Platina. Gregorius III. Ch. 731. Hic statim ubi pontificatum iniit, cleri Romani consensu, Leonem tertium imperatorem Constantinopolitanum imperio simul et communione fidelium privat, quod sanctas imagines e sacris ædibus abrasisset, et statuas demolitus esset, quodque etiam de homasio malè sentiret. Bellarm. c. 14. De Imaginibus. · Lib. 2. Platina, Blondus, Sabellicus, Paulus, Æmilius, Alanus, Dial. 4 et 5, docent in synodo Francofordiensi solùm damnatam synodum Constantinopolitanam hæreticam. Nicænam autem non solùm non damnatam, sed etiam confirmatam. Quam sententiam optarem essé veram, sed tamen suspicor esse falsam. Primò quia libri illi Carolini, licet falsò inscribantur Carolo, ut dicemus, tamen sine dubio scripti sunt tempore Caroli, ut patet ex refutatione eorundem librorum, quam edidit Adrianus I. Et scripti videntur in concilio Francofordiensi, et acta continere synodi Francofordiensis, id enim asserit Hincmarus ejus temporis auctor, et ipsi libri hoc pro se ferunt: quod autem synodus, quæ in his libris refutatur, sit verè Nicæna II. dubitari non potest, si legantur vel ipsi libri, vel Adriani responsio. Secundò, quia auctores antiqui omnes conveniunt in hoc, quod in concilio Francofordiensi sit reprobata Synodus VII. quæ decreverat imagines esse adorandas. Ita Hincmarus, Aimonius, Rhegino, Ado et alii passim docent. Dicere autem hos omnes mentiri, vel libros eorum esse corruptos, ut Copus dicit, videtur mihi paulò duriùs. Baronius. Tantum abest igitur, ut negemus Nicænam secundam synodum, eamque septimam Ecumenicam dictam, damnatam dici in Francofordiensi concilio, ut etiam augeamus numerum testium id profitentium et quidem haud dubiæ fidei, vel rejiciendæ auctoritatis. Sie igitur justæ causæ confisi, id sponte ac liberaliter concedimus adversariis quod ab aliis penitus negatum sciunt.-P. 429. P. 432. Cæterum liquet pariter ejusdem qui supra Hincmari auctoritate, in eodem Francofordiensi concilio, duo esse concilia condemnata, Constantinopolitanum hæreticorum, quo imagines confringi juberentur, et Nicænum secundum quo eas coli præcipitur.-Baronii Annales Ecclesiastici. An. Dom. 794.-(Antverpiæ, 1601.) Cet empereur trouvant une occasion si belle de procurer la paix de l'eglise, envoya a Rome Freculphe et Adegarius, avec les députes de l'empereur Grec, pour traiter de cette affaire. Mais les envoyés de Louis, n'ayant på faire changer de sentiment aux Ro the Romans to be of another mind, requested the pope to permit their master to discuss this question with his bishops. Having obtained his consent they returned to France. In the year 824 a council of the most learned and judicious bishops of his realm was held, by whom this question was examined. They first read Pope Adrian's letter to Constantine and Irene upon this subject, in which they found that he did justly condemn those who demolished and defaced the images, but thought that he had not taken sufficient precaution against the adoration of them. Then they re-examined what the Synod of Nice had done by means of that letter, and found that in that council they had not only established the worship of images, but had commanded them to be called holy, by which they seemed to attribute some holiness to them. They also read over the book, which Charles the Great had caused to be written against the council, to which, though Pope Adrian had given an answer, yet they saw so little solidity in it, that they looked upon nothing in it worthy of their notice but the name it bore. They complain of the rigour and inflexible humour of the churchmen in Rome and Italy, and commend the moderation of the Emperor in avoiding the heats of both parties, and labouring so earnestly for the peace of the church. In the west Claudius Clemens, a Spanish priest and afterwards Bishop of Turin, imitating the conduct of Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles, took up a resolution not only to give no honour to images himself, but to remove them out of all the churches of his diocese, not sparing so much as the cross itself. Agobardus, Archbishop of Lyons, appears not a great favourer of images; for though indeed at first he seemed to oppose the adoration of them only, against which he alleges several places out of the fathers, yet afterwards he maintains, that we ought not to make useof these visible signs to represent things spiritual, nor to give them a relative worship in respect of the saints represented by them. After this I do not find that there was any contest in the west about the use and worship of images, which henceforward became common in France, Germany, and other places. Dupin's Ecclesiastical History of Ninth Century, c. 2. Of all the questions that were debated in the ninth age, there was none that was managed with more heat and noise than this of predestination and grace. C. 7.-The famous controversy of the Church of Rome with the Lutherans and Calvinists upon the Eucharist, has made men more attentive to all controversies formerly raised about that mystery. The ninth century affords us one no less important than abstruse. It cannot be denied that there were great contests in this mains, demanderent au pape qu'il voulût bien que leur maitre agitât cette question avec ses eveques. Ayant obtenu cette permission, ils revinrent en France. On tint a Paris l'an 824 une assemblée des plus habiles evêques du royaume, et cette question y fut examinée. On y lut la première lettre d'Adrian, ecrite sur ce sujet a Constantin et à Irène. On trouva qu'il avoit raison de condamner ceux qui brisoient les images; mais on crut qu'il n'avoit pas pris assez de precaution pour empecher qu'on ne les adorat. On y examina de nouveau le synode de Nicèe, faite en consequence de cette lettre, et l'on s'imagina trouver dans les actes de ce concile, que non seulement il etablissoit le culte de images, mais qu'il vouloit qu'on les appellât saintes, et qu'on crut qu'elles donnoient quelque saintetè. On fit relire ce qui avoit ete écrit par l'ordre de Charlemagne contre ce concile. On ne trouva pas que les reponses du Pape Adrien fussent tout a fait solides. On se plaignit avec le respect dû au saint siège de ce que l'on sembloit porter les choses a l'extremitè a Rome et dans l'Italie: 'on loua l'empereur de ce qu'il cherchoit un temperament, et vouloit tacher de retablir la paix de l'Eglise, en evitant les extremnités où il croient que l'on etoit tombè de part et d'autrę : En occident Claude Clement prêtre Espagnol disciple de Felix d'Urgel, et ensuite evêque de Turin, imitant la conduite qu'avoit autrefois tenu Serenus evêque de Marseille, s'avisa nonseulement de refuser d'honorer les images, mais aussi il voulut les ôter des eglises de son diocèse, et ètendit sa presomption jusques a vouloir abolir la croix. Agobard, archevêque de Lyons, paroît moins favorable aux images: car quoiqu'il semble d'abord n'attaquer que leur adoration, contre laquelle il allegue plusieurs passages des Péres, il soutient ensuite qu'on ne doit pas se servir du ces signes visibles et exterieurs pour se representer des choses spirituelles, ni leur rendre un culte même relatif aux saints qu'elles rèpresentent. On ne trouve pas que depuis ce temps la il y ait eu de contestation en occident sur l'usage et le culte des images, qui devint commun en France et en Allemagne, comme dans les autres lieux. De toutes les questions qui furent agitès dans le neuvième siècle, il n'y en a point qui l'ait ètè avec plus de chaleur et qui ait fait plus de bruit que cette de la predestination et de la grace.-C. ii. tom. 7. Dupin. c. 7. La fameuse controverse que nous avons eue avec les Lutheriens et les Calvinistes sur l'Eucharistie, a rendu les hommes plus attentifs sur toutes les disputes qui se sont elevèes autrefois sur ce mystère. La neuvième siècle nous en fournit une qui n'est pas moins importante qu'elle est obscure. On ne peut pas nier, qu'il E age about the Eucharist, occasioned by the book of Paschasius Radbertus, concerning the body and blood of Christ. The Ecclesiastical Annals of Baronius, vol. 10. p. 249. Schism with the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves, and the Bishop of Bergomo. You have heard, I do not say bishops, nor even men, but Satan himself, speaking by the mouth of his servants. Of a truth, although many have risen up against the church of God, Gentiles, Jews, and heretics, and schismatics, and have fallen open-mouthed upon the heads of the Roman see, I remember not the letters of any persons against a Roman pontiff, so refractory, blasphemous, false and arrogant. Furor vomited forth the weapons, and anger brandished them, and the swelling of pride broke out into such a discharge so inodorous both to God and man. Anastasius, the librarian, makes mention of these letters, and relates that not only the archbishops were the authors of them, but Huganon, bishop of Bergomi; thus as in the furnace lead unites with lead, so the bad associated with the bad, and turned the shafts of calumny and blasphemy against Nicolas. The infuriated disposition of these abandoned men sent a letter to Photius, and through him to the other eastern churches; Photius laying hold of this opportunity, which he would have purchased at a high rate, wrote a letter to the patriarch of Alexandria, concerning the assembling of a general council against Pope Nicolas and the Roman church. THE CORRUPT STATE OF THE CHURCH AS DESCRIBED BY THE FRENCH BISHOPS. The Letters of the Bishops established in the Kingdom of Charles and Lothaire, to the Bishops dwelling in the Kingdom of Lewis. Before the Council of Troyes. It must be evident to your wisdom that the course of these perilous times is of that tendency, that the holy mother church suffers no trifling dangers in her affairs and orders. For what bitter scandals and detestable schisms more and more increase in these kingdoms and in the holy churches of God, which it is sad to mention, almost all the sons of the holy mother church may clearly perceive. Baronius. Vol. 10. p. 587. Pope Marinus. An. Dom. 883. With regard to the eastern church, an embassy was decreed in the midst of these things by the patriarch of Aquileium to Photius, the acting patriarch at Constantinople, from a schismatic to a schismatic, from a traitor to a traitor. * Gunthar archbishop of Cologne, Theutgard, archbishop of Treves. n'y ait eu en ce siècle là des contestations sur l'Eucharistie et que le livre de Paschase Ratbert du corps et du sang de Jesus Christ n'y ait donné lieu. Baromi Annales Ecclesiastici, tom. 10.-Nic. 6. Pap. Chr. 863. Ibidem, p. 249. Schism with the Archbishops of Cologne and Treves, and the Bishop of Bergomo. Audisti non dico episcopos, immo nec homines, sed ipsum Satanum suorum servorum ore loquentem. Sanè quidem etsi complures insurrexêre in ecclesiam Dei, gentiles, Judæi, hæretici atq schismatici, et rabido ore prociderunt Romanæ sedis antistites, nullorum tamen (quod recordor) litteræ extant in Romanum pontificem ita refractoriæ, contumeliosæ, blasphemæ, mendaces et arrogantes. Ista evomuit furor, ista vibravit jacula iracundia, et superbiæ tumor in tantam erupuit saniem Deo hominibusque grave olentem. Meminit harum litterarum Anastasius bibliothecarius, eorumque auctores non solùm archiepiscopos fuisse tradit, sed Haganonem Bergomensis episcopum; ita sicut in conflatorio unitur plumbum plumbo, mali malis associati, in Nicolaum calumniorum et blasphemiarum spicula converterunt. * * ** Mens perditorum, furore percita, epistolam misit ad Photium et per ipsum ad alias orientales ecclesias. Hac igitur quam multo pretio redemisset Photius arrepta occasione, scripsit ad patriarcham Alexandrinum epistolam de cogenda adversus Nicolaum papam et Latinam ecclesiam synodo Ecumenica. THE CORRUPT STATE OF THE CHURCH AS DESCRIBED BY THE FRENCH BISHOPS. An. 867. Nicol. 10. p. 353. Litteræ Episcoporum in regno Caroli et Lotharii Constitutorum ad Episcopos in Ludovici regno manentes. Ante Trecensem Synodum. Claret vestræ prudentiæ, quòd periculosorum temporum series jamjam illò tendere cernitur, ut sancta mater ecclesia in suis rebus, et ordinibus non modica patiatur discrimina. Quam acerba vero scandala et quam detestabilia schismata in his regnis et in sanctis Dei ecclesiis magis magisque crebescant, quod lugubre dicendum est, cuncti pene sanctæ matris ecclesiæ filii acriter sentiunt. Ch. 883. Marini. Papa 1. Baronii. Tom. 10. p. 587. Quod ad res pertinet orientalis ecclesiæ, legatio inter hæc decernitur ab Aquileinsi patriarcha ad Photium patriarcham agentem Constantinopolitanum, a schismatico ad schismaticum, et ad perfidum a perfido. * Guntharus Agrippinæ Coloniæ Archiepiscopus, Theutgardus Trevirensis Archiepis copus. |