Hormisdas

ON ST. HORMISDAS, CONFESSOR,

ROMAN PONTIFF.

523.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Hormisdas, Pope and confessor, at Rome (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.

§ I. The Saint's cult, fatherland, age, succession, and death.

What we observed at the XIX of July concerning the most holy Pope Symmachus, the predecessor of today's Saint, Marked in the Roman [Martyrology,] namely that he was altogether passed over in the ancient classic Martyrologies, must be confessed also concerning today's holy Pontiff Hormisdas. For as to Baronius citing Bede in the notes to the Roman Martyrology on this day, that work is altogether spurious, published by Plantin under the false name of Bede in the year 1564, which you would much more rightly call Ado both interpolated and badly abridged; from which sort of codex most probably there crept into Rosweyde's appendix to Ado this announcement, erroneous in its time-reckoning: Likewise at Rome, of St. Hormisdas, Pope, who sat seventeen years. He put the clergy in order and instructed them in psalms. In his time the emperor Anastasius, a heretic, perished struck by lightning. The same Pontiff was buried in the church of Blessed Peter on the eighth of the Ides of August. There will be plain below the very fountain whence that announcement was taken. For the rest, in the said supposititious Bede the three last words are lacking, as also in Molanus's additions to Usuard, which codices for the rest agree altogether with the appendix reported. To enumerate more recent writers, such as Galesini or others, is not worth the labor; let the text of today's Roman suffice: At Rome, of St. Hormisdas, Pope and Confessor.

[2] he is adorned with a eulogy by Ferrari, It will not be beside the purpose to adduce here the eulogy of Ferrari, from which some things will be suggested for the further illustration of the matter. He has thus: Hormisdas, a Campanian, born at Frusino, ruled the Church after Symmachus, under the Emperor Anastasius and King Theodoric. He, by epistles written to them at the beginning of his pontificate, exhorted and brought back the Greeks and Orientals to the unity, faith, and peace of the Catholic Church. He held a synod at Rome with a numerous concourse of bishops: in which he again condemned the Eutychians. He strove to recall the heretical emperor Anastasius to the integrity of the faith by sending two legations (in which Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, served with others), although in vain: and when he had been unhappily destroyed, and Justin, a man exceedingly pious and orthodox, had been substituted for him, peace was given to the churches throughout the East. He expelled the Manichaeans from Rome. The Arians, who until that time held assemblies, he with Justin's aid exterminated from every quarter. He increased ecclesiastical discipline, and reformed the clergy: he contributed many things to the adornment and splendor of the churches. Under this Pontiff Clovis, king of the Franks, was the first to embrace the Christian religion. The Emperor Justin sent most precious gifts to Rome in fulfilment of a vow... He lived in the pontificate nine years, ten days, and, heaped with great praise of sanctity, died on the eighth of the Ides of August in the year of salvation 523, and was buried at St. Peter's.

[3] The fatherland of St. Hormisdas you hear both here and everywhere in others to be Campania, from which his fatherland the very place of his birth Frusino, whence some have called him a Frusinate, which town the Anastasian codices inflect in especially various ways, Frisilone, Frisione, Frisinone, and others of this sort. Worse than all the rest did the codex of Chacón declare it, when it wrote "a Campanian by nation, a Venafran by fatherland." But these things are scarcely worthy of observation, and certainly by no means need a longer disputation: we suppose it certain enough that there is indicated today's town of Frusinone, or if you prefer Frusino, in the ancient and today most well-known region of the Volsci, or that part of Latium which is bordering on Campania, yet in such a way that it does not seem properly able to be ascribed to Campania, except in the very broad acceptance of today, which the same praised Ferrari suggests, noting aptly enough here the following words: That Hormisdas was called a Campanian, although Frusino is in Latium, is not to be wondered at; for Latium too is called Campania down to these times: for it is called the Campagna di Roma, although places on the borders are wont to be attributed to different provinces.

[4] And these things indeed concerning the fatherland of St. Hormisdas are easily settled; is dug out. not so can those things be combined which pertain to his age, here badly connected with Clovis, king of the Franks, as is also read in Baronius at the year 514, number 14, in these words: But when it had become known to the Christian world that a new Pontiff of the Roman Church had been elected, the new most Christian king Clovis anticipated the homage of all and surpassed their good offices. There is cited by the Most Eminent Annalist the Life of St. Remigius in Surius at the XIII of January, in which on this subject you will find nothing except that very epistle of the most holy Pontiff to St. Remigius, archbishop of Reims, long controverted, to be met with in the praised Baronius, in the Councils, and everywhere else; which, whether you admit or reject it, you will certainly recognize an error inserted, when St. Hormisdas there speaks as if at the beginning of his pontificate king Clovis had been alive and surviving, whom it is certain died a full three years before our Saint was raised to the supreme pontificate, namely in the year 511, so that Baronius is here and below plainly to be corrected, when at number 21 also he insists on the already mentioned synchronism.

[5] The Pontifical succession between Symmachus and this our Hormisdas the praised Baronius marked more rightly when he speaks thus at the said year 514, number 13: He succeeds Symmachus in 514. Thus therefore, the most holy Pope Symmachus having been led from this life to everlasting glory, the Roman clergy, whose office it was to treat of substituting a successor, all coming together with the utmost concord, seven days after his death (as the same Anastasius has it), on the seventh of the Kalends of August create as Pontiff Hormisdas, a Campanian by nation, of his father Justus, a Frusinate by fatherland. But Hormisdas, when he was a deacon of the Holy Roman Church, was always cleaving to Pope Symmachus, as appears from the third Roman council, celebrated under the same Symmachus. There are extant several epistles of Ennodius of Pavia given to Hormisdas himself, while he was still a deacon of the Roman Church. Concerning the deeds and writings of that most celebrated St. Ennodius we have treated fully enough at the day XVII of July.

[6] The time of his See Further, where it was necessary to dispute concerning the age of St. Symmachus, Pope, in what was said above at the XIX day of the same month, we undertook to vindicate the chronological marks noted by Anastasius the Librarian, which we judge holds good here also according to the more approved codices; for as to its being read in some that he sat only eight years and seventeen days, in others it has been better corrected. So also in most it is written that it was from the consulship of Senator (understand Cassiodorus) until the consulship of Symmachus and Boethius. But as Pagi rightly observes after others at the year 523, number 3, Anastasius himself corrects his own error, when toward the end of his eulogy he writes: He was buried

in the basilica of Blessed Peter the Apostle on the eighth of the Ides of August, in the consulship of Maximus, and the episcopate was vacant seven days. And within these limits the whole time of the pontificate of the most holy Pontiff of whom we here treat seems rightly to be concluded, whatever Papebroch may think otherwise, as the same Pagi more distinctly explains, in the place just cited, from which have also the following:

[7] ordered rightly enough, Hormisdas sat nine years, as three Colbertine manuscript copies of Anastasius have it, two of which belonged to the Thuanus Library, various of our Catalogues, the Vaticano-Palatine, both Catalogues of the ancient Pontiffs published by Mabillon in volume 3 of the Old Analects, and Regino in the Catalogue of Roman Pontiffs. There is an error also in the days on the part of almost all the writers of the Catalogues, of whom some, like the author of the Enlarged Chronicle of the ancient Pontiffs above, attribute to the years of Hormisdas sixteen days, others seventeen days. For since Hormisdas was ordained Roman Pontiff on the XXVII day of the month of July of the year 514, and on the VI day of the month of August of this year (523) both died and was buried, he sat NINE YEARS and ELEVEN DAYS, the day of his death included. But I would not here pass over this, altogether most worthy of note, that whereas everything had been turbulent while the taking up of his predecessor St. Symmachus was being handled, here the clergy and people, although before divided even seditiously into various parties, came by unanimous vote to the election of Hormisdas. Hence Cassiodorus attributes this felicity to his own consulship in an epistle to Theodoric: In my consulship, he says, to the praise of your times, the clergy and people being united, the wished-for concord returned, so that even the very shadow of a schism was removed.

[8] also from Anastasius the Librarian. Let the text itself of the Librarian, number one, also have its place here, from that edition of Vignoli which we follow, those things being for the time omitted which are added concerning the ordering of the Clergy and the wholly unknown Alban basilica. Behold the words of Anastasius: Hormisdas, a Campanian by nation, of his father Justus, of the city of Frusino, sat nine years, seventeen days. But he was in the times of King Theodoric and Anastasius Augustus, from the consulship of Senator to the consulship of Symmachus and Boethius. And these things having been thus far fully deduced and set forth, we proceed to the deeds of St. Hormisdas, now to be distributed in such an order that we shall suffer nothing to be wanting for the illustration of the series of the Anastasian Life. Let there be therefore:

§ II. His deeds with the crafty and impious emperor Anastasius.

After the ordering of the clergy The first and most well-deserved praise which the Librarian attributes to St. Hormisdas is this, that he put the clergy in order and instructed them in psalms. On which Bencini rightly observes: Not indeed, as Blondel supposed, that he then first introduced some new form, but that he recalled to unity the clergy, agitated until then by seditions, and compelled them to observe the earlier institution of the Canons and of the Apostolic See, with decrees moreover added for guarding against further disturbances. To which Anastasius soon subjoins: At the same time, by the decree of the Synod, with the counsel of King Theodoric, he sent into the Greek lands, showing the kindness of the Apostolic See, and reconciled the Greeks who had been bound under an anathema on account of the bishops Peter of Alexandria and Acacius of Constantinople, under John, bishop of Constantinople. But he sent Ennodius, bishop of Pavia, and Fortunatus, bishop of Catania, and Venantius, a presbyter of the City, and Vitalis, a deacon of the City, and Hilarus his own notary. Who, going to Anastasius Augustus, that they might be recalled under the satisfaction of a formal document, accomplished nothing. Understand that the bishops of Dardania and Illyricum were reconciled, but the rest by no means.

[10] Here we enter upon a history which before us Baronius pursued most diligently, if he ever pursued any, he wrestles with the impious Anastasius, arranging year by year the most valiant contests of St. Hormisdas undertaken for the Catholic faith, but depicting that wicked and most abandoned old trickster, the little Greek Anastasius, in his native colors, just as he has been more than once depicted in this our work, so that there is no need now to misuse new colors for uncovering further his most foul perfidy and hypocrisy. He therefore, who under the earlier Pontiffs had put on various forms like a Proteus, having heard of the election of St. Hormisdas, presently slipping back into his accustomed arts, seemed to put on a Catholic face, by a letter given to the holy Pontiff which you have in volume 4 of Labbe's Councils, column 1421, where the tortuous snake now turns himself a suppliant, so that, as to the things which have been stirred in the parts of Scythia, whence we have seen that it is fitting a council be held, your Apostleship should make itself a mediator, that, contentions being cut away, the unity of the holy Church may be restored — namely that which he alone through nearly the whole time of his ill-minded rule had disturbed by wiles, frauds, and perfidy. Here forsooth the most wicked man pretends that he demands a council, and only compelled by the arms of Vitalian, in order to circumvent Hormisdas by his accustomed deceits; but the latter in the place cited answers the fox, although not yet known to him, in such a way as easily to elude all his machinations.

[11] The most disturbed affairs of the eastern church at that time the praised Bencini also accurately pursues in Blanchini, volume 3, page 224, to whom he sends legates, where he weighs the synods of Sidon and Heraclea proclaimed by the Emperor, and the Roman synod by Hormisdas; concerning which, since it has also been treated in the Treatise on the patriarchs of Constantinople before volume 1 of August, it will suffice to note with the Librarian that, by the decree of the Roman Synod, in order that St. Hormisdas might be more accurately informed concerning the eastern disturbances, and might not allow himself to be circumvented by the accustomed arts of that great old trickster, he sent legates into Greece, showing the kindness of the Apostolic See; concerning which see the Index in Labbe, column 1426. Among the other decrees of the Synod one was, says Bencini, that with the lapsed bishops there should be dealt with a relaxation of the law. For by the law of the canons schismatics and heretics, or those contumacious in either crime, were to be punished with perpetual deposition. The rest you have set forth in the Index with the same kindness, which certainly neither the bishops deserved, nor the most impious emperor, who, after he felt himself free from the terror of Vitalian, relapsing into his inborn perfidy, carried out absolutely nothing of what he had written and promised through the legates.

[12] who reconcile some, Theophanes depicts the matter graphically enough at the Alexandrian year 506, for us 514, where you should remember that the names of the Roman legates are to be corrected, which are badly expressed by him. But having there first narrated the deeds of Vitalian, the powerful and truly Catholic prefect of the soldiery, against the treaty-breaking Anastasius, he thus proceeds: For the rest, Hormisdas, the Roman Bishop, urged by Theodoric, and about to return the favor to Vitalian, sent as legates Enodius the bishop and Vitalian the archdeacon, a council having been proclaimed at Heraclea. There came moreover from various places about two hundred bishops, who, being deluded both by the wicked emperor and by Timothy, bishop of Constantinople, withdrew without accomplishing the matter. For indeed the impious emperor, the agreements being violated, secretly signified to the Pope that they should not come to Rome; but from another quarter he had given Vitalian an imperial letter to be sent to Rome, by which he deceitfully invited the Pope to come to the council to be celebrated at Heraclea. But all the common people and the whole senate assailed Anastasius as a perjurer with reproaches. To which that nefarious man most shamelessly said that there was a law which bids an emperor placed in necessity to swear falsely and to lie. So he, the wicked disciple of the Manichaeans.

[13] but by the crafty emperor You have here the genuine likeness, expressed to the life by a holy and most upright Greek, of that Imperial monster with whom St. Hormisdas had to wrestle. But this is to be observed, that several things are there combined by St. Theophanes under the same year which most certainly pertain to several. And indeed that those various things are to be referred to different times and to more than one Roman legation, you will presently understand from what has been and is to be said. And of the first indeed we have already begun to speak, by which namely some Greeks were reconciled who had been bound under an anathema on account of the bishops Peter of Alexandria and Acacius of Constantinople, as we reported above from the very text of Anastasius the Librarian; who neither himself here aptly enough gathers or divides his materials according to the times: for by no reasoning can John, bishop of Constantinople, most well known by the surname Cappadox, be brought in here, under whom nevertheless those things are placed which can by no means be reduced to the second legation, as Vignoli rightly observed before me, in this note on the Librarian:

[14] by a feigned profession This earlier legation sent by Hormisdas to Constantinople happened in the year of Christ 515, Florentius being Consul, as is established from his epistle to the emperor Anastasius; where these things: "Receive," he says, "our prayers transmitted for love of you through Ennodius and Fortunatus, our brothers and fellow-bishops, and also Venantius the presbyter and Vitalis the deacon, and Hilarius the notary, our sons, whose faith in the fear of God and zeal has shone forth among us, and accommodate a placid conscience in our stead to their supplications." In which year indeed, since Timothy the heretic had been bishop of Constantinople, and John Cappadox had not succeeded him in the episcopate before the XVII day of April in the year of Christ 518; the things which are therefore said here concerning the Greeks anathematized under the same John cannot be applied to the second legation of Hormisdas either. And this is clearly plain from the epistle of Hormisdas himself to Timothy given on the same occasion on the III of the Nones of April, Agapitus being Consul, that is, in the year of Christ 517. But concerning the first, Paul the Deacon has these things, Miscellaneous History, book XV: "But Hormisdas, the Roman bishop, wearied by Theodoric, with Vitalian favoring, sent Evodius * the bishop and Vitalian the archdeacon to celebrate a synod at Heraclea."

[15] etc., and by letters Other letters given by the holy Pontiff and by the wicked emperor are enumerated in volume 4 of Labbe's Councils, now cited more than once, so that I would not pass over those which Dorotheus, bishop of Thessalonica, gave and received. Notable is the epistle at column [—] sent by the Pontifical legates, to which is subjoined a reply worthy of Anastasius, on which Binius thus observes: This epistle with certain following ones was written by the Emperor Anastasius in the year of the Lord 516, when, a profession of the Catholic faith being published, he pretended that he was a Catholic, namely so that by this art, the favor of the people being caught, he might shake off the fear of Vitalian. He added to the returning legates of the Apostolic See the laymen Theopompus and Severianus, with whom ecclesiastical matters might be dealt with. That Anastasius professed the Catholic faith in these letters trickily and with the utmost craft, and by the same art of deceiving approved the council of Chalcedon, is manifestly demonstrated from the things which have been written above concerning him, and which will be written concerning the same below. The legates whom he sent had been estranged from the Catholic religion and defenders of the Eutychian heresy, and therefore they came to Rome chiefly in order that, if it could be done, they might bring Hormisdas himself over to their own party. But when Hormisdas discovered these things, so unexpected, he ordered the legates to return to the emperor without accomplishing the matter, being now made more certain concerning the perfidy of Anastasius, long wrapped in a covering of pious words.

[16] There follows in Labbe that very epistle directed to St. Hormisdas through go-betweens like their master, Theopompus and Severianus, they are deluded. and that so cunningly and wickedly involved, that to detect the fraud was not so very obvious. The very same

wickedness is savored by the epistle inscribed to the Senate of the city of Rome; but the sincerity of the latter by the reply given to the arch-impostor; who through that whole already mentioned year 516, as Binius also notes, made excellent use, if ever, of that pretended notable Imperial privilege of lying through right and wrong, and, if you will have it so, of swearing falsely with vigor, while meanwhile the holy Pontiff labored with the most sincere and most constant zeal, having obtained the reward of his labor, if not in a most corrupt city, at least in Epirus and Illyricum, as is plain enough from the subjoined letters to him of John, bishop of Nicopolis, and the latter's replies to the same, the Rules of faith, and other things, on account of which St. Avitus, bishop of Vienne, deservedly congratulated him. But the tenth epistle of St. Hormisdas to the latter sufficiently indicates that nothing was accomplished at Constantinople by the legates on account of the perfidy of the Greeks, whence he testifies that he has it in mind to appoint another legation to them, which the Librarian describes after his manner at number 3 in this way:

[17] He sent also a second time the aforesaid Ennodius, and Peregrinus, bishop of Misenum, and Pollio, subdeacon of the City, By another legation carrying epistles strengthening the faith and secret attestations to the number of nineteen, and the text of a formal document by which they might return. But if they should refuse to receive the epistles [and] attestations, they should scatter them through the cities. To which document Anastasius Augustus refused to consent, because he was in communion with the Eutychian heresy. And so he wished to corrupt those legates by a bribe. But they, despising the prince, by no means consented to accept money, unless they should first effect the satisfaction of the Apostolic See. Then the emperor, filled with fury, cast them out of the city through a postern gate, and put them on a dangerous ship with soldiers and with the magistrianus and the prefect's officer Heliodorus and Demetrius; and gave them this in charge, that they should enter into no city. You have again in Labbe epistles worthy of a most zealous Pontiff, sent by the second legation, not only to the shifty Caesar, but to the no less perfidious heretic Timothy the patriarch, to all the bishops of the East, both heretic and Catholic, to the people and monks of Constantinople, most zealously written; what was effected by them our author also teaches at number 4:

[18] Anastasius is driven into a fury. But the legates of the Apostolic See, more secretly, by the hands of the orthodox monks, set forth the above-written nineteen epistles of the faith through the cities. All which epistles, however, the bishops of the cities, who were accomplices of Anastasius Augustus the heretic, struck with fear of him, directed to Constantinople into the hands of Anastasius. Anastasius, led by fury, wrote these things among other execrable matters of his own imperial letter to Pope Hormisdas: We wish to command, not to be commanded. These things the furious old man was vomiting forth, not sufficiently mindful of the heavenly threats aimed at him, whose dreadful effect shortly followed: for at the same time, as our author continues, by the nod of the Godhead Anastasius was struck by a divine thunderbolt and died. And this a tragic end worthy of a most impious man; by which at last, he being snatched from the living by the most just vengeance of God and thrust down into the pit, under another most Christian prince, Justin, the Catholic cause began to flourish again, our Saint directing all things most prudently and at the same time most happily, as we shall endeavor to elucidate in the following paragraph, those things being here passed over which, dealt with also in fatherly fashion by the holy Pontiff with the Syrian monks and Maronites, have been abundantly illustrated by Baronius at the years 517 and 518 from letters given back and forth.

* read "Ennodius"

§ III. He restores the Catholic cause in the East under Caesar Justin.

Another face of the Church With as many reproaches and vituperations as the memory of the emperor Anastasius is infamous and odious even now for so many centuries, with as many most well-deserved praises is the piety and religion of his successor Justin extolled. Hear Theophanes at the year 518: In whose place Justin, the pious emperor, a man of advanced age and experienced in affairs, who had begun from the belt of the soldiery and had been promoted even to the rank of the senate, an Illyrian by race, was substituted. Again in the following canon: In this year Justin, having obtained the sum of empire, showed himself excellent to all. He was zealous for the right faith, outstanding in experience of affairs, and distinguished by the glory of war. To this looks chiefly his first and chief praise, that he not only curbed the unbridled audacity of heretics of every kind dominating almost the whole East, but also added such courage to the orthodox, so long oppressed, that they themselves subdued their former persecutors and compelled them either to consult their own safety by flight, or to return without delay to Catholic union; with how great zeal and how great agreement of minds these things were carried into execution, Baronius describes fully and diligently at the year 518; here we select only those things which are to be referred more closely to the deeds of the holy Hormisdas of whom we treat.

[20] And to this looks the epistle of the zealous Pontiff, in reply to another of Justin's, under his successor Justin, by which he had signified that he had been elected emperor, conceived plainly in these words: To the venerable first-fruits of your reign, most glorious son, in place of a gift the Catholic Church transmits its congratulation, through which it trusts, after so great a weariness of discord, to find the rest of peace. Nor is there any doubt that you have come to the summit of affairs by heavenly providence to this end, that in your times the injury inflicted upon religion in the parts of the East may be abolished. You have rendered to blessed Peter the Apostle the due first-fruits of your empire, which we have devotedly received for this reason, because we believe without hesitation that the concord of the churches will shortly come about through you. God, who granted to the feelings of your piety the desire of addressing us, will Himself grant, as we wish, the effect regarding the sincere worship of His religion. To this indeed alone were the zeals of the most holy Pontiff aimed, thither was borne his utmost solicitude for restoring the afflicted Catholic cause, which, since his predecessor had all but overturned it by his impiety, he did not doubt was to be established and confirmed by this one. To this certainly look the decrees of St. Hormisdas and other things looking that way in Hardouin, in the noted Collection of Councils, from column [—].

[21] Nor indeed did the most Catholic Emperor sleep; but writing again to the Pontiff, who himself has recourse to Hormisdas, at the insistence of the council of Constantinople, he asked through Gratus the count that, for reconciling peace to the eastern church and for receiving back the lapsed, he would himself deign to send legates to Constantinople. The counsel pleased St. Hormisdas, and writing back again, he singularly commended his solicitude for reconciling peace, advising that he should press on with what had been begun, and that the name of Acacius must be abolished. There follows also the epistle of John, bishop of Constantinople, by which, in order to obtain the communion of the Roman Church, he had sent a formal document in which he professed the Catholic faith, and asserts that the name of the Pontiff himself had been written by him in the diptychs; but he asks that legates, through whom peace may be established, be appointed as soon as possible. How pleasing these things were to the excellent Pontiff he did not delay to indicate, commending in his epistle John the bishop, and rejoicing that he had embraced the Council of Chalcedon and the epistles of the divine Leo. He promises that he is to be admitted to the communion of the Church, if he shall have struck the name of Acacius from the sacred diptychs.

[22] Let the Librarian now be heard, thus continuing his text at number intent on reconciling the East: 5: And so Justin the orthodox took up the empire, and directed his authority to Pope Hormisdas, through a certain illustrious man named Gratus, hoping from the Apostolic See that the peace of the churches might be restored. Then Hormisdas the bishop, with the counsel of King Theodoric, sent from the Apostolic See Germanus, bishop of Capua, and Blandus the presbyter, and Felix and Dioscorus, deacons of the Apostolic See, and Peter the notary, fortified on every side with faith, together with a formal document, setting forth how the Greeks might return to the communion of the Apostolic See. When these came near to Constantinople, so great a grace of faith shone forth, that a multitude of orthodox monks, and a very great multitude of illustrious men, among whom were Justinian and Vitalian, master of the soldiery, met them together at what is called the castle Rotundum, and escorted them as far as into the city of Constantinople. Who, having entered with glory and praises, together with Gratus the illustrious, were received by Justin the orthodox with joy.

[23] Behold at last there shines forth the hoped-for, true, nay glorious victory not only of the holy Pontiff Hormisdas, to whom the Legates sent but of the whole Roman Catholic religion, so long before oppressed; but on the contrary the consternation of the Eutychians and the other perfidious heretics both at Constantinople and in all the rest of the East, which our author proceeds to narrate in the same style: And so all the clergy, consenting together with John, bishop of Constantinople, rejoiced, because they were gratefully received. Perceiving this also, those who were accomplices of Acacius shut themselves up in the greater church, which is called Holy Sophia: and, counsel being taken, they sent word to the Emperor, saying: Unless an account be rendered to us why Acacius, the bishop of our city, was condemned, we by no means consent to the Apostolic See. And, a council being held together with Justin Augustus in the sight of all the illustrious men, then the legates of the Apostolic See chose from among themselves Dioscorus the deacon to render the account. Who so set forth to them the faults of Acacius, that even all together with Justin Augustus cried out saying: Both here and forever let Acacius be condemned.

[24] cut away the root of the discords, And this root of the long discords being at last torn up by the roots for that time, nothing seems to have been lacking to the consummated triumph of the Catholic party; the matter especially having been zealously brought to that point at which our author records it settled in the following numbers 7 and 8. For at the same time Justin Augustus, the truth being received, ordered that without any delay all the bishops who were in the kingdom of Justin should make a formal document, and return to the communion of the Apostolic See. Which also was done: and they came into concord from the East to the West, and the peace of the Church ran its course. Which text of the document is today kept laid up in the archive of the Church. This aforesaid Pope at that time proceeded to King Theodoric at Ravenna, and with his counsel sent his authority to Justin Augustus, and with the bond of a written signature and the text of the document restored the authority of the Apostolic See, condemning Peter and Acacius and all heresies.

[25] as they themselves more distinctly There follows in Labbe a long series of epistles confirming all these same things, of which it will be enough to transcribe one looking especially to this point, where the legates render to the most holy Pontiff an account of all things happily accomplished, at column [—]: We do not wonder that by the prayers of your apostleship all things have turned out prosperously for us, knowing that your prayer labors for us more than our ministry. For the whole outcome of the ecclesiastical business bore itself in such a way that it cannot be doubted that a miracle of blessed Peter came about in each particular: first, that we found so great an ardor of religion even in those who discharge high office, that Vitalian, Pompeius, and Justinian met us at the tenth milestone, and did not think it unworthy to glory in our coming, with a thanksgiving to you. Then, that there was so great a devotion even in the common people, that the greatest part of the populace awaited our coming with tapers and at the same time with praises of you. Under this celebration, therefore, on the second weekday of the greater week we came together at Constantinople safe and cheerful; and on the following day, being presented to the most pious prince, we were relieved by so great an affection of his, that if other things had by no means preceded,

the favor of the most pious prince alone would have sufficed for our consolation, but by your prayers greater things followed.

[26] write the whole matter For on that day, in the presence of the whole senate, there were present also four bishops whom John, prelate of Constantinople, had sent for the defense of his party, to whom we showed the formal document of the Apostolic See, and proved that all things in it were right and canonical. Lastly, on the fifth weekday, that is, at the Lord's Supper, the bishop came to the palace in a general assembly, and consenting to the document when completed, subscribed with the utmost devotion. Who could explain how great was the joy there of the prince and likewise of the senate, what tears the rejoicings there brought forth, what cries the favor of the whole assembly and of the clergy sent forth, whether in praise of the prince, or of your See? These things cannot be explained by a report, but we leave to your consideration and to the bearer what we are not able to express. From the palace we came to the church with the utmost celebration, so that a solemn celebration also might strengthen the concord of faith and of minds. It can scarcely be believed what weeping of the rejoicing, what immensity and exultation of the peoples there was: the very throng marveled at its own gladness: nor could it be doubted that a heavenly hand had been present, which conferred such a unity upon the world. The name of Acacius the prevaricator, anathematized, was struck from the ecclesiastical diptychs; but those of the other bishops who followed him in communion we signify were erased in our sight.

[27] The names also of Anastasius and Zeno were likewise removed from the recitation at the altar; to the holy Pontiff. peace has by your prayers been restored to the minds of Christians; there is one soul of the whole Church, one gladness; the enemy of the human race alone mourns, crushed by the storming of your prayer. Pray that a like felicity may make illustrious the church of Antioch also, concerning whose prelate the deliberation is still seen to waver; since amid the differing wishes of the peoples there is no agreement about the choice of a person. We believe, however, that by the prayers of your Beatitude a worthy ordination will speedily come about concerning it too; that the peace begun in your times may be equally directed through the whole world, and that, all parts perfectly agreeing in Apostolic communion and faith, the Church may be joined with all its members to its head, as it formerly was. There follow congratulatory epistles of various persons, even of princely women, to the holy Pontiff; and then his own replies, especially to Justin, that, as by his work peace flourished at Constantinople, he would take care that this same thing be done at Antioch and Alexandria; but with how little happy a success, our Catalogues of the patriarchs prefixed to volume V of June and IV of July teach. For the rest, the disturbances of Thessalonica and of the Scythian monks are described more fully in Labbe. We hasten to the remaining deeds of St. Hormisdas.

§ IV. Other things nobly done by the holy Pontiff.

The Manichaeans again expelled from Rome. Thus the Librarian proceeds in his eulogy at number 9: At that time also he found Manichaeans, whom, having examined them with an examination by scourgings, he deported into exile, and burned their codices in a fire before the doors of the Constantinian basilica. Our author described this infamous plague already rife at Rome in the Life of St. Melchiades; but more expressly under St. Siricius, where he is said to have found Manichaeans in the City, whom he also deported into exile; and further by other laws of St. Leo the Great and of the emperor Valentinian III they were so restrained that it could be hoped that they would not easily return to Rome. But that hope deceived the most holy Pontiffs: for as we said long ago concerning St. Symmachus at the XIX of July, Manichaeans were found again in the city of Rome, and although he burned all their images and codices in a fire before the doors of the Constantinian basilica, and relegated the men themselves into exile, from what has been said it is most plainly clear that the pestilent flame was not so extinguished but that it lurked somewhere in the City itself under deceitful ash, until by the vigilance and fortitude of St. Hormisdas it was again cut out and driven away.

[29] There follows also another not least felicity of the holy Pontiff, The African bishops brought back that in his times the Catholic episcopate was recalled in Africa after 74 years, from the time when it had been exterminated by the heretics in the time of the persecution — namely that most savage Vandal one, not only of 74 but of 84 years — whose history, or the historical Commentary of Thierry Ruinart, pursues at greater length that triumphant return of the exiled bishops in chapter 12, whence we sample these few things, taken from the Life of St. Fulgentius, which is also in our work at the 1st of January, chapter 28, where its writer says: The wonderful goodness of Hilderic, when he began to reign, restoring liberty to the Catholic church established throughout Africa, gave to the people of Carthage their own prelate, and by a most clement authority commanded that ordinations of pontiffs be made in all places. I do not think that I shall stray far from the truth if I ascribe that most happy restoration of ecclesiastical liberty among a savage people to the merits before God of the holy Pontiff, keeping watch diligently in all directions.

[30] by Hilderic, a Catholic king. Nor would I here pass over the fact that the praised Ruinart, from a fragment of an old author subjoined to the Chronicle of Tiro in Canisius, will have it that Hilderic ordered the ordination of Boniface to be made in the church of St. Agileus at Carthage at the beginning of his reign, liberty being restored to all Catholics; against which Victor of Tunnuna in his Chronicle contends that this was performed by Hilderic before he took up the kingdom, since he had been bound by an oath by Thrasamund not ever to restore liberty to the Catholics after he had obtained the kingdom. Hilderix, he says, who was born of the daughter of the emperor Valentinian, taken captive by Gizeric and joined to Hunneric, reigned seven years, three months. He therefore, being bound by an oath by his predecessor Thrasamund not to open churches or restore privileges to the Catholics in his kingdom, before he reigned, lest he should overstep the bounds of the oath, orders both that the Catholic priests return from exile, that the churches be opened, and consecrated Boniface, sufficiently vigorous in divine doctrines, at the request of the whole city, bishop of the church of Carthage.

[31] The Scythian monks quieted. There would be no end if it pleased to bring here and to set forth more fully each of the things which were done under this Pontiff in various places, nearly all of them well enough known and widely published, especially concerning those monks, commonly called Scythians, in some fashion raising a tumult at Constantinople and elsewhere, and even as far as Rome, the question being stirred, Concerning one of the Trinity having suffered, wrapped up and explained in various terms, on account of which not a few with Baronius charge them with almost open heresy, others with Pagi judge that they are to be excused, as driven rather by rashness and by a less prudent zeal than by a heretical spirit. Let it suffice to have touched here in a word upon the famous question, as also upon the other eastern madnesses begotten of Severus and his followers, the plagues and hydras of the Agnoetae, Phantasiasts, Corrupticolae, and the like; and likewise concerning the writings of Faustus and their refutations, which either have already been partly explained, or will be able to be more opportunely elucidated when the Saints who opposed them are treated: here we pursue expressly only those things, as has now been said more than once, which conduce chiefly to illustrating the deeds, virtues, and sanctity of St. Hormisdas.

[32] He provides also for other churches. Among the chief titles of praise of the Roman Pontiffs there is most deservedly numbered a solicitude for all the churches of the whole Catholic world, which, how greatly it shone forth in St. Hormisdas, is plain enough from what has been said hitherto: this only remains, that we show that the western parts were by no means neglected by him, which the ninth note on the text of Anastasius in Blanchini, under the name of Sommier, volume 3, page 243, briefly embraces in these words: The same firmness of the old discipline, which he proposes is to be sought in the writings of the Fathers, blessed Hormisdas is known to have followed also in the government of the churches, when he commits apostolic vicarial powers throughout the whole kingdom of that king to St. Remigius, bishop of Reims, through whom King Clovis had come to the Christian faith, saving the rights of the metropolitans which they had anciently obtained; to whom also he commanded that the fatherly rules and the decrees defined by the holy councils be observed by all. With a like commendation he appointed John of Tarragona apostolic vicar throughout Hither Spain, but Salustius of Seville throughout Baetica and Lusitania. See besides the epistles written to all the bishops of Spain, which among the eighty of the holy Pontiff are the 25th and 51st in the Labbean collection, in which you will also find how many councils were held in his time in various places.

[33] The rest of the text of Anastasius is filled by an enumeration of various gifts or offerings sent to Rome to St. Peter's, Offerings wrongly ascribed to Clovis. where he thus begins: At the same time there came a crown with precious gems from Clovis, king of the Franks, a Christian, as a gift to Blessed Peter the Apostle. Concerning the crown or diadem formerly wont to be sent to Rome by emperors, kings, and also by others for adorning the sepulchers of the Apostles, we have already treated more than once, as also concerning the other gifts or oblations, presently to be reviewed more fully, in explaining whose names labor would be taken here in vain, since nearly all of them can be found in the Preliminary Treatise on the basilica of St. Peter before volume VII of June, as also in Du Cange and everywhere in others. On the time expressed in the text, namely "at the same time," Bencini rightly observes in the praised Blanchini: That this is one of the usual transpositions of copyists, since the things which are here reported pertain to the deeds of another Pontiff. Clovis died in the year 511, as the French writers prove, but Hormisdas was created Pontiff in the year 514, as was also noted above at number 4 of this Commentary. Behold now a longer list of all those offerings, from that edition of Vignoli which we follow.

[34] At the same time Justin Augustus sent to Rome many golden and silver gifts from Greece: Gospels with golden tablets and with precious gems weighing 15 pounds. A golden paten with hyacinth gems weighing 20 pounds. Other gifts of Justin Two silver patens weighing 25 pounds each. A golden cup surrounded with a crown weighing 8 pounds. Three gilded silver cups weighing 5 pounds. A bowl of electrum weighing 2 pounds. Two golden candle-cases, weighing 6 pounds each. Two coverings all of purple silk, with tablets woven with gold: an imperial cloak or stole and a covering over the Confession. All these were offered by Justin Augustus the orthodox, for the sake of his vows, to Blessed Peter. The things which follow are to be noted: At that time King Theodoric offered to blessed Peter the Apostle two silver candlesticks, weighing 70 pounds each. On which Baronius at the year 523, number 8: But — and this was to be wondered at — even an enemy of the Catholic faith... offered a gift worthy of a king to the Vatican basilica. I would say a gift, not an oblation; for oblations are wont to be only of the orthodox faithful, which were accustomed to be brought into the church and received with solemn rite: but gifts are those which, no distinction of the giver being had, are brought into the church as into a treasury.

[35] and what was bestowed by Hormisdas. The text proceeds: At the same time Pope Hormisdas made at blessed Peter's a beam, which he covered with silver, weighing 1240 pounds. At the same time Pope Hormisdas made in the Constantinian basilica a silver crown before the altar weighing 20 pounds

Twenty-six silver bowls, weighing twelve pounds each. Likewise at blessed Paul's he made two silver arches weighing 20 pounds each. Sixteen silver bowls, weighing 15 pounds each. Three silver vessels weighing 10 pounds each. Six silver station-cups with handles, weighing 6 pounds each. He made one ordination in the city of Rome in the month of December, twenty-one presbyters, fifty-five bishops for various places. Who also was buried in the basilica of blessed Peter the Apostle on the seventh of the Ides of August in the consulship of Maximus, and the episcopate was vacant six days.