“Charlemagne’s descendants no longer knew how to defend the Empire founded by their heroic predecessor. Always at odds with each other, they spent their time going back and forth between opposing and then reconciling.” (Fr. Darras)
Newsroom (04/25/2022 13:25, Gaudium Press) When Charlemagne died in 814, the Empire he founded was united, firm and entirely faithful to the Church. His sons, however, did not follow his example, and stunning disasters occurred.
His son Louis I the Pious became leader, a man so soft that he was given the nickname Débonnaire – Bonachon (easygoing). He divided the Empire among three of his sons, who later rose up against him.
Worse, he supported the iconoclastic heresy – which promoted the destruction of sacred images – and sought the support of Pope Eugenius II for his bad behavior. This emperor, unable to govern his own family, intended to direct the Church.
The three sons of Louis I the Bonachan: – Lothar I, Louis II, and Charles the Bald, as well as his their cousin, Pepin II of Aquitaine, were at odds with each other. And in 841, they went to war in Fontenoy in central France; more than 40,000 men died there.
Louis II, nicknamed the Germanicus, became King of France in 843, and he fell into such an abyss of unfaithfulness that he even sent an army to Rome in 855 to install an excommunicated priest on the throne of St. Peter’s by force…
Vikings
As if all this were not enough, two pincers threatened to crush the Church and the Empire: the Vikings from the North and the Mohammedans from the South.
The Vikings were pagans from Scandinavia – Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. They are also called Normans, meaning men from the North. Physically they were tall, blond, agile, and strong.
They were also excellent sailors; traveling in small boats with beautifully crafted bows, they set out to attack various regions. In some vessels, they carried horses, which they used to great advantage when they reached land.
Through the rivers, the Vikings from Denmark invaded France and took important cities. “Paris was besieged four times, sacked three times and burned twice.” Bordeaux fell to them through treachery.
Writes Ernest Lavisse (1842-1922) of the French Academy:
“The Normans attacked above all the monasteries, the real foci of Carolingian civilization, where they found rich treasures – the reliquaries of saints – well-stocked granaries, well-equipped workshops, and which, for the most part, were not fortified.” In Tours, they set fire to the Monastery of Marmoutier and massacred the 116 monks who lived there.
While the civil authorities fled or paid large ransoms to spare some cities, the Bishop of Paris – aided by the Abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés – took heroic action in the face of the Normans who besieged the city in 885.
The prelate, after a year-long siege, received the Viking chieftain in his palace, refused any negotiation, and spoke to the “pirate in the stern language of a Biblical Prophet,” provoking fear and causing them to retreat.
Later, the Normans were evangelized and received Baptism. Many of them settled in northwestern France, in a region that was called Normandy, meaning country of the Northmen.
Saint Leo IV: prelude to the Crusades
In this tragic situation, Providence raised up a heroic Pope: St. Leo IV, who governed the Church from 847 to 855.
In the first year of his pontificate, a monstrous serpent appeared in a cave near Rome.
In order to extirpate the horrible animal, St. Leo made prayed and fasted. On the feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, holding in his hands the image of the Blessed Virgin painted by St. Luke, he organized a procession in which a great number of people participated.
Arriving at the place, he went alone to the cave, put his foot over the hole from which the serpent spewed pestilential vapors, raised his hands to Heaven, and asked for Our Lord’s intervention. Never again did the monster appear…
The Mohammedans, who had dominated the islands of Corsica, Sicily and Sardinia, proceeded to Rome, but could not penetrate it because of its strong walls. However, they broke into St. Peter’s Basilica, which was then outside the walls, and stole the solid silver Altar of Confession.
In 850, numerous Saracen ships appeared off the coasts of Tuscany in central Italy, heading for Rome. In Naples, the soldiers organized themselves in order to wage war against them.
St. Leo went to Ostia – at the mouth of the Tiber – and with words of fire encouraged the soldiers to fight bravely, for it was a war in defense of God and his Church. Father Darras comments that this beautiful attitude of the Pope preluded the Crusades.
At a certain moment, very strong winds blew against the ships and destroyed them. The Mohammedans on land were put to the sword by the Neapolitans.
The memorial of St. Leo IV is celebrated on July 17.
Alphonsus the Chaste
While these events were taking place in the Empire, God raised up in Spain a Catholic man of admirable purity and combativeness: Alfonso the Chaste.
King of Asturias, a region located in northern Spain on the shores of the Cantabrian Sea, he faithfully followed the example set by the heroic Don Pelayo, founder of that kingdom.
A friend of Charlemagne, Alfonso wrote a letter to Pope St. Leo III asking for prayers for success in the war against the Mohammedans, who by this time dominated almost all of Spain.
Providence heard him, and his military attacks against such enemies were always victorious. Celibate, he gave his soul to God in 842, and reigned for 52 years.
Let us ask Our Lady to grant us the virtues of Faith, trust, and combativeness, so that we will not be caught up in the chaos of today’s world, which is much worse – especially in the moral field – than what existed in the 9th century.
Compiled by Sandra Chisholm
