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 IV.

BONIFACE IV. held the Roman See from 607. to 614. Bede says, That in that Pope's Time, Mellitus Bishop of London came to Rome, in the Eighth Year of the Em∣peror * 1.1 Phocas, and that he was present at a Council, which this Pope held at Rome, in the Year 610. in February; in which they made some Constitutions for the Church of England. Hol∣stenius hath published a pretended Decree of this Council, wherein it declares, That Monks may be Bishops, and perform the Sacerdotal Functions; and a Letter of this Pope to * 1.2 Athel∣bert a King of England, in which he declares all those excommunicated that shall hinder the Execution of the Decree now mention'd, even the King's, Athelbert's, Successors. These two Monuments seem very suspicious to me. The Style of them is altogether barbarous, and they are fill'd with impertinent and frivolous Reasons: For instance, he says, It is evident that the State and profession of Monks maketh them fit to be Ministers of the Word of God, see∣ing they are call'd Angels, and Angels are Ministers; Which Reasoning is frivolous: but the reason he gives why they are call'd Angels, is yet more ridiculous. Monks, saith he, are cover'd▪ like Cherubims, with six Wings, the Cowle that covers their Head, maketh two, the Tunick's Arms make other two, and we may confidently say, the two extreams of the Habit, which covers the Body, are two Wings more. Thus you have the Cherubim's six Wings: This is some Monk's Fancy, rather than the Work of a Council of Bishops, or of a Patriarch.

The Letter of Pope Deusdedit, Boniface the IV's. Successor, directed to Gordian Bishop of Sevil, is a Monument evidently false. Isidore was Bishop of Sevil from the Year 600. to the Year 636. and Deusdedit held the Holy See in that interval. Thus the very Title does evince the Falsity of that Letter, it being evident that under Deusdedit's Pontificate, there was no Gordian Bishop of Sevil. The Author of that Letter declares, That according to the Decrees of the Holy See, married Persons, which accidentally stood together Sureties for their Chil∣dren at the Font, ought to be put asunder, and may be married again; which is a gross Error, authorized by no ancient Constitution. In fine, the Style of this Letter is the same with the Pope's other Letters, forg'd by Isidore.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Boniface IV.
• * 1.2

  [O•• Ethel∣bert.]