A Source Book for Ancient Church History Part 67

Not only did the councils admit the right of the king to approve the candidate for consecration as bishop, but the kings laid down the principle that their approval was necessary. They also legislated on the affairs of the Church, _e.g._, on the election of bishops. The text may also be found in Altmann und Bernheim, _Ausgewhlte Urkunden_. Berlin, 1904, p. 1.

Ch. 1. It is our decree that the statutes of the canons be observed in all things, and those of them which have been neglected in the past because of the circ.u.mstances of the times shall hereafter be observed perpetually; so that when a bishop dies one shall be chosen for his place by the clergy and people, who is to be ordained by the metropolitan and his provincials; if the person be worthy let him be ordained by the order of the prince; but if he be chosen from the palace(237) let him be ordained on account of the merit of his person and his learning.

Ch. 2. That no bishop while living shall choose a successor, but another shall be subst.i.tuted for him when he become so indisposed that he cannot rule his church and clergy. Likewise, that while a bishop is living no one shall presume to take his place, and if one should seek it, it is on no account to be given him.

(_g_) Fredegarius Scholasticus, _Chronicon_, 75_f._ (MSL, 71:653.)

The Chronicon of Fredegarius is important, as it continues in its last book the _History of the Franks_ by Gregory of Tours. The best edition is in the MGH, _Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum_ II, ed. Krusch. An account of the work may be found in DCB, art.

Fredegarius Scholasticus. In the Frankish kingdom the higher clergy, especially the bishops, a.s.sembled with the great men of the realm in councils under the king to discuss affairs of State.

These councils have been called _concilia mixta_. They are, however, to be distinguished from the strictly ecclesiastical a.s.semblies in which the clergy alone acted. A change was introduced by Charles the Great. The following pa.s.sage shows the king consulting with the bishops, along with the other n.o.bles.

75. In the eleventh year of his reign Dagobert came to the city of Metz, because the Wends at the command of Samo still manifested their savage fury and often made inroads from their territory to lay waste the Frankish kingdom, Thuringia, and other provinces. Dagobert, coming to Metz, with the counsel of the bishops and n.o.bles, and the consent of all the great men of his kingdom, made his son, Sigibert, king of Austrasia, and a.s.signed him Metz as his seat. To Chunibert, bishop of Cologne, and the Duke Adalgisel, he committed the conduct of his palace and kingdom.(238) Also he gave to his son sufficient treasure and fitted him out with all that was appropriate to his high dignity; and whatsoever he had given him he confirmed by charters specially made out. Since then the Frankish land was sufficiently defended by the zeal of the Austrasians against the Wends.

76. When in the twelfth year of his reign a son named Chlodoveus was born by Queen Nantechilde to Dagobert, he made, with the counsel and advice of the Neustrians, an agreement with his Sigibert. All the great men and the bishops of Austrasia and the other people of Sigibert, holding up their hands, confirmed it with an oath, that after the death of Dagobert, Neustria and Burgundy, by an established ordinance, should fall to Chlodoveus; but Austrasia, because in population and extent it was equal to those lands, should belong in its entire extent to Sigibert.

(_h_) Jonas, _Vita Columbani_, chs. 9, 12, 17, 32, 33, 59, 60. (MSL, 87:1016.)

Columba.n.u.s (543-615) was the most active and successful of the Irish missionary monks laboring on the continent of Europe. In 585 Columba.n.u.s left Ireland to preach in the wilder parts of Gaul, and in 590 or 591 founded Luxeuil, which became the parent monastery of a considerable group of monastic houses. He came into conflict with the Frankish clergy on account of the Celtic mode of fixing the date of Easter [see Epistle of Columba.n.u.s among the Epistles of Gregory the Great, to whom it is addressed, Bk. IX, Ep. 127, PNF, ser. II, vol. XIII, p. 38; two other epistles on the subject in MSL, vol. 80], his monastic rule [MSL, 80:209], and his condemnatory att.i.tude toward the dissoluteness of life prevalent in Gaul among the clergy, as well as in the court. Banished from Burgundy in 610 partly for political reasons, he worked for a time in the vicinity of Lake Constance. In 612, leaving his disciple Gallus [see _Vita S. Galli_, by Walafrid Strabo, MSL, 114; English translation by C. W. Bispham, Philadelphia, 1908], he went to Italy and, having founded Bobbio, died in 615. Gallus (_ob. circa_ 640) subsequently founded the great monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, near Lake Constance. The Celtic monks on the continent abandoned their Celtic peculiarities in the ninth century and adopted the Benedictine rule.

Jonas, the author of the life of Columba.n.u.s, was a monk at Bobbio.

His life of Columba.n.u.s was written about 640; see DCB, Jonas (6). In the following, the divisions and numbering of paragraphs follow Mignes edition. There is an excellent new edition in the MGH, _Script. rerum Merovin._, ed. Krusch, 8vo, 1905.

Columba.n.u.s sets forth.

Ch. 9. Columba.n.u.s gathered such treasures of divine knowledge that even in his youth he could expound the Psalter in polished discourse and could make many other discourses, worthy of being sung and useful to teach.

Thereupon he took pains to be received into the company of monks, and sought the monastery of Benechor [in Ulster] the head of which, the blessed Commogellus, was famous for his many virtues. He was an excellent father of his monks and highly regarded because of his zeal in religion and the maintenance of discipline according to the rule. And here he began to give himself entirely to prayer and fasting and to bear the yoke of Christ, easy to those who bear it, by denying himself and taking up his cross and following Christ, that he, who was to be the teacher of others, might himself learn by teaching, and by mortification to endure in his own body what he should abundantly show forth; and he who should teach what by others ought to be fulfilled, himself first fulfilled. When many years had pa.s.sed for him in the cloister, he began to desire to wander forth, mindful of the command which the Lord gave Abraham: Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy fathers house unto a land that I will show thee [Gen. 12:1]. He confessed to Commogellus, the venerable Father, the warm desire of his heart, the desire enkindled by the fire of the Lord [Luke 12:49]; but he received no such answer as he wished. For it was a grief to Commogellus to bear the loss of a man so full of comfort.

Finally Commogellus began to take courage and place it before his heart that he ought to seek more to advance the benefit of others than to pursue his own needs. It happened not without the will of the Almighty, who had trained His pupil for future wars, that from his victories he might obtain glorious triumphs and gain joyful victories over the phalanxes of slain enemies. The abbot called Columba.n.u.s unto him and said that though it was a grief to him yet he had come to a decision useful to others, that he would remain in peace with him, would strengthen him with consolation, and give him companions for his journey men who were known for their religion.

So Columba.n.u.s in the twentieth(239) year of his life set forth, and with twelve companions under the leadership of Christ went down to the sh.o.r.e of the sea. Here they waited the grace of Almighty G.o.d that he would prosper their undertaking, if it took place with His consent; and they perceived that the will of the merciful Judge was with them. They embarked and began the dangerous journey through the straits, and crossed a smooth sea with a favorable wind, and after a quick pa.s.sage reached the coasts of Brittany.

Columba.n.u.s founds monasteries in Gaul.

Ch. 12. At that time there was a wide desert called Vosagus [the Vosges]

in which there lay a castle long since in ruins. And ancient tradition called it Anagrates [Anegray]. When the holy man reached this place, in spite of its wild isolation, its rudeness, and the rocks, he settled there with his companions, content with meagre support, mindful of the saying that man lives not by bread alone, but, satisfied with the Word of Life, he would have abundance and never hunger again unto eternity.

Ch. 17. When the number of the monks had increased rapidly, he began to think of seeking in the same desert for a better place, where he might found a monastery. And he found a place, which had formerly been strongly fortified, at a distance from the first place about eight miles, and which was called in ancient times Luxovium.(240) Here there were warm baths erected with special art. A mult.i.tude of stone idols stood here in the near-by forest, which in the old heathen times had been honored with execrable practices and profane rites. Residing here, therefore, the excellent man began to found a cloister. On hearing of this the people came to him from all sides in order to dedicate themselves to the practice of religion, so that the great crowd of monks gathered together could hardly be contained in the company of one monastery. Here the children of n.o.bles pressed to come, that, despising the scorned adornments of the world and the pomp of present wealth, they might receive eternal rewards.

When Columba.n.u.s perceived this and that from all sides the people came together for the medicines of penance, and that the walls of one monastery could not without difficulty hold so great a body of converts to the religious life, and although they were of one mind and one heart, yet it was ill fitted to the intercourse of so great a mult.i.tude, he sought out another place, which was excellent on account of its abundance of water, and founded a second monastery, which he named Fontan,(241) and placed rulers over it, of whose piety none doubted. As he now settled companies of monks in this place, he dwelt alternately in each and, filled with the Holy Ghost, he established a rule which they should observe that the prudent reader or hearer of it might know by what sort of discipline a man might become holy.

The quarrel of Columba.n.u.s with the Court.

Ch. 32. It happened one day that the holy Columba.n.u.s came to Brunichildis, who was at that time in Brocariaca.(242) When she saw him coming to the court she led to the man of G.o.d the sons of Theuderich, whom he had begotten in adultery. He asked as he saw them what they wanted of him, and Brunichildis said: They are the kings sons; strengthen them with thy blessing. But he answered: Know then that these will never hold the royal sceptre, for they have sprung from unchast.i.ty. In furious anger she commanded the boys to depart. The man of G.o.d thereupon left the royal court, and when he had crossed the threshold there arose a loud roar so that the whole house shook, and all shuddered for fear; yet the rage of the miserable woman could not be restrained. Thereupon she began to plot against the neighboring monasteries, and she caused a decree to be issued that the monks should not be allowed to move freely outside the land of the monastery, and that no one should give them any support or otherwise a.s.sist them with offerings.

Ch. 33. Against Columba.n.u.s Brunichildis excited the mind of the king and endeavored to disturb him; and she encouraged the minds of his princes, his courtiers, and great men to set the mind of the king against the man of G.o.d, and she began to urge the bishops that by vilifying the religion of Columba.n.u.s they might dishonor the rule he had given his monks to observe.

Columba.n.u.s founds Bobbio.

59. When the blessed Columba.n.u.s learned that Theudebert had been conquered by Theuderich, he left Gaul and Germany,(243) which were under Theuderich, and entered Italy where he was honorably received by Agilulf the Lombard king, who gave him permission to dwell where he wished in Italy. It happened by the will of G.o.d that, while he was in Milan, Columba.n.u.s wishing to attack and root out by the use of the Scripture the errors of the heretics, that is, the false doctrine of the Arians, lingered and composed an excellent work against them.(244)

60. While things were thus going on, a man named Jocundus came before the king and reported to him that he knew of a church of the blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, in a desert region of the Apennines, in which he learned that there were many advantages, being uncommonly fruitful and supplied with water full of fish. It was called in old time Bobium(245) on account of the brook which flowed by it; another river in the neighborhood was called Trebia, on which Hannibal, spending a winter, suffered great losses of men, horses, and elephants. Thither Columba.n.u.s removed and restored with all possible diligence the already half-ruined church in all its former beauty. The roof and the top of the temple and the ruins of the walls he repaired and set to work to construct other things necessary for a monastery.

99. Gregory the Great and the Roman Church in the Second Half of the Sixth Century

Gregory the Great was born about 540. In 573 he was appointed prefect of the city of Rome, but resigned the following year to become a monk. Having been ordained deacon, he was sent in 579 to Constantinople as papal apocrisiarius, or resident amba.s.sador at the court of the Emperor. In 586 he was back in Rome and abbot of St. Andrews, and in 590 he was elected Pope. As Pope his career was even more brilliant. He reorganized the papal finances, carried through important disciplinary measures, and advanced the cause of monasticism. His work as the organizer of missions in England, his labors to heal the Istrian schism, his relations with the Lombards, his dealings with the Church in Gaul, his controversy with Constantinople in the matter of the t.i.tle Ec.u.menical Patriarch, and other large relations and tasks indicate the range of his interests and the extent of his activities. As a theologian Gregory interpreted Augustine for the Middle Ages and was the most important and influential theologian of the West after Augustine and before the greater scholastics.

He did much to restore the prestige of his see, which had been lost in the earlier part of the sixth century. He died 604.

Additional source material: Selections from the writings of Gregory, including many of his letters, may be found in PNF, ser.

II, vols. XII and XIII; see also _A Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church_ (Oxford).

The selections under this section are arranged under four heads: (1) Relations with Gaul; (2) Relations with Constantinople; (3) Relations with the Schism in Northern Italy; (4) Relations with the Lombards; for English mission, v. infra, 100.

1. Relations with Gaul.

(_a_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Vigilium_, Reg. V, 53. (MSL, 77:782.)

The following letter was written in 595 in reply to a letter from Vigilius, bishop of Arles, asking for the pallium (DCA, art.

Pallium, also _Cath. Encyc._) and the vicariate. For the relation of the Roman see to the bishop of Arles as primate of Gaul, see E. Loening, _Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenrechts_.

The relation of the vicariate to the papacy and also to the royal power is indicated by the fact that the pallium is given in response to the request of the king. The condition of the church under Childebert is also shown; see 98 for canons bearing on simony and irregularities in connection with ordination.

As to thy having asked therein [in a letter of Vigilius to Gregory]

according to ancient custom for the use of the pallium and the vicariate of the Apostolic See, far be it from me to suspect that thou hast sought eminence of transitory power, or the adornment of external worship, in our vicariate and the pallium. But, since it is known to all whence the holy faith proceeded in the regions of Gaul, when your fraternity asks for a repet.i.tion of the early custom of the Apostolic See, what is it but that a good offspring reverts to the bosom of its mother? With willing mind therefore we grant what has been requested, lest we should seem either to withhold from you anything of the honor due to you, or to despise the pet.i.tion of our most excellent son, King Childebert.

I have learned from certain persons informing me that in the parts of Gaul and Germany no one attains to holy orders except for a consideration given. If this is so, I say it with tears, I declare it with groans, that, when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, neither will it be able to stand outwardly for long.

Another very detestable thing has also been reported to us, that some persons being laymen, through the desire of temporal glory, are tonsured on the death of bishops, and all at once are made priests.

On this account your fraternity must needs take care to admonish our most excellent son, King Childebert, that he remove entirely the stain of this sin from his kingdom, to the end that Almighty G.o.d may give him so much the greater recompense with himself as He sees him both love what He loves and shun what He hates.