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| To the Bishops of Sicily.
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Letter
XVI.
To the Bishops of Sicily.
Leo the bishop to all the bishops throughout Sicily
greeting in the Lord.
I. Introductory.
By God’s precepts
and the Apostle’s admonitions we are incited to keep a careful
watch over the state of all the churches: and, if anywhere ought
is found that needs rebuke, to recall men with speedy care either from
the stupidity of ignorance or from forwardness and presumption.
For inasmuch as we are warned by the Lord’s own command whereby the blessed Apostle Peter
had the thrice repeated mystical injunction pressed upon him, that he
who loves Christ should feed Christ’s sheep, we are compelled by
reverence for that see which, by the abundance of the Divine Grace, we
hold, to shun the danger of sloth as much as possible: lest the
confession of the chief Apostle whereby he testified that he loved
God be not found in us: because if he
(through us) carelessly
feed
the flock so often commended to him he is proved not to love the chief
Shepherd.
II. Baptism is to be administered at
Easter-tide and not on the Epiphany.
Accordingly when it reached my ears on reliable
testimony (and I already felt a brother’s affectionate anxiety
about your acts, beloved) that in what is one of the chief sacraments
of the Church you depart from the practice of the Apostles’
constitution168
| 168 From this letter it
might be gathered that it was a universal practice of the early Church
based on the precepts of the apostles, to restrict Baptism to the
feasts of Easter and Whitsuntide, and exclude Epiphany. Whereas
as a matter of fact the restriction was almost exclusively Roman; all
the Eastern Churches and a good many of the Western recognizing the
Epiphany as a suitable occasion for the rite. Leo is too fond of
claiming Apostolic authority for his dictates, and none such exists
here, as far as we know. | by administering
the sacrament of baptism to greater numbers on the feast of the
Epiphany than at Easter-tide, I was surprised that you or your
predecessors could have introduced so unreasonable an innovation as to
confound the mysteries of the two festivals and believe there was no
difference between the day on which Christ was worshipped by the wise
men and that on which He rose again from the dead. You could
never have fallen into this fault, if you had taken the whole of your
observances from the source whence you derive your consecration to the
episcopate; and if the see of the blessed Apostle Peter, which is the
mother of your priestly dignity, were the recognized teacher of
church-method. We could indeed have endured your departure from
its rules with less equanimity, if you had received any previous rebuke
by way of warning from us. But now as we do not despair of
correcting you, we must show gentleness. And although an excuse
which affects ignorance is scarce tolerable in priests, yet we prefer
to moderate our needful rebuke and to instruct you plainly in the true
method of the Church.
III. One must distinguish one festival
from another in respect of dignity and occasion.
The restoration of mankind has indeed ever
remained immutably fore-ordained in God’s eternal counsel: but the series of
events which had to be accomplished in time through Jesus Christ our
Lord was begun at the Incarnation of the
Word. Hence there is one time when at the angel’s
announcement the blessed Virgin Mary believed she was to be with child
through the Holy Ghost and conceived: another, when without loss
of her virgin purity the Boy was born and shown to the shepherds by the
exulting joy of the heavenly attendants: another, when the Babe
was circumcised: another, when the victim required by the Law is
offered for him: another, when the three wise men attracted by
the brightness of the new star169
| 169 It will be
noticed that Leo’s order of events, though probably correct, is
not that of the modern Kalendar, which places the Epiphany (Jan. 6)
soon after the Circumcision (Jan. 1), and not after the Purification
(Feb. 2): unless it was some little time after, Herod’s
cruelty was unnecessarily great in including children of two
years old in his massacre (S. Matt. ii. 16). | arrive at Bethlehem
from the East and worship the Infant with the mystic offering of
Gifts.
And again the days are not the same on which by
the divinely appointed passage into Egypt He was withdrawn from wicked
Herod, and on which He was recalled from Egypt into Galilee on His
pursuer’s death. Among these varieties of circumstance must
be included His growth of body: the Lord
increases, as the evangelist bears witness, with the progress of age
and grace: at the time of the Passover He comes to the temple at
Jerusalem with His parents, and when He was absent from the returning
company, He is found sitting with the elders and disputing among the
wondering masters and rendering an account of His remaining
behind: “why is it,” He says, “that ye sought
Me? did ye not know that I must be in that which is My
Father’s170
| 170 S. Luke ii. 49, in his quæ Patris mei sunt
(Vulgate): this version leaves the expression ἐν
τοῖς τοῦ
Πατρός μου in its
original ambiguity, but Leo’s commentary immediately following
gives his decision in favour of “in My Father’s
house.” | ,” signifying
that He was the Son of Him whose temple He was in. Once more when
in later years He was to be declared more openly and sought out the
baptism of His forerunner John, was there any doubt of His being
God remaining when after the baptism of the
Lord Jesus the Holy Spirit in form of a dove
descended and rested upon Him, and the Father’s voice was heard
from the skies, “Thou art My beloved Son: in Thee I am well
pleased171
?” All these things we have
alluded to with as much brevity as possible for this reason, that you
may know, beloved, that though all the days of Christ’s life were
hallowed by many mighty works of His172
| 172 Innumeris
consecratos fuisse virtutibus, where virtutes, as often,
corresponds to the Gk. δυνάμεις. | , and though
in all His actions mysterious sacraments173
| 173 Sacramentorum
mysteria coruscasse: it is instructive to find the two words
here conjoined, Leo so often using them apparently as
equivalents. No one, moreover, after reading this sentence, can
doubt what in early times Western Christians meant by
sacramentum , see Letter XII. chap. 3, &c. |
shone forth, yet at one time intimations of events were given by signs,
and at one time fulfilment realized: and that all the
Saviour’s works that are recorded are not suitable to the time of
baptism. For if we were to commemorate with indiscriminate honour
these things also which we know to have been done by the Lord after His baptism by the blessed John, His whole
lifetime
would have
to be observed in a continuous succession of festivals, because all His
acts were full of miracles. But because the Spirit of wisdom and
knowledge so instructed the Apostles and teachers of the whole Church
as to allow nothing disordered or confused to exist in our Christian
observances, we must discern the relative importance of the various
solemnities and observe a reasonable distinction in all the
institutions of our fathers and rulers: for we cannot otherwise
“be one flock and one shepherd174
,”
except as the Apostle teaches us, “that we all speak the same
thing: and that we be perfected in the same mind and in the same
judgment175
.”
IV. The reason explained why Easter and
Whitsuntide are the proper seasons for baptism.
Although, therefore, both these things which are
connected with Christ’s humiliation and those which are connected
with His exaltation meet in one and the same Person, and all that is in
Him of Divine power and human weakness conduces to the accomplishment
of our restoration: yet it is appropriate that the power of
baptism should change the old into the new creature on the death-day of
the Crucified and the Resurrection-day of the Dead: that
Christ’s death and His resurrection may operate in the
re-born176
| 176 Renascentibus
(pres. part.) here, not renatis (past). | , as the blessed Apostle says:
“Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized in Christ Jesus,
were baptized in His death? We were buried with Him through
baptism into death; that as Christ rose from the dead through the glory
of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life. For if
we have become united with the likeness of His death, we shall be also
(with the likeness) of His resurrection177
| 177 Rom. vi. 3–5. Notice the support here given to
the marginal alternative of the R.V., “united with,”
instead of “united in” ( Lat. complantati
similitudini, &c.). | ,” and the rest which the Teacher of
the Gentiles discusses further in recommending the sacrament of
baptism: that it might be seen from the spirit of this doctrine
that that is the day, and that the time chosen for regenerating the
sons of men and adopting them among the sons of God, on which by a mystical symbolism and form178
| 178 Per
similitudinem et formam mysterii. | , what is done in the limbs coincides
with what was done in the Head Himself, for in the baptismal office
death ensues through the slaying of sin, and threefold immersion
imitates the lying in the tomb three days, and the raising out of the
water is like Him that rose again from the tomb179
| 179 This was a favourite
interpretation of the symbolism with the fathers. Cf. Serm. LXX.,
chap. 4, and Bright’s n. 97 thereon. | . The very nature, therefore of the
act teaches us that that is the recognized day for the general
reception of the grace180
| 180 Celebrandæ
generaliter gratiæ, where generaliterhas much the
same sense as the Eng. “generally” has in the definition of
a sacrament in the Eng. Ch. Catechism as “generally
necessary to salvation.” | , on which the power
of the gift and the character of the action originated. And this
is strongly corroborated by the consideration that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, after He rose from the dead,
handed on both the form and power of baptizing to His disciples, in
whose person all the chiefs of the churches received their instructions
with these words, “Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost181
.” On which of course He might
have instructed them even before His passion, had He not especially
wished it to be understood that the grace of regeneration began with
His resurrection. It must be added, indeed, that the solemn
season of Pentecost, hallowed by the coming of the Holy Ghost is also
allowed, being as it were, the sequel and completion of the Paschal
feast. And while other festivals are held on other days of the
week, this festival (of Pentecost) always occurs on that day, which is
marked by the Lord’s resurrection:
holding out, so to say, the hand of assisting grace and inviting those,
who have been cut off from the Easter feast by disabling sickness or
length of journey or difficulties of sailing, to gain the purpose that
they long for through the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the
Only-begotten of God Himself wished no
difference to be felt between Himself and the Holy Spirit in the Faith
of believers and in the efficacy of His works: because there is
no diversity in their nature, as He says, “I will ask the Father
and He shall give you another Comforter that He may be with you for
ever, even the Spirit of Truth182
;” and
again: “But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the
Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things and bring to
your remembrance all that I said unto you183
;” and again: “When He,
the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the
Truth184
.” And thus, since Christ is
the Truth, and the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth, and the name of
“Comforter” appropriate to both, the two festivals are not
dissimilar, where the sacrament is the same185
| 185 It need hardly
be pointed out that these words, “where the sacrament is the
same,” refer to the sacramentum (in its Leonine sense),
that has just been explained, viz,, that Christus est veritas
et spiritus sanctus est spiritus veritatus. | .
V. S.
Peter’s example as an authority for Whitsuntide
baptisms.
And that we do not contend for this on our own
conviction but retain it on Apostolic authority, we prove by a
sufficiently apt example, following the blessed Apostle Peter, who, on
the very day on which the promised coming of the Holy Ghost filled up
the number of those that believed, dedicated to God in the baptismal font three thousand of the people who
had been converted by his preaching. The Holy Scripture, which
contains the Acts of Apostles186
| 186 Leo does not often
quote from the Acts, and here he expressly includes it in the Canon,
and alludes to its authenticity (fideli historia docet). | , teaches this in
its faithful narrative, saying, “Now when they heard this they
were pricked in the heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the
Apostles, what shall we do, brethren? But Peter said unto them,
Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ,
unto the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. For to you is the promise, and to your children and
to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto
Him. With many other words also he testified and exhorted them
saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. They then
that received his word were baptized, and there were added in that day
about three thousand187
.”
VI. In cases of urgency other times are
allowable for baptism.
Wherefore, as it is quite clear that these two
seasons of which we have been speaking are the rightful ones for
baptizing the chosen in Church, we admonish you, beloved, not to add
other days to this observance. Because, although there are other
festivals also to which much reverence is due in God’s honour, yet we must rationally guard this
principal and greatest sacrament as a deep mystery and not part of the
ordinary routine188
| 188 Principalis et
maximi sacramenti custodienda nobis est mystica et rationalis
exceptio (another reading being exemplatio (symbolism),
which Quesnel prefers, thinking that the words have reference to the
appropriateness of this symbolic rite of Baptism being performed at
Easter-tide). | : not,
however, prohibiting the licence to succour those who are in danger by
administering baptism to them at any time. For whilst we put off
the vows of those who are not pressed by ill health and live in
peaceful security to those two closely connected and cognate festivals,
we do not at any time refuse this which is the only safeguard of true
salvation to any one in peril of death, in the crisis of a siege, in
the distress of persecution, in the terror of shipwreck.
VII. Our Lord’s baptism by John very different to the baptism
of believers.
But if any one thinks the feast of the Epiphany,
which in proper degree is certainly to be held in due honour, claims
the privilege of baptism because, according to some the Lord came to St. John’s baptism on the same day, let
him know that the grace of that baptism and the reason of it were quite
different, and is not on an equal footing with the power by which they
are re-born of the Holy Ghost, of whom it is said, “which were
born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God189
.” For the Lord who needed no remission of sin and sought not the
remedy of being born again, desired to be baptized just as He desired
to be circumcised, and to have a victim offered for His
purification: that He, who had been “made of a
woman190
,” as the Apostle says, might become
also “under the law” which He had come, “not to
destroy but to fulfil191
,” and by
fulfilling to end, as the blessed Apostle proclaims, saying:
“but Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to every one
that believeth192
.” But
the sacrament of baptism He founded in His own person193
| 193 Baptismi sui in se
condidit sacramentum: the baptism of Christ has very
generally been associated with the Epiphany: the record of it,
for instance, in S. Luke iii.
15–23, is the 2nd
morning lesson for the Festival in the English Church. It is,
however, not clear who the “some” were whom Leo mentions
above as putting Christ’s baptism on the same day as the
Epiphany; perhaps he means the Eastern Church. | , because “in all things having the
pre-eminence194
,” He taught
that He Himself was the Beginning. And He ratified the power of
re-birth on that occasion, when from His side flowed out the blood of
ransom and the water of baptism195
| 195 Cf. Lett. XXVIII. (The
Tome), chap. vi., where the same explanation of the sacred incident in
the Lord’s passion is given. | . As,
therefore, the Old Testament was the witness to the new, and “the
law was given by Moses: but grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ196
;” as the divers sacrifices prefigured
the one Victim, and the slaughter of many lambs was ended by the
offering up of Him, of whom it is said, “Behold the Lamb of
God; behold Him that taketh away the sin of
the world197
;” so too
John, not Christ, but Christ’s forerunner, not the bridegroom,
but the friend of the bridegroom, was so faithful in seeking,
“not His own, but the things which are Jesus
Christ’s198
,” as to
profess himself unworthy to undo the shoes of His feet: seeing
that He Himself indeed baptized “in water unto repentance,”
but He who with twofold power should both restore life and destroy
sins, was about to “baptize in the Holy Ghost and fire199
.” As
then, beloved brethren, all these distinct
proofs come before you, whereby to the removal of all doubt you
recognize that in baptizing the elect who, according to the Apostolic
rule have to be purged by exorcisms, sanctified by fastings and
instructed by frequent sermons, two seasons only are to be observed,
viz. Easter and Whitsuntide: we charge you, brother, to make no
further departure from the Apostolic institutions. Because
hereafter no one who thinks the Apostolic rules can be set at defiance
will go unpunished.
VIII. The Sicilian bishops are to send
three of their number to each of the half-yearly meetings of bishops at
Rome.
Wherefore we require this first and foremost for
the keeping of perfect harmony, that, according to the wholesome rule
of the holy Fathers that there should be two meetings of bishops every
year200
| 200 Cf. Lett. XIV., chap. 8,
where the same rule is laid down. | , three of you should appear without fail each
time, on the 29th of September, to join in the council of the
brethren: for thus, by the aid of God’s grace, we shall the easier guard against the
rise of offences and errors in Christ’s Church: and this
council must always meet and deliberate in the presence of the blessed
Apostle Peter, that all his constitutions and canonical decrees may
remain inviolate with all the Lord’s
priests.
These matters, upon which we thought it necessary
to instruct you by the inspiration of the Lord, we wish brought to your knowledge by our brothers
and fellow-bishops, Bacillus and Paschasinus. May we learn by
their report that the institutions of the Apostolic See are reverently
observed by you. Dated 21 Oct., in the consulship of the
illustrious Alipius and Ardaburis (447). E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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