John Paul Adams, CSUN
john.p.adams@csun.edu
:
J.-P. Migne (editor), Patrologiae Latinae Cursus Completus Tomus 166, colums 843-845:
Patri serenissimo Cluniacensi abbati Pontio domino suo servus Hugo.
Dum tuam, Pater, excellentiam penso, injussus coram te loqui non audeo. Sed quoniam memoranda quaedam de magno Hugone sancto praecessore tuo tacita video, si tua jubeat me fari dignatio, pauca de plurimis, parva de maximis, brevi expedio. Ista quidem diffusos scriptores illos miror omisisse, qui de eo tanta volumina conscripsere. Quae refero praesentibus notissima sunt, sed posterorum memoriae, ut jubes, mandata sunt....
Anno denique Verbi de Virgine nati 1118 defuncto papa Paschali, qui Romanae sedis apicem X et VIII annis, et re amplius gubernavit, assumptus est electione Catholica, et consecratus est Gelasius papa, vir apprime eruditus, eleemosynis largus, consilio providus. Hic Henrico IV Romanorum imperatore contra Ecclesiam saeviente, declinans ad mare descendit, navigio Gallias expetivit, tibique primum cursore a Pisis emisso, suum praenuntiari fecit adventum. Te enim, Cluniaci scilicet abbatem, in partibus Galliarum habet pontifex Romanus proprium et specialem filium. Huic apud Sanctum Aegidium occurristi, huic et multo comitatui suo equitaturas et alia quam maxima elegantissime ministrasti. Hunc pro maris molestia infirmatum, in tuae solo nativitatis, quod pater tuus Petrus potens et nobilis comes Merguliensis juri apostolorum Petri et Pauli contradidit, et inde accepit, tu papam officiosissime confovisit. Qui denuo convalescens, et Cluniacum suum pervenire desiderans, Lugdunuim Galliae pertransiit; Matisconiam descendit, ubi, gravissima aegritudine confectus, se Cluniacum perferri instantissime praecepit. Quo deportatus, summaque reverentia susceptus, completo episcopatus sui anno I et diebus IV, in medio fratrum circumstantibus episcopis cardinalibus in propria domo, proprius pastor in pace Cluniaco quievit.
Post hunc reverendus Wido, Viennensis Archiepiscopus, ab Ecclesia catholica est in Cluniaco electus, sicque in papam Calixt. ordinatus. Hic terrenae nobilitatis celsitudine praecellit, sed coelestium nitore charismatum pulchrius elucescit. Hic secundo Cluniacum rediit [December 31, 1119—January 7, 1120]. ibique festum Dominicae Circumcisionis et Apparitionis devote peregit. Cui cum inter caetera saepius ageret de vita et miraculis B. Hugonis, non quorumlibet chartulas super his profusius exaratas attendit, sed personas authenticas in medio Cluniacensis capituli praesentatas, de sancto quae viderant et audierant validius attestatas, gratanter accepit. Episcopis vero et cardinalibus pariter assentientibus ad laudem et gloriam Domini nostri Jesu Christi natalem tanti confessoris tot et tantis virtutibus approbati festinum fieri papa decrevit. Die autem Epiphaniae Domini processit papa solemniter coronatus, copioso pontificum et cardinalium choro constipatus. Huic Romama praesens militia more suo famuilabatur. Hunc quam multi Burgundiae nobiles sequebantur. Hunc celeberrimo apparatu suscepit obvius sacer Cluniacens. fratrum conventus, quem exaltat humilitas, dilatat charitas, disciplina erudit, discretio munit. Eadem die communi suorum assensu assidentium largitus est felix papa Calixtus Cluniacensi Ecclesiae speciale et propriae suae ut abbas Cluniacens. semper et ubique Romani fungatur officio cardinalis, manuque propria ipse te papa annulo vestivit: ut sic manifestum appareat cunctis, quin tecum et tua Cluniacus solius papae Romani proprie propria censetur, quae sub alterius jure pontificis, seu cujuslibet potestatis, providente Domino nec fuit anlquando, nec erit in futuro. Discessurus papa in crastinum, intrans Cluniacense capitulum, humilitate sua laudabili fratrum se orationibus commendavit, quos et benedictionibus confirmavit, et praedicti confessoris memoria recensita recessit. Ista me dixisse sufficiat, tuaque mihi gratia veniam tribuat. ...
The letter, despite its avowed purpose, has nothing to add to the biography of St. Hugh of Cluny (Abbot from 1049 to 1109). It goes well beyond the death of the good abbot, into the reign of Abbot Pons (Pontius), and is really an effort—certainly at the direction of Abbot Pons himself—to aggrandize his own position and powers. Pons was in fact no friend of Pope Calixtus II. Their secular families fought against one another, and as prelates the Abbot of Cluny and the Archbishop of Vienne were repeatedly at odds. Pons was deposed with papal permission in 1122.
Pope Gelasius reached Marseille from Genoa by October 23, 1118. He was at S. Aegidius on November 7, where he was received by Abbot Pons and no doubt many others. He was at Avignon on December 16 and Orange on December 20. On January 1, 1119, he was at Valence from which he proceeded to Vienne, where he held a synod. On the 14th of January he was at Lyon. He took ill at Macon and had himself carried to Cluny, where he died on January 29. The impression that the Pope, ill from his travel by sea, was met by Abbot Pons and escorted to Cluny, which was the goal of his trip, is quite misleading and self-serving.
There is no independent confirmation, no letter and no bull, of the grant of cardinalatial status in perpetuam to the Abbots of Cluny. The whole story may mean nothing else than that the Abbey of Cluny was directly dependent upon the See of Rome, with no agency intervening.
John Paul Adams, CSUN
john.p.adams@csun.edu