St. Augustine

The famous phrase “Rome has spoken; the case is concluded” is a paraphrase of this quote:


“For already have two councils on this question been sent to the Apostolic see; and rescripts also have come from thence. The question has been brought to an issue; would that their error may sometime be brought to an issue too!” (Sermons 131, 10).


“Number the bishops from the see of Peter itself. And in that order of Fathers see who succeeded whom, That is the rock against which the gates of hell do not prevail.” (Saint Augustine, Father and Doctor of the Church, Psalmus contra partem Donati, 18, GCC 51 [A.D. 393]).


“For if the lineal succession of bishops is to be taken into account, with how much more certainty and benefit to the Church do we reckon back till we reach Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: "Upon this rock will I build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!" The successor of Peter was Linus, and his successors in unbroken continuity were these: -- Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephirinus, Calixtus, Urbanus, Pontianus, Antherus, Fabianus, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephanus, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychianus, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Marcus, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius, whose successor is the present Bishop Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found.” (Letter 53).


“[In] the Roman Church, the supremacy of the Apostolic Chair has always flourished.” (Epistle 43)


“And because, even while walking in Him, they are not exempt from sins, which creep in through the infirmities of this life, He has given them the salutary remedies of alms whereby their prayers might be aided when He taught them to say, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.’ So does the Church act in blessed hope through this troublous life; and this Church symbolized in its generality, was personified in the Apostle Peter, on account of the primacy of his apostleship. For, as regards his proper personality, he was by nature one man, by grace one Christian, by still more abounding grace one, and yet also, the first apostle; but when it was said to him, ‘I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven’, he represented the universal Church, which in this world is shaken by various temptations, that come upon it like torrents of rain, floods and tempests, and falls not, because it is founded upon a rock (petra), from which Peter received his name. For petra (rock) is not derived from Peter, but Peter from petra; just as Christ is not called so from the Christian, but the Christian from Christ. For on this very account the Lord said, ‘On this rock will I build my Church, because Peter had said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’. On this rock, therefore, He said, which you have confessed, I will build my Church. For the Rock (Petra) was Christ; and on this foundation was Peter himself also built. ‘For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Christ Jesus’. The Church, therefore, which is founded in Christ received from Him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in the person of Peter, that is to say, the power of binding and loosing sins. For what the Church is essentially in Christ, such representatively is Peter in the rock (petra); and in this representation Christ is to be understood as the Rock, Peter as the Church. This Church, accordingly, which Peter represented, so long as it lives amidst evil, by loving and following Christ is delivered from evil.” (Tractate 124).


“But what follows? ‘For the poor you have always with you, but me ye will not have always.’ We can certainly understand, ‘poor you have always’; what He has thus said is true. When were the poor wanting in the Church? ‘But me ye will not have always’; what does He mean by this? How are we to understand, ‘Me ye will not have always’? Don’t be alarmed: it was addressed to Judas. Why, then, did He not say, ‘you will have’, but, ‘ye will have’? Because Judas is not here a unit. One wicked man represents the whole body of the wicked; in the same way as Peter, the whole body of the good, yea, the body of the Church, but in respect to the good. For if in Peter’s case there were no sacramental symbol of the Church, the Lord would not have said to him, ‘I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.’ If this was said only to Peter, it gives no ground of action to the Church. But if such is the case also in the Church, that what is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven, — for when the Church excommunicates, the excommunicated person is bound in heaven; when one is reconciled by the Church, the person so reconciled is loosed in heaven: — if such, then, is the case in the Church, Peter, in receiving the keys, represented the holy Church. If, then, in the person of Peter were represented the good in the Church, and in Judas’ person were represented the bad in the Church, then to these latter was it said, ‘But me ye will not have always’. But what means the ‘not always’; and what, ‘the always’? If you are good, if you belong to the body represented by Peter, you have Christ both now and hereafter: now by faith, by sign, by the sacrament of baptism, by the bread and wine of the altar.” (Tractate 50 on the Gospel of John).


“It's clear, you see, from many places in scripture that Peter can stand for, or represent, the Church; above all from that place where it says, To you will I hand over the keys ofthe kingdom ofheaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall also be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall also be loosed in heaven (Mt 16: 19). Did Peter receive these keys, and Paul not receive them? Did Peter receive them, and John and James and the other apostles not receive them? Or are these keys not to be found in the Church, where sins are being forgiven every day? But because Peter symbolically stood for the Church, what was given to him alone was given to the whole Church. So Peter represented the Church; the Church is the body of Christ.” (Sermon 149:7).


“Let us not listen to those who deny that the Church of God is able to forgive all sins. They are wretched indeed, because they do not recognize in Peter the rock and they refuse to believe that the keys of heaven, lost from their own hands, have been given to the Church.” (Christian Combat, 31:33 , in JUR, 3:51 [A.D. 397]).


“…A faggot that is cut off from the vine retains its shape. But what use is that shape, if it is not living from the root? Come, brothers, if you wish to be engrafted in the vine. It is grievous when we see you thus lying cut off. Number the priests even from that seat of Peter. And in that order of fathers see who to whom succeeded: that is the rock which the proud gates of hades do not conquer. All who rejoice in peace, only judge truly.”


“For in the Catholic Church, not to speak of the purest wisdom, to the knowledge of which a few spiritual, men attain in this life, so as to know it, in the scantiest measure, deed, because they are but men, still without any uncertainty (since the rest of the multitude derive their entire security not from acuteness of intellect, but from simplicity of faith,)--not to speak of this wisdom, which you do not believe to be in the Catholic Church, there are many other things which most justly keep me in her bosom. The consent of peoples and nations keeps me in the Church; so does her authority, inaugurated by miracles, nourished by hope, enlarged by love, established by age. The succession of priests keeps me, beginning from the very seat of the Apostle Peter, to whom the Lord, after His resurrection, gave it in charge to feed His sheep, down to the present episcopate. And so, lastly, does the name itself of Catholic, which, not without reason, amid so many heresies, the Church has thus retained; so that, though all heretics wish to be called Catholics, yet when a stranger asks where the Catholic Church meets, no heretic will venture to point to his own chapel or house. Such then in number and importance are the precious ties belonging to the Christian name which keep a believer in the Catholic Church, as it is right they should, though from the slowness of our understanding, or the small attainment of our life, the truth may not yet fully disclose itself. But with you, where there is none of these things to attract or keep me, the promise of truth is the only thing that comes into play. Now if the truth is so clearly proved as to leave no possibility of doubt, it must be set before all the things that keep me in the Catholic Church; but if there is only a promise without any fulfillment, no one shall move me from the faith which binds my mind with ties so many and so strong to the Christian religion.


“For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church. So when those on whose authority I have consented to believe in the gospel tell me not to believe in Manichaeus, how can I but consent? Take your choice. If you say, Believe the Catholics: their advice to me is to put no faith in you; so that, believing them, I am precluded from believing you;--If you say, Do not believe the Catholics: you cannot fairly use the gospel in bringing me to faith in Manichaeus; for it was at the command of the Catholics that I believed the gospel;--Again, if you say, You were right in believing the Catholics when they praised the gospel, but wrong in believing their vituperation of Manichaeus: do you think me such a fool as to believe or not to believe as you like or dislike, without any reason? It is therefore fairer and safer by far for me, having in one instance put faith in the Catholics, not to go over to you, till, instead of bidding me believe, you make me understand something in the clearest and most open manner. To convince me, then, you must put aside the gospel. If you keep to the gospel, I will keep to those who commanded me to believe the gospel; and, in obedience to them, I will not believe you at all. But if haply you should succeed in finding in the gospel an incontrovertible testimony to the apostleship of Manichaeus, you will weaken my regard for the authority of the Catholics who bid me not to believe you; and the effect of that will be, that I shall no longer be able to believe the gospel either, for it was through the Catholics that I got my faith in it; and so, whatever you bring from the gospel will no longer have any weight with me. Wherefore, if no clear proof of the apostleship of Manichaeus is found in the gospel, I will believe the Catholics rather than you. But if you read thence some passage clearly in favor of Manichaeus, I will believe neither them nor you: not them, for they lied to me about you; nor you, for you quote to me that Scripture which I had believed on the authority of those liars. But far be it that I should not believe the gospel; for believing it, I find no way of believing you too. For the names of the apostles, as there recorded, do not include the name of Manichaeus. And who the successor of Christ's betrayer was we read in the Acts of the Apostles; which book I must needs believe if I believe the gospel, since both writings alike Catholic authority commends to me.” (Against the Letter of Mani Called “The Foundation” 4:5 [A.D. 397]).


“If all men throughout the world were such as you most vainly accuse them of having been, what has the chair of the Roman church done to you, in which Peter sat, and in which Anastasius sits today? Or the chair of the Church of Jerusalem, in which James once sat, and in which John sits today, with which we are united in catholic unity, and from which you have severed yourselves by your mad fury? Why do you call the apostolic chair a seat of the scornful? If it is on account of the men whom you believe to use the words of the law without performing it, do you find that our Lord Jesus Christ was moved by the Pharisees, of whom He says, “They say, and do not,” to do any despite to the seat in which they sat? Did He not commend the seat of Moses, and maintain the honor of the seat, while He convicted those that sat in it? For He says, “They sit in Moses’ seat: all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works:” (Against the Letters of Petilani 2:118 [A.D. 402]).


"If all men throughout the world were such as you most vainly accuse them of having been, what has the chair of the Roman church done to you, in which Peter sat, and in which Anastasius [the 39th Pope] sits today?" (Against the Letters of Petilani 2:118 [A.D. 402]).


“Among these [apostles] Peter alone almost everywhere deserved to represent the whole Church. Because of that representation of the Church, which only he bore, he deserved to hear ‘I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven.’” (Sermon 295 [c. 411 A.D])


“If the very order of episcopal succession is to be considered, how much more surely, truly, and safely do we number them from Peter himself, to whom, as to one representing the whole Church, the Lord said, ‘Upon this rock I will build my Church’ . . . [Matt. 16:18]. Peter was succeeded by Linus, Linus by Clement, Clement by Anacletus, Anacletus by Evaristus . . . In this order of succession a Donatist bishop is not to be found ” (Letters 53:1:2 [A.D. 412]).


“Some things are said which seem to relate especially to the apostle Peter, and yet are not clear in their meaning unless referred to the Church, which he is acknowledged to have represented in a figure on account of the primacy which he bore among the disciples. Such is ‘I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven,’ and other similar passages.” (Commentary on Psalm 108 1 [A.D. 415]).


“Who is ignorant that the first of the apostles is the most blessed Peter?” (Commentary on John 56:1 [A.D. 416]).


“Carthage was also near to the countries beyond the sea, and distinguished by illustrious renown, so that it had a bishop of more than ordinary influence, who could afford to disregard even a number of enemies conspiring against him, because he saw himself united by letters of communion both to the Roman Church, in which the supremacy of an apostolic chair has always flourished.” (Letter 74, chp 3).


“For if in Peter’s case there were no sacramental symbol of the Church, the Lord would not have said to him, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.” If this was said only to Peter, it gives no ground of action to the Church. But if such is the case also in the Church, that what is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and what is loosed on earth is loosed in heaven, — for when the Church excommunicates, the excommunicated person is bound in heaven; when one is reconciled by the Church, the person so reconciled is loosed in heaven: — if such, then, is the case in the Church, Peter, in receiving the keys, represented the holy Church.” (Tractate 50 on the Gospel of John).


“For at that time the apostles were not yet fitted even to die for Christ, when He said to them, “Ye cannot follow me now,” and when the very foremost of them, Peter, who had presumptuously declared that he was already able, met with a different experience from what he anticipated.” (Tractate 96 on the Gospel of John).


“So does the Church act in blessed hope through this troublous life; and this Church symbolized in its generality, was personified in the Apostle Peter, on account of the primacy of his apostleship.” (Tractate 124 on the Gospel of John).


“In Peter, which means Rocky, we see our attention drawn to the Rock. Now the apostle Paul says about the former people, ‘They drank from the spiritual rock that was following them; but the rock was Christ’ (1 Cor 10:4). So this disciple is called Rocky from the Rock, like a Christian is from Christ. Why have I wanted to make this little introduction? In order to suggest to you that in Peter the Church is to be understood. Christ, you see, built His Church not on a man but on Peter’s confession. What is Peter’s confession? ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ There’s the rock for you, there’s the foundation, there’s where the Church has been built, which the gates of the underworld cannot conquer.” (Sermon 229).


“[On this matter of the Pelagians] two councils have already been sent to the Apostolic See [the bishop of Rome], and from there rescripts too have come. The matter is at an end; would that the error too might be at an end!” (Sermons 131:10 [A.D. 411]).


“But that rock, Peter himself, that great mountain, when he prayed and saw that vision, was watered from above.” (Expostition on Psalm 104).


“The venerable Pope Zosimus, keeping in view this deprecatory preamble, dealt with the man, puffed up as he was with the blasts of false doctrine, so as that he should condemn all the objectionable points which had been alleged against him by the deacon Paulinus, and that he should yield his assent to the rescript of the Apostolic See which had been issued by his predecessor of sacred memory.


“For although he deceived the council in Palestine, seemingly clearing himself before it, he entirely failed in imposing on the church at Rome.” (On the Grace of Christ and Original Sin, 2:8,9).


“To Caelestine, my lord most blessed, and holy father venerated with all due affection, Augustine sends greetings in the Lord. First of all I congratulate you that our Lord God has, as we have heard, established you in the illustrious chair which you occupy without any division among His people…There are cases on record, in which the Apostolic See, either pronouncing judgment or confirming the judgment of others, sanctioned decisions by which persons, for certain offenses, were neither deposed from their episcopal office nor left altogether unpunished.” (Letter 209).


“And when his speech [Celestius to Pope Zosimus] came to the question that was under consideration, he said: "If, indeed, questions have arisen beyond the scope of the faith, on which there might perhaps be dissensions on the part of a great number of people, in no case have I pretended to pronounce a decision on any dogma, as if I myself possessed a definite authority in the matter ; but whatever I have drawn from the source of the prophets and apostles, I have presented for the approval of your apostolic office; so that if any error has crept in among us, human beings that we are, through our ignorance, it may be corrected by your sentence." (De Peccati, Originali).


“Our forefathers gave the name `Chair' to this feast so that we might remember that the Prince of the Apostles was entrusted with the `Chair' of the episcopate ... Blessed be God, who deigned to exalt the apostle Peter over the whole Church. It is most fitting that this foundation be honoured since it is the means by which we may ascend to Heaven.” (Sermon 15 on the Saints).


“I close with a word of counsel to you who are implicated in those shocking and damnable errors, that, if you acknowledge the supreme authority of Scripture, you should recognise that authority which from the time of Christ Himself, through the ministry of His apostles, and through a regular succession of bishops in the seats of the apostles, has been preserved to our own day throughout the whole world, with a reputation known to all.” (Reply to Faustus the Manichean, 33:9).


“ "For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish their own, they have not submitted to the righteousness of God." My brethren, have compassion with me. When you find such men, do not hide them; have no misdirected mercy. Refute those who contradict, and those who resist bring to us. For already two councils on this question have been sent to the apostolic see ; and replies have also come from there. The cause is finished; would that the error might sometime be finished also .” (Sermon 131).


“ For men, wishing to be built upon men, said "I am of Paul-and I of Apollos, I of Cephas ", that is Peter. And others who did not wish to be built upon Peter but upon the rock "But I am of Christ". But when the apostle Paul realized that he was chosen and Christ despised, he said "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in Paul's name? ". As not in Paul, so neither in Peter, but in the name of Christ, that Peter might be built upon the rock, not the rock upon Peter. Therefore this same Peter, called blessed by the rock, bearing the figure of the Church, holding the chiefplace in the apostleship, shortly after he heard he was blessed, now heard that he was Peter, now heard that he was to be built upon the rock. . . . . The apostle Paul says, "Now we who are strong should bear the burdens of the weak". When Peter says, "Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God", he represents the strong; but when he fears and totters, and wishes that Christ should not suffer, fearing the death, and not recognizing the life, he represents the weak ones of the Church. In that one apostle then, that is Peter, in the order of the apostles first and principal, in whom the Church was figured, both kinds were to be represented, that is both the strong and the weak, because the Church is not without both.” (Sermon 76).


“ For Peter in many places in the Scriptures appears to represent the Church; especially in that place where it was said "I give to thee the keys . . . shall' be loosed in heaven". What! did Peter receive these keys, and Paul not receive? Did Peter receive and John and James not receive, and the rest of the apostles? Or are not the keys in the Church where sins are daily remitted? But since in a figure Peter represented the Church, what was given to him singly was given to the Church.” (Sermon 149).


“As you know, the Lord Jesus chose his disciples before his passion, whom he named apostles. Among these Peter alone almost everywhere deserved to represent the whole Church. Because of that representation of the whole Church which only he bore, he deserved to hear "I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven". For these keys not one man but the unity of the Church received. Here therefore the excellence of Peter is set forth, because he represented that universality and unity of the Church, when it was said to him " I give to thee" what was given to all. For that you may know that the Church did receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven, hear elsewhere what the Lord said to all the apostles, "Receive the Holy Ghost" and forthwith "Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them, and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained ". This pertains to the keys, of which it was said "Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven". But this he said to Peter, that you may know that Peter then represented the person of the whole Church. Hear what is said to him, what to all the faithful saints . . . Deservedly also, after his resurrection, the Lord commended his sheep to Peter himself to feed; for he was not the only one among the disciples who was thought worthy to feed the Lord's sheep, but when Christ speaks to one, unity is commended-and to Peter for the first time, because Peter is first among the apostles.” (Sermon 295).


“ [In my first book against Donatus] I mentioned somewhere with reference to the apostle Peter that " the Church is founded upon him as upon a rock". This meaning is also sung by many lips in the lines of blessed Ambrose, where, speaking of the domestic cock, he says : "When it crows, he, the rock of the Church, absolves from sin." But I realize that I have since frequently explained the words of our Lord : "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church", to the effect that they should be understood as referring to him whom Peter confessed when he said: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God", and as meaning that Peter, having been named after this rock, figured the person of the Church, which is built upon this rock and has received the keys of the kingdom of heaven. For what was said to him was not "Thou art the rock", but "Thou art Peter". But the rock was Christ, having confessed whom (even as the whole Church confesses) Simon was named Peter. Which of these two interpretations is the more likely to be correct, let the reader choose which of these two opinions is the more probable..” (Retractations, Book I, Chapter I).


“ Just as the apostles who formed the exact number of twelve, in other words parted into four parts of three each, when all were questioned only Peter replied "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God ", and to him it was said " I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven", as if he alone received the power of binding and loosing : seeing then that one so spake on behalf of all, and received the gift along with all, as if personifying the unity itself; one for all because there is unity in all.” (In Joannis Euangelium) [A.D. 416]).


“But first the Lord asks what he knew, not once but a second and a third time, whether Peter loved him; and just as often he has the same reply, that he is loved, while just as often he gives Peter the same charge to feed his sheep. The threefold denial is renounced by a threefold confession, that the tongue may serve love no less than fear, and imminent death may not seem to have drawn out more from the voice than the present life. Let it be the office of love to feed the Lord's flock, if it was the signal of fear to deny the Shepherd.” (In Joannis Euangelium).


“These two states of life [the life of faith and the life of sight] were symbolized by Peter and John, each of them one; but in this life they both walked by faith, and they will both enjoy that eternal life through sight. For the whole body of the saints, therefore, inseparably belonging to the body of Christ, and for their safe pilotage through this stormy life, did Peter, the first of the apostles, receive the keys of the kingdom of heaven for binding and loosing sins. And for the same congregation of the saints did John the evangelist recline on the breast of Christ, in reference to the perfect repose in the bosom of that mysterious life to come. For it is not the former alone, but the whole Church that binds and looses sins; nor did the latter alone drink at the fountain of the Lord's breast, to utter again in preaching those truths of the Word in the beginning, God with God, and those other sublime truths, the divinity of Christ, and the Trinity and Unity of the whole Godhead, which are yet to be seen in the kingdom face to face, but meanwhile, till the Lord comes, are only to be seen in a mirror and in a riddle ; but the Lord has himself diffused this very gospel throughout the whole world, that everyone of his own may drink Gom it, according to his capacity.” (In Joannis Evangelium).


“If all men throughout the world were such as you most vainly accuse them of being, what has the chair of the Roman church done to you, in which Peter sat, and in which Anastasius sits to-day ; or the chair of the church of Jerusalem, in which James sat, and in which John sits to-day, with which we are connected in catholic unity, and from which you have severed yourselves by mad fury?” (Contra Litteras Petiliani, Book 2 [A.D. 402].


“If the lineal succession of bishops is to be considered, with how much more benefit to the Church do we reckon from Peter himself, to whom, as bearing in a figure the whole Church, the Lord said: "Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not conquer it"! For to Peter succeeded Linus, Clement, Anacletus, Evaristus, Alexander, Sixtus, Telesphorus, Iginus, Anicetus, Pius, Soter, Eleutherius, Victor, Zephyrinus, Calixtus, Urban, Pontian, Antherus, Fabian, Cornelius, Lucius, Stephen, Xystus, Dionysius, Felix, Eutychian, Gaius, Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, Miltiades, Sylvester, Mark, Julius, Liberius, Damasus, Siricius, Anastasius. In this order of succession no Donatist bishop is found. But, unexpectedly, they sent from Africa an ordained man, who, presiding over a few Africans in Rome, propagated the title of Mountain Men or Cutzupits.” (Fortunatus, Alypius, and Augustine to Generosus [A.D. 400]).


The following two excerpts give recaps of The Council of Milevis, which you will see play out later on (in the section titled “The Council of Milevis”:


“After letters had come to us from the East, discussing the case in the clearest manner, we were bound not to fail in assisting the Church’s need with such episcopal authority as we possess (nullo modo jam qualicumque episcopali auctoritate deesse Ecclesiae debueramus). In consequence, relations as to this matter were sent from two Councils — those of Carthage and of Milevis — to the Apostolic See, before the ecclesiastical acts by which Pelagius is said to have been acquitted had come into our hands or into Africa at all. We also wrote to Pope Innocent, of blessed memory a private letter, besides the relations of the Councils, wherein we described the case at greater length, to all of these he [Pope Innocent] answered in the manner which was the right and duty of the bishop of the Apostolic See (Ad omnia nobis ille rescripsit eo modo quo fas erat atque oportebat Apostolicae sedis Antistitem). All of which you may now read, if perchance none of them or not all of them have yet received you; in them you will see that, while he has preserved the moderation which was right, so that the heretic should not be condemned if he condemns his errors, yet the new and pernicious error is so restrained by ecclesiastical authority that we much wonder that there should be any still remaining who, by any error whatsoever, try to fight against the grace of God….” (Augustine, Epistle 186: Alypius and Augustine to Paulinus – Bishop of Nola near Naples. AD 417. Patrologia Latina 33.816).


“Refute those [Pelagians] who contrdict, and those who resist bring to us. For already two councils on this question have been sent to the Apostolic see and replies have also come from there. The cause is finished; would that the error might sometime be finished also!” (Augustine, Sermon 131. Sept 23, 417. Patrologia Latina 38. 734).


"[On this matter of the Pelagians] two councils have already been sent to the Apostolic See [the bishop of Rome], and from there rescripts too have come. The matter is at an end; would that the error too might be at an end!" (Sermon 81).


“The new-fangled Pelagian heretics have been most justly condemned by the authority of catholic councils and of the Apostolic See. (On the Soul and its Origin).


“After a letter had reached us from the East, quite openly pushing the [Pelagian] heresy, it was now our duty not to fail the Church in any way, by any episcopal authority whatever; accordingly reports were sent on this matter from two councils, those of Carthage and Mileve, to the apostolic see. . . . We also wrote to the late Pope Innocent, in addition to the reports of the councils, a private letter,' in which we dealt more fully with the same question. To all he wrote back to us in the manner that was right and proper for the pontiff of the apostolic see.” (Alypius and Augustine to Paulinus [A.D. 417).


“With crafty eloquence he, Antony, persuaded our aged primate, a most venerable man, to believe all his statements, and to commend him as altogether blameless to the venerable Pope Boniface. But why should I rehearse all the rest, seeing the same venerable old man must have reported the whole affair to your holiness? . . . . He, Antony, proclaims : " Either I ought to sit in my own see, or I ought not to be a bishop."


“There are cases on record in which the apostolic see, judging, or confrming thejudgement of others, [sanctioned decisions] by which persons were for offences neither deposed from their episcopal office, nor left altogether unpunished. I will not look into those very remote from our time; I shall mention recent cases. Let Priscus, a bishop of the province of Caesarea, proclaim : " Either the office of primate ought to be open to me as to others, or I ought not to remain a bishop." Let Victor, another bishop of the same province, with whom, when involved in the same penalty as Priscus, no bishop beyond his ' own diocese holds communion, let him, I say, protest: "Either I ought to have communion everywhere, or I ought I not to have it in my own district." Let Lawrence,' a third 1, bishop of the same province, speak, and in the precise words of this man exclaim : "Either I ought to sit in the chair to whichhave been consecrated, or I ought not to be a bishop." But who will censure these judgements, unless he supposes either I that all offences should be overlooked, or that all should be punished in one way?


“Since, then, with pastoral and vigilant caution, the most blessed Pope Boniface has put in his letter about Bishop Antony the words, "if he has truthfully told us the facts", I receive now the course of events which in his pamphlet he I kept back, and also the things which were done after the letter of that man of blessed memory had been read in Africa; and in the mercy of Christ extend your aid to men imploring it more earnestly than he does from whose turbulence they desire to be freed. For either from himself, or at least from very frequent rumours, threats are held out that the courts of justice, and the public powers, and military force are to execute the decision of the apostolic see ; and so these unhappy men, being now catholic Christians, dread severer treatment from a catholic bishop, than they dreaded from the laws of catholic emperors when they were heretics. Do not permit these things to be done, I implore you by the blood of Christ, by the memory of the apostle Peter, who has warned those placed over I Christian people against violently lording it over the brethren. I commend to the gracious love of your holiness both the catholics of Fussala, my children in Christ, and also Bishop Antony, my son in Christ, for I love both. I do not blame the People of Fussala for bringing- to your ears a just complaint against me 1 for imposing on them a man whom I had not proved, and who was in age at least not yet established, by whom they have been so afflicted.” (Epistle 209, to Celestine [A.D. 423]).


“Some things are said which seem to relate especially to the apostle Peter, and yet are not clear in their meaning unless referred to the Church, which he is acknowledged to have represented in a figure, on account of the primacy which he bore among the disciples. Such is "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven", and other similar passages; so Judas represents those Jews who were Christ's enemies.” (Enanatio in Psalmum).


"Then he comes to Simon Peter", as if he had already washed some others, and after them had come to the chief. Who is ignorant that the$rst of the apostles is the most blessed Peter? But we are not therefore to understand that he came to him after others, but that he began from him.” (In Joannis Euangelium 56. [A.D. 416]).


“Carthage was also near the countries over the sea, and distinguished by illustrious renown, so that it had a bishop of more than ordinary influence, who could afford to disregard a number of conspiring enemies because he saw himself joined by letters of communion both to the Roman church, in which the primacy of an apostolic chair always nourished and to other lands from which the gospel came to Africa itself; and he was prepared to defend himself before these churches, if his enemies tried to alienate them from him. . . . It was a matter concerning colleagues who could reserve their entire case to the judgement of other colleagues, especially of apostolic churches. . . . . As if it might not have been said, and most justly said to them [the Donatists] : "Well, let us suppose that these bishops who decided the case of Caecilian at Rome were not good judges ; there still remained a plenary council of the universal Church, in which these judges themselves might be put on their defence, so that, if they were convicted of mistake, their decisions might be reversed." (Epistle 43, to Glorius, etc. [A.D. 397])


“And since the whole Christ is head and body, which truth I do not doubt that you know well, the head is our Saviour himself, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, who now, after he is risen from the dead, sits at the right hand of the Father; but his body is the Church: not this church or that, but diffused over all the world, nor that only which exists among men living, for those also belong to it who were before us and are to be after us to the end of the world. For the whole Church, made up of all the faithful, because all the faithful are members of Christ, has its head, which governs the body, situate in the heavens ; though it is separated from sight, yet it is bound by love.” (Enarratio in Psalmum [A.D. 415]).


“Cyprian speaks as follows in his letter to Quintus "For even Peter . . ." Here is a passage in which Cyprian records what we also learn in Holy Scripture, that the apostle Peter, in whom the primacy of the apostles shines with such exceeding grace, was corrected by the later apostle Paul, when he adopted a custom in the matter of circumcision at variance with the demands of truth. If it was therefore possible for Peter in some point to walk not uprightly according to the truth . . . why might not Cyprian against the rule of truth, which afterwards the whole Church held, compel heretics or schismatics to be baptized afresh? I suppose there is no slight to Cyprian in comparing him with the apostle Peter in respect of his crown of martyrdom; rather I ought to be afraid lest I am slighting Peter. Who can be ignorant that the chief apostolate is to be preferred to any episcopate? But even if the dignity of their sees differs, the glory of martyrdom is one. .


“Nor should we dare to assert any such thing, were we not supported by the unanimous authority of the whole Church, to which he, Cyprian, would without doubt have yielded, if at that time the truth of this question had been established by the investigation and decree of a general council. ….


“It is safe for us not to advance with any rash opinion about things which have been neither started in a local catholic council nor completed in a plenary one, but to assert, with the confidence of a fearless voice, that which, under the government of our Lord God and Saviour Jesus Christ, has been conjrmed by consent of the universal Church. (De Baptismo contra Donatistas, Book I. [A.D. 401]).


“[After quoting the heretical portion of Celestius' libellus he proceeds:] This his opinion Pelagius was afraid or ashamed to bring out to you; but his disciple, without any obscurity, was neither ashamed nor afraid to publish it openly before the apostolic see.. But the very merciful prelate of that see, when he saw I him carried headlong with such presumption like a madman, until he might recover, if that were possible, preferred to bind him bit by bit by question and answer, rather than to I strike him with a severe sentence, which would thrust him down that precipice over which he seemed to be already I hanging. I do not say " had fallen ", but " seemed to be hanging" ; for earlier in the same libellus he had promised before I speaking of such questions: "If by chance any error of ignorance has crept in, human as we are, it may be corrected by - your sentence.”


“So the venerable Pope Zosimus, holding to this foreword, urged the man, inflated with false doctrine, to condemn what he was accused of by the deacon Paulinus, and to give his I assent to the letters of the apostolic see which had emanated from his predecessor of holy memory. He refused to condemn what the deacon objected, but he dared not resist the letters of blessed Pope Innocent, nay, he promised " to condemn whatever that see should condemn".: Thus gently treated, as if a madman, that he might be pacified, he was still not thought fit to be released from the bonds of excommunication. But a delay of two months1 was granted, that an answer might be received from Africa, and so an opportunity of recovery was given him by a medicinal gentleness in his sentence. For, indeed, he would be cured, if he would lay aside his obstinate vanity, and attend to what he promised, and would read those letters to which he professed to consent. But after the rescripts were duly issued fiom the African council of bishops, there were very good reasons why the sentence should be carried out against him, in strictest accordance with equity. . . . For though Pelagius tricked the investigation in Palestine, seeming to clear himself before it, he entirely failed in imposing on the church at Rome (where, as you are aware, he was well known), although he tried even this ; but as I said, he entirely failed. For the most blessed Pope Zosimus recollected what his exemplary predecessor had thought of these very proceedings. He considered what was felt about this man by the trusty Romans, whose faith deserved to be spoken of in the Lord, and whose resounding zeal for catholic truth against his error he saw burning harmoniously. The man had lived among them for a long while, and his opinions could not be hidden. . . .


“This being so, you of course feel that episcopal councils, and the apostolic see, and the whole Roman church, and the Roman Empire, which by God's grace has become Christian, have been most righteously moved against the authors of this wicked error, until they recover from the snares of the devil.


“For the time, indeed, Pelagius seemed to say what was agreeable to the catholic faith, but in the end he had no power to deceive that see. Indeed after the replies of the council of Africa, into which province this pestilent doctrine had stealthily made its way, without, however, spreading widely or sinking deeply, other opinions also of this man were, by the care of some faithful brethren, discovered and brought to light at Rome, where he had dwelt for a very long while, and had already engaged in sundry discourses and controversies. In order to procure the condemnation of these opinions, Pope Zosimus, as you may read, annexed them to his letter which he wrote for publication throughout the catholic world.” (De Peccato Original [A.D. 418]).


“Do you think they are therefore to be despised, because they are all of the western church, and we have mentioned no eastern bishop ? What are we to do, since they are Greeks and we are Latins? I think you ought to be satisjied with that part of the world in which the Lord willed to crown thejrst of his apostles with a glorious martyrdom. If you had been willing to hear blessed Innocent, the president of that church, you would then have freed your perilous youth from the Pelagian snares. For what could that holy man answer to the African councils except what from of old the apostolic see and the Roman church with the rest steadfastly holds? Yet you charge his successor with the crime of prevarication, because he would not go against the apostolic doctrine, and the sentence of his predecessor. . . . Take care how you reply to S. Innocent, who has no view on this matter except that of those men, western fathers, to whom I have introduced you, in case it is of any use. He himself sits with these too, after them in time though before them in place…


“…Necessity therefore compelled that we should, at least by our assembly, crush their immodesty, and restrain their audacity. In truth your cause is anyhow jnished by a competent decision of bishops in common. There is no more need of examination with you, but merely to make you acquiesce in the sentence, or to restrain your turbulence….


“...He did not go back from his predecessor, Innocent, whom you feared to name ; but you preferred Zosimus, because he first dealt leniently with Celestius, since the latter, in these your statements, said that if anything was displeasing he was prepared to correct it, and promised to consent to the letters of Innocent.” (Contra Julianum Pelagianum [A.D. 422])


Since you persist in asserting that freedom, acting rightly or wrongly, cannot perish through sheer misuse, let the blessed Pope Innocent, pontiff of the Roman church, answer. Replying on your affairs to the episcopal councils of Africa he said, "Having experienced free will . . ." Do you see what the catholic faith does through its minister? (Opus Imperfectum contra Julianum, Book 6 [A.D. 430]).


“You [Pope Boniface] who mind not high things, however loftily you are placed, did not disdain to be a friend of the lowly, and to return ample love. . . . I have ventured to write to your blessedness about these things which are now claiming the episcopal attention to viligance on behalf of the Lord's flock….


“…Since the heretics do not cease to growl at the entrances to the Lord's fold, and on every side to tear open the approaches so as to plunder the sheep redeemed at such a price; and since the pastoral watch-tower is common to all of us who discharge the episcopal office (although you are preeminent therein on a loftier height), I do what I can in respect of my small portion of the charge, as the Lord condescends to grant me, by the aid of your prayers, to oppose their pestilent and crafty writings. . . . . . . These words. . . I determined to address especially to your holiness, not so much for your learning as for your examination, and, perchance anything should displease you, for your correction.” (Contra duas Epistolas Pelagianorum [A.D. 420]).


“Moreover, they, the Pelagians, accuse the Roman clergy, writing, "They, driven by the fear of a command, have not blushed to be guilty of the crime of prevarication : contrary to their previous judgement, wherein, by the acts, they had assented to the catholic dogma, they later pronounced that man's nature is evil". Nay, but the Pelagians conceived a false hope that their new and horrible dogma could prevail upon the catholic minds of certain Romans, when those crafty spirits . . . were treated with more lenity than the stricter discipline of the Church required. For while so many important ecclesiastical documents were passing to and fro between the apostolic see and the African bishops . . . what sort of letter or what decree is found of the late Pope Zosimus in which he declared that we must believe that man is born without any taint of original sin? He certainly never said this ; he never wrote it at all. But since Celestius had written this in his pamphlet, merely among those matters on which he confessed he was still in doubt and desired to be instructed . . . the willingness to amend, and not the falsehood of the dogma, was approved. Therefore his pamphlet was called catholic, because if by chance in any matters a man thinks otherwise than what the truth demands, it reveals a catholic mind not to define them with the greatest accuracy, but to reject them when they are detected and pointed out. . . . This was thought to be the case with him when he replied that he consented to the letters of the late Pope Innocent, in which all doubt about this matter was removed. In order that this might be made fuller and clearer in him, matters were held up until letters should come from Africa, in which province his craftiness had somehow become more clearly known. Eventually these letters came to Rome, declaring that for slow-witted and anxious men, it was not sufficient that he confessed his general consent to the letters of Innocent, but that he ought openly to revoke the mischievous statements which he had made in liis pamphlet. For if he did not do this, many people of insufficient intelligence would be more likely to believe that those poisons of the faith in his pamphlet had been approved by the apostolic see, because it had been affirmed by that see that the pamphlet was catholic, than to believe that the poisons had been amended because of his answer that he consented to the letters of Pope Innocent. . . .


“But if, which God forbid, it had been judged in the Roman church that those dogmas of Celestius or Pelagius, condemned by Pope Innocent, should be pronounced worthy of approval, the mark of prevarication would rather have to be branded on the Roman clergy for this. To sum up, in the first place the letters of the most blessed Pope Innocent, in reply to the letters of the African bishops, have equally condemned this error which these men are trying to commend to us. Likewise his successor, the holy Pope Zosimus, never said or wrote that this dogma which these men think concerning infants is to be held. Besides, when Celestius tried to clear himself, he bound him by repeated interruptions l to consent to the aforesaid letters of the apostolic see. Surely then, provided the stability of the most ancient and robust faith was maintained, whatever in the meanwhile was done more leniently with Celestius was the most merciful persuasion of correction, not the most pernicious approval of wickedness. And since afterwards Celestius and Pelagius were condemned by the repeated authority of the same priesthood, this was the proof of a severity for a while withheld, but at length of necessity carried out, not a violation of that previously known, or a new recognition of truth.


“ . . . These are the words of the venerable Bishop Innocent to the council of Carthage on this affair . . . What could be more clear or more manifest than that judgement of the apostolic see? To this Celestius professed that he assented, when, it being said to him by your holy predecessor, Zosimus, "Do you condemn all that is flung about in your name? ", He himself replied, "I condemn them in accordance with the judgement of your predecessor, Innocent ' ” (Contra dzcas Epistolas Pelagianorum, Book 2 [A.D. 420]).