Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Herod Agrippa kills St. James, and imprisons St. Peter: but the latter is freed by an angel. Then at verse 20, Herod, hailed as a god by the people, is killed by an angel.
Vulgate Text: Acts 12:1-25
1. And at the same time Herod the king stretched forth his hands, to afflict some of the Church. 2. And he killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. 3. And seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take up Peter also. Now it was in the days of the Azymes. 4. And when he had apprehended him, he cast him into prison, delivering him to four files of soldiers to be kept, intending, after the Pasch, to bring him forth to the people. 5. Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer was made without ceasing by the Church unto God for him. 6. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. 7. And behold an angel of the Lord stood by him: and a light shined in the room: and striking Peter on the side, he raised him up, saying: Arise quickly. And the chains fell off from his hands. 8. And the angel said to him: Gird thyself, and put on thy sandals. And he did so. And he said to him: Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9. And going out, he followed him, and he knew not that it was true which was done by the angel: but thought he saw a vision. 10. And passing through the first and the second ward, they came to the iron gate that leadeth to the city, which of itself opened to them. And going out, they passed on through one street: and immediately the angel departed from him. 11. And Peter coming to himself, said: Now I know in very deed that the Lord hath sent His angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. 12. And considering, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, who was surnamed Mark, where many were gathered together and praying. 13. And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, whose name was Rhoda. 14. And as soon as she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for joy, but running in she told that Peter stood before the gate. 15. But they said to her: Thou art mad. But she affirmed that it was so. Then said they: It is his angel. 16. But Peter continued knocking. And when they had opened, they saw him, and were astonished. 17. But he beckoning to them with his hand to hold their peace, told how the Lord had brought him out of prison, and he said: Tell these things to James, and to the brethren. And going out, he went into another place. 18. Now when day was come, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter. 19. And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, having examined the keepers, he commanded they should be put to death; and going down from Judaea to Caesarea, he abode there. 20. And he was angry with the Tyrians and the Sidonians. But they with one accord came to him, and having gained Blastus, who was the king's chamberlain, they desired peace, because their countries were nourished by him. 21. And upon a day appointed, Herod being arrayed in kingly apparel, sat in the judgment seat, and made an oration to them. 22. And the people made acclamation, saying: It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. 23. And forthwith an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the honour to God: and being eaten up by worms, he gave up the ghost. 24. But the word of the Lord increased and multiplied. 25. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, having fulfilled their ministry, taking with them John, who was surnamed Mark.
Verse 1: Herod the King Stretched Forth His Hands
1. AND AT THE SAME TIME, — namely at the beginning of the second year of Claudius and the year of Christ 43, when the famine began, as I said at the end of the preceding chapter.
HEROD, — not the Ascalonite, who killed the infants at the birth of Christ; nor Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist and mocked Christ: but Agrippa, the son of Aristobulus, the son of Herod the Ascalonite. So the Syriac and Eusebius, book II, chap. V. He is called king, not tetrarch, because he had obtained the kingdom and the name of king from the Emperor Caius Caligula, on this account: that under Tiberius Caesar, being a familiar of Caius, he had wished a speedy death for Tiberius, that Caius his nephew might succeed him in the empire, and on that account had been thrust into prison by Tiberius: whence soon, when Tiberius was dying, Caius succeeding made Agrippa, freed from prison, king of Judaea, as Josephus relates in book XVIII, chap. VIII, and book XIX, chap. V.
Note: There were four Herods: the first, the Ascalonite; the second, Antipas, son of the Ascalonite; the third, this Agrippa, the nephew of Antipas through his brother; the fourth, Agrippa the younger, son of this elder one, of whom chap. XXV, 10, who was at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, to whom Josephus dedicated his Jewish history.
THAT HE MIGHT AFFLICT. — Because, according to Josephus, he was most zealous for the Judaism of the Jews, and from Caius along with the kingdom he had obtained authority also in sacred matters, the temple and the priesthood. For he was so dear to Caius on account of the empire wished and foretold for him, that when Caius was made Emperor, he soon gave Agrippa a golden chain, equal in weight to the iron one with which Tiberius had loaded and bound him, says Josephus, book XIX, chap. V. Agrippa seems to have learned cruelty at Rome from Tiberius Caesar, by whom he had been cast into bonds, and was raised to the kingdom by Caius: just as Tiberius was called to the empire from his Rhodian exile — concerning whom Suetonius in his Life, chap. LIX: "He did many things so cruelly and atrociously, that some upbraided him both with verses and with present and threatened future evils:"
"Harsh and pitiless, do you wish me briefly to say all? / May I perish if your mother can love you. / You have changed the golden ages of Saturn, Caesar: / for while you are safe, they will always be of iron. / He loathes wine, because now he thirsts for blood, / he drinks it as eagerly as he formerly drank unmixed wine. / Behold Sulla — happy for himself, not for you, Romulus: / and behold Marius, if you will, but as a returned exile. / And behold the hands of Antony, stirring up civil wars, / not once stained with slaughter. / And say: Rome perishes: he will reign with much blood, / whoever comes to the kingdom from exile."
WITH THE SWORD. — Because, although in the Old Testament we scarcely read that the Jews used the sword in the punishments of criminals, yet after they came into the power of the Romans, their Tetrarchs and Kings used it according to the custom of the Romans: whence also Herod Antipas, the uncle of this Herod, killed St. John the Baptist with the sword.
Verse 2: He Killed James, the Brother of John
2. AND HE KILLED JAMES. — Why James above the rest of the Apostles? I answer: First, because this James the Greater, the brother of John, was one of the three chief Apostles, and so one of the pillars of the Church. Secondly, because, as St. Chrysostom and Theophylact say on Matt. XVII, this James, as a Boanerges, that is, son of thunder, was in preaching the Gospel fiery as lightning, and to the Jews terrible and weighty as thunder, by confuting the Jews and Judaism, and on this account was demanded by them for death. Thirdly, because, having gone over Spain and being celebrated and famous for the glory of his deeds, he turned the eyes of all upon himself, and namely because he had converted to Christ two famous magi, Philetus and Hermogenes: perhaps also the Jews, very many of whom then dwelt in Spain, being offended by his preaching and deeds, had sent letters to their fellow Jerusalemites, that they should remove James from their midst. Finally, it is probable that most of the other Apostles were absent from Jerusalem, indeed had departed into their provinces, so that Herod could not lay hold of them, of whom more presently.
Now Herod killed James, both that he might further conciliate the Jews to himself, and because he was most devoted to Judaism, which St. James was attacking. Whence Josephus, book XIX of Antiquities, chap. VII: "Wherefore, he says, he willingly and continually dwelt at Jerusalem, a most religious observer of the institutions and rites of his country. For he was pure from all defilements, nor did any day pass for him without a sacrifice." Now St. James was killed by the Jews a little before the Pasch, namely before the 14th moon of the first month Nisan, or a little after, as others would have it. Whence the Roman Martyrology on July 25 says, "near the Pasch," without defining whether before or after: for a little after his death, Herod wished to kill Peter also after the days of the Azymes, that is, after the octave of the Pasch. St. Jerome, on chap. XLIII of Ezekiel, writes that St. James was sacrificed on the second day of the Pasch, namely the fifteenth moon, on which Christ was killed. Ado of Trier, in his Martyrology, and Pope Calixtus I, On the Miracles of St. James, write that he was killed on the 25th of March, on which same day ten years before, namely in the year of Christ 34, Christ had been killed. Christophorus a Castro, however, in his History of the Mother of God, chap. XVIII, judges that he was killed in April in the days of the Azymes: nevertheless his feast is celebrated on the 25th of July, because on that day his body was translated to Compostela, where, shining with very many miracles, he is venerated by a great concourse of Spaniards, indeed of pilgrims flowing together from the whole world; which pilgrimage began to be celebrated in the year of the Lord 1220, according to St. Antoninus, part I of his History, title VI, chap. VIII.
Moreover St. James, going to his death, so astonished his accuser, named Josias, by his constancy and holiness, that he converted him to Christ and made him a martyr. Hear from St. Clement, in Eusebius, book II of his History, chap. IX: "Indeed he who had led him to the tribunal, when he saw he was about to undergo martyrdom, being moved by this matter, freely confessed himself also to be a Christian. They were therefore led both together. But the man on the way asked to be forgiven by James. He, after deliberating a little, said: Peace be to thee, and kissed him; and so both were beheaded together." St. Isidore adds that St. James, going to martyrdom, restored to his limbs and to health a paralytic who was crying out for his help.
Note: The first praise and glory of St. James is that he was the first of all the Apostles to undergo martyrdom generously for Christ, and was the leader and chorus-master to the rest in this. On the contrary, his brother St. John closes the band of the Apostles, and was the last of all to die, an old man in the 101st year of Christ, 68 years after Christ's passion, 58 years after the slaying of James. Wherefore these two brothers, by their own death, embrace as it were beginning and end the life and death of all the other Apostles, beginning and ending them, and are as it were the Alpha and Omega of them.
Second, that he was a kinsman of Christ, born of his father Zebedee and mother Mary Salome, who, enrolled in the catalog of saints, is religiously venerated at Veroli in Italy, where her body rests.
Third, that his name was changed by Christ, and with his brother John he was called "Boanerges," that is, son of thunder, that is, thunder and lightning: for he was lightning-like in zeal, action, preaching, and miracles. To no other Apostle did Christ change the name, except to Simon, whom He called "Cephas," that is, Peter, because He destined him to be the foundation and Primate of His Church.
Fourth, that he was chosen and beloved by Christ above the other Apostles: for these three, Peter, James and John, as it were the triumvirs of Christ, alone were present at His transfiguration on Mount Tabor and at His last prayer in the garden a little before His death, in which He sweated water and blood. Moreover he always remained a virgin, equally with his brother John. Hence Epiphanius, speaking of both, in Heresies 58: "Who then, he says, were these, but generous Apostles, leading a monastic life, and thereafter virgins."
Fifth, that he was most loving toward Christ and most zealous for His honor. Hence in Luke IX, 54, when the Samaritans rejected Christ, being indignant and wishing to avenge the injury done to Christ, with vast zeal, though as yet rough and unpolished, he said: "Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them?" as if to say: Wilt Thou that, like Elias, we strike them with heavenly fire and lightning? "For Elias the prophet rose up as a fire, and his word burned like a torch," Ecclus. XLVIII, 1.
Sixth, that he was most dear to the Blessed Virgin. Hence she, while still living at Jerusalem, appeared to him at Saragossa, standing upon a pillar, and commanded an oratory to be built for her there, foretelling that that part of Spain would be most devoted to her. Wherefore St. James built her a chapel, the first of all in the world. So the Annals of Spain relate.
Seventh, that he liberated Spain from the Moors and Saracens, visibly leading the army of King Ramiro, when in the year of the Lord 834, while clashing with innumerable Saracens insolent from a recent victory and insulting him, by the warning and invocation of St. James he killed them all, or captured them, or put them to flight. Hence the Spaniards continually invoke him in their battles, and by his help have obtained and obtain illustrious victories against the enemies of the faith. Wherefore in his honor they instituted the Military Order of the Knights of St. James, which began under Alfonso IX, king of Spain, in the year of the Lord 1158.
Eighth, Spain owes to James that from Christ until now she has remained constant in the true and orthodox faith of Christ, so that her kings are deservedly surnamed Catholic, and she herself is the foundation and pillar of the faith and the Church, and that she has propagated the faith of Christ, with eternal glory of her name, through the Indies, both of the East and of the West, far and wide, and propagates it more and more daily.
St. Isidore holds, and Lucius Dexter in his Chronicle, and so does the Mozarabic Liturgy and the Arabic version, that this St. James, brother of St. John, wrote the Canonical Epistle which is commonly called of St. James; nevertheless Eusebius, St. Jerome and many others hold that it was written by James the Less, who was called brother of the Lord, and was the first Bishop of Jerusalem; which will have to be discussed in that Epistle itself.
Finally, just as St. John the Baptist was killed by Herodias, who was the sister of this Herod Agrippa, because he had blamed her incestuous marriage with Herod Antipas, her uncle; so also St. James was killed by her brother Agrippa: namely, St. James deserved St. John as a companion in martyrdom; and so Herodias the killer of John demanded her brother Herod, and Herod the killer of James demanded his sister Herodias, as a worthy lid for the pot — namely, each was the bad egg of a bad raven. For both were descended from Herod the Ascalonite, who was an infanticide, and in them a Christ-killer. For he was the grandfather of both: for he begot Aristobulus, who was the father of Herod Agrippa and Herodias.
Lucius Dexter adds in his Chronicle, in the year of Christ 41: "Returning from Spain, James visited Gaul, and Britain, and the towns of the Venetians; where he preached, and returned to Jerusalem, to consult the Blessed Virgin and Peter on the most weighty matters." And soon in the year of Christ 42: "Preaching most vehemently to the Jews, he was first present in this year at the consecration of the sacred house of Nazareth (which, transferred by angels to Loreto, is now called the House of Loreto), in which the Virgin conceived God, with some of the Apostles present: his head having been cut off by Herod, having recently returned to Jerusalem, he gloriously underwent noble martyrdom on March 25 (on which Christ also was crucified). The disciples of St. James, by the warning of God and the counsel of the Virgin, placing the body of their master at Joppa on a ship, came by a happy voyage to Iria Flavia, a city of Galicia. They erected an altar over the sacred body, and in the sacred manner, Basilius, Athanasius, Chrysogonus, Agathodorus, Elpidius (who, having received news of the body of their father brought into Spain, soon hasten to their fatherland) consecrate it, and dedicate it to the Apostle." He adds that in the year of Christ 50, St. Peter went to Spain, with many accompanying him, and from there crossed into Africa and Egypt. The credibility of all these things is in the hands of the author, the extent of which I have stated at the end of the Chronotaxis.
You will ask, in what year of Christ was St. James killed? First, Eusebius in his Chronicle says he was killed in the year of Christ 36, which was the 20th year of the emperor Tiberius, the 2nd from the death of Christ. But an error has crept into this Chronicle. For at that time Herod Agrippa, who killed him, was not yet reigning: for he began to reign with Caius, successor of Tiberius. Hence the same Eusebius, in book II of his History, chapters VIII and IX, says that he was killed, and Peter likewise imprisoned, under the emperor Claudius.
Secondly, others think that the slaying of James happened in the 8th year of Claudius, the 49th of Christ, which was the 15th from His death, because Herod Agrippa, a little after killing him and imprisoning Peter, was killed by an angel, chapter XII. Now Agrippa died in the 9th year of Claudius, says Tacitus in book XII of his Annals. But Tacitus errs; for Agrippa died in the 3rd year of Claudius, according to Eusebius, book I of his History, chapter XIII.
Thirdly, Baronius thinks that St. James was beheaded in the 2nd year of Claudius, the 44th of Christ, which was the 11th from His death: but that Herod was struck by the angel in the 4th year of Claudius, the 46th of Christ. But others hand down that he reigned only three years under Claudius, and four under Caius, that is, seven years in all.
Fourthly, Onuphrius in his Chronicle, and Mariana, History of Spain, book IV, chapter II, place the death of St. James in the year of Christ 42, which was the first of the emperor Claudius. For in the following year, namely the 2nd of Claudius, Peter, immediately after the slaying of James imprisoned, freed by an angel, set out for Rome, as all relate. So also Lucius Dexter in his Chronicle hands down that St. James was killed in the year of Christ 42, on the 25th day of March.
Fifthly, Genebrardus in his Chronology, book II, places it in the year of Christ 46, which, he says, was the third of Claudius, the seventh and last of Agrippa: for Josephus, in the place to be cited shortly, teaches that he reigned seven years; for he was killed a little after the slaying of James, so that he reigned four years under Caius, three under Claudius. But Agrippa was not struck by an angel immediately after the slaying of James: for, as Luke says at the end of this chapter, Agrippa was killed at Caesarea: but he went up there after some delay spent at Jerusalem after the slaying of James. Again, he was not struck immediately upon going up to Caesarea. For Luke narrates that in the meantime the famine occurred which had been foretold by Agabus: for the Tyrians and Sidonians, having gathered, attempted through Blastus to reconcile Agrippa with themselves, because their regions were nourished by him, as Luke says, verse 20. Therefore Agrippa did not stay at Caesarea for few days; but he spent part of the sixth year of his reign and the whole seventh year there. Wherefore Saxius likewise holds that St. James was killed and St. Peter imprisoned at Pascha, at the beginning of the 2nd year of Claudius, which was the 43rd of Christ, the ninth from His death. For then Agrippa, returning swiftly from Rome, where he had been confirmed in the kingdom by Claudius, to Jerusalem before Pascha, wishing to please the Jews, killed St. James and bound St. Peter: but the latter, freed by an angel, having traveled through many provinces of Asia, entering Rome, established the Roman See on January 18, near the end of the 2nd year of Claudius, which was to end on January 24, when the year 44 of Christ had already begun; and while this same year was running, and after January 24 concurring with the 3rd year of the emperor Claudius, Agrippa was struck by the angel, having reigned seven years, namely four under Caius, three under Claudius. For thus everything fittingly distributed and connected by years coheres. So Josephus, who was then living and witnessing these things, book XIX of the Antiquities, chap. VIII, and from him Christopher de Castro in his History of the Mother of God, chap. XVIII, page 530, whom see. In the same year of Christ 43, Thaddaeus was sent to Abagarus (as Christ while living had promised him), and imbued him together with the people of Edessa with the faith of Christ and baptized them, as historians commonly hand down.
To me the opinion of Baronius is more pleasing, except for the year of Claudius 2, of Christ 44, which was the 11th from His death: for I judge it to have been the 45th of Christ, the third of Claudius: for chronologists and historians agree that Herod did not reign nor live beyond the third year of Claudius. Moreover the first year of Claudius falls in the year of Christ 43, not 42, as Eusebius and the rest hand down; for Christ died in the 18th year of Tiberius, as all agree, in the 34th year of His age. Now Tiberius reigned 22 years, whom Caius succeeded for 4 years. Claudius succeeded Caius: combine these years with the years of Christ, you will find that the 1st year of Claudius falls in the year of Christ 43, not 42; therefore in the year of Christ 44 Peter, freed from prison, having traveled through various provinces, hastened to Rome and placed his cathedra there on January 18, with the year 45 of Christ beginning and the second year of Claudius ending. For the third year of Claudius was to begin on January 24 of the same year. This is clear from the fact that Peter sat at Rome for 25 years. Now begin from the 3rd year of Claudius, and count his remaining 12 years (for he reigned 14 years in all), add the 13 years of Nero (for in the 13th year of Nero, Peter was killed by him), who succeeded Claudius, you will have the 25 years of the Roman See of St. Peter.
You will ask secondly, in what year after Christ's ascent into heaven did the Apostles depart from Judea into their provinces, that they might evangelize the Gentiles throughout the whole world? I reply: various authors assign various years. First, Apollonius, who lived in the year of Christ 220, writes in Eusebius, book V of the History, chapter XVII, that Christ had commanded the Apostles not to depart from Jerusalem before 12 years counted from His death. He took this from Clement of Alexandria, who lived and wrote a little before, namely in the year of Christ 190. For Clement, in book VI of the Stromata, hands down the same: but the writings of this Clement have been corrupted by heretics, and therefore have been listed among the apocryphal works by Pope Gelasius, equally as the Itinerary of Peter, composed by a certain Clement (not the Roman Pontiff, disciple and successor of St. Peter, as it claims), where the same is said about these 12 years prescribed to the Apostles by Christ: from which it seems this tradition was first taken and propagated. But that it is false and made up is clear from these Acts of the Apostles. For a little after the death of St. Stephen, Philip converted Samaria; whence Saints Peter and John, summoned from Jerusalem, departed thither to bestow the sacrament of Confirmation upon the Samaritans. Again from the same Acts it is clear that St. Peter shortly after visited Joppa, Lydda and other cities of Judea; then preached the faith of Christ to Cornelius at Caesarea; and finally placed his cathedra at Antioch for seven years, until he transferred it to Rome, which was done about the tenth year after the ascent of Christ into heaven.
Secondly, Baronius, whom many follow, and Lorinus here on verse 20, hold that the Apostles dispersed themselves through the world after the slaying of St. James, in the year of Christ 44, which was the tenth from Christ's death and resurrection: hence that St. Matthew, a little before, namely in the year of Christ 44, wrote his Gospel. The cause of the dispersion was the persecution of Herod, by which he killed St. James and imprisoned St. Peter, intending to kill the others as well, if he could: wherefore they, fleeing the danger, set out for the Gentiles. They go much further who think that the Apostles were universally dispersed through the world after the first Council held at Jerusalem, Acts XV; for this was celebrated in the year of Christ 51, as Baronius wishes, or 54, as St. Jerome wishes. They cite for this opinion St. Chrysostom, homily 25 on the Acts, but falsely.
But this opinion is difficult to believe. First, because Eusebius in book I of the History, chapter XIII, writes that Saint Thaddaeus, having set out for Edessa in Syria in the year of Christ 43, converted King Abagarus and the people of Edessa to Christ, as Christ had once written and promised to Abagarus. Wherefore Lucius Dexter in his Chronicle, and Genebrardus in his Chronology, hold that the division of the Apostles took place in the year of Christ 41, which was the seventh from His death. But this also does not satisfy, for the following reasons.
Secondly, because St. James went to Spain, certainly before the year of Christ 44; for in that year he was killed at Jerusalem by Herod. For that he preached in Spain is the universal and immemorial tradition, not only of Spain, but of the faithful everywhere, which no one can gainsay. James therefore set out for Spain about the year of Christ 37. Therefore in the same year the others also seem to have departed to their own places.
Thirdly, because Christ had commanded the Apostles to remain at Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, so that, having received Him, they might go forth with fiery tongues to preach throughout the whole world, as is clear from Acts I; for if they had stayed ten years in Judea, they would have very tardily executed Christ's mandate of preaching to the Gentiles throughout the whole world, and would have had little time to carry it out. For most of them ended their apostolate with their life and martyrdom in the thirtieth year. Add that they were few, namely twelve, and yet these had to go to and convert the most remote and many nations, vast and wide.
Fourthly, who would believe that they all spent a whole decade among a few perfidious and obstinate Jews in their law, when they knew that the whole world had been prescribed and committed to them by Christ? Surely a few years sufficed for preaching throughout all of Judea, especially since they had there ordained Deacons and Presbyters; nay, they had even constituted St. James, brother of the Lord, as Bishop.
Fifthly, because St. Paul, Galatians I, 19, says that after three years from his conversion (which happened in the year of Christ 36, or, as others wish, 33), namely in the year of Christ 38, or 39, going up to Jerusalem, he saw none of the Apostles, except St. Peter and James, the brother of the Lord: namely because the others had been dispersed for evangelizing throughout the world, as St. Jerome, Anselm, Claudius of Turin, and Cajetan say there. Hence also St. Luke, describing the acts of St. Peter, and the rise and progress of the Church in Judea, makes no mention of the other Apostles, except St. John; whom he certainly would have made if they had stayed longer in it.
Therefore on account of these arguments it seems more probable that the Apostles departed to their provinces long before the year of Christ 44, which was the tenth from His death: in what year they departed, I do not dare precisely to define. It is probable that they departed shortly after Cornelius was converted by Peter: for then the door of faith was publicly opened to the Gentiles by a heavenly oracle, and Peter was forthwith commanded, and consequently the others also, to evangelize. Wherefore he himself soon went to Antioch and there established his cathedra in the year of Christ 37. Therefore around the same time the others also seem to have gone to their nations, and there to have erected Churches and placed their cathedras. For who would believe that they, warned by Peter's heavenly vision that it was now the time of preaching to the Gentiles, would have delayed and put off the execution of this warning, indeed of the divine precept, for seven or eight years, namely from the year of Christ 37 until 44? They therefore seem to have departed about the year of Christ 37, whence also in the year of Christ 36 God converted Saul and designated him as the Apostle and teacher of the Gentiles. But if anyone should contend that in the same year of Christ 36 Cornelius was converted, and shortly after the Apostles, at least some, went into their provinces, I will not gainsay. For around the same time the door of faith seems to have been opened to the Gentiles, when the converted Saul was made by God the teacher of the Gentiles.
Indeed our Gaspar Sanchez, treatise I On the Preaching of St. James in Spain, chapter VI, and Christopher de Castro in his History of the Mother of God, chapter XVIII, page 541, hold that the Apostles immediately after Pentecost, in the year of Christ 34, went into their provinces. They prove this first, because therefore at the end of that year 34, as Eusebius hands down in his Chronicle, and others, they seem to have ordained Saint James, brother of the Lord, as Bishop of Jerusalem, so that they might transfer the pastoral care of the Jews to him, and they themselves might depart to the Gentiles.
Secondly, they prove this from Melito of Sardis, whom Bede cites in chapter VIII of the Acts, and from Prochorus, disciple of St. John: but the writings of both are corrupted, apocryphal and fabulous.
Thirdly, because Christ ascending into heaven commanded and said to the Apostles, Mark last chapter: "Going into the whole world, teach all nations," as if to say, "Go, because now is the time," say St. Thomas, Hugo and Cajetan, who also adds that by this mandate that earlier one was revoked, "Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles."
Fourthly, because the Church in the Office of Pentecost, in second Vespers, sings at the Magnificat: "Today the days of Pentecost are completed; today the Holy Spirit appeared to the disciples in fire, and bestowed upon them gifts of charisms: He sent them into the whole world to preach." St. Leo speaks similarly, sermon I on the Nativity of Sts. Peter and Paul. Likewise Metaphrastes and others. Whence Sanchez concludes that shortly after Pentecost the Apostles preached to the Gentiles and set out to them before the conversion of Cornelius, which he holds to have happened in the year 36 of Christ, which was the second from His death. For although Luke narrates it later, nevertheless it should be placed earlier: for Luke by hysterology postpones the deeds of Peter, so that, having narrated the conversion of St. Paul, he may interweave his deeds in the same thread of history, with which interwoven he proceeds to relate the deeds of St. Peter.
But it is difficult to believe that the Apostles went to the Gentiles before the door of faith was opened to them from heaven through the conversion of Cornelius. For God therefore showed it beforehand to Peter by a heavenly vision, so that through it He might open to the Apostles the way to the Gentiles: for otherwise the Jews, such as most of the first Christians were, would not have permitted it, indeed they would have resisted them, as they resisted St. Peter, chapter XI, verse 3. But Peter satisfied them by the vision received from God.
Wherefore the arguments brought forth by Sanchez prove only that from Pentecost it was lawful for the Apostles to preach to the Gentiles, as Gabriel Vasquez rightly judged, whom Sanchez cites, chapter VIII; nay, that the same preached to the Gentiles, who mingled with the Jews in the assemblies of St. Peter and the Apostles: but they do not prove that they immediately from Pentecost went into their provinces, both because they had first to satisfy the Jews, who claimed that the Messiah or Christ and His Gospel pertained to them, not to the Gentiles: for He had been sent to them, because He had been promised to their fathers: and this they did by ordaining St. James as Bishop of Jerusalem; by dispersing themselves through the other cities of Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and there evangelizing; and because they were waiting for the occasion and time when they might be warned by God to depart, so that they could put this forward to the Jews, lest these clamor against them as they were leaving, or make a schism: and this was done through the vision presented to St. Peter.
Again those arguments rightly prove that the Apostles did not delay their journey for many, e.g. ten, years, but, with affairs in Judea settled, soon departed. And this happened, when Peter, having visited Judea, Lydda and Joppa, where he stayed many days, says Luke, chapter IX, was sent to Caesarea to convert Cornelius: which was done about the year of Christ 37, as I said at the end of chapter X; and consequently then likewise the Apostles seem to have set out for their regions. For thus everything connected coheres with sweet arrangement and harmonious narrative. For from the year of Christ 34 until 37, all the Apostles, by evangelizing to the Jews for a whole three years, abundantly satisfied them: whence with this completed, in the year of Christ 37, with Cornelius converted and the entrance of the Gentiles to the Church opened from heaven, all girded themselves for the journey into their provinces.
It is confirmed first, because Lucius Dexter, in his Chronicle, and others hand down that St. James in the year of Christ 37 set out for his province, namely Spain: therefore most of the others did the same, alternately. I say, most and alternately. For not all departed precisely at the same time together, but some sooner, others later, according to the convenience or necessity of affairs and business, as Christopher de Castro rightly notes, chapter XVIII of his History of the Mother of God. Thus St. John remained there longer, that he might serve the Blessed Virgin, to whom he had been given by Christ as guardian, indeed as son; St. Peter wished to be either present to or necessarily near the Jews for ten years, of which seven he spent as Pontiff of Antioch, but in such a way that he frequently made excursions into Judea and Jerusalem. Hence St. Paul, in the year of Christ 39, coming to Jerusalem, found him there and met with him, Galatians I, 19; for St. Peter was especially the Apostle of the Jews, as Paul of the Gentiles, Galatians II, 9.
It is confirmed secondly, because that the Apostles had not departed from Jerusalem before the conversion of Cornelius is clear from the fact that Luke, chapter XI, verse 1, says they heard it there: "The Apostles and brethren who were in Judea heard, he says, that the Gentiles also had received the word of God:" therefore they had not received it before, nor had the Apostles preached to them ex professo. But that they departed into their provinces shortly after Cornelius was converted is clear from the fact that a little after Luke, verse 22, says that Barnabas was sent to Antioch, not by the Apostles, since they had already set out and were absent, but by the presbyters of the Church. "The report came, he says, to the ears of the Church, which was at Jerusalem, concerning these matters, and they sent Barnabas as far as Antioch."
It is confirmed thirdly, because therefore Herod in the year of Christ 43 seized Peter, and killed James before the other Apostles, chap. XII, verse 1, because the others had already gone away to their own nations.
This therefore is the Chronotaxis of Christ, the Apostles, and the primitive Church. Christ, having been slain, rose again, ascended into heaven, and from there sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, in the 34th year from His birth. In the same year St. Peter, preaching, converted three and soon five thousand men. In the same year also the first seven Deacons were created, Acts VI. In the same year Stephen was stoned, on December 26. And on the following day, namely the 27th, St. James the Less was made the first Bishop of Jerusalem. Paul was converted to Christ in the year of Christ 36. Cornelius, converted by St. Peter, opened the door of faith to the Gentiles at the beginning of the year 37. St. Peter placed his see at Antioch in the same year 37, and sat there for seven years. This year was the 4th from the ascension of Christ, as the Alexandrian Chronicle records. St. James set out for Spain, and the other Apostles into their provinces, in the same year of the Lord 37. The famine foretold by Agabus began throughout the world in the year of the Lord 42. St. James, returning to Jerusalem, was killed by Herod Agrippa around Passover, in the year of the Lord 44. St. Peter was bound by Herod, and freed by an angel in the year of Christ 44. St. Peter, after a seven-year see at Antioch, having been freed from Herod's chains and traversed many places, entered Rome, and there placed his chair on January 18, at the close of the second year of the Emperor Claudius, near the beginning of the year of Christ 45. In the same year 43 Paul, sent with Barnabas and about to go to the Gentiles, was caught up into the third heaven; concerning which see the following chapter, verse 2.
Verse 3: He Proceeded to Take Peter Also
3. HE PROCEEDED TO TAKE PETER ALSO. — The Greek τό and the verb "proceeded" (apposuit) carry an emphasis, as if to say: James having been killed, Herod's spirit and wickedness grew so much that he dared to lay sacrilegious hands even on the very Primate of the Church, namely St. Peter. St. Chrysostom, or rather Proclus, gives the cause in the Encomium on the Chains of St. Peter, in Surius on August 1: "For the Jews thought, he says, that if they removed the Apostle Peter from their midst, they would easily overcome the rest of the Apostles. For it was he who uttered the contrary voices, who in councils, trials, and synagogues contended with adversaries, and who, openly preaching the name of Jesus, performed certain notable miracles by invoking His name." And further on he gives St. Peter these titles: "Truly this is the foundation of the Apostles, the consecrated master of the heavens, the interpreter of mysteries, the strengthener of those who waver, raising up the fallen, preserving the steadfast, the most ardent leader of penitence; Peter, in short, that great miracle of the world, the boast of the Church, the glory of the disciples, the ornament of those who think rightly, the beauty of theologians, the mouth of Christ, a heavenly mind, the most beautiful tabernacle of the Trinity, reconciler of the fallen, leader of those who live honorably, defender of those who run rightly, most worthy of all heavenly and human praise, of every proclamation. If even his shadow and linen cloths put diseases to flight, then surely the chains that touched the venerable body of the Apostle, the closer the contact they had, the more abundantly did they share in the power of miracles," etc. He adds that by this chain the devil is put to flight: "For the grace of the Holy Spirit cannot endure anything that overshadows these chains, nor does it bear the sparks flying out from their divine fire, but is itself kindled by them and burned up."
NOW THESE WERE THE DAYS OF UNLEAVENED BREAD, — which were celebrated for seven continuous days from Passover, so called because during them the Jews were permitted to eat no breads except unleavened ones, that is, lacking leaven. Luke adds this both to indicate the time of the slaying of St. James and the imprisonment of St. Peter, and also to show the reason why St. Peter was not killed at once but deferred until after Passover — namely because they were the festival days of unleavened bread, which Herod did not wish to stain and defile with shed blood; and finally to indicate the perversity of Herod and of the Jews, who on the days of unleavened bread, on which they ought to be free for God and to be themselves unleavened, lacking all leaven of malice and wickedness — as the Apostle says, 1 Cor. v, 8 — burned with hatred and envy against the Church, and plotted the highest crime against its head, St. Peter. Thus even today it often happens that men addicted to their own desires plot greater crimes on the greater feasts, both because they think they can hide themselves and their malice in the festival, and because the devil incites them to this end, that he may profane and violate the sanctity of the feast with an atrocious crime. Concerning the days of unleavened bread and the Passover I have spoken at Exod. XII.
Verse 4: Delivering Him to Four Quaternions
4. DELIVERING HIM TO FOUR QUATERNIONS. — The Syriac: "He delivered him to sixteen soldiers to be guarded." Œcumenius gives the reason: "That for each watch of the night — that is, for the three unequal hours of each watch — four guards might keep watch," so that as the earlier ones grew tired and sleepy, fresh and watchful ones might succeed them. He guarded St. Peter so strictly because he had heard that he worked miracles, lest by them he should slip out of the prison, especially because he had heard that Peter had once before escaped from prison with St. John by means of an angel, Acts v, 19.
AFTER THE PASSOVER. — From this it seems that Agrippa killed St. James before Passover, lest he should defile the paschal days with his slaughter and blood. For Herod himself was most zealous for Judaism, and therefore on those days he did not wish to slay St. Peter, but deferred his case until after Passover — that is, after the paschal days, or after the octave of Passover; for Passover was celebrated for seven days. St. Jerome thinks otherwise, in chapter 43 of Ezekiel, as do Christopher of Castro, Mariana, and others whom I cited at the beginning of the chapter — namely that St. James was killed on the first or second day of unleavened bread; for in like manner the Jews crucified Christ on the first day of unleavened bread. They say Herod deferred Peter until after Passover as a favor to the Jews, lest he distract them even slightly from being occupied with the worship and religion of the paschal days and sacrifices, but rather, those days having passed, he might more fully take up the case of Peter as Primate, and more fully and pleasantly afford the people, now resting from the sacred rites, a spectacle in his slaying. St. Chrysostom adds, in the Encomium on the chains of St. Peter, in Surius on August 1, that he did this so that he might torture St. Peter with a more prolonged torment of prison, chains, hunger, fear of death, harassment by soldiers, etc.: just as Tiberius Caesar "used to say that he investigated the cases of prisoners more slowly, so that, having been afflicted by punishment, they would not quickly be relieved of the evils they had earned by their past crimes; whereas now, while they endure longer delays, their misfortune is rendered far more grievous," as Josephus says, book XVIII Antiq., chap. 8. But St. Peter, says Chrysostom, came out stronger than all these things, so much so that with cheerful and secure good humor he confounded the soldiers and made them blush. So Peter was bound at Passover, and yet the feast of these chains is celebrated by the Church on the first day of August: I shall give the reason at verse 6.
TO BRING [HIM] FORTH, — first, into the public tribunal, that before the people he might examine Peter's case and condemn him to death by public sentence; second, into the theater, where, with the people publicly watching and rejoicing, he might torture and put him to death. The Greek is ἀναγαγεῖν, which may be rendered "to offer up." Hence the Syriac translates it, "wishing to deliver him to the people"; Lyranus, "wishing to expose him to death at the will of the people." Hence some think that Herod, in order to gratify the people more, wished to hand over St. Peter to them, so that they might torture and kill him at their pleasure, by whatever kind of death they preferred.
IN PRISON — "in the innermost part," says St. Chrysostom, hom. 8 on the Epistle to the Ephesians. Adrichomius, in his Theater of the Holy Land, thinks that this prison was not the prison of the city and magistracy, into which Peter and the Apostles were locked at chap. IV, 3, but the king's prison; and that it was situated in the stratopedon — that is, in the area surrounding Herod's palace on every side, where the king's soldiers kept watch. Others place it in another spot. Thus at Rome, at the foot of the Capitol, we see the Mamertine prison, deep and dark, into which St. Peter was thrown by Nero with St. Paul, and from which he was led out to martyrdom; which we now piously venerate, having been converted into a chapel, especially because in it we see and draw from a miraculous spring elicited by St. Peter's prayers, for baptizing St. Processus and Martinianus, the prison guards, still flowing with perennial and salutary waters.
Verse 5: Prayer Was Made Without Ceasing by the Church
5. BY THE CHURCH. — The whole Church therefore was praying for St. Peter, as for its head and Pontiff, whom it intimately loved and revered: judging that if Peter were beheaded, the head was being severed not so much from him as from itself. The Church still imitates this, which always in the Canon of the Mass, and often in the collects, prays for the Supreme Pontiff. For he, like Atlas of the Church, sustains its whole weight on his shoulders. Moreover this prayer was efficacious, and miraculously brought St. Peter out of prison, both because it was dense and common to all the faithful, who at that time were nearly all saints — indeed eminent in sanctity — and because it was fervent and continuous, even at night: for coming from prison at night, Peter found the faithful praying. In imitation of this, the Forty Hours' devotion is customarily instituted, in honor of the burial of Christ, who lay in the tomb for that same number of hours.
Verse 6: Peter Was Sleeping Between Two Soldiers
6. WHEN HEROD WAS ABOUT TO BRING HIM FORTH. — Learn here that God allows St. Peter and the faithful to be driven to the utmost extremity, in order to test their trust in Him, so that He may then deliver them with a more illustrious aid, even by a miracle if need be. Therefore one must never despair of His help; rather, the more dangers and afflictions increase, the more hope in God must be increased. For He Himself said and promised: "I am with him in tribulation," Ps. 90:15. And: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and the rivers shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you," Isaiah 43:2.
PETER WAS SLEEPING. — As though resting securely in God's providence, to whom he knew he was a care, and prepared either to live or to die, as God knew was expedient for the greater glory of His name and the good of the Church. "Peter sleeps in body, but in heart he watches toward God; and God, his guardian, neither slumbers nor sleeps," says St. Chrysostom, hom. 8 on the Epistle to the Ephesians. Morally: He sleeps securely in the bosom of God who feels and says with the Apostle: "Wherever the fates draw and draw back, let us follow. Whatever shall be, all fortune must be overcome by bearing it."
BOUND WITH TWO CHAINS. — "Four difficulties heap up the custody — the prison, the soldiers, the chains, the guards," says the Glossa: so much the more illustrious was God's aid and miracle, scattering and overcoming all these in a moment, and freeing Peter. Arias adds that of the two soldiers between whom Peter was bound in the middle, each one held one of Peter's chains, lest he might in any way slip past those who slept and escape.
Note: These chains, as those of St. Peter, the prince of the Apostles and of the Church — as if consecrated — have been honored and are honored above the chains of the other Apostles and Saints, not only by the Church but by God Himself; so that he whose particular power in the Church is in binding and loosing the bonds of others, his own chains too should be held in special honor by all the faithful, according to that which we sing to St. Peter on the feast of St. Peter ad vincula:
"Loose, at God's command, the chains of the earth, O Peter, / Who cause the heavenly kingdoms to lie open to the blessed."
For God honored them: first, by miraculously snatching St. Peter from them by an angel; second, by miraculously joining the Herodian chain to the Neronian — of which more presently; third, by working many miracles through them, which Baronius, Ribadeneira, and others record on August 1.
The Church and the faithful honor them: first, by celebrating with great concourse of the city the feast of the Chains of St. Peter on the Calends (1st) of August, and not of Paul (which we see and venerate here at Rome in the church of St. Paul), nor of any other Apostle. The occasion for this feast was not given by Eudoxia, wife of the Emperor Arcadius, who persecuted St. Chrysostom, as Bede thought, but by Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius the Younger, who was the son of Arcadius and Eudoxia. For Eudoxia, around the year of the Lord 437, having set out for Jerusalem to fulfill a vow, received there from the Patriarch Juvenal these two chains with which Herod had bound St. Peter: she brought one to Constantinople, the other she sent to Rome to her daughter Eudoxia Augusta, the wife of the Emperor Valentinian the Younger; in both places a feast day was established, and as it were a dedication of the chains. Hence a little later, in the year of the Lord 438, Eudoxia, the daughter of Eudoxia, erected at Rome a basilica in their honor, which still stands on the Esquiline Hill and is called "St. Peter ad Vincula" or "the title of Eudoxia"; just as her mother Eudoxia built a similar one at Constantinople. Moreover, when Eudoxia showed the Roman Pontiff the Herodian chain of St. Peter, the Pontiff in turn showed her the Neronian chain of the same Apostle; and when they bring them together — behold, the one immediately fused with the other; which we still gaze upon yearly and reverently kiss.
Second: Alexander, Pontiff and martyr, sixth in order from St. Peter, while imprisoned, said to St. Balbina and her companions, who were kissing his chains: "Cease to kiss these boiae" (that is, the chains already mentioned, as it were an ox-yoke, says Festus and Isidore, Origins, book V), "but rather seek out the chains of my Lord Peter the Apostle, and kiss those." Balbina, hearing this, with much zeal and desire at last came to those blessed chains, and having found them she gave thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ, and prostrating herself in prayer said: "Blessed be Thy name, O omnipotent God, who through Thy servant Alexander hast revealed to me Thy handmaid a spiritual treasure," and she began to kiss those chains with great awe and to give thanks to the King of heaven. So have the Acts of St. Alexander, on May 3.
Third: St. Chrysostom (or rather St. Proclus, or Germanus — for in the time of St. Chrysostom, Eudoxia had not yet recovered these chains) celebrates the chains of St. Peter with a notable encomium, which is extant in Surius on August 1, where, besides other things already cited from him: "These chains," he says, "the Word of God the Father, partaker of His same eternity and beginning, composed, that they might be the reward of his confession concerning God. By these the wicked spirits of demons are bound and slain; by these the prince of this world is led captive, and is mocked by faithful men." He adds that the Church is girded with these and rendered invincible against her enemies; that with the same the heads of Christians are crowned, so that they are untouched by their foes. "With these chains was the Apostle adorned; in these, exulting and rejoicing, he took delight, and as if bearing about some royal ornament he exulted." He adds the manner in which they were preserved, namely by certain ministers of Herod who were secretly Christians. "These," he says, "left behind in the prison, the very ministers of Herod, on whom the light of divine knowledge had shone, secretly took away and preserved among themselves as a treasure." And further, assigning the cause of their veneration: "Beholding these chains, we seem to ourselves," he says, "to see Peter himself in mind, and touching them, we consider that the Apostle is touched by us. For, forming them and him in mind, and uniting them in one through faith itself, we refer the whole to Him who suffered through these things." And at the end, invoking St. Peter: "With these chains," he says, "bind, I beseech thee, the wounds of our souls. With these chain down the very barbarians, lead them captive, and confer their hostile spoils on the city that venerates thee. With these chains arm and fortify our Emperor, crown him with victories and trophies."
Fourth: filings from the chains of St. Peter were once customarily sent as a tremendous gift by the Roman Pontiffs to kings and princes, and through them God worked many miracles. The custom was to enclose it within a golden key, received from the altar of St. Peter, and so to transmit it to those absent — as St. Gregory writes that he had sent the same to Childebert, king of the Franks, in book V, Epist. 6, and book VI, Epist. 23. Justinian, afterwards Emperor, sought and obtained the same from Pope Hormisdas.
Morally: See St. Chrysostom, hom. 8 on the Epistle to the Ephesians, who celebrates the chains of St. Paul with great and wondrous praises, where he prefers them to kingdoms and scepters, to Kings and Emperors, even to Angels and Archangels — and indeed to miracles and the raising of the dead.
Verse 7: An Angel of the Lord Stood By
7. AN ANGEL OF THE LORD, — in an assumed body, which in the New Testament after and through the resurrection of Christ they are accustomed to assume as glorious — that is, shining and splendid — so much so that with this splendor of his he illuminated the entire prison. Hence what follows: "And a light shone in the dwelling." So at Christ's nativity: "the angel of the Lord stood by them (the shepherds), and the brightness of God shone round about them," Luke 2:9. And concerning the angel appearing in His tomb after the resurrection of Christ, Matthew 28:3 says: "And his appearance was as lightning."
Some probably opine that this angel was St. Michael: for he is the patron of the Church, and so just as he has care of her, so also of her head, namely St. Peter. So Pantaleon Chartophylax, in the Encomium of St. Michael, which Surius recites on September 29. St. Chrysostom and the Glossa think that this light shone only to Peter, because he alone was awakened by the angel: for upon the guards — between whom Peter was held bound in the middle — the angel sent a deep sleep, so that they neither saw his light, nor heard the voice of the one speaking with Peter, nor the noise of the chains falling: otherwise the light of so radiant a body shone through the whole prison, and the guards would surely have seen it if they had been watchful, had they not been hindered by the angel. Hence Gerson, in part III, tract 8 on the Magnificat, calls this angel from his effect Uriel, that is, the splendor of God; for this is what he produced in the prison. Otherwise the same writer adds that this angel was the guardian of St. Peter — which many others also think, namely that he was St. Michael, as I said a little earlier: just as the princes of the Church have as guardian not an angel but an Archangel or some other prince among the angels.
AND HAVING STRUCK PETER ON THE SIDE. — Because he was sleeping deeply, says St. Chrysostom — which was a sign of a secure and intrepid mind, as one resigned to God's providence and resting peacefully.
ARISE QUICKLY. — Not that the angel feared, lest if he prolonged the matter the guards would be roused: for he himself prolonged the deep sleep upon them as long as he wished. But because the angels are swift, alert, and most agile — being spirits — and swiftly carry out God's commands, according to that: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire," Heb. 1:7. Hence likewise from Peter and other clients they demand swift action and obedience. Again he says "quickly," because he wished to shake off Peter's sleep: for the sleepy are slow and tardy. Finally, the word "quickly" signifies the eager desire of the angel to free Peter.
Morally: This angel teaches that text of Sirach 31:27: "In all your works be swift, and no infirmity shall come upon you." For he who is swift and ready shakes off sloth, torpor, and languor, and puts on strength, valor, and angelic vigor. So of Jonathan and Saul, the leaders of Israel, slain in battle, David sings, 2 Sam. 1:23: "Swifter than eagles, stronger than lions." And of Asahel, one of David's mighty men, it is said in the same place, chap. 2:18: "Now Asahel was a most swift runner, like one of the roes that are in the woods." And the Gadites who fled to David "were most valiant men and excellent warriors, holding shield and spear: their faces were as the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes on the mountains," 1 Chron. 12:8. Hence it is said in Prov. 22:29: "Have you seen a man swift in his work? he shall stand before kings, and shall not be among the obscure": for kings delight in ministers who swiftly execute their commands; much more God. Jeremiah, chap. 4:13, describing the strength and onset of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldaeans invading Judaea: "Behold, he says, as a cloud he ascends and like a tempest is his chariot: his horses are swifter than eagles." Whence it adds: "Woe to us, for we are spoiled." And of the same in Lamentations 4:19: "Our persecutors," he says, "were swifter than the eagles of the air: they pursued us upon the mountains." And of the same Habakkuk 1:8 says: "His horses are lighter than leopards, and swifter than the evening wolves." Finally Isaiah 18:2: "Go," he says, "swift angels, go (O Peter) to a nation rent and torn," as if to say: Go, O Apostles, swiftly to the Gentiles, to the barbarians rent by the demon and torn by vices, that you may free and save them. So Vatablus mystically — for another sense of that passage is the literal one, as I have said there.
AND THE CHAINS FELL FROM HIS HANDS. — Because the angel knocked them off by breaking, or by opening and unloosing them. It seems that Peter had been bound only by the hands: for no mention is made here of the feet.
Verse 8: Gird Thyself, and Put on Thy Sandals
8. GIRD THYSELF. — "Because of the rigor of the prison," says Bede, "he had loosened his bindings for an hour, so that with his tunic let down around his feet he might somewhat temper the cold of the night." For Peter had not taken off his inner garment, e.g. his under-tunic and shirt, so as to lie naked among the soldiers (for that would have been indecent and immodest), but only his outermost tunic: he is therefore commanded to put this on and to gird himself with it. Hence Proclus, in the Encomium on the Chains of St. Peter: "To remove from Peter his fear about how he should pass through the disposed watches of the soldiers," he says, "the angel so greatly strengthens him with his help and protection that he is able leisurely to put on his cloak, and to fasten his sandals, and to tighten the loosened garment." For the Orientals, such as the Jews are, wear long garments, which they gird up when about to go out or to work, and ungird and loosen when about to rest. So do the Chinese and Turks, who fasten themselves only with tunics, and have no breeches. St. Augustine, on Psalm 92, distinguishes these four: cingi, succingi, praecingi, accingi — so that the first is for one about to work, the second for one about to go, the third for one about to minister, the fourth for one about to fight; but praecingi here and elsewhere is the same as cingi and succingi.
AND BIND ON THY SANDALS. — Ὑπόδησαι τὰ σανδάλιά σου, that is, "bind on your sandals." So Pagninus and the Tigurine. Now that sandals are leg-coverings (which the common people of Germany call lower-caligae) is the opinion of Joannes Ferdinandus in his Thesaurus of Sacred Scripture, under the word calceus. But others everywhere think that sandals are shoes, that is, coverings of the feet, not of the shins or legs. And that it is so is clear first from the word "shod": for we shoe feet with shoes, not shins with leg-coverings. Second, because the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans did not use leg-coverings (indeed not even breeches, as I said at Habakkuk 2:15), but went with bare shins and knees. Hence when Julius Caesar was being killed, "he let down his toga with his hand, so that the lower part of his body might fall covered," says Valerius, book IV, chap. 5. Thus at Rome in the column of Trajan, we see Caesar himself and his soldiers sculpted with bare shins. Suetonius teaches the same of Augustus in his Life, chap. 82. Thus Plato, says St. Jerome in chap. 10 of St. Matthew, "taught that the two extremities of the body ought not to be veiled, nor become accustomed to softness of head and feet." Lycurgus prescribed the same to the Spartans and Phocion to the Athenians, says Plutarch in their Lives. Philostratus teaches that Achilles, Ajax, Crates, and other Philosophers walked barefoot; the same Clement of Alexandria recommends to Christians, book II, chap. 11. And that the ancients did so Lucian teaches, when describing the dress of a Christian in the Philopatris he says: "A putrid cloak, without shoes or covering, walking with bare head and shorn hair." Finally to Pompey, who was wearing leg-bandages and pretending an ulcer as the cause, "Favonius said: It does not matter on what part of the body the diadem is" — calling him into suspicion of aspiring to royalty, says Valerius, book VI, chap. 2. Third, because St. Mark expressly, chap. 6:9, says "shod with sandals." Hence Petrus Faber, in Agonist., book II, chap. 84, asserts that sandals are "caligulae or galliculae, as the Greco-Latin Glossary has: from which is derived our galoches." And the Synod celebrated by St. Boniface, chap. 209, commands "that every presbyter celebrate Mass according to the Roman order with sandals," that is, with shoes. For the Jews used to sacrifice barefoot, as I said at Exod. III and XXVIII.
You will ask here first, why then does our author translate "caligas"? I answer: because caliga formerly to the Latins signified a shoe (calceus). This is proved first from Gen. chap. 14, vers. 23, where Abraham says to the king of Sodom: "From the thread of the woof to the latchet of the caliga" (that is, of the shoe — for here it has "latchet," not leg-binding) "I will accept nothing of all that is yours." Second: the Emperor Gaius was nicknamed Caligula from a shoe: "Because he had been born in the army, he obtained the nickname of military footwear (from which soldiers were called caligati), that is, caligulae," says Aurelius Victor in Caligula. Whence Ausonius in his Monosticha:
"Gaius, on whom the camps bestowed the surname Caliga."
Hence the author, when speaking of someone too tall and lanky, says: "the caliga of Maximinus," that is, the shoe of Maximinus. "For Maximinus," says Capitolinus in his Life, "because he was eight feet and nearly half tall, his royal footwear is known to have been larger than a man's footprint or measurement." Third, St. Isidore of Seville, book XIX of the Origins, chap. 34, listing all kinds of shoes: "Caligae," he says, "either are named from the callus (callum) of the feet, or because they are tied; for socci are not tied, but only slipped on." And St. Gregory, book I of the Dialogues, chap. 4, says that St. Equitius, when he was cutting hay, was shod with nailed caligae: for they used to fix nails to shoes, that they might be stronger, as the country-folk still nail them. And our learned Alphonsus Salmeron here: "Caliga," he says, "is so called from binding (ligando) the heel (calx), that is the lowest part of the foot, as if calciliga. And since calx is named from calcando (treading), and calceus from calx, it is clear that, properly speaking, caligae are not leg-coverings, but soles, or a kind of shoe which protected the soles or heels of the feet."
Fourth, the same is clear from St. Jerome, to Ageruchia, epist. 41: "The Apostles," he says, "as pilgrims throughout the world, had no money in their belt, no staff in their hand, no caligae (that is, full shoes) on their feet." And St. Augustine, on the First Epistle of St. John, chap. 5: "Perhaps," he says, "with nailed caligae (that is, shoes) he will wear away your feet." And Cassian, book I of the Institutes, chap. 10: "They protect their feet only with caligae (that is, with shoes)." St. Benedict, in his Rule, chap. 55: "As foot-coverings," he says, "the pedules and the caligae": he calls pedules the soles which protect the soles of the feet. Our Julius Nigronius proves the same more fully in his learned little book De Caliga, where in chap. 4, num. 6, he teaches that the caliga, that is, the military shoe, did not rise up to the middle of the shin, as some think; but was only a sole adhering to the bottom of the foot, tied at the heel with thongs or straps, and he displays a picture of it at the end of the book. For such is seen in the column of Trajan and the arch of Constantine: hence they were called perones and calcei talares, because they covered the ankles (tali).
You will ask second: of what form were the shoes called "sandals"? Some think they were of common form, so that they covered the whole foot both above and below. For such, they say, were the sandals of the Apostles, that with these they could traverse the whole world without bruising their feet. But others everywhere think that a sandal covered the foot only below, like a sole, which was bound to the foot above by ties — such as the Capuchins now wear. For Clement, book II, chap. 11, teaches that Christ wore such soles. Hence they are still called "Apostolic shoes": for the Apostles are painted shod with such in ancient pictures, even in the churches of the Greeks and Ruthenians, as eyewitnesses at Rome have affirmed to me. Indeed, at Trier, in the Cathedral church, the sandal of St. Andrew the Apostle was shown to me by the Reverend Dean, which plainly had the form of a sole. So too the image of the Mother of God, which stands at Rome in the basilica of St. Mary Major, painted by St. Luke, shows the boy Jesus with sandals — that is, soles, which are bound to the foot above by little laces — so that the feet of Christ and the toes are utterly uncovered and bare, as I myself have often carefully inspected.
Second: thus too plainly with sandals, that is, with soles, are Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the other Prophets painted in the ancient images of the Emperor Basil Porphyrogenitus, which exist in the Vatican, which I had painted and placed before the Prophets. With such, then, Peter and the Apostles seem to have been shod, by Christ's command, Mark 6:9: "shod," He says, "with sandals"; for He forbade them shoes, Matt. 10:10, at least in Judaea, a hot region and rough with rocks: for soles sufficiently protected the feet, so that they would not strike against the stones. But whether, when setting out and traveling through the world, against the cold, fatigue, rain, and other injuries of air and earth, they did not change sandals and soles for full and entire shoes — one may with reason not only ask but even suspect and opine, and say that the precept of Christ about sandals was only temporary, namely for the time during which they remained in Judaea. So St. Augustine and St. Chrysostom on chap. 10 of St. Matthew. Bede teaches the same about sandals, who translates "soles" for them; indeed St. Augustine, book II On the Consensus of the Gospels, chap. 30: "In such a way," he says, "that the foot be neither covered nor naked." The same is taught by Salmeron in the words just cited, by Lyranus, Gagneius, Dionysius, and others.
Third: the Greek ὑπόδησαι indicates the same — that is, "bind underneath": for not whole shoes, but soles, when they are put on, are bound underneath the foot.
Fourth: the same is clear from the ancient image of the caliga, that is, the military shoe. Which our Nigronius, just cited, displays. For in the arch of Constantine and in the column of Trajan, the soldiers are painted with a sole, in such a way that the upper part of the foot is bare, but the sole is bound to it by a strap, and it forms an open-work shoe.
Mystically Bede: "Peter is commanded," he says, "to resume the insignia of preaching, which are the girdle and the shoes," Matt. 10. Moreover Ivo of Chartres, in the Sermon On the Significance of Priestly Vestments, gives a twofold mystical cause and signification of the sandals or open-work shoes; as do Durandus in the Rationale, Alcuin, Bede, and following them Stephen Durantus, book II On the Rites of the Church, chap. 9, num. 21. The first is: because the steps of a preacher must be protected below, lest they be polluted by earthly things, according to that: "Shake off the dust from your feet"; and open above, in so far as they should be revealed for the recognition of heavenly things. The second: just as sandals cover part of the foot, and leave part open; so too the doctors of the Gospel must partly cover the Gospel, partly open it — in such a way, namely, that the faithful and devout may have sufficient doctrine, while the unbeliever and the scornful may find no material for blaspheming.
CAST THY GARMENT ABOUT THEE, — ἱμάτιον, that is, the cloak (pallium), as if to say: "Throw a cloak over your tunic." The Clerics and Religious imitate this attire of St. Peter, who put on a cloak over their tunic: indeed the pallium was formerly the dress and insignia of Christians. Whence the proverb: "From the toga to the pallium," when someone had passed from heathenism to Christianity. See Tertullian, book On the Pallium.
Verse 9: He Knew Not That It Was True
9. AND HE KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS TRUE. — "For very great things were happening, which because of fear seem incredible," says St. Chrysostom — especially when they are unforeseen and surpass hope and expectation. So great was the happiness and joy of the Jews returning from Babylon that the Psalmist says of them, Ps. 125:1: "When the Lord brought back the captivity of Sion, we became like men comforted," Hebrew כחולמים kecholemim, that is, "like those dreaming" — as if to say: So new, so pleasant, so wondrous to us was the return from Babylon, that it seemed to us to be a dream, that we were not really accomplishing it, but dreaming. So when Jacob heard that his son Joseph was alive, "as though waking from a sleep, yet he did not believe them," Gen. 45:26. The same thing happened here to St. Peter. For, as Lyranus says: "The strength of the prison and the diligent guard had given him the imagination of being unable to escape; on account of which he reckoned the deed done to be a dream." The Carthusian adds that St. Peter was not fully awake, but half-asleep. Hence "he thought that he saw a vision," supposing that these things were portrayed to him in his imagination through a vision, and were not really happening, but were the playthings of imagination or the mockery of a dream. Whence also Mariana: "He thought," he says, "that he saw a vision, that is, that he was dreaming and being mocked in a dream." For we usually dream of false, fictitious, imaginary, and sometimes impossible things, because of the mingling and confusion of species and phantasms in sleep. Hence Plato, in the Cratylus, thinks that ψεῦδος, that is "a lie," is so called because it is ὁ εὕδων, that is, as it were the stupor of those sleeping. Otherwise St. Gregory, book II of the Dialogues, chap. 3, and Macarius, hom. 7, think that this seeing or vision of Peter was an ecstasy; for they say St. Peter was caught up into it at the height of contemplation. But this is the mystical sense; the former, however, is the literal and genuine sense, as is plain from the circumstances.
Verse 10: They Came to the Iron Gate
10. NOW PASSING THROUGH THE FIRST AND SECOND WARD — of the soldiers who were guarding Peter. Hence it is clear that Peter was not seen by them, because the angel had sent a deep sleep upon them, or surely had struck them with ἀορασία (aorasia), that is, blindness, just as he did to the Sodomites in Gen. 19:11, as I said there.
THEY CAME TO THE IRON GATE, WHICH LEADS TO THE CITY. — Hence Arias, Lorinus, and others think that this prison was outside the city, near Mount Calvary: for the more wicked who had been condemned to death, or were certainly to be condemned, were thrown into it, so that they might be near the place of execution, namely Mount Calvary. But Cajetan, Baronius, Adrichomius, and others think it was within the city, as prisons commonly are within cities themselves; and indeed in the very palace of King Herod: for in this was the iron gate, and three most fortified towers, namely Hippicus, Phaselus, and Mariamne, as Josephus testifies, book VI of the War, chap. 6. Whence he immediately says: "They passed through one street," namely one square of the city. Moreover he says, "which leads to the city," namely the old one, which was called Daughter of Sion and commonly Jerusalem. For this was the first city, to which the second city was afterwards added, in which was this palace of Herod, from which one passed through the iron gate into the first or old city. See the maps of Adrichomius. So at Rome, those who live in the city across the Tiber in the Borgo, if they go to another part of the city which is on this side of the Tiber, say they are "going to Rome," because old Rome was on this side of the Tiber, and is still inhabited and celebrated, so that the natives call it Rome alone: hence it happens that those who dwell in the Trastevere section of the city seem to dwell outside the city, even though they dwell next to the Vatican and the Basilica of St. Peter within the walls of Rome.
WHICH OPENED OF ITS OWN ACCORD TO THEM — the angel secretly drew back the bolts and opened it. Festively Arator says: "What wonder if iron doors yield to Peter? / He whom God appoints custodian of the heavenly hall, / He commands to overcome hell."
Mystically Bede: the iron gate which leads to the heavenly Jerusalem is the cross, mortification, tribulation, martyrdom, which by the footsteps of Peter and the Apostles has been made passable and accessible to us, who unlocked it with their own blood: just as the Caspian Gates, which are also called iron, are narrow passes between the Caspian mountains and rocks, almost impassable, yet passable for those who travel to Assyria, of which Statius, in book IV of his Sylvae, says: "Or to guard the side of the Ister, and the dread thresholds of the Caspian gate." This is what Christ says: "Enter ye in at the strait gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction," Matthew VII, 13.
From this passage Rupert, in book XIV, and Maldonatus, on chapter XX of St. John, verse 19, hold that the inner doors of the prison were shut, and therefore that St. Peter penetrated them by divine power, just as Christ penetrated them after the resurrection, when, with them shut, He entered to the disciples. For from the fact that Luke says the outermost gate, namely the iron one, was opened to Peter, it seems to be inferred that the inner gate of the prison was not opened, but shut, and therefore miraculously penetrated by Peter.
But the contrary seems more probable; for the miracle of penetration would have been greater than that of opening: wherefore if Luke had expressed this, he would certainly not have been silent about that. Again, God is not accustomed to perform miracles in vain. But here penetration would have been in vain: for the doors could have been opened by the angel, just as the iron gate was opened. Thirdly, penetration is a property proper to the glorified body: hence Christ, in order to show that He had such a body, penetrated through closed doors to the disciples. But Peter still had a mortal and dense body, not subtle and glorified. Finally, all these things were done through an angel. But an angel cannot make one body penetrate another; for this belongs to omnipotence and divine power alone.
Therefore this matter seems to have been carried out thus: the angel assumed a body in the stratopedon, that is, in the courtyard of Herod's palace, from the surrounding air: then, with the bolts secretly drawn back, he opened the doors of the prison, and so having entered the prison, he loosed Peter and led him out through the doors, which had already been opened both for his assumed body and for Peter's body. For Luke indicates that they were open at v. 10: "Passing through the first and second ward, they came to the iron gate," as if to say: Passing through the doors already open, they were not seen by the doorkeepers, since they had been put to sleep by the angel; but they came to the gate of the palace and the outermost part of its courtyard, namely the iron one, which the angel opened though shut, and through it, opened, outside Herod's palace, he led Peter, now wholly free, into the city.
THEY WENT THROUGH ONE STREET. — The angel did not dismiss Peter at once from the prison, nor from Herod's palace, but led him through "a street," that is, an entire square, both that he might place him in a thoroughly safe spot — for next to Herod's palace there were sentinels and soldiers, into whom Peter might have fallen, who would have led him back to prison — and that Peter, by walking longer in the square with the angel and viewing and recognizing the houses and palaces of the city, might fully come to himself out of his mental stupor, and know that he was not seeing a vision, but was actually being freed and led by the angel. Furthermore the Hebrews relate that Jerusalem was divided into 24 streets, or the more famous squares.
AND IMMEDIATELY THE ANGEL DEPARTED FROM HIM. — Namely, he disappeared, dismissing the body he had assumed, and resolving it back into the air and its elements. For just as nature and God are neither lacking in necessities nor redundant in superfluities, so also the angels. It was enough for the angel to have placed Peter in safety and restored him to himself: therefore he does not proceed further with him, but as having discharged his office and embassy, he departs; the rest he commits to Peter's industry. So St. Chrysostom.
Verse 11: Peter Coming to Himself
11. AND PETER, COMING TO HIMSELF. — In Greek γενόμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷ, that is, made in himself, as one who had been outside himself, his mind alienated from itself, snatched as it were into ecstasy. Mystically Richard of St. Victor, in book V of On Contemplation, chapter XIII: Peter, he says, that is the holy mind elevated by pious exercises, lest it grow proud, is imprisoned by Herod, that is by the stings of flesh and concupiscence. For Herod in Hebrew is the same as "crushing the conception," or "glorying in the skin," says Pagninus. He is freed by an angel through his own and others' prayers, either properly so called, or mystical, namely the word of God and the grace of God, which God sends into the mind, so that humbled and returned to itself, it may retrace the former vestiges of purity, prayer, and contemplation. See more in Innocent III and Peter of Blois, sermon On the Chains of St. Peter.
THE LORD SENT HIS ANGEL. — Thus invisibly God frees His faithful from dangers and afflictions through the angels, as His ministers and our guardians, that we may be grateful to them and celebrate their benefits. I have shown this with many examples in Exodus chapter XXIII, verse 23.
AND FROM ALL THE EXPECTATION (Syriac: machination) OF THE PEOPLE (that is, of the populace) OF THE JEWS, — especially of the Scribes and chief Priests, who were attempting in Peter, as if in the head, to cut down the new Church and Christianity. For this was their machination and expectation: these therefore are here reckoned under the name of "the people." But God overturned their counsels and hopes and converted them into the greater good of the Church and the greater glory of Peter, by sending an angel from heaven to free him. Thus when all human supports fail, in extreme necessity and as it were despair, God is at hand for His own; just as He miraculously rescued David from the hands of Saul, Elisha from the bandits of Syria, Daniel from the lions' den, Hezekiah from the hand of Sennacherib, Susanna from false witnesses and judges, etc.
Verse 12: He Came to the House of Mary
12. AND CONSIDERING, — namely this benefit and miracle of God through the angel, he proceeded to the faithful gathered in the house of Mary, in order to free them from the anxiety in which they were suspended on his account, to pour his own joy into them, and to stir all up to the praise of God and thanksgiving. Secondly, considering his own danger, and that he had now been left to himself by the angel, he so deliberately directed his steps that he might take care lest he again fall into the hands of the Herodians, and therefore he went straight to the house of Mary, that he might be safe among his own.
Morally, learn here that it belongs to the wise man first to consider his ways, works and words, before he speaks them or carries them out. "Words," says St. Bernard, "should come twice to the file before once to the tongue." This is what the Wise Man counsels: "Let thy eyelids go before thy steps. Make straight the path for thy feet, and all thy ways shall be established," Proverbs IV, 25. For every error, every vice, every sin arises from a defect of consideration. For if the sinner considered the circumstances, effects, punishments and damages of sin, he would surely not commit it. Hence in Proverbs XIV, 22, it is said: "They err that work evil." They err, because they do not consider the malice of the evil which they perpetrate. See St. Thomas, I-II, Question LXXVII, article 2 in the body.
Excellently St. Bernard, in book I of On Consideration to Eugenius, chapter VII: "Consideration," he says, "purifies the mind, governs the affections, directs actions, corrects excesses, composes morals, makes life honorable and orderly. Finally, it confers the knowledge of things divine and human alike. This is what determines confused things, gathers gaping things, collects scattered things, searches out secret things, traces the true, examines the verisimilar, explores the feigned and the painted. This is what foreordains things to be done, recalls things done, so that nothing remains in the mind either uncorrected or needing correction. This is what foresees adversities amid prosperity, and as it were does not feel them in adversity; of which one belongs to fortitude, the other to prudence."
HE CAME TO THE HOUSE OF MARY, — in which was the Church and the assembly of the faithful praying for Peter, concerning which I have spoken at chapter I, verse 13.
WHO WAS SURNAMED MARK, — different is Mark the Evangelist, who as companion of St. Peter wrote the Gospel at Rome, then founded the Church of Alexandria, from this John Mark, who was a companion in the journey of St. Paul and Barnabas, of whom often below. So St. Basil, book V Against Eunomius, last chapter; St. Jerome, in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers; Dorotheus, in his Synopsis; Isidore, in his book On the Death of the Saints, and from them Baronius. Therefore wrongly Origen, Euthymius, Victor of Antioch, Oecumenius and others whom Sixtus of Siena cites, in books II and III of his Library, hold these two to be one and the same. John Mark is enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints; for of him we thus read in the Roman Martyrology, on September 27: "At Byblos in Phoenicia, St. Mark the Bishop, who is also called John by Blessed Luke."
WHERE MANY WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AND PRAYING. — From this it seems that the faithful held nighttime vigils in prayer: for at night, freed from prison, Peter came to them, and found them praying. Hence these are the first vigils of the faithful, which afterwards the Church, by their example, formerly celebrated on the greater feasts, but at length abolished on account of abuse; yet they endure in the Ecclesiastical office of the three nocturns which the Cenobites chant by night, on which see Francolinus, treatise On the Canonical Hours, chapter II. See also St. Chrysostom here, and St. Jerome, Against Vigilantius, who disapproved of vigils, whom he therefore calls one of the Dormitantes (Sleepers).
Verse 13: A Damsel Came to Hearken, Named Rhoda
13. AND AS HE KNOCKED AT THE DOOR OF THE GATE. — In Greek πυλῶνος; it can be translated both as the door and as the vestibule, with the Syriac and Pagninus. For larger houses, like palaces, are accustomed to have at the entrance vestibules and atria which have their own doors, or larger gates, through which the first entrance into the house is made, namely into the vestibule, and from there into the house.
A MAID CAME OUT, — it signifies both a youth and a girl, as the feminine of παῖς, that is, boy, and a maidservant, as Chrysostom and Pagninus translate; for doorkeepers are usually maidservants. But our Translator, like the Syriac, by translating "maid," suggest that she was not a maidservant, but an honorable woman, perhaps a daughter or niece of the house. Hence Luke also expresses her name, that she was called Rhoda: she therefore, either out of curiosity, or by divine instinct — whether perhaps it might be Peter for whom the common prayer in the house was being made, especially because he was coming and knocking by night — went out to see who was knocking.
TO HEARKEN. — So the Roman edition, and this is what the Greek ὑπακοῦσαι signifies; some manuscripts however read, "to see," that is to hearken; for sight is taken for any sense, as I have said elsewhere: For doors are not usually opened to one knocking at night, in order to see who he is, but he is asked who is knocking, that it may be heard from his voice whether he is friend or foe.
NAMED RHODA. — Rhoda in Hebrew is the same as "vision of strength," says the Gloss. It is truer that Rhoda is a Greek name, and signifies a rose. For thus the island Rhodes is so called from the rose, either because it bears the appearance of a rose, or because it abounds pleasantly with roses. Hence it was also sacred to the sun, says Diodorus, in book VI, who, loving a girl named Rhodia or Rhode, named Rhodes from her. For as Solinus writes, the sky is never so cloudy that Rhodes is not in the sun. Or because it was built over a rose-bud found there, says Strabo. Although Pagninus from ῥόα thinks Rhodes was named from ῥόος, that is from the flow of the turning sea, because before the island appeared, much flow of the sea was rolled there. Furthermore the rose is the flower of flowers, because it blushes purple, shines with whiteness, and reddens with a flaming color. Wherefore if anyone is heaped with all praises, he is called a rose. Hence St. Jerome, in book II, epistle 13, concerning a most praiseworthy girl: "Let the whole kindred," he says, "rejoice in a rose born from itself."
Such was this Rhoda, of whom Helecas, Bishop of Caesaraugusta, thus writes in his Additions to the Chronicle of Lucius Dexter and Marcus Maximus, recently discovered and edited: "Rhoda, who is called Rosalia, in the persecution of Trajan (as the same Maximus relates upon the Acts) suffered for the faith, with other martyrs in Sardinia."
Similar to her in both name and martyrdom was St. Rosula, who with St. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage under the Emperor Valerian, met a glorious martyrdom on September 14, as the Roman Martyrology has.
And St. Rose, a Franciscan virgin, who like a rose among thorns shone forth in virginity, virtues and miracles, and migrated to the Lord in the year of Christ 1254, at Viterbo near Rome, where even now her virginal body is shown not only intact, but even pliable (so that it allows itself to be dressed), and she is therefore read enrolled among the Saints in the Roman Martyrology on September 4. For the rose, by its scent and rosy color, is a type of the virgin and of virginity. For this is among other states of men what the rose is among flowers, namely "the firestone of flowers, the purple of gardens, the sapphire of perfumes, the eye of April, the phoenix of spring, the pomp of nature," as the Orator says. And the poet Symposius gives this riddle of the rose: "I am a purple of the earth suffused with beautiful blush, hedged in I am not violated, defended by sharp weapons. O happy, if by long fate I could live!" Therefore the rose is a virgin, namely: "Virginal modesty is seen in her rosy face."
Sappho in Achilles Tatius, book II On Leucippe: "she names the rose the queen of flowers, the ornament of the earth, the glory of plants, the eye of flowers, the blush of the meadow, coruscating beauty, the laughter of the earth."
Wherefore St. Dorothy the virgin, undergoing martyrdom in the rigor of winter, namely on February 6, sent to Theophilus roses, with which, as with a rhododaphne, that is a rosary, or a rosaceous crown, her virginity was to be crowned by her spouse Christ in Paradise, as her Life has.
And St. Louis, firstborn of Charles II, king of Sicily, and therefore nephew of St. Louis, king of France, having spurned the kingdom, embraced the Order of St. Francis, and from there was created Bishop of Toulouse by Boniface VIII; dying, he was seen to send forth a rose from his mouth on account of the merit of his virginity, which was so great in him that he never wished either to kiss his mother or to look upon a woman's face, as his Life has on August 19 in Ribadeneira.
And St. Joseio or Joshertus, monk of St. Bertinus, dying in the year of the Lord 1161, sent forth five roses from his face, one from his mouth on which was inscribed the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because while living he daily recited a rosary of five Psalms beginning with the letters of the name Maria, in her honor, as the Annals of his monastery have, which I saw there, and from them St. Antoninus, Thomas of Cantimpré and Johannes Molanus in the Saints of Belgium on November 30 affirm. For she herself is the "mystical rose," as the Church sings in the Litanies, and as St. Bernard says in his prayer to the Blessed Virgin, page 64: "She herself is the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, the rose of charity." Therefore: "Weave roses, noble one, plait flowers, Rose-Virgin, fairest of roses."
Verse 14: For Joy She Opened Not the Gate
14. FOR JOY SHE OPENED NOT THE GATE, BUT RUNNING IN, ANNOUNCED. — First, that by the news of his liberation she might cheer up and as it were recall to life those grieving and almost absorbed by grief over Peter's imprisonment. Secondly, that all might go forth to meet Peter for the sake of reverence, to congratulate him on his unexpected liberation; and at the same time that she might consult her own virginal modesty, which she displayed by her name. For as St. Jerome says to Rusticus: "I will show you the beauty of various flowers, what purity the lilies have in themselves, what modesty the rose possesses, what the purple of violets promises in the kingdom." The same author, addressing Salvina her little daughter, calls her "a basket of roses and lilies, a commerce of ivory and purple."
THOU ART MAD. — Thou ravest; the Syriac: thou art terrified, struck, namely by a vehement imagination by which thou supposest thou hast seen the specter, or shade of Peter: for terror makes a man of disturbed mind, and from there delirious and insane.
Verse 15: It Is His Angel
15. IT IS HIS ANGEL. — From this it is clear that the common opinion of the faithful at the time was that everyone has from God an Angel Guardian deputed to him, as St. Chrysostom proves from this passage, in his homily On the Ascension; which note against the heretics of our time, who deny this, and wrongly take "angel" to mean a messenger sent by Peter. Hence Isidore translates more clearly, "messenger." Or by "angel" they impertinently and tortuously take an angelic vision granted to Peter or to others concerning Peter. So Beza, who fashions this vision out of his own brain, although there is no indication of it here; for what does this vision have to do with this story? Equally absurdly Calvin, in book I of the Institutes, chapter XIV, number 7, replies that this angel was given as a guardian to Peter only during the time of his imprisonment, not throughout his life. But whence dost thou so boldly assert this — nay, fabricate it, Calvin? Whence did the faithful know that an angel was destined for him by God only in prison? Who had seen him? to whom had Peter shown or revealed him? You admit nothing, nor judge anything to be believed except what is expressly expressed in Sacred Scripture; where have you read this written or expressed?
Note here that angels sometimes put on the appearance and person of their clients or of similar men, in order to attend to their affairs and carry out their business. Thus Raphael, the companion, indeed leader, of Tobias, put on the likeness of Azariah: "I am Azariah," he says, "the son of the great Ananias," chapter V, verse 18. So with the three boys an angel descended into the Babylonian furnace, "like to the Son of God," namely Christ, who preserved them unharmed from the fire, Daniel III, 92.
Famous in the Annals of the Spaniards is the miracle of Paschal Vivas, who was seen to rout the Moors in battle, although he himself was not present at the battle, but at the sacrifice of the Mass: namely his angel took on his person, and fought and conquered in his stead. So, when thou art devoutly hearing Mass, thy angel will conduct thy business better than thou.
Similar is what is in the Chronicles of the Friars Minor, book I, chapter LVII, concerning Brother John of Parma, who, having resigned the generalate of the Order from zeal for the contemplative life, had a Religious of his Order as server of the Mass. It happened that during the Mass he fell asleep: therefore his angel served the Mass in his appearance and habit. So when the deceased appear to the living, it often happens through angels, who assume the form of the deceased, as St. Augustine teaches in book I On Care for the Dead, and our Thyraeus, in book I On the Apparitions of Spirits, chapter XII.
Thus St. Placid, when he was being submerged in the waters, saw St. Benedict (who, being absent, had sent St. Maurus to free Placid) standing by, and drawing him out of the waters, as St. Gregory testifies in book II of the Dialogues, chapter VII.
Thus St. Nicholas, though absent, appeared to sailors invoking him in a tempest, and calmed it, as his Life has. The same appeared in dreams to Constantine the Great, and commanded that he release three men unjustly imprisoned.
Thus St. Anthony of Padua, while in Italy, was seen in Portugal freeing his father from calumny and death.
Thus St. Francis, though absent, appeared to his brethren in a fiery chariot. For all these things were done by angels, who formed the likeness and appearance of the said Saints and represented them to others, as Thyraeus teaches in book I, chapter X, especially because those who are exhibited are mostly unaware that they are being exhibited. From this it is clear that they are not duplicated, nor does the soul go out of the body, in order to appear elsewhere, as some have thought.
Thus in our own age St. Ignatius, founder of our Society, while at Rome, appeared at Cologne to Reverend Father Leonard Kessel, who was Superior of the Companions there.
Thus St. Francis Xavier, while on a ship, appeared in a skiff that had been torn from the ship by the force of a tempest, and brought it back with its passengers to the ship, certainly through an angel. So has the Life and the process of Canonization of the same Saints. Memorable is the example in John Moschus, in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter ccvii, concerning a girl of Alexandria, who, having dispensed her own goods to the poor, and from there impoverished, was forced to seek her living from fornication; finally repenting of her deed, and asking for baptism, when no one was willing to be her godfather and sponsor, angels, taking on the form of certain courtiers, offered themselves as sponsors for her.
Similar is what is in the Life of St. Stephen I, king of the Hungarians. For when the Emperor Conrad was making war on him, and the army was already advancing, angels in the appearance of messengers brought letters, as if written by Conrad, in which he commanded his men to draw back their foot and return home.
Similar things are in the Life of St. Wenceslaus, prince of Bohemia, in Dubravius, books IV and V of the History of Bohemia. These are the offices and benefits of the angels toward the faithful and the Saints.
Verse 17: Tell These Things to James, and to the Brethren
17. TO HOLD THEIR PEACE. — "He commands them to be silent," says the Gloss, "lest by the shouting of those rejoicing his arrival be made known in the city."
TELL JAMES, — namely the Less (for the Greater was already slain, verse 1), who was Bishop of Jerusalem. Hence it seems that the other Apostles had already gone away into their provinces, as I said at the beginning of the chapter: for otherwise Peter would have ordered his liberation to be announced to them likewise.
GOING OUT, HE DEPARTED INTO ANOTHER PLACE, — namely Caesarea, Sidon, Berytus, Tripoli, Aradus, Antaradus, Antioch: thence Galatia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Bithynia, everywhere evangelizing, confirming the faithful and establishing Bishops, and at length, having traversed these regions, in this same year he arrived at Rome, as Baronius teaches from St. Jerome, in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers, and St. Leo, in sermon 1 On the Apostles Peter and Paul. For this year is the seventh from the beginning of the Antiochene See: for he sat in it seven years, after which he transferred it to Rome, as is the common opinion of the Doctors. In this year therefore Peter, the first of the Apostles, went to Rome, the head of the empire and of the world, that he might there likewise establish the head of the Church and subject the world to it, with the Roman princes converted.
Wherefore it seems less true what Simeon Metaphrastes relates in the Life of St. Barnabas, that he first of all preached the Gospel at Rome. Hence too St. Clement, at the beginning of his book of Recognitions, testifies that he heard St. Barnabas preaching at Rome, and was led by him to Caesarea to St. Peter. But this book contains many fabulous things, nor is it Clement's, or certainly was corrupted by Ebion (for he, according to Epiphanius, heresy 30, corrupted Clement's writings), and was therefore rejected by Gelasius among the apocryphal works.
Furthermore that God commanded St. Peter to betake himself to Rome, St. Marcellus the Pope teaches, in his Epistle to the Antiochenes, and St. Leo, in sermon 1 On Saints Peter and Paul, and St. Athanasius, in his Apology for his Flight; St. Ambrose, in his oration Against Auxentius; St. Maximus, in sermon 1 On Saints Peter and Paul. Now this was to elevate the Episcopate of the city of Rome to the supreme Pontificate of the world, and to place it in a certain location which would be more convenient for ruling the world, and not to add the lesser Episcopate to the greater. Finally, St. Peter at Rome stayed in the house of Pudens, a Roman senator, and converted him, with his sons Timothy and Novatus, and his daughters Pudentiana and Praxedis, to Christ, as their Acts have. Hence he consecrated his house into a church (which was the first at Rome), which was afterwards called the Title of the Shepherd, where the altar at which St. Peter celebrated is even now shown. Peter therefore began to sit at Rome at the end of the second year of Claudius, which was the year of Christ 43, and sat for 23 years, namely until the 13th year of Nero, the year of Christ 69, in which he was crowned with martyrdom by Nero together with St. Paul. Moreover, that holy Peter brought with himself the felicity of the Roman commonwealth, Paulus Orosius teaches, in book VII, chapter VI; for when he entered the city, the internal tumults caused by the cruelty of Gaius Caligula ceased. For Claudius succeeding him proclaimed to all an amnesty and forgetfulness of injuries.
Again, God restrained Furius Camillus, legate of Dalmatia, by causing him to be killed by the soldiers, lest he should tyrannically invade the empire. Furthermore He subjected Britain to Claudius without battle and bloodshed, within a very few days. Dio has more, in book LX. But when the same Claudius in the 9th year of his reign expelled the Christians along with the Jews from the city, soon a famine invaded the city, so that the people rose against Claudius, who fleeing the people's fury through a back door, with difficulty escaped into the palace, and a little later he killed 35 Senators and three hundred Roman knights for the slightest reasons: he himself however died with manifest signs of poison. Thus Orosius.
Verse 18: What Was Become of Peter
18. WHAT WAS BECOME OF PETER. — In Greek τί ἄρα ὁ Πέτρος ἐγένετο, that is, what at last had Peter become; the Zürich version: whither had Peter gone, whether by magical or divine power he had escaped from prison, or had been turned into a bird, a spirit, or some other thing, or carried elsewhere. It is uncertain whether the angel, opening the doors of the prison and the iron gate of Herod's palace, closed them behind him after Peter was led out, or rather left them open; whichever it was, on either side it was a vast prodigy. Chrysostom, in his homily on Matthew, holds that everything was closed, and that the hands of the two soldiers who slept with Peter remained bound by the same chain by which they had been fastened with him.
Verse 19: He Commanded Them To Be Put to Death
19. WHEN INQUIRY HAD BEEN MADE FOR THE GUARDS. — In Greek ἀνακρίνας τοὺς φύλακας: ἀνακρίνειν means many things, namely to inquire, to examine, to apply torture: likewise to judge and to condemn. Hence the Syriac translates, "he condemned the guards."
HE COMMANDED THEM TO BE LED, — to prison, says Rabanus, or to Caesarea, whither Herod was about to come: where a little later, after Herod was killed, the guards were released, says Cajetan, with God so softening Herod's mind, that Peter's release might harm no one, nor be a cause of death for the guards. Better St. Chrysostom: "he commanded them to be led," namely to execution. Hence the Syriac: "he commanded them to be killed." Peter of Alexandria, canon 13, in Theodore Balsamon, relates that they were suffocated or strangled.
AND HE WENT DOWN FROM JUDEA TO CAESAREA. — Which formerly was called Strato's Tower: where Herod Agrippa celebrated solemn games for the welfare of Caesar, at which a great multitude of Nobles and notables from the whole province had gathered, says Josephus, in book XIX of the Antiquities, chapter VIII. At the same time, in order to vindicate himself against the Tyrians and Sidonians, as follows.
Verse 20: He Was Angry With the Tyrians and the Sidonians
20. ANGRY. — ἐθυμομάχει, as if to say: meditating war in his soul; the Zürich version: he was contemplating war against the Tyrians in his mind; others: bearing a pugnacious and hostile mind. The cause of Herod's anger is hidden from us. Baronius suspects that it was because the Sidonians had received Peter when he had escaped from prison, and being made Christians by him, had received a Bishop from him. But this pleases others less.
BLASTUS, WHO WAS OVER THE KING'S BEDCHAMBER. — Namely, the prefect of the bedchamber, the king's first chamberlain, and therefore most familiar to him.
BECAUSE THEIR COUNTRIES WERE NOURISHED BY HIM. — In Greek ἀπὸ τῆς βασιλικῆς, namely χώρας, as preceded, that is, from the region or domain of King Herod. So the Syriac. From Judea therefore grain and all provisions were supplied to them. They therefore beg for peace, lest Herod prohibit this exportation of grain, and so consume them with famine.
Verse 21: Herod Being Arrayed in Kingly Apparel
21. AND ON AN APPOINTED DAY. — The Syriac: on a most celebrated day. For it was the second day of the games for Caesar's welfare, says Josephus in the place already cited. On that day therefore Herod, in royal magnificence, sat for the tribunal, in order to take cognizance of the cause and request of the Tyrians and Sidonians, or rather of their satisfaction and submission, and to determine concerning them at his pleasure. Hence he also harangued them, namely the Tyrians and Sidonians, as preceded. So Lyranus.
CLOTHED IN A KINGLY ROBE. — A "kingly robe" comprises the purple, the scepter, and the crown; clothed in these they gave judgment: for these are the symbols of royal as well as judicial power. Hence Josephus, in book XVII of the Antiquities, chapter XI, thus writes of Herod borne to the tomb: "And he himself, dead, was wrapped about in purple garments, his head crowned with a diadem, and the scepter also was placed in his hand, as if it were held by one alive." Now Agrippa's garment was of silver, woven with marvelous work, says Josephus, which when struck by the rays of the sun emitted a divine splendor. He wore therefore the purple, a golden crown on his head, and a scepter, which are the insignia of kings — and these excessively splendid. Wherefore the proud Herod exceeded the measure and modesty of dress, and gave occasion to the Tyrians and Sidonians, as suppliants flattering him, to acclaim him and give him divine honors. So Isidore of Pelusium, book I, epistle 74.
Wherefore wisely the Emperor Justin, dying, admonished Tiberius his successor, saying: "Let not the splendor of vesture lead thee into error, nor let the illustrious ornament of those things which fall under sight deceive thee, by which I myself, driven into fraud, rendered myself liable to the gravest punishments. Let not thy dress puff thee up, as it did me. Behold God who has done good to thee: He gave thee this dress, not I. Honor Him that thou too mayst be honored by Him." The witness is Evagrius, book V, chapter XIII. Equally wisely St. Bernard, in book II of On Consideration to Eugenius, chapter XII, admonishing him, lest having become a Pope from being a monk, he applaud himself in so great an eminence: "Great is he," he says, "to whom present felicity, if it has smiled, has not mocked. For this, for the unwary, is to the relaxation of discipline what fire is to wax, what the sun's ray is to snow or ice."
Verse 22: It Is the Voice of a God, and Not of a Man
22. AND THE PEOPLE MADE ACCLAMATION: THE VOICES OF A GOD, AND NOT OF A MAN. — as if to say: the splendor of King Agrippa's garments and the majesty of his oration so transfix us, that we seem to see and hear God, not a man. This acclamation, arising from the Tyrians and Sidonians, who were courting Herod's favor, crept on to the rest of the people of Caesarea. See here how great an evil flattery is, which makes a god out of a king, and therefore a corpse out of a man: for it itself slew the king. This evil is frequent in the courts of princes: hence the courtier is a flatterer, but also orev (raven) is oref (one who plucks out), that is, the flatterer is a raven, gouging out the eyes of those whom he flatters. Excellently Curtius, in book VIII: "Pernicious flattery is the perpetual evil of kings, whose resources adulation more often overturns than the enemy."
Verse 23: An Angel of the Lord Struck Him
23. AND IMMEDIATELY (Syriac: at the same hour) AN ANGEL OF THE LORD STRUCK HIM, — a zealous one and avenger of the divine honor which here was snatched away from God, and sacrilegiously given to Herod. Hence it seems this was a good angel, although our Lorinus holds that it was an evil one and a demon.
STRUCK [HIM], — that is, smote him with a deadly blow. This blow was pain of the bowels and gripings, says Josephus: likewise putrefaction and stench of the body; for from there worms boiled forth. So his grandfather Herod the Ascalonite, the infanticide, who slew the holy innocents, perished consumed by lice. Josephus adds that an owl was seen above Herod's head, as a herald of calamity, as a certain German had once foretold to him at Rome, the same Josephus testifying, book XVIII, chapter III. Oecumenius however writes that instead of an owl an angel was seen.
BECAUSE HE HAD NOT GIVEN THE HONOR TO GOD, — that is, because he had not defended the honor of God; but had arrogated it to himself, by consenting to the insane adulation and acclamation of the people. St. Luke narrates this punishment of Herod on the occasion of the slaying of St. James and the imprisonment of St. Peter: for these two monstrous crimes of his against Christ and the Church merited his blinding and fall into this idolatry, for which by God, the just zealous one and avenger of His own honor and divinity, he was punished by death, that he might appear to be mortal, indeed dead, who had coveted to be God.
Thus Lucifer, aspiring to divine honors, was from being the first angel made the foulest evil-demon. Thus Alexander the Great was slain by his own men, because he wished to be adored by them as a god, as a certain Hermolaus among the conspirators reproaches him in Curtius, book VIII. Thus Nebuchadnezzar, who in the golden statue erected by himself, Daniel III, wished to be adored, was changed by God into a beast, Daniel IV, 28. Thus Antiochus Epiphanes, who from his pride thought himself an earthly god, struck with pain of the bowels and gnawed by worms, perished just like this Herod, II Maccabees IX, 12. Wherefore all these were types of Antichrist, who shall sit in the temple and shall wish to be adored as God, and therefore shall be driven by God into Tartarus, Apocalypse XIII.
Note: Herod sinned by being silent: for thus tacitly he assented to the blasphemous acclamation: for he ought to have safeguarded the honor of God, and therefore to have removed it from himself and severely rebuked the people, because they had inflicted on God so notable an injury, as did St. Paul and Barnabas, whom the Lycaonians wished to adore, this one as Jupiter, that one as Mercury. "For having rent their tunics, they leaped forth into the crowds, crying out and saying: Men, why do you these things? we also are mortal men, like unto you," Acts XIV, 13. For in such a case this is true: "He who is silent seems to consent": especially if he is a Superior, or a man strong in wisdom and authority.
AND BEING EATEN UP BY WORMS (in Greek, made food of worms), HE EXPIRED. — Thus God casts down and strikes the proud. Justly Herod, wishing to be a god, becomes food for worms, that humbled he may learn himself to be not only mortal, but also rotten, and say that of Job, chapter XVII, 14: "To rottenness I have said: Thou art my father: to worms, my mother and my sister." By "worms," understand the lice which boil up from a putrid and stinking body through every member, on which disease see Galen, book On the Composition of Medicines according to Places, chapter VII. St. Chrysostom adds, in homily 26 on the Epistle to the Hebrews, that "he burst, and his bowels poured out."
With this phthiriasis, that is, lice-disease and worm-death, God is accustomed to punish blasphemers, fighters against the saints, persecutors of the faithful; but especially aspirants to divinity, as Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod the infanticide, of whom I spoke shortly before, Huneric the Arian king persecuting the Orthodox, on whom see Victor of Utica, book III of the History of the Vandals; in the same way perished Pherecydes, the teacher of Pythagoras, an atheist and despiser of all divinity, on whom from Aristotle, Plutarch, Aelian and Pliny see Rhodiginus, book XIX, chapter XXX; and Maximian, in empire and persecution the partner of Diocletian, on whom see Eusebius, book VIII, chapter XXVIII; and Julian the Apostate, on whom see Sozomen, book V, chapter VII; and the blasphemer Nestorius, witness Nicephorus, book XIV, chapter XXXVI; and impious Calvin, witness Bolsec in his Life.
Excellently Cardinal Drogo, in his treatise on the Sacrament of the Lord's Passion, volume II of the Library of the Holy Fathers: "Why," he says, "dost thou glory in shining vesture? beneath thee the moth shall be spread, and thy covering is the worm. This is thy clothing. They mocked thee, who clothed thee with the scarlet chlamys. Thus Antiochus and Herod, two of them, with the borrowed garments laid aside, expired in their own garments."
Finally, Josephus describes the history of the death of this Herod more elegantly in book XIX, chap. viii, where however, in honor of his own people and king, he softens it, and rather unfaithfully commends Herod's equanimity: and he passes over his worms in silence, mentioning only the gripings, which of course were caused by worms gnawing his entrails. For thus he says: "And now Herod had spent the third year of his reign over all Judaea, when he came to the city of Caesarea, which previously had been called Strato's Tower, where he celebrated solemn games for Caesar's welfare; to which festivity a great multitude of nobles and chief men had assembled from the whole province. On the second day of this celebration, he came forth in the morning into the theatre, clothed in a robe wholly woven of silver of marvellous workmanship, which, struck by the rays of the rising sun and emitting a certain wondrous splendor, struck the spectators with veneration mingled with awe. And presently flatterers from one place and another acclaiming him saluted him as a god, asking that he would be propitious: for hitherto they had revered him as a man, but now they recognized and confessed in him something more excellent than mortal nature. This impious flattery he neither rebuked nor repelled; and a little after, looking up, he saw above his head an owl perched on a stretched cord: and as soon as he perceived that this was a messenger of calamity, which once had been of good fortune, he grieved from his inmost heart. There followed at once from the beginning violent gripings of the belly. Therefore turning his eyes to his friends: Behold, said he, I, that god of your appellation, am bidden to leave life, fatal necessity convicting your falsehood, and the one whom you saluted as immortal is hurried off to death. But the will of the heavenly Deity must be borne: for neither have we lived ill, nay with such felicity that all proclaimed me blessed. Having spoken these things, with increasing pain, he was tortured. Therefore being quickly carried back to the palace, a rumor was spread that he was about to die shortly. Wherefore at once the whole people together with their wives and children, clothed in sackcloth, after the ancestral custom were supplicating God for the king's safety, mingling all things with laments and wailings. But the king lying in a higher chamber, and looking down on those prostrate on their faces on the ground, even he himself could not restrain his own tears. Then with the torment for five continuous days remitting nothing of itself, being worn out he ended his life, in his fifty-fourth year of age, after he had reigned for seven years. For four years under Caius Caesar he held the kingdom, first in Philip's tetrarchy for three years, to which in the fourth year there was added also Herod's tetrarchy: then for three years under Claudius Caesar, besides the dominion already mentioned, he reigned also in Judaea: and Samaria together with Caesarea."
Then he adds that this Herod was succeeded in the kingdom by his son, namely Herod Agrippa the younger, aged 17, before whom Paul, when arrested, pleaded his cause, chap. xxv, 22; in whom the line of Herod the Ascalonite came to an end, as did the kings and the kingdom of Judaea, overthrown by Titus and Vespasian: moreover, that he left behind three surviving daughters, Mariamne, Bernice (who married the governor Felix), and Drusilla, of whom Luke makes mention in chapter xxiv, 24, and xxv, 13. Josephus adds that the Caesareans and Sebastenians, when Herod was dead, attacked him with insults, just as when he was alive, present, and seeing, the Alexandrians had assailed him in a public comedy: in which they afflicted him with the same mockeries by which the Jews, whose king was Herod, had a little before afflicted Christ, preferring Barabbas to Him, crowning Him with thorns, clothing Him with a purple cloak, and mockingly saluting Him as King of the Jews. For they led into the theatre a certain madman, by name Carabbas (Baronius conjectures it should be read Barabbas), who would represent the person of Herod, on whose head they placed a diadem of papyrus, for a military cloak they clothed him with a mat, and for a sceptre they gave a piece of reed into his hand. Hailing him as Marim, that is lord, as Philo relates in Against Flaccus, chap. 40. Thus God by His just judgment rendered to Agrippa and the Jews the requital of the mocked Christ.
Verse 24: The Word of the Lord Increased
24. AND THE WORD OF THE LORD WAS GROWING. — as if to say: By the persecution of Herod Agrippa it so far did not decrease, that the number and virtue of Christians grew vehemently, especially when they saw the persecutor punished by God and consumed by worms. Rightly does St. Nilus, in homily 2 On Christ's Ascension, compare the Church to a vine, which the more diligently it is pruned, the more fruitful it becomes. "The branches of the Church were being cut down," he says, "and the fruit of faith was increasing, and was bringing forth a flower that does not wither: for from that root these branches were born, which most truly said: I have overcome the world. I am the vine, you are the branches. Stephen was cut off as a branch, and another shoot of martyrs sprang forth. James and Peter were pruned, and again another martyr arose: and this one being pruned, again another many-bearing branch was put forth from this root. Paul was vintaged, and another cluster of martyrdom ripening, Thomas appeared: and everywhere the root, having been vintaged, brought forth a more abundant supply, beyond what those had vintaged, and a more durable shoot. And indeed those pruners, soon withering, were exterminated: but this [vine], always laden with fruits, has embraced the ends of the earth with its shoots." Tertullian beautifully, Apology, chap. xxvii: "And those demons," he says, "we never more triumph over than when we are condemned for the obstinacy of faith." And in the last chapter: "We are made more, as often as we are mowed down by you. The blood of Christians is seed." So the Hebrews grew under the persecution of the Egyptians, "and the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied," Exodus I. Whence St. Chrysostom, homily 40 on Juventinus and Maximinus the martyrs: "Just as plants when watered," he says, "grow more; so also our faith, when assailed, blooms more, and when vexed, more abounds: nor is the watering of waters wont so to render gardens fruitful, as the blood of martyrdom was born to water the Churches." And St. Leo, sermon 1 On the Birthday of Sts. Peter and Paul: "The Church is not diminished by persecutions, but is increased. And always the Lord's field is clothed with a richer harvest, while the grains which fall singly are born multiplied." The same happens equally, or near-equally, in any faithful person. For he in temptation and adversity grows in virtue and strength, after the manner of the palm tree.
Verse 25: Barnabas and Saul Returned From Jerusalem
25. AND BARNABAS AND SAUL RETURNED FROM JERUSALEM. — "Returned," namely to Antioch, as the Syriac has it, whence they had been sent to bring the alms to the Jerusalemites who were poor and suffering from famine, as was said in chap. xi, verse 28.
HAVING TAKEN JOHN, WHO WAS SURNAMED MARK. — From this Salmeron infers that Saul and Barnabas were hiding in the house of this John Mark at the time when Herod struck down James and imprisoned Peter. Whence Peter coming out of prison found the same men there.