On the Divine Institution of The Papacy

Some deny that the pontificate of the whole Church was conferred upon Peter by these words.

First: because to feed does not signify to rule or to be first.

Second: because Christ's word is either exhortatory or preceptive with respect to feeding, not with respect to subjecting the sheep.

Rejoinder. And if it be said: none but a superior can feed — what is that to me? Seek the place where the words confer upon Peter power over the Church: for here only the feeding is committed.

But it is not difficult to show that the pontificate is given under these words. For to feed Christ's sheep is an act of authority in the one feeding, of benefit in the sheep, and of an end in Christ. For by this very fact, that Christ committed his own to Peter as sheep to be fed, it is clearer than the noonday light that he set him over the others as shepherd of the sheep.

There is no need, then, to seek another place where power over the Church was given to Peter: since this place attests that it was given: unless someone be so foolish as to think that feed my sheep was said to Peter not by the office of a shepherd, but by the office of a hireling. Which folly, too, is refuted by Christ's threefold exaction of charity from Peter: for from him to whom the sheep are committed to be fed out of love of Christ, a hireling's love is far removed.

To the first. Hence, even if to feed does not signify to rule, it nevertheless signifies the act of an ecclesiastical ruler: and again, if it does not signify to rule, it nevertheless presupposes rule, because it presupposes a shepherd. Hence it was rightly answered that none but a superior can feed.

To the rejoinder. And when it is said, what is that to me? the answer is, indeed, a great deal, from the very reason of connected things: for these have this property, that when the one is granted, the remaining is understood to be attributed along with it. Whence it follows that if none but a superior can feed, then to whomever it is given to feed, it is also given to be superior: whence from this ground too it is clear that no other place of Scripture need be sought, where Peter was set over the Church: since it is clearly had here.

To the second. We affirm, however, that Christ's word is preceptive: for if it is woe to the apostle Paul should he not preach the gospel, much more is it woe to Peter should he not feed Christ's sheep. But Christ's word is not only preceptive, but institutive: for if, in the founding of the first part of the universe, the word of God instituted the chief creatures, and at the same time enjoined their proper work (according to that: he hath established them for ever and ever, he hath made a decree, and it shall not prescribe), it is fitting that in the creation of the Christian Church he should have perfected its first member by the same word, enjoining the chief work of the pontificate, and instituting the pontificate itself. And by this very fact, that it is committed to Peter that he should feed Christ's sheep, the Christian people is bidden to conduct itself toward Peter as sheep: for in vain would they be committed to Peter as sheep to be fed, unless they were presented to him as sheep by the common Lord. Whence not only the necessity of feeding but of subjection is signified in the words of the Lord, when it is said, feed my sheep. Augustine also attests this, expounding here that to feed is not only to teach but to rule, when he says: he commits the sheep themselves to be fed, that is, to be taught and ruled. And Chrysostom: feed my sheep, take up the care of the brethren: and the Glo. from Alcuin: to feed the sheep is to strengthen those who believe in Christ lest they fall away from the faith, to provide temporal aid to subjects if it be necessary, and to bestow examples of virtue along with the word of preaching, to withstand adversaries, to correct erring subjects. Wherefore, even if to feed does not signify to rule, it nevertheless signifies to govern Christ's sheep, in which ruling is enclosed: even if it does not signify to rule, it nevertheless draws ruling along with it, just as it draws along with it to seek out, to bring back, to bind up, to strengthen, to guard, and to heal: which the Lord mentions in Ezech. XXXIIII. Hence Peter too is said to have been made prince of the apostles and prince set over the people of Christ: and according to Gregory's words to Maurice, the care of the whole Church and the principate are committed to him.

And if it be asked why the Lord committed the pontificate to Peter not under the term of prelacy or authority or dignity, but of the act of feeding his sheep — the reason is ready to hand: on the part of the thing itself, because prelacy or authority is for the sake of feeding Christ's sheep, and not the converse. And on the part of the appetite to be regulated: because it is not a higher place, not dignity or authority, that is to be sought after, but the feeding of Christ's sheep that is to be desired in the pontificate: according to what the apostle afterward said, he that desireth the office of a bishop desireth a good work. And on the part of Scripture to be fulfilled: for before the passion he had said, Luc. XXII: the kings of the nations lord it over them, and they that have power over them are called beneficent: but you not so; but he that is greatest among you, let him become as the younger. For hence, from the ministerial act of feeding Christ's sheep, he signified the pontificate tacitly, as something annexed, and not to be esteemed except for the benefit of Christ's sheep: the opposite of which happens in the kings and lords of the nations, who order all things to this end, that they may reign and be lords.

Furthermore, the work committed to Peter, chief among the pontifical acts, shows the pontificate: for to feed the elect is the chief act of the pontiff. For just as the care of the elect belongs to the highest part of divine providence (for whose happiness he ordained not only the motion of the heavens: John attesting in Apoc. ca. VI, it was said to them that they should rest for a little time yet, until the number of their fellow-servants should be fulfilled: but he himself also descended from the heavens, and being made man, was crucified, died, was buried, and endured all the rest for the sake of the elect) — so it must be that to feed the elect belongs to the highest ecclesiastical care, which we call the pontificate. Now it is certain that the elect alone are signified, when it is said, feed my sheep: the Lord himself attesting this in Io. X, saying: my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish for ever, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

Nor is Peter's pontificate therefore restricted, as though it extended to the elect alone: but, subordinated to the feeding of the elect, from this arises every act of the pontificate concerning others. For just as, according to the order of the universe, the single motion of the heavens is for the sake of fulfilling the number of the elect, and yet the same also extends to the propagating of the non-elect: and according to the order of grace, Christ the supremely good shepherd laid down his soul for his sheep, that is, for the elect, and yet the same death was for the life of the whole world: so in the sacred mysteries the supreme pontificate is for the feeding of the elect, and the same comprehends the non-elect. Nor undeservedly: since the care of the end and the disposition of the things that are for the end belong to the same one: and the life of the elect is the end of the governance of others. All things, says the apostle, II ad Thi. II, I endure for the sake of the elect: and ad Ro. VIII he attests that all things are given to the elect: and the elect are affirmed to be set over all the goods of the Lord, Matth. XXIII. Nor would I therefore say that the foreknown are wrapped in silence: since it is not unfitting that some of the foreknown be comprehended under the name of lambs: for there are many imperfect Christians, always learning and never arriving at the perfection of a sheep: whom the Lord committed to Peter to be fed together with the sheep, that is, with the elect. Whence he committed lambs twice, and sheep the third time: not only because the imperfect need greater care, but that by the very number he might suggest the diversity of his lambs, that is, of Christians leading a common life, while some are reprobate, others elect: but the sheep are committed once, and last: because all of Christ's sheep are among the elect, and the ascending discourse is brought to an end at the highest point. And although all are committed to Peter's pastoral care, only lambs and sheep are committed to be fed: for wolves, lions, and bears, when committed, are understood as to be guarded against, put to flight, or exterminated. Whence no one is left exempt from Peter's pontificate, even if only this had been committed to him, feed my sheep: for the sake of which all things are done, inasmuch as to them all things work together unto good, as the apostle attests, ad Ro. VIII.

Now the excellence of this committed work is made yet more manifest by running through the pastoral and pontifical works: for the Lord attests that those six pastoral acts, set down in Ezech. XXXIIII (namely, to seek out what had perished, to bring back what had been cast off, to bind up what had been broken, to strengthen what was weak, to heal what was sick, to guard what was fat and strong), are ordered to the feeding of the sheep, reproving the shepherds concerning these things and saying: woe to the shepherds of Israel that fed themselves! should not the flocks be fed by the shepherds? you ate the milk, and were clothed with the wool and so forth. Where he clearly gives the reason for the omission, from the fact that bad shepherds feed not the sheep but themselves: as though the reason for all these works were to be devoted to feeding the sheep themselves.

It is also beyond doubt that the judicial acts which take place in the Church, both in the forum of penance and in the forum of contention, are ordered to the feeding of Christ's sheep. Finally, to open and to close the kingdom of heaven so pertain to the feeding of the sheep, that to open the kingdom of heaven is to feed Christ's sheep: while to close it is ordered to the feeding of the same sheep: since it is referred to the good of the elect, to whom all things work together unto good. It is established, therefore, if all the things signified by this promise, feed my sheep, be gathered together, that the pontificate of the whole Church was committed to Peter. Nor do we forge these things as new: but we set forth what we have learned from the fathers, confirming Peter's pontificate by their own attestation: as will be evident in the last chapter.