Summa de Ecclesia
Juan de Torquemada (1388–1468)
First published 1561
Torquemada's Summa de Ecclesia from the Venice 1561 edition, Books I-IV with the Florentine union apparatus, in Latin with a new English translation.
Titulus I: Title page
Privilegium I: Privilege
Epistola I: Dedicatory letter
Index I: Full index
Prologus I: Prologue
Liber I: Book I — On the Universal Church
Caput I: Chapter I. On the name Church and how it differs from the name synagogue.
Caput II: Chapter II. On the various senses of the name Church.
Caput III: Chapter III. In which sense the discussion of the Church is to be taken in what follows, where it is shown that in the Church the good and the wicked are mingled together.
Caput IV: Chapter IV. In which objections are raised against what was said, that in the holy and universal Church the good and the wicked are contained together.
Caput V: Chapter V. In which the distinction is given by which the just faithful and sinful faithful are said to be in the Church, and the objections raised are answered.
Caput VI: Chapter VI. Proving that the Church is one, and on its manifold unity.
Caput VII: Chapter VII. In which objections are raised against what was said on the unity of the Church.
Caput VIII: Chapter VIII. In which the objections raised are answered.
Caput IX: Chapter IX. In which it is shown that the Church is holy.
Caput X: Chapter X. In which objections are raised against what was said on the holiness of the Church.
Caput XI: Chapter XI. In which the objections raised are answered.
Caput XII: Chapter XII. In which a certain way of speaking about the holiness of the Church is disapproved.
Caput XIII: Chapter XIII. That the Church is to be called Catholic.
Caput XIV: Chapter XIV. In which objections are raised against what was said, that the Christian faith is to be called Catholic.
Caput XV: Chapter XV. In which the arguments already made are answered.
Caput XVI: Chapter XVI. Where objections are raised against what was said, that the Church is to be called Catholic.
Caput XVII: Chapter XVII. In which the objections of the preceding chapter are answered.
Caput XVIII: Chapter XVIII. In which it is shown by arguments that the Church is called Apostolic.
Caput XIX: Chapter XIX. In which some objections are raised against what was said, that the Church is to be called Apostolic.
Caput XX: Chapter XX. How the words 'We believe in one holy Church' are to be understood.
Caput XXI: Chapter XXI. In which the error of those who say that men can be saved outside the unity of this holy Catholic and Apostolic Church is refuted.
Caput XXII: Chapter XXII. When the Church began, and on its ages.
Caput XXIII: Chapter XXIII. In which objections are raised against what was said on the antiquity of the Church.
Caput XXIV: Chapter XXIV. In which the solution to the arguments of the preceding chapter is given.
Caput XXV: Chapter XXV. From whom the Church began.
Caput XXVI: Chapter XXVI. In which objections are raised against the foregoing.
Caput XXVII: Chapter XXVII. In which the objections already made are answered.
Caput XXVIII: Chapter XXVIII. That after the Church began it has not ceased to be, and that in it faith, holiness, doctrine, prelacy, and the sacraments will endure to the end of the age.
Caput XXIX: Chapter XXIX. In which some objections are raised against what was said on the duration of the Church.
For a fuller understanding of the things defined concerning the duration of the Church, some objections will be raised against them, by which some heretics were driven to say that the Church had already failed, or that she would perish before the end of the world. And first it is argued1 from that verse of Jer. 5: go about the streets of Jerusalem and look, and consider; seek in its squares whether you will find a man doing judgment and seeking faith — which is to say, there is none. Therefore it seems that at some time faith failed from the Church, and consequently she at some time ceased to be. Secondly the same is argued2 from ch. 7 of the same, where it is said: faith has perished and is taken away from their mouth — from which it seems that faith perished at some time, and thus the Church of God.
Third it is argued3 from Dan. 9, where it is said: the victim and the sacrifice shall fail, and there shall be in the temple the abomination of desolation, and desolation shall continue even unto the consummation and the end. Therefore it seems that before the end of the world the sacraments and the sacrifice and faith itself will fail in the Church, and consequently the Church herself will not last even unto the end of the world.
Fourth it is argued4 from Matt. 24: iniquity shall abound and charity shall grow cold. But for charity to grow cold with iniquity abounding seems to be nothing else than for charity to fail. Therefore it seems that at some time charity will fail from the Church.
Fifth the same is argued5 from Lv. 18: but yet the Son of man coming, thinkest thou he shall find faith on the earth? But this seems not to have been said unless because faith will fail before the consummation of the world. Therefore the same as before.
Sixth it is argued by reason6 thus: the faith of this man is corruptible or defectible, and so is the faith of another, and so of each one; unless someone is confirmed, it is therefore possible for faith to fail in all.
Seventh thus7: it is in liberty to believe and not to believe; therefore it is possible that the whole Church, in whose choice it is to believe and not to believe, should not believe; and thus what was before is clear.
Eighth it is argued8 thus: the whole body of the Jews, which before was the Church, is now not the Church — hence the whole Church of the Jews seems to have failed. For the Lord gave her a bill of divorce, first to the tribes and afterwards to the leaders, as is said in Jer. 5: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have transgressed against me, says the Lord. They denied the Lord and said: he is not. Therefore by the same reasoning the whole Church among Christians is defectible. The consequence is clear, because just as now the Church is among Christians, so at some time she was among the Jews, according to that verse of the psalm: God is known in Judea, and his name is great in Israel. Ninth it is argued thus: in the Passion all the faithful seem to have failed from faith in Christ. Hence on psal. 14 blessed Augustine, treating that versicle, I am alone until I pass, says thus: see, since many failed, even to the first followers themselves; his branches also failed. And below: but because in his Passion even those first men, who were to be the leaders of the Church and the pillars of the earth, had failed, and what he says in psalm 7, I have confirmed its pillars, had not yet come to pass — he who says, I am alone until I pass, namely from this world to the Father. Thus Aug. Therefore in like manner it could now happen, and thus the Church would fail.