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Sect. 238. --The Perpetuity of the Primacy of Peter in the Bishops of Rome.

I. The argument for the perpetuity of Peter's Primacy is briefly this: Christ's Church will last for all days, therefore the Primacy must be perpetual. Our Lord built His Church upon a rock, that the gates of hell might never prevail against it; the rock must therefore continue for all days. Satan is ever endeavouring to sift the members of it; hence they always stand in need of confirmation in the faith. The sheep and lambs of His flock must ever be fed, guided, and defended against their foes. Now, these functions of Rock, Key-bearer, Confirmer, and Shepherd were entrusted to St. Peter, who was, however, a mortal man. They must, therefore, be exercised by other persons acting in his name and invested with his prerogatives." It is matter of doubt to none, rather, it is a thing known to all ages (Greek), that the holy and most blessed Peter, the prince and head of the Apostles, the pillar of the faith, the foundation of the Catholic Church, received the keys of the kingdom from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, and Redeemer of mankind. And to him was given authority to bind and loose sins, who, even till this present, and always, both lives and judges in his successors (Greek); our holy and most blessed Pope Celestine, the bishop, the canonical successor (Greek) and vicegerent of this Peter, has sent us as representatives of his person" (Philip, the papal legate at the Council of Ephesus, Act iii., Labbe, tom. iii. col. 625). "The solidity of that faith, which was commended in the Prince of the Apostles, is perpetual; and as what Peter believed in Christ is perpetual, so is what Christ instituted in Peter permanent. . . . The disposition, therefore, made by the truth remains, and blessed Peter, continuing in his acquired firmness of the rock, has not abandoned the entrusted helms of the Church.... If anything, therefore, is rightly done by us, and rightly ordained; if anything be, by our daily prayers, obtained from the mercy of God, it is his doing and merit, whose power survives, and whose authority excels in his own chair (cujus in sede sua vivit potestas, excellit auctoritas).... That in the person of my lowliness he be acknowledged, be honoured, in whom both the solicitude of all pastors, with the care of the sheep entrusted to them, still continues, and whose dignity fails not, even in his unworthy heir (et cujus dignitas etiam in indigno herede non deficit)” (St. Leo, Serm. iii., De Natal. Ordin., cc. 2-4). "The blessed Peter ceases not to preside over his own see, and he enjoys a never-ceasing fellowship with the ever- lasting Priest (Christ). For that solidity which Peter, himself also made a rock, received from the rock Christ, has passed onwards to his heirs also; and wheresoever any firmness is exhibited, the constancy of that pastor is undeniably apparent” (St. Leo, Serm. v., De Natal. Ordin., c.4).

As the Fathers usually speak of the perpetuity of the Primacy in the person of the Bishop of Rome, we shall reserve further extracts for the next paragraph.

II. The perpetuity of the Primacy is contained in the words of the Gospels no less than is the Primacy itself; but the way in which it was to be perpetuated is not precisely determined. Nevertheless, it is evident that there must be some means of indicating the person or persons invested with the powers originally conferred upon Peter. Now, the voice of tradition tells us that one mode of succession, and one alone, has ever been acknowledged in the Church, viz. that the Bishop of Rome is the successor of St. Peter, forming one moral person with him, holding all his prerogatives of ruling and teaching the Church.

I. The Fathers of the Council of Sardica (A.D. 342) "honour the memory of the holy Apostle St. Peter" in the person of Julius, Bishop of Rome (can. 3): "the priests of the Lord from each of the several provinces” are to "refer to the Head, that is, to the See of the Apostle Peter (ad caput, id est, ad Petri Apostoli sedem)” (Epist, Synod, ad Julium, Labbe, tom. ii. p. 66 1). "I bear the burdens," says Pope St. Siricius, "of all who are heavily laden; yea, rather, in me that burden is borne by the blessed Peter, who we trust in all things protects and has regard to us, who are the heirs of his government (haec portat in nobis beatus apostolus Petrus, qui nos in omnibus, ut confidimus, administrationis suae protegit et tuetur haeredes)” (Ep. i., Ad Himer. Tarrac. Ep. n. i.; Galland, tom, vii.p. 533). And Pope St. Zosimus says, "Canonical antiquity by universal consent willed that so great a power should belong to that Apostle, a power also derived from the actual promise of Christ our God, that it should be his to loose what was bound, and to bind what was loosed, an equal state of power being bestowed upon those who, by his will, should be found worthy to inherit his see, for he has both charge of all the Churches, and especially of this wherein he sate. . . You are not ignorant that we rule over his place, and are in possession also of the authority of his name" (Ep. xi. Ad Afros, Galland, tom. ix. pp. 15, 16). "Peter . . . even till this present and always, both lives and judges in his successors," etc. (Concil. Eph. act. iii.; see above, p. 329). "Anathema to him who believeth not that Peter hath so spoken by Leo (Petrus per Leonem ita locutus est)” (Council of Chalcedon, Hardouin, tom. ii. p. 306). "Peter spoke by Agatho” (Third Council of Constantinople, Hardouin, tom. iii. p. 1422; cf. pp. 1159, 1287). The Second Council of Nicaea professed its adherence ("The holy synod so believes, so is convinced, so defines") to Pope Hadrian I's letter, in which he says, "Peter's See shines forth in Primacy (Greek) over the whole Church, and is Head of all the Churches of God. Wherefore the same blessed Peter the Apostle, governing the Church by the command of the Lord, left nothing uncared for, but held everywhere, and holds, supreme authority (Greek)" (Hardouin, tom. iii. p. 103). "We who have taken upon us to rule the Apostolic See in the place of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles" (St. Gregory the Great, Lib. ii., Ep. Ad. Columb.).

2. The Bishop of Rome is declared to be, by the very fact of his succeeding to that See, the successor of St. Peter's Primacy. That is to say, St. Peter, by taking possession of the See of Rome, thereby made that the supreme See, invested with all his primatial prerogatives; so that when he vacated the See by death, his successor in the See became by that very fact his successor in the Primacy. "Peter, therefore, first filled that individual chair which is the first of the marks (of the Church, cathedram unicam [unique or pre-eminent] quae est prima de dotibus); to him succeeded Linus; to Linus succeeded Clement; to Clement, Anacletus [he gives the whole succession]; ... to Liberius, Damasus; to Damasus, Siricius, who is now our colleague, with whom the whole world, by the mutual exchange of circular letters (commercio formatarum) is concordant with us in one fellowship of communion. You who wish to claim to yourselves the holy Church, tell us the origin of your chair" (St. Optatus of Milevis, De Schism. Donat., lib. ii. nn. 2-4). "If the order of bishops succeeding to each other is considered, how much more securely and really beneficially do we reckon from Peter himself, to whom bearing a figure of the Church the Lord says, 'Upon this rock,' etc. For to Peter succeeded Linus; to Linus, Clement [he gives the whole succession]; to Damasus, Siricius; to Siricius, Anastasius" (St. Augustine, Ep. liii. nn. 2, 3). "Cornelius was made bishop . . . when the place of Fabian that is, when the place of Peter and the rank (gradus) of the sacerdotal chair was vacant" (St. Cyprian, Ep. lii., Ad Anton.). He speaks of "the chair of Peter the principal Church, whence the unity of the priesthood took its rise (ecclesiam principalem, unde unitas sacerdotalis exorta est)" (Ep. iv., Ad Cornel.). Firmilian is indignant with Pope St. Stephen, "who so prides himself on the place of his episcopate and contends that he holds the succession of Peter, upon whom the foundations of the Church were laid" (Ep. Ixxv., Inter Cyprianas). St. Ambrose praises his brother Satyrus, who, being in a place of doubtful orthodoxy, "called the bishop unto him, and not accounting any grace true which was not of the true faith, he inquired of him whether he agreed with the Catholic bishops --that is, with the Roman Church (utrumnam cuм episcopis Catholicis, hoc est cuм Romaao Ecclesia conveniret)" (De Excessu Fratris, n. 46.)" I speak," says St. Jerome, "with the successor of the Fisherman, and the disciple of the Cross. I, following none as the first, save Christ, am linked in communion with thy blessedness --that is, with the chair of Peter. Upon that Rock I know that the Church is built. Whoso shall eat the Lamb outside this house is profane. If any be not in the ark of Noah, he will perish when the deluge prevails.... I know not Vitalis; Meletius I reject; I am ignorant of Paulinus. Whoso gathereth not with thee (Damasus) scattereth; that is, he who is not of Christ is of Antichrist” (Epist. xv., Ad Damas) "What does he (Rufinus) call his faith? That which is the strength of the Roman Church, or that which is in the volumes of Origen? If he answer, 'the Roman,' then are we Catholics (Si Romanam responderit, ergo Catholici sumus)'' (Adv. Rufin., ed. i. c. 4). "Blessed Peter, who lives and presides in his own See, gives the true faith to those who seek it. For we, in our solicitude for truth and faith, cannot, without the consent of the Roman Church, hear causes of faith" (Ep. Ad Eutech.).

3. As the succession to the Primacy of Peter is bound up with the succession to the See of Rome, hence the Church of this See holds the Primacy over the Universal Church. "Your faith," said St. Paul to the Romans (i. 8), "is spoken of in the whole world." "For with this Church (of Rome), because of its more powerful principality, every Church must agree --that is, the faithful everywhere --in which (i.e. in communion with the Roman Church) the tradition of the Apostles has ever been preserved by those on every side (Ad hanc ecclesiam propter potentiorem [al. potiorem] principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire ecclesiam, hoc est, eos qui sunt undique fideles, in qua semper ab his qui sunt undique, conservata est ea quae est ab Apostolis traditio)" (St. Irenaeus, Adv. Haeres., iii. 3).1

1 "'Principalitas' can only mean 'principality,' or 'supremacy.' It occurs: iv. 38, 'God holds the principality;' ii. 30, 'God is above every principality and domination.' In eight other places it is used of the supreme God of the Gnostics. So in i. 26, I: 'The principality which is above all,' ' the principality which is above everything.' It is used --as we know from the Fragments of the original Greek preserved in the Philosophum. x. 21; Theodoret, Haeret. Fab. i. 15 --to translate (Greek), 'authority' or 'supremacy'" (Addis and Arnold, Cath. Dictionary: Pope). The passage is thus translated in Clark, Ante-Nicene Christian Library (vol. v. p. 261): "For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church on account of its pre-eminent authority --that is, the faithful everywhere." Waterworth's version is given supra, vol. i. p. 28.)

St. Ignatius of Antioch had already before him addressed the Roman Church as the one "which presides (Greek) in the place of the region of the Romans," and again as the Church "which presides over charity (in Greek)” (Epist. ad Rom. Proem)2

2 "Si le martyr s'etait adresse a l'eveque de Rome, ces presidences pourraient etre interpretees comme locales: dans son eglise c'est toujours l'eveque qui preside. Mais ici il ne s'agit pas de l'eveque, il s'agit de l'Eglise. A quoi preside l'Eglise romaine? A d'autres eglises dans une circonscription determinee? Mais Ignace n* a pas l'idee d'une limitation de ce genre. D'ailleurs y avait-il alors en Italie des communantes chretiennes distinctes, dans leur organisation, de la communante romaine? Le sens le plus naturel de ce language c'est que l'Eglise romaine preside a l'ensemble des eglises. Comme l'eveque preside dans son eglise aux ceuvres de charite", ainsi l'Eliglise romaine preside a ces memes oeuvres dans la chretiente tout entiere” (Duchesne, Eglises Separees, p. 128). The learned author refers to a paper read by Ad. Harnack at the Berlin Academy, Feb. 6, 1896.

St. Cyprian calls the Church of Rome "the chair of Peter, and the chief Church,. whence the unity of the priesthood took its rise (Petri cathedram atque ecclesiam principalem unde unitas sacerdotalis exorta esf)" (Epist. Iv., Ad Cornel., n. 14), "the root and matrix of the Catholic Church (ecclesiae catholicae radicem et matricem)" (Epist. xi., Ad Cornel., n. 3). "From this Church (of Rome) the rights of venerable communion flow unto all” (St. Ambrose, Epist. xi. n. 4). But this is abundantly clear from the various passages already cited.

The frequent recourse to the See of Rome, as early as the second century, is a clear proof of the practical acknowledgment of the Primacy of the Popes. St. Justin came there from Grecian Palestine; Hegisippus from Syrian Palestine; Tatian from Assyria; Abercius Marcellus from Phrygia. Asia, especially, sent a large contingent: among whom were St. Polycarp, and St. Irenaeus, the future Bishop of Lyons. In the following century Origen undertook the journey, out of his desire to see that very ancient Church. In Africa, Tertullian is continually speaking of the Roman Church: for him, whether as one of the faithful or as a heretic, the centre of Catholic authority is at Rome, and not in Africa (Duchesne, Eglises Separees, p. 135).

The doctrine contained in this section was defined in Councils, the General Council of Florence (1439), summoned to bring about the union of the Greek and Latin Churches. "We define that the Holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff hold the Primacy over the world, and that the Roman Pontiff is himself the successor of the blessed Apostle Peter, the Prince of the Apostles; and that he is the true Vicar of Christ, and the Head of the whole Church, and the Father and Teacher of all Christians; and that to him, in the blessed Peter, was delivered by our Lord Jesus Christ the full power of feeding, ruling, and governing the universal Church, as is also contained in the acts of Ecuмenical Councils and in the sacred canons" (Denzinger, Enchir., Ixxiii.; see also the confession of faith accepted by Michael Paleologus in 1267, and submitted by him in the Second Council of Lyons, 1 274; Denzinger, ibid., lix.). Finally, the Vatican Council condemned those who "deny that it is by the institution of Christ, or by Divine right, that blessed Peter should have a perpetual line of successors in the Primacy over the universal Church, or that the Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter in the Primacy” (sess. iv. ch. 2).

Scholion. That Peter laboured in Rome is now admitted by almost all scholars (see Duchesne, op. cit., p. 124); St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Eusebius are three of the chief, but by no means the only, ancient authorities in favour of his founding his See there. St. Irenaeus speaks of "that greatest, most ancient, and most illustrious Church founded and constituted at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul,1

1 St. Paul did not actually found the Roman Church (Rom. i. 13; xv. 20-24); but his name is always connected with that Church by reason of the great Epistle which he addressed to it, and by reason of his labours, imprisonments, and death in Rome.

who, having founded and built up that Church, transmitted the office of the episcopate to Linus. To him succeeded Anencletus, etc.” (Adv. Haer., lib. iii. c. 3; ap. Euseb., Hist., lib. v. c. 6). See Mr. Allnatt's Was St. Peter Bishop of Rome? Lanciani, Pagan and Christian Rome, p. 123; Mgr. Barnes, St. Peter in Rome; Harnack, Peter, in Encycl. Brit.