The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

III. Forged “Donation” Used to Justify Temporal Dominion

The ecclesiastical supremacy of the bishop of Rome, recognized by Justinian in the sixth century, was confirmed by Phocas in the seventh. Quest for temporal dominion by the popes therefore followed in logical sequence in the eighth century. By now, the papal system had established a secure despotism over the minds of men far from the confines of Rome. Truth was firmly reckoned as springing from tradition as well as from Scripture, with the pope as the interpreter of both. Everywhere there was national, social, and political confusion. Education had become ecclesiastical, and piety monastic, with sacerdotal authority in the ascendancy. ⁵¹ PFF1 530.2

1. PEPIN MAKES POPE A TEMPORAL SOVEREIGN

When the Lombards seized Ravenna, ravaged Italy, and threatened Rome, Pope Stephen II (752-757) ⁵² sought the aid of Pepin, king of the Franks, to “restore” the domain of St. Peter. Pepin drove them back, but the Lombards returned again. Stephen then conceived a new stratagem, warning Pepin in the name of St. Peter and the “Holy Mother of God” not to separate from the “kingdom of God” but to save Rome, promising him long life and glorious mansions in heaven. Pepin responded gratifyingly, being persuaded by Stephen to secure to the pope “the Exarchate, taken away from the Longobards, with Ravenna for its capital, and twenty other towns of the Emilia, Flaminia, and Pentapolis, or the triangle of coast between Bologna, Comacchio, and Ancona. ⁵³ Thus in 755 the Papal States were established, and the pope became a temporal ruler. PFF1 531.1

This territory was acquired by offering the blessings of the gospel and brandishing threats of eternal damnation. On this Schaff remarks: PFF1 531.2

“To such a height of blasphemous assumption had the papacy risen already as to identify itself with the kingdom of Christ and to claim to be the dispenser of temporal prosperity and eternal salvation.... But by this gift of a foreign conqueror he [the pope] became a temporal sovereign over a large part of Italy, while claiming to be the successor of Peter who had neither silver nor gold, and the vicar of Christ who said: ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ The temporal power made the papacy independent in the exercise of its jurisdiction, but at the expense of its spiritual character.” ⁵⁴ PFF1 531.3

2. THE FORGED DONATION OF CONSTANTINE

To bring about this acquisition as a restoration, Stephen evidently em ployed the legend of the “Donation of Constantine,” which is supposed to have circulated for some time before the forged document appeared. ⁵⁵ This most famous forgery in European history was probably written soon after the middle of the eighth century, and became extensively known through its incorporation in the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals (c. 847-853). Portions were also included in certain medieval collections of canon law; in that of Gratian it is placed among the Paleae, or authorities added later. ⁵⁶ PFF1 531.4

Forgeries—spurious documents, impostures—thus became another major means employed for influencing the rulers of the day, and for the strengthening and consolidating of the superstructure of the papal dominion. ⁵⁷ In fact, the next great expansion was largely based on this fabricated Donation of Constantine. Ignorance was so generally prevalent that Rome could safely presume upon the credulity of her spiritual subjects. ⁵⁸ One would think that the church would be above such degrading devices as forgeries, especially in view of the fact that power had so markedly played into her hands that she did not really need any illegitimate tricks to bolster her claims. But in spite of it all, for centuries she appealed to this forged document as her title deed to spiritual and temporal dominion, until it was exposed by Lorenzo Valla and others in the fifteenth century. ⁵⁹ Of this fraud Gibbon says: PFF1 532.1

“So deep was the ignorance and credulity of the times that the most absurd of fables was received, with equal reverence, in Greece and in France, and is still enrolled among the decrees of the canon law. The emperors and the Romans were incapable of discerning a forgery that subverted their rights and freedom.” ⁶⁰ PFF1 532.2

3. EXTRAVAGANT SPECIFICATIONS OF THE DONATION

In this Donation the city of Rome and the Exarchate of Ravenna were allegedly given by Constantine to Pope Sylvester I (314-335) and to all his successors, supposedly as he declared his intention of transferring his own seat of government to Constantinople. This fantastic document decreed and ordained that the bishop of Rome, upon whom Constantine allegedly conferred the Lateran palace, the tiara, and all the imperial robes and insignia, as well as “all the provinces, districts and cities of Italy or of the western regions,” should hold spiritual supremacy over the four patriarchal sees of Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Constantinople (which latter see was not yet founded!), and “also over all the churches of God in the whole world.” Thus the pontiff was declared to be chief over all the priests of the world. ⁶¹ PFF1 533.1

The document begins in the name of the Holy Trinity, and concludes by consigning to the nethermost hell all who contravene its provisions. ⁶² Constantine is alleged to have said: PFF1 533.2

” And in our reverence for the blessed Peter, we ourselves hold the reins of his horse, as holding the office of his stirrup—holder; and We ordain that all his successors shall wear the same mitre in their processions, in imitation of the empire; and that the Papal crown may never be lowered, but may be exalted above the crown of the earthly empire, lo! we give and grant, not only our palace as aforesaid, but also the city of Rome, and all the provinces and palaces and cities of Italy and of the western regions, to our aforesaid most blessed Pontiff and universal Pope.” ⁶³ PFF1 533.3