In each of St. Francis de Sales’s pamphlets, he masterfully expressed the truths of the Church with such sincerity and sway that they converted over 72,000 Calvinists. Read on for his powerful writing on Peter, the first pope and rock of the Church.
Christening Men with New Names
When Our Lord imposes a name upon men, he always bestows some particular grace according to the name which he gives them.
Abraham
If he changes the name of that great father of believers, and of Abram makes him Abraham, also of a high father, he makes him father of many, giving the reason at the same time: Thou shalt be called Abraham; because I have made thee the father of many nations.
Sara
And changing that of Sarai into Sara, of lady that she was in Abraham’s house, he makes her lady of the nations and peoples who were to be born of her.
Israel
If he changes Jacob into Israel, the reason is immediately given: For if thou hast been powerful against God, how much more shalt thou prevail against men.
John the Baptist
So that God by the names which he imposes not only marks the things named, but teaches us something of their qualities and conditions.
Witness the angels, who have names only according to their offices, and St. John Baptist, who has the grace in his name which he announced in his preaching; as is customary in that holy language of the Israelites.
Peter
The imposition of the name in the case of St. Peter is no small argument of the particular excellence of his charge, according to the very reason which Our Lord appended: Thou art Peter, and so on.
But what name does he give him? A name full of majesty, not common, not trivial, but one expressive of superiority and authority, like unto that of Abraham himself. For if Abraham was thus called because he was to be father of many nations, St. Peter has received this name because upon him as upon a firm rock was to be founded the multitude of Christians.
Christ’s Promise to Peter and the Church
What does Christ say? Three things, but we must consider them one after the other: Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. He says that Peter was a stone or rock, and that on this rock or this stone he would build his Church.
Let us now see what these words are worth and what they import.
1. We know that what the head is to a living body, the root to a tree, that the foundation is to a building. Our Lord then, who is comparing his Church to a building, when he says that he will build it on St. Peter, shows that St. Peter will be its foundation stone, the root of this precious tree, the head of this excellent body. The French call both the building and the family, house, on this principle, that as a house is simply a collection of stones and other materials arranged with order, correspondence and measure, so a family is simply a collection of persons with order and interdependence. It is after this likeness that Our Lord calls his Church a building, and when he makes St. Peter its foundation, he makes him head and superior of this family.
2. By these words, Our Lord shows the perpetuity and immovableness of this foundation. The stone on which one raises the building is the first, the others rest on it. Other stones may be removed without overthrowing the edifice, but he who takes away the foundation, knocks down the house. If then the gates of hell can in no wise prevail against the Church, they can in no wise prevail against its foundation and head, which they cannot take away and overturn without entirely overturning the whole edifice. He shows one of the differences there are between St. Peter and himself. For Our Lord is foundation and founder, foundation and builder, but St. Peter is only foundation. Our Lord is its Master and Lord in perpetuity; St. Peter has only the management of it, as we shall explain by and by.
3. By these words, Our Lord shows that the stones which are not placed and fixed on this foundation are not of the Church, although they may be in the Church.
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Catholic Controversy by St. Francis de Sales which is available from TAN Books.
