Master asking him, "Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these?" and then immediately committing to him his sheep to feed, John 21:15. But here it should be noted that the reasons for loving Christ are manifold. Some love Christ more than others on the ground of his divinity, as is believed to have been the case with John the Evangelist; others because of his humanity, as is believed to have been the case with Philip; and others love Christ because of his body which is the church, and so men love him for many other reasons, for which, in the case of a certain saint, they quote Ecclesiasticus 42: "No one has been found like unto him in keeping the law of the Most High." Peter's pre-eminence is manifest from his faith, humility, love, yea, and also from his poverty and endurance. For he said to the man asking an alms: "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee," Acts 3:6. And, because he heard from the Master the words, "In your patience possess ye your souls," Luke 21:19, it seems probable that, after his denial of the Master, Peter stood for that very reason more ready to endure martyrdom and especially for the reason that, recognizing his weakness, he had fresh in his mind the memory of his own frailty in denying his Master. And for this reason he stooped in humility to others and was more ready to suffer imprisonments, even unto death, for the Lord whom he denied. Nor is it to be doubted that he bore with an humble mind Herod's prison in Jerusalem, the prison of Theophilus in Antioch, and Nero's prison at Rome.
If he, who is called to be Peter's vicar, follows in the paths of the virtues just spoken of, we believe that he is his true vicar and the chief pontiff of the church over which he rules. But, if he walks in the opposite paths, then he is the legate of antichrist at variance with Peter and Jesus Christ. Therefore, St. Bernard, de consideratione, IV,[1] writes
- ↑ The most famous book ever written on the papal office, prepared at the request of Eugenius III, by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, d. 1153. It was much
