declare, and the same is now witnessed by your imperial piety."[180:1]
The emancipation of the Church and the great inflow of wealth and pagan converts wrought a woeful change in its character and habits. A heathen historian declared that candidates would stoop to any means to secure the pontifical office because "the successful candidate gains the opportunity of fattening upon the oblations of matrons; of being conveyed about in stall-carriages; of appearing in public in costly dresses; of giving banquets so profuse as to surpass even royal entertainments."[180:2] The Fathers of the Church like Hilary, Jerome, and Basil deplored the vices, thus rebuked, in terms of even greater severity.
14. The barbarian invasions on the whole strengthened both the spiritual and temporal supremacy of the Holy See. They gave the death blow to paganism in Rome.[180:3] Once converted to Roman Christianity, the Germans became the staunch supporters of the papal hierarchy and enabled the Pope to enforce his prerogatives in the West.[180:4] Backed by these sturdy Teutons, the Pope became the most powerful individual in Christendom and soon declared his independence of the Byzantine court.
15. Another factor of no small moment was the extraordinary ability of some of the successors of St. Peter. Among them were men of commanding leadership, men of brains and faith, fearless administrators, aggressive judges, and men conscious of the tremendous part the Papacy was destined to play in the world's history. Conscious of their own power, and standing
on their lofty assumptions, they took advantage of every condition and circumstance to increase their authority and prerogatives. Thus the office of the Bishop of Rome continually grew in power and jurisdiction. Julian I. (337-352), the supporter of Athanasius, held lofty ideas of his power as Pope[181:1] and gave his famous decision on the eucharist in the Council of Sardica (343).[181:2] Damascus (366-384), staunch defender of orthodoxy and champion of celibacy, insisted on the recognition of his jurisdiction over East Illyricum, and, as a warm friend of Jerome, established the authority of the Vulgate.[181:3] Siricius (385-398) upheld the jurisdiction of the Holy See and issued the first decretal now extant.[181:4] In legislating about discipline and abuses in the Spanish Church his words were intended to convey universal authority on baptism, marriage, and celibacy. Speaking in conscious virtue of the authority of the Apostolic See he said: "We bear the burdens of all that are heavy laden; nay, rather the blessed Apostle Peter bears them in us, who, as we trust, in all things protects and guards us, the heirs of his administration."
Innocent I. (402-417) accepted, as a matter of unquestioned right, all that had been claimed by his predecessors, and surpassed all of them by the wide range of his pretensions. He sought to obliterate all distinction between advice and command. He spoke in a dogmatic and imperative tone on all questions pertaining to doctrine, discipline, and government in the Church of the West. "It is notorious to all the world," he said, "that no one save St. Peter and his
successors have instituted bishops and founded churches in all the Gauls, in Spain, Africa, Sicily, and the adjacent islands."[182:1] Nor did the West deny the maternity of Rome. Consequently he asserted complete jurisdiction over Illyria, assumed that the African churches were dependent upon the See of Rome, formulated fourteen rules for the Gallic bishops, settled controversies in Spain, and manifested a lofty attitude toward the churches of the East. He played a prominent part in repelling the attacks of the barbarians on Rome.[182:2] He was the first to claim a general prerogative, as "the one single fountain-head which fertilises the whole world by its manifold streamlets," to revise the judgment of provincial synods[182:3] and thus to legislate by his own fiat for the whole Church. As the great guardian of orthodoxy, he condemned Pelagius and excommunicated him. "Unstained in life, able and resolute, with a full appreciation of the dignity and prerogatives of his see, he lost no opportunity of asserting its claims; and under him the idea of universal papal supremacy, though as yet somewhat shadowy, appears already to be taking form."
"The first Pope in the proper sense of the word" was Leo I., called the Great (440-461). "In him the idea of the Papacy . . . became flesh and blood. He conceived it in great energy and clearness, and carried it out with the Roman spirit of dominion so far as the circumstance of the time at all allowed."[182:4]
Before his elevation to the Papacy in 440 very little is known about Leo. His place of birth, nationality, and early education are all shrouded in obscurity. For ten years prior to his election, Leo was perhaps the most prominent man in Rome and noted for his learning and piety. While absent on a civil mission in Gaul, he was chosen Pope. At that time the Empire was in a very weak condition. Women, surrounded by their court of eunuchs and parasites, ruled at Constantinople and Ravenna. Barbarians were pressing in from all sides. Heresies rent the East and ignorance was fast covering the West. Western Christendom must be consolidated and disciplined so that it could meet the crudeness and heresy of the powerful invaders and overcome both. The See of St. Peter must replace the tottering imperial power. The law of Rome must once more be obeyed over the Empire, but this time as the ecclesiastical law. Leo was the only great man in Church or state, so the burden was thrust upon his shoulders.
Leo possessed those qualifications which made him the master spirit of his age and the "Founder of the mediæval Papacy." Lofty in his aims, severe and pure in life, of indomitable courage and perseverance, inspired by a fanatical belief in the Petrine theory, uncompromisingly orthodox, the great first theologian in the Roman Chair, he made the first clear-cut exposition of the extreme limits and prerogatives of the mediæval Papacy.[183:1] He asserted and exercised the superabounding power of the Pope to regulate every