Apologeticae sive Theologiae Fundamentalis, Tomus II (Pars Altera): Demonstratio Catholica

1. The nature of the notes. From what has been set forth, the notes are the properties by which the Church of Christ is manifested. They are called properties; for the properties contain and constitute the essence of the Church, so that when they are known, it is known as well. Nevertheless, not all properties of the Church are also notes of it, but only those by which the Church of Christ is manifested, i.e. by which it appears extrinsically. Hence there are two endowments of the notes:

a) First, that they be proper in the strict sense, i.e. that they belong to the essence of the Church necessarily and exclusively. Necessarily, indeed, so that they are not in the Church as it were accidentally, but cohere with it inseparably; otherwise it could come about that, although we call them notes, the Church would have the manifest properties for a time, but afterwards lose them completely. Also exclusively, or in an exclusive manner, so that they belong to the true Church alone, and are not common to spurious churches; otherwise the notes could not designate the true Church, since no thing can be distinguished by a sign common to many. Whether, however, each individual note, or only all taken collectively, must be exclusively proper to the Church of Christ, the theologians dispute. In itself it suffices that the true Church stand out by the complex of notes proper to it; but it is better that the notes even individually be such that they belong exclusively to the true Church alone.

b) Second, that they be manifest in the strict sense, i.e. that they render the Church visible, or easily knowable, both absolutely and relatively. Absolutely, indeed, so that the Church, not yet known, can be known from the notes without great difficulty and distinguished from false churches. Hence the notes ought to be better known than the Church; otherwise the note would not demonstrate the Church, but the Church the note. In the question of the notes, the notion of the Church in the abstract is of course presupposed, by which we know that Christ instituted some Church; not, however, the notion of the Church in the concrete, by which we inquire which of all the Christian bodies is the Church truly instituted by Christ. Relatively, however, or in proportion to the human mind, the notes should be so manifest that, with serious diligence employed, the true Church can be distinguished by all men. Hence the notes ought also to be obvious to the uneducated, from which they themselves must learn which Church they are bound to enter and in which to remain in order to attain salvation; otherwise God would not have sufficiently provided for the salvation of all men. Therefore, if not all the notes entirely, at least one or another should be within reach of the unlearned and slow of mind.

From this the difference appears between the notes, by which the Church is manifested objectively, and the motives of credibility, by which individual men arrive subjectively at the Church. The motives of credibility, by which each individual arrives at the Church, are often not proper to the Church, i.e. they do not necessarily and exclusively pertain to its essence, e.g. a miracle wrought in its favor; the reading of a pious book; the authority of a learned priest, etc. Likewise they are not always manifest, but sometimes more unknown than the Church itself and inaccessible to the common run of men, e.g. the sublimity of ecclesiastical doctrine; the conformity of the faith of the Church with the faith of antiquity, etc. On the contrary, the notes are nothing other than those essential properties which render the Church manifest, or easily knowable.

2. The notes of the non-Catholics, which are maintained either by the Greco-Schismatics or by the Protestants, do not correspond to the nature of the notes as expounded.

a) The Greco-Schismatics, or Eastern Orthodox, posit a single note of the Church, namely the preservation of the ancient doctrine of the oecumenical Church, which is contained in the unanimous consensus of the Fathers and in the decrees of the seven prior general councils.¹ But the preservation of the ancient doctrine is not a manifest quality of the Church, since, as we have already said, it is more unknown than the Church itself and inaccessible to the common run of men. Moreover, it is by no means permissible to restrict the consensus of the Church to the earlier councils alone, since Christ, as we shall see, promised infallibility to the teaching Church until the consummation of the age.

b) The Protestants have been accustomed to assign two notes of the true Church: the pure preaching of the word and the right administration of the sacraments.² But these things, although they are qualities of the Church, are nevertheless not notes of it. For they are not qualities exclusively proper to the true Church, since they can belong to a schismatic body as well, as was the case at the beginning of the schism of the Luciferians and Donatists. Nor are they manifest qualities, since the most learned among the Protestants themselves dispute most keenly what is the pure preaching of the gospel and the right administration of the sacraments, and since it is clear that the Church is better known than the pure preaching of the gospel and the right administration of the sacraments, which we do not learn except through the mediation of the Church.

3. The notes of the Catholics are those four which already the second oecumenical council (the first Constantinopolitan, celebrated in the year 381) set down in its creed: Πιστεύομεν … εἰς μίαν ἁγίαν, καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν: I believe … one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.³ The opinions of all the theologians concerning the four notes agree in substance. For although they sometimes enumerate more in number, in reality they explain only those four at greater length. E.g. Bellarmine enumerates fifteen notes, but confesses that they are all reduced to those four.⁴

That the endowments of the notes belong to unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity is evident without difficulty. For that these are manifest qualities, everyone sees. With these four internal-external qualities the Church shines with such visibility that even the uneducated are able to perceive it. That the same, moreover, are qualities necessarily and exclusively proper to the true Church is evident from this, that they manifest the whole internal essence of the Church externally. "For every property of the Church can be referred either to its origin, which is apostolic, or to its constitution, by which it is a monarchical hierarchy, the principle of unity, or to its extensive and external efficacy, to which catholicity pertains, or to its intensive and internal efficacy, whose fruit is holiness."⁵ Therefore those four signs, all and each, pertain necessarily to the true Church, and, at least taken collectively, are exclusively proper to it alone.

A society to which even one of these four notes is lacking is certainly not the true Church of Christ. A society, however, to which none of these notes is lacking is without doubt the true Church of Christ. But let us now set forth each one.

The discussion is not about mathematical unity, by which the Church is one, but about moral unity, by which it is undivided. That the Church is one we have already proved. It remains, however, to be shown that by Christ's institution it is undivided, or morally one, both by the unity of creedal confession and by the unity of social communion: by the unity of confession, which recoils from heresy, and by the unity of communion, which forbids schism.

It is to be presumed that the Church excels by the confession of one faith, since it follows the one Christ as teacher and is subject to the one magisterium established by Christ. The following expressly require the unity of the symbolic confession:

1. Christ. Christ commanded the apostles to "teach all nations", and indeed to "teach all things, whatsoever He commanded", and to preach the "gospel" in its entirety "to every creature".¹ To these precepts He simply adds: "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned."² Therefore the teaching Church is bound to preach the same evangelical doctrine everywhere and to all men, and the learning Church, in its entirety and everywhere, is bound to profess the same evangelical doctrine. And this with the added sanction of eternal salvation and eternal punishment. From this there undeniably arises the unity of the symbolic confession, whereby every heresy is kept away from the Church.

2. Paul. Paul, solicitous about the unity of faith, teaches the Ephesians: "One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all"³ He reproaches the Galatians: "I marvel that you are so quickly transferred from him who called you into the grace of Christ, to another gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven preach to you a gospel other than that which we preached to you, let him be anathema."⁴ He warns Titus: "Avoid a heretical man after one and a second admonition, knowing that one who is such is subverted and sins, being condemned by his own judgment."⁵ He entreats Timothy: "O Timothy, guard the deposit, avoiding profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called, which some promising have erred concerning the faith."⁶

3. Christian antiquity. From the innumerable testimonies that bear upon this matter we draw out these few. St. Irenaeus says: "The true and universal Church holds one and the same faith throughout the whole world."⁷ He describes the preaching of the Church as "everywhere constant and equally persevering".⁸ Theodoret explains: "Just as any city contains within itself many houses divided among themselves and yet is called one city, so the churches are infinite and innumerable, on the islands and on the continent, and at the same time all are brought back into one, united by the consonance of true dogmas."⁹ St. Augustine writes about the Church: "The raiment of this queen [the Church] … is precious and varied: the sacraments of doctrine in all the various languages … But just as all the variety of the garment agrees in unity, so too all languages [agree] unto one faith … Whatever the variety of languages, one gold is preached: not diverse gold, but variety from gold. For all languages preach the same wisdom, the same doctrine and discipline. Variety in the languages, gold in the sentences."¹⁰ Above the testimonies of these and of other individual fathers stand the creeds prescribed to the whole Church by the first ecumenical councils for the preservation of unity. Such a creed the first Nicene council already prescribed to be professed, adding an anathema against those who would believe otherwise.¹¹

By these texts of Christ, of Paul, and of antiquity, the unity of the symbolic confession is not only demanded but also defined, so that it extends to the whole revealed doctrine and to it alone. To the whole revealed doctrine: whence certain Protestants wrongly contend that for the unity of faith in the Church, and likewise for attaining eternal salvation, agreement on the "fundamental" articles suffices, while the "non-fundamental" ones can be denied without detriment to unity and salvation.¹² To the revealed doctrine alone: whence the unity of the Church can be perfect, although various ecclesiastical laws, various liturgical forms, various theological opinions, etc. are found. Provided that all things which Christ revealed are preached and believed everywhere and by all.

The social communion of the Church consists in this, that all the faithful, through one and the same hierarchical government, are gathered together into one and the same organism, with every schism excluded. The following expressly require this unity of social communion:

1. Christ, because He instituted the Church as a society properly and strictly so called, and everywhere describes it by the metaphors of a kingdom, a city, a house, a sheepfold, a flock. All of which presuppose the social unity of the Church. To obtain this unity among His own and to strengthen it forever, Christ poured forth a prayer to the Father: "Holy Father, keep them [the apostles] in thy name, whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we also are … And not for them only do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me: that they all may be one, as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them: that they may be one, as we also are one: that they may be made perfect in one and the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved me."¹

2. Paul. For he describes the Church, as we already know, very often by the metaphor of the human body, signifying that it is one moral whole, just as the human body is one physical whole. "For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, whereas they are many, yet are one body: so also is Christ [the mystical = the Church]. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body … The members indeed are many, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand: I have no need of thy works: or again the head to the feet: You are not necessary to me … that there may be no schism in the body, but the members might be mutually solicitous one for another … But you are the body of Christ, and members of member.² Just as all the members of the body coalesce in an orderly and intimate manner into one body; just as the individual members have their own office and are helped and fostered by the other members; just as there is no schism in the body, but a mutual unity of communion and charity: so also is the mystical body of Christ, i. e. the Church.

3. Christian antiquity. The Fathers exceedingly abhorred schisms and forbade every communion of the faithful with schismatics, e. g. already s. Ignatius: "If anyone follows one who makes a schism, he shall not obtain the inheritance of the divine kingdom."³ The faithful who were about to travel abroad, that they might be admitted in foreign churches, were furnished with letters, as they called them, canonical communicatory or formatae.⁴ By similar letters given and received the bishops testified to union with other bishops and other churches;⁵ but above all they proved social communion with the universal Church by formatae sent to the Roman pontiff and received in turn from him.⁶

In truth, the unity of creedal confession and of the social communion of the whole Church is ultimately effected, preserved, and demonstrated solely by union with the supreme pontiff. The members of the human body constitute one body, inasmuch as through every joint of supply they cohere to the head;⁷ the faithful of the Church visibly constitute one mystical body of Christ, inasmuch as through the bishops they cohere to the supreme pontiff, the visible head of the Church.

The Church is called holy inasmuch as it is an institution essentially holy and inasmuch as it is an institution efficaciously sanctifying. That it is an institution essentially holy is evident, since by reason of its origin, end, head, and soul it is divine. But it must be shown that it is also an institution efficaciously sanctifying, i. e. that the divine element of the Church efficaciously promotes the holiness of the human element, and indeed holiness taken simply and holiness taken emphatically.

"Sanctity is said to be that by which the mind of man applies itself and its acts to God."¹ The Church, therefore, in order to be efficaciously holy, must apply the minds and acts of the faithful to God, i. e. it must conform their external and internal life to the divine will by fleeing sins and cultivating virtues. That the true Church is distinguished from the false by this holiness is made indubitable from the words of the Savior: "By their fruits you will know them … Every good tree bears good fruits: but the evil tree bears evil fruits."² A good tree has a fruit-bearing nature, exercises a fruit-bearing power, and actually bears good fruits. So too the Church of Christ should excel in holiness of doctrine, of means, and of members.

1. By holiness of doctrine. For Christ, holiness itself, without doubt preached a holy doctrine, i. e. such a one as impels men to moral holiness and shows them the way of perfection: "Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect."³ Hence also the Church of Christ obliges and leads men to holiness. But if any religious society does not form men to holiness, and much more, if it makes little of external good works or of the internal perfection of mind and heart, it cannot be the true Church of Christ.

2. By holiness of means. Christ, since He does not command impossibilities, also provided helps by which weak men might attain holiness: "As many as received him, he gave them power to become sons of God;"⁴ "Christ loved the Church and delivered himself up for her, that he might sanctify her;"⁵ "He gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse for himself an acceptable people, a pursuer of good works."⁶ Therefore also the Church of Christ should take care to provide all those effective means and helps which are necessary, useful, and suitable for attaining holiness. But if a religious group cares little about these means or utterly neglects them, it is not the Church of Christ.

3. By holiness of members. Not indeed all members of the Church are holy. For we have already shown that sinners too are found in her. Nevertheless, besides sinners, holy members also always exist in her. For if there are tares in the field, the wheat is present at the same time; if in the banquet a man appears lacking the wedding garment, others are seen clothed with this garment; in the net, besides bad fish, good ones also are found; together with the foolish virgins, the prudent ones are also beheld. And although sometimes the wicked may be more numerous than the good in the Church, nevertheless, because the denomination is taken from the better and sounder part, the Church can be called holy without qualification. The apostles themselves therefore call Christians saints, because all are destined for holiness and at least many of them are truly holy. Thus Paul writes "to all that are at Rome, beloved of God, called saints"⁷; "to the Church of God that is at Corinth, sanctified in Christ Jesus"⁸; "to all the saints who are at Ephesus".⁹ From all these things we gather with certainty not only that holiness, simply so called, never fails the true Church, but we already further infer that holiness also, eminent or said with emphasis, always shines in her.

Holiness understood in the simple sense belongs to those faithful who at least abstain from grave sins, fulfil the grave precepts, and are accordingly in the state of sanctifying grace, by which they are inserted into Christ the head as living members. From this holiness one ascends through various degrees to extraordinary holiness, or holiness understood emphatically, which stands out by the heroicity of the virtues and the working of miracles, i. e., which consists in the heroicity of the virtues and is confirmed by the working of miracles.

1. By the heroicity of the virtues. Heroic Christian virtue is said to be that perfection and excellence of virtue "which makes a man, with regard to the matter of that virtue, operate above the common manner of operating of other men (namely, also of the just) and in this to be like God"¹. Indeed, given the height of this virtue and the infirmity of men, it is manifest that comparatively fewer faithful will attain to such extraordinary holiness. Yet that at all times at least some members illustrate the whole Church by the heroicity of the virtues is evident from the Church's very author, end, and nature. The author of the Church, Christ Jesus, not only shone with the example of the highest holiness, but expressly proposed His example to us for imitation. But it cannot come to pass that at least some disciples, imitating this example, should not be like the Master in the exercise of extraordinary virtue.² The end of the Church is that it preserve and exercise the whole Christian religion. But extraordinary holiness is the apex, the flower, the fruit of the whole Christian religion. For Christ "gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and cleanse for Himself a people acceptable, a pursuer of good works"³ "that we might be holy and unspotted in His sight in charity"⁴. The nature of the Church is extraordinarily holy, since the Church is the body of Christ⁵, the bride of Christ⁶, the fullness of Christ⁷, the mystic Christ. But this most holy nature of the Church will necessarily and efficaciously manifest itself in the acts of extraordinary holiness. Therefore at all times the Church will be conspicuous by the heroic virtue of some of its members. Nay more:

2. By the working of miracles. Indeed, Christ promised that miracles would be worked in the Church of all times, especially through the saints. For again He said: "And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name they shall cast out devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; upon the sick they shall lay their hands, and they shall recover… Amen, amen I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do."⁸

These words expressly declare that miracles will always be present in the Church, since they mention "signs (σημεῖα)" and "works (ἔργα)" as simply annexed to faith, while the faith of the Church will never fail. Moreover, that miracles will be wrought especially through the saints, the same words of the Savior indicate at least implicitly. For that not all the faithful are chosen to work miracles is evident both from the facts of history and from the end of miracles. From the facts of history it is clear that never, not even in the age of the apostles, did all believers possess the charism of miracles, but for the most part only those who devoted a more eminent care to the propagation and conservation of the faith by the ministry of the word and the example of their life. And indeed the end of miracles is chiefly this, that miraculous works be criteria and, as it were, seals of faith and holiness.⁹ Therefore miracles are fittingly and commonly worked through those who stand out among all by faith and holiness. These merit to be called "believers" by excellence, and accordingly the promise of Christ holds for them: "The works that I do, he also shall do, and greater than these shall he do."

Catholicity is, by the force of the name, universality.¹ The Church is therefore catholic which is "per totum orbem". Although the catholic Church is in a certain way adumbrated by this denomination, yet it must be more accurately determined and demonstrated.

The mark of catholicity does not admit of a Church that is merely particular, regional, or national, but presupposes it to be, in the strict sense, international or universal. This universality, moreover, must belong to the Church both in right and in fact.

1. Catholicity in right requires that the Church abhor the boundaries of dominions and nations, and indeed essentially, virtually, formally. Essentially, i. e., having regard to its whole doctrine and character, the Church must show forth a universal character of spreading itself to all peoples and parts of the earth. Virtually, it must perpetually exert such effort and efficacy as enables it to propagate itself, to gather to itself as many men as possible, and to preserve catholicity everywhere on earth. Formally, finally, notwithstanding a wide material diffusion, the Church must everywhere show the strictest unity of confession and communion. For just as a vine cannot be said to be widely spread unless it extends its shoots always joined to the stock, so the Church, however widely diffused materially, is not catholic unless it is informed by unity. A Church deprived of unity constitutes not one society, but several or many. To catholicity in right, thus understood, is necessarily joined:

2. Catholicity in fact, which consists in the actually existing universal diffusion of the Church. This actual universality is both physical and moral. Physical (absolute) universality is present if the Church is so diffused that no region of the earth whatever escapes it; moral (relative) universality is present if the Church is conspicuous in most parts of the world known at some time and not closed to access, i. e., if it has "in the world a certain universal splendor, by which its dignity and majesty can be known and distinguished from the crowds of heretics".¹ Physical universality will be present only successively, in the sense that gradually, between the time of Christ and the last judgment, the Church becomes known at some time to all regions and peoples: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world (ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ) as a testimony to all nations (πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν): and then shall come the consummation (τὸ τέλος)."² Moral universality, however, must always belong to the Church, once it has grown up,³ so that the Church may claim for itself the mark of catholicity. And indeed moral universality seems always to be required not only as successive, but as simultaneous, by which, namely, the Church shines at one and the same time in most parts of the world.⁴

That the Church of Christ is catholic in the determinate sense is demonstrated both by sacred Scripture and by Christian antiquity.

1. Sacred Scripture. "Almost every page [of Scripture] sounds nothing else than Christ and the Church spread throughout the whole world."¹ Indeed:

a) The Old Testament expressly opposes to the national synagogue the universal messianic kingdom, as we have proved in its proper place.² To the texts cited there we add these, by which the catholicity of the messianic kingdom is expressly foretold: "Ask of me, and I will give you [Christ] the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession."³ "And he shall rule [Christ] from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth."⁴ "For from the rising of the sun even to its setting my name is great among the nations, and in every place there is sacrificed and offered to my name a clean oblation."⁵ And yet more clearly:

b) The New Testament sets forth the universality of the Church. Christ likens the kingdom of heaven to "a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field: which is the least indeed of all seeds; but when it has grown, it is greater than all herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and dwell in its branches".⁶ Whence he commands the apostles: "Going, teach all nations".⁷ "Going into the whole world, preach the gospel to every creature".⁸ "You shall be witnesses to me … even to the uttermost part of the earth".⁹ That this command was fulfilled Paul already affirms: "Their sound [of the preachers of the gospel] has gone forth into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the whole world … (The gospel) is in the whole world and bears fruit and grows".¹⁰ When the apostolic age had scarcely elapsed:

2. Christian antiquity proclaims the Church catholic in name and in fact.

a) Christians already throughout the whole second century used the name of the catholic Church, with s. Ignatius, s. Polycarp, and the Muratorian Fragment as witnesses.¹¹ This name was attributed to the one true Church of Christ alone, e. g. Firmilian: "The spouse of Christ is one, which is the catholic Church".¹² By this name true Christians distinguished themselves and their Church from the sects of the heretics. Thus s. Pacian: "Christian is my name, catholic is my surname. The one names me, the other shows me; by the one I am proved, by the other I am signified."¹³ S. Cyril of Jerusalem instructs the catechumens: "If ever you are sojourning in cities, do not simply ask where the Lord's house [τὸ κυριακόν] is (for the other sects of the ungodly and their heresies strive to adorn their own caves with the name of the Lord's house), nor where the Church simply is, but where the catholic Church is. For this is the proper name of this holy Church, the mother of us all."¹⁴ The heretics and schismatics themselves were compelled to attribute this same name to the one true Church alone, as s. Augustine testifies: "Willy-nilly, the heretics themselves also, and the nurslings of schisms, when they speak not with their own but with strangers, call the catholic Church nothing else than catholic. For they cannot be understood, unless they distinguish her by this name, by which she is named by the whole world."¹⁵

Therefore the true Church of Christ was called by all by the name of catholic as by a proper name. And indeed she was called catholic because she was catholic, i. e. universal, and was distinguished from all sects by the mark of catholicity. Truly the fathers often repeat that the name of the catholic Church derives from the fact that the Church: b) is catholic in fact. Already the Martyrdom of s. Polycarp makes mention of "the catholic Church in the whole world" and speaks of "all the parishes of the holy and catholic Church everywhere on earth".¹⁶ By these words it expressly declares that the catholic Church is universal in fact and in truth. Likewise of the catholic Church it is read in the Muratorian Fragment: "Yet the one Church is recognized to be spread throughout the whole world."¹⁷ S. Fructuosus the martyr († 239) professes the catholic Church "spread from the east to the west"¹⁸. S. Cyril of Jerusalem writes: "It is called catholic … because it is spread throughout the whole world, from the uttermost ends of the earth even to the uttermost ends … The holy catholic Church alone exists, which throughout the whole world rejoices in boundless power."¹⁹ "For she herself is the catholic Church,"²⁰ says Augustine, "whence she is called καθολικὴ in Greek, because she is spread throughout the whole world"²¹. By all these things the fathers, cleaving to sacred Scripture itself, establish catholicity, in the sense determined by us, as a mark of the true Church of Christ. Therefore Christian communities which are not catholic either in right or in fact do not deserve to be called the Church of Christ; but that community which is called by the name of the catholic Church and is found in fact in almost all parts of the world is the true Church of Christ.

Apostolicity in general consists in this: that the Church of all times remains one and the same with the Church of the apostles. This identity pertains both to origin, to succession, and to doctrine. Apostolicity of doctrine, however, although it is a property of the Church, is nevertheless not one of its notes, since the Church is made known not through doctrine, but doctrine through the Church.¹ Apostolicity of origin and succession, moreover, is at once a property and a note of the true Church.

Consequently, we speak of this twofold apostolicity.

That Church has an apostolic origin which was founded by the apostles. This indeed does not prevent that Church, as a universal society of the faithful, from containing very many particular churches which have arisen recently. Nay, particular churches could at first be founded either immediately by some one of the apostles or mediately through a disciple or successor of the apostles. Provided, therefore, that all and each of the parts of the Church are connected with the apostles either immediately or mediately, the whole Church is rightly called apostolic in origin. Now the necessity and the criterion of apostolic origin are to be shown.

1. The necessity of the apostolic origin of the Church of Christ does not need an elaborate proof. For although Christ is the proper author of the Church, nevertheless He founded it through the apostles, placed the apostles as its first teachers and rulers, and after His departure from the earth committed the Church to the apostles to be propagated and cared for. Therefore that Church which is not apostolic in origin is not the Church of Christ. Whence Paul also says that the faithful are built "upon the foundation of the apostles",¹ and the evangelist John describes the Church as a city having "twelve foundations, and in them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb".² Likewise Tertullian: "The apostles … founded churches in every city, from which the other churches from then on borrowed the shoot of faith and the seeds of doctrine, and borrow them daily, that they may become churches. And by this very fact they themselves will be reckoned apostolic, as the offspring of apostolic churches. Every kind must be judged by its origin. And so those churches, so many and so great, are that one first Church from the apostles, from which all [come]. Thus all are first and all are apostolic, while all prove the one unity."³ Likewise St. Jerome warns that "one must remain in that Church which, founded by the apostles, endures even to this day".⁴ Then he adds: "From this very fact, that [the heretics] were instituted later, they show themselves to be those whom the apostle declared would come", namely deceivers. Therefore the true Church is necessarily apostolic in origin. But it is asked by what criterion one may distinguish the apostolic Church from the non-apostolic at first sight.

2. The criterion of apostolic origin is union with blessed Peter and his successor. For Christ built the whole Church upon Peter and his successors in the primacy as upon a foundation, by which all particular churches of all times receive firmness and unity. Whence already the apostles had to gather the particular churches, which they themselves founded immediately, around the Petrine center and insert them into the head of the whole Church. All the more, those particular churches which, in the course of time, were founded everywhere through disciples and successors of the apostles must remain intimately united with Peter and his successors. Therefore churches which are not organically united to the primatial see do not shine with apostolicity of origin, even if they bear the name of some apostle on their front; whereas churches which cultivate communion with the primatial see are truly apostolic, however recently they may have arisen. Apostolic origin is possessed by that universal Church alone, whole and entire, whose head and center is the primatial see of Peter.