His Law for that
Purpose.
The Emperor, in Compliance with so just a Demand, enacted a Law, well calculated to prevent effectually the Evil complained of, and keep the Ambition of the Candidates to the Papacy within due Bounds. For by this Law, when Two Persons were chosen, neither was to hold the Dignity, but the People and Clergy were to proceed to a new Election. This is the first Instance, that occurs in History, of Princes intermeddling in the Election of the Pope; an Evil, says F. Pagi, which, from small Beginnings, grew to such a Height as to reflect great Shame and Disgrace on the Roman Church.[[1582]] But it must be observed, that the original Evil was the Corruption, the Violence, and the many Disorders which the Clergy and People were guilty of in those Elections. It was this which, at the Request of the Pope himself, called on the Emperors to interpose their Authority, as the only adequate Remedy to such Abuses. The succeeding Emperors followed the Example of Honorius, and the Gothic as well as the Lombard Kings, the Example of the Emperors, as we shall see in the Sequel of the present History.
Boniface free from
Ambition.
Boniface was naturally a Lover of Peace, and an Enemy to all Strife and Contention. He did not claim, nor attempt to usurp, any new Power over his Collegues; but yet he would not part with any his Predecessors enjoyed, by what means soever they had acquired it; and those who attempted to curtail the usurped Jurisdiction of the Apostolic See, met with as vigorous an Opposition from him as they could have done either from Innocent or Zosimus. In short, he had not Ambition enough to inlarge his Authority, but thought himself in Conscience obliged to maintain the just Rights, as he styled and believed them, of the See in which it had pleased Divine Providence to place him, though unworthy of so great an Honour. |Dispute between him and the Bishops of Illyricum.| His Steadiness in asserting these Claims appeared chiefly in the Dispute that arose between him and the Bishops of Illyricum, over whom Damasus had usurped, as I have related elsewhere[[1583]], and his Successors maintained a particular Power and Jurisdiction. The Transaction is thus related by the Writers of those Times. The See of Patræ in Achaia, one of the Provinces of Illyricum, being vacant, the Bishop of Corinth, Metropolitan of that Province, did all that lay in his Power to get Perigenes, a Presbyter of an unexceptionable Character, chosen in the room of their deceased Bishop. But his Endeavours proving unsuccessful, he returned to Corinth, and died soon after. Upon his Death the People and Clergy of Corinth, to honour his Memory, and shew the Regard they had for one whom he had favoured, unanimously named Perigenes to succeed him. But as they apprehended some Opposition from the Bishops of the same Province, they writ to Boniface, begging him to confirm their Election with his Authority. Boniface referred them to Rufus, then Bishop of Thessalonica, and his Vicar in those Parts, declaring that, as for himself, he had nothing to object either against their Election, or the Person elected. Rufus notified to the Bishops of the Province, and the Metropolitans of the Diocese, the Approbation of Boniface, and his own; but it was not received by all in the same manner. |Law of Theodosius concerning Disputes that should arise in Illyricum.| The greater Part indeed agreed to the Ordination of the new Bishop; but some opposed it with great Warmth, prompted, most probably, by the Jealousy they entertained of the growing Power of the See of Rome: for, at their Request, a Law was published by the Emperor Theodosius, dated the 14th of July 421. commanding all Disputes, that should arise in the Diocese of Illyricum, to be finally determined by the Bishops of that Diocese, after they had consulted the Bishop of Constantinople[[1584]]. This was taking those Provinces from the Bishop of Rome, and, in some Degree, subjecting them to the Bishop of Constantinople, or at least opening a Door for such a Subjection. The Power of the Bishops of Constantinople was already grown very considerable, and their Ambition keeping Pace with that of the Bishops of Rome, neither let any Opportunity slip of extending the Jurisdiction of their own See at the Expence of the other. In the present Case the Bishop of Constantinople, availing himself of the Favour of the Emperor, and the Disagreement that reigned among the Illyrican Bishops, summoned, without Loss of Time, a Council to meet at Corinth, and there to examine the Ordination of Perigenes, though he had been ordained, and his Ordination approved of both by Rufus and Boniface. |Three Letters of Boniface.| This Step, quite unexpected, alarmed Boniface; he divested himself at once of his pacific Disposition, and, assuming the Air and Style of Authority, he writ Three Letters, all dated the same Day, viz. 11th of March 422. encouraging the Friends of the Apostolic See to maintain its Rights, and threatening those who dared to invade them. |He maintains, with Authority, his pretended Rights.| The first was to Rufus of Thessalonica, whom he animates not to suffer any Innovations, but vigorously to withstand those, who assumed an Authority that did not become them, and to which they had no kind of Title or Claim, meaning, no doubt, the Bishop of Constantinople. The Second Letter he writ to the Bishops of Thessaly, exhorting them to acknowlege the Authority of Rufus, and no other. The Third was addressed to the Bishops of Macedon, Achaia, Thessaly, Epirus, and Dacia, who had been summoned by the Bishop of Constantinople to assemble at Corinth, and there deliver their Opinion concerning the Ordination of Perigenes. In this Letter he complains, in the strongest Terms, of so bold and daring an Attempt, asking, in the Style of a Sovereign, What Bishop shall presume to question an Ordination approved by us? What Bishop could take upon him to assemble a Council with that View and Intent? Read, he adds, read the Canons, and there you will find, that the See of Rome is the First, the See of Alexandria the Second, and that of Antioch the Third. These are the Three great Sees; these the Sees which the Fathers have distinguished above the rest, with ample Privileges, and extensive Jurisdiction. Since he refers them to the Canons to shew, that these Three Sees are superior to the See of Constantinople, both in Dignity and Jurisdiction, it were to be wished he had, at the same time, acquainted them by what Canons his Predecessors had exercised over the Provinces of Illyricum the Jurisdiction which he now so zealously asserts. But that is more than it was in his Power to do. However, in the present Letter, he threatens with Excommunication such of the Illyrican Bishops as shall, in Defiance of his Orders, comply with the Summons which they have received, or presume to question the Ordination of Perigenes. What was the Issue of this Dispute is not recorded by any of the Antients; but a modern Historian[[1585]] informs us, that the Emperor Honorius interposing, at the Request of Boniface, in Behalf of the See of Rome, prevailed upon Theodosius to revoke his former Law, and enact another in its room, confirming to the Apostolic See all its antient Privileges, and injoining the Præfectus Prætorio to see the latter Law put in Execution. The Historian quotes this Law from the Archives of the Roman Church. But as it is not to be found either in the Theodosian or the Justinian Code, its Authenticity may be justly suspected.
He revokes the Priv-
ileges granted by
Zosimus to the
Church of Arles.
The same Year 422. Boniface gave a signal Instance of his Equity and Love of Justice, which redounds greatly to his Honour, and therefore ought not to be omitted. He was sensible, that his Predecessor Zosimus, abusing his Authority, had acted in the Affair of the Gallican Bishops, in a most partial and arbitrary manner; that the See of Arles had no just Title to the many Privileges, which he had been induced, by his Partiality for Patroclus, to heap on it, at the Expence of Two other Sees; and, consequently, that it was incumbent upon himself, now that he had the Power in his Hands, to rectify by a better Use of it, what his Predecessor had done amiss. The Love of Justice therefore prevailing in him over all other Considerations, he annulled, by a Letter addressed to Hilarius of Narbonne, whatever had been done by Zosimus in favour of the See of Arles, restored and confirmed to the Sees of Narbonne and Vienne all the Rights and Privileges, which they had been so unjustly divested of, and declaring all the Grants and Concessions made to the See of Arles repugnant to the Canons, strictly injoined the Bishop of Narbonne not to suffer his Brother of Arles to exercise, in virtue of them, any kind of Authority within the Limits of his Jurisdiction[[N68]]. The Conduct of Boniface was afterwards approved, and that of Zosimus justly condemned, by Pope Leo the Great, declaring in a Letter which he writ to the Bishops of the Province of Vienne, that the Privileges, which the Apostolic See had granted to Patroclus, were afterwards revoked by a more equitable Sentence.
[N68]. This Letter is dated the 2d of February 422.
A remarkable Instance
of his Moderation.