Year of Christ 157.

St. Polycarp comes
to Rome, and re-
claims many from
the Errors of
Marcion.

Pius was succeeded by Anicetus, in whose Time Valentine the Heretic, who came to Rome in the Pontificate of Hyginus, and had gained many Proselytes under Pius, continued sowing his pestilential Errors among the Members of that Church: but many whom he had seduced, were reclaimed by St. Polycarp, formerly the Disciple of St. John the Evangelist, and then Bishop of Smyrna. His declaring to them, that the Doctrine taught by the Church was the Doctrine he had learnt of the Apostles, made such an Impression on their Minds, that they abjured the Errors of Valentine, and returned to the Communion of the Faithful[[207]]. They preferred the bare Word of Polycarp, who claimed no Infallibility, to the infallible Authority of Hyginus, Pius, and Anicetus. This is a plain Proof, that the Popes had not yet begun to exert their Infallibility; or, if they had, that it was not acknowleged. What brought St. Polycarp to Rome was the Controversy about the Celebration of Easter, which at this Time began to grow very warm between the Eastern and Western Churches[[208]]. All the Churches of the East, and amongst the rest that of Smyrna, kept Easter on the 14th Day of the Moon of the first Month, in Conformity to the Custom of the Jews: on the other hand, Anicetus would neither conform to that Custom himself, nor suffer any under his Jurisdiction to conform to it, obliging them to celebrate that Solemnity on the Sunday next following the 14th of the Moon. That this Dispute might not occasion a Schism in the Church, Polycarp undertook a Journey to Rome, in order to confer with the Bishop of that City, who was the chief Opposer of the Quartodecimans[[209]]. |Anicetus and he
disagree about the
Celebration of
Easter, but part
without Breach of
Charity.| But it happened in this, as it does in most religious Disputes, they parted, each retaining his own Way of thinking; but at the same time, what happens but seldom, without the least Breach of that Charity which is the great and fundamental Law of our holy Religion. In Token whereof they communicated together at the holy Sacrament; nay, Anicetus, out of Respect to St. Polycarp, yielded to him the Eucharist[[210]]; that is, gave him Leave to consecrate the Eucharist in his own Church: after which they parted in Peace, though both determined to follow the antient Practice of their respective Churches[[211]]. St. Polycarp, though well acquainted with the Doctrine of the Apostles, was a Stranger, it seems, to that of Bellarmine, Baronius, &c. viz. that the whole Catholic Church is bound to conform to the Rites, Ceremonies, and Customs of the Church of Rome.

Hegesippus and St.
Justin at Rome.

In the Time of Anicetus, Hegesippus, and the celebrated Martyr St. Justin, came to Rome, upon what Occasion is uncertain. The former continuing there to the Pontificate of Eleutherius, wrote a Book on the Doctrine which in that Church had been conveyed down from the Apostles to Anicetus, and was still observed, says he, in all its original Purity[[212]]. The latter opposed with great Zeal Marcion, and his Followers, publishing a Book against his pernicious Tenets, and against Heresies in general[[213]]. It was at Rome that he had frequent Conferences with Crescens the Cynic, a Man of some Note at that Time; but, according to the Genius of his Sect, proud, surly, conceited, and a declared Enemy to all who professed the Christian Religion, which he painted in the blackest Colours[[214]]. The Malice of this Cynic procured in the End for our zealous and learned Apologist what he had long and most ardently wished, the Glory of sealing with his Blood the Truth, which he had so strenuously defended and promoted with his Pen[[215]]. He suffered under Marcus Aurelius and L. Verus about the Year 167. towards the End of the Pontificate of Anicetus.

To this Pope are ascribed by Anastasius, Platina, Ciaconius, and other modern Writers, several Ordinances and Decrees; but as they are not mentioned by any of the Antients, we do not think them worthy of our Notice. Anicetus governed the Church, according to Eusebius[[216]], Eleven Years, from the Year 157. to the 8th Year of M. Aurelius, that is, to 168. of the Christian Æra. Raban, Florus, and Anastasius, suppose him to have died for the Profession of the Faith; which was, it seems, unknown to Irenæus. |Anicetus not a
Martyr.| He was buried, according to some, near St. Peter, in the Vatican, according to others, in the Burying-place of Calixtus[[217]]; out of which, though it is uncertain whether he was buried there or no, |His Reliques.| his Head was taken in 1590. and given by Urban VII. to the Jesuits of Munich in Bavaria, where it is yearly, with great Solemnity, exposed to public Adoration on the 17th of April, the Anniversary, as is supposed, of his Death: his Body was taken out of the same Place in 1604. and given by Clement VIII. to the Duke of Altaemps, who caused it to be conveyed to the Chapel of his Palace in Rome, and to be deposited there in a Marble Tomb, formerly the Tomb of the Emperor Alexander; where it is worshiped to this Day.

M. Aurelius.SOTER,
Eleventh Bishop of Rome.

Year of Christ 168.