To my family for giving me life and love - Bilkent University
To my family for giving me life and love - Bilkent University
To my family for giving me life and love - Bilkent University
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growing effect of these groups; neither the monks nor the secular clergy were<br />
sufficiently involved in preaching. 49<br />
It was probably Innocent III who first realized fully that a compromise<br />
was necessary. In 1201, the Church, anxious to win apostolic move<strong>me</strong>nts as allies<br />
against more threatening heresies like the Cathars or Patarenes, made <strong>for</strong> the first<br />
ti<strong>me</strong> in its history a definite move to draw a line between lay <strong>and</strong> clerical<br />
preaching. 50 While approving the propositum of the Humiliati, Innocent allowed<br />
them to “proponere verbum exhortationis, monentes et inducentes ad mores<br />
honestos et opera pietatis”, but prohibited them to talk “de articulis fidei et<br />
sacra<strong>me</strong>ntis ecclesie.” 51 Lay preaching, which was to consist of a call to penance<br />
<strong>for</strong> the remission of the sins, <strong>and</strong> of moral edification, was allowed in public.<br />
Preaching on the articles of faith <strong>and</strong> sacra<strong>me</strong>nts of the church, which clearly<br />
necessitated theological education, was reserved to clergy.<br />
It was the authorization <strong>for</strong> exactly this kind of preaching that Innocent<br />
had conferred on Francis <strong>and</strong> his twelve companions in 1210, who at that ti<strong>me</strong><br />
were exclusively a lay fraternity. 52 Whether, in addition to that, Innocent had<br />
49<br />
G.G. Coulton, Five Centuries of Religion, Vol. II: The Friars <strong>and</strong> the Dead Weight of Tradition<br />
1200-1400 A.D. (Cambridge, 1927), p. 111<br />
50<br />
On the ef<strong>for</strong>ts of Innocent III to win over the heretical groups see Jane Sayers, Innocent III:<br />
leader of Europe, 1198-1216 (London, 1994). On the distinctive approach of Innocent III, see<br />
also M. Lambert, Medieval Heresy-Popular Move<strong>me</strong>nts from Bogomil to Hus (Birkenhead, 1977)<br />
pp. 95-6<br />
51<br />
“Vestri quoque de cetero moris erit, singulis diebus dominicis ad audiendum Dei verbum in<br />
loco idoneo convenire, ubi aliquis vel aliqui fratrum probate fidei et experte religionis, qui<br />
‘potentes sint in opere ac sermone’ (Luc. 24, 19), licentia diocesani episcopi verbum exhortationis<br />
proponent his qui convenerint ad audiendum verbum Dei, monentes et inducentes eos ad mores<br />
honestos et opera pietatis, ita quod de articulis fidei et sacra<strong>me</strong>ntis ecclesie non loquantur”:<br />
L<strong>and</strong>ini, Causes, p. 22n. See also Yves M.J.Congar, Lay People in the Church: A Study <strong>for</strong> a<br />
Theology of Laity, trans. Donald Attwater (London, 1959), p. 287.<br />
52<br />
Innocent’s reply to Francis was noted by Celano: “Ite cum Dominus, fratres, et prout Dominus<br />
vobis inspirare dignabitur, omnibus poenitentiam praedicate”: Celano I, pp. 26-7.<br />
36