Author Bio: Pope Boniface VIII was the papal authority from 1294-1303. He is most remembered because of his feuds with the king of France. After Pope Boniface VIII died, the end of papal supremacy occurred.
Speaker: See above.
Date/Context: This document comes from the Late Middle Ages (early thirteenth century). During this time, there was a struggle between church and state. Prior to Pope Boniface's rise to power, there had already been dissension, which was beaten down by Pope Innocent III without mercy. Kings, especially in France, were beginning to speak out against the Church's growing lust for complete control.
Summary: Unam Sanctum establishes various points about the Catholic church. First, various Bible passages rectify the Church's need for unity. He then decreed that all temporal and spiritual power was under the pope's jurisdiction. He also establishes the papal authority (descendants of Peter) as the ruler of all humans that wish to follow God. He goes on to say that spiritual power rests within the Church, while temporal power rests with the kings and is to be permitted by the Church for the kings to use.
Key Quotations:
"Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster."
This speech is spoken by Pope Boniface VIII in 1302. The main purpose of the speech is to explain the supremacy of the Church. In the passage, Boniface says "it is necessary for one sword to be under the other, and the temporal authority to be subjected to the spiritual," showing that he wishes for temporal authorities to listen to spiritual authorities, and for spiritual authorities to solely answer to God.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to your passage Caroline, overall it is pretty simple because the document is easy to understand. I especially loved the quote you used; it sums up the passage very well. The only thing is that I wanted to know more about Pope Boniface VIII, that way I had some more background to make inferences and theories on my own regarding the speech.
Issued in the late Middle Ages, Unam Sanctum is Boniface's attempt to maintain papal authority over both temporal and spiritual matters. Its important to note that the existence of this document seems to indicate an emerging awareness of the possibilities of political power outside of church jurisdiction. In short, we can see the seeds of modernity and nationalism...
ReplyDelete"By the words of the gospel we are taught that the two swords, namely, the spiritual authority and the temporal are in the power of the church...The former is to be used by the church, the latter for the church."