The Gregorian reforms refer to a chain of reforms that were rolled out by Pope Gregory VII that largely touched on moral integrity and independence of the clergy in the Roman Catholic Church. Gregory VII asserted that like his regnal name the reforms were in honour of Gregory the Great. The reforms he initiated were based on his conviction that God founded the church and He bestowed the church with the assignment of embracing all humanity in a single law where His divine will is the only law (Robinson, 2004, p. 12). The reforms target was to put the church back to its original purity and outlaw simony and clerical marriages. The reforms overhauled the organization of the church to institute a hierarchical structure with the Pope at the top (Cushin, 2005, p.19). The reforms lay emphasis on the core role of priesthood and sacraments in the lives of Christians and the utmost importance of morally upright clergy. Further, the reformists emphasized on the separation of the church from the state. One interesting thing to note about Gregory VII is that he believed in the supremacy of the church over the state, and at no time would he refer to them as being equal (Thatcher and McNeal, 2014 p. 136).
It is arguable that the papal reforms began when Pope Leo IX was appointed as the pope in 1049 who introduced the concept of papal authority. Leo upon his appointment demanded from the bishops to confirm that they were innocent of committing simony. He condemned both simony and clerical marriages. Leo’s reign faced many set backs but is particularly important in the history of the church because his legislation formed the basis for the later reforms. He brought in like-minded clerics who were committed to reforms important to note is Humbert a...
... middle of paper ...
...include
i. The Gregorian reforms were able to introduce mandatory celibacy among the clergy and eradicate simony at their time. ii. Simony a common practise was eradicated through the Gregorian reforms. “...who appertain to that realm, shall be made in your presence, without simony or any violence; on condition that...”(Primary Sources for Investiture Lecture p. 1). iii. Pope Nicholas II (1058-1061) had issued a decree that placed the election of popes in the hand of cardinal and Gregory furthered this decree, which eliminated lay investiture. iv. The reformers successfully established the hierarchical structure in the church with the pope being the supreme leader.
The failure by Gregory is observed in his ugly relationship with Henry that threatened to overshadow his reforms. Gregory died in exile but the Cardinal voted in his successor a clear success over Henry.
The living lost all sense of morality and justice, and a new attitude toward the church emerged. Medieval people could find no Divine reason for the four-year nightmare, and dissatisfaction with the church gave impetus to reform movements that eventually broke apart the unity of the Catholic Church.
As the Roman Catholic Church began its restructuring, Parliament passed a proviso that enabled them to control the public acts of Catholics. According to Bowen the proviso banned Roman Catholics from:
...ry reason to rid himself of temporal goods, and his secular desires. Cluniacs would develop Williams theory by addressing their most needy issues, lay involvement in ecclesiastical appointments. In 1073, a cluniac monk named Hildebrand took the name Gregory VII and was ordained pope. He quickly set out to reform corruption in Europe. He was an intense advocate of Clergy supremacy over secular authority, thus it became quite apparent during his reign that he aimed to end caesaropapism and announce the true power and authority of the church. A conflict arose between him and the Holy Roman Emperor over Lay Investiture. Pope Gregory VII saw that simony, and secular allegiance were two aspects of Emperor Henry IV’s appointments. In an initial address to Henry, Gregory adamantly professed Ecclesiastical authority over Henry’s appointments, and consequently they should end.
The Roman Catholic Church greatly influenced the lives of many people during the medieval times. At the head of the Roman Catholic Church was the pope. Followers believed that the pope was the representative of Jesus on earth. The spiritual classes below the pope were the cardinals, the archbishops, the bishops, and finally the local priests. This was a very efficient system where each class ruled, and directed each class below them. Peasants, of course, were all the way at the bottom of the social class system, but took up 95% of the population. Their lives were very closely tied to their local churches. The main responsibility of the Roman Catholic Church was to serve the spiritual needs of medieval society, and to get people to heaven. This slowly started to change as soon as the Church turned to their corrupt ways to control the people. The Church owned everything from land, to even peoples souls! Going against the Roman Catholic Church was absolutely unacceptable. Not only would you be
Through the years from the medieval ages up until now, the Roman Catholic Church has always had a major influential presence in all walks of life for European people, whether it was for taxation, the establishing of laws, the rise and fall of monarchs, and even daily social life. Furthermore, the Catholic Church held such power that they could even appoint and dispose of great kings with just the writing of the pen. However, their power started to wane once human curiosity overcome ignorance and blind obedience. For example, the Enlightenment Age brought a series of shocking blows to the Church’s power such as disproving the Church’s theory of geocentricism and presented an age of questioning and secularism. In essence, by looking at the Church’s
It is acknowledged that at this time the Church community has not yet reached its highest potential and is faced with the limitations of human shortcomings and temporal constrictions. With an understanding of its abilities and its boundaries, the Church seeks to work with the world community to come closer to the life to which God calls the world." As this quote from one of the Documents in Vatican II states, the Church needs to have a relationship with the "outside world" as the Church itself is comprised of humans. And that the Church has a good relationship with the outside world is necessary for the Church to reach its highest potential. These are some of the changes that took place in Vatican II and naming all of them would not be necessary. The modern Church is the way it is because of most of what happened in Vatican II.
attempts to do so. It created social change in Europe but did not reform the Church, which was its
Roles of the Catholic Church in Western civilization has been scrambled with the times past and development of Western society. Regardless of the fact that the West is no longer entirely Catholic, the Catholic tradition is still strong in Western countries. The church has been a very important foundation of public facilities like schooling, Western art, culture and philosophy; and influential player in religion. In many ways it has wanted to have an impact on Western approaches to pros and cons in numerous areas. It has over many periods of time, spread the teachings of Jesus within the Western World and remains a foundation of continuousness connecting recent Western culture to old Western culture.-
discussions. Leo the Great set new standards for the bishop of Rome and left poeple to
The period of the Protestant Reformation was a troubling time for the Catholic Church. During this time the church was one of the most formidable organization throughout the land. The church had power, land, and was aligned with several influential people and governments. Any type of major change was difficult for the church to embrace. This is one reason why much of the doctrine and formalities remained the same for many years (west civ book). However, there were several men that had tried to change some of the principles throughout the church. The Reformation was not the work of a single person, but the work of many who over time disagreed with certain ideas that were either doctrine or beliefs that the church held. This made the Catholic church
The most effective of these new orders was the Jesuit. Credit for a majority of the growth in the Catholic Church during the Counter Re...
...d Europe and Asia to share the Catholic faith to everyone who was willing to hear them speak. The most dominant change that the Roman Catholic Church made was the establishment of Jesuit schools. The Jesuit schools organized catechism classes in Italy in the early sixteenth century and taught kids about the fundamentals of the Catholic Church. The Church made many improvements to persuade all individuals to accept the Catholic faith.
Through out the course of human history, there are things that occur that cause change. Change that incites a movement, change that causes people to rise up, change that lights a fire to the deepest part of the human soul. But as we all know, to any effect there has to be something that caused that cause. Throughout history there have been many events that have occurred that have shaped the way we view our lives, but the impact the people at the period must have felt would be monumental. There is a period in history that incited much change in our world and that is the time period that we have come to know as the Catholic Counter-Reformation. This period of time prior to the Thirty Year’s War was a direct effect of the Protestant Reformation and was a revival of sorts of Roman Catholicism and a huge reform movement from within the Church’s foundation in Rome that spread throughout all of Europe. This impact is one that would ripple throughout the ages, one that would change the course of the Roman Catholic Church’s history.
The Church was run by a Pope, monks, and nuns, and priests. The Pope was the head of the Catholic Church. The Pope was views as God’s representative, and the populous looked up to them on how to live and pray. It was the Pope’s choice, to decide what the church would teach. Pope Benedict forced all monks and nuns to take three vows, in order to practice in the Church. A vow of poverty, to give up all worldly goods; a vow of chastity to stay single; a vow of obedience to promise to obey the church and the rules of the monastery (Benedictine Rules). Nuns were women who prayed, weaved, practiced teaching, and wrote books, while monks devoted majority of their lives to the discipline of prayer.
The Church was at its strongest in the thirteenth century, but within a few years of entering the fourteenth it entered a series of crises that would all but destroy it (and certainly destroyed its hold over the minds and hearts of many Europeans).