V. Tlie council of 1215, under Innocent III, was the most important of all the Lateran Councils. It is usu- ally styled the Fourth Lateran. It continued in session from November 11 to November 30, having present 71 archbishops, 412 bishops, 800 abbots, the patriarclis of Constantinople and Jerusalem, and the legates of other patriarchs and crowned heads. The pope opened the assembly with a sermon upon St. Luke xxii, 15, relating to the recovery of the Holy Land and the reformation of the Church. The remarkable power of Innocent HI is displaj'ed in his influence over this council, which was submissive to all his wishes, and received the sev- enty canons proposed by him. The papal prerogatives attained their greatest height in Innocent, whose pon- tificate extended from 1198 to 1216. The bull Unam Sanctam of Boniface VIII. directed against Philip the Fair in 1302, marks the limit from which the power of the popes evidently declined. Innocent HI — a man of great personal power, of marked ability as a writer and orator, bold, crafty, and ever watchful of affairs — had his eye on aU that transpired through his legates. The chief objects which his pontificate, sought were "the strengthening of the States of the Church, separation of the Two Sicilies from all dependence on the German empire, the liberation of Italy from all foreign control, the exercise of guardianship over the confederacy of its states, the liberation of the Oriental Church, the exter- mination of heretics, and the exercise of ecclesiastical discipline" (Hase, Church Hist. p. 207). Hitherto Eng- land, Ciermany, anil France had constituted a balance of power against the pope, but under Innocent the two former, as well as Italy, submitted to the claims of the pseudo-Isidorean decretals. France was early laid un- der interdict (12(10) on account of Philip Augustus's re- pudiation of Ingelmrge and the Freucli bishops' appro- val of the act. while John of England was deprived of his realm, to receive it back (in 1 213 * only as a fief of Rome. Deciding at first for Otlio IV, the Guelph, against the
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Holienstauffen Philip, in Germany, Innocent subsequent- ly securetl from the council the recognition of Frederick II, vainly seeking in this his German policy to free It- aly entirely from the power of the emperor. The famous seventy constitutions of Innocent, if not discussed con- ciliariter by the bishops, or passed with every form of enactment, were nevertheless regarded as the canons of the council, so recognised by the Council of Trent and by Church authorities of the intervening age, and they have constituted a fundamental law for many well- known practices of the Romish Church. The first of these canons asserts the Catholic faith in the unity of God against all Manicha^an sects. It also, for the first time, makes the doctrine of transubstantiation, in the use of this express term, an article of faith. '• The body and blood of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the altar are truly contained under the species of bread and wine, the bread being, by the divine omnipotence, transub- stantiated into his body, and the wine into his blood." The second canon condemns the treatise of Joachim, the prophet of Calabria, which he wrote against Peter Lom- bard on the subject of the Trinity. The third canon is of great importance, furnishing the basis for the crusade against the Albigenses, and for all severities of a like cliaracter on the part of the Koraish Cliurcli. It " anath- ematizes all heretics who hold anything in opposition to the preceding exposition of faith, and enjoins that, after condemnation, they shall be delivered over to the secular arm ; also excommunicates all who receive, pro- tect, or maintain heretics, and threatens with deposition all bishops who do not use their utmost endeavors to clear their dioceses of them" (LawAon, Manual of Coun- cils, p. 295). The fourth canon invites the Greeks to unite with and submit themselves to the Romish Church. T\\c fifth canon regulates the order of precedence of the patriarchs: l.Rorae; 2. Constantinople ; S.Alexandria; 4. Antioch ; 5. Jerusalem ; and permits these several pa- triarchs to give the pall to the archbishops of their de- pendencies, exacting from themselves a profession of faith, and of obedience to the Roman see, when they re- ceive the pall from the pope. The sixth to the twen- tieth, inclusive, are of minor importance (see Landon, Manual of Councils, p. 29G). The twenty-first canon enjoins "all the faitbfid of both sexes, having arrived at years of discretion, to confess all their sins at least once a year to their proper priest, and to communicate at Easter." This is the first canon known which orders sacramental confession generally, and may have been occasioned by the teachings of the Waldenses, that nei- ther confession nor satisfaction was necessary in order to obtain remission of sin. From the words with which it commences, it is known as the canon " Omnis utrins- que sexus," and was solemnly reaffirmed by the Council of Trent. The canons (given complctclj' by Landon, Man. of Councils, p. 293 sq.) in general constitute a body of full and severe disciplinary enactments. This council reaffirmed and extended the Truce of God on plenary indulgence which had been previously proclaimed in behalf of the Eastern Crusades, and fixed the time, June 1, and place, Sicily, as a rendezvous for anotlier crusade. This council also confirmed Simon do Montfort in possession of lands which the Crusaders had obtained l)y papal confiscation from the Waldenses, and decreed the entire extirpation of the heresy. The Waldenses or Albigenses in the south of France were the followers of Peter Waldo, a wealthy citizen of Lyons, who, from religious principle, adopted a life of poverty. His fol- lowers were also called Leonistaj and " Poor men of Ly- ons." They were allied in their sentiments to the Vau- dois of the Piedmontese valleys, with whom they became united for mutual defence. They protested against these points in the doctrine of the Romish Church : 1. Transubstantiation. 2. The sacraments of confirmation, confession, and marriage. 3. The invocation of saints. 4. The worship of images. 5. The temporal power of the clergy. A crusade had been instituted against them by the papal power in 1178. Innocent sought to win v.— R