PLATINA'S LIBER PONTIFICALIS ON THE POPES OF THE FIFTH CENTURY

 

 

INNOCENTIUS I. A.D. 402-417.

 

INNOCENTIUS, an Alban, son of Innocentius, was bishop in part of the reign of Theodosius, who, with great conduct and singular despatch, overcame the usurper Maximus, and at Aquileia, whither he had fled, retaliated upon him the death of Gratian,—a fate which the good Bishop Martinus had foretold to Maximus himself, when he was going, against all right and justice, to invade Italy, having drained Britain of its military forces, and left it an easy prey to the Scots and Picts. Moreover, Theodosius, relying wholly upon the Divine aid, in a very short time defeated not only Andragatius, Maximus's general, and Victor his son, but Argobastus and Eugenius, two other usurpers; which was the occasion of that strain of the poet Claudian upon this Emperor's success :

Darling of Heaven, with whom the skies combine,

And the confederate winds in battle join!

He was not only a great soldier, but a very pious and devout man, as appears by his carriage upon the repulse he found at the Church of Milan; for, being forbidden entrance by Ambrose the bishop of it, till he should have repented of a certain crime committed by him, he so well resented the bishop's plain dealing with him, that he frankly gave him thanks for it, and completed his course of penance for the fact that had been the occasion of it. By his Empress Flaccilla he had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius. Being once in a great transport of rage against the citizens of Thessalonica for their having killed a soldier, or, as others say, a magistrate of his, all the clergy of Italy were scarce able to keep him from destroying the whole city upon that provocation. But afterwards coming to himself, and understanding the matter better, being convinced of his error, he both bewailed the fact which he had only willed, but not executed, and also made a law that the punitive decrees of princes should be deferred for three days, that so they might have space left for compassion or retraction. It is reported of him that, when at any time he was in a sudden heat of anger, he would force himself to repeat over distinctly all the letters of the alphabet, that so in the meantime his anger might evaporate. It is said also that he contracted a great friendship with one John, an Anchorite, whose advice he always used, both in war and peace. But in the fiftieth year of his age he died at Milan.

Innocentius, improving the opportunity of such a peaceable state of affairs and so propitious a prince, made several constitutions concerning matters of the Church. He appointed that every Saturday should be a fast, because our blessed Saviour lay in the grave, and His disciples fasted on that day. He made certain laws concerning the Jews and pagans, and for the regulation of monks. By the consent of Theodosius he banished from the city and confined to a monastic life the Cataphrygian heretics of the gang of Montanus, Priscilla, and Maximilla. Moreover, he condemned the heresy of Pelagius and Coelestinus, who preferred free-will before the Divine grace, and asserted, that men by their own natural strength were able to perform the laws of God; against whom St Austin wrote largely. But Pelagius persisting obstinately in his opinions against all conviction, went into Britain and infected the whole island with his errors, being assisted by Julian, his companion and confederate in that wicked design. He also consecrated the church of Gervasius and Protasius, erected and beautified at the cost of a lady named Vestina, whose goods and jewels, bequeathed by will, were sold according to a just appraisement, and employed to that purpose. This church was endowed with several estates both in houses and land within and without the city, and the cure of it, and that of St Agnes, given to Leopardus and Paulinus, two presbyters. In his time lived Apollinarius, Bishop of Laodicea (from whom the Apollinarians had their name and original), a man vehement and subtle at disputation; who maintained, that our Saviour at His incarnation took only a body, not a soul; but being pressed hard with arguments to the contrary, he at length granted that He had indeed an animal soul but not a rational one, that being supplied by His divinity,—an opinion which had been before exploded by Damasus and Peter, Bishop of Alexandria. But Martianus, Bishop of Barcelona, a man eminent for his chastity and eloquence, was very orthodox in matters of faith, and a great opposer of the Novatian heresy. Cyril also, Bishop of Jerusalem, who before had been several times deposed and as often restored, at length, under Theodosius the Emperor, held his episcopal dignity peaceably and without interruption eight years together, and became a great writer. Euzoius, who in his youth had been co-disciple to Gregory Nazianzen at Cesarea, under Thespesius the rhetorician, took a vast deal of pains in amending and rectifying the corrupted copies of the works of Origen and Pamphilus, and was himself a considerable author. At the same time Hieronymus, a presbyter living in Bethlehem, was a very successful propagator of Christianity, as appears by his writings. Now also the Synod of Bordeaux condemned the doctrine of Priscillian, a heresy patched up out of the tenets of the Gnostics and Manichees, of whom we have spoken above. Our Innocentius, having at four ordinations made thirty presbyters, twelve deacons, fifty-four bishops, died and was buried July the 28th. He sat in the chair fifteen years, two months, twenty-five days and by his death the see was vacant twenty- two days.

 

 

Z O S I M U S. a.d. 417-418.

 

ZOSIMUS, a Grecian, his father's name Abraham, lived during the reign of Arcadius and Honorius, who succeeded their father Theodosius, in the Empire.

These divided the government between them, Arcadius ruling in the east, and Honorius in the west, though Theodosius had left them to the tuition of three of his generals, who, as their guardians and protectors, were to manage affairs in their minority; Ruffinus in the east, Stilico in the west, and Gildo in Africa. But they, moved with ambition and a thirst after greatness, and not doubting to get the advantage of the young princes, set up every one for himself. Against Gildo, who was engaged in a rebellion in Africa, his injured and incensed brother, Mascezel, is sent with an army, and soon defeats and puts him to flight, who not long after died, either through grief or by poison. And Mascezel himself, being so puffed up with this success, that he falls into a great contempt of God and cruelty towards men, is killed by his own soldiers. Ruffinus also, who endeavoured to possess himself of the empire of the east, is surprised and punished by Arcadius. At this time Rhadaguisus, King of the Goths, invaded Italy, and laid all waste with fire and sword wherever he came; but, by the Roman army, under the command of Stilico, he was vanquished and slain on the mountains of Fiesoli. Him Alaricus succeeded, whom Stilico, to work his own ambitious designs, very much countenanced and assisted, when he might have conquered him. But in the end, Alaricus being now at Polentia, on his way to Gaul, part of which Honorius had granted to him and his followers to inhabit, had disturbance given him by one Saul, a Hebrew by birth and religion, whom Stilico to the foul breach of articles had sent with a party for that purpose. It was an easy matter to surprise and disorder the Goths, who little suspected any such practices, and were peaceably celebrating the feast of Easter. But the day following, Alaricus engaging with them slew Saul, and made a universal slaughter of his men, and then changing his former course towards Gaul, moves against Stilico and the Roman army. These he overcame, and then after a long and grievous siege, takes the city of Rome itself, A.U.C. 1163, A.D. 411. Notwithstanding this success, Alaricus exercised so much moderation and clemency, that he commanded his soldiers to put as few to the sword as might be, and particularly to spare all that should fly for refuge to the churches of St Peter and St Paul. After three days' plunder he leaves the city (which had suffered less damage than was thought, very little of it being burnt), and marches against the Lucani and Bruti, and having taken and sacked Cosenza, he there dies. Whereupon the Goths with one consent made his kinsman, Athaulphus, his successor; who, returning to Rome with his army, was so wrought upon by the Emperor Honorius's sister, Galla Placidia, whom he had married, that he restrained his soldiers from committing any further outrages, and left the city to its own government. He had it certainly once in his purpose to have razed to the ground the then city of Rome, and to have built a new one which he would have called Gotthia, and have left to the ensuing emperors his own name, so that they should not any longer have had the title of Augusti, but Athaulphi. But Placidia not only brought his mind off from that project, but also prevailed with him to enter into a league with Honorius and Theodosius the Second, the son of Arcadius.

Zosimus, notwithstanding all these disturbances, made several ecclesiastical constitutions; allowed the blessing of wax-tapers on the Saturday before Easter in the several parishes; forbade the clergy to frequent public drinking-houses (though allowing them all innocent liberty among themselves), or any servant to be made a clergyman, because that order ought to consist of none but free and ingenuous persons. Whereas now, not only servants and bastards, but the vile off-spring of the most flagitious parents are admitted to that dignity, whose enormities will certainly at long-run prove fatal to the Church. It is said that Zosimus at this time sent Faustinus, a bishop, and two presbyters of the city, to the council of Carthage, by them declaring that no debates concerning ecclesiastical affairs ought to be managed anywhere without permission of the Church of Rome. During his pontificate lived Lucius, a bishop of the Arian faction, who wrote certain books upon several subjects. Diodorus also, Bishop of Tarsus, during his being a presbyter of Antioch, was a great writer; following the sense of Eusebius, but not able to reach his style for want of skill in secular learning. Tiberianus likewise, who had been accused together with Priscillian, wrote an apology to free himself from the suspicion of heresy. Evagrius, a man of smart and brisk parts, translated into Latin "The Life of St Anthony", written in Greek by Athanasius. Ambrosius of Alexandria, a scholar of Didymus, wrote a large volume against Apollinarius. At this time flourished those two famous bishops, Theophilus of Alexandria, and John of Constantinople, for the greatness of his eloquence deservedly surnamed Chrysostom, who so far prevailed upon Theodorus and Maximus, two co-disciples of his, that they left their masters, Libanius the rhetorician, and Andragatius the philosopher, and became proselytes to Christianity. This Libanius, lying now at the point of death, being asked whom he would leave successor in his school, made answer, that he desired no other than Chrysostom, were he not a Christian. At this time the decrees of the council of Carthage, being sent to Zosimus, were by him confirmed, and thereby the Pelagian heresy condemned throughout the world. Some tell us that Petronius, Bishop of Bononia, and Possidonius, an African bishop, had now gained a mighty reputation for sanctity; that Primasius wrote largely against the heresies to Bishop Fortunatus; and that Proba, wife to Adelphus the proconsul, composed an historical poem of our Saviour's life, consisting wholly of Virgilian verse, though others attribute the honour of this performance to Eudoxia, Empress of Theodosius the younger. But certainly the most learned person of the age he lived in was Augustinus, St Ambrose's convert, Bishop of Hippo in Africa, a most strenuous defender of the Christian faith, both in discourse and writing. As for Zosimus, having ordained ten presbyters, three deacons, eight bishops, he died, and was buried in the Via Tiburtina, near the body of St Laurence the martyr, December 26th. He sat in the chair one year, three months, twelve days, and by his death the see was vacant eleven days.

 

 

BONIFACIUS I. a.d. 419-422.

 

BONIFACE, a Roman, son of Jucundus, a presbyter, was bishop in the time of Honorius.

At this time a great dissension arose among the clergy, for though Boniface was chosen bishop in one church of the city by one party, yet Eulalius was elected and set up against him by a contrary faction in another. This, when Honorius, who was now at Milan, came to understand, at the solicitation of his sister Placidia, and her son Valentinian, they were both banished the city. But about seven months after Boniface was recalled, and confirmed in the pontifical dignity.

In the meantime, Athaulphus dying, Vallias was made king of the Goths, who, being terrified by the judgments inflicted on his people, restored Placidia, whom he had always used very honourably, to her brother Honorius, and entered into a league with him, giving very good hostages for the confirmation of it; as did also the Alanes, Vandals, and Suevians. This Placidia Honorius gave in marriage to Constantius, whom he had declared Caesar, who had by her a son named Valentinian; but she being afterwards banished by her brother, went into the East with her sons Honorius and Valentinian.

Our Boniface ordained that no woman, though a nun, should touch the consecrated pall or incense: and that no servant or debtor should be admitted into the clergy. Moreover, he built an oratory upon the ground where St Felicitas the martyr was buried, and very much adorned her tomb. During his pontificate flourished divers famous men, especially Hierom, a presbyter, son of Eusebius, born at a town called Stridon, seated in the confines of Dalmatia and Hungaria, but demolished by the Goths. It is not to my purpose to rehearse how great benefit the Church of God reaped from his life and writings, since he is known to have been a person of extraordinary sanctity, and his works are had in so great honour and esteem, that no author is more read by learned men than he. He died at Bethlehem on the last day of September in the ninety-first year of his age. Besides him there were also Gelasius, successor to Euzoius in the bishopric of Caesarea Palestinae, a man of excellent parts; Dexter, son of Pacianus, who compiled an history inscribed to St Hierom; Amphilochius, who wrote concerning the Holy Ghost in an elegant style; and Sophronius, commended by St Hierom for his learned book of the "Destruction of Serapis". It is said also that at this time Lucianus, a presbyter, directed by a divine revelation, found out the sepulchres of St Stephen the proto-martyr, and Gamaliel, St Paul's master, of which he gave an account to all the churches by an epistle in Greek, which was afterwards translated into Latin by Abundus, a Spaniard, and sent to Orosius. Some likewise tell us that John Cassianus and Maximine, two very learned men, lived in this age; but though it be doubtful of them, it is not so concerning Eutropius, St Austin's scholar, who, in a handsome style, epitomised the Roman history, from the building of the city to his own times; and who, moreover, wrote to his two sisters, recluses, concerning chastity, and the love of religion; to whom we may add Juvenal, the Bishop of Constantinople, and Heros, a disciple of St Martin, the wrongfully deposed Bishop of Aries, both men of great reputation for sanctity. As for

Boniface himself, having at one ordination made thirteen presbyters, three deacons, thirty-six bishops, he died October 25th, and was buried in the Via Salaria, near the body of St Felicitas the martyr. He sat in the chair three years, eight months, seven days. Boniface being dead, some of the clergy recalled Eulalius, but he either, through indignation at his former repulse, or from contempt of worldly greatness, disdained the revocation, and died the year following. The see was then vacant nine days.

 

 

CAELESTINUS I. a.d. 422-432.    

                                                                                           

CAELESTINE, a Campanian, lived in the times of Theodosius the younger. This Theodosius, upon the death of that excellent prince Honorius, creates the son of his aunt Placidia, Valentinian, Caesar, and commits to his charge the Western Empire, who, being immediately, by the universal consent of all Italy acknowledged their emperor, and actually entering upon the government at Ravenna, was wonderfully prosperous in subduing the enemies of the Roman state, and particularly John the usurper. In the meantime the Vandals, Alemans and Goths, a barbarous and savage people, passing over out of Spain into Africa, under the conduct of their king Gensericus, not only miserably depopulated and harassed that province with fire and sword, but also corrupted the Catholic faith there with the mixture of Arianism, and banished some orthodox bishops; during which troubles St Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, died in the third month of the siege of that city, August 28th, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. The Vandals having taken Carthage, sailed to Sicily, and made the like havoc in that island; as also did the Picts and Scots in the island of Britain. In this extremity the Britains implored the aid of Aetius, a patrician and a famous soldier, but he not only denied them his assistance, but having other ambitious designs to carry on, solicited the Huns to invade Italy. The Britains being thus deserted by Aetius, call over the Saxons or English to their help, whom they soon found more their enemies than assistants; for being in a little time overrun by them, they lost both their country and their name. While these things were transacting, Theodosius, dying at Constantinople in the twenty-seventh year of his and his uncle Honorius's reign, Bleda and Atilla, two brothers, kings of the Huns, invading Illyricum, laid waste and burned all places to which they came.

Notwithstanding our Caelestine ordained several rites appertaining to divine worship, as that, besides the epistle and gospel before the Mass, the Psalms of David should be sung by all alternately. Martinus Cassinas tells us, that the Psalm Judica me Deus, "Give sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause," &c., which is used at the beginning of the sacrifice, was introduced by him; as likewise the Gradual is ascribed to him. Many other ecclesiastical constitutions he made, to be seen in the archives of the Church. He also dedicated and enriched the Julian church. At this time Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, endeavoured to sow a new error in the Church, asserting that Christ was born of the Virgin Mary a mere man, and that the Divinity was conferred upon him of merit. To this impious doctrine Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, and our Caelestine, opposed themselves very strenuously. For in a synod of two hundred bishops, held at Ephesus, Nestorius himself, and the heresy denominated from him, together with the Pelagians, who were great favourers of the Nestorian party, were by universal consent condemned in thirteen canons levelled against their foolish opinions. More­over, Celestine sent Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, into England to oppose the Pelagian heresy, and reduce the inhabitants to the orthodox faith; and Palladius, whom he had made a bishop, to the Scots, who desired to be instructed in the Christian religion. And indeed it cannot be denied but that, by his endeavours and the industry of those whom he employed to that purpose, a great part of the west were con­verted to Christianity. It is said that at this time the devil assumed human shape, and pretended himself to be Moses, and imposed upon a multitude of Jews, by undertaking to conduct them out of the island of Crete into the land of promise through the sea, as upon dry land, in imitation of the ancient miracle wrought for that people at the Red Sea. Many of them followed this false Moses, and perished in the waters, those only being reported to have been saved who presently owned Christ to be the true God. Our Caelestine having, at three Decembrian ordinations, made thirty-two presbyters, twelve deacons, sixty-two bishops, died, and was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, in the Via Salaria, April 6th. He sat in the chair ten years, ten months, seventeen days, and by his death the see was vacant twenty-one days.

 

 

SIXTUS III. a.d. 432-440.

 

SIXTUS the Third, a Roman, son of Sixtus, lived in the time of Valentinian, who, being governor of the Western Empire, entered into a league with Gensericus, king of the Vandals, whom he permitted to inhabit part of Africa, confining themselves within certain boundaries agreed upon between them. Genseric being afterwards instigated by the Arians, became very zealous in propagating their errors, and violently persecuted the orthodox bishops. And Valentinian going to Constantinople, and there marrying Theodosius's daughter, the Vandals in the meantime, under Genseric's conduct, retook and sacked Carthage in the five hundred and eighty-fourth year since its first being in the hands of the Romans. While these things were transacting in Africa, Attila, King of the Huns, not contented to have invaded the two Hungaries, miserably harasses Macedonia, Mysia, Achaia, and the Thraces; and then, that he might have no sharer in the kingdom, puts to death his brother Bleda. Soon after, his growing ambition prompts him to endeavour the gaining of the western Empire; and therefore getting together in a very little time a great army, he begins his march upon that design. This Aetius having intelligence of, forthwith sends ambassadors to Toulouse to King Theodoric to strike up a peace, with whom so strict a league was concluded, that they both jointly engage in the war against Attila, at a common charge and with equal forces. The Romans and Theodoric had for their auxiliaries the Alanes, Burgundians, Franks, Saxons, and indeed almost all the people of the west. At length Attila comes upon them in the fields of Catalonia, and battle is joined with great valour and resolution on either side. The fight was long and sharp; a voice being overheard, none knowing from whence it came, was the occasion of putting an end to the dispute. In this engagement were slain on both sides eighteen thousand men, neither army flying or giving ground. And yet it is said that Theodoric, Father of King Thurismond, was killed in this action.

Sixtus had not long enjoyed the pontificate before he was publicly accused by one Bassus; but in a synod of fifty-seven bishops he made such a defence of himself, that he was by them all with one consent acquitted. Bassus, his false accuser, was, with the consent of Valentinian and his mother Placidia, excommunicated and condemned to banishment, but with this compassionate provision, that at the point of death the Viaticum of the blessed sacrament should not be denied him; the forfeiture of his estate was adjudged, not to the Emperor, but the Church. It is said that in the third month of his exile he died, and that our Bishop Sixtus did with his own hands wrap up and embalm his corpse, and then bury it in St Peter's church. Moreover, Sixtus repaired and enlarged the church of the Blessed Virgin, which was anciently called by the name ot Liberius, near the market place of Livia, then had the name of St Mary at the manger, and last of all was called St Maries the Great. That Sixtus did very much beautify and make great additions to it, appears from the inscription on the front of the first arch in these words, Xystus Episcopus Plebi Dei; for, according to the Greek orthography, the name begins with X and y, though by custom it is now written Sixtus with S and i. To this church this bishop was very liberal and munificent; among other instances adorning with porphyry stone the ambo or desk where the gospel and epistles are read. Besides what he did himself, at his persuasion the Emperor Valentinian also was very liberal in works of this nature. For over the Confessory of St Peter, which he richly adorned, he placed the image of our Saviour in gold set with jewels, and renewed those silver ornaments in the Cupola of the Lateran Church which the Goths had taken way. Some are of an opinion that in his time one Peter, a Roman presbyter, by nation a Slavonian, built the Church of St Sabina upon the Aventine, not far from the monastery of St Boniface, where St Alexius is interred. But I rather think this to have been done in the pontificate of Cselestine the first, as appears from an inscription in heroic verse, yet remaining, which expresses as much. It is said also, that at this time flourished Eusebius of Cremona and Philip, two scholars of St Hierom, both very elegant writers, as also Eucherius, Bishop of Lyons, a man of great learning and eloquence, and Hilarius, Bishop of Arles, a pious man, and of no mean parts. Our Sixtus having employed all his estate in the building and adorning of churches, and relieving the poor, and having made twenty-eight presbyters, twelve deacons, fifty- two bishops, died, and was buried in a vault in the Via Tiburtina, near the body of St Laurence. He was in the chair eight years, nine days, and by his death the see was vacant twenty-two days.

 

LEO I. THE GREAT a.d. 440-461.

 

LEO, a Tuscan, son of Quintianus, lived at the time when Attila, having returned into Hungary from the fight of Catalonia, and there recruited his army, invaded Italy, and first set down before Aquileia, a frontier city of that province, which held out a siege of three years. Despairing hereupon of success, he was just about to raise the leaguer, when observing the storks to carry their young ones out of the city into the fields, being encouraged by this omen, he renews his batteries, and making a fierce assault, at length takes the miserable city, sacks and burns it, sparing neither age nor sex, but acting agreeably to the title he assumed to himself of being God's scourge. The Huns having hereby gained an inlet into Italy, overrun all the country about Venice, possessing themselves of the cities, and demolishing Milan and Pavia. From hence Attila marching towards Rome, and being come to the place where the Menzo runs into the Po, ready to pass the river, the holy Bishop Leo, out of a tender sense of the calamitous state of Italy and of the city of Rome, and with the advice of Valentinian, goes forth and meets him, persuading him not to proceed any further, but to take warning by Alaricus, who, soon after his taking that city, was, by the judgment of God, removed out of the world. Attila takes the good bishop's counsel, being moved thereunto by a vision which he saw, while they were discoursing together, of two men (supposed to be St Peter and St Paul) brandishing their naked swords over his head, and threatening him with death, if he were refractory. Desisting therefore from his design, he returns into Hungary, where not long after he was choked with his own blood violently breaking out at his nostrils, through excess of drinking.

Leo returning to the city, applies himself wholly to the defence of the Catholic faith, which was now violently opposed by several kinds of heretics, but especially by the Nestorians and Eutychians. Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, affirmed the blessed Virgin to be mother, not of God, but of man only, that so he might make the humanity and divinity of Christ to be two distinct persons, one the son of God, the other the son of man. But Eutyches, Abbot of Constantinople, that he might broach an heresy in contradiction to the former, utterly confounded the divine and human nature of Christ, asserting them to be one, and not at all to be distinguished. This heresy being condemned by Flavianus, bishop of Constantinople, with the consent of Theodosius, a synod is called at Ephesus, in which Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, being president, Eutyches was restored, and Flavianus censured. But Theodosius dying, and his successor Marcianus, proving a friend to the orthodox doctrine, Leo calls a council at Chalcedon, wherein by the authority of six hundred and thirty bishops, it was decreed as an Article of Faith, that there are two natures in Christ, and that one and the same Christ is God and man; by which consequently, both Nestorius and Eutyches, the pestilent patron of the Manichees, were condemned. Moreover, the books of the Manichees were publicly burnt; and the pride and heretical opinions of Dioscorus discountenanced and suppressed. In the meantime, Valentinian being treacherously murdered, Maximus usurps the empire, and against her will marries Eudoxia, the widow of Valentinian. Upon this occasion, the Vandals being called out of Africa, Genseric being their leader, force their entrance into the city of Rome, throw the body of Maximus, who had keen killed in the tumult by one Ursus, a Roman soldier, into the river Tiber, plunder and burn the city, pillage the churches, and refuse to hearken to Bishop Leo begging them whatever spoils they carried away only to spare the city itself and the temples. However, on the fourteenth day from their entrance into Rome they left it, and taking away with them Eudoxia and her daughter, with a great number of other captives, they returned into Africa. Leo being now very intent upon making good the damages sustained from this people, prevailed upon Demetria, a pious virgin, to build upon her own ground in the Via Latina, three miles from the city, a church to St Stephen; and did the same himself in the Via Appia in honour of St Cornelius. The churches which had been in any part ruined, he repaired, and those of the sacred vessels belonging to them which had been bruised and broken, he caused to be mended, and those which had been taken away to be made anew; moreover, he built three apartments in the churches of St John, St Peter, and St Paul; appointed certain of the Roman clergy, whom he called Cubicularii, to keep and take charge of the sepulchres of the Apostles; built a monastery near St Peter's; introduced into the canon of the mass the clause Hoc sanctum sacrificium, this holy sacrifice, &c., and ordained that no recluse should be capable of receiving the consecrated veils, unless it did appear that she had preserved her chastity spotless for the space of forty years. But while the good man was employed in these things, there started up of a sudden the heresy of the Acephali, so-called because they were a company of foolish, undisciplined schismatics, or, if it be not a quibble, because they wanted, both brains and head. These men decried the council of Chalcedon, denied the propriety of two substances in Christ, and asserted that there could be but one nature in one person. But our Leo abundantly confuted their absurd doctrines in his elegant and learned epistles written to the faithful upon that argument. Men of note in his time were Prosper of Aquitain, a learned man, and Mamertus, bishop of Vienne, who, as it is said, was the first that appointed pro- cessionary supplications, or litanies, upon the occasion of the frequent earthquakes with which Gaul was at that time very much afflicted. To conclude, Leo, having ordained eighty-one presbyters, thirty-one deacons, and eighty-one bishops, died, and was buried in the Vatican, near St Peter, April the 10th. He sat in the chair twenty-one years, one month, thirteen days, and by his death the see was vacant eight days.

 

HILARIUS I. a.d. 461-468.

 

HILARIUS, a Sardinian, the son of Crispinus, continued in the chair till the time of the Emperor Leo, who being chosen Emperor upon the death of Marcianus, creates his son, of his own name, Augustus. During his reign the Roman State suffered very much by reason of certain ambitious men, who endeavoured to get the government into their own hands. And Genseric, the Vandal king, being tempted with so fair an opportunity, sails out of Africa into Italy with design to gain the empire for himself. Leo having intelligence hereof, sends Basilicus a patrician, with a mighty fleet, to the assistance of Anthemius, the emperor of the west. These two, with joint force and courage, meet Genseric near Populonia, and force him to an engagement at sea, in which being routed with a great slaughter of his men, he was glad to make an inglorious flight into Africa again. In the meantime, Ricimer, a Patrician, having on the mountains of Trent conquered Biorgus, king of the Alanes, and being puffed up with that victory, was purposed to attempt the city of Rome, had not Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia, made him and Anthemius friends.

Hilary, notwithstanding this confused state of things, did not neglect the care of ecclesiastical affairs, for he ordained that no bishop should choose his own successor (a constitution which belongs as well to all other ecclesiastical degrees as that of Episcopacy); he also made a decretal which he dispersed throughout Christendom; and wrote certain epistles concern­ing the Catholic faith, by which the three synods of Nice, Ephesus, and Chalcedon were confirmed, and the heretics Eutyches, Nestorius, and Dioscorus, with their adherents, condemned. In the baptistry of the Lateran church he built three oratories, which were adorned with gold and precious stones, their gates of brass covered with wrought silver; those he dedicated to St John Baptist, St John Evangelist, and St Cross. In the last of these was reposited some of the wood of the cross, enclosed in gold and set with jewels, and a golden agnus upon a pillar of onyx. He added moreover the oratory of St Stephen, built two libraries adjoining, and founded a monastery. I shall not here recite the almost numberless donations which he made to several churches of gold, silver, marble, and jewels. Some tell us that Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus, bishop of Troys, lived in his time, both great supporters of the Christian cause, which was now very much undermined by the endeavours of the Gentiles and Pelagians. Gennadius, also bishop of Constantinople, did great service to the church by the integrity of his life and the excellency of his parts and learning. During the pontificate of our Hilary, Victorinus of Aquitain, a famous arithmetician, reduced the Easter account to the course of the moon, far outdoing Eusebius and Theophilus, who had attempted it before him. And among those that flourished at this time, by some is reckoned Merline, the famous English bard, concerning whom we are told more than enough. As for Hilary himself, having performed the duty of a good bishop, both in building and adorning of churches, and also in teaching, admonishing, censuring, and giving alms where need required, and having also ordained twenty-five presbyters, five deacons, twenty-two bishops, he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of St Laurence, near the body of Bishop Sixtus. He sat in the chair seven years, three months, ten days, and by his death the see was vacant ten days.

 

SIMPLICIUS I. a.d. 468-483.

 

SIMPLICIUS, son of Castinus, born at Tivoli, was bishop during the reigns of Leo the second, and Zeno.

For Leo the first falling sick, makes choice of Leo the second, son of Zeno Isauricus, and his own nephew by Ariadne, his sister, to be his successor, who, not long after being seized by a violent distemper, and apprehending himself to be at the point of death, leaves the empire to his father Zeno. In the meantime Odoacer, invading Italy with a great army of his Heruli and Turingians, conquers and takes prisoner, Orestes, a noble Roman, near Pavia, and then causes him to be put to death in the sight of his whole army at Placentia. Hereupon Zeno, pitying the calamitous state of Italy, speedily sends Theodoric, king of the Goths, a man whom he had before very much esteemed, with a mighty force to oppose him, who, having in a pitched battle, not far from Aquileia, near the river Sontio, overcome Odoacer's captains, and having oftentimes the like success against Odoacer himself, at length he besieged him three years together in Ravenna, and reduced him to that extremity, that, with the advice of John, the bishop of that city, he consented to admit Theodoric as his partner in the empire. But the day following both Odoacer and his son were contrary to promise and agreement slain, by which means Theodoric possessed himself of the government of all Italy without any opposition.

In the meantime Simplicius dedicated the churches of St Stephen the protomartyr, on Mons Coelius, and that of St Andrew the apostle, not far from St Maries the Great, in which there appear to this day some footsteps of antiquity, which I have many a time beheld with sorrow for their neglect, to whose charge such noble piles of building now ready to fall are committed. That this church was of his founding appears by certain verses wrought in mosaic work which I have seen in it. He dedicated also another church to St Stephen, near the Licinian Palace, where the Virgin's body had been buried. He also appointed the weekly waitings of the presbyters in their turns at the churches of St Peter, St Paul, and St Laurence the martyr, for the receiving of penitents, and baptising of proselytes. Moreover, he divided the city among the presbyters into five precincts or regions; the first of St Peter, second, St Paul, third, St Laurence, fourth, St John Lateran, fifth, St Maria Maggiore. He also ordained that no clergy­man should hold a benefice of any layman, a constitution which was afterwards confirmed by Gregory and other Popes. At this time the Bishop of Rome's primacy was countenanced by the letters of Acacius, Bishop of Constantinople, and Timothy, a learned man, in which they beg him to censure Peter Mongus ("the stammerer"), Bishop of Alexandria, an asserter of the Eutychian heresy. Which was accordingly done, but with proyiso, that he should be received into the communion of the church again, if within a certain time prefixed he retracted his errors. Some say, that during his pontificate lived Remigius, Bishop of Reims, who (as history tells us) baptised Clodoveus, the French king. Now also Theodorus, Bishop of Syria wrote largely against Eutyches, and compiled ten books of ecclesiastical history in imitation of Eusebius Caesariensis. At this time almost all Egypt was infected with the heretical doctrine of Dioscorus, concerning whom we have already spoken; and Huneric, King of the Vandals, a zealot for the Arian faction, raised a persecution against the orthodox Christians in Africa. Upon this, Eudoxia, niece to Theodosius, a Catholic lady, and wife to Huneric, left her heretical husband upon pretence of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to perform a vow which she had made; but upon so long a journey, the effect of which proved intolerable to the tenderness of her sex she there soon died. It is said that at this time were found the bones of the prophet Elisha, which were carried into Alexandria, as also the body of St Barnabas the apostle, together with the gospel of St Matthew, written with his own hand. As for Simplicius himself, having by his constitutions and donations very much promoted the interest of the Church of Rome, and having at several ordinations made fifty-eight presbyters, eleven deacons, eighty-six bishops, he died, and was buried in St Peter's church on the second day of March. He was in the chair fifteen years, one month, seven days, and by his death the see was vacant twenty-six days.

 

FELIX III. a.d. 483-492

 

FELIX, by birth a Roman, son of Felix a presbyter, was bishop from the time of Odoacer, whose power in Italy lasted fourteen years, till the reign of Theodoric, who, though he made Ravenna the seat of the empire, yet the city of Rome was much indebted to his bounty. For he rebuilt the sepulchre of Octavius, exhibited shows to the people according to ancient custom, repaired the public building and churches, and indeed neglected nothing that became a good and generous prince. And to confirm and establish the empire, he married Andefleda, daughter of Clodoveus, King of France, and gave in marriage his sister to Huneric, king of the Vandals, and one of his daughters to Alaric, king of the Visigoths, and the other to King Gondibate.

Felix, now fully understanding that Peter the Stammerer, the Eutychian, who had been banished for his heretical opinions upon the complaint and at the desire of Acacius, was by the same Acacius recalled from exile, suspected that there was a private agreement between them, and therefore excommunicated them both by the authority of the Apostolic see, which was confirmed in a Synod of the orthodox.

 

NOTE:

This is not very accurately stated. The emperor Zeno, with the assist ance of Acacius, patriarch of Constantinople, put forth in the year 482 the Henoticon ("bond of Union"), a document intended, by comprehensiveness of statement, to reconcile the various parties that were dividing the church. But it did not satisfy the Nestorians or Eutychians, and Pope Felix III, who succeeded to the Roman Popedom next year, indignantly repudiated it, declaring that the emperor was taking upon him to make articles of faith. He further wrote to Acacius charging him with having expelled the lawful bishop of Alexandria, John Palaia, in order to put the Eutychian Peter in his place. Acacius replied that Felix had been misinformed by John, and that Peter was both duly chosen and orthodox. There is no evidence of Zeno's certificate of his "penitence." Thereupon Felix sent his two legates, and they were induced, whether by fair or foul means, to assent to Acacius's action. This was a very critical moment between the east and west. The primacy of the Roman Pontiffs had come to be recognised, as the bishops of the chief city of the world, and they had begun since the days of Innocent I to rest their claims on the purely religious ground of their succession from St Peter. But the Bishops of Constantinople had not admitted such a claim, and Acacius, who was watching the gradual downfall of the western empire, saw, in imagination, Constantinople rising to the foremost place, and himself as Primal Pontiff. Hence he assumed the title for Constantinople of "Mother of all Christians and of the Orthodox Religion." Pope Simplicius had protested, but his protest is lost. There was therefore a good deal of bitterness already existing when this new quarrel arose. Felix on the return of Messenus and Vitalis not only excommunicated them, but Acacius. He was encouraged thus to flout the imperial authority by the successes of Odoacer in the west, though he did not venture to include Zeno, the prime mover, in his ban, but instead even addressed him in terms of adulation. One of the monks of Constantinople who was on the Roman side, audaciously pinned the Pope's sentence upon the robe of Acacius as he was proceeding to the altar to celebrate holy communion. Acacius calmly proceeded with the service until the due moment arrived, when he suddenly turned, and in a calm but ringing voice uttered a counter ban against Felix. The schism lasted forty years; neither party would give way; the great eastern patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, continued in communion with Acacius, and he held his see until his death).—Ed.

But three years after, the emperor Zeno testifying that they were penitent, Felix sends two bishops, Messenus and Vitalis, with full power, upon enquiry into the truth of their repentance, to absolve them. These legates arriving at the city Heraclea, were soon corrupted with bribes, and neglected to actaccording to their commission. Whereupon Felix, out of a just indignation, having first called a council upon that occasion, excommunicates them too, as Simoniacs and betrayers of the trust reposed in them, though Messenus, who confessed his fault, and begged time to evince the sincerity of his repentance, had it accordingly granted him. The same Felix also built the church of St Agapetus, near that of St Laurence, and ordained that churches should be consecrated by none but bishops. It is said that at this time Theodorus, a Greek presbyter, wrote against the heretics a book of the Harmony of the Old and New Testaments; and some reckon among the men of note in this age, the learned and famous divine John Damascene, who wrote the Book of Sentences, imitating therein Gregory Nazianzene, Gregory Nyssene, and Didymus of Alexandria, and compiled also certain treatises of medicine, in which he gives an account of the causes and cure of diseases. Our Felix, having at two Decembrian ordinations made twenty- eight presbyters, five deacons, thirty bishops, died, and was buried in the church of St Paul. He sat in the chair eight years, eleven months, seventeen days; and by his death the see was vacant five days.

 

 

GELASIUS I. a.d. 492-496.

 

GELASIUS, an African, son of Valerius, was bishop of Rome at the time when Theodoric made war upon his wife's father, Clodoveus, the French king, for that he had slain his daughter's husband, Alaric, king of the Visigoths, and seized Gascoigne. They were both allied to him by marriage; but the cause of Alaric seemed to him the more just, and therefore he preferred his son-in-law before his father-in-law. And gaining the victory over the French in a very important battle, he recovers Gascoigne, and undertakes the present government of it till Almaric, the son of Alaric, should come to age. The same Theodoric to his conquest of Italy added that of Sicily, Dalmatia, Liburnia, Illyricum, Gallia Narbo- nensis, and Burgundy. He also walled round the city of Trent, and to secure Italy from a foreign invasion, upon the frontiers of it, near Aosta, placed the Heruli, whose king, being yet a minor, he made his adopted son.

Gelasius in the meantime condemns to banishment all the Manichees that should be found in the city, and causes their books to be publicly burnt near St Mary's Church. And being satisfied of the repentance of Messenus, who had given in his retractation in writing, at the request of the synod he absolved him, and restored him to his bishopric. But having intelligence that several murders and other notorious outrages were committed in the Greek churches by the factious followers of Peter Mongus and Acacius, he forthwith sends his legates thither, with commission to excommunicate for ever all those who did not immediately recant their errors; a new and unusual severity, whereas the primitive church was wont to wait long in hopes that separatists would at length return to her bosom. At this time John, Bishop of Alexandria, an orthodox prelate, and who had been very much persecuted by these seditious people, fled for refuge to the Bishop of Rome, who very kindly and courteously received him. The churches which Gelasius consecrated were, that of St Euphemia the martyr in Tivoli, that of St Nicander and Eleutherius in the Via Labicana, and that of St Mary in the Via Laurentina, twenty miles from Rome. He had a great love and honour for the clergy, and was very liberal and charitable to the poor. He delivered the city of Rome from many dangers, and particularly from that of dearth and scarcity. He composed hymns in imitation of St Ambrose, published five books against Eutyches and Nestorius, and two against Arius, made very elegant and grave orations, and wrote weighty and learned epistles to his friends of the household of faith; all which works of his are at this time to be seen in the public libraries. Some tell us that he excommunicated Anastasius, successor to Zeno in the eastern empire, for favouring Acacius and other heretics; which is an argument as clear as the sun, that the Bishop of Rome has power to excommunicate any prince who is erroneous in the faith, if he continue refractory after admonition. The same course likewise he took with the Vandals and their king, who, being infected with the Arian heresy, proved now very cruel and barbarous persecutors of the orthodox. At the beginning of his pontificate lived Germanus and Epiphanius, the latter Bishop of Pavia, the former of Capua; men who by the authority which the sanctity their lives had gained them, and by their humble and obliging deportment, wrought so much upon the minds of the barbarous invaders, that afflicted Italy fared the better for their sakes. At the same time also, Lannociatus, Abbot of Chartres, with Aurelianus and Mezentius of Poictiers, persons of great piety and learning, gained so much ground in Gaul, that they persuaded Clodoveus the French king, and his queen, Crocildis, to become Christians, and to undertake the protection of the Catholic faith throughout their dominions; though some attribute this honour to Remigius, as hath been already said. Gelasius, having ordained thirty-two presbyters, two deacons, sixty-seven bishops, died, and was buried in St Peter's Church, November 21st. He was in the chair four years, eight months, seventeen days; and by his death the see was vacant seven days

 

ANASTASIUS II. a.d. 496-498.

ANASTASIUS the Second, a Roman, son of Fortunatus, was contemporary with the Emperor Anastasius. At which time Thorismund, king of the Vandals, shut up the churches of the orthodox clergy, and banished one hundred and twenty bishops into the Island of Sardinia. It is reported also that one Olympius, an Arian bishop, having publicly in the baths at Carthage declared his detestation of the doctrine of the Trinity, was immediately smitten, and his body burnt with three flashes of lightning. And when Barbas, another bishop of the same faction, was going to baptize a certain person in this form of words : "Barbas baptizeth thee in the name of the Father, by the Son, and in the Holy Ghost," it is said the water disappeared; which miracle so wrought upon the man who was to be baptized, that he immediately came over to the orthodox.

It was this Bishop Anastasius, as some writers tell us, who excommunicated the Emperor Anastasius for favouring Acacius; though afterwards being himself seduced by the same heretic, and endeavouring privately to recall him from exile, he thereby very much alienated the minds of his clergy, who for that reason, and also because, without the consent of the Catholics, he communicated with Photinus, a deacon of Thessalonica, and an assertor of the Acacian heresy, withdrew themselves from him. It is generally reported that, the Divine vengeance pursuing him for this apostasy, he died suddenly; and some say that the particular manner of his death was that, going to ease nature, he purged out his bowels into the privy.

In his time Fulgentius an African, Bishop of Ruspae, though he were among the other orthodox bishops of Africa banished into Sardinia by Thorismund, yet neglected nothing that might contribute to the propagating of the Catholic faith, whether by exhortation, preaching, or admonition. He likewise published several books of the Trinity, of free-will, and the rule of faith; and, besides the several elegant and grave homilies he made to the people, he wrote against the Pelagian heresy. The learned Hegesippus also, who composed monastical constitutions, and in an elegant style wrote the life of St Severinus the abbot, was at this time very serviceable to the Church. Moreover, Faustus, a Gallican bishop, was now a considerable writer; but among all his works, the most in esteem was his tract against Arius, wherein he maintains the persons in the Trinity to be co-essential. He wrote also against those who asserted any created being to be incorporeal, demonstrating both by the judgment of the fathers, and from the testimonies of holy writ, that God only is purely and properly incorporeal. But I shall here conclude the pontificate of Anastasius, who, at one Decembrian ordination, having made twelve presbyters and sixteen bishops, was buried in St Peter's Church, November 19th. He sat in the chair one year, ten months, twenty four days; and by his death the see was vacant four days.