crosier, the symbols of episcopal power and dignity, was a circumstance which rendered this ceremony of investiture still more significant and perilous.

It was absolutely necessary for the Church to liberate herself from this degrading servitude, and no sooner was she in a position to make the attempt than all her efforts were directed to this end. In the first year of the pontificate of Leo IX., there was a decree passed in the Synod of Rheims (A. D. 1049), enacting that, for the future, no one should be permitted to receive episcopal consecration who had not first been elected by the clergy and the people.2

It is a consolation to know that, even in these evil days, when the Church was oppressed and in a state of dependence, there were still those who were courageous and bold enough to utter a protest against the encroachments of the civil power, and to remind princes of the words of Charlemagne. "I am," said he, "but the defender and dutiful servant of the Church." "There is," says the Council of St. Macra (A. D. 881), "a wide distinction between the sacerdotal and the

homagium, to King Charles the Bald, to whom he promised fidelity, "sicut homo suo seniori."

1 Even Clovis had said (Diplom. an. 508): "Quidquid est fisci nostri per annulum tradimus." (In Bouquet, T. IV., p. 616.)

Of Clovis II. (A. D. 623), it is said in Vita S. Romani Eppi. Rothomag.: "Baculum illi contulit pastoralem."

In Germany, kings claimed the right of nominating to bishoprics in virtue of foundations, endowments, extensive grants, and privileges, for which the episcopal sees were wholly indebted to the munificence and liberality of either them or their predecessors. For this reason, even when it happened that the king did not appoint, the representatives of the clergy and of the lay vassals brought the ring and crosier of the deceased bishop to him, and requested him to confirm the election. Not unfrequently the king was directly asked to nominate a bishop. The ring and crosier were first employed in the tenth century as the distinctive symbols of episcopal investiture, their use being analogous to that of the sword and lance in the creation of civil or military functionaries. (Nat. Alex. Hist. Eccl. saec., XI. et XII., diss. IV.)

2 Conc. Remense., can. I.-III.: Ne quis sine electione cleri et populi ad regime i ecclesiasticum proveheretur. Ne quis sacros ordines, aut ministeria ecclesiastica vel altaria emeret aut venderet. - Et si quis Clericorum emisset, id cum digna satisfactione suo Episcopo redderet. Ne quis laicorum ecclesiasticum ministerium vel altaria teneret, nec episcoporum quibus consentirent. (Mansi, T. XIX., p. 741. Harduin, T. VI., Pt. J., p. 1006.)

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royal power. The dignity of bishops is superior to that of kings, inasmuch as bishops anoint kings and answer for their conduct before God." Of course, a complete separation of Church and State, under the then existing constitution of the of the Christian States of Germany, would have been impossible; nor was anything of this character contemplated by the council. And, in matter of fact, the bishops exercised a very great, and, at times, decisive and sovereign, influence in the most important secular affairs; as, for example, when there was question of the right of succession.

Again, the coronation of kings2 deeply impressed the minds of the people with the importance of those to whom it belonged to perform the ceremony. Theodosius the Younger was the first instance, in the East Roman Empire, of royal

1 1Cap. I., in Mansi, T. XVII., p. 538. Harduin, T. VI., Pt. I., p. 350 sq.; likewise, Conc. Troslejan., a. 909, cap. II., in Mansi, T. XVIII., p. 267. Harduin, 1. c., p. 507. Constant reference was made to the words of Pope Gelasius, Vol. I., p. 650, note 1. It is a very significant fact, that Archbishop Hincmar of Rheims, who, while acknowledging and defending the relative independence of Church and State within their respective spheres of action, maintained the spiritual superiority of the ecclesiastical over the civil power.

2 The sixth Council of Paris, addressing kings, uses the following forcible language: “Rex a recte agendo vocatur. Si enim pie et juste et misericorditer regit, merito rex appellatur: si his caruerit, non rex, sed tyrannus est. Antiqui autem omnes reges tyrannos vocabant: sed postea pie et juste et misericorditer regentes regis nomen sunt adepti: impie vero, injuste crudeliterque principantibus non regis, sed tyrannicum aptatum est nomen. Regale ministerium spe

cialiter est populum Dei gubernare, et regere cum aequitate et justitia, et ut pacem et concordiam habeant studere. Ipse enim debet primo defensor esse ecclesiarum et servorum Dei, viduarum, orphanorum caeterorumque pauperum, nec non et omnium indigentium.' (Mansi, T. XIV., pp. 574, 577. Harduin, T. IV., pp. 1332, 1334.)

After Lothaire had been deposed by the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle (A. D. 842), the bishops refused to give his brothers possession of his realm until they had promised to rule according to the will of God, and not arbitrarily, as their brother had done. "Verumtamen," says Nithard, "haudquaquam illis hanc licentiam dedere (regendi regni), donec palam illos percontati sunt, utrum illud. per vestigia fratris ejecti, an secundum Dei voluntatem regere voluissent. Respondentibus autem, in quantum nosse ac posse Deus illis concederet, secundum suam voluntatem, se et suos gubernare et regere velle, ajunt: Et auctoritate divina, et illud suscipiatis, et secundum Dei voluntatem illud regatis, monemus, hortamur atque praecipimus." Cf. also Höfler, The German Popes, Pt. II., p. 327. A later formulary of coronation contains the following words: "Bene est ut te prius de onere, ad quod destinaris, moneamus. Regiam hodie suscipia

coronation by a bishop, and in the Germano-Christian States, the Visigoth kings of Spain, Wamba and Ervig. Before receiving the crown, the king made a profession of Catholic faith, and promised to defend the rights of the Church and maintain her liberties, after which the bishop transferred to him the sword, the crown, and the scepter, the symbols of royal authority, explaining the symbolical meaning of each in turn, and exhorting the recipient to faithfully perform the duties which they implied. Thus, for example, Eugene II., in speaking of this matter, warns Christian princes not to draw the sword against each other, but to use it only against barbarous nations and against the Saracens and Normans. In France, the right of anointing kings was confined to the Archbishop of Rheims, and in Germany to one of the Rhenish archbishops. It was not long before the custom of anointing queens was introduced. The first to receive this distinction were Irmentrude, the queen of Charles the Bald (A. D. 866), and Judith, his daughter, who had married the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelwolf (A. D. 856).

§ 193. Ecclesiastical Supremacy of the Popes.

At no time in the previous history of the Church was more ecclesiastical authority concentrated in the Supreme Head at Rome, and at no time were the bishops more free in the exercise of theirs. The latter was a consequence of the former, for the greater the authority of the Pope, the more ready and able he is to protect the rights of bishops. Thus, for example, Ariald and Landulf would have had no chance of achieving a victory in their conflict against the immoral priests of Milan, had they not maintained intimate relations with the Holy See. Wherever the authority of the Holy See did not

dignitatem, praeclarum sane inter mortales locum, sed discriminis, laboris et anxietatis plenum. Verum si consideraveris, quod omnis potestas e domino Deo est, per quem reges regnant, tu quoque de grege tibi commisso ipsi Deo rationem es redditurus." See Phillips, C. L., Vol. III., Pt. I., p. 68.

1 Conf. Conc. Toletan. XII., a. 681, cap. I.: Etenim sub qua pace vel ordine serenissimus Ervigius princeps regni conscenderit culmen, regnandique per sacrosanctam unctionem susceperit potestatem, etc. Harduin, T. III., p. 1718

reach, and its influence was not felt, morals decayed and discipline relaxed.

That the authority of the Popes, in itself intrinsically necessary and required to meet the wants of the people, and which increased and became more and more a blessing to the Church as time went on, was in truth supreme, is established by the following facts: 1. The Popes promulgated general laws in ecclesiastical government and discipline, and made them binding upon the universal Church. Furthermore, it was conceded that these possessed this universal binding force by the fact that they were accepted as authoritative before they had been admitted into any of the more ancient and recognized collections of canon law, or into that of the pseudo-Isidore, or the Deacon of Mentz, or Benedict the Levite, or Abbot Regino of Prüm, or Burkhard, Bishop of Worms, all of which were then in general use. 2. They exercised judiciary powers over bishops, notably when appeals were made to Rome. 3. They called bishops, particularly those of the Frankish Empire, to attend councils held in Rome-a usage derived from the patriarchs of an earlier age. 4. They established new dioceses and introduced changes into old ones. 5. They conferred the pallium and permitted the exercise of the metropolitan rights of which it was symbolical. 6. They frequently gave their definite approval to the resignations of bishops, although these might have been previously accepted in provincial councils. 7. They granted exceptional privileges to churches and monasteries. 8. They sent Vicars Apostolic, clothed with extensive powers, on em

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1 Conc. Pontigonense, a. 876. Ut quoties utilitas ecclesiastica dictaverit, sive in evocanda synodo, sive in aliis negotiis exercendis, per Gallias et Germanias Apostolica vice fruatur, et decreta sedis Apostolicae per ipsum episcopis manifesta efficiantur: et rursus qua gesta fuerint ejus relatione, si necesse fuerit Apostolicae sedi pandantur, et majora negotia ac difficiliora quaeque suggestione ipsius a sede Apostolica disponenda et enucleanda quaerantur. Mansi, T. XVII., p. 308. Harduin, T. VI., Pt. I., p. 167. Cf. also Stephani V. decretum, in Gratian., Pt. I,, dist. XIX., c. 4.

2 Cf. Wasserschieben, Hist. of the Sources of Law before Gratianus, Berlin, 1839.

3 See a summary of such privileges granted by Pope Leo IX., in Höfler, German Popes, Pt. II., p. 366.

bassies to the bishops of various countries. A bishop of the country was frequently appointed to this dignity; but, later on, it was more common to send legates extraordinary. During and after the pontificate of Nicholas I., papal legates convoked and presided over national councils.

This fullness of ecclesiastical authority was, if possible, still further increased by the respect which the people conceived for the Popes when they heard of them crowning emperors, and receiving, yearly, thousands of pilgrims at the Tomb of the Apostles. Every one regarded Rome as the capital of Christendom, whither princes and people flocked, and where devotion was kindled and crimes expiated.

The coronation of the Popes was the completion and seal of this external consideration, in which they were everywhere held.

§ 194. The College of Cardinals.

Thomassini Vetus et Nova Ecclesiae Disciplina, Pt. I., lib. II., c. 113 sq. Muratori, de Cardin. Institutione (Antiq. Italiae medii aevi, T. IV., p. 152). Onuphrii Panvini, Liber de Cardin. Origine. (Ang. Mai, Spicileg. Rom., T. IX.) Binterim, Memorabilia, Vol. II., Pt. II. Hist. Polit. Papers, Vol. IV., p. 193– 204, especially full details and conscientious research, in Phillips, Canon Law, Vol. VI., p. 65-296. ADDED BY THE TR.: Tamagna, Origine, e prerogative de' Cardinali, Pt. I., c. 3; J. Devoti, Instit. Canon., Romae, 1818, Vol. I., p. 186–199; Ferrante, Elem. J. C., Romae, 1854, p. 55-58.

The title of Cardinal (cardinales, καρδινάλοι oι καρδηνάριο) was first applied in the eleventh century to the bishops immediately around Rome (episcopi collaterales Papae), who were in a sense of the Pope's diocese, and to the clergy of the Roman Church proper. In early times, the title was applied

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1 Pope Leo IX. says, concerning the designation of cardo totius ecclesiae, transferred to the clergy of Rome, epist. ad Michaelem Cerularium, nro. 32: "Sicut cardine totum regitur ostium, ita Petro, et successoribus ejus totius ecclesiae disponitur emolumentum. Unde clerici ejus cardinales dicuntur, cardini utique illi, quo caetera moventur, vicinius adhaerentes." (Mansi, T. XIX., p. 653. Harduin, T. VI., Pt. I., p. 944.) Yet, as Ferrante, the Roman canonist, says in his Institutes, p. 55, they used to be called, from most ancient times, to assist with the Roman clergy at all deliberations of moment, and to form with the Roman priests the Pope's senate, yet their formal and definitive incorporation of the seven suburbicarian bishops with the S. College dates from the eighth century. (TR.)