doctrines as to the authority of councils, he says: "The first is, that the pontiff even as pontiff, although he should define any thing with a general council, may be heretical, and teach others heresy, &c. . . . Of these four doctrines, the first is heretical." He says elsewhere, "All catholics constantly teach that general councils confirmed by the chief pontiff cannot err, either in explaining the faith, or in delivering moral precepts common to all the church. . . . . It is to be held with catholic faith, that general councils confirmed by the pontiff cannot err either in faith or morals." Cardinal Fisher said: "If any council be assembled in the Holy Ghost, by the authority of the pontiff, all persons being admonished whom it concerns to attend; I firmly hold that such a council cannot err in matters of faith "." Melchior Canus says: "A general council confirmed by the authority of the Roman pontiff, renders the faith in catholic doctrines certain: which conclusion it is necessary to hold believe the contrary heretical "." affirms, that when the Roman

generalibus præceptis morum."Bellarmin. De Romano Pontifice, lib. iv. c. 2.

e" Prima (sententia) est, Pontificem, etiam ut Pontificem, etiamsi cum generali concilio definiret aliquid, posse esse hæreticum in se, et docere alios hæresim. . . . . Ex his quatuor sententiis prima est hæretica.". Ibid.

'Bellarmin. De Conciliis et Ecclesia, lib. ii. c. 2. "Catholici vero omnes constanter docent concilia generalia a summo Pontifice confirmata, errare non posse, nec in fide, nec in moribus.

...

as so undoubted, as to Gregorius de Valentia pontiff has confirmed a

council, the whole church ought to receive its decrees: "For when will there be any end of controversies in the church, if when they have been decided by the church, and the pastor of the church, the Vicar of Christ, in an œcumenical synod, it may still be lawful for a private individual to judge the decrees of the synod by the rule of scripture, that is by his own dreams of scripture?... Whoever does not acquiesce here, but chooses to arrogate to himself a further judgment on his judges, and to dispute whether the definitions made by the rulers of the church, by whom the Holy Spirit willed us to be instructed, are true; such a man does not follow, but proudly and contumaciously transgresses the mode of " trying spirits" prescribed by the divine law, and is evidently proved to be a heretic, unless it be altogether denied, that there were ever any heretics in the world." Such has always since been the prevalent doctrine of the Roman schools. Launoius cites Bannes, Duvallius, and other theologians, as affirming that the doctrine of the infallibility of a council confirmed by the pope is universally held. Bossuet, in replying to a passage from St. Augustine adduced by the Ultramontanes against the authority of general councils, asks what is meant by the objection: "Is it meant that œcumenical councils can err in faith? Impious! Heretical! To be detested by all catholics!" In more modern times Dr. Milner said: "Let me ask whether he finds any catholic who denies or doubts that a general council with the pope at its head. . . is

...

i Gregorius de Valentia, Analysis Fid. Cathol. lib. viii. c. 7. Launoii Epistolæ, p. 156.

ed. Cantabr.

"An ut concilia ecumenica

in fide errare possunt? Impium, hæreticum, omnibus catholicis detestandum." Bossuet, Defens. Decl. Cler. Gall. lib. viii. c. 18.

secure from error?

Most certainly not: and hence he may gather where all catholics agree in lodging infallibility'."

The infallibility of the pope was maintained in the sixteenth century by the following theologians of the Roman obedience: Melchior Canus, bishop of the Canaries, regarded it as de fide". Cardinal Bellarmine affirms that it is the opinion of almost all catholics ". Gregory de Valentia says it is to be believed with certain faith. Suarez maintains that it is a matter of faith P. Pighius held that it was irrefragable. The infallibility of the pope was also taught by cardinal Cajetan', cardinal Hosius bishop of Warmia', cardinal Contarenus, John Eckius ", John Hessels à Lovanio', Ruard Tapperus ", James Naclantus bishop of Chiozza, Dominic Bannes, Duvallius, Coriolanus, Comptonus, cardinal Fisher, Stapleton, Harding, Cochlæus, Sylvester de Prierio, Gretser, besides pope Leo X. and the Lateran synod, which taught this doctrine, at least by inference.

с

The infallibility of a general council was held in the sixteenth century by the following theologians. Cardinal de Lorraine and the university of Paris held it to be a matter of faith, and the Ultramontane opinion to be heretical. This doctrine was also firmly taught by the faculty of Theology at Paris, by the provincial synod of Sens in 1528', by the doctors of Paris, and all the bishops and churches of France in 1543; by pope Adrian VI.", Almain', Alphonsus à Castro' archbishop of Compostella, Jodocus Clictovæus *, Thomas Illyricus', cardinal Campegius ", Andradius, Driedo", Matthias Ugonius, Victoria, Celaia, and the bishop of Bitonto in the council of Trent. Of all the Gallican theologians in this century, John Major alone held that the infallibility of general councils was a matter of pious opinion P.

Thus the whole body of Roman theologians in the

Launoii Epistolæ, p. 158. ed. Cantabr.

Summi Pontificis, 1523.

m

Campegius, De Auctor. SS. Conciliorum.

n

Andradius, De General. Concil. Auctor. lib. i. Driedo, De Eccl. Dogmat. lib. iv. c. 4.

"Certum est concilium generale legitime congregatum, universam repræsentans ecclesiam, in fidei et morum determinationibus errare non posse.' Sacr. Facult. Paris. in censura Luth. art. xxii. See Hooke, Relig. Nat. et Rev. t. iii. p. 394. f Harduin. Concilia, t. ix. p. by Tournely, De Ecclesia, t. i. p. 1936.

See Bossuet, Gallia orthodoxa, c. xxvii, xxviii.

h Bossuet, Appendix ad Def. Declar. lib. i. c. 1.

'Almain. De Auctor. Eccl. c. 10. Tract. de Potest. Eccl. c. 15, 16.

Alphons. à Castro, lib. 1 adv. Hæres. c. vi.

* Jod. Clichtovæus, Anti-Lutherus, Paris, 1524.

Illyricus, Tract. de Potest.

• Paolo Sarpi's Council of Trent, by Courayer, t. i. p. 208. P Joh. Major, Commentar. in Evang. S. Matthæi, referred to

363, where he also says that some seem to have doubted the infallibility of general councils formerly, as we may collect from Cardinal de Alliaco, in quæst. in Vesperiis agitata, t. i. oper. Gerson postr. edit. p. 622 et 3 part. de Eccl. Auctor. c. i; also from Joannes Breviscoxa, Doctore Parisiens. Tract. de Fide Ecclesiæ, Rom. Pont. et Conc. general. t. i. oper. Gerson, p. 898. He also refers to Waldensis.

sixteenth century, held the infallibility of either the pope or a general council; and these different opinions were not then first invented, but had been held by the majority of the Latin theologians for two or three centuries. The Ultramontane opinion had been received by St. Anselm, Robertus Paululus, J. Semeca the author of the glossa ordinaria on Gratian's Decretum, by Jacobus de Thermes', Augustinus Triumphans', Alexander Halensis", by Thomas Aquinas "the angelical doctor "," cardinal Turrecremata ", Thomas Waldensis, Antoninus of Padua (who held it to be de fide), John Capistran, and many others. The Gallican opinion had been held by Michael de Cæsena in the fourteenth century, by cardinal Peter d'Ailly, Gerson, Dionysius Carthusianus, Nicholas de Clemangis, Æneas Sylvius before he was raised to the papal throne, Alphonsus Tostatus, Nicholas de Cusa.

y

Anselm. p. 41. 391. 430. pertinet editio symboli, ad cujus oper. ed. Paris. 1675.

t

Augustinus Triumphans, Summa qu. i. art. i. qu. vi. art. vi. qu. x. art. i. iv.

"Apud Summum Pontificem est authoritas plena: cujus sanctioni contradicere non licet: sicut habetur 11 di... Anathemate innodatur, qui dogmata, mandata, interdicta, sanctiones, vel cætera pro Catholica fide, vel ecclesiastica disciplina. à Sedis Apos tolicæ præsule salubriter promulgata contemnit. 25 qu. 2. Si quis dogmata."-Alexander Alensis, Summa Theologiæ, pars iv. qu.

32. art. 3.

"Ad illius ergo authoritatem

authoritatem pertinet finaliter determinare ea quæ sunt fidei ut ab omnibus inconcussa fide teneantur hoc autem pertinet ad authoritatem summi Pontificis, ad quem majores et difficiliores ecclesiæ quæstiones referuntur, ut dicitur in Decreto, dist. 17. c. multis," &c.-Aquinas, Secunda Secundæ, qu. i. art. x.