It is said that Pope Gregory VII began his life in Ravaco, Tuscany, Italy, in the year 1021. The son of a poor carpenter, Gregory was baptized with the name Hildebrand. His modest beginnings made him indifferent to the materialism of most clergy of the period. As a young man, he was placed in the care of an uncle who was the superior of the monastery of Saint Mary on the Aventine in Rome, was professed a Benedictine, and educated at the Lateran school.

Squat and insignificant in appearance, Hildebrand had great force and ability. One of his teachers, John Gratian, was so impressed with him that when he became pope in May 1045 as Gregory VI, he appointed Hildebrand as his secretary. He accompanied Gregory VI into Germany when he was deposed in December 1046. According to tradition, after Gratian's death in 1047, Hildebrand became a monk at Cluny.

As a Lutheran, I do not agree with Gregory VII for playing "vicar for Christ" and following the Petrine Doctrine. The Catholic church has taken Jesus' words as they wanted them to mean and has made the pope the antichrist. Looking from a different viewpoint of what he did for the Catholic church I think he did his job as pope, and did his best to reform the church from being further corrupted.

Robinson, J.H. Readings in European History. Vol. 1 "The Struggle between Secular and Spiritual Authorities: Henry VI's Violent Reply to Henry" New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Williams, Schafer, Ed. The Gregorian Epoch: Reformation, Revolution, Reaction? Boston: D.C. Heath and Company, 1964.

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Gregory was generally successful with his reforms in England except in the matter of lay investiture, which William the Conqueror refused to surrender; gradually Gregory succeeded in France by replacing practically the whole episcopate; but in Germany and northern Italy he met continued resistance. Unable to trust his own bishops, he used legates to announce and enforce his decrees. His most cunning enemy was Henry IV of Germany, who raised the clergy of Germany and northern Italy and antipapal nobles against Gregory. Henry openly used lay investiture to benefit himself, but then again, so did the kings before him. Gregory was the first pope who didn't let the intimidation of powerful kings stop him from doing what was right for the church. He wrote Henry a letter in 1075 telling him that he must change his ways. Gregory said, " We marvel exceedingly that you have sent us so many devoted letters and displayed such humility by the spoken words of your legates, calling yourself !

He had indeed fought single-heartedly and without personal ambition to free the Church from dependence on secular powers. But he pushed the claims of the papacy in respect of civil governors to unheard of lengths with unexampled vigor, and appeared to put too much reliance on secular and legal means to attain religious ends.

Gregory used this power given by the church to be an advocate of Cluny's reforms, which was to free clergy from both kings and "wives" and to create an independent and chaste clergy. He believed the church should be the clergy's lord and wife. He immediately set to work to reform a very corrupt and decadent Church--a huge and thankless task. The secular and sacred rulers of the time would work against him. Bishoprics and abbeys were sold, simony was accepted, clerical celibacy was flamboyantly disregarded, and offerings were misused and even bequeathed to the children of incontinent priests. He also wanted to end lay investiture.

Gregory's handling of the situation greatly changed the relation between church and state. The king was begging the pope for forgiveness! But, Henry was merely biding his time. Nobles elected Henry's brother-in-law, Rudolph of Swabia, in his place, despite the lifting of the excommunication. Gregory wished to remain uninvolved but, in 1080, was forced to reinstate the excommunication an

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