Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1910-05-12
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) WAS ST. PETER
; THE FIRST POPE?
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The following query is sent us by
-. F. M, st. Elmo, Tenn, WAS
st. Peter the First Catholic Pope. If
30, give the proof. .
st. Peter is claimed by the Catholic
Church as the first Pope, the visible
head of the Church on Earth. as Christ
is its invisible Head. That Chlist del
egated this power to Peter is evident
from Matt. xvi. 1919 "Thou art Pc
ter, and upon this rock / will build
my Church, and the gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. And | will give
to thee the keys of tha kingdom of
Heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt
bind upon earth, it shall be bound al
SO in heaven; and whatsoever thou
shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed
also in heaven All the Apostles
were commissioned in common to es-
tablish the Church, to preach and to
baptize, but Peter in particular man
ner seems to have been commissioned
the Rock, the Key bearer, the Confirm
er of the brethren, and the Shepherd
of the flock.
Because Peter was to be the founda-
ton stone of the Church Christ prayed
particularly for him, that ''his faith
might not fail" and commissioned
him Ito confirm once his brethren.
luke xii. SO tFeed my lambs;
feed my sheep" (John xxi. 1911. ]
, We learn that after Christ's ascension.
; into heaven Peter really exercised the
office of the Head of the Church, and
/ that he was also always acknowledged
} by the Church as the Head of the
Apostles and the Head of the whole
, flock of Christ AS often as something
of Importance arose Peter seems to
have acted as the head of the rest, as,
las, on the Feast of Pentecost, at the
contention about receiving the heath
' ems into the church, at the Council of
r the Apostles in Jerusalem. etc. (Acts
v i. 2,11.t5. Even the Evangelists
: when enumerating the Apostles, al,
9 ways put st. Peter the first, although
: he was neither the Oldest of them, MOI
n had been called to the apostleship be-
" fore all others st. Matthew expressly
" says: "The names of the twelve apos
9 ties are these: The First, Simon, wht
:. is called Peter" The Fathers, at the
l. General Council of Ephesus A. D.
: 431) considered it as fact questioned
Z, by no one, and known in all ages, tina
j. st. Peter was the Prince and Head o
) the apostles, the Foundation stone o
r. the Catholic Church, etc. The Oecu
- menical Council of Florence (1438
le referred to the DEGREES of the Genera
5, Council and the Ecclesiastical Statute
N when it ordered that the Bishop o
1T Rome was the successor of the Prime
at of the Apostles. ST. Peter. .
u What does tho word Pope mean, an
u what is its derivationf Some explain
IN alton is necessary about this, as tn
I'd word 'pope'' was not used in design
re ating st. Peter as such. In the earl
y history of the Church, all the import
IN ant men are designated Fathers OF tn
T" church. Now, the word pope is
I modern form of the obsolete word
Id French origin "pape', which is derry
he ed from the Greek word ''pappas', q
W later papa. father, bishop, henc
SO the word pope means father or bishor
g, and is applied to Peter and his success
it sors and has been from an early datt
g. Our modern term, ''Holy Father, e.
or presses the idea, similarly as we appl
/ the term Father of His Country
ok to George Washington.
In our possession we have list
[r. the Popes from Peter, dating from h
ne appointment by Christ to the .Supren
as Pontifcate to his martyrdom at Ron
gh on the 29th of June, 81, to the presel
lat time. a list of 365 popes. Part OF tn
EN- list is taken from series of portrait
;he painted on medallions on the ma
walls of the Basilica of ST. Paul, {
fr. the Ostian Way, near Rome. III
lde magnificent church was built over Il
oH- tomb of st. Paul during the reign
if Constantine the Great, by Pope s
/ Sylvester, about the year A. D. ~
i'd The portraits of that Pope and &
out thirty-three Popes who preceded nj
18th were all painted, apparently by G
all same hand. This system OF palntil
rs the portraits of the Popes and placil
IRIS them in the Basilica appears to ha
all been followed with SOME few interru
est lions and from these early portraits
een was evident that the artist who exec
ted them was in possession of SD
me knowledge as enabled him to give ca
-" face the marked individuality OF pc
do trait.
ra- The Basilica of St. Paul was .
stroyed by fire in 1928. and the SER
J, of portraits persisted in the Ham
About a half century before, fortu
ately, all these portraits had be
carefully engraved on copperplate a
published, and from these portrai
agg Pope Plus TX (1S46-1s7s) caused thu
IN to reproduced in mosaic. and tn
ms again decorate the nave of the splel