Digital Continent Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul 2016 | Page 91

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hands of a layman who subsequently exercised authority over the recipient. Peter Damian had
warned that gifts from laymen were not to be accepted because they corrupted the soul and
affected the cleric’s ability and freedom to correct and rebuke. It was a moral obligation to
condemn such an error.181 Whether or not the custom was long-standing was irrelevant. Ivo of
Chartres wrote in Decretum IV, 213, that Christ never said “I am custom”. Any conflict with
truth, no matter how long it has been practiced or how far its reach, must be eradicated. History
had arrived at this moment when the papacy finally possessed enough prestige and freedom to
meet the problem head-on. During the Gregorian reform period, the reformers grew increasingly
aware that reform was something perpetual and necessary that started at home and radiated
outward to all of Christendom. Reform of the Church as an institution was irrevocably
connected to the pope’s authority.182 Pope Gregory VII and the reformers used imagery that
expressed the development of the understanding of papal authority with complimentary terms
such as sun and moon, gold and lead, or soul and body in order to elucidate the pre-eminence of
divine power over earthly lordship.183

181

Cushing, 129.

182

Ladner, 53-54.

183

Weinfurter, 155.