ess.... For we do not suffer that anything which is
mooted, however clear and unquestionable, pertaining to the
state of the churches, should fail to be made known to Your
Holiness, as being the head of all the churches. For, as we
have said before, we are zealous for the increase of the honor
and authority of your see in all respects."--_Cod. Justin.,
lib. 1, title 1, Baronii "Annales Ecclesiastici," Tom. VII, an.
533, sec. 12 (Translation as given in "The Petrine Claims," by
R.F. Littledale, p. 293)._

From this decree (for such it really was) the Roman authorities date the
official recognition of the supremacy of the Papacy. Some have taken a
later decree by Emperor Phocas (A.D. 606) as a starting point.
But Dr. Croly says:

"The highest authorities among the civilians and annalists of
Rome spurn the idea that Phocas was the founder of the
supremacy of Rome; they ascend to Justinian as the only
legitimate source, and rightly date the title from the
memorable year 533."--_"The Apocalypse of St. John," pp. 172,
173._

The Sword of Empire Cleaves the Way

The "great authority" had been recognized. But at this time heretical
Arian powers compassed the papal seat about. The Arian Vandals were
persecuting Catholics in Africa, Corsica, and Sardinia, and an Arian
Gothic king ruled Italy from Ravenna, his capital. The imperial arms,
however, were at the service of orthodoxy. In 533-534 Justinian's
famous general, Belisarius, uprooted the Vandals. The war for the faith
and the empire was carried into Italy also, against the Arian Goths. In
536 Belisarius, unopposed, entered Rome at the invitation of the Pope.
But the next year the Goths rallied all their forces to retake the city.
It was a crisis in the struggle for Italy. "If a single post had given
way," says Gibbon, "the Romans, and Rome itself, were irrecoverably
lost." The Goths withdrew, defeated, in 538; and this defeat, says
Hodgkin, dug "the grave of the Gothic monarchy in Italy."

[Illustration: THE POPE ENTERING ST. PETER'S FROM THE VATICAN

The famous statue of St. Peter may be seen on the right.]

Though the conflict went on for years before the Goths were rooted up,
this defeat of 538 was a crucial hour in their history. Finlay says:

"With the conquest of Rome by Belisarius, the history of the
ancient city may be considered as terminating; and with his
defense agains