Evangelization of Western Europe

Lecture 27

I

n the past few lectures, we have identified important elements in the
formation of a Catholic Europe: At the political level, we saw the Frankish
conquests and consolidation and the commitment of the Merovingians
to Catholicism and to the papacy. At the religious/cultural level, we saw
how Benedictine monasticism fit within the manorial economic system and
provided a place for the learning and dissemination of a specifically Catholic
culture. In this lecture, we will pull together more firmly and directly three
of the main players who together helped make Europe Christian: the monks
who worked as missionaries, the kings who either sponsored them or were
converted by them, and the popes who commissioned and directed them.

The Bishops of Rome
• The pope was by far the central figure in bringing the Christian
message to all of Europe. The strength and relative independence
of the papacy over the course of some nine centuries played an
important role in securing and expanding the Catholic tradition in
the West.

•    Not all popes were great or even competent; many were

mediocrities. But when greatness in a person combined with the

significance of the office, powerful things could happen. Already

in this course, we have noted the importance of two bishops of

Rome whose tenure was sufficiently lengthy and whose moral

and intellectual integrity were sufficiently impressive to exercise

great influence.

o Damasus I was a vigorous opponent of Arianism and

Donatism; united himself with the Cappadocians; strengthened

the position of the papacy (establishing its archives); and

commissioned Jerome to translate the Vulgate, the Latin

version of the Bible, which provided a uniform Scripture to

the West.