Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 59

52

successors sought to free the Roman Church from German oppression and scale down to a
proper proportion royal influence over society.110 Gregory VII’s vision was not private, new, or
unique. It had been built upon the foundation of those that came before him, the authors of
Sacred Scripture, the Apostles, the Fathers, bishops and popes. Pope Leo I long ago set the
course of the papacy “as the special guardian both of Christian doctrine and canonical discipline.
That was now to be its field for work.”111
Gregory conceptualized the Church as an organic, corporate, and public bond of
Christians that included clergy and laity. This unity was without boundary and transcended the
spiritual and earthly realms. Government consisted of ecclesiastical officers and demanded
freedom in order to carry out justice and avoid conflict.112 Accordingly, the spiritual and earthly
were divinely tasked to work cooperatively. In some respects, this was attempted under the
Ottonian rulers and Henry III. Later, when Gregory VII began his pontificate he accepted civil
decisions as holding weight and authority. His sense of mission refused to succumb to despair in
his dealings with Henry IV because temporal power was never the issue.113 Rome’s history as
the seat of the empire contributed to a sense of supreme papal authority. The Donation of
Constantine granted to Pope Sylvester I by the Christian emperor gave to the Apostolic See
primacy over all other churches and imperial authority over the city of Rome and the West.114

110

Ullman, 148.

111

Whitney, “The Earlier Growth of Papal Jurisdiction,” 11.

112

Ullman, 149.

113

Whitney, “Gregory VII,” 136-37.