Chapter X: The Pope in Avignon - The Struggles Before Catherine

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Catherine of Siena by Sigrid Undset
Chapter X

A long title for the chapter of this post, but it was something of a heavy chapter about the history of the Pope's move of his seat of power to Avignon and many (though surely not all) of the political ramifications.  It is also about two figures who tried and seemed like they might succeed before Catherine - Cola di Rienzi who tried to restore the Roman Republic and St. Brigitta of Sweden.  Both were powerful figures who had some success - but they could not do what Catherine did.

The first thing that struck me reading this was the degree of temporal suffering caused by the Pope's absence.  So much of Italy was the Papal States which, with the Pope in France, led to cruel and foreign leaders ruling the people there.  It left hundreds, thousands of people unprotected.  It was also during this time that the Church surrendered its objection to evidence that came from torture.  A Pope accepted it to disband the Templars, and one of the greatest protections of the people broke.

I wrote a conversation between Lapa and Catherine where Lapa takes the position that this is a theological issue - where the Pope takes his seat - but I realize now my error.  This is a political and practical point.  The pope's presence in Avignon seems to have aggravated the wars between France and England (like they needed an excuse but still) and certainly to have prevented him from posing an objective voice to make peace.  Germany doesn't seem to be happy with it, and Rome was in a constant state of riot and uproar such that all travellers feared (but still came, I mean, it's a pilgrimage).

The Pope's power was being undermined and the people who were meant to be under his direct care were left alone.  A series of popes failed either to see this or act on it.

Cola di Rienzi led a revolution that restored order for precisely three years.  St. Brigitta (who seems awesome, by the way) convinced several popes with her powerful rhetoric, but she could never seem to stir them to move NOW.  St. Brigitta was practically royalty, a widow with many children, and a powerful, rich woman.  Cola di Rienzi was a powerful political figure and powerful in several pope's administrations.

The daughter of a dyer would do what they couldn't.

Unfortunately, it would lead to the Great Schism, but I am going to wait on discussing that.  But that reminder leaves me with a strange series of messages.  Even if there are people who seem more qualified doing what we feel called to do, we must work toward it.  We are not excused from service.  God may have planned for us, humble though we are, to succeed through Him where others could not - to His greater glory.

Or we may be meant to struggle even if the field cannot be won.  Perhaps we are making way for eventual peace - perhaps it is simply more important to continue the struggle even if it backfires or we simply fail.  Perhaps we are making way for something better down the line.  Perhaps we are making things better even if we don't see the fruits of it in clear, real world ways.