DOCSLIB.ORG

Congar, Architect of the Unam Sanctam Alberto Melloni

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Congar, Architect of the Unam Sanctam Alberto Melloni Louvain Studies 29 (2004) 222-238 Congar, Architect of the Unam Sanctam Alberto Melloni A Dominican and a reformer, a Cardinal and a persecuted man, a theologian and a man of resistance, a strategist and a candid Catholic, master and friar, preacher and diarist – Father Yves Congar, one of the leading figures in twentieth-century Catholic theology, easily lends him- self to these apparently paradoxical semantic binaries. Indeed, they could also be formulated as oxymorons of great interest from the point of view of historiography because Congar has been all these things simultane- ously. I say this forestalling what should be a conclusion – that he derived from this his key of interpretation for the Church. This was a church which, over the course of his long life (he was born in Sedan on 8 April 1904 and died in Paris on 22 June 1995) had absorbed all the contra- dictions of its catholicity and learned to practice a new and different form of ecclesial life. In fact, if there is a single theme running through Congar’s intellectual development, it is indeed the Church. As testimony to this fact, we have a huge body of work available for which would-be definitive bibliographies are often undermined by the discovery of a new conference address or a forgotten article.1 At the centre of his theologi- cal corpus, there is a visible and scientific interest in and a lifetime of experience about the Church. Knowing the Church The Church to which Congar consecrated his intellectual search was a Church which, when he was still only a child, was unleashing all 1. Bibliographical references in Pietro Quattrocchi, “Bibliographie générale du Père Yves Congar,” in Jean-Pierre Jossua, Le Père Congar: la théologie au service du peuple de Dieu, Chrétiens de tous les temps, 20 (Paris: Cerf, 1967) 242-246; see also Aidan Nichols, “An Yves Congar Biography: 1967-1987,” Angelicum 66 (1989) 428- 466; a panorama of recent dissertations in Joseph Famerée, Histoire et Église: L’ecclésiologie du père Congar de “Chrétiens désunis” à l’annonce du Concile (1937-1959) (Louvain-la- Neuve: UCL, 1991) 472-475. CONGAR, ARCHITECT OF THE UNAM SANCTAM 223 its institutional might in the struggle against “modernizing forces,” a struggle that engaged the pontiff himself 2 in a ghost-hunt where the ques- tion of the relationship between Catholicism and modernity remained unanswered. Yet that ghost-hunt ended up frustrating the intellectual vivacity of Catholicism with devastating consequences that spread throughout the rest of the twentieth century – from the passivity shown toward totalitarian systems onward – of which we still have not taken even a provisional inventory. This was the same Church which, when Congar died after receiving his red hat in articulo mortis, was still trying to find a balance between the striking gestures of openness administered by John Paul II and a doctrinal policy that sought to discipline theology, thereby restoring a diffidence toward research which at times seems to have imbued the walls of the former Holy Office to a greater extent than they could be sanitized by the intelligence of its most enlightened dwellers.3 Within this vast and slow Church, Congar moved like an indefati- gable explorer. A number of very important studies undertaken in the last twenty years have already highlighted how his way of historicizing problems represented the cornerstone of his thought,4 which was in fact the plan he intended to pursue, as he explained in the foreword to his work Chrétiens désunis, an historical investigation of ecclesiological development which, thanks to the reemergence of a plurality of contra- dictory ecclesiological forms and conceptions of the Christian past,5 would allow a process of rethinking capable of reintroducing the Roman Catholic Church into the two processes from which it had cut itself off. The first was the process of church unity, which was Congar’s real passion and a branch of theology that owes almost everything to him. The second was the process of secular modernity, the hic sunt leones of a Catholicism which, in Congar’s view, by using condemnation as its weapon, had ended up becoming a mere fortress of self-referential eccle- siastical thinking.6 2. Gianni La Bella (ed.), Pio X e il suo tempo (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2003). 3. See Giuseppe Ruggieri, “La politica dottrinale della curia romana nel postcon- cilio,” Cristianesimo nella storia 21 (2000) 103-131. 4. Famerée, Histoire et Église; Jean-Pierre Jossua, “Signification théologique de quelques retours sur le passé dans l’œuvre d’Yves Congar,” Cardinal Yves Congar (1904- 1995), ed. André Vauchez (Paris: Cerf, 1999) 93-103. 5. Andrea Galeano, “La Ecclesiologia de Yves Congar,” Franciscanum 22 (1980) 139-149. 6. Joseph Famerée, “L’ecclésiologie du Père Yves Congar: Essai de synthèse cri- tique,” Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologique 76 (1992) 377-419. 224 ALBERTO MELLONI This was the goal to which he dedicated his work. Through the sequence of his major books – Chrétiens désunis (1937), Vraie et fausse réforme dans l’Église (1950), Jalons pour un théologie du laïcat (1953), Vaste Monde, ma paroisse (1959), La Tradition et les traditions (1960- 1963), Esquisses du mystère de l’Église (1953), L’Église de saint Augustin à l’époque moderne (1970), Je crois en l’Esprit saint (1979-1980) – we can identify the landmarks that are well-known to a specialist audience and of which Congar himself, as an autobiographical writer, was well aware. Indeed, when revisiting his theological path,7 when speaking about his education8 and when re-examining his entire life (something he did extensively during an interview with Jean Puyo in the mid-seventies),9 Congar showed that he was conscious of what he had been fighting for and his underlying awareness that he owed his success to two character- istics of his ecclesiology. Knowing History, Knowing through History The first of these characteristics was his ability to imbibe data – records and ideas, references and bibliographies, documents and sources. This was true at the beginning of his experience when reading Le mys- tère de l’Église by Père H. Clérissac and made him appreciate the ‘poetic’ side of Catholicism.10 Congar cultivated this aspect when he started attending the Insti- tut Catholique in 1925 (where Jacques Maritain had given him the first traditio by Thomas Aquinas) and again, in December 1926 at Le Saul- choir in Tournai (where he met Marie-Dominique Chenu). It was this confrère who introduced Congar into one of the two major intellectual 7. See “Appels et cheminements 1929-1963,” Cardinal Yves Congar, O.P.: écrits réformateurs, ed. Jean-Pierre Jossua (Paris: Cerf, 1995) 263-304. 8. On his youth, see “Enfance ardennaise,” La Grive (1965) October-December 14-16. “Enfance sedanaise 1904-1919,” Le Pays sedanais (1978), n. 5, 27-31; also “Trois années à la Faculté de philosophie,” Le livre du centenaire 1875-1975 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1975) 245-258; the relation with the Maritain circle in Meudon, “Souvenirs sur Jacques Maritain,” Notes et documents de l’Institut Jacques Maritain (1962) April-June, 5-7. 9. Yves Congar, Une vie pour la vérité, Jean Puyo interroge le Père Congar (Paris: Centurion, 1975). See also Yves Congar, Une passion: l’unité: Réflexions et souvenirs 1929- 1973, Foi vivante, 156 (Paris: Cerf, 1974); Le concile de Vatican II: son Église peuple de Dieu et corps du Christ, Théologie Historique, 71 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1984); Entretiens d’automne, 2nd ed. (Paris: Cerf, 1987); and “D’une ecclésiologie en gestation à Lumen Gentium chap. I et II,” Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 18 (1971) 366-377. 10. Congar, Une vie pour la vérité, 74. CONGAR, ARCHITECT OF THE UNAM SANCTAM 225 ‘dynasties’ of French theology, described by Émile Poulat as divided and irreconcilable. One started from Blondel and his persistent diffi- dence toward the historical-critical approach and ended up with de Lubac’s lukewarm relationship with the reformism of the Second Vatican Council. The other characteristic originated from the research done by Loisy, went through Chenu (who saw in the early twentieth- century crisis just one of the many final crises of a baroque theologi- cal system) – and culminated precisely in the critical passionalité and loyalty to the conciliar reforms put forward by Congar. Chenu did nothing to stifle Congar’s research abilities; on the contrary, he bol- stered them. Actually, shortly after their meeting, Congar (meditating upon the seventeenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, on 25 July 1930), is led to enrich with an intimate persuasion (inspired by the spiritual- ity of Le Sacrifice du Chef by E. Masure) the flurry of intellectual activ- ities sparked off by Chenu. In the teaching of the elder brother (Chenu explained to his young students, for one hour a week, the meaning of Faith & Order and of the ecumenical Assembly of Lausanne), he discovered an ecumenical vocation. Congar continued to pursue a diachronic study that knew no boundaries. As he had learned from an old article written by Father M.-B. Schwalm which appeared in the 1908 edition of the Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques, entitled “Les deux théologies: la scholastique et la positive,” Congar discovered the power of historical bipartition and diachronic distinction. Listening to the ideas of Gabriel Le Bras, Étienne Gilson, and the Protestant theologian André Junot in Paris in 1931, discussions with his contacts among Russian émigrés, developing his relationship with Abbé Gratieux, who brought the mem- ory of Chomiakov to the West, cultivating his friendship with Father Lambert Beauduin at the time when the project for an ecumenical monastery was taking shape – all these experiences laid the foundations for a theological approach which, once the garnering of ideas had been completed, set forth by marking out the distance between unionism and ecumenism.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 1302 Unam Sanctum Papal Bull.Odt
    1302 UNAM SANCTAM DETAILED (The actual Papal Bull from the Vatican Website Archive follows) This same pope issued another bull, “Ausculta Fili”, in which he declared that both spiritual1 and temporal2 power were under the pope's jurisdiction, and that kings were subordinate to the power of the Roman pontiff which is a continuation of the 1213 Secret Treaty of Verona and Jesuit Oath. INRI which is “IUSTUM NECAR REGES IMPIUS” that is engraved on their crosses with the dead paleface man nailed to and worn around the necks of Christians as adornments; means to exterminate or annihilate impious or heretical3 Kings, Governments, or Rulers. This diabolical and arbitrary declaration treated all other esoteric and esoteric spirituality of the rest of humanity of earth as unworthy of regard or notice resulting in continued terror, torture, and bloodshed to the present day. One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority Pope Boniface VIII – 1302 Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302 Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic4. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5].
    [Show full text]
  • Pius Ix and the Change in Papal Authority in the Nineteenth Century
    ABSTRACT ONE MAN’S STRUGGLE: PIUS IX AND THE CHANGE IN PAPAL AUTHORITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY Andrew Paul Dinovo This thesis examines papal authority in the nineteenth century in three sections. The first examines papal issues within the world at large, specifically those that focus on the role of the Church within the political state. The second section concentrates on the authority of Pius IX on the Italian peninsula in the mid-nineteenth century. The third and final section of the thesis focuses on the inevitable loss of the Papal States within the context of the Vatican Council of 1869-1870. Select papal encyclicals from 1859 to 1871 and the official documents of the Vatican Council of 1869-1870 are examined in light of their relevance to the change in the nature of papal authority. Supplementing these changes is a variety of seminal secondary sources from noted papal scholars. Ultimately, this thesis reveals that this change in papal authority became a point of contention within the Church in the twentieth century. ONE MAN’S STRUGGLE: PIUS IX AND THE CHANGE IN PAPAL AUTHORITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Miami University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Department of History by Andrew Paul Dinovo Miami University Oxford, OH 2004 Advisor____________________________________________ Dr. Sheldon Anderson Reader_____________________________________________ Dr. Wietse de Boer Reader_____________________________________________ Dr. George Vascik Contents Section I: Introduction…………………………………………………………………….1 Section II: Primary Sources……………………………………………………………….5 Section III: Historiography……...………………………………………………………...8 Section IV: Issues of Church and State: Boniface VIII and Unam Sanctam...…………..13 Section V: The Pope in Italy: Political Papal Encyclicals….……………………………20 Section IV: The Loss of the Papal States: The Vatican Council………………...………41 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………..55 ii I.
    [Show full text]
  • Justifying Religious Freedom: the Western Tradition
    Justifying Religious Freedom: The Western Tradition E. Gregory Wallace* Table of Contents I. THESIS: REDISCOVERING THE RELIGIOUS JUSTIFICATIONS FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM.......................................................... 488 II. THE ORIGINS OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN EARLY CHRISTIAN THOUGHT ................................................................................... 495 A. Early Christian Views on Religious Toleration and Freedom.............................................................................. 495 1. Early Christian Teaching on Church and State............. 496 2. Persecution in the Early Roman Empire....................... 499 3. Tertullian’s Call for Religious Freedom ....................... 502 B. Christianity and Religious Freedom in the Constantinian Empire ................................................................................ 504 C. The Rise of Intolerance in Christendom ............................. 510 1. The Beginnings of Christian Intolerance ...................... 510 2. The Causes of Christian Intolerance ............................. 512 D. Opposition to State Persecution in Early Christendom...... 516 E. Augustine’s Theory of Persecution..................................... 518 F. Church-State Boundaries in Early Christendom................ 526 G. Emerging Principles of Religious Freedom........................ 528 III. THE PRESERVATION OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION EUROPE...................................................... 530 A. Persecution and Opposition in the Medieval
    [Show full text]
  • From Investiture to Worms: a Political Economy of European Development and the Rise of Secular Authority∗
    From Investiture to Worms: A Political Economy of European Development and the Rise of Secular Authority∗ Bruce Bueno de Mesquitay Ethan Bueno de Mesquitaz July 15, 2018 Abstract The endogenous consequences of competition between the Roman Catholic Church and secular rulers set into motion by the Investiture Controversy contribute new insights into European economic development, the rise of secular political authoriy, and the decline of the Catholic Church's political power. In particular, the resolution of the Investiture Controversy in the Concordat of Worms (1122) resulted in a significant increase in the bargaining power of secular rulers in wealthier polities relative to poorer polities. This created an institutional environment in which the Catholic Church had incentives to limit economic development while secular rulers could expand their political control by promoting development within their domain. Empirical evidence shows that the behavior of popes and of secular rulers changed in ways consistent with these incentives. The evidence indicates that the incentives created at Worms played a central role, starting hundreds of years before the Protestant Reformation, in the rise of secular political authority and its association with economic prosperity. ∗We have benefited from feedback from Scott Ashworth, Chris Berry, Wioletta Dziuda, Mark Fey, Alexan- der Fouirnaies, Anthony Fowler, Rose McDermott, Adam Przeworski, James Robinson, Shanker Satyanath, Alastair Smith, and Thomas Zeitzoff. Sasha Daich, Katie Jagel, Matt Osubor, and Andrew Peterson pro- vided excellent research assistance. yThe Wilf Family Department of Politics, NYU, email: [email protected] zHarris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago, email: [email protected] At least since the seminal work of Weber(1930), discussions of the political and economic development of Europe have sought to understand the linkage between economic prosperity, the rise of secular authority, and the decline of the Catholic Church as a political power.
    [Show full text]
  • 7. the Two Swords in Theory and Practice
    Contemporary Civilization (Ideas and Institutions Section III: The eM dieval Church of Western Man) 1958 7. The woT Swords in Theory and Practice Robert L. Bloom Gettysburg College Basil L. Crapster Gettysburg College Harold A. Dunkelberger Gettysburg College See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/contemporary_sec3 Part of the Cultural History Commons, History of Christianity Commons, and the History of Religion Commons Share feedback about the accessibility of this item. Bloom, Robert L. et al. "7. The wT o Swords in Theory and Practice. Pt. III: The eM dieval Church." Ideas and Institutions of Western Man (Gettysburg College, 1958), 65-72. This is the publisher's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution. Cupola permanent link: https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/ contemporary_sec3/7 This open access book chapter is brought to you by The uC pola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of The uC pola. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 7. The woT Swords in Theory and Practice Abstract The claims to universality advanced by the medieval Church brought it into close relationship with an ancient human institution: the state. Especially after the fourth century, when it was first recognized and then given status as the only legal religious body, it was necessary for the Church to formulate a set of poliyical principles, comparable to those for economic activity, which could then be applied to the many and continuing relations between church and state.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses Divine revelation and the infallible church: Newman, Vatican II and Arcic Peterburs, Michael Robert How to cite: Peterburs, Michael Robert (1994) Divine revelation and the infallible church: Newman, Vatican II and Arcic, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5368/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT Divine Revelation and the Infallible Church: Newman, Vatican II and ARCIC The intention of this thesis is twofold: firstly, to define precisely the degree to which John Henry Newman anticipated the teaching of Vatican II on the nature and transmission of Revelation and on the Church's theological understanding of herself; and secondly, to assess the significance of this for contemporary ecumenical discussions between Roman Catholics and Anglicans on authority in the Church. The first section of this thesis, then, is an exploration of Newman's thought on Revelation and ecclesiology.
    [Show full text]
  • Salvation, the Church, and the Papacy
    Salvation, the Church, and the Papacy Mike Field INTRODUCTION The inerrancy of Scripture is common ground for Protestants and Roman Catholics.1 However, its interpretation is not. In fact, Catholic apologist Robert Sungenis asserts: “the written Word cannot cry out to you, ‘Wait! You have misinterpreted me!’ But the Church can.”2 Thus, Roman Catholics believe that the Church, in the person of Peter’s successor and the bishops in communion with him, possesses “the charism of infallibility when authentically teaching matters of faith and morals.”3 The papal bull, Unam sanctam, written by Boniface VIII in 1302, provides a provocative example of such teaching on salvation, the church, and the papacy. Indeed, Unam Sanctam concludes with the words: “we declare, say, define and pronounce that it is absolutely necessary for the salvation of every human creature to be subject to the Roman Pontiff.”4 Commenting on this papal bull, Catholic apologist Mark Shea says: “When a Pope declares, pronounces and defines, he is using the formula to make crystal clear that he is delivering, not his personal opinion, but the dogmatic teaching of the Catholic Church.”5 Nevertheless, like the apostle Paul, we Protestants ask: “what does the Scripture say?”6 In other words, might the 1Robert Sungenis states that “official statements and teaching of the Catholic Church have always affirmed and continue to affirm that Scripture is written wholly and entirely in all its parts through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that it is absolutely inerrant” (Robert A. Sungenis, Not by Scripture Alone: A Catholic Critique of the Protestant Doctrine of Sola Scriptura (Santa Barbara: Queenship Publishing Company, 1997), 38.
    [Show full text]
  • Advancement Placement European History Summer Assignment
    Advancement Placement European History Summer Assignment Morris Hills: Mr. Struck Morris Knolls: Mr. Lipsen • This assignment is due on the first day of class and will be applied to your First Marking Period grade. • All parts of the final project should be completed individually. Plagiarism, cutting and pasting, copying, or sharing answers will result in a zero for all parties involved and in an administrative referral. • If you have problems or questions contact: o Morris Hills: Mr. Struck [email protected] OR Morris Knolls: Mr. Lipsen [email protected] Part 1: Vocabulary Sources: You may consult internet sources such as 1. Ecclesiastical 11. Misogyny oxfordreference.com 2. Enclosure movement 12. Papal Bull 3. Excommunication 13. Pilgrimage Directions: Write definitions for the items at the right as related to 4. Heretic 14. Pontiff the Middle Ages. Write the item and its assigned number on the 5. Iconoclast 15. Prelate left and the definition on the right. Skip a line between each 6. Indulgences 16. Scholasticism definition. 7. Infidel 17. Simony Type or write in black ink on one side of the paper. You do not 8. Interdict 18. “Taille” have to use complete sentences for the vocabulary. 9. Laity-Layman 19. Unam Sanctam You may NOT share your work with others. 10. Lay Investiture Controversy 20. Vernacular Part 2: Map/Timeline Sources: An historical atlas or books such as: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/European_History Directions: Create a Map/Timeline of the time period known as the Late Middle Ages (1300-1453) 1. Create a poster-sized map of Europe that shows the major countries and mountain chains.
    [Show full text]
  • Creeds the History of the Creeds
    THE HISTORY OF THE- CREEDS THE HISTORY OF THE CREEDS by F. J. BADCOCK, D.D. Fellow of St Augustine's College, Canterbury Author of R.eviews and Studies, Biblical and Doctrinal The Pauline Epistles and the Epistle to the Hebrews in their Historical Setting SECOND EDITION Published far the Church Historical Society LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO. First Edition 1930 Second Edition, largely rewritten 1938 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN CONTENTS PART I THE APOSTLES' CREED Chap. I. INTRODUCTORY page 1 I. A Fictitious Pedigree I II. Outstanding Problems . 12 Chap. II. CREEDS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION 14 I. Types of Creeds . 14 II. The Simple Formula 15 III. The Triple Formula 17 IV. The Rule of Faith 21 Chap. III. EARLY EASTERN CREEDS 24 I. The Epistola Apostolorum 25 II. The Old Creed of Alexandria 25 III. The Shorter Creed of the Egyptian Church Order 27 IV. The Marcosian Creed . 28 V. The Early Creed of Africa 30 VI. The Profession of the "Presbyters" at Smyrna 34 NOTES A. Texts of the Dair Balaizah Papyrus, the Marcosian Creed, the Profession of the "Presbyters" at Smyrna 35 B. The Early Creeds of Africa and of Rome 36 Chap. IV. EASTERN BAPTISMAL CREEDS OF THE FouRTH CENTURY . 38 I. Introduction 38 II. Alexandria: Arius and Euzoius, Macarius 38 III. Palestine: Eusebius of Caesarea, Cyril of Jerusalem 41 vi CONTENTS IV. Antiochene Creeds: Introduction, (a) Antioch; (b) Cappadocia; (c) Philadelphia; (d) The Creed of the Didascalia. Note; (e) Marcellus of Ancyra; (f) The Psalter of Aethelstan and the Codex Laudianus page 43 Chap.
    [Show full text]
  • Papal Bull Unam Sanctum Chronology 1198-1216 1209 1215
    Lecture 15 High Middle Ages WC 275-296 PP 318-320: Papal Bull Unam Sanctum Chronology 1198-1216 Reign of Pope Innocent III 1209 Franciscan monastic Order established 1215 Magna Carta signed 1215 Fourth Lateran Council called together by Innocent III 1219 Dominican monastic Order established Unam Sanctam issued by Pope Boniface VIII Star Terms Geog Terms Pope Boniface VIII Kingdom of France Fourth Lateran Council Papal States Kingdom of the Two Sicilies A. Fresco of Pope Innocent III, Monastero di San Benedetto, Subiaco. late 13th century. Innocent III was one of the most powerful and influential popes of the Middle Ages. He sponsored the Fourth Crusade and the Albigensian Crusade, he approved the work of Saints Dominic and Francis, he convoked the Fourth Lateran Council, and he built the papacy into a more powerful, prestigious institution than it had ever been before. Innocent viewed the role of the pope as not merely a spiritual leader but a secular one as well, and while he held the papal office he made that vision a reality. Almost immediately upon his election as pope, Innocent sought to reassert papal rights in Rome, bringing about peace among the rival aristocratic factions and gaining the respect of the Roman people within a few years. Innocent also took a direct interest in the German succession. He believed that the pope had the right to approve or reject any election that was questionable on the grounds that the German ruler could claim the title of "Holy" Roman Emperor, a position that affected the spiritual realm. At the same time, Innocent explicitly disclaimed secular power in most of the remainder of Europe; but he still took direct interest in matters in France and England, and his influence in Germany and Italy alone was enough to bring the papacy into the forefront of medieval politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Collected Orations of Pope Pius II. Edited and Translated by Michael Von Cotta- Schönberg
    Collected Orations of Pope Pius II. Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta- Schönberg. Vol. 7: Orations 29-42 (1458-1459). 4th version Michael Von Cotta-Schönberg To cite this version: Michael Von Cotta-Schönberg. Collected Orations of Pope Pius II. Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta- Schönberg. Vol. 7: Orations 29-42 (1458-1459). 4th version. Scholars’ Press. 2019, 9786138917724. hal-01589562 HAL Id: hal-01589562 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01589562 Submitted on 7 Nov 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Collected Orations of Pope Pius II. Edited and translated by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg Vol. 7: Orations 29-42 (1458-1459) 4th version 2019 0 Abstract Volume 7 of the Collected Orations of Pope Pius II contains fourteen orations held by Pius II in the first year after his election. Ten of them are responses to ambassadors presenting their prince’s obedience to the new pope. One is an oration to the papal court and ambassadors in Rome on summoning a Congress in Manta to discuss a crusade against the Turks. Two orations were addressed to the government of the City of Siena, one on the occasion of the bestowal of the papal Golden Rose on Siena, and another in response to certain political concessions by the city government to the pope.
    [Show full text]
  • Early Modern Catholic Reform and the Synod of Pistoia Shaun London Blanchard Marquette University
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Eighteenth-Century Forerunners of Vatican II: Early Modern Catholic Reform and the Synod of Pistoia Shaun London Blanchard Marquette University Recommended Citation Blanchard, Shaun London, "Eighteenth-Century Forerunners of Vatican II: Early Modern Catholic Reform and the Synod of Pistoia" (2018). Dissertations (2009 -). 774. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/774 EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FORERUNNERS OF VATICAN II: EARLY MODERN CATHOLIC REFORM AND THE SYNOD OF PISTOIA by Shaun L. Blanchard, B.A., MSt. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2018 ABSTRACT EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FORERUNNERS OF VATICAN II: EARLY MODERN CATHOLIC REFORM AND THE SYNOD OF PISTOIA Shaun L. Blanchard Marquette University, 2018 This dissertation sheds further light on the nature of church reform and the roots of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) through a study of eighteenth-century Catholic reformers who anticipated Vatican II. The most striking of these examples is the Synod of Pistoia (1786), the high-water mark of “late Jansenism.” Most of the reforms of the Synod were harshly condemned by Pope Pius VI in the Bull Auctorem fidei (1794), and late Jansenism was totally discredited in the increasingly ultramontane nineteenth-century Catholic Church. Nevertheless, many of the reforms implicit or explicit in the Pistoian agenda – such as an exaltation of the role of bishops, an emphasis on infallibility as a gift to the entire church, religious liberty, a simpler and more comprehensible liturgy that incorporates the vernacular, and the encouragement of lay Bible reading and Christocentric devotions – were officially promulgated at Vatican II.
    [Show full text]