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Ecclesiæ sumptus egenorum.]

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A. D. 384. "burdens", he must renounce the estate of his ancestors, "whilst a Decurion is exempt from these same offices. I do not say this by way of complaint, but to shew of how much I "do not complain. The Pagans reply, that the Church hath revenues; why, I ask, do they not make the same use of [Possessio❝theirs as the Church of hers? The wealth' of the Church is "the support of the poor. Let them reckon what captives they have redeemed, what poor they have maintained, to "what exiles they have sent relief. That which, if given "to the Pagans, would only turn to the advantage of the "sacrificers, is by us, applied to the public benefit; and "this is what they urge as the cause of our calamities." He afterwards confutes the calumny of Symmachus in imputing the famine to the contempt of his religion, by shewing that such accidents have happened in all times, and that the famine of the last year raged only in Italy. He answers him likewise with respect to Gratian's misfortune, by the example of Pagan princes, particularly of Julian, which shews that these things happen by the ordinary 2 Ep.57.§3. course of human affairs. These two memorials of St. Ambrose were read in Valentinian's consistory, in presence of Count Bauto one of the Masters General of the army, and of Rumorides who held the same dignity and was a Pagan; and the Emperor being prevailed upon by these remonstrances granted the Pagans nothing of what they desired.

ser. A. D.

392-3.

XXXIII.

Death of

Symmachus in this same year of his Præfecture had a trial St. Dama of the justice of the Christians. He was accused before the Emperor Valentinian of having ill-treated some of them, by means of a commission which had been given him, in order

sus.

St.

Siricius,
Pope.

3 Sym. x.

Ep. 34.

"Each town had a Curia (or Common
Council) composed of members called
Decurions, on whom all the burdensome
municipal offices fell. The exemption
of the Clergy from these duties by Con-
stantine, A.D. 312 or 313, led many men
to seek admission to some of the inferior
orders of the Church, for the sake of the
immunity alone. This abuse rendered
it necessary to introduce some severe
restrictions, one of which is referred to
by St. Ambrose.
See.ch. ix. note q;

Bingham, Bk. v. 3. 14-16.

X There were certain civil and military cases in which the Decurion

escaped the Municipal burdens, from which the Clergy could escape only by forfeiting their private property.

y Constantine divided the military from the civil administration of the Prætorian Præfects, in order to diminish the power, which, in a subject's hand, had before proved so often dangerous to his master. Hence the institution of the Magistri militum, or Masters General of the army, under whose orders Counts and Dukes were stationed in the provinces. Gibbon, ch. xvii. vol. ii. p. 43.

S. Hier.

de Scr.Ecc.

$103. to. iv. P. 2. p. 125.

Prosper.

396. ad An.

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Fleury

xvi. 8.

to discover some persons who had damaged the walls of the A. D. 384. city. It was said that he had taken Christians out of the sacred enclosure of churches, to torture them, and sent for Bishops out of several neighbouring and distant towns, in order to put them into prison. We have the letter which he wrote to the Emperor in his own defence. He appeals to the testimony of the officers who served under him, who declared that no Christians were either in irons or in prison, though many criminals were confined. But he chiefly insists upon a letter of the Pope Damasus, which testified that no Christians were either ill-used or imprisoned on this occasion. The Pope St. Damasus died in this same year 384, on the eleventh of December, aged about eighty years', having held the See eighteen years, from the year 3662. There are several miracles ascribed to him during his life, and after his death. He had wished to be buried in a place where lay the relics of St. Six- Chron. p. tus and several other martyrs, but he was deterred from that 384. design through the fear of disturbing their ashes; he was therefore buried in a church which he had built amongst the Catacombs', on the road to Ardea, near his mother, and the Carm. 29. virgin Irene his sister", whose epitaph he had composed. likewise wrote his own, in which he declares his faith concerning the resurrection. He built or repaired the church of St. Lawrence' near the theatre, where he had officiated after ' Carm. 18. his father, and which to this day bears his name. He beautified it with paintings of sacred histories, which were remaining four hundred years afterwards, and gave to it paten of silver weighing fifteen pounds, a chased vessel of ten pounds weight, five silver chalices, weighing three pounds each, five silver sconces to hold wax-lights, of eight pounds Mans.] each, some candlesticks of brass of sixteen pounds weight, several houses that were round the church, rented at fifty-five golden pence, a piece of land rented at two hundred and [Solidos.] twenty pence, another of one hundred and three, a bath joining to the church, rented at twenty-seven golden pence 1o. 10 Anast. ut All this income amounts to four hundred and five golden

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He

a

Deacon, and was martyred three days
after his Bishop. They are comme-
morated on the sixth and tenth of Au-
gust.

Damas.

4 Anastas.

Bibl. de Vit. Pontif. §38. 5 Carm. 28.

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8

Carm. 16.

Ep. Hadr. Magn. Con. to. vii.p.955.

I. ad Carol.

9

xiii. p. 801.

supra.

A. D. 34. pence; and the silver plate amounts to eighty pounds weight. St. Damasus likewise collected the waters of the springs of the Vatican, which ran over the bodies that Carm. 39. were buried there, and turned them into baptismal fonts'. S. Hieron. He left several writings' behind him, amongst which there are several epitaphs, and other inscriptions in verse, and of which there is a collection of about forty.

ubi supra.

$[Dec. 22.

A. D. 384.] 4 Anastas.

c. 39.

Baron.

A. D. 385.

Siricius3 was chosen in his place'; he was a Roman by birth, the son of Tiburtius, and a Priest with the title of Pastor; he held the Holy See about fifteen years. The Emperor ValenA. D. 385. tinian, who was at Milan, approved that election", as appears 5 ap. Baron, by a rescripts directed to Pinianus Præfect of Rome, who was husband to the young Melania. It relates that Siricius was Coustant, elected by an united acclamation, and that Ursinus was rejected by the outcries of the people; by which we see that A. D. 386. Ursinus had not yet given up his pretensions. This rescript was dated on the seventh of the calends of March, that is to say, on the twenty-third of February, A. D. 385.

[and, ap.

p. 639.]

6 Chron.

Cod. Theod.

XXXIV. Decretal of

Conc. p.

Himerius, who for a long time had governed the Church of St. Siricius. Tarracona, which was the metropolis of a great part of Spain, A. D. 385. had sent a Priest to the Pope Damasus at Rome, named Bassianus, to consult him upon various points of Ecclesiastical discipline. He did not arrive till after the ordination of Siricius, who at the beginning of his Pontificate, returned an Tom. ii. answer by a famous epistle', which was the first of the letters 1017.[iii.p. of that kind that have come down to us, and which are 655. Mans called Decretals, because they contain determinations, which are of the same force as laws. This letter is dated on the 3rd of the Ides of February, under the consulship of Arcadius and Bauto; that is, on the eleventh of February A. D. 385. "Your enquiry," says the Pope, “hath been "read in the assembly of our brethren: " (these were probably the Bishops who assisted at his election; for the

ap. Coust. p. 624.]

The value of the aureus or solidus was, according to Gibbon, ch. xvii. note 180, eleven shillings. Hence the 405 golden pence are equivalent to £222 15s. The pound of silver being in value sixtytwo shillings, the silver plate was worth £248, without reckoning the value of the workmanship.

b Valentinian thus pronounced a

gainst the pretensions of Ursinus, who probably at this time petitioned for his

restoration.

Pinianus became Præfect of Rome in A. D. 386; at this time Tillemont supposes that he was Vicar. The Pinianus who married St. Melania was now only seven years old. Tillemont, tom. x. p. 358. 603.

d

decretals were generally the result of a Council. Then he A. D. 385. proceeds :) "I will answer each article, after having ac"quainted you with my promotion, as is my duty." This shews that the Popes were obliged to make their ordination known to the Bishops of the important Sees. He then gives directions for the reformation of various abuses, which prevailed in the Churches of Spain. As to Baptism, he § 1. forbids the re-baptizing of Arians, according to the decrees sent to the provinces by Pope Liberius', after the Council of '[Seech.16. note b.] Ariminum was annulled". "They shall be received," They shall be received," says he, [See ch.20. "as other heretics, merely by the invocation of the Holy note p.] "Spirit, and the imposition of the hands of the Bishop;" that is to say, they shall receive Confirmation. In Spain § 2. every Bishop used to baptize as he thought most convenient, either at Christmas, the feast of the Epiphany, or at the festivals of the Apostles and Martyrs. The Pope Siricius

condemns this abuse, and in conformity to the custom of all Churches, he commands them to baptize only at Easter, and during the following fifty days to Whitsuntide. And moreover, none were to be baptized then unless they had been first chosen, had given in their names at least forty days before, (that is, before Lent,) and had been purified by exorcisms, daily prayers, and fastings. During the rest of the year these holy preparations could not be observed so exactly. But as for little children that cannot yet speak, and those who are in any danger, as in a storm, or in the time of an invasion of enemies, during a siege, or an attack of mortal sickness, "We require," the Pope says, "that "whosoever shall desire to be baptized on such occasions, "shall immediately receive baptism; lest, if any one die "without baptism, we should answer for the loss of his soul, "with the hazard of our own." The exception for little children is remarkable, and shows the antiquity of our custom of baptizing them at any season.

This custom of every new Bishop's giving intimation of his own promotion to those of his own order, was so necessary, that the omission of it was interpreted a sort of refusal to hold communion with the rest of the world, and a virtual charge of heresy upon them. Liberatus (A. D. 553.) Breviar. c. 17.

Concil. tom. v. 766. [ix. 686. Mansi.]
referred to by Bingham, ii. xi. 10.

e Some read exceptis for electis, which
would mean that none were to be bap-
tized at any other time, "unless they had
"given notice forty days at least before,
"and been purified, &c."

2

21.

ham, bk.

A. D. 385. Concerning Penance; "the apostates who return to ido § 3. "latry, are to be deprived of the sacraments; and are to be "reconciled only at their death, if they spend all the re § 5. "mainder of their life in penance. Those, who after having "performed penance relapse again into sin, either by bearing "arms, frequenting sports, or contracting new marriages "those, receiving no benefit from penance, shall only b "partakers of the prayers of the faithful, and receiv "the Viaticum at the time of their death; upon condition Fleury xi. "that they have amended their life." It was forbidden' t all public penitents either to enter into the army or t marry; so that they were guilty of a new crime, if, during the course of their penance, they either enlisted themselve in military service, contracted a marriage, or used a marriag [See Bing- they had before contracted. And what the Pope says here xviii.2.6-8.] "After having performed penance," may be understood t * [actâ po- mean after having gone through the greatest part of penance nitentiâ.] before they were come to the last period of it, and befor § 6. absolution had been received. "The monks and religiou "women, who in contempt of their profession have con"tracted sacrilegious marriages, which are condemned by "both civil and ecclesiastical laws, shall be expelled the "society of monasteries, and the assemblies of the Church [purifica "and be confined in prison, there to bewail their sins, and torio pœni- shall not be admitted to the Communion till their death®. tudinis igne decoquere.] We may observe here, that there were at this time religious S. Bened. communities in Spain, as is also observable in the Council of Saragoza, and that the marriages of persons who had joined them were condemned by the united voice of both the "It is unlawful' to marry a maiden who is congust. A. D. "tracted to another; and it is a kind of sacrilege to violate "the blessing of the betrothal "."

3

Hist. Ord.

i. 6.

5

Fleury,

xvii. 57.

6 [Conc. Cæsarau

381.]

'Decret.§4.

Powers.

This explanation is rejected by Coustant, who maintains from St. Leo, (Epist. 2. ad Rustic. Inquis. 12, 13. tom. i. p. 410.) that the rules with respect to military service, &c. were not relaxed even after absolution had been pronounced.

St. Siricius is not here speaking of the marriage of Monks, but of a criminal life while they continued the Monastic

h”

profession. That it was possible to return to a secular life is maintained by Bingham, vii. 3. 7, 22, 23.

h Desponsatam; i. e. one who has received a veil from the Priest, and his benediction; which were both received at the betrothal. Cf. St. Ambr. Ep 19. §7. and Exhort. Virgin. c. vi. §. Tert. de Veland. Virg. c. xi.

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