Chapter 1. Alexander Severus

The ninth year of the reign of Alexander Severus had just opened;* the consular fasces were in the hands of Lucius Virius Agricola and Sextus Catius Clementinus, and for eight years and a half, Saint Urban had been guiding at Rome the bark of Saint Peter. f Since the death of Septimius Severus, who had ordered the fifth persecution against the Christians, the Church had enjoyed a peace and tranquillity which had already lasted twenty years, and was destined to continue seven years longer, until the promulgation of the sanguinary edict of Maximinus, successor of Alexander Severus. During this interval, Christianity had made steady progress. Saint Callistus had occupied with honor, the Apostolic chair, and although his life was the forfeit of this perilous dignity, his martyrdom was not a signal for a general massacre of the faithful. The

• This prince had been proclaimed by the army, on the 11th of March, 222 ; the ninth year of his reign commenced on the 11th of March, 230.

f St. Urban had ascended the apostolic chair abont the middle of October, 222.

death of this pontiff was the result of the political jealousy of the Emperors, who dreaded the humble majesty of the Bishop of Eorne more than they would have feared a competitor for the empire.*

St. Urban had, therefore, the prospect of sooner or later sealing with his blood, the elevated mission of presiding over the destinies of the Church, and, indeed, he was worthy of such a fate. The holy old man did not dread the trial for himself, but he felt great anxiety with regard to the flock of Jesus Christ ; for, although the days of persecution were ever glorious for the Church, they were unhappily too frequently marked by the apostasy of many Christians. The fears of the Pontiff were based upon the well-known character of the head of the empire, who, although a clement and just prince, and kindly disposed towards the Christians, was weak and easily influenced. Alexander was at this time in his twenty-first year. His mother, Julia, not only loved and admired Christianity ; but it appears that she even professed it.f While residing at Antioch, four years before the elevation of her son to the throne, she sent an escort of honor to Alexandria, requesting a visit from the learned Origen, with whom she conversed upon the Christian religion, the

• Such were, as we learn from St. Cyprian, the sentiments of the Emperor Decius, who ascended the throne a few years later: " Cum tyrannus infestus sacerdotibus Dei fanda et nefanda comminaretur, cum inulto patientius et tolerabilius audiret levari adversus se aemulum principem quant constitui Roma3 Dei Sacerdotem." Epist. ad Antonianvm.

f Eusebius intimated this in his Ecclesiastical History, Book iv. chap. 21 : Orosius, in the 18th chap, of his 2d Book. While St. Vincent of Lerins asserts it positively. (Commonit. cap. xxiii.)

divinity of its origin, and the purity of its morals. She received this illustrious doctor with the greatest respect, and loaded him with honors.* Mammaea superintended herself the education of her son, and his contemporaries, as wefl as posterity, attribute to her influence his total disrelish for the dissolute habits of his cousin Heliogabalus, as well as the justice and humanity he displayed throughout the course of his life. f This princess directed Alexander in all his undertakings, accompanied him in his campaigns, and even shared his fate when he was massacred at the head of his troops, on the banks of the Ehine, in an expedition against the Germans.

If the policy of Alexander, who was only in his fourteenth year when the sovereign power devolved upon him, prevented his embracing the religion of his mother, he at least entertained for Christianity and its divine founder the greatest respect. The Lararium (oratory) of his palace included, not only the statues of the gods, and of the Emperors who had been signal benefactors to the human race, but also the statue of Jesus Christ, placed there by Alexander and honored by him with divine worship.

His admiration for the Son of Mary was so sincere that he even laid a proposition before the senate to admit to a rank among the gods, the founder of a religion, of which the moral code was so pure. The senate desired to consult the oracles upon this imperial fancy, and Lampridius, a contemporary author, reports their response to have been, that if this now apotheosis were celebrated, the temples would soon

• Buseb. lib. vi. cap. xxi.

| Herodian, a pagan historian of Alexander, unhesitatingly acknowledges this. Lib. v. p. 571; Lib. vi. 574, 575, Frankfort edit. 1590.

be abandoned, and all the world would become Christian.* The maxim: " Do unto others only that which you would wish them to do to you," was unceasingly on the lips of Alexander, and he freely acknowledged that he had borrowed it from the Christians. He caused it to be engraved on the walls of his palace, and on those of the new edifices. In obedience to his orders, a herald proclaimed it publicly at the punishment of criminals.! Alexander gave another proof of his respect for Christianity, by confiding many of the offices of his court to Christians whom he honored with his favor. Eusebius speaks of the excessive irritation of Maximums, on seeing these posts of honor filled by the followers of a religion, which he himself so unrelentingly persecuted.^; An incident, related by Lampridius, and which throws great light on the situation of the Church in Eome, will serve to show the impartiality of Alexander in cases affecting the Christians. In the country beyond the Tiber, at the foot of Mount Janiculum, was situated the famous Taberna rneritoria, from the soil of which, in the year of Eome, 718, a fountain of oil had burst forth and flowed during an entire day like a mysterious river.g Augustus, conqueror of Pompey and Lepidus, was inaugurating the era of universal peace, when this sign announced to the Eomans the approaching birth of him, who, invested with the double unction of the Priesthood and of Eoyalty, would descend upon earth

• Lamprid. Augusta, liistor. Paris, 1620, p. 129. f Ibid. p. 132.

t Euseb. Histor. Eccles. lib. vi. cap. 28.

§ This incontestable fact is reported in the Chronicles of Eusebius, and in those of St. Prosper, Idacius, Orosius. Previous to these Christian writers, Dio Cassius mentions it in his History of Rome. Lib. xliii. p. 383. Edit, of 1G06.

to be the pledge of the restoration of peace between heaven and earth. Under the pontificate of St. Callistus, this celebrated edifice, famed for so memorable a prodigy, passed into the hands of the Christians. This pontiff dedicated it as a church under the invocation of the Mother of Grod ; since that time, Eome honors this sanctuary under the name of St. Mary beyond the Tiber.*

It is not known when the Christians obtained possession of a building which had formerly served only for profane uses ; but Lampridius relates that the popinarii (tavern keepers) complained bitterly to Alexander, that a place hitherto free to the public, and profitable to them, had been taken from them and devoted to the service of a religion, not even recognized by the laws of the empire. The good dispositions of this prince toward the Christians were decidedly manifested in his decision of this case.

"I prefer," he replied, "that God should be honored in this place in any manner whatsoever, rather than restore it again to the venders of wine."f Such, with regard to the Church, were the dispositions of the prince who reigned over Rome and over the whole world. Nevertheless, St. Urban, as we have before stated, did not feel secure from the violent storms which had ravaged the Church even under the best Emperors. Trajan and Antoninus had persecuted the Christians, and, moreover, the defects of Alexander's character rendered a change possible, if not in his interior dispositions, at least in his conduct. Urban could not forget that his predecessor,

• See Moretti, de S. Callisto Papaet Martyre ejusque Basilica S. Marine, trans-Tybei hn nqncupata. Rome, 1752. f Lamprid. Alex. vita. pag. 131,

Callistus, had suffered martyrdom in the early part of the reio;n of Alexander, and if the murder of this holy Pope could be justly attributed to political motives, it was not easy to forget, that, until that time, State reasons, as well as zeal for the worship of the gods, had dictated the edicts of proscription against the Christians. Alexander was opposed to violence, but his timidity rendered him very yielding. He was known to cringe to public opinion, and to fear literary men, lest they should transmit to posterity an unfavorable account of his character and reign.*

His weakness was particularly conspicuous in the exaggerated deference he paid Mammaea, to whose influence he was constantly submissive. This princess, distinguished for her noble qualities, but jealous and passionate, exercised complete dominion over her son, and, although her advice was generally most beneficial to Alexander, it sometimes led him to commit grave faults.f.

It was at the instigation of his Mother, that Alexander repudiated, and exiled into Lybia, his first wife whom he esteemed and loved. Mammaea drove her from the palace and forced her to seek refuge in the protection of the army 4 Alexander also caused Marcion, the father of his wife, to be put to death, a fate richly merited according to some historians, who assert that the unhappy man had been proved guilty of treason. However this may be, the weakness of Alexander's character wras easily discovered by the courtiers. Interested and ambitious men took advantage of it to prosecute their designs with boldness,

• Lamprid. Alex. vita. pag. 115.

f Herodian. Hist. August, lib. vi. pag. 575. J Herodian. Ibid.

though opposed to his views, yet not without reason hoped for impunity, if not for favor.