In letters from December 418 and January 419 (Collectio Avellana 14 and 16), the Prefect of the City of Rome reports to the emperor on the disputed papal election which followed the death of Pope Zosimus, mentioning that one of the claimants, Bonifatius/Boniface, was consecrated as bishop in a church of *Marcellus (bishop and martyr of Rome, S00529), and that he and the other claimant, Eulalius, held rival services for Epiphany in the basilicas of *Paul (the Apostle, S00008) on the via Ostiensis, and of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036) on the Vatican. Written in Latin at Rome.
E08260
Documentary texts - Letter
Collectio Avellana 14
In this letter, dated 29 December 418, the Prefect of the City, Symmachus, informs the emperor Honorius that Pope Zosimus had died on 26 December 418 [a Thursday] and was buried the next day. After his funeral, Eulalius was chosen by the clergy and people as his successor, and waited at the Lateran basilica until Sunday, the customary day for consecration as bishop. However, in the meantime 'some presbyters' (aliquanti presbyteri) chose another cleric, Bonifatius, as bishop, in a gathering at a 'church of Theodora' (ad Theodorae ecclesiam). On the Sunday, Eulalius was consecrated at the Lateran, but the Prefect was unable to prevent Bonifatius being consecrated as well:
(6.) [...] Nam etiam presbyterum Bonifatium in ecclesia Marcelli ordinandum esse duxerunt atque cum eo ad sancti apostoli Petri basilicam processerunt. [...]
'For indeed they led the presbyter Bonifatius into the church of Marcellus to be ordained, and went with him in a procession to the basilica of the holy apostle Peter.'
Collectio Avellana 16
Following Honorius' reply, which ordered Bonifatius to be expelled from the city of Rome, Symmachus gives a further report on events. Letter dated 8 January 419.
(3.) Nam cum eo tempore ad me sacra perlata esset auctoritas, quo sancti diei erat celebranda sollemnitas, statim, ut oportebat, misso primiscrinio Bonifatium ut ad me ueniret admonui quod praeceptum fuerat agniturus ac se a processione, quam sibi inhibitam didicerat, abstineret. qui conuentione contempta processit atque eum, quem direxeram, dedit pepulo uerberandum. (4.) quod ubi nuntiatum est, habito cum u.c. tribuno Sereniano tractatu ad sanctum apostolum Paulum, quo conuenerat, et sacrae exemplaria pro cautela direxi, ne quid iniuriam publicam de praeceptis immissa multitudo temptaret, et partem offici pariter destinaui. [...]
'(3.) For because the sacred authority [= Honorius' reply] was brought to me when the solemnity of the holy day [Epiphany] was to be celebrated, immediately, as was proper, by sending the head of my office (primiscrinarius), I warned Bonifatius that he should come to me to acknowledge what had been ordered, and should abstain from the procession which he had been informed was forbidden to him. He, despising the warning, took part in the procession and gave the man I had sent to the crowd to be beaten. (4.) When this was reported, having conferred with the tribune and senator Serenianus, I both sent copies of the imperial letter to the [basilica of] the holy apostle Paul, where he [Bonifatius] had gone, as a precaution, so that the assembled multitude should attempt no public injury over the orders, and likewise sent part of my staff. ...'
Symmachus then reports that Bonifatius and his supporters had made a riotous attempt to re-enter the city, which was blocked at the gate (presumably the Porta Ostiensis) by Symmachus' guards, and that Bonifatius had been placed under house-arrest, adding:
(7.) Circa partem uero Eulalii episcopi uenerabilis uiri, qui eo die paene cum omni multitudine ad sancti apostoli Petri basilicam sollemnia celebrabat, ubi primum pietatis uestrae praecepta sunt publicata, fuit totius laetitia ciuitatis. [...]
'(7.) On the side of the venerable man bishop Eulalius, who on that day, with almost the whole multitude, celebrated the rites at the basilica of the holy apostle Peter, when the orders of Your Piety [expelling Bonifatius] were first announced, there was gladness for the whole city. ...'
Text: Günther 1895, pp. 60-61, 62-3.
Translation: David Lambert.
Procession
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - Popes
Monarchs and their family
Officials
Crowds
Source
The Collectio Avellana is a collection of 244 letters and other documents dating from 367 to 553, mostly correspondence between the papacy and the imperial authorities in Italy or in Constantinople. The date of its compilation is uncertain, but has most frequently been placed soon after 553.Discussion
Following the death of Pope Zosimus on 26 December 418, two rival candidates to succeed him, Eulalius and Bonifatius, were chosen by different factions. The ensuing conflict (sometimes termed the Eulalian Schism) is known in unusual detail because the Collectio Avellana includes a dossier of 24 contemporary documents relating to it. The letters quoted here are from the Prefect of the City, Aurelius Anicius Symmachus (PLRE II, 'Symmachus 6'), to the emperor Honorius at Ravenna. Both letters are marked by their favourable attitude towards Eulalius, who is treated throughout as Zosimus' legitimate successor, and hostility to Bonifatius, who is depicted as a rabble-rousing usurper. However, it was ultimately Bonifatius who was recognised as Bishop of Rome (Pope Boniface I).It is evident that both Eulalius and Bonifatius sought to assert their status as bishop through their presence at key churches: the Lateran basilica (not associated with a saint in this period), and the basilicas of Peter and Paul on the Vatican and the via Ostiensis. It seems to have been important for both to be seen to celebrate Epiphany at a major basilica, given that (assuming Symmachus' account is accurate), Bonifatius was willing to take the considerable risk of defying a direct order from the Prefect, the emperor's representative, in order to do so.
Two other churches are mentioned. In Symmachus' first letter he says that the election of Bonifatius as bishop took place in a 'church of Theodora', and his consecration in a 'church of Marcellus'. The 'church of Theodora' remains unidentified, and since there is no known saint called Theodora venerated in Rome in this period, the name is probably that of a founder or patron. However the reference to a church of Marcellus is presumably to the known basilica dedicated to the 4th c. bishop of Rome, Marcellus (S00529), the present-day San Marcello al Corso. This was close enough to St Peter's for a procession between the two to have been held easily, as claimed by Symmachus.
Bibliography
Edition:Günther, O., Collectio Avellana. 2 vols. (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35/1-2; Vienna, 1895-1898)
Further reading:
Cristo, S., "Some Notes on the Bonifacian-Eulalian Schism," Aevum 51 (1977), 163-67.
David Lambert
10/12/2021
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain | S00529 | Marcellus, bishop and martyr of Rome | Marcellus | Certain |
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