Virgil and Dante are in the 8th circle of Hell which is called Malebolge. This is where Fraud is punished. There are 10 bolgias (or ditches or pouches) in this circle and they just left the 2nd bolgia in Canto 18. In Canto 19 they are crossing the bridge over the 3rd bolgia and seeing what is in that 3rd ravine.
O Simon Magus, and O you wretched crowd
Of those who follow him and prostitute
In your rapacity the things of God
Which should be brides of righteousness, to get
Silver and gold – it is time the trumpet sounded
For you: the third pouch is where you are put.
The story of Simon Magus, also known as Simon the Sorcerer or Simon the Magician, is in Acts 8:9-24.
Acts 8:9-24 (BSB) 9 Prior to that time, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and astounded the people of Samaria. He claimed to be someone great, 10 and all the people, from the least to the greatest, heeded his words and said, “This man is the divine power called the Great Power.” 11 They paid close attention to him because he had astounded them for a long time with his sorcery.
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Even Simon himself believed and was baptized. He followed Philip closely and was astounded by the great signs and miracles he observed.
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 On their arrival, they prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money. 19 “Give me this power as well,” he said, “so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God. 22 Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart. 23 For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and captive to iniquity.”
24 Then Simon answered, “Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
In this ditch, the sinners are punished for Simony.
Simony is so called after Simon Magus. It is the buying or selling of something spiritual or closely connected with the spiritual. It is making of profit out of sacred things including the sin of buying or selling ecclesiastical preferments, benefices, offices up to, and including, the office of the Catholic Pope.
There was no uniform procedure for papal selection before 1059 AD. The bishops of Rome and supreme pontiffs (Popes) of the Catholic Church were often appointed by their predecessors, or by political rulers, which was ripe for preferments. The absence of an institutionalized procedure of papal succession facilitated religious schism, and the Catholic Church currently regards several papal claimants before 1059 as antipopes. Further, the frequent requirement of political approval of elected popes significantly lengthened periods of sede vacante, i.e., transitional vacancy of the papacy, and weakened it. Due to the unprecedented actions of Pope Benedict IX, Henry III found three different popes in 1046 when he arrived in Rome seeking coronation as Holy Roman Emperor. Henry III decided to depose all three and install Pope Clement II (1046–47). Henry III also installed the 3 successors to Pope Leo IX (1049–54), all Germans, without the formality of election. However, the death of Henry III and the rise of child Emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, allowed Pope Nicholas II (1059–61) success in limiting future papal electors to the cardinals in In nomine Domini, instituting standardized papal elections that eventually developed into the procedure of the papal conclave ensuring that all future elections and, eventually, conclaves, would conform to a basic procedure that has remained largely unchanged for almost a millennium. – Wikipedia
Simony was unknown for the first three centuries of the church. It’s only when the church began to have wealth, influence and power that it became rife with corruption. All that money and power drew unscrupulous people to the church or tempted those who were weak. Simony became widespread in Europe in the 9th and 10th centuries. Pope Gregory VII (1073–85 AD) rigorously attacked the problem.
In simony the person tries to equate material things, such as money, with spiritual things, such as divine grace, and treats the latter as though he or some other human being had full ownership of what really belongs to God. To confer sacred orders or obtain some position of authority in the Church in return for money or its equivalent is simony forbidden by ecclesiastical law. To promise prayers in exchange for money is simony and forbidden by divine law. It’s a grave sin. The selling of religious items to profit oneself is simony. When Jesus entered the Temple and found money changers and the buying and selling of religious merchandise including sacrificial animals, He was angered and threw them out. The High Priest and priesthood were getting a cut of the profits for allowing the merchants access to the Temple and taking advantage of the pilgrims.
Does it still happen today? Is the Pope Catholic? (My little joke, with the obvious answer, yes.) Where there is an organization of human beings, there will be sin. Sin is our human nature. We may be saved but we still can fall into sin. And, where there is something to be had, it will draw unsaved sinners, as well as, weak Christians, in order to take it. Some people have no illusions of salvation, they are in it for what they can get out of it. They may lie to everyone around them, but they know the truth about themselves and that they are liars, cheats, frauds, and thieves. They are the Elmer Gantry’s (Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis). They are taking advantage of believers for their own profit. There are many Christians who are saved, but they are weak in an area of sin. When temptation comes their way, they fall into the sin. Greed and pride can easily overtake us and we are in deep before we know it. If you are weak in the area of greed and a lot of money comes through your hands, you may be tempted to sin by stealing it. Then, before you know it, you are trying to increase your profits one way or another and you fall into simony. It happens to pastors, evangelists, church financial secretaries, church bookkeepers, treasurers, board members all the time. It’s why sound financial procedures in church offices for full accountability, is so important. It protects the pastors and staff from any accusations or falling into those kind of sins. It also protects the congregation from being fleeced. There should always be complete documentation, oversight, backups and detailed procedures because money is a temptation. It should always be about accountability from every person involved. It’s not meant to hamstring a pastor; it’s not meant to make a long, boring meeting for the church leaders every month; it’s not meant to make the bookkeeper a lot of work; it’s not meant to make anyone feel suspect… it’s meant for the protection for all those involved and should be seen as such. When a pastor starts demanding that money be moved around in accounts to hide something… when he demands that the church leaders only meet once a quarter instead of once a month… when he wants to change the financial reports to make them less detailed… when he doesn’t want to have to account for, or complete proper forms to, request money for expenses… you may have a pastor who is trying to hide something or, doesn’t understand the importance of financial accountability. He may just see it as boring, intrusive, unnecessary details but he can be educated to see how important it really is. Or he may be trying to make things look better than they are so he retains his job. Or he may actually be trying to cover up embezzlement or other sinful scandals. It’s very important for the congregation to pay attention, go to the business meetings, be alert, don’t just vote as a bloc but make sure you really agree. Look carefully at the financial reports, ask questions, and go to your church leaders with something you disagree with. You may be protecting yourself, your church, your church’s pastor by being involved. I’m not saying to be an obstructionist, or to be ugly or miserly. But be alert, take part, take responsibility. If you are a church leader, a church treasurer, a church staff member, you need to be very circumspect, responsible and be alert. Follow the procedures for your own protection. Look at every change from all possible directions to make sure it’s a change for the better and not just sweeping something under the rug.
Back to simony, there are a myriad of ways people use to get what they want. It may not even be money that is exchanged. It may be material or it may be power, influence, a good word put here and there, an opportunity given, sexual favors, etc. Money and sex are the biggies. Behind it all, you usually can trace it to money or sex. But there are other motivators.
Politics draw people who are political animals. They like the gamesmanship of politics. They like the manipulations, the pressures, the subterfuges, the backdoors, the convolutions that go on in politics. I can’t stand that kind of thing and thus I’m not drawn to being a politician. It holds no temptation to me. But for those who do, politics draws them like flies to honey. Someone who gets deeply into politics, whether it’s running the local PTA, school board, city council, Mayor, county council, state, national, loves all the machinations and behind the scenes stuff. They thrive on it. We need people who enjoy politics because we need leaders. It’s just too bad that offices come with temptations that these people fall into. A person might start out as honest and forthright but politics can turn them. The temptations are constant. Or a person may be an unsaved sinner who sees Washington (or their state capitol or their school board) as a playground where they get to play, win in the competition and take advantage of the position to get what they want. It’s the nature of politics and takes a very strong Christian to be able to withstand the temptations. And if they aren’t Christians, they have no reason to withstand the temptation. Anyway, how does simony play a part? A politician who woos Christians in order to get their vote can be practising simony. He may make appearances at a church, say a few “God bless you”‘s, make political speeches that seem to favor the values that Christians believe in but it’s a sham just to get our vote. If religious leaders make promises to give votes to a politician in return for favor, that is simony. Money may not have been exchanged but promises and favors are exchanged. Now, if a religious leader really believes a politician is going to make a difference and help uphold the values of Christianity then his endorsement may come from a true heart. There is no other motivation, or tit-for-tat, going on. A politician may truly be a believer in Jesus Christ and trying their best to do the right thing so giving a positive position of faith in his/her office is not a lie, a sham or a bid for votes. It’s real. So motivation is key.
A businessman may join a church with the idea that he can network with others in the church and it will increase his business and profits. He may even agree to give the church a good deal on a new roof if the pastor will recommend him to others. If the pastor agrees then it’s a form of simony. The pastor is going to advertise freely for this member of his church in order to get a new roof on his church. Now, if the businessman is a true believer in Jesus Christ and has a sterling reputation in his business and God prompts him to replace the church roof. It’s different. If the pastor is truly impressed with the work on the church roof and he knows the man well enough to recommend him, then there is no simony. There is an exchange, not necessarily of money, although in the long run it may be, of something for something you want. But if the motives are pure and there is no pressure or demands, then it’s not simony. It’s merely a businessman who desires to obey God and bless the church in this way and a pastor who humbly receives the blessing.
What about a mobster who donates $10,000 for a new stained glass window in the local church? What does he expect to get from his donation? Respect, acceptance, deference, prayer, salvation? Does he expect the pastor to “absolve” him from his crimes in order to get the money? Does he expect the church to bow and scrape to him to get the money? Does he expect the church members to forget where he got the money and pat him on the back with their hand out? Does he expect his charitable donation pays his way to Heaven? Does he expect his charitable donation will earn him prayers for prosperity? Does he expect the church to do something underhanded for him in return? Does he expect to feel good, saved, respected for his donation? Does the pastor, or church members, fulfil his fantasies just to get his money? Then that is simony. But what if the mobster really is repentant? He may have become a believer and has asked for forgiveness of his sins. He may feel convicted about how he made money in the past but is trying to go straight now. So he donates money to the church. That’s not simony. And the pastor knows him and knows he has been converted and is trying to walk in a new way of life. The pastor counsels him, disciples and prays for him. He indicates to the other members that this man is saved and is to be accepted into the fellowship of believers as one of them. This is not simony.
Pedophiles are drawn to jobs and occupations that give them access to the perverted sex of their choice. For instance, a pedophile would love to be a Cub Scout leader, a teacher, a youth leader, a daycare worker, coach, etc because it gives them access to what they want: to hunt and prey upon children for sex. This does not mean that all teachers, youth leaders, coaches are pedophiles. Thank God there are perfectly normal people who take these jobs for the good of the children. Homosexual men will be drawn to all male societies like the Catholic priesthood for the same reason. They get what they want out of it and it isn’t necessarily money. Not all Catholic priests are practising homosexuals or pedophiles (Thank You Lord!) but you can see where it would be a playground for those who are and therefore would draw those kind of people. It would be like a Disney World for homosexuals and pedophiles. What do they get out of it? To indulge their perverted sex with a veneer of respectability. They get a job, paid and provided for by the church; they get the respect of the public and parishioners and meanwhile they get to indulge in their pet sins. There is a network of homosexuals in the Catholic Church who are choosing seminarians, priests, bishops, cardinals, and even a pope who shares their pet sin. These men are loyal to each other within the Catholic Church and will promote and protect each other as necessary. They go to extreme measures, just as a vassal, or knight, would protect his feudal baron, or king. These men hate the laity and other clerics who do not belong to them. They will bully, blackmail, and destroy anyone who attempts to expose or hinder them. They don’t care about the people they shepherd, they only care about what they stand to gain and keep from the church. They are not interested in serving God but only doing enough in order to keep their position because of what it means to them. It’s all about self and sin not about serving and sacrifice. They are playing games with sacred things. It’s a type of simony. Temporal security and protection is more important than spiritual responsibilities.
What about the ministers, evangelists, prophets, etc who buy and sell in the church? They sell their book, a Bible they made notes in, their teaching series, a blessed handkerchief, a prayer, holy oil, religious charms, relics, t-shirts, healing, etc. Are they selling spiritual things for profit? Could be simony! Some ministers will write a book and donate the profits to the church or ministry of their choice. Now if it is their ministry and they receive exorbitant salaries, mansions, private jets, plastic surgeries, bonuses, expensive wardrobes, expensive cars… then it may still be simony. They are just laundering the money through their own ministry. They are getting the profits, it just goes through their ministry. But if their ministry uses the major bulk of the money for true ministry and the administration side is aboveboard, transparent, honest and the leaders are not taking advantage of the money, then it’s not simony. If they promise a healing, a prayer, prosperity for just $19.99 then it’s simony. God is the one who confers those things, not a human being. They are not for sale. They are freely given by a God who loves you. A church, and it’s congregation, must be very careful, circumspect and responsible when “buying and selling” goes on around the church. The church and Christian ministries are for serving God, obeying God, worshipping God, learning about God, having relationship with God. All of these are freely given by God. He desires all of this with His people. If they become about money, power, influence, favors, etc then it’s simony. A pastor may doll it up by saying, “We are making money in order to invest in the kingdom of God and bring souls to salvation” but he walks out to his chauffeur driven limousine which takes him to his private jet; which flies him to a hotel where he has the whole floor reserved for himself and his staff; and he has to go through his bodyguards to get to the stage where he begs for more money so he can keep reaching the lost… it’s simony. Or maybe it’s a small church pastor with delusions of grandeur. It’s very easy for a man to fall into the success trap which is nothing less than pride. He thinks he can lead a small church into the 21st century and to mega-church status and success if he follows all the marketing strategies. He is sold a bunch of ideas in seminars and pastor retreats on ways to market the church and he comes home all fired up. But it’s not the Holy Spirit, it’s the rah-rahing at the denomination administration level. So he tries this and that program, brings in painters to paint the church black and electricians to install colored lights. He spends all this money to “draw the lost”. He wants to present a good impression to any lost soul wandering by and draw them in. He has the praise and worship team to take seminars and he gets consultants in. He wants polished, professional entertainment to attract the “lost” and keep them interested. He adds a coffee shop in the lobby and a bookstore behind the coffee shop. His preaching goes into a series on “how to win the lost” and “evangelism”. All this money and changing is done for two reasons and our pastor said it best, “butts and bucks”. A pastor is only considered successful if he has a lot of people in the congregation and a lot of money flowing in. Those two numbers have to keep rising to feed his ego and make him feel successful. If they don’t, he plummets and starts looking for another church that has the raw materials he can use to make it to mega-church status. And church leadership can also fall into this success thinking. They will support a pastor until the numbers flatten or go down and then they are looking to get rid of him and get a new man in who will start the numbers moving up again. They put undue pressure on a pastor and staff to keep the numbers looking good. And denomination levels of administration have to keep their churches growing and succeeding or they could lose their jobs. They are paid by churches who donate money to the denomination for regional and national administration and oversight. All of this ignores the very basics of God, relationship with God and worship of God. It has become about pride, ego, success, money and a game. A competition. This is shameful and the congregation either falls into too or they withdraw because they are disgusted with the ego. Either way, God is not pleased.
We live in a culture that equates size with success particularly among independent, nondenominational churches with minimal accountability structures. We measure our fruitfulness by the size of the church and the amount of money coming in. What begins as a desire for the common good, can deviate into private advantage. Simony. When does it become ambition and self-promotion? At what point does it become greed? Where does pride fit in? The mega-church can develop an unhealthy environment where the pastor is exalted by those around him. When family, staff, church leaders and congregants become enthralled, put him on a pedestal, worship and serve him rather than His Creator, the true God, you have a problem. They will feed his flesh and make him feel entitled. He begins to live in a bubble of unreality and before long he can become a controller and tyrant, spoiled. It’s essential for churches to have strong accountability to safeguard the pastor and the congregation.
It’s not sinful to add a coffee shop in the lobby or re-decorate the sanctuary. It’s not a sin to do a series on evangelism or to add a band to the platform for praise and worship. That’s not at all what I mean!! It’s the true motivations behind it. When all the fig leaves are stripped away and you see naked ambition, pride, competition, greed, sex. Those are the sins. As I’ve been trying to say all along, the motivations are what God sees. You could be a pastor that does the exact opposite of the ones I described above. Maybe you are hell bent on sticking to the old ways. You aren’t about to let your congregation read anything but the King James Version or sing any song that isn’t in the Baptist hymnal. You aren’t going to let a praise and worship band inside your door! You certainly aren’t going to put up strobe lights and add a coffee shop. But what are your motivations? If there are fig leaves, strip them away before God and check your own motivations. Are you fearful? Are you afraid to let God out of the box? Or have you stuffed God into a box and safely stored him somewhere in the basement? (A lot of churches do this but they don’t realize that when they put God in a box and try to hide Him, He goes away. God lives where He is invited and welcomed, celebrated. But He leaves when no one wants Him. Ichabod!) Do you think you have enough of God and don’t want any more? Are you afraid you will lose control? Are you such a controller that you’ve become God, or God’s only representative? Are you so selfish that it’s got to be your way or no way? Do you feel threatened by anything different or new and you just shut it down without even talking to God about it? Are you hiding something behind your implacability?
As you can see, it matters not which way you go, it’s the motives and the heart behind it and God sees that. You haven’t fooled Him. You can be a Christian politician working for God in whatever office you hold from PTA president to school board member to deacon to Mayor to City Council to President of the USA! You can see right from wrong because of the Holy Spirit in you and you let the Holy Spirit help you stay firm against evil temptations. You use your office to help others and to be a light in the darkness of the swamp. You can be a Catholic priest in love with Jesus Christ and willing to dedicate your entire life to His service, even choosing celibacy as an act of love. You can be a Cub Scout leader because you love kids and want to teach and share with them so they have a positive role model. You can be a pastor of a large church but you love your congregation and work tirelessly to help direct them to the one source of all help, Jesus Christ. You can be an evangelist who travels all over, exhausting yourself in selfless service to God, bringing hundreds, thousands to Christ and you joy over each salvation because it means another one has been saved from judgment! You can be a small church pastor of an old denomination who loves the relationships you have developed in the congregation, who delivers God’s Word to the best your ability and strengthens the hearts around you. Just ask yourself, “Are there any fig leaves I’m hiding behind? What are my true motivations? Is there anything displeasing to God, according to His Word and the witness of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in me? Is there anything I need to change? Is there anything I need to repent of? Is there any restitution I need to make? Is there anything I need to confess?” Ask God to direct you and take spiritual inventory, honestly and without fig leaves, regularly. Stay humble before Him.
It is not necessary for money to change hands in order for an act to be deemed simony; if any kind of compensation is offered, and if the motive for the deal is a personal gain of some kind, then simony is the offense.
Scientology is an esoteric Gnostic system and a cult. Gnostics believes in acquiring special, mystical knowledge as the means for salvation. The Gnostic Jesus brings a message of self-redemption. Man only needs to examine his inner “spark” to find the knowledge needed to free himself from his material body and reach God. Scientology is based upon the belief that the true self, called the Thetan, is trapped in MEST (matter, energy, space and time), the visible world. Freedom is accomplished in a series of steps that involve both awareness of one’s state and taking action to detach oneself from the encumbrances that hold the Thetan to the material world. In Scientological terms, one crosses “The Bridge” to “total freedom” one step at a time, for a hefty price. Each step costs and that is simony.
The things of God are to be protected by those charged to protect them (ministers, priests, etc) but Dante is accusing these shepherds of prostituting the sacred. The simoniacs were prostituting the Bride of Christ (the church) for silver and gold. They were enriching themselves by selling something that was not theirs to sell. They were pimping out the church to enrich themselves and taking advantage of the sheep, the congregations. They were fleecing the sheep who either didn’t know any better or who were at their mercy. Here Dante presents simony – the abuse of power within the church – as a form of spiritual prostitution, fornication, and rape, a perversion of the holy matrimony between Christ (groom) and the Church (bride).
Now we were at the next tomb, having ascended
To where the ridge hangs over the fosse’s middle.
O Supreme Wisdom, your mighty art is extended
Through Heaven, on earth, and in the world of evil,
And with what justice is your Power assigned!
I saw that the livid stone which lined the channel
Both walls and floor, was full of holes, all round
And of an equal size. They seemed to me
Not any wider or smaller than those designed
For the baptizings in my fair San Giovanni –
One of which many years ago I broke,
To save one drowning there: and let this be
My seal to clear the matter.
Virgil and Dante stand on the bridge looking down into the ravine and see holes lining the floors and walls. He compares their size with those of the baptismal font at San Giovanni, St. John’s. Evidently Dante had once saved a child from drowning by breaking the baptismal font. He was accused of sacrilege for doing that but he felt saving the life of the child was of more importance, “and let this be My seal to clear the matter”. Dante wasn’t sacrilegious when he broke the baptismal font, he was saving a child’s life. In this canto, Dante criticizes some Popes, leaders in the Catholic Church. Some would see this as sacrilegious but Dante sees it as trying to reform the church leadership and save the Church. Dante is using his Comedie and his writing skills to shine a light on darkness and bring about reforms.
In the same church, Church of St. John’s, in Florence (aka Baptistery of San Giovanni) there were large niches in the walls in the Baptistry. This allowed the priests protection from the crowds when they baptized on Easter and Pentecost. Dante may have had these niches in mind when he described the holes lining the walls.
1425 – 1430, Baptistery of San Giovanni (Church of St. John) in Florence, Italy
From each hole stuck
A sinner’s feet and legs: the rest of him,
From the calf up, inside. They twitched and shook
Because the soles of both feet were aflame –
So violently, it seemed their joints could burst
Rope or snap withes. As flames on oil will skim
Across the surface, so here the quick fire coursed
From heel to toe.
When a person is baptized, their head is sprinkled or immersed in water. Here, the simoniacs are “baptized” head down. Their heads in the holes and their feet sticking out. Their feet are sprinkled, not with holy water or anointing oil, but with oil that flames and the flames burn their feet constantly. This is contrapasso by contrast, the inverse of sin. At the coming of the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection and ascension, fire descended and hovered on the heads of the Apostles empowering them to preach the Gospel to the unsaved, start and disciple churches. Here, the simoniacs have fire descend on them, but not to do the work Christ calls us to, but basically running in place going nowhere and in hideous pain. Their betrayal of the people in their care, has turned them on their heads.
“Master,” I asked, “tell me,
Who is that one who seems to squirm the worst
And to be sucked by the reddest flames?” And he:
“If you desire for me to carry you there,
By that bank sloping down more gradually,
Then you can speak with him directly and hear…
I began,
“O miserable soul, whoever you are,
Planted here like a fence post upside down;
Speak, if you can.” I stood as does the friar
Who has confessed a vile assassin – head down,
And tied in place – who calls him back to defer
Death for a little while; and then he cried,
“Boniface, are you already standing there –
Already standing there? The writing lied
By several years! Are you so soon replete
With all that getting for which you weren’t afraid
To take the beautiful Lady by deceit,
And then to do her outrage?” I became
Like those who, feeling laughed at, hesitate,
Not comprehending what’s been said to them
And helpless to reply. Then Virgil said,
“Answer him quickly: say you are not him,
Not who he thinks.” I spoke as I was bid,
At which the shade squirmed hard with both his feet;
Then, sighing and in a mournful voice, replied,
“What do you ask me then? If you were brought
Down from the bank to discover who I am,
Then know that I was vested with the great
Mantle of power; a son who truly came
Out of the she-bear, I longed so much to advance
The cubs that filling my purse was my great aim –
And here I have pursed myself, to my expense.
Beneath my head are souls who preceded me
In simony, mashed flat and squeezed through dense
Layers of fissured rock. I too shall lie
Pushed down in turn when that other one has come;
My abrupt question assumed that you were he.
But already longer is the span of time
I have been cooking my feet while planted reversed
Than he, feet scarlet, will be planted the same:
For then a lawless shepherd of the west
Will follow him, of uglier deeds, well chosen
For covering him and me when both are pressed
Under his skull. He’ll be a second Jason,
And as the first, so Maccabees recounts,
Was treated softly by his monarch, this one
Will get soft treatment from the King of France.”
Dante seems to notice one pair of legs that are suffering more than the others and asks Virgil about who it is. Virgil suggests they go down and Dante bends down near the earth to hear the voice coming from the pair of legs. Dante, the poet, writes that Dante, the pilgrim, is bent down like a “friar who has confessed a vile assassin – head down, and tied in place – who calls him back to defer death for a little while”. A man who has been condemned to death by being buried alive. He is head first in the dirt, tied down and will soon suffocate. But a friar is called over by the man to “confess” some more sins in order to put off the moment they bury his head. :::shudder:::
When Dante, the pilgrim, asks the legs who they are, the reply is “Boniface, are you already standing there?” “The writing lied by several years” refers to the Book of Life. I.e. according to the Book of Life, it’s not time for Boniface. The pair of legs belong to Pope Nicholas III, a Roman nobleman named Giovanni Gaetano Orsinis. His family name meant bear cubs, “know I am vested with the great Mantle of power; a son who truly came out of the she-bear, I longed so much to advance the cubs that filling my purse was my great aim”. He pocketed money while on earth and he is now pocketed. He was Pope from 1277 to 1280. He is expecting the next simoniac who followed him, Pope Boniface VIII. ”The beautiful lady taken by deceit” is the Church. The pot is calling the kettle black.
“In Nicholas III’s denunciation, Boniface VIII becomes the metaphoric conflation of two sinners from Inferno 18. In the Boniface VIII who is evoked and described by Nicolas III, we find metaphorized and blended the sins of Jason and Venedico Caccianemico:
* Boniface VIII first deceives his bride, taking her by deceit (“tòrre a ’nganno” in verse 56), like Jason, whose seduction of Hypsipyle is characterized by the same deceit, inganno (“Ivi con segni e con parole ornate / Isifile ingannò” [Inf. 18.91-2]).
* Boniface VIII then prostitutes her, like Venedico Caccianemico, who prostituted his sister Ghisolabella, whose very name ‘Ghisolabella’ is echoed in the description of the Church as ‘la bella donna’ in verse 57.” – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
Nicholas III is accusing Boniface VIII of taking the Church by force and prostituting her. We need some history here. You really do have to read this.
Here is a list of Popes for the years Dante lives and writes about. Each Pope was selected by a king or elected by a Conclave of Cardinals depending on where you are in the history of the Catholic Church. A Pope was to replace the Cardinals as they died or new Cardinal positions were created. Some Popes would die before they had a chance to appoint Cardinals which caused problems when the Cardinals couldn’t agree on the next Pope and they became stalemated. For instance, there are an equal number of Cardinals like 8 and 4 are supporting one candidate and 4 are supporting a different candidate and they won’t give in. There was no tie-breaker.
…
6/25/1243 to 12/7/1254 Innocent IV (11 years, 165 days)
12/12/1254 to 5/25/1261 Alexander IV (6 years, 164 days)
8/29/1261 to 10/2/1264 Urban IV (3 years, 34 days)
2/5/1265 to 11/29/1268 Clement IV (3 yrs, 298 days)
9/1/1271 to 1/10/1276 Gregory X (4 years 131 days)
1/21/1276 to 6/22/1276 Innocent V (153 days)
7/11/1267 to 8/18/1276 Adrian V (38 days)
9/8/1276 to 5/20/1277 John XXI (254 days)
11/25/1277 to 8/22/1280 Nicholas III (2 years 271 days)
2/22/1281 to 3/28/1285 Martin IV (4 years 34 days)
4/2/1285 to 4/3/1287 Honorius IV (2 years 1 day)
2/22/1288 to 4/4/1292 Nicholas IV (4 years 42 days)
4/4/1292 to 7/5/1294 two year period without a valid pope elected due to a deadlock among Cardinals
7/5/1294 to 12/13/1294 St. Celestine V (161 days) First Pope to resign and abdicate
12/24/1294 to 10/11/1303 Boniface VIII (8 years 291 days)
10/22/1303 to 7/7/1304 Benedict XI (259 days)
6/5/1305 to 4/20/1314 Clement V (8 years, 319 days)
4/20/1314 to 8/7/1316 Two year period without valid Pope elected due to deadlock among Cardinals
8/7/1316 to 12/1334 John XXII (18 years, 119 days)
5/12/1328 to 7/25/1330 Nicholas V (2 years, 74 days)
12/20/1334 to 4/25/1342 Benedict XII (7 years, 126 days) … – Wikipedia
Pope Nicholas III (c. 1225 – 22 August 1280), born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, was a member of the prominent Orsini family of Italy, the eldest son of Roman nobleman Matteo Rosso Orsini by his first wife, Perna Caetani. His father was Lord of Vicovaro, Licenza, Bardella, Cantalupo, Roccagiovine, Galera, Fornello, Castel Sant’Angelo di Tivoli, Nettuno, Civitella, Bomarzo, San Polo and Castelfoglia, of Nerola from 1235; Lord of Mugnano, Santangelo and Monterotondo; Senator of Rome 1241-1243. His brother Giordano was named Cardinal Deacon of San Eustachio by Nicholas III on 12 March 1278. His brother Gentile became Lord of Mugnano, Penna, Nettuno and Pitigliano. Another brother, Matteo Rosso of Montegiordano, was Senator of Rome (probably) in 1279, War Captain of Todi, and Podestà of Siena in 1281. The Orsini family had already produced several popes: Stephen II (752-757), Paul I (757-767) and Celestine III (1191-1198). His career shows no indication that he was a legal professional or a theologian. He never became a priest, until he became pope in 1277. Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was one of a dozen men created a cardinal by Pope Innocent IV (Sinibaldo Fieschi) in his first Consistory for the creation of cardinals, on Saturday, May 28, 1244, and was assigned the Deaconry of San Nicola in Carcere. He was a Canon and Prebendary of York, and also of Soissons and Laon. In the summer of 1244, he was one of five cardinals who fled to Genoa with Pope Innocent IV. He was at Lyons, and was present in June and July for the Ecumenical Council of Lyons. At the beginning of December, the Battle of Foggia took place, and the papal army was routed. Innocent IV died in Naples, where he had taken refuge, on 7 December 1254, and the meeting to elect his successor was therefore held in Naples in the palace in which he had died. On Saturday, 12 December, Cardinal Rinaldo dei Conti di Segni, the nephew of Pope Gregory IX, who had a reputation of a conciliator, was elected pope. He chose to be called Alexander IV and was crowned on Sunday, December 20, 1254, in the Cathedral of Naples. Alexander IV died at Viterbo on 25 May 1261. Alexander had created no new cardinals, and so the Electoral meeting following his death had only eight participants. The Election was a long-drawn-out one, lasting from 25 May to 29 August 1261. Unable to agree on one of themselves, the Cardinals chose Jacques Pantaléon, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who, since 1255, was Papal Legate with the Crusade in the Holy Land. He became Pope Urban IV, and was crowned at Viterbo on 4 September 1261. Cardinal Orsini was named General Inquisitor by Urban IV on November 2, 1262, the first known Grand Inquisitor. Cardinal Orsini attended the first Conclave of 1268-1271, and was one of the cardinals who signed the letter of complaint against the authorities and people of Viterbo for their treatment of the cardinals and the Curia. He was one of the six cardinals who were chosen by the rest of the Sacred College on September 1, 1271, to select a compromise candidate for election as pope. He was therefore instrumental in bringing to the papal throne the Archdeacon of Liège, Teobaldo Visconti, who was not a cardinal, and who was not even in Italy, but in the Holy Land on crusade. The Pope died on 10 January 1276. Peter of Tarantaise became Pope Innocent V. Pope Innocent V (Peter of Tarantaise) died in Rome at the Lateran, on 22 June 22, 1276. The second Conclave of 1276 began, therefore, according to the rules set down by Pope Gregory X, on July 2. Thirteen cardinals were present, including Giovanni Gaetano Orsini. King Charles I of Sicily acted as the Governor of the Conclave, in which position he is said to have been rigorous, but understandably partisan in favor of the French faction. Cardinal Ottobono Fieschi of Genoa was elected on July 11 and chose the name Pope Adrian V. He lived only thirty-nine days longer, dying at Viterbo, where he had gone to meet King Rudolf and avoid the summer heat of Rome. According to Bernardus Guidonis, he was never ordained priest, consecrated bishop or crowned pope (nondum promotus in sacerdotem nec coronatus nec consecratus). The third Conclave of 1276 began at the beginning of September in Viterbo, where Adrian V had died. The opening ceremonies, which should have taken place on August 29, had to be delayed for several days because of the riotous behavior of the people of Viterbo. Since Pope Adrian had created no new cardinals, the number of cardinals was twelve; Cardinal Simon de Brion was still in France, serving as Papal Legate. Once the tumults had been put down, however, the cardinals did their business quickly. On September 8, 1276, the senior Cardinal-Bishop, Peter Julian of Lisbon, was elected on the first ballot. He chose to be called John XXI, and on September 20 he was crowned at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Viterbo by Cardinal Giovanni Caetano Orsini. Since John XXI was already a bishop, there was no ordination or consecration necessary. He was the fourth pope of 1276. On 18 October, Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was appointed Archpriest of St. Peter’s, in place of Cardinal Riccardo Annibaldi, who had recently died, and who may have been too ill to participate in the Conclave or the Coronation. The negotiations which Cardinal Giovanni Caetano had been engaged in with King Charles I were brought to a completion, and Charles swore his oath of fealty to Pope John on 7 October 1276. It appeared that his reign was going to be a successful one, when one day in mid-May 1277, while the Pope was in a new room which he had just had built in the Episcopal Palace in Viterbo, suddenly the roof caved in. There was nothing suspicious about this, since the palace had been under construction since 1268 and was still being worked on. The Pope was severely injured from the falling stones and timber. He lingered in pain for several days (three, or six), and died on 20 May 1277, exactly eight months after his coronation. He had named no cardinals. Yet another Conclave took place in Viterbo, therefore, with seven cardinals in attendance. Cardinal Simon de Brion was still in France as papal legate. But this was not an easy conclave. Three of the electors belonged to the Angevin faction, and three opposed it. The only surviving Cardinal-Bishop, the Benedictine Bertrand de Saint Martin, wavered back and forth, providing little leadership. The Conclave therefore went on for more than five and a half months. Finally, on the Feast of S. Catherine, 25 November 1277, Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was elected. He chose the name Nicholas III. The new pope set out immediately for Rome. He was ordained a priest on December 18, consecrated a bishop on December 19, and crowned on the Feast of S. Stephen, 26 December. His election portended serious difficulties, for he was not a candidate of King Charles of Sicily. Quite the contrary, he believed that King Charles had entirely too much influence in church affairs and in the operation of the Papal States. Nicholas’ prime goal was to loosen Charles I’s grip on the Papacy, Rome, and the lands of the Church. He greatly strengthened the papal position in Italy. On 1 October 1273, Rudolph I of Habsburg, the godson of Frederick II, had been elected King of Germany and King of the Romans. Pope Gregory X had recognized him as King, after some hard negotiation, but the imperial title and coronation were withheld. Pope Nicholas was willing to negotiate, but he refused to crown Rudolf as Emperor until Rudolph had acknowledged all the claims of the Church, including many that were quite dubious. The concordat with Rudolph I of Habsburg was concluded in May 1278. In it the city of Bologna, the Romagna, and the exarchate of Ravenna were guaranteed to the papacy. According to the chronographer Bartholomew of Lucca (Ptolemy of Lucca), he discussed with Rudolph, in general terms at least, the splitting the Holy Roman Empire into four separate kingdoms – Lombardy, Burgundy, Tuscia and Germany – where Rudolph’s kingdom would be made hereditary and he himself would be recognized as Holy Roman Emperor. Nicholas III was even able to persuade King Charles I of Naples and Sicily to give up his position as Roman Senator in 1278, at the conclusion of ten years of tenure, as well as the position of Papal Vicar for Tuscany. In July 1278, Nicholas III issued an epoch-making constitution for the government of Rome, Fundamenta militantis, which forbade foreigners from taking civil office. It depends for its justification not only on the biblical phrase, “Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam” (Matthew 16:18), but also on the forged Donations of Constantine. Nicholas III created nine cardinals in one consistory celebrated on 12 March 1278. Nicholas’ father had been a personal friend of Francis of Assisi, and he himself had to focus much of his attention on the Franciscan order. He elevated three of his closest relatives to the cardinalate and gave others important positions. He repaired the Lateran Palace and the Vatican at enormous cost, and erected a beautiful country house at Soriano nel Cimino near Viterbo, where he died of a cardiovascular event (sources differ on whether it was a heart-attack or a stroke, some wondered if he was poisoned). Nicholas was unable to make his confession after he was struck ill. Most of these new Cardinals were not of the French party, and among them were five members of religious orders. Two died before the next Conclave, which was to take place on the death of Nicholas III in 1280, and the rest had to be terrorized into voting for a candidate of Charles I of Sicily. After the death of Nicholas III, in December, 1316, his namesake Giovanni Gaetano Orsini was appointed a cardinal by Pope John XXII. This was not, of course, a case of nepotism. John XXII, was nonetheless a nepotist, having appointed five of his nephews to the cardinalate. – Wikipedia
According to Dante, the poet, Pope Nicholas III was a simoniac being tortured upside down in a hole and when Dante, the pilgrim, questions who he is, he thinks Dante is the next one coming to join him in the hole, Pope Boniface VIII. If you look back at our chart, Nicholas III was followed by Martin IV, Honorius IV, Nicholas IV and St. Celestine V before Boniface VIII comes up. So why is Nicholas III assuming Boniface VIII is coming to join him? Because Dante, the poet, didn’t consider the four Popes following Nicholas III to be simoniacs. But Dante has personal history with Pope Boniface VIII. Let’s look at some more history.
St. Celestine V – (1215 – 19 May 1296) was Pietro Angelerio. Pietro Angelerio was born to parents Angelo Angelerio and Maria Leone in a town called Sant’Angelo Limosano, in the Kingdom of Sicilia (Sicily). After his father’s death he began working in the fields. His mother Maria was a key figure in Pietro’s spiritual development: she imagined a different future for her deeply beloved son than becoming just a farmer or a shepherd. From the time he was a child, he showed great intelligence and love for others. He became a Benedictine monk at Faifoli in the Diocese of Benevento when he was 17. He showed an extraordinary disposition toward asceticism and solitude, and in 1239 retired to a solitary cavern on the mountain Morrone. Five years later he left this retreat, and went with two companions to a similar cave on the even more remote Mountain of Maiella in the Abruzzi region of central Italy, where he lived as strictly as possible according to the example of John the Baptist. While living like this he founded, in 1244, the order subsequently named after him, the Celestines. In 1264 the new institution was approved by Urban IV. Having heard that it was probable that Pope Gregory X, then holding a council at Lyon, would suppress all such new orders as had been founded since the Lateran Council had commanded that such institutions should not be further multiplied, Pietro went to Lyon. There he succeeded in persuading Gregory to approve his new order, making it a branch of the Benedictines and following the rule of Saint Benedict, but adding to it additional severities and privations. Gregory took it under the Papal protection, assured to it the possession of all property it might acquire, and endowed it with exemption from the authority of the ordinary. As soon as he had seen his new order thus consolidated he gave up the government of it to a certain Robert, and retired once again to an even more remote site to devote himself to solitary penance and prayer. Shortly afterwards, in a chapter of the order held in 1293, the original monastery of Majella being judged to be too desolate and exposed to too rigorous a climate, it was decided that the Abbey of the Holy Spirit at Monte Morrone, located in Sulmona, should be the headquarters of the order and the residence of the General-Superior, where it continued for centuries. The cardinals assembled at Perugia after the death of Pope Nicholas IV in April 1292. After more than two years, a consensus had still not been reached. Pietro, well known to the cardinals as a Benedictine hermit, sent the cardinals a letter warning them that divine vengeance would fall upon them if they did not quickly elect a pope. Latino Malabranca, the aged and ill dean of the College of Cardinals cried out, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, I elect brother Pietro di Morrone.” The cardinals promptly ratified Malabranca’s desperate decision. When sent for, Pietro obstinately refused to accept the papacy, and even, as Petrarch says, tried to flee, until he was finally persuaded. With no political experience, Celestine proved to be an especially weak and ineffectual pope. He held his office in the Kingdom of Naples, out of contact with the Roman Curia and under the complete power of King Charles II. He appointed the king’s favorites to church offices, sometimes several to the same office. One of these was Louis of Toulouse, whom Celestine ordered given clerical tonsure and minor orders, although this was not carried out. He renewed a decree of Pope Gregory X that had established stringent rules for papal conclaves after a similarly prolonged election. He had continued to live like a monk there, even turning a room in the papal apartment into the semblance of a monastic cell. Realizing his lack of authority and personal incompatibility with papal duties, he consulted with Cardinal Benedetto Caetani (his eventual successor, see below) about the possibility of resignation. This resulted in one final decree declaring the right of resignation, which he promptly exercised after five months and eight days in office. He recited as the causes moving him to the step: “The desire for humility, for a purer life, for a stainless conscience, the deficiencies of his own physical strength, his ignorance, the perverseness of the people, his longing for the tranquility of his former life”. He was the first Pope to abdicate. The next would be 759 years later when Pope Benedict XVI retired in 2013. Various parties had opposed his resignation and the new Pope Boniface VIII had reason to worry that one of them might install him as an antipope. To prevent this he ordered Pietro to accompany him to Rome. Pietro escaped and hid in the woods before attempting to return to Sulmona to resume monastic life. This proved impossible, and Pietro was captured after an attempt to flee to Dalmatia was thwarted when a tempest forced his ship to return to port. Boniface imprisoned him in the castle of Fumone near Ferentino in Lazio, attended by two monks of his order, where Pietro died after 10 months at about the age of 81. He may have died of privation. An unsubstantiated rumor had it that Pope Boniface VIII executed him or virtually starved him to death. Philip IV of France, who had supported Celestine and bitterly opposed Boniface, nominated Celestine for sainthood following the election of Pope Clement V. The latter signed a decree of dispensation on 13 May 1306 to investigate the nomination. He was canonized on 5 May 1313 after a consistory in which Boniface‘s Caetani family was outvoted by members of the rival Colonna family. – Wikipedia
Pope Boniface VIII – (c. 1230 – 11 October 1303) was Benedetto Caetani born in Anagni, some 31 mi southeast of Rome. He was a younger son of Roffredo Caetani (Podestà of Todi in 1274–1275), a member of a baronial family of the Papal States, the Caetani or Gaetani dell’Aquila. His mother was Emilia Patrasso di Guarcino, a niece of Pope Alexander IV (Rinaldo dei Conti di Segni—who was himself a nephew of Pope Gregory IX). Benedetto took his first steps into religious life when he was sent to the monastery of the Friars Minor in Velletri, where he was put under the care of his maternal uncle Fra Leonardo Patrasso. In 1252, when his paternal uncle Pietro Caetani became Bishop of Todi, in Umbria, Benedetto followed him to Todi and began his legal studies there. He was granted a canonry at the cathedral in the family’s stronghold of Anagni, with the permission of Pope Alexander IV. His uncle Pietro granted him a canonry in the Cathedral of Todi in 1260. He also came into possession of the small nearby castello of Sismano, a place with twenty-one fires (hearths, families). In later years Father Vitalis, the Prior of S. Egidio de S. Gemino in Narni testified that he knew him and conversed with him in Todi and that Benedetto was in a school run by Rouchetus, a Doctor of Laws, from that city. In 1264 Benedetto entered the Roman Curia, perhaps with the office of Advocatus. He served as secretary to Cardinal Simon de Brion, the future Pope Martin IV, on a mission to France. Cardinal Simon had been appointed by Pope Urban IV (Jacques Pantaléon), between 25 and 27 April 1264, to engage in negotiations with Charles of Anjou, Comte de Provence, over the Crown of Naples and Sicily. He was heavily active in church and political affairs and his star continued to rise. Benedetto Caetani was only one of several cardinals who pressured Celestine to resign (see above). However, it is also on record that Celestine V resigned by his own desire after consultation with experts (including his adviser, Caetani), and that Benedetto merely showed that it was allowed by Church law. Either way, Celestine V vacated the throne and Benedetto Caetani was elected in his place as pope, taking the name Boniface VIII. The regulations promulgated in the papal bull Ubi periculum by Pope Gregory X at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274 had not envisioned a papal resignation, but the cardinals waited the usual ten days from the papal resignation. This gave all twenty-two cardinals the chance to assemble at the Castel Nuovo in Naples, the site of the resignation. Hugh Aycelin presided over the papal conclave as the senior cardinal bishop. Benedetto Caetani was elected by ballot and accession on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1294, taking the name Boniface VIII. On the first (secret) ballot, he had a majority of the votes, and at the accessio a sufficient number joined his majority to form the required two-thirds. He immediately returned the Papal Curia to Rome, where he was crowned at the Vatican Basilica on Sunday, 23 January 1295. “One of his first acts as pontiff was to grant his predecessor residence in the Castle of Fumone in Ferentino”, i.e. he imprisoned him there. The pope is said to have been short-tempered, kicking an envoy in the face on one occasion, and on another, throwing ashes in the eyes of an archbishop who was kneeling to receive them as a blessing atop his head. Boniface VIII was a pope who put forward some of the strongest claims of any Pope to temporal as well as spiritual power. Boniface VIII stated that since the Church is one, since the Church is necessary for salvation, and since Christ appointed Peter to lead it, it is “absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman pontiff”. These views, and his chronic intervention in “temporal” affairs, led to many bitter quarrels with Albert I of Germany, Philip IV of France and many others. In 1297, Cardinal Jacopo Colonna disinherited his brothers Ottone, Matteo, and Landolfo of their lands. The latter three appealed to Pope Boniface VIII, who ordered Jacopo to return the land and furthermore to hand over the family’s strongholds of Colonna, Palestrina, and other towns to the Papacy. Jacopo refused. Jacopo Colonna and his nephew, Pietro Colonna, had also seriously compromised themselves by maintaining highly questionable relations with the political enemies of the pope, James II of Aragon and Frederick III of Sicily. In May, Boniface removed them from the College of Cardinals and excommunicated them and their followers. The Colonna family (aside from the three brothers allied with the Pope) declared that Boniface had been elected illegally following the unprecedented abdication of Pope Celestine V. The dispute led to open warfare, and in September Boniface appointed Landolfo to the command of his army to put down the revolt of Landolfo’s relatives. By the end of 1298 Landolfo had captured Colonna, Palestrina and other towns and razed them to the ground after it surrendered peacefully under Boniface’s assurances that it would be spared. To deal with the problem of the cardinals left to him by his predecessors, Boniface created new cardinals on five occasions during his reign of which most were family members. Boniface also placed the city of Florence under an interdict and invited the ambitious Charles, Count of Valois to enter Italy in 1300 to end the feud of the Black and White Guelphs, the poet Dante Alighieri being in the party of the Whites. Boniface’s political ambitions directly affected Dante when the pope invited Count Charles to intervene in the affairs of Florence. Charles’s intervention allowed the Black Guelphs to overthrow the ruling White Guelphs, whose leaders, including the poet Dante, allegedly in Rome at the time to argue Florence’s case before Boniface, were sentenced to exile. The conflict between Boniface VIII and King Philip IV of France (1268–1314) came at a time of expanding nation states and the desire for the consolidation of power by the increasingly powerful monarchs. The increase in monarchical power and its conflicts with the Church of Rome were only exacerbated by the rise to power of Philip IV in 1285. During his reign, Philip surrounded himself with the best civil lawyers and decidedly expelled the clergy from all participation in the administration of the law. With the clergy beginning to be taxed in France and England to finance their ongoing wars against each other, Boniface took a hard stand against it. He saw the taxation as an assault on traditional clerical rights and ordered the bull Clericis laicos in February 1296, forbidding lay taxation of the clergy without prior papal approval. Philip retaliated against the bull by denying the exportation of money from France to Rome, funds that the Church required to operate. Boniface had no choice but to contest Philip’s demands, informing Philip that “God has set popes over kings and kingdoms.” Philip was convinced that the wealth of the Catholic Church in France should be used in part to support the state. He wanted to make war against the English. He countered the papal bull by decreeing laws prohibiting the export of gold, silver, precious stones, or food from France to the Papal States. These measures had the effect of blocking a main source of papal revenue. Philip also banished from France the papal agents who were raising funds for a new crusade in the Middle East. Philip was convinced that the wealth of the Catholic Church in France should be used in part to support the state. He wanted to make war against the English. He countered the papal bull by decreeing laws prohibiting the export of gold, silver, precious stones, or food from France to the Papal States. These measures had the effect of blocking a main source of papal revenue. Philip also banished from France the papal agents who were raising funds for a new crusade in the Middle East. On 7 September 1303, an army led by King Philip’s minister Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna attacked Boniface at his Palace in Anagni next to the Cathedral. The Pope responded with a bull dated 8 September 1303, in which Philip and Nogaret were excommunicated. The French Chancellor and the Colonnas demanded the Pope’s resignation; Boniface VIII responded that he would “sooner die”. In response, Colonna allegedly slapped Boniface, a “slap” historically remembered as the schiaffo di Anagni (“Anagni slap”). According to a modern interpreter, the 73-year-old Boniface was probably beaten and nearly executed, but was released from captivity after three days. He died a month later of a violent fever on 11 October, in full possession of his senses and in the presence of eight cardinals and the chief members of the papal household, after receiving the sacraments and making the usual profession of faith. After the papacy had been removed to Avignon in 1309, Pope Clement V, under extreme pressure from King Philip IV, consented to a posthumous trial. He collected testimonies that alleged many heretical opinions of Boniface VIII. This included the offence of sodomy. If the Pope was called into question, then how do the people trust that the Pope is head of the church and appointed by God through the Conclave? On the other hand, he had been so political and so much happened around him. He was too powerful and he insisted the Papacy was the supreme power over all other. It’s obvious he, at the very least, squelched others who opposed him even to excommunicating them. The powerful, whom he excommunicated, wanted Clement V to pardon them which he did. So it’s impossible to untangle the truth because everyone involved, before, during and after, had too much to gain or lose and therefore truth is probably impossible. It seems to have been swept under the rug and who knows what was true. – mostly Wikipedia
Pope Clement V – (c. 1264 – 20 April 1314) was Raymond Bertrand de Got, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 5 June 1305 to his death. He is remembered for suppressing the order of the Knights Templar and allowing the execution of many of its members, and as the pope who moved the Papacy from Rome to Avignon, ushering in the period known as the Avignon Papacy. He was born in Vilandraut, Aquitaine, the son of Bérard, Lord of Villandraut. Bertrand studied the arts at Toulouse and canon and civil law at Orléans and Bologna. He became canon and sacristan of the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux, then vicar-general to his brother Bérard de Got, the Archbishop of Lyon, who in 1294 was created Cardinal-Bishop of Albano and papal legate to France. He was then made Bishop of St-Bertrand-de-Comminges, the cathedral church of which he was responsible for greatly enlarging and embellishing, and chaplain to Pope Boniface VIII, who made him Archbishop of Bordeaux in 1297. As Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Got was actually a subject of the King of England, but from early youth he had been a personal friend of Philip the Fair (Philip IV). Following the death of Benedict XI in 1304, there was a year’s interregnum occasioned by disputes between the French and Italian cardinals, who were nearly equally balanced in the conclave, which had to be held at Perugia. Bertrand was elected Pope Clement V in June 1305 and crowned on 14 November. Bertrand was neither Italian nor a cardinal, and his election might have been considered a gesture towards neutrality. He selected Lyon for his coronation on 14 November 1305, which was celebrated with magnificence and attended by Philip IV. Among his first acts was the creation of nine French cardinals. At Clement‘s coronation, Duke John II of Brittany was leading the Pope’s horse through the crowd during the celebrations. So many spectators had piled atop the walls that one of the walls crumbled and collapsed on top of the Duke, who died four days later. Early in 1306, Clement V withdrew Unam Sanctam, the bull of Boniface VIII that asserted papal supremacy over secular rulers and threatened Philip’s political plans, a radical change in papal policy. On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of the Knights Templar were arrested in France, an action apparently motivated financially and undertaken by the efficient royal bureaucracy to increase the prestige of the crown. Philip IV was the force behind this move, but Clement V was involved. King Philip IV was already deeply in debt to the Templars from his war against England so he had a financial interest in destroying them. From the very day of Clement V‘s coronation, the king charged the Templars with usury, credit inflation, fraud, heresy, sodomy, immorality, and abuses, and the scruples of the Pope were heightened by a growing sense that the burgeoning French State might not wait for the Church, but would proceed independently. Meanwhile, Philip IV’s lawyers pressed to reopen Guillaume de Nogaret’s charges of heresy against the late Boniface VIII. In pursuance of the king’s wishes, Clement V in 1311 summoned the Council of Vienne, which refused to convict the Templars of heresy. The Pope abolished the order anyway, as the Templars seemed to be in bad repute and had outlived their usefulness as papal bankers and protectors of pilgrims in the East. Their French estates were granted to the Knights Hospitallers, but Philip IV held them until his death and expropriated the Templars‘ bank outright. In March 1309, the entire papal court moved from Poitiers (where it had remained for 4 years) to the Comtat Venaissin, around the city of Avignon (which was not then part of France, but technically part of the Kingdom of Arles within the Holy Roman Empire, since 1290 held as an imperial fief by the king of Naples). The Roman aristocrats and their armed militia, with their constant fighting, made Rome unstable and dangerous. The long Avignon Papacy, the “Babylonian captivity”, began (1309–77). Clement V‘s pontificate was also a disastrous time for Italy. The Papal States were entrusted to a team of three cardinals, but Rome, the battleground of the Colonna and Orsini factions, was ungovernable. Other remarkable incidents of Clement V‘s reign include his violent repression of the Dulcinian movement in Lombardy, which he considered a heresy, and his promulgation of the Clementine Constitutions in 1313. Clement died on 20 April 1314. According to one account, while his body was lying in state, a thunderstorm arose during the night and lightning struck the church where his body lay, setting it on fire. The fire was so intense that by the time it was extinguished, the Pope’s body had been all but destroyed. – Wikipedia
I longed so much to advance
The cubs that filling my purse was my great aim –
And here I have pursed myself, to my expense.
Beneath my head are souls who preceded me
In simony, mashed flat and squeezed through dense
Layers of fissured rock. I too shall lie
Pushed down in turn when that other one has come;
I longed so much to advance
The cubs that filling my purse was my great aim –
And here I have pursed myself, to my expense.
Beneath my head are souls who preceded me
In simony, mashed flat and squeezed through dense
Layers of fissured rock. I too shall lie
Pushed down in turn when that other one has come;
Pope Nicholas III explains to Dante, the pilgrim, that his greed and simony have caused him to land in this hole in Hell. He tells him there are “souls who preceded me in simony” beneath him.
In our chart, I showed preceding Popes: Innocent IV, Alexander IV, Urban IV, Clement IV, Gregory X, Innocent V, Adrian V, John XXI. Of course, there were many more Popes before Nicholas III but I just went back to the previous seven Popes as they are mentioned in the histories of the Popes mentioned in Inferno. I don’t know which ones could have been simoniacs.
I too shall lie
Pushed down in turn when that other one has come:
My abrupt question assumed that you were he.
Pope Nicholas III says his legs will only stick out of the hole until the next simoniac comes, Pope Boniface VIII. Then he will be forced deeper in the hole, “mashed flat and squeezed through dense layers of fissured rock.”
He goes on to say, “But already longer is the span of time I have been cooking my feet while planted reversed than he, feet scarlet, will be planted the same”. If you look back up at our list of Popes and count the years between Nicholas III’s death and Pope Boniface VIII’s death, there are about 23 years (Boniface VIII died in 1303 and Nicholas III died 1280 so 1303-1280=23). That means Nicholas III will have been upside down in that hole with his feet being seared for 23 years. Then Pope Boniface VIII will died and he will push Pope Nicholas III down further into the hole and he will be planted headfirst in the hole with his feet sticking out and tortured by the flames. Who will be the next simoniacal Pope? “For then a lawless shepherd of the west will follow him, of uglier deeds, well chosen for covering him and me when both are pressed under his skull”. Who is this “lawless shepherd of the west”? Pope Clement V. If you remember, from the history I gave you above, Pope Clement V was born in France, which is west of Rome, Italy. He also established the Avignon Papacy in France, west of Rome, Italy). I.e. rather than holding the papacy in Rome, Italy, he moved it to Avignon, France, because of the constant unrest there. He took evidence against Pope Boniface VIII but then made sure it was all swept under the rug. Pope Clement V was the one who worked with King Philip IV to destroy the Knights Templar. Many of the accused Templars confessed to charges of idolatry, spitting on the cross, denying Christ, homosexuality, corruption, fraud, secrecy, usury under torture (even though the Templars denied being tortured in their written confessions), and their confessions, even though obtained under duress, caused a scandal in Paris. Many later tried to re-cant their confessions but Philip refused the re-cants. The Templars were accused of idolatry, and were suspected of worshiping either a figure known as Baphomet, or a mummified severed head they recovered, amongst other artifacts, at their original headquarters on the Temple Mount (many scholars theorize it might have included John the Baptist, among other things). Pope Clement then issued the papal bull, Pastoralis praeeminentiae, on 22 November 1307, which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets. With Philip threatening military action unless the pope complied with his wishes, Pope Clement finally agreed to disband the order, citing the public scandal that had been generated by the confessions. As for the leaders of the order, the elderly Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who had confessed under torture, retracted his confession. Geoffroi de Charney, Preceptor of Normandy, also retracted his confession and insisted on his innocence. Both men were declared guilty of being relapsed heretics, and they were sentenced to burn alive at the stake in Paris on 18 March 1314. According to legend, De Molay called out from the flames, “God knows who is wrong and has sinned. Soon a calamity will occur to those who have condemned us to death”. Pope Clement died only a month later, and King Philip died in a hunting accident before the end of the year. In September 2001, a document known as the Chinon Parchment dated 17–20 August 1308 was discovered in the Vatican Secret Archives by Barbara Frale, apparently after having been filed in the wrong place in 1628. It is a record of the trial of the Templars and shows that Clement absolved the Templars of all heresies in 1308 before formally disbanding the order in 1312, as did another Chinon Parchment dated 20 August 1308 addressed to Philip IV of France, also mentioning that all Templars that had confessed to heresy were “restored to the Sacraments and to the unity of the Church”. The current position of the Roman Catholic Church is that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the order or its rule, and that Pope Clement was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement’s relative. (Source: Wikipedia) It seems Pope Clement V knew the Templars were innocent but he allowed them to be killed, persecuted and disbanded to the enrichment of himself and King Philip IV, his relative.
Pope Boniface VIII died in 1303 and Pope Clement V died in 1314. So Pope Boniface VIII will only be feet up and seared for 11 years before Pope Clement V will push him down and go headfirst in the hole in Hell. “But already longer is the span of time I have been cooking my feet while planted reversed than he, feet scarlet, will be planted the same”. Pope Nicholas III will have spent 23 years in that upside-down-feet-flailing-in-the-breeze position and Pope Boniface VIII will only spend 11 years in that position which is what Nicholas is referring to. Once Boniface VIII comes, Nicholas will be pushed further down the hole.
“He’ll be a second Jason,
And as the first, so Maccabees recounts,
Was treated softly by his monarch, this one
Will get soft treatment from the King of France.”
Jason was the brother of High Priest Onios. From the King of Syria, Jason bought his brother’s position and then brought pagan practises to Jerusalem in II Maccabees 4:7-26. Pope Clement V was a second Jason and got soft treatment from his kinsman, King Philip IV.
In my reply, I don’t know if I erred
With too much boldness in my vehemence:
“Pray tell me: how much treasure did our Lord
Ask of Saint Peter before He put the keys
Into his keeping? Surely He required
Nothing but ‘Follow me.’ Neither did those
With Peter, or Peter himself, take silver or gold
From Matthias, who was chosen for that place
Lost by the guilty soul. Stay where you’re held,
For these are you deserved punishments –
Guard well the ill-earned gains that made you bold
In opposing Charles. Except that reverence
For the great keys you held in the happy life
Forbids, my speech would be still more intense.”
Dante is hot about this. He’s justly angry with Pope Nicholas III. Notice “boldness”, “vehemence”, “my speech would be still more intense”. He told Nicholas III off! But you have to know the Bible to know what he was saying to Nicholas.
Pray tell me: how much treasure did our Lord
Ask of Saint Peter before He put the keys
Into his keeping? Surely He required
Nothing but ‘Follow me.’
Matthew 16:13-19 (NLT) 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”
15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”
Protestants take this to mean that the Kingdom of Heaven is based on the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and this fact is what our salvation rests on. That is the key to salvation. The only way into Heaven is through Jesus Christ. He is the doorway and accepting Him is the key. Catholics take this to mean Simon Peter is given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and it is upon HIM that the church is built upon. Simon Peter is the first Pope. The Pope is the Supreme Authority in the Catholic Church whereas Jesus Christ is the Supreme Authority in the Protestant Church. We don’t need anyone between us and Jesus Christ. It’s called the priesthood of the believer. In our relationship with Jesus Christ, there is no need for a go-between, a mediator, someone to intervene on our behalf. We have direct access to Jesus Christ who is our High Priest, our Savior, our living Sacrifice, our EVERYTHING! We have church leaders but they are leaders, teachers, encouragers, supporters NOT the go-between between Jesus and the believer.
But the one thing we can agree on is that Simon Peter accepted the commission of being the leader without any money exchanging hands. It was his belief in Jesus Christ that made him the leader. It was his faith. He didn’t become a leader in the Church because it enriched him in anyway. In fact, it cost him everything he knew and eventually he was martyred for his faith. Let’s look at another biblical passage concerning Peter and Jesus. Jesus had prophesied to Peter than Peter would deny Him three times before morning (Luke 22:31-34). Peter didn’t believe he would do it. But then Jesus was arrested and tortured through the night. During that night, Peter was accused of being with Jesus and one of the followers of Jesus but he was afraid and so he denied it three times. After the third denial, he realized that Jesus had been right and he was devastated (Luke 22:54-65). Jesus was crucified and buried. But then He arose on the 3rd day and was alive! He specifically called out Peter to let him know that He still loved him, He forgave him. And then He commissions Peter.
John 21:12-25 (NLT) 12 “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said. None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Then Jesus served them the bread and the fish. 14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to his disciples since he had been raised from the dead.
15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.
18 “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”
20 Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved—the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” 21 Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?”
22 Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” 23 So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”
24 This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate.
25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
From these two Bible stories, you can see now what Dante, the poet and pilgrim, was talking about. The keys are the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. All that was required of Peter was his faith and to obey and follow Jesus. He was to lead Christ’s sheep, His followers, the Church.
Who is Matthias? Judas Iscariot was one of the original 12 disciples. But he was the one who betrayed Jesus Christ to the High Priest on the night Jesus was arrested.
Luke 22:21-23 (Jesus speaking during the Last Supper, NLT) 21 “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. 22 For it has been determined that the Son of Manc must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.” 23 The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.
Mark 14:10-11 (NLT) 10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.
John 18:1-11 (NLT) 1 After saying these things, Jesus crossed the Kidron Valley with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. 2 Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, because Jesus had often gone there with his disciples. 3 The leading priests and Pharisees had given Judas a contingent of Roman soldiers and Temple guards to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons, they arrived at the olive grove.
4 Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked.
5 “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.
“I Am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) 6 As Jesus said “I Am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! 7 Once more he asked them, “Who are you looking for?”
And again they replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
8 “I told you that I Am he,” Jesus said. “And since I am the one you want, let these others go.” 9 He did this to fulfill his own statement: “I did not lose a single one of those you have given me.”
10 Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest’s slave. 11 But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Shall I not drink from the cup of suffering the Father has given me?”
Matthew 27: (NLT) 1 Very early in the morning the leading priests and the elders of the people met again to lay plans for putting Jesus to death. 2 Then they bound him, led him away, and took him to Pilate, the Roman governor.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. 4 “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.”
“What do we care?” they retorted. “That’s your problem.”
5 Then Judas threw the silver coins down in the Temple and went out and hanged himself.
6 The leading priests picked up the coins. “It wouldn’t be right to put this money in the Temple treasury,” they said, “since it was payment for murder.” 7 After some discussion they finally decided to buy the potter’s field, and they made it into a cemetery for foreigners. 8 That is why the field is still called the Field of Blood.
Acts 1: (NLT) 12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, a distance of half a mile. 13 When they arrived, they went to the upstairs room of the house where they were staying.
Here are the names of those who were present: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James (son of Alphaeus), Simon (the zealot), and Judas (son of James). 14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.
15 During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them. 16 “Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. 17 Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us.”
18 (Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines. 19 The news of his death spread to all the people of Jerusalem, and they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which means “Field of Blood.”)
20 Peter continued, “This was written in the book of Psalms, where it says, ‘Let his home become desolate, with no one living in it.’ It also says, ‘Let someone else take his position.’
21 “So now we must choose a replacement for Judas from among the men who were with us the entire time we were traveling with the Lord Jesus— 22 from the time he was baptized by John until the day he was taken from us. Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection.”
23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias. 24 Then they all prayed, “O Lord, you know every heart. Show us which of these men you have chosen 25 as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.” 26 Then they cast lots, and Matthias was selected to become an apostle with the other eleven.
So you see Matthias was chosen to replace Judas Isacariot. Peter and the other Disciples (now Apostles) did not take any “silver or gold from Matthias, who was chosen for that place lost by the guilty soul”. He didn’t buy his way into the position of Apostle. Nobody was enriched because he was given an office as an Apostle. The only requirement was his faith in Jesus Christ and that he had been with them during Christ’s earthly ministry and His death and resurrection. He had to be a first hand witness to Jesus Christ.
What were the “ill-earned gains that made (him) bold in opposing Charles”? Pope Nicholas III was accused of taking a bribe to assist Peter of Arragon in ousting Charles of Anjou from the kingdom of Sicily.
“For avarice like yours distributes grief,
Afflicting the world by trampling on the good
And raising the wicked. Shepherds like yourself
the Evangelist intended, when he said
That she who sits upon the waters was seen
By him in fornication with kings. She had
Seven heads from birth, and from ten horns had drawn
Her strength – so long as virtue pleased her spouse.
You made a god of gold and silver: wherein
Is it you differ from the idolatrous –
Save that you worship a hundred, they but one?
Ah Constantine! What measure of wickedness
Stems from that mother – not your conversion, I mean:
Rather the dowry that the first rich Father
Accepted from you!”
“The Evangelist” is John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, the youngest disciple, John the Evangelist (versus John the Baptist who was Jesus’ cousin, or any other John) who supposedly wrote the Gospel of John and Revelation (some say a different John, John of Patmos, wrote Revelation, but this is a newer theory that Dante wouldn’t have known). Who is “she who sits upon the waters”?
Revelation 17:15 (NKJV) 1 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. 2 The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”
3 And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead a mysterious name was written:
BABYLON THE GREAT,
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
The Whore of Babylon in Revelation is the “she”. This is sometimes meant to refer to the Catholic Church that became corrupted with the wealth and power that came after Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity. She has (or, her leaders have) connived with powerful people. Here is some more history. (I just love history!)
“The trouble with simony is that the people who deserve church offices because of their merit don’t get them. Either they don’t have the money to buy the church office, or they do have the money but won’t buy the church office because they know that simony is wrong.” David Bruce, 1/18/2017
Constantine the Great, aka Constantine I, (27 February c. 272 – 22 May 337) was born in the city of Naissus, (today Niš, Serbia) part of the Dardania province of Moesia. His father was Flavius Constantius, an Illyrian, who was an officer in the Roman army and part of Emperor Aurelian’s imperial bodyguard. He advanced through the ranks earning the governship of Dalmatia from Emperor Diocletian. Constantine’s mother was Helena, a Greek woman of low social standing from Helenopolis of Bithynia. There is a question whether they were married or she was his concubine. In July AD 285, Diocletian declared Maximian, another colleague from Illyricum, his co-emperor. Each emperor would have his own court, his own military and administrative faculties, and each would rule with a separate praetorian prefect as chief lieutenant. Maximian ruled in the West while Diocletian ruled in the East. In 288, Maximian appointed Constantius to serve as his praetorian prefect in Gaul. Constantius left Helena to marry Maximian’s stepdaughter Theodora in 288 or 289. Diocletian divided the Empire again in AD 293, appointing two caesars (junior emperors) to rule over further subdivisions of East and West. In a system called the Tetrarchy, two Caesars (junior emperors) ruled the East and West and were subordinate to the Augustus (senior emperor). But they had supreme authority in their assigned lands. Diocletian’s first appointee for the office of caesar was Constantius; his second was Galerius. On 1 March, Constantius was promoted to the office of caesar, and dispatched to Gaul to fight the rebels Carausius and Allectus. Constantine became the prime candidate for future appointment as caesar as soon as his father took the position. Constantine went to the court of Diocletian, where he lived as his father’s heir presumptive and was educated. Because Diocletian did not completely trust Constantius—none of the Tetrarchs fully trusted their colleagues—Constantine was held as something of a hostage, a tool to ensure Constantius’ best behavior. Constantine was nonetheless a prominent member of the court: he fought for Diocletian and Galerius in Asia and served in a variety of tribunates; he campaigned against barbarians on the Danube in AD 296 and fought the Persians under Diocletian in Syria (AD 297), as well as under Galerius in Mesopotamia (AD 298–299). Constantine had returned to Nicomedia from the eastern front by the spring of AD 303, in time to witness the beginnings of Diocletian’s “Great Persecution”, the most severe persecution of Christians in Roman history. On 23 February AD 303, Diocletian ordered the destruction of Nicomedia’s new church, condemned its scriptures to the flames, and had its treasures seized. In the months that followed, churches and scriptures were destroyed, Christians were deprived of official ranks, and priests were imprisoned. On 1 May AD 305, Diocletian, as a result of a debilitating sickness taken in the winter of AD 304–305, announced his resignation. Constantius and Galerius were promoted to Augusti, while Severus and Maximinus Daia, Galerius’ nephew, were appointed their caesars respectively. Constantine and Maxentius were ignored. Galerius may have tried to take Constantine’s life by assigning him suicide missions but Constantine was victorious every time. Constantine recognized the implicit danger in remaining at Galerius’ court, where he was held as a virtual hostage. His career depended on being rescued by his father in the west. Constantius was quick to intervene. He requested his son come help him in Gaul. Galerius got drunk, gave permission and Constantine left immediately and rode his horses so hard to get as far away as possible before Galerius could wake up and change his mind. Constantine joined his father in Gaul, at Bononia (Boulogne) before the summer of AD 305. From Bononia, they crossed the Channel to Britain and made their way to Eboracum (York), capital of the province of Britannia Secunda and home to a large military base. Constantine was able to spend a year in northern Britain at his father’s side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian’s Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius had become severely sick over the course of his reign, and died on 25 July 306 in Eboracum. Before dying, he declared his support for raising Constantine to the rank of full augustus. The Alamannic king Chrocus, a barbarian taken into service under Constantius, then proclaimed Constantine as augustus. The troops loyal to Constantius’ memory followed him in acclamation. Gaul and Britain quickly accepted his rule. Constantine sent Galerius an official notice of Constantius’ death and his own acclamation. Along with the notice, he included a portrait of himself in the robes of an augustus. The portrait was wreathed in bay. He requested recognition as heir to his father’s throne, and passed off responsibility for his unlawful ascension on his army, claiming they had “forced it upon him”. Galerius was furious but his advisers told him if he denied the claim there would be war. He compromised by giving him title of Caesar rather than Augustus and Constantine accepted the decision to remove any doubts as to his legitimacy. Constantine’s share of the Empire consisted of Britain, Gaul, and Spain, and he commanded one of the largest Roman armies which was stationed along the important Rhine frontier. He remained in Britain after his promotion to emperor, driving back the tribes of the Picts and securing his control in the northwestern dioceses. He completed the reconstruction of military bases begun under his father’s rule, and he ordered the repair of the region’s roadways. The Franks learned of Constantine’s acclamation and invaded Gaul across the lower Rhine over the winter of 306–307 AD. He then left for Augusta Treverorum (Trier) in Gaul, the Tetrarchic capital of the northwestern Roman Empire. He drove them back beyond the Rhine and captured Kings Ascaric and Merogais; the kings and their soldiers were fed to the beasts of Trier’s amphitheatre in the adventus (arrival) celebrations which followed. Constantine began a major expansion of Trier. He strengthened the circuit wall around the city with military towers and fortified gates, and he began building a palace complex in the northeastern part of the city. To the south of his palace, he ordered the construction of a large formal audience hall and a massive imperial bathhouse. He sponsored many building projects throughout Gaul during his tenure as emperor of the West. Constantine followed a tolerant policy towards Christianity, although he was not yet a Christian himself. He probably judged it a more sensible policy than open persecution. Maxentius mocked the portrait’s subject as the son of a harlot and lamented his own powerlessness. Maxentius, envious of Constantine’s authority, seized the title of emperor on 28 October 306 AD. Galerius refused to recognize him but failed to unseat him. Maximian, brought out of retirement by his son’s rebellion, left for Gaul to confer with Constantine in late 307 AD. He offered to marry his daughter Fausta to Constantine and elevate him to augustan rank. In return, Constantine would reaffirm the old family alliance between Maximian and Constantius and offer support to Maxentius’ cause in Italy. Constantine accepted and married Fausta in Trier in late summer 307 AD. Constantine now gave Maxentius his meagre support, offering Maxentius political recognition. But instead of giving Maxentius military aid, he sent his troops against Germanic tribes along the Rhine. In 308 AD, he raided the territory of the Bructeri, and made a bridge across the Rhine at Colonia Agrippinensium (Cologne). In 310 AD, he marched to the northern Rhine and fought the Franks. Maximian returned to Rome in the winter of 307–308 AD, but soon fell out with his son and returned to Constantine’s court. On 11 November 308 AD, Galerius called a general council at the military city of Carnuntum (Petronell-Carnuntum, Austria) to resolve the instability in the western provinces. In attendance were Diocletian, briefly returned from retirement, Galerius, and Maximian. Maximian was forced to abdicate again and Constantine was again demoted to caesar. Constantine refused to accept the demotion, and continued to style himself as augustus. In 310 AD, a dispossessed Maximian rebelled against Constantine while Constantine was away campaigning against the Franks. Maximian had been sent south to Arles with a contingent of Constantine’s army, in preparation for any attacks by Maxentius in southern Gaul. He announced that Constantine was dead, and took up the imperial purple. But most of Constantine’s army remained loyal to their emperor, and Maximian was soon compelled to leave. Constantine soon heard of the rebellion, abandoned his campaign against the Franks, and marched his army up the Rhine. Maximian fled to Massilia (Marseille), a town better able to withstand a long siege than Arles. It made little difference, however, as loyal citizens opened the rear gates to Constantine. Maximian was captured and reproved for his crimes. In July 310 AD, Maximian hanged himself. Constantine initially presented the suicide as an unfortunate family tragedy. By 311 AD, however, he was spreading another version. According to this, after Constantine had pardoned him, Maximian planned to murder Constantine in his sleep. Fausta learned of the plot and warned Constantine. By the middle of 310 AD, Galerius had become too ill to involve himself in imperial politics. His final act survives: a letter to provincials posted in Nicomedia on 30 April 311 AD, proclaiming an end to the persecutions, and the resumption of religious toleration. He died soon after the edict’s proclamation, destroying what little remained of the tetrarchy. While Constantine toured Britain and Gaul, Maxentius prepared for war. He fortified northern Italy, and strengthened his support in the Christian community by allowing it to elect a new Bishop of Rome, Eusebius. Maxentius’ rule was nevertheless insecure. His early support dissolved in the wake of heightened tax rates and depressed trade; riots broke out in Rome and Carthage. By 312 AD, he was a man barely tolerated, not one actively supported. He declared war on Constantine, vowing to avenge his father’s “murder”. Constantine crossed the Cottian Alps with a quarter of his army, a force numbering about 40,000. At the approach to the west of the important city of Augusta Taurinorum (Turin, Italy), Constantine met a large force of heavily armed Maxentian cavalry. In the ensuing battle Constantine’s army encircled Maxentius’ cavalry, flanked them with his own cavalry, and dismounted them with blows from his soldiers’ iron-tipped clubs. Constantine’s armies emerged victorious. Turin refused to give refuge to Maxentius’ retreating forces, opening its gates to Constantine instead. He moved on to Milan, where he was met with open gates and jubilant rejoicing. Constantine rested his army in Milan until mid-summer 312 AD, when he moved on to Brixia (Brescia). Constantine quickly advanced to Verona, where a large Maxentian force was camped. Ruricius was killed and his army destroyed. Verona surrendered soon afterwards, followed by Aquileia, Mutina (Modena), and Ravenna. The road to Rome was now wide open to Constantine. Maxentius prepared for the same type of war he had waged against Severus and Galerius: he sat in Rome and prepared for a siege. He still controlled Rome’s praetorian guards, was well-stocked with African grain, and was surrounded on all sides by the seemingly impregnable Aurelian Walls. He ordered all bridges across the Tiber cut, reportedly on the counsel of the gods, and left the rest of central Italy undefended. Maxentius, no longer certain that he would emerge from a siege victorious, built a temporary boat bridge across the Tiber in preparation for a field battle against Constantine. Maxentius’ forces were still twice the size of Constantine’s, and he organized them in long lines facing the battle plain with their backs to the river. Constantine’s army arrived on the field bearing unfamiliar symbols on their standards and their shields. Constantine was directed in a dream to cause the heavenly sign to be delineated on the shields of his soldiers, and so to proceed to battle. He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields the letter Χ, with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round thus at the top representing the first two letters of the Greek word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos). Having this sign (☧), his troops stood to arms. Eusebius describes a vision that Constantine had while marching at midday in which “he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, In Hoc Signo Vinces” (“In this sign thou shalt conquer”). Constantine deployed his own forces along the whole length of Maxentius’ line. He ordered his cavalry to charge, and they broke Maxentius’ cavalry. He then sent his infantry against Maxentius’ infantry, pushing many into the Tiber where they were slaughtered and drowned. His horse guards and praetorians initially held their position, but they broke under the force of a Constantinian cavalry charge; they also broke ranks and fled to the river. Maxentius rode with them and attempted to cross the bridge of boats (Ponte Milvio), but he was pushed into the Tiber and drowned by the mass of his fleeing soldiers. Constantine entered Rome on 29 October 312 AD, and staged a grand adventus in the city which was met with jubilation. Maxentius’ body was fished out of the Tiber and decapitated, and his head was paraded through the streets for all to see. In the following years, Constantine gradually consolidated his military superiority over his rivals in the crumbling Tetrarchy. In 313, he met Licinius in Milan to secure their alliance by the marriage of Licinius and Constantine’s half-sister Constantia. During this meeting, the emperors agreed on the so-called Edict of Milan, officially granting full tolerance to Christianity and all religions in the Empire. The document had special benefits for Christians, legalizing their religion and granting them restoration for all property seized during Diocletian’s persecution. Relations between the two remaining emperors deteriorated, as Constantine suffered an assassination attempt at the hands of a character that Licinius wanted elevated to the rank of Caesar. In either 314 or 316 AD, the two Augusti fought against one another at the Battle of Cibalae, with Constantine being victorious. They clashed again at the Battle of Mardia in 317, and agreed to a settlement in which Constantine’s sons Crispus and Constantine II, and Licinius’ son Licinianus were made caesars. After this arrangement, Constantine ruled the dioceses of Pannonia and Macedonia and took residence at Sirmium, whence he could wage war on the Goths and Sarmatians in 322, and on the Goths in 323, defeating and killing their leader Rausimod. In the year 320, Licinius allegedly reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313 and began to oppress Christians anew. Linius presented a challenge to Constantine in the West, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Licinius, aided by Gothic mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient pagan faiths. Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard ☧. Outnumbered, but fired by their zeal, Constantine’s army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople. Licinius fled across the Bosphorus. Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont, and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on 18 September 324. Licinius and Martinian surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia respectively. n 325 Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged; Licinius’ son (the son of Constantine’s half-sister) was killed in 326. Thus Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. In 325 Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged; Licinius’ son (the son of Constantine’s half-sister) was killed in 326. Thus Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire. For his capital Constantine decided to work on the Greek city of Byzantium, which offered the advantage of having already been extensively rebuilt on Roman patterns of urbanism, during the preceding century, by Septimius Severus and Caracalla, who had already acknowledged its strategic importance. The city was thus founded in 324, dedicated on 11 May 330 and renamed Constantinopolis. Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, making it clear that he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone. Despite these declarations of being a Christian, he waited to be baptized on his deathbed, believing that the baptism would release him of any sins he committed in the course of carrying out his policies while emperor. He supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (such as exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the long period of persecution. His most famous building projects include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Old Saint Peter’s Basilica. In constructing the Old Saint Peter’s Basilica, Constantine went to great lengths to erect the basilica on top of St. Peter’s resting place, so much so that it even affected the design of the basilica. The reign of Constantine established a precedent for the emperor to have great influence and authority in the early Christian councils, most notably the dispute over Arianism. Constantine disliked the risks to societal stability that religious disputes and controversies brought with them, preferring to establish an orthodoxy. His influence over the Church councils was to enforce doctrine, root out heresy, and uphold ecclesiastical unity; the Church’s role was to determine proper worship, doctrines, and dogma. Constantine had his eldest son Crispus seized and put to death by “cold poison” at Pola (Pula, Croatia) sometime between 15 May and 17 June 326. In July, he had his wife Empress Fausta (stepmother of Crispus) killed in an overheated bath. At the time of the executions, it was commonly believed that Empress Fausta was either in an illicit relationship with Crispus or was spreading rumors to that effect or, at least for their immoralities. In the last years of his life, Constantine made plans for a campaign against Persia. In a letter written to the king of Persia, Shapur, Constantine had asserted his patronage over Persia’s Christian subjects and urged Shapur to treat them well. He treated the war as a Christian crusade, calling for bishops to accompany the army and commissioning a tent in the shape of a church to follow him everywhere. Constantine planned to be baptized in the Jordan River before crossing into Persia. Persian diplomats came to Constantinople over the winter of 336–337, seeking peace, but Constantine turned them away. The campaign was called off, however, when Constantine became sick in the spring of 337. Soon after the Feast of Easter 337, Constantine fell seriously ill. He made it back to Nicomedia, not making it all the way to Constantinople. He is baptized by Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, bishop of the city and he died on 5/22/337, the last day of the 50 day festival of Pentecost following Easter. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles. Constantine was succeeded by his three sons born of Fausta, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans. He served for almost 31 years. The Donation of Constantine appeared in the eighth century, most likely during the pontificate of Pope Stephen II (752–757), in which the freshly converted Constantine gives “the city of Rome and all the provinces, districts, and cities of Italy and the Western regions” to Sylvester and his successors. In the High Middle Ages, this document was used and accepted as the basis for the Pope’s temporal power, though it was denounced as a forgery by Emperor Otto III. Philologist and Catholic priest Lorenzo Valla proved that the document was indeed a forgery. – Wikipedia
Ah Constantine! What measure of wickedness
Stems from that mother – not your conversion, I mean:
Rather the dowry that the first rich Father
Accepted from you!”
Dante mentions the “dowry that the first rich Father accepted” referring to the Donation of Constantine. It was a document purportedly telling of how the Pope of the time, Sylvester I, cured Emperor Constantine of leprosy and the grateful Emperor made this document giving the church all kinds of power, land and wealth. Pope Sylvester I thus received from Constantine on behalf of the Papacy a vast empire and a vast fortune.
Son of a Roman named Rufinus, Sylvester I died 31 December 335. He was bishop of Rome from 314 until his death in 335. Little is known of him. Sylvester did not attend the First Council of Nicaea in 325, where the Nicene Creed was formulated, but he was represented by two legates, Vitus and Vincentius, and he approved the council’s decision. Long after his death, the figure of Sylvester was embroidered upon in a fictional account of his relationship to Constantine. The Donation of Constantine was composed probably in the 8th century. The text recounts a narrative founded on the 5th-century hagiography the Legenda S. Silvestri. This fictitious tale describes the sainted Pope Sylvester’s rescue of the Romans from the depredations of a local dragon and the pontiff’s miraculous cure of the emperor’s leprosy by the sacrament of baptism. In it “Constantine” professes Christianity (confessio) and entitles to Pope Silvester several imperial insignia and privileges (donatio), as well as the Lateran Palace. Rome, the rest of Italy, and the western provinces of the empire are made over to the papacy. In his gratitude, “Constantine” determined to bestow on the seat of Peter “power, and dignity of glory, vigor, and imperial honor,” and “supremacy as well over the four principal sees: Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Constantinople, as also over all the churches of God in the whole earth”. For the upkeep of the church of Saint Peter and that of Saint Paul, he gave landed estates “in Judea, Greece, Asia, Thrace, Africa, Italy and the various islands”. To Sylvester and his successors he also granted imperial insignia, the tiara, and “the city of Rome, and all the provinces, places and cities of Italy and the western regions”. t was used, especially in the 13th century, in support of claims of political authority by the papacy. It has been suggested that an early draft of the Donation of Constantine was made shortly after the middle of the 8th century, in order to assist Pope Stephen II in his negotiations with Pepin the Short, who then held the position of Mayor of the Palace (i.e., the manager of the household of the Frankish king). In 754, Pope Stephen II crossed the Alps to anoint Pepin king, thereby enabling the Carolingian family to supplant the old Merovingian royal line. In return for Stephen’s support, Pepin gave the pope the lands in Italy which the Lombards had taken from the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. It is also possible it originated in the chancery of Stephen’s immediate successor Paul I. These lands would become the Papal States and would be the basis of the papacy’s temporal power for the next eleven centuries. What may perhaps be the earliest known allusion to the Donation is in a letter of 778, in which Pope Hadrian I exhorts Charlemagne – whose father, Pepin the Younger, had made the Donation of Pepin granting the Popes sovereignty over the Papal States – to follow Constantine’s example and endow the Roman Catholic church. Otto III’s chancery denied its authenticity. Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his early death in 1002. The first pope to directly invoke the decree was Pope Leo IX, in a letter sent in 1054 to Michael I Cerularius, Patriarch of Constantinople. He cited a large portion of the document, believing it genuine, furthering the debate that would ultimately lead to the East–West Schism. In the 11th and 12th centuries, the Donation was often cited in the investiture conflicts between the papacy and the secular powers in the West. It was not until the mid-15th century, with the revival of Classical scholarship and textual criticism, that humanists, and eventually the papal bureaucracy, began to realize that the document could not possibly be genuine. Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa declared it to be a forgery. The Catholic priest Lorenzo Valla argued in his philological study of the text that the language used in manuscript could not be dated to the 4th century. Valla believed the forgery to be so obvious that he leaned toward believing that the Church knew that the document was inauthentic. Valla further argued that papal usurpation of temporal power had corrupted the church, caused the wars of Italy, and reinforced the “overbearing, barbarous, tyrannical priestly domination.” Independently of both Cusa and Valla, Reginald Pecocke, Bishop of Chichester (1450–57), reached a similar conclusion. The Donation continued to be tacitly accepted as authentic until Caesar Baronius in his Annales Ecclesiastici (published 1588–1607) admitted that it was a forgery, after which it was almost universally accepted as such. Lorenzo Valla showed that the Latin of the Donation of Constantine was not the Latin of Emperor Constantine’s fourth century.
Up until Emperor Constantine, Christians had been persecuted by the world. This made things terribly hard on Christians, costing them everything and sometimes their lives. But if someone became a Christian, it was for no other reason than they were convinced in the sonship of Jesus Christ and faith in Him for salvation. But once Christianity became a protected and, even, a preferred religion, with Constantine, people were drawn to Christianity for less than altruistic reasons. It gave them political power, gave them more respect in the community. It began to give them power and influence with political leaders which led to wealth. They had too much to gain from being a “Christian” and too much to lose at other times. All the money, protection, favor began to corrupt the church leaders. This is what Dante means.
“Dante deplores the Donation of Constantine, believing that the corruption of the Church and its inability to follow in the footsteps of Christ and live according to His mandate of evangelical purity are the result of the enormous temptations and mistaken priorities generated by so vast a material gift. In Dante’s view, the Donation of Constantine corrupted the Church: the dowry corrupted the bride. In Dante’s view the Church was effectively submerged by earthly goods and by the pernicious desire to possess those goods, as a direct consequence of Constantine’s well-intentioned but maleficent gift. ” – DigitalDante.columbia.edu
Virgil approves of Dante’s impassioned speech which leaves Pope Nicholas III’s legs twitching even more violently. He takes Dante into his arms in preparation of leaving this bolgia.
Excerpts of Dante’s Inferno are from a new translation by Robert Pinsky.
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