The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

II. Classic Example of Pope’s Overbearance

This question of lay investiture quite naturally led Gregory into a head-on collision with the emperor. But Gregory was pre pared for it. We all know what followed. Henry IV of Germany flatly refused to acquiesce to this papal demand. He pronounced the deposition of Gregory at the Synod of Worms in 1076. How ever, he did not have the power to follow up his threat, as he was himself excommunicated by the pope, and all his subjects were absolved from their allegiance to him. Here are the proud words of the “vicar” of Christ: PFF1 668.2

“I now declare in the name of the omnipotent God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that Henry, son of the Emperor Henry, is deprived of his kingdom of Germany and Italy. I do this by thy authority and in defense of the honor of thy Church, because he has rebelled against it. He who attempts to destroy the honor of the Church should be deprived of such honor as he may have held. He has refused to obey as a Christian should; he has not returned to God from whom he had wandered; he has had dealings with excommunicated persons; he has done many iniquities; he has despised the warnings which, as thou art witness, I sent to him for his salvation; he has cut himself off from thy Church, and has attempted to rend it asunder; therefore, by thy authority, I place him under the curse. It is in thy name that I curse him, that all people may know that thou art Peter, and upon thy rock the Son of the living God has built his Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” ⁴ PFF1 668.3

As the German Diet decided on the forfeiture of the throne, if Henry could not clear himself by February, 1077, he was forced to capitulate. Hearing that Gregory was on his way to Germany to force the issue, Henry hurried over the mountains with his wife and infant son, in one of the coldest winters, through a hostile country, and waited three days bareheaded and barefooted within the walls of Canossa, in Tuscany, Italy, before he was absolved. Gregory then revoked the ban of excommunication, and Henry took an oath fully acknowledging the papal claims. ⁵ PFF1 668.4

Gregory remained the victor, yet he too had overstepped his actual powers. Rebellion was rife against him, kings and barons turned away from him, and he had to flee from his eternal Rome. A counterpope was proclaimed, and Gregory died in exile, a bitter man. But in spite of his personal misfortune, the idea he had proclaimed and for which he had fought was never lost; it became the guiding star for the Roman church ever after. PFF1 669.1