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.
Caput XXX: Chapter XXX. In which the objections already made are answered.
Caput XXXI: Chapter XXXI. Why the Church is called heaven, earth, field, and net.
Caput XXXII: Chapter XXXII. On the reasons why the holy Church is called the vineyard of God, and the garden, fountain, and well of living waters.
Caput XXXIII: Chapter XXXIII. In which the reasons are given why the Church is called Ship, House, City, and an army in battle array.
Caput XXXIV: Chapter XXXIV. On the reasons why the Church is called a Kingdom, and on the twelve things by which the glory of the magnificence of the kingdom of the Church is shown.
Caput XXXV: Chapter XXXV. On the reasons why the Church is called the tabernacle and temple of God.
Caput XXXVI: Chapter XXXVI. On the reasons why the Church is called Woman, Beloved, and Dove, Perfect, Sister, and Daughter.
Caput XXXVII: Chapter XXXVII. Why she is also called bride, and on the time of her espousal.
Caput XXXVIII: Chapter XXXVIII. In which the solution to a certain difficulty concerning what was said on the time of the espousal of the Church is given.
A question arises here which may greatly trouble less learned minds, since, although before Abraham the Church was always joined to God by the bond of love as above, where we touched on the antiquity of the Church, and the bond of this love by which the soul is joined to God in one spirit constitutes a spiritual marriage. For Bern. says on the Canticle: Likeness of love weds the soul to the Word; if she loves perfectly, she has wed. It is surprising and worthy of questioning how it could have been said that under Abraham the Church was first betrothed to God. For the solution of this difficulty it must be noted that we can speak of the betrothal of the Church in two ways.
1 In one way as it implies the simple bond of love with God, and thus it seems the view to be held that, since there were always in the Church some just and elect of God for as long as the Church existed, she must be said to have been the spouse of God. Whence Orige. on the Canticle says: For do not think that you are called spouse or Church only from the coming of the Savior, but from the beginning of the human race. In a second way we can speak of betrothal insofar as it denotes marital consent or pact by words of the present tense, or expressed by a certain sign. As the Master of the Sentences puts it in book 3, dist. 27, the efficient cause of marriage is consent, not consent of any kind, but consent expressed by words or fixed signs. That such a pact existed between the spouse Christ and the spouse Church is attested by the excellent witness of the holy prophet Ezech. in ch. 16, speaking thus: I swore to you, and I entered into a pact with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine, namely my spouse. And taking betrothal in this way, it was rightly said that under Abraham in circumcision the Church was first betrothed to God, for there a certain express pact made between God and the faithful people is recorded, and by an express and sensible sign the faithful people was first separated from the unfaithful. Whence the Lord says to Abraham in Gen. 17: I will establish my pact between me and you and between your seed after you in their generations by a perpetual covenant, that I may be your God and the God of your seed after you. And below the Lord says to Abraham: And you therefore shall keep my pact, and your seed after you in their generations; this is my pact, which you shall observe between me and you and your seed after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be a sign of the covenant between me and you, the interlinear Gloss: as a testimony, namely that I am your God and you are my people, divided from the nations. Furthermore, by the same reasoning the Church is rightly said to have been betrothed a second time under Moses at the giving of the law, for then the faithful people bound itself by an express pact to serve God and to obey the precepts of that law, whence in Exod. 24, when Moses read the volume of the law with the people listening, the people answered: All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient. And he, taking the blood, sprinkled it upon the people and said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with us concerning all these words. Furthermore, by the same reasoning the Church is deservedly said to have been betrothed a third time at the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, in which the light of faith shone forth more fully. Whence on the day of the Epiphany, on which the star of the new covenant is recorded to have led the Magi, the firstfruits of the nations, to Christ, and the institution of holy baptism is commemorated, through which one is incorporated into the body of Christ which is the Church, as is sung by the faithful.
2 Today the Church has been joined to the heavenly spouse. Of the nuptials of this spouse with Christ it is said in Mar. 22: The kingdom of heaven is like a king who made a marriage for his son, where the interlinear Gloss says: Who through the mystery of the incarnation joined the Church to his son. For then, as blessed Grego. says in his Homily, God the Father made a marriage for God his Son when he joined him in the womb of the Virgin to human nature, when he willed that God, who existed before the ages, should become man at the end of the ages.
3 And below: The womb of the virgin mother was the bridal chamber of this spouse. Whence also the psalm says: He has set his tabernacle in the sun, and he himself as a spouse proceeding from his chamber. As a spouse he proceeded from his chamber, because God incarnate came forth from the incorrupt womb of the Virgin to join the Church to himself; thus far Grego. Furthermore of the nuptials of this spouse Apoc. 19 speaks: Let us rejoice and exult and give glory to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has prepared herself, the Gloss: The marriage, that is, the Church has been joined to Christ, and it was fitting that she be joined, because the Church herself made herself fit to be received. Here it must be considered that the betrothal contract of these nuptials was made in the promise of the prophets, the perfect marriage took place by words of the present tense in the mutual colloquy of Mary and the angel, where the glorious Virgin giving her consent said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word, Luc. 1. The marriage was consummated in the union of flesh and Word. Whence Aug. on the title of Ps. 44 says: The nuptial conjunction is Word and flesh; the chamber of this conjunction is the womb of the Virgin. The spouse is made fruitful in the passion of Christ, because from the side of Christ flowed blood and water, by which the sacraments were signified through which the Church is made fruitful. The solemnity of these nuptials was begun in the ascension of the Lord. Whence in Eph. 4: Christ ascending on high led captivity captive, gave gifts to men. For blessed Aug. in his book on the Creed says thus: Exult, O spouse Church, for unless you had been formed in Christ you would not exist; sold, he redeemed you; slain, he loved you; and because he loved you so greatly, he willed to die. O great sacrament of this wedlock! O how great a mystery of this spouse and bridegroom, and it cannot worthily be expounded in human words: from the spouse the bride is born, and as she is born she is at once joined to him, and then the bride weds when the spouse dies, and then he is joined to the spouse when he is separated from mortals, when he is exalted above the heavens, then she is made fruitful in all the earth — thus Aug.