A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

BONIFACE I.

AFter the Death of Pope Zosimus, the Church of Rome was divided about the Election of his Successor. The Arch-Deacon Eulalius, who aspired to the Bishoprick of Rome, shut himself up in the Church of the Lateran, with part of the People, some Priests, and some * 1.1 Deacons, and made them chuse him in Zosimus's room. On the other side, a great Number of Priests, several Bishops, and part of the People, being assembled in the Church of Theodora, elected Boniface. Both were ordained. Eulalius was ordained by some Bishops, among whom was the Bishop of Ostia, who used to ordain the Bishop of Rome. Boniface was likewise or∣dained by a great Number of Bishops, and went to take Possession of St. Peter's Church.

Symmachus, Governour of Rome, having try'd in vain to make them agree, writ to the Em∣peror Honorius about it. In his Letter of the 29th. of December, 418. he speaks in Eulalius's behalf, and judges Boniface to be in the wrong. The Emperor believing his Relation, sent him word immediately, That he should expell Boniface, and uphold Eulalius. The Governour having received this Order, sent for Boniface to acquaint him with it, but he would not come to him; so that the Governour sent to him, to signifie the Emperor's Order, and kept him from returning into the City. The Bishops, Priests, and the People that sided with Boniface, wrote immediately to the Emperor, to entreat him, that he would order both Eulalius, and Boniface, to go to Court, that their Cause might there be judged. To satisfie them, the Emperor sent to Symmachus an Order of the 30th. of January 419. signifying, That he should enjoin Boniface, and Eulalius, to be at Ravenna, about the 6th. of February. Honorius conven'd some Bishops thither to judge of their Cause; and that they might not be suspected of favouring any one side, he commanded, That none of those who had ordained either of them, should be a Judge in the case. The Bishops that were chosen to judge this Cause being divided, the Emperor put off the Judgment till May, and forbad Eulalius, and Boniface, to go to Rome; and sent thither Achilleus, Bishop of Spoleto, to perform the Episcopal Functions, during the Easter Holy-Days. In which time he prepared a numerous Synod, and invited the Bishops both of Africa, and Gaul; but Eulalius could not endure that Delay, and spoiled his business by his impatience: For whether he distrusted his Right, or whether he was of a restless tem∣per, he returned to Rome the 16th. of March, and would have stay'd there, notwithstanding the Emperor's Orders, which obliged Symmachus to use Violence to drive him out of Rome, and the Emperor having been informed of his Disobedience, waited for no other Judgment, but caused Boniface to be put in possession, in the beginning of April 419.

One of the First Things that Boniface did, was to write to the Emperor, to entreat him to make an Edict, to prevent, for the future, the Intrigues, and Cabals that were made use of to get the Bishoprick of Rome. This Letter bears Date the First of July. To cut off the Root of these Divisions, Honorius ordained, That if ever Two Men should be ordained Bishops of Rome, that neither should remain in Possession, but that both the Clergy, and Peo∣ple should chuse a Third.

Boniface's Second Letter, ought to go before this now mentioned, if the order of their Dates were observed, since this is of the 13th. of June 419. It is directed to Patroclus, and to the other Bishops of the Seven Provinces of Gaul, concerning Maximus Bishop of Valence, who was accused, by the Clergy of that City, who had carried their Accusation directly to the Pope, in. all probability about the Contests which had been in that Province, concerning the Right of Primacy. Boniface accuses that Bishop, not only for refusing to appear at Rome to plead for himself, but for avoiding to appear before Provincial Synods, to which he was remit∣ted by the Popes his Predecessors. Yet he declares, That he would not condemn him, because he ought to have been judged in his own Province: Wherefore he desireth them to call a Coun∣cil before the First of November, that he might appear there to make his own defence to the Accusations formed against him; adding, That if he refused to appear, he should hope no longer, that his absence could put a stop to his Condemnation.

For, saith he, it is a shrew'd Mark of a Man's Guilt, who, when he is accused, and has so many occasions of clearing him∣self, yet neglects to make use of them.

Boniface's Third Letter to Hilary, Bishop of Narbonna, of the 2d. of February 422. over∣throws all that Zosimus had done in the behalf of the Church of Arles. For upon the Com∣plaint of the Inhabitants of Lodevae, a City of Gallia Narbonensis Prima, against Patroclus, Bishop of Arles, for ordaining a Bishop without consulting with the Metropolitan, he declares, That it was an. Action against the Canons of the Council of Nice, which he could not pati∣ently bear with, because he was obliged to maintain the Canons. Wherefore he sends word

to the Bishop of Narbon, That if that Church be of his Provence, he should go to that City, and there perform a lawful Ordination, and put a stop to the Bishop of Arles's Presumption, who undertook beyond the Bounds of his Jurisdiction. Lastly, He ordaineth, That for the future, every Province shall be subject to its own Metropolitan. Nothing can be more contra∣ry than the Opinions of Zosimus, and Boniface, concerning the Dignity, and Jurisdiction of the Church of Arles. Zosimus is persuaded, That the Bishop of Arles ought to ordain all the Bishops of Seven Provinces; and Boniface declares, That that is a violation of the Canons. The former saith, That the Bishop of Arles is the sole Metropolitan; and the latter affirmeth, That none can be Metropolitan of Two Provinces. Zosimus is of Opinion, That the Preten∣sions of Hilary, of Narbon, and of the other Metropolitans of the Seven Provinces, that they have a Right to ordain the Bishops of their respective Provinces, are extreamly rash. On the contrary, Boniface maintains, That it is a well-grounded Right; and that the Pretension of the Church of Arles to ordain in those Provinces, is a breach upon the Canons, to which op∣position must be made. The one forbids Hilary of Narbon, to ordain the Bishops of his Pro∣vince, when he asks it of him: The other enjoins him to do it without asking. Can there be a greater contrariety of Opinions betwixt Popes, who succeeded each other immediately. This made St. Leo say in the Epistle to the Bishops of Provincia Viennensis, That the See of Rome had taken away from Patroclus what it had given him, by a more just Sentence, than that by which it was granted. ID IPSUM QUOD PATROCLO A SEDE APOSTOLICA TEMPORALITER VIDEBATUR ESSE CONCESSUM, POSTMODUM ESSE SEN∣TENTIA MELIORE SUBLATUM. Is it because those Popes thought themselves absolute Masters of these Things? If so, Why should they alledge the Canons, and profess to ob∣serve them? Is it because they believed that Privileges attended the Persons of Bishops, and not their Churches? Wherefore then did Zosimus exalt the Dignity, and Antiquity of the Church of Arles so high, because it was founded by Trophimus? We are therefore to conclude, That there is no other Reason of that contrariety, besides the difference of the Opinions of the Two Popes: But which of the Two was in the Right, and which in the Wrong, is a great Business to be decided, which we shall find afterwards sharply debated in the time of St. Leo. In the mean time we may observe, That the common Right was on Boniface's side, and that we do not see any Privilege authentick enough, or any Custom sufficiently established, where∣by we should allow to the Church of Arles, what Zosimus grants to it. There are besides Five of this Pope's Letters to Ruffus Bishop of Thessalonica, and to the Bishops of Illyricum recorded in the Council that was assembled under Boniface II. in 531. Boniface I. was peaceable Possessor of the See of Rome until the Year 423. though there were still some Chri∣stians of Eulalius's Party.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Boniface I.