Summa de Ecclesia

¹

Since we read the name Church taken in various and diverse ways both in sacred Scripture and among the sacred canons, that it may become clearer in what signification we shall speak of the Church, it seemed to us opportune at this beginning to set forth the variety of its acceptation. On this point it is to be known that the name Church is sometimes taken for the material house dedicated to divine praises and prayer, by that manner of speaking in which the container is wont to take the name of the contained, just as a vessel of silver or gold or another metal, in which the blood of Christ is contained, is named the chalice of the blood of Christ; and houses in which scholars gather to hear teaching and doctors to teach are named schools. So in like manner the place where the congregation and convocation of the faithful is made for completing certain divine works is commonly and reasonably called a church, which is shown to befit for three reasons. First, because in such a house the convocation of the faithful is made to hear the teaching of faith. Hence for this cause a place was established for most blessed Peter, the chair in Antioch. Hence of him is sung Ps. 16: Let them exalt him in the church of the people, and praise him in the chair of the elders. And of Christ it is said in Luke 18: And he was daily teaching in the temple. Second, that place is reasonably called a church because in it is made the congregation and assembly of the faithful to pray and bless God and to obtain the help of divinity. Hence in Judith 6: All the people being called together, throughout the whole night they prayed within the church, seeking help from God. And in 1 Cor. 11 the Apostle says: Do you despise the church of God, the Gloss: namely the house of prayer. Third, that material place is deservedly called a church because in it the faithful gather to offer sacrifices to God and to receive the divine sacraments by which the Church herself is formed and adorned. Hence in Deut. 12 the Lord speaks thus: To the place which the Lord your God shall choose from all your tribes, to put his name there and dwell in it, you shall come, and you shall offer in that place your holocausts and your victims, tithes and firstfruits of your hands, and vows and gifts. And the same in ch. 16. Second, the name Church is found taken for the totality of all the faithful, both wayfarers and comprehensors, namely men and angels. Of this the Apostle in Eph. 1, speaking of Christ, says: He gave him head over all the Church, the Gloss: which is in heaven and which is on earth. Third, it is taken for the totality of faithful men only, as in Eph. 5, where the Apostle speaks thus: Christ is the head of the Church, he the savior of his body. And below: Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her. And it is plain that Christ did not die for angels but for men, for whom he was born unto salvation.

This the angel clearly implies who, speaking to the shepherds, says: Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people, for there is born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David.²

Fourth, the Church is read to be taken for the totality of all faithful wayfarers, as in the Psalm:³ With you is my praise in the great Church, the Gloss: in the whole world, not only in Africa, as the Donatists say. And Aug. on the same: What is the great Church, brethren? Is a tiny part of the world the great Church? Or is the whole world the great Church? Fifth, Church is taken for the totality of one province or one household, as in Rom., last chapter: Gaius my host salutes you, and the whole Church, the Gloss: of the province where Gaius was. Likewise in 2 Cor. 1: Paul to the church of God which is at Corinth, that is, to all the brethren of the Corinthian church. In this way we distinguish the Roman Church, the Toledan Church, the Gallican and German Churches. Sixth, Church is taken for the totality of the faithful having faith formed by charity, as in Wis. 3: The sons of wisdom are the church of the just, and their nation is obedience and love. Seventh, some understand by Church only the totality of the predestined or elect, adducing for themselves 1 Tim. 2: The Lord knows who are his, where the Gloss says: Those whom he foreknew would be made conformable to the image of his Son, namely he predestined, called, justified and glorified. It follows: the number of such is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed, a well of living water, a paradise with the fruits of apples. Eighth, Church is taken for only those presiding in the Church, as in Matt. 18, where it is said: If your brother sins against you, etc., tell the Church, the Gloss of Chrysostom: that is, those who preside. In this way it is taken in ch. si peccaverit, 1, q. 1, where the Gloss on tell the Church expounds: namely the priest. Ninth, Church is taken for only the subjects of some prelate, as in Acts 12, where it is found: But prayer was made by the Church without ceasing to God for him, namely Peter, who was the prelate of the Church. Likewise in Acts 20 Paul says to the elders of the Church of Ephesus: Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Spirit has set you to rule his Church. Tenth, Church is taken for the greater and more powerful in the Church, whether ecclesiastics or laymen, as taken in 3 Kings 10, where it is said: The king turned his face and blessed all the church of Israel, where Church is not taken for all Israel, since the whole people was not present there, but, as is gathered from the beginning of the chapter, for the elders by birth and the princes of the tribes who were then gathered there. In like manner it is taken in 1 Paral. 29, where it is said: King David spoke to all the Church; yet there only the chiefs of the tribes had assembled. Likewise in this way Church is taken in Eph. 3, where it is said: That the manifold wisdom may be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places through the Church, the Gloss: namely through the apostles preaching in the Church. Eleventh, Church is taken for persons of lesser or lower rank in the Church, as in Acts 15: They were brought on their way by the Church and the apostles and the elders. And again in the same: It pleased the apostles and elders with the whole Church to choose men from among them, where the interlinear Gloss says: besides the apostles and elders. Twelfth, Church is taken for ecclesiastical men alone, or for clerics alone, as in 63, dist., ch. 1, where it is said: If anyone of secular princes or potentates or a layman of any other dignity presumes to act against the common, harmonious and canonical election of ecclesiastical rule, let him be anathema until he obeys and consents to whatever the Church shows she wishes concerning the ordination and election of her own prelate. Thirteenth, Church is taken more strictly, not for all clerics but for the greater part of the clerics, as proved in ch. apostolica, 56, dist., where it is said that he who was elected by the Church, if found worthier than the other and canonically elected, is to be consecrated, where the Gloss says: Here Church is taken for the greater part of the electors. Fourteenth, Church is taken more strictly for only the canons of the mother church, and thus it is taken in Extra, on the signification of words, ch. cum clericis, where it is said that when someone renders the oath of fidelity to any church, not the whole clergy of that diocese is understood, but only the bishop and the canons of the mother church, who, when the see is vacant, are the Church so called, as is gathered from the same chapter. Fifteenth, Church is taken for the form of some sacrament of the Church, as in Aug. in the book of the Sentences of Prosper, found in 1, q. 1, in ch. extra, where it is said: Outside the Catholic Church there is no place for true sacrifice, the Gloss: namely outside the form of the Church. And in this way holy Thomas also uses the word Church in book 4 of the Sentences, dist. 13. Sixteenth, the name Church is sometimes taken for authority, as in ch. quodcumque, 24, q. 1, where it is said: If this word, namely whatever you bind, was said to Peter alone, the Church did not do this, the Gloss of the Archdeacon: namely the authority of the Church. But of this varied acceptation of the name Church, we shall treat the Church in what follows under that notion alone by which the Church is called the gathering or totality of the faithful, as we shall touch on in the next chapter.