Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 42

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whose duty it was to carry it out to put their loyalty to the Church over that owed to the Lord but
simony produced the polar opposite.
Just six short weeks after his consecration, Pope
Leo IX called for a council of reform to meet in
Rome where simony was one of the practices
condemned and some of the more infamous
simoniacs were tried. Because of the high
probability that the majority of bishops in France, Italy, and Germany had purchased their
consecrations, only those ordinations and episcopal consecrations where proof of simony was
available were penalized. 72 In the wake of the synod of Sutri, 1046, simony became the major
target of the papacy, which had the freedom to address it because Henry III supported reform to a
point.

Condemnation was voiced at councils in Rheims and Mainz in 1049. Papal legates were

used to implement this position at Coyaca in 1050, Narbonne in 1054, Lyons in 1055, and in
1056 Toulouse and Compostella. Even the Lateran Council of 1059 issued a strong
condemnation against simony. By 1060 the practice was being condemned on all levels,
absolutely and continued through the pontificate of Gregory VII. Those discovered in violation
of such condemnation lost their position without hope of possible recovery. 73
Investiture
In addition to the monk Hildebrand who had been promoted by Leo IX, the papacy was
now advised by some of the most devoted reformers of that era. Including Peter Damian, the

72

Carroll, 471-73.

73

Cushing, 98.