The article reexamines the origins of the legend of the donation which Emperor Constantine the Great was to make to Pope Sylvester I, offering him Rome and the secular power over the western part of the Roman Empire. Its main purpose is to analyze how the hagiographical text produced in the late fifth century to promote the cult of St. Sylvester was adopted and used by medieval popes to endorse their dominant position in Latin Christendom. The charter of Constantine’s Donation became one of the most famous medieval forgeries, which served to legitimize the existence of papal state in Italy and to promote the idea of popes’ superiority over emperors and other secular rulers. It was only in the middle of the fifteenth century that the authenticity of that document was successfully questioned by Nicholas of Cusa and in particular by Lorenzo Valla. The latter in his treatise De falso credita et ementita Constantini Donatione by means of a careful historical and philological analysis demonstrated that Constantine’s Donation was a pure forgery. and Paweł Kras.
Autor podle recenzenta v knize podniká hloubkovou sondu do myšlenkového světa skupiny intelektuálů v období první Československé republiky, kteří byli katolíky natolik, že zapomněli na to, že jsou také křesťany. V jedné skupině však přitom spojil až příliš různorodé osobnosti a z rozboru jejich názorů pak vyvozuje někdy zjednodušující či problematické generalizace, například o vztahu katolických intelektuálů k prvorepublikovému režimu a demokracii obecně. Za přínosný považuje recenzent důraz na politický rozměr katolického myšlení v dané době, rozsah zpracování některých díčích témat jako antisemitismu však podle něj není dostatečný., In this book, according to the reviewer, the author has conducted a deep probe into the thought world of a group of intellectuals in the first Czechoslovak Republic who were Roman Catholics to such an extent that they forgot that they were also Christians. The author, however, has put too many different figures into one group, and then, from an analysis of their views, has sometimes made simplistic or problematic generalizations, for example, about the Roman Catholic intellectuals’ attitude towards the régime of the First Republic in particular and democracy in general. The reviewer appreciates the emphasis on the political dimension of Roman Catholic thought in this period, but considers the scope of the treatment of some parts of the topic, such as antisemitism, to be insufficient., [autor recenze] Jiří Smlsal., and Obsahuje bibliografii