The question of the papal supremacy is a summary of the whole cause at issue between the Church and Protestantism in every shape. Ancient writers speak in no doubtful tone of the primacy and prerogatives of Saint Peter. God him self, appealing in a man’s form to the mind and heart of men, declares this in a clearer, more emphatic, and soul-piercing manner:
“Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church.” – Matthew 16:18
“Simon, Simon, I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not ; and thou, in thy turn, one day confirm thy brethren.” – Luke 22:24
“Feed my sheep; feed my lambs.” – John 21:15-17
If Saint Peter is thus made the head and bond of the college of the Apostles, if our Lord in the visible government of his Church on earth has appointed him as the supreme ruler who was to succeed himself, there is a sure certainty which warrants us to expect that such a ruler will continue in the Church until the consummation of all things. That the Bishop of Rome is the successor of Saint Peter, and that the prerogatives given to Saint Peter as the head of the Church, were to continue on his successors, has ever been the belief of the Church. The Christian Fathers, as individual writers and witnesses, the ancient Church in her universal councils, with one voice, regard the pope as sitting in the chair of Saint Peter. His prerogatives are as imperishable as the life of the Church itself. He is the rock of the Church, the source of all jurisdiction and the centre of unity.
The history of the popes is but little known. It is a source of biography from which much is to be learned, and much consolation can be gained. To witness those holy men who succeeded to the chair of Saint Peter for nearly four centuries die as martyrs for the faith, and become witnesses for the truth which they taught and so nobly defended, must animate our faith and enliven our hope. To behold a holy band of confessors succeed these, will increase our charity, and strengthen us in the path of virtue. To see those holy men amidst good repute and evil repute, meek and lowly like their divine Master, will teach us that humility is the mother of all graces and virtues.
Various histories of the popes have been written in different languages. Some of these are true, and some false. The popes were ever the defenders of rights and justice. They would not wink at the follies or acts of tyranny and injustice practised by the princes and monarchs of Europe. Their mission was divine, therefore it was their duty to defend the people from cruel oppression and invasion of their civil rights. The guardianship of the virgin, the widow, and the orphan was their especial office. This harmonized not with the feelings of the proud monarchs and the haughty feudal lords. Men were found who, professing themselves Christians, com posed histories or lives of the popes, in which errors were exaggerated, faults magnified into crimes and vices of the most outrageous character: our Lord once more seems to suffer in the person of his vicar here on earth.
Even Protestantism could not swallow such wholesale falsehoods; and a Harter and a Roscoe, with a host of others, were found ready to buckle on their armor, and to fight for the cause of God and his anointed.
Many writers of learning, and several of the most distinguished bishops of the Church in this country, have constantly expressed a wish that a history of the popes, in the English language, would be published for the use of the laity.
This work of M. Artaud has received the commendation of the Holy Father and of the most distinguished French bishops and ecclesiastics. The hierarchy of America, so distinguished for its piety and learning, has expressed its cordial approbation of it.
The exact chronology of the Pioman pontiffs, extending through more than nineteen centuries, is a difficult matter to arrange in itself. Novaes, the first edition of whose work was published in Home, in 1785, has given what he deems to be an exact catalogue. Many celebrated writers have followed in this same work, in which there has not been an exact agreement as to the date of the creation of the early popes. The length of their reigns and the time of their death have caused also some difficulties. The ancient catalogues and the ancient pictures, together with the writers in the different centuries, are the sources from which these catalogues of popes have been taken. It is not to be wondered that in the lapse of so many centuries there should be some discrepancies. These are of no material account. The official almanac, called the Diario, is published each year at Rome. The chronology of the popes as given in this document will be followed. It is adopted by M. Artaud, “as it enjoys each year the approbation of the Holy See.”
– Father William Hayes Neligan
– Saint Columba’s Church
– Easter, 1865
- from "The Lives and Times of the Popes", by Alexis-François Artaud de Montor