section_path: Legacy/Religious influence and veneration
section_name: Religious influence and veneration
paragraph_text: Religious influence and veneration
  
  Charlemagne gave much attention to religious and ecclesiastical affairs, holding 23 synods during his reign. His synods were called to address specific issues at particular times, but generally dealt with church administration and organization, education of the clergy, and the proper forms of liturgy and worship. Charlemagne used the Christian faith as a unifying factor in the realm and, in turn, worked to impose unity on the church. He implemented an edited version of the Dionysio-Hadriana book of canon law acquired from Pope Adrian, required use of the Rule of St. Benedict in monasteries throughout the empire, and promoted a standardised liturgy adapted from the rites of the Roman Church to conform with Frankish practices. Carolingian policies promoting unity did not eliminate the diverse practices throughout the empire, but created a shared ecclesiastical identity—according to Rosamond McKitterick, "unison, not unity."
  
  The condition of all his subjects as a "Christian people" was an important concern. Charlemagne's policies encouraged preaching to the laity, particularly in vernacular languages they would understand. He believed it essential to be able to recite the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed, and made efforts to ensure that the clergy taught them and other basics of Christian morality.
  
  Thomas F. X. Noble writes that the efforts of Charlemagne and his successors to standardise Christian doctrine and practices and harmonise Frankish practices were essential steps in the development of Christianity in Europe, and the Roman Catholic or Latin Church "as a historical phenomenon, not as a theological or ecclesiological one, is a Carolingian construction." He says that the medieval European concept of Christendom as an overarching community of Western Christians, rather than a collection of local traditions, is the result of Carolingian policies and ideology. Charlemagne's doctrinal policies promoting the use of filioque and opposing the Second Council of Nicea were key steps in the growing divide between Western and Eastern Christianity.
  
  Emperor Otto II attempted to have Charlemagne canonised in 1000. In 1165, Frederick Barbarossa persuaded Antipope Paschal III to elevate Charlemagne to sainthood. Since Paschal's acts were not considered valid, Charlemagne was not recognised as a saint by the Holy See. Despite this lack of official recognition, his cult was observed in Aachen, Reims, Frankfurt, Zurich and Regensburg, and he has been venerated in France since the reign of Charles V.
  
  Charlemagne also drew attention from figures of the Protestant Reformation, with Martin Luther criticising his apparent subjugation to the papacy by accepting his coronation from Leo. John Calvin and other Protestant thinkers viewed him as a forerunner of the Reformation, however, noting the Libri Carolini ' s condemnation of the worship of images and relics and conflicts by Charlemagne and his successors with the temporal power of the popes.