Notitia de S. Zephyrino papa (ex Libro Pontificali)

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Zephyrinus. Anno Severi imperatoris nono, qui fuit Christi redemptoris nostri 203, octavo die Augusti, postquam sedes pontificia undecim diebus vacasset, Victori Zephyrinus pontifex, natione Romanus, succedit. Euseb. lib. v Hist. eccles., cap. 27. Sub hoc quinta Christianorum generalis persecutio edicto imperatoris decreta est: cujus saevitiam catholici quidam subterfugientes, a Montano ejusque sectatore Tertulliano immerito redarguuntur. Per hunc pontificem Cataphrygae, disputatione publica, cui Caius vir apprime disertus ac pius praeerat, convicti, una cum Marcione, Praxea, Sabellio, Valentino, et caeteris anathemate damnati sunt. Hieronym. De scriptor. eccles. in Caio; Euseb. lib. vi Hist., cap. 14; Optat. Milevit. Natalius confessor in Theodoti Coriarii haeresim largitione pecuniae inductus, postquam ad resipiscendum frequenter admonitus, et ab angelis graviter caesus fuisset, tandem cilicio indutus, cineribus conspersus, magno cum moerore ac lacrymis ad pedes Zephyrini pontificis et ad genua clericorum ac laicorum devolutus, supplex in ecclesiam et ad poenitentiam recipi petens, ab hoc eodem pontifice benigne acceptatur. Euseb. lib. v Hist., cap. 27. Hujus tempore, Agrippino Carthaginensi episcopo auctore, haereticorum rebaptizantium secta exorta, et concilio Africano reprobato, de quo infra, comprobata est, ut constat ex Cypr. epist. 71. Edictum, quod adversus Montani haeresim aliorumque pseudoparacletorum lapsis poenitentiam denegantium, auctoritate pontificia edidit (quo lapsos, etiamsi moechi ac fornicarii fuissent, ad poenitentiam invitat ac recipit), Tertullianus Christianus transfuga lib. i De pudicit. recitat et impugnat. Verba edicti, quae ibidem exstant, haec sunt: Pontifex maximus, episcopus episcoporum, dicit: Ego et moechiae et fornicationis delicta, poenitentia functis dimitto. Plura vide apud Baron. ab anno Christi 203 usque ad 221. Sev. Bin.

Zephyrinus. In the ninth year of the emperor Severus, which was the year 203 of Christ our Redeemer, on the eighth day of August, after the pontifical see had been vacant eleven days, Zephyrinus, a Roman by nation, succeeded Victor as pontiff. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, book V, chapter 27. Under him the fifth general persecution of the Christians was decreed by the emperor's edict; certain Catholics who escaped its fury are undeservedly reproached for it by Montanus and his follower Tertullian. Under this pontiff the Cataphrygians, refuted in a public disputation over which Caius, a man eminently eloquent and devout, presided, were condemned with anathema together with Marcion, Praxeas, Sabellius, Valentinus and the rest. Jerome, On Ecclesiastical Writers, under Caius; Eusebius, History, book VI, chapter 14; Optatus of Milevis. Natalius the confessor, drawn by a bribe of money into the heresy of Theodotus the Tanner, after he had often been admonished to come to his senses and had been severely beaten by angels, at last, clothed in sackcloth and sprinkled with ashes, threw himself with great grief and tears at the feet of the pontiff Zephyrinus and at the knees of the clergy and laity, begging as a suppliant to be received into the church and to penance, and was kindly accepted by this same pontiff. Eusebius, History, book V, chapter 27. In his time the sect of heretics who rebaptize arose at the instigation of Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage, and was approved by an African council, which was condemned (on which see below), as is clear from Cyprian, letter 71. The edict which he issued by pontifical authority against the heresy of Montanus and of the other pseudo-Paracletes who denied penance to the lapsed (by which he invites and receives the lapsed to penance, even if they had been adulterers and fornicators), Tertullian, the deserter from Christianity, quotes and attacks in book I On Modesty. The words of the edict, which survive there, are these: "The supreme pontiff, the bishop of bishops, says: I remit the sins of adultery and fornication to those who have done penance." See more in Baronius from the year of Christ 203 to 221. Severinus Binius.

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Sedit annos 8, menses 7, dies 10. Annis 18 et diebus totidem sedisse auctor est Euseb. in Chronic., quam sententiam, tanquam Vaticanis indicibus magis conformem, sequitur Baron. anno 221, num. 1, et recte, quia ab anno Severi imperatoris nono, quo pontificatum ingressus est, usque ad secundum Antonini Elagabali, cujus anno secundo vita et pontificatu defunctum esse Euseb. testatur lib. vi Hist. eccles., cap. 15, neque plures neque pauciores computari possunt. Martyrem obiisse Martyrologium refert, fortasse ex ea causa quod Elagabalo omnium etiam Christianorum religionem sub cultu Dei sui referre volenti, contradixerit. Baronius praedicto anno num. 2. Id.

He sat 8 years, 7 months, 10 days. Eusebius in the Chronicle states that he sat 18 years and as many days, an opinion which Baronius, at the year 221, number 1, follows as agreeing better with the Vatican lists; and rightly, since from the ninth year of the emperor Severus, in which he entered on the pontificate, to the second of Antoninus Elagabalus, in whose second year Eusebius testifies (Ecclesiastical History, book VI, chapter 15) that he ended his life and pontificate, neither more nor fewer can be counted. The Martyrology reports that he died a martyr, perhaps for this reason, that he opposed Elagabalus when he wished to bring the religion of all, the Christians included, under the worship of his own god. Baronius, at the aforesaid year, number 2. The same [Binius].

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Ut patenas vitreas. Sicut his temporibus vitreas patenas in usu fuisse hinc constat, ita etiam calicem vitreum, ligneum, atque etiam argenteum, hoc tempore usitatum fuisse, aliunde probatur. De calice vitreo scribit S. Greg. papa lib. i Dial., c. 7, sanctum Donatum Aretinae Ecclesiae in Galliis episcopum ac martyrem, vitreum calicem a paganis fractum orando instaurasse. Hieron. epist. 4 ad Rusticum: Nihil, inquit, illo ditius, qui corpus Domini canistro vimineo, sanguinem portat in vitro De eodem Cyprian. Gallus in Vita Caesarii episcopi Arelatensis: Annon, inquit, in vitro habetur sanguis Christi? Epiphanius in Panar., haeresi 34, refert Marcum haeresiarcham, apostolorum temporibus proximum, calice vitreo, quo in suis sacris peragendis utebatur, populum dementasse sic, ut colorem vini albi, qui foris apparebat in vitro, populus arte magica et praestigiis illusus rubrum judicaret, atque ita vinum in sanguinem conversum esse crederet. Hisce etiam temporibus ante Christianos imperatores fuisse in Ecclesia sacra vasa argentea, constat ex Vita S. Urbani apud librum Pontificalem infra: et ex epistola 165 Sancti Augustini, ubi ex actis proconsularibus refert, Christianos temporibus Diocletiani habuisse calices aureos duos, argenteos sex, etc. Gregorius Turonensis De gloria mart., cap. 38, scribit sub eodem Diocletiano vasa sacra ministerialia argentea e cryptis, in quibus sancti martyres sacra peragentes delitescebant, effossa esse. Ligneum calicem usurpatum esse expresse dicitur can. Vasa, de consecrat. dist. 1, idemque aperte colligitur ex concilio Triburiensi, cap. 18, ubi prohibentur sacerdotes, ne in ligneis vasculis ullo modo conficere praesumant. Quia tamen propter fragilitatem vitri, usus vitrei calicis periculosus est, tandem circa tempora Caroli Magni, in concilio Remensi statutum est, ut calix Domini cum patena, si non ex auro, omnino ex argento fiat. Si quis autem tam pauper est, additur, saltem vel stanneum calicem habeat. Vide Baron. in notis ad Martyrolog. Rom. die 7 August. Id.

That [they should carry] glass patens. As it is clear from this that glass patens were in use in these times, so it is proved from elsewhere that a glass chalice, a wooden one, and also a silver one were in use at this time. Of the glass chalice Saint Gregory the pope writes, Dialogues book I, chapter 7, that Saint Donatus, bishop and martyr of the Church of Arezzo "in Gaul", restored by prayer a glass chalice broken by pagans. Jerome, letter 4 to Rusticus: "Nothing," he says, "is richer than he who carries the Lord's body in a wicker basket, his blood in glass." Of the same, Cyprian the Gaul in the Life of Caesarius, bishop of Arles: "Is not," he says, "the blood of Christ kept in glass?" Epiphanius in the Panarion, heresy 34, reports that Marcus the heresiarch, close to the times of the apostles, so beguiled the people with a glass chalice which he used in performing his rites that the people, deceived by magic art and trickery, judged the colour of white wine, which showed outwardly in the glass, to be red, and so believed the wine had been changed into blood. That in these times too, before the Christian emperors, there were sacred silver vessels in the Church is established from the Life of Saint Urban in the Pontifical Book below, and from letter 165 of Saint Augustine, where he reports from the proconsular acts that in the times of Diocletian the Christians had two gold chalices, six silver ones, etc. Gregory of Tours, On the Glory of the Martyrs, chapter 38, writes that under the same Diocletian silver sacred vessels for the ministry were dug out of the crypts in which the holy martyrs hid while performing the sacred rites. That a wooden chalice was used is expressly stated in the canon Vasa, De consecratione, distinction 1, and the same is plainly gathered from the Council of Tribur, chapter 18, where priests are forbidden "to presume in any way to consecrate in wooden vessels." Since, however, because of the fragility of glass the use of a glass chalice is dangerous, at length about the time of Charlemagne it was decreed at the Council of Reims "that the Lord's chalice, with the paten, be made, if not of gold, then wholly of silver. But if anyone is so poor," it adds, "let him at least have a chalice of tin." See Baronius in the notes to the Roman Martyrology, 7 August. The same [Binius].

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