26 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1073-1085.
emperor. This was the last case of an imperial confirmation of a papal election.1
Hildebrand was ordained priest, May 22, and consecrated pope, June 29, without any opposition. Bishop Gregory of Vercelli, the German chancellor of Italy, attended the conse cration. The pope informed his friends, distinguished abbots, bishops, and princes of his election, gave expression to his feelings and views on his responsible position, and begged for their sympathy and prayers.2
He was overwhelmed, as he wrote to Duke Godfrey of Lorraine (May 6, 1073), by the prospect of the task before him; he would rather have died than live in the midst of such perils ; nothing but trust in God and the prayers of good men could save him from despair; for the whole world was lying in wickedness; even the high officers of the Church, in their thirst for gain and glory, were the enemies rather than the friends of religion and justice. In the second year of his pontificate, he assured his friend Hugo of Cluny (Jan. 22, 1075) that he often prayed God either to release him from the present life, or to use him for the good of mother Church, and thus describes the lamentable condition of the times: —
"The Eastern Church fallen from the faith, and attacked by the infidels from without. In the West, South, or North, scarcely any bishops who have obtained their office regularly, or whose life and conduct correspond to their calling, and who are actuated by the love of Christ instead of worldly ambi tion. Nowhere princes who prefer God's honor to their own, and justice to gain. The Romans, Longobards, and Normans among whom I live, as I often told them, are worse than Jews and heathens. And when I look to myself, I feel oppressed by such a burden of sin that no other hope of salva tion is left me but in the mercy of Christ alone." 3
1 This is Mirbt's view. The anti-Gregorian writers, reflecting the policy of Henry IV., insisted that Gregory had not received the royal assent. The im perial theory was laid down at Brixen, 1080, that any one assuming to be pope without such assent, was an apostate, si quis sine assensu romani principis papari prcesumeret, ncm papa sed apostata ab omnibus fiaberetur. See Mirbt, Die Wahl, etc., pp. 29-38.
2 Jaffe", Mon. Grey. (1885), pp. 9 sqq.
3 Abridged from Ep., II. 49 ; Jaffe", p. 163 ; Migne, 148, 400.
§ 11. THE GREGORIAN THEOCRACY. 27
This picture is true, and we need not wonder that he often longed to retire to the quiet retreat of a convent. He adds in the same letter that, if it were not for his desire to serve the holy Church, he would not remain in Rome, where he had spent twenty years against his wish. He was thus sus pended between sorrow and hope, seized by a thousand storms, living as a dying man. He compared himself to a sailor on the high seas surrounded by darkness. And he wrote to William the Conqueror, that unwillingly he had ascended into the ship which was tossed on a billowy sea, with the vio lence of the winds and the fury of storms with hidden rocks beneath and other dangers rising high in air in the distance.1
The two features which distinguished Gregory's adminis tration were the advocacy of papal absolutism and the promo tion of moral reforms. In both these respects Gregory left an abiding impression upon the thought and practice of Latin Christendom. Even where we do not share his views we cannot help but admire his moral force and invincible courage.
§ 11. The G-regorian Theocracy.
The Hildebrandian or Gregorian Church ideal is a theoc racy based upon the Mosaic model and the canon law. It is the absolute sovereignty of the Church in this world, com manding respect and obedience by her moral purity and ascetic piety. By the Church is meant the Roman Catholic organization headed by the pope as the vicar of Christ ; and this hierarchical organization is identified with the Kingdom of God, in which men are saved from sin and death, and out side of which there is no ordinary salvation. No distinction is made between the Church and the Kingdom, nor between the visible and invisible Church. The Holy, Catholic, Apos tolic, Roman Church has been to popes as visible and tangi ble as the German Empire, or the Kingdom of France, or the
lReg., I. 70.