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Introduction

“The Christian is someone who has a good memory, who loves history and seeks to know it.”¹

Pope Benedict XVI, 2010

Often, we view the study of history as something mundane and tiresome. This is partially due to the way history is taught in the modern world. Teachers have limited time for instruction and are restricted by standards that require meeting objectives set by authorities outside the educational environment. As a result, the teaching of history is reduced to requiring students to memorize information — that is, names, dates, and events — with no meaningful link to their personal lives. The result is that students study to pass their tests and then quickly forget the material. History is just another boring subject. Historians also make history boring by writing for each other in thick, academic, and mundane tomes. Nonprofessional historians write many of the popular history books, because they are writers who desire to tell a historical story. These books sell because history is presented as it should be: a dramatic story of heroes and villains, told in a way that resonates with the reader and explains the makeup of the modern world by providing the context of the past. In a world focused on the sciences and business, history may be seen as a quaint subject. But in reality it is the subject, along with theology and philosophy, that can provide a sense of our human identity. Identifying with the Catholic Church is an important part of our faith lives, but that can be difficult if we do not know the history of the Church. You may have participated in Bible studies or learned Church doctrines or apologetics, but you are not alone if you have never studied Church history. This may be the result of the daunting task associated with learning two thousand years’ worth of events and people! Where does one begin? Perhaps we should first explore what we mean by “the Church.”

What is the Church?

In a document from the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), titled Lumen Gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), the conciliar fathers wrote about the mystery of the Church, her hierarchical structure, the universal call to holiness of all members of the People of God, and the role of the Blessed Mother in the plan of salvation. Early in the document, the conciliar bishops provide a succinct definition of the Church: “Christ, the one Mediator, established and continually sustains here on earth His holy Church, the community of faith, hope and charity, as an entity with visible delineation through which He communicates truth and grace to all.”² With this in mind, what is the Church? She was established by Christ — not created by a group of people who decided to get together and believe the same things. Rather, God himself founded the Church and sustains her in existence. The Church lives out the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love communally and through the actions of her individual members. She is an organization with a visible and hierarchical structure (pope, bishops, priests, deacons, laity). The Church’s structure is not the work of a committee or majority vote; it was divinely instituted, and is not subject to change by human whim. The definition from Lumen Gentium also answers the question of why Christ founded the Church: The Church is the instrument through which he communicates truth and grace (through the sacraments) to the world. The Church has a salvific mission, which is a continuation of Christ’s own mission of salvation. Lumen Gentium also describes the Church as a “complex reality” composed of both visible and invisible elements, which we describe as the Communion of Saints. The Church exists in three states: you and I are a part of the Church Militant (those on earth), while those who have died are members of the Church Suffering (souls in purgatory), and the Church Triumphant (the saints in heaven). The study of Church history is mostly concerned with the visible element of the past actions of the Church Militant, but it cannot ignore the invisible reality of the Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that “the Church is in history, but at the same time she transcends it. It is only ‘with the eyes of faith’ that one can see her in her visible reality and at the same time in her spiritual reality as bearer of divine life.”³

The Church is a living Church — she is neither confined to one historical era, nor does she remain static through the centuries. The story of the Church comprises the actions of the men and women who lived the Faith. Although the dogmas and doctrines of the Church are immutable, the presentation of those teachings and their lived expression by the faithful change and develop through the centuries of human existence, so that she presents the timeless treasures of the Faith to each new human generation. Therefore, we should not be alarmed at the changes that occur in the Church (although not in her essential elements) as she marches through human history.⁴

Finally, the Church is comprised of fallen, yet redeemed, human persons. As a result, the study of Church history is the study of their actions, both good and bad, and the effects of those actions on the life of the Church. The story of the Church is the story of saints and sinners and, more often than not, sinners who became saints! Studying the lives of those who came before us should encourage us in our struggles, and help us realize the need to continually fight against temptation and live our vocation to holiness in imitation of Christ. Through two thousand years of the Christian faith, there have been those, even in the highest office of the Church, who did not authentically live their vocation to holiness. There were popes who lived immorally, and an authentic study of Church history cannot gloss over their actions or make excuses. Rather, it should analyze them in order to learn from their mistakes and to defend the Church.

Ultimately, the study of the history of the Church — our own family history — should help us grow in our devotion and love of the Holy Spirit, who guides, guards, and animates the Church. For without the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Church would be simply a human institution, and would have disintegrated long ago. Indeed, as the Catholic historian Hilaire Belloc (1870–1953) wrote, “When one remembers how the Catholic Church has been governed, and by whom, one realizes that it must be divinely inspired to have survived at all.”⁵

What is History?

Did you know that there is a Catholic understanding of history? In the ancient world, Greeks and Romans viewed history as a series of repetitive cycles with no beginning, central event, or end — they believed that human events repeated themselves in a never-ending cycle. History in the pagan world had no central meaning. The modern understanding of history is myopically narrow on the modern era and views the past with disdain, clinging to the supposed superiority of the present. A Catholic understanding of history, on the other hand, recognizes the central role of God. Presented originally by Saint Augustine of Hippo in his epic work The City of God, history is linear — it has a beginning and an end. God oversees and is involved in human history, proving his love for humanity and his intimate involvement in human affairs by sending the Second Person of the Trinity to take on human flesh. Christ’s Incarnation is the central event in human history — all history radiates outward (both forward and backward) from this crucial event. The climax of the Incarnation provides meaning to human history and a path out of the circular view of history espoused by the pagans. Christ came in “the fullness of time,” when the world was composed of the three great civilizations of the Jews, Greeks, and Romans. This is illustrated by the placard placed on Jesus’ cross by Pontius Pilate, identifying him as the “King of the Jews,” written in the three languages of those civilizations. The establishment of the Church ushered in a new civilization, forming a new culture out of the ancient world.⁶ The history of the Church is the study of this new civilization and its impact.

History, in the Catholic sense, is more than just the recording of human events. We refer to it as salvation history — the unfolding of God’s plan for his people, their sanctification, and their eventual union with him in heaven. Salvation history began with God’s act of creation ex nihilo (out of nothing). God created the world, plants, and animal life, and then man and woman in his image and likeness. Unfortunately, the disobedient act of our first parents broke the relationship between humanity and God, but God did not leave us to our own devices. He sent his only begotten Son to restore that relationship and our chance for a share in the heavenly kingdom. In time, the created world will come to an end with the Second Coming of Christ, who will usher in a new heaven and a new earth. We must keep in mind this divine dimension of human history, especially when studying Church history. This is not merely one subject among many; it is a way to grow deeper in relationship with the Holy Trinity by recognizing and discerning the spiritual meaning of human affairs.

Our Family History

Given the importance of learning Church history, and the method by which it should be learned, we can ask another question: “How should we view Church history?” This book seeks to tell the story of the Catholic Church through the actions of the men and women who came before us in faith. Christ revealed God to be a loving Father, and we are adopted sons and daughters in Christ and heirs to the kingdom of heaven. We all live in the family of God, the Church. When we study the actions and events of our brothers and sisters in the Faith, we are studying our spiritual genealogy. Many people spend hours and resources tracing their earthly lineage, but, more importantly, because we hope to live with them in eternity, we should study the history of our spiritual family. Viewing Church history in this manner helps us understand that history is the subject by which we grow in our Catholic identity.

Part of our Catholic identity involves using the proper terms when learning Church history. As an example, the term “Christianity” is an unhistorical, post-Reformation term that “connotes an opinion or a theory; a point of view; an idea.”⁷ The Catholic faith is none of those things, as Catholics are not attached to an idea or a philosophy but to a Person (Christ) and to a thing (the Church). Additionally, “Christianity” implies a multiplicity of ways of living the Faith — that is, “Catholic Christianity,” “Protestant Christianity” — but there is only one Church that contains the fullness of Christ’s revelation, authority, and grace. Therefore, the term “Christianity” is not used in this book; rather, “the Faith” is utilized in accordance with the historical understanding of the Church.

The Importance of Learning Church History

Now that we understand the definitions of the Church and history, we must ask and answer another question: Why study Church history?

Learning Church history is vital for the modern-day Catholic for the four following reasons:

1. To make sense of our world

2. To know Christ better

3. To defend the Faith and the Church

4. To know who we are

The knowledge of our Catholic story gives meaning to the present age, which allows us to view modern-day problems with a deeper and more accurate perspective. Additionally, knowing the past can help shape our future decisions so that we can benefit the Church and the world. This worldview is not common thinking in our current culture, but is essential for the modern-day Catholic. Today’s society condenses complex issues and policy decisions into thirty-second sound bites. But focusing on the present is ultimately detrimental, since it makes humanity “lose their sense of the past, of history; but by doing so it also deprives them of the ability to understand themselves, to perceive problems and to build the future.”⁸

Since “Christ is the foundation and center of human history, [and] he is its meaning and ultimate goal,” studying Church history leads to greater knowledge of Jesus, which is the consummate goal of any Christian study.⁹ It can be difficult to see Christ in every event and human activity in the Church’s history, especially when those actions are not in conformity with Jesus’ example and teachings, but he is always present in his Mystical Body. Learning Church history allows us to grow deeper in love with the Lord and his Church.

Most Catholics in the United States learned non-Catholic history in school (unless they went to a Catholic school that taught them authentic Catholic history) because history as a whole is taught in the American educational system from an English Protestant perspective. As an example, I remember learning in secondary school about the cruelty and barbarism of the reign of “Bloody Mary” Tudor and the cultured, civilized court of her half-sister Elizabeth I. The standard Protestant (false) historical narrative paints “Good Queen Bess” as one of England’s greatest monarchs: a strong, intelligent woman with excellent judgment who led England into an era of prosperity and who was beloved by her people because she exhibited their strong Protestant convictions. This narrative is a “monstrous scaffolding of poisonous nonsense [that] has … been foisted on posterity.”¹⁰ In reality, the “Virgin Queen” was a figurehead, used and controlled by powerful men behind the scenes. Under her reign, the first state-sponsored persecution of the Catholic Church in Europe since the Roman Empire was undertaken. Elizabeth and her thugs killed, tortured, and imprisoned thousands of English subjects simply because they were Catholic (although Elizabeth’s Catholic half-sister Mary was inappropriately given the nickname “bloody”). Unfortunately, that historical truth is rarely presented in today’s history class. It is vital for us as Catholics to be able to defend the Church when she is maligned or misrepresented, and when myths are presented as historical fact. Catholics have an obligation to embrace the truths, both good and bad, about our past, and retake the historical narrative from the dominant Protestant (and increasingly secular) view.

The Church is called to continue Christ’s salvific mission, and each Catholic is given a role to play in that important drama. Before we can play our part, though, we need to know who we are — we must have a sense of Catholic identity, which we can find in Church history. The modern Western world exhibits cultural and historical amnesia on a national level. Nations that separate themselves from their Christian origins are apt to embrace immoral and totalitarian political systems, which erode individual rights and place the individual at the service of the state. In order to regain its identity, the Western world must relearn its Catholic history and hold in high esteem the supernatural and transcendent character of history — the recognition that God acts throughout human history. We must embrace what Hilaire Belloc termed “the Catholic Conscience of History,” wherein the Catholic understands the history of Western civilization from within precisely because it is the story of the Catholic Church and her influence on that civilization. Belloc believed that a rightly formed Catholic should have “an intimate knowledge [of history] through identity.”¹¹ Learning Church history from an authentic Catholic perspective should produce a deeper personal identity with the Church and lead to a “new, forceful consciousness of being Catholic.”¹²

The Best Method of Learning Church History

In any form of catechesis, the method of teaching should be established in the example of the Master Catechist, Christ. The Gospels provide numerous examples of Jesus’ teaching methods, which usually varied depending on his audience. To his apostles Jesus was very direct, so that they would have complete understanding of what he was trying to convey (though they still did not seem to grasp it at times). To the larger crowds of people who gathered to see and hear him, he spoke in a simpler manner — he told stories. People remember stories because we are relational beings, who build relationships with others through shared experiences that are recounted as stories. For example, a photo of siblings at a hockey game, viewed years later, will produce stories from that shared experience (“Remember when Dad took us to that game?”). History is best taught and learned as story. Indeed, for most of human existence, history was conveyed through oral tradition (stories) and, when written down, continued to be told in a narrative format.

Until the late eighteenth century, history was seen as a form of literature and taught under that genre. In the nineteenth century, German nationalist and Lutheran author Leopold von Ranke (1795–1886) changed history to a form of science, where textual criticism and primary source material dominated the field.¹³ Ranke taught at the University of Berlin, which had been opened in 1810, a few years after the Prussian Army was defeated by Napoleon. The purpose of the Berlin institution was to train and educate citizens and civil servants to staff the Prussian state bureaucracy. This university instituted a change in the role of higher education. Previously, universities “served the common good by passing on a shared intellectual heritage,”¹⁴ a cultural identity. The new university was less concerned with handing on the cultural identity of a civilization, instead focusing on the “development of new knowledge through original scientific research.”¹⁵ This scientific focus moved the study and teaching of history from literature — a narrative retelling of a national, racial, and religious identity — to an “objective science” focused on written sources. Indeed, this shift in understanding the historical profession was a deliberate rejection of the “traditional approach to history.”¹⁶

This shift continues into the modern world, where narrative history is seen as biased, and history written or taught by a believing Christian is doubly suspect. The modern-day belief that historians of no faith are more “objective” than historians of faith is a fallacy, for “the rejection of some or all religious truth is every bit as much an intellectual position as is the acceptance of religious truth. Both the believer and the non-believer have a point of view. … Objectivity does not derive from having no point of view.”¹⁷ It has been forgotten that all presentations of history rest on the worldview of the historian. The task of the historian is to review available sources and find a way to craft a comprehensible narrative from the mass of raw materials. The crafting of the subject into a readable and presentable book is heavily influenced by the worldview of the author, who, if honest, will openly communicate that worldview to the reader or student. I am a faithful Catholic, and as such I approach the subject of Church history from that perspective. That does not mean that I will ignore or gloss over the negative events or actions in the history of Church, but it does mean that I will interpret those events in light of my faith and the unique role of the Church in human history.

1. Benedict XVI, Address at a Meeting with Young People, Cathedral of Sulmona, July 4, 2010.

2. Lumen Gentium, 8.

3. Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition (New York: Doubleday, 1995), 470.

4. See Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, Light and Shadows: Church History amid Faith, Fact and Legend, trans. Michael J. Miller (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009 [2007]), 17.

5. Quoted in Desmond Seward, The Monks of War: The Military Religious Orders (New York: Penguins Books, 1995 [1972]), 222.

6. See Robert Louis Wilken, The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012), 2.

7. Hilaire Belloc, Europe and the Faith (Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, 1992 [1920]), 38–39.

8. Benedict XVI, Address at a Meeting with Young People, Cathedral of Sulmona, July 4, 2010.

9. John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte, 5.

10. Hilaire Belloc, Characters of the Reformation: Historical Portraits of 23 Men and Women and Their Place in the Great Religious Revolution of the 16th Century (Rockford, IL: TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1992 [1936]), 102.

11. Belloc, Europe and the Faith, 1.

12. Brandmüller, Light and Shadows, 84.

13. Ranke was known for his History of the Popes (pub. 1834–1839), which were answered by a Catholic series written by Ludwig von Pastor (1854–1928) in the late nineteenth century.

14. Christopher Shannon and Christopher O. Blum, The Past as Pilgrimage: Narrative, Tradition & the Renewal of Catholic History (Front Royal, VA: Christendom Press, 2014), 40.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Warren H. Carroll, The Founding of Christendom: A History of Christendom, vol. 1 (Front Royal, VA: Christendom College Press, 1985), 11–12.