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066 - 3 The Reformatory Councils · Short History of the Christian Church

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  Speaker 1: Part three, Chapter three of Short History of the Christian
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  Speaker 1: Church by John Fletcher Hurst. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter three. The reformatory councils, the Councils
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  Speaker 1: of Pisa, Constance and Basel, were formal acknowledgments on the
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  Speaker 1: part of the Roman Catholic Church of the evils within
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  Speaker 1: its pale and the necessity of relief from them. The
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  Speaker 1: fourteenth century opened with a bitter controversy between the Church
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  Speaker 1: and the leading civil rulers. It was the old question
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  Speaker 1: of authority, whether pope or king was the supreme head.
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  Speaker 1: The struggle centered in Pope Boniface the Eighth and Philip
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  Speaker 1: the Fair of France. In a bowl issued in thirteen
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  Speaker 1: o two, Boniface condemned Philip's declaration that the civil ruler
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  Speaker 1: is independent of papal authority. Thereupon, Philip caused the arrest
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  Speaker 1: of the pope on the ground of his shameless life.
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  Speaker 1: The pope was rescued, however, by his Italian supporters and
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  Speaker 1: died shortly afterwards. His successor lived but a short time,
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  Speaker 1: and in thirteen o five the French Archbishop of Bordeaux
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  Speaker 1: was chosen pope and bore the name of Clement the fifth.
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  Speaker 1: He was thoroughly identified with the French policy, and in
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  Speaker 1: thirteen o nine removed the papal sea from Rome to
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  Speaker 1: Avignon in France. This was the beginning of the Avignon Papacy,
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  Speaker 1: popularly called by the Romanists the Babylonian Captivity. From the
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  Speaker 1: light in which it was held as an ecclesiastical calamity,
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  Speaker 1: and from its continuance of nearly seventy years thirteen o
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  Speaker 1: nine to thirteen seventy seven, the whole period was one
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  Speaker 1: of great spiritual decline. At no time have the morals
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  Speaker 1: of the papacy been at a lower ebb. Meanwhile, the
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  Speaker 1: German rulers came into angry collision with the popes. Ludwig
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  Speaker 1: of Bavaria was a bitter opponent of the chains of
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  Speaker 1: the papacy in Rome and even throughout Italy. The divisions
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  Speaker 1: were very violent, and the whole papal structure was threatened
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  Speaker 1: with destruction. Gregory the eleventh put an end to the
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  Speaker 1: Avignon Papacy in thirteen seventy seven. Immediately after his death,
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  Speaker 1: the Romans elected an Italian pope, but the French elected
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  Speaker 1: a pope of their own who resided in Avignon. There
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  Speaker 1: were therefore two popes, one in Rome and another in France,
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  Speaker 1: each claiming the supreme authority, and each surrounded with his
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  Speaker 1: court and a college of cardinals. This papal schism lasted
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  Speaker 1: thirty years. Its effects were widespread, the entire Roman Catholic
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  Speaker 1: world being drawn into the strife. The only possible relief
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  Speaker 1: seemed to lie in a general council. The Paris theologian,
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  Speaker 1: with Garson in the lead, were the principal agents in
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  Speaker 1: securing it. This council convened in Pisa in the year
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  Speaker 1: fourteen o nine. The rival popes were summoned to attend
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  Speaker 1: it in order to have their competing claims adjusted. Each
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  Speaker 1: feared for his position, and both refused to attend. Another
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  Speaker 1: pope was accordingly chosen, Alexander the Fifth. There were therefore
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  Speaker 1: at this time three rival popes, all regularly elected, all
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  Speaker 1: claiming infallibility as the lord's anointed vice regents, and each
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  Speaker 1: fulminating maledictions upon his rivals and their supporters. The Council
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  Speaker 1: of Pisa failed of its end, for it was wrested
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  Speaker 1: from its original intent, that of reforming the church and
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  Speaker 1: healing its dissensions into a contest of parties. The Council
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  Speaker 1: of Constance fourteen fourteen to eighteen was called to heal
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  Speaker 1: the Skiks scandal of the three headed papacy, which still continued,
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  Speaker 1: and to bring about reforms. All the three popes were
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  Speaker 1: called to the council, but only John the twenty third,
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  Speaker 1: the successor of Alexander the Fifth, responded. John was a
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  Speaker 1: dissipated and accomplished rascal, but shrewd and full of makeshifts.
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  Speaker 1: He hoped to win his point by filling the council
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  Speaker 1: with Italians, but the council resolved to vote by nations,
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  Speaker 1: each nation having but one vote. Through the influence of Diili,
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  Speaker 1: the decision was reached that all three popes should be
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  Speaker 1: compelled to abdicate and that a new election take place.
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  Speaker 1: This program was carried out, and on November eleventh, fourteen seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: Odo Colonna was elected as Martin the fifth. This council
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  Speaker 1: is famous for the passing the decree that an ecumenical
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  Speaker 1: council rightly constituted has its authority immediately from Christ, and
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  Speaker 1: that therefore even the Pope himself is subject to it.
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  Speaker 1: It was also famous, or rather infamous for condemning huss
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  Speaker 1: to death. In the face of Diailes and Gerson's hopes
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  Speaker 1: for reform, Martin, with true ecclesiastical prudence, prorobed the Council.
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  Speaker 1: The Council of Basel fourteen thirty one to forty nine
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  Speaker 1: was convened by Martin's successor, Eugene four. It took the
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  Speaker 1: Constance program of reform as its basis of operations and
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  Speaker 1: aimed at a thorough regeneration of the church from its
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  Speaker 1: papal head to the secular clergy. The Pope was alarmed
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  Speaker 1: at the persistency and depth of the reformatory spirit, and
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  Speaker 1: declared the Council dissolved and called another, first at Ferrara
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  Speaker 1: and then at Florence. But the Basil Council would not
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  Speaker 1: break up, even with the disadvantage of a rival council
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  Speaker 1: and the absent Pope. The Pope therefore issued his ban
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  Speaker 1: against the Council, whereupon the latter removed the Pope and
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  Speaker 1: elected a new one, Felix the Fifth, in his stead.
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  Speaker 1: But the disadvantages were too great for the Basil delegates
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  Speaker 1: to resist. They lacked cohesion, and too many of them
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  Speaker 1: were open to overtures from Rome. One by one its
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  Speaker 1: members slipped off, and in time it was compelled to
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  Speaker 1: cease for lack of numbers. It performed, however, an immense service.
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  Speaker 1: Its place of session, just across the Rhine from Germany,
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  Speaker 1: made it an object of profound attention throughout the freeer
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  Speaker 1: Europe north of the Alps, while the evils which the
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  Speaker 1: Council labored in vain to remove became more than ever
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  Speaker 1: a source of sorrow and of heroism in dealing with
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  Speaker 1: the universal spiritual declension. All these three councils failed of
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  Speaker 1: their prime object, but they revealed to the world the
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  Speaker 1: fact that no prospect for reform could exist in any
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  Speaker 1: new council. The only way open for improvement was now clear,
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  Speaker 1: the independence of the individual reformer. The personal conscience was
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  Speaker 1: compelled to fight with single lance for the revival of
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  Speaker 1: truth and virtue. It was the hour when the fate
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  Speaker 1: of modern times depended on the one man. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter two,