Crusades

- Comes from the latin word “crux” meaning cross

- Refers to wars of a religious character
- 1096 - 1270
- A series of 8 defensive military expeditions undertaken by Christians to liberate the Holy Land
and stop the expansion of Islam
- Objectives of the Crusades:
- Liberate the Holy Land
- Stop the expansion of Islam
- Why these objectives?
- Quickly after its birth in the 7th century, Islamic forces seized most of
the Christian world
- Holy Land, Palestine, Egypt, Asia Minor, North Africa
- To stop Christian persecution
- How did it start?
- Call for Help
- 1071: the Byzantine empire under threat
- Eastern Emperor Alexis looks to the west for assistance
- Pope Bl. Urban II calls for the beginning of the crusades
- It was an opportunity for the east and west to reunite
- The 1st Crusade
- Considered to be the most successful
- 4 armies combined
- 1099: crusaders took Jerusalem
- Inspired a string of crusades that lasted nearly 5 centuries]\
- Outcomes of the crusades
- Main objectives were ultimately frustrated
- There were some good results
- Holding back of turkish expansion in europe for over 400 years
- More christian unity (transcending nationality and race)
- Encouraged travel and pilgrimages
- Fostered a new curiosity for foreign cultures among latin christians

Misconceptions/Myths about the Crusades

- 1 & 2 (they're basically the same)
- The crusades were medieval crimes against humanity, a prime example of religious
zealotry, meant to force christianity onto the muslims
- Debunked:
- Go back to objectives
- They were DEFENSIVE military expeditions
- They were a response to a call for help
- 3
 - The Crusades were colonialist or commercial ventures. It was about aggression,
imperialism, and greed of the west
- Debunked:
- Age of Exploration happened 500 years after crusades in the 16th century
- Colonialism and imperialism hadn’t existed yet
- Example of anachronism
- Crusades had noble goals, followed by honorable knights
- European colonization and overseas colonial expansion started in the 16th
century
- 4
- The sacking of constantinople in 1204 in the 4th crusade is an example of hypocrisy and
brutality of the crusaders who were supposed to head to the Holy Land but instead were
driven by greed for the wealth of the byzantine city
- Debunked:
- Understand the context
- Crusaders had debt to venetians
- To pay the debt the crusaders invaded Zara, even when their king was a
crusader
- A man named Alexius offered to pay the debt, but in exchange the
crusades had to help him become the emperor of constantinople
- As a result, the crusaders went into war with constantinople
- Alexius became the emperor in the end but was shortly assassinated later
- The wrong actions were condemned by the Pope
- Condemned: against/not agreed by
- The Pope excommunicated those who were involved
- Excommunicated: banished from the church

Separated Brethren
Christian Denominations
- Protestants
- Iglesia
- Victory
- Lutherants
- Dont believe in penance + magisterium
- Believe only in the bible

Closest to the Catholic Church: Orthodox Christians

- Believe in the same things as the Catholic Church except for the Pop
Jews
- Only believe in God the Creator and the Old Testament
- They don't believe that Jesus is the messiah
Muslims
- Only believe in God as the Creator
 - They do believe in Jesus but as a prophet
Atheists
- They don’t believe in God
- 2 types: implicit and explicit
Agnostics
- Believe that God exists but also believes that we can know nothing about him
- Doesn't know anything more
Pagans
- Don’t believe in one true God
- Polytheists
- People that have many Gods
- poly: “many”, theists: “gods”
- Ancient greek and roman religions were like this
- Animism
- People that believe in inanimate objects with supernatural powers

Ecumenism
- Mission the church has to bring back the Separated Brethren to the Catholic Church

“Outside the Church, there is no salvation.” -St. Cyprian of Carthage

- Do you have to be a part of the Church to be saved?
- Someone that knows that the Church is needed for salvation, but still rejects it = not
saved
- Someone that is not aware of this but sincerely lives a good life = can be saved

“Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”
-Jesus (Jn 3:5)
- You need to be baptized to go to heaven
- 3 types of baptism
- Water
- Where holy water is poured on you
- Desire
- Explicit
- Preparing for baptism but dies before receiving it
- Maybe cus of an unexpected death or smn
- Implicit
- May not know the need for baptism, but sincerely tries to do
God’s will in his life
- Blood
- Martyrdom

Death and the Particular Judgement

What is death?
 - Immortal separation of body and soul
- When we are called by God, our body gets left on earth while our soul continues to live
on
- The soul, being immortal, will be judged based on your life on earth. This means that
there is still life after death, and you will be judged to either heaven, hell, or purgatory
- Consequence of original sin

Particular Judgement
- When we die, we will meet and be judged by the Lord based on the good and evil we have done
in our lives on earth
- 3 destinations: Hell, Purgatory, Heaven
- Hell
- Die w/ mortal sin = hell
- Deprived of God
- There forever
- Purgatory
- Die w/ venial sin (not enough for hell but not enough for heaven) = purgatory
- Everyone eventually ends up in Heaven
- There is fire that purifies “remnant” of sin
- Heaven
- Die w/o sin (mortal or venial), martyrdom, waiting out purgatory = heaven
- Shows your perfect love for God
- Beatific Vision
- Being able to see God as He is
- Eternal happiness
- There forever
- The choices we make here on earth carry on to the afterlife

How can you prepare for death?

- Confess regularly
- Practice the Sacraments regularly
- Don't fall into sin
- Live a life of Christ

The Trumpet Shall Sound - The End of The World

What will happen in the second coming of Christ?
1. T` `he General Judgement
- The General Judgement happens at the end of world
- Everyone in the world will be judged at that current moment, everyone's thoughts and
secrets will be revealed
- Different from the particular judgement as the particular judgement happens when we die
and judgement is individual
2. Resurrection - of the just and unjust
- Characteristics of the resurrected body
 - Impassibility: no suffering (no pain) “im” - not, “passibility” - suffering
- Subtlely: “the spiritual will shine through the physical” your soul will be seen,
your thoughts and feelings will be revealed
- Clarity: body will be perfect; free from deformities
3. The transformation of the heavens and the earth
- The Church will have reached its perfections
- Creation will be freed from decay (food wont rot or smn)
- God will have His dwelling among men