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abbots
and bishops, some of the wealth of the Church would likely come their way. Such
positions were often for sale to the highest bidder.
    The Church was quick to collect its 10 percent of the
produce of the peasants on Church lands, and while its teachings stressed
charity, critics were not slow to recognize that the costs of charity were
small in relation to the enormous income of the Church. Bishops lived in
sumptuous luxury in palaces with servants, lavish entertainment, costly
material goods, expensive dress, and tables of the finest food available.
    There were men of the Church, however, who considered this
ostentatious wealth and power obscene and far removed from the basic spiritual
principles of Christ. They recognized the need for reform and adherence to
fundamentals. But great care was called for not to antagonize Church authority
and be accused of heresy.
     
     
    CHURCH IN THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE
     
    The Church physically held the dominant place in the
village, towering above the community on a hilltop if there was one. It also
held the dominant place spiritually and often politically. It collected fees
for baptism, marriage, burial, and other services. People’s fear of the
afterlife was its major asset that influenced how they thought about heaven and
hell, emphasizing the torments of hell, the sufferings in purgatory, and the
promise of paradise if people followed its tenets. Religion and superstition
made up an important part of most aspects of Catholic daily life. Church and
monastery bells continually reminded the inhabitants of towns and villages of
the presence of God and the danger of committing sins.
    In the past, investigation of heresy was a duty of the
bishops, but Pope Gregory IX established the papal Inquisition whereby men and
women who had once been members of the Catholic faith and had deviated from
Church practices were tried and, if found guilty, handed over to secular authorities
for execution. The hypocritical practice allowed the Church to remain unstained
by the specific act of killing its victims.
     
     
    CORRUPTION AND ABUSE
     
    The years leading up to the Protestant Reformation were
beset by moral corruption, greed, and abuse of position in the higher echelons
of the Roman Catholic Church that included simony (investing one’s wealth or
using influence to purchase an ecclesiastical office), pluralism (as some
influential bishops held several or more dioceses simultaneously), and
absenteeism or the failure of some bishops to reside in the diocese they
administered.
    Abuses arose in the way many ecclesiastical benefices were
conferred often for the personal interests of the petitioner rather than the
spiritual needs of the faithful. The lives of the higher ecclesiastics in Rome,
in tune with the Humanist and Renaissance ideals, became more worldly than
spiritual, leading to a love of luxury and profligacy. Ignorance and lack of
training among the lower clergy left much to be desired.
    Although the Church imposed clerical celibacy as a legal
principle, in practice it was often ignored. Clergymen kept mistresses who were
supported with Church funds, and male offspring of bishops or abbots (referred
to as nephews) often found lucrative positions in the Church, universities, or
the law. The female children (or nieces) might find themselves administering
convents or marrying members of the nobility.
    In 1492, Rodrigo Borgia became pope under the name of
Alexander VI. His immoral way of life outraged many Christians. At his
coronation he appointed his 18-year-old son, Caesare, to the Archbishopric of
Valencia; however, Caesare neither went to Spain nor took religious orders. The
pope’s daughter, Lucrezia, married three times, had children with other lovers,
and was the subject of much scandal. Tales of wild orgies at the Vatican were
rampant, but anyone who denounced such abuses could be excommunicated or worse.
Free preaching was prohibited, and all papers and books that were tainted