who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit;
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 15. The Holy Ghost, which the apostles came to give the Samaritan Neophytes, was not the spirit of grace, of justice, and of sanctity, for that they had received at baptism; but the spirit of strength, to confess with confidence and freedom the name of Jesus, and the supernatural and miraculous graces, usually at that time granted to the faithful, by the imposition of hands. Philip did not administer the sacrament, because he could not; he was not a bishop. Hence now in the Church, we see only the chief pastors do it, præcipuos et non alios videmus hoc facere. See S. Chrysost. hom. xviii. in Acta.—There is no mention here, it is true, of unction, but the most venerable antiquity clearly specifies it. S. Cyprian, in the third age, says: “it is moreover necessary, that he who has been baptized, should be anointed, that having received the chrism, that is, the unction, he may be the anointed of God.” Ep. lxx.—In the next age, S. Pacianus writes: “Do you say that this (the power of remitting sins) was granted only to the apostles? Then I say, that they alone could baptize, and give the Holy Spirit, for to them alone was the command of doing it given. If, therefore, the right of conferring baptism, and of anointing, descended to their successors, to them also has come the power of binding and loosing.” Ep. i. ad Sym. Bibl. Max. Tirinus. iv. p. 307.