Duffy, Eamon (2006), Saints and Sinners:A History of the Popes (3 ed.), Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-11597-0
note: 2nd edition had 1st two chapters expanded and revised
p xi Pope is spiritual leader
p 1 "The continuity between Pope and Apostles rests on traditions which stretch back almost to
the very beginning of the written records of Christianity." Well-established by 180
p 2 "Popes trace their commission from Christ through Peter, yet for Irenaeus the authority of
the Church at Rome came from its foundation by two Apostles, not by one, Peter and
Paul, not Peter alone."
by 2nd century "universally accepted" that Peter and Paul killed in AD 64 by Nero- "the
fact is that we have no reliable accounts either of Peter's later life or of the manner or
place of his death. Neither Peter nor Paul founded the Church at Rome, for there were
Christians in the city before either of the Apostles set foot there. Nor can we assume, as
Irenaeus did, that the Apostles established there a succession of bishops to carry on their
work in the city, for all the indications are that there was no single bishop at Rome for
almost a century after the deaths of the Apostles."
Christianity is oriental = born in Palestine
p 3 with 10 years of death of Jesus, Christianity spreading along Pax Romana roads and seaways
- to Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Thessalonica, Cyprus, Crete, Rome - mainly spread by Paul
of Tarsus; at Antioch, Jesus's disciples first known as Christians
p 4 In the Gospels, Peter is the leader, or spokesman, of the Apostles
p 7 "A general belief in the precedence of Rome emerged in the Christian writing of the second
century, and was accepted apparently without challenge."
p 8 Pope Paul VI declared in 1965 that bone fragments found under St Peter's were relics of St.
Peter - "unfortunately, controversy surrounds the methods and some of the findings of the
excavations, and we cannot be sure that the shrine does in fact mark the grave of Peter."
but "the mere existence of the shrine is overwhelming evidence of a very early Roman belief
that Peter had died in or near the Vatican Circus"
"most scholars accept the early Christian tradition that Peter and Paul died in Rome. Yet,
though they lived, preached and died in Rome, they did not strictly 'found' the Church
there."
p 9 originally, Christianity was a subset of Judaism
pp 9-10 "by the end of the first century the loose pattern of Christian authority of the first
generation of believers was giving way in many places to the more organised rule of a
single bishop for each city, supported by a college of elders."
P 10 the new organization spawned more heresy lots of heresy, or false teaching, with many teachers claiming to know the True
Christianity - this caused a tighter hierarchy to form to preserve what they believed to be
the Truth; Ignatius of Antioch in about 107, wrote a series of eltters to other churches,
encouraging them to listen to their bishops, no mention of a bishop in the letter to Rome -
"a strong indication that the office had not yet emerged at Rome". The letter that some
point to, where the Roman Church helps to solve disputes at Corinth not signed (attributed
to Clement) - letter sent on behalf of whole community; the letter suggests that Rome had a
group of bishops or priests, not one ruling one
still that way a generation later - "rulers of the Church" or "elders that preside over the
Church" are frequently mentioned in Rome, but no indication that a single bishop
p 11 "Rome was the hub of empire" - lots of new religions trying to take root in the city
p 12 in the first and second centuries, Christianity "was in a state of violent creative
ferment" - many, many competing versions of the gospel
p 13 All of these competing version of Christianity led what we consider orthodoxy now to rally
more around their bishops - "There is no sure way to settle on a date by which the office
of ruling bishop had emerged in Rome, and so to name the first Pope, but the process was
certainly complete by the time of Anicetus in the mid-150s" (per later pages - this is only speaking about Rome, not the Roman Empire and all of
Christianity) p 14 "well into the third century Christianity in Rome would remain turbulent, diverse, prone to
split"
p 16 by end of second century, writers were beginning to imply some deference to Rome
p 18 "By the beginning of the third century, then, the church at Rome was an acknowledged point
of reference for Christians throughout the Mediterranean world, and might even function as
a court of appeal."
P 19 bY 251 ad, Roman Church was fairly wealthy, and there may have been as many as 50,000
Christians in the city.
Roman Empire had pressure from Goths and internal issues - "the visibility and expansion of
Christianity provided an ideal scapegoat" - perhaps the traditional Roman gods were anygry
that these Christians were not honoring them - led to some persecutio
p 20 many Christians agreed to offer sacrifices to the Gods, or turn over the holy books, to
avoid the consequences. In Africa in the 4th century, Donatists emerged - thought those
who had buckled under the persecution contaminated the church and must be expelled
p 21 many bishops used the word Pope - only confined to Bishop of Rome from 6th century
p 22 During the Donatist crisis, Rome took view that baptism was valid if perofmred in name of
Trinity, regardless of whether minister who performed it was a heretic
p 23 sTephen in the 250s was the first Bishop of Rome to extert an authority over other bishops
in 3rd century, Roman empire saw a lot of civil war, disease, 25 emporers in 47 years
p 24 Diocletian launched last great Roman persecution of the Church - became a bloodbath,
primarily in East and Nort Africa
"the legacy of the persecution was to be a permanent schism in the AFrican church over the
question of communion with the lapsed"
p 25 on his deathbed in 311, emperor Galerius, who had succeeded Diocletion, "he was forced to
issue an edict of toleration for Christians"
Constantine next emporer - made Christianity the favored religion - shared values which
"the single cult...so badly lacked"
p 26 issued many edicts granting religious freed 'to Christians and all others' -public funds
allocated for Church work, Christian clergy didn't have to do some responsibilities of
public office, previously confiscated property returned; massive land grants
Constantinople move in 324
p 27 After Constantine's Edict of Milan, Christianity was pretty divided anyway; Constantine
wanted to "restore the unity of Christians" - he and those who followed him took many
measures to ensure that there was unity
first big move was against the Donatists in Carthage; in 311 they had approached
Constantine for help in deciding who the true Bishop was in Carthage - Donatists wanted
stricter rules on who could oversee sacraments
p 28 Constantine, at the time not baptised, wrote to Pope Miltiades and told him to establish an
inquiry and report back - "It was the first direct intervention by an emporer in the
affairs of the Church"
Miltiades convened a synod, which excommunicated Donatus in Oct 313
after overthrowing his rival in the East (Licinius), Constantine moved the capital to
Constantinople, where he found that there were divisions in the East - ARianism
p 29 to resolve the dispute over Arianism, Constantine summoned bishops to Council of Nicaea;
Constantine presided over some of the sessions - this was first ecumenical council - they
"would come to be recognised as having binding authority in matters of faith"; Arius
condemned over his dispute that Christ wasn't divine
pope was not at nicea, but sent 2 representatives
p 31 "The gap between Eastern and Western perceptions of the place of Rome in the wider Church
was clearly growing" - seen as early as 340
Constantine's son called for Council of Sardica to resolve differences between the two
types of Christianity - Arians excommunicated the pope; the Westerners excommunicated the
Arians and defined Rome as the place of final appeals for all matters related to
Christianity
p 33 Constantius was Arian, andhe tried to strongarm his preferred beliefs through - Pope
Liberius resisted - this first of struggles between pope and emperorer "that would dominate
the history of medieval Europe"
p 34 in Feb 380 a new emperorer, Theodosius, made Christian religion the official religion of
the empire - Arianism excluded
The Nicene creed that is used today by Catholics and Anglicans is a combination of the one
issued at Nicea and what the ARians wanted; made during Council of Constantinople - this
was a temporarily satisfactory solution
the Council of Constantinople was called by emporer Theodosius and pope did not go; the
council specified that Rome not necessarily the final court of appeals, and said that
Bishop of Constantinople would have preeminence after Bishop of Rome
Pope mad - Constantinople important only for being capital, not for religious/apostolic
reasons
p 35 rift still growing between East nad West over how important Rome should be
p 41 throughout most of hte Eastern part of the Empire, "the Pope's authority was that of the
Patriarch of the West, on a par with that of the patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and,
eventually, Constantinople and Jerusalem, over their regions."
p 42 for Gaul, Africa, and Spain, the Pope had a little more moral authority, perhaps, but not
administrativ epowe r- they chose their own bishops, held their own synods; Rome was for
special appeals, perhaps, only
p 43 Eastern Churches acknowledged that Rome deserved highest honor, but they either
ignored or denied that the this should have "practical consequences" East thought needed recognition by the Pentarchy - 5 senior patriarchs, while West thought
Pope alone was only one you needed'
p 45 after Council of Ephesus in 431, questions on divinity of Jesus; resolved at Council of
Chalcedon
p 46 in 5th century, Rome sacked, lots of barbarian armies attacking ITaly
p 48 in 476, Western Roman empire essentially gone, and Italy ruled by barbarians - now a
kingdom - "The papacy was the West's most concrete link with the Roman past and with the
living empire"
p 49 in late 5th century conflict between Constantinople and Rome "over fundamental Christian
beliefs"; many in East against Council of Chalcedon - thought Jesus fully divine
(monophysites)
Acacian schism between East and West lasted 35 years - Rome and Constantinople broke
communion with each other
p 50 King Theoderic was Arian rival popes in 498
p 51 The dispute settled by the King - who said that the one ordained first should be Pope (and
the King not Catholic, but Arian)
p 52 Emperor Justin was a Chalcedonian Catholic, and he started persecuting Arians
p 55
Justinian's wife, Theodora, managed to get a plot to have General Belisarius arrest and
demote the pop to monk, and declare the see of Rome vacant
Justinian had next pope, Vigilius, arrested
p 56 at Justinian's urging, Vigilius comdemned the Three Chapters = "reaction in the West was
volcanic" - African bishops excommunicated the pope, so Justinian allowed him to withdraw
it
p 57 because Vigilius had colluded with the emporer, he was discredited, "the prestige and
leadership gained for Rome over the previous century had been frittered away, the papacy's
reputation dragged through the mire."
p 58 this action, and the next pope's condemnation of the Three Chapters, resulted in schism
between Milan and Rome for 50 years, and for 150 years between Rome and Istria
For this most part, since Constantine the Emperoers believed themselves superior to the
Pope - they saw that Emperorer had ability to decide what was orthodoxy, who could be a
bishop, etc
p 59 bishops of East didn't challenge the Emperor's interpretation. West thought this was nuts
in 6th century, Byzantine emperor began retaking Africa and Italy; Rome population down to
30,000 by 546 (from 800,000 in AD 400); Ravenna was center of politics in italy, not Rome
p 61 Roman aristocracy began retreating into the Church - "in part, it reflected the growing
dominance of the Church in the life of the West. The call of monastic life, to
contemplation instead of action, was powerful in a world in which all action seemed to lead
to disaster, and in which the secular order seemed to be near its end."
p 63 under Pope Gregory the great and his predecessor Pelagius II, the Church would pay bribes
to the Lombard to leave Rome alone; Church also assisted in paying wages of imperial
troops, or providing food to Byzantine troops garrisoned in Rome Gregory encouraged new monastic communities
p 64 by the time of Gregory, the Church was the largest single landowner in the West - donations
from families, some from Constantinian era; papacy held lands in 15 different regions, Gaul
to Africa, Balkans to Calabria
papcy now "took on the Roman state's traditional role of feeding the people"; Gregory
strengthened pope's control over civic administration throughout Italy and the West
p 67 during Gregory's time, "the authority of the papacy was fragile everywhere."
p 68 Christianity had evolved in Ireland in a distinctive way. missionaries in the 4th century
went there; Ireland had big differences, espeically in the hierarhy and how monasticism was
approached, but still used Rome as court of appeals and still used Latin liturgy
p 69 before Gregory, "no pope had ever before thought in terms of missionary outreach to the
wold beyond the empire."; Gregory, however, decided to evangelize England
p 70 dispatched a mission in 596
p 71 for 200 years after Gregory died, English clergy "would play a crucial role in the
conversion and settling of Christianity in northern Europe"
p 72 Gregory was first monk to become pope, and he was " determine dot transform the Church by a
spirit of monastic zeal and humility"
p 73 pope-elect had to get confirmation of his appointment from Emperor before he could be
consecrated; this was often a delay of 6 months - 13 months
after Gregory's death, lots of military concern for the empire - Slavs scoured Balkans,
Persians were coming into prominance, and took Antioch in 613, then Damascus, then
Jerusalem; by 619 all Holy Land under Persian control "The very survival of the Roman way of life seemed threatened"
Byzantine army managed to drive them back around 627
with the next decade, Arab Armies, inspired by new religious movement Islam, began taking
some of the previously Christian cities - Alexandria in 642, Carthage in 698
pp 73-74 "out of this continuing crisis in the East arose a closer identification than ever between
Church and empire. The battles of the emperors were seen as holy wars, their victories the
finger of God himself."
p 74 still had monophysite issues dividing East and West and churches within East
p 75 - 76 Pope Martin refused to apply for imperial mandate in 649 and was consecreated without it 2
days after election
p 76 Pope Martin found guilty of treason in 654, flogged, and deported. primarily because he
refused the Emperor's pronouncement of monothelite nature of Christ; a new pope was chosen
p 77 Constantine IV, the next emporer, decided to reverse policy for monothelitism (had been
policy for 50 years); in 680 he summoned the Sixth General Council to Constantinople;
victory for the Chalcedons
p 78 now that Rome reconciled with empire, things got better - pope no longer had to ask
Constantinople's approval, just from his Exarch in Ravenna; taxation on Church was eased
The Fifth-Sixth Council, summoned by Justinian II, was only eastern bishops, and many of
hte measures they agreed on were opposite of what Rome required; East allowed married
priests, East did not allow fasting on Saturday, but West required it
p 79 Pope Sergius repudiated these; Italian soldiers mutinied when ordered to arrest the pope
p 80 Lombards had now been converted to Catholicism, and they wanted some of their Italian
territory back - popes could now "exert a moral influence over them which could transcend
politics" - got one Lombard king to stop besieging Rome
in the East, icons were very popular
with Muslim army advance, empire shrinking, and people wondering if God was angry with the
people
p 81 after a volancic eruption in 726, Emperor Leo III said that God was mad because of idols,
and insisted people should destroy images of Christ and of Mary
"Leo's edict was the product of profound social panic, several generations of theological
reflection by bishops and theologians, and the cummulative impact of controversy about the
person and natures of Christ." -- huge uproar in West; Pope Gregory II rejected the decree
and told Leo that he was a layman and shouldn't interfere with theology; Leo ordered that
Gregory II should be deposed
p 82 Leo began confiscating church property in southern Italy and Sicily 0 these were main
sources of Pope's income emperorer removed Greek-speaking provinces of Ilyrica, Sicily, and southern Italy from the
Pope's control over bishoprics - now they would be subject to Patriarch of Constantinople
"with Leo's confiscation of Sicily and the south, the papacy to all intents and purposes
had been cast out of the empire."
p 86 with no more emperor to even help protect, Rome soon looted by Lombards
Gregory III asked for help from Charles Martel, in Merovingian Gaul; at the time, Charles
and his son PEpin didn't want to help; they weren't kings, but mayors for the kings; acted
as king; in 750 Pepin sent an emissary to Pope Zacharias asking if he who held royal power
should have the title. the Pope said yes, leading to Pepin being elected king and crowned
in 751
p 87 in 754, Pope Stephen and Pepin made a deal; the Donation of Pepin - Pepin would try to
recover the duchy of Rome and other lands captured by Lombards
p 88 in return, Stehhen annointed him King and told the Franks to never recognize any other
royal family
the lands he captured, including Ravenna, turned over to the Pope; this was the first papal
state, which would be much like this for over 1000 years; happened in 756
p 90 now, papacy important because pope was a ruler, and it led to ruling fmailies of Rome
having a huge, and often bloody, rivalry over who would control it; popes, antipopes
Dec 771 Charlemagne, Pepin's son, became sole king of Franks
p 91 Charlemagne "believed that his staus as protector of the Roman Church gave him extensive
rights of intervention - Hadrian thought of it as interference - in papal territory."
Seventh General Council, in Niceae in 787, to resolve Iconoclasm - council adopted Pope's
view
p 96
810, Filioque Clause added to Nicene Creed in many parts of the West, including
Charlemagne's realm; this had previously been rjeected in the East, but widely held in
West; Pope said that the clause was true, but that the Creed couldn't be changed by an
emperor
p 97
in the decades after Charlemagne, inconsistency among popes as to whether Emperor had any
say over the papcy or the administration of Rome
p 98 at the same time, the emperor came to accept that Pope would crown them;
p 103 Photius affair resulted in 867 synod at Constantinople (presided over by Photio) that
excommunicated and deposed the Pope
by this time, Charlemagne's empire had disintegrated, so no real protector for the papacy
pp 103-014 "deprived of the support of empire, the papacy became the possession of the great Roman
families, a ticket to local dominance for which men were prepared to rape, murder, and
steal. A third of the popes elected between 872 and 1012 died in suspicious
circumstances."
p 104 reputation of popes during this time was very low - "and has not improved with the years"
p 105 during this time "the dominance of the Roman ruling families made impossible any real papal
initiative or consistency"
Otto I of Germany decided he wanted to reform the Christian empire and that he would
protect papacy in return for their support - got it Otto promised to restore control of lands to the Church, but pope would have to swear
fealty to emperor
pretty short-lived
p 110 In theory, at beginning of 11th century popes "were lords of the world, exercising a unique
spiritual supremacy symbolised by their exclusive right to annoint the western or 'Holy
Roman' Emperor. In practice, the popes were strictly and often humilitiatingly
subordinated to the power of the local Roman aristocracy or to the German ruling house."
p 111 German king Henry III was angry about the state of the papcy - that the office essentially
purchased; Henry called a synold in Dec 1046 at Sutri and started reforming the papacy
over next 10 years he chose 4 popes who wanted to repurify the church
p 112 this "represented the spearhead of a movement which had been stirring the Church in France
and Germany for over a century. Though it aimed at the renewal of Christian life in
general, it was intimately identified with reform of the monastic life."
most famous of the reforming monastaries was Cluny, which had been created by an aristocrat
but placed directly under protection of Holy See, so less external pressure
"Cluny gradually became the centre of a great web of religious communities" - this reform
"not primarily associated with personal austerity of living, poverty, study, and
contemplation. What Cluny offered was the beauty of holiness, monastic life conceived of
as an orderly and dignified observance of the monastic rule, the adornment of the monastic
church with splendid architecture, rich vestments and beautiful books and the elaborate
celebration of the liturgy of the hours and the Mass."
p 113 a big part of the refom through Cluny was freedom from the king, rather than freedom under
the king; at this time (mid-11th century), lay influence everywhere - "monasteries and
bishoprics were more than spiritual institutions. They were enormously wealthy social and
political corporations, controlling vast revenues and carrying a corresponding weight in
the calculations of kings." In 1066, 35 monasteries in England 0 controlled 1/6 of total
revenue in country
European rulers often controlled these, often appointing the bishops and abbots, an dusing
the revenues of these lands if they were the ones that had formed and endowed that
monastery or church; vast potential for corruption - simony common
p 114 in West, celibacy expected for all men above deacon; in East. only bishops expected to be
celibate. in practice, celibacy requirement largely ignored all over Europe - clerical
office in some areas passed from father to son
papacy in early 11th century was relatively local institution -"trapped by geography and
the politics of Rome". Leo IX travelled to Germany, France, and northern Italy hosting
reforming synods, which "attacked the evils of simony, lay investitute, and clerical
marriage."; personally deposed and excommunicated many bishops who had used simony to get
their offices; began insisting that clerics be celibate
Leo also began to transform Roman Curia from locals to international representatives of the
church
p 116 in mid-11th century, Norman mercenaries began to establish themselves against the Muslim,
Byzantine, and German rulers - soon "encroach[ing] on the southern reaches of the patrimony
of Peter". Leo led an army to war against the Normans in southern Italy; neither German
emperor or Byzantine empreror agreed to help, and Leo defeated in June 1053 and arrested by
Normans for 9 months
rift between East and west deepening - Leo, during his campaign, had installed Latin rite
in Sicily, which was under Constantinople, so Constantinople closed all Latin-rite churches
in the C city.
p 117 July 1054 Pope and Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicated each other
p 118
dueling popes in 1059; Nicholas won and continued the reform
synod at the lateran in April 1059 set a new method of electing a pope - only the
cardinals would get a say
p 119 this synod also made clerical marriage illegal Pope also now turned to Normans for an alliance - the German king was a minor and not very
supportive, therefore, of fights in ITaly Pope granted Norman aggresors in southern Italy duchies if they'd agree to be under hte
Pope in fuedal terms - Popes had never been in control of those lands
p 120 Normans agreed to enforce clerical celibacy when Spain liberated, King of Aragon agreed to be vassal to Pope and to use LAtin rite
p 121 Gregory VII instituted many reforms overlooking the fact that a previous synod had declared that one of the popes was in error ....(see next page) p 122 Gregory said that the papacy 'never will err to all eternity according to the testimony of
holy scripture.' some of the statements he made were already contested by other churches - such as that only
Pope has power to depose or appoint bishops Gregory also said Pope could depose emperors and "absolve subjects from their allegiance to
wicked rulers." - first time this had been stated
p 123 the reforms led to tension between German emperor and the papacy
p 124 Gregory actually named Henry as deposed for rebellion against the Church and told his
followers they didn't have to follow him
princes in 1076 issued an ultimatum to Henry to make him get his excommunication revoked -
Henry had to submit
p 125 but it backfired on the papacy and Gregory seen as a revolutionary, wbacking the princes Henry appointed an antipope
p 126 "no one in eleventh-century Europe thought of Church and state as separate or separable
entities. There was only one Christendom, and the conflicts between Pope and Prince arose
from conflicting claims to spiritual headship within that single entity."
p 127 Gregory didn't actually get much done - most of those he excommunicated stayed in office
pp 128-129 throughout 11th and 12th century, more canon law developed, with ecclesiastical courts;
processes, such as canonisation, became systematic and many of the powers such as this were
confined to papacy
p 129 papacy now responsible for things like dispensations for cousins to marry, right to found a
monastery - before these were very local
p 130 in the 12th century, Popes began calling regular synods - this was a change in itself, as
the Byzantine Emperor had prevoiusly done so the synods became more and more frequent - "served to consolidate a sense of episcopal
identity and collegiality"
p 131 in 12th and 13th century the papacy evolved to be a spiritual monarchy; cardinals acting as
barons - did a lot of the daily work and provided advice
p 132 Pope began to be court of first appeal for things, meaing that he "exercis[ed] direct
jurisdiction in every corner of Christendom, dispensing judgements which were built into
the precedent books and became the basis of law."
p 133 Urban II began using term curia (court) to describe adminstration of Papacy
p 134 as the Papacy struggled with finances, began to turn to patronage - this in turn increased
papal influence throughout Europe