Letter 17: Hilary, bishop of Rome, to the bishops assembled in synod in the case of Mamertus.

Of Pope Hilary, to the bishops gathered in synod in the case of Mamertus. Or: The ruling of Pope Hilary concerning the church of Die, where a bishop was ordained without warrant by the bishop of Vienne. I. That through Veranus the bishop, Mamertus be warned to abstain henceforth from ordinations, at the peril of his own rank and privileges. II. That he who was consecrated for the people of Die by Mamertus be confirmed by the judgment of Leontius, bishop of Arles, by whom he ought to have been consecrated. To his most beloved brethren -- Victurus, Ingenuus, Ydatius, Eustasius, Fontejus, Viventius, Eulalius, Veranus, Faustus, Auxanius, Proculus, Ausonius, Paulus, Memorialis, Coelestius, Projectus, Eutropius, Avitianus, Ursus, and Leontius -- Hilarus [sends greeting]. 1. To us, who were greatly anxious and, from the things which a recent and reliable report had brought to us, held in suspense by much expectation, the letters of your love were delivered through our brother and fellow-bishop Antonius, whom we judge a worthy interpreter for so great an embassy; and these letters saddened us by the very opening of their text. For we, who believed that our anxiety would find rest and be in great part relieved in those matters which were laid down by our predecessor of holy memory concerning the bishop of Vienne, have learned by plain assertion, and marvel -- not without grief -- that those decrees could now be overstepped by Mamertus the bishop, by which the privilege of the church had been established to be acquired: especially since the moderation of our brother and fellow-bishop Leontius ought to have furnished a pattern of self-restraint to one grasping after more; or, if puffed up by a spirit of rivalry he judged that he must disregard what he ought not, he should at least, instructed by the example of his own predecessor, have imitated the temperance of him whose honor he enjoys, and not by transgressing have violated what -- did we not hold to the measures of patience -- he might even now lose. 2. Whom has a rebellious mind ever profited, or whom has the swelling of pride not brought low? Higher is the grace of humility, to which, through poverty of spirit, is opened the way of the heavenly kingdom unto the reward of the promised blessedness [cf. Matthew 5]. Nor let the transgressor reckon what he has done to be a trifling matter, if, taught by ecclesiastical doctrines, he recognizes what each man deserves: since the one, according to the prophetic voice, is forbidden to dwell in the midst of the Lord's house [cf. Psalm], while the other is declared, with the Lord ever regarding him, to be joined to Him, by whose consolation he is saved [cf. Isaiah 65:2]. Many sayings of the venerable ancients could be brought forward, which are shown to have been spoken in accordance with the truth; but the more recent examples are to be taken from the very cause which has thrust itself forward that we should speak of it. Does not Mamertus the bishop remember that the dignity of the church of Vienne grew at one time through the transgression of the bishop of Arles, and was afterward settled by inviolable decree for the correcting of the things that had been wrongly done, lest the one be found without glory and the other found wholly stripped of his ancient honor through the fault of his predecessor? 3. As, therefore, both the report of your love and the disclosure of our brother and fellow-bishop Antonius have made clear, it is evident that the aforesaid man, by willing too much, wishes to destroy a privilege bounded by fixed limits -- he who, abusing the forbearance of our brother and fellow-priest Leontius, did not fear to consecrate a bishop for the people of Die against what is lawful, even though the man was deserving. In this matter his deed ought to have been so undone that, according to the gravity of the things which were perpetrated, he should see even that man removed from the priestly fellowship -- not without the loss of his own rank -- the man whom he ordained unlawfully; and that whoever is convicted of having acted most unworthily, being rebuked, should feel a just retribution, lest unchastised rashness should suppose it had brought forth a precedent of license for audacity once conceived. But for the peace of the churches we, mindful of apostolic wisdom, have willed that the wounds of so great a transgression be treated beforehand with soothing remedies, so that a member of our body, perhaps to be healed, may be recalled to its former soundness by gentler medicines, and that what for the time is not bidden to be cut off may not be believed to be neglected. The gentleness of severity is always the forerunner of healing, nor is every fault at once checked by the knife, or offered to it unexamined or where it might easily do good. For now the fitness of the time, now the need of the ailing man, now both the measure and the quality of the medicine itself must be sought: that all the care of the healer, exercised through wisdom in the repressing of faults, may rejoice in the restoration of that which it saves, and may not lack moderation in that which it cuts away. 4. These things, therefore, having been weighed by your brotherhood gravely and prudently, let it not suppose that other matters can be passed over by us in silence -- matters in which he who is not undeservedly struck has risen up chiefly to the affront of one who deserves it. For from our brother Leontius nothing of the right established by our predecessor of holy memory could be abrogated, nothing that is owed to his honor could be taken away: because it has also been decreed by the law of Christian princes that whatever the bishop of the apostolic see should have pronounced by his own examination on behalf of the churches and their rulers, for the peace of all the Lord's priests and the observance of discipline itself in removing confusions, your charity, together with its peoples, should recognize as to be received with reverence and tenaciously kept; nor could those things ever be torn down which are upheld both by priestly ecclesiastical command and by royal command. Wherefore, dearest brethren, it is fitting that the presumption of the aforesaid man, which proceeded to the injury of our brother and fellow-bishop Leontius, be so tolerated -- free now for the time from the worthy retribution -- that, if the transgressor abuses the remedies of satisfaction and pardon, and does not promise that the guilt of the present excess is to be cured by diligence of future observance, then, on the complaint being renewed, the privileges of the church of Vienne be transferred to the bishop of Arles by the same precedent by which they passed at the beginning. I. 5. Wherefore, holding to the name of our moderation, we have sent written instructions to Veranus, our brother and fellow-bishop, that he may, by our delegation, deal with the aforesaid man, so that he may learn what you have reported concerning him: because it ought not to be burdensome to rebuke an erring brother for his own excesses, to which it is established that the precept bids us grant pardon [cf. Matthew 18:22]. But it is necessary that, if we shall have received no sign of his correction -- which is to be held to by that profession whereby [Mamertus] testifies that the decree of the apostolic see is always to be preserved, at the peril of his own rank, without any further transgression thereafter -- the same four cities, with the ordination of which Mamertus the bishop either was not or shall not have been content, be recalled to the church of Arles. And this also will have to be done if ever, after him whom we now rebuke in charity and trust will henceforth abstain from unlawful acts, any imitator of this presumption shall arise. II. 6. Concerning this man, indeed, who, though acknowledged to have been ordained without warrant for the people of Die, we have judged, by reason of justice, that his priesthood be confirmed by the judgment of our brother and fellow-bishop Leontius, by whom he ought duly to have been consecrated. May God keep you, dearest brethren, for a long age! Given on the sixth day before the Kalends of March, after the consulship of Basilius, the most illustrious man, consul.

26^fV* Hilari papae ad episcopos synodi iii ca.usa Mamerti eongregatae^ seu Fraeoeptum Hilari papae de eoclesia Deensi, ubi episeopiui indebite a Viennensi episcopo ordinatus est. L Vt per Veraiuim epitoopniii moneatiir Mamertut, ut ab ordinationibiis iadabitup. ordinit Bui et privilegiorum periculo in posterum abitineat. n. Vt qui Deentibut a Xamerto contecratTLt ett, Leontii Arelateniia epiioopi» a qao oonsecrari debuit, arbitrio conflrmetur. Dilectissimis fratribus, Victuro, Ingenuo, Ydatio, EustasiO; Fontejo, Viventio, Eulalio^ Ve- rano^), Fausto, Auxanio, Proculo, Ausonio, Paulo, Memoriali, Coelestio, Projecto, Eutro- pio, Avitiano, Urso et Leontio Hilarus. 1. SoUicitis admodum nobis et ex his, quae proxima ad nos relatio eerta^) detulerat, multa exspectatione suspensis, litterae dile- ctionis vestrae, fratre et coepiscopo nostro Antonio, quem dignum tanta legutioue probamus interpetem, deferente, sunt traditae, quae nos ipsis contextus sui contristavere principiis. Nam qui requiescere sollicitudinem nostram et magna ex parte relevari in his, quae a ' sanctae memoriae decessore meo de Viennensi episcopo praefixa sunt, credebamus, evidenti assertione cognovimus et non sine dolore mi- ramur, definitiones illas a Mamerto episcopo nunc potuisse trans- cendi, per quas ecclesiae privilegium ptobarat acquiri: quum prae- cipue fratris et coepiscopi nostri Leontii moderatio formam eontinen- tiae praebere debuerit ambienti, aut si spiritu aemulationis inQatus euni, quod non oportuit, arbitratus est negligendum, decessoris *) sui saltem instructus exemplo, illius iniitaretiu* temperantiam, cujus ho- nore perfungitur, nec transgrediendo violaret, quod jam nunc, nisi patientiae moderamina teneremus, posset amittere. 2. Cui luiquam profuit mens rebelKs, aut quem superbiae non inclinavit elatio? Altior est liumilitatis gratia, cui paupertate spi- Matth. ritus ad praemium promissae beatitudinis iter regni coelestis ape- ' * ritur. Nec perfunctorium praevaricator existimet esse quod fecit, si eruditus doctrinis ecclesiasticis , quid uterque mereatur, agnoscit: Paalin. qumn alter secundum propheticam vocem in medio domiuicae domus* 1 yfVy i . ') Doest Id L' L* b, in L* k^emnio. Hunc Veranum Sirmondus Lugdimenaem episcopum opinaturf TillemontiuH Venciensem, Galliae chri8tianae scriptores in Kuchcrio Lugduncnsi utriusque scntentiiu.' momenta librantes neutram in partem declinant. ') scil. Gunduici magistri militum opera. ') Venerii nimirum, quera Leonis sententiae in epistola 66 prolatae assen* KUm prafbuiHHe hine coUij^tur. * EPISTOLA 10. 149 hahitare prohibetur, alter respiciente *) se Domino semper junctus a. 464. asseritur, cujus consolatioue salvatur. Possent venerabilium veterum Is.65,2. midt^ replicari, quae juxta veritatem dicta demonstrantur, sed ab eadem causa, quae se ut loqueremur ingessit, recentiora sunt exem- pJa svimenda. Non*) dignitatem Viennensis ecclesiae Mamertus epi- seopu£ meminit Arelatensis antistitis ^uondam transgressione crevisse, et piro corrigendis, quae perperam gerebantur, inviolabili postea de- finitione compositum, ne alter inglorius, alter in totum veteri hojiore per vitium praecessoris reperiretur exutus? 3. Sicut ergo et vestrae dilectionis relatio et fratris et coepi- scopi nostri Antonii insinuatio reseravit, claret, praedictum privi- legi» certis conclusa terminis velle perdere plus volendo, qui abusus ftatris et consacerdotis Leontii moderantia, Deensibus contra fas episc^-opum, etiamsi est meritus, ncm timuit consecrare. In quo fa- ctum. ejus convenerat sic resolvi, ut juxta eorum, quae perpetrata suiit , qualitatem non sine jactura proprii ordinis ^) etiam ilhim a sacerdotali consortio submoveri cemeret, quem creavit indebite; queinque') indignissime fecisse convincitur, correptum justa ultione eesitiret, ne conceptae audaciae incastigata temeritas licentiae se pe- perisse putaret exemplum. Verum ad ecclesiarum quietem tantae traiisgressionis vulnera memores apostolicae sapientiae curari volu- fflos ante fomentis, ut, corporis nostri membrum forte sanandum in integritatem pristinam per mitiora medicamenta revocetur, nec cre- datur negligi, quod interim non monetur abscindi. Praevia medendi semper austeritatis est lenitas, nec onmis ferro statim culpa com- pesdtur, aut inexplorato vel quod facile prodesse possit oflFertur. Nunc enim temporis opportunitas, nunc languentis necessitas, nunc medicinae ipsius et modus est quaerendus et qualitas : ut omnis per sapientiam facta in vitiis^) reprimendis soUicitudo curantis gaudeat reparatione, quod salvat, nec careat moderatione, quod resecat. 4. His igitur vestra fratemitas graviter prudenterque per- pensis, alia^) apud nos dissimulari posse non aestimet, in quorum se maxime contumeliam, qui non immerito pulsatur, erexit. Fratri n.464. enim nostro Leontio nihil constituti a sanctae memoriae deeessore meo juris potuit abrogari^^), nihil valuit, quod honori ejus debetur, auferri: quia Christianorum quoque principum lege decretum est, ut quidquid ecclesiis earumque rectoribus pro quiete omnium Doniini sacerdotum atque ipsius observantia disciplinae in auferendis con- fusionibus apostolicae sedis antistes suo pronuntiasset examine, ve- neranter accipi tenaciterque servari cum suis plebibus caritas vestra cognosceret ; nec unquam possent convelli, quae et sacerdotali eccle- siastica praeceptione fulcirentur et regia. Unde, • fratres carissiini, praesumptionem praedicti, quae in fratris et coepiscopi nostri Leontii processit injuriam, ita convenit tolerari dignae nunc interim ultionis immimem, ut si transgressor remediis abutitur satisfactionis et veniae, nec culpam praesentis excessus curandam futurae observantdaesedu- litate promittit, redeimte querimonia eo privilegia Viennensis eccle- siae ad Arelatensem antistitem transferantur exemplo, quo migravere principio. I. 5. Unde nostrae moderationis nomen tenentes, ad Veranum fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum scripta direximus, ut praedictum ex nostra delegatione conveniat, quatenus quid de eo retuleritis agnoscat: quia onerosum esse non debet, dehnquentem*^) fratrem de propriis excessibus increpare, quibus praeceptum constat fre- 18*22 ^^^^^^ ignoscere. Necesse est autem, si nulhim correctionis ejus indicium sumpserimus, quod illa est professione retinendum, qua") definitionem sedis apostoHcae periculo ordinis sui semper consenran- dam sine ulla deinceps transgressione testetur, ad Arelatensem ec- clesiam easdem quatuor civitates, quarum non fuit aut non faerit Mamertus episcopus ordinatione contentus'^), esse revocandas. Quod etiam tunc oportebit fieri, si uUus unquam post eum, quem nuno caritate corripimus et ulterius ab illicitis confidimus abstinere, prae- sumptionis hujus imitator exstiterit. *") In uno ms. abrogare — auferre, In sequentibus Hilanis commemorare videfur Valentiniani novellam d. 8 Jid. a. U5 (inter Leouis epist. 11). '') Hilari mentem si iisseqiumiu*, docet delinquentis incrcpationem ex i^o> scendi praecepto proficisci, quia increpatio adhiberi debet, ut reus indnlgentia 80 dignum praebeat (c»'). '*) L' L* b quam • definitione, «* quam definitionem. Quod Mamerti correctioiiiB indicium velit Hilarus, hic aperte declarat: ut nimirum definitionem suam de Viennensis dioecesis divisione Leonis judicio fultam religiosissime se sub ordinis et gradus sui periculo servaturum profitcatur. Id vero nunquam a Mameito factum esse, ex eo Labatus concludit, quod Deensium ecclesia semper sub epi- scopo et metropoli Viennensi relicta, nidla hiyus decreti ratio habita videatur. '^) In L' L^ L* b deest contentus, Quatuor illas civitates ex LooniB epist. 66 jam supra ad epist. 9 not. 4 nominavimus. EPISTOLAE 10. 11. 151 II. 6. De hoc sane, qiii licet iiulebite Deensibus cognoscitur ordi-a.464. iiatus, justitiae ratione censuimus, iit sacerdotium ejus fratris et coepiscopi nostri Leontii confirmetur arbitrio, a quo rite debuit con- secrari^*). Deus vos costodiat, fratres carissimi, aevo longiore! Data sexto Calendas Martias post consulatimi Basilii viri clarissimi consulis.