Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 46

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imperial appointment and the others had been installed by the Roman aristocracy. Five had been
dismissed or deposed by the emperors. In order to address how a vacancy in the Apostolic See
was to be filled, lay intervention would be affected in one manner or another.81 Henry III had
intervened in the papacy at Sutri and Rome in 1046. He had deposed the successor of Peter and
for many of the staunchest reformers, this was no different than the interference and
manipulation exerted by the Theophylact and Crescentius families of Rome. For a secular ruler
to intervene was nothing short of violation of canon law.82 The election process was in sore need
of an overhaul and fortunately for the reformers a model for election reform was already in
operation and successful.
Under papal protection, the
monastery of Cluny was
emancipated from secular
authority. Its charter called for
free abbatial when they
exercised the right to determine
a commendable successor and
protect against deterioration in
reforming zeal, austere lifestyle
and morality. Cluny was

81

Ullman, 128.

82

Cushing, 63-64.