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 Gregory VII was born Hildebrand in 1020, the son of a Tuscany peasant. His uncle was abbot of the Santa Maria Monastery in Rome, and in that monastery Hildebrand acquired his education. Although he was small with a weak voice and an unimpressive appearance, he had a powerful mind, an inflexible will, and a fiery soul.
Saint Augustine’s book, The City of God was his great inspiration. He believed the Church was the divinely prepared and appointed agency for the realization of Augustine’s ideal – the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth.
He believed that the State must be subject to the Church. The Church was the sun and the State was the moon. As the sun was the greater light to rule the day, so the Church was the greater light to teach the Empire what to do. The Church should reign supreme over all secular authority.
In 1073, during the funeral service of Pope Alexander II, the people began to shout, “Blessed Peter has elected Hildebrand pope.” The cardinals wisely elected him pope on that very day.
Gregory fought to establish the authority of the papacy over secular rulers. This led to his conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV over investiture. (Investiture was the practice of ‘investing’ authority upon a bishop. Because bishops had civil as well as ecclesiastical authority, there was a controversy over who could appoint them – the king or the pope.)
Henry IV ignored the Pope’s decree and continued to appoint his own bishops. Hildebrand was furious. He threatened to excommunicate the Emperor unless he repented. Henry answered by calling a synod of German bishops that declared they no longer recog¬nized Hildebrand as Pope. Hildebrand, in turn, declared that Henry’s subjects released from their allegiance to the Emperor. Many of Henry’s subjects took advantage of Hildebrand’s proclamation because of Henry’s oppressive rule. The German nobles then demanded that Henry achieve reconciliation with the Pope in one year or forfeit his throne.
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| The remains of Canossa Castle |
In the depth of winter, Henry hurried across the Alps and found the Pope at the castle of Canossa. Henry climbed the hill to the castle and knocked at its outer gate. The gate was opened to him, and he was led through the gates of the first and second walls. But the gate in the third wall remained closed. Henry stood all day in the courtyard waiting for an audience with the pope. He fasted and wore a coarse woolen robe, the garb of a penitent. He was bareheaded and barefooted. Yet, the inner gate remained closed. Henry was kept waiting outside the gate for three days. When Henry eventually entered, he saw Hildebrand, once a poor boy, born of a lowly family, awaiting him. Henry fell to the ground weeping, kissed the pope’s feet, and implored his forgiveness. Hildebrand granted Henry absolution and lifted the ban of excommunication.
This was the first of several key victories over secular rulers. It went a long way toward establishing the papacy as the supreme voice in European politics.
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