5. INTO THE "DARK AGES"

THE ROMAN CHURCH SURVIVES IN THE WEST

In the West it was a very hard time.  There was no reliable order in the land, and road and sea travel became very dangerous. Trade and industry ground to a halt.  Urban life withered away to nothing.  Even the population dwindled rapidly in size.  People became dependent on a local tribal leader for protection – whose fortified domain offered some small amount of protection against wandering bands of trouble makers. Politically, the city of Rome was now irrelevant, as what was left of the Roman imperial order in the West was supervised now out of Ravenna, in the north of Italy.   However, although Roman politics and economics collapsed under the German conquests in the Western portions of the Empire – the Roman religion, Catholic Christianity, did not.  Indeed, Christianity became the all important carrier in the West of what was left of Roman civilization: in the social organization of the church, its bishops and popes, and in its use of Latin in worship and study. A number of Bishops of Rome (later termed “Popes”) – most notably Leo I (pope: 440-461) and Gregory I (pope: 590-604) – managed to preserve and strengthen what little remained of Roman or Latin moral-cultural order in the West.  Indeed, the church of Rome not only survived the Germanic impact but converted some of the most important tribes to Roman Christianity and restored the city of Rome to a position of some degree of religious-cultural importance – at least within the West itself.  Admittedly this was not very glamorous by comparison to what Rome once was. Closely connected with this survival of the Christian church was also the monastic movement which at the time of the fall of Rome in the early 400s was widespread.  Numerous monks and priests at the local level acquitted themselves fairly honorably along these same moral-cultural lines, especially once the monastic movement had been disciplined by Benedict (early 500s), whose rule was widely honored throughout the West.  Indeed, missionaries sent out by the Irish monasteries (thanks to Patrick, who brought Christianity to Druid Ireland in the early to mid-400s) helped to bring to the German (and Celtic) tribesmen to the East of them in Great Britain and on the European mainland important aspects of the Roman Latin Christian legacy that otherwise would have been lost entirely to Western Europe.

Patrick served as amissionary to the Irish for some thirty years.  It is claimed that in that time he brought the nation to Trinitarian or Catholic Christianity, establishing over 300 churches and baptizing over 120 thousand Irishmen.1 He was not himself Irish but British – developing a familiarity with this isolated Celtic island when taken there as a young British slave in 405.  He escaped after about 6 years of hard and dangerous service – and made his way back to his home in Britain, rejoining his family, but shocked to find the land itself devastated by the Germans during his absence in Ireland.  He journeyed to southern France to become a priest – and was serving there when God called him to return to Ireland to bring that fierce Druid nation to Christ.  But he was passed over by Celestine, Bishop of Rome, recognized as the person with the ultimate authority for such decisions.  Celestine appointed another priest to the task.  But that mission was not successful – and finally Celestine commissioned Patrick for the task. This was a wise choice since Patrick was one who knew the Irish well, and had an incredibly fearless heart.  He well knew the power of the Druid priests – and the importance of winning the respect of the Irish chiefs.  He also was aware of a ancient Irish prophecy well known to all in Ireland that heralded the arrival of a small group of foreigners attired and adorned almost exactly as he and his small group of missionaries.  He was ready to challenge the Druid priests (the exact detailed have become so "expanded" in the retelling that it is impossible to know what really happened).  In any case he succeeded in impressing the Irish chiefs – and was allowed to establish himself in Armagh as the nation's first bishop. From this key spiritual center he began to involve himself in the political affairs of the nation – even intervening to protect Christian Irish from raids by British Christians.  But he was no less involved in the social life of the country, establishing schools and monasteries throughout the country to raise the level of learning of the nation.  Under his direction Irish monks began translating works from the Greek and Hebrew and developing libraries of considerable importance.  But most of all he looked after the spiritual needs of Ireland – leading the nation into a wholesale embrace of Christianity. The irony is that just as Roman Europe was undergoing a terrible cultural eclipse caused by a general Germanic darkness – Ireland was undergoing quite the opposite in the form of a true cultural awakening.  As the lights began to go out in the continental West, in Ireland they began to burn – burn brightly. Eventually it would be the Irish who would go forth as missionaries to Germanic Europe – in an effort to restore Roman Catholic culture where they could. For more on Patrick  1What we know of Patrick comes from parts of his personal testimony, Confessio and also from his Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus.  We do not know exactly the dates of his birth or death however ... although certainly he flourished in the mid-400s.  His name "Patrick" came from the Latin, Patricius ... perhaps derived from the fact of his own British-Roman ancestry. NOBLE ROMAN CHURCHMEN LAY STRONG CHURCH FOUNDATIONS IN THE WEST Leo I "the Great" (pope: 440-461) Leo I, the bishop of Rome played the most important hand in tightening church organization in the West at a time that Roman political order was disintegrating there.  During his tenure as Bishop of Rome he became the unquestioned head of the Western church – that is, "pope."  The other bishops, especially the North African bishops, simply declined in importance or even disappeared from view as the German tribal leaders undercut the bishops" power bases. Early on, Leo lined up the other bishops of Italy and North Africa behind his lead in driving out of the church a number of heresies that were drifting into the faith.  Later, with the help of the Western Emperor Valentinian III, he was able to draw a resistant church of Gaul (France) under his authority.  And when Attila and his Huns threatened Rome it was Leo who met him and got him to withdraw his troops, making him the primary political figure in Italy. He was unabashed in his view that the Bishop of Rome was the head of the church – not only in the West but in the church universal.  He based his claim on the logic of being of the apostolic line of succession descending directly from Peter, the first Bishop of Rome.  His claim was not accepted in the East – though he certainly was respected there.  But his claim went unchallenged in the West.  From Leo's time on, the Bishop of Rome was acknowledged in the West as the "pope," the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The meeting of Pope Leo and Attila - by Raphael the Vatican Benedict of Nursia (480-547) In the early 500s an Italian aristocrat-turned-monk, Benedict, founded some fourteen monasteries (the first and most important at Monte Casino in Southern Italy) and then laid out for the good order of these monastic communities his Benedictine "Rule."  This proved so successful that it was widely copied among abbeys or monasteries throughout the West.  His Rule served to give form and strength to the monastic movement.  Indeed, over time, resulting from such order and discipline, these monasteries themselves grew very rich. Gregory I "the Great" (born: 540 / pope: 590-604) Gregory was chiefly responsible for reorganizing the structure of the Western Church – giving it the broad features that it would have for the rest of the Middle Ages – and indeed, through the on going Roman Catholic Church, even down to the present. Gregory was born of a noble or "patrician" Roman family – a family possessing not only great wealth but also a distinguished placement in the Christian community as a family of deep Christian devotion.  As a youth Gregory received the typical patrician schooling at which he proved to be highly accomplished.  He eventually stepped into a public career (as would have been expected of one with his family background) and by his early 30s he had become the prefect of the city of Rome.  But soon thereafter he abandoned his public life and took up the vow of poverty in becoming a monk.  Eventually his family inheritance of considerable landholding he turned to use as the site of a number of monasteries.  But Pope Pelagius II pressured him to come out of seclusion and first had him appointed as a deacon of Rome and then as papal ambassador to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine court in Constantinople.  Here he revealed his highly organized mind in a controversy he had with the Eastern Patriarch – a controversy in which the Emperor eventually placed himself squarely on Gregory's side of the argument.  Eventually he was returned to Rome and soon became abbot of St. Andrew's monastery – where he also became a widely respected teacher of the Scriptures.  But he became fascinated with the idea of becoming a missionary to the Anglo Saxons of Britain – but at the insistence of a very upset Roman populace was recalled to Rome shortly after his departure.  Under a promise never to leave Rome, he soon became a special assistant to Pelagius II.  But he never lost his fascination for the idea of a mission to the Anglo Saxons of Britain. In 590, during the middle of a horrible plague which had followed upon equally devastating floods, Pelagius II died – and the unanimous Roman choice for pope went to Gregory – who nonetheless did what he could to duck the responsibility.  Nonetheless the Eastern Emperor confirmed the appointment and Gregory was forced to take up the position as bishop of Rome (pope). Soon after his accession to the papacy, he began to demonstrate his brilliance as a church administrator (including the management of the vast land holdings of the church, which he used generously to support the poor) – and as a dominating authority throughout the whole Christian world.  With respect to church organization, the personal behavior of priests and bishops, and the handling of church monies, he was deeply demanding of papal discipline throughout the ranks of the church.  He even claimed authority over the Patriarch of Constantinople, insisting that the church at Rome was the true Apostolic See. He also drew the church into active politics – particularly when it became evident that the Byzantine Emperor was not going to do anything to stop the advancement of the Germanic Lombards across Italy.  Gregory not only appointed a new tribune to Naples to organize that city's defenses against the Lombards but eventually entered directly into negotiations with the Lombards for peace in Italy. He finally had a chance to fulfill an old dream of sending a mission to the Angles in Britain – sending Augustine of Canterbury to begin the conversion of the Angles and Saxons in Britain. He also worked closely with the monastic movement reformed by Benedict – by drawing monasteries more closely into the ecclesiastical system that he presided over and disciplining it according to his strict standards ... and at the same time acting as a protector of the monasteries against the efforts of bishops to bring these monasteries under their own control.  THE CHRISTIAN (MOSTLY IRISH) MISSIONS TO THE GERMANIC TRIBAL NATIONS The monasteries (found significantly in unconquered Celtic Christian lands in Ireland and Britain) became very important pockets of learning in this dark Germanic world – sending out missionaries to the German tribes, converting them to Catholic Christianity, planting new monasteries in their midst and keeping the hope of a better world alive. These monasteries were not under papal control – nor was there any real "order" to them – but they provided a refuge for people who wanted to devote themselves to God and serve their fellow man in charity (something utterly lacking in the Roman Empire). The most influential of these monastic havens within this darkened Germanic world – perhaps because they were furthest removed from the impact of the Germanic invasions – were the Irish monasteries started up by Patrick.  They not only kept the flame alive, but sent out missionaries in the 500s and 600s to establish monasteries in the Netherlands, France, Burgundy, Saxony, and Italy. Columba (521-597) Columba was a monk and missionary, known also by his Irish nickname, Columcille (‘Dove of the church').  After his banishment from Ireland for opposing the King he and 12 of his disciples founded in Scotland the missionary settlement at Iona (563) – which became the launch site for bringing Scotland into the Christian faith. He had also been very active in shaping the Irish church in his earlier years, founding several hundred churches and monasteries in Ireland as well.  And even after establishing himself in Iona he remained active in Irish affairs, helping to shape the governmental structure of Ireland at the council of Druim Cetta in 575. Columban (c. 540-615) Columban was another Irish monk who in 591 (at age 50+) traveled with 12 of his disciples to the European continent, to the Burgundian kingdom (in Southeastern Gaul or present day France) to establish monasteries among the Celtic Gauls.  But his strong disapproval of the lax moral and spiritual conditions within the Burgundian government and Roman church in that region brought him under attack.  In 610 (at age 70!) he was forced out of Burgundy.  He eventually settled in Switzerland to preach the faith to the pagan Alamanni – though he was soon chased from this region as well because of his having chopped down sacred pagan trees and because of a continuing conspiracy against him in the courts of Theodoric II.  Thus he moved south into Italy (c. 612 614) and established a monastery at Bobbio, where he died a short time later.   In his sermons, teachings, writings and personal example, he left a legacy of spiritual integrity and vitality which gave inspiration to Christians generations after him. Augustine of Canterbury (? - c. 605) Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory from Rome (where he had been prior of a Benedictine abbey) to England to convert the Anglo Saxons to Catholic Christianity.  Augustine arrived in Kent in 597 accompanied by 40 monks.  Kentish King Ethelbert was supportive of Augustine's mission and gave him a place at Canterbury to base his mission. Augustine's mission proved to be highly successful.  Ethelbert and thousands of English were brought to the faith in the first year alone.  Within a few years a number of other missionaries were sent to England to assist Augustine, including 12 bishops – over which Augustine presided as archbishop.  His church (Christ Church) was recognized as the cathedral for England. Aidan (?-651) Aidan was a humble Irish monk at Iona, when he was consecrated in 635 as bishop and sent to evangelize the English under King Oswald (and King Oswin who succeeded Oswald in 642) in Northumbria.  Just off the Northumbrian coast, Aidan established the mission center of Landisfarne for the training of more missionaries to the English, including the brothers Chad and Cedd (missionaries to the Mercians and East Saxons respectively) and Hilda (founder of a number of monasteries, including the notable monastery of Whitby in Northumbria, England). The Synod of Whitby (663-664) One of the growing questions of the day was whether these missions ought to remain independent, or at least connected solely to the sending authorities back in Ireland – or whether they ought to affiliate themselves with the Bishop of Rome (the Pope).  This was both a cultural and political issue.  Would they follow Celtic or Roman patterns of church organization and life?   Would they preserve their autonomy or submit themselves to the Roman religious order?  Thus English Christians convened at Whitby to come to some kind of a decision.  Ultimately the decision was made in favor of the Roman formula. Cuthbert (634-687) Cuthbert was profoundly spiritual and humble Celtic monk who entered Melrose Abbey as a youth, became very close to its prior, Boisil, and succeeded him in 661 after a plague killed Boisil.  Cuthbert quickly gained a reputation as a miracle worker after he went about the countryside praying for and treating plague victims. When after the decision of the Synod of Whitby to adopt Roman and drop Celtic church traditions (a decision which Cuthbert supported) Colman, who had been a leader of the Celtic position, resigned his post as prior of Lindisfarne.  Cuthbert was invited to take his place.  As prior of Lindisfarne, Cuthbert supervised the changeover from the more informal Celtic to the much more highly structured Roman church style. But Cuthbert had more a heart for quiet piety than for administrative duties.  In 676, searching for solitude, he ventured to the Farne Islands and established himself in a hermit's cell there.  However, his fame would not go away.  He was recalled briefly as prior of Lindisfarne and then once again retreated to the Farne Islands where he lived out his days in prayer.   So well-loved was Cuthbert that the beautiful Lindisfarne Gospel (a treasure today of the British Library!) was published by Bishop Eadfrith of Lindisfarne in Cuthbert's honor shortly after his death.  The Lindisfarne Gospel:  The beginning of the Gospel of John – c. 698-700 The British Library Page from the Lindisfarne Gospels London, British Museum Silver and gold-plated bronze chalice from Ardagh (700s) Dublin, National Museum of Ireland Go on to the next section:  Byzantine Rome   Miles H. Hodges