To the Bishops of the Province of Vienne, About Hilary of Arles

To the beloved brothers, the whole body of bishops of the province of Vienne, Leo, bishop of Rome. [a]

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, established the observance of the divine religion, which he wished by the grace of God to shine out on all nations and all peoples. He did it in such a way that the truth, which before had been confined to the announcements of the Law and the Prophets, might go out through the trumpet blast of the apostles for the salvation of all people, as it is written: “Their sound has gone out into every land, and their words to the ends of the world.” The Lord wished the mystery of this office to be the concern of all the apostles, but in such a way that he placed the chief charge on blessed Peter, the chief of all the apostles. From him, as from the head, he wishes his gifts to flow to the whole body, so that anyone who dares to break away from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or share in the divine mystery. For he wished the man he had received into partnership in his undivided unity to be named what he himself was, when he said: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” So the building of the eternal temple, by the wonderful gift of God’s grace, would rest on Peter’s solid rock, and he would strengthen his church so firmly that neither human rashness could attack it nor the gates of hell prevail against it. This most holy firmness of the rock was raised up, as we have said, by the building hand of God, and a man must be set on destroying it in overweening wickedness when he tries to break down its power by indulging his own desires and not following what he received from those of old. For he believes himself subject to no law and held in check by no rules of God’s ordinances. In his eagerness for novelty he breaks away from your custom and ours, adopting unlawful practices and letting fall into disuse what he ought to keep. [b]

But with God’s approval, as we believe, and keeping toward you the fullness of the love that the Apostolic See, as you remember, always spends on you, holy brothers, we are trying to correct these things by careful counsel and to share with you the work of setting your churches in order, not by innovations but by restoring the old ways. So we may persevere in the settled state that our fathers handed down to us, and please our God through the service of a good work by removing the scandals of these disturbances. And so we would have you remember, brothers, as we do, that the Apostolic See, such is the reverence in which it is held, has been referred to and consulted countless times by the priests of your province as well as by others. In the various matters of appeal, as the old custom required, it has reversed or confirmed decisions. In this way “the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” has been kept, and through the exchange of letters our honorable dealings have fostered a lasting affection. For, “seeking not our own interests but the things of Christ,” we have been careful not to slight the dignity that God has given both to the churches and to their priests. But Hilary has left this path, which our fathers always kept so well and maintained so wisely, and he is likely to upset the standing and harmony of the priests by his new arrogance. He wants to subject you to his power in such a way that he will not let himself be subject to the blessed apostle Peter. He claims for himself the ordinations of all the churches throughout the provinces of Gaul, and takes over the dignity that belongs to the metropolitan priests. With his proud words he lessens even the reverence paid to blessed Peter himself. For not only was the power of loosing and binding given to Peter before the others, but the care of feeding the sheep was also entrusted to Peter in a special way. Yet anyone who holds that the headship must be denied to Peter cannot really lessen his dignity. Rather, he is puffed up with the breath of his own pride and plunges himself into the lowest depth. [e]

Accordingly, the written record of our proceedings shows what we did in the matter of Celidonius the bishop, and what Hilary said in the presence and hearing of that bishop. For when Hilary had no reasonable answer to give in the council of the holy priests, “the secrets of his heart” burst out in words such as no layman could speak and no priest could listen to. I admit, brothers, that we were grieved, and we tried to calm the turmoil of his mind by patient treatment. We did not wish to aggravate the wounds he was inflicting on his own soul with his insolent retorts. We tried rather to calm him, whom we had received as a brother, than to hurt him by our remarks, even though it was he who was entangling himself by his replies. So Celidonius the bishop was acquitted. By the clear answers of his witnesses, given in his own presence, he had proved that he had been wrongly deposed from the priesthood, so that Hilary, who remained with us, had nothing to say against it. Therefore the judgment was overturned that had been brought forward and read out, to the effect that he could not hold the priesthood because he was the husband of a widow. Now we, keeping the legal ordinances, have wished this rule to be strictly kept, not only in the case of priests but also of the clergy of the lower ranks: those who have contracted such a marriage, or who are shown, against the apostle’s discipline, not to be the husband of only one wife, are not to be allowed to enter the sacred service. But while we decree that those whom their own acts condemn must either not be admitted at all or, if they have been admitted, must be removed, so too we are bound, after holding an inquiry, to clear those who are falsely accused of it, and not to let them lose their office. For the sentence pronounced would have stood against him if the charge had been proved true. And so Celidonius, our fellow bishop, was restored to his church and to the dignity he ought not to have lost, as the course of our proceedings and the sentence we pronounced after holding the inquiry bear witness. [h]

When this business had been concluded in this way, the complaint of our brother and fellow bishop Projectus came before us next. He wrote to us in a tearful and pitiful letter about the ordaining of a bishop over his head. A letter was also brought to us from his own fellow citizens, backed by a great many individual signatures and full of most unpleasant complaints against Hilary. They said that Projectus, their bishop, had not been allowed to be ill: without their knowledge his priesthood had been transferred to another, and Hilary, the intruder, had brought in an heir to take possession, as if of a vacant property, while the holder was still alive. We would like to hear what you think on this point, brothers, although we ought not to have any doubt about your feelings when you picture a brother lying on his sickbed, tortured not so much by his bodily weakness as by pains of another kind. What hope of life is left to a man who is struck with despair about his priesthood while another is set up in his place? Hilary gives clear proof of his gentle heart when he thought a brother’s slowness to die was nothing but an obstacle to his own ambitious plans. For, as far as it lay in him, he put out the light for him. He robbed him of life by setting up another in his place, and so caused him such pain as to hinder his recovery. And suppose his brother’s departure from this world were near at hand, but in the common course of human life: what is Hilary seeking for himself in another’s province, and why does he claim what none of his predecessors before Patroclus possessed? Even that position, which seemed to have been granted to Patroclus for a time by the Apostolic See, was afterward withdrawn by a wiser decision. At the very least the wishes of the citizens should have been waited for, and the testimony of the people. The opinion of those held in honor should have been asked, and the choice of the clergy. These are the things that those who know the rules of the fathers are accustomed to observe in the ordination of priests, so that the rule of the apostle’s authority may be kept in every respect. That rule requires that one who is to be the priest of a church be supported not only by the witness of the faithful but also by the testimony of “those who are outside,” and that no occasion of offense be left, when one who will be a teacher of peace is ordained in peace and in God-pleasing harmony, with the full approval of all. [k]

But Hilary came upon them without warning and left just as suddenly. He made many journeys at great speed, as we have learned, and crossed distant provinces in such haste that he seems to have wanted a reputation for a courier’s swiftness rather than for a priest’s sobriety. For these are the citizens’ own words in the letter they sent us: “He left before we knew he had come.” This is not to return but to flee; not to exercise a shepherd’s wholesome care, but to use the violence of a thief and a robber, as the Lord says: “He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.” So Hilary was eager not so much to consecrate a bishop as to kill the sick man, and to mislead the man he set over his head by a wrongful ordination. We, however, have done what we believe, as God is our judge, you will approve. After taking counsel with all the brothers, we have decreed that the wrongfully ordained man be deposed and that Bishop Projectus remain in his priesthood. We have further provided that when any of our brothers in any province dies, the one who has been agreed on as metropolitan of that province is to claim for himself the ordination of his successor. [n] These two matters, as we see, have been settled, though there are many other points in them that seem to have broken the principles of the church and ought to meet with just censure and judgment. But we cannot linger over them any longer, for we are called away to other matters on which we must confer carefully with you, holy brothers.

A band of soldiers, as we have learned, follows this priest through the provinces, and helps him, as he relies on their armed support, to invade, amid uproar, churches that have lost their own priests. Before this court men are dragged for ordination who are completely unknown to the cities they are to be set over. For just as one who is well known and approved is sought out in peace, so one who is unknown has to be installed by force when he is brought forward. I beg, entreat and implore you in God’s name, brothers: prevent such things, and remove every occasion of discord from your provinces. At any rate we clear ourselves before God by imploring you not to let this go any further. Those who are to be priests should be asked for in peace and quiet. The consent of the clergy, the testimony of those held in honor, and the approval of the orders and of the laity should be required. He who is to govern all should be chosen by all. As we said before, each metropolitan should keep in his own hands the ordinations that occur in his own province, acting together with those who come before the rest in seniority of priesthood; this privilege has been restored to him through us. No one should claim for himself another’s rights. Each should keep within his own limits and boundaries, and should understand that he cannot pass on to another a privilege that belongs to himself. But suppose someone, ignoring the apostle’s prohibitions and paying too much attention to personal favor, wishes to give up his precedence, thinking he can pass his rights on to another. Then the power of ordaining is to be claimed not by the one to whom he has yielded, but by the one who ranks before the rest of the priests of the province in seniority as a bishop. The ordination should be held not at random but on the proper day. And it should be known that anyone who has not been ordained on the evening of Saturday, which leads into the dawn of the first day of the week, or on the Lord’s day itself, cannot be sure of his standing. For our forefathers judged the day of the Lord’s resurrection alone worthy of the honor of being the occasion on which those who are to be made priests are given to God. [o]

Let each province be content with its own councils, and let Hilary not dare to call synods besides them and by his interference upset the judgments of the Lord’s priests. And let him know that he is not only deposed from another’s rights but also deprived of the power over the province of Vienne that he had wrongly taken. For it is only fair, brothers, that the ordinances of antiquity be restored, since he who claimed for himself the ordinations of a province that was not his charge has been shown in the present case too to have acted in the same way. And as he has more than once brought a sentence of condemnation on himself by his rash and insolent words, he is now to be kept, by our command and in keeping with the mercy of the Apostolic See, to the priesthood of his own city alone. So he is not to be present at any ordination; he is not to ordain. For, aware of what he deserved, when he was required to answer for his conduct, he trusted that he could make good his escape by disgraceful flight, and he has put himself outside the apostolic communion, which he did not deserve to share. We believe this happened by the providence of God, who brought him to our court though we did not expect him, and made him slip away secretly in the middle of the inquiry, so that he should not be a partner in our communion. [r]

No Christian should lightly be refused communion. Nor should something be done at the will of an angry priest which a judge’s mind ought to carry out, to some degree unwillingly and with regret, as the punishment for a great crime. For we have learned that some have been cut off from the grace of communion for trivial deeds and words, and that the soul for which Christ’s blood was shed has been exposed to the devil’s attacks and wounded. It has been disarmed, so to speak, and stripped of all defense by the infliction of so savage a punishment, so that it falls an easy prey to him. Of course, if a case has ever arisen of such a kind that, in due proportion to the nature of the crime committed, a man should be deprived of communion, only the one involved in the accusation must be punished. Anyone who is not shown to have shared in committing it ought not to share in the penalty. But what wonder is it that one who is accustomed to exult over the condemnation of priests should show himself the same toward laymen? [t]

Therefore, since our desire seems very different from this (for we are anxious that the settled state of all the churches and the harmony of the priests be maintained), we urge you to unity in the bond of love. We both entreat you and, as our affection requires, admonish you, for the sake of your peace and dignity, to keep what we have decreed by the inspiration of God and of the most blessed apostle Peter, after sifting and testing all the matters in dispute. Be assured that what we are known to have decided in this way is not so much to our own advantage as to yours. For we are not keeping the ordinations of your provinces in our own hands, as Hilary, with his usual untruthfulness, may perhaps suggest in order to mislead your minds, holy brothers. Rather, in our concern, we are claiming for you that no further innovations be allowed, and that in the future no opening be given for the usurper to infringe your privileges. For we acknowledge that it can only be to our credit if the diligence of the Apostolic See is kept intact among you, and if, in maintaining the apostolic discipline, we do not let what belongs to your position fall to the ground through unscrupulous encroachments. And since seniority is always to be respected, we wish Leontius, our brother and fellow bishop, a priest well approved among you, to be raised to this dignity, if you are pleased that no further council be called by you, holy brothers, without his consent, and that he be honored by you all as his age and good name require, the metropolitans being kept secure in their own dignity and rights. For it is only fair, and no injury seems to come to any of the brothers, if those who come first in seniority of priesthood receive, as their age deserves, deference from the rest of the priests in their own provinces. God keep you safe, beloved brothers. [u]