Pope St.
Clement I
Pope Clement I (called CLEMENS ROMANUS to distinguish him from the
Alexandrian), is the first of the successors of St. Peter of whom
anything definite is known, and he is the first of the "Apostolic
Fathers". His feast is celebrated 23 November. He has left one genuine
writing, a letter to the Church of Corinth, and many others have been
attributed to him.
III. THE EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS
The Church of Corinth had been led by a few violent spirits into a
sedition against its rulers. No appeal seems to have been made to Rome,
but a letter was sent in the name of the Church of Rome by St. Clement
to restore peace and unity. He begins by explaining that his delay in
writing has been caused by the sudden calamities which, one after
another, had just been falling upon the Roman Church. The reference is
clearly to the persecution of Domitian. The former high reputation of
the Corinthian Church is recalled, its piety and hospitality, its
obedience and discipline. Jealousy had caused the divisions; it was
jealousy that led Cain, Esau, etc., into sin, it was jealousy to which
Peter and Paul and multitudes with them fell victims. The Corinthians
are urged to repent after the example of the Patriarchs, and to be
humble like Christ himself. Let them observe order, as all creation
does. A curious passage on the Resurrection is somewhat of an
interruption in the sequence: all creation proves the Resurrection, and
so does the phoenix, which every five hundred years consumes itself,
that its offspring may arise out of its ashes (23-6). Let us, Clement
continues, forsake evil and approach God with purity, clinging to His
blessing, which the Patriarchs so richly obtained, for the Lord will
quickly come with His rewards, let us look to Jesus Christ, our
High-Priest, above the angels at the right hand of the Father (36).
Discipline and subordination are necessary as in an army and in the
human body, while arrogance is absurd for man is nothing. The Apostles
foresaw feuds, and provided for a succession of bishops and deacons;
such, therefore cannot be removed at pleasure. The just have always
been persecuted. Read St. Paul's first epistle to you, how he condemns
party spirit. It is shocking that a few should disgrace the Church of
Corinth. Let us beg for pardon- nothing is more beautiful than charity;
it was shown by Christ when He gave His Flesh for our flesh, His
Soul-for our souls; by living in this love, we shall be in the number
of the saved through Jesus Christ, by Whom is glory to God for ever and
ever, Amen (58). But if any disobey, he is in great danger; but we will
pray that the Creator may preserve the number of His elect in the whole
world.--Here follows a beautiful Eucharistic prayer (59-61). The
conclusion follows: "We have said enough, on the necessity of
repentance, unity, peace, for we have been speaking to the faithful,
who have deeply studied the Scriptures, and will understand the
examples pointed out, and will follow them. We shall indeed be happy if
you obey. We have sent two venerable messengers, to show how great is
our anxiety for peace among you" (62-4). "Finally may the all-seeing
God and Master of Spirits and Lord of all flesh, who chose the Lord
Jesus Christ and us through Him for a peculiar people, grant unto every
soul that is called after His excellent and holy Name faith, fear,
peace, patience, long-suffering, temperance, chastity, and soberness,
that they may be well-pleasing unto His Name through our High Priest
and Guardian. Jesus Christ, through whom unto Him be glory and majesty,
might and honour, both now and for ever and ever, Amen. Now send ye
back speedily unto us our messengers Claudius Ephebus and Valerius
Bito, together with Fortunatus also, in peace and with joy, to the end
that they may the more quickly report the peace and concord which is
prayed for and earnestly desired by us, that we also may the more
speedily rejoice over your good order. The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ be with you and with all men in all places who have been called
by God and through Him, through whom is glory and honour, power and
greatness and eternal dominion, unto Him, from the ages past and for
ever and ever. Amen." (64-5.)
The style of the Epistle is earnest and simple, restrained and
dignified, and sometimes eloquent. The Greek is correct, though not
classical. The quotations from the Old Testament are long and numerous.
The version of the Septuagint used by Clement inclines in places
towards that which appears in the New Testament, yet presents
sufficient evidence of independence; his readings are often with A, but
are less often opposed to B than are those in the New Testament;
occasionally he is found against the Septuagint with Theodotion or even
Aquila (see H. B. Swete, Introd. to the 0. T. in Greek, Cambridge
1900). The New Testament he never quotes verbally. Sayings of Christ
are now and then given, but not in the words of the Gospels. It cannot
be proved, therefore, that he used any one of the Synoptic Gospels. He
mentions St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, and appears to
imply a second. He knows Romans and Titus, and apparently cites several
other of St. Paul's Epistles. But Hebrews is most often employed of all
New Testament books. James, probably, and I Peter, perhaps, are
referred to. (See the lists of citations in Funk and Lightfoot,
Westcott, Introductions to Holy Scripture, such as those of Cornely,
Zahn, etc., and "The New Test. in the Apost. Fathers", by a Committee
of the Oxford Society of Hist. Theology, Oxford, 1906.) The tone of
authority with which the letter speaks is noteworthy, especially in the
later part (56, 58, etc.): "But if certain persons should be
disobedient unto the words spoken by Him through us let them understand
that they will entangle themselves in no slight transgression and
danger; but we shall be guiltless of this sin" (59). "It may, perhaps,
seem strange", writes Bishop Lightfoot, "to describe this noble
remonstrance as the first step towards papal domination. And yet
undoubtedly this is the case." (I, 70.)
|
 91 Romæ sancti
Anacléti, Papæ et Mártyris, qui, post sanctum
Cleméntem Ecclésiam Dei regens, eam glorióso
martyrio decorávit.
At Rome, St. Anacletus, pope and martyr, who
governed the Church of
God after St. Clement, and shed lustre upon it by a glorious martyrdom.
Pope St. Anacletus
The second successor of St. Peter. Whether he was the same
as Cletus, who is also called Anencletus
as well as Anacletus, has been the subject of endless discussion.
Irenaeus, Eusebius, Augustine, Optatus, use both names indifferently as
of one person. Tertullian omits him altogether. To add to the
confusion, the order is different. Thus Irenaeus has Linus, Anacletus,
Clement; whereas Augustine and Optatus put Clement before Anacletus. On
the other hand, the "Catalogus Liberianus", the "Carmen contra
Marcionem" and the "Liber Pontificalis", all most respectable for their
antiquity, make Cletus and Anacletus distinct from each other; while
the "Catalogus Felicianus" even sets the latter down as a Greek, the
former as a Roman. Among the moderns, Hergenröther (Hist. de
l'église,
I 542, note) pronounces for their identity. So also the Bollandist De
Smedt (Dissert. vii, 1). Döllinger (Christenth. u K., 315)
declares
that "they are, without doubt, the same person"and that "the 'Catalogue
of Liberius' merits little confidence before 230." Duchesne, "Origines
chretiennes", ranges himself on that side also but Jungmann (Dissert.
Hist. Eccl., I, 123) leaves the question in doubt. The chronology is,
of course, in consequence of all this, very undetermined, but Duchesne,
in his "Origines", says "we are far from the day when the years,
months, and days of the Pontifical Catalogue can be given with any
guarantee of exactness. But is it necessary to be exact about popes of
whom we know so little? We can accept the list of Irenaeus -- Linus,
Anacletus, Clement, Evaristus, Alexander, Xystus, Telesphorus, Hyginus,
Pius, and Anicetus. Anicetus reigned certainly in 154. That is all we
can say with assurance about primitive pontifical chronology." That he
ordained a certain number of priests is nearly all we have of positive
record about him, but we know he died a martyr, perhaps about 91. |
 98-107 Evaristus Pope St. Evaristus; Evaristus came of a Hellenic family, and
was the son of a Bethlehem Jew;
laid to rest in Vaticano, near the tomb of St. Peter; succeeded Clement in the episcopate of the
Roman Church
Date of birth unknown; died about 107. In the Liberian
Catalogue his name is given as Aristus. In papal catalogues of the
second century used by Irenaeus and Hippolytus, he appears as the
fourth successor of St. Peter, immediately after St Clement. The same
lists allow him eight years of reign, covering the end of the first and
the beginning of the second century (from about 98 or 99 to about 106
or 107).
The earliest historical sources offer no authentic data
about him. In his "Ecclesiastical History" Eusebius says merely that he
succeeded Clement in the episcopate of the Roman Church which fact was
already known from St. Irenæus. This order of succession is
undoubtedly correct. The "Liber Pontificalis" says that Evaristus came
of a Hellenic family, and was the son of a Bethlehem Jew. It also
attributes to him the allotment of definite churches as tituli to the
Roman presbyters, and the division of the city into seven diaconias or
deaconries; in this statement, however, the "Liber Pontificalis"
arbitrarily refers to the time of Evaristus a later institution of the
Roman Church.
More trustworthy is the assertion of the "Liber Pontificalis"
that he was laid to rest in Vaticano, near the tomb of St. Peter. The
martyrdom of Evaristus, though traditional, is not historically proven.
His feast occurs 26 Oct. The two decretals ascribed to him by
Pseudo-Isidore are forged.
107 ST EVARISTUS, Pope
AND MARTYR
ST EVARISTUS succeeded
St Clement in the see of Rome in the reign of Trajan and governed the
Church
about eight years, being the fourth successor of St Peter. The Liber Pontificalis says that he was the son
of a Hellenic Jew of Bethlehem, and, certainly incorrectly, that he
divided
Rome into several “titles” or parishes, assigning a priest to each and
appointed seven deacons for the city. He is usually accorded the title
of
martyr, but his martyrdom is not proved; it is probable that St
Evaristus was buried
near St Peter’s tomb in the Vatican.
There is a
notice in
the Acta Sanctorum, October,
vol. xi, but the text and notes of
Duchesne’s edition of the Liber Pontificalis tell us
nearly all there is to be known. See, however, an
interesting
comment by Father von Nostiz-Rieneck on the “Brevierlektionen der
Päpate
Evaristos und Alexander I” in the Zeitschrift
für Katholische Theologie, vol. xxix (1905), pp. 159—165.
|
105-116 Pope St.
Alexander I Roman by birth ruled the Church in reign of Trajan
(98-117). attributes to him, but scarcely with accuracy, insertion in
the canon of the Qui Pridie, or words commemorative of the institution
of the Eucharist, such being certainly primitive and original in the
Mass. He is also said to have introduced the use of blessing water
mixed with salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil
influences (constituit aquam sparsionis cum sale benedici in
habitaculis hominum). Duchesne (Lib. Pont., I, 127) calls attention to
the persistence of this early Roman custom by way of a blessing in the
Gelasian Sacramentary that recalls very forcibly the actual Asperges
prayer at the beginning of Mass.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, writing in the latter quarter of the second
century, reckons him as the fifth pope in succession from the Apostles,
though he says nothing of his martyrdom.
His pontificate is variously dated by critics, e.g. 106-115 (Duchesne)
or 109-116 (Lightfoot). In Christian antiquity he was credited with a
pontificate of about ten years (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. IV, i,) and there
is no reason to doubt that he was on the "catalogue of bishops" drawn
up at Rome by Hegesippus (Eusebius, IV, xxii, 3) before the death of
Pope Eleutherius (c. 189). According to a tradition extant in the Roman
Church at the end of the fifth century, and recorded in the Liber
Pontificalis he suffered a martyr's death by decapitation on the Via
Nomentana in Rome, 3 May.
The same tradition declares him to have been a Roman by birth and to
have ruled the Church in the reign of Trajan (98-117). It likewise
attributes to him, but scarcely with accuracy, the insertion in the
canon of the Qui Pridie, or words commemorative of the institution of
the Eucharist, such being certainly primitive and original in the Mass.
He is also said to have introduced the use of blessing water mixed with
salt for the purification of Christian homes from evil influences
(constituit aquam sparsionis cum sale benedici in habitaculis hominum).
Duchesne (Lib. Pont., I, 127) calls attention to the persistence of
this early Roman custom by way of a blessing in the Gelasian
Sacramentary that recalls very forcibly the actual Asperges prayer at
the beginning of Mass.
In 1855, a semi-subterranean cemetery of the holy martyrs Sts.
Alexander, Eventulus, and Theodulus was discovered near Rome, at the
spot where the above mentioned tradition declares the Pope martydom.
According to some archaeologists, this Alexander is identical with the
Pope, and this ancient and important tomb marks the actual site of the
Pope's martyrdom. Duchesne, however (op. cit., I, xci-ii) denies the
identity of the martyr and the pope, while admitting that the confusion
of both personages is of ancient date, probably anterior to the
beginning of the sixth century when the Liber Pontificalis was first
compiled [Dufourcq, Gesta Martyrum Romains (Paris, 1900), 210-211].
The difficulties raised in
recent times by Richard Lipsius (Chronologie
der römischen Bischofe, Kiel, 1869) and Adolph Harnack (Die Zeit
des Ignatius u. die Chronologie der antiochenischen Bischofe, 1878)
concerning the earliest successors of St. Peter are ably discussed and
answered by F.S. (Cardinal Francesco Segna) in his "De successione
priorum Romanorum Pontificum" (Rome 1897); with moderation and learning
by Bishop Lightfoot, in his "Apostolic Fathers: St. Clement" (London,
1890) I, 201-345- especially by Duchesne in the introduction to his
edition of the "Liber Pontificalis" (Paris, 1886) I, i-xlviii and
lxviii-lxxiii. The letters ascribed to Alexander I by Pseudo-Isidore
may be seen in P.G., V, 1057 sq., and in Hinschius, "Decretales
Pseudo-Isidorianae" (Leipzig, 1863) 94-105. His remains are said to
have been transferred to Freising in Bavaria in 834 (Dummler, Poetae
Latini Aevi Carolini, Berlin, 1884, II, 120). His so-called "Acts" are
not genuine, and were compiled at a much later date (Tillemont, Mem.
II, 590 sqq; Dufourcq, op. cit., 210-211).
|
127 Sixtus I,
Pope
survived as pope for about 10 years before being killed by the Roman
authorities M (RM)
Romæ natális beáti Xysti Primi, Papæ et
Mártyris; qui, tempóribus Hadriáni
Imperatóris, summa cum laude rexit Ecclésiam, ac demum,
sub Antoníno Pio, ut sibi Christum lucrifáceret,
libénter mortem sustínuit temporálem.
At Rome, the birthday of blessed Pope
Sixtus the First, martyr, who ruled the Church with distinction during
the reign of Emperor Hadrian, and finally in the reign of Antoninus
Pius he gladly accepted temporal death in order to gain Christ for
himself. (also known as Xystus)
Born at Rome; After the death of Pope Alexander
I, when the emperor Trajan ruled the Roman Empire, it was virtually
certain that anyone who succeeded the pope would suffer martyrdom, for
this was an age when Christians were savagely persecuted. Sixtus I took
the office c. 117 knowing this, and survived as pope for about 10 years
before being killed by the Roman authorities.
As well as displaying great bravery, Sixtus I must have been much
concerned with the liturgy of the church as the Liber Pontificalis
details three ordinances. It anachronistically says that at the
Eucharist when the priests came to the words 'Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might; heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest,' Sixtus decreed that all the people in the
church should join in as well. (Unfortunately, this cannot be true
because the Sanctus was not added to the liturgy until a much later
date: it was not included in the Mass of Hippolytus. Therefore, it is
unclear how accurate the balance of the entry is.) It relates that he
issued a decree that only the clergy should touch the sacred vessels
and that bishops called to Rome should not be received back by their
diocese unless they present Apostolic papers.
The Roman Martyrology says
that Sixtus I was killed by the pagan Romans
in the year 127 under Antonius the Pious, but there are no acta
(Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
|
125-136 pope St. Telesphorus
Romæ
sancti Telésphori, Papæ et Mártyris; qui, sub
Antoníno Pio, post multos labóres, pro Christi
confessióne, illústre martyrium duxit.
At Rome, in the time of Antoninus Pius, pope St. Telesphorus, who, after many
sufferings for the confession of Christ, underwent a glorious martyrdom.
Pope St. Telesphorus
(Lived about 125-136.)
St. Telesphorus was the
seventh Roman bishop in succession from the Apostles, and, according to
the testimony of St. Irenæus (Adv. hæreses, III, iii, 3),
suffered a glorious martyrdom. Eusebius (Hist. eccl., IV, vii, xiv)
places the beginning of his pontificate in the twelfth of Hadrian's
reign (128-129), his death in the first year of the reign of Antoninus
Pius (138-139). These statements, however, should be compared with
Lightfoot, "The Apostolic Fathers", I (London, 1899), 201 sq., section
on "Early Roman Successions", and Harnack, "Geschlichte der alchristl.
Literatur", pt. II, "Die Chronologie", I (Leipzing, 1879), 70 sq. In
the fragment of the letter of Irenæus of Lyons to Pope Victor
concerning the celebration of Easter (Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.," V,
xxiv), Telesphorus is mentioned as one of the Roman bishops who always
celebrated Easter on Sunday, without, however, abandoning church
fellowship with those communities that did not follow this custom. None
of the statements in the "Liber pontificalis" and other authorities of
a later date as to liturgical and other decisions of this pope are
genuine.
In the Roman Martyrology
his feast is given under 5 January; the Greek Church celebrates it on
22 February.
|
140-155
ST PIUS I, POPE AND MARTYR
Romæ
sancti Pii Primi,
Papæ et Mártyris; qui martyrio coronátus est in
persecutióne Marci Aurélii Antoníni.
At Rome, Pope Pius I, who was crowned with
martyrdom in the persecution of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
ST PIUS I, POPE AND MARTYR
This Pius succeeded St Hyginus in the see of Peter, and
the Liber
Pontificalis states that he was the son of one Rufinus and a native of
Aquileia; some authorities add further that he was a brother of that
Hernias who wrote the famous work called The Shepherd: if the account
of himself given by the author of this book be not a pious fiction, and
if his relationship to the pope be true, then St Pius will have been
likewise born a slave.
During his pontificate the Roman
church was troubled by the allied heresies of the Valentinians and
Marcionites; Pius accordingly had energetically to oppose these
heresies, and in these controversies the true faith had a great
champion in the Jewish convert St Justin Martyr, who was in Rome at
that time.
St Pius ordained twelve
bishops and eighteen priests and is said to have turned the Baths of
Novatus into a place for worship. That he is venerated
liturgically as a martyr seems to be due to Cardinal
Baronius: there is no early
reference to his martyrdom. Nearly
all that is known concerning St Pius will be found in the text and
notes of Mgr. Duchesne's edition of the Liber Pontificalis, vol. i, pp. 132
seq., and in his Histoire ancienne
de I'Eglise, vol. i, pp. 236 seq. For the historical
situation cf. G. Bardy,
"L'Eglise romaine sous Le pontificat de S. Anicet" in Recherches de science rellgieuse,
vol. xvii (1927), pp. 481-511.
Pope St. Pius I
Date of birth unknown;
pope from about 140 to about 154. According to
the earliest list of the popes, given by Irenaeus ("Adv. haer.", II,
xxxi; cf. Eusebius, "Hist. eccl.", V, vi), Pius was the ninth successor
of St. Peter. The dates given in the Liberian Catalogue for his
pontificate (146-61) rest on a false calculation of earlier
chroniclers, and cannot be accepted. The only chronological datum we
possess is supplied by the year of St. Polycarp of Smyrna's death,
which may be referred with great certainty to 155-6. On his visit to
Rome in the year before his death Polycarp found Anicetus, the
successor of Pius, bishop there; consequently, the death of Pius must
have occurred about 154. The "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I,
132) says the father of Pius was Rufinus, and makes him a native of
Aquileia; this is, however, probably a conjecture of the author, who
had heard of Rufinus of Aquileia (end of fourth century). From a notice
in the "Liberian Catalogue" (in Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I, 5),
which is confirmed by the Muratorian Fragment (ed. Preuschen,
"Analecta", I, Tübingen, 1910), we learn that a brother of this
pope, Hermas by name, published "The Shepherd" (see HERMAS). If the
information which the author gives concerning his personal conditions
and station (first a slave, then a freedman) were historical, we should
know more about the origin of the pope, his brother. It is very
possible that the story which Hermas relates of himself is a fiction.
During the pontificate of Pius the Roman Church was visited
by various
heretics, who sought to propagate their false doctrine among the
faithful of the capital. The Gnostic Valentinus, who had made his
appearance under Pope Hyginus, continued to sow his heresy, apparently
not without success. The Gnostic Cerdon was also active in Rome at this
period, during which Marcion arrived in the capital (see MARCIONITES).
Excluded from communion by Pius, the latter founded his heretical body
(Irenaeus, "Adv. haer.", III, iii). But Catholic teachers also visited
the Roman Church, the most important being St. Justin, who expounded
the Christian teachings during the pontificate of Pius and that of his
successor. A great activity thus marks the Christian community in Rome,
which stands clearly conspicuous as the centre of the Church. The
"Liber Pontificalis" (ed. cit.) speaks of a decision of this pope to
the effect that Jewish converts to Christianity should be admitted and
baptized. What this means we do not know; doubtless the author of the
"Liber Pontificalis", here as frequently, refers to the pope a decree
valid in the Church of his own time. A later legend refers the
foundation of the two churches, the titulus Pudentis (ecclesia
Pudentiana) and the titulus Praxedis, to the time of this pope, who is
also supposed to have built a baptistry near the former and to have
exercised episcopal functions there (Acta SS., IV May, 299 sqq.; cf. de
Rossi, "Musaici delle chiese di Roma: S. Pudenziana, S. Prassede"). The
story, however, can lay no claim to historical credibility. These two
churches came into existence in the fourth century, although it is not
impossible that they replaced Christian houses, in which the faithful
of Rome assembled for Divine service before the time of Constantine;
the legend, however, should not be alleged as proof of this fact. In
many later writings (e.g. the "Liber Pontificalis") the "Pastor" or
"Shepherd" in the work of Hermas is erroneously accepted as the name of
the author, and, since a Roman priest Pastor is assigned an important
role in the foundation of these churches, it is quite possible that the
writer of the legend was similarly misled, and consequently interwove
Pope Pius into his legendary narrative (see PRAXEDES AND PUDENTIANA).
Two letters written to Bishop Justus of Vienne (P.L., V, 1125 sq.;
Jaffé, "Regesta", I, 2nd ed., pp. 7 sq.), ascribed to Pius, are
not authentic. The feast of St. Pius I is celebrated on 11 July.
|
167 to 175 Pope Soter
and Caius, Saints and Popes
They have their feast together on 22 April, on which day they appear in
most of the martyrologies, though Notker and a few others give Soter on
the 21st and Caius on the 19th or 21st.
Soter was pope for eight
years, c. 167 to 175 (Harnack prefers
166-174). We possess a fragment of an interesting letter addressed to
him by St. Dionysius of Corinth, who writes: "From the beginning it has
been your custom to do good to all the brethren in many ways, and to
send alms to many churches in every city, refreshing the poverty of
those who sent requests, or giving aid to the brethren in the mines, by
the alms which you have had the habit of giving from old, Romans
keeping up the traditional custom of the Romans; which your blessed
Bishop Soter has not only preserved, but has even increased, by
providing the abundance which he has sent to the saints, and by further
consoling with blessed words with brethren who came to him, as a loving
father his children." "Today, therefore, we have kept the holy Lord's
day, on which we have read your letter, which we shall always have to
read and be admonished, even as the former letter which was written to
us by the ministry of Clement." (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl., IV, xxiv.) The
letter which Soter had written in the name of his church is lost,
though Harnack and others have attempted to identify it with the
so-called "Second Epistle of Clement" (see CLEMENT OF ROME). The
reverence for the pope's paternal letter is to be noticed. The
traditional generosity of the Roman Church is again referred to by St.
Dionysius of Alexandria to Pope Dionysius in the middle of the third
century, and Eusebius says it still continued in his time. Nothing
further is known of this pope.
According to the Roman Martyrology, St. Sotor was martyred
on April 22
on the Appian Way in Rome. He is buried in the church of St. Sixtus; in
the cemetery of St. Callistus, there is a cella (a memorial chapel)
dedicated to his memory. |
199 Victor I, Pope
African by birth, Victor succeeded Saint Eleutherius as pope c. 189 the
first to use Latin in the celebration of the liturgy (RM)
Probably an African by
birth, Victor succeeded Saint Eleutherius as
pope c. 189. During his pontificate Victor was embroiled in a dispute
with a group of Christians from the province of Asia who were in Rome.
They celebrated Easter on a date of their own choosing. Victor
threatened the Asiatics with excommunication in a Roman synod. He was
also faced with the arrival of Theodotus from Constantinople and his
teaching that Christ was only a man endowed with supernatural powers by
the Holy Spirit. He is reputed to have been the first to use Latin in
the celebration of the liturgy. It is not certain that he died a
martyr's death (Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Victor I, Pope was
a native of Africa, succeeded St Eleutherius in the pontificate
about the year 189. Those virtues which had prepared him for that
dignity made him a true successor of the Apostles, and he vigorously
grappled with the difficulties of the times. Among these was a
group of Asiatic Christians at Rome who insisted on celebrating Easter
on a date that accorded with their own traditions, even if a week-day.
Certain Asiatic bishops interfered to
support them, and were threatened by the pope with
excommunication. St Irenaeus of Lyons and others protested
against this severity, pointing out that differences of disciplinary
custom had not hitherto been allowed to compromise Christian
brotherhood. The protest appears to have been successful; but St
Victor naturally insisted on maintaining uniformity of observance in
his own province without being meddled with by bishops
from outside it.
Other troubles were caused by the
arrival in Rome from Byzantium of a man called Theodotus, a
leather-merchant, who taught that Jesus Christ was only a
supernaturally endowed man.
Pope St Victor died before the
persecution of Septimius Severus began, and there is no good reason to
suppose he was martyred; but his energy and zeal exposed him to
persecutions for which alone he might deserve the honours of a martyr
which are accorded him liturgically.
This pope is named in the canon of the
Ambrosian Mass, he
is said by St Jerome to have been the lint in Rome to celebrate the
Mysteries in Latin, and he was formerly held in special veneration in
Scotland, being fabled to have sent missionaries thither.
The little we know of St
Victor comes mainly from Eusebius
and the Liber
Pontificalis. It is the latter authority describes him as
a martyr. See also the Acta Sanctorum,
July, vol. vi, and Duchesne. History
of the Early Church, vol. i, cap. 16
|
283, to 22 April, 296
Pope Caius lived in the time of peace before the last
great persecution. He was pope for twelve years,
four months, and seven days, from 17 December, 283, to 22 April, 296,
according to the Liberian catalogue (Harnack, Chronol., I, 155, after
Lipsius and Lightfoot); Eusebius is wrong in giving him fifteen years.
He is mentioned in the fourth-century "Depositio Episcoporum"
(therefore not as a martyr): X kl maii Caii in Callisti. He was buried
in the chapel of the popes in that cemetary. Nothing whatever is known
of his life.
He lived in the time of
peace before the last great persecution.
|
217 Pope Saint
Zephyrinus was pope from 199 .
He was a Roman who had ruled as head bishop for close to 20 years, and
was elected to the Papacy upon the death of the previous pope, Victor.
Zephyrinus was succeeded, upon his death on December 20, 217, by his
principal advisor, Callixtus.
Pope St. Zephyrinus
(Reigned 198-217).
Date of birth unknown; died 20 Dec., 217. After the death of Pope
Victor in 198, Zephyrinus was elected his successor and consecrated.
The pope is described by Hippolytus in the "Philosophymena" (IX, xi) as
a simple man without education. This is evidently to be understood as
meaning that Zephyrinus had not taken the higher studies and had
devoted himself to the practical administration of the Church and not
to theological learning. Immediately after his elevation to the Roman
See, Zephyrinus called to Rome the confessor Callistus, who lived at
Antium and who had received a monthly pension from Pope Victor, and
intrusted him with the oversight of the coemeterium. It is evident that
shortly before this the Roman Christian community had, under Victor,
become the owner of a common place of burial on the Via Appia, and
Zephyrinus now placed Callistus over this cemetery which was given the
name of Callistus. Undoubtedly Callistus was also made a deacon of the
Roman Church by Zephyrinus. He was the confidential counsellor of the
pope, whom he succeeded. The positions of the Christians, which had
remained favourable in the first years of the government of Emperor
Septimus Severus (193-211), grew constantly worse, and in 202 or 203
the edict of persecution appeared which forbade conversion to
Christianity under the severest penalties. Nothing is known as to the
execution of the edict in Rome itself nor of the martyrs of the Roman
Church in this era.
More, however, is certain concerning the internal disputes in the Roman
Church over the doctrine of the Trinity. The adherents of the heretical
teacher Theodotus the Tanner had been excommunicated with their leader
by Pope Victor. They formed an independent heretical community at Rome
which was ruled by another Theodotus, the Money Changer, and
Aselepodotus. These men persuaded a confessor of Rome named Natalis,
who had acknowledged his faith without wavering before the heathen
judge and had suffered torture, to permit himself to be made the bishop
of the sect for a monthly payment of 170 denarii. Natalis, however,
received many warnings in dreams. At first he paid no attention to
these visions, but on one occasion he believed that he had been
severely tortured by angels and now he began to ponder the matter.
Early in the morning he put on a penitential garment, covered himself
with ashes, and threw himself with tears at the feet of Zephyrinus. He
confessed his wrong-doing and begged to be received again into the
communion of the Church, which was finally granted him (Eusebius,
"Hist. eccl.", V, xxxii). In the same era the adherents of Montanus
also worked with great energy at Rome. The Montanist Proculus (or
Proclus) published a work in defense of the new prophecies. A
refutation of Proclus in the form of a dialogue was written by a
learned and rigidly orthodox Roman Christian named Caius, wherein he
refers to the grave of St. Peter on the Vatican Hill and of St. Paul on
the Via Ostiensis. Caius rejects the Apocalypse of St. John, which he
regards as a work of the heretic Cerinthus. In opposition to Caius,
Hippolytus wrote his "Capita contra Caium" (cf. Eusebius, "Hist.
eccl.", III, xxviii; VI, xx).
Hippolytus was the most important theologian among the Roman presbyters
of this era. He was an avowed adherent of the doctrine of the Divine
Logos. He taught that the Divine Logos became man in Christ, that the
Logos differs in every thing from God, that he is the mediary between
God and the world of creatures. This doctrine in the form in which it
was set forth by Hippolytus and his school aroused many doubts, and
another theological school appeared in opposition to it. This latter
school was represented at Rome in this era by Cleomenes and
particularly by Sabellius. These men were rigid opponents of the
Theodotians, but were not willing to acknowledge the incarnation of the
Logos, and emphasized above all the absolute unity (monarchia) of God.
They explained the Incarnation of Christ in the sense that this was
another manifestation (modus) of God in His union with human nature.
Consequently they were called Modalists or Patripassians, as according
to them it was not the Son of God but the Father Who had been
crucified. The Christian common people held firmly, above all, to the
Unity of God and at the same time to the true Godhead of Jesus Christ.
Originally no distrust of this doctrine was felt among them. Pope
Zephyrinus did not interpose authoritatively in the dispute between the
two schools. The heresy of the Modalists was not at first clearly
evident, and the doctrine of Hippolytus offered many difficulties as
regards the tradition of the Church. Zephyrinus said simply that he
acknowledged only one God, and this was the Lord Jesus Christ, but it
was the Son, not the Father, Who had died. This was the doctrine of the
tradition of the Church. Hippolytus urged that the pope should approve
of a distinct dogma which represented the Person of Christ as actually
different from that of the Father and condemned the opposing views of
the Monarchians and Patripassians. However, Zephyrinus would not
consent to this. The result was that Hippolytus grew constantly more
irritated and angry against he pope and particularly against the deacon
Callistus whom, as the councillor of the pope, he made responsible for
the position of the latter. When after the death of Zephyrinus
Callistus was elected Roman bishop, Hippolytus withdrew from the Church
with his scholars, caused a schism, and made himself a rival bishop.
Zephyrinus was buried in a
separate sepulchral chamber over the
cemetery of Calistus on the Via Appia (cf. Wilpert, "Die papstgruber
und die Suciliengruft in der Katakombe des hl. Kallistus", Freiburg,
1909, 91 sqq.). The "Liber Pontificalis" attributes two Decrees to
Zephyrinus; one on the ordination of the clergy and the other on the
Eucharistic Liturgy in the title churches of Rome. The author of the
biography has ascribed these Decrees to the pope arbitrarily and
without historical basis.
|
Pope Callistus
(Calixtus) I 218 - 223
(Written by most Latins, Augustine, Optatus, etc. CALLIXTUS
or CALIXTUS).
Martyr, died c. 223. His contemporary, Julius Africanus,
gives the date of his accession as the first (or second?) year of
Elagabalus, i.e., 218 or 219. Eusebius and the Liberian catalogue agree
in giving him five years of episcopate. His Acts are spurious, but he
is the earliest pope found the fourth-century "Depositio Martirum", and
this is good evidence that he was really a martyr, although he lived in
a time of peace under Alexander Severus, whose mother was a Christian.
We learn from the "Historiae Augustae" that a spot on which he had
built an oratory was claimed by the tavern-keepers, popinarii, but the
emperor decided that the worship of any god was better than a tavern.
This is said to have been the origin of Sta. Maria in Trastevere, which
was built, according to the Liberian catalogue, by Pope Julius, . In
fact the Church of St. Callistus is close by, containing a well into
which legend says his body was thrown, and this is probably the church
he built, rather than the more famous basilica. He was buried in the
cemetery of Calepodius on the Aurelian Way, and his anniversary is
given by the "Depositio Martirum" (Callisti in viâ Aureliâ
miliario III) and by the subsequent martyrologies on 14 October, on
which day his feast is still kept. His relics were translated in the
ninth century to Sta. Maria in Trastevere.
Our chief knowledge of
this pope is from his bitter enemies, Tertullian and the antipope who
wrote the "Philosophumena", no doubt Hippolytus. Their calumnies are
probably based on facts. According to the "Philosophumena" (c. ix)
Callistus was the slave of Carpophorus, a Christian of the household of
Caesar. His master entrusted large sums of money to Callistus, with
which he started a bank in which brethren and widows lodged money, all
of which Callistus lost. He took to flight. Carpophorus followed him to
Portus, where Callistus had embarked on a ship. Seeing his master
approach in a boat, the slave jumped into the sea, but was prevented
from drowning himself, dragged ashore, and consigned to the punishment
reserved for slaves, the pistrinum, or hand-mill. The brethren,
believing that he still had money in his name, begged that he might be
released. But he had nothing, so he again courted death by insulting
the Jews at their synagogue. The Jews haled him before the prefect
Fuscianus. Carpophorus declared that Callistus was not to be looked
upon as a Christian, but he was thought to be trying to save his slave,
and Callistus was sent to the mines in Sardinia. Some time after this,
Marcia, the mistress of Commodus, sent for Pope Victor and asked if
there were any martyrs in Sardinia. He gave her the list, without
including Callistus. Marcia sent a eunuch who was a priest (or "old
man") to release the prisoners. Callistus fell at his feet, and
persuaded him to take him also. Victor was annoyed; but being a
compassionate man, he kept silence. However, he sent Callistus to
Antium with a monthly allowance. When Zephyrinus became pope, Callistus
was recalled and set over the cemetery belonging to the Church, not a
private catacomb; it has ever since borne Callistus's name. He obtained
great influence over the ignorant, illiterate, and grasping Zephyrinus
by bribes. We are not told how it came about that the runaway slave
(now free by Roman law from his master, who had lost his rights when
Callistus was condemned to penal servitude to the State) became
archdeacon and then pope.
Döllinger and De Rossi have demolished this
contemporary scandal. To begin with, Hippolytus does not say that
Callistus by his own fault lost the money deposited with him. He
evidently jumped from the vessel rather to escape than to commit
suicide. That Carpophorus, a Christian, should commit a Christian slave
to the horrible punishment of the pistrinum does not speak well for the
master's character. The intercession of the Christians for Callistus is
in his favour. It is absurd to suppose that he courted death by
attacking a synagogue; it is clear that he asked the Jewish
money-lenders to repay what they owed him, and at some risk to himself.
The declaration of Carpophorus that Callistus was no Christian was
scandalous and untrue. Hippolytus himself shows that it was as a
Christian that Callistus was sent to the mines, and therefore as a
confessor, and that it was as a Christian that he was released. If Pope
Victor granted Callistus a monthly pension, he need not suppose that he
regretted his release. It is unlikely that Zephyrinus was ignorant and
base. Callistus could hardly have raised himself so high without
considerable talents, and the vindictive spirit exhibited by Hippolytus
and his defective theology explain why Zephyrinus placed his confidence
rather in Callistus than in the learned disciple of Irenaeus.
The orthodoxy of Callistus
is challenged by both Hippolytus and Tertullian on the ground that in a
famous edict he granted Communion after due penance to those who had
committed adultery and fornication. It is clear that Callistus based
his decree on the power of binding and loosing granted to Peter, to his
successors, and to all in communion with them: "As to thy decision",
cries the Montanist Tertullian, "I ask, whence dost thou usurp this
right of the Church? If it is because the Lord said to Peter: Upon this
rock I will build My Church, I will give thee the keys of the kingdom
of heaven', or whatsoever though bindest or loosest on earth shall be
bound or loosed in heaven', that thou presumest that this power of
binding and loosing has been handed down to thee also, that is to every
Church in communion with Peter's (ad omnem ecclesiam Petri propinquam,
i.e. Petri ecclesiae propinquam), who art thou that destroyest and
alterest the manifest intention of the Lord, who conferred this on
Peter personally and alone?" (De Pudicitia, xxi.) The edict was an
order to the whole Church (ib., i): "I hear that an edict has been
published, and a peremptory one; the bishop of bishops, which means the
Pontifex Maximus, proclaims: I remit the crimes of adultery and
fornication to those who have done penance." Doubtless Hippolytus and
Tertullian were upholding a supposed custom of earlier times, and the
pope in decreeing a relaxation was regarded as enacting a new law. On
this point it is unnecessary to justify Callistus. Other complaints of
Hippolytus are that Callistus did not put converts from heresy to
public penance for sins committed outside the Church (this mildness was
customary in St. Augustine's time); that he had received into his
"school" (i.e. The Catholic Church) those whom Hippolytus had
excommunicated from "The Church" (i.e., his own sect); that he declared
that a mortal sin was not ("always", we may supply) a sufficient reason
for deposing a bishop. Tertullian (De Exhort. Castitatis, vii) speaks
with reprobation of bishops who had been married more than once, and
Hippolytus charges Callistus with being the first to allow this,
against St. Paul's rule. But in the East marriages before baptism were
not counted, and in any case the law is one from which the pope can
dispense if necessity arise. Again Callistus allowed the lower clergy
to marry, and permitted noble ladies to marry low persons and slaves,
which by the Roman law was forbidden; he had thus given occasion for
infanticide. Here again Callistus was rightly insisting on the
distinction between the ecclesiastical law of marriage and the civil
law, which later ages have always taught.. Hippolytus also declared
that rebaptizing (of heretics) was performed first in Callistus's day,
but he does not state that Callistus was answerable for this. On the
whole, then, it is clear that the Catholic church sides with Callistus
against the schismatic Hippolytus and the heretic Tertullian. Not a
word is said against the character of Callistus since his promotion,
nor against the validity of his election.
Hippolytus, however, regards Callistus as a heretic. Now
Hippolytus's own Christology is most imperfect, and he tells us that
Callistus accused him of Ditheism. It is not to be wondered at, then,
if he calls Callistus the inventor of a kind of modified Sabellianism.
In reality it is certain that Zephyrinus and Callistus condemned
various Monarchians and Sabellius himself, as well as the opposite
error of Hippolytus. This is enough to suggest that Callistus held the
Catholic Faith. And in fact it cannot be denied that the Church of Rome
must have held a Trinitarian doctrine not far from that taught by
Callistus's elder contemporary Tertullian and by his much younger
contemporary Novatian--a doctrine which was not so explicitly taught in
the greater part of the East for a long period afterwards. The
accusations of Hippolytus speak for the sure tradition of the Roman
Church and for its perfect orthodoxy and moderation. If we knew more of
St. Callistus from Catholic sources, he would probably appear as one of
the greatest of the popes.
|
236-250, Pope Saint Fabian succeeded Saint Antheros
governed as bishop of Rome 14 peaceful years
Died
250. On January 10, his martyrdom under Decius. He was a layman, who,
according to Eusebius, was chosen because a dove flew in through a
window during the election and settled on his head. This 'sign' united
the votes of the clergy and people for this layman and stranger.
Pope St. Fabian (FABIANUS) Pope (236-250), the
extraordinary circumstances of whose election is related by Eusebius
(Hist. Eccl., VI, 29). After the death of Anterus he had come to Rome,
with some others, from his farm and was in the city when the new
election began. While the names of several illustrious and noble
persons were being considered, a dove suddenly descended upon the head
of Fabian, of whom no one had even thought. To the assembled brethren
the sight recalled the Gospel scene of the descent of the Holy Spirit
upon the Saviour of mankind, and so, divinely inspired, as it were,
they chose Fabian with joyous unanimity and placed him in the Chair of
Peter.
During his reign of fourteen
years there was a lull in
the storm
of persecution. Little is known of his pontificate. The "Liber
Pontificalis" says that he divided Rome into seven districts, each
supervised by a deacon, and appointed seven subdeacons, to collect, in
conjunction with other notaries, the "acta" of the martyrs, i.e. the
reports of the court-proceedings on the occasion of their trials (cf.
Eus., VI, 43). There is a tradition that he instituted the four minor
orders. Under him considerable work was done in the catacombs. He
caused the body of Pope St. Pontianus to be exhumed, in Sardinia, and
transferred to the catacomb of St. Callistus at Rome. Later accounts,
more or less trustworthy, attribute to him the consecration (245) of
seven bishops as missionaries to Gaul, among them St. Denys of Paris
(Greg. of Tours, Hist. Francor., I, 28, 31). St. Cyprian mentions (Ep.,
59) the condemnation by Fabian for heresy of a certain Privatus (Bishop
of Lambaesa) in Africa. The famous Origen did not hesitate to defend,
before Fabian, the orthodoxy of his teaching (Eus. Hist. Eccl., VI,
34). Fabian died a martyr (20 Jan., 250) at the beginning of the Decian
persecution, and was buried in the Crypt of the Popes in the catacomb
of St. Callistus, where in recent times (1850) De Rossi discovered his
Greek epitaph (Roma Sotterranea II, 59): "Fabian, bishop and martyr."
The decretals ascribed to him in Pseudo-Isidore are apocryphal.
|
235 Pope Saint
Pontian or Pontianus, was pope from July 21, 230 to September 28.
ST PONTIAN, POPE AND MARTYR
PONTIAN, who is said to
have been
Roman, followed St Urban I as bishop of Rome about the year 230. The
only known event of his pontificate is the synod held at Rome that
confirmed the condemnation already pronounced at Alexandria of certain
doctrines attributed to Origen. At the beginning of the persecution by
the Emperor Maximinus the pope was exiled to Sardinia, an island
described as nociva,
"unhealthy“, whereby perhaps the mines were meant; here he resigned his
office. How much longer he lived and the manner of his death are not
known: traditionally life was beaten out of him with sticks. Some years
later Pope St Fabian translated his body to the cemetery of St
Callistus in Rome, where in 1909 his original epitaph was found:
PONTIANOC EPICK MPT, the last word having been added later,
In the fourth-century
Depositio
Martyrum the name of St Pontian is coupled with that of Hippolytus, and
August 13 is the day assigned for the commemoration: Idus Aug. Ypoliti
in Tiburtina et Pontiani in Callisti.” Fr Delehaye has discussed the
whole matter very fully in his CMH, pp. 439—440. See also Marucchi in Nuovo Bullettino for 1909, pp.
35—50 Wilpert, Die Papstgraber und
die Caciliengruft (1909), pp. 17—I8 and E. Caspar, Geschichte des Papsttums, vol.
1(1930), pp. 44 seq.
Pope
St. Pontian
Dates of
birth
and death unknown. The "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 145)
gives Rome as his native city and calls his father Calpurnius. With him
begins the brief chronicle of the Roman bishops of the third century,
of which the author of the Liberian Catalogue of the popes made use in
the fourth century and which gives more exact data for the lives of the
popes. According to this account Pontian was made pope 21 July, 230,
and reigned until 235. The schism of Hippolytus continued during his
episcopate; towards the end of his pontificate there was a
reconciliation between the schismatic party and its leader with the
Roman bishop. After the condemnation of Origen at Alexandria (231-2), a
synod was held at Rome, according to Jerome (Epist. XXXII, iv) and
Rufinus (Apol. contra Hieron., II, xx), which concurred in the
decisions of the Alexandrian synod against Origen; without doubt this
synod was held by Pontian (Hefele, Konziliengeschichte, 2nd ed., I, 106
sq.). In 235 in the reign of Maximinus the Thracian began a persecution
directed chiefly against the heads of the Church. One of its first
victims was Pontian, who with Hippolytus was banished to the unhealthy
island of Sardinia. To make the election of a new pope possible,
Pontian resigned 28 Sept., 235, the Liberian Catalogue says "discinctus
est". Consequently Anteros was elected in his stead. Shortly before
this or soon afterwards Hippolytus, who had been banished with Pontian,
became reconciled to the Roman Church, and with this the schism he had
caused came to an end. How much longer Pontian endured the sufferings
of exile and harsh treatment in the Sardinian mines is unknown.
According to old and no longer existing Acts of martyrs, used by the
author of the "Liber Pontificalis", he died in consequence of the
privations and inhuman treatment he had to bear. Pope Fabian (236-50)
had the remains of Pontian and Hippolytus brought to Rome at a later
date and Pontian was buried on 13 August in the papal crypt of the
Catacomb of Callistus. In 1909 the original epitaph was found in the
crypt of St. Cecilia, near the papal crypt. The epitaph, agreeing with
the other known epitaphs of the papal crypt, reads: PONTIANOS, EPISK.
MARTUR (Pontianus, Bishop, Martyr). The word mártur was added
later and
is written in ligature [cf. Wilpert, "Die Papstgräber und die
Cäciliengruft in der Katakombe des hl. Kalixtus" (Freiburg, 1909),
1
sq., 17 sq., Plate III]. He is placed under 13 Aug. in the list of the
"Depositiones martyrum" in the chronographia of 354. The Roman
Martyrology gives his feast on 19 Nov.
|
253 Pope Cornelius; predecessor, Fabian, put to death by
Decius, 250. March, 251 persecution slackened, owing to
absence of the emperor, (two rivals had arisen); 16 bishops at Rome elected Cornelius against his will was;
"What fortitude in his acceptance of the episcopate, what strength
of mind, what firmness of faith, that he took his seat intrepid in the
sacerdotal chair, at a time when the tyrant in his hatred of bishops
was making unspeakable threats, when he heard with far more patience
that a rival prince was arising against him, than that a bishop of God
was appointed at Rome" (Cyprian,
Ep. lv, 24). Is he not, asks St.
Cyprian, to be
numbered among the glorious confessors and martyrs who sat so long
awaiting the sword or the cross or the stake and every other torture?
Cornelius Martyr (251 to 253).
We may accept the statement of the Liberian catalogue that he reigned
two years, three months, and ten days, for Lipsius, Lightfoot, and
Harnack have shown that this list is a first-rate authority for this
date. His predecessor, Fabian, was put to death by Decius, 20 January,
250. About the beginning of March, 251 the persecution slackened, owing
to the absence of the emperor, against whom two rivals had arisen. It
was possible to assemble sixteen bishops at Rome, and Cornelius was
elected though against his will (Cyprian, Ep. lv, 24), "by the judgment
of God and of Christ, by the testimony of almost all the clergy, by the
vote of the people then present, by the consent of aged priests and of
good men, at a time when no one had been made before him, when the
place of Fabian, that is the place of Peter, and the step of the
sacerdotal chair were vacant". "What fortitude in his acceptance of the
episcopate, what strength of mind, what firmness of faith, that he took
his seat intrepid in the sacerdotal chair, at a time when the tyrant in
his hatred of bishops was making unspeakable threats, when he heard
with far more patience that a rival prince was arising against him,
than that a bishop of God was appointed at Rome" (ibid., 9). Is he not,
asks St. Cyprian, to be numbered among the glorious confessors and
martyrs who sat so long awaiting the sword or the cross or the stake
and every other torture?
A few weeks later the Roman priest Novatian made himself antipope, and
the whole Christian world was convulsed by the schism at Rome. But the
adhesion of St. Cyprian secured to Cornelius the hundred bishops of
Africa, and the influence of St. Dionysius the Great, Bishop of
Alexandria, brought the East within a few months to a right decision.
In Italy itself the pope got together a synod of sixty bishops. (See
NOVATIAN.) Fabius, Bishop of Antioch, seems to have wavered. Three
letters to him from Cornelius were known to Eusebius, who gives
extracts from one of them (Hist. Eccl., VI, xliii), in which the pope
details the faults in Novatian's election and conduct with considerable
bitterness. We incidentally learn that in the Roman Church there were
forty-six priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes,
fifty-two ostiarii, and over one thousand five hundred widows and
persons in distress. From this Burnet estimated the number of
Christians in Rome at fifty thousand, so also Gibbon; but Benson and
Harnack think this figure possibly too large. Pope Fabian had made
seven regions; it appears that each had one deacon, one subdeacon and
six acolytes.
Of the letters of Cornelius to Cyprian two have come down
to us, together with nine from Cyprian to the pope. Mgr. Merrati has
shown that in the true text the letters of Cornelius are in the
colloquial "vulgar-Latin" of the day, and not in the more classical
style affected by the ex-orator Cyprian and the learned philosopher
Novatian. Cornelius sanctioned the milder measures proposed by St.
Cyprian and accepted by his Carthaginian council of 251 for the
restoration to communion, after varying forms of penance, of those who
had fallen during the Decian persecution (see CYPRIAN).
Beginning 252 a new persecution suddenly broke out.
Cornelius was exiled to Centumcellæ (Civita Vecchia). There were
no defections among the Roman Christians; all were confessors. The pope
"led his brethren in confession", writes Cyprian (Ep. lx, ad Corn.),
with a manifest reference to the confession of St. Peter. "With one
heart and one voice the whole Roman Church confessed. Then was seen,
dearest Brother, that faith which the blessed Apostle praised in you
(Romans 1:8); even then he foresaw in spirit your glorious fortitude
and firm strength."
In June Cornelius died a martyr, as St. Cyprian repeatedly
calls him. The Liberian catalogue has ibi cum gloriâ dormicionem
accepit, and this may mean that he died of the rigours of his
banishment, though later accounts say that he was beheaded. St. Jerome
says that Cornelius and Cyprian suffered on the same day in different
years, and his careless statement has been generally followed. The
feast of St. Cyprian was in fact kept at Rome at the tomb of Cornelius,
for the fourth century "Depositio Martirum" has "XVIII kl octob
Cypriani Africæ Romæ celebratur in Callisti". St. Cornelius
was not buried in the chapel of the popes, but in an adjoining
catacomb, perhaps that of a branch of the noble Cornelii. His
inscription is in Latin: CORNELIUS* MARTYR* whereas those of Fabian and
Lucius are in Greek (Northcote and Brownlow, "Roma sotteranea", I, vi).
His feast is kept with that of St. Cyprian on 14 September, possibly
the day of his translation from Centumcellæ to the catacombs.
|
254-257 Pope St.
Stephen I; defence of the
validity of heretical baptism against the mistaken opinion of St.
Cyprian and other bishops of Africa and Asia; In his days the vestments worn by the
clergy at Mass and other
church services did not differ in shape or material from those
ordinarily worn by the laity. Stephen, however, is said by the "Liber
Pontificalis" to have ordained that the vestments which had been used
for ecclesiastical purposes were not to be employed for daily wear; An assembly of African bishops which he
convoked renewed the
condemnation of Basilides and Martial, and exhorted the people to enter
into communion with their successors. At the same time they were at
pains to point out that Stephen had acted as he had done because
"situated at a distance, and ignorant of the true facts of the case" he
had been deceived by Basilides. Anxious to preserve the tradition of
his predecessors in matters of practical charity, as well as of faith,
Stephen, we are told, relieved in their necessities "all the provinces
of Syria and Arabia".
Although there is some doubt as to the dates connected
with the pontificate of Stephen, it is generally believed that he was
consecrated 12 May, 254, and that he died 2 August, 257. According to
the most ancient catalogues, he was a Roman by birth, and the son of
Jovius, and there is no reason to doubt the assertion of the "Liber
Pontificalis" that Lucius I, when about to be martyred, made over the
care of the Church to his archdeacon Stephen (254). Most of what we
know regarding Pope Stephen is connected directly or indirectly with
the severe teachings of the heretic Novatus.
Concerning his most important work, his defence of the
validity of heretical baptism against the mistaken opinion of St.
Cyprian and other bishops of Africa and Asia, there is no need to speak
now, as the history of this important controversy will be found under
BAPTISM and SAINT CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE.
Suffice it here to call
attention to certain newly
discovered letters on the subject by St. Dionysius of Alexandria ("Eng.
Hist. Rev.", Jan., 1910, 111 sq.), and to note, with the late
Archbishop Benson of Canterbury, that Stephen "triumphed, and in him
the Church of Rome triumphed, as she deserved" [E.W. Benson, "Cyprian,
His Life, His Times, His Works", VIII (London), 1897, 3].
In the early part of his pontificate Stephen
was
frequently urged by Faustinus, Bishop of Lyons, to take action against
Marcian, Bishop of Arles, who, attaching himself to doctrines of
Novatus, denied communion to the penitent lapsi. For some reason
unknown to us Stephen did not move. The bishops of Gaul accordingly
turned to Cyprian, and begged him to write to the pope. This the saint
did in a letter which is our sole source of information regarding this
affair (Epp. lxix, lxviii). The Bishop of Carthage entreats Stephen to
imitate his martyred predecessors, and to instruct the bishops of Gaul
to condemn Marcian, and to elect another bishop in his stead. As no
more is said by St. Cyprian on this affair, it is supposed that the
pope acted in accordance with his wishes, and that Marcian was deposed.
The case of the Spanish bishops Martial and Basilides also
brought Stephen in connection with St. Cyprian. As libellatici they had
been condemned by bishops of their province for denying the Faith. At
first they acknowledged their guilt, but afterwards appealed to Rome,
and, deceived by their story, Stephen exerted himself to secure their
restoration. Accordingly some of their fellow bishops took their part,
but the others laid the case before St. Cyprian. An assembly of African
bishops which he convoked renewed the condemnation of Basilides and
Martial, and exhorted the people to enter into communion with their
successors. At the same time they were at pains to point out that
Stephen had acted as he had done because "situated at a distance, and
ignorant of the true facts of the case" he had been deceived by
Basilides. Anxious to preserve the tradition of his predecessors in
matters of practical charity, as well as of faith, Stephen, we are
told, relieved in their necessities "all the provinces of Syria and
Arabia".
In his days the vestments worn by the clergy at Mass and
other church services did not differ in shape or material from those
ordinarily worn by the laity. Stephen, however, is said by the "Liber
Pontificalis" to have ordained that the vestments which had been used
for ecclesiastical purposes were not to be employed for daily wear. The
same authority adds that he finished his pontificate by martyrdom, but
the evidence for this is generally regarded as doubtful. He was buried
in the cemetery of St. Calixtus, whence his body was transferred by
Paul I to a monastery which he had founded in his honour.
|
255 St. Venantius
Bishop martyr prelate serving Dalmatia, Croatia
Eódem die sancti Venántii,
Epíscopi et
Mártyris. The same day, St.
Venantius, bishop and martyr.
Executed during the persecutions of the Church by the Roman
Empire.
His
relics were translated from Split (Spalato), Dalmatia, to the Lateran
Basilica in Rome under Pope John IV (r. 640-642).
Venantius of Spalato BM (RM). Saint Venantius was a
Dalmatian bishop whose body was brought to the Lateran at Spalato by
Pope John IV in 641 (Benedictines). |
 258 Pope
St. Sixtus II Elected 31 Aug.,
257, martyred at Rome, 6
Aug., 258
(XYSTUS).
During the pontificate of his predecessor, St. Stephen, a
sharp
dispute had arisen between Rome and the African and Asiatic Churches,
concerning the rebaptism of heretics, which had threatened to end in a
complete rupture between Rome and the Churches of Africa and Asia Minor
(see SAINT CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE). Sixtus II, whom Pontius (Vita Cyprian,
cap. xiv) styles a good and peaceful priest (bonus et pacificus
sacerdos), was more conciliatory than St. Stephen and restored friendly
relations with these Churches, though, like his predecessor, he upheld
the Roman usage of not rebaptizing heretics.
His origin is unknown. The "Liber Pontificalis" says
that he
was a Greek by birth, but this is probably a mistake, originating from
the false assumption that he was identical with a Greek philosopher of
the same name, who was the author of the so-called "Sentences" of
Xystus.
Shortly before the pontificate of Sixtus II the
Emperor Valerian issued his first edict of persecution, which made it
binding upon the Christians to participate in the national cult of the
pagan gods and forbade them to assemble in the cemeteries, threatening
with exile or death whomsoever was found to disobey the order. In some
way or other, Sixtus II managed to perform his functions as chief
pastor of the Christians without being molested by those who were
charged with the execution of the imperial edict. But during the first
days of August, 258, the emperor issued a new and far more cruel edict
against the Christians, the import of which has been preserved in a
letter of St. Cyprian to Successus, the Bishop of Abbir Germaniciana
(Ep. lxxx). It ordered bishops, priests, and deacons to be summarily
put to death ("episcopi et presbyteri et diacones incontinenti
animadvertantur"). Sixtus II was one of the first to fall a victim to
this imperial enactment ("Xistum in cimiterio animadversum sciatis
VIII. id. Augusti et cum eo diacones quattuor"—Cyprian, Ep. lxxx). In
order to escape the vigilance of the imperial officers he assembled his
flock on 6 August at one of the less-known cemeteries, that of
Prætextatus, on the left side of the Appian Way, nearly opposite
the cemetery of St. Callistus. While seated on his chair in the act of
addressing his flock he was suddenly apprehended by a band of soldiers.
There is some doubt whether he was beheaded forthwith, or was first
brought before a tribunal to receive his sentence and then led back to
the cemetery for execution. The latter opinion seems to be the more
probable.
The inscription
which Pope Damasus (366-84) placed on his tomb in the cemetery of St.
Callistus may be interpreted in either sense. The entire inscription is
to be found in the works of St. Damasus (P.L., XIII, 383-4, where it is
wrongly supposed to be an epitaph for Pope Stephen I), and a few
fragments of it were discovered at the tomb itself by de Rossi (Inscr.
Christ., II, 108). The "Liber Pontificalis" mentions that he was led
away to offer sacrifice to the gods ("ductus ut sacrificaret
demoniis"—I, 155). St. Cyprian states in the above-named letter, which
was written at the latest one month after the martyrdom of Sixtus, that
"the prefects of the City were daily urging the persecution in order
that, if any were brought before them, they might be punished and their
property confiscated". The pathetic meeting between St. Sixtus II and
St. Lawrence, as the former was being led to execution, of which
mention is made in the unauthentic "Acts of St. Lawrence" as well as by
St. Ambrose (Officiorum, lib. I, c. xli, and lib. II, c. xxviii) and
the poet Prudentius (Peristephanon, II), is probably a mere legend.
Entirely contrary to truth is the statement of Prudentius (ibid., lines
23-26) that Sixtus II suffered martyrdom on the cross, unless by an
unnatural trope the poet uses the specific word cross ("Jam Xystus
adfixus cruci") for martyrdom in general, as Duchesne and Allard (see
below) suggest. Four deacons, Januarius, Vincentius, Magnus, and
Stephanus, were apprehended with Sixtus and beheaded with him at the
same cemetery. Two other deacons, Felicissimus and Agapitus, suffered
martyrdom on the same day. The feast of St. Sixtus II and these six
deacons is celebrated on 6 August, the day of their martyrdom. The
remains of Sixtus were transferred by the Christians to the papal crypt
in the neighbouring cemetery of St. Callistus. Behind his tomb was
enshrined the bloodstained chair on which he had been beheaded. An
oratory (Oratorium Xysti) was erected above the cemetery of St.
Prætextatus, at the spot where he was martyred, and was still
visited by pilgrims of the seventh and the eighth century.
For some time Sixtus II was
believed to be the author of the
so-called "Sentences", or "Ring of Sixtus", originally written by a
Pythagorean philosopher and in the second century revised by a
Christian. This error arose because in his introduction to a Latin
translation of these "Sentences". Rufinus ascribes them to Sixtus of
Rome, bishop and martyr. It is certain that Pope Sixtus II is not their
author (see Conybeare, "The Ring of Pope Xystus now first rendered into
English, with an historical and critical commentary", London, 1910).
Harnack (Texte und Untersuchungen zur altchrist. Literatur, XIII, XX)
ascribes to him the treatise "Ad Novatianum", but his opinion has been
generally rejected (see Rombold in "Theol. Quartalschrift", LXXII,
Tübingen, 1900). Some of his letters are printed in P.L., V,
79-100. A newly discovered letter was published by Conybeare in
"English Hist. Review", London, 1910.
|
264-5 Dionysius
of Alexandria (Bishop from 247-8
to
264-5.)
Called "the Great" by Eusebius, St. Basil, and others, was
undoubtedly, after St. Cyprian, the most eminent bishop of the third
century. Like St. Cyprian he was less a great theologian than a great
administrator. Like St. Cyprian his writings usually took the form of
letters. Both saints were converts from paganism; both were engaged in
the controversies as to the restoration of those who had lapsed in the
Decian persecution, about Novatian, and with regard to the iteration of
heretical baptism; both corresponded with the popes of their day. Yet
it is curious that neither mentions the name of the other. A single
letter of Dionysius has been preserved in Greek canon law. For the rest
we are dependent on the many citations by Eusebius, and, for one phase,
to the works of his great successor St. Athanasius.
Dionysius was an old man
when he died, so that his birth will fall about 190, or earlier. He is
said to have been of distinguished parentage. He became a Christian
when still young. At a later period, when he was warned by a priest of
the danger he ran in studying the books of heretics, a vision–so he
informs us–assured him that he was capable of proving all things, and
that this faculty had in fact been the cause of his conversion. He
studied under Origen. The latter was banished by Demetrius about 231,
and Heraclas took his place at the head of the catechetical school. On
the death of Demetrius very soon afterwards, Heraclas became bishop,
and Dionysius took the headship of the famous school. It is thought
that he retained this office even when he himself had succeeded
Heraclas as bishop. In the last year of Philip, 249, although the
emperor himself was reported to be a Christian, a riot at Alexandria,
roused by a popular prophet and poet, had all the effect of a severe
persecution. It is described by Dionysius in a letter to Fabius of
Antioch. The mob first seized an old man named Metras, beat him with
clubs when he would not deny his faith, pierced his eyes and face with
reeds, dragged him out of the city, and stoned him. Then a woman named
Quinta, who would not sacrifice, was drawn along the rough pavement by
the feet, dashed against millstones, scourged, and finally stoned in
the same suburb. The houses of the faithful were plundered. Not one, so
far as the bishop knew, apostatized. The aged virgin, Apollonia, after
her teeth had been knocked out, sprang of her own accord into the fire
prepared for her rather than utter blasphemies. Serapion had all his
limbs broken, and was dashed down from the upper story of his own
house. It was impossible for any Christian to go into the streets, even
at night, for the mob was shouting that all who would not blaspheme
should be burnt. The riot was stopped by the civil war, but the new
Emperor Decius instituted a legal persecution in January, 250. St.
Cyprian describes how at Carthage the Christians rushed to sacrifice,
or at least to obtain false certificates of having done so. Similarly
Dionysius tells us that at Alexandria many conformed through fear,
others on account of official position, or persuaded by friends; some
pale and trembling at their act, others boldly asserting that they had
never been Christians. Some endured imprisonment for a time; others
abjured only at the sight of tortures; others held out until the
tortures conquered their resolution. But there were noble instances of
constancy. Julian and Kronion were scourged through the city on camels,
and then burnt to death. A soldier, Besas, who protected them from the
insults of the people, was beheaded. Macar, a Libyan, was burnt alive.
Epimachus and Alexander, after long imprisonment and many tortures,
were also burnt, with four women. The virgin Ammomarion also was long
tortured. The aged Mercuria and Dionysia, a mother of many children,
suffered by the sword. Heron, Ater, and Isidore, Egyptians, after many
tortures were given to the flames. A boy of fifteen, Dioscorus, who
stood firm under torture, was dismissed by the judge for very shame.
Nemesion was tortured and scourged, and then burnt between two robbers.
A number of soldiers, and with them an old man named Ingenuus, made
indignant signs to one who was on his trial and about to apostatize.
When called to order they cried out that they were Christians with such
boldness that the governor and his assessors were taken aback; they
suffered a glorious martyrdom. Numbers were martyred in the cities and
villages. A steward named Ischyrion was pierced through the stomach by
his master with a large stake because he refused to sacrifice. Many
fled, wandered in the deserts and the mountains, and were cut off by
hunger, thirst, cold, sickness, robbers, or wild beasts. A bishop named
Chæremon escaped with his s&úmbios (wife?) to the
Arabian mountain, and was no more heard of. Many were carried off as
slaves by the Saracens and some of these were later ransomed for large
sums.
Some of the lapsed had been readmitted to Christian
fellowship by the martyrs. Dionysius urged upon Fabius, Bishop of
Antioch, who was inclined to join Novatian, that it was right to
respect this judgment delivered by blessed martyrs "now seated with
Christ, and sharers in His Kingdom and assessors in His judgment". He
adds the story of an old man, Serapion, who after a long and blameless
life had sacrificed, and could obtain absolution from no one. On his
death-bed he sent his grandson to fetch a priest. The priest was ill,
but he gave a particle of the Eucharist to the child, telling him to
moisten it and place it in the old man's mouth. Serapion received it
with joy, and immediately expired. Sabinus, the prefect, sent a
frumentarius (detective) to search for Dionysius directly the decree
was published; he looked everywhere but in Dionysius's own house, where
the saint had quietly remained. On the fourth day he was inspired to
depart, and he left at night, with his domestics and certain brethren.
But it seems that he was soon made prisoner, for soldiers escorted the
whole party to Taposiris in the Mareotis. A certain Timotheus, who had
not been taken with the others, informed a passing countryman, who
carried the news to a wedding-feast he was attending. All instantly
rose up and rushed to release the bishop. The soldiers took to flight,
leaving their prisoners on their uncushioned litters. Dionysius,
believing his rescuers to be robbers, held out his clothes to them,
retaining only his tunic. They urged him to rise and fly. He begged
them to leave him, declaring that they might as well cut off his head
at once, as the soldiers would shortly do so. He let himself down on
the ground on his back; but they seized him by the hands and feet and
dragged him away, carrying him out of the little town, and setting him
on an ass without a saddle. With two companions, Gaius and Peter, he
remained in a desert place in Libya until the persecution ceased in
251. The whole Christian world was then thrown into confusion by the
news that Novatian claimed the Bishopric of Rome in opposition to Pope
Cornelius. Dionysius at once took the side of the latter, and it was
largely by his influence that the whole East, after much disturbance,
was brought in a few months into unity and harmony. Novatian wrote to
him for support. His curt reply has been preserved entire: Novatian can
easily prove the truth of his protestation that he was consecrated
against his will by voluntarily retiring; he ought to have suffered
martyrdom rather than divide the Church of God; indeed it would have
been a particularly glorious martyrdom on behalf of the whole Church
(such is the importance attached by Dionysius to a schism at Rome); if
he can even now persuade his party to make peace, the past will be
forgotten; if not, let him save his own soul. St. Dionysius also wrote
many letters on this question to Rome and to the East; some of these
were treatises on penance. He took a somewhat milder view than Cyprian,
for he gave greater weight to the "indulgences" granted by the martyrs,
and refused forgiveness in the hour of death to none.
After the persecution the pestilence. Dionysius describes it
more graphically than does St. Cyprian, and he reminds us of Thucydides
and Defoe. The heathen thrust away their sick, fled from their own
relatives, threw bodies half dead into the streets; yet they suffered
more than the Christians, whose heroic acts of mercy are recounted by
their bishop. Many priests, deacons, and persons of merit died from
succouring others, and this death, writes Dionysius, was in no way
inferior to martyrdom. The baptismal controversy spread from Africa
throughout the East. Dionysius was far from teaching, like Cyprian,
that baptism by a heretic rather befouls than cleanses; but he was
impressed by the opinion of many bishops and some councils that
repetition of such a baptism was necessary, and it appears that he
besought Pope Stephen not to break off communion with the Churches of
Asia on this account. He also wrote on the subject to Dionysius of
Rome, who was not yet pope, and to a Roman named Philemon, both of whom
had written to him. We know seven letters from him on the subject, two
being addressed to Pope Sixtus II. In one of these he asks advice in
the case of a man who had received baptism a long time before from
heretics, and now declared that it had been improperly performed.
Dionysius had refused to renew the sacrament after the man had so many
years received the Holy Eucharist; he asks the pope's opinion. In this
case it is clear that the difficulty was in the nature of the
ceremonies used, not in the mere fact of their having been performed by
heretics. We gather than Dionysius himself followed the Roman custom,
either by the tradition of his Church, or else out of obedience to the
decree of Stephen. In 253 Origen died; he had not been at Alexandria
for many years. But Dionysius had not forgotten his old master, and
wrote a letter in his praise to Theotecnus of Cæsarea.
An Egyptian bishop, Nepos,
taught the Chiliastic error that there would be a reign of Christ upon
earth for a thousand years, a period of corporal delights; he founded
this doctrine upon the Apocalypse in a book entitled "Refutation of the
Allegorizers". It was only after the death of Nepos that Dionysius
found himself obliged to write two books "On the Promises" to
counteract this error. He treats Nepos with great respect, but rejects
his doctrine, as indeed the Church has since done, though it was taught
by Papias, Justin, Irenæus, Victorinus of Pettau, and others. The
diocese proper to Alexandria was still very large (though Heraclas is
said to have instituted new bishoprics), and the Arsinoite nome formed
a part of it. Here the error was very prevalent, and St. Dionysius went
in person to the villages, called together the priests and teachers,
and for three days instructed them, refuting the arguments they drew
from the book of Nepos. He was much edified by the docile spirit and
love of truth which he found. At length Korakion, who had introduced
the book and the doctrine, declared himself convinced. The chief
interest of the incident is not in the picture it gives of ancient
Church life and of the wisdom and gentleness of the bishop, but in the
remarkable disquisition, which Dionysius appends, on the authenticity
of the Apocalypse. It is a very striking piece of "higher criticism",
and for clearness and moderation, keenness and insight, is hardly to be
surpassed. Some of the brethren, he tells us, in their zeal against
Chiliastic error, repudiated the Apocalypse altogether, and took it
chapter by chapter to ridicule it, attributing the authorship of it to
Cerinthus (as we know the Roman Gaius did some years earlier).
Dionysius treats it with reverence, and declares it to be full of
hidden mysteries, and doubtless really by a man called John. (In a
passage now lost, he showed that the book must be understood
allegorically.) But he found it hard to believe that the writer could
be the son of Zebedee, the author of the Gospel and of the Catholic
Epistle, on account of the great contrast of character, style and "what
is called working out". He shows that the one writer calls himself
John, whereas the other only refers to himself by some periphrasis. He
adds the famous remark, that "it is said that there are two tombs in
Ephesus, both of which are called that of John". He demonstrates the
close likeness between the Gospel and the Epistle, and points out the
wholly different vocabulary of the Apocalypse; the latter is full of
solecisms and barbarisms, while the former are in good Greek. This
acute criticism was unfortunate, in that it was largely the cause of
the frequent rejection of the Apocalypse in the Greek-speaking
Churches, even as late as the Middle Ages. Dionysius's arguments
appeared unanswerable to the liberal critics of the nineteenth century.
Lately the swing of the pendulum has brought many, guided by Bousset,
Harnack, and others, to be impressed rather by the undeniable points of
contact between the Gospel and the Apocalypse, than by the differences
of style (which can be explained by a different scribe and interpreter,
since the author of both books was certainly a Jew), so that even Loisy
admits that the opinion of the numerous and learned conservative
scholars "no longer appears impossible". But it should be noted that
the modern critics have added nothing to the judicious remarks of the
third-century patriarch.
The Emperor Valerian,
whose accession was in 253, did not persecute until 257. In that year
St. Cyprian was banished to Curubis, and St. Dionysius to Kephro in the
Mareotis, after being tried together with one priest and two deacons
before Æmilianus, the prefect of Egypt. He himself relates the
firm answers he made to the prefect, writing to defend himself against
a certain Germanus, who had accused him of a disgraceful flight.
Cyprian suffered in 258, but Dionysius was spared, and returned to
Alexandria directly sentence against original--> when toleration was
decreed by Gallienus in 260. But not to peace, for in 261-2 the city
was in a state of tumult little less dangerous than a persecution. The
great thoroughfare which traversed the town was impassable. The bishop
had to communicate with his flock by letter, as though they were in
different countries. It was easier, he writes, to pass from East to
West, than from Alexandria to Alexandria. Famine and pestilence raged
anew. The inhabitants of what was still the second city of the world
had decreased so that the males between fourteen and eighty were now
scarcely so numerous as those between forty and seventy had been not
many years before. A controversy arose in the latter years of Dionysius
of which the half-Arian Eusebius has been careful to make no mention.
All we know is from St. Athanasius. Some bishops of the Pentapolis of
Upper Libya fell into Sabellianism and denied the distinctness of the
Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Dionysius wrote some four letters
to condemn their error, and sent copies to Pope Sixtus II (257-8). But
he himself fell, so far as words go, into the opposite error, for he
said the Son is a poíema (something made) and distinct in
substance, xénos kat’ oùsian, from the Father, even as is
the husbandman from the vine, or a shipbuilder from a ship. These words
were seized upon by the Arians of the fourth century as plain Arianism.
But Athanasius defended Dionysius by telaling the sequel of the
history. Certain brethren of Alexandria, being offended at the words of
their bishop, betook themselves to Rome to Pope St. Dionysius (259-
268), who wrote a letter, in which he declared that to teach that the
Son was made or was a creature was an impiety equal, though contrary,
to that of Sabellius. He also wrote to his namesake of Alexandria
informing him of the accusation brought against him. The latter
immediately composed books entitled "Refutation" and "Apology"; in
these he explicitly declared that there never was a time when God was
not Father, that Christ always was, being Word and Wisdom and Power,
and coeternal, even as brightness is not posterior to the light from
which it proceeds. He teaches the "Trinity in Unity and the Unity in
Trinity"; he clearly implies the equality and eternal procession of the
Holy Ghost. In these last points he is more explicit than St.
Athanasius himself is elsewhere, while in the use of the word
consubstantial, ‘omoo&úsios, he anticipates Nicæa, for
he bitterly complains of the calumny that he had rejected the
expression. But however he himself and his advocate Athanasius may
attempt to explain away his earlier expressions, it is clear that he
had been incorrect in thought as well as in words, and that he did not
at first grasp the true doctrine with the necessary distinctness. The
letter of the pope was evidently explicit and must have been the cause
of the Alexandrian's clearer vision. The pope, as Athanasius points
out, gave a formal condemnation of Arianism long before that heresy
emerged. When we consider the vagueness and incorrectness in the fourth
century of even the supporters of orthodoxy in the East, the decision
of the Apostolic See will seem a marvellous testimony to the doctrine
of the Fathers as to the unfailing faith of Rome.
We find Dionysius issuing yearly, like the later bishops of
Alexandria, festal letters announcing the date of Easter and dealing
with various matters. When the heresy of Paul of Samosata, Bishop of
Antioch, began to trouble the East, Dionysius wrote to the Church of
Antioch on the subject, as he was obliged to decline the invitation to
attend a synod there, on the score of his age and infirmities. He died
soon afterwards. St. Dionysius is in the Roman Martyrology on 17 Nov.,
but he is also intended, with the companions of his flight in the
Decian persecution, by the mistaken notice on 3 Oct.: Dionysius,
Faustus, Gaius, Peter, and Paul, Martyrs(!). The same error is found in
Greek menologies.
|
 283 Pope St. Eutychianus January, 275, until 7 December, 283
Romæ beáti Eutychiáni Papæ, qui per
divérsa loca trecéntos quadragínta duos
Mártyres manu sua sepelívit; quibus et ipse deínde
sociátus, sub Numeriáno Imperatóre, martyrio
coronátus est, et in cœmetério Callísti
sepúltus.
At Rome, blessed Eutychian, pope, who with his own
hand buried three hundred and forty-two martyrs in various
places. He himself was joined with them, crowned with martyrdom
under Emperor Numerian, and was buried in the cemetery of Callistus.
283 Pope St. Eutychianus
January, 275, until 7 December, 283 the last pope buried in
the catacombs of St. Callixtus
He succeeded
Pope Felix I a few days after the latter's death, and governed the
Church from January, 275, until 7 December, 283. We know no details of
his pontificate. The rite for blessing the produce of the fields,
ascribed to him by the "Liber Pontificalis", undoubtedly belongs to a
later period. The statement also that he promulgated rules for the
burial of martyrs and buried many of them with his own hands, has but
slight claim to acceptance, since after the death of Aurelian (275) the
Church enjoyed a long respite from persecution. It is highly probable
that Eutychianus died not die a martyr. The fourth-century Roman
Calendar mentions him (8 December) in the "Depositio Episcoporum", but
not in its list of martyrs. His remains were placed in the papal chapel
in the Catacomb of Callistus. When this famous crypt was discovered the
fragments of the epitaph of Eutychianus were found, i.e. his name (in
Greek letters): EUTYCHIANOS EPIS(KOPOS). His feast is celebrated on 8
December. |
308-309 Pope St.
Marcellus I; a clear historical
tradition in support of his declaration that
the ecclesiastical administration in Rome was reorganized by this pope
after the great persecution;
His date of birth unknown; elected pope in May or June, 308;
died in 309. For some time after the death of Marcellinus in 304 the
Diocletian persecution continued with unabated severity. After the
abdication of Diocletian in 305, and the accession in Rome of Maxentius
to the throne of the Caesars in October of the following year, the
Christians of the capital again enjoyed comparative peace.
Nevertheless, nearly two years passed before a new Bishop of Rome was
elected. Then in 308, according to the "Catalogus Liberianus", Pope
Marcellus first entered on his office: "Fuit temporibus Maxenti a cons.
X et Maximiano usque post consulatum X et septimum" ("Liber
Pontificalis", ed. Duchesne, I, 6-7). This abbreviated notice is to be
read: "A cons. Maximiano Herculio X et Maximiano Galerio VII [308]
usque post cons. Maxim. Herc. X et Maxim. Galer. VII [309]" (cf. de
Rossi, "Inscriptiones christ. urbis Romæ", I, 30).
At Rome, Marcellus found the Church in the greatest
confusion. The meeting-places and some of the burial-places of the
faithful had been confiscated, and the ordinary life and activity of
the Church was interrupted. Added to this were the dissensions within
the Church itself, caused by the large number of weaker members who had
fallen away during the long period of active persecution and later,
under the leadership of an apostate, violently demanded that they
should be readmitted to communion without doing penance.
According to the "Liber Pontificalis" Marcellus divided
the territorial administration of the Church into twenty-five districts
(tituli), appointing over each a presbyter, who saw to the preparation
of the catechumens for baptism and directed the performance of public
penances. The presbyter was also made responsible for the burial of the
dead and for the celebrations commemorating the deaths of the martyrs.
The pope also had a new burial-place, the Cœmeterium Novellœ on the Via
Salaria (opposite the Catacomb of St. Priscilla), laid out. The "Liber
Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 164) says: "Hic fecit cymiterium
Novellae via Salaria et XXV titulos in urbe Roma constituit quasi
diœcesis propter baptismum et pœnitentiam multorum qui convertebantur
ex paganis et propter sepulturas martyrum". At the beginning of the
seventh century there were probably twenty-five titular churches in
Rome; even granting that, perhaps, the compiler of the "Liber
Pontificalis" referred this number to the time of Marcellus, there is
still a clear historical tradition in support of his declaration that
the ecclesiastical administration in Rome was reorganized by this pope
after the great persecution.
The work of the pope was, however, quickly interrupted by the
controversies to which the question of the readmittance of the lapsi
into the Church gave rise. As to this, we gather some light from the
poetic tribute composed by Damasus in memory of his predecessor and
placed over his grave (De Rossi, "Inscr. christ. urbis Romæ", II,
62, 103, 138; cf. Idem, "Roma sotterranea", II, 204-5). Damasus relates
that the truth-loving leader of the Roman Church was looked upon as a
wicked enemy by all the lapsed, because he insisted that they should
perform the prescribed penance for their guilt. As a result serious
conflicts arose, some of which ended in bloodshed, and every bond of
peace was broken. At the head of this band of the unfaithful and
rebellious stood an apostate who had denied the Faith even before the
outbreak of persecution.
The tyrannical Maxentius had the pope seized and sent into
exile. This took place at the end of 308 or the beginning of 309
according to the passages cited above from the "Catalogus Liberianus",
which gives the length of the pontificate as no more than one year, six
(or seven) months, and twenty days. Marcellus died shortly after
leaving Rome, and was venerated as a saint. His feast-day was 16
January, according to the "Depositio episcoporum" of the "Chronography"
of 354 and every other Roman authority. Nevertheless, it is not known
whether this is the date of his death or that of the burial of his
remains, after these had been brought back from the unknown quarter to
which he had been exiled. He was buried in the catacomb of St.
Priscilla where his grave is mentioned by the itineraries to the graves
of the Roman martyrs as existing in the basilica of St. Silvester (De
Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", I, 176)
A fifth-century "Passio Marcelli", which is included in the legendary
account of the martyrdom of St. Cyriacus (cf. Acta Sanct., Jan., II,
369) and is followed by the "Liber Pontificalis", gives a different
account of the end of Marcellus. According to this version, the pope
was required by Maxentius, who was enraged at his reorganization of the
Church, to lay aside his episcopal dignity and make an offering to the
gods. On his refusal, he was condemned to work as a slave at a station
on the public highway (catabulum). At the end of nine months he was set
free by the clergy; but a matron named Lucina having had her house on
the Via Lata consecrated by him as "titulus Marcelli" he was again
condemned to the work of attending to the horses brought into the
station, in which menial occupation he died. All this is probably
legendary, the reference to the restoration of ecclesiastical activity
by Marcellus alone having an historical basis. The tradition related in
the verses of Damasus seems much more worthy of belief. The feast of
St. Marcellus, whose name is to this day borne by the church at Rome
mentioned in the above legend, is still celebrated on 16 January. There
still remains to be mentioned Mommsen's peculiar view that Marcellus
was not really a bishop, but a simple Roman presbyter to whom was
committed the ecclesiastical administration during the latter part of
the period of vacancy of the papal chair. According to this view, 16
January was really the date of Marcellunus's death, the next occupant
of the chair being Eusebius (Neues Archiv, 1896, XXI, 350-3). This
hypothesis has, however, found no support.
|
314 Pope St. Miltiades {
also written Melchiades), a native of Africa} 310 or 311; died 10 or 11 January,
314
The year of his
birth is not known; he was elected pope in either 310 or 311; died 10
or 11 January, 314.
After the banishment of Pope Eusebius, the Roman See was
vacant for some time, probably because of the complications which has
arisen on account of the apostates (lapsi), and which were not cleared
up by the banishment of Eusebius and Heraclius. On 2 July, 310 or 311,
Miltiadea (the name is also written Melchiades), a native of Africa,
was elevated to the papacy. There is some uncertainty as to the exact
year, as the "Liberian Catalogue of the Popes" (Duchesne, "Liber
Pontificalis", I, 9) gives 2 July, 311, as the date of the consecration
of the new pope (ex die VI non. iul. a cons. Maximiliano VIII solo,
quod fuit mense septembri Volusiano et Rufino); but in contradiction to
this the death of the pope is said to have occurred on 2 January, 314,
and the duration of the pontificate is given as three years, six months
and eight days; possibly owing to the mistake of a copyist, we ought to
read "ann. II" instead of "ann. III"; and therefore the year of his
elevation to the papacy was most probably 311.
About this time (311 or 310), an edict of toleration
signed by the Emperors Galerius, Licinius, and Constantine, put an end
to the great persecution of the Christians, and they were permitted to
live as such, and also to reconstruct their places of religious worship
(Eusebius, "Hist. Eccl.", VIII, xvii; Lactantius, "De mortibus
persecutorum", xxxiv). Only in those countries of the Orient which were
under the sway of Maximinus Daia did the Christians continue to be
persecuted. The emperor now gave Pope Miltiades in Rome the right to
receive back, through the prefect of the city, all ecclesiastical
buildings and possessions which had been confiscated during the
persecutions. The two Roman deacons, Strato and Cassianus, were ordered
by the pope to discuss this matter with the prefect, and to take over
the church properties (Augustinus, "Breviculus collationis cum
Donatistis", iii, 34); it thus became possible to reorganize thoroughly
the ecclesiastical administration and the religious life of the
Christians in Rome.
Miltiades
caused the remains of his predecessor, Eusebius, to be brought back
from Sicily to Rome, and had them interred in a crypt in the Catacombs
of St. Callistus. In the following year the pope witnessed the final
triumph of the Cross, through the defeat of Maxentius, and the entry
into Rome of the Emperor Constantine (now converted to Christianity),
after the victory at the Milvian Bridge (27 October, 312). Later the
emperor presented the Roman Church with the Lateran Palace, which then
became the residence of the pope, and consequently also the seat of the
seat of the central administration of the Roman Church. The basilica
which adjoined the palace or was afterwards built there became the
principal church of Rome. In 313 the Donatists came to Constantine with
a request to nominate bishops from Gaul as judges in the controversy of
the African episcopate regarding the consecration in Carthage of the
two bishops, Cæcilian and Majorinus. Constantine wrote about this
to Miltiades, and also to Marcus, requesting the pope with three
bishops from Gaul to give a hearing in Rome, to Cæcilian and his
opponent, and to decide the case. On 2 October, 313, there assembled in
the Lateran Palace, under the presidency of Miltiades, a synod of
eighteen bishops from Gaul and Italy, which, after thoroughly
considring the Donatist controversy for three days, decided in favor of
Cæcilian, whose election and consecration as Bishop of Carthage
was declared to be legitimate. In the biography of Miltiades, in the
"Liber Pontificalis", it is stated that at the time Manichæans
were found in Rome; this was quite possible as Manichæism began
to be spread in the West in the fourth century. The same source
attributes to this pope a decree which absolutely forbade the
Christians to fast on Sundays or on Thursdays, "because these days were
observed by the heathen as a holy fast". This reason is remarkable; it
comes most likely from the author of the "Liber Pontificalis" who with
this alleged decree traces back a Roman custom of his own time to an
ordinance of Miltiades. The "Liber Pontificalis" is probably no less
arbitrary in crediting this pope with a decree to the effect that the
Oblation consecrated at the Solemn Mass of the pope (by which is meant
the Eucharistic Bread) should be taken to the different churches in
Rome. Such a custom actually existed in Rome (Duchesne, "Christian
Worship," London, 1903, 185); but there is nothing definite to show
that it was introduced byMiltiades, as the "Liber Pontificalis"
asserts.
After his death, on 10 or 11 January (the Liberian
Catalogue" give it as III id. jan.; the "Depositio Episcoporum" as IIII
id. jan.), 314, Miltiades was laid to rest in the Catacomb of St.
Callistus and he was venerated as a saint. De Rossi regards as highly
probably his [this] location of this pope's burial-chamber (Roma
Sotterranea, II, 188 sq.). His feast was celebrated in the fourth
century, on 10 January, according to the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum".
In the present "Roman Martyrology" it occurs on 10 December.
|
336 Pope St. Mark; Constantine the Great's letter, which
summoned a conference of
bishops for the investigation of the Donatist dispute, is directed to
Pope Miltiades and one Mark (Eusebius, Church History X.5). This Mark
was evidently a member of the Roman clergy, either priest or first
deacon, and is perhaps identical with the pope. The date of Mark's
election (18 Jan., 336) is given in the Liberian Catalogue of popes
(Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I, 9), and is historically certain; so
is the day of his death (7 Oct.), which is specified in the same way in
the "Depositio episcoporum" of Philocalus's "Chronography", the first
edition of which appeared also in 336.
Date of birth unknown; consecrated 18 Jan., 336; d. 7 Oct.,
336. After the death of Pope Sylvester, Mark was raised to the Roman
episcopal chair as his successor. The "Liber Pontificalis" says that he
was a Roman, and that his father's name was Priscus. Constantine the
Great's letter, which summoned a conference of bishops for the
investigation of the Donatist dispute, is directed to Pope Miltiades
and one Mark (Eusebius, Church History X.5). This Mark was evidently a
member of the Roman clergy, either priest or first deacon, and is
perhaps identical with the pope. The date of Mark's election (18 Jan.,
336) is given in the Liberian Catalogue of popes (Duchesne, "Liber
Pontificalis", I, 9), and is historically certain; so is the day of his
death (7 Oct.), which is specified in the same way in the "Depositio
episcoporum" of Philocalus's "Chronography", the first edition of which
appeared also in 336. Concerning an interposition of the pope in the
Arian troubles, which were then so actively affecting the Church in the
East, nothing has been handed down. An alleged letter of his to St.
Athanasius is a later forgery. Two constitutions are attributed to Mark
by the author of the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 20).
According to the one, he invested the Bishop of Ostia with the pallium,
and ordained that this bishop was to consecrate the Bishop of Rome. It
is certain that, towards the end of the fourth century, the Bishop of
Ostia did bestow the episcopal consecration upon the newly-elected
pope; Augustine expressly bears witness to this (Breviarium
Collationis, III, 16). It is indeed possible that Mark had confirmed
this privilege by a constitution, which does not preclude the fact that
the Bishop of Ostia before this time usually consecrated the new pope.
As for the bestowal of the pallium, the account cannot be established
from sources of the fourth century, since the oldest memorials which
show this badge, belong to the fifth and sixth centuries, and the
oldest written mention of a pope bestowing the pallium dates from the
sixth century (cf. Grisar, "Das römische Pallium und die altesten
liturgischen Schärpen", in "Festschrift des deutschen Campo Santo
in Rom", Freiburg im Br., 1897, 83-114).
The "Liber Pontificalis" remarks further of Marcus: "Et constitutum de
omni ecclesia ordinavit"; but we do not know which constitution this
refers to. The building of two basilicas is attributed to this pope by
the author of the "Liber Pontificalis". One of these was built within
the city in the region "juxta Pallacinis"; it is the present church of
San Marco, which however received its present external shape by later
alterations. It is mentioned in the fifth century as a Roman title
church, so that its foundation may without difficulty be attributed to
St. Mark. The other was outside the city; it was a cemetery church,
which the pope got built over the Catacomb of Balbina, between the Via
Appia and the Via Ardeatina (cf. de Rossi, "Roma sotterranea", III,
8-13; "Bullettino di arch. crist.", 1867, 1 sqq.; Wilpert,
"Topographische Studien uber die christlichen Monumente der Appia und
der Ardeatina", in "Rom. Quartalschrift", 1901, 32-49). The pope
obtained from Emperor Constantine gifts of land and liturgical
furniture for both basilicas. Mark was buried in the Catacomb of
Balbina, where he had built the cemetery church. His grave is expressly
mentioned there by the itineraries of the seventh century (de Rossi,
"Roma sotterranea", I, 180-1). The feast of the deceased pope was given
on 7 Oct. in the old Roman calendar of feasts, which was inserted in
the "Martyrologium Hieronymianum"; it is still kept on the same date.
In an ancient manuscript a laudatory poem is preserved (unfortunately
in a mutilated text), which Pope Damasus had composed on a Saint Marcus
(de Rossi, "Inscriptiones christ. urbis Romae.", II, 108; Ihm, "Damasi
epigrammata", Leipzig, 1895, 17, no. 11). De Rossi refers this to Pope
Mark, but Duchesne (loc. cit., 204), is unable to accept this view.
Since the contents of the poem are of an entirely general nature,
without any particularly characteristic feature from the life of Pope
Mark, the question is not of great importance.
|
336
St. Julius elected Pope to
succeed Pope St. Mark on February 6, 337 built several basilicas and
churches in Rome declared that Athanasius was the rightful bishop of
Alexandria and reinstated him
(337-352 ).
The immediate successor of Pope Silvester, Arcus, ruled the
Roman
Church for only a very short period — from 18 January to 7 October, 336
— and after his death the papal chair remained vacant for four months.
What occasioned this comparatively long vacancy is unknown. On 6 Feb.,
337, Julius, son of Rustics and a native of Rome, was elected pope. His
pontificate is chiefly celebrated for his judicious and firm
intervention in the Arian controversies, about which we have abundant
sources of information. After the death of Constantine the Great (22
May, 337), his son Constantine II, Governor of Gaul, permitted the
exiled Athanasius to return to his See of Alexandria (see ATHANASIUS).
The Arians in Egypt, however, set up a rival bishop in the person of
Pistus, and sent an embassy to Julius asking him to admit Pistus into
communion with Rome, and delivering to the pope the decisions of the
Council of Tyre (335) to prove that Athanasius had been validly
deposed. On his side Athanasius likewise sent envoys to Rome to deliver
to Julius a synodal letter of the Egyptian bishops, containing a
complete justification of their patriarch. On the arrival of the
Athanasian envoys in Rome, Macarius, the head of the Arian
representatives, left the city; the two remaining Arian envoys, with
the Athanasian deputies, were summoned by Pope Julius. The Arian envoys
now begged the pope to assemble a great synod before which both parties
should present their case for decision.
Julius convened the synod
at Rome, having dispatched two envoys to bear
a letter of invitation to the Eastern bishops. Under the leadership of
Eusebius, who had been raised from Nicomedia to the See of
Constantinople, the Arian bishops had meanwhile held a council at
Antioch, and elected George of Cappadocia Bishop of Alexandria in the
place of Pistus. George was intruded forcibly into his see, and
Athanasius, being again exiled, made his way to Rome. Many other
Eastern bishops removed by the Arian party, among them Marcellus of
Ancyra, also came to Rome. In a letter couched in haughty terms,
however, the Arian bishops of the party of Eusebius refused to attend
the synod summoned by Julius. The synod was held in the autumn of 340
or 341, under the presidency of the pope, in the titular church of the
presbyter Vitus. After a detailed examination of the documents,
Athanasius and Marcellus of Ancyra, who had made a satisfactory
profession of faith, were exonerated and re-established in their
episcopal rights. Pope Julius communicated this decision in a very
notable and able letter to the bishops of the Eusebian party. In this
letter he justifies his proceedings in the case, defends in detail his
action in reinstating Athanasius, and animadverts strongly on the
non-appearance of the Eastern bishops at the council, the convening of
which they themselves had suggested. Even if Athanasius and his
companions were somewhat to blame, the letter runs, the Alexandrian
Church should first have written to the pope. "Can you be ignorant,"
writes the pope, "that this is the custom, that we should be written to
first, so that from here what is just may be defined" (Julii ep. ad
Antiochenos, c. xxii). After his victory over his brother Constantine
II, Emperor Constans was ruler over the greater part of the Empire. He
was entirely orthodox in his views, and, at the request of the pope and
other Western bishops, interceded with his brother Constantius, Emperor
of the East, in favour of the bishops who had been deposed and
persecuted by the Arian party. Both rulers agreed that there should be
convened a general council of the Western and Eastern bishops at
Sardica, the principal city of the Province of Dacia Mediterranea (the
modern Sofia). It took place in the autumn of 342 or 343, Julius
sending as his representatives the priests Archidamus and Philoxenus
and the deacon Leo. Although the Eastern bishops of the Arian party did
not join in the council, but held their assembly separate and then
departed, the synod nevertheless accomplished its task. Through the
important canons iii, iv, and v (vii in the Latin text) of this
council, the procedure against accused bishops was more exactly
regulated, and the manner of the papal intervention in the condemnation
of bishops was definitely established.
At the close of its transactions the synod communicated its
decisions
to the pope in a dutiful letter. Notwithstanding the reaffirmation of
his innocence by the Synod of Sardica, St. Athanasius was not restored
to his see by Emperor Constantius until after the death of George, the
rival Bishop of Alexandria, in 346. Pope Julius took this occasion to
write a letter, which is still extant, to the priests, deacons, and the
faithful of Alexandria, to congratulate them on the return of their
great pastor. The two bishops Ursacius of Singidunum and Valens of
Mursia, who, on account of their Arianism, had been deposed by the
Council of Sardica, now made a formal recantation of their error to
Julius, who, having summoned them to an audience and received a signed
confession of faith, restored to them their episcopal sees. Concerning
the inner life of the Roman Church during the pontificate of Julius we
have no exact information; all agree, however, that there was a rapid
increase in the number of the faithful in Rome, where Julius had two
new basilicas erected: the titular church of Julius (now S. Maria in
Trastevere) and the Basilica Julia (now the Church of the Twelve
Apostles). Beside these he built three churches over cemeteries outside
the walls of Rome: one on the road to Porto, a second on the Via
Aurelia, and a third on the Via Flaminia at the tomb of the martyr St.
Valentine. The ruins of the last-mentioned have been discovered. The
veneration of the faithful for the tombs of the martyrs continued to
spread rapidly. Under the pontificate of Julius, if not earlier,
catalogues of feast-days of saints came into use — the Roman
feast-calendar of Philocalus dates from the year 336.
|
335 St.
Sylvester
Pope (25 yrs) council of Aries and Nicea stand aside and let
events take their course, when asserting one’s authority would only
lead to useless tension and strife.
St. Sylvester, born in Rome,
was ordained by Pope St.
Marcellinus during the peace that preceded the persecutions of Diocletian. He passed
through those days of terror, witnessed the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian,
and saw the triumph of Constantine in
the year 312. Two years later he succeeded St. Melchiades as Bishop of Rome.
In the same year, he sent four legates to represent him at
the great
Council of the Western Church, held at Aries.
He confirmed it's decision and imparted them to the Church.
The Council
of Nicea was assembled during his reign, in the year 325, but
not
being able to assist at it in person, on account of his great age, he
sent his legates, who headed the list of subscribers to its decrees,
preceding the Patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch.
St. Sylvester was Pope for
twenty-four years and eleven months.
When you think of this
pope, you think of the Edict
of Milan, the emergence
of the Church from the catacombs, the building of the great basilicas,
Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter’s and others, the Council of Nicaea and other
critical events.
But for the most part,
these
events were planned or brought about by
Emperor Constantine.
A great store of legends
has grown up around the man who was pope at
this most important time, little can be established
historically. We know for sure that his papacy lasted from 314 until
his death in 335.
Reading between the lines
of history, we are assured that only a very
strong and wise man could have preserved the essential independence of
the Church in the face of the overpowering figure of the Emperor
Constantine. The bishops in general remained loyal to the Holy See and
at times expressed apologies to Sylvester for undertaking important
ecclesiastical projects at the urging of Constantine.
Comment: It takes
deep humility and courage in the face of
criticism for a leader to stand aside and let events take their course,
when asserting one’s authority would only lead to useless tension and
strife.
Sylvester teaches a
valuable
lesson for Church leaders,
politicians, parents and others in authority.
|
366 384 Pope
Saint
Damasus I commissioned Saint Jerome translate Scriptures in Latin
All lovers of Scripture have reason to celebrate this day.
Damasus was
the pope who commissioned Saint Jerome to translate the Scriptures into
Latin, the Vulgate version of the Bible.
Pope Saint Damasus I (RM) December 11
Pope St. Damasus I
tt=21
Born about 304; died 11 December, 384. His father, Antonius, was
probably a Spaniards; the name of his mother, Laurentia, was not known
until quite recently. Damasus seems to have been born at Rome; it is
certain that he grew up there in the service of the church of the
martyr St. Laurence. He was elected pope in October, 366, by a large
majority, but a number of over-zealous adherents of the deceased
Liberius rejected him, chose the deacon Ursinus (or Ursicinus), had the
latter irregularly consecrated, and resorted to much violence and
bloodshed in order to seat him in the Chair of Peter. Many details of
this scandalous conflict are related in the highly prejudiced "Libellus
Precum" (P.L., XIII, 83-107), a petition to the civil authority on the
part of Faustinus and Marcellinus, two anti-Damasan presbyters (cf.
also Ammianus Marcellinus, Rer. Gest., XXVII, c. iii). Valentinian
recognized Damasus and banished (367) Ursinus to Cologne, whence he was
later allowed to return to Milan, but was forbidden to come to Rome or
its vicinity. The party of the antipope (later at Milan an adherent of
the Arians and to the end a contentious pretender) did not cease to
persecute Damasus. An accusation of adultery was laid against him (378)
in the imperial court, but he was exonerated by Emperor Gratian himself
(Mansi, Coll. Conc., III, 628) and soon after by a Roman synod of
forty-four bishops (Liber Pontificalis, ed. Duchesne, s.v.; Mansi, op.
cit., III, 419) which also excommunicated his accusers.
Damasus defended with vigour the Catholic Faith in a time of dire and
varied perils. In two Roman synods (368 and 369) he condemned
Apollinarianism and Macedonianism; he also sent his legates to the
Council of Constantinople (381), convoked against the aforesaid
heresies. In the Roman synod of 369 (or 370) Auxentius, the Arian
Bishop of Milan, was excommunicated; he held the see, however, until
his death, in 374, made way for St. Ambrose. The heretic Priscillian,
condemned by the Council of Saragossa (380) appealed to Damasus, but in
vain. It was Damasus who induced Saint Jerome to undertake his famous
revision of the earlier Latin versions of the Bible (see VULGATE). St.
Jerome was also his confidential secretary for some time (Ep. cxxiii,
n. 10). An important canon of the New Testament was proclaimed by him
in the Roman synod of 374. The Eastern Church, in the person of St.
Basil of Cæsarea, besought earnestly the aid and encouragement of
Damasus against triumphant Arianism; the pope, however, cherished some
degree of suspicion against the great Cappadocian Doctor. In the matter
of the Meletian Schism at Antioch, Damasus, with Athanasius and Peter
of Alexandria, sympathized with the party of Paulinus as more sincerely
representative of Nicene orthodoxy; on the death of Meletius he sought
to secure the succession for Paulinus and to exclude Flavian (Socrates,
Church History V.15). He sustained the appeal of the Christian senators
to Emperor Gratian for the removal of the altar of Victory from the
Senate House (Ambrose, Ep. xvii, n. 10), and lived to welcome the
famous edict of Theodosius I, "De fide Catholica" (27 Feb., 380), which
proclaimed as the religion of the Roman State that doctrine which St.
Peter had preached to the Romans and of which Damasus was supreme head
(Cod. Theod., XVI, 1, 2).
When, in 379, Illyricum was detached from the Western Empire, Damasus
hastened to safeguard the authority of the Roman Church by the
appointment of a vicar Apostolic in the person of Ascholius, Bishop of
Thessalonica; this was the origin of the important papal vicariate long
attached to that see. The primacy of the Apostolic See, variously
favoured in the time of Damasus by imperial acts and edicts, was
strenuously maintained by this pope; among his notable utterances on
this subject is the assertion (Mansi, Coll. Conc., VIII, 158) that the
ecclesiastical supremacy of the Roman Church was based, not on the
decrees of councils, but on the very words of Jesus Christ (Matthew
16:18). The increased prestige of the early papal decretals, habitually
attributed to the reign of Siricius (384-99), not improbably belongs to
the reign of Damasus ("Canones Romanorum ad Gallos"; Babut, "La plus
ancienne décrétale", Paris, 1904). This development of
the papal office, especially in the West, brought with it a great
increase of external grandeur. This secular splendour, however,
affected disadvantageously many members of the Roman clergy, whose
worldly aims and life, bitterly reproved by St. Jerome, provoked (29
July, 370) and edict of Emperor Valentinian addressed to the pope,
forbidding ecclesiastics and monks (later also bishops and nuns) to
pursue widows and orphans in the hope of obtaining from them gifts and
legacies. The pope caused the law to be observed strictly.
Damasus restored his own church (now San Lorenzo in Damaso) and
provided for the proper housing of the archives of the Roman Church
(see VATICAN ARCHIVES). He built in the basilica of St. Sebastian on
the Appian Way the (yet visible) marble monument known as the
"Platonia" (Platona, marble pavement) in honour of the temporary
transfer to that place (258) of the bodies of Sts. Peter and Paul, and
decorated it with an important historical inscription (see Northcote
and Brownlow, Roma Sotterranea). He also built on the Via Ardeatina,
between the cemeteries of Callistus and Domitilla, a basilicula, or
small church, the ruins of which were discovered in 1902 and 1903, and
in which, according to the "Liber Pontificalis", the pope was buried
with his mother and sister. On this occasion the discoverer, Monsignor
Wilpert, found also the epitaph of the pope's mother, from which it was
learned not only that her name was Laurentia, but also that she had
lived the sixty years of her widowhood in the special service of God,
and died in her eighty-ninth year, having seen the fourth generation of
her descendants. Damasus built at the Vatican a baptistery in honour of
St. Peter and set up therein one of his artistic inscriptions (Carmen
xxxvi), still preserved in the Vatican crypts. This subterranean region
he drained in order that the bodies buried there (juxta sepulcrum beati
Petri) might not be affected by stagnant or overflowing water. His
extraordinary devotion to the Roman martyrs is now well known, owing
particularly to the labours of Giovanni Battista De Rossi. For a good
account of his architectural restoration of the catacombs and the
unique artistic characters (Damasan Letters) in which his friend Furius
Dionysius Filocalus executed the epitaphs composed by Damasus, see
Northcote and Brownlow, "Roma Sotterranea" (2nd ed., London, 1878-79).
The dogmatic content of the Damasan epitaphs (tituli) is important
(Northcote, Epitaphs of the Catacombs, London, 1878). He composed also
a number of brief epigrammata on various martyrs and saints and some
hymns, or Carmina, likewise brief. St. Jerome says (Ep. xxii, 22) that
Damasus wrote on virginity, both in prose and in verse, but no such
work has been preserved. For the few letters of Damasus (some of them
spurious) that have survived, see P.L., XIII, 347-76, and Jaffé,
"Reg. Rom. Pontif." (Leipzig, 1885), nn. 232-254.
Born c. 304; died in Rome in 384. In short, St.
Damasus was
a pope
whose authority was challenged but who had great literary taste.
Damasus appears to have been born in Rome--the son of a priest of
Spanish extraction. He never married but became a deacon in the Spanish
church of St. Laurence, where his father served.
When Pope Liberius died in
366, Damasus, then about 60, was chosen
bishop of Rome. His election was highly contested, and a minority
elected an antipope, Ursinus, whom they supported with violence. The
opposition was put down by great cruelty by the civil authorities, and
Ursinus was exiled by Emperor Valentinian. The opposition was not put
down immediately, however, and as late as 378, a synod cleared Damasus
of a charge of incontinence cast against him by his opponents.
He enforced Valentinian's edict of 370 forbidding gifts by
widows and
orphans to bishops. He was also a vigorous opponent of Arianism,
Apollinarianism, and other heresies. He sent legates to the Council of
Constantinople in 381, which accepted papal teaching, again condemned
Arianism, and denounced the view of Macedonius that the Holy Spirit is
not divine. The place of the Church was stabilized when, in 380,
orthodox Christianity was recognized by the emperors Gratian and
Theodosius I as the religion of the Roman state.
Damasus also devoted much effort to gathering the relics and
resting
places of Roman martyrs, and to restoring the sacred catacombs, and to
drawing up instructions for their care. He composed many beautiful
epitaphs--many of which still exist--for the tombs of the martyrs and
encouraged pilgrimages to the tombs. Unfortunately, these epitaphs have
little historical value because the true histories of many Roman
martyrs were already lost or nearly forgotten by that time.
He had placed in the papal crypt of the cemetery of St.
Callistus a
general epitaph that ends, "I, Damasus, wished to be buried here, but I
feared to offend the ashes of these holy ones." He was buried with his
mother and sister at a small church he had built on the Via Ardeatina.
By far the most influential action of Damasus was his
patronage of
Saint Jerome. He commissioned Jerome to write his Biblical commentaries
and to revise the Latin text of the Bible, which yielded the Vulgate
version of the Bible. St. Jerome, who served as his secretary for a
time, called him "an incomparable man." (Elsewhere I read that St.
Jerome left Rome when Damasus was elected in preference to
himself--Jerome was too irascible to be pope.)
As a biblical scholar, Damasus published the canon of the
Holy
Scripture, specifying the authentic books of the Bible as decreed by a
council in Rome in 374. He also saw to the collection and housing of
papal archives (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, White).
In art St. Damasus is a pope holding a ring. Sometimes he is
shown with
St. Jerome; or restoring sacred buildings (Roeder). Or, he may hold a
screen with "Gloria Patri," etc., upon it; or be shown with a church
door behind him (White). St. Damasus is the patron saint of
archaeologists (White).
|
384-399 Pope St. Siricius; lector then Roman Church deacon during Liberius (352-66) pontificate; After death of Damasus, Siricius
unanimously elected successor: A
letter, questions asked on 15 different
points concerning baptism, penance, church discipline, and the celibacy
of the clergy, came to Rome addressed to Pope Damasus by Bishop
Himerius of Tarragona, Spain. Siricius answered this letter on 10
February, 385, and gave decisions,
exercising full consciousness his supreme power of authority in
the Church (Coustant, "Epist. Rom. Pont.", 625 sq.). This letter of
Siricius is of special importance because it is the oldest completely
preserved papal decretal (edict for the authoritative decision of
questions of discipline and canon law). In all decrees the
pope speaks with consciousness of his supreme ecclesiastical authority
and his pastoral care over all the churches. Siricius was obliged
to take stand against heretical movements; Jovinian & 8 followers condemned
/excluded from communion with the Church; Bishop Bonosus of Sardica (390), accused of
errors in
the Trinity dogma & false doctrine that Mary was
not always a virgin; He sharply
condemned episcopal accusers of Priscillian because of that execution; took severe measures against
Manichæans at Rome; In the
East Siricius interposed to settle the Meletian schism at Antioch; At
Rome Siricius with basilica over the grave of St. Paul on Via Ostiensis
rebuilt by the emperor as a basilica of five aisles during pontificate
of Siricius dedicated by in him 390; Siricius's name is
still to be found on a pillar not destroyed in the fire of 1823, and
now stands in the vestibule of the side entrance to the transept.
Born about 334; died 26 November, 399, Siricius was a native
of Rome;
his father's name was Tiburtius. Siricius entered the service of the
Church at an early age and, according to the testimony of the
inscription on his grave, was lector and then deacon of the Roman
Church during the pontificate of Liberius (352-66). After the death of
Damasus, Siricius was unanimously elected his successor (December, 384)
and consecrated bishop probably on 17 December. Ursinus, who had been a
rival to Damasus (366), was alive and still maintained his claims.
However, the Emperor Valentinian III, in a letter to Pinian (23 Feb.,
385), gave his consent to the election that had been held and praised
the piety of the newly-elected bishop; consequently no difficulties
arose. Immediately upon his elevation Siricius had occasion to assert
his primacy over the universal Church. A letter, in which questions
were asked on fifteen different points concerning baptism, penance,
church discipline, and the celibacy of the clergy, came to Rome
addressed to Pope Damasus by Bishop Himerius of Tarragona, Spain.
Siricius answered this letter on 10 February, 385, and gave the
decisions as to the matters in question, exercising with full
consciousness his supreme power of authority in the Church (Coustant,
"Epist. Rom. Pont.", 625 sq.). This letter of Siricius is of special
importance because it is the oldest completely preserved papal decretal
(edict for the authoritative decision of questions of discipline and
canon law). It is, however, certain that before this earlier popes had
also issued such decretals, for Siricius himself in his letter mentions
"general decrees" of Liberius that the latter had sent to the
provinces; but these earlier ones have not been preserved. At the same
time the pope directed Himerius to make known his decrees to the
neighbouring provinces, so that they should also be observed there.
This pope had very much at heart the maintenance of Church discipline
and the observance of canons by the clergy and laity. A Roman synod of
6 January, 386, at which eighty bishops were present, reaffirmed in
nine canons the laws of the Church on various points of discipline
(consecration of bishops, celibacy, etc.). The decisions of the council
were communicated by the pope to the bishops of North Africa and
probably in the same manner to others who had not attended the synod,
with the command to act in accordance with them. Another letter which
was sent to various churches dealt with the election of worthy bishops
and priests. A synodal letter to the Gallican bishops, ascribed by
Coustant and others to Siricius, is assigned to Pope Innocent I by
other historians (P.L., XIII, 1179 sq.). In all his decrees the pope
speaks with the consciousness of his supreme ecclesiastical authority
and of his pastoral care over all the churches.
Siricius was also obliged
to take a stand against heretical movements.
A Roman monk Jovinian came forward as an opponent of fasts,
good works, and the higher merit of celibate life. He found some
adherents among the monks and nuns of Rome. About 390-392 the pope held
a synod at Rome, at which Jovinian and eight of his followers were
condemned and excluded from communion with the Church. The decision was
sent to St. Ambrose, the great Bishop of Milan and a friend of
Siricius. Ambrose now held a synod of the bishops of upper Italy which,
as the letter says, in agreement with his decision also condemned the
heretics.
Other heretics including Bishop Bonosus of Sardica (390), who was
also accused of errors in the dogma of the Trinity, maintained the
false doctrine that Mary was not always a virgin. Siricius and Ambrose
opposed Bonosus and his adherents and refuted their false views. The
pope then left further proceedings against Bonosus to the Bishop of
Thessalonica and the other Illyrian bishops.
Like his predecessor Damasus, Siricius also took part in
the Priscillian controversy.
He sharply condemned episcopal accusers of Priscillian, who brought the
matter before the secular court and prevailed upon the usurper Maximus
to condemn to death and execute Priscillian and followers. Maximus
sought to justify his action by sending to the pope the proceedings in
the case. Siricius, however, excommunicated Bishop Felix of Trier who
supported Ithacius, accuser of Priscillian, and in whose city the
execution took place. The pope addressed a letter to Spanish bishops in
which he stated conditions under which converted Priscillians were to
be restored to communion with the Church.
According to the life in the "Liber Pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I,
216), Siricius also took severe measures against Manichæans at
Rome. However, as Duchesne remarks (loc. cit., notes) it cannot be
assumed from the writings of the converted Augustine, who was a
Manichæan when he went to Rome (383), that Siricius took any
particular steps against them: Augustine would certainly have commented
on this if such had been the case. The mention in the "Liber
Pontificalis" belongs properly to the life of Pope Leo I.
Neither is it probable, as Langen thinks (Gesch. der
röm. Kirche, I, 633), that Priscillians are to be understood by
this mention of Manichæans, although probably Priscillians were
at times called Manichæans in the writings of that age. Western
emperors, including Honorius and Valentinian III, issued laws against
Manichæans, whom they declared to be political offenders, and
took severe action against the members of this sect (Codex Theodosian,
XVI, V, various laws).
In the East Siricius interposed to settle the Meletian
schism at Antioch; this schism had continued notwithstanding the death
in 381 of Meletius at the Council of Constantinople. The followers of
Meletius elected Flavian as his successor, while the adherents of
Bishop Paulinus, after the death of this bishop (388), elected
Evagrius. Evagrius died in 392 and through Flavian's management no
successor was elected. By the mediation of St. John Chrysostom and
Theophilus of Alexandria an embassy, led by Bishop Acacius of Beroea,
was sent to Rome to persuade Siricius to recognize Flavian and to
readmit him to communion with the Church.
At Rome the name of Siricius is particularly connected with the
basilica over the grave of St. Paul on the Via Ostiensis which was
rebuilt by the emperor as a basilica of five aisles during the
pontificate of Siricius and was dedicated by the pope in 390.
The name of Siricius is still to be found on one of the
pillars that was not destroyed in the fire of 1823, and which now
stands in the vestibule of the side entrance to the transept. Two of
his contemporaries describe the character of Siricius disparagingly.
Paulinus of Nola, who on his visit to Rome in 395 was treated in a
guarded manner by the pope, speaks of the urbici papæ superba
discretio, the haughty policy of the Roman bishop (Epist., V, 14). This
action of the pope is, however, explained by the fact that there had
been irregularities in the election and consecration of Paulinus (Buse,
"Paulin von Nola", I, 193). Jerome, for his part, speaks of the "lack
of judgment" of Siricius (Epist., cxxvii, 9) on account of the latter's
treatment of Rufinus of Aquileia, to whom the pope had given a letter
when Rufinus left Rome in 398, which showed that he was in communion
with the Church. The reason, however, does not justify the judgment
which Jerome expressed against the pope; moreover, Jerome in his
polemical writings often exceeds the limits of propriety. All that is
known of the labours of Siricius refutes the criticism of the caustic
hermit of Bethlehem. The "Liber Pontificalis" gives an incorrect date
for his death; he was buried in the cæmeterium of Priscilla on
the Via Salaria. The text of the inscription on his grave is known (De
Rossi, "Inscriptiones christ. urbis Romæ", II, 102, 138). His
feast is celebrated on 26 November. His name was inserted in the Roman
Martyrology by Benedict XIV.
|
401 Anastasius
I,
Pope condemnation of Origen Saint Jerome helped him in his own
way
Saints Augustine and Paulinus of Nola praised his model of sanctity (RM)
Born in Rome; died there in 401. Anastasius, the son of Maximus, was
elected pope on November 27, 399, and ruled the Church for two years.
His pontificate was marked by his condemnation of Origen in order to
stop the errors of those who followed and expanded upon Origen's
teachings, his urging the African bishops to continue their opposition
to Donatism, and his personal holiness and piety.
Saint Jerome helped him in his own way, and Saints Augustine and
Paulinus of Nola praised his model of sanctity. It is from Pope
Anastasius that priests have the instruction to read the Gospels
standing and bowing their heads. The laus in the Roman Martyrology
reads: "At Rome, the death of Pope Saint Anastasius I, a man of extreme
poverty and apostolic solicitude. Saint Jerome in his writings saith
that Rome did not deserve to possess him for long. . . ."
(Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
|
417 St.
Innocent I
401-417
Date of birth unknown; died 12 March, 417. Before his
elevation to the Chair of Peter, very little is known concerning the
life of this energetic pope, so zealous for the welfare of the whole
Church. According to the "Liber Pontificalis" he was a native of
Albano; his father was called Innocentius. He grew up among the Roman
clergy and in the service of the Roman Church. After the death of
Anastasius (Dec., 401) he was unanimously chosen Bishop of Rome by the
clergy and people. Not much has come down to us concerning his
ecclesiastical activities in Rome. Nevertheless one or two instances of
his zeal for the purity of the Catholic Faith and for church discipline
are well attested. He took several churches in Rome from the Novatians
(Socrates, Hist. Eccl., VII, ii) and caused the Photinian Marcus to be
banished from the city. A drastic decree, which the Emperor Honorius
issued from Rome (22 Feb., 407) against the Manicheans, the Montanists,
and the Priscillianists (Codex Theodosianus, XVI, 5, 40), was very
probably not issued without his concurrence. Through the munificence of
Vestina, a rich Roman matron, Innocent was enabled to build and richly
endow a church dedicated to Sts. Gervasius and Protasius; this was the
old Titulus Vestin&#aelig; which still stands under the name of San
Vitale. The siege and capture of Rome by the Goths under Alaric
(408-10) occurred in his pontificate. When, at the time of the first
siege, the barbarian leader had declared that he would withdraw only on
condition that the Romans should arrange a peace favourable to him, an
embassy of the Romans went to Honorius, at Ravenna, to try, if
possible, to make peace between him and the Goths. Pope Innocent also
joined this embassy. But all his endeavours to bring about peace
failed. The Goths then recommenced the siege of Rome, so that the pope
and the envoys were not able to return to the city, which was taken and
sacked in 410. From the beginning of his pontificate, Innocent often
acted as head of the whole Church, both East and West.
In his letter to
Archbishop Anysius of Thessalonica, in which he informed the latter of
his own election to the See of Rome, he also confirmed the privileges
which had been bestowed upon the archbishop by previous popes. When
Eastern Illyria fell to the Eastern Empire (379) Pope Damasus had
asserted and preserved the ancient rights of the papacy in those parts,
and his successor Siricius had bestowed on the Archbishop of
Thessalonica the privilege of confirming and consecrating the bishops
of Eastern Illyria. These prerogatives were renewed by Innocent (Ep.
i), and by a later letter (Ep. xiii, 17 June, 412) the pope entrusted
the supreme administration of the dioceses of Eastern Illyria to
Archbishop Rufus of Thessalonica, as representative of the Holy See. By
this means the papal vicariate of Illyria was put on a sound basis, and
the archbishops of Thessalonica became vicars of the popes. On 15 Feb.,
404, Innocent sent an important decretal to Bishop Victricius of Rouen
(Ep. ii), who had laid before the pope a list of disciplinary matters
for decision. The points at issue concerned the consecration of
bishops, admissions into the ranks of the clergy, the disputes of
clerics, whereby important matters (caus&#aelig; majores) were to
be brought from the episcopal tribunal to the Apostolic See, also the
ordinations of the clergy, celibacy, the reception of converted
Novatians or Donatists into the Church, monks, and nuns. In general,
the pope indicated the discipline of the Roman Church as being the norm
for the other bishops to follow. Innocent directed a similar decretal
to the Spanish bishops (Ep. iii) among whom difficulties had arisen,
especially regarding the Priscillianist bishops. The pope regulated
this matter and at the same time settled other questions of
ecclesiastical discipline.
Similar letters,
disciplinary in content, or decisions of important cases, were sent to
Bishop Exuperius of Toulouse (Ep. vi), to the bishops of Macedonia (Ep.
xvii), to Decentius, Bishop of Gubbio (Ep. xxv), to Felix, Bishop of
Nocera (Ep. xxxviii). Innocent also addressed shorter letters to
several other bishops, among them a letter to two British bishops,
Maximus and Severus, in which he decided that those priests who, while
priests, had begotten children should be dismissed from their sacred
office (Ep. xxxix). Envoys were sent by the Synod of Carthage (404) to
the Bishop of Rome, or the bishop of the city where the emperor was
staying, in order to provide for severer treatment of the Montanists.
The envoys came to Rome, and Pope Innocent obtained from the Emperor
Honorius a strong decree against those African sectaries, by which many
adherents of Montanism were induced to be reconciled with the Church.
The Christian East also claimed a share of the pope's energy. St. John
Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople, who was persecuted by the Empress
Eudoxia and the Alexandrian patriarch Theophilus, threw himself on the
protection of Innocent. Theophilus had already informed the latter of
the deposition of John, following on the illegal Synod of the Oak (ad
quercum). But the pope did not recognize the sentence of the synod,
summoned Theophilus to a new synod at Rome, consoled the exiled
Patriarch of Byzantium, and wrote a letter to the clergy and people of
Constantinople in which he animadverted severely on their conduct
towards their bishop (John), and announced his intention of calling a
general synod, at which the matter would be sifted and decided.
Thessalonica was suggested as the place of assembly. The pope informed
Honorius, Emperor of the West, of these proceedings, whereupon the
latter wrote three letters to his brother, the Eastern Emperor
Arcadius, and besought Arcadius to summon the Eastern bishops to a
synod at Thessalonica, before which the Patriarch Theophilus was to
appear. The messengers who brought these three letters were ill
received, Arcadius being quite favourable to Theophilus. In spite of
the efforts of the pope and the Western emperor, the synod never took
place. Innocent remained in correspondence with the exiled John; when,
from his place of banishment the latter thanked him for his kind
solicitude, the pope answered with another comforting letter, which the
exiled bishop received only a short time before his death (407) (Epp.
xi, xii). The pope did not recognize Arsacius and Atticus, who had been
raised to the See of Constantinople instead of the unlawfully deposed
John.
After John's death,
Innocent desired that the name of the deceased patriarch should be
restored to the diptychs, but it was not until after Theophilus was
dead (412) that Atticus yielded. The pope obtained from many other
Eastern bishops a similar recognition of the wrong done to St. John
Chrysostom. The schism at Antioch, dating from the Arian conflicts, was
finally settled in Innocent's time. Alexander, Patriarch of Antioch,
succeeded, about 413-15, in gaining over to his cause the adherents of
the former Bishop Eustathius; he also received into the ranks of his
clergy the followers of Paulinus, who had fled to Italy and had been
ordained there. Innocent informed Alexander of these proceedings, and
as Alexander restored the name of John Chrysostom to the diptychs, the
pope entered into communion with the Antiochene patriarch, and wrote
him two letters, one in the name of a Roman synod of twenty Italian
bishops, and one in his own name (Epp. xix and xx). Acacius, Bishop of
Ber&#aelig;a, one of the most zealous opponents of Chrysostom, had
sought to obtain re-admittance to communion with the Roman Church
through the aforesaid Alexander of Antioch. The pope informed him,
though Alexander, of the conditions under which he would resume
communion with him (Ep. xxi). In a later letter Innocent decided
several questions of church discipline (Ep. xxiv).
The pope also informed the
Macedonian bishop Maximian and the priest Bonifatius, who had
interceded with him for the recognition of Atticus, Patriarch of
Constantinople, of the conditions, which were similar to those required
of the above-mentioned Patriarch of Antioch (Epp. xxii and xxiii). In
the Origenist and Pelagian controversies, also, the pope's authority
was invoked from several quarters. St. Jerome and the nuns of Bethlehem
were attacked in their convents by brutal followers of Pelagius, a
deacon was killed, and a part of the buildings was set on fire. John,
Bishop of Jerusalem, who was on bad terms with Jerome, owing to the
Origenist controversy, did nothing to prevent these outrages. Through
Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, Innocent sent St. Jerome a letter of
condolence, in which he informed him that he would employ the influence
of the Holy See to repress such crimes; and if Jerome would give the
names of the guilty ones, he would proceed further in the matter. The
pope at once wrote an earnest letter of exhortation to the Bishop of
Jerusalem, and reproached him with negligence of his pastoral duty. The
pope was also compelled to take part in the Pelagian controversy. In
415, on the proposal of Orosius, the Synod of Jerusalem brought the
matter of the orthodoxy of Pelagius before the Holy See. The synod of
Eastern bishops held at Diospolis (Dec., 415), which had been deceived
by Pelagius with regard to his actual teaching and had acquitted him,
approached Innocent on behalf of the heretic. On the report of Orosius
concerning the proceedings at Diospolis, the African bishops assembled
in synod at Carthage, in 416, and confirmed the condemnation which had
been pronounced in 411 against C&#aelig;lestius, who shared the
views of Pelagius. The bishops of Numidia did likewise in the same year
in the Synod of Mileve. Both synods reported their transactions to the
pope and asked him to confirm their decisions. Soon after this, five
African bishops, among them St. Augustine, wrote a personal letter to
Innocent regarding their own position in the matter of Pelagianism.
Innocent in his reply praised the African bishops, because, mindful of
the authority of the Apostolic See, they had appealed to the Chair of
Peter; he rejected the teachings of Pelagius and confirmed the
decisions drawn up by the African Synods (Epp. xxvii-xxxiii). The
decisions of the Synod of Diospolis were rejected by the pope. Pelagius
now sent a confession of faith to Innocent, which, however, was only
delivered to his successor, for Innocent died before the document
reached the Holy See. He was buried in a basilica above the catacomb of
Pontianus, and was venerated as a saint. He was a very energetic and
active man, and a highly gifted ruler, who fulfilled admirably the
duties of his office.
|
417-418 St. Zosimus Pope A Greek
Item Romæ sancti Zósimi,
Papæ et Confessóris. In the
same city, St. Zosimus, pope and confessor.
he succeeded Pope St. Innocent I (r. 401-417) on March 18,
417. He
devoted most of his brief reign to advancing the cause of papal
supremacy, albeit with very little success.
While personally blameless in his private life, Zosimus did have a
tactless and hasty personality, so much so that he found himself
embroiled in various clashes with prelates throughout the Church. In
fact he died while preparing to excommunicate a group of troublesome
clerics.
Zosimus wrote
Episiola Thactaria, condemning Pelagianism.
Since he was much disliked in Rome, his passing on December 27 brought
celebrations in the streets. |
432 Celestine I Pope
treatise against semi-Pelagianism (RM)
Born in
Campania, Italy; died at Rome, July 27, 432; feast day formerly
on July 27 and/or August 1. Saint Celestine was a deacon in Rome when
he was elected pope on September 20, 422, to succeed Saint
Boniface.
He was a staunch
supporter of Saint
Germanus of Auxerre
in the fight
against
Pelagianism, and a friend
of Saint
Augustine
with
whom he corresponded, and which demonstrates that the bishop of Rome
was the central authority even at that early date.
Augustine
exhorts Celestine not to fall under the spell of Bishop
Antony of Fussala, who had been convicted by a council
at Numidia
of
tyranny and violence against his flock. Augustine was particularly
concerned because he had originally nominated Antony for episcopal
consecration. Antony appealed to Celestine's predecessor, who, unaware
of the decision of the synod, pressed for Antony's reinstatement.
The
matter was not fully settled at Boniface's death, but at Augustine's
urging, Celestine deposed the unseemly prelate.
Celestine
also wrote to the bishops of Vienne and Narbonne in Gaul to
correct several abuses, and ordered, among other things, that
absolution should never be refused to the dying who sincerely asked for
it. He stated that repentance does not depend on timing but rather on
the heart. In the beginning of this letter he says:
"By no limits
of
place is my pastoral vigilance confined: it extends itself to all
places where Christ is adored."
After
receiving two artful letters from Patriarch Nestorius of
Constantinople, and further information from Patriarch Saint
Cyril of Alexandria regarding
the errors proposed by the first, Celestine convened a council in Rome,
in 430, to condemn Nestorianism. He threatened Nestorius with
excommunication if he did not desist from his heretical teaching.
In
431, Celestine sent three legates to and appointed Cyril president of
the General Council of Ephesus, which formally condemned the heresy.
Saint
Prosper of Aquitaine
recorded that, acting on Saint
Palladius's suggestion, Celestine sent Saint Germanus of Auxerre to
Britain in 429 to deal with Pelagianism
there.
He also wrote a
treatise against semi-Pelagianism and, in 431,
sent Palladius to Ireland to evangelize that people. Some scholars
think that Celestine may also have sent Patrick there, but this is
unlikely.
Saint
Celestine was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla in a tomb
decorated with paintings representing the Council of Ephesus. Later his
relics were translated into the church of Saint
Praxedes.
His ancient original
epitaph testifies that he was an excellent bishop, honored and beloved
of every one, who for the sanctity of his life now enjoys the sight of
Jesus Christ, and the eternal honors of the saints; however, very
little is known of person named Celestine (Attwater, Benedictines,
Delaney, Husenbeth). In art, Saint
Celestine is a pope with a dove, dragon, and flame
(Roeder).
Pope Saint Celestine I was pope from 422 until April 6, 432.
Celestine I was a Roman and was supposed to have been a near relative
of the Roman Emperor Valentinian III. Nothing is known of his early
history except that his father's name was Priscus. He is said to have
lived for a time at Milan with St. Ambrose. The first notice, however,
concerning him that is known is in a document of Pope Innocent I, in
the year 416, where he is spoken of as Celestine the Deacon.
Various portions of the liturgy are attributed to him, but without any
certainty on the subject. Though he did not attend personally, he sent
delegates to the Council of Ephesus in which the Nestorians were
condemned, in 431. Four letters written by him on that occasion, all
dated March 15, 431, together with a few others, to the African
bishops, to those of Illyria, of Thessalonica, and of Narbonne, are
extant in retranslations from the Greek, the Latin originals having
been lost.
St. Celestine actively persecuted the Pelagians, and was zealous for
orthodoxy. He sent Palladius to Ireland to serve as a bishop in 431.
Bishop Patricius (Saint Patrick) continued this missionary work. Pope
Celestine raged against the Novatians in Rome, imprisoning their
bishop, and forbidding their worship. He was zealous in refusing to
tolerate the smallest innovation on the constitutions of his
predecessors, and is recognized by the Church as a saint.
St. Celestine died on April 6, 432. He was buried in the cemetery of
St. Priscilla in the Via Salaria, but his body, subsequently moved, now
lies in the Basilica di Santa Prassede.
|
440 Pope Saint
Sixtus III was pope from July 31, 432 to August 18 .
The name of Sixtus is often connected with a great building boom in
Rome: Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill was dedicated during his
pontificate and he built Santa Maria Maggiore, whose dedication to Mary
the Mother of God reflected his acceptance of the Ecumenical council of
Ephesus which closed in 431. At that council the debate over Christ's
human and divine natures turned on whether Mary could be called the
"Mother of Jesus" as a human only or the "Mother of Christ" as both God
and Man. The council gave her the Greek title Theotokos ("God-bearer"),
and the dedication of the large church in Rome is a response to that.
Prior to being made pope
Sixtus was a patron of Pelagius, who was later
condemned as a heretic. [1]
One of his main concerns was in
restoring peace between Cyril of
Alexandria and the Syrians.
He also maintained the rights of the pope over
Illyria and the position
of the archbishop of Thessalonica as head of the Illyrian church.
Pope St. Sixtus III (XYSTUS).
Consecrated 31 July, 432; d. 440. Previous to his accession he was
prominent among the Roman clergy and in correspondence with St.
Augustine. He reigned during the Nestorian and Pelagian controversies,
and it was probably owing to his conciliatory disposition that he was
falsely accused of leanings towards these heresies. As pope he approved
the Acts of the Council of Ephesus and endeavoured to restore peace
between Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch. In the Pelagian
controversy he frustrated the attempt of Julian of Eclanum to be
readmitted to communion with the Catholic Church. He defended the
pope's right of supremacy over Illyricum against the local bishops and
the ambitious designs of Proclus of Constantinople. At Rome he restored
the Basilica of Liberius, now known as St. Mary Major, enlarged the
Basilica of St. Lawrence-Without-the-Walls, and obtained precious gifts
from the Emperor Valentinian III for St. Peter's and the Lateran
Basilica. The work which asserts that the consul Bassus accused him of
crime is a forgery. He is the author of eight letters (in P.L., L, 583
sqq.), but he did not write the works "On Riches", "On False Teachers",
and "On Chastity" ("De divitiis", "De malis doctoribus", "De
castitate") attributed to him. His feast is kept on 28 March.
|
 440 Sancti
Leónis
Papæ Primi, cognoménto Magni, Confessóris et
Ecclésiæ Doctóris, cujus dies natális
recólitur quarto Idus Novémbris.
In the Latin Church
the feast day of the great pope is held on 11
April, and in the Eastern Church on 18 February.
Leo's pontificate, next to that
of St. Gregory I, is the most
significant and important in Christian antiquity.
At a time when the
Church was experiencing the greatest obstacles to her progress in
consequence of the hastening disintegration of the Western Empire,
while the Orient was profoundly agitated over dogmatic controversies,
this great pope, with far-seeing sagacity and powerful hand, guided the
destiny of the Roman and Universal Church. According to the "Liber
Pontificalis" (ed. Mommsen, I, 101 sqq., ed. Duchesne, I, 238
sqq.),
Leo was a native of Tuscany and his father's name was Quintianus. Our
earliest certain historical information about Leo reveals him a deacon
of the Roman Church under Pope
Celestine I (422-32). Even during this
period he was known outside of Rome, and had some relations with Gaul,
since Cassianus in 430 or 431 wrote at Leo's suggestion his work "De
Incarnatione Domini contra Nestorium" (Migne, P.L., L, 9 sqq.),
prefacing it with a letter of dedication to Leo. About this time Cyril
of Alexandria appealed to Rome against the pretensions of Bishop
Juvenal of Jerusalem. From an assertion of Leo's in a letter of later
date (ep. cxvi, ed. Ballerini, I, 1212; II, 1528), it is not very clear
whether Cyril wrote to him in the capacity of Roman deacon, or to Pope
Celestine. During the pontificate of Sixtus III (422-40), Leo was sent
to Gaul by Emperor Valentinian III to settle a dispute and bring about
a reconciliation between Aëtius, the chief military commander of
the
province, and the chief magistrate, Albinus. This commission is a proof
of the great confidence placed in the clever and able deacon by the
Imperial Court. Sixtus III died on 19 August, 440, while Leo was in
Gaul, and the latter was chosen his successor.
Returning to Rome, Leo
was consecrated on 29 September of the same year, and governed the
Roman Church for the next twenty-one years. |
468 St. Hilary,
Pope
from 461-468 guardian of Church unity sent decree to Eastern bishops
validating decisions of General Councils Nicaea Ephesus and Chalcedon.
Hilary consolidated the Church in Sandi, Africa, and Gaul
Rom
æ sancti Hílari, Papæ et
Confessóris. At Rome, St. Hilary, pope and
confessor.
He was born in Sardinia, Italy, and was a papal legate to
the Robber
Council of Ephesus in 449, barely escaping with his life from
this
affair. Hilary was used by Pope
St. Leo I the
Great on many assignments. When Leo died, Hilary was elected
pope and consecrated on November 19, 461. He worked diligently to
strengthen the Church in France and Spain, calling councils in 462 and
465. Hilary also rebuilt many Roman churches and erected the chapel of
St. John Lateran. He also publicly rebuked Emperor Anthemius in St.
Peter’s for supporting the Macedonian heresy and sent a decree to the
Eastern bishops validating the decisions of the General Councils of
Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon. Hilary consolidated the Church in
Sandi, Africa, and Gaul. He died in Rome on February 28.
Pope Saint Hilarus
[Also spelled HILARIUS]
Elected 461; the date of
his death is given as 28 Feb., 468. After the
death of Leo I, an archdeacon named Hilarus, a native of Sardinia,
according to the "Liber Pontificalis", was chosen to succeed him, and
in all probability received consecration on 19 November, 461. Together
with Julius, Bishop of Puteoli, Hilarus acted as legate of Leo I at the
"Robber Synod" of Ephesus in 449. There he fought vigorously for the
rights of the Roman See and opposed the condemnation of Flavian of
Constantinople (see FLAVIAN, SAINT). He was therefore exposed to the
violence of Dioscurus of Alexandria, and saved himself by flight. In
one of his letters to the Empress Pulcheria, found in a collection of
letters of Leo I ("Leonis I Epistolae", num. xlvi., in P.L., LIV, 837
sq.), Hilarus apologizes for not delivering to her the pope's letter
after the synod; but owing to Dioscurus, who tried to hinder his going
either to Rome or to Constantinople, he had great difficulty in making
his escape in order to bring to the pontiff the news of the result of
the council. His pontificate was marked by the same vigorous policy as
that of his great predecessor. Church affairs in Gaul and Spain claimed
his special attention. Owing to political disorganization in both
countries, it was important to safeguard the hierarchy by strengthening
church government. Hermes, a former archdeacon of Narbonne, had
illegally acquired the bishopric of that town. Two Gallican prelates
were dispatched to Rome to lay before the pope this and other matters
concerning the Church in Gaul. A Roman synod held on 19 November, 462,
passed judgment upon these matters, and Hilarus made known the
following decisions in an Encyclical sent to the provincial bishops of
Vienne, Lyons, Narbonne, and the Alps: Hermes was to remain Titular
Bishop of Narbonne, but his episcopal faculties were withheld. A synod
was to be convened yearly by the Bishop of Arles, for those of the
provincial bishops who were able to attend; but all important matters
were to be submitted to the Apostolic See. No bishop could leave his
diocese without a written permission from the metropolitan; in case
such permission be withheld he could appeal to the Bishop of Arles.
Respecting the parishes (paroeciae) claimed by Leontius of Arles as
belonging to his jurisdiction, the Gallican bishops could decide, after
an investigation. Church property could not be alienated until a synod
had examined into the cause of sale.
Shortly after this the pope found himself involved in
another diocesan
quarrel. In 463 Mamertus of Vienne had consecrated a Bishop of Die,
although this Church, by a decree of Leo I, belonged to the
metropolitan Diocese of Arles. When Hilarus heard of it he deputed
Leontius of Arles to summon a great synod of the bishops of several
provinces to investigate the matter. The synod took place and, on the
strength of the report given him by Bishop Antonius, he issued an edict
dated 25 February, 464, in which Bishop Veranus was commissioned to
warn Mamertus that, if in the future he did not refrain from irregular
ordinations, his faculties would be withdrawn. Consequently the
consecration of the Bishop of Die must be sanctioned by Leontius of
Arles. Thus the primatial privileges of the See of Arles were upheld as
Leo I had defined them. At the same time the bishops were admonished
not to overstep their boundaries, and to assemble in a yearly synod
presided over by the Bishop of Arles. The metropolitan rights of the
See of Embrun also over the dioceses of the Maritime Alps were
protected against the encroachments of a certain Bishop Auxanius,
particularly in connection with the two Churches of Nice and Cimiez.
In Spain, Silvanus, Bishop of Calahorra, had, by his
episcopal
ordinations, violated the church laws. Both the Metropolitan Ascanius
and the bishops of the Province of Tarragona made complaint of this to
the pope and asked for his decision. Before an answer came to their
petition, the same bishops had recourse to the Holy See for an entirely
different matter. Before his death Nundinarius, Bishop of Barcelona,
expressed a wish that Irenaeus might be chosen his successor, although
he had himself made Irenaeus bishop of another see. The request was
granted, a Synod of Tarragona confirming the nomination of Irenaeus,
after which the bishops sought the pope's approval. The Roman synod of
19 Nov., 465, took the matters up and settled them. This is the oldest
Roman synod whose original records have been handed down to us. It was
held in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. After an address of the
pope, and the reading of the Spanish letters, the synod decided that
the church laws must not be tampered with. In addition to this Hilarus
sent a letter to the bishops of Tarragona, declaring that no
consecration was valid without the sanction of the Metropolitan
Ascanius; and no bishop was permitted to be transferred from one
diocese to another, so that some one else must be chosen for Barcelona
in place of Irenaeus. The bishops consecrated by Silvanus would be
recognized if they had been appointed to vacant sees, and otherwise met
the requirements of the Church. The "Liber Pontificalis" mentions an
Encyclical that Hilarus sent to the East, to confirm the Oecumenical
Councils of Nicaea, Ephesus, and Chalcedon, and the dogmatic letter of
Leo I to Flavian, but the sources at our disposal furnish us no further
information. In Rome Hilarus worked zealously for the integrity of the
Faith. The Emperor Anthemius had a favourite named Philotheus, who was
a believer in the Macedonian heresy and attended meetings in Rome for
the promulgation of this doctrine, 476. On one of the emperor's visits
to St. Peter's, the pope openly called him to account for his
favourite's conduct, exhorting him by the grave of St. Peter to promise
that he would do all in his power to check the evil. Hilarus erected
several churches and other buildings in Rome. Two oratories in the
baptistery of the Lateran, one in honour of St. John the Baptist, the
other of St. John the Apostle, are due to him. After his flight from
the "Robber Synod" of Ephesus, Hilarus had hidden himself in the crypt
of St. John the Apostle, and he attributed his deliverance to the
intercession of the Apostle. Over the ancient doors of the oratory this
inscription is still to be seen: "To St. John the Evangelist, the
liberator of Bishop Hilarus, a Servant of Christ". He also erected a
chapel of the Holy Cross in the baptistery, a convent, two public
baths, and libraries near the Church of St. Laurence Outside the Walls.
He built another convent within the city walls. The "Liber
Pontificalis" mentions many votive offerings made by Hilarus in the
different churches. He died after a pontificate of six years, three
months, and ten days.
He was buried in the church
of St. Laurence Outside the Walls. His feast day is celebrated on 17
November.
|
 492 ST. FELIX III Pope helped to get the Church in Africa on its
feet
483 - 492
St. Felix II has the
extraordinary distinction of being not only a pope
and saint himself, but the great-grandfather of another pope and saint,
Gregory the Great. Felix had been married, but his wife had died before
he became a priest. He was a member of an old Roman family of
senatorial rank.
No sooner was he elected
pope than Felix faced the vexing problem posed
by Emperor Zeno's ill-considered attempt to unify the East by
compromise. One of the evils which result from politicians meddling in
church matters is the tendency to make a deal. And that is just what
Zeno did. Alarmed by the hold that the Monophysites had on Egypt and
Syria, Zeno issued his famous Henoticon (act of union) and ordered all
to subscribe to it. This Henoticon was a creed drawn up by Acacius, the
hitherto orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, and Peter, the
Monophysite patriarch of Alexandria. It was orthodox in what it said,
but implicitly it condoned the Monophysite heresy by omitting the
decision of the Council of Chalcedon and the letter of Pope Leo to
Flavian. Like so many compromises it pleased few. The more ardent
Monophysites refused to follow their leader, Peter, and Pope Felix
denounced it. With true spiritual independence, he warned the Emperor
not to interfere in theological matters and "to allow the Catholic
Church to govern itself by its own laws."
Pope Felix sent legates to
Constantinople to summon Acacius to Rome,
but to his dismay the Pope discovered that his legates had approved the
election of the Monophysite Peter as patriarch of Alexandria and had
communicated with heretics--in short, had sold him out. Felix held a
synod at Rome in 484 at which he excommunicated the untrustworthy
legates. He also excommunicated Acacius, but the patriarch remained
stubborn. Thus started the Acacian schism in which Constantinople was
officially separated from the Roman Church over the Henoticon. Even
after Acacius died, the schism dragged on until the next century.
In the last years of this pontificate Theodoric
led
his Ostrogoths
into Italy to defeat Odovakar and take over the rule of Italy--all in
the name of Emperor Zeno. Though an Arian, Theodoric treated the Church
well. It was different in Africa, where in the early years of his reign
Felix heard anguished cries for help from the hapless Catholics.
Hunneric, the Arian Vandal, ruthlessly harried the poor African
Catholics. Pope Felix got Emperor Zeno to bring his influence to bear
on the fierce Vandal, but this accomplished little. After Hunneric
died, the persecution slackened, and the Pope then helped to get the
Church in Africa on its feet. He followed the usual papal policy of
mildness towards weak brethren who had given way in the storm.
Pope St. Felix died March
1, 492. He is buried in St. Paul's on the Ostian Way.
See Duchesne's edition
of
the Liber pontificalis, vol. i, pp. 252-253;
DCB.,
vol. ii, pp. 482-485, s.v. Felix III; and works of
general
ecclesiastical history.
|
492-496 Pope St. Gelasius I feast Nov 21 conspicuous for his spirit of prayer,
penance, and study. He took
great delight in the company of monks, and was a true father to the poor
Died at Rome, 19 Nov., 496. Gelasius, as he himself states
in his letter to the Emperor Anastasius (Ep. xii, n. 1), was Romanus
natus. The assertion of the "Liber Pontificalis" that he was natione
Afer is consequently taken by many to mean that he was of African
origin, though Roman born. Others, however, interpreting natione Afer
as "African by birth", explain Romanus natus as "born a Roman citizen".
Before his election as pope, 1 March, 492, Gelasius had been much
employed by his predecessor, Felix II (or III), especially in drawing
up ecclesiastical documents, which has led some scholars to confuse the
writings of the two pontiffs.
On his election to the papacy, Gelasius at once showed his strength of
character and his lofty conception of his position by his firmness in
dealing with the adherents of Acacius (see ACACIUS, PATRIARCH OF
CONSTANTINOPLE). Despite all the efforts of the otherwise orthodox
patriarch, Euphemius of Constantinople, and the threats and wiles by
which the Emperor Anastasius tried to obtain recognition from the
Apostolic See, Gelasius, though hard-pressed by difficulties at home,
would make no peace that compromised in the slightest degree the rights
and honor of the Chair of Peter. The constancy with which he combated
the pretensions, lay and ecclesiastical, of the New Rome; the
resoluteness with which he refused to allow the civil or temporal
pre-eminence of a city to determine its ecclesiastical rank; the
unfailing courage with which he defended the rights of the "second" and
the "third" sees, Alexandria and Antioch, are some of the most striking
features of his pontificate. It has been well said that nowhere at this
period can be found stronger arguments for the primacy of Peter's See
than in the works and writings of Gelasius. He is never tired of
repeating that Rome owes its ecclesiastical princedom not to an
oecumenical synod nor to any temporal importance it may have possessed,
but to the Divine institution of Christ Himself, Who conferred the
primacy over the whole Church upon Peter and his successors. (Cf.
especially his letters to Eastern bishops and the decretal on the
canonical and apocryphal books.) In his dealing with the emperor he is
at one with the great medieval pontiffs. "There are two powers by which
chiefly this world is ruled: the sacred authority of the priesthood and
the authority of kings. And of these the authority of the priests is so
much the weightier, as they must render before the tribunal of God an
account even for the kings of men." Gelasius's pontificate was too
short to effect the complete submission and reconciliation of the
ambitious Church of Byzantium. Not until Hormisdas (514-23) did the
contest end in the return of the East to its old allegiance. Troubles
abroad were not the only occasions to draw out the energy and strength
of Gelasius. The Lupercalia, a superstitious and somewhat licentious
vestige of paganism at Rome, was finally abolished by the pope after a
long contest. Gelasius's letter to Andromachus, the senator, covers the
main lines of the controversy.
A stanch upholder of the old traditions, Gelasius nevertheless knew
when to make exceptions or modifications, such as his decree obliging
the reception of the Holy Eucharist under both kinds. This was done as
the only effective way of detecting the Manichæans, who, though
present in Rome in large numbers, sought to divert attention from their
hidden propaganda by feigning Catholicism. As they held wine to be
impure and essentially sinful, they would refuse the chalice and thus
be recognized. Later, with the change of conditions, the old normal
method of receiving Holy Communion under the form of bread alone
returned into vogue. To Gelasius we owe the ordinations on the ember
days (Ep. xv), as well as the enforcement of the fourfold division of
all ecclesiastical revenues, whether income from estates or voluntary
donations of the faithful, one portion for the poor, another for the
support of the churches and the splendour of Divine service, a third
for the bishop, and the fourth for the minor clergy. Though some
writers ascribe the origin of this division of church funds to
Gelasius, still the pontiff speaks of it (Ep. xiv, n. 27) as dudum
rationabiliter decretum, having been for some time in force. Indeed,
Pope Simplicius (475, Ep. i, n. 2) imposed the obligation of
restitution to the poor and the Church upon a certain bishop who had
failed in this duty; consequently it must have been already regarded as
at least a custom of the Church. Not content with one enunciation of
this charitable obligation, Gelasius frequently inculcates it in his
writings to bishops. For a long time the fixing of the Canon of the
Scriptures was attributed to Gelasius, but it seems now more probably
the work of Damasus (367-85). As Gelasius, however, in a Roman synod
(494), published his celebrated catalogue of the authentic writings of
the Fathers, together with a list of apocryphal and interpolated works,
as well as the proscribed books of the heretics (Ep. xlii), it was but
natural to prefix to this catalogue the Canon of the Scriptures as
determined by the earlier Pontiff, and thus in the course of time the
Canon itself came to be ascribed to Gelasius. In his zeal for the
beauty and majesty of Divine service, Gelasius composed many hymns,
prefaces, and collects, and arranged a standard Mass-book, though the
Missal that has commonly gone by his name, the "Sacramentarium
Gelasianum", belongs properly to the next century. How much of it is
the work of Gelasius is still a moot question. Though pope but for four
years and a half, he exerted a deep influence on the development of
church polity, of the liturgy and ecclesiastical discipline. A large
number of his decrees have been incorporated into the Canon Law.
In his private life Gelasius was above all conspicuous for his spirit
of prayer, penance, and study. He took great delight in the company of
monks, and was a true father to the poor, dying empty-handed as a
result of his lavish charity. Dionysius Exiguus in a letter to his
friend, the priest Julian (P.L., LXVII, 231), gives a glowing account
of Gelasius as he appeared to his contemporaries.
As a writer Gelasius takes high rank for his period. His style is
vigorous and elegant, though occasionally, obscure. Comparatively
little of his literary work has come down to us, though he is said to
have been the most prolific writer of all the pontiffs of the first
five centuries. There are extant forty-two letters and fragments of
forty-nine others, besides six treatises, of which three are concerned
with the Acacian schism, one with the heresy of the Pelagians, another
with the errors of Nestorius and Eutyches, while the sixth is directed
against the senator Andromachus and the advocates of the Lupercalia.
The best edition is that of Thiel.
The feast of St. Gelasius is kept on 21 Nov., the anniversary of his
interment, though many writers give this as the day of his death.
|
Pope Anastasius II
496-498
A native of Rome, elected 24
Nov., 496; d. 16 Nov., 498. His congratulatory letter to Clovis, on the
occasion of the latter's conversion is now deemed a forgery of the
seventeenth century (J. Kavet, Bibl. de l ec. des Chartres, 1885, XLVI,
258-59). He insisted in the removal from the diptychs of the name of
Acacius, Patriarch of Constantinople, but recognized the validity of
his sacramental acts, an attitude that displeased the Romans. He also
condemned Traducianism.
|
498-514 Pope St. Symmachus In the city of Rome, according to the
"Liber pontificalis", the
pope took severe measures against the Manichæans, ordered the
burning
of their books, and expelled them from the city. He erected or restored
and adorned various churches. Thus he built a Church of St. Andrew near
St. Peter's, a Basilica of St. Agnes on the Via Aurelia, adorned the
Church of St. Peter's, completely rebuilt the Basilica of Sts.
Sylvester and Martinus, and made improvements over the Catacomb of the
Jordani on the Via Salaria. He built episcopal houses (episcopia) to
the right and left of the parvis of St. Peter's. These buildings were
evidently connected with the residence of the pope for several years
near St. Peter's during the disorders of the Laurentian schism. He also
built asylums for the poor near the three churches of St. Peter, St.
Paul, and St. Laurence that were outside the city walls. The pope
contributed large sums for the support of the Catholic bishops of
Africa who were persecuted by the rulers of the Arian Vandals. He also
aided the inhabitants of the provinces of upper Italy who suffered so
sorely from the invasion of the barbarians. After his death he was
buried at St. Peter's. Symmachus is venerated in the Roman Church as a
saint.
Date of birth unknown; d. 19, July, 514. According to the "Liber
pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 260) he was a native of Sardinia and
his father was named Fortunatus. Symmachus was baptized at Rome (Thiel,
"Epist. pont. rom.", I, 702), entered the ranks of the clergy of Rome,
and was ordained deacon. Directly after the death of Pope Anastasius
II, Symmachus was elected his successor by a majority of the Roman
clergy at the Lateran Basilica on 22 November, 498. The election was
approved by a part of the Roman senate and he was at once consecrated
Bishop of Rome.
Later on the same day a minority of the clergy who were friendly to the
Byzantines and were supported by a party in the Senate met in the
Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore and elected the Roman archpresbyter
Laurentius as antipope. According to Theodorus Lector (P.G., LXXXVI,
193), the Laurentian party was aided with money supplied chiefly by the
rich Senator Festus, who hoped that Laurentius would be influenced by
this to sign the "Henotikon", the edict of faith of the Emperor Zeno.
The other authorities do not speak of such motives, which are very
probable, and the testimony of Theodorus can very readily be accepted.
Both parties, however, agreed that the two candidates should appear at
Ravenna before the Gothic king Theodoric, the ruler of Italy, and abide
by his decision. Theodoric pronouncing in favour of Symmachus on the
ground that he was elected first and by the majority of the clergy,
Laurentius submitted to the decision. At a synod held at Rome on 1
March, 499, the Acts of which have been preserved, Symmachus, who was
now universally acknowledged, bestowed on Laurentius the Diocese of
Nocera in Campania. The synod ordained that any Roman cleric who sought
to gain votes for a successor to the papacy during the lifetime of the
pope, or who called conferences and held consultations for that
purpose, should be deposed. King Theodoric was given a vote of thanks
by acclamation for his unpartisan decision.
When the king came to Rome in the following year he had a brilliant
reception both from the pope and the people. However, the Byzantine
party, headed by the two senators Festus and Probinus, did not abandon
its hostility and hope of overthrowing the pope and gaining the papal
see for Laurentius. The opportunity occurred in the following year,
501. Pope Symmachus celebrated Easter on 25 March, following the old
Roman cycle, while the Byzantines and others observed the feast on 22
April, according to a new reckoning. The Laurentian party appealed to
King Theodoric against the pope, making other accusations besides this
digression in the celebration of Easter. Theodoric summoned the pope
and Symmachus set out to meet him. At Rimini Symmachus learned the
contents of the indictment and, refusing to acknowledge the king as his
judge, returned home. The opposing party now accused him of squandering
the property of the Church and other matters. It gained in strength and
occupied the Lateran palace, so that the pope was obliged to live near
the Church of St. Peter outside the city walls. His opponents requested
the king to call a synod for the investigation of the accusations and
to appoint a visitor for Rome. Symmachus agreed to the calling of a
synod, but he and his adherents protested against the sending of a
visitor. Theodoric, however, sent as visitor Bishop Peter of Altinum in
upper Italy, who was to administer the Roman Church in the place of the
accused pope. Peter came to Rome and, contrary to the commands of king,
allowed himself to be won over by the adherents of Laurentius, so that
Theodoric at a later date dismissed him.
Not long after Easter, between May and July, 502, the synod met in the
basilica of Julius (Santa Maria in Trastevere). The pope declared
before the synod that it had been called with his consent and that he
was ready to answer the accusations before it, if the visitor were
removed and he were re-established as the administrator of the Church.
To this the majority of the bishops agreed and sent an embassy to the
king to demand the execution of these conditions. Theodoric, however,
refused, and demanded, first of all, an investigation of the
accusations against the pope.
A second session of the synod was held, therefore, on 1 September, 502,
in the Sessorian basilica (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme), and the
minority had the indictment made by the Laurentian party read aloud.
Symmachus desired to go from St. Peter's to the synod in order to
defend himself, but on the way there he was attacked by his opponents
and maltreated, and, escaping only with great difficulty, returned to
St. Peter's; several priests who were with him were killed or severely
wounded.
The Goths sent by Theodoric promised him a reliable escort but the pope
now refused to appear before the synod, although invited three times.
Consequently the assembled bishops declared at the third session, held
about the middle of September, they could not pass judgment upon the
pope, because he had appeared twice before his judges, and because
there was no precedent showing that an occupant of the Roman See had
been subjected to the judgment of other bishops. They called upon the
opposing clergy to submit to the pope, and requested the king to permit
the bishops to return to their dioceses. All these steps were in vain;
the majority of the clergy and people sided indeed with Symmachus, but
a minority of the clergy and a majority of the Senators were at that
time partizans of Laurentius.
A fourth session, therefore, was held on 23 October, 502, called the
"Synodus Palmaris" (Palmary synod) either from the place where it was
held (ad Palmata, Palma), or because it was the most important session
(palmaris). At this session it was decided that on account of the
reasons given earlier the decision must be left to the judgment of God;
Symmachus was to be regarded as free from all the crimes of which he
was accused, and therefore entitled to the full exercise of his
episcopal office; the whole property of the church was to be
transferred to him; whoever returned to his obedience should escape
punishment, but whoever undertook ecclesiastical functions at Rome
without papal permission was to be regarded as a schismatic. The
decision was signed by seventy-five bishops, among them the bishops of
Milan and Ravenna. Many bishops now returned to their dioceses. The
majority, however, met with the Roman priests in St. Peter's for a
fifth session under the presidency of Symmachus on 6 November, 502. The
edict issued by the prefect Basilius, in 483, regulating the
administration of the possessions of the Church was declared invalid
and Symmachus issued a new edict respecting the administration of this
property, and especially in regard to its sale.
King Theodoric, not satisfied with the decision of the synod, although
the great majority of the Italian episcopate was on the side of the
rightful pope, did nothing to carry out the new ordinances.
Consequently the opposition called its candidate Laurentius again to
Rome. He resided in the Lateran palace, which was in the hands of his
adherents, while Symmachus retained the house of the bishop
(episcopium) near St. Peter's. The division continued for four years,
during which both parties carried on a furious quarrel at Rome.
Laurentius had his portrait added to the series of popes in the Church
of Saint Paul Without the Walls. However, certain prominent persons
exerted their influence in favour of Symmachus, as Bishop Avitus of
Vienne, who, at the request of the Gallican bishops, addressed an
urgent letter to the Senate on behalf of the rightful pope and for the
restoration of unity. Symmachus gradually won over a number of
adherents of the opposition.
The greatest factor in the healing of the schism was the interposition
of Deacon Dioscurus of Alexandria, who had come to Rome. He was
commissioned by Symmachus to go to Theodoric, and won the king over to
the side of the rightful pope. Apparently political motives were
involved, as the king wished to take action against the Laurentian
party, which inclined to Constantinople. He commanded Senator Festus,
the head of the hostile party, to return all Roman churches to
Symmachus. Laurentius having lost many adherents among the senators the
king's command was executed without difficulty. The antipope, obliged
to leave Rome, retired to a farm belonging to his protector Festus.
Only a small party still held to Laurentius and refused to recognize
Symmachus as Bishop of Rome; but it was insignificant and was
reconciled later to Hormisdas, the successor of Symmachus. During the
schism a number of polemical writings appeared, as from the party of
Laurentius the treatise "Contra Synodum absolutionis incongruae", to
which Deacon Ennodius replied in "Libellus adversus eos qui contra
Synodum scribere praseumpserunt" ("Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auct. ant.", VII,
48 sq.). While the author of the life of Symmachus in the completely
preserved text of the "Liber pontificalis" is very favourable to the
pope, the writer of another continuation of the papal biographies
supports the cause of Laurentius ("Fragment Laurentine", ed. Duchesne
in "Liber pontificalis", I, 44-46). During the dispute the adherents of
Symmachus drew up four apocryphal writings called the "Symmachian
Forgeries"; these were: "Gesta synodi Sinuessanae de Marcellino";
"Constitutum Silvestri", "Gesta Liberii"; "Gesta de purgatione Xysti et
Polychronii accusatione". These four works are to be found in Coustant,
"Epist. rom. pontif." (Paris, 1721), appendix, 29 sq.; cf. Duchesne,
"Liber pontificalis", I, introduction, CXXXIII sq.: "Histoire
littéraire des apocryphes symmachiens". The object of these
forgeries was to produce alleged instances from earlier times to
support the whole procedure of the adherents of Symmachus, and, in
particular, the position that the Roman bishop could not be judged by
any court composed of other bishops. Still these forgeries are not the
first documents to maintain this latter tenet.
Symmachus zealously defended the supporters of orthodoxy during the
disorders of the Acacian schism. He defends, although without success,
the opponents of the "Henotikon" in a letter to Emperor Anastasius I
(491-518). At a later date many of the persecuted oriental bishops
addressed themselves to the pope to whom they sent a confession of
faith. Shortly after 506 the emperor sent him a letter full of
invectives, to which the pope sent a firm answer, maintaining forcibly
the rights and liberty of the Church (Thiel, "Epist. rom. pont.", I,
700 sq.).
In a letter of 8 October, 512, addressed to the bishops of Illyria, the
pope warned the clergy of that province not to hold communion with
heretics. Soon after the beginning of his pontificate Symmachus
interposed in the quarrel between the Archbishops of Arles and Vienne
as to the boundaries of their respective territories. He annulled the
edict issued by Anastasius II in favour of the Archbishop of Vienne and
later (6 November, 513) confirmed the metropolitan rights of archbishop
Caesarius of Arles, as these had been fixed by Leo I. Moreover, he
granted Caesarius the privilege of wearing the pallium, the first-known
instance of such a grant by the Holy See to a bishop outside of Italy.
In a letter of 11 June, 514, he appointed Caesarius to represent the
interests of the Church both in Gaul and Spain, to hold synods of the
bishops in certain cases, to give letters of recommendation to clergy
who journeyed to Rome. More important matters were to be laid before
the Holy See. In the city of Rome, according to the "Liber
pontificalis", the pope took severe measures against the
Manichæans, ordered the burning of their books, and expelled them
from the city. He erected or restored and adorned various churches.
Thus he built a Church of St. Andrew near St. Peter's, a Basilica of
St. Agnes on the Via Aurelia, adorned the Church of St. Peter's,
completely rebuilt the Basilica of Sts. Sylvester and Martinus, and
made improvements over the Catacomb of the Jordani on the Via Salaria.
He built episcopal houses (episcopia) to the right and left of the
parvis of St. Peter's. These buildings were evidently connected with
the residence of the pope for several years near St. Peter's during the
disorders of the Laurentian schism. He also built asylums for the poor
near the three churches of St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Laurence that
were outside the city walls. The pope contributed large sums for the
support of the Catholic bishops of Africa who were persecuted by the
rulers of the Arian Vandals. He also aided the inhabitants of the
provinces of upper Italy who suffered so sorely from the invasion of
the barbarians. After his death he was buried at St. Peter's. Symmachus
is venerated in the Roman Church as a saint.
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523-526 Pope St. John
I inherited the Arian heresy, which denied the divinity of
Christ. Italy had been ruled for 30 years by an emperor who espoused
the heresy, though he treated the empire’s Catholics with toleration.
His policy changed at about the time the young John was elected pope.
When the eastern emperor began imposing severe measures on
the Arians
of his area, the western emperor forced John to head a delegation to
the East to soften the measures against the heretics. Little is known
of the manner or outcome of the negotiations—designed to secure
continued toleration of Catholics in the West.
When John returned to Rome, he found the emperor had begun to suspect
his friendship with his eastern rival.
On his way home, John was imprisoned when he reached Ravenna because
the emperor suspected a conspiracy against his throne. Shortly after
his imprisonment, John died, apparently from the treatment he had
received.
Comment: We
cannot choose the issues for which we have to
suffer and perhaps
die. John I suffered because of a power-conscious emperor. Jesus
suffered because of the suspicions of those who were threatened by his
freedom, openness and powerlessness. “If you find that the world hates
you, know it has hated me before you.”
Quote: “Martyrdom makes disciples like their Master,
who
willingly
accepted death for the salvation of the world, and through it they are
made like him by the shedding of blood. Therefore, the Church considers
it the highest gift and supreme test of love. And while it is given to
few, all however must be prepared to confess Christ before humanity and
to follow him along the way of the cross amid the persecutions which
the Church never lacks” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 42,
Austin Flannery translation).
Pope St. John I
Died at Ravenna on 18 or 19 May (according to the most popular
calculation), 526. A Tuscan by birth and the son of Constantius, he
was, after an interregnum of seven days, elected on 13 August, 523, and
occupied the Apostolic see for two years, nine months, and seven days.
We know nothing of the matter of his administration, for his Bullarium
contains only the two letters addressed to an Archbishop Zacharias and
to the bishops of Italy respectively, and it is very certain that both
are apocryphal.
We possess information -- though unfortunately very vague
-- only about
his journey to Constantinople, a journey which appears to have had
results of great importance, and which was the cause of his death. The
Emperor Justin, in his zeal for orthodoxy, had issued in 523 a severe
decree against the Arians, compelling them, among other things, to
surrender to the Catholics the churches which they occupied. Theodoric,
King of the Ostrogoths and of Italy, the ardent defender of Arianism,
keenly resented these measures directed against his coreligionists in
the Orient, and was moreover highly displeased at seeing the progress
of a mutual understanding between the Latin and Greek Churches, such as
might favour certain secret dealings between the Roman senators and the
Byzantine Court, aiming at the re-establishment of the imperial
authority in Italy. To bring pressure to bear upon the emperor, and
force him to moderate his policy of repression in regard to the
heretics, Theodoric sent to him early in 525 an embassy composed of
Roman senators, of which he obliged the pope to assume the direction,
and imposed on the latter the task of securing a withdrawal of the
Edict of 523 and -- if we are to believe "Anonymous Valesianus" -- of
even urging the emperor to facilitate the return to Arianism of the
Arians who had been converted.
There has been much discussion as to the part played by
John I in this
affair. The sources which enable us to study the subject are far from
explicit and may be reduced to four in number: "Anonymous Valesianus",
already cited; the "Liber Pontificalis"; Gregory of Tours's "Liber in
gloria martyrum"; and the "Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiæ
Ravennatis". But it is beyond question that the pope could only counsel
Justin to use gentleness and discretion towards the Arians; his
position as head of the Church prevented his inviting the emperor to
favour heresy. That this analysis of the situation is correct is
evident from the reception which the pope was accorded in the East -- a
reception which certainly would not have been kindly, had the Roman
ambassadors opposed the emperor and this Catholic subjects in their
struggle waged against the Arian sect. The inhabitants of
Constantinople went out in throngs to meet John. The Emperor Justin on
meeting him prostrated himself, and, some time afterwards, he had
himself crowned by the pope. All the patriarchs of the East made haste
to manifest their communion in the Faith with the supreme pontiff; only
Timothy of Alexandria, who had shown himself hostile to the Council of
Chalcedon, held aloof. Finally, the pope, exercising his right of
precedence over Epiphanius, Patriarch of Constantinople, solemnly
officiated at St. Sophia in the Latin Rite on Easter Day, 19 April,
526. Immediately afterwards he made his way back to the West.
If this brilliant reception of John I by the emperor, the clergy, and
the faithful of the Orient proves that he had not been wanting in his
task as supreme pastor of the Church, the strongly contrasting
behaviour of Theodoric towards him on his return is no less evident
proof. This monarch, enraged at seeing the national party reviving in
Italy, had just stained his hands with the murder of Boethius, the
great philosopher, and of Symmachus his father-in-law. He was
exasperated against the pope, whose embassy had obtained a success very
different from that which he, Theodoric, desired and whom, moreover, he
suspected of favouring the defenders of the ancient liberty of Rome. As
soon as John, returning from the East, had landed in Italy, Theodoric
caused him to be arrested and incarcerated at Ravenna. Worn out by the
fatigues of the journey, and subjected to severe privations, John soon
died in prison.
His body was transported to Rome and buried in the Basilica of St.
Peter. In his epitaph there is no allusion to his historical role. The
Latin Church has placed him among its martyrs, and commemorates him on
27 May, the ninth lesson in the Roman Breviary for that date being
consecrated to him.
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526-530 Pope St. Felix IV; On 18 May, 526, Pope John I died in prison
at Ravenna, a victim of
the angry suspicions of Theodoric, the Arian king of the Goths. When,
through the powerful influence of this ruler, the cardinal-priest,
Felix of Samnium, son of Castorius, was brought forward in Rome as
John's successor, the clergy and laity yielded to the wish of the
Gothic king and chose Felix pope. He was consecrated Bishop of Rome 12
July, 526, and took advantage of the favor he enjoyed at the court of
Theodoric to further the interests of the Roman Church, discharging the
duties of his office in a most worthy manner. Felix
also took part in the so-called Semipelagian conflict in
Southern Gaul concerning the nature and efficiency of grace. He sent to
the bishops of those parts a series of "Capitula", regarding grace and
free will, compiled from Scripture and the Fathers. These capitula were
published as canons at the Synod of Orange (529). In addition Felix
approved the work of Caesarius of Arles against Faustus of Riez on
grace and free will (De gratia et libero arbitrio).
On 18 May, 526, Pope John I died in prison at Ravenna, a victim of the
angry suspicions of Theodoric, the Arian king of the Goths. When,
through the powerful influence of this ruler, the cardinal-priest,
Felix of Samnium, son of Castorius, was brought forward in Rome as
John's successor, the clergy and laity yielded to the wish of the
Gothic king and chose Felix pope. He was consecrated Bishop of Rome 12
July, 526, and took advantage of the favor he enjoyed at the court of
Theodoric to further the interests of the Roman Church, discharging the
duties of his office in a most worthy manner.
On 30 August, 526, Theodoric died, and, his grandson
Athalaric being a minor, the government was conducted by Athalaric's
mother Amalasuntha, daughter of Theodoric and favorably disposed
towards the Catholics. To the new ruler the Roman clergy addressed a
complaint on the usurpation of their privileges by the civil power. A
royal edict, drawn up by Cassiodorus in terms of the deepest respect
for the papal authority, confirmed the ancient custom that every civil
or criminal charge of a layman against a cleric should be submitted to
the pope, or to an ecclesiastical court appointed by him. A fine of ten
pounds of gold was imposed as a punishment for the violation of this
order, and the money thus obtained was to be distributed amongst the
poor by the pope (Cassiodorus, "Variae", VIII, n. 24, ed. Mommsen,
"Mon. Germ. Hist.: Auctores antiquiss.", XII, 255)
The pope received as a gift from Amalasuntha two ancient edifices in
the Roman Forem, the Temple of Romulus, son of the Emperor Maxentius,
and the adjoining Templum sacroe urbis, the Roman land registry office.
The pope converted the buildings into the Church of SS. Cosmas and
Damian, which still exists and in the apse of which is preserved the
large and magnificent mosaic executed by order of Felix, the figure of
the pope, however, being a later restoration (see COSMAS AND DAMIAN).
Felix also took part in the so-called Semipelagian
conflict in Southern Gaul concerning the nature and efficiency of
grace. He sent to the bishops of those parts a series of "Capitula",
regarding grace and free will, compiled from Scripture and the Fathers.
These capitula were published as canons at the Synod of Orange (529).
In addition Felix approved the work of Caesarius of Arles against
Faustus of Riez on grace and free will (De gratia et libero arbitrio).
Rendered anxious by the political dissensions of the Romans,
many of whom stood for the interests of Byzantium, while others
supported Gothic Rule, Felix IV, when he fell seriously ill in the year
530, wished to ensure the peace of the Roman Church by naming his
successor. Having given over to Archdeacon Boniface his pallium, he
made it known publicly that he had chosen Boniface to succeed him, and
that he had apprised the court of Ravenna of his action ("Neues
Archiv", XI, 1886, 367; Duchesne, "Liber Pontificalis", I, 282, note
4). Felix IV died soon afterwards, but in the papal election which
followed his wishes were disregarded (see BONIFACE II). The feast of
Felix IV is celebrated on 30 January. The day of his death is
uncertain, but it was probably towards the end of September, 530.
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536-37 Pope St. Silverius
Dates of birth and death unknown. He was the son of Pope Hormisdas who
had been married before becoming one of the higher clergy. Silverius
entered the service of the Church and was subdeacon at Rome when Pope
Agapetus died at Constantinople, 22 April, 536. The Empress Theodora,
who favoured the Monophysites sought to bring about the election as
pope of the Roman deacon Vigilius who was then at Constantinople and
had given her the desired guarantees as to the Monophysites. However,
Theodatus, King of the Ostrogoths, who wished to prevent the election
of a pope connected with Constantinople, forestalled her, and by his
influence the subdeacon Silverius was chosen. The election of a
subdeacon as Bishop of Rome was unusual. Consequently, it is easy to
understand that, as the author of the first part of the life of
Silverius in the "Liber pontificalis" (ed. Duchesne, I, 210) relates, a
strong opposition to it appeared among the clergy. This, however, was
suppressed by Theodatus so that, finally, after Silverius had been
consecrated bishop (probably on 8 June, 536) all the Roman presbyters
gave their consent in writing to his elevation. The assertion made by
the author just mentioned that Silverius secured the intervention of
Theodatus by payment of money is unwarranted, and is to be explained by
the writer's hostile opinion of the pope and the Goths. The author of
the second part of the life in the "Liber pontificalis" is favourably
inclined to Silverius. The pontificate of this pope belongs to an
unsettled, disorderly period and he himself fell a victim to the
intrigues of the Byzantine Court.
After Silverius had become pope the Empress Theodora sought to win him
for the Monophysites. She desired especially to have him enter into
communion with the Monophysite Patriarch of Constantinople, Anthimus,
who had been excommunicated and deposed by Agapetus, and with Severus
of Antioch. However, the pope committed himself to nothing and Theodora
now resolved to overthrow him and to gain the papal see for Vigilius.
Troublous times befell Rome during the struggle that broke out in Italy
between the Ostrogoths and the Byzantines after the death of
Amalasuntha, daughter of Theodoric the Great. The Ostrogothic king,
Vitiges, who ascended the throne in August, 536, besieged the city. The
churches over the catacombs outside of the city were devastated, the
graves of the martyrs in the catacombs themselves were broken open and
desecrated. In December, 536, the Byzantine general Belisarius
garrisoned Rome and was received by the pope in a friendly and
courteous manner. Theodora sought to use Belisarius for the carrying
out of her plan to depose Silverius and to put in his place the Roman
deacon Vigilius, formerly apocrisary at Constantinople, who had now
gone to Italy. Antonina, wife of Belisarius, influenced her husband to
act as Theodora desired. By means of a forged letter the pope was
accused of a treasonable agreement with the Gothic king who was
besieging Rome. It was asserted that Silverius had offered the king to
leave one of the city gates secretly open so as to permit the Goths to
enter. Silverius was consequently arrested in March, 537, roughly
stripped of his episcopal dress, given the clothing of a monk and
carried off to exile in the East. Vigilius was consecrated Bishop of
Rome in his stead.
Silverius was taken to Lycia where he was went to reside at Patara. The
Bishop of Patara very soon discovered that the exiled pope was
innocent. He journeyed to Constantinople and was able to lay before the
Emperor Justinian such proofs of the innocence of the exile that the
emperor wrote to Belisarius commanding a new investigation of the
matter. Should it turn out that the letter concerning the alleged plot
in favour of the Goths was forged, Silverius should be placed once more
in possession of the papal see. At the same time the emperor allowed
Silverius to return to Italy, and the latter soon entered the country,
apparently at Naples. However, Vigilius arranged to take charge of his
unlawfully deposed predecessor. He evidently acted in agreement with
the Empress Theodora and was aided by Antonina, the wife of Belisarius.
Silverius was taken to the Island of Palmaria in the Tyrrhenian Sea and
kept their in close confinement. Here he died in consequence of the
privations and harsh treatment he endured. The year of his death is
unknown, but he probably did not live long after reaching Palmaria. He
was buried on the island, according to the testimony of the "Liber
pontificalis" on 20 June; his remains were never taken from Palmaria.
According to the same witness he was invoked after death by the
believers who visited his grave. In later times he was venerated as a
saint. The earliest proof of this is given by a list of saints of the
eleventh century (Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire,
1893, 169). The "Martyrologium" of Peter de Natalibus of the fourteenth
century also contains his feast, which is recorded in the present Roman
Martyrology on 20 June.
[Editor's note: According to the Liber Pontificalis, Pope St. Silverius
was exiled not to Palmaria, but rather to the Island of Palmarola, a
much smaller and more desolate island near Ponza, Italy, in the Bay of
Naples.]
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537-555 Pope Vigilius
date of birth unknown; died at Syracuse, 7 June 555. He belonged to a
distinguished Roman family; his father Johannes is called consul in the
Liber pontificalis (ed. Duchesne, I, 298), having received that title
from the emperor. Reparatus, a brother of Vigilius, was a senator
(Procopius, De bello gothico, I, 26). Vigilius entered the service of
the Roman Church and was a deacon in 531, in which year the Roman
clergy agreed to a Decree empowering the pope to determine the
succession to the Papal See. Vigilius was chosen by Boniface II as his
successor, and presented to the clergy assembled in St. Peter's. The
opposition to such a procedure led Boniface in the following year to
withdraw his designation of a successor and to burn the Decree
respecting it. The second successor of Boniface, Agapetus I (535-36),
appointed Vigilius papal representative (Apocrisiary) at
Constantinople; Vigilius thus came to the Eastern capital. Empress
Theodora sought to win him as a confederate, to revenge the deposition
of the Monophysite Patriarch Anthimus of Constantinople by Agapetus and
also to gain aid for her efforts in behalf of the Monophysites.
Vigilius is said to have agreed to the plans of the intriguing empress
who promised him the Papal See and a large sum of money (700 pounds of
gold). After Agapetus's death on 22 April, 536, Vigilius return to Rome
equipped with letters from the imperial Court and with money. Meanwhile
Silverius had been made pope through the influence of the King of the
Goths. Soon after this the Byzantine commander Belisarius garrisoned
the city of Rome, which was, however, besieged again by the Goths.
Vigilius gave Belisarius the letters from the Court of Constantinople,
which recommended Vigilius himself for the Papal See. False accusations
now led Belisarius to depose Silverius. Owing to the pressure exerted
by the Byzantine commander, Vigilius was elected pope in place of
Silverius and consecrated and enthroned on 29 March, 537. Vigilius
brought it about that the unjustly deposed Silverius was put into his
keeping where the late pope soon died from the harsh treatment he
received. After the death of this predecessor Vigilius was recognized
as pope by all the Roman clergy. Much in these accusations against
Vigilius appears to be exaggerated, but the manner of his elevation to
the See of Rome was not regular. Empress Theodora, however, saw that
she had been deceived. For after the latter had attained the object of
his ambition and been made pope he maintained the same position as his
predecessor against the Monophysites and the deposed Anthimus. It is
true that there is an alleged letter from the pope to the deposed
Monophysite patriarchs, Anthimus, Severus, and Theodosius, in which the
pope agrees with the views of the Monophysites. This letter, however,
is not regarded as genuine by most investigators and bears all the
marks of forgery (cf. Duchesne in Revue des quest. histor. (1884), II,
373; Chamard, ibid., I (1885), 557; Grisar in Analecta romana, I, 55
sqq.; Savio in Civilta catt., II (1910), 413-422]. The pope did not
restore Anthimus to his office.
It was not until the year 540 that Vigilius felt himself obliged to
take a stand in regard to Monophysitism which he did in two letters
sent to Constantinople. One of the letters is addressed to Emperor
Justinian, the other to the Patriarch Menas. In both letters the pope
supports positively the Synods of Ephesus and Chalcedon, also the
decisions of his predecessor Leo I, and throughout approves of the
deposition of the Patriarch Anthimus. Several other letters written by
the pope in the first years of his pontificate, that have been
preserved, give information respecting his interposition in the
ecclesiastical affairs of various countries. On 6 March, 538, he wrote
to Bishop Caesarius of Arles concerning the penance of the Austrasian
King Theodobert on account of his marriage with his brother's widow. On
29 June, 538, a decretal was sent to Bishop Profuturus of Braga
containing decisions on various questions of church discipline. Bishop
Auxanius and his successor, Aurelian of Arles, entered into
communication with the pope respecting the granting of the pallium as a
mark of the dignity and powers of a papal legate for Gaul; the pope
sent suitable letters to the two bishops. In the meantime new dogmatic
difficulties had been developing at Constantinople that were to give
the pope many hours of bitterness. In 543 Emperor Justinian issued a
decree which condemned the various heresies of Origen; this decree was
sent for signature both to the Oriental patriarchs and to Vigilius (cf.
ORIGEN AND ORIGENISM).
In order to draw Justinian's thoughts from Origenism, Theodore Askidas,
Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, called his attention to the fact that
the condemnation of various representatives of the Antiochene school,
who had championed Nestorianism, would make union with the Monophysites
much easier. The emperor, who laid much stress upon winning over the
Monophysites, agreed to this, and in 543 or 44 he issued a new edict
condemning the Three Chapters (see CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF). The
Oriental patriarchs and bishops signed the condemnation of these Three
Chapters. In Western Europe, however, the procedure was considered
unjustifiable and dangerous, because it was feared that it would
detract from the importance of the Council of Chalcedon. Vigilius
refused to acknowledge the imperial edict and was called to
Constantinople by Justinian, in order to settle the matter there with a
synod. According to the Liber pontificalis on 20 November, while the
pope was celebrating the feast of St. Cecilia in the Church of St.
Cecilia in Trastevere, and before the service was fully ended, he was
ordered by the imperial official Anthimus to start at once on the
journey to Constantinople. The pope was taken immediately to a ship
that waited in the Tiber, in order to be carried to the eastern
capital, while a part of the populace cursed the pope and threw stones
at the ship. Rome was now besieged by the Goths under Totila and the
inhabitants fell into the greatest misery. Vigilius sent ships with
grain to Rome but these were captured by the enemy. If the story
related by the Liber pontificalis is essentially correct, the pope
probably left Rome on 22 November, 545. He remained for a long time in
Sicily, and reached Constantinople about the end of 546 or in January,
547.
Vigilius sought to persuade the emperor to send aid to the inhabitants
of Rome and Italy who were so hard pressed by the Goths. Justinian's
chief interest, however, was in the matter of the Three Chapters, and
as Vigilius was not ready to make concessions of this point and wavered
frequently in his measures, he had much to suffer. The change in his
position is to be explained by the fact that the condemnation of the
writings mentioned was justifiable essentially, yet appeared
inopportune and would lead to disastrous controversies with Western
Europe. Finally, Vigilius acknowledged in a letter of 8 Dec., 553, to
the Patriarch Eutychius the decisions of the Synod of Constantinople
and declared his judgment in detail in a Constitution of 26 February,
554. Thus at the end of a sorrowful residence of eight years at
Constantinople the pope was able, after coming to an understanding with
the emperor, to start on his return to Rome in the spring of 555. While
on the journey he died at Syracuse. His body was brought to Rome and
buried in the Basilica of Sylvester over the Catacomb of Priscilla on
the Via Salaria.
|
536 Pope
Agapitus I
archdeacon opposed Monophysites Pope (RM)
Constantinópoli sancti Agapíti Papæ Primi, cujus
sánctitas a beáto Gregório Magno
commendátur. Ipsíus autem corpus, póstea
Romam relátum, in Vaticáno cónditum est.
At Constantinople, Pope St. Agapitus the First,
whose sanctity was praised by St. Gregory the Great. His body was
afterwards taken to Rome and buried in the Vatican.
Died in Constantinople on
April 22, 536. The
Roman
Agapitus, son of a
murdered priest named Gordian, was archdeacon of the Roman clergy and
an old man when elected pope on May 13, 535. As pope he showed great
vigor in opposing the Monophysites. He died while on a mission for the
Ostrogoth King Theodahad to convince Justinian to forego a threatened
invasion of Italy. Agapitus was unsuccessful, but while there he
convinced Justinian to remove Patriarch Anthimus, a Monophysite, and
replace him with Mennas, whom Agapitus consecrated. His body was taken
back to Rome on September 20, on which date a second feast is
celebrated in the Roman Martyrology. Like many other Italian saints on
the period, he owes his cultus to the devotion of Saint Gregory the
Great (Benedictines, Delaney).
|
590-604 Pope St.
Gregory I ("the Great")
Doctor of the Church; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March
604.
Gregory
I. FROM BIRTH TO 574
Gregory's father was
Gordianus, a wealthy patrician, probably of the
famous gens Amicia, who owned large estates in Sicily and a mansion on
the Caelian Hill in Rome, the ruins of which, apparently in a wonderful
state of preservation, still await excavation beneath the Church of St.
Andrew and St. Gregory. His mother Silvia appears also to have been of
good family, but very little is known of her life. She is honoured as a
saint, her feast being kept on 3 November. Portraits of Gordianus and
Silvia were painted by Gregory's order, in the atrium of St. Andrew's
monastery, and a pleasing description of these may be found in John the
Deacon (Vita, IV, lxxxiii).
Besides his mother, two of Gregory's aunts have been
canonised,
Gordianus's two sisters, Tarsilla and Æmiliana, so that John the
Deacon speaks of his education as being that of a saint among saints.
Of his early years we know nothing beyond what the history
of the
period tells us. Between the years 546 and 552 Rome was first captured
by the Goths under Totila, and then abandoned by them; next it was
garrisoned by Belisarius, and besieged in vain by the Goths, who took
it again, however, after the recall of Belisarius, only to lose it once
more to Narses. Gregory's mind and memory were both exceptionally
receptive, and it is to the effect produced on him by these disasters
that we must attribute the tinge of sadness which pervades his writings
and especially his clear expectation of a speedy end to the world.
Of his education, we have no details. Gregory of Tours tells
us that in
grammar, rhetoric and dialectic he was so skilful as to be thought
second to none in all Rome, and it seems certain also that he must have
gone through a course of legal studies. Not least among the educating
influences was the religious atmosphere of his home. He loved to
meditate on the Scriptures and to listen attentively to the
conversations of his elders, so that he was "devoted to God from his
youth up".
His rank and prospects pointed him out naturally for a
public career,
and he doubtless held some of the subordinate offices wherein a young
patrician embarked on public life. That he acquitted himself well in
these appears certain, since we find him about the year 573, when
little more than thirty years old, filling the important office of
prefect of the city of Rome. At that date the brilliant post was shorn
of much of its old magnificence, and its responsibilities were reduced;
still it remained the highest civil dignity in the city, and it was
only after long prayer and inward struggle that Gregory decided to
abandon everything and become a monk. This event took place most
probably in 574.
His decision once taken, he devoted himself to the work and
austerities
of his new life with all the natural energy of his character. His
Sicilian estates were given up to found six monasteries there, and his
home on the Caelian Hill was converted into another under the patronage
of St. Andrew. Here he himself took the cowl, so that "he who had been
wont to go about the city clad in the trabea and aglow with silk and
jewels, now clad in a worthless garment served the altar of the Lord"
(Gregory of Tours, X, i).
II. AS MONK AND ABBOT (C. 574-590)
There has been much
discussion as to whether Gregory and his
fellow-monks at St. Andrew's followed the Rule of St. Benedict.
Baronius and others on his authority have denied this, while it has
been asserted as strongly by Mabillon and the Bollandists, who, in the
preface to the life of St. Augustine (26 May), retract the opinion
expressed earlier in the preface to St. Gregory's life (12 March). The
controversy is important only in view of the question as to the form of
monasticism introduced by St. Augustine into England, and it may be
said that Baronius's view is now practically abandoned.
For about three years Gregory lived in retirement in the
monastery of
St. Andrew, a period to which he often refers as the happiest portion
of his life. His great austerities during this time are recorded by the
biographers, and probably caused the weak health from which he
constantly suffered in later life.
However, he was soon drawn out of his seclusion, when, in
578, the pope
ordained him, much against his will, as one of the seven deacons
(regionarii) of Rome. The period was one of acute crisis. The Lombards
were advancing rapidly towards the city, and the only chance of safety
seemed to be in obtaining help from the Emperor Tiberius at Byzantium.
Pope Pelagius II accordingly dispatched a special embassy to Tiberius,
and sent Gregory along with it as his apocrisiarius, or permanent
ambassador to the Court of Byzantium. The date of this new appointment
seems to have been the spring of 579, and it lasted apparently for
about six years.
Nothing could have been more uncongenial to Gregory than the
worldly
atmosphere of the brilliant Byzantine Court, and to counteract its
dangerous influence he followed the monastic life so far as
circumstances permitted. This was made easier by the fact that several
of his brethren from St. Andrew's accompanied him to Constantinople.
With them he prayed and studied the Scriptures, one result of which
remains in his "Morals", or series of lectures on the Book of Job,
composed during this period at the request of St. Leander of Seville,
whose acquaintance Gregory made during his stay in Constantinople.
Much attention was attracted to Gregory by his controversy
with
Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, concerning the Resurrection.
Eutychius had published a treatise on the subject maintaining that the
risen bodies of the elect would be "impalpable, more light than air".
To this view Gregory objected the palpability of Christ's risen body.
The dispute became prolonged and bitter, till at length the emperor
intervened, both combatants being summoned to a private audience, where
they stated their views. The emperor decided that Gregory was in the
right, and ordered Eutychius's book to the burned. The strain of the
struggle had been so great that both fell ill. Gregory recovered, but
the patriarch succumbed, recanting his error on his death bed.
Mention should be made of
the curious fact that, although Gregory's
sojourn at Constantinople lasted for six years, he seems never to have
mastered even the rudiments of Greek. Possibly he found that the use of
an interpreter had its advantages, but he often complains of the
incapacity of those employed for this purpose. It must be owned that,
so far as obtaining help for Rome was concerned, Gregory's stay at
Constantinople was a failure. However, his period as ambassador taught
him very plainly a lesson which was to bear great fruit later on when
he ruled in Rome as pope. This was the important fact that no help was
any longer to be looked for from Byzantium, with the corollary that, if
Rome and Italy were to be saved at all, it could only be by vigorous
independent action of the powers on the spot. Humanly speaking, it is
to the fact that Gregory had acquired this conviction that his later
line of action with all its momentous consequences is due.
In the year 586, or possibly 585, he was recalled to Rome,
and with the
greatest joy returned to St. Andrew's, of which he became abbot soon
afterwards. The monastery grew famous under his energetic rule,
producing many monks who won renown later, and many vivid pictures of
this period may be found in the "Dialogues".
Gregory gave much of his time to lecturing on the Holy
Scripture and is
recorded to have expounded to his monks the Heptateuch, Books of Kings,
the Prophets, the Book of Proverbs, and the Canticle of Canticles.
Notes of these lectures were taken at the time by a young student named
Claudius, but when transcribed were found by Gregory to contain so many
errors that he insisted on their being given to him for correction and
revision. Apparently this was never done, for the existing fragments of
such works attributed to Gregory are almost certainly spurious.
At this period, however, one important literary enterprise
was
certainly completed. This was the revision and publication of the
"Magna Moralia", or lectures on the Book of Job, undertaken in
Constantinople at the request of St. Leander. In one of his letters
(Ep., V, liii) Gregory gives an interesting account of the origin of
this work.
To this period most probably should be assigned the famous
incident of
Gregory's meeting with the English youths in the Forum. The first
mention of the event is in the Whitby life (c, ix), and the whole story
seems to be an English tradition. It is worth notice, therefore, that
in the St. Gall manuscript the Angles do not appear as slave boys
exposed for sale, but as men visiting Rome of their own free will, whom
Gregory expressed a desire to see. It is Venerable Bede (Hist. Eccl.,
II, i) who first makes them slaves.
In consequence of this
meeting Gregory was so fixed with desire to
convert the Angles that he obtained permission from Pelagius II to go
in person to Britain with some of his fellow-monks as missionaries. The
Romans, however, were greatly incensed at the pope's act. With angry
words they demanded Gregory's recall, and messengers were at once
dispatched to bring him back to Rome, if necessary by force. These men
caught up with the little band of missionaries on the third day after
their departure, and at once returned with them, Gregory offering no
opposition, since he had received what appeared to him as a sign from
heaven that his enterprise should be abandoned.
The strong feeling of the Roman populace that Gregory must
not be
allowed to leave Rome is a sufficient proof of the position he now held
there. He was in fact the chief adviser and assistant of Pelagius II,
towards whom he seems to have acted very much in the capacity of
secretary (see the letter of the Bishop of Ravenna to Gregory, Epp.,
III, lxvi, "Sedem apostolicam, quam antae moribus nunc etiam honore
debito gubernatis"). In this capacity, probably in 586, Gregory wrote
his important letter to the schismatical bishops of Istria who had
separated from communion with the Church on the question of the Three
Chapters (Epp., Appendix, III, iii). This document, which is almost a
treatise in length, is an admirable example of Gregory's skill, but it
failed to produce any more effort than Pelagius's two previous letters
had, and the schism continued.
The year 589 was one of widespread disaster throughout all
the empire.
In Italy there was an unprecedented inundation. Farms and houses were
carried away by the floods. The Tiber overflowed its banks, destroying
numerous buildings, among them the granaries of the Church with all the
store of corn. Pestilence followed on the floods, and Rome became a
very city of the dead. Business was at a standstill, and the streets
were deserted save for the wagons which bore forth countless corpses
for burial in common pits beyond the city walls.
Then, in February, 590, as if to fill the cup of misery to
the brim,
Pelagius II died. The choice of a successor lay with the clergy and
people of Rome, and without any hesitation they elected Gregory, Abbot
of St. Andrew's. In spite of their unanimity Gregory shrank from the
dignity thus offered him. He knew, no doubt, that its acceptance meant
a final good-bye to the cloister life he loved, and so he not only
refused to accede to the prayers of his fellow citizens but also wrote
personally to the Emperor Maurice, begging him with all earnestness not
to confirm the election. Germanus, prefect of the city, suppressed this
letter, however, and sent instead of it the formal schedule of the
election.
In the interval while awaiting the emperor's reply the
business of the
vacant see was transacted by Gregory, in commission with two or three
other high officials. As the plague still continued unabated, Gregory
called upon the people to join in a vast sevenfold procession which was
to start from each of the seven regions of the city and meet at the
Basilica of the Blessed Virgin, all praying the while for pardon and
the withdrawal of the pestilence. This was accordingly done, and the
memory of the event is still preserved by the name "Sant' Angelo" given
to the mausoleum of Hadrian from the legend that the Archangel St.
Michael was seen upon its summit in the act of sheathing his sword as a
sign that the plague was over.
At length, after six
months of waiting, came the emperor's confirmation
of Gregory's election. The saint was terrified at the news and even
meditated flight. He was seized, however, carried to the Basilica of
St. Peter, and there consecrated pope on 3 September, 590. The story
that Gregory actually fled the city and remained hidden in a forest for
three days, when his whereabouts was revealed by a supernatural light,
seems to be pure invention. It appears for the first time in the Whitby
life (c. vii), and is directly contrary to the words of his
contemporary, Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc., X, i). Still he never
ceased to regret his elevation, and his later writings contain
numberless expressions of strong feeling on this point.
III. AS POPE (590-604)
Fourteen years of life remained to Gregory, and into these
he crowded
work enough to have exhausted the energies of a lifetime. What makes
his achievement more wonderful is his constant ill-health. He suffered
almost continually from indigestion and, at intervals, from attacks of
slow fever, while for the last half of his pontificate he was a martyr
to gout. In spite of these infirmities, which increased steadily, his
biographer, Paul the Deacon, tells us "he never rested" (Vita, XV). His
work as pope is of so varied a nature that it will be best to take it
in sections, although this destroys any exact chronological sequence.
At the very outset of his pontificate Gregory published his
"Liber
pastoralis curae", or book on the office of a bishop, in which he lays
down clearly the lines he considers it his duty to follow. The work,
which regards the bishop pre-eminently as the physician of souls, is
divided into four parts.
He points out in the first that only one skilled already as
a physician
of the soul is fitted to undertake the "supreme rule" of the
episcopate.
In the second he describes how the bishop's life should be
ordered from
a spiritual point of view;
in the third, how he ought to teach and admonish those under
him,
and in the fourth how, in spite of his good works, he ought
to bear in
mind his own weakness, since the better his work the greater the danger
of falling through self-confidence.
This little work is the key to Gregory's life as pope, for
what he
preached he practiced. Moreover, it remained for centuries the textbook
of the Catholic episcopate, so that by its influence the ideal of the
great pope has moulded the character of the Church, and his spirit has
spread into all lands.
(1) Life and Work in Rome
As pope Gregory still lived with monastic simplicity. One of
his first
acts was to banish all the lay attendants, pages, etc., from the
Lateran palace, and substitute clerics in their place. There was now no
magister militum living in Rome, so the control even of military
matters fell to the pope. The inroads of the Lombards had filled the
city with a multitude of indigent refugees, for whose support Gregory
made provision, using for this purpose the existing machinery of the
ecclesiastical districts, each of which had its deaconry or "office of
alms". The corn thus distributed came chiefly from Sicily and was
supplied by the estates of the Church.
The temporal needs of his people being thus provided for,
Gregory did
not neglect their spiritual wants, and a large number of his sermons
have come down to us. It was he who instituted the "stations" still
observed and noted in the Roman Missal. He met the clergy and people at
some church previously agreed upon, and all together went in procession
to the church of the station, where Mass was celebrated and the pope
preached. These sermons, which drew immense crowds, are mostly simple,
popular expositions of Scripture. Chiefly remarkable is the preacher's
mastery of the Bible, which he quotes unceasingly, and his regular use
of anecdote to illustrate the point in hand, in which respect he paves
the way for the popular preachers of the Middle Ages. In July, 595,
Gregory held his first synod in St. Peter's, which consisted almost
wholly of the bishops of the suburbicarian sees and the priests of the
Roman titular churches. Six decrees dealing with ecclesiastical
discipline were passed, some of them merely confirming changes already
made by the pope on his own authority.
Much controversy still exists as to the exact extent of
Gregory's
reforms of the Roman Liturgy. All admit that he did make the following
modifications in the pre-existing practice:
In the Canon of the Mass he inserted the words "diesque
nostros in tua
pace disponas, atque ab aeterna damnatione nos eripi, et in electorum
tuorum jubras grege numerari";
he ordered the Pater Noster to be recited in the Canon
before the
breaking of the Host;
he provided that the Alleluia should be chanted after the
Gradual out
of paschal time, to which period, apparently, the Roman use had
previously confined it;
he prohibited the use of the chasuble by subdeacons
assisting at Mass;
he forbade deacons to perform any of the musical portions of
the Mass
other than singing the Gospel.
Beyond these and some few minor points it seems impossible
to conclude
with certainty what changes Gregory did make. As to the much-disputed
question of the Gregorian Sacramentary and the almost more difficult
point of his relation to the plain song or chant of the Church, for
Gregory's connection with which matters the earliest authority seems to
be John the Deacon (Vita, II, vi, Xvii), see GREGORIAN CHANT;
SACRAMENTARY.
There is no lack of
evidence, however, to illustrate Gregory's activity
as manager of the patrimony of St. Peter. By his day the estates of the
Church had reached vast dimensions. Varying estimates place their total
area at from 1300 to 1800 square miles, and there seems no reason for
supposing this to be an exaggeration, while the income arising
therefrom was probably not less than $1,500,000 a year. The land lay in
many places — Campania, Africa, Sicily, and elsewhere — and, as their
landlord, Gregory displayed a skill in finance and estate management
which excites our admiration no less than it did the surprise of his
tenants and agents, who suddenly found that they had a new master who
was not to be deceived or cheated.
The management of each patrimony was carried out by a number
of agents
of varying grades and duties under an official called the rector or
defensor of the patrimony. Previously the rectors had usually been
laymen, but Gregory established the custom of appointing ecclesiastics
to the post. In doing this he probably had in view the many extra
duties of an ecclesiastical nature which he called upon them to
undertake. Thus examples may be found of such rectors being
commissioned to undertake the filling up of vacant sees, holding of
local synods, taking action against heretics, providing for the
maintenance of churches and monasteries, rectifying abuses in the
churches of their district, with the enforcing of ecclesiastical
discipline and even the reproof and correction of local bishops. Still
Gregory never allowed the rectors to interfere in such matters on their
own responsibility.
In the minutiae of estate management nothing was too small
for
Gregory's personal notice, from the exact number of sextarii in a
modius of corn, or how many solidi went to one golden pound, to the use
of false weights by certain minor agents. He finds time to write
instructions on every detail and leaves no complaint unattended to,
even from the humblest of his multitude of tenants. Throughout the
large number of letters which deal with the management of the
patrimony, the pope's determination to secure a scrupulously righteous
administration is evident. As bishop, he is the trustee of God and St.
Peter, and his agents must show that they realize this by their
conduct. Consequently, under his able management the estates of the
Church increased steadily in value, the tenants were contented, and the
revenues paid in with unprecedented regularity.
The only fault ever laid at his door in this matter is that,
by his
boundless charities, he emptied his treasury. But this, if a fault at
all, was a natural consequence of his view that he was the
administrator of the property of the poor, for whom he could never do
enough.
(2) Relations with the
Suburbicarian Churches
As patriarchs of the West the popes exercise a special
jurisdiction
over and above their universal primacy as successors of St. Peter; and
among Western churches, this jurisdiction extends in a most intimate
manner over the churches of Italy and the isles adjacent.
On the mainland much of this territory was in the hands of
the
Lombards, with whose Arian clergy Gregory was, of course, not in
communion. Whenever opportunity offered, however, he was careful to
provide for the needs of the faithful in these parts, frequently
uniting them to some neighboring diocese, when they were too few to
occupy the energies of a bishop.
On the islands, of which Sicily was by far the most
important, the
pre-existing church system was maintained. Gregory appointed a vicar,
usually the metropolitan of the province, who exercised a general
supervision over the whole church. He also insisted strongly on the
holding of local synods as ordered by the Council of Nicaea, and
letters of his exist addressed to bishops in Sicily, Sardinia, and Gaul
reminding them of their duties in this respect.
The supreme instance of Gregory's intervention in the
affairs of these
dioceses occurs in the case of Sardinia, where the behaviour of
Januarius the half-witted, aged Metropolitan of Cagliari, had reduced
the church to a state of semi-chaos.
A large number of letters relate to the reforms instituted
by the pope
(Epp., II, xlvii; III, xxxvi; IV, ix,xxiii-xxvii, xxix; V, ii; IX, i,
xi, ccii-cciv; XIV, ii). His care over the election of a new bishop
whenever a vacancy occurs is shown in many cases, and if, after his
examination of the elect, which is always a searching one, he finds him
unfitted for the post, he has no hesitation in rejecting him and
commanding another to be chosen (Epp., I, lv, lvi; VII, xxxviii; X,
vii).
With regard to discipline the pope was specially strict in
enforcing
the Church's laws as to the celibacy of the clergy (Epp., I, xlii, 1;
IV. v, xxvi, xxxiv; VII, i; IX, cx, ccxviii; X, xix; XI, lvi a; XIII,
xxxviii, xxxix); the exemption of clerics from lay tribunals (Epp., I,
xxxix a; VI, xi, IX, liii, lxxvi, lxxix; X, iv; XI, xxxii; XIII, 1);
and the deprivation of all ecclesiastics guilty of criminal or
scandalous offences (Epp., I, xviii, xlii; III, xlix; IV, xxvi; V, v,
xvii, xviii; VII, xxxix; VIII, xxiv; IX, xxv; XII, iii, x, xi; XIV,
ii). He was also inflexible with regard to the proper application of
church revenues, insisting that others should be as strict as he was in
disposing of these funds for their proper ends (Epp., I, x, lxiv; II,
xx-xxii; III, xxii; IV, xi; V, xii, xlviii; VIII, vii; XI, xxii, lvi a;
XIII, xlvi; XIV, ii).
(3) Relations with Other
Churches
With regard to the other Western Churches limits of space
prevent any
detailed account of Gregory's dealings, but the following quotation,
all the more valuable as coming from a Protestant authority, indicates
very clearly the line he followed herein:
"In his dealings with the Churches of the West, Gregory
acted
invariably on the assumption that all were subject to the jurisdiction
of the Roman See. Of the rights claimed or exercised by his
predecessors he would not abate one tittle; on the contrary, he did
everything in his power to maintain, strengthen, and extend what he
regarded as the just prerogatives of the papacy. It is true that he
respected the privileges of the Western metropolitans, and disapproved
of unnecessary interference within the sphere of their jurisdiction
canonically exercised... But of his general principle there can be
no doubt whatever" (Dudden, I, 475).
In view of later developments Gregory's dealings with the
Oriental
Churches, and with Constantinople in particular, have a special
importance. There cannot be the smallest doubt that Gregory claimed for
the Apostolic See, and for himself as pope, a primacy not of honor, but
of supreme authority over the Church Universal. In Epp., XIII, l, he
speaks of "the Apostolic See, which is the head of all Churches", and
in Epp., V, cliv, he says: "I, albeit unworthy, have been set up in
command of the Church." As successor of St. Peter, the pope had
received from God a primacy over all Churches (Epp., II, xlvi; III,
xxx; V, xxxvii; VII, xxxvii). His approval it was which gave force to
the decrees of councils or synods (Epp., IX, clvi), and his authority
could annul them (Epp., V, xxxix, xli, xliv). To him appeals might be
made even against other patriarchs, and by him bishops were judged and
corrected if need were (Epp., II, l; III, lii, lxiii; IX, xxvi, xxvii).
This position naturally made it impossible for him to permit
the use of
the title Ecumenical Bishop assumed by the Patriarch of Constantinople,
John the Faster, at a synod held in 588. Gregory protested, and a long
controversy followed, the question still at issue when the pope died. A
discussion of this controversy is needless here, but it is important as
showing how completely Gregory regarded the Eastern patriarchs as being
subject to himself; "As regards the Church of Constantinople," he
writes in Epp., IX, xxvi, "who can doubt that it is subject to the
Apostolic See? Why, both our most religious lord the emperor, and our
brother the Bishop of Constantinople continually acknowledge it."
At the same time the pope was most careful not to interfere
with the
canonical rights of the other patriarchs and bishops. With the other
Oriental patriarchs his relations were most cordial, as appears from
his letters to the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria.
(4) Relations with the Lombards and the Franks
Gregory's consecration as pope preceded by a few days only
the death of
Authari, King of the Lombards, whose queen, the famous Theodelinde,
then married Agilulf, Duke of Turin, a warlike and energetic prince.
With Agilulf and the Dukes Ariulf of Spoleto and Arichis of Benevento,
Gregory soon had to deal, as, when difficulties arose, Romanus, the
exarch, or representative, of the emperor, preferred to remain in sulky
inactivity at Ravenna.
It soon became clear that,
if any successful resistance was to be made
against the Lombards, it must be by the pope's own exertions. How
keenly he felt the difficulty and danger of his position appears in
some of the earliest letters (Epp., I, iii, viii, xxx); but no actual
hostilities began till the summer of 592, when the pope received a
threatening letter from Ariulf of Spoleto, which was followed almost
immediately by the appearance of that chief before the walls of Rome.
At the same time Arichis of Benevento advanced on Naples, which
happened at the moment to have no bishop nor any officer of high rank
in command of the garrison. Gregory at once took the surprising step of
appointing a tribune on his own authority to take command of the city
(Epp., II, xxxiv), and, when no notice of this strong action was taken
by the imperial authorities, the pope conceived the idea of himself
arranging a separate peace with the Lombards (Epp., II, xlv). No
details of this peace have come down to us, but it seems certain that
it was actually concluded (Epp., V, xxxvi). Dr. Hodgkin (Italy and her
Invaders, v, 366) pronounces Gregory's action herein to have been wise
and statesmanlike, but, at the same time, undoubtedly ultra vires,
being quite beyond any legal competency then possessed by the pope, who
thus "made a memorable stride towards complete independence".
Gregory's independent action had the effect of rousing up
Romanus the
exarch. Wholly ignoring the papal peace, he gathered all his troops,
attacked and regained Perugia, and then marched to Rome, where he was
received with imperial honours. The next spring, however, he quitted
the city and took away its garrison with him, so that both pope and
citizens were now more exasperated against him than before. Moreover,
the exarch's campaign had roused the Northern Lombards, and King
Agilulf marched on Rome, arriving there probably some time in June,
593. The terror aroused by his advance is still mirrored for us in
Gregory's homilies on the Prophet Ezechiel, which were delivered at
this time. The siege of the city was soon abandoned, however, and
Agilulf retired. The continuator of Prosper (Mon. Germ. SS. Antiq., IX,
339) relates that Agilulf met the pope in person on the steps of the
Basilica of St. Peter, which was then outside the city walls, and
"being melted by Gregory's prayers and greatly moved by the wisdom and
religious gravity of this great man, he broke up the siege of the
city"; but, in view of the silence both of Gregory himself and of Paul
the Deacon on the point, the story seems scarcely probable. In Epp., V,
xxxix, Gregory refers to himself as "the paymaster of the Lombards",
and most likely a large payment from the papal treasury was the chief
inducement to raise the siege.
The pope's great desire now was to secure a lasting peace
with the
Lombards, which could only be achieved by a proper arrangement between
the imperial authorities and the Lombard chiefs. On Queen Theodelinde,
a Catholic and a personal friend, Gregory placed all his hopes. The
exarch, however, looked at the whole affair in another light, and, when
a whole year was passed in fruitless negotiations, Gregory began once
again to mediate a private treaty. Accordingly, in May, 595, the pope
wrote to a friend at Ravenna a letter (Epp., V, xxxiv) threatening to
make peace with Agilulf even without the consent of the Exarch Romanus.
This threat was speedily reported to Constantinople, where the exarch
was in high favour, and the Emperor Maurice at once sent off to Gregory
a violent letter, now lost, accusing him of being both a traitor and a
fool. This letter Gregory received in June, 595. Luckily, the pope's
answer has been preserved to us (Epp., V, xxxvi). It must be read in
its entirety to be appreciated fully; probably very few emperors, if
any, have ever received such a letter from a subject. Still, in spite
of his scathing reply, Gregory seems to have realized that independent
action could not secure what he wished, and we hear no more about a
separate peace.
Gregory's relations with
the Exarch Romanus became continually more and
more strained until the latter's death in the year 596 or early in 597.
The new exarch, Callinicus, was a man of far greater ability and well
disposed towards the pope, whose hopes now revived. The official peace
negotiations were pushed on, and, in spite of delays, the articles were
at length signed in 599, to Gregory's great joy. This peace lasted two
years, but in 601 the war broke out again through an aggressive act on
the part of Callinicus, who was recalled two years later, when his
successor, Smaragdus, again made a peace with the Lombards which
endured until after Gregory's death.
Two points stand out for special notice in Gregory's
dealings with the
Lombards: first, his determination that, in spite of the apathy of the
imperial authorities, Rome should not pass into the hands of some
half-civilized Lombard duke and so sink into insignificance and decay;
second, his independent action in appointing governors to cities,
providing munitions of war, giving instructions to generals, sending
ambassadors to the Lombard king, and even negotiating a peace without
the exarch's aid. Whatever the theory may have been, there is no doubt
about the fact that, besides his spiritual jurisdiction, Gregory
actually exercised no small amount of temporal power.
Of Gregory's relations with the Franks there is no need to
write at
length, as the intercourse he established with the Frankish kings
practically lapsed at his death, and was not renewed for about a
hundred years. On the other hand he exercised a great influence on
Frankish monasticism, which he did much to strengthen and reshape, so
that the work done by the monasteries in civilizing the wild Franks may
be attributed ultimately to the first monk-pope.
(5) Relations with the Imperial Government
The reign of Gregory the Great marks an epoch in papal
history, and
this is specially the case in respect to his attitude towards the
imperial Government centered at Constantinople. Gregory seems to have
looked upon Church and State as co-operating to form a united whole,
which acted in two distinct spheres, ecclesiastical and secular. Over
this commonwealth were the pope and the emperor, each supreme in his
own department, care being taken to keep these as far as possible
distinct and independent.
The latter point was the difficulty. Gregory definitely held
that it
was a duty of the secular ruler to protect the Church and preserve the
"peace of the faith" (Mor., XXXI, viii), and so he is often found to
call in the aid of the secular arm, not merely to suppress schism,
heresy, or idolatry, but even to enforce discipline among monks and
clergy (Epp., I, lxxii; II, xxix; III, lix; IV, vii, xxxii; V, xxxii;
VIII, iv; XI, xii, xxxvii; XIII, xxxvi). If the emperor interfered in
church matters the pope's policy was to acquiesce if possible, unless
obedience was sinful, according to the principle laid down in Epp. XI,
xxix; "Quod ipse [se imperator] fecerit, si canonicum est, sequimur; si
vero canonicum non est, in quantum sine peccato nostro, portamus." In
taking this line Gregory was undoubtedly influenced by his deep
reverence for the emperor, whom he regarded as the representative of
God in all things secular, and must still be treated with all possible
respect, even when he encroached on the borders of the papal authority.
On his side, although he
certainly regarded himself as "superior in
place and rank" to the exarch (Epp., II, xiv), Gregory objected
strongly to the interference of ecclesiastical authorities in matters
secular. As supreme guardian of Christian justice, the pope was always
ready to intercede for, or protect anyone who suffered unjust treatment
(Epp., I, xxxv, xxxvi, xlvii, lix; III, v; V, xxxviii; IX, iv, xlvi,
lv, cxiii, clxxxii; XI, iv), but at the same time he used the utmost
tact in approaching the imperial officials. In Epp., I, xxxix a, he
explains for the benefit of his Sicilian agent the precise attitude to
be adopted in such matters.
Still, in conjunction with all this deference, Gregory
retained a
spirit of independence which enabled him, when he considered it
necessary, to address even the emperor in terms of startling
directness. Space makes it impossible to do more than refer to the
famous letters to the Emperor Phocas on his usurpation and the
allusions in them to the murdered Emperor Maurice (Epp., XIII, xxxiv,
xli, xlii). Every kind of judgement has been passed upon Gregory for
writing these letters, but the question remains a difficult one.
Probably the pope's conduct herein was due to two things: first, his
ignorance of the way in which Phocus had reached the throne; and
second, his view that the emperor was God's representative on earth,
and therefore deserving of all possible respect in his official
capacity, his personal character not coming into the question at all.
It should be noted, also, that he avoids any direct flattery towards
the new emperor, merely using the exaggerated phrases of respect then
customary, and expressing the high hopes he entertains of the new
regime. Moreover, his allusions to Maurice refer to the sufferings of
the people under his government, and do not reflect on the dead emperor
himself.
Had the empire been sound instead of in a hopelessly rotten
state when
Gregory became pope, it is hard to say how his views might have worked
out in practice. As it was, his line of strong independence, his
efficiency, and his courage carried all before them, and when he died
there was no longer any question as to who was the first power in
Italy.
(6) Missionary Work
Gregory's zeal for the conversion of the heathen, and in
particular of
the Angles, has been mentioned already, and there is no need to dwell
at length on the latter subject, as it has been fully treated under
SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY. In justice to the great pope, however,
it must be added that he lost no opportunity for the exercise of his
missionary zeal, making every effort to root out paganism in Gaul,
Donatism in Africa, and the Schism of the Three Chapters in North Italy
and Istria.
In his treatment of heretics, schismatics, and pagans his
method was to
try every means — persuasions, exhortations, threats — before resorting
to force; but, if gentler treatment failed, he had no hesitation in
accordance with the ideas of his age, in resorting to compulsion, and
invoking the aid of the secular arm therein. It is curious, therefore,
to find him acting as a champion and protector of the Jews. In Epp., I,
xiv, he expressly deprecates the compulsory baptism of Jews, and many
instances appear in which he insists on their right to liberty of
action, so far as the law permitted, both in civil affairs and in the
worship of the synagogue (Epp., I, xxxiv; II, vi; VIII, xxv; IX,
xxxviii, cxcv; XIII, xv). He was equally strong, however, in preventing
the Jews from exceeding the rights granted to them by the imperial law,
especially with regard to the ownership by them of Christian slaves
(Epp., II, vi; III, xxxvii; IV, ix, xxi; VI, xxix; VII, xxi; VIII, xxi;
IX, civ, ccxiii, ccxv). We shall probably be right, therefore, in
attributing Gregory's protection of the Jews to his respect for law and
justice, rather than to any ideas of toleration differing from those
current at the time.
(7) Gregory and Monasticism
Although the first monk to become pope, Gregory was in no
sense an
original contributor to monastic ideals or practice. He took
monasticism as he found it established by St. Benedict, and his efforts
and influence were given to strengthening and enforcing the
prescriptions of that greatest of monastic legislators. His position
did indeed tend to modify St. Benedict's work by drawing it into a
closer connection with the organization with the organization of the
Church, and with the papacy in particular, but this was not
deliberately aimed at by Gregory. Rather he was himself convinced that
the monastic system had a very special value for the Church, and so he
did everything in his power to diffuse and propagate it. His own
property was consecrated to this end, he urged many wealthy people to
establish or support monasteries, and he used the revenues of the
patrimony for the same purpose.
He was relentless in correcting abuses and enforcing
discipline, the
letters on such matters being far too numerous for mention here, and
the points on which he insists most are precisely those, such as
stability and poverty, on which St. Benedict's recent legislation had
laid special stress. Twice only do we find anything like direct
legislation by the pope. The first point is that of the age at which a
nun might be made abbess, which he fixes at "not less than sixty years"
(Epp., IV, xi),. The second is his lengthening of the period of
novitiate. St. Benedict had prescribed at least one year (Reg. Ben.,
lviii); Gregory (Epp., X, ix) orders two years, with special
precautions in the case of slaves who wished to become monks.
More important was his
line of action in the difficult question of the
relation between monks and their bishop. There is plenty of evidence to
show that many bishops took advantage of their position to oppress and
burden the monasteries in their diocese, with the result that the monks
appealed to the pope for protection. Gregory, while always upholding
the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishop, was firm in support of the
monks against any illegal aggression. All attempts on the part of a
bishop to assume new powers over the monks in his diocese were
condemned, while at times the pope issued documents, called Privilegia,
in which he definitely set forth certain points on which the monks were
exempt from episcopal control (Epp., V, xlix; VII, xii; VIII, xvii;
XII, xi, xii, xiii). This action on Gregory's part undoubtedly began
the long progress by which the monastic bodies have come to be under
the direct control of the Holy See.
It should be mentioned that in Gregory's day the current
view was that
ecclesiastical work, such as the cure of souls, preaching,
administering the sacraments, etc., was not compatible with the
monastic state, and in this view the pope concurred. On the other hand
a passage in Epp., XII, iv, where he directs that a certain layman
"should be tonsured either as a monk or a subdeacon", would suggest
that the pope held the monastic state as in some way equivalent to the
ecclesiastical; for his ultimate intention in this case was to promote
the layman in question to the episcopate.
(8) Death, Canonization, Relics, Emblem
The last years of Gregory's life were filled with every kind
of
suffering. His mind, naturally serious, was filled with despondent
forebodings, and his continued bodily pains were increased and
intensified. His "sole consolation was the hope that death would come
quickly" (Epp., XIII, xxvi). The end came on 12 March, 604, and on the
same day his body was laid to rest in front of the sacristy in the
portico of St. Peter's Basilica. Since then the relics have been moved
several times, the most recent translation being that by Paul V in
1606, when they were placed in the chapel of Clement V near the
entrance of the modern sacristy. There is some evidence that the body
was taken to Soissons in France in the year 826, but probably only some
large relic is meant.
Venerable Bede (Hist. Eccl., II, i) gives the epitaph placed
on his
tomb which contains the famous phrase referring to Gregory as consul
Dei. His canonization by popular acclamation followed at once on his
death, and survived a reaction against his memory which seems to have
occurred soon afterwards.
In art the great pope is
usually shown in full pontifical robes with
the tiara and double cross. A dove is his special emblem, in allusion
to the well-known story recorded by Peter the Deacon (Vita, xxviii),
who tells that when the pope was dictating his homilies on Ezechiel a
veil was drawn between his secretary and himself. As, however, the pope
remained silent for long periods at a time, the servant made a hole in
the curtain and, looking through, beheld a dove seated upon Gregory's
head with its beak between his lips. When the dove withdrew its beak
the holy pontiff spoke and the secretary took down his words; but when
he became silent the servant again applied his eye to the hole and saw
the dove had replaced its beak between his lips. The miracles
attributed to Gregory are very many, but space forbids even the barest
catalogue of them.
(9) Conclusion
It is beyond the scope of this notice to attempt any
elaborate estimate
of the work, influence, and character of Pope Gregory the Great, but
some short focusing of the features given above is only just.
First of all, perhaps, it will be best to clear the ground
by admitting
frankly what Gregory was not. He was not a man of profound learning,
not a philosopher, not a conversationalist, hardly even a theologian in
the constructive sense of the term. He was a trained Roman lawyer and
administrator, a monk, a missionary, a preacher, above all a physician
of souls and a leader of men. His great claim to remembrance lies in
the fact that he is the real father of the medieval papacy (Milman).
With regard to things spiritual, he impressed upon men's
minds to a
degree unprecedented the fact that the See of Peter was the one
supreme, decisive authority in the Catholic Church. During his
pontificate, he established close relations between the Church of Rome
and those of Spain, Gaul, Africa, and Illyricum, while his influence in
Britain was such that he is justly called the Apostle of the English.
In the Eastern Churches, too, the papal authority was exercised with a
frequency unusual before his time, and we find no less an authority
than the Patriarch of Alexandria submitting himself humbly to the
pope's "commands". The system of appeals to Rome was firmly
established, and the pope is found to veto or confirm the decrees of
synods, to annul the decisions of patriarchs, and inflict punishment on
ecclesiastical dignitaries precisely as he thinks right.
Nor is his work less noteworthy in its effect on the
temporal position
of the papacy. Seizing the opportunity which circumstances offered, he
made himself in Italy a power stronger than emperor or exarch, and
established a political influence which dominated the peninsula for
centuries. From this time forth the varied populations of Italy looked
to the pope for guidance, and Rome as the papal capital continued to be
the centre of the Christian world.
Gregory's work as a
theologian and Doctor of the Church is less
notable. In the history of dogmatic development he is important as
summing up the teaching of the earlier Fathers and consolidating it
into a harmonious whole, rather than as introducing new developments,
new methods, new solutions of difficult questions. It was precisely
because of this that his writings became to a great extent the
compendium theologiae or textbook of the Middle Ages, a position for
which his work in popularizing his great predecessors fitted him well.
Achievements so varied have won for Gregory the title of "the Great",
but perhaps, among our English-speaking races, he is honoured most of
all as the pope who loved the bright-faced Angles, and taught them
first to sing the Angels' song.
HIS WRITINGS
Genuine, Doubtful, Spurious
Of the writings commonly attributed to Gregory the following
are now
admitted as genuine on all hands: "Moralium Libri XXXV"; "Regulae
Pastoralis Liber"; "Dialogorum Libri IV"; "Homiliarum in Ezechielem
Prophetam Libri II"; "Homiliarum in Evangelia Libri II"; "Epistolarum
Libri XIV". The following are almost certainly spurious: "In Librum
Primum Regum Variarum Expositionum Libri VI"; "expositio super Cantica
Canticorum"; "Expositio in VII Psalmos Poenitentiales"; "Concordia
Quorundam Testimoniorum S. Scripturae". Besides the above there are
attributed to Gregory certain liturgical hymns, the Gregorian
Sacramentary, and the Antiphonary. (See ANTIPHONARY; SACRAMENTARY.)
Works of Gregory; complete or partial editions;
translations,
recensions, etc.
"Opera S. Gregorii Magni" (Editio princeps, Paris, 1518);
ed. P.
Tossianensis (6 vols., Rome, 1588-03); ed. P. Goussainville (3 vols.,
Paris, 1675); ed. Cong. S. Mauri (Sainte-Marthe) (4 vols., Paris,
1705); the last-named re-edited with additions by J. B. Gallicioli (17
vols., Venice, 1768-76) and reprinted in Migne, P.L., LXXV-LXXIX.
"Epistolae", ed. P. Ewald and L. M. Hartmann in "Mon. Germ. Hist.:
Epist.", I, II (Berlin, 1891-99); this is the authoritative edition of
the text of the Epistles (all references given above are to this
edition); Jaffe, "Regesta Pontif," (2nd ed., Rome, 1885), I, 143-219;
II, 738; Turchi, "S. Greg. M. Epp. Selectae" (Rome, 1907); P. Ewald,
"Studien zur Ausgabe des Registers Gregors I." in "Neues Archiv", III,
433-625; L.M. Hartmann in "Neues Archiv", XV, 411, 529; XVII, 493; Th.
Mommsen in "Neues Archiv", XVII, 189; English translation: J. Barmby,
"Selected Epistles" in "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers", 2nd Series,
XII, XIII (Oxford and New York, 1895, 1898), "Regula Pastoralis Curae",
ed. E. W. Westhoff (Munster, 1860); ed. H. Hurter, S.J., in "SS. Patr.
Opuse. Select.", XX; ed. A.M. Micheletti (Tournai, 1904); ed. B. Sauter
(Freiburg, 1904); English translations: "King Alfred's West Saxon
Version of Gregory's Pastoral Care", ed. H. Sweet (London, 1871); "The
Book of Pastoral Care" (tr. J. Barmby) in "Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers", 2nd Series, XII (Oxford and New York, 1895). "Dialogorum
Libri IV": very many editions of the whole work have appeared, and also
of Bk. II, "Of the Life and Miracles of St. Benedict", separately; an
old English translation has been reprinted by H. Coleridge, S.J.,
(London, 1874); L. Wiese, "Die Sprache der Dialoge" (Halle, 1900); H.
Delehaye, "S. Gregoirele Grand dans Phagiographie Grecque" in "Analecta
Bolland." (1904), 449-54; B. Sauter, "Der heilige Vater Benediktus nach
St. Gregor dem Grossen" (Freiburg, 1904). "Hom. XL in Evangelia", ed.
H. Hurter in "SS. Patrum Opusc. Select.", series II, Tom. VI
(Innsbruck, 1892). G. Pfeilschifter Gregors der Gr." (Munich, 1900).
"Magna Moralia", Eng. tr. in "Library of the Fathers" (4 vols., Oxford,
1844); Prunner, "Gnade und Sunde nach Gregors expositio in Job"
(Eichstätt, 1855).
Publication information
Written by G. Roger Huddleston. Transcribed by Janet van
Heyst.
Dedicated to the Cistercian Fathers from the University of Dallas
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VI. Published 1909. New
York: Robert
Appleton Company. Nihil Obstat, September 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, Censor.
Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Bibliography
CHIEF SOURCES.—First of all come the writings of Gregory
himself, of
which a full account is given above, the most important from a
biographical point of view being the fourteen books of his Letters and
the four books of Dialogues. The other early authorities are ST.
GREGORY OF TOURS (d. 594 or 595), Historia Francorum, Bk. X, and the
Liber Pontificalis, both practically contemporary. To the seventh
century belong ST. ISIDORE OF SEVILLE. De Viris Illustribus, XL, and
ST. ILDEPHONSUS OF TOLEDO, De Viris Illustribus, I. Next come the Vita
Antiquissima, by an anonymous monk of Whitby, written probably about
713, and of special interest as representing an essentially English
tradition in regard to the saint; THE VEN. BEDE, Hist. Eccles., II,
whose work was finished in 731; PAUL THE DEACON, who compiled a short
Vita Gregorii Magni between 770 and 780, which may be supplemented from
the same writers more famous work Historia Longobardorum; lastly JOHN
THE DEACON, who, at the request of John VIII (872-882), produced his
Vita Gregorii in answer to the complaint that no history of the saint
had yet been produced in Rome. Besides these direct authorities
considerable light on the period of St. Gregory's life may be gathered
from the works of various contemporary chroniclers and historians.
WORKS ON GREGORY. — (1) General. — GREGORY OF TOURS,
Historia
Francorum, X, i, in P.L., LXXI; the best edition of this is by ARNDT
AND KRUSCH in Mon. Germ. Hist.; Script. Rerum Meroving., I; Liber
Pontificatis, ed. DUCHESNE (Paris, 1884), I, 312; ISIDORE OF SEVILLE,
De Vir. Illustr., I, ibid.,XCVII; Vita It. Papae Gregorii M. (MS>
Gallen, 567), written by a monk of Whitby, ed. GASQUET (Westminster,
1904): see also on same work EWALD, Die alteste Biographie Gregors I in
Historische Aufsatze dem Andenken an G. Waitz gewidmet (Hanover,1886),
17-54; VEN. BEDE, Hist. Eccles., I, xxiii-xxxiii; II, i-iii; V, xxv; in
P. L., XCV; PAUL THE DEACON, Vita Gregorii M. in P.L.,LXXV; IDEM, De
Gestis Longobard., III, 24; IV, 5; In P.L., XCV; JOHN THE DEACON, Vita
Gregorii M., ibid., LXXV; Acta SS., 12 March; VAN DEN ZYPE, S.
Gregorius Magnus (Ypres, 1610); SAINTE_MARTHE, Histoire de S. Gregoire
(Rouen, 1677); MAIMBOURG, Histoire du pontificat de S. Gregoire (Paris,
1687); BONUCCI, Istoria del B. Gregorio (Rome, 1711); WIETROWSKY, Hist.
de gestis praecipuis in pontificatu S. Gregorii M. (Prague, 1726-30);
POZZO, Istoria della vita di S. Gregorio M. (Rome, 1758); MARGGRAF, De
Gregorii I. M. Vita (Berlin, 1844); BIANCHI-GIOVINI, Pontificato di S.
Gregorio (Milan, 1844); LAU, Gregor I, der Grosse (Leipzig, 1845);
PFAHLER, Gregor der Grosse (Frankfort, 1852); LUZARCHE, Vie du Pape
Gregoire le Grand (Tours, 1857); ROMALTE, Vie de S. Gregoire (Limoges,
1862); PAGNON, Gregoire le Grand et son epoque (Rouen, 1869); BELMONTE,
Gregorio M. e il suo tempo (Florence, 1871); BOHRINGER, Die Vater des
Papsiiums, Leo I und Gregor I (Stuttgart, 1879): MAGGIO, Prolegomeni
alla storia di Gregorio il Grande (Prato, 1879); BARMBY, Gregory the
Great (London, 1879; reissue, 1892); CLAUSIER, S. Gregoire (Paris,
1886); BOUSMANN, Gregor I, der Grosse (Paderborn, 1890); WOLFSGRUBER,
Gregor der Grosse (Saulgau, 1890); SNOW, St. Gregory, his Work and his
Spirit (London, 1892); GRISAR, Roma alta fine del mondo antico (Rome,
1899), Pt. III; IDEM, San Gregorio Magno (Rome, 1904); DUDDEN, Gregory
the Great, his Place in History and in Thought (2 vols.,London, 1905);
CAPELLO, Gregorio I e il suo pontificuto (Saluzzo, 1904); CEILLIER,
Histoire general des auteurs ecclesiastique, XI, 420-587; MILMAN,
History of Latin Christianity, Bk. III, vii; MONTALEMBERT, Monks of the
West, tr. Bk. v; GREGOROVIUS, Rome in the Middle Ages, tr., II, 16-103;
HODGKIN, Italy and her Invaders, V, vii-ix; GATTA, Un parallelo storico
(Marco Aurelio, Gregorio Magno) (Milan, 1901); MANN, Lives of the Popes
in the Early Middle Ages (London, 1902), I, 1-250.
(2) Special. (a) The Patrimony. — ORSI, Della
origine del dominio
temporate e della sovranita del Rom. Pontif. (2nd ed., Rome, 1754);
BORGIA, Istoria del dominio temporale della Sede Apostolica nelle due
Sicilie (Rome, 1789); MUZZARELLI, Dominio temporale del Papa (Rome,
1789); SUGENHEIM, Gesch. der Entstehung und Ausbildung des
Kirchenstaates (Leipzig, 1854); SCHARPFF, Die Entstchung des
Kirchenstaates (Freiburg im Br., 1860); GRISAR, Ein Rundgang durch die
Patrimonien des hl. Stuhls i, J. 600, in Zeitschr, Kuth, Theol., I,
321; SCHWARZLOSE, Die Patrimonien d. rom. K. (Berlin, 1887); MOMMSEN,
Die Bewirtschaftung der Kirchenguter unter Papst Gregor I, in Zeitsch,
f. Socialund, Wirtschaftsgesch., I, 43; DOIZE, Deux etudes sur
l'administration temporelle du Pape Gregoire le Grand (Paris, 1904).
(b) Primacy and Relations with other Churches. — PFAFF, Dissertatio de
titulo l'atriarchoe (Ecumenici (Tübingen, 1735); ORTLIEB, Essai
sur le systeme eccles, de Gregoire le Grand (Strasburg, 1872); PINGAUD,
La politique de S. Gregoire (Paris, 1872); LORENZ, Papstwahl und
Kaisertum (Berlin, 1874), 23; CRIVELLUCCI, Storia della relazioni tra
lo Stato e la Chiesa (Bologna, 1885), II, 301; GORRES, Papsi Gregor der
Grosse und Kaiser Phocas in Zeitsche, fur wissenschaftliche Theol.,
CLIV, 592-602. (c) Relations with Lombards and Franks. — BERNARDI, I
Longobardi e S. Gregorio M. (Milan, 1843); Troya, Storia d'Italia del
medio evo, IV: Codice diplomatico longobardo dal 568 al 774 (Naples,
1852); DIEHL, Etudes sur l'administration byzantine dans l'Exarchat de
Ravenne (Paris, 1888); HARTMANN, Unters, z. Gesch. d. byzant,
Verwaltung in Italien (Leipzig, 1889); LAMPE, Qui fuerint Gregorii M.
p. temporibus in imperii byzantini parte occident, exarchi (Berlin,
1892); PERRY, The Franks (London, 1857); KELLERT, Pope Gregory the
Great and his Relations with Gaul (Cambridge, 1889); GRISAR, Rom. u. d.
frankische Kirche vorneehmlich im 6. Jahr. in Zeitschr. kath. Theol.,
14. (d) Monasticism and Missionary Work. — MABILLON, Dissertatio de
monastica vita Gregorii Papoe (Paris, 1676); BUTLER, Was St. Augustine
of Canterbury a Benedictine? in Downside Review, III, 45-61, 223-240;
GRUTZMACHER, Die Bedeutung Benedikts von Nursia und seiner Regel in der
Gesch. des Monchtums (Berlin, 1892); CUTTS, Augustine of Canterbury
(London, 1895); GRAY, The Origin and Early History of Christianity in
Britain (London, 1897); BRIGHT, Chapters on Early English Church
History (Oxford, 1897); BENEDETTI, S. Gregorio Magno e la schiavitu
(Rome, 1904). (e) Writings. — ALZOO, Lehrb. der Patrologie (Freiburg im
Br., 1876); HARNACK, Lehrb. der Dogmengeschichte, III (Freiburg im Br.,
1890); LOOFS, Leits. zum Studium der Dogmengeschichte (Halle, 1893);
SEEBERG, Lehrb. der Dogmengeschichte, II (Leipzig, 1898); BARDENHEWER,
Patrology, tr. SHAHAN (Freiburg im Br., 1908).
|
St. Boniface IV
608-615 25 May converted Pantheon into a Christian
Church, the temple by Agrippa to Jupiter the Avenger, to Venus, and
to Mars consecrated by the pope to the Virgin Mary and all the
Martyrs. (Hence the title S. Maria Rotunda.) the first instance
at Rome of a pagan temple into a place of
Christian worship.
Son of John, a physician, a Marsian from the province and
town of Valeria; he succeeded Boniface III after a vacancy of over nine
months; consecrated 25 August, 608; d. 8 May, 615 (Duchesne); or, 15
September, 608-25 May, 615 (Jaffé).
In the time of Pope St. Gregory the Great he was a deacon
of the Roman Church and held the position of dispensator, i.e., the
first official in connexion with the administration of the patrimonies.
Boniface obtained leave from the Emperor Phocas to convert the Pantheon
into a Christian Church, and on 13 May, 609 (?) the temple erected by
Agrippa to Jupiter the Avenger, to Venus, and to Mars was consecrated
by the pope to the Virgin Mary and all the Martyrs. (Hence the title S.
Maria Rotunda.) It was the first instance at Rome of the transformation
of a pagan temple into a place of Christian worship. Twenty-eight
cartloads of sacred bones were said to have been removed from the
Catacombs and placed in a porphyry basin beneath the high altar. During
the pontificate of Boniface, Mellitus, the first Bishop of London, went
to Rome "to consult the pope on important matters relative to the newly
established English Church" (Bede, H. E., II, iv). Whilst in Rome he
assisted at a council then being held concerning certain questions on
"the life and monastic peace of monks", and, on his departure, took
with him to England the decree of the council together with letters
from the pope to Lawrence, Archbishop of Canterbury, and to all the
clergy, to King Ethelbert, and to all the English people "concerning
what was to be observed by the Church of England". The decrees of the
council now extant are spurious. The letter to Ethelbert (in William of
Malmesbury, De Gest. Pont., I, 1464, ed Migne) is considered spurious
by Hefele (Conciliengeschichte, III, 66), questionable by Haddan and
Stubbs (Councils, III, 65), and genuine by Jaffé [Regest. RR.
PP., 1988 (1548)].
Between 612-615, St. Columban, then living at Bobbio in
Italy, was persuaded by Agilulf, King of the Lombards, to address a
letter on the condemnation of the "Three Chapters" to Boniface IV,
which is remarkable at once for its expressions of exaggerated
deference and its tone of excessive sharpness. In it he tells the pope
that he is charged with heresy (for accepting the Fifth Council, i.e.
Constantinople, 553), and exhorts him to summon a council and prove his
orthodoxy. But the letter of the impetuous Celt, who failed to grasp
the import of the theological problem involved in the "Three Chapters",
seems not to have disturbed in the least his relation with the Holy
See, and it would be wrong to suppose that Columban regarded himself as
independent of the pope's authority. During the pontificate of Boniface
there was much distress in Rome owing to famine, pestilence, and
inundations. The pontiff died in monastic retirement (he had converted
his own house into a monastery) and was buried in the portico of St.
Peter's. His remains were three times removed in the tenth or eleventh
century, at the close of the thirteenth under Boniface VIII, and to the
new St. Peter's on 21 October, 1603. For the earlier inscription on his
tomb see Duchesne; for the later, Groisar, "Analecta Romana", I, 193.
Boniface IV is commemorated as a saint in the Roman Martyrology on 25
May.
Bibliography; Liber Pontificalis (ed.DUCHESNE), I, 317; JAFFÉ,
Regesta RR. PP. (2nd ed.), I, 220; Acta et Epistolæ in MANSI, X,
501; PAUL THE DEACON, Hist. Longobard., IV, 36 (37); GASQUET, A Short
History of the Catholic Church in England (London, 1903), 19; HUNT, A
History of the English Church from its Formation to the Norman Conquest
(London, 1901), 42; MANN, Lives of the Popes, I, 268-279; VON REUMONT,
Gesch. der Stadt Rom (Berlin, 1867), II, 156, 165; GREGOROVIUS, II,
104; LANGEN, 501.
|
625-638 Pope Honorius
Character and work of Honorius
Pope Honorius was much respected and died with an untarnished
reputation. Few popes did more for the restoration and beautifying of
churches of Rome, and he has left us his portrait in the apsidal mosaic
of Sant Agnese fueri le mura. He cared also for the temporal needs of
the Romans by repairing the aqueduct of Trajan. His extant letters show
him engaged in much business. He supported the Lombard King Adalwald,
who had been set aside as mad by an Arian rival. He succeeded, to some
extent, with the emperor's assistance, in reuniting the schismatic
metropolitan See of Aquileia to the Roman Church. He wrote to stir up
the zeal of the bishops of Spain, and St. Braulio of Saragossa replied.
His connexion with the British Isles is of interest. He sent St.
Birinus to convert the West Saxons. In 634 he gave the pallium to St.
Paulinus of York, as well as to Honorius of Canterbury, and he wrote a
letter to King Edwin of Northumbria, which Bede has preserved. In 630
he urged the Irish bishops to keep Easter with the rest of Christendom,
in consequence of which the Council of Magh Lene (Old Leighlin) was
held; the Irish testified to their traditional devotion to the See of
Peter, and sent a deputation to Rome "as children to their mother". On
the return of these envoys, all Southern Ireland adopted the Roman use
(633).
|
| Pope John IV
(r.
640-642) Saint Venantius was a
Dalmatian bishop whose body was brought to the Lateran at Spalato by
Pope John IV in 641 |
655 Pope St. Martin I of noble birth, great student, commanding
intelligence, profound learning, great charity to the poor Saint Martin the Confessor, Pope of Rome
native of the Tuscany
convened Lateran Council at Rome condemn Monothelite heresy
last martyred Pope
Martyr, born at Todi on the Tiber, son of Fabricius; elected
Pope at Rome, 21 July, 649, to succeed Theodore I; died at Cherson in
the present peninsulas of Krym, 16 Sept., 655, after a reign of 6
years, one month and twenty six days, having ordained eleven priests,
five deacons and thirty-three bishops. 5 July is the date commonly
given for his election, but 21 July (given by Lobkowitz, "Statistik der
Papste" Freiburg, 1905) seems to correspond better with the date of his
death and reign (Duchesne "Lib. Pont.", I, 336); his feast is on 12
November.The Greeks honor him on 13 April and 15 September, the
Muscovites on 14 April. In the hymns of the Office the Greeks style him
infallibilis fidei magister because he was the successor of St. Peter
in the See of Rome (Nilles, "Calendarium Manuale", Innsbruck, 1896, I,
336).
Martin, one of the noblest
figures in a long line of Roman pontiffs (Hodgkin, "Italy", VI, 268)
was, according to his biographer Theodore (Mai, "Spicil. Rom.", IV 293)
of noble birth, a great student, of commanding intelligence, of
profound learning, and of great charity to the poor. Piazza, II 45 7
states that he belonged to the order of St. Basil. He governed the
Church at a time when the leaders of the Monothelite heresy, supported
by the emperor, were making most strenuous efforts to spread their
tenets in the East and West. Pope Theodore had sent Martin as
apocrysiary to Constantinople to make arrangements for canonical
deposition of the heretical patriarch, Pyrrhus. After his election,
Martin had himself consecrated without waiting for the imperial
confirmation, and soon called a council in the Lateran at which one
hundred and five bishops met. Five sessions were held on 5, 8, 17, 119
and 31 Oct., 649 (Hefele, "Conciliengeschichte", III, 190). The
"Ecthesis" of Heraclius and the "Typus" of Constans II were rejected;
nominal excommunication was passed against Sergius, Pyrrus, and Paul of
Constantinople, Cyrus of Alexandria and Theodore of Phran in Arabia;
twenty canons were enacted defining the Catholic doctrine on the two
wills of Christ. The decrees signed by the pope and the assembled
bishops were sent to the other bishops and the faithful of the world
together with an encyclical of Martin. The Acts with a Greek
translation were also sent to the Emperor Constans II.
The pope appointed John,
Bishop of Philadelphia, as his vicar in the East with necessary
instructions and full authority . Bishop Paul of Thessalonica refused
to recall his heretical letters previously sent to Rome and added
others,—he was, therefore, formally excommunicated and deposed. The
Patriarch of Constantinople, Paul, had urged the emperor to use drastic
means to force the pope and the Western Bishops at least to subscribe
to the "Typus". The emperor sent Olympius as exarch to Italy, where he
arrived while the council was still in session. Olympius tried to
create a faction among the fathers to favor the views of the emperor,
but without success. Then upon pretense of reconciliation he wished to
receive Holy Communion from the hands of the pontiff with the intention
of slaying him. But Divine Providence protected the pope, and Olympius
left Rome to fight against the Saracens in Sicily and died there.
Constans II thwarted in his plans, sent as exarch Theodore Calliopas
with orders to bring Martin to Constantinople. Calliopas arrived in
Rome, 15 June, 653, and, entering the Lateran Basilica two days later,
informed the clergy that Martin had been deposed as an unworthy
intruder, that he must be brought to Constantinople and that another
was to be chosen in his place. The pope, wishing to avoid the shedding
of human blood, forbade resistance and declared himself willing to be
brought before the emperor. The saintly prisoner, accompanied by only a
few attendants, and suffering much from bodily ailments and privations,
arrived at Constantinople on 17 Sept., 653 or 654, having landed
nowhere except the island of Naxos. The letters of the pope seem to
indicate he was kept at Naxos for a year. Jaffe, n. 1608, and Ewald, n
2079, consider the annum fecimus an interpolation and would allow only
a very short stop at Naxos, which granted the pope an opportunity to
enjoy a bath. Duchesne, "Lib. Pont.", I, 336 can see no reason for
abandoning the original account; Hefele,"Conciliengeschichte" III, 212,
held the same view (see "Zeitschr. für Kath. Theol.", 1892, XVI,
375).
From Abydos messengers
were sent to the imperial city to announce the arrival of the prisoner
who was branded as a heretic and rebel, an enemy of God and of the
State. Upon his arrival in Constantinople Martin was left for several
hours on deck exposed to the jests and insults of a curious crowd of
spectators. Towards evening he was brought to a prison called
Prandearia and kept in close and cruel confinement for ninety-three
days, suffering from hunger, cold and thirst. All this did not break
his energy and on 19 December he was brought before the assembled
senate where the imperial treasurer acted as judge. Various political
charges were made, but the true and only charge was the pope's refusal
to sign the "Typus". He was then carried to an open space in full view
of the emperor and of a large crowd of people. These were asked to pass
anathema upon the pope to which but few responded. Numberless
indignities were heaped upon him, he was stripped of nearly all his
clothing, loaded with chains, dragged through the streets of the city
and then again thrown into the prison of Diomede, where he remained for
eighty five days. Perhaps influenced by the death of Paul, Patriarch of
Constantinople, Constans did not sentence the pope to death, but to
exile. He was put on board a ship, 26 March, 654 (655) and arrived at
his destination on 15 May. Cherson was at the time suffering from a
great famine. The venerable pontiff here passed the remaining days of
his life. He was buried in the church of Our Lady, called
Blachernæ, near Cherson, and many miracles are related as wrought
by St Martin in life and after death. The greater part of his relics
are said to have been transferred to Rome, where they repose in the
church of San Martino ai Monti. Of his letters seventeen are extant in
P.L., LXXXVII, 119.
|
683 Pope
St. Leo
II eyes tongue restored June
12 [Note: The feast of Saint
Leo II was formerly observed on 3 July with the rank of a semi-double.]
This pope, who
is called by his
contemporary biographer both just and learned, is commemorated as a
saint in the Roman Martyrology on 28 June.
Pope St. Leo II, to whom God miraculously restored his eyes
and his
tongue after they had been torn out by impious men. He succeeded St. Agatho
as Pope
in 681 and
confirmed the
findings of the sixth general council which had condemned Monotheism.
Pope St. Leo II
Pope (682-83), date of birth unknown; d. 28 June, 683. He was a
Sicilian, and son of one Paul. Though elected pope a few days after the
death of St. Agatho (10 January, 681), he was not consecrated till
after the lapse of a year and seven months (17 Aug., 682). Under Leo's
predecessor St. Agatho, negotiations had been opened between the Holy
See and Emperor Constantine Pogonatus concerning the relations of the
Byzantine Court to papal elections. Constantine had already promised
Agatho to abolish or reduce the tax which for about a century the popes
had had to pay to the imperial treasury on the occasion of their
consecration, and under Leo's successor he made other changes in what
had hitherto been required of the Roman Church at the time of a papal
election. In all probability, therefore, it was continued
correspondence on this matter which caused the delay of the imperial
confirmation of Leo's election, and hence the long postponement of his
consecration.
The most important act accomplished by Leo in his short
pontificate was his confirmation of the acts of the Sixth Oecumenical
Council (680-1). This council had been held in Constantinople against
the Monothelites, and presided over by legates of Pope Agatho. After
Leo notified the emperor that decrees of the council had been confirmed
by him, he proceeded to make them known to the nations of the West. The
letters which he sent for this end to the king and to the bishops and
nobles of Spain have come down to us. In them he explained what the
council had effected, and he called upon the bishops to subscribe to
its decrees. At the same time he was at pains to make it clear that in
condemning his predecessor Honorius I, he did so, not because he taught
heresy, but because he was not active enough in opposing it. In
accordance with the papal mandate, a synod was held at Toledo (684) in
which the Council of Constantinople was accepted.
The fact that Ravenna had long been the residence of the emperors or of
their representatives, the exarchs, had awakened the ambition of its
archbishops. They aspired to the privileges of patriarchs and desired
to be autocephalous, i.e. free from the direct jurisdiction of the
pope, considered as their primate. As they could not succeed in
inducing the popes to agree to their wishes, they attempted to secure
their accomplishment by an imperial decree recognizing them as
autocephalous. But this did not prove sufficient to enable the
archbishops to effect their purpose, and Leo obtained from Constantine
Pogonatus the revocation of the edict of Constans. On his side,
however, Leo abolished the tax which the archbishops had been
accustomed to pay when they received the pallium. And though he
insisted that the archbishops-elect must come to Rome to be
consecrated, he consented to the arrangement that they should not be
obliged to remain in Rome more than eight days at the time of their
consecration, and that, while they were not to be bound to come again
to Rome themselves in order to offer their homage to the pope, they
were each year to send a delegate to do so in their name.
Perhaps because he feared the Lombards might again ravage the
catacombs, Leo transferred thence many of the relics of the martyrs
into a church which he built to receive them.
|
684 Pope St.
Benedict II distinguished knowledge of the Scriptures and by his
singing, and as a priest was remarkable for his humility, love of the
poor, and generosity; Many of the churches of Rome were restored by
him; and its clergy, its deaconries for the care of the poor, and its
lay sacristans all benefited by his liberality
Date of birth unknown; died 8 May, 685; was a Roman, and the son of
John. Sent when young to the schola cantorum, he distinguished himself
by his knowledge of the Scriptures and by his singing, and as a priest
was remarkable for his humility, love of the poor, and generosity. He
became pope 26 June, 684, after an interval of over eleven months. To
abridge the vacancies of the Holy See which followed the deaths of the
popes, he obtained from the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus a decree
which either abolished imperial confirmations altogether or made them
obtainable from the exarch in Italy [cf. "Liber Diurnus RR. PP.", ed.
Sickel (Vienna, 1889), and Duchesne's criticism, "Le Liber Diurnus"
(Paris, 1891)]. He adopted Constantine's two sons by receiving locks of
their hair sent him by the emperor. To help to suppress Monothelitism,
he endeavoured to secure the subscriptions of the Spanish bishops to
the decrees of the Sixth General Council (see ep. in P.L., XCVI, 423),
and to bring about the submission to them of Macarius, ex-Bishop of
Antioch. He was one of the popes who favoured the cause of St. Wilfred
of York (Eddius, "Vita Wilfridi", ed. Raine in "Historians of York", I,
62 sqq. Cf. Raine, "Lives of the Archbishops of York", I, 55 sqq.).
Many of the churches of Rome were restored by him; and its clergy, its
deaconries for the care of the poor, and its lay sacristans all
benefited by his liberality. He was buried in St. Peter's.
|
Pope John V (685-686) energy, learning, and moderation are
highly praised by his biographer
generosity showed itself in his liberal donations.
A Syrian whose father was one Cyriacus; when he was born is not known;
d. 2 August, 686. As a deacon he was one of those who represented the
Apostolic See at the Sixth Oecumenical Council. He returned to Rome in
July, 682, with the official documents of the synod. He obtained such
favour in the eyes of the Emperor Constantine Pogonatus that the latter
lessened the taxes which had been imposed on the papal patrimonies in
Sicily and Calabria, and generally reduced the fiscal burdens from
which the Church suffered.
John's energy, learning, and moderation are
highly praised by his biographer. It was no doubt the possession of
these virtues which caused him to be elected pope in the basilica of
St. John Lateran. The necessity of waiting for the imperial
confirmation of papal elections having been abolished by Constantine
Pognatus, John was straightway conducted to the Lateran palace as pope.
He was consecrated about 23 July, 685, and reigned for a little more
than a year. From the days of St. Gregory the Great, the Archbishop of
Cagliari in Sardinia enjoyed certain metropolitan powers. Although the
right of consecrating the bishops of the island was not one of his
privileges, Citonatus of Cagliari proceeded to lay hands on the
bishop-elect of Turris Libisonis. John, however, definitively declared
the See of Turris directly subject to the Holy See. John's generosity
showed itself in his liberal donations. In his short pontificate he
distributed 1900 solidi to the clergy and to the deaconries for the
poor. After a long illness, he died on 2 August, 686, and was buried in
St. Peter's.
John V, knew
Cosmas and St John of Damascus well by
reputation and wished to have them amongst his clergy. First he took
Cosmas and made him bishop of Majuma, and afterwards he ordained John
priest and brought him to Jerusalem.
|
 731 Gregory II,
89th
Pope educated at the Lateran restore clerical discipline, fought
heresies helped restore and rebuild churches (including Saint
Paul-Outside-the-Walls), hospitals, and monasteries, including Monte
Cassino under Petrona The outstanding concern of his pontificate was
his difficulties with Emperor Leo III the Isaurian
(RM)
Born in Rome, Italy; sometimes celebrated also on February 13. The 89th
pope, Saint Gregory, became involved in church affairs in his youth,
was educated at the Lateran, became a subdeacon under Pope Saint Sergius, served as
treasurer and librarian of the Church under four popes, and became
widely known for his learning and wisdom.
In 710, now a deacon, he distinguished himself in his replies to Emperor Justinian when he
accompanied Pope Constantine to Constantinople to oppose the Council of Trullo
canon that had declared the patriarchate of Constantinople independent
of Rome and helped to secure Justinian's acknowledgment of papal
supremacy.
On May 19, 715, Gregory was elected pope to succeed Constantine, put
into effect a program to restore clerical discipline, fought heresies,
began to rebuild the walls around Rome as a defense against the
Saracens, and helped restore and rebuild churches (including Saint
Paul-Outside-the-Walls), hospitals, and monasteries, including Monte
Cassino under Petronax, which had been destroyed by Lombards about 150
years previously. He sent missionaries into Germany, among them Saint Corbinian and Saint Boniface in 719, whom he
consecrated bishop. He also helped Saint
Nothelm in his researches in the papal archives to provide
material for Saint Bede's Ecclesiastical history.
Gregory also received the Wessex king Ina, who became a monk in Rome in
726.
An old tradition makes Gregory a
Benedictine monk, and his office
figured for centuries in several Benedictine Propria.
The outstanding concern of his pontificate was his
difficulties with Emperor
Leo III the Isaurian.
Gregory opposed Leo's illegal taxation on the Italians, and counseled
against the planned revolt of Italy against Byzantium and the election
of an emperor in opposition to Leo. He also demanded that Leo stop
interfering with church matters, vigorously opposed iconoclasm
supported by the emperor, and severely rebuked him at a synod in Rome
in 727. Gregory also supported Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople,
against Leo. Gregory's relations with the Lombards who were intent upon
conquering Italy were friendly mainly due to his influence with their
leader, Liutprand (Benedictines,
Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer). |
731-741 Pope St. Gregory III; held two synods in Rome (731) in which the
image-breaking heresy
was condemned. By way of a practical protest against the emperor's
action he made it a point of paying special honour to images and
relics, giving particular attention to the subject of St. Peter's; Gregory III extended to St. Boniface the
same support and
encouragement which had been afforded him by Gregory II. "Strengthened
exceedingly by the help of the affection of the Apostolic See", the
saint joyfully continued his glorious work for the conversion of
Germany. About 737 Boniface came to Rome for the third time to give an
account of his stewardship, and to enjoy the pope's "life-giving
conversation", At Gregory's order the monk and great traveller, St.
Willibald, went to assist his cousin St. Boniface in his labours; got
help from Charles Martel against the Lombards.
Pope St. Gregory III was the son of a Syrian named
John. The date of his birth is not known. His reputation for learning
and virtue was so great that the Romans elected him pope by
acclamation, when he was accompanying the funeral procession of his
predecessor, 11 February, 731. As he was not consecrated for more than
a month after his election, it is presumed that he waited for the
confirmation of his election by the exarch at Ravenna. In the matter of
Iconoclasm, he followed the policy of his predecessor. He sent legates
and letters to remonstrate with the persecuting emperor, Leo III, and
held two synods in Rome (731) in which the image-breaking heresy was
condemned. By way of a practical protest against the emperor's action
he made it a point of paying special honour to images and relics,
giving particular attention to the subject of St. Peter's. Fragments of
inscriptions, to be seen in the crypts of the Vatican basilica, bear
witness to this day of an oratory he built therein, and of the special
prayers he ordered to be there recited.
Leo, whose sole answer to the arguments and apologies for image worship
which were addressed to him from both East and West, was force, seized
the papal patrimonies in Calabria and Sicily, or wherever he had any
power in Italy, and transferred to the patriarch of Constantinople the
ecclesiastical jurisdiction which the popes had previously exercised
both there, and throughout the ancient Prefecture of Illyricum. Gregory
III confirmed the decision of his predecessors as to the respective
rights of the Patriarchs of Aquileia and Grado, and sent the pallium to
Antoninus of Grado. In granting it also to Egbert of York, he was only
following out the arrangements of St. Gregory I who had laid it down
that York was to have metropolitical rights in the North of England, as
Canterbury had to have them in the South. Both Tatwine and Nothelm of
Canterbury received the pallium in succession from Gregory III (731 and
736). At his request Gregory III extended to St. Boniface the same
support and encouragement which had been afforded him by Gregory II.
"Strengthened exceedingly by the help of the affection of the Apostolic
See", the saint joyfully continued his glorious work for the conversion
of Germany. About 737 Boniface came to Rome for the third time to give
an account of his stewardship, and to enjoy the pope's "life-giving
conversation", At Gregory's order the monk and great traveller, St.
Willibald, went to assist his cousin St. Boniface in his labours.
The close of Gregory's reign was troubled by the Lombards. Realizing
the ambition which animated Liutprand, Gregory completed the
restoration of the walls of Rome which had been begun by his
predecessors, and bought back Gallese, a stronghold on the Flaminian
Way, from Transamund, Duke of Spoleto, which helped to keep open the
communications between Rome and Ravenna. In 739, Liutprand was again in
arms. His troops ravaged the exarchate, and he himself marched south to
bring to subjection his vassals, the Dukes of Spoleto and Benevento,
and the Duchy of Rome. Transamund fled to Rome, and Gregory implored
the aid of the great Frankish chief, Charles Martel. At length
ambassadors from the viceroy (subregulus) of the Franks appeared in
Rome (739). Their arrival, or the summer heats, brought a momentary
peace. But in the following year, Liutprand again took the field. This
time the Romans left their walls, and helped Transamund to recover
Spoleto. When, however, he had recovered his duchy, he would not or
could not comply with Gregory's request, and endeavour to recover for
the pope "the four cities of the Roman duchy which had been lost for
his sake." In the midst of all these wars and rumours of war, Gregory
died, and was buried in the oratory of our Lady which he had himself
built in St. Peter's. He died in 741, but whether in November or
December is not certain. It is however, on 28 November that he is
commemorated in the Roman martyrology.
|
 741-752
Zachary I, Pope known for his learning & sanctity chosen pope in
741 to succeed Saint Gregory III (RM)
(also known as Zacharias) Born at San Severino, Calabria, Italy; died
752; feast day formerly on March 22; feast day in the East is September
5.
Pope Zachary I came from a
Greek family in Calabria. He became a deacon
in Rome, known for his learning and sanctity, and was chosen pope in
741 to succeed Saint Gregory III. His holiness was so great that,
instead of seeking revenge, he heaped benefits on those who had
persecuted him before his promotion to the pontificate.
When King Liutprand of the
Lombards was about to invade Roman lands at
Terni because of the rebellion of the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento,
Zachary risked his own life in order to meet with the barbarian.
Through persuasion Zachary won the freedom of all prisoners of war and
the Roman territory Liutprand had occupied during 30 years was
returned.
It is said that the
Lombards
were moved to tears at the
devotion with which they heard him say Mass.
Another time, he dissuaded
Liutprand from invading Ravenna.
Zachary achieved a great deal with the Lombards by
negotiation, leading
to peace between the Lombards and the Greek Empire. In fact, he gave
the Benedictine habit to Saint Ratchis, king of the Lombards. By
contrast, Zachary's successor had to enter into the defensive alliance
with the Frankish Pepin the Short, which had the ambiguously felicitous
result of leading to the revival of the Western Empire and led also to
the protective domination of the emperor over the Roman Church which
for centuries determined the course of Western history.
This Papal-Frankish alliance was prepared for by Pope Zachary's
acquiescence in the deposition of the Merovingian puppet-kings and
through his anointing of Pepin, who had been mayor of the palace, in
751 by the hand of his legate, Boniface at Soissons.
As a result of the iconoclastic movement, religious and political
relations with Byzantium, which were noticeable weakened in these
disturbances, grew ever looser.
Zachary denounced the
iconoclastic
policy of Emperor Constantine Copronymus.
On the other hand, the
Church made vast strides in the realm of the
Franks, above all in Germany, through the work of reorganization and
the missionary zeal of Saint Boniface, whom he consecrated archbishop
of Mainz. Zachary assisted the labors of the Apostle of the Germans in
every way. Two interesting letters of the pope to Boniface have
survived, which give the impression of a man of great vigor and deep
sympathy. He told Boniface to suspend polygamous and murderous priests,
to abolish superstitious practices even if these were practiced at
Rome, and to recognize the baptisms of those whose Latin was extremely
inaccurate (the intention was there to do what the Church intends, even
though the form was defective). At his synod of 745, he condemned the
heretics Clement and Adalbert who had caused Boniface a good deal of
grief.
On the other hand, Boniface
was
proven to be all too human on another
occasion.
He wrote to Zachary
against an Irish priest named Virgilius,
saying that he sowed the seeds of discord between him and Duke Odilo of
Bavaria, and erroneously taught that there were other men under the
earth, another sun and moon, and another world. Pope Zachary answered,
that if he taught such an error he ought to be deposed. This cannot be
understood as a condemnation of the doctrine of Antipodes (that the
earth is round), as some have mistaken. Rather, there was a heresy that
maintained there was another race of men, who did not descend from
Adam, and were not redeemed by Christ. Nor did Zachary pronounce any
sentence in the case: for in the same letter he ordered that Virgilius
should be sent to Rome so that this doctrine might be examined. It
seems that he cleared himself, for we find this same priest soon after
made bishop of Salzburg, Austria, and, in 1233, formally canonized as
Saint Virgilius. It seems that the friction between the two saints was
probably a result of jurisdictional conflicts and the tension between
Roman and Celtic liturgical customs.
In any case, Pope Zachary
was a
peace-maker and judged no man without a hearing.
Zachary was also
responsible for restoring
Montecassino under Saint
Petronax and himself consecrated its abbey church in 748. The
saint was
known for aiding the poor, provided refuge to nuns driven from
Constantinople by the iconoclasts, ransomed slaves from the Venetians,
forbade the selling of Christian slaves to the Moors of Africa, and
translated Saint Gregory the Great's Dialogues into Greek. Since
"Zacharias embraced and cherished all people like a father and a good
shepherd, and never allowed even the smallest injustice to happen to
anyone," he was venerated as a saint immediately after his death
(Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Husenbeth, Schamoni).
Saint Zacharias is depicted
making
peace with King Luitprand. Sometimes he may have a dove and olive
branch over him (do not confuse him with Saint Silvester (Roeder).
|
 757-67 Pope
Paul I: Paul showed great activity and zeal in encouraging religious
life at Rome. He turned his paternal home into a monastery, and near it
built the church of San Silvestro in Capite. The founding of this
church led to his holding a synod at Rome in 761.
To this church and other churches of Rome, Paul
transferred bones of numerous martyrs from the decayed sanctuaries in
the catacombs devastated by Lombards in 756. He transferred the relics
of St. Petronilla from the catacomb of St. Domitilla to a chapel in St.
Peter's erected by his predecessor for this purpose. The legend of St.
Petronilla caused her at that era to be regarded as a daughter of St.
Peter, and as such she became the special Roman patroness of the
Frankish rulers.
Paul also built an oratory of the Blessed Virgin in St.
Peter's, and a church in honour of the Apostles on the Via Sacra beyond
the Roman Forum. He died near the church of San Paolo fuori le mura,
where he had gone during the heat of summer. He was buried in this
church, but after three months his body was transferred to St. Peter's.
The "Liber Pontificalis" also praises the Christian charity and
benevolence of the pope which he united with firmness. Paul is
venerated as a saint. His feast is celebrated on the twenty-eighth of
June.
Date of birth unknown; died at Rome, 28 June, 767.
He was a brother of Stephen
II. They had been educated for the priesthood at the Lateran
palace.
Stephen entrusted his brother, who approved of the pope's course in
respect to King Pepin, with many important ecclesiastical affairs,
among others with the restoration to the Roman States of the cities
which had been seized by the Lombard Kings Aistulf and Desiderius;
these cities Desiderius promised to give up.
While Paul was with his dying brother at the Lateran, a
party of the Romans gathered in the house of Archdeacon Theophylact in
order to secure the latter's succession to the papal see. However,
immediately after the burial of Stephen (died 26 April, 757), Paul was
elected by a large majority, and received episcopal consecration on the
twenty-ninth of May.
Paul continued his predecessor's policy towards the
Frankish king, Pepin, and thereby continued the papal supremacy over
Rome and the districts of central Italy in opposition to the efforts of
the Lombards and the Eastern Empire. Pepin sent a letter to the Roman
people, exhorting them to remain steadfast to St. Peter. In the reply
sent by the senate and the people of Rome to the Frankish king, the
latter was urged to complete the enlargement of the Roman province
which he had wrested from the barbarians, and to persevere in the work
he had begun. In 758 a daughter was born to Pepin, and the king sent
the pope the cloth used at the baptism as a present, renewing in this
way the papal sponsorship. Paul returned thanks and informed Pepin of
the hostile action of Desiderius, who had failed to deliver the cities
of Imola, Osimo, Ancona, and Bologna to Rome, and had also devastated
the Pentapolis on his expedition against the rebellious Dukes of
Spoleto and Benevento. The two duchies were conquered and annexed by
Desiderius (758).
Pope Paul I was pope from May 29, 757- June 28, 767. He first appears
as a Roman deacon and was frequently employed by his brother, Pope
Stephen II, in negotiations with the Lombard kings.
After Stephen's death (April 26, 757) Paul prevailed over a faction
that wanted to place the Archdeacon Theophylact on the Holy See and was
chosen his brother's successor by the majority that wished a
continuation of the late pope's policy. The new pope's reign was
dominated by his relations with the Frankish and Lombard kings and with
the Eastern emperor. He adopted an independent tone in informing the
exarch in Ravenna of his election, but wrote to Pepin that the Frankish
alliance should be maintained unimpaired, being forced to this course
by the attitude of the Lombard king, Desiderius. The latter held the
cities of Imola, Osimo, Bologna, and Ancona, which were claimed by
Rome, and in 758 seized upon the duchies of Spoleto and Benevento.
The same year he visited Rome and compelled Paul to write to Pepin
asking him to concede all the Lombard claims except that to Imola;
another letter of exactly opposite tenor was sent by the same
messenger. Pepin found it advisable to maintain good relations with
Desiderius, and Paul accomplished nothing by his double-dealing. Later,
however, Pepin gave the pope some support and acted as arbiter between
the Roman and Lombard claims.
In 765 papal privileges were restored in Beneventine and Tuscan
territory and partially in Spoleto. Meanwhile, the alienation from
Byzantium grew greater. Several times, especially in 759, Paul feared
that the Greek emperor would send an armament against Rome; and he
lived in continual dread lest Byzantine machinations turn the Frankish
influence in favor of the Lombards. This was actually attempted, but
Pepin held to his original Italian policy.
Paul died June 28, 767.
At Benevento Desiderius had a conference with the Greek
ambassador Georgios, and agreed on mutual alliance of Byzantines and
Lombards in central Italy. On his way home Desiderius came to Rome, and
when the pope demanded the return of the aforesaid cities, he refused
to comply. He promised to give back Imola, but on condition that the
pope should persuade Pepin to send back the Lombard hostages whom the
Frankish king had carried off, some time before, at the time of his
second victory over the Lombard King Aistulf. If Paul would not do
this, Desiderius threatened to go to war with him. The pope was in
great straits. He found it difficult even to get the Frankish king
informed of his position. He gave two letters to Bishop George of Ostia
and the Roman priest Stephen, his ambassadors to Pepin, who made the
journey with the Frankish messenger Ruodpertus. In the one letter that
was to secure the envoys a safe passage through Lombard territory, he
agreed to the demands of Desiderius and begged Pepin to accede to the
wishes of the Lombards by making a treaty of peace and returning the
hostages. At the same time the envoys were to give the Frankish king a
second secret letter, in which the pope communicated to him the latest
occurrences, informed him of the agreement of Desiderius with the
Byzantines for the conquest of Ravenna, and implored Pepin to come to
the aid of the pope, to punish the Lombard king, and to force him to
yield the towns retained by him. Towards the close of 759 another envoy
was sent to Pepin.
Early in 760 two Frankish envoys, Bishop Remidius of
Rouen, brother to Pepin, and Duke Antschar, came to Desiderius, who
promised to return its patrimony to the Roman Church in April, and also
to yield the towns demanded by the pope. But he again refused to carry
out his promises, dallied, and even forced his way into Roman
territory. Once more Paul implored the Frankish king's help. The
position of affairs was made even more threatening by Byzantine action.
Georgios had gone from southern Italy to the court of Pepin and had
here won over a papal envoy, Marinus. With all his efforts Georgios
could not move Pepin. In 760 a report spread through Italy that a large
Byzantine fleet was under sail for Rome and the Frankish kingdom. Later
it was reported that the Byzantines intended to send an army to Rome
and Ravenna. The Archbishop Sergius of Ravenna received a letter from
the Byzantine emperor, in which the latter sought to obtain the
voluntary submission of the inhabitants of Ravenna. The same attempt
was also made in Venice. Sergius sent the letter of the emperor to the
pope, and the pope notified Pepin. In case of a war with the Eastern
Empire it was important to make sure of the support of the Lombards,
consequently Pepin desired to come to an agreement with Desiderius.
Thereupon the Lombard king showed more complaisance in the question of
the Roman patrimony included in the Lombard territory, and when he
visited Rome in 765, the boundary disputes between him and the pope
were arranged.
The Frankish king now directed Desiderius to aid the pope
in recovering the Roman patrimony in the regions in southern Italy
under Byzantine rule, and to support the ecclesiastical rights of the
pope against the bishops of these districts.
Paul's opposition to the schemes of the Emperor
Constantine Copronymus had no real political basis. The pope's aim was
to defend ecclesiastical orthodoxy regarding the doctrine of the
Trinity and the veneration of images against the Eastern emperor. Paul
repeatedly dispatched legates and letters in regard to the veneration
of images to the emperor at Byzantium. Constantine sent envoys to
western Europe who in coming to King Pepin did not disguise their
intention to negotiate with him concerning dogmatic questions, also
about the submission of the Exarchate of Ravenna to Byzantine
suzerainty. Papal legates also came to Pepin in regard to these
matters. On their return the legates were able to reassure the pope as
to the views of the Frankish ruler, who kept two of the papal envoys,
Bishop George and the priest Peter, near him.
In 767 a Frankish synod was held at Gentilly, near Paris,
at which the Church doctrines concerning the Trinity and the veneration
of images were maintained.
Paul showed great activity and zeal in encouraging religious life at
Rome. He turned his paternal home into a monastery, and near it built
the church of San Silvestro in Capite. The founding of this church led
to his holding a synod at Rome in 761.
To this church and other churches of Rome, Paul
transferred bones of numerous martyrs from the decayed sanctuaries in
the catacombs devastated by Lombards in 756. He transferred the relics
of St. Petronilla from the catacomb of St. Domitilla to a chapel in St.
Peter's erected by his predecessor for this purpose. The legend of St.
Petronilla caused her at that era to be regarded as a daughter of St.
Peter, and as such she became the special Roman patroness of the
Frankish rulers.
Paul also built an oratory of the Blessed Virgin in St.
Peter's, and a church in honour of the Apostles on the Via Sacra beyond
the Roman Forum. He died near the church of San Paolo fuori le mura,
where he had gone during the heat of summer. He was buried in this
church, but after three months his body was transferred to St. Peter's.
The "Liber Pontificalis" also praises the Christian charity and
benevolence of the pope which he united with firmness. Paul is
venerated as a saint. His feast is celebrated on the twenty-eighth of
June.
|
 824 St.
Paschal
elected as the 94th pope on the day Pope Stephen IV (V) died, January
25, 817 unsuccessful in attempts to end the iconoclast heresy of
Emperor Leo V, encouraged SS. Nicephorous and Theodore Studites in
Constantinople to resist iconoclasm, and gave refuge to the many Greek
monks who fled to Rome to escape persecution from the iconoclasts. 14
May
Pope Paschal I (817-824)
The date of his birth is unknown; he died in April, May, or June, 824.
He was the son of a Roman named Bonosus. While still young he joined
the Roman clergy and was taken into the papal patriarchate (Lateran
Palace) where he was instructed in the Divine Service and the Holy
Scripture. Leo III having appointed him superior of the monastery of
St. Stephen near the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, he took care
of the pilgrims who came to Rome. On the death of Stephen IV (24
January, 817) Paschal was unanimously chosen as his successor. On the
following day he was consecrated
and enthroned. He entered into relations with Emperor Louis, sending
him several ambassadors in rapid succession. In 817 he received from
the emperor a document, "Pactum Ludovicianum", confirming the rights
and possessions of the Holy See. This document with later amendments is
still extant (cf. especially Sickel, "Das Privileg Ottos I für die
römische Kirche", Innsbruck, 1883, 50 sqq., 174 sqq.). Paschal
remained on friendly terms with the Frankish nobility and sent a
special legation with rich gifts to the marriage of King Lothair I, son
of Emperor Louis. In spring, 823, Lothair went to Rome and on 5 April
he was solemnly crowned emperor by Paschal. Although the pope himself
opposed the sovereignty of the Frankish emperors over Rome and Roman
territory, high officials in the papal palace, especially Primicerius
Theodore and his son-in-law Leo Nomenculator, were at the head of the
party which supported the Franks, and advocated the supremacy of the
emperor. Shortly after the departure of King Lothair in 823, both these
officials were blinded and killed by the pope's servants. Paschal
himself was accused of being the originator of this deed, but he
cleared himself of suspicion by an oath. The ambassadors sent to Rome
by Emperor Louis to investigate the affair could not punish the
perpetrators, as the pope declared the murdered officials guilty of
treason. Paschal supported new missionary expeditions which went out
from the Frankish Empire. He sent a letter of introduction to Bishop
Halitgar of Cambria, and appointed Archbishop Ebo of Rheims as papal
legate to the pagan countries in Northern Europe.
In 814 under Leo the Armenian, the Iconoclastic controversy broke out
with renewed violence in the Byzantine Empire. Theodore of Studium, the
great champion of orthodoxy, wrote repeatedly to Pope Paschal, who
encouraged him to persevere. At the same time Theodosius of
Constantinople, unlawfully made patriarch by Emperor Leo, sent a
legation to the pope. The latter, however, remained loyal to the cause
of Theodore of Studium, and dispatched legates to Leo to win him from
the Iconoclasts, but without success. Numerous monks who had been
driven out of Greece by Leo came to Rome where the pope received them
kindly, assigning them places in the newly-erected monasteries, such as
St. Praxedis, St. Cecilia, Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, near the Lateran
Palace. Paschal was very active in completing, restoring, and
beautifying churches and monasteries. The basilicas of St. Praxedis,
St. Cecilia, and S. Maria in Dominica were completely rebuilt by him.
The mosaics, which at that time ornamented the apses of these three
churches as well as the chapel of St. Zeno in St. Praxedis, demonstrate
today the deterioration of this art. In St. Peter's he erected chapels
and altars, in which the remains of martyrs from the Roman catacombs,
especially those of Sts. Processus and Marinianus, were placed. He also
placed the relics of many Roman martyrs in the church of St. Praxedis
where their names are still legible. The discovery of the relies of St.
Cecilia and companions, and their translation to the new church of St.
Cecilia in Trastevere, are well described in "Liber Pontificalis" (cf.
Kirsch, "Die hl. Cäcilia in der römischen Kirche des
Altertums", Paderborn, 1910). He made great improvements in the choir
of the church of S. Maria Maggiore. Paschal was interred in the church
of St. Praxedis, and is honoured as a saint on 14 May.
Paschal was the son of Bonosus, a Roman. He
studied at the
Lateran, was
named head of St. Stephen's monastery, which housed pilgrims to Rome,
and was elected Pope to succeed Pope Stephen IV (V) on the day Stephen
died, January 25, 817. Emperor Louis the Pious agreed to respect papal
jurisdiction, but when Louis' son Lothair I came to Rome in 823 to be
consecrated king, he broke the pact by presiding at a trial involving a
group of nobles opposing the Pope. When the two papal officials who had
testified for the nobles were found blinded and murdered, Paschal was
accused of the crime. He denied any complicity but refused to surrender
the murderers, who were members of his household, declaring that the
two dead officials were traitors and the secular authorities had no
jurisdiction in the case. The result was the Constitution of Lothair,
severely restricting papal judicial and police powers in Italy.
Paschal
was unsuccessful in attempts to end the iconoclast heresy of Emperor
Leo V, encouraged SS. Nicephorous and
Theodore Studites in
Constantinople to resist iconoclasm, and gave refuge to the many Greek
monks who fled to Rome to escape persecution from the iconoclasts.
Paschal built and redecorated many churches in Rome and
transferred
many relics from the catacombs to churches in the city. Although listed
in the Roman Martyrology, he has never been formally canonized.
Paschal I, OSB, Pope (RM) Died 824; feast day formerly
May 14.
Saint Pascal, son of the Roman Bonosus, studied at the Lateran and was
named abbot of Saint Stephen's monastery, which housed pilgrims to
Rome. He was elected as the 94th pope on the day Pope Stephen IV (V)
died, January 25, 817. Emperor Louis the Pious agreed to respect
papal jurisdiction, but when
Louis's son Lothair I came to Rome in 823 to be consecrated king, he
broke the pact by presiding at a trial involving a group of nobles
opposing the pope. When two papal officials who had testified for the
nobles were found blinded and murdered, Paschal was accused of the
crime.
Paschal denied any complicity but refused to surrender the
murderers,
who were members of his household, declaring that the two dead
officials were traitors and the secular authorities had no jurisdiction
in the case. The result was the Constitution of Lothair, severely
restricting papal jurisdiction and police powers in Italy.
Paschal loved religious art even though he lived at a time
when many
people in the Eastern churches were breaking up sacred pictures in the
belief that these were idolatrous images.
Fanatics would even murder
those who supported the use of fine art to decorate Christian churches
and foster spirit of worship.
Though he was unsuccessful
in ending the iconoclast heresy
of Emperor
Leo V, Pascal did his best to help Eastern Christians who were fighting
to stop this destruction of great religious art. He sent his aides to
try to secure the release of Abbot
Theodore the Studite, who had been imprisoned for defending
sacred icons, and encouraged Saint
Nicephorus. And Paschal gave shelter to many Greek monks who had
fled from the east in fear of those who were destroying what they held
to be precious aids to the Christian life.
While Pascal did not succeed in ending this strife, the influence of
Eastern artists can be seen in the work done between 817 and 824
(while he was pope) to embellish Rome. Pascal, for instance, rebuilt
the Roman church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, and made it into a
fitting shrine for the bones of Saint
Cecilia. This church has been considerably rebuilt since then,
but another church in Rome,
Santa Maria in Domnica, remains substantially as it was after
Pascal had restored it and shows his deeply held beliefs.
Paschal also supported missionary activities in Denmark.
Although
Paschal is listed in the Roman Martyrology, he has never been formally
canonized (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Schamoni).
|
 820
867 Pope St. Nicholas I; One of the great popes of the Middle Ages,
who exerted decisive
influence upon the historical development of the papacy and its
position among the Christian nations of Western Europe; At Rome, Nicholas rebuilt and endowed
several churches, and constantly
sought to encourage religious life. His own personal life was guided by
a spirit of earnest Christian asceticism and profound piety. He was
very highly esteemed by the citizens of Rome, as he was by his
contemporaries generally; and
after death was regarded as a saint.
Born at Rome, date unknown; died 13 November, 867.
He was of a distinguished family, being the son of the Defensor
Theodore, and received an excellent training. Already distinguished for
his piety, benevolence, ability, knowledge, and eloquence, he entered,
at an early age, the service of the Church, was made subdeacon by Pope
Sergius II (844-47), and deacon by Leo IV (847-55). After Benedict's
death (7 April, 858) the Emperor Louis II, who was in the neighbourhood
of Rome, came into the city to exert his influence upon the election.
On 24 April Nicholas was elected pope, and on the same day was
consecrated and enthroned in St. Peter's in the presence of the
emperor. Three days after, he gave a farewell banquet to the emperor,
and afterward, accompanied by the Roman nobility, visited him in his
camp before the city, on which occasion the emperor came to meet the
pope and led his horse for some distance.
Christianity in Western Europe was then in a most melancholy condition.
The empire of Charlemagne had fallen to pieces, Christian territory was
threat |
105-116 Pope St. Alexander
I
Roman by birth ruled the Church in reign of Trajan (98-117). attributes
to him, but scarcely with accuracy, insertion in the canon of the Qui
Pridie, or words commemorative of the institution of the Eucharist,
such being certainly primitive and original in the Mass. He is also
said to have introduced the use of blessing water mixed with salt for
the purification of Christian homes from evil influences (constituit
aquam sparsionis cum sale benedici in habitaculis hominum). Duchesne
(Lib. Pont., I, 127) calls attention to the persistence of this early
Roman custom by way of a blessing in the Gelasian Sacramentary that
recalls very forcibly the actual Asperges prayer at the beginning of
Mass. 
127
Sixtus
I 115-125 , Pope
survived as pope for about 10 years before being killed by the Roman
authorities M (RM)
125-136 pope St.
Telesphorus
189 -199
Victor
I, Pope
African by birth, Victor succeeded Saint Eleutherius as pope c. 189 the
first to use Latin in the celebration of the liturgy Until
Victor's time, Rome celebrated the Mass in Greek. Pope Victor changed
the language to Latin, which was used in his native North Africa.
According to Jerome, he was the first Christian author to write about
theology in Latin. Latin masses, however, did not become universal
until the latter half of the fourth century.[(RM)
230
Pope Saint
Pontian or Pontianus, was pope from July 21, to September 28, 235
236, Pope Saint
Fabian succeeded Saint Antheros governed as bishop of Rome 14
peaceful years;
Died
250. On January 10, his martyrdom under Decius. He was a layman, who,
according to Eusebius, was chosen because a dove flew in through a
window during the election and settled on his head. 
308-309 Pope
St. Marcellus I; a clear
historical tradition in support of his declaration that
the ecclesiastical administration in Rome was reorganized by this pope
after the great persecution;
314 Pope
St. Miltiades { also written Melchiades), a native of
Africa} 310 or 311 
335
St. Sylvester
Pope (25 yrs) council of Arles and Nice 
366-384 Pope
Saint Damasus I 384 Pope
Saint
Damasus I Dec 11 commissioned Saint Jerome translate Scriptures in
Latin. At Rome, St.
Damasus, pope and confessor, condemned the
heresiarch Apollinaris, and restored to his See Peter, bishop of
Alexandria, who had been driven from it. He also discovered the
bodies
of many holy martyrs and composed verses in their honour.
401-417 St. Innocent
I
401-417
418-422 St. Boniface I Boniface
ardently supported St. Augustine in combating Pelagianism. Having
received two Pelagian letters calumniating Augustine, he sent them to
him. In recognition of this solicitude Augustine dedicated to Boniface
his rejoinder contained in "Contra duas Epistolas Pelagianoruin Libri
quatuor". 
483 - 492 492 ST. FELIX
III Pope helped to get the
Church in Africa on its feet
492 496 Pope
St. Gelasius I feast Nov 21
conspicuous for his spirit of prayer, penance, and study. He took
great delight in the company of monks, and was a true father to the
poor.
498-514 Pope St. Symmachus. In the city of Rome, according to the
"Liber pontificalis", the
pope took severe measures against the Manichæans, ordered the
burning
of their books, and expelled them from the city. He erected or restored
and adorned various churches. Thus he built a Church of St. Andrew near
St. Peter's, a Basilica of St. Agnes on the Via Aurelia, adorned the
Church of St. Peter's, completely rebuilt the Basilica of Sts.
Sylvester and Martinus, and made improvements over the Catacomb of the
Jordani on the Via Salaria. He built episcopal houses (episcopia) to
the right and left of the parvis of St. Peter's. These buildings were
evidently connected with the residence of the pope for several years
near St. Peter's during the disorders of the Laurentian schism. He also
built asylums for the poor near the three churches of St. Peter, St.
Paul, and St. Laurence that were outside the city walls. The pope
contributed large sums for the support of the Catholic bishops of
Africa who were persecuted by the rulers of the Arian Vandals. He also
aided the inhabitants of the provinces of upper Italy who suffered so
sorely from the invasion of the barbarians. After his death he was
buried at St. Peter's. Symmachus is venerated in the Roman Church as a
saint. 
536
Pope Agapitus
I archdeacon opposed Monophysites Pope (RM)
590-604 Pope St.
Gregory I ("the Great") 
St. Boniface
IV 608-615 25
May converted Pantheon
into a Christian Church, the temple by Agrippa to Jupiter the Avenger,
to Venus, and
to Mars consecrated by the pope to the Virgin Mary and all the
Martyrs. (Hence the title S. Maria Rotunda.) the first instance
at Rome of a pagan temple into a place of
Christian worship. 
615 618 Pope St. Deusdedit (Adeodatus I). 
625-638
Pope Honorius
655 Pope
St.
Martin I of noble birth,
great student, commanding intelligence, profound learning, great
charity to the poor Saint Martin
the Confessor, Pope of Rome native of the Tuscany
convened Lateran Council at Rome condemn Monothelite heresy
last martyred Pope.
684 Pope St.
Benedict II distinguished knowledge of the Scriptures and by his
singing, and as a priest was remarkable for his humility, love of the
poor, and generosity; 
715 731 Gregory
II, Perhaps the greatest of the great popes who occupied the chair
of Peter during the eighth century; 89th
Pope educated at the Lateran restore clerical discipline, fought
heresies helped restore and rebuild churches (including Saint
Paul-Outside-the-Walls), hospitals, and monasteries, including Monte
Cassino under Petrona outstanding concern of pontificate -difficulties
with Emperor Leo III the Isaurian 
731-741 Pope
St. Gregory III; Nov 28:
held two synods in Rome (731) in which the image-breaking heresy
was condemned. By way of a practical protest against the emperor's
action he made it a point of paying special honour to images and
relics, giving particular attention to the subject of St. Peter's; Gregory III extended to St. Boniface the
same support and
encouragement which had been afforded him by Gregory II. "Strengthened
exceedingly by the help of the affection of the Apostolic See", the
saint joyfully continued his glorious work for the conversion of
Germany. About 737 Boniface came to Rome for the third time to give an
account of his stewardship, and to enjoy the pope's "life-giving
conversation", At Gregory's order the monk and great traveller, St.
Willibald, went to assist his cousin St. Boniface in his labours; got
help from Charles Martel against the Lombards.
1048 1054 Leo
IX "the
pilgrim
pope" reformer deacon a stern bishop holy man & army
officer attempted stopping the schism (RM) During 20 years as prelate of Toul, known
as stern bishop,
disciplined lax priests brought order into the monasteries of
his diocese. He took his spiritual
advisor, Hildebrand (later Pope Saint Gregory VII), with him to Rome. What
he had done formerly on a small scale he attempted to
apply to the
whole Church. First began earnest reform of curia. Leo combatted
simony, enforced celibacy among clergy,
encouraged
development of chant and liturgy, condemned Berengarius, strove to
prevent schism between Eastern and Western churches
engineered by Emperor Michael Coerularius. Tirelessly travelled
throughout western Europe to enforce reforms, became known as the
pilgrim pope. Wherever he
went he
called together bishops and clergy in councils, inspiring them follow
his lead.
1058 1061 Pope
Nicholas II The
papal electoral decree was issued in Pope Nicholas II’s bull,
In nominee Domini on April 13, 1059, and was renewed in 1061.
Simony,
the purchase or sale of sacred or spiritual things, was halted, and the
entire voting process was revised so that only cardinal-bishops (not
simply cardinals) would have the right to vote with further affirmation
of the Roman clergy and laity. 
1061-1073 Alexander
II Anselm of Lucca, leader of the reform party
1073-1085
Pope St. Gregory VII; One of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs
and one of the most remarkable men of all times (HILDEBRAND);
1086-1087
Pope Blessed Victor III;
enter the monastery of S. Sophia at Benevento where he received the
name of Desiderius; the greatest
of all the abbots of Monte Cassino with the exception
of the founder, and as such won for himself "imperishable fame"
(Gregorovius); Peter the Deacon
gives (op. cit., III, 63) a list of some seventy
books which Desiderius caused to be copied at Monte Cassino; they
include works of Sts. Augustine, Ambrose, Bede, Basil, Jerome, Gregory
of Nazianzus, and Cassian, the registers of Popes Feliz and Leo, the
histories of Josephus, Paul Warnfrid, Jordanus, and Gregory of Tours,
the "Institutes" and "Novels" of Justinian, the works of Terence,
Virgil, and Seneca, Cicero's "De natura deorum", and Ovid's "Fasti"; Undoubtedly the chief importance of
Desiderius in papal history
lies in his influence with the Normans, an influence which he was able
repeatedly to exert in favour of the Holy See; refused the Papacy
several times due to his ill health.
1088-1099
Pope Bl.
Urban II Under St. Bruno
(afterwards founder of the
Carthusians) Otho
studied at Reims, where he later became canon and archdeacon. About
1070 he retired to Cluny and was professed there under the great abbot
St. Hugh. After holding the office of prior he was sent by St. Hugh to
Rome as one of the monks asked for by Gregory VII, and he was of great
assistance to Gregory in the difficult task of reforming the Church. In
1078 he became Cardinal Bishop of Ostia and Gregory's chief adviser and
helper. During the years 1082 to 1085 he was legate in France and
Germany. While returning to Rome in 1083 he was made prisoner by the
Emperor Henry IV, but was soon liberated. Whilst in Saxony (1084-5) he
filled many of the vacant sees with men faithful to Gregory and deposed
those whom the pope had condemned. He held a great synod at Quedlinburg
in Saxony in which the antipope Guibert of Ravenna and his adherents
were anathematized by name. Victor III had already been elected when
Otho returned to Rome in 1085. Otho appears to have opposed Victor at
first, not through any animosity or want of good will, but because he
judged it better, at so critical a time, that Victor should resign the
honour he was unwilling to retain. After Victor's death a summons was
sent to as many bishops of the Gregorian party as possible to attend a
meeting at Terracina. It was made known at this meeting that Otho had
been suggested by Gregory and Victor as their successor. Accordingly,
on 12 March, 1088, he was unanimously elected, taking the title of
Urban II. 
1109
Clement XI canonized and included among the Doctors
of the Church {1109} Anselm of
Canterbury 
1145-1153 Bd
Eugenius III, Pope Cistercian monk at Clairvaux; he took in
religion the name of Bernard, his great namesake being his superior at
Clairvaux 
1159-81 Pope
Alexander III; In the estimation of Rome, Italy, and Christendom,
Alexander III's epitaph expresses the truth, when it calls him "the
Light of the Clergy, the Ornament of the Church, the Father of his City
and of the World."
1198 - 1216 Pope Innocent
III; One of the greatest
popes of the Middle Ages; a
learned theologian; one of the greatest jurists of his time; held various ecclesiastical offices during
short reigns of Lucius III, Urban III, Gregory VIII, and Clement III; re-established papal authority in Rome; scarcely a country in Europe over which
Innocent III did not in
some way or other assert supremacy he claimed for the papacy; During his reign two great founders of the
mendicant orders,
St. Dominic and St. Francis, laid before him their scheme of reforming
the world. Innocent was not blind to the vices of luxury and indolence
which had infected many of the clergy and part of the laity. In Dominic
and Francis he recognized two mighty adversaries of these vices and he
sanctioned their projects with words of encouragement. He wrote "De quadripartita specie
nuptiarum" (P. L., CCXVII,
923-968), an exposition of the fourfold marriage bond, namely, between
man and wife, between Christ and the Church, between God and the just
soul, between the Word and human nature - - entirely based on passages
from Holy Scripture. 
1216-1227 Honorius
III he set his mind on the achievement of two great things, the
recovery of the Holy Land in the Fifth Crusade and a spiritual reform
of the entire Church; but quite in contrast with Innocent III he sought
these achievements by kindness and indulgence rather than by force and
severity.
1227-1241 Pope
Gregory IX During
the thirteen years and four months of his pontificate he created about
fourteen cardinals, many of whom were members of religious orders. The
best known among them are Sinibald of Fiesco, a learned canonist, who
afterwards ascended the papal throne as Innocent IV; Raynald of Segni,
a nephew of Gregory IX, who succeeded Innocent IV as Alexander IV; Otto
of Montferrat, who spent over three years (1237-1240) as papal legate
in England; Jacob of Vitry, an author, confessor of St. Mary of
Oignies, whose life he wrote (Acta SS., June, IV, 636-66); St. Francis
Nonatus; and the learned and pious Englishman, Robert of Somercote,
who, it is said, would have succeeded Gregory IX on the papal throne
had he not died during the conclave (26 Sept., 1241). Gregory IX was
also a man of learning, which he encouraged in various ways. He
bestowed many privileges on the University of Paris, his Alma Mater,
but also watched carefully over its professors, whom he warned
repeatedly against the growing tendency of subjecting theology to
philosophy by making the truth of the mysteries of faith dependent on
philosophical proofs. He also possesses the great merit of having again
made Aristotelianism the basis of scholastic philosophy, after the
Physics of Aristotle had been prohibited in 1210; and his Metaphysics
in 1215. The prohibition of Aristotle was meant only for the perverted
Latin translation of his works and their Averroistic commentaries.
Gregory IX commissioned William of Auvergne and other learned men to
purge the works of Aristotle of their errors and thus made them again
accessible to students. Among the greatest achievements of Gregory IX
must be counted the collection of papal decretals, a work with which he
entrusted Raymond of Pennaforte and which was completed in 1234 (see
DECRETALS).
1276
Teobaldo
Visconti Pope
St. Gregory X 1210-1276; 1283 BD JOHN
OF VERCELLI Immediately on his election to the
see of Rome, Bd Gregory X
imposed on John of Vercelli and his friars the task of again pacifying
the quarrelling states of Italy, and three years later he was ordered
to draw up a schema for the second ecumenical Council of Lyons. At the
council he met Jerome of Ascoli (afterwards Pope Nicholas IV), who had
succeeded St Bonaventure as minister general of the Franciscans, and
the two addressed a joint letter to the whole body of friars. Later on
they were sent together by the Holy See to mediate between Philip III
of France and Alfonso X of Castile, continuing the work of peace-maker,
in which John excelled.
1288-92
Jerome Masci of Ascoli Pope
Nicholas IV second ecumenical Council
of Lyons; 1st Fransciscan Pope; In 1291 John of Monte Corvino
(1247-1328) left Tabriz as a legate of Pope Nicholas IV to the
court of Kublai Khan. An Italian merchant, a Dominican friar and John
traveled to western India where the Dominican died. When John and the
Italian merchant arrived in China in 1294, Kublai Khan had recently
died.
1294
Pope St. Celestine V The
birthday of St. Peter of Moroni who, while
leading the life of an anchoret, was created Sovereign Pontiff and
called Celestine V. He later abdicated the pontificate, and led a
religious life in solitude, where, renowned for virtues and miracles,
he went to the Lord. 
1389-1404
Pope Boniface IX; He lacked good theological training and skill in
the conduct of curial business, but was by nature tactful and prudent.
His firm charater and mild manner did much to restore respect for the
papacy in the countries of his own obedience (Germany, England,
Hungary, Poland, and the greater part of Italy); In the course of
his reign Boniface extinguished the municipal independence of Rome and
established the supremacy of the pope. He secured the final adhesion of
the Romans (1398) by fortifying anew the Castle of Sant' Angelo, the
bridges, and other points of vantage. He also took over the port of
Ostia from its cardinal-bishop. In the Papal States Boniface gradually
regained control of the chief strongholds and cities, and is the true
founder of these States as they appear in the fifteenth century. Owing
to the faithlessness and violence of the Romans he resided frequently
at Perugia, Assisi, and elsewhere. Clement VII, the Avignon pope, died
16 September, 1394. Boniface had excommunicated him shortly after his
own election, and in turn had been excommunicated by Clement. In 1392
Boniface attempted, but in vain, to enter into closer relations with
Clement for the re-establishment of ecclesiastical unity, whereupon
Boniface reasserted with vigour his own legitimacy. Clement was
succeeded at Avignon, 28 September, 1394, by Cardinal Pedro de Luna, as
Benedict XIII. Suffice it to say here that Boniface always claimed to
be the true pope, and at all times rejected the proposal to abdicate
even when it was supported by the principal members of his own
obedience, e.g. Richard II of England (1396), the Diet of Frankfort
(1397), and King Wenceslaus of Germany (Reims, 1398); Contemporary and
later chroniclers praise the political virtues of Boniface, also the
purity of his life, and the grandeur of his spirit.
1417 - 1431 Pope
Martin V; Nov 28 his journey
to Rome, where he arrived on 28 September, 1420. He at
once set to work, establishing order and restoring the dilapidated
churches, palaces, bridges, and other public structures. For this
reconstruction he engaged some famous masters of the Tuscan school, and
thus laid the foundation for the Roman Renaissance. When practically a
new Rome had risen from the ruins of the old, the pope turned his
attention to the rest of the Papal States, which during the schism had
become an incoherent mass of independent cities and provinces. After
the death of Braccio di Montone in June 1424, Perugia, Assisi, Todi and
Jesi freely submitted to the papal territory. Bologna again revolted in
1428, but returned to the papal allegiance in the following year. In
these activities, Martin V was greatly assisted by his kindred, the
Colonna family, whom he overwhelmed with important civil and
ecclesiastical offices. In his case, however, the charge of nepotism
loses some of its odiousness, for, when, he came to Rome, he was a
landless ruler and could look for support to no one except his
relatives. 
remarkable for his
mortified life, his
firmness of purpose, and prudence in face of serious difficulties; proclaimed
innocence of the Maid of Orléans; chiefly concerned with
the
organization of Christian Europe against the invasion of the
Turks.
Callistus III must ever be regarded as a man of lofty ideals, of
boundless courage, energy, and perseverance. He realized the dangers
which then confronted Europe, and made every effort to unite its
Christian princes for the defence of their own countries; if he failed,
the blame must fall not on the pope, but on those who refused to
hearken to his counsels.
1523-1534 Clement VII (GIULIO DE’ MEDICI) 
1534 1549 Pope
Paul III;
contemporaries praise his proficiency in all the learning of the
Renaissance, especially in his mastery of classical Latin and Italian; He wore the purple for over forty years,
passing through the several gradations, until he became Dean of the
Sacred College. In
accordance with the abuses of his time, he accumulated a number
of opulent benefices, and spent his immense revenue with a generosity
which won for him the praises of artists and the affection of the Roman
populace. His native ability and diplomatic skill, acquired by long
experience, made him tower above his colleagues in the Sacred College,
even as his Palazzo Farnese excelled in magnificence all the other
palaces of Rome. That he continued to grow in favour under pontiffs so
different in character as the Borgia, Rovera, and Medici popes is a
sufficient proof of his tact. 
1566-1572 St
Pius V
1572-1585
Pope
Gregory XIII (January 7, 1502 – April 10, 1585), born Ugo
Boncompagni; No other act
of Gregory has gained for him a more lasting
fame than reform of the Julian calendar completed introduced 1578.
Closely connected with
the reform of the calendar is the emendation of the Roman martyrology
ordered by Gregory 1580. In a brief, dated 14 January, 1584,
Gregory XIII ordered
that the new martyrology should supersede all others. Another great
literary achievement of Gregory XIII is an official Roman edition of
the Corpus juris canonici. Shortly after the conclusion of the Council
of Trent, Pius IV appointed a committee to bring out a
critical edition of the Decree of Gratian; increased
to 35 (correctores Romani) by Pius V 1566. Gregory
XIII a member from the beginning; finally
completed in 1582. In the Briefs "Cum pro munere", dated 1 July, 1580,
and "Emendationem", dated 2 June, 1582, Gregory ordered that
henceforth only the emended official text was to be used and that in
the future no other text should be printed. 
1592-1605 Pope
Clement VIII St. Philip
Neri, for thirty years was his confessor; To him we owe the institution of the Forty
Hours' Devotion. He
founded at Rome the Collegio Clementino for the education of the sons
of the richer classes, and augmented the number of national colleges in
Rome by opening the Collegio Scozzese for the training of missionaries
to Scotland. The "Bullarium Romanum" contains many important
constitutions of Clement, notably one denouncing duelling and one
providing for the inviolability of the States of the Church.
1605-1621 Pope
Paul V; a canonist of
marked ability; watched
vigilantly over the interests of
the Church in every nation. Paul
V was no more free from nepotism than the other pontiffs of
that century. But if he seemed to show too many favours to his
relatives, it must be said that they were capable men of blameless
lives, and devoted their large revenues to the embellishment of Rome.
Paul had the honour of putting the finishing touches to St. Peter's,
which had been building for a century. He enriched the Vatican Library,
was fond of art, and encouraged Guido Reni. He canonized St. Charles
Borromeo and St. Frances of Rome. He beatified Sts. Ignatius Loyola,
Francis Xavier, Philip Neri, Theresa the Carmelite, Louis Bertrand,
Thomas of Villanova, and Isidore of Madrid. During his pontificate a
large number of new institutes for education and charity added new
lustre to religion. His remains were placed in the magnificent Borghese
chapel in St. Mary Major's, where his monument is universally admired. 
1655-1667 Alexander
VII; Fabio Chigi,
At
Münster Barbarigo became acquainted with the apostolic nuncio, Fabio Chigi, who was so favourably
impressed with him that, after he had been raised to the papal throne
as Alexander VII, he showed
the young Venetian many tokens of his esteem and became his strong
Supporter. In 1657 he nominated him to the bishopric of Bergamo, in
1660 he created him a cardinal, and in 1664 he transferred him to the
bishopric of Padua.
1667-1669 Pope
Clement IX; elected
to the papacy by the unanimous Sacred
College vote; idol of the Romans erudition application
to business, his extreme charity, and his affability towards
great and small; 2 days/week
occupied confessional in St. Peter's
church heard any one who wished to confess; frequently
visited hospitals, lavish in alms to the poor; he did little or nothing
to advance or enrich his
family; aversion to notoriety, refused to permit his name to
be placed on the buildings erected during his reign; declared blessed,
Rose of Lima, first American saint, solemnly canonized S. Maria
Maddalena dei Pazzi and St.
Peter of Alcantara; death of
the beloved pontiff was long lamented by Romans, who
considered him, if not the greatest, at least the most amiable of the
popes. 
1689 Bl. Innocent
XI Benedetto
Odescalchi
1700 1721 Pope
Clement XI Giovanni
Francesco was sent to Rome in his 11th year to
prosecute studies at the Roman College. He made rapid progress; known
as an author at 18, translating from the
Greek into elegant Latin. He attracted the notice of the patroness of
Roman literati, Queen Christina of Sweden, who before he became of age
enrolled him in her exclusive Accademia. With equal ardour and success,
he applied himself to the profounder branches, theology and law, and
was created doctor of canon and civil law. So brilliant an intellect,
joined with stainless morals and piety, secured for him a rapid
advancement at the papal court. At the age of twenty-eight he was made
a prelate, and governed successively Rieti, Sabina, and Orvieto,
everywhere acceptable on account of his reputation for justice and
prudence. Recalled to Rome, he was appointed Vicar of St. Peter's, and
on the death of Cardinal Slusio succeeded to the important position of
Secretary of Papal Briefs, which he held for thirteen years, and for
which his command of classical latinity singularly fitted him. On 13
February, 1690, he was created cardinal-deacon and later
Cardinal-Priest of the Title of San Silvestro, and was ordained to the
priesthood. 
1724 Pope
Innocent XIII 1655 1724 Most Holy Name of Jesus
extended this feast to the
entire Church In 1721, Declared Isidore of Spain Doctor
in 1711
1724-1730 Pope
Benedict XIII placed St John of the
Crux on the list of the saints; In
government of his diocese, Cardinal Orsini unremitting
in labours and zeal; visited even the most remote hamlets and
was not less watchful over temporal than over spiritual things;
provided needs of the people, repaired churches held a
diocesan synod, the decrees of which he published; In 1680, when
Innocent XI transferred him to Cesena, he left to the people of Siponto
a memorial of his apostolic activity, his devotion to the poor and his
constant preaching brought about a thorough-going reformation among
both clergy and people. Seeing on his frequent journeys the condition
of the churches in even the poorest parishes, he neglected none and by
the promulgation of strict rules, he abolished all known abuses; This long delay weighed heavily on the soul
of Orsini, who
commenced a novena of prayers to his patron, St. Philip Neri, that the
election of a new pope might be no longer delayed. Before the novena
was finished he saw with terror that he himself would be chosen, and,
reluctant to accept a position which filled him with dread, he sought
by all means in his power to prevent his election. Against his oft
repeated protestations he was chosen 29 May, 1724, and even after the
final vote was taken he refused to yield, arguing that his age, his
physical weakness, his incapacity, and a resolution which he made never
to become pope, should exempt him from such a grave responsibility. He
yielded only when it was made clear to him that grave dangers were to
be feared if the conclave should be reopened. So with tears, and
obeying the command of the general of his order, he allowed himself to
be proclaimed pope; His first
concern as pope was to enforce rigidly ecclesiastical
discipline. He issued several decrees on ecclesiastical dress and was
unsparing in his efforts to abolish any semblance of luxury or worldly
pomp among the cardinals; Benedict's
theological writings were published in three volumes (Ravenna,
1728). 
1730-1740 Pope Clement
XII (LORENZO CORSINI).
1740-1758 Pope
Benedict XIV is best known
to history as a student and a scholar.
Though by no means a genius, his enormous application coupled with more
than ordinary cleverness of mind made him one of the most erudite men
of his time and gave him the distinction of being perhaps the greatest
scholar among the popes. His character was many-sided, and his range of
interests large. His devotion to science and the serious investigation
of historical problems did not interfere with his purely literary
studies. "I have been reproached", he once said, "because of my
familiarity with Tasso and Dante and Ariosto, but they are a necessity
to me in order to give energy to my thought and life to my style." This
devotion to the arts and sciences brought Lambertini throughout his
whole life into close and friendly contact with the most famous authors
and scholars of his time. Montfaucon, whom he knew in Rome, said of
him, "Young as he is, he has two souls: one for science, the other for
society." This last characterization did not interfere with his
restless activity in any of the many important positions which he was
called on to fill, nor did it diminish his marvellous capacity for the
most arduous work. 
1758-1769 Pope
Clement
XIII; Oct
20; the Jansenist
Abbé Clément, a grudging witness, tells us that "he
was called the saint (by his people), and was an exemplary man who,
notwithstanding the immense revenues of his diocese and his private
estate, was always without money owing to the lavishness of his
alms-deeds, and would give away even his linen"
1775 1799 Pope
Pius VI;
Born at Cesena, 27 December, 1717; elected 15 February, 1775; died
at Valence, France, 29 Aug., 1799. He was of a noble but impoverished
family, and was educated at the Jesuit College of Cesena and studied
law at Ferrara. After a diplomatic mission to Naples, he was appointed
papal secretary and canon of St. Peter's in 1755. Clement XIII
appointed him treasurer of the Roman Church in 1766, and Clement XIV
made him a cardinal in 1775. He then retired to the Abbey of Subiaco,
of which he was commendatory abbot, until his election as Pius
VI.
the French took Rome on 10 Feb., 1798, and proclaimed the Roman
Republic on 15 Feb. Because the pope refused to submit, he was forcibly
taken from Rome on the night of 20 Feb., and brought first to Siena and
then to Florence. At the end of March, 1799, though seriously ill, he
was hurried to Parma, Piacenza, Turin, then over the Alps to
Briançon
and Grenoble, and finally to Valence, where he succumbed to his
sufferings before he could be brought further. 
1846--1878
Pius IX (Giovanni
Maria Mastai-Ferretti, devotion to Mary led him to favor
the Proclamation of the
Immaculate Conception (December 8, 1854)
20 February, 1878; 20 July, 1903; Pope
Leo XIII Gioacchino Vincenzo
Raffaele Luigi Pecci doctorate
of theology;
Civilization owes much to Leo for his stand on the social question. The
ecclesiastical sciences found a generous patron in Pope Leo. Even among
the Copts his efforts at reunion made headway. Under Leo the Catholic
Faith made great progress; With regard to the Kingdom of Italy, Leo
XIII maintained Pius IX's attitude of protest; in Portugal the
Government ceased to support the Goan schism, and in 1886 a concordat
was drawn up.
Pius_X_1903_14.jpg
1914
St. Pius
X "I was born poor, I have lived in poverty, and I
wish to die poor"
Benedetto XV), (21
November 1854 – 22
January 1922), born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa,
reigned as Pope from 3 September 1914 to 22 January 1922; he succeeded
Pope Pius X (1903–14).
1922-1939 Pope
Pius XI Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti declared
St John of the Crux a
doctor of the
universal Church (1857 -
1939) Italian scholar & pope.
He issued the encyclical Quas Primas establishing the feast of Christ
the King, and took as his papal motto "Christ's peace in Christ's
kingdom". Pius XI fought the 2 ascendant ideologies of communism and
fascism. Onetime librarian/ mountain climber; reorganized archives.
Nevertheless, Pius XI was hardly a withdrawn and bookish figure. A man
of stature, he possessed an iron will and did not hesitate to assert
his position. Maria Soledad Micaela Desmaisieres y
Lopez de Dicastillo, often
called Madre Sacramento because she founded a religious Order of
Sisters consecrated especially to the Blessed Sacrament
was beatified in 1925 and canonized on March 4, 1934 by Pope Pius XI
1939-1958 Pope Pius XII; 260th Pius XII wrote, "I have seen the 'miracle
of the sun,'
this is the pure
truth." four times; "4 p.m. on Oct. 30, 1950", again on "the
31st of October and Nov. 1, the day of the definition of the dogma of
the Assumption, and then again Nov. 8, then after that, no more.
Occurred during his, "habitual
walk in the Vatican Gardens, reading and
studying," having arrived to the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, "toward
the top of the hill […] I was awestruck by a phenomenon that before now
I had never seen. The sun, which was still quite high, looked
like a
pale, opaque sphere, entirely surrounded by a luminous circle," he
recounted. And one could look at the sun, "without the slightest
bother. There was a very light little cloud in front of it." The
Holy
Father's note goes on to describe "the opaque sphere" that
"moved outward slightly, either spinning, or moving from left to right
and vice versa. But within the sphere, you could see marked movements
with total clarity and without interruption."
1963 Pope_John_XXIII