But Peter was not, as some might suppose, merely a
visitor in Rome. He was the founder of the Church of Rome,
that is, the organizer of the Christian hierarchy there, its first
bishop. For St. Clement of Rome, a disciple of the Apostles
mentioned by St. Paul (Phil. 4:3), affirmed that both Peter
and Paul suffered martyrdom "among us," that is, in Rome,
where Clement was writing about 96 A.D.
St. Ignatius of Antioch (35-107 A.D.), bishop of the only
other See which might have advanced a claim to succession
to Peter because of his temporary connection with Antioch,
yet takes Peter's Roman commitment for granted: "I do not
command you as Peter and Paul did; they were Apostles; I
am a convict" (Letter to Romans, 4). St. Denis, Bishop of St.
Paul's troublesome city of Corinth, was even more emphatic:
writing to a later Pope, St. Soter, he asserted, "By this
admonition you have bound together the plantings of Peter
and Paul at Rome and at Corinth. For they both alike planted
in our Corinth and taught us, and both alike taught together
in Italy and suffered martyrdom at the same time" (Eusebius,
History, II, 25).
It is St. Irenaeus (about 130-200 A.D.), Bishop of Lyons,
who explicitly affirmed both that St. Peter had founded the
Church of Rome, that its bishops were his successors, and
that to this church all other churches ought to be
subordinate. His assertion, issued as a challenge to
contemporary gnostic heretics who pretended to "inside
knowledge" from the Apostles, is this: "By indicating the
tradition derived from the Apostles of the very great, the very
ancient, and universally known church founded and
organized at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter
and Paul, and the faith preached to men which comes down
to our time, by means of the succession of bishops, we
refute all persons . . . for to this church, on account of its
more potent principality, it is necessary that every other
church agree, that is, those of the faithful everywhere,
because in it is preserved by those (who preside) that
tradition received from the Apostles. The blessed Apostles,
then, founded and reared up this church and afterward
committed unto Linus the office of the episcopate" (Against
Heresies, III, 3, written by St. Irenaeus).
No wonder, then, that about 200 A.D., Father Gaius of
Rome can assure would-be pilgrims: "I can show you the
monumental tombs (trophies) of the Apostles; for if you will
go to the Vatican or the Ostian Way, you will find the trophies
of this church" (Eusebius, History, II, 25). Thus the fact of St.
Peter's Roman episcopate is attested by historical
testimonies dating from about 130 years or two lifetimes
from the date of St. Peter's death. As for confirmation from
later centuries, a modern book (Shotwell-Loomis, See of
Peter, Columbia U. Press, 1927) has filled 700 pages with
allusions to St. Peter prior to 400 A.D. alone.
This article will be continued