Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1870-11-11
The POpe's Temporal Power
When 1T Began-Wh:et it was.
How 1t ROsc-and How 1t Per-
ished.
BY PHILIP SCHAFF, D. D.

By PHILLIP SCHAFF, ID. ID.
The long expected, inevitable event has
come to puss. The Italian troops have occu
pied Rome, and the capital of the Papacy
will soon be proclaimed and re united Italy
In few days the Pope may once more be a
fugitive from his own subjects, with very
doubtful prospects of ever regaining his polit-
ical power and independence
Christ became poor that he might make us
rich, not in earthly, but in spiritual and ctcr
nal possessions. While on earth He had not
whereon to rest His head lie solcmnly de-
clared that His kingdom was not of this world,
aud warned His followers against the tcmpta-
tions of worldly power, and forbid them the
use of the sword even in defence of their
Lord and Master. He sent forth His apostle
without scrip and staff, and Peter said: "Sil-
yer and gold have none"
Yet he who claims to be the vicar of Christ
and the successor of Peter has come to be
temporal sovereign, wearing triple crown,
holding diplomatic intercourse with the courts
of kings and emperors, commanding an army,
using tho sword in self defence and invoking
the sword Of foreign princes against his own
Yebellious subjects. What monstrous con
tradction But the time seems to be at
hand for its total and final overthrow.
The temporal possessions of the Pope,
called the Puhimony Of Peter, or the States
ofMe CAmrcA, are older than any dynasty in
the world, and go back to the twilight of the
Middle Ages. Roman tradition traces them
to the fictitious donation of Constantine the
Great to Bishop Sylvester, a06, but this is
long since given up as fable. For the first
seven centuries the Pope was in temporal
matters the subject successfully of heather
and christian cmperors, the cxarchs of Raven
ia and the barbarian kings who overthrow
the empire. 1t is true that by his high social
position and moral power, as the patriarch
of the Latin Church, he exercised, since the
conversion Of Constantine, great influence on
political affairs in italy, especially since tho
transfer Of the seat of empire to the East, and
gained many privileges and possessions. Du
ring the commotions and revolutions of the bar
barian invasions lie was looked upon as the pro.
tector of the Roman citizens. But the Latin
and Greek emperors; the exarchs Ravenna
the Gothic king Theodoric; the Arian Long
obards--all claimed and exercised, as far as
they could, the rights Of temporal sovereignty
in Italy and the city Of Rome
Tho origin of the temporal power is gcncr-
ally traced to Pepin, the father of Charlie.
inagne, who acquired, by the help Of tho Pope,
the French crown in 752. Bcing called to
the aid Of the Pope against the Longobards
10 15i, he gave him in grateful return, a
number of Italian cites which he had wrcstcd
from tho barbarians in two campaigns, rcserv
ing to- himself the right to be the patron of
Rome Charcmagne, the founder Of the
Gsza,an en- pire, made an end to tho rcign 0!
the Longobards in TIA, and confirmed and
Increased tho grants Of his father, and, in
turn, was crowned German emperor by Lee
ELL, In 800, at Rome. The exact extent Of
these grants was not clearly defined, but they
gradually increased, especially during the
reigns of the weak Carlovingains.
But the German emperors always claimed
a. protectorate and kind Of temporal sovereign
ty over Italy and Roma, and the more encr
getic among them, as those of tho house oi
Honehseaufen, exercised it even to the cleo
tion and disposition Of the Popes. "The
sovereignty" says Guizot. "was not fully as
oribrd either to the Pope or to tho Emperor
uncertain and undivided, it Aoated between
them" Every reader Of history is familias
With the conflict Of the Roman papaoy and
tho German empire for supremacy, which
ruis, through the whole middle ages, and in
somo respects prepared the way for the Pro
aestaut Reformation. The German nation