Eleventh Century

Papal Schism, Church Reform, New Orders, First Crusade, Great Schism

            Papal Schism: Extending from the previous century, the troubles of the papacy continued, and at one time there were no fewer than three popes, each of whom had one of the three chief churches of Rome, and each claimed to be the only true pope. But this state of things was such a scandal that the emperor, Henry III, was invited from Germany to put an end to it, and for this purpose he held a council at Sutri, not far from Rome, in 1046. Two of the popes were set aside, and the third, Gregory VI, who was the best of the three, was drawn to confess that he had given money to get his office, because he wished to use the power of the papacy to bring about some kind of reform. But on this he was told that he had been guilty of simony--a sin which takes its name from Simon the sorcerer, in the Acts of the Apostles (Ch 8) and which means the buying of spiritual things with money. This had never struck Gregory before; but when told of it by the council he had no choice but to lay aside his papal robes, and the emperor put one of his own German bishops into the papacy.

            Church Reform: A century and a half of weak popes ends by the middle of the century, and papal authority begins to increase. Pope St. Gregory VII (1073-1085), "Hildebrand," elected pope in 1073, moves to reform the church with emphasis on priestly celibacy and complete freedom of the Church from the State.

            New Orders:  (1) The Carthusians were founded in 1074 by St. Bruno, the German who founded the Carthusian Order in France in the desert of Chartreuse (from which comes the word Carthusians). Contemplative Catholic monks and nuns, solitaries like Saint Bruno, striving to be faithful to God. The Carthusian does not live alone as the Carthusian monastery is a community. Nevertheless, he will pass the greater part of his life in his cell where he prays, works, takes his meals and sleeps. During the course of the week, he only leaves three times a days for offices and communal mass: in the middle of the night, the Night Office, the morning Eucharist and Vespers towards the night.
(2) The Cistercians were founded in 1098 in Citeaux (Cisterce) seeking to live a life in stricter conformity to the Rule of St. Benedict. A century later the total had grown to 647 abbeys stretching from Ireland and Scotland to Poland, and from northern Norway to Sicily, with well over 20,000 monks on the rolls.

            First Crusade: The expansion of Islam continues to occupy Christian thought and activities. In 1009 Moslems sack the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. At the Council of Clermont (1095) Pope Blessed Urban II preached a sermon that started the First Crusade (1095-1100) to reclaim Jerusalem from the Moslems. In 1099 the Crusaders take Jerusalem. The Crusades were a series of wars initiated by Christians to win back their holy lands from Muslims, with a total of 8 Crusades in almost 200 years. Skeptics have pointed to the Crusades as a sign of corruption in the Church. A thorough history of the Crusades which answer the skeptics will be found at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04543c.htm

            The Great Schism (1054): Eastern Orthodox vs. Western Roman Catholic: The problem here started with Photius in the Ninth Century, and the Iconoclastic controversy in the Eight Century. Brewing for centuries, rupture finally comes to a head in 1054. The immediate issue was the "filioque clause”, that "the Holy Ghost proceeds "from the Father and the Son" ("filioque"), says the Catholics, and the Orthodox claim "from the Father alone". But the key issue was that the Orthodox denied the supremacy of the Pope.       The Roman Catholic Church maintains that the Pope is the successor of Peter, the head of the entire Church before the split and after the Schism. The "official" schism in 1054 was the excommunication of Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople, followed by his excommunication of the Pope's representative. The personal excommunications were mutually rescinded by the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople in the 1960s, although the schism is not at all healed.

            One sometimes sees it asserted either that the Eastern Orthodox Church or the Roman Catholic Church was founded at the time of this great schism. That is false. The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church was ruled by five patriarchs: those of Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem, each having authority over bishops in a specified geographic territory. Although the five split from each other, none was a newly founded organization. Each group took (and still today takes) the view that it is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and the other group left that church at the time of the schism.

            The Orthodox do not accept the supremacy of the Pope, as the only successor of Peter. The Orthodox do not have a central authority. No one even claims to be the successor of "Peter", with the immense authority given to him, and only to him and his successors by Jesus in Matt.16, Jn.21, Acts.1-9. If the Orthodox could accept the authority of the Pope, as the successor of Peter, all the other differences would be immediately eliminated.

Saints:

            Pope Saint Gregory the VII: Born Hildebrand c. 1020 in Tuscany. Educated in Rome, Hildebrand was chaplain to Gregory VI, whose exile he shared. When Gregory VI died in 1047, Hildebrand entered a monastery where he remained until Leo IX called him to Rome to serve as treasurer of the church. Elected pope in 1073, Hildebrand took the name Gregory in honor of St. Gregory the Great and began to institute reforms against simony, clerical marriage, and lay investiture (the appointment of bishops, abbots, and other church officials by feudal lords and vassals). The same year, he issued the Dictatus Papae, which proclaimed the supremacy of the pope. Gregory's opposition to lay investiture led to conflict with Emperor Henry IV, who deposed Gregory at the Synod of Worms in 1076. Gregory promptly excommunicated Henry. The two were reconciled in 1077 at Canossa but had another falling out three years later. When Henry captured Rome in 1084, Robert Guiscard rescued the pope, who later fled to Monte Cassino to escape a popular rebellion against Guiscard. Gregory died in Salerno in 1085, and Paul V canonized him in 1606.

            Saint Peter Damian: Born in Ravenna on the Adriatic coast of Italy in 1007.  In 1035 he became a monk in the branch of the Benedictine Order known as the Camaldolese; these lived in cells as hermits, somewhat like Carthusians, and spent time in manual labor and study He was much concerned with sloppiness in the faith, and was in tune with the reforms of the then Pope, Leo IX, who was trying to tackle financial corruption in the Church and the ever-thorny question of clerical celibacy. Aware that all this was taking him further from his monastic roots, he begged to be allowed to return to his chosen way of life; this was granted and he spent his old age in his monastery.