So I'm a bit torn on the use of props during sermons. While they can be effective, there's also an element of Prot and Conciliar "corniness" about it.
Speaking of bishops with swords, the Hungarian Archbishop Tomori also led armed forces against the Ottoman Turks. Lest you think he was one of these liberation theology types, he had actually gone to a Franciscan monastery after his fiance died, giving away all his considerable wealth and titles, and taking a vow of poverty. At one point, when the Hungarians were under attack and were lacking experienced military commanders, the Hungarian leaders asked him to come out from the monastery to lead troops. He refused, so the Hungarians persuaded Pope Adrian VI to order him out of his monastery, so the pope made him an Archbishop and commanded him to come out and lead the troops. He did a masterful job, but in the end the Hungarian nobility ordered him into the Battle of Mohacs (to join other commanders) over his objections regarding the strategy there. He was right, of course, and the Hungarians were badly routed (being massively outnumbered) and most were slaughtered, including +Tomori. Nearly all the Catholic nobility and many clergy were killed in that battle, and that actually opened up a vacuum that allowed the rise of Protestants in parts of the country, and that in turn led to the sneak attack on Vienna, where the traitorous (allegedly) Catholic King of France cut a deal with the Hungarian Prots in the norther part of the country to allow the Ottoman force through. Thankfully Sobieski at all came in and saved Vienna, but for 150 years, the Hungarians kept the Ottomans out of Western Europe, splling much blood, and getting very little help from the Holy Roman emperors or from the Pope.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1l_Tomori
Topic: Bishop With a Sword (Read 45 times)