Saint Symmachus

It was hoped that the royal sentence would put an end to the nascent schism. Symmachus returned to Rome, where he was welcomed as Sovereign Pontiff. Laurentius resumed his title of Archpriest of Saint Praxedes. The new Pope convened all the bishops of Italy to a Council which took place under his presidency, in the Basilica of Saint Peter, on March 1, 499; seventy-three bishops and sixty-seven priests were present. It was decided there, to prevent the effects of cabals in the future, that all those who, during the Pope's lifetime, promised their vote to someone, or even deliberated on this subject in any assembly, would be deposed and excommunicated, and that after the death of the Pope, the one who had received the majority of the clergy's votes would be regarded as his legitimate successor. Laurentius subscribed to this double decree at the head of the priests who were at the Council.

After this solemn act of adherence, the archpriest, reconciled with the Church, was named bishop of Nocera. Symmachus could not have given a better proof of his pontifical clemency. He did not take long to repent of it. Whether Festus, who was still pursuing the impossible realization of the commitments he had contracted with Emperor Anastasius, had met with a formal refusal from the sovereign Pontiff, or whether he was seeking, with the obstinacy of spite and wounded self-esteem, a sacrilegious vengeance, he resumed the project of placing his creature on the seat of Saint Peter. Laurentius had the weakness to lend himself to this maneuver, and secretly returned to Rome. There could no longer be any question of calling into doubt the legitimacy of the election of Symmachus. It was therefore not on this point that the rebels focused their controversy. According to the *Liber Pontificalis*, "some clerics, supported by the influence of the senators Festus and Probinus, incriminated the conduct of the blessed Symmachus; they suborned false witnesses and sent them to Ravenna, provided with a defamatory libel drafted in Rome, in order to officially accuse the Pope at the tribunal of King Theodoric." Thus, the factionalists were no longer attacking the validity of the ordination, but the personal dignity of the Pontiff.

To restore peace to the Church of Rome, Theodoric, at the prayer of Pope Symmachus, invited all the bishops of Italy, as well as the metropolitans of Gaul and Spain, to come to Rome to hold a Council, for the purpose of clarifying the horrible accusations brought against the Pope. The bishops strongly represented to the king that it was for the Pope to convene the Synod, because this right belonged to the primacy of his see, and that it was unheard of for a superior to have been thus subjected to the judgment of his inferiors. Theodoric showed them the pontifical letters, dated from Rome, which he had in his hands, and which attested that everything had been done in concert with the Pope.

The opening of the synod took place, in the presence of the Pope, in the month of September of the year 501. Symmachus was cleared of the accusations brought against him; it was further ordered to punish as schismatics those who would celebrate without his consent, but to pardon the very authors of the schism, provided they gave satisfaction to the Pope. The decree having been carried into Gaul, all the bishops of that country were alarmed by it, and they charged Saint Avitus, bishop of Vienne, to write to Rome in the name of all. He addressed his letter to Faustus and to the senator Symmachus. He complained therein that the Pope having been accused before the prince, the bishops, instead of opposing such an injustice, had taken it upon themselves to judge him. "It is not easy," he said, "to understand how a superior, much less the Head of the Church, can be judged by his inferiors." He nevertheless praised the Council for having borne witness to the innocence of the sovereign Pontiff; he also prayed the senate to maintain the honor of the Church, and not to allow the sheep to rise up against their shepherds.

The following year, a fourth council, held on November 6, 502, in the basilica of Saint Peter, composed of eighty-one bishops, thirty-five priests, and four deacons, confirmed this judgment. antipape Laurent Archpriest of Santa Prassede and antipope supported by the Byzantine faction. Theodoric, finally convinced of the bad faith of the antipope Laurentius, gave orders to remove him from Rome. This was to remove the principal element of trouble. However, the misguided spi rits did Ennodius Deacon and author of a vigorous apology in favor of Symmachus. not yet surrender. The Council charged the deacon of Pavia, Ennodius, to publish a complete refutation of the calumnies spread against Symmachus. This production of the disciple of Saint Epiphanius has been preserved for us; it is written with a verve and sometimes an indignant irony that make us understand the vehemence and ardor that the struggle maintained. This vigorous apology received the most complete approval of the Roman Synod held the following year in the basilica of Saint Peter. In this synod, the following decree was adopted: "Supported by the tradition and the authority of all the holy Fathers, whose regulations we confirm, we brand and condemn the persecutions against the bishop, the attempts at schism or devastation against the Church, the violence against the servants of God, from wherever they may come, at whatever time they may occur... Whoever would have the audacity to renew them, if he is a cleric, shall be deposed; if he is a religious or a layman, excommunicated, and if he persists in his rebellion, struck with anathema. We shall reward with honors those who would bring to the knowledge of the Church the isolated or public plots that may be hatched against the Pontiffs. The authors of these conspiracies shall be liable to exile and the confiscation of their goods."

The admirable gentleness of the Pontiff bore fruit. The great majority of the schismatics, abjuring their long-held errors, took advantage of the pardon so generously offered to them.

King Thrasamund having exiled s everal or Sardaigne Island of the exile and martyrdom of Saint Pontian. thodox bishops of Africa to Sardinia, the holy Pope, touched by the sufferings of these confessors, provided them with the necessary food and clothing. King Theodoric himself wished to join in this work of charity. Symmachus, whose soul expanded in proportion to the misfortunes of others, annually devoted considerable sums to the ransom of captives. He wrote letters of consolation to the exiles, in which he lavished all the expressions of his paternal tenderness and solicitude. The holy Pope's zeal for the maintenance of the rights of the Church was equal to his charity. In 504, he held a sixth Council in Rome, the decrees of which bear the imprint of a truly apostolic vigor. They are specifically directed against the usurpation of ecclesiastical domains by the Arian princes.

While the Church continued the course of its peaceful conquests in the West, it was not the same in the East, where Catholics were constantly persecuted by heretics supported and encouraged by Emperor Anastasius. At the same time that he was dividing the Eastern Church, Anastasius launched a manifesto, or rather a defamatory libel, in the West against Pope Symmachus. He accused him of having abandoned the true faith to embrace the error of the Manichaeans, and of having been ordained against canonical rules. The Sovereign Pontiff, attacked in his honor and his faith, replied with vehemence and dignity: "I cannot hide your insults: they are too honorable for me, and they make you too guilty before God. You say that I have become a Manichaean. All of Rome is witness to the purity of my faith: its archives could answer for it if necessary. If I have deviated in any way from the Catholic doctrine that I received from the chair of the blessed Peter, let one rise against me and let me be confounded! But insults are not proofs; slanders are not reasons. I do not know on what foundation you can claim that I was not ordained canonically. God has judged. Who are you to resist His sovereign decision? It is said that you compel the Catholics of Constantinople by the sword of your soldiers to embrace the heresy of Eutyches. Think, Prince, of the fate of all the emperors who have persecuted the Catholic faith. They have almost all perished miserably. Now, it is to be a persecutor to grant freedom to all heresies, and to refuse it to the only orthodox communion. If you regard the Catholic faith as an error, it must be tolerated along with other errors; if you regard it as the truth, it must not be persecuted, but followed."

The Eastern bishops, continuing to be the object of Anastasius's persecutions, had recourse to the Pope: "Do not reject us," they said, "because we communicate with your adversaries: for those who do so do not do it out of attachment to life, but for fear of leaving their flocks as prey to the heretics; and all, whether those who communicate with them in appearance or those who separate from them, await, after God, your help, and that you will restore to the East the light that you originally received from it. The evil is so great that we cannot even go to seek the remedy: you must come to us." Finally, to show that they are Catholic, they conclude with an exposition of their doctrine, in which they clearly condemn Nestorius and Eutyches, and recognize in Jesus Christ two natures, the divine nature and the human nature in one single person.

The Pope, in his response, exhorted them to remain firm in what had once been decided against Eutyches, and to suffer, if necessary, for the faith, exile and all persecutions. But the holy Pontiff did not have the supreme consolation of seeing the reunion of the two Churches for which he so fervently prayed. He died on July 19, 514, after an administration of fifteen years, a laborious career, each step of which had been marked by a new struggle. He had shown himself worthy of his name and had valiantly fought the battles of the Lord. His courage, his zeal, his vigilance, and his charity were always equal to the difficult circumstances he had to endure.

In four ordinations, in the months of December and February, he created one hundred and seventeen bishops, ninety-two priests, and sixteen deacons. He provided ornaments for several churches in Rome. He gave the chapel of the Cross a gold cross weighing ten pounds, in which he enshrined a piece of the sacred wood that had served as the instrument of our salvation. He presented the church of Saint Paul with a ciborium or tabernacle, on which were engraved the figure of the Savior and that of the twelve Apostles. It was he who, according to the Pontifical, ordered the hymn Gloria in excelsis to be sung at Mass on Sundays and feasts of the Martyrs.

Propre de Rome; Histoire de l'Église, by Abbé Durres; Histoire des souverains Pontifes romains, by Artend de Monter; Godescard. See also our Conciles généraux et particuliers, vol. 1, pp. 971-976.