J.A. Wylie Book I. History of the Papacy. Chapter IV. Progress of the Temporal Sovereignty. We left the Papacy, at the opening of the ninth century, reposing beneath the shadow of the Carlovingian monarchy. One grand stage in its progress had been accomplished. The battle for the temporal sovereignty had been fought and won. A… Read More 4. Progress of the Temporal Sovereignty

J.A. Wylie Book I. History of the Papacy. Chapter III. Rise of the Temporal Sovereignty. Over the abyss in which the Roman empire of the west had been engulfed there now floated the portentous form of the Papacy. If the idolatrous nations, in their victorious march from the Upper Danube to southern Europe, had not… Read More 3. Rise of the Temporal Sovereignty

J.A. Wylie Book I. History of the Papacy. Chapter II. Rise and Progress of Ecclesiastical Supremacy. The first pastors of the Roman Church aspired to no rank above their brethren.[1] The labours in which they occupied themselves were the same as those of the ordinary ministers of the gospel. As pastors, they watched with affectionate… Read More 2. Rise and Progress of Ecclesiastical Supremacy

J.A. Wylie Book I. History of the Papacy. Chapter I. Origin of the Papacy. The Papacy, next to Christianity, is the great fact of the modern world. Of the two, the former, unhappily, has proved in some respects the more powerful spring in human affairs, and has acted the more public part on the stage… Read More 1. The Origin of the Papacy