Struggling with Jesus' divinity

By Tony Staley
Compass Editor

	St. Eusebius of Vercelli When: died 371 Where: Italy What: Bishop, defender of the faith Feast: Aug. 2

The 4th century was a difficult time for the church. For a half century, the Arians, a heretical group who denied that Jesus is divine, held great power in the church because they often had the support of the emperors.

The chief opponent of the Arians was St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, who five times was forced into exile. Among those who supported him was St. Eusebius.

Eusebius was born on the isle of Sardinia. After his father was martyred by the Romans, Eusebius' mother took him and his sister, both infants, to Rome. After he was ordained a lector, Eusebius was called to Vercelli in northwest Italy. Eventually the clergy and people chose him to as their bishop - the first bishop of Vercelli whose name survives.

Because Eusebius believed that people's spiritual welfare depended on the quality of the clergy, he trained his priests and deacons carefully and became the first Western bishop to live in community with his clergy. Indeed, the Augustinian Canons consider Eusebius as their co-founder along with St. Augustine.

In 354, Pope Liberius asked Eusebius and Lucifer of Cagliari to convince Emperor Constantius to call a council to settle the dispute between the Christians and the Arians.

The council convened the next year in Milan. By then, Eusebius saw that, while the Christians were in the majority, Arians held more power, so he refused to attend, until the emperor asked him to do so.

At the council, the bishops were asked to sign a decree condemning Athanasius. Eusebius refused. Instead, he placed a copy of the Nicene Creed - which confirmed the divinity of Christ that the Arians denied - on the table and insisted that everyone sign it before considering the case against Athanasius.

An uproar followed. Finally, the emperor sent for Eusebius, St. Dionysius of Milan and Lucifer of Cagliari. They refused to condemn Athanasius, arguing that he must be allowed to speak and that the state should not interfere with church matters. That angered the emperor, who threatened to have them killed, but then ordered them banished.

Eusebius was sent to live with the Arian bishop of Palestine. At first, he was treated respectfully. Eventually, though, he was insulted, dragged through town half naked and locked in a room. For four days, the Arians worked to change his mind. Eusebius went on a hunger strike, so they sent him back to his earlier lodgings.

Three weeks later, they broke into his house, dragged him away, pillaged his possessions, drove away his friends and then sent him to Cappadocia and later to Egypt.

After Constantius died in 361, Emperor Julian let banished bishops return to their dioceses. Eusebius and Athansius attended the Council of Alexandria, but a solution was still years away, so Eusebius returned to Vercellis where he died a decade later.