out the perfect agreement which exists between this passage of St. Luke and the establishment of St. Peter as the Rock of the Church, as related by St. Matthew. They say that the prayer of Christ mentioned in St. Luke impetrated for St. Peter the grace of being the "firm support" (ornpiya) of the Church;73 whilst in St. Matthew, the Son of God, in virtue of His own divine power, constitutes His Disciple the Foundation and Rock of the same Church.74 They observe, further, that infallibility was not granted to St. Peter for the sake of himself alone, but with a view to the duty imposed upon him of confirming his brethren, for whose benefit he was to use the gift he had received.75 The Fathers also explain the commission to confirm the brethren of St. Peter's supreme magisterium, by virtue of which he was the appointed teacher of all who should receive the faith. Thus we read of St. Cyril of Alexandria: "The Lord said to Peter-'And thou when converted strengthen thy brethren,' that is to say, be the support and teacher (didáσnaλos) of all those who come to Me by faith."76 According, then, to St. 73 In the passage of St. Luke, orńpięw is an architectonic word. Hence St. Peter, to whom Christ said στήριξον τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου, is called by the Fathers or piya, the prop and sustainer of the Church. 74 S. Chrysostomus, 1. c.; S. Ambrosius, De Fide, 1. iv., cap. v., n. 56 (Op., t. ii., p. 531. Edit. Maur.). In the next section we shall see that the Roman Pontiffs often brought the two passages together when asserting their divine prerogatives. 75 S. Chrysost., De B. Philogono, Hom. vi., n. 2 (Op., t. i., p. 496. Edit. Maur.). κἀγὼ ἐδεήθην περί σου, ἵνα μὴ ἐκλίπῃ ἡ πίστις σου· τίνα οὖν ταύτης κηδεμονίας καὶ τῆς προνοίας ἀποδίδως μοι τὴν ἀμοιβήν; ἄρα ποίαν ἀμοιβὴν ζητεῖ; τὴν αὐτὴν ταύτην πάλιν· καὶ σὺ γὰρ, φησί, ποτε ἐπιστρέψας στήριξον τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου. Beda, Exp. Evangelii St. Lucæ, 1. vi. (Op. t. iii. Edit Migne, PP. LL., t. 92, p. 60ɔ). Other passages will be found in the next section. 76 S. Cyrillus Alex., In Lucam xxii. 32 (In Bibl. PP. Mai, t. ii., Ρ. 420). καὶ φησί, καὶ σύ ποτε ἐπιστρέψας στήριξον τοὺς ἀδελφούς σου τουτέστι, γενοῦ στήριγμα καὶ διδάσκαλος τῶν διὰ πίστεως προσιόντων ἐμοί. Cyril, to confirm the brethren is to exercise the supreme ministry of teaching all the Faithful, in such a manner as to fortify them and render them proof against the temptations of Satan and his ministers, no otherwise could all the Faithful be sustained and supported. And without the divine gift of infallibility this office could not be performed. Theophylact also, who derived his doctrine from the ancient Greek Fathers, makes the same comment on the words of our Lord to Peter. "Since I appointed thee Prince of all the Apostles," says he, speaking in Christ's person, "confirm the others, for this becomes thee who art, after Me, the rock and the foundation of the Church."77 According to this, St. Peter received the office of confirming the brethren because he was appointed the solid rock on which the Church should be built, and as such he was to support the whole fabric by the massive and immoveable strength of its foundation. With the same view the Fathers called him the tongue of the Disciples, and of the body of the brethren, the voice of the heralds, the eye of the Apostles,78 the leader and doctor of all the habitable world.79 The phrases thus applied to St. Peter would be meaningless did they not import the idea of his infallibility in teaching. Otherwise he would be the official tongue, the voice, the leader of all the Church, but it would be possible that he should lead it to error and destruction. He would be the eye of the Apostles, but being liable to become blind, he might verify that saying of our Lord-" If the blind lead the blind both shall fall into 77 Theophylactus, Comm. in Lucam xxii. 31 (Op., t. i., p. 471. Edit. Venetiis). 78 S. Ephrem, Sermo in SS. Apostolos (Op., Græca, t. iii., p. 464. Edit. Assemanni); In Bibl. Orient., Assemanni, t. i., p. 95. 79 S. Chrysostomus, Hom. lxxxviii., in Joan., n. 1 (Op., t. viii., P. 527). the ditch." It is inconceivable that Christ should have planned an organisation for His Church, such as might itself become the source of its ruin. Nor did the Fathers limit their interpretation to St. Peter only, but they were clearly persuaded that Christ's words recorded by St. Luke regarded all St. Peter's Successors to the end of the world. We will say nothing here of the Roman Pontiffs, who, as will be seen in another section, from the earliest ages of Christianity solemnly proclaimed this doctrine. We are in no want of other witnesses on the subject. Among the Greeks, Stephen of Dora distinctly maintained our interpretation at the Lateran Council, under Pope Martin I.;80 Theodorus Studita, writing to Pope Paschal, adverted to the words of Christ as addressed to him.81 Theophylact himself, whose mind was nourished on the doctrine of the ancient Fathers, and especially of St. Chrysostom, noticed that the words in Luke xxii. regarded all the Faithful who should be confirmed by St. Peter till the consummation of the world.82 But, above all, Gregory of Trebizond expressly asserts that the privilege meant by these words was not granted to Peter alone, but to the Roman Church; first, because, Christ prayed for Peter alone, while Satan was left at liberty to sift all the Apostles; and, moreover, because to St. Peter the office is intrusted of confirming his brethren, which office, as we learn from history, was performed not by Peter alone but by his Successors.83 As to the Latins, it would be idle to produce witnesses in the matter, since the persuasion 80 In Conc. Lat. sub Martino I., secr. ii. (Labbe, Conc., t. vii., p. 108). 81 Theodorus Studita, Epist. ad Paschalem Papam (Migne, Bibl. PP. Græc., t. xcix., p. 1152, seq.). 82 Theophylactus, 1. c. 83 Gregorius Trapezuntius, De Una, Sancta, Catholica Ecclesia, n. 7 (Leo Allatius, Græciæ Orthodoxiæ, t. i., p. 550, seq.). has ever been deeply rooted in the Western Church, which was always under the immediate government of the Roman Pontiff. It is enough to mention the names of St. Bernard,84 of St. Peter Damian,85 and of St. Anselm,86 who distinctly acknowledge that the passage in question refers to the Roman Pontiffs. To complete our Scriptural demonstration of Papal Infallibility nothing remains but to examine the last testimony from St. John xxi. 15, seq. It is not easy to understand why many among the supporters of Papal Infallibility do not believe the passage capable of yielding any effective proof in favour of that doctrine, although they cannot help admitting that it refers to the appointment of St. Peter to the office of supreme governor in the Church. But let us attentively consider its purport, before drawing from it an argument for Papal Infallibility. The third time Christ showed Himself to His Disciples after His glorious resurrection, we read, "He said to Simon Peter: Son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these? He saith unto Him, Yea, Lord; Thou knowest that I love Thee. He says unto him, Feed My lambs." And He addressed Peter in the same manner a second and a third time, each time giving the commission, "Feed My sheep." Now on this our first remark is, that Christ requires of Peter a love greater than that felt for their Master by the other Apostles; and the power to elicit the degree of love required must have been itself given by Christ. And since the high degree of love borne by St. Peter was 84 S. Bernardus, Epist. cxc. ad Innocentium II. Papam (Op., t. ii., p. 221. Edit. Gillotii). 85 S. Petrus Damianus, Serm. xxiii., De Nativitate S. Joannis Baptista (Migne, PP. LL., t. cxliv., p. 636). 86 S. Anselmus Lucensis, Contra Guibertum Antipapam, 1. ii. (Migne, PP. LL., t. cxlix, p. 469). the motive leading Christ to intrust him with a peculiar office, the extent of that office must be measured by, and correspond to, the degree of the love; that is, it must be an office excelling that of the other Apostles. Thus we understand why Christ intrusted to St. Peter the care of the sheep and of the lambs, constituting him Ecumenical Pastor over the whole flock in the Church. We need not insist further on this point, which was fully treated in the foregoing part of our work; but we must point out how the passage bears on that Papal Infallibility which we are now considering. We say then that according to the foregoing passage a broad line of demarcation is drawn between the ministry of the Bishops, successors of the Apostles, and of the Pope, the Successor of St. Peter. The Bishops indeed, as shepherds, are to feed and tend their own several flocks, the people committed to their care; but the Pope, being the Ecumenical Pastor, not only must feed and tend in a general way all the nations of the world in general, but he must in an especial manner feed and tend the Bishops themselves, who are Fathers and Shepherds in the Church: in other words, the Pope is the Father of the Fathers, the Pastor of the Pastors. The Church of Christ was to be one flock and one Pastor; but the organic principle of that unity was to be derived from the cleaving of all the Bishops to the Supreme Pastor, in all that concerns ecclesiastical government and faith. Peter, living in his Successors, was to feed with his divine doctrine his fellow Bishops, that they might each exercise the same ministry towards their own people; he was in his own diocese to tend them by the exercise of kingly and judicial authority, that the whole Church might have both internal and external unity. He ought to be the Supreme Master and Guardian of faith over the very Masters and Guardians of faith divinely appointed in the Church of |