Auricular confession, which seems to have been fully developed by the time of Innocent I.,[596:8]was required by Innocent III. after 1216 of all Church members at least once a year under penalty of exclusion from the Church. It was an essential part of the sacramentof penance and gave the priests a tremendous power over the people which was used both for good and ill. The synod of Toulouse in 1229 insisted on compulsory confession at Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. Any breach of the confessional was visited by the fourth Lateran Council with excommunication, deposition, and imprisonment for life in a monastery. Confession was the bridle by means of which the laity were guided by the priesthood, hence the Church laid more and more importance upon the necessity of the practice as a duty.
Absolution grew up as a necessary part of auricular confession. Before the thirteenth century the priest acted ministerially and used the form:domus absolvat te—misercatur tui omnipotens deus et dimittat tibi omnia peccata tua. These words are still found in the Greek Church and are also allowable in the Roman Catholic service. After the thirteenth century, however, the priest acted judicially and said:ego absolvo te. The priest's forgiveness was God's forgiveness. The requisites for absolution were: contrition of heart, promise of amendment of life, and reparation.
Extreme unction as a sacrament came into use rather late. Peter Lombard gave it fifth place among the seven sacraments. Original sin was atoned for in baptism, actual sins by penance, and extreme unction wiped away all remaining sins which would hinder the soul from entering its perfect rest. Hence it was given only to those who were mortally ill. In case of recovery, however, it could be repeated.[597:1]The eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, loins, and feet (exceptof women) were anointed with holy oil consecrated by the bishop on Maundy Thursday. Confession and communion preceded the rite. These three together constituted theviaticumof the soul on its long journey.
From the time when private meeting places gave way to places of public worship, throughout its whole career, the Church has employed art for purposes of utility and instruction. The transitional character of the thirteenth century along social, ecclesiastical, intellectual, and political lines was also strongly marked in art. In the conflict between feudalism and royalty, monarchy gradually gained ground. The problem of human right appeared along with the problem of human might. Out of the composite struggle of kings, feudal barons, popes, bishops, abbots, and free cities emerged the recognised supremacy of papal authority as the one power above and behind all others. The episcopacy stood for the rights of the Pope, on the one hand, and the rights of the people, on the other. Next to the papal supremacy, stood the kingly prerogative. Under the double patronage of the Church and the state ecclesiastical art advanced with rapid strides.
Gothic architecture reached its highest development during the thirteenth century. Europe was covered with magnificent churches, cathedrals, and monasteries. Architecture was the dominant art of the Middle Ages. The church building occupied a unique place in the community. Everybody was a member of the Church and attended the one sacred edifice in the parish. The erection and beautifying of a new church was a matter of interest to all. Local pride was deeply touched. A strong rivalry soon developed, which led each village and city to outdo their neighbours by erecting larger, more expensive, and more beautifulchapels and cathedrals. The church of that day was the centre not alone of religious activity, but also of local politics, of community business, of social gatherings, of education, and of the fine arts. It was the very heart of all life, and, hence, members lavished their affection, their time, and their wealth on it. Nothing in our community life to-day can be well compared with the church of that day. It was the town hall, art museum, club, public library, school, and church all in one. With us the religious interest of every community is divided among various denominations, while the differentiation of our other institutions has destroyed the earlier unity of interest.
The Gothic churches with pointed arches and flying buttresses lightened the masonry of the hitherto massive walls, pierced them with great, beautiful stained glass windows, and allowed the sunlight to stream into the dark interiors. Then mosaics, sculpture, fresco, and painting were used to enrich and decorate the inner parts. Mouldings and capitals, pulpits, altars, side chapels, choir screens, the wooden seats for the clergy and choristers, the reading desk, and the tombs were literally covered with carvings of leaf and flower forms, of familiar animals and grotesque monsters, of biblical scenes and ordinary incidents. The exteriors of these wonderful structures, which were marvels of lightness and delicacy of detail, were usually ornamented with an army of statues representing apostles, saints, donors, and rulers. Is it a matter of surprise that the bishops and clergy, who ruled over these Christian temples erected in love, in prayer, and in self-sacrifice, should be honoured and obeyed? These wonderful houses of religion were the glad free-will offerings of a devout and believing people to the mighty RomanCatholic Church of which they were the proud, privileged members.
A splendid picture of the beautiful devotion of the people of a region in the erection of a magnificent cathedral is found in Chartres, France. That wonderful edifice was begun in 1194 and completed in 1240. To construct a building that would beautify their city and satisfy their religious aspirations the citizens contributed of their strength and property year after year for nearly half a century. Far from home they went to the distant quarries to dig out the rock. Encouraged by their priests they might be seen, men, women, and children, yoked to clumsy carts loaded with building materials. Day after day their weary journey to and from the quarries continued. When at night they stopped, worn out with the day's toil, their spare time was given up to confession and prayer. Others laboured with more skill but with equal devotion on the great cathedral itself. As the grand edifice grew year by year from foundation stone to towers, the inhabitants watched it with pious jealousy. At length it was completed; not, however, until many who had laboured at the beginning had passed away. Its dedication and consecration marked an epoch in that part of France.
Most historians are prone to dwell upon the evils of the Church in this period, as if they far outweighed the good. Many bishops were worldly and wicked, therefore the conclusion is drawn that all bishops were of that character, whereas out of the 700 bishops in Europe a very large proportion were comparatively faithful shepherds who were striving with all their might to realise the high ideals for which the Church stood. Many of the clergy were guilty of grossimmorality, hence comes the sweeping assertion that all the clergy were unfit for their high and noble calling, while as a matter of fact, thousands of the priests obeyed the laws of the Church, led model God-fearing lives, and continually pointed out to their people the high and certain path to salvation. Abuses, corruptions, extortions, did exist in every quarter of Christendom. Bad clergymen did use their high prerogatives for base purposes. Many bishops, abbots, and priests were no more worthy to be given extensive powers in trust than the unscrupulous politicians who often secure high places in our municipal, state, and national governments. The sinecures and benefices of the Church offered the same temptations to money-making and to questionable methods that our civil offices do to-day to the dishonest and unscrupulous office-holders. But all of the officials in the Church in the thirteenth century were no more guilty of these evils than are all public men in the United States to-day addicted to the practices of the base political tricksters. It seems to be a universal fact that one bad man in the Church attracts more attention and creates more comment than a multitude of good men.
The fundamental causes of the numerous evil practices in the Church are found in the wealth and power of the Roman ecclesiastical organisation, on the one hand, and the comparatively low moral standards of civilisation, on the other. Throughout its whole remarkable career of thirteen hundred years, the Catholic Church had denounced the bad and taught the good. Unfortunately in attempting to realise the kingdom of God on earth through that organisation which was assumed to be of divine origin, life and practice did not always harmonise with the doctrinesinculcated. The ideal and the real are seldom brought to coincide in any human institutions and it would be expecting a realisation of the well-nigh impossible to hope to see the consummation of that desirable condition in the mediæval Church when all the contradictory factors and forces are taken into account. But it can be safely asserted, when all debits and credits of baneful and beneficial are given just consideration, that the mighty Church at its height was the most powerful force in Europe for justice, for mercy, for charity, for peace among men, for honesty, for temperance, for human rights, for social service, for culture, for domestic purity, for obedience to law and order, and for a noble, helpful Christian life both for individuals and states.
The sublime foundations on which the Church rested,[602:1]the marvellous history it could point to, its peerless organisation, its vast wealth, its strong grip on the faith of the people, its close alliance with the state, all combined to make its officers, the clergy, the most influential social class in Europe. In their hands were the keys of heaven and without their permission no one could hope to enter; since they were about the only educated class, they wrote the books and directed all advance along intellectual, literary, and artistic lines. In short they moulded the progress of that day. They wrote public documents and proclamations for rulers, sat in royal councils, and acted as governmental ministers.[602:2]They dominatedevery human interest, regulated more or less every phase of life in the Middle Ages, and conferred inestimable benefit upon Europe of that day and this.
The Church in this age was the dominant factor in European civilisation. It fashioned laws and dictated the policy of governments; it controlled education and intelligence; it influenced occupations and industries; it moulded social ideas and customs; and it set the standards of morality and determined the life and conduct of both this world and that to come. The Church was divided into two sharply defined classes: the laity and the priesthood. "The great division of mankind, which . . . had become complete and absolute, into the clergy . . . and the rest of mankind, still subsisted in all of its rigorous force. They were two castes, separate and standing apart as by the irrepealable law of God. They were distinct, adverse, even antagonistic, in their theory of life, in their laws, in their corporate property, in their rights, in their immunities. In the aim and object of their existence, in their social duties and position, they were set asunder by a broad, deep, impassable line."[603:1]The priesthood, with an indelible character, married to the Church, stood between God and man and tended to become "The Church."
The Church was essentially an organised state, thoroughly centralised, with one supreme head and a complete gradation of officials; with a comprehensive system of law courts for trying cases, with penalties covering all crimes, and with prisons for punishing offenders. It demanded an allegiance from all itsmembers somewhat like that existing to-day between subjects and a state. It developed one official language, the Latin, which was used to conduct its business everywhere. Thus all western Europe was one great religious association from which it was treason to revolt. Canon law punished such a crime with death, public opinion sanctioned it, and the secular arm executed the sentence.
The Church Militant was thus an army encamped on the soil of Christendom, with its outposts everywhere, subject to the most efficient discipline, animated with a common purpose, every soldier panoplied with inviolability and armed with the tremendous weapons which slew the soul. There was little that could not be dared or done by the commander of such a force, whose orders were listened to as oracles of God, from Portugal to Palestine and from Sicily to Iceland.[604:1]History records no such triumph of intellect over brute force as that which, in an age of turmoil and battle, was wrested from the fierce warriors of the time by priests who had no material force at their command, and whose power was based alone on the souls and consciences of men. Over soul and conscience their empire was complete. No Christian could hope for salvation who was not in all things an obedient son of the Church, and who was not ready to take up arms in its defence; and, in a time when faith was a determining factor of conduct, this belief created a spiritual despotism which placed all things within reach of him who could wield it.[604:2]
The Church Militant was thus an army encamped on the soil of Christendom, with its outposts everywhere, subject to the most efficient discipline, animated with a common purpose, every soldier panoplied with inviolability and armed with the tremendous weapons which slew the soul. There was little that could not be dared or done by the commander of such a force, whose orders were listened to as oracles of God, from Portugal to Palestine and from Sicily to Iceland.[604:1]
History records no such triumph of intellect over brute force as that which, in an age of turmoil and battle, was wrested from the fierce warriors of the time by priests who had no material force at their command, and whose power was based alone on the souls and consciences of men. Over soul and conscience their empire was complete. No Christian could hope for salvation who was not in all things an obedient son of the Church, and who was not ready to take up arms in its defence; and, in a time when faith was a determining factor of conduct, this belief created a spiritual despotism which placed all things within reach of him who could wield it.[604:2]
In the thirteenth century the mediæval Church was a completed institution and at the height of its power. Its rise from humble beginnings, by a multitude of explainable causes and forces, to this loftyposition is a well-nigh incredible miracle. It was very different from all modern churches whether Catholic or Protestant, yet was the mother of all of them. Both theoretically and legally all persons in western Europe belonged to it and were ruled by it, except those who were expelled from it, and thus formed one mighty religious society, the like of which has not again appeared in Christendom. Unable during subsequent centuries to meet the demands of new and higher phases of civilisation, the mediæval Church broke up into the various Christian sects of to-day.
FOOTNOTES:
[569:1]Lea,Hist. of the Inq., iii., 57.
[569:1]Lea,Hist. of the Inq., iii., 57.
[570:1]Moeller, ii., 436.
[570:1]Moeller, ii., 436.
[570:2]Munro, "The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century," inAn. Rep. Am. Hist. Assoc., 1906, i., p. 45.
[570:2]Munro, "The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century," inAn. Rep. Am. Hist. Assoc., 1906, i., p. 45.
[571:1]Munro, "The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century," inAn. Rep. Am. Hist. Assoc., 1906, i., p. 47.
[571:1]Munro, "The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century," inAn. Rep. Am. Hist. Assoc., 1906, i., p. 47.
[571:2]Robinson,Readings, i., ch. 17.
[571:2]Robinson,Readings, i., ch. 17.
[573:1]Translations and Reprints, iii., No. 6.
[573:1]Translations and Reprints, iii., No. 6.
[573:2]See Lea,Hist. of Inq., for best discussion of this institution.
[573:2]See Lea,Hist. of Inq., for best discussion of this institution.
[573:3]See Acts. xix. 19, for Biblical authority.
[573:3]See Acts. xix. 19, for Biblical authority.
[573:4]Putnam,Censorship of the Church of Rome, i., 58-61.
[573:4]Putnam,Censorship of the Church of Rome, i., 58-61.
[573:5]Ibid., 64-67.
[573:5]Ibid., 64-67.
[574:1]Neander, iv., 1-82; Kurtz, i., 120-138.
[574:1]Neander, iv., 1-82; Kurtz, i., 120-138.
[575:1]In this century it became customary for Popes to fill many benefices themselves and to receive all or half of the first year's income from those appointed.
[575:1]In this century it became customary for Popes to fill many benefices themselves and to receive all or half of the first year's income from those appointed.
[576:1]Examples: permit to cousins to marry; release of a monk from his vow.
[576:1]Examples: permit to cousins to marry; release of a monk from his vow.
[576:2]This is a narrow woollen scarf made by the nuns of St. Agnes in Rome.
[576:2]This is a narrow woollen scarf made by the nuns of St. Agnes in Rome.
[577:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 235-286.
[577:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 235-286.
[577:2]The ceremony of bell, book, and candle was the most common.
[577:2]The ceremony of bell, book, and candle was the most common.
[577:3]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 395, 397, 403, 404, 405, 412.
[577:3]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 395, 397, 403, 404, 405, 412.
[577:4]Ibid., 442, 448.
[577:4]Ibid., 442, 448.
[577:5]Ibid., 384, 463.
[577:5]Ibid., 384, 463.
[577:6]Matth. Paris,Hist. Maj., an. 1208, 1214.
[577:6]Matth. Paris,Hist. Maj., an. 1208, 1214.
[578:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 427.
[578:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 427.
[578:2]Ibid., 417, 419, 420-421, etc.
[578:2]Ibid., 417, 419, 420-421, etc.
[578:3]Ibid., 440.
[578:3]Ibid., 440.
[578:4]Ibid., 417.
[578:4]Ibid., 417.
[578:5]Ibid., 418.
[578:5]Ibid., 418.
[579:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 427.
[579:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 427.
[579:2]Ibid., 428; Agnel,Curiosités Judiciaires du Moyen-Âge, 26.
[579:2]Ibid., 428; Agnel,Curiosités Judiciaires du Moyen-Âge, 26.
[579:3]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 428.
[579:3]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 428.
[579:4]Ibid., 429.
[579:4]Ibid., 429.
[579:5]Ibid., 433. SeeTranslations and Reprints, iv., No. 4.
[579:5]Ibid., 433. SeeTranslations and Reprints, iv., No. 4.
[579:6]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 435-437.
[579:6]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 435-437.
[579:7]Ibid., 451; see Letter of Innocent III. inRegest., lib. x., ep. 79.
[579:7]Ibid., 451; see Letter of Innocent III. inRegest., lib. x., ep. 79.
[580:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 455.
[580:1]Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 455.
[580:2]Ibid., 457.
[580:2]Ibid., 457.
[580:3]Waker,Kirchliches Finanzwesen der Päpste.
[580:3]Waker,Kirchliches Finanzwesen der Päpste.
[582:1]Kurtz, i., 166.
[582:1]Kurtz, i., 166.
[582:2]Gams,Series Episcoporum Ecclesiæ Catholicæ; Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 61-109.
[582:2]Gams,Series Episcoporum Ecclesiæ Catholicæ; Lea,Stud. in Ch. Hist., 61-109.
[583:1]Some monasteries secured papal exemption from episcopal control.
[583:1]Some monasteries secured papal exemption from episcopal control.
[583:2]Froude,Short Stories of Great Subjects, 54.
[583:2]Froude,Short Stories of Great Subjects, 54.
[584:1]Smith and Cheetham,Dict. Chr. Antiq., i., 353, 355;Cath. Encyc.
[584:1]Smith and Cheetham,Dict. Chr. Antiq., i., 353, 355;Cath. Encyc.
[585:1]Kurtz, vol. i., 168. See Howson,Essay on Cathedrals; Freeman,Cathedral Church of Wells; Walcott,Cathedralia.
[585:1]Kurtz, vol. i., 168. See Howson,Essay on Cathedrals; Freeman,Cathedral Church of Wells; Walcott,Cathedralia.
[585:2]Emerton,Med. Europe, 549.
[585:2]Emerton,Med. Europe, 549.
[586:1]This power had been given to them in the reforms of Gregory VII.
[586:1]This power had been given to them in the reforms of Gregory VII.
[586:2]Robinson,Readings, i., 361.
[586:2]Robinson,Readings, i., 361.
[588:1]Urban II., Adrian IV., Alexander V., Gregory VII., Benedict XII., Nicholas V., Sixtus IV., Urban IV., John XXII., Sixtus V., were among the many Popes of humble ancestry.
[588:1]Urban II., Adrian IV., Alexander V., Gregory VII., Benedict XII., Nicholas V., Sixtus IV., Urban IV., John XXII., Sixtus V., were among the many Popes of humble ancestry.
[589:1]Anselm of Milan (9th cent.), Regino of Prüm (10th cent.), Burchard of Worms (11th cent.), Ivo of Chartres (12th cent.), and Algerius of Liege (1120).
[589:1]Anselm of Milan (9th cent.), Regino of Prüm (10th cent.), Burchard of Worms (11th cent.), Ivo of Chartres (12th cent.), and Algerius of Liege (1120).
[589:2]The best edition is by Richter. Unfortunately there is no English translation.
[589:2]The best edition is by Richter. Unfortunately there is no English translation.
[590:1]Lea,Formulary of the Papal Penitentiary, xxxi. to xxxv.
[590:1]Lea,Formulary of the Papal Penitentiary, xxxi. to xxxv.
[590:2]Ibid.
[590:2]Ibid.
[591:1]One of the most famous preachers of the 13th century was the German Franciscan, Berthold of Regensburg (d. 1272), who often preached to crowds numbering 100,000.
[591:1]One of the most famous preachers of the 13th century was the German Franciscan, Berthold of Regensburg (d. 1272), who often preached to crowds numbering 100,000.
[592:1]See Robinson,Readings, i., 348.
[592:1]See Robinson,Readings, i., 348.
[593:1]John Pegues Assinus, a doctor of Paris University, substituted the word consubstantiation.
[593:1]John Pegues Assinus, a doctor of Paris University, substituted the word consubstantiation.
[594:1]Kings, at their coronation, and sometimes at the approach of death, were by a special favour given the cup.
[594:1]Kings, at their coronation, and sometimes at the approach of death, were by a special favour given the cup.
[594:2]Alexander of Hales gave the dogmatic justification of this idea.
[594:2]Alexander of Hales gave the dogmatic justification of this idea.
[595:1]Wasserschleben,Bussordnung, Halle, 1851.
[595:1]Wasserschleben,Bussordnung, Halle, 1851.
[595:2]A journey to the Holy Land took the place of all penance.
[595:2]A journey to the Holy Land took the place of all penance.
[595:3]Mansi,Coll. Concil., xviii., 525.
[595:3]Mansi,Coll. Concil., xviii., 525.
[595:4]Fifth Canon of the Council of Ancyra in 314.
[595:4]Fifth Canon of the Council of Ancyra in 314.
[596:1]Summa, supplement, p. 3, qu. 25.
[596:1]Summa, supplement, p. 3, qu. 25.
[596:2]Summa, p. 4, qu. 23, art. 1, 2, memb. 5, 6.
[596:2]Summa, p. 4, qu. 23, art. 1, 2, memb. 5, 6.
[596:3]Lea,Indulgences, 18ff.
[596:3]Lea,Indulgences, 18ff.
[596:4]Pflugh-Harttung,Acta Pontiff., iii., n. 408; Potthast,Regest.n. 3799.
[596:4]Pflugh-Harttung,Acta Pontiff., iii., n. 408; Potthast,Regest.n. 3799.
[596:5]Lea,Indulgences, 178.
[596:5]Lea,Indulgences, 178.
[596:6]Ibid., 314.
[596:6]Ibid., 314.
[596:7]Ibid., 305, 310.
[596:7]Ibid., 305, 310.
[596:8]Epist., I Can., vii.
[596:8]Epist., I Can., vii.
[597:1]After receiving extreme unction recipients were forbidden to touch the ground again with their bare feet or to have marital intercourse.
[597:1]After receiving extreme unction recipients were forbidden to touch the ground again with their bare feet or to have marital intercourse.
[602:1]Read the bullUnam Sanctamof Boniface VIII. (1302). Robinson,Readings, i., 346.
[602:1]Read the bullUnam Sanctamof Boniface VIII. (1302). Robinson,Readings, i., 346.
[602:2]As late as the thirteenth century, an offender who wished to prove that he was a priest in order to obtain the privilege of trial by a church court had to show that he could read a single line. This was calledbenefit of clergy. See Robinson,Readings, vol. i., ch. 16; Lea,Hist. of Inq., iii., 57.
[602:2]As late as the thirteenth century, an offender who wished to prove that he was a priest in order to obtain the privilege of trial by a church court had to show that he could read a single line. This was calledbenefit of clergy. See Robinson,Readings, vol. i., ch. 16; Lea,Hist. of Inq., iii., 57.
[603:1]Milman,Lat. Christ., vi., 357.
[603:1]Milman,Lat. Christ., vi., 357.
[604:1]Lea,Hist. of the Inq., i., 4.
[604:1]Lea,Hist. of the Inq., i., 4.
[604:2]Ibid., i., 1.
[604:2]Ibid., i., 1.