century the cross was introduced wholesale into military usage and was
applied to shields and flags. The Roman army also introduced large march-
ing crosses to act as standards for soldiers while they served on campaign.
The utilization of the cross as a military standard and marker was meant
to identify the Roman army with its new god and the Romans as Christian
soldiers—a tradition that was to have a long history in the West.
One further development in the Christianization of the Roman army
was the introduction of priests to serve as chaplains for the soldiers. In the
old pagan army, officers and centurions had undertaken most of the reli-
gious leadership. But the Christian religion demanded that only those with
special sacred qualifications presume to serve the holy mysteries and tend
the spiritual needs of the men. However, the Roman army of the fourth and
fifth centuries was composed of a heterogeneous mix of Nicene Christians,
Arian Christians, and various kinds of pagans. In order to accommodate
the religious needs of soldiers from these various faith traditions, the army
allowed a certain degree of religious freedom to its troops. Prosper of
Aquitaine reports in his chronicle that during a campaign against the Visi-
goths in 439, Litorius, the Roman commander, allowed the Hunnic cavalry
under his command to perform their own sacred rites, including using au-
guries and summoning spirits. In other cases, Nicene bishops were forced
to allow Arian troops serving as garrisons in their cities to support Arian
clergy. Bishop Ambrose of Milan, for one, complained to Emperor Gratian
that he had no control over the Arian bishops serving among the Gothic
troops in his city.Early Middle Ages
As they did with so many other aspects of Roman military organization,
the rulers of the Romano-German successor states adopted Christian reli-
gious practices. The first surviving statement of Carolingian governmental
policy treating the recruitment and service of priests and bishops to serve
as military chaplains was issued in 742. The Carolingian government or-
dered that every unit commander in the army was to have on his staff a
priest capable of hearing confessions and assigning penances. In addition,
the command staff of the army was to include one or two bishops with
their attendant priests who were to form the leadership cadre for the pro-
vision of pastoral care. The duties of the bishops included celebrating pub-
lic masses and bringing sacred relics into the field.
The soldiers in Charlemagne’s field armies relied very heavily upon
government efforts to secure the support of God for their military cam-
paigns. In addition to the personal preparations of each soldier, which fre-
quently consisted of confession and communion, the army as a whole ben-
efited from a systematic program of public prayers, fasts, almsgiving, and450 Religion and Spiritual Development: Ancient Mediterranean and Medieval West