1
THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY
General Remarks regarding the Primary Church Fathers
A group of well-educated and influential Roman citizens who became
Christians carried on the traditions of Paul. These men were incredible
thinkers and writers of Christian doctrine and thought, who interpreted
Christianity and its meaning for the people in the ancient world. Historians
refer to them as fathers of the church. Their influence not only shaped the
early Christian church, but throughout the Middle Ages and into the future.
These were Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine, all canonized by the Catholic
Church, thus becoming saints.
Contributions of St. Jerome: Vulgate Bible & Rating of Women
St. Jerome (340-345?-420 C.E.) was a well educated priest in both
pagan and Christian literature. In 382 he was commissioned by the Pope to
prepare a new Latin translation of the Bible, which became known as the
Vulgate Bible, because its language was the vulgar or everyday common
speech of the Romans. The Vulgate Bible was used by all Christians until the
Protestant Reformation period of the sixteen century, and up to recent times
by the Catholic Church. In a dream Jerome saw himself standing before the
judgment of Christ, and being challenged to confess whether he was a
Ciceronian or a Christian. It seems he was never able to rid himself of his
love of the classics. Jerome had much influence on helping to shape the
2
Catholic Church’s attitude toward women. Throughout his life Jerome
cultivated the friendship and scholarship of devout women.1 His letters to
women and others were an important source of medieval Christian morality,
even though he thought women were inferior to men; a bifurcation
philosophy. Jerome dismissed prophetesses and female evangelists in the
gospels as “mere women.” Since women were morally and physically
weaker than men, life dedicated to perpetual virginity was best for women.
But if forced to marry he urged them to follow the example of the pious
Roman matron Marcella, whose interactions with Jerome were interesting
and lengthy. Jerome’s recommendation for educating girls was summed up
in a single statement: “Let them know nothing of the past, let them shun the
present, and let them long for the future.”
2
He even gave women a rating
with a ten for virgins, a six for widows, and a three for married women. His
ideas transmitted the Greek ideas of the inferiority of women into Christian
teachings. Marriage for the Christian church fathers was always inferior to
widowhood and virginity, and Jerome remarked: “I praise weddings and
marriages because they produce virgins.”3 This belief that celibacy was the
optimum way for people to have a relationship with God was a continuum for
centuries.
1
Women helped him write the Vulgate Bible
Letter 128 of St. Jerome’s
3
Jerome’s Letter to Eustochium, 20
2
3
St. Ambrose, and the additions of Penance, Excommunication, and
Interdict
St. Ambrose (340-397 C.E.) was a Roman aristocrat trained as a
lawyer in Rome, but when he became a Christian, he rose to the Bishopric of
Milan. During his tenure there Milan was the Imperial Capital in the West,
and Ambrose was sent on various diplomatic missions as the Emperor’s
representative. Ambrose used his background as a lawyer and civil servant
in influencing emperors, but he was always careful to retain the upper hand,
preserving the appearance of moral superiority of the Christian religion over
the secular power of the state. Ambrose was able to get Emperor
Theodosius to declare Christianity the state religion in 380 C.E. Three other
major tenets of the Catholic Church are considered Ambrose’s directives.
When the emperor Theodosius set out to avenge a political murder, he
allowed his legionnaires to massacre thousands of rebels in Thessalonica.
Ambrose ordered him to do penance, which is punishment meted out by the
church for a sin. Usually it was bread and water fasting for a number of
days. Over the years, various penitentials were written to assist the priests
hearing confessions to hand out an appropriate punishment. When
Theodosius refused to do penance, Ambrose excommunicated him. This
deprived Theodosius of receiving any of the Catholic sacraments including
the last rites if he died. Part of the excommunication edict disallowed any
other Christians to communicate with Theodosius. For nearly two years the
4
two antagonists were locked in a stalemate as neither side was willing to
back down. Finally, Theodosius agreed to do public penance, symbolically
recognizing in matters of sin that the Church held greater authority, and
Ambrose is quoted as saying: “The emperor is within the Church not above
it.”4 Later on the church added the interdict that stated that if the people of
an excommunicated ruler did not adhere to the same excommunication
standards, then the whole country or region was also excommunicated. The
interdict was also given for supporting a heresy.
St. Augustine and his Many Contributions to the Christian Church
By and far the most influential and important Church Father was St.
Augustine (354-430 C.E.). Next to Paul he is considered the most influential
Christian for the Catholic Church, and it is nearly impossible to over-state his
importance. Medieval marriage, divorce, and birth control rules all originate
from Augustine. The position of the Catholic Church today on these tenets
originated with Augustine. Peter Brown has written a superb biography on
him – The Bishop of Hippo. Augustine’s mother was a Christian and his
father was a pagan, but both parents recognized the intellectual brilliance of
their son. They gave him the best education available at the time, and
Augustine managed to be both a great student and a party boy. His
mother’s attempts to Christianize him did not succeed as he found the
religion unrewarding and dull. Augustine’s quest for truth and the meaning
4
5
of life led to his becoming a Manichaean at the age of nineteen, probably his
most formative years. He remained a Manichaean for nine years. This
religion was related to the intensely dualistic religion of Zoroastrianism as it
had evolved. This sect taught the denial of physical pleasures like eating
meat and marrying. Augustine, however acquired a mistress and fathered a
son, Adeodatus=God-given). Manichean doctrine greatly impacted
Augustine’s later views. Throughout his youthful years, Augustine said: “I
thirsted for honor, position, marriage and power.”5
After getting a teaching
position on Rhetoric, he went to Milan. One day Augustine heard Ambrose
speak, and Augustine regarded him as an oratorical model. This is where
the seeds of his conversion to Christianity began. His mother convinced him
to separate from his mistress and son (a fourteen year relationship), and his
conversion to Christianity was next. His account of his conversion is
described with minute attention to every nuance of feeling in his
Confessions. “[My] soul-sick and tormented self in the garden when
suddenly all his misery was heaped up in the sight of his heart and he fell
full length at the foot of a tree, weeping a mighty shower of tears.” Inspired
to read the Bible instantly, Augustine began his spiritual journey that would
lead to his eventual sainthood. He returned to his natal home in North
Africa where he was persuaded against his will to be ordained a priest and in
395 was made the Bishop of Hippo. He too, like Jerome, believed that it was
5
From his autobiography The Confessions
6
acceptable for Christians to be knowledgeable about pagan literature.
Augustine was a prolific writer, whose beliefs became important theological
doctrines for the Catholic Church. He developed four ways to interpret
scriptures: historically, etiologically or morally, analogically where the Old
Testament prefigured the New Testament, and allegorically. Using the story
in the Bible about Joshua fighting the Battle of Jericho means that
historically Joshua took Jericho. Morally or etiologically the walls of sin will
crumble before a man of faith. Analogically that Jesus will enter and did
enter Jerusalem in triumph, and allegorically that on the last day the world
will crumble when the trumpet of judgment sounds. All verses in the Bible
were interpreted not literally, but by four methods. Another major
contribution of St. Augustine’s was his book The City of God. No book
except the Bible had a greater influence on the Middle Ages than this one.
Augustine explained the fall of Rome as the working out of the divine plan
for mankind, and not as a result of Christianity as people said. The Fall of
Rome demonstrated the struggle between good and evil. For Augustine,
since the creation of the world, human society was divided into two cities:
the city of man and the city of God. Those belonging to the city of man were
ruled and controlled by worldly desires, seeking things of the flesh. After
death they were punished by God for their sinful lives. Those belonging to
the city of God sought things of the spirit, and after their death joined the
heavenly community. The city of God was partly here on earth and partly in
7
heaven. Passing of empires such as Rome’s was a necessary preparation for
the eventual establishment of the Christian Kingdom.
The Establishment of Monasticism
Augustine chose to struggle against his sinful nature while leading an
active life, but since the earliest days of the Christian Church other
Christians were convinced that spiritual growth was possible only through
total isolation from the world. Extreme hermit-like asceticism became the
substitute for the martyrdom of early Christians.
A group of hermits known
as desert saints began the process in Syria and Egypt. They nurtured their
holiness through every conceivable discomfort: little clothing, food, and
sleep. One aging recluse according to stories lived where the sun’s heat was
so intense that it boiled his dinner without a fire. Others tortured their limbs
by living for years seated atop thin pillars like St. Daniel, who spent thirtythree years this way. St. Basil (330?-379 C.E.) set the guidelines for
communal monasticism in the East, where St. Benedict of Nursia (480-523
C.E.) wrote his Holy Rule for monastic life in the West. Throughout the
Middle Ages other monastic orders were formed such as the Franciscans,
Dominicans, and Cistercians, but all were based on the tenets of the
Benedictine order. Each monastery or abbey was a highly organized
spiritual community headed by an abbot with absolute authority. Benedict
established Monte Cassino Abbey in 529 C.E., that was seventy miles south
of Rome. Vows of humility, obedience and poverty were to be the primary
8
aim of the monks, but they were also to remain celibate. They were to seek
holiness through charitable works for the poor and hungry as well as through
meditation and prayer. In the Benedictine houses the monks’ chief
occupation was Opus Dei or Work of God. There were seven liturgical offices
or service of worship, and at each of these there were a prescribed number
of psalms and hymns that were chanted along with responses and readings
from the Bible. The monastic day began shortly after midnight.
Pope Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory the Great (504-604 C.E.), is given credit for the
introduction of music that became known as Gregorian Chant. We know of
over three thousand chants that were written and chanted. In the ninth
century organs were added as well as polyphonic music. Gregory is
considered by many to be the founder of the Papal State. As the son of a
Roman senator and heir of large estates in the Italian Peninsula, Gregory
abandoned the lay life, selling part of his properties to aid the poor and
founded seven monasteries. By 590 C.E. he was elected pope. When
invasion and violence came to Rome from various Barbarian tribes, he fed
people out of his own estates. In return he won wide powers of authority,
and made Rome independent of the Byzantine Orthodox Church authority at
Ravenna that had been set up by the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Gregory
claimed independence for the Church in spiritual matters, which was a direct
change from what was operable in Constantinople where the Emperor was in
9
charge of both the state and church = what is called caesarpapism. This
started the conflict between the eastern and western Christian church that
eventually led to the complete separation of these two in 1040 C.E. In these
endeavors Gregory also denied the barbarian or Germanic kings of the West
any authority over the church. Employing the monastic movement in the
service of the Papacy, Gregory is credited with playing an integral role in the
Christianization of Europe. His book Pastoral Rule became the textbook for
medieval bishops.
Establishment of Nunneries or Convents and Double Monasteries
Even before monasticism was institutionalized women who were single
or widowed were living ascetic lives among the various Christian
communities. Female orders developed in parallel to the order of the
monks. St. Benedict’s sister St. Scholastica is given credit for the
establishment of the Benedictine nuns. Benedict once a year visited his
sister Scholastica, conversing with her about Jesus and other matters of
faith. One night when it was time for Benedict to return to Monte Cassino,
his sister asked him to stay overnight. It is said that he replied to her:
Sister, you know I am not allowed to spend a night away from my
monastery. At once the weather blew up such a frightful storm that
Benedict could not leave. “What have you done” he demanded of his sister.
“I asked you and you would not stay so I asked God and he answered me.”
A short time later Scholastica died and it was always perceived that she
10
knew her death was imminent. Up through the high Middle Ages most
nunneries or convents belonged to this order. In all orders for women,
however, abbesses were not permitted to preach to nuns with the exception
of the Irish Christians. Priests had to receive nuns’ vows, hear their
confession, or bless them. Apparently from the inception of monasticism in
the West, the double monastery also occurred. This was where the monks
and nuns lived in separate quarters, but in close proximity, and both of them
were ruled over by an abbess. There was always a great deal of opposition
to these double monasteries due to moral dangers. The greatest of these
double monasteries was at Whitby, in northern England, where St. Hilda was
the most famous abbess, educating many future bishops, and holding the
important Council of Whitby in 664 C.E. to determine whether Celtic or
Roman Christian tenets would decide on the dating protocol for Easter.
Monastic Houses as Guardians of Pagan Literature
As the Benedictine monastic houses developed, so did the movement
of the barbarian tribes, and these places frequently sheltered homeless
victims. Those who lived the ascetic monastic life of piety could help ensure
salvation for all Christians through their prayers. Also monasteries of late
antiquity and the early Middle Ages guarded and perpetuated the culture of
antiquity. With the destruction of Rome and other cities over time, libraries
and schools were destroyed, so part of the monks and nuns’ divine labors
were the copying of manuscripts both of pagan and Christian authors. All
11
but the smallest monasteries had scriptoria, where they wrote and
illuminated beautiful manuscripts. Learning in Europe in the Middle Ages
came to be associated with these monastic schools primarily until the advent
of universities in the High Middle Ages.
Other Religious Tenets adopted by the Christian Church
Some other interesting traditions developed in late antiquity and the
early Middle Ages in Christianity as well. Celebrating saints’ days was part
of the popular piety. Saints were people martyred for their faith. At first
there was no formal process of canonization. Martyrdom was sufficient
evidence for veneration. It was not until the twelfth century that
canonization became a prerogative of the Pope. They always celebrated the
day of the Saint’s death, for it was his birthday in heaven. Since saints in
heaven were eternally in God’s favor, prayers to saints became the most
efficacious. Works about their lives are called hagiographies. These are
fascinating but not necessarily historically accurate. By praying or touching
the relics of a saint, innumerable miracles were attested to occur. Parts of
the saints’ clothes, human remains or other objects associated with them
were kept in beautiful reliquaries. Any new church or monastery was given
their own relics from those of other establishments. The most widely
distributed relics were those of Jesus Christ, such as his teeth, his clothes,
thorns of his crown, and parts of the cross.
12
Conversion of the Pagans in Later Centuries
Conversions of the pagans were done in several ways. Some were
converted by the sword, others by the initial conversion of a mother or wife,
who would then convert her husband or son. Many people were marched
down to a local river, submerged, and surfaced as a Christian. Missionaries
were common converters, but also the establishment of monasteries and
nunneries accomplished this. Legends and stories abound about the
fascinating conversion of the Gauls, the Irish, and some of the Germanic
tribes. St. Martin of Tours is credited with the conversion of the Gauls, and
St. Patrick is famous for driving the pagan snakes out of Ireland, although
he himself was not Irish but British. Conversion of the various Germanic
tribes on the isle of England is one of the most out of the ordinary in the
history of conversions. It took two groups, the missionaries sent by the
Roman Pope and the Irish Church from Ireland to convert these people.
Pope Gregory the Great sent a Benedictine Monk named Augustine to
convert the English. He was consecrated by papal order as the Archbishop
of the English Nation, which began the line of archbishops of Canterbury, the
highest church official in the land. St. Columba (ca. 521-597 C.E.) was the
important Celtic Christian figure who was responsible for converting Scotland
and Northern England. Columba established a Christian community on the
Island of Iona, which was originally the sacred home of the Druid priesthood
for the Celts. According to an account written at the time, when Columba
13
and his servant were travelling they came to a loch or lake. They wanted to
cross, but they had no boat until his servant saw a boat on the opposite
bank and offered to swim across and get it. But as the servant started to
wade out and swim, “the monster who lives there tried to attack him.” The
saint waded into the fray and after making the sign of the cross and
commanding the monster to release his victim in Christ’s name, Columba
was able to drive away the monster and save his faithful servant. Thus
Columba was the first and last one to have seen the Loch Ness Monster.
Irish Celtic Christians were master artisans and their special designed Irish
Celtic Crosses and their illuminated manuscript The Book of Kells have
impacted Christians for centuries.