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99. Gregory the Great and the Roman Church in the Second Half of the Sixth Century
Gregory the Great was born about 540. In 573 he was appointed prefect of the city of Rome, but resigned the following year to become a monk. Having been ordained deacon, he was sent in 579 to Constantinople as papal apocrisiarius, or resident ambassador at the court of the Emperor. In 586 he was back in Rome and abbot of St. Andrew's, and in 590 he was elected Pope. As Pope his career was even more brilliant. He reorganized the papal finances, carried through important disciplinary measures, and advanced the cause of monasticism. His work as the organizer of missions in England, his labors to heal the Istrian schism, his relations with the Lombards, his dealings with the Church in Gaul, his controversy with Constantinople in the matter of the title "Ecumenical Patriarch," and other large relations and tasks indicate the range of his interests and the extent of his activities. As a theologian Gregory interpreted Augustine for the Middle Ages and was the most important and influential theologian of the West after Augustine and before the greater scholastics. He did much to restore the prestige of his see, which had been lost in the earlier part of the sixth century. He died 604.
Additional source material: Selections from the writings of Gregory, including many of his letters, may be found in PNF, ser. II, vols. XII and XIII; see also A Library of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church (Oxford).
The selections under this section are arranged under four heads: (1) Relations with Gaul; (2) Relations with Constantinople; (3) Relations with the Schism in Northern Italy; (4) Relations with the Lombards; for English mission, v. infra, 100.
1. Relations with Gaul.
(a) Gregory the Great, Ep. ad Vigilium, Reg. V, 53. (MSL, 77:782.)
The following letter was written in 595 in reply to a letter from Vigilius, bishop of Arles, asking for the pallium (DCA, art. "Pallium," also Cath. Encyc.) and the vicariate. For the relation of the Roman see to the bishop of Arles as primate of Gaul, see E. Loening, Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenrechts. The relation of the vicariate to the papacy and also to the royal power is indicated by the fact that the pallium is given in response to the request of the king. The condition of the church under Childebert is also shown; see 98 for canons bearing on simony and irregularities in connection with ordination.
As to thy having asked therein [in a letter of Vigilius to Gregory] according to ancient custom for the use of the pallium and the vicariate of the Apostolic See, far be it from me to suspect that thou hast sought eminence of transitory power, or the adornment of external worship, in our vicariate and the pallium. But, since it is known to all whence the holy faith proceeded in the regions of Gaul, when your fraternity asks for a repetition of the early custom of the Apostolic See, what is it but that a good offspring reverts to the bosom of its mother? With willing mind therefore we grant what has been requested, lest we should seem either to withhold from you anything of the honor due to you, or to despise the petition of our most excellent son, King Childebert.…
I have learned from certain persons informing me that in the parts of Gaul and Germany no one attains to holy orders except for a consideration given. If this is so, I say it with tears, I declare it with groans, that, when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, neither will it be able to stand outwardly for long.…
Another very detestable thing has also been reported to us, that some persons being laymen, through the desire of temporal glory, are tonsured on the death of bishops, and all at once are made priests.…
On this account your fraternity must needs take care to admonish our most excellent son, King Childebert, that he remove entirely the stain of this sin from his kingdom, to the end that Almighty God may give him so much the greater recompense with himself as He sees him both love what He loves and shun what He hates.
And so we commit to your fraternity, according to ancient custom, under God, our vicariate in the churches which are under the dominion of our most excellent son Childebert, with the understanding that their proper dignity, according to primitive usage, be preserved to the several metropolitans. We have also sent a pallium which thy fraternity will use within the Church for the solemnization of mass only. Further, if any of the bishops should by any chance wish to travel to any considerable distance, let it not be lawful for him to remove to other places without the authority of thy holiness. If any question of faith, or it may be relating to other matters, should have arisen among the bishops, which cannot easily be settled, let it be ventilated and decided in an assembly of twelve bishops. But if it cannot be decided after the truth has been investigated, let it be referred to our judgment.
2. Relations with Constantinople.
(b) Gregory the Great, Ep. ad Johannem Jejunatorem, Reg. V, 44. (MSL, 77:738.) Cf. Mirbt, n. 180.
On the title "Ecumenical Patriarch."
The controversy over the title "Ecumenical Patriarch" was a result of Gregory's determination to carry through, as far as possible, the Petrine rights and duties as he conceived them. The title was probably intended to mark the superiority of Constantinople to the other patriarchates in the East, according to the Eastern principle that the political rank of a city determined its ecclesiastical rank. It seemed to Gregory to imply a position of superiority to the see of Peter. As it certainly might imply that, he consistently opposed it. But it had been a title in use for nearly a century. (Cf. Gieseler, KG, Eng. trans., vol. I, p. 504.) Justinian in 533 so styled the patriarch of Constantinople (Cod. I, 1, 7). For the difference in point of view between the East and the West as to rank of great sees, see Leo's letters on the 28th canon of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, supra, in 86.
At the time when your fraternity was advanced in sacerdotal dignity, you recall what peace and concord of the churches you found. But, with what daring or with what swelling of pride I know not, you have attempted to seize upon a new name for yourself, whereby the hearts of all your brethren would be offended. I wonder exceedingly at this, since I remember that in order not to attain to the episcopal office thou wouldest have fled. But now that thou hast attained unto it, thou desirest so to exercise it as if thou hadst run after it with ambitious desire. And thou who didst confess thyself unworthy to be called a bishop, hast at length been brought to such a pitch that, despising thy brethren, thou desirest to be named the only bishop. And in regard to this matter, weighty letters were sent to thy holiness by my predecessor Pelagius, of holy memory, and in them he annulled the acts of the synod,(246) which had been assembled among you in the case of our former brother and fellow priest, Gregory, because of that execrable title of pride, and forbade the archdeacon whom he sent according to custom to the feet of our Lord(247) to celebrate the solemnities of the mass with thee. But after his death, when I, an unworthy man, succeeded to the government of the Church, I took care, formerly through thy representatives, and now through our common son and deacon, Sabianus, to address thy fraternity, not indeed in writing, but by word of mouth, desiring thee to refrain thyself from such presumption; and in case thou wouldest not amend I forbade his celebrating the solemnities of the mass with thee; that so I might appeal to thy holiness through a certain sense of shame, and then, if the execrable and profane assumption could not be corrected through shame, I might resort to canonical and prescribed measures. And because sores that are to be cut away should first be stroked with a gentle hand, I beg of thee, I beseech thee, and, as kindly as I can, I demand of thee that thy fraternity rebuke all who flatter thee and offer thee this name of error, and not consent to be called by a foolish and proud title. For truly I say it weeping, and out of deepest sorrow of heart attribute it to my sins, that this my brother, who has been placed in the episcopal order, that he might bring back the souls of others to humility, has, up to the present time, been incapable of being brought back to humility; that he who teaches truth to others has not consented to teach himself, even when I implore him.
Consider, I pray thee, that by this rash presumption the peace of the whole Church is disturbed, and that it is in contradiction to the grace poured out on all in common; in which grace thou thyself wilt be able to grow so far as thou thyself wilt determine to do so. And thou wilt become by so much the greater as thou restrainest thyself from the usurpation of proud and foolish titles; and thou wilt advance in proportion as thou art not bent on arrogation by the humiliation of thy brethren.… Certainly Peter, the first of the Apostles, was a member of the holy and universal Church; Paul, Andrew, John—what are they but the heads of particular communities? And yet all are members under one Head. And to bind all together in a short phrase, the saints before the Law, the saints under the Law, the saints under grace, all these making up the Lord's body were constituted as members of the Church, and not one of them has ever wished himself to be called "universal."…
Is it not the fact, as your fraternity knows, that the prelates of this Apostolic See, which by the providence of God I serve, had the honor offered them by the venerable Council of Chalcedon of being called "universal"?(248) But yet not one of them has ever wished to be called by such a title, or seized upon this rash name, lest, if in virtue of the rank of the pontificate, he took to himself the glory of singularity, he might seem to have denied it to all his brethren.
(c) Gregory the Great, Ep. ad Phocam, Reg. XIII, 31. (MSL, 77:1281.)
Epistle to Phocas congratulating him on his accession.
Phocas (602-610) was a low-born, ignorant centurion whom chance had placed at the head of a successful rebellion originating in the army of the Danube. The rebellion was successful, and the Emperor Maurice was murdered, together with his sons. Maurice had been unsuccessful in war, unpopular with the army, and his financial measures had been oppressive. Phocas was utterly incompetent as a ruler, licentious and sanguinary as a man. His reign was a period of horror and blood.
Gregory to Phocas. Glory to God in the highest, who, according as it is written, changes times, and transfers kingdoms, because He has made apparent to all what He has vouchsafed to speak by His prophet, that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will [Dan. 4:17]. For in the incomprehensible dispensation of Almighty God there is an alternating control of human life, and sometimes, when the sins of many are to be smitten, one is raised up through whose hardness the necks of subjects may be bowed down under the yoke of tribulation, as in our affliction we have long had proof. But sometimes, when the merciful God has decreed to refresh with His consolation the mourning hearts of many, He advances one to the summit of government, and through the bowels of His mercy infuses in the minds of all the grace of exultation in Him. In which abundance of exultation we believe that we, who rejoice that the benignity of your piety has arrived at imperial supremacy, shall speedily be confirmed. "Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad" [Psalm 96:11], and let the whole people of the republic, hitherto afflicted exceedingly, grow cheerful for your benignant deeds. Let the proud minds of enemies be subdued to the yoke of your domination. Let the sad and depressed spirit of subjects be relieved by your mercy. Let the power of heavenly grace make you terrible to your enemies; let piety make you kind to your subjects. Let the whole republic have rest in your most happy times, since the pillage of peace under the color of legal processes has been exposed. Let plottings about testaments cease, and benevolences extorted by violence end. Let secure possession of their own goods return to all, that they may rejoice in possessing without fear what they have acquired without fraud. Let every single person's liberty be now at length restored to each one under the yoke of the holy Empire. For there is this difference between the kings of the nations and the emperors of the republic: the kings of the nations are lords of slaves, but the emperors lords of free men. But we shall better speak of these things by praying than by putting you in mind of them. May Almighty God keep the heart of your piety in the hand of His grace in every thought and deed. Whatsoever things should be done justly, whatever things with clemency, may the Holy Ghost, who dwells in your breast direct, that your clemency may both be exalted in a temporal kingdom and after the course of many years attain to heavenly kingdoms. Given in the month June, indiction six.
3. Gregory and the Schism in North Italy.
Among the results of the Fifth General Council of Constantinople, 553, was a wide-spread schism in the northern part of Italy and adjacent lands. The bishops of the western part of Lombardy, under the lead of the bishop of Milan, together with the bishops of Venetia, Istria, and a portion of Illyricum, Rhaetia Secunda, and Noricum, under the bishop of Aquileia, renounced communion with the see of Rome, and became autocephalic. Even bishops in Tuscany abandoned communion with the see of Rome because the council and Vigilius had condemned Theodore, Theodoret, and Ibas (v. supra, 93). Justin II attempted to heal the schism, and his verbose edict may be found in Evagrius, Hist. Ec., V, 4. A serious problem was presented to the Roman see. In dealing with them, however, it was possible to treat each group separately. On account of the Lombard invasion the bishop of Aquileia removed his see to Grado. Gregory the Great had some success in drawing the schismatics into more friendly relations. But not till 612 was the see of Aquileia-Grado in communion with Rome. A rival bishop was elected, who removed his see to old Aquileia. See extract from Paulus Diaconus (f). And the opposition was maintained until about 700. The Milanese portion of the schism had long since ended. Of Gregory's epistles several bearing on the schism are available in PNF, ser. II, vols. XII and XIII: Reg. I, 16; II, 46, 51; IV, 2, 38, 39; V, 51; IX, 9, 10; XIII, 33.
(d) Gregory the Great, Ep. ad Constantium, Reg. IV, 2. (MSL, 77:669.)
Gregory to Constantius, Bishop of Milan. My beloved son, the deacon Boniface, has given me information from a private letter of thy fraternity: namely, that three bishops, having sought out rather than having found an occasion, have separated themselves from the pious communion of thy fraternity, saying that thou hast assented to the condemnation of the three chapters and hast given a solemn pledge. And, indeed, whether there has been any mention made of the three chapters in any word or writing whatever, thy fraternity remembers well; although thy fraternity's predecessor, Laurentius (circa 573), did send a most strict security to the Apostolic See, and to it a legal number of the most noble men subscribed; among whom, I also, at that time holding the praetorship of the city, likewise subscribed; because, when such a schism had taken place about nothing, it was right that the Apostolic See should be careful to guard in all respects the unity of the universal Church in the minds of priests. But as to its being said that our daughter, Queen Theodelinda,(249) after hearing this news has withdrawn herself from thy communion, it is perfectly evident that though she has been seduced to some little extent by the words of wicked men, yet when Hippolytus the notary and John the abbot arrive, she will seek in all ways the communion of the fraternity.
(e) Gregory the Great, Ep. ad Constantium, Reg. IV, 39. (MSL, 77:713.)
In reply to a letter from Constantius of Milan informing Gregory that the demand had been made upon him by the clergy of Brescia that he should take an oath that he, Constantius, had not condemned the Three Chapters, i.e., had not accepted the Fifth General Council, Gregory advises him to take no such oath.
But lest those who have thus written to you should be offended, send them a letter declaring under an imposition of an anathema that you neither take away anything from the faith of the synod of Chalcedon nor receive those who do, and that you condemn whatsoever it condemned and absolve whatsoever it absolved. And thus I believe that they may soon be satisfied.… As to what you have written to the effect that you are unwilling to transmit my letter to Queen Theodelinda on the ground that the fifth synod is named in it, for you believed that she might be offended, you did right not to transmit it. We are therefore doing now as you recommended, namely, only expressing approval of the four synods. Yet as to the synod which was afterward called at Constantinople, which is called by many the fifth, I would have you know that it neither ordained nor held anything in opposition to the four most holy synods, seeing that nothing was done in it with respect to the faith, but only with respect to three persons, about whom nothing is contained in the acts of the Council of Chalcedon;(250) but after the canons had been promulgated, discussion arose, and final action was ventilated concerning persons.
(f) Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum, IV, 32, 33, 36. (MSL, 95:657.)
The continuation of the schism in Istria and the rise of the two patriarchates of Aquileia. The Emperor Phocas and the title "Head of All the Churches."
32. In the following month of November [A. D. 605] King Agilulf concluded peace with the Patrician Smaragdus for a year, and received from the Romans twelve thousand solidi. Also the Tuscan cities Balneus Regis [Bagnarea] and Urbs Vetus [Orvieto] were conquered by the Lombards. Then appeared in the heavens in the months of April and May a star which is called a comet. Thereupon King Agilulf again made a peace with the Romans for three years.
33. In the same days after the death of the patriarch Severus, the abbot John was made patriarch of old Aquileia in his place with the approval of the king and Duke Gisulf. Also in Grados [Grado] the Roman(251) Candidianus was appointed bishop. In the months of November and December a comet was again visible. After the death of Candidianus, Epiphanius, who had formerly been the papal chief notary, was elected patriarch by the bishops who stood under the Romans; and since this time there were two patriarchs.
36. Phocas, as also has been related above, after the murder of Maurice and his sons, obtained the Roman Empire and ruled for eight years. At the request of Pope Boniface(252) he decreed that the seat of the Roman and Apostolic Church should be the head of all churches [caput omnium ecclesiarum], because the Church of Constantinople in a proclamation had named itself first of all. At the request of another Pope Boniface,(253) he commanded that the idolatrous rubbish should be removed from the old temple which bore the name of the Pantheon, and from it a church should be made to the holy Virgin Mary and all martyrs, so that where formerly the service not of all gods but of all idols was celebrated, now only the memory of all saints should be found.
4. Gregory the Great and the Lombards.
The Lombards entered Italy 568, and gradually spread over nearly all the peninsula. The territories retained by the Emperor from the conquests of Justinian were only the Exarchate of Ravenna, the Ducatus Romanus, and the Ducatus Neapolitanus, the extreme southern parts of the peninsula and Liguria. The Lombards were the last Germanic tribe to settle within the Empire, and like so many others they were Arians. Theodelinda, the queen of the Lombards, was a Bavarian princess and a Catholic. Her second husband, Agilulf, seems to have been favorably disposed to Catholicism, far more so than Authari, her first husband.
(g) Paulus Diaconus, Historia Langobardorum, IV, 5-9. (MSL, 95:540.)
Paulus Warnefridi, known as Paulus Diaconus (circa 720-circa 800), was himself a Lombard, and in writing his History of the Lombards shows himself the patriot as well as the loyal son of the Roman Church. To do this was at times difficult. The work is one of the most attractive histories written in the Middle Ages. For nearly all of his history, Paulus is dependent upon older sources, but he restates the older accounts in clear and careful fashion. The connection between the various extracts is not always felicitous, yet he has succeeded in producing one of the great books of history. For an analysis of the sources, see F. H. B. Daniell, art. "Paulus (70) Diaconus" in DCB. The best edition is that by Bethmann and Waitz in the MGH, Scriptores rerum Langobardorum et Italicarum saec. VI-IX, also in the 8vo edition. There is an English translation of the entire work in the Translations and Reprints of the Historical Department of the University of Pennsylvania.
5. At that time the learned and pious Pope Gregory, after he had already written much for the benefit of the holy Church, wrote also four books concerning the lives of the saints; these books he called Dialogus, that is, conversation, because in them he has introduced himself speaking with his deacon Peter. The Pope sent these books to Queen Theodelinda, whom he knew to be true in the faith in Christ and abounding in good works.
6. Through this queen the Church of God obtained many and great advantages. For the Lombards, when they were still held by heathen unbelief, had taken possession of the entire property of the Church. But, induced by successful requests of the queen, the king, holding fast to the Catholic faith,(254) gave the Church of Christ many possessions and assigned to the bishops, who had theretofore been oppressed and despised, their ancient place of honor once more.
7. In these days Tassilo was made king of Bavaria by the Frankish king Childebert. With an army he immediately marched into the land of the Slavs, and with great booty returned to his own land.
9. At the same time the patrician and exarch of Ravenna, Romanus,(255) went to Rome. On his return to Ravenna he took possession of the cities which had been taken by the Lombards. The names of them are: Sutrium [Sutri], Polimarcium [near Bomarzio and west of Orte], Horta [Orte], Tuder [Todi], Ameria [Amelia], Perusia [Perugia], Luceoli [near Gubbio], and several others. When King Agilulf received word of this, he at once marched forth from Ticinus with a strong army and pitched before the city of Perusia. Here he besieged several days the Lombard duke Marisio, who had gone over to the side of the Romans, took him prisoner, and without delay had him executed. On the approach of the king, the holy Pope Gregory was so filled with fear that, as he himself reports in his homilies, he broke off the explanation of the temple, to be read about in Ezekiel; King Agilulf returned to Ticinus after he had settled the matter, and not long after, chiefly on account of the entreaties of his wife, Queen Theodelinda, who had often been advised in letters by the holy Father Gregory to do so, he concluded with Gregory and the Romans a lasting peace. To thank her for this, the venerable priest sent the following letter to the queen:
Gregory to Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards. How your excellency has labored earnestly and kindly, as is your wont, for the conclusion of peace, we have learned from the report of our son, the abbot Probus. Nor, indeed, was it otherwise to be expected of your Christianity than that you would in all ways show assiduity and goodness in the cause of peace. Wherefore, we give thanks to Almighty God, who so rules your heart with His lovingkindness that, as He has given you a right faith, so He also grants you to work always what is pleasing in His sight. For you may be assured, most excellent daughter, that for the saving of much bloodshed on both sides you have acquired no small reward. On this account, returning thanks for your good-will, we implore the mercy of God to repay you with good in body and soul here and in the world to come. Moreover, greeting you with fatherly affection, we exhort you so to deal with your most excellent consort that he may not reject the alliance of the Christian republic. For, as I believe you yourself know, it is in many ways profitable that he should be inclined to betake himself to its friendship. Do you then, after your manner, always strive for what tends to good-will and conciliation between the parties, and labor wherever an occasion of reaping a reward presents itself, that you may commend your good deeds the more before the eyes of Almighty God.
100. The Foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Church
The Anglo-Saxon Church owes its foundation to the missionary zeal and wise direction of Gregory the Great. Augustine, whom Gregory sent, arrived in the kingdom of Kent 597, and established himself at Canterbury. In 625, Paulinus began his work at York, and Christianity was accepted by the Northumbrian king and many nobles. On the death of King Eadwine, Paulinus was obliged to leave the kingdom. Missionaries were brought into Northumbria in 635 from the Celtic Church, the centre of which was at Iona, where the new king Oswald had taken refuge on the death of Eadwine. Aidan now became the leader of the Northern Church. As the Christianization of the land advanced and Roman customs were introduced into the northern kingdom, practical inconveniences as to the different methods of reckoning the date of Easter, in which the North Irish and the Celts of Scotland differed from the rest of the Christian Church, came to a settlement of the difficulty at Streaneshalch, or Whitby, 664. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, the leader of the Celtic party, withdrew, and Wilfrid, afterward bishop of York, took the lead under the influence of the Roman tradition. The Church of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, now in agreement as to custom, was organized by Theodore of Canterbury (668-690), and developed a remarkable intellectual life, becoming, in fact, for the first part at least of the eighth century, the centre of Western theological and literary culture.
Additional source material: Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People, for editions, v. supra, 96. This is the best account extant of the conversion of a nation to Christianity. H. Gee and W. J. Hardy, Documents Illustrative of English Church History, London, 1896; A. W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, 1869 ff.
(a) Bede, Hist. Ec., I, 29. (MSL, 95:69.)
The scheme of Gregory the Great for the organization of the English Church A. D. 601.
Gregory, in planning his mission, seems not to have been aware of the profound changes in the kingdom resulting from the Anglo-Saxon invasion. He selected York as the seat of an archbishop, because it was the ancient capital of the Roman province in the North, and London, because it was the great city of the South. The rivalry of the two archbishops caused difficulties for centuries, and was a hinderance to the efficiency of the ecclesiastical system. By this letter, the British bishops were to be under the authority of Augustine, a position which was distasteful to the British, who were extremely hostile to the Anglo-Saxons, and incomprehensible to them, as they saw no reason or justification in any such arrangement without their consent. They withdrew from all intercourse with the new Anglo-Saxon Church and retired into Wales.
To the most reverend and holy brother and fellow bishop, Augustine, Gregory, servant of the servants of God.
Although it is certain that the unspeakable rewards of the eternal kingdom are laid up for those who labor for Almighty God, yet it is necessary for us to render to them the benefits of honors, that from this recompense they may be able to labor more abundantly in the zeal for spiritual work. And because the new Church of the English has been brought by thee to the grace of Almighty God, by the bounty of the same Lord and by your toil, we grant you the use of the pallium, in the same to perform only the solemnities of the mass, in order that in the various places you ordain twelve bishops who shall be under your authority, so that the bishop of the city of London ought always thereafter to be consecrated by his own synod and receive the pallium of honor from the holy Apostolic See, which by God's authority I serve.(256) Moreover, we will that you send to York a bishop whom you shall see fit to ordain, yet so that if the same city shall have received the word of God along with the neighboring places, he shall ordain twelve other bishops, and enjoy the honor of metropolitan, because if our life last, we intend, with the Lord's favor, to give him the pallium also. And we will that he be subject to your authority, my brother. But after your decease he shall preside over the bishops he has ordained, so that he shall not be subject in anywise to the bishop of London. Moreover, let there be a distinction of honor between the bishops of the city of London and of York, in such a way that he shall take the precedence who has been ordained first. But let them arrange in concord by common counsel and harmonious action the things which need to be done for the zeal for Christ; let them determine rightly and let them accomplish what they have decided upon without any mutual misunderstandings.
But you, my brother, shall have subject to you not only the bishops whom you have ordained and those ordained by the bishop of York, but also, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the priests [i.e., the bishops] of Britain; so that from the lips of your holiness they may receive the form both of correct faith and of holy life, and fulfilling the duties of their office in faith and morals may, when the Lord wills, attain to the kingdom of heaven. May God keep you safe, most reverend brother. Dated the 22d June in the nineteenth year of the reign of Mauritius Tiberius, the most pious Augustus, in the eighteenth year of the consulship of the same Lord, indiction four.
(b) Bede, Hist. Ec., III, 25 f. (MSL, 95:158.)
The Easter dispute and the synod of Whitby. The triumph of the Roman tradition.
The sharpest dispute between the Celtic and the Roman churches was on the date of Easter as presenting the most inconveniences. The principal points were as follows: Both parties agreed that it must be on Sunday, in the third week of the first lunar month, and the paschal full moon must not fall before the vernal equinox. But the Celts placed the vernal equinox on March 25, and the Romans on March 21. The Celts, furthermore, reckoned as the third week the 14th to the 20th days of the moon inclusive; the Romans the 15th to the 21st inclusive. The Irish Church in the southern part of Ireland had already adopted the Roman reckoning at the synod of Leighlin, 630-633 [Hefele, 289]. The occasion of the difference of custom was, in reality, that the Romans had adopted in the previous century a more correct method of reckoning and one that had fewer practical inconveniences. For a statement by a Celt, see Epistle of Columbanus to Gregory the Great, in the latter's Epistolae, Reg. IX, Ep. 127 (PNF, ser. II, vol. XIII, p. 38). In the following selection space has been saved by omissions which are, however, indicated.
At this time [circa 652] a great and frequent controversy happened about the observance of Easter; those that came from Kent or France asserting that the Scots kept Easter Sunday contrary to the custom of the universal Church. Among them was a most zealous defender of the true Easter, whose name was Ronan, a Scot by nation, but instructed in ecclesiastical truth, either in France or Italy, who disputed with Finan,(257) and convinced many, or at least induced them, to make a stricter inquiry after the truth; yet he could not prevail upon Finan … James, formerly the deacon of the venerable archbishop Paulinus … kept the true and Catholic Easter, with all those that he could persuade to adopt the right way. Queen Eanfleda [wife of Oswy, king of Northumbria] and her attendants also observed the same as she had seen practised in Kent, having with her a Kentish priest that followed the Catholic mode, whose name was Romanus. Thus it is said to have happened in those times that Easter was kept twice in one year;(258) and that when the king, having ended the time of fasting, kept his Easter, the queen and her attendants were still fasting and celebrating Palm Sunday.…
After the death of Finan [662] … when Colman, who was also sent out of Scotland, came to be bishop, a great controversy arose about the observance of Easter, and the rules of ecclesiastical life.… This reached the ears of King Oswy and his son Alfrid; for Oswy, having been instructed and baptized by the Scots, and being very perfectly skilled in their language, thought nothing better than what they taught. But Alfrid, having been instructed in Christianity by Wilfrid, a most learned man, who had first gone to Rome to learn the ecclesiastical doctrine, and spent much time at Lyons with Dalfinus, archbishop of France, from whom he had received the ecclesiastical tonsure, rightly thought this man's doctrine ought to be preferred to all the traditions of the Scots.…
The controversy having been started concerning Easter, the tonsure, and other ecclesiastical matters, it was agreed that a synod should be held in the monastery of Streaneshalch, which signifies the bay of the lighthouse, where the Abbess Hilda, a woman devoted to God, presided; and that there the controversy should be decided. The kings, both father and son, came hither. Bishop Colman, with his Scottish clerks, and Agilbert,(259) and the priests Agatho and Wilfrid. James and Romanus were on their side. But the Abbess Hilda and her associates were for the Scots, as was also the venerable bishop Cedd, long before ordained by the Scots.… Then Colman said: "The Easter which I keep, I received from my elders who sent me hither as bishop; all our fathers, men beloved of God, are known to have kept it in the same manner; and that the same may not seem to any to be contemptible or worthy of being rejected, it is the same which St. John the Evangelist, the disciple especially beloved of our Lord, with all the churches over which he presided, is recorded as having observed.…"
Wilfrid, having been ordered by the king to speak, said: "The Easter which we observe we saw celebrated by all at Rome, where the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, lived, taught, suffered, and were buried; we saw the same done in Italy and France, when we travelled through those countries for pilgrimage and prayer. We found the same practised in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and in all the world, wherever the Church of Christ is spread abroad, through several nations and tongues, at one and the same time … except only those and their accomplices in obstinacy, I mean the Picts and the Britons, who foolishly, in these two remote islands of the world, and only in part of them, oppose all the rest of the universe.… John, pursuant to the custom of the law, began the celebration of the feast of Easter on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, not regarding whether the same happened on a Saturday or any other day.… Thus it appears that you, Colman, neither follow the example of John, as you imagine, nor that of Peter, whose traditions you knowingly contradict.… For John, keeping the paschal time according to the decree of the Mosaic law, had no regard to the first day after the Sabbath [i.e., that it should fall on Sunday], and you who celebrate Easter only on the first day after the Sabbath do not practise this. Peter kept Easter Sunday between the fifteenth and the twenty-first day of the moon, and you do not do this, but keep Easter Sunday from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moon, so that you often begin Easter on the thirteenth moon in the evening … besides this in your celebration of Easter, you utterly exclude the twenty-first day of the moon, which the law ordered to be especially observed."
To this Colman rejoined: "Did Anatolius, a holy man, and much commended in ecclesiastical history, act contrary to the Law and the Gospel when he wrote that Easter was to be celebrated from the fourteenth to the twentieth? Is it to be believed that our most reverend Father Columba and his successors, men beloved of God, who kept Easter after the same manner, thought or acted contrary to the divine writings? Whereas there were many among them whose sanctity was attested by heavenly signs and the workings of miracles, whose life, customs, discipline I never cease to follow, not questioning that they are saints in heaven."
Wilfrid said: "It is evident that Anatolius was a most holy and learned and commendable man; but what have you to do with him, since you do not observe his decrees? For he, following the rule of truth in his Easter, appointed a cycle of nineteen years, which you are either ignorant of, or if you know yet despise, though it is kept by the whole Church of Christ.… Concerning your Father Columba and his followers … I do not deny that they were God's servants, and beloved by Him, who, with rustic simplicity but pious intentions, have themselves loved Him.… But as for you and your companions, you certainly sin, if, having heard the decrees of the Apostolic See, or rather of the universal Church, and the same confirmed by Holy Scripture, you refuse to follow them. For though your Fathers were holy, do you think that their small number in a corner of the remotest island is to be preferred before the universal Church of Christ throughout the world? And if that Columba of yours (and, I may say, ours also, if he was Christ's servant) was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet could he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the Apostles, to whom our Lord said: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven'?"
When Wilfrid had thus spoken, the king said: "Is it true, Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?" He answered: "It is true, O king." Then he said: "Can you show any such power given to your Columba?" Colman answered: "None." Then the king added: "Do you both agree that these words were principally directed to Peter, and that the keys of heaven were given to him by our Lord?" They both answered: "We do." Then the king concluded: "And I also say unto you that he is the doorkeeper whom I will not contradict, but will, as far as I know and am able in all things, obey his decrees, lest, when I come to the gates of the kingdom of heaven, there should be one to open them, he being my adversary who is proved to have the keys." The king having said this, all present, both small and great, gave their assent, and renounced the more imperfect institution, and resolved to conform to that which they found to be better.… [ch. 26]. Colman, perceiving that his doctrine was rejected and his sect despised, took with him such as would not comply with the Catholic Easter and the tonsure (for there was much controversy about that also) and went back to Scotland to consult with his people what was to be done in this case. Cedd, forsaking the practices of the Scots, returned to his bishopric, having submitted to the Catholic observance of Easter. This disputation happened in the year of our Lord's incarnation, 664.
(c) Bede, Hist. Ec., IV, 5. (MSL, 95:180.)
The Council of Hertford A. D. 673. The organization of the Anglo-Saxon Church by Theodore.
As the important synod of Whitby marks the beginning of conformity of the Anglo-Saxon Church under the leadership of the kingdom of Northumbria to the customs of the Roman Church, so the synod of Hertford brings the internal organization of the Church into conformity with the diocesan system of the Continent and of the East, where the principles of the general councils were at this time most completely enforced. Theodore of Canterbury was a learned Greek who was sent to England to be archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Vitalian in 668. The Council of Hertford was the first council of all the Church among the Anglo-Saxons. For the council, see also Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, III, 118-122. The text given is that of Plummer.
In the name of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the perpetual reign of the same Lord Jesus Christ and His government of His Church. It seemed good that we should come together according to the prescription of the venerable canons, to treat of the necessary affairs of the Church. We are met together on this 24th day of September, the first indiction in the place called Hertford. I, Theodore, although unworthy, appointed by the Apostolic See bishop of the church of Canterbury, and our fellow priest the most reverend Bisi, bishop of the East Angles, together with our brother and fellow bishop Wilfrid, bishop of the nation of the Northumbrians, present by his proper legates, as also our brethren and fellow bishops, Putta, bishop of the Castle of the Kentishmen called Rochester, Leutherius, bishop of the West Saxons, and Winfrid, bishop of the province of the Mercians, were present. When we were assembled and had taken our places, each according to his rank, I said: I beseech you, beloved brethren, for the fear and love of our Redeemer, that we all labor in common for our faith, that whatsoever has been decreed and determined by the holy and approved Fathers may be perfectly followed by us all. I enlarged upon these and many other things tending unto charity and the preservation of the unity of the Church. And when I had finished my speech I asked them singly and in order whether they consented to observe all things which had been canonically decreed by the Fathers? To which all our fellow priests answered: We are all well agreed readily and most cheerfully to keep whatever the canons of the holy Fathers have prescribed. Whereupon I immediately produced the book of canons,(260) and pointed out ten chapters from the same book, which I had marked, because I knew that they were especially necessary for us, and proposed that they should be diligently observed by all, namely:
Ch. 1. That we shall jointly observe Easter day on the Lord's day after the fourteenth day of the moon in the first month.
Ch. 2. That no bishop invade the diocese of another, but be content with the government of the people committed to him.
Ch. 3. That no bishop be allowed to trouble in any way any monasteries consecrated to God, nor to take away by violence anything that belongs to them.
Ch. 4. That the monks themselves go not from place to place; that is, from one monastery to another, without letters dismissory of their own abbot;(261) but that they shall continue in that obedience which they promised at the time of their conversion.
Ch. 5. That no clerk, leaving his own bishop, go up and down at his own pleasure, nor be received wherever he comes, without commendatory letters from his bishop; but if he be once received and refuse to return when he is desired so to do, both the receiver and the received shall be laid under an excommunication.
Ch. 6. That stranger bishops and clerks be content with the hospitality that is freely offered them; and none of them be allowed to exercise any sacerdotal function without permission of the bishop in whose diocese he is known to be.
Ch. 7. That a synod be assembled twice in the year. But, because many occasions may hinder this, it was jointly agreed by all that once in the year it be assembled on the first of August in the place called Clovesho.
Ch. 8. That no bishop ambitiously put himself before another, but that every one observe the time and order of his consecration.
Ch. 9. The ninth chapter was discussed together: That the number of bishops be increased as the number of the faithful grew;(262) but we did nothing as to this point at present.
Ch. 10. As to marriages: That none shall be allowed to any but what is a lawful marriage. Let none commit incest. Let none relinquish his own wife but for fornication, as the holy Gospel teaches. But if any have dismissed a wife united to him in lawful marriage, let him not be joined to another if he wish really to be a Christian, but remain as he is or be reconciled to his own wife.
After we had jointly treated on and discussed these chapters, that no scandalous contention should arise henceforth by any of us, and that there be no changes in the publication of them, it seemed proper that every one should confirm by the subscription of his own hand whatever had been determined. I dictated this our definitive sentence to be written by Titillus, the notary. Done in the month and indiction above noted. Whosoever, therefore, shall attempt in any way to oppose or infringe this sentence, confirmed by our present consent, and the subscription of our hands as agreeable to the decrees of the canons, let him know that he is deprived of every sacerdotal function and our society. May the divine grace preserve us safe living in the unity of the Church.
(d) Bede, Hist. Ec., IV, 17. (MSL, 95:198.)
Council of Hatfield, A. D. 680.
At the Council of Hatfield the Anglo-Saxon Church formally recognized the binding authority of the five general councils already held, and rejected Monotheletism in accord with the Roman synod A. D. 649. It seems to have been, as stated in the introduction to the Acts of the council, a preventive measure. In Plummer's edition of Bede this chapter is numbered 15.
At this time Theodore, hearing that the faith of the Church of Constantinople had been much disturbed by the heresy of Eutyches,(263) and being desirous that the churches of the English over which he ruled should be free from such a stain, having collected an assembly of venerable priests and very many doctors, diligently inquired what belief they each held, and found unanimous agreement of all in the Catholic faith; and this he took care to commit to a synodical letter for the instruction and remembrance of posterity. This is the beginning of the letter:
In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the reign of our most pious lords, Egfrid, king of the Humbrians, in the tenth year of his reign, on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of October [September 17] in the eighth indiction, and Ethelred, king of the Mercians, in the sixth year of his reign; and Adwulf, king of the Kentishmen, in the seventh year of his reign; Theodore being president, by the grace of God, archbishop of the island of Britain and of the city of Canterbury, and other venerable men sitting with him, bishops of the island of Britain, with the holy Gospels laid before them, and in the place which is called by the Saxon name of Hatfield, we, handling the subject in concert, have made an exposition of the right and orthodox faith, as our incarnate Lord Jesus Christ delivered it to His disciples, who saw Him present and heard His discourses, and as the creed of the holy Fathers has delivered it, and all the holy and universal synods and all the chorus of approved doctors of the Catholic Church teach. We therefore piously and orthodoxly following them and, making our profession according to their divinely inspired teaching, believe in unison with it, and confess according to the holy Fathers that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are properly and truly a consubstantial Trinity in unity, and unity in Trinity; that is, in one God in three consubstantial subsistencies or persons of equal glory and honor.
And after many things of this kind that pertained to the confession of the right faith, the holy synod also adds these things to its letter:
We have received as holy and universal five synods of the blessed Fathers acceptable to God; that is, of the three hundred and eighteen assembled at Nicaea against the most impious Arius and his tenets; and of the one hundred and fifty at Constantinople against the madness of Macedonius and Eudoxius and their tenets; and of the two hundred in the first Council of Ephesus against the most wicked Nestorius and his tenets; and of the six hundred and thirty at Chalcedon against Eutyches and Nestorius and their tenets; and again of those assembled in a fifth council at Constantinople [A. D. 553], in the time of the younger Justinian, against Theodore and the epistles of Theodoret and Ibas and their tenets against Cyril.
And a little after: Also we have received the synod(264) that was held in the city of Rome in the time of the blessed Pope Martin in the eighth indiction, in the ninth year of the reign of the most pious Constantine.(265) And we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ as they glorified Him, neither adding nor subtracting anything; and we anathematize with heart and mouth those whom they anathematized; and those whom they received we receive, glorifying God the Father without beginning, and his only begotten Son, begotten of the Father before the world began, and the Holy Ghost proceeding ineffably from the Father and the Son, as those holy Apostles, prophets, and doctors have declared whom we have mentioned above. And we all who with Theodore have made an exposition of the Catholic faith have subscribed hereto.
Chapter III. The Foundation Of The Ecclesiastical Institutions Of The Middle Ages
In the period between the conversion of the Franks and the rise of the dynasty of Charles Martel, or the period comprising the sixth and seventh centuries, the foundation was laid for those ecclesiastical institutions which are peculiar to the Middle Ages, and found in the mediaeval Church their full embodiment. In the Church the Latin element was still more or less dominant, and society was only slowly transformed by the Germanic elements. In the adjustment of Roman institutions to the new political conditions in which Germanic factors were dominant, the Germanic and the Roman elements are accordingly found in constantly varying proportions. In the case of the diocesan and parochial organization, only very slowly could the Church in the West attain that complete organization which had long since been established in the East, and here Roman ideas were profoundly modified by Germanic legal principles ( 101). But at the same time the Church's body of teaching and methods of moral training were made clearly intelligible and more applicable to the new conditions of Christian life. The teaching of Augustine was received only in part at the Council of Orange, A. D. 529 (v. supra, 85), and it was profoundly modified by the moralistic type of theology traceable to Tertullian and even further back (v. supra, 39). It was, furthermore, completed by a clearer and more precise statement of the doctrines of purgatory and the sacrifice of the mass, and to the death of Christ was applied unequivocally the doctrine of merit which had been developed in the West in connection with the early penitential discipline, and which was seen to throw a new light upon the sacrifice of Christ upon the cross. These conceptions served as a foundation for new discussions, and confirmed tendencies already present in the Church ( 102). Connected with this theology was the penitential discipline, which, growing out of the ancient discipline as modified by the earlier form of monastic life, especially in Ireland, came under the influence of the Germanic legal conceptions ( 103). In the same period monasticism was organized upon a new rule by Benedict of Nursia ( 104), and the need of provision for the education of the young and for the training of the clergy was felt and, to some extent, provided for by monastery schools and other methods of education ( 105).
101. Foundation of the Mediaeval Diocesan and Parochial Constitution
An outline of some of the legislation is here given, whereby the parish as organized in the West was built up, and the diocese was made to consist of a number of parishes under the bishop, who, however, did not exercise an absolute control over the incomes and position of the priests under him.
The selections are given in chronological order.
(a) Council of Agde, A. D. 506, Canons. Bruns, II, 145.
This is one of the most important councils of the period. Its various canons have all been embodied in the Canon Law; for the references to the Decretum of Gratian, in which they appear, see Hefele, 222. It is to be noted that it was held under Alarich, the Arian king of the Visigoths. The preface is, therefore, given as being significant.
Since this holy synod has been assembled in the name of the Lord and with the permission of our most glorious, magnificent, and most pious king in the city of Agde, there, with knees bent and on the ground, we have prayed for his kingdom, his long life, for the people, that the lord who has given us permission to assemble, may happily extend his kingdom, that he may govern justly and protect valiantly; we have assembled in the basilica of St. Andrew to treat of the discipline and the ordination of pontiffs and other things of utility to the Church.
Canon 21. If any one wishes to have an oratory in the fields outside of the parishes, in which the gathering of the people is lawful and appointed, we permit him to have a mass there with the proper license on the other festivals, on account of the weariness of the family [i.e., in going to the distant parish church], but on Easter, Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension Day, Pentecost and the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, or if there are any other very high festival days observed, let them hold no masses except in the cities and parishes. But if the clergy, without the command or permission of the bishop, hold and perform the masses on the festivals above mentioned in the oratories, let them be driven from the communion.
Canon 30. Because it is appropriate that the service of the Church be observed in the same way by all, it is to be desired that it be done so everywhere. After the antiphones the collects shall be said in order by the bishops and presbyters, and the hymns of Matins and Vespers be sung daily; and at the conclusion of the mass of Matins and Vespers,(266) after the hymns a chapter of the Psalms shall be read, and the people who are gathered shall, after the prayer, be dismissed with a benediction of the bishop until Vespers.
Canon 38. Without letters commendatory of their bishops, it is not permitted to the clergy to travel. The same rule is to be observed in the case of monks. If reproof of words does not correct them, we decree that they shall be beaten with rods. It is also to be observed in the case of monks that it is not permitted them to leave the community for solitary cells, unless the more severe rule is remitted by their abbot to them who have been approved in the hermit life, or on account of the necessity of infirmity; but only then let it be done so that they remain within the walls of the same monastery, and they are permitted to have separate cells under the authority of the abbots. It is not permitted abbots to have different cells or many monasteries, or except on account of the inroads of enemies to erect dwellings within walls.
(b) I Council of Orleans, A. D. 511, Canons. Bruns, II, 160.
Canon 15. Concerning those things which in the form of lands, vineyards, slaves, and other property the faithful have given to the parishes, the statutes of the ancient canons are to be observed, so that all things shall be in the control of the bishop; but of those things which are given at the altar, a third is to be faithfully given to the bishop.
Canon 17. All churches which in various places have been built and are daily being built shall, according to the law of the primitive canons, be in the control of the bishop in whose territory they are located.
(c) IV Council of Orleans, A. D. 541, Canons. Bruns, II, 208.
Canon 7. In oratories on landed estates, the lords of the property shall not install wandering clergy against the will of the bishop to whom the rights of that territory belong, unless, perchance, they have been approved, and the bishop has in his discretion appointed them to serve in that place.
Canon 26. If any parishes are established in the houses of the mighty, and the clergy who serve there have been admonished by the archdeacon of the city, according to the duty of his office, and they neglect to do what they ought to do for the Church, because under the protection of the lord of the house, let them be corrected according to the ecclesiastical discipline; and if by the agents of these lords, or by these lords themselves of the place, they are prevented from doing any part of their duty toward the Church, those who do this iniquity are to be deprived of the sacred rites until, having made amends, they are received back into the peace of the Church.(267)
Canon 33. If any one has, or asks to have, on his land a diocese [i.e., parish], let him first assign to it sufficient lands and clergy who may there perform their duties, that suitable reverence be done to the sacred places.
(d) V Council of Orleans, A. D. 549, Canons. Bruns, II, 208.
At this council no less than seven archbishops, forty-three bishops and representatives of twenty-one other bishops were present. It was, therefore, a general council of the Frankish Church, although politically the Frankish territory was divided into three kingdoms held respectively by Childebert, Chlothar, and Theudebald. Orleans itself was in the dominion of Childebert. Cf. preface to the canons of II Orleans, A. D. 533, which states that that council was attended by five archbishops and the deputy of a sixth, as well as by bishops from all parts of Gaul, and was called at the command of the "Glorious kings," i.e., Childebert, Chlothar, and Theudebert.
Canon 13. It is permitted to no one to retain, alienate, or take away goods or property which has been lawfully given to a church, monastery, or orphan asylums for any charity; that if any one does do so he shall, according to the ancient canons [cf. Hefele, 220, 222], be regarded as a slayer of the poor, and shall be shut out from the thresholds of the Church so long as those things are not restored which have been taken away or retained.
(e) Council of Braga, A. D. 572, Canons. Bruns, II, 37.
Canon 5. As often as bishops are requested by any of the faithful to consecrate churches, they shall not, as having a claim, ask any payment of the founders; but if he wishes to give him something from a vow he has made, let it not be despised; but if poverty or necessity prevent him, let nothing be demanded of him. This only let each bishop remember, that he shall not dedicate a church or basilica before he shall have received the endowment of the basilica and its service confirmed by an instrument of donation; for it is a not light rashness for a church to be consecrated, as if it were a private dwelling, without lights and without the support of those who are to serve there.
Canon 6. In case of any one who builds a basilica, not from any faithful devotion, but from the desire of gain, that whatsoever is there gathered of the offerings of the people he may share half and half with the clergy, on the ground that he has built the basilica on his own land, which in various places is said to be done quite constantly, this therefore ought hereafter to be observed, that no bishop consent to such an abominable purpose, that he should dare to consecrate a basilica which is founded not as the heritage of the saints but rather under the condition of tribute.
(f) II Council of Toledo, A. D. 589, Canons. Bruns, I, 217.
Canon 19. Many who have built churches demand that these churches, contrary to the canons, shall be consecrated in such a way that they shall not allow the endowment, which they have given the church, to belong to the control of the bishop; when this has been done in the past, let this be void, and in the future forbidden; but let all things pertain to the power and control of the bishop according to the ancient law.
102. Western Piety and Thought in the Period of the Conversion of the Barbarians
In the century following Augustine, the dogmatic interest of the Church was chiefly absorbed in the Christological controversies in the East. There were, however, some discussions in the West arising from the manifest difficulty of reconciling the doctrine of predestination, as drawn from Augustine, with the efficacy of baptism. For the adjustment of the teaching of Augustine to the sacramental system of the Church and to baptism more particularly, see the Council of Orange, A. D. 529, of which the principal conclusions are given above ( 85). In the sixth century and in the early part of the seventh, doctrines were clearly enunciated which had been abundantly foreshadowed by earlier writers, but had not been fitted into an intelligible and practical system. These were especially the doctrine of purgatory and the sacrifice of the mass. The doctrine of purgatory completed the penitential system of the early Church by making it possible to expiate sin by suffering in a future existence, in the case of those who had died without completely doing penance here. By the sacrifice of the mass the advantages of Christ's death were constantly applied, not merely to the sin of the world in general, but to specified objects; the believer was brought into closest contact with the great act of redemption, and a centre was placed around which the life of the individual and the authority of the hierarchy could be brought into relation.
Additional source material: The works of Gregory the Great, PNF.
(a) Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 104. (MSL, 39:1947, 1949.)
Caesarius presided at the Council of Orange A. D. 529. He died in 543. Not a few of his sermons have been mixed up with those of Augustine, and this sermon is to be found in Appendix to the works of Augustine in the standard editions of that Father. It should be noted that this conception of purgatory is not wholly unlike that of St. Augustine; see his Enchiridion, chs. 69, 109 (v. supra, 84); also De Civ. Dei, 20:25; 21:13.
Ch. 4. By continual prayers and frequent fasts and more generous alms, and especially by forgiveness of those who sin against us, we diligently redeem our sins, lest by chance when collected together against us at once they make a great mass and overwhelm us. Whatsoever of these sins shall not have been redeemed by us is to be purged by that fire concerning which the Apostle said: "Because it will be revealed by fire, and if any man's work is burned he will suffer loss" (I Cor. 3:15). If in tribulation we do not give thanks to God, if by good works we do not redeem our sins, we will remain so long in that fire of purification(268) until the little, trifling sins, as hay, wood, and stubble are consumed.
Ch. 8. All saints who serve God truly strive to give themselves to reading and prayer, and to perseverance in good works, and building no mortal sins and no little sins, that is, wood, hay, and stubble, upon the foundation of Christ; but good works, that is, gold, silver, and precious stones, will without injury go through that fire of which the Apostle spoke: "Because it will be revealed by fire." But those who, although they do not commit capital sins, yet are prone to commit very little sins and are negligent in redeeming them, will attain to eternal life because they believed in Christ, but first either in this life they are purified by bitter tribulation, or certainly in that fire of which the Apostle speaks they are to be tormented, that they may come to eternal life without spot or wrinkle. But those who have committed homicide, sacrilege, adultery and other similar sins, if there does not come to their aid suitable penitence, will not deserve to go through that fire of purification to life, but they will be thrown into death by eternal fire.
(b) Gregory the Great, Dialogorum libri IV, de Vita et Miraculis Patrum Italicorum, IV, 56. (MPL, 77:425.)
The sacrifice of the mass.
See also the selection below on the doctrine of purgatory.
It should be considered that it is safer to do to men, while one is living, the good which one hopes will be done by others after one's death. It is more blessed to depart free than to seek liberty after chains. We ought, with our whole mind, despise the present world, especially since we see it already passing away. We ought to immolate to God the daily sacrifice of our tears, the daily offerings of His flesh and blood. For this offering peculiarly preserves the soul from eternal death, and it renews to us in a mystery the death of the Only begotten, who, although being risen from the dead, dieth no more, and death hath no more dominion over Him (Rom. 6:9); yet, while in Himself He liveth immortal and incorruptible, for us He is immolated again in this mystery of the sacred oblation. For it is His body that is there given, His flesh that is divided for the salvation of the people, His blood that is poured, no longer into the hands of unbelievers, but into the mouths of the faithful. For this let us ever estimate what this sacrifice is for us, which for our absolution ever imitates the passion of the only begotten Son. For what one of the faithful can have any doubt that at the very hour of the offering [immolatio], at the word of the priest, the heavens are opened, the choirs of angels are present at the mystery of Jesus Christ, the lowest things are united to the highest, earthly things with heavenly, and from the invisible and the visible there is made one?
(c) Gregory the Great, Dialog., IV, 39. (MSL, 77:393.)
The doctrine of purgatory.
Gregory hardly adds anything to Augustine more than a clearer definition after the lines laid down by Caesarius of Arles.
From these sayings [John 12:35; II Cor. 6:2; Eccles. 9:10] it is evident that as one left the earth so one will appear before the judgment. Yet still it is to be believed that for certain slight sins there is to be before that judgment a fire of purification, because the Truth says that, if one utters blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, his sin will be forgiven him neither in this world nor in the future [Matt. 12:31]. From this saying one is given to understand that some sins can be forgiven in this life, others in a future life.
(d) Gregory the Great, In Evangelia, II, 37, 8. (MSL, 76:1279.)
The application of the sacrifice of the mass to persons in purgatory.
Not long before our time the case is told of a certain man who, having been taken captive, was carried far away [cf. Dialog., IV, 57], and because he was held a long time in chains his wife, since she had not received him back from that captivity, believed him to be dead and every week she had the sacrifice offered for him as already dead. And as often as the sacrifice was offered by his spouse for the absolution of his soul, the chains were loosed in his captivity. For having returned a long time after, greatly astonished he told his wife that on certain days each week his chains were loosed. His wife considered the days and hours, and then knew that he was loosed when, as she remembered, the sacrifice was offered for him. From that perceive, my dearest brothers, to what extent the holy sacrifice offered by us is able to loose the bonds of the heart, if the sacrifice offered by one for another can loose the chains of the body.
103. The Foundation of the Mediaeval Penitential System
The penitential system, as it was organized in the Western Church in the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries, was but the carrying out of principles which had appeared elsewhere in Christendom and were involved in the primitive method of dealing with moral delinquents by the authorities of the Church. [See the epistles of Basil the Great to Amphilochius (Ep. 189, 199, 217) in PNF, ser. II, vol. VIII.] Similar problems had to be handled everywhere whenever the Church came to deal with moral conduct, and much the same solution was found everywhere. There is, however, no known connection between the earliest penitentials of the Western Church, those of Ireland, and the similar books of the East. There is no need of supposing that there was a connection. But in the case of the works attributed to Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, himself a Greek and probably a native of Tarsus, there is a provable connection which is evident to any one reading his work, as he refers to Basil and others. The characteristics of the Western penitentials are their minute division of sins, their exact determination of penances for each sin, and the great extent to which they were used in the practical work of the Church. They serve as the first crude beginnings of a moral theology of a practical character, such as would be needed by the poorly trained parish clergy of the times in dealing with their flocks. On account of the nature of these works, it is hardly necessary or expedient to give more than a few brief extracts in addition to references to sources. Much of the matter is extremely offensive to modern taste.
(a) King AEthelberht, Laws. Thorpe, Ancient Laws and Institutes (Rolls Series), 1 ff.
The Early Germanic Codes are full of regulations whereby for an injury the aggrieved party, or his family in case of his death, could be prevented from retaliating in kind upon the aggressor and his family. This was effected by a money payment as compensation for damages sustained, and the amount for each sort of injury was carefully regulated by law, i.e., by ancient custom, which was reduced to writing in the sixth century in some cases. The Laws of AEthelberht are written in Anglo-Saxon and are probably the earliest in a Teutonic language. For a translation of characteristic portions of the Salic Law, which should be compared with the Laws of AEthelberht to show the universality of the same system, see Henderson, Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, p. 176, London, 1892; also Hodgkin, Italy and Her Invaders, VI, 183, for the Lombard law of Rothari, a little later, but of the same spirit.
21. If any man slay another, let him make bot with a half leod-geld of 100 shillings.
22. If any man slay another at an open grave, let him pay 20 shillings and pay the whole leod within 40 days.
23. If a stranger retire from the land, let his kindred pay a half leod.
24. If any one bind a freeman, let him make bot with 20 shillings.
25. If any one slay a ceorl's hlaf-aeta,(269) let him make bot with 5 shillings.
38. If a shoulder be lamed,(270) let bot be made with 12 shillings.
39. If the ear be struck off, let bot be made with 12 shillings.
40. If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with 25 shillings.
41. If an eye be struck out, let bot be made with 50 shillings.
51. For each of the four front teeth, 6 shillings; for the tooth that stands next to them, 4 shillings; for that which stands next to that, 3 shillings, and then afterward 1 shilling.
(b) Vinnian, Penitential. Wasserschleben, Die Bussordnungen der abendlaendischen Kirche, 108 ff.
This is one of the earliest of the penitentials and belongs to the Irish Church.
1. If one has committed in his heart a sin of thought and immediately repents of it, let him smite his breast and pray God for forgiveness and perform satisfaction because he has sinned.
2. If he has often thought of the sins and thinks of committing them, and is then victor over the thought or is overcome by it, let him pray God and fast day and night until the wicked thought disappears and he is sound again.
3. If he has thought on a sin and determines to commit it, but is prevented in the execution, so is the sin the same, but not the penance.(271)
6. If a cleric has planned in his heart to smite or kill his neighbor, he shall do penance half a year on bread and water according to the prescribed amount, and for a whole year abstain from wine and the eating of meat, and then may he be permitted again to approach the altar.
7. If it is a layman, he shall do penance for a whole week; for he is a man of this world and his guilt is lighter in this world and his punishment in the future is less.
8. If a cleric has smitten his brother [i.e., a clergyman] or his neighbor and drawn blood … he shall do penance a whole year on bread and water; he may not fill any clerical office, but must with tears pray to God for himself.
9. Is he a layman, he shall do penance for 40 days, and according to the judgment of the priest or some other righteous man pay a determined sum of money.
(c) Theodore of Tarsus, Penitential, I. Haddan and Stubbs, III, 73 ff.
For Theodore of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury, see W. Stubbs, art. "Theodorus of Tarsus" in DCB. That he wrote a penitential is not certain. But that he was regarded as the author of a penitential is clear enough. In fact, his name is attached to penitentials in much the same way as David's name is attached to the whole book of Psalms. For a discussion of the various works attributed to Theodore, see Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, loc. cit. This is a characteristic penitential and may be regarded as following closely the decisions and opinions of Theodore. Much of it is unprintable in English.
Cap. I. On drunkenness. 1. If any bishop or other person ordained is customarily given to the vice of drunkenness, let him cease from it or be deposed.
2. If a monk vomit from drunkenness, let him do 30 days' penance.
3. If a presbyter or deacon do the same, let him do 40 days' penance.
4. If any one by infirmity or because he has abstained for a long time, and it is not his habit to drink or eat much, or for joy at Christmas or at Easter, or for the commemoration of any of the saints, does this, and he has not taken more than is decreed by the elders, he has done no wrong. If the bishop should have commanded, he does no harm to him unless he himself does likewise.
5. If a believing layman vomits from drunkenness, let him do 15 days' penance.
6. He who becomes drunk against the commandment of the Lord, if he has a vow of holiness let him do penance 7 days on bread and water, and 70 days without fat; the laity without beer.
7. Whoever out of malice makes another drunk, let him do penance 40 days.
8. Whoever vomits from satiety let him do penance 3 days.
9. If with the sacrifice of the communion, let him do penance 7 days; but if out of infirmity, he is without guilt.
Cap. II. On fornication.
Cap. III. On theft.
Cap. IV. On the killing of men. [This should be compared with the secular laws.]
1. If any one out of vengeance for a relative kill a man, let him do penance as for homicide 7 or 10 years. If, however, he is willing to return to relatives the money of valuation [Weregeld, according to the secular rating], the penance will be lighter, that is by one-half the length.
2. He who kills a man for vengeance for his brother, let him do penance 3 years; in another place he is said to do penance 10 years.
3. But homicides 10 or 7 years.
4. If a layman kills another man with thoughts of hatred, if he does not wish to relinquish his arms, let him do penance 7 years, without flesh and wine 3 years.
5. If any one kills a monk or a clergyman, let him relinquish his arms and serve God(272) or do 7 years' penance. He is in the judgment of the bishop. But he who kills a bishop or a presbyter, the judgment concerning him is in the king.
6. He who by the command of his lord kills a man, let him keep away from the church 40 days; and he who kills a man in a public war, let him do penance 40 days.
7. If out of wrath, 3 years; if by chance, 1 year; if by drink or any contrivance, 4 years or more; if by strife, let him do penance 10 years.(273)
Cap. V. Concerning those who are deceived by a heresy.
Cap. VI. Concerning perjury.
Cap. VII. Concerning many and various wrong acts and those necessary things which are not harmful.
Cap. VIII. Concerning various failings of the servants of God.
Cap. IX. Concerning those who are degraded or cannot be ordained.
Cap. X. Concerning those who are baptized twice, how they shall do penance.
Cap. XI. Concerning those who violate the Lord's Day and the appointed fasts of the Church.
Cap. XII. Concerning the communion of the eucharist or the sacrifice.
Cap. XIII. Concerning reconciliation.
Cap. XIV. Especially concerning the penance of those who marry.
Cap. XV. Concerning the worship of idols.
(d) Bede, Penitential, ch. XI. Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, III, 32.
The Penitential of Bede is to be distinguished from the Liber de Remediis Peccatorum attributed to him, cf. Haddan and Stubbs, op. cit., who print the genuine penitential. It belongs to the period before 725. In not a few points it closely resembles that of Theodore. The concluding passage here given is to be found in many penitentials with but little variation. It is probably as early as the work itself, although apparently not by Bede. It is a method of commuting penances. In place of fasting inordinate or impossible lengths of time, other penances could be substituted. In later ages still other forms of commutation were introduced. Even money payments were used as commutation of penance.
XI. On Counsel to be Given.
We read in the penitential of doing penance on bread and water, for the great sins one year or two or three years, and for little sins a month or a week. Likewise in the case of some the conditions are harsh and difficult. Therefore to him who cannot do these things we give the counsel that psalms, prayers, and almsgiving ought to be performed some days in penance for these; that is, that psalms are for one day when he ought to do penance on bread and water. Therefore he should sing fifty psalms on his knees, and if not on his knees seventy psalms inside the church or in one place. For a week on bread and water, let him sing on his knees three hundred psalms in order and in the church or in one place. And for one month on bread and water, one thousand five hundred psalms kneeling, or if not kneeling one thousand eight hundred and twenty, and afterward let him fast every day until the sixth hour and abstain from flesh and wine; but whatsoever other food God has given him let him eat, after he has sung the psalms. And he who does not know psalms ought to do penance and to fast, and every day let him give to the poor the value of a denarius, and fast one day until the ninth hour, and the next until vespers, and after that whatsoever he has let him eat.
104. The New Monasticism and the Rule of Benedict of Nursia
In the first centuries of monasticism in the West, the greatest variety was to be found among the constitutions of the various monastic houses and the rules drawn up by great leaders in the ascetic movement. This variety extended even to the nature of the vows assumed and their obligation. Benedict of Nursia (circa 480 to circa 544), gave the rule according to which for some centuries nearly all the monasteries of the West were ultimately organized. The first great example of this rule in operation was Benedict's own monastery at Monte Cassino. For a time the rule of Benedict came into conflict with that of Columbanus in Gaul.(274) But the powerful recommendation of Gregory the Great, who had introduced it in Rome, and the intrinsic superiority of the rule itself made the Benedictine system triumphant. It should be noted that the Benedictine cloisters were for centuries independent establishments and only formed into organized groups of monasteries in the great monastic reforms of the tenth and following centuries. It is a question how far the Benedictine rule was introduced into England in the early centuries of the Anglo-Saxon Church, although it is often taken for granted that it was introduced by Augustine. Critical edition of the Benedictine rule by Woelfflin, Leipsic, 1895; in Migne's edition there is an elaborate commentary with many illustrative extracts and formulae, as well as traditional glosses.
Additional source material: An abbreviated translation of the Benedictine rule may be found in Henderson, Select Historical Documents, 1892, and in full in Thatcher and McNeal, A Source Book for Mediaeval History, 1905.
(a) Benedict of Nursia, Regula. (MSL, 66:246.)
1. Concerning the kinds of monks and their modes of living. It is manifest that there are four kinds of monks. The first is that of the cenobites, that is the monastic, serving under a rule and an abbot. The second kind is that of the anchorites, that is the hermits, those who have learned to fight against the devil, not by the new fervor of conversion, but by a long probation in a monastery, having been taught already by association with many; and having been well prepared in the army of the brethren for the solitary fight of the hermit, and secure now without the encouragement of another, they are able, God helping them, to fight with their own hand or arm against the vices of the flesh or of their thoughts. But a third and very bad kind of monks are the sarabites, not tried as gold in the furnace by a rule, experience being their teacher, but softened after the manner of lead; keeping faith with the world by their works, they are known by their tonsure to lie to God. Being shut up by twos and threes alone and without a shepherd, in their own and not in the Lord's sheepfold, they have their own desires for a law. For whatever they think good and choose, that they deem holy; and what they do not wish, that they consider unlawful. But the fourth kind of monk is the kind called the gyrovagi, who during their whole life are guests for three or four days at a time in the cells of different monasteries throughout the various provinces; they are always wandering and never stationary, serving their own pleasures and the allurements of the palate, and in every way worse than the sarabites. Concerning the most wretched way of all, it is better to keep silence than to speak. These things, therefore, being omitted, let us proceed with the aid of God to treat of the best kind, the cenobites. |
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