 Innocent III had two express aims in convening the council. First, he sought to renew the crusade in order to take back Jerusalem. Second, he wanted a general reform of the church in head and members. The majority of the seventy canons addressed the latter. The church was struggling at the time to suppress heresy and promote orthodoxy. Cathars in southern France and the Humiliati and Waldensians of northern Italy were unlicensed preachers who largely rejected papal authority and stood at odds with church teaching. Consequently, Lateran IV underscored the role of the bishop in rooting out heresy with his own preaching and by his conscription of others to aid in this service. It also sought to expand limited clergy preparation at cathedral schools, to regulate dress and behavior of priests, and to forbid the establishment of new religious orders outside of one of the monastic rules already existing. Other decrees touched society more broadly, such as the prohibition of consanguinity in marriage to the third degree or restrictions placed upon Jews during Holy Week. The two most significant canons from the perspective of the Reformation concerned sacraments. First, the doctrine of transubstantiation was defined against the more dualistic view of the Cathars, who rejected any substantial presence of Christ in the sacrament. This position would not only stand until the Reformation, but later to be expanded with the use of Aristotelian metaphysics. Luther rejected transubstantiation in part because he did not agree with the definition and in part because he thought it was an opinion and should not be enforced as dogma. Second, private auricular confession of sins was mandated for all people at least once a year prior to receiving the sacrament. While the canon itself only hoped to encourage more regular confession of sins, it had the result of transforming it into a law imposed upon the faithful and punishable by excommunication. For Luther and the sixteenth-century reformers, this would come to obscure its more evangelical use as a consolation for sinners.
Lateran Council, Fourth, 1215, 12th ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convened at the Lateran Palace, Rome, by Pope Innocent III to crown the work of his pontificate. It was one of the most important councils ever held, and its canons sum up Innocent's ideas for the church. They include a statement of faith with a definition of transubstantiation, confirmation of all kinds of previous disciplinary canons, regulations for the trials of ecclesiastics, arrangements for a new crusade, and many other important matters. This council established the requirements of confession at least once a year and communion at Easter time as the minimum requirement for church membership, called the Easter duty. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2022, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. See more Encyclopedia articles on: Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches: Councils and Treaties
Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99... From the commencement of his reign Innocent III had purposed to assemble an ecumenical council, but only towards the end of his pontificate could he realize this project, by the Bull of 19 April, 1213. The assembly was to take place in November, 1215. The council did in fact meet on 11 November, and its sessions were prolonged until the end of the month. The long interval between the convocation and the opening of the council as well as the prestige of the reigning pontiff, were responsible for the very large number of bishops who attended it, it is commonly cited in canon law as "the General Council of Lateran", without further qualification, or again, as "the Great Council". Innocent III found himself on this occasion surrounded by seventy-one patriarchs and metropolitans, including the Patriarchs of Constantinople and of Jerusalem, four hundred and twelve bishops, and nine hundred abbots and priors. The Patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria were represented by delegates. Envoys appeared from Emperor Frederick II, from Henry Latin Emperor of Constantinople, from the Kings of France, England, Aragon, Hungary, Cyprus, and Jerusalem, and from other princes. The pope himself opened the council with an allocution the lofty views of which surpassed the orator's power of expression. He had desired, said the pope, to celebrate this Pasch before he died. He declared himself ready to drink the chalice of the Passion for the defence of the Catholic Faith, for the succour of the Holy Land, and to establish the liberty of the Church. After this discourse, followed by moral exhortation, the pope presented to the council seventy decrees or canons, already formulated, on the most important points of dogmatic and moral theology. Dogmas were defined points of discipline were decided, measures were drawn up against heretics, and, finally, the conditions of the next crusade were regulated. The fathers of the council did little more than approve the seventy decrees presented to them; this approbation, nevertheless, sufficed to impart to the acts thus formulated and promulgated the value of ecumenical decrees. Most of them are somewhat lengthy and are divided into chapters. The following are the most important:
The council, moreover, made rules for the projected crusade, imposed a four years' peace on all Christian peoples and princes published indulgences, and enjoined the bishops to reconcile all enemies, The council confirmed the elevation of Frederick II to the German throne and took other important measures Its decrees were widely published in many provincial councils. APA citation. (1910). Fourth Lateran Council (1215). In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09018a.htm MLA citation. "Fourth Lateran Council (1215)." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09018a.htm>. Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Tomas Hancil. Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster at newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. |
What was the Fourth Lateran Council
zusammenhängende Posts
Urheberrechte © © 2024 wiewird Inc.
