470

THE GLORY OF CHRISTENDOM

THE GREAT WESTERN SCHISM 471
It cannot be denied that they had provocation. But St. Catherine's words were for them as well as for the
cardinals of 1380:
Say to the cardinals, the pillars of the Holy Church, that if they really wish to compensate for all that
has been laid waste, they must unite and stand together, so that they form a cope to cover their father's
faults. 143
The essential, inescapable fact was that by the whole history, tradition, and canon law of the Church, an
ecumenical council could not be held without papal approval. Not only had neither papal claimant given his
approval to the Council of Pisa, both had already called councils of their own: Gregory's to meet somewhere in the
papal state at Pentecost in 1409, de Luna's at Perpignan in Roussillon in November 1408. The canonist John of
Imola of Padua, writing in the fall of 1408, reminded his colleagues of this essential point even while favoring the
Council at Pisa. He declared his conviction that Gregory XII was the true Pope and urged him to legitimize the
council and then resign. But there seemed no prospect of that. In January 1409, when none of the cardinals who had
rejected his authority had responded to his offer to renew their obedience to him without penalty for what they had
done, he denounced them all as "apostates, schismatics, calumniators, perjurers [and] conspirators" and
excommunicated them all.taa
Pope Gregory XII now took refuge with Carlo Malatesta, prince of Rimini, a medium-sized city at the middle
of Italy's Adriatic coast. Malatesta was a rare figure in that or any age, loyal to the end, scornful of intrigue and self-
interest, knowing his duty and doing it without question or hesitation. Sure that Gregory was the true Pope, he knew
that therefore he must defend him, and he did. When even Florence and Siena had abandoned the rightful Pope,
Carlo Malatesta stood fast. St. Catherine would have been proud of him. 145
Gregory's only other supporters were the kingdom of Naples and Bohemia and large parts of Germany, where
the alcoholic Emperor Wenceslas had been overthrown in 1400 and declared replaced by Count Rupert of Bavaria,
though he was never recognized as Emperor, since Wenceslas, despite
his personal weaknesses, remained faithful to Pope Gregory, and continued ruling Bohemia. German sentiment still
generally favored the rightful Pope, and on this issue Rupert agreed with his enemy.ta6
Through the fall of 1408 and the winter of 1409 debate continued to rage among the theologians and canonists.
Most of them, in varying degrees of desperation, now favored the council regardless of who the true Pope might be
or how it was to be authorized. The famous French prelates Gerson, Cramaud and d'Ailly all now proclaimed the
ultimate authority of a council to act without papal authorization in a crisis, without saying who was to define when
such a crisis existed or how authority could be differently derived in a crisis than in less critical times."" It became-
in a manner with which discerning scholars in a later age are very familiar-a badge of academic respectability to be
conciliarist. The last warning voice before the Council of Pisa against this highly dangerous trend was that of a
scholar at the German University of Heidelberg; either because of his own modesty or the hostility of his colleagues,
not even his name has come down to us. But he spoke, clear as a bell, for tradition and truth:
One must submit unconditionally to the Pope, however wicked he may be. Gregory XII is the true
Pope. Hence it is unlawful to deny obedience to him, and one cannot damage him in any way, no matter
what good may be the purpose of it. The cardinals' withdrawal of obedience, made without any
semblance of due form, is invalid. The arguments made in support of this action carry no weight. It is
impossible to say [as many theologians now were saying] that Gregory has committed a heresy by being
involved in the schism.... The Pope will have to give account to God for the vows he made to bring unity
to the Church; no mere human being has any right to judge him in respect of them, nor has an assembly
of bishops, and still less one of the cardinals.... They are trying to force the hand of the Holy Ghost! 148
That was exactly what these prelates and theologians were doing. But no man forces the hand of the Holy
Spirit. When the council met at Pisa, He was far away. 149
-la3
9~ Note 54, above.
taa
Smith, Great Schism, pp. 170-171; Swanson, Great Schism, pp. 161-162 (for Imola of Padua); Glasfurd, Antipope,
pp. 233-235; Hefele-Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles, VI2, 1361, 1371-1372, 1390 (for the quotation). De Luna's council
met at Perpignan as scheduled, attended by approximately 300 including seven cardinals, three patriarchs, eight
archbishops, 33 bishops, 83 abbots, four heads of religious orders, and representatives of four universities, but most
of the delegates were from Scotland, Savoy, Lorraine, Castile and Aragon, though a few came from France. Most
were unquestioning supporters of de Luna, who presided at every session, talking interminably, and at one point
threatening with perpetual imprisonment a cardinal whom he suspected of intending to suggest his resignation.
ias
Salembier, Great Schism, p. 241.
Ibid., p. 279; Smith, Great Schism, pp. 170-171; Kaminsky, Cramaud and the Great Schism, p. 247; Hefele-
Leclercq, Histoire des Conciles, VI-2,1245-1246.
147 Swattson, Great Schism, p. 167; John B. Morrall, Gerson and the Great Schism (Manchester, England, 1960),
pp. 77-81; Smith, Great Schism, pp. 172-173.
las
Smith, Great Schism, p. 173.

la9See von Pastor, History of the Popes, I, 178-190, for a clear and thorough explanation of why this council was
in no way legitimate by Catholic standards. It was, von Pastor says, "from the outset an act of open revolt against the
Pope. That such an essentially revolutionary assembly should decree itself competent to re-establish order, and was
able to command so much consideration, was only rendered possible by the eclipse of the Catholic doctrine
regarding the primacy of St. Peter and the monarchical constitution of the Church, occasioned by the Schism." (op.
cit., p. 178).