Case of Antipope Ursicinus and his deposition from his Throne in Rome Before Great Western Schism = Heretic Cannot Be a Pope
In May 357, at the insistence of a number of prominent Romans, Liberius was allowed to return. Apparently the Emperor expected Felix and Liberius to rule jointly, but when Liberius returned, Felix was forced to retire to Porto, near Rome, where, after making an unsuccessful attempt to establish himself again in Rome, he died on 22 November 365.
Liberius died on 24 September 366. The upper-class partisans of Felix (note: Later the Antipope, because although he was a Saint when defended The Holy Trinity against the Emperor, His election wasn't valid because Pope Liberius still ruled until his death) threw their support to Damasus, but the opposing supporters of Liberius. Many bishop, the deacons and laity in Rome, supported Antipope Ursicinus; The election was done and Ursicinus was elected as Pope by Majority in Rome and this action was supported by the Emperor Constantius II before papal election was held. Constantius successors like Valens and Julian the Apostate, supported Ursicinus to be a Pope. While Arianism is contradicted with Catholicism. (To know more about Arianism, please visit this link : https://romancatholictraditional.blogspot.com/2024/11/council-of-nicea-325-ad-and-arianism.html?m=1 )
When Rome was fallen into Arianism Crisis, St. Damasus hasten to move forward and planned his opposition. As a Catholic, He was successful to persuade The Emperor Gratian about Catholic Teachings and how Gratian could obey to St. Damasus. Damasus was made as an Archdeacon of the Roman church before Pope Liberius was returned to Rome.
Pavement of Julian Basilica & Tabularium, antique print 1872
When Rome was ruled by Antipope Ursicinus and influenced by Arianism (366-367), St. Damasus had planned the efficient strikes to revolt and banished Ursicinus. Thanks to the Help of Emperor Gratian and when Valens the Arian Emperor was killed on Battle of Adrianople, St. Damasus could organize many Catholic troops and consolidated his strengths to revolt against Ursicinus, that stormed the Julian Basilica, carrying out a three-day massacre of the Ursinians.
Bishop Thomas Shahan (Church Historian) says details of this scandalous conflict are related in the highly prejudiced "Libellus precum ad Imperatores" (P.L., XIII, 83–107), a petition to the civil authority on the part of Faustinus and Marcellinus, two anti-Damasan presbyters. Such was the violence and bloodshed that the two prefects of the city were called in to restore order, and after a first setback, when they were driven to the suburbs and a massacre of 137 Arians was perpetrated in the basilica of Sicininus (the modern Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore), the prefects banished Ursinus to Gaul. There was further violence when he returned, which continued after Ursinus was exiled again.
Another ancient narrative of events, the "Gesta" (dated to 368 AD), provides more detail. It describes Ursicinus as being the valid Pope successor to Liberius, and Damasus as rebel, the follower of St. Felix II. This account also records that an armed force instigated by Damasus broke into the Basilica of Julius and a three-day slaughtering of those assembled there took place. After gaining control of the Lateran basilica Damasus was then ordained as Bishop in the cathedral of Rome. However, St. Damasus was accused of bribing the urban officials of Rome to have Ursinus and chief supporters exiled, including some presbyters. Fortunately, St. Damasus action was justified with True Faith because St. Damasus was defender of Catholic Faith. And about Election of Ursicinus although this election was runned by Roman Clergies and Bishops, his papal election was Invalidated because his Heresy. As a result of this attempt, some of the (apparently quite numerous) supporters of Ursinus interrupted this process and rescued the presbyters, taking them to the Basilica of Liberius (identified as the "basilica of Sicinnius"), the apparent headquarters of the Ursinian evil sect. St. Damasus then responded by ordering an attack against the Liberian basilica, resulting in another massacre: "They broke down the doors and set fire underneath it, then rushed in...and killed a hundred and sixty of the people inside, both men and women." Damasus next sent a final assault against some Ursinian supporters who had fled to the cemetery of Saint Agnes, slaying many. (Source : Ammianus Marcellinus " Gesta 368 " , Translated by J.C. Rolfe, Ammianus Marcellinus -Cambridge: Loeb Classical Library, 1939), pp. 19, 61ff)
" If your right eye misleads you, tear it out and throw it away. It is preferable for you to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into Hell. And if your right hand misleads you, cut it off and throw it away. It is preferable for you to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body thrown into Hell. " (Matthew 5:29-30, on Douay Rheims interpretation to justify the Inquisition against Heretics)
" Exsurge, Deus, judica causam tuam; memor esto improperiorum tuorum, eorum quae ab insipiente sunt tota die. Ne obliviscaris voces inimicorum tuorum: superbia eorum qui te oderunt ascendit semper. " (Psalmi 73:22-23 on Latin Vulgate)
" Arise, O God, judge thy own cause: remember thy reproaches with which the foolish man hath reproached thee all the day. Forget not the voices of thy enemies: the pride of them that hate thee ascendeth continually. "
From the Story of Pope St. Damasus I and How He fought against Antipope. We can conclude that a Pope cannot teach a Heresy on his ex Cathedra and His Magisterium on Church. So, Ursicinus was ceased to be Pope and could be replaced with Pope St. Damasus I.
And the Same Pope, St. Damasus I was active in defending the Catholic Church against the threat of schisms. In two Roman synods (368 and 369) he condemned Apollinarianism and Macedonianism, and sent legates to the First Council of Constantinople that was convoked in 381 to address these heresies. Anti-Patriarch Eusebius of Nicomedia, Maximus I the infilttator of Cynic, Demophilius, and Anti-Patriarch Macedonius I were deposed from their thrones as Patriarchs of Constantinople by Pope St. Damasus I because their heresies ceased them to be Patriarchs.
Pope St. Damasus I acknowledged Paul I of Constantinople was Valid Patriarch of Constantinople with Flavian, and Nectarios too on First Council of Constantinople (381):
" .... It tells us how to believe in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit: believing also, of course, that the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit have a single Godhead and power and substance, a dignity deserving the same honour and a co-eternal sovereignty, in three most perfect hypostases, or three perfect persons. So there is no place for Sabellius’s diseased theory in which the hypostases are confused and thus their proper characteristics destroyed. Nor may the blasphemy of Eunomians and Arians and Pneumatomachi prevail, with its division of substance or of nature or of Godhead, and its introduction of some nature which was produced subsequently, or was created, or was of a different substance, into the uncreated and consubstantial and co-eternal Trinity. And we preserve undistorted the accounts of the Lord’s taking of humanity, accepting as we do that the economy of his flesh was not soulless nor mindless nor imperfect. To sum up, we know that he was before the ages fully God the Word, and that in the last days he became fully man for the sake of our salvation.....
Hence at the ecumenical council by common agreement and in the presence of the most God-beloved emperor Theodosius and all the clergy, and with the approval of the whole city, we have ordained the most venerable and God-beloved Nectarius as bishop of the church newly set up, as one might say, in Constantinople —.... East came together and canonically ordained the most venerable and God-beloved Flavian as bishop with the consent of the whole church, as though it would give the man due honour with a single voice. The synod as a whole also accepted that this ordination was legal. We wish to inform you that the most venerable and God-beloved Cyril is bishop of the church in Jerusalem, the mother of all the churches. He was canonically ordained some time ago by those of the province and at various times he has valiantly combated the Arians.. . . .
.... we shall cease to declare what was condemned by the apostles, “I belong to Paul, I to Apollo, I to Cephas”; but we shall all be seen to belong to Christ, who has not been divided up among us; and with God’s good favour, we shall keep the body of the church undivided, and shall come before the judgment-seat of the Lord with confidence.
Canon 1,4,6, and 7 :
" The profession of faith of the holy fathers who gathered in Nicaea in Bithynia is not to be abrogated, but it is to remain in force. Every heresy is to be anathematised and in particular that of the Eunomians or Anomoeans, that of the Arians or Eudoxians, that of the Semi-Arians or Pneumatomachi, that of the Sabellians that of the Marcellians, that of the Photinians and that of the Apollinarians. " ...... " Regarding Maximus the Cynic and the disorder (note: form of Arian ordination and Arian episcopacy had erased many summoning, invocation to the Holy Trinity) which surrounded him in Constantinople: he never became, nor is he, a bishop; nor are those ordained by him clerics of any rank whatsoever. Everything that was done both to him and by him is to be held invalid. "
..... " In the second place, persons previously condemned and expelled from the church for whatever reason, or those excommunicated either from the clerical or lay rank, are not to be permitted to accuse a bishop until they have first purged their own crime. Similarly, those who are already accused are not permitted to accuse a bishop or other clerics until they have proved their own innocence of the crimes with which they are charged. (Note: Heretic cannot excommunicated anyone) " ...... " Those who embrace orthodoxy and join the number of those who are being saved from the heretics, we receive in the following regular and customary manner: Arians, Macedonians, Sabbatians, Novatians, those who call themselves Cathars and Aristae, Quartodeciman or Tetradites, Apollinarians-these we receive when they hand in statements and anathematise every heresy which is not of the same mind as the holy, catholic and apostolic church of God. They are first sealed or anointed with holy chrism on the forehead, eyes, nostrils, mouth and ears. As we seal them we say: “Seal of the gift of the holy Spirit”. But Eunomians, who are baptised in a single immersion, Montanists (called Phrygians here), Sabellians, who teach the identity of Father and Son and make certain other difficulties (Note : with changed Form of Baptism, changed form of Chrismation) , and all other sects — since there are many here, not least those who originate in the country of the Galatians — we receive all who wish to leave them and embrace orthodoxy as we do Greeks. On the first day we make Christians of them, on the second catechumens, on the third we exorcise them by breathing three times into their faces and their ears, and thus we catechise them and make them spend time in the church and listen to the scriptures; and then we baptise them (Note: their baptisms are Invalid because they erased some words of Baptism form and erased Trinitarian form)."
(First Council of Constantinople, convoked by Emperor Theodosius The Great Roman Catholic Monarch with Help from Pope St. Damasus I)
This is not just Antipope Ursicinus, but many Arian who became Patriarchs were deposed automatically from their thrones.
Thomas Cajetan said that for whom (de auctor. papae et con., cap. 20 et 21) the manifestly heretical Pope is “ipso facto” deposed, and must be deposed by the Church. For, in the first place, it is proven with arguments from authority and from reason that the manifest heretic is “ipso facto” deposed. The argument from authority is based on St. Paul (Titus, c. 3), who orders that the heretic be avoided after two warnings, that is, after showing himself to be manifestly obstinate — which means before any excommunication or judicial sentence. And this is what St. Jerome writes, adding that the other sinners are excluded from the Church by sentence of excommunication, but the heretics exile themselves and separate themselves by their own act from the body of Christ.
This principle is most certain. The non-Christian cannot in any way be Pope, as Cajetan himself admits (ib. c. 26). The reason for this is that he cannot be head of what he is not a member; now he who is not a Christian is not a member of the Church, and a manifest heretic is not a Christian, as is clearly taught by St. Cyprian (lib. 4, epist. 2), St. Athanasius (Scr. 2 cont. Arian.), St. Augustine (lib. de great. Christ. cap. 20), St. Jerome (contra Lucifer.) and others; therefore the manifest heretic cannot be Pope.
Finally, the Holy Fathers teach unanimously not only that heretics are outside of the Church, but also that they are “ipso facto” deprived of all ecclesiastical jurisdiction and dignity. St. Cyprian (lib. 2, epist. 6) says: “We affirm that absolutely no heretic or schismatic has any power or right”; and he also teaches (lib. 2, epist. 1) that the heretics who return to the Church must be received as laymen, even though they have been formerly priests or bishops in the Church. St. Optatus (lib. 1 cont. Parmen.) teaches that heretics and schismatics cannot have the keys of the kingdom of heaven, nor bind nor loose. St. Ambrose (lib. 1 de poenit., ca. 2), St. Augustine (in Enchir., cap 65), St. Jerome (lib. cont. Lucifer.) teach the same.
Pope St. Celestine I (epist. ad Jo. Antioch., which appears in Conc. Ephes., tom. I, cap. 19) wrote: “It is evident that he [who has been excommunicated by Nestorius] has remained and remains in communion with us, and that we do not consider destituted [i.e. deprived of office, by judgment of Nestorius], anyone who has been excommunicated or deprived of his charge, either episcopal or clerical, by Bishop Nestorius or by the others who followed him, after they commenced preaching heresy. For he who had already shown himself as deserving to be excommunicated, could not excommunicate anyone by his sentence.”
St. Nicholas I (epist. ad Michael) repeats and confirms the same. Finally, St. Thomas also teaches (S. Theol., II-II, q. 39, a. 3) that schismatics immediately lose all jurisdiction, and that anything they try to do on the basis of any jurisdiction will be null, includes to election of Patriarch amongst them.
“If however, God were to permit a pope to become a notoriously and contumacious heretic he would by such fact cease to be pope, and the apostolic chair would be vacant.” -- St. Alphonsus Liguori, Church Doctor: Verita bella Fede. Pt. iii, Ch.viii, 9-10.
“a Pope who is a manifest heretic, ceases in himself to be Pope and head, just as he ceases in himself to be a Christian and member of the body of the Church: whereby, he can be judged and punished by the Church” (De Romano Pontifice, II, 30).
A Punishment from Church to manifest Heretic can be excommunication, expulsion, and then the death penalty.
