Clement had probably not seen either Peter or Paul. His great practical
sense showed him that the salvation of the Christian Church demanded the
reconciliation of the two founders. Did he influence the author of the
Acts which represent to us this reconciliation as accomplished, and with
whom he seems to have had some intercourse, or did these two pious souls
spontaneously fall into accord on account of the bias which he had given
to Christian opinion? We are ignorant for want of proofs. One thing is
sure, the reconciliation of Peter and Paul was a Roman work. Rome had
two churches,--one coming from Peter, the other from Paul. Those
numerous converts who came to Jesus--some through the school of Peter,
and some through that of Paul--were tempted to exclaim, "What! Are
there, then, two Christs?" It was necessary to be able to reply, "No:
Peter and Paul understand each other perfectly: the Christianity of one
is the Christianity of the other." Perhaps (this is an ingenious
hypothesis of M. Strauss) a light cloud was introduced for this purpose
into the evangelical legend of the miraculous fishing. According to the
recital of Luke, the nets of Peter would not contain the multitudes of
fish which could easily have been taken; Peter was obliged to make a
sign to his co-workers to come to his aid. A second bark (Paul and his
friends) was filled as the first, and the fishing of the kingdom of God
was superabundant.
The life of the apostles begins to become obscure. All those who have
seen them have disappeared: most of them left no writings. One had
entire liberty to embroider on this virgin canvas still. Friends and
enemies profited by the unknown to set up arguments in support of their
theses, and to satisfy their hates. Towards the year 130, that is to say
about sixty-six years after the death of the apostles, a vast Ebionite
legend was produced at Rome, and designated by the title of the
preaching, or the travels, of Peter. The missions of the chief of the
apostles were recounted there, principally those along the coast of
Ph[oe]nicia; the conversions which he had made; above all, his struggles
against the great anti-Christ, Simon the Magician, who was at this epoch
the spectre of the Christian conscience. But frequently under this
abhorred name another person was concealed: it was the false apostle
Paul, the enemy of the law, the veritable destroyer of the Church. The
true Church was that at Jerusalem, presided over by James, the brother
of the Lord. No apostolate was of any value, if it could not show
letters emanating from this central college. Paul had none: therefore he
was an intruder. He was the "man enemy," who came behind to sow the
tares in the steps of the true sower. With what fury Peter gave the
denial to his impostures, to his false allegations of personal
revelations, his ascension to the third heaven, his, pretension of
knowing about Jesus some things which the hearers of the gospel had not
understood, the exaggerated manner in which he and his disciples
interpreted the divinity of Jesus!
These strange ideas of half ignorant sectaries would have been without
consequences outside of Rome; but every thing which related to Peter
assumed importance in the capital of the world. In spite of its
heresies, "The Preachings of Peter" had much interest for the orthodox.
The primacy of Peter was there proclaimed. St. Paul was thus injured;
but a few retouches extenuated what was shocking in these attacks.
Several attempts were made to diminish the peculiarities of the new
book, and adapt it to the Catholics. This mode of re-modelling books to
suit the sect to which one belonged was the order of the day. Little by
little the force of things was understood: all sensible men saw that
there was safety for the work of Jesus only in the perfect
reconciliation of the two heads of the Christian doctrine. Paul had,
even in the sixth century, some bitter enemies: he had always some
enthusiastic followers like Marcion. Outside of these obstinate men of
the right and left, there was a union of the moderate masses, who,
before their Christianism in one of the schools, fully recognized the
right of the other to be called Christian. James, the partisan of
absolute Judaism, was sacrificed, although he had been the true chief of
the circumcision. Peter, who was much less objectionable to the
disciples of Paul, was preferred before him. James retained no devoted
partisans outside of the Judæan-Christians.
It is difficult to say who gained the most in this reconciliation. The
concessions came principally from the side of Paul: all Paul's disciples
received the others without difficulty, while those of Peter repulsed
the followers of Paul. But concessions usually come from the strong. In
truth, each day confirmed Paul's victory.
Each Gentile convert weighted the balance on his side. Outside of Syria,
the Judæan-Christians were swallowed up by the wave of new converts. The
churches of Paul prospered: they had good judgment, solidity of mind,
and some pecuniary resources which the others had not. The Ebionite
churches, on the contrary, grew poorer each day. The money of the
churches of Paul was spent in the support of some glorious poor men, who
were unable to earn any thing, but who possessed the traditional life of
the primitive spirit. The elevated piety and severe manners of these
last were admired by the Christian communities of Pagan origin, who
imitated and assimilated themselves to these customs. It soon happened
that no distinction was manifest: the sweet and conciliatory spirit of
St. Luke and Clement Romanus prevailed. The compact of peace was sealed.
It was agreed that Peter had converted the first-fruits of the
Gentiles, that he had first absolved them from the yoke of the law. It
was admitted that Peter and Paul had been the two heads, the founders of
the Church of Rome; Peter and Paul became the halves of an inseparable
couple,--two luminaries, like the sun and moon. What one taught, the
other taught also. They had always been in accord: they had opposed the
same enemies, had been victims of Simon the Magician. At Rome they lived
like brothers; the Church of Rome was their common work. The supremacy
of this church was established for ages.
Thus, from the reconciliation of these parties, the settlement of these
primitive struggles, there came forth a grand unity,--the Catholic
Church, the Church of Peter and of Paul, a stranger to the rivalries
which had marked the first century.
It was, above all, the death of the two apostles which pre-occupied the
parties, and gave an opportunity for the most diverse combinations. The
tissue of tradition grew in this respect, by an instinctive travail,
almost as imperious as that which had presided at the construction of
the legend of Jesus. The end of the life of Peter and of Paul was
commanded _à priori_. It was maintained that Christ had predicted the
martyrdom of Peter, as he had announced the death of the sons of
Zebedee. The need was felt of associating in death the two persons who
had been reconciled by force. It was hoped, and perhaps this was not far
from right, that they died together, or at least as the consequence of
the same event. The places which were believed to have been sanctified
by this bloody drama were early fixed upon, and consecrated by
_memoriæ_. In each case, whatever the people desired came in the end to
be true. Tradition makes history, retrospectively, as it ought to have
been, and as it never is. Not long ago the portraits of Victor Emmanuel
and Pius IX. hung side by side in every frequented place in Italy; and
the people desired that these two men, who represented principles whose
reconciliation was generally considered necessary to Italy, should be in
reality completely united. If, in our time, such views impose themselves
on history, it will one day appear, in documents reputed to be serious,
that Victor Emmanuel and Pius IX. (probably Garibaldi will be added) met
each other secretly, understood and loved each other. During the middle
ages, at different times, similar attempts were made to appease the
hatreds of the Dominicans and Franciscans; to prove that the founders of
these two orders were two brothers living together in the most
affectionate intercourse; that at first their rules were the same; and
that St. Dominic girded himself with the cord of St. Francis.
Concerning Peter and Paul, the increase of the legend was rich and
rapid. Rome and all its environs, above all the way to Ostia, were full
of souvenirs which were pretended to be connected with the last days of
the two apostles. A crowd of touching circumstances; the flight of
Peter; the vision of Jesus bearing his cross, _iterum crucifigi_; the
final adieu of Peter and Paul; the meeting of Peter with his wife; Paul
at the Salvian waters; Plautilla sending the handkerchief which bound
her hair to bandage the eyes of Paul,--all this presented a beautiful
ensemble, to which was only wanting an ingenuous and skilful writer. It
was too late; the vein of the first Christian literature was spent; the
serenity of the narrator of the Acts was lost; his voice was raised no
more in story or in romance. It is impossible to choose between a crowd
of equally apocryphal writings: in vain one seeks to shield these
recitals with the most venerable names (pseudo-Linus, pseudo-Marcellus);
the Roman legend of Peter and Paul remains always in a sporadic state.
It was more often recounted by the pious guides than seriously read. It
was a local affair: no text concerning it has been consecrated and made
authoritative for reading in the churches.
* * * * *
Many among you, ladies and gentlemen, will go to Rome, or will return
there. Ah, well! if you preserve any good remembrance of these
conferences, go, in memory of me, to the Salvian waters, _alle tre
fontane_, to St. Paul-without-the-Walls. It is one of the most beautiful
parts of the Roman Campagna,--deserted, damp, green, and sad. There, in
a deep depression in the soil, crowned by those grand horizontal lines,
disturbed by no living detail,--there are some clear and cold springs.
The fever and mouldiness of the tomb are inhaled there. Some Trappists
are there established, conscientiously practising their religious
suicide. When you are there, sit down a moment, not too long (one
quickly catches the fever there), and, while the Trappists give you to
drink the water which gushes from the three bounds which the head of
Paul made, think of him who came here to talk of these legends with you,
and to whom you have listened with so much courtesy and kind attention.