(v)
St. Hippolytus of Rome (225 AD) names St. Peter as first bishop of
Rome (Dict. Christian Biog., I, 577);
(vi)
St. Cyprian of Carthage (250 AD) speaks of the “the place of
Peter” (Ep. Ad Anton.) and “the seat of Peter” (Ep. ad Cornel.);
(vii)
Firmilian of Caesaria (257 AD) speaks of the “succession of Peter”
and “the chair of Peter” (Ep. ad Cyp.);
(viii)
The Council of Sardica (342-343 AD) “honors the memory of the
Apostle Peter” by referring appeals to the See of Peter (Can. IV and
Ep. ad Julium);
(ix)
Pope Julius I (337-352 AD) referred to the doctrines received by
him as coming from St. Peter (Apud. Apol. Athanas. 35);
(x)
St. Athanasius (358 AD) called Rome the Apostolic Throne (Hist.
Arian. ad. Monach., 35);
(xi)
St. Optatus of Milevi says that the episcopal chair in Rome was
first established by St. Peter, in which chair sat St. Peter himself
(Schism. Donat. II, 2);
(xii)
Pope Damasus (370 AD) speaks of the “Apostolic Chair (in which
the) holy Apostle sitting, taught his successors how to guide the
helm of the Church” (Ep. 9, ad Synod, Orient. Apud Theodoret, V.,
10);
(xiii)
St. Ambrose (387-390 AD) refers to “Peter’s chair” where “Peter,
first of the apostles, first sat” (De Poenit. I., 7-32, Exp. Symb. Ad
Initiand.).³
After St. Peter’s martyrdom, the leadership of the Church passed to Linus,
of whom we know very little. He had been a slave and was ordained by St.
Peter, and had attended St. Paul in prison in his lonely last hours. As for his
qualifications to be the successor to the Fisherman, we know only this: that
St. Peter had trusted him and St. Paul loved him. That is enough.
3
Herbert Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster, Tenth Lecture at Free
Trade Hall, Manchester, England, Autumn 1895.
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