Whats so holy about the Holy Roman Emperor?
What was holy about the office, apart from various of its occupants like Bl. Charlemagne and St. Henry, was its role. Gary Potter sums it up admirably in modern terms: Words express ideas, and some of them now being quoted signify notions likely to be totally foreign to anyone unfamiliar with history prior to a few decades ago: “world emperor,” “imperial office,” This is not the place to lay out all the history needed to be known for thoroughly grasping the notions. However, the principal one was adumbrated by Our Lord Himself in the last command his followers received from Him: to make disciples of all the nations. In a word, the idea of a universal Christian commonwealth is what we are talking about. To date it has never existed. To-day there is not even a Christian government anywhere. However, from the conversion of Constantine until August, 1806 with an interruption (in the West) from Romulus Augustulus in 476 to Charlemagne in 800 there was the Empire. It was the heart of what wa
