* * * * *
_Pope Felix and Pope Gregory_.--"E.M.B." (No. 26. p. 415.) inquires
who was "Pope Felix," whom Ælfric called the "fifth father" of S.
Gregory the Great? This is a much disputed question, and a great
deal depends upon the meaning to be attached to the unsatisfactory
expression "atavus," used by Pope Gregory himself, in _Evangel. Hom._
xxxviii. § 15., and found also in the dialogues commonly attributed to
him. (Lib. iv. cap. xvi.) Your correspondent may consult Beda, _Hist.
Eccl. Gen. Anglor._, lib. ii. cap. 1., with the note by Mr. Stevenson,
who supposes that Pope Felix _III._ was alluded to by his "venerable"
author: This is the opinion of Bollandus (ad 25 Feb.), as well as of
Cardinal Baronius; (_Annall._ ad an. 581; _et Martyrol. Rom._ die Feb.
25. Conf. De Aste, in _Martyrolog. Disceptat._, p. 96.; Beneventi,
1716); but Joannes Diaconus (_S. Greg. Vit._ lib. i. cap. i.) employs
these decisive terms, "_quartus_ Felix, sedis Apostolicæ Pontifex." It
is of course possible to translate "atavus meus" merely "my ancestor;"
and this will leave the relationship sufficiently undefined.