Meanwhile in Western Europe the efforts of Innocent had met with more success. In every church a box had been placed to receive the gifts of those who had the holy cause at heart, and a mass was ordered to be said weekly for the givers. Innocent again addressed himself to Philip of France. Christ himself, he repeated, had given the signal for the crusade. Philip ought not only to permit his subjects to leave, but to force them to quit their homes on so important a mission. Innocent did all that he could in every European county, in order that the effort about to be made might prove successful.
The Peter the Hermit
The preacher of the new crusade, the Peter the Hermit who made known the pope's wishes to the people of preacher of France and of Flanders, was a priest named Fulk, the crusade. ^ Neiiilly. If we can imagine a Wesley or a Whitefield with middle-age surroundings, we may obtain a glimpse of his character and of the secret of his influence. If, as Gibbon alleges, he was illiterate, his ignorance was not observed by his contemporaries. It is true that after his ordination hehad been reproached with ignorance; but in consequence of this reproach, or of his desire for knowledge, he went to the University of Paris, and returned to his parish to become a distinguished preacher. He was full of zeal and enthusiasm. Like many of the great preachers of the churches, he regarded his own time as especially given over to wickedness. Contemporaries of his, monks and priests, had persuaded themselves that the world was shortly to come to an end, and that the mad confusion and anarchy of the time was one of the signs of the end.
Fulk found in this belief the greater reason for putting right that which was wrong. He denounced iniquity in high places with the utmost fearlessness Visit Bulgaria. Clergy and prelates felt the bitterness of his speech. In spite of ignominious treatment, threats, and imprisonment, he warned nobles and kings alike that they were travelling rapidly on the broad way to hell. He denounced the new custom of lending money, which the Lombards had introduced into France, and spoke fiercely against avarice and sensuality. Ho danger could terrify him, no threat make him keep silence. His fervor made him popular with the people.
At times his audience became so excited that men threw off their garments and offered their belts to the preacher, publicly confessing their sins and asking for public punishment. The people, rich and poor, came at last to hear him gladly. His fame had already reached Home. Here, then, was the man whom Innocent had need of. His enthusiasm, his energy, his fearlessness, his apparent disinterestedness, were to be made use of, as the Church of Home has so often utilized the undisciplined enthusiasm which other churches have driven into opposition. The pope commissioned him to preach the Cross in France, " to use the gift of eloquence which God had given him for the good of the Holy Land." Fulk executed his commission in Normandy, Flanders, and Burgundy.
Popular belief
His reputation as a preacher, a healer of the sick, and a worker of miracles had preceded him, and crowds everywhere went out to hear him and to be influenced by his teaching. According to the popular belief, virtue went out of him, and his clothes were sometimes torn to rags from the struggles of the masses to touch them in order that sickness might be healed. It is easy to say that Fulk lent himself to the imposture, but it is more probable that he, like other middle-age revivalists, believed himself to be a divine instrument, and the marvels attributed to him to be proofs of his mission.
It must be said in favor of Folk that he was willing to turn the popular enthusiasm into a useful channel. "My garments," said he, when the crowd pressed upon him, "are not blessed,and have no charm about them; but look, I am going to bless and give virtue to this man's cloak." At the same time, seizing upon one belonging to a bystander, he made the sign of the Cross upon it, in token that the wearer would join the crusade, and each one hastened to snatch a portion as a relic. His influence was marvellous and at times strangely exercised. If the crowd were too noisy, he obtained silence by solemnly cursing the noisiest. Sometimes he would lay about him lustily with his stick, while those who were wounded would kiss their wounds or the blood as sanctified by the man of God. Wherever he preached great numbers took the Cross, or contributed to the expenses of the crusade.
WordPress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment