{"id":245,"date":"2007-10-17T13:22:51","date_gmt":"2007-10-17T13:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/eusebius-of-vercelli.html"},"modified":"2007-10-17T13:22:51","modified_gmt":"2007-10-17T13:22:51","slug":"eusebius-of-vercelli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/10\/eusebius-of-vercelli.html","title":{"rendered":"Eusebius of Vercelli"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although the focus of today’s General Audience was, naturally enough, on the announcements of the new cardinals, Benedict preceded that announcement with a continuation of his catechesis on the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church. Today, the subject was Eusebius of Vercelli<\/a> (not to be confused with the historian Eusebius of Caesarea<\/a>, about whom the Pope spoke in June).
\nIt was quite interesting (as usual). He begins by going over Eusebius’ strong Nicene faith and the troubles he endured (including exile) because of it, and then concludes by examining his conduct as bishop, seen partly through the eyes of Ambrose. Here is an English translation of his remarks<\/a> today (scroll down):<\/p>\n

\n

Eusebius was able to exercise the episcopal ministry for another decade at least, until he died, establishing with his city an exemplary relationship which did not fail to inspire the pastoral service of other bishops of northern Italy, whom we shall talk about in subsequent catecheses, like St. Ambrose of Milan and St. Maximus of Turin.
\nThe relationship between the Bishop of Vercelli and his city <\/a>is made clear above all by two epistolary proofs. The first is in the letter we already referred to, which Eusebius wrote from exile in Scitopolis “to my most beloved brothers and priests, as well as to the holy peoples keeping firm faith in Vercelli, Novara, Ivrea and Tortona” (Ep. secunda, CCL 9, p. 104).
\nThis greeting, which indicated the emotion of the good shepherd when speaking of his flock, has a counterpart at the end of the letter, in the warm greetings of the father to each and everyone of his sons in Vercelli, with expressions overflowing with affection and love.
\nOne must note the explicit relationship between the bishop to the sanctae plebes (holy people) not only of Vercellae\/Vercelli – the first, and for many more years, the oly diocese of Piedmont – but also of Novaria\/Novara, Eporedia\/Ivrea e Dertona\/Tortona, those Christian communities within his diocese that had reached a certain consistency and autonomy.
\nAnother interesting element is the farewell with which he concludes the letter: Eusebius asks his sons and daughters to greet “even those who are outside the Church who have sentiments of love for us:
\netiam hos, qui foris sunt et nos dignantur diligere”. Evident sign that the bishop’s relations with his city was not limited to the Christian population, but extended also to those who, from outside the Church, recognized his spiritual authority in some way and loved him as an exemplary man.
\nThe second proof of the singular relationship the bishop had with his city comes from the letter that St. Ambrose of Milan wrote to the people of Vercelli around 394, more than 20 years after Eusebius’s death (Ep. extra collectionem 14: Maur. 63).
\nThe Church of Vercelli was going through a difficult time: it was divided and without a bishop. With frankness, Ambrose said he hesitated to acknowledge in them “the descendants of the holy fathers who approved of Eusebius [elected him bishop of Vercelli<\/em>]<\/font> as soon as they saw him even without having known him beforehand, to the extent of passing over their own townmates.”
\nIn the same letter, the Bishop of Milan attested in the clearest way his esteem for Eusebius: “A man as great as he,” he wrote definitively, “truly merits being elected by the whole Church.”
\nAmbrose’s admiration for Eusebius was based above all on the fact that Eusebius governed his diocese with the witness of his own life: “He governed the Church with the austerity of fasting.”
\nIn fact, Ambrose himself was fascinated – as he himself admitted – by the monastic ideal of contemplating God which Eusebius had pursued in the footsteps of the prophet Elia.
\nTo begin with, Ambrose has noted, the Bishop of Vercelli gathered his own priests into community life and edicated them “in the observance of monastic rules even while living in a city”.
\nThe bishopa and his priests had to share the problems of their fellow citizens, and they did this credibly by cultivating at the same time a different citizenship, that of Heaven (cfr Heb 13,14). Thus they truly constructed a genuine citizenship in true solidarity with the citizens of Vercelli.
\nAnd so Eusebius, while he took up the cause of the ‘sancta plebs’ of Vercelli, lived in the midst of the city like a monk, opening his city to God. This trait did not take anything away from his exemplary pastoral dynamism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The church of Sant’Eusebio in Rome.<\/a><\/p>\n

By the way, today is the feast day of Ignatius of Antioch – he was covered in March. <\/a><\/p>\n

Ignatius was the first person in Christian literature to attribute to the Church the adjective “catholic” or “universal”: “Wherever Jesus Christ is”, he said, “there is the Catholic Church” (Smyrnaeans, <\/em>8: 2). And precisely in the service of unity to the Catholic Church, the Christian community of Rome exercised a sort of primacy of love: “The Church which presides in the place of the region of the Romans, and which is worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of the highest happiness… and which presides over love, is named from Christ, and from the Father…” (Romans, <\/em>Prologue).
\nAs can be seen, Ignatius is truly the “Doctor of Unity”: unity of God and unity of Christ (despite the various heresies gaining ground which separated the human and the divine in Christ), unity of the Church, unity of the faithful in “faith and love, to which nothing is to be preferred” (Smyrnaeans, <\/em>6: 1).
\nUltimately, Ignatius’ realism invites the faithful of yesterday and today, invites us all, to make a gradual synthesis between configuration to Christ <\/em>(union with him, life in him) and dedication to his Church <\/em>(unity with the Bishop, generous service to the community and to the world).
\nTo summarize, it is necessary to achieve a synthesis between communion <\/em>of the Church within herself and mission<\/em>, the proclamation of the Gospel to others, until the other speaks through one dimension and believers increasingly “have obtained the inseparable Spirit, who is Jesus Christ” (Magnesians, <\/em>15).
\nImploring from the Lord this “grace of unity” and in the conviction that the whole Church presides in charity (cf. Romans, <\/em>Prologue), I address to you yourselves the same hope with which Ignatius ended his Letter to the Trallians<\/em>: <\/em>“Love one another with an undivided heart. Let my spirit be sanctified by yours, not only now, but also when I shall attain to God…. In [Jesus Christ] may you be found unblemished” (13).
\nAnd let us pray that the Lord will help us to attain this unity and to be found at last unstained, because it is love that purifies souls.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mike Aquilina with a bit more here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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