They could, however, claim solidarity with ancient Christians who rejected
worldly wealth and power.
Not exact matches
Though they were generally regular, faithful members of Catholic services (until the Reformation), they seem to have viewed the
worldly Church establishment in its
wealth and power as corrupt.
What made St. Francis so influential was his extraordinary originality: the son of a rich businessman who renounced his
wealth and slept in pigstys while retaining the courtliness
and gentility that were noble attributes of his era; the anti-establishment figure who founded a great religious institution; the man of radical poverty whose followers were not permitted (even if they had wanted) to imitate his utter rejection of
worldly goods; the man of the Bible who never owned a complete one; the author of the first great literary work in Italian dialect, the «Canticle of the Sun,» who was steeped in the jongleur tradition of French poetry
and song; the naïf who moved the heart
and enriched the religious imagination of that great realist
and exponent of papal
power, Innocent III; the child of the age of Crusades who sought not the conquest of the Muslims but their conversion.
Instead, we mastered the
worldly methods for expanding our
power, multiplying our
wealth,
and increasing our fame.
From the vestments (which are really nothing more than the Fourth Century CE court clothing of the Eastern Roman Empire), the canonized saints (which are essentially «Christian» demigods that replaced the pagan pantheon), the numerous feast days
and holy days (which replaced pagan holidays), the statues
and painted icons (which replaced pagan idols),
and the episcopal structure (in which «third sons» of landed aristocrats who had no hope of inheriting their fathers» titles
and lands could become «princes of the church» with as much
worldly comfort as the «first sons»
and almost as much
wealth and power), the Anglican Church was practically indistinguishable from the Roman Church except that they used English in the Mass instead of Latin.
We are not inheriting the earthly
power or the
worldly wealth, hut when Pentecostal
and Catholic show up at city hall to make a plan to build affordable houses for the poor, we catch a glimpse of another, better kingdom.