Martin Luther
When Martin Luther’s Augustinian superiors in Germany decided he should add foreign travel to his CV, and sent him to Rome in 1510, he arrived there as a thorough-going Catholic priest and friar.
The Year of the Priest
Reaching God without priests?
The 13th. century saw the emergence of the Friars, representing poverty, learning, spirituality, mission; while the later Middle Ages had an extremely strong sense of the priest as intermediary.
Monastic revival
There was one final expansion of monastic life, based on the monastery of Cluny in Burgundy. This community was so powerful and rich that it provoked a reaction: the Cistercian and Carthusian reforms.
The first millennium
As we reach the year 1000 in our exploration of the priesthood through the ages, we may take stock.
Pontifex Maximus
As the Roman Empire in the West lapsed into chaos, some figure was needed to reassert authority. In Pope St Leo the Great, such a figure was found.
A caste apart
As the Eucharist, became increasingly seen as a ‘sacrifice set apart’, so the clergy increasingly became seen as a separate caste.
The Presence in the Eucharist
To the 4th Century belong major developments in the history of the priesthood. Christ’s Second Coming had failed to take place, so the Church needed to stress something else: Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.
Apostolic succession
“Christ ordained the apostles, who ordained further apostles, who ordained the bishops” but things were in reality more complex than that.
Successors of the Apostles
The first Christians, not being too self-conscious about their Jewish roots, took Jewish titles and simply rendered them in Greek. Indeed we might have had Christian rabbis, had not Christ spoken against that title.
Breaking the bread
The first Christians were to follow Christ’s command to “do this in remembrance of me” – celebrate the Eucharist. This required somebody to preside, a leader.