contingat ut ad judicium auctoritatis vestræ pariter missos dirigamus. Indecorous Conduct of many of the Italian Bishops and Priests. Baron. An. Eccles. An. Chr. 732. Zach. P. 2. Zacharias sanctissimus et beatiss. episcopus, &c.; ita decrevit qualiter singulis capitulis nunc subter declaratur. Prim. cap. Ut Episcopi cum mulieribus omnino non habitent, ne antiqui hostis fraude decipiantur, ut juxta Apostolicam vocem non vituperetur ministerium nostrum, quia scriptum est: si quis templum Dei violaverit, disperdet illum Deus. Cavere nos oportet, fratres mei, ab illicitis, ut mundas valeamus ad Deum levare manus. Scriptum est enim, Sancti estote quoniam ego sanctus sum, dicat Do minus. Ut presbyteri vel diaconi subintroductas mulieres nullo modo secum audeant habitare, nisi forsitan matrem suam, aut proximitatem generis sibi habentes, quæ suspiciones effugiant, sicut in Synodo Nicæna continetur. Si quis verò præsumpserit præter statuta agere, sacerdotii sui privatur honore. (P. 157.) Deo autem largiente, qui illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum, præteritis annis litteras miserunt Archiepiscopi et reges provinciæ illius, petentes Apostolica præcepta, qualiter liceat eis conjugia copulare, et quomodo debeant observare. Quibus quantum Dominus dare dignatus est, admonitionis præcepta direximus. Sed neque hoc silendum est pervenisse ad nos (quod cum grandi tristitiâ animi dico) per diversa loca hujus Italie, et Longobardorum partes, sacerdotes cum sanctimonialibus fœminis, id est, monachis habitare. Quod nefandum est dicere vel audire contra canones esse sancita. Ubi enim talis fuerit commorantium habitatio, antiqui hostis stimuli non desunt; unde omninò cavendum et vitandum est, fratres mei, ne fallant, et impleatur in eis Prophetæ dictum, Sacerdotes ejus contaminant sancta, et reprobant legem, &c. Gross Immorality in England. Baronii An. Eccl. tom. ix. p. 175. An. Chr. 745. Zachar. P. 40. (Antverpiæ, 1601.) De Epistolâ scriptâ (a Bonifacio) ad Athelbaldum regem Merciorum opprobrium namque gentis nostræ patimur, sive a Christianis, sive a Paganis, quòd gens Anglorum, spreto more cæterarum gentium, et despecto Apostolico præcepto, immò Dei constitutione, legitimas uxores dedignetur habere, et, hinnientium equorum consuetudine, vel rudentium asinorum more, luxuriando et adulterando omnia turpiter fœdet et confundat. Igitur si hoc scelus verum sit, frater carissime, rogamus omnes communiter supradictum Regem ut semetipsum cum populo corrigat, ne tota gens cum principe hic et in futurum pereat, &c. hactenus Bonifacius. Quæ autem ista secuta sint ignoratur: cæterum ad meliorem frugem redditum ipsum regem litteris Bonifacii fuisse, nullus prodit; cùm tamen illud certum est, post biennium ipsum infelici exitu diem clausisse extremum. Nouvelle Bibliotheque des auteurs ecclesiastiques, &c. par Mre L. E. Dupin. Tome Sixième, des auteur du vii. et du viii. Siécle de l'Eglise. (Autrecht. 1731.) Avertissement au lecteur. Les Papes devinrent de puissans Seigneurs par la donation que Pepin et ses successeurs firent a l'Eglise de Rome, et les missions servirent a étendre leur autorité spirituelle. Il y avoit bien de l'ignorance et de la licence parmi les evêques et les clercs; et les Princes travaillérent fortement à la reforme du Clergé et de l'eglise. Enfin il y avoit beaucoup de superstition parmi le peuple, et peu de solide devotion, Great Ignorance of the French Bishops and Clergy. Abrège Chronologique de l'Histoire de France, par le Sieur Mezerai, historiographe de France. (à Paris. 1668.) Charlemagne Roi. XXIII. L'ignorance etoit affreuse parmi les Evêques, puisqu'on les obligeoit d'entendre l'oraison Dominicale, et que Charlemagne après tant de reformations eut bien de la peine a leur faire seulement quelques exhortations aux peuples. Pour dissiper ces epaisses tenebres, il fut ordonné qu'il y auroit des Ecoles dans les Evêches et dans les Abbayes; mais on n'y monstroit que les psaumes, le chant, le compot, et la grammaire. Je trouve un Capitulaire qui veut qu'on envoye les enfans apprendre la medecine, il ne dit pas où. Sous des prelats si ignorans le peuple ne pouvoit être que fort grossier et mal instruit. Toute la religion s'etoit tourné en superstitions; et il y avoit grand nombre de devins, d'enchanteurs, de tempestaires et autres gens diffamès pour malefices, qui etoient tres mechans parcequ'ils le pensoient être, ou qu'ils vouloient qu'on le crut. L'avarice des ecclesiastiques n'etoit pas moins grande que leur ignorance. Tous les conciles depuis le cinquième siècle, et tous les Capitulaires sont pleins de reglemens pour les empecher de vendre les choses Saintes. Ils prenoient de l'argent pour les ordinations, pour leurs visites, pour le Chresme, pour le baptême, pour la predication, pour la confirmation, pour toutes choses. Non obstant les corruptions que nous avons marquées, l'eglise ne laissa pas d'avoir ses lumières et ses ornamens, j'entends bon nombre de saints personnages et quelqu'uns qui n'etoient pas ignorans. Entre les Evêques* Sylvin de Toulouse, &c. CORRUPTIONS OF THE NINTH CENTURY. This was a dark age. England was desolated by the Danes, and in consequence of their ravages, learning was almost extinct among the clergy. France was almost as much harassed and spoiled by the Normans, as England was by the Danes; and France, Germany, and the north of Italy were convulsed by the civil wars waged by the descendants of Charlemagne. In this century the French Church was in a very corrupt state. In Spain, in a season of persecution, many of the Spanish Christians apostatized from the faith. An attempt was made there to banish the invocation of Saints, which was of course denounced as sacrilegious by the more superstitious of, the Spanish Church, and which is represented as being most * Mezerai mentions ten holy or learned bishops. profane by Cardinal Baronius. In Italy the Popes encouraged the patrons of images in the East; and were chiefly intent in the West upon the increase of their own authority. The Italian clergy appear to have been less disorderly and ignorant, than those of France; but some of the bishops went to the battle-field in arms; and some of them were too much given to the pleasures of the table and to field sports. And as it is not to be imagined that the Roman see could instantaneously have fallen into that sink of iniquity, wherein she will be found in the tenth century, we must presume that the Romans of the ninth century were not much distinguished by Apostolic virtues. In this century the controversy about images still continued, and Claude, bishop of Turin, vainly endeavoured to get rid of them; there was also a warm controversy on transubstantiation, and some controversy on the doctrines of grace and predestination. Towards the close of the century Pope Stephen VII. immortalized himself by digging up the body of his predecessor, Pope Formosus, cutting off three of his fingers, and casting his body, with a stone fastened to its neck, into the Tiber. Great Corruption of the English People. Rerum Anglicanarum Scriptores post Bedam præcipui, &c. (Francofurti, 1601.) Rogeri de Hoveden Annalium pars prior. p. 413. In principio historiæ nostræ quinque plagis percussam diximus Britanniam, quorum de quarta, quæ per Danos facta est, præsenti libro tractabimus, &c. &c. Cur autem tanto furore Dei justitia in eos desæviret, vel quare tam fortiter ira ejus exarsit, causa hæc est. In Anglorum primitivâ ecclesiâ religio clarissimé splenduit; ita ut reges et reginæ, duces et principes, et ecclesiarum præsules cœlestis regni desiderio succensi vel monachatum, vel spontaneum exilium, ut præmonstravimus, appeterent. Processu verò temporis adeò in eis virtus omnis emarcuit, ut gentem nullam proditione et nequitia sibi parem esse permitterent, quod maximè apparet in historiâ Northumbræ, sicut autem in regalibus gestis impietas eorum descripta est, ita unius *This commenced An. Ch. 832. cujusque ordinis et officii homines dolo et proditioni insistebant, nec erat dedecori nisi pietas, et causa dignissima cædis innocentia. Immisit ergo eis Dominus Omnipotens, vel apum examina, gentes crudelissimas, quæ nec ætati nec sexui parcerent, scilicet Dacos cum Gothis, Northegenses cum Swathedis, Wandalos cum Fresis; qui ab exordio regni Ethelwilfi regis, usque ad adventum Normannorum et Willielmi regis per annos trecentos (al. ducentos) et triginta terram hanc vehementer affligentes et desolantes vastaverunt. Great Schism in the Eastern Church, and persecutions and contentions about the use and worship of Images. Baronii Annales Eccles. tom. ix. p. 656. An. Chr. 817. Paschalis, P. I. (Editio ut supra.) Theodori et aliorum confessorum Epist. ad Paschalem Papam. Hinc Lupi graves irruperunt in caulam Domino, porta inferi, ut olim, ruptæ sunt in ipsam: Quid hoc? Persecutionem patitur Christus cum matre et ministris. Siquidem contra imaginem incursus, prototypi est persecutio.* detentio patriarchalis capitis, exilia, et relegationes Archiepiscoporum et sacerdotum, et monachorum, monacharumque, et compedes, et vincula ferrea, tormentaque, et ad extremum mors. O horribilem auditionem! Veneranda imago Salvatoris nostri Dei, quam et dæmones perhorrescunt, contumeliis affecta, et ludibrio habita est, non solùm in regia urbe, verùm etiam in omni regione et oppido. Altaria deleta sunt, templa destructa, sacra profanata, effusus est sanguis, et effunditur eorum qui retinent evangelium. Persecutiones et exilia eorum qui adhuc reliqui sunt, &c. Under the pressure of persecution, a great apostasy from the faith in Spain, and great dismay on the part of the faithful at the suppression of the worship of the Martyrs. Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici, tom. x. p. 84. An. Chr. 852. Leo. P. IV. 6. (Antverpiæ, 1603.)† * A strange doctrine! Imagine the gates of hell warring against images. The same edition as the former one, but the volumes having been published separately, there is a slight variation in the date of the publication. |