Pope Blessed Eugene III-The Pope who fought the democrats
Bernardo Pignatelli, born in the neighbourhood of Pisa, elected 15 Feb., 1145; died at Tivoli, 8 July, 1153.
On the very day that Pope Lucius II succumbed, either to illness or
wounds, the Sacred College, foreseeing that the Roman populace would
make a determined effort to force the new pontiff to abdicate his
temporal power and swear allegiance to the
Senatus Populusque Romanus,
hastily buried the deceased pope in the Lateran and withdrew to the
remote cloister of St. Cæsarius on the Appian Way. Here, for reasons
unascertained, they sought a candidate outside their body, and
unanimously chose the Cistercian monk, Bernard of Pisa, abbot of the
monastery of Tre Fontane, on the site of St. Paul’s martyrdom. He was
enthroned as Eugene III without delay in St. John Lateran, and since
residence in the rebellious city was impossible, the pope and his
cardinals fled to the country. Their rendezvous was the monastery of
Farfa, where Eugene received the episcopal consecration. The city of
Viterbo, the hospitable refuge of so many of the afflicted medieval
popes, opened its gates to welcome him; and thither he proceeded to
await developments. Though powerless in face of the Roman mob, he was
assured by embassies from all the European powers that he possessed the
sympathy and affectionate homage of the entire Christian world.
Concerning the parentage, birth-place, and even the original name of
Eugene, each of his biographers has advanced a different opinion. All
that can be affirmed as certain is that he was of the noble family of
Pignatelli, and whether he received the name of Bernardo in baptism or
only upon entering religion, must remain uncertain. He was educated in
Pisa, and after his ordination was made a canon of the cathedral. Later
he held the office of
vice-dominus or steward of the
temporalities of the diocese. In 1130 he came under the magnetic
influence of St. Bernard of Clairvaux; five years later when the saint
returned home from the Synod of Pisa, the
vice-dominus accompanied
him as a novice. In course of time he was employed by his order on
several important affairs; and lastly was sent with a colony of monks to
repeople the ancient Abbey of Farfa; but Innocent II placed them
instead at the Tre Fontane.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
St. Bernard received the intelligence of the elevation of his
disciple with astonishment and pleasure, and gave expression to his
feelings in a paternal letter addressed to the new pope, in which occurs
the famous passage so often quoted by reformers, true and false: “Who
will grant me to see, before I die, the Church of God as in the days of
old when the Apostles let down their nets for a draught, not of silver
and gold, but of souls?” The saint, moreover, proceeded to compose in
his few moments of leisure that admirable handbook for popes called “De
Consideratione”. Whilst Eugene sojourned at Viterbo, Arnold of Brescia,
who had been condemned by the Council of 1139 to exile from Italy,
ventured to return at the beginning of the new pontificate and threw
himself on the clemency of the pope. Believing in the sincerity of his
repentance, Eugene absolved him and enjoined on him as penance fasting
and a visit to the tombs of the Apostles. If the veteran demagogue
entered Rome in a penitential mood, the sight of democracy based on his
own principles soon caused him to revert to his former self. He placed
himself at the head of the movement, and his incendiary philippics
against the bishops, cardinals, and even the ascetic pontiff who treated
him with extreme lenity, worked his hearers into such fury that Rome
resembled a city captured by barbarians. The palaces of the cardinals
and of such of the nobility as held with the pope were razed to the
ground; churches and monasteries were pillaged; St. Peter’s church was
turned into an arsenal; and pious pilgrims were plundered and
maltreated.
Many Medieval popes fled to Castel Sant’Angelo (Mausoleum of Hadrian) to escape the fickle Romans
But the storm was too violent to last. Only an idiot could fail to
understand that medieval Rome without the pope had no means of
subsistence. A strong party was formed in Rome and the vicinity
consisting of the principal families and their adherents, in the
interests of order and the papacy, and the democrats were induced to
listen to words of moderation. A treaty was entered into with Eugene by
which the Senate was preserved but subject to the papal sovereignty and
swearing allegiance to the supreme pontiff. The senators were to be
chosen annually by popular election and in a committee of their body the
executive power was lodged. The pope and the senate should have
separate courts, and an appeal could be made from the decisions of
either court to the other. By virtue of this treaty Eugene made a solemn
entry into Rome a few days before Christmas, and was greeted by the
fickle populace with boundless enthusiasm. But the dual system of
government proved unworkable. The Romans demanded the destruction of
Tivoli. This town had been faithful to Eugene during the rebellion of
the Romans and merited his protection. He therefore refused to permit it
to be destroyed. The Romans growing more and more turbulent, he retired
to Castel S. Angelo, thence to Viterbo, and finally crossed the Alps,
early in 1146.
St. Bernard preaching the Second Crusade painted by Émile Signol.
Problems lay before the pope of vastly greater importance than the
maintenance of order in Rome. The Christian principalities in Palestine
and Syria were threatened with extinction. The fall of Edessa (1144) had
aroused consternation throughout the West, and already from Viterbo
Eugene had addressed a stirring appeal to the chivalry of Europe to
hasten to the defence of the Holy Places. St. Bernard was commissioned
to preach the Second Crusade, and he acquitted himself of the task with
such success that within a couple of years two magnificent armies,
commanded by the King of the Romans and the King of France, were on
their way to Palestine. That the Second Crusade was a wretched failure
cannot be ascribed to the saint or the pope; but it is one of those
phenomena so frequently met with in the history of the papacy, that a
pope who was made to subdue to a handful of rebellious subjects could
hurl all Europe against the Saracens. Eugene spent three busy and
fruitful years in France, intent on the propagation of the Faith, the
correction of errors and abuses, and the maintenance of discipline. He
sent Cardinal Breakspear (afterwards Adrian IV) as legate to
Scandinavia; he entered into relations with the Orientals with a view to
reunion; he proceeded with vigor against the nascent Manichean
heresies. In several synods (Paris, 1147, Trier, 1148), notably in the
great Synod of Reims (1148), canons were enacted regarding the dress and
conduct of the clergy. To ensure the strict execution of these canons,
the bishops who should neglect to enforce them were threatened with
suspension. Eugene was inexorable in punishing the unworthy. He deposed
the metropolitans of York and Mainz, and for a cause which St. Bernard
thought not sufficiently grave, he withdrew the pallium from the
Archbishop of Reims. But if the saintly pontiff could at times be
severe, this was not his natural disposition.
“Never”, wrote Ven. Peter of Cluny to St. Bernard, “have I found a
truer friend, a sincerer brother, a purer father. His ear is ever ready
to hear, his tongue is swift and mighty to advise. Nor does he comport
himself as one’s superior, but rather as an equal or an inferior… I have
never made him a request which he has not either granted, or so refused
that I could not reasonably complain.” On the occasion of a visit which
he paid to Clairvaux, his former companions discovered to their joy
that “he who externally shone in the pontifical robes remained in his
heart an observant monk”.
Statue of Pope Eugene III in Portugal
The prolonged sojourn of the pope in France was of great advantage to
the French Church in many ways and enhanced the prestige of the papacy.
Eugene also encouraged the new intellectual movement to which Peter
Lombard had given a strong impulse. With the aid of Cardinal Pullus, his
chancellor, who had established the University of Oxford on a lasting
basis, he reduced the schools of theology and philosophy to better form.
He encouraged Gratian in his herculean task of arranging the Decretals,
and we owe to him various useful regulations bearing on academic
degrees. In the spring of 1148, the pope returned by easy stages to
Italy. On 7 July, he met the Italian bishops at Cremona, promulgated the
canons of Reims for Italy, and solemnly excommunicated Arnold of
Brescia, who still reigned over the Roman mob. Eugene, having brought
with him considerable financial aid, began to gather his vassals and
advanced to Viterbo and thence to Tusculum. Here he was visited by King
Louis of France, whom he reconciled to his queen, Eleanor. With the
assistance of Roger of Sicily, he forced his way into Rome (1149), and
celebrated Christmas in the Lateran. His stay was not of long duration.
During the next three years the Roman court wandered in exile through
the Campagna while both sides looked for the intervention of Conrad of
Germany, offering him the imperial crown. Aroused by the earnest
exhortations of St. Bernard, Conrad finally decided to descend into
Italy and put an end to the anarchy in Rome. Death overtook him in the
midst of his preparations on 15 Feb., 1152, leaving the task to his more
energetic nephew, Frederick Barbarossa. The envoys of Eugene having
concluded with Frederick at Constance, in the spring of 1153, a treaty
favorable to the interests of the Church and the empire, the more
moderate of the Romans, seeing that the days of democracy were numbered,
joined with the nobles in putting down the Arnoldists, and the pontiff
was enabled to spend his concluding days in peace.
Eugene is said to have gained the affection of the people by his
affability and generosity. He died at Tivoli, whither he had gone to
avoid the summer heats, and was buried in front of the high altar in St.
Peters, Rome. St. Bernard followed him to the grave (20 Aug.). “The
unassuming but astute pupil of St. Bernard”, says Gregorovius, “had
always continued to wear the coarse habit of Clairvaux beneath the
purple; the stoic virtues of monasticism accompanied him through his
stormy career, and invested him with that power of passive resistance
which has always remained the most effectual weapon of the popes.” St.
Antoninus pronounces Eugene III “one of the greatest and most afflicted
of the popes”. Pius IX by a decree of 28 Dec., 1872, approved the cult
which from time immemorial the Pisans have rendered to their countryman,
and ordered him to be honored with Mass and Office
ritu duplici on the anniversary of his death.
(Catholic Encyclopedia)
