The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-08-05
THE FIRST POPE

who was martyred at the beginning
OF the second century, in his letter
written to the Christians of Rome,
considered st. Peter as having been
with them, and as having exercised
special authority over them. These
contemporary testimonies are corro-
borated by the evidence of the monu-
ments in the Eternal City, and by all
the subsequent tradition of the eccle
siastical writer's. In Rome there was
the tomb of the Apostle on the Vati-
can hill, and his name was associated
with so many places both in the cata-
combs and elsewhere, that these local
attachments assume the character of
a strong argument. Among the early
ecclesiastical writer's there are many
who spoke of ST. Peter as having been
in Rome. From Gaul we have st.
lrenaeus; from Greece, st. Dionysius
of Corinth; from Egypt, Clement and
Origen of Alexandria; from northern
Africa, Tertullian, and in Rome ITSELF
the priest Gajus.
The death of st. Peter occurred in
Rome; he was crucified, with his face
| downward, on the Vatican hill, where
also his tomb was found. A strong
tradition, which was current in the
early part of the fourth century, held
that st. Peter arrived in Rome in the
year AZ of our era, and was put to
death in 81, SO that his sojourn in
Rome covered a period of twenty-five
years.
The prince of the apostles being
endowed with the primacy, and having
established his permanent abode in
Rome, it follows that his prerOgatives
were attached to that See, since the
supreme jurisdiction was to be in the
Church as long as the Church herself
was to endure.
The Testimony of the Ages.
AS a matter Of fact, for nineteen
hundred years the popes have put
their pride in this-that they were the
successors of st. Peter; and they
have sealed their official acts with the
fisherman's ring. The Christian
world throughout the ages recognized
in the popes supreme jurisdiction over
the Church, and acknowledged that
they had this power, because they
were successors of st. Peter. ST.
Cyprian, the martyred Bishop of
Carthage in the third century, views
in the episcopal See of Rome, the
Chair of St. Peter; and his contem-
porary and friend, Bishop Firmilian
Of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, holds that
the Pope, as successor of st. Peter,
has to maintain unity in the Church.
To st. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan in
the fourth century, the episcopal See
of Rome is the Chair of Peter, as it
was to st. Cyprian. st. Jerome and
st. Augustine, in the early part of the
fifth century, both make the state
ment that Pope Innocent I. (401-41O,
then reigning, was the lawful success
sor in the Apostolic See, that is, the
See of Peter. st. Peter Chrysologus,
Archbishop of Ravenna in the fifth
century, in writing to the hereto,
Eutyches of Constantinople, says that
st. Peter lives in his Chair through
the one who occupies the See of Rome.
The papal legates sent by Pope
Celestine l. (422-432) to the Council
of Ephesus, in 431, declared that st.
Peter, the Prince of the Apostles,
lives and legislates in his successors,
the bishops of Rome. And the Fathers
of the Council of Chalcedon, held in
451, when giving their approval to the
decision of Pope Leo l. (440-461), ex-
claimed that Peter had spoken
through Leo. And so it was asserted
by subsequent writer's and councils.
Hence the Vatican Council was fully
justified in defining that the popes
were the successors of st. Peter, and
as such, inherited the primatial juris-
diction, with which the Prince of the
Apostles was invested by Our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ.