Liberius died soon after, that is, on the 23d or 24th of September, of the present Year 366. as we are told by Marcellinus and Faustinus, whose Authority is preferable to that of any other, since, at this very time, they lived at Rome[[965]]. He had been chosen on the 22d of May 352. so that he governed the Church of Rome Fourteen Years, Four Months, and a Day or Two. |The deplorable
Condition of the
Church in his Time.| Liberius lived in troublesome Times, the worst the Church had ever yet seen. She had Two dangerous Enemies to contend with at the same time, the Power of the Prince then on the Imperial Throne, and the Craft of a most subtle and deceitful Party. The Prince employed all his Power to overcome, with Oppression, those whom the Party could not over-reach with their Craft; and the Party to over-reach with their Craft such as the Prince could not overcome with Oppression. On the other hand, the Prelates, even some who were reputed the Pillars of the Church, seemed to have lost that Zeal, Firmness, and Intrepidity, which they had so gloriously exerted under the Pagan Princes, and few were found among them, whose Virtue was proof against the Loss of their Dignity, or Exile. Hence the Defection became general, and the Orthodox Party was brought so low, that it must have been utterly quashed, had Constantius lived a few Years longer. But Providence interposed; Constantius died while he was pursuing his Scheme with the greatest Success; and Julian, his Successor, by betraying an equal Hatred and Aversion to Christians of all Denominations, obliged them to forget their Quarrels among themselves, to lay aside their Animosity against each other, and to unite in their mutual Defence against him, as a common Enemy. Jovian, who succeeded him, proved no less favourable to the Orthodox, than Constantius had been to the Arians. Many therefore of the latter, and among the rest Acacius, who was at the Head of the Pure Arians, to gain the Favour of the Emperor, publicly renounced the Doctrine of Arius, and embraced that of Nice. Jovian, after a short Reign of Seven Months and Twenty Days, was succeeded by Valentinian, who continued to countenance the Orthodox, as his Predecessor had done, though he did not use the Arians with that Rigour which some Zealots expected from a Confessor, which Title he had deserved under Julian. However, as he professed the Orthodox Faith, that Party universally prevailed; insomuch that, in a very short time, no Traces of Arianism were left in the West, except at Milan, under the Arian Bishop Auxentius, and in a few Cities of Illyricum, where it was kept up by Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, and their Disciples, till the following Century, when it was every-where re-established there by the Goths.
By whom Arianism
was banished out of
the West.
Baronius ascribes to Liberius the banishing of Arianism out of the West, and the establishing of the Orthodox Faith in its room; but that Glory was owing, according to Ruffinus, to Hilarius of Poitiers, and Eusebius of Vercelli, who, like the Two great Luminaries of the Universe, to use his Words, enlightened with their Rays Illyricum, Gaul, and Italy, dispelling every-where the Darkness of Heresy[[966]]. He minutely describes the great Success that attended them, with the Difficulties and Obstructions they met with in so pious and commendable an Undertaking[[967]]. But, as for Liberius, he does not so much as mention him. And truly, from the Year 357. in which he fell, to his admitting the Macedonians to his Communion in 366. which was the last of his Life, the only thing I find recorded of him in the Antients, is his writing a Letter to the Catholic Bishops of Italy, wherein he exhorts them to atone for their past Conduct by renouncing the Errors of the Arians, and receiving anew the Symbol of Nice. He adds, that as this is the only Atonement, which it has been thought proper to require of them, they ought to exert their Zeal against the Authors of the Fault they committed, in proportion to the Grief they must feel for committing it[[968]]. This Letter has been transmitted to us among the Fragments of Hilarius. |Neither Vincentius of
Capua, nor Liberius,
assisted at the
Council of Rimini.| It is hard to guess what could induce Baronius to write so confidently as he does, that Vincentius of Capua assisted at the Council of Rimini with the Character of the Pope’s Legate[[969]]. In what antient Author did he find the least Intimation or distant Hint of such a Legation? Vincentius of Capua, though a Person of great Eminency, is not even mentioned by any of the contemporary Writers, who relate the Transactions of that Council, and name the chief Prelates who composed it. 'Tis true we read of him, in one Author, that he never consented to the Confession of Rimini[[970]]: but that is said of Liberius too[[971]], whom Baronius owns not to have been present at that Assembly.
Liberius is honoured
as a Saint.
Liberius, notwithstanding his Fall, is honoured both by the Latin and Greek Churches as a Saint. By the former his Festival is kept on the 23d of September, and by the latter on the 27th of August[[972]]. |The Founding of the
Church of St. Mary
the Greater.| He erected a Church on the Esquiline Mount at Rome, which bore his Name, and was called the Basilic of Liberius, till it was consecrated to the Virgin Mary by Sixtus III. when it took the Name of Sancta Maria Major, or Saint Mary the Greater. It owes its Foundation, as is universally believed in the Church of Rome, to the following Miracle. A Roman of the Patrician Order, and of Wealth equal to his Rank, named John, having no Children, resolved to make a free Gift of his whole Estate to the Virgin Mary. This Resolution he imparted to his Wife, who consenting to it with great Alacrity, the Estate was immediately made over to the holy Virgin, whom they thenceforth jointly intreated, in their daily Prayers, to let them know by some Token in what Manner she chose to dispose of it. Their Prayers were heard, and, on the Night preceding the 5th of August, when the Heat is most violent at Rome, a miraculous Snow fell from Heaven, which covered Part of the Esquiline Mount. The same Night the Patrician and his Wife were admonished in a Dream to build a Church on the Spot of Ground which they should find covered with Snow. Early next Morning they went to acquaint Pope Liberius with what had happened, whom they found to have had the same Dream; so that no room being now left to doubt of the Revelation, the Pope appointed a grand Procession of the whole Clergy, in which he walked himself, attended by Crouds of People, to the above-mentioned Mount; and there, having caused the Snow, which still lay unmelted, to be removed, on the Spot, which it had covered, he laid the Foundation of that magnificent Basilic, which was reared at the Expence of the Patrician, and is now known by the Name of Saint Mary the Greater, and Saint Mary in the Snow[[973]]. I should not have thought such an idle Tale worthy of a Place in a grave History, were it not recorded in the most authentic Book the Church of Rome has after the Scripture, the Roman Breviary, a Book approved and commended by the Council of Trent, and by the special Bulls of Three Popes, Pius V. Clement VIII. and Urban VIII. of whom the latter declares every thing it contains to be extracted from antient and approved Authors, and to be agreeable to Truth[[974]]. So that it would be less dangerous, at least in Italy, to deny any Truth revealed in the Scripture, than to question any Fable related in the Breviary. The Feast of the Snow, or St. Mary in the Snow, is kept annually at Rome, on the 5th of August, with the greatest Solemnity. The College of Cardinals assists that Day at Divine Service in the Church of Saint Mary the Greater; and the Pope, if not indisposed, or otherwise prevented, officiates in Person: the Primicerio, or Dean of that Church, reads the Account, which I have delivered above; and, that nothing may be wanting to complete the Farce, Numbers of Children are employed, during the Service, to drop Jessamins from the Gallery on the Congregation, in Remembrance and Imitation of the miraculous Snow. And truly by Children alone such Fables are proper to be acted and believed.
The Writings of
Liberius.
Several Pieces have reached our Times, which were either written by, or have been falsly ascribed to, Liberius. Among the former are, his Letter in Answer to the Macedonian Bishops; another to the Catholic Bishops of Italy; which have been both mentioned above; and a Discourse, which he pronounced on Christmas-day in the Church of St. Peter, on Occasion of his giving the sacred Veil to Marcellina the Sister of St. Ambrose when she embraced the State of Virginity. This Discourse St. Ambrose has inserted in his Third Book on Virgins, but in his own Style, which is very different from that of Liberius, who had not the Gift of Eloquence[[975]]. |Writings falsly
ascribed to him.| Among the Pieces falsly ascribed to Liberius, most Men of Learning reckon the Confession of Faith, written in Greek, which he is supposed to have sent to Athanasius. This Piece Baronius will, by all means, have to be genuine; and the Use he makes of it is somewhat extraordinary. The Council of Alexandria, to which the Church owed her Safety, was convened by Athanasius, upon his Return from Exile, as I have related above. By that small Assembly, consisting only of Confessors, was enacted the famous Decree with respect to those, who had communicated with the Arians, and signed the Confession of Rimini. To that Decree the whole Church readily conformed; so that the Honour of saving the Church was chiefly owing to Athanasius, and wholly to him and the other Confessors. Of Liberius not the least Mention is made; so that he had no Share in that Glory. |Strange Conjectures
of Baronius.| The Annalist therefore, not being able to bring in his Sovereign Pontiff upon the Authority of any Records now extant, has recourse to those that probably never were; or, if they ever were, are now no more. He supposes Part of the above-mentioned Confession of Faith, sent by Liberius to Athanasius, to be wanting; and Liberius, in the Part that is wanting, to have impowered Athanasius to convene a Council, and to have appointed Eusebius of Vercelli, and Lucifer of Cagliari, to assist at that Council with the Character of his Legates. Such wild and extravagant Suppositions require a very strong Proof to support them, some plausible Conjectures at least to give them an Appearance of Truth. But that we must not expect of Baronius. The only Argument, if it may be so called, which he pretends to offer on this Occasion, is, that he cannot conceive Athanasius, and the other holy Confessors, would have taken upon them to act as they did, and enact a Decree extending to the whole Church, had they not received such a Power from him, to whom all Power was given[[976]], meaning the Pope. The other Pieces, falsly ascribed to Liberius, are another Letter to Athanasius, and one to all the Catholic Bishops; which are both reputed supposititious, being dated by Consuls who never existed.
| Valentinian, Valens, | DAMASUS, Thirty-sixth Bishop of Rome. | Gratian, Theodosius. |
Year of Christ 366.