Chapter XII. In How Great Esteem the Authority of the Pope Ought to Be Held

It is certainly not without mystery that often in the Gospel where there is occasion for the Apostles in general to speak, S. Peter alone speaks for all. In S. John (vi.) it was he who said for all: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known that thou art the Christ the Son of God. It was he, in S. Matthew (xvi.), who in the name of all made that noble confession: Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. He asked for all: Behold we have left all things, &c. (Matt, xxvii.) In S. Luke (xii.): Lord, dost thou speak this parable to lis, or likewise to all?

It is usual that the head should speak for the whole body; and what the head says is considered to be said by all the rest. Do you not see that in the election of S. Matthias it is he alone whcr 'speak$^- and determines? ^a^xS ^ " "-

The Jews asked all the Apostles: Wliai shall we do, men and brethren (Acts, ii.)? S. Peter alone answers for all: Do penance, &c. And it is for this reason that S. Chrysostom and Origen have called him " the mouth and the crown of the Apostles," as we saw above, because he was accustomed to speak for all the Apostles; and the same S. Chrysostom calls him " the mouth of Christ," because what he says for the whole Church and to the whole Church as head and pastor, is not so much a word of man as of Our Lord: Amen, I say to you he that receiveth whomsoever 1 send receiveth me (John xiii.). Therefore what he said and determined could not be false. And truly if the confirmer be fallen, have not all the rest fallen? — if the confirmer fall or totter, who shall confirm him? — if the confirmer be not firm and steady, when the others grow weak who shall strengthen them? For it is written that if the blind lead the blind both shall fall into the ditch, and if the unsteady and the feeble would hold up and support the feeble, they shall both come to ground. So that Our Lord, giving authority and command to Peter to confirm the others, has in like proportion given him the power and the means to do this; otherwise vainly would he have commanded things that were impossible. Now in order to confirm the others and to strengthen the weak, one must not be subject to weakness oneself, but be solid and fixed as a true stone and a rock. Such was S. Peter, in so far as he was Pastor-general and governor of the Church.

So when S. Peter was placed as foundation of the Church, and the Church was certified that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, — was it not enough to say that S. Peter, as foundation-stone of the ecclesiastical government and administration, could not be crushed and broken by infidelity or error, which is the principal gate of hell? For who knows not that if the foundation be overthrown, if that can be sapped, the whole building falls. In the same way, if the supreme acting shepherd can conduct his sheep into venomous pastures, it is clearly visible that the flock is soon to be lost. For if the supreme acting shepherd leads out of the path, who will put him right? if he stray, who will bring him back?

In truth, it is necessary that we should follow him simply, not guide him; otherwise the sheep would be shepherds. And indeed the Church cannot always be united in General Council, and during the first three centuries none were held. In the difficulties then which daily arise, to whom could one better address oneself, from whom could one take a safer law, a surer rule, than from the general head, and from the vicar of Our Lord? Now all this has not only been true of S. Peter, but also of his successors; for the cause remaining the effect remains likewise. The Church has always need of an infallible * confirmer, to whom she can appeal; of a foundation which the gates of hell, and principally error, cannot overthrow; and has always need that her pastor should be unable to lead her children into error. The successors, then, of S. Peter all have these same privileges, which do not follow the person but the dignity and public charge.

S. Bernard calls the Pope another " Moses in

• Here the French editor had substituted permanent for infallible. [Tr.]

authority." Now how great the authority of Moses was every one knows. For he sat and judged concerning all the differences amongst the people, and all difficulties which occurred in the service of God: he appointed judges for affairs of slight importance, but the great doubts were reserved for his cognizance: if God would speak to the people, it is by his mouth and using him as a medium. So then the supreme pastor of the Church is competent and sufficient judge for us in all our greatest difficulties; otherwise we should be in worse condition than that ancient people who had a tribunal to which they might appeal for the resolution of their doubts, particularly in religious matters. And if any one would reply that Moses was not a priest, nor an ecclesiastical pastor, I would send him back to what I have said above on this point. For it would be tedious to make these repetitions.

In Deuteronomy (xvii.): Thou shalt do whatsoever they shall say that preside in the place which the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee according to his law: neither shalt thou decline to the right hand nor to the left hand. But he that shall he proud, and refuse to ohey the commandment of the priest... that man shall die. What will you say to this necessity of accepting the judgment of the sovereign pontiff? — that one was obliged to accept that judgment which was according to the law, not any other? Yes, but in this it was needful to follow the sentence of the priest; otherwise, if one had not followed it but had examined into it, it would have been vain to have gone to him, and the difficulty and doubt would never have been settled. Therefore it is said simply: He that shall he proud, and refuse to ohey the commandment of the priest and the decree of the judge shall die. And in Malachy (ii. 7): The lips of the priest shall keep knowledge; and they shall seek the law at his mouth. Whence it follows that not everybody could answer himself in religious matters, nor bring forward the law after his own fancy, but must do so according as the pontiff laid it down. Now if God had such great providence over the religion and peace of conscience of the Jews as to establish for them a supreme judge in whose sentence they were bound to acquiesce, there can be no doubt he has provided Christianity with a pastor, who has this same authority, to remove the doubts and scruples which might arise concerning the declarations of the Scriptures.

And if the High Priest wore on his breast the Eational of judgment (Ex. xxviii.), in which were the Urim and the Thummim, doctrine and truth, as some interpret them, or illuminations and perfections, as others say (which is almost the same thing, since perfection consists in truth and doctrine is only illumination) — shall we suppose that the High Priest of the New Law has not also the efficacy of them? In truth, all that was given out and out to the ancient Church, and to the servant Agar, has been given in much better form to Sara and to the Spouse. Our High Priest then still has the Urim and the Thummim on his breast.

Now whether this doctrine and truth were nothing but these two words inscribed on the Eational, as S. Augustine seems to think and Hugh of S. Victor maintains, or whether they were the name of God, as Rabbi Solomon asserts according to Vatablus and Augustine bishop of Eugubium, or whether it was

300 The Catholic Controvei^sy, [paetii.

simply the stones of the Eational, by which Almighty God revealed his will to the priest, as that learned man Francis Eibera holds; — the reasons why the High Priest had doctrine and truth in the Eational on his breast was without doubt because he declared the truth of judgment, as by the Urim and Thummim the priests were instructed as to the good pleasure of God, and their understandings enlightened and perfected by the Divine revelation: thus the good Lyra understood it, and Eibera has in my opinion sufficiently proved. Hence when David wished to know whether he should pursue the Amalecites he said to the priest Abiathar: Bring me hither the ephod ( i Kings XXX. 7), or vestment for the shoulders, which was without doubt to discover the will of God by means of the Eational which was joined to it, as this Doctor Eibera continues learnedly to prove. I ask you, — if in the shadow there were illuminations of doctrine and perfections of truth on the breast of the priest to feed and confirm the people therewith, what is there that our High Priest shall not have, the priest of us, I say, who are in the day and under the risen sun? The High Priest of old was but the vicar and lieutenant of Our Lord, as ours is, but he would seem to have presided over the night by his illuminations, and ours presides over the day by his instructions; both of them as ministering for another and by the light of the Sun of Justice, who though he is risen is still veiled from our eyes by our own mortality; — for to see him face to face belongs ordinarily to those alone who are delivered from the body which goes to corruption. This has been the faith of the whole ancient Church, which in its difficulties has always had recourse to the Eational of the See of Eome to see therein doctrine and truth. It is for this reason that S. Bernard has called the Pope " Aaron in dignity," * and S. Jerome the Holy See " the most safe harbour of Catholic communion," and " heir of the Apostles," for he bears the Eational to enlighten with it the whole of Christendom, like the Apostles and Aaron, in doctrine and truth. It is in this sense that S. Jerome says to S. Damasus: " He who gathereth not with thee scattereth, that is, he who is not of Christ is of Antichrist; " and S. Bernard says t that the scandals which occur, particularly in the faith, must be brought before the Eoman See: — " for I think it proper that there chiefly should the damage of faith be repaired where faith cannot fail; for to what other see was it ever said: / have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not? " And S. Cyprian: | " They dare to sail off to the Apostolic See and to the chief (principalem) Church, forgetting that those are Eomans, to whom wrong faith cannot have access." Do you not see that he speaks of the Eomans because of the Chair of S. Peter, and says that error cannot prevail there. The Fathers of the Council of Milevis with the Blessed S. Augustine demand help and invoke the authority of the Eoman See against the Pelagian heresy, writing to Pope Innocent in these terms: " We beseech you to deign to apply the pastoral solicitude to the great dangers of the infirm members of Christ; since a new heresy and most

• See references previously. In margin here the Saint adds: " S. Bernard, in his letter to the Canons of Lyons, submits all his writings to the Roman Church." [Tr.]

t Ep. 190. t Ep. 55.

destructive tempest has begun to arise amongst the enemies of the grace of Christ." And if you would know why they appeal to him, what do they say? " The Lord has by his highest favour placed thee in the Apostolic See." This is what this holy Council with its great S. Augustine believed, to whom S. Innocent replying in a Letter which follows the one just quoted amongst those of S. Augustine: " Carefully and rightfully," he says, " have you consulted the secret oracles of the Apostolic honour: his, I say, with whom, besides those things which are outside, remains the solicitude of all the churches as to what doctrine is to be held in doubtful things. For you have followed the fashion of the ancient rule, which you and I know to have been always held by the whole world. But this I pass over, for I do not believe that it is unknown to your wisdom; how indeed have you confirmed it by your actions, save knowing that throughout all the provinces answers to petitioners ever emanate from the Apostolic See? Especially when questions of faith are discussed, I consider that all our brethren and co-bishops must refer to Peter only, that is, to the author of their name and honour; even as your charity has now referred that which may advantage all churches in general throughout the whole world." Behold the honour and credit in which was the Apostolic See with the most learned and most holy of the Ancients, yea with entire Councils. They went to it as to the true Ephod and Rational of the new law. Thus did S. Jerome go to it in the time of Damasus, to whom, after having said that the East was cutting and tearing to pieces the robe of Our Lord, seamless and woven from the top throughout, and that the little foxes were spoiling the vineyard of the Master, he says: " As it is difficult, amongst broken cisterns that can hold no water, to discern where is that fountain sealed up, and garden enclosed, therefore I considered that I must consult the Chair of Peter and the faith praised by Apostolic mouth." I shall never end if I try to bring forward the grand words which the Ancients have uttered on this point: he who wishes can read them quoted in the great Catechism of Peter Canisius, in which they have been given in full by Busseus. S. Cyprian refers all heresies and schisms to the contempt of this chief minister; * so does S. Jerome; t S. Ambrose holds for one same thing " to communicate and agree with the Catholic bishops and to agree with the Eoman Church: " | he protests that he follows in all things and everywhere the form of the Eoman Church. S. Irenseus will have every one be united to this Holy See, " on account of its principal power." The Eusebians bring before it the accusations against S. Athanasius; S. Athanasius, who was at Alexandria, a principal and patriarchal see, went to answer at Eome, being called and cited to appear there: his adversaries would not appear, "knowing," says Theodoret, " that their lies were manifested in open court." The Eusebians acknowledge the authority of the see of Eome when they call S. Athanasius thither, and S. Athanasius when he presents himself. But particularly do those Arian heretics the Eusebians confess the authority of the see of Eome when they dare not appear there for fear of being condemned.

• Ad. Cornel, contra Feliciss. t Adv. Lucif.

X De excessu Fratris, 46.

But who does not know that all the ancient heretics tried to get themselves acknowledged by the Pope? Witness the Montanists or Cataphrygians, who so deceived Pope Zephyrinus, if we may believe TertuUian (not now the man he had been but become a heretic himself), that he issued letters of reunion in their favour, which, however, he promptly revoked by the advice of Praxeas. In fine, he who despises the authority of the Pope will restore the Pelagians, Priscillians and others, who were only condemned by provincial councils with the authority of the Holy See of Eome. If I wished to occupy myself in showing you how much Luther made of it in the beginning of his heresy I should astonish you with the great alteration in this your father. Look at him in Cochlseus: "Prostrate at the feet of Your Beatitude, I offer myself with all I am and have; give me life, slay me, call, recall, approve, reject; I shall acknowledge the voice of Christ presiding and speaking," These are his words in the dedicatory letter which he wrote to Pope Leo X. on certain conclusions of his, in the year 1 5 1 8. But I cannot omit what this great archminister wrote in 1 5 1 9, in certain other resolutions of other propositions; for in the thirteenth he not only acknowledges the authority of the Holy Eoman See, but proves it by six reasons which he holds to be demonstrations. I will summarise them: ist reason — the Pope could not have reached this height and this monarchy except by the will of God; but the will of God is always to be venerated, therefore the primacy of the Pope is not to be called in question. 2d. We must give in to an adversary rather than break the union of charity; therefore it is better to obey the

Pope than to separate from the Church. 3d. We must not resist God who wills to lay on us the burden of obeying many rulers, according to the word of Solomon in his Proverbs (xxviii. 2). 4th. There is no power which is not from God, therefore that of the Pope which is so fully established is from God. 5 th. Practically the same. 6th. All the faithful so believe, and it is impossible that Our Lord should not be with them; now we must stay with Our Lord and Christiane in all things and everywhere: He says afterwards that these reasons were unanswerable, and that all the Scripture comes to support them. What do you think of Luther, — is he not a Catholic? And yet this was at the beginning of his reformation.

Calvin gives the same testimony, though he goes on to embroil the question as much as he can; for speaking of the See of Eome he confesses that the Ancients have honoured and revered it, that it has been the refuge of bishops, and more firm in the faith than the other sees, which last fact he attributes to a want of quickness of understanding.