The Liber Diurnus Romanorum Pontificum is a collection of
ancient documents relating to the Papal Office, forms of faith, and other
formulas, which were in use in the Roman Church probably from the sixth to the eleventh
centuries. The collection was made in Rome itself.
Here is more evidence of innovations in Rome after the
11th Century (the century when Rome left the Church). It is noteworthy that
after manuscripts for this collection were found, the Roman authorities suppressed
the publication of these documents, mainly because they affirm the condemnation
of Pope Honorius by the 6th Ecumenical Council.
Hefele writes:
In the Liber Diurnus, i.e. the Formulary of the
Roman Chancery (from the fifth to the eleventh century), there is found the old
formula for the papal oath, probably prescribed by Gregory II. (at the beginning
of the eighth century), according to which every new Pope, on entering upon his
office, had to swear that "he recognized the sixth ŒEcumenical Council,
which smote with eternal anathema the originators of the new heresy
(Monotheletism), Sergius, Pyrrhus, etc., together with Honorius, quia pravis
hæreticorum assertionibus fomentum impendit."
The Catholic Encyclopedia writes:
The Liber Diurnus was used officially in the papal
chancery until the eleventh century, after which time, as it no longer
corresponded to the needs of papal administration, it gave way to other collections.
Twelfth century canonists, like Ivo of Chartres and Gratian, continued to use
the Liber Diurnus, but subsequently it ceased to be consulted, and was finally
completely forgotten. ... [An] edition printed at Rome in 1650 was withheld
from publication, by advice of the ecclesiastical censors, and the copies
put away in a room at the Vatican. The reason for so doing was apparently formula
lxxxiv, which contained the profession of faith of the newly elected pope, in
which the latter recognized the Sixth General Council and its anathemas against
Pope Honorius for his (alleged) Monothelism. The edition of Holstenius was
reprinted at Rome in 1658; but was again withdrawn in 1662 by papal
authority, though in 1725 Benedict XIII permitted the issue of some copies.
From this document two discontinuities between the early
Church and the Roman Catholic communion are made manifest. First, it is
admitted that the "needs of papal administration" changed after the
eleventh century. Second, it is admitted that the publishing of this work in
the 17th century was censored by Papal authority because it provides evidence
that earlier popes swore to recognize the anathemas pronounced against one of
their own predecessors, Pope Honorius.
Cardinal Bona (1609 - 1674), a Roman Catholic cardinal
and author who attempted to suppress the Liber Diurnus, said plainly,
Since in the Profession of Faith by the Pope
elect, Pope Honorius is condemned as having given encouragement to the depraved
assertions of heretics - if these words actually occur in the
original and there is no obvious means of remedying such a wound - it is
better that the work should not be published - præstat non divulgari
opus."
Jacques Sirmond (1559 - 1651), a Jesuit professor whom
the Catholic Encyclopedia calls "One of the greatest scholars of the
seventeenth century," wrote:
It appears to me not so astonishing that the Greek
Monothelites should attempt to identify Honorius with their error, as it
seems extraordinary that the Romans themselves, in the newly elected Pope's
Profession of Faith, should have branded the name of Honorius together with the
authors of heretical ideas, such as Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter of
Constantinople, for having given encouragement to the depraved assertions of
heretics. And yet such are the terms of that Profession of Faith, as I
found it among the ancient formulas of the Roman Church. It is this reason
alone which has chiefly deterred me from editing the formulary, in spite of the
promise which I made to Cardinal Sainte-Suzanne.
Gratry (1805 - 1872), a French Roman Catholic priest and
professor who opposed the doctrine of Papal Infallibility before the Latin
First Vatican Council, comments on Bona and Sirmond:
Father Sirmonel and Cardinal Bona simply then admit it.
This is the natural descent of the human misery which they follow. Each one
defends himself as he can. Behold a fact which overwhelms us! Let us prevent
its being known.
Simpson comments on this passage: "The maxim that
truth may be suppressed in the interests of religion roused Gratry's boundless
indignation."
Jean de Launoy (1603 - 1678), a French Roman Catholic
historian, wrote "The Liber Diurnus has been printed in Rome several
years, and is detained by the masters of the Papal Court and the Inquisitors.
These men cannot bear the light of ancient truth." The Catholic
Encyclopedia calls Launoy "a learned critic and a Gallican", and a
man "worthy of mention in ecclesiastical history ... celebrated for his
critical work in ecclesiastical history". Launoy argued against
Ultramontane views on Honorius, and held that Honorius was guilty of heresy.
Jacques-Benigne Bossuet (1627 - 1704), a Gallican Roman
Catholic bishop and pulpit orator, protesting against the suppression of the
Liber Diurnus, wrote,
The condemnation of Honorius ... exists in the Liber
Diurnus seen and known by learned men for a long time past. P. Garnier, a
learned man of the utmost integrity of the Society of Jesus, Professor of Theology,
has published it from the best manuscripts. It was also accustomed to be read
in the life of St. Leo in the ancient Roman Breviaries down to our own time. But
that Diurnus they suppress as far as lies in their power, and in the Roman
Breviary they have erased these things. But are they therefore hidden? On
all sides the truth breaks forth, and these things by so much the more appear
as they are the more eagerly erased. ... A cause is clearly lamentable which
needs to be defended by such figments.
The Catholic Encyclopedia calls Bossuet a "great
man", "genius", and "orator, the greatest, perhaps, who has
ever appeared in the Christian pulpit - greater than Chrysostom and greater
than Augustine; the only man whose name can be compared in eloquence with those
of Cicero and of Demosthenes". (“George,” Errors
of the Latins: Notes on the Differences Between Traditional Roman Catholicism
and the Eastern Orthodox Church, and an Analysis of Their Historical Controversies
[June 25, 2021], 605-6, emphasis in original)
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