This blog post is adapted from Life Under the Cross: A Biography of the Reformer Matthias Flacius Illyricus.
Matthias Flacius Illyricus knew there had been preachers in every age. God had always made sure the Gospel was proclaimed, even if only a remnant listened. It was with this conviction that, in 1552, Flacius undertook one of his most important works, which together with the Magdeburg Centuries would cement him as a father of Protestant historical theology.
First published in 1556 in Basel by his friend Johannes Oporinus, Flacius’ Catalogus testium veritatis was an ambitious enterprise and marked an important step in the development of the modern discipline of church history. A 1562 edition followed. The work sought to collect testimonies from church fathers that supported Protestant teaching and undermined Roman ecclesiastical authority. It was an impressive feat. The second edition had more than four hundred witnesses. Roughly eighty were devoted to the early church. Medieval witnesses received extended attention. Flacius made good use of the Investiture Controversy, the great conflict between Emperor Henry IV and Pope Gregory VII over who should appoint bishops. The incident highlighted for him an important stage in the tyranny of the papacy.
Goal of the Catalogus
The Catalogus had a twofold goal. First, Flacius aimed to show that Christ was the beating heart of the Scriptures, their sum and scope, and that Christian preachers and teachers had recognized this throughout church history, if only a small minority at times. Second, he sought to demonstrate that the papacy was the antichrist and had been recognized as such long before Luther. He began with a study of St. Peter. Luther’s teaching, not the pope’s, was in line with Peter’s teaching. In this way, Luther was more a successor of Peter than any recent pope. Following Peter’s entry came a long list of church fathers. Flacius, in contrast to the approach of Reformed scholars, sought to demonstrate continuity in the church. Christ had always had His confessors. The Gospel had always been proclaimed and heard. Yes, sometimes this had been muted. Yes, sometimes the number of such confessors had been small. Yes, sometimes few had heard. Yet the church had never disappeared, nor had the Good News. This emphasis on continuity and remnant theology, which was also pronounced in his writings during the Adiaphoristic Controversy, played a prominent role in Flacius’ theology throughout his life, but especially as he faced growing opposition as he aged.
Using Peter’s Ministry as an Arguing Point
Flacius seems to have savored the opportunity to contrast the positions of the Roman Church of his day with those of the apostles and church fathers. He noted that the popes wanted to build their ministry on Peter’s but neglected to acknowledge the apostle’s shortcomings and mistakes, even as they appropriated the supposed power and glory as successor to his seat. Flacius was not denigrating Peter. Rather, he was arguing that Peter, aware of his own humanity and humble in his apostolic ministry, would not have recognized those who claimed to be his heirs. Flacius drew several lessons from Scripture’s portrayal of Peter’s person and ministry. In addition, he pointed out that neither Peter himself nor Paul seemed to acknowledge any Petrine primacy, since Paul rebuked Peter openly at Antioch and Peter accepted the rebuke without asserting any authority beyond that of the Word. Moreover, when Paul warned the Corinthians about divisions in the church, as some were claiming privilege because of the specific pastor or apostle (Peter or Paul) they followed, Paul dismissed all such thinking and mentioned no primacy among these ministers. Flacius’ point was clear: the new teaching in the church was not Protestant rejection of papal primacy; rather, papal primacy was the innovation, something the man they claimed to have been the first pope would not have recognized, something that Paul would have condemned.
The Impact on Reformation History
The Catalogus left an important impression upon Protestant church history. It was used and adapted by heirs of the Swiss Reformations and in England. Lutherans continued to use it for quite some time. It sparked an interest in medieval history among Protestants. Perhaps there was more Evangelical history than previously suspected. Moreover, the study of history gained momentum as an essential field of the theological discipline. The notion of a succession of teaching, rather than persons, gained clout. A church’s catholic or ancient roots took on more than institutional dynamics. In fact, the church as institution became a more complicated matter.
On what was the institution grounded? In whom was it grounded? How was one to recognize the true church, the one that went back to Peter, to Christ? Flacius gave a Protestant, an Evangelical, answer that had staying power. The Catalogus also gave birth to innumerable streams of research. Ambitious young scholars, Protestant and Roman Catholic, found all sorts of leads to follow. The Catalogus became a search engine of sorts. Whether wanting to dig deeper into its arguments or eager to counter them, theologians and historians discovered angles to explore, rabbit holes to dive into, and manuscripts to chase down, authenticate, and annotate.
Read more about Matthias Flacius Illyricus’ life and contributions to the Reformation in Life Under the Cross.
