A Church ‘without stain or wrinkle’: The Reception and Application of Donatist Arguments in Debates Over Priestly Purity

This article examines the reception and application of arguments developed during the Donatist controversy in later debates over clerical celibacy, marriage and continence in the medieval and early modern church. It explores the collision of inspiration and institution in this context, arguing that the debates over sacerdotal celibacy in the medieval Latin church and Reformation controversy over clerical marriage and continence both appropriated and polemicized the history of Donatism. The way in which the spectre and lexicon of Donatism permeated the law and practice of the medieval and early modern church, particularly when it came to the discipline of clerical celibacy, is a prime example of the process of imbrication by which the history of heresy and the history of the church were constructed. As such, it exemplifies the ways in which forms of religious inspiration that manifested as dissent, such as Donatism, became embedded in the histories and self-fashioning of the institutional church.

Johann Christian Bach

Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach (b. 1685–d. 1750), was one of the originators of the Classical style, an important composer and concert organizer in London. Born in Leipzig on 5 September 1735, J. C. Bach began his musical training under his father and mother, Anna Magdalena (b. 1701– d. 1760), and continued his studies in Berlin with his half-brother, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (b. 1714–d. 1788), after his father died in July 1750. In 1755, J. C. Bach went to Italy, studied with Padre Martini in Bologna, converted to the Roman Catholic faith, and eventually was appointed organist at the Milan Cathedral, where he composed much Latin church music. After receiving commissions for an opera in Turin (Artaserse in 1760) and two operas for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples (Catone in Utica and Alessandro nell’Indie in 1761–1762), J. C. Bach was called to London, where he served as music director at the King’s Theater in 1762–1763 (writing two operas that season, Orione and Zanaida), and he became Music Master to Queen Charlotte. With Carl Friedrich Abel, Bach organized a series of concerts at various locations in London. He continued to write operas and one oratorio for London, plus two operas for Mannheim (Temistocle in 1772 and Lucio Silla in 1775) and one for Paris (Amadis de Gaule in 1779). His keyboard and instrumental music was widely published, and he was admired by the young Mozart, who met him during his visit to London in 1764. J. C. Bach was the most cosmopolitan composer of his family; he maintained a long correspondence with Martini, and his portrait was painted by Thomas Gainsborough for Martini’s extensive collection.

The Vetus Latina (old latin)

The translations of the Old Testament into Latin, from c.200 ce onwards, were based on the LXX rather than the Hebrew. Due to the eventual triumph of Jerome’s translation according to the Hebrew (later known as the Vulgate), the witnesses to the Old Latin (Vetus Latina) are poorly preserved, but this latter text was the one that was quoted and commented on by the Latin Church fathers, who in turn frequently use commentaries by Greek fathers on the LXX. In this way the Old Latin acts as a link between the LXX and the Latin fathers. The early texts of the LXX sometimes differ from the textus receptus, and consequently also their Latin translations. Differences may be local or great, e.g. the order of chapters in Exodus, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Proverbs. Qumran has shown that some of these differences are attested in Hebrew. The Old Latin translated from the Old Greek (whether preserved or not) represents a form of the Old Testament distinct from the Masoretic Text.

The Gyffard Partbooks

The Gyffard Partbooks are a priceless source of Tallis’s music because 95 percent of their contents are found nowhere else. Unlike most surviving collections of Latin church repertory in England, this is an anthology of three-voice and four-voice music. It shows Tallis and his mid-century colleagues (some of them considerably younger) writing on a smaller scale. The chapter looks in detail at a number of Tallis’s works in the Gyffard books, including an enigmatic four-voice mass and a motet (Sancte Deus) that shows close ties to the distinguished Tudor court musician Philip van Wilder. This is the last pre-Reformation chapter in the book. Starting with the music described in Chapter 12, Tallis will begin writing for services in English.

Conversion by Coercion

As Christian European society expanded geographically and as the Latin Church insisted on its universal rule, the perceived contamination of Christians by “religious aliens” accelerated intolerance by church and state authorities, mobs, and vigilante groups. This chapter examines the forced conversions of Jews and pagans. In four incidents of Jewish conversion, the threat of violence or of some kind of negative consequence (e.g., economic pressure) constituted if not forced conversions then certainly pressure to convert. Jews, however, were only one group, and a relatively small one, targeted for forcible Christian conversion. Throughout the medieval period, thousands of pagans were brought into the Christian fold by forcible means—from Charlemagne’s eighth-century campaign against the Saxons to the Sword Brothers’ thirteenth-century campaigns against the Lithuanians and Estonians.

Bach the Teacher

This chapter examines the works of Bach’s later years, including several published collections, in the context of his teaching. The latter, considered in its broadest sense, included not only instruction in the St. Thomas School but private lessons and mentorship for university students and younger professional musicians. To these activities Bach added the revision and publication of compositions that could serve as examples for study and emulation. Among the latter are the four volumes of Clavierübung, including the harpsichord partitas, Italian Concerto, and Goldberg Variations; the Schemelli Chorales and Canonic Variations for organ; and the Musical Offering and Art of Fugue. Also instructive, in a profound sense, are the great vocal works of these years: the passions, oratorios, and Latin church music, including the B-Minor Mass.

Reasons for the Onset of the Uniat Clergy’s Movement Towards Orthodoxy in the Russian Empire in the Beginning of the 19th Century

The article studies the system of pre-conditions that caused the onset of the uniat clergy’s movement towards Orthodoxy in the Russian Empire in the beginning of the 19th century. The author comes to the conclusion that the tendency of the uniat clergy going back to Orthodoxy was the result of certain historic conditions, such as: 1) constant changes in the government policy during the reign of Emperor Pavel I and Emperor Alexander I; 2) increasing latinization of the uniat church service after 1797 and Latin proselytism that were the result of the distrust of the uniats on the part of Roman curia and representatives of Polish Catholic Church of Latin church service; 3) ecclesiastical contradictions made at the Brest Church Union conclusion; 4) division of the uniat clergy into discordant groups and the increase of their opposition to each other on the issue of latinization in the first decades of the 19th century. The combination of those conditions was a unique phenomenon that never repeated itself anywhere.

The Fourth Lateran Council as the Main Agenda for the Preparation of the Fifth Crusade

<p>The Latin Church in medieval time regarded crusades as holy wars against paganism and heretics. Pope Innocent III was one of the church leaders who strongly believed that Christians need to regain the Holy Land. After initiating the Fourth Crusade and was disappointed by the failure of the crusaders, Innocent III organised the Fourth Lateran Council for the main purpose of launching the Fifth Crusade. While some scholars maintained that the reform of universal church was one of the main agenda of the Council, this paper shows that it was ancillary to the preparation of all elements within the Church for the next Crusade.</p>