Pope Gregory IX did not say cats are evil, and did not order people to kill cats. In those days, papal inquisitors extracted confessions from prisoners that they worshiped the devil and his black cat by torturing them vigorously. To learn more about me and my digital travels, visit myTwitterpage. In the 13th century, an inquisitor described, in a report to the pope, a Satanic cult in Germany that used cats as part of a ritual, and the pope's response quoted some of his information (which has been described as medieval propaganda by some). Purina, the multinational firm known for making cat chow, notes that, Egyptians have had a long love affair with cats. Statues of black cats dont come to life, and you sure as sh*t cant get a cat to walk backwards and let you kiss its butthole.5. Heretical beliefs were on the rise at the time, . To start, lets look at what Pope Gregory IX actually said about cats in his bull (special formatting is my own): Finally, even if cat numbers were vastly reduced, they were not wiped out. Either way, his account cant be true. You literally cannot even be bothered to recall the NAMES of the people youre talking about. Then, there is the fact that cats just arent good ratters-, which is why dogs; especially terriers are employed to catch rodents. Furthermore, several more black plagues would hit the world in the 18th century or so, and it's unlikely that the cat population still suffers the cathunt after hundred of years. The mass murder of cats was not the only cause of the Black Plague, but it removed a crucial natural predator of the flea-carrying rats that spread the disease. In 2021, I dont think that most Catholics or people of other religious believe that cats are evil. Forgive us! says the master, and the one next to him repeats this, a third responding, We know, master! A fourth says And we must obey. 4, So whats up with this? Pope Benedict XVI acknowledges pilgrims during his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Nov. 4, 2009. It was his distaste for cats that penned the Vox in Rama. Cats that I know are devoted to their humans my dog runs off as soon as the door is open, my cat sits on my knee, engages in conversation with me, stays closeby our home, and kills lots of mice, bringing them to me rather than eating them cats keep down rodent populations for farmers and humans who store and eat grain etc definitely as handy as dogs. The Black Plague did happen. And thats the official take on Halloween from theVatican News. Elsewhere in Europe, the legacy of cat killings passed into folk practices. During this period, cat-burning was considered to bringgood luck. Buy Long Live the Kitty! (Accessed June 1, 2018). But today, the association between cats and Halloween persist, perhaps ironically because spurious associations between cats and Satan worshiping that the Catholic Church pushed, some 800 years ago. Both believed that cats were satanic and Marburg came up with evidence as to why cats are satanic. By rough estimates, as many as 200 million people died. Where do we get our stuff? Wildcat7 Youd rather see an animal domesticated for thousands of years in the wild doing what they are meant to do than indoors as pets? Tomb of Ancient Viking High King Discovered, The Most Bizarre Relics From The Ancient Funeral Rite. Information junkie with high probability of being a real-life Ted Mosby. Even in Egypt, where they still view cats as sacred animals, plague hits. For he had inherited the problem of heresies which were blossoming across thirteenth century Christian Europe and challenging the 'universal' church. Cat burning became a favorite medieval pastime in France, where cats were suspended over fires in cages or doused and set alight- even chased on fire through the streets by cat chasers. (2017, February 6). For the worship of the cat had its basis in the pagan past. Before the prospect of burning at the stake for having contact with the purring pets, Catholics around the the continent began slaughtering any feline that entered their property. The novice kisses him and feels cold, [like] ice, and after the kiss the memory of the [C]atholic faith totally disappears from his heart. designs at:Threadless.com and Zazzle, Why Cats Were (Wrongly) Blamed for the Black Plague in Europe. People living during this time lived in constant fear of death. This isa cautionary tale to all you cat haters out there. I live in a city, so I have plenty of experience with both cats and mice. While the papal bull was sent to several rulers such as Emperor Frederick II and King Henry of Germany, the central prominent figure that assumes that task very seriously is one Konrad von Marburg. Elsewhere in Europe, the legacy of cat killings passed into folk practices. No one can say for sure how many cats were killed because of the association made between them and witchcraft by the Vox in Rama. I AGREE. Gregory's missionary zeal among the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons in England was the first step in a process that would culminate with Charlemagne's coronation in Rome on Christmas Day in AD 800.. At the same time Benedictine monks led by Augustine were sent to Kent to convert the pagan King Ethelbert and his people, other missionaries from . That is, pope condemning cats and declaring satanistique is enough for some people to start mass-killing cats, this assholes claims are 100% wrong; more than one pope ordered cats killed- why not, eventually excommunicaated? However, historian Donald Engel believes that the Vox acted as a death warrant for the cat. Just want to add that I like pretty much all animals, even dogs, but I am a cat person. We accept this storythat we humans once crossed cats and it resulted in one in three of us dyingbecause it just feels rignt. Firstly, they are greeted by an abnormally large frog or toad, whose behind they must kiss and then a man of fearful pallor and thinness whose task was to suck out every last remnant of faith in the Catholic Church from their soul. Honestly, I feel like even thinking that the cathunt resulted or directly influence the black plague is a bit of a stretch. In an era when unknown phenomena seemed like they could only be explained by powerful deities, it seemed only natural to the Egyptians to worship kitty cats. Remember: Egyptians were known for being cat lovers, and Asia is where cats originally came from. Retrieved from https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=141316, ONeill, Tim. The Decretals reorganized the whole library of Catholic laws. His papacy started when hereticism run rampant in Europe, and yet, by the end of his term, he saw the completion of one of the most important canon law in the Catholic Church known as the Decretales Gregorii IX, Decretales Gregorii IX, My guess is this had something to do with ancient cat worship in places like Egypt, which made its clams by farming the fertile land around the Nile.1. Welcome to BELIEVE.art, home of Revolutionary Artist & Warrior-Poet, Chairman Meow. I do support single mothers though, especially those willing to give me 2 for 1 lapdance specials, but I digress. Some believed that the disappearance of those cats helped rats spread the bubonic plague aka the Black Death that killed millions of people in the 1300s. Cats are not assholes, as this writer and many dog lovers like to repeat endlessly (and its SO tiresome to listen). ABORTION SHOULD BE THE ANSWER IN ALL COUNTRIES, ALONG SIDE LAWS THAT WOULD PREVENT THE POPULATION GROWTH FROM EXPANDING . This seems to add up for the modern reader. Queen Elizabeth I celebrated her coronation with the burning of a cat-stuffed effigy. Exterminating cats during the black plague epidemic in the 14th century: Cat owners were often accused of witchcraft, and often murdered along with their pets. But, was it because of cats andrats? According to Pope Gregory IX, cats were the embodiment of the devil himself. A pandemic so severe that it kills more than 50 million people in Europe in a couple of years, and killed more than 200 million people worldwide. Finally, even if cat numbers were vastly reduced, they were not wiped out. Kitty cats are not everyones flavor of pudding, but they serve an important role in many urban areas, especially in the developing nations outside the western world. *Coupons: Check out our coupons for stores like Checks Unlimited and CheapOair! Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/ravens-memory-unfair-trade/. They spread via trade boats. In Belgium, an entire festival, Kattenstoet, is dedicated to throwing cats from buildings and burning them in the streets. On June 13, 1233, he issued a papal decree, Vox in Rama, based on bogus evidence provided by a Spanish Inquisitor. This info on Pope Gregory the ASSWHOLE is just another scandal caused by a Pope. Like a lot of other myths about history from the Middle Ages, the idea that Europeans wiped out cats and then paid for it with the Black Death makes more sense the less you think about it. Cats just arent dogs, and I respect and love them specifically for that reason. If you survived, you lost many people you loved. Reigning during the Western Schism, he was opposed by the Avignon claimant Benedict XIII and the Pisan claimants Alexander V and John XXIII.Gregory XII wanted to unify the Church and . It also saw the breakup of the Carolingian Empire in 843. Sometimes it appears unduly large, and sometimes equivalent to a goose or a duck, and sometimes it even assumes the size of an oven. Denmark's Fastelavn held at the start of lent was based on the premise that for spring to begin, evil had to be banished. Gregory IX. Encyclopedia of World Biography, Encyclopedia.com. As we are. We may not be that much superior to that time frame, but we have learned a thing or two since then, I hope. How then could he have impacted the good people of the 1300s? They were shunned, persecuted and often killed by people who feared that they . Neither does rogue operative, Jason Bourne. This timeline stretched from 1346 to 1353, a little more than a century after Gregory. I dont really agree that cats offered no protection from the plague. One small fact you havent taken account of here. After all, the devil was already at work through heretics. Based on the Vox in Rama translation there is no exact phrase that urges Konrad or other inquisitors to go on a cathunt all across Europe. Cat burning and other forms of cat hating have survived the centuries since. The truth is a little messy. His pontificate was notable for the papacy's attempts to intervene in the quarrels between Emperor Louis the Pious and his sons. One should not direct them the affection due only to persons.. AKSHAY. Costs of living dropped. "The whole story is one of those pseudo historical urban myths that keeps getting repeated despite the fact it's complete nonsense. On October 11, 1231, he appointed Conrad as the first grand inquisitor of Germany. With this thought in mind, I spent two years at CIA, where I was a supervisor in the Public Communications Branch at the Office of Public Affairs. https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/eight-witchcraft-myths/. Good luck keeping cat population low for 500 years. Cats breed quickly, know how to survive on their own, and are hard to catch. (As a side note, the festival continues in modern Belgium but nowKattenstoethonors felines with a parade that features cute effigies of cats, but I digress. The PBS documentary pointed out that cats dont have the musculature in their faces to reproduce human-like facial expressions the way dogs do, which is probably the main reason people think they are aloof and why they think dogs are so much more companionable (cause we love things that are more like us). After food, clothing and medicine, the fourth item is cosmetics and the fifth is pets, he said, referring to a study on where most peoples income goes. 1958 China Chairman Mao and the great leap forward he had designs on wiping out the four evils The purpose of Vox in Rama, rather, was to condemn a cult that had allegedly popped up in the Rhinelandand the bull was specifically sent to the city of Mainz. The cat thing is a footnote in his story. Pope Gregory IX, who held the papacy from 1227 to 1241, most definitely fell in the second camp largely because he believed that the fluffy hairball-hackers embodied Lucifer himself. Cats Blamed for Spreading the Plague During the Middle Ages, it wasn't uncommon for cats to be killed, given their association with evil, Compora says. CATS ARE BETTER THAN PEOPLE. Another belief is that the plague wasairborne. The Vox in Rama encouraged Conrad of Marburg to overreach himself and that same year he accused Henry II, Count of Sayn of taking part in satanic orgies. There are holes in your arguments as well. In this case, with no cats around, disease-carrying rats multiplied like crazy, spreading the Plague. The Bubonic plague was carried not by rats themselves but their fleas; fleas which could just as easily transfer to dogs- and cats. Denmarks Fastelavn held at the start of lent was based on the premise that for spring to begin, evil had to be banished. Thus, purported heretics, such as the Cathars and Waldensians, were accused of worshipping cats, according toMedievalists.net. When I was a kid, my mom thought that Id have my own talk show because I was always asking people lots of questions about themselves. 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