Posted on 01/24/2007 8:42:52 PM PST by xzins
Malcolm Moore
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Five hundred years after he was killed in battle, the remains of Cesare Borgia, the notorious inspiration for Machiavelli's The Prince, are to be moved into a Spanish church. Banned from holy ground by bishops horrified by his sins, the remains of the ruthless military leader lie, at present, under a pavement in Viana in northern Spain.
Borgia was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, and was made a cardinal by his father at the age of 17. He was an accomplished murderer by 25 and had conquered a good part of Italy by 27.
He died in Viana in 1507 at the age of 31, after attempting to storm the town's castle and overthrow the Count of Lerin.
He was originally buried beneath the altar of the Church of Santa Maria in the town, in a marble tomb on which was written: "Here lies in little earth one who was feared by all, who held peace and war in his hand."
However, his body was dug up in 1527 when the Bishop of Calahorra visited the town and expressed his outrage that such a sinner was buried in church ground. The tomb was demolished and Cesare Borgia was re-buried in unconsecrated ground, where his body would be "trampled on by men and beasts," according to the bishop.
His remains stayed there until 1945 and locals used to scrupulously avoid the cobbled street March 11, when his ghost was said to be abroad and hungry for vengeance.
After workmen inadvertently dug him up, he was moved in a silver casket to the town hall, where local politicians pleaded with the Catholic Church to let him be buried properly.
The town of Viana looks fondly upon Borgia because of his link with the King of Navarre, whose sister he married. After fleeing the wrath of Pope Julius II, Borgia ended up in charge of his brother-in-law's armies and laid siege to Viana.
A bust of him has been erected in the town, with the inscription: "Captain of the Navarre Army."
But the local bishop rejected the requests for a proper burial and his body was placed under a marble plaque outside the church grounds.
However, Fernando Sebastian Aguilar, the Archbishop of Pamplona, has caved in after more than 50 years of petitions and Borgia will finally be moved back inside the church on March 11, the day before the 500th anniversary of his death. "We have nothing against the transfer of his remains. Whatever he may have done in life, he deserves to be forgiven now," said the local church.
Borgia took control of the papal armies in 1497 following the murder of his brother, and chalked up a series of astonishing military successes. He was greatly admired by Niccolo Machiavelli, who was at his court in 1502 for several months. Machiavelli drew on Borgia's exploits for The Prince - a treatise on the art of acquiring and maintaining political power - and advised politicians to imitate him.
The way in which Borgia pacified the Romagna is described in chapter seven. Borgia's assassination of his rivals in Sinigaglia on New Year's Eve, 1503, is also mentioned.
The Reformation's intent was mass distribution. This was now possible because of the printing press. I've been to Mainz Germany to see Gutenberg's press, and it is awesome that this invention, in the midst of this conflict, came about at just this time of supreme corruption and just this time of a courageous man willing to speak out and to translate the scripture into his native German.
God's ways are too wonderful for the mind of us finite humans.
see #37
You wouldn't get me to buy into it.
And apparently, when it got bad enough, the German princes and the revolutionary Evangelische (Lutherans) weren't buying into it either.
The Reformation didn't capture N. Europe by storm because it had no substance. It was because the corruption was so extreme that people could see clearly that "The Pope had no clothes." (Nor did the Emperor.)
Once Luther's followers started rioting, looting and murdering, Luther hid.
Then there is the boring everyday politics that surrounded and influenced the reformation.
Luther, who wrote "Against the Murderous, Thieving Hordes of Peasants (1525)," was no supporter of the peasant atrocities.
Wonderful. We could use that on a lot of these threads! LOL!
I wonder how many other leaders of other churches have such shady pasts???
What are those principles of faith. The key principle of faith that the Bible clearly teaches is that it is by "Grace we are saved through faith and not of works, lest any man should boast." Yet the Catholic Church has for hundreds of years made salvation contingent upon works.
So what principles of Faith in the RC Church have not been corrupted?
Great picture!
Luther attempted to drive the money changers from the temple, but the money changers triumphed and expelled Luther from the temple instead.
Please do not use potty language or references to potty language on the Religion Forum.
Exactly.
Of course, once "mass distribution" had been achieved, Luther started to regret what he'd created. He wanted everyone to read the Bible allright, but he also expected they'd agree with him afterwards. :-0
The difference, of course, is that their churches don't claim that their leaders have it within them to be infallible.
I don't really know the answer to the following question: Is it possible for a Pope to be removed at all? for malfeasance?
We don't make "salvation contingent upon works" any more than Christ or St. James do. For that matter, it was St. Paul who said, in the same Epistle you quote, "neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love."
If Jesus and James are "too contingent upon works" for you, I'm sorry. I'll continue to follow Jesus, and not Luther or Calvin.
The Eastern Orthodox absolutely claim that an ecumenical council, once "accepted" by the church, teaches infallibly.
You, yourself, believe that the Apostles taught (at least when they wrote Scripture) under inspiration. Inspiration is a higher charism than infallibility, so yes, you absolutely claim that the leaders of the church in the apostolic era were infallible under some circumstances, in fact that they were more than infallible.
There definitely were other groups and leaders that gave Luther pause.
I was responding to the observation that other churches have leaders who haven't been altogether moral.
When was the most recent ecumenical council?
When did the last Apostle die? (Hint: Robert Duval doesn't count.:>)
What difference does it make?
Infallibility is not an openness to divine guidance but the Holy Spirit preventing the comission of error in teaching. A Pope does not have to be in tune with the Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit to do His work. Infallibility does not make the Pope wise, smart, judicious, well-meaning or any other good thing. It simply prevents him from binding the Church to erroneous teaching.
The Robert Duval defense, eh?
:>)
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