Chapter 12-3 Crisis in the Church

1. Chapter 12-3Crisis in the Church • Issues: • Prayer did not deliver us from the plague • Many priests fled during the plague • Corruption in the Church: • Simony • Pluralism • Selling of indulgences • Lack of chastity for priests, illiteracy, drunkenness, etc.

2. Early efforts to Reform Failed • Cistercians, Franciscans, Dominicans… • Power and wealth of Church resented by all • Led to the Babylonian Captivity • Referred to the time when the Hebrews were held for 70 years in Mesopotamian Babylonia • 1309-1376 Seven successive popes ruled from Avignon, France

3. Babylonian Captivity • Philip the Fair (France) tried to tax Church officials in France • Pope Boniface issued a Papal Bull against it • 1303 Philip had Boniface captured but Boniface was rescued • 1309 next Pope, Clement V was pressured to settle in SE France…was too ill to resist • The next 6 as well

4. The Babylonian Captivity • Popes lived in the lap of luxury BUT were prisoners • Concerned themselves with Church finances not the flock • Philip had effectively gained control over the Church • Italian economy destroyed…lack of trade, visitors, authority

5. How it ended • 1377 Pope Gregory went back to Rome but died soon after • Italian mobs cut off roads and ports to foreigners • Demanded that cardinals choose a Roman Pope • They did: Pope Urban VI • He was reform-minded BUT tactless, arrogant, etc.

6. To the Great Schism • Urban alienated his Cardinals • Many slipped out of Rome went to Anagni • Declared Urban’s election invalid • Elected new Pope: Clement VII (cousin of French king Charles V of France) • Clement was known as the Antipope and ruled from Avignon • Now 2 Popes =Schism lasted to 1417

7. Effects of the Schism • Common people confused and lost trust • European powers sided with Popes based on politics • Spoloto (Spanish law professor): The longer the Schism lasts, the worse for the Church. • The Conciliar Movement: claimed the rift could be mended

8. The Conciliar Movement • Pope to remain as head of the Church BUT • To derive power from the whole Christian community • Wanted assemblies, frequent meetings • Wanted Constitutional form of the Church • Neither Pope willing to share power with an assembly or limit power with a Constitution

9. Challenges to the Church BEFORE the Schism • 1324 Marsiglio of Padua wrote Defensor Pacis: • Challenged Church authority • Church should not own property • Church was subordinate to the State • Scripture did NOT give the Pope or the Church secular authority • Padua was later excommunicated

10. Other Challenges • John Wyclif (1330-1384) English Scholar • Said Scriptures, not Pope, should be the standard of belief • Scriptures did not mention temporal power for Pope • Said people should read and interpret the Bible for themselves • Denounced veneration of Saints, pilgrimages, absenteeism, pluralism, other corruption

11. John Wyclif • Said: Every Christian free of mortal sin possessed lordship • Was the cause of the Peasant Revolt (1381) • Was huge • Also led by John Ball • One cause of the end of serfdom in England by 1550

12. Wyclif • Many believed Wyclif to be precursor to Reformation • Was condemned by Church authorities • But had a big following: the Lollards • Means mumblers of prayers and psalms • Belief that women should be able to preach and consecrate the Eucharist…so many women Lollards

13. The Schism continued • Two Popes, two colleges of Cardinals • 1409 All met at Pisa to end the Schism • Elected a third Pope • BUT others would not step down • Now…3 POPES! • HRE Sigismund to solve the problem with…

14. 1414 The Council of Constance • 3 Goals: • Solve the Schism (it did) • Reform the Church (it did not) • Wipe out Heresy (it did not) • Included 3 Popes, HRE, 29 Cardinals, 33 Archbishops, 100 Abbots, 4,000 priests, 300 Doctors of Theology and 1500 prostitutes

15. Jan Hus • Had been invited to the Council of Constance by HRE Sigismund • Had been promised safe passage • BUT was arrested and burned to death • Big repercussions in Bohemia • Who was he?

16. Jan Hus (1369-1415) continued • A Bohemian priest educated at Charles University in Prague • Preached in the vernacular (Czech) • Alienated Germans there • Argued for academic freedom of exchange of ideas • Preached against selling of indulgences, superstition, etc.

17. Jan Hus continued • Was humble and lived austerely • Was introduced to Wyclif’s ideas but not a follower • Became President o Charles University • Prague had largest % of pop in an urban center • Said Church was over-endowed • People agreed • Went into exile and wrote On the Church

18. On the Church • Challenged Papal authority • Deplored Church abuses • Defended Ultraquism (the practice of the reception of the Eucharist in BOTH species: bread and wine) • Defended Transubstantiation: Bread and wine BECOME the body and blood of Christ when blessed...not just a symbol

19. On the Church continued • Said Church derived its authority from Scripture, conscience, tradition • Later reformers (like Luther) said authority was derived only from Scripture • Hus only wanted reform • He did not want to leave the Church or form a movement within the Church

20. The end of Hus • Was invited as a reformer to Council of Constance and guaranteed safe passage • Was arrested and found guilty of heresy • His books were banned, was stripped of his priesthood and burned at the stake • Huge protests in Bohemia • Letter was sent representing all classes rejecting the Council’s ruling= first time ecclesiastical decision was publically defied

21. The end of Hus I promise • Czech people, clerics, nobles insisted on clerical poverty and communion under both species • 1990 Czech Parliament declared day of Hus’ execution a national holiday (7-6-1415) • At Constance new pope = Martin V • Others stepped down