but is left for the second part of the 'Schema De Ecclesia.'
III. Thirdly, the definition declares the efficient cause of infallibility to be a Divine assistance promised to Peter, and in Peter to his successors. The explicit promise is that of our Divine Lord to Peter, 'I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren.'[1]
The implicit promise is in the words 'On this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.'[2]
The traditional interpretation of these promises is precise.
The words, 'Ego rogavi pro te, ut non deficiat fides tua, et tu aliquando conversus confirma fratres tuos,' are interpreted, by both Fathers and Councils, of the perpetual stability of Peter's faith in his see and his successors; and of this assertion I give the following proofs.
St. Ambrose, a.d. 397, in his treatise on Faith, says, Christ 'said to Peter, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. Was He not therefore able to confirm the faith of him to whom by His own authority He gave the kingdom? whom He pointed out as the foundation of the Church, when He called him the rock?'[3]
- ↑ St. Luke, xxii. 32.
- ↑ St. Matth. xvi. 18.
- ↑ Habes in evangelio quia Petro dixit, Rogavi pro te ut non deficiat fides tua.—Ergo cui propria auctoritate regnum dabat, hujus fidem firmare non poterat; quem cum petram dixit firmamentum Ecclesiæ indicavit?—St. Ambrose De Fide, lib. iv. cap. v. tom. iii. p. 672, ed. Ben. Venice, 1751.
