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The title "Vicar of Christ" came into use in the fifth and sixth centuries. The Christian Church prior to Constantine reserved the titles, "Vicar of Christ" and "Vicar of the Lord" exclusively for the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to His Apostles to complete their training (John 16:12-15). Tertullian demonstrates this fact in the following quotes: (emphasis added)

" Grant, then, that all have erred; that the apostle was mistaken in giving his testimony; that the Holy Ghost ... He, the Steward of God, the Vicar of Christ ...[1] "
" For what kind of (supposition) is it, that, while the devil is always operating and adding daily to the ingenuities of iniquity, the work of God should either have ceased, or else have desisted from advancing? whereas the reason why the Lord sent the Paraclete was, that, since human mediocrity was unable to take in all things at once, discipline should, little by little, be directed, and ordained, and carried on to perfection, by that Vicar of the Lord, the Holy Spirit.[2]

Fascinating. The only thing that is shocking is how not shocked I am. LOL! Just another in a long line of examples of pulling God down to raise men up. God must decrease so that men may increase.

Fascinating, indeed. Thanks for this eye-opening fact.