Blessed Callixtus II

Upon accepting the government of this Church, Guy took his place, despite his youth, among the most illustrious and influential prelates of his century. His virtues, his character, his great name, and the alliances of his family contributed to drawing the eyes of his contemporaries toward him. He was a close relative of the Emperor of Germany and the King of England; one of his sisters had married Humbert II, Count of Maurienne, and their daughter Adelaide became Queen of France through her marriage to Louis the Fat. It was not too much of all that nobility, fortune, genius, and piety can provide to conjure, by these combined means, the perils that threatened Europe. The Investiture Controversy had long divided the priesthood and the empire; but Saint Gregory VII had ceased to live, and the successors of this Pope, who had supported the rights of the Church with such zeal, had already been several times victims of the injustice and violence of the Emperors of Germany. Paschal II, who then occupied the Chair of Saint Peter, had become a prisoner of Henry V. Deceived by the lying promise s of th Henri V Holy Roman Emperor, opponent in the Investiture Controversy. is monarch, rather than shaken by his threats and mistreatment, he had just surrendered to him the privilege of investitures. This act, extorted by force, excited as much surprise as pain in the Church. The Archbishop of Vienne immediately assembled a Council in his metropolis. It was decided there that it was a heresy to believe that one could receive from the hands of a layman the investiture of abbeys, bishoprics, and other dignities of the Church; the privilege that the Emperor had torn from the Pope was declared null, and Henry was solemnly excommunicated because, despite the oaths he had sworn to the Sovereign Pontiff, and after having kissed his feet, mouth, and face, he had betrayed him like another Judas, had treated him unworthily, and had extracted from him a detestable document.

The move was all the more bold as the See of Vienne was a fief of the empire, as a dependency of the former kingdom of Burgundy, and the ambassadors of Henry, present at the Council, showed letters from the Pope to their master to make it believed that His Holiness was pleased with him. The archbishop sent the decrees of the assembly to Paschal, begging him to confirm them; the sovereign Pontiff did what the bishops asked; but he died without having the consolation of restoring peace between the Church and the empire, and Gelasius II, his successor, was not long in being himself subjected to the ill-treatment of the emperor and his partisans. Henry V, who, according to the expression of a contemporary, looked upon the Roman Church as a fief subject to his royal whim, marched toward Rome to seize Gelasius, and had an antipope elected in the person of Maurice Bourdin, archbishop of Prague. This persecution forced Gelasius to leave Italy; he left for the Gauls and stopped for some time at Vienne, where the archbishop received him with as much magnificence as respect. The Pope then went to Cluny, where he proposed to fix his residence. He intended to assemble a great Council to end the dispute that had lasted for so many years between the priesthood and the empire. But Providence ordained otherwise. Gelasius, struck by illness, was in a few days at the gates of the tomb; after having received the last sacraments with the sentiments of the most vivid faith, he had the cardinals who had followed him called and proposed to them to elect Conon, bishop of Palestrina, in his place. Conon excused himself by saying: "If you wish to follow my advice, we shall elect the archbishop of Vienne; he joins power to piety, and secular nobility to prudence; let us hope that he will deliver the Holy See from tyranny and oppression." The Pope approved this opinion, and died on January 29, 1119.

Meanwhile, the funeral of Gelasius had attracted a large gathering of lords and prelates to Cluny. After having paid the last duties to the deceased Pope, the cardinals and bishops occupied themselves without delay with the election of a new Pontiff. Guy of Burgundy, archbishop of Vienne, gathered all the votes and was elected Pope under the name of Callixtus II. The holy pr elate did Calixte II Archbishop of Vienne who became pope, present at the Pleas of God in 1116. not see without dread the burden that was imposed upon him. He wrote to Adalbert, archbishop of Mainz: "Pope Gelasius, of happy memory, ordered me, upon leaving Vienne, to go and join him at Cluny. Wishing to satisfy this obligation, I left Vienne a few days later; but I learned on the way that Gelasius was dead. However, in order to console our brothers who had come with him, I went to Cluny, touched by a deep sorrow. As I was only thinking of taking part in their regrets, they imposed upon me a burden beyond my strength; for the bishops, the cardinals, the clerics, and the Roman laymen took me, by unanimous consent and despite my resistance, to govern the Church under the name of Callixtus II." The cardinals who were at Cluny made known the death of Gelasius and the nomination of his successor to Peter, bishop of Porto, whom the deceased Pope had left as vicar in the city of Rome. As soon as he had received the letters addressed to him, he went up to the Capitol and had them read in the presence of the people. The entire assembly approved the election of Callixtus, praising God for having given the Church a pontiff of such great merit. Then, the bishop of Porto transmitted the news to Cardinal Hugh, archbishop of Benevento and legate of the Holy See; it was welcomed at Benevento, as well as at Rome, by unanimous acclamations, and the citizens swore an oath to the new Pope in the hands of the legate. When Callixtus II had been informed of these facts, he consented to take the red cope, the insignia of the papacy. Lambert, bishop of Ostia, crowned him solemnly at Vienne, on Quinquagesima Sunday, February 9, 1119; his election was published in the diet of Tibur, and the bishops gathered in that city swore fidelity to him; finally, he indicated a general Council at Reims for October 18; the bishops approved it, and the emperor himself promised to attend.

While awaiting the opening of this assembly, Callixtus II held a provincial Council at Toulouse on June 13, and there, in the presence of a number of bishops, condemned the errors and extravagances of the Manichaeans, who were beginning to spread in the southern provinces. From there he went to Paris, where he stayed for some time, and in order to prepare the great treaty he was contemplating with the Emperor, he sent William of Champeaux, Bishop of Châlons-sur-Marne, and Pons, Abbot of Cluny, to him. Henry V, whom they found at Strasbourg, asked them for advice. "My Lord," the bishop said to him, "if you wish to have a true peace, you must renounce the investiture of bishoprics and abbeys; and to assure you that your royal authority will suffer no diminution from this, know that I have received nothing from the hand of the king, neither before nor after my consecration, and I serve him as faithfully as your bishops serve you in your kingdom, by virtue of the investiture which has brought this discord into the Church and the anathema upon your royal person." — "Well then, so be it," replied the Emperor, "I ask for nothing more." He then took an oath in the hands of the bishop to observe what would be decided. When the articles of this convention were drawn up, the deputies returned to Reims Reims Site of the baptism of Clovis. , where the Pope had already arrived.

On Monday, October 20, 1119, Callixtus opened the Council in the cathedral. There were bishops present from Italy, Germany, France, England, and all the provinces of the West. There were fifteen metropolitans, more than two hundred bishops, and an equal number of abbots. Everyone having taken their place and the prayers of the Councils having been recited, the Pope gave a very eloquent speech in Latin on the perils of the Church. He compared them to the storms that agitate ships at sea; but God commands the winds and calms them when He deems it appropriate. "You know," he then said, "how long the Church has fought against heresies, and how Simon the Magician perished by the judgment of the Holy Spirit and by the ministry of the blessed Peter. The same Peter has not ceased to this day, through those who hold his place, to extirpate the followers of Simon from the Church. And I, who am his vicar, though unworthy, desire ardently, with the help of God, to drive from His holy Church the heresy of Simon, which has been renewed primarily by investitures. To instruct you on the state of this affair, listen to the report of our brothers who have carried words of peace to the King of Germany, and give us counsel on what we must do, since our cause is common." The Bishop of Ostia then gave a report in Latin on what had happened with the Emperor, and the Bishop of Châlons repeated it in French for the benefit of the laity.

Several personages of the highest distinction had come to Reims to submit serious political or religious matters to the decision of the Council. The Pope could not hear their requests and announced that he was going to Mouzon to make peace with the Emperor. During the absence of Callixtus, the Fathers of the Council offered prayers and sacrifices to God and went in procession, barefoot and with candles in hand, to the church of Saint-Remi. However, the Pope, after having waited for the Emperor for several days at Mouzon, learned that his dispositions had changed: Henry was seeking to evade the execution of his promises, and through calculated delays and skillful tergiversations, he was thinking of seizing the person of the sovereign Pontiff. Callixtus guessed the trap, returned to Reims in great haste, and concluded the sessions of the Council on Thursday, October 30. Five canons were drafted, some of which relate to the traffic of holy things and others to the administration of the sacraments. The Pope spoke with such eloquence that they were unanimously accepted, despite the express condemnation they carried against simony, then so common and so unfortunately authorized by the emperors. Then, four hundred and twenty-seven lighted candles were brought, which were distributed to the bishops and abbots carrying croziers. All these prelates being standing, candle in hand, the Pope solemnly excommunicated the enemies of God and the Church, whose names he read. The first two were the perjured Emperor and the antipope Bourdin. The sovereign Pontiff, by virtue of his apostolic authority, released the subjects of Henry from their oath of fidelity, unless he were to come to repentance and satisfy the Church. Then, he gave absolution and the blessing to the whole assembly and permitted everyone to return home. Thus ended the Council of Reims.

Calixtus traveled from Reims to Gisors to confer with the King of England, his godson and relative, regarding the disputes he had with the King of France. The King of England received him with all manner of honors, prostrating himself humbly at his feet; but the Pope raised him up with tenderness, blessed him, and they both embraced with great joy. The differences that had arisen between this prince and Louis the Fat were appeased by the mediation of Calixtus. The castles that had been taken on both sides, whether by fraud or by force, were returned to their lords; the prisoners were set at liberty and returned joyfully to their families.

After the conference of Gisors, Calixtus made his way toward Italy, settling several matters along his route. King Louis the Fat and Queen Adelaide, his niece, accompanied him out of honor from Paris to Corbeil, with most of the lords of their court. In Burgundy, at the request of Saint Stephen, Abbot of Cîteaux, he confirmed the regulations of that Order by a bull dated December 23, 1119. Two days later, he celebrated the Christmas festivities in Autun and there received a visit from Bruno, Archbishop of Trier, who obtained from him, by a letter dated January 3, the remission of his sins and the renewal of the privileges of his Church. The Pope, also wishing to distinguish the Church of Vienne, which had been his first see, with some favor, gave it the title of primatial with jurisdiction over the provinces of Vienne, Bourges, Bordeaux, Auch, Narbonne, Aix, and Embrun. He crossed the Alps and then entered Lombardy and Tuscany. The clergy and the people, crowding along his path, could not get enough of seeing him. In Lucca, the militia came to meet him and led him in procession to the bishop's palace. In Pisa, he solemnly consecrated the great church that had just been erected in that city. The news of his arrival having reached Rome excited the greatest joy in the city. T he c Rome Birthplace of Maximian. itizens, in arms, came to meet him as far as three days' journey away. The children, carrying tree branches and strewing flowers in his path, received him with acclamations of praise. He entered Rome with his head wreathed in the tiara, and traveled like a triumphant conqueror through the streets and squares, adorned with rich tapestries. The Greeks and the Latins sang in concert around him; even the Jews applauded his arrival. The processions were so numerous that they lasted from morning until evening. Finally, amidst these songs of gladness, the Pope was led and installed by the magistrates at the Lateran Palace.

Despite these demonstrations, Callixtus soon realized that he was not safe in Rome, because of the schemes of his competitor. He first went to Monte Cassino, where the abbot of that monastery magnificently provided for the expenses of his journey and his stay; then he received at Benevento the homage of William of Normandy, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. This prince, after having obtained from the Pope the investiture of all the land he occupied, offered him his help to assist him in ridding himself of his enemies. Bo urdin h Bourdin Antipope supported by Henry V, captured at Sutri. ad withdrawn, with his partisans, into the fortress of Sutr i; fr Sutry Place of retreat and capture of the antipope Bourdin. om there, he persecuted those who visited the sovereign Pontiff, and sometimes even put them to death. Callixtus, wishing to put an end to these acts of brigandage, returned to Rome to celebrate the Easter holidays, and, as soon as they were finished, he charged Cardinal John of Crema to besiege the antipope in his fortress. The expedition was a complete success. As soon as the inhabitants of Sutri saw their walls being battered, they seized the schismatic and delivered him to the soldiers of Callixtus.

The fall of the antipope strengthened the authority of Callixtus and added further to the high reputation for courage and virtue that this Pontiff had acquired. He was consulted from all sides on important matters, and, whether by his direct intervention or through the ministry of his legates, he put an end, with rare success, to the wars that divided princes, as well as to the less serious, but no less thorny, difficulties that sometimes arose in churches or monasteries. But the investiture controversy was not yet appeased; the Pope lamented it, and the Emperor himself bega n to feel l'empereur Holy Roman Emperor, opponent in the Investiture Controversy. the full weight of the anathemas of the Holy See. Henry, on the advice given to him in an assembly of the German nation held at Würzburg, sent to Rome Bruno, Bishop of Speyer, and Arnulf, Abbot of Fulda. These two deputies brought back to Germany three cardinals, Lambert, Bishop of Ostia, Saxon, a priest, and Gregory, a deacon, whom the Pope had invested with the powers of legate. The plenipotentiaries opened a diet at Worms and finally conc luded peace b diète à Worms 1122 agreement ending the Investiture Controversy. etween the Church and the Empire after twelve days of conferences. The great difficulty was to reconcile the rights and customs of the Empire with the rights and freedom of the Church. The princes regarded it as a hereditary right to grant investiture by the crosier and the ring; but, for a long time, they had abused this ceremony to confiscate the freedom of elections for their own profit and to traffic in holy things. A middle ground was found. The Emperor renounced investiture by the crosier and the ring and left elections free; but the bishop or abbot, freely elected and consecrated, was to receive from the Emperor, in his capacity as a temporal prince, the investiture of the regalia or royal rights by the scepter, which is the attribute of human power. The agreement was made on these conditions, in the hope that the Pope would ratify it. Two documents were drawn up, which were read and exchanged between the parties on October 23, 1122, on a plain located on the banks of the Rhine, where an innumerable crowd had gathered. The Bishop of Ostia celebrated Mass and gave the Emperor the kiss of peace; the legates granted the people and the army a general absolution, and the assembly dispersed, manifesting with brilliant demonstrations the joy that animated it. In the following month of December, Callixtus wrote to the Emperor to congratulate him on his submission to the Church. He rejoiced in it particularly because of the kinship that united them, thanked him for his gifts, and asked him to send back the legates as soon as possible, because of the council, the time for which was near.

Peace being restored, the Pope indeed held a council in Rome during Lent in 1123. It was the first o f the Lateran and premier de Latran Ninth ecumenical council ratifying the Concordat of Worms. the ninth to merit the title of ecumenical. Nearly a thousand prelates were present, along with countless laypeople of every rank and condition; Suger, A bbot Suger Abbot of Saint-Denis and royal advisor present at the Lateran. of Saint-Denis, attended on behalf of Louis the Fat. Calixtus solemnly published and ratified there the peace he had made with Henry. Furthermore, he promulgated twenty-two canons on various points of morality and discipline. The city of Rome was finally able to enjoy, thanks to the care of Calixtus, a peace it had not known for a long time. He had destroyed the fortresses erected in the surroundings by Sancio Frangipane and several other petty tyrants, subdued the counts who were plundering the Church's property, and purged his states of the brigands with which they were infested. The roads leading to the holy city became free; foreigners traveling there were no longer insulted, and during their stay, they no longer had anything to fear from the greed or insolence of the inhabitants. Calixtus thus brought abundance and splendor back to Rome, restored honor to ancient monuments, and built aqueducts for the convenience of the different districts of the city. The offerings brought to the church of Saint Peter, instead of being plundered with impunity as before, were returned to their destination and used for the utility of the Church. The Pope dedicated them to the restoration of this basilica; he provided it with magnificent ornaments, and every time he celebrated the holy sacrifice there, he left marks of his munificence.

The private life of Callixtus was, like his public life, a model of wisdom and regularity. His morals were so pure that, despite the corruption of the time, no suspicion could reach them. His contemporaries praised without restriction his piety, his zeal, his patience, and his selflessness. Saint Norbert, founder of the Premonstratensian Ord er, Saint Ber saint Bernard Founder of Clairvaux, contemporary of Callixtus II. nard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Saint Oldegar, Archbishop of Tarragona, Peter the Venerable, and Abbot Suger, so famous, the one in the annals of Cluny, the other in the history of France, maintained frequent relations with him and testified as much esteem for his person as veneration for his dignity. With such auxiliaries, there was nothing that such a great Pope was not capable of undertaking and achieving for the good of the world. And, in fact, in less than six years of pontificate, he had pacified the universe, restored the authority of the Chair of Saint Peter and all the splendor of the hierarchical order, and made his name known and blessed in all parts of the globe.

Why must such a beautiful life have been cut short prematurely? One could expect everything from a pope in whom genius was united with courage, and the most vivid piety with the purest zeal. But God is sometimes content to show Saints to the earth; they pass by doing good and accomplish in a short time works that a common virtue could barely sketch out in a great number of years. At the end of 1124, Callixtus was attacked by a violent fever, which carried him off after a few days. He died on December 12, amidst the tears of his clergy and his people. His death was regarded throughout Europe as a calamity; princes expressed their regrets for his memory, and, although he never received the honors of a public cult, his name was inscribed, with the title of Blessed, in several monuments. The martyrology of the Benedictines and that of Cîteaux indicate his feast day for December 12.

Excerpt from the Saints of Franche-Comté, by the professors of the Saint-François-Xavier College of Besançon.