RISE OF THE PAPACY--_Continued_
The growth of the Papacy from 313 to 604 was very marked and may be
traced with little difficulty. In fact from the fourth century onward
the proofs that papal supremacy was both asserted and recognised are so
numerous that it is only necessary to select typical cases and
illustrations. Certain formative influences and forces noticeable in the
period prior to 313 were continued into the later epoch and will be
considered in order here.
1. The missionary zeal of the Roman Church accomplished wonders. By the
fourth century Spain and Gaul had sufficient Christians to warrant the
division of the territory into bishoprics. Some of the Gallic bishops
were imbued with a remarkably active spirit of propagandism, notably,
St. Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers (350-66), who fought the Arians
incessantly; Honoratus, Bishop of Arles, who inspired others to labour;
St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, called the "Apostle to the Gauls," and St.
Denis, Bishop of Paris, who suffered martyrdom for the cause. Similar
workers were found in Spain. About the same time Celtic missionaries
from the north were working southward to join the work spreading
northward from Rome. Columba laboured among the Scots and Picts; Aidan,
in Northumbria; Columbanus, with the Burgundians; Gallus, in
Switzerland; and Amania and Kilian in Thuringia. From Rome went forth
the famous missionary expedition to England under Augustine (596), which
succeeded in winning the Anglo-Saxons to a belief in the Roman faith and
to a recognition of Roman authority.
In return a counter-wave of missionary activity spread from England back
to the continent, led by Wilfrid in Friesland; Willibrord around
Utrecht; the Ewald brothers among the Saxons; Swidbert on the Ems and
Yssel; Adelpert in Holland; and Boniface, the "Apostle to the Germans,"
among various Teutonic tribes. This widespread missionary work resulted
in eventually bringing all Western Europe under the subjection of the
Roman Church. Thus new blood, a more primitive enthusiasm, and an
intense devotion were called to her service, and all powerfully aided
the rise of the Papacy.
2. The continued orthodoxy of the Western Church made it a pillar of
strength, and gave its head a commanding position in dealing with heresy
and schism. To him, more than ever, did people East and West look for
final decisions in disputed matters of doctrine,[165:1] and contested
cases of jurisdiction, rank, territory, and authority. St. Jerome in
eloquent words besought the "Sun of righteousness--in the West" to teach
him the true doctrine because "here in the East all is weed and
wild-oats."[165:2]
3. The claim of the Bishop of Rome to appellate jurisdiction, which had
been exercised more or less from an early date, received a sweeping
confirmation and a new impetus in 347 through the Council of Sardica.
In 340, Athanasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria, the champion of
orthodoxy, appealed to Julian I. from an unjust decision against him in
the episcopal courts of the East. Julian I. called a council, to which
he invited the Eastern bishops, who refused to attend, reversed the
decision,[166:1] and completely acquitted Athanasius. He wrote a strong
letter of reproof to the Arians in which he asserts Rome's canonical
supremacy in initiating conciliar proceedings against ecclesiastical
offenders.[166:2] The Council of Sardica confirmed the resolutions of
the Roman Synod.[166:3]
It was decreed that any bishop, who might feel himself aggrieved by an
unfair trial, could have the judges write to the Bishop of Rome asking
for a new trial at which, if it seemed wise, priests representing the
Bishop of Rome could be present.[166:4] Meanwhile, pending the trial, no
successor to the office of the accused could be named. This action made
the Bishop of Rome referee to decide, however, not the case itself, but
whether there ought to be a new trial. The right was conferred "in
honour of the memory" of St. Peter and hence it was soon claimed as an
inherent prerogative of the apostolical See of the West. Later on it was
positively asserted that these canons gave an appeal to the Church of
Rome in all episcopal cases. Whatever the original intent may have been,
the fact remains that this new power was an important factor in the
evolution of papal supremacy. The Pope was given a power previously
possessed exclusively by the Emperor.[167:1] In 378, Emperor Gratian
added civic sanction to the judicial authority of the Bishop of Rome by
compelling accused bishops to go to Rome for trial.[167:2] Ultimate
appellate jurisdiction was definitely assigned to the Pope by Emperor
Valentinian III. in 445, when, of his own motion, causes could be called
to Rome for papal decision.[167:3] Emperor Gelasius (496) approved in
very positive terms the judicial supremacy of the Bishop of Rome.[167:4]
And Gregory the Great (604) assumed it as an indisputable fact that
every bishop is subject to the See of Peter.[167:5]
After this period cases were continually referred to Rome for
adjustment. St. Basil, Archbishop of Cæsarea, appealed to Damasus I.,
the latter part of the fourth century, for protection. In 398 the
Emperor ordered Flavian of Antioch to proceed to Rome for trial. He
refused to go, but compromised with the Pope. St. John Chrysostom, the
Patriarch of Constantinople, and head of the whole Eastern Church, early
in the fifth century, appealed to Innocent I. against the persecutions
of Empress Eudoxia and for restoration to his see.[167:6] Apiarius, a
priest of Africa, appealed to Pope Zosimus against the censure of his
bishop in 416. The Pope vindicated the priest against his bishop, and
ordered the latter either to revoke the censure or to appear at Rome
for trial.[168:1] St. Augustine's letter to Pope Celestine in 424 shows
that it was a common thing to refer disputes to Rome for
settlement.[168:2] Both St. Cyril and the Nestorians appealed to Pope
Celestus, who decided in favour of St. Cyril. Theodoret, the Church
historian, when condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 449, appealed to
Leo I., who asserted that he could hear appeals from any source as a
court of first and last resort.[168:3] These appeals, and many other
similar cases, which could be cited both East and West,[168:4] show the
growing power of the Roman Pope, and enabled him to make real the theory
of his supremacy. To enable the successor of St. Peter to adjudicate
cases more easily, vicars were appointed in various parts of the papal
empire to decide finally on all cases, not reserved by the Pope. This
arrangement greatly enlarged papal jurisdiction by encouraging and
facilitating appeals.
4. The removal of the capital of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople
in 330, left the Western Church, practically free from imperial power,
to develop its own form of organisation. The Bishop of Rome, in the seat
of the Cæsars, was now the greatest man in the West, and was soon forced
to become the political as well as the spiritual head. To the Western
world Rome was still the political capital--hence the whole habit of
mind, all ambition, pride, and sense of glory, and every social
prejudice favoured the evolution of the great city into the
ecclesiastical capital. Civil as well as religious disputes were
referred to the successor of Peter for settlement. Again and again,
when barbarians attacked Rome, he was compelled to actually assume
military leadership. Eastern Emperors frequently recognised the high
claims of the Popes in order to gain their assistance. It is not
difficult to understand how, under these responsibilities, the primacy
of the Bishop of Rome, established in the pre-Constantine period, was
emphasised and magnified after 313. The importance of this fact must not
be overlooked. The organisation of the Church was thus put on the same
divine basis as the revelation of Christianity. This idea once accepted
led inevitably to the mediæval Papacy. The priesthood came, in
consequence, to assume all the powers of the great Founder. The Mosaic
forms, as well as the Roman Empire, suggested convenient models and
authoritative examples for the new structure. It is not difficult to
detect in the oligarchical Church polity of the fourth and fifth
centuries a yearning for unity. It was but natural, therefore, that Rome
should boldly take the remedy into her own hands and pose as the
authorised representative of the visible unity demanded by the Christian
world. The position Rome had already attained and the worthy part played
in the organisation and spread of the gospel gave her a superior
advantage, and enabled, nay compelled, her bishop to become the one
high-priest, the "universal bishop."
5. In the fourth and fifth centuries the Petrine theory was generally
accepted by the Church Fathers East and West.[169:1] The theory had
become a dogmatic principle of law founded upon historical facts.
Optatus, the African Bishop of Mileve (c. 384), strongly asserted the
visible unity of the Church and the immovable _Cathedra Petri_, with
the Roman Bishop as Peter's successor.[170:1] Ambrose of Milan (d. 397)
gave the Bishop of Rome the same position in the Church that the Emperor
had in the Empire,[170:2] and recognised him as the great champion of
orthodoxy, but at the same time called Peter's primacy one of confession
and faith, not of rank. He put Paul on an equality with Peter. Jerome
(d. 419) recognised the Pope as the successor of Peter and said,
"Following none but Christ, I am associated in communion with . . . the
chair of Peter. On that rock I know the Church to be built."[170:3]
Innocent I. (414) made a magnificent defence of the theory. Augustine
(d. 430), the greatest of the Latin Fathers, admitted the primacy of
Peter and recognised the Roman Bishop as his successor.[170:4] In his
remarkable book, the _City of God_, he did more than all the Fathers to
idealise Rome as the Christian Zion. Maximus of Turin (d. 450) and
Orosius (d. 5th century) bore similar testimony. The Greek Fathers
uniformly spoke of Peter in lofty terms as the "Prince of Apostles," the
"Tongue of the Apostles," the "bearer of the keys," the "keeper of the
kingdom of Heaven," the "Pillar," the "Rock," _et cetera_, but they held
generally that Peter's primacy was honorary, and that he transferred his
power to both the Bishop of Antioch and the Bishop of Rome.[170:5] But
these modifications of the Petrine theory did not arrest the evolution
of the papal power. The important historical fact to be taken into
account is, that the _belief_ in the supremacy of St. Peter's successor
was quite generally recognised and accepted.
6. The growth of conciliar prerogatives tended to advance the
development of papal authority. The Council of Nicæa (325) gave the
Western Church the Nicene Creed, practically made the Bishop of Rome its
defender, and recognised him as the sole Patriarch of the West with ten
provinces as his diocese.[171:1] The Council of Sardica (343), in
reality only a local Western body, decreed that deposed bishops might
appeal to the Bishop of Rome for a new trial, that vacant bishoprics
could not be filled till his decision was received, and that he could
delegate his power to a local synod. This gave him a kind of appellate
and revisory jurisdiction in the case of deposed bishops even in the
East.[171:2] It is claimed that this was a new grant for a specific case
and in deference to Pope Julian alone. This power was confirmed by
Emperors Valentinian I. (364-375) and Gratian (375-383).[171:3] In this
manner the Roman Popes were furnished the opportunity to claim universal
jurisdiction. The Council of Aquileia (381) begged Emperor Gratian to
protect "the Roman Church, the head of the whole Roman world and that
sacred faith of the Apostles."[171:4] The African councils of Carthage
and Mileve (416) sent their actions against Pelagius to Innocent I., for
his approval. The councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451) gave
the Bishop of Rome a primacy in rank and honour, which he soon made a
primacy in power.[172:1] The latter body recognised the necessity of
obtaining the Pope's confirmation to insure legality. Here again the
Bishop of Rome had usurped a prerogative claimed by Constantine and his
successors. Later the Popes called most of the councils, presided over
them in person or through legates, and confirmed their proceedings in
order to give them legality.
7. The power of excommunication, an authority inherent in all societies,
was early developed and exercised by the Roman Bishop. This right was
clearly recognised in the New Testament.[172:2] The power of
excommunication was originally put into the hand of the local bishops.
They expanded the biblical precepts into a penal code, and assumed the
right to act as judges and to pronounce censure or final
excommunication. The apostolic constitutions and canons reveal a direct
substitution of the authority of the bishops for that of Christ in these
particulars. Excommunication, for the first three centuries of the
Christian era, was looked upon as a remedial and corrective measure to
prevent a breach of discipline, disobedience, and heresy. It is a
significant fact, therefore, that the Roman bishops, by the third
century, claimed the power to put out of communion, not only
individuals, but whole communities, who did not conform to Roman usages
and beliefs, even though the sentence could not always be enforced.
Innocent I., imbued by the lofty idea of the prerogatives of his office,
did not hesitate to pronounce sentence of excommunication against the
heretics, Pelagius and his pupil Cœlestius.[173:1] Thus the right of
universal censure grew and Rome came to have her own officers to execute
the law.
8. From the fifth century onward the title of "papa" or "pope" was
unvaryingly used by the bishops of Rome. This title is an abbreviation
of the words "pater patrum"--father of fathers--and was at first given
as a title of respect to ecclesiastics generally. In the Eastern
churches it has continued to the present day, and in the Roman Church
the general use of "father" may be regarded as the continuation of a
variation of the original word. The next step in the early Church was
the restriction of the term "papa" as a special title for bishops. By
the fourth century it had been gradually reserved for the metropolitans
and patriarchs. After the fifth century it was claimed and borne as the
badge of the supreme rank of the successor of St. Peter among the
churches of Christendom. Not until 1073, however, did Gregory VII.
formally prohibit the assumption of the title by other ecclesiastics.
This unique transfer of a distinction first from all to a few, and then
from a few to one, indicates a concentration of rank, dignity, and power
in the one thus distinguished. A term, originally one of filial respect
and reverence, becomes one of authority. The name and the office react
on each other.
9. The letters of the Roman bishops gradually came to be regarded in the
Western Church as apostolic ordinances, and laid the foundation for the
vast ecclesiastical legal system.[173:2] Siricius (384-398) wrote the
first decretal which had the force of law.[173:3] A typical
illustration of the character and power of papal letters is seen in the
commanding communication of Pope Celestine sent in 428 to the bishops of
Vienne and Narbonne concerning ceremonial abuses in their provinces.
"Inasmuch," he wrote, "as I am appointed by God to watch over the whole
Church, it is my duty everywhere to root out evil practices and to
substitute good ones; for my pastoral superintendence is restrained by
no bounds, but extends to all places where the name of Christ is known
and adored."[174:1] The Gallic churches received this pronouncement
without a whisper of disapproval. The Council of Chalcedon (451)
accepted a letter from Leo I., settling a disputed point in
theology.[174:2] Gelasius I. (494) instructed Emperor Anastasius on the
superiority of the spiritual over the temporal power.[174:3] The
decretals of Gregory the Great spoke with a bold, undisputed
authority.[174:4]
10. The Edict of Milan in 313 did not make Christianity the state
religion, but merely put it on a legal equality with paganism. It was
not long, however, until this new status enabled Christianity to
outstrip its old rival and actually become the constitutional faith.
State patronage prepared the way for a conscious and natural adaptation
and assimilation of forms of imperial polity. Accordingly the admonition
of the early period assumed the tone of mandates; interferences, whether
for advice or arbitration, took the character of appeals, rescripts, and
ordinances; and the model of discipline and ritual for all churches
emanated from Rome.
11. Constantine, fully aware of the pre-eminence and power of the Roman
Church, took special pains to bestow upon it his imperial munificence.
The Bishop of Rome was transferred from a humble dwelling to a spacious
palace, possibly to the Lateran, owned to this day by the Pope.
Confiscated property was restored and money donated. Splendid churches
were erected.[175:1] With grateful hearts the Christians gladly accepted
the sovereignty of the Emperor. As Roman citizens there was no
conception in their minds of the spiritual government of the Church
independent of the imperial power. When Constantine called councils like
Arles and Nicæa, heard appeals, made appointments, and legislated for
the Church it was all accepted as a matter of course. The Church of Rome
gained obviously more than any other spiritual body-corporate of the
Christian world. This advantage, coupled with the wide-reaching claims
set forth for at least two centuries, carried her by a mighty leap far
above all other churches and made her head, in theory and fact, if not
in name, the Pope. Thus all the contentions of the Petrine claim of
ecclesiastical government fell into a natural harmony with the plans of
the Empire. The rise of provincial churches corresponded to the
provincial system of the Empire. The elevation of the Bishop of Rome to
a primacy over all churches created a counterpart to the Emperor. The
union of the Empire and Papacy was not only easy and natural--it was
inevitable.
12. No sooner did the Church rise from persecution to a great world
power than the necessity was felt everywhere of some central authority
to preserve its unity. The divisions in the Arian controversy clearly
revealed that need. The Emperor, in a way, sought to meet the
requirement, but, when he failed, he called the Council of Nicæa to
serve that end. A universal council might be of great service in a
crisis but it could not easily be in perpetual session. The Roman Church
saw its chance at this juncture and embraced every opportunity to pose
as the supreme unifying power in Christendom. It was a long and not
always an easy struggle, but the effort was at length successful. It was
not long after the day of Constantine that it may be said that the
Church had gained control of the Empire. That conquest gave the Church
an unprecedented pre-eminence. In this movement the Church of Rome
played the leading role. The next great problem was to enable the Pope
to get control of the Church and in this way wield absolute sway over
the Christianised Empire, or, to state it the other way, over the
imperialised Church.
Nothing seems clearer, after taking into account all the factors, than
that the rise of papal power was a natural, logical, historical process
which began with the planting of the Church in Rome. Numerous incidents
mark the different stages of development to show that every new
assumption of papal prerogative was disputed and contested. Indeed
nothing more distinctly marks the growth of papal authority than the
fact that these protests were so numerous and so widely scattered.
In the beginnings of ecclesiastical organisation bishops enjoyed and
exercised an equality of power and rank. The persistence of this idea
may be seen long after the period of Constantine. But hierarchical
tendencies began very early and are very conspicuous in connection with
Rome. In the opening decades of the history of the Church it was
customary for Christians eminent in station or piety to address letters,
advisory or hortatory, to other churches on general points of creed or
discipline, or on special local questions. Thus wrote Clement of Rome,
Polycarp, Ignatius, and others. Not infrequently churches appealed to
prominent bishops for assistance and advice. Often one bishop would
censure another for the manifestation of unwarranted assumptions. Thus
Irenæus reprehended Victor for excommunicating the heretical bishops of
Asia and did it as an equal.[177:1] Tertullian, after he joined the
heretical Montanists, scornfully denies the powers claimed by the Bishop
of Rome by asking, "How comes it that you take to yourself the attribute
of the Catholic Church?" He answers by denying the whole Petrine
theory.[177:2] Hippolytus, Bishop of Pontus, in a controversy with
Calixtus I., shows how the claim of the Bishop of Rome was denied in the
beginning of the third century.[177:3] Origen also repudiated the
Petrine claims.[177:4] While the great Cyprian did so much to create the
concept of the one Catholic Church under the leadership of Rome, yet, at
the same time, he strongly asserted episcopal equality and
independence.[177:5]
This important historical fact must never be forgotten in considering
the rise of the Papacy, namely, that the change was not directly from
democracy to monarchy, but from democracy indirectly through oligarchy
to monarchy. In addition to the instances of episcopal equality and
independence already given, the Apostolic Canons in canon 35 ordered
each province to determine for itself which one of its churches should
hold the primacy. This idea persisted long after the time of Constantine
and, indeed, the Council of Antioch in 341 repeats the rule as if
recognising a long established regulation. The Council of Nicæa in 325,
while assigning the highest rank to the Apostolic Sees of Rome,
Alexandria, and Antioch, at the same time reserved to every province the
rights of its own church. In the second universal council held in 381 at
Constantinople, when the great provinces of the Church were defined and
the honourable primacy of Rome clearly asserted, no interference was
allowed with the autonomy of the provincial churches.
In the West, however, local autonomy and provincial primacy were not so
much emphasised as in the East. Rome and St. Peter's successor residing
there early established a predominance over Spain, Gaul, and Britain. In
Africa, Carthage for the most part obeyed Rome, and in Italy, Ravenna
and Milan occasionally showed stubborn resistance.
13. The civil government naturally approved a system of Church polity
which was in harmony with that of the state. It is no surprise,
therefore, that imperial edicts supported the lofty position of the
Bishop of Rome.[178:1] Did he not represent the Church of the great
Empire and the faith of the Emperor himself? Besides it was always
easiest to deal with him as a representative of the entire Church. In
fact there was a sentiment in the Church that it was much better to
carry on all business with imperial authorities through him. To this end
the Council of Sardica in 347 decreed that all prelates visiting Rome
for the purpose of obtaining civic favours should present their
petitions through the Bishop of Rome.[179:1] Theodosius (380) commanded
that all subjects "should hold that faith which the divine Peter, the
Apostle, delivered to the Roman Bishop."[179:2] Valentinian III. (445)
commanded all bishops to recognise the Bishop of Rome as their leader in
both judicial and administrative matters.[179:3] Later Emperors lavished
on the Roman Church wealth, immunities, and exemptions which greatly
enhanced its power and magnified the importance of its head.[179:4]
Justinian, in a decree of 532, declared that he had been very diligent
in subjecting all the clergy of the East to the Roman See. He also
expressed a firm resolution never to allow any business affecting the
general welfare of the Church to be transacted, without notifying the
head of all the churches.[179:5] Such a positive and sweeping assertion
by such a powerful ruler shows the height to which papal power had
climbed by the sixth century. Pope John II. was highly pleased with the
useful acknowledgment of Justinian, complimented him on his "perfect
acquaintance with ecclesiastical law and discipline," and added:
"preserving the reverence due the Roman See, you have subjected all
things unto her, and reduced all churches to that unity which dwelleth
in her alone, to whom the Lord, through the Prince of the Apostles, did
delegate all power; . . . and that the Apostolic See is in verity the
head of all churches, both the rules of the fathers and the statutes of
the princes do manifestly declare, and the same is now witnessed by your
imperial piety."[180:1]
The emancipation of the Church and the great inflow of wealth and pagan
converts wrought a woeful change in its character and habits. A heathen
historian declared that candidates would stoop to any means to secure
the pontifical office because "the successful candidate gains the
opportunity of fattening upon the oblations of matrons; of being
conveyed about in stall-carriages; of appearing in public in costly
dresses; of giving banquets so profuse as to surpass even royal
entertainments."[180:2] The Fathers of the Church like Hilary, Jerome,
and Basil deplored the vices, thus rebuked, in terms of even greater
severity.
14. The barbarian invasions on the whole strengthened both the spiritual
and temporal supremacy of the Holy See. They gave the death blow to
paganism in Rome.[180:3] Once converted to Roman Christianity, the
Germans became the staunch supporters of the papal hierarchy and enabled
the Pope to enforce his prerogatives in the West.[180:4] Backed by these
sturdy Teutons, the Pope became the most powerful individual in
Christendom and soon declared his independence of the Byzantine court.
15. Another factor of no small moment was the extraordinary ability of
some of the successors of St. Peter. Among them were men of commanding
leadership, men of brains and faith, fearless administrators, aggressive
judges, and men conscious of the tremendous part the Papacy was destined
to play in the world's history. Conscious of their own power, and
standing on their lofty assumptions, they took advantage of every
condition and circumstance to increase their authority and prerogatives.
Thus the office of the Bishop of Rome continually grew in power and
jurisdiction. Julian I. (337-352), the supporter of Athanasius, held
lofty ideas of his power as Pope[181:1] and gave his famous decision on
the eucharist in the Council of Sardica (343).[181:2] Damascus
(366-384), staunch defender of orthodoxy and champion of celibacy,
insisted on the recognition of his jurisdiction over East Illyricum,
and, as a warm friend of Jerome, established the authority of the
Vulgate.[181:3] Siricius (385-398) upheld the jurisdiction of the Holy
See and issued the first decretal now extant.[181:4] In legislating
about discipline and abuses in the Spanish Church his words were
intended to convey universal authority on baptism, marriage, and
celibacy. Speaking in conscious virtue of the authority of the Apostolic
See he said: "We bear the burdens of all that are heavy laden; nay,
rather the blessed Apostle Peter bears them in us, who, as we trust, in
all things protects and guards us, the heirs of his administration."
Innocent I. (402-417) accepted, as a matter of unquestioned right, all
that had been claimed by his predecessors, and surpassed all of them by
the wide range of his pretensions. He sought to obliterate all
distinction between advice and command. He spoke in a dogmatic and
imperative tone on all questions pertaining to doctrine, discipline, and
government in the Church of the West. "It is notorious to all the
world," he said, "that no one save St. Peter and his successors have
instituted bishops and founded churches in all the Gauls, in Spain,
Africa, Sicily, and the adjacent islands."[182:1] Nor did the West deny
the maternity of Rome. Consequently he asserted complete jurisdiction
over Illyria, assumed that the African churches were dependent upon the
See of Rome, formulated fourteen rules for the Gallic bishops, settled
controversies in Spain, and manifested a lofty attitude toward the
churches of the East. He played a prominent part in repelling the
attacks of the barbarians on Rome.[182:2] He was the first to claim a
general prerogative, as "the one single fountain-head which fertilises
the whole world by its manifold streamlets," to revise the judgment of
provincial synods[182:3] and thus to legislate by his own fiat for the
whole Church. As the great guardian of orthodoxy, he condemned Pelagius
and excommunicated him. "Unstained in life, able and resolute, with a
full appreciation of the dignity and prerogatives of his see, he lost no
opportunity of asserting its claims; and under him the idea of universal
papal supremacy, though as yet somewhat shadowy, appears already to be
taking form."
"The first Pope in the proper sense of the word" was Leo I., called the
Great (440-461). "In him the idea of the Papacy . . . became flesh and
blood. He conceived it in great energy and clearness, and carried it out
with the Roman spirit of dominion so far as the circumstance of the time
at all allowed."[182:4] Before his elevation to the Papacy in 440 very
little is known about Leo. His place of birth, nationality, and early
education are all shrouded in obscurity. For ten years prior to his
election, Leo was perhaps the most prominent man in Rome and noted for
his learning and piety. While absent on a civil mission in Gaul, he was
chosen Pope. At that time the Empire was in a very weak condition.
Women, surrounded by their court of eunuchs and parasites, ruled at
Constantinople and Ravenna. Barbarians were pressing in from all sides.
Heresies rent the East and ignorance was fast covering the West. Western
Christendom must be consolidated and disciplined so that it could meet
the crudeness and heresy of the powerful invaders and overcome both. The
See of St. Peter must replace the tottering imperial power. The law of
Rome must once more be obeyed over the Empire, but this time as the
ecclesiastical law. Leo was the only great man in Church or state, so
the burden was thrust upon his shoulders.
Leo possessed those qualifications which made him the master spirit of
his age and the "Founder of the mediæval Papacy." Lofty in his aims,
severe and pure in life, of indomitable courage and perseverance,
inspired by a fanatical belief in the Petrine theory, uncompromisingly
orthodox, the great first theologian in the Roman Chair, he made the
first clear-cut exposition of the extreme limits and prerogatives of the
mediæval Papacy.[183:1] He asserted and exercised the superabounding
power of the Pope to regulate every department of Church government
without any human limitations. Driven on by a dream of the universal
dominion of Rome and Christianity, a great orator who swayed the Romans
at will, he acted as a resolute Christian monarch conscious of his
divine mission. Possessed of a capacity for complex rule, an
extraordinary organiser and administrator, he used all his ability to
make Christianity and the Papacy the one great world power. Twice he
saved Rome from the barbarians, once in 452 when Attila, King of the
Huns, was persuaded to withdraw without attacking the city, and again in
455 when the Vandal leader, Genseric, was induced to spare the capital
from fire and murder. He drove heresy out of Italy and suppressed it in
Spain. He forced the African Christians to submit to his authority
(443), regained the papal power lost in East Illyria, compelled the
Gallic bishops to obey his mandates,[184:1] and even asserted his
supremacy over the Eastern Church. Through a legate he presided over the
fourth ecumenical Council of Chalcedon, guided its theological
discussions, and was "the finisher of the true doctrine of the presence
of Christ."
Pope Leo laid the greatest possible emphasis upon the fact that there is
one God, one Church, one universal bishop, one faith, and one
interpreter of that faith, and that the recognition of this basic fact
alone could bring unity and efficiency to Christendom. He very wisely
cultivated a close alliance with the state and secured from Valentinian
III. the promulgation of an imperial edict in 445, which raised him to
the exalted position of "spiritual director and governor" of the
Universal Church. Thus the Pope would issue his laws for the Church,
just as the Emperor did for the Empire.
After Leo the Great, who died in 461, no important Pope filled the Chair
of St. Peter until the time of Gregory I., called the Great (590-604).
If Leo drew the outline of the mediæval Papacy, Gregory made it a living
power. He issued the first declaration of independence and assumed
actual jurisdiction over the whole Western Church. His high ideal was
completely realised so that even Gibbon calls his pontificate the most
edifying period of Church history.[185:1]
Gregory I. was born at Rome in 540 of a rich, pious, senatorial family.
His great-grandfather was Pope Felix II. (483-492). His father was a
wealthy lawyer and senator. His mother and two aunts were canonised. He
was very well educated for that period as a "saint among the saints" as
John the Deacon, his biographer, declared. In grammar, rhetoric, and
logic he was second to none in Rome.[185:2] He studied law preparatory
to public life and was well versed in the inspiring history of Rome and
in current events. At thirty he was a distinguished senator and three
years later Emperor Justin II. made him Prætor of Rome.
From his mother Gregory inherited a profound religious temperament,
hence he naturally became imbued with the ascetic religious ideas of the
age. The monastic crusade of the West, now at its height, found him a
willing convert. Upon his father's death, Gregory used his vast wealth
for charity and for founding seven monasteries. Persuaded by his pious
mother, he himself became a monk in 575. Selling all his costly
furniture, fine clothes, and jewels for the poor, he turned his own
house into a monastery and almost killed himself by his vigorous fasts
and ascetic vigils. Soon he gained great fame as a monk, was chosen
abbot, founded six monasteries in Sicily and enforced a tyrannical
discipline.[186:1]
Gregory was a man of too great ability, however, to be penned up in a
monastery; consequently Pope Benedict called him to his court as one of
the seven deacons of Rome. In 579 he was sent, as a papal nuncio, to
Constantinople to reconcile the Emperor and the Pope and to unite the
Eastern and Western churches, while at the same time he was instructed
to solicit military aid against the troublesome Lombards. For six years
he remained at Constantinople on this mission and gained much fame as a
theologian and diplomat. Although he failed to reunite the two branches
of the Christian Church, he did bring about an amicable understanding
between the Pope and the Emperor and got some help against the Lombards.
In a discussion with the Patriarch of Constantinople over the nature of
the body after resurrection, Gregory won a signal victory. During his
stay in the East he wrote his renowned work _Magna Moralia_. In 585 he
returned to Rome, resumed his duties as abbot, became a popular
preacher, and was recognised generally as the most able man in the
Church.
When Pope Pelagius II. died in 590, the western part of Europe was in a
very critical condition. The Teutonic barbarians had overrun the Empire
from England around to Constantinople, destroying or burying nearly all
that was best in the civilisation of old Rome. Justinian, to be sure,
had recaptured Rome in 556, and it was to remain nominally under
imperial rule until the time of Charles the Great (800), but the
Emperor's hold on the West was limited and precarious. His
representative, the exarch, lived mostly at Ravenna. The Pope, however,
acknowledged the sovereignty of the Emperor both in theory and practice.
As a result of the weakness and inactivity of the exarch, nearly all
Italy lay prostrate before the fierce Lombards, and no efficient help
came from the East.
The city of Rome was in a miserable condition. The Tiber had overflowed
its banks and had swept away the granaries of corn, thus entailing
famine and starvation. A dreadful pestilence had swept away thousands,
among them the Pope himself. In a letter, Gregory compared the Roman See
to an old shattered ship, letting in the waves on all sides, tossed by
daily storms, its planks rotten and gnawed by rats--almost a
wreck![187:1] An imperial organisation was needed to give Latin-Teutonic
Europe the highest type of an organised, Christian civilisation under
one law and one faith, and thus to preserve for future generations the
best that was in old Greece and Rome, as well as the best that was in
the Germans. "It is impossible to conceive what had been the confusion,
the lawlessness, the chaotic state of the Middle Ages, without the
mediæval Papacy."[188:1] A man of heart, power, and lofty purpose--a
ruler who saw the opportunity and need of the Christian Church in
Western Europe, who felt her new impulses, and who could guide her
through a crucial period to a great and useful career--such a man the
Roman senate, clergy, and people believed that they had found in the
monk Gregory. He alone could save them from Teutonic anarchy, on the one
hand, and from Roman decay on the other.
Although elected Pope unanimously by the senate, clergy, and people of
Rome, Gregory did not want the office. He felt unworthy of it and feared
its duties might lure him to worldliness--hence he fled the city and
wrote the Emperor beseeching him not to confirm the election. But the
Roman prefect intercepted the letter and sent instead a petition urging
the confirmation. Gregory was captured at last and forcibly consecrated
Supreme Pontiff. He was the best qualified man in all Christendom for
the place. He represented the best in Rome and the best in Christianity.
His comprehensive policy, his grasp of fundamental issues, his political
training, his capacity for details, made him the man for the hour. He
merged the office of Roman Emperor and Christian bishop into essentially
one and thus became the real founder of the mediæval Papacy. His
pontificate, therefore, was an era in the history of the Church.
Gregory's policy was to uphold and extend the Petrine theory to the
utmost, although personally refusing the title of "Universal Bishop." He
censured the ambitious Patriarch of Constantinople for assuming that
title and wrote to John of Syracuse: "With regard to the church of
Constantinople, who doubts that it is subject to the Apostolic See?
. . . The Apostolic See is the head of all churches."[189:1] To the
Patriarch of Alexandria he wrote: "In the preface of the epistle . . .
you have thought fit to make use of a proud title, calling me Universal
Pope. But I beg your most sweet Holiness to do this no more."[189:2]
Again he exclaimed: "Whoever calls himself Universal Bishop is
Antichrist."[189:3] Gregory meant to exercise as much autonomy as
possible in ruling the West but, at the same time, to submit to imperial
authority in all instances of conflicting claims.[189:4] He planned to
unify and purify the Church and to extend Christianity over the known
world.
Under Gregory's able management papal power was consolidated and made
supreme in Western Europe. He systematised papal theology, and perfected
and beautified the Church liturgy until it took three hours to celebrate
the mass.[189:5] He regulated the calendar of festivals. He checked
heresies by driving Manichæism and Arianism out of Italy, Spain, and
Gaul, and even advised the persecution of African Donatists (591). The
Jews, however, were tolerated and efforts made to convert them. To get
rid of simony he personally refused all presents and abolished all fees
in his court. From priest to bishop he corrected the clergy and urged
upon them celibacy.[190:1] He restored discipline throughout the Church
and patronised all sorts of charity. He fought paganism fiercely by
denouncing the Roman classics and even boasting of his own ignorance of
them,[190:2] while at the same time he sent missionaries over most all
of Western Europe. Monasticism, which he himself had adopted with all
his heart, he encouraged and improved by restoring the early rigid
discipline; by separating monks and clergy; by restricting admission to
religious houses to persons above the age of eighteen years; by
insisting on a probation of two years; by condemning deserters to life
imprisonment; and by favouring the Benedictine Rule as the model. The
papal court was reorganised, and clergy were substituted for boys and
secular adults to attend the Pope. Even some efforts were made to check
the European slave-trade.
In administrative power Gregory was perhaps inferior to Leo I. The
Church was very wealthy, owning lands by this time all over Western
Europe and in Africa. The Pope had to rule these vast estates as a
mighty landlord. Subdeacons were his agents. Tenants were controlled
politically as well as religiously. The surplus income was given to the
clergy, papal domestics, monasteries, churches, cemeteries, almshouses,
and hospitals. On the first of every month he distributed to the poor
corn, wine, cheese, vegetables, oil, fish, meat, clothes, and money. The
country was full of tramps and poor clergy; these he provided for and
also supported impoverished nobles.[190:3] His letters are full of
items about law-suits, disputes over weights and measures, collection of
rents, emancipation of slaves, marriage of tenants, produce accounts,
and a multitude of other affairs.
In addition to these multitudinous duties, he was virtual King of Italy.
He denounced the corrupt exarch and drilled the Romans for military
defence, though he always laboured for peace. He held the haughty
Lombards in check and converted them to Christianity. He extended his
authority over Africa, Spain, Gaul, England, and Ireland and even
claimed jurisdiction over the East. He was the first Pope to become in
act and in influence, if not in name, the temporal sovereign of the
West. He paved the way for Hildebrand and Innocent III.
In culture Gregory was a true son of an age of credulity and
superstition. He believed all the current tales about ghosts, miracles,
and supernatural manifestations. The linen of St. Paul and his
bondage-chains, he declared genuine and possessed of miracle-working
power.[191:1] To the converted Visigothic King in Spain he sent a key
made from Peter's chain, a piece of the true cross, and some hairs from
the head of John the Baptist. Indeed this was a practice which he
followed in the case of many of his friends whom he desired to
especially favour.[191:2] The "monuments of classic genius" he despised,
asserting that it was his wish to be unknown in this world and glorified
in the next. He very severely censured the profane learning of a bishop
who taught grammar, studied the Latin poets, and pronounced Jupiter and
Christ in the same breath. It was his constant habit, on the other
hand, to enforce upon all Christians--clergy and laity alike--the great
duty of reading the Bible. Still his own literary work was rather
voluminous. He wrote 850 letters--more than all his 69 predecessors
together--on all topics and to all Christendom. In addition he produced
his _Magna Moralia_,[192:1] some homilies, a book on pastoral rule, and
liturgical treatises. His productions are below mediocrity and he cannot
compare with Leo I. as a critic, expositor, or original thinker. He had
but a slight knowledge of Greek and knew no Hebrew, nor did he possess a
deep acquaintance with the Church Fathers. Yet for that age he was a
cultured man and enjoyed a high reputation for piety and learning, and
spoke to unborn generations.
"By his writings and the fame of his personal sanctity, by the
conversion of England and the introduction of an impressive ritual,
Gregory the Great did more than any other Pontiff to advance Rome's
ecclesiastical authority."[192:2] His virtues and faults, his simplicity
and cunning, his pride and humility, his ignorance and his learning--all
were suited to the times and made him "the greatest of all the early
Popes."[192:3] He closes the period of the Church Fathers and opens the
Middle Ages. For 150 years there were no material acquisitions of
ecclesiastical power, hence the history of the Papacy becomes very
uninteresting and comparatively unimportant.[192:4]
When Gregory the Great closed his remarkable career (604) the Papacy of
the Middle Ages had been born and in form resembled the Empire.[193:1]
The head of the Church was known as "Pope." Because of his peculiar
personal holiness he could be judged by none,[193:2] though himself
judge of all. The hierarchy of officers had been practically
completed.[193:3] The laity was distinctly cut off from the clergy, and
deprived of powers exercised in the first and second centuries. The
election of the clergy had changed from a democratic to an aristocratic
process. There was a marked evolution in rites and ceremonies. Art and
music were now employed. The mass gradually became the powerful,
mysterious centre of all worship, while public worship became imposing,
dramatic, theatrical. Festivals were multiplied almost without number.
The worship of martyrs and saints[193:4] became so widespread and
popular that a "calendar of saints" was formed. Pilgrimages grew to be
very numerous and the use of relics[193:5] developed such a craze that
the fathers, councils, Popes, and at last the Emperor himself sought to
check it. Religious pageants were multiplied and the use of images and
pictures of saints were encouraged in the churches. The Virgin Mary was
exalted to the eminence of divinity. In imitation of the court-calendar,
loftier titles of spiritual dignity were adopted or invented for the
higher ecclesiastics. The dogma of the "unity of outward representation"
had acquired not merely a material and visible, but also a sacramental,
character. Thus the Church was the only channel of spiritual graces,
hence union with the Church was absolutely indispensable to salvation.
The Church had become immensely wealthy in lands, buildings, and
furniture. This corrupting familiarity with secular affairs was early
seen and denounced. St. Chrysostom sharply rebuked the bishops who "had
fallen to the condition of land-stewards, hucksters, brokers, publicans,
and pay-clerks." The Council of Chalcedon ordered the bishops to appoint
land-stewards to look after their estates.[194:1]
SOURCES
A.--PRIMARY:
1.--_New Testament._
2.--_New Testament Apocrypha._
3.--Church Fathers. See Chap. X.
4.--Acts of the Councils. See Chap. IX.
5.--_Roman Civil Law._ Various English translations.
6.--_Canon Law._ Various collections. Best by Richter, 2 vols.,
Leip. 1839. No English translation.
7.--_Apostolical Constitutions._ Various English translations.
Best in _Ante-Nic. Christ. Lib._, vol. 17. _Cf._ Harnack,
_Sources of the Apostolic Canons_. Lond., 1895.
8.--_Apostolic Canons._ Various English translations.
9.--Leo I., _Epistles to Flavian_. Transl. by C. A. Heurtley.
Oxf., 1885. _Letters and Sermons._ _Lib. of Nic. and
Post-Nic. Fathers_, xii.
10.--Gregory I., _Book of Pastoral Rule and Selected Epistles_.
_Ibid._
Bibliographical note:--Unfortunately the best collections of
materials have not been put into English, like:
1.--Mirbt, _Quellen zur Geschichte des Papsttum_. Leipz.,
1895. 2.--Hardouin, _Acta Conciliorum_. Paris, 1815. 12
vols. 3.--Mansi, _Collectio Sacrorum Conciliorum_. Flor.
& Ven., 1759-98. 31 vols. 4.--Jaffé, _Regesta Pontificum
Romanorum_. Leipz., 1881-8. 2 vols.
B.--SECONDARY:
I.--SPECIAL:
1.--Allies, T. W., _The Holy See from Leo I. to Gregory I._
Lond., 1888.
2.--Balzani, U., _Early Chronicles of Italy_. Lond., 1883;
i.-iii.
3.--Barry, W., _The Papal Monarchy_. N. Y., 1901.
4.--Bigg, _Church's Task under the Roman Empire_. Oxf., 1905.
5.--Borrow, I., _The Pope's Supremacy_. New ed. Lond., 1859.
6.--Bower, A., _History of the Popes_. Phil., 1844. 3 vols.
7.--Bright, W., _The Roman See in the Early Church_. Lond.,
1890.
8.--Brock, M., _Rome: Pagan and Papal_. Lond., 1883.
9.--Bryce, J., _The Holy Roman Empire_. Many eds. Last ed.
Lond. and N. Y., 1904.
10.--Creighton, M., _History of the Papacy_. Bost., 1882-94.
Vol. i.
11.--Dudden, _Gregory the Great_. Lond. and N. Y., 1905. 2
vols.
12.--Duff, D., _The Early Church_. N. Y., 1891.
13.--Gasquet, _A Life of Pope Gregory the Great_. Lond., 1904.
14.--Gore, C., _Leo the Great_. Lond., 1878.
15.--Gosselin, J. E., _Power of the Pope during the Middle
Ages_. Lond., 1853.
16.--Greenwood, T., _Cathedra Petri_. Lond., 1859-72. Vols.
i.-ii.
17.--Hussey, R., _Rise of the Papal Power_. Lond., 1863.
18.--Kellett, F. W., _Pope Gregory the Great and his Relations
with Gaul_. N. Y., 1890.
19.--Kenrick, F. P., _The Primacy of the Apostolic See_. 7th
ed. Balt., 1855.
20.--Lea, H. C., _Studies in Church History_. Phil., 1883.
21.--Legge, A. O., _Growth of the Temporal Power of the
Papacy_. Lond., 1870.
22.--Littledale, R. F., _The Petrine Claims_. Lond., 1889.
23.--Mann, H. K., _Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle
Ages_. Lond., 1906.
24.--Manning, H. E., _The Temporal Power of the Vicar of Jesus
Christ_. N. Y., 1880.
25.--Meyrick, T., _Lives of the Early Popes_. Lond., 1878-80. 2
vols.
26.--Milman, H. H., _Latin Christianity_. Lond., 1840. Several
revisions.
27.--Murphy, _The Chair of Peter_. Lond., 1888.
28.--Pennington, A. R., _Epochs of the Papacy_. Lond., 1881.
Ch. 1.
29.--Platina, B., _Lives of the Popes_. Lond., 1893.
30.--Rainy, R., _The Ancient Catholic Church_ (to 451).
31.--Riddle, J. E., _History of the Papacy_. Lond., 1854.
32.--Rivington, L., _The Roman Primacy_ (430-451). Lond., 1899.
33.--Snow, T. B., _St. Gregory the Great_. Lond., 1892.
34.--Soechi, B., _Lives of the Popes to Gregory VII._ Lond.,
1888.
35.--Tardini, C., _The Popes of Rome and the Popes of the
Oriental Churches_. Lond., 1871. Ch. 4.
36.--Wilkes, G. A. T., _History of the Popes from Linus to Pius
IX._ Lond., 1851.
II.--GENERAL:
Adams, _Civ._, ch. 4. Adeney, ch. 11. Allies, _Peter's Rock_,
vol. iv., ch. 32-34, 38, 42, 47. Alzog, i., § 87, 130. Butler,
ch. 44, 50. Cheetham, ch. 9, § 4. Coxe, Lect. 3, § 23. Crooks,
ch. 28. Darras, i.-ii. Döllinger, ii., ch. 5. Duff, 63, 108,
249, 341, 557, 605. Fisher, 105-108, 157-160. Fitzgerald, i.,
235-264; ii., 1-28. Foulkes, 105, 328, 348, 368, 382.
Gieseler, i., § 68, 69, 91-94. Gilmartin, i., ch. 21.
Gregorovius, i. Hase, § 128-130. Hurst, i., 325 _ff._ Kurtz,
i., 264-274. Mahan, bk. 3, ch. 4. Milman, bk. 1, 2. Milner,
ii., cent. 4, ch. 17; cent. 6, ch. 5-8. Moeller, i., 340-355.
Neander i., § 2; ii., § 2. Robertson, bk. 2, ch. 6, p. 303.
Schaff, pd. 2, ch. 4, § 50-53; pd. 3, ch. 3, § 26; ch. 5, §
60-64; pd. 4, ch. 4.
FOOTNOTES:
[165:1] Lea, _Stud. in Ch. Hist._, 118.
[165:2] Greenwood, _Cathedra Petri_, i., 232.
[166:1] It must be said, however, that the Eastern Patriarchs refused to
recognise the decision. Gieseler, i., 382; Milman, i., 130. _Cf._
Socrates, ii., 15 _ff._
[166:2] Hard., _Concil._, i., p. 610 _ff._
[166:3] Greenwood, _Cathedra Petri_, i., 205.
[166:4] Can. 4, 5, 7.
[167:1] The Council of Sardica was not recognised, however, either by
the churches of the East or of Africa.
[167:2] Mansi, iii., 624.
[167:3] Cod. Theod. _Novell._, tit. xxix., Suppl., p. 12; Robinson,
_Readings_, i., 72. The same power was conferred by the Council of
Chalcedon (451) on the Bishop of Constantinople. _Canon_ 9.
[167:4] _Ep._ 13; Robinson, _Readings_, i., 72.
[167:5] _Ep._ 9.
[167:6] Greenwood, i., 270-279.
[168:1] Hard., _Concil._, i., 947.
[168:2] _Ep._ 209.
[168:3] _Ep._ 4, c. 5.
[168:4] Lea, _Stud. in Ch. Hist._, 139.
[169:1] Berington and Kirk, _Faith of Catholics_, ii., 1-112.
[170:1] Migne, xi.; Optatus, lib. ii., c. 2, 3; lib. vii., c. 3. Mileve
is in Numidia.
[170:2] _De Excidio Satyri_, i., 47; Mansi, _Concil._, iii., cal. 622.
[170:3] Jerome, _Ep._ 15, 146; Greenwood, i., 232.
[170:4] _Ps. contra Don._; _Ep._ 178; Greenwood, i., 296.
[170:5] Ignatius, _Martyrs_, n. 4; Hom. ii. in _Principium Actorum_, n.
6, iii., p. 70; Theodoret, _Ep._ 83, 113, 116; Cyril, _Ep. ad Coelest._
[171:1] Canon 6; Gieseler, i., 378. Later an interpolation made canon 6
read: "Rome has always held the primacy." First used at Chalcedon in
451.
[171:2] Canons 3, 4, and 5; Mansi, iii., 23; Sardica was not a universal
council.
[171:3] Milman, i., 101. _Cf._ Hefele, i., 539; Greenwood, i., 239, 240.
[171:4] Mansi, _Concil._, iii., cal. 622.
[172:1] Gieseler, i., 385, 395, 396; Schaff, iii., 313.
[172:2] Matt. xvi., 19; xviii., 18; 1 Cor. v., 3-5; 2 Cor. vi., 14, 17;
Rom. xvi., 17; Gal. i., 8, 9; Tit. iii., 10; 1 Thess. iii., 6, 14, 15.
[173:1] Hard., _Concil._, i., 1025.
[173:2] Gieseler, i., 382; Milman, i., 129.
[173:3] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 68.
[174:1] Bower, i., 383.
[174:2] _Nic. and Post-Nic. Fathers_, 2d ser., xii., 70, Letter 43.
[174:3] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 72.
[174:4] _Ibid._, 73.
[175:1] Lateran, Vatican, St. Paul, St. Agnes, St. Lawrence, and St.
Marcellinus.
[177:1] Euseb., _Eccl. Hist._, v., 24.
[177:2] _On Modesty_, in _Lib. of Ante-Nic. Fathers_, xviii.
[177:3] Hippolytus, _Refutation of Heresies_, ix., 7.
[177:4] Greenwood, i., 109.
[177:5] _Ibid._, 121 _ff._
[178:1] Boyd, W. K., _Eccles. Edicts of the Theodos. Code_, N. Y., 1906.
[179:1] Can. 9. Later the same procedure was adopted at Constantinople.
[179:2] Cod. Theod., c. 16.
[179:3] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 72.
[179:4] Greenwood, i., 324.
[179:5] Cod. Justin., i., tit. 2.
[180:1] Greenwood, _Cathedra Petri_, ii., 137.
[180:2] Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xxvii., c. 3.
[180:3] Gieseler, i., 219; Schaff, iii., 68, 69.
[180:4] Hutton, W. H., _The Church and the Barbarians_, N. Y., 1906.
[181:1] _Apolog. contra Arian_, 21-26; Euseb., Soc., and Soz.
[181:2] Smith and Wace, iii., 532.
[181:3] _Ibid._, i., 783.
[181:4] Robinson, _Readings_, i., 68.
[182:1] Hard., _Concil._, i., 995.
[182:2] Milman, i., 143, 4.
[182:3] _1st Epist._, ii., ch. 3; Lea, _Studies in Ch. Hist._, 133;
Hard., _Concil._, i., 1025.
[182:4] Smith and Wace, iii., 652; _Post-Nicene Fathers_, xii.;
Greenwood, i., bk. 2, ch. 4-6; Milman, i., bk. 2, ch. 4; Schaff, iii.,
314.
[183:1] Thatcher and McNeal, _Source-Book of Med. Hist._, No. 35. _Nic.
and Post-Nic. Fathers_, 2d ser., xii., contains his life and letters.
See sermon by Leo I. on Peter's leadership in Robinson, _Readings_, i.,
69; Orr, _Source Book_, § 10.
[184:1] Hilary, Archbishop of Arles, was excommunicated and Emperor
Valentinian III. was induced to uphold the action. Greenwood, i., 351
_ff._
[185:1] Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, iv., 421; _Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers_, 2d ser., xii., contains Gregory's letters and sermons; Gregory
of Tours; Bede; Snow, _St. Gregory the Great_; Barmby, _Gregory the
Great_; Hutton, _Church of the Sixth Century_; Neander, iii., 112;
Hallam, 328.
[185:2] Gregory of Tours, x., 1.
[186:1] Soon many poetical tales were imputed to him. It was said a new
stomach was given him so he could fast. An angel visited him disguised
as a sailor. Milman, ii., 45. Read Bede for the story which led to the
conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. For his treatment of the monk Justus see
Milman, i., 432. _Cf._ Montalembert, ii., 84-87; _Dict. Christ. Biog._,
ii., 779.
[187:1] _Epistle_ v. in _Nic. and Post-Nic. Fathers_, xii., 74.
[188:1] Milman, ii., 44.
[189:1] _Ep._, ix., 12; xiii., 45.
[189:2] _Ep._, viii., 30; ix., 12.
[189:3] Milman, ii., 72; _Ep._, vii., 31.
[189:4] Milman, ii., 81.
[189:5] He created the Gregorian chant, instituted singing schools,
minutely described the ceremonies, prescribed the variety and change of
garments, and laid down the order of processions. The duties of priests
and deacons were outlined and their parishes defined.
[190:1] _Ep._, iii., 34, 50.
[190:2] _Ep._, xi., 54.
[190:3] It was also reported that he fed 3000 virgins.
[191:1] _Epistle_ xxx. in _Nic. and Post-Nic. Fathers_, xii., 154.
[191:2] _Ibid._, 82, 130, 243.
[192:1] This was an exposition of the Book of Job, _Ep._ 49.
[192:2] Bryce, 150.
[192:3] Adams, _Civ. of M. A._, 230.
[192:4] Hallam, 329.
[193:1] Gieseler, i., 382; Milman, i., 128.
[193:2] Hefele, iii., 20. In the early Church "pope," or "papa" or
"abba," was applied to all clergy. Schaff, iii., 300. "Pope" is still
used for all priests in the Greek Church and "father" in the Latin
Church. See Cyprian, _Ep._, viii., 1.
[193:3] Stewards, secretaries, nurses, and undertakers were regarded as
being in a sense members of the lower clergy. Schaff, iii., 262.
[193:4] For biblical authority see Luke xv., 10; Rev. viii., 3, 4.
[193:5] Began in the second century.
[194:1] Hard., _Concil._, ii., 612.