Homily: August 2 - St. Eusebius of Vercelli

St. Eusebius is one of the great defenders of the Church during one of her most trying periods.

The time was the third century, the challenge facing the Church was the heresy of Arianism which denied the Divinity of Christ.

A synod was called by Pope Liberius in 355 to help settle the growing split between loyal Catholics and the Arians, and the Pope’s delegate was the first bishop of Vercelli, Bishop Eusebius.

During the Council, the Arians were vicious in arguing that the Son of God did not always exist, that he was inferior in divinity to God the Father.  They wanted the Catholics to acknowledge their position by having them officially condemn the writings and teachings of St. Athanasius who defended the true faith at the First Council of Nicaea.

Eusebius and other bishops loyal to Rome refused to go along with the condemnation of Athanasius.  

Instead, Eusebius laid the Nicene Creed on the table and insisted that all sign it before taking up any other matter.  The Roman Emperor began to put pressure on Eusebius and the loyal bishops.  But Eusebius did not relent, in fact he confronted the Emperor for attempting to use secular force to influence Church decisions—boy, does that sound familiar.

Eusebius, like Athanasius before him, was condemned to exile for not supporting the Emperor’s will--for defending the truth against political expediency. 

St. Eusebius defended the Church’s teaching not only by words, but by personal witness in undergoing suffering and exile. 

There the Arians dragged Eusebius through the streets, imprisoned him, and continue to harass him.

We do well to pray for our bishops, that they may defend the Church’s teaching against those who seek to destroy her.  Many people would not necessarily deny the divinity of Christ formally, by becoming card-carrying Arian heretics.  But, the danger in our modern day is more subtle.  The danger is that we affirm the divinity of Christ in one breath, but ignore his divine teaching in our actions.  Our conduct, our choices, our attitudes need to all point to our faith that Christ is God.  Christ is the only way to salvation, he is the only road to the freedom and peace that the human race longs for. 

And we pray this day, through the intercession of St. Eusebius and all the saints, that the truth of Christ will permeate every dimension of our society and every human heart, that his joy and truth might be in us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.