Summa de Ecclesia

¹

TO the first it is answered, and first as to that of the Psalm, Bless the Lord in the churches, that there the prophet speaks of the church as it denotes some multitude of the faithful of a certain province or place, and thus there is no doubt that there are many churches: nevertheless all such particular churches are one universal Church and one bridle of Christ, as the text says in ch. Quamvis, dist. 21, and in ch. Legimus, dist. 93, and the blessed Aug., treating that of Ps. 106, He made families like flocks of sheep, says thus: Many families, many churches, one Church, one people, one family, one fold. To the authority brought from the Apocalypse it is answered that, as is evident both from the text and from the Gloss, the blessed John spoke principally of the particular churches in Asia over which he was set, which were several. It is true, however, as is said in the same Gloss, that by those seven churches of Asia the universal Church was designated, which is therefore described by the number seven: both because seven signifies universality, and because it is enlightened by the sevenfold Spirit.

²

To the second it must be said that one and the same Church is said to have existed from the beginning, as will be said below, since there was one and the same faith of the fathers of the Old Testament and of the fathers of the New Testament; only the times, as Aug. says, have been changed; the distinction and difference which seems to be conveyed in the sayings of the saints between the primitive and the present Church is to be taken on the part of the people, not on the part of the faith. Hence Aug., treating that of Ps. 47, It is founded in the exultation of the whole earth, Mount Sion, the sides of the north, the city of the great king, says thus: Two mountains, one from circumcision, the other from the foreskin, one from the Jews, the other from the Gentiles, no longer adverse and diverse, because from diverse now united in a corner not diverse; he is, he says, our peace who made both one; he is the cornerstone which the builders rejected, made the head of the corner; he joined two in himself; a mountain and mountains, one house and two houses, two because coming from diverse, one because of the cornerstone in which both are joined to each other.

³

To the third it is answered in two ways. First, that here we do not speak of the Church as it comprises the militant and the triumphant, but as it denotes the universality of the faithful according to the state of the way, who in this our pilgrimage are militant, to all of whom faith is common. Second, it is answered that although the angels do not have faith in common with faithful men, they yet have what succeeds faith, fruition, for it is the same that they see in the homeland and that the faithful believe in the way, and therefore the Church as it comprises the militant and those who have attained can be called one in knowledge, although on this side and that the mode of knowledge is diverse, because here through a mirror and in enigma, as the Apostle says in 1 Cor. 13, but there face to face.

⁴

To the fourth it is answered, and it is said as to the antecedent, that although the aforesaid virtues are distinguished in diverse subjects according to number, they yet agree in species and in one object according to number, according as all the faithful believe, hope and love the same. For which it is to be noted that, as St. Thomas says in the third book, just as in a natural body the different powers through all the members differ in number according to essence, but agree in one root according to number, and besides this have one ultimate form in number, so also all the members of the mystical body have for their ultimate complement the Holy Spirit, who is one in number in all. And the virtues themselves, faith, hope and charity, although they differ in diverse subjects according to essence, yet agree in one root according to number. The proper root of an operation is its object itself, from which it draws its species, and therefore inasmuch as what is believed, hoped and loved by all is the same in number, according to this the faith, hope and charity of all are united in one root in number, not only the first, which is the Holy Spirit, but also the proximate, which is the proper object. And to the confirmation⁵, when it is said that there are many things proposed to us to be believed, it is answered that since the formal object of faith is the first truth, by adhering to which we believe whatever is contained under faith, and it is one and immutable, and a habit takes its unity or multitude from its object, we say that faith is one on the part of that which is believed, because it is the same that is believed by all; and if there are diverse things to be believed which all commonly believe, yet all are reduced to one, because to the first truth, under whose aspect they fall under faith. Temporal things also do not pertain to the object of faith except in order to something eternal, which is the first truth, which is the object of faith.

To the fifth⁶, by denying, it is said that that assumption is denied, namely that the faith of the ancients and ours is not the same, and to the proof it is answered that this difference of past and future does not arise from any diversity of the thing believed, but from the diverse relation of the believers to the one thing believed.

To the sixth⁷ it is answered that if anyone has been unjustly excommunicated, he is in no way harmed by such a sentence of excommunication. Hence Aug., as found in ch. Illud, XI, q. 3: I would not rashly say this outright, that if any of the faithful shall have been anathematized unjustly, it will harm rather him who does it than him who suffers this injury. For the Holy Spirit dwelling in the saints, through whom each is bound or loosed, inflicts undeserved punishment on no one. For St. Thomas says in the fourth book that if a man who has been unjustly excommunicated humbly bears this injury, the merit of humility compensates the harm of this excommunication. And the blessed Aug. puts this in the book on true religion, saying thus: Often by divine providence even good men are allowed to be expelled from the Christian congregation by seditious tumults of carnal men; which contumely or injury of theirs, when they have borne it most patiently for the peace of the Church, and have contrived no novelties of schism or heresy, and guard even unto death and defend by testimony the faith which they know to be preached in the catholic Church, these the merciful Father, seeing in secret, crowns — thus Augustine. Where it is to be noted, for the fuller understanding of this argument, that an excommunicated man is not said to be so placed outside the unity of the Church that he is deprived of the faith by which he was united to the body of the Church, but because he is cut off from the fellowship of the faithful and from participation in the sacraments. For excommunication, as the doctors say, is called separation from the fellowship of the faithful, especially as to the fruit which is had from participation in the sacraments, and as to the common suffrages of the Church. How an excommunicated man is deprived of such suffrages, and how not, St. Thomas declares in the fourth book, dist. 18, saying thus: The suffrages of one avail another according as they are continued to him; but the action of one can be continued to another in two ways. In one way by the force of charity, which connects all the faithful, that they may be one in God, as is said in the Psalm, I am a partaker of all them that fear thee, and excommunication does not cut off this continuity, because one cannot be justly excommunicated except for mortal fault, through which he is already divided from charity even if he be not excommunicated. But an unjust excommunication cannot take charity away from anyone, since it is among the greatest goods, which cannot be taken from anyone against his will. In another way the action of one can be continued to another through the intention of him making the suffrages, which is borne toward him for whom they are made. And excommunication cuts off this continuity, because through the sentence of excommunication the Church separates the excommunicated from the universality of the faithful for whom it makes suffrages, whence the suffrages of the Church which are made for the whole Church profit him not, nor can prayer be made for them in the person of the Church among the members of the Church, although some private person can direct a suffrage to his conversion by intention — thus St. Thomas.

To the seventh⁸ it must be said that although faithful sinners do not have all those things by which the Church is said to be one, they nevertheless pertain in some way to the unity of the Church, inasmuch as they agree with the other faithful in one faith. It is true, however, that because they do not have charity, by which the body of the Church is said to be given life, such are judged as dead members, nor are they properly members of the body of Christ, as has been partly said above and will be shown more fully below.

To the eighth⁹ it is answered, and it is said to the antecedent, denying it, for we have said that such pertain mentally, and though not corporally through the visible sacrament, to the unity of the Church, or that they pertain to the Church by merit though not in number. And to the proof it is answered, as St. Thomas says in the fourth book, dist. 4, that to be incorporated into Christ happens in two ways, namely by merit and in number. By merit one can indeed be made of the Church, which is to be incorporated into Christ, even before baptism actually received, but not before baptism purposed, or in desire, after the time of revealed grace. Hence Ambrose says of Valentinian, who died a catechumen: Him whom I was about to regenerate has been taken away, yet he did not lose the grace which he sought, whence such a one is regenerated in heart though not in body, as St. Thomas says in the third part. By faith one is incorporated into Christ, according to that in Eph. 3: That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts. In number, however, one cannot be made of the Church except through baptism. Hence before baptism no one is admitted to the reception of the sacrament of the Eucharist and of the other sacraments of the Church, and thus it is evident that such catechumens, having faith, hope and charity, pertain to the Church in spirit though not by the visible sacrament, by merit though not in number.

To the ninth¹⁰ it is answered by denying the consequence, because although baptism was not always from the beginning of the Church, it does not follow that after it was instituted its unity does not in its own way prove the unity of the Church. For which it is to be known that men could never be saved, even before the coming of Christ, unless they were made members of Christ, because as is said in Acts 4: There is no other name given to men in which we must be saved; but before the coming of Christ men were incorporated into Christ through faith in his future coming, of which faith circumcision was the seal, as the Apostle says in Rom. 4. For before circumcision was instituted, faith alone, as Gregory says, with the oblations of sacrifices by which the ancient fathers professed their faith, sufficed for men to be incorporated into Christ. After the coming of Christ too men are incorporated into Christ through faith, according to that of Eph. 3: That Christ may dwell by faith in your hearts. But the faith of a thing present is manifested by a different sign than that by which it was shown when it was future, just as the present, the past and the future are signified by different words; and therefore although the sacrament of baptism itself was not always, yet the faith of which baptism is the sacrament was always and was necessary.

To the tenth¹¹ it must be said that properly speaking, as St. Thomas says in the fourth book, there is but one baptism, which is celebrated in water under the due form of words. The other baptisms are called by order to it according to proportion to the same effect, which yet they in some way effect in virtue of the baptism of water, because the baptism of blood and the baptism of penance avail not for regeneration except for him who has the baptism of water in purpose. For then, as Aug. says, the baptism of blood or of the Spirit profits when not contempt of religion but the straitness of necessity excludes the baptism of the river, De consec., dist. 4, ch. Baptismi. Or it is answered secondarily that baptism is called one because it is not repeatable, just as original sin is not, against which as a medicine it was instituted — which is against the Novatian heretics who say that as often as a man sins baptism ought to be repeated — or baptism is called one, that is, equal by whomsoever it is given, as the Gloss expounds.

To the eleventh¹² it is answered that the unity of which Aug. speaks in the proposed authority is conveyed through the unity of baptism, which is the foundation and beginning of the other sacraments, as was said in the preceding chapter.

To the twelfth¹³ it is answered by denying the consequence, for although men, who are as it were the matter of the Church, continually flow and ebb, with some dying and others newly born, nevertheless because there is one faith in all, the Church is always said to remain one, just as it is said of the body of an animal that although the material parts in it flow and ebb, yet it is said to remain the same as to the form, which always remains the same, in the first book on generation. So it seems must be said in the present case. For the same faith always remains, the same sacraments by which the Church is formed remain, the same law and the same rule of truth remain, the same relation both to the one head of the Church and to the one ultimate end abides; wherefore most fittingly the blessed Aug. on Ps. 85, treating that verse, Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I have cried to thee all the day, says: With members descending and succeeding, one man is stretched out unto the end of the age.

To the thirteenth¹⁴ it must be said that in demons there is not the faith which is posited as a gift of the Holy Spirit or a habit divinely infused which inclines a man to believe some effect of the good: but it is called faith which is born of the perspicacity of their natural intellect from the miracles which they see beyond nature. For which it is to be noted, as St. Thomas notes in 2-II, q. 5, art. 2, that the intellect of the believer assents to the thing believed, not because it sees it, either in itself or through resolution to first principles seen in themselves, but on account of the command of the will. That the will moves the intellect to assent can happen in two ways. In one way from the ordering of the will to the good, and thus to believe is a laudable act. In the other way because the intellect is convinced to judge that what is said must be believed, although it is not convinced by the evidence of the thing — just as if a prophet were to pronounce in the word of God something future, and were to adduce as a sign the raising of the dead, by this sign the intellect of the beholder would be convinced to know manifestly that this is said by God who does not lie, although that future thing which is foretold would not in itself be evident, whence the character of faith would not be removed. It must be said therefore that in the faithful of Christ faith is praised according to the first mode, and according to this it is not in demons but only in the second mode. For there appear many manifest signs by which they perceive that the doctrine of the Church is from God, although they do not themselves see the very things which the Church teaches, for example that God is three and one, or anything else of this kind. And thus it is evident that the faith which effects the unity of the Church is not in demons, and so the argument does not proceed.

To the fourteenth¹⁵ it is answered by denying the consequence, for although the Church was not always constituted in such a disposition as to one, as ruler and governor, leader and pastor abiding visibly in the place and stead of Jesus Christ our Lord, yet the Church itself had order, for the causes to be assigned below when the discourse is to be held by us concerning the one supreme pontiff in the Church: it does not follow that now such order is not in the Church. For many things have been instituted in the Church through the succession of times which were not from the beginning, which although at the time when they were not instituted they imported no necessity, yet once instituted come to be observed of necessity. For the doctors say, treating that of the last chapter of Cant., Our sister is little and has no breasts, that the Church, which is here called sister, in the beginning of its state before the coming of the fullness of grace, in which grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, in John 1, was little not only in paucity of people but also in gifts of graces. Hence Hugh of St. Victor says: It was fitting, he says, that according to the procession of times the signs of spiritual graces be given more and more; plainly after the incarnation of the Son of God she was made more abundant in splendor of doctrine, more illustrious in beauty of order, richer in the salutary efficacy of the sacraments, more excellent in nobility of rule, because under a nobler hope of political ordination and a more divine form of principate.

To the fifteenth¹⁶ it is answered that the argument does not proceed, both because if the Pope dies, the see yet does not die. Second, because such order to one head and governor always remains in the Church in habit, and the power of electing someone in the apostolic see itself. Such order is also in act in the Church with respect to those who in that time discharge a certain share in the Church in place of the supreme pontiff, of which kind is the sacred college of the lord cardinals. And here is convicted the rashness of certain schismatics and enemies of the Church who have presumed to say that the unity of the Church has no order to the unity of the one supreme pontiff, the vicar of Christ; how false this is, let us hear Cyprian saying in the letter to Magnus: The Lord, commending to us the unity coming from divine authority, posits it and says: I and the Father are one; to which unity reducing his Church, he says again: And there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Likewise in the letter to Rogatian, the same most glorious Cyprian strikes down such sowers and introducers of schisms in the Church, saying thus: These are the beginnings of heretics and the rise and attempts of schismatics thinking ill, that they may please themselves, that they may despise the one set over them with proud swelling; thus they go out from the Church, thus a profane altar is set up outside, thus rebellion is made against the peace of Christ and the ordination and unity of God. And the blessed Jerome, the most religious father of the Church, writing to Pope Damasus, as found in ch. Quoniam vetus, XXIV, q. 1, says thus among other things: I speak with the successor of the fisherman and the disciple of Christ. Following no leader but Christ, I am joined in communion with thy blessedness, that is with the chair of Peter; I know the Church founded upon that rock; whoever eats the lamb outside this house is profane; if anyone shall not have been in the ark of Noah, he shall perish when the flood reigns; and below: I know not Vitalis, I reject Meletius, I am ignorant of Paulinus; whoever gathers not with thee scatters, that is, he who is not of Christ is of antichrist — thus Jerome. But concerning the refutation of such error our discourse will be more abundant in what follows, through the things also which have been said the impiety of the schismatics is excluded, who strive to rend the seamless tunic of the Lord; against whom the blessed Cyprian says, as found in ch. Alicuius, XXIV, q. 1: Thou art an alien, thou art profane, thou art his enemy; he cannot have God for father who does not hold the unity of the universal Church.