Week 13 · AD 1201–1300
Councils, Friars, and Christ
From Lateran IV to the Mongol world
This week
Christ, councils, and new orders
- Lateran IV (1215) teaches yearly confession, Communion, and Christ’s true humanity
- The Cathars denied Christ’s real body, and the council answered them
- Two councils at Lyons deal with papal power, the Spirit, and the East
- Francis and Dominic found new orders of preaching friars
- The Mongols and Magna Carta show a wider world
Madonna and Child
Berlinghiero, possibly the 1230s. Mary holds the child Jesus against a gold ground.
Church life
Confession, Communion, schools, and new orders.
Christ and the sacraments
Yearly confession and Communion
- 1215: Every Christian who reaches the age of discernment confesses sins to a priest yearly
- Christians must also receive Communion at least at Easter
- A priest can advise someone to hold back from Communion for a time
- The rule shaped how medieval Christians came to the Lord’s Supper
Church life
Schools and new orders
- 1215: Robert de Courçon issues rules for the University of Paris
- 1216: Honorius III confirms Dominic’s community as an order of preachers
- 1223: Honorius III approves the Rule of Francis’s Friars Minor
- The Rule asks the friars for obedience, no personal property, and chastity
Controversy
Who is Christ, and how is he present?
“having become true man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh, one person in two natures”
Fourth Lateran Council, constitution 1 (1215)
Controversy and heresy
Cathars and Docetism
- The Cathars (Albigensians, from Albi in southern France) taught that the physical world is evil
- They said Christ’s body was only apparent, so he did not truly suffer
- This view is Docetism: the claim that Christ only seemed to have a body
- Lateran IV ordered civil authorities to punish condemned heretics and take their goods
Councils and events
Lateran IV, Lyons I, and Lyons II.
Councils and events
Lateran IV, 1215
- Innocent III called it in 1213, and more than 400 bishops met in Rome
- It confessed the Trinity, Christ as true God and man, and the real presence
- It set severe measures against heretics, so keep that force apart from its doctrine
- Lutheran classification: Mixed
Councils and events
Lyons I, 1245
- Innocent IV declared Emperor Frederick II deprived of his throne
- He freed Frederick’s subjects from their oaths
- The council also dealt with the Mongol threat and the Holy Land
- Lutheran classification: Not classified
Councils and events
Lyons II, 1274
- The Filioque: the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son
- Greek envoys promised fidelity to Rome on 6 July 1274
- The Greek clergy rejected the agreement, so signing did not make it last
- Lutheran classification: Mixed
Major people
The people who shaped the century.
Major people
Francis of Assisi
- About 1181 to 1226: he gave up his father’s wealth to live in poverty and preach
- Honorius III approved his Rule in 1223, calling for obedience, poverty, and chastity
- Ask: can a chosen discipline become a required route to righteousness?
Major people
Pope, friar, teacher, and king
- Innocent III (pope 1198 to 1216) called Lateran IV and backed the war on the Cathars
- Dominic (about 1170 to 1221) founded the Order of Preachers and preached against the Cathars
- Thomas Aquinas (about 1225 to 1274), a Dominican at Paris, explains the faith with careful reasoning
- Louis IX of France led the Seventh Crusade to Egypt and was captured in 1250
Wider world
Beyond Western Europe.
Wider world
Mongols, travel, and Magna Carta
- 1206: Genghis Khan becomes ruler of the united Mongols
- William of Rubruck, a Franciscan friar, meets Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists
- 1215: King John agrees to Magna Carta at Runnymede, limiting royal power under law
Confessional Lutheran connection
What the Lutheran Confessions say.
Christ and the sacraments
One Christ, true God and man
- Lateran IV and the Lutheran Confessions both confess one Christ, true God and true man
- Cathar Docetism denied his real body, and the Confessions defend it
- The Lutheran Confessions say the bread remains bread, while Christ’s body and blood are truly present
- The Cathar “baptism of the Spirit” (consolamentum) at life’s end differs from Baptism with water and the Word
Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata
Giotto di Bondone, about 1295 to 1300. Francis receives Christ’s wounds, which point to the cross.
For discussion
The Cathars denied that Christ had a real body. How does confessing Christ as God and man shape what Christians receive in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper?