History of Religion

Sunday, March 22, 2009

History of religion

Since we can't get the group together to prepare for this mission, I thought I would share a little about the history of religion in France.  When Charlemagne was crowned in 800 ad as the empereur of the Holy Roman Empire, he wanted all his subjects to be Christians. Christianity became the national religion. 

  Over the years, Christianity became organized into Catholicism with leaders ( the Pope, cardinals and bishops) and rules.  Around 1000 AD, the Pope asked the kings of Europe to help him win the Holy Land back from the Turks ( the Muslims). So the kings of France made several Crusades to the Holy Land. The lost the battle, but they bought "les reliques" while they were there. These holy objects were things like....a piece of the Cross, the Crown of Thorns, the head of John the Baptist, etc.  When the kings of France brought them back to France, they built cathedrales to house them. The people wanted their cathedrales to soar to the heavens and praise God. We will see some of these in southern France.