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Felix II

He indignantly rejected the money offered him by the emperor, to pay his expenses on his journey. But two years of exile, in the bleak inhospitable Thrace, broke his spirit ; and he consented to sign the semi-Arian creed of Sirmium, and to renounce communion with S. Athanasius. He was exiled in 355, he returned in 357. During his exile a fresh pope had been elected, by orders of the Arian Emperor, a pope whom he hoped would prove more compliant than Liberius had proved before his banishment. Felix was chosen pope in his room — according to S. Athanasius — “ by three eunuchs, in place of all the people, and ordained by three spies,

Martyrological notice

He indignantly rejected the money offered him by the emperor, to pay his expenses on his journey. But two years of exile, in the bleak inhospitable Thrace, broke his spirit ; and he consented to sign the semi-Arian creed of Sirmium, and to renounce communion with S. Athanasius. He was exiled in 355, he returned in 357. During his exile a fresh pope had been elected, by orders of the Arian Emperor, a pope whom he hoped would prove more compliant than Liberius had proved before his banishment. Felix was chosen pope in his room — according to S. Athanasius — “ by three eunuchs, in place of all the people, and ordained by three spies,

The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 08, July Pt. 2 · S. FELIX II., POPE.

(A.D. 365.)

[Roman Martyrology, Ado, Usuardus, &c. Authorities: — Sozomen, the Letters of S. Athanasius and S. Jerome, Anastasius Bibliothecarius.]

Constantius, sole master of the Roman empire, on the death of Constans, was resolved to establish

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Lives of the Saints .

[July ap.

632

throughout it the supremacy of Arianism. He sent his agent, Eusebius the Eunuch, to Rome, to persuade, threaten, or bribe the Roman Pontiff, Liberius, into an alliance with heresy. The promises of Eusebius were coldly listened to, his threats did not shake the pope, the presents he left on the altar of S. Peter ; Liberius ordered, them to be cast forth from the sanctuary. Then Liberius pronounced a solemn anathema against all Arian heretics. Constantius, furious at being opposed by a subject, ordered his instant seizure. Rome rose to defend her prelate. Liberius was secretly apprehended and conveyed to the emperor at Milan. With him appeared the aged, orthodox, all-but-martyr for the faith, Hosius of Cordova, and many of the most dis- tinguished bishops of the West, Eusebius of Vercelli, the uncompromising Hilary of Poitiers, the zealous, if indiscreet, Lucifer of Cagliari. Constantius insisted on the condemnation of S. Athanasius by a Council of the Church. Liberius remained unshaken, u If I were the sole friend of Athanasius,” he said, “yet would I adhere still to the righteous cause.”

Constantius sent him into banishment to Thrace.

He indignantly rejected the money offered him by the emperor, to pay his expenses on his journey. But two years of exile, in the bleak inhospitable Thrace, broke his spirit ; and he consented to sign the semi-Arian creed of Sirmium, and to renounce communion with S. Athanasius. He was exiled in 355, he returned in 357. During his exile a fresh pope had been elected, by orders of the Arian Emperor, a pope whom he hoped would prove more compliant than Liberius had proved before his banishment. Felix was chosen pope in his room — according to S. Athanasius — “ by three eunuchs, in place of all the people, and ordained by three spies,

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July 29.]

The Lives Of The Saints: Volume 08, July Pt. 2 · Language: English