Sun and moon allegory

Innocent III

The Sun and Moon Allegory is used to image a medieval political theory that was espoused by the Roman Catholic Church and instantiated to some extent in medieval political practice. Finding this imagery in the Book of Genesis, the Allegory images authentic spiritual authority as the Sun and any and all civil, or political or secular, authority as the Moon. By doing so, it illustrates that the Roman Catholic Pope, as "Supreme Pontiff", "Vicar of Christ", et cetera, and therefore the supreme universal spiritual authority on Earth, is like the Sun that is the one source of light for itself and all other celestial bodies orbiting it; while the Holy Roman Emperor, as symbolic and intended supreme civil, political, and secular authority on Earth, and having theoretically received his authority from and at the pleasure of the Pope, is like the Moon - that is, dependent upon the Sun for any illumination, merely reflects solar light, and ultimately has no light without the Sun. This theory dominated European political theory and practice in the 13th century.[1] It is related to the general theory of Papal supremacy and "plenitudo potestatis" as articulated by the Roman Catholic Church.

An affirmation of this view, which the Lateran Council confirmed,[2] is contained in the letters of Pope Innocent III: "The Lord gave [St.] Peter the rule not only over the universal Church, but also the rule over the whole world." "No king can reign rightly unless he devoutly serves Christ's Vicar." "The priesthood is the Sun, the kingdom the Moon. Kings rule over their respective kingdoms, but [St.] Peter rules over the whole Earth."[3]

While the content of the letters was subtle in their inferred objective of securing Pope Innocent III's authority, when read in total this purpose becomes more obvious:

Papal Authority: Letter to the prefect Acerbius and the nobles of Tuscany, 1198,
Just as the Founder of the universe established two great lights in the firmament of heaven, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, so too He set two great dignities in the firmament of the universal Church ..., the greater on[e] to rule the day, that is, souls, and the lesser to rule the night, that is, bodies. These dignities are the Papal authority and the royal power. Now just as the Moon derives its light from the Sun and is indeed lower than it in quantity and quality, in position and in power, so too the royal power derives the splendor of its dignity from the pontifical authority ... .[4]

This theory was later entered into canon law and reinforced by the Allegory of the Two Swords in the bull of Pope Boniface VIII entitled Unam Sanctam.[2] Dante Alighieri further expounded and defended "rationally" the Allegory of the Sun and Moon in his De Monarchia and other works, but he emphasized the dignity of the offices of both the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor and the harmony they should have in the execution of their obligations due to the shared ultimate objective of saving souls via the one true Roman Catholic Church.

References

  1. ↑ (in Italian) http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/duo-luminaria_%28Federiciana%29/
  2. 1 2 Elliott, Charles (1 January 1842). Delineation of Roman Catholicism: Drawn from the Authentic and Acknowledged Standards of the Church of Rome ... G. Lane & P.P. Sanford. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2015-08-20.
  4. ↑ Medieval Sourcebook: Innocent III: Letters on Papal Polices. Fordham.edu

Bibliography

See also

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