Twelfth Century

Crusades, Canonization, Investiture, Monasticism

            The medieval papacy, at the height of its power and influence, continues to encourage crusades to liberate the Holy Land from the Moslems. After Acre had been taken by the Crusaders in 1104, the Second Crusade, headed by Louis VII, 1145-47 (supported by Bernard of Clairvaux) fails, losing Jeruasalem, with most Crusaders dying in Asia Minor; the Third was conducted by Philip Augustus and Richard Coeur-de-Lion to recapture Jerusalem.  Acre fell to the Moslems in 1191. Jerusalem was not recaptured.

            1170- Pope Alexander III established rules for the canonization of saints, the same year Saint Thomas Becket is murdered in England. Becket is canonized in 1173.
            1122- The Concordat of Worms between Henry V and Pope St. Calixtus II ended the investiture controversy. In this compromise, Henry abandoned lay investiture and the doctrine of theocratic kingship. But the pope granted the king the right to veto the appointments of bishops and abbots. 

            Monasticism continues to be main source of reforming the Church. 1115- St. Bernard of Clairvaux establishes monastery at Clairvaux. He will become the "greatest churchman of the 12th century." 1155- Carmelite Order founded.

            1120- The Templars originated in Palestine as a group of knights who took the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, whose purpose was to protect pilgrims as they traveled in the Holy Land between the coast and Jerusalem. Their name came from the location of their residence in Jerusalem, thought to be on the site of Solomon’s temple. 1190- German Hospitalers founded - later becoming the Teutonic Order.
            Gothic architecture, with its pointed arches and high, vaulted ceilings prevails in church building: 1182-Notre Dame Cathedral consecrated; 1194- Chartres Cathedral begun.

Saints:

            St. Bernard of Clairvaux: The “man of the twelfth century,” without doubt or controversy, has to be Bernard of Clairvaux. Adviser of popes, preacher of the Second Crusade, defender of the faith, healer of a schism, reformer of a monastic Order, Scripture scholar, theologian and eloquent preacher. In the year 1111, at the age of 20, Bernard left his home to join the monastic community of Citeaux. His five brothers, two uncles and some 30 young friends followed him into the monastery. Within four years a dying community had recovered enough vitality to establish a new house in the nearby valley of Wormwoods, with Bernard as abbot. His ability as arbitrator and counselor became widely known. More and more he was lured away from the monastery to settle long-standing disputes. On several of these occasions he apparently stepped on some sensitive toes in Rome. Bernard was completely dedicated to the primacy of the Roman See. He intervened in a full-blown schism and settled it in favor of the Roman pontiff against the antipope. The Holy See prevailed on Bernard to preach the Second Crusade throughout Europe. His eloquence was so overwhelming that a great army was assembled and the success of the crusade seemed assured. The ideals of the men and their leaders, however, were not those of Abbot Bernard, and the project ended as a complete military and moral disaster. Bernard felt responsible in some way for the degenerative effects of the crusade. This heavy burden possibly hastened his death, which came August 20, 1153.

            Saint Anselm: The fame of his sanctity in this cloister led William Rufus, when dangerously ill, to take him for his confessor, and to name him to the vacant see of Canterbury. With new health the king relapsed into his former sins, plundered the Church lands, scorned the archbishop's rebukes, and forbade him to go to Rome for the pallium. Anselm went, and returned only to enter into a more bitter strife with William's succesor, Henry I. This sovereign claimed the right of investing prelates with the ring and crozier, symbols of the spiritual jurisdiction which belongs to the Church alone. The worldly prelates did not scruple to call St. Anselm a traitor for his defence of the Pope's supremacy. No one took up the challenge; and to the disappointment of the king, the barons sided with the Saint, for they respected his courage, and saw that his cause was their own. Sooner than yield, the archbishop went again into exile, till at last the king was obliged to submit to the feeble but inflexible old man. In the midst of his harassing cares, St. Anselm found time for writings which have made him celebrated as the father of scholastic theology; while in metaphysics and in science he had few equals.

            Saint Thomas Becket:  As Chancellor of England he ran into conflicts (taxation, appeals to Rome, and the practice of the courts of the land punishing churchmen already punished by church courts) with Henry II. Because of these issues, he was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on December 29th, 1170.

            St. Isidore, the Farmer: He married Maria Torribia (also known as Maria de la Cabeza). She, like Isidore, became a saint. They had one son who died unexpectedly as a child. Their grief inclined them to believe their son's death to be a sign from God and consequently vowed to live a life of perfect continence. St. Isidore loved the poor and loved the animals. The miracle of the multiplication of food occurred when Isidore fed a flock of starving birds and on another time when Isidore shared his food with a large group of beggars.

Heresies:

            Petrobrosians: Peter de Bruis, a monk,  rejected the baptism of infants; condemned altars and churches; prohibited the veneration of the Cross; rejected the Mass and Holy Eucharist; and denied the utility of prayers for the dead. These errors were all condemned by the Second Council of the Lateran in 1139.
            Henricians: Henry of Lausanne, a cluniac monk, rejects the rites and authority of the Church and insisted upon personal responsibility as opposed to authority in religious matters.
            Waldenses: By Peter Waldo in 1176. The errors were: the Catholic Church erred in accepting temporal property; they condemned tithes; believed in only two sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist; held that layman could absolve from sin, but that a sinful priest could not; rejected indulgences, fasts and all the ceremonies of the Church; made no distinction between mortal and venial sins; claimed the veneration of sacred images to be idolatry, and condemned all oaths to be unlawful. Condemned by the Third Council of the Lateran in 1179.