THE BRIDGE BUILDERS OF
THE CITY OF GOD
THE BRIDGE BUILDERS
OF THE CITY OF GOD
SOUVENIR OF THE CONSECRATION
OF THE RIGHT REV. E. B. LEDVINA,
D. D., AS BISHOP OF CORPUS CHRISTI,
FROM THE CA THOLIe CHURCH
EXTENSION SOCIETY OF THE
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
The Bridge Builders of the
City of God
.� : ::.�! "�:' :"", ..
.. ...... oJ -� ':) _. ' _j
... � II' 1 J> _" J o.J •
: � <I .I!� 1 � ,.¡ _J ¡; � �'..,
J "' . .,J ) J) ) I
_, .' J).J', ,_')
_j j J ., I .... ,))
Discourse pronounced on the occasion of the
Consecration of the Rt. Rev. Emmanuel B. Ledvina, D.D.
as Bishop of Corpus Christi, Texas, at St. Mary's
of-the-Woods, Indiana, June 14th, 1921, by the Right
Rev. Francis C. Kelley, S. T. D., LL. D., Protonotary
Apostolic. ..,
. "
. .
( .... '., ... '" '"
..... '
: i¡W '. � ':
..
e
..
..
•• t..." "
''tfié Bridge Builders of the
City of God
"Lo, I have set thee this day over the'
nations, and ov& kingdoms) to root up, and
to pull down} and to waste} and to destroy}
and to build, and to plant." -J eremiah, I} 10.
M ost Reverend, Right Reverend and Reverend Fathers,
Venerable Sisters} Dear Brethren:
Modestus, favorite of the Emperor Valens, sent by
his master to St. Basil, Bishop of Cesaria, whose feast
is celebrated this day, to command him to accept
Arianism, was surprised to receive this intrepid answer:
"My Emperor is God, and He forbids me to obey a
wicked order. As a creature lowe first obedience to
my Creator." "What then," said Modestus, "if I con­
fiscate your goods?" "Since I have no goods, how
can you confiscate them?" replied Basil. "But if I
exile you?" the courtier threatened. "All this earth,"
answered Basil, "is a place of exile." Astonished at
the boldness of the bishop's speech to a representative
of the powerful Emperor, Modestus angrily exclaimed:
3
"N ever before have I heard such language." The holy
pride of Basil in the dignity and strength of his office
arose in him; and his words became those of the entire
Episcopate of the Catholic Church, past, present and
future. "Then," he said, "Never before have you met
a bishop."
St. Augustine used a phrase in his learned writings
that has often since been taken as a motto for the
heraldic bearings of many of his fellow-bishops:
((I deo victor, quia victima- Therefore a victor, be­
cause a victim." Strange words these! Do they
apply to the Episcopate of the Catholic Church as did
the proud words of Basil? Quite evidently yes, since
so many Catholic bishops have placed them near enough
to their persons to keep their lesson in constant
memory.
More than once has the Book of the Prophet
Jeremiah, which we know chiefly for the sublime
Lamentations, been called upon to supply a text
applicable to the consecration of a Catholic bishop.
So it serves me now: "Lo, I have set thee this day
over the nations, and over kingdoms, ,to root up, and
to pull down, and to waste, and to destroy, and to
build, and to plant." Do these words also apply to
the Catholic Episcopate? I answer that, as bishops
are successors of the Prophets as well as of the
Apostles, the words apply to them.
From the defiance of St. Basil, from the motto con­
tributed by St. Augustine to his brethren, from the
text of Jeremiah, comes the conviction that, in the
glory and the joy of this occasion, there is a note
of dread. St. Basil's pride was not so much for his
own dignity, as for the ability in those who bore it
4
to face trials and sufferings. St. Augustine's words
picture triumphant crosses on old and on new
Calvaries. The text of Jeremiah sends a warning
down the years from the prophets, that he who is a
ruler in Israel, must bend his back to bitter service
for Israel.
What, then, is this terrible office that gave inspira­
tion to Basil to confound an Emperor with a dozen
words, which, shot down the centuries from the lips
that spoke them, remain an ever-living testimony to
the greatness of soul and the fidelity of the mitred
rulers of the Church of God? What is this office that
makes living victims of those who receive it, yet lifts
them to heights of glory never reached by conquerors?
What is the labor that can only be constructive by
first being destructive? rather, that out of destruction
builds and plants? The answer is that the Episcopate
is one of the greatest of the paradoxes of God; a
princely office to which princes are seldom called; an
office of dignity that can be successfully filled only
by humility, carrying with it as it does, at once the
purple of royalty and the rags of the beggar; an
office of authority, whose possessor is the one most
frequently attacked in this world, even by those
bound to render obedience to him. The Episcopate
is a blessing and a burden; a joy and a sorrow; a
crown of jewels and a crown of thorns; a supreme
opportunity and a supreme responsibility.
Have I not said enough to awaken your attention
and deep interest in an attempt to answer the ques­
tion now ready on your lips: What really is a Catho­
lic bishop? He is a Pastor and a Pontiff. Under
these two titles we shall look at him today, first
5
asking light through the intercession of Our Lady of
this Shrine, appropriately the scene of the consecra­
tion of a Pastor and Pontiff destined in a distant field
to renew its own wonderful missionary history.
1.
Jesus Christ, Whom St. Paul calls "the Pastor and
Bishop of your souls," came into this world to do the
very things set forth in the words of Jeremiah. He
destroyed to build. His mission was to destroy the
towers of Babylon and to build the City of God. The
City of God is built for men, as the fortress of the
supernatural life. Supernatural life alone can save
men; alone can make men happy; alone can strengthen
men to the end of reaching their eternal destiny.
Supernatural life is God's gift, which cannot be
merited, but must be accepted and guarded. There
are bridges and roads from the City of God over
which it comes to men. These bridges and roads are
the possessions of the Church established by Jesus
Christ. The bishop is the one who guards the gates
to them, who opens and shuts according to needs and
conditions. He is, therefore, a pastor and a servant
of God's elect. A portion of Christ's flock is
confided to him. He has his assistant pastors and
servants; but on him falls the chief responsibility.
So he is above his priests in power and in dignity.
Why?
The bishop alone has the power to confer all the
Sacraments. A priest may receive us as children of
God in Holy Baptism, but a bishop, confirming us in
that happy state, gives us the Sacrament of Strength,
and thereby makes us full-armed Christians. To the
6
voice of the priest is Our Lord obedient when He is
called to come down upon the altar in the Great
Sacrifice, and to absolve from sin; but the Holy
Ghost is obedient to the voice of the bishop when he
calls Him to enter and take possession of a soul
enlisted in the Army of God. The bishop is, then,
the human custodian of the graces of the Sanctifier,
of the Comforter and of the Teacher of all Truth.
The priest receives both his powers from the bishop
in ordination, and the right to use them in jurisdic­
tion. The bishop is the channel through which they
pass. But he is also the channel of greater powers,
since he alone can consecrate other bishops. Prefigur­
ing a River of Life in the Church, was the River
of Life in the Garden of Paradise. That River of
Life in the Church is the stream of the Apostolic
Succession. The bishops are at once the banks that
guard it and the bed over which it passes. Without
the bishops it would be lost in the swamps of dis­
cord, and disappear in the sands of the desert of
indifference.
It is plain, then, that the bishop is the mouthpiece
of the Church to his people. The head and chief
of the bishops, the successor of Peter, is the Vicar
of Jesus Christ ; but he is first a bishop. All other
bishops he addresses as his "Venerable Brethren,"
while he addresses priests as his' "Beloved Sons."
He, Vicar of Christ, speaks as Peter spoke, for his
brethren, since he is their ruler, yet also is he one
of themselves. They are the special servants of God,
and he is the Servant of the Servants of God. In
him is the infallibility that guards the purity of the
Faith and the integrity of the moral law: but in all
7
the bishops, united to him, rests also this infallibility.
So the bishop is the Doctor by excellence. Though
learned men who are not bishops may be teachers,
yet the purity of their doctrine is guarded by the
bishops; for the right of guardianship in the bishop
comes from a higher source than science. The
bishops keep the defences of the Christian Church.
Great as are the powers, high as is the dignity of
a bishop as pastor, yet his right to rule is the strong
citadel of the gifts of God to the people. It is his
jurisdiction that protects these gifts. He is, there­
fore, over priests and people. To that he must take
heed, as St. Paul warns him, for he is set "to rule
the Church of God." It is here that he must
invoke the sources of strength that he needs for
himself as a ruler. I t is here that we note the strange
paradox of a necessary humility in dignity as the
best preserver of a necessary authority in action. The
saintly Fenelon, in his letter to the Elector of
Cologne, upon whom he. was to lay the hands of
consecration, expresses this well and warningly;
"We (bishops) must be meek and humble of heart,
firm without haughtiness, and condescending without
weakness; poor and vile in our own eyes in the
grandeur inseparable from our state, not allowing to
this grandeur any more than what we have no right
to refuse to it."
I t is plain that the bishop as a chief pastor is the
guardian of the spiritual rights of his priests and of
their flocks, but he is more. He is the vigilant sentry
to prevent the intrusion of worldly ambitions and
worldly questions into their spiritual interests. In this
he is constantly aided by the admonitions of the
8
Sovereign Pontiffs. N one of these admonitions have
greater interest in this connection than one of the
very latest, indicating clearly thé mind of the present
Holy Father on this grave matter. Writing to the
bishops of Belgium regarding an unfortunate language
dispute which had already assumed political impor­
tance, Benedict XV clearly says: "The most serious
evil is that the clergy, by taking part in these bitter
quarrels, lose their dignity and compromise the effi­
ciency of their sacred ministry. Their line of conduct
is well defined by St. Paul in the passage where he
outlines the obligations of the priesthood. 'The
priest,' he says, 'is taken from among men, is ordained
to God.' Hence it is obvious that the duties of the
priest have a divine character, and that consequently
the authority of his ministry should never be placed
at the service of human interests. And, although the
priest is not prohibited from enjoying the civic rights
of other citizens, he is forbidden to use them in a
manner which would injure the efficiency of his
ministry." Wise words, indeed, and indicating plainly
the charge that is laid upon bishops as chief pastors,
both by precept and example, to keep the Christian
priesthood as a class set apart for God's work.
The crosier placed in the hand of the new bishop
today is, then, emblematic of his pastoral office. It
indicates his right to rule, but more his duty to guide.
It is not a staff to support his steps, but a marshal's
baton with which to point the way. The crook that
crowns it is not a weight with which to strike, but an
instrument to draw his charges from danger. Ecclesias­
tical writers compare the crosier to the sceptre of
kings, but not with strict justice; for not so is its
9
origin, not so the symbolism of its form. The Pope
carries no crosier. Peter gave his staff to a disciple to
raise the dead to life. Peter's successor authorizes the
crosier being given today, as a sign of a duty to
correct, to judge, to promote virtue, to censure and
to save from evil. What is this but to heal spiritua1
sickness, to raise to life again souls dead to sanctify­
ing grace?
II.
Important as is the office of a bishop as pastor of
souls, yet for the Church his title and rights as a
pontiff are more important still. As a chief pastor
he is intimately concerned with the government and
care of only a small part of the flock. As pontiff
the bishop has his obligations towards the whole
Church.
What is a pontiff? Far back into the mists of
early history we would have to go to trace the origin
and development of this dignity; but the meaning of
the word will suffice to show us what the title implies
in its possessor. The word "pontiff," or "pontifex,"
means a bridge-builder. In the early days of pagan
Rome there were six pontiffs; later fifteen, and, under
Julius Caesar, sixteen. The office was a religious
one; but it included the care of the bridges over the
Tiber, and formed a Supreme Court with jurisdiction
over all cases connected with religion. It is the
signification of the title upon which I wish especially
to dwell.
The care of the bridges of ancient Rome was
essential to the safety of the City, for the Tiber was
its strong line of defense. To watch the bridges
was to stand guard over the people. Later, when
10
Rome became a conquering nation, the bridges took
on a new importance, since over them passed the
victorious armies of the Empire and the returning
triumphs. All of Rome's power and of Rome's glory
had a connection with the bridges of the Tiber. Still
later came a new dignity to the bridges of Rome.
By them passed prefects and governors from the
City with the decrees and laws of the Empire of the
WorId. In return came tribute over the bridges. All
armies, rulers and laws, crossed the bridges to or
from the great military roads that bound the Empire
together. The bridges united the Empire to its
centre; united the provinces to the Capitol.
The day came when a stranger foot touched
the bridges of the Tiber, a foot "shod with the
preparation of the Gospel of Peace," and a new
destiny entered Rome with Peter. Wonder that the
Seven Hills did not tremble with joy that day, to
welcome one who was so soon to be the glory of the
City built upon them. But Peter came in the poverty
of Bethlehem, and men knew him as little as they
had known his Master. Yet Peter was to be known
better than the Caesars. He was to snatch from the
flames that destroyed the Empire the human means
of building better and stronger an Empire not of
the dust but of the soul. He was to begin the reign
of a new line of pontiffs, whose chief would sit in
Rome, but whose brethren would make new Rames
in lands that old Rome could never reach. His statue
was one day to top a column erected to the glory of
a pagan emperor. It still stands in Trajan's Forum,
looking down on the remains of the basilica of the
Ulpia wherein Constantine announced his acceptance
11
of Christianity. His name was to be given to . a
temple the like of which old Rome had not dreamed
of, even in the days of her greatest grandeur. His
laws were to replace the statutes of Augustus. His
sign, the sign of the Crucified, was to rise on the
Janiculum with his blood flowing over it, as a sign
of conquest; a sign of that new line of pontiffs who
with him could' say: ((1 deo victor, quia victima."
Out across the bridges of Rome soon passed the
brethren of Peter upon whom his hands had been
laid, the missionaries of the Gospel of Christ to a
waiting world, soldiers of the Army of Peace. The
miracle of Christianity, the conflict and the triumph
of it, glorified anew the bridges of the Eternal City.
Another day came when a bridge of Rome saw a
blood-stained and worn out civilization go from
power unequaled into the dust and shadow of the
grave. It was the Milvian Bridge, around which
surged the fight of Constantine and Maxentius. With­
in sight of its red-soaked planks rose the Labarum
that replaced the Eagles. The Cross triumphed, and
the bridge-builders of paganism began that day to die.
The Pontifex Maximus is now the Bishop of Rome.
The lesser Bridge-Builders are the bishops of the
Church Universal. It is that relationship to the
Church which is the highest honor of a Christian
bishop, for it marks the Catholicity of his title and
his office. It gives him a Catholic duty to the
Church Catholic, higher even than his duty to his
own diocese. N othing, then, that is of interest to
the preaching of the Gospel everywhere, to the growth
and extension of the Church Universal, can be
thought alien to a true Christian bishop. His partic­
ular duty and interest may be in one part of the
vineyard of the Lord, but he is the bridge-builder
and the bridge-keeper, the Pontifex. The great roads
to the uttermost ends of the earth stretch before him
12
where the bridges touch the opposite shore. He
must help equip and speed the Army of Christ that
passes over them, welcome and refresh the soldiers
coming back to the Triumph.
It is here that the dignity of the bishop as pontiff
rises to its greatest height of splendor and useful­
ness, for it is the missionary obligation attached to
the office that is the Church's first mark and sign of
truth-Unity. The bishops of the Catholic Church
form an unbreakable chain around the whole body of
Christian doctrine, around the entire Fold of Christ.
Their Chief, the Sovereign Pontiff, is the lock on
that chain. The Key is Christ Himself; and the
Keeper of the Key is the Eternal Father Who sent
Him. So the bishop is consecrated a bishop forever.
Whatever be his worthiness or unworthiness he re­
mains a link by the fact of his forging. He cannot
get away from his episcopal character. If he leaves
the chain he loses his usefulness but not the temper
of the iron of which he is made. Every new link
marks growth in the Fold that is encircled. New
links also constantly replace those that may be lost,
or taken away by death, for the Holy Ghost is the
Watcher and it is He Who forges each link and
guards the integrity of the chain. "I shall send the
Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth," says Christ, "Who
will teach you all things and abide with you forever."
The great pontifical obligation been sometimes
partially lost sight of by chief pastors immersed in
the laborious cares of their particular charges. But
it is not meet to lose sight of the World for the sake
even of the City. The cause of Christ is universal.
There should be no weak links on the chain. It is the
pontiff who must be the inspiration of the Missions.
It is the pontiff who must have the world vision.
For it was chiefly to the pontiff that Christ said:
"Preach the Gospel to every creature." The pontiff
13
is the Apostle. There is a sovereign remedy available
then for the cure of all our weaknesses. It is the
healing and helping hand of the Catholic Episcopate.
Archimedes said that he could move the world if he
had a fulcrum and a lever. We have both the fulcrum
and the lever to move it for Christ. The fulcrum is
Catholic Truth. The lever is Catholic Missions. But
the hand that must press the lever is the hand of
the pontiff, a successor of the Apostles, consecrated
for the offiee and work of a bishop in the Church
of God.
Do I need to cite proofs to show that this is the
true conception of the bishop as pontiff? I have
already hinted at two striking ones. Every Catholic
bishop shares, when united to the Pontifex Maximus
-the Pope-in the government of the Church U ni­
versal: for it is the bishops who are called into the
Ecumenical Councils, which mark as milestones the
history of Christianity. N o matter how learned the
doctor who goes to them, he goes only as an adviser
to the bishop. The responsibility rests not on the
doctor, but on the bishop. And again, the bishop,
united to the Pontifex Maximus, shares also with him
the infallibility that guards to the City of God the
purity of the deposit of Faith. If all men must "be­
lieve and be baptized" in order to attain the super­
natural life of grace and consequent salvation, there
must be a divinely preserved foree to keep the gates
and bridges. The supreme exercise of that force is
in the Pontifex Maximus, with his brother pontiffs,
the bishops of the Catholic Church.
The note of dread steals then very distinctly from
out the music of this great rejoicing. We are glad
that a new link is forged for the great chain: but
we know the strain that shall surely test it, and the
strength the trial will demand. We rejoice not in
the task nor in the test, but in the confidence we
14
share with the Church that this new pastor and
pontiff shall not fail. It is our sureness of him that
takes away the sad thought of the battle he must fight.
It is because we have learned what manner of a man
and a priest he was, that we can be glad in anticipa­
tion of what manner of a pastor and pontiff he shall
be. It is because we foresee fidelity, strength and
justice in the bishop that we can say farewell so
happily to the priest who was our brother. For all
I speak the sad yet joyful words of parting.
But for myself in particular I shall not say a full
Good-bye to you, my dear colleague, for we are not
to be entirely separated. We shall live in the same
house, even though you must gather with those of
the Upper Chamber into which comes the Spirit of
the Fiery Tongues. I shall hear below the thunder
of the great wind that marks His advent; and, even
though I shall not see the flame, I shall, pra y God,
always feel in my heart the warmth of it. How, then,
could I think that this is a parting? All the years
that we worked side by side have been years of peace
and mutual understanding. You have given wise
counsel in these years. Why should I lose it now
when, a consecrated channel of the Seven Gifts, you
can give it better than ever? Or is your place in
that Upper Chamber so pleasant an one that you
could ever forget the familiar post in which you
proved your worth? From labor you go to labor, and
to that new labor you carry the heart that learned
so well in Church Extension the beat of sympathetic
understanding. N either shall I mourn that the old
post sees you no longer, for you will still be there
in the traditions you helped to make. For the loyal
service that the Society has received of your head,
heart and hands I thank you, in the name of the dead
and the living Chancellor, in the name of the Gov­
ernors and of all your colleagues. Their prayer for
15
you is sincere and heartfelt. I speak it as I am sure
they would have it uttered.
O Thou, Who "watching over Israel neither sleeps
nor slumbers," hast given this day a new ruler to
Thy Church, a new prince and successor to her
Apostles, hast opened again the horn of oil to con­
secrate a pointiff, as once, by the hand of Thy servant
Samuel, Thou did'st raise up David to kingship, for
the glory and pride of Thy people. As with that
Royal Prophet Thou did'st stoop to choose a shepherd
boy to wear a crown, today Thou hast chosen one
whose life was given to the lowly duty of helping
shepherds, to wear on his brow the mitre of a
pontiff, and to carry in his hands the staff of a
chief pastor. But Thou hast chosen one whose heart
turns in loyalty to the City of Thy choice, the City
set upon the seven everlasting hills, the City of the
bridges, the City Eternal; one whose fidelity has been
tested "as gold in the furnace." Thou hast returned
Thy confidence for a great love, Thy love for a
consuming and wise zeal in Thy service. And I, who
have known this Thy Servant, by whose side he has
worked for fourteen long and happy years, take new
courage from the inspiration of this day to speak for
all others who also have known him, and to pray that
he shall always be to Thy Church a servant worthy
to enter into Thy joy, a pontiff worthy to guard
Thy people. Give him strength to uproot and pull
down, to lay waste and destroy error, corruption and
sin. Confirm him in the knowledge and prudence
needed to build up Thy Church and plant the seeds
of Thy Truth in his people. Give him strength of
arm, courage of heart and intrepidity of soul. Give
him the gift of seeing justice and measuring as he
sees. Give him length of days in Thy service. Give
him, above all, the wide vision of Thy earthly king­
dom, and the wider charity that shall make of him a
bishop, a pontiff, a missionary, after Thine own
Heart. Amen.
16