GREGORY
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emperor met at Anagni and completed their reconcili-
ation during the first three days of September.
The peace conchided between the pope and the em- peror was, however, to be only temporary. The pa- pacy as conceived by Gregory IX and the empire as conceived by Frederick II could not exist together in peace. The emperoraimed at supreme temporal power with which the pope should have no right to interfere. At least in Italy he attempted to estal.ilish a rule of absolutism by suppressing all municipal liberty and holding the cities in subjection by a revived sort of feudalism. The pope, on the other hand, citing the example of Constantine, who exchanged Home for Con- stantinople in deference to the pope, thought that the pope should be the supreme ruler in Italy and by force of his spiritual authority over the whole Cliris- tian world the papacy should in all things hold the su- premacy over the empire. For a time the emperor as- sisted the pope in suppressing a few minor revolts in the Pontifical States, as was stipulated in the condi- tions of peace. Soon, however, he began again to dis- turb the peace by impeding the liberty of the Church in Sicily and by making war upon Lombardy. The freedom of the Lombard cities was a strong and neces- sary bulwark for the safety of the Pontifical States and it was only natural that the pope should use all his in- fluence to protect these cities against the imperial de- signs. As arbiter between the emperor and t he Lom- bard cities the pope had a few times decided in favour of the latter. The emperor, therefore, no longer de- sireil the services of the pope as mediator and began open hostilities against the Lombard League. He gained a signal victory at Cortenuova on 27 Novem- ber, 1237. To save Lombardy from the despotic rule of the emperor and to protect the Pontifical States, the pope entered into an alliance with the Tuscans, Um- brians, and Lombards to impede the imperial prog- ress. The continuous victories of the emperor spurred his pride to further action. He declared his intention to unite with the empire not only Lombardy and Tuscany, but also the Patrimony of St. Peter and practically the whole of Italy. On 20 March, 1239, the pope again excommunicated the emperor and an- other disastrous struggle between the papacy and the empire ensued. Henceforth the pope was convinced that as long as Frederick was emperor there was no possibility of peace between the papacy and the em- pire, and he left nothing undone to bring about his de- position. He ordered a crusade to be preached against him in Germany, instructed his German legate Albert of Behaim, the Archdeacon of Passau, to urge the election of a new king upon the princes, and to place under the ban all those that continued to side with the excommunicated emperor. Despite papa! anathemas many bishops and princes remained loyal to the em- peror who, encouraged by his large following, tlecided to humiliate the pope by making himself master of the Pontifical States. In this great distress the pope ordered all bishops to assemble in Rome for a general council at Easter (31 March), 1241. But the em- peror prevented the meeting of the council by forbid- iling the bishops to travel to Rome and by capturing all those that undertook the journey despite his pro- hibition. He himself marched towards Rome with an army and lay encamped near the city, when Gregory IX suddenly died at the age of almost one hundred years.
The mendicant orders which began to shed great lustre over the Christian Church in the first half of the thirteenth century found a devoted friend and liberal patron in Gregory IX. In them he saw an excellent means for counteracting by voluntary poverty the love of luxury and splendour which was possessing many ecclesiastics; a powerful weapon for suppressing heresy within the Church; and an army of brave sol- diers of Christ who were ready to preach His Gospel to the pagans even at the risk of their life. When still
Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia, Gregory IX would often don
the dress of St. Francis, walk about barefoot with the
saint and his disciples, and talk of holy things. Saint
Francis loved him as his father and in a prophetic
spirit addressed him at times as " the bishop of the
whole world and the father of all nations ". Upon the
special request of Saint Francis, Pope Ilonorius III
appointed him protector of the order in 1220. He
was also a devoted friend of St. Dominic and pro-
moted the interests of his order in many ways. At
the death of St. Dominic he held the funeral services
and buried the saint at Bologna in 1221. St. Clare and
her oriler stood likewise untler the protection of Greg-
ory IX, as is attested by the convents he founded for
the order in Rome, Lombardy, and Tuscia. However,
despite his great liberality towards the rising men-
dicant orders he did not neglect the older ones. On 28
June, 1227, he approved the old privileges of the Ca-
maldolese, in the same year he introduced the Pre-
monstratensians into Livonia and Courland, and on 6
April, 1229, he gave new statutes to the Carmelites.
He financially and otherwi.se assisted the Cistercians
and the Teutonic Order in the Christianization of
Prussia and the neighbouring countries of the North.
On 17 January, 1235, he approved the Order of Our
Lady of Mercy for the redemption of captives. With
the help of the religious orders he planned the conver-
sion of Asia and Africa and sent missionaries out of
their ranks to Tunis, Morocco, and other places,
where not a few suffered martyrdom. He also did
much to alleviate the hard lot of the Christians in the
Holy Land, and would have done still more, if his
plans to recover the Holy Land for the Christians had
not been frustrated by the indifference of Frederick II.
The calendar of saints was enriched with some of the
most popular names by Gregory IX. On 16 July,
122S, he canonized St. Francis at Assisi, and on the
next day he laid the cornerstone of the church and
monastery which were erected in honour of the saint.
He took part in the composition of the Office of St.
Francis and also wTote some hymns in his honour. It
was also at his command that Thomas of Celano wrote
a biography of the saint (latest and best edition by
d'Alengon, Rome, 1906). On 30 May, 1232, he can-
onized St. Anthony of Padua, at Spoleto; on 10 June,
1233, St. Virgil, Bishop of Salzburg and Apostle of
Carinthia; on 8 July, 1234, St. Dominic, at Rieti; and
on 27 May, 1235, St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, at Peru-
gia.
Gregory IX was very severe towards heretics, who in tho.se times were universally looked upon as traitors and punished accordingly. Upon the request of King Louis IX of France he sent Cardinal Romanus as legate to assist the king in his crusade against the Al- bigenses. At the sjTiod which the papal legate con- vened at Toulouse in November, 1229, it was decreed that all heretics and their abettors should be delivered to the noliles and magistrates for their due punish- ment, which, in case of obstinacy, was usually death. When in 1224 Freilerick II ordered that heretics in Lombardy should be burnt at the stake, Gregory IX, who was then papal legate for Lombardy, approved and published the imperial law. During his enforced alasence from Rome (1228-1231) the heretics re- mained unmolested and became very numerous in the city. In February. 1231, therefore, the pope enacted a law for Rome that heretics condemned by an eccle- siastical court should be delivered to the secular power to receive their "due punishment". This "due pun- ishment" was death by fire for the obstinate and im- prisonment for life for the penitent. In pursuance of this law a number of Patarini were arrested in Rome in 1231 , the obstinate were burnt at the stake, the others were imprisoned in the Benedictine monasteries of Monte Cassino and Cava (Kyccardus de S. Germane, ad annum 1231, in Mon. Germ. SS.. XIX, 363). It must not be thought, however, that Gregory IX
