July, was recited—of this nothing is to be doubted. And we have retained both the title of the octave day and that of the neglected solemnity. The third point, from which Quesnel indeed confesses it to be clear from Leo's words that this sermon was delivered a little after the solemnity of the public supplication appointed at St Peter's for thanksgiving for the City delivered from the hostile army; but he raises a difficulty from the date, since in the sermon mention is made of the Circensian games; these, however, are not noted in the ancient Calendars as held on the octave day of the Apostles, to which alone the Apollinarian games are assigned. This third point, I say, in order that it may be duly reconciled, certain things must be premised. Since in the opening of the sermon the
pontiff complains of the fewness of those flocking to Peter's church, whither once the whole people used to gather to give thanks, he sufficiently indicates that the sermon was delivered not in the first year in which Rome was captured and delivered by the Vandals, that is, the year 455 (for at that beginning the concourse to the Church was greater), but some years afterwards, when the former devotion had cooled; and therefore this sermon belongs to Leo's last years. And though the church of St Peter is not expressly named, the thanksgiving seems to have been appointed to it for this reason: that on the very feast-day of St Peter Rome was delivered. For on the 12th of June the emperor Maximus died, as the anonymous author of Cuspinianus testifies, whom the Bollandists published in full from the Caesarean manuscript, in volume VI of June, part II, page 187.
Theophanes relates that three days after his death Gaiseric with the Vandals occupied Rome. That he plundered it for fourteen days is handed down both by the praised anonymous author of Cuspinianus and by St Prosper in his Chronicle, where moreover he sufficiently indicates that these same Vandals departed from Rome after the aforesaid fourteen days, writing in one continuous passage: 'For fourteen days, therefore, with secure and free scrutiny, Rome was emptied of all its wealth, and many thousands of captives... were led to Carthage.' Now if the reckoning of three and fourteen days be made from the murder of Maximus, that is, from the 12th of June, to the emptying and liberation of the city of Rome, you will find this to have fallen on the 29th of that same month. Therefore, the city having been delivered on the day of St
Peter's day, soon after a thanksgiving was appointed at St Peter's on some subsequent day within the octave of the same Apostle. But the Circensian games, which are indicated in this sermon, must by no means be understood as games coinciding on the same day to which this supplication had been assigned; but they can be referred to the Apollinarian games, which began on the octave day, and were at least on the thirteenth day held in the Circus, as we said from the ancient Calendars in the admonition to the sermons on the Collects. That is, the holy pontiff instituted a mere comparison between the Circensian games and other spectacles at which there was a great throng, and the aforesaid supplication, which had lately been neglected by almost all;
where the word 'lately' designates the day appointed a little before that supplication. CHAPTER I. — The religious devotion, beloved, with which, on account of the day of our chastisement and deliverance, the whole people of the faithful used to flock together to render thanks to God, has of late been neglected by almost all—the very scantiness of the few who were present has shown this: and it has brought much sadness to my heart, and struck into it very great fear. For it is a great peril for men to be ungrateful to God, and, through forgetfulness of His benefits, to be neither pricked with compunction at His reproof nor to rejoice at His remission. I fear, therefore, beloved, lest that prophetic voice may seem to have rebuked such as these, which says: 'Thou hast scourged them, and they have not grieved;'
thou hast chastised them, and they refused to receive discipline' (Jer. v, 3). For what correction is shown in those in whom so great an aversion is found? It is a shame to say, but it is necessary not to keep silent: more is expended upon demons than upon the Apostles, and mad spectacles obtain a greater frequency than the blessed martyrdoms. Who restored this city to safety? who rescued it from captivity? who defended it from slaughter? The games of the Circus, or the worship of the saints? By whose prayers, assuredly, the sentence of the divine censure was bent, so that we who deserved wrath were preserved unto pardon. CHAPTER II.
— Let that saying of the Saviour, I beseech you, beloved, touch your heart—He who, when by the power of His mercy He had cleansed ten lepers, said that one only of them returned to give thanks (Luke xvii, 15): signifying, namely, of the ungrateful, that even if they obtained the health of their body, they yet did not fail to be wanting in this duty of piety, not without impiety of soul.
Lest, therefore, that mark of the ungrateful should be able to be ascribed also to you, beloved, return to the Lord, understanding the marvels which He has deigned to work in us, and, attributing our deliverance not, as the impious suppose, to the effects of the stars, but to the ineffable mercy of Almighty God, who deigned to soften the hearts of the raging barbarians, apply yourselves with all the vigour of faith to the memory of so great a benefit. Grave negligence must be remedied by greater satisfaction. For our amendment let us make use of the leniency of Him who spares us:
that blessed Peter and all the saints, who have always been present to us in many tribulations, may deign to aid our supplications on your behalf before the merciful God, through Christ our Lord. Amen.