judges were strictly prohibited. The Lateran Council of 1215 modified the trial of clerical offenders by insisting upon trial in the presence of the accused, a clear statement of the charges, a list of witnesses for the accused, and no appeal before the rendering of a decision in an inferior court.[563:1] Innocent III. also took all treaties between nations under the protection of the Church,[563:2] and insisted on acting as supreme arbiter in all wars and civil feuds.[563:3]
The necessity of moral reformation was recognised by Innocent III. from the beginning of his pontificate. From the year of his election he endeavoured to abolish all those debilitating corruptions which prevented the realisation of his ideal priesthood; namely, pluralism, luxury, rapacity, pride, arrogance, and other evils. The clergy were emphatically commanded to free themselves of these abuses and severe orders were given to his legates to root out these evils.[563:4] In 1215 the Lateran Council was called for the "extirpation of vices, the planting of virtues, the correction of abuses, and the reformation of morals." All the clergy were urged to note the evils needing amendment and to correct the same.[563:5] In a sermon opening this remarkably representative council the Pope urged the clergy to reform themselves so that they could the better lead their flocks aright.[563:6] Many reformatory measures were enacted by this Council. Nepotism was prohibited, monastic abuses were corrected; pluralities were forbidden; the extravagant use of relics was curtailed;
the extortions and simony of the clergy were abolished and renewed stress was laid on the canons of celibacy.[564:1]
The doctrinal changes instituted by Innocent III. were likewise important. The dogma of transubstantiation was canonised by the Lateran Council in 1215. Before that time there had been many and divergent views concerning this important subject. The leading motive which actuated Innocent in having this doctrine carefully defined was to destroy heresy. In consequence of the new dogma the sacerdotal body was elevated by being given a holier character while each individual priest employed this new power as a badge of divine dignity. All discussion about transubstantiation now ceased. Heresy was more clearly defined than ever and the Inquisition was canonised. At the same time the unity of the Church on its doctrinal side was given greater emphasis. The canonical restrictions on marriage were relaxed. The earlier rigid law had led to grave abuses, since the clergy annulled marriages and bastardised the offspring while the laity made it an excuse for divorce and licentious passion. The prohibition of marriage between the relative of a second wife and a first was removed. The degree of consanguinity and affinity was reduced from the seventh to the fourth canonical degree. Secret marriages were prohibited. The publication of the bans was made necessary. Confession and penitential satisfaction were prescribed as obligatory at least once a year under the penalty of excommunication. Physicians were likewise required to send all the sick to the priest first to have their souls cured before any effort was
made to heal the body. The penalty for disobedience was exclusion from the communion.
The administrative reforms of Innocent III. embraced a wide range of measures. Honorary precedence was granted to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Elections to vacancies in the Church were reduced to three forms: (1) A committee of three of the electors was to take the votes and to declare who had received "the greater and sounder" number; (2) a committee was to be empowered to appoint for the whole body of electors; (3) a choice was to be made by acclamation. All lay interference was excluded, otherwise the election would be ipso facto illegal. Papal confirmation and the right of revision were carefully guarded. Pluralities were strictly prohibited. Tithes were given precedence over all other taxes and dues, and the clergy were urged to guard the property and to collect all monies of the Church.[565:1] The right to transfer ecclesiastics was reserved to the Pope alone.[565:2] Finally the Inquisition was instituted for the purpose of suppressing heresy, of enforcing doctrines and ordinances, and of reforming the Church.
Innocent III. as head of the great Church easily outranked every ruler of his day and stands high among the greatest leaders of the Middle Ages and of all ages. A contemporary describes him as "A man of wonderful fortitude and wisdom—one who had no equal in his own day; whereby he had been able to do acts of miraculous power and greatness." If Hildebrand was the Julius, Innocent was the Augustus of the Papal Empire. He seldom miscalculated—his clear intellect never missed an opportunity—his calculating spirit rarely erred—and
he combined forbearance with vigour. "Order, method, unswerving resolution, inexorable determination, undaunted self-assertion, patience, vigilance, and cunning, all co-operating to the accomplishment of a single well-defined object—and that object the unlimited extension of the political power of the Pontiff of Rome—had achieved a signal triumph over the irregular, the selfish, and the impulsive political opposition of the secular powers."[566:1]
The moral character of his reign was variously viewed by contemporaries. The English clergy generally disliked him and a writer of the day asserted that his death, July 26, 1216, caused more joy than sorrow. St. Luitgarde, the prioress of a Cistercian Convent in Brabant, said that in a vision she had seen him in purgatory enveloped in flames for his sins.[566:2] The crimes of ambition, cruelty, deceit and treachery were charged against him as a shrewd political intriguer. The practical charity and genuine humility of an earlier day—when he washed and kissed the feet of twelve poor men taken from the street every Saturday[566:3]—seemed to disappear in the multiplied duties of a world ruler. His piety, honesty of purpose, and sincere conviction of his great mission cannot be questioned. Yet for some reason the Church, for which he did so much, has never seen fit to canonise this great Pope.
No other wearer of the papal tiara has left behind him so many results pregnant with good and ill for the future of the Church. Under him the Papacy reached the culmination of its secular power and prerogatives. The principles of sacerdotal government