Finishing up. Next:
Richard Price, Codex Epistolaris Carolinus
This is Price's final book on church history I have yet to read. His translations of early church documents and commentary have been fantastic.
About halfway through. Came across the following letter from pope Stephen (ca. 756) to the Franks I just had to share. Quite astounding for pope Stephen to send the letter as if it were from Peter, and to threaten damnation if the Franks did not defend Rome against the Lombards!
ALSO, THE THIRD LETTER, WHICH POPE STEPHEN RELAYED TO LORD PIPPIN THE KING, AND CHARLES, AND CARLOMAN, AND TO THE WHOLE POPULACE OF THE FRANKS (RECOUNTED IN THE NAME OF SAINT Peter), AFTER THE AFOREMENTIONED POPE WAS HIMSELF IN FRANCIA, AND WISHING A SECOND TIME TO OBTAIN HELP AGAINST THE LOMBARDS
Peter, called an Apostle by Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God (who reigned with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit before all ages, and in former times¹⁶ was incarnated and made human for the salvation of us all; according to the wishes of the glorious Father, He redeemed us with His precious blood, just as He announced through His holy prophets in the holy scriptures) and through me the entire Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church of God, the head of all the Churches of God (founded – through the blood of our Redeemer – upon solid stone¹⁷),
and Stephen the protector of said nourishing Church [all pray that] for the rescue of this same holy Church of God, and the Roman populace trusted to me, from the hands of our persecutors, grace, peace and strength be granted by our Lord God
to you most distinguished men Pippin, Charles and Carloman, the three kings, and to the most holy bishops, abbots, priests and all the pious monks, and even to the dukes, counts and to all the armies generally and to the people dwelling in Francia.
I am Peter the apostle, so called by Christ, the Son of the living God through a decision of supreme clemency, [and] I was preordained by His command to be the illuminator of the whole world. This our Lord God confirms: 'Go, teach all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit;'¹⁸ and again 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them.'¹⁹ And entrusting all his flocks to me, his lowly servant and chosen apostle, He said: 'Feed my sheep, feed my lambs;'²⁰ and further: 'you are Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in heaven: and whatever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.'²¹ On this account, everyone who has fulfilled what they have heard me preach should trust with complete confidence that their sins in this world [shall be] forgiven by order of God, and that they will go pure and unstained into that [sc. eternal] life; and, indeed, since the illumination of the Holy Spirit shines in your gleaming hearts, [and since] you have become lovers of the holy and singular Trinity through your acceptance of the preached Word of the Gospel,
without doubt your hope of future reward is kept bound up with this Roman and apostolic Church of God trusted to me.
And so, I Peter, apostle of God, who have adopted you as my sons, appealing to all your affection, furthermore urge [you] to defend this Roman city and populace trusted to me by God from the hands of its enemies, as well as to rescue the house where my body rests from the pollution by the gentiles, and I steadfastly implore²² and admonish [you] to liberate the Church of God entrusted to me by divine command, because [all these] suffer the greatest afflictions and oppressions [at the hands of] the wretched Lombard people. Have no doubt, my most beloved²³ [sons], and rest assured: that by myself²⁴ we compel and oblige you with strong oaths in this exhortation (just as if I stood alive before you, in the flesh), because we hold all you, the people of the Franks, in special regard amongst all other peoples,²⁵ according to the promise that we received from that same Lord God, our Redeemer.
Therefore I [being] a sort of reflection,²⁶ implore and admonish and bind you with firm obligation, [you] most Christian kings Pippin, Charles and Carloman, and all [you] clerics²⁷ – bishops, abbots, priests – and every pious monk, and all the judges, [and] likewise the dukes, counts and the whole people of the kingdom of the Franks. And just as though I – Peter, apostle of God – stood alive and present before you, in the flesh, in the same manner you should firmly believe that the words of exhortation address you. This is because I am not absent from you in spirit, though I am absent in body, seeing that it is written 'He that accepts a prophet in the name of a prophet, accepts a prophet's reward.'²⁸
What is more, Our Lady, mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, [stands] with us, imploring and binding you with weighty obligations. She admonishes and commands you, and so do the thrones and dominions²⁹ and the whole host of the celestial army, and even the martyrs and confessors of Christ and all those who please God completely. And with us they exhort, adjure and implore you to take pity on this Roman city, trusted to me by the Lord God, and on the Lord's flocks dwelling in it, and even on the holy Church of God entrusted to me by the Lord.
Defend and liberate it with all haste from the hands of our Lombard oppressors, lest – heaven forbid – they defile my body, which endured torments for the Lord Jesus Christ, and my home, where [my body] rests by order of God; lest by own people be mangled and butchered by those Lombard people, who are guilty of perjury in this great deceit and are proven violators of the holy Scriptures. So lend, with God's help, your strongest protection to my Roman people, your brothers, entrusted to me by God in this life.
In this way I, Peter, chosen as Apostle of God, will repay you both in this life and on the day of judgment to come, by providing protection in turn (so that clear shining dwellings are prepared for you in God's kingdom), and by offering you the rewards of eternal recompense and the unending joys of heaven – provided that you have very speedily defended my Roman city and my own people, your Roman brothers, from the hands of the evil Lombards.
Hurry, hurry – by God, true and living, I exhort and implore you – hurry, and help, before the fountain of life, whence you were refreshed and reborn, goes dry: before that little leftover spark³⁰ from a roaring fire, whence you received³¹ your own light, is extinguished; before your spiritual mother, the holy Church of God – within which you hope to attain eternal life – is laid low, overrun, profaned and defiled by wicked men. I implore you, my most cherished adopted sons, by the grace of the holy Spirit, I implore you, and indeed – before God the redoubtable Creator of all –
I exhort and admonish you, I, Peter apostle of God, and with me the holy catholic and apostolic Church of God, which the Lord trusted to me: do not suffer this Roman city to perish, [this city] in which the Lord set my body, and which he entrusted to me and set as the foundation of the faith.
Liberate [this city] and its Roman people, your brothers, and never allow it to be overrun by the Lombard people: in this fashion, you will spare your [own] provinces and possessions from being overrun by gentiles, unknown to you.³²
Do not let me be separated from my Roman people: in this fashion, you will not be kept away or separated from the kingdom of God and the eternal life. For whatever you ask of me, I will supply to you, and particularly I will provide protection. Help my Roman people, your brothers, and strive righteously and liberate us in the end; for no one receives the crown, except he who has striven lawfully.³³ And you should strive vigorously to liberate the holy Church of God, lest you perish for eternity. Dearest [sons]: I beseech³⁴ you, I beseech [you] as before, and I utterly implore you, by the living God: you should in no way permit this Roman city of mine and the people living within it to be maimed by the Lombard people any more.
This way you will not be maimed and tortured, body and soul, in the eternal and inextinguishable Tartarean fire, accompanied by the devil and his pernicious angels. And let not the sheep of the Lord's flock, namely, the Roman people, trusted to me by God, be further scattered; this way the Lord will not scatter you and cast you down, like the Israelite people were scattered.³⁵
Indeed, it is clear that your people of the Franks are better disposed toward me, Peter apostle of God, than any other peoples 'beneath the heavens'.³⁶ As such,
through the hands of my vicar I entrust you with the Church, which the Lord handed over to me, so that you may liberate it from the hands of its enemies. Indeed, you should have absolutely no doubt that I – servant of God, his chosen Apostle – have helped you amidst all your troubles, whenever you have called upon me, and granted you victory over your enemies through the strength of God: [and have no doubt that] in the future³⁷ I will grant [such things] none the less, if you hurry very speedily to liberating this my Roman city. Remember also how I made the enemies of the holy Church of God fall before you when they assailed you in battle, even though you were small in number against them. Strive, therefore, to fulfill my warning speedily, so that you rightly deserve to obtain my help, through the Grace which was given to me by our Lord God Christ.
And now, my most cherished sons, I have openly admonished you.
If you speedily obey, it will redound to your great reward: aided by my support, you will overcome all your enemies in the present life, and long-surviving³⁸ you shall eat the good of the land,³⁹ and
you will – without doubt — enjoy eternal life. But if [you do not] — something we trust will not happen — and you offer [some] delay, or excuse for less than speedily fulfilling our exhortation to liberate this my Roman city and the populace dwelling in it and the holy apostolic Church of God entrusted to me by the Lord along with its protector,
know this: we, through the authority of the holy and singular Trinity [and] through the Grace of the apostleship which I was given me by Lord Christ, [will/can] exclude you from the kingdom of God and the eternal life for disobeying our exhortation.
Instead, may God and our Lord Jesus Christ (who, in redeeming us with His precious blood, led us to the light of truth and made us preachers and illuminators to the whole world) allow you to perceive, understand and set about these things very speedily, so that you hurry all the more quickly to rescue this Roman city and its populace and the holy Church of God entrusted to me by the Lord, so that he mercifully orders you to be kept in the present life into old age, safe and triumphant (just as He does for those trusting in his command); and so that, with the support of my intercession for you, He allows you to merit more abundantly the gifts of His remuneration with the saints and His elect in the world to come.
Farewell.
