ISTITUTO STORICO ITALIANO PER IL MEDIO EVO

NUOVI STUDr STORrer - 55 .

INNOCENZO III URBS ETORBIS

Atti del Congresso Internazionale Roma, 9-15 settembre 1998

a cura ell ANDREA SOMMERLECHNER

Vol. I

ROMA NELLA SEDE DELL'ISTITUTO PALAZZO BORROMINI "2003 ~) . OYI')Oo. JOHN DORAN

IN WHOSE FOOTSTEPS? THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT ur .

Innocent III has attracted more attention than most, medieval . Yet, in spite of this interest in Innocent, he remains something of an enigma. Kenneth Penning ton has - described him as the most inventive of the middle " ages, who demands centre stage in a study on the creation of ~; the papal monarchy. According to Pennington, Innocent·; "pushed the papacy in new' directions, created new justifications for the exercize of papal authority, and used older justifications in new ways. He combined hard-headed practicality with an intellectual's interest in the power and importance of ideas" (l). Moreover, Penning ton has shown that the modem interest in Innocent was more than matched by the decretalists of the thirteenth century. These normally sensible lawyers were beguiled by the mellifluous language with which Innocent exalted the office of pope. "Innocent's florid language", says Pennington, "caused canonists to literally wax lyrical. More importantly, it led them to make mistaken judgements" (2). The idea of Innocent as a maverick has been developed by Karlfried Froehlich, who has stated that he fundamentally changed the emphasis of the traditional exegesis of the Petrine texts, applying them solely to the pope and not to the in general, thereby exercising the monopoly of exclusion. In summing up his essay on St Peter and the papal primacy, Froehlich states that "this new accent in interpretation followed the imaginative fusion of exegesis and papal ideology which characterized the work of Innocent Ill" (3). In spite of these readings of Innocent Ill, Michael Wilks warned us as long

• I wish to thank the British School at for its generous support of my research. . (1) K. Pennington, Pope and Bishops. The Papal Monm-clIY in the Twelftll and Thirteenth Centuries, Philadelphia 1984, p. 13. (2) Ibid., p. 15. (3) K. Froehlich, Peter, Papal Primacy, and tile Exegetical Tradition, 1150-1300, in The Religious Roles of the Papacy: Ideals and Realities 1150-1300, ed. eRyan, Toronto 1987 (Papers in Mediaeval Studies, 8),p. 43 (pp. 3-44). _ THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT III 57 ago as 1962 that although the language he used was sometimes obscure, he was in many ways more conservative than we might think'", . ·,This combination of conservative and radical ideas is demonstrated in the sermons which Innocent was required to preach on the feast days of his predecessors. There are good reasons for dating these sermons to the years 1201 to 1205 (5). The early years of the pontificate also saw the most elaboratearengas in which high' claims for papal authority were made. In his sermons on SS Peter and Paul, Silvester and Gregory the Great, Innocent showed a similar concern for the dignity of his office. In these sermons he developed a new explanation of the development of the papacy, which was both conservative and radical, and which demonstrates why he has been seen as both the culmination of twelfth- century ecclesiology and a radical departure from it (6). ;

. . . . (4) M. Wilks, Tile Apostolicus and the of Rome, «[ourn, Theol. Studies», 13 (1%2), p.307 (pp.290-317); 4 (1%3) (pp. 311-3S4). See also M. Wilks, Chaucer and the Mystical Marriage in Medieval Political Thougllt, «Bull. John Rylands Libr,», 44 (1961-1962), pp. 489-530. . (5) J. c. Moore, The Sermons of Pope Innocent 111, «Röm, hist. Mitt.», 36 .

(1994), pp. 85-87 (pp. 81-120).';; c.'! I (6) For a general introduction to the development of papal primacy, see G. Glez, Ptimaute du pape, in Diet. tlzeol. caih., 13, Paris 1939, mIl.299-305; V. Martin, Pape, in ibid., 11, coll. 1885-1889; C. Morris, The Papal MonarcllY, Oxford 1989, pp.205-236; for a fuller treatment of the governmental implications of papal primacy, see L S. Robinson" The Papacy, 1073-1198, Cambridge 1990; J. Gaudemet,. Aspects de IIIprimaut« romeine du V au XV siede, «Ius Canonicum», 11 (1971), pp. 93-133; M. Maccarrone, Viearius Christi: storia del titolo papale, Roma 1952. For Innocent ill in particular, see M. Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato nella dottrina di lnnocenzo III, Roma 1940 (Lateranum, n. s, VI/3-4). From a particularly Roman point of view, see M. Maccarrone, La teologia del romano del secolo Xl, in Le istituzioni ecclesiastiche dellll «Societas Christiana» .dei .secdi Xl-XII, Milano 1974 (Miscellanea del centre di studi medioevali, VII), pp.21-122; idem, I fondmllenti "peirini" dei primato romano in Gregorio VII, «Studi Gregoriani», 13 (1989), pp. 55-122; G. TeIlenbach, The Church in Western Europe from tire Tenth to tile Early Twelfth Century, transl. T. Reuter, Cambridge

1993, pp. 304-347. i ' . 58 JOHNDORAN

Innocent concentrated particularly on the office of priesthood (7). It was as a priest that the pope was seen most clearly 'as the type of Christ, and in order to stress this fact Innocent appealed to the past, characterizing the popes as heirs to Melchisedech, Aaron, Jeremiah, and the Jewish high priests of the Old Testament e • Throughout his pontificate Innocent used these examples to highlight the unique position of the pope in the Church, a position which formed the link between the Old Testament and the New. We should' remember, however, that the appeals which Innocent made to the past had a clear bearing on the' present. In speaking of his predecessors, he was speaking about hi mself in stressing. their unique position,' he was emphasising his own. . Maccarrone identified Innocent as one of the first theologians of papal primacy, noting, indeed, that he expounded on the primacy with such zeal that his teaching can appear repetitive, monotonous and pedantic'", However, the fact that Innocent returned to the same arguments and examples in different contexts and for diverse audiences shows us how important these ideas were to him. Innocent based the whole of his teaching on the Petrine texts, principally the Tu es Petrus(91, but his studies in Paris and Bologna had equipped him with a plethora of . examples, from both canon law and theology, with which he constructed his theology of the papal primacy. In the emphasis which he put on the position of the pope, Innocent was following the general trend of twelfth- century ecclesiologyv", The initial spur to this development

(7) Y. Congar, Ecce ronstitui te super gentes et regna (Jer. 1. 10) "in Geschichte und Gegenwart", in Theologie in Geschichte und Gegenwart. M Schmaus zum sechzigsten Geburtstag, hrsg. von J. Auer - H. Volk. München 1957, pp.686- 687 (pp. 671-696); Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato (dt, n. 6), pp. 49-50. (8)Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato (dt, n. 6), p. 3. , (9) Ibid., p.3; on the Tu es Petrus see also Glez, Primauie (dt, n. 6), coll, 253-260. (10) Maccarrone, Vicarius Christi (cit. n. 6), pp.85-107i Y. Congar, . L'Eccltsiologie de S Bemard, «Anal. o-a Cisterc.», 9 (1953), pp. 136-190. THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT III 59

.lay in the desire of the eleventh-century reformers to justify their elevated theory of the dignity of the papacy, and the emphasis was not theological, but juridical (11). It is striking that the papal schisms of the twelfth century did nothing to halt the advance of the theory of the juridical supremacy of the pope in the Church. Indeed, the involvement of such figures as Peter , Cerhoh of Reichersberg, and especially Bernard of Clairvaux, in the defence of their chosen candidates, led to a faster development of the papal claims and a more ready acceptance of them (12l. This was very different from the theories of limited papal power which were advanced during the period of the Great Schism and its aftermath (13). The growing estrangement between the Greek and Latin Churches also had its part to play in the development of papal claims, not least because of the arguments which the Greeks advanced after their encounter with the uncompromising ecc1esiology of Anselm of Havelbergl'", It was the rehearsal of these Greek arguments which led to one of the first expositions of papal primacy by . Innocent III after he became pope.In his reply of November 1199 to the of Constantinople (15) •.

(ll) Maccarrone, Yicarius Christi (eit. n. 6), pp.90 and 104; Martin, Pape (eit. n. 6), colI. 1886-1889. ' (12) Maccarrone, Vicarius Christi (eit n. 6},·pp.94-104. (13) A. Black. Council and Commune. TIle Condliar Movemmt and the Fifteentll-century Heritage, London 1979, pp ..9-26. . (l4) Anselm of Havelberg, Dialogus, Migne, PL 183, coll. 1139-1248, espeeially colI. 1222-1225; cfr. J. Spiteris, La ctitica bizaniina del primato romano nel secdo XII, Roma 1979, pp. 85-108; Maccarrone, Vicarius Christi (cit. n. 6), pp. 98-99, 102 ' (15) For the texts of Innocent's letters, see T. Halusöynsky], Acta lnnocen- tii PP. III (1198-1216), Cittä del Vaticano 1944 (Pontificia commissio ad re- digendum codicem juris canonici orientalis, Fontes, Sero Ill, 2), pp. 180-182 (= Reg. 11111. 1,nr. 354), pp. 187-195 (= Reg. Inn. 11,nr. 200 [209]); for the first letter of the Patriarch, ibid., pp. 547-549 (= Reg. bill. 1I, nr. 199 (208J; c. Ga- stgeber, Sprachliche lind ubersetzungstechnische Beobachtungen zu dem in den Kanzleiregistem Papst lnnocenz' Ill. uberlieferten Schreiben des Pairiarchen 10- annes X. Kamaieros von Konstantinopel, I, "Röm. hist. Mitt.», 38 [1996], pp. 85-127: pp. 122-126); for the Greek text of the second letter, Spiteris, 60 JOHN DORAN

The ideas upon which Innocent drew in his exposition of papal primacy were not new. All of the ideas which he developed. were current in the papal curia in the later twelfth century (16). The source of many of these ideas was St Bemard of Clairvaux, whose writings had a great influence on Innocent'F', This is not surprising, since Bemard had provided the juridical assertion of papal primacy with a complementary theology, especially evident in his De consideratione, and in his use of the term "vicar of Christ" to describe the pope (18). As early as 1153Eugenius III had used the title as his own (19), and it was used also in the series of popes' lives written by Cardinal Boso(20),but Innocent was the first pope to adopt it as a habitual title(21).The idea that the pope was the vicar of Christ had been central to papal policy in the long pontificate of Alexander III, and this continuity had been maintained through the five short pontificates which separated Alexander from Innocent III (22). Innocent took his lead from Alexander in his own teaching on the role of the pope and his relationship to the bishops. Indeed, Innocent took full advantage of the theory of papal plenitudo potestatis which had been adopted by St Bemard and developed by the canonist Huguccio of Pisa and

Criiica bizantina (cit, n, 14), pp. 324-~31 (Gastgeber; Beobachtungen, pp. 118- 122), and pp. 266-299 for translation and criticism. (16)Congar, Ecce constitui te (at.n. 7), pp. 682-683. (17) Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato (at n. 6), pp. 13-29; idem, Yicarius Christi (at.n. 6), p. 109; WiIks, The Apostolicus (at n. 4), p. 304. (I8) De consideratione, in S. Bemardi Opera, edd. J. Ledercq - H. M. Rochais, III, Roma 1963, pp. 381-493; Maccarrone, Vicarius Christi (at. n. 6), pp. 95-98; see also the appendices provided by B. Jacqueline in: Bernard of Oairvaux,. Five Books on Consideration. Advice to a Pope, transl. ]. D;Anderson - E. T. Kennan, Kalamazoo (Michigan) 1976, pp.183-191. (19) Migne, PL 180, col. 1589; Maccarrone, Vicarius Christi (eit. n. 6), p.lOO. . . . (20) Ibid., pp. 100-101, n, 57. (21) Ibid., p. 109. ' (22) Congar, Ecce constitui te (at n. 7), pp.682-683; P. Zerbi, Papato, Impero e «Respublica Christiana» dol1187 al 1198, Milano 1955, pp.169-173; Maccarrone, Vicarius O,risti (at. n. 6), pp. 100-107; Glez, Primautt! (at n. 6), coll.303-305. ! ' • THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENf III 61

introduced into the papal curia under Celestine III(23). But Innocent projected this theory back into Antiquity. He saw Peter and Paul as the founders of the Roman Church ..But this was a Roman Church that was persecuted and denied its rightful place in society until the pontificate of Silvester I. To attain its rightful place in the Church Universal, the Roman Church had to wait until the pontificate of Gregory the Great, when the express will of Christ was realized. As Innocent looked back, he saw that the Roman Church had slowly assumed: a position which made its bishop the equivalent in a Christian society of the high priest in the Jewish society of the Old Testament. For Innocent, the status of, the papacy in the early thirteenth century was not a development of. the previous two centuries, but a slow evolution by which the Church replaced the Synagogue and the pope replaced the high priest. ': .' . . '" A constant factor in the development of papal primacy was the encouragement by the popes of devotion to the Apostle Peter. As early as the year 600 an annular crypt had been created in St Peter's basilica in order to allow physical proximity to the body of the, apostle (Ul .. From the later eleventh-century, were required to .visit this crypt regularly as a sign of their devotion (25). On the feast of SS Peter and Paul, 29 June, the pope was required to go .down into the tomb itself during the night office, and to present himself to his patron (26), In the morning, the pope would preside at the mass of the feast, and preach to the Roman people, pilgrims 'and assembled • on the particular merits of SSPeter and Paul. This feast had become a celebratio~ of the p~pal prin:acy, with its own liturgical

.. - (23) Congar, Ecce constitui te (at. n. 7), p. 683. (24)R. Krautheimer, Rome. Profileofa City 312-1308, Prinoeton 1980,p. 86. (25) P. Fahre - L Duchesne edd, Le Liber Censuum de I'eglise romaine, 3 voll., Paris 1890-1952. J,. pp. 416417, for oaths in which archbishops promise to visit Rome for the feast of SSPeter and Paul. , '-.. " . (26) P. Jounel, Le culte des dans les basiliques du Lairan et du Vatican IIU douzieme sikle, Rome 1977 (Collection de l'~cole francaise de Rome, 26), pp. 379, 401-403; see also Liber Censuum (at. n. 25),p. 310.: 62 JOHN DORAN season (27). Thus, the three sermons of Innocent III on Peter and Paul are' particularly' important. In these sermons Innocent drew upon the sermons of St Leo the Great, parts of which were read during the liturgical offices on the days preceding the feast(2S).But while the officeswere proper to the , Innocent's' sermons were delivered· to the congregation, and he was thus taking advantage of the opportunity to' popularize Leo's teaching, which' he embellished as he saw fit. . , In a sermon which was delivered on the Sunday before the feast of SS Peter and Paul, Innocent preached on the Gospel reading of the miraculous' draught of fishes (Luke 5,3-11) in order to emphasise the peculiar prerogatives of the city of Rome (29). He spoke of the bitterness and cruelty of the seas, a metaphor for the secular world which he had taken from St Bernard's De COllsideratiolle(30). The idea was to link Peter, and his relationship with Christ, to the contemporary papacy, and this was done by introducing Rome into the equation (31):

"The deep waters of this sea, of which Christ said to Peter: 'go to the deep waters!' are Rome, which had and has primacy and principality over the whole world; he wanted to raise her to such worthiness that just' as in pagan times she had sole dominion over all the' gentiles, 'so in the - Christian era she should have sole magisterium over all the faithful. God thought it worthy and fitting that he who was the of the Church should have his seat in the city - .' .

(27)Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato (dt, n. 6), p. 10. (28) Ibid., pp. 9-15; P. Santini, 11primate e l'infallibilitil del romano pontefice in S. Leone Magno e gfi scrittori greco-russi; Grottaferrata 1936, pp.7-41. For Leo's most important sermons dealing with St Peter and Rome, see Migne, PL 54, 0011.422-428,429-432,433-434.' . (29) Migne, PL 217, 0011.555-558; see also Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato (dt, n. 6), pp. 13-15. ,I ", ~ , (30) De Consideraiione (dt. n, 18), p.424; Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato (dt, n, 6), p.14; this metaphor was common, and stemmed from Gregory the Great, Migne, PL 76,001. 1184. " '. , (31)Migne, PL 217, colI. 556-557. ' THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT III 63 which had secular pre-eminence .... For it is clear that God has so loved this city that it is both royal and priestly, imperial and apostolic, obtaining and exercising dominion not only over bodies but also magisterium over souls. For it is now much more worthy and great through divine authority than it once was through earthly power" .

..Rome had traditionally presented a problem to papal apologists. Peter himself had referred to Rome as "BabyIon" (32), and the wickedness of Rome, both in pagan times and more recently, was well known (33). St Bernard had concealed his contempt for the Romans only from the Romans themselves (34). In an attempt to rehabilitate Rome Innocent called upon the tradition surrounding the church of Santa Maria delle Piante, just outside Rome on the Via Appia, which was, and is, commonly known as Domine, Quo Vadis?(35l. This tradition went back to the apocryphal Acts at Peter, and had been taken up by Origen and St Ambrosej'", Innocent used it in order to emphasise that Christ himself had chosen Rome as the seat of the papacy: .

, "When Peter had left the city fleeing the persecution of the faithless the Lord appeared to him outside the city. Peter said to Him, 'Lord, where are you going?' He replied, 'I am going to Rome to be crucified again', Peter, realising that the Lord was saying of him that the head was to be crucified in its member, returned to the city, where he at length consecrated the cross with his blood",

(32)I Pet. 5,13;cfr. Rev. 17,5. (33) J. A. Yunck, Economic Conservatism, Papal Finance, and tile Medieval Satires on Rome, «Med. Studies», 23 (1961),pp. 334-351. (34) J. Ledercq - H. Rochais, edd., S. Bemardi opera, VIIL Roma 1977, Ep. CCXLllI, pp. 130-134,Ep. CCXLIV, pp. 134-136. ' (35) Migne, PL 217, col. 557; M. ArmelIini, Le Chiese di Roma dalle Ioro origin; sino aJsecolo XVI, Roma 1887, pp. 704-705. " (36) E. Hennecke, New Testmnent Apocrypha, ed. W. Schneemelcher, Great Britain 1965, IL pp. 317-318; for the problem of whether Origen knew the Acts of Peter, ibid., p. 261; for the use of the text by Ambrose, Migne, PL 16, co1.1011. . 64 JOHNDORAN

Saint Paul was relevant 'to the papal primacy only indirectly. The conciliarists of the fifteenth century used Paul's opposition to Peter in order to refute, or at least limit, the monarchical authority of the pope in the Church (37), but for Innocent Paul had quite a different significance. The primacy had, been given to. Peter alone" but Paul, was nevertheless important as a eo-founder of the Church of Rome. He was a helper of, Peter, but he was carefully distinguished from him. It was to Peter that Christ gave the singular imperative "Go to the deep waters!", "for Peter alone as the prince of, the whole Church ascends to the supreme prelature, but together with Paul he lets down the nets in Rome for the catch of men" (~).Innocent followed Leo the Great in linking Peter and Paul .to :Rome and' its prerogatives (39): .: . . "'; :. ,:, .•.. . , , ...' . ~,'" . - . "It is surely not without the action of divine providence that a city founded physically by two brothers in the flesh who lie honourably entombed: therein should house the basilica! tombs of two brothers in the faith who founded the city spiritually: Peter buried where Romulus lies buried and Paul where Remus is buried (40). From these places' they guard this city-with their favour". '..

i ' _:, ~. ,. , .'; . Innocent was following the general theme of Leo, but where Leo had referred to an act of fratricide having sullied Rome at its very foundatlon'v', ·Innocent mentioned

(37) B. Tiemey, Foundations of the Conciliar Theory, Cambridge }955, p. 192; M. Wilks, The Problem of Sovereignty in the Later , Cambridge 1963 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, N. S.IX), p. 461. (38)Migne, PL 217, col. 557. , (39)Ibid., col. 557. '. (40) For the contemporary association between Peter and Paul and Romulus and Remus, see the text of the Mirabilia urbis Romae copied into the Liber Censuum in the 1190s by Cencius Camerarius: Liber Censuum (dt, n.25), J. pp.262 and 269. , . (41) Migne.. PL 54, col. 422: «lsti enim sunt :viri, per. quos tibi , Evangelium Christi, Roma, resplenduit; et quae eras magistra Erroris, facta es discipula veritatis: Isti sunt sancti patres tui veri que pastores, qui te regnis THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT III 65

Romulus and Remus without a hint of opprobrium, seeing in them the prefigurement of the spiritual founders of the city. After its spiritual rebirth, Rome was the universal city of Christian salvation (42): .

, "Thus Peter and Paul let down their nets together for.the catch. Through their preaching Rome was converted from error to truth, from vice to virtue. All of the apostles should be venerated at Rome, but especially these two, who should be particularly honoured as fathers' and patrons. Their prayers and merits conserve the city in health on earth just as it will be happily crowned in heaven".

_'-' , On at least one occasion, Innocent used the same text of the miraculous draught of fishes, in order to improve the public image of Rome; In 1207 he exhorted pilgrims in St Peter's to tell their friends and neighbours, and even those people heading for Rome whom they might meet on the road, that the donations of the faithful in Rome were used for pious purposes'S', The public image of Rome was clearly important to Innocent. " ~,. ',' , ',. " In his sermon for 29 June, Innocent preached on the threefold prerogative' of Peter: happiness, dignity, and power (<<). Innocent devoted most of the sermon to the dignity and power of Peter. He explained the significance of the new name which Christ had imposed on Peter, to show that he was the rock upon which the Church was built, 'and, using a flawed etymology, that he was its head (45). Thus,

roelestibus inserendam multo melius multoque felidus eondlderunt, quam Illi quorum studio prima moenium tuorum fundamenta locata sunt; ex quibus is, qui tibi nomen dedit. fratema te caede foedavit». ' ~.(42)Migne, PL 217, 001. 558. ' ' , , . (43) A. Albani, ed., Collectio Bullarum Sacrosanctae Basilicae Vatiamae, L , Roma 1747,pp. %-97. .. " (44)Migne, PL 217, ooIl.547-556;549-550.. .' (45) Ibid., 001. 552; Y. Congar, Cephas - Ciphale - Capud, «Rev. M. A. lab, S (1952), pp.10-12 (pp.5-42); for Innocent's use of body imagery. for the Church, W. Imkamp, Das Kirclienbild lnnocenz' III. (1198-1216), Stuttgart 1983 (Päpste und Papsttum. 22), pp. 192-196. 66 JOHNOORAN

Innocent developed Alexander ill's notion of the superiority of the-pope to the bishops by basing his own observations on the Petrine text par excellence, the Tu es Petrus. By taking cephas to mean "head", Innocent gave a corporeal metaphor to the theory that the pope possessed the fullness of power, while the bishops merely shared the burden of care with him. Taking the pope as the head, Innocent explained that only the head is in full control of the body. The other limbs, the bishops, had only a share of the power of the body, and even then only if the head conceded it(46).As ever, Innocent included himself subtly in this exposition. Just as Christ gave a new name to Peter, so the Church gives a new name to the pope upon his election (47). The significance of this could not have been lost on the canons of St Peter's as they listened to Pope Innocent Ill, who only recently had been one of their fellow-canons as Lothar dei Conti di Segni (48). The Pope continued with the theme of the power of the keys. Two keys had been given to Peter: the key' of knowledge and the key of power (49). Once again, the uniqueness of the papacy was stressed. Only the pope held both keys, a fact all the more important because one key was useless without the other. St [erome had identified the purification of the leper -in St Matthew's Gospel as a metaphor for the giving of the keys to St Peter (SO). This identification was commonly followed, and it linked the powers given to Peter with those of the high priest, who was required to distinguish between lepers and those who were clean. Innocent was thus emphasising his own unique authority. He had been elected to the papacy at the age of thirty-seven, and there must have been many bishops who shared the sentiments of the polemical poet and opponent of the Pope, Waiter von der Vogelweide, who lamented "Oh,

(46) Imkamp, Das Kirchenbild cit., pp. 278-289. (47) Migne, PL 217, col. 553. (48) Reg. Inn. I, nr. 296, pp. 417-419; M. Maccarrone, lnnocenzoIll prima del pontifrcato,«Arch, Soc. romana» 66 (1943), p. 70 (pp. 59-134). : (49) Migne, PL 217, col. 554. (SO) Migne, PL 26, col. 122. THE ROLE MODEI.S OF INNOCENT III 67

the pope is too young. God, help your Christendom!" (51). Here, then, was Innocent's answer. Just like the high priest and Peter before him, he alone held both keys, no matter how young or old he might be. Innocent further developed his ideas about his own office in his sermons for the feasts of his predecessors Silvester and Gregory the Great. Once again, these were public sermons, delivered to the people of Rome and to pilgrims who had responded to the increased emphasis given to the feasts of pope-saints since the eleventh

century (52). < .For the theme of his sermon on the feast of St Silvester, Innocent took the sequence from the liturgy of the feast, "Behold a great priest, who in his days was pleasing to God". This was in turn based on Ecclesiasticus 45. In his De missarum mysteriis, a detailed description of a papal mass in which each feature, action and gesture was treated as' a

symbol J of some facet of the, primacy,. Innocent had specifically linked the pope to the high priest of the Old Testament. The element of continuity which Innocent really . wanted to stress was that there had been only one high priest, just as there was only one pope. His knowledge of the Jewish priesthood was based on the Old Testament, but he also drew from" a variety of scholastic treatises on the euchanst'f", The texts which he singled out were usually those which applied to the high priest alone, often referred to in the Vulgate simply as POlltijex(54). Innocent referred to

both Silvester, and Gregory < as ;"the greatest" priests,

(51) M. Fitzgerald Richey, ed., Selected Poems of Walther von der Vogelweide, Oxford 1965, p.21; H. Tillmann, Pope Innocent III, trans!. W. Sax. Amsterdam-NewYork-Oxford 1980,pp. lOB, 159-160. (52) Jounel, Culte des saints (dt, n, 26), pp.1SO-1B1. There are some indications that the sermon on Gregory the Great was delivered to bishops. (53) For the sources which Innocent used, see M. Maccarrorie, Innocenzo lli teologodell'Eudzarestia in idem, Studi su lnnocenza 1Il, pp. 353-365 (pp.341- 431). On such treatises in general, J. Iungmann, Tile Mass of the Roman Rite, I, New York 1951,pp.l03-127; for Innocent IDin particular, see pp. 111-112. (54) Jungmann. Tile Mass eit., p. 51. 68 JOHNOORAN

showing that he thought of them, and himself, as holders of the high priesthood. ' Innocent began his sermon on St Silvester. by immediately associating him with Rome. Silvester was not only a great priest, but the greatest, because to him was . given both priestly and royal power. Innocent stressed that the priestly power was both older than and superior to the royal power. Christ himself was "a priest forever of the order of Melchisedech" (55), priest and king. Silvester had cured the Emperor Constantine of leprosy,' and his reward had been not only the conversion of the Emperor to Christianity, but the concession to the papacy of the city of Rome (56):

"He handed over to Silvester the city and the senate together with its men and offices and the whole kingdom of the West and went to Byzantium, keeping the East for himself. Constantine wanted to confer upon Silvester the crown from his own head, but whether through reverence for the clerical tonsure or out of humility he was unwilling to wear it; nevertheless in token of a royal diadem he wore a golden tiara".

Innocent was here relying on the text of the Donation of Constantine, which he would have' known from 'the Decretum of Gratian, but also from accounts of the life of Silvester(57).It has been pointed out that Innocent shared the opinion of the canonists that the Donation was of little

(55) Migne, PL 217, col. 481; Ps 109.4 (Vulgate); cfr. Heb. 7,1-28; Congar, Ecce constiiui te (dt, n. 7), pp.206-207; R. E. Lerner, kxcnim of Fiore as a Link between St Bemard and Innocent Illon the Figural Significance of Melchisededz, «Med. Studies», 42 (1980), pp. 471-476. (56) Migne, PL 217, col. 481. (57) Migne, PL 187, col. 460 (Decretum Gratiani D. 96 c, 14) and roll. 460-466 (Decretum Gratiani D. 96 cIS); excerpts from the Donation were also copied into the Liber Censuum (dt, n, 25), pp.366-368; see also, W. Ullmann, TIle Growth of Papal Government in the Middle Ages, London 1955, pp. 74-86. . . . THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT III 69

juridical value and that' he never used it in an rehearsal of papal claims (58). Maccarrone thought that Innocent had been obliged to refer to it because it was so intimately associated with the biography of Silvester (59). However, in his references to the Donation it appears that Innocent had a different purpose in mind. Silvester was the first pope to be recognized as such by the Roman Empire. He thus became for the new Christian Empire what the high priest had been for the Jewish nation. The linkwith the high priest is apparent from the curing of Constantine's leprosy. The high priest had been responsible for judging whether someone had leprosy or not(60).Furthermore, Innocent did not, refer .to "the passage in' the Donation in which Constantine had given Silvester and his successors the right to wear imperial garments and to use imperial insignia (61). Rather, he mentioned only the crown, which Silvester had accepted, although he refused to wear it. Instead, Silvester had worn a golden tiara (62). Innocent knew very well that the ,headgear he was describing was that which had been worn by the high priest (63)., '... " . ,'.,', '. ' Innocent dealt further with the superiority of the priestly over the royal power(64),not citing Melchisedech this time, but' Aaron, who preceded Saul, and Noah, who preceded Nimrod. And although St Paul had, cautioned Christians to be obedient to earthly authority, Innocent was quick to point out that the Lord had said to Jeremiah, a priest of the priests of Anathoth, "I have set you, over

(58)Maccarrone, Oliesa e stata (dt, n. 6), pp. 42-44. (59) lbid .. p.42. ; . , ' (60) Lev. 14; see also St Jerome's commentary on Matthew 16, Migne, PL 26, roll. 116-125, espeeially col. 122. where he specifically links Lev. 14,2-4 (the high priest's duty to judge whether a leper is ) with Matt. 16,19 (the giving of the keys to St Peter). ~. " " " (61)Migne, PL 187, roll. 462-464; Liber Censuum (eil n. 25), p. 367. . (62) Migne, PL 217, col. 481. . (63) Innocent discussed the tiara and its significance in his De missarum mysteriis, Migne, PL 217, roll. 780,790,796; see also the contemporary canonist and bishop, Sicard of Cremona, Mitra1e, Migne, PL 213, roll. 58, 78-79. (64)Migne, PL 217, col. 482.' .' . 70 JOHNDORAN

nations and kingdoms everywhere; with a word you shall root them out and pull them down, overthrow and lay them in ruins; with a word you shall build them up and plant them anew". This text, which had always been seen as an expression of priestly authority, was used frequently by the popes after the eleventh-century reform movement'S', and it . had been applied by Celestine Ill, relying on St Bemard, as a corollary to the papal plenitude potestatist", Jeremiah was erroneously thought to have been a high priest himself, as well as a prophet. Innocent, following Gerhoh of Reichersberg and St Bemard, used the text in his sermon to assert again the superiority of the pope over the bishops (67). .To finish this section of his argument, however, he noted that Silvester was the successor of Peter, the vicar of Jesus

Christ, 11 and because of this indeed he was a great priest, who pleased God in his days"(68).This statement in its own way was every bit as revolutionary as the statement of Cregory VII in the Dictatus papae that all popes were undoubtedly saints because of the merits of St Peter(69).For Innocent, all popes were great priests simply by virtue of their office. Innocent explained that the merits of Silvester, and, by extension, of all popes, were worthiness, holiness and usefulness. Those who occupied a place of dignity ought to have holiness and ought to perform useful works, for there was a danger that the meek in a position of power would produce no fruit. The pope followed this very Roman idea with a personal lament that there were many in positions of authority in the contemporary Church who were evil and who brought forth no fruit. He even broke into an

(65) Congar, Ecceconstitui te (dt, n. 7), pp. 679-681. (66) lbid., p. 683; Zerbi, Papato(dt, n. 22), pp. 169-173. (67) Maccarrone, Chiesa e stato (dt, n. 6), pp. 28-30, citing Gerhoh of Reichersberg's commentary on Psalm 64, M.G.H., Libelli, IlL col. 469, and Bemard, Migne, PL 182, coll. 430 and 747. (68)Migne, PL 217, col. 482. , (69) Gregorii VII regisirum, ed. E. Caspar, in M.G.H., Epist. sel., Illl, Berlin 1920-1930,p. 2~; Tellenbach, TIre Churdt in Western Europe (dt, n. 6), p. 306. THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT III 71

extemporary prayer: "May I not be one of these, who brings to ruin, but rather one who brings the resurrection of

~~~ .. ' . In his sermon for the feast of St Gregory the Great(71), Innocent brought together many of these ideas and focused them on the office of the pope. As .with Silvester, three things were particularly noteworthy about Gregory the Great: his knowledge of charity, the excellence of his dignity, and the glory of his sanctity(72). Once again, Innocent concentrated most on the dignity of Gregory because it was this which provided the direct link between himself and his predecessor. Innocent stressed the unique authority of Gregory as pope. The Lord had made him not only a great priest, but the greatest (73). Once again, Innocent spoke of the power of the keys and the role of the pope as the' head of the Church (74). The last supper was presented as the drawing up of the last will and testament of Christ, and, appropriately enough, as Innocent noted, there were indeed two notaries present, St Matthew and St John (75). The point of all this was that after the persecutions and the eventual triumph of the Church, Christ still needed an executor for his will. This executor was none other than Gregory the Great, who laid down the liturgical rules for all churches. This observation gave Innocent the opportunity to emphasise once again the singularity of the. pope and his plenitude ..ofpower, as opposed to the bishops, whose pars sollicimdinis left them no .scope even for the implementation of liturgical reforms in their own churches. The concerns of the early years of the pontificate are reflected here, since the fall of Constantinople in 1204had been followed by the setting up of Latin states in the East. with the consequent eruption of liturgical and

(70) Migne, PL 217, col. 481; cfr. Luke 2,33. (71) Migne, PL 217, coil. 513-522. (72) Ibid., col. 513. (73) Ibid., col. 517. (74) Ibid., col. 517. (75) !bid., coil. 514-515. 72 JOHN DORAN

disciplinary disputes (76). Indeed, Innocent appears to have inserted a jibe against the Greeks in his sermon, urging that the works of the priest should be brought to fruition "not in theleaven of vice and mischief, but in unleavened purity and honesty of intent" (77). Innocent gave an allegory of the high priest's vestments in order to show that Gregory was resplendent in virtues and good works?", In his De missarum mysteriis Innocent had expounded upon the vestments of the high priest and the ways in which they symbolized the prerogatives of the pope?", The ultimate source for such allegory was St Jerome's Letter to Fabiola(SO),'which had been incorporated by St Isidore of Seville in his Ehjmologiae(S1l, and from there had been seized upon by twelfth-century theologians (82), including Innocent himself. The Pope would have been preaching this very' sermon dressed in his own pontifical vestments, and, of course, whatever he said about Gregory the Great as pope applied equally to himself. . Innocent inherited. a ' well-developed .theory of papal ' primacy. Throughout his pontificate he' continued to develop this theory of primacy, searching for its roots in the past and using his most illustrious predecessors to' emphasise the powers and prerogatives of the office which he himself held. The sermons discussed here represent 'only a fraction of the output of the Pope. He used the same ideas and the same - examples in his letters as well as in his theological works. The identification of the pope with the high, priest of' the Old

'. (76) J. Doran, Rites and Wrongs. The'Latin Mission to Nicaea of 1234, «Studies in Church History», 32 (1996), pp. 131-144. .. . (77) Migne, PL 217, col. 518; cfr.I Cor. 5,8. :.. , (78) Migne, PL 217, coll. 517-520. ; (79) Ibid., coll, 780-791. Innocent here relies upon Gregory's own allegory of the vestments of the high priest: c. Morel, ed., Regula pastoralis liber, Paris 1992 (Sources ehret, 381-382), Il, 2-7, 11:381, pp. 176-230, 252-256. . See also D. Norbert, ed., Registrum epistolarum, Turnhout 1982 (Corp. Christ, 140-140A), L 24, pp. 22-32. , ... (SO)Ep. LXIV,Migne, PL 22, eoll. 607-622. (81) Migne, PL 82, coll, 683-684. (82) E.g. Rupert of Deutz, De divinis officiis per anni circulum, Migne, PL 170, roll. 21-26; Sicard of Cremona, Mitrale, Migne, PL 213, coll. 57-61,72-82. THE ROLE MODELS OF INNOCENT III , 73

Testament was a constant fe~~e' in his thought on papal , primacy, both before and after he became pope, but it was at the Fourth Lateran Council that Innocent gave the idea its final endorsement. Surrounded by the representatives of the whole Christian world gathered in Rome,Innocent announced (83);

lilt is read in the Book' of Kings and 'clearly in Para- lipomenon,' that in the eighteenth year of the reign of [osiah the temple was restored and the passover was celebrated as it had not been in Israel since the dayso] the kingsand the judges (84). I would that this might be a parable of the present moment; that in this, the eighteenth year of our pontificate, the temple, that is the Church, might be restored" . '; I'

(83) Migne, PL 217, col. 675. (84) 11Kgs. 23,1-24; 11Chr, 35.