Saint Innocent I

But this joy was soon crossed by a great affliction. Alaric, King of the Goths, was ravaging all of Italy; he laid siege to Rome, which ha d no Rome Birthplace of Maximian. t known what it was to be besieged since its capture by the Gauls in the 364th year of its foundation. When, after the lifting of this first siege, our Saint, having gone to Ravenna to the Emperor Honorius to wor k for the public pe l’empereur Honorius Western Roman Emperor who abolished the gladiatorial games after the death of Telemachus. ace, learned that this barbarian and Arian king had not only resumed the siege but was also triumphant in the city, and that he had pillaged it and filled it with murder and blood; this good Shepherd undoubtedly felt great sorrow at having been separated from his dear flock at that time; but God did not wish the innocent to be punished with the guilty, and, as the historian Orosius says very well, He withdrew him from that city, which He had resolved to chastise, just as He once did the righteous Lot from Sodom, so that he would not be caught up in its ruins.

After the departure of the barbarians, the holy Pope returned to Rome, and by his presence alone he consoled his afflicted people. He taught the faithful to profit, for their salvation, from the calamities that had just descended upon them. The patience with which they suffered the loss of their goods and of all that they held most dear singularly edified the pagans. The latter did not stop at a sterile admiration of the virtues they were witnessing; they presented themselves in crowds to be instructed and to ask for baptism. The Pope confirmed them in their holy dispositions and formed from them a new people who occupied themselves only with the practice of good works.

Innocent did not limit himself to the care of the Roman Church; he wrote several letters that would become eternal monuments to his knowledge and zeal. Especially the one he addre ssed to Saint Exuperius, Bishop o saint Exupère, évêque de Toulouse Bishop of Toulouse and recipient of a doctrinal letter from Innocent I. f Toulouse, and to Decentius, Bishop of Gubbio, in response to several questions they had put to him, contains useful rules and very wise decisions. He says in the first that one must never refuse absolution to penitents who are on their deathbed, so as not to imitate the harshness of the Novatians; and in the second that it belongs only to bishops to confer the Holy Spirit in confirmation, by anointing the foreheads of baptized persons with oil, because they alone possess the fullness of the priesthood, and he adds that he cannot recite the words used in conferring this sacrament, for fear of revealing the mysteries to the infidels. He uses the same reserve when speaking of the holy sacrifice, so inviolable was the secrecy with which the first Christians treated everything related to the sacraments. In this same letter, Innocent also speaks of Extreme Unction given to the sick, which should only be done, he says, with regard to penitents who have been reconciled, because Extreme Unction is a sacrament, and sacraments cannot be administered to those who are still in penance. This remarkable passage proves that, in the first centuries, Extreme Unction was regarded as a sacrament just as much as the Eucharist. Innocent does not condemn the laity who, out of a devotion common at that time, used the holy oils, but without employing the sacramental words. To the question put to him as to whether bishops could give Extreme Unction, which was commonly administered by simple priests, he replies that they certainly can, since priests do so. He therefore assumes as an undoubted fact that it is for priests and not for the laity to administer this sacrament.

The Councils of Carthage and Milevum, having condemned the errors of the Pelagians in 416, wrote to the holy Pope to inform him of what had been done. The two synodal letters were drafted by Saint August ine. Innocent, saint Augustin Cited for his definition of fraternal charity. in his response to the Fathers of Milevum, states "that all ecclesiastical matters of the Christian world must be referred by divine right to the Apostolic See, that is to say, to Saint Peter, the author of this name and this honor." He recommends that the same bishops act accordingly. "By this," he says, "you will follow the ancient custom which you know as well as I have always been observed by the whole world." When the act of confirmation given by the Pope to the Councils of Carthage and Milevum arrived in Africa, Saint Augustine said in one of his sermons: "The decisions of the two Councils have been sent to the Apostolic See; the rescripts of this See have arrived, the cause is now finished; may heaven grant that the error may also end!"

He held the see for fifteen years, two months, and twenty days; he performed ordinations four times in the month of December, during which he consecrated thirty priests, twelve deacons, and fifty-four bishops. He dedicated the basilica of Saints Gervasius and Protasius in Rome, which he enriched himself through his personal offerings. He died full of years and merits on July 28, 417, and was buried in the cemeter Saint Jérôme Father of the Church and biographical source for Amand. y of Priscilla. Saint Jerome speaks of him with great honor. In his letter to Demetrias, he says: "Hold constantly to the faith of Saint Innocent, who is the spiritual son and successor of Anastasius, of happy memory, in the apostolic chair, and, whatever confidence you may have in your own insights, beware of embracing any doctrine other than his." Acta Sanctorum. — Cf. Histoire de l'Église, by Abbé Darras; Godescard.