Abstract: This dissertation investigates how two fifth-century bishops of Rome, Leo I (440-461) and Gelasius (492-496) understood and opposed heresy. More specifically, by stressing the contested character of heresy and the at times optative nature of the bishop of Rome’s opposition to it, this dissertation hopes to provide a new perspective on how Leo and Gelasius imagined and justified the authority of the Apostolic See in an uncertain world. To accomplish this task, this dissertation considers Leo and Gelasius’ opposition to various different heresies and details the methods by which they were opposed. This will be done through an examination of the records of synods, Roman law, other contemporary narrative sources, but especially through the letters and tractates of Leo and Gelasius themselves, carefully read and considered in their fifth-century

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Bailiffs and stewards 3. Sheriffs 4. Bishops 5. Wardens and Fellows 6. Conclusions Select Bibliography

Abstract: While not completely neglected as a late-antique epistolographer, Gelasius has mainly been considered as a theologian prominent in the Acacian schism and as a forerunner of the mediaeval papacy. This imbalance will be redressed by considering his letters on various problems of his time, such as displaced persons, persecution, ransoming captives, papal property management, social and clerical abuses involving servants, orphans, slaves and slave-owners, the ordination of lower classes, preferential treatment of upper classes, the role of the papal scrinium, violent deaths of bishops, and the celebration of the pagan festival of the Lupercalia. This approach will round out the existing portrait of Gelasius, and make a contribution to a new history of the late-antique papacy, which will revise the view that Gregory the Great was a stand-alone micro-manager without precedent. Comparisons with earlier fifth-century popes like Innocent I and Leo I, and with later popes like Hormisdas and Pelagius I, show the trajectory from Gelasius to Gregory I.

Abstract: This thesis examines responses by Australian Catholics, predominantly in Victoria, to the social teachings of their Church, culminating with the creation by the bishops in 1938 of the Australian National Secretariat for Catholic Action (ANSCA), and their subsequent adoption and promotion through it of a political and economic philosophy called Distributism. Underlying the main narrative is a fundamental divergence of opinion about the significance of formation of the Catholic conscience through Catholic Action, as on the one hand introduced by the founder of the Young Christian Worker’s Movement (YCW) and future Cardinal Josef Cardijn and enhanced by the philosopher priest Don Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta, and on the other repudiated by Australia’s ‘controversial Catholic layman’, B.A. Santamaria. A key reference point and yardstick throughout is the ‘Evolved Distributism’ of the great complex of worker-owned co-operatives founded by Arizmendiarrieta in the middle nineteen-fifties, at Mondragon in the Basque region of Spain.

Abstract: In the 510s, a new type of historical text was created, eventually known as the Liber pontificalis, which provided biographical and administrative information about each pope from the founding of the see by St. Peter. The stimulus for its creation is usually said to have been the Laurentian Schism, a controversy surrounding the papal election of 498 that lasted until 508. This paper proposes instead that the stimulus for writing a continuous history of the popes was the Acacian Schism, a controversy between the popes and the patriarchs of Constantinople over primacy in the church. The Liber pontificalis proves that, in contrast to the bishops of Constantinople, the papal line consisted of men who all professed orthodox Christianity. The Liber pontificalis provided crucial evidence for a new argument for papal primacy based on doctrinal purity, which was developed by Pope Hormisdas (514-523) in order to resolve the Acacian schism.

Abstract: Pamphleteering was a vital component of the popular political discussion opened up by the French Revolution of 1789, but while the English pamphlet wars have been exhaustively explored, Welsh pamphlet literature has been ignored. During the fifteen years following the French Revolution of 1789, over 100 Welsh pamphlets and sermons engaged in a public discourse which discussed the larger issues raised by the Revolution and the war against the French Republic. This pioneering volume seeks to capture the excitement of the period by demonstrating how radicals and loyalists, Dissenters, Methodists and Churchmen, pacifists and warmongers engaged in a lively argument in their published works. An in-depth essay reviews and interprets texts written by artisans, Dissenting ministers, country curates and Anglican bishops, who all used religion as politics; promoted war or peace; argued over republicanism and loyalism, and utilized the law as a stage for political ideas. All texts are fully translated and thus made accessible to an English-speaking audience for the first time.

Abstract: Using a comparative-historical framework, this article examines how religious organizational responses to a shared stigmatizing scandal, arising from the sexual abuse of children by church personnel, differ across diverse locales – Ireland, South Africa, and the United States – of a single religious tradition, in this case the Roman Catholic Church. Drawing on previous literature, I identify three perspectives related to responses to sexual scandal in organized religious institutions: strategic self-presentation, lay activism, and church–media relations. Focusing on the Catholic episcopal conferences in the three settings and relying on an analysis of national-level bishops’ discourses and practices in the 1988–2013 time span, I find that Catholic legitimations predominate, but appeals to Catholic discourses are more frequent in South Africa than in Ireland and the United States; lay mobilization exerts a partial influence on scandal responses even in contexts providing sociopolitical space for activism f...

Abstract: The fifth-century Christian writer Sozomen of Constantinople preserves a story told by certain pagans about the philosopher Sopater of Apamea, whom the emperor Constantine put to death in a.d. 333 on the advice of the Christian Flavius Ablabius, then Praetorian Prefect of the East. Constantine had consulted the philosopher — so the story goes — in an attempt to redress his guilt at having ordered the murder of some of his nearest relations, among them his son Crispus. But Sopater replied that such moral defilement could admit of no purification. Afterwards, on meeting some Christian bishops, Constantine was delighted to learn that the sins of those who truly repented could be washed away in Christian baptism. It was this that led him to adopt the faith, and to encourage his subjects to do the same.

Abstract: This article explores how far estate management and institutional constraints help to explain the transformations of rural society in England from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries. The monks of Durham Cathedral Priory and the bishops of Durham faced many of the same exogenous pressures in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries but they responded differently to these challenges. By the seventeenth century all of the dean and chapter's lands were consolidated holdings on 21-year leases, whereas a confused mixture of copyhold and leasehold land had developed on the bishops' estate. This had a significant impact upon the challenges and opportunities facing their tenants. Institutional constraints were often crucial factors in the transformation of the English countryside: these two neighbouring ecclesiastical estates faced broadly the same problems and yet the composition of their estates diverged significantly across this period, having a profound effect not only on levels of rent, but also on the tenure of holdings and ultimately their relative size; three of the most important factors in the formation of agrarian capitalism. This article also argues that how rural society adapted to the fifteenth-century recession greatly affected the ability of their sixteenth-century counterparts to respond to inflation.

Abstract: Sometime between the end of the fifth century and the early sixth, the priest, grammarian, and rhetorician Julianus Pomerius composed a hortatory guidebook for bishops entitled De vita contemplativa . In the centuries following its composition, this paranetic text became erroneously attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine, the famous defender of Augustine’s doctrine of grace in mid-fifth-century Gaul. Consequently, Pomerius’s text was lent discernible authority, both through Prosper’s well-known connection to Augustine as well as through the apparent Augustinianism of the text itself. The De vita contemplativa was also often paired closely with the work of Gregory the Great, which served to further enhance the importance of the text for Carolingian bishops. As this article argues, Pomerius’s contention, that not only monks, but also worldly bishops could achieve an earthly form of perfection through a rigorous adherence to their duties as “watchmen,” proved remarkably appealing, and useful, to the Carolingian episcopate.

Abstract: Official collective statements of Catholic bishops construct and promote the imaginary of the Philippines as “Catholic nation.” This conflation of the body Catholic and the body politic has served as the church’s platform for defending its interests in education against perceived nationalist threats and for engaging social issues. This article traces the genealogy of this discourse and uncovers its distorted account of the Filipino nation’s emergence and its deductive pastoral logic. Given the inevitable link between “the religious” and “the secular,” the imaginary is challenged today by the call for greater inclusivity and the impact of digital connectivity on community, whether religious or national. KEYWORDS: Catholic Church • Philippine Bishops • Nationalism • Church–Nation Relations • Imagined Communities

Abstract: At first glance, it does not seem controversial to state that bishops in Carolingian Francia in the late eighth and ninth centuries frequently received dedications of books and acted as censors of doctrinal writings. In addition to presiding at church councils, bishops had been responsible for overseeing new writings since late antiquity. And though Carolingian kings played an important role in initiating and controlling ecclesiastical reform, it was the bishops to whom the task of overseeing the church and its doctrine naturally fell. As we know, they were increasingly aware of their active political role from at least 829 onwards, and episcopal power continued to be established locally and defined in a wideranging ecclesio-political discourse throughout the course of the ninth century.

Abstract: Originating in the United States, a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) is an in-school student club whose focus is on making the school a safe space for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students and their straight allies by raising awareness about, and hopefully reducing, school-based homophobia. The ongoing struggle for GSAs in Canadian Catholic schools is one example of how clashes continue to be played out between Catholic canonical law and Canadian common law regarding sexual minorities. This paper draws upon Foucault’s Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, and The History of Sexuality Vol. 1: An Introduction to analyze one particularly influential curricular and policy document entitled Pastoral Guidelines to Assist Students of Same-Sex Orientation from the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops. This paper posits that Catholic doctrine about non-heterosexuality functions as a Foucaultian Panopticon enabling Catholic education leaders to observe and correct the behaviour of non-heterosexual teachers and students that they deem runs counter to the values of the Vatican. This paper argues that successful resistance to the powerful disciplining regime of the Catholic school is possible.

Abstract: Table of Contents Prologue Introduction 1. Marseille: Husband, Merchant and Troubadour 2. Abandoning the World: Joining the Cistercans 3. Toulouse:Bishop in a Troubled Diocese 4. The Crusade:Fighting in Exile 5. Return to Toulouse:Reversals and Rebuilding Appendices A.Folc's Songs B.Diplomatics of Folc's Vida and Razos C.Note on Proper Names D.Chronology E.Abbreviations Bibliography Index

Abstract: Thomas Barlow was a Reformed theologian simultaneously fighting on three fronts against Catholic, Dissenting Protestant and Arminian Anglican opponents. The first two of these groups threatened the Church of England from the outside, while the last group was transforming Anglican doctrine through its domination of the most important posts in the episcopal hierarchy. Barlow could not argue directly against the power of bishops without assisting the external opponents, yet he had to find a way to prevent other bishops from interfering in his continued support for Reformed theology. In order to reduce their power within the Church of England, Barlow had to look outside the institution for ways to limit his superior’s power. This essay examines two arguments in which Barlow ventured into polemics about the secular law of England in an effort to maintain limits on his Anglican opponents’ exercise of power.

Abstract: To explore the social significance of clerical office, this article compares the correspondence of Basil of Caesarea with that of Synesius of Cyrene, treating each as an archive of socio-rhetorical “data.” It examines all dateable letters in each collection for the author’s social signals to various recipients—such as Biblical or classical literary references, patronage requests or indications of intimacy. It then graphically depicts each man’s attested communication for two periods, before and after his becoming bishop. Such socio-rhetorical mapping affords a new perspective on the two authors. For Basil it reveals a segmented social life, in which he discussed classical culture, Nicene doctrine, and asceticism with different groups of contacts. While usually cast as a clerical/ascetic convert, Basil continued all his segmented conversations after he was consecrated. For Synesius, rhetorical mapping showcases a mixed social life, in which he widely discussed his patronage, literary interests, and philosophy. In contrast with the prevailing portrayal of Synesius as an unbending Neo-platonist, the article shows how he interwove Christian discourse with familiar social signals after his selection as bishop. Basil and Synesius lived differing lives, but their patterns of social signaling look like related approaches to pressures faced by most fourth- and early fifth-century local notable men who became bishops.

Abstract: Acknowledgments Introduction: The Virgin, the Saint, and the Nun Part I: The History of an Idea 1. The Four Wise Women 2. The Dread Secret 3. Pope Patricia 4. Coming of Age 5. The Cardinal of Choice Part II: The Bishops' Lobby 6. The Bishops' Lobby 7. Showdown at Cairo 8. Matters of Conscience 9. Playing Politics 10. Health Care and Politics Redux Epilogue: The Philippines Notes Bibliography Index

Abstract: In 1214, King John issued a charter granting freedom of election to the English Church; henceforth, cathedral chapters were, theoretically, to be allowed to elect their own bishops, with minimal intervention by the crown. Innocent III confirmed this charter and, in the following year, the right to electoral freedom was restated at the Fourth Lateran Council. In consequence, under Henry III and Edward I the English Church enjoyed something of a golden age of electoral freedom, during which the king might influence elections, but ultimately could not control them. Then, during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III, papal control over appointments was increasingly asserted and from 1344 onwards all English bishops were provided by the pope. This book considers the theory and practice of free canonical election in its heyday under Henry III and Edward I, and the nature of and reasons for the subsequent transition to papal provision. An analysis of the theoretical evidence for this subject (including canon law, royal pronouncements and Lawrence of Somercote’s remarkable 1254 tract on episcopal elections) is combined with a consideration of the means by which bishops were created during the reigns of Henry III and the three Edwards. The changing roles of the various participants in the appointment process (including, but not limited to, the cathedral chapter, the king, the papacy, the archbishop and the candidate) are given particular emphasis. In addition, the English situation is placed within a European context, through a comparison of English episcopal appointments with those made in France, Scotland and Italy. Bishops were central figures in medieval society and the circumstances of their appointments are of great historical importance. As episcopal appointments were also touchstones of secular-ecclesiastical relations, this book therefore has significant implications for our understanding of church-state interactions during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Abstract: This article explores the significance of weeping in the lives of late medieval English bishops (c.1100−c.1400). It considers the lachrymose devotions of saintly bishops alongside tears of grief, friendship and self-pity, and asks how such displays of emotion were understood by contemporary onlookers. It is argued that a bishop's tears were key to perceptions of his masculinity, sexuality and physical body, which in turn had significant implications for his reputation both as a prelate and as a potential saint.

Abstract: The objective of the thesis is to determine that the constitutions of religious institutes have a role in fostering the relationship between bishops and religious institutes. It outlines the historical development of rules and constitutions in orders and religious institutes and posits that the Church continuously underscores the importance of rules and constitutions in these institutions. Furthermore, with Vatican II and the directives of Ecclesia sanctae, the Church required institutes to review their constitutions and ensure in the ius vigens that these constitutions have the essential elements regarding their patrimony, norms of governance, discipline, incorporation, formation and the proper object of the sacred bonds, as a way for institutes to protect the unique gift of the Spirit expressed in the vocation and identity of each institute. The thesis also sketches the history of the relationship between religious institutes and bishops. It notes that though the Church has several legislation and instructions on this matter including Vatican II, various post-conciliar documents as well as the ius vigens of the Church which continue to outline aspects of the relationship, tensions and difficulties persist between the parties. In order to determine the role that the constitutions of religious institutes have in fostering this relationship, the thesis utilizes the constitutions of a non-clerical religious institute of diocesan right to examine how an institute defines aspects of its relationship with diocesan bishops identified in the ius vigens of the Church. The thesis observes that though the constitutions respond to majority of the aspects of the relationship, some matters were either lacking or not clearly and inadequately defined. Consequently, in order to enhance the relationship and minimize tensions and difficulties, the thesis underscores the necessity to respond to the inadequacies and lacunae in the constitutions as well as a review of some aspects of the relationship defined in the ius vigens of the Church. Additionally, the thesis proposes other ways to foster the relationship; these include the adequate formation of members of institutes on the different aspects of the relationship, the education of clerics on the value of consecrated persons in the Church, the need for bishops to be familiar with the constitutions of religious institutes and the need to establish a neutral structure in dioceses or at the Episcopal conferences to collaborate with CICLSAL in resolving cases that bother on this relationship. To sum up, the thesis accentuates the significance of clear and precise universal legislation and the constitutions of religious institutes in bringing about communion between institutes and particular churches.

Abstract: One can hardly exaggerate the importance of the church councils in the 5th and 6th centuries. They provide us with great insights into the situation in the late Roman Empire and particularly into the role of the Church at that time. Because of the rich source materials, the dramatic course it took and its overall historical relevance, the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451) is one of the most important events of that period. The decrees of this council led to major upheavals in the Church which continue to this very day. Hagit Amirav presents the first study on the social dynamics and various roles played by the stakeholders of this council, the power plays of the imperial representatives and the bishops, their actions and statements designed to further a consensus. At the centre of this analysis lies Marcian in his dual role as Emperor of the East Roman Empire as well as a central figure in the Church. "The Council of Chalcedon has come firmly into focus lately among late antique historians, but many find it problematic to integrate doctrinal issues into their historical thinking. Yet councils were major events, calling for a variety of modern approaches, including discourse analysis. They also cry out for interpretation in terms of performance, already a theme in current scholarship on late antiquity. In contrast with conventional approaches, Hagit Amirav offers a bold reading of the Council of Chalcedon in terms of sociology and anthropology and reveals its importance as one of the greatest performative occasions of late antiquity." Dame Averil Cameron, University of Oxford "The very detailed Acts of the Church Council held at Chalcedon in CE 451 make this the most fully recorded event from Antiquity. Hagit Amirav takes this priceless verbatim record, and uses it to ask how the participants exercised their authority, and how they played their roles in speaking at the Council. In other words she looks at it as a real-life drama. The result is a fresh and illuminating look at this major turning-point in Christian history." Sir Fergus Millar, University of Oxford

Abstract: Sermons were social events. Addressing an important share of the local Christian population, they offered the bishop or presbyter a unique opportunity for moral and spiritual instruction. Focusing on a unique social environment, late fourth-century and early fifth century Constantinople, this chapter demonstrates that the Second Sophistic nexus of rhetorical performance, social status, patronage, and material benefits can be seen operating among Christian preachers. For most of the bishops of Theodosian Constantinople we possess explicit statements about their rhetorical talent or the lack thereof: as we have seen, John and Nestorius were explicitly chosen for their golden mouths, whereas Nectarius, Atticus, and Flavian were reputed to lack talent in this respect. The emphasis on rhetorical talent is unsurprising: sermons were a very common form of interaction between a bishop and his community, and thus important occasions for asserting one's leadership. Keywords: bishop; Christian preachers; fifth century Constantinople; social events

Abstract: In the first quarter of the fifth century the provinces of Gaul experienced their most dramatic shakeup since Julius Caesar, with the Rhine crossing of Vandals, Suebi and Alans, the retaliation from Roman forces in Britain under the usurper Constantine III, and the establishment of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse under Wallia in 418. Exsuperius was bishop in Toulouse throughout much of this time. Most of what we know about him comes from the challenges that confronted him. Not only did he face the crisis of hostile forces besieging his city, but he faced internal ones as well, with famine resulting from the siege and, at an earlier time, dissent being expressed to the asceticism and Christian discipline he promoted. While famine and theological dissent were regular features of what bishops had to deal with, responding to a siege was not something most bishops in previous generations had experienced. This article investigates how Exsuperius responded to these crises of varying magnitudes and argues that, although he is reported by Jerome as being solely responsible for averting the external threat, he was probably part of a team of negotiators, and that, with regard to the internal threat, he allied himself with Innocent I, the Roman bishop. The literary encounter between Toulouse and Rome in Innocent's Epistula 6 reinforced Innocent's position as the leading Western bishop, as well as offered support to Exsuperius in dealing with the crisis he faced.Exsuperius, bishop of Toulouse (ancient Palladia Tolosa on the Garonne river, in the province of Narbonensis Prima in the civil diocese of Septem Provincia), confronted a series of crises at the start of the fifth century. One was new, acute and potentially life-threatening - the challenge presented by a barbarian siege, which triggered another, more familiar crisis, with which bishops (and civic administrators) had long grappled - food shortages. Another crisis was an old one for Christianity - the challenge of divergent views and practices within Christianity itself, in this case involving the place of asceticism within Christianity. The only snippets of information we have about Exsuperius concern how he responded to these problems. Then, as now, it seems that only bad things were newsworthy and were remembered, while the good or every day was quickly forgotten.The fifth century was a period in which bishops had to respond to challenges that had not been areas of their responsibility previously. Raymond Van Dam has investigated the transformation of Christian leadership, which resulted from bishops adopting secular ideology into the Christian community, and the welcoming of aristocrats into episcopal ranks.1 One of his case studies concerns Germanus of Auxerre, an aristocrat turned bishop, who, in the middle of the fifth century, exercised his authority as bishop on matters like tax, an area of interest that was more relevant to his previous political career than to his episcopal responsibilities.2 Several other bishops are mentioned from that time as examples of how bishops took on an expanded role in the face of the withdrawal of Roman civic administration as a consequence of barbarian invasion.3 Exsuperius, credited by Jerome with having been responsible for saving Toulouse from capture by barbarians,4 was not among his case studies, but the saving of a city from attack was certainly not a traditional role for a bishop to play. Indeed, in the heartland of the empire it was not a role any person would have expected to play, were it not the case that the empire now faced threats to its very existence.Whether one agrees with Van Dam's displacement theory of ecclesiastical leaders taking over secular aristocratic ideals and responsibilities or with Claudia Rapp's alternative model of bishops complementing that administration rather than replacing it, it is worth examining what we know about Exsuperius, a bishop of a small diocese at the time, in order to appreciate the full range of activities, both traditional and novel, in which late antique bishops were engaged, and to see how they coped with the unexpected. …

Abstract: It has long been recognized that many late medieval bishops were heavily involved in secular government. Scholars have tended to characterize these activities in fairly general terms, labelling those who chose to serve the crown as ‘administrators’, ‘bureaucrats’ or ‘civil servants’. In fact, they are better described as king’s judges, for a large part of what bishops did in government was dispensing justice in the king’s name. The first part of this article explores the contexts of this judicial activity, showing that bishops were especially active in institutions such as parliament, chancery and the council which offered justice to the king’s subjects on a discretionary basis. Discretionary justice was closely informed by the precepts of natural law, which in turn derived authority from the abstract notion of the divine will. The second half of the article suggests that the strong theological underpinning of discretionary justice meant that bishops’ involvement in secular government did not stand in opposition to their spiritual vocation or their role as leaders of the church. I argue that the sweeping and rather disparaging contemporary and modern characterizations of ‘civil-servant’ bishops as self-serving careerists ought to be replaced by a more nuanced understanding of the rationale and motivation of those senior clergymen who involved themselves in secular governance.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate metaphor as a rhetorical device in selected Roman Catholic Bishops’ pastoral letters in Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province of Nigeria, in order to discover its effectiveness as a persuasive tool in the letters. Data for the study, which span between 2000 and 2010, were selected through purposive sampling from five dioceses out of the seven dioceses in the province. The data were analysed based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory as posited by Lakoff and Johnson (1980). Analysis revealed that Catholic bishops in Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province have effectively deployed metaphors of planting, journey, war, water, building, light, food, body parts, health and meteorology for the purpose of persuading their audience to accept their messages. The paper concludes that metaphor as a persuasive tool has been deployed by the Catholic bishops in Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, in their pastoral letters. This study is a significant contribution to studies on the language and style of religion, especially in the area of Roman Catholic bishops’ pastoral letters whose language has not received adequate attention from linguistic scholars.