復活節週期 第 1 章

An excerpt from the fourth chapter of the cited work, presenting prefatory remarks composed in the French tongue. Having examined the earlier monuments concerning the succession of the Roman pontiffs, the most learned authors undertake the catalogue here under discussion, to be elucidated in the following manner. Hitherto we have not been able to consult the archives of the Roman Church itself concerning the succession of the pontiffs. The ravages of the persecutions, and still more the injury of the times, have deprived us of all documents prior to the fourth century—yet not without a profound design of divine Providence.

It was a fitting thing that the first page of the annals of the Apostolic See, being lacking in its own archives, should be recovered in the traditions of all the Churches, and that, even before Christian Rome had found the leisure to compose its domestic chronicles, the ecclesiastical histories should bear witness to its lofty action upon the churches throughout three centuries.

The peace given to Christianity by Constantine brought, among other advantages, that of a tranquil stability, by whose aid it became possible to draw up memoirs and to gather a thousand traditions whose titles the persecution of Diocletian had caused to perish, or which at least, for want of being recorded in the more general chronicles, ran the risk of disappearing along with the isolated monuments upon which they rested. The existence of the Christians was no longer furtive and hurried; they henceforth dwelt at rest in a world which until then they had only traversed in all haste: the Church had a place, and the first place, in the annals of humanity.

This was the idea that Eusebius sought to render in his Chronicle, where he groups around the sacred and ecclesiastical history the eras, the Olympiads, the kingdoms, the dynasties, so that it is a marvel to see all the annals of the earth exhaust themselves one after another, while the Jewish Church, then the Christian Church, pass majestically through the ages. On all sides men gave themselves up to the research of origins and antiquities, and, as we have seen previously, the West wished to have its Latin version of the Chronicle of Eusebius, until it might itself explore on a grand scale the Science of times.

A reason which moved the Christians no less powerfully to this kind of labor was the computation of the feast of Easter, a question of the highest religious interest in all times, but above all then, when it had been the object of lively controversies, and which required for its solution profound investigations in chronology as well as learned astronomical observations. It was thus that, as early as the preceding century, Saint Hippolytus, in composing his Paschal Cycle, had been led to set down his researches in a veritable Chronicle. Everything therefore combined at that period to engage the Christians to collect their primitive monuments;

it is also the period in which was drawn up the Chronicle that is the subject of this chapter. In 1634, Father Gilles Boucher, a learned Jesuit, published at Antwerp a celebrated commentary on the Paschal Cycle of Victorius of Aquitaine (a), and among the monuments which he inserted in this work, one remarks above all five chronological opuscules of the highest interest, which the author attested he had extracted from one and the same manuscript. The first was a series of Consular Fasti from Antoninus for the second time, and Geta, down to Constantius Augustus for the seventh time and Constantius Caesar for the third time.

The second was a list of the Prefects of Rome, from Lollianus, in office under the consulate of Valerian for the second time and Gallienus, down to Vitrasius Orfitus under that of the two Constantii named above; which comes to the year 354. The third was an ancient Ecclesiastical Calendar containing the feast and the day of death of several holy martyrs and bishops of Rome, the last of whom is Pope Saint Julius, who died in the year 352. The fourth is the Chronicle of the Popes that is the subject of this chapter, which goes down to Liberius, whose accession it announces under the consuls Constantius for the fifth time and Constantius Caesar, without marking his death, which occurred in the year 366, doubtless because he was still living.

The fifth, finally, is an ancient civil Calendar which marks the births of the principal Caesars, and stops at Constantius, who is there qualified not as Divus like the others, but as Dominus, as one still living at the moment when this calendar was drawn up. It is known that Constantius died in 361. Thus, then, these five monuments must have been written within the space of about ten years, namely, from the year 354 to the year 364. It is clear that they lend one another a mutual support, and that, if one cannot determine the author who composed them, one must at least recognize, with Father Boucher and the whole body of the learned, that their epoch is incontestably fixed at the middle of the fourth century.

Of these five monuments, the fourth is the only one that ought to occupy us specially. It contains the names of the Popes from Saint Peter down to Liberius, with their years distinguished by the consuls and some other particulars whose authenticity we shall discuss later. In a word, this monument is of a truly grave importance, and merits all our attention; for, by the avowal of Pearson, 'if one can find any certainty of these times among the Latin chronologists, it is in this ancient catalogue that one must go to seek it' (a).

However, before examining how much confidence we ought to place in that famous chronicle, which we shall henceforth call the Catalogue of Liberius—for the reason that it stops at this Pope—we shall devote a few pages to recounting the history of its discovery and publication. This precious monument, which had remained in manuscript until 1634, when Father Boucher published it for the first time, had already before that time drawn the attention of the scholars who had occasion to consult it. The first whom we find to have made use of it is Spiesshammer, better known in the world of learning under the name of Cuspinian.

In his commentary on the Chronicle of Cassiodorus he made use of it on account of the consular fasti it contains, and inserted it almost entirely, but in parts, into his commentary as he had need of it. He describes it as a very ancient little work, and speaks in several places of the four other pieces that were joined to it, which Father Boucher likewise published. The manuscript of Cuspinian, which seems to have been the original of the various copies of which we shall speak, had apparently been at first in the hands of a privy councillor of the Catholic king, whom Father

Boucher names in Latin as Assonvillius, who had received it from Jean Brenner, secretary of the same prince and a member of the senate of Luxembourg. However that may be, this original manuscript has not existed for a long time. Henschenius claimed that Onuphrius Panvinius had also had the Catalogue of Liberius in his hands when he was working at Rome on the consular fasti, around the middle of the sixteenth century; Pagi believed the same, as he explains in his Critique of Baronius, but they were both mistaken.

Emmanuel de Schelstrate attests, in his great work on Ecclesiastical Antiquity, that in the Vatican Library—over which he had charge toward the end of the seventeenth century—he found an index of the books and manuscripts which Panvinius had used in his work on the consular fasti, and he declares that no other catalogue of the Popes is mentioned there save the Liber Pontificalis. Now here is something more certain.

Around the year 1620, Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc, councillor of the parlement of Aix, a man of true erudition, received from a magistrate of Arras the communication of a precious manuscript containing the Catalogue of Liberius together with the four other little works—monuments whose importance Peiresc extols in a letter that Pagi inserted in substance at the passage of his Critique which we have already cited. Peiresc, who according to the express intention of his Arras correspondent was only to make a copy of the manuscript and then return it, faithfully fulfilled this double condition, but he did not let the public enjoy the fruit of this discovery.

Pagi speaks further of two other copies of the Catalogue of Liberius which are said to have existed in manuscript at Paris during the course of the seventeenth century: one in the library of the Canons Regular of Saint-Victor, entered in the catalogue under this title, Chronica Damasi; but it had since disappeared, without anyone knowing what had become of it; the other in the library of the Jesuits of the Collège Louis-le-Grand, where it had been deposited by Father Sirmond. It was, moreover, in every respect conformable to that published by the Bollandists, according to the attestation which Father Hardouin himself made to Father Pagi. Father

Boucher, then, is the first who, not content to make use of the precious monument that occupies us, thought of admitting the public into his confidence by publishing separately and in full the famous catalogue, of which Cuspinian had inserted only detached fragments in the work we have cited. In October 1632, having come from Liège to Antwerp to negotiate with the house of Plantin for the printing of his treatise De Doctrina Temporum, he naturally came into contact with Father Bollandus. The latter, intending to assist his confrère in the explanation of the cycle of Victorius, which was the object of this publication, gave him a copy formerly made by Father

Rosweyde from the manuscript that Cuspinian had had in his hands, and this copy contained precisely the five chronological little works that occupy us. The original was by then lost; but Father Boucher nonetheless thought it his duty to give in full, in his work on Victorius, these various pieces, and it was through him that the learned world truly came into possession of them. In 1675 there appeared at Antwerp a new edition of the Catalogue of Liberius, through the care of Father Henschenius, at the head of the first volume of April of the Acta Sanctorum. There was noticed in this new edition—which was repeated word for word by Father

Papebroch, in his Conatus chronologico-historicus ad catalogum Pontificum Romanorum—some rather serious variants from the text published by Father Boucher. Pagi seems inclined to attribute them to corrections that Henschenius is supposed to have allowed himself to make to the reading of the manuscript; but this conjecture appears to lose much of its weight if it can be shown that Father Boucher established his text not only from the manuscript of the Bollandists, but also from another preserved in the imperial library of Vienna.

In that case, Henschenius and Papebroch, publishing their Antwerp manuscript with exactitude, must by that very fact have presented in their reading some differences from that which would have been drawn up from two manuscripts instead of one. As for the manuscript of the Catalogue of Liberius preserved in the library of Vienna, among the Latin manuscripts, no. 56, it was published by Schelstrate in his Commentarius in Victorii Aquitani Canonem Paschalem—to which are added, by way of confirmation, two martyrologies of the Roman Church, as well as a most ancient calendar of the Church of Carthage (from a work edited a few years earlier, entitled Origines de l'Église romaine, by the members of the community of Solesmes), page

269 (Antwerp, Plantin, 1634). This catalogue is rather confused and faulty down to Callistus; after him it is a little more distinct, especially after Lucius. In the reign of Tiberius Caesar, our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, in the consulship of the two Gemini, on the eighth day before the Kalends of April; and after His ascension the most blessed Peter received the episcopate. From that time it was set down by succession who was bishop, and for how many years he presided, and under whose reign. Peter, twenty-five years, one month, nine days. He lived in the times of Tiberius Caesar, of Caius, of Tiberius Claudius, and of Nero, from the consulship of Vinicius and Longinus to that of Nero and Verus.

He suffered, together with Paul, on the third day before the Kalends of July, in the consulship of the same, under the reign of Nero. Linus, twelve years, four months, twelve days. He lived in the times of Nero, from the consulship of Saturninus and Scipio to that of Capito and Rufus. Clement, nine years, eleven months, twelve days. He lived in the times of Galba and Vespasian, from the consulship of Trachalus and Italicus to the sixth consulship of Vespasian and that of Titus. (Eusebius and Baronius place Clement after Cletus.) Cletus, six years, two months, ten days. He lived in the times of Vespasian and Titus and at the beginning of Domitian, from the eighth consulship of Vespasian and the fifth of Domitian, to the ninth of Domitian and that of Rufus. Anacletus, twelve years, ten months, three days.

He lived in the times of Domitian, from the consulship of Domitian (his tenth) and Sabinus, to the seventeenth of Domitian and the consulship of Clemens. Evaristus, thirteen years, seven months, two days. He lived in the latest times of Domitian, and of Nerva, and of Trajan; from the consulship of Valens and Verus to that of Gallus and Bradua. Alexander, seven years, two months, one day. He lived in the times of Trajan, from the consulship of Palma and Tullus to that of Velianus and Verus. Sixtus, ten years, three months, twenty-one days. He lived in the times of Hadrian, from the consulship of Niger and Apronianus to the third of Verus and the consulship of Ambibulus. Telesphorus, eleven years, three months, three days.

He lived in the times of Antoninus Macrinus, from the consulship of Titianus and Gallicanus to that of Caesar and Balbinus. Hyginus, twelve years, three months, six days. He lived in the times of Verus, from the consulship of Gallicanus and Verus to that of Praesens and Rufinus. (Here Anicetus is lacking, to whom they assign nearly eight years.) Pius, twenty years, four months, twenty-one days. He lived in the times of Antoninus Pius, from the consulship of Clarus and Severus to that of the two Augusti. Under his episcopate his brother Hermas wrote a book in which is enjoined and contained that which the Angel commanded him when he came to him in the garb of a shepherd. Soter, nine years, three months, two days.

He lived in the times of Antoninus and Commodus, from the consulship of Verus and Herennianus to that of Paternus and Bradua. (Here again Eleutherius is lacking, whom they would have to have sat fifteen years.) Victor, nine years, two months, ten days. From the consulship of Saturninus and Gallus to that of Praesens and Extricatus. (Likewise Zephyrinus is lacking, to whom they assign eighteen years.) Callistus, five years, two months, ten days. He lived in the times of Macrinus and Heliogabalus, from the consulship of Antoninus and Adventus, to the third of Antoninus and the consulship of Alexander. Urbanus, eight years, eleven months, twelve days. He lived in the times of Alexander, from the consulship of Maximus and Aelianus to that of Agricola and Clementinus. Pontianus, five years, two months, seven days.

He lived in the times of Alexander, from the consulship of Pompeianus and Pelignianus. At that time Bishop Nepotianus and the priest Hippolytus were exiled, deported to the noxious island of Sardinia, in the consulship of Severus and Quintianus. On that same island he was deprived of his office on the fourth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of the same. Anteros, one month, ten days. He fell asleep on the third day before the Nones of January, in the consulship of Maximus and Africanus. Fabianus, fourteen years, one month, ten days. He lived in the times of Maximinus, and of Gordian, and of Philip. From the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus to the second of Decius and the consulship of Gratus. He suffered on the twelfth day before the Kalends of February. He divided the regions among the deacons, and ordered many structures to be built throughout the cemeteries.

After his passion, the priests Moyses and Maximus, and the deacon Nicostratus, were seized and cast into prison. At that time Novatus came over from Africa, and separated Novatian from the Church, together with certain confessors, after Moyses had died in prison, having been there eleven months and eleven days. Cornelius, two years, three months, ten days. From the fourth consulship of Decius and the second of Decius, to that of Gallus and Volusianus. Under his episcopate Novatus, outside the Church, ordained Novatian in the city of Rome, and Nicostratus in Africa. This done, the confessors who had separated themselves from Cornelius, together with the priest Maximus who had been with Moyses, returned to the Church; after this they were banished to Centumcellae.

There he received his falling-asleep in glory. Lucius, three years, eight months, ten days. He lived in the times of Gallus and Volusianus, down to the third of Valerian and the second of Gallienus. He was an exile, and afterward, by God's will, was restored unharmed to the Church, on the third day before the Nones of March, in the consulship of the same. Stephanus, four years, two months, twenty-one days. He lived in the times of Valerian and Gallienus, from the consulship of Volusianus and Maximinus, down to the third of Valerian and the second of Gallienus. Sixtus, two years, eleven months, six days. He began from the consulship of Maximus and Glabrio, down to that of Tuscus and Bassus; and he suffered on the eighth day before the Ides of August, from the consulship of Tuscus and Bassus to the day twelve before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Aemilianus and Bassus.

Dionysius, eight years, two months, four days. He lived in the times of Gallienus, from the eleventh day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Aemilianus and Bassus, to the seventh day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Claudius and Paternus. Felix, five years, eleven months, twenty-five days. He lived in the times of Claudius and Aurelian: from the consulship of Claudius and Paternus, to the second consulship of Aurelian and that of Capitolinus. Eutychianus, eight years, eleven months, three days. He lived in the times of Aurelian, from the third consulship of Aurelian and that of Marcellinus, to the seventh day before the Ides of December, in the consulship of Carus (his second) and Carinus. Caius, twelve years, four months, seven days.

He lived in the times of Carus and Carinus, from the sixteenth day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Carus (his second) and Carinus, to the tenth day before the Kalends of May, in the consulship of Diocletian (his sixth) and Constantius (his second). Marcellinus, eight years, three months, twenty-five days. He lived in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, from the day before the Kalends of July, from the consulship of Diocletian (his sixth) and Constantius (his second), to the consulship of Diocletian (his ninth) and Maximian (his eighth). At which time there was a persecution, and the episcopate ceased for seven years, six months, and twenty-five days. Marcellus, one year, seven months, twenty days. He lived in the times of Maxentius, from the tenth consulship and that of Maximian, to after the tenth and seventh consulship.

Eusebius, four months, sixteen days, from the fourteenth day before the Kalends of May to the sixteenth day before the Kalends of September. Miltiades, three years, six months, nine days, from the sixth day before the Nones of July, from the consulship of Maximian (his eighth) alone—which was in the month of September—to that of Volusianus and Rufinus, down to the third day before the Ides of January, in the consulship of Volusianus and Annianus. Silvester, twenty-one years, eleven months. He lived in the times of Constantine, from the consulship of Volusianus and Annianus, from the day before the Kalends of February, to the day of the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Constantius and Albinus. Marcus, eight months, twenty days.

And he too lived in the times of Constantine, in the consulship of Nepotianus and Facundus, from the fifteenth day before the Kalends of February to the day of the Nones of October, in the consulship of the same. Julius, fifteen years, one month, eleven days. He lived in the times of Constantine, from the consulship of Felicianus and Titianus, from the eighth day before the Ides of February, to the day before the Ides of April, in the consulship of Constantius (his fifth) and Constantius Caesar. He made many structures: a basilica on the Portuensian Way, at the third milestone; a basilica on the Flaminian Way, at the second milestone, which is called Valentini's; the Julian Basilica, which is in the seventh region, beside the forum of the deified Trajan; a basilica across the Tiber, in the fourteenth region, beside Callistus.

A basilica on the Aurelian Way, at the third milestone, near Callistus. Liberius lived in the times of Constantius, from the eleventh day before the Kalends of June, to the day...... from the consulship of Constantius (his fifth) and Constantius Caesar. (Almost all these little works end with these consuls, whence it appears that they were written in that year, A.D. 354, or thereabouts.) Acta Sanctorum of April, vol. I.—Preliminary Diatribe on the ancient Catalogues of the Roman Pontiffs, taken from the most ancient manuscript codices, page 4. In the reign of Tiberius Caesar our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, in the consulship of the two Gemini, on the eighth day before the Kalends of April; and after His ascension the most blessed Peter received the episcopate.

From that time it was set down by succession who was bishop, and for how many years he presided, and under whose reign. Peter, twenty-five years, one month, nine days. He lived in the times of Tiberius Caesar, of Caius, of Tiberius Claudius, and of Nero; from the consulship of Vinicius and Longinus to that of Nerva and Vestinus. And he suffered, together with Paul, on the third day before the Kalends of July, in the consulship aforesaid, under the reign of Nero. Linus, twelve years, four months, ten days. He lived in the times of Nero, from the consulship of Saturninus and Scipio to that of Capito and Rufus. Clement, nine years, eleven months, twelve days. He lived in the times of Galba and Vespasian, from the consulship of Trachalus and Italicus to the seventh of Vespasian and the consulship of Titus.

Cletus, six years, two months, seven days. He lived in the times of Vespasian and Titus and at the beginning of Domitian, from the eighth consulship of Vespasian and the sixth of Domitian, to the ninth of Domitian and the consulship of Rufus. Anacletus, twelve years, ten months, three days. He lived in the times of Domitian, from the consulship of Domitian (his tenth) and Sabinus, to the seventeenth of Domitian and the consulship of Clemens. Evaristus, thirteen years, seven months, two days. He lived in the latest times of Domitian, and of Nerva and Trajan; from the consulship of Valens and Verus to that of Gallus and Bradua. Alexander, eight years, two months, one day. He lived in the times of Trajan, from the consulship of Palma and Tullus to that of Aelianus and Verus.

Sixtus, ten years, three months, twenty-one days. He lived in the times of Hadrian, from the consulship of Niger and Apronianus to the third of Verus and the consulship of Ambibulus. Telesphorus, eleven years, three months, three days. He lived in the times of Hadrian, from the consulship of Titianus and Gallicanus to that of Caesar and Balbinus. Hyginus, twelve years, three months, six days. He lived in the times of...... Anicetus, ... years, from the consulship of Gallicanus and Verus to that of Praesens and Rufinus. Pius, fifteen years, four months, twenty days. He lived in the times of Antoninus Pius, from the consulship of Clarus and Severus to that of the two Augusti.

Under his episcopate his brother Hermas wrote a book, in which is enjoined and contained that which the Angel commanded him when he came to him in the garb of a shepherd. Soter, nine years, three months, two days. He lived in the times of...... Eleutherius, ... years. He lived in the times of Antoninus and Commodus, from the consulship of Verus and Herennianus to that of Paternus and Bradua. Victor, nine years, two months, ten days...... Zephyrinus, ... years. From the consulship of Saturninus and Gallus to that of Praesens and Extricatus. Callistus, five years, two months, ten days. He lived in the times of Macrinus and Heliogabalus, from the consulship of Antoninus and Adventus, to the third of Antoninus and the consulship of Alexander.

Urbanus, eight years, eleven months, twelve days. He lived in the times of Alexander, from the consulship of Maximus and Aelianus to that of Agricola and Clementinus. Pontianus, five years, two months, seven days. He lived in the times of Alexander, from the consulship of Pompeianus and Pelignianus. At that time Bishop Pontianus and the priest Hippolytus were exiled, deported to the noxious island of Sardinia, in the consulship of Severus and Quintianus. On that same island he was deprived of his office on the fourth day before the Kalends of October, and in his place was ordained Anteros, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship aforesaid. Anteros, one month, ten days. He fell asleep on the third day before the Nones of January, in the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus. Fabianus, fourteen years, eleven months, ten days.

He lived in the times of Maximinus and Gordian and Philip, from the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus to the second of Decius and the consulship of Gratus. He suffered on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of February. He divided the regions among the deacons, and ordered many structures to be built throughout the cemeteries. After his passion, the priests Moyses and Maximus and the deacon Nicostratus were seized and cast into prison. At that time Novatus came over from Africa, and separated Novatian from the Church, along with certain confessors, after Moyses had died in prison—who had been there eleven months and eleven days. Cornelius, two years, three months, ten days, from the consulship of Decius (his second) and Decius, to that of Gallus and Volusianus.

Under his episcopate Novatus, outside the Church, ordained Novatian in the city of Rome, and Nicostratus in Africa. This done, the confessors who had separated themselves from Cornelius, together with the priest Maximus who had been with Moyses, returned to the Church. After this he was banished to Centumcellae, and there received his falling-asleep in glory. Lucius, three years, eight months, ten days. He lived in the times of Gallus and Volusianus, down to the third of Valerian and the second of Gallienus. He was an exile, and afterward, by God's will, returned to the Church. (He died) on the third day before the Nones of March, in the consulship aforesaid. Stephanus, four years, two months, twenty-one days.

He lived in the times of Valerian and Gallienus, from the consulship of Volusianus and Maximinus, down to the third of Valerian and the second of Gallienus. Sixtus, two years, eleven months, six days. He began from the consulship of Maximus and Glabrio, down to that of Tuscus and Bassus, and he suffered on the eighth day before the Ides of August (and the priests presided), from the consulship of Tuscus and Bassus to the day twelve before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Aemilianus and Bassus. Dionysius, eight years, two months, four days. He lived in the times of Gallienus, from the eleventh day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Aemilianus and Bassus, to the seventh day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Claudius and Paternus. Felix, five years, eleven months, twenty-five days.

He lived in the times of Claudius and Aurelian, from the consulship of Claudius and Paternus, to the second consulship of Aurelian and that of Capitolinus. Eutychianus, eight years, eleven months, three days. He lived in the times of Aurelian, from the third consulship of Aurelian and that of Marcellinus, to the seventh day before the Ides of December, in the consulship of Carus (his second) and Carinus. Caius, twelve years, four months, seven days. He lived in the times of Carus and Carinus, from the sixteenth day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Carus (his second) and Carinus, to the tenth day before the Kalends of May, in the consulship of Diocletian (his sixth) and Constantius (his second). Marcellinus, eight years, three months, twenty-five days.

He lived in the times of Diocletian and Maximian, from the day before the Kalends of July, from the consulship of Diocletian (his sixth) and Constantius (his second), to the consulship of Diocletian (his ninth) and Maximian (his eighth). At which time there was a persecution, and the episcopate ceased for four years, six months, twenty-five days. Marcellus, one year, seven months, twenty days. He lived in the times of Maxentius, from the consulship of Maximian Herculius (his tenth) and Maximian Galerius (his seventh), to after the tenth and seventh consulship. Eusebius, four months, sixteen days, from the fourteenth day before the Kalends of May to the sixteenth day before the Kalends of September.

Miltiades, three years, six months, nine days, from the sixth day before the Nones of July, from the consulship of Maximian (his eighth) alone—which was in the month of September—to that of Volusianus and Rufinus, down to the third day before the Ides of January, in the consulship of Volusianus and Annianus. Silvester, twenty-one years, eleven months. He lived in the times of Constantine, from the consulship of Volusianus and Annianus, from the day before the Kalends of February, to the day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Constantine and Albinus. Marcus, eight months, twenty days. He lived in the times of Constantine, in the consulship of Nepotianus and Facundus; from the fifteenth day before the Kalends of February to the day of the Nones of October, in the consulship aforesaid. Julius, fifteen years, two months, six days.

He lived in the times of Constans, from the consulship of Felicianus and Titianus, from the eighth day before the Ides of February, to the day before the Ides of April, in the consulship of Constantius (his fifth) and Constantius Caesar. He made many structures: a basilica on the Portuensian Way, at the third milestone; a basilica on the Flaminian Way, at the second milestone, which is called Valentini's; the Julian Basilica, which is in the seventh region, beside the forum of the deified Trajan; a basilica across the Tiber, in the fourteenth region, beside Callistus; a basilica on the Aurelian Way, at the third milestone, near Callistus. Liberius lived in the times of Constantius, from the eleventh day before the Kalends of June, to the day..... from the consulship of Constantius (his fifth) and Constantius Caesar. Antiquitas Ecclesiae Illustrata, vol. I, page 402.

According to the more ancient catalogue of the Imperial Library, after the manuscript exemplar and the edition of Cuspinian. In the reign of Tiberius Caesar, our Lord Jesus Christ suffered, in the consulship of the two Gemini, on the eighth day before the Kalends of April; and after His ascension the most blessed Peter received the episcopate. From that time it was set down by succession who was bishop, for how many years he presided, and under whose reign. Peter, twenty-five years, one month, nine days. He lived in the times of Tiberius Caesar, of Caius, of Tiberius Claudius, and of Nero, from the consulship of Vinicius and Longinus to that of Nero and Verus: and he suffered, together with Paul, on the third day before the Kalends of July, in the consulship aforesaid, under the reign of Nero. Linus, twelve years, four months, twelve days.

He lived in the times of Nero, from the consulship of Saturninus and Scipio to that of Capito and Rufus. Clement, nine years, eleven months, twelve days. He lived in the times of Galba and Vespasian, from the consulship of Trachalus and Italicus to the seventh of Vespasian and the consulship of Titus. (Clement is placed third, Cletus fourth, but for what reason is unknown: whereas the canon of the Mass sets forth the Tradition of the Roman Church in these words: 'Linus, Cletus, Clement.') Cletus, six years, two months, ten days. He lived in the times of Vespasian and Titus and at the beginning of Domitian, from the eighth consulship of Vespasian and the fifth of Domitian, to the ninth of Domitian and the consulship of Rufus. Anacletus, twelve years, ten months, three days.

He lived in the times of Domitian, from the consulship of Domitian (his tenth) and Sabinus, to the seventeenth of Domitian and the consulship of Clemens. Evaristus, thirteen years, seven months, two days. He lived in the latest times of Domitian, and of Nerva, and of Trajan, from the consulship of Valens and Verus to that of Gallus and Bradua. Alexander, seven years, two months, one day. He lived in the times of Trajan, from the consulship of Palma and Tullus to that of Aelianus and Verus. Sixtus, ten years, three months, twenty-one days. He lived in the times of Hadrian, from the consulship of Niger and Apronianus to that of Veronius and Ambibulus. Telesphorus, eleven years, three months, three days. He lived in the times of Antoninus Macrinus, from the consulship of Titianus and Gallicanus to that of Caesar and Albinus.

Hyginus, twelve years, three months, six days. He lived in the times of...... Anicetus, ... years, from the consulship of Gallicanus and Verus to that of Praesens and Rufinus. Pius, twenty years, four months, twenty-one days. He lived in the times of Antoninus Pius, from the consulship of Clarus and Severus to that of the two Augusti. Under his episcopate his brother Hermas wrote a book, in which is contained the command that the Angel gave him when he came to him in the garb of a shepherd. Soter, nine years, three months. He lived in the times of...... Eleutherius, ... years. He lived in the times of Antoninus Commodus, from the consulship of Verus and Herennianus to that of Paternus and Bradua.

Victor, ten years, two months, ten days...... Zephyrinus, ... years, from the consulship of Saturninus and Gallus to that of Praesens and Extricatus. Callistus, five years, two months, ten days. He lived in the times of Macrinus and Heliogabalus, from the consulship of Antoninus and Adventus, to the third of Antoninus and the consulship of Alexander. Urbanus, eight years, eleven months, twelve days. He lived in the times of Alexander, from the consulship of Maximus and Aelianus to that of Agricola and Clementinus. Pontianus, five years, two months, seven days. He lived in the times of Alexander, from the consulship of Pompeianus and Pelignianus.

At that time Bishop Pontianus and the Presbyter Hippolytus were deported as exiles to the noxious island of Sardinia, in the consulship of Severus and Quintinus; on that same island Pontianus was deposed on the fourth day before the Kalends of October, and in his place Anteros was ordained on the eleventh day before the Kalends of December, under the consuls named above. Anteros held the office one month and ten days. He died on the third day before the Nones of January, in the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus. Fabianus held it fourteen years, one month, and ten days. He lived in the times of Maximinus, Gordianus, and Philippus, from the consulship of Maximinus and Africanus down to that of Decius (second time) and Gratus. He suffered martyrdom on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of February. He divided the regions among the deacons, and ordered many structures to be built throughout the cemeteries.

After his martyrdom, the Presbyters Moyses and Maximus and the Deacon Nicostratus were arrested and cast into prison. At that time Novatus arrived from Africa and separated Novatianus from the Church, together with certain confessors, after Moyses had died, who had been there eleven months and eleven days. Cornelius held the office two years, three months, and ten days, from the consulship of Decius (fourth time) and Decius (second time) down to that of Gallus and Volusianus. Under his episcopate Novatus, outside the Church, ordained Novatianus in the city of Rome and Nicostratus in Africa. When this had been done, the confessors who had separated themselves from Cornelius along with the Presbyter Maximus, who had been with Moyses, returned to the Church.

After this, having been expelled to Centumcellae, he there received his rest in glory. Lucius held the office three years, eight months, and ten days. He lived in the times of Gallus and Volusianus, down to Valerianus (third time) and Gallienus (second time). He was an exile, and afterwards, by the will of God, returned unharmed to the Church. He died on the third day before the Nones of March, under the consuls named above. Stephanus held the office four years, two months, and twenty-one days. He lived in the times of Valerianus and Gallienus, from the consulship of Volusianus and Maximinus down to that of Valerianus (third time) and Gallienus (second time). Sixtus held it two years, eleven months, and six days. He began from the consulship of Maximus and Glabrio down to that of Tuscus and Bassus, and suffered martyrdom on the eighth day before the Ides of August.

From the consulship of Tuscus and Bassus down to the twelfth day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Aemilianus and Bassus. Dionysius held the office eight years, two months, and four days. He lived in the times of Gallienus, from the eleventh day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Aemilianus and Bassus, down to the seventh day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Claudius and Paternus. Felix held it five years, eleven months, and twenty-five days. He lived in the times of Claudius and Aurelianus, from the consulship of Claudius and Paternus down to the consulship of Aurelianus (second time) and Capitolinus. Eutychianus held the office eight years, eleven months, and three days. He lived in the times of Aurelianus (third time) and Marcellinus, down to the fourth day before the Ides of December, in the consulship of Carus (second time) and Carinus.

Caius held the office twelve years, four months, and seven days. He lived in the times of Carus and Carinus, from the sixteenth day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Carus (second time) and Carinus, down to the tenth day before the Kalends of May, in the consulship of Diocletianus (sixth time) and Constantius (second time). Marcellinus held it eight years, three months, and twenty-five days. He lived in the times of Diocletianus and Maximianus, from the day before the Kalends of July, from the consulship of Diocletianus (sixth time) and Constantius (second time) down to the consulship of Diocletianus (ninth time) and Maximianus (eighth time). At that time there was the persecution, and the episcopate ceased for seven years, six months, and twenty-five days. Marcellus held the office one year, six months, and twenty days.

He lived in the times of Maxentius, from the consulship of Maximianus Herculeus (tenth time) and Maximianus Galerius (seventh time), down to after the consulship of those tenth and seventh terms. Eusebius held the office four months and sixteen days, from the fourteenth day before the Kalends of May down to the sixteenth day before the Kalends of September. Miltiades held it three years, six months, and eight days, from the sixth day before the Nones of July; from the consulship of Maximianus (eighth time) alone, which fell in the month of September, in the consulship of Volusianus and Rufinus, down to the third day before the Ides of January, in the consulship of Volusianus and Anianus. Sylvester held the office twenty-one years and eleven months. He lived in the times of Constantinus, from the consulship of Volusianus and Anianus, and from the day before the Kalends of February, down to the day before the Kalends of January, in the consulship of Constantinus and Albinus. Marcus held the office eight months and twenty days.

He lived in the times of Constantinus, in the consulship of Nepotianus and Facundus, from the fifteenth day before the Kalends of February down to the day of the Nones of October, under the consuls named above. Julius held the office fifteen years, one month, and eleven days. He lived in the times of Constantinus, from the consulship of Felicianus and Titianus, from the eighth day before the Ides of February to the day before the Ides of April, in the consulship of Constantius (fifth time) and Constantius Caesar. He built many structures: a basilica on the Via Portuensis at the third milestone; a basilica on the Via Flaminia at the second milestone, which is called the basilica of Valentinus; the Basilica Julia, which is in the seventh region, beside the Forum of the deified Trajan; a basilica across the Tiber, in the fourteenth region, beside the cemetery of Calixtus; and a basilica on the Via Aurelia at the third milestone, near Calixtus.

Liberius lived in the times of Constantius, from the eleventh day before the Kalends of June, down to the day... in the consulship of Constantius (fifth time) and Constantius Caesar. After having set this catalogue before the reader's eyes, the learned Benedictines append the following: This is the Chronicle of the Roman Pontiffs known under the name of the Liberian catalogue. Before establishing its authority, we must first examine the period in which it would have been compiled, and the author to whom it might be attributed. Of all the scholars who have concerned themselves with this monument, we know of none but Dodwell who has sought to make it more recent than the epoch of Liberius, and he was refuted by Tillemont himself.

Not to mention the argument that one must naturally draw from the coincidence of date of this monument with the four other little works that accompany it in the various manuscripts, a circumstance which alone suffices to fix its epoch, since there is nothing in the text of the catalogue to contradict this antiquity, does not this chronicle bear irrefutably the date of its composition in these last lines: 'Liberius lived in the times of Constantius, from the eleventh day before the Kalends of June, down to the day... in the consulship of Constantius (fifth time) and Caesar'?

'This ending,' as Tillemont says, 'suits far less a copyist halted by some mishap than an author who knew the beginning of Liberius's pontificate but did not know its end, because that end had not yet come' (a). But there is another argument still more invincible. Besides the catalogue of the Popes called the Liberian, there exists another one composed in the sixth century and stopping at Felix IV.

Now this second catalogue, which Dodwell would have pass for the more ancient, while that of Liberius would be only its abridgement (b)—this second one, we say, inserts textually the consular fasti established in the first for the years of each Pope, and, having reached the epoch of Liberius, it ceases to give them, supplies them in no way, and only resumes them more than a century after the epoch at which the Liberian Chronicle stops. Why, if not because the monument it was transcribing did not extend beyond the consulship of Constantius the fifth time and Constantius Caesar? Now, what can this monument be, if not the very one that is the object of the present discussion?

It is therefore prior to the Chronicle of Felix IV, whose strange lacuna it alone can even explain. Pearson did not fear to make this remark (c), and Tillemont, almost as severe in examining Catholic traditions, judiciously observes that Dodwell's conjectures, which would make the Liberian catalogue a mere abridgement of sixth-century monuments, are overturned by the experience of critics, who, he says, have always observed that works of this kind tend rather to grow than to diminish, as one sees by experience (d). The question of who is the author of the Liberian catalogue is far from being as easy to clarify.

Henschenius claimed that the first part of the Chronicle, which goes from Saint Peter to Saint Urban, would have been compiled by Saint Anteros, and the rest down to Liberius by Saint Damasus. Papebroch, in his Conatus Chronico-historicus ad Catalogos Romanorum Pontificum, went even further, seeking to prove that the second part of this Catalogue shows traces of four different hands. Schelstrate vigorously combats this system (e), which seems to us also to grant far too much to conjecture.

But although we are inclined to follow this author when he shows that one cannot name with precision the redactors of this Catalogue, nor multiply them thus at will, without running the risk of proceeding somewhat at random, it seems to us that his arguments for proving the identity of style in all the parts of this Chronicle are far from being conclusive. When one looks closely, it is difficult not to perceive in the different parts a great diversity of form; but would it not be possible to explain this by regarding this monument as the assemblage, the compilation of notes or memoirs drawn up at several epochs?

Nothing more closely resembles a series of inscriptions recorded one after another than this Catalogue, which presents unity only in the thought that presided over its arrangement in the manner of a Chronicle. Now, who would have been the redactor, the compiler, of this whole? Tillemont and Pagi would willingly attribute the honour of it to Saint Damasus, and we are very much inclined to range ourselves on that side. However, we do not base our opinion on the two famous letters, one of which is attributed to this holy Pope and the other to Saint Jerome, and which have stirred in various directions the scholars who have judged them.

They appear today abandoned by everyone; and yet, in our view, the arguments that Ciampini produces in their favour in his Examen Libri Pontificalis are far from contemptible. Be that as it may, we abstain from citing them in this discussion, contenting ourselves with placing them in a note before the reader's eyes, so as to omit nothing of all that may render more complete our work on the origins of the Papacy (f).

If, then, we attribute to Saint Damasus the composition of the Liberian catalogue, it is not on the strength of these two letters, but on the testimony of a number of authors who, since about the seventh or eighth century, have not ceased to regard this Pope as the author of a Chronicle of the Roman Pontiffs. Since we cannot make Saint Damasus the author of the Liber Pontificalis, nor even of the Catalogue of Felix IV—monuments of a style too different from his own—one is essentially led to leave him the Chronicle of Liberius. Here again, though by a wholly different route, we shall meet with Tillemont, who expresses himself thus, in the passage we have cited above:

'I do not see why one says that it is wrongly that this catalogue is attributed to Saint Damasus, and why he could not have drawn it up, being a deacon in 353, when Pope Liberius was banished, and the catalogue appears to have been made in the year 354, under Pope Liberius' (a). It is in vain that Dom Ceillier objects that, in the notice of Saint Damasus's writings, Saint Jerome does not name this Catalogue (b); for this Catalogue, which moreover seems to have been compiled only in a local interest, is not truly a book, and it is natural to suppose that it did not penetrate as far as the East, where Saint Jerome was writing, when one sees that even in the West itself people only began to concern themselves with it in the sixteenth century.

The other difficulty raised by Dom Ceillier, that Saint Damasus did not put his name to this little work, as he put it to almost all his epigrams and inscriptions, is no more serious. First, it is already to admit that he did not put it to everything that came from his pen; next, how would Saint Damasus have thought of putting his name at the head of a Chronicle which is nothing but the compilation, in two pages, of a series of notes and inscriptions? Let us conclude, then, that the opinion which makes this holy Pope the author of the Liberian Chronicle rests upon solid foundations.

Another question, of an altogether more grave nature—that of the truth of the facts contained in this catalogue—now demands all our attention. The facts contained in the Liberian Catalogue are simply the consular fasti corresponding to the accession and death of each Pope, the reckoning of the years, months, and days of his pontificate, and finally a few historical details, few in number and very succinct, as one could note above. We are going to examine in turn what degree of authority we ought to give to these various details. Let us begin with the consular fasti.

The antiquity of the Liberian Catalogue once established, it seems evident to us that one must recognise a genuine authority in the indications of consuls that it contains, unless one can demonstrate two things, namely: that the Christians of Rome—who, as cannot be doubted from all that we have proved in the preceding chapters, had preserved the names of their bishops—did not make use of the consular fasti to mark the years of their see; and, in the second place, that, even if they did so use them, it would have been impossible in 354 to gather the monuments of this kind drawn up by them during the first three centuries.

Now we defy anyone whatsoever to furnish the slightest proof in support of these two assertions, and yet one would have to begin by demonstrating them before attacking the authority of the Liberian Catalogue regarding the truth of the consular reckonings it contains. Meanwhile, we hope to prove that the two opposite theses are certain. First, the Christians of Rome made use of the consular fasti to count the years of the Popes. Our readers cannot be unaware that, throughout the whole duration of the Roman empire, the most usual and most national way of measuring time and of classifying historical events was to do so by the consuls.

Not only was this usage received for matters concerning public order, but the circumstances of private life were subject to it; contracts between private persons, everything down to the most familiar details of the household, received this sanction just as much as the very acts of the governing power. Thus had the laws and custom together established it; and perhaps this usage was the more willingly observed in that, while it offered a means of recalling facts less abstract than reckoning by figures, it flattered the pride of private persons, by associating in a manner the facts of their existence with the destinies of the empire.

Christianity found this practice established when it appeared in the world; and since it presented nothing contrary to its dogmas or its morality, the first faithful, who were accustomed to employ it in civil life to give authority to their acts, must naturally have transferred it, with all its advantages, into the reckonings of religion. Indeed, what could have been for them more important, more worthy of memory, than the succession and the years of the successors of Saint Peter, in whom this apostle continued ever to teach and to govern the Church?

Was there a subject more worthy of stirring that sentiment of national feeling which a society always experiences the more, in proportion to the degree of spiritualism it professes, than the desire to keep pure and certain the annals of those Pontiffs so humble, so obscure, and yet the depositaries of an authority whose effects—as one may see in several examples in Eusebius—resounded even to the extremities of the East, and whose power, buried though it was beneath the arches of subterranean Rome, rose, from the third century onward, rival enough to the Caesars for a Decius to dread it as much as a competitor for the empire (a)?

Let us not doubt it: the Christians did well, to preserve the memory of the heads of the Church, what they did every day in the interest of their domestic affairs; and even were the last traces of it today effaced, let us not be so ignorant of human nature as to believe that the first Christians would have let so much glory—and a glory so pure—pass by without doing anything to preserve the memory of it. Will it be said that this manner of counting by the consuls would have seemed to them too profane, too secular, even contrary to the austere dignity of a religion which took note of the particulars of the present life only in order to despise them?

To this we shall reply that, far from it, Christianity made it for them a kind of duty to employ this mode of reckoning. No one, doubtless, is unaware of the sovereign respect which the first faithful had for the Holy Scriptures, of the zeal with which they reproduced their spirit and their circumstances in their habits and in their language. Not only did the ceremonies of worship take their origin therein, but the usages of private life were as it were impregnated with them: they thought, they expressed themselves, only through these divine books.

Their style, their images adorned the writings of the Tertullians and the Origens, at the same time as their sentences reinforced the already so sublime replies of the martyrs. Now, these books themselves, wholly heavenly, wholly supernatural, did not disdain to make use, in the reckoning of divine events, of the mode in use for earthly calculations. They proceeded by the aid of the fasti of humanity as by the light of a torch, and the word of God borrowed, in a manner, its certainty of fact from the events of this mortal dwelling.