observed, that the ruling idea present to the Councils was the See of Peter and the Faith of Peter: that the Councils did not claim to themselves infallibility, in virtue either of the promise 'Where two or three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them,' nor 'Behold, I am with you all days.' The Divine promise always before them was, 'I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.' It was the presence and faith of Peter, both of them indefectible, by Divine assistance, in the person of his successor, to which they turned as the source of direction in their deliberations and the seal of confirmation to their decrees. It is to be observed, also, that before the Councils of Constantinople I., Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Constantinople III. met, the Roman Pontiffs had already condemned the heresies in question. Their subsequent condemnations added publicity, notoriety, promulgation, not certainty or validity, to the previous condemnations of the Pontiffs. But those previous Pontifical acts gave infallible direction to their decrees, and made them of obligation to all the Churches.
The whole doctrine and practice here expressed was summed up in the Council of Trent. It recognised more amply than any other Council of the
Petro regendi Ecclesiam a D. N. Jesu Christo plenam potestatem traditam esse, quemadmodum etiam in gestis Œcumenicorum Conciliorum, et in Sacris Canonibus continetur.'—Concil. Flor. Sess. ult.
'Dubia Fidei declarare, ad Sedem duntaxat Apostolicam pertinet.'—Concil. Vienn. XV. Generale, sub Clem. V.
