Charlemagne(Charles the great) beatified?

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Timi_Celcer

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How could Charlemagne be beatified? He started wars, conquered people, he even forcefully converted thousands of people and he even killed 4000 people in one night. And he was beatified almost immediately after his death by pope Benedict XIV. I cannot understand how could 1. the Church beatificated him so soon after his death, and 2. how could they beatificate him in the first place?

I found alot of doubt because of that beatification. I even started to think that the Church beatificated him so soon after his death because of political reasons and because he helped the pope to return to Rome. Please explain.
 
Timi_Celcer said:
How could Charlemagne be beatified? He started wars, conquered people, he even forcefully converted thousands of people and he even killed 4000 people in one night.
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I think some of those legends are exaggerations. And starting a war is not necessarily evil, if it is a just war.
And he was beatified almost immediately after his death by pope Benedict XIV.
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Slow down.

Charlemagne died in 814 A.D.

He was beatified (in a very low-key manner) by Pope Benedict XIV who reigned between 1740 and 1758 A.D. At the least, the interval was 926 years. Where you got “immediately” from is beyond me.

He was canonized by an anti-pope in 1165, but this was never recognized officially.
I cannot understand how could 1. the Church beatificated him so soon after his death,
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They didn’t, see above!
and 2. how could they beatificate him in the first place?
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I presume he must have also done something good with his life. 😃
I found alot of doubt because of that beatification. I even started to think that the Church beatificated him so soon after his death because of political reasons and because he helped the pope to return to Rome. Please explain.
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This sounds like anti-Catholic spew to me. Please check the dates I’ve quoted above, which are from the Catholic Encyclopedia.
 
Timi_Celcer said:
How could Charlemagne be beatified? He started wars, conquered people, he even forcefully converted thousands of people and he even killed 4000 people in one night. And he was beatified almost immediately after his death by pope Benedict XIV. I cannot understand how could 1. the Church beatificated him so soon after his death, and 2. how could they beatificate him in the first place?

I found alot of doubt because of that beatification. I even started to think that the Church beatificated him so soon after his death because of political reasons and because he helped the pope to return to Rome. Please explain.
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Charlemagne has never been canonized. That is popular fable. He was great in many respects but hardly the material for canonization.

Linus2nd
 
Hey, be nice, I’m a descendant of Blessed Charles the Great and he was really a great leader.

God bless!
 
I heard that he was baptized on his deathbed, which, if he committed no mortal sins on that deathbed, means that he went to heaven after death. (I might be confusing him with Constantine the Great).

I’ve also heard that, as a blessed, in accordance with the Church laws of the age in which he was beatified, he can only be venerated in a small area of Europe.

Does anyone know if either of these statements are true?
 
ssancho said:
I heard that he was baptized on his deathbed, which, if he committed no mortal sins on that deathbed, means that he went to heaven after death. (I might be confusing him with Constantine the Great).

I’ve also heard that, as a blessed, in accordance with the Church laws of the age in which he was beatified, he can only be venerated in a small area of Europe.

Does anyone know if either of these statements are true?
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I don’t know either way about the first (it does sound more like Constantine), but I believe the second is true. Benedict XIV simply confirmed his cultus, which is kind of like a less formal beatification. Basically he acknowledged that his public veneration was being carried out in a certain area and confirmed that it could be licitly continued there, but did not formally beatify him.
 
ssancho said:
I heard that he was baptized on his deathbed, which, if he committed no mortal sins on that deathbed, means that he went to heaven after death. (I might be confusing him with Constantine the Great).

I’ve also heard that, as a blessed, in accordance with the Church laws of the age in which he was beatified, he can only be venerated in a small area of Europe.

Does anyone know if either of these statements are true?
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Charlemagne was Catholic throughout his reign and was in fact the “protector” of the papacy.
 
Timi_Celcer said:
How could Charlemagne be beatified? He started wars, conquered people, he even forcefully converted thousands of people and he even killed 4000 people in one night.
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It is my understanding that he repented of the forced conversion and destruction of non-Catholics after St. Alcuin of York confronted him about it. According to Wikipedia: “In [his] role as adviser, [St. Alcuin] tackled the emperor over his policy of forcing pagans to be baptised on pain of death, arguing, ‘Faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptised, but you cannot force them to believe.’ His arguments seem to have prevailed – Charlemagne abolished the death penalty for paganism in 797.”

If that is true, perhaps he was beatified because he repented from wrongdoing and became an ever-better ruler, not because he did very evil things in the early part of his reign.
 
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