Chapter XXVI: Appendix: D

(Page 197)

The following are the passages of the Donation which touch the question of the joint patronage of St. Peter and St. Paul in the Church of Rome. The edition from which they are taken is thus described on the title-page:—

Constantini M. Imp. Donatio Sylvestro Papae Rom. inscripta:
non ut a Gratiano truncatim, sed integre edita: cum versione
Graeca duplici, Theodori Balsamonis, Patriarchae Antiocheni, et
Matthaei Blastaris, I(uris) C(anonici) Graeci.

Typis Gotthardi Voegelini
(1610).

The first page of the Latin Edict is not represented in the Greek Thespisma. It ends with the words: “Postquam docente beato Silvestro trina me mersione verbi salutis purificatum et ab omni leprae squalore mundatum beneficiis beati Petri et Pauli Apostolorum cognovi.”

Iustum quippe est, ut ibi lex sancta caput teneat principatus,
ubi sanctarum legum institutor salvator noster beatum Petrum
Apostolatus obtinere praecepit cathedram, ubi et crucis
patibulum sustinens beatae mortis poculum sumpsit suique
magistri et domini imitator apparuit: et ibi gentes pro Christi
nominis confessione colla flectant, ubi eorum doctor beatus
Paulus Apostolus pro Christo extenso collo martyris coronatus
est: illic usque in finem quaerant _doctorem, ubi sancti
doctoris corpus quiescit_; the Greek has τὂν διδάσκαλον ὅπου τὰ
τῶν ἁγίων λείψανα ἀναπαύονται.

* * * * *

Construximus itaque ecclesias beatorum Petri et Pauli
Apostolorum, quas argento et auro locupletavimus: ubi
sacratissima eorum corpora cum magno honore recondentes, et
thecas ipsorum ex electro (cui nulla fortitudo praevalet
elementorum) construximus, et crucem ex auro purissimo et
gemmis pretiosis per singulas eorum thecas posuimus et clavis
aureis confiximus.

* * * * *

Pro quo concedimus ipsis sanctis Apostolis dominis meis,
beatissimo Petro et Paulo, et per eos etiam beato Silvestro
patri nostro summo Pontifici et universali urbis Romae Papae
et omnibus eius successoribus Pontificibus, qui usque in finem
mundi in sede beati Petri erunt sessuri, atque de praesenti
concedimus palatium imperii nostri Lateranense, quod omnibus
praefertur atque praecellit palatiis.

* * * * *

Si quis autem (quod non credimus) temerator aut contemptor
extiterit, aeternis condemnationibus subiaceat innodatus,
et sanctos Dei principes Apostolorum Petrum et Paulum, sibi
in praesenti et in futura vita sentiat contrarios, atque in
inferno inferiori concrematus cum diabolo et omnibus deficiat
impiis.

The learned editor makes an interesting comment on the recognition by Constantine of the _par utriusque meritum_, the equal merit of the two apostles Peter and Paul. The fate of Paul, he says, resembles that of Pollux. The two brothers, Castor and Pollux, had a Temple in common in the Forum, but it came to be called the Temple of Castor alone.

In using such a document as this, the temptation to alter words must have been very great. As an example of such change, the words which follow on our first quotation may be cited—“utile iudicavimus una cum omnibus satrapis et universo senatu, optimatibus etiam et cuncto populo Romani gloriae imperii subiacente.” For _gloriae_ Gratian reads _ecclesiae_. The Greek version has τῆς ῥωμαικῆς δόξης.

On a phrase of the Donation—“eligentes nobis ipsum principem Apostolorum vel eius vicarios firmos apud Deum esse patronos”—the editor quotes a remarkable passage from Aimoin[323] v. 2, which it is specially fitting to reproduce here, since it relates to Charlemagne and his sons: “Post non multum tempus incidit ei desiderium dominam quondam orbis videre Romam, principis Apostolorum atque doctoris gentium adire limina, seque suamque prolem eis commendare; ut talibus nitens suffragatoribus, quibus coeli terraeque potestas attributa est, ipse quoque subiectis consulere, perduellionumque [si emersissent[324]] proterviam proterere posset. Ratus etiam non mediocre sibi subsidium conferri, si _a Vicario eorum_ cum benedictione sacerdotali tam ipse quam et filii eius regalia sumerent insignia.”

[Sidenote: Ep. 33. A.D. 794.]

In a letter to Karl of the highest importance, Hadrian I uses a remarkable phrase in describing Karl’s regard for the Church of Rome. He speaks of his faith and love towards the church of the blessed chiefs of the apostles Peter and Paul,—_quantum erga beatorum principum apostolorum Petri et Pauli ecclesiam fidem geritis et amorem_. In the same letter he employs an argument which—while it would naturally have force with Karl—appears to assign to national churches other than that of Rome a remarkable position of independence. “If,” he says, “everywhere canonical churches possess their dioceses intact, how much more should the holy catholic and apostolic Roman church, which is the head of all the churches of God,—Si enim ubique Christianorum ecclesiae canonicae intactas suas possident dioeceses, quanto amplius sancta catholica et apostolica Romana ecclesia, quae est caput omnium Dei ecclesiarum....”