The Great Schism of the West (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XV THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE--FIRST SESSIONS 1. Opening of the Council. In history the city of Constance had already had a glorious past. Its annals recorded its foundation by Constantine, and that the Emperor had given it his name, as he had done to Constantinople. He had fixed its site at the meeting-point of three lakes connected with one another, the largest of which is a regular sea, washing Suabia on the north, and reflecting in its southern waters the heights of the Appenzell and the Vorarlberg. In the earliest Christian ages Constance had sent missionaries to Gaul. In the course of the seventh century, which was called the golden age of sanctity, the North had taken from it St Omer, St Momelin, St Ebertraume, and St Bertin. Later on, it had seen founded, almost under its walls, the Abbey of Reichenau, which, in its literary and apostolic influence, soon rivalled Bobbio, St Gall, and Luxeuil, the fertile foundations of St Columba and his disciples. Charles the Fat, conquered and plundered, found a grave in these cloisters, where legions of monks lived, studied, and prayed. The churches of the Isle of Reichenau, their old paintings, and their relics, are the only genuine memories of the illustrious past, now almost perished. Still later in the tenth century, the bishops Conrad and Gebhardt II., whose monumental statues adorn the bridge over the Rhine, had been celebrated for their sanctity and for their services.1 In the eleventh, Henry III. had held a great council (1043) at Constance, and had induced the clergy and the people to restore peace. In another synod, in 1094, Bishop Gebhardt III. had encouraged the reforms of Gregory VII. and had abolished a host of abuses. It was this twofold pacificatory and reforming object that was to ...