Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 16.djvu/82

 PEACE

66

PENTATEUCH

Aueustiiiian canons, Kastcllp near Konglielle, both liania (2nd ed.. Christ: founded about 1198. <rK.,=t,„„.„ ,«7q. ,«

WiLLSON, History o/ Church and State in Norway (Weatmin- 8ter, 1903): JoRGENSEN, Den nordiske Kirkes Grundlmggelae, I-II (Copenhagen, 1S74-7S); Keyser, Den norske Kirke under Kathol- icismen (2 vols., Christiania, lS5(i-58); Diplomatarium riorve- gicum (16 vols., Christiania, 1849-1903); Daae, Del gamle Chris-

. 1S9I), 1-22 ; Idem. Norges kelgnes (Christiania, 1879), 163-69: Storm, Monumenta historica Nor- vegice (Christiania, 1880), 155-58, 190; Samlinger til del norske Folks Sprog og Historic (Christiania, 1833), I. 264-304, ,553-63; II, 171-213; L.^nge, Norske Kloslre (Christiania, 1856); Historisk Tidsskri/t, third series, II (Christiania, 1892), 82-94.

A. W. Taylor.

Peace of the Church. — This is the designation usu;illv ^ipiilird to the condition of the Church after the |)ulihc:i1ion at Milan in 313 by Emperor Constan- tine of an edict of toleration by which the Christians were accorded complete liberty to practise their re- ligion without niole.station. The freedom of con- science demanded by the Christian religion was incom- patible with the theocratic or absolutist views which had prevailed regarding the relations of the State and religion prior to the time of Christ. This funda- mental difference as to the extent and province of the civil power together with other reasons of a religious, social, and economic character led to the prescription of the followers of Christ in the Roman Empire. The attitude of the civil authorities changed as the Christians increased in numbers and importance. At first looked on merely as Jewish schism.atics, the Christians were afterwards persecuted as enemies of the State and estabhshed institutions. A new stage was reached when, in the middle of the third century, the Church as such was made the object of attack. This attitude, inaugurated by Emperor Decius, made the issue at stake clear and well-defined. The im- perial authorities convinced themselves that the Christian Church and the pagan Roman State could not co-exist; henceforth but one solution was possible, the destruction of Christianity or the conversion of Rome. For half a century the result was in doubt. The failure of Diocletian (28-1-305) and his colleagues in the last and bloodiest of the persecutions to shake the resolution of the Christians or to annihilate the Church left no cour.se open to prudent statesmen but to recognize the inevitable and to abandon the old concept of government, the union of civil power and paganism.

The first decisive step in this direction was taken by the beaten and implacable Galerius, who pubUshed from Nicomedia in 311 an edict of toleration in which he confessed that the efforts to "reclaim the Chris- tians" had failed. This edict was the result of utter impotency to prolong the contest. Complete am- nesty and freedom were attained two years later when Emperor Constant ine, after defeating Maxen- tius, published early in 313 with his colleague Licin- ius the famous Edict of Milan by which Christians were giuaranteed the fullest liberty in the practice of their religion. Without detracting from the credit of Constantine, the important social and political changes implied in this act must be looked on as a triumph of Clii'istian principles over pagan narrow- ness. The absolute independence of religion from state interference, which formed the keynote of this famous document, produced a new concept of society, and may be looked on as the first official exjjression of what afterwards came to be the medieval idea of the State. It was in Western Europe the first declara- tion on the i)art. of any one vested with civil authority that the State should not interfere with the rights of conscience :uid religion. In addition to removing the l)!m from the Christ i;ins Constantine ordered that the property of which they had been deprived during the persecutions by seizure or confisc;iti<m should be re- turned to them at the exjiense of the State. For the Christians the immunities and gu;iranties contained in this act had most iiiipcirt;int results. Then for the first time if became possilile to observe the Liturgy in its fullness, and seriously and earnestly to attempt to

mould the life of the empire according to Christian ideals and standards. The joy of the Christians at this change in their public status is admirably ex- pressed by Eusebius in his "Church Historv" (X, ii).

Galerius, Edict of toleratiminEvaKBlVB, Hist, eccl., VIll. svii; Edict of Constantine in Hist eccL, X, v. A large part of the edict in the original Latin can be found in Lactantius, De mortibus persecut,, ilvii. See also Mason, Persecution of Diocletian; Ai/- lard, Histoire des persecutions, VI; and bibliography under Constantine.

Patrick J. Healt.

Pectorius of Autun, the name with which the important tlocument frecjuently known as the Inscrip- tion of Autun concludes. Nothing is known of the personal history of Pectorius. The inscription in which his name occurs, the authorship of which is usually attributed to him, was discovered, 24 June, 1839, in the cemetery of St. Pierre I'Estrier at Autun. It is written in Greek metre and engi-aved on a marble tablet which was recovered in a fragmentary, though sufficiently complete, state to permit of the recon- struction of the entire text. The fragments are preserved in the museum of Autun and constitute one of the most remarkable epigraphic monuments of the early Christian Church. The following is a literal rendering of the inscription: "Divine race of the heavenly fish preserve a pure heart ha\ing received among mortals the immortal source of Divine waters. Refresh, O friend, thy soul with the everflowing waters of treasure-bestowing wisdom. Receive the sweet food of the Saviour of the Saints, eat with delight holding the fish in thy hands. Nourish (thine) with the fish, I pray, Master and Saviour; Sweetly may mother slumber, I beseech thee, Light of the Dead. Ascandios father, beloved of my heart with sweet mother and my brothers in the peace of the fish re- member Pectorius". The inscription considered in its content naturally falls into three parts, the first of which addresses itself to the Christians, the second to Christ, and the third contains a loving appeal to Pectorius's deceased relatives. The language of the first part stands alone in its jjurity, whereas parts two and three contain traces of decadence. Various dates ranging from the second to the sixth centuries have been assigned for the composition of the in- scription. Its language, sjinbolism, and pateo- graphic characteristics refer it with great probability to the end of the second or beginning of the third century. In its inteniretation the use of the fish among the early Christians as a symbolical designa- tion of Christ Himself should be remembered. The document bears witness to some of the fundamental truths of the Catholic Faith, viz. the Divinity of Christ, the doctrines of transubstantiation, of prayer for the dead, and of the communion of saints. It clearly states the manner of distribution of the Holy Eucharist which in early times was placed in the hands of the recipient.

Leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archiologie (Paris, 1907), s. v. Autun; PoHL, Das Ichthys Monument von Aultin (Berlin, 1880); Marri- ott, Testimony of the Catacombs (London, 1870).

N. A. Weber.

Pentateuch. — Some decisions of the Biblical Com- mission ((|. V.) in reg.ard to the chief subject of this article, viz.. Genesis, are as follows: The various ex- egetical systems which exclude the literal and histor- ical .sense" of the first three chapters of the Book of Genesis are not ba.sed on a solid foundation. It