A century of suffering: Plague, war and schism the road to Avignon A. POPE ST. CELESTINE V 1. Pope Nicholas IV dies in 1294, and the Cardinals cannot decide for 2 years who should succeed him. 2. Peter Murrone (compromise candidate), an 80 year old saintly hermit, is begged to accept the papacy; he reluctantly accepts taking the name, Celestine V. POPE ST. CELESTINE V 3. Though loved by the people, the political plots and weight of administration prove too much and after 5 months, he resigns, returning to his hermitage. 4. Fearing Celestine might be used by groups to cause schism, the new pope, Boniface VIII, puts Celestine in confinement, where after 10 months, dies. B. BONIFACE VIII 1. Pope Boniface VIII believed the importance of the work of the Church meant kings and lords need to bend to the will of the pope. 2. Philip the Fair (IV), king of France, goes to war with England, and in order to fund the war, decides to tax the clergy and confiscate church lands. BONIFACE VIII 3. Boniface VIII writes Clericos Laicos to condemn Philip, saying kings do not have the right to tax clergy without permission of the pope. 4. 1301 King Philip arrests Boniface VIII s nuncio papal diplomat in France on made- up charges. 5. Boniface responds with Unam Sanctam, declaring that in order to save his soul, every human being must be subject to the pope. 1
BONIFACE VIII 6. Philip calls together the Estates General to condemn and depose the pope, charging him with made- up charges. 7. With this condemnation, Philip marches with 600 men to arrest Pope Boniface VIII. 8. Boniface meets the soldiers, is captured and beaten, and dies soon after. C. THE AVIGNON PAPACY 1. Benedict XI succeeds Boniface VIII. King Philip wanted a condemnation of Boniface VIII s edicts; instead, Benedict XI condemns the individuals who had beaten and abused Boniface. 2. Within 8 months, Benedict XI is found dead, most historians believe from poisoning. THE AVIGNON PAPACY 3. After an 11 month conclave, Clement V is elected, who is a personal friend of the king of France; in order to avoid the chaos of Italy, Clement moves the papacy to the French town of Avignon, surrounding himself with French Cardinals. THE AVIGNON PAPACY 4. This would begin the Babylonian Captivity, where popes for 70 years would remain in Avignon under the control of the French king. 5. Gradually, the other rulers of Europe saw the pope as a puppet of the French king, thus justifying to themselves their own control of the Church in their domain. THE AVIGNON PAPACY 6. There would be a move among many to justify the lay control of the Church by such individuals as Marsiglio of Padua and William of Ockham, saying lay people were the true authority in the Church and secular leaders should have control over the Church. The Black Plague 2
A. FAMINE 1. 1315-1317 large scale famine strikes Europe for the first time in 200 years; 2. Widespread economic depression enters in, and peasants, in order to find security, flock to urban centers B. THE BLACK PLAGUE 1. Under these conditions, the Black Death would strike Europe from 1347-1351, causing the death of over 25 million people. 2. The plague would lay waste to the political, intellectual, and economic leadership of Europe, with entire towns and monasteries being wiped out. 3. Many priests, bishops, and members of religious orders like St. Catherine of Siena, who dedicated themselves to the care of plague victims would perish in great numbers. B. ST. JOAN OF ARC The Hundred Year s War (1337-1453) 1. Joan of Arc was born in 1412 in Domremy, France; at 13 years old she claimed to have mystical experiences of St. Michael the Archangel, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine of Alexandria, instructing her that she was to be the liberator of France and make possible the coronation of Charles VII. ST. JOAN OF ARC ST. JOAN OF ARC 2; May, 1429- After convincing the king of her sincerity (and sanity), Joan leads an army against the English at the city of Orleans, captures the city and it surroundings. 3; Despite being wounded, she moves onto the city of Rheims, where she is again victorious, and has Charles VII crowned king. 4; A year later, Joan again goes into battle, and is captured by the English, put on trial for heresy and witchcraft by a puppet of the English, Bishop Pierre Cauchon of Beauvais; King Charles leads no intervention for her life. 3
ST. JOAN OF ARC 6. Though doctors and theologians found nothing heretical or sick in Joan or her message, she was burned at the stake for heresy on May 30, 1431; 25 years later this sentence will be lifted by the pope and in 1920 she will be canonized, being declared patroness of France. Return to Rome and Schism A. ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA (1347-1380) 1. The youngest of 25 children, even as a child developed a deep relationship with God, having mystical experiences by the time she was 7 years old; she would be the first woman to have received the stigmata, or the wounds of Christ in her body. 2. At sixteen, she joined the Third Order of Dominicans, and dedicating herself to the poor and sick of Siena, especially those suffering from the plague. ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA 3. At one point she believes Christ is calling her to a more public life, and heal the wounds of the Church which was experiencing the Avignon papacy. 4. She would start to write letters and meet with the pope, where finally she convinces Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome. 5. St. Catherine also would act as an ambassador of peace for the pope, helping to negotiate peace between warring groups. ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA 6. After caring for numerous plague victims in her city of Siena, she would eventually catch the plague herself and die in 1380; she is the first female Doctor (expert of theology) of the Church. B. THE WESTERN SCHISM 1. After the death of Pope Gregory XI, who had returned to Rome, the people desired an Italian; in fact, a mob violently demanded an Italian. 2. The cardinals elect the Italian Urban VI, who became an aggressive reformer, so much so, that the French cardinals rethought their choice, and, returning to Avignon, claiming they were forced to vote for Urban, elect an anti- pope, Clement VII, beginning the Great Western Schism, with the Catholic people being unsure who is the real pope. 4
THE WESTERN SCHISM 3. Each nation and ruler would rally around their own pope; even saints were confused who the real pope was. 4. Council of Pisa (1409)- Both popes are deposed and a third is elected, the antipope Alexander V; most reject the Council of Pisa s election, yet now there were three men claiming to be pope. THE WESTERN SCHISM 5. The Council of Constance- 2 of the 3 popes abdicate and the third pope loses support; Martin V, a Roman, is elected pope, ending the schism Decline of Scholastic Philosophy and Theology and the Rise of Heresy A. JOHN WYCLIFFE 1. John Wycliffe was a professor and priest at Oxford University who had long been a critic of the temporal practices and material possessions of the Church, arguing the Church should give up all political power and practice strict poverty; through this he justified the seizure of Church lands by the king. JOHN WYCLIFFE 2. Considered a pre- Protestant thinker, he would eventually attack the authority of the pope, Scholasticism, Tradition as a source of belief in favor of Scripture alone, as well as the need for the priesthood or the sacraments. JOHN WYCLIFFE 3. He will also reject the idea that the human person has free will, saying that man was completely subject to the will of God. 4. The Lollards, those who embraced Wycliffe s ideas, helped pave the way for Protestantism in England. 5
C. JAN HUS 1. In the kingdom of Bohemia (the Czech Republic), Wycliffe s ideas enjoyed great popularity, particularly because of the growth of nationalism there, and the desire to break from the control of the Holy Roman Empire, which was seen as allied to the Roman Church. JAN HUS 2. Jan Hus, rector of the University of Prague, adopted many of Wycliffe s arguments, in his attempt to reform the Church in Bohemia. 3. He at first enjoyed support from the king and clergy, but as he moved into heresy, this support dwindled; he soon adopted many views which would be adopted later by Martin Luther, including the rejection of transubstantiation, and faith alone, apart from good works, brought salvation. JAN HUS 4. He would eventually be arrested, brought to trial, and burned at the stake for heresy; Hus would become a hero and martyr for the nationalist cause of Bohemia 6