DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61893#0375
Ch.X. THROUGH ITALY. 347
peace, and improvement, was ravaged by suc-
cessive hordes of barbarians; she again renewed
her benevolent exertions, and sent out, not con-
suls and armies to conquer, but apostles and
teachers to reclaim, the savage tribes which had
wasted her empire. By them she bore the light
of heaven into the dark recesses of idolatry; and
displaying in this better cause all the magnani-
mity, the wisdom, the perseverance, which
marked her former career, she triumphed, and in
spite of ignorance and of barbarism again diffused
the blessings of Christianity over the Western
world.
Nor is it to be objected, that the religion of
Rome was erroneous, or that she blinded and en-
slaved her converts. The religion which Rome
taught was Christianity. With it the convert re-
Leo the Great, standing· over the tomb of St. Peter and St.
Paul, on their festival, addresses the Roman people in lan-
guage equally elevated :
<s Isti sunt viri per quos tibi evangelium Christi, Roma !
resplenduit!
Isti sunt qui te ad hanc gloriam provexerunt ut gens sancta
populus electus, civitas sacerdotalis ac regia per sacram
beati Petri sedem caput orbis effecta, latius presideres reli-
gione divina, quam dominatione terrena.”
Serm, in Nat. App. Petri et Paidi.
peace, and improvement, was ravaged by suc-
cessive hordes of barbarians; she again renewed
her benevolent exertions, and sent out, not con-
suls and armies to conquer, but apostles and
teachers to reclaim, the savage tribes which had
wasted her empire. By them she bore the light
of heaven into the dark recesses of idolatry; and
displaying in this better cause all the magnani-
mity, the wisdom, the perseverance, which
marked her former career, she triumphed, and in
spite of ignorance and of barbarism again diffused
the blessings of Christianity over the Western
world.
Nor is it to be objected, that the religion of
Rome was erroneous, or that she blinded and en-
slaved her converts. The religion which Rome
taught was Christianity. With it the convert re-
Leo the Great, standing· over the tomb of St. Peter and St.
Paul, on their festival, addresses the Roman people in lan-
guage equally elevated :
<s Isti sunt viri per quos tibi evangelium Christi, Roma !
resplenduit!
Isti sunt qui te ad hanc gloriam provexerunt ut gens sancta
populus electus, civitas sacerdotalis ac regia per sacram
beati Petri sedem caput orbis effecta, latius presideres reli-
gione divina, quam dominatione terrena.”
Serm, in Nat. App. Petri et Paidi.