La saluberrima auctoritas del sinodo: il tracciato della sinodalitá al tempo di Agostino d'Ippona by Giuseppe Di Corrado (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: La saluberrima auctoritas del sinodo: il tracciato della sinodalitá al tempo di Agostino d'Ippona by Giuseppe Di Corrado Simon Mercieca La saluberrima auctoritas del sinodo: il tracciato della sinodalitá al tempo di Agostino d'Ippona. By Giuseppe Di Corrado. (Trapani, Italy: Il Pozzo di Giacobbe. 2022. Pp. 165. €20,00. ISBN 978-88-6124-997-4). The title of his book in English would be: The Healthy Authority of the Synod: the Pathways of Synodality at the Time of Augustine of Hippo. As noted by Cardinal Mario Grech, in the introduction to this book, this is an important work that will help the Roman Catholic Church find its path along the tortuous road of the third millennium. Grech is absolutely right. As observed by the author, Giuseppe Di Corrado, reconstructing the history of the origins of synodality within the Church is not easy, as the early fathers did not keep records or have fixed rules and regulations about how these synods were to be convened and held. Therefore, even the percursus of constructing such a history represents a mammoth task. However, the end result is more than rewarding, for it can help today's Church establish the correct way of holding synods and what these synods should represent to the faithful of God. Di Corrado has built his narrative step by step from snippets, and detailed references, to the administrative procedures from works of St. Augustine and other early fathers of the Church. No source has been ignored, including those considered controversial such as the works and letters of Pelagius. Even disputed theological treaties can furnish invaluable historical information. Nothing in history can or should ever be discarded. What is of great interest here, and this is not only for those who study early church history but also for those interested in the development of democracy in Europe, is that this process of synodality began in North Africa. It was the work of the bishops in North Africa, starting with Augustine of Hippo—but not only Augustine—who established the Roman authority of the pope on the principle of collegiality. [End Page 392] Thanks to this process, Rome had left it in the hands of local bishops to regulate issues of discipline within their own dioceses. On their part, the bishops did not take matters into their hands but sought to regulate their actions through the governing body of the synod. The way these synods met was not much different from the way parliaments or Estates-General worked in Europe during Early Modern Times. What made these synods unique, and I would add precursors of modern parliaments, was the fact that the laymen had a right to attend and even to set and influence the synods' agenda. As happens in parliaments today, they were not allowed to sit with the elected who, in the case of the synods, were the priests and presbyterians; the rest stayed outside the presbytery. At the same time, Di Corrado warns the reader that the synods should not be considered—as rightly stated by Pope Francis—to be a sort of church parliament. Synods were not held to confront theologians nor to set up policies but to bring reconciliation within the Church's fractured communities. This was to materialize through auctoritas or authority. This explains why authority is described as salubrious in this book. Therefore, auctoritas goes beyond the Foucauldian interpretation of power. The power of the Church, Di Corrado reminds us, should be employed differently from the power or auctoritas of the state. The power of the Church should be led by the Holy Spirit and the love toward one's neighbor. Di Corrado's work reveals another interesting aspect that deserves attention. In this period of early Christianity, there was no concept of separation of powers. This is what the author of this book means when he states that the Church of Africa, in particular St. Augustine, upheld the principle that the ultimate power lay with the pope in Rome. In other words, in the Early Church, there were different concepts of power or auctoritas and the auctoritas of the pope in Rome was understood differently from the auctoritas of...