Chapter XI. Confirmation of All the Above by the Titles Which Antiquity Has Given to the Pope

Hear in few words what the Ancients thought of this matter, and in what rank they held the Bishop of Eome. This is the way they speak, whether of the See of Eome and its Church, whether of the Pope: for all comes to the same.

ART. VI. c. XII.] The Rule of Faith.

Chair of Peter....

Principal Church.... Commencement of sacerdotal unity Bond of unity: sublime summit of the priesthood Church in which is the superior authority.... Root and matrix of the Church Seat on -which our Lord established the whole Church Hinge and head of all Churches

Eefuge of bishops.

Supreme Apostolic seat. Head of the pastoral honour. Supremacy of the Apostolic chair

Principal dignity of the Apostolic priesthood....

Head of all Churches

Head of the world, of the universe by religion....

Set over the rest of the Churches

The presiding Church.

The first see to be judged by no one

First seat of all...

Most safe harbour of Catholic communion....

Apostolic fountain.

Thus do they name the how they style the Pope.

Bishop of the most holy Catholic Church

Most holy and most blessed Patriarch

{ Cyp. Lib. i., Ep. 3 [Editio / Erasmi].

lb. 55 [ad Corn.]

lb. iii. 13.

lb. iv. 2.

Iren. iii. 3.

Cyp. iv. 8.

Anac. Ep. i, ad omnes Episc, &c.*

lb. 3.

Marcellus, Ep. i, ad Episc.

Antic ch. Syn. Alex. Ep. ad Pel. ubi Ath. Prosper de Ingratis [lin. 40]. Aug. Ep, 162 [Migne 43]. Prosper de Voc. Gen. ii. 16. In prsef. Cone. Chal.; Valent,

Imperator, Victor Ut. de persec. Van. ii.;

Justinianus de summa Trin. Leo M. in Nat. SS. P. et P.;

Prosper de Ingratis. Syn. Rom. sub Gelasio. Ign. ad Rom. in inscriptione. Syn. Sinuessana 300 Episc. Leo Ep. 61 [ad Theod.]

I Hieron. Ep. 16.

I Innoc. ad Patres Milev. inter < Epist. S. Auf. 93 [Migne ( 182].

Eoman Church; now see

I Cyp. iii. II. Cone. Chalc., Act iii.

This passage is from S. Siricius, Ep. i, ad Himer. [Tr.]

Head of the Council of Chalcedon.

Head of the Universal Church

Most blessed Lord; elevated to the Apostolic Dignity; father of fathers; supreme pontiff of all prelates

High Priest

Prince of Priests.,.. <

Ruler of the house of the Lord

Guardian of the Lord's vineyard.

Vicar of Christ....

Confirmer of the brethren

Great priest; supreme pontiff;'^ prince of bishops; heir of the Apostles; Abel in primacy; Noe in government; Abraham in patriarchate; Melchisedech in order; Aaron in dignity; Moses in authority; Samuel in judgment; Peter in authority; Christ in unction; shepherd of the Lord's fold; key-bearer of the Lord's house; shepherd of all shepherds; called in plenitude of power. /

In relatione. Ibid. xvi.

Steph. Episc. Carthag. in Ep. ad Damas. nomine Cono. Carthag.

Hieron. Prsef. Evang. ad Dam. Id testatur tota antiq. apud

Valent. ep. ad Theodos.

initio. Cone. Chalc. Amb. in i Tim. iii. Cone. Chalc. ep. ad Leon.

Cy. i. 3. Bern. Ep. 190.

. ) lb. de Consid. 11. 8.

I should never end if I tried to heap together all the titles which the Ancients have given to the Holy See of Eome and to its Bishop. The above ought to suffice to make even the most perverse wits see the extravagant lie which Beza continues to tell after his master Calvin, in his treatise On the Marks of the Church, where he says that Phocas was the first to give authority to the Bishop of Eome over the rest, and to place him in Primacy.

What is the use of uttering so gross a lie? Phocas lived in the time of S. Gregory the Great, and every one of the authors I have cited is earlier than S.

Gregory, except S. Bernard, whom I have quoted, from his books On Consideration, because Calvin holds these so true that he considers truth itself has spoken in them.*

It is objected that S. Gregory would not let himself be called Universal Bishop. But universal Bishop may be understood of one who is in such sort bishop of the universe that the other bishops are only vicars and substitutes, — which is not the case. For the bishops are truly spiritual princes, chiefs and pastors; not lieutenants of the Pope, but of Our Lord, who therefore calls them brethren. Or the word may be understood of one who is superintendent over all, and in regard of whom all the others who are superintendents in particular are inferiors indeed but not vicars or substitutes. And it is in this sense that the Ancients have called him Universal Bishop, while S. Gregory denies it in the other sense.

They object the Council of Carthage, which forbids that any one shall call himself Prince of Priests; but it is for want of something to go on with that they put this in: — for who is ignorant that this was a provincial Council affecting the bishops of that Province, in which the Bishop of Eome was not; — the Mediterranean Sea lies between them.

There remained the name of Pope, which I have kept for the ending of this part of my subject, and which is the ordinary one by which we call the Bishop of Eome. This name was common to bishops;

• In the &t title of the Fdbrian Code, the Saint gives as a further reason why he dwells on the testimony of S. Bernard the fact that Calvin and others have put him forward as au adversary of papal supremacy. [Tr.]

witness S. Jerome, who thus styles S. Augustine in an Epistle: * " May the Almighty keep thee safe, Lord, truly holy and reverend pope." But it has been made particular to the Pope by excellence, on account of the universality of his charge, whence he is called in the Council of Chalcedon, Universal Pope, and simply Pope, without addition or limitation. And this word means nothing more than chief father or grandfather. Papos aviasque trementes anteferunt patrihus seri novd curd nepotes.i

And that you may know how ancient this name is amongst good men — [hear] S. Ignatius, disciple of the Apostles: "When thou wast," says he, "at Eome with Pope Linus." J Already at that time there were papists, and of what sort!

We call him His Holiness, and we find that S. Jerome already called him by the same name: § " I beseech thy Blessedness, by the cross, &c.... I following Christ alone am joined in communion with thy Blessedness, that is, the chair of Peter." We call him Holy Father, but you have seen that S. Jerome so calls S. Augustine.

For the rest, those who, explaining chapter ii. of the 2d of Thessalonians, to make you believe the Pope is Antichrist, may have told you that he makes himself be called God on earth, or Son of God, are the greatest liars in the world: for so far are the popes from taking any ambitious title, that from the time of S. Gregory they have for the most part called themselves t " Late born grandsons, reversing the ordinary rule, cherish their trembling grandsires and grandames more than their parents." — Ausonius ad nep.

t Ad Mariani Zarbensem. § Ad Dam, ep. 15.

Servants of the servants of God. Never have they called themselves by such names as you say except in the ordinary acceptation, as every one can be if he keep the commandments of God, according to the power given to them that believe in his name (John i.) Rightly indeed might those call themselves children of the devil who lie so foully as do your ministers.