the Persian Gulf. He was at Jerusalem with St. Peter, when St. Paul went there to receive from the Prince of the Apostles the confirmation of his Apostolate among the Gentiles. He was there when the Apostles all met there in 51 to take part in a council which should determine matters of discipline, and he returned there in 62, when the Apostles chose a successor for St. James the Less who had just given his life for his Lord. After the fall of Jerusalem he chiefly laboured in Asia Minor, and resided a long time at Ephesus, of which Timothy, a disciple of St. Paul, was bishop. It was then that he fought against the heresies by his discourses and writings. In 95 the pro-consul of Asia had him arrested and conducted to Rome. The Apostle appeared before Domitian who, far from allowing himself to be touched by the sight of this gentle and venerable old man, ordered him to be thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil before the Latin Gate. But the boiling oil was changed. for the Saint into a refreshing bath, and he came out stronger and more vigorous than he had entered it. The emperor struck, but not touched, by this wonder, attributed it to magic, and banished the Apostle to the Isle of Patmos, one of the islands of the Egean Sea, where God revealed to St. John the future destinies of Rome and of the world.

Death of St. John (100.)

The exile of St. John only lasted to the death of Domitian, that is to say, to the following year, when he returned to Ephesus. St. Timothy having just been martyred, St. John took charge of his church. Nothing more touching has ever been related than the charity, simplicity, and gentleness of this saint, the well-beloved disciple of our Lord. Although he was nearly a hundred years old, he never feared to undergo pain and fatigue, in order to save souls and make them love his divine

Master. On one of his walks a hunter met him whilst he was holding in his hand a tame partridge and caressing it. The hunter manifested some astonishment at seeing the saint amusing himself with such things. "What are "you carrying in your hand?" asked the Apostle. "A "bow," replied the hunter. "Why is it not strung?" "Because the string would break if I kept it always "stretched." "Then do not be surprised," replied St. John, "if I allow my mind some rest in order to 'prepare it to work afresh." When the weakness of his great age prevented his preaching long sermons, he never failed to allow himself to be carried to the assemblies of the faithful, and he repeated each time these words: "My little children, love one another." At length he was asked why he always repeated the same thing. "It is the precept of our Lord," replied he, "and if you fulfil it, that suffices."

St. John died in peace at Ephesus the third year of the reign of Trajan, the hundredth of the Christian era. Domitian had perished miserably; he had become so odious by his cruelties that his own freed-men and his own personal officers, and even his wife, conspired against him, and put him to death in the forty-fifth year of his age, the fifteenth of his reign, on the 18th September, 96. An old man succeeded him; it was Nerva who adopted Trajan, one of the greatest emperors that pagan Rome ever had, but who, nevertheless, persecuted the Christians as we have just seen and as we shall see further on.

CHAPTER III.

THE PERSECUTIONS (100-313.)

Three Divisions: Constitution of the Church-The Persecutions and the Apologists-The Heresies and the Doctors.

§1.-CONSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH.
General Constitution.

THE Apostolic Times closing with St. John the Evangelist left the church already perfectly organised in all her parts dogma, worship, discipline, hierarchy. The Holy Scriptures and tradition formed the two sources of doctrine, but to the church belonged the right of interpreting the Scriptures and of proving tradition : heresy served later to define more clearly the different points of belief, but the dogma was unchangeable in itself, it could only be developed in the human mind enlightened more and more by the definitions of the church. The hierarchy was established and had only to receive some fixed rules determined by ecclesiastical authority. Worship, already constituted in its fundamental parts, could only receive secondary additions, which would become possible when full liberty should be given to the church, when such were asked for by the piety of the faithful. Discipline, being established in essentials, only required certain incidental modifications exteriorly under the authority of the church according to the circumstances of time, place, and people.

Ecclesiastical Hierarchy.

A regular form of government was necessary, in order to maintain the integrity of doctrine and the deposit of tradition. This form existed from the first century. Peter is the head of the Apostolic College; he and his legitimate successors are the true heads of the Church; there can be no true Church where they are not. Here we have the culminating point of the Hierarchy. The name of pope, which means father, was given in the first century to all bishops, and it only became in later times, the distinctive title, of the head of the Church, who is the father by excellence of all the faithful. In the second rank came the bishops, which word signifies overseer; they were elected by the assembly of the clergy and the faithful, and consecrated by the other bishops, The bishop took care of the poor, the widows and the orphans; he presided at the distribution of alms or collections, and he had the almost exclusive privilege of preaching. The consecration was performed by the imposition of hands, as in our days. As soon as he was elected, he referred his election to the Bishop of Rome to confirm the choice, as he was the bishop of bishops, to whom Jesus Christ confided the mission of confirming the brethren. Thus we see that from the earliest times unity was perfectly established, and that communion. with the See of St. Peter was the mark of Catholicity.

After the bishops came the priests, seniores or presbyters, words which signify the ancients, because they were chosen from among men of a ripe age and of a known holiness of life. The bishops chose them, and often at the recommendation of the people. After their ordination they could only change their place of abode by the bishop's permission. The priests received a special remuneration on account of their ministry, and they lived by the altar according to the word of St. Paul in his Epistles.

+ D

The deacons came next to the priests; their institution, like the preceding ones, dates back to the Apostles. The duty of the deacons was to divide the alms and collect them; to this duty was added (when no priest was at hand) that of giving communion to the people, and even of preaching the Gospel, of which St. Stephen was an example; he was the first deacon and the first martyr. The bishops, priests, and deacons were bound to continency. If it happened that they were married before their ordination they ceased to live with their wives. We therefore see that ecclesiastical celibacy also dates from the first century of the Church.

The diaconate and the priesthood formed what are called holy orders, but there is no doubt that the other orders, called minor, also existed in apostolic times as different degrees of preparation for Holy Orders. Thus, there were sub-deacons,* from amongst whom the deacons were taken; there were also the acolytes, who had charge of the lights; the exorcists, whose office it was to recite the prayers for the casting out of evil spirits; the readers, who read the Scriptures to the faithful, and the door-keepers, to whom was confided the care of the places of assembly, and the convening of the faithful.

The Religious Life.

We find the germ of the Religious Orders also in this first century. There were Christians who were called to a more perfect life and who practised all the evangelical counsels. These were called ascetics, a Greek word signifying that they exercised more particularly the ways of a holy life; some think that the Therapeutes of Egypt were ascetic Christians. They lived in retire

The sub-diaconate was raised to the grade of Holy Orders, about the time of Innocent III., and perhaps by that Pope. From that date sub-deacons have taken the vow by which they are bound for life.