The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-11-11

has spoken of the expansion of Chris
tianity in the early centuries as some
thing astonishing" or that Christian
writer's from the very beginning have
always seen in it something miracu.
lous and divine.
Seventy years after the foundation
of the very first gentle Christian
church in Syrian Antioch, Pliny wrote
in the strongest terms about the
spread of Christianity throughout re.
mote Bithynia; in his view it already
threatened the stability of other cults
throughout the province. Seventy
years later still, the Paschal eontro.'
versy reveals the existence of al Chris
tian federation of churches. stretch
ing from Lyons to Odessa with it's
headquarters at Rome, Seventy years
later, again, the Emperor Decius de-
clared he would sooner have a rival
emperor in Rome than Christian
Bishop. And, ere another seventy
years had passed, the cross was at.
tached to the Roman colors.'
Not less wonderful than the wide
and rapid geographic, expansion of
Christianity is its thorough penetra-
ton of the whole of society, of all ma
lions and classes. From the very start,
according to the bidding of the Divine
Master, it broke down all barriers of
race, language, education, social posi-
ton and rank.
The majority of the Christians in
the beginning were of the poor and
lowly. These it was that were first
touched by the message of consolation
and hope, not those who were dis
tracted by the power and wealth and
pleasure of the world. The early
Church gloried in the fact. Did not
the Savior Himself choose to be poor,
and did He not choose insignificant
agents to confound the pride and false
wisdom of the world? Most of the
earliest Christians were from the
lower classes, and the lowest of all;
the slaves, tlocked into the Church in
great numbers. 1t would not have
been wise to abolish slavery all at
once, even if the Church had been able
to do so, which of course she was not.
But she gave to the slaves the equality
Of Christian brotherhood, she taught
them to serve in obedience and in the
love of God, she taught them the in
comparable value of the individual
soul whose only Master is God. The
sixteenth in the line of Roman Pom
tiffs, Pope Calixtus I. (217-221, had
once been a slave.
However, the gospel is for all, and
from the very beginning all classes
were represented in the Church. The
first convert of st. Peter whose name
we know was Cornelius, Roman Off
Ger. Among ST. Pauls early converts
were the pro-consul Sergius Paulus of
Cyprus, Erastus, treasurer of the city
of Corinth, Dionysius of the noble
Areopagus of Athens, and many noble
women of Thessalonica and Berea. In
Rome, in the first century, Flavius
Clemens was martyred during his
third term as consul. His wife and
cousin, also a Christian, Domatilla
YVES. i he. niece of the EanpeFors Titus
and Doniitian and the granddaughter
of Vespasian. The consul Acilius
Glabrio is another martyr of the same
time. The catacomb of st. Calixtus
records the names of some of the
greatest families of Rome, such as the
Caecilii, Cornelii, Aemilii, and many
others, so that Allard says we might
compose there a Roman peerage of
that time.
In the second century the names of
rich and noble became more common.
In the year liz Pliny states that in
Bithynia people of every rank had en-
braced the Christian Faith. Eusebius
tells us that in the reign of Commodus
many Romans remarkable, for their
birth and wealth became converts.
In the year 1877 Tertullian writes that
the Palace and Senate are full of
Christians, and he exclaims,i Every
dignity comes to us. The records of
Christian almsgiving in the second
and third centuries tell the same story.
The highly educated classes were also
amply represented and contributed
ably to the exposition and defense of
the Faith. Tertullian, Minucius Felix,
Cyprian, were distinguished lawyers
and orators. Aristides, Justin, Athena
goFas, Pantaenus, Clement, were phil.
osophers. Before the end of the per-
secutions the converted rhetorician,
| Arnobius, wrote, orators of talent,
grammarians, rhetors, lawyers, physi-
| cianS and Ihilaconhnrc hava co1lobt
the Church, quitting contemptuously
the doctrines in which they had for
merly put their trust" Even the
Roman army had its Christians and
! its martyrs. The instance of the forty
martyrs of Sebaste is especially well
known, and Allard says that no one
profession furnished more martyrs
than did the army.
The growth of Christianity appears
ESPECIALLY marvellous in view of the OBJ.
stacles that confronted it. The most
striking of these is the official perse
cution by the imperial government
Not all the emperors were equally
determined to prosecute. Yet we
must remember that the spirit of per
secution was always. in the air, the
laws were on the books and might be
enforced at any time. The often-re
| peated number of ten prosecutions is
only an arbitrary computations The
principle of persecution stood con
tinuously. From the memorable sum
mer of GA to the edict of Constantine