CAROLINGIAN BOOKS. - This is the name now given to a voluminous work, written by order of Charlemagne, against the cult of images, originally called Capitulare de imaginibus. The king of the Franks, kept in the dark about the celebration of the Second Council of Nicaea (787), learned of its acts through an unfaithful translation, severely censured and replaced, a century later, by Anastasius the Librarian. The court theologians, probably under the direction of Alcuin, immediately drew up an extensive refutation of it, which develops the following concepts: 1) adoration is a homage reserved exclusively to God; 2) to images one must not render the cult and veneration that is paid to the Saints and their relics; 3) nor must one render them a relative cult, because, if educated people can ascend from the images to the persons of the saints living in Heaven, for the uneducated this passage is difficult; there is therefore the danger of idolatry: «Nihil aliud in his, praeter id quod vident, venerantur et adorant» (III, 16); 4) before images, which are devoid of the senses, it is not fitting to light lamps and burn incense; 5) it is not, however, unlawful to paint or sculpt figures of Saints, as an ornament of Churches or as a commemoration of historical events. Even in this case one must hold that such representations contribute nothing to spiritual salvation «cum ad peragenda nostrae salutis mysteria, nullum penitus officium [imagines] habere noscuntur» (II, 21); 6) images already in existence must not be touched.
Although the editors of the L. c. protest that they wish to restore to vigor the pure Latin tradition and the teaching of St. Gregory the Great («images must neither be adored nor destroyed»), nevertheless, because of their heated aversion to the Nicene canons, they went beyond into expressions bordering on heterodoxy. Perhaps the προσκόνιμαις τιμητικὴ granted by the Greeks to images (Denz-U, n. 302) and rendered by the unskilled translator as adoratio, provoked the exaggerated reaction; it seems, however, that the ultimate reason for the resolute denial of any cult, even relative, of images must be sought in the attitude, unfavorable to it, already manifested ab antiquo by the Frankish race.
However, at that time, the sovereign's new political orientation weighed upon the royal theologians: precisely in 787 Charlemagne had broken with the Empress Irene. From every page of the voluminous memorial there shines through the hostility of the Frankish court against Byzantium. Charles, who through military enterprises and patronage had raised up the fortunes of the West, felt strongly his dignity as a Christian prince, and, like the Greek basilèus, claimed for himself special prerogatives in ecclesiastical matters. In the king's thought, therefore, an ecumenical council was not to be convoked without hearing the West. The L. c. are the living expression of this state of affairs. In the council of Frankfurt (794), presided over by Charlemagne, not only was Spanish Adoptionism condemned, but also the teaching of Nicaea, though in a more attenuated form than in the L. c. It was by then necessary to inform the Pope. Angilbert, abbot of St-Riquier, brought to Rome the L. c., a summary of them and a letter, in which Charlemagne begged the Pontiff not to accept the Nicene council. Adrian I immediately noted the captious character of the criticisms directed by the palace theologians against the Church of the East and in a long writing rebutted point by point the caroline reprehensiones, showing their groundlessness and animosity, then concluded: «ideo ipsam suscepimus synodum» (PL 98, 1291).
It is unlikely that the Pope's letter modified the sentiment of Charles and his court; in any case for the moment the controversy over the images passed into second place, to be taken up again, after the emperor's death, in 824.
Bibliography8 works
Antonio Piolanti