Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 68

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juristic. Gregory always emphasized that only the German electors could determine who to
install or remove as their king, as their custom dictated.129
Gregory VII agreed with St. Peter Damian that the genuine canon had been fashioned by
esteemed councils and promulgated by the Holy Fathers. Gregory acknowledged the papal
decree as a command of the Holy Spirit. Those issued by his predecessors, including conciliar
canons, established a harmony of canonical tradition that was to always be observed.130 These
were the sources of Gregory’s belief system and shaped a consistent set of policies during his
pontificate exemplified by his words, letters, and actions. To Bishop Hermann of Metz in
August of 1076, he recalled how Pope Zachary deposed Childeric III, the Merovingian king of
the Franks, and freed his subjects from allegiance. In addition, he referenced St. Ambrose’s
excommunication of the emperor Theodosius:
If the Holy Apostolic See, through the princely power divinely bestowed upon
it, has jurisdiction over spiritual things, why not also over temporal things?
When kings and princes of this world set their own dignity and profit higher
than God’s righteousness and seek their own honor, neglecting the glory of God,
you know whose members they are, to whom they give their allegiance. Just as
those who place God above their own wills and obey his commands rather than
those of men are members of Christ, so those of whom we spoke are members of
Antichrist. If then spiritual men are to be judged, as is fitting, why should not
men of the world be held to account still more strictly for their evil deeds?131

In the midst of his conflict with Henry IV, he wrote again to Bishop Hermann, using the model
of Pope Gregory the Great who excommunicated and deposed a king for disobeying orders about
hospitals for visitors: “If any king, priest, judge or secular person shall disregard this decree of
129

Morrison, “Canossa: A Revision,” 144-45.

130

Uta-Renate Blumenthal, “The Papacy and Canon Law in the Eleventh Century Reform,” The Catholic
Historical Review 84, no. 2 (April 1998): 216.
131

Emerton, 103.