Could It Be More Fitting? If You Know a Bit About Pope St. Sylvester, His Feast Day Is Just Perfect

A look at St Sylvester, the first Pope after Constantine legalised the Church and why his Feast fittingly falls on the last day of the year.

 From Aleteia

By Nicholas Senz

He took Peter's Throne in the year 314, just a year after Constantine famously conquered under the sign of the Cross, and changed the Empire's view of Christianity.

There’s a tradition within Catholic theology of making arguments from fittingness. It’s not a strict logical connection, but an almost poetic one, a beautiful thread tying together two seemingly unrelated items. For a faith that believes in a Divine Providence that works in all things, this should not be surprising.

For example, Pope St. Gregory the Great notes the fittingness of Christ being born in Bethlehem. The town’s name means “House of Bread,” and he who was born there was the bread come down from heaven, the bread of life given for the life of the world. In short, with God, there are no coincidences.

With the feast of Pope St. Sylvester today, we see another bit of seeming serendipity that communicates something profound to us.

Very little is known about this holy pontiff. Early sources record his parents’ names, Rufinus and Justa, but nothing else about his early life. Even the content of his pontificate is fairly obscure. But what is known is momentous.

Sylvester became pope in 314, a time of intense turmoil in the Roman Empire. The tetrarachy set up by Diocletian decades before had descended into squabbling and then civil war, with each man seeking the imperial title solely for himself. In 312, two of the chief contenders, Constantine and Maxentius, met in battle at the Milvian Bridge. Inspired by a vision, Constantine had his soldiers fight beneath Christian symbols, the cross and the chi-rho, while Maxentius was a firm persecutor of the Church. Constantine emerged victorious. Maxentius drowned while trying to escape.

The way was clear for a new Roman stance toward Christianity. The previous three centuries had seen periodic persecutions both locally and empire-wide. Now, both of the remaining emperors were friendly toward the faith. Thus, in 313, Constantine and his co-emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, which officially tolerated Christianity and forbade any further persecution. Not only that, the edict ordered all property stolen from Christians to be returned. (Contrary to popular misconception, the edict did not make Christianity the official religion of the empire. That would not happen until 380, when Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica.)

Thus when Pope Sylvester was elected as the Successor of St. Peter in 314, he found himself in a very different set of circumstances. Whereas formerly Christians had met secretly in homes, during Sylvester’s pontificate the emperor himself would construct several massive churches in the style of the Roman bureaucratic palace, the basilica. St. John Lateran and the original St. Peter’s were built at this time.

Another monumental event would take place a few years later. In the wake of the Arian crisis, Constantine called together all the bishops of the world, not to his new eponymous capital, Constantinople, but the hot springs resort just across the Bosporus, Nicaea. It was the first ecumenical council of the Church. Yet the pope, the bishop of Rome and head of the apostolic college, did not himself attend, sending two legates instead, one of whom presided over the council in Sylvester’s stead.

Pope Sylvester reigned over a Church that was transitioning from hidden liturgies and secret meetings to a publicly supported role in civic life. His ministry came right at the time when the light was dawning and the page was turning (to mix a few metaphors). Likewise, his feast day falls on the last day of the calendar when we anticipate a new year, and the time of the seasons when the darkest days are behind and the light is increasing. Fitting! Though not intentional.

As with many saints, Pope Sylvester’s feast day was assigned to the day of his death. The confluence of events was not intended by anyone—save Providence itself, perhaps.

How One Monk Began Rebuilding the West

An appreciation of the Venerable Dom Prosper Guéranger and the work he did toward saving the Traditional Liturgy and through that our Græco-Roman Catholic civilisation and culture.

From The Imaginative Conservative

By R. Jared Staudt, PhD

July 11 is the Feast of St. Benedict and the anniversary of the refounding of St. Peter’s Abbey of Solesmes, France in 1833 by Ven. Dom Prosper Guéranger and five other priests. Apart from the Benedictines, you may wonder why this event has significance. Solesmes became a great center of renewal for the entire Church and its refounding brought forward a larger-than-life figure, who would oversee this renewal. Guéranger (1805-1875), originally a diocesan priest, literally saw a local, beloved church in shambles, a medieval abbey, whose remnants were meant for demolition, and felt a call to restore not only that building, but also to begin a new way of life as a monastic. His response, reminiscent of St. Francis, entailed not only a restoration of one particular building, but a propping up of the Church itself.

The crumbles that Guéranger noted were of the Abbey of Solesmes, noted for its medieval statuary. This was only one small piece of the general destruction of the Church wrought by the French Revolution and Napoleon. The Corsican tyrant had seen to the nearly complete extermination of monasticism from Europe, deeming contemplatives useless to society. As Guéranger was ordained a priest in the early nineteenth century, the Benedictines were on the verge of extinction in France. He would oversee a return of monasticism not only to France, but also to Europe more generally.

It is frankly hard to overestimate the influence of Guéranger on the Church as a whole in the nineteenth century and beyond. Besides resurrecting the Benedictines, he battled the remnants of Gallicanism and Jansenism, initiated the liturgical movement, paved the way for the declaration of the Immaculate Conception and Papal Infallibility, and instructed generations of Catholics through his monumental, The Liturgical Year.

“Prayer is man’s richest boon,” begins Guéranger’s The Liturgical Year, a work for which he is probably best known. This work is testimony to Guéranger’s lifelong study and devotion to the Roman liturgy. It is hard to believe that when Guéranger was first ordained he had to receive special permission to say the Mass of the Roman rite, instead of the widespread Gallican rite of France. Guéranger would champion the Roman rite with great success in his homeland, but also proposed it as the center of spirituality for lay Catholics. The Liturgical Year provides a daily guide for Catholics to pray and meditate on the prayers of the Mass and breviary and to enter more deeply into the liturgical seasons.

Solesmes would also become the center of the renewal of Gregorian chant. Guéranger related that “the great impressions of the soul were meant to be sung,” and that “Christians… cannot be content to recite things; they must sing them.”[1] In order to assist the Church in this end of praising God in song, Guéranger began another great work of rebuilding, dedicating Solesmes to the restoration of Gregorian chant. This was no easy task, as the ancient melodies and methodology had grown corrupt, to the point that Guéranger remarked that “authentic chant was ‘forgotten, mutilated, changed, altered.’”[2] To overcome this problem, the abbot turned to medieval manuscripts, and, with the aid of his monks, set about a great program of restoration. This project would reach a pivotal moment when Pope Pius X entrusted Abbot Joseph Pottier, a protégé of Guéranger, with the restoration of Gregorian chant for the entire Church, which produced the Vatican Edition of the Graduale Romanum.

Like the restoration of chant, Solesmes was also influential in collecting and promoting the works of the Church Fathers. Guéranger sent one of his monks, Dom Jean Baptiste François Pitra, on missions across Europe seeking manuscripts. Pitra collaborated with Migne in his monumental Patrologia series. Pitra was also known for his work in archeology and the Eastern Church, spending seven months in Russia and overseeing new liturgical books for Eastern rites. Pius IX named Pitra a Cardinal and appointed him librarian of the Vatican Library, confirming the universal importance of the work of Solesmes.

In addition to supporting liturgical reform and Patristic study, Guéranger played an important role in preparing the faithful for the proclamation of two important dogmas in the nineteenth century. The first is the Immaculate Conception, which was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX on Dec. 8, 1854. Four years prior, Guéranger composed a short treatise on the doctrine at the request of the Papal Nuncio to France for Pope Pius himself. He concludes the treatise with the point that “from all that we have thus far established the conclusion follows that the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin is part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church… [and] that any assault upon this belief would be a gross insult to the Spouse of Jesus Christ.”[3]

Not only does Guéranger uphold the doctrine beautifully, but the manner in which he proposed the solution is no less important. He argued specifically for the authority of the Papacy to proclaim it. Rather than needing the definition of an Ecumenical Council, “there remains, then, the judgment of the Roman Pontiff, to whom Jesus Christ has entrusted such great power, by the very constitution of the Church, that the decisions of a General Council are only of value after he has confirmed them.”[4] Guéranger argued that a matter of such importance must rest upon the infallibility of the Church, rather “than something human in the Church’s belief,” that is, upon a tradition not dogmatically formalized.[5]

Guéranger’s solution to the question of the Immaculate Conception, resting on papal authority, also furthered his lifelong opposition to Gallicanism. He noted that “this sovereign and divine authority has been undermined in France,” but would be bolstered again through an infallible declaration of the Pope on Mary’s preservation from all sin.[6] This brings us to the second point of Guéranger’s service to the development of doctrine: Papal Infallibility. His book, The Papal Monarchy, published in 1869 shortly before Vatican I’s proclamation, was written in response to a two-volume work of the Bishop of Sura, Henri Maret, a theologian and dean of the University of Paris, who had subordinated the authority of the Pontiff to the Ecumenical Council. Pius IX wrote a Brief in response to Papal Monarchy, stating to Guéranger that “in Our estimation, you have rendered an extremely useful service to the Church.”[7]

Guéranger clearly had the development of doctrine in mind as he wrote the work: “The faithful [should] desire the development of the Creed, so that they might enter more and more into the possession of the truth.”[8] As in his defense of the Immaculate Conception, Guéranger provides a comprehensive exposition of the foundation of Papal Infallibility, beginning with Scripture and working through the tradition, demonstrating that the past teaching of the Pontiffs and Councils themselves have laid the groundwork for a new and definitive proclamation. He also argues for a consensus fidelium (communis) on the doctrine, found in theologians, especially the scholastics, faithful Christians, and, most importantly, in the Saints. In conclusion, Guéranger sought to overcome the somewhat widespread caution of those who recognized the truth of the doctrine, but found its proclamation inopportune. His response, once again, comes down to truth: how can it be beneficial to the faithful to keep them from a fuller articulation and profession of the truth?[9]

Ven. Guéranger’s influence on the Church of his day is truly staggering: restoring religious life, reforming the liturgy of France, restoring Gregorian chant, collecting the work of the Fathers, and making a serious contribution to the development of doctrine of two separate dogmas! The life of Dom Prosper Guéranger is truly one of rebuilding the Church from the ruins of the French Revolution and the lingering corruption of the Gallicanism which preceded it. Guéranger is therefore a model for all of us to renew our own spiritual life, to reinvigorate our liturgical prayer, and to deepen our study and fidelity to the Church’s doctrinal teaching. In an age of great disintegration, Guéranger can be a model of rebuilding for all of the faithful!

Republished with gracious permission from Crisis Magazine (July 2014).

Notes:

[1] Quoted in Solesmes and Dom Guéranger, 95.

[2] Ibid., 104.

[3] On the Immaculate Conception, St. Michael’s Abbey Press, 119.

[4] Ibid., 115.

[5] Ibid., 120.

[6] Ibid., 117.

[7] The Papal Monarchy, Loreto Press, xxiii.

[8] Ibid., 123.

[9] Cf., ibid., 234.

The featured image is an image of Prosper Guéranger (1805–1875), created in 1874 by Claude Ferdinand Gaillard (1834–1887), and is in the public domain, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. It has been brightened for clarity.

The Life of St Silvester

From the Golden Legend of Bld Jacobus Voragine, translated by William Caxton (ca 1483).

Here Followeth the Life of S. Silvester. The Interpretation of His Name.

Silvester is said of sile or sol which is light, and of terra the earth, as who saith the light of the earth, that is of the church. Or Silvester is said of silvas and of trahens, that is to say he was drawing wild men and hard unto the faith. Or as it is said in glossario, Silvester is to say green, that is to wit, green in contemplation of heavenly things, and a toiler in labouring himself; he was umbrous or shadowous. That is to say he was cold and refrigate from all concupiscence of the flesh, full of boughs among the trees of heaven. Eusebius of Cæsarea compiled his legend, which the blessed Blasius in the counsel of seventy bishops recordeth, like as it is had in the decree.

Of the Life of S. Silvester.

Silvester was son of one Justa and was learned and taught of a priest named Cyrinus, which did marvellously great alms and made hospitalities. It happed that he received a christian man into his house named Timothy, who no man would receive for the persecution of tyrants, wherefore the said Timothy suffered death and passion after that year whilst he preached justly the faith of Jesu Christ. It was so that the prefect Tarquinius supposed that Timothy had had great plenty of riches, which he demanded of Silvester, threatening him to the death but if he delivered them to him. And when he found certainly that Timothy had no great riches, he commanded to S. Silvester to make sacrifice to the idols, and if he did not he would make him suffer divers torments. S. Silvester answered: False, evil man, thou shalt die this night, and shalt have torments that ever shall endure, and thou shalt know, whether thou wilt or not, that he whom we worship is very God. Then S. Silvester was put in prison, and the provost went to dinner. Now it happed that as he ate, a bone of a fish turned in his throat and stuck fast, so that he could neither have it down ne up, and at midnight died like as S. Silvester had said, and then S. Silvester was delivered out of prison. He was so gracious that all christian men and paynims loved him, for he was fair like an angel to look on, a fair speaker, whole of body, holy in work, good in counsel, patient and charitable, and firmly established in the faith. He had in writing the names of all the widows and orphans that were poor, and to them he administered their necessity. He had a custom to fast all Fridays and Saturdays. And it was so that Melchiades, the bishop of Rome, died, and all the people chose S. Silvester for to be the high Bishop of Rome, which sore against his will was made pope. He instituted for to be fasted Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and the Thursday for to be hallowed as Sunday.

Now it happed that the Emperor Constantine did do slay all the christian men over all where he could find them, and for this cause S. Silvester fled out of the town with his clerks and hid him in a mountain. And for the cruelty of Constantine God sent him such a sickness that he became lazar and measel, and by the counsel of his physicians he got three thousand young children for to have cut their throats, for to have their blood in a bath all hot, and thereby he might be healed of his measelry. And when he should ascend into his chariot for to go to the place where he should be bathed, the mothers of the children came crying and braying for sorrow of their children, and when he understood that they were mothers of the children, he had great pity on them and said to his knights and them that were about him: The dignity of the empire of Rome is brought forth of the fountain of pity, the which hath stablished by decree that who that slayeth a child in battle shall have his head smitten off, then should it be great cruelty to us for to do to ours such thing as we defend to strange nations, for so should cruelty surmount us. It is better that we leave cruelty and that pity surmount us, and therefore me seemeth better to save the lives of these innocents, than by their of death I should have again my health, of the which we be not yet certain. Ne we may recover nothing for to slay them, for if so were that I should thereby have health, that should be a cruel health that should be bought with the death of so many innocents. Then he commanded to render and deliver again to the mothers their children, and gave to every each of them a good gift, and thus made them return to their houses with great joy, from whence they departed with great sorrow, and he himself returned again in his chariot unto his palace. Now it happed that the night after S. Peter and S. Paul appeared to this Emperor Constantine, saying to him: Because thou hast had horror to shed and spill the blood of innocents, our Lord Jesu Christ hath had pity on thee, and commandeth thee to send unto such a mountain where Silvester is hid with his clerks, and say to him that thou comest for to be baptized of him and thou shalt be healed of thy malady. And when he was awaked he did do call his knights and commanded them to go to that mountain and bring the Pope Silvester to him courteously and fair, for to speak with him. When S. Silvester saw from far the knights come to him, he supposed they sought him for to be martyred, and began to say to his clerks that they should be firm and stable in the faith for to suffer martyrdom. When the knights came to him they said to him much courteously that Constantine sent for him, and prayed him that he would come and speak with him. And forthwith he came, and when they had intersaluted each other, Constantine told to him his vision. And when Silvester demanded of him what men they were that so appeared to him, the emperor wist not ne could not name them. S. Silvester opened a book wherein the images of S. Peter and S. Paul were pourtrayed, and demanded of him if th bishop. The seventh, that the dime and tenth part of the possessions should be given to the church. After this the emperor came to S. Peter's church and confessed meekly all his sins tofore all people, and what wrong he had done to christian men, and made to dig and cast out to make the foundements for the churches, and bare on his shoulders twelve hods or baskets full of earth. When Helen, the mother of Constantine, dwelling in Bethany, heard say that the emperor was become christian, she sent to him a letter, in which she praised much her son of this that he had renounced the false idols, but she blamed him much that he had renounced the law of the Jews, and worshipped a man crucified. Then Constantine remanded to his mother that she should assemble the greatest masters of the Jews, and he should assemble the greatest masters of the christian men, to the end that they might dispute and know which was the truest law. Then Helen assembled twelve masters which she brought with her, which were the wisest that they might find in that law, and S. Silvester and his clerks were of that other party. Then the emperor ordained two paynims, gentiles, to be their judges, of whom that one was named Crato, and that other Zenophilus, which were proved wise and expert, and they to give the sentence, and be judge of the disputation. Then began one of the masters of the Jews for to maintain and dispute his law, and S. Silvester and his clerks answered to his disputation, and to them all, always concluding them by scripture. The judges which were true and just, held more of the party of S. Silvester than of the Jews. Then said one of the masters of the Jews named Zambry, I marvel, said he, that ye be so wise and incline you to their words, let us leave all these words and go we to the effect of the deeds. Then he did do come a cruel bull, and said a word in his ear, and anon the bull died. Then the people were all against Silvester. Then said Silvester, believe not thou that he hath named in the ear the name of Jesu Christ, but the name of some devil, know ye verily it is no great strength to slay a bull, for a man, or a lion, or a serpent may well slay him, but it is great virtue to raise him again to life, then if he may not raise him it is by the devil. And if he may raise him again to life, I shall believe that he is dead by the power of God. And when the judges heard this, they said to Zambry, that had slain the bull, that he should raise him again. Then he answered that if Sylvester might raise him in the name of Jesus of Galilee his master, then he would believe in him, and thereto bound them all the Jews that were there. And S. Silvester first made his orisons and prayers to our Lord, and sith came to the bull and said to him in his ear: Thou cursed creature that art entered into this bull and hast slain him, go out in the name of Jesu Christ, in whose name I command thee bull, arise thou up and go thou with the other beasts debonairly, and anon the bull arose and went forth softly. Then the queen and the judges, which were paynims, were converted to the faith.

In this time it happed that there was at Rome a dragon in a pit, which every day slew with his breath more than three hundred men. Then came the bishops of the idols unto the emperor and said unto him: O thou most holy emperor, sith the time that thou hast received christian faith the dragon which is in yonder fosse or pit slayeth every day with his breath more than three hundred men. Then sent the emperor for S. Silvester and asked counsel of him of this matter. S. Silvester answered that by the might of God he promised to make him cease of his hurt and blessure of this people. Then S Silvester put himself to prayer, and S. Peter appeared to him and said: Go surely to the dragon and the two priests that be with thee take in thy company, and when thou shalt come to him thou shalt say to him in this manner: Our Lord Jesu Christ which was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, buried and arose, and now sitteth on the right side of the Father, this is he that shall come to deem and judge the living and the dead, I commend thee Sathanas that thou abide him in this place till he come. Then thou shalt bind his mouth with a thread, and seal it with thy seal , wherein is the imprint of the cross. Then thou and the two priests shall come to me whole and safe, and such bread as I shall make ready for you ye shall eat. Thus as S. Peter had said, S. Silvester did. And when he came to the pit, he descended down one hundred and fifty steps, bearing with him two lanterns, and found the dragon, and said the words that S. Peter had said to him, and bound his mouth with the thread, and sealed it, and after returned, and as he came upward again he met with two enchanters which followed him for to see if he descended, which were almost dead of the stench of the dragon, whom he brought with him whole and sound, which anon were baptized, with a great multitude of people with them. Thus was the city of Rome delivered from double death, that was from the culture and worshipping of false idols, and from the venom of the dragon. At the last when S. Silvester approached towards his death, he called to him the clergy and admonished them to have charity, and that they should diligently govern their churches, and keep their flock from the wolves. And after the year of the incarnation of our Lord three hundred and twenty, he departed out of this world and slept in our Lord, etc.

Sunday in the Octave of Christmas

Today's Holy Mass from Corpus Christi Church, Tynong, VIC, AU. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.

St. Sylvester, Pope and Confessor ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

St Sylvester, Pope & Confessor

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's The Liturgical Year.

So far, the only ones we have seen standing round the Crib of our Jesus have been Martyrs: Stephen, overwhelmed with the shower of stones; John, the Martyr in heart, who survived his fiery torture; the Holy Innocents, massacred by the sword; Thomas, murdered in his Cathedral—these are the champions of Christ, who keep guard in the palace of Bethlehem. Yet all Christians are not called to be Martyrs. Besides this countless battalion of the King’s favorite soldiers, there are other troops of sainted heroes which form the heavenly army—and amongst these, there are the Confessors, who conquered the world without shedding their blood in the combat. Though the place of honor in the service of the King belongs to the Martyrs, yet did the Confessors fight manfully for the glory of his name and the spreading of his Kingdom. The palm is not in their hands, but they are crowned with the crown of justice, and Jesus, who gave it to them, has made it be part of his own glory that they should be near his throne.

The Church would therefore grace this glorious Christmas Octave with the name of one of her Children, should represent, at Bethlehem, the whole class of her unmartyred Saints. She chose a Confessor—St. Sylvester: a Confessor who governed the Church of Rome, and therefore the universal Church; a Pontiff whose reign was long and peaceful; a Servant of Jesus Christ adorned with every virtue, who was sent to edify and guide the world immediately after those fearful combats, that had lasted for three hundred years, and in which millions of Christians had gained victory by martyrdom, under the leadership of Thirty Popes—predecessors of St. Sylvester—and they too all Martyrs.

So that Sylvester is messenger of the Peace, which Christ came to give to the world, and of which the Angels sang on Christmas Night. He is the friend of Constantine; he confirms the Council of Nicaea; he organizes the discipline of the Church for the new era on which she is now entering—the era of Peace. His predecessors in the See of Peter imaged Jesus in his sufferings; Sylvester represented Jesus in his triumph. His appearance during this Octave reminds us that the Divine Child who lies wrapped in swaddling clothes and is the object of Herod’s persecution is, notwithstanding all these humiliations, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the world to come. (Isaiah 9:6)

Let us read the history of Sylvester’s peaceful Pontificate, as related by the Church in her Breviary. The character of our work excludes purely critical discussions, and we, therefore, say nothing of the objections that have been raised against the Emperor Constantine’s having received Baptism, in Rome, at the hands of St. Sylvester. It is sufficient for us to tell our readers that the Roman tradition regarding that event has been adopted by the most learned men, such as Baronius, Schelstrate, Bianchini, Marangoni, Vignoli, etc.

Sylvester, a Roman by birth, and son of Rufinus, was brought up, from childhood, by the priest Cyrinus. He imitated his master by his learning and a good life, and, when in his thirtieth year, was ordained Priest of the holy Roman Church, by Pope Marcellinus. He surpassed the rest of the clergy in the admirable manner wherein he performed his sacred duties, and was chosen as the successor of Pope Melchiades under the reign of the Emperor Constantine. This Emperor, having been advised by his physicians to seek the cure of his leprosy by bathing in infants’ blood, was visited in his sleep by the holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The bade him refuse the sinful remedy of the bath, if he desired to be cleansed from his leprosy, and go to Sylvester, who was then hiding on mount Soracte; that having been regenerated in the saving waters of baptism, he should give orders that Churches, after the manner of the Christians, should be built in every part of the Roman empire; and that he should destroy the idols of the false gods, and worship the true God. Constantine, therefore, obeying the heavenly admonition, caused the most diligent search to be made for Sylvester, and, when found, to be brought to him. This being done, and the Pontiff having shown Constantine the portraits of the two Apostles he had seen in his sleep, the Emperor was baptized, and healed, and became exceedingly zealous for the defense and propagation of the Christian religion.

By the persuasion of the holy Pontiff, Constantine also built several Basilicas, which he enriched with sacred images, and most princely donations and gifts: he, moreover, granted permission to the Christians publicly to erect churches, which, previously, they were forbidden to do. Two Councils were held during the reign of this Pontiff: firstly, that of Nicaea, over which presided his Legates; Constantine was present, and 318 Bishops were assembled there; the holy and Catholic faith was explained, and Arius and his followers were condemned; the Council was confirmed by Sylvester, at the request of all the Fathers assembled: the second was that of Rome, at which 284 Bishops were present, and there, again, Arius was condemned.

Sylvester also passed several decrees most useful to the Church of God. For example: That the Chrism should be blessed by a Bishop only; That the Priest should anoint the crown of the head of the person he baptized; That Deacons should wear Dalmatics in the church, and a linen ornament on the left arm; That the Sacrifice of the Altar should not be celebrated excepting on a linen veil. He laid down the length of time, during which, they who received Orders, should exercise the functions belonging to each Order, before passing to a higher grade. He made it illegal for a layman to be the public accuser of a cleric, and forbade a cleric to plead before a civil tribunal. The names of Saturday and Sunday were to be still used; but all the other days of the week were to be called Ferias (Second Feria, Third Feria, and the rest), as the Church had already begun to call them; hereby signifying, that the clergy should put aside all other cares, and spend every day in the undisturbed service of God. To this heavenly prudence, wherewith he governed the Church, he ever joined the most admirable holiness of life, and charity towards the poor. For instance, he arranged, that those among the clergy who had no means, should live with wealthy members of the clergy; and, again, that everything needed for their maintenance, should be supplied to Virgins consecrated to God. He governed the Church twenty-one years, ten months, and a day. He was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla, on the Salarian Way. He seven times gave ordinations in the December month; the number of the ordained was, forty-two Priests, twenty-five Deacons, and sixty-five Bishops for various places.

The ancient Liturgical Books of Italy had a Proper Office for St. Sylvester. We have found, in the Breviary of the old Abbatial (now the Collegiate) Church of St. Barbary, at Mantua, a very beautiful Office; and from this we extract the following Antiphons and Responsories:

The storm of persecution being calmed, the religion of Christ our Lord was spread, in the Pontificate of blessed Sylvester, throughout the entire dominions of the Roman Empire.

Holily did Sylvester administer all things; he propagated the faith, and gave liberty and confidence for the preaching the Gospel in the City, the Mistress of kingdoms.

He suffered much, and it filled his life with merit; he made many rules, and they proved his wisdom.

Sylvester was a holy man, and led a life of heaven while on this earth: being a Pontiff of exceeding virtue, he governed the Church with heavenly prudence.

Being chosen Pontiff of God’s Church, he sought a hiding place on Mount Soracte, that he might escape the cruelty of the tyrant Maxentius: there, he besought God to bless the Church, at length, with peace.

While hid on the mount, the Apostles Peter and Paul admonish the Emperor to call the Pontiff: Sylvester regenerates Constantine in the saving waters of baptism, and heals him of leprosy.

Having fully instructed the Emperor Constantine in the faith of Christ, he was the first to publicly consecrate a Church, and it was the Basilica built by the Emperor: he called it Our Savior’s.

Sylvester, solicitous for the glory of God and the salvation of men, instructed the people in the knowledge of the saving doctrine, and delivered them, in a wonderful manner, from the errors of a wily serpent.

Convoking the General Council of Nicaea, where there was assembled a mystic number of Bishops, he subverted the machinations of heretics, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

This is the holy Pontiff, in whose day, Christ gave Peace to the Church, and at the Roman Empire prostrated at the feet of a Priest the lofty summit of its ancient glory.

O blessed Pontiff, and admirable Pastor of the universal Church! whom the Lord glorified in the sight of all nations, and exalted above the Emperor of Rome; O thou, that art now exulting in heavenly glory, pray for us to our Lord.

O shining Light and Brightness, blessed and most holy Sylvester! in whose time, the clouds of persecution were scattered over the heads of the Faithful, and the calmness of peace appeared: help us by thy prayers, that we may forever enjoy the blessing of peace.

The Greek Church is enthusiastic in its hymns of praise to St. Sylvester. In the stanzas we extract from her Menaea, she gives to this great Pope the whole honor of the Nicene Council, and honors him as the conqueror of the Arian heresy.

In magno Vespertino, et passim

Father and Hierarch, Sylvester! holily enlightened by the Light of holiness! thou didst enlighten the Faithful, by thy light-giving teachings, to adore the unity of nature in the Three Persons, and didst dispel the darkness of heresies. Therefore, we, with great solemnity, joyfully hymn today thy glorious memory.

O Father Sylvester, that carriest God with thee! thou visible pillar of fire, that goest before the holy flock! thou shade-giving cloud, that ever leadest the faithful out of Egyptian errors by thy incomparable precepts! we venerate thy glorious and most holy memory.

O Sylvester, divinely speaking Father! by the torrent of thy prayers thou didst sink the many-headed dragon in the mire. Holy and admirable Pontiff! thou didst lead thousands of Pagans unto God, and didst humble the haughty Jews, by the astounding miracles thou didst so wisely work before their eyes. Therefore, do we honor and bless thee.

Perfect in thy obedience to the Law of God, and admirably versed in the knowledge of the inspired Scriptures, thou didst teach the truth to the heathen philosophers; thou didst lead them to confess Christ together with the Father and Spirit, and say: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified.

Hierarch inspired of God, Sylvester our Father! thou art shown to us as anointing Priests in the Holy Ghost, and enlightening the people, O most sacred Pontiff! Thou didst put the errors of heresy to flight, and didst feed the flock, making the waters of holiness to flow upon the pastures of souls that know God.

By thy words, which left no escape, thou didst unravel the knots of sophistry; thou didst bind to the faith them that were bound by error, opening their minds by thy interpretation of the Scriptures, most blessed Hierarch, our Father.

By thy prayers, O blessed one! thou didst forever paralyze and imprison the wicked serpent, who sought to infect with his detestable pestilence them that approached thee: thou didst fasten down the dragons with the seal of the Cross, as with prison-gates and bolts.

Supreme Pastor of the Church of Christ! thou lendest to the beauty of the holy Octave of Christmas the luster of thy glorious merits. There thou worthily representest the countless choir of Confessors, for it was thou didst steer the barque of Peter after the three hundred years’ tempest, leading her with watchful love in her first hours of calm. The pontifical Diadem, reflecting heaven in its gems, sits on thy venerable brow. The Keys of the Kingdom of heaven are in thy hands; thou openest it for the admission of the Gentiles, who embrace the faith of Christ; thou shuttest it against the Arians, in that august Council of Nicaea, where thou presidest by thy Legates, and to which thou givest authority, by confirming it with thy apostolic approbation. The Furious storms will again soon rage against the Church, and the angry billows of heresy will beat against her; thou wilt then be in the bosom of God; but, together with St. Peter, thou wilt keep guard over the purity of the Faith of Rome. Thou wilt support Julius; thou wilt rescue Liberius; and Athanasius, aided by thy prayers, will find a shelter within the walls of Rome.

Under thy peaceful reign, Christian Rome receives the reward of her long-endured persecution. She is acknowledges as Queen of Christendom, and her empire becomes the sole empire that is universal. The Son of thy pastoral zeal, Constantine, leaves the city of Romulus, which has now become the City of Peter; the Imperial majesty would be eclipsed by that greater one of the Vicar of Christ; he makes Byzantium his capital, leaving Rome to be that of the Pontiff-King. The temples of the false gods become ruins, and make room for the Christian Basilicas, in which are enshrined the Relics of the Apostles and Martyrs. In a word, the Church has triumphed over the Prince of this world, and the victory is typified by the destruction of that Dragon, which infected the air by its poisonous breath.

Honored with all these wonderful prerogatives, saintly Vicar of Christ! forget not the Christian people, which was once thy flock. It asks thee, on this thy Feast, to make it know and love the mystery of the Birth of Jesus. By the sublime Symbol which embodies the Faith of Nicaea, and which thou didst confirm and promulgate throughout the whole Church—thou hast taught us to acknowledge this sweet Infant as God of God, Light of Light, begotten not made. Consubstantial to the Father. Thou biddest us to come and adore this Little Child, as He by whom all things were made. Holy Confessor of Christ! vouchsafe to present us to him, as the Martyrs have done, whose Feasts have filled up the days since his Nativity. Pray to him for us, that our desires for true virtue may be fulfilled, that we may persevere in his holy love, that we may conquer the world and our passions, and at length, that we may obtain the Crown of justice, which is to be the reward of our Confessing him before men and is the only object of our ambition.

Pontiff of Peace! from the abode of rest where thou now dwellest, look down upon the Church of God, surrounded as she is by implacable enemies, and beseech Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to hasten her triumph. Cast thine eye on that Rome which is so dear to thee, and which is so faithful in her love of thee. Protect and direct her Father, King, and Pontiff. May she triumph over the wiles of political intrigue, the violence of tyranny, the craft of heretics, the perfidy of schismatics, the apathy of worldlings, and the cowardice of her own children. May she be honored, loved, and obeyed. May the sublime dignity of the Priesthood be recognized. May the spiritual power enjoy freedom of action. May the civil authority work hand in hand with the Church. May the Kingdom of God now come, and be received throughout the whole world, and may there be but one Fold and one Shepherd.

Still watch, O holy Sylvester! over the sacred treasure of the Faith, which thou didst defend when on earth against every danger. May its light put out the vapors of man’s proud dreams, those false and daring doctrines which mislead countless souls. May every mortal bow down his understanding to the obedience of faith in the divine Mysteries, without which all human wisdom is but folly. May Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary, be King, by his Church, over the minds and hearts of all men.

Pray for Byzantium, that was once called the New Rome, but which so soon became the capital of heresies, and the scene of everything that could degrade a Christian country. Pray that the days of her deep humiliation may be shortened; that she may again see herself united with Rome; that she may honor Christ and his Vicar; that she may obey, and by her obedience be saved. May the people, misled and debased by her influence and rule, recover their dignity as men, which can only subsist when men have faith, or be regained by a return to the faith.

And lastly, O Conqueror of Satan! keep this hellish monster in the prison whither thou didst drive him; confound his pride and his schemes; let him no longer seduce the people of God’s earth; but may all the children of the Church, according to the word of Peter, thy predecessor, resist him, by the strength of their faith. (1 Peter 5:9)

Let us, on this Seventh Day within the Christmas Octave, consider the newborn Babe wrapped in the swaddling clothes of infancy. They are the indications of weakness; the Child that is swathed in them is helpless and dependent on others; another’s hand must loosen his bands, and until then, he is not free to move. It was in this infantine helplessness, and in the bondage of human weakness that He who gives life and motion to every creature, first appeared on our earth!

Let us contemplate our Blessed Lady wrapping the limbs of her Child, her God, in these swathing bands: but who can picture to himself the respectful love wherewith she does it? She adores his humiliations—humiliations which he has taken upon himself in order that he may sanctify every period of man’s life, even that feeblest of all, infancy. So deep was the wound of our pride that it needed a remedy of such exceeding efficacy as this! Can we refuse to become little children now that He, who give us the precept, sets us so touching an example? Sweet Jesus! we adore thee wrapped in thy Swaddling Clothes, and our ambition is to imitate thy divine humility.

“Let us not,” says the holy Abbot Guerric, “let not the eye of your faith be offended or shocked, Brethren, at these outward humble coverings. As the Mother of Jesus wrapped him in swaddling clothes, so does Grace and Wisdom, which is your spiritual mother, veil over, with certain material things, the truth of our Incarnate God, and hide, under the representation of symbolical figures, the majesty of this same Jesus. When I, Brethren, deliver to you, by my words, the Truth (which is Jesus), I am swathing Jesus in bands of exceeding great poverty. Happy the soul that loves and adores not its Jesus the less because he receives him thus poorly clad! Let us, therefore, most devoutly think upon our Lord clothed in the swathing bands wherewith his Mother covered his infant limbs; that so, in the world of eternal happiness, we may see the glory and beauty wherewith his Father hath clad him; and this glory is that of the Only Begotten Son of the Father.” (Sermon the Fifth, On our Lord’s Nativity)

Let us once more celebrate the joyous Birth of our Jesus, making use of this ancient Prose so redolent of the piety of the ages of Faith. It is found in the old Roman-French Missals.

SEQUENCE

Every choir devoutly sings to the new-born King,
Melodizing each word with organ-notes.
Dear Holiday! whereon the earth is filled with joy, ne’er felt before.
’Twas on this grand Night, that Angels’ voices intoned the sweet Gloria.
A dazzling light shone at midnight on the Shepherds.
They are tending their flocks, when suddenly they hear the divine announcement:
“Glory infinite in the heavens—and on earth, Peace:
“He that is eternal, is born of the glorious Virgin!”
Then, let the heavenly host give forth excessive jubilee,
And earth, from pole to pole, thrill with the loud melodious song.
The enemy’s intolerable cruelty is crushed.
Let the whole race of men sing praise to the God now born upon the earth.
Peace is restored to the world; let all things rejoice at the birth of the Child.
Let our Gloria be sung today with voices full and shrill, that it may echo through creation.
May He that alone rules all things—
May He that alone governs all things—
In his mercy save all kingdoms, and give them Peace.
Amen.

The saintly Abbot of Cluy, Peter the Venerable, is the author of the Hymn we will now offer to the incomparable Mother. It is full of that scriptural unction which filled the writer’s fervent soul.

SEQUENCE

Rejoice ye Heavens! and be glad, O earth! let no man keep his lips from praise.
It was by the Virgin that man was restored to the primeval state.
A Virgin brought forth our God, and the ancient anger ceased:
The ancient discord ceased, and Peace and Glory came in its stead.
Guilty man was drawn from the mire, when God lay on his Crib of straw.
A wretched Stable held then within it the Food of heaven’s own gift.
The Virgin feeds the Creator—the Redeemer, who had become her Child.
Divine Wisdom lay hid in childhood.
The milk of the Mother’s breast fed her Jesus; her Jesus feeds us with the milk of his tender mercy,
Giving us the sweetness of grace through the assuming our human nature.
Therefore, let our sweetest music give our Ave Maria,
In sacred words, and with speaking hearts.
Hail! Virgin ever Blest, that didst destroy the curse.
Hail! Mother of the Most High, and Spouse of the Lamb most meek.
Thou didst conquer the serpent, and crush his head,
For the God, that was born of thee, was the serpent’s death.
Thou art the Queen of heaven, and Reparatrix of the earth,
The loved Mother of men, and the terror of the demons of hell.
The Scriptural figures of Window, Gate, Fleece, Palace, House, Temple, and Earth—all are fulfilled in thee.
Thou art the Lily, by thy virginity; thou art the Rose, by thy martyrdom:
The Garden enclosed, the Fountain of gardens that cleansest the defilements of sin,
Purifiest them that are unclean, and bringest the dead to life.
O Queen of the Angels, and, after God, and Hope of mankind!
Thou art the couch of the King, and the Throne of God.
Thou art the Star of the East, that puttest to flight the shadows of the Western night.
Thou art the Aurora, the Sun’s harbinger, and the Day that knowest not night.
Thou art Mother of the God who is our Father; thou giveth life to Him who giveth life to us.
Oh! may the Holy Mother’s confidence in her son reconcile Him to us his children!
Mother of Jesus! pray for us to thy Divine Son, that he forgive us our sins,
And, after this our pardon, give us grace and glory.
Amen.

The Civil Year ends today. At Midnight, a New Year will begin, as the world counts time, and the present one will sink into the abyss of eternity. It is one step further on in our lives, and brings us nearer to that end of all things which St. Peter says is at hand. (1 Peter 4:7) The Liturgy, which brings a new Ecclesiastical Year on the First Sunday of Advent, has no special prayers in the Roman Church, for the beginning of the Year on the First of January; but her spirit—which takes an interest in everything affecting the well-being of individuals or society at large—her spirit is, that we should, sometime in the course of this last day of the Year, make a fervent act of thanksgiving to God for the blessings he has bestowed upon us during the past twelve months.

Rome sets us the example. Today, the Sovereign Pontiff goes, in state, to the Gesù (or, as we should call it, Jesus’ Church), and there assists at a solemn Te Deum; the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament follows it, blessing, as it were, the public act of thanksgiving, and giving a pledge of blessings for the coming Year.

The only Church that has given a Liturgical expression to the sentiments which the close of the Year inspires is that of the Mozarabic Rite, in which there occurs the following beautiful Preface, which we gladly offer to our readers. It is part of the Mass of the Sunday which immediately precedes the Feast of the Epiphany.

ILLATIO

It is meet and just, that we should give thanks to thee, O Holy Lord, Eternal Father, Almighty God, through Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord; who being, before all time, born of thee, God the Father, did, together with thee and the Holy Ghost, create all seasons, and deigned himself to be born in time, from the womb of the Virgin Mary. He, though the eternal One, established the fixed revolutions of years, through which this world runs its course, and divided the Year by regular and suitable changes of Seasons, wherewith the Sun should, in orderly variety, mark the round of the Year, as he ran the measured circuit of his course. For we, this day, dedicate, by the gifts we offer, the close of the past year, and the commencement of that which follows, unto Him, the living God, by whose mercy we have lived through the years gone bye, and are about to commence the beginning of another. Since, therefore, a sacred devotion, wherein we all share, has this Year brought us together to invoke this thy Divine Son, we pour out our humble prayers unto thee, O God, the Father! that, whereas thou hast consecrated the present portion of the year by the Birth of this same thy Son—thou mayest vouchsafe to make this year a happy one unto us, and to give us to spend it in thy service. Fill, too, the earth with its fruits, and deliver our souls and bodies from sickness and sin. Take away scandal, defeat our enemy, keep down famine, and drive far from our country all such events as would bring evil upon her. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pope St Sylvester, Blessed Giuseppina Nicoli & Blessed Alan de Solminihac

A sermon for St Sylvester, Bld Giuseppina Nicoli & Bld Alan de Solminihac. Please, remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the priest.

St Columba, Virgin & Martyr

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints

THE NEW Paris Breviary fixes her death either in 258 or in 273. The latter date reduces it to the journey which Aurelian took into Gaul in that year, when he gained a great victory at Chalons. She suffered at Sens. Her relics were kept in the Benedictin abbey till they were dispersed by the Huguenots, together with those of many other saints kept there, as Baillet observes. St. Owen, in his life of St. Eligius, mentions a chapel which bore her name at Paris.

St Sylvester, Pope & Confessor

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints

ST. SYLVESTER, whom God appointed to govern his holy church in the first years of her temporal prosperity and triumph over her persecuting enemies, was a native of Rome, and son to Rufinus and Justa. According to the general rule with those who are saints from their cradle, he received early and in his infancy the strongest sentiments of Christian piety from the example, instructions, and care of a virtuous mother, who, for his education in the sound maxims and practice of religion, and in sacred literature, put him young into the hands of Charitius or Carinius, a priest of an unexceptionable character and great abilities. Being formed under an excellent master, he entered among the clergy of Rome, and was ordained priest by Pope Marcellinus, before the peace of the church was disturbed by Dioclesian, and his associate in the empire. His behaviour in those turbulent and dangerous times recommended him to the public esteem, and he saw the triumph of the cross by the victory which Constantine gained over Maxentius within sight of the city of Rome on the 28th of October, 312. Pope Melchiades dying in January, 314, St. Sylvester was exalted to the pontificate, and the same year commissioned four legates, two priests, and two deacons, to represent him at the great council of the Western Church, held at Arles in August, in which the schism of the Donatists, which had then subsisted seven years, and the heresy of the Quarto-decimans were condemned, and many important points of discipline regulated in twenty-two canons. These decisions were sent by the council before it broke up with an honourable letter to Pope Sylvester, and were confirmed by him and published to the whole church. 1 The general council of Nice was assembled against Arianism in 325. Socrates, 2 Sozomen, 3 and Theodoret, 4 say that Pope Sylvester was not able to come to it in person on account of his great age, but that he sent his legates. Gelasius of Cyzicus 5 mentions that in it “Osius held the place of the bishop of Rome, together with the Roman priests Vito and Vincentius.” These three are named the first in subscriptions of the bishops in the editions of the acts of that council, 6 and in Socrates, who expressly places them before Alexander, patriarch of Alexandria, and Eustathius, patriarch of Antioch. 7 St. Sylvester greatly advanced religion by a punctual discharge of all the duties of his exalted station during the space of twenty-one years and eleven months; and died on the 31st of December, 335. He was buried in the cemetery of Priscilla. St. Gregory the Great pronounced his ninth homily on the gospels on his festival, and in a church which was dedicated to God in his memory by Pope Symmachus. 8 Pope Sergius II. translated his body into this church, and deposited it under the high altar. Mention is made of an altar consecrated to God in his honour at Verona about the year 500; and his name occurs in the ancient Martyrology, called St. Jerom’s, published by Florentinius, and in those of Bede, Ado, Usuard, &c. Pope Gregory IX., in 1227, made his festival general in the Latin church; the Greeks keep it on the 10th of January. 1

After a prodigious effusion of Christian blood almost all the world over daring the space of three hundred years, the persecuting kingdoms at length laid down their arms, and submitted to the faith and worship of a God crucified for us. This ought to be to us a subject of thanksgiving. But do our lives express this faith? Does it triumph in our hearts? It is one of its first precepts that in all our actions we make God our beginning and end, and have only his divine honour and his holy law in view. All our various employments, all our thoughts and designs must be referred to, and terminate in this, as all the lines drawn from the circumference of a circle meet in the centre. We ought therefore so to live that the days, hours, and moments of the year may form a crown made up of good works, which we may offer to God. Our forgetfulness of him who is our last end, in almost all that we do, calls for a sacrifice of compunction in the close of the year: but this cannot be perfect or acceptable to God, unless we sincerely devote our whole hearts and lives to his holy love for the time to come. Let us therefore examine into the sources of former omissions, failures, and transgressions, and take effectual measures for our amendment, and for the perfect regulation of all our affections and actions for the future, or that part of our life which may remain. 2

Note 1. See epist. Synodi Arel. ad Sylvest. Pap. Conc. t. 1, p. 1425. [back]
Note 2. Socr, l. 1, c. 5. [back]
Note 3. Sozom. l. 1, c. 6. [back]
Note 4. Theodoret, l. 1, c. 7. [back]
Note 5. Gelas. Cyz. Hist. Conc. Nicæn. l. 2, c. 5, t. 2, Conc. [back]
Note 6. Conc. t. 2, p. 50. [back]
Note 7. The history of Constantine’s donation of Rome is refuted by Pagi, Critic. in Annal. Baron. Papebroke, Act. Sanct. Nat. Alexander, Hist. Eccl. Noris, t. 4. Oper. Mamaclii, Orig. Christ. t. 2, p. 232, &c. [back]
Note 8. Conc. t. 1, p. 1368. [back]

Collect of St Columba, Virgin & Martyr ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast (See Note)

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who on the feast of any Saint recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
O God, who amongst the other miracles of Thy power hast bestowed the victory of martyrdom even upon the weaker sex, graciously grant that we who commemorate the anniversary of the death of Blessed Columba, Thy Virgin and Martyr, may come to Thee by the path of her example.

Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen. 

I would assume that this indulgence also attaches to the recitation of the Troparion and Kontakion of the Saint of the day in the Eastern Calendar which are in my Eastern Rite post at 00.06.

Nota bene - St Columba is not celebrated on the Universal Calendar, but according to the Roman Martyrology, today is her Feast Day. The Collect is taken from the Common of Virgins.

Collect of St Sylvester, Pope & Confessor ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who on the feast of any Saint recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.

Look forgivingly on thy flock, Eternal Shepherd, and keep it in thy constant protection, by the intercession of blessed Sylvester thy Sovereign Pontiff, whom thou didst constitute Shepherd of the whole Church.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen. 

I would assume that this indulgence also attaches to the recitation of the Troparion and Kontakion of the Saint of the day in the Eastern Calendar which are in my Eastern Rite post at 00.06.

The Church Will Always Triumph

'Every time the Church has appeared close to destruction, it has prevailed.' [U]pon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18b)

From Crisis

By Casey Chalk, MA(Theol)

Every time the Church has appeared close to destruction, it has prevailed.

Several years ago, I visited the church and convent of Santo Domingo in Lima, where St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617) once lived and prayed. Beautiful Sevillian azulejos—a form of Portuguese and Spanish painted tin-glazed ceramic tilework—covered the walls of the main cloister. On one such azulejo, passersby can spy a date: 1606, one year before the founding of the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

Before Pocahontas and John Rolfe, before Puritan colonists, and well before conscientious objector William Penn, Spanish Catholics had already created an impressive Catholic civilization in the Americas. By 1575, a century before the first printing press was established in British America, books were printed in Mexico City, not only in Spanish, but in twelve languages. Before the founding of Harvard, there were three universities in the Spanish Americas. Almost a century before the first school of dissection was opened in England in 1769, anatomy and surgery were being taught with dissection at the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico. 

Some of the above details, I confess, I did not know until I read prolific writer H.W. Crocker’s  Triumph: The Power and the Glory of the Catholic Church, this year updated and expanded to account for the last two decades of tumultuous Church history. It is an excellent introduction to the history of the Catholic Church, one that even widely-read Catholics will likely admit contains fascinating details and stories of which they were previously ignorant. Though it is an account of Catholic frustrations and failures, it is also a story of the Church’s unflagging survival and success in spite of tremendous odds. And as proved by this year and all its Catholic controversies—synods on synodalities, bishops removed from office, and spats between pope and cardinals—we are in sore need of stories that reinvigorate our trust in the Church’s ultimate victory. 

Crocker supplies that confidence in abundance, in large part because he is such a good storyteller, beginning with his prologue, a description of Constantine’s victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312 that led to the legalization of the Christian religion across the Roman empire. 

Constantine’s men were sleeping when the Praetorians burst upon them, piercing their unprotected bellies with swords or pilums—six-foot lances tipped by eighteen inches of steel. While Constantine’s vanguard struggled to protect itself, the legionnaires farther back hurriedly donned their breastplates and helmets, grabbed their arms, and ran to rescue their comrades.

This is no staid treatment of Christian history weighed down by overly academic prose. A chapter on the early church arrestingly begins: “Origen severed his genitals.” That’s true, and a bit surprising—the early Church father became famous for his non-literalist interpretation of Scripture, so one wonders what led him to so literally interpret Jesus’ words: “[There] be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” Perhaps the castrated Origen had buyer’s remorse?

Every chapter is peppered with these kinds of interesting anecdotes, which are especially welcome when trying to maintain the reader’s interest in the alternatively boring or bizarre pontificates of the medieval period. Stephen VI (896-897), for example, had the disinterred corpse of his predecessor Pope Formosus (891–896) brought before what became known as the “Cadaver Synod” and subjected the hapless corpse to a mock trial. John XII (955-964) in turn was accused of such immorality that the Lateran Palace was labeled a brothel; he is alleged to have died while committing adultery, possibly defenestrated by the cuckolded husband.

Not, of course, that Crocker’s narrative is all blood, guts, and gossip. In truth, it’s quite a first-rate, extensively-researched history, as the select, critical bibliography makes clear. And Crocker is impressively well-read, citing not only many a sizeable cache of the expected ecclesial historians and theologians but writers as far flung as Ambrose Bierce (a great Civil War-era author and journalist), Gertrude Himmelfarb (an accomplished historian of modern Britain), and Allen Tate (a poet and member of the so-called Southern agrarian movement).

As the title suggests, Triumph foregrounds the many glories and achievements of the Catholic Church through twenty centuries of history. Many readers will likely have a cursory knowledge of some of these, but it’s worth appreciating how many times the Church seemed destined for oblivion: Roman persecution, the rise of Islam, the crisis of the three popes, the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and the spread of communism among them. It’s not that these historical events weren’t costly—they were, often disastrously so. In the course of a single century, the majority of the global Christian population (and three patriarchates) fell under Muslim rule. The French Revolution and its aftermath not only created many thousands of Catholic martyrs, but it also brought the “eldest daughter of the Church” to her knees, never to recover.

Yet every time the Church has appeared close to destruction, it has prevailed. The Reformation ended Christendom and cut millions of Europeans away from the Church; but only a few years later, a vision of Mary in Mexico City served as a catalyst for the baptism of millions of indigenous Americans. Totalitarian regimes crushed much of Catholicism in central and eastern Europe, yet a Polish pope who grew up under Nazi and Soviet rule survived both and inspired millions of the faithful to “put out into the deep.” Catholicism today withers away in its traditional heartlands of Spain, France, and Italy, but it thrives in Africa and Asia, a consequence (in part) of missionary efforts from those same European countries many years before. 

But I’m just touching the wavetops here. Crocker’s history shows Catholic triumphs in ecclesiology, theology, and politics, as well as art, literature, and science, proving that in every generation it has been the Church that best exemplifies not only virtue and piety but truth and beauty. Thus, Triumph ends in exhortation: “In the third Christian millennium there are powerful new challenges that only the Church can overcome—namely the challenges of science and technology to human integrity.” Anyone following debates over abortion, surrogacy, or transhumanism knows it is the Catholic arguments that are the most robust and humane.

A close friend—once a nominal Catholic, now a prayerful father of five—once told me that the first edition of Triumph dramatically altered his appreciation for the Catholic Church. Surveying so many heroic lives driven by a singular love for Christ, how could it not? One hopes Crocker’s updated edition will do the same for a new generation of Catholics. As he closes: “Man can find his own future. We can only work and pray that he does so with the lamp of Christ held high.”