Callista : a Tale of the Third Century

by John Henry Newman

  Meanwhile Caecilius had been anxiously considering the course which it wassafest for him to pursue. He must move, but he must wait till dusk, whenthe ways were clear, and the light uncertain. Till then he must keep closein-doors. There was a remarkable cavern in the mountains above Sicca,which had been used as a place of refuge for Christians from the very timethey had first suffered persecution in Roman Africa. No spot in its wholeterritory seemed more fit for what is called a base of operations, fromwhich the soldiers of the Cross might advance, or to which they mightretire, according as the fury of their enemy grew or diminished. While itwas in the midst of a wilderness difficult of access, and feared as theresort of ghosts and evil influences, it was not far from a city near towhich the high roads met from Hippo and from Carthage. A branch of theBagradas, navigable for boats, opened a way from it through the woods,where flight and concealment were easy on a surprise, as far as Madaura,Vacca, and other places; at the same time it commanded the vast plain onthe south which extended to the roots of the Atlas. Just now, thepersecution growing, many deacons, other ecclesiastics, and prominentlaymen from all parts of the country had fallen back upon this cavern orgrotto; and in no place could Caecilius have better means than here oflearning the general state of affairs, and of communicating with countriesbeyond the seas. He was indeed on his way thither, when the illness ofAgellius made it a duty for him to stop and restore him, and attend to hisspiritual needs; and he had received an inward intimation, on which heimplicitly relied, to do so.

  The problem at this moment was how to reach the refuge in question. Hisdirect road lay through Sicca; this being impracticable at present, he hadto descend into the ravine which lay between him and the city, and,turning to the left, to traverse the broad plain, the Campus Martius ofSicca, into which it opened. Here the mountain would rise abruptly on hisright with those steep cliffs which we have already described as roundingthe north side of Sicca. He must traverse many miles before he could reachthe point at which the rock lost its precipitous character, and changedinto a declivity allowing the traveller to ascend. It was a boldundertaking; for all this he had to accomplish in the dark before themorning broke, a stranger too to the locality, and directing his movementsonly by the information of others, which, however accurate and distinct,could scarcely be followed, even if without risk of error, at leastwithout misgiving. However, could he master this point before the morninghe was comparatively safe; he then had to strike into the solitarymountains, and to retrace his steps for a while towards Sicca along theroad, till he came to a place where he knew that Christian scouts or_videttes_ (as they may be called) were always stationed.

  This being his plan, and there being no way of mending it, our confessorretired into the cottage, and devoted the intervening hours to intercoursewith that world from which his succour must come. He set himself tointercede for the Holy Catholic Church throughout the world, now for themost part under persecution, and for the Roman Empire, not yet holy, whichwas the instrument of the evil powers against her. He had to pray for theproconsulate, for Numidia, Mauretania, and the whole of Africa; for theChristian communities throughout it, for the cessation of the trial thenpresent, and for the fortitude and perseverance of all who were tried. Hehad to pray for his own personal friends, his penitents, converts,enemies; for children, catechumens, neophytes; for those who wereapproaching the Church, for those who had fallen away, or were fallingaway from her; for all heretics, for all troublers of unity, that theymight be reclaimed. He had to confess, bewail and deprecate the many sinsand offences which he knew of, foreboded, or saw in prospect as to come.Scarcely had he entered on his charge at Carthage four years before, whenhe had had to denounce one portentous scandal in which a sacred order ofthe ministry was implicated. What internal laxity did not that scandalimply! And then again what a low standard of religion, what niggardlyfaith, and what worn-out, used-up sanctity in the community at large, wasrevealed in the fact of those frequent apostasies of individuals whichthen were occurring! He prayed fervently that both from the bright patternof martyrs, and from the warning afforded by the lapsed, the Christianbody might be edified and invigorated. He saw with great anxiety twoschisms in prospect, when the persecution should come to an end, one fromthe perverseness of those who were too rigid, the other from those whowere too indulgent towards the fallen; and in proportion to his gift ofprescience was the earnestness of his intercession that the wounds of theChurch might be healed with the least possible delay. He then turned tothe thought of his own correspondence then in progress with the Holy RomanChurch, which had lately lost its bishop by martyrdom. This indeed was nounusual event with the see of Peter, in which the successors of Peterfollowed Peter's steps, as Peter had been bidden to follow the King andExemplar of Martyrs. But the special trouble was, that months had passed,full five, since the vacancy occurred, and it had not yet been supplied.Then he thought of Fabian, who made the vacancy, and who had alreadypassed through that trial which was to bring to so many Christians life orcondemnation, and he commended himself to his prayers against the hour ofhis own combat. He thought of Fabian's work, and went on to intercede forthe remnant of the seven apostles whom that Pope had sent into Gaul, andsome of whom had already obtained the martyr's crown. He prayed that theday might come, when not the cities only of that fair country, but itsrich champaigns and sunny slopes should hear the voice of the missionary.He prayed in like manner for Britain, that the successful work of anotherPope, St. Eleutherius, might be extended even to its four seas. And thenhe prayed for the neighbouring island on the west, still in heathendarkness, and for the endless expanse of Germany on the east, that theretoo the one saving name and glorious Faith might be known and accepted.

  His thoughts then travelled back to Rome and Italy, and to the martyrdomswhich had followed that of St. Fabian. Two Persians had already sufferedin the imperial city; Maximus had lost his life, and Felix had beenimprisoned, at Nola. Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt had already affordedvictims to the persecution, and cried aloud to all Christians for theirmost earnest prayers and for repeated Masses in behalf of those whoremained under the trial. Babylas, Bishop of Antioch, the third see inChristendom, was already martyred in that city. Here again Caecilius had astrong call on him for intercession, for a subtle form of freethinking wasthere manifesting itself, the issue of which was as uncertain as it mightbe frightful. The Bishop of Alexandria, that second of the large divisionsor patriarchates of the Church, the great Dionysius, the pupil of Origen,was an exile from his see, like himself. The messenger who brought thisnews to Carthage had heard at Alexandria a report from Neocaesarea, thatGregory, another pupil of Origen's, the Apostle of Pontus, had also beenobliged to conceal himself from the persecution. As for Origen himself,the aged, laborious, gifted, zealous teacher of his time, he was just thenengaged in answering the works of an Epicurean called Celsus, and on himtoo the persecution was likely to fall; and Caecilius prayed earnestly thatso great a soul might be kept from such high untrue speculations as werethreatening evil at Antioch, and from every deceit and snare which mightendanger his inheriting that bright crown which ought to be his portion inheaven. Another remarkable report had come, viz., that some young men ofEgypt had retired to the deserts up the country under the stress of thepersecution,--Paul was the name of one of them,--and that they were thereliving in the practice of mortification and prayer so singular, and hadcombats with the powers of darkness and visitations from above so special,as to open quite a new era in the spiritual history of the Church.

  And then his thoughts came back to his poor Agellius, and all thosehundred private matters of anxiety which the foes of the Church, occupiedonly with her external aspect, little suspected. For Agellius, he prayed,and for his; for the strange wayward Juba, for Jucundus, for Callista; ah!that Callista might be brought on to that glorious consummation, for whichshe seemed marked out! But the ways of the Most High are not as our ways,and those who to us seem nearest are often furthest from Him; and so ourholy priest left the whole matter in t
he hands of Him to whom he prayed,satisfied that he had done his part in praying.

  This was the course of thought which occupied him for many hours, after(as we have said) he had closed the door upon him, and knelt down beforethe cross. Not merely before the symbol of redemption did he kneel; for heopened his tunic at the neck, and drew thence a small golden pyx which wasthere suspended. In that carefully fastened case he possessed the Holiest,his Lord and his God. That Everlasting Presence was his stay and guideamid his weary wanderings, his joy and consolation amid his overpoweringanxieties. Behold the secret of his sweet serenity, and his clearunclouded determination. He had placed it upon the small table at which heknelt, and was soon absorbed in meditation and intercession.