nued
under Pope Saint Sixtus, successor of St. Stephen: this is seen by the
letters that St. Dionysius of Alexandria wrote him; and it does not appear
that St. Cyprian or Firmilian changed their mind." (So that St. Cyprian
died under excommunication from Pope Stephen.) "Still St. Cyprian is
counted among the most illustrious martyrs, even in the Roman Church, which
names him in the Canon of the Mass, in preference to Pope St. Stephen; and
the Greeks, in their Menologium, honour the memory of Firmilian. With
reason, since we shall see him preside over the first Council of Antioch,
against Paul of Samosata; and the Fathers of the second Council, writing to
the Pope, name Firmilian, of happy memory, as they do Dionysius of
Alexandria. Why the error of St. Cyprian and St. Firmilian hurt not their
sanctity is, that they always preserved on their part the unity of the
Church, and charity, and that they maintained in good faith a bad cause,
which they believed good, _and upon which there had not yet been a decision
received by unanimous consent of the whole Church_. Thus St. Augustin
speaks of it, _not counting as a final decision the decree of Pope St.
Stephen, though true in its matter, and clothed with all the force that he
could give it. No one of the ancients has accused these holy Bishops of
obstinacy for not having obeyed this decree_. The decision of Pope St.
Stephen respecting the baptism of heretics has prevailed, because it was
the most ancient and the most universal, and consequently the best.... At
length this question was entirely set at rest by the authority of the
universal Council, that is to say, at the latest, at the Council of Nicea."
Most fair and just: St. Cyprian and St. Firmilian may have innocently erred
in such a matter; but what of the way in which they treated the Pope? Could
they be ignorant of the constitution of that Church of which they were
Primates, Saints, and one a Martyr? If his decision was final, must they
not have known it? If his primacy involved their obedience, must they not
have rendered it? But if they were his deputies, as the present Roman claim
would have it, who can express their rashness? Had they been right, and the
Pope wrong, according to the present tenets of the Latin Church, obedience
had been better than sacrifice. In truth, they would have anticipated the
noble submission of the Archbishop of Cambrai, and yielded at once to the
chair of St. Peter, whatever had been their c