y so outrageously as De Maistre is
curious at least:--and now let us proceed to the testimony of St. Gregory.

And, assuredly, if there was any Pontiff who, like St. Leo, held the most
strong and deeply-rooted convictions as to the prerogatives of the Roman
see, it was St. Gregory. His voluminous correspondence with Bishops, and
the most notable persons throughout the world, represents him to us as
guarding and superintending the affairs of the whole Church from the
watch-tower of St. Peter, the loftiest of all. Let one assertion of his
prove this. Writing to Natalis, Bishop of Salona in Dalmatia, he says,
"After the letters of my predecessor and my own, in the matter of Honoratus
the Archdeacon, were sent to your Holiness, in despite of the sentence of
us both, the above-mentioned Honoratus was deprived of his rank. _Had
either of the four Patriarchs done this, so great an act of contumacy could
not have been passed over without the most grievous scandal._ However, as
your brotherhood has since returned to your duty, I take notice neither of
the injury done to me, nor of that to my predecessor."[129] The following
words in another letter will elucidate his meaning here. "As to what he
says, that he (a Bishop) is subject to the Apostolical See, _I know not
what Bishop is not subject to it, if any fault be found in Bishops. But
when no fault requires it, all are equal according to the estimation of
humility._"[130] And again, writing to his own Defensor in Sicily, a part
of the Church most under his own control, "I am informed that if any one
has a cause against any clerks, you throw a slight upon their Bishops, and
cause them to appear in your own court. If this be so, we expressly order
you to presume to do so no more, because beyond doubt it is very unseemly.
For if his own jurisdiction is not preserved to each Bishop, what else
results but that the order of the Church is thrown into confusion by us,
who ought to guard it."[131] Gieseler says: "They (the Roman Bishops)
maintained, that not only the right of the highest ecclesiastical tribunal
in the West belonged to them, but the supervision of orthodoxy, and
maintenance of the Church's laws, in the whole Church; and they based these
claims, still, it is true, at times, upon imperial edicts, and decrees of
Councils, but most commonly upon the privileges granted to Peter by the
Lord."[132] And I suppose if the Primacy of Christendom has any real
meaning, it must mean thi