Chapter II: The Transition To The Middle Ages. The Foundation Of The (2)

Gregory the Great was born about 540. In 573 he was appointed prefect of the city of Rome, but resigned the following year to become a monk. Having been ordained deacon, he was sent in 579 to Constantinople as papal apocrisiarius, or resident ambassador at the court of the Emperor. In 586 he was back in Rome and abbot of St. Andrew’s, and in 590 he was elected Pope. As Pope his career was even more brilliant. He reorganized the papal finances, carried through important disciplinary measures, and advanced the cause of monasticism. His work as the organizer of missions in England, his labors to heal the Istrian schism, his relations with the Lombards, his dealings with the Church in Gaul, his controversy with Constantinople in the matter of the title “Ecumenical Patriarch,” and other large relations and tasks indicate the range of his interests and the extent of his activities. As a theologian Gregory interpreted Augustine for the Middle Ages and was the most important and influential theologian of the West after Augustine and before the greater scholastics. He did much to restore the prestige of his see, which had been lost in the earlier part of the sixth century. He died 604.

Additional source material: Selections from the writings of
Gregory, including many of his letters, may be found in PNF, ser.
II, vols. XII and XIII; see also _A Library of the Fathers of the
Holy Catholic Church_ (Oxford).

The selections under this section are arranged under four heads: (1) Relations with Gaul; (2) Relations with Constantinople; (3) Relations with the Schism in Northern Italy; (4) Relations with the Lombards; for English mission, v. infra, § 100.

1. Relations with Gaul.

(_a_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Vigilium_, Reg. V, 53. (MSL, 77:782.)

The following letter was written in 595 in reply to a letter from
Vigilius, bishop of Arles, asking for the pallium (DCA, art.
“Pallium,” also _Cath. Encyc._) and the vicariate. For the
relation of the Roman see to the bishop of Arles as primate of
Gaul, see E. Loening, _Geschichte des deutschen Kirchenrechts_.
The relation of the vicariate to the papacy and also to the royal
power is indicated by the fact that the pallium is given in
response to the request of the king. The condition of the church
under Childebert is also shown; see § 98 for canons bearing on
simony and irregularities in connection with ordination.

As to thy having asked therein [in a letter of Vigilius to Gregory] according to ancient custom for the use of the pallium and the vicariate of the Apostolic See, far be it from me to suspect that thou hast sought eminence of transitory power, or the adornment of external worship, in our vicariate and the pallium. But, since it is known to all whence the holy faith proceeded in the regions of Gaul, when your fraternity asks for a repetition of the early custom of the Apostolic See, what is it but that a good offspring reverts to the bosom of its mother? With willing mind therefore we grant what has been requested, lest we should seem either to withhold from you anything of the honor due to you, or to despise the petition of our most excellent son, King Childebert.…

I have learned from certain persons informing me that in the parts of Gaul and Germany no one attains to holy orders except for a consideration given. If this is so, I say it with tears, I declare it with groans, that, when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, neither will it be able to stand outwardly for long.…

Another very detestable thing has also been reported to us, that some persons being laymen, through the desire of temporal glory, are tonsured on the death of bishops, and all at once are made priests.…

On this account your fraternity must needs take care to admonish our most excellent son, King Childebert, that he remove entirely the stain of this sin from his kingdom, to the end that Almighty God may give him so much the greater recompense with himself as He sees him both love what He loves and shun what He hates.

And so we commit to your fraternity, according to ancient custom, under God, our vicariate in the churches which are under the dominion of our most excellent son Childebert, with the understanding that their proper dignity, according to primitive usage, be preserved to the several metropolitans. We have also sent a pallium which thy fraternity will use within the Church for the solemnization of mass only. Further, if any of the bishops should by any chance wish to travel to any considerable distance, let it not be lawful for him to remove to other places without the authority of thy holiness. If any question of faith, or it may be relating to other matters, should have arisen among the bishops, which cannot easily be settled, let it be ventilated and decided in an assembly of twelve bishops. But if it cannot be decided after the truth has been investigated, let it be referred to our judgment.

2. Relations with Constantinople.

(_b_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Johannem Jejunatorem_, Reg. V, 44. (MSL, 77:738.) _Cf._ Mirbt, n. 180.

On the title “Ecumenical Patriarch.”

The controversy over the title “Ecumenical Patriarch” was a result
of Gregory’s determination to carry through, as far as possible,
the Petrine rights and duties as he conceived them. The title was
probably intended to mark the superiority of Constantinople to the
other patriarchates in the East, according to the Eastern
principle that the political rank of a city determined its
ecclesiastical rank. It seemed to Gregory to imply a position of
superiority to the see of Peter. As it certainly might imply that,
he consistently opposed it. But it had been a title in use for
nearly a century. (_Cf._ Gieseler, KG, Eng. trans., vol. I, p.
504.) Justinian in 533 so styled the patriarch of Constantinople
(Cod. I, 1, 7). For the difference in point of view between the
East and the West as to rank of great sees, see Leo’s letters on
the 28th canon of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, _supra_, in § 86.

At the time when your fraternity was advanced in sacerdotal dignity, you recall what peace and concord of the churches you found. But, with what daring or with what swelling of pride I know not, you have attempted to seize upon a new name for yourself, whereby the hearts of all your brethren would be offended. I wonder exceedingly at this, since I remember that in order not to attain to the episcopal office thou wouldest have fled. But now that thou hast attained unto it, thou desirest so to exercise it as if thou hadst run after it with ambitious desire. And thou who didst confess thyself unworthy to be called a bishop, hast at length been brought to such a pitch that, despising thy brethren, thou desirest to be named the only bishop. And in regard to this matter, weighty letters were sent to thy holiness by my predecessor Pelagius, of holy memory, and in them he annulled the acts of the synod,(246) which had been assembled among you in the case of our former brother and fellow priest, Gregory, because of that execrable title of pride, and forbade the archdeacon whom he sent according to custom to the feet of our Lord(247) to celebrate the solemnities of the mass with thee. But after his death, when I, an unworthy man, succeeded to the government of the Church, I took care, formerly through thy representatives, and now through our common son and deacon, Sabianus, to address thy fraternity, not indeed in writing, but by word of mouth, desiring thee to refrain thyself from such presumption; and in case thou wouldest not amend I forbade his celebrating the solemnities of the mass with thee; that so I might appeal to thy holiness through a certain sense of shame, and then, if the execrable and profane assumption could not be corrected through shame, I might resort to canonical and prescribed measures. And because sores that are to be cut away should first be stroked with a gentle hand, I beg of thee, I beseech thee, and, as kindly as I can, I demand of thee that thy fraternity rebuke all who flatter thee and offer thee this name of error, and not consent to be called by a foolish and proud title. For truly I say it weeping, and out of deepest sorrow of heart attribute it to my sins, that this my brother, who has been placed in the episcopal order, that he might bring back the souls of others to humility, has, up to the present time, been incapable of being brought back to humility; that he who teaches truth to others has not consented to teach himself, even when I implore him.

Consider, I pray thee, that by this rash presumption the peace of the whole Church is disturbed, and that it is in contradiction to the grace poured out on all in common; in which grace thou thyself wilt be able to grow so far as thou thyself wilt determine to do so. And thou wilt become by so much the greater as thou restrainest thyself from the usurpation of proud and foolish titles; and thou wilt advance in proportion as thou art not bent on arrogation by the humiliation of thy brethren.… Certainly Peter, the first of the Apostles, was a member of the holy and universal Church; Paul, Andrew, John—what are they but the heads of particular communities? And yet all are members under one Head. And to bind all together in a short phrase, the saints before the Law, the saints under the Law, the saints under grace, all these making up the Lord’s body were constituted as members of the Church, and not one of them has ever wished himself to be called “universal.”…

Is it not the fact, as your fraternity knows, that the prelates of this Apostolic See, which by the providence of God I serve, had the honor offered them by the venerable Council of Chalcedon of being called “universal”?(248) But yet not one of them has ever wished to be called by such a title, or seized upon this rash name, lest, if in virtue of the rank of the pontificate, he took to himself the glory of singularity, he might seem to have denied it to all his brethren.

(_c_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Phocam_, Reg. XIII, 31. (MSL, 77:1281.)

Epistle to Phocas congratulating him on his accession.

Phocas (602-610) was a low-born, ignorant centurion whom chance
had placed at the head of a successful rebellion originating in
the army of the Danube. The rebellion was successful, and the
Emperor Maurice was murdered, together with his sons. Maurice had
been unsuccessful in war, unpopular with the army, and his
financial measures had been oppressive. Phocas was utterly
incompetent as a ruler, licentious and sanguinary as a man. His
reign was a period of horror and blood.

Gregory to Phocas. Glory to God in the highest, who, according as it is written, changes times, and transfers kingdoms, because He has made apparent to all what He has vouchsafed to speak by His prophet, that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will [Dan. 4:17]. For in the incomprehensible dispensation of Almighty God there is an alternating control of human life, and sometimes, when the sins of many are to be smitten, one is raised up through whose hardness the necks of subjects may be bowed down under the yoke of tribulation, as in our affliction we have long had proof. But sometimes, when the merciful God has decreed to refresh with His consolation the mourning hearts of many, He advances one to the summit of government, and through the bowels of His mercy infuses in the minds of all the grace of exultation in Him. In which abundance of exultation we believe that we, who rejoice that the benignity of your piety has arrived at imperial supremacy, shall speedily be confirmed. “Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad” [Psalm 96:11], and let the whole people of the republic, hitherto afflicted exceedingly, grow cheerful for your benignant deeds. Let the proud minds of enemies be subdued to the yoke of your domination. Let the sad and depressed spirit of subjects be relieved by your mercy. Let the power of heavenly grace make you terrible to your enemies; let piety make you kind to your subjects. Let the whole republic have rest in your most happy times, since the pillage of peace under the color of legal processes has been exposed. Let plottings about testaments cease, and benevolences extorted by violence end. Let secure possession of their own goods return to all, that they may rejoice in possessing without fear what they have acquired without fraud. Let every single person’s liberty be now at length restored to each one under the yoke of the holy Empire. For there is this difference between the kings of the nations and the emperors of the republic: the kings of the nations are lords of slaves, but the emperors lords of free men. But we shall better speak of these things by praying than by putting you in mind of them. May Almighty God keep the heart of your piety in the hand of His grace in every thought and deed. Whatsoever things should be done justly, whatever things with clemency, may the Holy Ghost, who dwells in your breast direct, that your clemency may both be exalted in a temporal kingdom and after the course of many years attain to heavenly kingdoms. Given in the month June, indiction six.

3. Gregory and the Schism in North Italy.

Among the results of the Fifth General Council of Constantinople,
553, was a wide-spread schism in the northern part of Italy and
adjacent lands. The bishops of the western part of Lombardy, under
the lead of the bishop of Milan, together with the bishops of
Venetia, Istria, and a portion of Illyricum, Rhætia Secunda, and
Noricum, under the bishop of Aquileia, renounced communion with
the see of Rome, and became autocephalic. Even bishops in Tuscany
abandoned communion with the see of Rome because the council and
Vigilius had condemned Theodore, Theodoret, and Ibas (_v. supra_,
§ 93). Justin II attempted to heal the schism, and his verbose
edict may be found in Evagrius, _Hist. Ec._, V, 4. A serious
problem was presented to the Roman see. In dealing with them,
however, it was possible to treat each group separately. On
account of the Lombard invasion the bishop of Aquileia removed his
see to Grado. Gregory the Great had some success in drawing the
schismatics into more friendly relations. But not till 612 was the
see of Aquileia-Grado in communion with Rome. A rival bishop was
elected, who removed his see to old Aquileia. See extract from
Paulus Diaconus (_f_). And the opposition was maintained until
about 700. The Milanese portion of the schism had long since
ended. Of Gregory’s epistles several bearing on the schism are
available in PNF, ser. II, vols. XII and XIII: Reg. I, 16; II, 46,
51; IV, 2, 38, 39; V, 51; IX, 9, 10; XIII, 33.

(_d_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Constantium_, Reg. IV, 2. (MSL, 77:669.)

Gregory to Constantius, Bishop of Milan. My beloved son, the deacon Boniface, has given me information from a private letter of thy fraternity: namely, that three bishops, having sought out rather than having found an occasion, have separated themselves from the pious communion of thy fraternity, saying that thou hast assented to the condemnation of the three chapters and hast given a solemn pledge. And, indeed, whether there has been any mention made of the three chapters in any word or writing whatever, thy fraternity remembers well; although thy fraternity’s predecessor, Laurentius (_circa_ 573), did send a most strict security to the Apostolic See, and to it a legal number of the most noble men subscribed; among whom, I also, at that time holding the prætorship of the city, likewise subscribed; because, when such a schism had taken place about nothing, it was right that the Apostolic See should be careful to guard in all respects the unity of the universal Church in the minds of priests. But as to its being said that our daughter, Queen Theodelinda,(249) after hearing this news has withdrawn herself from thy communion, it is perfectly evident that though she has been seduced to some little extent by the words of wicked men, yet when Hippolytus the notary and John the abbot arrive, she will seek in all ways the communion of the fraternity.

(_e_) Gregory the Great, _Ep. ad Constantium_, Reg. IV, 39. (MSL, 77:713.)

In reply to a letter from Constantius of Milan informing Gregory
that the demand had been made upon him by the clergy of Brescia
that he should take an oath that he, Constantius, had not
condemned the Three Chapters, _i.e._, had not accepted the Fifth
General Council, Gregory advises him to take no such oath.

But lest those who have thus written to you should be offended, send them a letter declaring under an imposition of an anathema that you neither take away anything from the faith of the synod of Chalcedon nor receive those who do, and that you condemn whatsoever it condemned and absolve whatsoever it absolved. And thus I believe that they may soon be satisfied.… As to what you have written to the effect that you are unwilling to transmit my letter to Queen Theodelinda on the ground that the fifth synod is named in it, for you believed that she might be offended, you did right not to transmit it. We are therefore doing now as you recommended, namely, only expressing approval of the four synods. Yet as to the synod which was afterward called at Constantinople, which is called by many the fifth, I would have you know that it neither ordained nor held anything in opposition to the four most holy synods, seeing that nothing was done in it with respect to the faith, but only with respect to three persons, about whom nothing is contained in the acts of the Council of Chalcedon;(250) but after the canons had been promulgated, discussion arose, and final action was ventilated concerning persons.

(_f_) Paulus Diaconus, _Historia Langobardorum_, IV, 32, 33, 36. (MSL, 95:657.)

The continuation of the schism in Istria and the rise of the two
patriarchates of Aquileia. The Emperor Phocas and the title “Head
of All the Churches.”

32. In the following month of November [A. D. 605] King Agilulf concluded peace with the Patrician Smaragdus for a year, and received from the Romans twelve thousand solidi. Also the Tuscan cities Balneus Regis [Bagnarea] and Urbs Vetus [Orvieto] were conquered by the Lombards. Then appeared in the heavens in the months of April and May a star which is called a comet. Thereupon King Agilulf again made a peace with the Romans for three years.

33. In the same days after the death of the patriarch Severus, the abbot John was made patriarch of old Aquileia in his place with the approval of the king and Duke Gisulf. Also in Grados [Grado] the Roman(251) Candidianus was appointed bishop. In the months of November and December a comet was again visible. After the death of Candidianus, Epiphanius, who had formerly been the papal chief notary, was elected patriarch by the bishops who stood under the Romans; and since this time there were two patriarchs.

36. Phocas, as also has been related above, after the murder of Maurice and his sons, obtained the Roman Empire and ruled for eight years. At the request of Pope Boniface(252) he decreed that the seat of the Roman and Apostolic Church should be the head of all churches [_caput omnium ecclesiarum_], because the Church of Constantinople in a proclamation had named itself first of all. At the request of another Pope Boniface,(253) he commanded that the idolatrous rubbish should be removed from the old temple which bore the name of the Pantheon, and from it a church should be made to the holy Virgin Mary and all martyrs, so that where formerly the service not of all gods but of all idols was celebrated, now only the memory of all saints should be found.

4. Gregory the Great and the Lombards.

The Lombards entered Italy 568, and gradually spread over nearly
all the peninsula. The territories retained by the Emperor from
the conquests of Justinian were only the Exarchate of Ravenna, the
Ducatus Romanus, and the Ducatus Neapolitanus, the extreme
southern parts of the peninsula and Liguria. The Lombards were the
last Germanic tribe to settle within the Empire, and like so many
others they were Arians. Theodelinda, the queen of the Lombards,
was a Bavarian princess and a Catholic. Her second husband,
Agilulf, seems to have been favorably disposed to Catholicism, far
more so than Authari, her first husband.

(_g_) Paulus Diaconus, _Historia Langobardorum_, IV, 5-9. (MSL, 95:540.)

Paulus Warnefridi, known as Paulus Diaconus (circa 720-circa 800),
was himself a Lombard, and in writing his _History of the
Lombards_ shows himself the patriot as well as the loyal son of
the Roman Church. To do this was at times difficult. The work is
one of the most attractive histories written in the Middle Ages.
For nearly all of his history, Paulus is dependent upon older
sources, but he restates the older accounts in clear and careful
fashion. The connection between the various extracts is not always
felicitous, yet he has succeeded in producing one of the great
books of history. For an analysis of the sources, see F. H. B.
Daniell, art. “Paulus (70) Diaconus” in DCB. The best edition is
that by Bethmann and Waitz in the MGH, _Scriptores rerum
Langobardorum et Italicarum sæc._ VI-IX, also in the 8vo edition.
There is an English translation of the entire work in the
_Translations and Reprints of the Historical Department of the
University of Pennsylvania_.

5. At that time the learned and pious Pope Gregory, after he had already written much for the benefit of the holy Church, wrote also four books concerning the lives of the saints; these books he called _Dialogus_, that is, conversation, because in them he has introduced himself speaking with his deacon Peter. The Pope sent these books to Queen Theodelinda, whom he knew to be true in the faith in Christ and abounding in good works.

6. Through this queen the Church of God obtained many and great advantages. For the Lombards, when they were still held by heathen unbelief, had taken possession of the entire property of the Church. But, induced by successful requests of the queen, the king, holding fast to the Catholic faith,(254) gave the Church of Christ many possessions and assigned to the bishops, who had theretofore been oppressed and despised, their ancient place of honor once more.

7. In these days Tassilo was made king of Bavaria by the Frankish king Childebert. With an army he immediately marched into the land of the Slavs, and with great booty returned to his own land.

9. At the same time the patrician and exarch of Ravenna, Romanus,(255) went to Rome. On his return to Ravenna he took possession of the cities which had been taken by the Lombards. The names of them are: Sutrium [Sutri], Polimarcium [near Bomarzio and west of Orte], Horta [Orte], Tuder [Todi], Ameria [Amelia], Perusia [Perugia], Luceoli [near Gubbio], and several others. When King Agilulf received word of this, he at once marched forth from Ticinus with a strong army and pitched before the city of Perusia. Here he besieged several days the Lombard duke Marisio, who had gone over to the side of the Romans, took him prisoner, and without delay had him executed. On the approach of the king, the holy Pope Gregory was so filled with fear that, as he himself reports in his homilies, he broke off the explanation of the temple, to be read about in Ezekiel; King Agilulf returned to Ticinus after he had settled the matter, and not long after, chiefly on account of the entreaties of his wife, Queen Theodelinda, who had often been advised in letters by the holy Father Gregory to do so, he concluded with Gregory and the Romans a lasting peace. To thank her for this, the venerable priest sent the following letter to the queen:

Gregory to Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards. How your excellency has labored earnestly and kindly, as is your wont, for the conclusion of peace, we have learned from the report of our son, the abbot Probus. Nor, indeed, was it otherwise to be expected of your Christianity than that you would in all ways show assiduity and goodness in the cause of peace. Wherefore, we give thanks to Almighty God, who so rules your heart with His lovingkindness that, as He has given you a right faith, so He also grants you to work always what is pleasing in His sight. For you may be assured, most excellent daughter, that for the saving of much bloodshed on both sides you have acquired no small reward. On this account, returning thanks for your good-will, we implore the mercy of God to repay you with good in body and soul here and in the world to come. Moreover, greeting you with fatherly affection, we exhort you so to deal with your most excellent consort that he may not reject the alliance of the Christian republic. For, as I believe you yourself know, it is in many ways profitable that he should be inclined to betake himself to its friendship. Do you then, after your manner, always strive for what tends to good-will and conciliation between the parties, and labor wherever an occasion of reaping a reward presents itself, that you may commend your good deeds the more before the eyes of Almighty God.

§ 100. The Foundation of the Anglo-Saxon Church

The Anglo-Saxon Church owes its foundation to the missionary zeal and wise direction of Gregory the Great. Augustine, whom Gregory sent, arrived in the kingdom of Kent 597, and established himself at Canterbury. In 625, Paulinus began his work at York, and Christianity was accepted by the Northumbrian king and many nobles. On the death of King Eadwine, Paulinus was obliged to leave the kingdom. Missionaries were brought into Northumbria in 635 from the Celtic Church, the centre of which was at Iona, where the new king Oswald had taken refuge on the death of Eadwine. Aidan now became the leader of the Northern Church. As the Christianization of the land advanced and Roman customs were introduced into the northern kingdom, practical inconveniences as to the different methods of reckoning the date of Easter, in which the North Irish and the Celts of Scotland differed from the rest of the Christian Church, came to a settlement of the difficulty at Streaneshalch, or Whitby, 664. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, the leader of the Celtic party, withdrew, and Wilfrid, afterward bishop of York, took the lead under the influence of the Roman tradition. The Church of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, now in agreement as to custom, was organized by Theodore of Canterbury (668-690), and developed a remarkable intellectual life, becoming, in fact, for the first part at least of the eighth century, the centre of Western theological and literary culture.

Additional source material: Bede, _Ecclesiastical History of the
English People_, for editions, _v. supra_, § 96. This is the best
account extant of the conversion of a nation to Christianity. H.
Gee and W. J. Hardy, _Documents Illustrative of English Church
History_, London, 1896; A. W. Haddan and W. Stubbs, _Councils and
Ecclesiastical Documents_, 1869 _ff._

(_a_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, I, 29. (MSL, 95:69.)

The scheme of Gregory the Great for the organization of the
English Church A. D. 601.

Gregory, in planning his mission, seems not to have been aware of
the profound changes in the kingdom resulting from the Anglo-Saxon
invasion. He selected York as the seat of an archbishop, because
it was the ancient capital of the Roman province in the North, and
London, because it was the great city of the South. The rivalry of
the two archbishops caused difficulties for centuries, and was a
hinderance to the efficiency of the ecclesiastical system. By this
letter, the British bishops were to be under the authority of
Augustine, a position which was distasteful to the British, who
were extremely hostile to the Anglo-Saxons, and incomprehensible
to them, as they saw no reason or justification in any such
arrangement without their consent. They withdrew from all
intercourse with the new Anglo-Saxon Church and retired into
Wales.

To the most reverend and holy brother and fellow bishop, Augustine, Gregory, servant of the servants of God.

Although it is certain that the unspeakable rewards of the eternal kingdom are laid up for those who labor for Almighty God, yet it is necessary for us to render to them the benefits of honors, that from this recompense they may be able to labor more abundantly in the zeal for spiritual work. And because the new Church of the English has been brought by thee to the grace of Almighty God, by the bounty of the same Lord and by your toil, we grant you the use of the pallium, in the same to perform only the solemnities of the mass, in order that in the various places you ordain twelve bishops who shall be under your authority, so that the bishop of the city of London ought always thereafter to be consecrated by his own synod and receive the pallium of honor from the holy Apostolic See, which by God’s authority I serve.(256) Moreover, we will that you send to York a bishop whom you shall see fit to ordain, yet so that if the same city shall have received the word of God along with the neighboring places, he shall ordain twelve other bishops, and enjoy the honor of metropolitan, because if our life last, we intend, with the Lord’s favor, to give him the pallium also. And we will that he be subject to your authority, my brother. But after your decease he shall preside over the bishops he has ordained, so that he shall not be subject in anywise to the bishop of London. Moreover, let there be a distinction of honor between the bishops of the city of London and of York, in such a way that he shall take the precedence who has been ordained first. But let them arrange in concord by common counsel and harmonious action the things which need to be done for the zeal for Christ; let them determine rightly and let them accomplish what they have decided upon without any mutual misunderstandings.

But you, my brother, shall have subject to you not only the bishops whom you have ordained and those ordained by the bishop of York, but also, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the priests [_i.e._, the bishops] of Britain; so that from the lips of your holiness they may receive the form both of correct faith and of holy life, and fulfilling the duties of their office in faith and morals may, when the Lord wills, attain to the kingdom of heaven. May God keep you safe, most reverend brother. Dated the 22d June in the nineteenth year of the reign of Mauritius Tiberius, the most pious Augustus, in the eighteenth year of the consulship of the same Lord, indiction four.

(_b_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, III, 25 _f._ (MSL, 95:158.)

The Easter dispute and the synod of Whitby. The triumph of the
Roman tradition.

The sharpest dispute between the Celtic and the Roman churches was
on the date of Easter as presenting the most inconveniences. The
principal points were as follows: Both parties agreed that it must
be on Sunday, in the third week of the first lunar month, and the
paschal full moon must not fall before the vernal equinox. But the
Celts placed the vernal equinox on March 25, and the Romans on
March 21. The Celts, furthermore, reckoned as the third week the
14th to the 20th days of the moon inclusive; the Romans the 15th
to the 21st inclusive. The Irish Church in the southern part of
Ireland had already adopted the Roman reckoning at the synod of
Leighlin, 630-633 [Hefele, § 289]. The occasion of the difference
of custom was, in reality, that the Romans had adopted in the
previous century a more correct method of reckoning and one that
had fewer practical inconveniences. For a statement by a Celt, see
Epistle of Columbanus to Gregory the Great, in the latter’s
_Epistolæ_, Reg. IX, Ep. 127 (PNF, ser. II, vol. XIII, p. 38). In
the following selection space has been saved by omissions which
are, however, indicated.

At this time [_circa_ 652] a great and frequent controversy happened about the observance of Easter; those that came from Kent or France asserting that the Scots kept Easter Sunday contrary to the custom of the universal Church. Among them was a most zealous defender of the true Easter, whose name was Ronan, a Scot by nation, but instructed in ecclesiastical truth, either in France or Italy, who disputed with Finan,(257) and convinced many, or at least induced them, to make a stricter inquiry after the truth; yet he could not prevail upon Finan … James, formerly the deacon of the venerable archbishop Paulinus … kept the true and Catholic Easter, with all those that he could persuade to adopt the right way. Queen Eanfleda [wife of Oswy, king of Northumbria] and her attendants also observed the same as she had seen practised in Kent, having with her a Kentish priest that followed the Catholic mode, whose name was Romanus. Thus it is said to have happened in those times that Easter was kept twice in one year;(258) and that when the king, having ended the time of fasting, kept his Easter, the queen and her attendants were still fasting and celebrating Palm Sunday.…

After the death of Finan [662] … when Colman, who was also sent out of Scotland, came to be bishop, a great controversy arose about the observance of Easter, and the rules of ecclesiastical life.… This reached the ears of King Oswy and his son Alfrid; for Oswy, having been instructed and baptized by the Scots, and being very perfectly skilled in their language, thought nothing better than what they taught. But Alfrid, having been instructed in Christianity by Wilfrid, a most learned man, who had first gone to Rome to learn the ecclesiastical doctrine, and spent much time at Lyons with Dalfinus, archbishop of France, from whom he had received the ecclesiastical tonsure, rightly thought this man’s doctrine ought to be preferred to all the traditions of the Scots.…

The controversy having been started concerning Easter, the tonsure, and other ecclesiastical matters, it was agreed that a synod should be held in the monastery of Streaneshalch, which signifies the bay of the lighthouse, where the Abbess Hilda, a woman devoted to God, presided; and that there the controversy should be decided. The kings, both father and son, came hither. Bishop Colman, with his Scottish clerks, and Agilbert,(259) and the priests Agatho and Wilfrid. James and Romanus were on their side. But the Abbess Hilda and her associates were for the Scots, as was also the venerable bishop Cedd, long before ordained by the Scots.… Then Colman said: “The Easter which I keep, I received from my elders who sent me hither as bishop; all our fathers, men beloved of God, are known to have kept it in the same manner; and that the same may not seem to any to be contemptible or worthy of being rejected, it is the same which St. John the Evangelist, the disciple especially beloved of our Lord, with all the churches over which he presided, is recorded as having observed.…”

Wilfrid, having been ordered by the king to speak, said: “The Easter which we observe we saw celebrated by all at Rome, where the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, lived, taught, suffered, and were buried; we saw the same done in Italy and France, when we travelled through those countries for pilgrimage and prayer. We found the same practised in Africa, Asia, Egypt, Greece, and in all the world, wherever the Church of Christ is spread abroad, through several nations and tongues, at one and the same time … except only those and their accomplices in obstinacy, I mean the Picts and the Britons, who foolishly, in these two remote islands of the world, and only in part of them, oppose all the rest of the universe.… John, pursuant to the custom of the law, began the celebration of the feast of Easter on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, not regarding whether the same happened on a Saturday or any other day.… Thus it appears that you, Colman, neither follow the example of John, as you imagine, nor that of Peter, whose traditions you knowingly contradict.… For John, keeping the paschal time according to the decree of the Mosaic law, had no regard to the first day after the Sabbath [_i.e._, that it should fall on Sunday], and you who celebrate Easter only on the first day after the Sabbath do not practise this. Peter kept Easter Sunday between the fifteenth and the twenty-first day of the moon, and you do not do this, but keep Easter Sunday from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moon, so that you often begin Easter on the thirteenth moon in the evening … besides this in your celebration of Easter, you utterly exclude the twenty-first day of the moon, which the law ordered to be especially observed.”

To this Colman rejoined: “Did Anatolius, a holy man, and much commended in ecclesiastical history, act contrary to the Law and the Gospel when he wrote that Easter was to be celebrated from the fourteenth to the twentieth? Is it to be believed that our most reverend Father Columba and his successors, men beloved of God, who kept Easter after the same manner, thought or acted contrary to the divine writings? Whereas there were many among them whose sanctity was attested by heavenly signs and the workings of miracles, whose life, customs, discipline I never cease to follow, not questioning that they are saints in heaven.”

Wilfrid said: “It is evident that Anatolius was a most holy and learned and commendable man; but what have you to do with him, since you do not observe his decrees? For he, following the rule of truth in his Easter, appointed a cycle of nineteen years, which you are either ignorant of, or if you know yet despise, though it is kept by the whole Church of Christ.… Concerning your Father Columba and his followers … I do not deny that they were God’s servants, and beloved by Him, who, with rustic simplicity but pious intentions, have themselves loved Him.… But as for you and your companions, you certainly sin, if, having heard the decrees of the Apostolic See, or rather of the universal Church, and the same confirmed by Holy Scripture, you refuse to follow them. For though your Fathers were holy, do you think that their small number in a corner of the remotest island is to be preferred before the universal Church of Christ throughout the world? And if that Columba of yours (and, I may say, ours also, if he was Christ’s servant) was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet could he be preferred before the most blessed prince of the Apostles, to whom our Lord said: ‘Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, and to thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven’?”

When Wilfrid had thus spoken, the king said: “Is it true, Colman, that these words were spoken to Peter by our Lord?” He answered: “It is true, O king.” Then he said: “Can you show any such power given to your Columba?” Colman answered: “None.” Then the king added: “Do you both agree that these words were principally directed to Peter, and that the keys of heaven were given to him by our Lord?” They both answered: “We do.” Then the king concluded: “And I also say unto you that he is the doorkeeper whom I will not contradict, but will, as far as I know and am able in all things, obey his decrees, lest, when I come to the gates of the kingdom of heaven, there should be one to open them, he being my adversary who is proved to have the keys.” The king having said this, all present, both small and great, gave their assent, and renounced the more imperfect institution, and resolved to conform to that which they found to be better.… [ch. 26]. Colman, perceiving that his doctrine was rejected and his sect despised, took with him such as would not comply with the Catholic Easter and the tonsure (for there was much controversy about that also) and went back to Scotland to consult with his people what was to be done in this case. Cedd, forsaking the practices of the Scots, returned to his bishopric, having submitted to the Catholic observance of Easter. This disputation happened in the year of our Lord’s incarnation, 664.

(_c_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 5. (MSL, 95:180.)

The Council of Hertford A. D. 673. The organization of the
Anglo-Saxon Church by Theodore.

As the important synod of Whitby marks the beginning of conformity
of the Anglo-Saxon Church under the leadership of the kingdom of
Northumbria to the customs of the Roman Church, so the synod of
Hertford brings the internal organization of the Church into
conformity with the diocesan system of the Continent and of the
East, where the principles of the general councils were at this
time most completely enforced. Theodore of Canterbury was a
learned Greek who was sent to England to be archbishop of
Canterbury by Pope Vitalian in 668. The Council of Hertford was
the first council of all the Church among the Anglo-Saxons. For
the council, see also Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils and
Ecclesiastical Documents_, III, 118-122. The text given is that of
Plummer.

In the name of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the perpetual reign of the same Lord Jesus Christ and His government of His Church. It seemed good that we should come together according to the prescription of the venerable canons, to treat of the necessary affairs of the Church. We are met together on this 24th day of September, the first indiction in the place called Hertford. I, Theodore, although unworthy, appointed by the Apostolic See bishop of the church of Canterbury, and our fellow priest the most reverend Bisi, bishop of the East Angles, together with our brother and fellow bishop Wilfrid, bishop of the nation of the Northumbrians, present by his proper legates, as also our brethren and fellow bishops, Putta, bishop of the Castle of the Kentishmen called Rochester, Leutherius, bishop of the West Saxons, and Winfrid, bishop of the province of the Mercians, were present. When we were assembled and had taken our places, each according to his rank, I said: I beseech you, beloved brethren, for the fear and love of our Redeemer, that we all labor in common for our faith, that whatsoever has been decreed and determined by the holy and approved Fathers may be perfectly followed by us all. I enlarged upon these and many other things tending unto charity and the preservation of the unity of the Church. And when I had finished my speech I asked them singly and in order whether they consented to observe all things which had been canonically decreed by the Fathers? To which all our fellow priests answered: We are all well agreed readily and most cheerfully to keep whatever the canons of the holy Fathers have prescribed. Whereupon I immediately produced the book of canons,(260) and pointed out ten chapters from the same book, which I had marked, because I knew that they were especially necessary for us, and proposed that they should be diligently observed by all, namely:

Ch. 1. That we shall jointly observe Easter day on the Lord’s day after the fourteenth day of the moon in the first month.

Ch. 2. That no bishop invade the diocese of another, but be content with the government of the people committed to him.

Ch. 3. That no bishop be allowed to trouble in any way any monasteries consecrated to God, nor to take away by violence anything that belongs to them.

Ch. 4. That the monks themselves go not from place to place; that is, from one monastery to another, without letters dismissory of their own abbot;(261) but that they shall continue in that obedience which they promised at the time of their conversion.

Ch. 5. That no clerk, leaving his own bishop, go up and down at his own pleasure, nor be received wherever he comes, without commendatory letters from his bishop; but if he be once received and refuse to return when he is desired so to do, both the receiver and the received shall be laid under an excommunication.

Ch. 6. That stranger bishops and clerks be content with the hospitality that is freely offered them; and none of them be allowed to exercise any sacerdotal function without permission of the bishop in whose diocese he is known to be.

Ch. 7. That a synod be assembled twice in the year. But, because many occasions may hinder this, it was jointly agreed by all that once in the year it be assembled on the first of August in the place called Clovesho.

Ch. 8. That no bishop ambitiously put himself before another, but that every one observe the time and order of his consecration.

Ch. 9. The ninth chapter was discussed together: That the number of bishops be increased as the number of the faithful grew;(262) but we did nothing as to this point at present.

Ch. 10. As to marriages: That none shall be allowed to any but what is a lawful marriage. Let none commit incest. Let none relinquish his own wife but for fornication, as the holy Gospel teaches. But if any have dismissed a wife united to him in lawful marriage, let him not be joined to another if he wish really to be a Christian, but remain as he is or be reconciled to his own wife.

After we had jointly treated on and discussed these chapters, that no scandalous contention should arise henceforth by any of us, and that there be no changes in the publication of them, it seemed proper that every one should confirm by the subscription of his own hand whatever had been determined. I dictated this our definitive sentence to be written by Titillus, the notary. Done in the month and indiction above noted. Whosoever, therefore, shall attempt in any way to oppose or infringe this sentence, confirmed by our present consent, and the subscription of our hands as agreeable to the decrees of the canons, let him know that he is deprived of every sacerdotal function and our society. May the divine grace preserve us safe living in the unity of the Church.

(_d_) Bede, _Hist. Ec._, IV, 17. (MSL, 95:198.)

Council of Hatfield, A. D. 680.

At the Council of Hatfield the Anglo-Saxon Church formally
recognized the binding authority of the five general councils
already held, and rejected Monotheletism in accord with the Roman
synod A. D. 649. It seems to have been, as stated in the
introduction to the Acts of the council, a preventive measure. In
Plummer’s edition of Bede this chapter is numbered 15.

At this time Theodore, hearing that the faith of the Church of Constantinople had been much disturbed by the heresy of Eutyches,(263) and being desirous that the churches of the English over which he ruled should be free from such a stain, having collected an assembly of venerable priests and very many doctors, diligently inquired what belief they each held, and found unanimous agreement of all in the Catholic faith; and this he took care to commit to a synodical letter for the instruction and remembrance of posterity. This is the beginning of the letter:

In the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in the reign of our most pious lords, Egfrid, king of the Humbrians, in the tenth year of his reign, on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of October [September 17] in the eighth indiction, and Ethelred, king of the Mercians, in the sixth year of his reign; and Adwulf, king of the Kentishmen, in the seventh year of his reign; Theodore being president, by the grace of God, archbishop of the island of Britain and of the city of Canterbury, and other venerable men sitting with him, bishops of the island of Britain, with the holy Gospels laid before them, and in the place which is called by the Saxon name of Hatfield, we, handling the subject in concert, have made an exposition of the right and orthodox faith, as our incarnate Lord Jesus Christ delivered it to His disciples, who saw Him present and heard His discourses, and as the creed of the holy Fathers has delivered it, and all the holy and universal synods and all the chorus of approved doctors of the Catholic Church teach. We therefore piously and orthodoxly following them and, making our profession according to their divinely inspired teaching, believe in unison with it, and confess according to the holy Fathers that the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost are properly and truly a consubstantial Trinity in unity, and unity in Trinity; that is, in one God in three consubstantial subsistencies or persons of equal glory and honor.

And after many things of this kind that pertained to the confession of the right faith, the holy synod also adds these things to its letter:

We have received as holy and universal five synods of the blessed Fathers acceptable to God; that is, of the three hundred and eighteen assembled at Nicæa against the most impious Arius and his tenets; and of the one hundred and fifty at Constantinople against the madness of Macedonius and Eudoxius and their tenets; and of the two hundred in the first Council of Ephesus against the most wicked Nestorius and his tenets; and of the six hundred and thirty at Chalcedon against Eutyches and Nestorius and their tenets; and again of those assembled in a fifth council at Constantinople [A. D. 553], in the time of the younger Justinian, against Theodore and the epistles of Theodoret and Ibas and their tenets against Cyril.

And a little after: Also we have received the synod(264) that was held in the city of Rome in the time of the blessed Pope Martin in the eighth indiction, in the ninth year of the reign of the most pious Constantine.(265) And we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ as they glorified Him, neither adding nor subtracting anything; and we anathematize with heart and mouth those whom they anathematized; and those whom they received we receive, glorifying God the Father without beginning, and his only begotten Son, begotten of the Father before the world began, and the Holy Ghost proceeding ineffably from the Father and the Son, as those holy Apostles, prophets, and doctors have declared whom we have mentioned above. And we all who with Theodore have made an exposition of the Catholic faith have subscribed hereto.