INNOCENT 



2996 



INNSBRUCK 



INNOCENT, in' o sent, the name of thirteen 

 Popes, of whom the third had by far the 

 greatest influence. 



Innocent I, who was raised to the Papal 

 chair in 402, ruling until his death in 417, main- 

 tained with a firm hand the right of the 

 Roman Bishop to hear appeals from other 

 churches, while his letters are filled with asser- 

 tions of universal jurisdiction. Two* years 

 after he became Pope he induced Emperor 

 Honorius to pass laws protecting the Catholics 

 against the Donatists, a sect then powerful 

 in North Africa, while some years later he 

 strongly supported Saint Chrysostom, who had 

 been unjustly deprived of the See of Constance. 

 His- last years were full of trouble owing to the 

 damage done by Alaric, leader of the Goths, 

 who pillaged Rome in 410. 



Innocent II, who, in spite of much opposi- 

 tion from a faction of cardinals, was elected 

 Pope in 1130, held the second Lateran Council 

 in 1139, which confirmed the condemnations 

 pronounced by several other councils on Abe- 

 lard (see ABELARD, PIERRE) and the followers of 

 Arnold of Brescia, leader of a revolutionary 

 movement in the Church. Up to 1138 he had 

 a hard time maintaining his position, although 

 he was supported by Louis VI, the French 

 bishops and Saint Bernard, for Anacletus II, 

 who had been elected antipope, held posses- 

 sion of the Church of Saint Peter and much of 

 the city of Rome until his death in that year. 

 For the five years following, Innocent II held 

 undisputed sway over the Church. He died in 

 1143. 



Innocent III (1161-1216) was the greatest 

 Pope by this name. His combined wisdom and 

 strength in extending the spiritual power of 

 the Papacy over temporal authority overcame 

 the fears of all who thought him too young 

 for the responsibility, for he was only thirty- 

 seven when elected to the Papal chair. His 

 chief aim was to establish the authority of 

 the Church over the State. He began by 

 restoring Papal authority in Rome, but soon 

 his influence extended over all Europe. He 

 compelled John of England to acknowledge 

 the sovereignty of the Pope and pay an annual 

 tribute; forced Philip Augustus of France to 

 take back his queen, Ingeborg, whom he had 

 tried to repudiate to marry Agnes of Meran; 

 and instituted the Fourth Crusade, which re- 

 sulted in the capture of Constantinople from 

 the Greeks and the establishment of the Latin 

 Empire (see CRUSADES). As a worker for pub- 

 lic and private morality his influence was far- 



reaching, while at his death he was engaged in 

 promoting peace among the Italian cities. 



Innocent XI (1611-1689), who became Pope 

 in 1676, was continually involved in conflicts 

 with Louis XIV, in spite of the fact that he 

 owed his election to the French party. The 

 most serious one arose when he tried to put 

 an end to the king's practice of keeping sees 

 vacant and appropriating their revenues. The 

 resistance to this attempt brought forth the 

 celebrated declaration of the French clergy as 

 to the "Gallican liberties." Innocent XI was 

 a vigorous and judicious reformer, censuring 

 many of the propositions of theologians which 

 he considered morally lax. 



Innocent XII (1615-1700), upon becoming 

 Pope two years after the death of Innocent XI, 

 followed the reforming plan of his predecessor, 

 who had previously appointed him cardinal. 

 During his pontificate he brought about a 

 reconciliation with France after the French 

 clergy had retracted the Four Propositions of 

 the Gallican Clergy, which asserted that kings 

 in temporal matters were independent of the 

 Pope. G.W.M. 



INNOCENTS, FEAST OF HOLY, also called 

 INNOCENTS' DAY and CHILDERMAS, is a fes- 

 tival observed on the twenty-eighth and some- 

 times on the twenty-ninth of December, in 

 commemoration of Herod's murder of the Beth- 

 lehem male children of two years and under 

 (Matthew II, 16). The object of the massacre 

 was the destruction of the infant Saviour. In 

 the Roman Catholic Church these children are 

 regarded as martyrs; their murder inspired the 

 exquisitely beautiful hymn of Prudentius, en- 

 titled Salvete Flores Martyrum. 



INNSBRUCK, ins 'brook, a city of Austria, 

 capital of the crownland of Tyrol, noted for its 

 picturesque situation in a broad valley of the 

 Alps Mountains, nearly 1,900 feet above the 

 sea, and for its many historic associations. 

 For three centuries after 1363, Innsbruck was 

 the seat of residence for nearly all of the 

 Tyrolese rulers of the House of Hapsburg. 

 The city lies on both banks of the River Inn, 

 and its name means bridge of the Inn. Lofty 

 snow-capped mountains surround it on all sides, 

 and its spacious streets and many famous 

 buildings add to its attractiveness. In the city 

 may be seen the oldest Capuchin monastery in 

 Austria, begun in 1598, and a Franciscan 

 church, dating from the sixteenth century, 

 which contains a magnificent monument to the 

 Emperor Maximilian I and a beautiful silver 

 statue of the Virgin Mary. 



