I. Medieval Monasticism Becomes the Predominant Force
Between the sixth and tenth centuries the Latin church passed through a period of marked decadence, followed by a definite resurgence of power. After the great migration of the barbarian peoples southward and westward, in the fifth century, the Western church was severely shaken and had to emerge again from its prostration. Darkness had spread over Gaul, Italy, and Spain, and security and order had to be restored to some extent before any sustained religious and cultural activity could develop. Such a restoration began to take place under Charlemagne, when schools were established in many places, not alone for the clerics, but for young nobles as well.PFF1 628.2
Numerous monasteries were founded. In many places monks penetrated unentered regions, cleared the forests, and established new settlements. These monasteries were often the outposts in more than one sense, and became the centers of medieval learning. Here the art of reading and writing was zealously fostered, and from such centers the courts of princes and of kings were supplied with scribes and learned men. And, quite naturally, the subjects taught in these monasteries were of a predominantly religious nature.PFF1 628.3
During the period under consideration we find three great monastic movements-the Cluniac Reform movement, then the stricter rule enforced by Bernard of Clairvaux among the Cistercians, and finally the altogether new departure of the Franciscan and Dominican Friars.PFF1 629.1
Monasticism was one of the predominant characteristics of medieval life. But, whereas in the East meditation was the central occupation of the monks, in the West emphasis was laid upon activity, in addition to prayer. And the monasteries were governed, in general, by the sixth-century rules of Benedict, which required poverty, chastity, obedience, piety, and labor. This rigorous discipline, however, often softened; and indulgence, idleness, and vice followed in its train. Worldliness intruded, education was neglected, and religious service frequently degenerated into an empty formality. And the disrepute that resulted eventuated first in the “Cluniac movement” of reform.PFF1 629.2
1. CLUNIAC MOVEMENT ASPIRES TO WORLD DOMINION
The monastery of Cluny, on the border of Aquitaine and Burgundy, was established in 910. Its charter provided that the abbot be chosen by the monks without outside influence, and this institution soon became one of the principal centers of learning. New houses were built up, and the “Cluny congregation” resulted. By the twelfth century more than three hundred monasteries were established, scattered over France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany, and England; and by the fifteenth century, 825 were counted. All were under the control of the abbot-general of the parent institution.PFF1 629.3
The abbots of this famous monastery of Cluny, impelled by the concept of Augustine’s City of God, had as their goal the reform of all the convents and the clergy, and the training of a vast army of monks. More than that, their aim was to get control of the papal chair, and thus to bring to pass Augustine’s concept of a millennial kingdom in the form of universal ecclesiastical dominion. Indeed, it was the aspiring spirit of Cluny that lay back of Hildebrand’s ambitious dreams of world dominion and his vast crusading projects. Between 1122 and 1156 Cluny reached the height of its power, second only to Rome as the chief center of the Catholic world. The monks of Cluny who came to sit in the papal chair were Gregory VII, Urban II, Paschal II, and Urban V. Harnack describes the attendant success, the relationship to secular rulers, and then the revolutionary turn under Hildebrand, or Gregory VII.PFF1 629.4
“The Monastery of Clugny, founded in the tenth century, became the centre of the great reform which the Church in the West passed through in the eleventh century. Instituted by monks, it was at first supported against the secularised monachism, priesthood (Episcopate), and papacy by pious and prudent princes and bishops, above all, by the Emperor, the representative of God on earth, until the great Hildebrand laid hold of it, and, as Cardinal and successor of Peter, set it in opposition to the princes, the secularised clergy, and the Emperor.” PFF1 630.1
2. MONASTIC POPES CAPITALIZE FOR ROMAN SUPREMACY
This powerful force was soon turned, by the monastic popes, to the goal of securing world dominion.PFF1 630.2
“What were the aims of this new movement which took hold of the entire Church in the second half of the eleventh century? In the first instance, and chiefly, the restoration in the monasteries themselves of the ‘old’ discipline, of the true abnegation of the world, and piety; but then, also, first, the monastic training of the whole secular clergy; second, the supremacy of the monastically trained clergy over the lay world, over princes and nations; third, the reduction of national churches, with their pride and secularity, in favour of the uniform supremacy of Rome.” PFF1 630.3
And, significantly enough, this ambition aimed at ruling the world after renouncing it, as Harnack observes:PFF1 630.4
“Thus out of the programme of renunciation of the world, and out of the supra-mundane world that was to permeate this world, out of the Augustinian idea of the city of God and out of the idea of the one Roman world-empire, an idea that had never disappeared, but that had reached its glorification in the papal supremacy, there developed itself the claim to world-dominion, though the ruin of many an individual monk might be involved in making it, With sullied consciences and broken courage many monks, whose only desire was to seek after God, yielded to the plans of the great monastic Popes, and became subservient to their aims. And those whom they summoned from the retirement of the cloisters were just those who wished to think least of the world. They knew very well that it was only the monk who fled from the world, and would be rid of it, that could give help in subduing the world. Abandonment of the world in the service of the world-ruling Church, dominion over the world in the service of renunciation of the world,—this was the problem, and the ideal of the Middle Ages!” PFF1 630.5
It is not too much to state that without the reformatory and energizing influence of Cluny the effeminate church of Rome would not have been able to muster the strength she needed to climb to that apex of power that enabled her to dominate the world and make kings and princes bow to her commands. But, curiously enough, at the very time when she was at the height of her worldly glory it was none other than a monk of Cluny who discerned in all her outward display the utter lack of true spirituality, and who had the temerity to proclaim that none other than the Antichrist had taken possession of her, and had seated himself on her throne. This monk was Bernard of Morlan.PFF1 631.1
3. BERNARD OF CLUNY: “ROME Is BABYLON.”
BERNARD OF CLUNY (or of Morlaix), in the Latin form, Bernardus Morlanensis, but often Bernard of Morlan, or Morval (fl. 1120-1150), was famous for his poetical work De Contemptu Mundi (The Contempt of the World). Here he declared that the Roman pontiff had become “king of this odious Babylon,” causing himself to be adored as God. This bitter satire on the fearful corruption of the age was published again and again. It was built around the theme of the coming of Christ to judgment. Its intent was to inspire men to seek the things of God. It portrayed the enormity of sin, the charms of virtue, the torture of an evil conscience, and the sweetness of a God-fearing life.PFF1 631.2
Thomas J. Shahan expresses his opinion of it in these words:PFF1 632.1
“This master of an elegant, forceful, and abundant latinity cannot find words strong enough to convey his prophetic rage at the moral apostasy of his generation, in almost none of whom he finds spiritual soundness. Youthful and simoniacal bishops, oppressive agents of ecclesiastical corporations, the officers of the Curia, papal legates, and the pope himself are treated with no less severity than in Dante or in the sculptures of medieval cathedrals. Only those who do not know the utter frankness of certain medieval moralists could borrow scandal from his verses.” PFF1 632.2
Here is a specimen of Bernard’s scathing condemnation of Rome:PFF1 632.3
“Rome gives all things to all who give all things to Rome, for a price, because there is the way of justice, and all justice is dead. She wobbles like a rolling wheel, hence shall Rome be called a wheel, who is wont to burn like incense with rich praises.... The peace that wisdom cannot, money gives you. Money makes agreements and restrains the threatener.... If money is given, pontifical favor stands near; if not, that is afar off—that is the law and teaching obtaining there.” PFF1 632.4
And some lines farther on he wails:PFF1 632.5
” ‘Tis right for me to say, to write: ‘Rome thou art no more.’ Thou liest buried under thy walls and thy morals. Thou art fallen, famous city, sunk as low as thou wast high before, the higher thou wast, the more utterly art thou shattered and cast down. ‘Tis right for me to write, to say: ‘Rome thou hast perished.’ Thy walls cry out: ‘Rome, thou art fallen.’ Thou, the head, art become the tail; thou the high, liest prostrate before the Omnipotent.” PFF1 632.6
His powerful language at once reminds us of the apocalyptic vision in Revelation 18.PFF1 632.7