Simony
Simony is, for Christians , buying and selling of spiritual things, especially a sacrament and, therefore, an ecclesiastical office.
It is named after a character in Acts of the Apostles , Simon the Magician who wanted to buy Peter 's power to perform miracles (Acts VIII.9-21), which earned him the condemnation of the apostle : "What Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God with money! .
Summary |
From the ninth century , many abbots and bishops entered the feudal system of vassalage. The Lords then considered churches and their property as their own heritage. The prince gave the episcopal investiture, the lords of the priests of parishes in rural areas. So they took the habit of naming the priests in parishes and assume an ever more important tithes and agricultural commodities supplied by farmers for subsistence of the clergy.
The system was confirmed in 962 , when Emperor Otto the Great won the pope pornocracy John XII 's prerogative to appoint the Pope. The Emperor Henry IV was the protector and beneficiary of such practices. The kings and princes, territorial ( earls and dukes ) also demanded the prelates, armed service. And some prelates themselves became lords, pulling profits from the minting of money and exercising the right bank.
In this context, one could use any means to increase its power: speculation on the fear of hell, extorcation donations and the sale of sacraments. Episcopal and clerical expenses were thus subject to real traffic.
Condemnation of simony
Simony was always an act reviled.
It will be part of the criticism by the Reformation in the Catholic Church. However it had been several attempts to more or less formal convictions:
- Between 1008 and 1048 , took place eight councils, regional, in England , in France and Italy to call for reform against the abuses and failures of the system.
- Pope Nicolas II ( 1058 - one thousand and sixty-one ), forbade the clergy to receive a church from the hands of a secular and ecclesiastical cons get loads of money.
- Pope Gregory VII ( in 1072 - 1 085 ) establishes an important monastic reform (the reform of Cluny ) and Pontifical (the Gregorian Reform )
- She was also convicted at the second Lateran Council in 1139.
Notes
Related articles
Sources
- Quotations from the Bible are from the translation of King James.
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