His cause was steadily gaining ground, when the death of Anacletus in January, 1138, left him in undisturbed possession of the Eternal City and the papacy.[1]
To remove the evil consequences of the eight year schism, to condemn certain current errors, and correct abuses among the clergy and laity, Innocent convened the Second Council of the Lateran. It began its sessions on April 4, 1139, and was attended by nearly a thousand prelates: patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, and other ecclesiastical superiors, representing most of the Christian nations. It was opened by the Pope with a discourse in which he declared null and void the official acts of Anacletus and deposed all who had been appointed or ordained by him and his chief partisans, Gerard of Angouleme and Gilo of Tusculum. Roger, the king of Sicily, who also had been a staunch adherent of the antipope, was excommunicated for keeping the schism alive in southern Italy. The council condemned the errors of the Petrobrusians and the Henricians, the followers of Peter of Bruys and Arnold of Brescia. Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury, who was present with five English bishops and four abbots, was invested with the pallium, and St. Sturmius, the first abbot of Fulda, was canonized. Whether the Pope in this council made a rule restricting the election of the popes to the cardinals, thus eliminating whatever participation had been left to the lower clergy and people by Nicholas II (1059–61), is a point that is disputed, though it appears not at all improbable when we consider the circumstances of his own election and those also of the election of Anacletus. One of the purposes of the council was to remove the evils of an eight-year schism, and it seems more than merely probable that the Pope was not content with this only, but went a step farther to prevent the repetition of such a schism from that particular contributing cause. Moreover, such a rule seems to form a necessary link in the historical development of papal elections.[2]
In conclusion the council drew up thirty canons for the correction of moral and disciplinary abuses of the time. Twenty-eight of these are in great measure a reproduction of decrees promulgated by the Synods of
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- ↑ For the circumstances surrounding the election of Innocent and his activities till the opening of the council, cf. Hefele-Leclercq, V, 676–721. Also article "Anacletus II" in Catholic Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Our only authority for the enactment of such a law by Innocent is Onofrio Panvini (d. 1568) in his work De origine cardinalium, ed. Mai, Spicileg. Roman. IX, 495. The passage is given by Grauert (Hist. Jahrbuch d. Görresgesellschaft, I (1880), 595, Ein angebliches Papstwahlgesetz v. 1139), who, however, with Sägmüller (Die Tätigheit u. Stellung der Kardinäle, Freiburg, 1806, p. 135), does not accept the report of Panvini as trustworthy. In favor of its trustworthiness are Hefele (V, 737 f.) and Bernhardi (Jahrbücher d. deut. Geschichte unter Konrad III, I, München, 1883, p. 156). Cf. also Wurm, Die Papstwahl; Ihre Geschichte u. Gebräuche (Köln, 1902), pp. 32 f. For the decree of Nicholas II, cf. Grauert, l. c., pp. 502–94, and Hefele, IV, 1139–65.
