s, that in case of necessity, such as infraction
of the Canons, an appeal may be made to it. So undoubtedly St. Gregory
understood his own rights. What his ordinary jurisdiction was, Fleury thus
tells us:--"The Popes ordained clergy only for the Roman (local) Church,
but they gave Bishops to the greater part of the Churches of Italy."[133]
"St. Gregory entered into this detail only for the Churches which specially
depended on the Holy See, and for that reason were named suburbican; that
is, those of the southern part of Italy, where he was sole Archbishop,
those of Sicily, and the other islands, though they had Metropolitans. But
it will not be found that he exercised the same immediate power in the
provinces depending on Milan and Aquileia, nor in Spain and the Gauls. It
is true that in the Gauls he had his vicar, who was the Bishop of Arles, as
was likewise the Bishop of Thessalonica for Western Illyricum. The Pope
further took care of the Churches of Africa, that Councils should be held
there, and the Canons maintained; but we do not find that he exercised
particular jurisdiction over any that belonged to the Eastern empire, that
is to say, upon the four patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem,
and Constantinople. He was in communion and interchange of letters with all
these Patriarchs, without entering into the particular management of the
Churches depending on them, except it were in some extraordinary case. The
multitude of St. Gregory's letters gives us opportunity to remark all these
distinctions, in order not to extend indifferently rights which he only
exercised over certain Churches."[134]

Now in St. Gregory's time a discussion arose, which served to draw forth
statements on his part most remarkably bearing on the present claims of the
See of Rome. In the year 589 Gregory, Patriarch of Antioch, accused of a
grievous crime, appealed to the Emperor and his Council. He accordingly
went to Constantinople, and was tried. All the Patriarchs of the East in
person, or by their deputies, attended this trial, the Senate likewise, and
many Metropolitans; and the cause having been examined in several sittings,
Gregory was absolved, and the accuser flogged through the city and
banished. At this Council John the Faster, Patriarch of Constantinople,
took the title of Universal Bishop. Immediately the Roman Pontiff Pelagius
heard of it, he sent letters by which, of St. Peter's authority, he
annulled the acts of this C