Hildebrand was born in Tuscany about the year1028. He was educated in Rome and entered the monastic life. He helped the popes of his time through many missions on behalf of Church reform, and in 1073 ascended to the chair of Saint Peter under the name of Gregory VII. Besieged by King Henry IV, he died a refugee at Salerno in 1085.
In the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the official prayer of the Church—every priest is obliged to say it on behalf of the whole Church, and laymen are more than welcome to say it, although there is no obligation conferred upon them to do so, the memorial of St. Gregory VII is found under the Common of Pastors. Indeed, Gregory was a true pastor as is wondrously evident in the account of his dealings with the notorious Emperor Henry IV. When Henry came to Gregory in sackcloth and ashes, claiming true sorrow and repentance for his sins, Gregory acted not as an administrator but rather—in imitation of the Heart of Christ—as a Pastor. He absolved Henry from his sins despite the warnings of his advisers. Gregory was a priest and pastor before anything else. Thanks be to God!
Later, Henry went back to his old ways of persecuting the Church, especially the Vicar of Christ on earth. Some would say the Gregory was foolish in the pastoral action that he took at Canossa—that of absolving Henry. Yet Gregory has been vindicated and honored with the highest dignity of the Church, canonization. So, let them call Gregory—and us--the faithful followers of Christ foolish. For, “God has chosen those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, that no flesh may glory in God’s sight” (Corinthians 1:29). Now, I don’t know about you, but I—for one—am not going to argue with the great St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles nor shall I argue with the Word of God.
Now, for those interested, what follows is a more detailed summary of the Papacy of Gregory VII. It begins, actually, with the papacy of Leo IX, because then-Cardinal Hildebrand was Pope Leo’s chief assistant and adviser.
Himself a reformer, Leo IX became Pope in 1049. Leo’s chief assistant and adviser was Cardinal Hildebrand. Together they fought against simony and violations of priestly celibacy.
In the year 1054, Leo IX died and Cardinal Hildebrand became the dominant figure in Rome. His dominance was to last through most of the eleventh century. In the year 1073, he became Pope, taking the name Gregory VII. Gregory’s predecessors, Victor II, Stephen X, and Nicholas II, had all condemned the abuses of the proprietary church, but not the system itself; however, Gregory VII did condemn the proprietary system itself.
Gregory continued to work against simony and clerical incontinence. His biggest struggle, however, was against lay investiture. During the Dark Ages, many bishops had become large landholders. Thus, as temporal lords, they were under the authority of the Emperor and were invested by him with the symbols of temporal authority. At first, the Emperor went no further than this. Later, however, Holy Roman Emperor Henry the IV expanded the investiture process to include the bestowal of the symbols of spiritual authority as well. This flared up into a huge struggle between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII. This struggle has come to be known as the Investiture Controversy.
Pope Gregory was trying to reform the clergy; he was trying to put an end to clerical incontinence and lay investiture, but Henry opposed him at every step along the way. Henry kept using lay investiture as a means to get his men in office. So, Gregory ordered Henry to Rome. Henry refuse to come and even went so far as to get the German bishops to declare Pope Gregory deposed. Henry himself sent the declaration of deposition and an insulting personal letter to Pope Gregory.
Gregory then issued a solemn declaration that Henry and the bishops aligned with him were excommunicated and that Henry’s subjects were absolved from all allegiance to him. At that point, Henry’s Saxon subjects demanded a new king, and the German lords declared Henry’s crown forfeit if he was not reconciled to the Pope within a year.
Gregory was spending the winter in Canossa. Henry crossed the Alps and arrived in Canossa in January of 1077, dressed in sackcloth. Gregory absolved Henry, revoked the excommunication, and restored Henry to his throne. Later, Henry returned to his old ways and in 1080 was excommunicated again. For the rest of Gregory’s life, he and Henry were at odds.
In 1085, Gregory died at Salerno, saying: “I have loved justice and hated iniquity; therefore, I die in exile.”
P.S. I encourage everyone to click the link below to actually view the blog with its pictures and its beautiful green shading.
P.P.S. This blog has been resent, because the original had a major typo.
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