Fig. 201.—Dove suspended above the altar, containing the eucharistic box (Thirteenth Century).—“Studies upon the Archæology of the Altar,” by Laib and Schwarz.
We have thus seen that time has only brought about slight modifications in the liturgy of the Church; on the other hand, we can satisfy ourselves that nothing is left to conjecture or hypothesis; the most searching criticism only affirms the truths of tradition. M. Paul Allard, a distinguished writer, has expressed this in a very happy manner in his work, “Subterranean Rome.” “For two centuries,” he says, “the soil of Rome has been searched and dug up with indefatigable ardour, in the hope of discovering the source of the first Christian institutions, the very origin of the Church, catacombs have been thrown open to the day, thousands of inscriptions have been laid bare, and rare and precious paintings have been copied, or are still to be seen. From these subterranean labours, which have left nothing to conjecture, the history of the origin of Christianity has emerged, complete and renovated, but differing in nothing from that which tradition has handed down to us, and which, confirmed as to a great number of points, has been shaken in none.”
THE POPES.
Influence of the Papacy in the Reformation of Early Society.—St. Leo the Great.—Origin of the Temporal Power of the Popes.—Gregory the Great.—The Iconoclastic Emperors.—Stephen III. delivered by France.—Charlemagne crowned Emperor of the West.—Photius.—The Diet of Worms.—Gregory VII.; his Plan for a Christian Republic.—Urban II.—The Crusades.—Calixtus II.; Termination of the Dispute as to Investiture.—Innocent III.—Struggle of Boniface VIII. against Philippe le Bel.—The great Western Schism.—Council of Florence.—Battle of Lepanto.—Council of Trent.
During the Middle Ages the popes exercised an appreciable influence upon society, personifying as they did the Christian element which was destined to regenerate the old world. “A doctrine emanating from Asia was not to subjugate, but to convert Europe, to associate political and religious truth, and, by the force of conscience against idolatry, and of resignation against tyranny, to restore the human race in all its dignity under the one true God. With the power of the sword sprung up that of opinion, which, independent of its rival, sustained the cause of progress in its struggle against this same power of the sword, and prevented it from being overthrown. The Church, representing the people and opening the way to the emancipation of all who were weighed down by conquest and by force, was unable to destroy servitude, legalised violence, and rapine at one blow, but it encountered them with a reproving doctrine and a condemning God.
“Nero and Domitian soon found themselves face to face with Peter and Linus;—the first, armed masters of the world, having upon their side legality, which is so different from justice, representatives of the old world which cried out in the circus, ‘To the lions with the Christians!’—the latter, poor, weak, misunderstood, and calumniated, propagating the kingdom of God by authority, education, ceremonies, and example; declaring that unto Cæsar should be rendered the things which are Cæsar’s, but nothing more, neither worship nor the sacrifice of one’s sentiments and convictions.”—(Cantù.)
Fig. 202.—The Jewish Religion assisting at the death of Jesus Christ. The figure has a bandage over the eyes, the Decalogue is falling from its hands, and its spear is broken to pieces.—Sculpture in Strasburg Cathedral (Thirteenth Century).—From a Photograph by Charles de Winter, of Strasburg.
This struggle, begun by St. Peter, the first Bishop of Rome, and first pope, and continued by his successor St. Linus, went on for three centuries. Nevertheless the popes, unchecked by persecutions, had effected the moral conquest of the Roman world,—even the palace of the Cæsars was full of Christians when their legal existence became recognised by Constantine. The seat of the empire was transferred to Byzantium; the luxury and effeminacy of the East enervated the degenerated race of the Cæsars, while under the influence of the Bishops of Rome, officially recognised at that date as the sovereign pontiffs of the Christians, the West continued to advance rapidly in the path of modern civilisation.