ruffles its surface. They were disregarded by the nobles of Germany. The protracted contest in which the Popes engaged from the desire of asserting the majesty of the Papal See led to no result in their own age, and did not influence the course of events in succeeding generations. The Papacy was no longer regarded as supreme over the other Powers of Europe, but rather as an individual Power with interests of its own opposed to the national interests. Louis, though far less powerful than Henry IV., died A.D. 134S, excommunicated and in posses sion of the Imperial dignity. The struggle with Louis of Bavaria ends the mediaeval phase of the history of the Papacy. The sword was now rust}- and blunted with which the Popes had smitten down the mightiest of this world's potentates. Clement V. and John XXII. had died shamefully rich. The latter had amassed wealth to the amount of 18,000,000 of gold florins and 7000 in plate and 284 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. jewels, derived from exactions levied under the pretext of a crusade, from the first year's income of all ecclesi astical dignities, and from other sources. This extor tion had been rendered necessary by the continued residence of the Popes at Avignon. The barons in the Papal territory had availed themselves of the oppor tunity afforded by their absence of wresting from them one province after another with their revenues. They were thus obliged in the manner above described to supply their deficiencies. This extortion was greatly prejudicial to the best interests of the Papacy. The indignation of the clergy knew no bounds when they saw that they had been robbed of their treasures that their spiritual lords might not only live in luxury, and exhibit in their courts the mimic splendour of Oriental magnificence, but that they might even hoard up the massive bars of gold and silver in their treasure-vaults. The minds of men had been dazzled by the glory which seemed to surround the Popes when they planted their feet on the necks, of the monarchs of Christendom, and seemed to be aiming at dominion that they might give liberty to the captives and break in pieces the yoke of the oppressor. But the spell was broken, the charm was dissolved, when they saw the pretended successor of the fisherman of Galilee bowing down before the golden idol, and soiling his hands like Mammon, " the least-erected spirit that fell from heaven," by ran sacking the bowels of the earth in search of perishing earthly treasure. The terrible licentiousness, luxury, and worldly pomp of the court at Avignon, especially during the pontificate DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 285 of Clenient VI. (a.D. 1342-1352), were also causes of the decline of the Papacy. The illustrious Petrarch, the " Italian songster of Laura and of love," who was for a time residing in Avignon, has given the following description of it in his letters called the " Mysteries : " — " All that they say of the Assyrian and Egyptian Babylon, of the four Labyrinths, of the Avernian and Tartarian lakes, is nothing in comparison of this hell. All that is vile and execrable is assembled in this place. Gold is the only means of escaping from this labyrinth Here reign the successors of poor fishermen who have forgotten their origin. They march, covered with gold and purple, proud of the spoil of princes and of people To the most simple repasts have succeeded the most sumptuous feasts ; and where the Apostles went on foot, covered only with sandals, are now seen insolent satraps, mounted on horses ornamented with gold and champing golden bits." We are not, therefore, surprised to learn from Berthelet's book that Clement VI. at this time abro gated the rule made at the Council of Lyons, that if in three days the Cardinals did not come to a decision as to the election of a Pope, for the five following days they should be contented with a single dish as well for dinner as for supper, and that afterwards they shall have no other nourishment than bread and water until the election be made. Clement allows them to have always, " besides wine, fish with sauce, salt pork, cheese and fruit, but not sweetmeats." In fact, this was especially a time of luxurious indulgence. Petrarch has elsewhere expressed the greatest horror of the 286 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. abominations which filled the " New Babylon of the West." The accuracy of his description is confirmed by all contemporary writers. Vice, in the persons of Clement V, John XXII., and Clement VI., sat enthroned in the high places of Christendom. We cannot fail to observe also that the residence at Avignon was in another way injurious to the Papacy. The Pope was indeed surrounded there, as at Rome, with all the pomp and ceremonial of a court. The world, however, lost its awe of him because he was only nominally seated on the throne of S. Peter, in a cathedral unhallowed by the ancient and sacred asso ciations connected with that mighty shrine which rises in stately grandeur above the supposed tomb of the chief of the Apostles. He was no longer, besides, an independent sovereign, reigning in the territory which Pepin and Charlemagne had given to the Church, but a subordinate prince in an obscure city, in a narrow territory, not his own, where he was surrounded on all sides by the kingdom of France, and completely under the influence of its monarch. We cannot, therefore, be surprised to hear that his ecclesiastical censures were generally disregarded ; and that the rebellious lords refused to surrender the territories which they had wrested from him in Central Italy. We have now seen that the residence at Avignon was greatly injurious to the Papacy. The united voices of Christendom, the nobler spirits of the age, including the celebrated Petrarch, patriots who hoped that they would by their presence heal the divisions and remedy the disorder of Italy, and the Roman DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 287 people importuned the Popes to return to Rome; but they would not abandon their luxurious retreat at Avignon. In consequence of their weakness and absence from the seat of government, law was unable to vindicate her majesty, and disorder reigned uncon trolled through the city. Nicolas Rienzi, whom poetry has described as "the hope of Italy," "the last of Romans," "the redeemer of dark centuries of shame," did indeed, when he was sent as a delegate from the Roman people to Clement VI. at Avignon, extort from him a promise that he would revisit Rome, and another that he would appoint a jubilee every fifty years, which he was ready enough to fulfil A.D. 1350, because he saw that it would be the means of pouring money into his coffers. Finding that the Pope was deluding him with a false expectation, and that he would not return to deliver the people from their oppression, Rienzi determined to accomplish his object by reviving among the Romans the republican institutions of anti quity. Full of -enthusiasm for the past, possessing the soul of a poet, which led him to delight in musing amid the time-worn ruins of Rome on the illustrious dead of past ages, he fancied, as the night-wind sighed mournfully among them, that he heard them breathing a lamentation over her departed majesty, and exhorting him once more to raise the land of his birth to the pinnacle of worldly glory. Through the careful study of the immortal works of the ancient authors, his soul began to glow with all those lofty emotions for which the old Romans were conspicuous. Breathing the spirit of a Gracchus, he animated his fellow-citizens 288 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. against the tyrants who oppressed them. The inspi riting call was heard and obeyed. They rose against them, and obtained the freedom which was the object of their desire. Rienzi, invested by the unanimous suffrage of his fellow-countrymen with the dignity of Tribune, restored tranquillity to Rome, intimidated by some severe examples of justice those who had hitherto set law at defiance, and compelled the nobles to submit to his authority. At length, intoxicated with vain glory, he was guilty of conduct for which he was excommunicated by the Pope, was compelled to abdi cate his government, and was banished from the city of his fathers. Afterwards released from prison at Avignon, where he had been confined by Innocent VI., because he had attempted to usurp the Papal authority and to incite the Emperor to reduce the Papal power within the limits of Papal jurisdiction, he accompanied the warlike Cardinal Albornoz on an expedition to Rome, that he might re-establish the authority of the law, which in his absence had been suspended. Having entered Rome in triumph, and ruled there for a few weeks as the senator appointed by the Pope, he incurred the displeasure of the popu lace, and perished in an insurrection. The state of Italy after the death of Rienzi induced Pope Urban V. to meditate the restoration of the Papal See to Rome, A.D. 1367. He feared that Rome would no longer endure the loss of the wealth which flowed into her in a golden tide from foreign countries, or of the dignity which belonged to her as the metropolis of the Christian world, and would cast off her allegiance DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 289 to him. He found, too, that his residence at Avignon was no longer secure. The King of France, a prisoner in England, had ceased to protect him. He was in danger from the English, now his neighbours, who were incensed against him on account of the grant of the tenths to the King of France to enable him to carry on the war. The country near Avignon, too, was now invaded, and the city menaced by companies of associated brigands. Urban, induced by these considerations, at length decided to go. He made his public entry into Rome ; but, after a residence of three years in the pleasant retreat of Montefiascone, moved by the earnest mur murs of his cardinals, he returned to Avignon, where, two months afterwards, he expired, in December, A.D. 1 370. After his death, Italy, tyrannised over by legates very different from the warlike and able Cardinal Albor noz, who, after the death of Rienzi, had restored the Papal power in all the cities of Romagna, revolted altogether from his successor, Gregory XI. The uni versal opinion was that the Pope only would, by taking up his abode in Italy, restore it to the Papal See. Catherine of Sienna, famed for her sanctity, who had been sent on an embassy to reconcile Florence to the Pope, implored him to return to Italy. He yielded to her importunity, and repaired to Rome, A.D. 1376; but, worn out with his disappointment at the failure of his efforts to promote the pacification of Italy, he was meditating a return to Avignon, when he died at Rome on March 27, A.D. 1378. With him ended the seventy years' Babylonian captivity. 29^> HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. The schism of the Anti-popes, which followed the death of Gregory, was still more disastrous to the Popes than the residence at Avignon. While the cardinals were engaged in deliberating as to a successor, the Roman multitude surrounded the Conclave with loud shouts, and demanded the election of a Pope who should be a Roman or an Italian. The cardinals, terrified by their threats, elected, A.D. 1378, the Arch bishop of Bari, who assumed the name of Urban VI., thinking that they should thus satisfy both parties, as he was not only an Italian, but also a subject of the French sovereign of Naples. Finding, when it was too late, that they had placed over themselves a Pope who made himself obnoxious to them by his harsh and imperious manner, the French cardinals, anxious to retain the Pontifical Court in their own land, with drew from him their allegiance, and elected an Anti- pope, Robert of Geneva, who assumed the name of Clement VII. They alleged, as their justification for this act, that they were under constraint when they elected Urban VI. But though we may differ in opinion as to the legitimacy of Urban or Clement, vre must agree as to the effects which this schism produced on the Papacy. The world could not fail to regard the Popes and their office with well-merited contempt when they saw them wandering about Europe, blackening each other's character, exerting every effort to enlist the princes of Europe in their cause, and hurling at each other their spiritual thunderbolts. The rapacity and venality of the Pope during this period surpass all description. New taxes constantly im- DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 291 posed, new methods of extortion constantly invented, were the means by which every one of them endea voured to reimburse himself for the loss of the spiritual aUegiance of a part of the inhabitants of Christendom. The schism did not depart with the death of Urban VI., A.D. 1389, nor of the Anti-pope Clement VII., A.D. 1394, but lasted for forty years. The cardinals of the Roman obedience, appointed by Urban to supply the place of those who had seceded to Avignon, elected Boniface IX. (A.D. 1389), Innocent VII. (1404), and Gregory XII. (1406) ; while the opposite faction elected Peter de Luna, Benedict XIII. (A.D. 1394), who out lived all his rivals. They shared the obedience of Europe in nearly equal proportions. The indignation of Europe was excited against them by their deliberate perjury. They all broke a promise to abdicate if the interests of the Church required them to do so. Their evasions and delays roused a strong feeling of indig nation throughout Europe, and intensified the desire already existing for a General Council as the only means of healing the schism. The cardinals of the two factions at length agreed to summon a General Council at Pisa in March, A.D. 1409. The results of that Council were the deposition of the two Popes, and the election of the Cardinal- Archbishop of Milan, who assumed the name of Alex ander V. The expectations of those who had sum moned the Council were not realised. As Gregory and Benedict would not resign, three Popes instead of two demanded the allegiance of Christendom. The elevation of Balthazar Cossa, who assumed the name 292 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of John XXIII., to the Papal chair, which followed the death of Alexander, A.D. 1410, caused all classes to demand with greater vehemence a reform in the Papal system, because he was notorious for his vices. The Council of Constance, summoned to meet A.D. 1414, first proceeded to adopt measures for the termination of the schism in the Papacy. The mem bers agreed unanimously to depose the three Popes. The great question for their consideration afterwards was whether or not the election of a Pope should take precedence of the reformation of the Church. Many thought that, unless the Church were first re formed, the Pope, however pure he might be, would be unable, beneath the pressure of overwhelming tempta tion, to hold fast his integrity. The cardinals, on the other hand, were firmly convinced that if they elected a Pope fettered by rules previously established, they would sign the death-warrant of that system of cor ruption which they were anxious to maintain. A fierce battle between the two parties raged during the summer months. At length the cardinals were completely successful. The schism had nearly nullified the Con stitutions of Nicolas II., Alexander III., and Gregory X. Martin V, elected by the Council, with some devia tion from those rules, as this was a special case, soon showed that he was determined to resist any compre hensive measure of reform. After passing a few Con stitutions tending to redress some of the evils which had arisen during the schism, the Council contrived to postpone to future assemblies, to be held, the one at the end of five years and the other at the end of DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 293 twelve years, the question of reformation. The Council was then dissolved. On the 16th of May, A.D. 1418, after a session of three years and a half, arrayed in his gorgeous robes, under a canopy supported by four Counts, while the Emperor Sigismund and the Elector of Branden burg held his bridle, Martin V. rode forth from the city of Constance, followed by a cavalcade of 40,000 princes, nobles, and ecclesiastics, mounted on richly caparisoned horses, as splendid as any which had ever marched in the train of the proudest and most illus trious of this world's potentates. He made a triumphal progress through Northern Italy, staying for some time in the principal cities. At Milan the Pope was received with much honour by Duke Philippo Maria Visconti ; here he consecrated the high altar of the cathedral, and in memory of that event a statue was erected to him in the same glorious temple. At Florence, where he arrived in February, 1419, the reception was still more magnificent. Outside the Porta S. Croce the Pope was met at the monastery of S. Salvi, where he had passed the night, by the chief citizens and magis trates of the Guelphic party. Escorted by them, he made his entry on a white horse with red silk housings, the host being carried before him amidst blazing tapers, the clergy in procession carrying relics, and the magistrates and the magnates following in splendid costumes, all with laurel wreaths on their heads and olive branches in their hands. During his stay, he consecrated the high altar of the church, and raised the Florentine See, hitherto only a bishopric, to metro- 294 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. politan rank. Several cities, lost to the Pontific States during the wars and troubles of previous years, were also at this time recovered. Martin arrived at Rome on 28th of September, 1420. Rejoicings and illumina tions were kept up for several days and nights, and, after dark, horsemen rode about the streets shouting "Viva for Papa Martino." The scenes here described are symbolical of the victory gained by the Papacy. Martin V. resumed the authority which Christendom had given to his predecessors. The Pope appointed by the Fathers proposed, indeed, a few trifling reforms ; but he would not carry out that great work of Church reformation for which Europe had been waiting in anxious expectation. The desolate state of the city, occasioned by the turbulence of the people during the schism, is thus described by Platina : — " Rome, reduced to ruin by pestilence, famine, fire, and sedition, has no longer the appearance of a habitable town, but of a desert. On every side are to be seen buildings falling into decay. The streets are without passengers. We ob serve no signs of civilisation." The Pope applied him self to the work of material restoration. The erection of public and private buildings marked a new era in the varied history of Rome. A compilation, however, from a hundred inedited letters written by ambassadors of the Teutonic Order residing at Rome displays the worldliness of the Curia, and the total failure in that sphere at least of the reforms demanded at Constance. The Council which, according to the announcement referred to, met at Pavia and afterwards at Sienna in DECLINE OP THE PAPACY. 295 the year 1423, separated on the 8th of March, A.D. 1424, having made scarcely any proposals on the subject of reform; but that which, seven years after wards, Martin V. summoned to meet at Basel just before his death, seemed more determined than its predecessors to prosecute vigorously the work of re formation. By one of those accidents which have often decided Papal elections, the choice of the electors fell on Gabriel Condolmieri, the most insignificant member of the sacred body, who assumed the name of Eugenius IV. He was obstinate, narrow-minded, opposed to all deviations from the doctrines of the Church, and entertained a lofty idea of the power and prerogatives of the Papacy. The Council assembled at Basel on December 18, 143 1. Eugenius, finding that its members, urged on by their respective sove reigns, were determined to persevere, and that his temporal power was endangered by the intrigues of the Duke of Milan, as well as by an insurrection of his own subjects at Rome, which obliged him to escape from the city, sought reconciliation with it, and re scinded on the 15 th of December the Bulls which he had issued for its dissolution. The Pope's Legates were admitted to the presidency of it, on swearing that all men, including the Pope, were bound to obey it. Decrees were now passed for the entire freedom of elections in Churches, against the abuse of interdicts, the concubinage of the clergy, and other corruptions which had rendered the Church of Rome a by-word among the nations. Eugenius, finding that all his efforts through his 296 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Legates to defeat the designs of the Council had failed of the wished-for success, adopted another means of accomplishing his object. The Eastern Empire had been for some time dragging on a precarious existence. The Emperor was compelled to pay a heavy annual tribute to the Turks. He had proposed to Martin V. a conference between the Eastern and Western Churches, hoping that, if the differences between them were removed, the Latin nations would hasten to his assistance, and would save the Empire and city from conquest by the Turks. We have seen in our third chapter the begi nning of the struggle between the Roman and Greek Churches. A principal cause of the opposition of the latter to the former was the total denial by the Greeks of the Roman supremacy. Another principal cause was the question of the procession of the Holy Ghost, which came before us (p. 171)- This question had been discussed at the Council of Bari in Sicily in the year 1098, at which the re-union of the Churches was considered. Pope Urban II. had summoned to it the celebrated Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, whom Dante, in his vision of Paradise, has placed in the sphere of the sun among the special ministers of God's gifts of reason. Some Greeks who were present at the Council argued on their distinguishing doctrine, the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father only. Urban finding, in disputing with them, that he was having the worst of the argument, suddenly exclaimed, " My father and master, Anselm, where art thou ?" Anselm immediately stood up and said, " My lord and father, what is your DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 297 will? Here am I." "Why," said the Pope, "are you silent with the others ? Come up here and speak on behalf of your mother, the Church." All eyes were turned on the thin, spare man, whom the Pope de lighted to honour. His address was postponed till the next day, when the Church was crowded in every part. Anselm, from an elevated part of it, delivered an eloquent address, in which he showed from Scrip ture that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son, which was afterwards published as a treatise. When he sat down all were in a state of enthusiasm. A deep amen was the answer of the whole assembly of 183 bishops, and Urban exclaimed, " Blessed be thy heart and understanding ; blessed be thy lips, and the words which flow from them." The articles of difference between the two Churches after this time continued to be fundamental dogmas. Gregory X. had indeed induced the Greek Church at the Council of Lyons, in the year 1274, to give up its doctrine of the Procession, and to admit a kind of supremacy in the Pope. But after his death the smouldering embers were kindled into a flame. The Greeks returned to their schism. Eugenius saw in the request of the Greeks lately referred to a means at once of gaining a victory over the Council and of immortalising himself by effecting a union between the two Churches. As the Greeks objected to Basel on account of the distance, Eugenius had an excuse for issuing a Bull in September, A.D. 1437, directing the transference of it to Ferrara, in Italy. Now then he knew that he should be able to inundate it with the 298 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. local bishops, who would prevent the reformation of the Church. Eugenius was able to attract the Greeks to the Council at Ferrara, subsequently, on account of the plague, removed to Florence, by offering them a larger sum of money for their voyage than the Council of Basel. Reducing them to misery through starvation, and, when they had submitted, rewarding them with money and provisions, he induced them to compromise the question of the procession of the Holy Ghost, by affirming that the Greeks, when speak ing of Him as proceeding from the Father, did not exclude the Son, but only intended to guard against the idea that the Spirit proceeded as from two prin ciples. He also persuaded them to admit the notion of the Papacy, which the Greeks had always opposed, that the Pope is the head of the whole Church. These decrees were repudiated by the whole Greek nation. The consequence was that no succours were sent to them. The policy of Eugenius only served to estrange the East still more from the West, and to hasten the coming of the time when the Greek Empire was over thrown by the Turks. The Council of Basel continued its sittings, and proceeded to extremities against Eugenius. It first suspended him, and then deposed him. The members elected an Anti-pope, Amadeus, Duke of Savoy. The Council, deserted by many of its members, who dis approved of the deposition of a lawful Pope, afterwards sank into insignificance. The last session was held in June, A.D. 1443. The Councils of. Ferrara and Flor ence had fulfilled the design of Eugenius in transferring DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 299 the assembly to Italy, and had not passed a single decree for the reformation of the Church. The victory of Eugenius was complete. He prevented the assem bling of a new Council by adroit management, and had almost recovered the allegiance of Christendom. When shortly before his death he received the homage of the German ambassadors, the event was celebrated (Feb ruary 7, A.D. 1447) by the ringing of bells and the blazing of bonfires in the streets of Rome. The means, however, which he had employed to obtain the victory wrung from him the confession in his last moments, "O Gabriel, how much better were it for thy soul's salvation if thou hadst never become car dinal and Pope ! " We see, then, that these two celebrated Councils altogether failed in effecting the regeneration of Chris tendom. The virulent ulcer still remained. A different result could hardly have been expected. The correction of abuses required more statesmanship and wisdom than were to be found among the assembled fathers of Constance. D'Ailly, one of its leading members, could not prefer the interests of the Church to the interests of the Cardinals' College, and Gerson, another, threw himself into small political disputes. The real question in the Council was not the reform of the Church, but the struggle of the bishops to maintain their position against the Pope. No united policy could be obtained from the Council even in matters of detail. Uniformity was possible only on points of subordinate importance. The division of the Council into nations was a hindrance to united action. This arrangement had been made 300 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. because, if the members voted by the head, the Italians could easily prevent any measure of reform from being carried into effect. The members of the Council could not discover the interests of Christendom because they were hidden by the conflict of Churches and nations. The nations, deliberating apart, were brought suffi ciently near to intensify national jealousy, but not near enough to be induced to give up that jealousy and to aim at the promotion of the interests of Christendom. We must give a different report of the deliberations at Basel. If a remedy for the evils of Christendom could have been found anywhere, it would have been found within the walls of its council-chamber. We find, indeed, that this world's potentates did not honour with their presence the deliberations of the assembled fathers. The gay cavalcades and the banners em blazoned with the armorial bearings of monarchs, princes, and warriors, were not seen amid the streets of the city. The trumpets were not heard breaking the stillness of the night to announce the arrival of a visitor from a distant country. But still the most learned and able theologians in Europe were to be found in the Council. Unlike the fathers at Constance, who merely pretended to, reform the Church, they dis played an honesty of purpose, a firm determination to heal the sores of the Church, a high sense of responsi bility to the nations of Christendom, and a determina tion, if possible, to overcome the numerous difficulties in their way which attracted the admiration of many of their contemporaries. In some matters the Council DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 301 succeeded ; but still the nations of Europe were doomed to disappointment. The Council failed, because in its anxiety not to represent the divisions of Christendom, it represented the pretensions of a self-elected and self- seeking body of ecclesiastics. The failure of such a body of men — so earnest in their purpose, so devoted to their work — served to show far more plainly than the abortive attempt at Constance the impossibility of reforming the Church from within; to prepare the way for those holy and devoted men who struck off the fetters from the captives of Rome, and brought them into the liberty wherewith Christ maketh His people free. We must now pass in review the different Churches of Italy, the history of which is an important part of our subject, in order that we may ascertain if the residence at Avignon and the schism had caused them to waver in their allegiance to the Church of Rome. We shall find, on the contrary, that they had become more devoted to her. After the return of the Popes to their ancient seat, and the revival of the Pontificate from the deadly wound inflicted by the schism of the Anti-popes, the Romans congratu lated themselves on the recovery of their former distinction. In this feeling their countrymen parti cipated. When the Councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basel attacked the corruptions of the Roman Court and sought to lessen its authority, the Italians were in duced to come forward in its defence. They felt them selves dishonoured as a nation by the invectives of the reformers of that age against the vices of the Pontiffs. 302 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. We will first examine the history of the Church of Milan. We need not refer to Ravenna, because she had long ceased to be the rival of Rome. The Malatestas, not the Archbishops, were her lords. Milan had submitted most unwillingly to the Papal yoke. Her citizens delighted in recalling the time when, under their great bishop, S. Ambrose, they were altogether independent of the Papacy. They had struggled boldly in defence of their ecclesiastical liberties, but they had been unsuccessful. We might, therefore, naturally suppose that when the arm of the Papacy was paralysed, and it could not be raised to smite down its foes, they would rise up as one man and obtain that liberty which was their ancient birthright. But we find that the annals of the arch bishopric during the fourteenth century display the gradual* consolidation of the Papal dominion over this once independent See. In A.D. 1308 the Chapter elected a canon of their metropolitan church, Gaston Forriani, to the vacant archiepiscopal throne. When Pope John XXII. transferred him to the patriarchate of Aquileia, the Chapter proceeded to elect Giovanni Visconti. But the Pope annulled this election, and nominated another priest, a minor conventual, as Archbishop. Matteo Visconti, the lord of Milan, op posed this election, and would not allow Fra Aicardo, the nominee of the Pope, to enter Milan. The con sequence was discord between Matteo and the Papal Court. Pope John afterwards appointed Giovanni, the nominee of the Chapter, not Archbishop of Milan, but Bishop of Novara. In the pontificate of Benedict DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 303 XII. complete agreement was established between the Papal and the Visconti courts, and Aicardo was allowed to make his entrance into Milan as Archbishop, A.D. 1339. After his death in the same year the Chapter again elected Giovanni Visconti, but the Pope again refused to recognise him. This antagonism between the Papacy and the Milanese clergy con tinued till the year 1342, when Clement VI., of his own authority, disregarding the two previous elec tions, declared that prelate, who acted so conspicuous a part in his time, to be the real successor of S. Ambrose. We may now consider the ecclesiastical affairs of the kingdom of Naples, or rather of its capital. The See of Naples, said to have been founded by S. Peter, A.D. 44, obtained its first bishop from Constantinople, A.D. 962. Giannone states positively that Naples was for a certain time an archiepiscopal, but not a metro politan See under the Byzantine patriarchate. Arch bishops without suffragans, and with the honorary title of " Metropolitans," were at one time very numerous in this kingdom. This anomaly was of Greek origin. The Archbishop of Bevenuto was the most distinguished. He wore a mitre with a golden diadem, like the original form of the Papal crown ; when he made his visitations, he was preceded by the consecrated host, and he used a leaden seal like the seal of the Papacy. It is certain that the Greek rite continued long prominent in public worship in Naples. The city, up to the thirteenth century, contained six parochial churches for the Greeks, the clergy of 304 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. which used, on certain occasions, to officiate at the cathedral, chanting in choir, and walking in processions with the capitular clergy. About the middle of the fourteenth century this metropolitan see was occu pied by Giovanni Orsini, an able prelate, who drew up sixty-four " Constitutions," which were ratified by Clement VI., for the reform of discipline among his clergy. We cannot find that even during the residence at Avignon any question was raised as to the right of the Pope to nominate to the See. The prelate appointed to this See by Urban V. was de posed by Urban VI. because he had taken the part of the Anti-pope ; and his successor, named by the latter Pope Urban, was thrown into prison under Queen Joanna. When he was reinstated, this pre late's title was disputed by a nominee of the Anti-pope's at Avignon. Thus, then, this schism extended its evil effects to Naples. The result is seen in the absence of that influence which the Church might have exer cised in promoting the cause of order and morality ; in public amusements, which were, according to Petrarch, as cruel as the gladiatorial shows in ancient Rome, where, amid a burst of applause from galleries crowded with high-born and young females, he saw a young man fall in the agonies of death, pierced by a death-wound ; in the outrages committed by thieves and bandits, who paraded the streets at midnight, attacking and despoil ing passengers and throwing them alive into wells, and committing other dreadful crimes, which seemed to cry aloud to Heaven for vengeance. We must now turn to the Republic of Florence. DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 305 Italian history presents nothing more exciting than the annals of that celebrated city. If we trace Florence downwards from her first appearance on the page of history till she became the temple of literature and art, we see in our progress instances of individual courage in the dark ages which succeeded the fall of the Empire, the union of the highest chivalry of romance with the sanguinary scenes which marked the struggle between rival parties, and displays of pure patriotism on the part of the first merchant princes of the House of the Medici, who afterwards became the oppressors of their country and the slaves of profligacy and pro digality. We find interwoven with the history of this city the glorious poetry of Dante, the impassioned strains of Petrarch, and, as the reader will see in the next chapter, the triumphs of painting, sculpture, and architecture as exhibited in the works of Fra Angelico and Michel Angelo. We gather from the annals of Florence such subjects as these, which bring before us a historical drama represented in all its acts by princes, and by men greater and higher than princes. But our business now is with the ecclesiastical history of Florence. We have an account of perse cutions and martyrdoms under Decius in the third century, and we find that, A.D. 313, Felix, one of its bishops, attended a Council at Rome. In the latter part of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth century, when the disputes between the Church and the Empire were violent, Florence was under the dominion of the Countess Matilda, who, dying, left her inheritance to the See of Rome. Notwithstanding the U 306 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. bequest of the Emperor, several Popes, from notions of policy, laid their hands lightly upon the city. They thus effectually won the citizens to the side of the Church, and arrayed them in determined hostility to the Empire. Thus was Florence established as an independent commonwealth, attached to the Guelphic or Church party, in opposition to the Ghibeline party, which gave its support to the Emperor. Thence forward, till the time of the Medici, the history of Florence is a record of party strife. Ages passed in a frightful monotony of tumult and massacre, relieved by acts of courage and patriotism destined " to point a moral and adorn a tale." This city did not always render implicit obedience to the Pope. The Republic in the fourteenth century had instigated to revolt in the Papal States, imposed taxes on the clergy, and sold their property. Gregory XL, in return, issued an interdict against Florence, which was not withdrawn till the year 1378, on condition of the payment, exacted by Urban VI., of 250,000 florins for the expenses of the war carried on by the Pontifical troops in a league against Florence. The Florentines at first submitted to that interdict, but they afterwards directed the local clergy to disregard it, and to celebrate mass as usual. When, in 1306, the Cardinal-Legate Orsini intimated his wish to visit their city in order to free it from ecclesiastical censures, the Florentines showed that the interdict had produced very little impression on them by telling him that he need not trouble himself about the removal of it. We have a proof, however, that the captivity at Avignon had DECLINE OP THE PAPACY. 307 rather strengthened than lessened the determination of the Florentines to place themselves under the Papal yoke. The election of their bishop had been through ages, with the approval of the Pope, the immemorial privilege of the Canons of the Cathedral of Florence. In the year 1341, the Canons having elected the Prior Filippo d'Antella as successor to the Bishop Silvestri, nominated two deputies to be sent to Benedict XII. for his approval of their appointment. The deputies found on their arrival that Benedict was dead, and that he had been succeeded by Clement VI. The latter at once annulled the appointment of D'Antella, appointed Fra Angelo Acciaiuoli to the bishopric, and for ever took away from the Chapter the privilege of electing their own pastor. The Florentines quietly submitted to this infringement of their ecclesiastical liberties, and supplicated the Popes, through their ambassador, to appoint in future any one whom they considered the most suitable for the high dignity. An ancient usage, the origin of which is referred to the eleventh century, at the installation of every new prelate, is said to have assumed a definite form A.D. 1385 — the symbolic espousal of the newly conse crated pastor and the Benedictine Abbess of S. Piero Maggiori. After the Bishop had made his public en trance into the city, he passed to the church of the monastery. On his arrival he was led to an ornamented tribune, where the Abbess stood with her nuns to welcome him. He took his seat on a throne adorned with rich draperies, the Abbess sitting opposite to him on a throne hung with green velvet. A canopy of cloth 308 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of gold was extended over the heads of both of them. Presently the Abbess rose and knelt before the Bishop, who made her sit on his right hand, and placed on her finger a gold ring set with three gems — a diamond, a sapphire, and another precious stone, signifying the union of the new pastor with the Florentine Church — while the Abbess' hand was held by her own relations or by the oldest man in the parish. The Abbess then gave him her thanks, warmly recommended the Florentine Church and her own monastery to the new pastor, kissed his hand, and received his benediction. All the nuns then went up to the throne to kiss his hand and to receive his blessing. The Bishop slept that night under the same roof. When he arrived at his palace, he received the present, sent by the Benedictine Abbess, of the gorgeous couch on which he had passed the night. Venice must now come before us. She makes upon us, at a first glance, a deeper impression than any of the Italian cities. The bright radiance of other days rests on this remarkable metropolis, whose highways are the everlasting seas — " She looks a sea Cybele, fresh from ocean, Rising with her tiara of proud towers, At airy distance, with majestic motion, A ruler of the waters and their powers." ' The city has a melancholy fascination for us. We think of the glorious and tragic events of which she has been the theatre." "Otway's, Radcliffe's, Shake speare's, Schiller's art has stamped her image in us." The impression which she produces is deepened as we DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 309 glide in the gondola through the mazy labyrinths of her watery ways. We see on all sides of us signs of departed magnificence. Vast and gloomy palaces rise up before us, whose sculptured windows seem to have been closed for years, and whose thresholds seem to have been touched only by the restless wave since their proud aristocratic owners have passed away. When we visit the islands occupied only by dwell ings of the humbler kind, we think of the primitive settlements (described p. 119) which were founded by the fugitives from Aquileia and Padua in the fifth century. As we stand near the palaces, majestic even in decay, and our thoughts wander back to " blind old Dandolo," the Empire of the East, the Crusaders of the thirteenth century, to those fleets which ploughed the sea, bearing armies to beat back the Turks, or returning and pouring into the lap of luxury the riches of the world, or muse on the haughty senators and the gay banquets of former days, our hearts are oppressed with sadness, and we meditate on the instability of earthly greatness. We have referred to the foundation of the bishopric in a former chapter. The name of the See on the island called Olivolo was changed into " CasteUanus " when the island with the cathedral upon it had been designated as Castello, about the year 1074. The Bishop of this See was also called the Bishop of Rialto, and he was known likewise by the mournful epithet " Bishop of the Dead," because his principal revenue was derived from a tithe on the property of those who had died in his island diocese. After the visitation of pestilence, 310 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. A.D. 1348-49, the question of mortuary fees was dis cussed between the State and the clergy, who made themselves very unpopular by their exorbitant claims after this crisis of public calamity. This unworthy dispute was terminated by the act of an estimable prelate, who announced that he would not maintain the pretensions of the worldly-minded clergy. The result was that these " fishers of fish and not of men," as they have been termed, were obliged to be satisfied with a pension of 5500 ducats a year, to be divided between the Bishop, the clergy, the poor, and the expenses of church repairs. The relations between Venice and the Papacy during this period show the ascendency of the spiritual power even in temporal things when its seat was distant from the shores of Italy. Ferrara had been captured by the Venetians. Two brothers who had been dispossessed by their nephew had recourse to Clement VII., who promised to help them if they would recognise the dependence of Ferrara on the Holy See. Clement excommunicated the Venetians with tremendous ana themas, and directed a powerful army to march against them. After a defeat on 28th August, A.D. 1307, they were obliged to abandon their conquest. In the year 1312 the Signoria sought absolution and reconciliation with the Pope. This absolution was not given till the year 1323, when the envoy of the Republic was obliged to submit to degrading ceremonies which seem contrary to the genius of Italian Republicanism. A collar was placed round his neck with a cord attached to it, and he was thus led like a dog by the Grand Penitentiary, DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 311 who held one end of the cord, into the presence of the Pope, John XXII., at Avignon, humbly to sue for the pardon which the Pope at last deigned to grant. We also witness at this time the efforts of the Pope to rouse that crusading zeal which led men in former days to rush to the Holy Land. But the flame was burning only with a feeble and fitful glow. Soon after the election of an illustrious Doge, Andrea Dandolo, A.D. 1343, Venice, yielding to the solicitations of Clement VI., formed a league with the King of Cyprus and the Knights of Rhodes against the Turks, and in the November of that year a fleet of those allies appeared before the island of Negropont, then attacked by Turkish galleys, which afterwards precipitately re treated. In September, A.D. 1344, the united fleets of Venice and the Pope sailed for Smyrna, which was victoriously occupied by the Italian Crusaders. In the January of the next year the Turkish general marched to attack the Christians in their new possession, but was defeated by a sortie from the gates. We can have no doubt that, as we stated (p. 119), Venice thus became a bulwark against the Turks, who might other wise have planted the standard of the Crescent on the battlements of the cities of Europe. We must not, however, suppose that Venice crouched in abject submission before the Papacy. The spirit in which she submitted to Rome forms one of the most interesting subjects for investigation in her annals. She united a regard for mediaeval Romanism with a haughty political independence. The worship and f£tes at Venice were more remarkable for their pomp 312 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. and magnificence than they were anywhere on this side of the Alps. She defied Papal anathemas, and yet she recognised and paid the Inquisitors against heresy. She submitted to be erected into a Patri archate by Nicolas V., but her Bishop or Patriarch must receive his ring and pastoral staff from the Doge. No Synods could be held without permission of the Council. The Republic maintained and exercised the right of censure on Venetian bishops and cardinals. They were often exiled, degraded, or banished. The clergy were always honoured and respected at Venice, but yet they were not allowed to meddle in political affairs, were kept under the strictest control, and were carefully excluded from every office under Govern ment. The Venetians always wished to have the aid of the Church in the commemoration of important events in their history. The foUowing was the origin of one of their annual celebrations. On 1 5 th February, A.D. 1340, the city was visited by a tremendous inun dation. In the dark stormy night a poor fisherman was accosted by a dignified stranger, who promised to pay him well if he would row him to the opposite island. The fisherman reluctantly complied. When he had landed him, he was addressed by another, who asked to be rowed to S. Nicolo, another island much farther eastward. When he had arrived, he was ad dressed by another stranger of venerable aspect, who desired to be rowed back to the city. When the third had landed, he gave to the poor man a gold ring, desiring him to present it to the Doge, and to tell him that the patron saints of Venice, S. Mark, S. Nicolas, DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 313 and S. George had interposed to save the city from destruction, and had sunk a ship manned with demons, which was sailing across the Adriatic, bringing ruin to Venice. But while Venice thus showed that she was, amid all her intellectual refinement, debased by superstition, she gave a very plain proof that she was most anxious to secure for her citizens those blessings which Christian civilisation brings in its train. The city at this time had hospitals and asylums for orphans and destitute children, for female paupers and penitents, for found lings and invalid soldiers. Charitable institutions were more numerous here than in any other city. A special magistracy was charged with the protection of children of both sexes employed in factories. A local police, not to be found in any other capital in Europe, gave proof of her anxiety to promote the reign of justice in the city, and to check violence and crime. In short, we may say that justice was better adminis tered and the public welfare was more carefully guaran teed by wise laws in Venice than in most European, certainly than in any Italian, capitals during the Middle Ages. We must here speak of an important religious movement, before and during the period included in this chapter. We have been accustomed to suppose that a small district at the extremity of the plain of Piedmont, immediately under the Alps, has been the home of men who have preserved the truth in its purity from the days of primitive Christianity. This belief has existed for a long time, Milton himself 314 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. has not hesitated to claim for them the honour which belongs to those " Who kept the truth so pure of old, When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones." But a careful examination has been made in recent years by Dr. Karl Miiller, Professor of Theology at the University of Geissen, Signor Emilio Comba, a professor at the Waldensian CoUege at Florence, and others, the result of which is that the truth has not been maintained in its purity in the valleys from the earliest ages, and that the Waldenses derive their name and their origin not from the vaUeys in which they five, but from Peter Waldo, a rich citizen and merchant of Lyons. In the year 1173, from motives of piety, he sold all his goods to the poor, and thus prepared the way for the formation of that society called the Poor Men of Lyons, by which name he and his foUowers were afterwards distinguished. He devoted a part of his wealth to the promotion of the translation of the Gospels into the French language, and to the support of poor preachers who were to proclaim the principles of Evangelical perfection. The whole movement remained to the end true to the original cause of it — the desire for a fuller knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures. The followers of Waldo taught and learnt everywhere, even in the lazar- houses. Waldo's object was to revive the Church's spiritual life. He and his disciples desisted for a while from their unauthorised preaching in consequence of a decree of the Lateran Council in the year 11 79, but, unable to resist the impulse which led them to preach, DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 315 they were excommunicated by Lucius III. in the year 1 184. Innocent III. in 1209 used every effort to induce them to join the " Order of Poor Catholics," which he had established; but finding that he was unable to place more than a few of them under his yoke, he issued a sentence of excommunication against them in the Lateran Council in 1 2 1 5 . We find that there were two groups among the Waldenses. The views of Waldo spread far and wide. They were particularly adopted and exaggerated by his foUowers in Lombardy. After a conference at Bergamo in the year 1 2 1 8, the two groups were separated, and henceforth have distinct and independent histories. The chief cause of their final separation was that the Lombards differed from the French Waldenses in maintaining that the efficacy of the sacraments depends on the moral character of the celebrant This feature of their system, and their low views of the sacraments, are reasons for maintain ing, in opposition to Comba, that the valleys of Pied mont were colonised about the year 1300, not from Dauphin^, but from Lombardy. We find that the settlers in them displayed the characteristics of the Lombard group. They were more opposed to the Church of Rome than the French section. Another reason is that missionaries were often sent to the valleys from ApuKa, where was a colony of the Wal denses, and where their chief pastors resided. The Waldenses did not in the earlier stages of their history separate from the Church of Rome. Roman Catholic writers show their good feeling towards them 316 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. by admitting that they had a distinct regard to moral duties. We have abundant proof that they made use of the ordinances of the Church, that their children were baptized by the priests, and that they received at their hands the Holy Communion. At the same time they listened to the appeals of their own preachers. They are the descendants of Bishop Claud of Turin in the ninth century in this sense, that, as he protested against the worship of images, so they represent another movement having the word and the tradition of the Church from the Apostles for its warrant.1 The diligent study of the Scriptures was the funda mental principle on which they differed from the Church of Rome. They did not hold the distinctive doctrines of the Reformers. In the " Nobla Leyczon," a poetical production of the Waldenses of the fifteenth century, we find only one line out of five hundred in which there is a reference, and this only historically, to the death of Christ as a redemptive act. We cannot see in it a single word as to the importance of applying the benefits of Christ's death to ourselves by a true and living faith. We observe frequent exhortations to watchfulness, to prayer, to good works, to the observance of the pre cepts of the Gospel as they are brought forward in the Sermon on the Mount, to which, as a moral system, a greater preference is shown than to any other part of the sacred volume. They held that special works of penitence, fastings, almsgiving, and prayer are 1 The life and works of Claud are not here described, because an excellent description of them is given by Canon Meyrick in his " History of the Church in Spain," pp. 247, 248, DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 317 duties of paramount importance. It must be plain, then, that we reverse the order of things when we say that, doctrinally, the Waldenses prepared the way for the Reformation. The proof is that afterwards, in consequence of their intercourse with the Reformers, they began to adopt their distinctive theology. But still we can have little doubt that by their efforts, not always successful, to extricate themselves from errors which in the lapse of centuries had arisen in the Church, and especially by their exhortations to a dili gent study of the Sacred Scriptures, they became a light shining in a dark place, and that, through their congregations in Florence, in Genoa, in Venice, in Milan, and as far south as Calabria, they prepared the way for those who, in the sixteenth century, laboured to deliver their fellow-countrymen from the power of their spiritual oppressor. CHAPTER VII. THE POPES AS TEMPORAL PRINCES. Nicolas V. — Fra Angelico — Pius II. and his efforts for a Crusade — Decline of the Papacy in Europe — The Popes always weak in Rome— Failure of efforts to revive a Republic — Sixtus IV. supplies a new policy for the Popes, and makes them temporal princes — Character of Sixtus IV., Innocent VIII., Alexander VI., and Caesar Borgia— Invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. — Savonarola — Warlike schemes of Julius II. — Raffaelle and Michel Angelo — Great degradation of the Papacy — Character and political schemes of Leo X. — Revival of learning injurious to the Papacy — Atheism and unbelief prevalent at the Papal Court and throughout Italy — The doctrine and ritual of the Church — General expectation of a violent tempest — Failure of efforts to reform — Corruption of the Church admitted by Roman Catholic writers. We have seen in the preceding chapter that avarice and worldliness at Avignon and the schism of the Anti-popes had greatly degraded the Papacy, and had led to various attempts to reform the Church, which for the present seemed to be abortive. After the dissolution of the Council of Basel and the resignation of the Anti-pope, A.D. 1449, the Papacy seemed to have escaped the dangers with which it was threatened. One consequence of the proceedings of the Council was a great apparent increase in the power of the Popes. The endless dissensions which interrupted its harmony ; the aggravation of the schism caused by the Council of Pisa, after which three Popes, instead of 318 THE POPES AS TEMPORAL PRINCES. 319 two, were wandering over Europe ; the failure of the attempt to effect a reformation in the Church ; the spectacle of two rival Councils, with a Pope and Anti- pope at the head of them, hurling at each other their spiritual thunderbolts, served to make them very un popular in Europe, and to lead many to acquiesce in the unlimited supremacy of the Pope rather than to express a wish for the meeting of bodies which had intensified instead of healing the evils of Christendom. Nicolas V. (A.D. 1447-1455), the successor of Pope Eugenius, undoubtedly contributed by his personal character to the exaltation of the Papacy. He had raised himself simply by his learning and virtues from a humble origin to the highest dignity attainable by a member of the Church of Rome. Unlike his prede cessors, he endeavoured to allay instead of fomenting the civil warfare raging in Italy. The happy result was that, while surrounding territories were a scene of desolation, he received the revenues of the Romagna, which was left unscathed by foreign armies. The lords who had usurped the domains of the Church again became subject to her authority. A golden tide was poured into the Papal treasury at the time of the jubilee. Thick as the clusters of bees which settle on the flowers in spring, multitudes of people from all parts of Europe trod the pavement of S. Peter and S. Paul, A.D. 1450. Never had a jubilee been more productive of wealth. The treasure thus obtained was partly applied to the erection of superb edifices, to the restoration of the churches which were falling into ruin to more than their original splendour, and 320 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. to the building of fortifications which might serve to protect Rome from the turbulent multitude within the city and from the armies of the invader. He raised these magnificent structures, not, as he said on his death-bed, from pride or vain-glory, but because he thought that such sacred, such imperishable monu ments would impress the minds of men with a deep sense of the perpetuity, the eternity, of religion. But his great idea was that Rome should be a missionary of culture to the rest of Europe. This was not a Christian ideal which Nicolas set before him. The proceedings at Constance and Basel had, how ever, convinced him that he could not safely reform the Church. He thought that the next best thing for the Papacy was to identify it with art and learning. His noblest title to glory is that he laboured to keep alive the flame which was beginning to glow on the hearths and altars of Italy. After his elevation he was the patron, as he was before the friend, of the numerous distinguished men who were scattered through Italy. He sought for and purchased books in every part of Europe. Five thousand volumes were soon coUected by him in the Vatican library, of which he laid the foundation. Many learned Greeks had settled in Italy with manuscripts of the Greek authors which they had snatched from the libraries of Constantinople, in order to save them from the destruction with which they were threatened by the Turks. Manuel Chrysoloras was invited to give lectures on Greek in Florence. He afterwards gave them in other parts of Italy. Bessarion, Theodore Gaza, and John Argyropylos THE POPES AS TEMPORAL PRINCES. 321 aided him in promoting in Italy the love and study of the writers of antiquity. He gathered these and other learned men around him at his court. They were munificently rewarded by him for versions and translations of the Greek historians, of the Iliad and Odyssey, and the more valuable works of Plato and Aristotle. The whole of Italy was animated by a similar spirit. Cosmo, and, after him, Lorenzo de' Medici, at Florence, eagerly sought for manuscripts of the Greek authors, and were never weary of dwelling on the beauties in the pages which the Greek emigrants unfolded to them. Through him chiefly Florence became the headquarters of the literary revival. The design of Nicolas as to the present province of the Papacy seemed to be realised. These pupils were soon capable of transferring to other nations the knowledge which they had acquired for themselves. Thus Nicolas fancied that he was fulfilling his glorious mission, and deluded himself with the idea that he was, by means of learning, pro moting the regeneration of Europe. Nicolas extended his patronage to Fra Angelico, the distinguished painter, a brother of the Dominican con vent at Florence. We are surprised to find that the Mendicant Orders, which professed to reduce Chris tianity to its primitive simplicity, should have been the best artists and the most distinguished patrons of art ; that they aided at this time in covering the walls of churches, houses, cloisters, and monasteries with paint ings remarkable for their excellence. The reason was that Mendicancy cherished in the cloister those feelings X 322 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. which were to express themselves in the highest forms of art. Before Fra Angelico began to paint he knelt in prayer. He would shed tears as he painted the sufferings of Christ. His exceUence was that he expressed the hoUness, the spirituality, for which the subjects of his art were remarkable; but there is nothing of the earth, earthy, in them. They have moved in a higher sphere, and seem never to have come in contact with the world and its inhabi tants. We have not in the Redeemer the perfect God and perfect Man. As the Godhead cannot be repre sented, we have an unmeaning abstraction. So his saints, though remarkable for their grace and beauty, have little which is human in them. Painting, after having acquired in the cloister this perfect spirituality, must come out into the world in order that it may show that union with humanity which appears in the paintings of Francia, Perugino, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raffaelle. When we find that the Popes had triumphed over the two Councils, that they had regained their Italian principality, and that they occupied the chair of S. Peter, having no rival to contest their supremacy ; when we remember, too, the influence which the Papacy had gained from the virtues and abilities of Nicolas V, we might naturally suppose that they had recovered their power, and had regained their hold on the allegiance of Christendom. But a dose examination will dispel this illusion, and will show us that though the supremacy of the Papacy was undisputed, though it seemed to possess the plenitude of power, yet that, THE POPES AS TEMPORAL PRINCES. 323 in consequence of the captivity of Avignon, the schism, and the attacks made on it by the Councils, it really wielded a greatly diminished authority over the nations. We may adduce in confirmation of the truth of this assertion the failure of the persevering efforts of Pope Pius II., formerly iEneas Silvius Piccolomini, to animate the nations of Europe to form a confederacy for the purpose of beating back the Turkish legions. His object was to revive the idea of a Christian Church for Europe on which the Papacy rested. This idea had, during the preceding hundred years, nearly passed away. Calixtus III. (A.D. 1455-1458), the successor of Nicolas, had thrown himself with ardour into the Crusade. With a view to it, he used every effort to check the development of art and learning, and sus pended the buildings which Nicolas had begun. As . and that the Order was suppressed by France in 1762. France, Spain, Naples, and Portugal now called on Clement to abolish the Order. But he would not abandon his servants. He clung pertinaciously to them, and resisted the very strong pressure put upon him till the hour of his death in 1769. He was succeeded by a Pope of a very different spirit. Lorenzo Ganganelli, Clement XIV. (A.D. 1769- 1774), was a man of unworldly spirit, holier than almost any of his predecessors. He was beloved by all men excepting bigoted Romanists, and still has a hold, through his virtues, on the love of posterity. A man THE DECREPITUDE OF THE PAPACY. 441 of great liberality, for which he was applauded by the leading men in Europe, he determined to reconcile the Papacy with the age, and at once to make those search ing reforms which the spirit of the times required. He began by prohibiting the reading of the Bull in Ccena Domini, fulminated by Clement XIII. against the Duke of Parma's edict, condemning all foreign appointments to benefices, one of the most arrogant documents ever issued by the Holy See, in return for which Avignon, Benevento, and Pontecorvo had been seized by the Bourbons of France, Naples, and Parma. These cities were now restored to the Papacy. The Jesuits now felt that their days were numbered. The Pope did not, however, act precipitately. He occupied four years in the examination of the charges against them, and at length, being convinced of their justice, he consented to the abolition of the Order on July 21, 1773. The following are the words in which he announced its dissolution : " Inspired, as we trust, by the Divine Spirit, urged by the duty of restoring concord to the Church, convinced that the Society of Jesus can no longer effect the purpose for which it was founded, and moved by other reasons of State policy which we retain concealed in our own bosom, we abolish and annul the Society of Jesus, its offices, houses, and institutions." The abolition was a proof of the decrepitude of the Papacy. When we see a Pope compelled by external pressure to abolish an Order framed for the purpose of waging war with Protestantism, we cannot fail to see in the decree for its abolition a striking commentary on thq 442 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. assertion just made, that as the Papal were less power ful than the Anti-Papal States, the Pope had been obUged to abandon the design of materially extending his em pire. In fact, the Papal States, when they noticed the great superiority which the Anti-Papal possessed over them in arts, arms, letters, science, commerce, and agri culture — when they saw the marble palaces of Genoa deserted, banditti infesting the beautiful shores of Campania, and the fertile sea-coast of the Pontifical States abandoned to wild beasts ; when they saw that Spain was fearfully misgoverned, that she had no manufactures, that her natural resources remained undeveloped, and that a land which, with proper cultivation, might have become very productive, was now comparatively a barren waste ; and then, on the other hand, saw that Prussia, so little favoured by nature, was one of the most flourishing and best governed portions of the world, and that England and Holland were remarkable for the productions of nature and art, that they had their fleets on every sea, and were enriched by the choicest productions of foreign countries — could not help attributing their superiority to their religion, and were rather inclined to draw nearer to them than to recede farther from them. The successor of Ganganelli, Giovanni Angelo Braschi, who took the name of Pius VI., destined to make sacrifices far more bitter than the sacrifice of the Jesuits and to undergo the greatest calamities, seemed born for a different destiny. A man of dig nified manners and of a noble presence, remarkable for his courtesy and affability, fond of pomp, eloquent, THE DECREPITUDE OF THE PAPACY. 443 and very handsome, not indisposed to effect those reforms in the Papacy which would have brought it into harmony with the spirit of the age, he would in quiet times have invested it with a charm in the eyes of his contemporaries. For some years he well dis charged the duties of his office, promoted great public works, and obtained the respect of Roman Catholic sovereigns, while he did not arrest the progress of their ecclesiastical reforms. Reformers were busy aU around him. Joseph II. of Austria prohibited archbishops, bishops, and priests from receiving BuUs without the consent of the temporal power, stopped religious pil grimages, and erased indulgences from all prayer-books, nominated the Archbishop of Maintz, and told the Pope that, unless his nomination were received, he would assemble the bishops of Lombardy and consecrate him according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Pius attempted in vain, by a visit to Vienna, to arrest the progress of the reforming spirit in Austria. The Marquis Bernardo Tanucci, the first minister of Naples during the youth of Ferdinand of Bourbon, diminished the number of convents, abolished the Papal jurisdiction and Papal courts, Papal appeals, and Papal nominations to bishoprics. Peter Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, abolished the Inquisition, suspended Bulls and sentences of excommunication, withdrew the laity from the juris diction of the ecclesiastical courts, and placed the clergy under the civil tribunals. These enactments were laid before the Synod of Pistoja, which he summoned in the year 1787 without the permission of the Pope. Ricci, Bishop of Pistoja, asserted at the Synod the 444 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. independence of the bishops of Papal jurisdiction, demanded a national Italian Council, and that the service should be performed in the vulgar tongue, spoke against indulgences, and expressed the Protestant opinions on faith, grace, and the authority of the Church. At length, in the year 1794, Pius published a Bull against the Synod of Pistoja, which was altogether disregarded. Thus then the decrepitude of the Papacy in spiritual matters, even in Italy, became abundantly evident. Reforming kings and members of his own Church who had advanced a certain distance in the direction of Protestantism seemed likely to be the most formid able enemies whom Pius would have to encounter. The Papacy was expected to continue the same quiet life which it had lived during the eighteenth century. This period must seem to a philosopher, a Protestant, and even to a moderate Roman Catholic, as a very agreeable portion of the history of the Papacy and of the Church in Italy. The Popes of this century were remarkable for their modest demeanour and their freedom from corruption, and two of them, as we have seen, were remarkable for their virtues. Their Italian territories were still indeed mis governed. But their political, like their spiritual dominion, was not sharply oppressive to their sub jects. Many in the eighteenth century thought that the Papacy would be freed from its peculiari ties, and would become the ornamental appendage of advancing civilisation. Some thought that it would fall because the great Roman Catholic Powers, in THE DECREPITUDE OF THE PAPACY. 445 consequence of their financial distresses, would lay their hands on the territories of the Popes and eccle siastical property. Many Protestants had learned to regard the Papacy with indifference, or even with complacency. They thought that, on account of the advance of intellect, she would slowly and peacefully disappear from among those Powers which had once occupied a conspicuous place in the European common wealth. These prognostications were not, as we know, realised. The great French Revolution laid low the monarchy of France, disorganised its government, and shattered the altars of Christianity. Pius VI. was little fitted to contend with these powerful adversaries. He showed his weakness by uttering in vain his ana themas against the new constitution and against the renegade clergy. He would have been fortunate if France only had ceased to be subject to his dominion. But he was doomed to encounter a heavier calamity than the loss of the spiritual and temporal aUegiance of its inhabitants. That general war soon broke out which uprooted dynasties and changed the face of Europe. Revolutionary France poured her legions over her confines, conquered Belgium, Holland, and the Rhenish provinces, defeated Austria, and, in 1799, made herself the mistress of Italy. Onward the fiery deluge of -war rolled in its desolating course till it overspread the patrimony of S. Peter. By the Treaty of Tolentino, concluded with Napoleon in February 1797, the Pope was compelled to cede the French provinces subject to his See, to pay down an enormous 446 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. pecuniary contribution, and to surrender his military stores and the choicest pictures in the Vatican. The payment of the money reduced the people to beggary. The Republic also virtually obtained possession of the rest of the territory. The Government of France, finding that the spiritual thunders of the Papacy had struck terror into the minds of many of the inhabitants, required Pius to desist from them. But, unawed by these menaces, he firmly refused to obey the arbitrary mandate. The French seemed for a time to acquiesce in this deter mination. But they soon found that the two Govern ments could not exist together in Italy. On the 13th of February 1798, the Pope was sitting on his throne in a chapel of the Vatican, sur rounded by his cardinals. On a sudden, the shouts of an angry multitude penetrated to the conclave, inter mingled with the strokes of axes and hammers on the doors. Very soon a band of soldiers burst into the hall, who tore away from his finger his pontifical ring, and treated him with great inhumanity. On the day following, the Republican leaders directed that a Te Deum should be sung in the Vatican for the fall of the temporal power, and that the establishment of the Republic should be announced by the discharge of artillery by the military battalions in the square of S. Peter, under the windows of the Pope. Pius, after having been hurried away from his territory and treated with every indignity, at length died at Valence, in Dauphiny, in the year 1799. CHAPTER XI. THE CHURCH IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. Bulls relating to Papal elections — Pius VII. elected Pope — The seizure of his territories, his imprisonment, and restoration — The prosperity of the Papacy at this time more apparent than real —The Pontificates of Leo XII., Pius VIII., and Gregory XVI.— Career of Pius IX. as a liberal Pope — His disasters — His subse quent change — His proclamation of the Immaculate Conception — Establishment of the Italian kingdom and annexation of the Papal territories — The Vatican Council — Reflections upon it, the dogma of Papal Infallibility, and of Papal absolutism established by it — The constant changes which may now be expected in the Papal system — Rome made the Italian capital — The death of Pius, and reflections on his character — Another change made by him in regard to Papal elections — Conclaves and the regulations connected with them — The probable course of events in Italy, and the reasons for it — Designs and hopes of the Jesuits — The movement towards reformation in Italy, and reflections on it. MANY thought, when Pius VI. died, that the kneU of the temporal power of the Papacy was sounding among the nations of Europe. This supposition proved to be erroneous. The French Republicans were very anxious that Rome should not have another Pope. They were, however, unable to prevent the election of a successor to Pius. We learn from Berthelet's book that the last Bull of Clement XII., A.D. 1732, had not provided for the emergency of the death of a Pope at a distance from Rome. The Constitutions of Gregory X., Pius IV., Gregory XV., and especially of Clement XII., had arranged that on the tenth day after the death of the Pope the cardinals should enter the Conclave. But 447 448 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Pius had expressed a strong opinion that, when the Revolutionary spirit was abroad, and it was difficult to foresee the course of events, it was desirable to lengthen or to shorten the time intervening between the death of the Pope and the election of his successor. He therefore, by a Bull dated December 30, 1797, gave the cardinals permission to take this course until the storm raging around them should have passed away. Immediately after the death of the Pope, the cardinals near him at the time were to assemble in the place which seemed most suitable to them, and were to decide if it was desirable to avail themselves of the permission given to them by this Bull. There can be no question as to the competency of the Popes to authorise this grave departure from the custom of ages without the consent of the cardinals. Adrian V., in 1276, abrogated the Bull of his predecessor, Gregory X. ; and Gregory XL, the last Avignon Pope, em powered the cardinals by a Bull, dated March 19, 1378, to meet on his death in the most convenient place, and to elect by a simple majority. In a subsequent Bull, dated November 13, 1798, full permission is given to the cardinals to disregard the Bulls of preceding Popes, and to make arrangements in the lifetime of the Pope on what day and in what place the Conclave shall be assembled. A direction is also given that a messenger should be sent to those of the cardinals who are within an easy distance of the place where the Pope died to tell them to assemble as quickly as possible and to elect his successor. This Bull was sent immediately by a special messenger to the cardi- THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 449 nals resident in the territories not under Republican rule. As the reverses of the Revolutionary armies had left a part of Italy to its ancient masters, the cardinals were able, on the death of Pius, to avail themselves of the permission now given to them. After a long and laborious Conclave held at Venice subsequently to the death of Pius VI., they elected, on March 14, 1800, Barnabas Chiaramonte, who took the name of Pius VII. Pius was left in possession of his Italian principality, which the Papacy had recovered after the defeat of the French in Italy by Suvaroff. He was, however, assailed with one demand after another, his compliance with which would have involved the loss of the temporal power. He was firm in his determination not to sur render the rights of the Papacy. Napoleon then took possession of Rome with a large body of troops, and assumed the government of the Papal territory. A decree was passed on May 17, 1809, formally annex ing the remaining Papal territories to the Empire. Then followed in rapid succession the Bull of excom munication against the Emperor, the seizure of the Pope's person by the French commander on account of the strong feeling which it excited at Rome, and his imprisonment, first at Grenoble, afterwards at Savona, and finally at Fontainbleau, where he remained in close confinement till the overthrow of Napoleon's power in the year 18 14. The Papacy after the faU of Napoleon was supposed by some to have entered on a new era of glory. The princes restored, convinced that in their warfare with the Church of Rome they had struck down a power 2 F 450 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. which would aid them in curbing the evil spirits of democracy and anarchy, endowed it with greater power than it originally possessed. We shall see that this prosperity was during this period rather apparent than real. Italy, in the reign of Napoleon, had been united for the first time into one kingdom under powerful and enlightened administrators. But after his dethrone ment the confederacy was dissolved. The House of Austria, the Bourbons, and the Pontiffs again became lords paramount in the Peninsula. The French Re volution had excited an ardent love for liberty in the breasts of the Italians. Francis II. of Austria was determined that the smouldering embers should be stamped out by the iron heel of military despotism. Pius VII. was indeed remarkable for his gentleness and amiability, and might, under ordinary circum stances, have been disposed to lighten the burdens pressing on his subjects and to remove abuses; but as he owed his disasters to the tyranny of the French, he was determined to abolish the good institutions established by them. His first act was to recall the Jesuits, in 1814, hoping that they would aid him in promoting the reaction which seemed to be in progress. Then the government by priests was established, which had been a fruitful source of evil to the inhabitants of Italy. The wheels of the great machine of legislation were clogged and impeded ; public works of importance were suspended; commerce was paralysed; vexatious imposts were levied on the inhabitants ; the avenues to distinction were closed against all the noble spirits in the land ; the inhabitants could not reap to their THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 451 full extent the fruits of honest industry; a stern system of repression was exercised, which made it a sin for them to indulge patriotic aspirations, and prevented them from investigating the mysteries of science, or from gratifying their taste for classic or modern literature. The Pontificate of Leo. XII. (1823-1829), though it was distinguished by no commotion, witnessed the growing opposition of the Italians to the Papal and the Austrian rule. Every year it became more and more manifest that, if the Austrians were not at hand to defend him, the Romans might easily shake off the yoke of the Pope. The brief reign of Pius VIII., from March 1829 to December 1830, widened the breach between the Pope and his subjects. The people of the Legations rose against Gregory XVI., who succeeded Pius VIII. in the year 1831, but the insur gents were soon overpowered by the forces of Austria. As some partial reforms effected by the Pope failed to satisfy his subjects, they again rose in revolt, but were soon obliged to yield to superior strength. France, which had just emerged from the Revolution, garri soned Ancona in order to coerce the Pope into effecting reforms. Her threats, however, not being vigorously foUowed up, did not produce the desired effect The reforms were recaUed, and the occupation of Ancona ceased in the year 1839. The government of Gregory now became more oppressive than ever. He had before chastised his subjects with whips ; he now chastised them with scorpions. During his Pontificate (1830- 1 846), taxes unusually heavy were levied on his 452 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. subjects; every attempt to improve education and to develop the resources of the country or the industry of the inhabitants was directly discouraged ; a heavy penal and commercial code, harshly administered, pressed with great severity on the inhabitants ; the clanking of the fetters was heard more than it ever was before in the dungeons of Rome ; many were subjected to ex cruciating torture, and the shriek of agony was often heard bursting from the lips of those who were unjustly accused, and were torn half lifeless from the embrace of their relations and friends. But thus Gregory only infuriated the patriots, and prepared the way for the chastisement soon to be inflicted on the Papacy. The tide was continually rising higher and higher. Very soon it would beat down the iU-constructed mound, and would sweep away the ancient fabric of the tem poral dominion of the Papacy. Cardinal Mastai Ferretti, who succeeded Gregory XVI. on June 16, 1846, and assumed the name of Pius IX., was anxious to heal the wounds inflicted by his predecessors. He gave liberty to those immured by Gregory in the dungeons of Rome, reformed the penal code, encouraged free trade, and recaUed those who had been banished for political offences. Pius, how ever, soon found that the work of an Italian patriot was quite incompatible with the duties and interests of the Sovereign Pontiff. All Italy, led on by Charles Albert, King of Sardinia, armed in 1848 against the Austrians. On his defeat, and the recovery of Lom bardy and Venetia by the Austrians, who had been previously driven from them by the Sardinian King THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 453 * in a series of brilliant victories, the subjects of the Pope became still more eager than before to expel the hated foreigner from Italy. Pius, however, refused to lend himself to their designs, and having made trial of one Ministry after another, appointed a liberal Ministry, of which Count Rossi was the head. The appoint ment of this Ministry was soon followed by well-known events : the murder of Count Rossi ; the flight of the Pope to Gaeta, on November 24, 1848; the second defeat of Charles Albert at Novara ; the establishment of a Republic at Rome under Saffi and Joseph Maz- zini; the expedition of the French to Rome for the purpose of restoring the Pope, who were at first beaten back by the Italians under Garibaldi, but who at length, when the Legislative Assembly allowed Louis Napoleon to work his will against Rome, were completely successful, and compelled the city to sur render on July 3, 1849, at the very moment when the Constitution was proclaimed from the walls of the Capitol. The Pope did not return till the beginning of 1850. As all the world knows, the Government meantime was carried on nominally by a triumvirate of cardi nals, really by General Baraguay d'Helliers, the French commandant. Louis Napoleon ensured the Pope's safety from his enemies by surrounding him with a guard of his own soldiers. He brought back with him the worst abuses of his predecessors. After his return, he became the uncompromising champion of absolutism. He was now transformed into a violent reactionary, and had fallen completely under the influ- 454 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. ence of the Jesuits. His admirers point to his acts from that time forward as evidence that he has uniformly aimed at an end which was the reconstruc tion of society. As he was an ambitious man, and was anxious to leave the impress of his character on the age in which he lived, finding that he could not gain his distinction as the deliverer of Italy from a foreign yoke, he constantly paraded the spiritual and temporal claims of his Church before the pubhc, surrounded himself with brilliant assemblages of the hierarchy, and determined to make himself memorable by enacting new dogmas. Many wiU remember that he created a great sensation in England by dividing it into Roman Catholic dioceses. He also recon stituted the Order of the Jesuits, canonised saints, granted indulgences, sanctioned miracles, and called together his bishops at one time for the haUowing of the Japanese martyrs, at another for the celebration of the eighteen hundredth anniversary of the death of S. Peter, at another for the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This last important event now demands our attention. The proclamation of this dogma on December 8, 1854, by the Pope himself, acting on a claim of personal infallibUity, was a very plain proof of his arrogance, and of his determination to advance pre tensions more extravagant than those of his prede cessors. The worship of the Virgin Mary has been for a long time a prominent feature in the Roman Catholic system. The assertion of this dogma has been felt to necessitate the affirmation of the Imma- THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 455 culate Conception, for it would naturaUy be said that Divine honours ought not to be paid to one who, if born in original sin, would need the mediation of the Son as much as any other human being. S. Bernard, in the twelfth century, and the Dominicans, could not, however, receive the festival. The Council of Trent, though asserting the Immaculate Conception as a matter of fact, yet shrank from exalting it into a dogma. Alexander VI. sanctioned it at the close of the fifteenth century, and instituted a festival in honour of it ; and another Pope in the seventeenth century issued a decree forbidding it to be impugned or ques tioned. But it never became a dogma of the Church till it was decreed to be so by Pope Pius in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The creation of this dogma is one of the most violent strains of Papal pre rogative to be found in the annals of the Papacy. No Pope had hitherto added articles of faith to the Roman Catholic creed without the ratification of a Council. But though Pius professed to consult his bishops as to the matter in an Encyclical letter, issued from Gaeta in his exUe, and afterwards invited their personal attendance at Rome, yet he took care to inform them that he did not ask their consent to the truth of the dogma, and showed very plainly that he considered them as summoned to swell the pomp of the ecclesias tical pageant in the grand ceremony of its promulgation. The Emperor Napoleon was very anxious after this time to free himself from all responsibility in connec tion with the Pope and to withdraw his soldiers from Rome. The urgent appeals addressed to the Pope to 456 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. promote those reforms which would bring him into peaceful relations with his subjects were met with the declaration of his utter inability to effect them. Mean while Victor Emmanuel, King of Piedmont, and Count Cavour had been engaged in a work the successful prosecution of which has given them a lasting claim on the gratitude of their fellow-countrymen. We need not describe the nature of that work and the political events and victories which contributed to their success. The scheme of an Italian confederation, with the Pope at its head, recommended by the Emperor of Austria, and supported by Rosmini, as Canon Liddon informs us in the preface to his " Five Wounds of the Holy Church," was baffled. The Pope was much dis appointed on account of the failure of this design. In 1 86 1 the Italian Parliament proclaimed Victor Emmanuel King of Italy, which now, united and free, took its place among the States forming the great European commonwealth. A result of the war was that the Legations, Umbria, and the Marches had annexed themselves to Sardinia. The national aspirations for the possession of Rome were not, however, at once gratified. Louis Napoleon, anxious to withdraw his soldiers from Rome, concluded a convention with the King of Italy by which the Italian capital was transferred to Florence, and Victor Emma nuel became in 1866, responsible for the integrity of the Pope's dominions. Garibaldi disregarded this convention, and, on the withdrawal of the French soldiers, endeavoured to gain possession of Rome, but he was defeated at Mentana. Then the French again THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 457 occupied Rome, and became the protectors of the Pope. Encouraged by their presence, Pius IX. convoked the celebrated Vatican Council. On December 8, 1869, a thousand ecclesiastics of every hue and of every race, sacred cardinals, prelates of aU orders, mitred abbots, doctors in all faculties, professors of theology, and priests, amid the strains of solemn music, advanced in gorgeous apparel up the nave of S. Peter's at Rome, and bowed down to receive the blessing of that venerable but decrepit Prelate, whom they regarded as occupying the awful position of Vicar of Christ upon earth. For what purpose had the Fathers been summoned ? Were they sincerely desirous of sweeping away the abuses which prevailed in the Church ; of reconciling her with the age; of showing that the progress made in knowledge and civilisation need not interfere with, but should rather foster, man's highest spiritual wel fare, and of inquiring into the causes of the disunion which obstructs the progress of Christianity? The very contrary was the case. They had been con vened to beat back the advancing tide, to devise a means of stifling free thought, to make him who presided over them an infallible arbiter of con troversies. The words of Jesuit writers lead us to see some of the Order standing on the Janiculum and surveying the renowned panorama, while visions of dominion floated before them. They seemed to see the figures of Hildebrand, Dominic, and Ignatius Loyola, over whom hovers a romantic halo. Looking forward, they 458 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. see the figures of a new Hildebrand wielding the sceptre of universal dominion, and of new Loyolas and Dominies, who would aid the Pope in his designs of aggrandisement. They see, too, in the dim future, other German Henrys standing in penitence before the vicegerent of Heaven, and other English Johns acknowledging the claims of the Pope on their devoted and dutiful allegiance. They see another Ferdinand II. trained in their schools, who would erect his throne on the ruins of the fabric of Protestantism. "Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings, be instructed, ye judges of the earth," would seem to them to be the words borne to them in very articulate speech from the tongues of the bells of the four hundred churches which were pealing around them. This sublime senate of the Church had been called together to register a foregone conclusion. No assem bly since the Robber Synod of Ephesus, A.D. 449, has been distinguished by a more shameful disregard of freedom and justice. The cardinals who had been consulted were unanimously of opinion, in Febru ary 1865, that it was expedient to hold a Council. Gradual preparations had been made for the meeting. A syllabus of the errors to be considered had been issued. The preparations had been gradually matured. The Pope had created titular prelates in Italy simply for the purpose of imposing his own mind on the Church. He exerted, in fact, a strong pressure on the assembled Fathers, for he never lost any oppor tunity of denouncing the opponents of the dogma of Papal Infallibility as a faction hostile to himself and THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 459 the Church. We cannot exaggerate the weight thus thrown into the scale among those who were accus tomed to regard the Pope with superstitious reverence. The bishops in favour of the dogma were aUowed to give fuU expression to their sentiments, while those of the opposite party were hooted down and assailed with vituperative epithets when they attempted to oppose the wUl of the tyrannical majority. The Vatican Council was one long intrigue, carried through by fraud and violence. The absence of free discussion would by itself prevent it from being regarded as a true CouncU of the Church. None of the bishops could make any substantive motion, could propose a subject for the consideration of the Fathers, or move the previous question. The Jesuits had settled every thing, and the bishops were only required as figures in a scene already arranged by the stage-managers. The series of oppressive interferences with the liberty of the Council was crowned by a canon making the Pope's authority the sole authority in the kingdom of God below, and therefore superior to all authority merely of the natural kingdom, and finally, on July 18, 1870, by a decree declared by the Pope, the first time for 350 years in his own name, while a thunder storm was rolling over the Vatican, which seemed the voice of God expressing His anger at the impious an nouncement, " That the Roman Pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, i.e., when, in the discharge of the office of the pastor and teacher of all nations, he defines a doctrine regarding faith and morals to be held by the Universal Church, is, by the Divine assistance pro- 460 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. mised to him in the person of the blessed Peter, possessed of an infallibility with which the Divine Redeemer willed that His Church should be endowed in defining doctrines regarding faith and morals, and that, therefore, such definitions of the Roman Pontiff are of themselves, and not from the consent of the Church, irreformable." This dogma could not have been believed in the Church, as Romanists say, from the earliest ages; for if that assertion were true, cases would constantly have arisen to which it would have been apphed, so that it could not have been forgotten, and it would not have been necessary to affirm it for the first time in a General Council in the nineteenth century. It is plainly disproved, as we have seen, by the heresy of Zephyrinus and Callistus, Bishops of Rome, in the beginning of the third century, against which S. Hippolytus protested ; by the waverings and retracta tions of Liberius and Vigilius in the fourth and sixth centuries, which have also come before us, and by the error of Pope Honorius in the seventh century as to Monothelism, which was accounted deadly heresy, and was often anathematized by CouncUs and his successors. We can have very little doubt that the dogma was created for a special purpose. As a man hopelessly in debt is driven occasionaUy to desperate measures to save himself from ruin, so the Church of Rome designed by these oaths of allegiance and supremacy, these imposing services, this gorgeous assembly, this proclamation of the dogma, to avert a crisis likely to THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 461 arise from the progress of the human inteUect. In an age of inquiry and scepticism, it is a great rehef to a man who is perplexed with doubts to be able to go for a solution of them to one infallible mind. Henceforth aU which opposes Rome can be declared to be heresy, by the mere word of the infallible Pontiff. This is the very extreme of Romish pretence and ex travagance. A mere man, and he not necessarily good or wise or educated, becomes by the mere act of election an infallible judge in every point of faith and morals. When we examine careftdly the acts of the CouncU, we shall see the unfolding of a scheme of dominion similar to that which presented itself to the view of Leo III. when he placed on the brow of Charlemagne the imperial diadem, or as distinct as that which came before Gregory VII. when he saw that he had given the Papacy the means of binding kings with chains or nobles with links of iron; or like the movement of the Popes after the Reformation, when through wars and the Inquisition they regained in several countries of Europe their spiritual ascendency. We shall see that the CouncU taught that every citizen of Roman Cathohc countries is more the subject of the Pope than of the king. We shaU find, if we examine carefully the proceedings laid open to us by official indulgence, the slow progress of a scheme having for its object to deprive kings of aU their rights of self- defence against the Pope, and for depriving bishops of all their powers of checking or restraining the Popes in their career of aggrandisement. We shaU see great pomps and ceremonies employed with aU that astute- 462 HISTORY OP THE CHURCH IN ITALY. ness for which the Jesuits are remarkable, for the pur pose of surrounding with a meretricious splendour schemes designed to give the Pope an absolute power over the nations, and to make him not only high-priest, but king of kings and lord of lords. Amongst the decrees of the CouncU is one in which it is boldly declared that absolute obedience is due to an infallible Pope at the peril of salvation, not only in faith and morals, but in aU things which concern the discipline and government of the Church. This claim must also include subjects belonging to the domain of the State, because there are innumerable points of contact between them. We may mention, for instance, marriage, burial, education, poor rehef, religious en dowments, vows of celibacy and obedience. We know what we have to expect from any future Pope when we know that the last condemned free speech, a free press, liberty of conscience, and toleration of Nonconformity; that he demanded for the Church a right to use physical force, and a Divine right to civU immunities ; that he asserted that the mediaeval Popes did not invade the rights of princes ; that, for example, Gregory VII. had right on his side when he compeUed the Emperor Henry IV. to humble himself at Canossa, and Innocent III. when he exterminated the Albigenses and smote down the unhappy Raymond of Toulouse; that Paul III. was justified in deposing Henry VIII., and Pius V. in publishing that celebrated Bull excommunicating and deposing Elizabeth, " almost the latest blast," as HaUam calls it, " of that trumpet which had thriUed the hearts of monarchs," designed to second the efforts of those THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 463 among her subjects who were combined to lay low the fabric of Protestantism. The Popes can also claim, under awful sanctions, in virtue of this decree, the obedience of the faithful, on the arrival of a favourable opportunity, when they summon them to aid them in raising again their earthly throne, even if they can only erect it amid the blackened ruins of the Eternal City, and on the dead bodies of the population. We must remember also that the doctrine of Papal Infallibility has put out of court the opposition offered by members of the Church to the Popes just referred to, when they called on them to obey their arbitrary mandates. Formerly Romanists might have argued that they only asserted an authority conceded to them by the age in which they lived. Now they cannot renounce or qualify their pretensions. The allegiance of Romanists is now due exclusively to their spiritual sovereign, on whose side they must range themselves when the will of that sovereign comes into collision with their duty to maintain the institutions of their country. Thus, then, it is evident that the Vatican Decrees are the proclamation of a war against the movements of the human mind, and that they are prejudicial, in the extreme, to the best interests of society. We see also in the Acts of the Council the process by which opinions are elevated into doctrines, and doctrines into unchangeable dogmas. The bishops, when dispersed, were induced to discredit tradition, and to substitute for it the general consent of the Church; and when the dogma was passed, they dis- 464 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. credited the consent of the Church as unnecessary. " Not by tradition, not by consent of the Church," is now read on the mitre of the high-priest. This act is the most complete reversal of the principle of an established policy which the religious struggles of our day have witnessed. The Fathers in the CouncU were prepared to surrender tradition. The Church of Rome had in vain made a desperate effort to refute the Protestant assertion that the Church of the first three centuries knew nothing of the worship of the Virgin Mary, the invocation of the saints, purgatory, and other dogmas of the Papacy. She was therefore quite prepared to abandon this position, and to occupy another which Newman assured her would prove impregnable. He told her in his " Essay on Develop ment" that Papal supremacy was a development, and that very faint traces of it are to be found in the early ages of the Church. Once she was strongly opposed to this theory. Bossuet in the seventeenth century wrote a work, the object of which was to show that the doctrine of the true Church was always the same, whereas Protestants were at variance with one another and themselves. He was answered by a Calvinist minister named Jurieu, who disputed the assertion that the doctrine of the Church is always the same, and maintained that the theology of the Fathers was imperfect, and that Christian theology has always been advancing towards perfection. He held, in fact, the doctrine of development. The Church followed the re commendation of Newman. She should not then say any more about the variations of Protestants. This THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 465 is one of the most striking variations in her chequered history. Bossuet writes a book, of which she expressed her full approval, designed to show that Protestantism is false because Protestants disagree among them selves, and he is now discredited by his Church because he did not hold the doctrine of development, which in the case of Jurieu she strongly condemned. But even this theory of development is now sharing the fate of the explanations of the Roman Cathohc position which have preceded it. The leading men of the Church of Rome, in consequence of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, are surrendering the position of development as well as of tradition and the general consent of the Church, and are retreating into an inner line of defence. " The appeal to antiquity," says Car dinal Manning, "is both a treason and a heresy. It is a treason because it rejects the divine voice of the Church at this hour, and a heresy because it denies that voice to be divine" ("Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost," p. 226). According to this theory, we need not trouble ourselves to reconcUe any dogma of the Church with Scripture or antiquity. Our duty is to accept whatever the present Church teaches. Thus, then, development is completely surrendered. The words of Pius IX. and of Leo XIII. are as truly in spired by God's Holy Spirit, and are to be accepted with as much reverence, as the words of S. Peter and S. Paul. The defenders of Romanism have taken up this position because they have been dislodged from every other. But they have taken it up at an immense loss. They have given a triumph to infidelity. It is 2 G 466 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. a very short distance from the doctrine as to the in spiration of Pius and Leo to the doctrine that Peter and Paul were no more inspired than Pius and Leo. In consequence of the doctrine of Papal InfaUibUity, changes are being made with great rapidity in the Roman Catholic Church. We may count them on the minute-hand, not on the hour-hand, of the watch. Many Anglicans keep pace with the times, and watch with painful interest the shifting phases of Roman defence. The changes in the system of her who formerly called herself the unchangeable Church, ren dered necessary by the doctrine now before us, will be the means of inflicting upon her an irreparable injury. We have little now to add to the history of Pius IX. It is a remarkable coincidence that the promulgation of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility was followed on the next day, July 19, by the breaking out of the war between France and Germany, and very soon by the defeat of Louis Napoleon, the Pope's protector, the recall of the French troops to their own country, the entrance of the troops of the King of Italy within the waUs of Rome on September 20, 1870, and the trans fer of the Italian capital to Rome by the suffrages of the Romans themselves on July 3, 1871, when, amid the acclamations of assembled thousands, Victor Emmanuel rode through the streets of Rome. After these events the Pope was left in possession of the Vatican, to which he confined himself during the last years of his life. He was determined to consider himself a prisoner, and made bitter complaints against THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 467 his sacrilegious persecutors. During the following years he never ceased to entertain the confident ex pectation that God would interpose on his behalf, and that he would be reinstated in his temporal sove reignty. In the midst of schemes for the assertion of his temporal and spiritual power, he gradually succumbed to the infirmity of which the end had been predicted, and breathed his last in the Vatican on February 7, 1878, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. Before we take a general view of the results of this Pontificate, we must notice a change which Pius made in the last years of his life in regard to the Papal elec tions. After the restoration of Pius VII. his successors were elected at Rome, according to the custom which had prevailed for more than four centuries after their return from Avignon. The cardinals had not found it necessary to avail themselves of the powers given to them by the Bull of Pius VI. But after the trans ference of the Italian capital and the loss of the States of the Church, Pius issued two Bulls, now for the first time given by Berthelet, on August 23, 1 87 1, and on October 10, 1877, the object of which was, in view of the changes and difficulties surrounding the Papal See, to give directions as to the appointment of his successor. These Bulls direct that the cardinals shall still have the exclusive right of election; that, without waiting for ten days for the arrival of the other cardinals, those present in Rome shall decide whether or no the elec tion shall take place in the city or out of it ; that if the 468 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Pontiff should be obUged to take his departure from Rome, the election shaU be lawful in any part of the world in which he may have fixed his abode ; that the cardinals may disregard the directions of Pius IV. as to their guardianship during the election ; that they shall proceed to the election regardless of the opposition of the secular power, and that if a cardinal should be forcibly prevented from entering the Conclave, it shall at once be dissolved, and shaU be held out of Italy. A document of great interest at the present time contains the regulations to be observed by the Sacred College on the occasion of a vacancy in the Apostolic chair. This was written by Pius IX. on the ioth of January 1878, the day after the death of Victor Emmanuel. It gives minute instructions as to what is to be done in the event of an attempt on the part of the Italian Government to approach the Vatican in a friendly or hostile manner, and breathes throughout an uncompromising and unbending spirit. Instructions are also given that the body of the Pontiff, as soon as possible after death, is to be arrayed in the pontifical vestments, and privately car ried down the internal staircase to S. Peter's, where it is to be placed in the Chapel of the Holy Sacra ment, and watched by four of the noble guards with closed gates. This direction was carefully observed on the occasion of the death of Pius IX. The Bull of Gregory XV., of which a further de scription was promised, is still the directing statute in regard to Papal elections. Some antiquaries have THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 469 amused themselves with recording variations in the mode of them; but this Bull, issued A.D. 162 1, men tions only three modes of election : by inspiration, by compromise, and by ballot and scrutiny. The first may be dismissed as an ideal conception, notwithstanding the list of Popes said to have been created by this process. We have seen an instance of compromise (p. 254) in the means adopted to terminate the dis graceful proceedings at Viterbo, when Gregory X. was elected. Election by baUot is the method at the present day. The Cardinal Camerlengo or Chamberlain, imme diately after the death of the Pope enters his room, and receiving no reply when he calls the Pope by name and strikes him on the forehead with a silver mallet, takes off from his finger the fisherman's ring and breaks it. Nine days are allowed for the pre parations for the Conclave. The first business before the Conclave is for the bricklayer to wall up the doors and windows. Only one or two panes of glass remain, through which the light is admitted. This careful exclusion of the cardinals from the outer world has been maintained since the days of Gregory X. The object was to shut out the action of secular influences. The election by ballot is performed by two processes, one in the forenoon, which is a simple ballot, and the other in the afternoon, technically called " acceding," whereby an elector, reversing his morning ballot, transfers his vote to some one whose name had already come out of the ballot-box. The cardinals, coming out of the cells constructed for them, proceed 470 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. to the Sistine Chapel, where, having taken an oath that their vote is dictated by conscientious convictions, they drop the paper with which they have been pro vided into the chalice on the altar. Certain of the sovereigns of Europe have a veto on the appointment, the origin of which is unknown. If any cardinal likely to be elected is obnoxious to them, they can, before the election, exercise it against him. When the scrutiny which follows reveals that no candidate has obtained two-thirds of the votes, the papers and some straw are placed in a stove and are set on fire. The smoke, called " Sfumata," ascending in a dense column through the chimney, proclaims to the assembled Romans that no election has taken place. The mode in which the "accessit" operates is, as we learn from Mr. TroUope ("Papal Conclaves," p. 425), the following: — "If the candidate A, for whom I have voted, shall be shown to have received four or five votes only, while B has received twenty, and C thirty, it will become a delicate question whether I shall transfer my vote to one of these latter, and if so, to which of them. If, failing my own candidate, who has been shown to have no chance, I am content to have C, my course is clear — I accede to him. If he is objectionable to me, I may stiU prefer to do so, if it shall seem to me that his election is inevitable. If B is one with whom I could be contented, and if I think that he has a chance, I ' accede ' to him. ... It will be seen that the ' accessit ' requires for its man agement some of the most delicate and dexterous play of any portion of the Conclave operations." THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 471 This is a brief outline of the present mode of Papal elections. They are now carried on with outward decorum, but formerly the case was altogether dif ferent. Every kind of misdemeanour revelled in Rome. This lawlessness was a recognised order of things, regarded as a right during the Conclave, just as the right of mummery in the Carnival season. But now order reigns through the city. The Marshal of the Con clave, an officer appointed in the time of Gregory X., still guards the assembled Fathers. Attention to their strict confinement is the only duty which he is now called on to discharge. The one dish prescribed by Gregory X., to be diminished to bread and water if the election is not terminated in a given number of days, has now given place to an elaborate ceremonial, which consists in the passing of the good things brought in the car dinal's carriage at the entrance, in order that it may be seen that no letters are conveyed in them. The utmost apparent care is taken to prevent any com munication between the outside world and the assem bled Fathers. Cardinals are allowed to converse with visitors at the entrance, but always so as to be over heard by attendant guardians. They may also receive letters, but under the restriction that they are first read by those appointed to examine them. But these regulations are a solemn farce. Father Theiner, in his history of Clement XIV., has given the correspond ence of the immured cardinals with their confederates outside. We know that even in days when import ance was attached to this regulation it was utterly useless for the end for which it was intended. 472 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. The truth is, that the history of these Conclaves is an impressive commentary on the uselessness of attempting to bind by law men who are determined for the time to acknowledge no earthly superior. They have even occasionally disregarded the elaborate ceremonial designed to prevent them from usurping the functions of the Pope during the interregnum. Prescription has indeed a certain amount of power, but it breaks down under the temptations to which those are exposed to whom so great a business as the election of a Pope is intrusted. The Church of Rome is aiming at an impossibility. Her efforts to secure her object have issued in mental reservation, as when the cardinals invent excuses for disregarding their oath to elect him who, they believe, ought to be elected, in hypocrisy, and substitution of pompous appear ance for reality, in the election manoeuvres practised by plotting cardinals, described in the narratives of Conclaves, which have obtained for many of these Conclaves an unenviable place in the annals of the world. We return to Pius IX. We have passed in review the principal events in the longest pontificate in history. As head of the Church, but not as the ruler of the States of the Church, he exceeded by more than six years the twenty-five years of the alleged episco pate of S. Peter. He was unquestionably benevolent, liberal, and affable, sanguine, and cheerful, but he was not strong in argument, nor provided with a large stock of knowledge. Though he was one of the most conspicuous figures in a remarkable era,, he was, in THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 473 no sense of the word, a great Pope. He appears to have kept three objects steadily in view: the exalta tion of the Papal supremacy and the concentration of the Church in his own person; the accumulation of honours, as they are supposed to be, on the Virgin Mary ; and the establishment of a theocracy in which, among the laws of the Church and the Articles of Faith, might be found the most extravagant preten sions of Gregory VII., Innocent III., and Boniface VIII. No Pope in the long series of 257 has inflicted greater injury on the Papacy. The degradation of the Holy See was greater during his pontificate than it was when Boniface VIII. was struck down at Anagni by the myrmidons of Philip of France, or during the Babylonish captivity of seventy years at Avignon and the schism of the Anti-Popes, or when Clement VII. was compelled to submit to the humiliating terms imposed by his conquerors, and the shouts of the soldiers were heard among the broken columns and shattered shrines of the capital of the West. Surely the Papacy never appeared to greater disadvantage than when Pius IX. was maintained on his throne by the strength of foreign soldiers. He has been the author of his own misfortunes, inasmuch as he stimu lated that passion for liberty and national unity which has led to the loss of the temporal power. All his subsequent proceedings have proved disastrous to the Holy See. The Papal aggression in this country, the division of it into Romish Sees, already referred to, induced England to accord her mo.«d support to that policy of Count Cavour which led to the consolidation 474 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. of the States of Italy beneath a powerful central autho rity. The attainment of Italian unity increased the longing for German unity, and the reaction of France against that unity supplied the occasion for Italy to abolish the temporal power and to obtain possession of the city of the Popes — a consequence flowing from a memorable war, which, we may safely predict, aU future historians wUl regard as one of transcendent importance. We have said enough to show that this pontificate wiU be for ever memorable, because in it the Vatican Council promulgated the great doctrine of Papal In fallibility. We see the position which through that doctrine the Papacy occupies. She does not seem likely to associate herself with those who are endeavour ing to promote the onward march of liberty, knowledge, and civilisation. If she could forego her schemes of temporal aggrandisement, she might, by means of her marvellous organisation, her historic claims, and the reverence which she commands from her spiritual sub jects, exercise an influence very injurious to society. The common people in Italy especially are still disposed to bow down before the idol, and to regard the Church of their fathers with a superstitious reverence. But they are alienated from her because she proclaims her determination to strain every nerve for the recovery of a temporal power, associated in their minds with tyranny, corruption, misgovernment, oppressive im posts, bloody wars, and cruel massacres. We believe that she is pursuing a suicidal policy. Pius IX. has, however, bound her in adamantine chains. The utmost which she can do is to suffer to remain in abeyance THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 475 claims which she is unable to relinquish. She will be identified in the minds of many with absolutism in government, strong opposition to reform, and the stern repression of civil and religious liberty. The present Pope, Leo XIII., unlike Pius IX., has exhibited towards those who profess themselves his children the aspect of a mild, indulgent father. His action seems to be conciliatory and accommodating in the extreme. We fear, however, that Von DoUinger's celebrated saying, "Another Pope, but the same Papacy," wiU still be found to be correct; that the Pope is doing his utm6st to falsify the prediction that the Vatican decrees, in their bearing on civil allegiance, would remain a dead letter, and that he is endeavour ing by political intrigues to secure the assistance of the European nations in the recovery of his Italian principality. The Pope may again summon his spiritual vassals to aid him in the recovery of his temporal posses sions. In Italy, a party described by Father Curci, in a work published ten years ago, the title of which is "The New Italy and the Old Zealots," has an intense desire for the restoration of the temporal power of the Papacy, and labours with great energy for the accom plishment of this object. In the same work he recom mends a plan which would have the effect of increasing the spiritual power of the Papacy. He would have the Popes abandon the idea of recovering the temporal power, but he wishes Roman Catholic electors to cease from that abstention from political affairs which is sup posed to be enjoined by authority. He wishes the Pope 476 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. to encourage them to go to the poll, and to exert their influence in the Italian Parliament. Now Radical principles lead countries like Italy to the greatest extension of the suffrage, which will have the effect of placing power more and more in the hands of a priesthood who are masters of the poorest class of the population. They might give the Papacy a new sove reignty more absolute than that which formerly existed. The Popes might issue their mandate to the Roman Catholic bishops in Italy, — their vassals through their oath, "to maintain the Papacy against aU men," — to direct the 40,000 priests, over whom they have an absolute control, as they can suspend them at pleasure, to refuse absolution, the sacraments, and Christian burial to all who will not join in a fierce crusade against the Italian Government. Thus the destruction of her temporal power might be followed in Italy by her spiritual aggrandisement. We can see that every effort is now exerted to place the Pope through the Vatican decrees in a position of ascendency, not only in Italy, but throughout Europe. Bishop Reinkens, the Bishop of the German old Catholics, has described the practical effect of the training now given to large portions of the Church of Rome. It is, he says, "to fix in the mind the conviction that Romanism has a divinely guaranteed right, under certain circumstances, violently to over turn all existing authorities." No bishop is now appointed who to the old oath does not add the Vatican decrees. No seminary is now training priests to deny the infallibility of the Pope. No catechism THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 477 is now giving instruction against it, or giving it am biguously. The politics of the Syllabus are now forming the clergy of the future. The one commonwealth, with its one king, its glorious ceremonial, and its divine law, is now made to appear as the fairest of visions. The Jesuits are transmitting and increasing the worst traditions of the Curia, that power behind the Papal throne by which the Latin Church is governed. The outward loss to the Church had been previously carefully calculated. Roman Catholics hold that it is more than compensated by the compactness obtained within the Church. When the preparations are com pleted, the hope is that a generation will have been trained in the course of years in obedience to the call of him who holds among men the place of God, to take up the cross of S. Peter, to cry, "God wills it," and to march forward till they shall have cast down all which exalts itself against them, and the Church alone shall stand, the one perfect society, embracing the human race. We believe that every effort will be exerted to baffle the designs of the Jesuits, and that they will not ultimately be successful. We are not, however, san guine as to the complete success of the reformers in Italy. The party anxious to promote this move ment is small when compared with the party anxious for national aggrandisement. These parties have to a certain extent a common object. They wish to limit the power of the Pope, the one in spiritual, the other in temporal matters ; but the political party has gained its object, and is quite satisfied with the result. The 478 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. cause of the reformation has nothing to gain from those who are at the head of the government in Italy ; but without the assistance of the State it cannot be accomplished. The dogma of Papal Infallibility is injurious to the progress of the reformation. The proclamation of it was a bold challenge to the party opposed to it, which in Italy has certainly not been accepted. The idea is that the Papacy must be strong, or it would not have succeeded in bearing down all opposition to the dogma. Another difficulty is that the people are wedded to the doctrines of Romanism. The Virgin is more than worshipped at Rome. She is set in the place of her Divine Son, and is styled the " Unica spes peccatorum." The Italians have also a strong attachment to the externals of Romanism, its splendid ceremonial and pompous worship, and would resent any attack upon them ; but in regard to Christianity as the moral system regulating their practice, they have no faith in it. Their fanaticism and scepticism, superstition and irreligion, furnish us with a proof of the decline of the Papacy, whose system has led to these evils, as when they prevailed in Italy in the days before the reformation described in the sixth chapter. The Government would therefore find it very difficult to make any movement towards religious reformation. The constitution of the CoUege of Cardinals is another hindrance to doctrinal reformation. At pre sent the College is an oligarchy of the closest kind. The Pope nominates the cardinals, and the cardinals THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 479 elect the Pope. It is easy, by a judicious appointment of cardinals, to collect a body of fifty devoted to the interests of the Papacy. If the voices of the clergy and laity were heard in the election of their rulers, it would be easy to prepare the way for an union on a basis which would satisfy all sections of the community. The only course is to carry on the work which has already been begun in Italy. Rosmini began, in 1846, a movement for a reform within the Church, when, in his work on "The Five Wounds of the Church," he suggested remedies for the evils which are the subjects of complaint, the use of a dead lan guage in the services of the Church, the want of Christian teaching, the nomination of bishops by the civil power, the insufficient education of the clergy, and the divisions among the bishops, separating them from the clergy and people, in forgetfulness of their true union in the body of Christ. He wished, how ever, to remain steadfast in his allegiance to the Papacy. A breach between the Papacy and the young Italian kingdom is the next movement which we have to record in the direction of reform. Passaglia led out his 9000 priests, protesting against the temporal power of the Pope. Ricasoli and other leading men in Italy were recognised as advocates of an independent National Church. "There was," writes Canon Meyrick, "a sufficient amount of active and passive resistance to the Papacy developed in Italy to have constituted an independent National Church, had the clergy who were demanding the independence of their Church been 480 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. enabled to support life till the independence had been acquired. Baron Ricasoli had two courses open to him. It was expected that he would have declared the oaths of vassalage binding the Italian prelates to the Papacy illegal, and have given priests the protection of the law against the arbitrary power exercised over them by -bishops who were nominated by an authority which persisted in making itself external to the nation. Had he done so, there might have emerged a National Church separated from Rome, which, in self-defence, would have based itself on the principles of Old Catholicism. The other course was to seek for a reconciliation with the Pope by keeping the Church still in bondage to him, while taking a portion of its revenues for the necessities of the State. This was the course actually adopted. Under the plea of a free Church in a free State, the Church was delivered over, bound, manacled, and fettered, to the arbitrary rule of the Pontiff, the bishops being made more than ever before the slaves of the Curia and the despotic masters of the clergy." From this time forward, to speak of a National Church or of reformation of doctrine was impossible on the part of any priest who was not prepared to be at once removed from his benefice or degraded from his office. Naples was the home of a most important movement. This was the result of an ecclesiastical regulation dating from the times of the Norman kings of Sicily. This State, originally called the Sicilian kingdom, had, as we have seen (p. 246), from the year 1 1 39, paid an annual tribute to the Holy See, in token of fidelity and grati tude. This tribute of the chinea or white palfrey THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 481 continued to be paid on the Vigil of S. Peter's Day, even after the revolt of Sicily against the Anjou government, described at the end of Chapter V, till it was for the first time withheld, in 1788, by the reforming ministers of Ferdinand IV. These sove reigns had yielded this submission to the Pope, but they had reserved to themselves the right of appoint ing a chaplain-general, a bishop, who was to exercise jurisdiction over aU ecclesiastical persons, while he himself was exempt from all superior authority. Bishop Caputo, as chaplain-general, exercised, in virtue of a law passed in 1861, full authority over 1300 churches, chaplains, and clergy. The Bishop was an ardent patriot, and was instrumental in forming a society, consisting of 11,000 priests, several prelates, and a number of distinguished laymen, the objects of which were to promote a reformation in accordance with the doctrines of the primitive Church, to vindicate the rights of bishops, priests, and deacons against the usurpations of the Papacy, and to unite Italy under the sceptre of the House of Piedmont. This Bishop died early in the movement, but his place was taken by the Cardinal d'Andrea, who laboured most ener getically to promote its success. This distinguished man was suspended by the Pope, and was summoned to Rome, where, after a short residence, during which he refused to recant, he died, thus fulfilling the predic tion of his friends that he was running wilfuUy into the arms of death. Thus, as there was no one to take his place, an important movement, which might have been successful, perished in its birth. 2 n 482 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. This is one of several instances of a spirit at once catholic and reforming existing in various parts of Italy. Our great hope is that the Reformation in Italy may be carried on upon the lines of that move ment which began when Von Dollinger published his declaration addressed to the Archbishop of Munich, in which he declared his readiness to prove before a synod of bishops that the dogma of Infallibility is un- scriptural and heretical, and ended by openly rejecting it. The time will come when history will compare the publication of the declaration of Von DoUinger with the declaration of Wiclif against transubstantiation in the schools at Oxford, or with the affixing of Luther's theses against indulgences to the church-door at Wittemberg. The object was to draw out a body of thoughtful men labouring for a return to true Catholicity. Count Tasca had previously made his fellow-countrymen acquainted with pure religion and the principles of the Anglican Church. A class of ecclesiastics and others, retaining their position in the Church, which regards reform as a matter of the greatest importance, is quietly, prudently, calmly, and steadily making preparations for it. This class is the hope of the Church. The written Word of God and the example of the Church in the first three cen turies are accepted as the standard according to which the reform ought to be conducted. Their encourage ment is that the Bible is now widely circulated in Italy. These Italian reformers are following the example of the Fathers of the English Reformation. They have realised, like them, that the Church of Rome has corrupted the faith once for all delivered unto the THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 483 saints. They are labouring slowly in the investiga tion of truth, and are casting off the influence of cherished prejudices and prepossessions. We trust that, like our Reformers, they may be gradually de livered from their bondage to the Church of Rome, and may be brought into " the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free." A little band of reformers of this class came into existence at Rome, consisting of Count Henry di Campello, Professor Cicchitti, and Ugo Janni, who are labouring to promote in Italy a reformation similar to our own in England. They revised the Liturgy, and brought out an improved version of the Vesper service. The last revision bears date August 23, 1892, and is authorised by Campello as the President of the National Church of Italy. This Liturgy is quite free from Romish error, is framed on the model of our Prayer-Book, and is well suited to elevate the devo tional feelings of the worshipper. Campello has left a position of great dignity for a life of reproach and comparative poverty, and is now at the head of a mission in Umbria. The Anglo-Continental Society has been aiding this band of reformers in their work. The object of this Society is to make the principles of the Church of England, of her doctrine and her discipline, known throughout Italy. The members do not wish to estab lish a new Church, but by the distribution of books giving an account of the principles of the Church of England, and by encouraging internal reform in every possible manner, to induce the Italians, like 484 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. our own Church, to reform themselves, so as to become Catholic and Protestant — Catholic as maintaining the faith and discipline of the Holy Catholic Church, and Protestant as rejecting Papal usurpation and dogma. The Waldenses and the Dissenters are promoting a reform on sectarian principles. The valleys of the Waldenses are included within the boundaries of United Italy. The inhabitants are impressed with the conviction that they have been preserved by a miracle in the midst of persecutions which desolated their valleys, and seemed likely to issue in the blotting out of their name from under heaven, that they might aid in carrying the lamp of life through the benighted Italian peninsula. Acting on this persuasion, they have ordained evangelists during the last thirty years for the express purpose of prosecuting this enterprise. These men are supported by the congregations to which they are sent and by contributions from foreign countries. Their district, originally limited to Pied mont, is now co-extensive with the whole of Italy. But this is not all. On May 1 8, 1 860, the Synod unani mously and enthusiastically voted the immediate trans ference of the La Tour Theological College, which Dr. Gilly, known many years ago for his interest in the Waldenses and his exertions on their behalf, was instrumental in founding, to Florence, in order that they might be in the centre of the great evangelical movement. Dr. Gilly was also able to recover for them an annual sum paid to them on the authority of a Treasury warrant issued by William III., the payment of which THE CHURCH IN NINETEENTH CENTURY. 485 was suspended during the French occupation of the valleys. The object of William was to restore to them a sum collected in the time of the Commonwealth, of which Charles II. deprived them. This sum, increased by a collection through a royal letter on their behalf in the year 1768 and by other legacies, now amounts to £10,836, 8s. 8d. The annual income at 2f per cent, is paid to them by the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, for the support of thirteen Protestant pastors. We have seen the history and the present position of the Waldenses. We will not abandon the hope that they have been preserved for the purpose of aiding in the moral and spiritual regeneration of Italy. Let us trust that they will issue from their valleys animated with the desire of fulfilling their supposed destiny ; that they will not be satisfied with drawing out a few converts from the National Church, thus discrediting the only Church which the large body of the Italians will ever recognise, but that they will endeavour to follow the example of those whose method has just come before us, and that they will promote a reform not borrowed from the Swiss Reformation of the sixteenth century, but such as their own history and evolution before they cast in their lot with a foreign Church may suggest to them. They may be successful if only they will remember that it is far easier to destroy an ancient edifice than to raise it from its ruins, and that an ancient house in which the Italians may take shelter, even though it may be unsightly, is far preferable to another likely to exist for some time in imagination 4S6 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. and hope, which is remarkable for the harmony of its proportions and the chaste beauty of its architecture. We trust that in this spirit they will in future devote themselves to their work. To eradicate the prevailing infidelity, to conquer the prejudices which hinder the heartfelt reception of the truth as it is in Jesus, to induce the Italians to reform the Church after the model of the early ages, to give a right direction to the efforts of those who are labouring to burst the fetters which enthral them, should be the objects of aU those who have at heart the best interests of Italy. We trust that God will give wisdom to the labourers em ployed in this work ; that He will crown their efforts with glorious success ; and that they may, amid diffi culties and disadvantages, slowly prepare the way for the coming of a time when a song of triumph shaU ascend from every part of an emancipated land. CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE BISHOPS OF ROME OR POPES. Year of Ap Bishops of Rome or Year of Ap Bishops of Rome or pointment. Popes. pointment. Popes. A.D. A.D. 67 Linus. 283 Caius. 79 Anencletus. 296 Marcellinus. 91 Clement. 308 Marcellus I. 100 Evarestus. 310 Eusebius. 108 Alexander I. 3H Melchiades. 119 Sixtus or Xystus I. 3H Sylvester I. 129 Telesphorus. 336 Marcus I. 139 Hyginus. 337 Julius I. 142 Pius I. 352 Liberius. 157 Anicetus. 355-358 Felix II. (Anti-pope). 168 Soter. 366 Damasus. 176 Eleutherius. 366-367 Ursinus (Anti-pope). 190 Victor. 3«4 Siricius. 202 Zephyrinus. 398 Anastasius I. 219' Callistus. 402 Innocent I. 223 Urban I. 4i7 Zosimus. 230 Pontianus. 418-419 Eulalius (Anti-pope). 235 Anterus. 418 Boniface I. 236 Fabianus. 422 Celestine I. 251 Cornelius. 432 Sixtus III. 251-268 Novatian (Anti-pope). 440 Leo I. (the Great). 252 Lucius I. 461 Hilarius. 253 Stephen I. 468 Simplicius. 257 Sixtus II. 483 Felix III.1 259 Dionysius. 492 Gelasius I. 269 Felix I. 496 Anastasius II. 275 Eutychianus. Reckoning the Anti-pope Felix (a.D. 355) as Felix II. 487 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Year of Ap Eishops of Rome or Year of Ap Popes. pointment. Popes.1 pointment. A.D. A.D. 498 Symmachus. 752 Stephen (II.). 498-505 Laurence (Anti-pope). 752 Stephen II. (or III.). 5H Hormisdas. 757 Paul I. 523 John I. 767-768 Constantine (Anti- 526 Felix IV. pope). 53° Boniface II. 768 Stephen III. (IV.) 53° Dioscorus (Anti-pope). 772 Hadrian I. 532 John II. 795 Leo III. 535 Agapetus I. 816 Stephen IV. (V.) 536 Silverius. 817 Paschal I. 537 Vigilius. 824 Eugenius II. 555 Pelagius I. 827 Valentine. 560 John III. 827 Gregory IV. 574 Benedict I. 844 Sergius II. 578 Pelagius II. 847 Leo IV. 590 Gregory I. (the Great). 855 Benedict III. 604 Sabinianus. 855 Anastasius (Anti- 607 Boniface III. pope). 608 Boniface IV. 858 Nicolas I. 615 Deusdedit. 867 Hadrian II. 618 Boniface V. 872 John VIII. 625 Honorius I. 882 Martin II. 638 Severinus. 884 Hadrian III. 640 JohnlV. 885 Stephen V. (VI.). 642 Theodorus I. 891 Formosus. 649 Martin I. 896 Boniface VI. 654 Eugenius I. 896 Stephen VI. (VII.) 657 Vitalianus. S97 Romanus. 672 Adeodatus. 897 Theodore II. 676 Donus or Domnus. 898 John IX. 678 Agatho. 900 Benedict IV. 682 Leo II. 9°3 Leo V. 684 Benedict II. 903 Christopher. 685 John V. 904 Sergius HI. 686 Conon. 911 Anastasius III. 687 Sergius I. 913 Lando. 687 Paschal (Anti-pope). 914 JohnX. 687 Theodore (Anti-pope). 928 Leo VI. 701 John VI. 929 Stephen VII. (VIII.) 705 John VII. 931 John XI. 708 Sisinnius. 936 Leo VII. 708 Constantine I. 939 Stephen VIII. (IX.) 715 Gregory II. 941 Martin III. 731 Gregory III. 646 Agapetus II. 74i Zacharias. 955 John XII. 1 The date is uncertain when the title Pope, once common to all Bishops, was restricted to the Bishops of Rome. The change was probably made in the sixth century. See Berthelet, "La Elezione del Papa," p. 4; and the article Pcpet in Smith's "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," vol. ii. pp. 1652, 1663, CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 489 Year of Ap pointment. Popes. Year of Ap pointment. Popes. A.D. A.D. 963 Leo VIII. "59 Victor (Anti-pope). Benedict V. deposed 1164 Paschal (Anti-pope). 964-965 by the Emperor in 1 168 Calixtus (Anti-pope). favour of Leo VIII. 1178 Innocent (Anti-pope). 965 John XIII. 1181 Lucius III. 972 Benedict VI. 1 185 Urban III. 974 Benedict VII. 1187 Gregory VIII. 983 John XIV. 1187 Clement III. 985 John XV. 1191 Celestine III. 997-998 JohnXVI.(Anti-pope). 1 198 Innocent III. 999 Silvester II. 1216 Honorius III. 1003 John XVII. 1227 Gregory IX. 1003 John XVIII. 1241 Celestine IV. 1009 Sergius IV. 1241 Vacancy. ' 1012 Benedict VIII. 1243 Innocent IV. 1024 John XIX. 1254 Alexander IV. 1033 Benedict IX. 1261 Urban IV. 1044-1046 1 Silvester III. (Anti- j pope). 1265 Nov. 29 Clement IV. 1 1045 Gregory VI. 1268 V A vacancy. 1046 Clement II. to Sept. 1 1048 Damasus II. 1271 ) 1048 Leo IX. 1271 Gregory X. 1054 Victor II. 1276 Innocent V. 1057 Stephen IX. (X.) 1276 Hadrian V. 1058 Benedict X. 1277 John XX. or XXI. 1059 Nicolas II. 1277 Nicholas III. 1061 Alexander II. 1281 Martin IV. 1 Gregory VII. (Hil- ( debrand). 1285 Honorius IV. 1073 1288 Nicolas IV. 1080 Clement (Anti-pope). April 4 \ 1086 Victor III. 1292 > A vacancy. 1088 Urban II. to July 5 1099 Paschal II. 1294 J ins Gelasius II. 1294 Celestine V. 1118-1119 Gregory (Anti-pope). 1294 Boniface VIII. 1119 Calixtus II. I3°3 Benedict XI. 1124 Honorius II. I3°5 Clement V. 113° Innocent II. 1316 John XXI. or XXII. 1 1 30-1 138 Anacletus (Anti-pope). 1 328- 1 330 Nicolas (Anti-pope) 1138 Victor (Anti-pope). 1335 Benedict XII. 1 143 Celestine II. 1342 Clement VI. 1144 Lucius II. 1352 Innocent VI. 1 145 Eugenius III. 1362 Urban V. "53 Anastasius IV. 1370 Gregory XI. (" Hadrian IV. (Nicolas 1378 Urban VI. 1 154 < Breakspeare, the 1 Clement VII. ( (Anti-pope). [ only English pope). "59 Alexander III. 1389 Boniface IX. 490 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Year of Ap Popes. Year of Ap Popes. pointment. pointment. A.D. A.D. 1394 Benedict (Anti-pope). 1591 Innocent IX. 1404 Innocent VII. 1592 Clement VIII. 1406 Gregory XII. 1604 Leo XI. 1409 Alexander V. 1605 Paul V. 1410 John XXII. or XXIII. 1621 Gregory XV. 1417 Martin V. 1623 Urban VIII. H3I Eugenius IV. 1644 Innocent X. 1440-1449 Felix V. (Anti-pope). 1655 Alexander VII. 1447 Nicolas V. 1667 Clement IX. H55 Calixtus IV. 1670 Clement X. 1458 Pius II. 1676 Innocent XI. 1464 Paul II. 1689 Alexander VIII. 1471 Sixtus IV. 1691 Innocent XII. 1484 Innocent VIII. 1700 Clement XI. 1493 Alexander VI. 1720 Innocent XIII. i5°3 Pius III. 1724 Benedict XIII. i5°3 Julius II. 173° Clement XII. 1513 LeoX. 1 Benedict XIV. 1522 Hadrian VI. 1740 J (Lambertini). i523 Clement VII. 1758 Clement XIII. 1534 Paul III. 1769 1 Clement XIV. \ (Ganganelli). 155° Julius III. 1555 Marcellus II. 1775 Pius VI. IS55 Paul IV. 1800 Pius VII. 1559 Pius IV. 1823 Leo XII. 1566 Pius V. 1S29 Pius VIII. 1572 Gregory XIII. 1831 Gregory XVI. 1585 Sixtus V. 1846 Pius IX. 1590 Urban VII. 1878 Leo XIII. 1590 Gregory XIV. LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. Agnellus, " Chronicle of," Ammianus Marcellinits, " History of," Anastasius, " Lives of the Popes to Nicolas I." Anglo-Continental Society, Reports of, Arthur, W., "The Pope, the Kings, and the People." Attone, Bishop of Vercelli, ninth century, Works of, Baronius, " Annates Ecclesiastici." Bellarmine, " Disputat concerning the Controversies of the Christian Faith." Berthelet, " La Elezione del Papa." Biographic Universelle, for Benedict XIII., Giannone, Clement XIII., xrv. Blunfs " Introduction to the History of the Prayer-Book." " Theological Dictionary.'' Boissier, " Fin du Paganisme," &c. Botta, " Storia d'ltalia." Bright, " History of Christianity, A.D. 313-451." Browne, Harold, Bishop of Winchester, "The Old Catholic Movement." Bryce, " The Holy Roman Empire." Bury, ' ' The Later Roman Empire." Cantu, Cozsare, " Storia degli ItaUani." Caroline Books, The, Cartwright on "Conclaves." on " The Jesuits." Cassiodorus, Twelve Books of Varieties, and Letters of Theodoric. A knowledge of his pages is necessary to enable us to obtain a true knowledge of Italy in the sixth century. Catacombs, De Rossi, Brownlow and Northcote, J. H. Parker, Burgon, Hemans, Venables ("Dictionary of Christian Antiquities"). Ctaconius, " History of," Clement, St., Bishop of Rome, Lightfoot on, Corio, " History of Milan." 492 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Creighton, " History of the Papacy during the Reformation," vols, i.-iv. Curd, Father, " La Nuova Italia ed i Vecchi Zelanti." Damian, St. Peter, " Life of," by Capicelatro. Dante, " La Divina Commedia." ' ' De Monarchia." Erasmus, " Life of," by Pennington. Farrar, " Early Days of Christianity." Ffoulkes on "The Athanasian Creed." Fleury, " Histoire Ecclesiastique." Giannone, " Civil History of Naples." Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," vols, i.-xii. Gladstone, "Rome's Newest Fashions in Religion." Gregory the Great, " Epistolse, Libri Dialogorum." Gregorovius, " Storia della Citta di Roma dal Secolo V. al XVI." Guicciardini, "Paralipomena." Guizot, " Memoires," torn. viii. Hefele, "History of Church Councils," vols, i.-iii. Hemans, "Ancient and Mediseval Christianity and Sacred Art in Italy," vols, i.-iii. Hippolytus, "Refutation of all Heresies," and Observations on, by Bishops Lightfoot, Wordsworth, and Dr. Salmon. Hodgkin, " Italy and her Invaders," vols, iii., iv. Hook, "Lives of Archbishops of Canterbury." 77 Beneficio di Crista. Innocent III,, " Epistolae." Inquisition, Records of, fanus, "The Pope and the Council." ferome's " Epistles." Landulph, " Chronicles of," Langdon, " Reformation in the Italian Church." Lilly, " Chapters in European History." Lindsay, Lord, on " Christian Art." Machiavelli, " Storia Fiorentina. " fiPCrie, " History of the Reformation in Italy." Maguire, " Pontificate of Pius IX. " Manning, Cardinal, "Temporal Mission of the Holy Ghost." Manzoni, " I Promessi Sposi." Marsilius of Padua. Massimo d'Azeglio, "Degl' Ultimi Casi di Romagna." Merivale, " History of Rome under the Empire." Meyrick, " Correspondence of the Anglo-Continental Society." Milman, "History of Latin Christianity," vols, i.-ix. LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. 493 Milman, "History of Christianity," vols, i.-iii. Montalembert, Count, " Monks of the West," vols, i., ii. Moroni, " Dizion. di Erudizione Ecclesiastica." Muratori, " Rerum Italianarum Scriptores." Male, "History of the Eastern Church." Neander, "Church History." Ochino, "Life of," by Karl Benrath. "Sermons of, at Venice." Otto of Freisingen, " History of Frederick I." Paccha, "Memorie Storiche." Paleario, " Life of," by Young. Parker Society, " Original Letters." Pearson, Bishop, " Dissertations of," Petrarch, "Letters of," Pius II., "Works of," Platina, " Lives of Popes." Pole, Cardinal, " Letters of," Ranke, ".History of the Popes." Ratherius, " De Contemptu Canonum." Raynaldus, "Annates Ecclesiastici. " Richa, " Chiese Florentine." Ricci, "Storia dell' Architectura Italiana." Rimsta Cristiana, La, Robertson, " Church History," vols. i. —viii. Romanin, "Storia Documentata di Venezia." Rosmini, "The Five Wounds of Christ." Salmon, Rev. Dr., on " the Infallibility of the Church." Sanzovino, " Venetia Descritta." Sarpi, " History of the Council of Trent." Schaff's " Church History," Mediaeval Christianity, vols, i., ii. Sienna, Catherine of, " Life and Works of," Sismondi, " History of the Italian Republics." Smith and Wace, " Dictionary of Christian Biography." Symonds, " The Renaissance in Italy." Tasca, Count Ottavio, " Memorials of," Theodoret, "Historia Ecclesiastica." Thiers' " Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire." Trench, " Lectures on Mediaeval Church History." Trollope, "Papal Conclaves." Ughelli, "Italia Sacra." Valdis, "A Hundred and Ten Considerations of," " Life of," by Wiffen. 494 HISTORY OF THE CHURCH IN ITALY. Venice, " State Papers of," Venice, " Chronicles of Andrea Dandolo." Villani, 6 INDEX. PAGE Clergy, marriage and ignor- ance cf the . . . .176, 197 Colonna, Ginlia and Victoria 372 Conclaves, Papal 191— 193, 226, 220-230, 255-256, 203-20^. 2S5. 292, 339, 410, 422-423, 437-43$, 447-448, 467-47C- 47 S. Confession 257 Conradin, king 166, 179, 285, 302 Relics 154, 209, 359 Rienzi ... . . 286-288 Ritual. . 1 55,256-257, 357-358 Roman Empire, the Holy . 167- 169, 184-185, 200-201, 202-203, 218-220, 223-229, 244-254, 280-283 Romulus Augustulus . . . 120 Rosmini, " Five Wounds of Holy Church " .... 456 Rufinus, the historian . . 116 Saints, worship of the . . 51 Sarpi, Fra Paolo . . . 381, 421 Savonarola 337-339 Schism, the Papal . . . 290-294 Scriptures, Italian versions of the Holy .... 376-377 Sculpture, Christian 344, 345, 352 Severus, Alexander, Em peror ....... 32-33 Sicily, kingdom and Church of , ... 206, 246, 481 Sicilian Vespers, the . . 261-262 Sienna . . . . 391-392 „ Catherine of . . . 289 Silverius, Pope, and the Monophysites . . .133, 134 Sixtus IV. and his nepotism 331-332 INDEX. 499 PAGE Sixtus V. and his pecuniary schemes ..... 417-418 Stephen II. and his forgeries 164-165 Stilicho, the statesman and general 99 Symmachus and his contest for the Papacy . . . 125-126 Tasca, Count 482 Tasso 424 Theatines, the ..... 406 Theodoric . . 121-122, 124- 126, 129-130 Theodosius . . . 76-81, 86 Tradition .... . 463-464 Transubstantiation . . 209-210, 238, 256, 355 Urban VIII 425 Valdes: . . 368-369, 403-404 Valens, the Emperor ... 76 Valentinian I. and II. 76-78, 81 Venice, the Republic and Church of. 1 18-1 19, 173-175, 308-313, 365-366, 420-421 ,, Reformation at . 387-391 Vermiglio, Peter Martyr, the reformer . . 386, 403-404 Vigilius, Pope . . 133-137 Virgin Mary, the . 210, 258, 356, 357, 454-455, 478 Waldenses, the . 313-317, 392- 393, 400, 428-429, 484-486 Westphalia, treaty of . 425-426 Zachary, Pope, and Pepin 163 Zephyrinus, BishopofRome 30-31 THE END. 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