the history of heresies, and their refutation - Catholic Apologetics ...

the field and some remedies applied, and he felt himself so much better that he called for his horse and
arms again to renew the fight, but his strength failed him, and he died on the same night, the 26th of June,
being only thirty-one years and six months old, and having reigned but one year and eight months after
the death of Constantius. Thodoret and Sozymen relate that when he felt himself wounded he filled his
hand with blood and threw it up towards heaven, exclaiming, "Galilean, thou hast conquered !"
Theodoret likewise relates that St. Julian Saba the Solitary, while lamenting the threats uttered by Julian
against the Church, suddenly turned to his disciples, with a serene and smiling countenance, and said to
them, The wild boar which wasted the vineyard of the Lord is dead ! and when the news of Julian’s death
afterwards reached them they found that he died at the very hour the holy sage announced the fact to
them. Cardinal Orsi quotes the authority of the Chronicle of Alexandria, which says that the horseman
who executed the Divine vengeance on Julian was the martyr St. Mercurius, who, a hundred years
previously suffered in the persecution of Decius, and that this was revealed in a heavenly vision to St.
Basil (1).
52. On the very day of Julian’s death the soldiers assembled and elected Jovian, the first among the
Imperial guards, though he was not general of the army; he was much beloved for his fine appearance
and for his great valour, of which he gave frequent proofs during the war. When Jovian was elected
Emperor, he said, As I am a Christian I cannot command idolaters, for the army cannot conquer without
the assistance of God. Then all the soldiers cried out, Fear not, Emperor, you command Christians.
(1) Fleury, t. 2, l. 14 & 15; Theod. l. 3; Philost. c. 2.
Jovian was delighted with this answer. He accepted the truce for thirty years offered by the Persians, and
was most zealous in favouring the Catholics, opposing both the Arians and Semi-Arians. He restored
peace to the Church, but it was of but short duration, for he died eight months after his elevation to the
Empire, in the 33rd year of his age. The generality of authors, following St. Jerome attribute his death to
want of caution in sleeping in a room in which a large quantity of charcoal was burned, to dry the walls
which were newly plastered, and thus died one of the greatest champions of the Church (2).
53. O n the death of Jovian, Valentinian was elected by the army in 364. He was the son of Gratian, Prefect
of the Pretorium, and he was banished by Julian, because, being a Christian, he had struck the minister of
the idols, who sprinkled him with lustral water. He was solicited by the army to elect a colleague, as the
empire was attacked in various points by the barbarians, so he chose his brother Valens, declared him
emperor, and divided the empire with him. Valentinian governed the West, when the Church enjoyed a
profound peace, and Valens governed the East, where he kept up and even increased the dissensions
already too rife there, and treated the Catholics with the greatest cruelty, as we shall shortly see.
54. Pope Liberius died in the year 366, and before his death had the consolation of receiving a deputation
in Rome of several Oriental bishops, who were anxious to return to the unity of the Church. Liberius sat
for fourteen years, and notwithstanding the error he fell into by signing the formula of Sirmium, he is
called a pontiff whose memory is in benediction by St. Basil, St. Epiphanius, and St. Ambrose. Orsi says
that his name is found in some Greek Martyrologies, and that he was venerated by that Church as a saint,
and Sandinus says that his name is still in the Martyrologies of Bede and of Wandelbert. St. Damasus, a
man of great learning and sanctity, was elected Pope, at his death, but he was troubled for many years by
the schism of Ursinus, commonly called Ursicinus, who sacrilegiously got himself elected Pope at the
same time (3).
(2) Orsi cit. Theod. Fleury, loc. cit,; St. Hieron,Ep. 60. (3) Sulpicius, 1. 5; Fleury & Orsi, cit.; Sandinus; Vit,
Pon. t. 1.
55. We now come to the reign of Valens, who was even a greater persecutor of the Church than
Constantius. Eudosius, an Arian bishop, had a great influence over him, and, from his extraordinary
anxiety to protect this bishop, he became a persecutor of the Catholics. Before he set out to undertake the
war against the Goths, he was baptized by Eudosius, and, just as he was receiving the Sacrament, the
bishop made him swear that he would persecute and banish from the country all the defenders of the
Catholic faith; and Valens fulfilled this impious oath with dreadful exactness. The Arians, now strong in
the Emperor’s favour, began to maltreat the Catholics, and these, not being able to endure any longer the
persecutions they were subjected to, deputed eighty ecclesiastics of great piety to go to Nicomedia, and
implore Valens to put a stop to the violent measures of their enemies. Valens was outrageous at this
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