Required Reading - Unam Sanctam

POPE BONIFACE VIII’S UNAM SANCTAM

I.               INTRODUCTION

The nature of the “Church is to become a sacrament of salvation.”[1] It is brought about by various means of sanctification and different acts of pastoral services rendered to the faithful. It is for this reason that the Church is considered as the authority regarding faith and morals. The concern of the Church is not just to give the spiritual needs of the believers through the sacraments and sacramentals[2] but also to educate the people towards an ethical way of living patterned on Christian values.

Through the course of Christian history, this mission of the Church is carried out under the supreme authority of the pope as the Vicar of Christ. This title, however, gained different understanding and interpretation of power execution. During the medieval period, especially on the rise of French monarchial government, papal subordination has become the sole criterion for salvation. This articulation was given by Pope Boniface VIII in his papal bull, Unam Sanctam.[3]

This paper tries to give a glimpse of the historico-political context on the document and its circumstances.  

II.             BENEDETTO CAETANI

Around the year 1235, a man named Benedetto Caetani was born in Anagni,[4] Italy. His early youth was spent in Todi where he took his legal studies. He entered the monastery of Friars Minor in Valletri[5] and soon became a canon at the cathedral. On 1264, he became part of the Roman Curia by serving  cardinals who became popes like Martin IV and Adrian V. Eventually he was sent to England as a rector of St. Lawrence Church and a papal notary in France. He was later on created as a cardinal on April 12, 1281 by then Pope Martin V.

III.           POPE BONIFACE VIII

During those times, the Papal State was in Naples. “Politically it was one of the most centralized states, economically it was a major commercial center and grain producer, and culturally it was a point of diffusion of Greek and Arab learning into western Europe.”[6] Pope Celestine V, after five months in his papacy, has resigned and just lived in a hermitage, who later on was abdicated. After ten days, “the cardinals met in Castel Nuovo, Naples who, on the third scrutiny, elected Benedetto Cardinal Caetani on December 24, 1294 as the successor to the papacy.

Immediately, he transferred the Seat of Papacy from Naples back to Rome. “The ceremony of his consecration and coronation as the Supreme Pontif of the Roman Cathlic Church was performed in St. Peter’s Basilica on January 23, 1295.”[7] This pope is described as “an intelligent but rude and ill-tempered man.”[8] Through the course of his papacy, he asserted the supremacy of the pope in relation with other institutions and imperial states. He wanted to monopolize the power of governance in both spiritual and temporal by being subjected to his authority.

IV.           UNAM SANCTAM

On November 18, 1302, Boniface VIII issued the Unam Sanctam which has been considered as “one of the most extreme statements of Papal spiritual supremacy ever made.”[9] It is a bull that “lays down dogmatic propositions on the unity of the Church, the necessity of belonging to it for the attainment of eternal salvation, the position of the pope as supreme head of the Church, and the duty thence arising of submission to the Pope in order to belong to the Church and thus to attain salvation.”[10] The original document does not exist anymore but there is a version of the same text attributed to Pope Boniface VIII’s files in the Vatican Archives. Nevertheless, this one is a landmark in the history of the doctrine of Papal Primacy.

            Its message is addressed primarily to the ruling powers of Europe. It is the “classical expression of the specifically medieval claim of the Papacy to absolute dominion over the Christian Commonwealth, its people, princes and kings.”[11] Here, Boniface uses the image of the two swords, “following St. Bernard’s allegorical interpretation of Luke 22: 38,”[12] pertaining to the spiritual and temporal jurisdiction of the Papal Supremacy. Moreover, it is a response to all who contradict the authority of the pope and “re-statement of the reality of the Church’s divinely-given right to correct the sins which kings commit as kings,”[13]

V.            POLITICAL CONTEXT

The bull was established as an assertion of Pope Boniface VIII against the taxation of the clergy imposed by the kings of France and England. The unexceptional taxation was brought about by these two kingdoms in “preparation for war with one another over their conflicting claims to rule the southwestern parts of modern France.”[14] This has become an immense problem in the financial system of the Roman Church, particularly to the pope himself.

As a solution for this, Pope Boniface VIII declared 1300 as a Jubilee Year. The announcement for Plenary Indulgence was spread throughout the demography of Christian world. Almost 200, 000 faithful have flocked to the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Rome. This time, gathering money from pilgrims  has been successful at the height of the papacy.

However, with the gravity of anger held by King Philip IV[15] of France against Pope Boniface VIII, he sent “William Nogaret, one of Philip’s chief adviser, and Sciarra Colonna, with a band of hired ruffians surprised the Aged Pontiff in his palace at Anagni, insulted him, hurled in his face the most infamous accusations, and brutally mistreated him; it is said that Colonna struck him with his iron glove.”[16] He was rescued by the people there but after a couple of days, he died on October 11, 1303.  There was a myth that “he had died of suicide from gnawing through his own arm and bashing his skull into a wall.”[17]

VI.           CONCLUSION

Pope Boniface VIII reigned for almost nine years. Throughout his papacy, the various challenges to the Church of Rome gave rise to assert Papal Supremacy. Even though he failed to implement the law of the two swords over the other authorities, the papacy still stood on its place. However, his death would be the beginning of the so called Babylonian Captivity of Papacy under the French Imperial Kings.

As a final remark, the Church, no matter how dark it has taken place in history, her mission to become a living sacrament of salvation continues. Thus, the ultimate criterion for salvation, based on Church magisterium, is not to submit oneself to the pope but to the one whom he represents – Christ the Lord. Amen.

UNAM SANCTAM

Urged on by our faith, we are obliged to believe and hold that there is one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church. And we firmly believe and profess that outside of her there is no salvation nor remission of sins , as the bridegroom declares in the Canticles, "My dove, my undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bare her." And this represents the one mystical body of Christ, and of this body Christ is the head, and God is the head of Christ. In it there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. For in the time of the Flood there was the single ark of Noah, which prefigures the one Church, and it was finished according to the measure of one cubit and had one Noah for pilot and captain, and outside of it every living creature on the earth, as we read, was destroyed. And this Church we revere as the only one, even as the Lord saith by the prophet, "Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog." He prayed for his soul, that is, for himself, head and body. And this body he called one body, that is, the Church, because of the single bridegroom, the unity of the faith, the sacraments, and the love of the Church. She is that seamless shirt of the Lord which was not rent but was allotted by the casting of lots. Therefore, this one and single Church has one head and not two, - for had she two heads, she would be a monster,- that is, Christ and Christ's vicar, Peter and Peter's successor. For the Lord said unto Peter, "Feed my sheep." "My," he said speaking generally and not particularly, "these and those," by which it is to be understood that all the sheep are committed unto him. So, when the Greeks or others say that they were not committed to the care of Peter and his successors, they must confess that they are not of Christ's sheep , even as the Lord says in John, "There is one fold and one shepherd."

That in her and within her power are two swords, we are taught in the Gospels, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword. For when the Apostles said, "Lo, here,"- that is, in the Church,- are two swords, the Lord did not reply to the Apostles "it is too much," but "it is enough." It is certain that whoever denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter, hearkens ill to the words of the Lord which he spake, "Put up thy sword into its sheath." Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the temporal sword; the latter is to be used for the Church, the former by the Church; the former by the hand of the priest, the latter by the hand of princes and kings, but at the nod and sufferance of the priest. The one sword must of necessity be subject to the other, and the temporal authority to the spiritual. For the Apostle said, "There is no power but of God, and the powers that be are ordained of God"; and they would not have been ordained unless one sword had been made subject to the other, and even as the lower is subjected by the other for higher things. For, according to Dionysius, it is a divine law that the lowest things are made by mediocre things to attain to the highest. For it is not according to the law of the universe that all things in an equal way and immediately should reach their end, but the lowest through the mediocre and the lower through the higher. But that the spiritual power excels the earthly power in dignity and worth, we will the more clearly acknowledge just in proportion as the spiritual is higher than the temporal. And this we perceive quite distinctly from the donation of the tithe and functions of benediction and sanctification, from the mode in which the power was received, and the government of the subjected realms. For truth being the witness, the spiritual power has the functions of establishing the temporal power and sitting in judgment on it if it should prove to be not good. And to the Church and the Church's power the prophecy of Jeremiah attests: "See, I have set thee this day over the nations and the kingdoms to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."

And if the earthly power deviate from the right path, it is judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power deviate from the right path, the lower in rank is judged by its superior; but if the supreme power [the papacy] deviate, it can be judged not by man but by God alone. And so the Apostle testifies, "He which is spiritual judges all things, but he himself is judged by no man." But this authority, although it be given to a man, and though it be exercised by a man, is not a human but a divine power given by divine word of mouth to Peter and confirmed to Peter and to his successors by Christ himself, whom Peter confessed, even him whom Christ called the Rock. For the Lord said to Peter himself, "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth," etc. Whoever, therefore, resists this power so ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God, unless perchance he imagine two principles to exist, as did Manichæus, which we pronounce false and heretical. For Moses testified that God created heaven and earth not in the beginnings but "in the beginning."

Furthermore, that every human creature is subject to the Roman pontiff, - this we declare, say, define, and pronounce to be altogether necessary to salvation.

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[1] Vatican II, Lumen Gentium no. 1.

[2] These are the other acts of divine worship such as Liturgy of the Hours, Popular Devotions, Cult of Saints, etc. See Code of Canon Law, Book IV, Part II.

[3] It means “One Holy” which are the first words of the Latin document.

[4] Anagni is an ancient town in Central Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome.

[5] Valletri is an ancient city of the Volsci tribe which is now a home for circuit court.

[6] See http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/402903/Kingdom-of-Naples.

[7] See http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02662a.htm.

[8] Joseph H. Lynch, The Medieval Church: A Brief History (New York: Longman Group, 1992), 320.

[9] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unam_sanctam.

[10] Ibid.

[11] John Laux, Church History: A Complete History of the Catholic Church to the Present Day (Illinois: Tan Books & Publishers, Inc.: 1989), 395.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Philip Hunges, A History of the Church, vol. 3, The Revolt Against the Church: Aquinas to Luther (New York: Sheed & Ward, 1946), 83.

[14] Joseph H. Lynch, The Medieval Church: A Brief History, 321.

[15] Also known as King Philip the Fair of France.

[16] John Laux, Church History: A Complete History of the Catholic Church to the Present, 395.

[17] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII.

Required Reading - St. Francis of Assisi

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 

Saint Francis of Assisi

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In a recent Catechesis, I illustrated the providential role the Orders of Friars Minor and the Order of Preachers, founded by St Francis of Assisi and St Dominic de Guzmán respectively, played in the renewal of the Church in their day. Today I would like to present to you the figure of Francis, an authentic "giant" of holiness, who continues to fascinate a great many people of all age groups and every religion.

"A sun was born into the world". With these words, in the Divine Comedy (Paradiso, Canto XI), the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri alludes to Francis' birth, which took place in Assisi either at the end of 1181 or the beginning of 1182. As part of a rich family his father was a cloth merchant Francis lived a carefree adolescence and youth, cultivating the chivalrous ideals of the time. At age 20, he took part in a military campaign and was taken prisoner. He became ill and was freed. After his return to Assisi, a slow process of spiritual conversion began within him, which brought him to gradually abandon the worldly lifestyle that he had adopted thus far. The famous episodes of Francis' meeting with the leper to whom, dismounting from his horse, he gave the kiss of peace and of the message from the Crucifix in the small Church of St Damian, date pack to this period. Three times Christ on the Cross came to life, and told him: "Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins". This simple occurrence of the word of God heard in the Church of St Damian contains a profound symbolism. At that moment St Francis was called to repair the small church, but the ruinous state of the building was a symbol of the dramatic and disquieting situation of the Church herself. At that time the Church had a superficial faith which did not shape or transform life, a scarcely zealous clergy, and a chilling of love. It was an interior destruction of the Church which also brought a decomposition of unity, with the birth of heretical movements. Yet, there at the centre of the Church in ruins was the Crucified Lord, and he spoke: he called for renewal, he called Francis to the manual labour of repairing the small Church of St Damian, the symbol of a much deeper call to renew Christ's own Church, with her radicality of faith and her loving enthusiasm for Christ. This event, which probably happened in 1205, calls to mind another similar occurrence which took place in 1207: Pope Innocent III's dream. In it, he saw the Basilica of St John Lateran, the mother of all churches, collapsing and one small and insignificant religious brother supporting the church on his shoulders to prevent it from falling. On the one hand, it is interesting to note that it is not the Pope who was helping to prevent the church from collapsing but rather a small and insignificant brother, whom the Pope recognized in Francis when he later came to visit. Innocent III was a powerful Pope who had a great theological formation and great political influence; nevertheless he was not the one to renew the Church but the small, insignificant religious. It was St Francis, called by God. On the other hand, however, it is important to note that St Francis does not renew the Church without or in opposition to the Pope, but only in communion with him. The two realities go together: the Successor of Peter, the Bishops, the Church founded on the succession of the Apostles and the new charism that the Holy Spirit brought to life at that time for the Church's renewal. Authentic renewal grew from these together.

Let us return to the life of St Francis. When his father Bernardone reproached him for being too generous to the poor, Francis, standing before the Bishop of Assisi, in a symbolic gesture, stripped off his clothes, thus showing he renounced his paternal inheritance. Just as at the moment of creation, Francis had nothing, only the life that God gave him, into whose hands he delivered himself. He then lived as a hermit, until, in 1208, another fundamental step in his journey of conversion took place. While listening to a passage from the Gospel of Matthew Jesus' discourse to the apostles whom he sent out on mission Francis felt called to live in poverty and dedicate himself to preaching. Other companions joined him, and in 1209 he travelled to Rome, to propose to Pope Innocent III the plan for a new form of Christian life. He received a fatherly welcome from that great Pontiff, who, enlightened by the Lord, perceived the divine origin of the movement inspired by Francis. The Poverello of Assisi understood that every charism as a gift of the Holy Spirit existed to serve the Body of Christ, which is the Church; therefore he always acted in full communion with the ecclesial authorities. In the life of the Saints there is no contradiction between prophetic charism and the charism of governance, and if tension arises, they know to patiently await the times determined by the Holy Spirit.

Actually, several 19th-century and also 20th-century historians have sought to construct a so-called historical Francis, behind the traditional depiction of the Saint, just as they sought to create a so-called historical Jesus behind the Jesus of the Gospels. This historical Francis would not have been a man of the Church, but rather a man connected directly and solely to Christ, a man that wanted to bring about a renewal of the People of God, without canonical forms or hierarchy. The truth is that St Francis really did have an extremely intimate relationship with Jesus and with the word of God, that he wanted to pursue sine glossa: just as it is, in all its radicality and truth. It is also true that initially he did not intend to create an Order with the necessary canonical forms. Rather he simply wanted, through the word of God and the presence of the Lord, to renew the People of God, to call them back to listening to the word and to literal obedience to Christ. Furthermore, he knew that Christ was never "mine" but is always "ours", that "I" cannot possess Christ that "I" cannot rebuild in opposition to the Church, her will and her teaching. Instead it is only in communion with the Church built on the Apostolic succession that obedience too, to the word of God can be renewed.

It is also true that Francis had no intention of creating a new Order, but solely that of renewing the People of God for the Lord who comes. He understood, however, through suffering and pain that everything must have its own order and that the law of the Church is necessary to give shape to renewal. Thus he placed himself fully, with his heart, in communion with the Church, with the Pope and with the Bishops. He always knew that the centre of the Church is the Eucharist, where the Body of Christ and his Blood are made present through the priesthood, the Eucharist and the communion of the Church. Wherever the priesthood and the Eucharist and the Church come together, it is there alone that the word of God also dwells. The real historical Francis was the Francis of the Church, and precisely in this way he continues to speak to non-believers and believers of other confessions and religions as well.

Francis and his friars, who were becoming ever more numerous, established themselves at the Portiuncula, or the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, the sacred place par excellence of Franciscan spirituality. Even Clare, a young woman of Assisi from a noble family, followed the school of Francis. This became the origin of the Second Franciscan Order, that of the Poor Clares, another experience destined to produce outstanding figures of sainthood in the Church.

Innocent III's Successor, Pope Honorius III, with his Bull Cum Dilecti in 1218 supported the unique development of the first Friars Minor, who started missions in different European countries, and even in Morocco. In 1219 Francis obtained permission to visit and speak to the Muslim sultan Malik al-Klmil, to preach the Gospel of Jesus there too. I would like to highlight this episode in St Francis' life, which is very timely. In an age when there was a conflict underway between Christianity and Islam, Francis, intentionally armed only with his faith and personal humility, travelled the path of dialogue effectively. The chronicles tell us that he was given a benevolent welcome and a cordial reception by the Muslim Sultan. It provides a model which should inspire today's relations between Christians and Muslims: to promote a sincere dialogue, in reciprocal respect and mutual understanding (cf. Nostra Aetate, 3). It appears that later, in 1220, Francis visited the Holy Land, thus sowing a seed that would bear much fruit: his spiritual sons would in fact make of the Sites where Jesus lived a privileged space for their mission. It is with gratitude that I think today of the great merits of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.

On his return to Italy, Francis turned over the administration of his Order to his vicar, Br Pietro Cattani, while the Pope entrusted the rapidly growing Order's protection to Cardinal Ugolino, the future Supreme Pontiff Gregory IX. For his part, the Founder, dedicated completely to his preaching, which he carried out with great success, compiled his Rule that was then approved by the Pope.

In 1224, at the hermitage in La Verna, Francis had a vision of the Crucified Lord in the form of a seraph and from that encounter received the stigmata from the Seraph Crucifix, thus becoming one with the Crucified Christ. It was a gift, therefore, that expressed his intimate identification with the Lord.

The death of Francis his transitus occurred on the evening of 3 October 1226, in the Portiuncula. After having blessed his spiritual children, he died, lying on the bare earthen floor. Two years later Pope Gregory ix entered him in the roll of saints. A short time after, a great basilica in his honour was constructed in Assisi, still today an extremely popular pilgrim destination. There pilgrims can venerate the Saint's tomb and take in the frescoes by Giotto, an artist who has magnificently illustrated Francis' life.

It has been said that Francis represents an alter Christus, that he was truly a living icon of Christ. He has also been called "the brother of Jesus". Indeed, this was his ideal: to be like Jesus, to contemplate Christ in the Gospel, to love him intensely and to imitate his virtues. In particular, he wished to ascribe interior and exterior poverty with a fundamental value, which he also taught to his spiritual sons. The first Beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 5: 3) found a luminous fulfilment in the life and words of St Francis. Truly, dear friends, the saints are the best interpreters of the Bible. As they incarnate the word of God in their own lives, they make it more captivating than ever, so that it really speaks to us. The witness of Francis, who loved poverty as a means to follow Christ with dedication and total freedom, continues to be for us too an invitation to cultivate interior poverty in order to grow in our trust of God, also by adopting a sober lifestyle and a detachment from material goods.

Francis' love for Christ expressed itself in a special way in the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. In the Fonti Francescane (Writings of St Francis) one reads such moving expressions as: "Let everyone be struck with fear, let the whole world tremble, and let the heavens exult, when Christ, the Son of the living God, is present on the altar in the hands of a priest. Oh stupendous dignity! O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles himself that for our salvation he hides himself under an ordinary piece of bread" (Francis of Assisi, Scritti, Editrici Francescane, Padova 2002, 401).

In this Year for Priests, I would also like to recall a piece of advice that Francis gave to priests: "When you wish to celebrate Mass, in a pure way, reverently make the true sacrifice of the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Francis of Assisi, Scritti, 399). Francis always showed great deference towards priests, and asserted that they should always be treated with respect, even in cases where they might be somewhat unworthy personally. The reason he gave for this profound respect was that they receive the gift of consacrating the Eucharist. Dear brothers in the priesthood, let us never forget this teaching: the holiness of the Eucharist appeals to us to be pure, to live in a way that is consistent with the Mystery we celebrate.

From love for Christ stems love for others and also for all God's creatures. This is yet another characteristic trait of Francis' spirituality: the sense of universal brotherhood and love for Creation, which inspired the famous Canticle of Creatures. This too is an extremely timely message. As I recalled in my recent Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, development is sustainable only when it respects Creation and does not damage the environment (cf. nn. 48-52), and in the Message for the World Day of Peace this year, I also underscored that even building stable peace is linked to respect for Creation. Francis reminds us that the wisdom and benevolence of the Creator is expressed through Creation. He understood nature as a language in which God speaks to us, in which reality becomes clear, and we can speak of God and with God.

Dear friends, Francis was a great Saint and a joyful man. His simplicity, his humility, his faith, his love for Christ, his goodness towards every man and every woman, brought him gladness in every circumstance. Indeed, there subsists an intimate and indissoluble relationship between holiness and joy. A French writer once wrote that there is only one sorrow in the world: not to be saints, that is, not to be near to God. Looking at the testimony of St Francis, we understand that this is the secret of true happiness: to become saints, close to God!

May the Virgin, so tenderly loved by Francis, obtain this gift for us. Let us entrust ourselves to her with the words of the Poverello of Assisi himself: "Blessed Virgin Mary, no one like you among women has ever been born in the world, daughter and handmaid of the Most High King and heavenly Father, Mother of our Most Blessed Lord Jesus Christ, spouse of the Holy Spirit. Pray for us... to your most blessed and beloved Son, Lord and Master" (Francesco di Assisi, Scritti, 163).