Western Schism

WESTERN SCHISM. - It was the most serious danger for the entire structure of the Western Church at the turn of the 14th to the 15th century. The long residence of the pontiffs in southern France had by then created there the conviction that a return of the papal Curia to Rome was neither desirable nor practically possible, so many were the interests conspiring to keep it there. The return to Italy of Urban V (1369-70) had been ephemeral; that of Gregory XI (1377) had come about only after tenacious resistance. The death of Gregory XI in Rome (March 26, 1378) had come too soon, before he had been able to take those measures that would truly ensure the residence of the papacy in Rome; above all because the cardinals were for the most part French, as were also the lower curial officials.

At Gregory's death the Romans therefore feared that the new Pontiff might move his seat back beyond the Alps, and they began to make their voice heard in favor of having a Roman or at least an Italian pope, stirring up tumults, without however imposing the choice of one or another personage; and on the other hand the fortress of Castel Sant'Angelo was in the hands of a Frenchman representing the entire Sacred College and could at any moment serve as a refuge for the electors. The French cardinals themselves were divided into two groups and were unable to unite two thirds of the votes on a candidate of either party; so they agreed on the person of a man outside the Sacred College, a curial prelate well known to all, Bartolomeo Prignani, archbishop of Bari, who took the name Urban VI (April 8) and was regularly crowned and recognized by all. He immediately manifested the intention not to

(phot. Estel)
WESTERN SCHISM - Corridor of the Conclave (14th century) - Avignon, Palace of the Popes.

to leave Rome and to create new cardinals; for this reason, and particularly because of his harshness of manner, he soon alienated the minds of his electors, who, putting forward the pretext of not having been free in electing him, withdrew from him and issued proclamations in various countries; then, having won the support of Charles V, King of France, and of Joanna of Anjou, Queen of Naples, they gathered at Fondi and proceeded to the election of one of their number, Robert of Geneva, who took the name Clement VII (Sept. 20, 1378). The latter, seeing that a stay in Italy would have been difficult, returned to Avignon, where he established his Curia (June 20, 1379). Thus there came to be two Curias with their own cardinals and two obediences; of these, Urban's was the more numerous, but they were never so stable that a country, or part of it, did not pass from one to the other, so that Western Christendom was thrown into great confusion. Hardly, one might say, had the schism broken out than thought had to be given to the means of ending it. The only sure and legitimate way would have been to examine impartially how Urban's election had proceeded, but it was not found possible to reach this; nor were Clement's partisans disposed to disavow what they had done; recourse was therefore had to the idea of an arbitral compromise between the two parties, of a mutual cession by the two contenders in order to reach a new, surely canonical election; later it was held that there was no other way than that of a council. Meanwhile, upon the death of Urban VI, the cardinals of his obedience immediately elected Boniface IX (Nov. 2, 1389), after him Innocent VII (Oct. 17, 1404) and then Gregory XII (Nov. 30, 1406), with the understanding that the latter would renounce the papacy should his adversary at Avignon be willing to do likewise. The latter was then Benedict XIII, who had succeeded Clement VII (Sept. 28, 1394); but attempts in this regard, which seemed close to fulfillment, vanished, leaving minds ever more embittered in the face of the consequences of a schism that had to be resolved in order to restore to the Church unity of government. Gregory XII's disagreements with his cardinals favored the latter's contacts with a good part of the cardinals of Benedict XIII, weary of his obstinacy, and by agreement they summoned a Council at Pisa for March 25, 1409, with the purpose of putting an end to the schism. Thereupon the two rival Pontiffs also summoned a Council: Benedict at Perpignan, Gregory at Cividale del Friuli, but with very scanty results; at Pisa, on the other hand, they dared to cite the two Pontiffs juridically, to bring a process against them, to condemn them as heretics and to proceed without further ado to a new election in the person of Pietro Filargo, cardinal archbishop of Milan, under the name Alexander V (June 26). Thus the two obediences became three and the confusion increased: in each of the obediences it was believed that one was obeying the true pope, and there were in them illustrious and even saintly persons, so greatly were judgments confounded regarding the facts that had occurred during the schism. Alexander V was succeeded, in an election held at Bologna, by John XXIII (May 17, 1410), who, like his adversaries, had to bear the weight of the circumstances that the schism continued to create. Having momentarily entered Rome, he was able to hold a Council there (1412-13), as the Council of Pisa had imposed; but when his position later became ever more uncertain, he bowed to the will of Sigismund, King of Hungary and brother of Wenceslaus, King of Bohemia, who had entered Italy, and summoned a new ecumenical Council at Constance (v.) for Nov. 1, 1414. He indeed went there, while Gregory and Benedict did not present themselves, and he presided over it. But since he realized that the atmosphere was not favorable to him and that his resignation was demanded as necessary to put an end to the schism, he fled from Constance (March 20, 1415), thinking that in this way the Council would simply dissolve. But this was not the thought of King Sigismund, who insisted that the Council continue and the cardinals presided over it in turn. John XXIII was compelled to appear before it to be tried and to accept the sentence of deposition (May 29). Gregory XII, who was at Rimini, then sent as his official envoy to King Sigismund the knight Carlo Malatesta; then, before the Council, which he recognized, Cardinal Giovanni Dominici, as legate, presented a solemn renunciation of the papacy of which he was legitimately possessed, conferring authority on the Council itself to provide for the cessation of the schism. Benedict XIII remained obstinate in upholding what he called his rights and did not yield to the pressures of the King and the Council, wherefore proceedings were taken against him and he was deposed (July 26, 1417). After this, the election of the new pope was reached, made by 23 cardinals of the three obediences assisted by six ecclesiastics for each of the five nations represented at the Council. The elect was Martin V (Nov. 11, 1417), who was recognized by all except the small group gathered at Peñíscola around Benedict XIII. Thus the long schism ceased, but its consequences survived; first of all in the necessity of repairing the ills caused by the long period of disputes and by the abuses that had arisen from them. Moreover, a sense of distrust toward the pontifical authority had arisen, wherefore it was desired to give a fixed periodicity (every ten years) to councils so that they might oversee the pope's work in the reform of the Church; supreme authority was to be recognized in the council, to which belonged the final decision in every matter, dogmatic and disciplinary, and from which appeal was permitted from every alleged grievance. These maxims later received their final formulation in the propositions of the Gallican Church of 1682.

The new spirit that had penetrated the Church and that precisely in those years reached its most acute and intolerant expression in Bohemia with the Hussite heresy, had the opportunity to reveal itself in the Council of Pavia-Siena (1423-24), which however did not succeed in any practical measure of ecclesiastical reform. A more clamorous episode occurred with the Council of Basel (v.), which, having assembled in 1431 with the consent of the Pope, passed to open rebellion in 1437 against Eugene IV and to the election of Felix V as antipope (Dec. 5, 1439). Meanwhile, however, Eugene IV was celebrating his Council of Ferrara-Florence for union with the East; while the anti-Council at Basel transferred to Lausanne and then dissolved, and Felix V renounced on Apr. 7, 1449.

Pio Paschini