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Summer 2003

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One of the many reforms of the Second Vatican Council was the increase of the influence of local bishops and the call for collegial consultations among regional bishops on a regular basis. It was not a new idea. Like so many other Vatican II initiatives, it had roots in the ancient Christian churches, most notably the church of North Africa in the time of St. Augustine. But the current regional conference system and the influence of local bishops are a far cry from their fifth century counterparts, which did not have to submit their decisions to a supreme pontiff or the Vatican Curia for approval. The papacy as we know it, the Curia, and the Vatican itself didn’t exist.

In March of this year, the Vatican was reported by the Catholic News Services, a communications outlet of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to be “enhancing” the monitoring role of metropolitan archbishops over suffragan bishops.

In the Directory for the Pastoral Ministry of Bishops, a new section titled “Tasks of the Metropolitan Archbishop” called for these archbishops to watch for abuses and errors, to confront the suffragan bishop as a so-called elder brother, and to inform the Vatican in serious cases. According to CNS, the clerical sex abuse crisis was a major factor in the development of these guidelines.

Some Roman Catholics probably never have heard the terms metropolitan and suffragan used in describing diocesan bishops, unless their own archbishop is a metropolitan. A metropolitan archbishop is firstly the bishop of the most significant city or town in a geographic province. The archbishop of Philadelphia, Justin Cardinal Rigali is the metropolitan of the Province of Pennsylvania. A suffragan bishop leads a diocese within that province. The bishop of Pittsburgh, for example, is a suffragan bishop. CNS noted that in the United States, there are 33 metropolitan sees and approximately 150 suffragan dioceses. A metropolitan archbishop does not interfere in the running of a suffragan diocese in his province unless there is a specific crisis in the diocese. The new directive calls for a more regular oversight.

The roles of post Vatican II bishops are largely drawn from the early centuries of the church. Augustine would have been very familiar with the duties of this twenty-first century brothers. However, he might be a little surprised by the evolution of the power and prestige of the bishop of Rome and his see.

Augustine’s World

In late fourth and early fifth century, North Africa was a vital part of the Roman Empire, its breadbasket. According the Rev. Daniel E. Doyle, O.S.A. ’75, assistant professor of theology and religious studies, the determination of a provincial metropolitan was not so tidy as it is today. Father Doyle, author of The Bishop as Disciplinarian in the Letters of St. Augustine (Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York, 2002) explained that whereas some provinces followed the role that the bishop of the leading city of the province was the metropolitan, other provinces followed a seniority rule and did not use the title of metropolitan. To make things more complicated, some ecclesiastical provinces geographically matched Rome’s civil provinces, but others did not. In Augustine’s case, his diocese of Hippo Regius was in the ecclesiastical province of Numidia and the civil province of Africa Proconsularis. Without using the title of metropolitan, the primary bishop in the Numidia was the bishop with the longest service.

The selection of bishops today and in antiquity

Today, the authority to name a bishop resides in one man: the pope. He may make his appointment from the names of a number of bishops, who have been recommended by their dioceses and national conferences, then vetted by papal representatives in a particular country. If he prefers, however, he can ignore the nominations and name whomever he pleases. The only requirement is that the candidate be a priest in good standing.

In the early church, the selection of a bishop was a more localized process, Father Doyle said. “Bishops in late antiquity were chosen by the people. However, that’s not to say that everyone had equal weight. The clergy’s vote was more influential than the average layperson’s. Basically, though, you had a candidate who was not imposed on the community and who had the advantage of enjoying a moral stature because he was the community’s choice.”

The election of Augustine illustrated this. Although not ordained a priest, he was known and respected in North Africa by both the laity and clergy. Bishop Valerius, his predecessor as bishop of Hippo Regius, was eager to find a candidate who, unlike himself, was fluent in Latin, the local language. That would have carried special weight. Once Augustine was acclaimed, he was confirmed by the senior bishop of Numidia, the ecclesiastical province in which Hippo Regius was situated.

When the time came for the bishop to be ordained (or consecrated), three bishops were called upon to consecrate him. This procedure had been mandated in 325 by the Council of Nicaea for two reasons. The first was to assure apostolic succession. Father Doyle explained that theoretically, the lineage of the bishop should be traceable back to the apostles. Having three consecrators was a sort of insurance policy. “If one of consecrators had a questionable lineage, the other two would be legitimate.” he said. The other reason for co-consecrators related to the relationship of the bishop not only to his diocese but the church at large. “The co-consecrators demonstrated that being ordained a bishop also means being ordained into the worldwide college of bishops who governed the church,” Father Doyle stated.

Much of this is still operative today. Catholics who have attended the ordinations of bishops will recall that in addition to the archbishop or papal nuncio, two other bishops usually take part in the ordination ceremony.

However, one practice that definitely did not come from the early church is that of moving bishops around and up the ladder in a sort of apprenticeship. The Council of Nicaea “married” a bishop to the diocese in which he was ordained. He stayed for life. Father Doyle pointed out that this decree has been violated over and over again. It is not unusual today for a bishop ordained in one diocese to lead one or two more dioceses in his career, each time assuming responsibility for a larger population or geographic area.

The slow evolution from selection of bishops by the community to papal appointment began in the middle of the first millennium. In article written in August of 2002 for National Catholic Reporter, the Rev. Richard McBrien, the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, described this evolution. Beginning around 600, civil rulers, emperors, etc. began to reserve to themselves the right to allow a bishop to be consecrated in their lands. At the same time, the bishops themselves started to become more involved in secular affairs and administered enormous property holdings. The process of choosing a bishop became increasingly politicized. In the nineteenth century, the pope became the sole appointer.

From bishop of Rome to supreme pontiff

There is an oft-quoted statement by the New Testament scholar, the late Rev. Raymond Brown, S.S., that Jesus left no “ecclesiastical blueprint” for the organization of his Church. The ascendancy of the “papacy” to the power it holds today would have astonished Augustine and his brother bishops of the late fourth and early fifth century. However, this was an evolution not a takeover.

In the fifth century, Augustine’s time, the bishop of Rome’s primary role was to arbitrate regional disputes. Father Doyle described how geography and apostolic primacy elevate the dispute solver to the supreme pontiff with virtually absolute power. First of all, Sts. Peter and Paul were executed and buried in Rome. “One of the most ancient feasts of the Church is that of Sts. Peter and Paul, which we celebrate on June 29,” Father Doyle said. “Secondly, in the ancient Mediterranean world, there was a fascination with having the bodies of martyrs. As a result, Rome became a place of pilgrimage.” Thirdly, Father Doyle went on to explain, Rome itself was the imperial city and as the emperors became Christian, they began to build great edifices for their bishops. Early in the fourth century, Constantine, the first Christian emperor, built the first Basilica of St. Peter and the first Lateran Basilica for the bishop of Rome. The emperor also made Rome an economically attractive place for regional meetings or synods because he permitted the bishops to use the Roman roads without paying tolls.

The fourth and fifth reasons, Father Doyle noted, are especially intriguing. In the year 107, the revered early martyr, Bishop Ignatius of Antioch insisted that his trial and execution take place in Rome. His reason: the Christians of Rome were known all over the empire for their charity. Ignatius wrote seven letters, which are still in existence, as he made his death march through several dioceses. In six of the letters, the salutation addressed the local bishop. However, in the case of Rome, he wrote to the church, extolling it as “presiding in love, most famous for love.”
The fifth reason is that even in the early church, there was evidence that when disputes arose and the bishop of Rome gave an opinion, his judgment usually proved the correct one.

In 440, fourteen years after Augustine’s death, Bishop Leo of Rome began to use the scriptural references to Peter as the apostle to whom the others in order to bolster his own (Leo’s) primacy. There were many to choose from In the Gospel of John, for example, the disciple whom Jesus loved was first at the empty tomb but that disciple stepped aside to let Peter enter first. In the same gospel, the risen Jesus took a meal on the shore of the Sea of Galilee with the disheartened apostles, who had given up the mission and went back to being fishermen). When Peter finally recognized him, Jesus asked him three times: “Simon, son of God, do you love me? . . . When Peter, no doubt remembering the three times he denied Christ, answered yes, Jesus told him first, “Feed my lambs,” then “Tend my sheep,” and finally “Feed my sheep.” He went on to predict Peter’s martyrdom.

Using the Petrine texts such as these, Leo announced that he was the successor of Peter and he began to exercise authority over the eastern churches for the first time.

Councils and collegiality

Since Vatican II, national conferences of bishops have met regularly, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The roots of these conferences are deep in the church of Augustine’s time. The bishops of North Africa had regional councils every year and past legislation to govern the church there. Father Doyle said historic evidence of this exists in the codex of their legislation, which survives to the present day.

The most important city in the area, both politically and religiously, was Carthage, the metropolitan see of the ecclesiastical province of Africa Proconsularis. As Father Doyle wrote in his book, “. . . Carthage enjoyed a sort of super-primacy of all the Provinces of Latin North Africa. Its bishop was referred to with great affection and enjoyed many of the titles usually associated with the bishop of Rome, notably ‘holy pope.’ In fact, Doyle goes on to write, that it was custom of the clergy Carthage to refer to their bishop Cyprian as papa/Cyprian himself never used the term in reference to the bishop of Rome.

The man who became bishop of Carthage just around the time Augustine was elected bishop of Hippo Regius was named Aurelius. The two great leaders were friends and collaborators for the next 40 years. Aurelius frequently called on Augustine for assistance in preaching and theology. Many of the great sermons Augustine preached to the intelligentsia of Carthage survive. On the theological front, when Pelagius denied the doctrine of Divine grace and the existence of original sin, he was condemned by the bishops of North Africa. Pelagius proceeded gain the support of the council of Eastern bishops at Diospolis. Led by Aurelius, the bishops of North Africa wrote a letter to the bishop of Rome. Augustinian scholars have no doubt as to which bishop Aurelius called upon to write it.

When disputes of doctrine, such as Pelagianism, or of order came up in the North African church, it was only after the regional church councils failed to reach a resolution that Rome was consulted. Sending the decisions of regional North Africa conferences to the bishop of Rome for his approval on a regularly basis was unheard of. In the twenty-first century, decisions made by regional conferences, such as the 2002 policy on sexual abuse of minors by clergy, are ratified by the Vatican. In fairness to the Vatican, however, it should be said that the reasons for this are to assure than neither theology nor Canon Law are being violated.

The end of the experiment

However, when the Vandals (many of whom were Aryan Christians) invaded North Africa at the end Augustine’s life in 426, their presence shook the foundations and the regional council system of the African Church. Then Islam crossed from Arabia and by the year 800, Christianity in North Africa was history.

The regional council system never really took in Europe, according to Doyle. The territory of Europe was too big and varied to support it. And just a few hundred years after the death of Augustine, Europe would sink into the Dark Ages. When it finally emerged, the Church emerged with it and began its ascent into what would be its golden age of temporal and ecclesiastical supremacy. Rome and the bishop of Rome would be at the center of that supremacy.