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COUNSELS

XII. Is A Council Above the Pope? — The Coun- ils of Constance and of Basle have affimied with reat emphasis that an oecumenical council is superior n authority to the pope, and French theologians have dopted that proposition as one of the famous four lallican Liberties. Other theologians affirmed, and till affirm, that the pope is above any general council, 'he leading exponents of the Galilean doctrine are: )upin (1657-1719), professor at the Sorbonne in 'aris ("Dissertatio de concilii generalis supra Ro- nanuni Pontificem auctoritate", in his book on the ncient discipline of the Church, "De antiqua Ec- lesis disciplina dissert ationes historicie"); and latalis Alexander, O. P. (1639-1724), in the ninth olume of his great "Ilistoria Ecclesiastica" (Diss. V ad sa'culum XV). On the other side Lucius Fer- aris (Bibliotheca Canonica, s. v. Concilium) and lonc.aglia, editor and corrector of Natalis Alexander's listorj-, stoutly defend the papal superiority. Hefele, fter carefully weighing the main arguments of the iallicans (viz. that Pope Martin V approved the ieclaration of the Council of Constance, and Pope Eugene IV the identical declaration of the Council f Basle, affirming the superiority of an oecumenical ynod over the pope), concluded that both popes, in he interests of peace, approved of the councils in eneral terms which might imply an approbation of he point in question, but that neither Martin nor Jugene ever intended to acknowledge the superiority f a council over the pope. (See Hefele, Concilien- eschichte, I, 50-54.)

The principles hitherto set forth supply a complete olution to the controversy. General councils repre- ent the Church ; the pope therefore stands to them 1 the same relation as he stands to the Church. But hat relation is one of neither superiority nor inferior- ty, but of intrinsic cohesion: the pope is neither above
 * or below the Church, but in it as the centre is in

he circle, as intellect and will are in the soul. By tak- ig our stand on the Scriptural doctrine that the !hurch is the mystical body of Christ of which the lOpe is the visible head, we see at once that a coun- il apart from the pope is but a lifeless trunk, a rump parliament", no matter how well attended it

16.

XIII. Can a Council Depose the Pope? — This luestion is a legitimate one, for in the history of the church circumstances have arisen in which several irotenders contended for papal authority and coun- ils were called upon to remove certain claimants, rhe Councils of Constance and Basle, and Galilean heologians, hold that a council may depose a pope m two main grounds: (1) oh mores (for his conduct ir behaviour, e. g. his resistance to the synod); (2) oh 'idem (on account of his faith or rather want of faith, . e. heresy). In point of fact, however, heresy is the mly legitimate ground. For a heretical pope has eased to be a member of the Church, and cannot, herefore, be its head. A sinful pope, on the other land, remains a member of the (visible) Church and 3 to be treated as a sinful, unjust ruler for whom we nust pray, but from whom we may not withdraw our ibedicnce.

But the question assumes another aspect when a lumber of claimants pretend to be the rightful occu- )ants of the Apostolic See, and the right of each is loubtful. In such a cise the council, according to iellannine (Disputationes, II, xix, de Conciliis) has I right to examine the several claims and to depose he pretenders whose claims are unfounded. This vas done at the Synod of Constance. But during this jrocess of examination the synod is not yet oecvnneni- issents to its proceedings. It is evident that this is lo instance of a legitimate pope being deposed by a egitimate council, but simply the removal of a pre- «nder by those on whom he wishes to impose his will.
 * al; it only becomes so the moment the rightful pope

Not even John XXIII could have been deposed at Constance, had his election not been doubtful and himself suspected of heresy. John XXIII, moreover, abdicated and by his abdication made his removal from the Apnstnlir See lawful. In all controversies and coniplaints n'uanliiii; Rome the rule laid down by the Eighth General Synod should never be lost sight of: "If a universal synod be assembled and any ambiguity or controversy arise concerning the Holy Church of the Romans, the question should he exam- ined and solved with due reverence anil veneration, in a spirit of mutual helpfulness; no sentence should be audaciously pronounced against the suijreme |jon- tiff of the elder Rome" (can. xxi, Hefele, IV, 421-22). ScHEEBEN wrote copiously and learnedly in defence of the Vatican Council; his article in the Kirchenlexicon, written in 1SS3, contains the marrow of his previous writings, while Hefele's History of the Councils is the standard work on the .subject. For a deeper study of the councils a good collection of the Acta Conciliorum is indispensable. The first ever printed was the very imperfect one of Merlin (Paris, 1523). A sec- ond and richer collection, by the Belgian Franciscan Peter Crabbe, appeared in 1538 at Cologne, in 3 vols. Completer editions were published as time went on: SuRlus (Cologne, 1567, 5 vols.); Bolanus (Venice, 1585, 5 vols.); Binius (Col- ogne, 1606), with historical and explanatory notes from Baro- nius — republished 161S, and in Paris, 1636, in 9 vols.; the Roman collection of general councils with Greek text, arranged by the Jesuit Sirmond (1608-1612). in 4 vols. — each council is preceded by a short history. On Bellarmine's advice Sirmond omitted the Acts of the Synod of Basle. This Roman collec- tion is the foundation of all that followed. First among these is the Paris Collectio Regia, in 37 vols. (1644). Then comes the still completer collection of the Jesuits Labbe and Cossart (Paris, 1674), in 17 folio vols., to which Baluze added a supple- mentary volume (Paris, 1683 and 1707). Most French authors quote from Labbe-B.vluze. Yet another and better edition ia clue to the Je-suit Hardouin; it is of all the most perfect and serviceable. Maxsi — later Archbishop of Lucca, his native town — with the help of many Italian scholars, brought out a new collection of 31 volumes, which, had it been finished, would have surpassed all its predecessors in merit. Unfortunately it only comes down to the fifteenth centur>', and, bein^ unfinished, has no indexes. To fill this gap. Welter, a Paris publisher, took up (1900) the new collection proposed (1870) by V. Palm^. To a facsimile reprint of the 31 volumes of Manbi (Florence- Venice, 1757-1797) he added 19 supplementary volumes, fur- nishing the necess.in,' indexes, etc. The A eta et Dccreta sacrorum conciliorum rcccnliorumCoUeclio Lacensis (FreiburgimBr., 1870- 90), published by the Jesuits of Maria-Laach, extends from 1682 to 1869. An English translation of Hefele's standard History of the Christian Councils, by W. R. Clark, was com- menced in 1871 (Edinburgh and London); a French translation by the Benedictines of Famborough is also in course of publication (Paris, 1907). Among the latest authors treating of councils are Wbrnz, Jus Decrelalium (Rome. 1899), I, II; Ojetti, Synopsis rcrum moralium et juris canonici, s. v. Concilium.

3. WlLHELM.

Counsels, Evangelical (or Counsels of Perfec- tion). — Christ in the Gospels laid down certain rules of life and conduct which must be practised by every one of His followers as the necessary condition for at- taining to everlasting life. These precepts of the Gos]jel practically consist of the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, of the Old Law, interpreted in the sense of the New. Besides these precepts which must be observed by all under pain of eternal damnation, He also taught certain principles which He expressly stated were not to be considered as binding upon all, or as necessary conditions without which heaven could not be attained, but rather as counsels for those who desired to do more than the minimum and to aim at Christian perfection, so far as that can be obtained here upon earth. Thus (Matt., xix, 10 sq.) when the young man asked Him what he should do to obtain eternal life, Christ bade him to " keep the command- ments". That was all that was necessary in the strict sense of the word, and by thus keeping the com- mands which God had given eternal life could be ob- tained. But when the young man pressed further, Christ told him: "If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor". So again, in the same chapter. He speaks of " eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven", and added, "He that can receive it, let him receive it".

This distinction between the precepts of the Gospel,