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Show burcb and tbt Papacy Papacy in English History Spiritnal Jurisdiction Exercised and Acknowledged from Augnstine to Henry VI II. (Written for The Intermountain Catholic.) The mission of the Catholic church, from its assumed name, was universal and not confined to any race or nation. Her Divine Founder gave the command, com-mand, "Go and teach all nations." As opposed to this idea of universality stands national churches, claiming independence in-dependence and freedom from any supreme su-preme teaching authority. Christian- j ity is a fact which conveys to the mind the idea of one God, one faith, one visible visi-ble and united Church. Fragments of its teachings will be found in all j churches claiming the sacred name Christian, but to preserve it in its integrity in-tegrity and have it the same always and everywhere, it must exclude national na-tional churches. In preserving its divine di-vine character of universality, contests between popes and temporal rulers have at times occurred. In all contests which occurred in England up to the time of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth, Eliza-beth, there was no question of the possession pos-session and supremacy of the spiritual power of the pope. Only its exercise formed the ground work of dispute. All disputes in England up to the period pe-riod referred to were submitted to Rome, thereby acknowledging the supremacy su-premacy of the bishop of Rome. Tracing the history of England from the time St. Gregory sent AugUBtine to preach the goa&el. there can be no doubt of the Catholic faith professed by the people and their rulers. Mention Men-tion is made of not less than 300 canonized canon-ized saints in the calendar of the old English Church. In the long list are included many of royal blood. Canonization Canon-ization has been always one of the distinctive dis-tinctive prerogatives of the pope. Therefore, both kings and people were Catholics. It was before the advent of William the Conqueror that St. Dunstan. archbishop arch-bishop of Canterbury, censured King Edwy, or Eadwig, also his successor, Edgar, for their many vices. The penance pen-ance imposed was that he should lay aside his crown for seven years, fast and distribute manuscript copies cop-ies of the Bible in every county. coun-ty. The penance imposed by the Catholic archbishop, (the representative represen-tative of the pope), and the submission sub-mission and compliance of- the king, show that the jurisdiction of the Roman Ro-man pontiff was acknowledged in England Eng-land at the time. In that period of English history subsequent sub-sequent to the Conquest, when Archbishops Arch-bishops Anselm. Winchesla and Thorn- I as a' Becket ruled and governed the Church, disputes arose; not. however, regarding faith and morals, but the encroachment en-croachment of the temporal power on th spiritual domain. St. Anselm, appointed ap-pointed archbishop of Canterbury with the sanction and recommendation of William II, became involved with the king in a dispute regarding investitures. investi-tures. Yet William did not ignore the authority of the pope, but wrote his 'holiness that "He deferred to and obeyed his sacred commands with humility." hu-mility." and that In the matter of appeals to the pontiff he only claimed that "no cleric belonging to his kingdom should pass beyond the borders bor-ders of his kingdom on account of any civil cause, unless he had previously ascertained whether he could obtain his rights by the king's authority." It was this same William Rufus whe disputed the limits of an appeal to fhi--Holy See, that also quarreled with hi:-appointee hi:-appointee St. Anselm for recognizing Pope Crban as the trlie successor of St. Peter. Like Henry of Germany. William rtufus arrogated to himself the right of naming the new pontiff. The king did not. by his inte rf"renc". deny th' authority of the bishop of Rome, or refuse to submit to bis jurisdiction, juris-diction, but arrogantly assumed th right to have a voice in his election. On the acepssion of Henry 1. Beau-clire Beau-clire (fine scholar) Anselm was recalled, re-called, but only for a renewal of tb old struggle on investitures. Notwithstanding Notwith-standing the canonical ruling of Greg- ory VII, Henry claimed and exercised the right of investiture. St. Anselm denied de-nied the king's right, and refused Catholics Cath-olics the privilege of holding communion commun-ion with clerics invested by the king. In his resistance to King Henry's usurped authority, the archbishop of Canterbury had the good will, co-operation and loyal support of old England. Eng-land. The unjust charge ha.s been made that "popes made no distinction between be-tween secular and sacred things." The very opposite is true. namely. th Church and Catholic states have always al-ways claimed the independence of temporal tem-poral sovereignties in all things temporal; tem-poral; never interfered in secular matters, mat-ters, any more than did Catholic states interfere in spiritual matters; nay. more, the Church has at times yielded and revoked its own ruling when faith or morals were not involved. The action of Pope Boniface VIII in 1261 illustrates this fact. He wrote to Archbishop Winchelsea forbidding th? English clergv to yield to the royal demands de-mands regarding church property. Th bull was at once promulgated by the archbishop. England, at the time, was at war with Scotland, and the English I bishops, assembled in council, consid- I ered'it an inopportune, time to enforce I. the decree. They wrote to the Holy 1 Father, explained the exigencies, and ! asked that an exception be mad them. The pope immediately complied with their request, thereby showing that the Church was always willing to relax its own disciplinary rulings when any urgent necessity demanded it. His action, ac-tion, as well as that of his predecessors predeces-sors back to Augustine, show that they claimed and exercised spiritual juris, diction, which was conceded by thn civil power down to the time of Henry . vln- ,v (To Be Continued.) |