RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 3_CHURCH: HISTORY, DOCTRINE AND STRUCTURE

Module 22: Christendom’s Challenges and Defense: The

Heresies, Poverty Movements and Inquisition
Introduction
The word ―Christendom‖ indicates a certain kind of relationship between society
and the Church in the Middle Ages. Christendom was a temporal and spiritual reality, a
society totally founded on Christianity, and it had to fight the enemies of faith because
they threatened its whole structure.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, the students are expected to:
1. know some heresies and religious orders during the Middle Ages
2. understand some weaknesses of the Church
3. learn how to defend the Church through gospel witnessing
Learning Content
Lesson 1_Gospel and Dissent
Many dissident groups in the medieval period protested against the Church which
had become too prosperous and wealthy. Many of the Christians wanted to be faithful to
the poverty of Christ as in the gospel, levelled their demands at the institutional Church.
More conscientious Christians spoke up against priests who were too greedy or who took
concubines. These oppositions often arouse in the towns. The middle class reacted
against a Church which was too feudal and too powerful. Secular clergy and monks, shut
up in their monasteries, no longer provided for the spiritual and intellectual needs of the
townspeople, some of whom formed their own groups outside the established framework.
Medieval religious dissidents or non-conformists were quickly taken together under
the category of heretics. Here are two religious dissident groups in the medieval period
who wanted to return to the gospel but for some reasons, they became heretics.
Peter Waldo and the Poor Men of Lyons
One of the evangelical movements is that of the Poor Men of Lyons which started
with Peter Valdes, or Waldo, in about 1173. Peter Waldo was a rich merchant who was
uneasy about the source of his wealth. He abandoned all
his possessions and he preached poverty to his fellow
citizens. Men and women joined him: they prayed, read
the Scriptures in the vernacular language, and proclaimed
in the market places.
The authorities were unhappy because members of
the movement preached without being priests and
questioned the wealth of the Church. The pope whom
they have consulted in Rome in 1179 A.D., delegated the
decision on their preaching activities to the Archbishop of
Lyons. The Archbishop was against the Waldensians and
they were considered as heretics. Peter Waldo wanted only to arouse people’s conscience
to the demands made by the Word of God but he was rejected by the Church.
Marginalized, the Waldensians met up with other groups and associated with them. They
denied the need for an institution and recognized only the universal priesthood. They were
against work when this was a matter of acquiring wealth.
The Cathari
The Cathari (from Greek katharos, ―pure‖) professed neo-Manichaean dualism—
that there are two principles, one good and the other evil, and that the material world is
evil. Cathari thought of themselves as Christians and sometimes even referred to
themselves as ―good Christians‖ or ―pure ones.‖ Some of their rituals perhaps go back to
antiquity. They regarded the material world and the body as evil. They also denied the
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incarnation of Christ and condemned marriage. For the Cathari, Jesus was merely an
angel; his human sufferings and death were an illusion. They also severely criticized the
worldliness and corruption of the Catholic Church. For this, the Church saw them as being
a danger to the faith.
In contrast to the laxity of the clergy, the poverty and discipline of the Cathari
aroused admiration. To choose Catharism was a way of protesting against the Church as it
was. The Cathari led an austere life and demands were considerably reduced for ordinary
believers. They had to extinguish all sexual desires, and above all contribute to the
livelihood of the Cathari.
Lesson 2_The Rise of Mendicant Orders
The ideal of returning to the gospel inspired also a new form of religious life, the
Mendicant Orders. Their founders want to respond to the appeal of the gospel and the
needs of their people in the times. In particular, they were aware of the growth of heresy,
of the development of the towns and the intellectual ferment.
The religious friars had no revenue from large abbeys, but depended on charity for
their upkeep. That is why they are referred to as Mendicant Orders.
Saint Francis of Assisi and the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans)
St. Francis of Assisi, the son of a rich merchant of Assisi, was born in 1181/1182
A.D. Francis was enamored by the romantic chivalry propagated by troubadours of his
day. As a young man he lived a lavish life of
revelry. He joined the military and was taken
prisoner during an expedition. Francis became ill
and during his convalescence heard a voice ask,
―Francis, is it better to serve the Master or
servant?‖
Sometime later, he met a leper whose
grotesque sores horrified him. However, Francis
gave the leper alms and kissed his wounds. He
served the sick and gave away his possessions.

While praying in the ruins of a church in San Damiano, he heard a

voice from the crucifix saying, “Francis, rebuild my church, which
you see is falling into ruins.” Francis spent the next three years
rebuilding it with stone and mortar.
To pay for materials, Francis sold cloth and a horse from his
father’s warehouse. When his clandestine act was discovered, his
enraged father had him shackled and dragged to the bishop,
demanding justice. There Francis renounced his inheritance, his
father’s name, and returned everything, including the clothes on his
back.
Francis started to live the life of a hermit, but the gospel message
which he heard in the Church of Portiuncula in 1208 A.D., came as a
revelation to him: ―Go and proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Take with you neither gold nor silver…‖
Francis gradually attracted many followers by his spirit of poverty and brotherly love.
He wrote a simple Rule which received papal approval. Francis never felt called to the
priesthood, but submitted to being ordained a deacon. With his companions, Francis set
off along the highways and byways, joyfully proclaiming the good news of peace. He
either worked for food, or begged it, and did what the Waldensians and others had done
before him.

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On March 18, 1212, Saint Francis received the vows of a young woman named Clare
at Portiuncula (Assisi). Saint Clare became the founder of the Order of Poor Clares, which
is the second order branch of the Franciscan Order.
Francis initiated at Greccio, the beautiful tradition of making the crib at Christmas, as
a memorial of the poor birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. In 1224 A.D., at Mount Laverna,
Francis received the stigmata of our Lord Jesus, which he carried for the last two years of
his life. Before he died, he composed the ―Canticle of Creatures‖ known also as Canticle
of Brother Sun. He asked his brothers to take him to the Portiuncula (Little Portion)
church, where he welcomed ―Sister Death.‖ Francis told his followers before he died: “I
have done my part; may Christ teach you to do yours.” Pope Gregory IX canonized
him only two years later.
Saint Dominic and the Order of Preachers (Dominicans)
St. Dominic was born of the illustrious house of Guzman in Spain in 1170 A.D.
After graduation from the University of Palencia and ordination to
the priesthood, he became a canon of St. Augustine and superior of
the canons in the cathedral of Osma.
Passing through southern France with his bishop in the year
1203 A.D., the young canon was shocked to witness the spiritual
horrors wrought by the Albigensian heresy. It was in this storied
domain of the troubadours that Dominic discovered his vocation and
laid the foundation of the Order of Preachers. To perpetuate among
these benighted souls his future apostolate Dominic founded a three-
fold religious Order.
St. Dominic's humility, fatherly kindness, patience and
joyfulness under persecution impressed even his enemies who at
times mocked, spit at him and pelted him with stones or mud. He fasted, took the
discipline during his night-vigils of prayer, and walked barefoot from village to village
preaching the faith. During his lifetime, he healed the sick, raised the dead, multiplied
food, and in public debate proved the truth of his doctrine by miracle. He twice rejected a
bishopric, and he enjoyed a warm friendship with the Poor Man of Assisi (Saint Francis of
Assisi). Several times he was consoled and strengthened in his apostolate by apparitions of
Christ and Mother Mary. He introduced and developed the beautiful prayer of the Holy
Rosary. Dominic died in Bologna in 1221 A.D.
St. Thomas of Aquinas
One of the spiritual sons of Saint Dominic is Saint Thomas of Aquinas. Saint
Thomas was one of the greatest theologians in history. Born in 1225 A.D. of a noble
family at Aquino near Naples, he entered the
Dominican Order and studied in Paris under Albertus
Magnus. He wrote the ―Summa Theologica,‖ which
is considered the best theological masterpiece ever
written.
Augustinians and Carmelites
The ideal of unconditional poverty was also
embraced by two other religious orders: the Hermits
of St. Augustine, who received papal approval in 1256 A.D., and the Carmelites, who had
relocated in Europe from the Holy Land in 1228 A.D. and who in 1247 A.D. had become a
mendicant order. The Carmelites also established an order for women after 1452 A.D.
Lesson 3_The Repression of heresy
Anti—heretical legislation was worked out under the Christian empire. In spite of
the existence of repressive laws, the Church was unwilling to use violence against heretics

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up until the eleventh century. There were is no known instance of death penalty against
heretics during the early Middle Ages. Although there were imprisonments mentioned.
A change came about during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The number of
dissidents seemed to be increasing. This time, anti-legislations against heretics were re-
discovered and were applied with more severity. In 1022 A.D., some heretics were
accused of debauchery and condemned to the stake by the king, under pressure from the
mob. However, some bishops rejected the death penalty.

The Inquisition
Inquisition is a judicial procedure and later an institution that was established by the
papacy and, sometimes, by secular governments to combat heresy. Derived from the Latin
verb inquiro (―inquire into‖), the name was applied to commissions in the 13th century.
The Inquisition was instituted by Pope Gregory IX in 1231 A.D. It was a medieval
Church court intended to prosecute heresy, sorcery, alchemy,
blasphemy, sexual aberration and infanticide. It came into being
when the civil and religious powers were systematically joining forces
to search out and punish heretics and when papal rulings made such
actions general throughout the Church. The inquisition summoned the
suspects and tried to obtain their confession by all means including
physical torture. When found guilty as heretics, a suitable punishment
was being decided on and death by burning at the stake became the
norm. Aside from death as punishment to heretics, there were also
imprisonments, fines, pilgrimages and so on.
It is hard to explain how the Church, in the name of the gospel, could burn alive
those who did not accept its teaching. Christendom, in some aspects, was authoritarian
that in order to ensure its survival, made use of the methods of its time, torture and death.
Lesson 4_The Avignon Papacy and the Great Western Schism
The Church in the Middle Ages was often upset by scandals and internal struggles.
Cardinals and other members of the papal court displayed a scandalous amount of luxury;
people elsewhere in Europe were starving. Abandoned to themselves, many parishes and
dioceses were deteriorating. Further tragedy came upon the Church in 1347 A.D., when
the epidemic Black Plague exterminated one-third of the European population.
In 1305 A.D., Clement V was elected as Pope.
Distressed by factionalism in Rome and pressed to
come to France by Philip IV, Pope Clement V
moved the papal capital to Avignon, France. The
installation of the papacy so close to the Kingdom of
France became detrimental in the Church. During
this period, the cardinals chosen were almost
exclusively French (111 out of 134 chosen cardinals
were French). So all the popes of Avignon were to
be French and it gave the impression of being in the service of the king of France. This
was called Avignon papacy which occurred during the period 1309–1377, when the popes
took up residence at Avignon, France, instead of at Rome, primarily because of the current
political conditions.
The exile of the Pope in Avignon, France lasted from 1309 – 1377 A.D. In 1377
A.D., Pope Gregory XI had the courage to break off the despotic patronage of the French
King and return to Rome through the prophetic announcements of Saint Catherine of Siena
and Saint Bridget of Sweden.
After the death of Pope Gregory XI (1378 A.D.), the Cardinals elected Urban VI. A
few months later, offended by the Pope’s authoritarian personality, the cardinals accused
him of insanity and of irregularity in election, and elected a new pope, Clement VII, who
took up residence in Avignon. The results of this double papacy were disastrous. In every
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parish, diocese, and religious order, people were split into two camps and the papacy lost
much of its dignity. The death of the one or other popes gave rise to fresh elections:
Boniface IX in Rome, Italy and Benedict XIII in Avignon in 1394 A.D. The two popes
excommunicated each other, and issued bulls calling for crusades against each other. To
solve the schism, the cardinals grouped again in Pisa, Italy to depose the two Popes
Benedict XIII and Gregory XII and to elect a new pope. Alexander V was elected in 1409
A.D. However, the two other Popes refused to resign and the Church found itself with
three concurrent Popes. This so-called Western Schism (also called Great Schism or
Great Western Schism, in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the period from 1378
to 1417 A.D., when there were two, and later three, rival popes) ended by the Council of
Constance that deposed the three Popes in 1417 A.D., and unanimously elected Martin V.
Lesson 4_Saint Joan of Arc
During the Hundred years War (1429 A.D.),
Joan of Arc, a French peasant girl, was inspired by
God to fight for the freedom of her country. Charles
VII, king of France, placed his troops under Joan’s
command in an expedition to relieve the city of
Orleans, besieged by the English. Joan was captured
by the English, tried on the charges of heresy and
witchcraft, and condemned as heretic by the
Inquisition. On May 30, 1431, she was burned at the
stake. A few years later, Joan was rehabilitated in a formal trial, and she was canonized as
saint in 1920 A.D.
The Church’s historical experience is a combination of responding to and of shaping
the world in which it finds itself. The monks found a way to answer the need for
contemplation; the friars responded to the need for an active, evangelical ministry.
In handling heretics, the Church participated in elements of repression which today
are incomprehensible to the modern mind. There are plenty repression in our century, but
now it originates from the secular sources, often dictators, ruthless businessmen and a
variety of tyrants. Faced with Black Death, the Church moved toward a more somber
liturgy and theology as to find meaning and hope in the midst of the experiences.

Learning Resources

Comby, Jean. How to Read Church History, volume 1(From the beginnings to the fifteenth
century). Tottenham Road, London: SCM Press Ltd, 1985.

Franzen, August and John P. Dolan. A History of the Church. Trans by Peter Becker.
Dorval, Montreal: Palm Publishers:1968.

https://www.britannica.com/

McBride, Alfred. The Story of the Church, peak moments from Pentecost to the Year 2000.
USA: Alfred McBride, 1983.

My First History of the Church. Parañaque, Metro Manila: Sons of Holy Mary Immaculate
Quality Catholic Publications, 1997.

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