Summa summae S. Thomae, Tomus III

[The marks of a thing must be proper to it, and not common; otherwise they designate that thing no more than another: not that each one taken separately must be proper to it, but at least all of them collectively. Likewise they must be better known than the thing they demonstrate.]

Against the pagans, who do not admit the Scriptures, we prove the truth of our Religion and Church by the motives of credibility, spoken of above. Against the heretics, however, who do admit the Scriptures, we prove it by the marks of the true Church expressed in the Scriptures: not that these marks make the true Church evident in itself, but evidently credible.

§ I. — Are there marks of the true Church, and what are they?

I say: There are four marks of the true Church, namely that it is One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Such is the Constantinopolitan Creed.

The true Church is one.

[That the Church is one is not understood in this sense, that it is unique. It is indeed true that Christ instituted a unique Church, but this uniqueness, if it be permitted to use this word, is not invoked as a mark of the true Church. But in what the unity of the Church of Christ consists is declared below.]

Proof. The Apostle, 1 Cor., XII, 12 et 13, says: For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, yet are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.

[This unity Cyprian proves at length, in his book de Unitate Ecclesiae and epistle 76, and Augustine in his writings against the Donatists, and elsewhere.]

The Church is said to be one, 1° by the unity of concord or consensus in the same last end and in the same means to it, namely especially in the same faith, the same sacraments, the same worship and the same precepts necessary for salvation: One Lord, one faith, one Baptism, Ephes., IV, 5. 2° By the unity of order, that is, the ordered ordering of many under the same government of one head: One sheepfold, one Shepherd, John, X, 16.

[You will say: The Apostle, Rom., XVI, 18, writes: All the churches of Christ salute you. Therefore.

I answer. that these are several particular churches, which are parts of one universal church, united under one common government; just as several provinces are parts of one kingdom.]

The true Church is holy.

Proof. In Cant., VI, she is called beautiful, a dove, fair as the moon, elect as the sun; 1 Petr., II, 9, a chosen generation, a holy nation; Ephes., V, 25 et 26: He delivered himself up for her, that he might sanctify her.

It is holy: 1° by reason of its head and spouse, who is Christ, the Holy of holies and the fount of all holiness; 2° by reason of its end, namely divine worship, to which it is consecrated through Baptism; 3° by reason of the other sacraments, offices, ceremonies and laws, all of which breathe forth holiness; 4° by reason of its doctrine, which leads to acquiring or increasing holiness.

[Note that the holiness of the Church does not imply that each of its members possesses holiness in act, since in it, as has already been said, good men and bad are found; but only that the Church is holy from the manifold reasons assigned here.]

The true Church is catholic, or universal.

[Catholic comes from the Greek καθὰ, secundum, and ὅλον, totum, and signifies universal. The true Church is called catholic because it is universal under the fourfold reason soon to be declared, but chiefly by reason of places, according to that saying of Augustine, Epist. 52¹, n. 5: « This is the catholic Church; whence it is called καθολικὴ in Greek, because it is spread abroad through the whole world. » Hence Optatus presses Parmenian thus, book II contra Parmen.: « Where, then, is the property of the catholic name? Since the Church was called catholic from the fact that it is diffused everywhere. »]

It is said to be catholic: 1° by reason of place, because it is spread abroad through the whole world, Marc., XVI, 15: Going into the whole world; 2° by reason of persons, because it calls and embraces to itself, not indeed all and every person, but persons of every nation and condition, ibid.: Preach the gospel to every creature; 3° by reason of duration, Matt., ult., 20: Behold I am with you even to the consummation of the world; 4° by reason of doctrine, because it teaches whatsoever is either to be believed, or to be done, or to be avoided.

Concerning the universality of place, it must be observed that it can be taken in two ways: either for a simultaneous and permanent diffusion through the whole world, or for a successive diffusion only.

If taken in the first way, the universality must be understood not in the metaphysical rigor, but morally, for a diffusion into many and principal parts of the globe, so that the Church is more widely diffused than any other sect whatsoever: in which sense Daniël II, 38 and VIII, 9 et 10 says that Nabuchodonosor occupied all the kingdoms of the world, and that Alexander commanded the whole earth; not that these kings truly ruled the whole globe, but many and principal provinces. If taken in the second way, the universality is to be understood rigorously, so that the Church, now diffused through many and principal parts, gradually and successively spreads into other parts, until at length it is received everywhere, according to that saying of Coloss., I, 6: The gospel is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit and groweth. Where, following Augustine, Epist. 199², the present is put for the future on account of the certainty of the effect, as is frequent in the Scriptures; for it is clear that at that time the Church was not yet diffused everywhere.

The true Church is apostolic.

By reason, namely, of its origin and an uninterrupted succession; because founded by Christ, who is called the Apostle of our confession, Hebr., III, 1, and propagated and confirmed by the Apostles, and derived from them, it perseveres even unto now. Whence Ephes., II, 20, the faithful are said to be built up upon the foundation of the Apostles.

[There is, then, a twofold foundation of the Church. The primary is Christ, from the Apostle, 1 Cor., III, 11: Other foundation no man can lay, besides that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. The secondary is made up of the Apostles taken collectively, as appears from Paul's text cited above, and from these words, Apoc., XXI, 14: The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. And this mark for discerning the true Church the Fathers urge everywhere. Tertullian, de Praescript., c. 32: « If any churches, he says, dare to insert themselves into the apostolic age, because they were founded under the Apostles, we may say to them: Let them then produce the origins of their churches, unroll the order of their bishops, running on through successions from the beginning, so that that first bishop should have for his author or predecessor someone of the Apostles or of apostolic men, one who, moreover, persevered with the Apostles. » Jerome, contra Lucifer., last chapter, says that « one ought to remain in that Church which, founded by the Apostles, endures to this day. »]

§ II. — To which Church do these four marks belong?

I say: These four marks belong to the Roman Church alone, not to the sects of the heretics.

Proof. 1°. The Roman Church is One by the unity of consensus in the last end and in the same means, namely the same faith, the same sacraments, the same worship, etc. It is also one by the unity of order, that is, of the ordered ordering of all Catholics under the same government of one head, the Roman Pontiff. This is evident in itself.

But the sects of the heretics do not possess the unity of consensus in one faith: which is plain both from their variations and oppositions concerning the chief dogmas, as concerning the Eucharist; and because, for the rule of faith, they follow the private spirit, and thus among them there are as many opinions of faith as there are heads. Neither do they possess the unity of ordered ordering under one head; for among them there are as many heads as there are ministers, inasmuch as they are subordinate to no single one, and are without mission and jurisdiction, as I shall say presently.

2° The Roman Church is Holy by reason of its head, Christ; of its other founders, namely the Apostles and their successors; of the holy Fathers, who defended it against the heresies; and of its martyrs, who sealed it with their blood. It is holy by reason of its end, namely divine worship, to which it is wholly consecrated; by reason of its sacraments, laws, offices, sacrifices and ceremonies, it forbids naught but vices.

But the sects of the heretics possess no holiness. 1° They do not possess it on the part of their authors. For it is well known that Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc., were not saints, but were liable to many vices. 2° They do not possess it on the part of doctrine. For they make God the author of sin; nay, they say that he himself compels men to sin and commands impossibilities. Likewise they teach that faith alone justifies, and that no sin, however grave, even though it be adultery, murder or sodomy, is imputed to those who have faith, and therefore that however criminal a man may be, so long as he believes himself to be elected of God, he never loses grace. So Luther, de Captiv. Babyl., the chapter on Baptism, and Calvin, book III of the Instit., c. 19: which two principles alone open the way to all vices, and close it against the virtues. Moreover, it is well known that they condemn the celibacy of priests and monastic vows, tear down cloisters and temples, seize the goods of monasteries, break images, and reject the invocation of saints, satisfactions and good works, fastings and abstinences, and whatsoever savors of mortification.

3° The Roman Church is Catholic by reason of place and the condition of persons. If we speak of a permanent and simultaneous catholicity, which, as we observed, must be understood morally of a diffusion into more and principal parts of the globe than any other sect, it is certain that this belongs to the Roman Church; for it flourishes in Europe, in America, in many kingdoms, provinces and islands of the East; and although it does not now flourish there as it once did in Africa, and in certain provinces of Asia and of the north of Europe, nevertheless more worshippers of the true faith and of the Roman Church are still found in those regions, so that it is far more widely extended than any sect whatsoever.³ If we speak of a successive catholicity or universality, it is clear that this also belongs to the Roman Church.

For this Church alone, from the beginning even unto now, has announced and still announces the name and the Gospel of Christ among foreign and far-distant nations, which it daily gathers to itself, sending missionaries whithersoever it can, until at length, at the end of the world, the diffusion and universality be completed, according to that saying of Matt., XXIV, 14: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations; and then shall come the consummation. It is also catholic by reason of persons, because it calls and embraces to itself all persons of whatsoever nation and condition. It is likewise catholic by reason of doctrine: for it condemns all errors, and teaches none. Finally, it is so catholic that it has always borne this name, and is still so called.

But the sects of the heretics have no catholicity. 1° They do not have it by reason of place. For they lie hidden in a corner of Europe; in other parts of the world, in Asia, in Africa, in America, they are not; or if certain ones are found in these foreign nations, they are accounted heretics. 2° Not by reason of persons; for since they teach that everyone can be saved in his own religion, provided he at least errs not concerning the fundamental truths, they do not call all men to themselves. 3° They do not have it by reason of time; for before Luther and Calvin their church did not exist, nor have they any ground for holding that it shall at no time fail; nay, that it has already failed in France and in many provinces of the Low Countries is well known.

4° The Roman Church is Apostolic, 1° by reason of its doctrine, derived from the Apostles. That the Church of the earlier centuries was apostolic and held the doctrine of the Apostles, the heretics themselves confess. If, then, any change has arisen since that time in the Roman Church, and it has fallen away from this apostolic doctrine, it can be shown what occurs in every notable change: what this new dogma is and of what kind, who was the author of the change and of its detection, in what place and at what time it began, what opponents it met with. All this let the heretics show us in the Roman Church. 2° The Roman Church is apostolic by reason of the unbroken succession of its pastors from the Apostles.

Not so, in truth, the sects of the heretics. For 1° they do not possess apostolicity by reason of doctrine derived from the Apostles, since they teach several errors which the ancient Church condemned, as Calvin himself confesses, book III of the Instit., c. 4 et 5, concerning satisfactions, the celibacy of priests, prayers for the dead and the fast of Lent. 2° Not by reason of apostolic succession in their pastors. To whom, indeed, did Luther succeed? to whom Calvin? Finally, not by reason of a legitimate mission; from whom, indeed, did they receive it, or do they hold it?

[Obi.: The Protestants, perceiving how much danger from this question hangs over their churches, deny the true marks of the Church and have devised others, which the true Church neither has nor can have, namely the sincere preaching of the word of God and the legitimate administration of the sacraments. These, they say, are drawn from the very essence of the Church; for nothing is more essential to the Church than true doctrine and the legitimate use of the sacraments. Therefore.

*I answer. I deny the consequent.*Inst. Scripture, in which the doctrine of the true faith and of the sacraments is contained, is better known than the Church, for the Church is proved from Scripture. Therefore.

Inst. Scripture, in which the doctrine of the true faith and of the sacraments is contained, is better known than the Church, for the Church is proved from Scripture. Therefore.

Resp. I deny the antecedent. Scripture becomes known to us in a twofold sense: 1° when it is made certain to us that the Sacred Scriptures exist, that this or that book pertains to the Scriptures; 2° when we understand the true and genuine sense of Scripture; but neither can be better known than the Church. For we receive the Scriptures from the Church, which separates the true from the apocryphal, the human from the divine. Likewise the sense of Scripture, from which true doctrine and the use of the sacraments are elicited, can be determined only by the authority of the Church. — It has been proven elsewhere that the tradition by which the doctrine of the Church has come down to us is older than the Scriptures of the New Testament. Whence, with Augustine, it must be said, against the epistle Fundamenti, chapter 5: « For my part, I should not believe the Gospel, did not the authority of the catholic Church move me. »]