Between God and Man

Introduction

INTRODUCTION “Among the many ministries that belong to the pastoral office, the virtue of holy preaching is the most excellent.”1 Thus the brilliant and controversial Pope Innocent III proclaimed what he believed to be the highest priority among his duties as chief shepherd of Christendom. Considering the vast scope of his papal accomplishments , his work as a preacher may seem less significant than his more secular concerns. Yet, the great number of sermons he did indeed write and deliver during his intensely active and often contentious career, is testimony to the value he placed on his vocation as a preacher. Before Innocent’s time only Leo I (–) and Gregory I (–), also men deeply engaged in administrative and secular affairs, had left such extensive homiletic legacies. A study of Innocent’s sermons confirms his reputation as a learned and eloquent scholar, exegete, and theologian. It also shows him to have been an astute psychologist, as well as a priest fully engaged in the realities of active ministry. His preaching, in the assessment of a modern critic, “articulated a role for the papacy that was watchman , spiritual and religious leader, and active reformer.”2 Historical and Biographical Background Although Innocent’s pontificate (–) was to become the zenith of the medieval papacy, on the day of his election, January , , he found himself in charge of a vast and unruly flock. He had inherited from his predecessors a church torn by heresy and xiii schism and, as has often been the case throughout its history, in need of reform. Christendom itself was in disorder, disrupted by political turmoil within and threatened by Muslims abroad. Rather than be dismayed by these difficulties, the new Pope was apparently eager to take on “the existential problems with which the church and Christendom were wrestling in his day, and he was burning to be able to contribute to their effective solution.”3 During the eighteen years of his papacy he would confront all these problems, and in so doing, strengthen the papal monarchy in relation to secular authority, and define Christian society in its relationships with contemporary heretics, with the Jewish community, and with Islam. Given the controversial nature of the challenges he faced, Innocent’s record in dealing with them continues to be a subject of debate.4 Whatever judgment history may give to this great Pope’s actions, however, there can be no doubt that he devoted himself tirelessly to devising solutions to the problems he perceived as the responsibility of the papal office. When taking on the daunting task of reforming the church itself , Innocent directly confronted the deficiencies and delinquencies of the clergy, the corps of bishops, priests, and deacons who held responsibility for serving the religious needs of humanity. In general this group was badly in need of rehabilitation and revitalization .The specific steps necessary for bringing about this clerical reform would be codified in the documents of the Fourth Lateran Council. In this collection of Sermones de diversis Innocent anticipates those reforms, speaking directly to those in Holy Orders who, like himself, had been anointed as preachers of the Gospel and ministers of the sacraments. Here we see the chief shepherd carrying out his pastoral work by shepherding the pastors themselves . These sermons are therefore “meta-pastoral,” in that they teach the pastoral role even as they are the means Innocent employs for carrying out that role. Innocent addresses the clergy as his “sons and brothers,” as he unfolds for them his vision of their shared priestly vocation. xiv  The man himself, Giovanni Lothario dei Conti of Segni (– ), who was to become Pope Innocent III, was a Roman by birth and inheritance. His family was wealthy and influential, and Pope Clement III was his uncle. He grew up well acquainted with both the political and religious intrigues of the city of Rome. He left Rome for his advanced education, which began in Paris, known for its theological and philosophical curriculum. There Innocent may have been among the group of students who gathered around the famous master Peter the Chanter.5 After leaving Paris, Innocent took up further study at Bologna, which was noted for its curriculum in both canon and civil law. It was there that he was ordained a deacon. Although there is some doubt that Innocent actually received a degree as a canon lawyer,6 as pontiff he held consistories three times...