Ecclesiastical Institutions Research Articles

Legacies and Legalities: Bequests of Land to Ecclesiastical Institutions in England c. 1180–1300

Abstract In English testamentary history, there is a clear divide between Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman testamentary practice, with the primary difference being that in the latter case, heritable land could not be bequeathed. Once the transfer of land required the livery of seisin, a practice introduced during the reign of Henry II (1154–89), it was not possible for a gift of land to take effect upon the death of the owner, and the royal courts did not consider the intention to dispose of a tenement, as expressed in a will, sufficient in itself to complete the transfer. Nonetheless, an examination of extant wills from the period 1180–1300 demonstrates that some testators (or indeed beneficiaries) may have thought that bequests of land were possible or even enforceable. How do these wills fit into the legal framework of the time? If a bequest could not be enforced in the royal courts, what reasons might someone have for attempting to make one, and how might they try to ensure that the bequest held?

Interaction between Religious Communities of Klaipėda City and Soviet Authority in 1945–1954

The purpose of this work is to describe the life conditions of religious communities and Soviet authority’s fighting against ecclesiastical institutions in 1945–1954 year in Klaipėda. The research is based on official documents, periodical press and memoirs of people were used. After the World War II Klaipėda was rebuilt, demographic situation had changed, the city was repopulated. Traditional, as well as new religions emerged the city were trying to get places for their activities and a right to execute rituals, the same time Soviet regime continued the policy of atheism. Soviet authority was trying to create the typical soviet atmosphere in Klaipėda, but it wasn’t able to stop the development of religious communities.

JOSÉ CASANOVA – REGÂNDIREA SECULARIZĂRII: O PERSPECTIVĂ COMPARATIVĂ GLOBALĂ

José Casanova – Rethinking Secularization: a Global Perspective. European anthropology and sociology have constructed a specific vision of secularization, in the context of a specific historical and cultural evolution by which the State separates itself from religion and draws it into the private sphere of social life. In other cultural environments, the modernization of society has not led to the exclusion of religion from the public sphere. José Casanova conceives secularization as a phenomenon characterized by pluralism. Thus, Europe can understand the future evolution of society, which is confronted with the presence of several active religions, against the backdrop of repression in the case of Christianity, due to secularization. State and ecclesiastical institutions or representatives of religions are called upon to understand the foundations underlying the new post-secular era.

Értékorientált vezetőképzés a református köznevelés szolgálatában

Value-Driven Training of Leaders in the Service of Reformed Public Education. Our paper focuses on a specific subsystem of the Hungarian public education system, the Reformed educational network. After a theoretical foundation, the study will review the characteristics and legislative environment of Reformed public education management and leadership training, and then examine the concept, reception, results, and further development potentials of the accredited training in Value-Driven Leadership, a relatively new element of the range of trainings. Some basic conclusions can be drawn from the survey as: (1) The target group is very interested in modern knowledge about Christian leadership, which is considered a priority area, which also coincides with the needs of the maintenance. (2) The management powers of headmasters of ecclesiastical institutions are much broader than those of headmasters of public institutions, but their knowledge and interest in these areas are insufficient. (3) More than ever before, the organization of training should aim at modularity and a variety of organizational methods.

Value-driven training of leaders in the service of Hungarian denominational (Reformed) public education

AbstractOur paper focuses on a specific subsystem of the Hungarian public education system, the Reformed educational network. After a theoretical foundation, the study will review the characteristics and legislative environment of Reformed public education management and leadership training, and then examine the concept, reception, results and further development potentials of the accredited training in Value-Driven Leadership, a relatively new element of the range of trainings. The training was developed in collaboration between Dutch and Hungarian specialists, taking into account the international context of Christian education. Our study uses a variety of research methods, such as document analysis, statistical analysis and analysis of a questionnaire survey on further needs. Some basic conclusions can be drawn from the survey as: (1) The target group is highly interested in modern knowledge about Christian leadership, which is considered a priority area, which also coincides with the needs of the maintenance. (2) The management powers of headmasters of ecclesiastical institutions are much broader than those of headmasters of public institutions, but their knowledge and interest in these areas are insufficient. (3) More than ever before, the organisation of training should aim at modularity and a variety of organisational methods. The tools of combined training organisation, which have already proved their worth in higher education, should also be applied to 30-h continuing training, possibly with the addition of distance learning elements.

An Expansion Of Liberty

This primary source analysis examines the relationship between church and state in early American society from the point of view of the anonymous pamphlet, The Freeman’s Remonstrance Against an Ecclesiastical Establishment, being some remarks On a Late Pamphlet, Entitled The Necessity OfAn Established Church In Any State; By A Freeman Of Virginia. written in 1777. The Freeman uses many ideas from the American Revolution such as American unity, the expansion of liberty, and expansion ofequality to argue for disestablishment. This topic is important because of the ever-evolving debate over church and state in the United States.  

Church Building and the 1833 Bankruptcy of the City of Edinburgh

This paper examines the role of capital expenditure on three new church buildings in Edinburgh’s New Town, in the financial difficulties that ultimately led to the city’s bankruptcy in 1833. It outlines the origins of the financial crisis and the failure of the city’s councillors to arrest the remorseless increase in municipal debt prior to the bankruptcy. In describing the financing arrangements pertaining to Edinburgh’s ecclesiastical estate, it presents evidence relating to the question of whether this area of activity was in deficit or surplus. It concludes by considering the competing narratives around the question of the state funding of ecclesiastical provision, and the way in which ecclesiastical revenues – burgh church seat rents – underpinned the final bankruptcy settlement.

The Romanian Orthodox Church under the communist regime in post-december historiography

The thorough study of the historiography reveals the diversity of aspects of the subject, thus allowing us to outline a broad vision of the topic, identifying for certain subjects a series of historiographical ”overloads”, but also gaps in the bibliography of the researched subject. It started from the general context, of the impact of the communist totalitarian regime on religious life, and the situation of the Romanian Orthodox Church in the post-war period. The analysis of scientific works gives us a general overview of the essence of the totalitarian regime, following the thread of its application in Romania through the ecclesiastical institution.

The Papacy as an Ecclesiastical Institution in the history of Early Christianity: aspects in the study of the issue

This article is dedicated to the Institute of the Roman Episcopate. When studying this topic, it often takes on tendentiousness and ideological shades, which contradicts the principles of scientific objectivity. At the same time, the period in the history of the Roman episcopate before the ecclesiastical schism of 1054 often remains without due attention. Meanwhile, this period is very diverse and filled with the spiritual exploits and large-scale intellectual work of the Roman bishops, some of whom are revered as saints in both Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The most famous of them (but far from the only ones) are Leo I Great and Gregory I Dvoeslov. Let us emphasize that before the Edict of Milan in 313, almost all Roman bishops suffered martyrdom due to the persecution of Christians that unfolded in the Roman Empire in the first three centuries of our era. At the same time, the bishops of Rome, in addition to the issues of the physical survival of the community, had to resist heresies, schismatic tendencies, maintain the correctness of worship and promote the growth of the moral consciousness of Christians. There are very few written sources about the life of the Roman bishops in the history of early Christianity, which complicates the study of this topic and leaves many blank spots, nevertheless it gives a special flavor to this scientific study.

Credo, sentido y organización social en la imaginería cristiana de Tunja, Colombia

In this article, we delve into the role of religious images in the doctrine, worship, and social fabric of Catholic faithful in Tunja, Colombia. As a city steeped in colonial heritage, Christianity has become deeply ingrained in both spiritual and cultural aspects of life. The text explores the intricate relationships between believers and sacred images, reflecting on how the imagery encapsulates, while representing, forms of cohesion and social identification mediated by devotional and organizational experiences. It also presents ethnographic and historical references focusing on the experiences of devotion of members of brotherhoods and devotional groups, particularly their involvement in processions and religious celebrations within the city's historic center. As a result of these public activities with the images, there is a binding association between believers and imagery that extends beyond the religious realm, influencing various aspects of collective life. The article discusses two key processes: the borrowing and extraction of images from religious sites, and the significance attributed to these images by believers outside the ecclesiastical institution, extending their value and meaning to guild and organizational processes that are also part of the faithful’s lives and social values.

Naufrage du mouvement liturgique contre les Alpes bernoises. Regard sur l’architecture sacrée en Valais

In Hegel’s view, questioning the sacred seamlessly intertwines with the very essence of architecture – namely “that which binds together a multitude of souls”. The Church assumes a fundamentally spiritual significance, predominantly and comprehensively conveyed through its architectural space. Meanwhile, its surroundings, the way it is expressed externally, encompasses another layer of meaning that falls outside the realm of the liturgical movement. The exterior is a source of light that structures movement in space, but also the place where another meaning is materialised, more clerical than spiritual, a meaning encapsulated by the political dimension of its form. This dimension is a question of scale, expressed through the monumentality of a singular object, but also through the multiplication of this object across a territory. During the 20th century, just over a hundred churches and one hundred and fifty chapels were built in Valais. These projects fulfilled their political role because they gave the ecclesiastical institution a territorial dimension, but did they respond to the spiritual mission as professed by the community gathered around Romano Guardini in Rothenfels, Germany, during the second quarter of the 20th century? Among countless projects that reverently extol the materials, form, and technical potential of reinforced concrete, some leverage the formal potential of space in connection with a liturgical renewal, aiming to rediscover monastic spirituality against the triumphant Church (Ecclesia triumphans).

Rich, literate, and powerful

In the late Middle Ages, Iberian Jewish quarters were frequently under the Church’s lordship, as Jewish communities rented property from ecclesiastical institutions. That would be the case of Évora, the second city of the kingdom and an episcopal See of demographical, cultural, and political importance, whose Judiaria Nova was mostly owned by the See’s canons and bacharéis. This article analyses the relationship between Jewish tenants and ecclesiastical landlords through their emphyteutic everyday interactions. Using Évora and its See’s lordship as a case study, I will be resorting to deeds, donations, sentences, and compositions to ascertain the status and treatment of Jews as tenants, framing religious identities within socio‑economic interests.

Spaces of Dis/Harmony in Colonial Goa. Lefebvre’s Spatial Dynamics and the Convent of Santa Mónica, 1606-1740

This paper explores the interplay of Henri Lefebvre’s conceived, perceived, and lived spaces in the Real Convento de Santa Mónica, a nunnery located at the heart of the Portuguese Asian empire, in Goa, India. The sense of harmony produced by the conceived and perceived spaces, frameworks that produced a particular habitus among the nuns, which in turn facilitated congenial lived spaces that aligned with the nuns’ aspirations, was significantly disrupted by an external authority, the Archbishop of Goa Ignácio de Santa Teresa, in the early eighteenth century. The archbishop’s desire to curb the power of the Orders and elevate the local Goan ecclesiastical institutions had an unintended effect: it introduced a state of disharmony into the lived space of the nuns, and thus the dialectic between habitus and space led many nuns to experience the convent not as a place of calm and refuge, but rather as a prison. This article is part of the special theme section on Women, Children, and Enslaved People in the Portuguese Empire in Asia, 16th-18th Centuries, guest-edited by Rozely Vigas and Rômulo Ehalt.

THE RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL CONTEXT OF THOMAS HOBBES' THOUGHT

The article deals with the relationship between religion and politics in the context of Thomas Hobbes' elaboration of political theory, mainly in his works The Citizen (1642), Leviathan (1651), Behemoth or the Long Parliament (1680), in his Historical Account of Heresy and the Forms of Its Punishment (1680), as well as in works on the History of Political Thought, Church History and the History of Theology. The main purpose of the text is to demonstrate how the ecclesiastical institution controlled religion, politics, law and mentalities for several centuries, exercising undue dominance over society. In this way, it is as inevitable as it is partial to say that the Church has been de-characterizing itself as the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World, and has become what Hobbes called the Kingdom of Darkness in the last part of his Leviathan. Influenced by the thinking of Luther and Calvin, the scholar Thomas Hobbes contributed to the definitive separation of Church and State, and although he is known as an advocate of authoritarianism, he stated that when the sovereign cannot guarantee civil peace, he should not be obeyed, because the State was designed for our peace and defense.

Law and spiritual sanctions: asserting the stability of pro anima donation charters in late tenth- and eleventh-century central Italy

ABSTRACT This article examines the citation of legal texts in late tenth- and eleventh-century pro anima donation charters in favour of ecclesiastical institutions in central Italy. It argues that, in general, these texts were cited by notaries to insist on a general principle, derived from Lombard law, of the irrevocability of all donations and testamentary dispositions in favour of ecclesiastical institutions. It then discusses the spiritual sanctions that were likewise used in such charters, arguing that the prevalence of legal citations as well as spiritual sanctions relates to the same general heightened desire to stress the irrevocability of property donations in the face of ongoing tensions regarding ecclesiastical property. Finally, I point to some evidence that notaries, donors (and donees) were increasingly aware of alternatives to an irrevocable pro anima donation charter, namely the Roman law testament.

Overview of the Church’s Property Law in the Czech Lands during the Middle Ages

Aim of the study is to provide an overview of the issue of Church property law in Bohemia and Moravia during the Middle Ages. Specifically, we consider the territory of the Prague and Olomouc dioceses. The main founder of churches and ecclesiastical institutions in the early Middle Ages was the duke, while from the 12th century magnates also became involved in founding these institutions. In the early period of founders, the property donated to the Church was treated in the spirit of respecting the rights of the proprietary churches. The law of patronage, which was progressively implemented during the 13th century and first half of the 14th century, brought change. In order to exclude the assets of ecclesiastical institutions, including the serfs who lived there, from the general legal system, immunities were important. Bishoprics and individual monasteries received immunity documents from the mid-12th century, and to a greater extent from the early 13th century.

Crisis Communication in the Church and pastoral Dimensions

The author presents an understanding of crisis communication in the Church, especially the theological and pastoral method, considering the teachings of Popes John Paul II and Francis, as well as based on the research and experience of foreign theologians. The Church is also potentially a victim of critical issues, especially in times of war, which is why the author will try to deepen the relationship between ecclesiastical institutions and their influence on the worldview of the faithful, underlining communication aspects and relationships with the mass media. Undoubtedly the absolute prerogative of the Church is the announcement of the Good News and the Truth. The rejection of communication and responsibility is not only an escape from real threats, but also a rejection of people who seek God through the voice of the Church. Therefore, the study of crisis communication in the Church, considering social communication and the challenges of war, ethical relativism, the mass media’s distorted vision of the Church: this is the task of ecclesiastical educational institutions in the modern world.

The Venetian Community in Byzantine Thebes (1072–1204): A Prosopographical Study

Thebes is among the best-documented Venetian colonies in Byzantium, with records dating back to 1072. While it is widely acknowledged that Venetians played a crucial role in the development of Byzantine Thebes, the details about the Venetian community of the city remain largely unexplored, which has hindered a deeper understanding of the true extent of the Venetian impact on Thebes. To address this scholarly gap, the article examines the community using Venetian documentary sources, focusing on the works of R. Morozzo della Rocca and A. Lombardo. The study adopted a prosopography methodology, reconstructing and analysing the biographies of individuals and families in groups. The investigation covers the community’s leading families and individuals, as well as clergy and ecclesiastical establishments of special interest. Following this vein, the author of the article concludes with a more detailed picture of the Venetian community. It seems to have played a notable and persistent role in Thebes. Ecclesiastical establishments and the clergy constituted the basis of Venetian activities. Bolstered by reliable and sustainable sources of income, these institutions fulfilled the basic religious and administrative needs of the Venetian community. Apart from possible industrial and agricultural engagements, the community members predominantly emerge as active participants in commercial ventures, linking in particular to the renowned Theban silk textiles. While Venetians did form matrimonial and commercial alliances amongst themselves, their assimilation with the native Byzantine populace of the city seems to have been minimal.

Report on the international scientific conference Relevance and listening: communicating the Christian message in the plurality of contemporary voices, organised by the Department of Institutional Social Communication of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, May 2-4, 2023

From 2 to 4 May 2023 an international scientific conference entitled “Relevance and listening: communicating the Christian message in the plurality of contemporary voices” was held in Rome. The meeting was organised by the Department of Institutional Social Communication of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. The aim of the conference was to analyse the challenges related to the proper understanding and implementation of institutional communication processes of ecclesiastical institutions in the perspective of the contemporary socio-political and cultural context. The conference’s main speakers were, among others, Prof. Jim Macnamara (University of Technology of Sydney), Prof. José María La Porte (Pontificia Università della Santa Croce), Prof. Benedetto Ippolito (Università Roma Tre) and Prof. Lorenzo Cantoni (Università della Svizzera Italiana).

The ‘Lamb of God’ in the early Middle Ages: a zooarchaeological perspective

ABSTRACT Medieval ecclesiastical estates have long been linked to vast flocks of wool-producing sheep that underpinned the wealth of the nation well into the sixteenth century. Recent surveys of English medieval animal remains have found evidence for an exceptionally high quantity of sheep at some of the earliest monastic communities established in England from the seventh century AD. The association between religious ideology and sheep is integral to teachings from the Bible, but sheep were also of economic value, and these ideas are considered alongside the changing meaning and value of flocks, and the increase in wool production in medieval England.