Pope Gregory II

Gregory VII (Hildebrand) (c.1025–85), pope. Of plebeian origin, born at Soano (Tuscany), he went to Rome when very young, became a monk probably at St. Mary on the Aventine, and was chosen by Pope Gregory VI as his chaplain, in which capacity he shared the pope's exile in 1046. Hildebrand, as he was generally known, retired to a monastery (Cluny?) on Gregory VI's death in 1047, returned to Rome in 1049 with Leo IX (just elected pope), and under him and his successors occupied important financial and other offices. He came to formulate papal policy in a way not unlike that of a modern Secretary of State, except that Hildebrand's influence was both more theoretical and more thorough-going. He was elected pope in 1073; although he began his work for Church reform, like his predecessors, by decrees against simony and the incontinence of the clergy, he went on to a more comprehensive quest for the liberty of the Church in practice, by forbidding lay investiture of ecclesiastical offices.

This stand aroused much hostility during and after Gregory's lifetime and affected most of western Europe, including England. Here William I refused to obey, but escaped condemnation because he generally supported the pope's other reforming policies; Anselm, however, vigorously opposed William II and Henry I on this very issue. In France the reforms were eventually carried through, although many bishops lost their sees in the process. But in Germany the issue was fought out with great bitterness on both sides. The emperor Henry IV, who was threatened with deposition, declared Gregory deposed himself. He replied by freeing Henry's subjects from their oath of allegiance, after excommunicating the emperor. German magnates then agreed that Henry should lose his crown unless he received absolution in a year. This led to the famous confrontation at Canossa when Henry spent three days in the snow at the castle gate, accused himself, and received absolution. Although this is often seen as the triumph of Church over State, in fact it was a triumph for the emperor, who never gave up his claims to investiture but caused extreme discomfiture to the pope, who as spiritual guide had no alternative to absolving him as a private penitent. Henry was excommunicated again in 1080 as he had not kept his promises made at Canossa; but in reply he set up Wibert of Ravenna as anti-pope and took Rome after a siege of more than two years. Gregory called in the Normans under Robert Guiscard to rescue him. This they did, but the Norman soldiers so oppressed the Romans that they rejected Gregory, who fled to Monte Cassino and lastly to Salerno, where he died.  

Historians, like contemporaries, were divided in their estimate of Gregory: he has been considered by some an ambitious tyrant, ‘Holy Satan’, an unscrupulous and intransigent pope who deformed the papacy. Others make a more favourable estimate: one who devoted his life to reforming and strengthening the Church, to which he was utterly devoted, partly because he saw himself as being the Vicar of St. Peter and, lacking any worldly position by birth, he was detached from the temporal involvements of most ecclesiastics. What is certain is that the Gregorian Reform, which owed more to him than to any other individual, was a successful revolutionary movement which has profoundly modified the relation between Church and State, the nature of the clerical and monastic orders, and the involvement of Christianity in society ever since. Gregory's name was added to the Roman Martyrology in 1583: he was canonized in 1606; his feast was extended to all countries by Pope Benedict XIII in 1728. Feast: 25 May.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• AA.SS. Maii VI (1688), 101–59; E. Caspar, Registrum Gregorii VII Papae in M.G.H., Epistolae Selectae, ii (1920–3), tr. of selected letters by E. Emerton (1932); H. E. J. Cowdrey, Epistolae Vagantes (with Eng. tr., 1972) and Popes, Monks and Crusades, (1984); The Register of Pope Gregory VII: an English Translation (2002); A. Murray, ‘Pope Gregory VII and his Letters’, Traditio, xxii (1966), 149–201; A Fliche, La Réforme Grégorienne (1924–7); H. X. Arquillière, Saint Grégoire VII (1934); C. Morris, The Papal Monarchy: The Western Church from 1050 to 1250 (1989); W. Ullmann, The Growth of Papal Power in the Middle Ages (2nd edn., 1962), pp. 262–309; O.D.P., pp. 154–6; L. F. J. Meulenberg, Der Primat der rômischen Kirche im Denken und Handeln Gregors VII (1965), Bibl. SS., vii. 294–379; H.S.S.C., vi 168–72

Gregory VII (ca. 1020-1085) was pope from 1073 to 1085. One of the greatest medieval popes, later canonized, he was a man of intense conviction and will. He vigorously initiated reforms and asserted the papal claim to primacy of jurisdiction in the Church.

Although Gregory VII did not create the grandiose structure of the medieval papacy, he was certainly one of its chief architects. He became pope at a time when powerful forces were striving to rid the Latin Church of moral corruption and organizational confusion, when the papacy had already begun to assume the role of reforming leadership previously filled by emperors, kings, and lesser churchmen, and when imperial control over the Church in Italy (and, therefore, the papacy) had already weakened. Gregory continued the policies he had previously advocated as a prominent member of the papal court. He intensified papal involvement in the reforming movement and directed that movement along the road that was to lead to the first major clash between pope and Western emperor and ultimately to the papal theocratic claims of the High Middle Ages.

Fully reliable evidence about Gregory VII's origins and early career is scanty. His name was Hildebrand, and he was born in Tuscany, probably in the early 1020s. He spent his early years at Rome, where he received his education and first came into contact with the papal court, then still wracked with corruption. About 1046 he became associated in Lorraine with the most vigorous of the reforming groups of the day. Probably at this time, too, he became a monk, though probably not, as once was assumed, at the great reforming monastery of Cluny.

Early Career

Returning to Rome in 1049 as a follower of the newly elected pope, Leo IX, Hildebrand spent the next 24 years in the service of that pope and his four successors. During this vital period in the history of both the reforming movement and its papal leaders, he was involved in every aspect of the reform and in every phase of the process by which the papacy liberated itself from lay control, German as well as Italian, and sought to establish its rights of jurisdiction over the local churches of Latin Christendom. He was sent on legatine missions in Italy, France, and Germany, and his influence over both the formulation and implementation of papal policy grew steadily, so that by the 1060s he had become preeminent among papal advisers.

Though physically small and weak of voice, Hildebrand possessed a commanding personality, and his contemporaries were impressed by the keenness of his glance, the vigor of his enthusiasm, and the persistence and prophetic ardor with which he denounced what he conceived to be wrongdoing and pursued his lifelong aim of vindicating righteousness in a sinful world.

When Alexander II died in April 1073, Hildebrand was so obvious a choice as successor that, despite the 1059 election decree placing the choice of popes in the hands of the cardinals, he was acclaimed pope by a tumultuous crowd, the cardinals later acceding to the popular choice. His enemies were later to make much of these irregular proceedings; the cardinals, however, acceded willingly at the time, and Hildebrand, taking the name of Gregory VII, was able to embark upon his pontificate without the embarrassment of a contested election.

Character of His Pontificate

Gregory's interests and activities as pope were extremely varied, ranging from the introduction of the Roman liturgical rite into Spain to the promotion of the crusading ideal, soon after his death to be transformed into a reality. In pursuit of the complex diplomatic initiatives which his policies necessitated, he was in contact with most of the rulers of Latin Christendom, to whom, as with William the Conqueror of England, he did not always show the inflexibility that was increasingly to mar his relations with the German emperor-elect, Henry IV.

Three related objectives dominated Gregory's pontificate: Church reform, assertion of his jurisdictional primacy in the Church, and vindication of reform and of his primacy against Henry IV's spirited defense of the religiopolitical status quo.

Gregorian Reform

The dominant concern of the reforming movement had long been with the twin corruptions of simony (the buying and selling of ecclesiastical office) and clerical marriage, which was common despite its prohibition by ancient disciplinary regulations in the Latin Church. Both of these corruptions were symptomatic of the degree to which, during centuries of invasion and turmoil, the spiritual goals of the Church had been subordinated to family, proprietary, and political interests.

Intimately connected with these developments was the gradual extension of lay control, royal or aristocratic, over ecclesiastical appointments, a control symbolized by the ceremony of investiture, by which the lay ruler conferred Church office on the chosen nominee. Only in the latter half of the 11th century did the more radical reformers begin to challenge this principle of lay control. Gregory was not the most radical among these, but unlike the more moderate reformers, he was convinced that the traditional goal of moral reform was unattainable without the elimination or regulation of lay control. To this Gregory added the further conviction that the papal primacy of jurisdiction in the universal church - involving also for him an inexactly defined superiority to all temporal rulers - was no longer to be minimized or gainsaid. These convictions were not the outcome of the pressure of events during Gregory's pontificate: they were deeply held even at the very outset and are reflected in the clauses of the peculiar document known as the Dictatus papae, which was inserted in his register and which included the unprecedented claim "that he [the Pope] may depose emperors."

Investiture Contest

Gregory's attempts to realize his reforming objectives led, by a process which in retrospect seems inevitable, given the dependence of Henry IV's government upon the loyalty and resources of his bishops, to a clash between Pope and Emperor and to the onset of the "Investiture Contest." This conflict, which outlasted both of the initial protagonists, involved the tragedy of civil war and set Germany on the course that was ultimately to lead it to political disintegration. During its long and tortuous course, Gregory excommunicated Henry IV on two occasions, throwing his support finally to a rival claimant, Rudolf; while Henry twice sought Gregory's dismissal and sponsored the election of an antipope, Clement II.

Two dramatic events may be singled out for mention. The first is Gregory's absolution of Henry IV in January 1077. Henry had appeared before the Pope at Canossa as an abject penitent - for Henry, a personal humiliation but a diplomatic victory; for Gregory, a diplomatic disaster but a triumph of priestly conscience. The second is Gregory's death at Salerno on May 25, 1085. Undaunted by what must have seemed a disastrous defeat, he is reputed to have said, "I have loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore I die in exile." Since 1606 he has been venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

Further Reading

Ephraim Emerton translated and edited The Correspondence of Pope Gregory VII (1932). The most significant Gregorian studies are in French and Italian. In English see A. J. Macdonald, Hildebrand: A Life of Gregory VII (1932), and J. P. Whitney, Hildebrandine Essays (1932). For a succinct account with an extensive bibliography see Z. N. Brooke in The Cambridge Medieval History, vol. 5, edited by J. R. Tanner and others (1929). Studies on the general background include Margaret Deanesly, A History of the Medieval Church, 590-1500 (1925; 8th ed. 1954); Gerd Tellenbach, Church, State and Christian Society at the Time of the Investiture Contest (1940); Brian Tierney, The Crisis of Church and State, 1050-1300 (1964); and Geoffrey Barraclough, The Medieval Papacy (1968).

A pope of the eleventh century against whom a charge of necromancy was brought. Gregory was chiefly noted for his bitter and prolonged struggle with Henry IV, emperor of Germany. A quarrel arose between them regarding a gift by Henry of ecclesiastical dignities. Henry was summoned before Gregory to account for the gifts. He refused to appear, was excommunicated, and, in return, had the pope kidnapped by brigands.

Gregory, however, was rescued by the people of Rome and on his release commanded the Germans to elect a new emperor, Rudolph, duke of Swabia. Henry, attended by a very small retinue, went to Canossa, where Gregory resided, to arrange for terms of peace. He was treated with such severity and neglect that he lost his desire to come to terms with the pope, and on his return he elected an antipope, Clement III. In the struggle that ensued, Henry defeated Rudolph in battle and Gregory was sentenced as a sorcerer. He died in exile at Salerno.

Gregory's fame rests not in magic but chiefly on a prophecy he made publicly that Rudolph would be victorious "before St. Peter's day," a statement on which he staked his papal crown. The unfortunate Rudolph, entirely trusting Gregory's prediction, renewed the battle six times and finally died without having obtained the promised victory.

Other stories credit Gregory with the power of making lightning with a motion of his hand and causing thunder to dart from his sleeve. It was related by Benno that on one occasion he left his magic book behind him at his villa. Entrusting two of his servants with the task of returning for it, he warned them not to look into it on pain of the most awful punishment. Curiosity overcame the fears of one of them, and, opening the book, he pronounced some words. Immediately a band of imps appeared and asked what they commanded. The terrified servants begged the demons to cast down as much of the city wall as lay in their way; thus they escaped punishment for their disobedience. Notwithstanding such folklore, there is no real evidence that Gregory practiced sorcery.

Gregory II
Papacy began	May 19, 715
Papacy ended	February 11, 731
Predecessor	Constantine
Successor	Gregory III
Birth name	???
Born	??? Rome, Italy
Died	February 11, 731 Rome, Italy. Location of tomb has since been lost.
Other popes named Gregory

Papal styles of Pope Gregory II
[[Image:{{{image}}}|60px|]]
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Saint Gregory II served as pope from May 19, 715 to his death on February 11, 731, succeeding Pope Constantine. Having, it is said, bought off the Lombards for thirty pounds of gold, he used the tranquillity thus obtained for vigorous missionary efforts among the Germanic tribes, and for strengthening the papal authority in the churches of Britain and Ireland. By excommunicating the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian, he prepared the way for a long series of revolts and civil wars, which tended greatly to the establishment of the temporal power of the popes. He died in 731, and subsequently attained the honour of canonization. The day that Gregory is remembered in the "Martyrology" seems to be any one of February 11, February 13, and February 28.

Gregory II was an alleged collateral ancestor to the Roman Savelli family, according to a 15th century chronicler, but this is undocumented and very likely unreliable. The same was said of Benedict II, but nothing certain is known about a kinship between the two popes.

References

• "Pope St. Gregory II" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
• from the 9th edition (1880) of an unnamed encyclopedia

Roman Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Constantine	Pope 715–731	Succeeded by Gregory III

v • d • e Popes of the Roman Catholic Church Peter Linus Anacletus Clement I Evaristus Alexander I Sixtus I Telesphorus Hyginus Pius I Anicetus Soter Eleuterus Victor I Zephyrinus Callixtus I Urban I Pontian Anterus Fabian Cornelius Lucius I Stephen I Sixtus II Dionysius Felix I Eutychian Caius Marcellinus Marcellus I Eusebius Miltiades Sylvester I Mark Julius I Liberius Damasus I Siricius Anastasius I Innocent I Zosimus Boniface I Celestine I Sixtus III Leo I Hilarius Simplicius Felix III Gelasius I Anastasius II Symmachus Hormisdas John I Felix IV Boniface II John II Agapetus I Silverius Vigilius Pelagius I John III Benedict I Pelagius II Gregory I Sabinian Boniface III Boniface IV Adeodatus I Boniface V Honorius I Severinus John IV Theodore I Martin I Eugene I Vitalian Adeodatus II Donus Agatho Leo II Benedict II John V Conon Sergius I John VI John VII Sisinnius Constantine Gregory II Gregory III Zachary Stephen II Paul I Stephen III Adrian I Leo III Stephen IV Paschal I Eugene II Valentine Gregory IV Sergius II Leo IV Benedict III Nicholas I Adrian II John VIII Marinus I Adrian III Stephen V Formosus Boniface VI Stephen VI Romanus Theodore II John IX Benedict IV Leo V Sergius III Anastasius III Lando John X Leo VI Stephen VII John XI Leo VII Stephen VIII Marinus II Agapetus II John XII Benedict V Leo VIII John XIII Benedict VI Benedict VII John XIV John XV Gregory V Sylvester II John XVII John XVIII Sergius IV Benedict VIII John XIX Benedict IX Sylvester III Gregory VI Clement II Damasus II Leo IX Victor II Stephen IX Nicholas II Alexander II Gregory VII Victor III Urban II Paschal II Gelasius II Callixtus II Honorius II Innocent II Celestine II Lucius II Eugene III Anastasius IV Adrian IV Alexander III Lucius III Urban III Gregory VIII Clement III Celestine III Innocent III Honorius III Gregory IX Celestine IV Innocent IV Alexander IV Urban IV Clement IV Gregory X Innocent V Adrian V John XXI Nicholas III Martin IV Honorius IV Nicholas IV Celestine V Boniface VIII Benedict XI Clement V John XXII Benedict XII Clement VI Innocent VI Urban V Gregory XI Urban VI Boniface IX Innocent VII Gregory XII Martin V Eugene IV Nicholas V Callixtus III Pius II Paul II Sixtus IV Innocent VIII Alexander VI Pius III Julius II Leo X Adrian VI Clement VII Paul III Julius III Marcellus II Paul IV Pius IV Pius V Gregory XIII Sixtus V Urban VII Gregory XIV Innocent IX Clement VIII Leo XI Paul V Gregory XV Urban VIII Innocent X Alexander VII Clement IX Clement X Innocent XI Alexander VIII Innocent XII Clement XI Innocent XIII Benedict XIII Clement XII Benedict XIV Clement XIII Clement XIV Pius VI Pius VII Leo XII Pius VIII Gregory XVI Pius IX Leo XIII Pius X Benedict XV Pius XI Pius XII John XXIII Paul VI John Paul I John Paul II Current: Benedict XVI

v • d • e Catholic Church Organizations, Papacy, Teachings and Liturgical Traditions History Jesus · Twelve Apostles · Early Christianity · History of the Papacy · Councils · Crusades · Missions · Great Schism of East · Great Schism of West · Reformation · Counter-Reformation · Roman Catholicism by country Hierarchy Pope · Cardinals · Patriarchs · Major Archbishops · Primates · Metropolitans · Archbishops · Diocesan Bishops Theology Trinity · Original sin · One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church · Worship · Divine Grace · Salvation · Sermon on the Mount · The Ten Commandments · Dogma · Body and Soul Sacraments Baptism · Confirmation · Eucharist · Penance · Anointing of the Sick · Holy Orders · Matrimony Mariology Mariology · Veneration · History of Mariology · Mariology of the saints · Mariology of the popes · Marian Doctrines · Mother of God · Perpetual Virginity · Immaculate Conception  · Assumption Doctors of the Church Albertus Magnus · Ambrose · Anselm of Canterbury · Anthony of Padua · Thomas Aquinas · Athanasius of Alexandria · Augustine of Hippo · Basil of Caesarea · Bede · Robert Bellarmine · Bernard of Clairvaux · Bonaventure · Petrus Canisius · Catherine of Siena · Peter Chrysologus · John Chrysostom · Cyril of Alexandria · Cyril of Jerusalem · Peter Damian · Ephrem the Syrian · Francis de Sales · Gregory the Great · Gregory of Nazianzus · Hilary of Poitiers · Isidore of Seville · Jerome · John of Damascus · John of the Cross · Lawrence of Brindisi · Leo the Great · Alphonsus Liguori · Thérèse de Lisieux · Teresa of Ávila Pope Benedict XVI Conclave · Theology · Works · Deus Caritas Est · Sacramentum Caritatis · Summorum Pontificum · Spe Salvi Preceding Popes Pope John Paul II · Pope Paul VI · Pope John XXIII · Pope Pius XII · Pope Pius XI · Pope Benedict XV · Pope Pius X · Pope Leo XIII · Pope Pius IX Orders & Societies Assumptionist · Augustinian Order · Benedictines · Capuchin Order · Carmelites · Carthusians · Congregations of Holy Cross · Dominican Order · Franciscan orders · Jesuits · Oratory of Saint Philip Neri Vatican II Definition of the Church · Gaudium et Spes · Lumen Gentium · Nostra Aetate Particular Churches sorted by Liturgical Traditions Alexandrian · Coptic · Ethiopic · Antiochian · Maronite · Syriac · Syro-Malankara · Armenian · Armenian · Byzantine · Albanian · Belarusian · Bulgarian · Croatian · Greek · Hungarian · Italo-Greek · Macedonian · Melkite · Romanian · Russian · Ruthenian · Slovak · Ukrainian · East Syrian · Chaldean · Syro-Malabar · Roman · Ambrosian · Sarum · Mozarabic · Anglican Use · Latin · Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter Pope Portal Catholicism Portal

v • d • e History of the Roman Catholic Church General History of the Roman Catholic Church · History of the Papacy · History of the Roman Curia · Ecumenical Councils · Timeline of the Roman Catholic Church · History of Christianity · Role of the Roman Catholic Church in civilization · Art in Roman Catholicism · Roman Catholic religious order · Christian monasticism · Papal States Church beginnings Jesus · Twelve Apostles · Saint Peter · Paul the Apostle · Saint Stephen · John the Apostle Council of Jerusalem · Apostolic Fathers · Ignatius of Antioch · Irenaeus · Pope Victor I · Tertullian Constantine to Pope Gregory I Constantine I and Christianity · Arianism · Basilica of St. John Lateran · First Council of Nicaea · Pope Sylvester I · First Council of Constantinople · Canon · Jerome · Vulgate · Council of Ephesus · Council of Chalcedon · Benedict of Nursia · Second Council of Constantinople · Pope Gregory I · Gregorian Chant Early Middle Ages Third Council of Constantinople · Saint Boniface · Byzantine Iconoclasm · Second Council of Nicaea · Charlemagne · Pope Leo III · Fourth Council of Constantinople · East-West Schism High Middle Ages Pope Urban II · Investiture Controversy · Crusades · First Council of the Lateran · Second Council of the Lateran · Third Council of the Lateran · Pope Innocent III · Latin Empire of Constantinople · Saint Francis of Assisi · Fourth Council of the Lateran · Inquisition · First Council of Lyon · Second Council of Lyon · Bernard of Clairvaux · Thomas Aquinas Late Middle Ages Pope Boniface VIII · Avignon Papacy · Pope Clement V · Council of Vienne · Knights Templar · Catherine of Siena · Pope Alexander VI Protestant Reformation & Counter-Reformation Protestant Reformation · Counter-Reformation · Thomas More · Pope Leo X · Society of Jesus · Francis Xavier · Dissolution of the Monasteries · Council of Trent · Pope Pius V · Tridentine Mass · Robert Bellarmine Baroque Period to French Revolution Pope Innocent XI · Pope Benedict XIV · Suppression of the Society of Jesus · Anti-clericalism · Pope Pius VI · Shimabara Rebellion · Edict of Nantes · Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution 19th century Pope Pius VII · Pope Pius IX · Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary · Our Lady of Lourdes · First Vatican Council · Papal infallibility · Pope Leo XIII · Rerum Novarum 20th century Pope Pius X · Our Lady of Fátima · Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII · Pope Pius XII · Dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary · Pope John XXIII · Second Vatican Council · Pope Paul VI · Pope John Paul I · Pope John Paul II 21st century Pope Benedict XVI · World Youth Day 2008 By country France  · Mexico  · Spain  · United States Pope Portal Catholicism Portal

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)