The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

—CLAIM TO BE G0D''S VICAR. 35Leo."* As a farther proof that the Popes had now shiftedtheir dignity from an imperial to a pontiUcal foundation, wemay instance the case of Hilary, the successor of Leo, whoaccepted from the Terragonese bishop, as a title to whichhe had unquestionable right, the appellation " Vicar ofPeter^ to whom, since the resurrection of Christ, belongedthe keys of the kingdom."-f-In a spirit of equal arrogance,we find Pope Gelasius, bishop of Rome from A.D. 492 to496, asserting that it became kings to learn their dutyfrom bishops, but especially from the " Vicar of the blessedPeter"! We find the same Pope asserting, in a Romancouncil, A.D. 495, that to the see of Rome belonged theprimacy, in virtue of Christ^s own delegation; and that fromthe authority of the keys there was excepted none living,but only (mark how modest Rome then was !) the dead.The council in which these lofty claims were put forth concludedits session with a shout of acclamation to Gelasius," In thee we behold Christ''s Vicar."§In the violent contention which raged between Syramachusand Laurentius, both of whom had been elected to thepontificate on the same day, we are furnished with anotherproof that at the beginning of the sixth century not onlywas this lofty prerogative claimed by the popes, but thatwas generallyacquiesced in by the clergy.itAVe find the councilconvoked by Theodoric demurring to investigate the chargesalleged against Pope Symmachus, on the grounds setforthby his apologist Ennodius, which were, " that the Pope, as* Harduin. vol. ii. p. 306. " Haec apostolorum fides. Anathema ei quiita non credit.Petrus per Leonera ita locutus est.+ See the Bishop's letter to Pope Hilary, Hai-duin. vol. ii. p. 7S7.X Ilarduin. vol. ii, p. SSG :" A pontilicibus, et praecipue a beati PetriVicario."§ " Sancta Romana ecclesia nuUis synodicis constitutis caeteris ecclesiisprselata est, sed evangelica voce Domini nostri primatum obtinuit, Tu esPetrus," &c. When the council was about to break up, " Onmes episcopiet presbyteri surgentes in synodo, acclamavoruut, ' Vicarium Christi te videmus."(Harduin. vol. ii. p. 494-498.)