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THE LIVES AND TIMES OF THE POPES FROM SAINT PETER TO GREGORY I THE GREAT
PLATINA'S LIBER PONTIFICALIS.
ST EVARISTUS. Circa a.d. 100-109.
EVARISTUS, by birth a Grecian, his father a Jew, named Juda, of the holy city of Bethlehem, lived in the time of Trajan, a prince whom I take delight to mention, because of his singular justice and humanity; who behaved himself so acceptably towards all men, that, as far as the times of Justinian, the usual acclamation of the people at the creation of an emperor was this : "Let him be more prosperous than Augustus and better than Trajan." He was of a temper so courteous and condescending in visiting the sick, in saluting his friends, in keeping festivals, and being present at collations to which he was invited, that the fault which some found with him for that very reason, gave the occasion of that worthy noble saying of his, "That a prince ought to be such to his subjects as he desires they should be to him". He impartially distributed honours, riches, and rewards to all that deserved well; never oppressed any man to fill his own exchequer; granted advantageous immunities to poor cities; repaired the highways, and made the passages of rivers secure; made a high large mole at the haven of Ancona, to break the violence of the waves; and indeed neither acted nor designed anything in his whole life but what tended to the public good. Having gained such renown both in war and in peace, he died of a flux at Seleucia, a city of Isauria, in the eighteenth year and sixth month of his reign. His bones were afterwards conveyed to Rome, and there buried in an urn of gold in the Forum which he himself had built, under the winding pillar of a hundred and forty feet high, which is yet to be seen. But we return to Evaristus, who, as Damasus tells us, divided the city of Rome among the presbyters into parishes; ordained that seven deacons should attend the bishop whenever he preached, to be witnesses of the truth of his doctrine; and moreover, that the accusation of a layman should not be admitted against a bishop. He held Decembrian ordinations, at which he made six presbyters, two deacons, and five bishops. In his time lived Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, an auditor of John, a person who took not so much delight in the records of the ancient disciples of our Lord, as in the living conversa- tion of Aristion and John the elder. And it is manifest, from the order he observes in setting down the names of these two after the mention of almost all the apostles, that the John whom he places among the apostles was a distinct person from this John the aged, whom he reckons after Aristion. He was certainly a very learned man, and followed by many, as particularly Irenaeus, Apollinarius, Tertullian, Victorinus Pictaviensis, and Lactantius Firmianus. Now also Quadratus, a disciple of the apostles, did by his industry and courage support the Church of God as much as might be in such dangerous times. For when Hadrian, who now passed the winter at Athens, and was admitted a priest to the goddess Eleusina, began to persecute the Christians, Quadratus with his own hand presented to him a very honest and rational book of the excellence of the Christian religion. The like did Aristides, an Athenian philosopher, converted to Chris- tianity; who at the same time with Quadratus, presented to Hadrian a treatise, containing an account of our religion. The effect of which apologetics was, that Hadrian being convinced of the injustice of putting the Christians to death without their being heard, wrote to Minutius Fundanus, the proconsul of Asia, ordering that no Christian should be executed, unless his guilt were proved by a credible witness. As for our Evaristus, some tell us that he was martyred in the last year of Trajan; but they are more in the right, who are of opinion that he suffered under Hadrian before his being reconciled to the Christians. For he was in the chair nine years, ten months, two days, and was buried in the Vatican, near the body of St Peter, October 27th. The see was then vacant nineteen days.
ST ALEXANDER I. Circa a.d. 109- 119.
ALEXANDER, a Roman, son of Alexander, a person of wisdom and gravity far exceeding his years, held the pontificate in the time of Aelius Hadrian us. This Hadrian, who was son to Trajan's cousin-german, at his first coming to the empire proved an enemy to the Christians, but afterwards (as shall be said anon), upon knowledge of their religion and devotion, became very kind and propitious to them. From the great benefits which the Roman State received by his government, he was called the Father of his country, and his wife had the title of Augusta. He was excellently well skilled both in the Roman and Greek languages, made many laws, erected a goodly library at Athens, being mightily pleased with the learning and conversation of Plutarch, Sixtus, Agathocles, and Oenomaus the philosopher; and at the request of the Athenians, compiled laws for them according to the model of Draco and Solon. Being admitted to the Eleusinian mysteries, he was very bountiful to the citizens of Athens, and repaired their bridge broken down by an inundation of the river Cephisus. He built also a bridge at Rome, called by his own name, remaining to this day, and a stately sepulchre in the Vatican near the river Tiber, which the popes now make use of for a citadel. Moreover, he made that most sumptuous and stately villa, now called Old Tiber, to the several parts of which he gave the names of provinces and the most celebrated parts of the world. Coming to Pelusium, he was at great expense in adorning Pompey's Tomb, and in Britain he built a wall of sixty miles to sever the Romans from the natives. And because Septicius Clarus, the captain of his guards, and Suetonius Tranquillus, his secretary, with several others, had without his leave conversed somewhat more familiarly with his Empress Sabina than the reverence of a court admitted of, he removed them all and put others into their offices. But to return to our Alexander. He was the first who for the remembrance of Christ's passion, at the communion added those words, Qui pridie quam pateretur to the clause, hoc est corpus meum. He ordained likewise that the holy water (as it is called), mixed with salt and consecrated by prayer, should be kept in churches and in private houses, as a guard against evil spirits. Moreover, he instituted that water should be mingled with the wine, at the consecration of the elements, to signify the union of Christ with His Church; and that the host should not be of leavened bread, as was formerly used, but of unleavened only, as being the more pure, and by which all occasion of cavilling would be taken away from the Ebionite heretics, who were very much addicted to Judaism. In his time lived Agrippa Castor, who learnedly and effectually confuted the books which Basilides the heretic wrote against the Holy Gospel; exposing to derision his prophets, Barcabas and Barthecab, and his great god Abraxas, names invented by him to amuse and terrify the ignorant. This Basilides died at that time when the Christians were very much persecuted and tormented by Cochebas, the head of the Jewish faction. But Hadrian soon repressed the pertinacity of this rebel and the whole nation of the Jews, by an almost incredible slaughter of them; and then commanded that no Jew should be suffered to enter Jerusalem, permitting only Christians to inhabit that city, and having repaired the walls and buildings of it, he called it after his own name, Aelia; Marcus being, after the expulsion of the Jews, chosen the first Gentile bishop of it. In the time of this bishop also Sapphira of Antioch, and Sabina, a Roman lady, suffered martyrdom for the faith of Christ; and Favorinus, Palaemon, Herodes Atheniensis and Marcus Byzantius were famous rhetoricians. Our Alexander having at three Decembrian ordinations made five presbyters, three deacons, five bishops, was, together with his deacons Euentius and Theodulus, crowned with martyrdom, on the third day of May, and buried in the Via Nomentana, where he suffered, seven miles from the city. He was in the chair ten years, seven months, two days. After his death the see was vacant twenty-five days.
ST SIXTUS I. Circa a.d. 119-129.
SIXTUS, a Roman, the son of Pastor, or as others will have it, of Helvidius, held the Pontificate in the time of Hadrian, to the consulship of Verus and Anniculus. Which Hadrian is reckoned in the number of the good emperors, upon the account of his liberality, splendour, magnificence, and clemency; an eminent instance of the last of which good qualities was this, that when a servant ran madly upon him with his sword, he took no farther notice of the action than to order him a physician to cure his frenzy. He visited the sick twice or thrice in a day; at his own charge he repaired Alexandria when it had been ruined by the Romans; he rebuilt the Pantheon in Rome, and made aromatic presents to the people. He died of a dropsy in the two-and-twentieth year of his reign, and was buried at Puteoli, in Cicero's Villa. Sixtus, out of his care of the Church, ordained that the elements and vessels of the altar should not be touched by any but the ministers, but especially not by women; and that the corporal, as it is called, should be made of linen cloth only, and that of the finest sort. That no bishop who had been cited to appear before the apostolic see, should at his return be received by his flock, unless he brought with him letters communicatory to the people. At the celebration he instituted the hymn, "Holy, holy, holy. Lord God of Sabaoth." Anciently the office of the communion was per- formed in a plain manner, and unclogged with human mixtures. St Peter, after consecration, used the paternoster; James, Bishop of Jerusalem, added some rites; Basil more, and others more still. For Celestine brought in the Introitus of the mass, Gregory the Kyrie Eleison, Telesphorus The Glory be to God on High, Gelasius the First the Collects, and Hierom the Epistle and Gospel. The Alleluia was taken from the Church of Jerusalem, the was instituted by the Council of Nicaea; Pelagius introduced the Commemoration of the Dead, Leo the Third the Incense, Innocent the First the Kiss of Peace, and Sergius ordered the Agnus Dei to be sung. During the time of Sixtus, the persecution being so sharp that few had courage enough to own the profession of Christianity, and the Christian Gauls desiring a bishop, to them he sends Peregrine, a citizen of Rome, who, having confirmed them in the faith, at his return suffered martyrdom in the Via Appia, at the place where Christ appeared to Peter as he was leaving the city. His body was by the faithful carried into the Vatican, and buried near St Peter. Aquila, also by birth a Jew of Pontus, who with his wife Priscilla had been banished by the edict of Claudius, is said by some to have lived till this time; he was the second translator of the Old Testament, after the seventy who lived in the time of Ptolomy Philadelphus. As for Sixtus, having at three Decembrian ordinations made eleven presbyters, eleven deacons, and four bishops, he was crowned with martyrdom, and buried in the Vatican near St Peter, having been in the chair ten years, three months, and one-and-twenty days. Upon his death the see was vacant only two days.
ST TELESPHORUS. A.D. 129-139.
TELESPHORUS, a Grecian, the son of an anchorite, lived in the time of Antoninus Pius. This emperor was by his father's side a Cisalpine Gaul, and together with his sons, Aurelius and Varus, he ruled twenty-two years and three months, with so much moderation and clemency that he deservedly gained the name of Pius, and Father of his country. He was never severe or rigorous towards any man in the recovery of his own private debts, or the exaction of public taxes, but would sometimes wholly remit them by burning the bonds of his debtors. What shall I need say more of this prince, who in the opinion of all good men was for religion, devotion, humanity, clemency, justice, and modesty, equal to Numa Pompilius himself. When the river Tiber had by an inundation much impaired many private and public buildings, he was at vast expense to assist the citizens in restoring the city to its former state again. Moreover, it was he who carried on those prodigious works which appear to this day, for improving the havens of Tarracina and Gaeta; and I believe that the famous winding pillar, from which the principal ward of the city is denominated, was built at his charge. As for our Telesphorus, he ordained that a Quadragesimal Fast should be observed before Easter; and that on the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord there should be three masses : one at midnight, at which time Christ was born in Bethlehem; another at break of day, when he was discovered to the shepherds; the third at that hour wherein the light of truth and our redemption shone in the world (i.e. when our Saviour was crucified), — whereas at other times the celebration of the mass was forbidden till the third hour, or between the hours of nine and twelve o'clock, the time when, as St Mark tells us, he was fastened to the cross. He also appointed that the hymn, "Glory be to God on High," should be sung before the sacrifice. In his time Justinus, a philosopher of Neapolis, a city of Palestine, who laboured successfully in the defending of Christianity, presented to Antoninus and his sons a book which he had written against the heathens; and held a dialogue with Tryphon, a principal Jew. He wrote also very warmly against Marcion, who, adhering to the heresy of Cerdo, affirmed that there were two gods, the one good, the other just, as two contrary principles of creation and goodness. He opposed likewise Crescens the cynic, as a person gluttonous, fearful of death, given over to luxury and lust, and a blasphemer of Christ. But being at length by this man's treacherous practices betrayed, he suffered in the cause of Christianity. Eusebius, writing of this cynic, allows him only to have been a vain-glorious pretender, but not a philosopher. At the same time the Valentinian heretics prevailed, who were the followers of one Valentinus, a Platonist; and held that Christ took nothing of the body of the Virgin, but passed clean through her, as through a pipe. Now also Photinus, Bishop of Lyons, a man of singular learning and piety, as Isodore tells us, suffered martyrdom with great resolution, being ninety years old. Telesphorus, having at four Decembrian ordinations made fifteen presbyters, eight deacons, thirteen bishops, died a martyr, and was buried in the Vatican near Saint Peter. He was in the chair eleven years, three months, twenty-two days. By his death the see was vacant seven days.
ST HYGINUS. A.D. 139-143
HYGINUS, an Athenian, son of a philosopher, succeeded Telesphorus, during the empire of Antoninus Pius, whose extraordinary merit compels me to add something farther in his praise, before I come to give an account of Hyginus. He was so far from the vanity of valuing himself upon the glory of his arms, that he made it his business rather to defend the provinces of the empire, than to increase them; and had often that saying of Scipio in his mouth, that he had rather save one citizen than destroy a thousand enemies: being herein of a quite contrary temper to that of Domitian, who, from a consciousness of his own cruelty, did so hate and fear a multitude, that he would expose the Roman army to the fury of its enemies, on purpose that it might return home thinner and less formidable. Moreover, Pius was so famous for his justice, that several princes and nations did at his command cease their hostilities, making him the arbitrator of their differences, and standing to his determination as to the justice of their pretensions. For these admirable qualities, the Romans, after his much lamented death, in honour to his memory, appointed cirque-shows, built a temple, and constituted a Flamen, with an order called by his name. At this time Hyginus prudently settled and confirmed the several orders and degrees of the clergy; and ordained the solemn consecration of churches, the number of which he would not have increased or diminished without leave of the metropolitan or bishop. He forbade also that the timber or other materials prepared for the building any church should be converted to profane uses; yet allowing that, with the bishop's consent, they might be made use of towards the erecting any other church or religious house. He likewise ordained that at least one godfather or one godmother should be present at baptism; and that no metropolitan should condemn or censure any bishop of his province, until the cause were first heard and discussed by the other bishops of the province; though some make this latter an institution of Pelagius, not Hyginus. In his time lived Polycarp, a disciple of St John the Apostle, and by him made Bishop of Smyrna St Pius, the most celebrated man for religion and learning in all Asia. He, coming to Rome, reduced to the orthodox faith multitudes who had been seduced into the errors of Marcion and Valentinus; the former of which by chance meeting him, and asking whether he knew him, Polycarp answered, that he knew him to be the first-born of the devil. For this heretic denied the Father of our blessed Saviour to be God the Creator, who by His Son made the world. But afterwards, in the time of M. Antoninus and L. Aurelius Commodus, who raised the fourth persecution, Polycarp was burnt at Smyrna by order of the proconsul. Melito, also an Asian, Bishop of Sardis, and a disciple of Fronto the orator, presented to M. Antoninus a book written in defence of the Christian doctrine. Tertullian highly extols his parts, and says that most of the Christians looked upon him as a prophet. Moreover, Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, wrote a book against the heresy of Hermogenes, who asserted an uncreated eternal matter, co-eval to God himself. As for Hyginus himself, having deserved well of the church, and at three Decembrian ordinations made fifteen presbyters, five deacons, six bishops, he died, and was buried in the Vatican, by St. Peter, January 11. He was in the chair four years, three months, four days. The see was then vacant four days.
ST PIUS I. A.D. 143-157
PIUS, an Italian of Aquileia, son of Ruffinus, lived to the time of M. Antoninus Verus, who, together with his brother, L. Aurelius Commodus, jointly exercised the Government nineteen years. These two princes undertook a war against the Parthians, and managed it with such admirable courage and success, that they had the honour of a triumph decreed to them. But not long after Commodus dying of an apoplexy, Antoninus was sole emperor; a person who so excelled in all good qualities, that it is more easy to admire than to describe him; for both because from his very youth no change of his fortune made any alteration in his mind or his countenance, and because it is hard to determine whether the sweetness of his natural temper, or the knowledge he learnt from Cornelius Fronto, were more conspicuous in him; he deservedly gained the surname of Philosopher. And indeed (as Capitolinus tells us) he was often wont to use that saying of Plato, that then the world would be happy, when either philosophers were princes, or princes would be philosophers. He was so great a lover of learning, that even when he was emperor he would be present at the lectures of Apollonius the philosopher, and Sextus Plutarch's nephew; and he set up the statue of his tutor Fronto in the Senate House as a testimony of the honour he had for him. At this time Pius maintained a strict friendship and familiarity with Hermas, who wrote the book called "Pastor;" in which book he introduces an angel in the form of a shepherd, who commanded him to persuade all Christians to keep the feast of Easter on a Sunday, which Pius accordingly did. Moreover, he ordained that every convert from the Cerinthian heresy should at his reception be baptized. At the request of Praxedes, a devout woman, he dedicated a church at the baths of Novatus to her sister, St Pudentiana; to which he himself made several donations, oftentimes celebrated mass in it, and built a font which he blessed and consecrated, and at which he baptized a great number of proselytes. He also appointed a punishment upon those who were negligent in handling the body and blood of Christ. If through the priest's carelessness any of the cup had fallen upon the ground, he was to undergo a penance of forty days; if it fell upon the altar, of three days; if upon the altar-cloth, of four days; if upon any other cloth, of nine days. Whithersoever it fell, he was to lick it up if he could; if not, the board or stone to be washed or scraped, and what of it could be recovered thereby either burnt or laid up in the sacrarium. In his time, Apollinaris, bishop of Hierapolis in Asia, was much esteemed, who wrote an excellent apology for Christianity, and presented it to Antoninus the second. He wrote also against the Montanists, who, with their two fanatic prophetesses, Priscilla and Maximilla, pretended that the descent of the Holy Ghost was not upon the apostles, but themselves; an opinion which they had learned from their leader Montanus. At this time also, the learned Tatianus was in good reputation, so long as he swerved not from the doctrine of his master, Justin Martyr; but afterwards being puffed up with a great conceit of himself, he became the author of a new heresy, which being propagated by one Severus, the fol- lowers of it were from him called Severians. They drank no wine, ate no flesh, rejected the Old Testament, and believed not the Resurrection. Moreover, Philip, bishop of Crete, now published an excellent book against Marcion and his followers, whose errors were the same with those of Cerdo. Musanus also wrote a book against the heretics called Encratitae, or the Abstemious, who agreed in opinion with the Severians, looking upon the marriage rites as filthy and unclean, and condemning those meats which God hath given for the use of mankind. But to return to Pius, having at five Decembrian ordinations made nineteen presbyters, twenty-one deacons, ten bishops, he died, and was buried in the Vatican, near St Peter, July 11. He was in the chair thirteen years, four months, three days; and by his death the see was vacant thirteen days.
ST ANICETUS. A.D. 157-168.
ANICETUS, a Syrian, the son of one John de Vicomurco, lived in the time of Antoninus Verus, concerning whom we have spoken in the life of Pius. Which Antoninus, though he were a great philosopher, yet neglected not the pursuit of military glory. For, together with his son, Commodus Antoninus, he did with great courage and success gain a victory and a triumph over the Germans, Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatae. At his first enterprising this war, his exchequer being so low that he had not money to pay his soldiers, he exposed to public sale in the Forum Trajani all the furniture of his palace, and all the jewels of his empress. But afterwards returning home victoriously, to those who were willing to restore the goods they had bought, he refunded what they paid for them, but used no force against those who refused to relinquish their bargains. Upon this victory, he was very liberal to all who had done any good service to the public : to some provinces he remitted their accustomed tribute; he caused to be publicly burnt in the Forum the writings by which any man was made a debtor to the exchequer; and by new constitutions moderated the severity of the old laws. By this means he became so much the darling of the people, that any man had a particular brand of infamy set upon him who had not Antoninus' effigies in his house. Anicetus, that the reputation of the Church might not suffer by the extravagancy of a few men, ordained that no clergyman should, upon any pretence, wear long hair; and that no bishop should be consecrated by fewer than three of the same order (a constitution which was afterwards confirmed by the Council of Nicaea); and that at the consecration of a metropolitan, all the bishops of the province should be present. Moreover, he ordained (as Ptolemy tells us) that no bishop should implead his metropolitan but before the primate or the see apostolic (this being also a constitution which was afterwards confirmed by the Council of Nice, and several succeeding bishops of Rome); and that all archbishops should not be called primates, but only those of them who have a particular title to that denomination; the primates having also the style of patriarchs, whereas the others are simply archbishops or metropolitans. In his time, Hegesippus was a great defender of the Christian faith; who, as an imitator of their manner of speaking, of whose lives he had been a diligent observer, in a very plain, unaffected style, wrote a history of ecclesiastical affairs from the passion of our Lord to the age in which He lived. He says of himself that he came to Rome in the time of Anicetus, whom he calls the tenth bishop from St Peter, and that he stayed there to the time of Eleutherius, who had been deacon to Anicetus. He inveighed much against idolators for building sumptuous monuments and temples to the dead; as particularly Hadrian, the emperor, who, in honour to his darling Antinous, had instituted solemn games and prizes at the city, which he built and called by his name Antinoe, and also erected a temple, and appointed priests for his worship. Some say that Dionysius lived in the pontificate of Anicetus; but writers are in this place very confused in their chronology, some placing Pius first, others Anicetus, and so they are in their histories too. However, in a history of things so remote, and of which, through the negligence of the ancients, we have so slender an account, it will be better to say something of the matters themselves, though it be some time before or after, they were transacted, than altogether to pass them by in silence. As for Anicetus, having at five Decembrian ordinations made nineteen presbyters, four deacons, nine bishops, he received a crown of martyrdom, and was buried in the sepulchre of Callistus, in the Via Appia, April the 17th. He was in the chair eleven years, four months, and three days ; and by his death the see was vacant seventeen days.
ST SOTER. A.D. 168-177.
SOTER, a Campanian of Fundi, son of Concordius, lived in the time of L. Antoninus Commodus. This Commodus was (as Lampridius plays upon his name) very incommodious and hurtful to all his subjects; being in nothing like his father, save that he also, thanks to the Christian soldiers for it, fought successfully against the Germans. In that war, when the army of Commodus was in great straits for want of water, it is said that at the prayers of the Christian legion, God supplied and refreshed the Romans with rain from heaven, and at the same time destroyed the Germans with thundershot. The truth of which the Emperor himself testified by his letters. But at his return to Rome, he utterly renounced all virtue and goodness, and shamefully gave himself up to all manner of luxury and un- cleanness. He used, in imitation of Nero, to combat with the gladiators, and oftentimes encountered with wild beasts in the amphitheatre; many of the senators he put to death, and those especially whom he observed to be more conspicuous for extraction or merit. Soter, diverting his mind from the contemplation of this wretched scene of things to the care of ecclesiastical affairs, decreed that no deaconess should touch the altar-cloth, or put the incense upon the censer at the time of celebration. There is extant an epistle of his concerning that matter, written to the bishops of Italy. He ordained likewise that no woman should be accounted a lawful wife, but she whom the priest had formally blessed, and whom her parents had with the usual Christian solemnities given to her husband. This constitution he made to remove the danger and scandal that was incident to new-married persons from the juggling magical tricks of lewd fellows. Indeed, Gratian ascribes this decree to Evaristus, but whose due it is I leave the reader to judge, for it matters not much whether it be attributed to the one or the other. During the pontificate of Soter, as Eusebius tells us, lived Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, a person of so great parts and industry, that he instructed not only the people of his own city and province, but also by his epistles the bishops of other cities and provinces. For being thoroughly acquainted with the writings of St Paul, he could the more easily keep others within the bounds of their duty by the authority which his learning and sanctity had gained him. Theodotion also, an Asian, scholar to Tatianus, wrote several things in defence of our religion; and in particular he very handsomely exposed Apelles the heretic, for worshipping a God whom he professed he did not know; for he denied Christ to be truly a God, and affirmed Him to be only in appearance a man. Some say that the Cataphrygian heresy was at this time set on foot by Montanus. Moreover, Clemens, a presbyter of Alexandria and master to Origen, was now a great writer; among other things he was author of Stromata ("Miscellanies"), Hypotyposeis ("Outlines"), Paedagogos ("The Instructor"), and a popular address, "What rich man is saved?" There are some who make Pinytus, a person of admirable eloquence; Oppian, a famous poet, who wrote the Halieutics or books concerning fishes; and Herodian, the grammarian — contemporaries to our Bishop Soter; who having at five Decembrian ordinations made eight presbyters, nine deacons, eleven bishops, he died and was buried in the Via Appia, in the Sepulchre of Calistus. He was in the chair nine years, three months, twenty-one days. And the see was vacant twenty-one days.
ST ELEUTHERIUS. A.D., 177-192.
ELEUTHERIUS, a Grecian of Nicopolis, son of Habundius, lived also in the reign of L. Antoninus Commodus, for whose flagitious life the city of Rome smarted sorely; for in his time the Capitol, being fired with lightning, together with the famous library which had cost the ancients so much care in collecting, was consumed; nor did the neighbouring houses escape the same calamity. Not long after, another fire broke forth, in which the temple of Vesta, the palace, and a good part of the city were burnt to the ground. He was of so rash and freakish a humour that he caused the head of a vast colossus to be taken off, and that of his own statue to be placed in room of it; and in imitation of Augustus, he would needs have a month of his own name, ordering December to be called Commodus. But these things were soon changed after his death, and himself adjudged an enemy to mankind, such an hatred and detestation did all men entertain of his villanies. He was strangled in the twelfth year and seventh month of his reign. Eleutherius, soon after his entrance upon the pontificate, received a message from Lucius, king of Britain, wherein he expressed a desire that he and his subjects might become Christians. Hereupon Eleutherius sends Fugatius and Damianus, two very religious men, to that island to baptize the king and his people. There were at that time in Britain twenty-five heathen priests called Flamens, and among them three styled Archflamens, in the place of which, as Ptolemy says, were constituted three archbishops — the ancient Church being wont to fix patriarchs there, where in the time of Gentilism Protoflamens had been seated. Furthermore, Eleutherius ordained that no person should superstitiously abstain from any sort of meat which was commonly eaten; and that no clergyman should be degraded before he were legally found guilty of the crime laid to his charge — following herein the example of our Saviour, who so patiently bore the fault of Judas, being not yet convicted, though really guilty, that whatsoever he acted in the meantime, by virtue of his apostleship remained firm and valid. He also prohibited the passing sentence against any person accused, unless he were present to make his defence, which was afterwards confirmed by Damasus and the pontifical laws. In his pontificate the Church enjoyed peace and tranquillity, and Christianity was wonderfully propagated in the world, but especially at Rome, where many of the best quality, with their wives and children, received the faith and were baptized. Only Apollonius, a great orator, was now a martyr, having first in the Senate made an excellent speech in favour of Christianity, the doing of which was then a capital crime. Apollonius being dead, several heresies very much prevailed. For the sect of the Marcionites was divided into several parties; some of them owning but one principle, or God, others two, others three, thereby utterly undermining the credit of the prophets and other discoverers of revealed religion. Moreover, Florinus and Blastus set up new figments against the truth, asserting God to be the author of all kinds of evil, in contradiction to that text, that "every thing which God made was good." Opposite to these were the Quotiliani, who denied God to be the author of any kind of evil, in equal contradiction to that other text, "I the Lord create evil." Some are of opinion that Galen of Pergamus, the famous physician, and Julian, the great lawyer, and Fronto, the rhetorician, lived at this time; though whether they did or no, in so great a confusion of time and story, I shall neither affirm nor deny. But I dare be confident concerning Modestus and Bardesanes, the former of which wrote against Marcion, the latter against Valentinus, being now as strenuous an opposer, as he had been formerly a zealous follower, of that heretic. St Hierom, upon the perusal of his books, translated out of the Syriac language into Greek, affirms this Bardesanes to have been a wonderfully brisk ingenious writer; "And if," says he, "there be so much smartness in the translation, how much more shall we judge to be in the original?" As for Eleutherius, having at three Decembrian ordinations made twelve presbyters, eight deacons, fifteen bishops, he died and was buried near St Peter in the Vatican, May 26. He was in the chair fifteen years, three months, two days, and the see was vacant five days.
ST VICTOR I. Circa A.D. 192-202.
VICTOR, an Asian, son of Felix, was, as I believe, in the time of Aelius Pertinax, which Aelius, being seventy years of age, was from the office of city-praefect created emperor by a decree of the Senate. Being afterwards desired to declare his lady Augusta, and his son Caesar, he refused both, saying it was enough that he himself was emperor against his will. But undergoing the reproach of that unprincely vice, covetousness, being so sordid as to cause the half of a lettuce or artichoke to be served up to his table, he was without any opposition slain in the palace by Didius Julianus in the sixth month of his reign. This is that Julian who made the perpetual edict, and who in the seventh month after his coming to the empire was vanquished and slain in a civil war by Severus at Pons Milvius. Victor, out of his care of the affairs of the Church, decreed, that according to a former constitution of Eleutherius, as Damasus tells us, Easter should be kept upon the Sunday, which fell between the fourteenth and twenty-first day after the phasis or appearance of the moon in the first month. Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea Palestinae, was obedient to this decree, and wrote against those who observed that feast, as the Jews did their Passover, always upon the fourteenth day of the moon, whatever day of the week it happened to be. But Polycrates, Bishop of Ephesus, very hotly declaimed against this constitution, stiffly contending that, according to ancient custom, it ought to be celebrated precisely on that day on which the Jews kept their Passover. For he maintained that herein he followed the example of St John the apostle, and others, the ancients. We, says he, observe the exact day, neither anticipating nor protracting it. Thus did Philip, who died at Hierapolis; thus did John, who leaned on our Lord's bosom; thus did Polycarp, Thraseas, Melito, and Narcissus, Bishop of Jerusalem. Hereupon some tell us, that a council was held in Palestine, at which were present Theophilus, Irenaeus, Narcissus, Polycarp, Bacchylus, all bishops of great note in Asia. But the whole matter was afterwards referred to the Council of Nicaea, in which it was decreed that Easter should be kept on the Sunday following the fourteenth day of the moon, to avoid all appearance of Judaising. Victor also ordained that, in cases of necessity, proselytes might at their desire be baptized in any kind of water or at any time of the year. During his pontificate there flourished many learned men. As, for instance, Appion, who wrote the "Hexaemeron", or account of the six days' work of creation; Paulus Samosatenus, who, together with Theodotus, held our Saviour to have been a mere man; Sixtus, who wrote of the resurrection : and Arabianus, who published several treatises of Christian doctrine. Now also one Judas wrote a chronology to the tenth year of Severus the emperor; wherein yet he is guilty of a mistake in asserting that Antichrist would come in his time — an error into which I suppose him to have fallen from the observation he had made of the cruelty and other vices of the age, which he saw now grown to such a height, that he thought Almighty God could not bear with mankind any longer. By which very thing Lactantius and St Austin themselves were after deceived. Our Victor, having first written some books concerning religion, died and was buried near St Peter in the Vatican, whose feast we observe on the 28th day of July. He was in the chair ten years, three months, ten days, and the see was vacant twelve days.
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