Table Of Content(cid:2)
C The
hurch
at the
T
urning Points
(cid:2)of
H
istory
Godfr e y Ku rt h
(cid:2)
knight of the order of pius ix
director, belgian historical institute at rome
introduction by patrick foley, ph.d.
the church at the
turning points of history
To the Bishops, Priests, and Laymen who
have the courage and tenacity to remain at their stations
on the Barque of Peter as She faces into the most tempestuous
storm of her mighty history. May they remain unflinchingly
loyal to the Truth, serene at heart but vigorous in action,
and committed to steering Holy Mother Church
into calmer, more fruitful waters.
C The
hurch
at the
T
urning Points
of
H
istory
Godfr ey Kurt h
knight of the order of pius ix
director, belgian historical institute at rome
introduction by patrick foley, ph.d.
Norfolk, VA
2007
The Church at the Turning Points of History.
Copyright © 2007 IHS Press.
Preface, footnotes, typesetting, layout, and cover design
copyright 2007 IHS Press.
All rights reserved.
The present edition of The Church at the Turning Points of History is based upon the English
translation made by Monsignor Victor Day, Vicar General of Helena, and published in 1918 by
Naegele Printing Co., Helena, Montana. The translation was made from the fifth French edi-
tion of the work, L’Eglise aux tournants de l’histoire, published in Brussels in 1913 by Librairie
Albert Dewit. The substance of the work is based upon a series of lectures given by the author
to a Women’s University Extension in Antwerp, 1897–1899. The original author’s preface,
which has been omitted in the present edition, explained that footnote citations were not
provided for the facts cited, as most were presumed to be well known to readers, and the author
begged that they “take his word” for the occasional facts that might be unfamiliar. Footnotes
in the present edition are those added by Msgr. Day, with some modification by the editors.
The spelling, punctuation, and formatting of the original edition have been largely preserved.
Minor editorial corrections have been made to the text, and the original foreword to the 1918
English edition has been slightly abriged.
ISBN-13 (eBook): 978-1-932528-43-5
ISBN-10 (eBook): 1-932528-43-1
FRONTISPIECE: Triumph of the Church, a painting after Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640),
oil on wood, created sometime after 1628. In the image, the Church – symbolized by the
Eucharist led by the Keys of Peter – has in bondage Blindness and Ignorance, and tramples
Hatred, Discord, and Evil.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kurth, Godefroid, 1847-1916.
The church at the turning points of history / Godfrey Kurth ; introduction by Patrick Foley.
p. cm.
Originally published: Helena, Mont. : Naegele Printing Co., 1918.
ISBN-13: 978-1-932528-09-1
1. Church history. I. Title.
BR145.3.K87 2007
282.09--dc22
2007038611
Printed in the United States of America.
Gates of Vienna Books is an imprint of IHS Press, the only publisher dedicated exclusively to
the social teachings of the Catholic Church.
For more information, contact:
IHS Press
222 W. 21st St., Suite F-122
Norfolk, VA 23517
[email protected] • www.ihspress.com • 877-IHS-PRESS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
by Patrick Foley, Ph.D.
FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
by Bishop John P. Carroll
The Church at the Turning Points of History
I. The Mission of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
II. The Church and the Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
III. The Church and the Barbarians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
IV. The Church and Feudalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
V. The Church and Neo-Caesarism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
VI. The Church and the Renaissance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
VII. The Church and the Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
NOTES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
“In the history of mankind considered as a whole there are
two grand divisions. On the one hand, there is the ancient
world seated in the darkness of death; on the other hand, the
modern world which advances in the light of the Gospel. This
is, beyond compare, the greatest fact of history.”
INTRODUCTION
n January 4, 1916, noted historian Godfrey
O
Kurth, C.S.G., died at Assche, Brabant. Professor Kurth,
born at Arlon, Belgium, on May 11, 1847, with a lifelong
dedication to the study of universal history, especially
Europe’s Catholic heritage, was regarded as one of the leading scholars
of his day. At the time of his death he was serving in his tenth year as
director of the Belgian Historical Institute at Rome. Prior to holding
that position, Kurth had spent more than three and a half decades on
the faculty of the State University of Liège, Belgium. Among the distin-
guished Catholic honors he had received or offices he held were: Knight
of the Order of Pius IX; member of The Academy of the Catholic Reli-
gion (Rome); recipient of the doctorate honoris causa from the Catholic
University of Louvain; and Commander of the Order of Leopold.
In addition Kurth was several times honored by being named a
member of societies, academies, or institutes in London, Cologne, Ley-
den, Madrid, Barcelona, Rheims, and Belgium. He published numer-
ous works on saints and historical personages such as Saints Clotilde
and Boniface, Charles Martel, Charlemagne, the Merovingians, and
King Philip II of Spain. Beyond these, he had other works published
on various aspects of the histories of Belgium, Burgundy, the Frankish
kingdoms, and other periods and regions of the European narrative.
Most substantial as an overall work of Catholic history is his Les Orig-
ines de la Civilisation Moderne (The Origins of Modern Civilization),
which ran to several editions during his lifetime. Without question,
his The Church at the Turning Points of History (initially published in
French as L’Eglise aux Tournants de l’Histoire) exists as his most acces-
sible and, in some ways, most engaging tome. The book came into being
as a published compilation of several major lectures he had presented
over time on the broad topic of the mission of the Church as mirroring
“the modern world which advances in the light of the Gospel . . . . ”
7
THE CHURCH AT THE TURNING POINTS OF HISTORY
When Kurth’s book appeared on the scene in the early twentieth
century, the Catholic world of scholarship was basking in the light of a re-
vival of significant proportions that had developed earlier in the previous
century, in England under the banners of John Henry Cardinal Newman
and historian John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, Lord Acton, and in
the United States with the “use-primary-sources” approach to historical
research and writing of John Gilmary Shea. This era of Catholic thinking,
additionally, was later to see coming to the forefront, in the decades that
followed, the influential writings of such giants as Hilaire Belloc, G.K.
Chesterton, Evelyn Waugh, Christopher Dawson, and Jacques Maritain.
Kurth’s work, including Turning Points, made its own important contri-
bution, between these two “eras,” to this positive momentum.
Kurth studied the Church and her maturation, and considered
them foundational to the substance of society at various turning points
in history. He identified seven different points in the historical narra-
tive of Western civilization wherein Catholicism’s presence was of a par-
ticularly significant influence, and therefore in need of a clear portrayal.
These Kurth analyzed with considerable accuracy. Such were the Mis-
sion of the Church; the Church and the Jews; the Church and the Bar-
barians; the Church and Feudalism; the Church and Neo-Caesarism;
the Church and the Renaissance; and the Church and the Revolution.
Each of these areas was to be investigated with the hope of developing
major themes, ones which even today will be of great use in coming to
understand more deeply, and thus better appreciate, the Catholic his-
torical legacy to mankind.
An obvious strength of Kurth’s book is the author’s ability to seek
historical truth and present it in a manner that would today be impos-
sible, because of the modern atmosphere in which, quite often, verac-
ity and frankness are left to suffer at the expense of various partisan
agendas operative in the environment of “political correctness.” Part
and parcel of Kurth’s effort to arrive at historical truth was his develop-
ment of a number of subdivisions among his major areas of study. This
allowed him to focus on specific personages, issues, movements, and so
forth, in precise and objective terms.
In his first turning point of history, “The Mission of the Church,”
Professor Kurth focuses on the Church’s understanding of her own
8
