COUNSELS
435
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-
- al; it only becomes so the moment the rightful pope
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.
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,
