S. Hierom / Augustine. Four texts of
Jerome relating to the Roman primacy are given in Carl Mirbt and Kurt Aland, eds.,
Quellen zur Geschichte des Papstums und des
römischen Katholizismus 1, 6th ed. (Tübingen: Mohr, 1967)
163–65, followed by four excerpts from Augustine referring to
Peter and his successor on 169, 171f, and
172f. The early development of the primacy is treated by Karl Baus in Jedin and
Dolan 1.355–65, 2.245–69. Augustine
explains
petra as Christ; Origen explains it as all
Christians. Both are cited by Erasmus' annotation on Matthew 16.18, Quia tu es.). The
sidenote has Ecclesia non est fundata super
Petrum (Reeve 1.71).
Where Fisher counts Jerome and Bede among those who interpret Matthew 16.18 as a justification for papal
primacy, Tyndale contends that the Fathers knew no such
authority of one bishop over another and would not have made the pope a
god ([L1v, “contrary . . . pope a god”]; Obedience H6v, H7, T3v). Tyndale
argues that when Jerome said that OT priests could make a leper clean or
unclean (cf. Luke 17.4), he did not imply that NT priests could bind and
loose sins, because only God can do so (Obedience
N6r—v). Tyndale uses Bede's interpretation of the same incident to argue
that only followers of false doctrine must show their sins to
the priests (Obedience
N2).
Matthew 16.18
Luke 17.4
Bede. The
Anglo-Saxon monk Bede (c673—c735) is best known today for his Ecclesiastical History (see [L1v, “purgatory” and commentary note]), but he
produced a notable body of scriptural exegesis: e.g., on
Genesis (CCL 118A), 1 Samuel (CCL 119), Mark
and Luke (CCL 120), Acts and the Catholic Epistles (CCL 121). Bede used
Greek in his second commentary on Acts, cf. Berschin 101. Bede had a
rudimentary knowledge of Hebrew, cf. G. Lloyd Jones 8. He was a major
source of the 12c Glossa ordinaria, cf. CWE
11.100n12. In dedicating his Paraphrases of
1 and 2 Peter and Jude
to Cardinal Wolsey, Ep. 1112, Louvain, [c June 1520], Erasmus
praises Bede, "a man who lacked neither learning nor industry by the
standards of his time" (Allen 4.284/30–31; CWE 7.311/37–38; also CWE
44.77). Unio Dissidentium offers five passages of
NT exegesis by Bede.
Mat. 16. [1531]
thou . . .
church. Matt. 16.18.
Matthew 16.18
fede my shepe.
John 21.16–17.
John 21.16–17
Ioan .21. [1531]
all . . .
erth. Matt. 28.18.
Matthew 28.18
then] but [1573]
purgatory.
Tyndale is correct in asserting that the Fathers did not credit the pope
with power over purgatory, but they did begin to formulate an argument
for its existence. Jerome asserts, "[W]e believe that the judgment of
Christian sinners, whose works will be tried and purged in fire[,] will
be moderate and mixed with clemency," In Isaiam
66.24 (AD 408–10) (tr. LeGoff 61; he erroneously gives XLVI
for LXVI; CCL 73A.799). Naming Augustine "The True Father of Purgatory,"
Le Goff (61–85) cites the Confessions
(AD 397–401) 9.13–34–37 (PL 32.778–79; CSEL 33.223–26; 1NPNF 1.
139–41) on prayers for Monica; On the Care to Be Had
for the Dead (AD c421) (PL 40.591–610; 1 NPNF 3.539–51); City of God (AD 413–27) 21.26 (CCL 48.796–99;
1NPNF 2.473–75). He finds "explicit mention of purgatorial fire" in
Bede's homily (PL 94.30; Le Goff 102, 386n8) and in Drythelm's vision of
purgatory (Le Goff 113–16) in 5.12 of Bede's
Ecclesiastical History of the English People, ed. Bertram
Colgrae and R.A.B. Mynors, Oxford Medieval Texts (Oxford:
Clarendon, 1969) 488–502. See Jacques Le Goff, The
Birth of Purgatory, tr. Arthur Goldhammer (U of Chicago
P, 1981); Marc'hadour, "The Dogma of Purgatory," Supplication of Souls, CWM 7.lxxxvii-cxvii.
Unio Dissidentium does not quote passages from
Augustine that foreshadow the development of a doctrine of
purgatory, e.g., Enchiridion
(AD 422–23), Ch. 109–10 (CCL 46.108–9; 1NPNF 3.272–73).
The Apostles of Christe knew no such authoritie as the Pope
now vsurpeth.[1573]
They . . .
repentaunce. Cf. Acts 5.31.
Acts 5.31