The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1922-05-06

OL Jue Slhu tluluSS VI odlNdtAoh "
man. Facing populous city which
rejected Him, Christ died upon His
shameful cross-He, who in the days
of his ministry, preached rather to
the country folk and simple fisherman
than to the contentious, scornful
dwellers of the town, yet the Church
that he founded made straight way
from the open tomb of Calvary to the
crowded cities of the Roman Empire
and constituted it's chief officers, city
men, for veal or woe, associated for
ever after with the life and activities
of cities. They came, they remained
and the glory of every church thence
forward was it's unbroken line of Bish-
ops. reaching back to the beginnings.
The genius of the Roman system of
government brooked no rivalry, how
ever humble it's claims or innocent it's
object. Even a Trajan sensed danger
in guild Of bakers or burial asso-
citation, and an emperor of the late
third century, Aurelian, protested that
he would rather hear of a new usurp-
er than of a new Bishop of Rome.
No wonder, then, that the empire
waged relentless war on the Church
which everywhere established itself
on the lines of hierarchial govern
ment. Three centuries of bitter strug-
gle between the Imperial power Of an
omnipotent state and the lowly forces
of the city of God deluged the Roman
world with the blood of martyrs and
revealed the unconquerable courage
of the Churchs episcopal rulers who
did not leave their posts of danger,
but time and again laid down their
lives gloriously for their fiocks.
Bishop and State.
The Peace of the Church in 313,
found the framework of the hierarchy
established solidly throughout the en-
pire and the Bishop the outstanding
figure of orthodoxy. The fourth cen
tury illustrates, as we'll as any other,
the triple function of the episcopal Of
flee in relation to the deposit of the
faith, the dispensation Of the Sacra-
ments and the government of the
Church. 1t was Bishops like Athana-
sius, Basil, and Chrysostom who
guarded jealously and defended almost
to martyrdom the great fundamental
Christological dogmas. 1t was Bish-
ops like Ambrose and Epiphanius who
developed the liturgy. 1t was the cour-
age of Bishops everywhere that made
the courtier a rare phenomenon and
kept the Christian ministry and with
it the Christian ethic, from sinking
into subordinate department of the
state. 1t was a period of .tumult and
controversy and the temptations of
vanity and sophistry, and imperial
favors were set before the Bishops
of the world and many fell into their
snares. 1t was when an emperor ia
vored heresy and Bishops f1ocked to
it's standards that st. Jerome exclaim-
ed, "Ingemuit totus orbis ct Arianum
Sc esse miratus est" yet out of it
all came the orthodox faith on the
lips and in the hearts and in the lives
of the Church's great Pontiffs.
Battlefield Changes.
The scene changes and the combat
RACES, not now in the realms of the
mind in Council hall or Basilica, where
subtle logothetes exchange and com
pare the refnements of sophistry with
one another, but on the frontiers OF
the world rude barbarism advances
against tottering civilization. The
central government of Rome has re
laxed it's hold on the far outlying
provinces. It's armies are routed OF
defeated It's culture is disappearing
| It's morale is broken. Between chaos
and the splendor of the past there
stands only the Church, and the
Church's embodiment is a Bishop.
Even though it seemed to him tha
the last days of the world were nigh
that the portents announced by Chris
as presaging the end were all but full
filled, yet Gregory sends missionarie:
| to the Saxons to establish the Church
in the antique way by episcopal gov
ernment. The apostles of all the lands
of Europe followed the same methot
the method of permanency-of re
sponsibility. Every national patrol
who evangeliZes a country is thus
Bishop, and his name is associated
! with a definite place.
| Christendom thus became an organ
lied hierarchy under the headship o
| the Pope, nations grouping about al
episcopate which carried on the ira
ditions of the ages and in regulatin,
education and charity developed Gus
toms and formed the habits of tn
Christian life of whole peoples. Whe1
ever the episcopate was strong an
fearless, there the Church fiourishe'
wherever they failed, there tn
/ Church failed.
Sometimes, in the security of Catf
olic atmosphere, they neglected t
preach and to teach and left the doc
i open for the errors of the Albigense
and the more fatal errors of the Lo
lards. Sometimes, because of thei
possessions, sees were bestowed upo
favorites of rulers, be they kings o
Popes-the evil consequence of whic
was never far to seek. Sometimes,
movement started by zeal and carrie
along with enthusiasm and enjoyin
the highest patronage, yet incidental
diminished the authority of Bishop
and worked havoc to the Church. a
the Council of Trent, in the discus
sions that accompanied the legislatio
on the residence of Bishops, the a